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Long Beach voters took to the polls on Election Day and overwhelmingly cast their support for a living wage (or minimum wage, depending on choice of terminology) of $13 per hour for workers in the city’s largest hotels. The earliest the law would likely take effect is December 21. “In terms of what message voters sent . . . it affirms that the City of Long Beach was ready to really look at how quality of life issues matter, regardless of what level of employment or which sector you work in,” Councilmember Suja Lowenthal told the Business Journal. As of...

Some of the comments to help the President in tonight's debate: #ObamaDebateTips Have Hillary speak prior to debate saying that if tonight is a flop, it's her fault! Expand Think about this..Obama has been practicing with John Kerry on how to interact with normal people. #ObamaDebateTips #ObamaDebateTips Just do everything you did last time and you will do fine. This time, Mr. President, #SayNope2Dope before the debate begins!! #ObamaDebateTips #ObamaDebateTips avoid Benghazi, just like you did when they asked for more security. Borrow Hillary's balls. #ObamaDebateTips #ObamaDebateTips If it gets really bad just stick an empty chair in your spot....

I've smoked since I was 15 years old. I turned 55 last March and now it's time to quit!

With the Return of the Occupy Movement, Crime.org has Tips for Planning a Successful Summer ProtestDewey Beach, DE (PRWEB) May 31, 2012 Warm weather is here and the Occupy Wall Street movement is back in force. But whether organizing an Occupy demonstration or protesting for another cause, the process can feel daunting. Crime.org founder Mike Mann said spearheading a protest is easier than it sounds. He had these tips: **SNIP** “Crime.org has used postcards, press releases and social media to promote protests,” he said. “Do whatever you can to get the word out about the protest so people show up...

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the phrase “Random Acts of Kindness”? The phenomenon became popular in American culture in the 90’s and has since spread globally, inspiring movements, school projects, even a movie. Buying the coffee for the car behind you at the Starbuck’s drive-through, giving someone your parking space at the mall, or leaving an encouraging note at a restaurant are small gestures that can mean a lot to the recipient and foster a sense of community among our fellow passengers to the grave.But the concept of doing kind works is not new. It’s as old as, well,...

Just when you may have thought the ongoing battle between the 99% and the 1% was dying down, it may have been reignited. A wealthy banker left a $1.33 tip on a $133 lunch at the True Food Kitchen restaurant in Newport Beach, California.

San Francisco Restaurants Propose Standard 25 Per Cent Tip Restaurants in San Francisco have angered customers by proposing to make a 25 per cent tip standard with meals. According to a recent survey San Francisco diners are the worst tippers in America Photo: ALAMY By Nick Allen Most diners in the United States currently give a voluntary tip of between 15 and 20 per cent depending on the service and the quality of the food. But the new measure, which is reportedly supported by high class eateries, would be mandatory. According to a recent survey San Francisco diners are the...

Are You For or Against a Tip Increase At San Francisco Restaurants? Yes, They deserve more money! No, Keep the standard the same! I don't tip at all...

Are you tipping enough when you go out to eat? The San Francisco restaurant industry apparently doesn’t think so. A column from Ed Arnow of the Contra Costa Times reports that “there’s a move on” among local restaurant workers to “make 25% the standard tip in San Francisco.” Arnow says that several “high-class restaurants” have signed on to the idea, though he doesn’t list which ones—or, for that matter, how the restaurants would impose this new standard.

“How can the government help me?” This seems to be a growing sentiment among the American middle class. “The land of opportunity” is quickly becoming the “nation of the needy.” Here’s a question I received from a reader just last week: “I am not happy with how things are going since the Bush Administration allowed tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy. These cuts were supposed to end for those who just keep earning more off the middle class. My question is: I am told that investors can invest as little as $1000.00 in real estate, and make a living...

The hotel maid who claims former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped her has been accused of working as a prostitute. Allegations have emerged that the 32-year-old cleaner was was taking extra money from male guests at the hotel for sex. 'There is information... of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it's not for bringing extra f**king towels,' a source close to the defence investigation told the New York Post. The woman also had 'a lot of her expenses – hair braiding, salon expenses – paid for by men not related to her,' the source added....

