By Kevin
Purdy, 9:00 AM on Sat Feb 21 2009, 16,036 views
Pet Costumes
Ned's posterous
Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you. Right now is life. Don’t miss it.
February 2009
Cold comfort - Garrison Keillor
February 25, 2009
Some friends from the Confederacy came to visit us in St. Paul last week when the temperature was around zero and so we had to haul out electric blankets and crank the thermostat up to 68, but they still felt "chilled" and so I made them go for a walk outdoors, and when they returned, they felt warmer. They only needed to get perspective. Cold is not so cold if you compare it to actual death.
I grew up at a time when you didn't complain about winter. Blizzards raged across the prairie and that was that. There was no weather forecasting, just a strong sense of foreboding. Old people wrapped in quilts sat by the hearth, gumming their chicken bones, their rheumy eyes turned upward, listening to the wind in the chimney, and they said things like, "The judgment of the Lord shall not be withstood." That was about it by way of prognostication. The wind blew and blew. Zero was a mild chill back then. Twenty below was considered cold. At 60 below you had to take precautions. The car froze up, and when you raised the hood it screeched so loud that icicles fell off the eaves, huge 45-pounders like giant daggers of ice. We were a family of eight, but we had been a family of 10. Icicles got Timmy and Louise.I don't say this by way of complaining, not at all. Winter gave us a sense of purpose, to persevere, to go to school no matter what and to keep shoveling the walk and throw the snow up on the snowbank 15 feet overhead, clearing the narrow canyon of sidewalk with clothesline tied to our belts so that in case of an avalanche, they could pull us out in time, watching for incoming icicles that dropped like artillery shells, and also for coyotes that grew daring by late February and would take on a boy, especially one who was immobilized by heavy clothing. There was no lightweight thermal wear back then—you kept warm by the exertion of carrying heavy clothing: an 80-pound child might wear 30 pounds of clothing. Running was out of the question. You simply had to face the beast and stare it down.Coyotes. Icicles. And also the danger of voiding the bladder at 60 below when you hear your own bodily fluid turn to ice chips as it hits the ground and you wonder how far up the golden arc this ice might come. Remind me to tell you about that sometime when we're alone.My father was a stoic. He believed that if you couldn't see your breath when you talked, then the furnace was turned up too high, not that we talked—we did not—we knew one another well enough without it, but we respired. We exhaled vaporous clouds as we toiled over homework and then ascended to the cold attic and our frozen beds. Normally heat rises but not when it is that cold. We wore long woolens to bed and there was no thought of bed-wetting—we never considered it an option. Nor did we bathe on a daily basis. You just accepted that you were a mammal and didn't need to smell like citrus fruit. And that's just how it was. An alien experience to most Americans and so one has a responsibility to tell the story, just as when your child picks up an LP and asks, "What is this?" and you must try to explain about high-fidelity sound and woofers and tweeters, and how the needle on the tonearm rode in the grooves of a vinyl disc and produced stereophonic sound, which of course your child does not believe for one second, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.But there was no phonograph in my childhood home. We arose every morning in silence, pulled on 30 pounds of clothing, and ate our Cream of Wheat and marched out into the storm. The school buses were frozen solid, so we were taken to school in a horse-drawn sleigh driven by a man with enormous eyebrows and raced past the ravines where the last tattered remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia were holed up and looking for Yankee children to kidnap for ransom to buy gunpowder from the British so the South could rise again. Which it did not until the Republican Party seceded from the Union in 1968. But that is a story for another time.
Garrison Keillor Bio | Recent columns
Garrison Keillor is a radio host and author.Web Resources For Tough Times
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/25/smartypig-thrive-wesabe-personal-finance_savings_account_slide.html?thisSpeed=15000
Young Money
Web Resources For Tough Times
02.25.09, 12:00 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/25/smartypig-thrive-wesabe-personal-finance_savings_account_print.html
Young Money
Web Resources For Tough Times
02.25.09, 12:00 PM ET
Fewer jobs, more debt.
Things are starting to get a little scary.
Unemployment in the United States is up to 7.6% in January.
That's 11.6 million jobless Americans, and as a nation we owe billions in credit card debt.
Now is the time to really focus on making smart financial decisions.
Luckily, there are many online resources to help manage everything from credit card debt to saving for that dream vacation.
