Monday, September 17, 2012

Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Homebody Edition

After hours spent narrowly missing an auto accident, getting late to the terminal, and making it to the gate just in time to catch the last call...
    Well, it's nice to be home. 
The air's cooler, and the trees are starting to change around here. I love fall. 

While I'm trying to figure out which end's up, here are some goodies dug out from the Internet:

Financial lessons learned from Clark Griswold...thanks to Frugal Confessions. Clark may be a silly man -- but he's not an idiot.

 Want a way to record your tapes, records and eight-tracks to CD?
You can do it for free now, thanks to Audacity software, if you've got a microphone attached to your computer. The results are pretty good, too. Go take a look.

Was the ambassador to Libya's assassination preplanned? This is imbedded in an article about whether Jay Christopher Stevens was gay --  who cares. But this is unnerving:
    A report published by the Independent of London Sept. 14 indicated Stevens’ death resulted from “a serious and continuing security breach.” The U.S. State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi that the American mission to Libya had been targeted to be hit in a planned attack.
The Independent further reported that Stevens had only recently returned to Libya after a visit to Germany, Austria and Sweden. But no warnings were given for him to go on high alert and “lockdown” restricting movements.
On Sunday, Libya President Mohamed Yousef El-Magariaf told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the attack on the U.S. Consulate f in Benghazi was “preplanned,” contradicting directly U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice’s insistence on the Sunday morning talk shows that the attack was a spontaneous reaction to an Internet-posted video offensive to Islam.
CNN also published a report Sunday indicating three days before the fatal attack, a local security official met with American diplomats in the city and warned them about deteriorating security.
What has been established is that the U.S. State Department under the direction of Hillary Clinton had provided only minimal security for Stevens trip to Beghazi...

Blaming Stevens' and other deaths, as well as the embassy attacks, on a film that was out literally for months, seems more than a tad disingenuous. And if Libya's own president is saying it was a convenient excuse...well...

Thinking about getting a pellet stove? Jen @ Frugal Upstate compares how much it would cost vs conventional wood, including your time and energy. An excellent, sensible comparison.

Remember the finding of the S.S. Central America shipwreck? This ship has yielded an incredible outpouring of gold, including ingots and rare coins. Other coinage and goodies, too.
    Only there's one problem: the shipwreck's salvagor, Tommy Thompson, hasn't paid his investors since 2000. Oops.
    His lawyers say that he's intending to pay them eventually. Ooh, that's comforting. The trial started back on June 27, but it seems to still be going. That means in spite of the flood of gold recovered, the investors haven't seen one red cent. And the gold itself is strangely missing. (Oh well. Guess the investors can buy a coin off the website.)

A really easy hamburger vegetable soup recipe. Great for chilly days. Some easy chewy no-bake granola bars, too. (Think Rice Krispie treats that are actually good for you.) These, from Money-Saving Mom.

And one of the funniest commercials I've seen in a while -- Jetta's "Bad Dog, Good Volkswagen:"


The Broncos are playing. (Ok -- maybe the Broncos are losing, too.) Chicken wings, a warm fudge sundae, and good friends. (Lots of yelling, too. The Broncos might win!)
     Life's sweet.


P.S. They lost - 21-27 - to Atlanta. "A little sloppy, but exciting!" said the announcer.
  

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Figures...