August 4, 2014

Around the world, discarded tires tread again

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20140802-discarded-tires-tread-again

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from Kenya to India to Detroit to Sweden, clever and eco-minded niche entrepreneurs are turning one of industrialized society’s most ubiquitous and difficult-to-dispose-of waste products (an estimated 1.5 billion tires are discarded each year worldwide) into weirdly appealing – and super-tough – items with a little bit of, um, soul.
Enterprising locals in Kenya have made a cottage industry out of hand-crafting so-called akala sandals from the “pelts” of old car tires. They sell on the streets of Nairobi for anywhere from $2 to $5 a pair – considerably less than retail footwear sold nearby, and boasting 10 times the longevity.



In fact, Maasai tribesmen, who roam southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, have commonly worn these durable sandals – also known as “thousand-milers” – for decades to walk through brush tougher than rhino hide. And the footwear is trending mainstream as you read this, at e-tailers like Maasai Treads and Akala Sandals and soleRebels, whose $80 "tooTOOs" womens shoes, which feature outsoles made of hand-cut discarded tire treads, are pictured above.

Then there is Detroit Threads, where the Reverend Faith Fowler ripped a page from the thousand-miler pagebook. At Cass Community Social Services in Detroit, she employs dozens of workers who turn old tires – the group’s Green Industries division collects about 35,000 discards a year – into $25 flip-flops with some serious tread life. Aimed at urban hipsters who are tired of the same old look, the sandals are designed by students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.



http://www.web2carz.com/lifestyle/shopping/2546/10-cool-ways-to-recycle-car-parts

August 3, 2014

Palin daughter is now broke

...if this was Obama's daughter.....


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2714084/Bristol-Palin-fighting-child-support-Levi-Johnston-earning-ZERO-income-two-years.html



Palin, 23, bought a five-bedroom Arizona home with all cash just four years ago, but now she can't make a dollar.

The daughter of former Alaska governor and one-time Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has filed paperwork to try and get child support payments dating back nearly two years from Levi Johnston, her former fiance and the father of her son Tripp, five. 

Bristol claims in the paperwork that her 2013 income was zero dollars, and so far in 2014 it's zero as well.

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While she has flamed out professional, it appears Levi has been making a regular income. After posing for Playgirl in 2009 and writing a tell-all a year later, Levi has gotten married, had a baby girl and gotten a job.

Johnston made $62,400 in 2014 and $39,067.25 the year before, according to the paperwork. His wages are currently being garnished 40% as he works to pay his outstanding bills. 

August 3, 2014

donald trump on ebola - angry patient being brought to US

August 3, 2014

Walmart: 'Going to a very dark place'

Walmart may not go the way of RadioShack (RSH) any time soon. But Goldman Sachs says that customers are abandoning the big-box pioneer in droves.
On Tuesday, the investment bank downgraded Walmart (WMT)'s stock to 'Neutral,' saying that big-box stores are losing out to online retailers and stores with more focused inventories.

With $469 billion in annual sales, Walmart isn't quite going out of business, but the retailer has seen sales slip for five straight quarters. Online shopping is clearly hurting the store, as more customers turn to Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and other merchants for everyday items such as hardware and groceries.
E-commerce is making Walmart's vast breadth of merchandise less appealing to shoppers. Instead, customers are looking for better deals on a more narrow assortment of goods available at stores like Costco (COST) and dollar stores The bank upgraded Costco's stock to Buy.
Goldman noted that Amazon's move into grocery sales is the biggest threat facing Walmart and a risk to Costco.
Despite the bank's pessimism about big-box retailers, maintained a 'Buy" rating on Target (TGT).
Related story: Walmart seizes on Amazon's move against publisher
Walmart grew to be the world's largest retailer by promising the lowest prices and getting shoppers to pick up things like screwdrivers or towels on a whim when they came in for cold medicine. Today, though, Walmart's customers are "rationing" purchases and checking the store's prices against Web-based stores, according to Brian Sozzi, CEO of Belus Capital Advisors.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/30/news/companies/goldman-walmart-downgrade/index.html?hpt=ob_articleallcontentsidebar&iid=obnetwork

August 1, 2014

woman posts response to group that taunted her for wearing bikini that exposed stretchmarks

Defiant mother-of-five, 33, who was fat-shamed on beach because of her stretch marks posts picture of her stomach on Facebook - and the world comes out in overwhelming support
Tanis Jex-Blake said the group started 'pointing, laughing and pretending to kick me' as she attempted to sunbathe at Alberta Beach
She posted a picture of her sunbathing and open letter on to Facebook 
She has now received support from across the world after post was widely share




X
In the post she wrote: 'I'm sorry if my first attempt at sun tanning in a bikini in public in 13 years "grossed you out". 

