Tagged: Christmas

Why guess? Make a list

English: Gift ideas for men - wrapping paper e...
Image via Wikipedia

I was talking with a friend the other day and she expressed that she made a list for her husband for gifts for christmas. Instead of getting a gift she didn’t want, she wanted to get something that she needed but didn’t want to know what the gift was. I thought that her suggestion of making a list of things you want was brilliant.

I was thinking that perhaps something like Amazons gift list would be helpful for people all the time. Perhaps to show someone your appreciation you can give them a gift from their wish list instead of money. That seems like a personal and special way to show someone your love.

I was curious so I did a search. Apparently someone has already done an Amazon wish gift plugin! I am going to try it.

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Anyone else tired of hearing dumb sayings?

1902 Barber Dime
Image via Wikipedia

If you read on the Internet, you find certain phrases used way past a healthy lifespan. Today the phrase that is irritating me is “turn on a dime”.

Ok, let’s think about this for a minute. What can really turn on a dime? No car, vehicle or anything else that I know can turn on a dime. I saw a lawnmower once that seemed to rotate on its inner wheel, but that was a lot larger than a dime. I think the only thing that could turn on a dime is a drunk ant. Are you with me?

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Stories from my past: Giving at christmas

Farmers in the rural area
Image by IITA Image Library via Flickr

When I was a kid I lived in a rural area. It was mostly blue-color families, very few well-off people. So naturally in that environment there are always “invisible poor” people. We lived close to some of those invisible people.

They lived perhaps six blocks from where I lived. Their home was in poor shape from the outside, and even worse from the inside. I discovered that when they were chosen to receive help for christmas. We delivered food and I was shocked when they opened their fridge and nothing was inside. It was amazing to me that people could exist that way. They also got clothes and everything they received was like gold to them. They started to cry with gratitude for what they received.

Giving is such a great gift, it staggers my mind why people don’t seem to appreciate it. Why don’t we see that giving is getting?

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Staying warm two hours at a time

International Money Pile in Cash and Coins
Image by epSos.de via Flickr

I have a friend who lives in a building that has a heating system that only works for two hours at a time. That is, he can set his temp up to 72 degrees but it will only work for two hours. After that he has to set it for another 2 hours. They don’t charge him for the heat, but he hates the system.

Sometimes I wonder if our economy could be like that. It moves in small spurts of activity. I wonder if instead of having the ability to buy things all day, it would help focus us to only be able to spend money for 2 hours a day. That is, businesses would only accept money for that period of time. They could continue to work and do everything else, but if you missed that time period, you wouldn’t get services that day.

Why should we do this? I think that having the temptation to spend money is too difficult for people. If I knew that I could only spend money from lets say, 10 to noon each day I would focus and plan for the things that I needed that day. I don’t think we would do impulse shopping like we do now. I think that often christmas is an excuse to spend money we don’t have to impress people we don’t love, for reasons that are unclear to everyone. No I’m not a grinch, I’ve just seen firsthand that the best gifts are not material but emotional, spiritual and intellectual.

Maybe what the country needs is not a good five cent cigar, but a good 95% focus on being rather than doing.

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Consumer Watchdog: The 12 scams of Christmas – National – NZ Herald News – StumbleUpon

 

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 21: J. Schwartz of...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Consumer Watchdog: The 12 scams of Christmas – National – NZ Herald News – StumbleUpon. What happens when people think they can get something for nothing. I have had the romantic scam played on me numerous times. Why do women think men are so desperate?

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Economics Trumps Ideology (via Usna1957′s Weblog)

Scrooge's signature dive into money.
Image via Wikipedia

I had to read this post a few times to make sure I understand what they were saying. It seems like the author is saying that Apple is guilty because they have 60 billion in the bank. I don’t understand that argument.

Business have the right to use their money however they want. It is disappointing when companies don’t choose to invest in pro-social things. I wonder if the author knew that Apple employee Kathleen Ramsay once told all its employees

“The company also recognizes we’re going to continue to invest in the downturn; this is what we did when the economy turned down in early 2000. When the economy did turn around, we were in a position that we had new products to bring to market and that was a very successful strategy for us. We are going to continue to do that again.”

I am not excusing Apple for its behavior or choices. Everyone has to stand by their own choices. I would like however to ask a few questions.

  1. If Apple didn’t keep that money how should they invest it? I have read that they keep it in short term accounts.
  2. If Apple spend the money on R&D wouldn’t that put other companies at a serious and almost overwhelming disadvantage?
  3. If you were Apple management and you were allegedly 60 days from being closed down in the late 90s due to lack of finances, wouldn’t you want to hold some money back to protect from getting in that situation again? If you make a mistake once, wouldn’t you want to make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice?
  4. If Apple gave away its products until it ran out of cash what would the future be? Who would have created the iPod, iPhone and things that are uniquely Apple?
  5. If Apple didn’t have billions to buy other companies, how could they grow in new markets? Hasn’t it been, every long term company explored and started new markets to continue to grow?
  6. If Apple spend the money by dispersing it to their shareholders then what would prevent larger companies from simply acquiring them? Many companies have had hostile takeovers because they don’t have the cash or can’t convert their assets to prevent it. Perhaps Apple wants to continue doing things “my own way” without a bigger suitor calling the shots.
  7. Finally, if you were Apple and didn’t see anything that is strategic to the companies growth what would you do with the money? Would you continue to feel compelled to spend in that uniquely American way on things that don’t have a purpose?

Perhaps Apple has a reason for what it does. Perhaps Apple is just greedy bastards and they are swimming in the money like Scrooge McDuck. They have the free agency to choose whatever they want. So far their choices have given us more options than we had without them. I am curious to see what they have up their sleeve. Perhaps one day they will just buy the United States and then we will all be Apple employees. I hope to run the Channel 9 blog if that happens.

Liberal media is absolutely awash in complaining that “corporations” are sitting on their money when they should be hiring. One wonders if that complaint includes liberal Apple Computer Corporation? The NY Times, in an article about the price of the iPAD2, which is lower than the competition ( most unusual for Apple), is able to do so because they can afford to take a lower profit. And the reason they can afford to take a lower profit is because … Read More

via Usna1957′s Weblog

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