What to do? (fcen)

clipped from www.heraldextra.com Social Security: Deciding when to start your benefits Dear Savvy Senior, Can you give me some tips on when the best time is to start taking my Social Security benefits? Ready to Retire Dear Ready, Figuring out the best time to start taking your Social Security retirement benefits can be tricky. A good first step in getting help is at your local Social Security office. Call 800-722-1213 and schedule an appointment with a claims representative. You can also find lots of helpful information online at www.socialsecurity.gov.

Get started with design and analysis

I enjoy IBM's developerWorks and found this to be supportive.

clipped from mail.google.com Application architecture essentials, Part 1: Requirements modeling (Architecture)

How do we meet our agreements... (fcen)

These guys were promised health-care. The system probably can't support it's commitments. Where's a middle ground place that best meets everyone's needs?

clipped from www.google.com

Many Veterans Face Health-Care 'Purgatory'

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What about biofuels? (dpet)

So one of the solutions for petroleum dependency is switching to biofuels. However I'm hoping to look at all sides of the problems and the solutions... Here's something from Reuters that points to a possible problem with biofuels.

clipped from www.google.com

9:48 AM (9 minutes ago)

As biofuels boom, will more go hungry?

from Reuters: Science

LONDON (Reuters) - Using plants to feed our fuel needs may be a great idea, and the biofuel goldrush could be a moneyspinner for several poor countries, but some experts warn people may go hungry as food prices rise.

Increase Your Mileage (dpet)

clipped from lifehacker.com

From loyal reader Dylan Bennett, some great tips on how to save gas and increase your miles-per-gallon.

• Slow down. Going even 5 miles an hour slower lowers gas consumption.
• Skip the AC. Your air conditioner uses lots of juice. Consider simply recycling the air within your car without the added A/C boost.
• Inflate your tires properly. Low tire pressures makes your car work harder. (But don't overinflate!)
• Accelerate Slowly. A slow, steady acceleration uses less gas than a quick speed jump.

Dylan's article also suggests that you use cruise control to save gas. Although this flies in the face of all the advice I've ever been given, CNN Money seems to agree. So consider using cruise control on long drives on level roads.

Increase Your Car's MPG

Ok, a bit of focus

I've decided what I want to rant about for awhile. As I see it there are a few things that are keeping the land that I love from being more. They currently are (in no particular order)

1. Dependence on petroleum (dpet)
   
2. Future costs of entitlements (fcen)
   
3. Rural lack of broadband access (rlbb)
4. Unsecured computers (cbot)

To that end I hope to fill this blog with things I see, read, hear, believe... that

1. Document the problems (dtpr)
   
2. Cover possible solutions (cvps)
   
3. Cover people in action (piat)

I'll work to lable the posts with the above tags. Finally this is my focus right now... I may add or delete from these lists as the mood strikes... this could be fun... scary, but fun. One more note I KNOW this is not the end all and be all of problems. These are problems I feel strongly about. Find some problems you feel strongly about and start yourself a blog. The soapboxes are cheap and plentiful. Make a statement, take a stand. It just might make a difference.