Ginny D.

OXO sells a ton of products that are used in households such as kitchenware, shower and bathroom items, home and office accessories and the types of things everyone uses every day. The products are extremely well designed and the company boasts "Guaranteed for Life". I have never found an OXO product I don't love. They are functional with great aesthetic appeal.
The company founder, Sam Farber, had a simple mission. His wife Betsy had arthritis in her hands and fingers and he wanted to create comfortable cooking tools that would benefit others. The focus is on alleviating stress on the pressure points. We all get those nagging joint pains from time to time.
The product lines expanded over the years to include every kitchen gadget imaginable, beautifully crafted barware for making drinks, cleaning accessories for the bathroom, mops, buckets, etc. Pure simplicity.
All of my OXO products will outlast me and my hands will forever be grateful.

It is said that the universe is expanding at 150,000 mph. I'm not sure if even God knows. But on Earth, as we witness the miracle of the technology revolution, none of us can be masters of our universe and that's where Wikipedia plays an invaluable role. This online encyclopedia is in itself an expanding universe of almost anything you need to know and the "go to" place for everyone. It's so amazing that your knowledge about anything will expand faster than what would have been possible without it. If you're a parent with young children, this site must be bookmarked. In fact, if you're still alive, this should be bookmarked.

The nice thing about Wikipedia is that it is neutral, can be edited by anyone, tends to be highly accurate since changes to content undergo the scrutiny of contributing editors, and is an ongoing self-sustaining body of thought. It is also a major contributing website used in the current versions of AI (Chat gpt 4) You've probably noticed that internet searches are now more meaningful. It's rich in inter-wiki hyperlinks which will enhance your original search by providing links to all types of relevant info. Your destination starts in one place and depending upon how curious you are, takes you to places you didn't intend to go or knew existed.

So, while most people think in terms of the present, Wikipedia provides you with enough information to think way beyond the beyond and envision what the future beholds. Check it out. Just add the magic word "wiki" to your internet search query, and enter this phenomenal website.

Everyone likes to watch news programming that reflects their views. Politically we find ourselves in two camps ~ Democrats and Republicans based on candidates that capture the vast majority of all votes. However, there's a spectrum including Independents and left and right of center. Frankly, the system has become confusing, often fueling unnecessary hatred and bias. So I like CNN because its TV personalities are journalists with solid credentials performing due diligence.
Unlike Fox News which tends to have commentators and "personalities" who
Thrive off of unsubstantiated claims such as "The Deep State" and "Obama Birther
Theories" that are without merit, CNN represents legitimate coverage of
Important issues affecting everyone.

I've never bought into this liberal/conservative crap because those are merely convenient labels which tend to isolate and divide rather than unite. We're all people, we all have needs, feelings and beliefs which are shaped by society, social
Interactions, and also the news. But in the final analysis, the news should represent what is true, what is logical, what is informative to provide sensible and well-grounded public policy and most of all, make us feel that in the absence of news programming, we would suffer a vital learning deficit. This, is where CNN delivers.

I enjoy the evening lineup with Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon. Each one of them deliver. I also like many of the political analysts, particularly Kirsten Powers.

With that said, look at the other side of the coin, Fox News. You have conspiracy theorists, inept journalism, and nonsense from the likes of Sean Hannity ~ Trump's shadow Chief of Staff and a leaky conduit for Trump seepage, Tucker Carlson ~ the
Product of an absentee Bohemian mom who has warped political views and is
Another prominent conspiracist, Jeanine Pirro ~ a former respected DOJ official
Who has devolved into Deep State alternative thinking but really wants Trump to
Appoint her Attorney General, and the list goes on and on.

So, CNN appeals to people with a mature point of view that are focused on believable issues. However, Fox News, which in fact, has viewers who rank 2nd from the bottom in educational levels for the top 25 news programs, is the go to source for those requiring 24/7 screwball, screw loose entertainment, and serious surrealism. The upshot, CNN for those with a head on their shoulders, Fox News, a bulwark for Donald Trump to prop up his relevance
And his oversized mushroom head.

