Recent comments

  • Passport Pictures for Under a Dollar   18 years 11 weeks ago

    That's a cool helpful post, Nora. I'm sure tons of people will benefit from it. Including myself. Thanks.

  • Online Ordering: Won't Somebody Take My Money?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Online ordering isn't so bad as long as you check email about your orders (yes, that's how they communicate) and use secure websites (https:// in front of it). I found that it's much easier to research your options using the internet and I personally use credit cards instead of debit cards because I don't feel that "real" money is missing if some information does get stolen (although I've never had that because I have software to detect spyware and I use secure ordering sites).

    However, I have to say that paying extra for shipping is a small price to pay for you to get to live in Hawaii while the rest of us are outside of paradise. :)

  • Make Your Own Moon Sand, Dirt Cheap   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I made this yesterday with my nephew and it was really watery. I am thinking it might have been because the sand was damp to start with (we bought it was homedepo). when ever I buy play sand it is always damp when I take it out of the bag. we just added more sand and more corn starch untill it got to the right consistancy and now he is having a ball with it. He played with it for hours yesterday and has been playing with now for over 2 hours he has his trucks in it and dosnt want to stop. I am going to try and spray it with some cooking spray or put some vegtable oil in it when it needs to be moisened I remember being younger and makeing the sand that floats and thats how we made it we maybe it will work I will let you guys know how it turns out after I do it. Thanks for alot of fun!

  • How to Erase Your Medical Debt   18 years 11 weeks ago

    We are patient advocates...we can get your medical debt reduced up to 100%. It costs nothing to make the call.
    www.hcmediation.com
    888-719-9463

  • Bar Stool Economics   18 years 11 weeks ago

    To see what was quickly becoming my favorite financial advice blog become yet another platform for right-wing, elitist propoganda

  • Six Horrible Financial Products You Should Avoid   18 years 11 weeks ago

    high rates on refund anticipation loans
    Buyer Beware!

  • Bar Stool Economics   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I Loved this post. I'm glad someone out there can see the other side rather than just complain about the tax breaks that the wealthy get.

  • Decked out in... dog? More reasons to boycott Chinese goods   18 years 11 weeks ago

    You're idea is wonderful. I would enjoy speaking to you in the very neer future to develop an action plan. CHAS

  • Six Ways to Stay Warm and Reduce the Heating Bill   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Want to buy a house in Illinois?

  • I'll take a slice of lemon with fecal bacteria please.   18 years 11 weeks ago

    If they're slicing the lemons on the same cutting board as the meat, where are they slicing the stuff for the salads? It's no wonder that some places I cannot eat the salads. Eating the salad is a surefire way for me to get "severe intestinal upset." Oh these types of things always make me stop eating out for a time. The I forget and get tired of my own cooking and go out again.

  • Debt repayment is not an expense   18 years 11 weeks ago

    ...And it must be that I had a year of accounting in high school, or something. But I was already viewing savings as an internal transfer--I never considered it an expense. I think I suspected for a while that something was not quite right about how I was classifying debt repayment, though, and now you have helped me straighten that out. Thank you.

  • Sound advice for winning on a game show   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I just have to laugh at this. Another trendy mathematical fallacy destined to land in the scrap heap with the hidden dollar problem.

    The fact is, once the first door with the goat is opened the sampling of doors is reduced from 3 to 2. meaning that the door you've already chosen has a 50% chance of being the other goat, not a 66% chance.

    The tallys regarding 'switching' and 'non switching' do show some results, though. Here's my guess about why that is.

    When pressed with the choice of three doors, people tend more commonly to choose the same door. (I'm no statitian, but I would guess the middle door is probably the door people pick most often). The proprietors of the test know this, and based on how often the middle door gets picked, they will hide the star prize in one of the side doors more often.

    When the middle door is picked a goat will be revealed on one of the side doors. Since the odds of the prize being hidden in a side door is greater, and since there is only one side door left, in this case, which will be the most common case, your odds are increased by switching doors.

