Here are some new items mixed in with old items:
01. 2010: Solution to the monetary crisis: Even though the State of Missouri is having so many financial problems, they feel good that they have figured a way out of the situation. They will deduct $1 every week from their Governor's salary to invest in PowerBall, or whatever that Lottery is called. All money won will be used to pay down Missouri's debt.
02. 1998: Diabetes: CBS reports that an insulin inhaler is being developed. (Was it developed? I think that they already had the "pump" at that time.
03. 2010: Carotid clearance: A study has reported that a stent procedure to clear a clogged carotid artery works just as well as an operation. (Why didn't they tell me that two years ago!)
04. 2010: "Chips": In Britain, they are trying to develop a "chip" made out of meat. (Would that be a "potato chip" or a "chip" as in Britain's famous "fish and chips"?)
I wish I could find a place to eat true English fish and chips! You can get it back in New Bedford, Massachusetts, but I have not found the same thing anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic. The closest was at Arthur Treacher's Restaurant, but they closed down all of those places anywhere near where I live. I think there might be one left in Maryland somewhere, but I haven't found it yet.
05. 1998: WOW Chips: Speaking of "chips", in 1998 the FDA gave a "thumbs up" to Olestra. Products using it were supposed to be still high calorie, but have no fat grams. I tried some of them at the time and found that they did not like my digestion and haven't tried them since, knowingly. I guess you can still get Olestra products in the Super Market.
06. 2010: Mr. Toyoda: I have wondered why the head of the family-based car company doesn't have the same name as the car. I heard today, somewhere, that it is because the stroke for "T" is not as lucky as the stroke for "D" in Japanese ideograms, so it was changed.. (maybe they should have changed the stroke for the car name also, and they might not be having so many problems.)
Incidentally, I took my RAV4 in to the Toyota dealer for my 5,000 maintenance, and while I was there, they did the recall fix for the accelerator.
By the way, to graduate from a Japanese grammar school, a student must know 881 characters (ideograms). To graduate from High School, a student must know 1,850, and to read at a college level, a student must know 3,000.
All of these characters are built up from less than 300 elements or pictures. These pictures were drawn by the Chinese similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Japanese borrowed these characters from the Chinese over 2,000 years ago.
07. 1998: Leo Buscaglia: One of my favorite people passed away on June 12, 1998. Leo Buscaglia was a California professor who taught a class in LOVE. In addition to his class, he gave televised lectures on the subject and wrote a number of books about love.
Luckily, I taped his presentations whenever I found them on TV. His whole life was built around letting people know what love was all about. At his lectures, everyone was hugged by him before they left. His death was a great loss to the world, in my opinion.
My cousin, Charlie, and his family live in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and attend a Baptist church there. The preacher, until a few years ago, was from Baltimore and had a Bethlehem Steel background. I visited the church a few times and the preacher always had a line waiting for him after the services. They were waiting to get a hug from him. What a great idea! I don't see or experience many hugs any more. Perhaps it is because of a fear of the flu. I have read that hugs are good medicine and buttress our immune systems.. maybe after the flu goes away, we can get back to hugging.
08. 2010: Cartalk definitions:
Lymph: To walk with a lisp.
MacAdam: The first Scotsman.
09. 1998: Airline crashes: Tom Snyder (Remember him? The 6'8" Late Late Show host .. replaced by 6'8" Conan O'Brien!) said that statistics showed that more people are killed by donkeys each year than are killed in airline crashes. (Let that be a lesson to you!)
10. 2010: Healthy flies: A college professor has developed a method for exercising fruit flies so they will be healthier for use in experiments.
Time flies like the wind,
Fruit flies like bananas.
11. 2010: Accident: It had to happen. Two police segways crashed into each other. (By the way, did you know that the first automobile accident in the U. S. occured in Baltimore?)
12. 2010: Vital statistics:
The most dangerous food in the U.S. is the hot dog. (Apparently, children choke on them, and scientists are trying to change their shape to make them safer.)
The laziest people in the world live in the United States. (Maybe that fruit fly professor should come up with an innovative way for everyone to exercise.)
