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Do Not Drill Into the Propane Lines

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They Know That Now

THERE WERE SOME ANXIOUS MOMENTS at the Sussex, New Brunswick, Walmart store Wednesday afternoon.   The Telegraph-Journal explains:

Sussex Fire Chief Bill Wanamaker said it appears while an Eastern Fence employee was drilling new holes to install protective barriers around the propane tanks, one of the lines that feeds the store with gas was struck and a fire broke out, igniting the company's truck.

"Once they ruptured the line, the propane started coming out and it ignited," he said. "There's an investigation into the incident."

CanadaEast News Service

All of the customers and employees inside the store were evacuated and staged at the far end of the parking lot as the fire department responded and arrived within just a few minutes.

The firefighters knocked the fire back to a level that allowed them to get to the tank's shutoff valve and get it turned off.  As the propane burned off, they directed their attention to the truck fire handling it easily.

The Telegraph-Journal has the full STORY.

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Posted by on August 19, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: , , ,

Firefighter Impersonator Gets 5 Years

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Defrauded Walmarts While Dressed as Firefighter

A GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN MAN, JEFFREY LOWERY was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for larceny by false pretenses and impersonating a firefighter.  This past August he dressed up in “firefighter clothing” and visited 21 Walmart stores where he claimed to be picking up refund money for merchandise returned before he had to leave because of an emergency call.

official government photo

Lowery, 40, pleaded guilty to obtaining between $1,000 and $20,000 through false pretenses and impersonating a firefighter.  He will spend a minimum of 30 months before becoming eligible for parole.

The Grand Rapids Press REPORTS.

Posted by on January 14, 2011 • Filed under: crime, News • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – November 22

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It has been kind of fun watching the predicted price plummets on the television sets, almost just as the “experts” predicted.  If you are planning to upgrade your own home entertainment center with a larger (or additional) tv in the next few weeks, get ready to jump in when the price is right.  You might recall that a couple of months ago on September 29 we relayed the information about the over-production of LCD flat screens putting a glut on the market.  The tv manufacturers took advantage of the price drop and rushed their sets out to the retailers in time for the big shopping rush coming up.

We wrote, partially quoting from a CNN Money web posting:   But a tailspin will start in October.  In the last three months of the year, the firm forecasts that prices will keep falling until they bottom out at 12% below 2009 levels.  On Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), 32-inch LCD TVs will drop to an average price of between $249 and $299, with the best deals as low as $199, according to a prediction from research firm iSuppli. The 32-inch LCD TVs currently sell for $349 to $399, on average, with the cheapest model (Emerson’s LC320EMX) selling for $300.

During the month of December though, the price chops coupled with the shopping season will generate a surge in demand and by the end of December the bottom-prices will climb rapidly back to more profitable levels.  So the best time to add to, or upgrade your personal television receiver stock is sometime between November 26 and December 15.

Walmart has been making loud noises about insisting that they will have the lowest prices on tv’s over the Black Friday weekend and early peeks at their upcoming ads show an Emerson 42″ 1080p offered at $398 and a 52″ Samsung for $998.  I am only quoting on 1080p sets because some cable companies won’t convert the Hi-Def signals to 720p.

Taking a look at yesterday’s Sunday ads for Best Buy and HHGregg (a new outfit in my area) I see a 50″ plasma for $800 and a 55″ LCD for $900 at Best Buy.  The HHGregg stores are quoting similar prices plus $300 for a 32″ LCD that has a built-in DVD player.  The prices for the 19″, 24″ and 32″ sets are low enough you could add one to your own home inventory.

The digital dunce that I am, the difference between LCD screens and LED screens constantly escapes me.  I think that LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display and LED refers to Light Emitting Diode.  But I really don’t know if one or the other is supposed to give a better picture.  Perhaps one of you will write in and advise us of any noticable differences between them.  It appears that this overstock of LCD screens is also dragging down the prices of the LED and the Plasma tv’s.  Are people still buying the Plasma’s?  What is their advantage?

Well, this 20-day window of video opportunity is just about to open, so let’s see what happens next.

What is really going to happen next is getting this equipment checked out.  I need to get some more coffee started, too.  See you back in the day room.

Posted by on November 22, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Walmart Remainders 3G iPhones

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GETTING READY FOR THE JUNE 7 introduction of the 4G iPhone, Walmart has begun a firesale of the 3G’s, slashing the price of a new iPhone from $197 to $97.  The sale will run as long as supplies last.

PC World image

The kicker is, you need to agree to a 2-year contract with AT&T for the service.  For some people this could be a deal breaker.

Besides the provider, another consideration will be, is it better to wait for the new 4G and pay the price, or go with the bargain sell-off?  The 3G has been pulled out of all retailers except Walmart for this sale.

