Living In the World, Not on It

I'm completely skeptical about this, but I don't by Mobil or Exxon gasoline anyway. Read on! THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON. This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer, and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing ...

A young boy went up to his father and asked, "What's the difference between 'potentially' and 'realistically'?" The father ponders for a moment and then answered "Go ask your mother if she would sleep with Robert Redford for a million quid and also ask your sister if she would sleep with Brad Pitt for a million quid, then come back and tell me what you learned. "So the boy went to his mother and asked "Mum would you sleep with Robert Redford for a million quid?" The mother replied, "Definitely, I wouldn't pass an opportunity like that." The boy then went to his older sister and asked "Would you sleep with Brad Pitt for a million quid?" The girl replied "Oh gosh, I would just love to do that, I would be nuts to pass up that opportunity." The boy then thought about it for a few days, and went back to his father. His father asked him "Did you find the difference between 'potentially' and '...

This is a family that was on Nanny 911 , the precursor to Supernanny , which airs on Wednesday nights. While Supernanny is a better production and leaves out some of the dopey American-isms of stupidity (such as the opening scene with a much older nanny head whose television showing the family and their issues turns around into a painting on the wall), this show has its value. These families are clueless or don't bother to try and definitely need help. This family is an exception in that the mother couldn't care less what the monsters do and will do anything to mollify them. The father is more consistent and definitely takes a much more disciplinary stance, but the mother undermines it at every step of the way. The two boys are so unbelievably rude, I'd've killed them where they stood. The little girl only wanted a moment of attention and was not doing anything negative, and the mother was awful to her. The nanny, Nanny Stella, spent the first day observing. When she s...

This is the title of a great song. I really need to find it online!

OK, this really is weird, freaky, bizarre... You have to try this, it takes 2 seconds. I could not believe this! It is from an orthopedic surgeon. This will boggle your mind and you will keep you trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can't. It's pre-programmed in your brain! 1. Without anyone watching you (they will think you are GOOFY......) and while sitting at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction. I told you so! And there's nothing you can do about it! You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you've not already done so.

Tips for a better Life - 2008 1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant 2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to 3. Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep 4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today' 5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm,and Empathy 6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007 7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, tai chi, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives 8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6 9. Dream more while you are awake 10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants 11. Drink green tea and plenty of water . Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts 12. Try to make at least three people smile each day 13. Clear clut...

The first part of the day was amazing in one sense, but the latter part of the day was the best in terms of personal fun. I love the city of Philadelphia and my favourite part - and I go there every time I visit - is the foutain in Logan's Circle. It is a really wonderful piece of artwork. It's actual name is Swann Memorial Fountain, and there is a lot of meaning to it. It represents the meeting of the three major rivers in Philadelphia: the Delaware, the Schuykill and the Wissahickon Rivers. The artist, Alexander Stirling Calder, designed the characters representing the rivers after Native American gods. The young girl leaning on her side against an agitated, water-spouting swan represents the Wissahickon Creek; the mature woman holding the neck of a swan stands for the Schuylkill River; and the male figure, reaching above his head to grasp his bow as a large pike sprays water over him, symbolizes the Delaware River. Sculpted frogs and turtles spout water toward the 50- foot (...

Yesterday was a really big day for me. A lot happened while nothing happened. It was huge. The whole reason to go to Philadelphia was to see Dr. Carsten Bonnemann, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is a specialist in neuromuscular conditions, especially limb girdle muscular dystrophy. My aunt went there with her daughter and met with Dr. Bonnemann some time ago, maybe in the fall or summer of 2007. We finally made an appointment about mid-February for yesterday. We had an 0830 appointment and got there about seven minutes early (the traffic in Philadelphia is absolutely horrendous ). We filled out the paperwork, got Ma registered and waited in the room with a million kids. OK, not a million but way too many. You know me, no kids is perfect. One child is livable but not ideal. There were at least six or seven in there. I must say that they were more behaved than most. Maybe it is because they are there with neuromuscular issues from minor and not obvious to the patently...

The return trip home was a longer journey, both because we were over tired from walking around all over the place, and because leaving any place (especially a major city) at 1615 is a problem! The congestion in and around Philadelphia was staggering. Still, with only one ten-minute pitstop, and the first ten minutes of my mother whining incessantly about the usual things, we were underway and got to my house by 1930. That is a long old trip. Still, once my mother stopped complaining and moaning and popped in another movie, it was fine, Ray and I bonding some more on the drive back as the sun played hide-and-seek with the high cirrus clouds that presage bad weather. At least we can say that - we did indeed have truly perfect weather! Unfortunately, the gods of technology are displeased with me once again... my laptop battery died completely. I can't even get it working plugged in. My own home unit died sometimes a few months ago. So, until then, there are no photos, and it will be h...