Bonus
1998 and 2010: Words: Back in 1998, I read where no word rhymes with month, purple or orange. I have been trying since then to find words that did complete those rhymes. No luck, yet. Perhaps my long-lost brother Joe (if he is reading this) may have found some already since he is a noted word expert.
Can you find rhyming words for month, purple or orange?
Showing posts with label lottery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lottery. Show all posts
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, August 03, 2009
Life is tough.
I'm worried about my uncle Allen. He is currently in the St. Luke's Hospital emergency room in New Bedford, Massachusetts with chest pains.
Also, a couple of days ago, my family was once again subjected to the tornado's wrath. This makes four times in about 15 years. How do those odds stack up?
Tornado #1: It hit Westminster and went up my son-in-law Bob Clark's driveway, twisting metal into circular knots.
Tornado #2: As we drove up Interstate 795 from Baltimore, we were passed by numerous emergency vehicles. We tuned into the news and found out that a tornado was right now tearing up Reisterstown. We were worried, because son, Christopher, and his two young daughters were supposed to move into a townhouse today. They had rented a very expensive truck and were obligated to return it early in the evening.
As we dreaded, the tornado did, indeed, affect Chris' move-in plans. It hit the townhouses and apartments in the area. Damage to Chris' townhouse was restricted to broken glass.. but the glass was from every window and door in the house. Glass shards were all over the floors.
When we arrived on the scene, I went to the management office and said that two little girls could not move into a house that had floors filled with sharp pieces of glass. The manager told me to "get lost". I did not "get lost", but stayed there in the office, making a pest of myself.
Finally, at the shift change, a different manager came on duty and immediately arranged for a married couple to come up and clean up the glass and install new glass. They did so in a short period of time and Chris and his little girls were able to move in late that night.
Tornado #3: A tornado hit Gamber and destroyed lots of homes. At one of the homes, the wind moved children from the second floor out into the yard. The children, miraculously, were not hurt.
Our Gamber house was at the tail end of the tornado and an apple tree at the end of our property was knocked completely over. In addition, everyone whose house was destroyed had their personal possessions lifted into the air and deposited in our back yard. My son gathered up as much as possible and took it to the Gamber fire hall for pick up by the owners.
Tornado #4: Another tornado tore through Gamber the other day and destroyed a few houses. Our house, which had now been bought by my daughter, did not escape this wind. A massive limb was broken off one of the maple trees and is spread across all of the front lawn. Luckily, the limb missed the house.
So.. there it is.. four tornados for our family.. what are the odds of that happening? How come I can't hit the lottery?
.................................................................................
Also, a couple of days ago, my family was once again subjected to the tornado's wrath. This makes four times in about 15 years. How do those odds stack up?
Tornado #1: It hit Westminster and went up my son-in-law Bob Clark's driveway, twisting metal into circular knots.
Tornado #2: As we drove up Interstate 795 from Baltimore, we were passed by numerous emergency vehicles. We tuned into the news and found out that a tornado was right now tearing up Reisterstown. We were worried, because son, Christopher, and his two young daughters were supposed to move into a townhouse today. They had rented a very expensive truck and were obligated to return it early in the evening.
As we dreaded, the tornado did, indeed, affect Chris' move-in plans. It hit the townhouses and apartments in the area. Damage to Chris' townhouse was restricted to broken glass.. but the glass was from every window and door in the house. Glass shards were all over the floors.
When we arrived on the scene, I went to the management office and said that two little girls could not move into a house that had floors filled with sharp pieces of glass. The manager told me to "get lost". I did not "get lost", but stayed there in the office, making a pest of myself.
Finally, at the shift change, a different manager came on duty and immediately arranged for a married couple to come up and clean up the glass and install new glass. They did so in a short period of time and Chris and his little girls were able to move in late that night.
Tornado #3: A tornado hit Gamber and destroyed lots of homes. At one of the homes, the wind moved children from the second floor out into the yard. The children, miraculously, were not hurt.
Our Gamber house was at the tail end of the tornado and an apple tree at the end of our property was knocked completely over. In addition, everyone whose house was destroyed had their personal possessions lifted into the air and deposited in our back yard. My son gathered up as much as possible and took it to the Gamber fire hall for pick up by the owners.
