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2012-01-04T15:48:00.001-06:00

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Sexuality & Scripture

2011-10-03T21:11:00.004-05:00

By Reverend Ralph Lasher, M. Div, Associate Pastor, Bethel Church UCC, 2004

Christianity is a religion based upon the ministry and teachings of Jesus, whose life was clearly one of love, healing and forgiveness. He summarized his own teachings: “Love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus’ message was inclusive: “For God so loved the world that God gave the one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not parish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Whoever believes” is inclusive!

Yet we all know that atrocities have been cloaked in Bible verses and committed in Christ’s name. Several examples include:

The Crusades, in which men, women and children were slaughtered in Jesus’ name.

The Inquisition, which included torture and murder and was called “holy.”

The enslavement of persons throughout the world by “Christians” and others, who bred, branded and beat fellow humans.

The lynchings, floggings and castration of African Americans in the United States of America by hymn-singing, white sheeted members of the Klu Klux Klan.

The murders and rapes during the conquest of Mexico and the destruction of an entire civilization.

The persecution and discrimination in the United States against persons of color and women.

The Holocaust in Germany, during which two national Christian denominations turned their heads while millions of human beings were exterminated.

The massacres and bombings in Ireland.

The burning of “witches” in our own country.

Today another monstrous injustice cloaked in Bible verses is being committed against people for whom Christ lived and dies. It is the oppression, bashing and sometimes even murder of persons who are gay, lesbian, Bisexual and/or transgendered. Those who seek to justify their own hatred and the behavior it encourages cite several Biblical passages which they claim support their beliefs. Most often these people quote from the King James Version of the bible.

I was raised on the King James Version and can recite large portions of it. I love its poetry and beautiful language, but I don’t use it or recommend it for study. For study, I prefer the New International Version (NIV) of the bible.

Before being written down, the bible was circulated in oral form, some parts for several hundred years. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. The King James Version, which was written in 1611 when King James I was King of England, is not the oldest English language translation of the bible; the Bible was first translated into English 229 years earlier in 1382, by a man names Wycliffe.

King James Version
Modern Biblical scholars do not regard the King James Version of the bible as the most accurate English Translation. They cite its numerous misspellings, as well as the use of a variety of English words to translate the same Hebrew or Greek word, the overuse of terms derived from Latin which resulted in inaccurate translations, and the obscurity of Elizabethan English to today’s speakers of English. In addition, more accurate Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the bible have been discovered since the mid-nineteenth century. However, perhaps because of its longevity and poetry, the King James Version of the bible is still the best known and most widely used translation, though more and more churches today also use the new, more accurate translations. Accuracy becomes an issue, for example, when the translators of the King James Version use the word “sodomite” to mean “homosexual.” There is no word for “homosexual” in the original language of the bible. Respected English translations such as the New revised Standard Version and the NIV speak of “male cult prostitutes,” which is obviously not the same as “homosexual.”

The Sodom Story
Persons who use Scripture to condemn sexual minorities usually begin with the story of “Sodom” and Gomorrah (Genesis 13-19). The word Sodom has given birth to the word “sodomy,” which is a legal term usually refers to sexual activities between two males. But the story of Sodom would more accurately be called “The Story Of Lot.” Whatever else it is, the Sodom Story is not a condemnation of a loving relationship between two men or consensual sexual intercourse between two men.

