Some Of The Reverse Mortgage Disadvantages Are Whoppers

Can you imagine turning 62, or 65, or 69 years old and someone shaking your hand, handing you enough money to live well for the rest of your life, and saying, good job!  A reverse mortgage is like this.  Imagine someone telling you that they have good news and they have bad news.  The bad news is that the moment that you die, someone is going to take your home away from you and your heirs.  The good news is that you can have the equity in your home back right now, with no strings attached, to spend as you see fit.  I do not know about you, but all I heard was that I could have the equity in my home in cash and I could keep it without paying it back.

Sounds Like A Good Deal

Every company should explain the reverse mortgages pros and cons that you consider in detail.  There are a lot of pros and only a few reverse mortgages disadvantages.  The few disadvantages are whoppers but…  So are the advantages.  You can get your equity out of your home, often hundreds of thousands of dollars for a fee up front and then you never have to pay it back.  That sounds like a good deal.

Don’t Drop Dead On Their Account

It is not all sunshine and playful puppies though.  Once you get a reverse mortgage, you could live to be 120 years old and the interest alone could eclipse the equity several times over.  The reverse mortgages pros and cons do not mention that the company would prefer that you drop dead in a year or two, but they do.  One of the biggest reverse mortgage disadvantages is a real whopper.  You have to pay for the mortgage insurance that covers such an infinitesimal happenstance by paying premiums every month.  You will need to figure that in to any monthly loan payment that you receive.

The Lockout Whopper

The final insult in the reverse mortgages pros and cons fine print is the lockout.  You have to avoid the companies that put a clause in your contract stating that if you are gone from your home for a set amount of time, it reverts to them to pay back the loan.  This means if you are hospitalized, you will need to drag your sorry tail home within that time period or you will have no home to return to when you do recover.  That definitely qualifies as the reverse mortgage disadvantages number one and it is a whopper.

Don’t Take Out A Home Equity Loan To Repay Credit Cards

If you are thinking about taking out a home equity loan to repay your credit cards, you should think again. Most people, who borrow more money to pay off debts, end up in more debt than they had when they started out. If you haven’t learned how to manage your money, borrowing extra funds is just going to dig the financial hole you are in deeper and deeper.

The other major disadvantage of borrowing money on your home to pay off credit cards is the fact that should you fall behind with your payments your bank or financial institution can foreclose on your home. It is not usually possible for your credit card company to do this. Credit card debts are unsecured which means that the finance house has to sue you to recover the monies due. A lot of credit card companies prefer not to do this due to the costs involved. Instead they will sell the accounts belonging to people who have defaulted to debt collection companies. These companies pay relatively little cash for these accounts.

Why would they want a load of accounts that nobody is paying? Because they know that they only have to make a few people pay to make a large profit. Once the debt collectors get hold of your credit accounts, your life could become very stressful. It is not unknown for debt collectors to call clients all day long, at work and at home. They can also threaten all sorts of things from telling your boss you owe money that you are not paying back to putting an advert in the newspaper to tell the world. What you need to know is that there are laws in place to prevent this sort of harassment. The problem is that most people who collect debts know that the average member of the public doesn’t know that these laws exist never mind how to use them to protect themselves.

If you find yourself hassled by debt collection agents, find out what protective measures you can take. There are many charities that can help to explain your legal position but it is often a good idea to book a meeting with an attorney and his bankruptcy paralegal. They will assess your financial situation and give you advice on the actions you should take to get your debts under control and the debt collection agents to stop contacting you. You will have to pay for this advice but most people who benefit from it would gladly pay ten times as much just to be rid of the harassment. So rather than run the risk of making a mistake such as taking a home equity loan to repay debt, contact your local bankruptcy attorney today.

