Saturday, November 25, 2006
There is no 'more responsible' shopper than this blog's author...! True!
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There can be no doubt about that - Jack!
I have learned through trial and error at first, I will admit here and now - but I quickly polished my smart consumer skills to such a degree, that there was no turning back! ;)
I simply find it to be my nigh-sacrosanct duty now to share with the L.O.V.s all that I've learned, observed, watched from afar with casual interest, scrutinized when I needed to (make a purchase myself!) and simply noticed whenever it so happened...! It should come in handy now, as we are officially a month away from Christmas!
Aye, it is hard to decipher where the better deal lies, oftentimes... It is equally difficult to truly get quality for a good price nowadays - not that anyone can pretend to be assured of the quality of what they buy if they fork over the top price that is demanded by those unscrupulous hypocritical retailers who only pretend that they love you! They love your dough - moolah - money - cash flow... That they surely do! But trust me - they don't particularly care about YOU!
Now, shopping on BIDZ or E-BAY is another thing altogether... It is much akin to file-sharing over the net - one can get goodies but one risks also getting a whole load of crap and some unspeakable, unnameable parasites along with that too...! Perhaps the whole entreprise is not adviseable, because of that... Besides, are we in the computer age or not? Don't feed the snail mail carriers! They carry germs too! Why do you think Fido, Rex and the rest of the puppy love gang hate them so much - eh? ;)
Thus, it is back to square one - back to the abode of them ghoulish, creepy retailers I mentioned a moment ago - back to THE MALL! And what do you want to do, when you go to that most unholy place of all that they call "the mall" - hmm? You want to avoid all of the following categories of (so-called) people/deals:
1. mallrats - of course!
2. purse snatchers
3. pick-pocket artists
4. parking lot scam artists
5. bus stop scam artists
6. sneering, haughty fellow shoppers
7. too-good-to-be-true 75% off sales...
8. "street sales" - especially if items on sale are unwrapped food...!
9. dubious "2 for 1" deals...
10. and, of course, all manners, shapes and forms of retailers-critters...!
With all that "baggage" now, I am certain that you are all fully equipped to go out on your own and dare to venture "out there"... Or, as the case may well be, you will not dare to do so at all...! Ordering by catalog and sending out "gift-certificates" is NOT advised either, alas... You can get royally screwed ordering (usually) faulty equipment through a catalog (especially if it is electronics...) and a recent poll pointed out that a significant percentage of gift recipients were dumb enough never to cash in their gift-certificates! These things need to be redeemed, otherwise it is like throwing away hard-earned cash...!
I don't know about thee, but that's a definite no-no where I am concerned...
My final bit of advice is to just forego the whole damned process and send any amount of cash destined to be wasted on gift purchases to a meticulously chosen charity organization (one that actually does relay the monetary gifts to those who are needy and in difficulty...?)
That's just the... Luminous thing to do! :)
Yeah - some shopping malls are that remote too...
Link
There can be no doubt about that - Jack!
I have learned through trial and error at first, I will admit here and now - but I quickly polished my smart consumer skills to such a degree, that there was no turning back! ;)
I simply find it to be my nigh-sacrosanct duty now to share with the L.O.V.s all that I've learned, observed, watched from afar with casual interest, scrutinized when I needed to (make a purchase myself!) and simply noticed whenever it so happened...! It should come in handy now, as we are officially a month away from Christmas!
Aye, it is hard to decipher where the better deal lies, oftentimes... It is equally difficult to truly get quality for a good price nowadays - not that anyone can pretend to be assured of the quality of what they buy if they fork over the top price that is demanded by those unscrupulous hypocritical retailers who only pretend that they love you! They love your dough - moolah - money - cash flow... That they surely do! But trust me - they don't particularly care about YOU!
Now, shopping on BIDZ or E-BAY is another thing altogether... It is much akin to file-sharing over the net - one can get goodies but one risks also getting a whole load of crap and some unspeakable, unnameable parasites along with that too...! Perhaps the whole entreprise is not adviseable, because of that... Besides, are we in the computer age or not? Don't feed the snail mail carriers! They carry germs too! Why do you think Fido, Rex and the rest of the puppy love gang hate them so much - eh? ;)
Thus, it is back to square one - back to the abode of them ghoulish, creepy retailers I mentioned a moment ago - back to THE MALL! And what do you want to do, when you go to that most unholy place of all that they call "the mall" - hmm? You want to avoid all of the following categories of (so-called) people/deals:
1. mallrats - of course!
2. purse snatchers
3. pick-pocket artists
4. parking lot scam artists
5. bus stop scam artists
6. sneering, haughty fellow shoppers
7. too-good-to-be-true 75% off sales...
8. "street sales" - especially if items on sale are unwrapped food...!
9. dubious "2 for 1" deals...
10. and, of course, all manners, shapes and forms of retailers-critters...!
With all that "baggage" now, I am certain that you are all fully equipped to go out on your own and dare to venture "out there"... Or, as the case may well be, you will not dare to do so at all...! Ordering by catalog and sending out "gift-certificates" is NOT advised either, alas... You can get royally screwed ordering (usually) faulty equipment through a catalog (especially if it is electronics...) and a recent poll pointed out that a significant percentage of gift recipients were dumb enough never to cash in their gift-certificates! These things need to be redeemed, otherwise it is like throwing away hard-earned cash...!