Lot, a righteous Hebrew, invited two men traveling through his town to spend the night in his house. In those days, there were no Holiday Inns for travelers and it was customary for good Hebrews to be hospitable to Hebrew travelers. Lot was hospitable. Shortly after he had taken the two strangers into his house, a mob of angry men vegan banging on Lot’s door, shouting for Lot to send out the guests so the men could “know” them. The Hebrew word translated as “know” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. In this case, rape was intended. The rape of a man in that part of the world was a custom usually reserved for prisoners captured in battle. It was an extreme humiliation since it treated a man like a woman, and women were then considered inferior to men. Lot, the good Hebrew and righteous man, had a different suggestion. He told the mob they should not rape his male guests who, as a guest in his home, were under his “protection.” Instead he suggested that the men rape his two virgin daughters. Lot and his family were allowed to escape from the city before it was destroyed. Scripture contains two explanations for the sin of Sodom, neither which refers to anything having to do with sex between two males (see Ezekiel 16:48-58 and Luke 10:8-12). The explanations given in scripture clearly tell us that the sin of Sodom was failure to meet the needs of the poor and the worship of false gods. To complete the Lot Story, his wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Then Lot and his two daughters had sexual intercourse and both of the daughters became pregnant by their father. The Lot story is a story of the rape of men and women, violence and incest. It has nothing to do with same-gender love. It is not a condemnation of persons who are not heterosexuals.

Levitical Holiness Code
The Levitical Holiness Code compromises the majority of the biblical book of Leviticus. It specifies what a Jew had to know in order to be a good or righteous Jew. In the heart of this codification of Laws are two verses, both of which say the same thing, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. It is detestable” (Leviticus 18:22), and “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a women, both of them have done what is detestable” (Leviticus 20:13). It is these two verses that the Religious Right and other verbal bashers of persons who have sexual contact with someone of the same gender quote as “proof” that homosexuality is an “abomination” and “detestable” to God. The Hebrew word translated as “abomination” is the same word translated as “detestable” and simply means “ritually unclean.” In the context used in the Holiness Code, this word referred to practices associated with idol worship, i.e. persons whose religion worshipped a god other than the God of the Hebrews. The practice condemned in the two passages from Leviticus is the practice of male prostitution in the temple. Yes, pagan cults often had male and female prostitutes “working,” so to speak, as members of the temple staff. It is this practice, rather than loving relationships between persons of the same gender, that the Holiness code condemns. The Hebrew religious leaders had reason to be concerned about this pagan practice.

For three hundred years, even the temples in the Holy Land had male prostitutes until they were finally removed once and for all (see Deuteronomy 23:17-18, I Kings 14:24-25, 15:12 and II Kings 23:7). Yet those who claim that “Gods Law” condemns gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities never claim that the hundreds of other provisions of the Holiness code also apply to Christians. The rest of the holiness code forbids such things as eating shrimp, clams, crawfish, lobster, and oysters, eating meat with blood in it, eating pork or rabbit, drinking milk while eating a roast beef sandwich or putting butter on the bread used to make that sandwich, men shaving or cutting their hair, planting tomatoes and carrots in the same garden, having sexual intercourse with one’s wife during her menstrual period, a woman talking in church or going to church during her menstrual period and wearing clothes made from two yarns (such as cotton and polyester). It even forbids touching the skin of a pig, living or dead. How can one say that two verses are “God’s Law” while completely ignoring all the other hundreds of provisions in “God’s Law?” Even if Hebrew Law condemns homosexual behavior (and it does not) both Jesus and Paul stated that Christians are not bound by the Law of the Old Covenant but by the Law of Love as described in the New Covenant.

Celebrated Relationships
Loving relationships between persons of the same gender were not condemned. In fact, they were celebrated in Scripture: Jonathan (son of King Saul) and David (great hero of the Hebrews) were lovers. Jonathan, we are told, “became one in the spirit with David and loved him” (I Samuel 18:1). He made a covenant with David and stripped himself of much of his clothing, giving it to David (I Samuel 1:3-4). They embraced and kissed one another (I Samuel 20:41). When Jonathan was killed, David wept and said, “Your love was greater than the love of a woman” (II Samuel 1:16).

Ruth and Naomi also may have been lovers. Ruth’s pledge of her love for Naomi, as bizarre as it may seem, is often quoted at heterosexual weddings: “May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:17).

