m
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Trouble is, when you join the Army, you may become a casualty
I like that, words well spoken
Demand for ethanol driving up meat prices
WASHINGTON (AP) — Strong demand for corn to use in ethanol plants is driving up the cost of livestock and will raise prices for beef, pork and chicken, the Agriculture Department said Friday.
Meat and poultry production will fall as producers face higher feed costs, the department said in its monthly crop report. Ethanol fuel, which is blended with gasoline, is consuming 20% of last year's corn crop and is expected to gobble up more than 25% of this year's crop.
The price of corn, the main feed for livestock, has driven the cost of feeding chickens up 40%, according to the National Chicken Council. The council says that chicken, the most popular meat with consumers, will soon cost more at the grocery store. The industry worries the competition from ethanol could cause a shortage of corn.
The average price of corn is more than $4.20 a bushel, according to the futures prices on the Chicago Board of Trade. In October, it traded at less than $3 a bushel.
While chicken producer Tyson Foods (TSN) posted its first profitable quarter in a year Jan. 29, executives warned that a dramatic rise in feed costs will raise chicken prices.
"Companies will be forced to pass along rising costs to their customers, meaning consumers will pay significantly more for food," Chief Executive Dick Bond said.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner said USDA is keeping an eye on corn supply and demand. Demand likely will prompt farmers to plant more acres in corn, he said.
"We do have confidence in the marketplace's ability to react," Conner said. "We believe producers are seeing the market saying, 'I need more corn, not only for ethanol, but for our feed needs in this country."'
The department will issue planting predictions later this month.
Goodfellas
sub·lim·i·nal
;nl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[suhb-lim-uh-nl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective Psychology. existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness; being or employing stimuli insufficiently intense to produce a discrete sensation but often being or designed to be intense enough to influence the mental processes or the behavior of the individual: a subliminal stimulus; subliminal advertising.
Listen dude you are pumping this stock, your posts bring more attention to this board than anyone, YOU ARE A SUBLIMINAL PUMPER
Why We Love Wild Penny Stocks
By Tim Hanson and Brian Richards (TMF Brich)
December 16, 2006
Penny stocks have huge potential -- that's their blessing and their curse.
The potential rewards are enormous. Just take a look at the returns from Targeted Genetics (Nasdaq: TGEN), GoAmerica (Nasdaq: GOAM), or OnstreamMedia (Nasdaq: ONSM) since the beginning of October -- the stocks have each more than doubled.
Those $1, $2, and $3 doubles look like easy gains, considering that Alexander's (NYSE: ALX) would need to throw another $444 on the fire to eke out another double.
Everybody loves pennies
It's the potential of quick gains in "cheap" stocks that keeps investors coming back. We typed "penny stocks" into Google, and the search engine spit out "about 1,210,000" hits. We did the same for more time-tested terms such as "blue-chip stocks" and "dividend-paying stocks" and got just 266,000 and 173,000 hits, respectively.
Sure, we expected a discrepancy, but the size of the gap was startling. It became even more interesting when we broke down those hits with Google Trends. According to Trends, penny stocks are particularly alluring to investors in Orlando, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Calgary -- the locales where the term is most often searched.
Las Vegas, for one, makes a bit of sense. Those folks are gamblers.
Florida, though? Well, we hope the folks Googling "penny stocks" down there aren't retirees.
This stock is set to take off! Or not.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the term "penny stock" generally refers to low-priced (below $5), speculative securities of very small companies. To quote the SEC: "Investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment." (It's worth noting that the emphasis in that last sentence is in the original.)
Pay attention to the SEC's entire definition, not just the stock price. Going solely on price would wrongly categorize billion-dollar companies such as Applied Micro Circuits (Nasdaq: AMCC) and Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) as penny stocks.
Regardless, the SEC is spot-on when it says that true penny stocks are among the surest ways to lose money in the stock market.
Well, then, why do we "love" penny stocks?
We love penny stocks because they're fascinating. The world of pennies is inhabited by hardworking average Joes hoping to strike it rich, pumpers and dumpers, hypesters and scammers. In pennies, the logic and reason that applies in the rest of daily life is replaced by zeal and prayer.
However, we don't love them enough to actually buy them. Yes, they have big potential. But their daily gyrations are unpredictable -- the stock price movements have next to nothing to do with the underlying company the stock represents. In fact, trading in pennies is highly illiquid, and prices are often manipulated by forces not at all related to the business.
The dangers of incredible promises
If you're buying stocks without paying attention to the business you're buying, then you might as well be buying a lottery ticket. Or (to use another analogy) you might as well buy up every baseball card of a benchwarmer on the Akron Aeros AA baseball team, and hope that he someday rises up, fulfills his potential, and becomes an all-star for the big-league Cleveland Indians.
