There's just one problem: there isn't going to be a non-white majority in the US in the 21st century. And probably not in the 22nd or 23rd, either. The "coming non-white majority" myth is based on a misuse of the arbitrary racial classification system adopted in the 1970s, which assigns all Americans to the categories of white, black, Asian, native American or "Hispanic." According to the government, "Hispanics" may be of any race as long as they are of Latin American ancestry. So, a blond, blue-eyed Argentinian-American whose grandparents showed up from Germany in Argentina mysteriously in 1946 is a "Hispanic" while an Arab-American Muslim is a "non-Hispanic white."

The myth of the non-white majority is based on treating "Hispanic" as the name of a race. Adding all Hispanics to all blacks and Asians makes it possible to claim that California and Texas already have "non-white" majorities, and that the US as a whole will follow in the second half of this century. But if you don't treat Hispanics as members of a single race, then the picture looks quite different. According to the census bureau, the US population in 2050 will look like this: non-Hispanic white, 50.1 per cent; Hispanic, 24.4 per cent; Asian, 8 per cent; black, 14.6 per cent, with a small residuum in other categories. The non-Hispanic white share of the population will drop from 69.4 per cent in 2000 to a bare majority in 2050.

...

Nor is there any long-term danger of the US becoming permanently polarised between anglophones and Spanish speakers. Among second-generation Hispanics, roughly half speak no Spanish at all, while fewer than 10 per cent speak only Spanish. By the third and fourth generations, Hispanics in the US are almost completely anglophone. In their rate of linguistic assimilation, they resemble the European immigrants of earlier generations. The claim that in a globalised, wired world the incentives for linguistic assimilation are weakened appears to be false, at least in the case of American Hispanics. And they are the only group that count, in this respect, because all other linguistic minorities in the US are negligible, as a percentage of the total population.

If you put these trends together, you get a mega-trend that is the opposite of the conventional wisdom: when the most recent, yet-to-be-assimilated immigrants are factored out, the long-term trend in the US is towards less racial, cultural and linguistic diversity. There are some causes for concern, notably the possibility that the bipolar white/non-white system will give way to a black/non-black system, with blacks excluded from an informal social definition of "whiteness" that includes Hispanics and Asians. Nonetheless, the melting pot, which blends previously disparate groups into a single group, is still working in the US. In the 20th century, the melting pot turned once-distinct Anglo-Americans, Germans, Irish, Poles, Greeks, Jews, Italians and Lebanese into boringly similar "non-Hispanic whites." In this century, the American melting pot will blend most of today's old and new racial groups into a single English-speaking American cultural majority of mixed, mostly European ancestry.

America still works

A few years ago, at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, I noticed something strange on the departure boards. American Airlines had three flights scheduled that afternoon from ORD to Boston, and all were apparently operating on time. United, on the other hand, had three flights scheduled from ORD to Boston, but none were operating on time. In fact, all three United flights showed "canceled."

I smelled a rat. I went to the United counter and asked the reason for the cancellations. "Weather."

Weather? The airlines couldn't have it both ways. Either American Airlines pilots were irresponsible, crazy air jockeys who were going to tease the gods and fly into the face of serious storms, or United's official cancellation reason was a convenient untruth.

I checked the weather in both Chicago and Boston: totally clear.

I went back out to the United gates and informed the counter agents that I knew the weather was fine and also explained that all the American flights were operating without problem. And then I invoked Rule 240 — which states that in the event of any flight delay or cancellation caused by anything other than weather, the airline would fly me on the next available flight — not their next available flight, which might not leave for another 24 hours.

And guess what happened? A lot of United passengers made it to Boston that day — on American.

Stranded at the airport? Don’t forget Rule 240 - TODAY: Travel - MSNBC.com

Super handy mileage calculator, even handles promotions, elite bonuses, etc.

MileCalc :: The Ultimate Mileage Calculator for Frequent Flyers

I flew 65,000 MQMs in 6 months, so Delta hooked me up with Platinum Medallion, which is supposed to take 75,000 MQMs. I am very pleased.

SkyMiles frequent flyer program benefits

Fortunately for America's 95 million investors, Adams' secret nine-point formula was finally revealed in "Dilbert and the Way of the Weasels." Notice its simple brilliance in the exact reproduction of his formula:

1.
Make a will
2.
Pay off your credit cards
3.
Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4.
Fund your 401k to the maximum
5.
Fund your IRA to the maximum
6.
Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
7.
Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
8.
Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
9.
If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

Adams boldly states that this is "everything you need to know about personal investing." In just 129 words, nine simple points, one page you have the unabridged "Unified Theory of Everything Financial." That's it. Everything!

