Legal Theft

 

They Are Worse Than Payday Loans. Hard to believe...a cash-strapped borrower uses their car as collateral for a short-term loan, typically 30 days. A typical title loan comes with a $250 upfront fee and loans have to be repaid in full within 30 days. If borrowers can’t come up with the cash, they either sacrifice their car, or they can pay another $250 to get their loan extended. You can get them online.  

Yahoo Report - Report by NBC News - Ads Gloss Over the Risks - Consumer Complaints and Reviews - Fraud Guides

Dumb.com

This site is a collection of links to dumb web pages and an assortment of other things to keep you amused. Dumbdotcom

Popular Old Time Radio Shows from the 1930s, 1940s etc.
Everyday Objects Dancing On Sound
Funny trick questions you can ask your friends
Silly jokes...
If Baby Names Were Chosen Based On Parent's Profession
Over 400 free classic movies that you can watch online, forwards and backwards...
Riddles
Play more than 3500 Free Online Games!
Spot the difference in two images
Translate English to upside down typing (Klingon, Morse code, reverse text, sign language, and more)
Over 400 classic films you can watch for free
Wacky and strange names of real cities, towns, and villages
A list of strange and unusual streets
Texting codes for the elderly
Silly photos of cats with things on them:

Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world? Answer: Mt. Everest; it just wasn't discovered.

Insult: What are you going to do for a face when the baboon wants his butt back? 

...and that's just to name a few. I especially enjoyed the old time radio broadcasts.

High Efficiency Washers

About a year ago we purchased a front load high efficiency washer and the handyman I had install it cross threaded the cold water intake so it was leaking pretty badly. Thinking it was a cracked plastic fitting, I called a repairman who fixed it for a nominal charge and gave me a lesson on high efficiency washers and detergent use. First, he said that with just two of us we really had no need for the high efficiency washer because they are designed for loads that are probably much bigger than anything only two adults are likely to have. A simple top loader would have suited our needs at a fraction of the cost. He also suggested that we use only about 1/3 of the "recommended" amount of high efficiency detergent because we rarely have any laundry that is heavily soiled...the results have been satisfactory and the detergent lasts three times as long!

I recommend the Cleaning Institute's 16-page pdf booklet you can download HERE for complete information.  Other recommended reading:

Difference between HE detergents and regular detergents
Which Washer? Regular or high efficiency? Straight Dope
Consumer Reports Buying Guide
Consumer Reports Pros and Cons
Worth the Expense? How Stuff Works

Japanese Battleship Musashi Located

     Ever since I lived in North Carolina and visited the battleship North Carolina, I have been fascinated by those behemoths.
     I recently noticed a story on Yahoo about the discovery of the Japanese battleship Musashi which was, along with a sister ship, the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleship ever constructed.
     The Musashi was commissioned in mid-1942, modified to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and spent the rest of the year working up. The ship was transferred to Truk in early 1943 and sortied several times that year with the fleet in unsuccessful searches for American forces. She was used to transfer forces and equipment between Japan and various occupied islands several times in 1944.
     Torpedoed in early 1944 by an American submarine, Musashi was forced to return to Japan for repairs, where the navy greatly augmented her anti-aircraft armament. She was present during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, but did not come in contact with American surface forces.
     Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier-based aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Over half of her crew was rescued. Her wreck was located in March 2015 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his team of researchers.
     Mushasi's size and armor is hard to imagine. Its waterline armor was 16.1 inches thick and below that its armor ranged in thickness from 10.6 to 7.9 inches over the magazines and machinery spaces respectively and tapered to a thickness of 3.0 inches at its bottom edge.
     The deck armor ranged in thickness from 9.1 to 7.9 inches. The turrets were protected with an armor 25.6 inches thick on the front and 9.8 inches on the sides. Musashi contained 1147 watertight compartments (1065 underneath the armor deck, 82 above) to preserve buoyancy in the event of battle damage. 

Wikipedia article

Visit the live stream HERE

You will also want to visit the investigator's site HERE

Ohio Military Veterans Who Served in Iraq - Bonus Money

Many Ohio veterans may be missing out on bonus money simply because it is not well advertised.

DEADLINE TO FINALIZE APPLICATIONS FOR IRAQ SERVICE IS APPROACHING
An application for Iraq service is finalized when you have mailed the signed, notarized application and required documents to the Ohio Veterans Bonus Program. All documents supporting your application for Iraq service MUST BE POSTMARKED OR RECEIVED no later than June 30, 2015.

