Tuesday, January 1, 2008

A Humilating New Year's Resolution

Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to. Then it comes down to us older folks who go to bed before midnight as I did last night. But it was not before thinking about whether I should jot down a New Year’s resolution or two on the pad on the night table.

During the last few years I gave up on resolutions and began to look forward to the New Year for a new start on my old habits. Maybe this year I could muster the courage and fortitude to take on a promise to myself without winding up admitting a humiliating defeat shortly thereafter. Broken resolutions chip away at self esteem.

I’m in grand company for we all know that people fall short of their New Year's Resolution -- and it might just be because they aren't serious enough about them. Here are some interesting figures I culled this morning still deciding on a resolution. It makes me feel a bit better about my failures. But also adds perspective to the ominous difficulty of following through.

According to a consulting group survey, more than 51 percent of folks made a resolution in 2007 year, but only nine percent are "actively doing something about it."

That means I have a less than a 10% chance of keeping a resolution.

Excuses after excuses . . . the other 91 percent say some issue -- or excuse -- came in their way of achieving their goal. For instance, 33 percent say procrastinating was their biggest obstacle while 24 percent say they lack the discipline needed to succeed.

Also, 10 percent of the resolution losers blamed their failure on having to "do it alone."

The biggest problems people sought to fix last year -- and failed at -- are financial stability and losing weight. Both are difficult to achieve, but are certainly honorable promises to ones self. But they are long term requiring constant discipline.

Now here is a resolution that might work for me. It sounds so challenging, too. It seems that 78-year old Garth Gaskey plunged into Lake Michigan for 56th time on New Year's Day. Yes, difficult, but to be able to congratulate yourself all year for a 5-minute act is s great resolutional short cut. Thought some would say it doesn't seem in the spirit of the traditional resolution process.

But still it does have an appealing possibility . . . a quick solution so to speak. I would seriously consider that except that I’m not very near a body of water, and I really don’t have the time for a long drive, and I have not yet had my flu shot, and I worry about catching cold and missing work, and I’m not certain I have a bathing suit that fits, and doesn’t common sense say that one shouldn’t jump into the freezing water in the middle of winter?

So my New Year's resolution is to think about an outstanding resolution for next year. I am fairly certain I can be successful at that. Putting a year's thought into it should make a quality one, too

Happy New Year everyone!

Informative Links for Reference:

Posted by Ed McCormick at 1:42 PM 0 comments

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Opportunity to Earn $2 Billion Snubbed

As 2007 comes to a close I suppose I should be grateful for the many opportunities I have been offered by total strangers to pocket millions of dollars for very little work. I estimate that I have received three or four such opportunities a week this year. Each email spins a story more grand and with a more perilous and tragic story than the next. At an average of ten million dollars per offer this calculates to be in excess of two billion dollars that I didn’t have the heart to work on.

Call me lazy, but then again, who says America isn’t the land of opportunity? Surely Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast must think so since that is where the majority of email requests for assistance emanate.

Here is a portion of an email I received tonight and what inspired me to post this. Spellings and grammar are original:

16,Rue des jardins Cocody
les Deux-Plateaux
Abidjan Ivory Coast
Please write to me with this adress :
andree_kone1987@yahoo.fr


Dearest Partiner,

I am Miss Andrèe Kone from Ivory Coast. I am a 20 and Alex my youger brother is 18 years.Our Father was a serving director of the Cocoa exporting board until his death and Our Mother was assassinated by the rebels following the political uprising.

Before the death of our parents they made a deposit of Ten Million USA Dollars ($10,000,000.00)here in Ivory Coast in security company. This fund they intended to build a company and buy a cocoa processing machines and materials in future as he will be retired but they couldn't make until death call them home. (It goes on).

Most of us recognize the absurdity of such a blind proposal. ... And they have a name. They are known as Nigerian Scams (also known as a "4-1-9" or "Advance Fee Fraud" scheme). One wonders why I would receive so many. Well the truth is, because such emails work and have been working for years. This con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune.

Once the sucker (many an American) is sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of becoming fabulously rich, he is squeezed for however much money he has. This he parts with willingly, thinking "What's $5,000 here or $10,000 there when I'm going to end up with $10 million when this is all done?" He fails to realize during the sting that he's never going to get the promised fortune; all of this messing around is designed to part him from his money.

The Nigerian 419 Advance Fee Fraud came to the attention of the public and regulators during the 1970s over letters generally aimed at small businesses purporting to come from figures in the Nigerian government. According to a 1997 newspaper article:

"We have confirmed losses just in the United States of over $100 million in the last 15 months," said Special Agent James Caldwell, of the Secret Service financial crimes division. "And that's just the ones we know of. We figure a lot of people don't report them."

This is indeed big business. The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria.

