Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Grandview At Las Vegas




This Week we are high-lighting the Grandview at Las Vegas Timeshare Resort, a Gold Crown RCI exchange resort.

The Grandview is located South of "The Strip" and adjacent to the South Point Casino. It is away from all the "glitz" of The Strip; but The Grandview offers complimentary shuttle service to Excalibur every day, where you are in walking distance of most of the casinos and where you can catch the tram to points further North on The Strip.

We have stayed at Grandview in the past and were very pleased with the location. The accommodations were very good and there are three pools and spas for your enjoyment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For information about our timeshare sales and rentals, see our Squidoo lens at: Need A Timeshare Vacation?; and also see more information on our website at: Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
Petit Crest Villas At Big Canoe
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community


Refer A Friend using Revolution MoneyExchange

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

From Kovel's Comments June 24, 2009



From Kovel's Comments, June 24, 2009:

A reader, S.C., emailed to ask who gets the money for the stolen Lincoln stamp mentioned last week. The "Ice House" cover (envelope) that bore the stamp was stolen in 1967. Aetna Insurance paid the owner, J. David Baker, $86,000 to cover the loss of the Ice House cover and about 250 other covers that were stolen at the same time. Most of the stolen covers were found and returned in 1978. In 2006 a couple claimed to have found the cover while they were sorting through a dead friends' estate. Another source says the couple claimed they bought the stamp at a flea market twenty years earlier. Another source says the couple claimed they bought the cover at a flea market. The couple took the envelope to a stamp shop in Chicago where it was identified and the police were contacted. The statute of limitations had expired on the 1967 theft, so the case went to court.

Who owned the stamp -- the finders, the original owners, the insurance company, or another collector who had offered to buy it when it surfaced? The insurance company had been involved in several mergers and the judge ruled it was no longer the same company that had insured the stamp. The collector had no proof he had purchased the rights to buy the stamp because those involved were dead. The ownership was finally awarded to the Baker estate in 2008. So the money, $431,250, went to the Baker heirs.

But the whole story is even more complicated. It is part of a real life detective drama involving a fine arts thief, the Chicago mob, a porn shop owner, a murder, a blackmail demand for the return of the stamp, and the suicide of a man who was accused of selling bogus collectibles. To this day no one admits to knowing where the stamp has been all these years.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
Petit Crest Villas At Big Canoe
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community




Refer A Friend using Revolution MoneyExchange

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Forums and Marketing Resource Websites We Participate In and Support



Along with many other online buyers and sellers, here are a few forums and marketing resource websites that we participate in and support. There is a wealth of information at these sites, both for shoppers and shop owners.

Forums:
CHShops Community
The Selling Lounge
Power Sellers Unite

Marketing Resources:
Really Smart Deals
Every Place I Sell

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
Petit Crest Villas At Big Canoe
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community




Refer A Friend using Revolution MoneyExchange

Monday, June 15, 2009

Princess Phones



The Princess telephone was introduced by AT&T in 1959. It was a compact telephone designed for convenient use in the bedroom, and contained a light-up dial for use as a night-light. It was commonly known with the slogan "It's little...It's lovely...It lights". Its dial was in the base of the telephone. Contemporary advertising demonstrates that this telephone was marketed to women. As a result, a broad range of colors were offered, including pink, red, yellow, moss green, black, white, beige, ivory, light blue, turquoise, and gray.

The designer of the Princess was the famed industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, working closely with the engineers at Bell Laboratories. Later redesigns were done by Donald Genaro of the Dreyfuss design firm (Genaro redesigned the case so that it could be more easily picked up).

The Princess was unique in two aspects: it required an external electric transformer to power the light-up dial, and when the telephone began production, Western Electric did not have a ringer small enough to fit inside the case; an external ringer was required as in the "candlestick phone" of forty years earlier.

Early versions of the Princess were known as 701 series phones. These required the external ringer. Customers complained that the phone was so light that it would slide off surfaces while dialing, so a lead weight was added.

