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by Chris Malone, posted May 17 2012 1:38PM
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Disco queen Donna Summer has died, a family spokesperson told the Associated Press. She was 63.
Her family released a statement Thursday saying Summer had died and that they "are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy."'
TMZ first reported the news, noting Summer had died in Florida on Thursday after a long battle with [lung] cancer. Insiders told TMZ she was recently working on music for a new album.
Known as the "Queen of Disco," Summer was born in Boston, Mass. in 1948, as one of seven children.
The five-time Grammy winner rose to fame in the 1970s, scoring hits with "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls." She co-wrote the single "Love to Love You Baby" in 1975, and went on to co-write several other hits, including "She Works Hard For Her Money."
Summer appeared in the 1978 film, "Thank God It's Friday," which took home the best original song Oscar for "Last Dance."
source: CBS
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by Chris Malone, posted May 17 2012 5:45AM
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Just in time for Father's Day (June 17), Yankee Candle Company introduces the first-ever Man Candles Collection in such he-man scents as Riding Mower and 2x4! A quartet of new “down-to-earth fragrances” are meant to suit basement, garage, car or truck, man cave, or an entire bachelor pad, the Massachusetts-based company says. Now on sale at retail shops and online:
Man Town (the scent of spices, woods and musk)
First Down (orange, patchouli, vetiver and leather)
Riding Mower (freshly cut grass)
2x4 (freshly planed wood and sawdust)
In addition to these manly candles you can get these scents in hanging air fresher for your car too!
Finally today, you know what a photobomb is right? If not, a photobomb is someone or something that sneaks its way into a photo. Well this photo phenomenon was taken to the next level by the Fiat Company and quite possibly starting a prank war with it's rival Volkswagen.
It began with Google and their fleet of camera-topped cars and their Google Maps street view updates. Fiat was tipped that the Google cars were updating the town of Södertälje, Sweden, where Volkswagen's Swedish operations are headquartered. So Fiat took advantage of the opportunity and parked a Fiat 500 right in front of the HQ building just as Google snapped it's photo! SURPRISE! No comment from either company and no word if Google will photoshop this photobomb.
Yep, that red car is a Fiat 500, well played!
-Chris Malone
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by Ce Ce, posted May 16 2012 11:58AM
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You may think that money makes a person powerful, but that's not all it takes to land on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. You must be an influence-maker in other ways, like through social media or business ventures. Click through to see which stars were important enough to crack the top five on the Forbes list, then check out the full list on Forbes.com.
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by Storm & Chris, posted May 16 2012 7:16AM
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This precious little peanut is a 3 year old Pekingese named Pumpkin. She is sweet natured, affectionate and ready to come snuggle up in your lap! If you would like to make Pumpkin the newest member of your family, contact Kirk at Haile's Angels Pet Rescue, located in the Haile Plantation Village Center just West of I-75 (5231 SW 91st Drive). They are open from 7am-7pm Mon-Fri and 7am-noon on Saturday. Or you can email Kirk at keppenstein65@gmail.com.
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by Chris Malone, posted May 16 2012 5:30AM
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You see it in the news nearly everyday, someone apologizing for their actions. But is it really an apology? One of the great things about our language is that you can use words to say something without really meaning anything, just read the text of a political speech! While pondering this headline I read an article posted on Cracked.com that fully explains the types of apologies that really don't apologize. The points seem comical but they are spot on and in my opinion totally true:
"I Deeply Regret"
One of the popular go-to phrases is "I deeply regret ..." It's such a useful tool in the unapologetic person's arsenal because it doesn't require you to admit you did anything wrong. I don't know if it's technically correct, but it's common to send "regrets" to a friend whose loved one has just died, and nobody takes it as an admission that you were responsible for their uncle's death.
People who deeply regret things often are pretty hazy on the specifics of what they did. When the U.S. General Services Administration got called on the carpet for spending over $800,000 on a Vegas trip, agency head Martha Johnson personally apologized to "the American people" for "the entire situation," which could technically refer to anything from the recession to global warming.
"Mistakes Were Made"
For those who feel that "deeply regret" is admitting too much responsibility, they can upgrade to "mistakes were made," the highest level of non-apology, used at the highest levels of government. Politicians have used the phrase, which one-ups "deeply regret" by not only leaving it open whether they are actually the culprit but existentially questioning whether there even is one.