WASHINGTON - Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday. The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age. "This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA." Wells is director of the Genographic Project, launched in 2005 to study anthropology using ge...

Pictures will follow tonight or tomorrow. The dinner was phenominal! It really was delicious, and I am very, very happy that I splurged and went for the shrimp. The bed was torture, the room was FREEZING, and I turned, tossed and had a ton of weird dreams. Not what I had in mind for a good night's sleep. And my back... is killing me! This is the restaurant on the lobby level. The shot was taken outside of our room on the top (8th) floor.

We made it! The first five minutes were definitely the hardest - I thought I might have to kill my mother: "Where is this?" Why can't I hear that?" "Can you open this?" "Can you get me that?" "Is there anything to eat? I need to eat." Ye gods. I bet you didn't know anyone other than a 2-year-old could fit that many questions into a five minute time span. Once on the highway with the new navigator leading the way, she got into watching whatever movie she was watching (I think it was Steel Magnolias ) and Ray and I could talk - the whole 2+ hours - watching the traffic (thankfully there was none until 295 South), seeing other drivers, passing places that Ray worked as an electrician. We did stop once to get gas and thought that at $3.17 (low test) and $3.40 (high test) a gallon it was a steal - how sad is that. We got into Philly and low test gasoline was a whopping $3.50! Yowza! Good thing it's only a day trip (one night over in ...

It's said that in the English language every noun can be verbed, but there's nothing more grating on the ears than the gratuitous "verbification" of nouns in a modern workplace exchange. From "productizing an idea" to "administrating the plan" and "incentivizing the workers" these verb-forms are about as graceful as a sumo wrestler performing a ballet. Don't get me wrong -- there's nothing sinful about coining new words, or using existing ones in creative ways, but these Latinate constructions just don't work. There are already countless words that can do the job very well. This week we'll look at five verbs in the English language. suspire (suh-SPYR) verb tr., intr. To breathe; to sigh [From Latin suspirare (to breathe up), from spirare (to breathe).] indurate (IN-doo-rayt, -dyoo-) verb tr. 1. To make hardy, inured, accustomed 2. To make callous or unfeeling verb intr. 1. To make hard 2. To become established adjective (I...

I got quite a few answers so far and I love them! 18 April 2008: Odd Nutty Anti-establishment Interesting Trenchant (my favourite!) Incorrigible (my 2nd favourite!) We shall see what else I get. So far, they are all rather descriptive of me. And all kind of in the same category. 19 April 2008: Odd (a different person) 22 April 2008 Mysterious Confident

Think he was just looking for a snack?

15 April 2008: One of the greatest sites on the internet today is NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. Each day a new astronomical picture is featured, boggling the mind with the stunning beauty and scope of the universe. The photo for the 14th of April was of one of Mars’ moons, Phobos. Named for the Greek god of fear and horror, Phobos is one of two moons that orbits Mars. So pock-marked with craters are the pair that it is almost certain that they were once caught up in an asteroid belt; possibly located between Mars and Jupiter, or even from one of the outer systems asteroid belts. Phobos orbits so close to Mars however, that it is essentially doomed. It currently orbits about 5,800 kilometers above the surface of Mars (this compared to 400,000 kilometers that our Moon is from Earth). Subsequently, Mars’ gravitational forces are slowly pulling the moon closer and closer in. It is predicted that in 100 million years or so, Phobos will likely shatter due to stresses caused by the re...

I would do this!

Albino moose or is it meeses? Not one, but two! Truly amazing! These animals were photographed just north of the Wisconsin border on a highway near Marenisco, MI. Once in a while there is an opportunity to take in a piece of nature that you may never see. In these days of unrest and turmoil it is great to see that Mother Nature can still produce some wondrous beauty. The odds of seeing an albino moose are astronomical and to see this in the upper peninsula of Michigan, near Wisconsin, is even greater than astronomical. To see two of them together is nearly impossible. We wanted to share these photos with as many people as possible because you will probably never have a chance to see this rare sight again. This is a really special treat, so enjoy the shot of a life time.

One day a father gets out of work and on his way home he suddenly remembers that it's his daughter's birthday. He pulls over to a toy Shop and asks the sales person, "How much for One of those Barbie's in the display window?" The salesperson answers, "Which one do you mean, Sir? We have:- Work Out Barbie for £19.95 Shopping Barbie for £19.95 Beach Barbie for £19.95 Disco Barbie for £19.95, Ballerina Barbie For £19.95 Astronaut Barbie for £19.95 Skater Barbie for £19.95 And Divorced Barbie for £265.95". The amazed father asks: "It's what?! Why is the Divorced Barbie £265.95 and the others only £19.95?" The annoyed salesperson rolls her eyes, sighs, and answers: "Sir... Divorced Barbie comes with: Ken's Car, Ken's House, Ken's Boat, Ken's Furniture, Ken's Computer, one of Ken's Friends, and a key chain made with Ken's testicles..”

