I finally plugged the charger into the new phone after two weeks and it still had two of five bars left on the battery indicator. Now I’m going to have to leave myself reminders, because I will start forgetting to check it, at this rate.

This is the first battery powered device I have ever owned that actually exceeded its published stand-by duration.

The US media is firmly ignoring the 47 million people who just had their food budgets cut, while highlighting the fact that a small number of people might have to pay a little more than last year to receive a much better health insurance policy than they had.

Of course people in the media know someone who buys health insurance, but people who need food stamps aren’t part their circle of acquaintances, which makes them invisible.

Digby found a discussion on the 2012 income numbers which is as bad as I thought it would be, and confirms what people who are paying attention already know. The median wage was $27,519, which is $4 less than last year because of inflation, while the average wage is up to $42,498.

The median wage is the point at which half of workers make more, while the other half makes less. If the average wage increases and the median wage doesn’t, it means that all of the increase is going to the people at the top. Currently two-thirds of all workers make less than the average wage.

The median wage has dropped $980 since its peak in 2007, this is despite the fact that the Federal minimum wage has increased from $5.15/hour in July, 2007 to $7.25/hour in July, 2009. All of the money is going to the top.