An employee has filed a lawsuit against a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee that alleges that the franchisee's no tipping policy violates the Massachusetts Tips Law. The complaint was filed today in Suffolk Superior Court by Ron Meshna, who works at a Dunkin' Donuts in North Reading owned by the Scrivanos Group, a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee, said Shannon Liss-Riordan, Meshna's attorney; the suit is seeking class action status. According to Liss-Riordan, the suit filed against Scrivanos Group raises a new issue --- that the Tips Law prohibits an employer from refusing to allow employees to receive tips.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal’s Brett Arends published an article questioning why TIPS had a negative real yield. TIPS, US Government bonds that adjust their yield with changes in inflation, are currently so popular that Mr. Arends notes that some of them have a negative real yield(real yields are total yields less factors like inflation). Arends wonders why anyone would want a guaranteed loss of the real value of his investment. The answer is obvious to anyone besides Fed Chairman Ben Bernake –people are willing to pay to protect themselves from the coming storm of inflation. This concern for...

Brooklyn food deliveryman Larry Fox, 20, received a $3 gratuity last month after delivering an $89 lunch order to the wardrobe department of the CBS show "The Good Wife." It was the tip that broke the cyclist's back. The grub-runner, who has worked for Mexican restaurants and upscale delis in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, launched a Web site called "15 Percent" (15percent.tumblr.com), where he posted receipts, names and addresses in an attempt to "out" the neighborhood's worst tippers. "It started as a public shaming, to call people out who were bad tippers," said Fox, who is paid $50 for an eight-hour...

A Missouri family is suing Starbucks after a patron was killed while trying to prevent a tip jar robbery. Roger Kreutz was ordering coffee from a Crestwood Starbucks on March 3, 2008, when suddenly a 19-year-old thief snatched the barista tip jar from the counter, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Kreutz chased the man, later identified as Aaron Poisson, out of the coffee shop and the two had a physical altercation near the thief's car. Kreutz was thrown to the ground after Poisson, in his rush to escape, hit him with his car, the Dispatch reported. Kreutz later...

<p>Becoming a Hooters Girl isn't something everyone in the family will understand.</p> <p>Chante Rivera did it a year and a half ago.</p> <p>"My mom was so excited," said Rivera. "She's like, 'You're going to have so much fun there. You are so pretty. I am so proud of you.' My dad, he said, 'I'm going to pray for you.'"</p>

TIPS Signal That Fed Is Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place by: Bondsquawk October 26, 2010 By Maulik Mody During mid-August earlier this year, yield on 5-Yr TIPS fell to negative 8 basis points as investors bid up prices of the inflation protected security on concerns of inflation. A month after that, in mid-September, yields on the 5-Yr TIPS fell sub zero and has been trading in the negative zone ever since. For the first time yesterday, as investors anticipated positive inflation in the coming years on speculation that the Fed will launch another asset purchase program which...

Here's What It Means That The Interest Rate Was Negative On The TIPS Auction Today Gregory White Oct. 25, 2010, 2:53 PM Image: AP Today's TIPS auction came in negative for the first time ever, with 5-year TIPS yielding negative 0.55%. TIPS are Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. The idea is you buy this version of a Treasury and it is hedged against inflation, with the CPI as the judge. It would seem that a negative TIPS number means deflation in the short term. But that's not quite true. What it means is that investors are betting the principal paid out...

Hey my fellow FRiends :D This is a huge and wonderful forum with so many like minded people sticking together and helping each other out as well :) I am in my early 20s, still in college. I still live with my family and I want to get a job badly (like so many many other people)! I hate having to live off my parents, i feel really guilty, plus I want my own income and responsibility. Any tips you can give me to really get the job and/or make myself stand out? I know tons of you have experience!...

WINSTON-SALEM -- A woman who a local restaurant manager refused to serve claiming she is a habitually poor tipper told WXII Wednesday she is in the process of consulting an attorney. Monica Covington was recently banned from the Kanpai Japanese Steak and Seafood House on Stratford Road after manager Michael Lam said servers and chefs refused to serve her because of her less-than-expected tipping history at the establishment. Covington, who started a boycott petition against the restaurant, said the restaurant slandered her in the WXII report, which has set off a firestorm of opinions surrounding the issue of tipping. "At...

Frugality. That's been the buzzword of the Great Recession.   Sliding home values, stumbling stock portfolios and a shaky job market brought with them a consciousness about spending that many of us misplaced during years of consumer overindulgence. Americans responded to the crisis by buying less, clipping coupons more and increasing savings to 4.8 percent of disposable income in December, up from near zero before the recession.   In the past year, blogs about frugality went viral. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama joined the frugality parade.   Now a new term is marching through the blogosphere: Frugality fatigue. But...

