My links for 2007-07-27

I have been well aware of Global Warming and eco problems since high school. I was lucky enough to go to a school where the science teachers spent time talking about real issues, not just theory and hypotheses out of textbooks. I have been concerned about weather and environmental changes for some time, so it’s great to see so many people share my concern and start making changes in their lives to curtail additional damage to the planet.

I have been personally making some changes in the ways I think, shop, recycle, and live to help reduce my personal carbon footprint. In my reading I was recently introduced to the concept of Carbon Offsets, where you give money to companies or funds that is used to plant trees, clean up the environment, provide cleaner water, and perform various other eco-friendly tasks. When I first read about it, it sounded great on paper. If you have to fly somewhere, you donate some money to plant some trees. How nice.

Jason Kottke didn’t get his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on July 21st as promised by Amazon, and he’s not the only one. UPS claimed that a delivery attempt was made and no one was there to receive the parcel. The funny thing is, he was home all day. Amazon, however, was good enough to refund him even though the problem lies with UPS.

Early last week when I left my apartment to check my mail (which is three feet from my apartment door), a UPS notice fluttered to the ground. I picked it up and a delivery attempt had been made to drop a package at my apartment not even an hour earlier. I was, at most, 10 feet from the door the whole day. Sitting here at my dining room table, doing some work online. Why would a UPS driver get out of his truck, walk to my door, and stick a note on it without even attempting to ring the bell or knocking? It took longer for this person to write up the slip and stick it to my door than it would have for them to knock. I don’t get it.

My links for 2007-07-10

If you were not convinced that the American news media has its priorities wrong, this one incident should be evidence enough. Larry King rescheduled Michael Moore’s hour long interview about his new movie SiCKO to interview Paris Hilton the day after her release from prison. Rather than showing some journalistic integrity and allowing Michael Moore to discuss his movie and the state of health care in America, King pandered to the unwashed masses and interviewed the vapid heiress for an entire hour.

I expect this kind of behavior from a talk show host, or from a major network that’s trying to win ratings. I did not, however, expect this to happen on CNN, which much of the country trusts for its news. The fact that Moore was going to be discussing his movie, which highlights the shortcomings of the health care and insurance industry in this country, makes it that much worse. Americans need to hear the truth about how some of the major health care insurance providers have denied payments for life saving treatments to their customers. Moore’s movie is a vital instrument in the campaign to create a national health care system which could save hundreds of lives each year. Instead viewers got to see Paris Hilton’s drawings from when she was in prison, and hear her read the poems she wrote while locked up. Somehow that doesn’t seem like a fair trade.