Consumer news and opinion

“Consumer Bits” on Brusimm.com are articles designed to share the author’s consumer experiences with the reader. The articles can include experiences with products or services offered by various business entities.

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The 2012 Solar Eclipse of May 20th came and went.  What a fun event.  When it first started I joked with a buddy that “Oh my god!  I can see it!  It’s already getting darker!“  But when it got down to it, believe it or not, it was actually a fun neighborhood event!

At the peak of the solar eclipse, neighbors started coming out and tinkering around with their various homemade “pinhole projectors.”  Some had two pieces of small cardboard or their shoebox contraptions.  It was pretty fun, but then I pointed to the ground and showed my neighbors the “poor man’s pinhole projector!”

In fact, we had a huge pinhole projectors all over the place.  One of them made my garage door the magic solar eclipse projector while others made a car a projector!

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Solar Eclipse todayToday, 5-20-12, starting at 5:24 p.m., a solar eclipse will start and at 6:38 p.m., the max coverage will be in effect.  In Los Angeles, like here in Menlo Park, it will appear that 85% of the sun will be eclipsed into a C-shaped light bulb!  Mt Fuji would seem to be the spot to see it full on eclipsed.

(Seriously???  6:38?  I’ll be 2/3rds through Game of Thrones right then!)

The next total eclipse of the sun will take place in 2017.

Remember to not look directly at the sun.  I did that once when I was in Jr. High and have had a “momento” of that brainless event ever since.

The official warning goes like this:

Never view the sun with the naked eye or with any optical device, such as binoculars or a telescope!

There will be a few online locations broadcasting if you can stand that kind of fast paced excitement.

  • Slooh Space Camera
  • Panasonic
  • Hong Kong Observatory
  • Hong Kong Space Museum

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Or you can make your own pinhole projector…  which you can find quick instructions here:  exploratorium.edu

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Facebook Going Public & I Wonder What They’ll Do With the $6 Billion?

May 17, 2012

I was checking out an article or two the other day ranging from wearing hoodies on Wall Street, flexible business practices and an IPO that would seem to be a promising investment! The Horror of Hoodies First up was Facebook‘s main man, Mark Zuckerberg, showing up in Wall Street in a hoodie, and the establishment [...]

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Leaving Your Dog In The Car: It Doesn’t Need To Be Summer To Be Stupid

May 17, 2012

You’ve seen it too often, and that’s a dog sitting inside a locked car, windows up.  Sometimes the windows are closed, sometimes they’re “cracked” open “For the dog.”  Let me make a quick suggestion…  if you’re willing to leave your dog in the car, you should hang out with him/her too and see how it [...]

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Lost Parrot in Menlo Park

May 16, 2012

Lost Parrot in Menlo Park

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Being A Vegetarian Means Also Being Careful WHAT Vitamins You Take

May 11, 2012

It’s one thing to decide to become a vegetarian.  You realize that this lifestyle requires a more focused attention to what nutrients one gets.  So one would just think it’s fine to start taking vitamins.  It’s basically what everyone says. But if you’re vegan or a very, very focused vegetarian and  don’t want to eat [...]

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Menlo Park’s New Trash Cans Look Great, But Smell Awful

May 10, 2012

Dear Menlo Park, or to whom it may concern: A few months ago you came along and replaced the old, grungy Fremont Park trash cans with brand new, open-top trash cans that seem to deal with two obvious issues: -Ease of discarding trash -They look great -The good citizens of Menlo Park never need touch [...]

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Menlo Park 2012 Summer Concert Series in Fremont Park & Extended Block Party Hrs

May 9, 2012

The city of Menlo Park sent out a public notice this week announcing that the hours of the Downtown Block parties are changing and in that announcement, I derived the dates for the Menlo Park Summer Concert Series in Fremont Park. The Menlo Park Downtown Block Parties usually mark the start and end of the [...]

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“Alleged” Berkeley CA Bicycle Hit-and-Run Driver Arrested, But…

April 27, 2012

Right now I’m mostly recovered from an old lady who pinched me up against a curb with her car while I was on my bicycle.  I got tire scuff marks on my tennis shoe from her right rear tire.  It was like night racing at Bristol baby!!! I got very lucky and only ended up [...]

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Menlo Park Considering New ‘Mini Pocket’ ideas

April 24, 2012

I picked up the April 24th edition of the Daily Post and saw an article about Menlo Park considering, or having proposed two mini-parks, or parklets for the town. One mini-park or “pocket park” would be on Crane and other park would be located at Chestnut Land at Oak Grove Ave.  The parks will be [...]

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Computer Malware/Virus Warning: Have You Been Hacked? The FBI Can Help!

April 22, 2012

This is a consumer alert about a computer virus/malware issue that the FBI is trying to get the word out on: Come this summer, an estimated 550,000+ computers will lose their connectivity to the internet, and all the computer users might think is that internet is “broken.”  But it won’t be.  These victims were the [...]

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The New Droid X Update “4.5.621MB810:” Did You Get it Yet?

April 20, 2012

There’s a new patch for our Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid X phones and I’m hoping it cures a few interesting issues I’ve been having. Those issues include a phone that turns itself on without prompting from me, GPS that takes forever and a camera that isn’t as good as it was when taking night pictures!  [...]

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Menlo Park “Sidewalk Fine Arts Festival” This Weekend!

April 20, 2012

This is a quick blurb out to the locals here that the 30th Annual Sidewalk Fine Arts Festival is taking place, starting 10am today, Friday, April 20th and running through to 5pm Sunday afternoon, April 22, in downtown Menlo Park on Santa Cruz Avenue. This is the art fair that packs into the sidewalk spaces [...]

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You, My Readers, Are The True SEO Machines of the Web

April 11, 2012

Are Website SEO Practices Really Having That Much Impact??? The other day I was wondering about web SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and all the time spent by website admins into applying these practices.  I ask that because I’ve been seeing some interesting trends in my websites that seem to completely buck the system. – For [...]

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Netflix & Other Low-Cost Rental Venues Cut Hollywood Profits in Half?

April 9, 2012

In the ensuing piece, I talk about the diminishing profit margins of the home entertainment market and that gets me going about the costs of movies…

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YouTube Lets Brands Use Apps Finally

April 4, 2012

YouTube is finally letting brands use apps to customize their specific channels. What this means is that the simplicity of using YouTube is about…

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HBO’s ‘Luck’ Was The Tip of the Iceberg Of Horse Racing’s Ugly Side

March 27, 2012

The New York Times had a frightening article on the dark side of horse racing… wow… I never imagined

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Product Recall: Safety Cabinet Locks

March 22, 2012

A new product recall went out today involving cabinet child safety locks. The “Safety 1st Cabinet Locks” are being recalled.

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