Stock Market Darlings?!

Stock market crisis? What crisis? Atleast that's the case for Drug companies as more investors are turning attention to them.

Follow on to the article here.

Shelf Life Of Donated Blood

Add another reason to abstain from donating and using donated blood.

Recent studies question the shelf life of donated blood.
"Blood banks store freshly donated blood for up to six weeks before it is considered outdated and thrown away."
That begs the question - what percentage of donated blood is actually thrown away? Are the efforts of the donors in vain?

The article goes on to say: "But some recent studies suggest that people who receive transfusions of blood older than two or three weeks may suffer adverse effects.
Patients who received "older" blood were three times as likely to have suffered infections of the bloodstream, respiratory system, heart valves and other organs."

Then, is the whole system of donated blood and transfusions really helping people or is it just feeding the healthcare system with patients requiring longer term care?

This quote says it all: ""We were disturbed, but not surprised by the findings," says Dr. David Gerber, who led the study."

Note: the studies were done on blood used for transfusions

Read more in the article here.

I need a shot of testosterone!

Hey Doc! I need a shot of testosterone!

The NYTimes reports that Naglene, a brand that popularized water bottles made from hard, clear and near-unbreakable polycarbonate is to stop using the plastic because of growing concern over the ingredients used to make it.

Read more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/business/18plastic.html?ref=business
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thecheckout/2008/04/update_toys_r_us_to_pull_bottl.html?nav=rss_blog

Is Lying to Others a Form of Lying to Yourself?

A study published in the journal Emotion says that embellishing stories to friends is not really an attempt to deceive others, but rather, an attempt to express your true hopes and goals.
According to the article, "these self serving exaggerations are not lies, but future truths" as they are your goals that you intend to achieve.

My Take
A lie, is a lie. Whether you are pushing this untruth to others or yourself.
Webster dictionary puts it this way: 1: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive, 2: to create a false or misleading impression.

At one point or another, we may have done this with ourself and others - present company included ;-)
We may want to ask ourself:

• Am I really lying to myself and others by making these exaggerations?
• How will the person feel upon uncovering the untruth(s)?
• Could the untruth(s) cause the person to change their view of you?
  

It's a constant struggle, but maintaining our integrity will provide more satisfaction than an lie/untruth to make ourselves look better in other peoples eyes. This of the satisfaction as the same as what you get from accomplishing a goal you set out to achieve or finally finishing that building project.
We have to be happy with ourselves before we can make ourselves look better in other people's eyes!

Listen link

Eat Locally or Eat Differently?

Would you consider changing your eating habits if doing so will help the environment?
This article speaks about what is better, to eat locally or to eat differently and it's effect on the environment.

From the article: "'Eating local' has become an important concept among environmentally conscious communities in recent years. The impact on greenhouse gas emissions of becoming a "locavore," however, may not be as great as proponents had thought."

Read more here.

Should you stop wearing shoes?

Apart from evolution theories*, this article is an interesting read - especially for women. Even though I love the footwear my wife dons, some times I find my self asking her: "Is that really comfortable?" Usually the answer is "No, not for long!" Obviously she does it for the look.

Why should we look in to our shoes and walking habits? Well, the shoes that we wear may be forcing us in to bad habits that may lead to physical health issues.

From the article: "It took 4 million years of evolution* to perfect the foot, and humans have been wrecking that perfection with every step since they first donned shoes..."

Read more here.

*yes, it's a theory and not a fact. The missing link is still missing, remember? BTW- it's amazing how people put together a bunch of old bones and conjecturing that we evolved from chimps. FYI: Conjecture = which appears likely to be true, but has not been formally proven to be true

Women's Life Expectancy Dropping

According to a new study, a women's life expectancy is less than it was in the 1980's, in some parts of the U.S.
The study also reports that this happening more in the poorer areas of the country and blames smoking and obesity related diseases.

What should you watch for?

