Hidden Treats

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  Detective 12:08 pm on April 16, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: eco friendly skin care, natural skin care (2), post menopausal osteroporosis

  

  Source:  Reuters

  Heidi Montag is a celebrity who’s perhaps better known for the work she’s had done than any work she’s actually done. Earlier this week, the 23-year-old star of MTV’s “The Hills” went on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to talk about her body of work: a nose job, cheekbone and chin jobs, an eyebrow lift, breast augmentation, back scooping — wait. What?

  “I had my back scooped,” Montag said on “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” on Monday. When asked what, exactly, that means, she said, “I actually didn’t know. I might be the first one to try it. It carves out your back a little bit.”

  And the Internet was all, Back scooping? Is that a real thing?! LOL. Commenters on blogs and celebrity gossip sites pondered together: What is this mysterious procedure?

  First of all, the procedure isn’t really called that, said Dr. Anthony Youn, a plastic surgeon in Troy, Mich., who runs the blog Celebrity Cosmetic Surgery.

  “‘Back scooping’ is probably a term that Heidi made up for the liposuction of the love-handle, back-of-hips area,” says Youn, an msnbc.com contributor.

  The procedure essentially does create a scoop-like, concave appearance to the patient’s back, handy for backless summer dresses. But Montag is definitely not the first one to try this — it’s a fairly common surgery, and it’s becoming an increasingly popular weapon in the war on the muffin top.

  “It’s always been very popular, because that area … has always been an area of frustration, principally for women,” says Dr. Michael McGuire, the president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, who practices in Santa Monica, Calif. “It’s kind of a generalized approach to thinning the waist and decreasing those unsightly folds related to the muffin top. It’s a version of treating those areas, and the ultimate goal is to create more of a concavity.”

  The surgery generally lasts about an hour, and costs $2,000-$2,500 on average. It’s also a relatively risk-free area to liposuction, as cosmetic procedures go, Youn says.

  “For some reason, the back of the hips, that ’scooping’ area, almost never looks lumpy or anything like that,” Youn says. “I think the skin in general there, it lies down nicely, and the muscles there are real smooth. Typically, it heals real smoothly in just about everybody.”

  McGuire says patients who want liposuction targeted at the back are generally women in their 30s or 40s who are looking to fight what some might call “bread back.” (That’s “the loaf of back fat women have between a woman’s bra and her giant underwear,” explains a recent gentleman-friend of Liz Lemon’s on “30 Rock.”)

  Natural Alternatives
  Of course plastic surgery is nothing new in Hollywood.  But lately, more and more celebs are increasingly opting for natural skin care products, healthy diet and exercise and other alternatives to the knife.  Eco friendly skin products are of particular interest, as Hollywood’s new black is now green, and the stars are as attached to their Pilates and Alexander Technique classes as they are to their lattes, dark glasses and Cadillac escalades.

  For Youn, it’s often very thin patients who request the procedure. Because when it seems like there’s no fat left to be lipo’d, there’s always the love handles.

  “It’s actually my favorite area to liposuction, since we can get such impressive results there,” Youn says. “It is also one of the only areas that can be effectively liposuctioned on a person who is otherwise very thin.”

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  My Take: I’ve seen a lot of plastic surgery gone bad.  Women with such horrible Botox disasters that they look like they’re wearing bad Halloween costumes.  I also know that more and more of them are opting for alternative methods for reversing the aging process and one in particular is supposed to be a fantastic preemptive choice for  warding off the symptoms of post menopausal osteoporosis.  The Alexander Technique is a relatively established form of breathing exercise that helps people rebalance their spine and posture to effectively reduce again of the joints and bones, and assist with increased breathing.  What is the Alexander Technique?  Simply put, it is a revamping of the way you breathe, stand, walk, and sit.  All of this of course leads to better sleep and eating patterns, which in turn, lead to healthy, glowing skin.

  Laser hair therapy may be in for men, and some women who have hair loss issues.  I think it’s perfectly acceptable to pay thousands of dollars on a Phoenix hair transplant if that’s going to make you happier.  But when it comes to carving up the back, chiseled chins and de-flabbed abs, I’m a fan of exercises and healthy diet.  These are the things we should be teaching young women and men before they grow up and turn to plastic surgery as a way to reverse years of bad behavior.   It doesn’t take a pharmaceutical diagnostics PHD to figure out that what we eat, how we treat our bodies, and the way we conduct ourselves between 18 and 30 will have a direct impact on how we age and how we look doing it.

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  Detective 10:09 am on April 16, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: Austin divorce attorney, Brentwood CA arm reduction surgeon

  

  Source: Associated Press

  President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, raked in a whopping $5.5 million in 2009, fueled partially by book sales, but the first couple also paid out roughly one-third of that in federal income taxes.

  The Obamas gave $329,100 to charities in 2009. The president, who released his tax returns Thursday, also donated his entire $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charitable groups. He never received the $1.4 million, and it was not included in his 2009 income.

  Obama, a former law school instructor and U.S. senator, became a millionaire a few years ago through sales of his 1995 memoir “Dreams From My Father” and his 2006 political book, “The Audacity of Hope.” He earned about $4 million in royalties in 2007, the year he launched his presidential campaign.

  Sales included his audio versions of the books, for which Obama won two Grammy awards in the spoken-word category.

  Sales dropped somewhat in 2008, the year he was elected president, although his books still netted him about $2.5 million.

  Obama’s January inauguration as the nation’s first black president seemed to revive interest in his books. Royalties in 2009 more than doubled the previous year’s amount.

  Obama is paid $400,000 a year as president, although he received $374,460 last year because he took office on Jan. 20.

  Earning potential?
  Typically the president doesn’t earn this much.  There’s more income potential in becoming a divorce attorney, or an Austin divorce attorney, or even a Brentwood CA arm reduction surgeon.  The president is, after all, a paid civil servant.  But Barack was a legal eagle and apparently a pretty engaging writer before all of that, so he built upon a salary that otherwise would have topped out at about $487,000, according to the latest salary figures for the chief of staff listed on Wikipedia.

  The Obamas paid nearly $1.8 million in federal income tax last year, and $163,303 in Illinois income tax. Among their charitable gifts were $50,000 each to CARE and the United Negro College Fund.

  Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, had far more modest earnings. They reported an adjusted gross income of $333,182 for 2009. They paid $71,147 in federal income taxes, $12,420 in Delaware income taxes and $1,477 in Virginia income taxes, where Jill Biden works as a college professor.

