The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

[FoTi]

Re: apropos of nothing

WHAT IS GREATNESS?

When you talk about the 40's, you are talking the Andrews Sisters, Patti, Laverne and Maxine from Minneapolois.

They made it big with a #1 hit, "Bei mir bist du schoen" (To me you are pretty) in both Yiddish and German. In 1941 they co-starred in their first movie, Buck Privates, starng Abbot and Costello. In that movie, they had another huge #1 hit song, "The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B". The video of that song, taken from the movie, is shown below. BTW, Patti Andrews, the groups lead singer, is still living and is 95 years old now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfCFU3Mqww

I saw this movie at age 6 1/2 or 7 in 1946 or 1947. When this number came up, it made a huge impression on me which I have never forgot. My brother Clarence Rockaway is a great Andrews Sisters fan. In the days of 8 track tapes, he bought up everything they ever sang in the 8 track format. I think they are the best singing sisters group of all time!

Am I imagining it or is their more spirit alive in the air back there in 1941 than there is now? The spirit of play and really having fun seems to be very present on that movie set. The persona seemed to be aware that it was all a game and nobody looks very serious. Maybe it was just the excitement of working in Hollywood on a movie set like that.
Lakey

Life was quite different back in the mid 40's.

The American Dream was possible back then.

One could start a business back then and survive without the big corporations squeezing them out or the government trying to destroy them.

People didn't have to pay the high taxes back then that they do today....they could afford to invest in a house and keep most of what they worked for and earned.

The laws, rules and regulations on people were far less than today....people had more freedom back then.

It seemed to me that people communicated more with their neighbors back then.

There were no student loans....they weren't needed....tuition wasn't that high.

The war was over....there was hope for the future for many.

People didn't have their heads stuck in a TV set being brainwashed into what to buy or how to think.

People socialized in person rather than through computers or cell phones....electronic devices have changed the world and the way people relate to one another.....good in some ways....not good in others.

Many people were less threatened about the future than they are today....they weren't faced everyday in the news with terrorism, gangs, drugs, impending food shortage, Genetically Modified foods, toxins and poisons in the water, soil and air.

America was a great winning nation.....people were proud to be Americans.

People didn't have to fight the government to keep their kids from being vaccinated or drugged in school without their permission.

Nobody got arrested for selling raw milk.

The government had not grown into the monster that it is today.

Young people back then had a better chance to survive and succeed in what they wanted to do or achieve. When I talk to young people today....from those who are just entering college to those who have just graduated.....there is a kind of hopelessness in regards to ever being able to get out of debt from the student loans. I recently spoke to my chiropractor who is in his late 30's..I have been going to him for the past 6 years.....he has a wife and children and he is struggling to pay off his student loans.....he had his own practice for a while before I ever went to him, but couldn't make it with the economy of today and had to revert to working for another chiropractor....he's an excellent chiropractor by the way....one of the best I've ever been to. In comparison, my father finished chiropractic college in 1941 with no student loans, went to work for someone else making good money for about 3 months and then started his own business. In the 40's he started and grew successfully two businesses and in the 50's he started and grew two more. By the mid 50's the taxes were going up and took a bite out of him. By the early 60's the government was medling in his business and he became sick physically as well as being sick and disgusted with fighting with the government. He saw the unfairness in Washington, so he sold his businesses and retired... he then became a not so happy person....had a kind of nervous breakdown in the aftermath, and was never the same again. It was sad to watch. My parents would never have been able to start and build up what they did financially back in the 40's in today's world. It would not be possible. I know some people make money in the stock market and investing today, but that is not the same as working and building one's life financially from scratch. Investors don't produce anything. I see people today who have their own mom and pop businesses struggling like mad to keep the doors open and even then their businesses are shrinking or they lost them altogether....they get swallowed up with today's economy. It was the reverse back in the 40's and 50's.

Were people more alive back then? In a way....I think they were.....at least they had a hope of a better future when they woke up in the morning.....something to work toward....something to look forward to....without being taxed to death or being micromanaged by the government. From my perspective, there was a kind of pleasantness to life back then that doesn't exist today. Life was less frantic. Families were more together and family and friends seemed more important than they appear to be today.

More people had jobs....the jobs weren't being farmed out to foreign countries back then......and there was less automation so more hands were needed to get things done.

I don't know if politicians were any less corrupt back then, but at least they had less fingers in the pie than they do today.

