OOPS! My mistake on the meat thief story earlier today
I wrote a post about the restaurant owner who clubbed a potential meat thief with a ham, driving the would-be crook away and getting his frozen meat back. The problem, however, was that I placed the incident in ENGLAND, when actually it happened in Gloucester, Massachusetts, NOT in England.
So consider this a correction. But, hey, I was only a few thousand miles, a different country, and a different culture off. Other than that, I had it right.
Okay, so maybe next time I'll get it right.
How about it — do weight-loss supplements work? What works for you?
For those of you who know me, you know I'm an Old Balding Fat Guy. No getting around it, I've struggled to lose weight all my life. For those of you who don't know me -- I'm still an Old Balding Fat Guy, and, no, I'm not getting ready to tell you how a particular weight loss "magic lotion or potion" helped me lose 30 pounds in 30 days while I continued to stuff doughnuts down twice a day. Nope. That doesn't work.
I've read about a ton of weight-loss products, from SlimFast to Orovo detox, from the scrambled eggs and stewed tomatoes diet my grandma put me on three days a week when I was a kid, to popping six safflower oil capsules a day and exercising vigorously when I was a teenager. (The eggs and tomatoes really weren't that bad; the safflower capsules were tasteless and the exercise did me good.)
So what do you think about weight-loss supplements? Have you tried any? Did the work? I'm just curious about this because every time I turn on the television for a newscast, it seems like there's something going on about the latest how-tos for losing weight or now-we-must-or-we-all-die prophecies of doom about American obesity.
What works or doesn't work? Tell us about your experiences, please.
[tags]weight-loss supplements, diet and exercise, losing weight, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Meat thief halted by ham to the face — those Brits know how to have fun
This is an amusing, sort of, story about an attempted meat theft in England. You can read the details here, about how the restaurant owner hammed it up and foiled the bad guy.
Apparently, the thief, arms loaded with 20 pounds of frozen meat -- two bags of linguica, a prosciutto log and a ham -- takes advantage of the lunch rush and cruises out the outside cellar door of this restaurant in Gloucester, England. But the restaurant owner, no chump himself, knows he's the only one who should be going out that door. Racing to the street, he sees one of his waitresses returning from break. "Who's that guy carrying the meat down the street?" she asks her equally puzzled boss.
When the restaurateur cornered the guy, the guy swung the 5-pound, frozen solid log of prosciutto above his head in a threatening way, so the restaurateur slammed the guy in the face with the ham.
End of theft. End of story. (The police never found the suspect. He apparently is still on the lamb -- I mean, lam.)
[tags]British news, attempted meat theft, ham foils meat robber, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Call it a recession or not — it’s starting to really hurt people, isn’t it?
I have only one very small investment in stocks. In what's left of a dividend reinvestment plan I wanted to try a couple of decades ago, I still own just over 5 shares of Wendy's stock. Too long a story for this, but I want that noted when I talk about stocks and/or the stock market. (My 5.? shares of Wendy's are currently worth -- I just checked this online -- approximately $115. Of course, to cash in on that fortune I would also have to pay 1) some sort of broker's fees, and, 2) a ridiculously high tax rate.
My son, however, who is single and has a nice income, has managed to invest several thousands in well-thought-out portfolio over the last 7-8 years. I'm proud of him, and happy for him.
I'm less happy for him when he tells me that several years of careful, thoughtful stock investing has left him currently just breaking even with the money he's invested: No gain, no loss -- just pain at watching the market juke up and down like a bad boy on crack. Or, as he put it when he came by the house last night: "Wall Street will never put a price on a company's stock based on the company's true value and stability." Or something like that.
I know there are people out there suffering in real ways much more seriously than my son does over his stock investments. Many are out of work, have lost or are loosing their homes. I'm even hearing stories about people who have taken their family pets to the local shelter because they could no longer afford the rising cost of pet food. That's not just sad, that's pathetic.
