A few thoughts on the way the world is today...

Pretty flowers are part of the "feel good" part of life. :)

2011-12-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

Running RED stop lights!

2011-12-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

The light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up..

He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally....I assumed you had stolen the car."

Priceless

BoB - Bug out Bags

2011-09-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

BoB's... okay, fine. BUT... where are you bugging out to? If you are rich enough to have been able to purchase a few acres somewhere, where is that somewhere? Is it a place where others will wish to be?

I read a few blog's about bugging out and survival when TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) and time after time I see people talking about how prepared they are.

How prepared is that? Let's use as an example one or more people go to their decided bug out area and set up house keeping, probably with maybe a tent or even a small camping trailer.

They have their fishing gear, their hunting gear even. How many people are prepared compared to the non-prepared ones? Pretty big ratio I'm sure. A few million in different stages of preparation for bad times vs ten's of millions not prepared at all. Yet, a large percentage of those people, when they start starving, are liable to kill you for the food you have.

It's possible that would or could take only one shot from a decent weapon, rifle or pistol/revolver.

An example: You've been at your bug out location for a week or so and one or more of "those" people sneak up on you and watch you for a few hours or days to see how you act.

Then, when they have it figured out, a .308 or 30-06 bullet through the old head sure makes for a headache.

Then they either bury you in a shallow grave and make themselves at home in your belongings, or they pack up what they want and take it to their bug out location. Possibly, if there is a woman as one of the "campers", they will "save" her for a while and use her as a sexual "toy" before they kill her. You need to be thinking of such things happening. Maybe they won't kill anyone, maybe they will just abuse them and after stripping them naked, take everything they own and leave them/you to die. You do think of how to prevent things like that, correct?

Because things like that already happen and TSHTF hasn't even happened yet.

I don't understand the people on the survival lists/blogs (most of them by far) talk about when TSHTF and or TEOTWAWKI as if they are going to go to some location and set up as if they were camping.

Most likely there will be no law enforcement for a long time and gangs will destroy whole cities and towns, burning many to the ground. Thousands, and finally, millions will end up dead.

And with 310+ million people in the country these days, it does not matter how well you think your bug out area it "secret" and or hidden. Others will have the same idea about it. And a lot of those 310+ million people do not even have one days food or water stored up. First will be the looting of food stores and the people looting them will be people who you thought were good people and would never do something like that. What happened to them? Something as simple as "They got hungry."

What kind of place would make a good bug out location? Well, out in the middle of a field where you can see for a half mile or more and nothing for those trying to sneak up on you to hide behind. Oh, wait. That isn't any good, no fish or anything to hunt out there in the middle of the field. Okay, in a canyon next to a creek/river full of fish with lots of trees and game to hunt. Easy for someone to sneak up on you then, and the creek/river noise will help prevent you from hearing the person/people doing the sneaking. That means one, two, or maybe 3 or 4 people won't have much of a chance keeping their "stuff" if someone else wants it.

If you do go to/get to your bug out location and set up like when you go camping, how are you going to prevent someone from doing that? (Taking your stuff)

You need to be thinking about that: How are you going to survive the bad guys?

Let's use, for example, that you get unlucky at your camp and a group attacks you and you kill a few of them and then several surrender. What are you going to do with them? Take their weapons and kick them in the ass and tell them to never come back? Can't do that, you would just about be guaranteeing they would be back at some time in the future and would bring enough of their buddies to make sure you were killed.

No, there is only one thing to do when a group attacks you, and that is to make sure all are dead when it is over. Surrender or not, they did make a choice when they decided to attack you and they all need to be removed from being a threat to you and your loved ones. When they make a decision to attack you, they are showing you they are not good people and that they are a threat to all good people.

Or, they surrender, you take their weapons and kick them in the ass. Maybe within minutes or hours they have killed others who maybe weren't able to protect themselves as well as you could. Those deaths are your fault. You could have prevented them by killing the bad guys.

There are going to be a lot of good people killed before they figure that out. Figured out that when they see bad people, that the bad people need to be prevented from killing. The only way to do that after TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI will be to kill them.

Until the good people get that straight in your/their head, that there will be a lot of two legged animals walking around out there after TSHTF who will kill for something to eat, then the length of time you "survive" might not be too long.

It is not going to be good times after TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI.

Are you mentally ready to kill to keep living so that when you need to pull the trigger you can to protect yourself and loved ones. It is not going to be easy.

And once you kill a fellow human protecting yourself or loved ones, you will probably end up having nightmares about it for months or years that you will have to live with also.

In the 1970's, I heard of a couple of different groups known as "survivalists", one is Southern Oregon and another in Northern Idaho. Although the people in Idaho seemed to be white and were called White Supremacists. And most thought of them as whacko's.

Today, it is different, doing a Google search for "survival blog" returns 210,000,000 (yes, 210 million) websites or pages devoted to survival. Survival and being prepared is not a dirty thing anymore. It is the smart thing to be doing.

Checking Out, a look at the life of Catherine Graves

2011-05-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

Somehow, I ran across the story of Catherine Graves and her struggle with life as she learned her husband, whom she thought was having and affair and or affairs with other women found out he only had months to live because of a rapidly growing tumor in his brain. My thoughts after reading her heart jerking true story of part of her life.

05/25/2011

Well, UPS brought Catherine Graves book to me today (05/25/11) with the title of "Checking Out". It is about how she seen life through her eyes when she finally figured out her most loved husband John would be dead shortly from a brain tumor.

How she survived going through that part of her life (NOT well) and the year or so after that, while she struggled to get back on her two feet, finally figuring out she had two children to care for and a business to run.

She just about crawled down a hole and pulled it in after herself, but loved ones would NOT let her do that.

On her road to recovery, she was misfortune enough to run into a shark-sleezebag of a person masquerading as a man. He proceeded to use her and abuse her greatly as such beings are known to do, driving some of her long time friends off never to return... because she wouldn't open her eyes and SEE how she was being used by a dishonest person. After a year of that she finally got on the road to recovery and got reconnected with her family, her son and daughter.

I highly recommend it, it has more than several places in the book where the ink didn't print clearly, leaving it blurry so I could hardly read it. And then I figured out there was nothing wrong with the printing, that it was my eyes that were blurry from the tears in them. Once I wiped the tears away the print was clear again.

So, yes, it does have its tear jerker passages, making a person cry right along with Catherine and her dying husband, John.

She does well at making the book a smooth flowing story of her heartaches and how she finally returns to the living, crawling out of her self pity. It is a wonder that Catherine made it, it was touch and go for a while but finally seen the light that her children and friends did love and need her.

There ARE a few errors in the book, such as doubled paragraphs and such, or hiring a private detective a few pages apart, but still, it is an excellent read, and reads quickly. I really enjoy books that keep my attention and flow smoothly. Catherine has done well for her first book.

Hears hoping you are having a happy time in life again, Catherine. That you are loved and can love back again, starting with family and friends. Other people to love WILL come into your life, but do not try to rush it. I think that you possibly learned THAT lesson from Mr Sleezebag M. in your book.

I give it five stars, Catherine, Kudos!

New Year!

2011-01-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we seem to have survived 2010. Remember that the SHTF stuff that was supposed to happen in 2010? As far as most of us citizens are concerned, nothing much happened to/in our lives.

Hopefully, you are doing fine and that 2011 will be a great year for you.

YES, finally, I got my Electric Salt and Pepper mills!

2010-12-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

Well, after years of wanting a decent pepper mill, Costco had a set on sale that I finally bought. It is a pair, pepper and salt mills both. It was $50 for the set but they are on sale for $40 for the set. Comes with first load of pepper and salt. Wow, does the salt that comes with them taste great! They are ELECTRIC and take SIX AAA batteries each. Dang, 12 batteries, just like that! No switch to push, it is a gravity switch, tilt it upside down and the motor grinds your salt or pepper. Can adjust the coarseness of the grind with a nice knob on top.

Time to put my manual crank grinder pepper mill away finally!