WASHINGTON – Among the winners in the new political order: independent-minded voters and the upstart newcomers they favor, whether they drive pickup trucks or not. Also on the rise: the few Republican moderates left in Congress, the tea party movement and, paradoxically, both legislative stalling and dealmaking. And it so happens that if you're inheriting a ton of money, you might just be a winner, too, tax-wise. Losers? Just have a glance at President Barack Obama's swollen to-do list. Instead of checking off his planned health care overhaul, climate legislation, energy priorities, judicial appointments and more, he might have to...

Seven – Maybe – Tips For Avoiding an Office Affair. Every Wednesday is Tip Day. This Wednesday: Seven – maybe – tips for avoiding an office affair. A friend told me that when she started her job at a big company a few years ago, a family friend, who also worked there, pulled her aside to give her some advice. Many people in their workplace had affairs, he said, and he’d seen lots of marriages break up. He’d kept his own marriage strong by following five rules about the workplace, and he urged her to keep the same rules: 1....

We’re sure the folks at Golf Digest thought they had a great cover when they put together the January, 2010 issue. After all getting the President and Tiger on the same cover of a golfing magazine is like a hole in one. But that was before the Tiger cheating scandals exploded nationally. Now the headline “10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger” is probably making editors at the mag cringe.

Spc. Eric Marquez, an infantryman from El Paso, Texas, digs for hidden weapons as an Iraqi Army Soldier looks on during a combined weapons sweep in northwestern Baghdad, Nov. 1. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. BAGHDAD — A concerned local citizen recently contacted U.S. Soldiers about a site insurgents used to store weapons here, just northwest of Abu Ghraib. With the help of local Iraqi Army Soldiers, the Fort Lewis-based troops assigned to Company A, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, quickly sprang into action and dug up...

I guess you might consider this a "vanity" post, but didn't know where to post it. Myself and five other gals are going to New York City for five days in Nov. for sight-seeing, shopping, Broadway shows, etc. Has anyone here ever bought/used the New York Pass and/or hop-on hop-off bus pass? None of us have been to New York City before (at least not in the last 30 years) and wonder if this is something we should purchase ahead of time, or is it a big rip-off? Thanks for any help you can offer.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The California Supreme Court will not review a appeals court ruling that wiped out an $86 million judgment against coffee giant Starbucks over tip sharing at its stores in the state. . . . In 2008, a San Diego County Superior Court judge ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay millions in restitution to baristas who had to share their tips with supervisors. In June, the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed that ruling,

I had a girlfriend who once said, "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'." We're talking about food, of course. Time is a commodity. Let's face it, we're all maxed out. Whether you're a working mother (who isn't), a single mother, a stay-at-home mom, or an empty-nester, we are all busy! Our busy schedules don't have to mean take-out or drive-thrus every night, though. Here are some tricks I've found that save time (and money!): 1. Since I don't grow my own vegetables, I have found that frozen or canned work just fine. 2. I don't make my own dough...

Several ways to get involved in national service:

A former exotic dancer who allegedly made about $80,000 in tips during one year is now facing multiple felony charges for failing to report the money as income. Stephanie Antes, 28, of Albertville, is charged with five felony counts and one gross misdemeanor count of failing to file and pay income taxes and filing a false income tax return, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Antes worked as an exotic dancer and waitress at Rick's Cabaret in Minneapolis between 2004 and 2006. A tipster called the Department of Revenue to report that Antes had made around $80,000 per year...

Servers suffer as gratuities, and their incomes, plummet with the economyNobody is sitting at the rack at Mary’s Club on a Friday afternoon. The rack is the counter that lines the stage at Mary’s, an institution among Portland strip clubs, at 129 S.W. Broadway Ave. Customers who sit at the rack, up close to the dancers, are expected to tip dollar bills or more throughout the performances. In fact, there’s a sign in Mary’s Club that reads, “If you’re watching and not tipping, you’re stealing.” But it’s easier to watch and not tip from seats further back or at the...

When the rich get a sniffle, their doormen get pneumonia. Doormen say their tips are down drastically this holiday season as well-heeled residents deal with the stock market crash and waves of layoffs on Wall Street. "A lot of people who live here work in the banking industry and on Wall Street," said Luis Delgado, a doorman at a building in West End Ave. and W. 81st St. "They have been hit. Many faced layoffs." Delgado keeps careful track of who tips him and how much - for his finances, of course. Only 30 of the 90 names on his...

