I just found out that a co-woorker is only 3 years older than me, and man I thought they were at least 10-15 years older than me. People sure do age differently….
January 26, 2006
Cool Gadget Info…
About HearPhone
HearPhone™ Technology enables you to hear streaming audio from Bluetooth®-enabled devices and to customize the quality of the sound you receive in face-to-face conversations. It is convergent technology at its finest!
HearPhone™ headsets utilize Bluetooth® technology to provide wireless connectivity to Bluetooth®-enabled devices such as cell phones, computers, MP3 players and television sets. If your favourite audio electronic devices aren’t Bluetooth-enabled, don’t despair – Gennum offers two inexpensive adaptors that will make it easy for you enjoy excellent wireless sound quality anytime. Set up your home or office today! Using HearPhone Technology and the adaptors, you can watch TV at your preferred volume while the rest of the family watches TV at the TV’s speaker volume.
more info see link-
http://www.gennum.com/hp/products.html
January 25, 2006
Top Signs Your Coworker is a Hacker
10. Everyone who ticks him off gets a $26,000 phone bill.
9. He’s won the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes three years running.
8. When asked for his phone number, he gives it in hex.
7. Seems strangely calm whenever the office LAN goes down.
6. Somehow gets HBO on his PC at work.
5. Mumbled, “Oh, puh-leeeez!” 295 times during the movie “The Net.”
4. Massive 401k contribution made in half-cent increments.
3. His video dating profile lists “public-key encryption” among turn-ons.
2. Instead of the “Welcome” voice on AOL, you overhear, “Good Morning, Mr. President.”
And the Number One sign your co-worker is a computer hacker…
1. You hear him murmur, “Let’s see you use that VISA now, Professor “I-Don’t-Give-A’s-In-Computer-Science!”
Rate Top Signs Your Coworker is a Hacker
More Office TMI
A.M. TMI
Sometimes conversations with coworkers just blow my mind. Some coworkers more than others. Like this one:
Me: How are you coping with your husband and his broken leg?
Her: He’s driving me up the wall!
Me: Which explains why you’re working longer hours?
Her: Yeah. Plus my brother in law is there and he can help. But – this was so funny – I was downstairs working out this morning? And we have this gym all set up in the basement and everything? Well, I figured my husband was in the shower since I could hear it running. So I took off all my clothes and opened the shower door and it wasn’t my husband! It was my brother in law. And boy did he look good. I could have just gone in and taken care of him right there, if you know what I mean.
Me: …
Her: But yeah, he’s driving me crazy.
Me: …
Her: I’d better get back to work. Have a good morning.
Me: Uh, you too.
Whatever, freakshow.
thanks to www.rudecactus.com for this excerpt
Former Popcorn Worker Settles Case
A former popcorn factory worker has settled a lawsuit blaming his lung disease on fumes from a butter flavoring used in a microwave variety.
Terms of the out-of-court settlement with Eric and Cassandra Peoples were not released. The settlement ends the company’s appeal of a $20 million jury verdict awarded the couple.
The agreement, revealed Monday in a court order, was reached with International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and its subsidiary, Bush Boake Allen Inc.
Eric Peoples, 34, was among 30 current or former workers at a Jasper popcorn factory who sued the companies, claiming they suffered lung damage because they breathed fumes from the butter flavoring used to make microwave popcorn.
Jasper Popcorn Co. and Glister-Mary Lee Corp., which bought the popcorn factory in 1999, were not defendants in the lawsuits.
The lawsuits said the manufacturers should have known the chemical diacetyl was hazardous and should have informed employees of the danger.
Most of the cases were settled out of court for undisclosed amounts. Verdicts in three cases remain under appeal by the companies.
WTF?
The guy in the cubicle in front of me coughs up a lung daily like he has tubercolisis, but he’s off to smoke every hour on the hour.
TMI
One of my co-workers just told us how she had to hold her toddler daughter down and pull a huge bugger out of her nose last nite.
Still at work…
It’s after lunch and I’m sleepy. I had a grilled cheese from the cafe on-site.
Who’s bad? Malware spreaders tackled
by Antony Savvas
Technology companies and other organisations have formed a coalition to try and take on firms that spread spyware and adware.
The Stop Badware Coalition intends to publish the names of companies that it deems are the worst offenders.
