Saturday, July 30, 2011

Ordering Merchandise on the Web


I am in front of my computer a lot. I enjoy surfing the web, creating web sites, posting to blogs and answering e-mails. I exchange jokes, circulate the latest post criticizing O'Bama and generally have a good time using my computer.

I am not afraid of using my computer for ordering merchandise and I do all my banking Online. I occasionally enter contest or give-away programs. And there in is the rub!

I really hate it when I have to enter my birth date to prove I am over 18. My God, I am so far past 18, I barely remember what it was like way back then. So I enter the month and the day of my birth and for the year, I get this drop down menu of years. It takes forever to go down to the year of my birth. But it is not so much the loss of time, its the reminder that I am old in numbers. Stop and realize, I have to scroll down past 75 numbers representing the years I have been on this earth.

I write this tongue-in-cheek, because, while I don't like to be reminded of the years gone past, it is just a number. I am young at heart and my spirit is much younger than the years revealed by a birth date. My looks and my attitude belie my age.

I am still a kid at heart!

And so it goes...

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Levi Strauss & Co.


I am sure many have heard the story about Levi Strauss going to California with the Gold rush of 1849 and making jeans for the miners.



At birth in Germany, Levi was named Loeb Strauss. He emigrated to New York in 1847 and joined two older bros in a dry goods business. By 1850 he was known as "Levi" by family and customers.

Levi did not travel to California until the year 1853, arriving in San Francisco in March of that year where he established a wholesale dry goods business under the name Levi Stauss. His new company imported dry goods – clothing, underwear, umbrellas, handkerchiefs, bolts of fabric – and sold them to the small stores that were springing up all over California and the West.

In 1872, Levi received a letter from Jacob Davis, a Reno, Nevada tailor. Davis was one of Levi Strauss’ regular customers; he purchased bolts of cloth from the company to use for his own business. In his letter, he told the prosperous merchant about the interesting way he made pants for his customers: he placed metal rivets at the points of strain - pocket corners, and at the base of the button fly. He did this in order to make the pants stronger for the laboring men who were his customers. He wanted to patent this new idea but needed a business partner to get the idea off the ground. So he suggested that the two men take out the patent together (sharing the costs, as well). Levi was enthusiastic about the idea and the patent was granted to both men on May 20, 1873. The blue jean was born.

He knew that demand would be great for these riveted "waist overalls" (the old name for jeans), so Levi brought Jacob Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first West Coast manufacturing facility. By the 1880's, Levi had leased factory space and then opened his own factory south of Market Street (though the dates and information are a bit vague here, thanks to the loss of the company’s historical records in the 1906 earthquake and fire). The famous 501® jean – known at the time simply as “XX” – was soon a best seller, as were the other riveted products Levi and Jacob added to their new manufactured lines.

So, as you can see, the Levi jeans did not come into being until the 1880's at the earliest. If anyone was making jeans for miners during the gold rush, it would have been Jacob Davis.

Levi Strauss died peacefully on the night of September 26, 1902.

And so it goes...

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Valley Preferred Cycling Center moved...




The Friday edition of the Morning Call's Sports pages carried a nice article on the Pee-Wee Peddlers program. The article was written by Kathy Lauer-Williams, of the Morning Call.

Apparently Kathy wants to move T-Town to Breiningsville. The reference to the velodrome in Breiningsville is in the headline and is mentioned at least five times in the article or in the captions below photographs.

I am sure the venerable velo will survive this sacrilege, but you would think a Morning Call reporter would know that the Velo is in Trexlertown, also widely known as T-Town.

Yes I am aware that the correct mailing address is Breinigsville, but the Velo is and always has been in T-Town.

Try this! Google T-Town and the very first result takes you to the Valley Preferred Cycling Center every time.

And so it goes...






Friday, July 22, 2011

My Pet Peeve!

My pet peeve is drivers that insist on driving in the left, or passing lane, when driving on a four lane divided roadway or highway.

Doesn't matter if it is an inter state highway or a State Road, nor does it matter if the roadway is "controlled Access or limited Access. There is no reason to hang out in the passing lane when traffic behind you is traveling at a higher rate of speed and there is an opportunity to move to the right lane.

In truth, there is a State Law that prohibits driving in the left lane when there is no reason not to move to the right lane. So unless you are passing a line of slower traffic, you can not legally stay in the left lane if there is an opening to move to the right. State Police can write a traffic ticket for staying in the passing lane when there is no reason for you not to move to the right.

