November 12, 2004 -> Gaming-Age Forums - (GS) EA workers readying class action law suit against EA -> Gaming-Age Forums - Do teachers earn good money in the USA? -> MSNBC - 59-year-old grandmother pregnant with twins -> Gaming-Age Forums - IGN mail: Fran flips out?!? -> Federal Taxing and Spending Benefit Some States, Leave Others Footing the Bill -> Rider Diaries: M.T.A. Plans Few Cuts in Its Headquarters Staff -> WFTV.com - Police Taser 6-Year-Old Boy At Elementary School   http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=23047 acklame Member (Today, 05:08 AM) Reply | Quote   (GS) EA workers readying class action law suit against EA #1 http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/1...ws_6112998.html EA workers readying class action lawsuit against EA Lawyer representing plaintiffs addresses "proposed class action" lawsuit seeking unpaid overtime from the world's biggest third-party publisher. Yesterday, a blog entry from the spouse of a worker at Electronic Arts lashed out against the game giant. "The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm--seven days a week--with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm)," read the post, which went on to claim EA employees receive no overtime, 'comp' time, or additional vacation for their efforts. Like most blogs, the veracity of "EA Spouse's" online rant was questionable at best. However, after receiving much attention online, GameSpot News decided to investigate the matter--and found there might be some truth behind the blogger's anger. Following a tip from an informed source, GameSpot contacted Attorney Robert C. Schubert, partner at San Francisco law firm Schubert & Reed LLP. He said that he has initiated legal proceedings to start a class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of EA employees. "We are seeking unpaid overtime for a good number of [EA] employees who weren't [properly] paid," Schubert told GameSpot this afternoon. "EA contends they were exempt," Schubert said. "We contend otherwise." To recover the money felt owed them, said employees are trying to file a class action lawsuit against EA seeking overtime pay. On July 29, the complaint Jamie Kirschenbaum vs. Electronic Arts, Inc. was filed in San Mateo Superior Court. Kirschenbaum is one of the members of the Sims 2 design team, although his current employment status at EA could not be clarified as of press time. However, to initiate a class action suit, a group must first be first certified as a "class" by the court. Schubert also said that until a class is certified by the court, he couldn't say how many individuals would seek to participate in the legal action. "We haven't been certified as a class yet," said Schubert, who admitted that certification "is a big battle." And it looks like the lines for that battle are already being drawn. GameSpot was sent a copy of an e-mail purportedly sent to Electronic Arts employees over the summer, alerting them to the lawsuit. The e-mail went so far as to inform them that if they chose to participate in the lawsuit by joining the class, if it were to be certified, there would be no repercussions. The e-mail, while not yet confirmed to be authentic, frames the dispute between the proposed class and Electronic Arts as follows: "On July 29, 2004, a class action lawsuit was filed against Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA"). This communication responds to earlier email communications from EA management regarding the litigation. The lawsuit alleges that EA improperly classified some of its employees, including 'animators,' 'modelers,' 'texture artists,' 'lighters,' 'background effects artists' and 'environmental artists' as exempt from overtime, and therefore failed to pay those employees overtime compensation. Plaintiff's action seeks statutory penalties, damages, restitution, and injunctive relief. "EA denies plaintiff's claim. It is EA's position that it treats its employees fairly and lawfully, and that it has properly classified its employees within the meaning of the law. The plaintiff is seeking to bring this lawsuit on behalf of himself and to represent a proposed class of current and former EA employees as a class action. The Court has not yet certified this case as a class action" "If the case is certified, members of the class will be notified as directed by the Court, and may be given the opportunity to be excluded from the class ("opting out"), or to hire their own lawyers to represent them" "EA will not retaliate against employees for exercising legal rights, including by participating in the proposed class action." According to Schubert, the most recent action taken by the court was the denial of a motion by EA that would have stopped the certification process in its tracks. E-mails to Electronic Arts requesting comment had not been returned at press time.   http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=23107 psycho_snake Member (Today, 05:30 PM) Reply | Quote   Do teachers earn good money in the USA? #1 The only reason that I would want to become a teacher is because of the long holidays. In England, teachers are paid well, especially if you are working in a private school, but I hate England so much and I don't plan to work there in the future. Does anyone know if teachers earn well in the USA or Canada, because it would definately be a job worth considering. Last edited by psycho_snake : Today at 05:36 PM. Teh Hamburglar 8D (Today, 05:32 PM) Reply | Quote   #2 Most teachers I've talked to have two jobs. One during school year and one for summer. naz Happy &%$!ing birthday... (Today, 05:32 PM) Reply | Quote   #3 no Boogie Humanity's last line of