Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe

Mark your calendar for CAST’s first show of the 2011 – 2012 season, Shakespeare’s witty, brawling, controversial take on the battle of the sexes.

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Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe

Can I Pass A Law?

The other day I run into someone I know and they are in a surprisingly chipper mood.

HUGE SMILE, I mean HUGE SMILE on her face.  So I ask what’s up and she tells me how she talked to the credit card company which she’d been ducking calls for months and told them that she wouldn’t be paying her bill. 

The person from the credit card company said that they would need some payment and she replied that she would pay them $8000 out of the $18,000 that she owed them OR ELSE she would file bankruptcy and they would get NOTHING.

They accepted her offer and she is going to walk away from OVER HALF of the money she borrowed.

SMILING…NO REMORSE…NO SHAME WHATSOEVER…IN FACT I SENSED A FEELING OF PRIDE IN HER ACCOMPLISHMENT

So I asked her about her credit and wasn’t she worried that her credit would be ruined.

She turned and lifted up a stack of credit card applications telling me that she could get $100,000 in credit right there in her hands with all the credit cards that the companies are trying to give her even though they know she has horrible credit history. 

I sat there flabbergasted.

Now you can’t tell me that these credit card companies aren’t aware of the horrible credit score of my friend.  You can’t log onto the internet without some company offering you complete credit score information for like 29 cents.  It’s readily available.  This girl’s credit scores must have had a gazillion red flags.  Yet credit card companies are still willing to lend her money.

Can we pass a law that says if you can’t pay off the debt you already have and are in default for months that you are not allowed to sign up or receive more credit without putting up some hard assets to back it up?

…and a corollary law that says if you are a lending institution and you make credit available to someone who knowingly has more red ink on their credit statement than a Target Flyer then your lending institution gets ZERO an I MEAN ZERO help in a bail out.

Is this not a monumental failure to asses risk, especially given that this person’s credit scores and default information is readily available with a few strokes on a keyboard? For the cost of an $8 credit report you mean to tell me the credit card company looks at that brutal pattern of abuse of credit and are still willing to lend $20,000 on a signature?

Are these the same banks offering this credit that are going to get bailed out because they are too big to fail?

WHAT PART OF THIS EQUATION MAKES IT TOO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE CHANGE IN THE WAY CREDIT IS ASSESED AND LOANED?

Read this-

Nice job on 20/20! I recently completed a year long collection of credit card applications. I have kept track of every offer from April 05 to April 06 and I received 141 of them. I regret not keeping more specific data but I’m attaching a couple of photos and a chart. Feel free to use this material in any manner you wish.

My message to all those folks asking me to join the Occupy Boston Movement:

If there was some type of message I might be able to discern from your movement I might consider joining the cause but to be honest I‘m exhausted working close to 100 hours a week trying to do the right thing and support my family.

If y’all ever get your shit together and come up with a bullet list that doesn’t include bailing on your financial and personal responsibilities I might consider it.

But until then I’ll be down the wharf grinding out a living. 

Good luck. 

You can read my rant here, it was about personal responsibility ,not about bailing on it.

If you want, what would be near the top of my list after the Congressional reforms, would be shareholder revolt.  Shareholders should demand  that the board of directors of these big public companies get haircuts in pay and they need to return more dough back to the shareholders.  After all, that is the reason you buy stocks to begin with- to participate in that company profits in the form of dividends.  Companies are sitting on record amounts of cash but they don’t even pretend to return it to the investors in higher dividends.  Could you imagine how much they would be rewarded by folks that can’t get by on the meager returns in banks if they could get reasonable dividend returns?

Get rid of lobbyists, and stop putting barriers and ridiculous demands on small businesses to drive them out and into the hands of large businesses and when I say large business I don’t mean 50- 500 employee companies I mean Fortune 500 companies.

Did I hear that the big unions are getting involved?  What a shame it would be if all the good that might have come from it ends up being something that hurts small businesses, because you know that’s generally who ends up taking it in the culo.  Small businesses and the middle class working man.

Welcome Eurodam Passengers

Bob Hastings From The Chamber writes-


Welcome Eurodam Passengers

Ahoy Gloucester!  The Holland America Eurodam is arriving tomorrow morning, Tuesday October 18th.  The first passengers are anticipated to arrive onshore at Cruiseport between 7:30 am – 8:00 am.  There will be approximately 2,000 passengers coming to our shores.  Let’s give them a warm Gloucester welcome.

Not The Eurodam-

Starvos Reservation

Nice Fall Walk on Starvos Reservation with the pup. Great views of the Marsh, even more beautiful in a week or so when the leaves start to change.

Reminders

Reminders

The tide always leaves reminders of its visit;

Sometimes, when it’s violent, it might be

an eroded beach or a new inlet.

 

It might leave a watermark on our first story wall

or an automobile’s headlights peeking above the surface

like the eyes of a startled frog.

 

But, happily, most often, the tide gently comes and goes,

leaving only soft ripples in the sand and shallow pools

where we see ourselves and play with our children.

Something about a Harley…

For more Nelson Ride photos and the Rockport Harvest Fest, click here.

 

 

 

I never forward these things along but this just makes wayyyy too much sense.

Warren Buffett, in a recent  interview with CNBC, offers one of the  best quotes about the debt ceiling:
"I could  end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just  pass a  law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of  GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for  re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the  right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days  to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in  1971…before computers, e-mail, cell  phones, etc.  Of  the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or  less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email  to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most  people in The United States of America will  have the message.  This is one idea that really should be passed around.
*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_

1. No  Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in  office and receives no  pay when out of office.

2.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move  to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow  into  the Social Security system, and Congress participates with  the rest of the American people. It may not be used for any other  purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan,  just as all  Americans can.

