Consumerism

Finding ourselves unable to install a windmill on the roof, Gene and I choose the NStar Green option today. So this means that we’ll be running our lights and laptops on wind power, right? Not quite. Our switch to green supports wind power, but apparently can’t guarantee wind sourcing. For that, we’ll be paying an extra $2-$4 a month for the 150-200 kilowatt hours that we typically use.

How do we know that premium will, indeed, support wind power and move us closer to the day when wind is a standard option - perhaps even a cheaper one - on our energy bill? Well, we’re relying on the good word of folks at the Conservation Law Foundation and Union of Concerned Scientists, both of whom collaborated with NStar to create this program.

And while we wait for our green-energy-wind-power utopia to develop here in Massachusetts, take a look at this scenario in the New Yorker. Could it happen here?

– Rachel

To stave off recession, Congress and the President urge us to buy more stuff. Encouraging Americans to keep shopping, they tell us, will plump our economy — despite fundamental shifts in the world economy, not to mention two large-scale wars. Whatever the economic merits of this plan, I believe that promoting consumerism is bad for our national soul. Indeed, I see the government offering us empty calories to satiate a bottomless hunger. And that’s why I am donating my stimulus check to charity.

The consumerist economy

Consumption represents the majority of our GDP. Cars and big-screen televisions keep a web of people employed domestically and internationally, from store clerks to factory workers to the cargo handlers in between. Consumption and consumerism are here to stay, and we would be foolish and delusional to wish otherwise.

But the recent boom was built on an illusion: Americans spent at a historically unprecedented scale by borrowing heavily against artificially inflated home prices. Well, it turns out that you can’t have your house and mortgage it, too. The buying binge is over, and it’s time for Americans to confront what all of this consumption has wrought.

We are still wealthy

The truth is that the United States is still the wealthiest nation this world has ever known. While almost half of the world lives on less than $2 a day, Americans are blessed with domestic tranquility, high literacy, and tremendous life opportunities. Understandably, many Americans find cold comfort in statistics when struggling with job loss, mushrooming health care costs, and rising gas prices. These problems are real, and right now they are growing. But the paradox is that more wealth can feed our gluttony rather than salve our want. In fact, the more money we make, the more we spend on ourselves and the less of it we give to charity.

Deprivation is relative: we don’t compare ourselves with the unseen poor halfway across the globe, but the Joneses next door. “I don’t think most people who are affluent feel affluent,” observes a participant in one of the Boston Faith & Justice Network’s economic discipleship groups. “We feel we are in debt and someone else is affluent…For my kids, poverty is not having Nintendo.”

From deprivation to gratitude

Without denying the reality of domestic poverty and inequality, I decline to view our economic circumstances through the lens of deprivation. For me, a more spiritually sound way of understanding wealth is as abundance. The glass isn’t merely half-full; it overflows.

It is out of gratitude for our wealth that some of us are choosing to do something different with our economic stimulus checks: donate them to charity. Certainly, those of us who are struggling financially are thankful for the opportunity to pay down debts, invest in schooling, or simply put food on the table. But many of us would otherwise binge on stuff we don’t really need.

One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Proverbs 11:24 (RSV)

From the point of view of our national economy, donating our stimulus checks to charity will produce the same multiplier effects as buying a plasma-screen television. But it will mean something quite different to our own spiritual well-being. It’s not about denying ourselves by resisting temptation, but expanding ourselves by giving generously to others. Indeed, as the proverbs suggest, it’s not wealth that leads us to give, but giving that makes us realize we are wealthy.

I know we can’t extinguish consumerism, nor do I want to, but we can ask for a different kind of consumption. After all, the word “consumption” can mean “to use up.” But it can also mean, quite simply, “to eat.” Perhaps, whatever your spiritual beliefs, you too offer up words of thanks before you sit down to eat a meal. If so, consider offering some words of gratitude before you “consume” that stimulus check. You might find yourself feeling a lot wealthier for it.