Defense against the Apocalypse (Today, 05:41 PM) Reply | Quote   #4 Teachers in Canada get paid pretty well. xsarien .daed si luaP (Today, 05:44 PM) Reply | Quote #5 How much you get paid as a teacher in the U.S. depends *entirely* on where you wind up teaching. My high school teachers, by all accounts, made a pretty decent amount of money. Nothing over-the-top, but they weren't exactly hurting either. But you also can get the polar opposite, where you'll need two jobs and sometimes need to buy supplies for your students out of your own pocket because of local financial problems. Last edited by xsarien : Today at 05:48 PM. RevenantKioku Jumped the Shark (Today, 05:45 PM) Reply | Quote   #6 Good lord no. But if you put up for it for a long time, you can get lucky like my father and get a position where you only teach 2 classes a day (instead of 3) and get paid more. psycho_snake Member (Today, 05:50 PM) Reply | Quote   #7 I'm not exactly looking for tons of money. if I wanted to get loads of money, I would go for something to do with computers. For me, a good pay would be $60,000, but I'm not sure if a teacher can make that much money... Vicious Member (Today, 05:51 PM) Reply | Quote #8 Funniest question ever.   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6469784/ Elliott Minor / AP 59-year-old grandmother pregnant with twins Multiple birth would break record set by 56-year-old mother Frances Harris, 59, who is set to deliver in December, could become the oldest woman in the U.S. to give birth to twins. Updated: 11:38 a.m. ET Nov. 12, 2004   SYLVESTER, Ga. - A 59-year-old great-grandmother is pregnant with twins and will deliver next month, three decades after she had her tubes tied. “They came untied,” Frances Harris said Thursday. The multiple birth Dec. 21 would break the purported record set this week by a 56-year-old New York City mother of twins. Harris, of rural Sylvester, Ga., said she wasn’t trying to get pregnant — and didn’t realize she was — until she started gaining weight and went to see her doctor. “A lot of things changed about me,” she said. “I started craving grapes and apples, things I don’t usually crave. By then I was four months pregnant.” When the doctor broke the news, “They had to sit me down. I couldn’t even talk,” she said. The news was even more shocking considering Harris — the mother of five, grandmother of 14 and great-grandmother of six — had her tubes tied 33 years ago after the birth of her youngest child. Jeff Christensen / Reuters file Aleta St. James, who turned 57 on Nov. 12, became pregnant by in-vitro fertilization. She is seen here holding her twin babies. Harris had her first child when she was 15; 44 years will separate her first-born from the newborns. She was divorced years ago from the twins’ father, 60-year-old Raymond Harris, a heavy equipment operator. She said they will remarry before the birth.  The oldest American believed to have given birth to twins is Aleta St. James, a single mother who turns 57 on Friday. She gave birth Tuesday by in-vitro fertilization at New York City’s Mount Sinai Medical Center. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 263 children were born to women between ages 50 and 54 in 2002. The oldest American to give birth is Arceli Keh, of California, who was 63 when she had a daughter in 1996. Harris said some family members, concerned about health complications, had suggested she end the pregnancy. “I couldn’t live with myself,” she said. “I pray we all three pull through. When they’re so little, they’re so beautiful. I think they are God’s gift.”   http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=23058 Mrbob Unfortunate Inheritance (Today, 07:04 AM) Reply | Quote   IGN mail: Fran flips out?!? #1 Holy crap! http://insider.ign.com/mail.html Some funny snippets: Quote: Okay, so, get this: while Microsoft is out arranging big Halo 2 promotions like Midnight Madness, Nintendo has some brilliant PR campaigns like donating 1,000 doors to Habitat for Humanity to celebrate the launch of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and do a good deed at the same time. Okay, for freakin' starters, it's JUST ONE DOOR in the game! It's a THOUSAND-YEAR DOOR, as in "1000-year," an adjective. Maybe had they donated 1,000 years of extended life to residents, well then I just may be impressed. Quote: Like I said, it's nice that Nintendo is doing some charity work, but this is not the image Mario needs and, more importantly, why is someone arranging photo-ops like this and not focusing on -- oh, I don't know -- Metroid Prime 2? This is how Nintendo PR combats an aggressive marketplace… WTF!? Thanks Mario, for making the world a better place! Where's Master Chief during these times of trial and tribulation? Not building houses in a suit that's got to reek of funk in about 30 seconds flat, that's for sure. He's mowing alien-tail down with duel-wielded weaponry, that's where! That's not a role model for your kids, now is it? Instead, buy Nintendo games because it builds houses with its world-changing mascots. Quote: Microsoft is dominating the press with Halo 2. It's a phenomenon. I'm hearing the Halo 2 chorus just randomly playing on radio stations. Everyone talks about it. It practically sells itself, but Microsoft spent a lot of time and money promoting it. Meanwhile, what's going on with Metroid Prime 2? Gotta tell ya', the game isn't even out and as a member of the press I can tell you there's only about a dozen people that even understand what the game is about. Or, whether it's going to be any good or not. Where is the flashy Metroid Prime 2 trailer in theaters? There's like one very lame commercial ad. This for a game that has some of the most beautiful atmospheres I've seen in recent videogames. This is one of the funniest rants I've read in awhile! Good reading but I noticed you might need insider to read the whole thing!    