This week's words are created using combining forms. What are combining forms? You can think of them as the Legos of language. As the name indicates, a combining form is a linguistic atom that occurs only in combination with some other form. This other form could be a word, another combining form, or an affix (a prefix or suffix). Unlike a combining form, an affix can't attach to another affix. When coining a new word, these ready-made building blocks of the language come in handy. Let's say we need a new insult word, a fancy word to describe someone as brainless. We could start with ceno- (empty), add -cephalic (relating to the head) to it, and our new word is ready: cenocephalic. This week we'll see words made using these combining forms: ceno- (empty), endo- (within), seti- (bristle), nocti- (night), and geo- (earth). Happy word crafting! cenotaph (SEN-uh-taf) noun A tomb or a monument in honor of a person (or a group) whose remains are elsewhere. [Via French and La...

After reading a bedtime story to my daughter, I sometimes ask her, "So, what do you think of the book?" More often than not, the answer is a simple "Good." I tell her that the word "good" is banned. The book could be funny, boring, interesting, scary, lovely, awful, awesome, delightful, ...or a combination of terms. Anything but good. It's time to give the tired words "good" and "bad" a well-deserved rest. I think the same applies for people. People are rarely just good or bad. This week's words will show five words to describe them. ebullient (i-BUL-yuhnt, -BOOL-) adjective Bubbling with enthusiasm or excitement [From Latin ebullire (to boil up), from bulla (bubble).] tremulous (TREM-yuh-luhs) adjective 1. Trembling 2. Timid; nervous [From Latin tremere (to tremble).] pusillanimous (pyoo-suh-LAN-uh-muhs) adjective Lacking courage; timid [From Latin pusillus (weak, very small), diminutive of pullus (young of an animal) + animus ...

Tonight (well, last night now) I went to a wake for one of my squad members. I always liked him and we got on well. When we were alone, we had good, close conversations. When we were with my lieutenant it was the same. He could be distant and not easy to get to know, but I made it an effort and he was one of the few individuals that I never had any issues with at all. I enjoyed his company and one thing I remember really well was that he'd come out to look at the night sky with me on nights that we were on and let me prattle on about the different stars and planets. And suddenly, he's gone. Out among the stars, I hope. I was upset when I'd heard the news that he died but then to go to this open-casket wake and see him there, looking... looking... I don't know. I began to cry the first trip up there. When the second round came up and then there was the whole religious thing, I cried as quietly as possible through almost of all it. After that I walked over to my lieutenan...

This was in my inbox yesterday: Describe ME in one word.............just one single word. Send it to me & ME only. Then send this message to ALL of your e-friends/family & see how many strange & interesting things they have to say about you. This is really fun & don't get mad at the word they choose for you. Here's how to PLAY: 1. Hit the reply key & send ME my one word. 2. Them return to this message & forward it to your e-friends/family (including me) & see what people say about you when limited they're limited to just ONE word! Follow the directions people and don't mess this up............LMAO I', terrified and curious at the same time, so let's have it. Me - in one word!

Are you a Democrat, a Republican, or a Redneck? Here is a little test that will help you decide.The answer can be found by posing the following question: You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and then charges at you. You are carrying a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do? THINK CAREFULLY AND THEN SCROLL DOWN: Democrat's Answer: Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the pistol ha...

The two rooms are complete, painted ceiling and walls. The room off the kitchen is no longer grey-blue, but a cheery pale yellow with a lovely flat, normal, white ceiling. The "sun room" is a beautiful happy and relaxed light blue, with that flawless white ceiling. Flawless. No more marks and obviously bad painting. The rooms look amazing. I spent all last night (into this morning) putting the rooms back into the right order and cleaning out everything. I have candles in every room, and they are all neat and clean. The furniture is all in new places but it looks great! The sun room is quite a bit bigger than I realised. The couch that was in it is huge and dwarfed that room. Now it is in here (the living room) and the smaller old couch from Tom is in the sun room with one sky chair and one light green chair from a "house sale". The wooden table along two smaller ones is also in there and no, it's not a tight squeeze. It looks great! I moved a couple of things do...

I realise that these are not the normal (let me rephrase that) mainstream Mormons - not that they aren't unusual enough. But these guys are just completely misguided and not a little bit into pedaphelia... Look at this article: "SAN ANGELO, Texas - A court hearing to decide the fates of hundreds of children seized from a polygamist retreat was off to a chaotic start Thursday as hundreds of lawyers in two different locations demanded to study the first piece of evidence before it could be introduced. State District Judge Barbara Walther called a recess 40 minutes after the hearing began in what could be the nation's largest child custody case. She wanted to allow the 350 lawyers spread out in two buildings to read the evidence and decide whether to object en masse or make individual objections. The hearing resumed about an hour later. The lawyers are representing the 416 children and dozens of parents from the Yearning For Zion ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Je...