I don't know about thee, but that's a definite no-no where I am concerned...
My final bit of advice is to just forego the whole damned process and send any amount of cash destined to be wasted on gift purchases to a meticulously chosen charity organization (one that actually does relay the monetary gifts to those who are needy and in difficulty...?)
That's just the... Luminous thing to do! :)
Link
Friday, November 24, 2006
Well... That was an interesting Thanksgiving - was it not? Not...
Oddness that television networks chose to broadcast a slew of "sure-fire ratings-getters" on that most STUFFED of all evenings... Don't they fear that such material will be hard to digest at this time, hmm? ;)
One of the oddest picks was Spider Man 2 - you know, the one where Doctor Octavius Octopus provides the amicable opposition to thy friendly neighborhood's wall-crawler? Never mind that for now though...
My favorite moment remains when Peter P, on a moment that can only be described as "an exuberant feel-good high", runs like the wind, leaps off a rooftop (intent on landing on another) and, instead, plummets down, not to his doom but to a most painful crashing return to reality - landing finally between two stationed cars, on the asphalt, and going "ow - my back!"...
That'll teach him to think himself to be able to go "up, up and away!", eh?
Okay - that is NOT really thy celebral, philosophical, deep-thinking, all-around luminous blogger's actual favorite part in that one - no! My favorite part comes in two parts really - I am, after all, one to write with continuity in mind and so I appreciate seeing it elsewhere as well... That includes REAL LIFE, where synchronicity, meaningful coincidence, irony, serendipity and the like play a huge role in shaping my daily witticisms and such thingies - but that is another story!
Hence, my favorite part(s) in that so-so sequel are as follows: Peter P sips in some time-honored wisdom from his Aunt May (the only moment in the flick where there's a true "thanksgiving feeling" really...) and then, later on, he repeats, word for word, ad verbatim indeed, the pearls of wisdom that he got from his dear auntie, to his foe, Doc Ock (not quite a case of "pearls being dispensed to a swine" at all there - since Doc is an educated man! He simply has got... well... issues? He was most brilliantly played by one of the best character-actors around, Alfred Molina (Alfred? Isn't that Batman's butler though? I digress...) and, quite frankly, I'd take an octopus or squid or calamari over an arachnid every day of the week and thrice on Sunday - but that is, again, another story...)
Such wisdom it was too - that, sometimes, one has to give up even one's dreams in order to do what is RIGHT...
I'd be hard-pressed to get such refined wisdom from MY aunties though! To get equally sound pearls and greater gems in my own family tree, I have to go further back to my GREAT-GRANDMOTHER (not my " great grandma" - no, my "great-grandmother" - as in my grandmother's mother! Yeah - it's all been downhill in the wisdom department since then - not to say that mom isn't wise - she is - but she is also extremely old-fashioned... Hard to adapt her advice to today's situations... Never-the-less, she serves as the great-grandmother's voice in terms of passing general wisdom along - she remembers her granny far better than I do...! That was a long parenthesis - was it not? *lol*)
One of the life lessons that sticks the most, which was bequeathed to me through this grapevine of sorts, is the following: "to know the true core nature of a friend, to know if it is a genuine friend, you have to test your friend's patience, just a little bit... Contrariate them on something, one thing only... Their reaction will tell you if they are true friends or not."
Indeed, a true friend will remain so IN SPITE of everything - he or she will forgive all minor divergences of opinion and move on, bypass all the "small stuff" (and who is again that said that "it is all small stuff anyway"...?) and remain steadfastily by your side through thick or thin. True friends will be there at the worst of times, not vanish when these roll around - because, sooner or later, they sure will roll around... True friends are NOT just party-crashers who let you pick up the tab... It doesn't even begin to describe what a "true, caring, genuine friend" is all about!
I mentioned character-actors earlier on here - in Tinseltown, they are the best buds one can find! They are content with the parts that they do get and, if they do steal the spotlight, it is through sheer talent and not out of malicious intent...! Alfred Molina follows in the tradition of such great ones as Leo McKern, Walter Matthau, Lou Jacobi, Herschel Bernardi and... Philippe Noiret.
Most of these are dead now. Noiret just passed away yesterday, losing his battle with cancer at 76 years of age, with his Monique by his side - his wife of 40 years...
Noiret was one of the greats, who'd worked with all the directors that mattered (Malle, Blier, Hitchcock) and was thus seen in over 125 films... (NOT counting television work!)
Click on today's link for a little eulogy to the 'beautiful actor'... :)
He must have been a role-model for Molina and countless others...
He certainly was one for this luminous blogger too...
Just as Oliver Platt can lay claim to being a new Oliver Reed, Alfred Molina can be a new Philippe Noiret, with the exact same range and diversity of roles that Noiret had. And so on with all the others, verily; replacements can be found, whether in Tinseltown itself or across Europe and around the world - but the first ones can never be truly replaced; they can only be duplicated to some degree...