I just heard our President (well, I didn't vote for him, but nevertheless ...) do his best to ease fears about the economy at a speech in New York City. I wasn't listening closely (after all, I gotta work and make a living, too), but he opened the speech with two comments on the economy: 1) After 56 months of job growth, we have to expect a few stumbles, and, 2) the rebate checks soon will be in the mail and will have a major impact on helping the economy.
So, what do I think about that? First, I doubt any of the 63,000 Americans who lost their jobs last month for whatever reason are comforted by his "suck it up" attitude about job losses, and, 2) I really hope those checks will indeed help when they finally do come in the mail. But I doubt it.
Ah, well, what do I know. I'm just a guy who reads the papers.
[tags]stock market, economic downturn, recession, economic hardships, job loss, tax rebate checks[/tags]
Funny how ‘hard’ it is to provide serious, universal health care in America
I was thinking of the mess we call health care in America. Actually, when we say "health care," in most conversations we really mean "health insurance." Think about that: Only rarely do we mean that system of medical care which helps us be well, and helps us treat illness, when we speak about health care. Why do you suppose that is?
Probably because the whole idea of health care is now dominated by the interests of health insurance companies and HMOs.
When our children were born (this really dates me, doesn't it?) back in the mid-1970s, we had no health insurance. Not only that, but most of the people we knew had no health insurance. But we were living in small towns in South Dakota and most doctors, clinics, and hospitals were 1) affordable, and 2) willing to work out payment plans we -- and most people we knew -- could afford.
I still remember later in the 1970s when we first heard of HMOs. They were considered the solution to rising medical costs. HMOs were supposed to be the saviors of American health care.
HAH! We all realize by now, don't we, that the HMOs and the health insurance companies together are the root of the problem with today's health care, right? They very simply and clearly control a huge percentage of health delivery and health costs in America. No question about it.
And THAT'S why it's really "hard" to get serious health care for all Americans -- simply because the HMOs and insurance companies do not want to loose the control and the money they will need to relinquish if we are ever to get serious, universal health care in this country.
You can take that to the bank.
[tags]health care, HMOs, insurance companies, universal health care, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Beware of the increase in metal thefts — lock up all your fillings
Okay, so metal theft hasn't become a big enough problem to require you to lock up your silver and/or gold fillings yet (unless your a dental lab?), but it might soon.
I hadn't given much thought to this until my daughter came by the house and mentioned that her contacts "on the street" tell her that empty aluminum cans are going for about $1.00 per pound right now. She knows my wife has a habit of saving all our aluminum pop cans, tossing them into empty green garbage bags and stacking the bags in the basement for one of our annual trips to the "Can Man." Sounds like it's a good time right now for that trip. We probably have 50 pounds setting down there.
Being curious, I "Googled" the phrase metal thefts -- and found out that there's a worldwide epidemic of thefts of industrial metals right now as prices are skyrocketing. By "industrial," I/they mean mostly copper and aluminum. Even found a story about a rural power outage that took longer to resolve because some bad guys swiped the copper cabling out of the repair truck while it was left parked on a county road for a few hours!
So, whether you've got a bag full of cans or a few truck tool boxes worth of copper wiring lying around your house -- case it in. Cash it in now, before the bad guys can target it.
[tags]metal thefts, copper and aluminum prices, industrial metal prices soar, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Can we ever really trust politicians? How do we REALLY know how to vote?
In the wake of the currently unfolding scandal with New York's Gov. Spitzer, my usually strong sense of cynicism has really kicked into high gear -- hence the title of this post.
Can we ever really trust politicians? If so, how do we find those who are trustworthy? If not, what recourse do we have as voters and citizens/residents in this fair land??
What is it about political power that is so addictive that people will literally sell their souls and their honor to the highest bidders just to attain it and maintain it. Talk about the need for addiction treatment! These guys (and gals) are so addicted to power that there's no limit to what they'll do.
I use the vague "they" here, because I mean not just Spitzer in particular but the thousands who have come before him in every city, county, and state in our land -- and those still around and still to come. I simply don't have knowledge enough nor time enough to make specific lists, but U.S. history is filled with them at every level: People who do and say whatever it takes to get elected and stay elected.
