But beware of pitfalls -prices can change and products can be out of stock:

‘Smartphone downloads of apps designed to help shoppers find the product they want at the cheapest price are way up this holiday season, making it what the Wall Street Journal calls the “first app-powered Christmas.” Particularly useful are programs that utilize the camera of, say, your iPhone to scan barcodes and compare retailers’ prices. Armed with this technology, shoppers can haggle for discounts—or go where the deal is.

‘The numbers don’t lie: On Black Friday, downloads of shopping apps for the iPhone were up 77% compared to last year. One developer says its app for the Apple phone and the Android OS was used 18 million times the weekend after Thanksgiving, up from just 1 million in 2008. But there are pitfalls, as prices can change and products can be out of stock; one app-touting company has an employee call—like, actually call—the stores to verify inventory. Otherwise, the CEO says, “you’re setting up a consumer for disappointment.”’ -WSJ

Do you want to get alerts when prices drop? This is one simple app-
Submit an email address at ShoppingNotes and you got it.

From the Yale Book of Quotations:

“Keep your government hands off my Medicare.” Speaker at town hall meeting.

“We’re going to be in the Hudson.” Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.
(He literally meant the airplane)

“There’s an app for that.” Apple, in advertising for the iPhone.

“You lie!” Joe Wilson. (to President Obama)

“The Cambridge police acted stupidly.” Barack Obama.

“I’m going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” Kanye West.
(speaking of the ‘jackass’)

“Um, you guys said that we, um, did this for the show.” Falcon Heene, aka Balloon Boy.
(hoax of the year?)

“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel.‘” Sarah Palin.

“The governor is hiking the Appalachian Trail.” Spokesman for Mark Sanford.
(looking for women?)

“You give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.” Jesse Ventura. (Bravo Jesse!)
-AP

Another issue on the redheads just after yesterday!:

‘In another case of redheads fighting back against the injustices of the world, Britain’s advertising watchdog has banned a newspaper ad for being “anti-ginger” after three people complained. The ad, for a TV show called Dating in the Dark, reads: “How do you spot a ginger in the dark?… Looks or personality, who wins?” The Advertising Standards Authority said it implied “that people with ginger hair were unattractive,” notes the Independent.

‘They aren’t the only Brits seeing red. Yesterday UK supermarket giant Tesco apologized for selling a greeting card that said, “Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones.”’ -Independent

This is the weirdest prejudice I’ve ever seen: against the redhairs. Just why would anyone have that!? I’ve read thousands of fiction and non-fiction books and there was only one reference I remember about redheads: a superstition in pre-modern Japan:

‘British supermarket giant Tesco has yanked a card from its shelves that poked fun at redheads after complaints from the outraged, red-haired mother of three redheaded daughters. The company said the card—which pictured a red-headed toddler with Santa and the words “Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones”—wasn’t mean to upset anybody, the BBC reports.

‘”I thought maybe it was just me because I am a mother of kids with red hair, but a lot of my friends and other people are absolutely disgusted,” said the complaining mom. “If the card had been about an overweight child the shop would have been shut down, and so would the people who made the card.”‘ -BBC

Who do the unemployed Americans blame for their status? Take a glimpse too at their heartbreaking lives:

‘Unemployment is taking an alarming toll on the mental health and family life of American workers, a New York Times/CBS poll finds. Some 86% say unemployment has caused a life crisis. Almost half say they’ve suffered from anxiety and depression, they’ve argued more with their family and friends since losing their jobs, and their kids are upset about the situation.

‘More than half say they’ve cut back on necessities as well as luxuries; one couple with two small children find themselves “saving quarters for diapers.” A quarter have lost their homes, or are threatened with eviction, and a quarter are now on food stamps. Half have no health insurance. Who do they blame for the spike in unemployment? Some 26% fingered Bush, 12% banks, 8% jobs going overseas, 8% politicians in general, and just 3% of those polled blamed President Obama. -NY Times

In contrast, Associated Press seems to be glad for infidels. They voted Tiger as Athlete of the Decade:

‘Tiger Woods finally got some good news today, when the AP voted him the athlete of the decade. Woods received 56 of the 142 votes cast by AP member editors since last month. More than half of the ballots were returned after the Nov. 27 car accident outside his Florida home that set off sensational tales of infidelity…’ -AP

CBS warned its golf commentator Ian Baker-Finch not to talk about Tiger Woods or ‘…I will get fired’, he said. Do you think this is evidence that CBS deserves the Network of the Decade award? I think so. -Sydney Morning Herald

The best blogger is not a man!? Yes. She just pretended to be one. Now why should she do that you wonder. Then she was featured in the best Weblog of 2009. This is an inspiring story for writers -specially women writers:

‘James Chartrand is a top blogger at Men with Pens, a web-renowned successful professional writer. Also, a woman. “James,” a single mother of two, had been trying to eke out a living as a writer under her own name, but it wasn’t going well. But as soon as she tried on the James Chartrand pen name, jobs instantly became easier to get, and paid better, she writes on Copyblogger.

