Daily Kos: Credit Cards: The Biggest Reverse Robin Hood Scheme You've Never heard Of

"Now, if you're thinking ahead you may have already asked: Well, why don't they just offer a discount if you're using cash? Good point! I'm glad you asked. And I'll tell you why not: because in the thousand-plus page agreements that merchants have to sign before they can accept Visa or Mastercard. Also in that document: it's highly highly against the rules for merchants to tell customers about the interchange fee they pay."

Now, here's another important factoid: As I mentioned, those interchange fees are much higher than they need to be, and that's because the banks that control the Visa/MC use the money generated from them to pay for the rewards cards you can only get if you qualify, and you have to be worth something already to qualify.
So think about it: A person living on a fixed income, who uses cash to pay for most items, pays a small percentage of that interchange fee every time he or she buys everyday goods at any place that takes credit cards. The banks then take those fees and give them to people who certainly don't need it, but like it when their bank gives them free stuff. And who doesn't like free stuff?

Hives and angioedema: Causes - MayoClinic.com

"Causes The lesions of hives and angioedema are caused by inflammation in the skin. In some cases, hives and angioedema are triggered when certain cells (mast cells) release histamine and other chemicals into your bloodstream and skin.
Allergic reactions to medications or foods can cause acute hives or angioedema. Many allergens have been identified. Examples include:
Foods. Many foods can cause problems in sensitive people, but shellfish, fish, nuts, eggs and milk are frequent offenders.
Medications. Almost any medication may cause hives or angioedema; common culprits include antibiotics, aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) and blood pressure medications.
Other allergens. Other substances that can cause hives and angioedema include direct contact with pollen, animal dander, latex and insect stings. "

So I went to the hospital and got me some pregnazone. Hives are now mostly gone. I think Mexico is winning:)

i have hives

i think mexico is out to get me.

Mystery ailment strikes honeybees - Yahoo! News

"STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination."

2 Italians stoned to death on Cape Verde - Yahoo! News

"ROME - Three Italian women were brutally attacked while vacationing on a resort island off the coast of West Africa, dragged into the woods, pelted with stones and left for dead at the bottom of a hole, the sole survivor said Saturday."

storm in the distance

storm is the distance, originally uploaded by phaedras25.

Huge thunderstorm today. Hail, snow and very ominous clouds. trying to relax as last night was the first night I have slept in awhile. Tomorrow I am going touring. Pyramids, flea markets and hopefully something more interesting than the hotel and office:)

That which makes us clever, make us mad-News-UK-Science-TimesOnline

"One of the most devastating types of mental illness could be a by-product of the evolution of human beings’ uniquely sophisticated intelligence, a new genetic study has suggested.
Scientists have discovered that a common version of a particular gene appears both to enhance a key thinking circuit in the brain, and to be linked to a raised risk of schizophrenia."

moments of happiness

Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and commented on extensively throughout world history. This reflects the universal importance that humans place on happiness.

Life is fickle and ephemeral by nature, so knowing this I strive constantly to appreciate moments of happiness. This is one of those moments. I've had a lovely dinner with nice wine from Chile. Good music is coming from my iTunes and I am reading a good book. I am far away from the people who give me roots and identity, but I feel intimately connected to them. I am overwhlemed by my job, but thrilled by the methods it is overwheming. There are people and places and smells that in concert define these moments. So that I am having such a moment in a far off land with no instigation whatsoever makes me even more in awe of life. My life has not been obvious or easy, but I am deeply grateful that it is my life and that I can, be proud of how I have spent my time so far. The time we get is a gift, only it doesn't "feel" that way often. So tonight as I look out at Mexico City and hope that I finally fall asleep tonight, I wanted to remember this moment. If only because there are so many moments not remembered or written down that we don't properly remember.

Daily Kos: CSI: Federal Reserve

Daily Kos: CSI: Federal Reserve

In the 1970s, corporate chief executives earned 30 times as much as the average worker. Ten years ago, CEO compensation was 116 times the average. CEOs now earn close to 300 times as much as the average worker.

Understatement defined...

"The prewar planning was inadequate," he offered in testimony to the committee.
But to an official audit that in January 2005 revealed the "disappearance" of some nine billion dollars under his responsibility in Iraq, Bremer testified: "I know of no person who spent some meaningful time in Iraq who thought it was possible, under the conditions we worked," to impose modern accounting practices on money the authority spent.

uh huh

Sweat has been the main focus of research on human pheromones, and in fact, male underarm sweat has been shown to improve women's moods and affect their secretion of luteinizing hormone, which is normally involved in stimulating ovulation. Other studies have shown that when female sweat is applied to the upper lip of other women, these women respond by shifting their menstrual cycles toward synchrony with the cycle of the woman from whom the sweat was obtained.

