Every site should have a “Links” page. We just did it a bit grander than most! 
This is our collection of places from around the world. There is no telling what you might find here. We have links to sites all over the world. Some have interesting things to see. Others may offer information about something. Still others might help you in planning a trip or vacation. We found all of them interesting in some way. Having all theses links could get a bit confusing and plain hard to manage, so we have divided them into pages based on their home country.
We hope you will enjoy these links too. Sit back, click and let your imagination wonder. Then come back here and do it all again. 
It’s a bean!
You walk into a store and look around. There are shelves stocked with products and goods. Each is trying to get your attention. Each manufacturer wants you to buy their product instead of the competition. Each claim that their product is the better value because it is the better quality. While quality is a consideration, I want to look at a different area of value.
If you are a person that believes the brand name makes a difference in the quality and that this is the most important part of shopping, you might not be interested in this article. If, on the other hand, you are one that believes a bean is a bean and costs are the most important, read on.
I am going to look at grocery shopping. We all need to eat and, with the cost of food, finding the best price is important. As mentioned above, each manufacturer is claiming their product is the best and you should buy their beans.
Let’s keep this simple. You want the best price for that can of beans. The manufacturer wants you to buy their brand so they can make money and the store doesn’t care as long as they make money from the sale. In reality, all three of these things are going to happen to some degree. The store will make money on the sale. They would not be there otherwise. The manufacturer is going to make money if you choose their product. They package their product to look good so you will buy it. You are going to choose the product you think is the best price.
Question; “Is this the best price?” How do you figure out if these beans cost less than those other ones? This may sound simple since a can of beans is a can of beans, right? Let’s back up and look at this. We have figured out that a bean is a bean and we want the best price. The store doesn’t care as long as they make money. The manufacturer is making the package look good so you will buy. But, gee, there are all these sales and sizes and stuff. So, how do we figure out the best price?
The trick is to get down to a common unit. Grocery items, for the most part, are priced by the unit. This unit might be an ounce, pound, can or other measurement. Stores often have a “sale” on a brand of beans. A trick used to get you to buy the sale item is to price it so that it looks like a sale but costs as much, or more, than the item that is not on sale.
Remember, the bottom line is cost per unit. Do the 16 ounce can of beans cost less than the 20 ounce can? Is the five for a dollar sale a better price than the regular price of the item? What about Brand A sale versus Brand B regular price? To get the answer, look at the cost per unit. Many stores give you that comparison on the price tag of the item. The tag will read ‘Brand A beans, ‘X’ cents per can” and then below that will be the cost per ounce. Compare the cost per ounce, not the cost per can. The item is priced per can even if one brand is 20 ounces per can while the other is 16 ounces per can. Watch out for this!
If your grocery does not give you the comparison, just do the math. Always carry a calculator with you when you go to the grocery store, market or anywhere to shop … unless you are a math whiz. Even if you are good at math, the calculator is faster, more accurate and easier all around.
So, how do you figure out the cost per unit? First thing is to get to a common unit. If one product is per pound and the other per ounce, you would probably convert the pound to ounces. Sixteen ounces equals a pound. If you are buying in bulk, you might not want to deal with hundreds of ounces so pounds could be a better common unit. Ten 16 ounce cans equal ten pounds. Remember, the concept is a common unit. This does not have to be the lowest common unit.
So, a 16 ounce can of beans at 32 cents per can is two cents per ounce (.32 ÷ 16 = 0.02). With that knowledge, it is easy to see that the sale of three cans for a dollar is not a good sale no matter how good it sounds. Three times 16 is 48 ounces. That comes out to a bit over two cents per ounce. Not a lot, but it does add up when you are buying several ounces, or cans.
I hope you find this helpful. Just remember that comparing among stores is good, but comparing within the store is also needed. Manufacturers make their products look good to get you to buy. Stores make the prices look good so that you will buy. You need to know what *is* good when you buy.
Regards,
Frank
Don’t we all sometimes wish that every day were a holiday? No work or other needs we have to do. I suppose I should make it clear that for the purpose of this article, a “holiday” is any day that recognizes a cultural event, and not necessarily a day when businesses are closed.
The word “holiday” comes from the Old English word hāligdæg. The word originally referred only to special religious days. In modern use, it means any special day of rest or relaxation, as opposed to normal days off work or school. The word derived from the notion of “Holy Day”, and gradually evolved to its current form.
Ok. So why are there so many of them? You can visit the Earth Calendar and find a holiday on just about any day in any month of the year somewhere in the world. I think it comes from a need to remember something important that happened. This can be a recurring event such as the beginning of a new year or something that happened once but we feel should be remembered for some reason. If you look at it that way, birthdays and other such events are holidays. I can live with that. No more work today, we’re having a birthday party for someone!
Although most of us consider a holiday to be a day off from work, perhaps it would be a good idea celebrate each day. Just get up each morning and find something to celebrate. Enjoy the thought all day long and see what happens. Could be fun.
I wish you all a great holiday no matter what you are celebrating.
Regards,
Frank
I suppose most people in the USA and other “advanced” countries have cellular technology. Those wonderful gadgets that we call “cell phones” seem to be almost indispensable in today’s world. They are seen in use on buses, subways, automobiles, offices and most other places we go. Although not new, I still feel strange when I hear someone talking to what appears to be “thin air” and then realize that there is a “Bluetooth” device in their ear. But just what is a cell phone and where did they start?
