Doing More With Less Since 1972

Tag: debt

Daily Reading List — October 7th

How Puerto Rico Can Rebuild And Become The Hong Kong Of The West – Not. Bloody. Likely.

Has fitness gone too far? – I’m not saying this can’t be a problem for a small percentage of people. But when I’m out and about, it doesn’t seem to be a front-page issue.

Police Search For ‘Mad Pooper’ Who Dumps And Runs – Pretty sure I know this chick. Didn’t know she moved from Knoxville though.

Health Care Providers Can Use Design Thinking to Improve Patient Experiences – ” In Mary’s case, she couldn’t explain her concerns through the standard patient experience survey, which is initiated after an appointment and which comprises general questions focused on the medical visit. Were it not for the hospital administrator’s initiative to ask Mary what was going on, her concerns may have gone both unnoticed and unaddressed.”

But the box has been checked.

You Can’t Sweat Out Toxins. That Doesn’t Mean Sweating Isn’t Good For You. – I’m healthy as a horse. A lathered horse.

Apple Watch To Be Sold Alongside Aetna Health Insurance Plans – Interesting.

Error 404: A Look At Digital Decay – It’s a little bit like the destruction of the Library at Alexandria; if the Library at Alexandria kept up with what you ate for lunch every day.

How the Heroes and Villains of Game of Thrones Pay (and Dodge) Their Debts – “You accidentally slapped me in the face, so now I get to slap you in the face.” ~My kids. Daily.

Daily Reading List — January 14th

Mobile app playbook: Lessons learned | Twitter Blogs

Ex-Vols star Shazzon Bradley knows secrets of security – No way Shazzon Bradley remembers me, but I worked out with him a little at Golden Gloves in the 90s. When I say "worked out", I basically mean that I let him go in front of me at the water fountain.

He is one of the most polite, genuine, and nicest people I've ever met. This article is a few years old, but I'm so happy to see that he is doing well and living an exemplary life. He deserves it!

For Rugby Post-Match Social Stumbling: Mouthguard Detects Severity Blows To The Head – Could have used one of these when I was playing rugby more regularly. I'm not sure how much benefit it would have provided for the matches themselves, but would have definitely been handy stumbling around at post-game socials.

Only 8% of Leaders Are Good at Both Strategy and Execution

How to Send Your Computer’s Audio to a Chromecast – *Not available for Chrome OS

6 Fictional Lands We Should Bomb Once We’re Done With Agrabah – I would add wherever the Princess Bride is supposed to be and the entire WWE Universe.

7 Steps to Make Your Business Introvert Friendly | Inc.com

Handy Home Improvement Cost Estimates

Vegas Man. Poop. Thieves.

If You Like Student Loan Debt (and maps) You’ll Love This

Vitamins Vodka And Caffeinated Peanut Butter – I can't tell which of these two I'm more excited about.

Vegas Headline Generator: Man…Extortion…Videotaped…Stripper…Sex…Guilty – The headline for this story happens to have all of them.

How to Fart in Public and Get Away with It – These are rookie tactics at best. I have the real goods, and there's no way I'm going to divulge my best tips to the whole world. I'll give up one though–if there's a pet hamster around, it's pretty easy to pass the blame on to them.

Smokey!!!!

52 Of The World’s Most Widespread Myths And Misconceptions, Debunked – Still no debunking of the "more-calories-to-digest-Cap'n-Crunch" theory. So it stands on its own, not yet disproven.

Up Goer Five – Hat tip to Seth Godin for pointing this out, even though it showed up in my feed reader.

Need Help With Debt? Just Ask The Feds

This is amazingly rich.

The federal government has a web site to help Americans with their debt. It’s called “Knee Deep in Debt“. I can’t think of a better place to go for advice when you’re knee deep in debt than an organization that is over its head in debt.

It gets better. According to the site, the first step to eliminating debt is to set a budget. From my experience, this is great advice. Dave Ramsey says the same thing. The thing is, the last time we did a budget at our house was 21 days ago, before the month of January started. The last time the federal government did a budget was over 800 days ago.

Next up, sites on healthy living run by fat smokers and tips on living clean and sober by alcoholic meth lab operators who supplement their income running product from pill mills.

Remember this bit of wisdom from the gov’ment:

Your financial situation doesn’t have to go from bad to worse.

 

How The Ames Debate Could Have Been Won

If you watched the GOP debate last night, you are probably worried. I heard one analyst mention that there’s a political void right now in politics (on “both” sides). I know these candidates all have consultants who are highly paid and know more about politics than me, but let me tell you what would have struck a chord last night–focus on the economy.

When I say focus, I mean that someone up there should have answered every single question in relation to the economy.

Immigration? “I think _____, but if we can’t develop a sustainable economic policy, no one will be immigrating here anyway.”

Afghanistan? “I think _____, but if we can’t develop get a sustainable economic policy, we’ll have to bring the troops back very soon or leave them stranded there.”

Guantanamo Bay? “I think _____, but if we can’t develop a sustainable economic policy, those prisoners may as well be hostages that someone’s going to ransom.”

Energy? “I think _____, but if we can’t develop a sustainable economic policy, there won’t be any jobs to drive to and folks won’t be able to buy power to heat and cool their homes at any price.”

While I have my own opinions about what that policy should be, I’m not pushing those here. I’m saying someone on that stage should have been smart enough to relate every issue brought up in last night’s questions to the number one issue on everyone’s mind. That’s the economy, stupid.