How to Get Started As a Foreign Exchange Currencies Trader Online

If you have an automatic forex trading system, you may already know how cool the forex signal service can be.  If you do not, you definitely need to check it out.  Forex is a cool abbreviation for the Foreign Exchange.  It is the fastest growing investment medium in the world today.  The forex signal service is a company, group of professionals, or individual that uses software to determine when the conditions are right for a trade based on your trading platforms parameters.  If you couple this service with an automated forex trading system, you have a powerful tool for making successful trades on the Internet and enhancing your financial situation.  Forex signal software is…

• Easy to install
• Does not use a ton of space or RAM
• Available in a variety of formats so you can find the one that is right for you

Start With Free Forex Signal Software

To get started securing your future in the Foreign Exchange, go to one of the many websites that promote the right brokerage conditions and procure your free practice account.  Forex signals are perfect for the beginner so make sure that you find the free forex signal software that works with your platform.  Once you go live, you can then find a forex signal service to hire for your alerts.

Learn As Much As You Can Now

A forex practice trading account will provide you with the same platform that you will use when you begin to perform live trades.  They will also provide you with $50,000 to $100,000 worth of free practice trades.  There is no need to pay for a forex signal service while you are in practice trades.  The free signal software should give you all the practice that you need while practice trading and will be similar to the forex signal that you receive when you go live.

Go Live With a Forex Signal Service

Once you are live or a little before, you may want to look into an automatic forex trading system that will make trades automatically when you receive a forex signal.  It is important to find forex signal software that is compatible with any automatic forex trading system that you may use.  Your future as a profitable forex currencies trader is only a few moths away if you get started today.  Why wait?  You are not getting any younger and the forex signal software and technology is at its peak right now.

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Need an Instant Student Loans No Cosigner

If you want to be able to get a good, high-paying job, you will need to acquire a good education first. Without a good education and a degree, it is highly unlikely for a person to get a job which allows him to get a large house and a nice car. Most people today are unable to afford college. Due to the rising costs of tuition fees, only a handful of people have the chance to go to college. Fortunate are the students who have parents to sponsor their college education. For the less fortunate ones, they usually get student loans. Students who do not have the very best of credit scores will certainly need to get a cosigner to help them get a loan but there are also instant student loans no cosigner required. The latter is only suitable for students who have a nice record to back them up.

Instant student loans no cosigner is a great help for people who need money to be admitted to colleges or universities. This is very helpful to people who do not have any person who can cosign the loan for them. There is also no need for any collateral. So, a person need not fear losing his or her property. However, borrowers have to live with the fact that this type of loan has a high interest rate. Unlike short term signature loans, student loans take quite a long time to pay back. For one, federal loan programs for students only require students to pay back six months after graduation.  This gives newly graduated students enough time to find a good job and start paying off their student loans. Another thing which people should know is that student loans cannot be wiped off the slate even if a person files for bankruptcy.

When applying for no cosigner student loans, there are certain things to keep in mind. You must compare rates in order to get the best loan deals. Compare the interest rates being offered by various lenders. Read and understand the terms and conditions before you agree to them. It is also a must to check out the requirements needed for the loan. In order to facilitate faster processing, you must make sure that you submit the complete requirements. You can apply for student loans online simply just by filling out an application form and submitting it. A representative will call you back. Aside from private student loans, you can also apply for federal student loan programs.

I Need Money To Buy A Car: The Right Kind of Car Loan Programs

Do you want to get a car but do not have any money? How many times have you thought “I need money to buy a car”, but do not have enough money in your savings account for down payment? If you really need a car, you can get a car loan. Now that you are considering getting a car loan to finally get the car you need, you will need to think about the various type of loans in order for you to choose the best loan suitable for your situation. You have to make a decision which will suit your finances. So, if you need a $4000 loan to augment the money you have for car down payment, your options are listed below.

Lease Buy-out Loan

This is the appropriate option for people who already have car leases which are about to end and wish to possess ownership of the car. This is good for people who only have little amounts to spare monthly because this would afford borrowers lower loan payments. This is due to the fact that they have already paid a substantial amount of the car lease. The buy-out would give people the chance to own a car, rather than continue leasing it.

