Bernie Madoff Guilty of Cheating

So why do some people cheat and others don’t? The classical explanation is that it’s a rational choice, a cold calculation of cost and benefit. Can I get away with it, and how much can I get away with before I risk getting caught? But some scientists have begun questioning this cynical view of human ethics and suggest that the decision is much more complex than this simple calculation.

Three psychologists recently decided to explore these knotty ethical questions in the laboratory. Francesca Gino of the University of North Carolina and Shahar Ayal and Dan Ariely of Duke University set up an elaborate hoax to see if they could actually make people cheat—in order to illuminate the psychological forces at work in the dishonest mind.

Here, briefly, is what they did: They asked a large group of university students to solve a set of complex math problems in a very short time. They made it hard enough that none could realistically solve all the problems, and they paid them for whatever ones they did solve. The math exercise was just a pretense for the real experiment: shortly after the students began on the math problems, one of them (actually a paid actor) loudly announced to the room: “I’ve solved everything. What should I do?” Everyone in the room knew this was impossible, so the student-actor was a clear example of blatant cheating. He also took all of the cash, as if he had a perfect score and—very important—left without any consequences. He might as well have gone online and done some Facebook cheating too. Jerk!

The idea was to see how many of the students followed the cheater’s example—to see if blatant dishonesty boosted cheating among students generally. And it did, dramatically. But the psychologists added another twist to the experiment: sometimes they had the actor wear the T shirt of a rival university, other times not. They wanted to see if the cheater’s group identity—classmate or outsider—influenced the level of copycat cheating. That is, would students cheat more (or less) when they saw a rival cheat, as compared to seeing a compatriot cheat?

The results were unambiguous. As reported in the March issue of Psychological Science, fellow classmates had much more influence than outsiders. Indeed, seeing a rival cheat actually lowered the level of overall cheating slightly—compared to students who simply cheated on their own initiative, without any prodding. These findings argue against the “cold calculation” theory of cheating. After all, if the students only weighed the can-I-get-away-with-it factor, then they would have been influenced equally by the successful cheating of both compatriot and outsider. And they weren’t.

The psychologists decided to double-check these findings with another small experiment. It was basically the same setup, but in this scenario the actor didn’t do anything; he simply asked out loud of the proctor: “Is it OK to cheat?” I know, stupid question. Nobody would really do that. But the idea was simply to nudge the inner moralist in the students’ minds, to bring the issues of cheating and dishonesty front and center. And when they did this, the students cheated noticeably less. No role models, good or bad, just priming the idea of unethical behavior—that was enough to keep the students honest.

So it appears our inner moralist doesn’t really want to cheat. Yet it also appears that dishonesty can be contagious—if we witness one of our own committing the public act of dishonesty. These findings point to a possible strategy for preventing a wave of unethical contagion. If cheating in general declines when cheaters are perceived as outlaws, then it should help to stigmatize public cheaters as just that—outlaws, bad apples. Of course, Bernie Madoff and the rest of Wall Street’s alleged fraudsters have already done a lot of that work for us.

Some People Cheat and Others Can’t. Why?

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Gafar Gasanof, the captain of the Baku, an Azeri trawler, told Iranian newspaper Zindagi: “The creature was swimming a parallel course near the boat for a long time.

“At the beginning we thought it was a big fish, but then we spotted hair on the head of the monster and his fins looked pretty strange, the front part of his body was equipped with arms.”

According to the paper the ‘man of the sea’ has been spotted with increasing regularity since off-shore oil production began in the Caspian.

Eyewitness say the marine humanoid is about 5ft 6ins, of strong build with a protruding stomach, webbed hands and black-green hair.

His lower lip is said to join smoothly to his neck above the gills.

Merman fished out of the Caspian Sea

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The motion alleges that a documentary about filmmaker released earlier this year revealed “a pattern of misconduct and improper communications” between the district attorney’s office and the judge in Polanski’s case.

“This case serves as a classic example of how our justice system can be abused, and defendants’ rights trampled, by an unholy alliance between courts and criminal prosecutors,” said a statement from attorneys Chad Hummel and Brad Dalton. Dalton is the son of attorney Doug Dalton, who represented Polanski in the original case.

Poland-born Polanski, 75, has been living in France in self-imposed exile from the United States since fleeing in 1978 after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. He was initially indicted on six felony counts and faced up to life in prison. Instead, he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and five other counts were dismissed.

Polanski, who had already been incarcerated for a psychological diagnosis, skipped sentencing that would have sent him back to prison and fled to France. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest that is still in effect. The maximum sentence was 50 years, although prosecutors had said at the time that the typical sentence was 16 months to three years in prison.

