The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth. Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.
It's time to acknowledge that you cannot change how people make decisions. If you want the people you love to be happy, all you can do is encourage them and remind them that they are entitled to be happy. Ultimately, it is up to them to improve their situations. You can't do the hard work for them.
Thomas Jefferson hated the Theory of Evolution he'd never heard of This one is a hoot! First ... he would have embraced the Theory of Evolution - as he loved science and detested religion. Second ... he died decades before the concept of the theory was even a twinkle in Darwin's eye, much less a published work.
President Obama, calling the need for healthcare reform "urgent" and "indisputable," said today that it is not his own political fortune that is at stake, but rather the health of the nation's economy.
Every time you turn around, the wing-nuts are exhibiting racism in one form or another. This one here verges on xenophobia. Of course, Kilmeade apologized today.
An outraged Philippines President Gloria Arroyo on Monday threw her full support behind anti-narcotics authorities after members of a drug syndicate purportedly abducted and raped a government agent's daughter over the weekend.
Explosive material recovered from the scene of two suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital is "identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks, police said.
The lone surviving suspected gunman in the November attacks in Mumbai admitted his role in the shooting Monday in a dramatic confession in an Indian court, reversing months of denials.
A Chinese court sentenced 196 Uighurs to death on July 18 accusing them in participation in the unrest.
The court decision was immediately executed and all accused persons were shot dead. It is not clear where the execution took place and did the government hand over the bodies to their relatives or not? According to the official statistics, 184 people were killed last month in the unrest in Xinjiang-Uighur autonomous province of China last month, but unofficial figures showed more than 1000 people dead and nearly 2000 arrested. The Chinese officials didn’t rule out that the arrested people would be executed.
A U.N. tribunal convicted two Serb cousins Monday of having burned alive more than 100 Muslims in what the presiding judge called a part of the "wretched history of man's inhumanity to man."
Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic were convicted of crimes dating back to the early 1990s, during the bitter ethnic conflict that ravaged the former Yugoslavia.
The crimes include two incidents in which Muslim men, women and children were forced into homes that were then set on fire -- and some who tried to escape were shot.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Betty
Thanks, Betty. We try to have a few interesting things at Carolina Naturally everyday.
Hundreds of criminal convictions, including that of a man found guilty of a crash that killed three people, could return to court because the Indiana prosecutor who oversaw the cases had an inactive law license for more than three years.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned senior officials on Monday not to help Tehran's enemies after two former presidents expressed defiant opposition to the result of June's disputed presidential poll.
Bosses at Knowsley Safari Park are warning motorists to beware of the baboons, after the animals learned how to open rooftop luggage and began stealing items such as underwear.
Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil Nottingham, England, United Kingdom Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Ntherlands Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom Madrid, Madrid, Spain Wolverhampton, England, United Kingdom Hannover, Neidersachsen, Germany Santiago, Region Metropolitana, Chile Ankara, Ankara, Turkey Reading, England, United Kingdom
Recent personnel additions to your social scene have stirred up some confusing feelings -- and more than a few suspicions. Do you feel as if someone isn't being totally up front about who they are and what they want? Another friend may have the same concerns in mind. Drop a few subtle hints here and there to see whether they feel the same way. Keep in mind that friends should give each other the benefit of the doubt for as long as they can. A discussion is warranted.
Two years after an invasive mussel was first discovered at Lake Mead, the population has firmly established itself and gone on a breeding binge, with numbers soaring into the trillions.
Despite efforts to stop their spread, scientists say it's only a matter of time before quagga mussels appear throughout the West's vast system of reservoirs and aqueducts, raising operation and maintenance costs by untold millions.
Water agencies and wildlife managers in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah have put in place aggressive measures to try to prevent their spread, including mandatory decontamination or quarantine of boats traveling from infested areas or chlorinating some water inlets to try to kill off the mussels.
But as their counterparts in the northeast and Great Lakes region have found, eradicating the mussels is virtually impossible. The thumb-sized mollusks attach to almost anything and can clog drains and pipes, freeze up cooling systems, kill off native species and render power boats inoperable.
Chinese researchers are poised to find out for sure whether gravity fluctuates during a total eclipse – a discovery that would challenge our ideas about how gravity works.
