Well this bill is for all brands of cars so it is not really discriminatory towards anyone. I know my hubby's Honda was actually assembled in the USA, and my Honda was assembled in Japan. Foreign auto companies do hire a lot of people in this country like you said but it is sort of hard to say which car is made where even if the brand is the same. I think it is good that at least this bill doesn't send a message of protectionism.
Pine or Pinon nuts are frquently used in Mediterainean cooking and a special delicacy for the American Indian. The Paiute tribe of northern Nevada has a special pine nut ceremony.
The CDC traced pine nuts taken from a rat's nest as the cause of an outbreak of the Hanta Virus that was fatal to many people in the Four Corner's region of the southwest in the mid 90's. Know your source.
There are also plenty of accounts of pine nut allergies similiar to other nut allergies, so be aware of any thing different you eat if you have any problems.
The metallic taste in pine nut mouth was interesting, I'll file that one away for further reference and let my other collegues at the urgent care I work at to add it to their diagnostic knowledge.
A few years back I visited Consumer Credit Counseling Services to see if debt consolidation would be a good option for me. At the time I wasn't making much money and was just making the minimum payments on all my CCs. Turns out I wasn't behind on payments or in dire enough straits for it. I've since paid off all my CC debt on my own, and it's a great feeling of accomplishment. I don't think I'd ever do debt settlement even if I "needed" it in the future.
I settled a debt with Providian in 2000. I disputed a charge from Providian. I foolishly refused to make any payments while I disputed the charge. They had offered me a way to increase my credit limit if I signed up for a travel package offer. They told me it was an annual charge, but they charged me the $200 3 months later when the annual fee for the card came due. I had over limit fees and the 2 charges for $200 that totaled $700. I owed just under $500 in charges so my total was over $1200. They jacked my interest rate up to 29% and I was getting hammered.
I ended up calling and talking to a "manager" and explained that I was about to declare bankruptcy. I offered them $400.00 to settle the account. They said OK. I had them Fax the settlement to Kinko's and I sent a money order through the USPS with return receipt requested and a signature. They took the money, and I ended up not declaring bankruptcy.
My advice: Do not sign up for any recurring charge over the phone unless you have the literature to read beforehand. If they send paperwork and give you 30 days to cancel, follow through. (I do not agree before reading, because I usually just file the paperwork away and forget to read and cancel)
It's great to get gas guzzlers off the road and help the auto industry, but, like, DUH!!! Why didn't they restrict the use of taxpayer dollars to only buy cars either made or significantly manufactured more than 50% in the USA? Most of the affordable fuel efficient cars available on the market today that the target "clunker" audience can afford are manufactured in other countries (like Kia in South Korea, etc.) Worse, many of the so-called "American" cars like the Ford Focus are substantially manufactured in foreign countries like Canada or South Korea (don't get me wrong, I like our neighbors to the North just fine, but I don't feel we should be sending them taxpayer money), while on the other hand there are certain better-made "foreign" cars like Toyota and Honda which are more than 50% manufactured at factories in the USA staffed by US citizens (Consumer Reports rated how much of each make and model is really "made" in the USA and the results will surprise you).
This is another debacle like the $800 tax rebate checks which immediately got spent at Walmart for goods manufactured in China and did squat to help anybody except fat-cat CEO's. The government should have demanded US taxpayer money should only go towards at least 50% (or more) USA-manufactured automobiles. Isn't the entire point to keep jobs -!and infrastructure!- in side the USA in case we ever need to suddenly convert those automobile factories to make bombers like we did in World War II and have workers who actually know how to run the machines?
I keep telling my husband I want a simple pine box, a no-frills memorial service (preferably at the house), and either cremate me and stick my ashes under a fruit tree in the back yard overlooking the salt marsh (and maybe a park bench so the kids can hang out with me from time to time). He's a bit taken back by it, but really, I mean it. Who else is going to come to my funeral? Our friends won't mind coming to the house, and since we're not overly religious a few simple words from anybody moved to do so will suffice. The only extravagance I'd like is to have a bagpiper play MacCrimmon's Lament when they stick my ashes under the new fruit tree (hey ... I'm Scottish).
There's a website, Simple Pine Box, where you can order a simple pine casket (they even have do-it-yourself kits).
