What Goes Around, Comes Around: Rentals

GameStop is launching a game rental subscription called PowerPass

 

Game Stop 

the video game store that has fallen from grace in the era of digital downloads, will start offering a subscription rental program, according to Mashable.

Over the past decade, it’s become incredibly easy to get your hands on a new video game without ever leaving the comfort of your couch. Alongside Steam, both Sony and Microsoft offer digital download access to just about any game you might want, making the prospect of getting up and buying a physical disc much less attractive.

So GameStop is changing up the business model.

For $60, subscribers will have the ability to rent as many pre-owned games as their gamer heart desires, so long as they only rent one game at a time. The $60 subscription, called PowerPass, lasts for six months at a time, and will include one free game to keep at the end of the subscription period.

To get in on the rental subscription, users must sign up for GameStop’s Power-Up Rewards program. Luckily, this program has a free tier, which makes users eligible for the rental subscription.

GameStop has had a rough go of it recently, with share prices falling 8 percent on the heels of its latest earnings report. It’s video game retail business, in particular, dropped 3.4 percent in Q2.

A rental subscription allows GameStop to offset its troves of pre-owned game inventory while getting revenue from subscriptions.

Mashable reports that the program will launch in November 19, just in time for the holidays, and could prove to be the gift that keeps on giving.

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L’histoire de la Journée Columbus et de la Journée des peuples autochtones

Vandalized Christopher Columbus statue à New Haven.

 

Pour certains, le deuxième lundi d’octobre est une célébration de Christophe Colomb, l’explorateur italien venu dans les Amériques. Pour d’autres, c’est l’occasion d’examiner de manière critique l’héritage de Colomb et de célébrer les gens qui vivaient ici bien avant son arrivée dans le cadre de la Journée des peuples autochtones.

Columbus Day est une observation de l’anniversaire de l’arrivée de l’explorateur sur une île dans ce qui est maintenant les Bahamas le 12 octobre 1492. De nombreux Américains italiens honorent leur héritage à la Journée de Colomb avec des défilés et des festivals.

Cependant, ces dernières années, les indigènes et d’autres se sont ralliés contre les vacances, affirmant que Colomb a asservi et assassiné beaucoup de peuples autochtones. Il y a maintenant un mouvement croissant pour réclamer la journée en l’honneur des peuples autochtones et leurs cultures et contributions uniques.

What Ameican Commuter Trains Can Learn From Paris

Starting in the 1970s, Paris connected its suburban rail lines to form the RER network. Instead of ending in stubs in the central city, the RER runs as an express subway through the city proper. Using time-of-day trip data*, we can compare the RER to its American counterparts.
While the largest share of boardings in the Paris suburbs is in the morning peak, there is also substantial ridership in the afternoon and evening. In contrast, commuter rail in the U.S. is tilted much more heavily to peak hour ridership.”
U.S. commuter railroads are often full to seated capacity during peak hours but only carry a few people per car at other times. An entire off-peak MBTA train might have, at its fullest, 60 passengers. This is not the case in Paris, where midday RER trains routinely leave the city with every seat full.
There are two main reasons for this: service frequency and land use.

American commuter rail stations are typically surrounded by parking. The intent is for suburban commuters to drive to the park-and-ride and take the train to the central business district. Few middle-class workers would be willing to live car-free near such stations and take the train to the city: They’d need a car to run errands, and the stations themselves are too hostile to walking…

In contrast, there is ample development next to suburban train stations in Paris. In Bourg-la-Reine is high-rise housing projects — behind the buildings  there’s a supermarket. Many Parisian suburbs are poor, but Bourg-la-Reine is solidly middle-class, and even in rich suburbs, such as those on Transilien lines L, N, and U, there is high off-peak ridership. In those areas, people can live car-free near a train station, do most errands on foot, and take the train downtown for work.

In California we are slowly making progress building new higher density housing near regional and transit rail stations. This is a recent photo at the Claremont Metrolink Station in Los Angeles County near the San Bernardino County border. Photo by Noel T. Braymer

Key Holder BAD!

Take advice from Aldo Vaquera

Take Care Of Your Sweater!

Sweaters are an investment. We want to make sure that when we finally return to them after the warmer months (sigh), they’re in good condition and ready for action.

At the same time, summer is amateur hour, and we want to make sure that we don’t destroy our sweaters by treating them with the free-spirited carelessness with which we donned our favorite light tees.

It is a delicate cycle full of infinite mysteries (i.e. where are these holes coming from?), but at least you have Yahoo Makers here to guide you on your sweater-care journey.

Here are some basic tips and tricks to properly store and care for your sweaters:

Hang your sweaters so they don’t stretch

Fold them in half vertically, and place the hanger hook in the armpit of the sweater. Fold the arms over one side of the hanger, and the waist over the other. Voilà! No more poofy shoulders or sagging hemlines.

