I happened to watch the episode last night. They used an old toothbrush and plain white toothpaste to clean the grunge out of the folds of a fridge door seal.
They also used grapefruit juice and salt to clean the inside of the grossest fridge I have ever seen.
I ran across one that worked very well. I found it online somewhere. If you have one of those plastic molded tub shower combos and can't get the grime and soap scum out of the texture on the bottom. Use lemon oil, like you use to restore furniture. That and a stiff brush got up gray grime that we could not get with toxic cleaners and had been there since we moved it. It does make the tub slippery though so I went back over it with regular surface cleaner.
The short answer to your question is "no". The Cayman banks owned by non-Cayman parents (like Deustchebank) are not covered by the banks' home country deposit insurance.
However, it's important to recall what deposit insurance is for, at least historically. While banks can, in principle, go bankrupt, this is extremely rare. Any bank in a country with reasonably strong regulation will not be allowed to get close to bankruptcy. Cayman has good bank regulation. They also have a smart central bank.
The trouble banks may face in the US, Cayman, or elsewhere is insolvency. Bank depositors in checking and savings accounts can pull their money out daily and most other deposits (CDs, etc.) are fairly short-term in nature. Banks traditionally used the money from these deposits to make long term loans and then held the loans on their books. The loans produced interest that could be used to pay depositors if they wanted their money back. But if too many people wanted their money at once, the bank had no way to come up with cash to meet all the redemptions. "Bank panics" often ensued, as depositors at other banks became scared and demanded their money back as well.
Countries put deposit insurance in place to make people comfortable that if their bank had no cash, the government would step in. Since the US put this insurance in place, there has been little that even came close to a bank panic.
The need for deposit insurance has been called into question in the last decade. Big banks don't keep most of their loans anymore. Instead they sell them in packages to investors. While smaller banks often keep some or all of their loans, they would be easy to sell in a pinch.
But that doesn't mean the sale could be done instantaneously. What could be done instantaneously is a loan from the central bank's discount window (this is the US Federal Reserve's term; the Cayman central bank calls it something different but the concept is the same). The loans would then be sold in an orderly fashion and the loan from the central bank would be repaid. The bank would no doubt be scared and perhaps even closed by its regulator, but there would be no effect on depositors.
My firm has several Cayman-based hedge funds with bank accounts in Cayman at the Bank of Butterfield. They are exceptionally well run, much more so than any US bank I've ever dealt with. The Cayman Island Monetary Authority (the rough equivalent of our Federal Reserve plus the various other state and federal bank regulators) is very professional as well.
While much of the article would have been accurate a few years ago, the part about getting money into a foreign or offshore bank no longer fits.
Perhaps the biggest misconception about illegal money is that it goes to "foreign" or "offshore" locations and magically disappears. As someone who does a lot of (legal) business outside of the US, I have been amazed at how much the movement of money has changed since 9/11.
Not long ago, someone could walk into a bank nearly anywhere in the world -- including the US -- and open a bank account, often without showing an ID and certainly without having to providing any verification beyond a (easily forged) driver’s license.
My firm recently opened a new bank account in the Cayman Islands. We have dealt with the bank before and are licensed in various ways in Cayman. The process took almost four months, as is typical these days in Cayman and much of the world.
You can't open an account in the US without ID anymore, but you can go online and open an eTrade or other online brokerage account without anyone verifying anything. The party providing you the illegal gains (the one bribing you, etc.) can then simply wire the money there.
Forming companies outside the US is now maddeningly hard as well. But US companies can be formed in an hour on www.bizfilings.net and many other websites. While this quick service is good for business, it makes the US probably the easiest place to launder money in the developed world.
The irony of all of this is that the US has pushed incredibly hard to force the rest of the world to act to protect the financial system against money laundering, whose proceeds are said to often finance terrorism and certainly to lower tax revenues. But the US has cleaned up little at home. In the process, the US financial system has become the biggest (potential) haven for money laundering and other illicit financial activities.
My associates in the Cayman Islands consistently joke about how their islands are thought of as a center of international crime. Yet with 40,000 citizens, only 1,000 of whom operate the entire financial machinery and all know each other, it was very easy to root out the bad apples. We have bushels of these bad apples and more are certain to be headed here soon.
I used to get calls from a 727 number all the time on my cell phone! The number was 727 683 1126. It got so bad that the police had to get involved, but since it was my cell phone they couldn't trace it or anything.
