So Hollywood is at it again. Since they are so hard pressed to come up with any original ideas, they are easily sold on doing repackaging of current hits, sequels, or doing remakes of old classics. It is the remaking of old classics that I have had the most problems with. 9 times out of 10 they can't do it. The old classics are true classics that only work with actors, action and story lines that come within the context of the era. Very few actors are capable of recreating the magic of a past era let alone pulling off a credible re-creation of a past master. A poster of the Mona Lisa from the gift shop is not the same thing as the original. (I hesitate to use this example as many suspect that the Mona Lisa that so many enjoy at the Louvre is actually a reproduction. I guess that just shows that there is always a market for those that don't know any better or can't tell the difference.)
So what possible remake could they do that would cause enough of a stir to deserve a comment? It seems the Farrelly brothers, who I am guessing are big fans of the original and want to find more of the magic they once knew, are redoing the Three Stooges. All I can say is that if you are really fans of the original icons, then please do not do this. You will try to modernize it and then have it go through the Hollywood politically correctness department and before you know it you have disaster on your hands.
Case in point is the proposed cast of Jim Carrey, Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn. Jim Carrey has enough talent that he is the only possibility (given the right team of writers, directors, other cast members, etc.) of pulling something like this off. I would prefer to see him doing something new, fresh and original that would draw on all his strengths but this is Hollywood and we shouldn't expect so much.
The other two are where we cement the disaster. Benicio is a face I recognize but I can't for the life of me associate it with anything remotely labeled as greatness especially in the comedy category. He is a fine actor and can serve up a decent supporting role but this role would be a stretch for anyone. Sean Penn on the other hand hasn't done anything worthwhile of late, and some would argue ever. This is one of the many examples of overrated personalities that somehow manage to continue to find work in show business.
I just pulled is bio on IMDB and he has been involved in a lot of things, it is an impressive resume, at least for volume. I still remember the movie 'The Pledge' as one of the absolute worst pictures at that time only to find out at the end that he was the producer and director. How sad for me (I lost 2 hours and the price of admission). His recent stuff tends to play to the Hollywood insider crowd and that was enough to win him an Oscar promoting the homo sexual agenda. Yet another example of why I do not follow the award ceremony anymore, they've lost their way and are no longer concered about the movies and the entertainment industry.
By the way, I was reading some of the comments that came with the news article, and they were not flattering concerning the casting call nor were they even remotely kind for the selection of Sean Penn. There are a lot of people that feel Sean Penn has been anti-American in many of his comments and actions of late and it shows in the feedback to this announcement of his selection. If this industry still fashions itself to be a business, I would think two and three times before adding him to the cast. The type of audience this movie should be geared towards will actively boycott the Penn selection while the type of audience that Sean Penn would normally attract do not get and well not understand or appreciate the Three Stooges. I would do a quick rethink before too much money has been invested; try to salvage what you can.
That is what makes it all the more strange to pick these three as Hollywood is all about playing it safe when it comes to making big ticket movies and by that I mean they don't take very many chances on unknown quantities. They are pretty good at rehashing (or should I say 'paying tribute too') old story lines and ideas. The vaults are full of examples and the new releases just confirm it. I watched Bolt yesterday and couldn't count how many times I thought of the T.V. show Animaniacs, ('Now that's comedy). Bolt shows that you can take a classic or at least elements of the classic and create a parallel product that can be entertaining without smashing the toes of the original. I still really wish they would have made a Mission Impossible “like” movie with Tom Cruise rather than an actual Mission Impossible movie. It was a fair movie that could have stood on its own but it is in no way related to the T.V. show that made the title famous.
So my suggestion to you Farrelly brothers, throw away the title and the names of the characters, unless you just use them as a working title. Just like there are tribute bands that play in appreciation of the bands they love and the music they enjoy, call this a tribute movie because it will not be the original and there are far too many fans that will know it. Create a movie "like" the Three Stooges would make if they were still around but use your own characters and your own story and give it a new name and title and look. And if you ‘have to’ use Sean Penn, please keep him in the background and at least try to make him funny and not just a laughing stock. My biggest question now is will they use a laugh track. Will they need one?
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
28 March 2009
22 March 2009
Product Review: Vacuum food savers.
I am sure many of you have seen the infomercials advertising home vacuum sealers to preserve food. The idea is to buy in bulk and save money then repackage with the vacuum sealer to use the food in a more suitable manner, either through sizing or just allowing more time to use the food before it spoils. It is a great idea and I was hooked.
I am a great conservative and love to save money and with careful shopping you can find some items that are cheaper when bought in bulk (though that is not always the case, so shop smart and read the labels and calculate and compare) and if not you can always wait for a really good sale and stock up. Problem is when you stock up really big on a really good sale, will you have time to eat it all before it goes bad? When I was single I had a hard time finishing half a loaf of bread before it started growing penicillin in its natural state. Vacuum sealing food sounds like just the answer I was looking for.
Next problem, as many of you may have seen the same infomercial and have been tempted to jump on board, is the price of these popular units. Foodsaver which is the company that made the idea of vacuum sealing so popular has several different units on their web site beginning at $79.99 and running up to $299.99. The one on T.V. seems to have been priced around $129. That rates an ouch in my book and I just couldn’t justify it so I never bothered, though it was always in the back of my mind that if I could find a decent price on one I would probably go ahead and get one.
Years went by, I got married and I came across a Rival brand sealer that was on close out at the local megalamart. Since there were now two of us to share one machine’s usage and the price was around $50 I quickly talked myself into it.
The Rival machine works pretty much the same as the Foodsaver machine as near as I can tell. Looking at the two side by side they look very similar and comparing our usage method to that seen in the demonstrations given for T.V. I would say that they are comparable.
I must say that we did have fun with it…for a time. It was way fun to put food in a bag and suck the air out. We created a mini production facility and went to work sealing away blocks of cheese and family pack purchases of meat for later use. We felt like we were doing ourselves good by our efforts. The packages went into the freezer and the food stayed useable long after other buys would have been tossed. The idea worked.