I think young and old back then viewed life with a brighter future than many people do today. It seemed like life had a better chance at success back then than it does in today's chaos and gloomy predictions of global warming, overpopulation, running out of food, the New World Order, being microchipped and spied on, planet changes, end times - December 21, 2012, etc. Makes the future look a little bleak and on the depressing side. Not very condusive to making people feel bright and chipper and looking forward to a better future.

They also didn't have Obama signing away their rights to free speech back then.

God and prayer in public places or public gatherings were not politically incorrect back then.

And there were some extremely talented entertainers back then.

I think people seem more alive and positively creative when they are winning in life and have good things to look forward to and aren't so friggin' worried about the future or pressured by government supression or an economic crisis.

 

[Mark A. Baker]

Re: apropos of nothing

Life was quite different back in the mid 40's.

The American Dream was possible back then. ...

Most people weren't educated and spent their entire lives working hourly jobs in low end manufacturing. Access to higher education was restricted to the most privileged classes and only the very brightest of lower income students.

Racism was openly practiced, as was religious bigotry. Minorities faced a lifetime of hardship & discrimination without recourse to legal protection as in many locales law enforcement was routinely implicated in abuse of minority communities.

Life spans were significantly shorter due to significantly harder living conditions, less advanced health care, and lack of available medicines or access to health care. Population was much lower as was technological development. Corporations routinely abused the workers or subjected them to grossly unsafe working conditions as there were no or few restrictions on unsafe or abusive labor practices.

It was not in fact the idyllic paradise as so many like to imagine it to have been. Nor was it politically, technologically, or socially sustainable as it was, hence the gradual evolution of the country away from the conditions of those times, just as the contemporary conditions are causing further social changes in the country. It is the desire of every reactionary to restore the glory of the past. The irony (and folly) of that being that the past was never all that glorious.

It was a different time, a different place, and all together a different country.


Mark A. Baker

 

[lkwdblds]

Re: apropos of nothing

Most people weren't educated and spent their entire lives working hourly jobs in low end manufacturing. Access to higher education was restricted to the most privileged classes and only the very brightest of lower income students.

Racism was openly practiced, as was religious bigotry. Minorities faced a lifetime of hardship & discrimination without recourse to legal protection as in many locales law enforcement was routinely implicated in abuse of minority communities.

Life spans were significantly shorter due to significantly harder living conditions, less advanced health care, and lack of available medicines or access to health care. Population was much lower as was technological development. Corporations routinely abused the workers or subjected them to grossly unsafe working conditions as there were no or few restrictions on unsafe or abusive labor practices.

It was not in fact the idyllic paradise as so many like to imagine it to have been. Nor was it politically, technologically, or socially sustainable as it was, hence the gradual evolution of the country away from the conditions of those times, just as the contemporary conditions are causing further social changes in the country. It is the desire of every reactionary to restore the glory of the past. The irony (and folly) of that being that the past was never all that glorious.

It was a different time, a different place, and all together a different country.


Mark A. Baker

I like what FoTi has to say in her long post directly above Mark's. Nevertheless, Mark makes a lot of important and valid points.

To me, the most important advancements made when comparing the society of 1941 to today's society are the advancements made against racism and other forms of bigotry. Huge gains towards equality of opportunity have been made. Of course, there are still some radicals who deny even that obvious fact but anyone who has lived in both time periods cannot deny the gains. Gay rights are also a positive gain.

Medicine has made great strides. Traditional medicine has advanced a long way and also has allowed non traditional medicine to co exist with it. As most of us know, a sixty year was an elderly person back in the 40's and nowadays, many sixty year olds appear to be quite youthful. People are living much longer.

There seems to be trade offs. For example, there are many more people living, around 7 billion people alive today compared to only 2 billion back then. In some ways, this is a good thing but in other ways, it creates problems related to over crowding and shortages.

The great technical advancements are indisputable but they have to be used judiciously or they can cause negative consequences. For example, when I was a kid, most kids played outdoors in vacant fields near their houses. There were trees which we climbed, we built forts and tree houses, etc. These activities seem to be better activities for kids than sitting in front of a computer screen playing video games all day. Nevertheless, if the new tech is used wisely, today's kids are afforded the ability to experience things which a 1940 child could never even dream of experiencing.

Much more educational opportunity exists today than in the 40's but oddly, the kids who graduated from public education in the 40's and 50's as high school graduates appear to me to be much better informed and educated than high school graduates of today. Of course, as Mark says, the opportunities for receiving higher education are much more available to people who are not wealthy. For many, this is partially offset by graduating with enormous student loan debts.

