The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
- Bank Of America Backpedals On Overdraft Fees
- Steven G. Brant: The Brilliance (and Stupidity) of "The Age of Stupid"
- Susan Moeller: Media Literacy 101: Of Toilets, UNESCO and Demand-Side News
- David Dayen: The Will Ferrell Video - Actually Not A Parody
- Dan Solin: Moonlighting: Broker Style
- Michelle Pilecki: G-20 Diary: Exercising or Exorcising Rights?
- eSarcasm: Best & Brightest: The eSarc 50
- Craig Crawford: Ask and Tell, Mr. President (VIDEO)
- Huff TV: Dr Mark Hyman Discusses Why Cholesterol May Not Be The Cause Of Heart Disease With MSNBC's Dr Nancy (VIDEO)
- New Orleans Jail Conditions Violate Inmates' Rights: Department Of Justice Report
- Cannonball Man Falls Short Of Net (VIDEO)
- Michele Bachmann Gushes About Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly (VIDEO)
- Picasa Update Can Tag Names With New Face Recognition Photo Feature (VIDEO)
- Arianna Huffington: Israel Diary: Hyper-Alert Security Guards, Hyper-Creative Tech Geeks, and an Upcoming Interview with President Peres
Bank Of America Backpedals On Overdraft Fees | Top |
NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday it's capping the fees it charges customers for overdrawing their accounts, backpedaling on the hikes the company imposed just this year. Starting Oct. 19, Bank of America said it will no longer charge overdraft fees when a customer's account is overdrawn by less than $10 in one day. A $35 fee will still be levied if the account isn't brought into balance within five days. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank also will limit to four the number of times an overdraft fee can be charged on an account per day. Just this year, the bank had raised that cap from five to 10. It also raised the fee this year for the first overdraft in a 12-month period to $35 from $25 – a hike that still stands. Enrollment in the bank's overdraft program is currently automatic for new customers, and opting out is possible only in "very limited" circumstances, said Anne Pace, a Bank of America spokeswoman. But now customers will be able opt out, meaning that transactions will be denied at the register if customers don't have enough money in their accounts to cover a purchase. Pace said the company didn't have an estimate on how many people might opt out of the overdraft program, noting that many consider it a useful backup. Customers will need to visit their local branches to opt out. They will also be able to call, Pace said, but the appropriate phone number hasn't yet been determined. When asked about the reversal from the fee hikes earlier this year, Pace said the company is responding to the "changing needs" of customers in the difficult economic environment. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also will be overhauling its overdraft fees, a spokeswoman said late Tuesday. The bank will make overdraft protection opt-in for all customers, post transactions to accounts as they occur, and eliminate fees when accounts are overdrawn by $5 or less. It will also reduce the maximum number of fees per day to three from six. The changes will apply to all customer accounts, the spokeswoman said. She said the bank expects to implement them during the first quarter of next year. The banks' turnaround comes amid widespread criticism of the industry's excessive fees. Sweeping credit card reforms passed earlier this year will soon limit banks' ability to raise fees and interest rates and require greater disclosure about costs. Banks will also have to give customers the choice to opt into over-the-limit programs for credit cards, which are similar to overdraft programs and charge consumers for spending beyond their credit limit. The credit card law doesn't address debit cards, however, and banks can still automatically enroll cardholders into overdraft programs. Three-quarters of large banks have automated overdraft programs, according to a 2006 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Consumer advocates say automatic enrollment in overdraft programs is misleading, because most people assume they can only spend the money they have when using debit cards. But the programs have become an industry standard in the past several years, and a hefty source of revenue for banks. However, Bank of America said that starting in June it will give consumers the choice to opt into overdraft programs when they sign up for an account. Other changes coming in June include: _An annual limit for the number of times its customers can overdraw their accounts when making purchases with debit cards. _Customers who are nearing the annual limit will be contacted by the bank and be provided "education and tools" to help them manage their budgets. _Customers who reach the annual limit will have their overdraft ability restricted. Initial overdraft fees at banks range from $16 to $36, according to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America conducted in March. Some banks also charge sustained fees if consumers fail to bring their accounts up to balance with a couple days; CFA says 10 of the 16 largest banks make such assessments. >____ AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. More on Bank Of America | |
Steven G. Brant: The Brilliance (and Stupidity) of "The Age of Stupid" | Top |