New Car Loan

This is ideal for people who would like to get absolutely new cars. This is good for duration of five to seven years.  The rate of interest will depend on the make and model of the car. Last year’s family cars will obviously cost less than the latest sports car. If you choose the latter, you can expect to get higher interest rates. If you want rates which are competitive and much more affordable, you should choose the former. Some dealerships also connected with certain banks or lending institutions and most of these partnerships offer low introductory rates for customers.

Car Refinance Loan

This is ideal for people who would like to make their monthly payments lower. A car refinance loan will allow you to pay a lesser amount of money every month. This is a good solution for people who always find themselves always behind ion car payments. This can help save your credit score from plunging so low that you will find it hard to get any type of loan in the future. A car refinance loan will also prevent you from losing the car.

Consider all your options before you get a loan. There are many places to go to now so you should not feel like there is no way possible for you to get a loan which will serve your needs

The Dangers of Lying to Get a Business Loan

Some people are so desperate for money that they would rather lie on their loan application than get their application denied or rejected. This is a very serious matter. Little white lies can have serious consequences especially when filling out cheapest loans unsecured applications. It is wrong to be untruthful; we all know this since we have taught this for a very long time. Lying on your loan application can do more than just embarrass you; it can also send you to jail.

There are various ways for a lot of people to misrepresent the truth on their loan application forms. One of the most common things people do when lying to get a business loan is to increase or decrease their salary or revenues and profits. For example, the W-2 form is needed for many lending packages. Sometimes, no proof of income is needed. Some people also do not tell the truth if they are self-employed or not. Some people even go to the extent of falsifying their lease agreements so that lenders would be more willing to give them more money.

Risks

It is a fact that a lot of people lie on their application forms. Before you think about doing this, you need to understand that once you put your signature on the dotted line, you are subjecting yourself to possible criminal and civil penalties. It is against the law to be deceitful about the information you place on your loan application forms. It is much better to be truthful about your loan application, regardless if your chances of getting the loan approved is nil or next to nothing. For one thing, you will not have to worry about getting found out by the lender and getting jailed. You have a clear conscience and you will be able to sleep better.

Lying on your loan application just so you can increase the chances of getting your loan approved is simply not worth it. For one, lenders will almost always call the employer to verify the income. For people who are self-employed, a letter of verification from an attorney is needed. Once you are approved for the loan, you will also need to sign a document which gives the lender authority to review your past tow income tax returns. Although most lenders do not rally carry out this review, if they do they will find discrepancies on your income tax return and you will be held accountable for that.

I Need Money: Should I Get a Payday Loan

Payday loans. Never has a thing been adored and loathed at the same time. Payday loans can be a great help to people who need money right away. Payday loans are very easy to get. There is no background credit check so even if you have a bad credit score; you can still qualify for it. However, it can also be the reason for people to get buried in debt. Personally, if I need money, I just might be tempted to get a payday loan. So, should you get a payday loan if you really need money?

Experts say that you should avoid getting a payday loan even if you are badly in need of money. Banks do not offer payday loans, neither do credit unions. Most lenders which offer payday loans are private lenders. A lot of these private lenders take advantage of their customers. The fees which come with payday loans can be very high. Payday loans are also meant to be paid in just 14 days. Coupled with expensive charges, this makes it very difficult for people to repay the loan on time. Most borrowers who cannot pay the loan on time end up extending their loan, also called rollover, and they end up paying more.

Instead of taking out a payday loan, you should consider other alternatives. Get a second job if your salary is not just enough. Consider selling some of the things which you no longer need. A lot of people are natural packrats. This could also be a good way of purging yourself and your house from things which you no longer need. You can also advertise your skills online. Someone might need something done and you might be just the right person for it.

If you find yourself in a situation where your only solution is getting a payday loan, you need to address that you brought to the doorstep of a payday loan lender. You should take a look at you spending habits. Do you have a very extravagant lifestyle? Do you spend more than you earn? Do you find it necessary to always foot the bill when eating with friends and loved one? Do you always buy things which are on sale? You have to be honest with yourself so that you can address your spending problems. Once you know where you are spending money on, you know where to cut back so that you can start saving for emergency situations.

