Milt Reynolds: Thinking Out Loud

Beware of these common holiday scams Offers of "free" iPads: With Apple products topping most shopping lists this holiday season, scammers are busy sending out fake offers for free iPads. Consumers are asked to purchase other products and provide their credit card number to get the free iPad. Of course, victims never receive the iPad or the other items, just the headache of reporting a stolen credit card number. Help! I've been robbed! This travel scam sends phony distress messages to family and friends requesting that money be wired or transferred so that they can get home. Fake Gift Cards: Cybercriminals use social media sites to promote fake gift card offers with the goal of stealing consumers’ information and money, which is then sold to marketers or used for ID theft. Illegitimate Holiday Job Offers: As people seek extra cash for gifts this holiday season, Twitter scams offer dangerous links to high-paying, work-at-home jobs that ask for your perso

Scientifically Disappointed I work for a laboratory. In my mind, a laboratory is best described as the color white. I always imagine a laboratory to have white countertops, white walls, white cabinets, white floors, white computers, white ball point pens. No, maybe not the pens...I imagine the pens being black. Black pens with a chrome retractor and a chrome clip which allows it to be placed securely in the pocket of a white lab coat. If you look closely at the chrome clip you can see a reflected image of a white laboratory. I remember being so excited when my second-grade elementary school teacher announced to us second-grade school children that the lavoratory was just down the hallway from our classroom. A lavoratory! That's the same as laboratory, just pronounced differently, right? No. I sadly learned the truth five minutes later as we all trooped down the hallway to experience the lavoratory. "Lavoratory" was a fancy word for "bathroom" , which i

Local Color Watch the full episode . See more OPB Specials. Not sure where I've been the last 53 years...a lot of this is new to me. Growing up white in small town eastern Oregon, I was insulated from racial conflict. I could easily imagine legal segregation and popular discrimination and violent hate happening far, far away, but not at all in my home state of Oregon. This video is about ten years old now, but this is the first I've heard of it. I regret my ingnorance. I regret being ignorant of the dark truth of Oregon's social and political heritage. But, better late than never. One of the statements captured in the video still echoes in my mind: "For life to get better for the blacks in Oregon, whites had to change." For me, experiencing this video is a part of that change.

ELDERLIBRARIES ELDERLIBRARIES IS IN NEED OF A VOLUNTEER FOR ASHLEY MANOR The Hermiston Public Library outreach program Elderlibraries has been asked to provide services to Ashley Manor, the adult care facility. We need a volunteer who can give one to two hours every three weeks to take books to Ashley Manor residents. If you are interested in helping with this important program please stop by and talk to Sue, our Volunteer Coordinator, for full information and an application. Or call her at 541- 567-2882. All adult volunteers for the library must be willing to submit to a background check.

An Effective Cover Letter Your resume is NOT the first thing an employer might look at. Your cover letter, the one-page summary you attach to your resume is the actual portal to next step in getting an interview. Toni Bowers lists seven essentials for writing an effective cover letter. You can read the entire article here: http://blogs.techrepublic.com Here are the highlights of the article. Determine what the employer is looking for and meet that need. Keep your cover letter short and to the point. Don't repeat the contents of your resume. Try to remain positive . Write in clear and accessible terms. Write your cover letter, let it sit for a few hours , and then reread it. Proofread . That last tip still echoes in my mind: PROOFREAD! Toni writes that many recruiters have told her that they will toss a cover letter and resume in the trash if there is a typo. Proofread! Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com

Does your Local Neighborhood Food Store strive to keep its recycle area or container return area clean and safe? Let's recognize them! Here's how to do it: Make a point of looking at your local food store's recycle area. If it looks clean and safe, dash inside and tell the manager or assistant manager, "Thanks! The Recycle Area looks clean and safe!" And then, dash home and click your browser to this blog:  Add a comment telling us the name of your store (you don't have to say what town, although you can if you want), and why you thought their recycle area was worthy of a shout out. Remember, we're looking for positive comments. We want to recognize the good work of our local stores in maintaining clean and safe recycle areas. RAH! RAH! RAH!

RAH! RAH! RAH! My Neighborhood Food Store Recycle Area looks MUCH better! A quick run downtown to pick up some fresh pineapple and strawberries allowed me to take a peek at my latest adopted Cause...and it looks great! As I parked, I could see a couple of orange-vested store employees mopping the concrete floor surrounding the container-return machines. The bottlecaps were swept up, trash disposed, and the squeaky-clean floor appeared  hygenic, safe, and inviting. Thank you! Thank you, Neighborhood Food Store, for listening. I purchased my fruit and asked a clerk to direct me to the manager. She pointed me to Checkstand #5, where the Acting-Manager was working. As I stood near the end of the checkstand, Acting-Manager smiled pleasantly at me. I quickly told her, "Thanks for cleaning the Recycle Area; it looks much better!" She thanked me in turn and seemed to be genuinely appreciative of the gesture. Felt good. AND...it gave me another great idea! (This one

