Archive for March, 2009
Are you a key loser? Try ‘The Ultimate Key Finder’ for your problem
Are you the sort of person who constantly loses your keys, or the TV remote? Try “The Ultimate Key Finder” as a solution for your problem.
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The “Ultimate Key Finder” could be a real problem solver for many of us. Yes, I’m talking about myself, too. Okay, I don’t actually do much “affiliate marketing” in such a direct manner from this blog, but “The Ultimate Key Finder” is such a nifty little gadget, I had to share it with you. (And, yes, of course, if you decide to buy one of these goodies, I earn a very small — VERY small! — commission. Which does, of course, help pay the website rent.) Do you habitually misplace your keys, or even just once in a while? I won’t name one of my family members (you know who you are!) who sets things down and they immediately vanish into a parallel universe where he forgets all about them. Do you put your keys down in one place, but they are always gone the next time you go for them? Does your couch not only eat the remote but anything that even resembles a key? Some products designed to solve this lost-key, lost-remote problem have you walking around clapping and whistling to activate your keys. That’s not only embarrassing but will lead to mocking by witnesses, and horrible impressions of your drunken chicken act. With the Ultimate Key Finder, you simply grab your credit card size remote, from your protected safe spot, far out of reach of sticky fingers, (you DO have at least one such spot, don’t you??) and press the button to activate your keychain. Even in the dark, your keys will be quick and easy to find as they flash and beep waiting your retrieval. This is a perfect gift for busy, on the go people who have a habit of forgetting the little things like, “Where in the world are my keys?!”–or moms and dads with sticky-fingered children, and those with keys that just won’t stay in their pockets. Buy now and save the frustration for the TV Remote that can’t be found! |
Technology may eliminate most of the newspapers for this guy to read
I suppose in a world where high-tech UGG boots have pretty much replaced the craftsmanship of hand-made footwear, and now various hand-held electronic gadgets are threatening to replace (HA!) real books — I suppose in that world it’s just a matter of time until there are very few real newspapers left for a guy to read.
I may have mentioned over the last couple of years that our local daily newspaper is becoming a mere joke of its former self. The publisher has compacted it to just two sections instead of four for two weekday editions. They’ve even cut back the word counts permitted on “voices” op-ed column submissions from readers. (Personal note: Several people in the newsroom there I worked with proudly some years ago were forced out through early retirement and/or staff cutbacks.)
But our local daily paper at least has survived drop offs in ad revenue; some of the nation’s larger papers are not doing so well. The “Rocky Mountain News” went under recently, leaving Denver a one-paper town. (Another personal note: My first “job” as a young teenager was delivering the “Denver Post” newspaper — looks like they won.) I believe I read awhile back that one of the San Francisco papers went bankrupt, as did major papers in Chicago and Seattle.
What’s happened to all the papers? Can you say “free news on the Internet”? In some cases, as with the “Rocky Mountain News” and I think the “Seattle PI,” newspaper websites will continue even after the daily papers themselves have halted printing.
Disturbing trend, moving from hold-it-in-your-hand-and-shake-it-in-your-fist daily newspapers to online newspapers? Yeah, I think so. It really takes the fun out of newspapers for me, anyway.
But maybe I’m just an old curmudgeon. I dunno. I really don’t have time to talk anymore about it right now. I’m headed over to nytimes.com to see what’s happening.
Economic crunch hurting, or are you flying under the radar so far?
So, is the economic crunch hurting you and/or your family, or are you flying under the radar so far?
Certainly the state of the economy here in the U.S. and worldwide is impacting every area of every life in one way or the other. But so far, for my wife and me and for our kids and their families, we’re doing all right. No job losses or cutbacks yet or likely in the immediate future. One family member has taken some serious hits on some stock investments. But hanging in there will eventually mean recovery. So far, that loss is only on paper.
No one in my immediate circle of family or friends has faces foreclosure, nothing really even that has hurt any credit reports or raised any immediate need for credit report services.