I can totally relate to your experience, as Google was how I knew to bring up HSP or Henoch-Schonlein Purpura to our doctor when my son broke out in a strange rash that NO ONE could diagnose. Had I not Googled before we went to the doctor, they would have sent us home AGAIN, costing us more money and wasting time that could have been used to make sure my son didn't go into renal failure.
Google can't always give you all the answers, but it sure as heck can arm you with some good info to make sure you get taken seriously at the hospital. Thanks for this awesome article!
You can get some good information about recent scientific discoveries from PubMed. You won't find any outrageously overhyped headlines like "X cures cancer!" here- just presentations of the facts and some tentative conclusions cautiously advanced along with the underlying assumptions. (Why must newspapers be so BAD at science reporting? Do they not even read past the articles' summaries?)
Pay attention especially to the things treated as facts. Unlike newspapers and magazines that will make any crazy assumption necessary to sell papers, most of the authors of these journal articles seem to keep their hype a bit more under control.
If you're not at a university, I suggest limiting your search to Free Full Text so that you can read the whole article and not just the summary. I also suggest looking at just the Review articles, as these will help give you the bigger picture and explain why two individual studies /seem/ to contradict each other.
nice summary of the trade-offs for keeping or dropping collision, especially the risks of getting the car totaled. Might benefit from adding sources for finding out what is the car value such as edmunds.com
I plant a few vegetables of my own. Also whenever the farmers market season comes around in my area, I buy a lot of the fruits like blueberries, strawberries and freeze them as you do. So that when it comes to out of season especially in the winter I have some in store. I do that too with the vegetables that I grow at home.
#1: Let's all bargain down our bills from $28,550 to $600. That's change we can believe in.
#2. People without health insurance or those underinsured are simply making a lifestyle choice. It's feature of our system, not a bug. Microsoft has job waiting for you.
#3. It won't work because it's the gub'ment. After all, name us one gub'ment program that does work. Oh, you mentioned a whole bunch. Time for this troll to go back into hiding or to research more cut-and-paste talking points.
#4. You don't know my political leanings, says the troll. Yeah, right, we couldn't figure it out because everyone knows all lefties lack triple-digit IQs.
We await more of your anecdotes, right after you get back from the "14 year-olds that wank off to Ayn Rand" meeting.
I've never had credit card debt beyond what I couldn't pay each month so I'm not in a position to speak from experience, but I do have a distrust of all companies that claim to be able to get rid of or lower your debt. It just seems too good to be true.
As another commenter and Jane Austen (in the novel Persuasion) says, "...for after all, the person who has contracted debts must pay them."
Wow, I feel for you .Dyson's customer service really SUCKS. My 1 year old $500 DC17 , broke a belt.Sure it cleans great when the motorized brush works (via the belt).My carpets do not get clean without the brush working .I went to all the local stores which all sell Dyson, and lo and behold no $5 for sale. So I call the CS line on MAY 17, they say they'll ship me out a belt.Well it's now JUNE 23 and still no belt, I called CS 5 times , spoke to 2 Supervisors and still no belt !What is the 5 year warranty , if they can't even replace a belt ? Luckily, I bought it at Sam's Club and will be taking it back tomorrow , for a refund.
I did a very intense trip two years ago between Germany and Austria, and I used the train to travel between two countries.
I took all sorts of trains : IC, ICE, local , during the day and night trains and it was a wonderful experience.
I bought first class tickets, but that is not really neccesary, second class will do it.
I don't really know enough about it since I'm not in a position to need it, but it seems better than bankruptcy. I would just be worried about the fees.
I diagnosed my son's Obstructive Sleep Apnea through web searches (specifically an article from the American Academy of Family Physicians). He had been having symptoms for years and this was never picked up during a doctor's visit. My descriptions of his symptoms had never been taken seriously because they were fairly vague. When I brought in the article with the list of symptoms -- and my son's symptoms highlighted -- the doctor immediately agreed with my diagnosis and we pursued treatment. Thank goodness! He's doing so much better now.
When I was a baby, my mother diagnosed an obscure medical condition of mine by reading Dr. Spock. Saved my life.