Most check and lottery fraud are Nigerian 419 AFF

1. Lottery fraud (95% Nigerian advance fee scammers)

2. Check fraud (76% Nigerian advance fee scammers)

3. 419 advance fee fraud (97% Nigerian advance fee scammers)

4. Phishing. (5% Nigerian advance fee scammers)

Although these scams can be amusing, for people who fall for them, it can be a serious business. According to the David Emery's article The Nigerian E-mail Hoax: West African Scammers Take to the Net, March 14, 2002, published on the San Francisco Chronicle's SF Gate web site, at least 15 people have been murdered as part of these scams. The US Treasury Department estimates that these scams cost people in the United States about $100 million a year.

If you received a stranger’s email offering to share millions of dollars with you, would you not be a bit skeptical? Wouldn’t you at least do a bit of research? Apparently some of us do not. Making them all the poorer for it and providing added proof in my premise that common sense is indeed on a downward spiral.

Links for Further Reference:

Posted by Ed McCormick at 6:43 PM 0 comments

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Saturday, December 29, 2007

'Holey' Art: The Being and Nothingness!

This year two major pieces of art at galleries in London and New York City were basically holes in the floors of the buildings, yet were the subjects of glowing reviews. Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth," a large crack in the floor of a hall at London's Tate Modern By the way 15 people have suffered minor injuries after tripping. The piece is said to symbolize racial and class divisions in society. [The Times (London), 10-10-07]

Not to be out done by a mere crack, artist Urs Fisher has created a gaping hole. I suppose that is one-ups-man-ship in the school of vacant art.

Urs Fischer's "You" at New York's Gavin Brown Enterprise is actually just a crater, 38 feet by 30 feet by 8 feet deep, that, according to one reviewer, meshes "themes of transparency, transformation, disruption and destruction." [New York magazine, 11-26-07]

I’m happy to report that there has been some progress in the common sense department when compared to last year’s artistically challenged (but marketing genius) winner of the absolutely-nothing-at-all school of art.

For that artist Simon Pope was given a grant to put on an exhibition consisting of nothing but an empty gallery. Pope, 40, said the aim was to encourage people to walk around the empty rooms and discuss memories of other galleries. In a 'something-for-nothing' artistic coup by Pope, he was actually funded by the Arts Council of Wales and the Sciart Wellcome Trust, a charity promoting art and science. [BBC, 22-10-06]

Using this art work as a standard then each of us is certainly capable of pointing to our own blank walls and boasting of its artistic quality to our guests at the next cocktail party.

Still such absurdity could be an incentive for us to cut apart our floors and walls and run them off to the next art auction at Southeby's or Christie's. This would be a double bonus because even the hole itself is now considered a fine work of art. But how does one transport a hole? On the bright side it appears from the above examples that one could easily find a ringing endorsement from an art critic or two to help boost the price of the wall hanging at auction. I predict a run on saws for 2008 and thus, possibly great stock opportunities in an Ace Hardware investment.

Interesting Links for Further Reference:

Posted by Ed McCormick at 7:41 PM 0 comments

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Friday, December 28, 2007

Oprah, Allow Us Voters to Form Our Own Opinions

Last night’s LA times had an insightful article (written by Tina Daunt, Cause Célèbre) on celebrity endorsements and the growing number of Oprah's fans that are fuming from her Obama endorsement. They didn’t use ‘backlash’ but that is the term that best fits.

One posting on her website, Oprah.com, accused the talk diva of being a traitor. By Thursday, that message string had attracted more than 12,000 views. Another poster told Winfrey to "stop pushing Obama down our throats. There were 3,000 hits logged on that one. Another said: "Do you really know Barack Hussein Obama? Scary & something we have to take into consideration!" There were more than 4,000 views for that.

The article continued with this next posting, "First of all I want to say that I am a HUGE Oprah fan, I love what she stands for. She is a strong woman changing the world. However, I have been extremely disappointed with her recent touring with Barack Obama. It is a manipulation and an abuse of her power and influence on the American culture.

A not-so-subtle attempt at celebrity manipulation.
For balance there was Barbra Streisand making the not-so-stunning announcement that she was supporting Hillary Clinton.

Pat Sajak hit the nail on the head in his last month’s column for Human Events.com. He wrote, “If any group of citizens is uniquely unqualified to tell someone else how to vote, it’s those of us who live in the sheltered, privileged arena of celebrityhood. It’s one thing to buy an ab machine because Chuck Norris recommends it (he’s in good shape, isn’t he?) or a grill because George Foreman’s name is on it (he’s a great guy, so it must be a great grill!), but the idea of choosing the Leader of the Free World based on the advice of someone who lives in the cloistered world of stardom seems a bit loony to me.