As MAB says, it was a different time, a different place, a different country. The opportunities today are greater but we have lost some of our freedom to get to this point. It is up to each individual to utilize the added opportunities which are afforded him or her; if he/she does so, he/she will prefer living in today's world. Like anything else, the opportunities don't just fall into a person's lap, one has to work for them. If one does so, they are there to be had and a person living today just has much more opportunity available to them especially if they are part of a minority or are not rich !
Lakey

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

buying a TV this month

Is now your last chance to get an HDTV deal?


By James K. Willcox, Consumer Reports
If you've been thinking about getting a new HDTV but have been putting off your purchase, now might be the best time to get a great deal on a new set, especially one with step-up features. And you might not want to think about it for too long.


Samsung's new ES8000-series LCD TV with LED backlight.
One reason is that this is normally the time of year (March and early April) when the new 2012 TV models start to arrive in stores, so many retailers may be looking to sell off any inventory of older 2011 sets to make room for the newer models.

But this year there's another compelling reason: Several major manufacturers are moving away from MAP (or Minimum Advertised Pricing) to something called Unilateral Pricing Policy (UPP), which penalizes retailers for selling a TV below the manufacturer's preset price.

Our friends at HD Guru first reported that both Samsung and then Sony are moving to UPP-style policies with step-up 2012 models. Apparently, the new policies go into effect on April 1st of this year.

More from
Consumer Reports:

Latest TV reviews

Top TVs for your budget

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers or sponsors on Yahoo!

Here's the big difference between the two pricing policies: With MAP pricing, a manufacturer can cut off co-op advertising funds if a retailer advertised a TV below a minimum price, which is why you often have to actually go through an online retailer's checkout before the price become visible. If the retailer is willing to lose those funds, it can sell the TV for whatever price it wants.

But with UPP, a manufacturer can cut off a retailer's product supplies if the retailer advertises or sells the TV for less than the predetermined minimum price. So basically, the TV's actual selling price is being set by the manufacturer, leaving little wiggle room for dealers to out-discount their competitors.

The move to UPP is seen as way to help brick-and-mortar storefronts, which have higher operating costs, remain competitive with online retailers, which can generally afford to sell TVs at lower prices. Both Samsung and Sony are imposing UPP on higher-end products with features that benefit from presentations and demos that can be done in showrooms and on sales floors with trained salespeople. These products typically have higher margins for both the manufacturer and retailer.

According to industry sources, the Samsung TVs that will be affected are in its step-up UNES6000, UNES7000, and flagship ES8000 LED-backlit LCD series, as well as E6000, E7000, and E8000 plasma models. All are 3D-capable Smart TVs. Sony's policies apply to similarly featured EX-, HX-, and flagship XBR models.

In addition to the UPP moves by Samsung and Sony, Panasonic recently cut the number of dealers it sells directly to and has restricted the sale of its products via third-party resellers. Once again the goal is to provide some pricing stability for its products in the market.

What all this means for those of us looking for a new TV is that prices on certain 2012 sets from a number of manufacturers will soon be "fixed," much the way products from Apple and Bose tend to be sold at the same prices, regardless of the retailer. Of course, we'll have to wait and see if these companies stick to their guns, especially if other major competitors don't adopt more rigorous pricing policies and the companies' market share starts to suffer.

The good news for those of us now in the market for a new HDTV is that if you're willing to consider a leftover 2011 set, you probably won't have to live without any key new features, as most of the improvements we saw at CES from 2012 models were largely incremental. And the first really novel advances, such as the first "4K" sets and OLED TVs, won't hit until later in the year. And sets with these features are expected to command significantly higher prices.

If you're looking for a new TV, let us know what you think about the move to one-price policies, and whether it will spur you to make a purchase before April 1st instead of waiting. And if so, let us know what you decide to buy.

 

[Terril park]

Re: buying a TV this month

Is now your last chance to get an HDTV deal?


By James K. Willcox, Consumer Reports
If you've been thinking about getting a new HDTV but have been putting off your purchase, now might be the best time to get a great deal on a new set, especially one with step-up features. And you might not want to think about it for too long.


Samsung's new ES8000-series LCD TV with LED backlight.
One reason is that this is normally the time of year (March and early April) when the new 2012 TV models start to arrive in stores, so many retailers may be looking to sell off any inventory of older 2011 sets to make room for the newer models.

But this year there's another compelling reason: Several major manufacturers are moving away from MAP (or Minimum Advertised Pricing) to something called Unilateral Pricing Policy (UPP), which penalizes retailers for selling a TV below the manufacturer's preset price.

