Jazz and the NSA

I came across an interesting entry in a listing of videotapes (pdf) produced by the National Security Agency, the largest of the US intelligence agencies, titled "Jazz in the USSR." Running just over 46 minutes long and carrying a "For Official Use Only" classification, the 1985 program is described as a survey of jazz in the Soviet Union.

I wonder if this was made by some NSA employee/jazz fan attempting to make their job more fun or if there is more to it than that?

Verizon Cancellation Fee

I canceled my long distance service on my phone in order to save some money but I found out that there is a fee to cancel it! While my actual long distance provider, Sprint, didn't charge anything (and the phone representative, Jose, was very polite) Verizon, the local carrier needs $8.70 to cancel it as a "programming change." It shouldn't cost the consumer extra for Verizon to type "cancel" into their computer to cancel a service. And these companies complain that they are in financial hardship! Arggh, they have me coming and going.

Bailouts & Bonuses

Two articles about the ongoing financial crisis/money-grab, one from Paul Krugman of the New York Times and one from Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post.

My bailout factoid for the day:

If the $18,000,000,000 paid as bonuses to executives in bailed-out companies last year was recovered and given instead to the 2,600,000 children, age 3 and under who live in poverty in the US, every one of those children would receive $6,923.08, enough for diapers, food and other basic needs for a year.

Poverty data from the National Center for Children in Poverty