Thursday, December 31, 2009

Government out of Control

If you're not convinced that Government is out of control
The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
But one advertising agency did a good job of
Putting that figure into some perspective in
One of it's releases.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
Living in the Stone Age.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
A billion dollars ago was only
8 hours and 20 minutes,
At the rate our government
Is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ..
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
Is presently asking Congress for
250 BILLION DOLLARS
To rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number....
What does it mean?

Well ... If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans
(every man, woman, and child)
You each get $516,528.
.
Or... If you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

Or... If you are a family of four...
Your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington , D. C
HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??

Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration T ax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world...
And Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to
Press '1'
For English.

I hope this goes around the
U S A
At least 100 times

What the heck happened????

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

National Friendship Week

Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like nobody's listening. Live like
it's Heaven on Earth.
--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Health Care

Friend --

Although it's Christmas Eve, I wanted to share some exciting news: The
Senate just passed a historic health reform bill.

In all the back and forth, it's easy to lose sight of what this
incredible breakthrough really means. But consider this: This Christmas,
there are millions of Americans without health insurance who risk losing
everything if they get sick.

There are mothers and fathers who wonder how they'll provide for their
children because an illness has wiped out their savings. There are small
business owners who worry that they'll have to lay off a long-time
employee because the cost of insurance is rapidly rising.

If we finish the job, all this can change. We will have beaten back the
special interests who have for so long perpetuated the status quo. We
will have enacted the most important piece of social policy since the
Social Security Act in the 1930s, and the most important health reform
since Medicare in the 1960s.

In Decembers to come, millions more will have access to affordable
coverage. Parents will have the security and stability of knowing their
insurance can't be revoked at a moment's notice. And the skyrocketing
costs plaguing our small businesses will be brought under control.

When you make calls, write letters, organize, this is the change you're
making -- a better life for your family and for men and women in every
state.

There is still more to do before I can sign reform into law -- a last
round of negotiations and final votes in the Senate and the House -- and
I'm counting on your help every step of the way. But for now, I hope
that as you celebrate this holiday season, you remember that the work
you are doing is making our union more perfect, one step at a time. For
that, I am grateful to you.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays,

President Barack Obama

P.S. -- Organizing for America supporters are signing a note of
appreciation to all the senators who have worked so hard to make this
possible. I hope you'll join them:

*http://my.barackobama.com/SenateLetter
<http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c101bc/6c77b4ef/c2d3cd84/118868c8/2159009669/VEsH/>*


Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National
Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This
communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

More Movies Online

Howdy,

I have some more movies I have added online......

Hope you enjoy.......

Roy

http://www.youtube.com/inletoaksvillage

--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Living in 2009

Living in 2009
*YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when...
*
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2 You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that
they don't have e-mail addresses / facebook / Myspace / twitter.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if
anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7 Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the
screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the
first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and
you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this
message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on
this list
*
AND NOW _YOU ARE LAUGHING _*at yourself.

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

*Congressional Reform Act of 2010
**
1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six year Senate terms
B. Six Two year House terms
C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms
*
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.

*2. No Tenure / No Pension:

A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay
when they are out of office.*

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.

*3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, Congress participates with the American people.*

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, server your term(s), then go home and
back to work.

*4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans*.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.

*5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
*
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.

*6. Congress looses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.

* Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.

*7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American
people.
*
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.
*
8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective
1/1/11.


***
*The American people did not make this contract with congress,
congressmen** **and congresswomen made all these contracts for themselves.
*
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and
back to work.
If you agree with the above, pass it on to all in your address list.
If not, just delete.
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
*_Amendment 28_*__

*Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the
United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or
Representatives and Congress shall make no law that applies to the
Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the
citizens of the United States.*
"When the people fear their government there is tyranny; when the
government fears the people, there is liberty."
--Thomas Jefferson

Saturday, December 19, 2009

A Little Teri Creed

I believe in One God, the Creator of All.  I believe that I, as Soul, am also a spark of God, thus as I honor God, I also honor myself as that part of God.  The most acceptable Service I can render Life is doing
Good to all of life and Being of Service at all times in the best way I can be for humanity.  That Soul, this spark of God – of which I AM, carries on with Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Every Good Thing that IS.”

May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You……………
Love,
Teri

Benjamin Franklin Creed

    "Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe.  That he governs it by his providence.  That he ought to be worshiped.  That the most acceptable service we render him is doing good to his other children.  That the soul of man is immortal, and we will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this."
 
-Benjamin Franklin
--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Friday, December 18, 2009

100 essential websites

http://www.guardian..co.uk/technology/2009/dec/09/best-websites-internet/print
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/09/best-websites-internet/print>
guardian.co.uk home <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>


The 100 essential websites

Here we go again … our latest list of the 100 best websites sees short
attention spans, the rise of Twitter, more browser wars and celebrity
gossip sites setting the news agenda

* *Jack Schofield
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jackschofield>*,* Bobbie
Johnson <http://www.guardian.co..uk/profile/bobbiejohnson>*,*
Charles Arthur
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charlesarthur>*,* Stuart
O'Connor <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stuartoconnor>*,*
Mercedes Bunz <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/mercedes-bunz>*,*
Vic Keegan*,* Keith Stuart
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/keithstuart>*,* Greg Howson
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/greghowson>*,* Chris Salmon
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/chrissalmon> *and more
* guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Wednesday 9 December
2009 15.27 GMT

100 websites

Andy Warhol talked of a time when everyone would be famous for 15
minutes. With hindsight, however, he might have wanted to revise that
down to about five minutes. On today's web, phrases such as "here today,
gone tomorrow" seem to involve ridiculously long timescales.