Trudeau Elite Graviti Salt and Pepper Mill Set - Item# 541149

http://video.costco.com/v/10960/541149-trudeau-graviti-salt-and-pepper-set-kitchen/

That is a link to their demo. They are already sold out at Costco.com. Looks like I'm not the only one wanting a set. LOL

Buckyballs - ah, what a time taker!

2010-12-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I gave a set of gold and a set of black Buckyballs to to one of my employees a couple nights ago, told him how expensive they were, so he had to stop at Fred Meyer and look. He told me yesterday, Wow, they want $38 per color for them. Yes. Expensive toy. At Buckyball's website they have them for $29.95 + $5.95 for shipping, and if you buy two sets of them they will ship them free. So, from Buckyball's themselves you can get two sets for $60 instead of the $78 Fred Meyer wants. http://www.getbuckyballs.com/ is their website URL.

Jason said he went home after work the night I gave them to him and he said he sat down and played with them a few minutes and looked at the clock and THREE AND A HALF HOURS had gone by. LOL He said Jennifer (his wife) got frustrated playing with the second set of them, they wouldn't do what she wanted them to do. Hehehe.

I know I enjoy picking them up and playing with them. Make all kinds of designs with them. What a new toy I have to play with. So do Jennifer and Jason. Dumb Boss, always giving them things.

Thanksgiving Day has came and gone...

2010-11-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

One of my employee's and his wife came by and seen me on Wednesday at 10pm and handed me a bag with a 5.6 pound Prime Rib roast in it, complete with spuds, chicken dressing, (chicken dressing with Prime Rib? What am I missing with that? LOL) a can of corn. Just the rib, pigging out on it lasted for five nice meals. Thanks guys! It has been YEARS since I had a Rib.

To top it off, the roof started leaking at the shop and the roofing people won't be over to look at it until Tuesday or Wednesday to see what they are going to do with it.

Jason and I have talked about that problem several times over the years and the BEST way to fix it would be put a 5/1 metal roof over the flat leaking tar one. Put the high part on the West side and could lay a foot or more insulation on the flat roof before putting the stringers up and screwing the metal on. Kill two birds with one stone. Could surely do it cheaper than putting on a new flat tar roof. I've been there over thirty-two years and that flat roof has had so many thousands of dollars spent on it in that length of time. Hello??? Anyone home??? This is Oregon. Flat roofs don't work here worth a dang.

If they would put a sloped metal roof with eight half joists it could be insulated to R-40 or higher and NO MORE LEAKS. Use white metal roofing, which will lower the temperature by a large sum. I remember when I re-roofed my house, replacing a black three tab roof with a white three tab roof. Pulling down the attic door at Noon and shooting both sides of the peak with the IR thermometer opened my eyes. The WHITE half was on the East side, so it had been heating up in the Sun all morning and the BLACK side was the West side and the Sun hadn't been shining on it very long at Noon. Even being white, it should have been MUCH hotter than the black side since it had had sun shining on it all morning.

I thought something was wrong, so done the same test several days in a row at different times of the day. NOPE. The temperature of the white roofed side on the bottom side, radiating heat into the attic was over THIRTY DEGREES cooler than the side of the roof covered in black.

Yet I see nine out of ten putting on a black or dark roof when they re-roof. It takes away YEARS of life from the roof when they use a darker color and dumps all that extra heat into the attic on top of that. How stupid is that? I'll stick with white roofs, thank you.

FREE

2010-10-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

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It never ceases to amaze me the number of people and businesses who do NOT know what FREE means.

Do YOU? What do YOU think FREE means?

FREE means FREE. NO NOTHING NEEDED IN RETURN.

For example, a blurb about getting some FREE Advil.

______________________________________________

To get your coupon please provide us with the following information. To learn more about our use of your information and your rights, please consult our Privacy Policy.

Information about you and your family enables us to provide specially tailored offers and health information to your needs.

* Required Fields

* First Name
* Last Name
* Email
* Address (ex. 123 Main Street)
* Address 2 (Apt/Suite)
* Zip (City and State not required.)
* DOB (MM/YYYY)
Gender
Are there children under age 18 in your household?

_____________________________
Look at that, the FREE sample is NOT free at all. If it WERE free, all they would need would be street address and zipcode. No name or ANYTHING else needed. In fact, since it IS just a coupon, it could be like any of the 'other' coupons on the Internet that are printable on your printer.

I have used that program before for coupons. It will only let you print the coupon one time, so with the Advil Free sample coupon it could be that SIMPLE. When 500,000 coupon's have been printed, it would stop letting them be printed.

They would NOT know who received any of the coupons or names or addresses. Nothing. The coupons WOULD be FREE.

They aren't now, they wish to know all that PRIVATE information about you, your family, maybe about your dog and cat too. Just a total ripoff. Not free at all.

Anytime you have to give ANYTHING to received something, then it is NOT free.

When you are walking down the street and walk up to someone and give them a dollar bill and walk off, then that WAS free. The INSTANT you ask even their name when you give it to them, it is no longer free. It is that simple. You asked them to repay YOU with something (their name in this case) before giving them the dollar.

Always a scam. Always a ripoff.

This website: http://www.totallyfreestuff.com/ I'll bet, of all the hundreds or thousands of supposed 'FREE' stuff listed on it, that there is not even ONE free item. They will ALL want at least your name or name and address/e-mail before they will send you their stuff. That is NOT free. Think about it, when it the last time YOU received something for free? I can't remember the last time I did. They always want info in exchange. NOT free at all.

Ken

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Look how smart I am!

2010-10-06T04:46:00.000-07:00

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One of the owners of a previous place I had worked at for several years died recently.

I had to laugh at the education of people these days. Don't people have any pride in how they look when they don't even know simple grammar and spelling rules? Name changed to protect the person posting the comment. Guest book entry:

"October 05, 2010

Hi Deb very sorry to here about your dad. Lost my dad in april take care. ~ Some Guy, Salem, Oregon"

I would have thought it should read:

"October 05, 2010

Hi, Deb. Very sorry to hear about your dad, I lost mine in April. Take care. ~ Some Guy, Salem, Oregon"

I was under the impression month names were capitalized and hearing with our ears wasn't spelled here, like we were here and not there.

Time for a laugh or two...

2010-10-03T21:25:00.001-07:00

Was on a survival site and a member posted a story about doing the laundry back in the old days. The way he posted it, it looked like he was talking about himself back then. WRONG. It was from another site ran by: Bess W. Metcalf and she has some really funny posts to read on her site.

One page is as good of a starting point as another on the site and here is the URL for it:
The Sneaky Kitchen Just the thing to have a person laughing and relaxing at the end of a trying day.

Cordless phone headset

2010-10-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

I use a headset on my cordless phones so both my arms are free for typing on the keyboard, working in the kitchen or any other jobs. I have found the Panasonic KX-TCA60 works well and will last several years. Amazon has them with FREE shipping if it is included on an order that totals $25 or more. Seems I always can find stuff on Amazon to make the order total more than that, so, good to go. Do we understand what FREE shipping means? LOL It sells on Amazon for $7.99 each. Or, OR... I can go to Panasonic and get it with FREE shipping also... at Panasonic WITH FREE shipping.... they cost: $22.99 each.

Let's see if I am smart enough to figure that out. On Amazon, four (4) of them are $31.96 total cost... and from Panasonic four (4) of them are $91.96 total cost. That is ONLY a $60 savings buying the same item from Amazon. And I usually buy them five or more at a time, since I have one on the phone in the bedroom, one on the phone by the kitchen table, and one on the phone in the office. That is three with a spare in case I catch the cord on something and and the band gets broken when it is jerked from my head with me hollering dang it because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

Now, what can I buy with that 'saved' $60? LOL

I just LOVE to save money, don't you? Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out WHERE I am going to buy something so I can get it for the most reasonable price. Do you do that too?

Ken

100310 1012

COPD - Is that something you or I may have?

2010-10-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

100210 1427

Was talking to my friend the other night and he listened to me wheezing and coughing and asked me how long that had been going on. A couple weeks I told him. Actually it has been about a month now that I think of it.