The coalition will also explain how many of these companies make cash through unethical…
Article Continues Below
… marketing practices and fraud.
The group has the support of Google, Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo, Sun Microsystems, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University.
Spyware and adware can be unwittingly loaded on to users’ PCs when they visit websites or download other legitimate software programs.
As a result, the user can be plagued by pop-up ads, slow computer connections as a result of the malware using their bandwidth to send out reports of their activity, or, in the worst case scenarios, having their PC used by remote hackers to spread further malware and commit crimes.
The coalition has also launched the Stopbadware.org website to help users deal with malware problems, where they will be able to check what malware is included in programs they are about to download.
Marrying for money actually works, study finds
WASHINGTON – Marrying for money, it turns out, works.
A study by an Ohio State University researcher shows that a person who marries — and stays married — accumulates nearly twice as much personal wealth as a person who is single or divorced.
And for those who divorce, it’s a bit more expensive than giving up half of everything they own. They lose, on average, three-fourths of their personal net worth.
“Getting married for a few years and then getting divorced is clearly not the path to financial independence,” said Jay Zagorsky, whose study divided married couples’ assets so they could be compared with singles.
Zagorsky, a research scientist at OSU’s Center for Human Resource Research, tracked the wealth and marital status of 9,055 people from 1985 to 2000. Those people have been participating in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which has repeatedly interviewed them about various aspects of their lives since 1979.
The participants are now 41 to 49 years old, making them the youngest of the baby boomers.
Zagorsky cautioned that results could be different for older and younger Americans, who have faced different attitudes about marriage, divorce and living together without marriage.
Zagorsky’s study, which is published in the current issue of the Journal of Sociology, defines wealth as the total value of a person’s assets, such as real estate, stocks and bank accounts, minus liabilities, such as mortgages.
A big reason married people accumulate more wealth than others is simple economies of scale — one household is cheaper to maintain than two, Zagorsky said. Divorce reverses those benefits, he said.
“Divorce looks like one of the fastest ways to destroy your wealth,” Zagorsky said.
David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, said people become more economically productive after they marry.
“They work harder, they advance further in their job, they save more money, and maybe invest more wisely,” Popenoe said. “That’s because, one can speculate, they are now working for something larger than themselves. They are working for a family.”
Zagorsky showed that single people slowly accumulated wealth during the study, going from a median of $1,500 at the start to $10,900 in the 15th year.
Married people accumulated wealth much faster, accumulating 93 percent more than single or divorced people over the life of the study, Zagorsky said.
People who divorced started losing net worth four years before their divorces were final, Zagorsky said. That could be because they had separated before divorcing, forcing them to support two households, he said.
The study found that men fared better than women after divorce, holding about 2 1/2 times the wealth. However, in dollars, it added up to a difference of only $5,124.
“While men come out slightly ahead, divorce destroys wealth dramatically for both sexes,” Zagorsky wrote in his study.
Six suggestions for tax savings
Often overlooked deductions can make a difference if you itemize
By Vanessa Richardson
MSNBC contributor
As Mom always used to say, “Every little bit helps.” She may have been referring to putting money away in the piggy bank, but those words of wisdom can also apply to saving money on your taxes.
You can always claim the standard deduction ($5,000 for single filers, $10,000 for married couples filing jointly), which is usually the best bet for people with uncomplicated tax situations. But depending on the amount of your charitable contributions, home mortgage payments, state taxes and business expenses, your actual deductions could be several times the standard deduction. In that case, you’re missing out if you don’t itemize.
To help you lower your tax bill, here is a list of often-overlooked credits and reductions to check out before sending in your tax return.
Charitable donations
Generally, you cannot contribute more than 50 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI), but due to Hurricane Katrina, the IRS waived that restriction for charitable gifts made between Aug. 28 and Dec. 31, and the limits are removed for any gift, regardless of the organization’s designated cause.
Acknowledgment of your largesse is necessary when your gifts are large. For a contribution of $250 or more, you must get a written receipt of your donation from the qualified organization before you can claim the deduction. Many donors are generous but not organized, says Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for tax information provider CCH Incorporated. “Most people are good at keeping track of donations by check, but not of cash or donated goods.”
Which means you might forget to deduct all that you’ve given to charitable organizations, particularly if you’ve given cash gifts or “in-kind” donations of clothing or appliances that you can then deduct at fair-market value (i.e. what your local Goodwill will get for the item).