Our friends at HD Guru first reported that both Samsung and then Sony are moving to UPP-style policies with step-up 2012 models. Apparently, the new policies go into effect on April 1st of this year.

More from
Consumer Reports:

Latest TV reviews

Top TVs for your budget

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers or sponsors on Yahoo!

Here's the big difference between the two pricing policies: With MAP pricing, a manufacturer can cut off co-op advertising funds if a retailer advertised a TV below a minimum price, which is why you often have to actually go through an online retailer's checkout before the price become visible. If the retailer is willing to lose those funds, it can sell the TV for whatever price it wants.

But with UPP, a manufacturer can cut off a retailer's product supplies if the retailer advertises or sells the TV for less than the predetermined minimum price. So basically, the TV's actual selling price is being set by the manufacturer, leaving little wiggle room for dealers to out-discount their competitors.

The move to UPP is seen as way to help brick-and-mortar storefronts, which have higher operating costs, remain competitive with online retailers, which can generally afford to sell TVs at lower prices. Both Samsung and Sony are imposing UPP on higher-end products with features that benefit from presentations and demos that can be done in showrooms and on sales floors with trained salespeople. These products typically have higher margins for both the manufacturer and retailer.

According to industry sources, the Samsung TVs that will be affected are in its step-up UNES6000, UNES7000, and flagship ES8000 LED-backlit LCD series, as well as E6000, E7000, and E8000 plasma models. All are 3D-capable Smart TVs. Sony's policies apply to similarly featured EX-, HX-, and flagship XBR models.

In addition to the UPP moves by Samsung and Sony, Panasonic recently cut the number of dealers it sells directly to and has restricted the sale of its products via third-party resellers. Once again the goal is to provide some pricing stability for its products in the market.

What all this means for those of us looking for a new TV is that prices on certain 2012 sets from a number of manufacturers will soon be "fixed," much the way products from Apple and Bose tend to be sold at the same prices, regardless of the retailer. Of course, we'll have to wait and see if these companies stick to their guns, especially if other major competitors don't adopt more rigorous pricing policies and the companies' market share starts to suffer.

The good news for those of us now in the market for a new HDTV is that if you're willing to consider a leftover 2011 set, you probably won't have to live without any key new features, as most of the improvements we saw at CES from 2012 models were largely incremental. And the first really novel advances, such as the first "4K" sets and OLED TVs, won't hit until later in the year. And sets with these features are expected to command significantly higher prices.

If you're looking for a new TV, let us know what you think about the move to one-price policies, and whether it will spur you to make a purchase before April 1st instead of waiting. And if so, let us know what you decide to buy.

Being an avid movie fan I bought the last incarnation of Pioneer's
9th generation Kuro in monitor form 50 inch. No audio etc. Have the Hi Fi.

In the literature this has been considered to have been approached in quality by the best and latest only now. But these mags have commercial comsiderations.

http://www.current.com.au/2009/01/16/article/MIPLOJCSCC.html

Dunno if you can find them second hand.

Will never let go of mine.

May be worth trying

 

[Terril park]

Re: buying a TV this month

Being an avid movie fan I bought the last incarnation of Pioneer's
9th generation Kuro in monitor form 50 inch. No audio etc. Have the Hi Fi.

In the literature this has been considered to have been approached in quality by the best and latest only now. But these mags have commercial comsiderations.

http://www.current.com.au/2009/01/16/article/MIPLOJCSCC.html

Dunno if you can find them second hand.

Will never let go of mine.

May be worth trying

Should add that pioneer stopped making flat screens because of the severe price competition. They were the best, and maybe still are.

 

[lkwdblds]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

WHERE IS THE USA BEING TAKEN?
The State of Texas just passed a law which requires all citizens to present an ID card with their photo on it in order to vote in all elections held in Texas. 31 states in the USA have already passed such a law.

It turns out that for 17 states, mostly former members of the Confederacy, the U.S. federal government has to sign off on such a law. This was to prevent those states from passing laws preventing Black people from voting.

Well, U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, moved in court to strike down the new Texas Law. The Democrats are alleging that Texas passed that law to prevent Blacks and Latinos from voting because Blacks vote about 90% for Democrats and Latinos vote mostly for democrats as well, perhaps 70%.

Texas is claiming they passed the law so as to help eliminate voter fraud. After all, no one is saying that non-citizens should have the right to vote, at least not openly. I heard a representative from Texas say that they would help the person get a photo ID at no charge if the person could not afford one. Normal cost would be $20 if a person did not already have a card such as a driver's license.

