Chain mail is a form of junk mail. A chain mail message is generally sent to several people and includes instructions that each person should forward the letter to several others. These messages waste system resources and often grow quite large as senders append their own additions. Do not forward such messages. Email fraud and hoaxes often occur in chain mail. Never send money or personal information to people on lists via chain mail, or from whom you've received chain mail. For more information, see About chain mail. http://kb.iu.edu/data/afvn.html#chain

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Swearing-In Ceremony
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: US Capitol

2009 Inaugural Parade
Time: TBD
Location: Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/events.asp

The first course at Barack Obama’s inaugural luncheon on January 20, a seafood stew, consists of lobster, scallops and shrimp--all personal favorites, apparently, of Obama's fellow Illinois politician, Abraham Lincoln. In fact, the 2009 inaugural luncheon has been designed to commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Lincoln (Feb. 12, 1809), the 16th president. Details of the luncheon to be held in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall were announced Friday by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
Design Cuisine, an Arlington, Va.-based caterer, was charged with designing a menu that reflected Lincoln's life and presidency. Co-owner Bill Homan said Lincoln had a well-documented affection for stewed and scalloped oysters. The ingredients for the main course--duck breast with cherry chutney, herb-roasted pheasant with wild-rice stuffing, molasses sweet potatoes and a melange of vegetables--were drawn from foods Lincoln would have eaten during his childhood in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana.
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/news/ny-fdobama105993722jan10,0,10107.story

Rep. Frank Introduces TARP Reform and Accountability Legislation
News release: "House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced [on January 9, 2009] H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009, to amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA). The legislation will strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation.
Summary of TARP Reform and Accountability Act: This bill will amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) to strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation. It further requires that Treasury act promptly to permit the smaller community financial institutions that have been shut out so far to participate on the same terms as the large institutions that have already received funds."
Related postings on Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP)

Alarming Sinking Value of 401(k) Plans
WSJ - Big Slide in 401(k)s Spurs Calls for Change: "About 50 million Americans have 401(k) plans, which have $2.5 trillion in total assets, estimates the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington. In the 12 months following the stock market's peak in October 2007, more than $1 trillion worth of stock value held in 401(k)s and other "defined-contribution" plans was wiped out, according to the Boston College research center. If individual retirement accounts, which consist largely of money rolled over from 401(k)s, are taken into account, about $2 trillion of stock value evaporated."
Employee Benefit Research Institute: Change In Average Account Balances Among All 401(k) Participants as of 2007, by Age and Tenure, Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2008

Educational institutions across the nation provide young people with advanced artistic training in computer and video game design. More than 200 American colleges, universities and technical schools, including New York University, the Art Institute of Seattle and Marist College currently offer programs and courses in video game design and development. Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology offer master's degrees in game development. And the University of Southern California offers a graduate degree in interactive media and an undergraduate degree in video game development.
Video game graphics and designs are widely displayed, publicized and featured in art exhibits across the country. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Economic Adventure Gallery hosted an interactive exhibit on the video game industry's roots and artistic value. Movies and video games routinely borrow characters and subjects from each other to produce hits and unique roles for actors.
Author James Patterson's entertainment company announced that it will produce video games as well as books, television shows, and movies. Patterson's “Women's Murder Club” originated as a murder mystery book series that was adapted for television and will soon become a video game. The game will feature hunt-and-seek play and provide clues for players to solve the mystery.
Popular video games provide both aspiring and established musical artists access to a broader audience, with pop and punk music enjoying the most success.
http://www.theesa.com/gamesindailylife/art.asp\

Computer access to Martin Luther King Jr. documents, which have been digitized and cataloged, will be available beginning January 13 at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center. http://www.auctr.edu/mlkcollection/
The papers represent more than 75 percent of a 10,000-item collection bought by a group of civic and business leaders in 2006 from King’s family. Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Andrew Young spearheaded the effort to raise $32 million for the purchase. The documents include many of King’s speeches and personal writings from 1946 to 1968. About 7,000 pieces are handwritten by King, including an early draft of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and nearly 100 sermons, some of which never have been published. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/01/13/king_papers_online.html

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in Colliers Magazine, and subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age (occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories). Best to see movie before reading. You may read the curious fantasy online at: http://www.readbookonline.net/read/690/10628/

Read Book Online Web site contains about one thousand books from hundreds of authors. The books are in the following categories: fiction/novels, short stories, poems, essays and plays. http://www.readbookonline.net/