Baby Boomers Don't Read Blogs

I'm a baby boomer and I write blogs. As a matter of fact, I have more than one active blog. I also read blogs written by fellow boomers but, according to the latest research, I am in the MINORITY because the majority of baby boomers don't read blogs. The study claims the number of blog reader/writers is below 10%. Although 49% of boomers use online reviews and recommendations on a retailer’s site to make their purchase, only 9% looked to other blogs or communities for recommendations.

Another interesting statistic involves Twitter. The study also showed that Twitter is not very popular with us boomers either---only 10 percent of us are "tweeting."

Meanwhile, Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Boomers and Social Media” says about 47% of online boomers maintain a profile on at least one social network, and Facebook was, by far, the most popular with 73 percent of boomers maintaining a profile.

So what do you think of this study? Is it pretty much on the money or totally off base? Also, if you are a baby boomer with a blog, please post it here.

Baby Boomers Give a Thumbs Up to Fox News

More than 1100 baby boomers nationwide say they watch and trust Fox News more than any other news network.

According to a new poll by Public Policy Polling, 52 percent of Baby Boomers say they trust Fox as an informed source for news--while CNN comes in a distant second at 33 percent.

Why do you think that is?

Unfortunately, this survey does not break down the numbers to determine the number of white males polled versus women and other ethnic groups. I will point out that 1151 people surveyed nationwide is merely a small drop in the a very, very large bucket but I'm sure FOX News will get mileage out of it.

Another interesting fact in this survey is CBS and ABC News were last in the polls. Does this have anything to do with the fact that both networks have female anchors.

Hmmmmm...............................

Baby Boomers Beware of Free Trial Offers

Have you ever been the victim of a "free trial offer"? This is where a company offers you a sample of their product or service for a limited period of time.

Not long ago, I had to cancel my credit card and have another one re-issued because I became a victim of the free trial offer. I heard about a particular product on the radio targeted for baby boomer women and decided to try it out. All I had to do, they said, was give them my credt card number to cover the nominal cost of shipping and handling. I was also advised to call them within 30 days if I was no longer interested in receiving additional product. No problem, I thought.

After trying the product, I decided I wasn't interested...but guess what? I got busy---lost track of the 30-day trial period and failed to notify the company. As a result, I received more product the following month and a nice $49.95 added to my credit card. I immediately called the company to cancel and returned the product unopened. The following month I didn't receive any more product but another charge for $49.95 showed up on my credit card bill. I called the company again. I was told they had not received the product I returned to them and it takes awhile for the cancellation process to go through. My bank advised me to cancel the card.

When signing up for these trial periods, make sure you know the following information:

1) You should be aware that by accepting a free trial offer, you might be agreeing to buy additional products and services, if you do not cancel within a specified period of time.

2) Consumers don’t realize that by providing their card number, they may effectively be signing a contract allowing the merchant to automatically bill them for further merchandise and other things like shipping at the regular price after the trial period is over.

3) Reading the fine print is key to staying clear of trial offer traps. More often than not, if you’re not interested, it’s your responsibility to cancel the product or service to avoid any further charges from the merchant after the prescribed trial date.

4) If you have a problem with a trial offer, try to resolve it with the seller first. If you are dissatisfied with the response, contact the Better Business Bureau Federal Trade Commission or your local consumer protection agency.

Sex and the Single Baby Boomer Woman

The Shady Lady Ranch in Nevada has been given the go ahead to hire the state's first legal male sex workers. As a matter of fact, this is the first time in the history of the world that male prostituion is being made legal.

Brothel owner Bobbi Davis was quoted as saying, "I personally feel, as do the many other women who have made contact with me since I started this, that this is a service whose time has come."

No word yet on the MO of the women she will market to however here's a statistic that might help her:

57 million American women 45 and up, nearly half—25 million—are unmarried.

And there's also the unhappily married women who would , perhaps, love a "getaway weekend" on the ranch.

So what do you think about offering legalized male prostitution in a controlled and confined enviroment?