The New Testament
The most important fact to note about homosexuality and the New Testament is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Jesus never mentioned it. Why then, do the Religious Right and others speak as if Homosexuality is their most important concern? Bigotry! A prominent contemporary Episcopalian Bishop and theologian attribute this to fear and insecurity. The absence of discussion of these activities in the New Testament leaves the Religious Right only two passages in the writings of the Apostle Paul which they attempt to condemn homosexuality. The first passage is in a letter written to the romans while Paul was in Corinth. The second is in a letter written by Paul to the people of Corinth. Rome and Corinth were both appropriate targets for someone like Paul who was concerned about morality, especially sexual morality. Both cities were centers of Pagan worship which used idols in their worship of gods and goddesses of fertility.

For more than half a century, several Biblical scholars have speculated that Paul himself was gay and that his “thorn in the flesh” was a homosexual orientation. This may or may not have been true, but in any case, Paul didn’t approve of anyone having sex. Convinced that the end of the world with the return of Jesus was imminent, Paul believed that marriage and reproduction were unnecessary. For Paul, the only justification for marriage was a man’s inability to control his sex drive and remain celibate. Though Paul was essentially opposed to all sexual activity, the passages from Romans and Corinthians are not condemnations of loving relationships between persons of the same gender.

The first passage is found in Romans 1:26-27 and speaks of “women exchanging their natural relations for unnatural ones” and “men also abandoned natural relations with women and were consumed with lust for one another…” These references are in the context of the condemnation of idol worshipers who worshiped images of gods “made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles” (Romans 1:23). The references in Romans 1:26-27 are in context of the worship of idols and speak about male and female prostitution in the pagan temples. These references have nothing whatsoever to say about loving relationships between gay men or lesbians.

The second New Testament reference to homosexuality is found in I Corinthians 6:9-10, which equally condemns idol worshipers, drunks, slanderers, swindlers, thieves, the greedy, and people whom in the Greek are called “malakos” and “arsenokoitai.” These words have been translated in many different ways, and scholars can’t agree on what Paul meant.

The word “malakos” has been translated variously as “people who wear cloths of soft cloth” (i.e. rich people) or “effeminate persons,” or “masturbators” or “homosexual.” Based on other usage of this word in the New Testament, the latter translation is the least likely to be accurate.

The word “arsenokoitai,” possibly invented by Paul, combines two words meaning “bed” and “males.” It is often translated as “anal intercourse.” An early Greek church leader, John Chrysostom, assigned different penances for anal intercourse, depending with whom is was done: one’s wife, a woman not one’s wife, another man and so on. The most likely meaning of the word used by Paul, however, is “male prostitutes.”

It is regrettable that the Religious Right and others who oppress gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities have taken the bible captive and try to use it to further their own private agenda. This, unfortunately, is nothing new. People in the same state of mind and persuasion wrote and published a book in the United States in 1904 titled, “The Negro: A Beast.” The Bible bigots tried to use Biblical quotations to prove that African Americans aren’t human and, therefore, do not have souls. Not surprisingly, they arrived at the conclusion that African Americans could not have eternal life. Sexual minorities were simply next in line, the last group of “different” human beings who could be oppressed in Christ’s name.

The Bible does not condemn homosexuals or other sexual minorities. Numerous books examine this subject in great detail. I recommend “Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality” by John Boswell, “Jonathan Loved David” by Tom Homer, “Living In Sin?” and “Rescuing The Bible From Fundamentalists” by Bishop John Spong and “Don’t Be Afraid Anymore” by Troy Perry.

Scientific and medical Professionals have long ago shot down the view once held by oppressors of gays and lesbians that homosexuality is a sickness. The same disciplines are in the process of destroying the myth that homosexuality is a matter of choice. Researchers have clearly established the fact that sexual minorities constitute a substantial portion of the people on our planet. Bigotry, unfortunately, is based upon fear and insecurity rather than reason. I find consolation in the history of the Christian church. God has always raised up persons within the Church, to purge the church of the inquisitors and others who murder and abuse other human beings and claim they act in God’s name. this purging may already be underway as clergy and lay persons force denominations to reexamine their long standing beliefs about sexual minorities.
In the past 30 to 40 years, more and more Biblical scholars and theologians have recognized that Scripture does not condemn us. One by one, those who oppress lesbians, gays and other sexual minorities in the name of God are being stripped of their respectability. As this happens, more persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered are coming to understand that our sexuality is a gift to us from God. The Bible does not condemn us for that gift.

