floundersgreatadventure

Let me ask the people of Colombia a question how many of you are directly affected by the “war”. If you’re not in the police or army I don’t think this war really bothers you other than it’s been going on for a long time. When it ends what do you think will change? Not much, I’d wager there will still be poverty and crime the drug trafficking won’t stop and if Santos stops the draft there will be more unemployed. The talk of peace detracts from what’s wrong in this country. Now don’t get me wrong I think peace is a good idea but when you’re using it as just another way to sell out the people it won’t last very long. I’m not a world leader, nor do I wish to be one, I’m a cat that enjoys the warm weather and beautiful scenery. My problem is that the two leading presidential candidates have no desire to help the people bot rather only to exploit them. Politics gives me a headache and indigestion so I’m going back to bed. This Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

When you go to the store are you aware of the ways you’ve been influenced in your choices? Most people aren’t or at least think they aren’t. Jeff wrote papers in college on advertising but most people think of it as ads on TV or billboards. When you go to the store and you buy something on sale you’re probably not getting the deal you think you are. As an example Jeff was in the super market on Sunday and they wanted to buy some Oatmeal Ruby picked up the usual brand and it was 3 for 10,000 pesos. She said this is a good deal but Jeff said look at the size they’re smaller than what we usually get and combined they don’t weigh as much as the package we always get. So in reality we were paying more for less even though we were getting 3 packages. This is one very common way of getting you to spend more money. Another is to advertise 50% off of list price. Well nobody sells anything at full list price so unless you know what the store sells the product for everyday you have no idea if you’re getting a great deal or not, the odds say you’re not. The odd say you’re paying more than you did the last time you bought the product. Now what makes things like this possible is that most shoppers don’t have the time to check prices and are just glad the item isn’t out of stock. But if you do watch your money you’ll notice that from week to week you grocery bill will fluctuate and you’ll think your saving money when you’re not. The same situations apply to clothes and other items even cars and other large ticket items. So take your time don’t rush and you will end up saving money. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well Jeff is finally feeling better after about with the old common cold so here we go beginning the month of June. I thought we’d look at history everybody knows what history is it just happened a second ago. Everybody collects something from history some people do it for a living others do it and don’t even know that’s what they’re doing. A little kid at the beach picks up a shell, that’s collecting history because it was once alive. Children are always collecting history sometime it looks like dirt but it wasn’t always there so it’s history. Scientists collect bones and soil so they can try to figure out what live or grew here years ago. You save pictures of meaningful events in your life you call them fond memories I call it history. Soldiers carry scars of wounds they received in battle they call them night mares I call it history. We may call it a lot of different things but it’s still just history to me. News people and writers would have you believe that only things that are major events in the world should be referred to as history. Not so say I: If you’re a mother and don’t think of the birth of your child as a historical event in your life than I feel sorry for you. Graduating high school or college or getting that job you wanted these are historical events in your life not just simple memories. So when you out tomorrow pick up a pebble and put it in your pocket and then you can say you’ve got a piece of history in your pocket. This Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

It would seem a lot of people enjoyed my blog on waste so I decided to do another one. This is how we throw money into landfills in the US and other countries use garbage for a more constructive cause. In the picture above you see plastic bottles and cans in a garbage dump some place in the world. The Dutch are probably one of the best in the world at recycling their garbage at a rate of 60%. They have to recycle they have no room left to put garbage. They even build houses from trash. In Colombia construction debris is left at the curb and is recycled. What in America are called garbage pickers are actually people who go around and sort your garbage and then sell it to recyclers so that they can make a living. In the US when a charity needs money they will have people collect aluminum cans or news papers to make money. The problem in the US is things like glass and motor oil that you used to get paid for you know have to pay someone to pick up and dispose of. Old tires are used in most parts of the world in constructing roads. Just about everything we use can be recycled and used again. In the US people claim it takes too much time or getting permits to do recycling is too expensive. Now the problem of garbage is worse because we have electronics. Electronics contain bad things that can cause cancer and birth defects if they are pulled out of their protective shells inside the electronics. Computer monitors are some of the worst offenders and our garbage dilemma is not confined to the planet earth. When scientists get tired of figuring out ways to kill us maybe they could start figuring safe and inexpensive ways to use your trash. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.