Archive for October, 2006

In the years I have been building websites, I have always stuck some kind of copyright at the bottom. I’ve been working on refreshing my page’s look this week, though, and decided it was time to refresh my copyright stance, as well.
So, if you direct your attention to the bottom of this and every page, [...]

Link to article.Hotel key cards are a bit of an enigma, it seems. Though Snopes.com and Computerworld both put considerable effort into debunking the idea that hotel key cards hold more than just innocuous information about hotel guests, the idea persists. And, potentially, with good reason.At least one California detective found a veritable treature trove [...]

Link to post.

Arbitration is the devil. Seriously. A retired judge who served as an arbitrator for the popular National Arbitration Forum described his experience (PDF link, see page 12):

“Thus I learned how Godless bloodsucking banks have converted apparently neutral arbitration forums into collection agencies to exact the last drop of blood from desperate consumers.”
When you [...]

Link to article.An entrepreneurial spirit in the Twin Cities, Brian Peters, has started a chauffer service for drinkers, solving the primary problem with going out in the city: getting the car home. Drink and Drive Intelligently brings a second car, drives the customer’s car home, and leaves everyone safe and sound.
And–for the drivers, at least–the [...]

Link to post.Real estate listing services will, from now on, be required to treat listings from discount brokers the same as those from traditional (read: high-priced) agents. This is good news for consumers on both sides. Sellers using discount agents will get equal booking, and buyers will have an easier time finding homes where the [...]

Link to post.Following up on this post, it looks like China has unblocked Wikipedia, although it still seems to be trying to block individual pages. Chinese users are having difficulty viewing the Tianenmen Square page, for example. Obviously.Still, this is a positive step. I wonder if Google and Yahoo! will now reconsider their policies. It’s [...]

Link to article.When the city of Winona decided to take Rich Mikrut’s access to his truck-to-train transfer station, they offered him a measly $72,500. Mikrut was forced to use residential roads (probably not so easy when your business is giant shipping containers), and was buying up nearby properties to build his own driveway. Rather than [...]

I’m having fun searching for “landlord” on YouTube lately. There are a ton of great videos of terrible landlords. Cameras are a terrific tool to use in a landlord-tenant dispute.

This video, however, shows what happens when a liberal eviction law is in place. In Maryland, a landlord may evict a tenant for even one day [...]

Link to article.
Uncovering the generic alternatives to discuss with a physician can be a problem, which now has a solution — a new interactive web service from DrugDigest.org called Check for Savings.
Looks like a great way to help takers of prescription drugs and their doctors, arrive at money-saving treatment options.

Link to Consumerist post.
Skip to 2:00 for the lowdown on credit scores, how they affect your life, and how you can keep them high.
#1 tip: Pay your bills. Pay them within 30 days of the due date, and even if you can’t pay the full amount due, pay something!
FYI, You can find out your FICO [...]

Link to article.
As manufacturers around the world are finding their products are deemed too toxic by many European and Asian countries, they are turning to a more loosely-regulated market, the United States. The products in question contain carcinogens and substances that may cause cancer or cause reproductive or neurological damage.
What kinds of products? Primarily formaldehyde-bearing [...]

Project Posner is a searchable database of every judicial opinion written by Richard Posner, one of the greatest American judges, a preeminent legal theorist, and a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.Posner is a champion of legal pragmatism and the economic theory of law, and his opinions are a great read for anyone [...]

Link to post.This is a fantastic tool if you are looking to rent a place in the near future. The Rent-O-Meter allows you to plug in the type of apartment you are looking for along with your address, and will plot similar rents on Google Maps. Pretty cool.

Link to post.For those who don’t know, here’s how a payday loan works. You go to the payday loan place and write them a check, postdated to the day you are paid. They give you the money, minus something like 20%. On the day you are paid, they cash the check.
Except that 20%/month is actually [...]

I ran across James Lileks’s comments on health clubs’ pricing policies today. I recall the same problem when I was looking at health clubs. Why is it that health clubs can’t get with the program and at least quote prices on line, if not allow people to sign up that way.This reminds me of Match.com’s [...]

I get a lot of phone calls from tenants who have moved out of an apartment, only to lose their security deposit because their former landlord claims the apartment was wrecked. There is often little I can do to help, since it will be the tenant’s word against the landlord, and the landlord may even [...]