Best of all, especially now, most of the sites are free.
One site designed to help manage money in a tight economy is SmartyPig, which launched in March of 2008 in Des Moines, Iowa.
The idea for SmartyPig came from founders Mike Ferrari and Jon Gaskell, when they started 529 College Savings Plans for their children. They wondered why there wasn't a similar savings option for adults. SmartyPig was thus formed on the hunch people want a way to save cash for purchases they may have previously put on a credit card.
"SmartyPig helps create good financial habits by reversing the buy now, pay later credit card mentality," says Gaskell. "The idea isn't groundbreaking. It's the same common approach our grandparents used with their money: They saved up and bought something when they could afford it."
SmartyPig's savings account is operated by West Bank, also in Iowa, and currently offers a 3.25% annual percentage yield (APY). May sound too good to be true (Madoff, anyone?). If you've compared rates, you know that's nearly twice the average for national savings accounts. But West Bank's chief financial officer, Doug Gulling, vouches for his bank's legitimacy. "West Bank is an FDIC-insured bank and a subsidiary of a publicly traded company (West Bancorporation), so people can get information about us very easily. It's not like a Madoff hedge fund or something like that. We are very transparent."
Gulling explains that SmartyPig can offer such a competitive interest rate because it expects users' investments to be in for the long run. "Generally speaking, people are setting goals for a three-year period on average," he says.
As Gulling mentions, all your money is Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured, which means if the bank were to ever fail, your principal is protected up to $250,000 (until the end of 2009) and then for $100,000 thereafter if the higher limit is not extended.
Once you've created an account you choose how much you want to save. There is a minimum deposit of $25 needed to start a savings account and a maximum deposit limit of $50,000 in a 24-hour period. However, you can set up more than one savings goal.
Once you hit your goal you can collect your money in several ways; put it on a MasterCard debit card, through gift cards with SmartyPig's participating partners, or simply transfer it back to your regular checking account. There is no fee for withdrawing your money. If you do opt to collect your cash in the form of a gift card, many times you can actually earn more money. So, for example, if you want to buy that flat-screen TV you could opt to withdraw your cash in the form of a Best Buy card; many times they tack on an additional amount.
If you decide halfway towards your goal that you actually need that money now, you can simply withdraw your money without any consequences, although you'll have to close the account.
There is also a feature on SmartyPig that lets you track your friends' goals. The intention here is that if you publicize your savings goals you may find motivation through others supporting you. However, for many younger savers, money is a very private affair, so it's hard to know how useful this will be.
SmartyPig is not the first site to try to get people thinking about their finances. Sites such as Wesabe.com and Thrive are free Web sites that help users lay out their finances and make wise budgeting decisions. Investing site Cake Financial similarly makes your portfolio easier to understand by putting all your assets in one place so you can see your financial situation from a broader perspective.
Our economy probably won't be down forever, and jobs will eventually come back. But in the meantime protect yourself by learning all you can about your financial situation. Some of the best resources are just a mouse click away.
-----------
-----------We're entering tough times. The economy is slipping, jobs are being lost, and credit card debt is going up.
There are many resources just a mouse click away that can help you manage all aspects of your financial future.
SmartyPig
SmartyPig, launched March 2008, is a free online savings account--currently offering a 3.25% annual percentage rate (APR)--operated with West Bank, in Iowa. The site stemmed from the idea that something similar to a 529College Savings Plan should be created for adults. Just set up an account, and determine your savings goal. Once you've reached your goal, you can retrieve the cash as a MasterCard debit card, gift card from certain stores or put the money back into your checking account. The yield may seem suspiciously high, but your money is FDIC insured.
-----------Thrive
A budgeting Web site started in the mind of then 27-year-old Avi Karnani, Thrive is supported by nine experts in start-ups and a consumer manager, all in their 20s and 30s. The site allows you to upload your accounts--from savings to your Roth IRA--then helps you understand where all your money is going. From tips on how to save more to where to invest, Thrive his helpful for those in the earlier stages of life.
-----------
Credit.com
Based in San Francisco, Calif., Credit.com was started by a former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Credit.com sorts and ranks credit cards by several categories. But the site also takes you beyond lists and offers more credit information. They help you manage your debt in regards to mortgages, auto loans, marriage and more.
