UPDATE: Amex offers cruise on Costa Concordia – Mediterranean getaway, nice touch ‘Welcome aboard’

American Express mailed out a brochure for a Meditteranean cruise on the Costa Concordia which just arrived in many homes today. Sound familiar, you bet, that’s the one still sinking off the coast of Italy, near Giglio Island, where 17 have been confirmed dead. Amex has announced “Obviously that offer is not valid,” and that is believable.

Full mailer brochure BELOW

Amex has reported that they prepare these mailers many weeks in advance (6 weeks) and of course they didn’t know what would happen in Italy. But I think  In the mailer they say to ‘Immerse yourself’ but I think I will immerse myself in something completely different, like taking a bus or a train.

Read MORE on Concordia Cruise Liner

FULL TEXT – Of the American Express mailer received today.

Immerse Yourself In A Truly European Experience:
‘When you choose Costa Cruises, you don’t just see Europe — you live it. From authentic cuisine and beverages to dazzling decor and exhilarating celebrations, it’s easy to fall in love with the rich cultural heritage that inspires “Cruising Italian Style.” On an Eastern or Western Mediterranean vacation, you cruise through thousands of years of history, pampered with posh resort amenities in a floating environment of art and beauty. You’ll visit picturesque harbours, ancient ruins, busy markets and bustling boutiques — destinations that won Costa Cruises the Porthole Cruise Magazine Reader’s Choice Award for ‘Best Mediterranean Itineraries.’
On board you can relax in the dazzling casino, romantic piano bar, internet cafe or on a dance floor. Dine amidst Roman pillars and Italian marble in the main restaurant, savour a gourmet spa menu, or visit a cosy bistro for authentic pizza, gelato and cappuccino. Take time for a state of the art Technogym workout, a private golf lesson, pick-up water polo or bocce ball. Indulge in a Turkish or Roman steam bath. Or just linger on a spacious teak sun deck and savour la dolce vita.
You can meet fascinating global travellers and dedicated staff with distinctively Continental perspectives. Barriers can dissolve in the high jinks of theme nights on board — tarantella dancing, ice carving or a Roman Toga party. As a member of the World’s Leading Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises offers a luxury cruise experience to cherish.’

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

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Lots of action at Women's Roller Derby (TORD) Saturday.

By Daniel Boyington.

Toronto - A good turnout at the Downsview Park Saturday night for the Women's Roller Derby League (TORD) just under 1000 fans. Rough and tumble action all night.

Very well organized event and fun for all ages, they even have a scoreboard which is generated from a laptop computer. Spectators are allowed to sit ringside but cautioned in case a player falls into them. No-one under 19 is allowed at the edge of the rink in case of a wipe-out, which thankfully happens quite a lot. Saturday's bout by The Death Track Dolls and Smoke City Betties didn't disappoint, as you can see pictured, Jammers, Betty Bomber (23) of Death Track Dolls and Rug Burn (83) of Smoke City Betties The organizers have a team of first aid specialists on hand in case of injury and last night there were very few. The crowd is spirited on by announcer "Crankypants" who gives a play by play and updates on the action. The teams will take their break when they travel to Montreal for The Beast of the East Tournament at Arena St. Louis, April 30 and May 1.

■ Daniel Boyington

Next bout is Saturday, May 14 with Gore-Gore Rollergirls up against Smoke City Betties. After the trip to Montreal teams come back and enter into playoffs starting Saturday, June 11 with Team 1 vs. Team 2 and the Championship final will be held on Saturday, June 25 at The Hanger at Downsview Parc/Park. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased in advance ONLINE or select locations for $12, but get them early, as they go fast. Don't forget, Toronto Roller Derby League (TORD) will be hosting an International Tournament in December 2011 at a still unanounced location with 13 teams from all over the world.

■ Daniel Boyington For larger view click picture.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/305711#ixzz1JqxlyNjM

'Occupy Toronto' kicked off Saturday along with 80 other countries and almost 950 cities worldwide

Toronto, Canada - Occupy Toronto is alive and well, and has been peaceful with very little police presence, for now. Let's hope it stays that way, and they appear to be wearing their name-tags.

