Foreign Languages on iTunes

I have been using iTunes Podcasts for years, but I just noticed that you can change countries anytime. I only know English, but it is handy for my wife. It is great because you can choose Podcasts in several languages and see all your choices on your Podcast list regardless of the language you have currently selected.

So select "Podcast" using the menu on the left; then select "Podcast Directory" at the bottom. This takes you to the iTunes web site they call their "iTunes Store". I like Podcasts because they are free and I can watch the news without commercials any time I want because iTunes automatically downloads the programs to my computer. You can also update anytime you wish.

Next, scroll to the bottom of the screen and select "change country" which will take you to a presentation of the countries. Pick your choice and the "iTunes Store" display will show Podcasts for the country you picked. Slick, huh!

The menu at the bottom will now be in the language for the country you chose and the "Change Country" will be in the same location which is good for me because I don't understand Japanese and I can get back to the "United States" and good old English.

Have fun... Bill

Fines for red-light traffic violations jumped nearly 65% in L.A. County

In less than eight years, fines for red-light traffic violations in Los Angeles County have jumped nearly 65% from $271 to $446, about three times the region's rate of inflation, a Times review shows. With traffic school fees, the total penalties now exceed $500.

Ever-vigilant photo enforcement programs run by more than two dozen agencies across the county have added a new degree of efficiency to catching violators and capturing revenue. In November alone, Los Angeles County's Superior Court system processed an estimated 13,000 red-light tickets. And local agencies with camera systems generated nearly $1.6 million in revenue, with an even larger portion of the fines flowing to a combination of state and judicial programs, according to estimates obtained by The Times. Part of the local agencies' fine income goes to pay camera vendors, typically several thousand dollars per month per camera-equipped intersection.
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Financial Planning

Today we had a seminar on Veteran's Benefits at our community clubhouse. There is a Financial Planning page on SoleraU.com that might have more info for you. I am NOT a financial planner, but I added some articles and links that I thought might be interesting.

I would like to add anything that might be helpful.

Please email me at SoleraGazette@gmail.com.

Toyota's gas-pedal problems grow

Amid rising consumer complaints, Toyota had maintained for months that the problem was caused by floor mats trapping the accelerator -- leading to last fall's sweeping recall of 4.3 million vehicles. That stance changed abruptly last week, when Toyota announced a recall of 2.3 million vehicles it said had defective gas pedal mechanisms.

In yet another twist, Toyota on Wednesday expanded the original floor mat recall to include five additional models. The new models are the 2008 to 2010 Highlander, 2009 and 2010 Corolla, 2009 and 2010 Venza, 2009 and 2010 Matrix, and the 2009 and 2010 Pontiac Vibe, which the company makes for General Motors Co. The previous floor mat recall targeted certain models of Camry, Lexus, Avalon, Prius, Tacoma and Tundra vehicles.

In announcing the gas pedal recall last week, Toyota announced no immediate plans to stop selling vehicles with a potentially dangerous defect -- although it posted instructions on how motorists should deal with a runaway vehicle (brake firmly, shift into neutral and pull over). That prompted officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to contact the company Monday to say it was violating federal motor vehicle safety laws that explicitly forbid an automaker from selling vehicles with known defects.

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California to get $2.25 billion in high-speed rail funding

California will receive $2.25 billion, the largest amount for any state, in federal economic stimulus funds to develop a high-speed rail line running from Anaheim to San Francisco -- a big boost for the long-discussed project aimed at accelerating the state's economic recovery. Overall, the Obama administration plans to distribute $8 billion for work on 13 rail corridors. Those include a Midwest line from Chicago to St. Louis and one in Florida running from Tampa to Orlando.

Trains on the proposed Anaheim-to-San Francisco line, which is projected to cost about $42 billion, would whisk passengers the 400 or so miles in no more than 2 hours, 40 minutes. The project would take a decade to complete, with extensions to San Diego and Sacramento planned.

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"Do you still take cash?" -- not a joke anymore.