Listen Link

Can obesity cause global warming?!

This is an interesting article on obesity and it's 'carbon' footprint.
But can obesity cause global warming?!

From the article:"...two scientists write that obese people are disproportionately responsible for high food prices and greenhouse gas emissions because they consume 18% more food energy due to their greater body mass -- and require increased quantities of fuel to transport themselves and the food they eat."

You be the judge: click here for the article.

My new business opportunity

Let me start off by stating that I do not like MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) schemes.
I've been there and done that, with a lighter wallet to show for it.
By request, I recently looked in to Power Mall. The idea of not spending any money and receiving something for just signing up is tempting.
Friends, remember, nothing in life is free - other than love from family and friends :)
When you sign up and give your personal information - this can and will be used against you. By selling this information or sharing the info w/ other companies that advertise to you. Thus increasing our junk mail. We take this risk every time we create a new account on-line or entering prize drawings or any other "entry" slip that requires our information! That's just one of the ways for others to make money off you. So, check the privacy policies (if available) before signing up.

When I did the MLM thing - Quixtar(by Amway) online mall was my snare - you had to constantly recruit and buy from your own store. They had a few nice products and most was low to decent quality. I did my product research after I signed up, since I didn't have access to the product prices before hand. What I found was that I could buy the same/similar products, online and local, for cheaper than what I could at my own store! Even though their prices were "competitive", they were inline with the high dollar stores (think Macy's vs Nordstrom). Even after my "profit", the price was comparable to local stores.

So, the real way to make money was to recruit others, place them in your "down-line" and get them to buy from their store AND recruit others for their "down-line". As I understand it, MLM's usually work best...*ahem* you can profit from an MLM if you are near the top tiers - less than 8 up-line people. Most likely you'll not be in any one of those tiers. If you are, congratulations. I would love to hear from your experiences in the comments.

There's much more to say, but I'll summarize.

If you are thinking about joining an MLM, keep the following in mind:

1. How do I make money? (get details)
2. How do I receive my money? (get details)
3. Do I need to spend any money to get started?
4. What products or services will I be involved in?
5. How are the products or services marketed?
6. What assistance is provided to me for marketing and administration?
   
7. How much time will the marketing, administration and other business related activities take?
8. Do I need to be trained to sell or recruit others?
   
9. Does the training cost money? How long is the training?
10. Do I need to attend seminars or lecturing sessions (where you "learn" from high flying associates)?
    
11. Do these sessions cost money? (if yes, run away! These sessions can be a huge drain on your time and money. This is also a big source of income for the speakers - you're usually pushed to attend them and buy motivational tapes/cd's to keep you going in your business goals - unfortunately for you it all costs money!)
12. Do I need to attend regular business meetings? (see lecturing sessions)

I hope this helps in your search for a business opportunity or source of revenue.
Please keep in mind, time equals money. If you value your time highly, you may find your self making better choices for you and your family.

So, what's an hour of your time worth?
$10?
$20?
$40?
$80?
$- much more!
$- my time is sacred!!

Internet Fraud Losses Reach All-Time High

FBI Reports that Internet Fraud Losses Reach All-Time High. An excerpt:
"While the number of cases dropped, the amount of money lost to internet fraud reached an all-time high in 2007, a new government report states. 'According to the 2007 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 206,884 complaints of crimes perpetrated over the Internet during 2007. Of the complaints received, more than 90,000 were referred to law enforcement around the nation, amounting to nearly $240 million in reported losses. This represents a $40 million increase in reported losses from complaints referred to law enforcement in 2006.' The top ruses used by the fraudsters involved pets, romance and secret shoppers. The original report[Large PDF] is available online, and it contains some interesting graphs. One indicates that the two largest types of fraud are Auction Fraud and Non-delivery, which combine for over 60% of all cases. As Computerworld notes, men are more likely to fall for scams than women, and over 30% of losses are between $1,000 and $5,000. The report also contains data about the location of the perpetrators (Nigeria only accounts for 5.7%), age demographics, and contact methods."