I’ve frequently traveled between Boston and New York for the last 15 years, and I’ve tried every mode of transit from car to bus to train to plane. Recently I’ve been choosing travel options based purely on convenience from/to my end/start point, so when I’m off the West Side, I take the Greyhound or Amtrak; otherwise I take the Chinatown bus. I had a disastrous experience last month with Vamoose, the Hasidic NY-DC bus, which seems to have suspended service between New York and Cambridge. Turns out the licensing issues that sunk an HLS classmate’s efforts to set up a similar service in 2000 sunk what could have been an innovative alternative. (C’mon, Cambridge, it’s time to get with the program: world-class cities need a direct connection to New York!).

My last trip to NYC put me at the exact departure point for LimoLiner service to Boston, the NYC Hilton at 53rd and 6th, so I decided to give it a spin. I found out that good, courteous service is still alive somewhere in the transportation sector.

LimoLiner emulates air travel back when air travel was something to look forward to. The interior is laid out like a plane, with half the number of seats as a normal Greyhound and a large service area in the middle like on a 737. Seats are laid out in two rows, one with double and one with single seats. They are large and presumably comfy, though smaller folks like myself often find larger seats misproportioned for our shapes. The comfort of the seat itself is high, though — nothing like the 1″ thin “cushions” that I’ve noticed recently on many, many flights.

The main feature of LimoLiner is the dedicated attendant, who brings drinks, a light meal, and anything else you need. I’m not one who normally likes having a servant do stuff for me, but the particular individual on this trip was so graceful that I didn’t feel quite so embarrassed as I usually do handing him my trash. Certainly the free drinks were a nice touch; I was so used to the usual trip that I ran over to a hot dog stand to get a Coke before getting on board, only to find that it was totally unnecessary.

For business travelers the two onboard wireless routers might very well be decisive: service was decent through most of the journey, though after a while I gave up on work and started watching the movie and a movie I had on my laptop. Probably any real road warrior would already have the same EV-DO access that the bus taps into, but for those who don’t spring for that kind of service (I’m sitting on the fence for now), it might be worth the price of admission.

On the negative side, the overhead lights on my entire row of seats were broken. Also, as on some planes, the electrical outlets are car adapter types, not the two-prong plug you’ll find on Amtrak (both regional and Acela). (The 4.5 hour trip is probably just within your laptop’s battery life, though).

LimoLiner is priced to match Amtrak almost exactly: $89 each way. Compare Greyhound at $20 to $30 (depending on how you buy the ticket) and Fung Wah or Lucky Star at $15. With TSA the way it is, and poor transit linking to La Guardia, I no longer consider airline shuttles viable unless I’m heading out to Long Island (in which case, actually, I’d rather drive and have a car. One day I will test taking the bus to NYC and picking up a Zipcar for the duration). The dropoff at the Back Bay Sheraton worked fine for me — I took the 1 bus (about 3 blocks away — only a tad farther than the subway from the horribly laid-out South Station bus terminal) home rather than the Red Line — but being out of the main hub might be an inconvenience for those heading somewhere off the Green Line.

All else being equal, I would probably opt for Amtrak next time myself, as a bus is still a bus, no matter how well appointed, and I got off with the same tired feeling with which I debark the Fung Wah, except $74 poorer. However, anyone who values service will probably find their money well-spent, as I suspect did the older lady in front of me who needed help with her luggage. LimoLiner is, I believe, truly luxury for those who seek it, but IMHO, a gilded cabbage is still a cabbage.

smart cars are coming to the USA in 2008, and we got a preview last weekend in Harvard Square. These are the perfect vehicles for urbanites and, if their egos can deal with it, suburbanites too. For families with kids, the fortwo would make a good second car, since there’s only two front seats.