http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxingspending.html Federal Taxing and Spending Benefit Some States, Leave Others Paying Bill New Mexico gets $1.99 for every dollar in taxes, New Jersey only 57 cents WASHINGTON, D.C.—Some states feast at the expense of others, according to the Tax Foundation’s latest annual analysis of federal taxing and spending patterns. All taxpayers know that the federal government uses tax and spending policy to redistribute income from citizens with high incomes to those who make little, but citizens are less aware about geographically based income redistribution. Tax Foundation Senior Economist Scott Moody compares the federal tax burden in each state with Census Bureau data (2003) on federal spending in each state. The result is a ranking of which states got the best deal in 2003 from Uncle Sam’s tax and spending policies. Federally Favored States “During fiscal 2003, taxpayers in New Mexico benefited the most from the give-and-take with Uncle Sam,” said Moody. New Mexico received $1.99 in federal outlays for every $1.00 the state’s taxpayers sent to Uncle Sam. Other big winners were Alaska ($1.89), Mississippi ($1.83), and West Virginia ($1.82). (See tables below). The District of Columbia’s Special Status Though not comparable as a state, the District of Columbia is by far the biggest beneficiary of federal spending: In 2003 it received $6.59 in federal outlays for every dollar its taxpayers sent to the U.S. Treasury. “The District’s share of federal largesse amounted to $60,109 for every man, woman and child,” said Moody. “That’s more than ten times the national average.” States That Help Others If some states are beneficiaries, then naturally some must be benefactors—those states where so much is collected in federal taxes that any federal spending they receive is overwhelmed. New York has often been the biggest payer in the Tax Foundation’s annual comparison of taxes to spending, which inspired Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the Kennedy School of Government to launch their annual reference book comparing state taxes with spending (www.ksg.harvard.edu/fisc99) more than 25 years ago. In recent years, however, other states have eclipsed New York for the “blessing” of being the state that gives far more than it receives. Combining the third highest tax burden per capita with the ninth lowest federal spending, New Jersey had the lowest federal spending-to-tax ratio (57¢). Other states that had low federal spending-to-tax ratios in FY 2003 are New Hampshire (64¢), Connecticut (65¢), Minnesota (70¢), Nevada (70¢), and Illinois (73¢). Changing Ranks The state that raised its ratio the most over the past ten years is Alaska where federal spending rose from $1.30 to $1.89 for each dollar in taxes. This 59-cent increase beats out Alabama, where federal spending increased 35¢ per dollar of tax, West Virginia (33¢ more spending per dollar), and Kentucky (32¢ more spending per dollar). States where the ratio dropped most are Colorado and Massachusetts. Colorado has seen its federal spending-to-tax ratio fall 20¢ from $1.00 in FY 1994 to 80¢ in FY 2003. Massachusetts’s has dropped 18¢. What Affects Rankings? Federal spending on defense and other procurement dollars are often funneled to the states of powerful Members of Congress, and state governments can grab more federal grant money by skillfully manipulating their spending to comply with federal regulations. However, demography may be more influential than politics. States with more residents on Social Security, Medicare and other large federal entitlements are bound to rank fairly high. Similarly, the high spending levels in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia are explained by the predominance of federal employees. On the tax side of the equation, states with higher incomes per capita—New Jersey stands out—pay much higher federal taxes per capita because of the income tax’s progressive structure. The citizens in these high-income, high-tax states do not always live better or save more than people in low-income, low-tax states because the cost of living is usually that much higher or more.   Adjusted Federal Expenditures Per Dollar of Taxes Over Time by State Fiscal Years 1994-2003 State 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Alabama $1.34 $1.31 $1.33 $1.37 $1.39 $1.42 $1.50 $1.54 $1.61 $1.69 Alaska 1.30 1.21 1.27 1.34 1.36 1.48 1.58 1.58 1.82 1.89 Arizona 1.11 1.13 1.11 1.08 1.10 1.16 1.18 1.14 1.20 1.23 Arkansas 1.24 1.22 1.24 1.30 1.31 1.33 1.39 1.46 1.53 1.47 California 0.98 0.94 0.93 0.92 0.90 0.87 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.78 Colorado 1.00 0.95 0.96 0.91 0.91 0.88 0.84 0.82 0.79 0.80 Connecticut 0.67 0.68 0.69 0.67 0.70 0.69 0.66 0.67 0.64 0.65 Delaware 0.79 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 0.90 0.88 0.85 0.84 0.82 Florida 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.07 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.04 0.99 1.00 Georgia 0.99 0.96 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.99 1.02 1.01 0.95 Hawaii 1.29 1.26 1.37 1.40 1.47 1.47 1.45 1.48 1.51 1.58 Idaho 1.12 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.22 1.20 1.22 1.27 1.34 1.32 Illinois 0.74 0.74 0.75 0.77 0.78 0.79 0.81 0.80 0.77 0.73 Indiana 0.82 0.84 0.89 0.92 0.93 0.95 0.99 1.01 0.99 0.96 Iowa 1.10 1.06 1.08 1.06 1.12 1.17 1.11 1.21 1.22 1.06 Kansas 1.07 1.05 1.03 1.02