They Call It Schadenfreude

Talk about lacking common sense. I was browsing Google Finance early this morning and happened to see two interesting threads. Reproduced here for your enjoyment:

Fannie Mae:

This stock needs a shot in the arm.  Where is Paulson?  This is a
slaughter house.   HEEEEEEELLP????

Freddie Mac:

Please Bernake,
Come on TV and say something, then fre will rally again~

I don’t think there is much Bernanke could say to rally this stock.
Oil is down, commodities are down, gold is down, USD is up, consumer
confidence is increasing, and still FRE drops like a brick. Honestly,
if you have to hope in bernanke to rally this stock, you have a
worthless investment strategy

In other news, Pervez Musharraf is resigning. Folks on Marketwatch are already hammering him due to his perceived inability to deal with the Taliban in Waziristan. A friendly not to y’all: The rest of the world does not exist for the sole benefit of the US! The US is not the “leader of the free world.” Damn conservatives crow for free elections and exporting democracy but get their panties in a wad when countries elect anti-US governments.

John McCain has closed the gap on Barack Obama, if the latest polls are to be believed. Electoral-vote.com has Obama trailing in the swing states of Colorado, Ohio, Florida, and Nevada. Things are not looking up for Team Blue, not that I’m partisan to either side. I enjoy the whole horse race like the good non-voting non-citizen that I am. More commentary on the election to come.

Wealthy, Successful (and Single) Women

It’s the latest rage in self-help and relationship books. Women who are successful in their careers seem to have trouble (at least they think) in finding romance. MSN Money (thought: Why money?) has the lowdown.

My take on this whole thing is that the women’s fears are justified. Men in general do not enjoy dating someone higher on the socioeconomic ladder, has more education, or is more sociable than they are. We can blame society (as all good liberal arts students do) for conditioning men to expect to always do better and to earn more than their mates. However, I think the ultimate response of most men to a high-rolling partner is not inadequacy but rather fear and anxiety. He will constantly ponder to himself, “What is she doing with me when she could have anyone out there?” Indeed, he will be worriedly watching her every step, despairing to see the day when she leaves for someone better. Lest you mock that fear as caused by low self-esteem, have a read through Wendi Deng’s story. For the alpha males out there, lest you think your hold on your girl is airtight, know that there is (almost) always someone else richer than you.

Telemarketing Scams

Early yesterday morning, I was rudely awakened by a call just as I was about to enjoy my last day at UCSF. The caller was using the number 925-230-2800, which I had never heard of. The voice on the other side claimed to be from the Oakland Tribune and requested payment on an automatic renewal package. Now, I had paid for a packaged bundle of papers at the end of last year from a few suckers posing as poor college students, but quickly canceled after the 8 week trial period. The Tribune was among them, but unfortunately never arrived. The SF Chronicle also billed me for automatic renewal, but fortunately that was cleared up and the fee was rescinded.

On the phone, I stood my ground and refused to pay. I claimed that I had never received the paper and that I didn’t want to be automatically renewed. In response, the caller asked if I was ___ living in ___. He mentioned those details in response to my angry retorts. Apparently that’s a common tactic because people are generally more trusting of those who have that information. Indeed, I was instantly taken aback, but having just that public info should actually have raised alarm bells. Tip: ask to confirm the date of subscription, the account number, and precisely what the charge is for. In the end, the caller repeated asked, “The bill is ___, do you want to pay over the phone?” Another tip: Never give any financial information over the phone. Needless to say, I yelled obscenities at him.

Afterwards, I did some research on the number. For starters, the Oakland Tribune uses a 510 area code, not a 925 one. Next, the number 925-230-2800 already has online complaints of being a scam #. Finally, calling back resulted in a “voice mail full” response for someone named “Turnkey Solutions.” Obviously a scam.

It seems that this kind of stuff is not that rare either.

Nsist on Ntel

This is why I don’t buy a discrete graphic card for my laptops. The desktop ones I do buy are all ATI branded. I’ve owned two nvidia cards – a TNT2 and a Geforce 2 GTS – both salvaged from old machines. Both have broken down while in use. An nvidia nforce motherboard also died through singed capacitors. Oh, I also invested in nvidia stock last year (luckily I got out before the huge tumble this summer) that lost money. What does that tell me? Stay away from all things nvidia. They haven’t proven themselves capable of anything other than jacking up performance, power consumption, and price each year. That’s a strategy for failure.

Put that together with nvidia’s shoddy OSS for Linux strategy and you’ve got a heck of a reason to nsist on ntel.

Update: Seems like all of nvidia’s product line is suspect, not just the mobile parts and not just the G84/G86 batch we originally suspected. Courtesy of The Inquirer.