The federal government raided Nashville rapper Young Buck’s residence Tuesday morning over a $300,000 past tax bill, the rapper has released.

The agents forcibly came to the rapper’s home with shotguns and seized recording recording equipment, jewelry, furniture, and his platinum plaques, a statement said.

That rapper has had serious issues with back taxes since leaving G-Unit and his lawyers even filed a motion to protect his assets.  That didn’t prevent the raid.

Buck said he was saddened by the raid and it has actually taken away much of his ability to generate revenue.

“The worst part of this isn’t the material stuff–that will all be replaced. It’s what it does to the people around me. They took my kids’ Playstation, my assistants’ computers, and baby’s mothers’ jewelry. They took my home studio so I can’t even record,” he said.

The federal officials didn’t take Buck’s house or his vehicle.

Young Buck says he has already started paying closer attention to his finances and hopes for a dramatic change.

“I have a new team in place, but I am also paying full attention now. Nothing like this will ever happen again. This is a huge wake up call for all entertainers to stay on top of your own trusted employees and team members, and replace anyone that was put in place by your record label if the situation you have goes sour,” he explained. :This IRS situation came about because I trusted accountants, lawyers, and managers to handle my business for me while I focused on making music. From now on, I am going to stay on top of my own business.”

For his fans Buck simply said, “Things you go through in life make you who you are and I’m alright!”

The number of North Carolina students being home-schooled has more than doubled over the last decade, according to data released Monday by the state Division of Non-Public Education.

In the 2009-10 school year, more than 81,000 children attended more than 43,000 home schools – defined as “a non-public school in which one or more children of not more than two families or households receive academic instruction from parents or legal guardians, or a member of either household.”

That number is up from about 28,000 students in 16,000 schools in 1999-2000 and 809 students in 381 schools in 1985-86, the first year for which data is available.

On Saturday, a private jet carrying Dave Chappelle made an emergency landing in Pittsburgh.

The plane’s pilot claimed that he couldn’t handle Chappelle’s erratic behavior.

From TMZ:

A source extremely familiar with the incident tells TMZ Chappelle boarded a private jet in New Jersey last night bound for Ohio — where the actor lives.

During the flight, we’re told Dave “freaked out” and refused to put his seat belt on. Then — according to sources — Dave repeatedly walked into the cockpit, asking how much longer the flight would be, and started grabbing the pilot’s arms.

We’re told Chappelle then checked into a nearby hotel for the night. Sources at the hotel tell us Dave has been telling hotel employees he wanted to rent a car to drive back to Ohio … only he couldn’t remember where he lived.

Hmmm….

Via: ASE.org

Programmable thermostats are an extremely effective way to save serious money on your heating and cooling costs. So replacing our house’s old manual model was a top priority soon after we moved in. And while it may look tricky at first, it’s actually a fairly straight forward project. Just make sure it’s actually programmed.

The Alliance has some background information on programmable thermostats, explaining the benefits and how automatically reducing your heating and cooling can save you energy and money.  

Step one is, of course, to acquire a shiny new programmable thermostat. You may still be able to select one with an ENERGY STAR label, though that label has been suspended as of December 31, 2009; those that did qualify for the label are minimally capable of having separate weekday and weekend programs, and four settings per day.

Regardless, those are the sort of capabilities you should look for. Whether you need one that can handle different programs for different days of the week (often labeled ‘7-day’) or one that just does weekdays and weekends (often labeled something like ‘5-2′ or ‘5-1-1′) is up to you. You can save some cash with a 5-2. Since my wife often works from home, I went for a seven-day model so that we could program her schedule into the thermostat.

Assuming you don’t have any particularly exotic heating and cooling system, most any available thermostat will work. For example, I’ve got forced air heat and a standard split AC system.

If you’ve got a geothermal heat exchanger or a chilled water cooling system, I can tell you that a) you’re probably too advanced for this blog, and b) you will need to look more closely at specifications before you buy to ensure compatibility.

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Via: The Urban Daily

We showed you the teaser for Usher’s “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)” video, now we’ve got the full version!

Via: WRAL

The Triangle has seen a 43% sales jump in December.

Last month, 1,554 homes were sold in the Triangle, compared with 1,089 in December 2008. The average sale price dropped from $236,888 to $222,590 during that period.

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