Well I get the invite to join Google+ this morning. "Great" I think, I missed out on testing it earlier this year and I think it's great a likable powerhouse like Google is throwing down a challenge to Facebook.
When I go to sign up though I notice all my Google Services will be consolidated to the one name, yes even retrospectively. I've had a gmail account from back when you needed an invitation from someone, I've started blogs and sites that have failed and had embarrassing content. One thing I seriously don't want is my real identity attached to all these things. I mean this blog alone is a retreat for me from those I deal with in person. I wouldn't mind if people I know in real life knew about and visited this site (some do), but really this is a means of sharing and communicating with people from all walks of life, and the issue of identity doesn't come into it...and that, to me, is a good thing.
So I won't be establishing a Google+ account, which is a true shame. The concept seems really promising to me and I was really looking forward to perhaps promoting this site and its content on the Google+ platform, but if that is what it involves, I can pass up the opportunity a little bit easier.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Something I don't get about hemp
I just figured I'd put this out there.
Every time I see a documentary, or pro-cannabis movie/tv show one thing you will no doubt hear about is the uses of hemp. People will say how many uses there are, the uses of the past, how cheap it would be, that other industries are frightened it'll put them out of business, etc, etc.
Supporters imply if they could grow it things would be so much different but the law gets in their way.
Well growing hemp is legal in NSW Australia (as it would be elsewhere, but I am familiar with NSW seeing as I live here). So how come these people don't invest in it being grown here? Is it because they are ignorant to the fact hemp can be legally grown elsewhere? Are they to scared to put their money where their mouth is? Perhaps they don't have the money to do that...Either way you don't hear about major foreign (or local for that matter) investment in hemp in the state of New South Wales in Australia.
One thing hemp is reportedly good for is paper. However most paper for years and years has been made from wood pulp, the industry has been built up around wood pulp from trees. Can that industry process hemp instead or would the whole industry have to be redesigned to work with hemp fiber?
I'm all for hemp, I just question how easy it really would be to gear the world towards using it.
What are your thoughts?
Every time I see a documentary, or pro-cannabis movie/tv show one thing you will no doubt hear about is the uses of hemp. People will say how many uses there are, the uses of the past, how cheap it would be, that other industries are frightened it'll put them out of business, etc, etc.
Supporters imply if they could grow it things would be so much different but the law gets in their way.
Well growing hemp is legal in NSW Australia (as it would be elsewhere, but I am familiar with NSW seeing as I live here). So how come these people don't invest in it being grown here? Is it because they are ignorant to the fact hemp can be legally grown elsewhere? Are they to scared to put their money where their mouth is? Perhaps they don't have the money to do that...Either way you don't hear about major foreign (or local for that matter) investment in hemp in the state of New South Wales in Australia.
One thing hemp is reportedly good for is paper. However most paper for years and years has been made from wood pulp, the industry has been built up around wood pulp from trees. Can that industry process hemp instead or would the whole industry have to be redesigned to work with hemp fiber?
I'm all for hemp, I just question how easy it really would be to gear the world towards using it.
What are your thoughts?
Letterman's Top Ten List September 19 2011
Firstly I love David Letterman, and I've watched him for years. I know people that don't like the program but I honestly can't see how you couldn't. It's great entertainment - I don't watch it nearly as much as I used to though :/ Hopefully I'll change that around.
Secondly, sorry if this blog entry is a bit of an 'ordinary' topic but I can't think of anything else I'd rather talk about right now :) The topic was Top Ten Highlights Of Barack Obama's Deficit Plan, I changed the channel to The Late Show just as he was wrapping up the segment, I saw #2 (lulz) and it made me laugh so I looked up the list online. Here it is...
Top Ten Highlights Of Barack Obama's Deficit Plan
10.Pay everything off with a giant bake sale on the White House lawn
9.New 10,000% tax on waffles -- no way people are giving up their waffles!