I've read the New York Times for years. Its hands down my favorite newspaper. In an era where our so called President is trying to sow doubt into the importance of freedom of the press for political purposes, we should all be thankful that this paper is rooted in its mission to ensure a well informed electorate, democracy, a public conscience. And most of all, taking notice and commenting on all the things that in themselves are often trivialized or lost as unseen imagery, but are important components of the big picture. As soon as we lose sight of the pain, anguish and difficulties that affect some of us a lot more than others, we lose a sense of empathy that The Times helps restore so that we don't become clones of anything Trump ~ hollowed out.

The Sunday Review is perhaps my favorite section as it is replete with great editorial thought by phenomenal staff and contributing writers. Whether it be Frank Bruni, Maureen Dowd, Susan Collins, Paul Krugman and the list goes on, the sensory experience is myriad: complete delight, sadness, amusement, cynicism, anger and all kinds of feelings gift wrapped in a vastly improved perspective.

Most articles read in any section of The Times are balanced. Some readers might view them as liberal leaning, but from my view, I look at them as possessing a heart. This truly amazing messenger often takes long journeys involving personal commitment and resources to expose things that need to be exposed. Through that journey, positive change evolves as The Times paved the way for a quicker route to progress.

I encourage everyone to not only read what The Times has to say, but think along the lines of Hey Jude: let it into your heart, then you can start to make it better. Reflect on the needs of the needy.

If you were a kid watching regular TV with about 7 channels, you suddenly loved cable. Then cable got saturated and redundant where its been for quite a while. Movies nowadays offer special effects that are eye popping that werent available then. Fortunately original programming from Netflix and Amazon offer some good alternatives and there are some pretty good shows on regular TV. But, I really enjoyed the a lot of the TV series of the 60s and 70s as life was not as fast paced and complicated as things seem today. Also, theres something nice about simplicity and the need to do more with less. So at the risk of sounding like an old fogey, I love MeTV (Memorable Entertainment TV) because I get to watch the TV series I grew up on where CBS, NBC and ABC had to compete heavily for ratings which were paid by TV advertising and therefore had to deliver the best content to command the highest ad dollars on free TV. Programming like Perry Mason, Columbo, Happy Days, The Odd Couple, The Honeymooners and many, many more will always be TV classics to be watched and enjoyed over and over again.

Animals play an important role in the lives of many people. Children learn respect for another being and a rewarded with a friend. Families enrich their lives with these new additions who often provide uncompromising love and affection. But like any living being, there are responsibilities and costs. Part of the responsibility is to recognize that animals don't understand how we higher level beings have certain rules and so have to be dealt with fairly and with understanding. If we're going to undertake ownership of an animal, the ASPCA wants us to be responsible and not be abusive. The same goes for not using animals for horrendous, unethical thrill and profit seeking endeavors (do you hear me, Mike Vick)!

I think the ASPCA ranks as an important institution for assisting animals, particularly pets, in need. Society should think about The Beatles "When I'm 64" song to better understand that aging animals deserve the same respect that our senior citizens should receive when they become more defenseless and in need.

Like most people, I've been in all of the grocery chains serving an area. Stop and Shop has a wide variety of items, is typically well stocked, clean and the personnel are very helpful. Although some stores like a super Shoprite stock a wider range of items and some higher priced items, you pay a lot for that luxury. In some cases as much as an extra 15-20% across the board.

I also like the personal service that I get when I really need it. If I a specific poultry or meat item chopped up because it represents what I need, the butchers have always been very accommodating. If an item is out of stock because it was stocked incorrectly and not noticed, presto ~ it's replenished quickly. Automatic checkout problems or confusion are handled quickly.
In the final analysis, if I need that occasional upscale item that's not typically stocked, I can live with going to another store. But rest assured, you get a better value for the staples you would choose to buy in a grocery store at your local Stop and Shop.

