Finders Keepers

When Bernard Salcedo of Sanford, Florida lost power in his house, he did what any of us would do ... went looking for the source of the power outage. His search led him to the attic, and rather than finding a wiring problem ... he found $100,000 in cash tucked away in an insulation cavity containing four plastic bags filled with $20 and $100 bills. Mr. Salcedo immediately contacted police regarding his find ... and they promptly took it as evidence due to the fact the previous homeowner was stabbed to death in the residence. And to make matters worse, Bernard Salcedo now has to battle it out in court to reclaim this money, because the former owner's wife is laying claim to the cash. What's wrong with these people? If you find large amounts of small denomination cash neatly tucked away in your house ... why in God's name do you go telling people? It's your house ... your find ... your cash!!! I don't know about you, but if I had $100,000 stuffed away somewhere in my home ... I think I'd remember to take it out before I left. For crying out loud, I almost kicked in my door the other day after I left my house and realized I forget my cell phone.

The Ugly Tree King: You Make The Call

Okay. The results are in, and it's official. After an extensive and lengthy poll, it has been concluded that Americans just cannot decide (51% to 49% +or- 2%) who fell from a further height down the ugly tree striking every branch on the way down; Phil Spector or Don Imus. Feel free to cast your vote on the comments section, I check them daily.

English Language In U.S. To Be Phased Out By 2025 ... You Heard It Here First

I called my friends cell phone this evening, and was greeted by his "automated voice mail system". Before identifying if I had even called the correct number, I was immediately prompted to push 1 for English ... so I would only imagine that had I not, the directions would by default proceed in Spanish. Full well knowing that friend does not speak any other language other than English (unless you count pig Latin), I found these instructions quite aggravating. Yet again, corporate America is catering to the minority of customers, that due to their place of origin, do not fluently speak English. I wonder if I bought a cell phone and plan in Mexico, if automated voice mail systems would by default proceed in English if the caller does not push one for Spanish?

New Tazer Burning A Hole In Your Pocket?

On Monday, Senator John Kerry got more of a student response than he ever bargained for during an address at the University of Florida. Andrew Meyer, a 21 year old student at the University, had a series of questions to ask the Senator. After watching the video on youtube.com, it is apparent to me that Mr. Meyer really should have used better judgement with his wording while addressing the Senator (being that this event was a public forum) and that security should have escorted him from the premises after his remarks. With that said, the University of Florida campus police clearly violated the rules of engagement. Andrew Meyer was in no way a threat to himself or others around him at any time ... just an opinionated young man. His actions did not in any way warrant a less than lethal compliance method ... for crying out loud, I counted seven of them around him just before he got tazered. You mean to tell me seven "trained" officers do not possess the basic security skills needed to subdue one student? And if you listen just before he gets the tazer, Mr. Meyer can clearly be heard saying he'll be more than happy to "just leave" University police tazering him for "non-compliance" is absolutely ridiculous. I guess the saying is true, that security guards are the ones that just weren't good enough to be police officers (more than likely ... they failed the psychiatric portion of the exam).

Cell Phone Towers: The New Prime Real Estate

In the local paper today, yet another municipality is fighting the installation of a cell phonetower within their jurisdictional limits. Opponents of the new cell phonesite argue that exposure to radiation emitting from the tower on a 24/7 basis may have adverse effects of their families and neighbors health, and that studies on this radiation have not been conclusive enough to support or refute this theory. After reading this article in the morning paper, I made it a point to look at how many people in the course of a day I passed that had cell phones glued to their ears. Amazingly, I found that about 1 in 8 drivers were engaging in cell phone conversations while driving (most via bluetooth headset)and about 1 in 12 people walking around town were actively talking of phones. Society today thrives on communication and all cell phone customers demand good reception (even in remote locations), clear and interruption free calls, and all the bells and whistles that a compact communication device can offer such as GPS, email, textand pictures... but nobody want a tower anywhere near their house. What's interesting is that the ones that are up in arms about transmitter radiation are more than likely the same bunch you see with phones in their hands while en route to the mini market four blocks away from their house, and can't make the trip without finding a reason to call somebody.

Poor Man's Treasure

For those who may be looking for an inexpensive, yet rewarding, something to do, may I recommend cleaning a closet that you have stuck things in many years ago and haven't opened since. Today I tackled the "just put it there, and I'll get to it later" closet, and unearthed a plethora of valuable forgotten stuff ... it was like hitting the lottery. I guess I really need to keep a better inventory of my things, if nothing else ... at least remember where I put them.