Roman Polanski Wants the Sex with Minor Charges Dropped

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You might (rightly) ask yourself: if a company wants to increase its sales of a product by dropping the price $20, why don’t they just drop the price by $20? Isn’t it the same thing? Wouldn’t it be easier for the company to do than dealing with the rebate forms and mailing checks and whatnot? The answer to this question becomes obvious when you consider this: there are companies that sell items that cost $X and have an $X rebate (often seen for media such as floppy disks, or low-end components like cheap keyboards). The net cost to you is zero, yet, you almost never see companies just giving away stuff for free in the store! Clearly there is a big difference between rebates and “just dropping the price”.

Some of the reasons why companies use rebates are practical in nature. If a company wants to run a temporary promotion, it’s a lot easier to use a rebate than it is to drop the price and then raise it again: customers react poorly to price rises. It’s also arguably less work for the retailers that sell the product. But the main reason for using rebates instead of dropping prices is that when you drop the price of something, that money is automatically and immediately lost for each and every item sold, while rebates never result in all of the money being lost to the company.

The most important reason for this is simply human nature: a surprising percentage of rebates never are redeemed. Let’s say a customer goes to a store and sees a product he wants that costs $100 and has a $20 rebate. Immediately, the customer says to himself “Wow, what a deal! Only $80!”. In the customer’s mind the product only costs $80. He pays $100 at the checkout, and then takes the item home and starts using it. In his mind, he has only paid $80, and he feels satisfied; but in fact, he’s paid $100! Most rebate forms are relatively easy to fill out, but they still take time to do, and many people forget about them, or lose the form, or wait too long to submit the claim (since they are always time-limited). I don’t know the exact percentage of rebates that go unfilled, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it approached or even exceeded 50%. For all of these sales, the manufacturer gets the full price while getting sales as if the price had been lowered.

Another reason is due to a concept called float: from the time that the manufacturer gets the money for the product you purchased, until the time you cash the rebate check, the rebate money is the company’s. They can use it as they see fit, even for something as simple as letting it sit and earn interest. Many people take weeks to fill out and send in the rebate form, and then most companies take weeks to months to send back the check. In some cases the company gets the use of the money for close to half a year.

Combine the two factors above and you can see why companies use rebates, especially for “free” items. The worst part, unfortunately, is that there’s another catch with rebates: some dishonest companies don’t honor them. You send in the form, you wait the specified number of weeks, and the check never comes at all. This isn’t common, but it definitely happens. Also, some rebates get lost in the mail, or are sent to the wrong address, resulting in problems even with honest firms.

Due to the hassles involved, and the risk of never getting the money, some folks eschew rebates completely. Frankly, I think that’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Here are my suggestions for having success with rebates:

• Don’t Count Your Chickens: Be careful when buying an item based on the “net” price after the rebate. If you aren’t going to be meticulous about sending in the rebate form, just shop based on what the item costs out of pocket. Consider any rebate you get a “bonus”. Of course, if you do manage your rebates properly, you might make a better buying decision by figuring in the rebate.
• Don’t Procrastinate: Fill out the rebate form and submit it immediately. If you wait, you’re far more likely to lose the form or miss the deadline, and you are extending the period of time that the company gets to use your rebate money.
• Watch The Dates: It’s common to find items on a shelf that have a rebate sticker on them that has already expired! You buy the item thinking you will have a rebate, get the box home and whoops! You lose
• Watch Your Receipt: Some companies want the original receipt from the vendor, while others will accept a photocopy. Sending away your original receipt is never a good idea unless you are sure you won’t want to return the item. If you must, at least keep a photocopy of the receipt. Even better, ask the cashier for a duplicate receipt if you know you have bought an item with a rebate.
• Look For A Toll-Free Number: Better companies have an 800 number you can use to inquire if you don’t receive your rebate in the designated delivery timeframe. Keep a record of this number and use it if the rebate doesn’t arrive on time. Avoid rebates that have no number you can call to inquire.
• Keep Records: For each rebate, keep a record of the item purchased, the date purchased, the store, the amount of the rebate, how long the rebate is supposed to take for delivery (and thus the expected due date) and the 800 number to call if it doesn’t show up. Sure, this is a bit more work, but it will help you ensure that you don’t let any rebates “slip through the cracks”, and will also let you see which companies you’ve had good or bad luck with in the past. I use a simple spreadsheet.
• Avoid Bad Companies: Most companies are honest (if a bit slow) about their rebates; a few bad apples are notorious for not honoring them. Use the research resources to investigate if the company you are considering has a good track record.
• Count The Cost Of Your Time: If a small item has a $1 rebate, and it takes you 15 minutes to fill out the form, photocopy a receipt, get an envelope, address it, stamp it and label it, you have valued your time at $4 per hour. If the rebate is $20, it’s a bit different of course!