Somewhere in our eighty minute talk he brought up something called COPD. I'd never heard of it. So, I looked it up in Google and found:

"COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:

Chronic means long-term — people live with COPD for many years
Obstructive means decreased airflow in and out of the lungs
Pulmonary refers to your lungs — it includes all the tubes that take in air through your mouth and nose and into your lungs
Disease means illness"

One website about it: COPD http://www.copd.com/# I really find it hard to believe I somehow got COPD.

I am slowly getting better, I think it is a case of the dang flu or cold that I had earlier. But I will keep an eye on it. Seems like it takes a long time to get over stuff that lasted a couple days when I was younger.

So, if you cough and wheeze a lot, click on the above link and see if COPD might be what you have. All the time, something new to worry about. Let us hope neither of us have it!

Ken

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Smoking cigarettes one day - and then... never again.

2010-10-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

100210 1333

So hilarious. Was on a 'health' site about something and one of the questions was:

"Have you smoked ONE cigarette in your WHOLE life."

Are they actually so stupid to believe that smoking ONE cigarette at ANY time in your whole life would make a difference in your health? Do they know something that everyone else doesn't know?
Oh, yes, I smoked just ONE cigarette THIRTY YEARS ago, so please, put me with the other ex-smokers. Put me with the people who smoke two packs a day and have been smoking two packs a day for twenty years.
You are BOTH the same, health wise. Both have the same chance of having cancer, both have the same odds of having ______. (enter whatever you wish in the blank)

What? All at once the body can't or doesn't heal itself over a period of time? Since when? Anyone have more info on this subject I could look at?

I haven't smoked in (as of today, right now at 14:00 hours) 29 years, 6 months and 14 days to the minute. From 18 March 1981 @ 14:00 hours, a Wednesday, until today 02 October 2010 @ 14:00 hours, a Saturday, since @ 14:00 hours was the last time I smoked a cigarette and that was just a half of one at that. A Marlboro, seems I smoked those most of the twenty one (21) years that I smoked. When a person stops smoking, at least with me, I tend to remember dates and times regarding such a thing happening, don't you?

I had TRIED to quit several times, over the years, before that time. Ah, by the second or third day I would dang near take your head off if you even looked at me. I figured out why that was. The part of our brain/mind that controls what we do regarding our body seems to end up being controlled by the subconscious part of our brain/mind. When I was "trying" to quit smoking, I was trying to shove the order to quit smoking through my subconscious. That doesn't seem to work well at all.
But when I finally decided in my subconscious that I didn't desire to smoke anymore, from that instant my body never had a craving for nicotine anymore.
On that day, 29½ years ago, when I lit that last cigarette, it didn't even taste good at all. I had smoked the usual number the day before, smoking right up until I went to bed. But, the next day, when I lit that first cigarette at 14:00 hours (2pm), should have told me something would be different that day. Usually I had smoked one or two cigarettes before I ever left the house in the morning. When I mashed that first cigarette of the day out in the ash tray on the 18th, the urge to smoke wasn't there anymore.

One thing that did happen though, was the fact that I became allergic to cigarette smoke and smell. It got pretty bad over the years. Someone would come into the shop with a lot of cigarette smoke smell on their clothes and within a minute or so if they were standing to close to me, close enough that I smelled the smoke on their clothes, my eyes would get all bloodshot, my nose start running, sneezing, the whole works. I would have to let one of my employees take over talking to them, the smoke on their clothes caused me too many problems, health wise.

Strange things happen sometimes. Have I thought about smoking a cigarette, just one, again to see what it tasted like? Sure, but just as a passing thought. It was never a strong enough thought that I would actually smoke one.

And yes, I AM proud of myself for dumping that filthy, nasty habit of smoking, 29½ years ago.

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SETI, UFOs, aliens and a good laugh...

2010-09-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

092910 2157

Ah, yes. It is all in the point of view, isn't it. A good example would be:

This story happened a while ago in Dublin , and even though it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it is indeed true.

John Bradford, a Dublin University student, was on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night and in the midst of a big storm. The night was rolling on and no car went by. The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him.

Suddenly, he saw a car slowly coming towards him and stopped. John , desperate for shelter and without thinking about it, got into the car and closed the door, only to realize there was nobody behind the wheel and the engine wasn't on. The car started moving slowly. John looked at the road ahead and saw a curve approaching. Scared, he started to pray, begging for his life. Then, just before the car hit the curve, a hand appeared out of nowhere through the window, and turned the wheel. John , paralyzed with terror, watched as the hand came through the window, but never touched or harmed him.

Shortly thereafter, John saw the lights of a pub appear down the road. Gathering strength, he jumped out of the car and ran to the establishment. Wet and out of breath, he rushed inside and started telling everybody about the horrific experience he had just had. A silence enveloped the pub when everybody realized he was crying... and wasn't drunk.

Suddenly, the door opened, and two other people walked in from the dark and stormy night. They, like John , were also soaked and out of breath. Looking around, and seeing John Bradford sobbing at the bar, one said to the other, "Look, Paddy....thar be the fooking idiot that got into the car while we were pushin' it!'

I must say, I sure burst out laughing. That's the way life is, our point of view, whether it is about a "ghost" car or SETI and UFO's, changes as we go through life.

Will those 'others' ever come forward and introduce themselves to mankind? Looking/watching how STUPID and RETARDED we, mankind, is when it comes to taking care of our planet, Mother Earth... ah, maybe not, eh? Raping it, poisoning it, killing it, killing some parts of her already that will be unusable for over 10,000 years from the contamination we cause.

If YOU were one of 'those' beings, would YOU want to meet us face to face? Maybe not, eh?

Do I personally believe 'they' are 'out there' watching us? Maybe, maybe not. Is there other life? I think there would HAVE to be, with galaxy's going on forever with trillions of stars, many with planetary systems.

Life is so precious, so cool, so wonderful... and we, mankind as a whole, treats it, Mother Earth, so poorly in exchange for what she gives us in return. Will our great, great, great grandkids have anything to look forward to? Or will all of Earth be nothing but a cesspool with few or no resources left for them?

It IS up to us, each generation.

Point of view.

Ken

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Well, what do you know...

2010-09-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

"Grab a chair, pull up to the table, dish up some bacon, eggs, and grits, cup o coffee, and chew the fat. Spit on the stove and break wind, just like one of the family. Stay as long as you like."

Words on a Yahoo Group. Just a big lie. My family isn't into people lying. What is a lie? An untruth is a lie. A poster in a group I belonged to (notice past tense?) stated that Sundance Products was NOT a MLM company and it was NOT about the money.
Right on their website it does state that they ARE a MLM company and that you CAN get rich selling their product because it is so fine of a product. He stated they might call themselves an MLM company, but he doesn't call them one.

This afternoon there were 198 members in the group, this evening there are 197. I guess I am gone. LOL

What did I expect I suppose. If I weren't bedridden I wouldn't be messing around on those dumb groups. I guess dumb is just about the truth. If they hold true to form and about 85% of the population is average IQ or lower, then close to 170 of them are of average IQ or lower.

Being on several of the groups, watching how people spell and use grammar, or lack thereof, I would say the percentage is higher. Like maybe 190 of the members would fit the category.

It sure seems like an awful lot of them seem to be broke and don't have several hundred dollars in savings, let alone several thousand dollars. They all complain to each other about how poor they are. LOL

And when I tried to correct some of the info some of the members posted I became persona non grata really quick. Such is life! LOL

Not a one of them smart enough to figure out that when they say something wrong about you that they should correct themselves and apologize. Not no, but hell no.

It is entertainment though, watching them think they know something. If someone posts 35x35=1235 they WILL believe that and not even bother to calculate it and see it is really 1225 and tell the original poster that they should correct their post. Nope. NOT going to happen. Let's see a show of hands of those above 140 IQ. Ah, no hands eh? That's the way it is. Less than one person per hundred. Spread pretty thin through the population. :)

Time to take a nap I suppose. Go to a better place, even if it is in a dream. :)

Big Beautiful Women - A little taller than most women it seems.