I heard this story and can't find it anywhere please fill in my blanks. " Sitting in a restaurant, the server, a young man wearing an Obama tie, the person dining told the young man - your tip because you are wearing an Obama tie and he believes in spreading the wealth - I'm going to take down and give it to the homeless man on the corner. Since you are voting for Obama you need to know that the money you earn is not yours and it needs to be spread to those that need it more." Was this...

New York's top restaurants plagued by tip trouble Seasoned travelers know that waiters in the United States expect tips of 15 to 20 percent -- $60 on a $300 dinner for two at one of New York's top restaurants. What is less well known is that the money doesn't all go to the waiters and more lowly staff. In lawsuits filed in the last three years, staff have accused dozens of New York restaurants, including many well-known ones, of stealing tips and cheating them out of wages. Among those named in the suits are celebrity haunt Pastis; three New York...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2008 – Iraqi citizens of Babil province yesterday led U.S. soldiers to the seizure of a huge amount of components suitable for the construction of deadly explosively formed penetrator-type bombs, military officials reported. Acting on a tip from local Iraqi citizens, the U.S. soldiers discovered more than 2,500 bomb-making components at three separate locations in an area southeast of Samrah Village in Babil province. Officials believe this discovery will significantly disrupt explosively formed projectiles attacks within central Iraq. U.S. soldiers found the cache after a group of local Iraqi citizens informed them of a suspected cache location...

Restaurants are feeling the pinch in two directions. With money tight, consumers are cutting back on how often they dine out. Meantime, food costs more. Way more. Egg prices have doubled in the last six months. Dairy, chicken, beer and bread crumb prices are all climbing higher. Even when the core commodity escapes the trend, packaged ingredients and other restaurant supplies are more expensive as the costs of transportation climb due to higher fuel prices. When people do go out, they are ordering less. "Appetizer sales are down. Dessert sales can almost disappear," says Dan Simons, principal at Vucurevich Simons...

College Knowledge Check List by: Deborah Lambert, March 21, 2008 Longtime radio talk show host Dennis Prager has some advice for aspiring college students and/or their parents. Before plunking down wads of cash for that life-changing campus experience, you might want to ask a few questions about prospective schools that include the following: 1. “Can one obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree at your college without having to read a single Shakespeare play, one Federalist paper or one book of the Bible?” 2. "Does the college allow military recruiters on its campus?" 3. "What is the ratio of Democrats to...

In a San Diego County class-action lawsuit, a judge ordered the coffee giant to pay back tips, with interest, that the company had handed over to shift supervisors. Some baristas (coffee servers) could receive more than $10,000, according to their attorney. The ruling was met with cheers by California baristas. "I'm stoked," said Leekeisha Smith, who makes coffee drinks in the Starbucks at Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. "Wow. I'm just shocked that we'll get that [money] back." Smith, 23, said she found out about the lawsuit from a letter sent to employees. Starbucks Corp. said...

A Concerned Local Citizen pulls back part of an armchair revealing unknown bulk explosive inside the cushion, Dec. 4, in an insurgent safehouse in Arab Jabour. The building was destroyed by a joint direct attack ammunition bomb once it was found to be booby-trapped. Photo by Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — An insurgent safehouse in Arab Jabour was rendered useless, Dec. 4, by two joint direct attack ammunition bombs. Although dropped by an Air Force F-16 Falcon jet, the operation was a combined effort conducted on the ground...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2007 – Decreased violence in Iraq is the result of ongoing U.S. surge operations and Iraqi citizens’ increasing willingness to confront al Qaeda insurgents, a senior U.S. military officer said here today. Army Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Joint Staff’s director for operations, provides an operational update during a news conference at the Pentagon, Nov. 7, 2007. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “No matter how you categorize it, you cannot deny that multinational force operations against al Qaeda in Iraq have had significant effect,”...

HUSSEINIYAH, Iraq – A citizen of Husseiniyah led Coalition Forces to a building where explosively formed penetrators and improvised explosive devices were being constructed Oct. 31.Soldiers of Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., discovered a large cache of explosives at the home, including about 10 fully assembled EFPs of various sizes including one 12-inch EFP – the largest found in Iraq – approximately 90 copper plates of various sizes, more than 200 pounds of C-4 explosive, other explosive materials including TNT and numerous other materials used in...