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I Need Money Desperately: Fast Cash Tips

If you are in desperate need of money, what do you usually do? Most people would borrow money from friends and family. Others would get a loan. But, if you already have a loan and you would not want to add more it your existing loan, what can you do? If you have a computer and Internet connection, you are in luck. There are legitimate money making schemes online which you easily do on your own. If you are saying “I need money desperately”, you have come to the right place. We have got some brilliant ideas here which you should try yourself.

Sell your stuff on EBay or Craigslist. EBay and Craigslist are two of the most popular online sites where you can make money. Look at the stuff you have in your house. A lot of people accumulate stuff which they do not even need. Why not sell some of this stuff online and make some money too? Price your stuff attractively so that people will be enticed to buy them.

Take paid online surveys. There are many legitimate online survey sites today. Global Test Market is just one of them. Most of these surveys pay about $3 to $5 for each survey. Other sites allow you to accumulate points which you can use to make online purchases.

Make money with you own website. Setting up your own website does not take much as long as you know how to write. There are many free site building tools out there which you can use. Write about things which you have knowledge of. Are you interested in photography? Write about photography. Do you like arts and crafts? Write about it. Do you love dogs? Create a website about dog products and how to take proper care of dogs.

Work online. There are various sites online which pay freelancers for the services they render. Some good examples are oDesk and E-lance. Employers looking for people on these sites need people who can perform various tasks. If you are a good writer, you can get paid for writing by the hour or per article.

Do odd jobs. Walk the neighbor’s dog, babysit your neighbor’s daughter or do repair jobs. There are various people in the neighborhood that might need your services. You can also get a 2nd job which you can work on part time. It will give you additional income. You can try asking your manager to let you work longer hours too.

A Little About Penny Stock Trading

The term “penny stocks” is a bit of a misnomer. Although most of them do come cheap, quite a few of these micro-caps may be valued at dollars apiece instead of cents. Stock investors love them because of their incredible earning potential. It’s the classic case of a high risk, high reward opportunity. In the hands of an experienced trader, a few good penny stocks can lift the entire portfolio up significantly, often in a matter of hours.

Penny stocks are what people in the business loosely call shares from relatively small companies with sub-300 million dollars in total capital. This would include most of the start-ups.  They are bought and sold quickly based on Pink Sheet quotes – a list made by privately held OTC Markets Group-Inc. The majority of the shares can be had for less than $5 each, with some trading for less than a dollar. Some industry giants were once part of this group, like the tech behemoth Microsoft.

Making an investment in penny stocks is not that complicated. The same rule applies to these and the more expensive blue chips. Stock brokers can trade them for clients for which they earn a small percentage as commission. Opening an account can be done with just a $500-$1000 initial investment. This amount can already purchase a good number of shares since penny stocks cost so little.

Blue chip shares are relatively stable so it takes a while for stock holders to make money out of them. Penny stocks, on the other hand, can swing widely over a short period. This is why traders on the lookout for big gains are willing to gamble their money on these stocks. If they get lucky, they can double or triple their money in a single day, and it’s not as rare as one would think.

While the trading itself is uncomplicated, successful trading on a consistent basis requires an enormous amount of skill and experience. Predicting the wild swings of the various penny stocks is easier said than accurately done. One must know when to push and when to hold back. If a trader gets too excited with his winnings, he may not stop until he loses it all again in a single round. It is not for the faint of heart.

Those with temperaments suited to challenging and fast moving trades will enjoy being immersed in penny stocks investments. Others who prefer a safer route towards money-making however are more suited to mutual funds and investing in blue chip stocks.

