Lady Cassandra Seahawke

I just got off the phone with the Small Business Rep from the bank, am checking into ways of taking payments. Yep I know I need to the ability to take credit cards. Just need to decide which way to go on it. My head is spinning from the options available. This past weekend, I have been working on a sculpture. Prototype as the business emblem. Been great fun getting my hands into clay again. It is coming out pretty good, especially since I really haven't done much in clay for a very long time. Love working in the medium. Someone said that they will loan me a digital camera so I can get some pics up. Once I do that I will be off and running. [taking a deep breath...ok...need to relax] Have my name picked out, have my PO Box readied, my business account set up, my business phone set up, and my business email up and running. Waiting on my vendors license and my papers for name being registered. Have some stock readied, more on the way of being done. Ok, any one have any suggestions? Any and all welcomed.... OH, ummm BTW for those of you at PIP who happened to have been at the auction...if'n ya had seen the "Soladite and freshwater mabe/blister pearl necklace in the tiny treasure chest" ....that was my contribution to auction. :angry:

lobe

Robb

Ok, during the GOAP when the gov's decided they needed to reign in the pirates they offered clemancy and recruited repentent pirates to hunt down other pirates. So, in this day and age, how would those of a piratey mind deal with the pirates of Somalia?

OOPs.. Jenny the rules state you can only change one letter at a time. what to try again?

Hey, do any of you ever watch the BIO channel on TV? Last night they had an episode entitled "Haunting the Caribbean" They stated that Blue Harbor in Jamaica is one of the most haunted sites in the world, including pirate ghosts. In fact they had a gentleman on that told of being in a bed and breakfast, laying in bed and being attacked by a pirate ghost. They also told of several other instances of ghostly happenings. If you ever get a chance to watch, I recommend it.

cobb

The one you have for PEW is the one sent to me for this round and it is the one PEW posted as being sent round this time. I got both of them at the same time before I handed them off to you. However, Matusalem's book is actually the one I was supposed to have gotten back in October but didn't get it until November. So, that is the one first to go out I suppose. Not to worry, take your time as I don't have one, as of yet, to hand off to you for January. So, even if I get it sometime this week, I won't have it ready for you until near the beginning of February anyway. And as PEW stated this is suppose to be fun it isn't like work deadline or anything (must keep reminding myself ...sigh) so, I for one tain't gonna let this get to me anymore.

Just got m'kitten for my birthday last October. She's a beauty, very loving and well she is something... DANG it, I need a camera.

but then you miss out on the best part and that is getting your own book back filled with lovely, interesting and piratey art.

I'll be sending my out next week.

leaning back whistling a tune. Looking sweet and Innocent... I don't know who that may be.

small pieces can be fired with a small butane torch. You just have to be mindful of the amount of heat being applied for x amount of time. AND you can only do one piece at a time with the torch. Larger pieces or multiple pieces need to be done via kiln.

ah, well I be need'n to add to m'list I would want a digital camera. Noth'n fancy, just 8+p sigh.