Find Out the Secrets Why Companies Use Rebates

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“The message remains the same: Do your part to prevent crime before it occurs,” said Ann Harkins, the council’s vice president for programs. “You start with lights, locks and alarms to protect your home. Now the equivalent is security to keep the bad guys out in cyberspace.”

On the site, McGruff challenges people to immunize their computers by installing anti-virus, firewall and other software. Discounts and free 30-day trials are offered through a partnership with security vendor McAfee Inc.

The brochure, aimed at individuals and small businesses, covers a variety of dangers online — from malware to sexual predators — and the tools and techniques available for protection. It also addresses special situations, such as surfing the Web from public terminals at cybercafes or telecommuting into office networks.

McGruff the Crime Dog is Going Digital

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The money, officially known as Note Family – C14342, is thought to originate from communist North Korea.

Experts believe that the money is being produced and flooded into the system, mostly by North Korean diplomats as they travel abroad. It is also circulated by criminals – with the Russian mafia and even Republican organisations in Northern Ireland involved in the distribution process. One school of thought is that it is part of a plan to try to destabilise the American economy by putting millions and millions of dollars into the system.

However, North Korea dismisses the allegations and says that the claims being made against it are just Western propaganda.

What is known, is that in the late 1980s, US Intelligence discovered that the North Korean government had acquired a highly sophisticated printing press, known as the intaglio.

This press is similar to the one used to print money in the US and would give North Korea the ability to produce sophisticated banknotes if they wanted to.

Further evidence comes from defectors, whose stories all seem to be consistent with US claims.

Although it is impossible to corroborate their stories, they appear to be consistent.

One defector who spoke to Panorama on the condition of anonymity said he had spent his life making counterfeit US dollars, adding that they were such good quality that they fooled experts. He said: “The counterfeiting was all done at government level. We had a special plant for doing it.

“When I defected I brought some of these counterfeit notes to South Korea, and I showed them to the experts in the South Korean intelligence agency. They said – these are not fake notes. They’re real.”

Another defector said: “We bought the best of everything – the best equipment and the best ink. But we also had the very best people, people who had real expertise and knowledge in the field. “When government officials or diplomats travelled to south-east Asia they distributed the counterfeit notes mixed in with the real one’s, at a ratio of about 50-50.”

How a Superdollar is Made. A Counterfeit’s Secret

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The legislation also would require background checks on sales crews.

Representative Cleon Turner of Yarmouth says the bill is intended to make people feel safer and less vulnerable to the aggressive tactics of some door to door solicitors.

In cities and towns that vote to adopt the proposal, police departments would maintain the resident database, as well as a list of door-to-door sellers. The bill would exempt political activists, religious organizations and nonprofits such as Boy Scouts.

Under the bill, sales crews who don’t register with police departments would face fines of up to $5,000. A special provision to protect senior citizens, who Turner says are particularly vulnerable to intimidation, says a salesman who solicits on the property of a person 65 or older on the list cannot be fined less than $1,500.

A spokeswoman at the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union wasn’t able to immediately comment as she had not seen the proposed legislation.

Do Not Knock Massachusetts Bill Going to Vote Today

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The first thing and most important is never ever open an email attachment sent from an unknown address. These types of attachments can deliver nasty things like spy ware, email viruses, and other things, which are not good for our computers.

Secondly, Install a good Internet filtering software, and never click on unknown websites.When we do things such as cruise the Internet for research we can open the door to threats by clicking on unknown websites. Web Hijackers can literally take over our web browsers leaving us helpless to the fate they deliver.

Thirdly, when something sounds to good to be true it probably is. Never ever give out personal information to anyone on the Internet. Scammers use unsolicited email to rob us of our personal information. Identity theft is one of the highest growing problems on the Internet.

Finally, if you or any other member of your family use chat software never ever give out personal information such as your address, phone number, or passwords. An intruder might use this information to track you down. The stalker might also use use your passwords to capture your Social Security Number, credit card information, and other personal data.

If we all learn to practice some of these simple things we can save ourselves from a lot of heartache and headaches which the Internet has to offer.

Protect Yourself on the Internet

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A U.S. congressman said Friday that federal agencies were looking into whether telephone companies were sufficiently protecting consumers’ records amid concerns that Internet sites were selling cellphone call information.

Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) told him the agency was investigating whether phone companies were adequately protecting consumer records. He said in a statement “the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission were coordinating efforts to combat this rising fraud.”

