Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I heard about Tim Russert’s passing from a CNN Breaking News Tweet on Twitter. They don’t send many of them out, maybe one or two a day, so it showed it was big news.

Russert was a local Buffalo/WNY celebrity, one of those who grew up here, went out into the world and made a name for themselves and we looked upon proudly as an example of our best and brightest. We’d point him out as an example of someone who came from our little neck of the world that everyone, across the nation would know. Continue Reading…

The United States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every person on the planet .

And we wonder why terrorists attack us ?

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

I’ve been a skeptic about E Bay as long as it’s been around. I have both bought and sold items on it, but for the most part whatever I try to buy, I either get outbid or get a bad feeling and never bid at all.

The concept of an online auction site is something that has appeal to most people. It’s so convenient to look for something at a bargain price or to sell something that you’d never find the right person willing to pay what it is worth any other way. But after you play with it a while, you begin to realize it’s not an online version of your family garage sale. Continue Reading…

Warning! In February 2009, your TV stations may vanish from the air!

Okay, no I’m not going to nag you like that. You’re probably sick of it already. It’s the change that nobody asked for. The TV stations didn’t ask for it and a lot of them still don’t want it. The networks shrugged and said “as long as we have to spend a lot of money to upgrade our systems, we’ll milk it for all it’s worth – the biggest hype-job since color hit TV.” And of course, the people really didn’t want it. Many still don’t understand it. The big reason for the switch to Digital TV? It takes less spectrum and the FCC wants to have extra spectrum to auction off for billions of dollars.

So, send for your $40 converter coupon and get it. It’s the only thing the government is going to give you while they rake in the proceeds from the spectrum auctions. Continue Reading…