Mostly..., as I mentioned, we would set up a mini production facility I meant that in a fun way but the reality is that you almost had to set up a small production run whenever you wanted to use the sealer. Because there was extra effort involved in set up and clean up, the sealer got used less and less as time went on.
Also, you had to buy rolls of material and create your own bags in the size you wanted or buy pre-made, pre-sized bags. There are also canisters that you can buy that are supposed to attach easily to the machines and provide a quick reusable platform for storing rice, sugar, pasta and such. Well, the bags were easy enough to make though we sometimes made them bigger than they needed to be thus wasting some material. We seldom did the 'cut open the bag take out what you need and reseal the bag' because it was a pain to retrieve the machine each time for what should have been a simple set up. No wonder they say that many people leave them out on their countertops, it's just easier that way. The special design canisters worked about twice and we were never able to get a seal to hold after that. They are pretty much just like any other canister now.
The sealing of the bags was a wonderful thing to do and watching as it happened…when everything went right. Sometimes it didn’t, or wouldn’t. Sometimes the machine would just whirr away and nothing would happen because we didn’t have the flap just right or there was an uneven cut along the leading edge when we tried to make our own bags. That is my guess anyway. Also if there was any chance of a liquid being involved there was also the chance of a mess being involved. It is hard to suck out air without sucking out the liquid so if you were going to save soup for a later microwave reheat at work, be very careful. That applies to juicy things like fresh fruit, and marinating steaks and chicken breasts like they show on T.V.
Well, we did use it for quite some time (but nowhere near as much as I thought we should) before one day the pump was running like crazy and nothing was happening no matter what we tried. Our machine had given up. We still liked the idea of a food sealer and thought that we would get another one at some point but we never made it a high priority or found ourselves willing to pay the going rates for a new machine. We thought about switching to the Foodsaver brand but still couldn’t justify the price even with two of us using one.
Normally the story would end there but we were walking through the store the other day and came across a hand held battery operated food sealer vacuum pump put out by Reynolds (the same people that bring you Reynolds wrap). The price was a blowout bargain by comparison to the units we had been looking at. The Handi-Vac starter kit with the pump and a couple of bags was less than $10. I think that included the batteries. I could live with that so we bought it, brought it home, broke it out and gave it a try.
I can tell you right now this is the way to go. If you have ever thought of getting a food sealer and you are not going into the business and need a commercial unit, this makes sense. The pre-made, pre-sized bags are a wonderful design. If you can operate a self-locking bag you can definitely operate this system. And its reusable.
Put the food in the bag, press out as much air as you normally would closing these bags, seal the bag with the self locking seal, then apply the hand vacuum pump to the bag at the spot indicated while on a hard flat surface and begin to remove the air with the push of a button. Air comes out, just like the big boys and its done slick as a whistle. If you want to readjust things inside, or get something out, go ahead and open it up at the self-locking seal, pull out what you need and reseal it and put the vacuum pump to it again and your done. I like this, a lot. It works.
I think a big part of the difference is that with the Foodsaver you suck the air out first and then try to seal the bag with a heat source that fuses the material together, while the self-locking stirp on the Reynolds bag is operated by running your thumb across it like we are all used to from using sandwich bags and then applying the vacuum pump after the bag is sealed and ready to go. This simple reversal of steps in the process makes all the difference.
Some things to remember are to not overfill the bag and when filling it be sure to leave the pump corner empty enough to create a flat surface to run the pump on. The bags are a special design with a pump spot that is a one way valve to allow the air to escape but seal tightly after the air has been removed. The bags also have a rough surface inside. This is to allow the air a pathway out of the bag around whatever you are storing when the vacuum pump is working.
So what is the cost of these special bags? I was just in the local store looking for some replacements and found packages of the quart size for about $0.23 each and gallon size around $0.30. Not too shabby when you consider what it gets you as well as the easy reusability feature.
There is one other entry level vacuum food sealer competitor and that is Ziploc. They have a system that is even cheaper but it uses a manual pump to create the vacuum function. From my experience, using a manual pump is a two handed operation most of the time and that would mean you would still need a third hand to work the bag. Since I am looking for simplicity and functionality I think the better pick is the battery operated unit Handi-Vac from Reynolds.
Bags from both Ziploc and Reynolds have similar design features. There are some lettering and highlighting differences but not enough to change the functionality of either bag. The Ziploc bags do have a textured inner lining that runs across the whole of one side for the air pathways where as the Reynolds bag only textures a couple inch strip across one side. Both work equally well.
The pricing on the bags seem comparable to so the only difference is in the cost of the manual pump vs. battery operated, or $3 vs. $10 in the starter kits. Since the store I went to was out of the Reynolds bags in the size I needed I decided to try the Ziploc bags and they worked just fine. Both seem to make a quality product and at a whale of a difference in price compared to the popular Foodsaver brand but then again, you don’t have to pay for all that late night T.V. advertising time.
So what did we do with it? We bought a 5 pound bag of shredded cheese at the local Costco for about $2 more than the normal 2 pound bag at the local grocer, broke it down into 5 one pound bags, vacuum packed and put them in the freezer. Then we did the same thing with a 5 pound bag of pepperoni, first wondering how much to put in each bag to cover one pizza and then remembering that it is no trouble to open it up, take out what we needed and reseal the remainder. How cool is that?
Now I know that this is no consumer reports with a comparison done over months of testing with detailed analysis of vacuum rates, seal pressures, freezer burn protection and time intervals, but this is also not a paid endorsement, (if it was I would tell you so). This is just my shared experience and opinion on a pretty good idea. I hope you find it handy.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
I am a great conservative and love to save money and with careful shopping you can find some items that are cheaper when bought in bulk (though that is not always the case, so shop smart and read the labels and calculate and compare) and if not you can always wait for a really good sale and stock up. Problem is when you stock up really big on a really good sale, will you have time to eat it all before it goes bad? When I was single I had a hard time finishing half a loaf of bread before it started growing penicillin in its natural state. Vacuum sealing food sounds like just the answer I was looking for.