If you didn’t keep all your receipts, Luscombe suggests you go through your check register, look through old credit card statements or give a detailed explanation of the donation, including date and amount. Remember that donations must be made to qualified organizations, not individuals.
Education expenses
Whether you’re using a 529 to save for your toddler’s college education, struggling to make tuition payments today or still paying off your own college degree, there are education-related deductions and credits for nearly every stage. There are far too many to list here, although most deductions are related to higher education. The IRS has an 82-page explanation of education tax benefits available for download from its Web site.
Home office deduction
Nearly a third of the U.S. workforce regularly works at home, but few of them are likely to claim these deductions. That’s because many of them simply don’t meet the IRS’s strict criteria. But if you’re self-employed, your home office is your principal place of work, and your gross income is more than your related deductions, you should pass the first litmus test.
If you’re a company employee, however, you can only deduct the home office if it is for your employer’s convenience. That means if you are encouraged to work at home to save the company office space, you could claim a deduction for the expenses your company doesn’t reimburse. But if you negotiated with your boss for the extra perk of working from home a few days a week, no go.
Your office also needs to be a specific area of your home that is only used for business. So if you write legal briefs at a desk in your den where your kids also play, you won’t pass the “exclusive use” rule. If you do have a specific home office space, the IRS allows you to deduct a portion of your home’s expenses, including mortgage or rent, utilities and repairs.
This year, you have the option of deducting your state sales tax or your state income tax. Which should you take?
While this deduction will mainly benefit taxpayers with a state or local sales tax but no income tax (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming), it may give a larger deduction to any taxpayer who paid more in sales taxes than income taxes. For example, you may have bought a new house, car, motor home or boat, which boosted your sales tax total, or you claimed tax credits, thereby lowering your state income tax.
If your state levies both, compare your state and local income tax with the IRS sales tax table in Publication 600 for your state. To get the forms, call the IRS at 800-829-3676.
Medical expenses
Most people don’t get a medical deduction because your medical expenses need to exceed 7.5 percent of your AGI before you are allowed to deduct them. So if your income is $100,000 and you have $10,000 in eligible expenses, you can deduct expenses above and beyond $7,500.
That’s a high hurdle, but according to Cindy Hockenberry, tax information analyst for the National Association of Tax Professionals, the IRS is becoming more generous about what can qualify. “Now it allows weight loss programs, smoke cessation programs, even a health club membership if prescribed by your doctor, to qualify.”
Other approved expenses include premiums for long-term health care insurance, mileage to and from appointments, over-the-counter medication, contact lenses, prescription birth control and fertility treatments.
Miscellaneous expenses
Like it sounds, this category includes everything from business expenses to gambling losses. Your total miscellaneous expenses must exceed 2 percent of your adjusted gross income before you can start tallying these deductions. They include:
* Gambling losses: If you won big in Las Vegas, you have to pay taxes on your winnings, but you can offset some of your gains with gambling losses. “People don’t realize that their gambling losses are deductible,” said Hockenberry.
* Job search expenses: If you were job-hunting last year, you can deduct most expenses related to your search, including the cost of resumes, phone expenses, postage, career counseling and travel to and from your interviews. Forget about deducting your interview suits – the only clothing deduction allowed is for a work uniform.
* Investment expenses: These include everything from brokerage and IRA account-maintenance fees to safe-deposit boxes and subscriptions to investment publications.
* Tax return preparation: Two main benefits of hiring an accountant or using tax software to file your return — not only will you have more of a chance to claim deductions you might have otherwise been unaware of, the cost of filing your taxes is yet another deductible miscellaneous expense.
Super Bowl; Super Security
David Shepardson / The Detroit News
DETROIT — Sunday is D-Day.
The FBI and Detroit Police will open one of the largest security operations in U.S. history, guarding against any threats to Super Bowl XL and aided by more than 50 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Including private security guards, there will be upward of 10,000 security personnel on duty in Detroit for the Super Bowl, rivaling the security for any other one-day event in U.S. history and on a scale with a presidential inauguration, the FBI says, capping 18 months of intensive preparations. It would be a larger force than any previous Super Bowl.
At 8 a.m. Sunday — a week before the big game — the FBI will open its Joint Operation Center at the McNamara Federal Building and will staff it around the clock for seven straight days.