My great-grandmother has never been truly replaced herself - that is for sure!
And she would agree with this brand of wisdom too...
Link
One of the oddest picks was Spider Man 2 - you know, the one where Doctor Octavius Octopus provides the amicable opposition to thy friendly neighborhood's wall-crawler? Never mind that for now though...
My favorite moment remains when Peter P, on a moment that can only be described as "an exuberant feel-good high", runs like the wind, leaps off a rooftop (intent on landing on another) and, instead, plummets down, not to his doom but to a most painful crashing return to reality - landing finally between two stationed cars, on the asphalt, and going "ow - my back!"...
That'll teach him to think himself to be able to go "up, up and away!", eh?
Okay - that is NOT really thy celebral, philosophical, deep-thinking, all-around luminous blogger's actual favorite part in that one - no! My favorite part comes in two parts really - I am, after all, one to write with continuity in mind and so I appreciate seeing it elsewhere as well... That includes REAL LIFE, where synchronicity, meaningful coincidence, irony, serendipity and the like play a huge role in shaping my daily witticisms and such thingies - but that is another story!
Hence, my favorite part(s) in that so-so sequel are as follows: Peter P sips in some time-honored wisdom from his Aunt May (the only moment in the flick where there's a true "thanksgiving feeling" really...) and then, later on, he repeats, word for word, ad verbatim indeed, the pearls of wisdom that he got from his dear auntie, to his foe, Doc Ock (not quite a case of "pearls being dispensed to a swine" at all there - since Doc is an educated man! He simply has got... well... issues? He was most brilliantly played by one of the best character-actors around, Alfred Molina (Alfred? Isn't that Batman's butler though? I digress...) and, quite frankly, I'd take an octopus or squid or calamari over an arachnid every day of the week and thrice on Sunday - but that is, again, another story...)
Such wisdom it was too - that, sometimes, one has to give up even one's dreams in order to do what is RIGHT...
I'd be hard-pressed to get such refined wisdom from MY aunties though! To get equally sound pearls and greater gems in my own family tree, I have to go further back to my GREAT-GRANDMOTHER (not my " great grandma" - no, my "great-grandmother" - as in my grandmother's mother! Yeah - it's all been downhill in the wisdom department since then - not to say that mom isn't wise - she is - but she is also extremely old-fashioned... Hard to adapt her advice to today's situations... Never-the-less, she serves as the great-grandmother's voice in terms of passing general wisdom along - she remembers her granny far better than I do...! That was a long parenthesis - was it not? *lol*)
One of the life lessons that sticks the most, which was bequeathed to me through this grapevine of sorts, is the following: "to know the true core nature of a friend, to know if it is a genuine friend, you have to test your friend's patience, just a little bit... Contrariate them on something, one thing only... Their reaction will tell you if they are true friends or not."
Indeed, a true friend will remain so IN SPITE of everything - he or she will forgive all minor divergences of opinion and move on, bypass all the "small stuff" (and who is again that said that "it is all small stuff anyway"...?) and remain steadfastily by your side through thick or thin. True friends will be there at the worst of times, not vanish when these roll around - because, sooner or later, they sure will roll around... True friends are NOT just party-crashers who let you pick up the tab... It doesn't even begin to describe what a "true, caring, genuine friend" is all about!
I mentioned character-actors earlier on here - in Tinseltown, they are the best buds one can find! They are content with the parts that they do get and, if they do steal the spotlight, it is through sheer talent and not out of malicious intent...! Alfred Molina follows in the tradition of such great ones as Leo McKern, Walter Matthau, Lou Jacobi, Herschel Bernardi and... Philippe Noiret.
Most of these are dead now. Noiret just passed away yesterday, losing his battle with cancer at 76 years of age, with his Monique by his side - his wife of 40 years...
Noiret was one of the greats, who'd worked with all the directors that mattered (Malle, Blier, Hitchcock) and was thus seen in over 125 films... (NOT counting television work!)
Click on today's link for a little eulogy to the 'beautiful actor'... :)
He must have been a role-model for Molina and countless others...
He certainly was one for this luminous blogger too...
Just as Oliver Platt can lay claim to being a new Oliver Reed, Alfred Molina can be a new Philippe Noiret, with the exact same range and diversity of roles that Noiret had. And so on with all the others, verily; replacements can be found, whether in Tinseltown itself or across Europe and around the world - but the first ones can never be truly replaced; they can only be duplicated to some degree...
My great-grandmother has never been truly replaced herself - that is for sure!
And she would agree with this brand of wisdom too...
Link
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanks Be Given For... Luminotherapy! :)
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Should I go through another list of things to be thankful for this year?
Benn there - done that! Back on Canadian Thanksgiving of all things!
Not that I can't add some sort of an addendum* to that, right here and now...
But first things first - as I noted recently on another blog of mine, all things American are prioritized - hence I feel like wondering out loud -but in writ- what some American (or international) celebrities might be themselves thankful for, this year...
Let's see now...
Michael Richards must be thankful it wasn't Al Qaida members heckling him...