'I'm sorry that my stomach isn't flat and tight. I'm sorry that my belly is covered in stretch marks. 

'I'm NOT sorry that my body has housed, grown, protected, birthed and nurtured FIVE fabulous, healthy, intelligent and wonderful human beings.'


In the post, she goes on to say: 'I'm sorry if my 33 year old, 125 lb body offended you so much that you felt that pointing, laughing, and pretending to kick me. 

'But I'll have you know that as I looked at your "perfect" young bodies, I could only think to myself "what great and amazing feat has YOUR body done?". 

'I'll also have you know that I held my head high, unflinching as you mocked me, pretending that what you said and did had no effect on me; but I cried in the car on the drive home.'

August 1, 2014

EMTs rescue doll from hot car, police dept will pay for damage to car

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2014/08/01/emts-mistakenly-rescue-lifeless-doll-from-hot-car/

The police department in Hoboken, N.J., received several calls yesterday afternoon about a lifeless-looking baby locked in a hot car parked on a roadside. EMTs rushed to the scene, immediately smashed the window and pulled a “baby” from a car safety seat. The crew was shocked and relieved when they realized the child wasn’t real.

The baby doll belonged to the granddaughter of Luz Kitty Mieles. The 2-year-old left the life-like looking doll in the car.

Mieles was at work during the incident and when she returned to her car she was surprised.“I said, ‘Oh no, my car!’” Mieles told CBS News New York. “When I got there, everything was broken.”

The Police department was apologetic and promised to pay for the damage.

The EMTs told CBS that their coworkers were giving them flak but the Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps supported the team’s decision.

August 1, 2014

airlines are getting tough with people who bring roller bags on plane

I'm waiting for a flight out of lax. People without roller bags are being allowed to board 1st.

August 1, 2014

mom outraged by anatomically correct baby boy doll. new shipments have warning on package

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/should-dolls-have-anatomically-correct-genitals-this-mom-doesnt-think-so/article19847833/?cmpid=rss1

“I took my daughter to buy a new baby at toys r us. And she was so excited to find a baby boy doll because it was dressed in blue. But when she went to change his diaper, this was the surprise. Why?? These r little girls that don’t need to know the anatomy,” she wrote, according to News 96.5.com, a Florida-based radio station (the original Facebook page is no longer available).

Some parents sided with Burgmann. “O WoW!!!,” wrote Betty Grooms Huff in reply to the post. “Packaging should be more specific so parents can make the choice whether or not it’s appropriate for their child. It’s kinda late to take it back now that she’s already been exposed to seeing that. I mean the damage is done and it left you having to explain things sooner than you wanted to.”

Another seemed even more shocked than Burgmann. “This is nuts! Figuratively & literally!” wrote Candida DeMasse Krupa.

Others, however, not only shrugged it off as no big deal, but said the doll is a valuable tool to educate kids.


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mom was shocked to find an anatomically correct male baby doll while playing with her daughter. Outrage resulted when she posted a picture of the doll online. Some parents think the doll is inappropriate for children, others simply ask the manufacture to put a warning on the packaging. 

"Please note that the current packaging clearly state 'anatomically correct'," says Kathleen Waugh, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Toys"R"Us, Inc. "The earlier shipments last year did not have it noted on the packaging, but the current inventory does."

http://www.hlntv.com/video/2014/07/31/anatomically-correct-baby-boy-doll-shocks-shoppers

August 1, 2014

Radio shacks days are numbered

Whenever I stop by a radio shack, I'm usually the only customer. I always wonder how they stay open


http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/31/news/companies/radioshack-future/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

future is about as bright as the VHS tapes it used to sell.

The chain of 4,000 stores has just $62 million in cash left - a figure that is rapidly approaching zero. Things are so dire that it actually doesn't have enough money to close the 1,100 locations management says it needs to shutter.

Investors, credit rating agencies and the company''s lenders seem to be in agreement that RadioShack's days are numbered.
Even the company's own Super Bowl ad mocked its stores for being decades out of date.

"They have been irrelevant for a long time," said Robin Lewis, CEO of The Robin Report, a retail strategy newsletter. "If they're not the sickest patient in ICU, they're minutes away from being rolled in."


Last month research firm B. Riley & Co. made the unusual move of cutting its price target for RadioShack (RSH) shares from $1 a share -- to $0. Shares of RadioShack (RSH) , hit a record low of 62 cents Thursday after Moody's said it expects RadioShack to run out cash by Fall of 2015.