Sage Wisdom

Don't get so busy fighting alligators that you lose sight of your objective.

Say it ain't so, Teddy!

Sen. Edward Kennedy has cancerous brain tumor

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor Tuesday in what could be the grim final chapter in a life marked by exhilarating triumph and shattering tragedy. Some experts gave the liberal lion less than a year to live.

Doctors discovered the tumor after the 76-year-old senator and sole surviving son of America's most storied political family suffered a seizure over the weekend. The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962, and came as a shock to a family all too accustomed to sudden, calamitous news.

"Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family have faced adversity more times in more instances with more courage and more determination and more grace than most families have to," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Every one of us knows what a big heart this fellow has. He's helped millions and millions of people - from the biggest of legislation on the floor to the most personal."

Kerry added: "This guy is one unbelievable fighter."

Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he had a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, a region of the brain that helps govern sensation, movement and language.

Seizures can be caused by a wide variety of things, some of them relatively minor. The finding of a brain tumor - and specifically a glioma, an especially lethal type - was about the worst possible news.

Kennedy's doctors said he will remain in the hospital for the next couple of days as they consider chemotherapy and radiation. They did not mention surgery, a possible indication the tumor is inoperable.

Outside experts gave him no more than three years - and perhaps far less.

"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

In a statement, Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary physician, said the senator "has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital."

"He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the physicians said.

An Associated Press photographer who was given access to the senator on Tuesday captured Kennedy, dressed in a gray sweater and dark slacks, joking and laughing with family members as he sat at a table in a family room at the hospital.

Kennedy's wife since 1992, Vicki, and his five children and stepchildren have been at his bedside.

"Obviously it's tough news for any son to hear," said Robin Costello, a spokeswoman for one of Kennedy's sons, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. "He's comforted by the fact that his dad is such a fighter, and if anyone can get through something as challenging as this, it would be his father."

Kennedy, the Senate's second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012. Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat 145 to 160 days afterward.

Among the potential Democratic candidates: Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general; Rep. Edward J. Markey; former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, Kennedy's nephew; and Kennedy's wife. The Republican contenders could include former Gov. Mitt Romney or former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

Kennedy has left his stamp on a raft of health care, pension and immigration legislation during four decades in the Senate.

Senators of both parties heard about Kennedy's condition during their weekly, closed-door policy lunches, and some looked drawn or misty-eyed.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving member of the Senate, wept as he prayed for "my dear, dear friend, dear friend, Ted Kennedy" during a speech on the Senate floor.

"Keep Ted here for us and for America," said the 90-year-old Byrd, who is in a wheelchair. He added: "Ted, Ted, Ted. My dear friend. I love you and miss you."

"I'm really sad. He's the one politician who brings tears to my eyes when he speaks," said former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who happened to be in the Capitol.

In a statement, President Bush saluted Kennedy as "a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit." He added: "We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery."

Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year. In general, half of all patients die within a year.

"It's treatable but not curable. You can put it into remission for a while but it's not a curable tumor," said Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan, a neuroncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

The Kennedy family has been struck by tragedy over and over. Kennedy's eldest brother, Joseph, died in a World War II plane crash; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. The tragedies thrust "Uncle Teddy" into the role of surrogate parent to his brothers' children. He walked Caroline Kennedy down the aisle.

A high point in his life came in 1980, when Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination. He eventually bowed out with a stirring speech in which he declared, "The cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die." His eulogy for his brother Robert was equally stirring.

The low point was 1969, when Kennedy drove a car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island on Martha's Vineyard. The accident killed aide Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy at the time was married to his first wife, Joan, whom he later divorced. His failure to promptly report the accident, and questions about his relationship with the young woman, may well have cost him the presidency.

Kennedy has been active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for Sen. Barack Obama.

"He fights for what he thinks is right. And we want to make sure that he's fighting this illness," Obama said Tuesday. "And it's our job now to support him in the way that he has supported us for so many years."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "Ted Kennedy's courage and resolve are unmatched, and they have made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history. Our thoughts are with him and Vicki and we are praying for a quick and full recovery."

Last summer, Kennedy announced a deal with a publisher to write a memoir, scheduled to come out in 2010.

Court News

Authorities find investigator's body near Charlotte, N.C.