Doctors are very busy, and you can't expect them to catch everything in 15 minutes. Do your own research, and bring your educated guesses to discuss with your doctor.
Positive thinking that leads to positive action is dramatically valuable.
Believing in vibes that you send out to the universe and receive back good or bad depending is a load of fluff of nonsense for people with nothing more to believe in, and often little desire to take positive actions, to rest their hope upon.
The Secret is a joke. The real secret is as posted by the author, to believe and let that belief move you to achieve.
Debt settlement is generally an ongoing symptom IMO. People want stuff that they can't afford and can't wait to save up for, so they buy it on credit. Then, when they get in credit trouble, they can't wait and can't work through the debt, so they want a quick solution.
Here's a thought: Don't buy stuff you can't afford. If you do, pay the bill rather than looking for a way out.
Now, I know some people are hit by the horrible and the unexpected, like the sudden loss of a spouse in a car accident, etc. that could account for debt and the inability to pay in a reasonable fashion. In such circumstances, it may be the more honorable thing to offer to settle than to bankrupt on the debtors. However, I'd venture a wild guess that this accounts for less than 2% of all settlement attempts.
I've never actually been in debt, credit card or otherwise. It just isn't something I'm comfortable with, especially for consumer goods. I think I'd only ever be willing to go into debt to increase my assets, not just to have cool things. "Settlement" to me seems like a way of giving up after getting in too deep. That's not a position I want to find myself in ever.
One advantage about rail, especially if you have a reserved seat, no need to get their two hours in advance like at the airport. I know alot of people are taking advantage of the train, which ends up taking the same time as a flight except:
No need to get to the station 2 hours in advance.
No need to be in your seat for the first 30 minutes of flight or in turbulence
No need to check luggage (many times)
Infinately more comfortable seats
2 words: BAR CAR
If only the US had more rail service like Europe...
Pretty cool post. I just came across your site and wanted to say
that I've really liked reading your posts. In any case
I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Just as an aside. English walnuts are a decent pine nut substitute in pesto.
Well this bill is for all brands of cars so it is not really discriminatory towards anyone. I know my hubby's Honda was actually assembled in the USA, and my Honda was assembled in Japan. Foreign auto companies do hire a lot of people in this country like you said but it is sort of hard to say which car is made where even if the brand is the same. I think it is good that at least this bill doesn't send a message of protectionism.
Pine or Pinon nuts are frquently used in Mediterainean cooking and a special delicacy for the American Indian. The Paiute tribe of northern Nevada has a special pine nut ceremony.
The CDC traced pine nuts taken from a rat's nest as the cause of an outbreak of the Hanta Virus that was fatal to many people in the Four Corner's region of the southwest in the mid 90's. Know your source.
There are also plenty of accounts of pine nut allergies similiar to other nut allergies, so be aware of any thing different you eat if you have any problems.
The metallic taste in pine nut mouth was interesting, I'll file that one away for further reference and let my other collegues at the urgent care I work at to add it to their diagnostic knowledge.
Thanks Kate, for this great post. What a fabulous read - great perspective.
A few years back I visited Consumer Credit Counseling Services to see if debt consolidation would be a good option for me. At the time I wasn't making much money and was just making the minimum payments on all my CCs. Turns out I wasn't behind on payments or in dire enough straits for it. I've since paid off all my CC debt on my own, and it's a great feeling of accomplishment. I don't think I'd ever do debt settlement even if I "needed" it in the future.
I pay off my credit card balance every month. (I think of it more as a debit card with benefits.)
I settled a debt with Providian in 2000. I disputed a charge from Providian. I foolishly refused to make any payments while I disputed the charge. They had offered me a way to increase my credit limit if I signed up for a travel package offer. They told me it was an annual charge, but they charged me the $200 3 months later when the annual fee for the card came due. I had over limit fees and the 2 charges for $200 that totaled $700. I owed just under $500 in charges so my total was over $1200. They jacked my interest rate up to 29% and I was getting hammered.
I ended up calling and talking to a "manager" and explained that I was about to declare bankruptcy. I offered them $400.00 to settle the account. They said OK. I had them Fax the settlement to Kinko's and I sent a money order through the USPS with return receipt requested and a signature. They took the money, and I ended up not declaring bankruptcy.