Jiffy Lube Gift Card®

2010-02-24T14:07:00.001-06:00

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2009-06-29T20:50:00.000-05:00

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Coffee Drink Recipes

2009-06-29T07:05:00.000-05:00

Random Newspaper Story

2009-05-29T07:34:00.003-05:00

Art student creates invisible car with cool paint-job

2009-05-05T07:07:00.003-05:00

A design student made a battered old Skoda "disappear" by painting it to merge with the surrounding car park.

Sara Watson, who is studying drawing at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan), took three weeks to transform the car's appearance.
She created the illusion in the car park outside her studio at Uclan's Hanover Building in Preston.

The car is now being used for advertising by the local recycling firm that donated the vehicle.

'Just amazing'

Ms Watson, a second year student, said: "I was experimenting with the whole concept of illusion but needed something a bit more physical to make a real impact."

She was given the Skoda Fabia from the breaker's yard at local firm Recycling Lives.

Owner Steve Jackson described her work as "amazing".

"When I first saw the photos I was convinced it was something which had been done on the computer," said Mr Jackson.

"But when you look more closely you see the effort and attention to detail she has put into it. It is just amazing."
source: BBC World America News

"Things our grandkids will never understand"

2009-05-02T20:48:00.002-05:00

source: stickycomics.com

Topic: Winnie the Pooh: On The Swine Flu...

2009-05-01T14:13:00.002-05:00

source: Manny K

What you're really pouring from that carton of orange juice

2009-04-29T07:34:00.002-05:00

What could be simpler than a glass of orange juice? The beverage holds a place in the pantheon of wholesome American breakfast foods, on equal footing with toast, cereal, and eggs. It's pure and natural, ads tell us, and we buy both the sentiment and the product. More than 620 million gallons of orange juice are sold per year in the United States, according to market research from Nielsen.

Author Alissa Hamilton would have us take another look at the glass on the breakfast table. That simplicity is actually the result of a complicated process - juice stored in tanks for long periods, then goosed with flavor packs to taste like fruit again. Her book, "Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice," due out in May from Yale University Press, reveals that orange juice, with its image as a natural Florida product, bears the fingerprints of chemists and is often shipped from South America.

Hamilton traces the history of the drink, first processed in the United States in the early 1900s as a canned juice that was said to taste like "battery acid." World War II ushered in the age of palatable processed orange juice, with the military seeking a source of vitamin C that soldiers would readily consume. In 1948, frozen concentrate was born, too late for the war effort but in time to help revive an ailing citrus industry, which was struggling with a surplus of fruit.

A further boost from Bing Crosby, who crooned about Minute Maid in radio ads, and OJ was on its way to becoming America's favorite breakfast drink. Since then, the citrus industry and its technologies have changed. The FDA tussled with manufacturers to set standards for orange juice. What remains constant? Marketing - some of it deceptive, says Hamilton.

If orange juice isn't harmful, it also isn't what it's portrayed to be. Consumers have a right to know what they are consuming, Hamilton says, and that is at the heart of her story. Ideas spoke with the author, a Woodcock Foundation-funded food and society policy fellow, by phone at her home in Toronto.

IDEAS: You write that the first question everyone asks when they hear about the book is whether orange juice is good for us. So - is orange juice good for us?

HAMILTON: I tell people if you like it, drink it, but not because you think it's good for you. You'd be better off with a whole orange than a glass of orange juice. It has more fiber and more vitamin C. But I'm not a dietitian. The book is not about whether you should drink orange juice and whether it's healthy. It's about how little consumers know about how popular and - in the case of orange juice - seemingly straightforward foods are produced and the repercussions for agriculture.

IDEAS: What isn't straightforward about orange juice?