Apologizing for Someone Else
You can only apologize for yourself. Maybe there are some gray areas, like apologizing symbolically for a group you are part of, but you should not be apologizing for the person you are apologizing to. Sometimes people are a lot more deliberate about pointing the finger at other people, like the pastor who advised parents to punch their gay children. He later said, "I apologize to anyone I have unintentionally offended. I did not say anything to intentionally offend anyone in the LGBT community ... It is unfortunate I was not more careful and deliberate. I can understand how these words could be misunderstood without the context of years of ministering to the people of God at Berean Baptist Church. I have received nothing but notes of appreciation and support from the people within the church." He could have stopped at the first couple of sentences and it would have been an apology (though probably an unsatisfactory one to most people), but he really sticks his foot in his mouth by going on to say that the apology is only needed for people who don't really get what he is saying, and all the people who get it (the people in his church) are appreciative. So he really didn't say anything wrong, because the smart people get it. What he is sorry about is that you offended morons do not have the years of experience to understand it.
Ingrid Newkirk of PETA was even more blatant about it. After an ad campaign comparing animal cruelty today to the Holocaust, Newkirk wrote a statement of "apology" where there was about one paragraph of apology and the rest was basically, "I KNOW LOTS OF JEWS THAT WERE FINE WITH IT!" to the point where the main message wasn't anything like "We shouldn't have done this campaign," but actually "If you were offended, and none of these real Jews were, what does that say about you?" It was basically a passive-aggressive attempt to shame anyone offended by the campaign by accusing them of hyperbolic fake outrage about something "real Jews" don't even have a problem with.
"Sorry" Used as Punctuation
Public personalities are usually smart enough (or well-managed enough) not to carelessly throw "apology" words around as meaningless punctuation, but it's something you commonly see among regular folks, especially during a rant. "OK, I'm sorry, but your YouTube video was a piece of garbage." "I'm sorry if this offends anyone" has sort of turned into a slang phrase that really means, "All right, get ready for the edgy truth I'm about to lay down!" Unlike the politicians and weaselly types, they don't even intend to deceive you; this is just a new slang use of language, like when people decided to use "bad" to mean "good" or "sick" to mean "awesome." Unfortunately, not everyone has gotten the memo on the cool kids' slang these days, so quite often anyone using this kind of language just comes across as a very stupid person trying to trick you.
Apologizing for a Completely Different Thing
Another great tactic that works when people are tired of vague apologies is to apologize in detail and take full responsibility -- for something completely different. Look at Enron's Jeffrey Skilling, apologizing for some serious corporate malfeasance that destroyed thousands of people's retirements: "I am devastated by and apologetic about what Enron has come to represent." Not that Enron has done any bad deeds, but that people, for some inexplicable reason, now think of bad things when they happen to think of Enron, and of course Skilling goes on to say he never did anything wrong. I hope it makes you feel better to know that he was convicted of 19 counts of securities fraud and other charges.
You can read the entire article written Christina H of Cracked.com by clicking here.
-Chris Malone
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by Storm & Chris, posted May 15 2012 8:16AM
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These nine tips could help you make significant savings in your car insurance.
We all want to cut our expenses in half. The good news is that while the monthly costs for your smartphone or cable TV may be relatively fixed, your auto insurance rate may have some room to shrink.
The average driver may spend up to $84,000 in a lifetime on car insurance, according to a February 2011 posting on the Motor Trend magazine's website - a figure that could be reduced if you know how to save on your policy.
Click here to learn how.
Thrifty Tuesday is made possible by Gold Rush Pawn. Thanks, Jim Mulligan!
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by Chris Malone, posted May 15 2012 6:28AM
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A freshly-prepared meal is always loved and appreciated but after a long day at work who wants to cook? One simple word can help: shortcuts. Cooking shortcuts are little tricks that let you make good food without the full-on effort. Here are 5 timesavers that speed things up.
Cooking shortcut #1: Fast rice
Rice goes so well with so many main dishes from chicken and beef to veggie stir-fries. You can eat it plain or dress it up with add-ins such as veggies, cheese and seasonings. Making it from scratch, however, can take awhile, and instant rice isn't always that tasty. The solution? Skip the boxed instant and go premade. Many stores now sell frozen, pre-cooked rice. Or look for brown rice in your supermarket's freezer section for a fast, healthy, fiber-friendly side.
