Thursday, August 23, 2007
Get Friday- the Virtual Assistant
https://www.getfriday.com/ (A Your Man In India Service)
They can pretty much do whatever you need for about $5 per hour plus in some instances a task fee. Security is excellent. Need flowers sent, bills paid, tickets booked, research done, house plans made and blue printed, legal opinions and research, car hire, financial planning, asset allocation, adoption (yes), property management/tenant screening, college transcript requests and applications, wedding planning and vendor procurement, health care appointments and on and on and on. Get it done-------.
Forget food shopping with the dragging kids and heavy bundles and door dings in you brand new car while having to go out in the crappy cold weather. Simply give your Get Friday Virtual Assistant a list with when you want it delivered and have them go to Peapod and get it DONE!
Just wait at home for delivery in your Lebowski bath robe and tell the guy to bring it in to the kitchen. You just saved hours of aggravation for 5 bucks and can now spend all that extra time with your family or sleeping in, or watching the Sox...
Need research done--- submit what you are looking for, and overnight while you sleep, they work during their the day and send you the answers. Soooo Money.
They are even on Blogspot with us. http://www.getfriday.blogspot.com/
SECURITY
Your security is important to us at GetFriday. Credit card information is limited to supervisory personnel only. This means that if an assigned task requires the use of your credit card, your assistant will carry it out to the last step at which point the shift supervisor on duty will take over, entering the credit card information.
Our Security Measures
Password protected servers with limited access
Credit card information limited to supervisory personnel only
Background checks before hiring
Non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements
No external storage devices
Screening of employees
Hack proof servers
Common Tasks handled:
SECURITY
Your security is important to us at GetFriday. Credit card information is limited to supervisory personnel only. This means that if an assigned task requires the use of your credit card, your assistant will carry it out to the last step at which point the shift supervisor on duty will take over, entering the credit card information.
Our Security Measures
Password protected servers with limited access
Credit card information limited to supervisory personnel only
Background checks before hiring
Non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements
No external storage devices
Screening of employees
Hack proof servers
Common Tasks handled:
.
CCRANE LED lighting
Smaller, brighter, prettier and less expensive! Isn't technology wonderful! This 18 LED light bulb makes an excellent high definition reading light. Perfect to help you not feel guilty about leaving an accent light on all night. Run it for twelve hours a day for a whole year at a cost of about 80 cents. This LED light bulb should last about 10 years, and works well with a dimmer switch. Your choice of 120 or 12 volts bulbs available.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 22 percent of electricity used in the U.S. powers lighting. In a world with soaring energy prices based on the availability and control of fossil fuels, and with growing concern about sustainability of the environment, a revolution in lighting is long overdue.
Light emitting diodes, called LEDs, are revolutionizing lighting. Switching to LED-based lighting can save 40 to 70 percent of the electricity a city uses for certain lighting applications such as parking garage, parking lot, outdoor public area, street and portable lighting.
In addition to helping protect the environment by reducing electricity consumption of lighting, LEDs, due to their long service life, also reduce the amount of material going into landfills (i.e., light bulbs). Furthermore, LEDs, unlike some traditional light sources, don't contain hazardous mercury or lead.
Light emitting diodes, called LEDs, are revolutionizing lighting. Switching to LED-based lighting can save 40 to 70 percent of the electricity a city uses for certain lighting applications such as parking garage, parking lot, outdoor public area, street and portable lighting.
In addition to helping protect the environment by reducing electricity consumption of lighting, LEDs, due to their long service life, also reduce the amount of material going into landfills (i.e., light bulbs). Furthermore, LEDs, unlike some traditional light sources, don't contain hazardous mercury or lead.
Travel tips
Just add some great sites:
http://www.cheapcaribbean.com/
http://www.kayak.com
http://www.sidestep.com
These tell you the fluctuation in prices, what is the best time to fly.
http://www.farecast.com/
http://www.farecompare.com/
In Europe:
http://www.kayak.co.uk
http://www.euroflights.info/ this one is great for finding cheap quick planes, much cheaper than the Famous EURORAIL
Disability Travel:
http://www.worldonwheelz.com/
http://www.sath.org/
Bloom Energy Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.