During rush hour on Hwy 22 both lanes of 22 are jammed with traffic, and if those in the passing lane are maintaining the speed of the cars in front of them, there is no reason to move to the slower right lane. However, if you are not matching the speed of others in the passing lane, you should move to the right.

The worst example for people driving in the left lane is the 222 By-Pass. Granted the 222 By-Pass has a posted speed limit of 45 MPH, and this is the cause of a lot of confusion. But, there is no reason to travel in the passing lane at 45 mph for an extended period because you plan to exit on Mill Creek Road to go to WalMart.

PennDot has acknowledged that 45 mph on the By-Pass is insanity, but they maintain that under state law they had to mark it as 45 mph because it is not a "controlled Access" highway. Granted, every mile or so there is a traffic light and cross traffic, but 45 mph is ridiculous.

The State Police are in agreement and have indicated that they will not enforce the 45 mph limit. They state that they will only issue citations when a vehicle exceeds 65 mph, or is driving erratically.

There in lies the problem. Most drivers on the 222 By-Pass are traveling between 60 and 65 mph, while others are traveling at 45 mph. This would not be a problem if those traveling 45mph were in the right or slow lane, leaving the left lane to those that might be exceeding the posted speed limit. But that is seldom the way it works. Many traveling at 45 mph, stay in the left lane because they want to get into the left turn lane several miles down the road.

Forcing faster moving traffic to pass on the right is dangerous. The rules of the rode require slower moving vehicles to move to he right lane, even if those in the left lane are exceeding the posted speed limit.

“Keep Right, Pass Left. It’s the Law.” You will find these signs on the PA Turnpike.


"Pennsylvania makes it illegal to fail to yield to traffic that seeks to overtake in the left lane [or to create any other “obstruction” in the passing lane that hinders the flow of traffic. As a result, heavy trucks are often prohibited from using the passing lane."

2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 75 - VEHICLES
Chapter 33 - Rules of the Road in General
3313 - Restrictions on use of limited access highways.

"(d) Driving in right lane.--
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) and unless
otherwise posted, upon all limited access highways having two
or more lanes for traffic moving in the same direction, all
vehicles shall be driven in the right-hand lanes when
available for traffic except when any of the following
conditions exist:
(i) When overtaking and passing another vehicle
proceeding in the same direction.
(ii) When traveling at a speed greater than the
traffic flow.
(iii) When moving left to allow traffic to merge.
(iv) When preparing for a left turn at an
intersection, exit or into a private road or driveway
when such left turn is legally permitted."

So there you have it:




“Keep Right, Pass Left. It’s the Law.”



And so it goes...






Paris Hilton a has-been? Question prompts walk out


Reuters
5:16 P.M. EDT, JULY 20, 2011
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)

Don't try asking Paris Hilton if she is a has-been.

Hilton, 30, walked out of a television interview, portions of which aired on Wednesday, after being asked whether other reality TV stars have grabbed the celebutante limelight from her after 15 years of being famous for being famous.
"Do you worry at times that the people who have followed in your footsteps, like Kim Kardashian, have overshadowed you," ABC News journalist Dan Harris asked Hilton.

"No, not at all," she replied, adding tersely that she was not upset about the low ratings for her TV show.

"Ever worry about your moment having passed?" pressed Harris.

Hilton gave a derisive "Huh" and walked off for what Harris described as a long and heated talk with her publicist.

She later resumed the interview and said; "I've been doing this for 15 years now, so it's been a long time. So just like any other business person or someone in the industry, it's always important to reinvent yourself and come up with new projects."

Excerpts were shown on ABC chat show "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, with the full interview to run on ABC's "Nightline" later in the day.

Hilton, the great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, has built a multi-million dollar business of fashion, perfume and other products based on her celebrity and lavish Los Angeles lifestyle.

In the mid-2000s, Hilton and her friend Nicole Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie, starred in reality TV show "The Simple Life," in which the two of them traveled through the United States living and working with ordinary Americans.

Kim Kardashian, 30, and her socialite sisters however have caught up fast since 2007 on the back of reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and multiple spinoff TV series.

The latest series of that show debuted in June to 2.5 million viewers, while the raucous Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of "Jersey Shore" fame helped attract more than eight million U.S. viewers to that reality show's third season earlier this year.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Copyright © 2011, Reuters

What do you think; is Paris a thing of the past?

And so it goes...

What Would You Have Done!


