Brian Banmiller's blog

No one likes bad news; unless it’s frosted.

Chris Holmes is an immigrations officer at Stansted airport in London. Or at least he used to be. Earlier this week Holmes decided to write his boss a letter of resignation. And since it was also his 31st birthday he decided to write it on a cake.

The cake read “today is my 31st birthday and having recently become a father i now realize how precious life is and how important it is to spend my time doing something that makes me, and other people happy.  read more »

Saving money can be as important to your financial peace of mind as making more of it.

Kelly Anderson writes for mint.com, an internet site that helps you manage your money. And she points out six areas where Americans waste far too much money.

We spend billions of dollars every year on frivilous purchases we do not need. Here's her list. Junk food. We consume too much of it. It can be far cheaper to cook at home, and it can be a lot healthier for you.

Waste. We spend far too much for energy when we could just turn off the lights when not in use and we throw away too much food.

Gambling, sure. Someone wins the lottery every week but you have a better chance of being hit by lightning.  read more »

Success comes at a price; and sometimes it’s more than you want to pay.

According to a new study in the International Journal of Medicine people in entertainment or sports careers tend to die younger. This revelation is based on analyzing 1000 New York Times obituaries from 2009 to 2011. And the average age at which entertainers are taking their final curtain call is 77.2 years old.

Younger than people in creative based services, academics and the military. The researchers say the main causes for early demise in the entertainment and athletic world include smoking, stress and other risky behavior. And they say even at the top of the game people are still concerned that someone younger is going to steal their spotlight.  read more »

The royal baby watch is on and all bets are in.

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are due to welcome their first child in July. So far the baby’s sex has not been revealed but the bet is that it will be a girl. That comes after the duchess stopped herself just before saying daughter when a well-wisher gave her a gift last month. Now since everyone feels that the cat is out of that bag; the betting pool has turned to the baby’s name.

Right now the clear front runner is Alexandra. So much so that bookies have cut the odds on the name from 25 to 1 to 12 to 1. But that doesn’t make it the clear front runner. Elizabeth is the crowd favorite with 5 to 1 odds. That is followed by Diana, the name of Prince Williams’s late mother at 6 to 1 then Victoria at 7 to 1.  read more »

A picture might be worth a thousand words; but you can’t take that to the bank.

It was a year ago this week that Facebook purchased the photo sharing company Instagram for one billion dollars. Way above its estimated value of 500 million. And according to Time magazine the company hasn’t made a dollar since. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying.

Since the buy-out Instagram has doubled its staff and added a business operations director brought over from Facebook. And the outside interest is there. When Facebook bought it, Instagram had 30 million users. Now a year later it has more than 100 million users posting 40 million photos a day.  read more »

Buying your first pet is a big step; and an outdoor market might not be the place to do it.

Recently a man from Argentina attended a market in Buenos Aires. He was shopping for two toy poodles and after looking around picked them up for one $150 each. After leaving the market he took the dogs to a vet to have them checked out and discovered a big problem with his purchase.

What he thought were two toy poodles were actually two ferrets on steroids. The vet says the ferrets had been pumped up with drugs to make them bigger for their size. Then their fur had been groomed and fluffed so they would resemble toy poodles.  read more »

People have had it with TV and broadcasters are trying to tune them back in.

This week the National Association of Broadcasters met in Las Vegas. On the agenda was how to win back the Zero TV crowd; a term developed last month referring to people who don’t pay for satellite or cable. Instead they watch shows and movies through an internet connection.

Today there are five million households in the U.S. that qualify as Zero TV; up from two million in 2007. And while show creators and networks still make money through online advertising; traditional TV stations are coming up empty.  read more »

New York City is bringing back the pay phone; with a twist.

A project meant to promote an art exhibit has turned 5,000 Manhattan pay phones into time machines. All you have to do is find one of the phones; and yes they still exist, pick up the receiver and dial 1-800-FOR-1993. Then you will hear a well-known New York resident tell you what life was like on that block 20 years ago.  read more »

Looks like there’s another obstacle on the golf course.

Earlier this week a video of professional golfer Bubba Watson riding around in a hovercraft golf cart was released. And despite its proximity to April fool’s day the video is the real deal.

Besides making him the envy of anyone who’s ever walked eighteen holes the video is meant to be a commercial for Oakley. Named BW 1 the state of the art golf cart goes smoothly over water and bumpy cart paths. Although your group might not appreciate the debris it kicks up. It also includes a canopy, sand bottle holders and of course a space for your clubs.  read more »

It looks like the cost of your next trip could depend on your diet plan.

Last week I told you about the pay as you weigh proposal from a Norwegian economist. He suggested airlines charge passengers based on how little or how much they weigh; now at least one airline is taking off with the idea.

According to Samoa Air’s latest schedule the airline charges $0.57 for every half pound on domestic flights and $1.03 for every half pound on international flights. This means a 330 pound person would pay just over $150 for a one way international flight.

Children under twelve are charged a percentage of the adult fares and if your luggage is also packing on the pounds each overweight bag will cost as much as you do.  read more »