In November, Markey asked the FTC and the FCC to investigate what he said was a violation of private consumer information and to take steps to protect consumers.

The biggest U.S. mobile service, Cingular Wireless, owned by AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., said late Friday that it received a temporary restraining order against Data Find Solutions and 1st Source Information Specialists Inc.

It said it had sued the companies alleging they “unlawfully obtained and disseminated Cingular customer records.”

Earlier on Friday, CTIA, an industry group representing U.S. mobile telephone services, called for federal and state authorities to investigate Web sites that it says fraudulently obtain and sell consumers’ cell phone call information.

CTIA spokesman Joe Farren said call record sales plans were brought to the group’s attention by member companies, including Verizon Wireless, which last year sued companies it said were trying to wrongfully obtain private customer information.

“We very much believe that laws are being broken and people are profiting from it,” Farren said. “Without prosecution there will continue to be this fraud and subscribers and wireless companies will continue to be the victims.”

I Know Who You’re Talking to on Your Cell Phone

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The eBay website abounds with kitschy knickknacks celebrating the hunk of granite at the edge of Plymouth Harbor, where the Mayflower Pilgrims supposedly landed in 1620. But soon, in an auction scheduled to last from this Thursday to Thanksgiving, buyers on the giant Internet auction site will be able to buy an actual piece of the Rock or so a seller from Cape Cod said.

The seller, who insisted on anonymity for fear of overzealous buyers showing up on his Orleans doorstep, said that the rock is not very big. It’s a glorified chip, really, smaller than a deck of cards. But he insisted that it is genuine, a curiosity passed down to him by the late lawyer for an early-20th-century geologist who said he had gotten it from a director of the Pilgrim Society.

That society donated Plymouth Rock and the land it sits on to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1920.

The rock comes in a small gray box, the seller said, with the business card of that Pilgrim Society director, with an ink inscription: ”A bit of Plymouth Rock taken from the original about 1858.”

The seller said that the rock has been sitting in his desk for 30 years, and that he recently decided to get rid of it, with some of the other collectibles he has accumulated over the years. He said he hopes that a person who can appreciate it perhaps someone associated with a museum will see it and snap it up.

Actually, he needs two people who can appreciate it. ”It takes two to make an auction,” he said.

The seller said that he isn’t setting a price for the object, and that he has no idea how much it might bring.

”It could bring $25, it could bring $2,500,” he said. ”Who knows? You have nothing to go by.”

Peggy Baker, the executive director of the Pilgrim Society and the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, said she, too, could not estimate its value. Even though a piece of Plymouth Rock about the size of a large marble went for several hundred dollars in a charity auction for the museum a few years ago, she said that ”hundreds, if not thousands” of fragments of the rock have made their way far from the Massachusetts coast.

She also said that the seller’s rock is impossible to authenticate, beyond verifying that, like Plymouth Rock, it is made of Dedham granite, which she said is unusual for the Plymouth area.

”It’s like anything that’s a memento,” she said. ”They’re worth what somebody’s willing to pay for them.”

No one is entirely sure if Plymouth Rock is exactly where the Pilgrims landed. The Pilgrims never mentioned the rock in their writings, Baker said. It wasn’t until more than a century later that a First Church of Plymouth elder, Thomas Faunce, proclaimed the rock’s significance to townspeople in 1741, said Baker.

Faunce, who was 90 when he made the claim, had some credibility, though, because he knew some of the original pilgrims as a boy, Baker said.

In any case, the current rock is much smaller than it used to be. In 1774, when the local Sons of Liberty tried to drag it from the shore to the liberty pole in the town square, it split in half.

Over time, bits broke off, souvenir hunters took pieces, the Smithsonian Institution and the Pilgrim Hall museum got large hunks, and even a few towns in the Western United States asked for pieces to embed in the cornerstones of their town halls, Baker said.

Many families in the Plymouth area have their own fragments of the rock, too, including Baker and her husband, who keep a fragment the size of a fist in a curiosity cabinet, next to a Waterford crystal vase and an ancient Roman coin.

”Every once in a while you go and look at it, and you stop and smile,” she said.

David Hillier, an antiques dealer from West Townsend who specializes in American objects dating from the 16th to middle 18th centuries, believes the piece about to be sold on eBay is not worth much.

”It’s akin to me cutting some hair off the top of my head what little is left and saying ‘This is Abraham Lincoln’s hair,’ ” Hillier said.

”I would think anybody with a methodical approach to buying [antiquities] is not going to put any money on it,” Hillier said.

”But then again,” he added, ”crazy stuff is sold on eBay for an awful lot of money.”

Piece of Plymouth Rock is offered on eBay

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