Next problem, as many of you may have seen the same infomercial and have been tempted to jump on board, is the price of these popular units. Foodsaver which is the company that made the idea of vacuum sealing so popular has several different units on their web site beginning at $79.99 and running up to $299.99. The one on T.V. seems to have been priced around $129. That rates an ouch in my book and I just couldn’t justify it so I never bothered, though it was always in the back of my mind that if I could find a decent price on one I would probably go ahead and get one.
Years went by, I got married and I came across a Rival brand sealer that was on close out at the local megalamart. Since there were now two of us to share one machine’s usage and the price was around $50 I quickly talked myself into it.
The Rival machine works pretty much the same as the Foodsaver machine as near as I can tell. Looking at the two side by side they look very similar and comparing our usage method to that seen in the demonstrations given for T.V. I would say that they are comparable.
I must say that we did have fun with it…for a time. It was way fun to put food in a bag and suck the air out. We created a mini production facility and went to work sealing away blocks of cheese and family pack purchases of meat for later use. We felt like we were doing ourselves good by our efforts. The packages went into the freezer and the food stayed useable long after other buys would have been tossed. The idea worked.
Mostly..., as I mentioned, we would set up a mini production facility I meant that in a fun way but the reality is that you almost had to set up a small production run whenever you wanted to use the sealer. Because there was extra effort involved in set up and clean up, the sealer got used less and less as time went on.
Also, you had to buy rolls of material and create your own bags in the size you wanted or buy pre-made, pre-sized bags. There are also canisters that you can buy that are supposed to attach easily to the machines and provide a quick reusable platform for storing rice, sugar, pasta and such. Well, the bags were easy enough to make though we sometimes made them bigger than they needed to be thus wasting some material. We seldom did the 'cut open the bag take out what you need and reseal the bag' because it was a pain to retrieve the machine each time for what should have been a simple set up. No wonder they say that many people leave them out on their countertops, it's just easier that way. The special design canisters worked about twice and we were never able to get a seal to hold after that. They are pretty much just like any other canister now.
The sealing of the bags was a wonderful thing to do and watching as it happened…when everything went right. Sometimes it didn’t, or wouldn’t. Sometimes the machine would just whirr away and nothing would happen because we didn’t have the flap just right or there was an uneven cut along the leading edge when we tried to make our own bags. That is my guess anyway. Also if there was any chance of a liquid being involved there was also the chance of a mess being involved. It is hard to suck out air without sucking out the liquid so if you were going to save soup for a later microwave reheat at work, be very careful. That applies to juicy things like fresh fruit, and marinating steaks and chicken breasts like they show on T.V.
Well, we did use it for quite some time (but nowhere near as much as I thought we should) before one day the pump was running like crazy and nothing was happening no matter what we tried. Our machine had given up. We still liked the idea of a food sealer and thought that we would get another one at some point but we never made it a high priority or found ourselves willing to pay the going rates for a new machine. We thought about switching to the Foodsaver brand but still couldn’t justify the price even with two of us using one.
Normally the story would end there but we were walking through the store the other day and came across a hand held battery operated food sealer vacuum pump put out by Reynolds (the same people that bring you Reynolds wrap). The price was a blowout bargain by comparison to the units we had been looking at. The Handi-Vac starter kit with the pump and a couple of bags was less than $10. I think that included the batteries. I could live with that so we bought it, brought it home, broke it out and gave it a try.
I can tell you right now this is the way to go. If you have ever thought of getting a food sealer and you are not going into the business and need a commercial unit, this makes sense. The pre-made, pre-sized bags are a wonderful design. If you can operate a self-locking bag you can definitely operate this system. And its reusable.
Put the food in the bag, press out as much air as you normally would closing these bags, seal the bag with the self locking seal, then apply the hand vacuum pump to the bag at the spot indicated while on a hard flat surface and begin to remove the air with the push of a button. Air comes out, just like the big boys and its done slick as a whistle. If you want to readjust things inside, or get something out, go ahead and open it up at the self-locking seal, pull out what you need and reseal it and put the vacuum pump to it again and your done. I like this, a lot. It works.
I think a big part of the difference is that with the Foodsaver you suck the air out first and then try to seal the bag with a heat source that fuses the material together, while the self-locking stirp on the Reynolds bag is operated by running your thumb across it like we are all used to from using sandwich bags and then applying the vacuum pump after the bag is sealed and ready to go. This simple reversal of steps in the process makes all the difference.
Some things to remember are to not overfill the bag and when filling it be sure to leave the pump corner empty enough to create a flat surface to run the pump on. The bags are a special design with a pump spot that is a one way valve to allow the air to escape but seal tightly after the air has been removed. The bags also have a rough surface inside. This is to allow the air a pathway out of the bag around whatever you are storing when the vacuum pump is working.
So what is the cost of these special bags? I was just in the local store looking for some replacements and found packages of the quart size for about $0.23 each and gallon size around $0.30. Not too shabby when you consider what it gets you as well as the easy reusability feature.
There is one other entry level vacuum food sealer competitor and that is Ziploc. They have a system that is even cheaper but it uses a manual pump to create the vacuum function. From my experience, using a manual pump is a two handed operation most of the time and that would mean you would still need a third hand to work the bag. Since I am looking for simplicity and functionality I think the better pick is the battery operated unit Handi-Vac from Reynolds.
Bags from both Ziploc and Reynolds have similar design features. There are some lettering and highlighting differences but not enough to change the functionality of either bag. The Ziploc bags do have a textured inner lining that runs across the whole of one side for the air pathways where as the Reynolds bag only textures a couple inch strip across one side. Both work equally well.