2010-09-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Some people like BIG women. These appear to be a little bigger than the average woman. Life must not be much fun most of the time being that big/tall.

In the last photo, the brunette in the back, second from the right, is pretty cute!
Nice smile.

Beautiful photos - by: Ron Coscorrosa

2010-09-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

This guy takes beautiful photos, well worth the time to enjoy looking at them. When you have some spare time or need to relax a little from the rat race, enjoy some of the wonderful shots he has on his website: Photos

Some of his favorites.

Or, wildlife out in the wild.

Love lots of color? Peruse his Autumn Favorites

My friend Judith sent me the link to his site. Thank you, Judith!

092210

Green Living -

2010-09-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just came off of a website that is about GREEN living and the making of electricity. Interesting website. I'm going to have to check into their "how to build a wind generator" for power. Link: Green Trust

I like well written websites and this one lays it all out so most everyone can understand it.

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Canning and Preserving

It's almost that time of year (or already is for some folks) to get out the canner and start putting away the food for winter.… »

Zogby Surveys -

2010-09-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

Just filled in another Zogby survey. Been doing those for a few years. Link: Zogby Have you ever taken one of their surveys? It is free to join and do. Ask you questions about current events and how YOU are doing in the world today. If you are a business owner, this one I just finished was about how business was/is. They never use your name, so no worries there. Then they publish charts and you can see where YOU fit in with the rest of the people taking that survey.

If you have a few extra (extra, haha, as if anyone does) minutes, you might click on the above link and peruse a little of how others think the US is doing.

092110 2053

New blog I am reading -

2010-09-21T13:41:00.001-07:00

Well, I guess I should put something on my blog once in a while. I am on a homesteading group or two on Yahoo Groups and clicked on a link where a couple got tired of the crap in the US and moved to Costa Rica. Interesting reading. You might want to go read some of her blog. Link: Ginnee's blog

The dog had puppies in May 2010 and in the photo it appears one of the puppies is going to rip the tire off the rig.

That is probably what I should do. Sell my junk here and move to somewhere like Costa Rica. Get rid of a bunch of fat and start living life again.

092110 1350

I do, I really do...

2010-09-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

need to do a new post once in a while. There is so much to talk about, things I see here or there. Some funny, some sad. A lot that is just plain stupid. Maybe later this week I will try to do a post. That is a pretty different idea.

TED - The Energy Detective 5000

2009-11-10T22:28:00.000-08:00

Been looking at the TED. It shows your energy usage for the whole house. What things take the most electricity, etc.

They have the 1000 series and the 5000 series. Top of the line is $309.00

* About TED
* TED 1000 Series
* TED 5000 Series
* TED 5000 Overview
* TED 5000 Features
* TED 5000 Live Demo
* TED 5000 Gateway
* TED 5000 Packages
* TED 5000 Developer API
* TED 5000 Firmware Upgrade
* TED 5000 FAQ
* TED Store
* Energy Facts
* Support
* News
* Contact Us

See TED 5000 in action!
"Smart Meters" are designed primarily for the electric utility industry so they can better manage the supply-and-demand of electricity. TED is designed specifically for the consumer, so that one can better manage the use and costs of electricity. TED puts YOU in charge.

The next generation in home energy monitoring, the TED 5000 Series provides all the benefits of the TED 1000 series along with a new look and improved functionality. Featuring a sleek handheld display unit and the brand new Gateway component, the TED 5000 system provides all the information any energy-conscious homeowner can dream of with added accessibility and feedback!
The complete TED 5000 system includes one Gateway, one pair of CTs, one MTU, and the optional TED 5000 Display. Users who choose to simply access their data via computer can opt for a display-free system.

Not sure which TED model's right for you? Compare the TED 5000 series to the TED 1000 series.
TED 5000 now works with Google PowerMeter !
Access data:
View your electricity usage from any Internet-connected device, including your mobile phone.
Compare:
Display current and historical usage in easy-to-understand charts and graphs.
Save:
Find ways to reduce your electricity use and lower your monthly bills.
Click to go directly to the TED Store

© Copyright 2009 Energy, Inc.

We NEED a level playing field, NOW!

2009-11-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

---Quote (Originally by Oregon Vet)---
*That is it in a nutshell.*

That HAS to STOP.

We need to go back to/start with:

THIS is the United States. THESE are OUR rules.

IF you can not live by them. Then you are NOT going to like it here.

You can NOT bring YOUR rules here.

You MUST live by OUR rules.

If you can't, then you are NOT welcome HERE.

If you don't want to/can't live by OUR rules, then STAY in YOUR pigsty of a country.

By YOU coming HERE, you ARE admitting YOUR county is NOT a good place to live.

What a bunch of idiots, they don't like their country the way it is, BUT, they come here and try to make OUR county like their's is.

We NEED to go back to 1950 rules or something, to when we could leave our houses unlocked, the keys in the ignition, people UNDERSTANDING what NO TRESPASSING or PRIVATE PROPERTY meant. That if you didn't own it, LEAVE IT ALONE.

---End Quote---
Dear Oregon Vet,

Scarecrow has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Obama admits he is a muslim - in the Off-Topic forum of USA Carry.

now that would be awesome! if only it were possible. try going to another country and getting offended that things are not the way they are in america and see what they tell you. guess what? you'd be screwed!
***************

Isn't health insurance great! It goes up $100 a year.

2009-11-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

A story where the names have been changed to protect the innocent, the Green Circle Insurance Company, the numbers are the correct numbers for the person we are talking about though:

Hello, wake up people. Doesn't this story remind you of YOUR insurance payments? LOL I received a letter already that "with a 1% tax on health insurers and a floating assessment on hospitals...." health insurers and hospitals WERE getting a 1% tax assessed on them. My letter says it IS on THEM. That means THEY are to pay it. They are all crooked, they have been told to pay it and the next line tells me: To bad, stupid, we ARE adding it to YOUR bill. You WILL pay it, NOT us. Hahahaha. And they showed my bill was $522.00 a month and the NEW bill where I pay THEIR tax makes MY bill $527.20 a month. (yes, I noticed that, it isn't $527.22, weird)
That should be STOPPED right now. The insurance companies should be paying it out of their millions/billions $ in profits. The letter I received CLEARLY states the tax is on THEM, not on us policy payers. It does NOT say to collect a 1% tax from the policy holders. So WHY are they?
Because they CAN. If we say anything, they will drop our policy is the way they work.
In the mean time, WE pay THEIR tax.
Let me tell you, it is REALLY hard to pay those outrageous bills making 12-$15 an hour. It takes every last dime and I hope I don't have an emergency come up where I have to buy something for the car or house. But, I am rich compared to a lot of people. Last month, take home was $1952.
House pmt 700, house ins 67, taxes 165, car ins 34, elec 85, NW gas 87, water/sewer 27, garbage 27, phone 26, www & TV 57, health ins 522, drugs 180: TOTAL $1977.00 I'm $25 in the hole and no gasoline in the car, no food in the kitchen. I'm hoping for a .25 cent raise, giving me about $43 more a month. Still going to have to work two jobs. $15 USED to be GOOD money. Now it doesn't even pay the bills. I need to find a spouse, someone who is working. Or I will end up with nothing. Over 1/4th of my take home goes to pay for health insurance and they want MORE, MORE, all the time.

Well, I wrote the above on 03 November 2009 and on 05 November 2009 I received my NEW, IMPROVED bill for my health insurance.

Hello Ken,
We are so HAPPY to tell you your monthly bill for your health insurance has had a SMALL increase. Instead of that $522 a month going to the $527.20 a month we have decided you are such a NICE guy, your new bill IS: $629.00 a month. Since you pay three months at a time, send us a check for $1,887.00.

Hey, don't worry about it, it is no big deal to us, either send it or go without health insurance, WE DON'T CARE.

YES, we KNOW you paid $327 a month for insurance in 2006-2007 and in 2007-2008 you paid $418 a month and in 2008-2009 you paid $522 a month, and that NOW, you are so LUCKY you get to pay us $629 a month for NO increase in benefits.

