Lucas Blackwood Contemplations » News

Tide on the black market

Lucas — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:40:09 +0000

This past week I’ve seen a couple of articles about the laundry detergent, Tide, is becoming a popular item to be shoplifted and sold on the black market. I stopped buying Tide for the most part a couple of years ago because the price has increased steadily over the years and it has simply gotten too expensive unless I have coupons to use. But I have to wonder exactly how it is that the shoplifters are getting away with stealing it? The Tide bottles are really quite large. Are they putting them on the bottom rack of their shopping carts and then just walking out the door? I’ve read that some stores are starting to put anti-theft devices on their bottles of Tide. I think that is amazing!

The heat is on

Lucas — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:24:21 +0000

Today I was watching a television news show and the reporter was saying that during this primary season there has been a huge increase in negative advertising pitting one primary candidate against the other. If I recall correctly the reporter indicated that in the last Presidential election only 6% of the commercials were negative against the other primary candidate, but in this year’s election the rate is over 50%. I’m thinking maybe it was 56%, but I’m really not sure if I remember that correctly or not. What I’m thinking is this – if so much of the campaign is negative NOW, what in the world is it going to be like when the primaries are over and it is one one one between the official candidates. Well, at least I can say that it was not just in my head, I was thinking that the negative campaigning was worse than before, and it seems that I was right.

Large Marge

Lucas — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:13:47 +0000

I appreciate the guest post, Lindsay Valdez

If you go to direct tv lexington watch the news and take notice of how large our population has become. You hear all of the statistics about our country’s increasing waist size especially in relation to the rise of weight-related health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Driving down the interstate the other day, I was surprised to see billboards with young children on them advertising that words like “chubby” and “thick” aren’t cute but are dangerous. These public service announcements seem harsh, but clearly they are necessary. The number of young children who are clinically obese is nothing short of alarming. Our world today does nothing but encourage this problem either. We are a society dependent on fast meals due to our busy lifestyles. Outdoor play has been replaced with video games, computers, and televisions. When kids have to be reminded to “get out and play for an hour a day,” we are in real trouble. Kids innately should want to play. They should want to imagine and run and jump and climb. Their fresh bodies shouldn’t be dumping grounds for food that is lesser in nutrition and quality than that which we feed to our animals.

Can coal be clean?

Lucas — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:26:07 +0000

Over the past few months, I’ve been hearing a few people talking about “clean coal.” From time to time I hear something about new technologies being developed to make coal a “clean” energy source. I’ve watched a lot of television news stories about how coal is removed from the earth, how dangerous coal mining is, and how the economies of states like West Virginia and Pennsylvania depend largely on coal, but I am not convinced that coal is the direction we should be going. I think that we still need to be looking at solar energy, wind energy, and bio-diesel fuels made from algae.

Packed up early

Lucas — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:15:40 +0000

I was really worried about my friends and family with the hurricane Irene coming through. Almost all of my relatives live on the East Coast. I was really fortunate where I was the hurricane was very mild; it actually felt more like just a regular summer storm only without any lightning and thunder, So it was actually much milder than I was expecting! In fact I kind of felt silly about all of the desperate preparations I did the day before making sure all the lawn furniture was tucked inside and that there were no small pieces of anything lying around the yard.

I guess it’s just as well I had to pick up most of the stuff before too long with autumn coming up fast, since Labor Day weekend is really only a couple of days away now. I don’t think I’m gonna bother putting all the lawn furniture back out – I’ll just say that they are just the the packed up for the winter.

Japan Tragedy

Lucas — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:15:37 +0000

Japan had its third earthquake in less than a month the other day. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news. Those people have been through so much that it is sad.

All of the quakes have been around a 7.0 on the Richterscale. They showed a lot of pictures on the news of the events caught on tape. The video footage looked really scary. One shot in particular showed some people in an office setting. There were filing cabinets swaying everywhere, not to mention lots of paperwork flying. One man was grasping onto his desk with a true death grip.

One part that is even scarier is their nuclear power plant. According to the news Japan’s current power plant is now at the same risk level as Chernobyl in 1986. This was one of the world’s worst disasters. Millions of people were affected by this radioactive accident. Deformities were prevalent not only in the living but the unborn as well. Plants and animals were affected too. I truly hope that none of the horrific things that happened in 1986 happen in 2011.

The river is rising

Lucas — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:38:28 +0000

Currently, we are having some major flooding in my area. This would not be the first time or the last time. Every year during the thaw between winter and spring we not only have to deal with a lot of mud but the chance of severe flooding. What happens is we start having warm days that are too warm for snow so we get rain. This rain then adds on top of the already melting snow and the rivers rise.

I have multiple small towns around my area that are all near rivers. This always concerns me because all the small businesses have to prepare to be flooded. With the state of the economy the way it is these businesses do not need any more hardships. Hopefully the US Coast Guard cutter will make it in time to break up some of the ice on the river to prevent any major flooding.

Cops and Coyotes

Lucas — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 09:57:05 +0000

There was a show on the discovery channel yesterday that intrigued me. I was just flipping through the channels and stumbled upon it. The show is about customs enforcement officers on the borders of the United States. They are in charge of protecting America’s borders.

This looks like a really cool job. They get to drive really rugged vehicles and carry big guns. I think I could do this job! I am sure getting into such an agency is not easy. There must be extensive training and of course it is dangerous. With the rise of the Mexican drug cartel, being such an agent makes the job even more appealing and exciting to me!

Fraudulent Shoppers

Lucas — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:19:20 +0000

Tonight on the world news the broadcaster announced that the United States annually spends $30 billion dollars a year on fraudulent injury claims. The majority of these lawsuits originate in grocery stores. Shoppers actually set up the “scene” where the “accident” is going to occur and store surveillance cameras film the entire event. One camera actually filmed a shopper pouring olive oil all over the floor before placing a hot dog on top of it. She then made a loop around the next isle coming back to drive her shopping cart over the spill before sliding onto the floor. The “fall” was pathetic. The shopper looked as though she was lying down on the floor in slow motion.

I think more stores need to have surveillance cameras installed. I know of multiple stores in my area that either do not have any cameras or have ineffective cameras placed on the ceiling. This is not going to help them when a shopper tries to sue them for falling on their property.

Impending Snowstorm

Lucas — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:19:30 +0000

Tonight I heard in the news that my geographic location will be experiencing a gigantic snowstorm by mid week. I still haven’t fully dug myself out from the last storm. Therefore, I think that I better put my body in motion.

The last storm caused an accumulation of approximately 14 inches. I haven’t seen any predictions of how much snow we are suppose to get but I know that if I do not get my yard cleaned up in the next few days I am going to regret it! I may have to think about hibernation and not crawl out of my house until spring!