-----------Virtual Wallet
Virtual Wallet is an online savings account run by PNC Financial Services Group and divides your money into three accounts: everyday spending, short-term savings and long-term savings. Virtual Wallet is FDIC insured and provides additional features like overdraft protection, automatic bill pay and debit cards (run through Visa). There are some drawbacks, as with many online bank accounts, such as a three-month check limit (who writes checks today, anyway?). There is a $25 minimum to open the account.
-----------Wesabe
If budgeting is your burden, let Wesabe, founded in 2005 in San Francisco by Marc Hedlund can help you do some of the leg work. Wesabe allows you to download your bank information (securely) and helps you manage your money, breaking out your spending into categories so you can see where all your money goes. There is a networking competent, which lets you to talk with other users. If you like, you can also call Hedlund directly (800-511-8544) and he'll answer your questions.
-----------
Cake Financial
Founded in 2006 in San Francisco by Steven Carpenter, the intention of Cake Financial is to provide a free way to manage your portfolio yourself, without getting a broker involved. You don't actually move any of your investments, but Cake Financial will allow you to look at all of them with a broader perspective. You can also find out what others are trading in real time and get tips from other users.
-----------MyWorkster
Jobs are hard to come across these days. MyWorkster.com might be the extra assistance you need. Founded in 2005, the site is created with the intention of career networking through college alumni connections. The site functions as almost a cross between the professional networking site LinkedIn and Facebook. You simply create a public profile, which other users can see. You can post a résumé online, put out a job query and search a job database.
-----------Bill Shrink
You could be saving on your cellphone bill each month. BillShrink, co-founded by Schwark Satyavolu (co-founder of online banking consulting site Yodlee), may help cut costs. The site lets you enter your criteria for a wireless carrier--such as wi-fi--and the system analyzes what plan is the best for you. A useful feature is that BillShrink will continue to monitor your bill in case things change and a better option arises. BillShink also offers the same service for credit card bills.
-----------
LowCards
Around since 2000, LowCards, owned by Hampton & Associates in Birmingham, Ala., is by no means the new kid on the block. The best part of the site is that it sorts and ranks over 1,000 different cards--everything from your credit score to what sorts of perks you are looking for to ones with the lowest APR. Low Cards also finds the best cards for your stage of life; whether you're a student or run a small business.
-----------Retail Me Not
What better way to save then start cutting (or Googling for) coupons? The process is simple; you find the item you want online then enter the Web address into RetailMeNot's search. If there are coupons for this store or site, they will find them for you--even ones not being advertised anywhere else. There is not a guarantee that all the coupons will work, but each coupon is given a percent success rate so you'll know whether or not to take your chances.
-----------
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
General information about the foundation including grant eligibility guidelines, annual reports, and financial information can be found at www.gatesfoundation.org. We provide only electronic copies of these materials for greater ease of distribution.
If you would like to apply for a position with the foundation, please visit www.gatesfoundation.org/jobs/Pages/overview.aspx and apply for positions that best match your skills and qualifications. We are unable to accept hard copy resumes or resumes via email.
In keeping with our charter, the foundation does not fund requests from individuals. For information on our funding priorities and directions on how to submit a grant request, please visit www.gatesfoundation.org/grantseeker/Pages/overview.aspx. We can only review requests submitted through our online grant application process as described on our Web site.
The foundation supports nonprofit organizations in the following areas:
· The Global Development Program focuses on agriculture, financial services for the poor, and access to computers and the internet in international public libraries.
· The Global Health Program concentrates on reducing disease in developing countries.
· The United States Program works nationally in education, provides access to technology in public libraries, and works with community programs supporting at risk families in Washington state and the greater Portland, Oregon area.
Please note that the Global Libraries and Education initiatives are not accepting requests for funding at this time.
You may find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we receive at
www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Pages/overview.aspx.
For more information about the foundation and how we're structured, please view our Foundation Fact Sheet at
www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Pages/foundation-fact-sheet.aspx.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PocketFinder
by Roman Mica, Denver Car Gear
Examiner
The Pocketfinder can tell you how fast it is moving
"PocketFinder lets you keep track of how fast it is going whenever it is moving. You can even set a speed limit for your device and you will receive an alert the once that limit is broken."
