Compare credit cards’ rental car insurance policies

If you’re a veteran car renter, it’s likely you routinely decline the rental company’s offer of additional insurance coverage, smug in the knowledge that you’re not wasting money. After all, if you get in an accident, your credit card will cover your deductible, right?

Maybe not. A closer look shows that credit card companies’ policies vary sharply in who’s covered, at what level, in which vehicles and where.

+ Includes chart.

Source: CreditCards.com

Posted 18 November 2008 on DocuTicker:
+ Speculation a Major Contributor to Global Food Crisis (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy)
+ USPTO 2008 Fiscal Year-End Results Demonstrate Commitment to Sustaining High Performance (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)
+ Record High Number of American Students Studying Abroad, International Students at U.S. Colleges and Universities (Institute of International Education)

The Hawaii Quarter Says “Aloha” to the Nation as the 50 State Quarters Program Says Good-Bye

The Hawaii quarter, the 50th and last coin in the popular 50 State Quarters Program, was ceremonially launched at Bishop Square in downtown Honolulu today. Amid a keiki hula performance and Hawaiian music, United States Mint Director Ed Moy bade farewell to the Nation’s most successful coin program in history.
…
In 2009, the United States Mint will embark on the District of Columbia and United States Territories Quarters Program by minting and issuing six newly designed quarters.
…
The 50 State Quarters Program has honored each state in the order it was admitted into the union. Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959. It is known as “The Aloha State.” The reverse of Hawaii’s quarter, designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart, features Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha I stretching his hand toward the eight major Hawaiian Islands. Inscriptions on the coin include the State motto, “UA MAU KE EA O KA ‘AINA I KA PONO” (”The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”), “HAWAII” and “1959.”
…
For a digital image of the Hawaii quarter, go to http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/pressroom/2008HawaiiUnc.jpg

Source: U.S. Mint

New Web Site Provides Info on Adopting Children from Other Countries

In recognition of National Adoption Month, the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has launched Adoption.state.gov, a new Web site devoted exclusively to intercountry adoption.

Last year alone, Americans adopted more than 17,000 children from abroad. Adoption.state.gov will provide adopting parents with the answers and information they need. The site includes step-by-step instructions for adopting a child from another country, and a new publication for adoptive parents, “Intercountry Adoption from A to Z.”

Adoption.state.gov provides a central resource for adopting parents, adoption agencies, and others involved in the intercountry adoption process. Prospective parents will find country specific information and background about the Hague Adoption Convention on the Web site.

Adoption.state.gov also includes information such as who is eligible to adopt, from which countries Americans adopt children, what protections the Hague Adoption Convention provides families, when an organization needs to renew its accreditation, and advice to prospective parents about selecting an accredited adoption agency. The site also provides information for foreign citizens who are interested in adopting American children.

+ Fiscal Year 2008 Adoption Statistics (PDF; 126 KB)

Source: U.S. Department of State

Posted 17 November 2008 on DocuTicker:
+ Nearly half of technology users need help with new devices (Pew Internet & American Life Project)
+ American Attitudes on Religion, Moral Values and Hollywood (Anti-Defamation League)
+ Spatial Dynamics of White Flight: The Effects of Local and Extralocal Racial Conditions on Neighborhood Out-Migration (American Sociological Review)

Dynamic Maps of Bank Card and Mortgage Delinquencies in the United States
From press release:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced…the availability of dynamic maps and data that show the rate of bank credit card delinquencies and mortgage delinquencies by county across the United States during the first quarter of 2008. These new measures complement the nonprime mortgage information released periodically since last March by providing a more comprehensive view of regional credit conditions.

The maps and supporting spreadsheets can help identify geographic areas with weak or deteriorating credit conditions. On a county-by-county basis, they display the 60 day or more delinquency rate for credit cards issued by banks and 90 day or more delinquency rate for mortgages (including prime and nonprime). They also show percentage point changes in these two delinquency rates from one year ago.

