The myth about contacting police during ATM Robbery

I received an email recently that talked about using reverse pin# to contact police in ATM emergency. I did some research online and unfortunately that technology is not implement yet.

Email Excerpt:
If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM  machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse. For   example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321.

The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately to help you. This information was recently broadcasted on FOX TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don't know it exists.

Check this site that proves it wrong

Inauguration viewed from space

Layoff scorecard

Today, we had layoffs at my workplace. Its so sad to see people leave. Years and years of their careers invested in a company goes kaput in few minutes they ask you to leave.

CNET has a living scorecard of layoffs happening at various tech companies.

Check it out here

How to Save Web Pages and Blogs for Offline Reading

If you have Google Desktop running in the background, you already have a local copy of all web pages that you have recently opened / read in any browser on your computer. You can click "Browse Timeline" inside Google Desktop and your web history will be listed in reverse chronological order - the most recently visited websites will be listed at the top.

The problem with web history in Google Desktop is that it can get cluttered too easily and finding relevant pages from the history may require some effort.  In that case you may install Scrapbook for Firefox and only save relevant web pages that you intend to read in an offline environment.

FeedDemon - it’s fast, rich in features and the upcoming v2.8 is even better since it lets you export unread items as an HTML web page that can be read on any device.

If you are subscribed to feeds in Google Reader, you can either try RSS Bandit or  Scoop - these are desktop based readers that work in offline mode and can synchronize with your Google Reader subscriptions. If you are on Bloglines, a similar solution for you exists in the form of GreatNews - a desktop RSS reader that is also portable. Google Gears is another solution for Google Reader users but it has limitations.

The advantage with either of the above solutions is that they all support synchronization - so if you mark an item as read in an offline environment, the change will get propagated when you go online next so there’s no double work.

Read the rest here

Hickey remedy

A hickey is a red mark on an individual's skin caused by a suction on the area. Usually hickeys are made with another individual's mouth while kissing, biting or sucking on the person's neck.

Hickeys fade and shrink in size over time. One way to speed up the healing process is to freeze a spoon and place it over the hickey while turning the spoon clockwise. Another fast-acting hickey hider is a bottle of eye drops designed to eliminate red eye. Place a few drops on the hickey, and it will push blood vessels away from the surface of your skin temporarily. The best way to stay away from hickeys is to talk with your partner ahead of time. If you have something important to do the next day, ask them to hold off on the hickeys until you have a few days to wear turtlenecks.

Note: This blog author has never tried this approach and cannot promise you wouldn't need to wear turtle necks..

New York Man Demands $1.5M From Estranged Wife for Kidney

Richard Batista, 49, is suing his wife for $1.5 million or the return of his kidney after she dumped her husband following an alleged affair.

A New York doctor who gave his wife a kidney is suing her for $1.5 million — or the return of the vital organ — after he says she cheated on him with a physical therapist.

Richard Batista, 49, is demanding the sum in the middle of a messy divorce with his now-estranged wife, who suffered kidney ailments for years before the transplant.

The Long Island surgeon said he gave the gift of life to his wife in 2001, but things turned sour just two years later while she was recovering from a karate injury, the New York Post reported.

His wife, 44-year-old Dawnell Batista, had an affair with her physical therapist in 2003, he said. She recovered from the knee injury, but he says her low blow has him all out of joint.

Read the rest here