HAMILTON: It's a heavily processed product. It's heavily engineered as well. In the process of pasteurizing, juice is heated and stripped of oxygen, a process called deaeration, so it doesn't oxidize. Then it's put in huge storage tanks where it can be kept for upwards of a year. It gets stripped of flavor-providing chemicals, which are volatile. When it's ready for packaging, companies such as Tropicana hire flavor companies such as Firmenich to engineer flavor packs to make it taste fresh. People think not-from-concentrate is a fresher product, but it also sits in storage for quite a long time.

IDEAS: What goes into these flavor packs?

HAMILTON: They're technically made from orange-derived substances, essence and oils. Flavor companies break down the essence and oils into individual chemicals and recombine them. I spoke to many people in the industry at Firmenich, different flavorists, and at Tropicana, and what you're getting looks nothing like the original substance. To call it natural at this point is a real stretch.

IDEAS: Why isn't orange flavor listed in the ingredients on the carton?

HAMILTON: The regulations were based on standards of identity for orange juice set in the 1960s. Technology at that time was not sophisticated at all . . . I don't think the concern is so much "are these flavor packs unhealthy?" The bigger issue is the fact that having to add flavor packs shows the product is not as fresh and pure as marketed.

IDEAS: It reminds me of McDonald's adding flavor to its fries to make them taste meaty, or beef extract to Chicken McNuggets, as we read about in "Fast Food Nation."

HAMILTON: The flavor industry can lend diversity to products that aren't really that diverse. Soft drinks are a perfect example: They're corn syrup and flavor. With orange juice, it's masking the processing procedure rather than the diversity of ingredients.

IDEAS: So parse the carton for us. For example, what is the phrase "not from concentrate" really about?

HAMILTON: In the '80s, Tropicana had a hold on ready-to-serve orange juice with full-strength juice. Then this new product, reconstituted orange juice, started appearing in supermarkets. Tropicana had to make decisions. Storing concentrate is much cheaper than full-strength juice. The phrase "not from concentrate" was to try to make consumers pay more for the product because it's a more expensive product to manufacture. It didn't have to do with the product being fresher; the product didn't change, the name simply changed. Tropicana didn't want to have to switch to concentrate technology.

IDEAS: A battle of the beverages?

HAMILTON: Yes. This is the orange juice equivalent of the cola wars. Minute Maid is probably the most familiar reconstituted orange juice, and it's owned by Coca-Cola. Tropicana is owned by Pepsi.

IDEAS: To what degree is orange juice still made from Florida oranges?

HAMILTON: Most concentrate is now from Brazil. Shipping it is relatively easy. Until recently, you could count on [Tropicana] Pure Premium being from Florida, but shipping technology has advanced. Companies like Tropicana have started shipping full-strength juice from Brazil rather than buying and squeezing in Florida. The majority of not-from-concentrate is coming from Florida-squeezed oranges, but that's certainly changing. The orange growing is moving to Brazil, which grows the most oranges for juice by far. Land is cheaper, and environmental regulations are almost nonexistent.

IDEAS: How is this affecting Florida growers?

HAMILTON: They are really struggling because of the growth of the industry. This product designed to help them has now effectively made them redundant. The groves are disappearing. They're being turned over in favor of condominiums. That was my ultimate aim, to show the connection between how processing does affect growing and how we as buyers - our lack of knowledge - does have implications for agriculture.

IDEAS: It strikes me that this is a timely book, with the Obama administration promising a review of FDA operations.

HAMILTON: I do think there's an opportunity. . . . It's been going on for decades with misleading marketing campaigns; I don't know why anybody isn't standing up to this. It's a perfect place for the FDA to start.

Devra First reports on food for the Globe.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

How Swine Flu Spreads from Pigs to Humans

2009-04-29T07:18:00.002-05:00

source: grow-a-brain

25 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Your Body and Health

2009-04-29T06:51:00.001-05:00

Fascinating facts on nutrition, exercise, sex and more.

In the spirit of those annoying, addictive, you-know-you're-reading-them-even-though-you-wish-you-weren't Facebook notes popping up everywhere, Health.com presents its list of 25 random things you might not know about the human body, nutrition and exercise, sex, sickness, and health. Go ahead: Pass it on to your friends.

