Hasta La Gadget!

Debt sucks.

Credit card debt really sucks.

I’ve seen some unbelievable balances over the years. Besides racking up huge balances on your cards, and living like you’re Ritchie Rich, there are several whopper mistakes you will want to avoid.

What are the whopper credit card mistakes you should avoid?

1. Using your credit card for cash advances. This is a big mistake. The interest rates on cash advances are typically higher than that for everyday purchase. In fact, they are huge. You may be able to get a better deal from a loan shark. I’m serious, these rates are in excess of 21-24%! We’ve all seen the examples of how long it takes to pay off debt at regular rates. Can you imagine owing with rates of over 20%?

2. Paying off medical bills. Most medical billers will negotiate a payment plan with you if you have a large bill. I have yet to find one that charges interest. So here are your terms. You can get an extended payment plan and pay no zero interest. Why on earth would you use a credit card to pay off a large medical bill?

3. Allow your friends to use your card. First, don’t allow anybody to go shopping for anything with your credit card. Second, avoid “helping out a friend in trouble”. Let me tell you why. First, there have been many friendships that have been severed over money. Let’s say you use your credit card to help a friend, with the promise that they will pay you back. Then they don’t. Now you’re stuck with someone else’s debt, and you are no longer friends over the issue.

4. Ignoring new offers. How is this a mistake? You could reduce your interest rate down to zero again. Maybe it only lasts 12 to 18 months, but it could potentially save you thousands of dollars of interest. Just make sure the interest rate you get after the offer period isn’t higher than what you have now. If it is, you need to pay that debt during the 12-18 month offer period.

You could really argue that having credit card debt in the first place is a mistake. However, credit cards can be a great financial tool as long as they are used responsibly. Think before you charge.

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If the rhetoric is to be believed, Florida is a bountiful garden of sustainable energy production. The state Public Service Commission recently reported that the utility grid is dynamic and accessible for customers; that the state’s net metering rules, under attack elsewhere in the nation, are safe; and that the state’s investor-owned utilities are kept on a tight leash by the brotherly, but firm, oversight of the PSC. It is daytime in the Sunshine State, and the grid is humming with 63 megawatts of clean energy.

Disappointingly, Florida’s energy situation is not as lustrous as the PSC would have the public believe. The state’s electric generation capacity from customer-owned renewable energy systems has reached about 63 megawatts (MW). When you consider the fact that Florida’s total summertime solar capacity is 51,373 MW, that 63 MW looks considerably less monumental. Put another way, solar capacity in Florida is about 0.1 percent of total generation capacity. This means almost none of Florida’s energy consumers are powering their homes with solar. Or, if almost none is too vague, try one-tenth of 1 percent. That’s an insult to a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Florida ranks third in the nation for solar potential, but is currently not in the top 10 solar-producing states. Its total installed capacity is dwarfed by that of New Jersey, North Carolina, and Massachusetts, to name a few — all of which are smaller and considerably less sunny. It gets worse. Thirty-seven states have renewable portfolio standard policies, which fines utility companies if they fail to fulfill a certain percentage of a state’s energy needs through renewable power. Florida, among 12 others, lacks even the most basic framework for renewable policy development.

Unfortunately, this is no accident. Utilities companies have launched an unfolding offensive against the burgeoning renewable energy industry. Those following this campaign won’t be surprised to hear that Florida’s solar woes are traceable to utility companies looking to protect their energy monopolies.

The Florida State Legislature, notoriously in the pocket of the state’s four largest utilities, has been responsible for halting efforts to expand Florida’s fertile renewable market. Integrity Florida reports that utilities have contributed more than $18 million to state-level candidates. They have hired former state regulators, pushed rate hikes through the legislature, and sent, on average, one lobbyist for every two state legislators — in every session between 2007 and 2013. Perhaps most disturbingly, the legislature appoints commissioners to the Public Service Commission. The distorted facts from the PSC are even more chilling when one realizes whose hand is playing puppeteer.

The PSC’s stated purpose is to provide competitive market oversight, protect consumers from rate manipulation and act as a trusted interface between customer and utility. By allowing its impartiality to be compromised by vested interests, it has failed in every aspect of its mission. This is all the more shameful given recent polls showing that upward of 75 percent of Florida voters from both parties support rooftop solar and oppose new fees on customers looking to diversify their energy sources.

Floridians echo nationwide trends showing that consumers on both sides of the aisle support renewable energy and broad consumer choice. They have come to expect utilities to resort to underhanded tactics to preserve their anachronistic monopolies. The Sunshine State has the chance to become a worldwide leader in solar generation. If Floridians continue to demand transparency from the PSC, an end to graft and cronyism in their state’s politics, and greater energy choice from their utilities, they may yet seize that opportunity.

Scientists have long known that compounds derived from marijuana have some cancer fighting properties, but a recent discovery demonstrates how exactly one compound may fight tumors.

