"An article on MSNBC describes what happens when 'View Similar Products' recommendations go bad. From the article: 'The company said it was alerted to the problem early yesterday afternoon after word began spreading among bloggers. When visitors to Walmart.com requested Planet of the Apes: The Complete TV Series on DVD, four other movies were recommended under the heading Similar Items. Those films included Martin Luther King: I Have A Dream/Assassination of MLK and Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.'"

When Purchase Recommendations Go Bad

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has introduced a bill that would bar the National Weather Service from competing with the commercial weather industry.

This law would reinstate a 1991 policy that said NWS would not distribute products or services that could be provided by the private sector. This includes specialized forecasts targeting agribusiness, utility companies, boating interests and business needs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the weather agency, rescinded the non-competition provision in December, upsetting the commercial industry.

Backers of the bill contend that NWS spends too much money mimicking the private sector and sometimes withholds critical information, such as real-time snowfall accumulation reports and hurricane reconnaissance reports.

Santorum objected to NOAA's policy change in December.

"This decision by NOAA to repeal the non-competition and non-duplication policy detracts from NWS' core missions of maintaining a modern and effective meteorological infrastructure, collecting comprehensive observational data, and issuing warnings and forecasts of severe weather that imperil life and property," Santorum said after recommending the new legislation earlier this month.

Keep NWS out of data distribution...

Blaming The Worker: In Texas City and On the Rails

Headlines like these always make me wonder about the human tendency to find scapegoats to blame after a tragedy. Is it just a matter of companies wanted to point the finger elsewhere, anywhere away from themselves or the decision makers, or away from problems that are hard or expensive to resolve? And why don’t journalists generally look deeper than the simple “worker screwed up” story. Does blaming workers satisfy a basic urge in people to always have a readily understandable villain to blame. Blaming incompetent workers for accidents is so easy. Just fire them and the problem’s solved. Right?

Read more...

Blaming The Worker: In Texas City and On the Rails

A state board is proposing a sweeping change to make computer software used in business subject to property taxes, a move that some business leaders contend could drive up costs and hurt job growth in Tennessee.
"This would be a significant chunk of change," said Hayes Ledford, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s director of public affairs.
Carl Hartley, a Chattanooga attorney representing some businesses, said the change could put a considerable tax bite on some companies whose businesses are heavily based on computer use, such as banks, finance companies, leasing firms and insurance businesses.
Officials at UnumProvident Corp., the Chattanooga-based insurer with 3,000 workers in the city, said the shift could add a substantial cost to doing business in Tennessee. Spokeswoman Mary Clarke Guenther said UnumProvident buys a lot of software.
"We have 600 software applications in use throughout the company," she said, adding that not all of its computer work is based in Chattanooga.
Currently, there is no consistent approach to determining what business software should be considered taxable, according to the executive secretary of the State Board of Equalization, which proposed the change.
However, software already is taxed as property in some Tennessee counties, said Kelsie Jones. He said county assessors have taken "varying approaches" in making distinctions about not only taxing software, but the kinds, as well. For example, Mr. Jones said, some tax operational software but not that which is applicational.
The new rule would provide a uniform standard across the state, he said.
"One of the reasons for the proposal comes down to consistency. The rule as proposed would quit worrying about distinctions," he said. "All software becomes assessable."
Hamilton County Assessor of Property Bill Bennett said his office has taxed operational software at companies where it has done audits for six or seven years. The proposed rule "would take the gray area out," Mr. Bennett said.
The board has set a Jan. 23 hearing on the change in Nashville. Mr. Jones said staff members will receive comments on the proposal, consider changes, and at a later date it could go back to the board for a vote.
Ray Childers, president of the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association, said the proposal has "serious implications" for businesses. Mr. Childers said he is concerned the change may be done administratively rather than legislatively.
"I understand there may be constitutional issues," he said.
State Sen. DavidDavid Fowler,Fowler R-Signal, R - Signal RSignal Mountain, said he is so concerned that he has asked that a bill be drafted to permit the Tennessee General Assembly to consider the issue.
"I do think it’s a major change in tax policy with economic ramifications that needs to be considered by the legislature," he said. "It may be the legislature agree... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

Proposed tax change worries businesses in TN

ABN AMRO Mortgage Group says it has recovered a computer tape that was lost last month while being transported by DHL Courier to a credit reporting service. The company is offering its customers one year of free credit monitoring.
The company said the tape included the names, account information, payment history and Social Security numbers of about two million of its customers. It was being shipped from ABN AMRO's Chicago data center to the credit reporting company Experian on Nov. 18 when it was lost. The company said today that the tape was recovered yesterday.
DHL said the package was found without the original airbill. DHL staff opened the package, found the return address on the tape, and repackaged the tape with a new airbill.
"We deeply regret that this situation

DHL Loses ABN AMRO Customer Data

Personal and financial information about 70,000 active and former Ford Motor Co. white-collar workers was stolen along with the computer holding the company information in November, according to the automaker.
The stolen data includes names, addresses and Social Security numbers.
Ford began notifying employees of the theft this week. There is "no evidence indicating that there has been any identity theft or misuse of employee information" according to a company spokesperson.
Ford plans to pay for a credit-monitoring service for the people affected by the theft and is offering them a range of services.
Ford has notified Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Identity Theft Task Force and the three major credit reporting agencies of the theft.

Ford Loses Data on 70,000 Workers

H&R Block has agreed to settle the latest in a series of lawsuits filed against it for its practice of "refund anticipation loans," or "payday loans."
The settlement was announced Dec. 21st, with a West Virginia Circuit Court judge scheduled to consider the agreement on Dec. 23rd.
The terms of the settlement would resolve claims in 22 states and the District of Columbia, as well as four class-action lawsuits in West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and Alabama.
Under the settlement, Block would pay claims to 8 million customers who took out payday loans between 1989 and 2005. The terms of the payout were not disclosed, but Block stated it would have to incur a third-quarter tax charge of $31 million to cover the claims.
The settlement would not affect a case pending in Chicago against Block and its partner, HSBC Financial Services, for racketeering charges in relation to their pushing of payday loans on customers. A previous settlement offer was rejected, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in March 2006

H&R Blocked, Again

As an American historian who knows something of economic law, having learned from the Austrians, I became intrigued with how the United States had remained prosperous, its economy still so dynamic and productive, given the serious and recurring economic fallacies to which our top leaders (political, corporate, academic) have subscribed and from which they cannot seem to free themselves—and alas, keep passing down to the younger generation.
Let’s consider ten.

Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004

EcoDesignz aspires to join the growing movement toward reducing the dependence on dwindling timber resources by producing and making available to the public high quality residential and commercial furnishings and accessories produced entirely from bamboo.
Due to recent technological advancements, it is now possible to convert raw bamboo culms into more conventional lumber and plywood such that it can be used to build virtually anything that traditionally has been made from wood. Our experience has shown that bamboo products are highly appreciated because not only does their unique grain and color add warmth and beauty not found in most hardwood products, but more importantly bamboos' incredibly fast growth cycle makes it an environmentally sound and sustainable alternative choice for almost anything made from wood, plastic or metal. And bamboos' inherent strength and hardness actually makes it a better option for many products such as tables, doors and flooring.

Bamboo Furniture For A Sustainable Future

The government is aware of the issue and is working to fix it, a representative of the Department of Labor said Wednesday. The department manages the GovBenefits.gov Web site. The site is a collaborative effort of 16 federal agencies to increase access to government information and is part of the president's e-government initiative.

Phishers use IRS tax refund as bait...