Swim Club Can't Stay AfloatA swim club that garnered national attention this summer after barring a group of minority campers from its grounds now finds itself in financial peril. The Valley Club, located in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., plans to seek bankruptcy protection, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. [The Wall Street Journal]
Paul Allen Diagnosed With Cancer
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, more than 25 years after he was treated for Hodgkin's disease, a spokesman at his company Vulcan Inc. told CNN on Monday. [CNN]
Deal Taker: Best Site For Black Friday 2009 Ads?
Find the latest black friday 2009 ads and coupons at Deal Taker, including the Walgreen's Black Friday ad for 2009 and the Best Buy Black Friday ad for 2009. [Deal Taker]
Cancer Specialist Was Prostituting to Pay Tuition
An erotic blogger whose double life as a prostitute became a hit TV series has ended years of fevered speculation by revealing her most intimate secret - her true identity. Brooke Magnanti, a cancer specialist at a university in western England, unmasked herself in a British newspaper as the woman behind "Belle de Jour," the salacious online diary of a high class call girl. [Bossip]
N.A.A.C.P. Prods Obama on Job Losses
With unemployment among blacks at more than 15 percent, the N.A.A.C.P. will join several other groups on Tuesday to call on President Obama to do more to create jobs. [The New York Times]
The Wackiest Chinese Knock-Offs
Whether you're in New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, or Moscow, chances are you're going to encounter low-quality knock-offs. Most knockoffs just slap a slightly-off logo on an inferior good, and that's that. But the Chinese have turned it into an art-form, creating whole products and companies that are blatantly derivative of well-known Western brands. [Business Insider]
Another Financial Scam: This One Involves Walmart
Another financial scam is making the rounds. This one involves Walmart. And it's happening just in time for the holidays. Here's the con: Some no-good thieves are calling people on the phone and saying: "You've won a $200 Walmart gift card!" To collect your gift card, they say, you just have to pay $1 for shipping and handling, and the gift card will be sent to you. Needless to say, this is totally bogus. [The Money Coach]
The Debt Economy
If it's frustrating that the government is footing the bill to clean up the mess, it's even worse that the government helped pay for the debt binge that created the mess in the first place, thanks to a tax system that actually subsidizes borrowing. [The New Yorker]
Gift Card Crackdown: SEE The Fed's New Rules To Protect Consumers
The Federal Reserve on Monday proposed new rules to protect consumers from unexpected costs or restrictions on gift cards. More than 95 percent of Americans have received or purchased gift cards, the Fed said. Under the proposed rule, consumers must have at least five years to use the gift cards before they expire. [Huffington Post]