Photo album (Facebook)

Test drive video (blip.tv)

Below are my first impressions of the new Kinesis Freestyle keyboard. This is a little off-road for this blog, but I’ve literally been waiting for this keyboard for over 2 years, and I also think I can finally have the pleasure of announcing, “First Post!”.

The main feature of this keyboard is that it splits completely in half, as these pictures illustrate. This allows for considerable freedom in how the place the keyboard for maximum comfort relative to your hands. For me, the advantage of a full split is that it allows my hands to be much more in line with my shoulders. This significantly reduces the strain in my back that comes from hunching over the keyboard (look down at your hands, trace back up to your shoulders, and see how turning your hands inwards to reach your keyboard cause your entire upper body to shrink down).

The build quality of the keyboard seems excellent, and the keys offer a pleasing, springy response. I’m a big fan of the IBM “clicky-keys,” and while these keys are not as sharply responsive, they also don’t wake up the neighbors.

I write “more in line” because, unfortunately, the tether that holds these two halves of the keyboard is a tad short — a little over 6″, fully extended. (Unless you have it bolted down to the table, you can’t really pull it out to full length because the cord needs a little slack). Looking at where my fingers land when I have them extended out, just sitting on the table, I’d probably want another 4-6″ — and given how narrow my shoulders are, someone bigger may even want longer.

The keyboard definitely takes some getting used-to, especially if you’re not a “proper” touch typist (you can’t reach for the “Y” with your left hand, for example). Probably the biggest adjustment comes with the removal of the number pad and the weird placement of the home/end/page up/page down keys. I would have preferred that they leave these buttons off altogether and let me buy a separate number/function pad rather than fill up more space. It seems trivial, but the extra keys on the right (and especially the left) means your hand has to travel that much further to get to your mouse. In fact, one of the major advantages I’d hoped to realize with this keyboard was shedding those extra keys so I could go back to a right-handed mouse. With my arms already spread out pretty far, the mouse will now probably be a lot less ergonomic than before — although, I suppose if I know I’m in for an extended mousing session (e.g. graphics work or games), I can always move the keyboard back to a closed, “normal” position. So the bigger problem with the extra keys is that they’re just not where you’d expect them - Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down are all on top of each other, and Insert and Delete have migrated up to the function key row. Good riddance to the Insert key, but with the Delete and Backspace keys so close together now, I find myself hitting the wrong one.

The Kinesis actually arrives with a plastic hinge that holds the two halves of the keyboard together, for those who prefer a keyboard more like the Microsoft Natural or the Goldtouch keyboard. Contrary to the instructions, my tether came off with a screwdriver, not the sliding buttons on the top of the keyboard. While the Kinesis retails around $90, the Natural sells for under $50 and the Goldtouch for $140. By comparison, the Kinesis is a lot more flexible than the Natural and both more flexible and cheaper than the Goldtouch.

In addition to the basic Freestyle, you can also add the “Incline” or “VIP” options that allow you to “tent” the keyboard. The Incline makes the Kinesis a direct competitor to the Goldtouch, while the VIP highlights the Freestyle’s, well, freer adjustment options. While these options make the keyboard even more natural (when you lay your hands on the table, you’ll see that they want to tilt outwards), they also add more height to the keyboard that will reduce the ergonomics, given that most keyboards are already placed way too high in relation to your lap. If you really want the tilting, a pair of rubber doorstops may well do the trick:

At about $100 (with shipping), the Kinesis Freestyle is definitely a bit of a luxury item unless you absolutely need it for ergonomic reasons. I would definitely buy it over the Microsoft Natural and the Goldtouch for reasons listed above, but if you have the extra dough for an ErgoFlex Comfort Keyboard (there’s on on eBay for about $150), I would consider that product because of the longer “tether” between keyboard segments, and the third number pad segment that you can put on the left, right, or middle. You can mount the ErgoFlex on a chair, just like the Freestyle’s predecessor, the Kinesis Evolution (which, appropriately, is now extinct). The Freestyle’s limited range would prevent you from going that far, although the cord is definitely a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the ErgoFlex. Obviously I went for the Freestyle, and while I’m somewhat disappointed with the features described above, I think I’m keeping it.

