This article link will provide some great insight into Spam..  Things like who has the best and worst IT security, how much space is wasted, etc…

1 Billion Spammers Served | Deep Insights into Spam | Project Honey Pot

Check it out!

For those of you that do not know, I live outside a small Washington town in northern Steven’s Country called Colville.   The town is large enough to have our Super WalMat as a very nice compliment of small businesses.   To support our local economy I try to buy as much as I can locally.  In some cases I may have to pay a bit more but I’m willing to pay the price.

So here’s the story with my local hardware store and why it is soooo difficult for me to keep my business local.

I found the item I wanted on the hardware store’s national website and I could have had it all shipped directly to my house but I thought I would try to help out the local store and order it from them.

I called them on the phone… told them the exact item number I wanted and that I needed 5 cases of them.   The clerk asked for my name and phone number, and since I knew I was not going to be in town for about 3 weeks so I told her that I also wanted to give her my Spokane phone number.  I also let her know that if she needed to delay the order that would be fine because I was not in a hurry and would not be back in town for about 3 weeks.   She explained that it would take about 2 weeks for the freight to arrive from the warehouse and that she would go ahead and place the order and call me when they came it.

Friday (about 4 weeks after I placed the order) I stopped in the store and inquired.  There were multiple people that tried to help me and finally a gentleman went in back to check for the items.  He was not able to find them and phoned someone else.   The verdict… “The phone number you gave us was incorrect and we sent them back on this morning’s truck.”

First of all, the clerk that took the order had two of my phone numbers and IF SHE WROTE ONE OF THEM DOWN WRONG she could have tried the other.  I am also in the PHONE BOOK and had she bothered to look up my name she would have been able to call.  

Long story short I went online placed the $485.00 order, paid the shipping and I will have my items on Thursday.   Local business need to understand a little bit about customer service.   Not even an I’m sorry and of course it was my problem.   I guess I should have double and triple checked she wrote my phone number down and then had he send me a fax copy so I could verify that everyone could read her handwriting.  

Needless to say that this business will NO LONGER be receiving any of my business.   I can go to the Ace Hardware, Haney’s or if I want mediocre service even WalMart.

The article that your will find below was emailed to me.  I’m not sure when it was published but there is some interesting truth in what Charlie Reese discusses.  These 545 people create problems that they then need to find creative ways to solve.  Most of the creativity as of late is to spend money on the problem and money never solves a problem.  It just digs a deeper hole that we need to try to crawl out of…  We all need to seriously think about learning to speak Chinese…they own this country and are buying our debt and funding the agendas of the 545.  Things in life aren’t free and we need to stop!!! Take our hard knocks and start to rebuild.   The 545 need to remember the founding principles of this country… and those that don’t need to be gone!  It is your responsibility… VOTE them OUT!

By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.  Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don’t propose a federal budget.  The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one  president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human  beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague  this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.   In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority.  They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.  I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.  The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

What do you get when you take a large light box, sand, dramatic music, passion, a story to tell, and an incredible artist?  You have the video below.  Kseniya Simonova is an incredibly talented artist that as you watch tells a visual story with sand and light.  In this video Kseniya tells of the German occupation of her homeland Ukraine during World War II.  You can see the audience is absolutely moved by the story.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

I had a co-worker send me an email the other day that was about purchasing American made products.   It was actually one of those emails that made me go… hmmmm….

When purchasing Made in the USA I am one of those that has this preconceived notion that whatever the item is will be more expensive.  After all, our labor force here is expensive, insurance, etc… but you know what?  American made products are NOT always the most expensive. (Can’t help but wonder what the manufacturers are doing with the money they are reportedly saving by manufacturing out of the country?)

Anyway I thought I would share the email with you all.   Read through it, let me know your thoughts and maybe some of your experiences while reading the labels… (I don’t think I will be giving up my Hershey bars.)

Good idea. One light bulb at a time .

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe’s the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in  China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in USA. Start looking .

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else – even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track . Let’s get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey’s candy . I noticed, though, that it is marked made in  Mexico now. I do not buy it any more . My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now.  I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything .

This past weekend I was at Kroger . I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, Everyday Value. I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats , they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in Mexico and the Everyday Value brand was made in get ready for this – the USA in a company in Cleveland,  Ohio.

So throw out the myth that you can not find products you use every day that are made right here .

So on to another aisle,  Bounce Dryer Sheets . yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada . The Everyday Value brand was less money and made in the USA. I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA – the job you save may be your own or your neighbors.