There's a better way
Before you start saying the rest of the stock market is boring -- with big stocks such as IBM having a "big day" when they move up 1% or so -- let us introduce you to some underfollowed small caps. They're nothing like penny stocks, yet they still offer some of the best returns on the market. Unlike penny stocks, promising small caps:
file reliable financial statements
are transparent
have conference calls individual investors can listen to
don't simply hype their stock in press releases
That's a starting point. There are more -- and more important -- criteria to help you find great small-cap companies. Our team at Motley Fool Hidden Gems, for instance, looks for a balance sheet with lots of cash and no debt, and a tenured CEO (or founder, if possible) who holds a substantial ownership stake in the business. In other words, we're looking for big returns with good, old-fashioned, bottom-up analysis.
You can view the more than 50 small caps our team has already found with a free 30-day trial. There's no obligation to subscribe, and we particularly recommend it for the penny stock-o-philes reading in Vegas and Florida. You know who you are.
This article was originally published on July 27, 2006. It has been updated.
Why We Love Wild Penny Stocks
By Tim Hanson and Brian Richards (TMF Brich)
December 16, 2006
Penny stocks have huge potential -- that's their blessing and their curse.
The potential rewards are enormous. Just take a look at the returns from Targeted Genetics (Nasdaq: TGEN), GoAmerica (Nasdaq: GOAM), or OnstreamMedia (Nasdaq: ONSM) since the beginning of October -- the stocks have each more than doubled.
Those $1, $2, and $3 doubles look like easy gains, considering that Alexander's (NYSE: ALX) would need to throw another $444 on the fire to eke out another double.
Everybody loves pennies
It's the potential of quick gains in "cheap" stocks that keeps investors coming back. We typed "penny stocks" into Google, and the search engine spit out "about 1,210,000" hits. We did the same for more time-tested terms such as "blue-chip stocks" and "dividend-paying stocks" and got just 266,000 and 173,000 hits, respectively.
Sure, we expected a discrepancy, but the size of the gap was startling. It became even more interesting when we broke down those hits with Google Trends. According to Trends, penny stocks are particularly alluring to investors in Orlando, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Calgary -- the locales where the term is most often searched.
Las Vegas, for one, makes a bit of sense. Those folks are gamblers.
Florida, though? Well, we hope the folks Googling "penny stocks" down there aren't retirees.
This stock is set to take off! Or not.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the term "penny stock" generally refers to low-priced (below $5), speculative securities of very small companies. To quote the SEC: "Investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment." (It's worth noting that the emphasis in that last sentence is in the original.)
Pay attention to the SEC's entire definition, not just the stock price. Going solely on price would wrongly categorize billion-dollar companies such as Applied Micro Circuits (Nasdaq: AMCC) and Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) as penny stocks.
Regardless, the SEC is spot-on when it says that true penny stocks are among the surest ways to lose money in the stock market.
Well, then, why do we "love" penny stocks?
We love penny stocks because they're fascinating. The world of pennies is inhabited by hardworking average Joes hoping to strike it rich, pumpers and dumpers, hypesters and scammers. In pennies, the logic and reason that applies in the rest of daily life is replaced by zeal and prayer.
However, we don't love them enough to actually buy them. Yes, they have big potential. But their daily gyrations are unpredictable -- the stock price movements have next to nothing to do with the underlying company the stock represents. In fact, trading in pennies is highly illiquid, and prices are often manipulated by forces not at all related to the business.
The dangers of incredible promises
If you're buying stocks without paying attention to the business you're buying, then you might as well be buying a lottery ticket. Or (to use another analogy) you might as well buy up every baseball card of a benchwarmer on the Akron Aeros AA baseball team, and hope that he someday rises up, fulfills his potential, and becomes an all-star for the big-league Cleveland Indians.
There's a better way
Before you start saying the rest of the stock market is boring -- with big stocks such as IBM having a "big day" when they move up 1% or so -- let us introduce you to some underfollowed small caps. They're nothing like penny stocks, yet they still offer some of the best returns on the market. Unlike penny stocks, promising small caps:
file reliable financial statements
are transparent
have conference calls individual investors can listen to
don't simply hype their stock in press releases
That's a starting point. There are more -- and more important -- criteria to help you find great small-cap companies. Our team at Motley Fool Hidden Gems, for instance, looks for a balance sheet with lots of cash and no debt, and a tenured CEO (or founder, if possible) who holds a substantial ownership stake in the business. In other words, we're looking for big returns with good, old-fashioned, bottom-up analysis.
You can view the more than 50 small caps our team has already found with a free 30-day trial. There's no obligation to subscribe, and we particularly recommend it for the penny stock-o-philes reading in Vegas and Florida. You know who you are.
This article was originally published on July 27, 2006. It has been updated.