Last night I attended the global premier of "The Age of Stupid" here in NYC. It was really exciting to be in a movie theater and see not just a film but a live, global premiere event complete with statements addressing the issue as well. Congratulations to the filmmakers for creating this significant innovation in the art (and science / technology) of movie openings! ... and for getting the actress Gillian Anderson, the musician Moby, and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to speak at the event! Wow! Regrettably, this brilliantly staged premiere was for a motion picture that was not really all that brilliant itself. In fact, in some ways, the film is rather stupid. Which may ultimately be a good thing... and may turn out to be why, in a sociological sense, the film was made. That's because - when such a well-meaning attempt to solve a problem is as incomplete as this film is - it opens a door for those who know what's missing to take responsibility for the situation and fill in the gaps. So, let me be clear. I think "The Age of Stupid" was made by people with tremendous heart and for whom I have nothing but respect and admiration. It took them years to make this film. And they enlisted the support of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people, many of whom donated their time to the cause. The filmmakers were very innovative in how they financed their project too, using what they call crowd-funding . It's fantastic that they were able to fiance this film using a "we, the people" model. However, after all that innovative thinking, the film they made tells the same old people keep doing stupid things - like not building windmills because they spoil the landscape - and we all die story. It's essentially the same rant against stupid behavior we've heard for years, dressed up in an elaborate, well-intended package. "The answers are right in front of us, but the masses - and their leaders - aren't using them yet. Stop being so stupid!" it yells at us. Well, protest marches - in whatever form they take - have their place. But what these filmmakers don't realize is that global warming isn't going to be prevented by some higher form of protest march. It's not going to be prevented by one side of the issue doing a better job of brow-beating the other side into seeing things their way. Global warming is going to be ended by something that's never been part of the mainstream stop global warming movement's strategy for change. It's going to be ended when the focus becomes not What do we want to stop? but What do we want to start? instead. And what do we want to start? A Cultural Transformation. The crisis that awaits us will only be averted when we realize that the Root Cause of the challenge we face is one of human beings relating to human beings... not of human beings relating to mother nature... and that a Transformation in that relationship is what will make solving our global warming crisis possible. The story The Age of Stupid could have told is how - because the efforts to create a culture of peace between all the peoples on Earth failed - all the energies humanity spends fighting with itself were never applied to the challenge of preventing global warming. You see, for the cost of one Iraq War (including caring for all the wounded for the rest of their lives), the US could finance the construction of a solar energy installation in the sub-Sahara desert that could provide electricity (with zero-cost fuel from the Sun) to a large portion of the planet. See preliminary reports here and here . For the cost of one bailout of the global economic system, the world's economies could finance the complete transition to a sustainable developmental model of the kind developed and championed by people like Amory Lovins and William McDonough . Unfortunately, humanity is currently locked in a many ages-old mindset that says The First Law Is Survival. And since there isn't enough for all of us, that law means survival of just me and those people I like to spend time with: family, friends, and neighbors. If the differences between me and 'the others' are too great... too uncomfortable to deal with... then I'll make sure those people don't get what they need. That's because we live in a world of 'winners and losers'. This us-against-them mindset underpins every social structure on Earth, including our global economic system. The only exceptions are those communities that consciously practice a "we're all in this together' philosophy. (Examples here .) And the funny / sad thing is that living in an us-against-them world is not even necessary any more. Because - as people like visionary Buckminster Fuller and Scientific Ameircan founder Gerard Piel first lectured in the 1960's - we have the capability to feed, clothe, house, and educate every man, woman, and child on Earth. We still do, despite all this "We need more than one Earth" limited capacity talk. Such nonsense... or, more properly, "non-science"! Because - if you're a scientist who thinks systemically - you know that humanity does not just live on Earth. Humanity lives in the Earth - Sun system, in which the Sun send more energy here every day than we humans could ever need. All we need to do is capture it... like the plants already know how to do. In fact, there are scientists right now who are developing the technology of artificial photosynthesis . While watching "The Age of Stupid", I hoped that the man from the future would show all the attempts to heal the divide between the peoples of Earth that had failed. I had hoped the videos he watched would have included Eleanor Roosevelt delivering the Declaration of Human Rights to the delegates at the UN... the efforts of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to create social change through non-violent measures... the call for all nations to develop strategies to transform their societies from unsustainable to sustainable ones at the UN's 1992 conference on the environment (which led President Clinton to launch the President's Council on Sustainable Development in 1993)... and the speech by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the World Economic Forum in 1999 that led to the launch of The UN Global Compact (the corporate social responsibility initiative that has the power to transform the values underlying the world's business community, including Wall Street ). If the man from the future in The Age of Stupid had talked about all of these global missed opportunities