    Unless someone decides to start hiding the prize in the middle door more often.

    The boffin explanation makes the problem seem more convincing when it takes the problem into three scenarios, the prize being in door 1, door 2, or door 3 and you chose door 1 initially. The problem with this is that there are really only TWO scenarios that matter. Either you picked the right door initially or you didn't. If the prize is in door 2 or 3, those are collectively the same scenario; You didn't pick the right door. In the boffin explanation they are simply counting the same scenario twice. The other door will be elimanated and in the end your chances really are 50/50.

  • How to Get a Lower APR, or Possibly Not   18 years 11 weeks ago

    LOWER MY INTEREST RATE CAPITAL ONE.

    THANKS.

  • All about stagflation   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Yes, you're right. If you have a look at the government statistics the Fed prints 10-20% more money each year. This means there is 10-20% more money in the system each year. Why don't consumer prices rise by that much then? Well once you print money you have no control where it goes.

    Before 2000 you saw that money go into the stock market. After 2000 you saw that go into the property market. Now you're seeing it go into commodities. High commodity prices are only now starting to trickle into consumer prices. You could argue all these asset classes are relatively expensive. You could also say paper money has declined in value (You just can't print more property or shares).

    I read some where the last time money supply was this high was before the 70s and 80s recessions. The Fed now has to choose between an inflationary recession (70s) or a dis-inflationary recession (80s). My guess is that we'll see a repeat of the 70s. The Fed always says they're looking at inflation but their actions speak otherwise. There are too many politicians/bankers barking for a return to easy money. I remember reading that Arthur Burns(70s Fed chairman) complained that he couldn't raise interest rates because that was politically unpalatable.

  • How to live with inflation   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Too bad we're in a inflationary reccession. Unfortunately, we're probably going to solve it with hyper inflation. The fed cut WAY too much too fast, and its' effects aren't usually fully felt to a minimum of 6 months (about June)
    Silver is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better investment than gold right now. Unlike gold, silver is used in all sorts of different productions, and it's incredibly undervalued compared to the median price of homes and where it usually is when you compare to history. When 40 ounces of gold is worth the median price of homes, sell gold and buy real estate... But it's not until 500 ounces of silver are worth the median price of homes when you sell gold and buy real estate.
    There's a BIG silver boom coming... get ready.
    Other commodities will go up huge as well, as will the companies that ship them.

  • Home Education Curriculum on the Cheap: 10 Ways to Learn for Less   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I find that the firefox extension Book Burro is just perfect for finding a book for cheap.  It finds the ISBN on the page you are visiting and then checks other stores prices for you.  not so good if you are buying multiple books at the sametime (as it makes it hard to combine shipping)  but I have frequently saved 50% or more through it. Book Burro

  • Tattoo removal on the cheap...just use a Black & Decker Sander.   18 years 11 weeks ago

    god people r stupid and gullable

  • Bush's economic stimulus package; What will you get back?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Allison, I don't think you understood my point. I never implied that the recession (which i am aware WE ARE IN) was a result of our national debt. The spending of our money as individuals, businesses, and as a country is exactly what has gotten us into this mess. the Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air and causes all the malinvestment. It pumps more and more money into the economy when it feels like and this causes inflation, it lowers the value of our currency. this is why the mortgage crisis has occured. not because we're not spending money.

    the government's central banking system tries to stimulate business activity by increasing the quantity of money the nation's banks have available for lending.
    The Federal Reserve System does this by increasing bank's reserves and/or by lowering reserve requirements. In order to lend the increased quantity of money, and thus earn interest, banks must reduce interest rates to encourage more borrowing.

    It is the cheap credit that misleads America. so the sub prime mortgage problem is a result of the fed artificially lowering interest rates and then raising them when they see fit. My point is, the stimulus package is a short term solution to a long term problem. Unless drastic changes are made concerning the regulation of the federal reserve, our economy will never "really" stabililize ,it's all just a big cycle. If you're wise, you will use the money(which our government borrowed from china)to pay off the debt i'm sure a majority of us are in. spending this money ultimately will not do a thing for our economy.