Later models included the M1A ringer. The rotary dial version was known as the 702B (the modular version would be labeled 702BM). Another model of the Princess was the model 711B, a slide switch /push-button, two line phone with exclusion on line 1. A ten button Touch Tone version was known as the 1702B, while the standard twelve button arrangement was known as the 2702B (modular version was the 2702BM). Several other variations were made and can be viewed on this external site.[1]

The telephone was produced at the Western Electric Indianapolis, and later Shreveport Works plant, also the location of 500/2500 series telephone production. The Trimline telephone is often confused with the Princess because the Trimline dial lights up, even though the dial on the Trimline is in the handset.

The Princess underwent several changes in its production run:

In 1963, the Bell System introduced touchtone dialing, and Western Electric began production of a touch-tone model, with 10 numerical keys (lacking today's * and # keys). The internal network of the Princess was reduced in size the same year, allowing a small, quiet bell ringer to be placed to the left of the touch-tone dial.
In the late 1970s, AT&T introduced "modular" telephone plugs, with the RJ11 standard home telephone jack. Most customers who had Princess telephones were converted to modular dial.

In 1983, AT&T was preparing itself for divestiture of the Bell System. It started American Bell, a separate sales subsidiary of Western Electric and the Bell Operating Companies. AT&T introduced a non-light up dial with white keys to be sold in Phone Center Stores (these sets were marked "CS" on the bottom for "consumer sales"). Post-divestiture colors added after 1984 included slate blue and light green.

In 1993, the Princess was heavily redesigned. Although it retained the same handset & oval shape it has had since its introduction, a new dial was introduced. The dial still required an external transformer for night-light use; a handset volume control was added to the dial pad; phone number "card" was moved from below the dialpad to the location of the rest for the microphone. This model was called the "Signature Princess", and was freely available for lease; only available for purchase at AT&T Phone Centers, which closed in 1996.

In 1994, AT&T ended production of the Princess telephone. It continues to lease the Signature Princess model. Due to its removal from production, and its attractive design, the Princess has become an extremely collectible phone. Princess telephones in pink, turquoise, and black are among the rarest colors of the phones and most valuable.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Pictured here: Princess Phone, by GE, Model #2-922ONIA, wall or table mount.

See this and other electronic items at our www.chshops.com Mall Store at: Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Meaning of the 13 Folds of the Flag




There is an email floating around attributing a meaning to each of the 13 folds of the US Flag, used in military funerals. While this email describes a touching rendition, it is not an offical one; and is used only when the deceased family requests it.

The Truth:
The meaning of the folding of the American flag that is described in this eRumor is not without importance, but it is not official and not required.

Public Law 94-344, known as the Federal Flag Code, is the law of the land regarding the handling and displaying of the American flag. It does not include anything regarding the significance or meaning of folding the flag. The code was first adopted by Congress in 1923 and revised numerous times.

According to the American Legion, the code does not call for a ceremonial folding of the flag and the folding procedure is also traditional. Same for the meanings of the folds. Nobody seems to know when or where that originated or who wrote it. There is speculation that it may have come from a chaplain who attached the mostly Judeo-Christian religious meanings to the folds, perhaps for a burial ceremony.

Official or not, the statement has gained status as the traditional meaning of the folds and was found in many governmental and military manuals and recited at numerous military funerals.

In October, 2007, the National Cemetery Administration banned the practice of giving the meaning of the folds of the flag at all national cemeteries, but the decision was quickly revised. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a statement on 10/20/07 saying that any recitations at the graveside of a veteran can reflect the wishes of the family. In other words, if the family wants the meaning of the folds to be included, it can be included.

One additional note: The eRumor says the 21-gun salute originated from adding the digits of 1776. That is not true. According to Arlington Cemetery, the 21-gun salute evolved from many years of various traditions of honoring dignitaries.

Truth Or Fiction

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more Flag information, see our Squidoo Lens at: Tidbits of Military History

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

June Sale At Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry




June Sale At Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry


From June 1 through June 30, 2009, all of our Home and Garden Catalogue Items are 10% off.