Beginning Feb. 1, your money's no good on American Airlines. The carrier is the latest to go completely cashless during flights, meaning that if you don't have plastic, you won't be buying food, drinks, duty-free items or whatever.

"The implementation of cashless cabins on select flights last summer has simplified the in-flight transaction process for both customers and flight attendants," Lauri Curtis, American's vice president of onboard service, said in a statement.

Yet American now joins United Airlines, Continental Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines and other carriers in rejecting cash during some or all flights.
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Current Health Reform info

The Council of Economic Advisers has released a new report on the impact of health insurance reform. The report finds that reform will reduce premiums, lower public and private health care spending, and increase workers’ wages.
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The dark side of space about to be illuminated

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer will capture hundreds of thousands of previously unknown objects that are too cool and too dark to be seen with most telescopes. One might think that after centuries of scanning the night skies, mankind would have a pretty clear idea of who our galactic neighbors are, and whether they mean us harm. That's not the case. Vast landscapes of the cosmos remain hidden to us because most of our telescopes plumb the heavens for light that can be seen by the human eye -- and that constitutes only a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Making a better atlas is what Wright and his colleagues hope to do with NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, space mission. Scheduled to launch Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the $320-million spacecraft will photograph the entire night sky in infrared light. In the process, it will capture hundreds of thousands of previously unknown objects that are too cool and too dark to light up our nighttime sky.
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Rise in sea levels threatens California ports

The Mol Elbe from Japan is docked at the Port of Los Angeles, where cargo container wharves are about 15 feet above sea level.

Global warming and a resulting rise in sea levels present a direct threat to the world's seaports -- and many of California's harbors are nowhere near ready, state officials say.

Sea levels in California are expected to increase 16 inches over the next 40 years, causing flooding and endangering facilities throughout the state, according to a report by the California State Lands Commission. By 2100, the ocean could rise as much as 55 inches, the report said.

Most of the 40 ports and shipping hubs surveyed by the state said they were not prepared for the rise in sea levels. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, rising water could damage ground-level facilities and toxic-waste storage sites, said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, the state's largest.
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AMD and Intel's 2010 Desktop Roadmaps, Analyzed

Over the past few weeks, both Intel and AMD have discussed their roadmaps for processors for the coming year. Since these processors will be the basis of nearly all the PCs we'll see produced in 2010, I thought now was a good time to look at what we can expect. Let's start with desktops.
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Reform Bills Try to Rein In Health Insurance Costs for Older Americans

As Congress wrestles with a mammoth health care overhaul that it hopes will cover an estimated 46 million Americans who are currently uninsured, one sticking point has emerged—how much more health insurers should be allowed to charge those between 50 and 64, who are not yet eligible for Medicare. In short, Congress wants to find ways to ensure that both Sibony and Koppelman-Brown can afford health insurance, without bankrupting the government.

Everyone agrees on one basic point: As people grow older, their health care needs tend to increase. A typical person between age 18 and 24 incurs $1,441 in annual health care expenses, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The annual tally for someone between 45 and 64 is more than three times that: $4,863.
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AARP and AMA believe House bill would help patients get better care

On Thursday, Nov. 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009" by a vote of 243 to 183. The bill revises the Medicare reimbursement system and eliminates automatic pay cuts for doctors in 2010 and in future years.

This week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would stop planned cuts to physician reimbursements under Medicare. Without the so-called "doc fix" bill, payments to providers will be cut by 21 percent in January 2010, and additional annual reductions will follow.
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AARP: Health Care Reform and You

Now the spotlight shifts to the Senate: Here’s how the legislation would affect you and yours. The 220 to 215 vote came after an unusual Saturday session, which was highly partisan and testy and was highlighted by an early-morning caucus of House Democrats with President Barack Obama. Approval was ensured when House leaders added an amendment assuring that federal funds would not finance abortions.

