What’s in a hate crime?

Gunman Shoots 6 at Seattle Jewish Center

Authorities said a man walked into the Jewish agency on Friday and opened fire, killing one woman and injuring at least five others in what they call a hate crime. Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of homicide and attempted homicide, police said.

“Hate crime?” Exactly what would have to be different for the press to call this what it is? This is terrorism.

Da Vinci Code pegs the silly needle

Someone said “Getting religion from the Da Vinci Code is like getting science from Star Trek.”

Frankly, this Da Vinci Code stuff is embarrassingly silly… a preposterous conspiracy-theory-fiction book that people have latched on to as “proof” that Jesus is not God.

It seems ridiculous to me that anyone should have to defend the Bible from a fictional story, but it is interesting to see just how many absurd ideas have been embraced as “true” by so many people. Check out The Da Vinci Code Myth.

If the Da Vinci Code bears any resemblance to actual history, then Disney’s National Treasure is incontrovertible proof that the founding fathers of the USA hide billions in treasure under the streets of Washington.

Business reading: Google and Commodore

Current business reading: The Google Story. I’m about a third of the way through this book about the guys who started Google and the empire they created. It’s an interesting read, but its clear the author is in awe of the folks behind Google. If you can get past that, though, there is something here for you, assuming you like to read about how successful businesses started (as I do).

A more interesting (in my opinion) business book that I recently read is On The Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore. If you have a fondness for the early Commodore machines, as I do for the Commodore 64, you’ll enjoy this book packed with insider information about how Commodore became the most powerful and successful personal computer company in history, only to lose it all in the end.

Tearing up a credit card application isn’t enough

The Torn-Up Credit Card Application

Do you think tearing up those fifty credit card applications you get every week is good enough? Think again.

This guy received a credit card application in the mail. He tore it up into tiny pieces, taped it back together, changed the address on it, and then mailed it back to the credit card company.

And they sent the card to the new address.

Unbelievable. Glad I use a shredder!