Hello. My big thing today is copycats. I think being a copycat is dumb.

Did you know that when you file for bankruptcy you can get rid of stuff that's costing you money? And if you're an airline, you can get your employees and unions to give up their contracts and raises and work for less? I think it's kind of lame, but they're predicting that within 6 months one or more airline will have filed for bankruptcy. And because it gives them better terms within which to work, that all the other lemmings will follow suit.

Speaking of stupid lemmings, GM just announced that it's going to extend its 0% interest into next year. This is dumb because last month car buying jumped 24%. Eventually everyone who wants a new car will have one. And then the companies will be in a world of hurt. But in a way, this is what GM is counting on. They're hoping that they can seriously hurt Ford and their other competitors because their other competitors can't afford to do the 0% financing as long as GM can. (Or they'll get their competitors to agree to it only to back out, like Amazon did, effectively screwing Barnes and Noble on free shipping. Ha!) Anyhow, if you can't afford to sell cars with 0% interest, don't do it. Just that simple. People will still buy your cars if they're cooler looking than the ones from GM. On the other hand, GM got Bob Lutz from Chrysler, so expect some really cool stuff from GM in the next few years because Bob Lutz is a genius.

This is weird but cool... we've often talked about why they keep old diseases around. The kind that could cripple the planet, but that we've figured out how to tame. Well, it turns out that if you mess around with small pox and modify it, you get a cure for cervical cancer. How cool is that?

I think the European Union is really stupid. Really, really stupid. Or at least anticompetitive. And stupid Levi Strauss are big whiny crybabies who would perform the political equivalent of a lapdance on the collective fat cats in the EU for favorable treatment. What am I talking about? A supermarket chain(?) in Europe was annoyed at how much it cost to buy Levis to sell in their stores. So they started buying the jeans from the United States and shipping them there. Great, capitalism at work. Well, Levi's cries foul and sues. Now the stores are not allowed to buy their jeans from anywhere else. I think that's just incredibly lame. Lame lame lame lame!

Safeweb shut down today or recently. A moment of silence, please. Ok, that's enough. As cool as it was, it was sponsored by the CIA and did include advertising, so it couldn't have been completely "da bomb." Who knows what the CIA gleaned from us in exchange for believed secrecy while surfing?

George Will had a good piece in Newsweek about how despite the terrorist attacks, things are doing quite nicely, thankyouverymuch. Separate yet interesting fact... the number of people killed in traffic accidents between September 12 and November 12 was more than the number of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

And more great news... no one's going to seriously think about hiring until March or April. The stock market has been up anyhow, but a lot of that might be tied back to the cheap gas or the 7.1% jump in spending in October, much of that related to car sales. Which means we're probably not out of the woods yet.

I read this great article the other day that I can't find now. But it talks about how cheap gas is bad. They say that people will travel more even if they can't afford it, they say that it means less money for a region of the world (the middle east) already rife with struggle because they have nothing but sand and the gasoline they can sell, it means less incentive to conserve or to do research into future conservation and more people doing more uneccesary driving creating more polution. I really wish I could find that article because there was more stuff. On the other hand, I'm driving several hundred miles this weekend, so I'm thankful for the cheaper gas.

________________________________________________________________
So, this is from yesterday... Blogger wasn't allowing publishing.

So, what's your Viking name?

Here's mine... predictable to say the least.... Jón Stronghorse
Your Viking Personality: You're a fearsome Viking, but you aren't completely uncivilized. The other Vikings make fun of you for that. You have a thirst for battle, and tend to strike first and think later. You might be able to hold your own on the battlefield, but you're no "berserker".

A long sea voyage aboard a Viking longboat would be difficult for you, but you might be able to manage it. Other Vikings consider you "one of the guys".

People who've known you for a while don't always trust your word. You sometimes come off as a bit of a snob. Vikings are not snobbish people -- they either like you, or they kill you. Try to be more like a Viking.

Philips is coming out with a stereo that has effortless internet access for tuning into internet radio, far radio stations and playing MP3's off a near-by computer. My first impression... yeah right... My second impression... yawn! My third impression... it'll be great, it will develop a real following. Then they will cancel the project. (I love my Philips Nino.)

Want a free video screen and a 100 gig hard drive? You'll be able to steal one from a bus stop near you soon, if someone else hasn't smashed the screen. I mean, I know everyone is trying to do their part to realize the vision of Blade Runner and The Fifth Element with non-stop advertising everywhere. (There was advertising on that little piece of cardboard under the Reeses Peanut Butter cups the other day.) But how dumb an idea is this? At least in LA, where they actually have bus stops, if they can't detach the video device quickly enough, they'll just load the entire booth into their truck to disassemble later in private.

Only people that want to charge for content are still reporting this as news: people don't want to pay for content online. DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH. Sheesh. This is so dumb. Especially when the survey was made up of 1,300 people. I'm sorry, but that's incredibly lazy. Almost as bad as the Neilsens.