I wish we could say this has been our good fortune because we were so materially and financially secure that we have stayed above the fray. In reality, our good fortune has been that we’ve had so little materially and financially that our family has sort of been truly “flying under the radar” and the heavy economic blasts have gone over us.
So far so good.
How are you faring through this economic crunch? Recession got you down? Facing job loss or perhaps already lost your job? Comment and let us know what’s on your mind regarding the economic battles going on out there.
Socialist? Obama? Not hardly — says editor of ‘Socialist’ magazine
Is President Obama a Socialist or not? To hear the hue and cry of all the conservatives (many of whom are far from true conservatism) in the media — talk radio whackos and many cable TV whackos — Obama is a sort of undercover Socialist leading our country down the path to Socialism.
Not even close, says Billy Wharton, editor of “Socialist” magazine and one of the leaders of the Socialist Party USA. And, as he says in the article I just read on The Washington Post’s website, “I should know.” That article, titled “Obama’s No Socialist. I Should Know,” is something you really should read. (I’m not sure whether you will be asked to register to gain access to that part of the website, but registration is free if you are asked to register.)
Wharton has a really friendly, clever writing style. To his credit, he resists the urge (mostly) to sling the sort of mud at clueless politicians and talk radio/blog/cable TV people which he and the Socialist Party USA has had slung at it.
It would be a wonderful thing if all the folks who fire off political barbs and half-informed or uninformed public statements about socialism or liberalism — or conservatism, for that matter — would get half a clue first.
I’ll end my rant there before I get too excited. It’s nearly bedtime where I live, and I gotta keep the stomach acid down to get a good nights sleep.
But go to that link. Read the article. Learn a little. Maybe you’ll begin to understand how silly and mean spirited all these ridiculous charges of socialism against Obama really are!
Helpful information about why, how The Fed is handling economic crises
The CBS show “60 minutes” has a great interview and feature going on as I write this with Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke. Very revealing, and it helps understand why the Fed does what it does and why they believe current governmental efforts to deal with this horrendous economic situation will work.
Bernanke certainly seems to have the credentials for the job, and with the help of Congress, the Federal Reserve board seems to be getting things straight.
I know very little about economics and frankly have little expertise for saying, “No, no, no, this won’t work,” or “Yeah, this is what needs to be done.” I suspect I’m not alone on that. I further suspect those who see simplistic answers to this whole mess of our economy and the world economy are probably wrong.
So, quit reading my babbling right now, turn on your television and — assuming it’s possible in your area right now — watch this. Or look for excerpts online at CBS News and/or YouTube. Very revealing, interesting stuff.
Speaking of travel: Do you have any tales of lost luggage?
Speaking of travel (my most recent post): Do you have any tales of lost luggage you’d care to share with us?
I just read a story on another blog about an angry Yale student who’s threatening an airline with a $1 million lawsuit for losing the Xbox 360 which he sent through in his checked luggage. (The author of the blog post wondered, as did I, why the guy chose to check an Xbox or other electronics device rather than take it carry-on. Duh.) Wow. A million bucks for an Xbox and emotional distress — that seems perhaps a tiny bit over the edge to me, but, hey, I don’t even own an Xbox.
I remember a flight my wife and I took some years ago where our luggage took a day to catch up with us. We went through some serious “emotional distress,” as the bags contained most of our everyday wardrobe(s). Heck, everything arrived the next day and the airline delivered it to our in-laws where we were staying and everything was fine. I suppose if they hadn’t found and delivered the goods we could’ve thought about a lawsuit, but probably not.
I’ve heard travel horror stories about lost luggage. Got any unusual tales like that you’d care to share with us in a comment? Go ahead.
Is foreign travel becoming more or less risky for Americans?
Is foreign travel becoming more risky for Americans?
For a number of years during the George W. Bush Administration, I heard people constantly talking about how Americans were very unpopular throughout the world. We’ve all heard various “horror stories” about Americans being threatened and even famous cases of them being held hostage in some parts of the world. But does all that really mean anything to me or any other “John Q. Average American” getting ready to travel outside the U.S.? Should I be afraid to travel to some parts of the world?
