Scoop’s Views

Hurricane Gustav is going to hit the United States unless there’s an act of divine intervention. Short of a miracle from Heaven, all computer predictions are showing Hurricane Gustav will hit somewhere along the Gulf Coast, anywhere from Pensacola, Florida on the Eastern side to Houston, Texas on the West.

Unless Hurricane Gustav’s path is suddenly diverted, or unless Hurricane Gustav falls apart and becomes little more than a tropical storm or depression, it’s more than likely at least one of the many oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico will receive some damage, but likely all of the platforms will be closed down in advance of the storm.

Tags: computer predictions, crude oil, divine intervention, Florida, gas prices, gasoline, gasoline prices, Gulf Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Houston, Hurricane Gustav, Louisiana, New Orleans, Northeast Philadelphia, oil, oil barrels, oil companies, oil platforms, oil prices, Pensacola, Philadelphia, price per gallon, shale, Texas, Tropical Storm Hannah

It’s always nice when someone with means (you know, the people called “the haves”) reaches out and helps others in society with less (those people called “the have-nots”), but sometimes things that are done for supposed “have nots” is ridiculous. A classic example is in the news today.

It seems Donald “The Donald” Trump is doing something with his money to help another American couple deal with their personal woes as a result of defaulting on their mortgage. That’s nice, right?

Tags: ads, broken neck, CNN, combover, commercials, Donald Trump, Ed and Pamela McMahon, Ed McMahon, employment, entertainer, financial irresponsibility, fiscal irresponsibility, fiscal responsibility, frontman, Howard Bragman, Johnny Carson, Larry King, Larry King Show, lawsuits, mold, mold growth, mortgage crisis, mortgages, News, Pamela McMahon, Publishers Clearinghouse, sidekick, Society, televison, The Donald, the have-nots, the haves, The Simpsons Movie, The Tonight Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, work

I received this press release today. It came from a company I have done business with in the past.

The press release is to announce a soon-to-be released utility for use on Unix and Linux boxes, allowing you to suspend running applications on office workstations or remote Linux and Unix server, and then later, from a remote machine, such as at home, another location, or whatever, resume the applications on a Windows PC.

Tags: *nix, AIX CDE desktops, Linux, Linux servers, Linux workstation solutions, LinuxLIVE, network interruptions, power outages, remote desktops, remote hosts, remote servers, session mobility, session recovery, session sharing, Solaris, StarNet Communications, Steven Schoch, suspend applications, Unix, Unix servers, Windows, Windows desktops, Windows PC, Windows workstations, Windows-to-Linux, Windows-to-Unix, workday, workstation crashes, X server, X-Win32

There are at least a handful of people arguing the U.S. government needs to “do more” to regulate online pharmacies. Sure, that may be true, but right now, face the facts: most in Congress are older people who are technologically-challenged. In fact, look at legislation about most any aspect of life and you’ll see most of it is at least 10 or more years behind the times. I won’t even touch on the health care crisis in the U.S.

In a story on CNN.com, one woman cried to the cable news channel that she found her husband on their marriage bed, dead, in a pool of vomit. He allegedly died from what the woman — the widow — declares was an accidental overdose of drugs the now-dead husband received from an online pharmacy.

Tags: American Fork, anonymous, carisoprodol, Carmen Catizone, clinics, CNN.com, dead, death, depression, drugs, Elavil, European Medicines Agency, European Union, fitness, Health, husband, Illegal Drugs, Kareem Tannous, Long Island, Mental Health, Mood Disorders, Nancy Fitzpatrick, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, online pharmacies, online pharmacy, pharmaceuticals, Prozac, Rusty Payne, Science and Technology, side effects, Soma, Sweden, Technology, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Utah, Valley Stream, Websites

While we aren’t yet using the thumbprint technology in transactions such as buying a home, grocery shopping, or, for that matter, shopping at most any store, it is used for government stuff, as well as used for computing security.

Did Simon Ramo have it all wrong back in November 1964, or was he a little too optimistic for his time? I think it’s the latter. Even in the late 1990s and early this decade, even as late as 2003 or so, I heard people I know dismiss the idea of using debit cards, as well as ATMs, even for cash advances from a credit card. Those same people, though, also were against online shopping.

Tags: 1964, ATMs, automatic money transfers, banking systems, Big Brother, business transactions, buying a home, cash, coinage, computer security, credit cards, currency, debit cards, dollars, electronic debit systems, futurists, Government, identification, identity theft, instant money transfers, monetary symbols, monetary systems, money, November 1964, November 27, online shopping, paper dollars, paper money, payment systems, shopping, Simon Ramo, thumb-prints, thumbprint technology, thumbprints, TIME, Time magazine

This past weekend, it seemed as though every news outlet in the nation was busy hammering on Philly yet again. This time it was over a recently released Census Bureau report, showing Philadelphia had the largest percentage population loss over the past seven (7) years than any other major city in the United States, including Detroit.