Producing electricity from Fuel without burning the fuel!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-oxide_fuel_cell
www.bloomenergy.com
MFG.com the Ebay for Manufacturers
1. Entreprenuer/Inventor, Engineer or purchasing manager who needs a part submits a description and CAD drawing to MFG.com
2. Manufacturers offer bids. The site is free for buyers, suppliers pay a $6000 yearly subscription fee
3. Buyer chooses which manufacturer's bid to accept and the part and its price are added to the MFG.com's database
Simple--
http://www.mfgquote.com/
Clients and customers already include GE, Newell Rubbermaid, Apple, Ford and Northrop Grumman.
Traveling Tips and Tidbits
For the road warriors and ex pat wanderlust out there:
If you are on a budget, check out www.couchsurfing.com
Introduces you to locals who give tips on restaurants and cafes etc...
Mr Blass. strongly urges travelers to avoid Heathrow airport in London at all costs. Instead fly to Stansted, Gatwick or Amsterdam to avoid the mess.
Chismillionare likes Frankfurt from Boston on Lufthansa. Gets you centrally located to the continent.
Arthur Bergman says not to trust the airlines with flight updates. Instead, go to www.flightaware.com to get an up to the minute status of all aircraft in the sky and allows you to check for delays. If it tells you your plane is late try rebooking immediately before everyone else is doing the same.
Zecco.com $0 dollar trades, & no minimum balance
How do they make money you ask? On the interest from holding your money and the $3.50 option contracts.
http://www.zecco.com/Default.aspx
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Green Roofs: An Introduction with Pretty Pictures
It's not just for hobbits anymore. The logic of green roofs is becoming more apparent. We can minimize our bills while maximizing the beauty of the urban landscape. And every day it's becoming a little easier to live in a house that just happens to have plants growing on it.
Green Roofs: An Introduction with Pretty Pictures
Classic NHL '94 Online League!
I'm not exactly sure where you all line up with me in terms of age (though I know you're all close), but NHL '94 pretty much defined my freshman year of college. Practically very free moment (including some when I should have been in class) was spent perfecting the one-timer (introduced in this version) against others on my floor. You couldn't walk through the hallway at any time, day or night, without hearing the unmistakable music or bone crushing hits. We were especially fond of pumping the audio through our louder-than-really-necessary stereos. I remember quite a few times being roused from my sleep sometime in the early morning hours and being told "dude, you're up... Roy just beat Soch to take the league lead!" Ahh, the memories.
Anyways, I digress. It turns out someone has done something really cool (to me at least) with the advent of the classic console emulators - they have formed online leagues - one for fans of the SNES version (huh?) and the other for the, obviously superior, Genesis version.
Signups for the fall are on now - not sure how hard it is to get into the league, but just reading about this makes me want to call up all my college buddies and form our own. Most of them are still drinking cases of Bud every weekend on a couch in their mom's basement anyways.
Monday, August 20, 2007
If you think setting up dominoes takes talent, take a look at this... 
ONE BIG SNEEZE AND THEN IT'S "SCRAMBELED EGGS" FOR EVERYONE
Chismillionare's Save or Spend-
The latest issue of Money addresses whether you should spend extra for certain things because it is worth it or save on it because the cheap stuff is good enough or the expensive is not noticeably better. Lets take a look shall we:
Money-
Fridge Save
Microwave Save
Knives Spend
Cabinets Spend
Pepper Mill Spend
Garbage Disposal Save
Pots and Pans Spend
Food Porcessor Save
Chismillionare agrees on all counts except the garbage disposal and food processor which gets a who gives a F&^$
Money
Sofa Spend
Blinds Save
Coffee Table Save
Flowers Spend
TV Save
Theater Save
Cables Save
Chismillionare disagrees on the Flowers, TV, Theater and cables.
Flowers have a very short lifespan with high maintenance and a limited audience. No need to spend more on them.
While you may get as good a picture on your 700 dollar Shinsonic plasma, Chismillionare feels paying a bit extra for materials, fit and finish and warranty is worth it, particularly with an asset having a useful life of 5-7 years. Don't think for one minute you've got the same thing as the guy with the 50" Pioneer Elite plasma because you don't.