People who moaned that blogging
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blogging> represented a move to
shorter attention spans – 250-to-350-word posts rather than 1,000-word
stories – have now seen blog posts start to look big and, frankly,
old-fashioned. Today's trendsetters are using "microblogging" sites such
as Tumblr <http://www.tumblr.com/>, Posterous <http://posterous.com/>
and Soup.io <http://www.soup.io/>, which are taking the opportunity for
creative "borrowing" to new heights.

But the smash hit of 2009 has been (apologies: I know this will cause
pain) Twitter, where 1,000-word stories are reduced to 140-character
tweets. Short attention spans R us.

Twitter's rapid growth and open programming interface have given the
site a wide impact. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of ancillary sites and
services have been launched to help Twitter users post pictures, track
followers, or – more usefully, from a commercial point of view – find
out what the "hive mind" is thinking. Twitterfall
<http://twitterfall.com/> is just one example. More recently, Listorious
<http://listorious.com/> stepped in to make it easier to find and
explore lists made using Twitter's new list feature, while The Twitter
Tim.es <http://www.twittertim.es/> cleverly turned selected tweets into
a personalised newspaper. How many of these sites will survive is, of
course, open to question. Some are less like standalone sites than
parasites.

Major web players such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft also got
involved. Both Google and Microsoft signed deals for Twitter searches,
while Facebook paid it the ultimate compliment of more or less copying
its service. Or, perhaps, copying FriendFeed <http://friendfeed.com/>,
which many users link to both Twitter and Facebook.

Facebook, while far from new, was another big player in 2009, reaching
more than 350 million users. And through Facebook Connect
<http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=730>, it has extended its
presence across the web. Once you have a Facebook identity – and you
must have one, mustn't you? – then you can use it to access a growing
number of sites and services. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The web might be a kinder, more polite place if people said things under
their real names, which is what Facebook's about.

Those in search of their five minutes of fame or, more likely, five
minutes of fun fun fun, headed for YouTube. Although it has been
challenged by rivals such as Vimeo <http://www.vimeo..com/> and
Microsoft's Soapbox (RIP) <http://www.bing.com/videos/browse>, its
dominance has not been seriously threatened. Only the pornographers have
been able to build much of a following outside YouTube.

Which is not to say that YouTube owns the web video market.. The BBC has
made a huge impact with its iPlayer catchup service, and in the US, Hulu
has enjoyed great success with TV series and movies
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/apr/14/digitalvideo-youtube>.
Of course, both sites are showing videos that YouTube would love to
offer, at a profit, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Music has been a significant player in the growth of the web since
Napster <http://www.napster.co.uk/>, and its influence continues to
grow. Spotify <http://www.spotify.com/en/> has made the biggest impact
this year, gaining mindshare lost by Last.fm <http://www.last.fm/> and
Pandora <http://www..pandora.com/>. Meanwhile, Pitchfork
<http://pitchfork.com/> has expanded its role as the web's authoritative
music magazine, and The Hype Machine <http://hypem.com/> came to
prominence as a source of instant erudition by tracking the music blogs.

Almost finally, it may be that we are seeing the return not just of the
browser wars but of the search engine wars as well. Google still rules
the world, but in Bing <http://www.bing.com/>, it now has a competitor
that does some things better and has, in Microsoft, an owner with deep
pockets. Alas, Bing also does many things a lot worse.

Possibly the most contentious part of this year's list is celebrity
gossip. The argument against would be summed up by a Wikipedian in two
words: "not notable". The argument for is that sites such as Perez
Hilton <http://perezhilton.com/> and AOL's TMZ <http://www.tmz.com/> are
now helping to drive the news agenda. Even if you aren't interested in
Michael Jackson's death, Tiger Woods's affairs or whatever, this stuff
has become impossible to avoid. This is one case where many people would
prefer the web's short attention span to be even shorter.


*Blogging/microblogging*

/Now easier than falling off a log./

*Tumblr* <http://www.tumblr.com/> Multimedia microblogging plus
Twitter-style following.

*Posterous* <http://www.posterous.com/> Goes from instant microblogging
into lifestreaming.

*Soup* <http://www.soup.io/> A "super-easy" tumblelog for scrapbook
keeping and lifestreaming.

*Blogger* <http://www.blogger.com/> Fast way to start blogging; training
wheels for Wordpress.

*Bloglines* <http://www.bloglines.com/> For reading web feeds. Smart and
clean.

*Wordpress* <http://www.wordpress.com/> Free, and most importantly
spam-free, blogging.


*Browsers*

/Do we all need five browsers nowadays?/

*Chrome* <http://www.google.com/chrome> Now here for Mac, and
anticipating future world domination via Chrome OS.

*Firefox* <http://www.mozilla.com/firefox> Everyone's favourite is
under attack from all sides.

*Maxthon* <http://www.maxthon.com/> Based on IE code. If it stays "hip
in China" it could reach a large global audience.


*Cartoons*

/Everyone needs some relaxation. This is a visual one./

*Dilbert* <http://www.dilbert.com/> It wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't
so true.

*XKCD* <http://www.xkcd.com/> Stick-figure strip poking fun at geek
topics and relationships.


*Celebrity gossip*

/No one needs this stuff, but it's starting to drive world news and web
traffic./

*TMZ* <http://www.tmz.com/> Rose to fame when it broke news of Michael
Jackson's death.

*Perez Hilton* <http://www.perezhilton.com/> Among the bitchiest of goss
sites and often involved in 'interesting' celeb baiting.

*Gawker* <http://www.gawker.com/> New York-based media alert and gossip
blog network, with fingers in many pies.


*Create/collaborate*

/With all of us now living more of our lives online, these sites just
scratch the surface./

*Netvibes* <http://www.netvibes.com/> Your to-do lists, news, weather
and photos on one page.