Tornado #4: Another tornado tore through Gamber the other day and destroyed a few houses. Our house, which had now been bought by my daughter, did not escape this wind. A massive limb was broken off one of the maple trees and is spread across all of the front lawn. Luckily, the limb missed the house.
So.. there it is.. four tornados for our family.. what are the odds of that happening? How come I can't hit the lottery?
.................................................................................
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Mail Call for Joe
This is an exercise to find out if I can talk intelligibly about the most trivial things.
I will talk about my mail today. It came at 1 pm and consisted of:
A letter from an Insurance Company offering me a fantastic mortgage rate.. "because you are a good customer." Well, I dropped that Insurance Company over a month ago when I got a better automobile insurance offer somewhere else. In fact, I found that they had been overcharging me for years. I guess the word hasn't gotten throughout the company that I no longer am a customer of theirs. ACTION: throw into paper recycling.
A notice from my secondary health insurance payer letting me know that the hospital where I recently had a procedure submitted a duplicate bill for reimbursement. This resubmission occurs a lot because billers get antsy when the insurance companies don't pay quickly and resubmit just in case. ACTION: File with Joe's medical insurance info for 2009.
A very large bill from the provider of my cable TV and Internet access. A lot of money each month, but I don't know what I would do without 250 channels of HD TV and instant Internet access. ACTION: Pay the damn bill.
A postcard from some guy in Manchester, Maryland who hasn't got the word that I sold my last house in September 2008. He wants to buy the house "as is" for cash. Too late guy. ACTION: File with other material to be discussed at the June TRIAD meeting, where we talk about possible scams.
A statement from the bank where I keep my checking account showing that money out actually was slightly less than money in during April. Maybe things are changing in the economy. ACTION: Log in and balance to my checkbook. (Included is a "Debit Travel Rewards Catalog".. except that I don't do debit transactions.. that's a way to go broke.)
A publication from the Arthritis Foundation suggesting that I contribute to a Charitable Gift Annuity and "get income for life." They suggest a $10,000 donation, which at my age will earn 6.3% interest. My calculation is that I would receive about $600 per year ($50 per month) .. and if I live for ten more years, I would have received about $6000.. ($4000 less than invested).. a CD at only 4% for the same period would also have received about $6,000 in interest... but.. I would still be able to cash in and get my $10,000 back. Charitable Gift Annuities do not seem like good sense to me. ACTION: Put into paper recycling.
A sneaky offer from a former bank of mine. They offer to send you a free Credit Report upon receipt of a form that binds you to Identity Theft Protection at $13 per month payments. What they don't mention is that everyone is entitled to a free Credit Report each year by law. Also, some of the protection that they offer is automatic with credit card usage. ACTION: Put into the TRIAD file to be discussed at the June meeting of police and senior citizens.
The latest issue of Integra, The Journal of Intertel, the 1% High IQ club. Contents include an article about psychic senses in daily life and how that relates to Rhine Research Center studies. Another article cites quotes from Mark Twain's book: Innocence Abroad.. and compares them to the current situation in the world.
There also is a rather depressing story (I think its fiction) about an ordinary human being confronting the problems involved in being such an ordinary human being. (Intertel members probably are not "ordinary" human beings.. at least they are classified as having Ultra-Genius IQ's)
The rest of the journal is taken up mainly with original poems from members. ACTION: Read the rest of the journal when time permits.
An invitation to two Police/Senior Citizen meetings. One is a quarterly TRIAD meeting held in the State Capitol. Last quarter, I mixed up the date for the meeting and got there a day early.. but I wasn't the only dummy.. another fat old guy was there at the same time as me.
At these quarterly meetings, we sing the TRIAD song... an unashamed mess-up of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Most of us just silently move our mouths while a few people "sing" at the top of their lungs. But the rest of the time, we talk about new scams affecting our senior citizens and how to become protected from them.
The other invitation is for a Crime Prevention Seminar where we will discuss the danger of gangs and the prevention of financial exploitation of seniors. I think this is a duplicate of a seminar I went to last month. This was where I got so depressed over the discussion on gangs.