Same thing with speakers. The home theater in a box at Wal Mart for 599 may be loud and have 5.1 surround, but it can't hold a candle to anything over at Bang & Olufsen or Bowers and Wilkins or KEF. Think about this- saving on these guarantees your speakers can never be a conversation starter. Not a good thing.
Cables are what hold your pricey equipment together. You are going to spend thousands on equipment and cheap out on a few hundred in cables?? Makes no sense. Don't be the guy who spent 200 extra on his receiver so now he can't get anything other than red yellow and white banana plugs!!!!
Money
Desk Chair Spend
Printer/Scanner/Fax Save
Shredder Spend
Laptop Spend
Chismillionare says SAVE on a laptop. You can get a 15" screen with a Core Duo and 1GB of memory and a 120BG hard drive for about $500 running Vista Premium. Why spend $2000. It makes no sense. It they are selling you that to protect yourself against future obsolesence then it won't work because that is what their schtik is all the time. Why buy now then if it's just going to be worthless next year? Buy cheap, you won't notice a difference and if it gets all trashed, you don't have to worry about throwing the money out the window or making a homeowners claim. Exception for Mac laptops- thoughtful design, durable, a great user experience, terrific user support, great software(Iwork 08 is amazing) and it just plain works. Worth the $1500 I suppose but wait for Leopard before purschasing
Chismillionare says SAVE on a desk chair. Why is it that only people at work have $900 chairs, but at home nothing like that. A $200 leather office chair from Staples is fine. Actually a big green pilates ball works well too. Helps stretch the hips and lower back!!! As we all now blood flow is key. It's so these silly HR ergonomic people can have jobs and Herman Miller can say what cool people they are.
Money
Mattress and Box Spring Spend
Sheets Spend
Comforter Save
Special Occasion Suit Spend
Everyday Suit Save
Diamonds Save
Pearls Save
Jeans Spend
Chismillionare says SKIP the everyday suit. To me, every time you wear a suit it should be a special occasion. It tells people, you mean business. It is the home field advantage of clothing. Chismillionare gets his custom done in Bangkok and Hong Kong for the price of everyday suits state side. In fact, the savings of international custom over domestic often pays for Chismillionare's trip. George Zimmer may tell you you'll like the way you look, but with top shelf stuff he won't need to, you'll know!!!
Money
Driver Save
Grill Spend
Stationary Bike Save
Drill Save
Treadmill Spend
Golf Balls Save
Chismillionare says Spend on the driver but only when the tech is truly a breakthough(Shop for the shaft, it is the engine of a golf club). Fujikura, Aldila NV come to mind.
Same for the golf balls. Spend on the Pro V1 or Nike Platinum if you aren't a complete hacker. They are clearly better than anything else out there even though they are 45 a dozen.
SPEND on the drill!!!!!!. Come on, it's a few hundred. Buy the best you can afford as far as power and battery life. You'll have it for years. Bonus that the new lithium ion batteries allow smaller drills for female users to hang their nick nacks.
Glamping - pseudo outdoor adventuring for the rich wuss crowd
When 6-year-old Ethan Bondick told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly-fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.
"We looked at each other and said, 'Oh, god, now what?' " said Gigi Bondick, 37, a "reformed" attorney whose husband works as a private-equity partner in Massachusetts.
"We're just not the camping kind of people. We don't pitch tents. We don't cook outdoors. We don't share a bathroom. It's just not going to happen. This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons."
After typing "luxury" into a Google search along with "camping" and "Montana," the couple settled on The Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre getaway in the heart of Big Sky country. It's a place for affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can't fathom using a smelly outhouse, a place where paying someone to light the campfire is a badge of honor, not the mark of a Boy Scout flunky.
----
More about the p*ssy vacationers here.
LG U990
With that said, the new LG U990 might look a little iPhone like, but it has plenty extra packed inside; a 5MP camera with Schneider Kreuznach optics, a 120 frames-per-second video camera (for super slo-mo), 3G HSDPA, 170MB internal memory (expandable with MicroSD cards), a 240 x 400 touch-screen and a music player.
The camera is the big deal here, though. The digital zoom is controlled by a twisting collar around the lens, which is also reported to function as a jog/shuttle dial to scrub through all that high-speed video footage. The U990 will be available on the "3" network in the fall. No price has yet been set, but don't expect it to be cheap.