The FBI even knocked down a few walls on the 20th floor to make room for security preparation.
“This is really a cooperative effort and everyone is working together,” said William Kowalski, the assistant special agent in charge of the Detroit FBI, who oversees terror investigations
Fragrant find could bring couple small fortune
MELBOURNE, Australia – An Australian couple could reap a fragrant fortune after what they thought was an odd-looking tree stump turned out to be a rare lump of ambergris, a whale excretion used in perfumes and known as “floating gold.”
Loralee and Leon Wright were walking along a remote beach near Streaky Bay in western South Australia state on a fishing trip three weeks ago when they saw the strange object.
Intrigued, they took a closer look and Leon Wright, thinking it could have been some kind of cyst from a large marine animal, suggested they take the 32-pound lump home.
“She said ‘You’re not putting that thing in my car’,” the Australian Broadcasting Corp. quoted marine ecologist Ken Jury as saying on its Web site (www.abc.net.au) on Wednesday.
Curiosity eventually got the better of the Wrights. Unable to find an answer on the Internet, they went back and got it two weeks later and described it to Jury.
“It immediately struck me as being ambergris — it couldn’t be anything else,” Jury said.
“It’s actually belched out by the animal, would you believe, and those few across the world that have witnessed that or heard it say it’s quite remarkable … apparently the sound of it travels for miles across the water,” he said.
Worth $20-$65 a gram
Jury, who is acting for the family, said ambergris can fetch between $20-$65 a gram, The Age newspaper reported on Wednesday. That would make the Wrights’ find worth at least $295,000.
Used in perfumes by ancient Egyptians and mythologized in literary classics like Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, ambergris is spewed out of the intestines of sperm whales.
Scientists theorize it is produced to aid in the removal of hard, sharp objects like squid beaks that whales may eat.
The waxy, foul-smelling substance is lighter than water and can float for years, during which time it is cleansed by the sun and salt water and becomes hard, dark and waxy and develops a rich musky smell prized by perfumers around the world.
“The Egyptians used it. Certainly the Chinese did and they not only used it in perfumes, but they used to eat it and they used to give it as gifts,” Jury said.
Reebok shareholders approve takeover by Adidas
Shareholders of sporting goods manufacturer Reebok International Ltd. voted on Wednesday to approve German rival Adidas-Salomon AG’s takeover bid in a $3.8 billion transaction for $59 per share in cash.
Reebok’s executive board had agreed to the deal, but in a special shareholder meeting, more than 98 percent of votes cast were in favor of the transaction, the company said in a statement.
The deal is expected to close on Jan. 31.
The vote was the last hurdle for the biggest sector merger in years after the European Commission on Tuesday approved the deal, voicing no antitrust objections.
“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of today’s vote and appreciate the support of our shareholders,” said Reebok Chief Executive Officer Paul Fireman in a statement. “The combination of Reebok and Adidas is truly compelling.”
The deal will create a global shoe and apparel enterprise with combined annual sales of about $11 billion. Adidas, the world’s No. 2, hopes that the combined force of the companies will help it to close the gap with global leader Nike Inc. , which holds an estimated 36 percent of the market in the United States and posted sales of $13.7 billion in its last fiscal year.
Reebok brings to Adidas strength in the lifestyle fashion market and its women’s aerobic business. It also offers key sponsoring licenses contracts with major U.S. professional leagues in hockey, basketball, football and major league baseball.
Adidas, best known for its three-striped soccer shoes, is the global leader in soccer products and is pinning great hopes on this year’s World Cup to raise brand awareness and increase sales.
Although it was largely expected that the deal would easily win approval by Reebok shareholders, the transaction originally met with concern by Adidas investors over the prospect of Adidas facing a large integration while ramping up sales campaigns for the World Cup.
But Adidas has allayed some of those fears with forecasts that the deal will boost earnings by a double-digit percentage rate in the medium term.
Analysts are hoping that Reebok will not require restructuring after it posted an 11 percent sales slump in its third quarter. The company is losing market share at key U.S. retailers to Nike’s marquee product lines and more European-styled footwear by other shoe manufacturers like Puma.
STATE OF THE NATION FUNNY….
“Osama bin Laden released his first new audiotaped message in over a year. While there is some new material in the message, insiders say it’s mostly a Greatest Threats collection. A White House spokesman says they plan to check out the message in its entirety, but they’re too busy listening to your phone calls.”