*Scribd* <http://www.scribd.com/> Shares 35bn words online: they can't
all be wrong.

*Slideshare* <http://www.slideshare.net/> Like YouTube for PowerPoint decks.

*Zamzar* <http://www.zamzar.com/> Useful: converts files from one format
to another.


*Film*

/Sites to see before heading for the latest blockbuster at your local
multiplex./

*IMDb* <http://www.imdb.com/>* *The most authoritative site about all
things film and TV, which is why Amazon bought it.

*Rotten Tomatoes* <http://www.rottentomatoes.com/>* *Collects online
film reviews, aggregates a score out of 100 and rates the film "fresh"
or "rotten".* *

*/Film* <http://www.slashfilm.com/>* *Said to be the favourite film blog
of directors Jason Reitman and Darren Aronofsky, /Film features news,
reviews, interviews and a special UK update each Friday.

*Cinematical* <http://www.cinematical.com/>* *Terrific film blog with a
Hollywood focus.


*Gaming*

/A field where handheld, bedroom and Flash games
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/games> are becoming mainstream/

*Eurogamer* <http://www.eurogamer.net/> Reportage, with breadth, if not
always depth.

*The Independent Gaming Source* <http://www.tigsource.com/> A great
place to pick up on tomorrow's breakthrough Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare
and PSN hits.

*Pocket Gamer* <http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/> Still by far the best
site on handheld gaming.

*Gamasutra* <http://www.gamasutra.com/> Where professional games
creators hang out, and sometimes get jobs


*Geek squad*

/Here be programmers …/

*Stack Overflow* <http://www.stackoverflow.com/> Where programmers
gather to try to solve their problems.

*The Daily WTF* <http://www.thedailywtf.com/> Daily dispatches from the
coding warzone.

*Joel On Software* <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/> Essays by a former
Microsoftie, now head of Fog Creek Software.


*Government/public services/politics*

*Recycle Now* <http://www.recyclenow.com/> Winner after a slight false
start of the government'sShow Us A Better Way competition. What can you
recycle close by?

*British and Irish Legal Information Institute*
<http://www.bailii.org/> A database of laws. Only survives hand-to-mouth
on voluntary donations; where's yours?

*What Do They Know?* <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/> Makes filing a
Freedom Of Information request as easy as sending an email. Too easy,
some in power think.

*Upmystreet* <http://www.upmystreet.com/> All the detail on your area
you could ever want..

*They Work For You* <http://www.theyworkforyou.com/> A site set up by
volunteers to keep tabs on our elected members of parliament – and our
unelected peers.


*Link economy*

/With millions of links on the web, we all need sites for sharing the
best ones./

*Digg* <http://www.digg.com/> Still the reigning champion of where the
latest internet <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet> memes
are though not always polite.

*Delicious* <http://www.delicious.com/> The thinking person's link
aggregation site. We use it.

*Popurls* <http://popurls.com/> Aggregating the aggregators: the web in
a window.

*Metafilter* <http://www.metafilter.com/> Living if isolated proof that
a site can be successful without pictures or video, and can also host
thoughtful conversations.

*Slashdot* <http://slashdot.org/> Now looking venerable and old, but
"News for nerds" site with a jokey name (/..) still attracts a big, and
often knowledgable, audience.

*Techmeme* <http://techmeme.com/> Technology news chosen by computer,
though it's now refined by human editors.


*Location, location*

/Services like these blossom with a mobile phone that can access the
internet./

*Dopplr* <http://www.dopplr.com/> "Share your future travel plans with
friends and colleagues", then find out if others will be there too.

*Qype* <http://www.qype..co.uk/> Localised search for pubs, restaurants,
etc; also a bit of a social network.

*Loopt* <http://www.loopt.com/> "Transforms your mobile phone into a
social compass".

*Brightkite* <http://brightkite.com/> A "location-based social network".


*Maps*

/The flipside of location-based services: seeing where you are./

*OpenStreetMap* <http://www.openstreetmap.org/> A rights-free map
created by people like you. Remarkably detailed and precise.

*Google Maps Street View*
<http://www.maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview> Virtual tourism with
practical applications, too.


*Money/finance/consumer fightback*

/We all need someone on our side./

*Money Saving Expert* <http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/> Does what it
says on the tin.

*Say No to 0870* <http://saynoto0870.com/> Direct-dial numbers, not
expensive national-rate ones.

*Consumer Direct* <http://consumerdirect.gov.uk/> Government site for
consumers.


*Music*

*Last.fm* <http://www.last.fm/> British-made, now CBS-owned, music
recommendation station.

*Amazon* <http://www.amazon.co.uk/> Now has its own MP3 store in the UK
as well as the US.

*Hype Machine* <http://hypem.com/> Picks up the latest news by tracking
the music blogs.

*Pitchfork* <http://pitchfork.com/> The magazine of the music web, now
with video, and lots of great lists.


*Offbeat*

*The Onion* <http://www.theonion.com/> Still the satirical newspaper of
record. If it's not in the Onion, it's probably happened.

*B3TA* <http://b3ta.com/> Beyond classification; its forum has spawned
many memes … and more than its fair share of trolls.

*Lolcats* <http://icanhascheezburger.com/> respite from stress with daft
cCaptioned cats and other animals.

*News Lite* <http://newslite.tv/> respite from stress with daft cGreat
source of news that's much too trivial to print.

*Oddee* <http://oddee.com/> Setting an internet standard for sets of
curious and mildly amusing pictures, not cats.

*PostSecret* <http://postsecret.blogspot.com/> Notes of secrets sent by
people who want them posted. So they are.

*Passive-Aggressive Notes*
<http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/> Would it be too much trouble
for you to have a look?


