GetGo Competitors Complain

When I moved to Pittsburgh, I noticed GetGo , a chain of gas stations partially owned by Giant Eagle. At first I didn't care much, but then I found out that for every $50 you spend at Giant Eagle, you get $.10/gallon off at GetGo. (This is all tracked using the Giant Eagle Advantage card.) I shop at Giant Eagle, so I was pleased to learn this, and also admired them for shaking up the stagnant gas market. (I asked my parents a couple of times while I was growing up why gas stations never had sales or coupons.)

So how do GetGo's competitors respond? Do they innovate and improve their business model? Of course not. Why do that when you can use the state government to try to end GetGo's discounts ?

The Petroleum Retailers and Auto Repair Association of Pittsburgh contends that the grocery chain is violating the Unfair Sales Act, a 1941 state law that prohibits selling merchandise "at cost or less than cost in order to attract patronage."

Selling things at a loss to attract business is illegal in Pennsylvania? In that case, all video game consoles ought to be banned. Also, we better stop Best Buy and other retailers from using loss leaders to get people into the store each week. Give me a break. I doubt that Giant Eagle is actually selling below cost, but even if they are, these crybabies need to go home.

Trackback Spam

The past month or so, I've been receiving a shit ton of trackback spam on this blog. I have trackbacks disabled, so they don't show up on any of my pages, but MovableType still accepts the trackbacks, which results in an email being sent to me. Based on a recommendation from Josh , I've installed MT-TrackbackAntiSpam , and the amount of trackback spam has fallen to zero. Now maybe I can turn trackback display back on...

Savings Accounts are Pointless

After receiving my monthly statement from Citizens Bank and talking with friends, I would like to point out that savings accounts at banks that have physical presences are pointless. My Citizens Bank Basic Savings account pays me a whopping 0.25% APY. Also, if I don't keep at least $100 in my account, they'll charge me $2/month.

Compare that to my ING Direct Orange Savings account (money market account), which has no minimum balance, no fees, and pays 2.60% APY. It's pretty obvious which is a better deal. In fact, the only reason I have a Citizens Bank savings account is because when I opened my checking account they were running a special offer. If I set up a savings account and scheduled a monthly transfer of $10 from my checking to savings, they'd give me $25 after 3 months. After I get my $25 in April, I'm going to close my savings account.

If you are interested in setting up an ING Direct account, let me know. If I send you a referral you'll get $25 and I'll get $10. You may also want to take a look at Bankrate.com , which lists the highest yielding money market accounts.

Dot-Con Job

The Seattle Times has published an excellent investigative report on the ridiculous business and accounting practices at InfoSpace during the dot-com boom. The report is quite detailed and spans three parts, but it's well worth taking time to read. What makes it especially interesting is the inclusion of company emails and voicemails that were obtained by subpoena. InfoSpace executives played a variety of shady games to boost revenues, engaged in schemes to bypass insider trading regulations, and inflated projections to an absurd level. The fact that none of these people have been investigated by the SEC, while Martha Stewart went to jail, is just stupid.

(The only part of the report not worth reading is the segment on "who lost", unless you want to hear from a moron who invested her life savings in Internet stocks or a day trader who is pissed that he lost $80,000.)

The Shield: Season 4

The Shield: Season 4 starts tomorrow night at 10pm on FX. The Shield is one of my favorite TV shows. Part of that is due to the ambiguity and complexity of the characters. Vic Mackey, the "protagonist" of the series and a guy you often find yourself liking, is a crooked cop who kills another officer in the first episode of the series.

Season 3 was a bit weaker than the first two seasons, so I'm hoping that Season 4 can return the show to its original glory. I have to admit that I'm worried about the addition of Glen Close to the series, though. The Shield has always relied on unknown actors/actresses that end up being really good (e.g., Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey). I don't want the addition of a big name to ruin that dynamic. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Tomorrow night I'll be looking forwarding to hearing daaahahaaaaaaaaaha hit (no, I have no idea what the hell is being said, if anything).

How to Start a Startup

Paul Graham has come through with another superb essay, How to Start a Startup . Reading this essay has reminded me that I've been meaning to read The Six Laws of the New Software .

Health Care as a "Right"

Whenever I get involved in a debate about the state of health care in this country, I invariably run into misguided people who believe that health care is a "right". Now it appears that this kind of stupidity has permeated Congress :

U.S. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, on Thursday introduced a resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution to guarantee health care as a right for every American.

I'm sorry, but health care can not and should not be a right. Think about some of the rights we do have, such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Such rights do not force anyone else to do anything - other than leave you alone. This is as it should be. The rights of one individual should never allow for the coercion of another individual. This is why there is no right to free food, free housing, or a free Buick . If you have a right to free housing, then someone on the supply side (e.g., a landlord) would be forced to give you this housing.

Getting back to health care, if health care is a "right", then who is supposed to provide this health care? Will you be allowed to walk into a doctor's office and say, "Hey doc, I'm not going to pay you, but you better treat me immediately because health care is my right!" Even though a "right to health care" might sound nice, some thought exposes this notion as being nearly as absurd as the right to a free Buick.

Note: The fact that there are so many people in this country that don't receive adequate health care is shameful. Please don't construe the above comments as callous indifference. However, the solution to the health care crisis not more government and socialized medicine. The incredible amount of governmental involvement in our current health care system is a large part of the problem.

MC Lars

MC Lars is my favorite artist of the moment. I mean, how could I not like a 22-year old rapper that goes to Stanford and produces "post-punk laptop rap"? He's got two songs available for download, iGeneration and Hurricane Fresh . You can also watch the new music video for Signing Emo . After you've become addicted, buy the rest of The Laptop EP from iTMS .

Here are my favorite lines from each rap:

• iGeneration: "The Berlin Wall fell and out we came, the post-Cold War kids laid claim to AIM. LOL, OMG, yo, BRB. Space, colon, dash, closed parenthesis."
• Hurricane Fresh: "So I take a chance, I rhyme white but so what? I like James Brown and Beyonce's butt. Whatever your race I'll Friendster you and rent two Spike Lee NetFlix too."
• Signing Emo: They auto-tune Blake, but he can't tell. He says, "I've got perfect pitch, damn I sing well." ProTools, Logic, cut, copy, paste, quantized solos and quantized bass.

MC Lars rules.

Last Exile

Just keep trying, keep on flying, I will be the light...

Last weekend I finished watching the anime series Last Exile . It was the best anime I've seen in quite some time, and I'd rank it just below Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop in my list of favorite shows.

The first thing that draws you into Last Exile is the setting. It takes place in an amazingly creative world which is a cross between the early 19th century and the future (think Master and Commander with anti-gravity engines). Against this backdrop two nations engage in a war, which is arbitrated by the mysterious Guild. The story focuses on Claus and Lavie, who are vanship pilots (a vanship is a small two-seat aircraft), and their adventures.

The story and character development is generally well done, although it takes awhile for the plot to get rolling. That's fine though, since the world is so interesting. My only major complaint about the series is that a number of plot elements are either underdeveloped or unexplained. This is especially prevalent near the end of the series. It feels like the creators had to rush to fit everything in 26 episodes. Even so, Last Exile is still a great series, with beautiful OAV-quality animation, and I highly recommend it to all anime fans.