Looking at all major cities in the U.S., Philadelphia is estimated to have lost more residents since the last U.S. Census – from 2000 and 2007 – than any other city in the country, with the exception of New Orleans, which was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, according to estimates recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Tags: Arizona, Baltimore, Baltimore Maryland, Boston, Boston Massachusetts, brain drain, Chicago, Chicago Illinois, desert, Detroit, economic considerations, economy, Five Largest Cities in the U.S., gasoline costs, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, job losses, mortgage lending crisis, Motor City, Motown, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Philly, population, population centers, population losses, recession, Top 10 U.S. Cities, Top 25 U.S. Cities, Top 5 U.S. Cities, U.S. Census Bureau, urban centers

Senate is rewarding telecommunications providers for breaking the law
York Times is reporting that the United States Senate, by a vote of 69-28, approved a bill overhauling the rules covering secret government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecommunications companies that aided in the wiretapping of Americans without warrants. Doing Chicago-style two-stepping, Barack Obama, who originally spoke harsh words against the illegal wiretaps, voted today in favor of granting immunity to the telecommunications companies. His former presidential contender, Hillary Clinton, stayed true to her original position and voted against the immunity.

Tags: Barack Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, David Stout, domestic spying, due process rights, eavesdropping, Eric Lichtblau, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigations, federal courts, FISA, foreign, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, illegal wiretapping, immunity, intrusions, mismanagement, National Security Agency, No Such Agency, NSA, phone subscibers, re-election, Senate, senators, telecommunications companies, telecoms, terrorist attacks, terrorists

Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross, two figures in America’s Colonial history, have been married, and are now finishing up commitments prior to escaping the Philadelphia area this Fall for a planned honeymoon.

The newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin, plan on keeping their daily occupations. Mr. Franklin is a statesman, scientist, printer and publisher, and has numerous other duties to the city, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and to the United States government. He also serves as postmaster, and also is responsible for printing currency, especially since he developed a way to help keep forgery of the currency to a minimum.

Tags: ale, American flag, American Revolution, Ben Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross, Books, City Tavern, Colonial era, Colonial period, commitments, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, currency, exchanged rings, exchanging vows, flags, food, founding father, George Washington, historical figures, History, honeymood, Independence Hall, Independence Mall, Linda Wilde, Mayor Michael Nutter, newlyweds, period costume, Philadelphia, Philly Pops, postmaster, printer, Ralph Archbold, Revolutionary War, seamstress, standing ovation, statesman, Thomas Jefferson, wedding, Wedding March, wedding party

Poor Amy Winehouse. Her daddy says she has emphysema, but her publicist, you know, the well-paid folks who are responsible for creating and maintaining the public image — a performer’s persona — says that the 24-year-old British singer does not have emphysema, but does have only 70 percent lung capacity, as well as nodules and other issues with her lungs. In essence, 30 percent of Amy Winehouse’s lungs are little more than trash.

Tags: Amy Winehouse, British singers, Brits, crack, crack cocaine, drugs, emphysema, entertainers, Entertainment, illegal drug use, illicit drugs, lung capacity, motivation, self-destruction, self-respect, self-responsibility, singers

Health insurers have been rating physicians and physician practices over the years. In some of those ratings, you find some really bland things, as well as some scores that always incite heated and passionate reaction.

It took physicians — through the American Medical Association (AMA) — quite a few years to get hip to the idea of rating the insurance industry, but the tables have now been turned. The outcome: the expected over-inflated image of health insurers saying the ratings aren’t fair, as well as brutal honesty, it seems, about the timeliness of payments made by the health insurers.

Tags: AMA, American Medical Association, claims, denials, health insurance, insurers, not medically necessary, ratings, Reviews, U&C, usual and customary

Are President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and India’s Pradeep S. Mehta, secretary general of the center for international trade, economics and the environment of CUTS International, an independent research institute based in New Delhi, all locked in an emotional argument without fact-based evidence?

Tags: American society, better food, better nutrition, Bombay, call centers, China, Condi, customer service skills, CUTS International, Dubya, exportation, exporting, exports, famine, food, high demand, hungry people, imports, India, Indian economy, middle-class, Missouri, New Dehli, nutrition, outsourcing, political paradigms, politically incorrect, Pradeep S. Mehta, President George W. Bush, prices increase, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, sub-Sahara

A group of protestors, numbering somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000, and described as Chinese-Americans, decided to protest CNN’s Hollywood office yesterday, protesting CNN’s commentator Jack Cafferty, who made a comment on CNN’s The Situation Room, back on April 9 — almost two weeks ago. Among his comments that day, Cafferty apparently called China’s goods “junk” and its leaders a “bunch of goons and thugs.”

Tags: activists, apology to China, Atlanta, Big Ben, black berets, Chairman Mao, China, Chinese, Chinese-Americans, Chinese-made goods, death threats, dog meat, export jobs, free speech, goons and thugs, Hollywood, imports, Jack Cafferty, Jiang Yu, junk, lead paint, made in China, Olympic protests, Oriental, Paul Wolfowitz, poisoned dog meat, poisoned pet food, protestors, protests, Radium Dial, Recalls, reporters harassed, studios, Technology, The Situation Room, Tibet, U.S. Army, Wal-Mart, Westclox, workers