  The Bidens gave $4,820 to charity, in cash and in-kind donations.

  The Obamas claimed $514,819 in federal itemized deductions. They included the state income taxes, the $329,100 for charity, $52,195 in home mortgage interest payments, and $22,456 in real estate taxes.

  Of their taxable income of $4,980,858, everything above $372,950 was taxed at the top marginal rate of 35 percent. Obama wants to increase the two highest marginal rates, restoring the top rate of 39.6 percent that was in effect under former President Bill Clinton.

  Had those rates been in effect last year, the Obamas’ federal income tax bill would have increased by more than $200,000.

  The president reported paying $471,022 in commissions and fees for his book sales, mainly to his agents and promoters, the White House said. Otherwise he reported fairly modest offsets to his $5 million in book profits: $15,722 in legal and professional fees, and $866 in office expenses.

  The Obamas reported selling 9,472 shares in the Bank of Hawaii, for a loss of $125,879. They sold the shares for $355,029, but they reportedly were worth $480,908 when the family inherited them more than a year earlier.

  The Bidens’ largest itemized deduction was $30,349 for home mortgage interest payments. They reported relatively modest interest income, including $12 from the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union.

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  My Take: While 9 million Americans run around trying to figure out how to eliminate credit debt, get approval for a business cash advance, looks like the president and his family are sitting pretty, financially speaking.  The debt settlement services and  small business finance companies across America are certainly keeping busy in the meantime, as unemployment figures go up and down and up again, and the number of first-time unemployment insurance claimants keeps a steady upward pace.  I would imagine that even as a high-paid Oakland CA Botox doctor 2009 has to have been the year from hell when it came to finance.

  The trickle  down effect of the nation’s high unemployment rate and loss of jobs has impacted nearly every corner of commerce, from doctors and lawyers to airlines and restaurants, and with the legislation’s recent announcement that it has approved another extension of jobless benefits to unemployed workers, it looks like things are going to stay as they are for a while, even if the nation’s housing market is on the rebound.

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  Divorce Law

  Considering hiring a New Jersey child support lawyer or an Austin Texas divorce law attorney?  Keep in mind that fees vary depending on the services you require and the time involved.  Laws are different in every state, especially when it comes to alimony and divorce.  Check out Video Jug where you’ll find a pretty decent video on divorce law and what to expect if you are in the process of a divorce or considering your options.

   
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  Detective 10:19 am on April 15, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: managed security services

  

  Source: Associated Press

  Researchers report increased plastic debris, or ‘floating garbage,’ covering thousands of square miles and more in a remote area off the Atlantic Ocean.

  The floating garbage — hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents — was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands.

  The studies describe a soup of micro-particles similar to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a phenomenon discovered a decade ago between Hawaii and California that researchers say is likely to exist in other places around the globe.

  “We found the great Atlantic garbage patch,” said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.

  The debris is harmful for fish, sea mammals — and at the top of the food chain, potentially humans — even though much of the plastic has broken into such tiny pieces they are nearly invisible.

  Since there is no realistic way of cleaning the oceans, advocates say the key is to keep more plastic out by raising awareness and, wherever possible, challenging a throwaway culture that uses non-biodegradable materials for disposable products.

  “Our job now is to let people know that plastic ocean pollution is a global problem — it unfortunately is not confined to a single patch,” Cummins said.

  The research teams presented their findings in February at the 2010 Oceans Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon. While scientists have reported finding plastic in parts of the Atlantic since the 1970s, the researchers say they have taken important steps toward mapping the extent of the pollution.

  Cummins and her husband, Marcus Eriksen, of Santa Monica, California, sailed across the Atlantic for their research project. They plan similar studies in the South Atlantic in November and the South Pacific next spring.

  On the voyage from Bermuda to the Azores, they crossed the Sargasso Sea, an area bounded by ocean currents including the Gulf Stream. They took samples every 100 miles (160 kilometers) with one interruption caused by a major storm. Each time they pulled up the trawl, it was full of plastic.

  A separate study by undergraduates with the Woods Hole, Massachusetts-based Sea Education Association collected more than 6,000 samples on trips between Canada and the Caribbean over two decades. The lead investigator, Kara Lavendar Law, said they found the highest concentrations of plastics between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude, an offshore patch equivalent to the area between roughly Cuba and Washington, D.C.

  Long trails of seaweed, mixed with bottles, crates and other flotsam, drift in the still waters of the area, known as the North Atlantic Subtropical Convergence Zone. Cummins’ team even netted a Trigger fish trapped alive inside a plastic bucket.

  But the most nettlesome trash is nearly invisible: countless specks of plastic, often smaller than pencil erasers, suspended near the surface of the deep blue Atlantic.

  “It’s shocking to see it firsthand,” Cummins said. “Nothing compares to being out there. We’ve managed to leave our footprint really everywhere.”

  Manning the Seas? Managed security services companies have been hired.  Fines are increasing for beach littering.  And the public campaigns for recycling are spread far and wide.  Yet, there still remains a gap between education and behavior, and unless these two line up in the minds of those who have a propensity to discard the critical importance of trashing the trash in its proper place, the situation is expected to worsen.  There are plenty of volunteers programs out there established to help address the issue, from options for being a volunteer Argentina, to the other side of the globe.  England volunteer programs, for example also address environmental concerns and they, too, have established programs to help address their own impact on the ocean’s and rivers and lakes and streams that their litter bugs feed.

  Still more data are needed to assess the dimensions of the North Atlantic patch.

  Charles Moore, an ocean researcher credited with discovering the Pacific garbage patch in 1997, said the Atlantic undoubtedly has comparable amounts of plastic. The east coast of the United States has more people and more rivers to funnel garbage into the sea. But since the Atlantic is stormier, debris there likely is more diffuse, he said.

  Whatever the difference between the two regions, plastics are devastating the environment across the world, said Moore, whose Algalita Marine Research Foundation based in Long Beach, California, was among the sponsors for Cummins and Eriksen.

  “Humanity’s plastic footprint is probably more dangerous than its carbon footprint,” he said.

  Plastics have entangled birds and turned up in the bellies of fish: A paper cited by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says as many as 100,000 marine mammals could die trash-related deaths each year.

