This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US department of energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the national oceanographic and atmospheric administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the national aeronautics and space administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US department of agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the food and drug administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the national institute of standards and technology and the US naval observatory, I get into my national highway traffic safety administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the environmental protection agency, using legal tender issued by the federal bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US postal service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because the state and local building codes and fire Marshal’s inspection, and in additional to which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log on to the internet which was developed by the defense advanced research projects administration and post rants on freerepublic.com and FOX News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can’t do anything right.

Say no to ObamaCare

NEW YORK – Drugstore operator Walgreens will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics — though patients will still pay for precriptions.

Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance.

Hal Rosenbluth, chairman of the Take Care Health Systems division, described the plan as something close to an experiment: He said Walgreens isn’t sure of patient demand or how much providing the services might cost the company.

It’s likely to generate more attention for the clinics, however. Rosenbluth said a typical Take Care patient tells eight other people about his or her experience. So far, about 30 percent of Take Care patients were new customers to Walgreens.

The program is expected to last through the end of 2009. Walgreens runs 341 Take Care clinics in 35 markets around the country, including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Cleveland.

Free services will be offered only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walgreens said it will not offer free checkups, vaccinations or other injections because it is focusing on providing services patients might otherwise get at an urgent-care center or even an emergency room.

Patients must present proof they are unemployed, including a federal or state unemployment determination letter and an unemployment check stub. They will have to sign a form at the clinic saying they have lost their jobs and health benefits. If they find a new job or get new health insurance, they will no longer be eligible for free care.

Spouses and children are also eligible for free services if they don’t have insurance of their own.

Medical lab operator Quest Diagnostics is participating in the program by offering free tests for step throat and urinary tract infections.

Walgreens bought the Take Care clinics in May 2007. Take Care says it has seen about 1.2 million patients since its launch in November 2005 and estimates that up to 30 percent of them were uninsured.

from Yahoo News!

I always thought that using a debit vs. a credit card was the same thing, other than that it takes the funds directly out of your checking account. I mean, the card looks like a credit card, it’s a MasterCard or Visa, has 16 numbers, etc.

Big difference is:

When you use a credit card to make a purchase, if it turns out that you are unsatisfied, or if something goes wrong that makes you feel you got ripped off or that the vendor did not deliver their end of the transaction as promised, you can contest the charges and your credit card company will investigate the dispute. If they find that your evidence supports your allegation, they will reverse the payment from the vendor and return your money.

Ive done this a couple times- once for example, when I bought a plane ticket to meet some musician friends on tour in Europe. They had a tight tour schedule and I was planning on hooking up with them at one of their stops. Well, the flight was canceled for some reason, and the soonest they could put me on another plane was the next day- at which point my friends would be long gone and my flight to that destination was no longer relevant. The airline refused to refund my ticket. I went through my credit card company and they got me my money back.

With a debit/check card, you can’t do this, because it’s the same thing as writing a check. Once that money exchanges hands, any disputes over your purchase would have to be done through small claims or the better business bureau.

Think about this the next time you pay for something like a car repair or a service, or an expensive piece of mail-order merchandise. If you think there’s even a remote chance you could get screwed, or if the vendor is in Iowa or something and too far away for legal action, always use a credit card vs. a Debit/check card.

from Best of Craigslist

So, how quickly would you burn through half a million?

When President Barack Obama last week announced a $500,000 salary cap on pay for top brass at institutions receiving federal bailout funds, a collective shudder went through the corner offices of Manhattan. And the private clubs. And the trading floors.

You see, an estimated 75,000 New Yorkers earn more than $500,000 a year, according to 2007 data compiled by the Manhattan Institute, an economic think tank. Few of them carry the august C-suite titles targeted by the anti-exec crowd in the government bailout debate. Most are simply managing directors, partners and senior vice presidents of something or other.

The Big O vows to change the "culture of excess." In light of the crusade against seven-figure incomes, Crain’s conducted a highly unscientific survey of the typical expenses of a Manhattan banking Brahmin to see how far $500,000 would take him or her. While half a million won’t punt anyone to skid row, the results were not pretty.

Federal, state and city taxes cut that $500K nearly in half. The remainder is all but gone before groceries touch the granite countertop in the Park Avenue apartment or back-to-school clothes arrive for the two kids attending Brearley and Harvard. Never mind medical bills, holiday presents or the therapy sessions needed to adjust to the new regime.

