Hump Day And Happy Hour - And Not A Moment Too Soon !

CNN's Clarke Howard recently did an undercover investigation of gold buying companies and came to the conclusion that customers were being paid between ten to twenty-five percent of the true value of the gold. This is not particularly news to me because I've known about these swindling thieves for years, but I though I'd share the information with you.

So the next time you see the often televised commercials like Cash4Gold and the other gold buying sites, just check the owners' names and you'll easily be able to figure out what their morals and scheme are. The following excerpt was taken from Wikipedia using Cash4Gold as the subject line:

There are many complaints that Cash4Gold undervalues jewelry sent to them by customers. Channel 10 News in San Diego did an investigation where they sent in a ring containing over 2 grams of gold worth $17 in weight to three different sites. The payout from Cash4Gold was $7.91.

Consumer Reports, using its "mystery shopper" team, sent 24 identical gold pendants and chains (purchased for $175 each) to Cash4Gold.com and its competitors. The determined melt value of the jewelry was calculated at around $70 each when gold was above $900 an ounce. In comparison with Pawn shop and Jewelry store quotes (which ranged from $25 to $50), Cash4Gold.com quoted between $7.60~$12.72 melt value for the jewelry. Similar low quotes were also given by Cash4Gold.com competitors GoldKit (around $7.81~$20.59) and GoldPaq (around $8.22~$13.11).

After Rob Cockerham, a blogger, detailed drastic changes in Cash4Gold's valuation of jewelry after a complaint is made about an initial undervaluing, a search engine optimization consultant offered "a few thousand dollars" for Rob to remove the criticism. Cash4Gold CEO Jeff Aronson stated they had nothing to do with the incident, though the consultant stated "everyone (at Cash4Gold) was well aware of what was going on."On Cash4Gold’s blog, the company afterwards posted a "clarification statement” allegedly by the consultant contradicting that quote: "Cash4Gold was not aware of all of the tactics being using (sic) in my reputation management services."

After a whistleblower posted on ComplaintsBoard.com discussing the inner workings of Cash4Gold.com, The Consumerist and other blogs were hit with a defamation suit by Cash4Gold.com after running the postings. In September 2009, Cash4Gold.com dropped Consumerist from their lawsuit.....A word to the wise!

You may want to turn off the music to my playlist located on the sidebar to listn to this video.

The News As I See It: This past weekend, a rare envelope sent on the first day of the Pony Express in 1860 sold for almost half a million dollars. The envelope contains an invitation to Larry King’s Bar Mitzvah. On a similar note, a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1808 has been discovered at the University of Delaware. It’s a personal letter thanking John McCain for his support in the election of 1804.

A new study from Purina found that house cats spend about 22 percent of their days looking out windows, 12 percent of their days playing with other pets, 8 percent climbing on chairs and just 6 percent sleeping. The study also found that cats had the exact same schedule as Joe Biden.

This Date In History: 1941; China declared war against Japan, Germany, and Italy. 1958; The anti-Communist John Birch Society was formed. 1965; "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premiered. 1990; Lech Walesa was elected president of Poland. 1993; U.S. astronauts completed repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope. 1996; Archaeologist and anthropologist Mary Leakey died in Kenya at age 83.

Picture Of The Day: Some things are better off unsaid, so they say, but that won't happen here. As Popeye the Sailor Man used to say, "I calls them like I sees them!" You may, however, have to read between the lines.

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) I like barbecue sauce way too much to own a touch screen cell phone. 2) According to a recent poll, 22% of Californians now say, "Happy Holidays." The other 78% say, "Feliz Navidad." 3) When I was younger, I alway wanted a BMW. Now that I'm older, I don't need the W. 4) I've been on so many blind dates, I should get a free dog 5) It turns out that my cat, Possum S. Hemmingway, likes Bush Baked Beans, so I gave him some. It also turns out that they affect him the same way as they affect me as, while sitting in my lap, he rudely passed a silent but deadly reminder not give him any more beans.....and that's five !

Birthdays: Margaret Hamilton, actor 1902, Grace Hopper, rear admiral; computer scientist 1906, Thomas P. O'Neill, political leader 1912, Kirk Douglas, actor 1916, John Cassavetes, actor and director 1929, Dame Judi Dench, actress 1934, Tom Daschle, U.S. senator 1947, John Malkovich, actor 1953, Felicity Huffman, actress 1962.

The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar and Grill: An old man was quite unhappy because he had lost his favorite hat. Rather than purchasing a new one, he decided he would go to church and steal one out of the vestibule. When he got there, an usher intercepted him at the door and took him to a pew where he had to sit and listen to the entire sermon on the Ten Commandments.

After church, the man met the preacher in the vestibule doorway, shook his hand vigorously and said, "I want to thank you for saving my soul today, preacher. I came to church to steal a hat, but after hearing your sermon on the Ten Commandments, I decided against it." The preacher said, "You mean the Commandment, Thou shall not steal, changed your mind?" The old man said, "No, the one about adultery did. As soon as you said that, I remembered where I left my hat."

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: My thanks to my pals Victor and Garnett for their contributions to today's stories.

A man is struck by a bus on a busy street in New York City. He lies dying on the sidewalk as a crowd of on-lookers gathers around. The man gasps, "Somebody get me a priest!" A policeman checks the crowd and there's no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind.

Then out of the crowd steps a little old man. He says, "Mr. Policeman, I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I've been living behind St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church on First Avenue, and every night I'm listening to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man."

The policeman agrees and brings the old man over to where the dying man lay. He kneels down, leans over the injured man and says slowly in a solemn voice, "B-4. I-19. N-38. G-54. O-72..."

When four of Santa's elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mother was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out...more stress. Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys.

So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces a ll over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?"

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.....

That's it for today my little furballs. Remember, you're unique, just like everyone else. It's a good day to head over to AREA 51 for Happy Hour. More on Friday.

Stay Tuned !