Jerry Seinfeld is thankful his NBC show is a thing of the past... (on syndication) Tom/Kat must be thankful unwanted guests got discouraged by the distance to bridge just in order to be able to crash their wedding party...
Tom Hanks must be thankful the worst he got from the critics were "wooden performance" and "the fulcrum of the Code flick is a laugher"... (I don't need to tell you so again, but... I told you so! But that is another story...)
Audrey Tautou must be thankful she got no other "big time" projects like that too...
Scarlett Johansson must be thankful people still can tell her and Charlize Theron apart...
Charlize Theron must be thankful people still can tell her and Scarlett Johansson apart...
Scooby Doo must be thankful he no longer has to hang out with Buffy/Daphne's weird friends and weirder entourage from her slayer days, for any further sequels...
Steve Martin must be REALLY thankful now that SPORTSCASTERS with a lot of credibility, weight and influence on an audience's collective mind, are downing his latest work and calling his career "finished" and his style "so boring (one wants to) poke one's eyes out with matchsticks instead of watching (Martin's flicks)" (...) You really are only as good as your latest work, Steve! ;)
Regis is ever thankful for Kathie Lee's departure...
Regis is even more thankful for Kelly Ripa allowing his career to be the television equivalent of Dorian Grey (now that Dick Clark is finally out of it...)
Dick Clark is thankful for another year of listening to music - or whatever those cacophonous sounds on disc are...
Guns N Roses must be thankful that they can still skip alleged "cosmopolitan major cities" such as Montreal even to this day... Last time they were there, in 1992, there was a riot following Axl Rose's boredom, attitude and histrionics which all led him to take it upon himself to cancel the show after only a couple of songs rendered in a most uninspired way...
(No "live in Montreal" releases for GNR - ever!)
Alleged huge cosmopolitan towns do not take such rejection so well, Axl...
Heck, on second thought, GNR should be thankful they can still tour AT ALL...
Innovative bands such as Muse and Fuel are thankful that they've been able to give four-letter words newfound notoriety and nobility as well...
U2 is thankful that so many younger musicians are willing to duet with their old hides...
Gary Jules is thankful in this end of the year especially as FINALLY some videogame maker which specializes in gory, gruesome, violent bloodshed in a devastated landscape games has thought that his downright depressing music (of which I am a fan of) was appropriate for at least PROMOTING the game...
After a double shot of Jules death anthems AND those games, one DOES NEED LUMINOTHERAPY!
Which brings me to what I am thankful for, indeed...
Aside from still being thankful for all that I listed back in October, I am also thankful, of course, for GOD BEING IN CONTROL...
And I am thankful for... luminotherapy!
Luminotherapy aka Light Therapy is what even I, reflector of light, need a lot of! (Heck, maybe because of what I aim to do, I need it even more than most!)
It cures winter blues - it cures that gloomy sullen feeling - it may cure your retina of the affliction of seeing the crap all around you too! Blinded By The Light - right? ;)
Feeling S.A.D? (As in "Seasonal Affective Disorder" this time out!)
Luminotherapy is the thing for thee!
Seasons change... feelings change! A condition triggered by a change in brain chemistry, in direct correlation to the shorter daylight hours in northern countries during the often hellacious winter season, causes this oh-so-very-S.A.D. feeling!
It doesn't need to be so, for this can be effectively treated - by the Light!
Fifteen minutes of luminotherapy - sitting in front of light fixtures up to twenty times as bright as regular indoor lights - along with regular exercise, chases the damnable winter blues away within days! These blues manifest themselves in the form of all of the following: "carbohydrate cravings and weight gain, withdrawal from friends and family, decreased sex drive, lack of energy, feelings of clinical depression (in extreme cases), overacting, oversleeping"... Over-reacting! 4 out of 7 ain't bad - but sure is S.A.D. (!) :(
So stop overacting and start acting like moths, drawn to the light!
And make it The Light and it will be even better! ;)
À bon entendeur - salut!
Link
Should I go through another list of things to be thankful for this year?
Benn there - done that! Back on Canadian Thanksgiving of all things!
Not that I can't add some sort of an addendum* to that, right here and now...
But first things first - as I noted recently on another blog of mine, all things American are prioritized - hence I feel like wondering out loud -but in writ- what some American (or international) celebrities might be themselves thankful for, this year...
Let's see now...
Michael Richards must be thankful it wasn't Al Qaida members heckling him...
Jerry Seinfeld is thankful his NBC show is a thing of the past... (on syndication) Tom/Kat must be thankful unwanted guests got discouraged by the distance to bridge just in order to be able to crash their wedding party...
Tom Hanks must be thankful the worst he got from the critics were "wooden performance" and "the fulcrum of the Code flick is a laugher"... (I don't need to tell you so again, but... I told you so! But that is another story...)
Audrey Tautou must be thankful she got no other "big time" projects like that too...
Scarlett Johansson must be thankful people still can tell her and Charlize Theron apart...
Charlize Theron must be thankful people still can tell her and Scarlett Johansson apart...
Scooby Doo must be thankful he no longer has to hang out with Buffy/Daphne's weird friends and weirder entourage from her slayer days, for any further sequels...