Friends, read my past posts about internet scams (more to come) - numbers do not lie! It may happen to you, if you are not careful.

Traffic Light Tampering = Increased Red Light Camera Revenue

Well, there goes any semblance of public safety/concern by our elected public officials!

Jeff Nolan, in his blog, notes that six US cities have been caught decreasing the length of the yellow light below legal limits in an effort to catch more drivers running red lights and thus increase their revenue!
Remember all the people you supported/voted for to get a City Council seat(or any other public office) ?
They're claiming that this is for safety purposes, and it doesn't put people in danger of death or serious injury for the sake of the almighty dollar!

Apparently it's not just the mortgage crisis you have to worry about, but the mismanagement of funds by your City or Township. And of course, when their "revenue" starts to decline, you gotta pay.
I wonder, if misappropriation of funds can be reined in, wouldn't we have enough to support the infrastructure in your area?

Stolen Identity = Ruined Life

We've all heard about people going through identity theft or stolen credit cards with fraudulent charges, but how about when the stolen identity leads to a ruination of one's life and reputation?

An excerpt from an article on BBC:
"The BBC reports on the sad case of Simon Bunce. Mr. Bunce had his identity stolen, and credit cards were made to capitalize on the theft. Some of those cards were used at sites offering child pornography, and as a result Mr. Bunce was swept up in Operation Ore. The poor man was prosecuted for his 'crime', and was eventually found innocent, but in the meantime he lost his job. It took him six months to find another at a quarter of the salary."
The article goes on to report:
"Recent surveys suggest that as many as one in four Britons have been affected by it. In 2007 more than 185,000 cases of identity theft were identified by Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service, an increase of almost 8% on 2006.'"

So you ask, how are we affected by this?
The Internet is an International network, so what happens elsewhere on the Internet can affect us. Fraud is everywhere on the Internet. Malicious people from other countries such as Russia (or people from the U.S. through servers in other countries) break in to legitimate online businesses and steal information. This information is then sold to others who in turn may sell the information again or use it to create new lines of credit to make fraudulent charges.
There are also malicious people that create on-line stores to get personal information. Some actually sell real products, and some do not ship anything to you after you fill out your information and try to purchase their products.

So, if you shop on the Internet you should be aware of a few things:

1. On-line store's business address, hours of business and contact numbers
   
2. Validate the contact numbers by placing a call to ask some questions about the product or their policies - this bit of due diligence to ensure this is a real business
3. Use a major credit card for purchases online or use paypal that is tied to your major credit card.
4. Do NOT use your bank check card - this gives thieves direct access to your bank account!
   
5. Be aware of your credit report and preferably sign-up for a credit monitoring service that monitors all three of the major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) - I recommend myfico.com and selecting their Quarterly Monitoring service - the cheapest and most complete service I found - $50 per year. They have a 25% off sale going on now
6. Constantly check your credit cards online for charges. I check mine once a week or a few days after I make a purchase to ensure the charges shows up correctly and I also make sure my has product shipped
   

There are more items to keep in mind. In short, shred your important paperwork, using something like a variable cut shredder, keep a close eye on your credit report, keep an even closer eye on credit card charges and be choosy of your shopping site.

Slow Dance

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die?

Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift..Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower

Hear the music
Before the song is over.

-- by Unknown Name (supposedly by a terminally ill young girl)

Chain letters and Scams, Oh My!

Friends,

I am sad to write this post. Recently I received an email of a beautiful poem written by a terminally ill young girl with cancer.

The email brought out that "she wanted to see how many people will get her poem" and that the email was send by a doctor at her hospital. It also stated that "By you sending this to as many people as possible, you can give her and her family a little hope, because with every name that this is sent to, The American Cancer Society will donate 3 cents per name to her treatment and recovery plan." and "please pass it on as a last request".