This is an interesting article: "It's easy to spot the office night owl. He rolls into the office late, bleary-eyed, with a cup of coffee in hand. These workers' internal clocks just don't match up with the typical nine-to-five workday -- but that doesn't mean they have to resign themselves to a lifetime of dozing through early-morning meetings. Check out a sampling of some of the niftiest night-shift jobs . EMT/Paramedic Emergency medical technicians are needed round the clock. However, most workers tend to prefer daytime hours, leaving lots of opportunities open for night shifts, says Connie Meyer, a full-time paramedic and member of the board of directors for the National Association of EMTs. You'll need people skills, basic first aid and emergency care knowledge, and of course, the ability to stay calm in a crisis. "Panicking is OK, but you just need to know what to do with yourself when you do it," Meyer says. Average annual salary: $29,390; ear...

I suspect it was 0400 but what do I know? I had been asleep! I love sex, I truly do, and I'm always asking Luis for a snog. But what it is with men and snogging in the wee hours of the morning? Any other time of the day is fine - well, okay, 1300 during the week I'm stuck in my place of employment and can't play, but shit, from the time he gets home until bed time and then at the time I do wake up is all kinds of fine with me! No. Dinner (for reasons passing understanding) always is the top priority for Luis. Not fair. I can reheat pizza but an orgasm is a beautiful thing and beats pizza, hummus and any other food that I love dearly. Some day a man has to explain to me how passing up sex for dinner works; I don't get it. Saturdays and Sundays are perfect because I can push for a fun time at any time of the day - and I actually don't mind going for the big-O at 0300 or any ungodly hour because what time do I care when I get up? I'll sleep in a little extra to mak...

I've had people ask me where I've been and others asking if the rumours are true. Some are. Some, of course, are not. Here is the skinny: I was politely but firmly requested to take out, modify or otherwise change some of my postings. I won't get into details about who asked. Apparently there are enough readers out there (which, I must admit, is rather nice!) that will have little to no trouble figuring out what august personages to which I refer. I do have high regard for the individuals who spoke with me. Never let it be said that I don't. However, I thought this through, and over several days - eight days, to be exact. At first I acquiesed to all that was asked of me. I was contrite and said that I would abide by the requests made. I'll still keep to that but a few points came up as I mulled this over. 1. It is unreasonable to ask me to not post negatives. I will agree to keep names (especially surnames) out of it or change them to protect the guilty and the inno...

Could the word fugetaboutit -- a contraction of "forget about it" -- find its way into dictionaries some day? It sounds unlikely, but that sort of thing happens all the time in languages. The everyday word "goodbye" was earlier "god be with you". By association with greetings such as "good day", god morphed into good and the whole phrase became goodbye. Another such term is the informal greeting "Howdy" which in its former life was known as "How do ye?" or "How do you do?" This week we'll look at five terms that were once longer phrases but are now condensed. druthers (DRUTH-uhrz) noun One's own way; preference [Plural of druther, contraction of "'d rather", as in "I/he/etc. would rather ..."] prithee (PRITH-ee) interjection Please (used to express a request) [Contraction of (I) pray thee.] willy-nilly (WIL-ee NIL-ee) adverb, adjective 1. Whether willing or not 2. Haphazardly [From con...

Tika and Ioan are finishing up the rooms. Tika is painting the last wall in the kitchen area and Ioan has Gustavo - whom he calls "Goosey" - putting up the blinds and pictures and they attempted to put up the shelves but the shelves did not work out as planned. They were made for my office at work and fit perfectly in there but here the walls either are square or they aren't... because one side of the shelf won't touch the wall! It's hard to know where the issue lies - the golf cub building is 70 years older than my house, so I am thinking my office isn't square, but I may be completely wrong! I need to go in there anyway, and make sure all the pictures are put up properly. And they'll move all the furniture back (which is good, since I moved all of it out of the rooms to begin with!

OK, I still don't like religious hospitals and this was no exception. The nursing staff, however, is top-notch and they took excellent care of Luis. None-the-less, I would not like this as a place to go with the weird religious overtones. Luis' room had a crucifix on the wall. Ugh - that gives me the willies. There were priests and nuns around. I am particularly anti-Catholic since they are anti-anyone-who-isn't, an attitude I never agree with. We got there at 0531, and into the Same-Day-Surgery wing on the fourth floor where Luis and I found a single lone nurse. We got his room and he was instructed to divest himself of all clothes, jewelry, piercings, etc. He was out of his "casual clothing" (sweat pants that should never be worn out of the house and an old tee shirt that one of my penfriends sent him) and into the cheesy backwards gown in no time. He laid in bed, which was clearly too short for him and I sat in the chair designed by Torquemada leaning my head a...