from the past , then this film would have been as innovative in the story it told as it was in how it was financed and how it was premiered. But I can't blame the filmmakers for not doing this. They made this error because they don't see that world peace and global warming are connected. Like most people, I suspect they see the world as having many, separate problems... each one having its own, separate answer. They don't think systemically , which would enable them to see how all the world's problems are interrelated... and how humanity's inability to live in peace with itself is the macro problem to end all macro problems ... because, if this macro problem were to solved, then the solutions to all our other problems would fall into place. There are a great many things the man from the future could have said humanity failed at doing. But he never spoke about the failure to heal what prevents the human family from working as one. He never spoke about all the wasted time, energy, resources, and money spent on pushing us apart... and how much good all of that could do if applied to - not just stopping a catastrophe from happening - but to creating a peaceful world. He never spoke about the failure of our world's leaders to offer a vision of all cultures being free to develop their diverse and creative talents in the arts and sciences... a vision of humanity being able to exercise its innate desire to explore new worlds. This demonstrably provable opportunity - to live in a world free of both the fear of the catastrophe that is global warming and the fear of the catastrophe that is war - is the opportunity I wish "The Age of Stupid" had shown humanity as being too stupid to make happen. He could have pointed out that this capability - while off the radar screen of the majority of people - did exists in the past... in our time... today! --------------------------------------- Postscript If you think my talk of a missed opportunity for peace is naive and ignores the "facts" of human nature, then I request you do two things: Read the speech Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave on July 15th in which she laid out the principles for designing an "Architecture of Global Cooperation". And read Dr. Stephen R. Covey's classic work on human development, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" , which focused specifically on the "maturity continuum" from dependent to independent to interdependent thinking. It's possible for humanity to get out of the Global School Yard that is where so much of our political activities exist. We have learned how to get along with our selves and our families, through individual and family counseling. (Not everyone may be using what counseling has to teach, but those principles exist.) And we have learned the principles for cooperation in the workplace, thanks to management gurus such as W. Edwards Deming . (Everyone may be using these principles, but they exist as well.) Some of us know that these same principles and processes can be applied at the community, national, and international level as well. It's just a matter of scaling them up. We can do this. Especially now that you know the information is out there... and how important it is not just to the cause of preventing a global warming catastrophe... but to the cause of building a world of peaceful cooperation between all the peoples on Earth. We can do this. We can be wise not stupid , learn what it takes to grow up and work together as one human family, and have the world of our dreams! | |
Susan Moeller: Media Literacy 101: Of Toilets, UNESCO and Demand-Side News | Top |
The ladies bathroom on the 13th floor of UNESCO's building in Paris has the best view of any restroom in the world. As you clean and dry your hands (the stalls are around the corner), your back is to a large picture window that looks over the rooftops of the city--straight to the Eiffel Tower. With a view like that even from the washroom, it's no wonder that the bureaucrats in the building believe they have a special perspective on the world. Or, at least in the workshop that I'm sitting in, that they believe that they have the insight that's needed to simultaneously rescue journalism as well as foster democracy in the developing (and the developed) world. The insight is media literacy. "Media literacy gives citizens the essential knowledge that makes them realize that they must protect media from suppression of all kinds"--political and economic, said Wijayananda Jayaweera , the director of UNESCO's Communication Development Division , when he opened the workshop session. This means, he added, that "media literacy demands citizens' conscious engagement in democratic processes." Actually, Jayaweera's take on the role of media in society is similar to that of President Obama, the self-described " big newspaper junkie ," who noted this week that good journalism is " critical to the health of our democracy ." But while Obama has said he is " happy to look at " the rescue proposals before Congress that would give news outlets tax breaks if they were to restructure as not-for-profit organizations, the rescue plan that Jayaweera and his colleagues are looking at is a revamped curricula for K-12 schools in the 93 member countries of UNESCO. UNESCO wants to teach teachers the world over to incorporate media literacy training in their classrooms, and the Paris workshop is an early step in its launch of a "Media and Information Curriculum for Teacher Education" in member countries. Once that global curriculum is launched--although I realize I'm simplifying things just a tad--UNESCO believes that stronger democracies and greater access to news and information will follow. It is true that rediscovering the public service function of the news business by creating a non-profit cadre of outlets is an idea worth pursuing. As is, for that matter, another option being