8.Congressional Super Committee now reports to even more powerful Super Duper Committee
7.Medicare no longer covers ass X-rays
6.From now on, quarters are worth twenty-six cents
5.Change the definition of the word 'deficit'
4.Seniors must wait until they're 112 before they can collect Social Security
3.Open more post offices -- those places are money machines!
2.Congressmen must pay hookers in cash
1.Jets giving three and a half in Cincy -- it's like found money
Strangely enough #7 got me thinking about how many people go to hospital because they got something stuck up their ass, and who pays for it.
#4 hit home because the revised age of retirement in Australia went up to 67 not that long ago (a year or two?), whereas other countries have a lower retirement age - I seem to recall outcry when Frances went up.
#3 I'm not sure how to take...is it tongue in cheek about how post offices are set to become more and more obsolete and that there's less need for them in modern society, or is it a crack at the prices set at post offices? Either way there's something in it to laugh at :)
What do you think of this list? Do you enjoy Letterman? If not care to explain why not exactly?
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Technology 'Golden Age'
Hi everyone,
As some may have picked up on, I have recently gotten into pawn brokerage reality television shows. One thing that is often a requirement to start talking about a deal is to test the equipment to ensure it is in good operational condition.
I've found myself appraising items around my home. It is fun because I have realistically valued things that I have held onto that are worth nothing and I have no use for, nor would anyone want it.
An example of what I'm talking about is a pair of DELL desktop PC's. They are from 2001 and have had parts (i.e. RAM, HDD) taken out for other projects...they are obsolete...cheap Netbooks are cheap, they are more power efficient, have displays built in and can outperform these desktops. What can I do with these things? Well I believe I'll deconstruct them and take photos during the process. Who knows someone might want to know how they were put together one day.
Moving on...
One thing I did come across today was my brothers old SONY Walkman (WM-F2015 Google it ;) ), Made in Japan...with belt clip :D
I plugged it into my personal stereo and fired it up...it even had a cassette tape in it! Worked like a treat. I couldn't help but think the thing is close to the size of massive personal Hard Disk Drives on the market today. My brother used the thing a fair bit at one stage, before he eventually got a portable CD player and a 30GB iPod after that.
A guy that closed a web forum he operated stated (in 2009) that his purpose for the forum had been soaked up by cheap web hosting, internet speed and social networking sites.
I was upset that forum was closed and scoffed that NOW (then) was the so called "golden age of technology".
Increasingly people are saying how 'Millennials' already don't understand what technology like cassette tapes and VHS are like. Below is a picture I took of old school VHS, DVD and blu-ray. As you will see the VHS tape was an ex-rental and asked for $4 to rent it for 7 days, the DVD I bought cheap, the blu-ray I believe even cheaper years later. As you can see the tapes we big and bulky, you had to fast forward and rewind and well looking back now it looks like a total pain in the ass. The DVD comes with 'extra' bonus material and the blu-ray with even more. So you can own forever movies now in High Definition bundled with all sorts of extra footage and material and it's CHEAPER?!? I think I'll reconsider my stance on the whole golden age thing now...
Also, the amount of resources saved from the upgrades is really a good thing. I suppose digital downloads on lightening fast internet's coming soon with a solid grounding already occurring.
Thanks for reading :)
As some may have picked up on, I have recently gotten into pawn brokerage reality television shows. One thing that is often a requirement to start talking about a deal is to test the equipment to ensure it is in good operational condition.
I've found myself appraising items around my home. It is fun because I have realistically valued things that I have held onto that are worth nothing and I have no use for, nor would anyone want it.
An example of what I'm talking about is a pair of DELL desktop PC's. They are from 2001 and have had parts (i.e. RAM, HDD) taken out for other projects...they are obsolete...cheap Netbooks are cheap, they are more power efficient, have displays built in and can outperform these desktops. What can I do with these things? Well I believe I'll deconstruct them and take photos during the process. Who knows someone might want to know how they were put together one day.
Moving on...