Why We Love Wild Penny Stocks
By Tim Hanson and Brian Richards (TMF Brich)
December 16, 2006
Penny stocks have huge potential -- that's their blessing and their curse.
The potential rewards are enormous. Just take a look at the returns from Targeted Genetics (Nasdaq: TGEN), GoAmerica (Nasdaq: GOAM), or OnstreamMedia (Nasdaq: ONSM) since the beginning of October -- the stocks have each more than doubled.
Those $1, $2, and $3 doubles look like easy gains, considering that Alexander's (NYSE: ALX) would need to throw another $444 on the fire to eke out another double.
Everybody loves pennies
It's the potential of quick gains in "cheap" stocks that keeps investors coming back. We typed "penny stocks" into Google, and the search engine spit out "about 1,210,000" hits. We did the same for more time-tested terms such as "blue-chip stocks" and "dividend-paying stocks" and got just 266,000 and 173,000 hits, respectively.
Sure, we expected a discrepancy, but the size of the gap was startling. It became even more interesting when we broke down those hits with Google Trends. According to Trends, penny stocks are particularly alluring to investors in Orlando, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Calgary -- the locales where the term is most often searched.
Las Vegas, for one, makes a bit of sense. Those folks are gamblers.
Florida, though? Well, we hope the folks Googling "penny stocks" down there aren't retirees.
This stock is set to take off! Or not.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the term "penny stock" generally refers to low-priced (below $5), speculative securities of very small companies. To quote the SEC: "Investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment." (It's worth noting that the emphasis in that last sentence is in the original.)
Pay attention to the SEC's entire definition, not just the stock price. Going solely on price would wrongly categorize billion-dollar companies such as Applied Micro Circuits (Nasdaq: AMCC) and Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) as penny stocks.
Regardless, the SEC is spot-on when it says that true penny stocks are among the surest ways to lose money in the stock market.
Well, then, why do we "love" penny stocks?
We love penny stocks because they're fascinating. The world of pennies is inhabited by hardworking average Joes hoping to strike it rich, pumpers and dumpers, hypesters and scammers. In pennies, the logic and reason that applies in the rest of daily life is replaced by zeal and prayer.
However, we don't love them enough to actually buy them. Yes, they have big potential. But their daily gyrations are unpredictable -- the stock price movements have next to nothing to do with the underlying company the stock represents. In fact, trading in pennies is highly illiquid, and prices are often manipulated by forces not at all related to the business.
The dangers of incredible promises
If you're buying stocks without paying attention to the business you're buying, then you might as well be buying a lottery ticket. Or (to use another analogy) you might as well buy up every baseball card of a benchwarmer on the Akron Aeros AA baseball team, and hope that he someday rises up, fulfills his potential, and becomes an all-star for the big-league Cleveland Indians.
There's a better way
Before you start saying the rest of the stock market is boring -- with big stocks such as IBM having a "big day" when they move up 1% or so -- let us introduce you to some underfollowed small caps. They're nothing like penny stocks, yet they still offer some of the best returns on the market. Unlike penny stocks, promising small caps:
file reliable financial statements
are transparent
have conference calls individual investors can listen to
don't simply hype their stock in press releases
That's a starting point. There are more -- and more important -- criteria to help you find great small-cap companies. Our team at Motley Fool Hidden Gems, for instance, looks for a balance sheet with lots of cash and no debt, and a tenured CEO (or founder, if possible) who holds a substantial ownership stake in the business. In other words, we're looking for big returns with good, old-fashioned, bottom-up analysis.
You can view the more than 50 small caps our team has already found with a free 30-day trial. There's no obligation to subscribe, and we particularly recommend it for the penny stock-o-philes reading in Vegas and Florida. You know who you are.
This article was originally published on July 27, 2006. It has been updated.
Big Bopper autopsy puts rumors to rest
POSTED: 4:16 p.m. EST, March 7, 2007
The Big Bopper died of injuries in famous 1959 plane crash
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson suffered massive fractures and likely died immediately in the 1959 plane crash that also killed early rock 'n' rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, a forensic anthropologist said Tuesday after exhuming the body.
The performer's son, Jay Richardson, hired Dr. Bill Bass, a well-known forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, to look at the remains in Beaumont, Texas.
There have been rumors a gun might have been fired on board the plane and that the Big Bopper might have survived the crash and died trying to get help.
Bass took X-rays of the body and found nothing Tuesday to support those theories.
"There was no indication of foul play," Bass said in a telephone interview from Beaumont. "There are fractures from head to toe. Massive fractures. ... (He) died immediately. He didn't crawl away. He didn't walk away from the plane."
The rock 'n' roll stars' plane crashed after taking off from Mason City, Iowa, on February 3, 1959 -- a tragedy memorialized as "the day the music died" in Don McLean's song "American Pie."