Published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the research reveals two previously unknown “signaling platforms” in cells that allow THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis known for producing the “high” sensation, to shrink some cancerous tumors.

“THC, the major active component of marijuana, has anti-cancer properties,” Dr. Peter McCormick, a researcher from University of East Anglia in England and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “This compound is known to act through a specific family of cell receptors called cannabinoid receptors. However, it was unclear which of these receptors were responsible for the anti-tumor effects of THC.”

When the researchers applied THC to tumors induced in mice using human breast cancer cells, the interaction between two cannabinoid cell receptors — CB2 and GPR55 — were responsible for THC’s anti-tumor benefits.

“Our findings help explain some of the well-known but still poorly understood effects of THC at low and high doses on tumor growth,” McCormick added. He emphasized in an email to The Huffington Post that dosage is critical to outcome, since the wrong protocol can sometimes increase tumor growth, he said.

“So, the ideal would be either the purified THC in an effective dose provided by a health care provider to reduce the known cognitive side effects and still deliver the appropriate reduction in tumor growth, or a synthetic homolog that provides the same effects,” McCormack said. He added that the research team didn’t screen all tumors and that some types may not respond to this treatment if they do not have compatible receptors expressed.

The endocannabinoid (EC) system is a communications network in the brain and body that is involved in a number of physiological processes that affect a person’s feelings, motor skills and memory. The EC system is responsive to the body’s naturally-occurring endocannabinoids as well as the cannabinoids found in marijuana, like THC. And scientists have found that the CB2 receptor specifically is sensitive to the therapeutic properties of marijuana-based compounds.

This isn’t the first time scientists have found that marijuana can be effective at fighting cancer. Previous studies have found that THC cuts tumor growth in lung cancer in half and also prohibited the cancer from spreading. THC has also been shown to induce death in brain cancer cells.

But THC is just one of many cannabinoids found in marijuana. Others, like CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound in the cannabis plant, has also shown promise in the battle against cancer. Researchers in California found that CBD could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer.

In the United Kingdom, a team of scientists found that six different purified cannabinoids — CBD (Cannabidiol), CBDA (Cannabidiolic acid), CBG (Cannbigerol), CBGA (Cannabigerolic acid), CBGV (Cannabigevarin) and CBGVA (Cannabigevaric acid) — showed a wide range of therapeutic qualities that “target and switch off” pathways that allow cancers to grow.

A number of studies in recent years have demonstrated the medical potential of pot beyond cancer treatment. Purified forms of cannabis has been tied to better blood sugar control, and may help slow the spread of HIV. Legalization of the plant for medical purposes may even lead to lower suicide rates.

Currently, the federal government classifies the plant as one of the “most dangerous” substances alongside heroin and LSD with “no currently accepted medical use.”

McCormack told HuffPost that the researchers are moving toward clinical trials but that it would be at least five years before those would begin.

Town board of Greece, New York had a change of pace on Tuesday when atheist Dan Courtney delivered the meeting’s opening invocation, referencing the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independece.

Instead of referencing a holy text or divine creator, Courtney stepped up to the podium after the Pledge of Allegiance and discussed why he believes the tenets of the country’s free society are under attack and what Americans need to do about it.

In May the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the right of town boards to begin their meetings with sectarian prayer — a decision that many atheists descried as an infringement of the separation of church and state.

In his invocation Courtney urged Americans to look to their own conscience to find the path toward overcoming what he sees as an attack on the freedom’s guaranteed by the Constitution.

“We can say with confidence that it is in seeking the counsel of our conscience that we find the beginning of wisdom. It is in the exercise of our duty as citizens that we find the beginning of knowledge.”

Below is a transcript of Courtney’s invocation, delivered to the Greece, NY town board:

Thank you, members of the town board. Thank you, Supervisor Rielich, for allowing me to offer the invocation.

Freethinkers, atheists, non-believers, whatever label you wish, this group comprises a significant part of our population. I am honored to be providing an invocation on their behalf, and on behalf of all the citizens of the town of Greece.

On July 4th, 1776, the 56 men, who pledged their lives to the document that changed the course of history, agreed to the central tenet that, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

More than 238 years later this central premise still echoes, however faintly, from the town hall to the white columned halls of Washington.

Yet this premise, this foundation necessary for a free and flourishing society, is today, more than ever, under assault.

This central pillar of a free society; this notion that is deeply heretical to authoritarian culture, proclaims that it is from the people that moral authority is derived.

It is that within us, the citizens, that knowledge and wisdom must emerge.

The preservation of this premise does not come from accepting the status quo, but by asserting our rights and exercising our duties.

That this premise still endures testifies to its truth, and we can say with confidence that it is in seeking the counsel of our conscience that we find the beginning of wisdom.

It is in the exercise of our duty as citizens that we find the beginning of knowledge.

We, as citizens, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega of our destiny are not, as the great philosopher Immanuel Kant warned, mere means to the ends of another, but we are ends in ourselves.

