Early Black Friday Deals at Target, Walmart

Many retailers in the United States have already posted their 2010 Black Friday ads online.

Retailers such as Walmart and Target are offering some great deals this year. Along with Walmart’s separate Toy Book deals they will also be offering a savings of up to 30% on their latest toys, housewares, and electronics.

On Sunday November 21st Target will be offering a special Black Friday ’4-day sale that will run through Wednesday November 24th. Target also announced that it will be offering shoppers a 50% discounts on over 170 different products.

From November 21st through December 11th shoppers who spend $50 or more online at target.com will receive free shipping on over 800,000 items storewide.

Serving Those Who Serve

Applebee’s is showing its patriotism in support of our nations troops, past and present, by offering free meals to veterans this veterans day.

Applebee’s anticipates serving over 1 million meals to veterans at their 1900 locations nation wide.

Their website, applebees.com, even has a running counter of the number of veterans served today, as well as a place to post a “Thank You“ to honor all US veterans. President Michael Archer says serving the free meals to veterans is “a chance to say thank you to those men and women who have served or are currently serving.”

Veterans will need proof of military service, such as a military ID, to receive their special treat, but no military ID will be necessary to show up at Applebee’s and say “Thank You”.

Kansas Senior Gets Perfect ACT Scores

Charles Wolock, a senior from Kansas, recently recorded a perfect score on his ACT test. To add to his profile, Wolock also aced the SAT as well. After netting a 2400 on his SAT, Wolock scored a perfect 36 on the ACT.

The ACT and SAT are tests used to evaluate a student’s academic level when entering college. The ACT test was designed to gauge how ready someone is for college. The content on the test is similar to what a student can expect when taking freshman college classes. It tests English, math, reading, and science. The average score of the test in 2009 was a little over 21.

The ACT test is not required by many colleges and only a handful of states require the test.

Kansas is not one of those states. Perfect scores for either test are rare.

The feat achieved by Wolock is even more uncommon.

The ending of Daylight Savings Time comes on November 7, 2010 this year. We will be back to standard time after Daylight Savings Time passes.

On November 7, clocks should be adjusted and turned back exactly one hour.

This adjustment will mark the end of Daylight Savings Time for the year 2010. Many people believe that Daylight Savings Time is meaningless, but it is actually an attempt to save energy by taking advantage of as much natural sunlight as possible during the daytime hours.

Daylight Savings Time began during World War I as an attempt to save money and energy during the war period.

The Energy Policy Act has since set the exact dates and times that clocks should be set forward or back according to Daylight Savings Time.

Oct. 16 is an Important day…for your boss

Every October 16, National Boss Day is celebrated. It is not a laughing matter.

With the economy in a precarious condition it might pay to be a little more considerate of Bosses.

Giving a card and taking out your manager to lunch are some of the things to do to celebrate this day.

The holiday was started in 1958 by an employee of the State Farm Insurance company. She liked her boss and the woman, Paricia Haroski, wanted others to also appreciate their Bosses. Of course those were different times and this should be considered. But it cannot hurt to take your Boss out to lunch.

Art World Child Prodigy Autumn de Forest

Seven-year-old Abstract Expressionist painter Autumn de Forest is taking the art world by storm. The diminutive Los Angeles artist routinely wins art competitions, even when pitted against adult painters.

Autumn normally creates large works, usually in the 4′ x 6′ range. De Forest bypasses the difficulty of painting a canvas larger than herself by placing it on the floor and working from its sides.

Paintings by Autumn de Forest impress the art-loving public as much as art critics. Her imaginative, color-drenched works often fetch high prices at auction, routinely beating out adult artists.

Autumn’s brilliance can be attributed to working from the unconscious, without a trace of the inhibition or self-doubt that can plague adult painters.

October 11 is noted as National Coming Out Day.

National Coming Out Day is an internationally recognized observance that promotes the civil discussion and awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people across the world.

National Coming Out Day is observed every year on October 11th and on October 12th in the United Kingdom. The event was founded by Dr. Rob Eichberg and Jean O’Leary. Their main goal is to promote gay people to be able to live freely in their respective communities.

It is highly encouraged that all gay pride advocates wear gay and lesbian pride symbols on this day.

For nearly 500 year Americans have celebrated Columbus Day on the closest Monday to October 12th.

As children we were taught the now famous saying, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” Our first official celebration was back in 1792 in New York City.

In recent years the story of Columbus discovering American has been challenged.

Authors such as Howard Zimm and Richard Sherikman have published books challenging the history books on who actually discovered America.

We now know that North America was actually already inhabited when Columbus was suppose to have discovered it, however, he did discover that the Earth is actually round and larger than once thought.

Mastercard has announced the release of its latest debit card system. Direct Express is taking aim specifically at veterans and will allow for veterans to access their pension and compensation funds directly from the card. The Direct Express cards were made available after nearly half a million reports made by vets that their checks had either been lost in the mail or arrived extremely late.

Both the Social Security Administration and the U.S.

Department of Treasury are encouraging veterans to sign up for the card. Once the payment has been sent to the bank, the funds become available on the card.

Funds are accessible from ATM’s as well as some retailer point of sale terminals.

Connecticut’s largest agricultural fair started September 23 and is slated to run through Sunday, September 26.

The Durham Fair will feature live entertainment.

Bands, truck and tractor pulls. Animal shows and demonstrations will occur throughout the four-day event. Additional events include a demolition derby and a rodeo for kids.

The fair will have the usual display of vendors, baked goods and specialized foods that are difficult to find outside of a fair environment.

People who plan on visiting the fair can find a complete schedule of events at www.durhamfair.com.

The band REO Speedwagon will hold a concert Saturday night on the fairgrounds. A four-day pass to the event costs $40.