Authorities searching a wooded area on Tuesday found the body of a North Carolina insurance investigator who prosecutors believe was killed by the owner of an agency she was auditing.

Police had been looking for 44-year-old Sallie Rohrbach since she was reported missing Friday. Michael Howell, 40, has been charged with first-degree murder in her death.

Charlotte Police and Chrissy Pearson, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Insurance, confirmed the body's identity.

"We are devastated that all hope is lost, but we also find a sense of closure in knowing that we can lay to rest our dear friend and colleague with the dignity and respect she deserves," Pearson said.

Her body was found near Fort Mill, S.C., about 25 miles away from Howell's Dilworth Insurance Agency in Charlotte.

Rohrbach traveled nearly 170 miles from Raleigh last week and planned to spend several days auditing the agency. When family and co-workers didn't hear from her by late last week, they called police.

Authorities said Rohrbach's slaying was connected to her duties as an auditor, and that evidence was found in both her car and Howell's vehicle. They have released little other information, including a suspected cause of death.

Earlier Tuesday, Howell made an initial court appearance, where a judge denied his request for a public defender.

Public defender Susan Weigand appeared with Howell and argued he cannot afford to pay for two attorneys, as he would be entitled as a defendant in a capital murder case.

The request was denied. District Court Judge Bill Constangy - citing Howell's $6,000 monthly income and $7,200 in expenses - ruled he has enough income to pay for his own defense.

Gas Prices

And to think some idiots are still clamoring for four mores year of this!

Angel Oak

Angel Oak

Angel Oak is a Southern live oak tree located in Angel Oak Park, in Charleston, South Carolina, on Johns Island, one of South Carolina's Sea Islands. It is estimated to be over 1500 years old, standing 65 feet tall, 9 feet in diameter, and the crown covers an area of 17,000 square feet. Its longest limb is 89 feet in length.

The Angel Oak is thought to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. Acorns from the Angel Oak have grown to produce authentic direct-offspring trees. Its limbs, the size of tree trunks themselves, are so large and heavy that some of them rest on the ground (some even drop underground for a few feet and then come back up), a feature common to only the very oldest live oaks.

It has survived countless hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and human interference. Angel Oak was damaged severely during Hurricane Hugo but has since recovered.

In the spring and summer there are numerous artistic events, including the "Evening Under the Angel Oak" series, which feature music, dramatic presentations, and various other activities, especially during the Spoleto Festival in May/June

Calling'em On Their Nonsense

Man's rare ability may unlock secret of memory

Give Brad Williams a date, and he can usually tell you not only what he was doing but what world events happened that day. He can do this for almost every day of his life.

Williams is one of only three people in the world identified with this off-the-charts autobiographical memory, according to researchers at the University of California-Irvine who gave the condition its name: hyperthymestic syndrome, from the Greek words for excessive (hyper) and remembering (thymesis).

Unlike most people whose memories fade with time, much of Williams' life is etched indelibly in his mind.

"It's just there," said Williams, 51, who reports the news for a family of radio stations in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

The California researchers are studying Williams and the two others with hyperthymestic syndrome, a man in Ohio and woman in California, hoping to gain new insights into how a superior memory works.

The goal of the study is to find a way to help people with failing memory.

Williams didn't realize how exceptional his memory was until his brother Eric told him about an article published two years ago in the journal Neurocase, describing a woman referred to by the initials, A.J.

"My brother in California saw this and said, 'She sounds like you. Why don't we talk to the folks at Irvine?'" Williams said.

At Irvine, researchers quizzed Williams, as they have the two other hyperthymestics, about a series of dates, asking for the corresponding event, and vice-versa.

"The speed with which they do this is part of why I find this so amazing because it seems to indicate there's no -- or not much -- intentional calculation going on. It's boom, boom, boom, there's the answer," said Larry Cahill, a fellow at the university's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. "Remember, these are questions they had no idea what we're going to ask them."

Now researchers are using an MRI to create three-dimensional pictures of the hyperthymestic brain. They want to see whether any brain structures differ in size, compared with the average brain.

Cahill and his colleagues are still going over the results but it appears some structures in the prefrontal cortex are substantially larger in hyperthymestics. The prefrontal cortex sits at the front of the brain and has been associated with complex thinking, not learning or memory.