pursued in the United States: building entrepreneurial tracks into journalism schools across the country in the hopes that some bright young student (or hopefully many bright young students) will invent the next new Google--or better yet, conceive of a business model that will salvage the existing mainstream media outlets. In fact that's an idea that should have been implemented in j schools en masse a decade ago. It's just that those are both solutions from the supply-side, and UNESCO is interested in the demand side, the audience for media: i.e. the rest of us. UNESCO is committed to empowering citizens. UNESCO stubbornly refuses to label the global media's audience as "consumers" of news, instead preferring to focus on that audience's role as "citizens." Teaching today's youth--tomorrow's citizens--to support media in their role as the "facilitator of democratic public discourse," and teaching those students to demand the highest standards of accuracy and fairness from the news media, will serve to put pressure on both governments and media. So teaching media literacy in schools makes sense. First, there are more students in the world than there are media outlets, so if one wants to build a critical mass to call for change, it makes sense to target the large and technological adept demographic of the world's youth. Educate this up-and-coming generation to understand what it can do locally and globally--and how it call for change responsibly. And second, many of those youths are already active "prosumers" of news: people who not only digest news but also document the world around them, both to get the word out about what they eyewitness, as well as to call attention to injustices they see. Teach students to recognize and value fair and accurate reporting--of others and of their own Twitter and Facebook and YouTube documentation. Now, really, I'm not so blinded by the great view out the windows of the 13th floor toilets that I think this can all happen as neatly as it sounds here. UNESCO is a clumsy bureaucracy to wield even a brilliant Global Media Literacy curriculum as a tool to bring about mass change. But I do think UNESCO is on to something. Revamp journalism by educating tomorrow's audience. Don't forget the business/advertising-side of the problem of the news industry, but rethink the audience side. Look beyond the wishful and likely chimerical solutions of micro-payments and subscription services to support online news, and start thinking about how to educate the world's next generation. UNESCO already is. -- Note: Thanks to Walden Davis for suggesting the "prosumer" idea More on Twitter | |
David Dayen: The Will Ferrell Video - Actually Not A Parody | Top |
The video you've certainly seen today , with Hollywood celebrities coming out to defend those poor insurance companies, has gone viral. What's a little less-known is that prominent Republicans are basically engaging in a note-for-note remake of that video, leaping to the defense of that industry which has turned in record profits, raising premiums even during the Great Recession and saving money by denying Americans care. Here's the story so far: yesterday the Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into Humana for sending its elderly customers a mailer warning that they would lose benefits under the new health insurance reform plan. Interestingly, Max Baucus, yes that Max Baucus, registered the complaint that triggered the investigation. The whole thing concerns Medicare Advantage payments: Humana is one of the largest private carriers serving seniors under a program called Medicare Advantage. About one-fourth of the elderly and disabled people covered under Medicare participate in the Advantage program, which offers a choice of private plans that usually deliver added benefits. Humana has about 1.4 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, and the program accounts for about half the company's revenue, Noland said. Government experts say the private plans are being paid too much -- about 14 percent more than it costs to care for seniors in traditional Medicare. The Baucus plan -- and other proposals -- would reduce payments to the plans, and the health insurance industry is fighting back. The Humana mailer focused squarely on the Medicare Advantage program. Actually the Medicare Advantage plans cost the government about 14% more and deliver less than traditional Medicare, according to the Government Accountability Office. We are subsidizing private industry billions of dollars so they can perform the exact same task as Medicare, and with lower quality. The mailer that Humana sent to beneficiaries, designed to look like official communication with customers and not naked lobbying documents, wasn't all; a website which generated automatic emails to members of Congress, claiming to be from customers (despite the fact that anyone could generate an email), is also being probed. And of course, this is not the only example of insurance companies filling their customers' heads with misinformation and turning them into citizen lobbyists. Of course, the industry went into full-on whine mode as a response, with Republican leaders right behind them. A spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's main lobbying group, issued a statement Tuesday criticizing what he described as the government's "gag order." "Seniors have a right to know how the current reform proposals will affect the coverage they currently like and rely on," AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach said. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate's Republican leader, denounced the HHS order as an attempt to squelch free speech. "We cannot allow government officials to target individuals or companies because they do not like what they have to say," McConnell said. "Is this what we believe as a Senate -- that this body should debate a trillion-dollar health care bill that affects every American while using the powerful arm of government to shut down speech?" McConnell said. McConnell noted that Humana, an insurer at the center of the controversy, is based in his home state. The company has been a large contributor to McConnell, donating $112,452 over his career , according to Eric Schultz, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. (emphasis mine) Shocking that Mitch McConnell would leap to the defense, Will Ferrell-style, of a health insurer based in his state which has feathered his nest to the tune of six figures, no? There is a difference between free speech issues and what Humana and others are doing, namely violating federal law. Medicare Advantage providers are contracted employees of the federal government, and under the terms of Medicare Advantage, providers have strict limits on what they can communicate to beneficiaries. This lobbying effort would appear to violate those guidelines, and those customers receiving this letter could be excused for believing it to be an official document warning of loss of benefits if they failed to take action. In short, Medicare Advantage is a wasteful corporate welfare program providing no benefit to individual subscribers and actually worse quality of care to seniors, at a cost of around $150 billion over 10 years to the taxpayer. The government has no imperative to keep such a scheme going, and they certainly shouldn't be paying providers to send misleading letters to their customers so they can keep the gravy train going. But the real amusement here is watching Republicans like Mitch McConnell read from the Will Ferrell script and crying to "leave health insurance CEOs alone," as if they don't get enough help from the taxpayers to fund their lavish lifestyles. More on Max Baucus | |
Dan Solin: Moonlighting: Broker Style | Top |
Du Jun, a former managing director of Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, can sympathize with the plight of investors who suffered staggering losses. He was only making $2 million a year. Obviously, he needed to supplement his income. No problem. Mr. Jun had access to confidential information about a listed company, Citic Resources. It was being advised by Morgan Stanley about an oil field purchase in Kazakhstan. Mr. Jun bought $11 million worth of Citic's shares and promptly sold them for a cool $4.3 million profit. Problem solved! How did this activity get past Morgan Stanley's compliance department? Quite easily. Not only did Morgan Stanley approve these trades, some of them were handled by the firm. The prosecuting attorney called Morgan Stanley's compliance "haphazard," "inefficient" and "hopelessly inadequate." The defense claimed that this insider trader was "... in accordance with [Morgan Stanley's] procedures." On September 18, 2009, Mr. Jun was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Morgan Stanley issued a statement claiming that this misconduct "was a violation of Morgan Stanley's values and policies." Apparently, the compliance department did not get the "values and policies" memo. Dan Solin is the author of The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read. The views set forth in this blog are the opinions of the author alone and may not represent the views of any firm or entity with whom he is affiliated. The data, information, and content on this blog are for information, education, and non-commercial purposes only. Returns from index funds do not represent the performance of any investment advisory firm. The information on this blog does not involve the rendering of personalized investment advice and is limited to the dissemination of opinions on investing. No reader should construe these opinions as an offer of advisory services. Readers who require investment advice should retain the services of a competent investment professional. The information on this blog is not an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities or class of securities mentioned herein. | |
Michelle Pilecki: G-20 Diary: Exercising or Exorcising Rights? | Top |
Let's start with the disclaimer that I'm not only a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union , but also an active volunteer and board member for my local chapter . And if I seem prejudiced in favor of First Amendment rights, so be it. The G-20 summit meeting is a mere 36 hours -- from Thursday morning to Friday afternoon -- but the legislative and court battles over free speech and protest issues have been going on for months, intensifying in the past week as more people come into town. One of the big tussles has been about the out-of-town protesters camping in local parks. At first, as a Pittsburgh resident and taxpayer, I agreed with our wunderkind Mayor Luke Ravenstahl that camping in city parks just isn't allowed , given the lack of facilities. OK. And then I heard that camping is routinely permitted for such folks as the antique car owners in the Vintage Grand Prix -- not exactly the kind of people who couldn't easily afford a local hotel. Despite that precedent, the camping restriction has held, and local churches, schools, community groups and even private citizens have opened up their property and hospitality to the incoming protest groups. But police harassment follows even these perfectly peaceful people as well as the peaceful protesters they're trying to help, as outlined in an ACLU federal lawsuit , including: ▪ Police told Bail Out the People last week that they could not canvass door-to-door without a permit in the Hill District. The City Code does not require a permit and it would be unconstitutional to have such a requirement. ▪ Police told Bail Out the People on Friday that they could not use amplified sound from a vehicle driving around the Hill District without obtaining a permit. The City Code does not require a permit for such activity.... ▪ On