Declaring diabetes mellitus non-existent, managed care companies nation-wide have managed to wipe out diabetes throughout the United States, it was announced today. It was explained that any patient insisting that they have diabetes will be re-diagnosed as having paranoia, and hence will be ineligible for medical care, as mental health benefits are essentially nonexistent in most managed care plans. The insurance industry also announced that their pre-existing policy of refusing to reimburse for syringes or blood glucose test strips, and discouraging patients' Primary Care Physicians from referring to endocrinologists, has been "totally vindicated."
According to an anonymous spokesman for a major managed care company, it is expected that curing diabetes, and terminating contracts with deceased endocrinologists, will allow approximately 57 more insurance company executives to claim 6-figure bonuses at the end of the current Fiscal Year, while only resulting in an additional 15 minutes loss of sleep per night for the average Primary Care Physician, and only an estimated 2,000,000 covered lives to become uncovered deaths.
(What is so funny/tragic about this 'news release' is that it's not that far from the truth!)
The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group's endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
A group of Senators have been working behind closed doors on compromise amendments to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) ever since moderate Democrats pledged to vote against the “card check” provisions in the legislation. Word has leaked out that the chief sponsors of the bill have agreed to drop the card check provisions in order to gain enough votes to overcome an expected filibuster..
Patrons of a usually smoke-filled hookah bar stepped outside to light up Sunday as Turkey extended a ban on indoor public smoking to bars, restaurants and coffeehouses.
Solar panels are set up at a stadium in Funafuti, Tuvalu. The tiny island nation of Tuvalu, already under threat from rising seas caused by global warming, vowed Sunday to do its part for climate change by fueling its economy entirely from renewable sources by 2020.
British teenager, Jamie Neale, who was found dehydrated and freezing after 12 wintry days lost in Australia's wilderness said he wrote farewell notes to his family and expected to die of starvation.
This full Moon appeared when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages. It is also known as the Old Moon. To some Native American tribes, this was the Snow Moon, but most applied that name to the next full Moon, in February.
At the time of this spring Moon, the ground begins to soften and earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of robins. This is also known as the Sap Moon, as it marks the time when maple sap begins to flow and the annual tapping of maple trees begins.
This full Moon heralded the appearance of the grass pink, or wild ground phlox—one of the first spring flowers. It is also known as the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and the Fish Moon.
Bucks begin to grow new antlers at this time. This full Moon was also known as the Thunder Moon, because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month.
Some Native American tribes knew that the sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during this full Moon. Others called it the Green Corn Moon or the Grain Moon.
This full Moon corresponds with the time of harvesting corn. It is also called the Barley Moon, because it is the time to harvest and thresh the ripened barley. The Harvest Moon is the full Moon nearest the autumnal equinox, which can occur in September or October and is bright enough to allow finishing all the harvest chores.
For both the colonists and the Algonquin tribes, this was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. This full Moon was also called the Frost Moon.
This is the month when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark. This full Moon is also called the Long Nights Moon by some Native American tribes.
Some South African ATMs have pepper-spray squirters that are intended to debilitate anyone who tries to tamper with them or install a card-skimmer.
The idea is that spray incapacitates you while the cops come out. Unfortunately, they've also been known to incapacitate the poor bastards who install them by randomly firing capsaicin at them.
The extreme measure is the latest in South Africa's escalating war against armed robbers who target banks and cash delivery vans. The number of cash machines blown up with explosives has risen from 54 in 2006 to 387 in 2007 and nearly 500 last year.
The technology uses cameras to detect people tampering with the card slots. Another machine then ejects pepper spray to stun the culprit while police response teams race to the scene.
But the mechanism backfired in one incident last week when pepper spray was inadvertently inhaled by three technicians who required treatment from paramedics.
Female veterans told a Senate panel last week that the Veterans Affairs Department often fails to provide adequate medical care to female military veterans.
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, New York's Laurence Miller Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Burk Uzzle's photographs of the event. The iconic images can also be seen online.
From the gallery site:
Burk Uzzle shot the festival from the vantage point of a participant. In one particularly telling photograph, a sea of humanity as dense as a carpet of wildflowers in a meadow spills over a hillside; in another, a young hippie couple standing in a tender embrace under a grandmother’s quilt became the icon of a generation. Rather than document the music, Uzzle chose to focus on details of living, existence, and enjoyment over that three day period. In so doing, he captured the spirit of the festival and ultimately an era.