'Dilbert's' 9-point financial plan worthy of economics Nobel - MarketWatch

Delta talks with Northwest, United are confirmed by Congressman

Delta officials are formally discussing merger possibilities with executives from both Northwest and United, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., confirmed in a Tuesday interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune (free registration). Oberstar says he met with two high-ranking Northwest executives Tuesday, saying: "They confirmed that Delta is looking at a Northwest option and a United Airlines option for a merger. Northwest sees a benefit to them of a merger with Delta." And if Delta opts for a United option, "then Northwest clearly feels a pressure to protect itself in the marketplace and will look for a [new] partner," says Oberstar, who is also chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

I made platinum on Delta. Wonder if I'll get to use it? Ugh, I hate United's program.

Delta - Today In the Sky - USATODAY.com

Atlanta
Location:
Mail Recovery Center
5345 Fulton Industrial Boulevard SW
Atlanta, GA 30378-2400

Directions: From Interstate 20 East or West, exit at Fulton Industrial Boulevard and continue South for approximately 3 miles. After 3 miles, exit right onto Bucknell Drive, then right at the next street which is Bucknell Court. Follow this drive around to the stop sign and the Mail Recovery Center will be on the right.

Inspection of Merchandise: 8:30 am - 10:00 am
Auction Time: 10:00 am - Completion

USPS - Auctions

It is the only explanation for what we are seeing. The markets should be selling off like crazy, given the financial problems. They are not. They keep bouncing back, no matter how hard they are driven down. That money is not coming from the financial institutions and hedge funds that got ripped on mortgages. But it is coming from somewhere. We think that somewhere is the land of $90-per-barrel crude and really cheap toys.

Many people will see this as a tilt in global power. When others must invest in the United States, however, they are not the ones with the power; the United States is. To us, it looks far more like the Chinese and Arabs are trapped in a financial system that leaves them few options but to recycle their dollars into the United States. They wind up holding dollars — or currencies linked to dollars — and then can speculate by leaving, or they can play it safe by staying. In our view, these two sources of cash are the reason global markets are stable.

Energy prices might fall (indeed, all commodities are inherently cyclic, and oil is no exception), and the amount of free cash flow in the Arabian Peninsula might drop, but there still will be surplus dollars in China as long as it is an export-based economy. Put another way, the international system is producing aggregate return on capital distributed in peculiar ways. Given the size of the U.S. economy and the dynamics of the dollar, much of that money will flow back into the United States. The United States can have its financial crisis. Global forces appear to be stabilizing it.

The Chinese and the Arabs are not in the U.S. markets because they like the United States. They don’t. They are locked in. Regardless of the rumors of major shifts, it is hard to see how shifts could occur. It is the irony of the moment that China and the Arabian Peninsula, neither of them particularly fond of the United States, are trapped into stabilizing the United States. And, so far, they are doing a fine job.

Friedman Writes Back » China and the Arabian Peninsula as Market Stabilizers

"We � found that your usage over the past 30 days exceeded 10 Gigabytes. � This level of usage is so extraordinarily high that it could only have been attained by activities, such as streaming and/or downloading movies and video, prohibited by the terms and conditions," Verizon said in a terse letter.

Hope I don't get hit with this.

Verizon Limits Its "Unlimited" Wireless Broadband Service

Supporting Innovation: Georgia Tech Edison Fund Provides Funding for Early-Stage Technology Companies
November 9, 2007

Thomas Edison often receives credit for inventing the electric light bulb, though his real accomplishment was in making the device -- as well as the phonograph and motion picture camera -- commercially successful. That focus on commercializing innovation is now providing the foundation for a new venture bearing Edison's name at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

071022AP252_eii.jpg
Stephen Fleming, Georgia Tech's chief commercialization officer, will manage the new Georgia Tech Edison Fund.
Launched by a multi-year grant from the Charles A. Edison Fund -- which is named for the inventor's son, a successful businessman and former governor of New Jersey -- the Georgia Tech Edison Fund will provide seed funding for early-stage technology companies that have a close association with Georgia Tech.

"We will focus on startups at the very early stage, because that's the hardest money for an entrepreneur to find," explained Stephen Fleming, Georgia Tech's chief commercialization officer and manager of the new fund. "Once companies have customers, a product and some traction in the marketplace, they can interest larger investors."

Early stage funding in Georgia.

Memestreams: hit this guy up for some cash to sell meme appliances to businesses.

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