Cash blows off moving car in Poconos; finder turns it in
By Frank Warner, Of The Morning Call
9:47 A.M. EDT, JULY 21, 2011

The cash flying off the roof of a northbound vehicle on Route 447 in the Poconos on Wednesday morning surprised the driver of the car following behind, police said.

But instead of keeping the currency, the driver pulled over, picked up as much as could be found and turned it in to police.

State police at Swiftwater said Wednesday night that the money awaits its rightful owner if the owner can remember the denominations of the bills and describe where the cash was lost.

Police did not say how much money was found.

The money finder was driving up Route 447, near Route 209, in Smithfield Township at 11:55 a.m. when the money started flying off the roof of the unidentified vehicle, police said.

The money finder had to stop at an intersection that the unidentified vehicle already went through, so the money finder was unable to catch up with whoever lost the cash, police said.

State police said the person who lost the money on Route 447 can call the police barracks at 570-839-7701.


So, What would you have done?

And so it goes...





Wednesday, July 20, 2011

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSES BILL TO KILL VISA LOTTERY


HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSES BILL TO KILL VISA LOTTERY

Next Stop: House Floor

The House Judiciary Committee voted 19-11 to pass H.R. 704, the SAFE for America Act to end the Visa Lottery.

While it is true that it is a form of insanity for a nation to raffle off 55,000 permanent work permits and paths to citizenship each year, we would gain very little if the lottery were killed and the overall legal immigration level stays the same.

The main point of killing the lottery is to reduce overall annual importation of permanent foreign workers by 55,000 a year.

This is the first time since 2004 that a congressional committee has voted to kill the Visa Lottery. The Goodlatte amendment passed on the House floor in 2005, but the Senate never took it up.

If we could get this signed into law, it would be the first time in 97 years that Congress would actually have reduced immigration numbers. Annual immigration has risen from less than 200,000 a year in the 1930s to a an average of more than a million a year since 1990.

Killing the Visa Lottery is a great place to start.

And so it goes...

Monday, July 18, 2011

Did You Know?


You probably missed it in Sunday's Morning Call (Sunday, July 17, 2011, Allentown, PA) but in the Sports section, page 5, there was an article entitled; "Did You Know?"

Among other things about the Phillies, it announces that Roy Oswald opened a restaurant he named, Home Plate Fish & Steak House, in his home town of Weir, Mississippi in November, 2009.



By Alyson Footer / MLB.com

HOUSTON -- It's purely a coincidence that Roy Oswalt's hometown is pronounced "where," but in its own charming way, it's entirely apropos. When talking about the tiny town where Oswalt grew up, it's not unusual for someone to say to him, "Where?"

Exactly. Weir, Miss. Population 525 or so, and not remotely easy to find if you happen to take a casual drive through the middle of the state. It's also the hometown of one of the best pitchers in baseball, one who still makes his year-round home there, and where he will likely spend his retirement years when he decides to hang up the spikes.

Oswalt's ties to his hometown run deep, and recently, he decided to place his own special mark on Weir and its outlying areas. He is building a restaurant just outside of the Weir city limits, a cafe-type steakhouse that he hopes will give the community a convenient place to spend an evening out on the town.

This is no easy task. While most of us are used to a Starbucks on every street corner and a slew of dining options ranging from Asian food to Mexican to good old American burgers and fries, in Weir, the restaurant experience is less available. Taking the family to dinner often involves a lengthy car ride that runs an hour each way.

"You have to drive 30 miles to go to a restaurant," Oswalt said. "I thought it would be good for the community more than anything."

The desire to help out his neighbors has resulted in a roadhouse-style cafe called -- tentatively -- "Home Plate Fish and Steakhouse."

It'll be a weekend deal.

"Where I live, people don't really eat out during the week," Oswalt said. "So it'll just be open Friday and Saturday night."

"I'll just say this -- this is not going to make a lot of money," he said. "I hope it's going to be a plus, not a minus. As long as it makes a plus ... we've had a few cafes around there, and people try to make a living doing just that. You're not going to make enough money to live off a cafe around there. I'm just trying to make enough money to make the cafe run. If it creates some jobs along the way, that's even better."

Alyson Footer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.





Roy Oswald is a Major League Baseball pitcher that pitched for the Houston Asttros for 8 1/2 years until being dealt to the Phillies in July 2010. He has been on the Disabled List since June 23rd, due to back problems. His future in baseball is not known at this time. Roy has had an outstanding career and is an Olympic Goal Medalist, one of his proudest achievements.

