RapLeaf is an internet company that compiles your personal information, including name, email, etc and sells it to political parties, marketers, etc. It has been accused of sending names along with personal identification info, gender, income info, children ages, Facebook accounts, and more. It has already sold and sent this info to a number of marketers, although it says it was a mistake and has stopped selling personally identifiable info.
Here is a LINK to a Wall Street Journal article explaining more.
In any case, you can opt out here LINK and let them know you do not wish to play.
Oct 27, 2010
Oct 22, 2010
Happy Friday
Life is a comedy for those who think... and a tragedy for those who feel.
I think I feel like having a Happy Friday!
I think I feel like having a Happy Friday!
Black Friday 2010
That is the day after Thanksgiving and this year looks like a fun time for discounts. According to Accenture Consulting firm’s findings, 83% of shoppers plan to spend the same or less on holiday gifts compared to 2009. Only 13% of shoppers said they are willing to pay full price for specific gifts this year, while 40% said they will buy all or mostly discounted items. 87% said that they are only interested in purchasing items that are marked down at least 20%, and 25% said they will only purchase items with a discount of 50% or more.
Meanwhile, 41% of shoppers plan to buy at least half their holiday gifts online, and 43% said that they’re most motivated by free shipping offers. 25% believe that there are simply better discounts to be had online than in stores.
Meanwhile, 41% of shoppers plan to buy at least half their holiday gifts online, and 43% said that they’re most motivated by free shipping offers. 25% believe that there are simply better discounts to be had online than in stores.
MMMvelopes
This time it is envelope glue that tastes like bacon. Kind of takes the pain out of paying bills.
Political Ages
Thomas Jefferson was 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Theodore Roosevelt was 24 when he was elected to the New York State Legislature and became President at 42. John F. Kennedy was 43 when he was elected President. Ted Kennedy was 30 when he entered the Senate. Andrew Jackson joined the Senate at age 29, created the Democratic party and had a donkey as his personal totem. The party used the donkey symbol in honor of him. Joe Biden joined the Senate at age 29, thirty eight years ago.
Theodore Roosevelt was 24 when he was elected to the New York State Legislature and became President at 42. John F. Kennedy was 43 when he was elected President. Ted Kennedy was 30 when he entered the Senate. Andrew Jackson joined the Senate at age 29, created the Democratic party and had a donkey as his personal totem. The party used the donkey symbol in honor of him. Joe Biden joined the Senate at age 29, thirty eight years ago.
Origin of Tabasco Sauce
Edmund McIlhenny was a self-made man, the kind of guy who picked himself up by the bootstraps, worked 12 hours a day and became a prominent New Orleans banker, just in time for the American Civil War to erupt and destroy everything he worked so hard to achieve.
Once Union soldiers invaded his town, McIlhenny fled with his family to his wife's home at a place called Avery Island, which wasn't actually an island. McIlhenny started a new life helping to run the family salt mines, which was actually pretty good business. The Avery Island salt mine provided the Confederacy with 22 million pounds of salt during the war, and before he knew it, McIlhenny was back on his feet!
That is, until Union forces mounted an attack on his salt mine and he had to flee once more. This time they went to Texas, where the McIlhennys wisely stayed put until the end of the war.
They returned and found that everything had been destroyed and the only crops that seemed to thrive in the ashy, salty soil were some pepper plants from the Mexican state of Tabasco.
Thanks to the war, in 1868 those peppers were pretty much the only thing McIlhenny had going for him. So, he mixed them up with some Avery Island salt, vinegar, other peppers and Tabasco sauce was born. He bottled his concoction in some old perfume bottles and started shipping to them grocers around the country. Two years later he got a patent, and the McIlhenny family has been running the Tabasco brand ever since.
Once Union soldiers invaded his town, McIlhenny fled with his family to his wife's home at a place called Avery Island, which wasn't actually an island. McIlhenny started a new life helping to run the family salt mines, which was actually pretty good business. The Avery Island salt mine provided the Confederacy with 22 million pounds of salt during the war, and before he knew it, McIlhenny was back on his feet!
That is, until Union forces mounted an attack on his salt mine and he had to flee once more. This time they went to Texas, where the McIlhennys wisely stayed put until the end of the war.
They returned and found that everything had been destroyed and the only crops that seemed to thrive in the ashy, salty soil were some pepper plants from the Mexican state of Tabasco.
Thanks to the war, in 1868 those peppers were pretty much the only thing McIlhenny had going for him. So, he mixed them up with some Avery Island salt, vinegar, other peppers and Tabasco sauce was born. He bottled his concoction in some old perfume bottles and started shipping to them grocers around the country. Two years later he got a patent, and the McIlhenny family has been running the Tabasco brand ever since.
