If you’re on the hunt for ways to boost your energy, there are at least 10 ways you can do it right now. The right lighting can make a dramatic difference. Protein increases your mental alertness and energy. And, taking a break from your gadgets can help you. Cell phones, in particular, put increased stress on women, according to research. Click the link below for more. By the way, we suggest replacing No. 9 with prayer and Bible reading.
Fritz (Jeff and Annie's Dachshund) actually decided to begin his own blog. You'll find it at TheCelebrityPup.com! Fritz says he plans to use his new-found interest to give pets and humans alike his "unique insights into the world." No word yet on how he's actually managing to type, or if he's simply dictating his posts to mom and dad.
Last week was probably pretty rough for you if you had to fly on American Airlines. Over the weekend, the FAA cleared American to return all but three of their grounded jets back into service. In all, American canceled nearly 3,300 flights. They said they thought they had the needed repair work done two weeks ago, but the FAA said the wiring still was not secured and stowed properly in the plane’s wheel wells. Between the canceled flights and vouchers to reimburse people, American will have lost about $30 million.
Another week means another record price at the pump. Prices rose about a penny to a new national average of $3.36 a gallon. It’s 56 cents higher than it was a year ago. Experts believe prices will continue to rise for now, particularly for self-serve regular.
Check the cupboard this morning before sitting down to breakfast. At least 23 people in 14 different states have gotten sick by the same strain of salmonella found in two breakfast cereals. The company Malt-O-Meal has recalled their unsweetened Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat cereals. Three people have ended up in the hospital. Click the link below for more info.
Imagine gas at 35 cents a gallon. Too good to be true? Not if you visited the Kangaroo Express BP gas station last week. An employee at a North Carolina gas station accidentally set the price at 35 cents. The amount was punched in at 9am Friday for premium-grade gas, and it wasn’t noticed until about 6 that night when crowds of people started to show up and caused a traffic jam. An employee said people had been coming in all day stiffing them and not saying anything.
If you use a Windows machine with XP, chances are you want to keep it that way. Microsoft wants the world to upgrade to Vista of course but, with several bugs in Vista to contend with, agreed to extend XP’s availability until June 30. Now there’s a petition to “Save Windows XP” with over 100,000 signatures asking Microsoft to keep XP as an option beyond the deadline.
Barack Obama is on the defensive as he clarifies comments he made in regard to bitter voters. He says he may not have chosen his words wisely when he said people hit by economic hard times get bitter and cling to guns and religion. Last night at a forum on faith in public life he said he wasn’t demeaning a faith that he himself embraces. He said he was referring to the fact that ordinary Americans have no confidence that the government is listening to them.
When it comes to cheating on taxes, most of us say we have no respect for anyone who does it. A new study asked people to rank ten behaviors based on their level of moral wrongness. It ranked second on the list to another kind of cheating. 5% of people actually said they believed cheating on their taxes was morally acceptable, and 14% believed it’s not a moral issue at all.
At the movies…the number one flick over the weekend was the horror movie “Prom Night,” which took in over 22-million dollars. The new Keanu Reeves movie “Street Kings” was number two. “21,” which was number one last week fell to number three, followed by “Nim’s Island” at number four and “Leatherheads” was five.
Tuesday on the Family Name Game we'll call out the name Abigail. If you're the immediate family member (mom , dad, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife) of Abigail, listen then for your chance to make her the STAR of the show. KNOW a family with a Abigail. Don't just sit there - call them NOW so they can play! If you want to suggest a name, just send it to jeffandstace@aol.com.
Links to things heard on today's show:
- Student Suspended: Took Call From Dad In Iraq
- Prof Tells Student: Lose Faith, Keep Grade
- 10 Ways To Boost Your Energy Today
- Prayer Or Gossip?
- FAA Clears American To Return Jets To Service
- Pump Prices At New Record Highs
- Same Salmonella Strain In Recalled Cereal Sickens 23 People
- Gasoline For 35 Cents A Gallon?
- Windows XP Fans Don't Want It To XPire
- Obama Defends Comments On 'Bitter' Voters
My comment goes to the article about 35 cents/gallon gas prices in NC. I think what's gotten missed in this outcry of how could someone do that to the gas station is that you dont realize that probably 95% of the people that fueled up never encountered an employee. They probably paid with a debit card or credit card. Therefore no human interaction. And what I dont understand is how that it took the employees 10 hours to figure out something was wrong. Surely seeing the unusually low amounts that people were paying when they fueled up should've been a sign that something was wrong. Plus the fact that business was probably brisk on a day when fuel prices were supposed to be pretty high. So you cant blame it all on the customers. Some of the fault lies with the employees as well. - David
Posted by: David | April 14, 2008 at 08:08 AM
Wow, David. Let me get this strait...someone makes a mistake (employee keys in the wrong amount) and it's okay for the rest of us to take advantage of that mistake until the person making it realizes their flub? I hope your friends, family, co-workers and complete strangers don't pull that on you.
"This outcry" I assume refers to "my" comments, since I don't know of anyone else barking about it. :-)
But at any rate, you're right that I "don't realize that probably 95% of the people that fueled up never encountered an employee." That's because you made that up. It's kind of hard for me to realize something you came up with just as your fingers hit the keys.
But even if you're close, the reason it took 10 hours for employees to realize this is for that very reason...there was likely little interaction between employee and customer. But whose fault is that? CUSTOMERS want quick and easy, right?
With prices what they are today, it wouldn't at all seem out of the ordinary for one person to get $5.00 here, another person $7.00 there. Those amounts are all some can afford. When I was a gas station attendant, I saw that all the time.
Unless the person's card was refused, there'd be no reason for the employee to intervene in any way. Plus, it didn't get overly busy until rush hour that afternoon (it took a while for the "word" to get around - keep in mind the sign at the side of the road didn't shout ".35 cents," it still said "$3.35"). Only then did it become obvious something was wrong.
You see, people realized they were getting away with something; that a mistake had been made. They were going out of their way to keep it on the DL, all the while justifying it to themselves by rationalizing they were "sticking it to the man." Unfortunately, in this case, the "man" they stuck it too was the gas station owner, who literally makes .01 to .02 profit per gallon.
Some of the blame may indeed end up placed on the employee who made the mistake. They could lose their job over something that was a complete accident. I would hate to think that, as a "lucky" .35 cent customer that day, I was partially responsible.
Jeff (Jeff & Stace in the morning)
Posted by: jeffandstace | April 14, 2008 at 10:42 AM