Since our current economic condition here in the USA has us all thinking in terms of Billions I thought it might be interesting to put that term into perspective.  The number is almost an incomprehensible number and while it just seems to roll off of people’s tongues what does it really mean?

A billion seconds ago – It was in 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 with two feet.

A billion dollars ago – about 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government spends it.

Let’s look at Katrina and New Orleans and their request for 250 Billion Dollars to rebuild…

If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans that means every man woman and child in the city would get $516,528.

Each of the 188,251 homes would get $1,329,787.

If you are a family of four you would get $2,066,012.

So what about the $700 Billion for the bank bailout?

That is enough money to fund complete medical care for every man woman and child alive in the US for 11 years!

Needless to say at $6.93 I have to take a loan against future payouts in order to be able to do anything.  Our dinner at the local Mexican restaurant was more that 5 times that amount (with tip of course), the movie tickets were $9.25 each and the popcorn and soda pop to go with them cost more than many 3rd world families have to spend in an entire month.

I figure at this rate I am going to need to have between 9 and 10 more paychecks to cover the evening out.  I got a little caught up in the moment of having that money to spend which encouraged me to do just as our government is doing… deficit spending!!!   Fortunate for me personally, I only need 10 more paychecks to cover my little splurge…

Put into perspective… our 700 BILLION dollar stimulus package divided by approximately 350 MILLION Americans is about 2000 dollars for each man woman and child in this country. (Tax payer or not.)  If I gave the government back their $6.93 per paycheck I would need about 289 paychecks to cover my $2000 of their stimulus spending.  (That’s 11 years for me!) An you know what that doesn’t include any interest.  The money doesn’t grow on trees.  It has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is typically going to get an interest payment as well.

I have some thoughts here that might save costs and allow them to be able to maintain the old rates.  Of course you know they will eventually do these things anyway AND STILL take the increase that the law allows (tied to CPI-U – the consumer price index for Urban customers – 3.8% in 2008 – They can also “bank” these increases).

Idea #1 – Eliminate Bulk Mail Rate.  Most consumers throw this stuff away anyway.  By eliminating the bulk rate and making these companies pay for the presorted first class rate you will do two things.   First you will reduce the amount of junk that ends up being delivered.  (An added bonus – they could market this as a “green” solution because it would reduce the amount of garbage hitting the landfills.)  Second, for those that still do want to send the junk they are placed into the same category as all other mail AND get to pay the same rates as the normal postal consumer.

Idea #2 – Eliminate Saturday Mail Delivery.  Why in the world do we need to have mail delivered 6 days a week?  There is no added benefit, no compelling reason.  It must have been some government idea to get people back to work that has never gone away.  Anything you get through the mail is not extremely time sensitive that it couldn’t wait an additional amount of time.  Many business entities are closed on Saturdays so their mail isn’t needed on Saturday anyway.

If you were to do both Ideas 1 and 2 at the same time the carriers would be reducing the amount of crap they have to carry around, and speeding up the time it takes for sorting and delivery.  (Time for some staff reductions.)  With no Saturday you also would reduce the amount of sorting and delivery time. 

I’m really getting tired of the increases.  Maybe people should send more email instead.  I know I am getting most of my statements now via email.  Much of my personal correspondence is also via email…  Ahh…. maybe this is a conspiracy… they need to increase the cost of mail to maintain the bloated bureaucratic structure in the light of reduced volumes due to email.

Regardless… be prepared… Buy your Liberty Bell stamps now… (These are the Forever Stamps that you pay the current rate for and you can use them forever – regardless of the then current rate.)  I’ve got a couple saved away so that when the rates reach 5 or 6 dollars per letter and I just have to send paper that will take a week or more to deliver – I can “sock it to them”!

There is an article on the U.S. News site that has some interesting tidbits about DST.  I have included a few below.

1.  It is saving, NOT savings (with an s) time.

2.  Heart attacks increase the first week of DST – speculated due to less sleep.

3.  Lethal car crashes are reduced because people are safer drivers during daylight hours.

4.  Kazakhstan abolished DST in 2005 citing health concerns.

5.  Two US States do not observer DST – Arizona and Hawaii

6.  The first American to advocate for DST – Benjamin Franklin

I know that I for one like the extra hour of awake time with daylight.  My wife corrects me when I say that I get an extra hour of daylight… technically there is no more daylight, just an adjustment in my clock so that I can enjoy the daylight that we have.