BusyLife Daily

With half a billion cell phones retired last year, it’s good to know that a many of these devices actually got recycled instead of ending up in landfills, but “recycling” has lots of different meanings. How are cell phones recycled?

Read more…

Does anybody really believe that team Obama and the Clintons are now one big happy Democratic family?

Not really; it feels more like an impending divorce where the parents are trying to put on a united front for the sake of the kids. The Clintons deserve better than they are getting. Like it or not, the Clinton’s have been the backbone of Democratic politics for years and the Obama team is managing them like a couple of has-beens. Boy, is Obama arrogant… no respect.

Bill Clinton has to speak about Obama’s readiness to lead the troops instead of economic policies. WTF?

No doubt, “Billary” will do their assignments to the best of their abilities, but don’t kid yourself, Democratic unity is a fascade.

A vote for Obama is supposed to be a vote for change. We just hope it’s the change we need. People used to think that Jimmy Carter was the answer to a corrupt Republican administration. That didn’t go so well. We don’t need another professor in the White House.

All political conventions are orchestrated, but last night’s kick off was a little much. Ted Kennedy may be the “liberal lion” of the Democrats, but he doesn’t speak for a large segment of the party which is mostly moderate.

Obama is playing a risky game between pandering to the left and then tying to acting like a centrist. We moderates aren’t completely ready to buy what he is selling. Bill Clinton was successful because he was a true centrist that was able to get the economy back on track by working effectively on both sides of the aisle.

Can Obama unify this country? We’re not sure he can truly unite his own party (especially without the Clintons) and that is why we are now registered as independents.

The Beijing Olympics had plenty of controversy. From the women’s gymnastics age scandal to judges being attacked in Taekwondo, the Chinese games will not be forgotten soon.

A number of U.S. articles regarding China’s home court judging have been written, including statisical analysis of the “real” medal counts without some the the controversial judging. Oh sure, maybe there is some sour grapes from Americans, but you can’t have this much controversy without some of it being true.

Just look at the image above. There is no way that all of those girls are 16! The fact that the IOC won’t seriously investigate these allegations is the real travesty.

The 2008 Summer Olympics can be summed up in a few words: Michael Phelps, bad judging, sneaky tactics, poor sportsmanship.

Here are some other Olympic wrap up articles with interesting perspectives:

Click here for more controversial moments from the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Beijing Olympics were logistically successful — and sneaky too, Los Angeles Times

36 facts about the Olympic medal count

The REAL Olympic medal count

Dealing with customer service or tech support can be more than a little frustrating. According to a recent Psychology Today article, we should try using our powers of persuasion by complements and flattery:

If you’ve ever contested a mysterious charge on your credit card, tried to resolve a problem with your computer, or wanted to return an item to a vendor, you’ve probably encountered stubborn customer service agents — people who seem nice at the outset but change their tune when they realize complying with your request will cause additional work on their part. To change their orientation toward you, try the following: If you find toward the beginning of your interaction that the customer service agent is being particularly friendly, polite, or responsive — perhaps before you get to your toughest request — tell the agent that you’re so impressed with his or her service and knowledge so far that you’re going to write a positive letter or e-mail about your interaction to his or her supervisor as soon as you get off the phone. After getting the agent’s name and the supervisor’s contact information, you can then get to the more complex issues at hand.

Although there are a number of psychological reasons for why this might be an effective strategy, the norm of reciprocity — one of the best-studied norms in psychology — is a powerful factor here: You’ve offered to do a favor for that person, so now that person is going to be motivated to return the favor.

It may be a hard pill to swallow, but it might be worth trying. At least buttering up an Indian customer/tech support rep won’t cost anything.

Click here to read the full article from Psychology Today.

Chances are you know somebody within your own family that is or has struggled with the horrible effects of Alzheimers. We just heard about this book and believe it would be worthwhile reading, particularly for those families with a genetic pre-disposition for the disease.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Alzheimers is pandemic among older adults worldwide, and as baby boomers age it promises to be the Great American Epidemic of the twenty-first century. Unlike other books in the category, which focus primarily on caring for an Alzheimers patient after diagnosis, The Anti-Alzheimers Prescription presents a program to lower your risk by 70%:

• Assess your risk factors and determine your Real Brain Age
• Step One: the Anti-Alzheimer?s Diet, including recipes and a twenty-eight-day menu
• Step Two: daily physical exercises for the body and mind
• Step Three: daily ?neurobics? to build a big brain reserve
• Step Four: the importance of stress reduction and quality sleep
• Making a diagnosis and the latest medical therapies being developed

This is the first book to feature a scientifically substantiated program for the only treatment for Alzheimers prevention. For the millions of men and women at risk for developing this debilitating illness, The Anti-Alzheimers Prescription is a lifesaving breakthrough.

Click here to visit Dr. Fortanasce’s D.E.A.R. Program website.

Source: Amazon.com

at least in California and Massachusetts.

Summer time is prime wedding season, especially in California and Massachusetts. California with its landmark gay marriage decision having gone into effect just this last June. And Massachusetts also just announced this Summer that their state will now allow other same sex couples to legally marry.

So straight or gay, here are some greater wedding etiquette reminders to make your attendance at some body’s special day more enjoyable.

Read more…

To say that our next president will have a lot on his plate would be a gross understatement. The Iraq war, the mortgage crisis, fuel prices, inflation, the bad job market, and so much more. We’ve heard for years that our country’s schools and educational systems are in need of a serious overhaul, but this problem always seems to take a backseat to other more news worthy dramas.

We recently caught a repeat episode of Oprah entitled “Failing Grade” which should be an eye opener to everyone.

Just 20 years ago, American students were among the best in the world, routinely coming in first in test results. Now, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, students in the richest country on earth are in 24th place in math. That’s behind Canada, Germany, France, Korea…but also smaller, poorer countries like Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

Click here to learn more at Oprah.com.

Education is not a government problem exclusively. Education starts at home. Yes, our government and schools need to do a better job, but parents need to do their part and stop letting their kids fall between the cracks.

Our federal, state, and local governments had better start stepping up too. We need to push every child forward now. Our status as a world leader hangs in the balance. China and other Asian countries are producing far more engineers mostly in our top universities, but what about our own students. They aren’t being prepared properly for college. This could be our greatest mistake and regret as a country.

Has China already surpassed the U.S. as the world’s dominant super power? Watching the Olympics is not only good sports viewing, but an indicator of world power.

Going into the second week of competition, the U.S. may have a slight edge in bragging rights in the overall medal count, but the real story is China’s dominance in gold medals.

No offense intended to all the wonderful athletes for whom it is an honor just to be included on team USA (or any other Olympic team, for that matter). This commentary is more of a recognition of China’s emergence as a world player in any number of areas: sports, technology, economics, politics, etc.

China already owns a lot of U.S. businesses and debt too. Is this a foretelling of the future? Does this mean that someday we will all be speaking Mandarin? 

You may not consider yourself a tech or gadget “geek” but if you spend a lot of time in front of your computer or can’t detach yourself from your Blackberry, you may be showing early signs of health issues that may have long-term adverse consequences.

Read more…

Here we go again. The same author that helped torpedo John Kerry’s presidential run in 2004 is now taking on Obama.

America, please don’t fall for these fear tactics again. It’s not that we are huge Obama fans, but smearing candidates just contributes to the polarization of this country.

Go ahead buy the book. Read the book, but see these types of books for what they are… perfectly timed sensationalism, designed to confuse voters and spread fear.

Do we really want to go down that path again?