The camera is the big deal here, though. The digital zoom is controlled by a twisting collar around the lens, which is also reported to function as a jog/shuttle dial to scrub through all that high-speed video footage. The U990 will be available on the "3" network in the fall. No price has yet been set, but don't expect it to be cheap.
This day in History 1953- Soviets have H bomb too
Dissident Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov, father of the Soviet H-bomb.
Physicist Andrei Sakharov, who would eventually become one of the USSR's most famous dissidents, was one of the chief designers of its hydrogen bomb. That weapon carried the explosive power of 400 kilotons of TNT, making it roughly 26 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima eight years earlier.
Thus began a long rivalry of bomb-test one-upmanship between the world's two superpowers, dragging on through the 1950s into the '60s.
The Soviets, especially, developed a fondness for the hydrogen bomb and tested increasingly powerful versions. The tests culminated in 1961 with the dropping of the so-called Tsar bomb, packing a 60-megaton wallop, making it the most powerful thermonuclear device ever detonated.
Yellow Card on Blass
As if duplicating my earlier post on the most expensive beers wasn't bad enough, he's also reverted to his "too lazy to post a picture or story snippet" posting style.
Boo!
Swimming anyone?
When I was a kid, my dad never got us a pool because he said "every damn kid in the neighborhood will be in my yard." I suppose this is what he was afraid of. The picture above is a wave pool in Japan. If that's not freaky enough, go to the link below to see a video of the waves in acation.
The Top 3 World's Most Expensive Beers
Maybe after Rindone graduates and has secured himself some cushy MBA-type job, we can all fly over to the UK and have him treat us to a pint of Vielle Bon Secours (pictured above) for the bargain basement price of only $78 per pint. Its only served at one bar in London - the Bierdrome.
Read about the other two (including some Sam Adams!) here.
Euclid's Elements- Best Book Ever Written?
So says Mr. Babbage in New Brunswick NJ
THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN BY A HUMAN. I'm not kidding and I'm not exaggerating; there is no way to express the joy of reading Euclid without sounding like a lunatic. There are very few books which reach their umpteenth thousandth edition without promising a posthumous infinity of bliss. The bliss of 'The Elements' is admittedly finite, but it delivers right away. This is an electrifying piece of work which has produced a chorus of rapture and inspiration lasting two millennia. Poets have penned homage to its beauty. Philosophers and mathematicians have wept. Theologians saw God in its perfection. As war, pestilence and plague tortured humanity, as the empires of despots rose and crumbled, the devout risked death rather than surrender this book. Why? Because they had read it.
It is a cure for math-phobia, and can be read by anyone who is at least a little studious and over the age of 12.
It is a cure for math-phobia, and can be read by anyone who is at least a little studious and over the age of 12.
Chismillionare's Monday deal of the Week!
Magellan RoadMate 2200T Portable GPS w/ Built-in Maps
$179.99 reg $449.
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204550251&adid=17070&dcaid=17070
Friday, August 17, 2007
More (and better) reasons to watch Cobra
I'm still not really sure why this movie is on my mind, but it turns out I'm not the only fan - the folks over at i-mockery.com have a pretty darn good write-up on the flick. If they don't make you want to watch this movie (again), well... nothing actually. I just like it.
Ten things that make COBRA one of the most underrated macho badass action movies of all time!
A "so bad its good" movie recomendation
Its completely awful. The pinacle of 80's action flicks - horrible (yet wonderful) one liners abound. ("Chill out." from Stallone after blowing a bad guy away on top of the frozen food section, anyone?) Its got one of the 80's creepiest villains (the Night Slasher) with his bad ass knife:
And we can't forget Stallone's equally bad ass (and physics defying) 1950 Mercury. So sad to see that one go in the flick.
You can catch the car chase out here (but don't spoil it for yourself if you've never seen the movie)
Definitely not one to sit down and watch with the wife (or girlfriend), but if you've got a couple hours to kill and are at least a passing 80's action movie fan, this one gets a thumbs up (in a so awful that its good in a nostalgic way).
The 2007 "Six Man" Volleyball Tourney Photo Essay
The 2007 "Six Man" Volleyball Tourney Photo Essay
Remember the AVP is coming to Marina Bay this weekend.
