GREECE BAILOUT AGREEMENT REACHED: The eurozone countries reached an agreement early today (February 21st) to give Greece $170 billion in additional bailout loans to save it from a potentially disastrous default next month. The deal is expected to bring Greece's debt down to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, which is around the maximum that the International Monetary Fund and the eurozone consider sustainable. As part of the agreement, Greece's private creditors -- mostly banks and investment funds -- were asked to take substantially greater losses than previously anticipated, a face value loss of 53.5 percent on their bonds. Additionally, Greece's public creditors -- central banks and the eurozone countries -- also agreed to reductions. The eurozone countries will cut the interest that Greece has to pay for its first package of bailout loans to 1.5 percentage points over market rates from the current 2 to 3 percentage points, and the central banks will also forego profits on their Greek debt holdings.
OIL PRICES AT NINE-MONTH HIGH AFTER IRANIAN SUPPLY CUT: Oil prices rose to a nine-month high above $105 a barrel on Monday (February 20th) after Iran said it stopped oil exports to Britain and France in an escalation of the battle over its nuclear program The move had an effect more because it reflected increasing concerns about the future effects of the tensions between Iran and the West than because of any actual effects, since only about three percent of France's oil comes from Iran and Britain hasn't imported oil from the Islamic nation in six months. Commodity analyst Caroline Bain of the Economist Intelligence Unit told AP, "Banning the tiny quantities of exports to the U.K. and France involves very little risk for Iran -- indeed quite the opposite, it catches the headlines and leads to a higher global oil price, which is something Iran is very keen to encourage." Iran's oil ministry said it stopped shipments to Britain and France after the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran's fuel exports.
FOUR U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFRICAN AIR CRASH: Four U.S. soldiers serving in operations in the Horn of Africa were killed Saturday (February 18th) in an air crash near a U.S. military base in the nation of Djibouti, the U.S. Department of Defense said Monday. An investigation is being carried out into the crash of the U-28 aircraft.
U.S. POPULATION GROWTH AT SLOWEST RATE SINCE DEPRESSION: The U.S. population is growing at its slowest rate since the Great Depression, amid the slow recovery from the Great Recession that ended in June 2009, but has continued to effect the birth and immigration rates. For two years in a row since 2009, the population has grown just 0.7 percent, down from annual increases of around 1 percent in previous years and the lowest since the 1930s. The U.S. fertility rate, which has been close to the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, now is estimated to have fallen to 1.9. Demographers expect that population growth will pick up again when the economy fully bounces back, however a full recovery is births is likely to lag behind.
WAGES RAISED FOR CHINESE WORKERS WHO MAKE APPLE PRODUCTS: The Taiwanese company Foxconn Technology Group, which employs about one million Chinese workers who assemble iPhones and iPads for Apple, Xbox video game consoles for Microsoft and computers for Dell and Hewlett-Packard, has announced that it's raised wages by up to 25 percent in the second major salary increase in less than two years. Foxconn is also taking steps to limit workers' total hours. The moves come amid increased scrutiny of the conditions at Foxconn's massive plants in China that are run with military-like discipline, after a spate of worker suicides in 2010. The U.S. Fair Labor Association is inspecting Apple's Chinese suppliers for their labor practices, and Foxconn said it's cooperating with the inspectors.
ELIZABETH SMART GETS MARRIED IN HAWAII: Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Utah bedroom at age 14 and held for nine months before being rescued, got married on Saturday (February 18th) in Hawaii. A small group of immediate family were on hand for the ceremony at a Mormon temple in Oahu, at which the now 24-year-old Smart married 22-year-old Matthew Gilmour, who she met while serving a Mormon religious mission in Europe. Smart, who's now an advocate for missing children and occasional TV commentator on the issue, announced her engagement last month with plans for a wedding in early summer. But a spokesman for Smart said that as the media attention surrounding the news grew, she decided about a week ago to change plans and have a small ceremony outside of Utah ahead of schedule.
Homeless street preacher Brian David Mitchell, the man who abducted Smart and repeatedly raped her over the nine months of her captivity, was sentenced last year to life in prison. His wife, Wanda Barzee, was sentenced to 15 years in 2010.
GIFFORDS' HUSBAND, MARK KELLY, WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOK: Mark Kelly, the retired astronaut husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who collaborated with her on a memoir about her survival after being shot in the head last year in an assassination attempt, is writing a children's book about a mouse that goes into space. The book, called Mousetronaut: A Partially True Story, will be published in October by Simon & Schuster, who said it will tell the story of a mouse chosen for a space mission who saves the day while in space. Kelly told AP that he'd wanted to write a children's book for a while, but that it would have been complicated to do that while still an active astronaut. He said he first thought of the mouse story a decade ago, explaining, "On my first space shuttle flight, we had 18 mice on board as experiments, and 17 of them, as soon as we got into zero gravity, stayed latched on to the side of the cage. But one of them seemed comfortable though the whole mission, like he was enjoying it."