This information can assist governments and community groups in targeting efforts to aid troubled and at-risk households. In addition, policymakers can use the maps and data to develop and prioritize plans to address the impact that widespread mortgage delinquencies and other credit problems could have on local economies.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

U.S. retail store credit card comparison table

Here are the top issuers of retail store credit cards in 2007. There are two kinds of retail credit cards: private label, the dominant form, in which a bank runs the card program on behalf of the retailer; and in-house, in which the retailer runs its own card program. Approvals for most store credit cards are expected to shrink in the coming months as retailers and banks both tighten credit card lending standards due to the ailing economy.

Source: CreditCards.com

Business.gov muscles up search

The cross-agency Web site Business.gov has added a new search feature to help business owners and prospective business owners find government financial assistance for their enterprises.

“We’ve reduced the amount of time [someone] would have to spend searching for loans and grants,” said Nancy Sternberg, the program manager for the Business Gateway, the e-government initiative that spawned Business.gov.

Source: Government Computer News

Social Media Leads the Future of Technology

From Facebook to smartphones, advances in technology are changing the way we work and communicate. Professor David Yoffie led three experts in a recent panel discussion on “The Technology Revolution and its Implications for the Future” at the HBS Centennial Business Summit. Key concepts include:

• A lot of growth potential remains worldwide.
• The sticking point for business is spanning the gap between the physical and digital worlds. For example, it remains difficult to figure out consumers’ specific intent on the Web.
• What people want most of all is technology that is simple to use, said one panelist.

Source: Harvard Business School

One-Stop Web Shop for USGS Great ShakeOut Science Resources Now Open

You can now view video interviews, see earthquake animations and impacts, download high-resolution imagery and much more, all related to the USGS science behind the Great Southern California ShakeOut, all in one place: www.usgs.gov/shakeout.

This site is in support of the Great ShakeOut, an earthquake preparedness activity in Southern California that will include the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history, on Nov. 13, 2008. The ShakeOut is based on a San Andreas earthquake scenario that the USGS created along with emergency responders, power, water and transportation departments, social scientists, engineers and many others.

In the scenario, the earthquake would kill 1800 people, injure 50,000, cause $200 billion in damage, and have long-lasting social and economic consequences. The science and many of the people responsible for that scenario are highlighted on this new Web site, which includes:

• USGS ShakeOut Scenario scientific studies and products,
• multimedia interviews with USGS scientists
• video interviews with USGS partners about how science creates safer communities,
• video footage and images of areas vulnerable to a San Andreas earthquake,
• links to earthquake preparedness resources.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

Resources of the Week: One of These Things Is Not Like the Others
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

Regarding the public availability of Congressional Research Service reports…maybe the situation will be different in the new administration. Maybe these valuable, taxpayer-funded documents will finally be posted online BY the Congressional Research Service AS THEY ARE ISSUED. In our opinion, there is no logical reason for the hoop-jumping necessary to pry these things loose from the CRS.

Granted, access is a lot better than it used to be, thanks to the tireless efforts of various academic and nonprofit organizations to corral as many of these reports as possible and make them freely available online. The Center for Democracy and Technology’s OpenCRS, for example, is a great place to start searching; not only is it a huge archive of these reports, but it links to other key report collections, such as:

• National Council for Science and the Environment
• Federation of American Scientists
• Thurgood Marshall Law Library/University of Maryland School of Law
• National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism

Archive-It.org, in partnership with the Social Sciences Resource Group at Stanford University, links to a large number of CRS report collections, including the venerable archive at the University of North Texas Libraries. And the Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington School of Law offers an excellent CRS pathfinder. If you can’t find the report online, you can always request it from your congressional representative’s office. Or you can buy it from a private company that obtains and sells them — which annoys us so much that we won’t identify it or link to it here.