Visit the Ohio Veterans Bonus Program Web Site for details

Dog Bites

 

    What do you do if you are bitten by a dog? They may be our best friends, but dogs are still animals and they can bite. In fact, dogs bite about 4.5 million Americans every year, half of them children between ages 5 and 9. One out of every five of those bites causes an injury that requires medical attention, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
     Dog bites can happen for a lot of reasons, from a puppy in the teething stage nipping you to an attack by a strange dog on the street. When dealing with dog bites, there are certain steps to take, but what to do depends upon the circumstances and severity of the injury. Here’s our advice on dealing with dog bites, starting with what to do in every case. READ MORE

Preventing Dog Bites - American Veterinary Medical Association
Dog Bite Law
Dog Bites - Wikipedia
25 Most Dangerous Breeds Likely to Turn on Their Owners - Dog bites depend on a number of things such as genes, temperament and most obvious, how the dog is raised and trained. It’s not always the dog’s fault but dog bite statistics by breed is useful just in case it might affect a person’s choice on buying a certain breed.
14 Dog Breeds Blacklisted by Insurance Companies - While you might love your dog, the companies that carry the insurance for your house, apartment, or condominium might not. In fact, your dog's breed might determine whether or not an insurance company is even willing to provide coverage for your home.
Dogs LEAST Likely to Bite

Online Calculators

     How many bags of concrete will it take for me to pour a new sidewalk in front of my house? It will take 125 each of 80 pound bags and at $5.25 each at Lowe's, it'll cost $656.25.
     I thought my current weight would put me just a smidgen over my recommended weight but the Ideal Weight Calculator says it should be what it was when I was a kid in the military. It must not be working right.
     According to another calculator I need 2,025 Calories a day to maintain my weight. And I should take 216 - 405 grams of carbohydrate for my energy needs. I'd need to cut out 500 Calories a day to lose a pound a week. At least according to the bra size calculator, I don't need one...that's good! 
     This site has a calculator for every need: Financial, Weight Loss, Prgnancy, Gas Mileage, Time Zones, Concrete, Bra Size and they even have Math calculators. If you have a website or Blog some of the calculators can be added to your site. Calculatordotnet

The Fascinating World of Blimps

   

  Blimps are airships. Airships are defined as a powered, steerable aircraft that is inflated with a gas that is lighter than air. A dirigible is same as an airship. Rigid airships, semi-rigid airships and blimps are all dirigibles. They are inflated with helium which, in the US at least, is only available from certain natural gas wells in Oklahoma and Texas.

 

    Today, blimps are best known as advertising vehicles — Goodyear began using blimps to advertise their brand in 1925 — but blimps have also played an important role in the armed forces of many countries; the U.S. Navy’s lighter-than-air program made extensive use of blimps, primarily in anti-submarine and reconnaissance roles, from the 1920s through the 1950s.
     The Hindenburg was a rigid airship that maintained its shape by means of a metal framework. It had a framework surrounding one or more individual gas cells and maintained its shape by virtue of the framework and not from the pressure of its lifting gas. A zeppelin is a rigid airship manufactured by a particular company, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin of Germany (the “Zeppelin Airship Construction Company”), founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. He was considered the father of the rigid airship but not all rigid airships are “zeppelins,” just as not all photocopiers are “Xerox” machines. The term zeppelin is often associated with the German airships that conducted bombing raids during World War I, but while most of these ships were built by the Zeppelin Company the German military also used rigid airships of very different design built by the Schutte-Lanz and Parseval companies, so not all German WWI airships were zeppelins. Zeppelins still fly today and the new Goodyear airship is a NOT a blimp but a zeppelin, built by a descendant of the same company that built Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg.
     A semi-rigid airship, like a blimp, maintains its shape from internal gas pressure, but it has a partial rigid frame, usually in the form of a keel, which supports and distributes loads and provides structural integrity during maneuvering.
     Additional Information:

Wikipedia

How Blimps Work

Goodyear Blimp

MetLife Blimp

Dirigibles, Zeppelins and Blimps

Personal Blimp

Van Wagner - Blimp operators

Advertising Blimps

Radio Controlled Model Blimps

All About...

 

 

Be sure and check out the "All About" series in the column on the right and learn all about...

the Hatfield and McCoy feud

 the Battle of Gettysburg

Airplane propellers

Steam locomotives

Tour Navy ships

Rock collecting

 Submarines

Helicopters

 Antarctica

the Moon

Icebergs

Mucous

Manure

 Cheese

 Farts

 Cats