My advice: Do not sign up for any recurring charge over the phone unless you have the literature to read beforehand. If they send paperwork and give you 30 days to cancel, follow through. (I do not agree before reading, because I usually just file the paperwork away and forget to read and cancel)
It's great to get gas guzzlers off the road and help the auto industry, but, like, DUH!!! Why didn't they restrict the use of taxpayer dollars to only buy cars either made or significantly manufactured more than 50% in the USA? Most of the affordable fuel efficient cars available on the market today that the target "clunker" audience can afford are manufactured in other countries (like Kia in South Korea, etc.) Worse, many of the so-called "American" cars like the Ford Focus are substantially manufactured in foreign countries like Canada or South Korea (don't get me wrong, I like our neighbors to the North just fine, but I don't feel we should be sending them taxpayer money), while on the other hand there are certain better-made "foreign" cars like Toyota and Honda which are more than 50% manufactured at factories in the USA staffed by US citizens (Consumer Reports rated how much of each make and model is really "made" in the USA and the results will surprise you).
This is another debacle like the $800 tax rebate checks which immediately got spent at Walmart for goods manufactured in China and did squat to help anybody except fat-cat CEO's. The government should have demanded US taxpayer money should only go towards at least 50% (or more) USA-manufactured automobiles. Isn't the entire point to keep jobs -!and infrastructure!- in side the USA in case we ever need to suddenly convert those automobile factories to make bombers like we did in World War II and have workers who actually know how to run the machines?
I keep telling my husband I want a simple pine box, a no-frills memorial service (preferably at the house), and either cremate me and stick my ashes under a fruit tree in the back yard overlooking the salt marsh (and maybe a park bench so the kids can hang out with me from time to time). He's a bit taken back by it, but really, I mean it. Who else is going to come to my funeral? Our friends won't mind coming to the house, and since we're not overly religious a few simple words from anybody moved to do so will suffice. The only extravagance I'd like is to have a bagpiper play MacCrimmon's Lament when they stick my ashes under the new fruit tree (hey ... I'm Scottish).
There's a website, Simple Pine Box, where you can order a simple pine casket (they even have do-it-yourself kits).
I can totally relate to your experience, as Google was how I knew to bring up HSP or Henoch-Schonlein Purpura to our doctor when my son broke out in a strange rash that NO ONE could diagnose. Had I not Googled before we went to the doctor, they would have sent us home AGAIN, costing us more money and wasting time that could have been used to make sure my son didn't go into renal failure.
I wrote about it at Parenting Squad:
http://www.parentingsquad.com/hey-moms-go-with-your-gut
Google can't always give you all the answers, but it sure as heck can arm you with some good info to make sure you get taken seriously at the hospital. Thanks for this awesome article!
Linsey Knerl
You can get some good information about recent scientific discoveries from PubMed. You won't find any outrageously overhyped headlines like "X cures cancer!" here- just presentations of the facts and some tentative conclusions cautiously advanced along with the underlying assumptions. (Why must newspapers be so BAD at science reporting? Do they not even read past the articles' summaries?)
Pay attention especially to the things treated as facts. Unlike newspapers and magazines that will make any crazy assumption necessary to sell papers, most of the authors of these journal articles seem to keep their hype a bit more under control.
If you're not at a university, I suggest limiting your search to Free Full Text so that you can read the whole article and not just the summary. I also suggest looking at just the Review articles, as these will help give you the bigger picture and explain why two individual studies /seem/ to contradict each other.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
nice summary of the trade-offs for keeping or dropping collision, especially the risks of getting the car totaled. Might benefit from adding sources for finding out what is the car value such as edmunds.com
I plant a few vegetables of my own. Also whenever the farmers market season comes around in my area, I buy a lot of the fruits like blueberries, strawberries and freeze them as you do. So that when it comes to out of season especially in the winter I have some in store. I do that too with the vegetables that I grow at home.
Kelja, you are absolutely priceless:
#1: Let's all bargain down our bills from $28,550 to $600. That's change we can believe in.
#2. People without health insurance or those underinsured are simply making a lifestyle choice. It's feature of our system, not a bug. Microsoft has job waiting for you.