"No doubt: If you were the guy who was making $20 million, and starting a month from now you’ll only be making $500,000 for the rest of the year, that is a huge, huge adjustment," says Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

It’s an adjustment some top brass may be unwilling to make. Within a day of the president’s announcement, Goldman Sachs announced intentions to opt out of the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and repay its $10 billion federal loan in short order. The salary caps are not retroactive, but Goldman nonetheless cited a desire to limit government "scrutiny and pressure."

Plenty of other executives may have reason to be wary. "If the person has no capital to withstand this financial ‘limitation,’ then he’s in deep trouble," says Neil Berkow, a CPA whose New York area practice mostly serves high-net-worth individuals. "He’s going to have to move out, sell things, especially someone who works in the $1 million range. He’s using that money just to live."

Some may wonder what part of their lives must change. Will the weekend home in Connecticut get the ax? (Good luck dumping it in today’s market.) Perhaps the membership at the Westchester Country Club? A recent survey of the Metropolitan Golf Association’s 200 clubs showed that 75% of respondents expect a big spike in leave-of-absence requests from members this year. Birdies and eagles won’t be the only endangered species in New York.

LIFE ON A FERRAGAMO SHOESTRING BUDGET

INCOME: $500,000

TAXES: $201,070
You’re the top—tax bracket, that is. Washington, Albany and City Hall together
gobble up about 40% of your paycheck.

REMAINING: $298,930

HOUSING: $75,000
Figure $4,000 a month maintenance fees for the Park Avenue co-op and $15,000 a year in property taxes for the second home. Garage: $12,000.

REMAINING: $223,930

CHILDREN: $106,275
Includes tuition at Brearley ($33,025) and a year at Harvard ($52,650). Music lessons, sports teams and tutors quickly add up to another $8,000.

REMAINING: $117,655

CHARITIES: $25,000
Civic involvement is typically part of a top executive’s job description. A common charitable benchmark is 5% of your gross income.

REMAINING: $92,655

SOCIAL: $33,000
Harvard Club dues are $2,000 a year per couple, and Westchester County golf clubs typically charge $16,000; food and entertaining tabs are another $15,000.

REMAINING: $59,655

VACATIONS: $36,000
Three weeks at $12K a week for a family of four.

REMAINING: $23,655

FOOD: $15,000
Groceries for four ($10,000 a year), plus meals out (fancy and kidfriendly) two to three times a week.

REMAINING AMOUNT: $8,655

CLOTHING: $16,700
Total includes two new men’s suits per year at $3,000 a pop.

FINAL: $-8,045

Figures are rounded and assume that tax deductions have offset any investment income.

Sources: NYS Dept. of Tax and Finance, school Web sites, Manhattan Institute, National Retail Federation, U.S. Census Bureau, Zagat, Metropolitan Golf Association

from Crains New York

"History of the internet" is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet.
The history is told using the PICOL icons on picol.org , which are available for download soon. On blog.picol.org you can get news about this project.
Voice-over by Steve Taylor http://voice-pool.com

You can get more information on this movie on my website
http://www.lonja.de/motion/mo_history…
or on the PICOL-Project site where you can download a pre-release of the icons.
http://blog.picol.org/

Credits for subtitles:
(The correctness of the subtiles depends on the people listed down here)
English: Stefan Badragan | youtube.com/StevXtreme
Italian: Stefan Badragan
German: me
French: Arnaud ‘dehy’ DE MOUHY
Bulgarian: Andrian Georgiev
Chinese: Terry Lee
Portuguese (Brazilian): Guilherme Euler
Also thanks to: Frederico Goncalves Guimaraes

Dear Mr. Limbaugh,
The Associated Press reports your new contract with Premiere Radio Networks will enrich you with at least $38 million a year over the next eight years. You are making this money on the public property of the American people for which you pay no rent.

You, Rush Limbaugh, are on welfare.

As you know, the public airwaves belong to the American people. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to be our trustee in managing this property. The people are the landlords and the radio and TV stations and affiliated companies are the tenants.

The problem is that since the Radio Act of 1927 these corporate tenants have been massively more powerful in Washington, DC than the tens of millions of listeners and viewers. The result has been no payment of rent by the stations for the value of their license to broadcast. You and your company are using the public’s valuable property for free. This freeloading on the backs of the American people is called corporate welfare.

It is way past due for the super-rich capitalist–Rush Limbaugh from Cape Girardeau, Missouri–to get himself off big time welfare. It is way past due for Rush Limbaugh as the Kingboy of corporatist radio to set a capitalist example for his peers and pay rent to the American people for the very lucrative use of their property.

