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Another popular e-mail scam tells the recipient they need to download and use an attached IRS form to properly file their taxes, or that the recipient is the subject of an IRS audit and should view the attached document. The attachments usually contain spyware that can steal passwords and financial data from the victim's computer. The IRS urged consumers to access its Web site through http://www.irs.gov, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail or opening an attachment. Those who receive a questionable e-mail claiming to come from the IRS may forward it to a mailbox the IRS has established for such e-mails, phishing@irs.gov. .
Ottawa moves to reduce price of drug after cancer patients complain of ...
If the price of the half-century-old drug, which can be made for less than a dime per capsule in a Brazilian government laboratory, are found to have been too high over the past 13 years, governments could receive refunds. Today, one capsule costs about $35. According to E. Richard Gold, a lawyer who specializes in patents, the decision closes a loophole. Since the drug is not licensed by Health Canada and was available only under its special-access program, it avoided price regulation. "This is a loophole, that if it had been followed, other companies with relatively small markets would have followed it and it would have created an inequity in the Canadian system where some drugs are controlled and some aren't," said Dr. Gold, director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy at McGill University.
One Bush Left Behind
The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece. Mr. Bush said, "In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams. And a decent education is their only hope of achieving them." So how much educational dreaming will $20 buy? -George Bush’s alma mater, Phillips Andover Academy, tells us their annual tuition is $37,200. The $20 "Pell Grant for Kids," as the White House calls it, will buy a poor kid about 35 minutes of this educational dream. So they’ll have to wake up quickly. -$20 won’t cover the cost of the final book in the Harry Potter series.
Les Knudsen wins November Award
Les Knudsen spends a lot of time in his front yard, and it shows.His beautiful yard at 5093 Kahana off Kawaihau Road in Kapahi is the winner of the November Neighborhood Pride Award given each month by the Wailua-Kapaa Homeowners Association, according to a press release from the group. .
Anonymizer Anonymous Surfing
Note: This download includes the entire Anonymizer Safe Surfing Suite, which consists of Anonymous Surfing, Anti-Spyware, Nyms, and Digital Shredder Lite. You can activate the trial for one or all the included applications. At the end of the trial period, pay for only the parts you wish to keep.
--Preston Gralla
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Cultivating new skills
Beginners welcome. $80 passholder, $89 nonpassholder.
Feb. 12 through March 18, Tuesdays: Basic Floral Design. 1-4 p.m. or 6-9 p.m. LWG. Six sessions to learn fundamentals of floral design. $299 passholder, $309 nonpassholder.
Feb. 13 through March 19, Wednesdays: Advanced Floral Design. 1-4 p.m. LWG. Expand floral skills and refine knowledge of basic techniques. Leave each class with one or more designs created. $349 passholder, $359 nonpassholder.
Feb. 14 through March 20, Thursdays: Beginning Flower Drawing. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. LWG. Designed for those with no previous art training, or those wishing to renew their skills, learn to render any plant, flower or object realistically. $169 passholder, $179 nonpassholder.
Feb. 22 through March 21, Fridays: Introduction to Landscape Design Developing a Master Plan.
Editor's mailbag: Start chewing gum, farmers
Gordon Shadle (Jan. 14, "Never doubt the pig committee") makes a valid statistical point: Small errors add up. But does he think he's the first to realize that?News flash: The guys at the IPCC are better at this than he is. Whole careers have been devoted to the mathematics of uncertainty in physical modeling.But that's just taking the pigs committee's word for it, I guess, so look at it this way.Suppose, instead of one furnace, you had 300 tiny little heaters in your house. If you turned them all up from 60 to 70 degrees, knowing that the dials are only 99 percent accurate, would you expect only a 5 percent chance that the house would warm up?Gordon ignores at least two important points. First, most parts of climate models are far more than 99 percent reliable. They are like the little heaters.
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