Also, a photo ID is required to drive a car, purchase an alcoholic drink, get a passport, get something notarized, etc. Isn't requiring one to vote a reasonable requirement or are they saying that voting is trivial compared to buying a beer? BTW, Texas will allow a person with no photo ID to vote and will hold that vote from being counted until the person comes back with the photo ID. If the person shows up later, only then is the vote counted.

This Federal Government is attempting to block Texas from enacting this law but now comes the real idiocy!!!
THE NAACP IS TAKING THE MATTER BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS AND WANTS THE STATE OF TEXAS CITED FOR VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF ITS MINORITY CITIZENS!!!

To me this is total insanity. A sovereign state in the USA is going to be subjected to critique and possible censure from an international body such as the United Nations. The UN has a record of being a very corrupt organization with countries such as Libya, Syria and Iran heading up variousr panels on human rights. But even if the UN was not corrupt, they have absolutely no authority to rule on matters of US internal human relatiions! Where are we heading? Orwell's "1984" seems to rapidly be coming upon us.
Lakey

 

[Leon]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

But even if the UN was not corrupt, they have absolutely no authority to rule on matters of US internal human relatiions! Where are we heading? Orwell's "1984" seems to rapidly be coming upon us.
Lakey

Hmmmm. Ye-e-e-e-e-s We in South Africa used to rail against them for that back in the old days. Didn't help much. Orwell's 1984 is upon us indeed.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Re: buying a TV this month

Should add that pioneer stopped making flat screens because of the severe price competition. They were the best, and maybe still are.

There is an amazing huge one, absolutely gigantic, near La Tour Eiffel, as I recall. Don't remember where exactly. Have you seen it?

 

[FoTi]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

WHERE IS THE USA BEING TAKEN?
The State of Texas just passed a law which requires all citizens to present an ID card with their photo on it in order to vote in all elections held in Texas. 31 states in the USA have already passed such a law.

It turns out that for 17 states, mostly former members of the Confederacy, the U.S. federal government has to sign off on such a law. This was to prevent those states from passing laws preventing Black people from voting.

Well, U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, moved in court to strike down the new Texas Law. The Democrats are alleging that Texas passed that law to prevent Blacks and Latinos from voting because Blacks vote about 90% for Democrats and Latinos vote mostly for democrats as well, perhaps 70%.

Texas is claiming they passed the law so as to help eliminate voter fraud. After all, no one is saying that non-citizens should have the right to vote, at least not openly. I heard a representative from Texas say that they would help the person get a photo ID at no charge if the person could not afford one. Normal cost would be $20 if a person did not already have a card such as a driver's license.

Also, a photo ID is required to drive a car, purchase an alcoholic drink, get a passport, get something notarized, etc. Isn't requiring one to vote a reasonable requirement or are they saying that voting is trivial compared to buying a beer? BTW, Texas will allow a person with no photo ID to vote and will hold that vote from being counted until the person comes back with the photo ID. If the person shows up later, only then is the vote counted.

This Federal Government is attempting to block Texas from enacting this law but now comes the real idiocy!!!
THE NAACP IS TAKING THE MATTER BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS AND WANTS THE STATE OF TEXAS CITED FOR VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF ITS MINORITY CITIZENS!!!

To me this is total insanity. A sovereign state in the USA is going to be subjected to critique and possible censure from an international body such as the United Nations. The UN has a record of being a very corrupt organization with countries such as Libya, Syria and Iran heading up variousr panels on human rights. But even if the UN was not corrupt, they have absolutely no authority to rule on matters of US internal human relatiions! Where are we heading? Orwell's "1984" seems to rapidly be coming upon us.
Lakey

When I went in to vote a couple of weeks ago, I had to show govt picture ID. It was okay by me. I'm glad to see them doing this. I'd prefer to know that they are checking to make sure that the person is elligible to vote in the U.S.

And I don't think the U.N has any right whatsoever to tell people how they can vote in the U.S. It's not their country. They don't live here. It's none of their business. And the NAACP can go stuff it.

 

[FoTi]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

Spring is definitely here.....the trees are blooming, the flowers are blooming.....and it's a month early. Very strange indeed! In Knoxville, there is a Dogwood Festival around mid April.....usually this is when the Dogwoods bloom. Well, they started blooming over a week ago....by the time the Dogwood Festival gets here, this year, the trees will be all done blooming. Some of the trees that bloom here are already finished and have their green leaves now. Spring is moving awfully fast. We lost a whole month of winter this year and the spring season has started a whole month earlier than normal. :confused2: I hope this doesn't mean an extra long hot summer.