Fix a snag

It’s easy to snag your sweater, but impossible to travel back in time and undo your foolish actions. No problem! Turn your sweater inside out and use a crochet hook to pull the snagged wool through the sweater. Tie the wool in a few knots to keep it in place.

Dry your sweaters correctly

Never wring your sweater! Gently squeeze out the water. Lay it flat on a towel, and roll it up to remove excess water. Dry your sweater flat on a towel or a drying rack.

Shrink your stretched-out cuffs

Rather than shrinking your whole sweater in a dryer, dip your cuffs in hot water and blot them. Then place them on a towel, and blow-dry them using the hottest setting.

Stretch a shrunken sweater

Did you accidentally put your wool, cashmere, or angora sweater in the dryer and turn it into a Barbie boyfriend sweater? You’re not alone! Soak your sweater in room-temperature water that has fabric softener in it. Blot it dry, stretch it to the dimensions you want, and then pin it to a board. Once it’s dry, iron it to set the shape. Ya snooze, ya lose, Barbie!

Remove pills

Sweater pills are inevitable and seem infinite. To get rid of them, hold the sweater flat with one hand and slice off pills one at a time with a basic disposable razor.

Keep moths from munching on your favorite sweater

Moths breed in natural fibers. They also have pretty specific tastes: dirt, sweat, and dust. Prevent an infestation by:

1. Dusting and cleaning your closet regularly.
2. Never storing dirty knitwear.
3. Using cedar hangers or lavender sachets to repel moths.
4. Storing seasonal knitwear in sealed, airtight plastic bags during warm months.

THANK YOU FRIENDS

Tony A. Smith

It has been a pretty good year.  I have met a lot of great friends in the blogging world, and on top of that my daughter just got married to a wonderful man.  I am also in pretty decent health now thanks to many of your recommendations.  We have shared a lot here between us and I am glad to have met each one of you.  GOD has blessed me.

I have been blessed by all of you and I wanted to do something nice for you.  This Wednesday, March 18th and Thursday, March 19th I am making (6) e-book versions of my books available for free on Amazon.

You can go to the following links starting tomorrow to get a free copy of your choice.  The top three are memoir type books while the bottom three are children’s books.

Oklahoma Ride Guideposts for Life

Ride on Time Matters of…

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5 things the world thinks are Dutch

Musings of a traveller

I have been in the U.S. for almost 2 months now. I have come across a number of things the rest of the world calls ‘Dutch,’ even though the Dutch themselves have no idea what they are talking about.

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Positano Lovin’ on the Amalfi Coast

Sitting Pretty In The Queen City

I couldn’t wait to write about Positano because there’s really nothing like it. The Amalfi coast is one of the most beautiful places and I fell in love with it. I made the trip to Positano by way of Naples and I am so glad I hired a driver because I got to watch the sun set along the Sorrento coast. My driver insisted we stop and take proper pictures because he saw me trying to snap a few with my cell phone. “What’s that mountain?,” I asked.. “Oh that’s Mount Vesuvius.” I had no idea how close I was to Pompeii and wish I had set aside time to see it!

Since the sun had gone down during my drive down the coast when I arrived in Positano it was dark but even then I could tell by it’s twinkling lights and the bright moon it was beautiful.

For…

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Sit with those who have sinned and [then] repented for they have the softest hearts ../.. Tövbe edenlerle oturun, onların kalpleri yumuşak olur…Umar ibn Al-Khattab

YA BAKİ ENTEL BAKİ

A woman came to Prophet Musa/Moses (peace be upon him) and said, “I committed a grave sin. Please pray to Allah that He forgives me.”

Prophet Musa/Moses (peace be upon him): “What did you do?”

Woman: “I committed fornication and later gave birth to a boy whom I killed.”

Prophet Musa/Moses (peace be upon him): “Go away from here, you wicked woman, lest a fire from Heaven destroys us all because of your sin!”

The woman left broken-hearted. Then Angel Jibril/Gabriel (peace be upon him) descended and asked, “O Musa, why have you turned away a repentant woman? Have you not found anyone worse than her?”

Prophet Musa/Moses (peace be upon him): “Who can be worse than her?”

Angel Jibril/Gabriel (peace be upon him): “The one who abandons salah intentionally and persistently.”

Bir kadın Hz. Musa’ya (as) geldi ve dedi ki:‘Ben büyük bir günah işledim ve tövbe ettim çok pişmanım..Lütfen…

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Coming out with my mental illnesses

Amber keeps breathing

Today I am sharing my story with my Facebook and Instagram friends. At first I didn’t want to because I thought people may think I was just doing it for attention, but then I realized that helping other people who struggle with mental illnesses is more important than what other people think of me.
Although I am nervous, I am excited to share my story and hopefully save a life.

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