My final piece of mail came from the Comptroller of Maryland. It was a check.. I hit the lottery! For 4 whole dollars! ($4) I'm rich! ACTION: Deposit it.
Don't I get great mail? Elaine got a bunch of mail too, but that is her business not mine.
I will talk about my mail today. It came at 1 pm and consisted of:
A letter from an Insurance Company offering me a fantastic mortgage rate.. "because you are a good customer." Well, I dropped that Insurance Company over a month ago when I got a better automobile insurance offer somewhere else. In fact, I found that they had been overcharging me for years. I guess the word hasn't gotten throughout the company that I no longer am a customer of theirs. ACTION: throw into paper recycling.
A notice from my secondary health insurance payer letting me know that the hospital where I recently had a procedure submitted a duplicate bill for reimbursement. This resubmission occurs a lot because billers get antsy when the insurance companies don't pay quickly and resubmit just in case. ACTION: File with Joe's medical insurance info for 2009.
A very large bill from the provider of my cable TV and Internet access. A lot of money each month, but I don't know what I would do without 250 channels of HD TV and instant Internet access. ACTION: Pay the damn bill.
A postcard from some guy in Manchester, Maryland who hasn't got the word that I sold my last house in September 2008. He wants to buy the house "as is" for cash. Too late guy. ACTION: File with other material to be discussed at the June TRIAD meeting, where we talk about possible scams.
A statement from the bank where I keep my checking account showing that money out actually was slightly less than money in during April. Maybe things are changing in the economy. ACTION: Log in and balance to my checkbook. (Included is a "Debit Travel Rewards Catalog".. except that I don't do debit transactions.. that's a way to go broke.)
A publication from the Arthritis Foundation suggesting that I contribute to a Charitable Gift Annuity and "get income for life." They suggest a $10,000 donation, which at my age will earn 6.3% interest. My calculation is that I would receive about $600 per year ($50 per month) .. and if I live for ten more years, I would have received about $6000.. ($4000 less than invested).. a CD at only 4% for the same period would also have received about $6,000 in interest... but.. I would still be able to cash in and get my $10,000 back. Charitable Gift Annuities do not seem like good sense to me. ACTION: Put into paper recycling.
A sneaky offer from a former bank of mine. They offer to send you a free Credit Report upon receipt of a form that binds you to Identity Theft Protection at $13 per month payments. What they don't mention is that everyone is entitled to a free Credit Report each year by law. Also, some of the protection that they offer is automatic with credit card usage. ACTION: Put into the TRIAD file to be discussed at the June meeting of police and senior citizens.
The latest issue of Integra, The Journal of Intertel, the 1% High IQ club. Contents include an article about psychic senses in daily life and how that relates to Rhine Research Center studies. Another article cites quotes from Mark Twain's book: Innocence Abroad.. and compares them to the current situation in the world.
There also is a rather depressing story (I think its fiction) about an ordinary human being confronting the problems involved in being such an ordinary human being. (Intertel members probably are not "ordinary" human beings.. at least they are classified as having Ultra-Genius IQ's)
The rest of the journal is taken up mainly with original poems from members. ACTION: Read the rest of the journal when time permits.
An invitation to two Police/Senior Citizen meetings. One is a quarterly TRIAD meeting held in the State Capitol. Last quarter, I mixed up the date for the meeting and got there a day early.. but I wasn't the only dummy.. another fat old guy was there at the same time as me.
At these quarterly meetings, we sing the TRIAD song... an unashamed mess-up of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Most of us just silently move our mouths while a few people "sing" at the top of their lungs. But the rest of the time, we talk about new scams affecting our senior citizens and how to become protected from them.
The other invitation is for a Crime Prevention Seminar where we will discuss the danger of gangs and the prevention of financial exploitation of seniors. I think this is a duplicate of a seminar I went to last month. This was where I got so depressed over the discussion on gangs.
My final piece of mail came from the Comptroller of Maryland. It was a check.. I hit the lottery! For 4 whole dollars! ($4) I'm rich! ACTION: Deposit it.
Don't I get great mail? Elaine got a bunch of mail too, but that is her business not mine.
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