INTERESTING: Aging beaten?

Friday, December 27, 2013

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/12/20/a.new.and.reversible.cause.aging

A new — and reversible — cause of aging

Published: Friday, December 20, 2013 – 08:35 in Biology & Nature

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Researchers have discovered a cause of aging in mammals that may be reversible. The essence of this finding is a series of molecular events that enable communication inside cells between the nucleus and mitochondria. As communication breaks down, aging accelerates. By administering a molecule naturally produced by the human body, scientists restored the communication network in older mice. Subsequent tissue samples showed key biological hallmarks that were comparable to those of much younger animals.

*** end quote ***

Interesting. 

Maybe I can beat the death tax by never dying?

Laff!

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Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Target and a dead account

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Dear REDcard holder,
Thank you for your patience with Target as we work through the breach of certain credit and debit card information at U.S. Target stores between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013. Due to high volumes to our call centers, we want to make sure that you have some key information.
We want you to know a few important things:
You do not need to call us unless you found charges on your account that you didn’t make.
You will not be held liable for any fraudulent charges.
We have made changes to our REDcard fraud detection and authorization procedures to further protect you.
We are offering free credit monitoring for one year to every single person who was impacted by this crime. We will give you more information about that soon.
If you have concerns and would like to check your account online, visit Target.com/REDcard.
For additional questions, check Frequently Answered Questions on Target’s corporate website.
We hope these resources help with your immediate needs. If you still feel you need to speak with someone by phone, you may call 866-852-8680.
Thank you for your continued support of Target.

Scott Kennedy, President, Financial Retail Services, Target

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Forgot I had that. But it’s on a dead account. Good luck hackers.

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Fandango has tickets on iPhone

Thursday, December 26, 2013

http://www.fandango.com/

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FANDANGO, the movie site, sell tickets. (No news there!)

Pick them up at the box office (wait on a long line) or at the kiosk (wait on a shorter line).

(The AMC in 22102 makes you used the automated ticket seller. And for certain shows sells specific seating. Dumb idea. Guarantees long lines for everyone! Argh! I won’t be doing that again.)

BUT, now Fandango will text you a link to a QRcode that you display on your iPhone. 

The ticket taker scans it and you’re in. No line. Love it. 

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Posted by reinkefj

INSPIRATIONAL: Then, at the very bottom in the toe, was a …

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

http://ncc-1776.org/tle2013/tle750-20131222-03.html

My Perfect Christmas
by Susan Callaway (AKA MamaLiberty)
mamaliberty@rtconnect.net
Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

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In later years my mother often told us how she and Virginia mixed together the last remaining bread, milk, eggs and sugar with a few raisins and some cinnamon. They put it into the oven with a prayer, and we said our usual prayer of thanks before we ate it. Only the adults knew that those were the last morsels of food left in the house and that none of them had any idea when or how they would be able to get anything else until the next pension check came in on the first. I can only imagine their agony—and their faith.

Christmas morning broke clear and very cold. The snow wasn’t deep, but it stretched unbroken for many miles in every direction. We certainly didn’t anticipate company, but up the road came the county snowplow with a lone blue car behind it. The county never plowed the road by our house, so it was a mystery until the car pulled into our driveway.

Out popped Virginia’s mother! She had shamed the plowman into making a path for her, and he helped her unload boxes of groceries and other things. The children were too busy to notice, however, because we each had a wonderful felt stocking full of nuts, candy and a few small toys. Then, at the very bottom in the toe, was a huge shining orange! Those were worth their weight in gold then and had been very rare in our lives to that point. I can’t begin to tell you what it meant to us as we jealously watched our orange peeled and then savored each drop of the golden fruit.

*** end quote ***

Indeed, a Merry to everyone.

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Posted by reinkefj

MEME: Raskin’s Design Principle: “Computers should never lose work or waste time.”

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

http://www.svenread.com/dont-harm-a-human/

Don’t harm a human

During reading Jef Raskins “Humane Interface” for the first time I came across him quoting Isaac Asimov’s famous first rule for robots: “A robot shall not harm a human, or, through inaction, allow a human to come to harm.” He rightly pointed to the deep meaning this quote should have to every interface designer and it got me thinking about how right he actually is.

Raskin exchanges “robot” for “computer” and “harm a human” with “lose work” or “waste time”. But I actually would prefer to leave the “harm a human” as is, because it encapsulates both lost work and wasting time, as well as other disastrous events that can occur while using a computer / applications / websites.

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Raskin’s Design Principle: “Computers should never lose work or waste time.”

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Cracker Barrel twice wrong

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Restaurant · 1,530,109 Likes

Dear Cracker Barrel Customer:

When we made the decision to remove and evaluate certain Duck Dynasty items, we offended many of our loyal customers. Our intent was to avoid offending, but that’s just what we’ve done.

You told us we made a mistake. And, you weren’t shy about it. You wrote, you called and you took to social media to express your thoughts and feelings. You flat out told us we were wrong.

We listened.

Today, we are putting all our Duck Dynasty products back in our stores.

And, we apologize for offending you.

We respect all individuals right to express their beliefs. We certainly did not mean to have anyone think different.

We sincerely hope you will continue to be part of our Cracker Barrel family.

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Yeah, I guess there are more “Duck Dynasty” Customers than not!

What a bunch of weasels.

Can’t stand on what they believe. They just shift with the wind.

Argh!