It worries me that the “best and brightest” can’t figure out that the economy is all most people are concerned about right now. Once unemployment and the national debt are both down, we can once again enjoy the luxury of worrying about what other people do with their private parts behind closed doors.

If you suddenly (never saw it coming) found yourself maxed out on your credit cards, what would be your first move? Would you call Visa and try to convince them to up your limit in order to save your credit score, or would you call the cable company and cancel HBO?

Link Dump – I Think The Debt Ceiling Is Causing Global Warming

Five Facts About the Debt

“When it was Chrysler secured bondholders objecting to getting defaulted on by the president’s auto task force, Mr. Obama denounced them as “a small group of speculators” who were “hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices and they would have to make none.” Where was Mr. Obama’s newfound respect for bondholders back during the Chrysler deal?”

NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism – The hell you say! Can we go back to regular light bulbs now?

Tips for overcoming fear of open water swimming – Good stuff here on overcoming your fears. Now I just need to find out why I feel like I’m going so much slower in the open water so I can calm down.

How to Migrate Your Facebook Account and Data to Google+ – Making some assumptions you actually want to move all that stuff, but useful!

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report – @emilysweats has written of the best race reports ever. Worth your time

‘Mad Men’ Begins Streaming on Netflix – Cracking open a single malt scotch and settling in for this one.

Why Leaders Need to Exercise – I’ve found this to be almost exclusively true, and not just with leaders. People in general seem to be more productive, less affected by stress, and more pleasant to be around when they are fit. I know I am.

Running, Drinking and Nerding Out Link Dump

Long Distance Half-Steppers

“Self-knowledge is a bitch.”

I have been all of these people at one point or another, and I’ve definitely run with all of them. There are more I could add to the list too!

Desmos Graphing Calculator – I am in nerd heaven. I can’t wait to play with this gadget. I can’t wait until my kids are learning higher math and we can do this together!!!

Get Drunk Not Fat – My knees wish my brain had been supplied this information at an earlier date.

‘Til debt do us part :

Leverage is leverage, and leverage always brings with it increased risk.

True, but what scares me most is the amount of this “leverage” that represents items of depreciating value or Super Value Meals. And that’s just on the consumer debt.

HTC EVO 3D Review – Hope to get mine before it’s obsolete.

iDoneThis – Very cool, very simple service. Every day it sends you an email, and you respond with that you did. Makes TPS reports a snap.

The 5 Switches of Manliness: Provide – Haven’t even read this one yet, but if it’s half as good as the others, it’s a must read.

India’s $35 Android Tablet Finally Ready Ship – Would be hard not to buy at least one of these. HT @_Neville

High-Pressure Tactics Culture At Groupon – More dumping on Groupon. The more details I read about this company, the more I am wary of it.

Forget Student Loans, And Maybe Even College – Can’t say it enough times–student loans are horrible. The whole industry is basically pay day lending that you can’t bankrupt.

Short Groupon – “Groupon is essentially holding a portfolio of loans backed by the receivables of small businesses. If a business goes under, consumers will come back to Groupon for their money back. Unless Groupon is actually doing credit assessments on businesses that it chooses to feature, this is a big risk for Groupon.”

Perfect Iced Coffee – A couple of weeks ago, I decided to give up coffee for 30 days. This post is the first time I’ve regretted that decision.

Long Overdue Link Dump

I’ve been crazy busy with work for the past few weeks, and a lot has happened. Obviously, I haven’t been reading very much, but here’s a small sample.

An Outsider’s Guide to a Triathlon – Love Todd’s approach.

Justice is Not an Excuse for Jubilation – Pretty much how I feel about it all.

Gas Pump Activism – This. Is. Awsum.

Surprise! Woman finds 7-foot gator in bathroom – Had to read this just to make sure she didn’t find it in my bathroom. Of course, I’d be just as concerned about this woman wandering into the house as I would the gator.

Apocalypse later: what happens the day after we hit the debt ceiling – The horror. The horror.

Higher Education: The Next Asset Bubble? – If you consider college to be an investment, it’s reasonable to calculate your ROI before investing, right?

Social Media for Small Businesses: 6 Effective Strategies – Great tips here for one man shows!

Online Poker Legal Now (in D.C.) – I bet (haha) it won’t take long until this ripples out.

I’m reading– January 6th through January 10th

Katherine Coble on College Debt: – “…the Student Loan is in many ways the new subprime mortgage.” Yeah, except you can bankrupt a sub-prime mortgage. This needs to be hammered home.

The Explosion In Sudden-Loan Debt – “…unlike a mortgage, in which a borrower can refinance or—at worst—face foreclosure and bankruptcy, student loans do not go away.” I wonder what percentage of borrowers are aware of that little gotcha when they are sold student loans as “investments”. Debt == Bad.

A Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up a Treadmill Desk – Thankfully, there’s no article on setting up a spin-desk. That would give me one less excuse.

10 bizarre side effects of exercise – I can think of a few others, but they aren’t topics for polite company.

People Who Drink More Exercise More – Playing rugby with commitment is the most grueling thing I’ve ever done physically. Just saying. Still not sure what excuse all the guys with sketchy practice attendance will use though.

Why Programmers Suck at CSS – I plan on using this, like, A LOT! Hope I don’t gang aft agley.

Man, We Should Have Elected THIS Guy!

Ha

“Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Obama said in a 2006 floor speech that preceded a Senate vote to extend the debt limit. “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

Three cheers for staying on message! Ahh…might as well make the four, six, twelve cheers!

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