Liberty Stamp Disbelief

Here are my Joe Lizura (http://linkedin.com/in/joelizura) thoughts from December 4, 2013.  It's been two days now, and I just can't get over the story about the forever Liberty stamps. 

If you haven't heard by now, the version of the Liberty stamp that has been used since 2011 and printed hundreds of millions of times, does not actually have the picture of the Statue of Liberty on it - instead, it has the picture of the Las Vegas statue of liberty from outside the New York, New York hotel on the strip! 

For the life of me I just can't fathom the fact that somewhere, somebody thought it was okay to use a picture of the Statue of Liberty from a Las Vegas gimmicky hotel as the image on an international stamp that is the pride and joy of the United States!  Just how more embarrassing can we get in the eyes of the international community - or even our own!  I can't POSSIBLY be the only one who is absolutely embarrassed by the use of a fake Statue of Liberty on our national stamp instead of the real one!

It's almost like somebody said "Hey, let's use the Las Vegas statue because it looks like Lady Liberty

had a nose job and some cosmetic work on her cheek bones" - and hey why not?  Isn't plastic surgery an absolute trademark of our country?  So what if we don't use the real statue, let's trade her in for a younger, more beautiful one!  Ugh, how embarrassing! And we've been using it for almost 3 years now!

You know what it's like?  It's like telling all of your friends, your wife and kids, and your family members that you're going to Paris for 3 years -- but instead you go to the Paris hotel and casino in Las Vegas for 3 years . . .  AND you send postcards taken in front of the Fake Eiffel Tower and send them out to everyone just like you are in front of the real one!

Okay now, I know there are all kinds of more important problems in the world, but let's face it . .. using a fake Statue of Liberty on our stamps because it looks better than the real Statue of Liberty - and having someone approve it as a good idea -  is beyond my comprehension.

Alright, I got that off my chest - now back to your regularly scheduled web surfing.

Joe
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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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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

Etch a Sketch creator passes away

February 2, 2012.  Joe Lizura Blog.  A sad day today as the news came out that the creator of the Etch a Sketch has passed away in France.  Anyone who was a child in the 60s and 70s grew up playing with the Etch a Sketch.  I remember when I was about 5 and I had to spend a week in the hospital, my parents brought me the one toy I couldn't live without - my Etch a Sketch.  Long before we had video games we used our imaginations to create countless sketches on that thing.  I remember playing with that toy like it was yesterday!  I also remember when I finally put it aside for good when my family got it's first video game - the game was Pong.  Rest in peace Mr. Cassagnes.  Here is a link to the story:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57567306/inventor-of-etch-a-sketch-dies-in-france-at-86/

Joe Lizura
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Joe Lizura's favorite thing - lower gas prices!

December 12, 2012.  I saw the headline on the CNN website this morning "Gas Prices Crash" and it brought a huge smile to my face!  For those of you (especially my relatives) who are not from California, just a couple of months ago, we were pay close to $5.00 dollars a gallon (and at many stations in the state it was over that) because of an odd occurance of two refineries being shut down and high oil prices all at the same time.  So in particular, here in San Diego, gas was around $4.85 a gallon and now just 3 months later, the price is $3.45 in my area - a very nice surprise and a very welcome as well.  In about 2 days I'll be driving out to Arizona to pick up my daughter from college and their gas will be even cheaper at about $3.15 a gallon (they don't have the fees for California additives).

So, just in the nick of time for holiday travel, a true gift for everyone - cheaper gas a the pump!  Merry Christmas!

Here is a link to the story below:  http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/09/travel/gas-prices/index.html

CNN) -- Gas prices have plummeted 46 cents a gallon over the past two months, according to a survey released Sunday.

"This has been a true price crash," said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.38, down nearly a dime over the past three weeks, Lundberg said.

"This crash began back when refining problems around the country were being fixed, one after the other, at the same time that our seasonal gasoline demand was shrinking," she said.

Crude oil prices have also dropped after having risen steadily.

Prices at the pump should drop even more in the coming days, as refiners cut how much they're charging distributors and retailers, Lundberg said.

The national average is about 8 cents higher than the average a year ago.

The survey tallies prices at thousands of gas stations nationwide.

Long Island, New York, had the highest average in the latest survey, at $3.85. The lowest average was in Memphis, Tennessee, at $3.04.

Joe Lizura

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Television Promotion

Facebook Hits The One Billion Mark!

Los Angeles, October 4, 2012.  This is the most amazing story - facebook has reached one billion users per month, and what's more, they add up to 219 billion photos!  Here is the story from ABC News this morning:

A big milestone for the world's largest social network. Facebook says it now has more than one billion users each month. The announcement was made this morning in a status posting by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "If you are reading this thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you," he said with a hint of humor. "Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life." Facebook says its one billion users have been responsible for 1.13 trillion "likes," 219 billion photos and 17 billion location check-ins.

Those are astonishing numbers, to think that 1/6 of the world's population are now interconnected on a social site and 219 billion photos have been uploaded - now that's something to marvel at.

Joe Lizura
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Phyllis Diller Passes Away

Phyllis Diller, a very rare lady passes away.  Joe Lizura, August 20, 2012.  One of my favorite entertainers has passed away, but I will always remember here fondly.  When I was a child growing up on the 60s and 70s, Phyllis Diller was always a comedic fixture.  You could find her on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at least 3 or 4 times a year, as well as on any special Bob Hope was performing on as well.  She led a wonderful life and was a Vegas regular entertaining hundreds of thousands of people a year. 

Here is the story from Yahoo:  Legendary comedienne Phyllis Diller, who blazed a trail for a generation of female comics with her self-deprecating stand-up routines, has died at age 95, according to TMZ.

Diller had been suffering health problems as of late: She recently hurt her hip and wrist in a fall and has been living under hospice care at her home. She passed away there, surrounded by family.

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM PHYLLIS DILLERThe wild-haired comedienne enjoyed a six-decade-long career: She started out in stand-up in 1952, and first rose to fame on TV with a series of TV specials alongside Bob Hope in the 1960s. She starred in several TV shows based around her act ("The Phyllis Diller Show," "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show") and often appeared on the seminal '60s variety show "Laugh-In."

In recent years, Diller reveled in her role as an elder statesman of comedy, outdoing much younger comedians in the 2005 documentary "The Aristocrats" and even performing a routine on "The Tonight Show" in 2007, at the tender age of 90.

She is an entertainer I will very much miss, RIP - Joe Lizura

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