Stock Market Investing is Not the Only Type of Investmen

What do you think about when you hear the word “investing?” Do you think about the stock market exchange? Although that is the most popular way to invest, it’s not the only one. You also have a choice to invest into a business, invest in real estate, buy gold and silver, or save your money in a 401k or Roth IRA. Each type of investment contains different amounts of risk, time commitment required to make money, or return on investment. Although a good investor is likely to have a little bit of each type of investment, they usually have a specialty. You can choose to be a jack of all trades for the cost of being diverse but you may it hard to go in-depth into anything, which can lead to missed opportunities.

What most people do is choose one investment to focus on, and work on the rest once they reach success in the investment they chose. Once you decide which type of investment is right for you, you can start learning more by reading books about the subject, asking other experts, and starting small with minimum investments first. It takes a tremendous amount of time to learn about any facet of investment, and to learn all of the tricks of the trade can take an entire lifetime. The key to becoming a successful investor is to increase your experience, be motivated enough to keep learning and growing, and don’t give up when you lose money.

Knowing which investment to buy is very important in your quest to invest, so let’s go with the basics of what each investment can teach you. Investing into a business will teach you about cash flow, income and expenses, and being able to look at a company’s background and owners and being able to tell if the company is solid or if it will collapse. Real estate will teach you about managing debt, learning how to find good tenants, learning how to negotiate, learning how to sell and property management. Investing in the stock market will teach you patience, how to stay calm, how to make calculated risks, and how to analyze market trends. Buying gold and silver teaches you the value of buying low and selling high. Lastly, saving money in a 401k and Roth IRA will teach you the discipline to save regularly and the value of growing your money over the years.

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft Launching Soon

SpaceX or Space Explorations Technologies is about to test their new spacecraft on Wednesday 9th December 2010. This flight had been delayed due to problems with the nozzle on the upper stage rocket. Apparently they found a few cracks!

If all goes well, this will be the first vehicle that is going to be capable of delivering supplies to the International Space Station after NASA scraps the Shuttle sometime next year.

Rather than fly straight to the Space Station on their first go, they’ve taken the more cautious route of flying around the Earth a couple of times first and then crash rather unceremoniously into the Pacific Ocean. If successful, this will make it the first private company to recover a re-entering space craft that has been in orbit.

From the company….

Pet Chip Implant – Cat Returns Home After Five Years

Here’s a feel good story that will leave you feeling fuzzy inside, with a dash of Tech just to keep things on topic.

During the horrendous event that was Hurricane Katrina, Jennifer Noble sadly lost her beloved 2 year old cat ‘Scrub’. Eventually the family recovered from the loss and moved on with life.

Five years later and Jennifer Nobel received a call from the Humane Society of South Mississippi saying that they had Scrub in their custody. Naturally she was skeptical but followed it through anyway and through some miracle of technology, Scrub was returned to her.

So what had happened? Well it seems that Scrub had been fitted with a microchip implant and had wandered off after the Katrina event, over 15 miles away. A Gulfport woman had recently been feeding Scrub and had taken him to the Humane Society after becoming concerned for his well being during the coming winter.

After scanning the cat with a microchip reader, Scrubs identity and address were discovered leading to a very happy ending for one family.

So, if that isn’t good reason to get your pet implanted with a microchip, then I don’t know what is!

TreeBot – An autonomous robot that can climb trees!

In a post Post-apocalyptic future when our robotic overlords have us under their control, taking to the Jungles and Forests for sanctuary is no longer an option.

At the Chinese University of  Hong Kong, Tin Lun Lam and his associates have managed to create a robot that can climb trees!

With a view to assisting humans in forestry environments, this robot relies purely on tactile sensors to navigate it’s way up a tree. This ability means that they can leave out complicated processing and associated hardware thus simplifying the design.

At the moment, this robot cannot calculate the most efficient path up the tree but optimising the route that the robot takes, is an avenue for future research.
So, when robots finally rise up against their masters, you will have nowhwhere to hide.

Check out the link for a video of the tree climbing robot in action.

Graphene Chips Produced by IBM Researchers

Researchers from technology giant IBM, have recently managed to build a complete Graphene circuit on a single Silicon Carbide wafer.