—Tina Fey
Ford job cuts are uphill task: analysts
By Poornima Gupta
DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co.’s plan to cut 30,000 blue-collar jobs may prove tough to execute, given the United Auto Workers union’s strong reaction, analysts said on Tuesday.
Ford, facing a deepening financial crisis, on Monday unveiled a long-awaited restructuring that calls for the shuttering of 14 plants and slashing of 25 percent of its North American payroll. Ford said about half of the job cuts will be through attrition and the rest through buyouts.
“This could be a major sticking point with labor,” Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy said, adding the plan would likely prompt a confrontation with the UAW.
The job cuts “will be tough for UAW officials to explain to their constituents who are already protesting the health care deal,” Murphy said in a note to clients.
Following the Ford announcement, the UAW promised to “rigorously enforce” all job protection programs for its workers.
This would mean the automaker will end up sending more people to its jobs bank program, delaying any financial benefit from the job cuts, said Bear Stearns analyst Peter Nesvold in a research note.
Ford’s hourly workers are covered by the jobs bank program, called the Guaranteed Employment Numbers, or GEN. The program — established in 1984 during contract talks between the union and the Big Three Detroit automakers — guarantees pay and benefits to union members whose jobs were eliminated due to technical progress or plant restructurings.
Ford has 1,100 employees, or 1.3 percent of UAW-represented work force, in its jobs bank currently, said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans.
Ask Your Boss for a Raise when…
You take your paycheck to the bank and the teller bursts out in hysterical laughter.
The Red Cross calls and offers you emergency assistance.
You empty out your piggy bank and then cook the bank and serve it for Easter.
You pay all your bills, put your remaining Rs10 bill into your billfold and it goes into shock.
You get arrested for taking the coins out of the fountain in the mall.
The Salary Axiom:
The pay raise is just large enough to increase your taxes and just small enough to have no effect on your take-home pay.
So I’m At Work….
We just had one those “pep meetings” where the dept. supervisor gives you a speech on how immportant you are, how the compnay would be zilch without you; how appreciated your work is; but no raises this year.
I feel motivated…..
Michael Gross
So, I’m here and author, Michael Gross, left me a comment on my comment page re: the Sex.com article. How cool!! If you don’t know who he is:
-excerpt from-
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/list/144.php
“One of the most workingest journalists in New York, Michael Gross has also authored Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren, and Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women and The More Things Change; Why the Baby Boom Won’t Fade Away. He is also a contributing editor of Travel & Leisure magazine and editor of the Bergdorf Goodman Magazine. In the meantime, before and later, Michael’s written scores of features for most of the leading magazines in New York including New York, George, Vanity Fair, GQ, Esquire, Radar, and British and German Vogue.
A self-styled provocateur, Michael provokes rage, outrage, amusement, ire, rants and raves (and most rarely indifference) with his profiles. Some of his more memorable ones include Alec Baldwin, Beverly D’Angelo, Calvin Klein (From Bronx to Eternity), Richard Gere, JFK Jr., Patrick McCarthy, Isaac Mizrahi, Norman Pearlstine and Bob Pittman.
Michael is currently completing 740 Park, a work of non-fiction about one of the most prestigious and secretive co-op buildings in New York to be published by Random House. Built by James Lee, the grandfather of Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill, a princely apartment in 740 was long the residence of John D. Rockefeller Jr. One of its apartments, belonging to Saul Steinberg, was sold to investor Steven Schwarzman a few years ago for a record $31 million. Built in 1930, some of the wealthiest and most prominent families in New York have lived there. Oh, if the walls could talk … (and who knows, they probably do and have), Michael Gross is the one who will have heard them.”
TOP 10 BEST CO’S TO WORK FOR
Rank Company Job
growth% Company
size U.S.
employees
1 Genentech 20 Midsized 8,121
2 Wegmans Food Markets 7 Large 31,890
3 Valero Energy 5 Large 16,582
4 Griffin Hospital 2 Small 1,049
5 W.L. Gore & Associates 6 Midsized 4,537
6 Container Store 16 Midsized 2,857
7 Vision Service Plan -2 Small 1,915
8 J.M. Smucker -13 Midsized 2,930
9 Recreational Equipment (REI) 9 Midsized 7,443
10 S.C. Johnson 0 Midsized 3,404
