Monthly Archive for November, 2011

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Solution for Pre-Alzheimer’s: Deport ‘Em

If it’s true that exercising your mind is good to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, then sending those people who are at risk to a foreign land may be the best thing for them.

I arrived at this conclusion while waiting for my turn at the bank teller.

Basic Brain Exercise

Go to the bank to get cash and transfer money.

In Costa Rica, there are no standing in lines waiting for a bank teller – only to pick the line where a customer decides to conduct a complicated transaction, while the lines around you move a light speed.

In Costa Rica, you enter the bank, get a number, eg: A25, have a seat in some of the most comfortable chairs in Costa Rica (not saying much) and wait until your letter and number is called.

In Spanish.

So right off the bat, my mind is getting exercise following the numbers and letters being called. A is “ah” in Spanish, 25 is Veinticinco. The V is not a hard sound, but more of a soft pffff to resemble an english B sound, but not quite.

See? Exercise.

Deporting Pre-Alzheimer’s folks to a country where they don’t speak English might be the best thing for them. Or it will drive them batty with stress.

Ready for advanced-level Brain Exercise?

Refrigerator being delivered by taxicab in Costa Rica

Buy a refrigerator in Costa Rica.

Convert cubic meters to cubic feet to compare capacity.

Convert millimeters to inches to make sure it will fit.

Convert Colones to Dollars to make sure you can pay for it.

Actually – don’t convert because you don’t learn anything that way.

And when you are done making the purchase… hire a taxicab to deliver your fridge. There is no store-delivery. (It cost $8 to have the new refrigerator dropped off in my driveway.)

I used to sleep like a baby.

No I lay awake thinking about how to say, “I live 500 meters past the school on the right side of the road, up the hill, in the brown house” in Spanish.

Brain exercise. Need some?

Deport Thyself.

 

 

 

 

Geeky Animated Gif Monday

Thanks to Boomspeak.com. 

Send your favorite animated gifs to GoingLikeSixty@gmail.com

Know a Baby Boomer That is Glowing? Free Money!

The November issue of AARP Bulletin (hitting homes today!) shares important information on a search conducted by the National Association of Atomic Veterans; they’re looking for the approximately 195,000 vets who were exposed to radiation from atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1962.

These men and women could receive a one-time $75,000 benefit from the U.S. government under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 or a monthly disability payment of up to $2,673 from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Few veterans have applied for these benefits. Their widows and children are eligible too if their family member died before receiving a benefit.

Life’s Good: LG and Samsung Dump Cheap Fridges on US Market

 

We have been shopping for a new fridge. The one we have (came with the house) is a small “apartment size” fridge.  We didn’t move our humongous french door refrigerator because there is NO WAY it would have fit.

The fridge is built-in between an outside wall and the kitchen counter – made of concrete with ceramic tile. No way to make more room without it being a major project – and we are THRU with major renovation projects. (I’ll eat those words later, I bet.)

I have measure, remeasured, and remeasured and researched extensively to make sure the refrigerator we buy will fit the hole we have.

I’m sure once we walk out of the store with the fridge strapped to the burro, there are no returns. To avoid having the refrigerator be located in our bedroom, I’ve been anal about measurements. (Which is a good thing! I discovered that the front of the fridge hole is larger than the back… and the electrical outlet is on the side – where there is NO extra space.)

There is a lot – a LOT – of whining about the cost of goods in Costa Rica. Conventional wisdom says everything is so much more expensive here than the U.S. because of the high duties Costa Rica puts on imports.

Here’s a fact:

The U.S. adds duties to goods imported to the U.S.! Nobody knows or notices or cares.

How do I know?

Because LG and Samsung have been slammed with tariffs because they are “dumping” refrigerators on the U.S. market.

The news this week is that Whirlpool is leaving the U.S. and putting a more than a thousand people out of work.

LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. dumped refrigerators at low cost, the U.S. Commerce Department said in a case brought by Whirlpool Corp. The agency set duties of as much as 36.65 percent.

Samsung of Suwon, South Korea, faces a tariff 36.65 percent for refrigerators produced in Mexico and 32.2 percent for those from South Korea based on the preliminary findings, the department said today in a statement. LG Electronics will pay 16.44 percent for products made in Mexico and 4.09 percent on South Korea units. Dumping refers to selling a product at a discount in a foreign market.

LG Electronics of Seoul said today in a statement that it strongly disagrees with the findings and believes they will be reversed when the Commerce Department makes its final determination. Samsung said its disagreed with the U.S. finding and said it was confident it will be found “in compliance” with trade laws, according to a company statement today.

If you are living in the U.S. and are refrigerator shopping you might want to jump on the January Clearance Sales because with tariffs like what the Commerce Department wants, the costs of keeping your beer cold is gonna go up significantly.

Whirlpool left Evansville, Indiana a few years ago and headed to Mexico because of NAFTA. The plant is still empty today. Now Mexican Whirlpool fridge builders are being hurt by Korean fridge builders.

Get use to it: We live in the Global Economy. The U.S. won’t be the leader in any hard goods manufacturing again.

Watch the video to see what Whirlpool did to Evansville and then tell me you feel sorry for them.

Watch Manufacturing jobs on PBS. See more from Need To Know.