This basic premise, this profound idea, guides us such that we need not kneel to any king, and we need not bow to any tyrant.

So I ask all officials present here, as guarantors of our founder’s revolutionary proclamation, to heed the counsel of the governed; to seek the wisdom of all citizens, and to honor the enlightened wisdom and the profound courage of those 56 brave men. Thank you.

By: Matt Meltzer

Credit: Shutterstock

While you might put travel agent right up there with VCR repair man and video store clerk on the list of jobs that have gone the way of the Yellow Pages, there’s a reason you still see them wedged into strip malls between your dry cleaner and the new VaporZone. Turns out that — even in a world where everybody coordinates their own vacation plans — travel agents account for about ONE THIRD of the travel industry’s revenue. Seriously, in 2014. Who knew.

Not only can they do things the Internet can’t, but they also still collect a lot of their fees from vendors, which means… best part, they don’t even charge you! Which is why we’ve compiled these 10 reasons you might want to go old-school and let a travel agent plan your next trip.

1. They know whether you’re actually getting a good deal
Since 90% of the airline tickets you buy are for a domestic flight to see your parents, your knowledge of the relative value of a flight to London is, how shall we say, limited. A travel agent, however, books, like, 74 of those a day and will know immediately if the $600 whatever website told you is a “smoldering price” is actually reasonable.

2. Travel agents know where to go in a city, or know someone who does
If you don’t happen to be headed to one of Thrillist’s 30 cities, it helps to have a reputable resource available who knows the best restaurants, dive bars, or cockfighting arenas without having to sift through a thousand ridiculous reviews about how the waitress didn’t bring the table enough bread. Since they book trips all the time, TA’s know this stuff like the back of their hands. And if they don’t, they’re one call away from getting you an answer.

More: The 15 Most Annoying Travelers In The World

Credit: Flickr User Jason Tester Guerrilla Futures

3. They’ve got your back when it comes to flight delays/cancellations
Try calling a website when your flight gets cancelled and the line to rebook stretches through the terminal. Even if you get through to the airline directly, they still don’t have a clue who you are. Call your travel agent, though, and they’ll get you squared away on another flight while you get squared away at the airport bar.

4. They can actually get you seats together, on the same flight, for the same price
Rather than spend a week on a group text trying to coordinate your big Splashin’ Safari Water Park Summer vacay, only to book your flights separately online and find you’re all sitting next to different people who clip their toenails (and paid different fares), a travel agent can get your entire group the same ticket price, with seats together, on the same flight.

Credit: Flickr User Mystic Country CT

5. They can get you VIP status without being a VIP
Restaurant supposedly booked for months? Yeah, that’s no issue for a travel agent. Need a table at the hottest club in Sioux Falls? They’ve got more promoters on speed dial than a South Beach swimsuit model. Thanks to the relationships they maintain across the tourism industry, they can also score you tix to special tours, private tastings, and other events the Internet doesn’t even know about. Or, if it does, has hidden so deep it’ll take you hours to find out about them.

6. And speaking of hours on the Internet, TAs do all the research for you
Websites don’t seem to understand that when you say “search nearby airports”, it doesn’t mean “I’m totally fine with being the guy who asks my roommate for a ride to an airport 75 miles away so I can save $45”. Travel Agents know your airport preferences, and won’t tease you with cheap flights that involve leaving and returning to airports that’re in different states. Unless you want them to.

7. They get better prices, first
That $49 one-way flight your email update indicated was a “fresh new deal” was actually available to your travel agent last week, because they have better relationships with airlines and wholesalers. Which also means their prices are… ready for this… usually BETTER than online. Especially for complicated or premium fares.

Credit: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Europe District

8. They do more than book flights
That African safari looks like a great time, but you do realize it requires a lot more legwork than just pressing “Buy Now” on the roundtrip ticket to Kinshasa, right? In addition to visas, you’ll likely require a series of semi-crippling inoculations before you go, too. Unsure where to go for either visas or shots? Well, lo and behold, guess who can set both of those up for you?

9. They have Southwest’s prices too
Fun as it is planning your flight, calculating baggage, seat selection, and water fees, then repeating the whole process on Southwest.com to seeing if it’s cheaper, a travel agent can do the comparison shopping for you. And he or she can do it with any other airline that doesn’t play the online search engine game.

10. No-hassle 24-hour changes
“Non-refundable” on your online reservation — be it a flight, hotel reservation, Duck Tour, whatever — usually means you have 24 hours to make changes without penalty. Most people don’t realize this. Yes, even a “non-refundable” airline ticket can be changed. The only catch, you have to actually call and deal directly with the airline. Or, instead of spending hours on hold listening to “all agents are currently busy”, you can let your travel agent happily fix the ticket. Your call.

More from Thrillist:

The 20 Worst People On Every Airplane

Secrets Of The World’s Elite Pickpockets

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