  The plastic bits, which can be impossible for fish to distinguish from plankton, are dangerous in part because they sponge up potentially harmful chemicals that are also circulating in the ocean, said Jacqueline Savitz, a marine scientist at Oceana, an ocean conservation group based in Washington.

  As much as 80 percent of marine debris comes from land, according to the United Nations Environmental Program.

  The U.S. government is concerned the pollution could hurt its vital interests.

  “That plastic has the potential to impact our resources and impact our economy,” said Lisa DiPinto, acting director of NOAA’s marine debris program. “It’s great to raise awareness so the public can see the plastics we use can eventually land in the ocean.”

  DiPinto said the federal agency is co-sponsoring a new voyage this summer by the Sea Education Association to measure plastic pollution southeast of Bermuda. NOAA is also involved in research on the Pacific patch.

  “Unfortunately, the kinds of things we use plastic for are the kinds of things we don’t dispose of carefully,” Savitz said. “We’ve got to use less of it, and if we’re going to use it, we have to make sure we dispose of it well.”

  _______________________________

  My Take: Either we take a solid look at our behavior or we can start creating that Online memorial to the environment.  Our trash is everywhere.  I’ve seen families leave everything from folding chairs and broken beach umbrellas, to empty organic multivitamins bottles on the sand at the end of a long summer day.  It’s absolutely heart breaking, not to mention infuriating.

  But a lot of the trash and debris that hits the oceans comes from the sewers near the homes and on the streets where litterbugs live and work.  They toss trash out their car windows and into sewers without thinking twice about where it’s going to end up.  Too bad we couldn’t establish a better system for tracking and reporting litter bugs and getting the message to them that our oceans are one of our most precious resources and we need to do all we can to protect them.  I imagine it would be taking it to extremes to establish some sort of surveillance system on the beaches around the world to track the trash tossing.

  I get that network security software is for the tech world, not the environmentalists.  But if we don’t do something drastic, make the consequences of littering more serious, we’ll pay different consequences of our own down the road, and so will our children and grandchildren. If we can figure out that whey protein is good for muscle tone, or cars can run on alcohol from potatoes, we can certainly figure out how to do a better job of managing our own debris.

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  Detective 9:34 am on April 15, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  

  

  Source:  Associated Press

  A new report suggests that more and more people are watching TV over the Internet, although so far, the big cable, satellite, and telco carriers are still sitting pretty with more than 100 million TV subscribers.

  TechCrunch has the scoop on a new report from the Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group, and though the figures may not be a “serious threat” to the big cable and satellite carriers yet, the trend might eventually spell trouble for the like of Cablevision, Comcast, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable.

  To wit: Nearly 800,000 households in the U.S. have “cut the cord,” dumping their cable, satellite, or telco TV providers (such as AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS) and turning instead to Web-based videos (like Hulu), downloadable shows (iTunes), by-mail subscription services (Netflix), or even good ol’ over-the-air antennas for their favorite shows, according to the report.

  Now, as TechCrunch points out, the estimated 800,000 cord cutters represent less than 1 percent of the 100 million U.S. households (give or take) currently subscribing to a cable/satellite/telco TV carrier, so it’s not like we’re talking a mass exodus here. But by the end of 2011, the report guesstimates, the number of cord-cutting households in the U.S. will double to about 1.6 million, and if the trend continues, well…

  Even more trouble for the big carriers is the report’s assertion that U.S. TV watchers are getting a taste for online video, with an estimated 17% of the U.S. TV audience watching at least one or two shows online in a given week last year, up from just 12% in 2008, and set to rise to 21 percent this year.

  Personally, I find the temptation to cut the cord pretty enticing, especially whenever I get a load of my monthly $130 cable bill (which includes unlimited broadband and HD but no premium channels). Why am I paying so much for all the hundreds of channels that I rarely ever watch, anyway? Wouldn’t it be easier — not to mention a lot cheaper — just to ditch my DVR and watch my favorite shows on iTunes and Hulu, catch up on the news via CNN.com, and be done with it?

  There’s one important factor that’s keeping me from pulling my scissors out: live sports, and particularly ESPN, my 24-hour sports companion. Sure, as a football fan, I could keep up with the Jets and the Giants via over-the-air TV (although I’m not sure my landlord would be all that ecstatic about my installing a TV antenna on the roof of our Brooklyn brownstone), but without cable, I’d be left high and dry when it comes to Monday Night Football.

  What about you? Anyone out there count themselves as one of the 800,000-plus cord-cutting households in the U.S.? If not, would you ever consider it, or are you too attached to basic cable?

  Correction: This post originally said that 800,000 U.S. TV households “cut the cord” in 2009. They didn’t all cut the cord in 2009; the number reflects how many had cut the cord by the end of 2009 — a somewhat important distinction. Apologies for the goof.

  • TechCrunch: Estimate: 800,000 U.S. Households Abandoned Their TVs For The Web
  • Convergence Consulting Group: Preview PDFs of “The Battle for the American Couch Potato” reports

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  My Take: I’m not surprised to hear more people are cutting the cable chord.  I dumped my TV six more than four years ago and haven’t missed it once.  I have to admit, I would love to be able to avoid buying sport tickets to see my favorite teams play, especially the L.A. Dodgers, but what I’ve found myself doing lately is going to restaurants where I know there’s seating in the bar and big flat screen TVs.  I make the game watching more of a night-out on the town, and I know I don’t have to worry about anyone at home turning into TV zombies six nights a week.

  I agree with this writer: if we can learn about everything from hard drive recovery to how to make a flower hat or where to buy the most effective colon cleansers online, why can’t we also get access to live games so that we can cut the cord and still have our sports fix?

  If I want to know how to make accessories for my flower hat, where to buy a diet detox kit, or even what to do if I think I need to hire a reputable data recovery expert to help me with lost files, I have no qualms about going online.  It’s a trusted medium for me today for just about anything.  I found a job on line; a boyfriend on a dating site; and I bank and pay many of my bills on the Web.  Why can’t I also watch my “TV” there?

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  Detective 7:34 pm on April 14, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: buy junk cars, garage flooring, Panama City Florida breat implants

  Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram

  If it were up to Burt Ward, dogs would remain healthier and live longer, no matter what.

  The former actor — he played Robin in the 1960s TV series “Batman” — and co-creator of the large breed dog organization Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions has developed a high-end dog food line that he says nearly doubles the lives of the animals he shelters.

