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jbscpa

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The Pookie 4 years ago

"If a Pookie detonated a landmine, and it never did, the use of shear bolts meant that wheels would be blown harmlessly away, as would the battery, the 40-litre fuel tank and the rear mounted 1600 cc air-cooled Volkswagen engine. The driver would be unharmed in his capsule."

I going to guess that "unharmed" is a relative term.

"Take This Job and Shove It"

A corporate executive is assigned to help improve the efficiency of a small-town brewery in this comedy inspired by the Johnny Paycheck song. When the small town turns out to be his old hometown, however, the executive finds himself torn between his loyalties to his company and his old friends.

My spouse is a classroom educator.

Her school participates in Great Expectations program. http://www.greatexpectations.org/

It is a character development program "that provides teachers and administrators with the skills needed to create harmony and excitement within the school atmosphere"

There are 8 Expectations at the elementary level 1. We will value one another as unique special individuals 2. We will not laugh at or make fun of a person's mistakes nor use sarcasm or putdowns. 3. We will use good manners, saying, "please," "thank you" and "excuse me" and allow others to go first. and so forth. http://www.greatexpectations.org/expectations

In my opinion when the U.S. abandoned the judeo/christian ethic in the late twentieth century character and wisdom training was denigrated as "old fashioned" and unnecessary.

Bernard L. Madoff

From Wikipeda

"In his plea allocution, Madoff stated he began his Ponzi scheme in 1991. He admitted he had never made any legitimate investments with his clients' money during this time. Instead, he said, he simply deposited the money into his personal business account at Chase Manhattan Bank. When his customers asked for withdrawals, he paid them out of the Chase account — a classic "robbing Peter to pay Paul" scenario. Chase and its successor, JPMorgan Chase, may have earned as much as $483 million from his bank account.[107][108] He was committed to satisfying his clients' expectations of high returns, despite an economic recession. He admitted to false trading activities masked by foreign transfers and false SEC filings. He stated that he always intended to resume legitimate trading activity, but it proved "difficult, and ultimately impossible" to reconcile his client accounts. In the end, Madoff said, he realized that his scam would eventually be exposed.[75][109]

let me emphasize from above:

"He stated that he always intended to resume legitimate trading activity, but it proved "difficult, and ultimately impossible" to reconcile his client accounts"

Affordable Care 10 years ago

You say: "The problem is what "best" means. In an unregulated environment it would mean what's best for the insurance company, not the patient."

No. I don't buy auto insurance on that basis. It is required by my state in order for me to legally operate a motor vehicle. I buy what is "best" for me (and my family).

Only in our closed highly regulated environments that denigrate personal responsibility and individual liberty do we get this extraordinary markets dislocations that come with the bizarre healthcare system that we have today.

Affordable Care 10 years ago

Tunesmith

You say: "It's a race to the bottom in terms of regulation"

Consider your assumption that regulation is good. In point of fact pernicious and arbitrary regulation within states brought us as a nation to this desperate situation.

You say: "To the point it is not even actually seen as a viable option"

Check your prejudice at the door and look at reality. You may need to understand markets and human nature more clearly. You may "see" and understand other, better options.

Julie Rubicon 10 years ago

Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick as devlopers of Psychohistory would approve. (Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" universe)

"Psychohistory is the name of a fictional science in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe, which combined history, psychology and mathematical statistics to create a (nearly) exact science of the behavior of very large populations of people" source: Wikia

When I visit with hot-blooded partners ready to set the world on fire I often think of this line from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969):

Butch Cassidy: [to Sundance] Kid, the next time I say, "Let's go someplace like Bolivia," let's GO someplace like Bolivia.

Right, Next Time.

Easier said than done.

I DO have cable TV in the U.S. - Suddenlink

I spent 45 minutes online with the Suddenlink support person and got my account setup with username and password

ALL SET right?

So, with the Suddenlink support person on the phone I login to the NBCOlympics.com site and select Suddenlink.

I key in my username and password.

In about a minute the screen pops up and says I am all set to WATCH THE OLYMPICS LIVE.

Joy!!

Then in about 10 seconds another screen pops up:

"You do not have a subscription to view the requested content. Contact Suddenlink to upgrade your programming then log back in to view content."

What the heck??

So I ask the very helpful Suddenlink support person still waiting on the phone: What Up?

She confirms that since I do not have the EXTENDED basic package with optional add-ons with Suddenlink I do not qualify to WATCH THE OLYMPICS LIVE

BY THE WAY:

Did you read the nbcolympics.com FAQ:

"Q: What is required for accessing Live Extra content? A: You will need to verify that you subscribe to a cable, satellite or telco video tier that includes CNBC and MSNBC. There is no additional charge."

I do have CNBC and MSNBC. CNBC is channel 255 and MSNBC is channel 264 (in my market area)

And yet I cannot WATCH THE OLYMPICS LIVE

In the terms of the Olympics here is my message to NBC LET THE GAMES BEGIN - THE INTERNETS ALWAYS WIN.

Please consider not just cancelling but instead ask for (demand) a refund in full of all charges going back to the very first month. We have got to punish ATT for this gangster type behavior.

I got one of those text messages in like early February. I ignored it of course and deleted it.

On my most recent phone bill I noticed an increase of about $10.00

Sure enough. By ignoring the text message and deleting it I was signed up of an unwanted $9.99 per month program.

I called ATT.

The ATT rep told me she would cancel the service immediately. She confirmed that by ignoring the text message I had "agreed" to the charges.

I told her that I wanted the $9.99 refunded. She said ATT would ONLY refund the $9.99 if I agreed to put in place a block on ALL future 3rd party charges on the cell phone bill.

I told her I wanted the block on all four of my cell phone lines immediately.

And I got the $9.99 refunded.

Long story short: ATT allows this because they benefit from this extremely anti-customer behavior.

The service I got crammed with was:

	 02/29/2012	 Saynow Alerts	 58497	 MT	 SayNow.com 
For assistance contact: http:/www.mxtelecom.com

If you go to the www.mxtelecom.com it provides NO assistance what-so-ever.

According to the statement at www.saynow.com "SayNow has been acquired by Google, Inc. For media inquiries please contact press@google.com."

It has happened before.

"Piltdown man" was considered the greatest scientific hoax of all time

See PBS May 30, 2006 program

Link http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/hoax/

"For decades, a fossil skull discovered in Piltdown, England, was hailed as the missing link between apes and humans. Entire careers were built on its authenticity. Then in 1953, the awful truth came out: "Piltdown Man" was a fake! But who done it? In "The Boldest Hoax," NOVA gets to the bottom of the greatest scientific hoodwinking of all time."