A few of my local grocery stores often offer deep discount prices for shoppers who have signed up for the store’s shopper card.

Here’s how it works: In exchange for filling out a registration form with your name, address, telephone number, email address, etc., the store gives you a plastic card the size of a credit card. Then, every time you shop at that store, you are eligible to receive huge discounts on [more...]

Regular readers of this Journal know that I don’t trust online services with any of my private or confidential data.

And although I post messages in online computer support forums nearly every day, I have no need to participate in any “social networking” sites.

Judging by the emails that I receive, most users of online services and social networking sites [more...]

Regular readers of this Journal know that I’ve never trusted free online service providers like Google or Yahoo! with any of my personal or confidential data.

And I have absolutely no interest in storing any of my data — confidential or not — “in the cloud.”

So, instead of using online applications that [more...]

Chutzpah: n. (Slang) — 1892, from Yiddish khutspe “impudence, gall” from Heb. hutspah. The classic definition is that given by Leo Rosten: “that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.”

You would be hard-pressed to find a corporation that [more...]

In its latest public admission that its operating systems are woefully insecure against malicious attacks, Microsoft has issued a new security advisory with a special instruction:

“Microsoft told Windows XP users (yesterday) not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE).”

It seems to me that if you’re still using [more...]

It’s been proven over and over again.

Sports fans can’t do it.

Political pundits can’t do it.

Even television meteorologists with college degrees and [more...]

Okay, let’s say that you’re rich.

Rich enough to be able to buy a penthouse apartment in Manhattan.

And you’ve found what looks like a perfect one to buy.

But you’re also geeky. [more...]

I’m using a 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor as I type this.

And you’re probably using an LCD monitor to read this.

That’s because, in the past several years, light, flat, energy-efficient LCD screens have gotten cheap enough to replace nearly everyone’s heavy, energy-guzzling CRT monitors. [more...]

Everywhere you look, someone has advice on how to live longer.

“Eat more vegetables.”

“Exercise more.”

“Learn to reduce and deal with the stresses in your life.” [more...]

Regular readers of this Journal know that, in the past several months, I found several great deals on my local Craigslist, and they were all cash deals, done face-to-face, with sellers who live near me.

Years ago, I occassionally bought items on the eBay auction site, where I would bid on an item and then wait for the seller to ship it to me. I didn’t have any bad experiences with eBay, but I stopped using it after [more...]