Over 950 cities around the world and almost 80 countries held protests on Saturday in support of the Occupy movement and Toronto's gathering was peaceful, with almost 2-3000 supporters.

The Occupy Toronto group appears to be relatively well organized yet many protesters are still not clear on why they are there.

They marched from the financial district yesterday to St. James Park which is near Church and King St. East and about 20-30 people set up tents and planned on staying, for how long no one is sure.

Eric from Port Hope, Ontario plans on staying until next weekend. He had several large bottles of water and supplies and is upset with the "1%" who he assured me, he is not. "I'm here to protest the inequality and to basically tell the 1% they need to start sharing." Eric went on to say "I've been looking into it and if you say you are a 'natural person' and if you say that's what you are, the police can do nothing." Only time will tell, if or when the police move in to evict the campers. But he and others said they want this to remain a peaceful occupation.

Matilda Sunshine (10 months) and her mother Dionne from Toronto dropped by to be part of the protest for the day.
"Matilda is part of the 99% and I would like her to be part of 100% and things are just not what what they should be in Toronto and Canada." She added "I have faith in Torontonians and people in general and now is our time, and Matilda is clearly our next generation."
Dionne was also very impressed that everyone was peaceful and she saw very few police which made her more relaxed.

Check out all my   PHOTOS HERE  on Occupy Toronto




Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything - MTOE

 

UPDATE: Bell FibeTV review - almost a year later, still problems and 'deception' at sales office

Friday, October 21, 2011 2:29:52 PM

Toronto, Canada - I just found out a few things today about Bell FibeTV/internet and the practices of their sales team. They are still giving out wrong and misleading information in an attempt to get people signed up for their services.



IMPORTANT UPDATE: If you joined up within the last year, you were probably told you can record four programs at once. The only thing they leave out, is that yes, you can record four programs at once, but only two HD programs and two standard programs. But, I just found out that you can get more HD recording power if you request it. But you must be forceful because it appears there is an embargo on this feature. They won't tell you it is available, nor do they allow it, if you call in and ask. I had to demand it, and was put through to a supervisor, before I could get the three HD ability and one standard TV recording on my system.

When I called the sales team as a new subscriber, I was told and asked how many stations can I record at once. I paused, and asked if there was any restrictions or more information on recording shows, and the representative told me "no, you can record four shows at once." She left out the part that the default setup is only two HD and two standard. Is that misleading or deceptive?

I then asked Jennifer what happens if the internet is down, can I still watch my TV, she said "yes, and you can watch any pre-recorded shows you have on your PVR." Another deception, you cannot watch TV, or pre-recorded shows if the internet service is down. And if you already have internet service and don't want to switch to Bell, you are forced to buy their internet connection.

Even when I asked the pricing on the same package I currently have, she told me it would be $99.94 for the TV? I then said "is there anything else I need," and she then said "NO." But another deception, you need internet access to make your FibeTV work. I then asked to speak to a supervisor, Bonnie, and she would not answer my questions, gave me the same 'stock' answers, and referred me to another number.

Within the last month we have had no service at least three times and they blame it on many other things rather than accept any responsibility. I realize it is only a year old but most people would give up I'm sure by now, but I have stuck it out for almost a year now.

When the service is working properly, it is one of the best on the market. But just try to get someone at Bell FibeTV to give you straight answers, rather than 'stock' answers and it is difficult.

I finally had the pleasure of talking with Phillip a 10 year employee and he was helpful and very informative and disclosed this hidden secret that you can now acquire the three HD channels, but only if you request it. Why is that?

Check all these things out before you sign up, and it appears that Bell will not carry the new USA channel FX Network which is a highly rated channel with lots of movies. It has been advertised extensively by Rogers who will offer it starting November 1st. It's hard to get a straight answer from Bell, why, or if, it is available on FibeTV.


