Friday, November 30, 2001
Patriot Bonds come out in mid-December
For the first time since World War 2, the Treasury Department is issuing war bonds. Patriot Bonds can be bought at any financial institution that sells U.S. Savings Bonds and they are available on the Internet. They should be available by mid-December – just in time for Christmas – in denominations of $50 all the way to $10,000. They’re sold at one-half of their face value). The Patriot Bonds earn interest, mature and otherwise behave like Series EE Bonds. They will pay an interest rate of 4.07 percent, same as the EE bond. The Patriot Bonds, approved Nov. 16 by Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, aren’t specifically tied to funding the war on terrorism.
Send a Water Buffalo for Christmas
There are lots of neat charities out there that are worthy of Holiday Season giving stories.
Heifer International for example, allows people to buy a water buffalo a hive of bees or a pig and send it to a needy part of the world.
30 Ways to Save Money-Quit Your Job?
I usually resist these kinds of articles because most of them are so obvious such as “One way to save money is to spend less.” Duh? This one is smarter than most and doable.
I was especially interested in one of the tips-”quit your job.” It would be an interesting experiment to see if by one spouse quitting whether the family could actually save money or break even. By the time you factor in baby-sitter/child care, dry cleaning, commute costs and other issues, I bet you could find that many couples would be better off financially with only one working spouse. Of course, that calculation misses the other obvious benefits of working including intellectual stimulation, socialization and so on.
Are Cross-country Runners Smarter?
Here is a fun story that Tim Gallagher, editor Ventura County Starsent sent to Al’s Morning Meeting. I like it because it is a sports story that does more than follow a bouncing ball.
“An examination of the grade point averages for every sport sanctioned by the California Interscholastic Federation reveals that typically cross country teams have some of the highest grade point averages among high school sports teams. For example, of the 24 girls on the Ventura High varsity and junior varsity cross country teams, 10 have a grade point average of 4.0 or higher, and last year 20 of 27 had a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
Ventura’s team was the 1999-2000 CIF Southern Section cross country academic team champion with a 3.89 GPA and was fifth in 2000-2001 at 3.68. By comparison, 50 of the 470 graduating seniors at Ventura last year had a GPA of 4.0 or higher.
While there is no real scientific data on the subject, the strong prowess of cross country athletes in the classroom has long been discussed by coaches, athletic directors and even sportswriters. In an effort to gather as much input on the topic as possible, the Star solicited information from 20 high schools across the county, with six providing information. By questioning a cross section of coaches, athletic directors, superintendents, sports psychologists and athletes, a consensus of opinion emerged. Judging by the information gathered and from anecdotal evidence, cross country runners are often among the best students in school, and are usually among the leaders when compared to other sports teams in school. Why? Ventura High cross country coach Bill Tokar said he believes there are definite similarities between the traits needed to be a successful student and those needed to succeed in cross country and other endurance sports like swimming.
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