These are pictures of the Dogwoods blooming here in the spring.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pic...wfQ49j9DQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEgQsAQ&biw=1140&bih=513

There's a Christian legend that goes with the Dogwood tree....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeldboPtUZQ&feature=related

This is a red bud tree.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrWoLhBA62w&feature=related

I have two of these in front of my apartment, just coming into bloom. I wanted a tree in my front yard for shade and about 4 years ago two of them just popped up, so I took care of them and they are now about 12 feet tall and help to protect my apartment from the heat of the summer sun.....saves me on A/C.

Also have a beautiful Bradford Pear in my front yard and they are blooming all over the place in Knoxville now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjE_Lv7ABew&feature=related

The trees really put on a show this time of year in Tennessee.





I love trees.

 

[Terril park]

Re: buying a TV this month

There is an amazing huge one, absolutely gigantic, near La Tour Eiffel, as I recall. Don't remember where exactly. Have you seen it?

No.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

sky diving from space

http://www.redbullstratos.com/#!lightbox[group]/media1512/

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

for Amazon. com customers

Login with Facebook
Amazon to sell $10 cards for $5 to lure customers
By BARBARA ORTUTAY | Associated Press – 39 mins ago
Email
16
Print
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is hoping that five bucks will get you in the door to its local deals site, AmazonLocal.
Amazon.com Inc. will be selling $10 gift cards for $5 on Tuesday to people who visit AmazonLocal.com, the online retailer's answer to deals sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial. It's a crafty move from Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, as it works to distinguish its local deals service from a bevy of competitors.
Mike George, vice president at AmazonLocal, said the company wants to draw in both new and existing customers with the gift card. He said that Amazon hopes gift card buyers will check out the company's offers from spas, restaurants and other businesses on AmazonLocal.
The gift cards are good for any Amazon.com purchase, though not on AmazonLocal.
Amazon is the biggest online merchant, but the largest deals seller is Groupon Inc., which went public in November and has had the first-comer advantage in the online deals space. Amazon wants to use its retailing might to promote its local business. But Google Inc., the country's dominant search engine, and others are moving into the space too.
Amazon isn't saying how many of the cards it is selling, only that it's available in "limited quantity." Last year, LivingSocial sold about 1.4 million of $10-for-$20 Amazon gift cards. LivingSocial is part owned by Seattle-based Amazon.
Amazon shares rose 47 cents to close at $185.52 on Monday.

 

[lkwdblds]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

Has anyone heard of the Melaleuca company. My old opera singer friend from the late 78's who I reconnected with got into this company and I bought some of their products from them and find them quite good. They sell about 350 products under their own labels, soaps, cleaners, vitamins and nutritional items, foods, snack food, a full line of cosmetics and many other things.

Does anyone have anything to say, good or bad about Melaleuca?
Lakey

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Pollyanna, Flubber, and Sunset Boulevard also My Fair Lady

Friday, my wife and I took our youngest grandchildren, the twins, 5 year old Carter and Miles, to see "Pollyanna" on the Silver Screen. It is playing all month at The Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio of San Francisco. I've loved that movie since the first time I saw it in a loge seat at the Garden Theater in the Willow Glen district of San Jose back when I was 10. My wife has loved it since she first saw it as a kid. We have it on DVD, but the big screen makes it hundreds of times better. We both cried. It is a wonderful movie.

[video=youtube;x8EjWppdfCw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8EjWppdfCw[/video]


While we were there, I noticed a little poster announcing Nancy Olson, "Nancy" in the movie, was going to be interviewed the next day in the same theater. I bought a ticket and went. She was really cool. She's around 80, and looks terrific. She had many great stories.

She talked about "Pollyanna" and "The Absent Minded Professor" and about Walt and the Disney family.

Ron and Diane Disney Miller were in the audience two rows back from me.


[video=youtube;6uIum2T6_RI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIum2T6_RI[/video]


She talked about "Sunset Boulevard"

[video=youtube;UwxGbhclIGw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwxGbhclIGw[/video]

She had lots of funny and touching stories. She had been married to Alan Jay Lerner when he wrote "Paint Your Wagon" "My Fair Lady" and "Gigi," among others. She told a funny story of her bringing him a tea downstairs, where he worked, and his saying she looked pretty.

She commented back something like "Is this the first time you've noticed?"

He said that they eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, wake up and go to sleep together, he had become accustomed to her face.

