I have a few thousand dollars left of student loans, and I was hit with an idea recently to avoid paying further interest. (The interest rate is very low, but 0% is lower.) It goes like this:

1. Open a credit card account with a 0% APR introductory offer for balance transfers.
2. Pay off my student loan with an existing credit card.
3. Transfer the balance from my existing credit card to the new card.
4. Enjoy paying off the loan interest free.

There are some potential downsides, of course:

• Opening a new credit card can be dangerous if you aren't frugal.
• Applying for a credit card results in a credit check, which can negatively affect your credit score.
• There may be something in the fine print of the new card that causes the introductory rate to expire.

And yet, there are mitigations:

• I'm very frugal.
• I'm not concerned effect of a single, isolated inquiry on my credit score.
• I plan on reading the fine print, asking a lot of questions, and being completely transparent with my student loan provider and both credit card companies. (I also plan to document the process and my contact with all parties.)

See any holes?

Speculation about the new iPhone has circulated around the Internet since shortly after the first generation was released. As time progressed, the details have become slightly more firm as predictions call for features like 3G network compatibility, GPS, support for a broad range of Bluetooth technologies, Microsoft Exchange interfaces for businesses and up to 16GB of storage capacity. Apple is anticipated to unveil the new phone in the beginning of June and initial orders indicate 11 million units are scheduled for production. Already, stocks of the first generation iPhone are running thin to nonexistent as retailers move the remaining product off the shelves in preparation for the new release. Analysts predict the iPhone 2.0 will dramatically boost Apple share price especially owing to the new deals brokered internationally for exclusive services. All of this will lead Apple to better compete with RIM which recently announced the Bold, it's own attempt to keep its customers from converting to the iPhone 2.0.

I love music. (Consider it my alcohol, drugs, gambling, cheating, stealing, adrenaline, anger and lying all rolled into one addiction.) My passion, however, is hampered by the inability to keep up with all of the musicians I like.

For example, Death Cab for Cutie has a new album coming out tomorrow. I happened to find out about it while researching allofmp3 alternatives for a friend, but it was merely by chance. I could have run across a blurb saying the band had broken up and I wouldn't have known the difference. This doesn't mean I enjoy their music any less, mind you - I just can't keep up.

The information is out there, of course - but I don't want to visit hundreds of websites every month to find out when new albums are released, concerts are scheduled, or free music download promotions are launched. I also don't want my inbox filled with hundreds of musician and label newsletters. So, what do I do? I plod along, keeping my eyes open and hoping not to miss out on that next killer Mars Volta album for too long.

It just doesn't make any sense. The world is shying away from the big, bad record companies and looking to the Internet for their music. What site will step up and provide an easy way for fellow audiophiles to keep-up? Google or AllMusic, I'm looking your way and hoping for something free, sleek, simple, and RSS based.

Not too long ago, a decision was made regarding the matter of selling adult reading material at military PX/BX facilities (Post Exchange/Base Exchange) such that it would no longer be made available. Part of the logic involved the usual argument about pornography, another part alluded to a higher standard of morality for soldiers and yet another portrayed the material as contributing to criminal acts of sexual violence between soldiers. The first part of the measure required AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange Service) to move publications like FHM and Maxim into the adult material section, having their covers hidden behind a high divider. The next initiative will remove all these magazines from the shelves completely. Already, the soldiers stationed abroad and deployed in combat zones have begun protesting the action, arguing it will harm morale. "It's bad enough we are down there to begin with. Taking that away would be like a knife in the chest. I'm not saying I'm depending on Maxim to keep me alive over there, but it helps."

Almost everyone has battle with a little bulge in their figure. Regardless of the mechanism chosen to slim down, the basic goal has always been to lose the fat. New research has made a discovery that may explain why it seems so hard to lose that fat - it's permanent! Essentially, the quantity of fat cells for a given person is fixed. While the cells themselves do die off, they are replaced by an identical number of new fat cells. Even after patients undergo liposuction, the fat cells will grow back to their original number. The appearance of bulge, therefore, is not a function of having too many fat cells but a function of how full those fat cells are. Such a discovery has led researchers to seek a way to alter the number of available fat cells.

