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Vol. 27, No. 11 • November, 2009 / www.Freeman-Spicer.com
Your “Free” Report Will Cost You . . . . . . . The Claim: If you watch TV, you’re probably familiar with the FreeCreditReport.com guys. They have to work in a pirate-theme restaurant, ride a bike instead of driving a car, and live in their in-laws’ basement, all because they didn’t check their credit report free at FreeCreditReport.com. They’re so crazy about the site that they even sing about it while riding a roller coaster. The Check: If you go to the company’s site and focus on the large yellow button that says, “Click here to see your Free Credit Report and Score!” you might miss the smaller print to the left that says that when you order your free report, you are automatically enrolled in the site’s credit-monitoring service. The fee: $179 per year. In other words, your report isn’t free unless you cancel the monitoring service within seven days. When we (Consumer Reports) checked in early September, the Better Business Bureau had received 10,344 complaints about FreeCreditReport.com site run by Consumerinfo.com, which is owned by Experian, one of the big three credit-reporting bureaus. In some cases consumers complained that they had canceled their membership but continued to be billed. Others said they were not aware that they agreed to a membership program. Bottom Line: Skip unnecessary credit-monitoring services. Order your free report once a year from each of the three bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and Transunion - to make sure your information is accurate. As even FreeCreditReport.com states on its home page you can really do that free at AnnualCreditReport.com, the credit bureaus’ central site to provide free reports. By ordering a credit report from a different bureau every four months through that site, you can effectively check your credit three time a year at no cost. (Consumer Reports)
Etiquette . . . . . . . . . It may sound simple or silly, but rudimentary etiquette, particularly table manners, can matter hugely to your career. Unfortunately, many parents are failing to teach and enforce good manners. Its not uncommon to see a newly arrived exec doing a pretty good Three Stooges imitation at the dinner table. If you need a course in Remedial Knife and Fork, go find it, because somewhere along the line, someone who can do you a lot of good is going to invite you to join him/her at the table instead of the office. Don’t expect to fake it. If you have not had much practice, it will show. Sissy manners stuff? Don’t kid yourself. Seemingly unimportant stuff like this separates the people at the peak from those in the pack. (Beware the Naked Man)
Development of Employees, etc. . . . . . . . . How often do you remember (or take the time) to tell people how much you like, admire, or appreciate them? There are several reasons why we don’t vocally let others know about our positive feelings toward them. I’ve heard excuses like, “they don’t need to hear me say it; they already know,” and “I’m too embarrassed to say anything.” Whatever your reason, it’s time for a change. Telling someone something that you like, admire, or appreciate about them is a “random act of kindness” It takes almost no effort (once you get used to it), yet it pays enormous dividends both for them and for you. (Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff)
Go Figure . . . . . . . . The cat, giraffe, and the camel are the only 3 animals that walk by moving the 2 right feet, then the 2 left feet. Why? If you want the answer - ask me. (Mel)
Men . . . . . . . . Q: Why do men whistle when they are sitting on the toilet? A: It helps them remember which end to wipe.
Nukes 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . The Big Question: How can we tell whether a country is making nuclear power or building nuclear bombs? Just about everyone insists that Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at building weapons. Iran claims it only wants nuclear power. So how do weapons inspectors get at the truth? They study the country’s supply and treatment of uranium, one of the most abundant nuclear materials on the planet. Just one pound can produce energy equal to burning three million pounds of coal. To harness all that energy, the uranium must first be “enriched,” increasing the concentration of an unstable form of the element, U-235, which, when split, can release massive amounts of energy in what’s known as a fissile reaction. The configuration of the equipment most commonly used for the enrichment, called gas centrifuges, can tip inspectors to illicit intentions. That’s because making uranium reactor-grade requires that 3 to 5 percent of its total concentration must be U-235 (nearly all the rest is U-238, uranium’s most common isotope). Nuclear weapons, however, require at least 90 percent. The arrangement it takes to hit that number can be a dead giveaway. (Popular Science)
Men . . . . . . . . One day, my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his Sweatshirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, “What setting do I use on the washing machine?” “It depends,” I replied. “What does it say on your shirt?” He yelled back, “Ohio State!” And they say blondes are dumb . . . .