Saturday, Pittsburgh police told people at Carnegie Mellon University's outdoor camping space that all students without CMU ID's had to leave. CMU administrators arrived on the scene and countermanded the City Police directive... Read them all. They're a scream, especially the snafu that police had to apologize for, blocking protesters with a permit from marching on a city street past the publicly owned David L. Lawrence Convention Center that officers claimed was "private property." And this is still more than 36 hours before the real action begins. ***************** To follow up on yesterday's post about the anarchists' party in my neighborhood park. The all-day drizzle let up in time for the festivities from beginning to end. There were more baby-strollers than speeches, and probably more "reporters" than undercover cops. Since the actual site was right across the street from a hospital, there were plenty of local workers, plus a contingent of the local trendezoids and a scattering of the local locals, all outnumbered by the out-of-towners. The police did indeed show up: a full multi-passenger police van pulled up the wrong way on a narrow one-way street while an all-lights-on police car pulled over a Seeds of Peace motorist for failing to signal properly. Really. Meanwhile, a large "Budget Rental" van, with two police officers in the cab, blocked the already-tricky intersection during the entire 15-minute incident. But what is likely to made the newscasts is the tale told by regular-Pittsburgh-guy Don Sullivan. He was watching TV at home, a rowhouse north of the university district, when the police knocked at his door, asking for an explanation of an extension cord from his house to his van. He was recharging a battery. Duh. Then they asked him, a middle-aged, unremarkable-looking (no disrespect meant) white guy for identification in his own kitchen. Being like most Pittsburghers who respect the law and, especially since April , feel a kinship with local police officers, he readily complied. The officers seemed embarrassed. They were really looking for G-20 protesters, who were crashing elsewhere on the block. Not that Mr. Sullivan was going to tell them where. More on G-20 Summit | |
eSarcasm: Best & Brightest: The eSarc 50 | Top |
The film industry has the Oscars. TV has the Emmys. In high tech, the closest you generally come to that level of glitz and glamor is a bunch of geeks getting up on stage to demo their products for five minutes in front of a room full of other geeks. Which is why the most promising startups in the world of high tech gathered to demo their stuff at eSarcasm 50, held at the luxurious EconoLodge Motor Inn and Day Spa in heavenly East Pompano Bay, Florida. Unfortunately, some of the hottest start-ups we invited chose to attend a competing geek demo fest instead, the TechCrunch 50 . (Note to those companies that blew us off: We know where you live. After copies of NAMBLA Journal and Boys in BVDs start showing up in your mail rooms, you'll be lining up to kiss our asses.) A total of seven companies showed up; two of them were actually looking for a Dustbuster convention but were at the wrong hotel. (We forced them to get on stage and do a demo anyway. They were totally awesome.) Here then are the best of the eSarc50 eSarc7: HipHype. You say you're a jowly middle-aged executive struggling to get funding for your start up after you got canned from your corporate job? Don't have a coronary, Gramps. Using Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, and edgy blog commentary, HipHype can make it look like you're really a bunch of 24-year-olds in Chuck Taylors and designer eyewear. For an additional fee they will impersonate you at meetings with venture capitalists and help you pick up chicks. PTrollr 2.0. The software uses a patented search algorithm* to help you locate overly broad patent filings, purchase them for a pittance, then sue the pants off companies that build products using technology that vaguely resembles the patents you now own. Recent discoveries include patents on how to boil eggs, operate a zipper, and use Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. TwitWit. Even successful comedians find it challenging to be funny in 140 characters or less (@danecook, this means you). TwitWit promises to turn the most mundane tweets into wryly amusing bon mots , Seinfeldesque observations, and sidesplitting jokes. Your retweets will shoot through the roof, though your life will not change in any other measurable way. RMNGL. Got a Web start-up with a boring name? The boys at the Random Meaningless Name Generation Labs can produce a new one using 100-percent organic techniques. For example, the microblog "Plurk" is named for the sound of an overripe banana hitting a cement traffic barrier at high speed. Or "Bing," which was generated by firing frozen betel nuts at a bronze bust of Steve Ballmer. RMNGL's fees will vary depending on the type of name requested, but discounts are available for companies that supply their own fruit. The SuckMaster 5000. This industrial-strength shopvac can take the chrome off a bumper at 10 yards. It's especially well suited for removing forensic evidence at crime scenes, disposing of annoying family pets, and cleaning up after drunken, vomit-enriched tech conferences . Comes with Personal SuckMaster grooming attachments for removing unsightly moles and performing a 'Brazilian' with minimal pubic abrasion. Of course, it was no contest. The SuckMaster Maestros won our $50 cash prize for best product and most convincing demo. That woman from Pensacola is still wondering what the hell happened to her Schnauzer. * That patent is held by Google. For more Geek Humor Gone Wild, visit eSarcasm . You'll be glad you did. More on The Emmy Awards | |
Craig Crawford: Ask and Tell, Mr. President (VIDEO) | Top |