Yesterday I visited the website of my Neighborhood Food Store (not their real name) and entered a comment on their Contact Us page, briefly describing my experience with the Recycle Area and including a link to my blog. Got a quick email response back today. Didn't expect one until at least tomorrow, today being Sunday. Thanks, NFS! They apologized for the mess (and they used that word, "mess"), and their message did not contain any bit of rancor or impatience or coldness. That's a definite plus...I kind of expected to get a demerit for not contacting the store manage directly. They asked for the exact location of the store. There's only one store of that brand in Hermiston...kind of a lame question to ask...but I Googled the store, snapped a screenshot of the listing and sent it to corporate headquarters with a note saying thanks, here's the address, and I resorted to only one short, snide remark which I quickly apologized for (but did not delete). Drov

Dear Neighborhood Food Store, Looks nice. From this side. But walk a bit closer, just before the main entrance, and glance left, into the recycling area . Here's the view from the other end : Not nice. I shop here often. The aisles are wide and the prices are fair. Good selection of fresh and baked foods. Nice deli. Even a Starbucks. High-tech, too...they have several Self-Checkout stations...just scan the barcodes, swipe your card, and you're done. They have a Blockbuster Express video vending machine . Cool. But their recycle area is... atrocious . It's never very clean, and the machines sometimes don't work, but tonight it was at its worst. I had to dash downtown for a couple of cans of tomato soup. It was about 5:00 PM. I parked on the side of the store nearest the recycle area and walked through it to the main entrance, and returned to my car the same way. Almost scary. Certainly repulsive. I was halfway home when an idea struck me

Apple Seeds and Cyanide I offhandedly posted a comment that I eat apples...cores, seeds, and all . I chew on the stem until it tastes and feels like a used toothpick, and then I spit it out. Several responses to my post have given me cause to examine closely my preferred method of eating apples. I'd heard that apple seeds contain a small amount of cyanide , but I'd also heard that it's harmless unless one were to eat an immoderate amount of apples, much more than a person could stomach in one sitting. But I didn't really have any research to support either position: Are apple seeds poisonous or healthy? . So I went searching. One hour's worth of time spent searching the internet has given some interesting, semi-scientific, good-enough-for-me evidence that eating an apple's worth of seeds a day, or even three or four apple's worth, is not harmful . At worst, it may introduce a tiny amount of cyanide into my body, at a level which my body can eas

Break the Chain This is a summary of BreakTheChain.org . Experienced internet and e-mail users can easily recognize a new user: they forward an inbox-ful of email chain messages, urban legends, feel-goods, and end-of-the-world alarms . I usually forgive a new user - for a few weeks anyway - but I don't have too much patience with emails that are obviously rehashed versions of decade-old chain letters and alarmist screams for attention , forwarded by friends who should know better. E-mail is wonderful for immediate, personal communication between individuals. It is extremely poor for accurate mass-mailing . Forwarded messages are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Internet users should ALWAYS carefully consider whether to forward a message, whether to one person or to an entire group. USUALLY, the forwarded message has been corrupted or blatantly perverted by multiple senders before you've received your copy of it. By sending it on, you are endorsing and recommending

To Crack Or Not To Crack — Does It Really Make A Difference? Reprinted with permission from UMCDF Today, August 24, 2010 Numerous studies have been conducted and have confirmed something we all already knew — during the summer, the inside of our car gets, well, as they say, "just plain hot." However, other facts that we might not have been aware of have also been discovered: How fast does it get hot in a vehicle? One study showed that within 10 minutes, the inside temperature rose 20 degrees higher than the outside air, 34 degrees within a half an hour and 40-50 degrees within an hour. Another study showed the inside temperature hitting 116 degrees within an hour with an outside temperature of only 72 degrees. And in one more study, with an outside temperature of 93 degrees, the inside temperature was recorded at 125 degrees after 20 minutes and 140 degrees after 40 minutes. Windows "cracked" — yes or no? Three vehicles were used to look at whether

Social Me-dia, Splintered Louisgray.com has posted a pivotal, insightful analysis of the state of social media. Read it here: social-me-me-me-me-me-media.html I cannot add anything to his message. But I also cannot hold back from echoing it in some way. Here are some highlights: Social media sites change, but people do not. The driving motivation for creating, using, reading, retweeting, and joining social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google Buzz is one human desire: the desire to feel important and interesting . People measure success by how much attention they receive. Yet the internet superhighway has allowed social media streams to multiply beyond quantification. The voices seeking attention vastly outnumber the the mind's ability to hear - we begin to shut down, ignore, or simply miss most of what's being shared. Louis points out that many blog posts are getting fewer and fewer comments. Tweets get no replies. Conversations lag, photos repose u

