Nigel’s Money & Credit Tips and Tricks

Demetrius Andrade: Andrade was the star of the 2008 Olympic Boxing Team, and his upset loss in mid-tournament was arguably the team's darkest moment, as its best hope for a Gold Medal went with him. The athletic 6'1 "southpaw has turned pro as a Super Welterweight (154lbs), and owns a smashing 4-0 record, all wins coming by way of knockout. Of all the former Beijing Olympic boxers, Andrade receives the most press attention in the U.S., and has the strongest promotional backing.Deontay Wilder: Wilder was the savior of the 2008 Team. As the only boxer to bring home medal, Wilder's Bronze American amateur boxing saved from the disgrace of failing to win a single medal for the first time. At 23 years old, Wilder might also prove to be the savior of America's professional heavyweight picture. Standing 6'7 "and weighing in at 218 lbs lanky, Wilder is going to become one of the biggest of the big men if his career goes well. He turned pro in November 2008, and holds a 5-0 record with 4 knockouts and 1 RTD.Raynell Williams: Williams has Remained an amateur boxer, with the intention to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Boxing Team.Sadam Ali: The first Arab - American on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team turned pro as a Super Lightweight (140 lbs) in January 2009. He has a record of 3-0 with 2 knockouts, and from all reports is building a popular following.Javier Molina: Molina went to the Olympics as a Super Lightweight, and has Remained at that division. That makes two former American Olympic boxers currently Pursuing a professional boxing career in the same division. He has a record of 2-0.Shawn Estrada: Estrada has kept the busiest schedule of all the American boxers who went to Beijing. He turned pro at Super Middleweight (168 lbs) and has run up a record of 6-0, all big wins coming by knockout.Luis Yanez: Yanez was the most decorated American amateur in Beijing, but had a disappointing performance there. He turned pro in February 2009 at Super Flyweight (115 lbs), a full 11 pounds higher than his Olympic weight limit, and won a Majority Decision.Gary Russel: Southpaw Gary Russell of Capitol Heights, MD has been busy. He turned pro as a featherweight in January 2009, and has racked up a hard-hitting 3-0 record. One victory is by knockout, and the other two were Lopsided Unanimous Decisions with knockdowns.Sources: http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=520093; http://www.cleveland.com/olympics / index.ssf/2009/01/cleveland_boxer_raynell_willia.html; boxrec.com

Felix Trinidad Boxing

For those of us who know how to use them properly, credit cards can actually be quite fun and lucrative. To those who do not know how to use them properly, I would say that you should stop reading this column right about now, or at least I would advise you not to try any of this stuff at home. What I'm about to describe is not one of those illegal credit card schemes. Instead, I'm talking about taking full advantage of the benefits and offers that credit card companies and store chains offer their customers all the time.I get several credit card offers each month, but I only accept those that come with no annual fee and pay me at least one percent cash back or credit on my purchases. I do not care about the interest rate. It could be some exorbitant rate like 50% for all I care, since I never carry a balance and always pay off what I owe at the end of each month. Right now, I probably have about 15 different cards, but I only regularly use three of them.I have one card that gives me an instant five percent credit on my gasoline purchases. Therefore, I buy all of my gasoline with this card and never use cash to buy it. I have another card that gives me five percent cash back on any purchase I make at a drug store or grocery store. Needless to say, I try to use that card exclusively at those establishments. The third card I regularly use gives me a one percent instant credit on all purchases. I use it for just about everything except purchases of gasoline or purchases at drug stores or grocery stores. The more I use my cards the more credits and cash back I get. The credit card companies are, in effect, paying me to use their cards and I am more than happy to oblige.Some credit card companies will take things one step further and even pay you to take their cards. These payments will take the form of gift certificates, cash back bonus, and / or bonus credits. There is one minor catch in that most companies will generally require that you use the cards at Least Once each to get those benefits. That's never a problem for me as I will use them once to get the benefits and then toss them into my "inactive" drawer.Having lots of credit cards means I get lots of offers in the mail (and sometimes by phone) from the credit card companies in which i am asked to try out some kind of worthless subscription for 30 days. Most of the time, I just throw these offers in the trash can. However, there are some that I will try Because they will "bribe" me adequately to do so. However, they must offer me at least $ 10 and the offer must have a free trial period. I will then cash their check, put the money in my pocket, and cancel before the free trial period ends. However, I have found that I need to be careful with these offers. Sometimes they'll offer me $ 10 to try something that costs $ 10 (or more) per month, with no free trial period. I avoid those like the plague, since the best I can do is break even.Speaking of worthless subscription offers, most credit card companies will push some kind of credit card insurance. The way it works that you pay about half of one percent of your monthly purchase totals so that this insurance will make your minimum monthly payment in case your are disabled, laid off, have a death in the family, or suffer some other kind of qualifying malady. This insurance may be a good idea for those who run a monthly balance and only make the minimum payment, but it's worthless to those of us who pay off our balances each month. However, the credit card companies will never acknowledge this fact and will pay you to try it and will usually give you a free trial period.I take these subscriptions only for cards that I do not use, so it never costs me anything. What's better is that when I try to cancel it, they bribe me again to keep the subscription active! The bribe is usually in the form of rebate tickets of $ 10 to $ 25 per month for about six months. When I make a purchase that equals or exceeds the face value of the ticket, I send in the receipt along with the ticket and get a cash rebate about eight weeks later for the face value of the ticket. Then, when the tickets run out and I attempt to cancel my subscription again, they offer me even more tickets to stay subscribed. Sometimes, I have tried to cancel before the six months ran out and got even more tickets for the same card in overlapping months! If you have several cards you do not use, each with one of these subscriptions, the rebates could really add up! In addition to the cards issued to me by the credit card companies, I have several cards issued by store chains like Sears, JC Penney, Hecht's, etc.. Most of the store chains that issue credit cards will offer discounts of 10, 15, 20, or even 25 percent at various times for simply using those cards to make purchases at their stores. Some will even offer a bonus discount for just signing up (and being approved, of course) to take one of their cards! They can afford to do this Because they know that most people will not pay off their balance each month, but will instead make the minimum payment along with paying an ungodly amount of interest. The stores will more than make up for those discounts right there. Meanwhile, those of us who do not run monthly balances reap the benefits of discounts that other people are paying for! What I have just described is not illegal, immoral, or unethical. Credit card companies and store chains are in the business to make money and sometimes they'll offer things that do not seem to make sense in order to maintain and / or expand their customer base. Contrary to popular belief, credit card companies do indeed make money off people like me, who never pay a dime in interest or annual fees and take full advantage of all of their offers. The money comes from the businesses that accept those cards by way of the fees they pay each I time I use one of my cards. Those businesses, in turn, are willing to pay these fees in order to attract as many customers as they can. Therefore, everyone in the credit card cycle benefits. Those who use credit cards the way I do are just making sure they are getting their piece of the pie

