Post after post after book have been circulating online these days with one common theme: Steal This. So I stole their headline.
Not that I still don’t have reservations about the whole concept of stealing, well, anything. After all, I was raised as a preacher’s kid, did the whole Eagle Scout thing, and as a father raised two more Eagle Scout sons, so right and wrong have been recurring themes in my life.
If you’re one of the eleventy-billion people who have used Google this week, you’ve probably seen a funny little notice about changes to their privacy policy and terms of service:
“We’re changing our privacy policy and terms. Not the usual yada yada. Learn more“
There aren’t any huge changes afoot — it’s mainly that Google is clarifying and unifying their policies over the hundreds of services and products they provide. And like just about everything Google does these days, there’s a lot to learn here.
I thought it might be good to clear up some confusion over the differences between copyrights and trademarks when it comes to marketing. Basically, a copyright covers the expression of an original idea (but not the idea itself), and a trademark is a distinctive sign of identification. The first is automatic upon creation, the second has to be put into commercial use.
It seems these days that in addition to worrying about grades, students need to worry about their credit as well. How they’re going to get it, how they’ll manage it, and what impact it will have on their ability to get a job, a car loan or an apartment.
Be honest — how many of you have web sites that show a Big Scary Lawyer Warning (BSLW) like this when a member clicks a link to another site?
OH NOES! You are leaving the ABCFCU web site! ABFCU has no control over and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other web sites. ABCFCU does not endorse or guarantee products, information or recommendations provided by linked sites and is not liable for failure of products or services advertised on these site. So if you click a link somewhere else and your toes fall off, don’t come running to us!
Is this REALLY necessary? I don’t think it ever was. Yes, of course you should make it clear when someone is leaving your site, but do you have to remind people that you’re not responsible for the entire internet? Besides, who’s going to read all that?
Is the economy really improving? I guess a lot of the “numbers” say it is and for many people life probably is
looking better… but even those with a brighter outlook may still be trying to get solidly back on their feet. During this transition time, it’s important to make your members aware of the potential dangers that await them… quick fixes that may sound, well, sound, but really aren’t.
We’re a month into 2010 and it feels like everyone is trying to be more positive about the economy. Manufacturing activity has grown for 6 months straight – the best it’s been since 2004. Consumer spending rose 2%. Apple had a great 4th quarter. Even the stock market looks to be recovering.
Does your CFO think he/she knows everything there is to know about financial matters? This list from Time magazine may make you the money expert around the office:
1. The largest banknote (size-wise) – created by the Philippine government in 1998, it’s about the size of a sheet of legal paper. It was only offered to collectors.
I just ran across this information the other day and I have to admit, I was truly dumbfounded. I mean honestly, US dollar bills tainted with cocaine? Are there really that many people snorting lines with rolled up bills? Apparently there are.
As a kid I was never a fan of Simon Says. You know the drill. Simon says raise your left arm. Simon says stand on one foot. Now jump up and down. No no no – Simon didn’t say so. And sure enough there we all are – jumping like fools. The very essence of human character is likened to that of lemmings over a cliff. Stupid game!
How long has it been since you opened your credit union account, applied for a credit card, or gotten an auto loan? Did you have writer’s cramp before it was all over?
What I Wanted
Remember Sea Monkeys? When I was a kid, colorful ads in all the comic books promised you could send for cute, goldfish-sized magical aqua-pals that would hatch instantly, and then frolic entertainingly.
Amid all the abstract, macro-economics talk of a $700 billion bailout, it’s still unclear what the effect will be on the lives of the real people at the bottom of it all. If you’re one of the real people with a real home and family, and a mortgage situation that’s only so-so or worse, what happens to you and your house?
Forget next year’s media budget or your five-year strategy. Let’s gaze deeper into that CU crystal ball than we ever have before.
What’s the distant future of finance? What are credit unions going to be doing 25, 50, or 100 years from now?
According to several sources, (MSN Money has a good overview of the topic) the shady practice of “piggybacking” to artificially raise credit scores will be ending soon. Basically, “authorized users” on credit card accounts will no longer get a benefit from being listed on an account with someone with a good payment history.
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