One thing I did come across today was my brothers old SONY Walkman (WM-F2015 Google it ;) ), Made in Japan...with belt clip :D
I plugged it into my personal stereo and fired it up...it even had a cassette tape in it! Worked like a treat. I couldn't help but think the thing is close to the size of massive personal Hard Disk Drives on the market today. My brother used the thing a fair bit at one stage, before he eventually got a portable CD player and a 30GB iPod after that.
A guy that closed a web forum he operated stated (in 2009) that his purpose for the forum had been soaked up by cheap web hosting, internet speed and social networking sites.
I was upset that forum was closed and scoffed that NOW (then) was the so called "golden age of technology".
Increasingly people are saying how 'Millennials' already don't understand what technology like cassette tapes and VHS are like. Below is a picture I took of old school VHS, DVD and blu-ray. As you will see the VHS tape was an ex-rental and asked for $4 to rent it for 7 days, the DVD I bought cheap, the blu-ray I believe even cheaper years later. As you can see the tapes we big and bulky, you had to fast forward and rewind and well looking back now it looks like a total pain in the ass. The DVD comes with 'extra' bonus material and the blu-ray with even more. So you can own forever movies now in High Definition bundled with all sorts of extra footage and material and it's CHEAPER?!? I think I'll reconsider my stance on the whole golden age thing now...
Also, the amount of resources saved from the upgrades is really a good thing. I suppose digital downloads on lightening fast internet's coming soon with a solid grounding already occurring.
Thanks for reading :)
Thursday, September 15, 2011
'Cheap Chic'
I believe that the new trend is to be 'cheap'. The whole economic 'crisis' really demonstrated to some people how silly and risky accumulating "stuff" really is, especially if you buy it on credit or buy materialistic objects over more important things that have an actual use and real purpose.
That's the thing about the times today - I don't think I'm the only person that only dives into his wallet when completely necessary, whereas at one time I went shopping like it were some sort of retail therapy.
Besides paying utility bills I can't even remember my last significant impulse purchase - I believe it might have been a cheap LED TV that I got for $149 which is about 21 inches and has X2 HDMI inputs, VGA, and a Digital TV tuner.
Anyhow that's nothing compared to past splurges. I don't even buy magazines or DVD's anymore. I am saving to pay off my apartment in full and hopefully get some solar panels on the place after-all but I used to buy that sort of thing all the time.
Perhaps I've matured and come to value money more, perhaps I have everything I need and so naturally I don't need to buy anything more, or perhaps it's the new in thing to live off bare essentials.
These days there are free or very cheap (and legal to boot) solutions for almost everything. I mean this blog is hosted for nothing, there is YouTube for video content, I can read news relevant to my interests online without buying a newspaper, there's plenty of free 'apps' to waste time with, Games on Facebook (not that I play them...but they are available), even free to air digital television can be received with a USB device that can cost less than $50 offering 15 channels of assorted content, and most would have built in PVR capabilities.
Books can be bought online for cheap without having to venture outside, as well as stores that offer legit downloads for music, on demand television and movies as well as software and e-books.
Things are really changing - I honestly believe the retail sector have cause for concern. As backyard, or community gardens become more and more popular and everyday gardeners become more efficient and successful at growing their own food and food to share with friends, family, neighbors and fellow gardeners the next sector I see getting damaged is the food industry. With cooking shows being all the rage it's only a matter of time as far as I'm concerned.
Personally I welcome all this as it steps away from reliance on big business, but I can see how this is really going to impact on everyday, honest people that make their living from jobs that they create.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
General Annoyances September 14 2011
I am having a bad day. No scratch that, the last week or so has been really testing. At work, at home, on the news, out and about...certain things are really starting to tick me off - I'm a nice guy and just let it go but I really need to vent. Here are some things that really make me RAGE
#1 People that have conversations in the entrances of stores. It obstructs entry to the store! I went to my local newsagent the other day and there were two women both with MASSIVE prams/strollers talking right in the door way. I just wanted to check if the new Rolling Stone Magazine was in, there was a little gap they allowed for people to squeeze past them but the shop is one of the busiest in my town. There were people trying to come out so I let them have the right of way. Finally I got in, found the magazine (and that they published my letter :D) paid for it and went to leave...they were still there. EGH! So I went to squeeze my way out but there are people coming in, here I am standing in no man's land in the store feeling like an idiot. I finally got out onto the street and felt like that guy that escaped from prison in The Shawshank Redemption.