Jay Richardson, who performs in tribute shows as "The Big Bopper Jr.," didn't know his father, who gained fame with the hit "Chantilly Lace." His mother was pregnant with him when his father died.
The Civil Aeronautics Board determined pilot error was the cause of the crash. A gun that belonged to Holly was found at the crash site, fueling rumors that the pilot was shot, but no one has ever proved a gun was fired during the flight.
Richardson watched Bass open the coffin on Tuesday and observed his examination. He said he was pleased with the findings because it proved the investigators "knew what they were talking about 48 years ago."
"I was hoping to put the rumors to rest," he said.
Bass and Richardson were surprised to find the body preserved enough to be recognizable.
"Dad still amazes me 48 years after his death, that he was in remarkable shape," Richardson said. "I surprised myself. I handled it better than I thought I would."
The body was reburied in the cemetery but in a different plot where there will be room for a graveside statue to be installed later.
Bass, 78, is a pioneer in his field and has worked on such famous cases as confirming the identity, more than 50 years after its death, of the Lindbergh baby that was kidnapped in 1932 and murdered.
No it was just a remark on pop-ups, that I believe they serve no purpose but to aggravate people, thats all
Why do companies think pop-ups are good for advertising, I close them as fast as they open, and would never click an a link, alls it does is aggravate me, and I make sure to note the company and not use them
Missing: a huge chunk of the earth's crust By Stefano Ambrogi
Mon Mar 5, 11:22 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - A team of British scientists has set sail on a voyage to examine why a huge chunk of the earth's crust is missing, deep under the Atlantic Ocean -- a phenomenon that challenges conventional ideas about how the earth works.
The 20-strong team aims to survey an area some 3,000 to 4,000 metres deep where the mantle -- the deep interior of the earth normally covered by a crust kilometres thick -- is exposed on the sea floor.
Experts describe the hole along the mid-Atlantic ridge as an "open wound" on the ocean floor that has puzzled scientists for the five or so years that its existence has been known because it defies existing tectonic plate theories of evolution.
"We know so little about it," said Bramley Murton, a senior research scientist at Southampton's National Oceanography Center.
"It's a real challenge to our established understanding of what the earth's surface looks like underneath the waves," he told Reuters by telephone from the brand new, hi-tech British research ship RRS James Cook.
Mid ocean ridges are places where new oceanic crust is born, with red-hot lava spewing out along the seafloor.
What scientists are keen to know is whether the crust was ripped away by huge geological faults, or whether it never even developed in the first place.
The primary motivation for the project was to understand how the earth continues to evolve.
"The area that we are looking at is part of a mountain range that spans thousands of square kilometres, but we are beginning to realize that there are probably millions of square kilometres where the ocean floor is missing," Murton said.
The six week mission, led by geophysicist Roger Searle of Durham University and Chris MacLeod of Cardiff University's School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, will recover sample cores of rock by drilling into the mantle using a rig lowered on to the sea floor.
Asked if the discovery posed a threat to the environment, Murton replied: "It's not problematic for the earth because it is a natural earth process -- but in terms of knowing how the earth works and how the world is put together it is important."
Murton also said the expedition would shed light on the composition of sea water amongst other initiatives.
Crust formation is a fundamental mechanism of the earth which affects the chemistry of the world's oceans.
Progress by the research team can be monitored via a live web link to the ship at: http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/gg/classroom@sea/JC007/.
I got this today have not decided how to respond but they are getting pushy I will follow up
when there is more
Mr. Peter,
It is like you are too busy to respond to mails. I sent you a
memorandum of Understanding and you are yet to confirm the receipt. How far
have you gone with the bank, you know that I do not know what is
happening there, you have to be in constant communication with the bank and
myself, what we are talking about is huge sum of money.
Get back to me as soon as possible.
Regards.
Mr. Oni Bode.
than I got this
14) Attn: Mr. Peter Sanchez
I am writing to confirm if you have opened the new bank account as you requested for few days. It is better to conclude this transaction now without delays.
Expecting your urgent response.
Regards.
Mr. Andrew Kodjo.
than I baited them with this
13)
Did you recieve my account info, I sent it on 3/02/07
and I am waiting for the deposit
Peter Sanchez
I didn't send them anything
than I received this
12)Dear Peter,
Please, find the attached Memorandum of Understanding; study it and
approve or add something to it.
Rgds/MR. BODE
than I sent this
11) MR. BODE
Which attachment do you what me to fill out, my new
account has been opened, and I deposited $20,000 into
it.
Peter Sanchez
than I received this
10) Ok.
The earlier you open an account the better and try to be fast with it.
Regards.
Mr. Kodjo.
than I sent them this
9) Andrew Kodjo
Please give me a few extra days I am going to open a
new account, So I will be able to accept the transfer
of funds.
Peter Sanchez
and this was there reply
8) Dear Mr. Sanchez,
Thanks for your mail explaining your situation. But, your coming here would have done a lot to ensure the easy movement of the fund.
