Meet Joe Paterno, Upcoming Events

clipped from gopsusports.cstv.com May 10 - Delaware Valley NLC Chapter Event Featured Speakers: Joe Paterno and Coquese Washington Where: Valley Forge Convention Center - King of Prussia, Pa. Time: Social Hour (cash bar) at 6:30pm and Dinner at 7:30 p.m. Cost: $42 per person Deadline to reply: Monday, April 21, 2008 CLICK HERE for additional and detailed information. June 7 - Central Pennsylvania NLC Chapter Event > Featured Speakers: Joe Paterno and Ed DeChellis Where: Radisson - Camp Hill, Pa. Time: Social Hour (cash bar) at 5:30pm and Dinner at 6:15 p.m. Cost: $35 per person Deadline to reply: Friday, May 23 CLICK HEREfor additional and detailed information.

$6,000,000,000 in housing wealth up in smoke

That is more then a day's pay for certain.

clipped from latimesblogs.latimes.com A Washington think tank is warning that housing prices are falling at an accelerating level, destroying wealth at a pace that will cost the average homeowner $85,000 in lost wealth this year alone. The projections by the Center for Economic and Policy Research are based on the numbers in Tuesday's Case-Shiller home price index, which showed accelerating price declines in most big cities. The annual rate of price decline over the last quarter was 24.9% in the 20-city index and 25.8% in the 10-city index the center said in its Housing Market Monitor today. the rate of price decline in the 20-city index would imply a loss of almost $6 trillion in real housing wealth over the course of the year The CPER says prices are falling so rapidly that the bubble will be gone by the end of 2008, but the loss of housing wealth will be massive. Peter Viles, senior producer for Real Estate at LATimes.com

The Allure of the Forever Stamp

On May 12 the price of a stamp is rising by one cent. (a 2.4 percent increase). Right now you have the opportunity to lock in the 41 cent price forever. Is there any doubt, given the cost of gasoline, that the price will be rising again soon? This might rank as one of the best investments opportunities for businesses in a long time.

The stamp is quite handsome as you can see.

clipped from thelede.blogs.nytimes.com Risky investments and rising prices seem to be everywhere these days For the past year, branches have been selling “The Forever Stamp” for 41 cents each “The stamp will be good for mailing one-ounce First-Class letters anytime in the future — regardless of price changes,” the agency promises. As the penny increase of May 12 nears, the forever deal is proving irresistible to millions of Americans, according to today’s news release: In the past several weeks, Postal Service customers have been buying Forever Stamps at a rate of about 30 million per day, bringing the amount sold to more than 6 billion since they were first offered. The Associated Press further detailed the climb, reporting forever stamp sales of $267,696,023 in March, $207,900,132 in February and $115,303,031 in January When the standard stamp switches to 42 cents, so will the forever version, thus commencing a new round of forever stamp stockpiling.

Will You Marry Me for Health Insurance?

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Seven percent of Americans said that in the past year they or someone in their household decided to tie the knot mainly so one spouse would be eligible for the other’s health coverage. That astonishing figure came from a survey out today from the Kaiser Family Foundation Is marrying for health-care convenience the new marrying to get a Green Card? There are 114 million households in America,according to the Census Bureau. But the total number of marriages in 2005, the most recent year for which complete national figures are available, is only 2.25 million, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. That puts the total number of people who get hitched — for love, for money, for health insurance, for whatever — at about 4.5 million annually. “What people are good at reporting is their perception,” she said. “The broad implication is the cost of health care is important enough that benefits are part of peoples’ life decisions.”

Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's

clipped from smartclips.blogspot.com Don't forget. Free cone day at Ben & Jerry's is Tuesday, April 29, 2008. To find a scoop shop near you Go Here. Enjoy!!!

Gadgets that help you Conserve Energy at Home

clipped from www.usnews.com These gadgets save power without breaking the bank Simple meters can help identify energy hogs. The Kill A Watt (about $25 online) monitors the electricity used at one outlet. Even when switched off, most electronics continue sucking small streams of current. That phantom load can consume 5 to 20 percent of a home's total electrical bill. The Bye Bye Standby starter kit (about $30) uses a wireless remote control to completely cut power to two outlets. HYmini ($50) can put wind power into a handset. A battery stores electricity for small devices, such as cellphones, and can be charged from an outlet. The Black & Decker CMM1200 ($400) packs enough of a charge to cut a third of an acre. It's also the first mower to earn an Energy Star rating. Tankless heaters deliver water on demand The Rheem RTG-53 (about $800) can supply two showers at a time, including north of the Mason-Dixon Line. the Stiebel Eltron Tempra 12 (about $350) can provide enough water for one satisfying shower at a time

U.S. Department of Energy Launches Website with Energy Saving Tips for Consumers

clipped from photovoltaicsolarpower.blogspot.com Site Highlights Ways to Make Everyday Earth Day with Wise Energy Choices The interactive web page shows consumers steps to use less energy with household electronics, lighting, and appliances to save on monthly bills and how to avoid wasting energy by improving the energy efficiency of their homes and cars.