4. Congress will no longer vote  themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower  of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care  system and participates in the same health care system as the  American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws  they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with  past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The  American people did not make this contract with the members of Congress. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person  contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three  days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe  it is time.
 

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!  If  you agree with the above, pass it on to at least 20 others.. Please keep it  going.

Coolidge Reservation

There’s more to the reservation than the famous Ocean Lawn. The highest point on the Reservation, Bungalow Hill, provides a panoramic view of the sea. The hill’s rocky outcrops are evidence that glaciers once covered the area, erratically dropping these boulders when melting at the end of the last Ice Age. Look closely and you can still see the scour marks from the grinding force of the moving glaciers. The surrounding woodland is a characteristic New England mix of oak and pine, wildflowers and ferns – home to an array of birds and other wildlife, including fisher, fox, and coyote.
Beyond the woodland, a trail leads past Clarke Pond. This former salt marsh was cut off from the tide nearly a century ago when its inlet was filled, leaving a predominantly freshwater pond. Saltwater periodically washes in during high tides and storms, bringing crabs and small fish from the ocean. The pond provides habitat for ducks and geese, and heron and shorebirds feed here. Several acres of wetlands surround the pond with cattail, bulrush, and cordgrass standing distinctively among the varied wetland plant life, also marked by colorful displays of trout lilies, jack-in-the-pulpit, and swamp buttercups.
Coolidge Reservation also includes a portion of Magnolia’s Gray Beach (also known as Magnolia Beach) with its sandy shoreline and dunes, complete with colorful beach pea and beach rose.

Skeptics in The Pub

Skeptics in The Pub

The October Cape Ann Skeptics in the Pub will be on the 18th. Mary Bowles will present a program based on the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The book explores the story of extremely successful people. Why so some people succeed more than others? Gladwell argues that the lives of such ‘Outliers’– people who’s achievements fall outside normal experience– often follow a peculiar and unexpected logic.

The meeting will be held at the Dog Bar, 65 Main St., Gloucester. As usual, we will gather at 6:00 to meet each other and order dinner and drinks. The program will begin at 6:45.

Come and hear this interesting talk!

Docksider’s First Annual Comedy Show

The Docksider’s First Annual Comedy Show, November 10 at Bass Rocks Elks Club, Atlantic Ave, Gloucester

Hosted by Hank Morse of 105.7 WROR Loren and Wally show. Starring comedian Tony V and featuring Artie Januario and Graig Murphy. Doors open at 7:00, show at 7:30. Tickets $20.00. Recommend purchasing tickets in advance at Virgilio’s, Jeff’s Variety, Christine’s Variety,Annisquam Auto Body, and The Depot Restaurant all in Gloucester or email sales@take1promos.com. Raffles and Door prizes. Dont miss this evening of laughs! All proceeds to support the Docksider’s trip to play at Disney World and SeaWorld in Florida in April 2012

BankGloucester 15,000 giveaway

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BankGloucester will be giving away a total of $15,000 to community organizations at a brief reception at the bank on Monday, October 17th beginning at 5pm.

This is the fourth year in a row that they have held their “Banking for the Community” program where the public votes for a slate of community groups that aid others; write-in nominations are also welcomed. These votes determine how the money is distributed. Top three awards are $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000. Twelve others groups will each receive $500. BankGloucester believes in giving back to the community and this is one of the ways that they do that.

Perhaps you would like to cover this event considering the positive impact it has on Gloucester residents. The reception will begin at 5pm in the lobby of the bank at 160 Main Street. Bank President, Patrick Thorpe, will be presenting the checks to the winners.

Wellspring’s 30th Anniversary Concert At The Liu Photos From Dr Nicole

Just had to share before leaving for a weekend conference what an INCREDIBLE evening it was at breathtaking Shalin Liu Performance Center for Wellspring’s 30th Anniversary!  Rockport native and Grammy award winner Paula Cole was Joined by Grammy award winnerShawn Colvin (one of my favorite singers) for this wonderful event.  I’m sure Kay O’Rourke the Executive Director will have far better pictures but I told her I’d send these just in case.  

I remember volunteering for Wellspring over 20 years ago while at GHS.  The movie they showed about what they have been doing, the lives they have touched, and where they are today is truly inspiring.  This event was a sparkling example of the potential for the various local organizations to team up with the arts and culture of Gloucester and come together and really make a huge difference.  I am so grateful to have been in attendance tonight for this view of the exciting things already making their way to Cape Ann.  The possibilities are endless.  Bravo Wellspring House for a great evening for a great cause!

Bright Blessings,
Dr. Nicole K. Andrade

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Epicurus Quote of The Week From Greg Bover

October 13, 2011
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but instead remember that what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for.”

Epicurus (341 BC – 270 BC)

click photo for the Epicurus wikipedia page

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Born on the Greek island of Samos, Epicurus believed that the goal of one’s life should be happiness, peace and freedom from fear. Often misunderstood as a sort of hedonism because of similarities in a pursuit of pleasure, Epicureanism teaches instead that overindulgence likely brings pain. The greatest pleasure is to be gained in the enjoyment of friends, the simple blessings of food, and the living of the quiet, useful life.

(I decided to quote Epicurus this week because I was struck by the similarity to what Donna wrote earlier. Has anyone ever seen them in the same place at the same time? Hmm.)

Greg Bover

Watch now as the Lat 43 webcam is being installed live here

Once Lat 43 embeds the webcam feed onto it’s website the link from when you click on the picture on www.gloucesterwebcam.com will take you to The Lat 43 website where that webcam feed will be streaming.
The idea is to have 30 or so of these around the area and to push the web traffic to the webcam host websites.
There are 19 cams due to be live within the next 2 weeks!

Click Here For The Latitude 43 Webcam View Of Harbor Cove Gloucester MA