*Photography*

*Flickr* <http://www.flickr.com/> The granddaddy of photo-sharing sites.

*Picnik* <http://www.picnik.com/> Photo editing in your browser.

*Picasa* <http://picasa.com/> Google's photo organisation and editing tool.

*DPreview* <http://dpreview.com/> The web's best guide to cameras. Now
Amazon owned.


*Reference*

*CIA Factbook*
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html> All
the data you need on pretty much anywhere.

*Wikipedia* <http://en.wikipedia.org/> en.wikipedia.com the gradually
growing user-edited encyclopaedia is Still a first port of call on most
topics.

*Internet Archive/Wayback Machine* <http://www.archive.org/> The web in
aspic. Useful for research into how the web used to look.

*Metacritic* <http://www.metacritic.com/> Aggregates reviews of movies
and DVDs, TV programmes, music and games

*Wikileaks* <http://wikileaks.org/> Anonymous source of a huge range
ofleaked documents. If you dig, there's something important there


*Search*

/Google dominates but Bing is challenging, and Yahoo and Microsoft are
left in the dust./

*Google* <http://www.google.com/> So good it's become almost synonymous
with search.

*Bing* <http://www.bing.com/> Microsoft would like you to bing it, but
its "decision engine" still has a long way to go.

*Wolfram Alpha* <http://www.wolframalpha.com/> An "answer engine"that
delivers when it has the data, but not that easy to use.


*Social software*

/Two years ago it was nascent; now it's embedded in our culture. Chances
are high you're a member of at least one, and perhaps all, of these sites./

*Facebook* <http://www.facebook.com/> Still changing and growing to
become not just your home on the web, but your ID provider.

*LinkedIn* <http://www.linkedin.com/> Contact sports for business users.

*Ning* <http://www.ning.com/> One place to start your own social network
– just as Madonna did – though it has yet to really take off.


*Travel*

*Expedia* <http://www.expedia.co.uk/>* *Still the daddy when it comes to
travel sites, and particularly good if you can bundle a flight with a
hotel and other services.

*TripAdvisor* <http://www.tripadvisor.com/>* *Essential reading for the
user reviews of hotels, but it now covers much more.

*Laterooms* <http://www.laterooms.com/>* *Specialises in hotel discounts.


*Twitter, and associated*

/Twitter has proved itself over and over this year, from the Chinese
earthquke to the Mumbai attacks to the Madoff fraud as a vector for news./

*Twitter* <http://www.twitter.com/> The ur-site, where you can create an
identity (or several).

*Twitter Tim.es* <http://www.twittertim.es/> Creates your personal
newspaper based on your friend's tweets.

*Twitterfeed* <http://twitterfeed.com/> Posts blog contents to Twitter.

*TwitterCounter* <http://twittercounter.com/> Graphs the growth in your
followers.

*Twitterfall* <http://twitterfall.com/> Tracks trending topics; enables
custom searches.

*Listorious* <http://listorious.com/> Twitter lists make it simple to
follow large groups of Twitter users, and Listorious makes it easy to
find the best lists.


*Video*

*YouTube* <http://www.youtube.com/> Dominant provider of video content
online.

*Vimeo* <http://vimeo.com/> Better rights control than YouTube and a
cleaner interface

*BBC iPlayer* <http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer> The king of the online
catchup services.

*Hulu* <http://www.hulu.com/> The networks fight back with their own
video site, which may make the UK in 2010. We hope.

*Videojug* <http://www.videojug.com/> The motherlode of instructional
videos, all in one place.


*Virtual worlds <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/virtualworlds>*

*Second Life* <http://secondlife.com/> Continues to exist and is,
apparently, still popular, but not the media darling it was.

*Entropia Universe* <http://www.entropiauniverse.com/> Set in a distant
future on the untamed planet of Calypso.

*Club Penguin* <http://clubpenguin.com/> Minigame-tastic virtual world
for youngkids.

*Moshi Monsters* <http://www.moshimonsters.com/> "Educational" virtual
world for kids.


*Visual arts*

*Saatchi Gallery* <http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/> Gallery, listings
and artworks for sale.

*Art Daily* <http://artdaily.org/> The first "art newspaper" on the net.

*Culture 24* <http://www.culture24.org.uk/> Everything about UK
galleries and museums.


*Visualisation*

*Information is Beautiful*
<http://www..informationisbeautiful.net/> Creating effective
infographics is one of today's key skills, and on this site, it's also
an art.

*Infosthetics.com* <http://infosthetics.com/> An archive of some of the
finest examples of "information aesthetics".

*DabbleDB* <http://dabbledb.com/> Create online databases and analyse them.
/
/-----------

--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Cats Allan Didn't Dare Send This (LOL)


What is a Cat?

1. Cats do what they want.

2. They rarely listen to you.

3. They're totally unpredictable.

4. When you want to play, they want to be alone.

5. When you want to be alone, they want to play.

6. They expect you to cater to their every whim.

7. They're moody.

8. They leave hair everywhere.

CONCLUSION:
They're tiny women in little fur coats.
____________


--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond

http://buildingfindablewebsites.com/
--
May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