  “We measure the success of our business in terms of life,” Ward said as he sat near the pool of his home in Norco, which doubles as the nonprofit’s location.

  The average life span of a large-breed dog is about seven years, Ward said.

  Until recently, Ward cared for a 21-year-old Great Dane, and still has 18-, 16-, and 14-year-old dogs running around his property with canines half their age.

  Ward and wife Tracy, who helps him run the rescue, started producing Gentle Giants dog food about 18 months ago.

  The food can only be found in grocery stores, such as Ralphs, in California. Ward decided to bypass all the boutique and chain pet stores, he said, to make the product more affordable and accessible.

  It’s working. His product has been on Stater Bros. shelves almost two years and Ward said sales have more than tripled.

  Jack Brown, chairman and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets, confirmed that.

  “It’s very tough to get placement in a store,” Brown said. “It must be a product we believe our customer will purchase and repurchase.”

  Adoption options
  If you can’t have pets but want to “adopt,” shelters like Gentle Giants can always use cash and there are plenty of ways to raise it.  One of the easiest ways is to get cash for junk cars and donate the sale.  There are lots of non profits and for profit companies alike that buy junk cars of all kinds.  Some of them even have charitable organizations of their own that their proceeds from sales of the cars are used to support.

  There are 45 to 50 dogs, ranging from 2 to 300 pounds, on Ward’s property. They are fed his product daily from 16 large bags — or about 600 pounds.

  The food has no fillers like corn or wheat, Ward said, and no added lard. It includes chicken, fish, eggs, nine vegetables, three fruits, four grains, vitamins and Glucosamine.

  Ward believes in his product and is passionate about dog food quality.

  “There is no dog food in the world that will accomplish what we’ve accomplished with our dogs,” he said.

  And he throws out a challenge to every dog owner.

  “Compare our dog food to anybody’s,” Ward said.

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  My Take: For the price it would take to pay a Pensicola plastic surgeon for a face lift, you could probably support the Gentle Giants shelter for a full year.  Seriously, a Panama City Florida breast implants doctor would cost you more than it would to feed the animals these guys take care of.  I didn’t know “Robin” was into animal adoptions but now that I do, he’s a bigger, faster, more powerful superhero than I thought he was, and he deserves a lot of recognition for what he’s doing for animals.

  Forget the kids gifts for birthdays and other holidays.  Pass on the fancy cutting boards and other gifts at Macy’s or Pottery Barn.  Why not think about adopting a pet or doing a “virtual” adoption next time you’ve got a present to purchase, a wedding to acknowledge, or a Christmas gift to get for that difficult to buy for relative?

  Here’s a great idea: if you can’t adopt a puppy from Gentle Giants for a friend or family member, you can sponsor the adoption instead.  Have a picture taken of the puppy and create a fabulous photo birth announcements that can double as an adoption notification.  These baby announcements can include the puppy’s age, breed, sex and weight, and they can even come with a record book that tracks where they go to live and how they are doing.  What a great way to honor the animals and make a friend or family member feel like they got a really special gift!

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  Walk On It

  
  Looking for a really cool alternative to that ugly, cold concrete garage flooring?  Consider covering it up with Interlocking tile created especially for garages.  These are typically interlocking PVC garage floor tiles that come in gray or black.  They are durable, built to last a lifetime; chip proof, puncture proof, stain proof, and even crush proof.

   
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  Detective 6:47 pm on April 14, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: Sacramento security guard services

  Source: Dallas Morning News

  Hawaiian Airlines has again been chosen as one of top 18 nation’s busiest carriers for best service, closely trailing AirTran.

  At the bottom: regional carrier American Eagle.

  Hawaiian has been number one for three out of the last four years in an annual rating of airline quality by private researchers. The ratings, released Monday, are based on a combination of airlines’ records in four categories: on-time performance, mishandled baggage, denied boardings due mostly to overbookings, and consumer complaints to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

  AirTran has been battling Hawaiian for the top spot. It was number one three years ago.

  The bottom three airlines are all regional carriers; two are owned by mainline carrier Delta.

  Hawaiian Airlines did the best job for fliers last year, closely followed by low-cost carrier AirTran, according to an annual study released Monday that rates the nation’s 18 busiest airlines for the quality of their service.

  At the bottom were three regional carriers: American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast and Comair. Atlantic Southeast and Comair are owned by mainline carrier Delta, which was ranked fourth from last.

  Hawaiian has been number one for three out of the last four years in the ratings, which are compiled by private researchers based on a combination of airlines’ records in four categories: on-time performance, mishandled baggage, denied boardings due mostly to overbookings, and consumer complaints to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

  AirTran has been battling Hawaiian for the top spot. It was number one three years ago and finished second last year as well.

  Overall, fewer passengers boarded planes last year, but those who did were generally treated better than in the past. Planes were more likely to land on time and bags were less likely to get lost.

  As a result, passengers reported fewer complaints even while cash-strapped airlines reduced flight schedules and charged for everything from bags and pillows to prime spots in boarding lines.

  U.S. air travel surged to about 770 million passengers in 2007, when airline performance suffered a near meltdown. Performance began improving two years ago as the economy took a toll on air travel. Passengers dropped to about 750 million in 2008 and fell to 704 million last year.

  “We kind of turned a little bit of a corner in ‘08 and we’re glad to say they’re continuing that generally positive (trend) for the consumer,” said Dean Headley, a Wichita State University professor and co-author of an annual analysis of airline quality. “Every airline that we looked at in ‘08 and ‘09 got better.”

  One cloud in the otherwise friendly skies was a slight increase in denied boardings, mostly due to overbooking. The increase was the natural result of fuller planes caused by a decrease in the number of scheduled flights, Headley said.

  American Eagle had the highest rate of involuntary denied boardings at 3.76 per 100,000 passengers. Low-cost carrier JetBlue had so few denied boardings that its rate showed up as zero.

  The improved service “does not mean we have fixed the system,” cautioned the report’s other co-author, Purdue University professor Brent Bowen.

  Regional airlines, which are a growing share of flights and now account for half of all departures, have generally ranked at the bottom of the list, he noted. The rankings have been compiled for two decades.

  Hawaiian – which flies to ten U.S. mainland cities along with the Hawaiian Islands and to the Philippines, Australia, Samoa and Tahiti – has some advantages over other airlines. Many of its flights are short hops between islands in a climate generally favorable for flying, Headley noted.