I've just about come to the conclusion that we ultimately CANNOT know how to vote or who to vote for, we can only guess.
Perhaps the "throw the rascals out" mentality of term limitations needs to be put in place across the board and adhered to without exception. At least that would give us a new set of scoundrels every 2-4-6 years.
Ah, well, what do I know? I'm just a guy who reads the papers.
[tags]political corruption, addiction to power, addiction treatment, political term limits, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Parents: Have you checked on what drugs your children may be drinking today??
What an amazing story: In a country where people are increasingly more concerned about natural foods, organic foods, healthy eating and drinking, etc., we now find out we may be ingesting unwanted -- and unprescribed! -- small amounts of drugs in our cities' drinking water.
How bizarre is that??
Of course, public officials are quick to assure us that the amounts of these drugs are so minuscule as to be irrelevant, not to worry, etc. That's so reassuring coming from the Bush Administration's EPA officials. (NOTE: Large dose of sarcasm and cynicism intended in that last sentence.)
Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me we'd be well served to develop the technology to filter out this stuff NOW rather than later. Why on earth would anyone suggest ingesting even tiny amounts of unnecessary pain killers, anti-epileptic, anti-anxiety, and sedative drugs would NOT be harmful over decades of time is beyond me.
Oh, and the bad news is: According to reports, the water filters we use in our homes probably won't work to filter out this stuff -- and many bottled water companies either use unfiltered tap water or simply don't filter for the stuff, either.
What are we to do? I don't know. I would suggest learning all we can about the problem, including checking with your local water supply company/utility to find out whether it's a problem with them.
Ah, well, what do I know? I'm just a guy who reads the papers.
[tags]water supply, drugs in water, water filtration, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Backgammon Masters adds Bulgarian to its 21, blackjack, and poker software
I've never played online backgammon, poker, blackjack, or any of the other many online casino and gambling games. But this is a "Useful Website" for those of you out there who want to give it a try -- "BackgammonMasters.com."
If you look around the site, you'll find the "Masters" part of the name especially appropriate. They have a wealth of games, with lots of helpful instructional material if you're not a player but want to be. In a recent Press Release, BackgammonMasters.com announced that players, in a single download, can access the BackgammonMasters Game Lobby in 14 different languages: French, German, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Danish, Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and the newly added Bulgarian. Dutch and Russian will be added soon, and other languages will be coming in the future. As they play backgammon, players can even switch from one language to another in the Game Lobby of the site by clicking on the appropriate flag icon.
The site includes not only backgammon software, but a new LIVE Customer Support feature which allows players to get customer assistance with the click of a button. And, the site even offers the ability for players to use a variety of currencies, which the site cashier will instantly convert into US dollars at no extra charge and with the best exchange rate.
Go to BackgammonMasters.com, look around at all the features they have to help you master these online games, and enjoy.
[tags]BackgammonMasters.com, play backgammon online, blackjack, poker, useful website, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Would you believe — 63,000 lost their jobs during February??
So, really -- do they make up these unemployment numbers as they go along and try to change them to look better? Or is there an honest system of statistics involved?
The report I'm reading says that 63,000 non-farm jobs were eliminated in our fine country in February. The report goes on to say that was on top of 22,000 jobs lost in January. Oh, and the 82,000 jobs which were reported as having been ADDED in December? Nope. It was really only 41,000.
There you go. 10,000 jobs here, 10,000 jobs there -- pretty soon you're talking about a lot of jobs; many, many people out of work.
Of course, the thing to remember is this: We are NOT in a recession. Nope. No recession here. Some hard times, perhaps, but no recession.
Why, my goodness, if all the whys and wherefores must be met to be called "recession," it's just possible we'll move right past recession into depression. At least, I'll bet all those folks out of work with groceries to buy and mortgages to pay know a lot about depression.
Good work, Mr. President. In the seven years you and your gang of goofies have run the country, we've gone from a budget surplus to deficit, we've seen oil rise from somewhere around $30-$40 a barrel to over $100 a barrel, we've seen job creation turn into massive job losses -- boy, what a country your legacy has given us.
[tags]unemployment, economic recession, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
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