I don't really drink much of anything from Coca-Cola. Most of you know I'm a huge Pepsi fan. But I will admit, the beverage pictured above, I call "Cherry Coke", is very good. That and Mr. Pibb (officially called Pibb Xtra now, but I will never call it that) are the only two Coca-Cola products I will drink. And now that McDonald's has switched to Dr. Pepper from Mr. Pibb (at least here in California), I don't even drink Mr. Pibb anymore.
But, what do you call the beverage pictured above? Because Coca-Cola isn't even sure. Their website calls it "cherry Coke" (with the "c" in "cherry" lower-case). But their bottle calls it "Coke Cherry" and "Coca-Cola Cherry" on the same bottle.
First, it sounds like a feminine hygiene product. Gross. Next, everything I wanted to say is wrapped up in a commenter's comment on Engadget. "A giant iphone that can't place a call, can't take pictures, can shoot video, cannot multitask, cannot run Adobe Flash and is ridiculously expensive even before adding the cost of a 3G antenna. Yeah, I'll take three [/sarcasm]" Finally, it is actually the direction I think computers should go. The picture below is what makes me interested, with the attachable keyboard docking station. I also love that you can get iWork (Apple's Office like suite) on it. I believe, and posted about it in 2007 here (scroll down to "Here is a Rabbit Trail"), that computers should go the way of the portable do everything device. This is really a step in the right direction. It's too bad it's been apple-ized. If Apple got there heads out of their "apple cores" and added or fixed the things in the comments from the Engadget reader, I'd run down and buy 3 of them, for realzies. What do you think?
The AP Story is here. Answer my opinion poll questions are at the bottom by commenting. My official opinion is, "Don't endanger others over federally insured money." But, come on. Termination? America is full of pansies, a.k.a. people who allow the bullies and bad guys to win. I do think this teller's actions were foolish and dangerous, as I've fought many "thin" inmates at the jail with what we called "the crazy man strength", but it's a refreshing thing to hear about the good guys winning one. Law enforcement doesn't often catch the bank robbers, and if they do, it doesn't get reported with all the attention this teller has brought. Again, I'm not necessarily condoning the actions of the teller; I just wish we got to hear about the "victories for the good guys" more often. And, although the story is getting so much attention because the bad guy was caught and the good guy was fired, I bet we would never have heard about the story if the bad guy got away and the bank still fired the teller (and they would have). I wish there were more "heroes" and "victories" and "good stories" in the news. For example, even though I don't believe the story, I felt a little better today when I heard a report about the economy turning around. Positive stories are not often told. And sure, this story ends with the teller getting fired, but we all can think about HOW COOL it is the bad guy was caught by the lowly bank employee. Okay, the teller was treated the same way probably most, if not all banks, would have handled his actions. The teller did endanger other employees, any other customers in the branch, the "passer-by" who helped stop the suspect, and himself. This was not smart. The outcome ended up being okay, but ultimately stopping someone from taking insured money (and money that was not even his) and risking the safety of others was not worth it. Good job dude. You are a hero and an idiot all at the same time. I wish it was okay, but we don't always know what a crazy inmate type tweek is capable of doing. The crazy man strength is real, and it's dangerous. There was an inmate in for murdering a lady at a gas station. He was probably only 130 lbs and 5' tall at the most. He squared off to fight one of the self-defense instructors at the jail. He was struck in the face by the officer, knocking him on his rear, and he was still able to fight 5 officers before he was finally controlled in handcuffs. The crazy man strength is scary. But, hey teller guy, I'm sorry you lost your job. ***OPINION POLL*** WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should he be fired? Did he do the right thing?
I heard about the "FairTax" on the radio the other day and it sounded interesting. Although I have only begun to do research on it, what I've read and heard about it so far seems really interesting. It could possibly be a way we the people of the United States of America could see and affect changes in how politicians spend our money. We would also see how much we really do pay in taxes.
Some highlights thus far:
1. Do you think of a tax return the same as not having to pay taxes? You did pay taxes, they are just giving some of what you paid back. And that is not all you paid them. Have you looks at a paycheck and noticed just how much you don't take home? Have you seen a check tell you you've grossed $1,852.56 but you take home only $1,429.42? $299.84 of that one went to the government as taxes. Under the Fair Tax the net would be $1,729.26. That's a lot more money to spend each paycheck. With the FairTax you would pay taxes just like sales tax, when you made purchases. If you don't spend as much money, you don't pay as much in taxes. You would also see how much you are spending in taxes, instead of forgetting about the amount that is taken from your check each month.
2. If government wants to try to colonize the moon, and they decide they want to raise the Fair Tax by 2% to do so, the people of the United States of America would see that tax increase coming and have more influence on their elected officials. We the people would understand the changes to the our taxes and make better decisions on who we voted for and what ideas and plans they campaigned under.
3. The FairTax actually eliminates and reimburses all federal taxes for those below the poverty line. This is accomplished through the universal prebate. This is money given to all American tax paying people based on the amount of money needed for necessities.
There is a lot more. And like I said, I'm still researching and reading about it. I'm not really that political but I have been greatly affected by the changes in the economy. My house lost 50% of it's value in 4 years....that's if it would sell right now for anything. I'm interested in change. How about you? Write me some comments after checking out FairTax.org.