  Passengers didn’t check as many bags last year, perhaps in part due to baggage fees. That may be one reason why fewer than 4 bags per every 1,000 travelers were lost or damaged. The rate for lost bags last year was second best in the last 20 years and about half what it was in 2007.

  AirTran fared best last year, with a mishandled bag rate of 1.67. The worst: Atlantic Southeast, at 7.87.

  The recession hit airlines hard, and they have scrambled for ways to generate income other than by raising fares. U.S. airlines collectively lost $8 billion in 2009, although regional carriers as a group were profitable, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

  Workers suffer too . . . If airlines are struggling, you can bet their employees are too.  Many TSA jobs handling baggage and check in security were created in the wake of 911, but the downturn in travel and the economy have many of those workers taking on second jobs working for Scacramento security guard services or some other company just to  make ends meet.  And, there’s really no other way to slice it: for every 10 job openings  for a Sacramento, CA armed security guard, there are likely 100 applicants or more wanting to work.

  More than 79 percent of airline flights arrived on time in 2009, 3.4 percent better than a year earlier. Fourteen of the 18 airlines included in the analysis improved their on-time performance from the year before. At the bottom was Comair, with only 69 percent of flights on time. Only slightly better was Atlantic Southeast, 71.2 percent.

  Fewer than one in every 100,000 passengers filed complaints with the Department of Transportation, down slightly from the previous year. Southwest again had the lowest complaint rate – 0.21 complaints per 100,000 passengers. Delta, whose regional partners had the worst baggage and on-time performance, had the highest complaint rate, 1.96.

  The ratings are based on statistics for airlines that carry at least 1 percent of the passengers who flew domestically last year. The research is sponsored by Purdue University in Indiana, and by Wichita State University in Kansas.

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  My Take: Most airlines do overbook flights, anticipating that passengers will cancel last minute due to any number of reasons.  So I’m not surprised to learn that many airlines’ numbers on passenger travelers are not all that accurate.  Lots of businesses do this.  Ever order anniversary invitations?  What about wedding or baby shower invitations?  These companies will always order more than you need in case there are mistakes or you end up needing extra copies for other reasons that you initially planned for.  But when you’re flying, these overbooking policies can be a headache, if you are an inflexible traveler that is.

  Personally, if I’m not in a hurry, I’ll fly standby every time.  Why? Well, for one thing, if there is an over booking, people will usually get paid to take another flight and get extra tickets for other flights later on.  That usually clears the way for stand by seats to open up.  If you’re standby, you don’t have as many choices when it comes to departure and landing times, and, in some cases, airport layovers.  You can spend hours of extra time in the air.

  Of course, whenever you’re booking a flight, you want to shop around.  You wouldn’t go for the first  Car insurance quotes online you came across, right?  No.  You’d compare insurance quote prices from one vendor with at least a couple of others to get a range of pricing possibilities.  And when it comes to flights, you should do the same.

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  Other Resources
  

   
• 

  Detective 6:39 pm on April 14, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: CD duplication company, Denver basement remodeling, iphone repair, licensed daycare, Wireless alarm systems

  

  Source:  Associated Press

  Leading directly to the belly of the nation’s largest subway system is a tidy brownstone that, on the surface, looks like any other on the cobblestone block in Brooklyn, but it isn’t.

  The unmarked emergency exit behind the facade is one of many posts protected by beat cops defending the city against bombings or other terror attacks in the city’s intricate underground mass transit network.

  Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials at the nation’s largest police department insist the city remains the nation’s No. 1 terror target, devoting extra resources to protecting Wall Street, the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and other high-profile potential targets.

  But perhaps the biggest worry — spurred by the recent bombing in Moscow and a foiled plot in New York — is the subway, a porous, 24-hour-a-day system with 468 stations and an average of 5 million riders a day.

  Authorities have employed bomb-sniffing dogs, high-tech explosive detection devices and security cameras to protect the sprawling subway system. And they’ve hired Robert McMillan, a third-generation NYPD transit officer who wears a shield bearing the same number as his grandfather’s.

  “It’s important to have presence here,” the 36-year-old McMillan said toward the end of a recent shift guarding the dimly lit subway tunnels that run beneath the East River.

  The NYPD’s counterterrorism division has sought to defend the subway by studying mass transit attacks in Madrid, London, Bombay and, most recently, Moscow to learn about the latest terror tactics.

  Within hours of the Moscow suicide bombings, the department took the precaution of beefing up security at key transportation hubs throughout the city.

  “We look at how the devices were brought in,” said Inspector Martin Conway, counterterrorism coordinator for the NYPD’s transit bureau. “Was it liquid explosives? Remote detonation, with maybe a cell phone? A male suicide bomber? Female? … Anything that would give us some intelligence so we can adjust.”

  Among the adjustments the NYPD has made in recent years: Deploying roving teams of officers with heavy arms and dogs to sweep subway stations and trains; outfitting officers with pager-size radiation detectors to guard against a ‘dirty bomb’ nuclear device; conducting tens of thousands of random bag searches each year; and training officers in “hostile surveillance detection” — the ability to spot suspects casing the subway system.

  “Few elements of urban infrastructure are more essential than the subways,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a recent security briefing. “Protecting them is one of our top priorities and our greatest challenges.”

  One stark reminder of that challenge came in February with the guilty plea of Najibullah Zazi, a former airport shuttle driver accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack on the city. Zazi told a judge his plan was “to conduct a martyrdom operation on the subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material was ready.”

  West Coast Threat?
  Los Angeles may not have as sophisticated or extensive a subway system as New York, but the threat of an underground terrorist attack onboard the Metro system that does provide public transportation for thousands of residents each day, remains a real one.  If a CD duplication company in New York were to work side-by-side with its counterpart on the West coast, the efforts would be doubled and the costs could be shared when it comes to security.  The same could be said for the Los Angeles CD copy for the two coasts’ subway and metro line operators.

  At the heart of the underground counterterrorism effort are transit officers like McMillan, who watch over 14 subway tunnels for signs of suspicious activity.

  The officers work four-hour shifts on overtime, standing post in tiny guard booths that the NYPD erected on subway platforms after the Sept. 11 attacks. The booths, at the openings of the tunnels, are plastered with subway maps and have monitors fed by security cameras showing inside the tunnels.