Okay, so what's the big deal? Well, just coincidence, but I was born in Weir, Choctaw County, Mississippi on January 25, 1936, in the home of my grandmother. Weir is located i the central portion of the State on the Yockanookany River and covers 1.1miles of total land area. In the 1930's during the pulp mill boom, Weir was a railroad junction that was the center of pulp wood shipping and the town had a population in access of 1200 people.

Everette's father, Everette, Sr. returned to Weir in retirement and served as Mayor for a number of years prior to his untimely death in May 1984.



And so it goes...

Friday, July 15, 2011

All Atwitter


Everyone seems to be all atwitter about Twitter. tweet, tweet, tweet.

I do not tweet. It seems to me that Twitter was created so that those of us that are Star struck over Actors, Musicians, Rock Stars and Athletic types could hang on every word they tweet to their twitter account.

It is nothing more than a bulletin board or a refrigerator where you put post-its with brief messages. Each post can only contain 140 characters. So the random thoughts are generally brief and to the point. Or, as in az lot of cases, pointless!

Many a person in the spotlight has hastily posted something for all the world to see and realized too late that they made a mistake. You hear about situations every day where someone said something that they wished they hadn't...oops! Too Late!

With a blog, a web page or even FaceBook I can remove the written word if I have regrets. So I will stick to the media I can control and leave the tweets to the Twitters.

And so it goes...


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

15th Annual Redneck Games


The 15th Annual Redneck Games!


Fifteen photos taken at the annual Redneck Games. Check it out.

Click Here!

And so it goes, but sometimes it shouldn't!


White House

July 10, 1790:


With the passage of the Residence Act, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to locate the nation's capital on a 10-square-mile site along the Potomac River on land ceded for that purpose by Maryland. President George Washington chose the specific site over a similar tract offered by Virginia, and also selected three commissioners to survey the site and oversee the capital city's design and construction. To plan the new city of Washington, the commissioners named French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who based his design on the gardens at France's Palace of Versailles.

A virtual tour of the U.S. Capitol

And so it goes...

The Medal of Honor

July 12, 1862:


Although Union Gen. Winfield Scott thought medals smacked of gaudy European affectation, Congress passed and President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a provision to recognize individual acts of valor during the U.S. Civil War; in 1933 the medal's presentation was continued into the future. Today, some 3,400 men and women have been honored for personal bravery "above and beyond the call of duty" with the Medal of Honor.

And so it goes...

Free Allentown Band Concert



The Allentown Band will be performing a free concert at Haines Mills on July 17th.

For more information, go to the Lehigh County Historical Society site here:

Free Concert

You can also view the Historic Haines Mill in operation.

And so it goes...


Monday, July 11, 2011

Babe Ruth





On this day, July 11, 1914, Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth made his Major League Baseball debut as a pitcher for the Boston Red sox. His rookie salary: $2,900.

And so it goes...

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Olympian Mark Whitehead Dead at Age 50


The Lehigh Valley cycling community was shocked and saddened by the passing of Mark Whitehead at age 50. Whitehead died on Wednesday, July 6, 2011, while attending the USA Cycling Junior National Championships in Frisco, Texas.



Mark Whitehead held 20 National Championship Titles in cycling and was a participant in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Ca. in 1984. He was also known for the fact that he held USA National Championship Titles at the Junior, Senior and Masters level.



Following his cycling career, Mark devoted himself to coaching Junior cyclist. He was a determined and agressive cyclist while riding and a dedicated and passionate coach in the infield.



Mark Whitehead was voted into the Valley Preferred Cycling Center Hall of Fame in 2008.




Mark will be missed in the Lehigh Valley and in the sport of cycling.



WOW! Can this be real? Truly Amazing!

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other

Click on the link below to learn more:

3 D Printing

And so it goes...


Friday, July 8, 2011

Morning Star Inn - Bethlehem, PA

For the past seven glorious days I have been staying at the Morning Star Inn in Bethlehem, PA. It has been a Minni vacation, of sorts. Abet a working vacation.

But the work part has not been overwhelming by any stretch of the imagination. You see, the owners, otherwise known as Inn Keepers are away on their vacation and they asked me to take care of the Inn, which is closed, and the three cats that call the Inn home.

My duties consist of feeding the cats twice a day, occasionally watering the beautiful plants that are in abundance around the magnificent old three-story home and taking care of the pool. I make an excellent pool boy! I turn on the pump and the auto sweeper named Tyrone, scoop a few leaves off the surface of the water and stretch out on a chaise lounge with a good book and a cold brew for a couple of hours.