That from 06/07 to 07/08 was a 27.82% markup BUT,
from 07/08 it was ONLY a 24.88% markup!! AND,
from 08/09 it was AGAIN LESS, only a 20.49% markup!!

Isn't that GREAT!! Only 20.49% change this year!!

Oh, your wages only went up 3%? Well, that ISN'T our fault. Why, with a 3% markup, your monthly bill would have only changed from $522 to $537. ONLY $15 a month. That was NO good. We NEEDED $107 a month MORE to pay for OUR employees raises and company picnics and Christmas party. There are a LOT of things we have to pay for, so we RAISE your rates enough to pay for them. NONE of OUR employees are STUPID enough to work for $15 an hour like you are.

Tell your tightwad Boss to give you a $1.00 raise per hour EVERY YEAR, that way, your insurance raise is covered. $1.00 an hour is no big deal for him to pay. Yeah, you DESERVE it, it doesn't matter if the company isn't making enough to pay you the raise, he NEEDS to pay it anyway. If that is the straw that broke the camels back, TOUGH LUCK. Who cares if he goes out of business. You can go get a GOOD job then!!

What a great story, eh? Oh, there ARE a LOT of people paying that much for insurance... and Obama wants EVERYONE to to have insurance...

WHERE is the money going to come from? Will the above person (who makes $15 an hour) have to pay MORE yet for his insurance to cover those who don't even work?

Oh, you don't work? NO PROBLEM, WE WILL GIVE YOU FREE HEALTH INSURANCE!! Who will PAY for it? Who knows? We DON'T care. We are the government, we will just PRINT more MONEY! LOL It is that easy!

Who cares if MORE people lose their jobs, we will GIVE them FREE health insurance. :) Isn't that just GREAT!!

pBase

2009-04-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

To long since I have been over there looking at photos... www.pbase.com

Phone?

2009-04-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

I use a Motorola 1000 plus flip phone that I bought on 21 May 2001. Eight years old and it still talks fine, works fine. Still using the original battery. Eight years old and I see stuff like this:

Consumers will give their right arm to get their hands on the new BlackBerry Curve 8900, but you will have to wait until February 11. Just to make you sick, your business friend will be getting their hands on one on January 19, which is absolute torture.

For what? I have an employee that gets a new phone at least once a year and sometimes more often. A phone is to talk on.

I guess it is like people who buy a new car every year, for what, I don't know. Maybe they have too much money? I sure don't understand it. I may get a new phone this year with a PDA in it, but that would be the only reason and I don't have to change PDAs every year either. My PDA is 4-5 years old (I'm not close to it right now to see the date on it when I bought it).

Twitter?

2009-04-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

Signed on Twitter today. For what, I have no idea. We shall see if there is anything to capture my attention.

Not religious but goes to church? For what?

2009-04-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

What in the world. I don't understand these people. They don't believe in religion but they go to church? For what? Weird? Looks like it to me.

Home Life

Zorina

Her ideal Man

Location	Milwaukie, Oregon	Within 100 miles of Milwaukie, Oregon
Marital Status	No Answer	Any
Living Situation	Alone	Alone, With kids, With roommate(s), Family and friends visit often
Has Kids	Yes - but not at home	Any
Wants (more) Kids	No	No
Religion	Spiritual but not religious	Any
Attends Services	Rarely	Any
Languages Spoken	English	English

Pirates

2009-04-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

That sure seemed to take them a long time to do something as simple as shooting those pirates. I'm (and I sure there are many others too) very glad it turned out okay. They (we) were within (possibly) a few minutes of the Captain getting killed. The night he jumped into the water they should have taken care of it then.
Really glad Obama gave them the go ahead to take care of it. They need to make that a scorched earth over there for those pirates. Make them open season. After a few hundred are killed they may get the idea the world doesn't think much of pirates.

But... I think the world has too many bleeding hearts that it will never happen. :( We need to start doing that, all over the world. If people start acting like animals, then there should be no problem with killing them. Same with that sunday school teacher, if they find she did in fact rape and kill that little 8 year old girl, put her in the ground within the month.

Why do we warehouse all these bad people? Just kill them.

Gore and his bs about global warming...

2009-03-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Another way to get more money out of us poor people... Gore and his global warming hoax...

More Scientists Rip Global Warming Hysteria

Amid reports that President Barack Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, 59 additional scientists skeptical of the threat of manmade global warming have been added to the U.S. Senate Minority Report on climate change.

They bring the total to more than 700 scientists from around the world who have spoken out against the hysteria created by Al Gore and other global warming alarmists, according to a statement issued by the office of Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The latest Minority Report includes 300 scientists and climate researchers who have been added to the list since the initial report’s release in December 2007.

Many of the 59 additional scientists are affiliated with prestigious institutions including NASA, the U.S. Navy and Air Force, the Defense Department, Energy Department, Princeton University, Tulane University, the U.S. Naval Academy and the EPA.

“Unfortunately, climate science has become political science,” said award-winning Princeton physicist Dr. Robert Austin, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

He told the minority staff on the Committee on March 2: “It is tragic that some perhaps well-meaning but politically motivated scientists who should know better have whipped up a global frenzy about a phenomenon which is statistically questionable at best.”

Dr. Anastasios Tsonis of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee said the global temperature “has flattened and is actually going down. We are seeing a new shift toward cooler temperatures that will last for probably about three decades.”

As Newsmax.com reported, Obama's climate plan could cost industry nearly three times the $646 billion over eight years that the White House initially estimated for the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation.

The plan seeks to reduce pollution by setting a limit on carbon emissions and allowing businesses and groups to buy allowances, although exact details have not been released.

But Dr. Diane Douglas, a climatologist who has worked for the Department of Energy, declared: “The recent ‘panic’ to control GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and billions of dollars being dedicated for the task has me deeply concerned that the U.S. and other countries are spending precious global funds to stop global warming, when it is primarily being driven by natural forcing mechanisms.”

Among other comments from scientists included in the report:

“I am appalled at the state of discord in the field of climate science . . . There is no observational evidence that the addition of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have caused any temperature perturbations in the atmosphere.”
— Award-winning atmospheric scientist Dr. George T. Wolff, a former member of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board who served on a committee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The sky is not burning, and to claim that it is amounts to journalistic malpractice . . . The press only promotes the global warming alarmists and ignores or minimizes those of us who are skeptical.”
— Dr. Mark L. Campbell, a professor of chemistry at the U.S. Naval Academy.

“The cause of these global changes is fundamentally due to the sun and its effect on the Earth as it moves about in its orbit, not from man-made activities.”
— Retired NASA atmospheric scientist Dr. William W. Vaughan, recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

And yet another SCAM...

2009-03-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

This time about white(r) teeth... for just shipping charges. Read a blog at:

http://wafflesatnoon.com/2009/01/24/scam-alert-part-4-teeth-whitening/

Good reading, lots of people getting sucked in by this scam. Same type of deal as the money from Google scam.

Easy to read blog, from their ABOUT page:

This blog focuses on helping people with a variety of issues, from how to turn on a Zune, to overcoming video game addiction. And in between is the gamut of topics, such as conspiracy theories, the Bible, believers, non-believers, politics, UFO’s, random thoughts, gambling (pro and con!), alcohol (pro and con), addiction, self-help, weight loss, making money… you name it, and it’s here.

And recently the focus has been on exposing internet scams or questionable advertising practices. I’ve been in(sic) the advertising business for 20 years, so I’ve seen it all. I’ve been called as a witness to testify against false advertisers. And most important - I’ve known people who were hurt by online scammers. These cons are greedy and lazy. They try to take a shortcut to profits by simply lying, instead of working hard to make an honest buck.

So get out of bed, get a clue, and have breakfast with the rest of us who are already awake. It’s not too late.

We’re serving waffles today.

And it’s only noon.

More intelligent people contributing to the gene pool...

2009-02-13T02:37:00.000-08:00

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

Some guy bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: 'Free to good home. You want it, you take it.' For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too un-trusting of this deal.

It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: 'Fridge for sale $50.'