He was writing lyrics for "My Fair Lady" at the time, and was stumped about a love song for Professor Higgins, because Shaw never said Higgins loved Eliza, and he wanted to remain true to Shaw's story...

That night, he had his song.

[video=youtube;HroAq_E075Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HroAq_E075Y[/video]

She told other stories about her second husband, Alan Livingston, a Capitol Records exec. He signed a washed-up has-been singer to Capitol Records, and got Nelson Riddle to arrange for the singer. Nelson Riddle arranged for him for decades after that pairing. The rest is history.

[video=youtube;hj2sLQU3u90]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj2sLQU3u90[/video]

Her husband also signed four mop heads from Liverpool, some surfer guys from Hawthorne, CA. Pretty amazing guy.


She got me interested in "Sunset Boulevard"

I went out and rented a copy. It's powerful.

[video=youtube;MMBXOKa5zJY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMBXOKa5zJY[/video]

and "Sunset Boulevard" got me interested in Gloria Swanson. As you may know, she did dabble in Dianetics, but was a regular health food freak long before Adele Davis. This video has a silent movie scene with her and a lion. It's impressive.

[video=youtube;mmzjubEGIi4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmzjubEGIi4&NR=1&feature=endscreen[/video]

 

[FoTi]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

Has anyone heard of the Melaleuca company. My old opera singer friend from the late 78's who I reconnected with got into this company and I bought some of their products from them and find them quite good. They sell about 350 products under their own labels, soaps, cleaners, vitamins and nutritional items, foods, snack food, a full line of cosmetics and many other things.

Does anyone have anything to say, good or bad about Melaleuca?
Lakey

About 10 years ago I worked with a lady - a Scientologist - in Clearwater, who sold Melaleuca. She raved and raved about how wonderful their products were and tried to get others to buy them....she thought it was a wonderful company. I wasn't interested, so I never tried their products. We worked together for several years and she was always promoting or selling something.

She was a rather slender, very young looking and acting, athletic 50 years of age and into a lot of health stuff, much like I was and she appeared to be quite healthy and full of life. She had attested to Clear, but had not done any OT Levels. A couple of years after we quit working in the same place, I ran into her husband at the health food store and asked about her. Her husband told me that she had been sick for a year and had died of cancer. I was shocked. Your mention of Melaleuca reminded me of this.

Melaleuca went thru the Scientology community a number of years ago, so it's been around the block a few times. You can Google Melaleuca and check it out....there are a lot of sites that have posted info on it.

 

[JackStraw]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

Has anyone heard of the Melaleuca company. My old opera singer friend from the late 78's who I reconnected with got into this company and I bought some of their products from them and find them quite good. They sell about 350 products under their own labels, soaps, cleaners, vitamins and nutritional items, foods, snack food, a full line of cosmetics and many other things.

Does anyone have anything to say, good or bad about Melaleuca?
Lakey

I had a brief period of involvement with Melaleuca Co. My wife & I began using some of their products and liked some of them a lot. (others, not so much) Then we found you can get much better prices if you are a distributer! We signed up. Sure enough, the prices we paid were better, but part of the deal is you need to have and keep up a certain minimum inventory. This started getting expensive and we were stockpiling stuff we weren't using. (And it's hard to sell products you don't like much.)

We dropped it.

But, I really liked the Gold Bar soap. It was great. Also the Genuine Melaleuca Oil: C-47 or whatever they called it. It is cool stuff. The thing is, you can buy the same stuff in your local hippie Health Food Store. It's popularly called Tea Tree Oil. In my experience it is the absolute best athletes foot cure.

I went to the gym on a regular basis and got AF often. I tried the usual drug store preparations (smell bad, you use the twice a day for two weeks! If you are not cured by then, use it for another two weeks. Yeah, sure. I could never get through more than three days before giving up in frustration and stink.

Melaleuca oil (or Tea Tree Oil) once in the morning, once at night and if you remember, again the next morning. Usually after two applications all symptoms were gone and you've forgotten about it!

Any way, the products are, well, some real good, others no better than you can get for less at your regular grocery store. But they all cost more.

YMMV, of course.

Jack

 

[Auditor's Toad]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

I had a brief period of involvement with Melaleuca Co. My wife & I began using some of their products and liked some of them a lot. (others, not so much) Then we found you can get much better prices if you are a distributer! We signed up. Sure enough, the prices we paid were better, but part of the deal is you need to have and keep up a certain minimum inventory. This started getting expensive and we were stockpiling stuff we weren't using. (And it's hard to sell products you don't like much.)

We dropped it.