However, Fill and Return this Non Resident Application Form (by attachment) to this office as soon as possible, so that we can continue from here.
Best Regards.
Andrew Kodjo.
than I sent this
7) Mr. Andrew Kodjo
after reviewing my schedule I will unable to travel
to Cotonou, due to a family illness please resend the
info I need to help you out
Peter Sanchez
and immediately I received a reply
this was my reply
6) r. Andrew Kodjo
I would love to fly down and meet you, please send
me instructions on how to make the travel arrangements
Yours Truely
Peter Sanchez
I did not receive a reply to this so I sent another
what I received
5)THE MANAGING DIRECTOR,
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP,
COTONOU,
REPUBLIQUE DU BENIN.
ATTENTION: MR. ANDREW KODJO
DEAR SIR,
RE: PAYMENT ORDER TO MR. PETER SANCHEZ (ALIAS: )
AMOUNT: ($45.5M)(FORTY-FIVE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS ONLY).
PLEASE KINDLY EFFECT IMMEDIATE TRANSFER OF THE ABOVE SUM TO MR. PETER SANCHEZ ON THE BANK ACCOUNT AS HE WILL PROVIDE THE INFORMATION.
ALL OFFICIAL PROTOCOLS ARE OBSERVED AS HE IS THE BENEFICIARY AND RECIPIENT OF THE ABOVE SUM.
YOURS SINCERELY,
MRS. ANGELINE NWACHUKWU
CUSTOMERS SERVICES DEPT.
FIRST INLAND BANK (NIG) PLC.
this is my reply
4)Mr. Oni Bode
Just to let you know that XXXX XXXX is an alias I
use on Yahoo, My real name is Peter Sanchez, I am
looking forward to helping you.
Thank You
Peter Sanchez
not my real name
this is what I recieved back
3)Dear XXXXX XXXXX,
Thanks for your kind response. Firstly, I will like to equip you with
the origin of the fund.
I am a personal assistance to a senior management officer in the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) the largest petroleum
producing in Africa.
This officer whose name will not be mentioned in this transaction, had
held some vital position in the Corporation, such as, the
Contract/Evaluation Director, Project Director, and finally now, Contracts
Supervisory Director. From this different and sensitive positions, he was able
to accumulate a lot of fund both from gratifications and tips. And part
of the money is now floating in the First Inland Bank of Nigeria, Plc.
Due to his long service in the NNPC, he was enlisted as one those to be
retired at the end of the year. He now, mandated me since I am very
close to him and moreso knows about the fund to seek for your assistance
in providing a bank account, so that the fund will be transferred into
your bank account.
When, we approached the Bank Manager on the proposed plan to move the
fund out of the bank, he advised that the transfer would not be made
from Nigeria. His reason is as I copied, due to the unnecessary
bottlenecks and unofficial protocols associated with transfering funds from
Nigeria, that he will instruct the corresponding and associate office in
Cotonou, Repubic of Cotonou, from where the fund will be transferred into
your bank account.
Be informed that I have submitted your name to the bank Manager in the
First Inland Bank of Nigeria, Plc., to enable him prepare an
Instructional Letter and send to their corresponding and associate office in
Cotonou, Repubic of Cotonou.
As soon as the corresponding and associate office in Cotonou, Repubic
of Cotonou, receives the Instructional Letter, you will be contacted by
the Bank.
Please, be informed that you will receive 30% for your assistance and
also 5% for any expenses that you might incure. Before the fund is
transferred, you will receive information on the bank to deposit the
remaining 60%, that is if I did not meet with you before disbursement of the
fund.
Best regards.
Mr. Oni Bode
this what I sent them
2)MR. ONI BODE
What do you need I will gladly help, This is a
large sum of money but, it sounds like you need help
so I will do what is ever needed
Pete
on 2/24 I received this email and was going to delete it but than I decided I would play with them, this is all the emails I sent and received from them, I will post them in sequence
1)
GOOD DAY
FIRSTLY, KINDLY ACCEPT MY APPOLOGIES FOR CONTACTING YOU WITHOUT YOUR
CONSENT. I DO NOT KNOW ANY OTHER MEANS OF CONTACTING YOU, EXCEPT THIS
MEDIUM, FIND TIME AND READ THIS MAIL AS IT REQUIRES URGENT ATTENTION.
I WISH TO SEEK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IN RECEIVING THE SUM OF
$45.5 MILLION US DOLLARS DEPOSITED IN A COMMERCIAL BANK HERE IN NIGERIA.
PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT AS SOON AS YOU INDICATE YOUR INTEREST IN THE
TRANSACTION, THE BANK IN NIGERIA WILL DO AN INTERNAL TRANSFER OF THE FUND,
TO A BANK IN A NEIGHBOURING AFRICAN COUNTRY, WHERE IT WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO
YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.