#3. It won't work because it's the gub'ment. After all, name us one gub'ment program that does work. Oh, you mentioned a whole bunch. Time for this troll to go back into hiding or to research more cut-and-paste talking points.
#4. You don't know my political leanings, says the troll. Yeah, right, we couldn't figure it out because everyone knows all lefties lack triple-digit IQs.
We await more of your anecdotes, right after you get back from the "14 year-olds that wank off to Ayn Rand" meeting.
I've never had credit card debt beyond what I couldn't pay each month so I'm not in a position to speak from experience, but I do have a distrust of all companies that claim to be able to get rid of or lower your debt. It just seems too good to be true.
As another commenter and Jane Austen (in the novel Persuasion) says, "...for after all, the person who has contracted debts must pay them."
Wow, I feel for you .Dyson's customer service really SUCKS. My 1 year old $500 DC17 , broke a belt.Sure it cleans great when the motorized brush works (via the belt).My carpets do not get clean without the brush working .I went to all the local stores which all sell Dyson, and lo and behold no $5 for sale. So I call the CS line on MAY 17, they say they'll ship me out a belt.Well it's now JUNE 23 and still no belt, I called CS 5 times , spoke to 2 Supervisors and still no belt !What is the 5 year warranty , if they can't even replace a belt ? Luckily, I bought it at Sam's Club and will be taking it back tomorrow , for a refund.
I did a very intense trip two years ago between Germany and Austria, and I used the train to travel between two countries.
I took all sorts of trains : IC, ICE, local , during the day and night trains and it was a wonderful experience.
I bought first class tickets, but that is not really neccesary, second class will do it.
I don't really know enough about it since I'm not in a position to need it, but it seems better than bankruptcy. I would just be worried about the fees.
I diagnosed my son's Obstructive Sleep Apnea through web searches (specifically an article from the American Academy of Family Physicians). He had been having symptoms for years and this was never picked up during a doctor's visit. My descriptions of his symptoms had never been taken seriously because they were fairly vague. When I brought in the article with the list of symptoms -- and my son's symptoms highlighted -- the doctor immediately agreed with my diagnosis and we pursued treatment. Thank goodness! He's doing so much better now.
When I was a baby, my mother diagnosed an obscure medical condition of mine by reading Dr. Spock. Saved my life.
Doctors are very busy, and you can't expect them to catch everything in 15 minutes. Do your own research, and bring your educated guesses to discuss with your doctor.
Positive thinking that leads to positive action is dramatically valuable.
Believing in vibes that you send out to the universe and receive back good or bad depending is a load of fluff of nonsense for people with nothing more to believe in, and often little desire to take positive actions, to rest their hope upon.
The Secret is a joke. The real secret is as posted by the author, to believe and let that belief move you to achieve.
Debt settlement is generally an ongoing symptom IMO. People want stuff that they can't afford and can't wait to save up for, so they buy it on credit. Then, when they get in credit trouble, they can't wait and can't work through the debt, so they want a quick solution.
Here's a thought: Don't buy stuff you can't afford. If you do, pay the bill rather than looking for a way out.
Now, I know some people are hit by the horrible and the unexpected, like the sudden loss of a spouse in a car accident, etc. that could account for debt and the inability to pay in a reasonable fashion. In such circumstances, it may be the more honorable thing to offer to settle than to bankrupt on the debtors. However, I'd venture a wild guess that this accounts for less than 2% of all settlement attempts.
I've never actually been in debt, credit card or otherwise. It just isn't something I'm comfortable with, especially for consumer goods. I think I'd only ever be willing to go into debt to increase my assets, not just to have cool things. "Settlement" to me seems like a way of giving up after getting in too deep. That's not a position I want to find myself in ever.
I thought this was a very good article.
One advantage about rail, especially if you have a reserved seat, no need to get their two hours in advance like at the airport. I know alot of people are taking advantage of the train, which ends up taking the same time as a flight except:
No need to get to the station 2 hours in advance.
No need to be in your seat for the first 30 minutes of flight or in turbulence
No need to check luggage (many times)
Infinately more comfortable seats
2 words: BAR CAR
If only the US had more rail service like Europe...
Pretty cool post. I just came across your site and wanted to say
that I've really liked reading your posts. In any case
I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!