In other words, "You can place (perhaps hide might be a better word) one of these micro GPS units in your car, lend the family wagon to your aspiring Formula teenage driver and get a text alert when the car exceeds (and let's be generous here) 80 mph.
The pocketfinder also, "allows you to designate customizable areas as Safety Zones or Danger Zones. Once you have set up these Zones, you will receive alerts whenever one of your PocketFinders leaves a Safety Zone or enters a Danger Zone. You also have the option to be notified if your device enters or exits a Zone. Our unique system allows you to assign the notification alert to anyone in your contact book using the contact method you choose: voice, SMS, or email."
The PocketFinder has a seven day battery life and cost $129. You'll also need to pay the monthly $13 a month for the locator dervice.But that might be a good deal if you are worried about your car and your lead foot wondering teenage driver.
For
more info: click HERE to visit the PocketFinder's web
site.
Topics: gear of the week
-----------
http://www.examiner.com/x-2812-Denver-Car-Gear-Examiner~y2009m2d15-Examiner-car-gear-guy-gadget-of-the-week-the-Pocketfinder-----------About GOOG-411
Dial from any phone
(1-800-466-4411)
Give it a try now and see how simple it is to find and connect with local businesses for free.
Best Countries For Women - Gender-equality ranking - the U.S. doesn't even crack the top 25
The Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum measures the size of the gender gap--the disparity in opportunities available for men and women--for 130 countries in four critical areas: economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, educational attainment, and political empowerment. A country's rank is based on the overall score, which is expressed in a percent. The score represents how much of the gender gap the country has been able to close. A score of 100% would represent perfect equality. The following 30 countries were ranked as the most equal.
----------
No. 1: Norway
Score: 82%
2007 Rank: No. 2
Source: World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2008
----------
No. 2: Finland
Score: 82%
2007 Rank: No. 3
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
|
----------
----------
----------
----------
|
|
|
Gender
Best Countries For Women
Matthew Kirdahy, 11.12.08, 12:01 AM ESTIn the latest gender-equality ranking of countries,
the U.S. doesn't even crack the top 25.
|
|
| By The Numbers: Best Countries For Women |
Female empowerment is embraced more today than any other time in world history. And in the global push for gender equality in everything from business to politics, education to health, it's Europe that has made the greatest strides to close the so-called gender gap.
Norway, Finland and Sweden are ranked the best countries for gender equality, according to a recent study from the World Economic Forum, the nonprofit organization known for its annual economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, for global leaders. Those Nordic countries and their Western European neighbors account for 16 of the top 30 countries with the greatest gender parity in the world.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ranked surprisingly low at No. 27, behind Lesotho (No. 16), Mozambique (No. 18) and Moldova (No. 20). Not surprisingly, the worst-ranked countries were sprinkled throughout the Middle East and Asia. Garden spots like Chad (129th), Saudi Arabia (128th) and Pakistan (127th) populated the bottom of the list. Yemen ranked absolutely worst at No. 130.
By The Numbers: Best Countries For Women
Video: Best Places For Working Women
The Global Gender Gap Report measures the size of the gender gap--the disparity in opportunities available for men and women--for 130 countries in four critical areas: economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, educational attainment, and political empowerment. A country's rank is based on the overall score, which is expressed in a percent. The score represents how much of the gender gap the country has been able to close. A score of 100% would represent perfect equality. The majority of the data come from various non-government organizations, such as the International Labor Organization, United Nations Development Program and the World Health Organization.
Norway, ranked No. 1, scored 82%. Finland came in second place with an estimated 82%, while Sweden posted a score of 81.4%. The U.S. has closed 72% of its gender gap, according to the study, while Yemen has closed 47%.
Other countries in the top 10 include Iceland (80%), New Zealand (79%), the Philippines (76%), Denmark (75%) and the Netherlands (74%). The U.K. ranked 13th (74%), while Canada ranked 31st (71%), hurt by poor showings in educational attainment and political empowerment.
"Personally, the U.S. was a surprise," said Saadia Zahidi, one of the study's authors. According to Zahidi, much of the year-to-year fluctuations in the list depend on politics. An election year could easily change a country's overall score depending on how many women are elected to public office.
Among the four ranking categories, the U.S. scored lowest in "political empowerment." Finland's score was helped by Tarja Halonen, its female president.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago, ranked No. 19, had the highest score, thanks to lots of female elected officals. Barbados, included for the first time this year, ranked a surprisingly high 26th.
Israel was the highest-ranked country in the Middle East and North Africa region, at 56th. And in Asia and Oceania, the Philippines and Sri Lanka scored spots in the top 20 for the third straight year.
By The Numbers: Best Countries For Women
Click here to read the entire Global Gender Gap Report
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2008.pdf
Also at Forbes.com ...
Extraordinary Uses for 16 Ordinary Household Items
By Woman's Day Staff
Posted January 16, 2009
Top 10 Tools for Landing a Better Job
Top 10 Tools for Landing a Better Job
From the first Google search to the last interview, you can boost your odds at landing a better job with the right preparation.
Here are our ten best tools and tips for job-seekers and career climbers.
Photo by lewis chaplin.
10. Cover all the search sites
It's not exactly a "hack" to suggest hitting Monster.com,
or your LinkedIn network, to check out job offerings and
work your connections. Each site amongst our five best online job search sites, however, puts
you in a different pool of possibilities, and each has its own quirks and tools.
They're somewhat perfunctory and broad, but wouldn't you feel bad knowing you
missed a great opportunity simply because it wasn't in your super-specific
Craigslist search? There are a host of salary-obsessed sites that use a combination
of math and insider info to compute what workers with certain skills and
experience levels can expect in different cities and corporate firms. The most
prominent among themGlassdoor.com, PayScale,
SalaryScout, and Indeedhave their
own strengths and weaknesses, as we've previously
detailed. If you're lucky enough to have an informed
source inside a firm you're looking to jump ship to, or can cultivate one, that
might be your best bet.Photo by AMagill. From covering an oldie-but-goodie list like the 50 common interview questions and answers to
mastering a few conversational Jedi mind trickshow you prep for
your job interview depends on how geeky you want to get. If you bore even
yourself with your answers to 1950s HR Manual standards like "What's your
greatest weakness," consider turning the interview around by talking about your
first 100 days on the job, or tell
the story of your career, and future. If you managed to
escape without squirting mustard on the interviewer's shirt, dash off a
quick, effective thank-you note. For more ideas,
visit our tips for talking your way into a job. Unless your interviewer is Mark Zuckerberg, your newest sandals
and fleece just ain't gonna cut it.
Here's the shorter, job-focused version of our tools for dressing sharp:
Some large-scale employers deposit every single resume and CV
into a giant, OCR-scanned database; others merely search out candidates on job
sites using specific word criteria. Either way, having the right words on your resume prevents being cut in
the first round like some warbly-voiced would-be Idol contestant. On
the other hand, the humans who actually read through your cover letter, resume,
and application want to see real numbers and results, not Career Services
blather. So take a good long look at your text and kill at least six words from your resume.
A while back, we suggested just a few tools to nab a job with feeds and email alerts. Our
commenters, though, had a wealth of links and suggestions that worked for
them:
SimplyHired and its RSS feeds, which 72ba digs for its aggregation of the big job
sites and local players, as well as the customized feeds.
By and large, no one-person blog is going to replace a salary,
but it can help you find a new source of income. Blogger Adam Darowski believes
the blog is the new resume, and at least one
Lifehacker editor is really glad he built his up to help land a new gig. Write
and post material related to the field you work in, and generally work it as if
you were already employed in it. Your resume and clips can spell out that you're
a great with Photoshop, but your blog's slideshows will definitely sell your
clients or employers a lot more emphatically. Go aheadtell us which tools or skills were conspicuously absent
from our Top 10. Tell us your experience on any of the above from the
perspective of employer, employee, or current job-seeker, or offer up some links
in the comments.
9. Cover Craigslist like a
glove
The same types of skills and always-there alertness that
make someone a Craigslist power user can give them the edge on
the site's job board, which has the benefit of (sometimes, not always)
attracting relatively tech-savvy, with-it employers. Once you're getting text
message and RSS alerts whenever "Micro-brew taster" shows up, browse these
tips for applying for a job on Craigslist,
written by someone looking to hire through Craigslist and looking for only the
honest, direct, ready-to-work types.
8. Take the guesswork out of
salary demands
7. Leave without burning any
bridges
If you have a great estimate of exactly how many seconds
are left until you can leave, it can be really tempting to email
all@youroldcompany.com with exactly how liberated you feel. But if your dream
job doesn't turn out quite so ethereal, or you ever find yourself needing a tip,
lead, reference, or maybe even someone to hire at your new digs, you'll wish
you'd kept things civil. To fake it until you make it, crib from eMurse's
sample resignation letters, read from wikiHow's
guide to
resigning gracefully, and keep in touch over social
networks like Facebook with the co-workers in the same realm you find yourself
in. You never know when one of them might hear about a sudden job opening;
alternately, you can ditch the civility and think about offering cold, hard cash rewards for job leads.
6. Walk into your interview
without fear
5. Look the part
Give the shoes a solid shine: In five minutes or so.
4. Use search-friendly words; skip
vague generalities
3. Get better, faster, smarter
alerts on job openings
2. Build your personal brand with
a blog
1. Write a killer resume for a new
career path
With the economy lurching about like an over-tired
Capoeira enthusiast, we recently decided it was a good time to look at taking
the first step toward escaping one's endangered (or just plain boring) career
for another, no matter what your experience level. We rounded up our favorite tips from our own resume
posts and experience, and talked to a career specialist about how to score a
great gig, even if you lack the supposedly mandatory "minimum requirements."
Check it out, pull out the heavy-stock paper, and get to writing. Photo by
emdot.
-----------
getting Chipped ...
Xega creates injectable human tracking GPS chip
If one had to save the number of people who go missing, one would have to be able to track them.
GPS and other such technologies usually don't help.
Hence, the Xega Company has created an injectable chip, which is the size and shape of a rice kernel.
It can be injected into the clients body using a syringe.
The chip sends out signals from the persons body and one could locate and pinpoint the location of someone in distress.
The chip costs about $4000 and comes with an annual fee of $2,200.
This may mean we won't see any more kidnappings and persons going missing.
-----------
Barcelona clubbers get chipped
BBC Science producer Simon Morton goes clubbing in Barcelona with a microchip implanted in his arm to pay for drinks.
Imagine having a glass capsule measuring 1.3mm by 1mm, about the size of a large grain of rice injected under your skin.
Having the chip inserted was a breeze
Implanting microchips that emit a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) into animals has been common practice in many countries around the world, with some looking to make it a legal requirement for domestic pet owners.
The idea of having my very own microchip implanted in my body appealed. I have always been an early adopter, so why not.
Last week I headed for the bright lights of the Catalan city of Barcelona to enter the exclusive VIP Baja Beach Club.
The night club offers its VIP clients the opportunity to have a syringe-injected microchip implanted in their upper arms that not only gives them special access to VIP lounges, but also acts as a debit account from which they can pay for drinks.
This sort of thing is handy for a beach club where bikinis and board shorts are the uniform and carrying a wallet or purse is really not practical.
Thumping heart
I met the owner of the club, Conrad Chase, who had come up with the idea when trying to develop the ultimate in membership cards and was the first person implanted with the capsule, made by VeriChip Corporation.
Nurse Laia held a rather large needle
|
Four aspiring VIP members sat quietly sipping their beverages as the nurse Laia began preparing the surgical materials.
Like a scene from a sci-fi movie, latex gloves and syringes were laid out on the table as the DJ played loud dance tunes that made my heart thump, or was it just fear?
Questions were going through my mind. Would it hurt? What are the risks? What if I want to get it out?
I ordered another drink.
Comfortably numb
Laia started by disinfecting my upper arm and then administered a local anaesthetic to numb the area where the chip would be implanted.
With the large needle in her hand, she tested the zone which made me flinch and led to another dose of the anaesthetic.
The chip is contained in a tiny glass capsule
|
She pressed the injector and it was in - my very own 10 digit number safely located in my body.
The chip is made of glass and is inert so there is no risk of it reacting with my body.
It sits dormant under the skin sending out a very low range radio frequency so it will not set off airport security systems.
The chip responds to a signal when a scanner is held near it and supplies its own unique ID number.
The number can then be linked to a database that is linked to other data, at the Baja beach club it make charges to a customers account.
If I want to leave the club then I can have it surgically removed - a pretty simple procedure similar to having it put in.
Now, the question of did it hurt. Having the chip inserted was a breeze, no real pain to report of.
The real pain was the sore head the following day after a night on an open bar tab.
-----------