Think Henry Ford, Sam Walton, or Frank Mars would be like that?

(I don’t think so. They might be wrong, but they were business leaders.)

Argh!

Phil from “Duck Dynasty” might be a lot of things, but those are his beliefs.

A&E, Cracker Barrel, and how many others have none!

Personally, WWJD? I think he might say: “Awful lot of judging going on. Isn’t that the Big Boss’ job? Get back to the Golden Rule.” 

Merry, or whatever seasonal greeting, if any, is appropriate for you.

(Remember I’m a “bah humbug” guy who cheers for the OLD Ebenezer.) 

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Yahoo Mail is “Not Recommended”!

Monday, December 23, 2013

 

Yahoo Customer Care Satisfaction Survey

Dear Ferdinand

Your opinion matters. Hearing about what you think will help us improve our products and services. Please take a couple minutes to complete our short online survey about your recent experience with Yahoo Customer Care.

Please select the link below to complete the survey: Take the survey now

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Yahoo Customer Care Team


Case number: 131210-081188
Property: Mail
Contact date: 12/10/2013 07:01 PM

    

take the survey

take the survey
New from Yahoo
Don’t just check the weather, see it. Introducing the Yahoo Weather app. The forecast is beautiful.
Download for iPhone. Download for Android.

Copyright © 2013 Yahoo Inc. All rights reserved.

My feedback: “I’m exiting Yahoo Mail as soon as possible and urging others to do the same.”

Partial outages, nonexistent support, and “doesn’t play well with others”.

Steer clear!

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Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Movie AMERICAN HUSTLE — recommended

Sunday, December 22, 2013

AMERICAN HUSTLE — recommended

Interesting plot, but the two girls steal the show. AA for the sex that just exudes thru the screen JL for a yeoman’s job at taking a small part and stealing the show. This movie actually made me feel sorry for the politicians. That’s a powerful statement since they are like used car salesmen. Worth the price.

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTARIAN: Murder and restitution

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Newark, Irvington Men Accused of Deadly Short Hills Mall Carjacking

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This is a difficult one for me being a little L libertarian.

One presumes that the Zero Aggression Principle is the operative “Golden Rule”.

So hence, I derive the corollary “No victim; no crime”.

And shortly after that: “Justice is restitution”.

If I accidentally injure you, I have to make things right. 

If I intentionally injure you, not only do I have to make it right, but there should be a penalty to ensure I don’t do it again. That’s why I like the concept of “punitive damages”. No better way to get people’s attention than to pile on. (“Now listen McDonalds, juries have been telling you that too many people are being injured by super hot coffee. Will a 16m$ judgment get your attention?” And, it did.)

After a while I came to the realization that the “death penalty” administered by a Gooferment court is too capricious and arbitrary. And, there’s nothing in the Constitution that permits this. So, the Gooferment shouldn’t be killing anyone unless they are preventing force or fraud on a citizen. Beside once they kill you, they can’t fix that mistake.

I can see a possible exception where someone is a convicted felon and they are too dangerous to keep around. Although there’s a lot of land in Alaska for the bad guys to try farming. 

Where my thinking (i.e., memes and paradigms) break down is in cases like this. Intentional, or even unintentionally, killing a fellow human being who has done nothing to you.

How do you make restitution in this case?

And, more importantly, how is the bad guy prevented from doing it again?

“Alaska farming” and if you go outside our “security zone”, then your “restraining collar” blows your head off.

So cases like this really stretch my little L libertarian meme.

Help me?

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Obamacare makes fraud legal

Saturday, December 21, 2013

http://www.strike-the-root.com/has-government-legalized-fraud

Has Government Legalized Fraud?
Column by Lawrence Samuels, posted on December 12, 2013
in Statism Health Care Fraud/Waste/Abuse
Column by L.K. Samuels.

Exclusive to STR

*** begin quote ***

The federal government must have made fraud a legal practice. What else could one conclude in light of Obamacare?

When President Obama, his administration and his Democratic cohorts promoted the Affordable Health Care Act, they advertised it with a slew of silver-tongued falsehoods, eloquent misstatements and outright lies. In other words, Obamacare was passed by Congress under clearly fraudulent statements of epic proportions. Almost every promise devised to sell Obamacare to the public and Congress was untrue. Millions of people have lost their coverage, although President Obama stated in 30 to 40 versions that, “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” There were no caveats, no exceptions, period.

And yet Obama and his staff knew for years that millions of health care plans had to be cancelled because they would be considered substandard by the new law. Lisa Myers at NBC News revealed this shame. She said that the Obama administration had known since the summer of 2010 that millions of Americans could lose their insurance under the law, where “50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a ‘cancellation’ letter . . . . ” As more information keeps coming out, it turns out that Obama’s polished statements had been carefully vetted by his staff, but coldly calculated to deceive the buying public.

Any salesman employing such deceitful business practices would be prosecuted in a New York second. But nobody has brought a class action suit against Obama or his administration for massive and unmitigated fraud. No attorney general from any one of the 50 states has filed charges. The conclusion one would have to reach is that the government has the right to commit fraud.

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It would certain appear that “political lies” have reached a new level of audacity.

“I wouldn’t believe you, if your tongue came notarized.” … attributed to Judge Marilyn Milian, but may have an earlier history.

Clearly, anything that the Gooferment, politicians, or bureaucrats say or publish can not be trusted.

Wonder when the revolution will start?

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Posted by reinkefj

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