Thousands revel at Stonehenge for summer solstice

The summer solstice drew thousands of revelers to Stonehenge to watch the sun rise over the ancient monument Saturday for the first time in the new season.

Beating drums and wearing rainbow cloaks, the celebrants walked through light rain Friday to talk, dance and meditate as they awaited the start of the event.

Ray Smith, 60, of Hengistbury in southern England, came wearing blue face paint and a multicolored skirt.

"I think it's a place of our ancestors, its a shrine to our ancestors, and I think it's very important to celebrate each season," he said.

Zoe Neale, 48, cheerfully admitted her visit to Stonehenge "is part of my mid-life crisis." She left her West London office amid gentle teasing from her colleagues Friday afternoon to see a very English tradition.

Organizers expect 25,000 people to journey to the ancient site. They will be allowed access to the stone circle, which is usually closed to visitors. Representatives of English Heritage, the monument's caretaker, will be on hand to make sure no one carried away with the celebratory spirit climbs on or vandalizes the stones.

"People generally respect the stones and we don't have a problem," English Heritage spokeswoman Rebecca Milton said.

The solstice in England occurred at 12:59 a.m. Saturday (7:59 p.m. EDT Friday), marking the start of the day with the most sunlight of the year.

Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain about 90 miles southwest of London, was built between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C. It is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than 750,000 people visit every year.

Solstices were an important part of Europe's pre-Christian calendar and many speculate Stonehenge's orientation offers clues to its creators' pagan traditions.

The original purpose of Stonehenge is debated, but recent evidence has shed some light on the mystery. In May, researchers reported the stone circle was used as a burial ground since its initial construction. Cremated remains found at Stonehenge date back to 3,000 B.C. and radiocarbon dating shows burials continued at the site for at least 500 years. It is estimated that at least 240 people were buried at Stonehenge.

One of these years I will make it there for the solstice.

Thought for the Day

Everything is possible, just not too probable.

Wouldn't Surprise Me If ...

Bill O'Reilly = Child Molester?

Why was Billy Boy in Child Whore Houses in Panama

in 1978-1979 having sex with 12-15 year old girls?

Now this I believe:

Damn, the asshole can speak the truth, who knew!

Life (about a third of it is anyway) Is But A Dream

. . . We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Shakespeare: The Tempest

You spend roughly one third of your life asleep. But that doesn't mean that it's wasted time. Many believe that the dreams you have during the night offer insights into aspects of your waking life.

Plus, theories abound on how the brain actually problem-solves while you're asleep. That's why you sometimes wake up in the morning with the answer to something that has been puzzling you. Dream symbolism and interpretation can provide a fascinating glimpse into your psyche.

The Four Stages of Sleep

Stage 1: The first stage of sleep is very light and usually lasts just a few minutes. If you are not disturbed, you will quickly journey into Stage 2.

Stage 2: This is a much deeper sleep than Stage 1. In Stage 2, dreams start to form. Although there are no clear images, vague thoughts and ideas drift through your mind. If undisturbed, you will soon drift off into Stage 3.

Stage 3: This is a deeper sleep than Stage 2. Your muscles are all relaxed by now and your heart rate has slowed down. Your blood pressure is also falling and your breathing is steady and even. You are very difficult to wake now. Only two things can wake you: a loud noise or a repetitious calling of your name. Before long, you will venture into Stage 4.

Stage 4: This is the deepest sleep of all and is the time full-fledged dreams occur. You are difficult to wake now. If there is a loud noise or if you are shaken, it will take a few seconds to wake up. Both your blood pressure and heart rate fluctuate and your brain heats up slightly. Then comes REM (rapid eye movement). If you are woken up during this period, you will be able to remember recently dreamt dreams. The first REM period lasts only about ten minutes. After that, you go back into a deep Stage 4 sleep. Again, you go into another REM stage after a short period and cycle through REM and Stage 4 until you awaken.

Check out the links below for more on dreams and even learn how to remember more of your nocturnal adventures!

Assoc. for Study of Dreams

Lucid Dreams
Freud's Take on Dreams
The Dream Foundation
On Dreams by Aristotle

Working with Dreams

Paraguayn inmates riot for more sex

Paraguayan prisoners rioted Friday to press a list of demands including more sex.

Inmates seized the Esperanza prison's director and other administrators, demanding nighttime conjugal visits and an end to mistreatment by guards.

Paraguayan prisons allow such visits during the day - but that clashes with working hours at Esperanza, where inmates have jobs, such as at a prison clothing factory.

