DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

The Chronicle reports on new laws about GMail: Bill puts limit on ads in e-mail:

In an effort to protect user privacy, the state Senate voted Thursday to place limits on Google’s new e-mail service and its controversial advertising policies.

Seems like an overreaction, doesn’t it? I mean, Google’s offering a feature-rich web-based email service for free… who cares if they show some ads alongside the messages?

But maybe Google is not so innocent after all. The print version of the Chronicle article claims:

Google … had originally planned to save deleted messages indefinitely and collect information about individual users to create databases of their preferences for marketing purposes.

The above passage does not appear in the online version of the article. The online version has apparently been revised:

Because of the wording of Gmail’s terms of service, some privacy groups were concerned that Google would save deleted messages indefinitely and collect information about individual users to create datatbases of user preferences for marketing purposes. Google denies any such plans.

Well, never mind then!

I needed to get a fresh nylon cord for my QLink. There’s a bead store downtown that although on previous visits seemed awash in negative energy — in fact my departing thought my first time there was “I’m never coming back in here!” — would certainly have a supply of suitable cord.

Sure enough, the store had a spool of precisely the material I wanted.

“How much is this?” I asked, motioning at the specific spool.

“It’s a dollar per yard,” replied the clerk.

“I don’t need a yard,” I said. “I just need enough to hang this thing around my neck.” I was thinking that about 24 inches would do fine.

“We usually sell it by the yard,” said the clerk in a tone suggesting the customer is never right.

So, chastised, I cut off one yard of material, slightly annoyed that before the end of the day one-third of it would be sitting in a trash can. I fished a dollar bill out of my wallet and laid it on the counter. The clerk poked at her register and said, “That will be $1.08.”

And I thought, I didn’t need a whole yard. I didn’t want a whole yard. I very nearly cut off twelve inches’ worth of cord and asked her to refund me 33¢, rather than break a dollar to pay the tax.

But no, I’m far too kind and patient with people in general, especially retail salespeople, especially retail salespeople already burdened with a lack of common sense, not to mention business sense, not to mention fashion sense, not to mention a dead-end job in a bead store. I noticed a little dish of coins on the counter and began reaching for it. I sensed an immediate defensiveness, an aura of palpable tension encasing the dish of coins like a force-field. I paused.

“Can I dip into your penny jar for the 8¢ tax?”

“No, that’s our change.”

Well, of course it is. That’s how penny jars work.

She made me break a second dollar, though. I left with too much nylon cord and 92¢ change in my pocket. My departing thought? “I’m never coming back in here!”

Here’s a handy tool for your inner health fanatic. (Yes, you have an inner health fanatic. It’s down inside there, behind the brownies.)

CalorieKing.com offers a searchable database of nutritional information for produce as well as packaged foods… everything from amaranth to zwieback.

The search engine is nice. Enter ‘trader’ to see a selection of Trader Joe’s products. Enter ‘avocado’ to see a choice: California or Florida? Enter ‘Subway’ to see a 5-page list of what appears to be the restaurant chain’s entire menu.

The database contains basic stats on protein, fat, calories, fiber, cholesterol, sodium, etc.

On a related note, I found a great quote about the role of the food industry in American society’s obesity epidemic, in a Harvard Magazine article called The Way We Eat Now: Ancient bodies collide with modern technology to produce a flabby, disease-ridden populace. (linked from Kottke.org)

There’s the incessant advertising and marketing of the poorest quality foods imaginable.

Something to think about when the next Cheetos or Taco Bell ad comes on.

MoveOn sent me an email claiming The Day After Tomorrow is “the movie the White House doesn’t want you to see.”

That’s just dumb. It’s clear to me that the folks in the White House are naive, or deceitful about the dangers of global warming, but do I think they really care whether I see the latest Hollywood blockbuster? Um, no. I think — well, I hope — Bush & Co. are thinking about Iraq and the economy and national security, and not about whether I go see some celluloid fantasy about tidal waves and icicles.

I think MoveOn has done an amazing job of engaging citizens in the political process, and I hope they never stop. But this, in my opinion, is a misstep; they’ve apparently overlooked this important lesson from history. I’d rather they go a day, just one day, without emailing me about some damn perceived emergency or other, than bother me about a movie. Sheesh.

Seen in Open Exchange magazine: sekrit decoder logic for produce stickers.

Those annoying little produce stickers have a special purpose other than pricing at the checkout line. Want to avoid genetically modified fruits and vegetables? Don’t purchase any with stickers containing five digits starting with an 8. Want to know if your produce is organic, grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers? Look for stickers with five digits starting with a 9. If the sticker has four digits it simply means that the food was commercially grown, neither organic nor genetically modified.

So, those stickers — which are annoying as hell — actually serve a purpose. I ransacked the fruit bowl for examples: lemon, mango, apple.

I found that our avocados are “conventional.” See the 4-digit code at right.

I couldn’t find any genetically modified produce. I’m sure we buy it sometimes, and it probably looks nicer than the organic stuff, which is often smaller and bears visible imperfections. But hey, at least the organics cost twice as much!