Helicopter 'hit by missile' says Iraqi official

A Sea Knight helicopter crashed near Baghdad today, sending flames and a huge plume of black smoke into the sky, the fifth helicopter lost in Iraq in just over two weeks.An Iraqi air force officer said it was downed by an anti-aircraft missile.At the Pentagon, an official said there was a report that the number of people on board the helicopter was fewer than 10.US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said the CH-46 helicopter went down about 20 miles north west of the capital, but he declined to comment on casualties or give a cause for the crash.“A quick reaction force is on site and the investigation is going on as we speak,” he told reporters in Baghdad

Ugh

Hyperactive Child Medicated to Death
by kittania
Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 07:20:59 AM PST
This is an extremely sad story that only gets worse as more details emerge. A four year old girl has died of a drug overdose. The drugs were given to her by her own parents on the advice of a family doctor.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/...
The autopsy revealed that Rebecca Riley died of a lethal combination of drugs. The Rileys are accused of giving her too much Clonidine, a drug used to treat hyperactivity. When she was just 2 1/2 years old, a Boston psychiatrist diagnosed her with bi-polar disorder.
For anyone familar with BPD the first question would probably be, "how the hell do you recognized bi-polar disorder in a 2 year old?" In this case the diagnosis was made largely on genetic predisposition. Why was a diagnosis like this necessary? Well there's the possiblity it was all for medical insurance...

view from my hotel

view from my hotel, originally uploaded by phaedras25.

I'm not very good with the new camera yet, but hope to improve,

Hell yeah, nail the bastards

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest private employer, must face a class-action lawsuit alleging female employees were discriminated against in pay and promotions.

Well isn't that special...

The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced he is "completely heterosexual" and told an oversight board that his sexual contact with men was limited to his accuser.
That is according to one of the disgraced pastor's overseers, who on Monday revealed new details about where Haggard has been and where he is headed.
The Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur also said the four-man oversight board strongly urged Haggard to go into secular work instead of Christian ministry if Haggard and his wife follow through on plans to earn master's degrees in psychology.

Friends, they really are that important

People in the study were also assessed for signs of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
And autopsies were carried out on 90 patients who died during the study to look for certain physical signs associated with Alzheimer's disease such as deposits of protein outside and around nerve cells.
The team found that the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease increased by 51% for each point of the loneliness score.
Those with the highest loneliness score of 3.2 had about 2.1 times the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to those with a low score of 1.4.
When the researchers factored in social isolation, such as if people had a small social network, the results did not change significantly.

Time management

Mexico City is located in the Valley of Mexico also called the Valley of Anáhuac, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,349 feet). It was originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco. The city was almost completely destroyed in the siege of 1521, and was redesigned and rebuilt in the following years following the Spanish urban standards. In 1524 the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenustitlan, and as of 1585 it is officially known as Ciudad de México

So today I bought a digital camera so I can take and upload photos which I hope to have uploaded by tomorrow. I also will start class. I have skype and just have to say again how tremendous I find technology. I am feel like I just down the street rather than thousands of miles from home:)

Immersion, blogger style

So blogger thinks I am spanish and all of my buttons are in spanish, so forgive me in advance if anything strange shows up as a result of me hitting the wrong button. Regardless I landed today in Mexico City! Very exciting as it is my first time. I was a little apprehensive, but so far everything seems exciting and wonderful. I have an extraordinary view outside my window of Mexico City. It is unbelievably vast. I have tomorrow off so I will go gallavanting and try to not get into toomuch trouble!

Travel, Documents and life

I wrote a totally not legally binding will today and sent to people. I am going off into remote world for a little while and I watched Grey's Anatomy last night and in general have been feeling viscerally the fragility of life recently. Between, moving into my first own place in a new town with a new job and turning 30, time seems to have gone a little funky on me.

The future stands still, dear Mr. Kappus, but we move in infinite space.

Between the oh so helpful global warming report, freakish storms killing people and oh so abundant rhetoric of bigotry one could get pessimistic. Instead I aim for neutrality when I can't obtain optimism. So tonight I am neutral. I am going out for dinner in my new town and will pack and panic tomorrow. Take care, love well and be safe but not to afraid.