DRIVING carefully may not be enough to protect you in your car. Many drivers often forget about the potentially harmful effects of UV radiation through windscreens and window glass.

How much UV protection do your car windows or windscreen provide?

Ultra-violet radiation (UVR) is comprised of UVA, UVB and UVC rays. UVC is scattered by the atmosphere, but UVA and UVB reach the earth’s surface and are of particular concern, because they can cause skin cancer. Two thousand Queenslanders are diagnosed with melanoma each year(1), so it’s not an issue to be taken lightly.

UVR levels inside your car can vary depending on factors such as whether the side windows are open or closed and the car’s orientation to the sun. Altho

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There was a really positive response to the ‘marketable hobby’ concept in my post about shifting the perception of what retirement is and should be, so I thought it would be great to explore it a little further with everyone and give it a post of its own. What exactly is this ‘marketable hobby’ thing?

Marketable Hobby: A definition

Let’s first start off with the hobby part of the definition. Wikipedia defines a hobby as:

“An activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, often in one’s spare time.”

I think that sums it up just about right. Doing something

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Yves Smith and I received a tip at the weekend from a friend who reads the German press regularly about credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt. Read Yves’ piece based on that article here. Below is mine.

Previously, I had mentioned the CDS exposure of the hapless German Landesbanks (banks owned by the individual German states or Länder – hence the term Landesbank). These same companies lost enormous amounts of money in the subprime meltdown – and apparently they have all sorts of other toxic exposure like Greek CDS still on the books.

So I find it interesting that the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine is focussing instead on the AIG CDS connection to Greece. Here’s

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Seen on a recent Citibank (C) statement: “Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change.”

Whoa. Is this an April Fool’s joke? A contingency plan to defend against the idea of what “would happen if thousands of [bank] customers pledge to withdraw their money from the bank on a certain day, unless the bonuses are capped?” A strategem cooked up by Citi’s new shareholders from the hedge fund industry, an industry in which such withdrawal gates are common?

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As most of you know, my wife and I have two preschool-aged children and a third one on the way. From April/May of this year to September of 2011, we will have three preschool-aged children in our home, which will be an interesting experience with a lot of unique challenges.

Currently, my wife works outside the home as a teacher. She commutes almost an hour each way to work, which means that she often leaves before seven in the morning and doesn’t return home until five in the evening. W

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Fantasizing about retirement is a favorite past-time for just about anyone who has ever held a 9-to-5. But that dream of what lies ahead is starting to look a whole lot different these days.

How I was Looking at Retirement

I used to look at the end goal of retirement as something off in the distance. Something that would happen around the age of 65, and maybe, just maybe, if I was a good little worker, maxed out my 401K every year, and played all my cards right I could get lucky and bump that up 10 years or so.

But then I started to think… OK, so I work and save and retire and then sit around. Is that what I really want? T

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Terence H. Campbell and Liane Jackson bought a four-bedroom, 3.5-bath home at 2242 W. Melrose St. in Roscoe Village from Matthew R. Phelan and Nicole M. Debruin for $910,000 on Jan. 6.

Phelan and Debruin bought the property for $912,500 in July 2007. The 2,132-square-foot house was built in 1911.

Campbell is a partner and attorney with Cotsirilos, Tighe & Streicker, Ltd. in Chicago. His practice areas include federal criminal defense, civil litigation and appellate work. He joined the firm in 1995.

He obtained a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D.

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