Exeter, England, United Kingdom Scarborough, Ontario, Canada Dublin, Dublin, Ireland San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica Cebu, Cebu City, Philippines Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Eger, Heves, Hungary Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Tokto, Tokyo, Japan London, England, United Kingdom Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan Montreal, Quebec, Canada Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Lincoln, England, United Kingdom
as well as these cities around the United States ... Cranston, Pepin, Orland Park, Gaffney, Brockport, Sparta, Rock Hill, Durham, Huntersville, Oneida, Nisswa, Live Oak, Liberty, Vallejo, Corvallis, Calabasas, Glastonbury, Kennedale, Camas, Alsio Viejo, Pinellas Park, Brea, Raleigh, Charlotte, Glen Burnie.
A big change is coming that will affect your home life and shift things around in a slightly confusing way. But don't worry -- in the end, these changes will improve things dramatically. The only tricky part is that it's not a change you can make happen -- you just have to be patient and wait for it! While you're waiting, indulge in some fresh thinking about rearranging furniture, considering a new paint color, or researching the purchase of a major appliance.
Iranian hard-liners on Saturday accused one of the country's most powerful clerics of encouraging opposition supporters to continue their postelection protests, a day after he criticized the ruling system's response to the disputed election.
3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
4. They are hogs. That's why they smell like hogs. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-10 & I-40 go east and west, I-17 & I-15 goes north and south.. Pick one and go.
5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed.. We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.
6. Every person in the South waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during the hunts, we WILL shoot it outta your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
8. Yeah. We eat bass, catfish, and deer. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.
9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.
10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.
11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.
12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah . . We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!
13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.
14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.
15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.
16. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!
When we were looking to buy property, I had this overzealous realtor show us what can only be described as a totally worn-out old farm. I mean the land had just been worked to death. The weeds on the property were hardly even growing.
The smiling super salesman said, "Now really, all this land needs is a little water, a nice cool breeze and some good people."
I replied, "Yeah, I agree. But, couldn't the same be said of Hell?"
Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Saturday, July 18th, 2009
Right now in Washington, our Senate and House of Representatives are both debating proposals for health insurance reform. Today, I want to speak with you about the stakes of this debate, for our people and for the future of our nation.
This is an issue that affects the health and financial well-being of every single American and the stability of our entire economy.
It’s about every family unable to keep up with soaring out of pocket costs and premiums rising three times faster than wages. Every worker afraid of losing health insurance if they lose their job, or change jobs. Everyone who’s worried that they may not be able to get insurance or change insurance if someone in their family has a pre-existing condition.
It’s about a woman in Colorado who told us that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her insurance company – the one she’d paid over $700 a month to – refused to pay for her treatment. She had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life.
It’s about a man from Maryland who sent us his story – a middle class college graduate whose health insurance expired when he changed jobs. During that time, he needed emergency surgery, and woke up $10,000 in debt – debt that has left him unable to save, buy a home, or make a career change.
It’s about every business forced to shut their doors, or shed jobs, or ship them overseas. It’s about state governments overwhelmed by Medicaid, federal budgets consumed by Medicare, and deficits piling higher year after year.
This is the status quo. This is the system we have today. This is what the debate in Congress is all about: Whether we’ll keep talking and tinkering and letting this problem fester as more families and businesses go under, and more Americans lose their coverage. Or whether we’ll seize this opportunity – one we might not have again for generations – and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009.
Now we know there are those who will oppose reform no matter what. We know the same special interests and their agents in Congress will make the same old arguments, and use the same scare tactics that have stopped reform before because they profit from this relentless escalation in health care costs. And I know that once you’ve seen enough ads and heard enough people yelling on TV, you might begin to wonder whether there’s a grain of truth to what they’re saying. So let me take a moment to answer a few of their arguments.
First, the same folks who controlled the White House and Congress for the past eight years as we ran up record deficits will argue – believe it or not – that health reform will lead to record deficits. That’s simply not true. Our proposals cut hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary spending and unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in Medicare and Medicaid. They change incentives so providers will give patients the best care, not just the most expensive care, which will mean big savings over time. And we have urged Congress to include a proposal for a standing commission of doctors and medical experts to oversee cost-saving measures.
I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade. And by helping improve quality and efficiency, the reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long-term.
Those who oppose reform will also tell you that under our plan, you won’t get to choose your doctor – that some bureaucrat will choose for you. That’s also not true. Michelle and I don’t want anyone telling us who our family’s doctor should be – and no one should decide that for you either. Under our proposals, if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period, end of story.
Finally, opponents of health reform warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That’s not true either. I don’t believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don’t think insurance companies should have free reign to do as they please.