The next day someone stole it!

***They walk amongst us!***

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

While looking at a house, my brother asked the estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, 'Does the sun rise in the north?' When my brother explained that the sun rises in the east, and has for sometime, she shook her head and said, 'Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff'

***They Walk Among Us!!***

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

My colleague and I were eating our lunch in our cafeteria, when we overheard one of the administrative assistants talking about the sunburn she got on her weekend drive to the beach. She drove down in a convertible, but 'didn't think she'd get sunburned because the car was moving'.

***They Walk Among Us!!!!***

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

My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car it's designed to cut through a seat belt if she gets trapped in a wreck. She keeps it in the trunk.

***They Walk Among Us!!!!!***

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

I was hanging out with a friend when we saw a woman with a nose ring attached to an earring by a chain. My friend said, 'Wouldn't the chain rip out every time she turned her head?' I had to explain that a person's nose and ear remain the same distance apart no matter which way the head is turned...

***They Walk Among Us!!!!!!! ***

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

I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage area. So I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because she was a trained professional and I was in good hands. 'Now,' she asked me, 'Has your plane arrived yet?'...
(I work with professionals like this.)

***They Walk Among Us!!!!!!!!***

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

While working at a pizza parlour I observed a man ordering a small pizza to go. He appeared to be alone and the cook asked him if he would like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time before responding. 'Just cut it into 4 pieces; I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat 6 pieces.

***Yep, They Walk Among Us, too.!!!!!!!!

Sadly, not only do they walk among us, they also reproduce !!!!

They walk among us...

2009-02-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

*One day I was walking down the beach with some friends when someone shouted....'Look at that dead bird!' Someone looked up at the sky and said...'where?'

Isn't that the truth!

2009-02-10T01:17:00.000-08:00

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........

Logic Games are addictive!

2009-01-30T22:49:00.000-08:00

Everett Kaser writes Logic Games. His website is www.Kaser.com and he has a CD full of WONDERFUL games! Log onto his website and download all of the trial games he has posted and try them out if you enjoy Logic type games.

My thoughts on his new game that is in Beta right now:

I'm going to forget I know you, Everett! Making such addictive fun.

I said the heck with it and read a "little" bit of the help file. That slowed me down, but makes it easier to play the game, dragging the different colors around and making them fit when you see how they go.

FOUR HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES to play 8A twice. I am going to hide the CD and hide the programs on the computers and try to forget how you make such addictive FUN and turning it lose on the idiots like me who get hooked by the pretty colors and the thrill of making the logic sells (oops, that's for you, for me it is cells) work.

Flipitile wasn't for me...this one, ah, I think I will probably have to purchase KH, excellent time taker, excellent... EXCELLENT.

And put the following link to his website on my www.KenChevy.com website:

Logic and Puzzle games for PC's

Everett's reply:

"Looks like a good link, thanks, Ken!"

Well, Everett, I've been playing your games since 1997 (Sherlock was the "hook" that got me started at a friends house there in Albany), and must say, I don't even want to know how many thousands of hours I have enjoyed them. Lifes pleasures don't need to be kept track of, they just need to be enjoyed.

You're doing good, young boy, you're doing good. It is good clean fun, and anything like your games that tax the mind is GOOD for a person. My kids (the poor little babies, still wet behind the ears) haven't ever seemed to enjoy logic type puzzles. I enjoyed figuring things out when I was a kid (still am, a kid that is!) growing up in the 50s and 60s. The boy who comes around the most, the oldest one who will be 40 in a couple months, is the one I talk to about lots of things. He seems to really be lacking in the common sense department sometimes. What else would be the reason he would watch TV instead of playing one of Everett's Logic Games?
I think, from what I see, IQ isn't as important as common sense in getting by in the world and figuring out logic type puzzles such as yours and Kris'. Common sense doesn't seem to be very common anymore. :( Kris Pixton, a fellow follower of Everett's games, also writes Logic Puzzles. You can find her games on her website at http://www.kpixgames.com/ Kris has free trials of her games too.

Both write wonderful time taking logic games. Click the links, enjoy life!

I am looking for another employee and I think one of my requirements should probably be the fact they enjoy playing logic type games. My oldest employee freaks when a customer brings something in all tore apart that they want fixed and put back together. All it takes is a mind that enjoys logic. Go/no go, such a simple rule.

KH is a simple game (that's why I hear the error sound so much!) that draws me into going faster and faster, thus the errors.(yeah, yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses! LOGIC tells me going too fast makes me have errors, somehow, I just don't listen) And playing hour after hour...as the bookwork doesn't get done. I have to find someone to do some filing for me, a few hundred hours worth, ALL because of YOUR games, Everett!!! that is hasn't been done yet. Bought another file cabinet at Costco and it was delivered today, so I have to put your games aside for a little while and find someone who can use some money more than I want to save the money by doing the filing myself.

See how dangerous your games are, Everett? Need a different bumper sticker than the EAT/FISH/SLEEP. Need a new one that says: EAT/PLAY E-K GAMES/TRY TO GET A FEW MINUTES SLEEP ONCE IN A WHILE.

Good, writing this has kept me away from KH for 10 minutes and now I have to FORCE myself to go to the other end of the house, stopping at the kitchen to get something to eat for dinner and then on into the office to work on the books some more... before I ever think about playing KH again tonight.

I can't be remembering I have it on the computers that are in the office too... no, no, no, Ken. Work, work, work for a while, play later. :)

Thanks for a great game, Everett!

Ken

Lost over $200,000.00 in wages in 19 years of work.

2009-01-29T09:11:00.000-08:00

I just love these types of stories. Underpaid over $200,000.00 in 19 years of work. Let's do the math.
One million dollars in 19 years is $52,631.58 every year.
So her wages were only (on an average) $42,105.26 for every one of those 19 years.

Why don't they write articles about MOST of the working people who only make $20-$25,000.00 a year?

Now what is going to happen is fewer women will get management positions since the companies are going to be paying what they could hire a man for, they will hire a man for the job.

Hummm, I wonder how even the pay is in women owned companies right now? That would be an interesting datum! Wonder how many multimillion dollar companies owned by women have equal pay for equal work right now?
Anybody comment?

Obama signs bill making equal-pay lawsuits easier
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed an equal-pay bill into law Thursday before cheering labor and women leaders who fought hard for it and the woman whose history-making lawsuit gave impetus to the cause.

Obama, choosing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as the first bill to sign as president, called it a "wonderful day" and declared that ending pay disparities between men and woman an issue not just for women, but for all workers.

With Ledbetter standing by his side, Obama said she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits that she "still feels today." He then signed the measure that effectively nullifies a 2007 Supreme Court decision and makes it easier for workers to sue for discrimination by allowing them more time to do so.

"Making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone," Obama said. "That there are no second-class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal — but bad for business — to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability."

Ledbetter said she didn't become aware of the large discrepancy in her pay until she neared the end of her 19-year career at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant in Gadsden, Ala, and she filed a lawsuit. But the high court held in a 5-4 decision that she missed her chance to bring the action.

First lady Michelle Obama, in a separate reception with Ledbetter in the State Dining Room, praised her courage and principles. "She knew unfairness when she saw it, and was willing to do something about it because it was the right thing to do — plain and simple," Mrs. Obama said.

Ledbetter said the richest reward is that because of the new law, the nation's daughters and granddaughters will have a better deal.

"That's what makes this fight worth fighting," Ledbetter said. "That's what made this fight one we had to win."

Earlier, the president appeared in a jammed East Room, and his entrance and many lines of his brief remarks were met with happy applause and yells.

He paid special tribute to Ledbetter, who fought for the bill even though it won't allow her to recover any money for herself.

And in the room were the living symbols of this fight: Nancy Pelosi, first woman speaker of the House, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who took her pursuit of the presidency further than any other woman, even though she ultimately lost to Obama in the Democratic primary.

Of Ledbetter, Obama exclaimed: "This grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting, because she was thinking about the next generation."