The pricing on the bags seem comparable to so the only difference is in the cost of the manual pump vs. battery operated, or $3 vs. $10 in the starter kits. Since the store I went to was out of the Reynolds bags in the size I needed I decided to try the Ziploc bags and they worked just fine. Both seem to make a quality product and at a whale of a difference in price compared to the popular Foodsaver brand but then again, you don’t have to pay for all that late night T.V. advertising time.
So what did we do with it? We bought a 5 pound bag of shredded cheese at the local Costco for about $2 more than the normal 2 pound bag at the local grocer, broke it down into 5 one pound bags, vacuum packed and put them in the freezer. Then we did the same thing with a 5 pound bag of pepperoni, first wondering how much to put in each bag to cover one pizza and then remembering that it is no trouble to open it up, take out what we needed and reseal the remainder. How cool is that?
Now I know that this is no consumer reports with a comparison done over months of testing with detailed analysis of vacuum rates, seal pressures, freezer burn protection and time intervals, but this is also not a paid endorsement, (if it was I would tell you so). This is just my shared experience and opinion on a pretty good idea. I hope you find it handy.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
18 March 2009
Are their any grownups in Washington DC?
I am upset, disappointed, frustrated, infuriated, and all types of angry over what has happened in this country by our government and its people as it pertains to the economy.
I know I am not the only one.
The absurdity is overwhelming. I could not conceive of this as a reality scenario in even the most horrific Stephen King novel. I am completely dumbfounded and in a state of shock to think that there is even a remote possibility that the things I have seen and heard lately concerning our government and the economy are somehow based on anything approaching real life let alone the mind of a very imaginative fiction writer. How could any of this be real?
Hypocrisy is running rampant in Washington DC. The blame game is in full swing and no one but the other guy is to blame for the current mess we are in. I am amazed at the way Congress and the President are showing their disgust at employees of AIG receiving their agreed upon and contracted for bonuses totaling $165,000,000+ yet no one is saying much about the rest of the $2,000,000,000,000 of tax payer dollars that has been spent or promised for their solution to the economic downturn. (If you don’t understand the magnitude of those numbers and the actual difference between them, you are not alone, Congress does not either.)
They are now talking about taking legal action to ‘reclaim’ the bonuses if they can’t get them back voluntarily through shame or guilt. They are even talking about writing legislation to create new tax laws specifically aimed at taking back these peoples pay checks. Honestly, who is more guilty of a criminal act and gross negligence?
I am not defending the employees for their action as employees, their performances or whether they met the terms of their bonuses or not. I am not focusing on the management at AIG who felt it was necessary to make such agreements to obtain and retain the kind of employees they deemed fit for the positions they had. I am talking about our government’s actions to help. They stepped in and threw money at the problem without understanding the problem or asking questions or checking facts. They gave the money without any strings attached, (though that is hard to believe as anytime the money gives out anything there are strings attached). And now because a business that was labeled ‘too big to fail’ tries to continue to run business the way it always has (which is partly why it is in the shape it is) and we are supposed to be outraged and focus our attention on the employees because they got paid to do what they are paid to do? I don’t think so.
If Congress had let AIG fail, as businesses are supposed to be allowed to do when things don’t work out, the house of cards could have fallen, the damage would have been assessed and the remaining goods sold to valid companies at fire sale prices if need be, but then life and business goes on. AIG under bankruptcy law would have been able to renegotiate with court approval such things as employee agreements, pensions, and creditors payback. Congress could have let any of this happen and actually could have directed regulators to help facilitate the process in an orderly fashion but instead they chose to take the knee jerk reaction that threw money at the problem in the misguided notion that they had to do something. Hence they nationalized the bank (which is scandalous in any situation) without really taking anything over. They became the very noisy and boisterous silent partner. Unfortunately they did it using our tax payer money.
Though all of this is really sad and pathetic and Congress should voluntarily shut down and close shop from shame and embarrassment, the really scary thing that worries me the most is the way they are going after a target (the employees) with a vengeance that is unwarranted. If anything, Congress is every bit as culpable as the employees they are attacking and more so because this is only the tip of the giant iceberg they have created to take down the Titanic we fondly refer to as the USA.
My wish is that they would work at least as hard to renege the bailout/stimulus package they put in place, reclaim our hard earned tax dollars, both present and future, and cut their drag on my economy. Go ahead President Obama, cancel all the lousy financial actions Congress and you have passed in the past 6 months with the same vigor that you are trying to wipe out any actions taken by the previous administration. If you did that, I really would begin to have ‘hope’ again as that is a real ‘change’ I could believe in. Until then….
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
I know I am not the only one.
The absurdity is overwhelming. I could not conceive of this as a reality scenario in even the most horrific Stephen King novel. I am completely dumbfounded and in a state of shock to think that there is even a remote possibility that the things I have seen and heard lately concerning our government and the economy are somehow based on anything approaching real life let alone the mind of a very imaginative fiction writer. How could any of this be real?
Hypocrisy is running rampant in Washington DC. The blame game is in full swing and no one but the other guy is to blame for the current mess we are in. I am amazed at the way Congress and the President are showing their disgust at employees of AIG receiving their agreed upon and contracted for bonuses totaling $165,000,000+ yet no one is saying much about the rest of the $2,000,000,000,000 of tax payer dollars that has been spent or promised for their solution to the economic downturn. (If you don’t understand the magnitude of those numbers and the actual difference between them, you are not alone, Congress does not either.)
They are now talking about taking legal action to ‘reclaim’ the bonuses if they can’t get them back voluntarily through shame or guilt. They are even talking about writing legislation to create new tax laws specifically aimed at taking back these peoples pay checks. Honestly, who is more guilty of a criminal act and gross negligence?
I am not defending the employees for their action as employees, their performances or whether they met the terms of their bonuses or not. I am not focusing on the management at AIG who felt it was necessary to make such agreements to obtain and retain the kind of employees they deemed fit for the positions they had. I am talking about our government’s actions to help. They stepped in and threw money at the problem without understanding the problem or asking questions or checking facts. They gave the money without any strings attached, (though that is hard to believe as anytime the money gives out anything there are strings attached). And now because a business that was labeled ‘too big to fail’ tries to continue to run business the way it always has (which is partly why it is in the shape it is) and we are supposed to be outraged and focus our attention on the employees because they got paid to do what they are paid to do? I don’t think so.