  • Online Ordering: Won't Somebody Take My Money?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Thanks for all the comments!

    And even in the harsh replies, I am detecting that problems with online ordering aren't limited to my situation alone. I will admit that in my trial by fire I have also successfully placed 3 orders without much grief. It's when I have wanted to spend the big money that I've been stopped in my tracks, with nowhere to turn and nobody to help me seemingly.

    Upon further reflection, I do have two compelling cases for online shopping:

    1) It seems to be more environmentally friendly. There is less energy used to keep retail stores open, lit, air conditioned/heated, and maintained.

    2) I guess I've had better experiences overall with in-store clerks, but I'll concede that oftentimes the salespeople are monkey-ish in their nature.

    BUT

    1) Online shopping and warehouses take away jobs from locals. If the advent of retail stores are going by the wayside, to be replaced with warehouse clerks in a centralized location and phone clerks anywhere from Idaho to India, will this pose a problem for local economies?

    Just a thought I'm throwing out there....

     

  • No Signal? 6 Ways to Boost Your Cell Phone Reception   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I seriously don't have a port on the back of my cell phone! It's a Sanyo SCP-3200...in case anybody has an idea.

  • Online Ordering: Won't Somebody Take My Money?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I don't think there's anything at all wrong with going out and doing the research necessary to be a smart consumer, but since you seem to want to have someone holding your hand through the process of buying a product, I'll give you this tip: The larger, reputable online retailers of technical equipment have handy-dandy online tools that will allow you to plug in what you need to do and what features you want with your computer/cellphone/etc. It will then spit out a list of products that meet your needs.
    I guarantee you that the product results you're going to get from these tools are just as good as the ones you would get from the 18-year-old working the computer section at your local Best Buy. In fact, they'll probably be better because you'll have more than the four laptops sitting on the shelf to choose from.

  • Bush's economic stimulus package; What will you get back?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    Yes Matt, I do. It won't make everything completely better, but it will help to stabilize things. The point of the package is not to get rid of our national debt, or get the economy completely back on track. Rather, the point is to GET PEOPLE TO SPEND MONEY. You may not have noticed, but many economists are saying that we have entered or are on the verge of entering a recession. This isn't because of our national debt, which of course everyone knows is huge. This is because people have reduced their spending because of the mortgage crisis. Thus the package is supposed to stop the fall into a recession... not solve all the problems of the world!

  • Online Ordering: Won't Somebody Take My Money?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    I'm sorry but this is a terrible article. You order from a couple of shady sites/known to be less than reputable sites, have bad experiences and suddenly all of online ordering is terrible. Furthermore, your issues are due to your credit card/address situation while I'm sure is a pain, is not even remotely the norm for most people who would read this article. Would you prefer a online company not even think twice when they have an order paid by a credit card without verifying at all? I'm sure you would think twice if your credit card was stolen.

    Plain and simple, if you want to order something online do your research of a vendor first. Would you buy a new blender from a guy with a shack on the side of the road?

    I've gotten plenty of things online with no issue - have i had issues before? Sure, just like i have had issues with some items i bought in stores - just use common sense, have a healthy dose of skeptism and stick to reputed sites like amazon.com and the like

    I've been checking this site out for two days and i gotta say, do a little *solid* research before jumping to conclusions or producing articles with such limited insights. This site has an editor right?

  • Bush's economic stimulus package; What will you get back?   18 years 11 weeks ago

    allison.......do you really think that this stimulus package is beneficial to the economy? the government is spending money that it doesn't have. It's like putting a band-aid on a huge wound. it's a joke. the only thing it accomplishes is making our country 150 billion dollars more in debt. our economic problems will never go away unless the federal reserve stops creating money out of thin air.

    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/20...

    some things your economics professor might not have told you:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553

  • Sound advice for winning on a game show   18 years 11 weeks ago
    Yep

    it was just further reading, that was all. Although I think the tierneylab blog did actually cover the problem as well.