By putting those nine digits on public display, Mr. Davis was trying to show the world how confident he was in LifeLock’s service. And it worked. Today, he has just over one million customers. In January, Goldman Sachs led a $25 million round of financing for the company. Last week, Google’s chief financial officer joined its board.

But Mr. Davis’s stunt also amounted to a dare, and one man in Texas has already succeeded in getting a payday loan in his name.

Regulators and lawyers have the company in their sights, too. The state of Oklahoma accused LifeLock of selling insurance without proper certification. New York City has announced its intention to sue the company. Class-action lawyers have filed federal and state lawsuits, charging deceptive business practices and fraudulent advertising, among other things.

Sounds like a great idea if you're too lazy to do e-billing, shred mail with account information, or check your credit report every few months.

-janelane

Your Money - LifeLock Identity Fraud Service Finds Skeptics - NYTimes.com

Interactive infographic on money spent after x number of years for buying and renting.

Basically, having now bought a house, I move for at least 6-10 years, depending on house appreciation (or depreciation).

-janelane

Is It Better to Buy or Rent? - NYTimes.com

Universities call it “rikei banare,” or “flight from science.” The decline is growing so drastic that industry has begun advertising campaigns intended to make engineering look sexy and cool, and companies are slowly starting to import foreign workers, or sending jobs to where the engineers are, in Vietnam and India.

Same problem faced in the U.S. If I had a nickel everytime a little boy said they wanted to be a baseball player, or a little girl said they wanted to be a 4th grade teacher, *I* wouldn't need to pursue engineering. I went to "Introduce a Girl to Engineering" at GT a few weeks ago, and 99% of the middle school girls I talked to didn't know what engineers did or that different types of specialties were available. I was pretty fuzzy on it myself at that age, and my dad has two engineering degrees. It is really a sad state of affairs.

-janelane, engineering *is* sexy and cool.

High-Tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers - New York Times

“While the president is standing idly by, proposing irrelevant solutions to a national and international crisis,” he added, “Shell and BP announced record profits for the first quarter in 2008. Whose side is the president on?”

You're fucking right to ask that question, and I hope everyone realizes that McCain is on the same fucking side.

-janelane, I just get so ANGRY

Bush Presses Congress on Economy - New York Times

OCALA, Florida (CNN) -- Actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for three misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns -- the maximum requested by federal prosecutors.

Damn! Now there's no one standing between us and the vampires.

-janelane

Snipes gets the max -- 3 years -- in tax case - CNN.com

The thousands of new graduates who will be driving the engine of the city’s rental market from now until September will quickly learn that renting in New York is not like renting anywhere else.

The second shock is likely to be how small a Manhattan apartment can be. It is not uncommon in New York, for example, to shop for a junior one-bedroom or a convertible one-bedroom, neither of which is a true one-bedroom at all but really a studio that already has or can have a wall put up to create a bedroom.

Aside from the realities of price and space, the requirements set by New York landlords are also bound to help turn a bright-eyed first-time renter’s outlook grim. To start with, landlords want only tenants who earn at least 40 times the monthly rent, which means an $80,000 annual salary for a $2,000 apartment. According to census data, more than 25,000 graduates ages 22 to 28 moved to the city in 2006, and their median salary was about $35,600.

Those who don’t make 40 times their monthly rent need a guarantor, usually a parent, who in turn must make at least 80 times the monthly rent. In addition to a security deposit, some landlords also want the first and last month’s rent. Tack on a broker’s fee and a prospective renter for that $2,000 apartment is out of pocket nearly $10,000 just to get the keys to the place.

The apartment sizes and prices in NY never cease to amaze me.

-janelane

Finding Your First Apartment in New York City - Your Apartment May Be Smaller Than Expected - Housing - New York Times

From an article I wrote for Earth Day Week at my office:

Did you know...?

> 40% of bottled water comes from public water sources.
> It takes three to seven times as much water to produce a bottle of water as to fill it up.
> Americans use 25 billion single-serve plastic water bottles per year, and 20 billion of those end up as litter or in landfills.
> 60-70% of bottled water sold in the US is not subject to the Food and Drug Administration’s bottled water standards since water bottled and sold in the same state is not subject to federal regulations.
> Even when they do apply, FDA bottled water rule are list stringent than the Environmental Protection Agency’s municipal water treatment standards.
> City tap water must meet standards for certain toxins, carcinogens, E. coli and other pathogens which are not regulated by the FDA.
> Unlike municipal water systems, bottlers are not required to issue a “right to know” about the constituents of the water.

Sources:
http://www.bottledwaterblues.com/Bottled_Water_Facts.cfm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/pablo_calculate.php
http://conservation.meetup.com/30/boards/thread/4027311

-janelane, water professional

In 30 lawsuits, FedEx Ground drivers have argued that they are employees, not independent contractors, and that the company should therefore pay for their trucks, insurance, repairs, gas and tires. In one lawsuit, a California judge ruled that FedEx Ground was engaged in an elaborate ruse in which FedEx “has close to absolute control” over the drivers. Last December, FedEx acknowledged another setback: the I.R.S. ordered it to pay $319 million in taxes and penalties for 2002 for misclassifying employees as independent contractors. FedEx could face similar I.R.S. penalties for subsequent years. FedEx said it would appeal.

To attract drivers, FedEx Ground often runs ads claiming that its drivers earn $60,000 to $80,000 a year. Many drivers say those ads are deceiving. Gross income can exceed $60,000, but Jean, echoing many drivers, said she had to pay nearly $800 a month for her truck, $125 a week for gas, $55 a week for business equipment, $4,000 a year for insurance policies, plus outlays for tires, maintenance and repairs. Some years, Jean calculated, her net pay was just $32,000, amounting to $10.25 an hour.

FedEx blows. Independent contracting is the biggest load of bull. The rest of the article is about how they fired her after she asked for a leave of absence for her third recurrence of cancer.

Another scam companies try is not hiring workers full time so they don't have to provide benefits. My sister ran into this at every retailer and restaurant where she's worked.

-janelane

Working Life (High and Low) - New York Times

Which brings us back to the “why bother” question and how we might better answer it. The reasons not to bother are many and compelling, at least to the cheap-energy mind. But let me offer a few admittedly tentative reasons that we might put on the other side of the scale:

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others — from other people, other corporations, even other countries.

All of this could, theoretically, happen. What I’m describing (imagining would probably be more accurate) is a process of viral social change, and change of this kind, which is nonlinear, is never something anyone can plan or predict or count on. Who knows, maybe the virus will reach all the way to Chongqing and infect my Chinese evil twin. Or not. Maybe going green will prove a passing fad and will lose steam after a few years, just as it did in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan took down Jimmy Carter’s solar panels from the roof of the White House.

An idealistic though thought-provoking take on "going green." Be more proactive -- consume less and plant a garden.

-janelane, sign me up

The Green Issue - Climate Change - Environment - Energy Efficiency - Consumption - New York Times

Abraham writes: "My fascination with Tesla started in elementary school, when my science teacher compared Tesla and Edison. I decided to pay my tribute to the wizard with a patent drawing on an electric magnetic motor, submitted by Tesla in the late 1800's."

Some of the explanations are super dorky, but, hey, that's kind of the point.

-janelane

Nerdy Tattoos