Recently reported in a paper published by the journal ‘Science’, they have shown that it is feasible to implement a monolithic integration of Graphene. This is the first time that monolithic integration of Graphene has been achieved and is seen by many as a significant achievement.

So What Exactly is Graphene?

Graphene is essentially a one atom thick planar sheet of Carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb like lattice. The structure of Graphene was originally described by Hanns-Peter Boehm in 1962. Multiple layers of Graphene take the form of the better known ‘Graphite’ that we all find in our pencils.

The Graphene Circuit

The circuit that the researchers have produced is a fully functioning broadband radio frequency mixer which can operate up to 10 GHz (Ten Billion times per second). This type of mixer is often used in common electronic applications such as TV, Radio, Mobile phones , Satellites etc.

Find out more about the breakthrough, and further details on the broadband radio mixer here:

The Human Eye May Act as a Compass

In a way that is similar to how an everyday compass reacts to the earths magnetic field, scientists have discovered that a protein present in human eyes, may in fact behave in a similar fashion.

This magneto-receptive protein called cryptochrome, is present – in one of two forms – in every animal on planet Earth. What Dr.Reppert of the University of Massachusetts Medical School has shown is that if this protein is removed from the eyes of a fly, it loses it’s ability to respond to a magnetic field.

Subsequently, if the human version of this protein is then made available in the flies’ eye, through genetic engineering, this ability returns.

This work seems to imply that humans may in fact have a built in ability to respond to magnetic field lines in some way.

Earlier work done on this was carried out by a Dr Robin Baker of the University of Manchester in the 1980s. Over hundreds of experiments involving thousands of volunteers, he claimed to find subtle evidence that humans could indirectly sense magnetic fields.

Perhaps these scientists are onto something? It would certainly make sense that through our evolution as a species, we once developed an ability to navigate using an in-built compass.

Kidneys that Fire Out Laser Beams!

Scientists have managed to coax mammalian kidney cells into producing laser beams. In addition, the cells also survived the experience. This is the first time that laser light has been produced in a biological system.
A laser normally consists of two mirrors positioned at either end of a ‘lasing’ material that provides gain for the light. Energising this system with an external light source, causes the laser to excite and produce coherent laser light.

The ‘lasing’ material in this experiment by Malte Gather and Seok-Hyun Yun of Harvard University, was in fact mammalian kidney cells that had been modified with a loop of DNA (GFP) that is responsible for fluorescence in Jelly fish.

The cells successfully produced laser light and even after a few minutes of lasing, the cells survived intact.

Who knows, perhaps one day we will see a ‘Cyclops’ from ‘X-Me’n like human shooting laser beams from their eyes… Erm, perhaps not but anything that combines Bilogy and lasers is a good thing in my books.

24 Interesting Conversation Topics

24 Interesting Conversation Topics

Conversation Topics Mastery
Part 1/2:

“What are interesting conversation topics?”

I’ve asked myself that question a few years back when I decided I wanted to master the art of conversation. Since then I have religiously written down all topics for conversation I came across.

Every time I noticed myself or someone else talking about a great topic, I made a note of it. My list quickly grew to 24 topics for conversation.

In this article I will give you my those 24 interesting conversation topics to talk about.

You also get general advice on how to easily flow from one topic to the other. And at [part 2/2] of the conversation topics series you’ll find some conversation exercises to build your conversation confidence.

However, while this advice will for sure help you making better conversations, it's still the hard way of going about things.

The easy way is to get rid of your negative feelings and beliefs prior to having conversations. This way you will permanently feel at ease and because of this you have access to your natural social skills and you will naturally use the right topics as you won't have to think about it anymore :-)

Pick The Right Topics For Conversation:

To be great in choosing interesting conversation topics, you want to train yourself to become really good at picking up what the other person’s favorite conversation topics are.
You do this by carefully listening to what they’re saying.

