angelm's Blog

What Not to Buy at Walmart

While Walmart has recently burnished its reputation among upscale shoppers, there are still some product categories where you'd be better off going elsewhere � either because you're straying beyond Walmart's core competency, or to avoid supporting the giant retailer's bad behavior. Here are three of them.

1. High-End Electronics

Though Walmart has expanded its selection of name-brand electronics, it's still focused on value-oriented products in the sub-$1,000 price range. And its sales staff tend not to be experts in the finer points of multimedia interface. So if you want to splurge on a top-of-the-line television or digital SLR camera � and get the accompanying level of service and accessories � you'll want to visit a specialty electronics store. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY - News), for example, has a customer support team (the Geek Squad) capable of explaining why, for instance, you may need a television with several HDMI ports.

2. Books

This year, Walmart slashed prices aggressively to establish itself as the low-price leader for best-selling books. The store cut the cost of popular novels such as Stephen King's Under the Dome by 70 percent to $13.99, sparking a price war with Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN - News).

The Walmart/Amazon rivalry translates into incredibly low prices for consumers on some of the most popular book titles. But Walmart's prices come at a cost, say local business advocates. In the long-run, such deep discounts can drive independent booksellers out of business. And without these stores, consumers will have difficulty finding all but the most well-known authors, says Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a non-profit that advocates for local businesses.

3. Wood Furniture

Despite Walmart's increased focus on sustainability, the retailer has a long way to go in the furniture category. In December 2007, an environmental group published a report tracing furniture from Walmart suppliers to wood illegally logged in protected Russian habitats for Siberian tigers and other wildlife. Several months later, Walmart promised to investigate its suppliers and joined the Global Forest & Trade Network, an organization dedicated to eliminating illegal logging. Environmental activists have applauded Walmart's promise to purge environmentally rotten wood, but Walmart could take until a self-imposed deadline of 2013 to phase out the products. Until then, consumers can't be certain that Walmart's wood furniture comes from well-managed forests.

There was an elderly lady whom was waiting in the waiting room with her daughter.The nurse entered the waiting area and announced for the elderly lady to go on back to see the doctor. The nurse spoke louder but still she could not hear.

The elderly lady's daughter leaned over and said, "mother let's turn your hearing aid up." Then she yelled in shock,"That's not your hearing aid, its a suppository!

The elderly mother replied,"Well, now I know where my hearing aid went

Jellyfish Survival Story
In December, a ten-year-old Australian girl named Rachel Shardlow was attacked by one of the most venomous creatures in the world, the deadly box jellyfish. And, Rachel wasn't just stung. According to CNN, the box jellyfish completely enveloped her until she lost consciousness.

Normally, when a person meets a box jellyfish, the result is near instant death for the human. But Rachel not only survived her encounter; several months later, she's doing reasonably well. Her surprising story of survival has led at least one professor to credit her with being a medical marvel.

In an interview with Australia's ABC news, zoology professor Jamie Seymour said that Ms. Shardlow's injuries were "horrific." The doctor added, "Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's usually in a morgue."

Just how unlikely was Ms. Shardlow's survival? Again, according to the professor, "I don't know of anybody in the entire literature where we've studied this where someone has had such an extensive sting that has survived."

The young survivor isn't 100% herself after being attacked. She has suffered some memory loss and has scarring on her legs where the jellyfish wrapped itself. Still, the father reports that Rachel's "cognitive skills and memory tests were all fine."

The recent interview has led to a lot of searches on "pictures of box jellyfish" and "box jellyfish map." National Geographic writes that the creatures "live primarily in coastal waters off Northern Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific." And as for how they got their name? Some think their bell looks a bit like a cube.

Aliens may exist but contact would hurt humans: Hawking
  � Aliens may exist but mankind should avoid contact with them as the consequences could be devastating, ...

LONDON (AFP) � Aliens may exist but mankind should avoid contact with them as the consequences could be devastating, British scientist Stephen Hawking warned Sunday.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," said the astrophysicist in a new television series, according to British media reports.