Another channel I love, but FibeTV does not offer is HD-Net which is owned by Mark Cuban and is very popular in the USA, but it was offered at one time on satellite, but has been dropped, I believe by Bell. There are many good things about FibeTV like the pause live TV, which was originally only offered on the main PVR box initially, but after people complained, they upgraded the system to allow pause live TV on all boxes within your home.
Check out this LINK for more info on FibeTV.






 


Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything - MTOE

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial – ‘Dick Tracy Orlando’ was discussed, in the absence of the jury this afternoon, but the jury heard it

Orlando, Florida - The fantasy world touched the Orlando courtroom murder trial of Casey Anthony today as they spent almost an hour discussing whether they would allow defense attorney Jose Baez   to introduce information about the Orange County Sheriff’s Office detective nicknamed “Dick Tracy Orlando.”
Not sure which is more REAL, Dick Tracy Orlando or the stories told by Casey Anthony on her way to this murder trial of the millennium. The prosecution indicated to  Chief Judge Belvin Perry   today that they are only half way through their witnesses.
Today was day seven of the trial and there are few “facts/evidence” so far, and now that we are hearing Casey’s stories, it is clearer that her stories, were never true.
But just as the country was shocked when Jose Baez startled everyone by saying “Caylee Anthony was not murdered, she downed in the backyard swimming pool”, we should have learned to never take anything for granted in this trial. It may well appear that Casey has been lying all along, but we have not heard the whole story yet.
Lee Anthony was the only family member on the stand this morning and never really revealed anything exceptional, but did confirm he is part of the same dysfunctional family tree, with his little sarcastic laugh. And he did mention that he had to “roll play“  to get a story across to his sister Casey. It appears, not only do these Anthony’s, all of them admit to lying, they all seem to be great actors as well.
One of Cindy’s admitted lies was when she called the police on Casey and told them she “smelled a dead body”  in the car, to get them to arrive faster, another mysterious lie, was when she did not know Casey was pregnant, but a picture of the two at a local wedding make it abundantly clear she was seven months pregnant. Click the picture to the left to see a larger view of the pregnant Casey, but her mother could not tell she was pregnant even though she is a health care professional.

Lead Detective, Yuri Melich of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office took the stand late this afternoon and he is the one that Jose Baez says is called “Dick Tracy Orlando”   after he admitted posting some comments about the case on some local blogs prior to the trial. Melich, has created, or trying to create a fan club of sorts, and at the time back when he first arrived on the scene at the Anthony home at 3:50am on July 16/2008 he was a Detective Corporal but now is working in the Professional Standards division which is internal affairs. As Melich was giving his testimony today about Casey’s statement, Baez asked him “did you ever go by a different name than Yuri Melich?”  The prosecution made an objection and the Judge sustained it, and then Baez went ahead and said quickly, “did you ever go by the name of Dick Tracy Orlando?” to which he received no reply, and the Judge said “sustained” again, and then “next question” and then Baez asks for a sidebar and the Judge refuses, but then allows it, and they remove the jury and have a hearing over “Dick Tracy Orlando.”  He sure has a smug, arrogant/smart ass attitude while he is on the stand at the trial. I hate to see him in person.

Jose Baez   has some information that Melich overlooked during his investigation, and feels he is biased towards his client and unprofessional, but the Judge didn’t buy it, but it took up almost an hour of valuable court time. Melich claims he was only at the house to do an investigation about a missing child, and although he admits he smelled the human remains in the car, he never called CSI or made a report about the suspicious smells.
He also talked about what Casey told him, as to where Caylee was at the time, and he spoke about Zenaida Gonzalez (Zanni the Nanny) and he didn’t say this, but apparently she was being paid $400 a week to babysit Caylee, and Casey has been telling so many stories, she even made up a dog and friends for Zanni, since Caylee came home one day and had been scratched by the made up dog, but maybe, that was made up too.
The trial continues again tomorrow at 9am.









Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

To go to my FULL WordPress BLOG CLICK HERE or click the Header .. Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA  at the top of each page.