Should I be seeking a good travel insurance quote to reassure my family and friends before making a trip to Mexico or Canada, or Brazil, or Sweden, or any other foreign land?
I would plead ignorant on most of these issues. It has been literally decades since the few day trips my wife and I made to Canada. I’ve never been to Mexico — though I have a couple of friends who travel in and out of Mexico annually and have never had a single issue with their trips.
How about it? Is it more or less safe to travel as an American today than in the past? Those of you who travel outside the U.S. weigh in and leave a comment about your experience(s).
Sad news when a major local bakery closes down
I’m sure, unless you live in or near Springfield, Missouri, the news that a major local bakery here is closing means little to you. But for the last 30 years, we’ve driven past this bakery — not a small, mom/pop operation, but a full fledged commercial bakery — and enjoyed the wonderful fragrance of freshly baking bread.
As of early May, it’ll be gone. No more fun shopping at the attached “day old” store. No more freshly baked fragrance.
I could ramble about political ramifications of all this. Perhaps something like, “Hey, the only thing that’ll really pacify people during our current recession is more ‘bread and circuses’ by the pols — so why did they let this bakery close??”
I could do that. But I won’t. I’ll just say that I’ll miss the place. Hopefully the 105 people losing jobs will find something good.
Don’t you just love when companies send you unwanted memberships?
Don’t you just love it when some company sends you an unwanted membership — usually a free membership to something only marginally useful and with some “catches” that require you to cancel or you’ll be charged a gazillion dollars a month??
Maybe that doesn’t happen to you. Usually such deals start as a telemarketing call from a company that got my name on a mailing list from something I’ve legitimately ordered, like car insurance for example. The caller always makes sure I understand he’s in some sort of vague connection to my insurance company, then gives me a terrific free trial of the world’s best monthly auto club. After I was stuck with an unwanted month or two of membership fees, I wised up. Now, a pretty standard rule when someone calls me about ANY telemarketing offer is to simply interrupt them with, “No thanks. I’m not interested” — then I hang up the phone. Rude? Maybe, but then I do say “no thanks,” and THEY are the ones who intruded on me.
Sometimes a membership card will arrive unexpectedly in the mail. These usually require me to go online to formally register, or to send them money with an enclosed invoice. They’re easier to avoid; simply tear them up or shred them and toss them.
Not long ago, I actually got snookered into a monthly membership when I ordered a pizza online. (I won’t name the pizza chain, but their name rhymes with “Geeza Nut.”) At the end of my order, they popped up an offer to get $10 off on my next order. Hey, $10 off, okay. I immediately found myself clicking through obscure links, filling out forms, etc., expected ultimately to reach a link for a $10 off coupon. My head was spinning when I finally got through with all the forms and sub-forms — but I got no coupon. I assumed it would simply show up in my next pizza order.
I was shocked to get a $12.00 monthly fee on my debit card — the same card I used to order the pizza — about two months after I’d ordered that pizza. I tracked the business down and found it was a monthly membership site that was charging me now $12.00 a month — yet I never found a pizza discount.
It wasn’t hard to contact the company and cancel the order, they even refunded my money.
But I’ll never order pizza from the “We Gotcha, Nut” pizza place again!!
Amazing discovery about dieting — eat less, exercise more is the ‘secret’
Well, the latest amazing discovery about dieting is now in and, guess what? The “secret” to losing weight, according to this 2-year study of more than 800 people, is this: Eat less and exercise more.
I’m sure there may well be a diet pill that works and helps control your appetite. I’m pretty sure, too, that you need to work at eating a properly balanced, moderate intake of nutrition.
But above all else, you need to consume less calories than your body uses each day. In other words, the guaranteed way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more.
Darn. Just when I thought I was going to find a really quick, sure-fire way to loose overnight the 50 pounds I spent a decade putting on. Now those researchers tell me it’s “sure-fire,” just probably not a quick as I’d like.
Ah, well. Here’s to healthier eating!