Reuters Best Photos of the Year 2011

This photo gallery helps us to sum up some of the important events of 2011 with photographs that made us pay attention. Reuters covered those events and has a gallery of 100 of their best photos for your perusal. Shown is a protester recorded in January in Cairo. Link

Ganvié

Ganvié, in the Republic of Benin, is the largest collection of lake dwellings in Africa. Around 20,000 people call Ganvié's stilt supported dwellings home. The city, in the middle of lake Nokoué is not a recent construct, however.

It is estimated that Ganvié is anything up to five hundred years old. It has been called the Venice of Africa and like the Italian city, its original inhabitants set up home there out of sheer necessity.

That's about right

Ain't it the truth

I feel your pain

The truth be told

Awesome Pictures

Daily Comic Relief

For Northerners Moving South

In the South: If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly.  Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.

Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store....do not buy food at this store.

Get used to hearing "You ain't from round here, are ya?"

Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.

Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "big'ol," truck or big'ol" boy. Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.

The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.

Be advised that "He needed killin" is a valid defense here.

If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this," you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.

If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.

Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns,  they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim

In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.
AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't  think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens  in the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.

Animal Pictures

Tom the Dancing Bug

Redneckus Americani

You know you're a cop if ...

You have the bladder capacity of five people

You have ever restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience

You believe that 50% of people are a waste of good air

Your idea of a good time is a "man with a gun" call

You conduct a criminal record check on anyone who seems friendly towards you

You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac and birth control pills

You disbelieve 90% of what you hear and 75% of what you see

You have your weekends off planned for a year

You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce

You refer to your favorite restaurant by the intersection at which it's located

You have ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled: "Suicide...getting it Right the first time.

You ever had to put the phone on hold before you begin laughing uncontrollably

You think caffeine should be available in IV form

You believe anyone who says, "I only had two beers" is going to blow more than a .O8

You find out a lot about paranoia just by following people around

Anyone has ever said to you, "There are people killing other people out there and you are here messing with me."

People flag you down on the street and ask you directions to strange places ... and you know where it's located

You can discuss where you are going to eat with your partner while standing over a dead body

You are the only person introduced at social gatherings by profession. (ISN'T THIS THE TRUTH!)

You walk into places and people think it's high comedy to grab their buddy and shout, "They've come to get you, Bill."

You do not see daylight from November until May

People shout, "I didn't do it!" when you walk into a room and think they're being hugely funny and original

A week's worth of laundry consists of 5 T-shirts, 5 pairs of socks,and 5 pairs of underwear

You've ever referred to Tuesday as "my weekend", or "this is my Friday."

You've ever written off guns and ammunition as a business deduction

You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, it sure is quiet tonight."

Discussing dismemberment over a meal seems perfectly normal to you

You find humor in other people's stupidity

You have left more meals on the restaurant table than you've eaten

You feel good when you hear "these handcuffs are too tight."

Editorial Comment

We were just informed today that our technical problems are finally going to be addressed shortly.
The holidays and a mutual friend's wedding have taken all the 'spare' time our tech guru has had away from his paying gig.
But now that the holidays have been over and with the friend married off yesterday, he can now look into sloving the issue.
Well, that is if his wife will let him that is - she has been a royal bitch for a year now about everything and anything when she hasn't been the center of everyone's full and undivided attention (even at the wedding she pitched a fit because her hair wasn't fixed first by the stylist doing the wedding party's hair ... and here I always thought it was the Bride who was center of attention on her wedding day, but apparently not).

So we wait patiently for the good news.
And we what to thank our reader Jimbo for the encouraging comments throughout this time of trials and tribulations with the hardware difficulties.