The new iPhone will make mobile payment easier by including a near-field communication chip for the first time, the person said. That advancement along with Touch ID, a fingerprint recognition reader that debuted on the most recent iPhone, will allow consumers to securely pay for items in a store with the touch of a finger…. “Love it or hate, Apple drives a lot of standards in the industry,” Bajarin said in an interview. “They are the mover in these markets. When they do something, the industry seems to follow.” SOURCE: Apple Said to Team With Visa, MasterCard on IPhone Wallet … Continue reading Apple Innovations…

Now, the fact that we call It “It” implies that this certain something is a little squishy and difficult to define. You just know It when you see It. Still, there are some obvious components. Good looks certainly help. So does confidence. Gravitas, swagger — both help you have It. And it’s often very important to be cool — whatever that is. Competence and the notion that you’re a winner who can get things done? Now that’s It. JFK had It. Reagan had It. Clinton had It. So did George W. Bush. And Obama — well, let’s just say he … Continue reading The "It" Factor…

I am bringing this picture collage over from my picture blog at InSearchOfAmerica. It is one of the many small and almost abandoned towns we have visited over the years. I’m not sure but I think it is located in North Dakota or Nebraska. I once considered trying to document these types of small towns before they become extinct but after a dozen or so visits to small towns like this one  I gave up the idea. It proved just too depressing and that is not what I wanted to accomplish. But, here’s to you small town America…. Continue reading Small Town America…

Of course the physics of a shadow make it impossible to get away from but in a more philosophical sense the title above means we must live with the consequences of our actions. Your past is what has made you what you are. There is no escaping it. We can pretend our shadow isn’t there but it never leaves us. It tends to taint our joys as well as heighten them. One of the detrimental things I see happening in our country today is that so many want to cast off the responsibility for their actions. They want to have … Continue reading You Can't Outrun Your Shadow…

Omaha NB – Boy’s Town The American Catholic Church is among the most active in the world in taking care of those who are down on their luck.  Here is a little about Boy’s Town from Wikipedia: The original Boys … Continue reading Taking Care of Each Other…

Burger King’s plan to scurry across the Canadian border to avoid U.S. taxes could be seen as the corporate equivalent of flipping President Barack Obama the bird…. “My sense is this is Burger King trying to dodge paying its taxes. I don’t know that I’d attribute it to their making a move like this to directly challenge Obama,” Frank Clemente, executive director of the nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness, told The Huffington Post. “I can’t say what’s on the company’s mind here, whether they’re trying to beat the clock on this and do something before Congress passes legislation or do … Continue reading No More Whoppers For Me…

Reading the written word is a very important thing for all of us but especially so for me.  For some reason I have been thinking about just how much I personally read. Being deaf hearing the spoken word is no longer possible so with that sense gone reading has become my primary method of knowing what is happening in the world around me. My computer and the Internet are a vital part of my life. But then again they have been since their invention three decades ago. I spend between a half and a full hour each morning reading about … Continue reading I Read…..

  LOL – From my Facebook friends over at Living Blue in a Red State. Continue reading A Snippet Here, A Snippet There…

This is probably not a good post for a U.S. national holiday but here goes anyway. Fools rush in where…. A few hundred years ago, which is a very short amount of time in world history, we were part of the Great British empire. We bowed to the king and paid our share of taxes. Then some hot heads came along and convinced us that we would be better off on our own.  They, like many Californians today, just didn’t like the idea of paying taxes and found every excuse to avoid doing that. Long story short here we are … Continue reading Maybe We Got It Wrong…