The American Specialty Toy Retailers Association is having their conference next week, starting Sunday morning. I will be at that conference, representing Kidstop Toys, along with the owner and her husband.

Gosh, this is the tough part of the new career – having to go to Anaheim, in June, and learn about (and play with!) a bunch of new toys, and meet the industry movers and shakers … [sarcasm=OFF]

I have arranged a meet-and-greet with some excellent blogger friends for Saturday evening. I have already met two of them in person, this is going to allow me to meet more of these fine folks. You will find them in the sidebar, with their blogs listed. I’ll have an after-action report when I get back from Anaheim.

Why after I get back, you ask? Well, we only have the one laptop between us, and since TMBWitW is the one tracking things like bills and whatnot, we decided it would be best if I left the laptop at home. Now, unless I can find a public access computer in the Anaheim Convention Center, I’ll be off line for the next week. It’s OK though – after the ASTRA Conference, the family and I will be enjoying some downtime together – TMBWitW and MEG will be joining me on Thursday of next week. I will also be catching up with a distant cousin, one who helped my family pack up for the move from the LA area to Colorado, before I was born. I don’t know if he reads this, so I don’t know if he’s aware of the passing of Dad, Lea Ann, and Mom – half of the group that he helped move …

At any rate, I will be MIA for a few days, at least. I am still connected by the cell phone, and if you follow me on Twitter, I will be twitting my adventures there, or at least I’ll be trying. Bosslady moves fast at these things, and I’ll be keeping up with her. One thing I’ve learned – tweeting and walking don’t mix.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Tweet

“The End Of The World As We Know It” – at least, according to Harold Camping. (pardon the slowness of the linkl, they seem to be receiving a lot of traffic today [May 20, 2011])

Mr. Camping, your billboard advertisements say that you have “Biblical Proof” that the world will end at 6 pm (local time! local time? which local?) tomorrow, May 21, 2011.

Well, Mr. Camping, I have Biblical Proof that you are a liar and a false teacher:

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

That was written by Matthew. It is a transcription of words from the very mouth of Jesus, the risen Son of God. It can be found in Chapter 24, verse 36. In the New Testament, Mr. Camping, in case you missed that part. You see, I believe the Bible to be the infallible word of God. You know what infallible means, Mr. Camping? It means true, without reproach, and unwavering – you know, as in non-contradictory.

Since the Bible, in fact, Jesus himself, says that no man can know when God will return to the earth in Judgement, then there may be a little problem with your claim that you can prove, with information from the Bible, that the world ends tomorrow. Either that, or Jesus lied. And, if Jesus (the risen Son of God) lied about this, then He cannot be trusted about anything. Which means that all the Christians in the world, throughout history, have been believing a lie.

Frankly, I have much more faith in Jesus’ word than in your word, Mr. Camping.

So many things, so little patience to actually write about any of them.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

214

Talk about clueless:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama announced Thursday that his administration would investigate to see if fraud or manipulation in oil markets was behind the sharp increase in gasoline prices.

Hey, O’Blivious, how’s about looking at the fact that denying drilling permits in the US is keeping us dependent on Foreign Sources of Oil? How’s about looking at the fact that if we could supply our own needs, OPEC wouldn’t be able to dictate prices and availability?

“We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Reno.

He said a government task force under Attorney General Eric Holder would “root out any cases of fraud or manipulation” in gasoline prices, “and that includes the role of traders and speculators.”

Financial speculation is widely considered a possible reason for higher oil prices.

Source: White House investigating big increase in gas prices

Hey, O’Blivious, nice back hand towards the free market idea of supply and demand, and finding a way to make money in this (or any!) economy! “Financial speculation” is also known as investing, buying and selling stock, or even venture capitalizing, without which most businesses would be going away completely.

Investing allows a business to use capital for needed things – inventory, tooling, infrastructure – that it cannot afford on it’s own, yet needs for expansion and further gasp! success as a going concern.

I know, success of a going concern is anathema to a progressive socialist such as yourself, but bear with me.

Buying and selling stock (or futures trading) gives those without enough cash to directly invest in a company a chance to get in on the financial prospects of helping companies succeed, without a large outlay of cash. (see “investing” above) While not benefiting from large paybacks like a direct investor, the small gains and losses made provide enough incentive to keep cash flowing to and from the business sector.

Venture Capital, Mr. O’Blivious, is when someone with a lot of cash (kind of like your own Mr. Soros) hands a large chunk of that cash over to someone with a great idea, and lets them develop a business without limitations, except how much venture capital was infused. This has the biggest payback, most of the time, since none of the venture capitalists I know of would hand over cash to someone trying to sell ice to eskimos. (with the exception, obviously, of your Mr. Soros)

So – the “financial speculation” you speak of in an uneducated manner are actually Joe and Mary Investor, looking at trends and forecasts and placing money where they think they can grow it and pile up their personal wealth. As long as YOU, Mr. O’Blivious, continue to allow your Earth Muffin co-conspirators dictate how and when we as a nation drill for oil, the market for oil will continue to be a nice, wealth-creating area for investors to play in.

IF, however, you ever actually let the oil and gas companies drill on or around US soil, releasing us from the thumb of OPEC and their self-interest driven “limits” and “concerns” then the price of oil futures would drop so fast even your already dizzy head would spin. The price of gasoline would drop, allowing Joe and Jane Worker to actually afford more than gas in the “gas or groceries” weekly debate, allowing more spending by consumers everywhere, allowing the economy to GROW and PROSPER and leading the United States of America back to the top of the economic mountain. The cost of goods transported would drop, due to the lower fuel costs, and again, the economy would do nothing but rebound.

However, since it is OBVIOUS that your plan is to run this country into the ground, you will never allow the US to develop it’s own sources for oil, isn’t that right?

* – tip of the thinking hat to – wait, i can’t remember whose blog i saw this spelling on. i’ll get back to you on that.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I’m enjoying a day off between bouts of re-purposing the shelving units from Borders. Final push is tomorrow, and then my part will be finished.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!