Today's video: Fla. woman finds giant gator in her kitchen

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Sandra Frosti was surprised to find a really big alligator -- nearly 9 feet long and about 230 pounds -- hanging out in her kitchen Monday night. "Oh my God," Frosti says she thought, according to The Tampa Tribune. "How did that get in?" She fled to her bedroom and called for help. That's where this YouTube video picks up the story:

U.S. Department of Energy Launches Website with Energy Saving Tips for Consumers

clipped from www.energy.gov Site Highlights Ways to Make Everyday Earth Day with Wise Energy Choices he U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched a new internet feature which provides tips to consumers on how to make everyday Earth Day by making smart energy choices to save money while protecting the environment. The interactive web page shows consumers steps to use less energy with household electronics, lighting, and appliances to save on monthly bills and how to avoid wasting energy by improving the energy efficiency of their homes and cars. Other areas of emphasis highlighted include DOE’s work to make a smart and efficient electric transmission grid, make homes, buildings and industrial sites more energy efficient, and reduce dependence on oil with Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles and hydrogen-powered cars.

More soldiers forced to stay in Iraq

clipped from www.usatoday.com The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show. STOP-LOSS NUMBERS INCREASE Gates directed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service secretaries to minimize mandatory tour extensions, known as "stop loss," in January 2007 Since then, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43% to 12,235 in March the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to 15 months to support an escalation in U.S. forces ordered by President Bush Soldiers affected by stop loss now serve, on average, an extra 6.6 months "Secretary Gates understands the hardship stop loss poses to our troops and their families, but he also understands the need to maintain cohesive units on the battlefield throughout deployment," Morrell said. "Troops who have trained together and fought together should remain together."

Time to Tune into Twitter?

clipped from blogs.wsj.com What if you could peer into the minds of some of your most influential customers? Online shoe store Zappos.com is using a new tool that could offer a window into an informal focus group of vocal, tech-savvy customers. And it’s free. The tool is Twitter, a service that allows users to send short updates about what they’re doing to computers or cell phones – a kind of all-in-one tool for hyper-speed blogging, social networking and instant messaging. Check out the “Twitter in Plain English” video on the right. Zappos has been monitoring customer satisfaction on Twitter using a software it developed on its own. You can check for mentions of your company with a free search engine called Tweet Scan, which trolls through Twitter comments looking for keywords you type in. For example, here’s a twitter from “eurotransient”: “It took only 16 hours for Zappos to send me my new bag. Are they messing with the space-time continuum or something?”

Cheerleader In Videotaped Beating Shows Face, Gives First Interview

clipped from www.local6.com 'ANIMALISTIC' ATTACK VIDEO: Victim Gives Interview VIDEO: 911 Call Released VIDEO: 'Dr. Phil' Show Posts Bail VIDEO: Bail Set; Girl Giggles VIDEO: Families Seek Protection VIDEO: Charged As Adults PHOTOS: Lindsay Gives Interview

American Idol: Should Simon buy back Kristy Lee's horse?

clipped from bobbydelray.blogspot.com For those of you that watch American Idol religiously you already know the story. For those of you that don't here goes. Kristy Lee Cook sold her horse in order to raise the money to travel to Philadelphia and audition for American Idol. Not only did Kristy Lee make it to Hollywood, she made it into the final twelve and on to the reality show. During the entire season Simon Cowell piled it on Kristy--a mile high so to speak. Tonight Kristy Lee was voted off American Idol. She finished in seventh place. Not bad. This leads us to the poll question. Should American Idol's Simon Cowell buy back Kristy Lee Cook's horse? Vote.