Justice Minister Derlis Osorio said the riot ended after four hours with no deaths or injuries.

It was not clear whether prison authorities agreed to allow nighttime conjugal visits, but local media reported that they agreed to investigate claims of abuse and end strip searches of visitors.

*****

Mistreatment, I can see fixing that, but just because you have a conflict with work and afternoon nookie is no reason to riot ... besides you're in prison - there are some limitations placed upon you in prison ... don't want the limitations, don't be in prison - it is that simple.

Be a leech in only two years

Chicago's Northwestern to offer 2-year law program

Northwestern University School of Law will offer an accelerated, two-year program for law degrees starting in 2009, becoming the only law school among top-tier institutions to offer both two- and three-year programs, university officials said.

The accelerated track will require the same number of credits as the three-year program, but will cost less because the study will take place in a compressed five-semester period.

The new program is aimed at high achievers eager to begin their law careers, Dean David Van Zandt said, noting that Northwestern will require accelerated candidates to have at least two years of post-undergraduate, full-time work experience.

The plan requires two new courses for both two-year and three-year degree candidates. They will cover analytic skills like accounting, finance and statistics, and "legal services behavior," which will involve social networks, teamwork, leadership and project management.

*****

Just what we need more leeches faster!

Cambodia destroys Ecstasy ingredient

Well, your next RAVE may not be such a rave ...

Cambodian authorities working with Australian police destroyed an enormous stockpile of 33 tons of safrole-rich oil, a key ingredient used in producing the synthetic drug Ecstasy, officials said Friday.

The amount could have been used to produce 245 million tablets of the drug. It had a potential street value of more than 7.6 billion Australian dollars (US$7.3 billion), the Australian Embassy said in a statement.

The oil, which is extracted from the roots of the sassafras tree, was burned over a three-day period starting Wednesday, said Lour Ramin, a police lieutenant general and secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs.

"If this oil had been used to produce Ecstasy tablets, millions of people would have suffered," he said.

Members of the Australian Federal Police oversaw the burning of the oil in a remote village in Cambodia's Pursat province, about 100 miles northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh, he said.

"These seizures demonstrate that Cambodia faces the challenges of suppressing drug production for regional export, as well as challenges faced as a transit center for regional and international drug market," Philip Hunter, an official from Australian Federal Police, said at the ceremony.

The destruction "was a significant blow to the trade of illicit drugs in the region," Hunter was quoted saying in the embassy statement.

At the request of the Cambodian government, an Australian police team of four technicians and two forensic chemists traveled to Pursat province this week to help destroy the oil, it said.

Cambodian authorities have been working since 2002 to stem the distillation of the oil and since then have succeeded in detecting and dismantling more than 50 clandestine laboratories capable of producing up to 15 gallons of oil a day, it said.

In addition to cracking down on the drug trade, Cambodian officials are trying to preserve the sassafras tree, which is classified as a rare species that grows mainly in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains, said Lour Ramin. To distill oil from the tree's roots, the entire tree is cut down.

With 7 plus billion gone somebody is gong to to be pissed. We can look for more from this story.

Random Photo

Just a random photo

Thought for the Day

Never knew there was so many ways to obfuscate but the haters are masters at it. Reality must be so painful to them.

Hoops and garters

If you have never seen a bunch of Rennies sewing costumes you have really missed something!
The topics of conversation would make the saltiest sailor blush as would the language - remember there are sharp pointy objects all about not including the scissors that everyone has in multiples so you know we're all on our best behavior!

How many overskirts does one woman need anyway?

Needless to say I have just experienced this phenomena again for the billionth time this evening and it is still going on ... going into phase three - yes, there are phases each 'session' goes through.

The Entry phase ... where all is discussed at length and then some before the first stitch or cut is made. It is in this phase that sizing and colors are determined.

The Whirlwind phase ... where there are at least ten different costumes being worked on at the same time (more likely 15, but who's counting).

The Frenzy phase ... when the realization that there are ten costumes in various stages of development and they all have to be finished by 8am.

The Solution phase ... where all costumes are completed and discussion begins on the next set of costumes they are going to make (this phase has been known to morph directly into the Entry phase and the whole thing start over again immediately - there have been three such instances in the past month alone where one of these sewing sessions lasted the entire weekend - literally)

Through all four phases whips and chains; nude sunbathing; cooking; belly dancing; British comedies; film noir; dogs; motorcycles; learning to speak with an accent; babies; sex in general; shopping; making candles; swords and blades; sports and more that I cannot remember at the moment were the topics of conversation ... and this is the ladies.