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Something has always bothered me about media reports regarding the deficit. When I hear, as I did today, that the deficit will be “only” $200 billion in 2007, that number represents the amount of debt that will be added to the total national debt in 2007. So how much is the total national debt? As of January 25, 2007, it is $8,683,622,356,682. That’s 8.7 trillion dollars.
This figure came from the National Debt Clock. It translates into a debt of $28,868.83 for each man, woman and child in the US, based on an estimated population of the United States of 300,795,538.

I’d like to draw your attention to some new picture frames. They look like traditional art frames from a distance — carved wood, gold or silver finishes. But get closer and you realize they are made from sturdy cardboard with a printed image of a classical frame on the surface. They’re inexpensive and great for shipping your art — paintings, prints, photos. Great for artists. http://www.cardboardframe.com/

I feel like a freaking genius. But only because I just accomplished something that others have already accomplished with more flair and infinitely more precision. However, I did it with commonly available parts, regular household tools — and no soldering gun. I created a snap-together replacement Newton eMate battery pack that required no special skills to assemble. I reveal all the lovely details after the jump:
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Never mind global warming, devolution is what will kill us. And nothing shows this more dramatically than the idiotic comments left on the new “web 2.0″ social apps. So much technology has been brought to bear  in order for average people to make fools of themselves. It really makes me fear for humanity’s future. Horrible grammar, terrible spelling, base humor, taunting, bullying — it’s all there. If you can’t enlighten or uplift, please keep your mouth shut! Of course, everyone wastes their time somehow — here I am writing an unproductive blog post. So I’ll shut up now…

My friend Phil just told me about Ning. (http://www.ning.com/)
It’s an amazing push-button publishing tool, but perhaps too much so. If it democratizes the ability to publish, the net will be filled with even more garbage, and ever-more fractured audiences. It’s a step forward for publishing, but will it be a step backward for content? Can you tell that I harbor a deep fear of the great unwashed masses?

I was just interviewed on-camera for the show ‘Nitebeat with Barry Nolan’ airing at 7pm tomorrow night (Thu 2-2-06). The topic is offsetting your carbon emissions, and the trend toward trading the right to pollute. It’s on Comcast cable, and I have RCN! Now I must burn some fossil fuels to go watch myself on TV…

A carbon footprint is what you cause in greenhouse emissions by being a consumer, driving a car, etc. You can pay a fee to have your carbon emissions (greenhouse gasses) offset by green power projects or absorbed by new forests:
http://www.carbonfund.org

Goodbaker and Lee Busch Design do this as part of being a green company.

Always wear clothes you really like. Because you never know when your homeworld will suddenly be destroyed by angry robots, and you’ll find yourself a refugee on a rag-tag fugitive fleet of starships, wearing the one set of clothes you dressed in that morning. For the rest of your life.