Cooking shortcut #2: Mince garlic faster
Fresh garlic adds wonderful taste to so many dishes, but sometimes you just don't have time to mince it up. Sure, you could add garlic powder, but it doesn't give quite the same flavor to a dish. Instead, try jarred (or frozen) garlic when the dish you are making will cook at length. "I always used jarred garlic in soups and casseroles. Garlic takes me forever to chop, and if it's not the key ingredient, you can't tell the difference," says food writer Maris Callahan, who blogs about her creations at In Good Taste. If garlic is front and center in a dish, however, do stick with fresh.
Cooking shortcut #3: Use chili sauce
Want a tangy flavor without the measuring and mixing? Try chili sauce. "I loathe ketchup, but chili sauce is great! It fleshes out BBQ sauces and adds a tangy flavor to a lot of dishes without a lot of effort on my part," says cookbook author Rachel Rappaport.
Cooking shortcut #4: A faster chop
Need to chop veggies for a soup or sauce? It can take awhile if you do it by hand -- but who says you have to? Instead, toss onions, carrots and whatever else you need into your food processor (or mini food prep) and pulse until you get your desired chop. If you need something sliced, a full-size food processor fitted with a slicing disk does it in seconds.
Cooking shortcut #5: measuring cups in canisters
How many times have you opened a canister, needing to measure its contents out fast, but had to take time to find the right measure? Save time by keeping a measuring cup handy all the time. "I keep a quarter-cup measuring cup in my flour, white sugar, brown sugar, etc. That way, I never have to go digging for one," says Cate O'Malley, who writes Sweetnicks.
Happy eats!
-Chris Malone
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by Ce Ce, posted May 14 2012 11:07AM
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The top ten names in 2011 (click here to search a name and see the full list of 1,000 on the Social Security Administration website):
BOYS
1. Jacob
2. Mason
3. William
4. Jayden
5. Noah
6. Michael
7. Ethan
8. Alexander
9. Aiden
10. Daniel
GIRLS
1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Abigail
8. Madison
9. Mia
10. Chloe
This is the thirteenth year in a row that Jacob has topped the boy's list. Sophia swapped places with Isabella this year to take the No. 1 spot.
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by Storm & Chris, posted May 14 2012 6:32AM
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by Chris Malone, posted May 14 2012 6:05AM
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It's been a whole year since I took some time off and boy do I need it! Yep, the vacation season is here and no matter where you go, it will cost more. Airline tickets and gas prices can take a chunk of cash out of your plans. So take the advice of travel experts on how to get the most out of your summer vacation.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
The first trick to scoring deals is to stay flexible. Traveling at off-peak times can save you money on both airfare and room accommodations. Hotels and resorts are cheaper during the week than on the weekend with room rates being the cheapest Tuesday through Thursday.
CONSIDER ALTERNATE ACCOMMODATIONS
You should also be flexible about where you plan to stay. Vacation rentals, for instance, can be a great alternative to the traditional hotel room for large groups.Similarly, Bed and Breakfasts may prove to be a more affordable option to some consumers since these establishments typically include complimentary breakfast, snacks or cocktails hours at some point during a stay. If you do feel a hotel room is your best option, forego the room with a view and save a bundle.
FLIGHTS TO/FROM ALTERNATE CITIES
Don’t limit yourself to one point of departure or arrival. Instead, look for fares in and out of cities near both your hometown and your ultimate goal destination.
“A flight from Houston to Honolulu may cost $300, but a flight from Dallas to Honolulu may cost $900,” says George Hobica, an airline expert and founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. “You can do the math.”
FACTOR IN AMENITIES
Is it cheaper to book a hotel room that offer free amenities or services or book the lowest priced room?
Free Wi-Fi is a favorite hotel amenity and both business and leisure travelers (who may need to print tickets, research attractions or find directions to nearby restaurants) may want to opt for an establishment that won’t charge for Internet access, in lieu of one that will, despite its lower room rate.
Other hotels may offer free shuttle transports that can save you $40 on a taxi to and from the airport, which may, in turn, justify the extra $10 for the room.
LAST MINUTE DEALS
This can be a gable but as with all gambles the reward could be huge. Hotels usually offer exclusives that are available if you book the same day or 24-hours in advance. As such, it pays to mine travel search engines and hotel websites as your days off approach, then take off should you find a great deal. Travelzoo.com is one search engine that helps you find steals and deals last minute. Airlines also don’t want to lose money on empty seats, so prices similarly drop as the take-off time approaches.
Tuesdays have long been considered a great day for last minute airfare deals and Friday has been a good day to get in on the Fare Wars.
I hope these tips are useful!
-Chris Malone
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