Christian. Muslim. Love. Unconditional. Rachel Held Evans is right on target. Rachel posted a thoughtful response to the Islamic community center planned for New York City. Read the article here: Loving our Muslim neighbors unconditionally Here are the highlights and some comments. Rachel quoted Tony Campolo as he warned against persecution of Muslims and Arab Americans: "As Christians, we can’t let this happen. These are our neighbors, created in the image of God. They deserve our love and respect." Persecution. It seems a harsh word. But it seems to fit the tone of some of the comments and opinions I'm hearing from Christians. Islam is offensive to Christianity? Islam threatens the American way of life? Rachel asks a rock-solid, convicting question: Have these Christians forgotten that our first allegiance is not to our own interests or to the "American way of life," but rather to the Kingdom of Heaven? Think of the culture in

Who Speaks and Why? I am stymied by the global climate change discussion. The need for dramatic, negative social change could be real, or it could be orchestrated. For me to accept the need for change, I must trust scientific and political decision-makers for conclusions that I lack the time and ability to research for myself. To reject the need for change, I must reject solid historical evidence that technology has had harmful, devestating effects on our earth . I just read an article posted by the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Wildlife Federation, Larry J. Schweiger . His thoughts coalesce my frustration. "Scientific findings can be just as contentious today as in the 17th century." Schweiger cites several scientists who suffered for their discoveries and conclusions: Galileo endured a life-sentence "house arrest" in 1632 for the heretical idea that the Sun, not the Earth, was at the center of our universe. Rachel Carson wr

Tools of the Trade: Watercolor I'm a beginner. I don't paint often, and so I don't paint as well as I'd like. But to the extent that my skill, and patience, allows, here are some thoughts about the tools and techniques of watercolor painting . This are my painting tools. From left to right: Brushes Ruler (six-inch plastic) Pen (ballpoint) Pencil (#2) Paints Jar of water to clean brushes Jar of clean water to add to paints Mixing palette Water brushes Small bottle of water Watercolor paper (fairly heavy, to resist curling) How to Watercolor book Experienced painters will immediately pick up on my innocence... I don't have a clue what type/size/style/quality my brushes are . I don't buy expensive brushes, but I do throw away any that shed their hair. I especially like the small water brushes . The water brush has a small, refillable water reservoir, making it easy to add water to color, create washes, and clean. Gently squeeze the bar

Creating a Watercolor from a Photograph Mother's Day... I decided to try to paint a couple of pictures for my mother, and for my wife (she's not my mother, but she is a mother, and a great one!) I've collected quite a few photographs, postcards, calendar scenes, magazine pages and newspaper clippings of scenes I'd like to consider painting. Most are way beyond my beginner-level skills, but I found a couple of flower images that I thought, just maybe, perhaps, I could translate into a watercolor painting. I set out my tools, a cup of coffee, and found a comfortable, well-lit place to work. I add a few drops of clean water into each pan of paint and allow the paint to absorb the water, becoming liquid. For strong, bright colors, I'll dip my brush into the pan and paint directly on the paper. For lighter colors, or a wash, I'll swap my brush into the pan, and then wipe it into an empty, clean pan and add more water, or another color to create a different

The Start of a New Website, Part 4 Here's how the coding has turned out so far. From this... ...to this: And, from this... ...to this: One other version that I developed: This version is almost identical to one of their brochures. It demonstrates how a design meant for printing on paper can be translated into a webpage. I scanned the images, resized and added text. Each image is an active link to a different section of the website . I posted the different version to the client's website, using a private URL address, so that the organization can see them on the web , but they are not yet available to the public. I hope to find out in a couple of weeks which versions most appeal to the client, and then I can start adding content! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License .

Do you long for the good old days, when politics was kinder and gentler, with high integrity? Kind of like when Tom J. was president? When different parties got along and worked together? Think again. http://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/the-politics-of-meriwether-lewis/

KidWash Mister Another must-make for this summer! Selah, get ready to get kidwashed! Complete plans at Instructables.com: http://www.instructables.com/id/KidWash-2-PVC-Sprinkler-Water-Toy

Mini-Smores-Grill What a great idea! I'm going to make this when my granddaughter comes to visit - We're going to have Smores! Complete plans found at Instructables.com: http://www.instructables.com/id/Mini-Smores-Grill/

Size versus Quality I'm trying to figure out the relationship between the file size and the quality of digital images. To start, I've selected a JPEG image (a photo taken of an oil painting by a great artist...me!) The following series of images are all the same size, but I've progressively decreased the quality . IrfanView allows me to select options for saving JPEG or GIF images. The only option I changed for each of the following examples is that of quality, starting with 100% and decreasing to a minimum of 1% . Image #1: firefighter-400x312-100.jpg, 84 KB Image #2: firefighter-400x312-90.jpg, 28 KB Image #3: firefighter-400x312-80.jpg, 20 KB Image #4: firefighter-400x312-70.jpg, 16 KB Image #5: firefighter-400x312-60.jpg, 14 KB Image #6: firefighter-400x312-50.jpg, 12 KB Image #7: firefighter-400x312-40.jpg, 10 KB Image #8: firefighter-400x312-30.jpg, 9 KB Image #9: firefighter-400x312-20.jpg, 6 KB Image #10: firefighter-40