If Congress had let AIG fail, as businesses are supposed to be allowed to do when things don’t work out, the house of cards could have fallen, the damage would have been assessed and the remaining goods sold to valid companies at fire sale prices if need be, but then life and business goes on. AIG under bankruptcy law would have been able to renegotiate with court approval such things as employee agreements, pensions, and creditors payback. Congress could have let any of this happen and actually could have directed regulators to help facilitate the process in an orderly fashion but instead they chose to take the knee jerk reaction that threw money at the problem in the misguided notion that they had to do something. Hence they nationalized the bank (which is scandalous in any situation) without really taking anything over. They became the very noisy and boisterous silent partner. Unfortunately they did it using our tax payer money.
Though all of this is really sad and pathetic and Congress should voluntarily shut down and close shop from shame and embarrassment, the really scary thing that worries me the most is the way they are going after a target (the employees) with a vengeance that is unwarranted. If anything, Congress is every bit as culpable as the employees they are attacking and more so because this is only the tip of the giant iceberg they have created to take down the Titanic we fondly refer to as the USA.
My wish is that they would work at least as hard to renege the bailout/stimulus package they put in place, reclaim our hard earned tax dollars, both present and future, and cut their drag on my economy. Go ahead President Obama, cancel all the lousy financial actions Congress and you have passed in the past 6 months with the same vigor that you are trying to wipe out any actions taken by the previous administration. If you did that, I really would begin to have ‘hope’ again as that is a real ‘change’ I could believe in. Until then….
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
07 March 2009
Too good to be true, Part 2.
You may have read my other e-mail about “Too good to be true?” where I shared with you an e-mail offer that promised a large chunk of money if I would assist the person in moving some money from a long forgotten bank account out of the country and into my account. Evidently I was not the only one to receive this fabulous offer as some of you let us know that you also saw this same thing. You were smart and decided to check it out before getting caught and taken by that scam. Good for us.
Well I got another e-mail that just looks too darn good to be true. What do you think? Here it is as it came to me. Note the wonderful English and typing skills.
International Certified Bank Draft.
Thursday, March 5, 2009 10:59 AM
From:
"Mr. Jess Williams."
To:
My Dear Friend,
How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition.
I am using this opportunity to thank you for your great effort to ourunfinished transfer of fund into your account due to one reasonto assist me in transferring those funds despite the fact that it failed us some how.
I have authorized Mr Alan Smith where I deposited my money to issue you an international certified bank draft cashable at your bank. My dear friend I want you to contact Mr.Alan Smith for the collection of this international certified bank draft. The name and contact address of the Mr. Alan Smith is as follows.
CONTACT AGENT Mr. Alan Smith.
EMAIL: mralan_smith@hotmail.co.uk
PHONE: +234 275 008 03
Ask him to send to you the total $500,000 (five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) which I kept for your compensation for all the past efforts andattempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciated your efforts at that time very much,so feel free and get in touch with Mr. Alan Smith. and instruct him where to send the amount to you.
Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy after all the suffering at that time. At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects which I and the new partner are having at hand. Remember that I had forwarded instruction to him on your behalf to receive that money, so get in touch with him and he will send the amount to you without delay.
Finally, my sincere advice to you as a christian is that you should endeavour to pay your tithe to a bible believing church when you get the money.
May God continue to bless and guide us at all times.Cheers.
Sincerely,
Mr. Jess Williams.
Well, there you have it. Doesn’t it just make you want to immediately call or e-mail the given contact point and let them know of their mistake. After all as a good christian that endeavours to pay your tithe to a bible believing church you must be the kind of honest person that would try to clarify that mistake. I don’t recall knowing a Jess Williams or Alan Smith or helping either of them in any business endeavor whatsoever. It just wouldn’t be right for me to ask them to send me $500,000…or would it? I mean maybe they are meant to send me that money. To have that much money they must be very smart men and they must know what they are doing and they did send this e-mail to me personally and besides, I deserve it, I work hard, I do my best to get ahead but can’t seem to quite get there, why shouldn’t I be the one to participate in this easy money. Besides won’t my church be happy when I give them a large check to pay tithes on the money they send. Just think of all the good that will do. What was that number again? Gotcha!
Now they have contact they will find some excuse to hook you in to performing some other act for them. They will just need you to do such and such first, or the bank won’t let us do a cashier check but we can do an electronic funds transfer that will also get the money to you faster, what is your account number and I’ll send it out today? Or they have a service fee to right the cashier check, just send me enough to cover the fee and the money is yours. Some will even go for a second or third ding if they can get anything out of you stringing you along with the ‘we are almost there, we just need a little more to take care of…’ routine. Besides what is a little investment on your part if you have the chance at so much more, then what is a little bit more if you are that close to getting it all, and then ‘I can’t stop now, look how much I have invested, I need to get it back at least.’
What would you do if you got this e-mail, or one of the many floating around out there like it? Maybe you did get this very same e-mail, what did you do? Some of us have been around the block a time or two and recognize the signs but there are others that are seeing some of these things for the first time. That is why these kinds of things continue to appear. There is always someone new, there is always someone greedy and gullible and willing to take a chance that it just might work…this time. Trust me, as the times get tougher we will see many more of these kinds of scams appear. Please be careful out there and help others to be careful too. Bringing these things out into the open is the best course of action. Bad things usually wither and fade away when exposed to the light. Shine on.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Well I got another e-mail that just looks too darn good to be true. What do you think? Here it is as it came to me. Note the wonderful English and typing skills.
International Certified Bank Draft.
Thursday, March 5, 2009 10:59 AM
From:
"Mr. Jess Williams."
To:
My Dear Friend,
How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition.