  Each hour, the officers board subway trains and ride in front with the driver. Using a flashlight, they scan the tracks “for anything that’s not normal,” McMillan, a 16-year veteran, said while riding a No. 4 train from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan.

  If they spot a suspicious bag or package, they report it to their superiors — but never on a police radio, out of fear that a transmission could set off a remote-control explosive.

  The officers also receive the same training as subway workers on how to walk through the tunnels and avoid numerous hazards. Because of that, they’ve become familiar with a subway oddity: the town house emergency exit.

  The NYPD allowed The Associated Press to visit the hidden exit — fronted by the phony house in a quiet residential neighborhood — on condition its origins and location not be disclosed. The department also barred photos.

  Located in the tunnel just east of the river, the exit leads to a grimy lit set of metal stairs that ascend past utility boxes and ventilation shafts into a bleak, windowless room with a door. Anyone opening the door would find themselves on a stoop — part of the facade replicating a town house.

  The passageway once was only secured from the outside by a giant bolt in the middle of the door that was opened with a tire iron. It’s now rigged with silent alarms and motion detectors that would alert police to an intruder.

  The security reflects concerns that a terrorist could use the passageway to sneak into the system, or try to tamper with the ventilation to make a chemical or biological attack more lethal.

  The subterranean detail, while considered vital, can be tedious — and thankless. Last month, a local television station broadcast footage of an officer dozing off in a booth in Grand Central Terminal.

  “It’s a tough assignment,” Inspector Conway said. “It’s boring. It’s not romantic. … But it’s still very important. We count on those officers.”

  _____________________________________

  My Take: It doesn’t matter to me whether you run a licensed daycare, oversee an iPhone repair Company, or are one of the highest paid accident lawyers in the industry, there’s simply no excuse for falling asleep on the job!  It might be boring guarding the nation’s subways and other sensitive entryways and public exchanges, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for sleeping on the clock.  Human error seems to be an increasingly more common reason for many of the nation’s mishaps.  Imagine if your childcare agency had a staff person who was prone to napping while they are supposed to be watching the children?

  It shouldn’t matter what kind of business you are running.  From playstation repair shop owners to the highest profile injury attorneys, no one should get away with dropping the ball on the job.

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  Other Resources

  Need Your Space?

  If you’re looking for a Denver basement remodeling expert, consider the ElkStone basement finishers.  These guys are considered to be among the best Denver Colorado basement refinishing and basement remodeling contractors because they deliver high quality craftsmanship at a competitive prices.

  Applications for Wireless Alarm Systems

  Wireless alarm systems can be used for a variety of different security issues both in the home and for the business. Intelligent home management is greatly aided by the addition of a home security system as it has dual applications. Not only can a wireless alarm system prevent unauthorized access into a residence, but it can also keep track of exteriors around large properties and along driveways. In addition, a home security system can help keep the machinery of a home in check by keeping track of the health of things like electronics, appliances, and other home machinery.

   
• 

  Detective 9:56 am on April 9, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: fence pads, golf vacations, pilates exercise, promotional products, sporting events rentals

  Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram

  Billie Jean King has the spirit of a teenager, brand new knees and a memory that can recall the vintage TV show “This Is Your Life.”

  Which is good, because the Long Beach and tennis icon is going to have a special day of her “Life” next week.

  ESPN recently launched a series called “Homecoming” that is a modern-day redux of the Ralph Edwards series that pulled everyday people and celebrities into a studio for a surprise celebration.

  On Wednesday, ESPN will shoot an episode featuring King at, conveniently, the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, located at 10th Street and Park Avenue, and part of the greater Rec Park area. There will be a live audience for the event and as many friends, colleagues and old faces from her Long Beach days as producers can find.

  It’s not a total surprise. King and producers visited Houghton Park, where she took her first lesson, and Poly High School for taped segments that will be part of the show. Poly was a prospective site for the event until the producers saw the tennis center and thought it was as special as it is logical. She won her first tournament as a 12-year-old at the original Rec Park courts.

  Her mom, Betty Moffitt, will attend, as will former pro Tracy Austin, who King befriended and helped Austin when she was a teen prodigy winning the U.S. Open. Some members of the “Virginia Slims Nine,” who helped King launch the first women’s tour, will also attend. Lots of surprise guests are planned.

  For those wondering, Elton John is currently on tour in middle America but is off the night of April 14.

  The late Bobby Riggs will undoubtedly be there in spirit.

  In Shape? King is in great physical shape regardless of surgery.  Perhaps it’s Pilates exercise, or maybe good “jeans.”  She’s come a long way since the post-feminist movement, when jeans by Calvin Klein and Virginia Slims cigarettes were among the top selling products in America.

  There were a lot of choices for the show beyond Long Beach – like Wimbledon, where King won 20 of her 39 Grand Slam titles, the USTA Tennis Center in New York which is named after her, her offices at the seminal N.Y.-based Women’s Sports Foundation, and even the Astrodome, where she beat Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973.

  But she chose home. As Shakespeare once wrote, “People usually are the happiest at home.”

  “Long Beach has always been so much more than my hometown,” said King, who had knee replacement surgery in February.

  “Years ago, many people from the area opened their hearts for me and my family and gave generously so that I and others could pursue our dreams – my teachers and coaches, the Long Beach Tennis Patrons, the Century Club. The people of Long Beach made a difference in my life and helped me realize that it is important to lead by example and to never give up on your dreams.

  “To be able to share this wonderful evening and this ESPN production with Long Beach is an honor for me and a way to say thanks for being such an important part of my life.”

  The center can accommodate seating for 1,200, and it will be the first of the “Homecoming” episodes shot outside. Cathy Jacobson-Guzy, who has been at the center since 1983, first as a tennis pro and as facility director for almost 20 years, is dressing the recently-renovated facility to the proverbial nines to assist ESPN and make the pre-show gathering an event of its own.

  “They came by about six weeks ago,” said Jacobson-Guzy, a friend of King’s for almost two decades. “They were looking at Poly, which made sense because it has an auditorium, but they did a walk-by of the center and fell in love with it.

  “I’m thrilled they wanted to do this here. Everyone in Long Beach has been on board. The Recreation, Parks and Marine department has been behind us helping us preparing the center and showing it off.”

  The series, hosted by ESPN’s Rick Reilly, has featured other athletes at different “homes.” Jerry Rice chose the 49ers facility in Santa Clara, Kurt Warner his childhood home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Michael Phelps the pool in Maryland where he took his first lesson, and Tony Hawk at the skateboard facility where he first launched himself into the air.