The sheer volume of government information now available online is amazing, and has made life infinitely easier not only for researchers, but for the average citizen. We have not yet heard a compelling reason why the Congressional Research Service — a division of the Library of Congress — remains a black hole. This Washington Post story, from February 2007, blames “a wall erected by lawmakers” who regard the agency “as an extension of” their own staff.

We’re not buying that excuse. Equivalent agencies in other countries routinely place their reports online:

+ Parliament of Australia — Parliamentary Library Research Papers
Large, searchable collection of reports, organized chronologically, from 1993 forward. Also notable, a comprehensive page of links to all Parliamentary Library publications.

+ Canada — Library of Parliament Research Publications

The Parliamentary Information and Research Service (PIRS) provides a consulting service for individual parliamentarians, responding to questions that require research and analysis on legal, economic, scientific, or social science matters. Researchers obtain and analyze material, and write letters, short notes and longer research papers at the request of Senators and Members of the House of Commons. In some cases, responses are provided to clients by telephone briefings or by meetings with individual parliamentarians and/or their staff.

Awesome collection here, organized by category, from Aboriginal Issues to Transport.

+ New Zealand Parliamentary Library Research Publications

• Research papers
  

  Research papers from the Parliamentary Library are published here. Research papers cover a variety of topical subjects of relevance to Parliament.

• Bills Digests
  

  A Bills Digest is a guide written to assist members of Parliament when they consider a bill. Bills Digests are published here in pdf form.

• Electorate profiles
  

  Electorate profiles for each of the seven M?ori electorates and 63 general electorates in New Zealand are published here. Electorate profiles are produced by the Parliamentary Library. Each profile includes election results, statistics about people, households and industries, and maps.

+ UK Parliament — Research offers:

• Commons Library Research Papers
  

  Research papers on subjects of current interest, compiled for MPs by the staff of the House of Commons Library.

• Commons Library Standard Notes
  

  Standard notes are topical briefings prepared by the House of Commons Library for Members of Parliament and which may be of wider interest.

• Lords Library Notes
  

  Research notes on subjects of current interest, compiled for Lords by the staff of the House of Lords Library.

• Parliament and Constitution Research
  

  A selection of research papers and standard notes produced by the House of Commons Library on subjects such as: central government, constitution, Crown, devolution, elections, Parliament, and political parties.

• Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
  

  Short briefing notes and longer reports on science and technology issues published by POST.

PrunesOnline: A Guide to Presidential Appointments

PrunesOnline is a must-have tool for prospective Presidential appointees, the Presidential Personnel Office looking for the best and brightest, members of Congress, journalists, advocacy groups, and regular citizens who want to know more about the people working for them. It’s your guide to the presidential appointment process and the people involved.

Since 1988, the Prune Book series has profiled the toughest management jobs in government. It’s an invaluable guide written specifically to equip the incoming presidential administration with insights into staffing the key appointed positions and links to departments and programs. Although the particular facts and responsibilities of the jobs may change over time, the main aim of the series is to have all the participants involved in the presidential appointment process fully informed and the resources they need to succeed.

Source: The Council for Excellence in Government

Lost in Transition

The National Journal and Government Executive have created a new web site, Lost in Transition, for “Helping you navigate the Presidential Handover.” Categories currently covered include: Appointments, Earlybird, Events, Insider Interview, Paper Trail, and The Short List.

Source: Free Government Information

Spotlight on Statistics: Thanksgiving

What activities do you have planned for this Thanksgiving? Perhaps cooking and enjoying a meal with family or friends, playing sports or watching sports on television, doing volunteer work, or shopping? Here’s a look at some BLS data behind those Thanksgiving scenes.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Classic Thanksgiving Dinner Still Affordable

Menu items for a classic Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the basic trimmings will cost just a bit more this year, but remain affordable, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

AFBF’s 23rd annual informal price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $44.61, a $2.35 price increase from last year’s average of $42.26.
…
The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10.

Source: American Farm Bureau