I bought a stack of red dirt shirts in \Hawai'i which are basically stained with rust (same thing that stains in blood) and the nice shop keeper suggested if I wanted them to stay brighter to do the first washing with vinegar added. So, yes vinegar will set any iron-based stain.
This posting, while informative, isn't really about hitch-hiking - it's about purchasing discounted airline tickets.
But it *is* possible to actually hitch-hike on airplanes - I've done it. There are thousands of "general aviation" airports all over the country, and every day, private planes depart for destinations near & far. One can hang out in pilot's lounges in FBOs (Fixed Base Operators, the businesses that sell fuel, maintain planes, & rent parking spots at airports) & ask pilots if they have an empty seat (& which direction they're going, of course).
I did this successfully in the 1970s in the US & Canada, & I had 2 particular advantages. First, I travelled with an attractive young woman (my wife). Second, I had a commercial pilot's license (easily produced for inspection) which meant I could "share the driving", which can be an attractive offer to a lone pilot about to fly a long leg.
I don't know if this is still practical in the post-9/11 world, but if so, it's a fun way to bum around the country!
But the video was really quick. It might have been more helpful to show how to match up batteries with products.
A Radioshack 394 battery is not the most common and while it's a neat trick you would have to be a real expert to know which battery will work with what.
1 cup of white vinegar mixed with a bucket of very hot water makes an excellent wallpaper or border remover - cuts right through the adhesive! This is completely non-toxic so it's easy on you and splatters or dribbles won't discolor your flooring.
i was always curious about Cayman banks. There is no deposit insurance. Is a Cayman Island bank owned by universally known large international bank (for example Deustchebank) savings account as safe as if the savings account was opened in Germany. In other words can a tax haven bank be safe as its parent.
Excellent post, Joann! I'm also a huge fan of having lots of extra brushes around the house in places where I need them, and the saving of the old toothbrushes is a trick we've also used for some time. They really get into the nooks and crannies (sink faucet, shower corners, etc. ). Other brushes are helpful as well, and particularly cut down on the amount of steel pads one needs to use in the dish scrubbing arena.
I have to say I've never heard of the shaving foam on tiles thing. I'm a big fan of borax to help deal with build up or to give it an extra shine (works on old fine china from the thrift stores, too). But I can see why they'd want to use the foam for places they need a few minutes of cling. Good tip.
Enjoyed your post, and hope to read more from you soon.
Thanks for your comments Joe. Since you mentioned Florida, it is one of the few states that offers a prepaid tuition plan with state backing. Also, one of the main differences between the Coverdell ESA and the 529 (in addition to the ones you noted) is that the ESA also offers an immediate federal tax deduction whereas the 529 does not. There are some limits to the 529 contributions for some plans but the caps are very high.
I'm no expert, but I performed a reasonable amount of research prior to choosing to combine an ESA ($2K per year) with a 529 ($1K/year).
It appeared to me that an ESA offered tax benefits similar to a 529. Therefore, there were two main differences between the two programs:
1. You cannot contribute more than $2K per year to an ESA, while you can contribute exponentially more to a 529.
2. You can use an ESA for essentially any education-related expense, whereas a 529 can only be used for "approved post-secondary education expenses." Does your high school student need a laptop? The ESA will cover it. You want to send your middle-school kid to a private instituation? The ESA will cover it.
If the 529 could be used for the same purposes as an ESA, then I would invest all $3K per year into a 529. However, as a member of the military, there's a decent chance that I will spend a tour in an area with substandard public education, and I wanted the increased flexibility offered by an ESA.
PS, I'm a Florida resident (no state income tax), so I don't get any of the state tax benefits that others do. That should definitely be a consideration when choosing between an ESA and a 529, or even when choosing among different 529 plans.
I thought: "Wow", when I saw the title, "a post about guilt free eco-friendly travel", but then I noticed that it said that Virgin America drives rates down around the country...
Some of your tips were useful, and not just about getting the cheapest option (even though it costs for the environment), but I would have loved to see some ethical perspective too. Maybe encouraging people to finding out the ecological actions taken by some flight companies, making less stops on the way and so on.
