Category Archives: Business

Priceless

Posted on February 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ripped from the headlines in jolly ol’ England…

Downton Abbey meets Occupy Wall Street!

Manchester resident Steph Pike was arrested for aggravated trespass while protesting outside a Barclays Bank.

Friends say she was conducting a peaceful protest as a member ‘UK Uncut,’ a grassroots group formed to highlight ‘corporate tax dodging’ and alternatives to the government’s spending cuts.

Police say she was arrested to preempt the aggravated trespass that was clearly being established.

Seriously?

While I’m sure her presence outside the window was aggravating to certain Barclays employees, any charges of trespass are trumped up at best.

Me? I’d charge her with a keen sense of humor, creativity and — I gotta say it…

Balls.

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Posted in Business, Comedy, Commentary, Finances, Humor, Life, News, Travel

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4 out of 5 doctors

Posted on February 10, 2012 | 2 Comments

I’m winging my way to Atlanta today, and will be occupying my usual aisle seat.

Only this time, it will be doctor recommended.

The American College of Chest Physicians released new guidelines that suggest sitting in a window seat is a risk factor for DVT (deep vein thrombosis), dangerous blood clots that can develop in your legs on long plane flights.

People who sit in window seats have the potential to move less than those who sit in the aisle.  And it’s really the lack of movement that raises your risk factor for DVT, not your seat.

Now, I sit in aisle seats whenever I can simply because I don’t like to be closed in.  And in my experience, passengers in the window seat have no problem asking me to get up and let them out. Repeatedly.  Several times a flight.  It’s like the people with bladder issues choose the window seat.

On purpose.

So I think they’ll be fine.  And I will, too.  Because they’re there to keep me on the move.

Thanks loads.

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Posted in Airplanes, Business, Exercise, Health, Humor, Life, Travel

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Please. Stand. Still.

Posted on February 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

I spent a lot of my childhood motion sick.  Cars, boats, planes, you name it — we just didn’t get along.

But what if the very floor could give you vertigo?

Don’t laugh.  It’s happening.

Researchers in Jersey City, New Jersey have found that high contrast black-and-white carpeting is making people sick.

We’re talking headaches.  Visual distress.  Even seizures in epileptics.

Man…that boat trip is sounding better all the time.

They aren’t exactly sure why a high contrast repeating pattern can give the illusion of motion and make viewers sick.  But based on their findings, researchers do recommend that you give carpet more than a quick glance before you make any purchase for your home.

Your home?  I think this information is even more important for all the planes, trains, and automobiles out there.

Talk about a double whammy!

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Posted in Airplanes, Automobiles, Business, Cars, Commentary, Design, Furniture, Health, Home, Humor, Life, transportation, Travel

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Snooze button

Posted on January 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Prudential’s current television campaign, entitled “Day One,” features men and women enjoying their first day of retirement. Having enough money to do so comfortably may be the underlying message, but Prudential is smart enough to focus on why it’s so desirable.

More time to spend with family. Travel. Enjoy your hobbies. Volunteer. And the image that made me smile and shake my head in ready agreement…

No more alarm clocks.

Since today is Sunday, many of us — retired or not — got to skip the alarm. Now, close your eyes and imagine….

One day you can take a sledge hammer to that thing.

For realsies.

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Posted in Advertising, Business, Commentary, Humor, Life, Travel, Vacation

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Eating dots

Posted on January 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Quick — wanna look busy?

THINK BIG.

Play the World’s Biggest Pac-Man game right on your computer!

It’s going on now online, and is being played by people around the world.

The mazes are interconnected and go on and on and on.  You can start wherever you want and play as long and as far as your skill will take you.  You can also play alone or challenge competitors online, and check your stats against…

THE WORLD

There now.  Doesn’t that sound like a whole lot more fun than work??

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Posted in Business, Commentary, Entertainment, Games, Humor, Internet, Life, Television

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Gift guide

Posted on January 7, 2012 | 1 Comment

To all travelers, business or pleasure:

I got a peek behind the curtain yesterday during my flight to Dallas.  Discovered something that can turn a cold, distant flight attendant into a friendly and engaged conversationalist.

Cookies

It’s as simple as that.

Two pilots were deadheading on my flight from New York City, and they were in the row in front of me.  After we achieved a ‘comfortable cruising altitude,’ the flight attendants started coming.  One by one.  Big smiles on their faces.  Gratitude on their lips.