But, I really liked the Gold Bar soap. It was great. Also the Genuine Melaleuca Oil: C-47 or whatever they called it. It is cool stuff. The thing is, you can buy the same stuff in your local hippie Health Food Store. It's popularly called Tea Tree Oil. In my experience it is the absolute best athletes foot cure.

I went to the gym on a regular basis and got AF often. I tried the usual drug store preparations (smell bad, you use the twice a day for two weeks! If you are not cured by then, use it for another two weeks. Yeah, sure. I could never get through more than three days before giving up in frustration and stink.

Melaleuca oil (or Tea Tree Oil) once in the morning, once at night and if you remember, again the next morning. Usually after two applications all symptoms were gone and you've forgotten about it!

Any way, the products are, well, some real good, others no better than you can get for less at your regular grocery store. But they all cost more.

YMMV, of course.

Jack

I find your post most curious. In Melaleuca there are are no " distributors " only people who purchase directly from the company.

Haven't found anyone required to carry any " inventory ". It is use a portion of your consumable houshold supplies. Needs based shopping for stuff most people already use anyway - toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, housecleaners for tile, granite, glass, etc & vitamins. You know, things for people who brush their teeth, take a shower & so on.

And this " hard to sell products " is the oddest of all & no one sells anything. A person enrolls with Melaleuca & buys factory direct so I don't get what someone means when they say they have a problem selling the products. Only the factory sells the products.

To say the products cost more than that in the grocery store... just ain't true. Easy to demonstrate savings on just the price.

Somehow about 800,000 families a month shop there and 95 % of those are re-orders. Yep, 5 % of their customers do drop out, usually after trying less than 7 of the over 400 products.

I'd suggest someone who is interested in the truth about Melaleuca contact a person involved in Melaleica and heard about it from somebody who actually knows how to make a knowledgable introduction to the company & the products - spend about an hour and make up your own mind whether or not they have something of benefit to you and your family.....or not.

 

[lkwdblds]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

I had a brief period of involvement with Melaleuca Co. My wife & I began using some of their products and liked some of them a lot. (others, not so much) Then we found you can get much better prices if you are a distributer! We signed up. Sure enough, the prices we paid were better, but part of the deal is you need to have and keep up a certain minimum inventory. This started getting expensive and we were stockpiling stuff we weren't using. (And it's hard to sell products you don't like much.)

We dropped it.

But, I really liked the Gold Bar soap. It was great. Also the Genuine Melaleuca Oil: C-47 or whatever they called it. It is cool stuff. The thing is, you can buy the same stuff in your local hippie Health Food Store. It's popularly called Tea Tree Oil. In my experience it is the absolute best athletes foot cure.

I went to the gym on a regular basis and got AF often. I tried the usual drug store preparations (smell bad, you use the twice a day for two weeks! If you are not cured by then, use it for another two weeks. Yeah, sure. I could never get through more than three days before giving up in frustration and stink.

Melaleuca oil (or Tea Tree Oil) once in the morning, once at night and if you remember, again the next morning. Usually after two applications all symptoms were gone and you've forgotten about it!

Any way, the products are, well, some real good, others no better than you can get for less at your regular grocery store. But they all cost more.

YMMV, of course.

Jack

Thanks for all that commentary Jack! They must have changed something since your experience because the way they are now operating, a distributor is not required to build up any inventory whatsoever. Under the current system, if a distributor signs someone up, that person must buy directly from Meleleuca and not from the distributor if they want to get the goods for 30% off list.

I agree with you on the products, some of them, such as the gold soap bar which you mentioned, are outstanding while others are good. They have set it up so a person must buy an order of a certain size, approx. $70, each and every month to get the 30% off. I have found no bad products. They are all good with some being incredible.

As to cost, Meleleuca has a theory that the things you buy, you are going to buy in the stores anyway. They claim that their stuff is cheaper plus of higher quality so if you don't buy from them you will buy similar products elsewhere anyway so by buying with them, you should save money.

Usually, its not apples to apples. You buy certain products from them that look interesting that you probably would never buy in the stores. On the stuff you do buy in the stores, Meleleuca's may be a little cheaper than similar products in a regular market but you might be able to buy a similar item at Wal Mart or Costco for less. The Meleleuca product is consistently of higher quality so its hard to compare apples to apples.

So far, in my experience, I am paying slightly more than I used to, maybe $30 a month, but am receiving much higher quality products plus sampling things that I never tried before. The overall effect seems to be a better quality of life at just a slight increase in expenditures.

Lakey