See these sales and other specials at our CHShops Online Mall Store at: Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry

Pictured above: Coasters, Vintage Set of 8 in Original Box by The Killinger Co.

New listings this week:
1. Talon Zippers (six) Never Used, Still in Packaging
2. The Record War-time CookBook, 1918
3. Samsung Wall & Mobile Chargers for Samsung Mobile Phone
4. The Modern Family Cookbook, 1943
5. Wedgwood Bud Vase, White-on-Black Jasperware, 1966
6. AT&T Answer Machine


Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
TimeShare Resorts Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Galaxy M87 Most Massive Black Hole Find



Texas-Size Computer Finds Most Massive Black Hole In Galaxy M87

The illustration shows the relationship between the mass of a galaxy's central black hole and the mass of its central bulge. The new higher mass Gebhardt and Thomas computer modeled for M87's black hole, 6.4 billion solar masses, could change this relationship. They used a more complete computer model than previous work. This may mean that the black holes in all nearby massive galaxies are more massive than we think, signaling a change in our understanding of the relationship between a black hole and its surrounding galaxy. Credit: Tim Jones/UT-Austin after K. Cordes and S. Brown (STScI).

by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 09, 2009

Astronomers Karl Gebhardt (The University of Texas at Austin) and Jens Thomas (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics) have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought.
Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun's mass, it is the most massive black hole yet measured with a robust technique, and suggests that the accepted black hole masses in nearby large galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox.

Gebhardt will detail these results in a press conference June 8 at 12 Noon PDT at the 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, Calif. They will be published later this summer in The Astrophysical Journal, in a paper by Gebhardt and Thomas.

See entire article at: Massive Black Hole

For more articles on Outer Space, see our Squidoo Lens at: We Are In Outer Space

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community

Monday, June 08, 2009

Revolution Money Exchange


New Payment Processor - Revolution Money Exchange

There's another payment processor in town and it's called Revolution Money Exchange. I've joined and it looks pretty good to me so far.

Signing up is free. Every online transaction between accountholders is free. Online transfers to and from your bank account are free.

Every transaction is secure, and your account is issued through First Bank & Trust, Brookings, SD, Member FDIC. Just Click on the green button to join!


Refer A Friend using Revolution MoneyExchange

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Remembering D-Day 1944




World War II, June 6, 1944
The Battle of Normandy was fought during World War II in the summer of 1944, between the Allied nations and German forces occupying Western Europe. More than 60 years later, the Normandy Invasion, or D-Day, remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving nearly three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in occupied France.

Twelve Allied nations provided fighting units that participated in the invasion, including Australia, Canada, Belgium, France, Czechoslovakia, Greece, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of northwest Europe. The assault phase, or the establishment of a secure foothold, was known as Operation Neptune. Operation Neptune began on D-Day (June 1, 1944) and ended on June 30, when the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on August 19.

The battle began months before the invasion, when Allied bombers began to pound the Normandy coast and farther south, to destroy transportation links, and disrupt the German army's build-up of their military strength. More than 300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over Normandy in advance of the invasion. Six parachute regiments, with more than 13,000 men, also went ahead to cut railroad lines, blow up bridges, and seize landing fields. Gliders also brough in men, light artillery, jeeps, and small tanks.

See entire article at: D-Day

For more info, see our Squidoo Lens at:
Tidbits of Military History

Pictured here: Normandy Cemetary

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry





Our Friend's Links:
CHShops Online Mall Stores
RAL TimeShare Rentals & Sales
The Selling Lounge
The Online WorldMark Owner Community

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Cookbook Category Added



June 3, 2009
New Category Added to our Antiques Website

We have added another sub-category, Cookbooks, to our ChShops Mall Store at: Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry. You can now find several vintage cookbooks in our Media & Book Section.

Pictured here: The Goodhouse Keeping Illustrated Cookbook

Penny and Doug
cupenny@tds.net
Penny's Antiques & Wedgwood Pantry