#2 People that barricade supermarket aisles with shopping trolleys. It seems whenever I go to the supermarket to grab a few items every aisle is deserted except for the ones that I use. Now I consider soft drink a staple, they never move it from the dedicated aisle and the prices very rarely change...yet whenever I go to get some there's someone with a trolley skewed across the aisle seemingly inspecting each and every bottle and the prices...WHAT THE HELL?!? You walk up to go past and they never seem to notice the person coming up the aisle that won't be able to pass. I know sometimes I'll 'hog' an aisle when it's empty but I sure as hell know when someone's coming and get out of the way. I swear these people expect people to be blocked and have them say 'excuse me' before access is granted. Jerry Seinfeld made a joke about this once...EXCUSE YOU! I've done nothing wrong.
#3 Narrow checkouts, MOAR PEOPLE WITH TROLLEYS! These days I use self serve checkouts 99% of the time. If I don't it's because suspiciously there's a bigger line up to self service than there is for someone to do scan and bag groceries for you, or because I have too many items to try to juggle in the minuscule space provided at the things HMMPF! Anyhow the new phenomena seems to be that the checkouts have very narrow spaces where customers stand...I mean really it looks like two trolleys couldn't simultaneously go through at the same time...yet people insist on trying like they failed how shapes work when they were still a toddler. Again being stuck behind one person, in front of another with someone to your back at a checkout is really, really, uncomfortable.
#4 Trolleys in parking lots. Oh boy this one really annoys me. You go to the supermarket in your car. You manage to avoid hitting children running around, elderly folk that don't look before crossing a non-designated area and other vehicles with operators oblivious/uncaring to road rules. There it is a car park remains! You get ready to line it up and go in and...someone's left a shopping cart right where your car was to go. DAMN IT! This one really ticks me off because my works car parking lot backs onto a supermarkets parking lot. Some days there are more shoppers parked in "our" spots than there are workers, it's irritating but I can accept that, but it's when people just ditch their shopping trolley really annoys me...like it's so hard to walk the 10m to replace the thing? Come on now.
#1 People that have conversations in the entrances of stores. It obstructs entry to the store! I went to my local newsagent the other day and there were two women both with MASSIVE prams/strollers talking right in the door way. I just wanted to check if the new Rolling Stone Magazine was in, there was a little gap they allowed for people to squeeze past them but the shop is one of the busiest in my town. There were people trying to come out so I let them have the right of way. Finally I got in, found the magazine (and that they published my letter :D) paid for it and went to leave...they were still there. EGH! So I went to squeeze my way out but there are people coming in, here I am standing in no man's land in the store feeling like an idiot. I finally got out onto the street and felt like that guy that escaped from prison in The Shawshank Redemption.
#2 People that barricade supermarket aisles with shopping trolleys. It seems whenever I go to the supermarket to grab a few items every aisle is deserted except for the ones that I use. Now I consider soft drink a staple, they never move it from the dedicated aisle and the prices very rarely change...yet whenever I go to get some there's someone with a trolley skewed across the aisle seemingly inspecting each and every bottle and the prices...WHAT THE HELL?!? You walk up to go past and they never seem to notice the person coming up the aisle that won't be able to pass. I know sometimes I'll 'hog' an aisle when it's empty but I sure as hell know when someone's coming and get out of the way. I swear these people expect people to be blocked and have them say 'excuse me' before access is granted. Jerry Seinfeld made a joke about this once...EXCUSE YOU! I've done nothing wrong.