President Obama is asking a lot of foreign leaders, but they are not telling him what he wants to hear. In this CQ Politics video I explore the nature of this new president's style. Maybe it's time for him to do less asking and instead let underlings work out the agreements so that when he finally does do the asking he gets the answers that he wants to hear . . . Craig blogs daily on CQ Politics . More on Afghanistan | |
Huff TV: Dr Mark Hyman Discusses Why Cholesterol May Not Be The Cause Of Heart Disease With MSNBC's Dr Nancy (VIDEO) | Top |
HuffPost's Dr. Mark Hyman was a guest on MSNBC's show "Dr. Nancy," hosted by Dr. Nancy Snyderman, to discuss his recent blog in which he examines why cholesterol may not be the cause of heart disease. WATCH: More on Video | |
New Orleans Jail Conditions Violate Inmates' Rights: Department Of Justice Report | Top |
NEW ORLEANS — Violent guards, understaffing and unsanitary conditions violate the constitutional rights of inmates at a New Orleans jail heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina, a Justice Department report concludes. A report on the department's investigation, released Monday and dated Sept. 11, said that Orleans Parish Prison doesn't adequately protect inmates from excessive force by staff and physical harm from other inmates. The investigation also concluded that inmates aren't receiving adequate mental health care and face health risks from unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including broken toilets, mice and cockroaches as well as "obvious electrical hazards." The report by an official from the Justice Department's civil rights division commends Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman and his staff for repairing damage to the jail from the August 2005 hurricane. But the department warns that it may file a lawsuit if conditions don't improve. "We would prefer, however, to resolve this matter by working cooperatively with you and are confident that we will be able to do so," acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King wrote. In a statement Tuesday, Gusman said the report is based on outdated information and is "replete with inaccuracies and half truths." Gusman said the jail has a "zero tolerance policy" for violence by staff members and inmates. He also touted improvements in the jail's medical care services and housing facilities. "This report is a terribly dated, fundamentally flawed work done by people who obviously have little appreciation of the tasks facing a city in recovery from the greatest national disaster in this country's history," Gusman said. Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said the report "corroborates everything we've been saying for many years" about the jail's conditions. "This was an investigation we asked for because we knew there were serious problems," she said. The jail's current capacity is around 2,500 inmates, down from an average of 6,500 before Katrina, according to the report. The jail consisted of 12 buildings before the storm; it currently operates six buildings staffed by around 450 security officers. The report described 10 instances of inmate-on-inmate assaults and said the jail doesn't have staffing levels that are adequate to protect inmates. Federal investigators inspected the jail three times last year and saw mice and cockroaches, dozens of broken toilets, sinks and drains, according to the report. The report also cited examples in which officers "openly engaged in abusive and retaliatory conduct, which resulted in serious injuries to inmates." Gusman said jail officials investigated all the excessive forces cases cited by the report and punished the officers involved. "Our track record of care, custody and control and in keeping our city safe by doing our job is very good," he added. "We have a job to do and we do it well." | |
Cannonball Man Falls Short Of Net (VIDEO) | Top |
A cannonball man performing at a circus in Cali, Colombia missed the safety net after shooting out of a cannon on Tuesday. The performer, Israel Gaska, fractured several bones in the 65-foot fall. The shocking accident was caught on camera: More on Colombia | |
Michele Bachmann Gushes About Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly (VIDEO) | Top |
Michele Bachmann cannot get enough of Fox News stars Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck. Speaking with O'Reily producer Jesse Waters, whose sole claim to fame is cowardly ambushing whomever O'Reilly points his finger at, at the so-called "Values Voters Summit", she claimed that O'Reilly and Beck are where people want to go to find the truth: People vote with their feet. And they love Bill O'Reilly; they love Glenn Beck. They love the shows that are on Fox. That's what matters. Because people want to go where they can find truth. They obviously aren't finding truth over on some of these other channels. As Think Progress ably demonstrates, the truth is rarely found when Bachmann teams up with Fox News. WATCH: Send us tips! Write us at tv@huffingtonpost.com if you see any newsworthy or notable TV moments. Read more about our media monitoring project here and click here to join the Media Monitors team. More on Glenn Beck | |
Picasa Update Can Tag Names With New Face Recognition Photo Feature (VIDEO) | Top |