I'm sad because I've seen too many of these types of emails play emotional havoc on the one reading it and wastes our time and energy on trying to help by forwarding it - which starts the process over on someone else.
I'm also sad because if it's true, how can they "track" all the ones that we forward this email to? Without including the original sender, there's no way for the sender to know. And thus, no way for you to help by forwarding the email.
This is a false hope and potentially false message. I encourage you to follow some simple steps before forwarding emails to others:
(verbiage from netmanners.com)

1. Don't forward anything without editing out all the forwarding >>>>, other email addresses, headers and commentary from all the other forwarders. Don't make folks look amongst all the gobbly-gook to see what it is you thought was worth forwarding. If you must forward, only forward the actual "guts" or content of the email that you are of the opinion is valuable.
2. Think carefully about if what you are forwarding will be of value (accurate information -- check for hoaxes @ Snopes.com), appreciated (something the recipient needs) or humorous (do they have the same sense of humor as you do) to the person on the other side. Or do you just think it is worthy? If you cannot think of why the person you are forwarding to would like to receive the email - then don't forward it.
3. It should go without saying (But I have to say it because folks do so anyway.) that forwarding of chain letters; regardless how noble the topic may seem, virus warnings or anything that says "forward to everyone you know" simply shouldn't be forwarded because in most cases it is plain old B.S. (again check before forwarding @ Snopes.com). Email is email--there is no chain to break or continue--no cause or effect whether you do or not. Also, the fact is not all commentary will be appreciated by the other side if they have a different viewpoint than you do--be very careful here.
4. If you must forward to more than one person, put your email address in the TO: field and all the others you are sending to in the BCC field to protect their email address from being published to those they do not know. This is a serious privacy issue! Do not perpetuate a breech of privacy started by other forwarders who included their contact's addresses in the To: or Cc: field by continuing to forward those visible addresses to your contacts! Remove any email addresses in the body of the email that have been forwarded by those who brush off the privacy of their friends and associates. - This is one of the ways that spammers get your email!!
   

The poem was beautiful, and I will post it here for you.

Click here for more email etiquette tips

Drugs in drinking water?!

A recent Associated Press investigation shows a vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans!

Read more here.
To view the print version (w/o ADs) click here.

Interesting points:
- waste water, once treated, is dumped to our rivers, reservoirs and such
- tap water is "treated water" acquired from water taken from the same rivers and reservoirs
- EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals!
- households with well water is not safe either!
- documented wildlife health problems around the globe! - imagine what it's doing to us!
- little money is being spent on human health consequences!

The article talks mainly about drinking water, but how about when we take a shower? Our body's largest organ is our skin! When we shower, our body absorbs the properties in the water! Example: our body receives a major amount of magnesium and zinc via showers or baths!

Makes me wish I had a whole house Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) system!

Think of all the people that do not know much about or can not afford a water filtration system!

Friends, it's sad to see the Earth and it's inhabitants are not being looked after in this system of things.

Tips to make your inbox less vulnerable to identity theft

Identity theft continues to be a big concern among Americans who engage in online transactions, and for good reason. Last year, an FTC survey found that 8.3 million American adults were victims of identity theft in 2005, and an alarming 85 percent reported that one or more of their existing accounts had been misused. Those accounts included email, credit card, banking, medical insurance, ...

Read more at: tech.yahoo.com

Stay away from Capital One!

If you've ever been enticed by the ads or mail offers for Capital One, please consider carefully before signing up with them.
Their no-hassle slogan is anything but true - from my experience.