Boy ... The Times You Wish You Opted For The Camera Phone.

In the town where I live, the population is growing at a steady clip. This growth has yielded a substantial expansion in commercial retailers from fast food to pharmacies to banks, ... to fast food places with pharmacies and banks. Anyway, when I passed by the local Burger King last week, there was a large sign that stated the this particular location would be closed for a short time and to please visit the other Burger Kings in the area. Judging by the large hole between the highway and the King's store, I could only assume that during construction of the newest drug store (located only fifty feet from the Burger King), someone accidentally struck a underground utility forcing the fast food place to close. For the record, I passed the store on Thursday 4:30 p.m. ... they were open as usual the day before (Wednesday). On Friday at 9:00 a.m., the restaurant was gone ... ruble ... demolished, yet the "temporarily closed" sign still remains in the entrance to the parking lot to this day. Pictures to come.

Six Years Later

9/11/01, FDNY lost 343. You will never be forgotten brothers. 5 5 5 5.

9/11 Conspiracy Theories Vs. Common Sense 101

Many cable channels have spent most of this weekend airing shows about the events of 9/11/01. The shows range in topic from the World Trade Center building construction to the inner workings of NORAD. The ones that really intrigue me though, are the 9/11 conspiracy theory shows that spotlight ideas and hypotheses of people who believe the government was behind the entire attack the whole time, and employ less than accurate (or completely fabricated) information to produce results that, to conventional wisdom and ordinary common sense, leave more holes in their own conspiracy theories than when they started. Really ... come on ... thermite charges??? A 125,000 pound airplane carrying about 6,000 gallons of fuel traveling at 400 mph that struck a building that was designed with an open floor/truss superstructure ... what did you expect, it would bounce off??? Personally, I'm amazed that they stood as long as they did! These ridiculous conspiracy theories can only be the work of the children whose parents maintain we never landed on the moon ... I guess every generation needs a cause.

Fun Stuff On The Web

Every once and a while, I come across a website that I just have to share with others. For those looking to play practical jokes on friends and family or others who may be just looking to waste some time and amuse themselves on the internet, give this one a try warninglabelgenerator.com. Here you can design and print official looking, yet creative and funny warning signs. Enjoy.

Thought Control ... Are We Really So Far Off?

Jerry Lewis was in the spotlight this week after a slanderous remark about gays, Mr. Lewis soon after offered a prepared and formal apology. The whole incident got me thinking, I guess that's the price you pay for fame (although I'm not condoning foul language in public) ... not being able to publicly express your discontent with others people's lifestyle choices. This is of course unless you are; gay, black, an illegal alien, or some other sort of the American public "minority". Then you can publicly bash anyone, anytime, about any of the choices they as the "majority" have made regardless of setting or audience without consequence. So what ... Isaiah Washington is entitled to his opinion, but it got him fired. If he had been gay, and said off color remarks about heterosexuals ... he'd probably still be employed! Why must we all walk on eggshells every time our mouth opens ... really ... what's wrong with having an opinion and voicing it? If the majority remains silent (although unified in thought), the minority is now the majority.

Useless Trivia Fact #14

The blood vessels of a blue whale are so wide, that an adult trout could swim through them.

You Never Get A Second Chance To Make Copies Of Your First Files

On Wednesday, May 30, I wrote a post about how my hard drive died, and have since found an affordable and easy solution.In fact, I liked it so much I decided to promote it. Mozy online backup offers a small unintrusive and secure system that runs in the background, and once a few simple settings are entered it's literally "set it and forget it" ... files of your choice are automatically backed up. Forget long waits for uploads, it is smart enough to only backup the files that have either changed or have been added since the last backup. They offer two different uses of the same service; A free 2 GB fully functional storage service that has no expiration and requires no credit card to get, or an unlimited storage capacity for $4.95 a month. After having my hard drive crap out without warning and losing everything on it, (all my work files and pictures ... including the pictures of my son from the day of his birth right up through a year and a half) knowing of this service in advance really would have been a cheap insurance policy and kept me out of hot water with the Mrs. To really get a good feel of how important you home or office computer may be to you, remove the power cord and give it to a friend to hold on to for two weeks ... you may be surprised how much you rely on it, and were not even aware that were. Again ... cheap insurance.