CASH BACK SCAM-IMPORTANT

"CASH BACK" you did not ask for. 
THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!  ------------------------------------------------------------------------  It happened at Wal-Mart  (Supercenter Store #1279, 10411 N Freeway 45, Houston , TX 77037   A month ago. I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it.  She said I'd have to take the $40 because she couldn't delete it. I told her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it. I said NO! Taking the $40 would be a cash advance against my Discover & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!!   If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & re-scan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed & a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier agreed that the electronic pad must be defective. Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed? Just to alert everyone.    My co worker went to Milford, DE Wal-Mart last week.  She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along  and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the  cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co worker didn't look at her receipt  until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for $20 cash back.  SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK! My co-worker called Wal-Mart who investigated but  could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works  for the bank and her niece told her this. This is a new scam going on. The cashier  will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the  next person in line.   Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards!    This is NOT limited to Wal-Mart, although they are the largest retailer so they have the most incidents I  am adding to this. My husband and I were in Wal-Mart  North Salisbury and paying with credit card when my  husband went to sign the credit card signer he just  happen to notice there was a $20 cash back added. He  told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash  back and she said this machine has been messing up and  she cancelled it. We really didn't think anything of it until we read this email.   I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be,  "stung" by this one????   To make matters worse   THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!   TAKE THE TIME TO SEND THIS TO YOUR FAMILY & FRIENDS..... & REMEMBER TO DO IT IN THE "Bcc" MODE!!!  **************************************************--  
    May the best of the Holiday Spirit be With You.....
 

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Jekyll Island, Gerogia

Howdy,

If you have a High-Speed connection......

Enjoy,
Roy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjEBcojzJ5I

Monday, December 14, 2009

Farmer and the Donkey

One  day a farmer's donkey fell down into a
well.  The animal cried piteously for hours as
the  farmer tried to figure out what to do.  


Finally, he decided  the animal was old, and the
well needed to be  covered up anyway;
  
it  just wasn't worth it to retrieve the  donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to  come over and 
help him. They all grabbed a  shovel and began
to shovel dirt into the well.  At first, the
donkey realized what was  happening and cried
horribly. Then, to  everyone's amazement he
quieted down.

A  few shovel loads later, the farmer finally  
looked down the well. He was astonished at  what
he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit  his
back, the donkey was doing something  amazing..
He would shake it off and take a step  up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to  shovel 
dirt on top of the animal, he would  shake it
off and take a step up.

Pretty  soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped  up over the edge of the well and
happily  trotted off!
  
*****
Life  is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds 
of  dirt. The trick to getting out of the well
is  to shake it off and take a step up. 
Each of our  troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of  the deepest wells just by not stopping,
never  giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.  

Remember the five  simple rules to be happy:

Free  your heart from hatred - Forgive.

Free your  mind from worries - Most never happen.

Live  simply and appreciate what you  have.
  

Give  more.

Expect less
  

NOW  .......
  

Enough  of that crap
.
 
The  donkey later came back,  
and  bit the farmer who had  tried to bury him.  
The gash from the bite got infected  and
  
the  farmer eventually died in agony from septic  shock.  
 


MORAL  FROM TODAY'S LESSON:

When  you do something wrong, and try to cover  
your  ass, it always comes back to bite
 you.
 




Stunning Facts About Lightning

http://www.flixya.com/post/MysticBren/1418133/Stunning_Facts_About_Lightening/

YouTube - BBC now admits al qaeda never existed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-hYorNi0nA

Norway Spiral: WATCH Strange Light In Sky Ahead Of Obama Nobel Peace Prize Speech (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/09/norway-spiral-watch-stran_n_386281.html

Robert Lanza, M.D.: Does Death Exist? New Theory Says 'No'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lanza/does-death-exist-new-theo_b_384515.html

Best Buy

BEST BUY, MY FOOT
Best Buy has some bad policies....

Normally, I would not share this with others, however, since this could happen to you or your friends , I decided to share it. If you purchase something from, Wal-Mart,
  Sears etc. and you return the item with the receipt they will give you your money back if you paid cash, or credit your account if paid by plastic.

Well, I purchased a GPS for my car, a Tom Tom XL.S from 'Best Buy'. They have a policy that it must be returned within 14 days for a refund!

So after 4 days I returned it in the original box with all the items in the box, with paper work and cords all wrapped in the plastic.. Just as I received it, including the receipt.

I explained to the lady at the return desk I did not  like the way it could not find store names. The lady at the refund desk said, there is a 15% restock fee, for items returned. I said no one told me that. I said how much would that be. She said it goes by the price of the item. It will be $45.00 Dollars for you. I said, all your going to do is walk over and place it back on the shelf then charge me $45.00 of my money for restocking? She said that's the store policy. I said if more people were aware of it they would not buy anything here! If I bought a $2000.00 computer or TV and returned it I would be charged $300.00 dollars restock fee? She said yes, 15%.

I said OK, just give me my money minus the restock fee.

She said, since the item is over $200.00 dollars, she can't give me my money back!!!

Corporate has to and they will mail you a check in 7 to ten days.!! I said 'WHAT?!'

It's my money!! I paid in cash! I want to buy a different brand..Now I have to wait 7 to 10 days. She said well, our policy is on the back of your receipt.

I said, do you read the front or back of your receipt? She said well, the front! I said so do I, I want to talk to the Manager!.

So the manager comes over, I explained everything to him, and he said, well, sir they should of told you about the policy when you got the item. I said, No one, has ever told me about the check refund or restock fee, whenever I bought items from computers to TVs from Best Buy. The only thing they ever discussed was the worthless extended warranty program. He said Well, I can give you corporate phone number.

I called corporate. The guy said, well, I'm not supposed to do this but I can give you a 45.00 dollar gift card and you can use it at Best Buy. I told him if I bought something and returned it, you would charge me a restock fee on the item and then send me a check for the remaining 3 dollars. You can keep your gift card, I'm never shopping in Best Buy ever again, and if I would of been smart, I would of charged the whole thing on my credit card! Then I would of canceled the transaction.

I would of gotten all my money back including your stupid fees! He didn't say a word!

I informed him that I was going to e-mail my friends and give them a heads up on this stores policy, as they don't tell you about all the little caveats.