You need not wait for the broadcast industry-indentured FCC and Congress to do the right thing. You can lead by paying a voluntary rent–determined by a reputable appraisal organization–for the time you use on the hundreds of stations that carry your words each weekday.
Payment of rent for the use of public airwaves owned by the American people is the conservative position. Real conservatives oppose corporate welfare. Real corporatists feed voraciously from hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare gushing out of Washington, DC yearly.
Whose side are you on? Freeloading? Or paying rent for the public property you have been using free for many years?

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely yours,
Ralph Nader
PO Box 19312
Washington, DC 20036

We all know the impact that the current economic slowdown has had on Circuit City, but the question over what ultimate impact Circuit City’s collapse will have on the economy will take a little longer to figure out. One thing is for sure, the company’s collapse could not have come at a worse time for the overall economy.

The first ripple that the market is going to feel is the vacancies that the company is going to leave in its wake after closing its doors. The company was operating 567 stores at the time it announced it was going under, and these stores represented a total square footage of 18.71 million square feet.

The real estate market is fragile enough at this time, and adding this much unused property to the mix is not going to help things out. Shopping centers that are already feeling the impact of a slowdown in consumer spending are going to be hit with less rental income at a time when every penny counts.

But the ripple effect is only beginning at this point.
The country is dealing with a sharp rise in unemployment over the past year, and Circuit City is about to unleash a massive amount of workers into an already fragile workforce. The company employed roughly 40,000 workers that are going to be looking for new work, and this is on top of an additional 7,000 employees that the company was forced to lay off during 2008.
What impact will all these workers losing their jobs have on the economy is tough to say. We already know that they are increasing an already rising unemployment situation, but it goes deeper than that. What percentage of these people are going to find themselves behind on their bills, mortgages, credit cards, etc.? This would create even further pressure on the housing market and the credit markets.
The company’s suppliers are also going to take a hit. Companies such as Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Samsung and Sony (NYSE: SNE) are just a few that will find it hard to collect monies owed to them. The company owes Hewlett Packard $120 million, Samasung $115 million and Sony $60 million. While these companies are big enough and diverse enough to deal with these losses, all of these companies have been dealing with tough times of their own, and this will definitely not help the situation. continued at BloggingStocks.

I think you’ve seen the super bowl commercial with Ed McMahon and Mc Hammer. If not its embedded.

You see, i thought, Cash4Gold seems a little too good, no way they offer the right amount for peoples gold and i did some searching around on Google. Turns out people who send in $2000 worth in gold get offered $27! for their goods, if you dont like that and call it back they offer you double that, if not then triple the original amount. if you choose not to get any of those you give them $10 dollars to ship the items back to you.

Its the standard triple offer and waste your time deal where if you are careless they will take advantage of you, Especially if you use the Fast Cash option and have them direct deposit their FIRST offer directly into your bank account. After Fast Cash there is no one to complain to and get your items back or get a higher appraisal. You are screwed.

The internet is filled with stories about Cash4Gold and here is the kicker, an ex Cash4Gold employee explains how the company handles gold, diamond, and ruby submissions. More consumer complains, info, and links at the end of the post.

"I would like an article to be posted pertaining to the refinery Cash 4 Gold, located in Pompano Beach, Fl. I am a former employee, who would like to alert/warn the public on the scamming process involved with this company. There are many of us who would like to vouch on behalf of this fast growing scam. We would like to get the word out to everyone on this step by step scam which involves so many people in this country and their valuables.

Below I have attached the full details on the scam involving this company. We know this first hand, because this is how we were trained. Please take note of this information and do what you can to get the word out there, especially in a time when the economy has truly affected everyone for the worst. Thank you!

I am a former employee of Cash 4 Gold. I did not know much about the company before being hired. On my first day of being hired, I was taught the "Cash 4 Gold Scam" from beginning to end.

1. The "refiner’s pack" that is used for you to put your jewelry is "insured for UP TO 100 dollars, " according to how much they determine from a description from you, the worth of your items to be, NOT an actual fully researched appraisal.

2. We receive your "Refiner’s Pack" within 3-4 days, BUT we are instructed to tell you that it takes "7-10 business days, for us to receive your pack, ALTHOUGH many times, your package has already arrived.
(All cash4gold customers who have called customer service to track a package can vouch for this)

3. Your jewelry gets appraised by hand, a magnifying glass, a plastic container, a small weight pad, and a bottle of ORANGISH fluid, which your items are then determined a value for. Not million dollar equipment or specially trained jewelry experts. The company was temporarily closed recently due to health and code violations. I have witness testers being transported to Medical Centers, due to the testing department environment. There is literally a cloud of smoke in the air from acid and other testing material. If you were thinking it was some state-of-the-art testing facility, you thought WRONG.

