Oldest Married Couple Celebrates 80 years. The secret to their success?

Her: You must never be afraid to say “sorry.” “You must never go to sleep bad friends.”
Him: [My] secret to marital bliss was just two words: “yes dear.”

I hope Dale and I can live long enough to celebrate OUR 80th Anniversary! That would make us 105 years old!

*According to this list.

[via SuizaLisa]

I just filed this report at the National Fraud Information Center.

Starting this morning, I began receiving calls to my mobile phone from this number (866-714-9379). I missed the first four calls and no messages were left. I did not attempt to call the number. When I answered the fifth call, a woman identified herself as being with the “Government Grant Information Agency.” She told me I had been randomly selected to receive an $8,000 grant. She wanted to confirm my personal information. She knew my name, previous address (I moved just a week ago), and mobile number. She began asking for more information such as my middle name and current address (because I mentioned I had moved). I was suspicious so I told her I didn’t want to give out any more info until I learned more about her organization. She claimed they had an info packet to send me, but they wouldn’t send it until I had given them more of my personal information. She said my name had been entered into a pool of some sort because I had regularly paid my taxes. But if I didn’t give her the info she was asking for, they wouldn’t send me the info packet and they’d move on to the next person on the list. She got angry when I said I wouldn’t give her any information over the phone and to just move on to the next person on the list, then I hung up my phone. After the call, I Googled her phone number and discovered that the whole $8,000 grant was a scam to get people’s bank account information. I never even let her get as far as asking for that, though she did ask if I had a bank account. I still thought that I should report this call.

This is a classic example of why you shouldn’t give out personal information to callers and to restrict its access. If you receive a call like this, report it to your local police or go to fraud.org to fill out an online incident report.

Update: This was left in a comment below, but it’s useful information so I’ve added it to this post.

I have been researching grants for a variety of non profits for the past few years. There ARE legitimate companies, and some do charge a fee, but before engaging in any transaction it is important to research the company.Here is a list of a few factors to look for when companies contact you about grants that will let you know whether they are a scam or not.

1. Did they call you out of the blue, or did you request that they contact you? - Grants are not awarded like lotteries, so there are no “out of the blue” calls that are legitimate.

2.Do they guarantee you a certain amount of money? (I.e. Do they say “You are guaranteed to receive $5000 or more!”) - There is absolutely no way to be guaranteed a grant, so if they tell you you are guaranteed, it’s probably a scam. NO grants are awarded unless you have filled out a lengthy application.

3. Do they say a grant will be deposited into your account? - This is not the way that government grants are awarded. Again, if you have not sent in an actual application package and gone through the process, anyone telling you that they will DEPOSIT a grant is most certainly a scam. The trick is to ask the right questions - if the company is charging you money and needs to withdraw it, make sure you are clear about exactly what services they are providing and that the fee is for only those services.

4. Do they guarantee a grant within a certain period of time? (Say, 4-6 weeks?) - Applying for a grant takes time: there is a process that you have to go through to apply, and generally after the application deadline has passed, it takes an additional 30 days minimum for the agency to choose a recipient. All together, the process takes more than 4-6 weeks to complete - It is definitely a scam if someone promises you otherwise.

5. Do they promise you “Free Money” or emphasize words like “..never repay!” or “everyone qualifies!” ?? - NOT everyone qualifies for a grant, and if you do, you need to know exactly which programs you qualify for. “Free Money” does not really exist, even if you win a lottery you have to buy a ticket first. So anyone using words like “Free Money” shouldn’t be trusted.

It is important to get contact information (a phone #, a website, etc.) from the person you are dealing with, and to ask a lot of questions so that you know what is going on.
There are a few legit sites that I have encountered where you can find more information:
Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance = lists grant programs
www.grants.gov = provides info for mostly NON PROFIT organizations
www.grantability.com = determines your eligibility and provides assistance through the process for a reasonable fee
www.grantzine.com = a forum where people looking for grants can post what they learn

Sorry for the long post, but I have been “in the game” for a long time and hate seeing people get scammed, and I have really done my research!

Gorillas pay final respects to their deceased group leader.

One by one Tuesday, the gorillas filed into the Tropic World building where Babs’ body lay, arms outstretched. Curator Melinda Pruett Jones called it a “gorilla wake.”

Babs’ 9-year-old daughter, Bana, was the first to approach the body, followed by Babs’ mother, Alpha, 43. Bana sat down, held Babs’ hand and stroked her mother’s stomach. Then she sat down and laid her head on Babs’ arm.

The article describes a rather touching display by the gorillas, so much so that one of the keepers spent the event in tears.