When they speak passionately about something, or when they bring up a topic very often, then pick that topic and ask more about it.

The best conversationalists are able to find conversation topics that everyone involved wants to talk about.



The List Of Interesting Conversation Topics:

Before I give you the list, I want to share something. Because when I created the list of conversation topics I started to notice a few things.
After a few months I found out that it’s not really the topic itself that makes the conversation, but rather the person or people who speak about it.

I started to realize that when you speak with someone, it is important to speak of conversation topics that you are both interested in.

What you consider to be interesting conversation topics might be boring to your conversation partner. And vice versa.


When you talk about Star Wars with someone who doesn’t even know the series, you might be engaged and enthusiastic...

... but for the other party the conversation will get boring rather quickly.

When the other party starts to talk to you about her uncle’s stamp collection, and you are not passionate about collecting stamps, nor do you know her uncle...

... you will be searching for ways to escape the conversation!


So try to look for topics of conversation that you are both passionate about. This enthusiasm is contagious and makes for very great conversations.

This way you both really get into the conversation, you will connect, and everyone will be having a good time.


The 24:

Sports
Movies
Passions
Music
TV shows
Hobbies
Relationships and dating
Family
Travel
Holiday (Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving etc.)
Have you ever...
Adventure
Leisure time
Food
Vacation
Clothing and fashion
Books
Marriage and children
Spirituality
Social life
Gossip
What is happening in your environment right now
The latest news
Something they are wearing / you are wearing and why

When reading the list of interesting conversational topics above, keep in mind that certain topics fit better in the one situation, others better in the other.

Also, the more you converse with people, the better of a feel you get for which conversation topics to talk about.

Practice makes perfect!

A talented caricaturist Thomas Nast

In 19th century, the illustrator Thomas Nast introduced Santa Claus as a jolly old man with a white beard and red outfit. He also invented the idea of Santa’s home-workshop, and Santa’s naughty-and-nice list. Being a talented caricaturist, Thomas Nast also destroyed the Tweed Ring, a group of corrupt New York City politicians, through his newspaper and magazine cartoons. The ring was led by William Tweed, called Boss Tweed, who with his associates defrauded New York City of millions of dollars. Tweed also tried to bribe Nast to stop his relentless cartoon campaigns. Tweed was convicted in 1873, served only one year in prison, was re-arrested in 1875 but escaped to Spain where he worked as a seaman. Someone recognized him from the famous cartoons and he was returned to the United States in 1876. He died in jail in 1878. Nast’s Santa survived, and so did his other famous symbols: the elephant of the Republican Party and the donkey of the Democratic Party.

Rider on the Storm

In the summer of 1959, a pair of F-8 Crusader combat jets were on a routine flight to Beaufort, North Carolina with no particular designs on making history. The late afternoon sunlight glinted from the silver and orange fuselages as the US Marine Corps pilots flew high above the Carolina coast at near the speed of sound. The lead jet was piloted by 39-year-old Lt Col William Rankin, a veteran of both World War 2 and the Korean War. He was accompanied by his wingman, Lt Herbert Nolan. The pilots were cruising at 47,000 feet to stay above a large, surly-looking column of cumulonimbus cloud which was amassing about a half mile below them, threatening to moisten the officers upon their arrival at the air field.

Mere minutes before they were scheduled to begin their descent towards Beaufort, William Rankin heard a decreasingly reassuring series of grinding sounds coming from his aircraft’s engine. The airframe shuddered, and most of the indicator needles on his array of cockpit instruments flopped into their fluorescent orange “something is horribly wrong” regions. The engine had stopped cold. As the unpowered aircraft dipped earthward, Lt Col Rankin switched on his Crusader’s emergency generator to electrify his radio. “Power failure,” Rankin transmitted matter-of-factly to Nolan. “May have to eject.”