BE INFORMED THAT DUE TO THE UNNECESSARY BOTTLENECKS AND UNOFFICIAL PROTOCOLS ASSOCIATED
WITH TRANSFERING FUNDS FROM NIGERIA THE TRANSFER WILL BE MADE FROM BENIN REPUBLIC.
EXPECTING IMMEDIATE RESPONSE ON EMAIL ADDRESS: onibode@1net.gr
BEST REGARDS
MR. ONI BODE
Mystery Cell Phone Charges
Cell phone customers increasingly complain--and sue--over mysterious, hard-to-cancel charges on their monthly bills.
Tom Spring, PC World
Friday, February 23, 2007 12:00 AM PST
Cell phone companies and third-party vendors, eager to pry more money from subscribers' wallets, are marketing extra services like ringtones, games, music, and more. But an increasingly angry chorus of cell phone customers complain that they're getting mysterious bills for monthly services that they did not intend to sign up for, and that then take months to cancel.
Customers are also upset about paying for spam text messages to their phones. And lawsuits and consumer groups are targeting the huge early termination fees most companies charge and the seeming myriad of taxes that can make up as much as a fifth of monthly phone bills.
Photograph: Ralf-Finn HestoftPerhaps the most frustrating of the problems are the mysterious bills for extra services. Take the case of real estate agent Dorothea Cole, of Davenport, Iowa. Last spring, she discovered a monthly $34 charge she didn't recognize on one of her firm's Sprint wireless phone bills. The carrier said the charge was from a third-party service, not Sprint. But the support reps said they were unable to identify the the charge. The phone had been used by a former employee who was no longer reachable, so it was up to Cole to figure out how to stop this recurring charge.
When she asked Sprint to stop the billing, it refused and told her to contact the company herself. But since Sprint had said it couldn't name the company, Cole was stuck. She says her bill indicated only that the charge was for a "Premium Services Non-Telecom Purchase."
Charge (Finally) Goes Away
Cole turned off the phone's voice and data service, but the account remained active, and charges reappeared. For seven months she asked Sprint--to no avail--for information on who was billing her each month and how to stop the charge. In December, Sprint finally told Cole the charge came from a company called Blinko. Blinko, an American subsidiary of Italy's Buongiorno entertainment conglomerate, offers ringtones, games, SMS jokes, and wallpapers to cellular customers.
When Cole called Blinko, the company initially declined to issue a refund, explaining that while she paid the bill, she wasn't the one who signed up for the service. She told Blinko the phone had been deactivated for the past seven months. In the end, Blinko agreed to refund her $70.
Blinko told PC World that it grants full refunds to customers who allege that somebody else had used their phone number to sign up for a Blinko service.
When we followed up with Cole, she said she had finally received a letter confirming cancellation of the service. Sprint had also agreed to refund her $151.75.
Sprint can't explain how this happened to Cole. Sprint says it refunds disputed third-party charges, and that the billing party is supposed to be identified on account statements, especially after a recent update to its billing system. Sprint spokesperson Roni Singleton says the company is investigating Cole's case. "Something clearly went wrong here," Singleton says.
Where Did It Come From? (Case No. 2)
Glenn McDonald, a Rosedale, Maryland, software engineer who uses Verizon Wireless, had a similar problem. He says he spotted a $10 charge on his September bill that he couldn't identify. He suspected it was something his teenage son may have signed up for when he tried to download a ringtone, though his son couldn't confirm that. In any case, what McDonald ended up with was weekly trivia questions sent via text messages to his phone.
Verizon initially told him it didn't know who was responsible for the charge, then later said it was Blinko. McDonald called Blinko and, after multiple tries on its automated phone system, eventually got hold of a customer service rep who agreed to cancel the account. However, a similar charge showed up in December, McDonald says, and Verizon told him the charge had all along been from MobileSidewalk, which also delivers games, videos, ringtones, and the like to cellular users. Verizon told him it would credit him $10 for the error. McDonald then called MobileSidewalk and cancelled the account.
Verizon says that it does not discuss specific customer issues, citing its privacy policy.
and are you now pumping JMCP you should be ashamed of yourself
Now your blaming the shareholders for the current state of JMCP, which is it the company or the shareholders, or are you just trying to provoke people
Superstition sparks toilet cleaning craze Thu Mar 1, 8:44 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Cleanliness has long been next to godliness for the hygiene-conscious Japanese, but fortune-tellers are now advising those who want to succeed in life to start by scrubbing the smallest room.
"Cleaning the toilet to attract luck" published this month is the latest in a series of books advising readers on how to attract good fortune using a brush and an array of cleaning fluids.
"Don't just wipe the floor, polish it," the book instructs. "It's important to maintain a positive mood while cleaning."
