Windows XP is gone, but Windows Vista is not an acceptable replacement. What now? Is Microsoft's forced death of XP also ending the era of useful Windows PCs?

Rider's Financial Advice of the Week: Buy food.

Three reasons:

1. Inflation -– our dollar is losing value because we put so many in circulation via the mechanics of the Federal Reserve.

2. Growing demand for food worldwide -– especially in the rapidly developing nations such as China and India.

3. Floods in the U.S., and droughts elsewhere -– especially Australia. More than usual this year, apparently.

My column in North County Times questioning the ancillary functions of public libraries brought a storm of protest from library lovers. Well, a squall at least.
http://nctimes.com/articles/2008/05/29/opinion/rider/doc483ee3f9b66bd295...

What struck me about the criticism is that many of these supposedly well-educated folks apparently read no further than the headline before firing away in the online comments section. Either that, or their vaunted reading comprehension remains at third-grade level.

The California unemployment figures for May 2008 constitute some misleading good news. We moved from the third worst state in April to the fifth worst state in May.

The bad news is that California's improvement is due to the fact that a handful of other states' unemployment rates are rising even faster. Michigan -– which used to build cars -– is in the toilet with an 8.5% unemployment rate.

Feel any better?

Here's an excellent article from an odd source: Karl Rove. Printed in the Wall Street Journal, this piece exposes the economic nonsense of both Obama and McCain when it comes to raising taxes on oil companies. Good stuff.

I've been suspicious about all the exhortations to save gas by driving slower. Of course, it is true -– to some degree. But just how much? And what's that savings worth per hour?