DUCK DUCK GO an ALTERNATIVE MORE PRIVATE SEARCH ENGINE

We haven't made up our minds about Edward Snowden, who is, depending on your viewpoint, a whistleblower or a spy, but we certainly have been reading around the subject of Snowden, the NSA, and Internet privacy. 

As Google Bloggers we have trusted that our relationship with Google is between us and that company.  We understand that Google is a Business, and that to have free use of Blogger, Google might want to make some money on us, but we've never been tempted by AdSense since reading around it, we wouldn't have control over what businesses pop up as advertising on this blog.  We're here to inspire you to buy American for many good reasons, here to do a little research for you, and hope that you'll do a little extra research yourself when you want to buy a product.

It upset us to hear the successful American Capitalist Donald Trump condemning Edward Snowden to death. Who made him King of our Country?

We believe that in the United States of America people who are accused of crimes deserve the right to a fair trial and legal process and hope that if Edward Snowden makes it back to us, that he has that experience as a citizen.  Will he make it back to us?

We also don't believe that Snowden thought through his plans well enough or he would not be stuck in the airport no-mans-land in Moscow.  We don't really think Snowden wants to live his life in Russia, Venezuela, Ecuador, or Bolivia, or even Iceland.

We also feel for his father, who has reached out to him with the help of a lawyer, and who lives in a part of the country so full of early American history, a very patriotic part of the country, Pennsylvania.

As we read around the subject we learned about a search engine called DUCK DUCK GO, which doesn't track a person's searches.  It does have advertising but not especially "intelligent" advertising.  We've tried it and it seems to work just fine.

If you would like to express yourself here, please use comments.

USING YELP TO CALL OUT GOOD AND BAD BUSINESSES

When we started this blog we were very concerned about the loss of American jobs, particularly in Manufacturing, due to cheap badly made imports taking the place of American Made Products.  We still are.

We are also concerned with the way PATRIOTIC PURCHASERS are treated in the stores they walk into.

We've personally had a problem with clothing stores that have NO DRESSING ROOMS and TAKE NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES - not even for store credit.  These stores are often owned by Russian or Chinese immigrants.

We have no problem with people from other countries coming to the United States to have businesses, but for some reason the stores where we were treated as SUSPECTS instead of CUSTOMERS seemed to be owned by these immigrants.

So recently we decided to use YELP as a means to posting our experiences with them.

YES, we are YELPING!

When you sign up for YELP you'll get a LOT of marketing in your e-mail.  We realize that their purpose is to send traffic /customers through the doors of businesses through GOOD REVIEWS!

Still, if you are a frustrated consumer, you can certainly join YELP and get out what the STORE OWNERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, and others don't want to hear!

TRY IT!

A STAY AT HOME FOURTH OF JULY

We stayed home this year for the Fourth of July.  We just weren't in the mood to picnic or see the fireworks.  To our surprise, our neighborhood came alive with fireworks, all illegal. With mixed feelings we watched these displays, while news that several Fourth of July parades and professional fire works displays went haywire, in particular the event in Simi Valley, California, where some of the fireworks shot into the crowds instead of the air.

There's something to be said for staying HOME SWEET HOME!  Something to be said for leaving all the "to do" lists on the desk and just sitting around doing nothing much real well!

E-BAY AUCTIONS IS NOW EBAY "BUY IT NOW"?

We haven't E-Bay'ed in years and so much has changed on the site.  Reading around the subject we learned that more sellers are going for the BUY IT NOW option rather than the risk of an AUCTION.  We've also learned that many  Citizens of the United States of America are claiming E-Bay to be their first or second income on their taxes.  E-Bay is the number one HOME BASED BUSINESS!

People who have garage sales or post items for sale on the Pennysaver or Craig's List are dealing with more E-BAY auctioners who are buying stuff to sell on the site.

We hear kids laughing about selling gifts they've been given and "turning around" things that their friends sold them cheap on the site.

Maybe it's a response to the economy, that need to have to buy things more cheaply, to have things delivered to the door rather than spend money on gas to go out hunting for it.

Just for the fun of it, we decided to see if our VHS movie collection was at all valuable on E-Bay.  A few of our films were potentially selling for $10 to $50, but most were selling for $1.  If "selling" is the right word to use.   Looked like dozens of people were all trying to sell the same movie and there were NO BIDS!  Why waste that time listing and watching auctions.  Some people were selling dozens of movies for one price!

So if you want to cash out or turn around things you've been gifted or own, we think you should research the E-Bay site and see if items the same or  like yours are selling at all!

ecommercebytes.com on EBAY POLICY CHANGE AND BUY IT NOW

SWEET CORN

Dover Free Use Sample Images

TWINKIES DUE BACK IN STORES IN JULY : AMERICANA

We never bought a whole lot of TWINKIES but once they disappeared off the shelf we wanted some.   We wanted those simple cakes with just the right amount of cream filling.  You see Twinkies are such an American Tradition that they've become AMERICANA!

Twinkies will be back to the stores July 15 2013, along with the new owners emphasis on NEW PRODUCTS, such as whole grain.

NPR BLOG ON HOSTESS CAKES RETURNING JULY 15 link!

EXCERPT" Hostess is owned by Apollo Global Management LLC (APO) and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co., whose combined offer of as much as $410 million for company's snack-cake enterprise was the only one submitted during the bankruptcy process in March. The spongy yellow cakes went out of production, prompting bidding wars for boxes on auction sites like EBay."

AMERICAN SUMMER READING : SHORT STORIES BY AMERICAN AUTHORS

Probably the whole best seller list here in the USA is American authors but we were thinking about reading some classic SHORT STORIES by American authors.  Who to read?

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Katherine Ann Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald...

BRIDAL SEASON

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ALL TOGETHER NOW

CORNING GORILLA GLASS - EVEN TOUGHER THAN TRADITIONAL CORNING GLASS

CORNING GORILLA GLASS link!

The other day I was spring cleaning the kitchen cupboards and all my original Corning Ware was still intact after years of use, and years of broken glass ware and dishware from other companies.  Just broke something from Ikea this morning!  Read up on the Corning company's latest invention.

OF COURSE I CAN

AMERICAN SPIRIT MAGAZINE IS AVAILABLE FROM DAR ONCE AGAIN!

DAR AMERICAN SPIRIT MAGAZINE  link to learn more or subscribe.

The award-winning American Spirit magazine is a handsomely illustrated, bimonthly publication focusing on issues that are important to us all. Articles cover such subjects as American history, historic preservation, patriotism, genealogy and education. Whatever your interests, you will find informative, entertaining and engaging articles in each issue of American Spirit magazine.

USA BUFFALO MAZE

MARIAN ANDERSON SINGS MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE

MADE IN THE USA FOUNDATION : HALL OF FAME

We've been SPRING CLEANING and in the process of having a garage sale with our neighbors, we've been doing it ourself on home improvements and repairs.

We haven't forgotten you ECONOMIC WARRIORS who want to return the United States ECONOMY to us Americans by buying MADE IN THE USA products and services.

So today we were cheered to find this site: MADE IN THE USA HALL OF FAME!

2012 Winners Include : SOLAR WORLD,  HERMAN MILLER, CHANNEL ISLAND SURFBOARDS and many others.  Check this out!