You can buy the Freestyle directly from Kinesis, or from ErgoKey.

update (2007 June 26):

I received a replacement keyboard directly from Kinesis technical support two weeks ago. My travel schedule prevented me from testing it sooner, but I’m happy to report that this updated version resolves the detection issues that I described in my last update. (It turns out that my BIOS does support USB keyboards after all). Big bonus points to Kinesis technical support and Mr. Rick Lynde in particular, who helped fix this problem. I now have my keyboard plugged directly into the USB ports on my main box with no issues at all with startup, hibernation, standby, etc. Thumbs up, Kinesis! (Now get cracking on that Bluetooth model, kk?)

update (May 9, 2007)

(Correspondence with Kinesis about “intermittent power from the computer during startup,” and workaround involving plugging into my monitor’s powered USB hub, now outdated by most recent update.)

update (2007 May 3):

I got an email from the Kinesis sales team indicating that they have another version of the Freestyle coming out addressing my main criticism:

Just wanted to clarify that we do have a version of the keyboard not yet listed on our web site which offers a 20″ separation. This would probably address your biggest complaint of not having enough separation. This model sells for $139 plus shipping and handling. This is a new option for the Freestyle so we are hoping to have it listed sometime in the next 2 weeks.

Given that the Freestyle was sitting as vaporware on the Kinesis site for well over half a year, it seems this additional model could have been listed with little effort. And $50 for another 14 inches? I think your average spam message can offer a better deal than that.

I should also add that the Holy Grail of split keyboards will be Bluetooth wireless — no “tether” issues at all, and fully maneuverable. I’d be willing to drop another $100 for that.

update (2008 Feb 26):

As I noted above, the spread of the keyboard puts your mouse very far to your left or right. I found that, over time, this put serious strain on my right arm and wrist. After much thought, I decided to throw some more money at the problem (luckily, the money was in the form of a Christmas Amazon gift certificate) and got the Evoluent Verticalmouse 3. While my arm remains splayed out pretty far when mousing, my wrist and hand is in a much, much more comfortable position. I’ll do a review of that product soon. In the meantime, I highly recommend it as a companion for the Kinesis Freestyle.

A syndicated column in this past week’s Sunday Globe asserted that home ownership is always better than renting, even when home prices go down. I won’t go through the logic here, but it rests on the assumption that your goal is lifetime consumption maximization, not, say, saving money for your children to inherit.

Today the Economix column in the NY Times ran the counterargument, “A Word of Advice During a Housing Slump: Rent.” No fooling.

It’s not the same as getting my letter published in the Globe, but Leonhardt did post my comment in his Reader Response column. It read:

Often confused with the financial logic is the cultural belief that homeownership is a civic virtue. I have nothing against a values-based argument for buying a home, as long as it’s logically separated from the financial analysis, but I also think it’s time that we recognized other values as well. Homeownership sparks civic pride, but it also inspires NIMBY responses to necessary public projects and letting undesirables like families (who drive up property taxes) into the neighborhood. What’s more, homeownership spurs profligate spending on remodeling and similar luxuries, which is rarely considered part of the cost. Then again, frugality has lost its appeal as an American virtue, replaced instead by the notion that deficit spending is both the nation’s and the citizen’s patriotic duty.

The Economist stirred up a furor of responses a few weeks ago when it argued that the United States’ incentives for home ownership through the tax code is “daft.” If home ownership were truly so wonderful, I don’t see the need to incentivize it any further, other than to subsidize the mortgage industry.

This is a cross-post from the Green Computing forum that I recently convinced SilentPCReview.com to create (the interest of silence freaks and eco-computing are actually closely aligned most of the time). I actually think the following is an achievable goal with a meaningful potential impact on the environment:

As Vista prepares for a delayed takeoff, I’m wondering if anyone knows whether Microsoft is going to do one small, very simple thing to reduce the power consumption associated with computing:

Eliminate the “screen saver” and blank the screen after, say, 30 minutes of inactivity.

