In memory of Andy Rooney.

The “Wall Street” protests which are spreading like wild fires all over the country are just a prelude of what’s to follow. The people are fed up with the GOP in Washington. The Tea Party, full of racists and bigots have their own agenda – just get Obama out of office. They don’t give a damn about the country or the American people. Hope the voters show up and vote these bastards out of office.

If only we could do the same to the greedy banks who are going to charge fees for debit cards, lets see if they change their minds.

Read full article here http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Netflix-loses-800000-US-apf-198318757.html?x=0

Coming Changes – A good read.

This is scary. . .

Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come!

1. The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.

2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. The Newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper. They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don’t need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they’re always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.

6. Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It’s the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates simply self-destruction. Over 40% of the music purchased today is “catalog items,” meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, “Appetite for Self-Destruction” by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, “Before the Music Dies.”

7. Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it . It’s time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The “Things” That You Own. Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in “the cloud.” Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest “cloud services.” That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.

In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That’s the good news. But, will you actually own any of this “stuff” or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big “Poof?” Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. Privacy. If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That’s gone. It’s been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7 “They” know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. And “They” will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.

All we will have that can’t be changed are Memories.

An Indian was detained for stealing a box of cigarettes in a duty-free shop at International Airport, Bangkok! He had paid for chocolates and a carton of cigarettes. The cashier put a packet of extra cigarettes into his bag and passenger thought it was a free pack. He was arrested for shop-lifting and the Thai Police extortion price was 30,000 Baht (Thai Currency) for his release. He spent two nights in jail and paid 500 Baht for an air-conditioned cell, 200-300 baht for each visitor, and 1 1,000 baht for his final release. The Police shared the money in front of his eyes. On top of that, he was charged in court and fined 2,000 baht by the magistrate and handcuffed and escorted to his plane. His passport was stamped “Thief”.. While there, his relatives quested help from the Indian Embassy and was told that they are helpless, many Asians are victimised similarly daily and letters and phone-calls to the Thai authorities are ignored. He shared a cell with a Singaporean the first night who paid 60,000 baht for his release. The second night was a Malaysian national who paid 70,000 baht. Mind you this was not in a shanty shop in downtown Bangkok but in a duty free shop at the Bangkok Int’l Airport . BE WARNED.

The above is 100% correct information because Mr.Rajan Khera’s customer from India faced exactly the same scenario mentioned above when he was in transit at Bangkok Int’l Airport coming to Taipei . Someone who went through the same ordeal in Dubai He bought stuff at the Duty Free upon entering. The girl at Duty Free put a bottle of cologne in his shopping bag (he did not even see it happen). He was arrested for stealing (this is before he even picked up his luggage ). He sat at the airport jail (where he was harassed for the whole day. (NO FOOD, NO WATER) for one day and only after he paid a fine (bribe of US 500.). That is all the cash he had in his pocket at the time. They let him go. These are scams that are happening all over the place. Please BE CAREFUL!

All of this is pre-planned and the people who work at the airport know who to target. CHECK YOUR SHOPPING BAGS BEFORE YOU LEAVE ANY SHOP/MALL AND PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

Read article HERE

In one case, Bang & Olufsen (the Danish company making high-end audio and multi-media equipment) is experimenting with using “transparent” aluminum to make controls for its products. See the article by clicking here.

In another case, scientists from Oxford (the world-famous English university) used a high-energy laser to create “transparent” aluminum. Click here to see an article about this.

Finally, recent research into glass might lead to other transparent materials, and also to stronger materials – for example, “transparent” airplane wings. Click here for the article.

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