Steve Martin must be REALLY thankful now that SPORTSCASTERS with a lot of credibility, weight and influence on an audience's collective mind, are downing his latest work and calling his career "finished" and his style "so boring (one wants to) poke one's eyes out with matchsticks instead of watching (Martin's flicks)" (...) You really are only as good as your latest work, Steve! ;)
Regis is ever thankful for Kathie Lee's departure...
Regis is even more thankful for Kelly Ripa allowing his career to be the television equivalent of Dorian Grey (now that Dick Clark is finally out of it...)
Dick Clark is thankful for another year of listening to music - or whatever those cacophonous sounds on disc are...
Guns N Roses must be thankful that they can still skip alleged "cosmopolitan major cities" such as Montreal even to this day... Last time they were there, in 1992, there was a riot following Axl Rose's boredom, attitude and histrionics which all led him to take it upon himself to cancel the show after only a couple of songs rendered in a most uninspired way...
(No "live in Montreal" releases for GNR - ever!)
Alleged huge cosmopolitan towns do not take such rejection so well, Axl...
Heck, on second thought, GNR should be thankful they can still tour AT ALL...
Innovative bands such as Muse and Fuel are thankful that they've been able to give four-letter words newfound notoriety and nobility as well...
U2 is thankful that so many younger musicians are willing to duet with their old hides...
Gary Jules is thankful in this end of the year especially as FINALLY some videogame maker which specializes in gory, gruesome, violent bloodshed in a devastated landscape games has thought that his downright depressing music (of which I am a fan of) was appropriate for at least PROMOTING the game...
After a double shot of Jules death anthems AND those games, one DOES NEED LUMINOTHERAPY!
Which brings me to what I am thankful for, indeed...
Aside from still being thankful for all that I listed back in October, I am also thankful, of course, for GOD BEING IN CONTROL...
And I am thankful for... luminotherapy!
Luminotherapy aka Light Therapy is what even I, reflector of light, need a lot of! (Heck, maybe because of what I aim to do, I need it even more than most!)
It cures winter blues - it cures that gloomy sullen feeling - it may cure your retina of the affliction of seeing the crap all around you too! Blinded By The Light - right? ;)
Feeling S.A.D? (As in "Seasonal Affective Disorder" this time out!)
Luminotherapy is the thing for thee!
Seasons change... feelings change! A condition triggered by a change in brain chemistry, in direct correlation to the shorter daylight hours in northern countries during the often hellacious winter season, causes this oh-so-very-S.A.D. feeling!
It doesn't need to be so, for this can be effectively treated - by the Light!
Fifteen minutes of luminotherapy - sitting in front of light fixtures up to twenty times as bright as regular indoor lights - along with regular exercise, chases the damnable winter blues away within days! These blues manifest themselves in the form of all of the following: "carbohydrate cravings and weight gain, withdrawal from friends and family, decreased sex drive, lack of energy, feelings of clinical depression (in extreme cases), overacting, oversleeping"... Over-reacting! 4 out of 7 ain't bad - but sure is S.A.D. (!) :(
So stop overacting and start acting like moths, drawn to the light!
And make it The Light and it will be even better! ;)
À bon entendeur - salut!
Link
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
More Energy Saving Solutions ~ Less Sun In My Existence Though...?!?
+++
Gee - that big ball of fire looks like Dante's Inferno each time I peek at it anyhow! And it threatens to blow us all away into oblivion - us and ALL of our "achievements" - sometime in the distant future... So why bother tap into it as a source of energy? Well, to save some dough in the here and now, for starters... To spare other resources - to breathe easier - and, besides, it is poetic justice in itself! Poetic vindication perhaps, too...! We can always justify our presence in the damnable solar system by sapping an infinitesimal amount of the big ball of fire's energy - eh? I am sure scientologists such as Tom/Kat would agree with the principle... ;)
The sun is, after all, the lone great free energy source out there that the far more damnable governments of our equally damnable planet have NOT found a way to tax! It is ours - for no charge at all! The key is finding a way to substantially tap into it - and there are some ways to do so immediately, "from the comfort of your own home" quite literally, at minimal or no cost at all "to ya" - and with minimal effort too, you lazy couch potato nation you! (I am SURE that you will be pleased as punch to learn all that! ;)
Call this "solar energy for dummies" or "here comes the sun for the idiots" - minus the Waldo lookalike next to any logo and minus the price tag as well! Aren't you indeed pleased as punch that you have TLB PRIME to visit now - HUH? ;)
Ok - the information provided in the luminous comments section was available elsewhere prior to this surprisingly -and fittingly- sunny day here in... "parts unknown" as it is! However, never has this information been so well and so "entertainingly" introduced as it is being presented NOW! Heck - this is ample evidence that I can be, at times, the Ed Sullivan of blogdom - when I want to be that and no more than that! Most days, when gloominess (that sharply contrasts with the sunlight beaming down upon my keyboard right now...) is not assailing me at the core of my heart and soul, I do not bother with merely presenting others' tips and ideas in my luminous comments section here... I actually compose a long, sometimes distasteful, sometimes amusing, always entertaining, always veracious text here - about just about any subject of interest! Not to be on this day of November though - for a variety of reasons too... We're the (damnable) 22nd today, are we not? It marks eight months, to the day and in every other way too (it was on a Wednesday as well, eight months ago...) that the worst-case scenario became reality...