I am using this opportunity to thank you for your great effort to ourunfinished transfer of fund into your account due to one reasonto assist me in transferring those funds despite the fact that it failed us some how.
I have authorized Mr Alan Smith where I deposited my money to issue you an international certified bank draft cashable at your bank. My dear friend I want you to contact Mr.Alan Smith for the collection of this international certified bank draft. The name and contact address of the Mr. Alan Smith is as follows.
CONTACT AGENT Mr. Alan Smith.
EMAIL: mralan_smith@hotmail.co.uk
PHONE: +234 275 008 03
Ask him to send to you the total $500,000 (five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) which I kept for your compensation for all the past efforts andattempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciated your efforts at that time very much,so feel free and get in touch with Mr. Alan Smith. and instruct him where to send the amount to you.
Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy after all the suffering at that time. At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects which I and the new partner are having at hand. Remember that I had forwarded instruction to him on your behalf to receive that money, so get in touch with him and he will send the amount to you without delay.
Finally, my sincere advice to you as a christian is that you should endeavour to pay your tithe to a bible believing church when you get the money.
May God continue to bless and guide us at all times.Cheers.
Sincerely,
Mr. Jess Williams.
Well, there you have it. Doesn’t it just make you want to immediately call or e-mail the given contact point and let them know of their mistake. After all as a good christian that endeavours to pay your tithe to a bible believing church you must be the kind of honest person that would try to clarify that mistake. I don’t recall knowing a Jess Williams or Alan Smith or helping either of them in any business endeavor whatsoever. It just wouldn’t be right for me to ask them to send me $500,000…or would it? I mean maybe they are meant to send me that money. To have that much money they must be very smart men and they must know what they are doing and they did send this e-mail to me personally and besides, I deserve it, I work hard, I do my best to get ahead but can’t seem to quite get there, why shouldn’t I be the one to participate in this easy money. Besides won’t my church be happy when I give them a large check to pay tithes on the money they send. Just think of all the good that will do. What was that number again? Gotcha!
Now they have contact they will find some excuse to hook you in to performing some other act for them. They will just need you to do such and such first, or the bank won’t let us do a cashier check but we can do an electronic funds transfer that will also get the money to you faster, what is your account number and I’ll send it out today? Or they have a service fee to right the cashier check, just send me enough to cover the fee and the money is yours. Some will even go for a second or third ding if they can get anything out of you stringing you along with the ‘we are almost there, we just need a little more to take care of…’ routine. Besides what is a little investment on your part if you have the chance at so much more, then what is a little bit more if you are that close to getting it all, and then ‘I can’t stop now, look how much I have invested, I need to get it back at least.’
What would you do if you got this e-mail, or one of the many floating around out there like it? Maybe you did get this very same e-mail, what did you do? Some of us have been around the block a time or two and recognize the signs but there are others that are seeing some of these things for the first time. That is why these kinds of things continue to appear. There is always someone new, there is always someone greedy and gullible and willing to take a chance that it just might work…this time. Trust me, as the times get tougher we will see many more of these kinds of scams appear. Please be careful out there and help others to be careful too. Bringing these things out into the open is the best course of action. Bad things usually wither and fade away when exposed to the light. Shine on.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
01 March 2009
Slower Traffic Keep Right some more
For those of you that know me and to those that don’t I must state here and now that I am opposed to speed limits. I like many thought that they were a necessary evil and that in some situations it was the only way to control drivers for safety’s sake but the more I think about it the more I think that that idea is bogus.
I have been on many different roads in many different lands and it is interesting to find that every road has a naturally occurring speed that is comfortable and safe for any given situation of weather, road condition, traffic, time of day, vehicle used, and present state of mind. Given this formula it should be easy to note that the right speed limit is not the same for all users. This is natural.
Speed limits in this country were originally set by building the road and then opening it up to traffic and watching to see what rate of speed 85% of the public was traveling at. They then set the speed limit at the next highest multiple of 5 and on we went. Occasionally the limits would have to be reevaluated and that is normal too. As technology has advanced, so have the capabilities of the cars we drive. Our cars have better brakes, suspensions, tires, engines, windshields, seats, seat belts, airbags, crumple zones, and a host of other things that exists below the skin beyond our view. What we drive today is nowhere near what we drove a decade or two ago let alone what was available in the era before seat belts and steel belted tires.
As times have changed, so have we. Some cities made it a law that when you went out to go for a ride in your horseless carriage, that you must have someone walking in front of you with a red flag to warn others of the impending danger your horseless carriage might make. Sometimes I wonder if we have really advanced that far.
Let’s face it, speed limits are not about safety, it is about control. I have heard some of the most ridiculous agreements for and in behalf of speed limits and their enforcement. I have been in cities where the natural flow of traffic was 10 mph faster than the stated speed limit and heard people say that if they raised the speed limit higher by that 10 then people would just drive 10 faster than that. So what does that tell us? Is the speed limit set 20 miles to low? Can you keep raising the speed limit eventually to infinity and people will continue to travel 10 mph faster even to infinity plus 10?
But Ed, we have always been told that speed kills. I must state the fact that I have yet to reach a speed that I spontaneously combust. Anybody that has witnessed a race will not that there is no magical speed that when it will cause the car to immediately burst into flames and sail into the stands wiping out many of the fans that came to watch just such an event.
No, speed does not kill. The misapplication of speed can. Does that mean that there is a skill level involved in the operation of our vehicles? Of course. Does that mean that the average driver out there is not being properly trained and their skills have not been developed enough to cope with any higher speeds than we currently allow? Possible but whose fault is that?
I’m sorry but I believe in people and their abilities to make good choices and to have capabilities that far exceed what they use on a daily basis. I believe that people can have common sense or at least develop it in the course of their lives to a point that they do not need to be told how to do every little thing. I believe that people have the ability to decide for themselves what is best for them and have the gumption to do it given the chance.