KHAN BANI SA’AD, Iraq – A concerned citizen led Coalition Forces to a largeweapons cache yesterday in a home in Sa’ada Village, Iraq.This cache is one of the largest discoveries of explosively formed penetratorsfound in at one location in Iraq. The find included more than 120 fully-assembled EFPs,more than 150 copper disks of four different sizes used in making EFPs (including 12-inch disks – one of the largest ever discovered in Iraq), 600-plus pounds of C4 andother explosive materials, 100 mortar rounds of various caliber, approximately 30107mm rockets, two mortar tubes and 20 claymore-type mines.“A find like this helps keep...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — After receiving tips, Coalition forces detained three people in Salman Pak, Oct. 11, during Operation Belleau Wood, a raid to find insurgents linked to al-Qaida cells operating in Iraq. Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, detained the men after they were identified as al-Qaida members responsible for improvised explosive device placement along a road frequently used by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. The Soldiers also cleared 13 houses during their search. Maj. John Cushing, from Rochester, Mich., the 1-15th Inf. Regt. operations officer, believes the recent organization of concerned...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2007 – Iraqi citizens are helping coalition forces hunt down al Qaeda terrorists in a vast rural area south of Baghdad, a military commander said today. “As the summer went along, we started building the confidence of the people,” Army Lt. Col. Ken Adgie told online journalists and “bloggers” from Patrol Base Murray, which is situated beside the Tigris River in the mostly agricultural region of Arab Jabour. With its desolate location, rugged terrain, thick palm groves and almost-exclusively Sunni population, the region is a perfect breeding ground for terrorism, Adgie said. “There is no Iraqi army...

Country music star, Toby Keith, speaks on-air during an interview on Armed Forces Network Iraq’s Freedom Radio at the Combined Press Information Center Tuesday. Keith’s visit to Baghdad is part of his fifth United Service Organizations (USO) tour. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Carl N. Hudson, Combined Press Information Center. BAGHDAD — Country music star, Toby Keith, visited troops stationed in Baghdad Tuesday.Singing songs and playing guitar are a few things Keith, an Oklahoma native, does quite well. Visiting troops in combat is another activity he takes pride in.Keith’s visit to Baghdad is part of his fifth United Service Organizations...

FORT DIX, N.J. -- Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested and accused Tuesday of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix and massacre scores of U.S. soldiers - a plot the FBI says was foiled when the men took a video of themselves firing assault weapons to a store to have the footage put onto a DVD. The defendants, all men in their 20s from the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, include a pizza deliveryman suspected of using his job to scout out the military base. Authorities said there was no direct evidence connecting them to any international terror organizations...

Federal Reserve policymakers aren't the only ones worried about price pressures. Hot demand for inflation-indexed bonds signals that the market sees inflation staying high even as the economy slows. The yield spread between Treasury bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, has widened in recent weeks as inflation hovers stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's 1% to 2% comfort zone. TIPS spreads are seen as good proxies for long-term inflation expectations. Nevertheless, the 10-year Treasury yield was 246 basis points above the comparable TIPS yield. That's essentially at the highest levels since early September. "The spread on TIPS is widening versus...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – Tips that led to the discovery of a bomb-making factory in western Iraq demonstrate that the Iraqi people are fed up with terrorists operating in their midst and stepping forward to help remove them, military officials in Baghdad told reporters today. Officials from 3rd Brigade, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, briefed reporters about a search for weapons caches that ultimately led to the bomb factory Feb. 20 in Gharmah, about 10 miles east of Fallujah. Army Capt. Matt Gregory, commander of Company A, described the materials uncovered during the raid: blasting...

Coming to a Bad End: Lost chromosome tips linked to heart problems Nathan Seppa The prime risk factors for heart disease are well known—obesity, smoking, elevated cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Yet many people with these warning signs develop heart problems, while others don't. This observation indicates that yet-unrecognized factors must also influence risk. A new study finds that the sequence-repeating sections of DNA called telomeres, which protect the ends of chromosomes, might play a role. Middle-aged men with long telomeres are only half as likely to develop heart disease as are men of the same age with short telomeres,...

The summer I turned 6 years old, some of the neighborhood boys started bullying me. Back then, I owned a pair of cabbage patch kid roller-skates and my favorite activity was skating around the block singing nursery rhymes at the top of my lungs. One day, a few boys in the 8-10 range thought it would be pretty humorous to push me around and watch me flail. I tried to run from them, but I couldn’t skate faster than they could run. They taunted me for a while and then knocked me down. Angry, humiliated, and with two freshly skinned...