As we change from CRTs to LCDs the impact of this change is, sadly, a lot less than it would have been 3 years ago. But there are still a lot of CRTs out there, and in any event even putting LCDs to standby saves some power.

I hate, hate, hate walking by an office at night and seeing the stupid Windows logo bouncing around, proclaiming “I’m wasting power!” In fact, if one of those crackers out there wants to do something productive with their skills, they should devote their energies to writing a virus that changes the power settings of all infected computers to turn off the monitor after 30 minutes.

Any thoughts on this? I think the major points of resistance to this will be from sysadmins who have to deal with irate, clueless users complaining about their computers “turning off.” But if there can be a simultaneous marketing/education campaign, maybe sysadmins would be willing to take a bullet for the sake of reducing power consumption…

Comment here or on the Green Computing forum.

Back in 1983, when our family bought a new, brown Cutlass Ciera,
my mom stated that the car would be like another room of the house –
she could take naps or I could do my homework there. She was probably
trying to justify the impact the purchase would have on our quiescent
family budget, but as I was watching drivers applying makeup in their
cars this morning on their way to work, I realized she might have been
right about the meaning of a car to Americans. Maybe one reason for our
destructive attachment to large vehicles stems from the fact that they
aren’t just a way to get from here to there: they actually are living quarters.

Funny how an article that starts out talking about how penny-wise wives check their husbands’ profligate stupidity (”We were newly married with no money to be spending on stereos,” said the only sane person interviewed in the entire article) evolves into a pro-consumerism booster that equates empowered, working women with the need to buy more stuff:

The rules in their seven-year marriage were established long ago. If an item costs, say, $1,000, “I’ll run it past her,” said Frost, a Boston money manager. “If I really want it, I might get her the same thing.” In place of a motorcycle, he got a Nissan 350Z. She got a Honda Element. “It was to my benefit, the whole motorcycle thing,” she said.

Thanks to this article, we can now conclude that:

1. Husbands and wives are engaged in a spending war against each other (the real winners: retailers and manufacturers);
2. Because most wives now work, the average American family needs to buy twice as much stuff as they used to — for no other reason than because they can;
3. Women are a bunch of irrational, appearance-obsessed spendthrifts who are driving families to penury and filling our landscapes by replacing perfectly working household appliances with less-functional and more expensive — but more feminine-looking — equivalents.

Blatant advertising disguised as news through the use of gender stereotypes — it’s like Parade Magazine took over the Globe.

Is it any accident that simultaneous to a huge TV advertising push for
“drugs” like Cialis, we suddenly get bombarded by spam advertising
Cialis? Take this one I just got, for example:

Super Viaggra - CIALIS is Here - as seen during the SUPER BOWL
Dubbed “The Weekend Pill”

* LONGER LIFE
Up to 36 hours
compared to 4 hours for viagra

* ACTS FASTER
from as little as 15 minutes
compared to 60 minutes for viagra

* BEST SEX EVER
solid erection and only whenever you need it.
With cialis YOU are in control

“Cialis works in 15 minutes and lasts for 36 hours giving you
strong healthy erections whenever you want or need them!”

Er… so, basically, Cialis gets to push its marketing message without a single warning or disclaimer. Well, except for this:

synagogue tomato schaefer bedpost mulligatawny vehement
estonia nomograph orin determinate sight yin paranoid consular godlike
hyman disembowel zest antipasto fur cloven crush o’connell deportee
blinn arteriosclerosis confirmatory elaborate cornelia dependent
tambourine
wY

Personally, the combination of “synagogue,” “tomato,” and “bedpost”
is enough to get my engines revvin’! (Thanks also to
POPFile, the open source solution to spam).