Joe Lizura Fired His Home Phone

Mark the day, March 31, 2013 as the first full day without my home phone. I had the opportunity to change my cable provider, which is also my internet provider, which is also my home phone and given the fact that they kept raising my monthly fee - So, I decided to make the change.  So I decided to investigate Time Warner Cable and found that they had special plans with Verizon, who happens to be my Cell Phone provider and now I can combine both of the bills into one.  When I spoke with the sales rep (a good 25 years younger than me) he marveled that I "Still had a home phone" (apparently he's only had a cell phone since he moved away from home).

So I thought to myself, hmm, I haven't used my home phone in about 2 months, maybe even longer!  Now for someone my age who ALWAYS had a home phone, it was a tough decision to essentially fire my home phone . . . but, much like somewhere, somebody had to switch out their horse and buggy for a fancy automobile, I decided to leave the old technology of a home phone in the past.

So here we are 24 hours later and I haven't looked back!  Okay so we'll see how it goes notifying all of my relatives, friends and contacts - that'll probably take me the rest of the year! 

Joe Lizura
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Disney Makes A Bad Move

San Diego, Ca March 18, 2013.  Generally Disney is a great company that usually has its finger on the pulse of everything that is good about families, children, entertainment and of course, business. But today's decision to prevent kids under the age of 14 from entering any Disney park without an older person to accompany them is borderline idiotic.  Seriously, it's a virtual impossibility to have every kid escorted by an adult. Unless there is something I am missing about this policy, it seems absurd - according to what I read, Disney will not allow any child under the age of 14 to be unescorted by an oder person in their park.  How's that going to work?  I'm looking forward to seeing exactly how a divorced parent with 3 kids is going to be in 3 places at one time in the park, because I'm quite certain that her 14 year old and 12 year old are not going to want to be on kiddie ride all day with the 5 year old sibling.  Or how about all of those school field trips from the 6th graders?  Let me guess, they'll make an exception there because they won't want to lose the millions of dollars in revenue every year.  Speaking of which, get ready for a tidalwave of season pass holders who won't be renewing because yes, they do drop their kids off at the theme park designed for kids - Helloooo?

All right enough venting, here is a link to the story from USA Today  http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/03/18/disney-world-disneyland-minimum-age-admission/1996111/ 

And the story body: 
Starting this weekend, Disney's U.S. theme parks will ban children under age 14 unless they're accompanied by someone the same age or older.
The new policy, which takes effect March 23, will apply at Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim. Since most youngsters under 14 don't carry government-issued IDs, "the policy will be enforced as guests are entering the park, (with) a visual screening for someone who appears to be younger than 14," said Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown. If the staffer determines that the guest is under 14, a parent or guardian will be notified and required to escort the child in the park, she said.
The policy was not triggered by "any kind of issue or incident," but was intended to "provide a consistent age of admission and address a question we occasionally get from parents," Brown added.
Families with annual passes, some of whom routinely drop their children off at a park for the day, were notified about the policy change in an e-mail last week.

Good luck with this policy.

Joe Lizura
www.joelizura.net
www.allowancemedia.com

A Heart-Melting Story

This has to be one the most amazing and touching stories that I have ever seen.  March 10, 2013.  Here is a story about a reunion between a gorilla and a billionare that will melt your heart.  Here is the link, be sure to watch the video, it's incredible. http://news.yahoo.com/watch-wild-gorilla-reunite-man-saved-him-video-191705855.html

What does a billionaire casino owner have in common with a wild gorilla? That sounds like it could be the opening line of a cheeky joke, but in actuality, what they have in common is a very heartfelt bond.

Damian Aspinall may be a billionaire casino owner, but he's also the founder of The Aspinall Foundation, a conservancy group dedicated to supporting global wildlife. Among its myriad conservancy projects, its most outstanding endeavor may be that it rehabilitates and reintroduces once captive gorillas back into the wild.

For Aspinall, one of those gorillas in particular, a youngster named Kwibi, captured his heart. The conservationist personally raised the animal for several years before setting him free in the Foundation's million-acre reserve in West Africa.
Five years later, Aspinall traveled back to Africa in order to check on Kwibi, who was now a fully-grown adult. The following video shows their touching reunion.

What’s of particular note is that conservationists on the reserve warned Aspinall that Kwibi had previously attacked the last two people who came in contact with him.
Nonetheless, it’s clear that this gorilla viewed his former protector with a higher regard than he had towards other human beings. And more surprising than abstaining from an attack, showed an attachment to him even five years after their last meeting.

 

It's not unheard of for wild animals to form bonds with their protectors. Anna Julia Torres, a well-known animal conservationist in Columbia, often cuddles with the lions she keeps on her nature reserve. But Torres sees her animals daily, while Aspinall hasn't been a presence in Kwibi's life for some time.

The work of the Aspinall Foundation and others like it are crucial to gorillas' survival. These animals remain on the precipice of extinction due to the presence of so many man-made threats, not the least of which is rampant poaching.

Human industry continues to view them as things, commodities to be bought and sold, or simply discarded. But as we continue our destruction of gorilla populations unabated, videos like this one demonstrate that these creatures have their own internal lives—ones which are very much worth honoring and protecting.

Joe Lizura

Google Site Submissions

I found a great site from Google for submitting any web address to Google for search engine optimization.  Here is the link - http://www.googleguide.com/add_url.html  after yout get to the site, just fill in the URL being sure to use the "http" and click submit!  It's that easy - check it out.  I even used it to submit a new site of mine, www.joelizura.net.

Joe Lizura
www.joelizura.net