Diamonds are forever...but the diamond market is looking ill

Looks like man-made diamonds are finally here. Apollo Diamond (and others like Gemisis), should destroy the diamond monopoly in a few short years (if De Beers doesn't come up with a catchy new ad campaign and convince the gullible masses that flawed diamonds are better than perfect diamonds). Prices for man-made diamonds are already 1/4 of the price of mined diamonds. And no one has to lose body parts for them either.

Washington, D.C. got a baseball team (and inherited thieves with them)

I hope some enterprising soul organizes a boycott of the Washington Nationals. Not because they suck, but because they are preparing to steal the land needed to build their new stadium. If you are outraged by the recent Supreme Court decision regarding eminent domain, make sure you take it out on the Washington Nationals. Refuse to buy their products or visit their new stadium. The Kelo V. New London decision wasn't really anything new however, just more blatant in that it affects you and me. The US government has been stealing land from people for quite some time.

Build your own freeware security suite

For all you cheapskates out there. Being poor or cheap is no excuse not to protect your computer and data. You can assemble a minimum secuirty suite by downloading and learning to use the following freeware security apps (For Windows):

1) ZoneAlarm (Firewall)

2) Avast! Free Antivirus (Antivirus)

3) Spybot Search and Destroy (Spyware & registry change monitor. Enable S&D Resident - check weekly for updates) . Also grab Ad-Aware and run both Spybot and Ad-Aware (don't forget to update the definitions) at least monthly.

4)Spyware Blaster (Spyware blocker for Firefox and Internet Explorer) Enable all protection - check weekly for updates).

5) TrueCrypt - Allows you to create encrypted valuts on your hard drive. Never store personal information (bank info, passwords, etc) on your hard drive unless you encrypt it.