Let's not go for the cheapest all the way, if it means that the environment will definitely suffer.
at least people who give money knows that he's gonna spend it on beer instead of trying to believe the money is going to buy him some food, and when people give the money anyway, that means they are sincere
is what I saw on most websites advocating H202 as an oral remedy. You may want to water it down even further if you're unsure of the chemical in your mouth, or how sensitive your teeth are. Again, if you're in any doubt at all don't even try it. All of the videos here are not exactly certified 100% effective, or safe, by the FDA. So it's one of those 'at your own risk' situations.
It does look like to me that you could open a 529 in your name (or your husband's name) and then change the beneficiary to your child later. I mentioned the account transfer eligibility in the post (here's reference to the column) and it's quite a long list -- you can even make transfers to cousins or parents (I listed this benefit under cool but I think it's quirky as well). It's always a good idea to ask your accountant for verification, but I think you are on the right track.
Hi, I just found your site and think it's great; thanks for the information and motivation!
Just a question for you...My husband and I are maxing out our retirement savings, have an emergency fund, and still have some money to invest. We don't yet have kids but are thinking about it in the next ~2 years. We are lucky to have a good income now (which could change of course) and having a tangible goal would make it easier to save more, so we were thinking about pre-saving for our future kids' educations.
The idea would be that we would open 529s for each of us and then when kids come we could transfer them to the kids' names. I can't find any information that says this is not legal, but it just seems too easy or maybe I haven't thought of everything. What do you think?
I have been checking pressure cookers out and was curious to see how far they have come from what I remember of them as a kid. Good tips and comments, I will definitely take a look at getting one in the future.
Don't forget that some heartburn is caused by a *lack* of stomach acid...not too much. Apple cider vinegar is an excellent supplement that provides potassium, calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus and iron. Antacids are not always the best remedy. Our stomachs produce less acid over time and that causes the same symptoms as too much acid. The acid in vinegar will help digest your food and over time alleviate heartburn if yours is caused by a lack of stomach acid.
I happened to watch the episode last night. They used an old toothbrush and plain white toothpaste to clean the grunge out of the folds of a fridge door seal.
They also used grapefruit juice and salt to clean the inside of the grossest fridge I have ever seen.
I ran across one that worked very well. I found it online somewhere. If you have one of those plastic molded tub shower combos and can't get the grime and soap scum out of the texture on the bottom. Use lemon oil, like you use to restore furniture. That and a stiff brush got up gray grime that we could not get with toxic cleaners and had been there since we moved it. It does make the tub slippery though so I went back over it with regular surface cleaner.
The short answer to your question is "no". The Cayman banks owned by non-Cayman parents (like Deustchebank) are not covered by the banks' home country deposit insurance.
However, it's important to recall what deposit insurance is for, at least historically. While banks can, in principle, go bankrupt, this is extremely rare. Any bank in a country with reasonably strong regulation will not be allowed to get close to bankruptcy. Cayman has good bank regulation. They also have a smart central bank.
The trouble banks may face in the US, Cayman, or elsewhere is insolvency. Bank depositors in checking and savings accounts can pull their money out daily and most other deposits (CDs, etc.) are fairly short-term in nature. Banks traditionally used the money from these deposits to make long term loans and then held the loans on their books. The loans produced interest that could be used to pay depositors if they wanted their money back. But if too many people wanted their money at once, the bank had no way to come up with cash to meet all the redemptions. "Bank panics" often ensued, as depositors at other banks became scared and demanded their money back as well.
Countries put deposit insurance in place to make people comfortable that if their bank had no cash, the government would step in. Since the US put this insurance in place, there has been little that even came close to a bank panic.
The need for deposit insurance has been called into question in the last decade. Big banks don't keep most of their loans anymore. Instead they sell them in packages to investors. While smaller banks often keep some or all of their loans, they would be easy to sell in a pinch.
But that doesn't mean the sale could be done instantaneously. What could be done instantaneously is a loan from the central bank's discount window (this is the US Federal Reserve's term; the Cayman central bank calls it something different but the concept is the same). The loans would then be sold in an orderly fashion and the loan from the central bank would be repaid. The bank would no doubt be scared and perhaps even closed by its regulator, but there would be no effect on depositors.
My firm has several Cayman-based hedge funds with bank accounts in Cayman at the Bank of Butterfield. They are exceptionally well run, much more so than any US bank I've ever dealt with. The Cayman Island Monetary Authority (the rough equivalent of our Federal Reserve plus the various other state and federal bank regulators) is very professional as well.