Their customer service is horrible! False advertising and bait-and-switch methods, it seems, are visible just from scratching the surface.
I was enticed with a no-fee, no-hassle rewards card via a mail offer. After accepting the offer, I was charged a $29 annual fee. After discussing it with many a Customer Service Reps (CSR), and Supervisors and Managers, no one was able to revoke/credit this charge. After many days and unsuccessful attempts, I decided to make the best of it. I decided I would earn as much as possible in cash rewards to offset this charge.
So, I start to put charges on to the card. To keep my available line of credit high, I kept making online payments instead of waiting for the bill. This is where the fun starts! Some payments I make are allowed and clear up my available credit. However, others, especially larger payments, clear my bank, and gets posted to the account, but my available credit does not get cleared. This prompts a phone call to Customer Service - after 2-3 days and a hours of calmly trying to find the right person/dept that can resolve this, we found the FIT dept. All the while, we'd been treated to long hold times, misplaced transfers by CSR's and Supervisors telling us there's nothing they can do, and others saying you will have to wait for 5-7 business days for it to automatically clear. Apparently their computer system places a credit hold on any payments, larger than the minimum due for that month, made on accounts newer than 6 months. You would think that they can remove this automatic hold feature after receiving about a dozen cleared payments, but that would be logical!
This being our first experience with their so-called Customer Service, we were calm about the situation. From the second time they placed a hold on my available credit, I called Customer Service and asked to be transferred to the FIT dept so they can resolve the issue. Again, I was hit with requests to validate account information and then transfers to various other CSR's and Supervisors that told me it is not possible to remove this hold, etc, etc.. I stopped giving them my account information. The CSR's (most of them) are in India, it seems, and it was as if verifying my account information was needed to show they worked on an account - they are not allowed to even transfer a call without this information - no doubt this is a ploy implemented by the call center CapOne outsourced to. So, CapOne pays for every account touched by each agent - hey CapitalOne, your call center vendor is having their way with you and your customers for their financial gain. Yet, when I am able to reach a US based rep, I am transferred without even a single question! Why? Since the customer (me) has clearly explained the need and they are clearly _not_ able to help, and the obviousness of the customer experience with the presented issue and knowing which department the customer needs to talk to, there's no further questions required, provide the customer with the service s/he is looking for and move on to the next customer! WOW! What a concept, actually get some work done and not waste their time or a customers time!?!?! I hope someone at Capital One reads this, as you have a very unhappy customer - one that will _not_ be renewing the card at the end of the annual service agreement.
AND from what I see, I'm not the only one.... see here(consumeraffairs.com) for more details.
Here's another one about their bait and switch program.
There's plenty more - a google search will do wonders for your wallet and peace of mind, if this catches you before you get bit by the Capital One bug!

So far, I have made cash rewards well over $29 that they charged me. I plan on keeping this up to get as much money as possible from them. I am not a fool, I understand they make plenty of money on my transactions. However, for me, I will take pleasure in knowing that I'm getting something back for something that I already need to purchase. I plan on making sure I get my rewards until I cancel this card and will never look back.
Oh, when you're trying to do anything with CapOne, use their automated fraud system and after entering your account info press 0 for an operator. This, hopefully will get you to a US based CSR. If you bypass the automated system, you get sent to the Indian call center hell for sure.
Ask me how I know?! Wait, I already told you!

BTW- maneuvering phone trees and call centers isn't rocket science, just takes some patience and trial and error.

Fraud Alert - Money Mules

This one is becoming a fast growing trend, so I'm posting some info on a relatively new fraud scheme.
I know I'm not the only one that receives job offers via email for "money transfer agents" or "re-shipping agents" which utilize your bank accounts for transactions for overseas companies. These transactions are fraudulent and should be marked as SPAM or phishing emails in your email software. Just delete them asap - clicking on the links provided usually validates your email address for the sender and will prompt further scam related emails.

Here are some links that describes the varieties of the fraud scheme in more detail:
http://www.bobbear.co.uk/

some example emails for your review:
http://www.bobbear.co.uk/page8.html

a news blurb:
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/12/20/arrests_in_money_mules_scam/

Please share this with friends.
I hope it helps someone from falling in to this very serious trap.

First post!

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