The sun has come and gone on numerous occasions since then...
There were a whole lot of warm, sunny, summer days...
There was a pleasant spring before that, and a reasonable if unreasonably wet autumn afterwards...
And now winter looms on the horizon - as the sun is seen less and less - days are shorter and nights are longer - which cannot help sullenness one bit!
Nor does it help gloominess...
Or bereavement.
Makes this luminous blogger wish that the main link today was readily truthful and achievable - asap! Unlike the author of the website/book/whatever though, this luminous blogger knows better... Life Everlasting Awaits - but it is not for just yet. You may click on the link and see what kind of wishful thinking is being sold there - but know that TLB Prime is NOT endorsing it in any way whatsoever! It was just too ironic to stumble across that link TODAY of all days... I had to include it here!
Sue me, will ya?!?
Now I think I will go take some sun - doubtful that I will get a tan in November, but stranger things have happened to me... To most everyone, I'm sure...
Luminous Disclaimer: the tips provided in the luminous comments section belong to whoever wrote them - AND do NOT provide you with any clues as to what to do exactly if all of your household appliances come to depend on solar energy - and there's a total eclipse of the sun! You're on your own if such an occurrence of nature/God's Creation does rain on your sunshine parade...! ;)
Link
Gee - that big ball of fire looks like Dante's Inferno each time I peek at it anyhow! And it threatens to blow us all away into oblivion - us and ALL of our "achievements" - sometime in the distant future... So why bother tap into it as a source of energy? Well, to save some dough in the here and now, for starters... To spare other resources - to breathe easier - and, besides, it is poetic justice in itself! Poetic vindication perhaps, too...! We can always justify our presence in the damnable solar system by sapping an infinitesimal amount of the big ball of fire's energy - eh? I am sure scientologists such as Tom/Kat would agree with the principle... ;)
The sun is, after all, the lone great free energy source out there that the far more damnable governments of our equally damnable planet have NOT found a way to tax! It is ours - for no charge at all! The key is finding a way to substantially tap into it - and there are some ways to do so immediately, "from the comfort of your own home" quite literally, at minimal or no cost at all "to ya" - and with minimal effort too, you lazy couch potato nation you! (I am SURE that you will be pleased as punch to learn all that! ;)
Call this "solar energy for dummies" or "here comes the sun for the idiots" - minus the Waldo lookalike next to any logo and minus the price tag as well! Aren't you indeed pleased as punch that you have TLB PRIME to visit now - HUH? ;)
Ok - the information provided in the luminous comments section was available elsewhere prior to this surprisingly -and fittingly- sunny day here in... "parts unknown" as it is! However, never has this information been so well and so "entertainingly" introduced as it is being presented NOW! Heck - this is ample evidence that I can be, at times, the Ed Sullivan of blogdom - when I want to be that and no more than that! Most days, when gloominess (that sharply contrasts with the sunlight beaming down upon my keyboard right now...) is not assailing me at the core of my heart and soul, I do not bother with merely presenting others' tips and ideas in my luminous comments section here... I actually compose a long, sometimes distasteful, sometimes amusing, always entertaining, always veracious text here - about just about any subject of interest! Not to be on this day of November though - for a variety of reasons too... We're the (damnable) 22nd today, are we not? It marks eight months, to the day and in every other way too (it was on a Wednesday as well, eight months ago...) that the worst-case scenario became reality...
The sun has come and gone on numerous occasions since then...There were a whole lot of warm, sunny, summer days...
There was a pleasant spring before that, and a reasonable if unreasonably wet autumn afterwards...
And now winter looms on the horizon - as the sun is seen less and less - days are shorter and nights are longer - which cannot help sullenness one bit!
Nor does it help gloominess...
Or bereavement.
Makes this luminous blogger wish that the main link today was readily truthful and achievable - asap! Unlike the author of the website/book/whatever though, this luminous blogger knows better... Life Everlasting Awaits - but it is not for just yet. You may click on the link and see what kind of wishful thinking is being sold there - but know that TLB Prime is NOT endorsing it in any way whatsoever! It was just too ironic to stumble across that link TODAY of all days... I had to include it here!
Sue me, will ya?!?
Now I think I will go take some sun - doubtful that I will get a tan in November, but stranger things have happened to me... To most everyone, I'm sure...
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Tuesday, November 21, 2006
luminous computer energy savings tips now! (we're on a roll here!)
Every time we leave on computers when not in use, we are wasting electricity. Following are a few simple tips to consider:
Turn off all desktop computers and peripheral devices, including monitors and storage media devices, at night and during any prolonged absence such as weekends or vacation time. Turning off the equipment at night can cut the annual energy costs from $185 to $97 per computer. Contrary to popular belief, turning equipment on and off does not shorten the life span of computers or related equipment.