While much of the article would have been accurate a few years ago, the part about getting money into a foreign or offshore bank no longer fits.
Perhaps the biggest misconception about illegal money is that it goes to "foreign" or "offshore" locations and magically disappears. As someone who does a lot of (legal) business outside of the US, I have been amazed at how much the movement of money has changed since 9/11.
Not long ago, someone could walk into a bank nearly anywhere in the world -- including the US -- and open a bank account, often without showing an ID and certainly without having to providing any verification beyond a (easily forged) driver’s license.
My firm recently opened a new bank account in the Cayman Islands. We have dealt with the bank before and are licensed in various ways in Cayman. The process took almost four months, as is typical these days in Cayman and much of the world.
You can't open an account in the US without ID anymore, but you can go online and open an eTrade or other online brokerage account without anyone verifying anything. The party providing you the illegal gains (the one bribing you, etc.) can then simply wire the money there.
Forming companies outside the US is now maddeningly hard as well. But US companies can be formed in an hour on www.bizfilings.net and many other websites. While this quick service is good for business, it makes the US probably the easiest place to launder money in the developed world.
The irony of all of this is that the US has pushed incredibly hard to force the rest of the world to act to protect the financial system against money laundering, whose proceeds are said to often finance terrorism and certainly to lower tax revenues. But the US has cleaned up little at home. In the process, the US financial system has become the biggest (potential) haven for money laundering and other illicit financial activities.
My associates in the Cayman Islands consistently joke about how their islands are thought of as a center of international crime. Yet with 40,000 citizens, only 1,000 of whom operate the entire financial machinery and all know each other, it was very easy to root out the bad apples. We have bushels of these bad apples and more are certain to be headed here soon.
I used to get calls from a 727 number all the time on my cell phone! The number was 727 683 1126. It got so bad that the police had to get involved, but since it was my cell phone they couldn't trace it or anything.
I bought a stack of red dirt shirts in \Hawai'i which are basically stained with rust (same thing that stains in blood) and the nice shop keeper suggested if I wanted them to stay brighter to do the first washing with vinegar added. So, yes vinegar will set any iron-based stain.
This posting, while informative, isn't really about hitch-hiking - it's about purchasing discounted airline tickets.
But it *is* possible to actually hitch-hike on airplanes - I've done it. There are thousands of "general aviation" airports all over the country, and every day, private planes depart for destinations near & far. One can hang out in pilot's lounges in FBOs (Fixed Base Operators, the businesses that sell fuel, maintain planes, & rent parking spots at airports) & ask pilots if they have an empty seat (& which direction they're going, of course).
I did this successfully in the 1970s in the US & Canada, & I had 2 particular advantages. First, I travelled with an attractive young woman (my wife). Second, I had a commercial pilot's license (easily produced for inspection) which meant I could "share the driving", which can be an attractive offer to a lone pilot about to fly a long leg.
I don't know if this is still practical in the post-9/11 world, but if so, it's a fun way to bum around the country!
But the video was really quick. It might have been more helpful to show how to match up batteries with products.
A Radioshack 394 battery is not the most common and while it's a neat trick you would have to be a real expert to know which battery will work with what.
1 cup of white vinegar mixed with a bucket of very hot water makes an excellent wallpaper or border remover - cuts right through the adhesive! This is completely non-toxic so it's easy on you and splatters or dribbles won't discolor your flooring.
i was always curious about Cayman banks. There is no deposit insurance. Is a Cayman Island bank owned by universally known large international bank (for example Deustchebank) savings account as safe as if the savings account was opened in Germany. In other words can a tax haven bank be safe as its parent.
Thanks Ralph Hixson
Excellent post, Joann! I'm also a huge fan of having lots of extra brushes around the house in places where I need them, and the saving of the old toothbrushes is a trick we've also used for some time. They really get into the nooks and crannies (sink faucet, shower corners, etc. ). Other brushes are helpful as well, and particularly cut down on the amount of steel pads one needs to use in the dish scrubbing arena.
I have to say I've never heard of the shaving foam on tiles thing. I'm a big fan of borax to help deal with build up or to give it an extra shine (works on old fine china from the thrift stores, too). But I can see why they'd want to use the foam for places they need a few minutes of cling. Good tip.
Enjoyed your post, and hope to read more from you soon.