The books are inspired by Buddhist teachings and feng shui, a traditional Chinese belief that people's fortunes are determined by their surroundings.
The idea that Lady Luck may be hiding in the lavatory has been taken up by magazines and television programs.
"I won the lottery! I married my ideal person! I got pregnant!" read some of the claims on the cover of another book on the topic, published last year.
The idea that a clean toilet can bring good fortune, or even make you more beautiful, has existed in Japan for many years, according to Yuka Soma of Makino Publishing in Tokyo, editor of one of the toilet books.
But she is still waiting for a big stroke of luck.
"I've always cleaned my toilet every day, so it never really gets dirty," she said. "At least it's easy that way and it probably helps keep my family healthy," she said.
I think its a good Idea ( Mod squad ) because I do not live on these boards, but my only request would be a private message telling me that a message has been deleted
edited press release
up .0013 @ 200,000 at 11.30am
maybe?
Phishing Sites Explode on the Web Robert McMillan, PC World
1 hour, 21 minutes ago
Think the new built-in phishing filters in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 will protect your private data? Think again. The number of sites devoted to phishing skyrocketed last year, and the number of Americans taken in by phishing schemes has nearly doubled. In November 2006, the last month for which data is available, the Anti-Phishing Working Group found 37,439 new sites, up an astounding 709 percent from the 4630 sites in November of 2005. (Click on the "Image Enlargement" icon above to see the chart showing this trend.)
Last October, both Mozilla and Microsoft released new versions of their browsers that use blacklists to block access to known phishing sites. In response, resourceful phishers are flooding new fake Web sites onto the Internet too quickly for them all to be shut down or blacklisted.
The alarming ease with which the fraudsters changed course, plus other new phishing tactics, makes some security experts say that phishers have the upper hand in the war against online fraud.
"Ultimately," warns Zulfikar Ramzan, who is a senior principal researcher with Symantec's Security Response Group, "technologies that rely heavily on blacklists are going to be useless."
Easy Phishing
According to RSA, a security vendor, hackers in January started selling a phishing kit that lets criminals set up very convincing fake Web sites with little effort. The fake site pulls images and layouts from the real site, usually a bank or other financial institution, and passes the user's information back to the real site to mimic a regular log-in--while keeping a copy of the account data for the criminals.
The draw, of course, is ever-increasing profits. Research firm Gartner estimates that 3.5 million Americans gave up sensitive information to phishers in 2006, an 84 percent jump from the previous year--for a total loss of $2.8 billion. One single phishing gang, called Rock Phish, is estimated to have taken in more than $100 million.
According to security experts, Rock Phish has pioneered many of the techniques that have contributed to the recent jump in phishing sites. And the image spam that hides its pitch from filters by embedding it in a picture was a Rock Phish invention, these experts say. On some days this one group, which specializes in spoofing U.S. and European financial institutions, may account for as many as one-half of all the phishing sites in operation, according to researchers.
Heuristic scanning may help combat the scourge. Instead of depending on a blacklist of known phishing sites, it analyzes a site's behavior, looking for techniques commonly used by phishers. IE 7 uses heuristics, as does the free SiteAdvisor browser add-on for IE and Firefox.
An emerging standard for a new type of site certification--called Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer, or EV SSL--may also help. To get this certificate, sites will have to be checked out by third parties like VeriSign or Entrust to make sure that they at least appear to be legitimate. On such sites, the browser address bar will turn green.
Microsoft supports EV SSL in its IE 7 browser, and major online-commerce sites such as PayPal have now started to come on board as well.
But if the current surge in phishing sites demonstrates anything, it's that phishers can and do get around automated tools and procedures to protect their sizable profits. Recently they have been developing new technologies that could well thwart protection measures like EV SSL, according to Avivah Litan, a Gartner analyst.
Litan, who doubts EV SSL certificates will have much impact on phishing, believes security technology firms deserve some of the blame for the growing phishing threat.
"The security industry has been a little arrogant," she explains. "I don't think that people realize how sophisticated these [online] criminals are."
Best Defense
Although no magic bullet may exist now (or ever) to safeguard us all, there is one simple way to protect yourself from the majority of phishing attempts: Never click a link in an e-mail or on a third-party site to go to any of your financial accounts. If, instead, you always use your own bookmark or type in the address, even when you're 100 percent certain that the e-mail is legitimate, you should be safe.
Automated tools, such as the free Password Safe and PwdHashutilities can still provide help. But to combat ever-adapting phishers, your best protection remains...you.
NASA plan for unstable astronauts: Duct tape, tranquilizers
POSTED: 2:19 a.m. EST, February 24, 2007
Story Highlights• NASA has a plan for dealing with a mentally unstable astronaut in space
• Instructions: Bind the astronaut's wrists and ankles and tie them down
• Inject the out-of-control astronaut with tranquilizers if necessary
• A gun would not be used; a bullet could pierce a spaceship and kill everyone
Adjust font size:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- What would happen if an astronaut became mentally unstable in space and, say, destroyed the ship's oxygen system or tried to open the hatch and kill everyone aboard?