Ledbetter became a regular feature in Obama's campaign for the White House, addressing the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year and traveling to Washington aboard Obama's train for the inauguration ceremonies. Obama spoke strongly in support of legislation to change the Supreme Court decision during his campaign and the Democratic-controlled Congress moved it to the top of the agenda for the new session that opened this month.

The high court said a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company's initial decision to pay a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. Under the new bill, given final passage in Congress this week, every new discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for another 180 days.

Congress attempted to update the law to extend the time, but the Bush White House and Senate Republicans blocked the legislation in the last session of Congress

Obama cited Census Bureau figures that women still receive only about 78 cents for every dollar that men get for doing equivalent jobs — "women of color even less," he said.

The measure, which amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act, also applies to discrimination based on factors such as race, religion, national origin, disability or age.

I just love those car insurance ads!

2009-01-11T21:18:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I will fill in one of those "save billions of dollars by buying car insurance from us" places.

WOW, $539.30 for 6 months of coverage. I think I will stick with State Farm. For the SAME amount of coverage State Farm charges me $405.90... for the WHOLE year. That's right: $202.95 for SIX months.
$100,000/300,000
$100 deductible Comprehensive
$500 deductible Collision
2002 S-10 4x4 Extended cab - loaded.

One time I called Costco since they are always saying how much I can save. I talked to a woman there and we discussed it and she said with all of the discounts and the very best driving record and everything, that the best she could do was within a dollar of so of what I am paying now.

So, the question is: Why are people paying so much for car insurance that they can save HUNDREDS of dollars by switching to one of these other companies?

Don't you feel bad, paying 2 or 3 times what you should be able to get insurance for? Ah, maybe you are just rich and don't care. That must be it.

We are pleased to provide you a personalized auto insurance quote from GEICO. Based on the information you provided NetQuote, your estimated* cost for GEICO auto insurance is:

$539.30 for 6 months of coverage.

To finish the process and receive a more precise GEICO rate quote, please review your quote on our website. There you will simply provide a little more information, choose your desired coverages, and receive a customized quote. Or if you prefer, call 1-800-841-5660 and give the knowledgeable insurance representative this reference number: 0*5*1*B*6*4*6*.

As a smart consumer, you know how important it is to comparison shop for the best value on auto insurance. More than eight million drivers have chosen GEICO as their auto insurance company -- make GEICO your choice today.

We look forward to serving your insurance needs.

Sincerely,

GEICO Internet Sales

2009-01-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

What in the world is the problem with people and the word "bring"? Why so much misuse of it? Example:
A worker brings carts back into a Walmart store in Westminster, Colorado in this August 14, 2008 file photograph. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)

We can see the employee is NOT in the store, that he is TAKING the carts back to the store. Are people really so stupid they don't know the difference between "bring" and "take"?
"Bring" things TO ME.
"Take" things TO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Go and take go together.
Come and bring go together.

If we are at home, talking about you going to the store, a correct conversation would be:

Honey, TAKE the car to Wal-Mart and remember to TAKE enough money. BRING me back some Fugi apples if they are on sale. TAKE some to Sally too, if you drive by her house on the way home. Suzi said she wanted us to BRING her some cat food the next time we went to the store, so don't forget to TAKE some cat food to her.

The bank wanted us to BRING in our copy of the contract for the car, so don't forget to TAKE that with you too.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Looking at photos I see one of the inhaler I had just bought at my local Bi-Mart pharmacy in Salem here. But I paid $19.00 using my insurance. And I see:

Environmentally-friendly HFA asthma rescue inhalers hit shelves this week to replace CFC-based inhalers, which will not be available after Dec. 31 per an FDA mandate. Walmart's HFA rescue inhalers start at $9.

(PRNewsFoto/Wal-Mart Stores, Inc)

I will have to check that out. Always someway us poor people are paying too much, it seems. I don't know if the box he is holding is the $9 one or not. It IS showing a box like the one I bought for $19. I'll have to TAKE that up with them the next time I go to the pharmacy, can't forget to BRING it to their attention.

Recession time...

2009-01-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

And I am ready for it to be over and done with. I never got a paycheck last month. In fact, all the bills still aren't posted and I was <$884> in the negative. :( And I've been wheezing like a steam engine... need to start taking massive doses of prednisone again. Isn't life just f...ing grand. Maybe it will be better this evening.

Where I stand on issues...

2009-01-06T02:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I joined another forum. It is called "where I stand" and it allows anyone to give their opinion on/about local or world affairs. You want to see how others think about things? That is the place to do it. My link to there is:

Go register and give YOUR opinions on how messed up the world is and what should be done.

What a stoopid quiz to take.

2009-01-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

Just took one of those stupid quizes. So funny. They told me:

Your Score Summary

Overall, you scored as follows:

99% scored higher (more stupid),
1% scored the same, and
0% scored lower (less stupid).

You are 0% stupid. This means...

You use your mind a lot, you find the world interesting. You must meet a lot of stupid people. Doesn't that get boring? Wow! Maybe you should take a stupid pill so you could fit in with most of the other test takers!

±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±

At least 99% scored higher than I did. Yahoo!

Has lots of easy questions like:

What is the total of 1-19? Well, that is really simple, just add a zero and get the answer of 190. Or 1-199 would be add 2 zero's and get 19,900 as the answer. Smaller than 1-30=?? questions are easy to do in your head. Don't know how to do them in your head? Ask me how I do them in my head.

Or how many states of the 48 US states border the Pacific Ocean? Three of course.

They don't ask you to name the fourteen states that border the Atlantic Ocean.

Or things like:is the top color of a rainbow red? Yes.

Click the Icon, take the test. It is a fun little test. Only takes a couple minutes to take it. The questions will make you smile, they are so simple.

Something called Google Alerts

2008-12-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

I use Google Alerts to show if anything new is happening on the www with different people things and one of them is for Ani, to see if she has updated her website and put some more photos on it. She told me she was, but no luck so far. I think Tracy is keeping her too busy, she has been complaining about that. She has to work for a change, not play all the time like she did when we were married for 6 and a half years.

<- a photo of Ani. Anyway, one popped up in the mail box that said:

Google Blogs Alert for: Ani Chevy

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:02 AM

Greatest Story Ever Told: Corvette Skittles
By Erica Pionke
Now, the old Chevy dealership appears to be a Lexus dealership. The lot holds uniform row after uniform row of the rear end of the same exact SUVs, some in varying shades of gray. There is not a red car, or a yellow car, or even a white ...
Greatest Story Ever Told - http://ericapionke.blogspot.com/

This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google.

It being 0400 in the morning and me not being able to sleep from the pain, I clicked on the Greatest Story Ever Told - http://ericapionke.blogspot.com/ link and read Erica's story about growing up and falling in love with the concept of owning one of Americas only sports cars - a Corvette! Cruising through those two s-curves, checking out all the different colors of cars at the Chevy dealership, thinking of what wonderful feelings would be possible if her car were a Corvette.

She says she now is driving a Chevy Cavalier, a teal green one and that she calls it "The Crapalier". That is sad because no matter what car we drive, it is one of the most important things in our life for most of us. It is the way we get to work, to the store, the grocery store most of the time, but once in a while we have enough money to go to a "toy" store and buy a new "toy", whatever that may be for us. Everything from a new movie to watch to a camera to a gun or woodworking tool or welder or printer or computer or book to read or a dog or cat or even a Corvette.

When I was Erica's age I owned a 1963 Split Window Corvette Stingray. The '63 was the 1st Corvette Stingray. It was the Fuel Injected model. White with blue interior. That was sure a fun car to drive and the girls seemed to like it a lot. I too, noticed how a Corvette was different than other cars. You pick up a girl for a date in a 1961 Chevy 4 door with rust spots on it and she would sit clear over against the door until you got to the movie and it was the same on taking her home. And if you were lucky, you would get to kiss her cheek. But a few months later, picking her up in the Vette... it was a whole different story. A lot of complaining about the stupid console being in the way so she couldn't sit close enough to me and was it okay if she rested her hand on my leg and was I sure I wanted to go to the movie? Why not just go to my place and we could figure out something to do there. Yes, Corvettes are pretty cool the way some girls relate to them. Guess I should ask Erica if it works that way for girls with guys when she is driving a Corvette.