The top brass at the Pentagon has added yet another item to their technological wish list, and this time it's a request for an atomic clock which is small enough to build into a microchip. You might wonder what possible purpose such a small clock would serve; until you realize that insects like the cyborg beetle are easily lost as they fly about, and require an extremely accurate GPS system for their precise positioning and location needs. For some years DARPA's HI-MEMS program (Hybrid Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) has been placing micro-mechanical devices into various insects while in their larvae and pupae stages in order to facilitate a stable tissue-to-machine interface as the insects develop into adults. The main purpose for these mini cyborgs, as we can well guess, is for spying and reconnaissance, but they also have merit for any application requiring the retrieval of information from small or hard to access places. Location tracking via GPS requires extremely accurate clocks in order to obtain the precise positioning needed for what I can only deem as a science fiction scenario coming to life.

In a civilian mass casualty event, whether from terrorism, environmental disaster, accident or pandemic, how is the appropriation of limited life saving resources assigned? For smaller mass casualty events, life savers on the ground will evaluate the scene and triage the patients for priority of care. However, for the most part, care is found for everyone. But, in the case of truly widespread demand for medical resources, a set of guidelines have been put together using input from the military, DHS, CDC and DHHS. The guidance essentially decrees that the elderly, mentally handicapped and terminally/chronically diseased will not get any care until the resources are freed up again.

After extreme weather on the face of Mount Everest damaged several of the base camps, the Chinese climbers attempting to take the Olympic torch to the peak's summit will be underway again. Chinese media are promoting the event and plan to include live television coverage of the ascent itself. But there is more to the story than simply a challenging human feat and a statement of unity to the world. Some may, in fact, argue the opposite. Not too long ago, the American William Holland summited Mount Everest and unfurled a tiny "Free Tibet" flag for a picture at the peak. During his descent, he was detained by the Nepalese government, deported and banned from the country for two years. The action, in part, stems from China's ambition to bring the torch to the peak and to prevent any other form of propaganda from marring the event, nobody else is permitted to summit higher than Base Camp 2 nor are any foreign press allowed onto the mountain.

Almost everything in the US military relies upon electronics. The economy thrives on electronic trading floors, nationwide networking and a 100% reliance upon business computers. Even the national infrastructure is tied heavily into microchips with computerized utilities and transportation systems. For the longest time, the fear of widespread shutdown came from nuclear EMP but now fear has rightfully turned to simpler, more mundane attacks - hidden kill switches. The DoD is concerned enough with the threat of unknown kill switches residing in much of its equipment that DARPA has been tasked heavily with coming up with a detection technique. The idea is very simple, a kill switch does not need to be embedded deeply into a system to make it shutdown, even if a common integrated circuit responded to an single number transmitted by radio and shut itself down, an entire system could turn off depending on the nature of the shutdown circuit - e.g. power supply. Part of the kill switch conspiracy hubbub was revived following the Israeli air strike against the alleged Syrian nuclear facility. Amazingly, the advanced Syrian radar warning systems "just failed."

Could this impetus bring manufacturing back to domestic plants to impose better regulations and bring increased security?

It's always interested me there is no percentage listed next to the protein value on Nutrition Facts labels. The values of other items, such as "Total Fat" or "Total Carb," are listed based on an assumed caloric intake - usually 2,000 calories, or so. When it comes to protein, however, there is nothing. Even obvious percentages (e.g., corresponding to 0g protein in bottled water) are omitted.

While waiting for a smoothie at Smoothie King the other day, though, I examined the back of a random protein bar and saw a percentage value was present. Curious, I checked the protein powder tubs and saw it was also listed there. "That makes sense." I thought. "They're selling a product based on its protein content."

But wait, does it really make sense? Does an aspiring body-builder need to know the protein content more than an average joe? Is protein content not a part of diet planning just like carbohydrates or fats? Given the volume of online information on the subject, it is obvious a percentage could be calculated. Why not include it?