Solar king and the Stalin of windpower

This article is long and detailed so follow the link for more information.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Hermann Scheer has been described both as the "solar king" and the "Stalin of windpower" "Our dependence on fossil fuels amounts to global pyromania, "And the only fire extinguisher we have at our disposal is renewable energy". Scheer, chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy what has become known as "Scheer's law", German households and businesses that generate renewable energy can sell it back to the grid at more than triple the normal market price. "The key to it working is that consumers have guaranteed access to the grid at guaranteed prices," More than 300,000 individuals and small businesses have jumped at the opportunity in Germany, and the number is rising all the time. Scheer's family, whose house is powered by a windmill, is among them. Scheer's law has created whole new industries - wind power, which employs 80,000 people in Germany, and photovoltaic (solar) power, which employs 40,000 "You give people energy independence and you get social commitment

Hope Street Tool Seeks to Help People See Potential

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Hope Street Group — a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create policies that enhance economic opportunity — is offering a new way to measure the road to prosperity. Hope Street, organized in 2003, has created an online Economic Opportunity Index that seeks to measure the extent to which Americans — by race and gender — have opportunities available to achieve the American dream, and seek to identify the factors most important to improving opportunity in the future. The online tool allows users to display opportunity by race and gender and to change the weight of categories to see how opportunity can change if there are changes in education or unemployment. Hope Street receives funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which is dedicated to solving social and environmental problems, and the Omidyar Network, whose goal is to help create opportunities for people to improve their quality of life.

Fears emerge over Russia’s oil output

clipped from www.ft.com Russian oil production has peaked and may never return to current levels, one of the country’s top energy executives has warned, fuelling concerns that the world’s biggest oil producers cannot keep up with rampant Asian demand. The warning helped on Tuesday to push crude oil prices to a fresh all-time high above $112 a barrel, threatening to stoke inflation in many countries. Leonid Fedun, the 52-year-old vice-president of Lukoil, Russia’s largest independent oil company, told the Financial Times he believed last year’s Russian oil production of about 10m barrels a day was the highest he would see “in his lifetime”. Russia is the world’s second biggest oil producer. Mr Fedun compared Russia with the North Sea and Mexico, where oil production is declining dramatically The trend, however, has turned, with supply dropping below year-ago levels for the first time this decade, according to the International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog.

Save Your Favorite TV Show

Off track but a little fun.

clipped from www.usatoday.com It's that time of the year again when flailing television shows need all the help they can get, which is where you come in. Take our survey and vote for the shows you just can't live without next season. VOTE:  Which shows do you want to see back next season? clipped from www.zoomerang.com Within the next few weeks the networks will determine which of this season's TV series will return next fall. Tell us — and the networks — what you hope happens to these shows. Please select "Keep," "Drop," or "Don't Care" from the tab under each show. We'll reveal the results later this month.

Rumblings of Calif. 'Big One': 'It's going to happen' by 2037

clipped from www.usatoday.com California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said Monday in the first statewide quake forecast. New calculations reveal a 99.7% chance that a magnitude-6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97% vs. 93%. "It basically guarantees it's going to happen," said Ned Field, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Pasadena and lead author of the report. The damage created by an earthquake depends greatly on where it hits. A magnitude-7.1 quake — much stronger than Northridge — hit the Mojave Desert in 1999 but caused few injuries and no deaths. The analysis is the first comprehensive effort by the USGS, Southern California Earthquake Center and California Geological Survey to calculate earthquake probabilities for the entire state using newly available data.

Study to Look at Writing as Stress-Reducer Among Alzheimer's Caregivers

clipped from alzheimersreadingroom.blogspot.com A University of Iowa researcher is conducting an Internet-based study to see if writing about their thoughts and feelings about care-giving can be a strategy to help those family caregivers reduce their stress. Participants in the study do not need to be "good writers" or worry about spelling or grammar because it is the effect of the writing that is being studied.

House warming: U.S. takes ownership of $736M Baghdad embassy

As a taxpayer do you feel ripped-off?

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com It cost more than three-quarters-of-a-billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to build and has been plagued by construction snafus, but the State Department has finally gotten the "deed" to the massive new Baghdad embassy — the largest U.S. mission in the world. Today, the State Department got the the "certificate of occupancy" to $736 million fortress. That means late next month or early in June, U.S. diplomatic staff can start moving into 27 buildings in the Green Zone compound, which covers 104 acres, has office space for 1,000 and housing for several hundred. One measure of how much the embassy cost: It's equal to the estimated value of the New York Mets franchise last year. (You decide which is the better deal ...) The top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, will have to wait to put up the family photos in his office, however. It's not ready. The compound was supposed to have opened last September.