Yikes, it is after 0600 and time to think about work today. I have to make up some signs to put on the door that the shop will be closed thursday - sunday for New Years so my employees can have a nice weekend. I did that for them for Christmas too, besides giving them each a 28 inch monitor for their computers for Christmas. Just part of my thanking them for being great employees.
Did any of you get a 28 inch monitor for your computer system? I have an extra one here for my girlfriend still sealed in the box... but, alas, no girlfriend. I'm going to have to work on that!

Have a great New Year everyone!

...and thanks Erica, for stirring my memories up of when I was your age, driving around in my white Corvette.

The joys of holidays

2008-12-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

I live alone with a couple of cats. Got divorced in 12/05 and life has been pretty simple since then. Been wandering around on some of the "match" boards again. Geeez, if all those women on them are so perfect, why aren't they still married? Some of them have been on the same profile for years and years. I guess finding someone now is about like finding a job in December of 2008. There just aren't any according to my oldest son. He's been looking for about 8 months for a welding job if I remember correctly.

Read an article and watched a video the other day, some scientists talking about how we are dumbing down the USA. (producing more lower IQ people than normal, a greater amount of them each year) I guess we seen a good example of that in the last election. Just where DO they get the people who run for an office like POTUS? There have to be better choices than we voted on!

I guess we will see what happens the first few months of 2009, see if we start coming out of this terrible recession we are in.

Forums and what is an automotive machine shop?

2008-09-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I see companies put a forum on their website, http://www.enginebuildermag.com/ is the one I was just looking at, since I am in the automotive industry through my automotive machine shop. What is an automotive machine shop you ask?

I'm not good at programming websites, so our shop website basically gives the types of work we do and as I study how to do a better website, I will be doing that...I like a nice looking website, but I don't know how to make one yet. Always something new to learn how to do!

My machine shop: The Machine Shop showing some of the types of work we can do for you or your mechanic.

Most have heard of mechanics, some of you reading this may even be mechanics. Mechanics are the people you take your car or pickup (or truck too) to, to have it worked on if it isn't running/operating the way it should be. Maybe it is something simple like needing new tires or brakes (although brakes aren't "simple", they are one of the most important parts of our vehicle), so we head down to the tire store to get new tires put on by the mechanics there or to our favorite repair shop to have them install new brake parts so our car/pickup stops like it used to stop when it was new.

While they have it taken apart, they (if they don't own the equipment, which costs thousands of dollars for each different machine) take the parts that need machining down to their favorite local machine shop. In this case, if they (or you) were doing (rebuilding) the brakes, the drums and rotors probably need re-machined so they are true and parallel so when you apply the brakes the brake pedal doesn't pulse (go up and down rapidly) and cause the who car/pickup/vehicle to shake when stopping. That means the drums or rotors are warped. If they are warped too much, then they need to be replaced. There are specifications telling how much can be machined from them to bring them back into factory specifications. The machine shop will have books listing those numbers. So, when you take them into the machine shop and lay them on the counter, probably the first thing the machinist will do is measure the part to see if it is thick enough to be machined to bring it back into specs. If the part isn't, then you will have to get others from the wrecking yard (which will then have to be machined) or news from the machine shop or an auto parts store.
Many times, our customers have the new ones they buy machined by us before installing them on their vehicle. They have found out from previous experience that there is a certain percentage of the parts will become warped from having been stored incorrectly. It is a lot of work to install parts (new or otherwise) and go for a test drive and find out the vehicle shakes worse than when the customer brought it in.

Maybe there was a rumbling noise you were hearing which was being caused by a wheel bearing going bad. In that case, you would remove the axle and take it to the machine shop where they would install a new bearing on it, if it were still serviceable. Sometimes the bearing inner race will spin on the axle, ruining it. Then time for the wrecking yard or dealer again to get another, good and or new one. The new one from the dealer probably will not have anything on it, no bearings, no studs or anything and the machine shop will have to put all the new pieces together that you buy for it. Bearings, 99% of the time, are not reusable and have to be replaced.

What if you overheat your engine and blow a head gasket? What is involved in making sure the head is reusable and machinable? Our machine shop can use pressure checking, used for checking aluminum heads, blocks and other pieces, the parts are submerged under a water mixture and air applied to the part, then we look for bubbles which shows we have a crack or pinhole that needs repaired, magnetic particle inspection (manafluxing ferrous metals like cast iron and steel) and dye penetrant as another way of checking for cracks.

The first thing done is to measure the head and make sure it is usable (thick enough) and making sure it isn't warped too much. This is really critical for overhead cam heads. If it is good so far, then into the washer (like a big dish washer) with it to get it cleaned up so we can pressure check it or magnaflux it, looking for cracks or other problems.

Ken

To be continued...

What does my ex-wife look like?

2008-09-03T02:17:00.000-07:00

She was born in 1976 and told me she is getting fat. Weighs 104lbs now. Wears size 0/1 in clothes.

You can go look at Ani (click on any of the photos to make them larger) to see what size of a woman I like. It extends past "like" into, "need". All of my girl friends and ex-wives have been built on the slim size. One time, I tried with a "USA normal" size, 5'6", 140lbs and it didn't work... worst marriage I could even imagine happening... lasted for just 6 months. I think all of us have a check list of things that HAVE to be, and slim is one of mine. Built into my brain since day one for me I guess.

She is living in a 1.1 million dollar house now with a millionaire and has found that money is NOT everything. I already knew that, so the person I fall in love with this next time won't be rich either, because I come from a poor logging family, and have always been poor and probably always will be, and a rich woman wouldn't be happy with someone who has never had a suit on in his life (me). Hey! Maybe a rich woman wants a toy! Some guy to spend money on. Hummm, wonder how I would like that.

Ken

In search of a partner/wife/lover/best friend...

2008-09-03T02:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I had found her, but learned different in 2005!

Will I be able to find someone to love for the rest of my life? I don't know. I thought I did 8 years ago. We were married for 6 years and one day in December 2005 she said: "I'm young, I'm smart, I'm beautiful and all you have is this ol' house and that ol' machine shop AND, I deserve better than this."

September 2008: Ani is doing okay, doing what she wants to do. I am doing okay, but I miss having a woman in my life to love, thus I am looking again for a wonderful woman to be my "other" half. Someone to share my life with. Someone I can love and be loved in return.

If you are slim and smart and don't mind that I am old, fat and ugly, with not much money, then, maybe we can enjoy each other. Write to me at: setkbs-profile@yahoo.com

Ken

Smoking, just burning up money...

2008-09-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

I also enjoy talking AND listening. If you enjoy talking about many different things and are always seeming to be learning something new, then we would probably enjoy talking to each other.

I was stupid and smoked for 21 years but smartened up and quit on March 18th, 1981. But now I am allergic to cigarette smoke, makes my eyes all puffy, my nose run, all that stuff like that...even 26+ years later. So if you smoke or around smokers, well, that pretty well rules out trying to do anything with you.

We would have to stick to chatting on the Internet or on the phone.

How come so many people started smoking lately? How sad. Bad for everyone's health.

Ken

Some of the things I like to do...

2008-09-03T02:01:00.000-07:00

I like computers, well written software, and cable Internet, which makes finding information out about all kinds of things much easier.

I also like to take pictures and have somehow managed to produce a few that look halfway decent. If you like photos of waterfalls, sunsets, steam trains and various other subjects take a look at some I have taken over the years. Just go to Google.com and type in MrChevy or Ken Chevy and hit Enter. My photos on Pbase are a nice selection and ALL of my photos can be looked at by anyone, no matter what age. Or here www.PBase.com/MrChevy or www.KenChevy.com and click on a gallery link.

You are welcome to download copies for your enjoyment, choose the largest size. Beauty is something to be enjoyed by everyone.

Ken

Why me?

2005-04-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Gonna start a small Blog, see how it goes... give my view on things. 04/23/05