8 Ways to Sunday

Today’s quote was inspired by the yard work I did early this afternoon:

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

— Henry David Thoreau

When it comes to weeds, I have to admit that I’m a branch-hacker rather than a root-striker. It’s just too much trouble to pull the weeds out by the root when they make up about 60% of my yard. Besides, if you mow the lawn down close enough it’s hard to tell the difference between the grass and the weeds.

No doubt Thoreau and his transcendentalist cohorts would find my approach lacking in moral and intellectual rigor.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network is promoting today as the 12th annual Day of Silence. The idea is that you help promote awareness of gay rights by not talking about anything all day… including gay rights.

Considering the centuries that homosexuals have been forced into silence by society, this strikes me as the most ironically ineffectual protest idea ever. They have sincerely good intentions, but I can’t imagine how something like this can produce any good results.

According to ReligiousTolerance.org, for example, a fundamentalist Christian group took advantage of a recent Day of Silence to stage their own “Truth Without Interruption Day.” By remaining silent, supporters of gay rights were unable to make any counterpoints against their opponents. That, of course, was the whole idea behind TWID.

Oscar Wilde — the famed wit imprisoned for homosexuality in 1895 — probably said it best:

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

Congratulations, GLSEN, on your fatal overdose of sincerity.

Arthur C. Clarke passed away yesterday afternoon, having suffered from breathing problems and back trouble during the last days of his life. His was some of the first “hard” science fiction I read, after graduating from the Star Trek spin-off novels in my local public library.

ZDNet’s Jason Perlow reminds me of a passage from 2010 that seems appropriate for the occasion. In this exchange, the dead/assimilated David Bowman talks with HAL about his own impending demise:

HAL: What is going to happen?

Dave: Something wonderful.

HAL: I’m afraid.

Dave: Don’t be. We’ll be together.

HAL: Where will we be?

Dave: Where I am now.

Thanks for your stories, Sir Clarke. Have fun exploring the universe.

You’ve probably seen their clever TV advertisements, with that scruffy protagonist singing his catchy tune of remorse and financial ruin. They promise to monitor your credit score and alert you of any changes. Sounds great, right? Wrong.

The ad is deceptive. Listen closely, and you’ll hear Fast-Talking Disclaimer Man say this: “Offer applies with enrollment in Triple Advantage.” That’s the catch — their Triple Advantage service is not free. It has a free trial period of only seven days, after which it will cost you about $15 per month. The FreeCreditReport.com home page does explain this, but it does so in blue text on a slightly darker blue background. It’s not exactly easy to read, or even easy to notice if you’re in a hurry.

You’re entitled by law to a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus every year. To get those reports, however, you need to go to annualcreditreport.com. Annualcreditreport.com is the one and only official source for these free annual reports.

The moral of the story is one I’m sure you’ve heard many times before: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

I knew something was fishy about FreeCreditReport.com when I heard the ad’s disclaimer but I owe the details to The Simple Dollar, an excellent personal finance weblog by Trent Hamm. The comments on that site’s original post have some good advice on making the most of your free annual credit reports.

Every December, I get surprised at least once by the fact that it gets dark around 5:30 PM. You’d think I’d have figured it out by now.