ESPN Fires Writer Who Says Offensive Lin Headline was Unintentional: ESPN said Sunday (February 19th) that it had fired the online editor responsible for an offensive headline about Taiwanese-American New York Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin that was posted for about 35 minutes early Saturday morning before being taken down. The news story was about the Knicks' loss Friday to the New Orleans Hornets, ending their season-high winning streak that began when Lin was put into the lineup as a starter and had breakout performances. It focused, however, on Lin having too many turnovers, and was headlined, "Chink in the Armor," a cliche that includes a word that can also be used as an ethnic slur. Lin himself told reporters he didn't think the headline was intentional, and added, "At the same time, they've apologized. I don't care anymore." The fired employee, Anthony Federico, confirmed Lin's thought, saying he hadn't meant the headline as a slur. He told the New York Daily News, "This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny. I'm so sorry that I offended people. I'm so sorry if I offended Jeremy."
HEARD IT ON THE SHOWGRAM
Mar 31 2011 12:23PM
Posted 328 days 3 hrs 11 mins ago
Would You Ever Re-Join
I know what you're thinking: MySpace is for pervy losers who love spam. And if we were back in 2003, you might be semi-correct on that account. But that was the old MySpace. The new MySpace? MySpace added an impressive 1 million new users within the last 30 days. What in the world is going on? There must be something new and improved about the social media site to attract so many people. So, Rooney and Moon found this blog that lists the 6 reasons you might want to rejoin Myspace...
Avoid These 5 Don'ts After Getting Engaged (Shine.com)
1. DON'T start inviting everyone to your wedding: Once you do, you can't un-invite them, and you have no idea what your wedding plans are yet, and how much they will cost. You also don't know how many people will be on your groom's side of the guest list. Hold off until your wedding picture and budget start to take shape and it's time for your save-the-dates. You'll thank us then!
2. DON'T tell your bridal party you'll pay for all of their expenses: This is a huge mistake made by brides and grooms who have the best intentions but no real way to know how their wedding expenses are going to add up. If, say, a bridesmaid agrees to be in your bridal party because you told her you'd pay for her dress, shoes, hair, makeup, travel and lodging, but then you later say you can't swing those things, she's going to be really upset and angry.
3. DON'T tell parents they can help plan whatever they want: Your engagement euphoria may blind you to the fact that parents can turn into steamrollers (e.g. inviting all of their friends, pressuring you to marry in the church where they married). It's far wiser to hold off on promises and talk with your groom about what your top priorities are as a couple. Then, you can both decide which tasks can be delegated to the 'rents.
4. DON'T promise everything to your people: Imagine how sad your groom and his relatives would be if you assigned "the good stuff" to all of your family members and friends, leaving his side to pick through whichever tasks are left. This doesn't necessarily imply that you are trying to shun his family - it's just easy to get caught up in the excitement of wedding plans.
Instead, be sure to ask your groom what his mom, dad and siblings would like to join in on, and you'll set the stage for a close, loving relationship with the in-laws because you valued them enough to invite them into your planning circle.
5. DON'T fall in love with the first dress you see: Yes, we all know brides who bought the first dress they tried on, but this isn't a task to rush through. Give yourself the opportunity to have magical dress-shopping experiences with your mom or MOH. You can certainly keep that first dress you saw in the running, but there's no need to mark this task "complete" on your checklist before you've even had a chance to announce your engagement to loved ones.
ROONEY AND MOON INTRODUCE: BRADYING
New Internet Trend Bradying: Like Tebowing and those Will Ferrell Old Milwaukee commercials, Bradying is sort of amusing the first time you see it, then will decline as it grows in popularity, bottoming out in the moment that a C-list celebrity like Kathy Griffin tweets about it and then officially dying three weeks from now when your mom mentions it to you during your weekly phone call. But, in the meantime, Rooney and Moon decided to be "ahead of the curve" this time and introduce the wonders of "Bradying" to the High Plains. Enjoy!
66% OF PARENTS CAN'T ANSWER KIDS' SCIENCE QUESTIONS
Two-thirds of parents admit to being baffled by science questions from their children such as 'Why is water wet?' and 'Why is the sky blue?' Just under a quarter - 24 percent of a survey of 2,000 parents - admit to being frustrated and embarrassed, and 26 percent believe their children know more about math and science than they do. 21 percent admit that they make up answer -- or say, 'Nobody knows that.'