Computer manufacturers provide Energy Star power-management features that allow you to program your computer to go into "sleep" mode after a certain time interval. Information Services recommends that you set your power management to turn off your monitor after 10 minutes and your hard disks after 20 minutes. See Power Management for PC and Mac instructions for setting power management.
Limit screen-saver use. A screen saver does not save energy. In fact, more often than not, a screen saver not only will draw power for the monitor, but also will keep the CPU from shutting down. You can set your computer to go from screen-saver to sleep mode.Purchase flat-screen monitors. They use significantly less energy and are not as hard on the eyes.
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Monday, November 20, 2006
luminous energy-saving tips!
Something to go well with that luminous post about CFLs earlier this month now - here's a bunch of certifiably "quick and easy ways to save energy - now!"And hey, look - these luminous tips come to us straight from the U.S. Department of Energy too! Surely this is the only genuinely luminous thing to come out of the current administration! Yay! The current and last few administrations, verily...! All twenty of these tips too! You'll see! ;)
In fact, they're so luminous that one can question their human (and most definitely American) origin! Not that I am advocating belief on the supposedly alien origins of certifiably human geniuses such as the pyramid builders, Nikola Tesla and others of the same ilk, though... Whoa - no!
Fact is that we all need some of those helpful reminders, if only to save a few dimes on the hard-earned dollar, once in a while...! Or euro... Or whatever your currency might be! Plus, such easy preventive methods are good for the environment - always a good thing and the right thing to do! :)
Not that I believe that our environment isn't beyond repair - cause it most probably is! The serpent of pollution has coiled itself all around it and is squeezing it dry already - no one can elude such a grasp, not even our dear planet, not with 6 billion morons in tow (that's us!) who have in fact spawned that serpent...!
As Dan Dyer sings it so well, "this world's not right - there's something wrong, you can't deny it"...
But I digress, with an entirely different story that is both sad and immensely tragic - on a planetary if not cosmic scale indeed...
Check out the far more optimistic tips on saving energy now - before depression sinks in - in their entirety, in the luminous comments section! ;)
You'll be glad you did right afterwards!
Trust me on that!
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Sunday, November 19, 2006
Luminous *handpicked* quotes ~ and more...
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One simply has to begin with the alleged "Quote of the Day" -
"I searched through rebellion, drugs, diets, mysticism, religions, intellectualism and much more, only to begin to find that truth is basically simple - and feels good, clean and right." - Chick Corea
"Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use." - Professor William James, of Harvard.
"Education is the ability to meet life's situations." - Dr. John G. Hibben, former president of Princeton University.
"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials." - Chinese Proverb
"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people." - James Russell Lowell
Personally, I am sure of little but of the most important of all things, I most definitely am 100% sure...
Which leads me to the true topic today (you didn't truly think that this was going to be an "all quotes post" -again- did you? Been there - been down, really - done that! No more!) - and the true topic today is... "The Truth".
What a shocking development, eh? ;)
Back in August of this year, I was too somber and destitute to pay much attention - being mired in my first summer of mourning - ever. I took note but did not react as I would normally have to a number of things, including the following news item... (I was numb, see? Sooner or later though, the "Luminousinator" is back on track AND on the prowl though...) ;)
It is an unquotable now that I will quote: for, back in August of this year, a civil liberties group that hides behind its organisational entity status stated that "a planned New Orleans-area Hurricane Katrina memorial showing Jesus' face and a cross is religious and (therefore?) unconstitutional". Months prior to that, I recall posting exactly what I thought about a similar case, the man who spent an unreasonable amount of time battling in court to have a cross removed from the top of a mountain in his municipality...
This time out, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is the culprit, as the Times-Picayune reports it, as this union is the one that blasts a 13-foot memorial to 129 Katrina victims in St. Bernard Parish -a PARISH- for being too Christian for their taste and, they say, it "should be religiously neutral" because it will be located at a public waterway and was partially funded by the government too, allegedly...
See now, the thing about the above "handpicked quotes", is that they are acceptable everywhere because they are not religious, denominational or direct quotes from the greatest Man to have ever walked the Earth - Jesus, The Christ!
That sad fact goes at least double for the Chinese proverb! People love their ancient wisdom! Oh yes, they do - make it Asian ancient wisdom, Mesopotamian if need be - or Assyrian, if it can be found! Let's go all the way back to the Babylonian pagan age, why don't we! JUST NO QUOTING CHRIST NOW - PLEASE! Lest it gets... what, boring? Most priests are poor entertainers, granted (hence the phenomenal success of televangelists who know the value of good showmanship) - but surely now, we can readily tell who is more genuine and who is not - hmm? Oh, right - priests are not to be trusted either... Do I want to quote them? No. I'd rather quote from The Source - from The Bible - from The Christ! Will this brand of "handpicked quotes" be as well-received though as those cited above?
Doubtful, eh?
No one really remembers Hibben or Lowell or James, but they were "somebodies" - right? And they had no crosses on their lawns or something...
