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RecreationPlus
PO Box 581512
Elk Grove, CA. 95758
www.recreationplus.org

]]> http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/art...1736278,00.html

For the full list, go here:http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/com...1733748,00.html

Suze Orman's Official Sitehttp://suzeorman.com/]]>
New Prices Coming May 12, 2008 http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm?fro...ons&page=prices]]>
Some alert consumers have noticed it over the years: A pump that seems to hesitate a second when the lever is squeezed. Anywhere from 2 to 6 cents tick off before the rush of gasoline starts. That's what happens with a common, hard to diagnose and mostly ignored problem with the "check valve," which is supposed to make sure gas flows at the same time the price meter starts.

The article also says that “even if your gas pump works, it can still be off as much as $5 for every fill up.”

Some astute customers have noticed this and reported it to government regulators like state and local Bureau of Weights and Measures. Others complain to the gas station manager or attendent, who most likely won’t report it since it’s not a high priority. Higher priorities for the industry include preventing identity theft, “static electricity discharges and the 5 percent of retailers whose old mechanical equipment can't register a price of $4 a gallon.”

According to the article, most station owners wouldn’t do this on purpose or know how to. I don’t see why they would jack up the price of gas even more anyway when people are already irate about it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080426/ap_on_...bad_gas_pumps_2
]]>
Hope everyone enjoys the great weekend.]]> one hear any news about this. I have all sorts of Radar spots in my
neighborhoods in So San Jose. I avoid these streets. Has it ended?
What was the reason for discontinuing it? Not legal, too expensive,
ineffective? Any info is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
]]> Arkansas Couple Welcomes 17th Child
]]> http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Articlene...cumentid=596034]]> Mean Sun Is Setting
For Paid Newspapers?

By JOSEPH T. HALLINAN
April 5, 2006; Page B1

BALTIMORE -- When the Baltimore Examiner, America's newest daily newspaper, hits 250,000 stoops and driveways here today, it will boast a bigger circulation than the 169-year-old Baltimore Sun.

Of course, no one is sure what that quarter-million papers will really mean to advertisers because they will be delivered unsolicited and at no charge.

But as newspapers struggle to woo advertisers and keep readers in the Internet age, the Examiner stands out as arguably the boldest experiment yet in America's deepening flirtation with free daily newspapers.

"Can a mature subscription-based daily paper -- even one as respected as the Sun -- be vulnerable to an upstart that's giving news away?" says Thomas Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. "It really and truly is a very interesting and open question."

Free commuter papers -- some started by established publishers such as Tribune Co. and Washington Post Co. -- have spread to Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington. And the Examiner's Denver-based parent, privately held Clarity Media Group, has launched breezy, tabloids similar to Baltimore's in San Francisco and Washington.

Story continues at http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114....html?mod=blogs]]>
One such list is posted on CNN.com:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/katrina/help.center/

There's also been some phishing emails masquerading as Red Cross requests for donations going around. If you get an email from the Red Cross or another charity asking for your direct donation, be very wary! The email could take you to a bogus site intended to steal your personal info. If you want to help, don't let an email take you there. Find it online yourself.]]>
The link to the actual article is:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/ind..._09.html#076771
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Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.]]>
I'm sure many people have been there. If you're one of them, do you have any interesting or special memories about your experience there?]]>
If you like checking out great independent artists and putting money to a much needed purpose, check out CD Baby's hurricane relief catalog:
http://cdbaby.com/group/redcross

A good number of the artists listed are in the Bay Area and a few are actually occasional Social Wave faces.]]>
There's a core group of employees holed up in their headquarters with plenty of disel fuel to run the backup generators that are powering their Internet servers and they're determined to ride out the situation, keep their business up and running, and document the whole experience in words and photos.

This guy has been blogging rabidly ever since the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit and he and the CEO are running around talking to people while keeping the company open at their office on 650 Poydras St.

The blog can be found here:
http://mgno.com/

A collection of their photos with comments:
http://www.nola-intel.org/pictures2/

More photos, but no comments:
http://www.nola-intel.org/pictures/]]>
Here's a couple of ways you can help:

• Contribute Money to the Red Cross Online:
  I know money's tight for a lot of people right now and it's no different for me, but I pitched in $20 this morning. If you can afford even just $5 to go toward the relief effort, you can donate directly to the Red Cross online.
  http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html
  
  
• Attend Disaster Relief Training Mini-Camp and Deploy to Katrina Disaster Areas
  They're desperate for trained volunteers and they're offering a condensed version of training that's normally offered over 3 months in a 2 day period for people who are willing to ship out to the disaster areas for 1-3 week stints. The training classes mostly center around supply mobilization and emergency shelter management practices.
  
  More info:
  Volunteers Need for Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Operation

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As stuff starts happening, people who own photoblogs on the Flickr site are starting to put up their first person looks at the disaster.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/katrina/

New Orleans has run into a little luck. They were supposed to get slammed head on which would have resulted in a predicted leveling of 3/4 of the city and would have overwhelmed the levee system that protects the city from the coastline. The damage there is still supposed to be heavy. Let's hope the people down there get really lucky.

note: I edited the link to the photos. The previous one went to an incomplete collection.]]>
http://www.campbellreporter.com/ca-cover1.shtml]]> CNN News article

John Fiedler, voice of Piglet, dies
CNN Obituary]]>
CNN: Mother of mauling victim feared family dog

The mother was afraid the male dog might be violent so she locked HER SON in the basement jammed the door with a shovel that her son managed to get loose. Her quotes are outrageous. "I told him: 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me...It's Nicky's time to go...When you're born you're destined to go and this was his time."]]>
I remember reading some interesting analysis of the last time we had this gas spike. Overall, people didn't cut down their driving much, but they cut down in other areas like food instead. Hmmm....

Anyone know what sort of effect or non-effect the Bakersfield refineries are supposed to make for California's oil supplies? I drove through the Bakersfield area on my way to and back San Diego a few months back and was surprised to learn that gas was cheaper in LA than it was in a roadstop town just a few miles outside of Bakersfield.]]>