Renewable Petrolium from microbes
David Berry, 29
Flagship Ventures
http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/Profile.aspx?TRID=603
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Baseball Joke
A Boston Red Sox fan, a Chicago Cubs fan and a NY Yankee fan were all in Saudi Arabia, sharing a smuggled crate of booze. All of the sudden Saudi police rushed in and arrested them. The mere possession of alcohol is a severe offense in Saudi Arabia, so for the terrible crime of actually being caught consuming the booze, they were sentenced to death!
However, after many months and with the help of very good lawyers, they were able to successfully appeal their sentence down to life imprisonment. By a stroke of luck, it was a Saudi national holiday the day their trial finished, and the extremely benevolent Sheikh decided they could be released after receiving just 20 lashes each of the whip.
As they were preparing for their punishment, the Sheikh suddenly said, "It's my first wife's birthday today, and she has asked me to allow each of you one wish before your whipping."
The Cubs fan was first in line (he had drunk the least), so he thought about this for a while and then said, "Please tie a pillow to my back."
This was done, but the pillow only lasted 10 lashes before the whip went through. The Cubs fan had to be carried away bleeding and crying with pain when the punishment was done.
The Yankee fan was next up (he almost finished an entire fifth by himself), and after watching the scene, said "All Right! Please fix two pillows on my back." But even two pillows could only take 15 lashes before the whip went through again, sending the Yankee fan out crying like a little girl.
The Red Sox fan was the last one up (he had finished off the crate), but befo re he could say anything, the Sheikh turned to him and said, "You support the greatest baseball team in the world, your supporters are the best and most loyal baseball fans in all the world.
For this, you may have two wishes!"
"Thanks, your most Royal Highness," the Red Sox fan replies. "In recognition of your kindness, my first wish is that you give me not 20, but 100 lashes."
"Not only are you an honorable, handsome and powerful man, you are also very brave," the Sheik says with an admiring look on his face. "If 100 lashes is what you desire, then so be it. And your second wish? What is it to be?" the Sheik asks. "Tie the Yankee fan to my back."
Mother Nature
This one stroke just on the other side of the street. Quite a nice bang it had. Luckily the tree didn't catch fire. Taken from my balcony.
Cropped this from the larger photo. And for the viewers, I took a LARGE amount of photos today when trying to get some of the lightning over here.
The photo made the first page in the local newspaper.
Tame those cables!
Organizing, hiding, and "child proofing" the maze of cables under my computer desk at home has been on the to-do list for too long. I even have all the stuff, bought in a marathon Home Depot session, to do it - I just haven't.
In any case, this guy presents one way to get it done. Its not the way I'm going, but its worth noting.
More information and pictures here.
Multi-Mini Roundabout
GOOD LUCK RINDONE - Got to love those English Streets
how to navigate a multi-mini roundabout
this is an actual roundabout in swindon…
it’s called a multi-mini roundabout and was designed in order to defeat congestion problems and lower the amount of accidents that were occuring when it was an unsafe, normal roundabout. it gives me a headache just thinking about giving way to that many streams of traffic.
it’s ok though, i found a diagram showing the best way to tackle it depending on your driving skills…
diagram from here.
Crazy Aquariums
Really Cool Aquariums click here for more crazy Aquariums
by - August 15, 2007 - 8:32 AM
A well-designed and maintained aquarium is a treat for the eye, a conversation piece, and a satisfying hobby. Some are much more than that.
Pieter van Suijlekom’s Reef Aquarium is a fantastic saltwater tank system with a total volume of 2074 gallons. Read about the process of building this tank, the equipment used to maintain it, and the fish and other creatures that live in it.
Blackberry HTML email and spell check as you type.
Blackberry HTML email and Spell check as you type! Also Quick response email templates instead of Auto Text.
http://www.getempower.com/wordpress/
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Apple IWork 08
Very Slick indeed. Innovation driving results!
New in Numbers ’08.
Introducing Numbers ’08, the spreadsheet you’ve been waiting for — and already know how to use. Innovative, powerful, and intuitive, Numbers ’08 lets you do everything from setting up your family budget to completing a lab report to creating detailed financial documents.
http://www.apple.com/iwork/numbers/
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