Category: product endorsements

How To Be Alone

On By Rick McIn product endorsementsLeave a comment

In the near future we’ll see more media like this: text, audio, video combined. Watched mostly on tablet devices.

A convergence of the written word, movies and music.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A video by fiilmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis.

Davis wrote the beautiful poem and performed in the video which Dorfman directed, shot, animated by hand and edited. The video was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was produced by Bravo!FACT

… more information on Tanya, … or visit her facebook page …

This video was shot on a Panasonic HVX 200 and the animation was hand drawn+painted and then scanned into Adobe After Effects, exported as QTs and edited on FCP.

Thanks Rocco.

Is Your Dentist RIPPING You Off?

On By Rick McIn health & fitness, product complaints, product endorsements, travel, travel Mexico5 Comments

Your brain surgeon should be very well paid.

But why should a dentist be a millionaire?

by Sarah Lorge Butler for CBS MoneyWatch.com:

Cost of the (2) crowns: $1,395 apiece. Cost of foundation fillings, or “cores” to put the crowns on: $326 apiece. Total bill, if you’re scoring at home: $3,442.

His dentist sold him membership into an office savings plan for $319 for the year. So that saves him 20% on all dental procedures and gives him two free cleanings. Knock off 20% (but add back in the $319) and we’re down to $3072.60 on this bit of drilling.

When I look at this bill, I wonder why I obsess about the weekly price fluctuations of Cheerios or the shrinking size of a can of tuna. All the economical choices a family makes in a year can be wiped out by a trip to the dentist. No wonder people are going to Thailand and Mexico for dental work. …

read more

Is $3000 over-priced for 2 crowns?

What is the cost for the materials?

How much are those working on your crowns paid?

How much does the dentist pocket?

If we knew those numbers, I’m guessing that we’d agree our dentist is ripping us off.

There are over 1000 comments on that post, most feeling ripped off.

A stranger recently contacted me for advice on my dentist, Dr. Lorenia Estrada, in La Paz, Mexico. I enthusiastically recommended her.

If you suspect your dentist is ripping you off, get a quote from Mexico. … The only down side is that you have very little recourse if unhappy with the work there.

Thanks Dana.

waiting on that FAT $8.01 tax refund

On By Rick McIn product endorsements1 Comment

I used Intuit Turbo Tax Online, FREE if you have a simple tax return.

Each year I find those online services better than the last.

But when, after finishing on Turbo Tax, I went to submit my .tax file to Revenue Canada via NETFILE, I found I did not have my four-digit access number.

Instead I printed the PDF. And sent it by snail.

… your taxes filed?

Starbucks coffee is INEXPENSIVE

On By Rick McIn food, product endorsements1 Comment

#Starbucks

Katie Couric recently interviewed Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on CBS Sunday Morning and asked him if he thought the company had a “tin ear” to what people were going through with the recession. Perhaps, she suggested, they couldn’t afford to pay “$5 on their coffee every day.” Schultz’s response was to laugh. You see, Starbucks coffee only costs $1.50. …

Consumerist

The Starbucks CEO was widely mocked for that quote. But fact is, … he’s right.

IF you buy a Starbucks card …

IF you drink the cheap stuff, Pike’s filter coffee …

… then Starbucks is not much more expensive than McDonald’s coffee.

IF you want a refill …

… it’s FREE for me in Canada. $.50 for me in some other nations.

At Tim Horton’s in Canada refills are full price.

I love Starbucks, especially their reliable, high speed free WiFi.

Typinator vs TextExpander vs Snippets

On By Rick McIn Apple, blogs, product endorsements1 Comment

I downloaded trial versions of these 3 software packages (but not Presto), useful for a blogger.

… And eventually decided on Typinator. (20Euro … though I found a discount code for 30% off)

TextExpander is supposed to be a little better, but I had several problems with it on my particular MacBook Air.

Head to Head: Text Expander Mac Software Compared

Mezza Mediterranean Grill, Calgary

On By Rick McIn food, product endorsements2 Comments

For years I’ve been raving about the best donairs in Calgary. A hole in the wall near the downtown library.

The name has changed over the years, but not the food. And they’ve recently started opening Saturdays 10am – 2pm.

Urban Spoon – Mezza Mediterranean Grill

in praise of bloggers

On By Rick McIn Apple, audiocasts, blogs, blogs Rick reads, economics, gymnastics, internet, product endorsements, things getting better1 Comment

My second and third favourite sources of information in 2011 are audio:

• Audiocasts
• Audio books

I pretty much always have an audio book or two in progress, buying most of those from Audible.com. … Sadly not every book I want is available in audio.

Audio podcasts are still quite crude. The most evolved, however, are superb: RadioLab, This American Life, CBC Spark, Economist Editor’s Highlights, and On The Media. Almost all audio podcasts are still free.

But my main sources of information … my most trusted … my most detailed and nuanced … are blogs.

The best are labours of love by passionate, often amateur writers. Most bloggers are unpaid, spending thousands of hours focused on a specific topic simply because they love that topic.

more photos of bloggers

For example, the best Apple blog is Daring Fireball. I don’t pay much attention to any other.

I do whatever I’m told by Michael Geist when it comes to Canadian government regulation of the internet. A big election issue right now.

There are 4-5 essential blogs on gymnastics, but if I only was allowed to read one blogger it would be Blythe Lawrence.

If you read Kraig Becker, you’ll know more about outdoor adventure than you’ll ever need to know for one lifetime.

… Those are just a few examples. Leave a comment if you’ve got a blog that I should follow.

(blogger photos via Spark)

Black Bear Diner

On By Rick McIn food, product endorsementsLeave a comment

With nearly 50 locations in the Western United States, the Black Bear is my quintessential American family restaurant.

Pork rips and tri-tip (“Santa Maria”) steak combo. Mashed potatoes and some surreal white gravy. Wonderful corn muffin.

That fulfills 33% of your daily caloric requirements, … if you weigh 850lbs.

home page

Mitch Daniels for President

On By Rick McIn government, product endorsements2 Comments

Obama needs the best possible challenger.

So far as I can see, that’s Mitch Daniels, Jr., (born April 7, 1949), current Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana.

… Upon becoming Governor, Daniels pressed for a series of changes that brought him into conflict with both Republicans and Democrats. During his first year in office, he proposed a number of tax increases, budget cuts, and privatization plans to balance the budget. …

He turned the State deficit to a surplus in one year, a proven business man.

… Daniels also suggested that the Republicans stop pursuing their social agenda on gay marriage and abortion, and focus on the economic crisis the nation faces …

Most recently he killed it with a speech at the 2011 Conservative Political Action (AUDIO) where Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and other GOP presidential hopefuls …

… were a simplistic pastiche of conservative shibboleths, declarations in favor of motherhood and apple pie, and second-rate jokes about Democrats, particularly Obama. …

I heard about Daniels on left-leaning Slate.com. Even lefties are impressed.

Unfortunately, Daniels’ is still saying he doesn’t want to run. Let’s give him some encouragement.

Like Mitch Daniels for President 2012 on Facebook.