The programmes depict an imagined universe featuring alien life forms in huge spaceships on the hunt for resources after draining their own planet dry.

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach," warned Hawking.

The doomsday scenario is suggested in the series "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" on the Discovery Channel, which began airing in the United States on Sunday.

On the probability of alien life existing, he says: "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.

"The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

Glowing squid-like creatures, herds of herbivores that can hang onto a cliff face and bright yellow predators that kill their prey with stinging tails are among the creatures that stalk the scientist's fantastical cosmos.

Mankind has already made a number of attempts to contact extraterrestrial civilisations.

In 2008, American space agency NASA beamed the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into deep space to send a message of peace to any alien that happens to be in the region of Polaris -- also known as the North Star -- in 2439.

But the history of humanity's efforts to contact aliens stretches back some years.

The US probes Pioneer 10 and 11 were launched in 1972 and 1973 bearing plaques of a naked man and woman and symbols seeking to convey the positions of the Earth and the Sun.

Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977, each carry a gold-plated copper phonogram disk with recordings of sounds and images on Earth.

--------------It's going to be a hard day's night in jail for a Beatles impersonator after police arrested him on an old warrant outside an appearance on a San Diego morning news show.
Carlsbad police Lt. Marc Reno says Theodore "Ted" Felicetti was arrested Friday on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a drunken driving charge in December, 2008. Felicetti plays Paul McCartney in the Beatles tribute band "Help!".
Investigators received tips that Felicetti played in the band, then learned on the group's Facebook page that they would be appearing on the morning news show.
Station's news director Rich Goldner says two officers let Felicetti finish the performance of "I Am the Walrus," then arrested him outside the studio.
Felicetti is being held on $130,000 bail.

Top 10 Things to do at the Mall

10. At the bottom of an escalator, scream "MY SHOELACES! AAAGH!"
9. At the stylist, ask to have the hair on your back permed.

8. Ask a saleswoman whether a particular shade of panties matches the color of your beard.

7. Sneak up on saleswomen at the perfume counter and spray them with your own bottle of Eau de Swanke.

6. Collect stacks of paint brochures and hand them out as religious tracts.

5. At the pet store, ask if they have bulk discounts on gerbils, and whether there's much meat on them.

4. Hand a stack of pants back to the changing room attendant and scornfully announce that none of them are "leak proof".

3. Ask appliance personnel if they have any TVs that play only in Spanish.

2. Try pants on backwards at the Gap. Ask the salesperson if they make your butt look big.

1. Show people your driver's license and demand to know "whether they've seen this man."

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Imagine every day to be the last of a life surrounded with hopes, cares, anger, and fear. The hours that come unexpectedly will be so much more the grateful.
---Horace

It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It is not movement that destroys the machinery, but friction

Patience

Chocolate Easter bunny
In a jelly bean nest,
I'm saving you for very last
Because I love you best.
I'll only take a nibble
From the tip of your ear
And one bite from the other side
So that you won't look queer.
Yum, your'e so delicious!
I didn't mean to eat
Your chocolate tail till Tuesday.
Ooops! There go your feet!
I wonder how your back tastes
With all that chocolate hair.
I never thought your tummy
Was only filled with air!
Chocolate Easter bunny
In a jelly bean nest,
I'm saving you for very last
Because I love you best.

Easter (Greek: ??s?a Paskha, from Aramaic paskha and Hebrew: ?????? Pesakh,) is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year.[1] According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday[2] (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday), two days after Good Friday and three days after Maundy Thursday. The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD 26 and AD 36. Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of fasting, prayer, and penance.

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the vernal equinox.[3] Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on March 21 (regardless of the astronomically correct date), and the "Full Moon" is not necessarily the astronomically correct date. The date of Easter therefore varies between March 22 and April 25. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar whose March 21 corresponds, during the twenty-first century, to April 3 in the Gregorian Calendar, in which calendar their celebration of Easter therefore varies between April 4 and May 8.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. In most European languages the feast called Easter in English is termed by the words for passover in those languages and in the older English versions of the Bible the term Easter was the term used to translate passover.[4][5]

Relatively newer elements such as the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts have become part of the holiday's modern celebrations, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians alike. There are also some Christian denominations who do not celebrate Easter.