I would love to see a movement start on the interstate system. These roads were designed for safe 80 mph travel in the 50’s. Remember the cars we had in the 50’s. Remember that all those cars were not new then either. How far have we come, or rather how much farther should we be if we could only continue to advance our lives in a progressive manner? So what could we do?
Take all the speed limit signs down and replace them with “Slower Traffic Keep Right”. It is not making everyone drive at a set speed that creates a safe situation but having rules that make it possible for people of different speeds to coexist peacefully. “Slower Traffic Keep Right” allows for everyone to travel at the speed they are comfortable with and anyone that is comfortable traveling faster can move to the left, pass, and then return to the right at the speed they are comfortable with. People would know the rules and know what to expect from other people that knew what the rules were. People would use turn signals and rear view mirrors and be aware of those around them.
Drivers already know these things. Drivers use their turn signals and rear view mirrors. Drivers pay attention to what is going on around them. The look ahead and try to predict the possible actions of others around them. Drivers realize their own abilities of those of their cars and make decisions based on those abilities for the given conditions. Drivers know and care about these things. Real drivers also know just how slow the speed limits really are.
I have driven with the locals at speeds far faster than the stated speed limit but I have also driven with the locals far below the stated speed limit. 55 mph on an ice covered road in a heavy snow storm with gale force winds just isn’t going to happen no matter what the sign says. If we are smart enough to go slower than the speed limit as conditions warrant, then why aren’t we allowed to be smart enough to go faster as conditions warrant?
If you want to try something interesting, get in the right lane (where you should be unless you’re passing anyway) and drive 5 or 10 mph below the stated speed limit. See what happens to traffic around you. See what happens to you, how you feel, how relaxed or anxious you become. Can you make adjustments with merging traffic? Can you maintain that speed without absent mindedly trying to match the speed of others? Do you feel guilty for holding up others or do you feel empowered by it? Do this and you might learn as much about yourself as you do those around you.
It is all right to be different. All I want is the right to be different as much as I want you to have the right to be different. When we all can live differently together then will the possible become possible.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
I have been on many different roads in many different lands and it is interesting to find that every road has a naturally occurring speed that is comfortable and safe for any given situation of weather, road condition, traffic, time of day, vehicle used, and present state of mind. Given this formula it should be easy to note that the right speed limit is not the same for all users. This is natural.
Speed limits in this country were originally set by building the road and then opening it up to traffic and watching to see what rate of speed 85% of the public was traveling at. They then set the speed limit at the next highest multiple of 5 and on we went. Occasionally the limits would have to be reevaluated and that is normal too. As technology has advanced, so have the capabilities of the cars we drive. Our cars have better brakes, suspensions, tires, engines, windshields, seats, seat belts, airbags, crumple zones, and a host of other things that exists below the skin beyond our view. What we drive today is nowhere near what we drove a decade or two ago let alone what was available in the era before seat belts and steel belted tires.
As times have changed, so have we. Some cities made it a law that when you went out to go for a ride in your horseless carriage, that you must have someone walking in front of you with a red flag to warn others of the impending danger your horseless carriage might make. Sometimes I wonder if we have really advanced that far.
Let’s face it, speed limits are not about safety, it is about control. I have heard some of the most ridiculous agreements for and in behalf of speed limits and their enforcement. I have been in cities where the natural flow of traffic was 10 mph faster than the stated speed limit and heard people say that if they raised the speed limit higher by that 10 then people would just drive 10 faster than that. So what does that tell us? Is the speed limit set 20 miles to low? Can you keep raising the speed limit eventually to infinity and people will continue to travel 10 mph faster even to infinity plus 10?
But Ed, we have always been told that speed kills. I must state the fact that I have yet to reach a speed that I spontaneously combust. Anybody that has witnessed a race will not that there is no magical speed that when it will cause the car to immediately burst into flames and sail into the stands wiping out many of the fans that came to watch just such an event.
No, speed does not kill. The misapplication of speed can. Does that mean that there is a skill level involved in the operation of our vehicles? Of course. Does that mean that the average driver out there is not being properly trained and their skills have not been developed enough to cope with any higher speeds than we currently allow? Possible but whose fault is that?
I’m sorry but I believe in people and their abilities to make good choices and to have capabilities that far exceed what they use on a daily basis. I believe that people can have common sense or at least develop it in the course of their lives to a point that they do not need to be told how to do every little thing. I believe that people have the ability to decide for themselves what is best for them and have the gumption to do it given the chance.
I would love to see a movement start on the interstate system. These roads were designed for safe 80 mph travel in the 50’s. Remember the cars we had in the 50’s. Remember that all those cars were not new then either. How far have we come, or rather how much farther should we be if we could only continue to advance our lives in a progressive manner? So what could we do?
Take all the speed limit signs down and replace them with “Slower Traffic Keep Right”. It is not making everyone drive at a set speed that creates a safe situation but having rules that make it possible for people of different speeds to coexist peacefully. “Slower Traffic Keep Right” allows for everyone to travel at the speed they are comfortable with and anyone that is comfortable traveling faster can move to the left, pass, and then return to the right at the speed they are comfortable with. People would know the rules and know what to expect from other people that knew what the rules were. People would use turn signals and rear view mirrors and be aware of those around them.
Drivers already know these things. Drivers use their turn signals and rear view mirrors. Drivers pay attention to what is going on around them. The look ahead and try to predict the possible actions of others around them. Drivers realize their own abilities of those of their cars and make decisions based on those abilities for the given conditions. Drivers know and care about these things. Real drivers also know just how slow the speed limits really are.
I have driven with the locals at speeds far faster than the stated speed limit but I have also driven with the locals far below the stated speed limit. 55 mph on an ice covered road in a heavy snow storm with gale force winds just isn’t going to happen no matter what the sign says. If we are smart enough to go slower than the speed limit as conditions warrant, then why aren’t we allowed to be smart enough to go faster as conditions warrant?