Of course, unlike a guest, I have to prepare my own breakfast. Well, for that matter, I have to prepare all my meals, but that's okay, I love dabbling in a professional kitchen. Cooking is one of my hobbies and besides, I live alone and always prepare my own meals.

This is my last night at this marvelous Bed and Breakfast in Bethlehem. The real Inn-keepers return tomorrow afternoon and I will be returning to my life in Allentown.

If you think you would enjoy a night at a B&B, I highly recommend the Morning Star Inn, Bethlehem, PA.

You can check them out by visiting their site. A link is provided below:


I LOVE THE MORNING STAR INN!

And so it goes...



America The Beautiful!


Did you ever stop to wonder what the 50 state flowers would look like if placed together in a bouquet.


Best viewed 'Full Screen', click F11 when new window appears.

Click to view



And so it goes...




An Interesting question





And so it goes...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Casey Anthony


In an earlier post, I made a flippant remark about Anthony Casey being a baby-killer.

The Casey Anthony saga lasted for more than three years. During that time she was arrested numerous times on lessor charges in an attempt to determine what happened to Kaylee. The procicution attempted to try the case in the Media. They investigated for years and spent countless hours trying to determine how Kaylee died, but in the final analysis, they failed to prove their case. Their was no evidence that proved their case "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt".

We all know that Casey Anthony killed her daughter! But that was never in doubt or the issue.

Even if it is "likely" or "probable" that a defendant committed the murder, she must be acquitted because neither likely nor probable satisfies the daunting standard of proof a reasonable doubt. While this may not produce a morally just result, and justice has not prevailed for the victim, none the less, the law has prevailed.

Sadly, in this case, the System worked!

The prosicution failed to make its case. End of story!

And so it goes...

What is this world coming to?


We can't convict a baby-killer; we can't make charges stick against a old, rich sexual preditor!

What is the world coming to?


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Monday, July 4, 2011

The Growth of Social Networks




My Space, FaceBook, and Twitter are the established social networking communities on the Internet. Now Google wants to join the fray by introducing a new social network site. Google tends to dominate the market in Search Engines and this has carried over into free e-mail service and most other areas that they have entered. Will it happen again in the social networking community? Can Google become dominate in the social networking community as well? Time will tell. Google is attempting to go slow but is being overwhelmed by people tying to sign-up for the new service. They actualy pulled a trial version off the Internet because of over demand. What does that tell you?


Will FaceBook be able to maintain it's dominance in the society networking community?


My Space was the first social networking community on the Internet. It did very well until the introduction of FaceBook. My Space's popularity plumeted once FaceBook came on the scene.


My Space, nce the dominate social networking site on the Internet, was acquired by News Corp, from it's originatotrs for $580 million in 2005. Just recently, My Space was sold to Specific Media for a mere $35 million. The sale marks a fall from grace for My Space which once was valued at over a Billion-dollars.


My Space peaked in 2008 with 76.3 million users. I think I was one of them! Recently, membership was down to just 35 million users. Will the new owners be able to bring My Space back to prominence? They claim that Justin Timberlake would take an ownership position in My Space. What does that mean? Did he actually invest cold hard cash or was his stock in the company a gift for promotional value?


But more to the point; Why do we need more than one social network? Do we want to check multiple social networks to see who posted what? Aren't we likely to be reading the same messages over and over again? What purpose does that serve?


But can we resist signing up for Google's proposed new networking community when it becomes avaiable? Ultimately we will each choose a social network that suits us and will be loyal and faithful to just one. After all, many of us walked away from My Space and never looked back.


And so it goes...

Kiddycar Sets Up New Blog


This is the initial post for this blog. The intent is to post random thoughts, comments, observations, desires, wishes, and off the wall stuff.

This will encompass things that interest me, not necessarily others. Friends or family may review it on occasion, but I would not anticipate a wide viewership. Mostly, this is therapeutic for me and will not be earth shaking.

This Blog is not intended to be political in nature. However, some political comments may creep in from time to time. I am a fervent and passionate Republican. You may not agree with my politics and that is fine. Feel free to respond if I make a political comment that you do not agree with, but do not initiate comments containing your political beliefs unless it is in response to something I posted. If you want to voice your independent point of view on political matters, create your own Blog.

My attitude: Take it or leave it, your choice!

And so it goes...