THE MOST DREADED QUESTIONS
1. Why is the moon sometimes out in the day?
2. Why is the Sky Blue?
3. Will we ever discover aliens?
4. How much does the earth weigh?
5. How do airplanes stay in the air?
6. Why is water wet?
7. How do I do long division?
8. Where to birds / bees go in winter?
9. What makes a rainbow?
10. Why are there different times on earth?
AND NOW.....THE ANSWERS
1. The moon can be lit up by the sun, depending on where it is in the sky. If it reflects the sun's rays, we can see it, even during the day. It all depends on its angle towards the Earth.
2. Sunlight arrives on Earth in every color, but it hits particles in our air that 'shine' blue.
3. No one knows.
4. The earth weighs 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000kg - weighed by its gravitational attraction to nearby objects.
5. Planes lift up by 'driving' air downwards using specially shaped wings - the 'push' from the air flow is stronger than gravity.
6. Wet is a word that people use for liquids - primarily water - and the way they feel. Not all liquids behave the same way.
7. On paper, preferably.
8. Bees stop flying and birds flock together or migrate.
9. Sunlight going through water droplets in the air 'splits' into all the colors.
10. People decided to have 'time zones' so that it would be light during the day everywhere on Earth - if we didn't, some people would have midday in the middle of the night.
THE BEST DAY TO SHOP
You may prefer to shop on Sundays because it fits your schedule or you choose Tuesday afternoons because the stores are less crowded. Maybe it's time to rethink your strategy and instead shop on the day that offers the best deals. What day is that? It depends on what you're buying. SmartMoney did the legwork and figured out the best days for the deepest discounts. That means that prices for the exact same item in the exact same store could be lower on Monday than they are on Friday. Here is SmartMoney's advice on what to buy on which days:
Sunday
Appliances: Prices for washers, dryers, ovens and refrigerators are about 1 percent to 2 percent cheaper on Sundays, which works out to about $10 saved on a mid-range model.
Groceries: While most grocery stores publish their weekly sales circular on Wednesdays, Sunday is the best day to shop. Clip coupons from Sunday's newspaper for more savings.
Personal Care Items: You'll find the best deals on toothpaste and deodorant at the drugstore chains on Sundays. You must go early to get the best deals.
Skirts and Dresses: Skirts sell, on average, for 77 percent off the retail price, while dresses are discounted, on average, 54 percent.
Electronics: Computers, televisions, digital cameras and even video games are between 2 percent and 4 percent cheaper on Mondays.
Monday
Cars: Cars are cheapest on Mondays as dealerships are more willing to negotiate. This holds true whether weekend sales were lackluster and they want to make up for that or whether weekend sales were robust and they want to continue it.
Tuesday
Airfares: Since most domestic fares are posted on Monday evening, there is a scramble by the other airlines on Tuesday morning to match prices. The number of cheap seats peaks at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Thursday
Clothing: Both brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers tend to begin their weekend sales on Thursday. You'll find the best deals and the most in-stock items. However, there are exceptions. See Monday.
Saturday
Books: Books are 11 percent cheaper on Saturdays; they are priced at their highest on Fridays.
PICK TO CLICK
Jan 18 2012 10:04AM
Posted 35 days 4 hrs 30 mins ago
APP LETS USERS VIEWERS EARN FREE STUFF BY WATCHING TV
A new app for the iPhone and iPad allows users to earn free stuff just by watching TV. When you tap the screen, Viggle's app listens to what's on -- even shows that have been recorded on DVRs -- recognizes what users are watching and gives them credit at about two points per minute. After earing 7,500 points, users will get a $5 gift card from retailers like Burger King, Starbucks, Apple's iTunes, Best Buy and CVS, which can be redeemed directly from the device. AP did the math and figured it would take about three weeks of watching TV every night for three hours to earn enough for a Starbucks latte. There are, however, plans to offer bonus points for certain shows, such as American Idol, and ads and 1,500 points are given for signing up.
STUMP THE CHUMP
Mar 31 2011 2:48PM
Posted 328 days 46 mins ago
Every day, we update this section with a new trivia question. Feel free to steal 'em and use them around the office today. Can you "Stump the Chump"?
Q: Who is older: Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton? A: Kim Kardashian. Kim turned 31 in October; Hilton reaches the milestone on Feb. 17.
Mar 29 2011 10:36AM
Posted 330 days 4 hrs 58 mins ago
There was a little baby boy and a little baby girl side by side in the nursery. The little baby boy says...
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