Cahill said he hoped others with this extraordinary ability will come forward.

"I hope that we can identify as many of these people as possible because the more we identify and the more we study the greater the likelihood that we are going to really figure out fundamental new things about brains and memory that we would have never figured out without them," Cahill said.

Flipping through a family photo album with him it was astonishing how much Williams recalled, going back decades.

Asked about one black and white picture taken in the Badlands of South Dakota, he remembered exactly when it was taken: Tuesday, July 28, 1964, the same day as a trip to Mount Rushmore. He also remembered that the temperature reached 100 degrees and that they tried to keep Funny Face drinks cool in a Thermos in the back of the car.

Cahill said Williams and the other hyperthymestics don't do any better than average on standard memory tests, nor are they savants, a condition where one extraordinary mental ability is accompanied by deficits in other areas.

In this age of instant information, what can you do with phenomenal recall?

"I don't really know. I've thought about it for years," said Williams, the 1969 Wisconsin Spelling Bee champion. Williams appeared on "Jeopardy!" but finished second.

For now, Williams said he is content knowing research into his memory might help others. "That would be the ultimate goal."

Even now this is more

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 15 May 2008 at 04:01:25 PM GMT is:

The estimated population of the United States is 303,993,809
so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,834.60. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.59 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

If

If you can keep your head when all about
you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself
when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you
can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in
lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too
good, nor talk too wise:
,

If you can dream - and not make dreams your
master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can
meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the
same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves
to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to,
broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:


If you can make one heap of all your
winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and
start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your
loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn
long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in
you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"


If you can talk with crowds and keep your
virtue,
Or walk with kings
and run with the poorest of the poor,
then you can be as I
and not before.

Baby Boomer Fun

Baby Boomers 1946 - 1964 click here to find out what happened in the world when you were born

Familial Coat of Arms

Life on Mars?

Fingerprints for ID demanded from a woman without arms

News of the Stupid

From the Johannesburg , South Africa, office:

The department of home affairs has failed to put in place a system that will help people with disabilities to get identity documents, the SA Human Rights Commission said.

Spokesman Vincent Moaga said the commission was concerned the department had requested that a woman with no arms could not get an ID unless she was fingerprinted.

Victoria Modise, 37, of Diepkloof Zone, Soweto, who lost her ID last year, applied for a replacement but was told she needed to be fingerprinted.

Moaga said the commission was deeply concerned by this incident.

He said the department should refer to international practice and follow suit.

“Home Affairs should look at international practices and see what system can be put in place to assist people with disabilities to get their IDs.”

Moaga said despite the commission meeting the department of home affairs last year to discuss these issues, not much had been done.

*****

And to think incidents such as these are actually commonplace everywhere. That is scary.

Lightbulb that's burned for 107 years

A lightbulb in a firehouse in Livermore, CA, has been burning continuously since 1901.

In 1901, when the tiny bulb was first screwed into place inside a so-called hose cart house, it cast its light on a simpler era.

Back then, horse-pulled carts carried water to fires. The bulb burned day and night, hanging at eye level from a 20-foot cord. Its job: to break the darkness so firefighters responding to calls wouldn't have to fumble to light the wicks of their kerosene lanterns. Manufactured by the Shelby Electric Co. of Shelby, Ohio, the bulb soon outlived its maker, which closed in 1914.

Later, in the main firehouse, it illuminated more modern rigs as horses were replaced by gas-fed engines.

It didn't always receive kid-glove treatment.

Climbing atop their engines, firefighters returning from World War II and Korea often would give the bulb a playful swat for good luck. The next generation -- the Vietnam veterans and the younger kids -- used it as a target for Nerf basketball practice.

Then, in 1972, a local reporter checked records and interviewed old-timers to trace its history. Firefighters suddenly realized they had a treasure.

"The good-luck slaps and target practice stopped," Bramell recalls. "We figured, 'Wow, maybe we should take care of this bulb.' "

Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman - she's pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children - whose names start with the letter J - are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores - or "jurisdictions" - are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

*****

They know what causes pregnancy now, don't they?

Think Gas is expensive ...