My Weird News Stories of 2009

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1. Man Sends Pictures of Himself Dressed in Birthday Suit to all of his Former Girlfriends for Christmas

2. Free Funeral Arrangements for Georgia Residents
Planning to drink and drive this New Year's? A north Georgia funeral home has a deal for you. Between now and noon Thursday, drivers can visit McGuire, Jennings and Miller Funeral Home in Rome to sign a contract stating they plan to drink or take drugs and then drive on New Year's Eve. If they die in a wreck that day, the funeral home will give them a free burial. Services included in the package are a casket, grave, limousine and preparation of remains. Funeral home officials said the program is designed to save lives by making partygoers think twice about drinking and driving.

3. Now who's Krazy?
A 37-year-old Wisconsin man went to a motel room for what he thought was going to be a romantic tryst but instead was assaulted by four women who used Krazy Glue to attach his privates to his stomach. Police say it was all part of a bizarre plot to punish him for a lover's quadrangle gone bad.

4.Call on Jesus for Jury Duty
Jesus Christ was called for jury duty in Alabama but was sent home for being disruptive. The 59-year-old Birmingham woman, who previously went by Dorothy Lola Killingworth, assured the presiding judge that was her name. She had her name changed in the Probate Court, and she presented her driver's license. Christ was sent to a courtroom for a criminal case, but was excused because she was disruptive, court officials said.

5.Philly ER Patient Dies in Waiting Room, Watch Stolen
A security camera was rolling when Joaquin Rivera, 63, brought his hand to his chest and died in the busy emergency room at Aria Health's Frankford campus in Philadelphia, about 11 minutes after complaining to ER personnel of pains in his left side. Rivera's death did not go completely unnoticed, however. The security tape shows that 39 minutes after his passing, another person in the ER stole his watch. Hospital workers walked by him several times, but did not notice that he appeared to be dead until 50 minutes after he'd stopped moving.

6. KKK Member Turns Over New Leaf
A former officer of the Ku Klux Klan has changed his ways and was ordained in San Diego so he could serve as a minister in one of the country's largest black denominations. Former imperial wizard Johnny Lee Clary said in a statement he was authorized by the Church of God in Christ to participate in the ministry of racial healing and conduct evangelism campaigns, according to reports. Clark joined the KKK Youth when he was younger, then later became a national spokesman for the White Knights of the KKK. According to Clary's web site, he started reevaluating his life and eventually embraced religion. Clary changed his view on the world and racism.

7. Getting More than a Happy Meal at McDonald's
An Arkansas man left a cell phone -- which contained nude photos of his wife -- inside of a McDonald's. Then, after said nude photos ended up on the Internet, Phillip Sherman sued the Mickey D's for $3 million, claiming he and his wife had to move to a new town to escape from her smitten stalkers.

8. Maxed out Credit Card?
A man in Spokane, Wash., who had just pumped 90 dollars worth of gas at a Conoco, got quite a shock when he received an automated call from his credit card company stating a payment of $81,400,836,908 dollars to the gas station had just been pre-authorized.

9. Woman Tries to Shoot Down Plane for Being Too Noisy
A 69-year-old Missouri woman, apparently fed up that ultra-light planes had been doing test runs close to her home, went to the local air terminal armed with a hand gun and said she was going to shoot down the offending planes. Then, to the surprise of everyone, she started firing. No plane was hit, although one had to abort a landing, and the woman was arrested.

10. 34 Hospitalized after Co-Worker Sprays Perfume
When almost 150 people at a Texas bank call center became ill, reporting dizziness and shortness of breath, officials suspected carbon monoxide or some other toxic fume was the culprit. But when two people complained about dizziness after a co-worker sprayed perfume and then others began to feel sick, it was discovered that the perfume was to blame. Thirty-four people were taken to hospitals, 12 by ambulance, and 110 people were treated on the scene. No one knows what type of perfume was sprayed. (MSNBC.com)

Baby Boomer Celebrity Deaths in 2009

The media lost its most trusted journalist this year while the entertainment industry lost quite a few notable baby boomers and beyond. Did you know the majority of people on this list died from some form of cancer? The second leading cause was heart disease.

