Category: Life

A Ridiculous Offer

One of the most ridiculous things I have ever read came in the mail today.

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Some outfit called National Deed Services, Inc., which surprisingly claims to be based in Washington, DC as opposed to Nigeria, wrote me this official looking letter telling me that the U.S. Government Federal Citizen Information Center “recommends that property owners should have a certified copy of their deed.” These kind folks offer to get me one for only $69.50.

Where to start…

First of all, a Google search for the “U.S. Government Federal Citizen Information Center” leads to a lot of pages citing that esteemed web site, but no web site with that exact name. I suspect the reference is intended to be or appear to be a reference to FirstGov.Gov, the “U.S Government’s official web portal.” I searched for all the likely terms on that page and couldn’t find anything advising me to get a certified copy of my deed. So while it may be a good idea, I don’t think the U.S. government is screaming for me to pay these folks $69.50 to get me a certified copy of my deed…

Especially when I can easily get it myself for $62.50 less than these folks want to charge me. That’s right, you can get a certified copy of your deed from the local clerk’s office. In Harris County, the charge is $5.00 for the certification plus $1.00 per page. I have a 2 page deed so it would be $5.00 + $2.00 = $7.00.

I’m not the only person who has a problem with this so called service.

As noted in the article above, it’s not illegal to charge someone a high price to do something that can otherwise be done cheaply, so there’s nothing illegal about this offer. Plus, there is the language at the bottom that as much as tells you that you are being wildly overcharged (I suspect that some attorney general somewhere required them to add that language). Nevertheless, it’s wrong to scare people into thinking this is something they should do to protect themselves and then charge them almost 10 times the cost to do it.

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Black Squirrels

blacksquirrelThe BBC has an article about a rare black squirrel that regularly visits a garden in England.

I saw a black squirrel when I was a kid. One afternoon, after school, my mom and I were driving from my hometown to my mom’s hometown a couple of hours away. The route leads through a lot of pine forests. Somehow my mom noticed the squirrel foraging around near the edge of the woods beside the road. She stopped the car and backed up along the shoulder. We slipped out of the car and watched the squirrel for a few minutes.

I hadn’t thought about that squirrel in a long time until the other day when Cassidy asked me if there were red or black squirrels. I told her there were and that I had seen a black one one time. Then a few days later I see a link to this story on Robert Gale’s web site.

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Order Prints @ Flickr

I have written many times about Flickr, the photo storage and sharing web site and community. I think it is the single best addition to the internet in many years. In fact, I did a little experiment and tried to drag my friends and family into the 21st century by getting them to appreciate and use Flickr (the experiment was a total failure, but that had zero to do with Flickr and is a topic for another day).

Today’s news is that Flickr has added the one feature that it needed to add to become the undisputed king of photo sites- the ability to order prints. Like everything else at Flickr, this feature was added seamlessly and with many options.

With this addition, you can easily order posters and glossy photo books, prints and even postage stamps, right from the Flickr page. You can select who can order prints of your photos (friends and family or anyone) just like you can select who can see your photos.

Flickr is simply brilliant. If you are a digital photographer and would like to share them with the people you select, Flickr is simply the only choice.

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3 Things I Remember About: 1968

This is the fourth in a series.

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(1) I was in Mrs. Rivers’ third grade class at Cheraw Primary School. When we misbehaved, we had to stay in the classroom during recess (by far our favorite part of the day) and write “I will not do [bad act] again” 100 times on a sheet of paper. One day just after I finished writing what I would no longer do 100 times and was headed for the door, the bell rang, signaling the end of recess. Without thinking, I said a word I had heard an older kid use. I had no idea what the word meant, but as soon as I said it, all hell broke lose. I was sent to the principal’s office to wait as both of my parents were called to an impromptu conference. It was the infamous “f word.” I can’t recall if I was told what it meant at the time, but I knew for sure that I shouldn’t say it again within earshot of a teacher.

(2) I distinctly remember when Robert Kennedy was assassinated on TV. I am not certain if I was watching it as it happened or watching as it was replayed later in the day. I do know that I was the one who told my grandfather about it.

(3) And of course the defining event that year was my dad’s death on November 14. I wrote a little about that day in Five Days in April.

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American Jihad?

I think President George W. Bush may have finally lost it.

According to the BBC:

President George W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq – and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals.

“I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.'”

If these are accurate quotes, I understand this.

I thought for a minute I was reading The Onion.

As a general rule, almost everything about politics bores me, so this is in no way a comment one way or the other about the various wars we are fighting or the possibility of a Palestinian state. But those quotes bother me a lot.

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Delaney's First Soccer Game

Delaney had her first soccer game this morning. She jumped right in and played as hard as she could. She kicked the ball a few times and (mostly) paid attention to the game.

With a little more practice, she can be a good player. Most importantly, she had a good time.

Friday's Link: Botswana WildCam

Here’s a really cool combination of technology and the great outdoors. National Geographic has a live webcam at a watering hole in Botswana. Unlike 99.99% of the webcams in the world, this one actually works.

It pans around the watering hole and seems to zoom in when the computer detects movement.

I’ve seen quite a few animals over the past few days- wildebeests, some sort of an antelope looking animal and a bunch of birds. And that’s after only about 15 minutes of total watching time. There is a long list of animals that have been spotted at the watering hole.

Very cool deal!

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Stunning

One of the most of many wonderful things about Flickr is when you come across a photo that simply stops the world for a few seconds while you look in amazement at the beauty people can create with their cameras.

I don’t know anyone connected with this photo, but it is one of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen. The photo, the color, the title. Wow. Just wow.

Claire Goes Swimming

More of Ed Fladung’s photos here.

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