Business savvy – words of wisdom

• The 3 day cooling off rule – only applies if the sale is away from the sellers regular place of business and the item cost over $25 and does not apply to real estate, insurance, securities or vehicles.
• You can dispute credit card purchases within 60 days of receiving the bill.
• Use regular gasoline.  The AAA says only 5% of cars sold in the USA require premium, but 20% of gas sold is premium.  Using premium when not required provides no benefit.
• Never give out any personal information to an unfamiliar person or organization that calls you on the phone or e-mails you.  Telephone caller ID numbers and names and e-mail and web addresses can be faked.
• Never buy anything from (or donate anything to) a telemarketer. Doing so only encourages the telemarketing industry.  Good deals from telemarketers are extremely rare.  Out right fraud is extremely common.  Never buy anything from (or donate anything to) a telemarketer. Doing so only encourages the telemarketing industry.  Good deals from telemarketers are extremely rare.  Out right fraud is extremely common. Sign up to be on the do-not-call list if you are not already (https://complaints.donotcall.gov).
• If you plan to use a rental car on a vacation, check with your credit card or car insurance company.  They may cover you for collision on rental cars, in which case you don’t need to buy it from the rental car company.
• Car dealerships now have persons on their staff who specialize in making offers to information you submit to them via the Internet.  Comparison shop for the best deal.  But also negotiate when you go to the dealer.  You can determine the FMV of new or used cars at KBB.com.  Use that info to negotiate. 
• If your flight is delayed or cancelled tell them you are aware of rule 240.  It says they have to put you on the next outbound flight, even if it is on another airline.
• For good hotel rates, call the hotel (not the 800 number) and ask someone in charge for the best rate they can give you.
• Shred things you throw away that have personal information on them
• Don’t send in warranty cards.  Your warranty is valid without doing so.  The cards are collected to put you on junk mailing lists.

How to improve the US economy

The 64 dollar question of today is how to get our depressed economy growing again. The president says job creation is the answer, and all the Republican candidates for president more or less agree. The only thing they disagree on is how to go about it. The president wants to create jobs through government spending to stimulate the economy, and then raise taxes to pay for it. The Republican candidates want to lower taxes and cut government spending in order to stimulate the economy, and thereby create jobs. The only problem is that neither of these approaches will work. The current recession is different from past recessions. This country has arrived at a unique place in its history. This recession, as well as our intractable unemployment problem, is the result of the long process of off-shoring our manufacturing base, and the economy will only continue to decline until we bring manufacturing back to this country. Manufacturing jobs are “wealth creating jobs.” Service jobs are not. Manufacturing has always been the foundation of our once thriving economy. Moving manufacturing jobs out of this country in search of cheaper labor has gradually undermined our economy. This fact has been masked over for years by federal borrowing, but now suddenly the bills have come due. Things will not improve until we can put the millions of unemployed back to work, and we can only do that by bringing manufacturing back into this country. But how do we do that? Simple! Impose a tariff on any product that we import which could be manufactured in this country. The tariff should be set at a level at which it would cost just as much to buy the imported item as it would cost to buy the item if it were made here. At a stroke, that would remove the incentive for corporations to off-shore their factories. Why isn’t anyone talking about this?

Note: the above is a letter submited by my Friend, Ben Bradberry to the Times Union newspaper.  I agree entirely with him.   If you also agree… tell your congressman.

My recommendations for some good local vendors in Jacksonville…

My recommendations for some good local vendors in Jacksonville…

• General handyman for home repairs: Joe Handy    H: 268-0743    cell: 322-0072
•  Electrician:  Bill Shrewsbury Electrical Plus, Cell:  813-8289  other: 880-9136
•  Insurance products:Deborah Eveson, Allstate, B:400-6450  cell: 599-7625
•  PC repairs: Wayne Hudson, Cell  540-1617
•  PC software consulting: Elizabeth Hammond, 738-0471

 

Google and GMail tips

Google and GMail
• Above the Google logo in the Google search screen is a black bar. You can click on images, videos or maps to limit your searches to photos, images or maps.
• If you click the star in the upper right hand of Google, you can get a history list of recently viewed websites. You can also see this history list by pressing Control and ‘h” as the same time.
• Under the more tab, you can select “documents” and save file documents to Google, then access them from anywhere on earth.
• Definitions – to get the definition of a word enter into Google search the word “define” followed by the word you want to define. E. g. Define apple.
• To find the name and address and zip code associated with a phone number – enter into Google search the 10 digit phone number. E. g. (904) 555-1111.
• To get the local weather, just type into the Google search the word “weather” followed by your local zip code. E. g. weather 32256.
• To track an airline flight – enter into Google search the name of the airline and the flight number. E. g. Delta 123.
•To simplify Google searches set the Google advanced page as your home page (rather than the standard Google home page,  which requires that you learn the syntax of Boolean expressions to search for phrases, or and/or searches).  How to do: Enter http://www.google.ca/advanced_search  into the search bar, and then click on tools, internet options, use current.
• When you go to gmail online, you can click on the cog in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and then click on “mail settings” and set preferences for your gmail account.
• When you have a list of messages in your GMail inbox, you have a column for “star” wherein you can mark what is important and a column for “+” which shows up based on who you communicate with often. These are priority indicators.
• When you archive e-mails in your inbox, it sends them to the folder “All Mail.”
• MailChip.com can be used if you need to send e-mails to a large group of people, as in a newsletter. GMail limits the number of e-mails you can send out due to spam concerns.
• Google Chrome is a program that replaces Internet Explorer and has some advantages over it.
• GMail allows 10 MB of attachments. If you need to send a larger attachment, use Dropbox.com. It allows you to post files on line for others to see.
• Picasa is a free Google photo sharing program that allows you to edit photos and share them with others.
• To translate from English to another language or another language to English, click on the “more” tab in Google and select “translate.”
• Google bought out You Tube. So the You Tube video viewing program is now a part of the Google family.
• For more details on what you can get from Google, go to the Google help site: http://www.google.com/help.