  “We asked her where she wanted to go and she chose Long Beach, because she’s rooted and grounded there,” said ESPN “Homecoming” Executive Producer Anne Powell. “It’s a big deal for us to do this at the center, because it’s the first time we’re shooting outdoors and it’s a very unique place.”

  Powell was pleased, too. The daughter of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, she produced the “Red Bull No Limits New Year’s Eve” event at the Long Beach Pier. “The city has been an incredibly welcoming place to us, and tolerant of all the things that a TV production can throw at you,” she said “This is a very personal series, face-to-face, this is your life.

  “It’s not a biographical documentary. And we do some fun things because we want the athlete to have a good time.”

  Powell dug up a book report King wrote when she was 11, and ESPN has also put together a Wii recreation of “The Battle of the Sexes.

  Seats can be requested through espnevents@onsetproductions.com. The show will air on July 3 on ESPN. “That’s the day of the Wimbledon women’s final,” Powell said. “So who better to feature that day?”

  ________________________________

  My Take: It’s fun to trip back down memory lane with famous people, find out where they grew up and how they got to be where they are today.  I certainly remember the days when Billy Jean King made headlines, not only as a great player on the court, but as a solid representation of the feminist movement in America.  Imprinted pens and poly bags bore the Virginia Slims logo, which is hard to imagine now.  These days, promotional products for events, particularly sports events, are typically focused on the environment, being “green,” a juice product or healthy lifestyle or diet product.

  The jeans for women you see on the girls in high school today are cute, but let’s face it: Brooke Shields and Calvin Klein (proceeded by Jordache to a small degree) deserve the credit for bringing jeans out of the garden and on to the centerfold pages of Vogue.  Yep, we’ve come a long way, baby, as the ads for Virginia Slims used to say.  We have shunned   plastic bags for the sake of the seals and greenhouse emissions, which is a good thing.  Pilates instruction has replaced the Jane Fonda workout videos, and cigarettes, thankfully, are now banned in nearly every public venue you can think of.

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  Other Resources

  Sporting Events Rentals and Local Charm

  Beyond employing sporting events rentals for housing during a sporting event, choosing to stay in a home or condo instead of a hotel can offer a traveler or family the chance to become immersed in the local community and take advantage of cozy tourist spots and the best local events and eateries. Not only can a home owner offer advise on the best restaurants in the area, but he or she can also offer information on the best places to enjoy the atmosphere and culture of the town or location. Even a destination close to a renter’s own home can provide surprises regarding the local flavor.

  Fence Pads and Local Sports

  After the construction of a sports facility with all the trimmings like personalized fence pads and field padding, the local sports events that come to a community can serve as an enhancement to the local economy and may improve the lives of citizens in many ways. For example, in addition to providing jobs to locals of the area, a sports complex may also provide the hospitality industry with regular bookings and may increase the number of customers at local eateries. In addition, businesses that deal with transportation, such as taxi services, and companies who deal in security may see an addition to their bottom line through sporting events.

  This is Not Mini-Golf!

  Getting a great golf vacations package is easy. All you have to do is use the Trip Quote Module on this travel agencies website to give them an idea about what you and your golf group need and where you want to golf.  The Trip Quote Module also allows you to plan your own vacation.  Their golf travel specialists are available to assist golf groups of all sizes in planning fantastic golf trips that are trouble-free and provide an enjoyable golfing experience.  They take care of all the details in your golf travel packages so all you have to do is PLAY GOLF!

   
• 

  Detective 9:15 am on April 9, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: air cargo safety, Evening Dresses (2), smoking alternative

  Source:  AFP

  Just hours after Islamist militants were believed to have killed 46 people in bomb attacks in the northwest region of Pakistan, fashionistas in Karachi  kicked off a fashion week in style and with some added security.

  Participants held a one-minute silence to mourn the five people killed in a suicide car bomb and gun attack at the US embassy in Peshawar and 41 who died in a suicide attack at a political rally in the district of Lower Dir.

  The event is scheduled to feature 52 designers — 49 of them from Pakistan and one each from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates — in a follow-up to a first event held in Karachi last November.

  Denim Live
  Traditionally, the show is relatively light on denim, even the jeans from top designers.  You’ll have to view the latest designs for those items on sites like Artful Dodger jeans.  Even the best Mek denim takes a backstage to couture culture, where evening dresses, halter tops, pantsuits and the latest runway looks for fall are the focus.

  “The fashion week has started and will continue until Friday,” organiser Tehmina Khaled told AFP.

  “Security concerns keep designers and models from the West away from Pakistan, yet we have succeeded this time to get some professionals from Asia to participate,” Khaled said.

  “On the one hand terrorists are attacking our country with bombings and on the other, by organising events like this, we are trying to portray a softer image of Pakistan abroad,” she added.

  Models will sashay down catwalks, flaunting the latest creations by designers in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation, where most women cover up and observe varying degrees of Islamic dress.

  Around 3,200 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks over the last three years in Pakistan, blamed on Islamist militants, although mostly concentrated in the northwest.

  The fashion event is taking place in the southern port city of Karachi, considered a cosmopolitan city in Pakistan, complete with glitzy shopping malls and a thriving cafe culture.

  Karachi has been relatively shielded from the violence, but Islamist cells are believed to operate in the city of 16 million, where the profits from crime and kidnappings allegedly bankroll the insurgency in the northwest.

  _____________________________________

  My Take: Karachi may be cosmopolitan, but it is still one of the most dangerous cities in the world to visit right now.  I can’t imagine the security issues involved in getting top designers through the airport, where air cargo safety has to make moving the clothes alone a logistical nightmare.  Air cargo security workers are probably just the tip of the iceberg.  I’d imagine, too that the show itself is dripping with security guards, with bomb detectors swept beneath the stage skirting and anywhere else militants might decide to hide explosives.  Even runway risers.

  Interesting to ponder the juxtaposition of the fashion on display inside the show against the street wear outside, where women are not so much out shopping for dresses for homecoming as they are right now in America, and the standard “look” for women anyway is a dark burqa or, if nothing else, a westernized outfit accessorized by a headscarf and a pair of dark glasses.

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  Other Resources

  Gotta Puff?
  