So please pass this on. It may save your friends from having a bad experience of shopping at Best Buy


It's true! read it for yourself!!

Best Buys return policy

The Folded Napkin


      The Folded Napkin ..

      A Trucker's Story

      If this doesn't light your fire ... your wood is wet!

      I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His
placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy.
But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I
wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react to Stevie.


      He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and
thick-tongued speech of Downs Syndrome.. I wasn't worried about most of my
trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as
long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade. The
four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college
kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their
silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truck stop
germ," the pairs of white-shirted business men on expense accounts who
think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those
people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for
the first few weeks.


      I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff
wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck
regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot.


      After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers
thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old kid in blue jeans and Nikes,
eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his
duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread
crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our
only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the
customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his
weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table
was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes
and glasses onto his cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a
practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his
brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job
exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and
every person he met.


      Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was
disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social
Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their
social worker, who stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they
had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was
probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie
being sent to a group home.



      That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last
August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at
the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his
heart. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often have
heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a
good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at
work in a few months.


      A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when
word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie,
the head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle
when she heard the good news. Marvin Ringers, one of our regular trucker
customers, stared at the sight of this 50-year-old grandmother of four
doing a victory shimmy beside his table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her
apron and shot Marvin a withering look.  He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was
that all about?" he asked.
      "We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be
okay."


      "I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was
the surgery about?"


      Frannie quickly told Marvin and the other two drivers sitting at his
booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed, " Yeah, I'm glad he is going to
be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle
all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Marvin nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of
her tables.


      Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and
really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables
that day until we decided what to do.


      After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a
couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face.


      "What's up?" I asked.


      "I didn't get that table where Marvin and his friends were sitting
cleared off after they left, and Pete and Tony were sitting there when I
got back to clean it off," she said. "This was folded and tucked under a
coffee cup."


      She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk
when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed
"Something For Stevie."


      "Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I told him
about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony
looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this." She handed me another
paper napkin that had "Something For Stevie" scrawled on its outside.. Two
$50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet,
shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply, "Truckers."


      That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day
Stevie is supposed to be back to work.  His placement worker said he's been
counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter
at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making
sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his
job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. I
then met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day
back.


      Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed
through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing
cart were waiting.


      "Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his
mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate your coming
back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!" I led them toward a
large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest
of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers
empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its
surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all
sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. "First thing
you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said. I tried to sound
stern.


      Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of
the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he
picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table.

      Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from
beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I
turned to his mother. "There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that
table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your
problems. Happy Thanksgiving."


      Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and
shouting, and there were a few tears, as well.
      But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking
hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big smile on his face, was
busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.


      Best worker I ever hired.
      Plant a seed and watch it grow.





Saturday, December 5, 2009

Friday, December 4, 2009

Quotes: Teri Your Quote, it's in There....

If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further.
—Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
—Thomas Edison
"When you examine the lives of the most influential people who have ever walked among us, you discover one thread that winds through them all. They have been aligned first with their spiritual nature and only then with their physical selves."
—Albert Einstein


Only Tiny gods create religions...... Big Gods know all Gods are Soul.......
—Roy Frost


I just think it's interesting that each Soul having the qualities of the Creator makes everything It believes true............
—Roy Frost


"Hell, there are no rules here.
We're trying to accomplish something."
—Thomas A. Edison


I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world.

Albert Einstein


There comes a time in our lives when our weaknesses have been overcome, when we have a compassion and patience that nothing can disturb, a self knowledge all encompassing. It is then that we come into our own mastership. We have mastered the self when we become our serene nature, unruffled by whatever befalls us. In our self mastery we can express our tenderness and strength, transcending all that is imbalanced and turn to all that is good in ourselves, in each other, and in our universe.

We are self mastered when we have such one-pointedness that nothing can distract us from this unity, this balance. We have learned to travel the high road when we see the self in others, when we feel a part of each other, when we never feel separated from each other or the universe.

Roslyn LoPinto
A Guide to Centering p. 68

ASTOUNDING COMFORT: The Perwane asked Rumi, "When the servant of God performs an action, do the grace and good flow from the action, or are they the gift of God?"

The Master answered, "It is the gift of God and his grace. Yet God, out of His tenderness, ascribes both to the servant saying to him, 'Both are yours.' No one knows what astounding comfort is laid up for them in secret, as a reward for doing Love's work."

Rumi
"The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there."
—Lesley Poles Hartley, novelist
"To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
—Elbert Hubbard
"Education is an admirable thing,
but it is well to remember from time to time that
nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
—Oscar Wilde
"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission."
—Eleanor Roosevelt
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."
Mark Twain
"The creator made Italy from designs by Michelangelo."
Mark Twain
"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
Robert Frost
There is only one absolute Truth—GOD IS! All other truths are relative to what any given individual desires to believe and accept. These truths are also relative to the individuals' level of consciousness, awareness and understanding. All individuals are relative truths unto themselves.
—Thomas Flamma

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
—Henry Ford 1863-1947

Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.
—Harry Truman

A people that values it privileges above its principles soon loose both.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower

I find the harder I work the more luck I seem to have.
—Thomas Jefferson

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
—Henry Ford

Figuring out who you are is the whole point of the human experience.
—Anna Quindlen