Well, here's another handpicked quote for you now - from another "somebody" too... The newspaper that reported the story about the Hurricane Katrina cross controversy says parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez had a simple reply to the assertion made by the American Civil Liberties Union: "They can kiss my ass." he reportedly said...
How's that now, eh? Quote it freely and quote it often - these are the words of a somebody, nothing religious or too "pro-Christ" for your sensitive tastes (although it has been uttered in a state of exasperation with those who do not want Christ to be even seen, let alone mentioned or referenced through symbolism - and it was also uttered in defense of that SACROSANCT RIGHT THAT WE HAVE TO SPEAK FREELY ABOUT THE SON OF GOD! But that must be another story *or* another instance where I am digressing again...)
Rodriguez further stated, though, that "the memorial will be erected on private land near the shoreline of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet at Shell Beach, Louisiana, and is being financed with donations, so it's legal."
How telling all of this is - to be able to speak of THE ONE TRUE GOD, one has to make sure it is LEGAL and to do so on PRIVATE LAND, without public funding (because, of course, "public = secularism-prone laymen" - WE ALL KNOW THAT NOW!)
This is beyond pathetic, people from the Land of the Free!
QUOTE ME ON THAT TOO!
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Link
One simply has to begin with the alleged "Quote of the Day" -
"I searched through rebellion, drugs, diets, mysticism, religions, intellectualism and much more, only to begin to find that truth is basically simple - and feels good, clean and right." - Chick Corea
"Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use." - Professor William James, of Harvard.
"Education is the ability to meet life's situations." - Dr. John G. Hibben, former president of Princeton University.
"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials." - Chinese Proverb
"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people." - James Russell Lowell
Personally, I am sure of little but of the most important of all things, I most definitely am 100% sure...
Which leads me to the true topic today (you didn't truly think that this was going to be an "all quotes post" -again- did you? Been there - been down, really - done that! No more!) - and the true topic today is... "The Truth".
What a shocking development, eh? ;)
Back in August of this year, I was too somber and destitute to pay much attention - being mired in my first summer of mourning - ever. I took note but did not react as I would normally have to a number of things, including the following news item... (I was numb, see? Sooner or later though, the "Luminousinator" is back on track AND on the prowl though...) ;)
It is an unquotable now that I will quote: for, back in August of this year, a civil liberties group that hides behind its organisational entity status stated that "a planned New Orleans-area Hurricane Katrina memorial showing Jesus' face and a cross is religious and (therefore?) unconstitutional". Months prior to that, I recall posting exactly what I thought about a similar case, the man who spent an unreasonable amount of time battling in court to have a cross removed from the top of a mountain in his municipality...
This time out, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is the culprit, as the Times-Picayune reports it, as this union is the one that blasts a 13-foot memorial to 129 Katrina victims in St. Bernard Parish -a PARISH- for being too Christian for their taste and, they say, it "should be religiously neutral" because it will be located at a public waterway and was partially funded by the government too, allegedly...
See now, the thing about the above "handpicked quotes", is that they are acceptable everywhere because they are not religious, denominational or direct quotes from the greatest Man to have ever walked the Earth - Jesus, The Christ!
That sad fact goes at least double for the Chinese proverb! People love their ancient wisdom! Oh yes, they do - make it Asian ancient wisdom, Mesopotamian if need be - or Assyrian, if it can be found! Let's go all the way back to the Babylonian pagan age, why don't we! JUST NO QUOTING CHRIST NOW - PLEASE! Lest it gets... what, boring? Most priests are poor entertainers, granted (hence the phenomenal success of televangelists who know the value of good showmanship) - but surely now, we can readily tell who is more genuine and who is not - hmm? Oh, right - priests are not to be trusted either... Do I want to quote them? No. I'd rather quote from The Source - from The Bible - from The Christ! Will this brand of "handpicked quotes" be as well-received though as those cited above?
Doubtful, eh?
No one really remembers Hibben or Lowell or James, but they were "somebodies" - right? And they had no crosses on their lawns or something...
Well, here's another handpicked quote for you now - from another "somebody" too... The newspaper that reported the story about the Hurricane Katrina cross controversy says parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez had a simple reply to the assertion made by the American Civil Liberties Union: "They can kiss my ass." he reportedly said...
How's that now, eh? Quote it freely and quote it often - these are the words of a somebody, nothing religious or too "pro-Christ" for your sensitive tastes (although it has been uttered in a state of exasperation with those who do not want Christ to be even seen, let alone mentioned or referenced through symbolism - and it was also uttered in defense of that SACROSANCT RIGHT THAT WE HAVE TO SPEAK FREELY ABOUT THE SON OF GOD! But that must be another story *or* another instance where I am digressing again...)
Rodriguez further stated, though, that "the memorial will be erected on private land near the shoreline of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet at Shell Beach, Louisiana, and is being financed with donations, so it's legal."
How telling all of this is - to be able to speak of THE ONE TRUE GOD, one has to make sure it is LEGAL and to do so on PRIVATE LAND, without public funding (because, of course, "public = secularism-prone laymen" - WE ALL KNOW THAT NOW!)
This is beyond pathetic, people from the Land of the Free!
QUOTE ME ON THAT TOO!
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Link
