Fila Slide Sandals

PRO: The best thing about these Fila Slide Sandals is the material. It is comfortazble and the material shrinks with heat to mold to your individual foot. I have several pairs and love them for the fit (especially after they are broken in), convenience of a slip on, and the price ($14.95 at Kohls). The footbed is textured and padded in three layers to add to comfort and grip. It is made of EVA so it is completely waterproof, great for any weather, showers, and pool wear. CON: These sandals will seem stiff at first, but the mold well. The worst thing about these sandals is they shrink, so they usually run small and you might find big differences in the same size even when new, even within pairs. I would not buy them without trying on both in the box. If you leave them in the sun or in the car in 90+ degree heat, they will shrink a couple of sizes. If you have kids that might not be too bad, but unless you know someone with smaller feet who will wear your shrunken sandals, don't leave them in the sun or hot places. If you live in a hot climate, they will eventually shrink and need to be replaced or handed down to a smaller foot. I will definitely buy these again and keep a couple of pair of these around.

Always Dailies Xtra-Protection

PRO: Very low cost, about a nickle a piece. Very lightweight. CON: They are small and thin, as advertised (the box says 20% thinner, 5x drier, though those claims always lead me to ask than what? as exactly what the product is being compared to is missing from the comparison). Heavy perspiration will soak them. The box does not reseal or reclose well and they are not invididually wrapped, nor are they in an airtight wrapper within the box, so the sanitary and dryness aspect comes into question and you must package them in your own plastic bag for storage and travel, especially after the box of 50 is opened. They have no wrapper for disposal. They will protect clothing, but only for a very short while.

legal addiction

I found a very odd name for a site comparing itself to medical marijuana and relaxation. From my perspective, it makes no sense to emphasize the law and substance abuse if you are trying to offer an alternative calming peaceful therapuetic experience to people. THis is one person's opinion of sound therapy, but the first five minutes felt like a reasonably calming sleep machine, but the wind down after five minutes felt like a let down, a slow fall, and then the lower tones after that felt like sitting in traffic on the highway culminating in an annoying alarm clock buzz in the last thirty seconds. Just because they call it marijuana does not mean it is...

inexpensive local buffet

A great local find for Orlando, The Wild Rice Asian Buffet at 843 Lee Rd. Orlando, FL 32810 has an excellent price to product ratio. Staff are friendly and attentive. The place is clean. A wide selection of Asian and American hot and cold foods is served on eight serving tables with a dozen dishes on each. There is a separate counter for choose-your-own-ingredients for hibachi, another for choose-your-own-ingredients for asian noodle soup, a not so impressive sushi counter, and a couple of cold dessert tables that include a soft ice cream machine and a hard ice cream freezer. All that for under $10 including a soft drink and tax for lunch. Just over $12 for dinner ($1 more fri/sat nights, $3.99 per pound more for steamed crab at dinner). Very fair discounts for children. Overall, excellent prices for the selection, the quality is above average, and the cleanliness is well above average. I found this place yesterday just cruising for an inexpensive lunch and I returned with five friends today and they liked the place too, so yay, two days in a row of yummy asian buffet that definitely reminded me how much i love buffets, especially asian buffets... yes, i like them enough to link them like this...

hope you had something yummy today too :)

Apple vs. Microsoft: Which is better at Planned Obsolescence?

As much as i enjoy supporting the underdog and for years have applauded the ad campaigns for the Apple Corporation that encourage the negative perspective of huge corporations like Microsoft, are they really any different? A fundamental screw-job for you and me as consumers that most manufacturers deploy is planned obsolescence. Some, usually those with an interest in business, might justify technological changes and suggest reports are just conspiracy theories, but are they? Ask yourself how many items have you purchased in the last decade are you still using? For instance, cell phones?

While the Microsoft Corporation have long been pros at wallet-milking, the Apple Corporation may be even better, seriously. The difference is that Apple is more creative at pointing the finger at Microsoft.

Politics, I mean, business as usual. And we get fooled again. But there is hope, we hope.

buy this... a lot

You get home from work and the sun goes down and you turn on the lights because you don't want to sit in the dark... what if you could turn on the lights without using any electricity?

Little Sun from Studio Olafur Eliasson on Vimeo.

and the next step?... is it so far fetched to believe that solar energy cells can power everything we need if we just invest in the technology to convert solar radiation into power for everything we need?... just a little over a hundred years ago people would have laughed at the idea of something replacing candles and gas lamps... if humanity wants to survive, we will... believe it... work for it... invest in it...

NFC

Now much of the world might think this is going to be about football, but noooooo, this is about near field communications - technology that turns your phone into your wallet and virtually does away with the need for credit cards or cash. If i had investment capital, I would be buying some stocks...

Companies like ISIS will provide software, though i can see many jumping on that bandwagon once the hardware companies get going. The question is, will you, Lucy and Ricky Consumer, buy in.

The new technology is for electronic payments but not with a credit or debit card, rather, with your phone... Convenient, sure, but how secure is the question. What if you lose your phone, can you call it from another phone, download all it's information securely by entering some code in your new phone, and then push a button on your new phone to make your old phone self destruct?. Kind of like mission:impossible, but will passwords be enough protection? How about a fingerprint scanner, that should be a simple and secure addition.

So you have a way to wave your phone like a magic wand and create an electronic transaction. The next question is will merchants do their part? Are they going to invest in the hardware and software needed?

Of course they will, eventually, and so will you, eventually, when everyone is as sure as we can be that it is as safe and secure as the current system of monetary transaction, the credit or bank card. The question is how long will that be and more, from an investment perspective, which company will emerge as the leader in hardware and software production for the new NFC world.

Something to ponder if you've got money to invest.