Re: Made where ?

Dear whole host of others:

Sorry to disturb you, especially since I don't know most of you, but I'd like to add my 2 cents to my stepfather's email chain.

Ever since the U.S. entered a global economy, as you well know, the U.S. has lost most of its manufacturing capacity. Why? Because it is impossible for U.S. businesses to cost-effectively produce goods here. It is cheaper to employ inexpensive, overseas labor and materials to make the things that we consume in the U.S. This is bad if you have a manufacturing job, but good if you buy things, because you get them at the lowest possible cost.

The global economy is capitalism at its finest. It will help to raise the standard of living for everyone that participates in it. It also promotes world harmony and deterrence from waging war on each other, because we trade with each other.

So, if you want to buy American, that's fine, but if you're paying a higher price out of patriotism, your money will not be well spent, because if we can't sell it to you at the lowest price, then we won't be selling to you for much longer.

And if you want to manufacture something here, you ought to automate so that you can produce it cheaper than those working for slave wages overseas, or produce something that they can't, e.g., provide a service here that can't be imported.

Best regards,

G-man
http://sneezing.blogspot.com


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Cousin Lou
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:54:23
To: A whole host of others
Subject: RE: Made where ?


No really - see http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/barcodes.asp - especially the last paragraph " In any case, the bar codes used in the United States are almost exclusively based on the Universal Product Code, type A (UPC-A) standard, not the EAN-13 standard, so most Americans don't even see the three-digit prefixes that indicate the code's point of origin. In determining the country of origin of a product sold in the U.S., consumers should still look for "Made in [country name]" labels on the packaging."

-----Original Message-----
From: Stepdad
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 3:41 PM
To: A whole host of others
Subject: Fw: Made where ?


----- Original Message -----
From: Sally Cable
To: Harry Broadband
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 12:56 PM
Subject: Made where ?



PRODUCTS BAR CODING

For your Information ... the first 3 digits of the barcode is the
country code wherein the product was made.

Sample: all barcodes that start with 690 to 695 are all MADE IN CHINA .
471 is Made in Taiwan .

Error! Filename not specified.
This bar code is 471 – Made in Taiwan

This is our human right to know, but the government and
related department never educate the public, therefore
we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers
avoid products 'made in china', so they don't show
from which country it is made.

However, you may now refer to the barcode, remember if
the first 3 digits is 690-695 then it is Made in China .
00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland and Lienchtenstein
471 ~ Taiwan
628 ~ Saudi-Arabien
629 ~ United Arab Emirates
690-695 ~ China
740 ~ 745 - Central America
All 480 Codes are Made in the Philippines.

Slammed by the LIRR

You may have seen the news about the accident, that they term a "bump." Click the title of this blog for video. I was on the 6:42 a.m. Babylon train that was hit by the Port Jefferson train outside of Jamaica in the morning. My train is normally 8 cars long, but was six this morning, and was packed to the gills with people, standing room only. WABC-7 seems to have the best reporting and video of this incident. WABC-7 reports that LIRR admitted it was human error -- perhaps the engineer of the Port Jeff train was too busy texting on his blackberry instead of looking at his signals. Here's News-12 video too.

It could have been much worse -- it could have been like this.

G-man

Better Luck Next Time

Game started at 6 p.m., 114 players, 22 got $10K seats, 23rd got $8K in cash. Went on third break at 12:30 a.m., 28 players left. I'm sitting 2 away from button, blinds are 3000/6000 with 500 ante, I have 21K in chips.

Action folds to me, I look down at AQ clubs, figure 3x$6K = $18K, so I shoved. Action folds to small blind, who has $32K, and is known to me to be a donkey. He asks for a count, then calls with 77.

Flop comes Q64, I cheer, but one of the other players says to put the celebration on hold, all cards were diamonds, and so was one of his 7s. Turn is 2s. He rivers the 2 outer, and I finish 28th, basically at or near the bubble yet again.

Maybe one day soon I'll get paid.

The Rush Continues

I lost my first Act III last Saturday. Came in 51st out of 152. But I decided to play another Act II, and did quite well in that game to earn yet another entry in an Act III.

I played my second Act III almost flawlessly. There were 164 entrants. I made one big all-in move against another player that joined our table about half-way through the tournament. I had a stack of about $25K chips, and he had me covered. Blinds were 1000/2000 with an 200 ante. I limped in UTG with AsKs, another guy limped too, and he raised to $8000. Action folded around to me, so I smooth called, and the other guy folded.

The flop came Qs7d3s. He looked worried, so I decided to check, with the intent that I would come over the top of him if he showed weakness. He laid out another $8,000, so I thought he might have had a small pair (below a Queen), or he was trying to milk me with an overpair. In any event, I proceeded with my plan, and shoved all-in. He insta-called me and flipped over aces.

The turn came spade, making me a chip monster, and virtually wiping the poor guy out.

I won a few hands along the way, and had a $60K stack when we got down to two tables. Then I started to bleed chips, as others were going all-in almost every hand, and the blinds and antes went up fast. I had about $32K in chips, when we approached the bubble. 18 players left, 16 places win the $10,000 seats, and two of them had much smaller stacks that I did. I did not get any cards up until that point, and made one steal with garbage. I needed to pick a spot to steal again, but couldn't with all the action on the table -- I just never got the opportunity.

The two other shorter stacks went all-in on the next two hands. One busted, but the other quadrupled up. Now, I'm the short stack with $29K, the blinds of $6000/12,000 with $1000 ante were approaching, and I still wasn't getting cards. Plus, savvy players were limping in, hoping to catch me and knock me out.

The blinds passed through my stack, and I would have had to call PF raises all-in with crappy cards, so I folded. My stack was now devastated, down to a big blind or less. I anted off two more hands, and had $9K in chips, then realized I was going out on the bubble, and there was nothing I could do about it. The others behind me would just limp in to call. I couldn't beat that many hands unless I got lucky. I looked at my cards, AsTc. Then someone tried to broker a deal. I could accept $100 from each of the remaining players, and give up.

But I didn't do it. I announced to the 16 other remaining players that I came to play for a seat, not for their charity, and tossed my $9K in chips into the pot.

Needless to say, everyone behind me called. The board came out J8J28. I had hope, but one of the players had a jack.

However, I did win a $1100 ticket to play in the Act III yet again. But I couldn't do it, because I had to work. So I called the Tournament Director the next day to ask for a check instead, and he said no. But he did say that they would credit my winning toward an entry in the Final Act, which was played yesterday, and today at 6 p.m.

I'm taking the Port Jeff Ferry across the sound at 1:30. Wish me luck....

G-Man