The greater danger is that a celebrity's presence can hurt a candidate. But isn’t all this just common sense to the vast majority of us voters?
Links for Further Reference:

Posted by Ed McCormick at 8:00 PM 0 comments

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Let them Eat Babies


Jonathan Swift’s, A Modest Proposal suggested that the cure for England’s over population problem was to eat all the babies. That was a satirical essay. But it was taken as true by some in its day. . . as humorous as this next revelation sounds though it IS true . . . it’s actually the law of the land now.

In essence, this week’s EOCC ruling from our nation's capital confirms that employers can spend more on benefits for retirees under 65 years of age than those over 65 without running afoul of age discrimination laws.

The federal appeals court wrote “We recognize with some dismay that the proposed exemption may allow employers to reduce health benefits to retirees over the age of 65 while maintaining greater benefits for younger retirees," the court said. But it said the commission (EOCC) had shown that the exemption was "a reasonable, necessary and proper exercise" of its authority.

Yet contrary to the observation of the appeals court EOCC Legal Counsel Reed Russell said, "Our rule makes clear that it is lawful for employers to continue to provide retirees with the health benefits they currently receive. Contrary to what some interest groups have erroneously asserted, the rule will not require any cuts to retiree benefits."

Hmm, me thinks a contradiction. Which is it?

Both can't be true. But what is true again is that common sense appears to have been throttled as groups of retirees who were counting on promised benefits from days gone by to entice them into loyal service from their previous employers can now only count on increased sympathy from others.

Our society is still too benevolent to dare eat babies, but aren't older Americans too salty and and a bit tougher to consume?

Links for Further Reference.

Posted by Ed McCormick at 1:32 AM 0 comments

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Turning on the Heat; the Ultimate Outsourcing


The other day I called Elizabeth Gas, our local utility to turn on the heat at our Newton, NJ warehouse. To my surprise, I heard a seemingly familiar accented voice on the other end, similar to the one that I had just hung up with trying to solve a software problem earlier that morning. Which didn't happen. So my ear was tuned in.

I had to know.

“Am I calling India?” I asked.

“Yes sir,” the polite voice said.

“How do I get my heat turned on from 8,000 miles away?” I asked.

“No problem, sir,” the voice replied. “I just take all your information and send it by Internet to the local office in New Jersey.”

Incredulous, yet still fascinated at the company’s logic, I asked the question that his answered begged, “But what if I have a gas leak?”

He stated matter of factly, “Well then, sir we would make that a priority contact.”

I won’t bore you with the details, but it did take three days to finally get the heat turned on, with missed appointments, wrong meter numbers a needed deposit and so on. The India connection may save money for the comapny. But such savings seems to always be at the customer's expense. Corporate short term thinking playing fast and lose with long term results.

Conclusion: Gas heat isn’t local anymore at least for us here in New Jersey.

A quick piece of research found that Elizabeth Gas isn't local. It is big business. It is now owned by AGL Resources which is based in Atlanta. In turn AGL owns six utility companies providing gas distribution in Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee and Maryland.

Perhaps one day the ultimate outsourcing is to send all of its customers to India for the winter to stay warm. Maybe I can get my software problem fixed when I'm there.

Links for Further Reference:

Posted by Ed McCormick at 9:29 AM 0 comments

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Fox News Encourages Illegal Aliens



Dear Fox News,

Aren’t you contributing to the mortgage crisis by accepting teaser rate mortgage loan ads on your web site? This is what started the financial crisis in the first place.

The heading says Mortgage Rates for 4.65%. The actual APR is over 7.75% with a possible 1% increase every six months. A real bargain? I calulate that is an actual 66.7% over the rate in the headline. (7.75-4.65=3.1 then 3.1/4.65=66.7)

It is this type of dishonest advertising that has contributed to the housing market decline and the highest foreclosure rates since the depression. You are just as culpable as the dishonest lender by aiding and abetting when you allow bait and switch headlines like this.

Notice also the copy says no SSN required. This means that this organization is also promoting illegal alien loans. Your FOX hosts rail against illegal aliens, yet you accept ads that appear to be encouraging them. This is a bit hypocritical don’t you think?


URL: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318446,00.html

Actual Ad:
Mortgage Rates at 4. 65%
$170,000 loan for $656/month. See New Payment - No SSN Rqd. Save Now!
Refinance.LeadSteps.com

Ed McCormick


Dear FNC Viewer,

As you can imagine, we receive thousands of messages a day from our viewers, and while we appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback, we cannot respond to every question or comment directly. Please know that your e-mails are read and your comments are taken into consideration and thank you for watching FNC!Thank you,FOX News Channel.

Thank you,
FOX News Channel

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Posted by Ed McCormick at 2:42 AM 0 comments

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