AARP’s Chief Executive Officer A. Barry Rand hailed the vote. “Our nation is now closer than ever to a health care system that actually works for all Americans. For too long, insurance companies have taken advantage of discriminatory practices to cherry pick the most profitable customers. And for too long, the high costs of prescription drugs have forced seniors to choose between their medication and other necessities. We must fix this broken and inequitable system,” Rand said. AARP had endorsed the legislation last week.
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Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Medicare Drug Plan Finder 2010

Looking for a Medicare Part D drug plan that will cost you the least in 2010 and cover all or most of your prescription drugs? This guide provides a direct route to that information by taking you step by step through Medicare’s Prescription Drug Plan Finder, a useful online tool that allows you to compare many drug plans head to head to find your best deal. The plan finder does the math for you, so that you can see your likely out-of-pocket costs—premium, deductible and copays for the specific drugs you use—throughout the year.
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Health Care Reform and You

If you’re covered by Medicare

Some 35 million people—more than 11 percent of the population—are over age 65 and covered by Medicare.

* House bill:

The HHS Secretary would be authorized to negotiate drug prices. Costs of brand-name prescription drugs in the drug plan’s coverage gap—the doughnut hole—would be cut in half, saving beneficiaries an average of $1,700 a year, and the gap closes completely by 2023. The life of the Medicare trust fund is extended by five years. The bill aims to eliminate $170 billion in overpayments to Medicare Advantage programs, which make the cost of those plans 14 percent higher than traditional Medicare. It would provide $15 billion in payments to skilled nursing homes and rehabilitation centers; and provide Medicare coverage for doctors giving end-of-life counseling. House Democrats would address a scheduled 21 percent cut in reimbursements for doctors participating in the Medicare program in a separate bill.
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Deja vu: Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target in DVD price war

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. started another price war Thursday, trimming the online preorder prices of some upcoming DVDs following its price cut on books last month. And, once again, competitors Amazon.com and Target scrambled to match the prices. But when Amazon reduced some of its DVD prices to $9.99, Wal-Mart shot back by cutting its DVDs to $9.98 as of Friday morning. Target got into the act Friday morning, too. All three companies also sweetened the pot by offering free shipping for the DVDs being sold.
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Facing foreclosure? Here's what you can do

Don't wait. At the first sign of trouble, call your servicer. If you can't get through, keep trying. "Expect long wait times," advises Greg Hebner of MOS Group, an Irvine company that helps servicers contact hard-to-reach borrowers. Ask for the "home retention team." If you are put on hold, hang on until someone comes back on the line. Keep a record of whom you speak to and what was said.

* Know your options. The Making Home Affordable Mortgage Modification Program is the government's main program to prevent foreclosures. More than 2,300 servicing companies participate, covering about 85% of all single-family home loans, according to the Treasury Department's Laurie Maggiano.

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Jon Stewart Does Glenn Beck: Touts Conspiracy Theories

We knew Jon Stewart was a talented comedian, but until last night we didn't know he had missed his true calling: Being Glenn Beck. Yes, the "Daily Show" host spent an entire segment acting like, talking like, crying like, dancing like, and gesticulating like Glenn Beck.

"I'm not saying this is a plot by Hitler to steal Glenn Beck from all of us internal organ by internal organ by internal organ and then reprogram him to use as a weapon. But isn't it fascinating that I'm the only one with the courage to ask these questions?"
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The Hatch Truth: GOP Blocking Health Care to Prevent Permanent Democratic Majority

A gaffe, Michael Kinsley famously mused, is what results when a politician inadvertently tells the truth. And so it was Monday when Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch came clean about his party's scorched-earth opposition to health care reform being championed by President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Hatch acknowledged, as I've long argued, that the GOP is worried not that Obama's health care initiatives might fail, but that they might succeed.

Of course, President Obama and the Democratic Party have no interest in fostering dependency among Americans, but instead seek to remedy the crippling health care crisis which threatens their financial security and the nation's future. As with their staunch opposition to Social Security and Medicare, programs which dramatically reduced poverty among the elderly, Republicans now want to stop at all costs the third pillar of the Democratic social contract.
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