That’s why any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans – including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest – and choose what’s best for your family. And that’s why we’ll put an end to the worst practices of the insurance industry: no more yearly caps or lifetime caps; no more denying people care because of pre-existing conditions; and no more dropping people from a plan when they get too sick. No longer will you be without health insurance, even if you lose your job or change jobs.
The good news is that people who know the system best are rallying to the cause of change. Just this past week, the American Nurses Association, representing millions of nurses across America, and the American Medical Association, representing doctors across our nation, announced their support because they’ve seen first-hand the need for health insurance reform.
They know we cannot continue to cling to health industry practices that are bankrupting families, and undermining American businesses, large and small. They know we cannot let special interests and partisan politics stand in the way of reform – not this time around.
The opponents of health insurance reform would have us do nothing. But think about what doing nothing, in the face of ever increasing costs, will do to you and your family.
So today, I am urging the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to seize this opportunity, and vote for reform that gives the American people the best care at the lowest cost; that reins in insurance companies, strengthens businesses and finally gives families the choices they need and the security they deserve.
Raanana, Hamerkaz, Israel Graz, Steiermark, Austria Delhi, Delhi, India Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia Manchester, England, United Kingdom Mumbai, Maharashtra, Idia Odessa, Odes'ka Oblast, Ukraine Montreal, Quebec, Canada Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland Paris, Ile-De-France, France Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Lecce, Puglia, Italy Nice, Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur, France Newmarket, Ontario, Canada Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan Madrid, Madrid, Spain Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Sure, you have a lot of decisions to make right now -- but don't think that you have to spend the same amount of time making each one! Prioritize and act more quickly than you usually do. Don't waste too much time mulling things over. Your gut is going to help you make the right choices, so use it. Too much research and deliberation will paralyze you. Act without really knowing what outcome will be, and things will be most favorable for you.
A South Florida teenager was arrested and charged with attempted murder after he randomly opened fire on a South Florida golf course Thursday morning, police said.
The two protected baby pandas were born at a zoo in Shanxi province on June 25 and were immediately rejected by their mother in front of a huge crowd of visitors.
3 cups frozen loosely packed hashbrown potatoes with peppers 1 large red apple, cored and chopped (about 1 cup) 1 teaspoon dried sage, crushed 2 tablespoons water 1 cup diced fully cooked ham 1-1/2 cups fat-free milk 4 beaten eggs 1/2 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese (2 ounces) 1/4 teaspoon garlic Fresh sage (optional)
How to:
1. Thaw potatoes for 30 minutes. Press between paper towels to remove moisture. Set aside.
2. In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet cook apple, sage, and water over medium heat until apple is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in potatoes and ham.
3. Combine milk, egg product or eggs, cheese, and garlic. Pour egg mixture into skillet. Do not stir. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until center appears just set. Garnish with fresh sage, if desired. Makes 6 servings.
An unidentified blob is making its way through the Arctic ocean, engulfing wildlife, and no one knows what it is.
Nobody knows for sure what the gunk is, but Petty Officer 1st Class Terry Hasenauer says the Coast Guard is sure what it is not.
"It's certainly biological," Hasenauer said. "It's definitely not an oil product of any kind. It has no characteristics of an oil, or a hazardous substance, for that matter.
"It's definitely, by the smell and the makeup of it, it's some sort of naturally occurring organic or otherwise marine organism..."
"It's pitch black when it hits ice and it kind of discolors the ice and hangs off of it," Brower said. He saw some jellyfish tangled up in the stuff, and someone turned in what was left of a dead goose -- just bones and feathers -- to the borough's wildlife department.
"It kind of has an odor; I can't describe it," he said.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada Albacete, Castilla - La Mancha, Spain Bangalore, Karnataka, India Rome, Lazio, Italy Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Cairo, Al Qairah, Egypt Calgary, Alberta, Canada Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Brussels, Brussels-Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand New Delhi, Delhi, India Melbourne, Victoria, India Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway
You cannot always have clarity of thought, so why worry if your mind seems a bit muddled right now? Any cloudiness you're feeling could be the result of your own self-preservation techniques. Your mind needs a bit of a vacation, and it's looking for a few moments during the day when it can switch off and veg out. Make it easier on yourself by finding that time before the afternoon. Even just turning off the computer or TV and letting your mind wander will help.
Bombs have exploded at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital, ripping the facade off the Ritz and injuring at least four people, police say.
Now what isn't there an iPhone app for?
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, New York's Laurence Miller Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Burk Uzzle's photographs of the event. The iconic images can also be seen online.