  The e-cig is considered a relatively safe smoking alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes and is supposed to be smoke-free, which means you can “light up” in airports and other public places where smoking is now banned.  While the electronic cigarette is not intended as a remedy for nicotine addiction, users report that the smokeless cigs do make it easier to wean yourself off the hard stuff, which is a step in the right direction if you’re trying to quit smoking for good.

   
• 

  Detective 12:42 pm on April 8, 2010 | Comments Off Permalink
  Tags: Greek clothing, Riverside car accident attorney

  Source: Newsweek

  Centenary College in Shreveport, La., eliminated half of its 44 majors after endowments fell by 20 percent from 2007 to 2009.

  Over the next three to four years, classic humanities specialities like Latin, German studies, and performing arts will be phased out.  It’s quite a change from 2007, when NEWSWEEK labeled Centenary the “hottest liberal-arts school you never heard of,” extolling its wide range of academics.  In their place, the school is considering adding several graduate programs, such as master’s degrees in teaching and international business. Such professional programs have proven increasingly popular and profitable at other universities and colleges, especially during economic downturns, a point that the college president tries to downplay.

  “We’re not intentionally trying to chase markets,” says David Rowe. “We think the students need to have a grounding in the arts and sciences, but they also probably need some training in a specific

  But there’s no denying that the fight between the cerebral B.A. vs. the practical B.S. is heating up. For now, practicality is the frontrunner, especially as the recession continues to hack into the budgets of both students and the schools they attend. “Students want something they can sell,” says Anthony P. Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. According to a new study published by Roger Baldwin, an education professor at Michigan State University, the number of liberal-arts colleges dwindled from 212 in 1990 to 136 in 2009.

  The humanities are taking the hardest hit at schools with small endowments. Wisconsin Lutheran College, for example, said last March it would stop teaching political science after facing a $3 million budget shortfall.

  At elite research universities and colleges, there’s increasing pressure to beef up their pre-professional offerings. For instance, Claremont McKenna College in California is plugging a new undergraduate minor in financial economics, while Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business recently added a one-year master’s program geared to liberal arts graduates who may be looking to ride out the recession.

  Jobs of the future? Certainly the businesses landscape is not the same as it was even four years ago.  All those MBA’s out there who took on jobs as  commercial mortgage brokers have got to be wishing they were still in their frat house Greek clothing and pledging to the future of real estate.  But selling commercial mortgages will always be a job option.  What the implications of this new information seem to suggest is that liberal studies graduates will have a hard time finding work that’s going to pay enough to cover their student loans.  That goes for the girls who spent their four-years wearing women’s Greek tees in a fraternity of their own.

  It’s easy to understand the concerns. Just 41% of people ages 18 to 29 are working full time compared with 50% in 2006, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. A 2009 survey of 220,000 incoming freshman showed that 56.5% of students said it was “very important” to pick a college whose graduates found good jobs. “It’s a huge investment, and people are more insecure about their financial opportunities after school,” says Anne Colby, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

  Apart from the tough economics surrounding college choices, the move to offer more practical classes may have gone too far. Although many students now want to major in something that sounds like a job, the economy is shifting so rapidly that it’s hard to predict the landscape of the labor market in the next 10, 20, or 30 years. Not long ago, green tech, renewable energy, and health care were not the burgeoning fields they are today. While the number of students majoring in business has steeply risen this decade, there’s no guarantee that business training will offer students the best preparation for the future.

  Among liberal-arts proponents, the concern is that students who specialize in specific careers will lack critical thinking skills and the ability to write, analyze, and synthesize information. While business education tends to prepare students to work well in teams or give presentations, it often falls short in teaching students to do in-depth research or to write critically outside of the traditional business communiqués of memos or PowerPoints. “I think you need to have both liberal-arts and pre-professional classes at the four-year level,” says José Luis Santos, assistant professor in the Higher Education and Organizational Change division at UCLA. “People need to graduate with critical thinking skills because most workplaces retrain individuals for the needs of the industry.”

  Many well-paying fields still prefer to hire students from these liberal-arts schools or universities, says Caroline Ceniza-Levine, a former Time Inc. recruiter and a career coach at SixFigureStart. But regardless of where students chose to go to school, they still need to get good grades, network, and complete goal-specific internships. “If you don’t know that in advance and you major in philosophy, you’re in major trouble,” says Ceniza-Levine. “You can be Harvard philosophy major, but you’d better have worked at a bank during the summer.”

  While the tradition of the liberal-arts education may be on the wane nationwide, the most elite schools, such as Harvard, Swarthmore, Middlebury, and Williams, remain committed to its ideal. These top schools are not tweaking their curriculums to add any pre-professional undergraduate programs. Thanks to their hefty endowments, they don’t have to. As the economy rebounds, their students, ironically, may be in the best spot. While studying the humanities has become unfashionable and seemingly impractical, the liberal arts also teaches students to think big thoughts—big enough to see beyond specific college majors and adapt to the broader job market.

  _____________________________________

  My Take: The future for all college graduates between 2003 and now is certainly nothing short of bleak.  Jobs are not paying full scale salaries, thanks to the economy.  Kids are finding they can make more money and get steadier work doing other things than what they’d intended on while studying, such as going through truck driving school in New York and buying their own rig.

  New Jersey motorcycle classes are popular as ever and a lot of opportunities are available for young people who want to work as couriers in urban metropolitan cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, where parking is a nightmare, and driving from one end of town to the other by car can take three times as long as it would by bike or motorcycle.

  That law degree that got one graduate a great job working as a Riverside car accident attorney may have paid off in the long run.  But the point here is that not everyone has an interest in business or law, but would rather contemplate the history of religious myths or the origin of the languages of the Guatemalan Highlands.  Sadly, as valuable as the humanities are, it seems that only the students with the money and drive to attend four-year professional programs and go on to grad school will have a snow ball’s chance in you know what of landing meaningful, financially beneficial work until the economy has fully rebounded.

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  Other Resources

  DUI FYI:

  If you’re are arrested in Northern California on DUI charges, there’s no doubt you need the services of a good lawyer.  Regardless of whether you hire a Redwood City,CA DUI attorney, or a lawyer from other part of the state, the potential penalties include jail time; fines up to $1,000; six months to 3 years driver’s license suspension or revocation; higher insurance premiums; probation for 3-5 years.  Other penalties may apply depending on your circumstances.  Be prepared and hire an attorney to help represent you.