Amazon is way ahead of the curve. Super easy to navigate site, provides great suggestions on what might interest you, a great resource on what to buy, and the site does all the work for you when you interact.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief, is prescient in spotting the next best extension of his business empire. This is testimony as to why things run so smoothly. He strives to perfect Amazon and is forward looking to how he can expand the Amazon empire by either using what he has available ( a great database of info and customers) or reading the tea leaves.

COSTCO is great on all fronts. Great products for each category, a business running on all cylinders because the owners care about their customers, care about their employees and the consumer benefits. What I don't find on the site, I find at one of their locations and I always see happy faces.

Netflix has great content, original programming and great, great pricing. What I also like about it is what it has done for the consumer. Netflix has disrupted the industry by offering a great alternative to the stranglehold companies like Comcast and Verizon have held over customer programming and pricing. Without the genius of Reed Hastings, it's Chief, we'd still be mired in monopolistic programming muck.

I love BING and I also love Google. What I like about BING is that it is also an indexing search engine which makes it very important on the internet, but I just love those daily BING images that grace their homepage. Because of that, I've taken an interest in the locations they display which let's the viewer look at the info. That has led me to go into BING images and check for all types of regions throughout the world. I get an education in the process and have found some really great wallpapers for my PC.

The dynamics of Google Maps can't be overstated. In addition to being a great source for getting directions and viewing where something anywhere is located, it's ability to allow the viewer to travel from a site is phenomenal.

I saw a Bing homepage image of a site in Ireland. I was curious about what lies beyond. So I looked up the address of a storefront that was on the image, located it in Google Maps, and proceed to travel for a few miles. It was like driving down the road in another country and seeing how life really is. You can do this with anything ~ try Venice or the South of France and presto, you're right in the midst of things and you set to see not only what is promoted in a picture, but a real understanding of the geography which helps you draw conclusions about it's local citizens. What's great about this experience is you can custom tailor it to virtually any place you want ~ except North Korea which isn't exactly vacation land.

Enlightened makes a decent range of delicious ice cream products that are generally low fat and low calorie. My focus is on my favorite, Chocolate Peanut Butter. At 100 calories per 4 oz serving, 8% sat. Fat, 2% cholesterol, obviously not unhealthy. Best of all, it has a super premium taste, real swirls of frozen peanut butter, and you'll be hard pressed not to eat the entire pint because you won't feel a sense of guilt.
It's not cheap costing about $5-6 per pint. I'd love to see larger size containers. My only pet peeve which cost it a perfect score was that it's not solidly packed. There always seems to be a hollow section of the container. They claim it melts in transit and solidifies a bit smaller. I believe it's more an issue of keeping the price down by shorting the container a bit. For that, and that only, there is no excuse. Pack it to the gills and I'll do some ab exercises to fit into a two piece.

Sometimes you need things that are basic or to satisfy a short term need. Kmart.com stocks things that fit the bill. No muss, no fuss, no need to blow a big wad. Its for those of us that have a quickie mentality. Like Walmarts, its a good source for the type of junk that gets the job done on the fly. Go on the site, zip in and zip out. But keep in mind, you get what you pay for. If youre looking for something to grow old with, you probably wont find it here. Cest la vie.

I bought one of their older model 15 minute battery chargers. I wasn't sure if the problem was with the charger, the batteries or the device I was using the batteries in. I tend to think it was the latter. However, after writing them, they quickly responded and I felt they were very fair. My only concern is that I didn't see much improvement in the newer longer lasting AA batteries vs. the standard. Either way, I like their batteries and the charger will just keep charging on.

PETA is an important organization that informs the public of the abuse of innocent animals. Animals should always have the same rights as all of us. But there are differences of opinion on what we consume. I'm not an animal rights fanatic or a strict vegetarian. But my heart goes out to the innocent animals that have no voice in how they're treated.
While PETA is well intentioned, they have mailed out dated material relating to incidents that were long ago brought to the public's attention. More importantly, they sometimes provide links that can be used to observe horrendous abuse such as clubbing dogs to death, skinning animals alive, etc. This is too extreme for most people as it's a sad reflection on mentally ill people, abusive for-profit industries, POLITICIANS that look the other way because they get donations, and pathetically poor cultures where there is very little government oversight into the suffering that animals endure while SKINNED ALIVE for their most precious body defense ~ their fur.
PETA doesn't need for the public to see this type of graphic abuse to get their point across. It's heart wrenching and brings tears to any normal person. PETA should also recognize that while a vegetarian diet might be beneficial, eating non vegetarian food is often beneficial. As a society, we need to think about forcing industries to allow these creatures that enable us to sustain ourselves to have more roaming freedom as a cost of doing business. We would probably consume less and be healthier. Another option is gene therapy so that the animals don't experience the sadness they can't express to the world as their lives and the lives of their loved ones get extinguished.