Thanks for your comments Joe. Since you mentioned Florida, it is one of the few states that offers a prepaid tuition plan with state backing. Also, one of the main differences between the Coverdell ESA and the 529 (in addition to the ones you noted) is that the ESA also offers an immediate federal tax deduction whereas the 529 does not. There are some limits to the 529 contributions for some plans but the caps are very high.
I'm no expert, but I performed a reasonable amount of research prior to choosing to combine an ESA ($2K per year) with a 529 ($1K/year).
It appeared to me that an ESA offered tax benefits similar to a 529. Therefore, there were two main differences between the two programs:
1. You cannot contribute more than $2K per year to an ESA, while you can contribute exponentially more to a 529.
2. You can use an ESA for essentially any education-related expense, whereas a 529 can only be used for "approved post-secondary education expenses." Does your high school student need a laptop? The ESA will cover it. You want to send your middle-school kid to a private instituation? The ESA will cover it.
If the 529 could be used for the same purposes as an ESA, then I would invest all $3K per year into a 529. However, as a member of the military, there's a decent chance that I will spend a tour in an area with substandard public education, and I wanted the increased flexibility offered by an ESA.
PS, I'm a Florida resident (no state income tax), so I don't get any of the state tax benefits that others do. That should definitely be a consideration when choosing between an ESA and a 529, or even when choosing among different 529 plans.
Joe
I thought: "Wow", when I saw the title, "a post about guilt free eco-friendly travel", but then I noticed that it said that Virgin America drives rates down around the country...
Some of your tips were useful, and not just about getting the cheapest option (even though it costs for the environment), but I would have loved to see some ethical perspective too. Maybe encouraging people to finding out the ecological actions taken by some flight companies, making less stops on the way and so on.
Let's not go for the cheapest all the way, if it means that the environment will definitely suffer.
Maybe an ecological post next time?
at least people who give money knows that he's gonna spend it on beer instead of trying to believe the money is going to buy him some food, and when people give the money anyway, that means they are sincere
is what I saw on most websites advocating H202 as an oral remedy. You may want to water it down even further if you're unsure of the chemical in your mouth, or how sensitive your teeth are. Again, if you're in any doubt at all don't even try it. All of the videos here are not exactly certified 100% effective, or safe, by the FDA. So it's one of those 'at your own risk' situations.
Snopes has more...
http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/peroxide.asp
Sorry if I missed it, but exactly what proportions constitute a strong solution and what constitute a weak solution? I really want to try this!
It does look like to me that you could open a 529 in your name (or your husband's name) and then change the beneficiary to your child later. I mentioned the account transfer eligibility in the post (here's reference to the column) and it's quite a long list -- you can even make transfers to cousins or parents (I listed this benefit under cool but I think it's quirky as well). It's always a good idea to ask your accountant for verification, but I think you are on the right track.
Hi, I just found your site and think it's great; thanks for the information and motivation!
Just a question for you...My husband and I are maxing out our retirement savings, have an emergency fund, and still have some money to invest. We don't yet have kids but are thinking about it in the next ~2 years. We are lucky to have a good income now (which could change of course) and having a tangible goal would make it easier to save more, so we were thinking about pre-saving for our future kids' educations.
The idea would be that we would open 529s for each of us and then when kids come we could transfer them to the kids' names. I can't find any information that says this is not legal, but it just seems too easy or maybe I haven't thought of everything. What do you think?
Thor, check out the photo credit at the bottom of the post. Follow the link to the photo and photographer.
Great article!
Enterpreunering is about business too, not just about love. Altough love is mandatory to suceed.
Actually, I just wanted to know where the picture at the top of the post is from, I really like it and would love a high-resolution version.
I have been checking pressure cookers out and was curious to see how far they have come from what I remember of them as a kid. Good tips and comments, I will definitely take a look at getting one in the future.
Definitely worth knowing. I have a couple of the A23 batteries. I'm going to have to check it out.
Nothing to say, very well said!!!
http://setyourdvd.com/search/genre/Fantasy-66865.html
Don't forget that some heartburn is caused by a *lack* of stomach acid...not too much. Apple cider vinegar is an excellent supplement that provides potassium, calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus and iron. Antacids are not always the best remedy. Our stomachs produce less acid over time and that causes the same symptoms as too much acid. The acid in vinegar will help digest your food and over time alleviate heartburn if yours is caused by a lack of stomach acid.