CCRAP
In 2000, delegates of Canada’s United Alternative convention needed a name for their newly formed political party. They came up with Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party, which in addition to taking roughly six minutes to pronounce was abbreviated CCRAP. Organizers quickly realized the blunder and changed the party’s name to the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance.
Oct 19, 2010
Spoonerisms
William Archibald Spooner has the dubious distinction of having the linguistic phenomenon known as a “spoonerism” named after him.
A spoonerism involves the accidental (or sometimes intentional) swapping of letters, words, or vowels in a sentence – for example: “Go and shake a tower” (meaning “go and take a shower”). Spooner was a professor at Oxford and he became so famous for his spoonerisms that people would attend his lectures just to hear him make a mistake. He was not pleased about the great publicity that surrounded him, but as he neared death his attitude softened and he gave interviews to the press. Spooner once wrote to a fellow professor to ask him to come immediately to help solve a problem. At the end of the letter he added a post-script that the matter had been resolved and he needn’t come.
Some spoonerisms attributed to Spooner are: “Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?” (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?)
“Let us glaze our asses to the queer old Dean” (…raise our glasses to the dear old Queen)
“We’ll have the hags flung out” (…flags hung out).
A spoonerism involves the accidental (or sometimes intentional) swapping of letters, words, or vowels in a sentence – for example: “Go and shake a tower” (meaning “go and take a shower”). Spooner was a professor at Oxford and he became so famous for his spoonerisms that people would attend his lectures just to hear him make a mistake. He was not pleased about the great publicity that surrounded him, but as he neared death his attitude softened and he gave interviews to the press. Spooner once wrote to a fellow professor to ask him to come immediately to help solve a problem. At the end of the letter he added a post-script that the matter had been resolved and he needn’t come.
Some spoonerisms attributed to Spooner are: “Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?” (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?)
“Let us glaze our asses to the queer old Dean” (…raise our glasses to the dear old Queen)
“We’ll have the hags flung out” (…flags hung out).
Silver Spoons
Born with a silver spoon in your mouth is an old saying. The spoon is the apostle spoon, or christening spoon, which is given to babies at their baptism by their godparents (this tradition has been practiced in Europe since the early 17th century and in the US since the early 18th).
The spoons often functioned as a status symbol and sign of the family’s wealth, with rich godparents traditionally giving the infant 12 spoons, usually silver, one for each apostle. Godparents who were not as well off give four spoons, one for each of the four Gospel writers. Godparents who couldn’t afford multiple spoons or silver usually just give just one spoon made of a non-precious metal.
The tradition of the apostle spoons is still practiced in some Roman Catholic families both in Europe and the US, the figurative silver spoon has taken on the negative connotation that a person attained their wealth through inheritance, not hard work.
The spoons often functioned as a status symbol and sign of the family’s wealth, with rich godparents traditionally giving the infant 12 spoons, usually silver, one for each apostle. Godparents who were not as well off give four spoons, one for each of the four Gospel writers. Godparents who couldn’t afford multiple spoons or silver usually just give just one spoon made of a non-precious metal.
The tradition of the apostle spoons is still practiced in some Roman Catholic families both in Europe and the US, the figurative silver spoon has taken on the negative connotation that a person attained their wealth through inheritance, not hard work.
Solar Power and Heat
Solar power panels trap heat along with making electricity. Global warming activists are facing a conundrum trying to reconcile reducing global warming by eliminating other fuels and increasing global warming by their own solution.
Cheese and Cooking Spray
To prevent low-fat cheese from turning to rubber in the microwave, spray your nachos with a quick blast of cooking spray, like Pam, before putting them in the microwave. Also, spray the inside of a grilled-cheese sandwich before you toss it in the frying pan. This adds just enough fat to make the cheese stay gooey and creamy as it slowly melts.
Nokia
The telecom giant got its start in Finland in 1865, when Fredrik Idestam opened a pulp mill and started making paper on the banks of Tammerkoski. His second paper mill was built in the town of Nokia, a few miles away. The name of the town, Nokia, originated from the river which flowed through the town. The river itself, Nokianvirta, was named after the archaic Finnish word originally meaning a small, dark-furred animal that lived on the banks of the Nokianvirta river.
The company later bounced around a number of industries, including electricity and rubber, before getting serious about phones in the 1960s. Makes me chuckle to think of the millions of people who don't realize they are putting a small, dark-furry animal up to their ears and speaking into it.
The company later bounced around a number of industries, including electricity and rubber, before getting serious about phones in the 1960s. Makes me chuckle to think of the millions of people who don't realize they are putting a small, dark-furry animal up to their ears and speaking into it.
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