GRASSHOPPER PIE   

14 Oreo cookies
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
7 tbsp. green Creme de Menthe

Crush cookies and spread in a 9 x 12 pan. Blend ice cream with liqueur; pour over crushed Oreos. Freeze at least 6 hours before serving.

Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. Be it Seoul or New Zealand, be it Birmingham or Grenada, the 'wearin' o' the green' is now a world-wide event embraced by dozens of nationalities. And why not? The spirit of Paddy's Day is such an infectious one, it cuts across all religions, nationalities and other man made barriers! So get decked in green, put a shamrock on your hat and cry out "Top o' the morning to ye" every so often.

#1 Leafy greens
Medical experts call them one of nature's miracle foods. Leafy greens like Swiss chard and kale are high in nutrients like folate and vitamins A and C that can lower your risk of cancer. Just one cup of dark, leafy greens a day could also prevent diabetes and high blood pressure.

#2 Nuts
Many nutritionists recommend nuts like almonds, cashews and walnuts because they're high in natural fiber. Fiber slows your digestive process, keeping hunger and unhealthy mid-afternoon snacks at bay. Goodbye vending machine runs!

#3 Onions
Studies show that consuming onions on a regular basis may reduce symptoms of asthma and the risk of developing stomach cancer. Add them to soups and stir-fry, and just remember -- the stronger the onion, the greater the health benefit.

#4 Whole grains
Refined grains, like white rice and pasta, have lost 90% of their nutritional value through the refining process. As if that weren't reason enough to choose whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and whole oats, a recent study showed that a diet rich in whole grains actually flattens your belly by reducing fat storage in your lower abdominal region.

#5 Yogurt
Making yogurt part of your daily eating routine can improve your digestion -- if you're buying the right stuff. Check that the label lists "active cultures" to make sure you're getting healthy probiotics, and pick a yogurt rich in vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis.

Rare Nintendo game is $40,000 windfall

This rare game sold for $41,300.
Impressed by the story of the North Carolina eBay seller who stumbled upon an ultra-rare, $13,000 Nintendo game? -- and so was Kansas reader Dave, who headed for his basement to see if there was video game gold lurking down there.

"We had quite a collection (185+ games) that has sat in our basement for over 20 years," Dave told Y! Games. "The games were on a list to be brought to Goodwill � in fact, within a month, Goodwill was going to have them."

To his astonishment, not only did he find a copy of the same game that just fetched over $13,000 on eBay -- highly sought-after collector's item Stadium Events -- it was in perfect condition, right down to the original shrinkwrapping and Richard Gordman pricetag. (A mere $29.99, if you're wondering.)

"Now I'm not much of a collector, but I know that having a factory seal is good," he said.

But he's only just now finding out quite how good.

As it turns out, the game's unopened condition makes Dave's copy of Stadium Events three times more valuable: he sold it on auction site eBay for a breathtaking $41,300. It's thought to be one of only two shrinkwrapped copies of the game still in existence.

Why had he never unwrapped it? He couldn't see the point. Stadium Events needed a special floor mat controller to play, and Dave couldn't find one.

"The pads weren't available when we went to purchase it," he said. "We never got around to returning the game...lucky us!"

"Lucky us" indeed. Nintendo bought the rights to the floor mat controller in 1988, and recalled the few copies of Stadium Events that reached retailers. Fewer than 200 games are thought to have escaped destruction, and fewer than 20 are thought to still exist. Dave's procrastination earned him a $41,270 profit, which he and his wife plan to invest.

"After taxes and tithing, the rest of our part will be going to a retirement account that has been decimated by the dot-com bomb, 9/11, and the recent market problems. Not very sexy, but needed." He's also going to auction off the rest of his Nintendo paraphernalia.

If that's inspired you to comb your basement, attic, or other dark corners for valuable 1980s video game memorabilia, don't underestimate the demand for even the most everyday of Nintendo collectibles