A private voter registration organization by the name of Voters Outreach of America is under suspicion of trashing voter registrations by Democrats.

Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.

“We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us. I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assisatnt to get those from me,” said Eric Russell, former Voters Outreach employee.

Why all the Democrat hate? Oh….

The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.

This article was posted by Eyewitness News in Las Vegas, Nevada (Clark County). Community members are being urged to call the Clark County Election Department or check online to see if they are properly registered. That’s probably not a bad idea for most folks to do.

Update: Voter fraud issues in Colorado as well. Though, in this case, it seems to temporary employees attempting to pad their paychecks as opposed to a political party trying to invalidate the votes of their opponents.

Remember my earlier post about the lady fired for refusing to remove a John Kerry bumper sticker from her car? Well, her story reached Kerry himself who promptly called Lynne and offered her a job.

AmericaBlog.org had also begun fund-raising on Lynne’s behalf, collecting almost $2000 in just 24 hours.

Cool.

Baby dropped out of car during police chase

Despite the shock value headline, the story has a happy ending for the baby. The 8 month old girl was strapped in her car seat when she was dropped and suffered no injuries.

In a display of poetic justice, or karma, the man who tried to use her life as a delaying tactic to aid his escape crashed the car he was driving and died of his injuries.

Lynne Gobbell put a John Kerry bumper sticker on her car. Her boss, Phil Gaddis, told her to remove it. When she refused by saying, “you can’t tell me who to vote for,” he fired her. And then he put a pro-Bush flyer in with her final paycheck.

It would have been one thing if Mr. Gaddis had stated that political discussion was to be kept out of the workplace (his factory). But telling someone what she can or can’t display on her privately owned vehicle and punishing her for having a differing political opinion cross a few lines.

PENSACOLA, Fla. � A man who was trying to shoot seven puppies was shot himself when one of the dogs made the .38-caliber revolver discharge, deputies said.

Perhaps the gunshot wound and felony animal cruelty charge will teach this man that he would have been better off spaying and neutering his pets, rather than letting them breed and winding up with a bunch of puppies he didn’t want.

Asshole.

What’s a quick way to get a three day suspension from school without involving drugs, guns, profanity, fighting, or even rule-breaking? Simple. Show your classmates a bit of coding that your father taught you.

Carl Grimmer, a 13 year old, used a bit of DOS programming to send a one word instant message to every computer in his school. The word was ‘hey.’ Carl didn’t threaten or harass anyone. He didn’t use profanity. And, the school admits they don’t even have a written policy covering what Carl did, yet he ended up suspended from school for three days.

Rather than explaining to the boy what they perceived to be wrong with what he’d done, the administration is sending the message that kids should be wary of showing off what they learn. Who knows what will get them into trouble? The principal is hoping to make an example out of him. I think what the principal and Carl’s overreacting computer teacher did was make themselves look like computer-ignorant peasants chasing after knowledge and curiosity with pitchforks and torches.

In November 2003, Michael Jackson was lambasted for dangling his youngest child over the balcony of his hotel room. He apologized for his actions, calling it a “terrible mistake” and stating that he’d gotten “caught up in the … moment.”

On January 2, 2004, Steve Irwin, best known as the “Crocodile Hunter” clutched his month-old son in one arm while dangling a chicken carcass in front of a live crocodile. The performance, dubbed “Bob’s ‘croc feeding debut,’” took part in front of a packed audience that included the baby’s mother (who apparently consented to her child’s participation in the show).

I won’t even try to make excuses for Michael Jackson. He did endanger his child, if unintentionally. What’s bothering me now is that Steve Irwin also placed his child in danger, quite willingly and deliberately and even used it as a media event, but his actions are being treated as no more than “Crocodile Hunter” wackiness. Granted, the Irwin story is quite brief, but that’s just another indication that there’s little concern over the potential danger to his son.

At this point, I’m glad that even if I had a child, there’s very little chance he’d ever come in contact with either of those loons.

• “The company quotes doctors and veterinarians as saying there are no health risks associated with cats and people sharing the same toilet.”
  
  
• What do Paris Hilton and Saddam Hussein have to do with pizza?
  
  
• Naked chimney diving is not a good solution for retrieving “lost” keys.
  
  
• A stage mom and a frivolous lawsuit combine to make an astounding display of greed.
  
  
• And, finally, how could I not include a link to a news story about a monkey retirement home?

Our own beloved big white guy has been featured by CNN.com! Congratulations, Randall!

Today we bid goodbye to two wonderful entertainers, Johnny Cash and John Ritter.