BBC Saturday, 29 November 2008http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools...ent/7754622.stm 'Mummy, can I phone the pirates?' One of the biggest frustrations facing journalists is being unable to get through to people on the phone. But as Mary Harper discovered, contacting the Somali pirates on the Sirius Star turned out to be child's play. It was a cold, dark, wet and miserable Sunday afternoon. I was in my car, driving my 12-year-old daughter and her friend back from a birthday party. I was tired and fed up from being in the car. "Mummy, mummy," trilled a voice from the back. "I want to phone the pirates." My daughter had heard me repeatedly trying to get through to the Somali pirates on board the Sirius Star. They usually picked up the phone but put it down again when I said I was from the BBC. My obsession with getting through to them had reached the point that I had even saved their number on my mobile phone. "Mummy, mummy, please can I phone the pirates for you?" "No." "Pleeeeez." By this time, with rain battering my windscreen and cars jamming the road, I was at the end of my tether. "OK", I said, tossing the phone into the back of the car. "They are under P for pirates." Giggling with pirates "Hello. Please can I talk to the pirates," said my daughter in her obviously childish voice. I could hear someone replying and a bizarre conversation ensued which eventually ended when my daughter collapsed in giggles. This was a breakthrough. Dialogue had been established. The next day, I went to the crowded office in Bush House in London where the BBC Somali Service is based. I told them the story. "Let's try now," said producer Said Musa, who, dare I say it, looks a bit like a pirate himself. He has a wild look about him with flashing eyes and a swashbuckling saunter. He dialled the number. A pirate answered. "I'm sorry," he barked in Somali, "the boss pirate is sleeping. He was very busy last night keeping watch for possible attackers, night time, you know, is the busiest time for us. Call back in two hours." Calm hostage A pirate, who called himself Daybad, spoke in Somali, calmly and confidently. He said Somalis were left with no choice but to take to the high seas. "We've had no government for 18 years. We have no life. Our last resource is the sea, and foreign trawlers are plundering our fish." The pirate said the crew was being treated well. "They can move from place to place. They can sleep in their own beds, they even have their own keys. The only thing they're missing is their freedom to leave the ship." Suddenly I heard a voice speaking English. "Hello. This is the captain of the Sirius Star speaking." The captain, a Polish man called Marek Nishky, sounded surprisingly composed for a hostage. He said he had no reason to complain, everybody was OK, and the pirates had allowed the crew to speak to their families. As my questions became more challenging, he became more nervous. I could almost see the pirates standing around him. He said we would have to finish our conversation, and politely thanked me for my concern. The phone line went dead. But we had it, recordings of the pirate and the captain, and the interviews were broadcast all over the BBC. Gun law The Somali Service at Bush House is behind most of the stories you hear about Somalia on the BBC. It consists of a tiny group of people, far away from home, from a country torn to shreds after nearly two decades without a functioning central government. That means no proper hospitals, no schools and no safety. The gun means everything in Somalia. One member of the team showed me photos of the concrete bench outside his house where his mother used to sit to make tea. It was splattered with blood. The house had been hit by a shell the day after his family left for the relative safety of the north. Neighbours had been killed. Who knows whether the property was targeted because of its BBC connection. Despite their concerns about what may be happening back at home, the people in the Somali Service are the most hilarious, irreverent bunch of people in the building. They smoke like chimneys, and laugh uproariously at the most unsuitable jokes. They tease me mercilessly. I was worth dozens of camels when I first arrived at the BBC as a fresh-faced young woman, they say, while now I may only be worth one or two camels, or maybe just a half. The Somali Service enjoyed a real scoop with our interviews. But who knows if it would have happened if my daughter had not persisted and pressed P for Pirates?

ANYTHING???? Only one? HUMMM, that is easy. [hopping up on Santa's lap] "Santa I twas a VERY good girl this past year." "HO HO HO, so tell Santa what you like." "What I would like? Well, Santa I want... I want me very own FULL SIZE, fully STOCKED, LOADED, TALL SHIP! (frigate of course) with full armory! that's all I want Santa, PLEASSSSSEEEEEE!"

Crusoe has been canceled, there are only 6 more episodes and the last episode is scheduled to air January 31. "Crusoe" – 6 episodes 'Heroes and Villains' airs Saturday, 12/6 at 8pm ET 'Name of the Game' airs Saturday, 12/20 at 8pm ET 'Smoke and Mirrors' airs Saturday, 12/27 at 8pm ET 'The Hunting Party' airs Saturday, 1/10 at 8pm ET 'The Traveler' airs Saturday, 1/17 at 8pm ET 'The Return' airs Saturday, 1/31 at 8pm ET Oh well so much for that

DANG BLAST IT!!! x(&^&^%%$$# I twas ream'n a pearl, mak'n the hole bigger, the reamer caught got stuck I pushed...hard and the dang thing went into m'finger. Bled a bit, thought all was well, and well even after a couple of days gone by my finger is still tender to the touch and feels as if there may be a piece of pearl inside of it. grumble grumble. What we don't go through for our art. Now I may have to decide if it is bothersome enough to have the finger opened and see what is in there. UGH!

Ok, got my Magic Jack, have it installed etc. So, I now have a business phone up and running which is good because you can't or should I say you aren't suppose to use your resident phone for business purposes. If'n ya do and get caught it could cause problems. Now, as far as the Magic Jack goes. It works well enough, HOWEVER, I do NOT recommend it for home use as you are not guaranteed emergency service. This is an iffy thing and if you have children at home or elderly family members that may need emergency help it could be problematic. The site even tells you you may need an alternative way of calling 911. Also, if you want to have it as your main number you would need to keep your computer on all the time in order to make/receive calls. As beginning home business number I say it is great as the voice mail is on even if the computer is off and you can access the VM from any other phone. So it works for me as an cheap effective way to take orders. It may even be an effective for any business that has their computer online all the time while open, also, if you have a shop where you aren't able to put a phone line in or can't get mobile service yet able to have internet service you can hook up the Magic Jack to the computer with a headset and voila phone service. But, as a home phone I see a problems with it. So that is my take on Magic Jack.

