Archive for May, 2012

“Hater” – The Last Resort When Losing An Argument

Lately I’ve been noticing a rather negative trend in online discussions and other venues.

I’m not getting into the whole “haters gonna hate” crap manifested from the hip hop culture.  This is about the term “haters” and its saturation of today’s society.

Despite the ongoing efforts to end hate and racism and everything alike, the term “hater” is being used more and more frequently these days.  What strikes me is that the people who tend to throw around the term “hater” don’t use it to acknowledge an actual act of hatred (such as from a racist organization), but it’s frequently being used as a way for them to end their side of a discussion or argument.

“You’re just a hater.”

That’s it.  Case closed.  The invisible brick wall has been built to try to end the conversation, blocking out facts, logic, and all other points of view in the discussion. Read more…

SUBTROPICAL STORM BERYL – A FIRST LOOK

It looks like the 2012 Hurricane Season is off to an early start, folks.

As of right now, SUBTROIPCAL STORM BERYL is spinning and churning in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.  So far the storm has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph with a minimum central pressure of 1001 mb.

Although its present movement is to the north at about eight knots, the forecast from the National Hurricane Center is calling for the storm to make a turn to the west-southwest and increase its forward speed within the next day or two.  The computer models show consensus of the storm striking somewhere between northern Florida and southern Georgia by Sunday evening.  However, a deep trough is expected to cause the storm to stall and then head back to the northeast and into the Atlantic Ocean once again. Read more…

Preventing Tip Fraud & Credit Card Theft at Restaurants

These days it’s very common to whip out the ol’ credit card and pay for a meal at a restaurant.

It’s easy.  It’s convenient.  And depending on your credit card provider, you may earn cash back or other bonuses just for even using the card.

So what about when dishonest workers try to manipulate the credit card slip and reward themselves more of a tip than you intended?

That, my friends, is fraud, and it can easily be used to steal money from you if you’re not paying attention.

Last month I experienced this fraud / thievery when I took my girlfriend and one of our friends to a local Applebees restaurant.

While the service was slow and tolerable, the food itself was pretty good.  I enjoyed my burger, and my companions each enjoyed their meals.  The only downside was the slightly poor service despite the restaurant being mostly empty.  It wasn’t like the waitress was overloaded with busy tables or fussy customers. Read more…

Wild Eagle (B&M Wing Coaster) at Dollywood

This past weekend my girlfriend and I had an opportunity to visit the Great Smoky Mountains.  This included visiting Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and as you can guess by the title of this article, the Dollywood theme park.

As some of you may know, Dollywood is a small theme park created by music legend, Dolly Parton.  This is essentially her park, and she’s been known to make occasional visits and say hello to the guests.  The park is clean, the workers are friendly, and there’s plenty of live country and bluegrass music.

And for the past few years, Dollywood has been making a name for itself in the world of roller coasters.  It’s been making a BIG name, and the park’s coaster collection just recently took a giant step forward.

“Wild Eagle” is the latest addition to the growing number of roller coasters inside Dollywood.  This is a custom-made Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) creation that not only seats riders four-across, but it seats them on the sides of the track.  In fact, there’s no coaster car above or below you.  This creation is known as a wing coaster, and believe me, it’s an AWESOME  experience!

This past Sunday we rode the Wild Eagle coaster twice at park opening.  Later that afternoon there was a massive line of people waiting for the ride. Read more…