Unable to restart his engine, and struggling to keep his craft from entering a near-supersonic nose dive, Rankin grasped the two emergency eject handles. He was mindful of his extreme altitude, and of the serious discomfort that would accompany the sudden decompression of an ejection; but although he lacked a pressure suit, he knew that his oxygen mask should keep him breathing in the rarefied atmosphere nine miles up. He was also wary of the ominous gray soup of a storm that lurked below; but having previously experienced a bail out amidst enemy fire in Korea, a bit of inclement weather didn’t seem all that off-putting. At approximately 6:00 pm, Lt Col Rankin concluded that his aircraft was unrecoverable and pulled hard on his eject handles. An explosive charge propelled him from the cockpit into the atmosphere with sufficient force to rip his left glove from his hand, scattering his canopy, pilot seat, and other plane-related debris into the sky. Bill Rankin had spent a fair amount of time skydiving in his career—both premeditated and otherwise—but this particular dive would be unlike any that he or any living person had experienced before.

As you may have noticed, until about a week ago the Damn Interesting web server was about as sturdy as a pair of paper pajamas. A sustained orgy of traffic was exhausting our finite resources, cramming all of our ports with bits. A superior server remains out of our price range, and even the most potent WordPress caching plugins have proven unequal to the influx.

In response, a few weeks ago I set to work tailoring DamnCache, a more robust protection from such sustained pummeling. After a week or so of testing I am happy to announce that the server is now approximately as sturdy as corrugated cardboard pajamas.

Speaking of unusual apparel, our Zazzle-powered logo store is now online and peddling goods such as T-shirts, hoodies, and iPhone cases for all of your holiday shopping needs. To celebrate, each week from now until the end of December we’ll be giving away a $25 gift code that can be redeemed for logoey goods. Watch our Twitter feed and/or Facebook page for details. The first will be given away shortly.

Speaking of shortly, moments from now we’ll be posting our first-of-maybe-many Damn Interesting Shorts. If these fun-size word-wads are well-received they will become a higher-frequency feature to help fill the gaps between the full-lengthier articles. Feedback is welcome.

Speaking of feedback, we have recently acquired a high quality microphone for the purposes of performing another experiment: the much-rumored and long-awaited Damn Interesting podcast. Details are forthcoming, but if the pilot episode is as awesome as we anticipate, it will become a tradition for each featured article to be accompanied by audio.

Thank you for your kind attention.

This is the prototype for our new-and-experimental Short variety of article. If well-received, these Shorts will help to fill the gaps between full articles. Please let us know what you think…who likes short Shorts?

In 1887, a glacial geologist named George Frederick Wright was hiking across the Muir Glacier in southeast Alaska when something strange caught his eye. Just as the daylight began to fade, the previously uninterrupted expanse of white snow around him began to develop what appeared to be a five o’clock shadow. These wriggling “whiskers” grew rapidly and emerged from the solid ice, leaving the snow crawling with an astonishing number of small black worms. Within approximately an hour there were tens of thousands of them criss-crossing the snow as far as he could see, leaving nary a square inch unwormed. A few hours later they began to slip effortlessly back into the ice, ultimately leaving nothing but pure white snow behind for the morning sun. The ice scientist brought news of these strange ice worms back to polite civilization, yet even over a century later little is known about the intriguing organisms.

Bound By Tradition

On 20 October 1998, the Zhiqiang Shoe Factory in Harbin, China sent out a press release stating that they were officially halting production of a curious variety of footwear known as “lotus shoes.” This announcement may appear pedestrian to Western eyes, but in a way it was a symbolic epitaph for a bizarre custom which had been in practice in parts of China for about a thousand years: a process known as foot binding.

Until the mid-twentieth century, a girl born into an affluent family in China was likely to be taken aside sometime in her first few years to begin a process of sculpting her feet into tiny, pointed “lotus” feet. This body modification was intended to attract suitors and flaunt one’s upper-crusty status. The culture at large considered these reshaped feet to be beautiful, and the dainty gait that resulted from such radically reshaped extremities was seen as alluring, but the process of producing lotus feet was grisly, problematic, and led to lifelong podiatric problems.