Update: Big markdowns on iPhone Accessories HERE

Some of the expected advantages of the 4G are:

  • Front-facing video chat camera
  • Back-camera has larger lens
  • Camera flash
  • Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
  • Split buttons for volume
  • Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic
  • The battery is 5.25 WHr at 3.7V, compared to the 3GS battery, which is 4.51 WHr at 3.7V.
  • It measures 4.50 by 2.31 by 0.37 inches and weighs 140 grams

    • Thanks to ComputerWorld for the graph.

    Posted by on May 28, 2010 • Filed under: News, shopping, Technology & Communications • Tagged: , , ,

    Morning Lineup – March 11

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    Have you heard of VUDU before?  It’s a video download/streaming service that primarily offers movies to download to your television set.  I had never heard of them (or if I had, I’ve forgotten) until last week when they hit the news.  According to their WEBSITE (HERE) they have literally thousands of  movie titles available and they are offered the same day that the DVD of the flick is released.  There is no monthly subscription or contract required, you only pay for what you watch when you order it.  And they say that they already have 2,000 HD titles in their library along with the tens of thousands of standard def. titles.

    vudu a

    How do you download them?  It arrives over your internet connection (you are required to have a broadband connection) and arrives in a receiver that looks like a cable-tv box.  You do have a 1-time charge of about $140 to purchase the box, but it stores all the movies that you have downloaded so that you can view them repeatedly if you choose to.  LG Electronics and Mitsubishi are building tv sets now that have the VUDU mechanics already installed.  They make their money by selling the movies, either as a download file to keep, or as a live-streaming video-on-demand service.  To sum it up, it’s “Bye-bye, Blockbuster” and “Nice knowin’ ya’ Netflix.”

    vudu b

    Why was VUDU in the news last week, you ask?  It’s because Walmart dropped a bombshell on the movie-rental industry by announcing that they have purchased VUDU for an undisclosed sum with the deal expected to be closed in the upcoming weeks.  While there are several streaming and download services already, the clout that Walmart has in the retail industry already will propel VUDU onto to the top of the heap.  Just as a for-instance,  Walmart sells such a large percentage of television sets now that they can potentially “encourage” more manufacturers to include the VUDU system in their new receivers.

    This will also have an impact on the cable-tv operators because now there will be no need for a customer to pay a monthly surcharge for movie channels such as Starz and HBO.  We’re talking big  bucks here.  There is a lot of news, information and speculation out there on this sea change in digital entertainment delivery, so if you are interested in reading more about it, go to your preferred search engine and enter:  Walmart Vudu and you will get plenty of sites to check out.  If anybody has already used VUDU, post a Comment and let us know what you think about it, or how it works.

    First though, we have to check out this equipment and get ready for the day.  I’ll go get a pot of coffee started then we’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.

    Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , ,

    Morning Lineup – October 29

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    Around the end of the year, people start planning their next-year’s vacation so that they can submit their leave requests in January.  But apparently there are more and more people starting to plan a little farther ahead than that.

    Finally bringing some financial sense to the mortuary market, Walmart has begun selling caskets and urns through their online catalogue.  Apparently, rival retailer Costco has started selling caskets in their stores, but so far Walmart is limiting their offerings online only.  Last week they began by listing 15 models of caskets and literally dozens of funerary urns on their website, most of them undercutting the funeral homes’ prices by as much as $1,000.

    Wal Mart Caskets

    According to their webpage, you could be
    the first to review this product.

    They are offering delivery within 48 hours, but curiously there is a no-return policy.  The prices on all the caskets, except one deluxe model, are less than $2,000.  Reprtedly, Federal law requires funeral homes to accept third-party caskets as part of their services.  Walmart says that they will be expanding their offerings to include as many as two dozen caskets and up to 200 other products including pet urns and memorial jewelry.

    At first glance this seems to be a bizarre sales ploy, but I think it’s really a brilliant bit of planning.  Think back a moment and you’ll recall a lot of hoopla in the past few years about the “aging population” as the Boomer generation, which is the largest current demographic group, reaches retirement age and starts buying anti-cholesterol medicine in greater quantities.  A lot of businesses and service industries are making similar projections for their businesses and beginning to gear up for a different kind of demand for their products.

    So what about your Fire and EMS services?  You know all this is coming, but have you started to actually do anything to meet this growing kind of demand?  It’s going to be more than just an increase in heart attack calls.  There will be an increase in group housing for the aged, more people driving like they do down in Florida while you’re responding to a call, and some unusual public service requests.  You can let your imagination run loose on this one.  But it’s a good idea to at least start implementing some policies that will allow you to get ready for this increased focus on related problems.  Most governmental agencies are reactive rather than pro-active and they tend to lag behind when it comes to that sort of planning.  So perhaps you can steer your department or squad onto a path to get ready for it.  Once again, Walmart leads the way.

    Now let’s follow the path to the check sheets and get this equipment checked out.  I’ll make sure that there’s plenty of coffee going.  See you in the day room in a little while.

    Posted by on October 29, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , , , ,