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Blue Chip Stamps

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Sure, I get rewards and points and those sorts of incentives when I make purchases using my credit cards, but……….I miss Blue Chip Stamps. There was a redemption center on Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa,  California, and it was always an adventure going there to get something for your completed books of stamps. Maybe a shiny new toaster.
I worked at the Windsor Shell Station (owned by Joe Woodard) just off U.S. 101 at the Windsor off ramp while I was in high school in the mid 60's, and we gave out Blue Chip Stamps with purchases. We had stamp dispensers at the pump islands and, since the stamps were “lick-and-stick” like postage stamps were in those days, when it rained, the dispensers got gummed up and refused to function.
I read on Wikipedia that Blue Chip Stamp was a viable company until 2011 (who knew?) and was then absorbed by their parent company. During their heyday in the 60's and 70's, even some brothels and mortuaries gave Blue Chip stamps with purchases. Ho…
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Global Poker (at a Ballpark Near You!!)

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To my dismay, I see that my beloved San Francisco Giants (and, presumably, all the rest of MLB), has “partnered” with an outfit called Global Poker. For the uninitiated, Global Poker is an on-line casino playing for real money. Just like Las Vegas. In other words, a dandy place to go and lose you family's rent money from the convenience of your lap-top computer in your bedroom while your wife is asleep.
This “partnership” consists of yet another special night at the ball park. Global Poker Night!! Come early for a FREE ticket to the baseball game.
We no longer allow the evil of tobacco in our wholesome ballpark, but will allow this? Bizarro world, I tell you. I'm speechless.
Global Poker is based in the Principality of Malta. MALTA for Christ sake.
It simply wasn't bad enough that MLB sacrificed some televised games for Facebook…..Now this.
Yuck.
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The MLB All Star Game

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I'm a fan of the San Francisco Giants, but more than that, I'm a baseball fan. If I find myself in a strange town during baseball season, I'll go find and watch a game—Pro, College, High School, Bobby Sox or Little League. It really doesn't matter to me. I'm a baseball guy.
But mostly, I'm a fan of the San Francisco Giants and the National League style of play.
Time was, I also looked forward to the annual All Star game. Time was, also, that there were two All Star games every season. And life was good in these United States.
So, let us now disabuse our collective selves of the notion that the current state of the All Star game means anything at all.
Fans voting for All Stars? What a disagreeable notion. Every team gets an All Star? What a disagreeable notion. A HOME RUN derby??? Holy Crap…..
For the record, and I'm all for stuff being on the record: -Fans shouldn't be involved in the selection of All Star baseball players. -Not every team al…
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Sssooo..........It Is What It Is

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Here in the Castle Rock, when I'm not working, I watch the local news on the local (Portland, Oregon) stations—Affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. They all give about the same News, Weather, and Sports, and I rotate. They have more than the news in common, which brings me to my main point.
The news staff and personalities are being infiltrated by the younger generation. That happens with EVERY generation, and I know that. I also know that I am no longer the “target demographic” of anything, local news included. Here's the rub…..I'm weary of location news reporters starting sentences with “Sssooo”, and then proceeding. I'm weary of every tragedy being “Literally Horrific”.
I understand that these folks speak like that to one another, but in generations past, by the time they became TV personalities, they had learned a more traditional manner of speaking.
Try as I might, I cannot recall previous reporters using Valley-Girl speak, or punctuating sentences with…
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The Giant Asian Hornet

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Yep.....One more thing I could have gone all day without knowing about--The Giant Asian Hornet.  Two inches in length, a three inch wingspan, and a quarter inch stinger.


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Foreign Language Ads

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I play Microsoft card games on the computer pretty much every day. If I felt guilty about it, it would be a guilty pleasure. I get some ads with the card games because I'm a cheap bastard and won't pay to eliminate the ads.
I told you that so I could tell you this: Of late, the ads have been speckled with Spanish language ads. I'm not bi-lingual. Never claimed to be.
So, if I'm going to get Spanish language ads, I want some inclusiveness. Give me the occasional Russian language ad….Or Korean…..Or French…..Or Greek…..Or something else I can't understand. I'm just sayin'……….
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Everywhere In The USA.....

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.....except the NFL, the NBA, and the Oakland A's.
36 U.S. Code § 301 - National Anthem
(a)Designation.—
The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem.
(b)Conduct During Playing.—During a rendition of the national anthem—
(1)when the flag is displayed—
(A)
individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;
(B)
members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and
(C)
all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
(2)
when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if…
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