Spam King Released From Prison

Robert Soloway, King of Spam

Just when you thought it was safe to open your email box again…  You probably don’t know Robert Soloway, but it is a certainty that your email box has been the victim of his decade-long, spam spree.  This fellow made a fortune using techniques of questionable legality to flood your inbox with offers for Viagra, porn, Christian singles and counterfeit Prada bags.  In 2007, the law finally caught up to him and he served nearly 4 years for his transgressions.  As online students, you’re probably grateful that he’s been punished for wasting so much of your time cleaning out the spam.  He’s paid his debt to society now though and has sworn off his old, evil ways.  But just in case, a condition of his release from prison requires his emails to be monitored by law enforcement.  Gone are his Mercedes Benzes, Gucci shoes and all his ill-gotten gains.  He now works in a copy shop for $10/ hr.  Maybe Mr. Soloway, you’re interested in a more lucrative new career in Medical Billing and Coding?  You can study it online!

Coffee That Breaks You

Caramel Mocha Macchiato with Ribeye Steak Rare

For many busy students, coffee is an essential part of the routine for staying focused and awake long enough to maintain studies, jobs and family responsibilities.  This blogger has a coffee IV drip set up alongside his computer.  There is no shortage of coffee purveyors competing for your coffee dollars and they have been “one-upping” each other to be your “cup of choice”.  That competition has led to some pretty over the top, unhealthy coffee options.  These may be yummy treats once in a while, but if you drank them every day, you’d need to buy bigger pants in short order.  Here are the top five most decadent coffee drinks: 1. Krispy Kreme’s Mocha Dream Chiller, 20oz: 1,050 calories, 41g total fat EQUAL TO: 6.17 White Castle cheese burgers 2. Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 32oz: 860 calories, 12g of total fat EQUAL TO: 3.44 McDonald’s Hamburgers 3. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Caramel Ice Blended, 24oz: 790 calories, 13g of fat EQUAL TO: 4.16 Taco Bell Chicken Soft Tacos 4. Starbucks White Chocolate Crème Frappuccino w/whip, 24oz: 760 calories, 13g of fat EQUAL TO: 2.23 Burger King Fries (small) 5. Peet’s Coffee & Tea Hot White mocha w/whip, 20oz: 547 calories, 25g total of fat EQUAL TO: 1.95 Subway 6″ Turkey Breast Sandwiches Info courtesy of Grace Nasri, editor at FindTheBest.com, a comparison search engine.

How You Look Affects Your Paycheck

This guy ALWAYS gets passed over for promotions!

This guy ALWAYS gets passed over for promotions!

For those of you getting ready to graduate and enter the workforce in your new career, consider the article here from the Business Insider courtesy of Yahoo!.   In this piece, we are shown the statistics illustrating that how you look has a material impact on how you’re treated and how much you earn in the market.  Cleanshaven men without any balding earn higher than their analogs who are losing hair or growing it on their faces.  Conservatively dressed women earn better than their more revealingly dressed counterparts.  Read the entire piece to learn how you can present yourself to earn the most on the job.

How to Get Paid What You’re Worth

WIRED magazine’s DIY section brings us another excellent piece.  Today’s topic is how to get paid what you’re worth when seeking a job.  Follow these easy steps to increase your chances of not only landing a job, but one in which you’ll be compensated commensurate with your abilities and experiences. 1 Use an online salary calculator 2 Schmooze, schmooze, schmooze 3 Commit to negotiating 4 But don’t be a jerk 5 Negotiating Strategy 6 Discount future earnings 7 Above all, be flexible 8 Keep your eyes open 9 Finally Click here to read the details of this strategy and get paid what you’re worth!

Ancestors to Online Learning

Courtesy of Wired’s “This Day in Tech” feature, this piece on the anniversary of the world’s first Computer Bulletin Board System or BBS.  If you’re as old as I am, you may remember the awe you experienced in the early 1980s when you learned you could purchase something called a “modem” that would conect your Apple II or Commodore 64 computer terminal to your telephone (shown in illustration).  This connectivity was the early precursor of the modern Internet.  Early users created Bulletin Board Systems where other users could dial in and share textual messages.  I remember reading a version of the Anarchist’s Cookbook on one such BBS.  We were absolutely smitten as kids, with the idea of being able to communicate computer to computer.  Today, this telecommunication framework has grown into full maturity and the modern website is the great,great,great grandchild of the humble BBS.  Without which, you wouldn’t be reading this post or studying medical billing and coding from the comfort of your own living room or favorite coffee shop.

Free Speech Protected, but Discretion on Facebook Still Wise

The National Labor Review Board won its court case on behalf of an Emergency Medical Technician who was fired from her job for disparaging comments she made about her boss on Facebook.  The NLRB proved that the speech in question was protected under labor laws allowing employees to openly discuss their compensation, work conditions and hours. While the case was won, it still bears noting that what you post on Facebook and other social media sites is available for the world to see pretty much forever.  This case was won but it took a long and expensive legal challenge to prevail.  This is not something that every worker is in a position to accomplish.  More often than not, workers are fired without recourse for what their employers see on their social media pages.  So even though the law is on your side, you may still want to weigh the wisdom of posting anything your boss would be upset to read online (unless you’re prepared to defend it in court).  I generally limit my expressions of job dissatisfaction on social media sites to statements I would be comfortable communicating to my superiors in person.  If I wouldn’t say it to their face, I won’t post it on my wall. Be sure to keep up-to-date with our blog for medical news, and check out our programs at the Allen School of Health Sciences.

Rising Food Costs Will Affect Public Health

Up for the seventh month in a row, the closely watched Food and Agriculture Oganisation Food Price Index on Thursday touched its highest since records began in 1990, and topped the peak of 224.1 in June 2008, during the food crisis of 2007/08.  Several factors contribute to this rise in costs.  We now use food stocks such as corn to make ethanol to burn in our cars.  The logic of using food to make fuel is dubious at best.  The other major factor has been a year fraught with severe weather phenomena from floods, to droughts to frosts which have all decimated crops in many parts of the agricultural producing world. With the price of food skyrocketing, people all over the world will struggle with less food in terms of both quantity and quality.  The effects of a global population eating less (and less nutritious) food and more of their diets being comprised of filler and processed ingredients will have a definite impact on health.

Medical Billing/Coding – Cutting Edge Job

Need more convincing that a career in medical billing and coding is a wise pursuit?  Kiplinger’s released a list of 10 jobs that didn’t exist ten years ago.  These are jobs that have been enabled to a large degree by information technologies and the Internet.  These are positions that are just now coming to the forefront of the career world and are not in any danger of being outsourced or downsized out of existence.   Sure enough, medical billing and coding jobs made Kiplinger’s top 10 list.  Click here to see the full list and marvel at the other careers on the list alongside yours.  Give yourself a pat on the back for being such a trendsetter.

How to Promote Yourself

With so much competition for jobs these days, a good resume and cover letter alone aren’t enough to seal the deal with a hiring authority.  You may have studied to become a medical billing and coding professional, but what you really need to be a salesperson.  Your product?  Yourself!   Here’s a link to some excellent advice on how to sell yourself to employers.