The Price of Gas Versus Printer Ink

All these examples do NOT imply that gasoline is cheap; it just illustrates how outrageous some prices are...

You will be really shocked by the last one! (At least, I was...)

Compared with Gasoline...

Think a gallon of gas is expensive?

This makes one think, and also puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29... $10.32 per gallon

Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19... $9.52 per gallon

Gatorade 20 oz $1.59... $10.17 per gallon

Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25... $10.00 per gallon

Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15... $33.60 per gallon

Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35... $178.13 per gallon

Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85... $123.20 per gallon

Whiteout 7 oz $1.39... $25.42 per gallon

Scope 1.5 oz $0.99... $84.48 per gallon

And this is the REAL KICKER...

Evian water 9 oz $1.49... $21.19 per gallon! $21.19 for WATER and the buyers don't even know the source.

(Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Ever wonder why printers are so cheap?

So they have you hooked for the ink. Someone calculated the cost of the ink at... (you won't believe it... but it is true)… $5,200 a gallon (five thousand two hundred dollars).

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, Nyquil or God forbid, Printer Ink!

Just a little humor to help ease the pain of your next trip to the pump...

And - If you don't pass this along to at least one person, your muffler will fall off!!

Okay, your muffler won't really fall off... but, you might run out of toilet paper.

Batman in Vietnamese

Holy 1966! Batman!

Monty Python's "Galaxy Song"

Tornado knocks vehicles around in NC

Authorities began combing through the wreckage Friday caused by a reported tornado that killed one person and injured three others in central North Carolina.

A possible tornado touched down on the outskirts of Greensboro late Thursday as severe storms swept across the Southeast, damaging homes and businesses in at least three other states.

Earlier in the day, an apparent tornado also wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged.

In North Carolina, a person in a small truck was killed after the vehicle was overturned in a parking lot west of Greensboro, said Alan Perdue, emergency services director for Guilford County. He did not have other details.

The storm also knocked down a wall at a distributing business, sending one person to the hospital, Perdue said. Two other people were hurt while in vehicles, but details were not immediately available, Perdue said. None of the injuries was considered life threatening.

The storm left numerous trees and power lines down, some on top of homes, in its wake. Authorities were also combing through wreckage in a mostly industrial area outside of Greensboro, and getting a better look at the damage as daylight broke.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol said the storm blew several tractor-trailers off Interstate 40 but could not confirm the number.

*****

Yep last night's storm was a doozey!

Classified Ads

Want a good laugh?
Read the Classifieds!

Here are but a few examples of actual Classified Ads found in newspapers and newsletters:


•Free puppies: 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog.

•Free puppies...mother, AKC German Shepherd, father, super dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

•Found dirty white dog. Looks like a rat. Been out a while. Better be a big reward.

•Nordic Track: $300, hardly used, call Chubby.

•Joining nudist colony! Must sell washer and dryer, $300.

•Wedding dress for sale, worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie.

•For sale. Three canaries of undermined sex. Great Dames for sale.

•Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition.

•Tired of cleaning yourself. Let me do it.

•Vacation special: have your home exterminated. Get rid of aunts. Zap does the job in 24 hours.

•Toaster: a gift that every member of the family appreciates. Automatically burns toast.

•For rent: six-room hated apartment.

•Man, honest. Will take anything.

•Used cars. Why go elsewhere to be cheated. Come here first.

•Christmas tag-sale. Handmade gifts for the hard-to-find person.

•Wanted: Hair cutter. Excellent growth potential.

•Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink.

•Our bikinis are exciting. They are simply the tops.

•Wanted: Widower with school-age children requires person to assume general housekeeping duties. Must be capable of contributing to growth of family.

•And now, the superstore-unequaled in size, unmatched in variety, unrivaled inconvenience.

•We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $1.

•Illustrate? Write today for free help.

•Auto repair service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.

•Our experienced mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals and smacks included.

•Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children.

•Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel.

•Stock up and save. Limit: one.

•Semi-annual after Christmas sale.

•Three-year-old teacher needed for preschool. Experience preferred.

•Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.

•Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting-off-head illusion. Blue Cross and salary.

•Dinner special — turkey, $2.35; chicken or beef, $2.25; children, $2.

•For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.

•Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too.

•We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.