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial Day 31 - THUNDERBOLT - Is George Anthony a LIAR? One time, or many times?

Orlando, Florida - George Anthony was on the stand today in his daughter's murder trial for allegedly killing his granddaughter. This was about the 4-5th time he has been called to the stand.

He constantly doesn't answer questions, he doesn't stay on the point, he just goes into a narrative and tries to get sympathy from the jury. When asked if he molested his daughter, he didn't say NO, he said that "I would never do that" and defense attorney Jose Baez asked again and the prosecution objected, that it was asked and answered, but it was not, it was a YES/NO question.

Questions were brought up to ask about the infamous gas can with the duct tape on it. Baez asked George whether the gas can had duct tape on it when the police picked it up with a search warrant and he said "NO," but when he went to a disposition and gave evidence he was showed a picture of the gas can and it clearly had duct tape on it? The duct tape is important because the prosecution is claiming it was placed on Caylee's mouth when she was found and they are suggesting that the duck tape is what killed Caylee. And the duct tape had a company logo on it and it was spotted at a search site that George had set-up and a roll of it was found in the Anthony's house. But George said today there was NO duct tape on the can when the police picked it up at his house and either the police put the tape on the can or someone is lying?

So George is suggesting by his testimony that the police placed the duct tape on the gas can?? Because he has said when the gas can was picked up from his house it "Did not have duct tape on the gas can" and yet when it was returned to him and it was displayed in a picture at his deposition it did have duct tape on it.
Academy Award performance by George today on the stand as he "blatantly lied" under oath and cried several times trying to get the sympathy of the jury and the courtroom, which in my opinion was an outstanding performance. He was clearly trying to distract the attention from his answers, which he had trouble answering directly without his narrative, and hedged a great deal when he did answer the tough questions.

Is George Anthony guilty of something? Why did he "TRY" to commit suicide, was it because he felt guilty about being involved in the death of his granddaughter which was stated in the opening statement by the defense attorney, Jose Baez. He did purchase a hand gun (January 2009) and the police were informed and picked it up after he had waited the mandatory waiting period and was unable to make any use of it, since he was not allowed to have a gun since his daughter Casey was under bond at the time. He then continued on, and called his parents, to say goodbye, but didn't say the words. He also wrote a suicide note that was challenged today in court. After a proffer (questions asked to witness outside the presence of the jury) was held and the Judge allowed the defenses line of questioning about the suicide attempt.

Prosecutor, Jeff Ashton feels he is in charge of this trial, but has been shot down many times by Chief Judge Belvin Perry who is doing an excellent job.

Why does the MAIN STREAM MEDIA side with the prosecution and clearly have taken sides instead of reporting news about the trial? Especially the group of CNN, HLN channels.

Daniel ... Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial Day 21 - Prosecution does not want evidence entered by defense, WHY? Dr. Timothy Huntington

Orlando, Florida - The Casey Anthony murder trial continued this morning with the defense putting on Dr. Timothy Huntington a bug expert. The head prosecutor Jeff Ashton  is getting increasingly upset with the defenses witnesses countering his evidence and is constantly objecting to anything he says, when it is against their evidence. He's getting so frustrated he is even objecting to "not being able to see photos?"Jose Baez, defense attorney asked questions to the expert, as to what would cause a stain in the trunk of a dead body and Dr. Huntington tried to give his opinion and thoughts but the prosecution objected. However, the prosecution bug expert had given the same evidence when he was a witness for the prosecution. The jury was not in the courtroom for the exchange between Baez and Ashton but the bottom line, Judge Perry allowed the witness to give testimony before the jury.

The main objection from the prosecution was the fact that Dr. Huntington was saying that he could determine if a dead body had been in the car trunk by the stain, or the amount of blow flies in the trunk. The prosecutions evidence showed there was one blow fly leg in the trunk and that it was inside a bag of trash that was there, and Dr. Huntington said if a dead body was present, "there would be hundreds, if not thousands of dead flies."

So was there a dead body in Casey Anthony's car?

The trial has recessed for lunch.


Daniel ... Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50