That was the question after the apparent breakdown of Lisa Nowak, arrested this month on charges she tried to kidnap and kill a woman she regarded as her rival for another astronaut's affections.
It turns out NASA has detailed, written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. The documents, obtained this week by The Associated Press, say the astronaut's crewmates should bind his wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie him down with a bungee cord and inject him with tranquilizers if necessary.
"Talk with the patient while you are restraining him," the instructions say. "Explain what you are doing, and that you are using a restraint to ensure that he is safe."
The instructions do not spell out what happens after that. But NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the space agency, a flight surgeon on the ground and the commander in space would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to abort the flight, in the case of the shuttle, or send the astronaut home, if the episode took place on the international space station.
The crew members might have to rely in large part on brute strength to subdue an out-of-control astronaut, since there are no weapons on the space station or the shuttle. A gun would be out of the question; a bullet could pierce a spaceship and kill everyone. There are no stun guns on hand.
"NASA has determined that there is no need for weapons at the space station," Hartsfield said.
NASA and its Russian counterpart drew up the checklist for the space station in 2001. Hartsfield said NASA has a nearly identical set of procedures for the shuttle, but he would not provide a copy Friday, saying its release had not yet been cleared by the space agency's lawyers.
The space-station checklist is part of a 1,051-page document that contains instructions for dealing with every possible medical situation in space, including removing a tooth. Handling behavioral emergencies takes up five pages.
The military has a similar protocol for restraining or confining violent, mentally unstable crew members who pose a threat to themselves or others in nuclear submarines or other dangerous settings.
Although Nowak performed her duties with aplomb during a short visit to the space station via the shuttle last July, and was not scheduled to fly again, her arrest has led NASA to review its psychological screening process.
A mentally unstable astronaut could cause all kinds of havoc that could endanger the three crew members aboard the space station or the six or seven who typically fly aboard the shuttle.
Space station medical kits contain tranquilizers and anti-depression, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications. Shuttle medical kits have anti-psychotic medication but not antidepressants, since they take several weeks to be effective and shuttle flights last less than two weeks.
The checklist says astronauts can be restrained and then offered oral Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat agitation and mania, and Valium. If the astronaut will not cooperate, the drugs can be forcibly given with a shot to the arm. Crew members are instructed to stay with the tied-up astronaut to monitor vital signs.
Space station astronauts talk weekly via long-distance hookup to a flight surgeon and every two weeks to a psychologist, so any psychiatric disorder would probably be detected before it became so serious that the astronaut had to be brought home, Hartsfield said.
No NASA astronaut at the space station has been treated in orbit with anti-psychotic or antidepressant medications, and no NASA shuttle crew member has required anti-psychotic medications, Hartsfield said.
Depression, feelings of isolation and stress are not unheard of during long stays in space.
A couple of Soviet crews in past decades are believed to have experienced psychological problems, and U.S. astronaut John Blaha admitted feeling depressed at the start of a four-month stay at the Soviets' Mir space station more than a decade ago. Antidepressants were not available.
"I think you have to battle yourself and tell yourself, 'Look, this is your new planet ... and you need to enjoy this environment,"' Blaha told the AP last week. "You sort of shift yourself mentally."
During missions in 1985 and 1995, shuttle commanders put padlocks on the spaceships' hatches as a precaution since they did not know the scientists aboard very well. Some crew members, called payload specialists, are picked to fly for specific scientific or commercial tasks and do not train as extensively with the other astronauts.
Would-be astronauts are carefully tested and screened to eliminate those who are unstable. But unless they are bound for the space station for a monthslong stay in orbit, they are not put through any regular psychological tests after that.
Astronauts selected for the space station get a psychiatric assessment six months and a month before launch.
Dr. Patricia Santy, a former NASA psychiatrist and author of the book "Choosing the Right Stuff," said there are no good studies of astronauts' stress levels or how they adapt psychologically to space.
U.S. astronauts at the space station keep a journal for a study by a researcher. But Santy said the diaries will not help detect mental illness.
"What astronaut is going to tell you they're feeling homicidal?" she asked. "They're very conscious that if they say the wrong thing they could get grounded."
Astronaut James Reilly, who is flying on space shuttle Atlantis next March, said it is unlikely a U.S. astronaut would lose it in space. Space tourists who pay the Russians $20 million to go to the space station are another matter, he said.
"I think we stand a greater chance of someone getting a little nuts with the space tourists that fly occasionally because it's less rigorous," Reilly said.
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( FYI )I have added whitesands as an assistant moderator to this board
didn't you buy it !