Walk Towards the Sunshine and the Shadows Will Fall Behind You.
—Calendar

No matter what road I travel, I'm going home.
—Shinso

Love Is The Master Key That Opens The Gates Of Happiness
—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Each of us is his or her own creation.
—Shirley Maclaine
Camino p. 306
The phrase "I am Soul wearing a physical body" to my physical is a nice affirmation. I know in the physical that I do not begin to know or understand all that I know that I know as Soul. So I understand completely when someone says "I have a Soul."
—Roy Frost
Guilt is the closest we'll ever get to perpetual motion.
—Roy Frost
You can only keep what you give away.
—Roy Frost
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
—Mark Twain
There is only one absolute truth—GOD IS! All other truths are relative to what any given individual desires to believe and accept. These truths are also relative to the indivduals' level of consciousness, awareness and understanding. All individuals are relative truths unto themselves.
—Thomas Flamma
Soul exists because of God's Love for Itself.
—Teri Gress
Everything we do is God experiencing Itself.
—Millie Moore
If you don't feel like yourself, maybe you're not.........
—Roy Frost
People (sometimes) live up to our "Lowest" expectations.
—Debbie Stone
Some people are perfect and their isn't much you can do about it.
—Roy Frost
Some people get an education and it goes to their head.
—Roy Frost
Don't Worry If you get Lost. You'll Eventually Find Yourself.
—AAA Magazine
Everyone is their own Truth.
—Roy Frost
One's Destination is Never a Place—but Rather a New Way of Looking at Things
—Henry Miller
Don't Give up—Moses was Once a Basket Case
—Church Sign
Lost in Eternity
—Roy Frost
I have to be true to myself because that's the only truth I understand.
—Linda Turner
Tsang Says: Infinite patience yields immediate results.
—Fortune Cookie
Good sense is not common.
—Larry Kinney
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth means the world would be both blind and malnourished.
—Larry Kinney
You are unique just like everyone else.
—Roy Frost
Many people will walk in and out of your life,
But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
To handle yourself, use your head;
To handle others, use your heart.
Anger is only one letter short of danger.
If someone betrays you once, it is his fault;
If he betrays you twice, it is your fault
Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
Small minds discuss people.
He who loses money, loses much;
He, who loses a friend, loses much more;
He, who loses faith, loses all.
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
But beautiful old people are works of art.
Learn from the mistakes of others.
You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
—Eleanor Roosevelt

Text While Driving

Thursday, December 3, 2009

A History Lesson?

From the New York Times - 12-1-09


------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 1, 2009
Editorial Observer


Roosevelt Understood the Power of a Public Option

By ADAM COHEN

As governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt crusaded for "public
power," government-owned electric plants. He was outraged by the high
prices that monopolistic utility companies were charging and by their
refusal to bring electricity to rural parts of the state, which, they
said, could not be done economically. Public plants, Roosevelt said,
could bring power to those who needed it and serve as a yardstick for
measuring and keeping in check the prices charged by private power
companies.

Many decades later, a major point of contention in the debate over
health insurance reform is the so-called public option, a government-run
program that would compete with private insurers. Critics have tried to
paint it as a wild-eyed experiment, but it echoes F.D.R.'s battles for
public power — in fact, the entire New Deal he later created. The
argument Roosevelt made — that a government program could fix the flaws
in a poorly functioning private market — applies with even more force in
health care.

In the early 20th century, electricity was a hot political issue. It was
expensive and did not reach many parts of the country. To Roosevelt, it
was an important social justice issue. "When he talked about the
benefits of cheap electricity he did not think in terms of kilowatts," a
top adviser said. "He thought in terms of the hired hand milking by
electricity, the farm wife's pump, stove, lights and sewing machine."

When he ran for president in 1932, Roosevelt made public power a
cornerstone of his campaign. In a speech in Portland, Ore., he explained
that it could be a "birch rod in the cupboard," which the citizenry
could use to punish private power companies that were gouging the public
or not providing good service. Critics accused Roosevelt of Bolshevism,
but he was not deterred. Public power was no more radical, he said, than
the public mail.

F.D.R. championed public power as president. During his first 100 days
in office, he backed a bill to create the Tennessee Valley Authority, a
federal authority that brought affordable electricity to an impoverished
40,000-square-mile stretch of the rural South.

Roosevelt had hoped to create other projects like the T.V.A., to
establish yardstick pricing power on a national scale, but it proved to
be a heavier logistical and political lift than he expected. In 1935, he
brought government into the electricity business in another way. By
executive order, he created the Rural Electrification Administration,
which used federal money and local farm co-ops to lay electric lines in
parts of the country that private companies had no interest in serving.
The R.E.A. drove down electricity prices and helped bring lighting,
sewing machines and radios to the 90 percent of rural Americans who were
without them.

The whole New Deal was in a sense just a series of public options, some
more optional than others, that offered government as an alternative to
the often-flawed private market. The Farm Credit Administration and the
Home Owners' Loan Act used government funds to save farms and homes of
Americans who would have been foreclosed on by private lenders. The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation saved the private banking system
by insuring savings accounts, which made the public willing to put money
back in private banks. Social Security, all public and no option,
rescued older Americans from living their final years in poverty.

A public option for health care could work much like the yardstick
Roosevelt envisioned public power becoming. A publicly run health care
program could compete with private insurance companies, which have a
record of overcharging and underperforming.

Private health insurers and their allies in Congress argue that
government is too inept to run a health insurance program and that it
will be too costly. Actually, government already does that — for the
military and in Medicare and Medicaid. As for cost, opponents of the
public option may fear it would work too well — that to compete, private
insurers would have to keep their prices down and the quality of their
services up.

The private insurers and lawmakers who oppose the public option also
claim it would be a radical break from how things have been done in this
country. In reality, it follows directly from the New Deal tradition
that created many of the mainstays of American society.

Copyright 2009
<http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html> The New
York Times Company <http://www.nytco.com/>

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

New use for Windex

New use for Windex


I haven't checked ' snopes.com <http://snopes.com/>' to see if this
actually
Works or not . . . But they say,

*If you ever get the sudden Urge to run around naked, **
**You should sniff some Windex first.
**It'll keep you from streaking.
**
**Have a Great Day!*

Calculate your role model

Each of us is the result of the influence of many people. However some
individuals have played a significant role in our development, They are
often called "role models", "heroes", "people we idolize" or feel an
unconscious attraction to that we consciously or unconsciously imitate.
Perhaps you know who that person is, or perhaps you don't.