#3 Narrow checkouts, MOAR PEOPLE WITH TROLLEYS! These days I use self serve checkouts 99% of the time. If I don't it's because suspiciously there's a bigger line up to self service than there is for someone to do scan and bag groceries for you, or because I have too many items to try to juggle in the minuscule space provided at the things HMMPF! Anyhow the new phenomena seems to be that the checkouts have very narrow spaces where customers stand...I mean really it looks like two trolleys couldn't simultaneously go through at the same time...yet people insist on trying like they failed how shapes work when they were still a toddler. Again being stuck behind one person, in front of another with someone to your back at a checkout is really, really, uncomfortable.
#4 Trolleys in parking lots. Oh boy this one really annoys me. You go to the supermarket in your car. You manage to avoid hitting children running around, elderly folk that don't look before crossing a non-designated area and other vehicles with operators oblivious/uncaring to road rules. There it is a car park remains! You get ready to line it up and go in and...someone's left a shopping cart right where your car was to go. DAMN IT! This one really ticks me off because my works car parking lot backs onto a supermarkets parking lot. Some days there are more shoppers parked in "our" spots than there are workers, it's irritating but I can accept that, but it's when people just ditch their shopping trolley really annoys me...like it's so hard to walk the 10m to replace the thing? Come on now.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Making extra income with RewardsCentral (Aus only?)
Well I've been using it for years, like 5 years now. The website formerly known as Email Cash. It's a website where you earn points by doing quick surveys, detailed surveys, clicking ads, viewing emails and by shopping with rewards partners...there are also a few games of chance that you can risk your earnings on.
My referral (I will make 200points for every person I refer who makes 400 points) link is HERE
...or you can visit the regular site at www.rewardscentral.com.au
100 points = $1, however you can only cash out (direct debit, or cheque...or donation to charity) at $30 or $100 - And there's a processing fee of 300 points ($3) for $30 cash out or 100 points ($1) for $100 cash out.
One nifty thing about this site is that there is an e-bank which earns interest on any points you have I have enough for a $30 cash out but I have it in the e-bank making better interest than what the leading banks offer, and on a deposit amount they'd never touch!
Generally speaking you can earn a minimum of 2 points every day by opening a 'web click' link, every so often I will be offered a quick survey (answer one question) earning 3 points, a lot of emails have been coming through lately it seems with the offer of 5 or 10 points for every one you open...it literally takes a couple of seconds to do.
If I get a regular, full length survey and I'm in the mood and the subject matter doesn't bore me to death I will fill them out. They are generally worth a few dollars...I've done one in the past that paid $20! Which I then invested in the e-bank at like 8% interest.
What I do is do my little ritual of visiting the site daily and getting the easy money than investing it in the e-bank, by Christmas time I have a nice little bonus :)
Check it out yourself, however, I believe it is restricted to only Australia
Good luck!
My referral (I will make 200points for every person I refer who makes 400 points) link is HERE
...or you can visit the regular site at www.rewardscentral.com.au
100 points = $1, however you can only cash out (direct debit, or cheque...or donation to charity) at $30 or $100 - And there's a processing fee of 300 points ($3) for $30 cash out or 100 points ($1) for $100 cash out.
One nifty thing about this site is that there is an e-bank which earns interest on any points you have I have enough for a $30 cash out but I have it in the e-bank making better interest than what the leading banks offer, and on a deposit amount they'd never touch!
Generally speaking you can earn a minimum of 2 points every day by opening a 'web click' link, every so often I will be offered a quick survey (answer one question) earning 3 points, a lot of emails have been coming through lately it seems with the offer of 5 or 10 points for every one you open...it literally takes a couple of seconds to do.
If I get a regular, full length survey and I'm in the mood and the subject matter doesn't bore me to death I will fill them out. They are generally worth a few dollars...I've done one in the past that paid $20! Which I then invested in the e-bank at like 8% interest.
What I do is do my little ritual of visiting the site daily and getting the easy money than investing it in the e-bank, by Christmas time I have a nice little bonus :)
Check it out yourself, however, I believe it is restricted to only Australia
Good luck!
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