‘“I was applying in the same places. I was using the same methods. Even the work was the same,” she writes. But the jobs were so much easier to get as a man that she eventually abandoned her real name—“a small concession for the ability to support my family.” She’s revealing her true gender only because a former friend threatened to out her. But she’s not revealing her real name. “So please. Just call me James.”’ -Copyblogger

I sent her a comment and asked: ‘So this is how bad sexism is even in the writing world?

Among those who made it to Adweek Media’s Best of 2000s are Google and Rupert Murdoch. Notice how the top 2 are bitterest of enemies?

Here’s a partial list:

MEDIA COMPANY OF THE DECADE and DIGITAL COMPANY OF THE DECADE
- Google

MEDIA EXECUTIVE OF THE DECADE – Rupert Murdoch

MEDIA ENTREPRENEURS OF THE DECADE – Larry Page & Sergey Brin

TV SHOW OF THE DECADE – The Sopranos

BROADCAST NETWORK OF THE DECADE – CBS

CABLE NETWORK OF THE DECADE – Disney Channel

MAGAZINE OF THE DECADE – Wired

RADIO PERSONALITY OF THE DECADE – Rush Limbaugh

WEB SITE OF THE DECADE – YouTube

BLOG OF THE DECADE – Gawker

CBS, Wired, and Gawker are the most surprising for me.
-full list at Daily Bits

This is what happens when your on-line ID is hijacked:

‘These days a computer virus can hijack not just your hard drive but also your online identity. Twitter and Facebook users are often mortified to learn that viruses have stormed their accounts, sending out messages to all their friends and followers. And all the more embarrassing when co-workers and loved ones who trust you fall for malicious programs cloaked as video links or online tests.

‘“I wonder what people are thinking of me right now?” one Twitterer lamented to the New York Times after discovering five days too late that a virus had been offering his followers fake Victoria’s Secret gift certificates. He’s not alone: 21% of social network users report being targeted by malicious programs. While viruses have long computer-hopped via email, they were more likely to be stopped by antivirus software or firewalls. These measures offer little protection online, creating a viral field day.’ -NY Times

Drug Can Stop Strokes, But Most Patients Don’t Get It
by RICHARD KNOX

‘…Since 1996 there’s been an approved drug called t-PA (for tissue plasminogen activator) that, according to some big studies, can often break up the clot, restore blood flow and prevent much permanent damage —- if the drug is given within a few hours of symptom onset.

‘About a third of stroke victims are thought to be eligible to get the clot-busting drug. But fewer than 5 percent do, by some estimates. The reasons are complicated…’ -full article at NPR.org

And a disturbed body-clock raises HBP risks:

‘Add high blood pressure to the long list of heightened risk factors for night shift workers, long-distance flight crews, and others with disturbances in the body’s 24-hour clock. In findings with implications for treatment of hypertension, Japanese researchers working on mice have shown that the circadian clock directly controls a blood-pressure-related gene that humans also have, BBC reports.

‘The researcher found that the circadian clock controls a gene that determines levels of a hormone that, when produced in excess, causes water retention in the kidneys, and thus high blood pressure. “Hypertension is common,” an expert says, “but the genes controlling blood pressure are not well understood. Their identification will help design better treatments for high blood pressure.”‘ -BBC

Some tips from Julie King and Joanna Faber on how ‘to keep the inner spoiled brat at bay, not to mention avoid serious parental embarrassment’:

Talk about disappointment beforehand. Give the kids examples from your life, and figure out polite reactions to that ugly sweater from Aunt Pearl.

Make it a game. Ask the kids to give you something lame, react appropriately, then do the same to them.

Turn down the volume. Don’t put gifts under the tree weeks in advance.
For Hanukkah, alternate gift nights with activity nights. Music, cooking, or anything non-presents-related.

Make your expectations for the kids clear—without negatives. Insist on gracious public behavior “without calling her greedy or a spoiled brat or selfish or any other choice adjectives that come to mind.” -Marin Mommies

This is from Gryphon:

I have some alternate suggestions, teach the children by example and through discipline from as early as you can that being a “brat” is not acceptable under ANY circumstances. Rudeness is never appropriate especially to a person who obviously means no offense and is trying to be loving and giving.

The last suggestion is good and negates the need for the “Ask the kids to give you something lame.” Object lessons such as those are completely unneeded if you have done the other stuff right. If you need to give object lessons like that, then you seriously screwed up somewhere ahead of time.

Name calling is never good, but doesn’t change the fact that “greedy” or “spoiled” is what they are if that is how they have been raised or allowed to act.