Here is the list of celebrity deaths from January 1, 2009 to today's date, December 27.

JANUARY

88-year-old Actor Ricardo Montalban Fantasy Island

69-year-old Bob May--played Mr. Smith on Lost in Space


FEBRUARY

70-year-old Soap Opera Actor Clint Ritchie--played Clint Buchanan on One Life to Live

Soap Opera Actor Phil Carey--played Asa Buchanan on One Life to Life

87-year-old Actor James Whitmore

MARCH

45-year-old Actress Natasha Richardson

61-year-old Singer Dan Seals--"I Really Want to See You Tonight"

APRIL

86-year-old Actress Bea Arthur-- Golden Girls

MAY

56-year-old Former Porn Star Marilyn Chambers

75-year-old Comedian Dom Deluise

JUNE

62-year-old Actress Farrah Fawcett

50-year-old Singer Michael Jackson

72-year-old Actor David Caradine

50-year-old Informercial Pitchman Billy May

JULY

92-YEAR-OLD Newsman Walter Cronkite

AUGUST

61-year-old Black SuperModel Naomi Sims

SEPTEMBER

57-year-old Actor Patrick Swayze

73-year-old comedian Henry Gibson--from Laugh In

OCTOBER

83-year-old Comedian Soupy Sales

NOVEMBER

69-year-old Actor Dennis Cole

79-year-old Actor Edward Woodward--played The Equalizer

DECEMBER

63-year-old Actress Alaina Reed Hall--from Sesame Street and "227"

79-year-old Actress Connie Hines--played Carol Post on "Mr. Ed"

90-year-old Actor Gene Barry--from Burke's Law

If I missed anyone, please feel free to add.

Stealing in the Name of the Lord?

One of the ten commandments in the Bible tells us "Thou Shall NOT Steal", but there's at least one clergyman who says it's OK under certain circumstances and depnding on where you steal from.

In a recent sermon, Father Tim Jones told his British congregation, "My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither. I would ask that they do not steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need."

Meanwhile, here are the top 50 items shoplifted in the US in 2009:


Advil tablet 50 ct
Advil tablet 100 ct
Aleve caplet 100 ct
EPT Pregnancy Test single
Gillette Sensor 10 ct
Kodak 200 24 exp
Similac w/iron powder - case
Similac w/iron powder - single can
Preparation H 12 ct
Primatene tablet 24 ct
Sudafed caplet 24 ct
Tylenol caplet 100 ct
Advil caplet 100 ct
Aleve caplet 50 ct
Correctol tablet 60 ct
Excedrin tablet 100 ct
Gillette Sensor/Excel 10 ct
Gillette Sensor 15 ct
Monistat 3
Preparation H Ointment 1 oz
Similac w/iron concentrate 13 oz
Tavist-D decongestant tablet 16 ct
Trojan ENZ 12 ct
Tylenol gelcap 50 ct
Tylenol gelcap 100 ct
Tylenol tablet 100 ct
Vagistat 1
Advil caplet 50 ct
Advil gelcap 50 ct
Advil gelcap 24 ct
Advil tablet 50 ct
Aleve tablet 50 ct
Anacin tablet 100 ct
Centrum tablet 60 ct
DayQuil liquicaps 20 ct
Dimetap tablet 12 ct
Duracell AA 4 pk
Ecotrin tablet 100 ct
Ecotrin tablet 60 ct
Energizer AA 4 pk
Excedrin tablet 50 ct
Femstat 3 app
Gillette Atra 10 ct
Gyne-Lotrimin 3 app
Monistat 7
Motrin caplet 50 ct
Motrin tablet 24 ct
Oil of Olay 4 oz
Preparation H Ointment 2 oz
Schick Tracer FX 10 ct
Gillette Sensor/Women 10 ct
Sudafed tablet 24 ct
Visine drops 1 oz