**Scroll down for video** Picasa 3.5's latest update is more Big Brother than handy. The photo sharing site has just launched a new facial-recognition feature that will automatically scan your photos and then tag faces it recognizes using names from your Google contacts. Each time you add new photos, Picasa will attempt to tag the faces it has seen before. As Google engineer Todd Bogdan explains in a blog post , "When you first launch Picasa 3.5, it will start scanning the photos in your computer's collection to create groups of similar faces. It puts all these groups into the 'Unnamed People' album, from where you can easily add a name tag to a set of faces by clicking 'Add a name' and typing the person's name." In other words, erasing Bachelor party misdeeds just got that much more impossible. And the sins of the past aren't safe either. ReadWriteWeb notes, "The service is so good at finding your mug and tagging it that wild photos from yesteryear can resurface and wreak havoc on your reputation. [...] At this point, facial recognition software and batch tagging is making it tougher to put on the facade of being a respectable human being. It looks like underground speakeasys are about to see a resurgence." Read more about the update and its additional features on the Google Photos Blog and InformationWeek. WATCH: Follow HuffPostTech On Facebook And Twitter! More on Google | |
Arianna Huffington: Israel Diary: Hyper-Alert Security Guards, Hyper-Creative Tech Geeks, and an Upcoming Interview with President Peres | Top |
My Dinner with Ehud TEL AVIV -- I arrived in Tel Aviv, at the Ben Gurian Airport, at 6:30 Sunday evening and went straight to the Yoezer Wine bar, a charming restaurant in Jaffa, housed in an old stone building that dates back to the Ottoman Empire. I was there to have dinner with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his wife Nili, who were leaving at midnight for Washington for meetings at the White House, as well as prominent Israeli venture capitalist, Meir Barel, of Star Ventures, fellow Greek Sabby Mionis, and Avital Leibovich, the spokesperson for the Foreign Press Division of the Israeli military. Barak is Israel's most decorated soldier. A warrior turned politician, he is a former Prime Minister and Labor Party leader who was asked to join Netanyahu's government. Their relationship dates back 25 years, to when Barak was a grad student at Stanford and Netanyahu was a grad student at MIT. Another bond between the two would-be rivals is the close friendship of Barak and Netanyahu's brother Yonatan, a commando who was killed in the famed raid on Entebbe in Uganda. During dinner, Barak's security detail stood guard around the table, guns at the ready and on full display. One of the guards stood directly behind the Defense Minister. Even though he was stationary, his eyes -- and, it seemed, his brain -- were in constant motion. He was an adrenaline rush come to life. In comparison, the Secret Service detail that guards the U.S. president seems positively laid back. During his time as Prime Minister, Barak ended Israel's military occupation of southern Lebanon, and was part of the failed Camp David summit with Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat. Given this, I asked him to compare George W. Bush's leadership to Obama's when it comes to Israel. "I'm an ABB," he said. "Anyone But Bush. Obama is investing a lot of his political capitol in the peace process, and it's important that we don't waste this moment." And what would it take to break through the current stalemate? "The Palestinian Authority," he told me, "needs to accept becoming an independent Palestinian state even before the borders are finalized." GarageGeeks Ever since I first met Yossi Vardi, Israel's Mr. Tech , at the Digital, Life, Design conference in Munich four years ago, he's been telling me about the GarageGeeks , a collection of Israelis from the worlds of electronics, software, art, music, gaming, and hacking, who gather at a large warehouse in the Holon Industrial Zone, south of Tel Aviv. So, of course, a meeting with the GarageGeeks was the first thing Yossi put on my schedule as soon as I knew I was going to Israel. Yossi is a legend in the Israeli tech community, having pioneered Instant Messaging, selling his company Mirabilis in 1998 for over $400 million, and paving the way for an explosion of Israeli startups hoping to duplicate his success. Yossi's impact became known as "the Mirabilis Effect." As we got together for dinner before my meeting with the Geeks, it hit me how perfect it was that I was meeting with them on the same day that we launched our Technology section , which focuses on the intersection of technological advances and the way they impact our lives (what our Tech editor Jose Antonio Vargas calls "technology as anthropology" ). The people I met at the GarageGeeks event ranged from the managing editor of the Jerusalem Post (the most successful Israeli online news source in America), to a number of passionate "GarageGeeks" giving me a tour of their latest inventions, including the Real Virtual Skater (which converted a skateboard into a game controller) and the Singing Shower (the louder you sing, the more powerful the spray -- who wouldn't want one of those?). Outside the warehouse, where everyone gathered for my speech, it was a perfect summer night. After being introduced by GarageGeeks cofounder Gil Hirsch (the founder of face.com ), I spoke about HuffPost and our use of technology and social tools. By the time I left, my pockets were stuffed with dozens of business cards of people working to push the tech envelope -- and my head was filled with plans of how this Greek may be able to work with these Geeks in the future. Interview With the President Tomorrow morning I'm meeting with Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, who has been a "defining figure" in Israeli politics for more than half a century, serving as Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and now President. Coming on the heels of today's tripartite meeting between Obama, Netanyahu, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, we will discuss, among other things, the state of US/Israel relations, the central issue of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Iran's nuclear program, and the Goldstone Commission Report, the UN's fact-finding mission on Gaza. If there is anything you'd like me to ask President Peres, please put your questions in the comments section. More on Barack Obama | |
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