tomb

tome

sore

hey, if'n any of you see Capt Jim, please let him know I sent a message regarding a description correction on the item sent for the auction. I really want to be sure he sees that before the auction. thanks

Carolina Journal Exclusives Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts Democratic leaders in the U.S. House discuss confiscating 401(k)s, IRAs By Karen McMahan November 04, 2008 RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly. The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, in prepared remarks for the hearing on “The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers’ Retirement Security,†blamed Wall Street for the financial crisis and said his committee will “strengthen and protect Americans’ 401(k)s, pensions, and other retirement plans†and the “Democratic Congress will continue to conduct this much-needed oversight on behalf of the American people.†Currently, 401(k) plans allow Americans to invest pretax money and their employers match up to a defined percentage, which not only increases workers’ retirement savings but also reduces their annual income tax. The balances are fully inheritable, subject to income tax, meaning workers pass on their wealth to their heirs, unlike Social Security. Even when they leave an employer and go to one that doesn’t offer a 401(k) or pension, workers can transfer their balances to a qualified IRA. Mandating Equality Ghilarducci’s plan first appeared in a paper for the Economic Policy Institute: Agenda for Shared Prosperity on Nov. 20, 2007, in which she said GRAs will rescue the flawed American retirement income system (www.sharedprosperity.org/bp204/bp204.pdf). The current retirement system, Ghilarducci said, “exacerbates income and wealth inequalities†because tax breaks for voluntary retirement accounts are “skewed to the wealthy because it is easier for them to save, and because they receive bigger tax breaks when they do.†Lauding GRAs as a way to effectively increase retirement savings, Ghilarducci wrote that savings incentives are unequal for rich and poor families because tax deferrals “provide a much larger ‘carrot’ to wealthy families than to middle-class families — and none whatsoever for families too poor to owe taxes.†GRAs would guarantee a fixed 3 percent annual rate of return, although later in her article Ghilarducci explained that participants would not “earn a 3% real return in perpetuity.†In place of tax breaks workers now receive for contributions and thus a lower tax rate, workers would receive $600 annually from the government, inflation-adjusted. For low-income workers whose annual contributions are less than $600, the government would deposit whatever amount it would take to equal the minimum $600 for all participants. In a radio interview with Kirby Wilbur in Seattle on Oct. 27, 2008, Ghilarducci explained that her proposal doesn’t eliminate the tax breaks, rather, “I’m just rearranging the tax breaks that are available now for 401(k)s and spreading — spreading the wealth.†All workers would have 5 percent of their annual pay deducted from their paychecks and deposited to the GRA. They would still be paying Social Security and Medicare taxes, as would the employers. The GRA contribution would be shared equally by the worker and the employee. Employers no longer would be able to write off their contributions. Any capital gains would be taxable year-on-year. Analysts point to another disturbing part of the plan. With a GRA, workers could bequeath only half of their account balances to their heirs, unlike full balances from existing 401(k) and IRA accounts. For workers who die after retiring, they could bequeath just their own contributions plus the interest but minus any benefits received and minus the employer contributions. Another justification for Ghilarducci’s plan is to eliminate investment risk. In her testimony, Ghilarducci said, “humans often lack the foresight, discipline, and investing skills required to sustain a savings plan.†She cited the 2004 HSBC global survey on the Future of Retirement, in which she claimed that “a third of Americans wanted the government to force them to save more for retirement.†What the survey actually reported was that 33 percent of Americans wanted the government to “enforce additional private savings,†a vastly different meaning than mandatory government-run savings. Of the four potential sources of retirement support, which were government, employer, family, and self, the majority of Americans said “self†was the most important contributor, followed by “government.†When broken out by family income, low-income U.S. households said the “government†was the most important retirement support, whereas high-income families ranked “government†last and “self†first (www.hsbc.com/retirement). On Oct. 22, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Argentinean government had seized all private pension and retirement accounts to fund government programs and to address a ballooning deficit. Fearing an economic collapse, foreign investors quickly pulled out, forcing the Argentinean stock market to shut down several times. More than 10 years ago, nationalization of private savings sent Argentina’s economy into a long-term downward spiral. Income and Wealth Redistribution The majority of witness testimony during recent hearings before the House Committee on Education and Labor showed that congressional Democrats intend to address income and wealth inequality through redistribution. read the rest of the article here http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/...t-accounts.html Karen McMahan is a contributing editor of Carolina Journal.

care