Deciphering Bar Codes For Country Of Origin

This is kind of cool. You can tell which country a product is made in by looking at the first few numbers of a bar code.



Here's how to interpret them:
00 - 09 - USA & CANADA
30 - 37 - FRANCE
40 - 44 - GERMANY
47 - TAIWAN
49 - JAPAN
50 - UK
690 - 692 - CHINA

And there's your useful piece of trivia for today...

Tumbling Recital

Emily's tumbling recital was Tuesday. It was a lot less stressful for me this year. She did very well and really enjoyed it. They performed to the music from Tigger, bounced balls (which Emily was the one who had to count so they would bounce them all at the same time.)

As we were leaving the dress rehearsal she heard the music from Batman, and said, "I have too many songs stuck in my head, so there's no room for batman."

I had to laugh. After the recital the two of us went out for ice cream.

More Mess

Laurie can be such a fun girl.



Until you turn your back for five minutes.



She was on the chair to eat lunch, but decided to stick her hands in a jar of jam instead.

Mmmmm....Chocolate!

Driving home from a Father's Day Picnic Laurie starts complaining and wanting something. I had no idea what she really wanted so I guessed and handed her a Hershey Kiss. I looked back a few minutes later and this is what I saw. I just started to laugh.

Paper Mache

Last Saturday I got the brilliant idea to do a paper mache craft with the kids. It ended up that they were interested for only 10 minutes. I guess it was too hard and too messy. I ended up covering the balloons while they held them still. I only did two layers and then hung them to dry for two days.







As soon as I deflated the balloons I realized that two layers was not enough. We did try to make masks and the kids loved painting them, but then they curled up like a taco.









I am going to have to get better at this craft thing.

How To Spend $1 Billion Of YOUR Money!

Congress has just approved another way that they'll be spending taxpayer money.

It's called the Cash For Clunkers Bill....and it just plain pisses me off.

Here's the link to details:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_J2CDMBIZhobnHhGIYFCzqvR52wD98TBJK00

Here's the basic jist...

Buy a new car that gets at least 22 MPG (yes, only 22, not 35, not 30, not even a measly 25 MPG, but only 22) and trade in your old "clunker" that gets 18 MPG or less (hmmm...I can think of just about every SUV under the sun that qualifies for that...) and guess what? The government will contribute up to $4500 toward the price of your car!

My gosh! How completely & utterly stupid!

"Hmmmmm...now that we own a 60% stake in General Motors, how we gonna sell these gas guzzling heaps of junk? Let's see....how bout we give people some of their money back to buy cars from our new car company that's in bankruptcy! Yeah! That's the ticket!"

Granted, I can see where this is probably coming from.....22 is better than 18, but is it really ALL that better? Especially given the wide breadth of vehicle choices out there today? 22 is all they could muster? I mean, how in the world is that even going to make a difference?

Case in point....my minivan that can seat 7 (as in S-E-V-E-N PEOPLE) gets better gas mileage than 22!!!! (I can pull a solid 27-28 MPG on a road trip & it gets 23-24 in town) Why 22? Why not 30 and actually MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!

Sorry, this is just plain stupid. For the love of Pete! If they actually wanted to do something GREEN, RAISE THE DANG MPG REQUIREMENT!!!! 22 is just stupid!

A full size pickup with a diesel engine can pull 22 if it works hard at it! And they think that's GREEN? HELLO!!!!

I'm sorry, but spending our tax payer money just so you & I can go out & buy a new gas guzzler that gets crappy mileage (and trust me, 22 is crappy for a car....P.S. It's only 18 MPG if you get a truck!) is no way to "improve the environment".

This is all about spending tax payer money to help out the car business in the US...you know, because the government HAS ALREADY spent billions on Chrysler & GM!

I just don't understand where these morons get off thinking that it's ok to spend taxpayer money that way when the economy is so far in shambles as it is! I also call them on the carpet for thinking this is "environmentally responsible". It's not! A car that gets 30 MPG or higher? Now THAT's a little better! But setting the limit so low is like saying, "Oh, we have no confidence that GM can actually make a car that'll get higher than 22 MPG...so...uhm...so that we can actually sell cars now that we own the place, here's some money to go spend on another piece of junk that'll fall apart on you the moment you drive it off the lot....enjoy!"

I just wish someone at the top of this behemoth we call the government would GET A GRIP ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE!!!! It's called Capitalism People! LET GENERAL MOTORS FAIL!!!! It's already in bankruptcy!!! Just let it die already!!!!

Sorry, but this just really hit a raw nerve. How they get off calling this a "clunker bill" "environmentally friendly" and "green" and then only set the limit at 22 MPG is absolutely in sain, idiotic, irresponsible, and uncalled for. Next thing we know they'll be buying up all those foreclosures that people are walking away from....oh wait...they're already doing that!

Stupid, stupid, stupid....but, as they say, "Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work!"

Give me a break!

I Hate Taxes!!!

I know that they go to pave the roads, run the government, etc, but that doesn't mean I have to like them.

I just cut a check to the Federal Government for my business quarterlies and man that hurt!

I'd feel better about sending them my hard-earned money if I believed they were actually trying to be somewhat fiscally responsible with it.

As it is, it'll probably buy a tire for some car made by Government Motors or fund some AIG executives bonus.

Ah...socialism, ain't it great? They own a big stake now in the financial system, own over 50% stake in a car manufacturer (that last I checked just declared bankruptcy), gave some money to another auto maker that also declared bankruptcy, and yet, somehow they think we should still be spending money like crazy.

Balance the damn budget people!!!!

If you don't believe me, just wait until inflation catches up to the rate at which they're printing the money. Then we'll all be SOOOOO happy that they stepped in. Yep. I'm really excited to see inflation in action.

I don't think the government has a role in making sure an auto company that's been losing money now FOR YEARS because they couldn't figure out how to make cars that people ACTUALLY WANT TO DRIVE and instead made gas hogs that they lost money on for every one made.

In a way, I can understand the whole AIG thing, but man, this is just getting out of hand!

For every dollar the government now spends, 0.60 cents of it is borrowed. Yes! Over 50% of the money they're spending is borrowed!!

The government needs to go on a SERIOUS spending diet before they crash the whole damn economy!

Sorry, just venting, when you write the government tax checks as big as I do each quarter you'd probably want to vent too....

-Graydon