As the political debates heat up, The majority of the American public still feels that the Earth is heating up as well. There has been a multitude of research conducted exhibiting that the Earth is, in fact, heating up. (Many Global warming supporters just threw their hands up in the air.) Although the Earth is getting hotter, there is nothing horribly wrong. The Earth constantly heats and cools as it is a living and breathing mass of water, dirt, and gases. Changes are to be expected. Do we, as intelligent human beings, think that a planet that was created through an event labeled the "Big Boom" is going to be an utterly and completely stable environment? Who are we to access the recent heating trend and call it abnormal? Furthermore, heating Who decides that this trend was the fault of man?? Many supporters claim that global warming glaciers are melting and shrinking. Are they? Some glaciers are actually expanding, as stated in my last article regarding global warming. At this juncture, however, I will admit that some glaciers are shrinking. Glaciers in Antarctica have been shown to be shrinking. A possible explanation for this is a volcano centered under the ice sheets. Sometime around 207 BC, this volcano erupted spewing hot lava and ash over the ice, causing large areas to melt (Chang, 2008). Little is know about this volcano. If this volcano is still active and magma is breaching the surface of the Earth's crust, could it not heat both the ocean water and the ice layers? Under further research is done, there is not adequate answer to this question. With other glaciers growing larger, the support used by glacial melting global warming is now supporters debunked.Another item of discussion is the global warming CO2 emissions caused by vehicles and the quest for alternative fuel methods. Again, who are we to consider the CO2 levels in the atmosphere as high? What is this claim based upon? Next, how do all of the major global warming supporters travel? They drive their "green" electric automobiles to the airport, where they board a jet that has four engines much larger than that of an automobile engine. While they sit on the tarmac, these four massive engines spew outrageous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. More greenhouse gases mean more global warming. That is how it works, right? I have not seen too many of these global warming supporters taking trains or driving their vehicles across country environment friendly. They fly.Lastly, if CFC's are so harmful to our ozone, why have not they been Outlawed? I remember the cries of their being a hole in the ozone layer and how we could all burn up from the rays of the sun. Again, should we fear holes in the ozone? How do we know that holes in the ozone are not normal? In 1973, chlorine was identified as the catalytic in ozone destruction. That was 25 years ago, yet chlorine is still used in large proportions. When a thin spot was found in the ozone layer over Antarctica in 1985, it was found to be the result of atmospheric dynamics, solar radiation, and chemical reactions. The thickness of the ozone was seen to change during different seasons (CFCs and Ozone Depletion, nd). So, if the ozone was seen to change and vary, yet this discovery took a very long time to discover, how are we to know that a similar trend is not true to this global warming hoax? Temperatures, glacial readings, and other conditions used to support the notion of global warming have not been recorded for a long enough period of time to make rash decisions. There is not enough information especially of the idea that our presidential candidates should be debating what to do about it. The hoax of global warming needs to be finally put to rest so that some of the lesser educated public does not run out and vote for a presidential candidate Because of their views on a phantom problem.

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