The origin could be traced back to two-way radios, also known as mobile rigs, used in taxicabs, police cruisers, ambulances, and the like. These provided communication, but were not mobile phones or cell phones because they were not normally connected to the telephone network. Users could not dial phone numbers from these devices.
In 1910 Lars Magnus Ericsson installed a telephone in his car, although this was not a radio telephone or cell phone, he could, travelling across the country, stop at a place where telephone lines were accessible and using a pair of long electric wires, connect to the national telephone network.
Radio telephony was first used on first-class passenger trains between Berlin and Hamburg in Europe. They were also introduced on passenger airplanes for air traffic security as well as in tanks and other places. In 1946 soviet engineers G. Shapiro and I. Zaharchenko successfully tested their version of a radio mobile phone mounted inside a car. The device could connect to the local telephone network with a range of up to 20 kilometers.
In December 1947, Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young, two Bell Labs engineers, proposed hexagonal cells for mobile phones in vehicles. Since the technology did not exist then and the frequencies had not yet been allocated. Cellular technology was undeveloped until the 1960s.
The first person to have a mobile phone in the United Kingdom was reputedly Prince Philip, who had a system fitted into the trunk of his Aston Martin in 1957. The first fully automatic mobile phone system, called MTA (Mobile Telephone system A), was developed by Ericsson and commercially released in Sweden in 1956. This was the first system that did not require any kind of manual control in base stations, but was a bit heavy with a weight of 40 kg (90 lb). I’m not sure I would call that “mobile, but I imagine it was cutting edge. An upgraded version with transistors, weighing 9 kg (20 lb), was introduced in 1965.
Technology continued to march onward, as it usually does, and we find ourselves with cell phones that can text message, “surf the web” and many other things that would amaze the pioneers of this wonderful technology. We now have cell towers that connect us with each other while we are driving down the road, accessories that fit into our ear for privacy and hands free operation, cell phones that are small enough to fit in a small pocket and other gadgets that we “simply can’t live without”. We’ve come a long way!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. If you need cellular phone service or just want to compare services and phones to see what is available, please visit our sponsors or our other sites. County Station USA Mall can provide you with links to our vendors as well as other products that you might be interested in.
Regards,
Frank
It’s coming. Want it or not, it’s coming. That day in February that we all know as Saint Valentine’s Day. Not everyone celebrates it, but many do. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery.
Sending valentines is not as new a tradition as some might think. It was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain. In 1847 Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards.
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Some might think that the holiday is in memory of only one Saint Valentine. In reality, numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Romeand and Valentine of Terni .
Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome. and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni.
Enjoy your Valentine’s Day and if someone you love happens to have a birthday in February, or any other month for that matter, get 10% Off Birthday flowers and gifts as well.
I grew up in the muscle car era of the 60s and 70s. As such, I enjoyed racing and hot rods and all of the gas consuming things of that time period. It was a different life in many respects. There were areas of road that a father could take their son or daughter and teach them to drive without worry of traffic and other obstacles.
To say that times have changed would be an understatement. In my immortal youth, gasoline was plentiful. A vehicle that wouldn’t cruise at 70 mph was a clunker. Big cars, big engines and big gas tanks. Those were the requirements and were met by the auto industry with enthusiasm.
Today’s world is a far cry from those youthful days living in my memory. Now we need to save oil and gasoline, be frugal with our resources and protect the environment … or so they say. I’ll not argue that with them.
As population grows, even the best efforts to be efficient fail due to the increase in the number of people driving. Mathematics will tell you that even if the new cars get 10 times the gas mileage of the older cars, the shear volume of automobiles on the road more than negates the savings. So, what to do?
We could go car free, couldn’t we? Just do away with the automobile and walk, ride bicycles or use public transportation. I’m not sure that would fly well. As a people, we get use to having something and have a hard time doing without it. Call it ego, brainwashing or whatever, the concept of not having a vehicle that you have control of and you own is just beyond acceptable, right?
So, what can we do?
Maybe the answer is just to make certain areas car free? Take the inner city and ban automobiles. Set up a parking lot and require all cars to stop and park. Then provide transportation from that lot to the various areas of the city. A bus, cable car or other transportation could be used. Take the bike off the roof of your car and ride it from the parking lot. Walking is healthy. We are all told to exercise more. Drive to the parking lot, take the public transit to the nearest stop and then walk.
Along with the savings in gasoline, other benefits might include:
Less pollution in the inner city areas. Go to the city to “get a breath of fresh air”. What a concept, huh?
No need for parking areas on the streets or in parking garages. This leaves more room from businesses.
No need for big streets to accommodate cars. A smaller street means less land used for a mad rush in and out of the city. Less distance to the shop or office next door. Walking to the diner for lunch is doable.
Think safety. Walking would be safer with no cars. No road rage. More relaxed atmosphere.
There may even be other benefits that I haven’t thought of. No, it’s not a total fix. It might not even be feasible. But gee, it’s would a look. Ain’t it? 
Regards,
Frank
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Howdy! Name's Frank. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy your visit.
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