4. Although the payment (check) for your item is dated within 24 hrs of testing your jewelry, we SOMETIMES DO NOT actually send out the check until up to 3-4 days later. (if you are a customer check the date the check was issued against the stamped date on the envelope.)

5. We do offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee or your jewelry returned, BUT THE CATCH IS, that the guarantee is to contact us within 10 DAYS from when your check is DATED. (This begins with the time it took for the accounts payables dept. to ISSUE the check and also including the TRANSIT TIME for you to receive your check in the mail. **** NOTATE THE COMMERCIALS THAT INSINUATE THAT YOU GET YOUR CASH IN 24 HRS.*** If you request (sign) for FAST CASH (direct deposit) you automatically WAIVE your rights to have your items returned, EVEN if you are not satisfied with amount of your deposit.

6. You generally receive your check around the "7th-10th" business day, AND majority of the time Customers are outraged when they lay eyes on the amount of their check. Some Customer’s even receive a check for 0.01 cents.

7. There have been times when we have received your package and MISPLACED or LOST it at the facility. We CLAIM to not have received the items and even try to convince you that it was lost in the hands of USPS. At which point we begin an insurance claim process on your package. We ask you to send us an itemized list of the content of the package, trying to be as descriptive as you possible can (if you can remember everything in full detail) and a copy of your state issud ID. We then issue an INSURANCE CLAIM for UP TO 100 dollars. GOD FORBID your items are worth more then a 100 dollars. If you call customer service to check on the status of your shipment, and we actually have not received your package, we inform you of the insurance claim process. For those who know that their items are worth more than a hundred dollars, they become very upset and threaten to take action against the company, at that point we inform the customer that if they knew their items were worth more they should have added additional insurance at the Post Office. BUT unless you are paying to ship your items in a completely different package other then the refiner’s kit, you are unable to add insurance to the package.

8. For those who do get in touch with us within the allotted time frame, we already know what you are calling about. Customers want their items returned, because there
check amount is so insultingly LOW. The first thing a Rep will
ask you is "HOW MUCH WERE YOU EXPECTING TO GET BACK?" This way we can know how much to "BONUS" you.

*Definition of a BONUS: We issue low checks just to have you call us back if you are smart enough to realize that you just got scammed. For the smart one’s we are paid to offer u a bonus up to 3x the original amount of your check and you accept. For ex: Sally Smith receives a check for $27.86 for a Rolex watch(which we don’t issue value for), a class ring, a ring with diamond chips, a pair of earrings with emeralds, as well as a few sterling silver pieces, and maybe a few items that were really of no value. Now Sally Smith calls the cust srvc dept, where she speaks to a rep who seems so concerned and will see if she can do better with the amount by speaking to a "SUPERVISOR". We then place the caller on Mute, and speak to our neighbors or doodle on a sheet, or twiddle with our hair for about 45 seconds, while we are supposedly speaking to our supervisor about Ms. Smith’s complaint. We then come back with an offer to "BUMP UP YOUR MELT DATE or any other lies the cust srvc reps can think of, and offer you a total amount of $53.20 which is a little under double the amount of your original check; in which case if you accept, the cust srvc rep makes a 15.00 bonus off of your transaction. If the customer service rep offers you under triple the amount of your orig check, he/she makes 10.oo in bonuses.

9. If you accept the offer, the deal is done, and you are told that the call is recorded (which most of the time, the record button does not work, or the box if full.)It’s just a way to make your feel binded by a verbal contract. IF you do not accept the deal, you have to return your check, and it takes sometimes up to a month to receive your items back after we receive the check.

10. If you only want the items that we do not find of any value back, you have to pay 10.00 shipping and handling fee to have your own items returned, which varies. Although it is listed under the terms and conditions, this charge varies from a 10.00-15.00 charge to NO charge, reason being, UNSURE.

Cash 4 Gold is definitely not a trustworthy or credible company to do business with. You are almost better off taking your items to a local pawn shop or shopping around for other companies. With the economy the way it is, Cash 4 Gold seems to be a way out of financial stress for some, but in actuality becomes a stress of its own. I would advise you to think twice before sending in valuables or items inherited and of sentimental value, its not worth it." from ComplaintsBoard

Cash 4 Gold even went as far as offer a blogger money to remove his negative review of them. $3000 to be exact. What a ludicrous company. Everyone feel free to spread this around.

Consumerist How to Avoid Getting Ripped off by Cash4Gold

Consumerist article 2

Stephen Colbert dishes it on republicans, on 1/29.

-