The world renowned Sir Trevor Rigelsworth, Ph.D, has given us a simple
way to determine our role model. It is easy and only takes a minute and
it may surprise you.

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL?

Be sure not to peek! You don't want to skew your answer.

Try this - it's really neat ...
Don't look at the answers:

1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9

2) Multiply by 3, then

3) Add 3, then again multiply by 3 (I'll wait while you get the
calculator....)

4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number....

5) Add the digits together

Now Scroll down ...............

With that number, see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:

1. Einstein
2. Oprah Winfrey
3. Mother Teresa
4. Randubius Raji
5. Bill Gates
6. Johann Von Stueckenberg
7. Brad Pitt
8. Babe Ruth
9. Al Marshall
10. Barack Obama


*I know... I just have that effect on people.... one day you too can be like
me..... Believe it! *

P.S. - Stop picking different numbers!! I AM YOUR IDOL, JUST DEAL WITH IT
**


------------------------------------------------------------------------

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.426 / Virus Database: 270.14.88/2537 - Release Date:
11/30/09 21:05:00

Take this to bed with you, Your spouse will not mind

 

 

 

What to take to bed with you - not a joke . 

Pretty neat idea. Never thought of it before.
  

 

 

Put your car keys beside your  bed at night
 I keep mine right next to my 380. semi-auto. 


Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr's office, the check-out girl at the market, everyone you run across.  Put your car keys beside your bed at night.


If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car.  The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this:  It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation.

Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. 


If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won't stick around.   After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there.

This is something that should really be shared with everyone.
Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.  


It would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack, where you can't reach a phone. My Mom has suggested to my Dad that he carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn't hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she'll know there's a problem. 
 


I am sending this to everyone I know because I think it is fantastic.

~:Diane

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Retirement

*

*_And they ask---Why I Like Retirement?_*

*Question: How many days in a week?
Answer: 6 Saturdays, 1 Sunday *

*Question: When is a retiree's bedtime?
Answer: Three hours after he falls asleep on the couch.*

*Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day. *

*Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees?
Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.*

*Question: What do retirees call a long lunch?
Answer: Normal *

*Question: What is the best way to describe retirement?
Answer: The never ending Coffee Break. *

*Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?
Answer: The term comes with a 10% percent discount. *

*Question: Among retirees what is considered formal attire?
Answer: Tied shoes.. *

*Question: Why do retirees count pennies?
Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.
_____________*

*

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Say "I Love You"



One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't "anymore". No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more "just one minute." Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good-bye, say "I love you."

So while we have it, it's best we love it, care for it, fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage.....And old cars... And children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away or a sister-in-law after divorce. There are just some things that make us happy, no matter what.

Life is important, like people we know who are special.. And so, we keep them close!

I received this from someone who thought I was a 'keeper'! Then I sent it to the people I think of in the same way... Now it's your turn to send this to all those people who are "keepers" in your life, including the person who sent it, if you feel that way.  Suppose one morning you never wake up, do all your friends know you love them?

I was thinking...I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.

Let every one of your friends know you love them. Even if you think they don't love you back, you would be amazed at what those three little words and a smile can do.  And just in case I'm gone tomorrow.

I LOVE YA!!!

Live today to the fullest because tomorrow is not promised..   
  

Thanksgiving

Friend --

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, Americans across the country will sit down
together, count our blessings, and give thanks for our families and our
loved ones.

American families reflect the diversity of this great nation. No two are
exactly alike, but there is a common thread they each share.

Our families are bound together through times of joy and times of grief.
They shape us, support us, instill the values that guide us as
individuals, and make possible all that we achieve.

So tomorrow, I'll be giving thanks for my family -- for all the wisdom,
support, and love they have brought into my life.

But tomorrow is also a day to remember those who cannot sit down to
break bread with those they love.

The soldier overseas holding down a lonely post and missing his kids.
The sailor who left her home to serve a higher calling. The folks who
must spend tomorrow apart from their families to work a second job, so
they can keep food on the table or send a child to school.

We are grateful beyond words for the service and hard work of so many
Americans who make our country great through their sacrifice. And this
year, we know that far too many face a daily struggle that puts the
comfort and security we all deserve painfully out of reach.

So when we gather tomorrow, let us also use the occasion to renew our
commitment to building a more peaceful and prosperous future that every
American family can enjoy.

It seems like a lifetime ago that a crowd met on a frigid February
morning in Springfield, Illinois to set out on an improbable course to
change our nation.

In the years since, Michelle and I have been blessed with the support
and friendship of the millions of Americans who have come together to
form this ongoing movement for change.

You have been there through victories and setbacks. You have given of
yourselves beyond measure. You have enabled all that we have
accomplished -- and you have had the courage to dream yet bigger dreams
for what we can still achieve.

So in this season of thanks giving, I want to take a moment to express
my gratitude to you, and my anticipation of the brighter future we are
creating together.

With warmest wishes for a happy holiday season from my family to yours,

President Barack Obama


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Do magic with Photoshop Elements 8



http://ugab.typepad.com/ugresources/

Terry White of Adobe and Detroit MUG walks you through some of the interesting things in the latest version of Photoshop Elements. The video shows how to stretch your photo without stretching the guys with surf boards, some great exposure things, how to make your teeth whiter than your dentist can, how to get rid of the guy who walked into your scene and a couple of other neat things.

Check out his other podcasta too. He is great.

Some Interesting View Points

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