If you want to try something interesting, get in the right lane (where you should be unless you’re passing anyway) and drive 5 or 10 mph below the stated speed limit. See what happens to traffic around you. See what happens to you, how you feel, how relaxed or anxious you become. Can you make adjustments with merging traffic? Can you maintain that speed without absent mindedly trying to match the speed of others? Do you feel guilty for holding up others or do you feel empowered by it? Do this and you might learn as much about yourself as you do those around you.
It is all right to be different. All I want is the right to be different as much as I want you to have the right to be different. When we all can live differently together then will the possible become possible.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Is Slavery returning to America?
Government is intruding into our lives more and more. Frankly, I didn’t invite it and I don’t agree with it. As we turn over more and more of our personal responsibilities to the goverment, or should I say as they assume more and more of our personal responsibilities, we faulter as a nation and as a people.
It is easy to see how we have succumbed to the siren call for abrogating our responsibilities. It is easier to say ‘It’s not my fault’ than to take personal responsibility. We have all been given ample opportunity to participate in the blame game, and we have certainly been taught by masters.
Our politicians have worked hard to convince us that all our troubles are not our fault and that we should blame the other guy. Their very existence and all their power is derived by creating a strong emotional response to the ‘us vs. them’ point of view. And as we have seen in the past, ‘Don’t blame the present on me, it was the last guys that were here’ is the chant of the moment.
As they con us into the latest crisis of the day, it provides for them an opportunity to snatch away more of our personal responsibilities and liberties under the misguided notion that they can run our lives better than we can. I wish to state that this is not true in my case. I hope to shout that it is not true in yours either.
All it takes is one look at the decisions coming out of Washington lately to know that they have not got a clue let alone enough knowledge, wisdom and foresight to make any decision concerning our own personal well being. In short, They Don’t Get IT.
We were not put on this earth to let others take care of us. We were not placed here by a kind and loving Father to be left in a permanent state of childhood. We are meant to grow and learn and reach for our potential. We are meant to learn right from wrong, and to learn that there are consequences for our choices and our actions. As we live we will make mistakes and we are meant to learn from them, correct them, repent of them and forgive them, and then move on.
We can choose for ourselves the right paths to take. The right path for me may not be the right path for you. We can’t all be firemen and ballerinas nor would we want to be. We all have differences and we can all contribute. That is what you get when you talk about the family of man. It takes all kinds to make this world so why would we allow anyone to mandate their ‘one size fits all’ world on us?
So what got me started on this rant? Perhaps it comes from seeing traffic cops at every turn, perhaps it is hearing of all the various bailouts using my hard earned and all too easily extracted taxes dollars, or perhaps it is the massive government budget proposal with its accompanying changes to social policy. In fact it is a combination of all these things and many others that are not listed. Why does it seem to me that the current direction our government is taking us is down the path of voluntary slavery? Debt is the master of the borrower and though each of us may have worked hard to avoid this situation in our own lives, our government is seeing fit to shackle us all with our without our consent. Isn’t it ironic that the man leading the charge into this voluntary slavery is the very one chosen as the iconic representative to supposedly close out the chapter of slavery from our past history?
Do we have what it takes to make a stand? The longer we wait, the harder it will be. Just like debt, the cost to regain freedom given up only grows bigger and more painful the longer we put it off. Denial does not work. We will eventually have to face it head on or give up and accept living in bondage. Our forefathers fought and died to give us that freedom they valued so highly. What will we pass on to those that follow us?
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
It is easy to see how we have succumbed to the siren call for abrogating our responsibilities. It is easier to say ‘It’s not my fault’ than to take personal responsibility. We have all been given ample opportunity to participate in the blame game, and we have certainly been taught by masters.
Our politicians have worked hard to convince us that all our troubles are not our fault and that we should blame the other guy. Their very existence and all their power is derived by creating a strong emotional response to the ‘us vs. them’ point of view. And as we have seen in the past, ‘Don’t blame the present on me, it was the last guys that were here’ is the chant of the moment.
As they con us into the latest crisis of the day, it provides for them an opportunity to snatch away more of our personal responsibilities and liberties under the misguided notion that they can run our lives better than we can. I wish to state that this is not true in my case. I hope to shout that it is not true in yours either.
All it takes is one look at the decisions coming out of Washington lately to know that they have not got a clue let alone enough knowledge, wisdom and foresight to make any decision concerning our own personal well being. In short, They Don’t Get IT.
We were not put on this earth to let others take care of us. We were not placed here by a kind and loving Father to be left in a permanent state of childhood. We are meant to grow and learn and reach for our potential. We are meant to learn right from wrong, and to learn that there are consequences for our choices and our actions. As we live we will make mistakes and we are meant to learn from them, correct them, repent of them and forgive them, and then move on.
We can choose for ourselves the right paths to take. The right path for me may not be the right path for you. We can’t all be firemen and ballerinas nor would we want to be. We all have differences and we can all contribute. That is what you get when you talk about the family of man. It takes all kinds to make this world so why would we allow anyone to mandate their ‘one size fits all’ world on us?
So what got me started on this rant? Perhaps it comes from seeing traffic cops at every turn, perhaps it is hearing of all the various bailouts using my hard earned and all too easily extracted taxes dollars, or perhaps it is the massive government budget proposal with its accompanying changes to social policy. In fact it is a combination of all these things and many others that are not listed. Why does it seem to me that the current direction our government is taking us is down the path of voluntary slavery? Debt is the master of the borrower and though each of us may have worked hard to avoid this situation in our own lives, our government is seeing fit to shackle us all with our without our consent. Isn’t it ironic that the man leading the charge into this voluntary slavery is the very one chosen as the iconic representative to supposedly close out the chapter of slavery from our past history?
Do we have what it takes to make a stand? The longer we wait, the harder it will be. Just like debt, the cost to regain freedom given up only grows bigger and more painful the longer we put it off. Denial does not work. We will eventually have to face it head on or give up and accept living in bondage. Our forefathers fought and died to give us that freedom they valued so highly. What will we pass on to those that follow us?
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
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