Are Men or Women More Likely to be Hit By Lightning? . . . . . . The numbers tell the story: of the 648 people killed by lightning in the U.S. from 1995 to 2008, 82 percent were male. And as much as we were hoping to uncover a biological cause - extra iron in the male cranium, perhaps, or the conductive properties of testosterone - it turn out men are . . . just king of stupid. “Men take more risks in lightning storms,” says John Jensenius, a lightning safety expert with the National Weather Service. Men are less willing to give up what they’re doing just because of a little inclement weather, Jensenius says, and will continue to engage in pastimes that make them vulnerable, such as fishing, camping and golfing. Recreational or sports-related activities are involved in almost half of all lightning related deaths. Peter Todd, a behavioral psychologist at Indiana University, suspects the difference between the sexes boils down to the basic risk-versus-reward systems that have been part of our biological wiring for thousands of years. For women, Todd explains, the priorities are to protect one’s reproductive role and to care for offspring, which outweighs any inclination to attract potential mates by exhibiting bold behavior. But for men, Todd says the risk of getting struck by lightning could be outweighed by the reward of proving to other men - and potential female mates - that they’re not afraid of getting struck by lightning. This is particularly true for young men, who have the most to gain by impressing others, thereby taking the greatest risk. (Popular Science)
Men . . . . . . Q: How do you keep your husband from reading your e-mail? A: Rename the e-mail folder “Instruction Manual.”
Flu . . . . For you germ-a-phobics - Flu can survive on paper money for up to 10 days if someone with a virus sneezed on it; so wash your hands after paying for that fast food lunch. (Fladeland)
Four Worms and a Lesson . . . . . . . . . . A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil. At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results: The first worm in alcohol - Dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead. The third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead. The fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive. So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? Maxine who was setting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said, “As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate you won’t have worms!” That pretty much ended the service. (LaFree)
Biggest Flops . . . . . . Fifty years ago, Ford gave us a new word for failure when the last Edsel rolled off the production line and into national lore. Mistakes keep piling up. Here are just some of them that AARP has compiled:
• Ford Edsel (1957-1959) Faulty engineering? Misguided marketing? The grille’s proboscis? Whatever was to blame, Ford sold about 116,000 Edsels and lost $350 million.
• Webvan.com (1999-2001) Online grocery service crashed within 18 months of raising $375 million in an IPO.
• Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 17-19 1961) Of 1,400 invaders - Cuban exiles trained by the CIA - 1,200 were captured by Fidel Castro’s troops and ransomed for $53 million in baby food and pharmaceuticals.
• Premier (1988( R.J. Reynolds’ “Smokeless: Cigarette.
• New Coke (April 23 - July 11, 1985) The upstart banished Coca-Cola’s 99-year-old flagship formula to a bank vault for posterity - or at least until devotees brow-beat the company into resurrecting Coke “Classic.”
• Former Democrat John Connally’s $11 million bid for 1980 Republican presidential nomination netted one delegate, Ada Mills of Arkansas.
• Watergate break-in (1972).
• Milli Vanilli’s Grammy award in 1990 for an album the duo didn’t make.
• Ten-Cent Bear Night (June 4, 1974) Rowdy fans trigger Cleveland Indians forfeit.
• Apple Lisa (1983 - 1985) The personal computer’s cost stung at $9,995 ($21,660 today). Apple buried its last 2,700 Lisas in a Utah landfill in 1989.
• DeLorean (1981 - 1982) Only 9,000 cars came off the assembly line.
Nominate your favorite flop at: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/powerof50/articles/50_biggest_flops_power.html
Fraud . . . . . Fraud takes many forms. Count on all of them to increase this year as tough times produce personal and professional pressure. A few fraud facts:
□ Average time until detected: 2 years
□ Exposed by Whistle-Blowers: 46% Sincerely,
□ Corporate-fraud victims that blamed lack of adequate
controls: 35%
□ Companies that modified controls after fraud was
detected: 78% Edward C. Levy
□ Frauds in the accounting dept.: 29% President
□ Frauds by execs/upper mgt.: 18%
□ Frauds by perpetrators living beyond their means: 39%
□ Frauds by perps experiencing financial difficulty at the time: 34% (CFO)