All because one of the pilots brought the crew cookies when he boarded the plane.

With the rest of the passengers, the flight attendants were polite, but we didn’t get those genuine grins.  Or the frequent check-ins to see if we needed anything else.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.  I’ve received a less effusive version of this treatment when I’ve given a flight attendant a magazine when I’m finished with it.  But yesterday I learned an important nuance:

Do it at the start of the flight.

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Posted in Airplanes, Business, Commentary, Food, Foods, Humor, Life, Travel

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That’s the spirit

Posted on December 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Did you know you can track Santa’s progress tonight via NORAD?

Yep, as in the North American Aerospace Defense Command.  And all because of a misprinted phone number.

Back in 1955, a newspaper ad for a Sears store in Colorado Springs advertised a direct line to Santa Claus.  Callers instead reached CONRAD  — NORAD’s predecessor — and hotline operator Colonel Harry Shoup obligingly used the radar to track Santa for the kids on the line.

That’s customer service, folks.

And a tradition was born.  Since 1958, NORAD volunteers have personally responded to phone calls and emails about Santa from children all around the world. Today NORAD provides up-to-the-minute info on Santa’s location via Google Earth and Google Maps, and Twitter and Facebook posts about each sighting, including the cookies and beverages consumed by the big man at each stop.

Talk about turning a wrong into a right.

Way to go, Harry.

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Posted in Business, Christmas, Commentary, Holiday, Humor, Internet, Life

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Here’s a tip

Posted on December 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

MBA students at Boston University recommended brands for purchase and revitalization in team presentations Monday and today.

I’d like to add another to the list:

The felt tip pen

One such pen swallowed by a woman in Great Britain 25 years ago was recovered by doctors from her stomach intact and ready to write. Stomach acids had eaten off the pen’s brand name — darn the luck — but not the ink inside. In fact, upon removal, doctors wrote ‘hello’ with the pen.

Find that hard to believe?

The woman supposedly swallowed the pen using it to check spots on her tonsils in a mirror while standing on a ladder when she fell, leading to the accidental ingestion.

Heck — forget the pen company.  Buy the movie rights!

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Posted in Business, Comedy, Commentary, Family, Health, Humor, Internet, News

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Oh Canada

Posted on December 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

American Airlines — you know, the bankrupt one — sent me an email reminder last night to check-in for my ‘international flight.’

Can I really leave the country on American Eagle in less than 90 minutes?

Turns out I can.

That breathtaking view is Toronto, Ontario.  This won’t be my first visit there, but my first real opportunity to see the city .  Last time the weather was so heinous, I only saw the airport and my hotel, which was located on the outskirts of the city.

Didn’t step a foot outside.

This trip I’m staying in the heart of the city.  So I’m crossing all my available appendages that it will be nice enough outside to do a little sightseeing during my 30-hour stay.  But the forecast says ‘light snow.’

How many inches = light in the Great White North?

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Posted in Airplanes, Business, Commentary, Humor, Life, transportation, Travel

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Parts is parts

Posted on November 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

Take a good look at your body.

Which part is worth the big bucks?

Lots of celebs have had to answer that question…and have taken big insurance policies as a result.  Many make perfect sense.

Others are kinda surprising.

Let’s start with the more expected ones.  Supermodel and Project Runway host Heidi Klum has her legs insured for $2 million with London’s Phillips de Pury & Co., although her right leg is supposedly worth more than her left which has a small scar.

And Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards has his hands insured for $1.6 million with Lloyd’s of London.

They make their living off their limbs, so it stands to reason (even if Richards doesn’t).

But a $10 million policy on actress America Ferrara’s smile?  Just because she hawks Crest White Strips?  And a $120 million worth of insurance on St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGuire’s ankle?

His ankle?  It doesn’t even swing the bat!

Of course, that’s nothing compared to David Beckham’s whopping $195 million policy that covers his entire body — the largest personal insurance policy in sports history — because a lot of his income comes from endorsements.

Beckham can’t bend it if he isn’t pretty.

Which brings us back to today’s burning question…

What body part would you insure?  What is most valuable to you, your livelihood and your quality of life?

Like Keith Richards, I would insure my hands.  Not because I can play any musical instrument well enough to earn even my lunch money, but because I use them to earn a living.  And to take care of my day-to-day needs.

And to play on Facebook and Twitter.

Heck, that’s worth a couple of million dollars right there.

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Posted in Business, Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life

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