I recently visited one of the Sedona Tap House locations for dinner. The place had a contemporary exposed ceiling duct décor designed for casual dining, a fairly broad menu, beer selection with decent pricing on some items and some overpriced in the sense that your dinner should have perhaps another small side.

As the location I went to, Mamaroneck, NY was new, I took this into consideration. I ordered the Salmon and Caesar Salad. In both cases, they were too spiced up. However, the salmon was pretty good. I found the service staff to be very courteous and prompt, and they asked my opinion and I was honest about things. I sensed they were open to honest feedback which I found to be commendable. Since I'm an excellent cook, I tend to notice things that perhaps others don't.

I had looked at some of the Yelp reviews which I found to be a bit unfair. I also noticed that some positive reviews by really avid Yelpers (dozens of reviews by an individual) were listed as not recommended which I found bizarre. I think all restaurants go through a learning curve as the personnel get's used to kitchen equipment, the logistics and listening to customers. I think this restaurant has the right attitude and will optimize quickly.

I realize a lot of people use smart phones and other wireless devices but I think PC's are better for productivity, a great visual experience, you can watch all region DVDs without needing an all region device such as a PAL player and the keyboards make life very easy, particularly for older people. The list goes on and on. So Dell provides very good products and very good 24/7 tech support. I would give it a 5 star if Tech Support was tweaked a bit better. They're also fair with product returns.

Kohl's has a wide range of things we all need. Without the likes of Kohl's we would be at a disadvantage Not just for their site, but for a dying breed of location based retailers. So if the locations die so will the site.
I've gotten some great deals but I prefer pricing that better reflects the market price so that if it is discounted, you're getting a discount. But I understand this kind of marketing and would sorely miss Kohl's if it wasn't around.

I bought an LG OLED 4K UHD 65" TV about a year ago. It's phenomenal, highly advanced and considered the best in its class. It's expensive but redefines what you look at. It offers deeper blacks which improve definition and picture quality. This upscales some of the oldest movies to look their very best and watching this TV is truly amazing. It's more expensive than most at about $1700 to $1900, but it's updated often with the latest firmware, and does cool things like refreshing the pixels. It uses the latest protocols such as HDMI eARC to simplify communication between similarly enabled devices. There are work arounds, like optical cables, for older components. So, the TV is a solid winner.
For those that find technology overwhelming, you need good manufacturer support unless you want to do a lot of research into how all the settings and all things work. It can be confusing and time consuming to go it alone or rely on a lengthy user manual. LG Support is really important at times.
If you're spending this much money, you're going to want a home entertainment system to enjoy phenomenal surround sound such as Dolby ATMOS to simulate a theater experience. This is where things with LG Support can get dicey. LG might tell you that they can't possibly guide you with all these other components if you use non-LG brands, and they have a point. But there is no reason to not have a quick reference guide listing major manufacturers, their more recent models and what type of communication protocols they have. That would help them advise what you might have to do to make life a lot easier. This applies to LG and any other brand. But keep in mind, if you're paying a lot of money, you deserve premium support. It's up to LG to make that possible even if it means developing resources that narrow things down so they can guide you better.

Lastly, they can improve on how to best link your components. For example, do you go directly through your receiver with a single HDMI cable hooked to your HDMI port on the TV, or do you also link components directly to the available ports on the TV. With better resources, this is where LG can assist in helping you understand simple, basic things about your brands which will be invaluable and keep your sanity intact.