1. Rinsing your nose with salt water can help keep you healthy and ward off allergy symptoms. Nasal irrigation is a cheap and easy way to find relief if you have spring allergies, nasal congestion, stuffy noses or post-nasal drip, says Dr. Melissa Pynnonen, co-director of the Michigan Sinus Center and an assistant professor in the University of Michigan's department of otolaryngology.

2. Dogs can smell cancer and low blood sugar. The Pine Street Foundation, a cancer-education and research center in San Anselmo, Calif., published a study showing it was possible to train dogs to identify, based on breath samples, which patients had lung and breast cancer. Now the organization is recruiting ovarian cancer patients and dogs for a new study. In diabetics, the presence of ketones—substances made by the body during the metabolic process—can be smelled in urine and on the breath when blood sugars are high. Dogs can pick up on other smells that humans can’t when glucose levels drop.

3. Researchers at Cornell University found that people who pass through an entryway near the kitchen tend to eat 15 percent more than those who use the front door.

4. You're more likely to have a heart attack on a Monday, or up to three days after you've been diagnosed with the flu or a respiratory tract infection. The risk of dying from a heart attack increases by a third during outbreaks of the flu and related respiratory diseases, found researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The study authors estimate that 90,000 coronary deaths could be prevented a year in the United States if more heart patients simply got a flu shot.

5. You can't get a tan from your computer screen. The Computer Tan Web site was created as a hoax to raise awareness about skin cancer.

6. Obese people spend approximately $485 more on clothing, $828 on extra plane seats, and $36 more on gas each year than their thinner counterparts. Researchers say an overweight driver burns about 18 additional gallons of gas a year. Plus-sized clothing costs 10 percent to 15 percent more than smaller-sized clothes. When it comes to jet fuel, a recent issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicineestimated that the extra weight of obese Americans caused airlines to spend $275 million to burn 350 million more gallons of fuel.

7. Smokers are four times as likely to report feeling unrested after a night's sleep than nonsmokers. Smokers often experience withdrawal symptoms at night, thus causing periods of restlessness and waking. Smokers were also 1.69 times as likely to develop hearing loss than non-smokers, as smoking may affect antioxidative mechanisms or the blood vessels that feed the auditory system.1

8. Eating fruits and vegetables may help the human body make its own aspirin. Findings from the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistryindicate that study participants who received benzoic acid, a natural substance in fruits and vegetables, could make their own salicylic acid, the key component that gives aspirin its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties.

9. A 20-minute nap can improve your overall alertness, boost your mood, and increase productivity. William Anthony, co-author of The Art of Napping at Work (Larson Publications, 1999),says the post-nap boost can last for several hours. In addition, your heart may reap benefits from napping. In a six-year study of Greek adults, researchers found that that men who took naps at least three times a week had a 37 percent lower risk of heart-related death.

10. Your kitchen sink is dirtier than your bathroom: There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in its drain. The faucet, basin, and sponge are crawling with germs as well. Bacteria colonies with a total population exceeding 50 million can live on a single dirty sponge. And just think—that's what you use to wipe down countertops, forks and drinking glasses.

11. Four out of five doctors in the UK don't work out enough. Heavy workloads, lack of time and poor motivation contributed to the lack of exercise.2

12. Baking soda can whiten teeth, garlic can help treat athlete's foot, and honey can soothe a hangover.

13. Using a food diary can double a person's weight-loss efforts. Your food diary makes you accountable to yourself and provides you with clues on where the extra calories are sneaking in.

14. Regular exercise can lower a woman's cancer risk—but only if she's getting enough sleep. The National Cancer Institute followed 5,968 women for almost 10 years, during which 604 of them developed some form of cancer. Women in the top half of physical activity levels showed an approximate 20 percent reduction in cancer risk compared to those who exercised less. For a segment of those women, sleeping less than seven hours per night had a decreased benefit to exercise. Their cancer risk was greater than those who exercised but slept more—but still lower than those who exercised the least.

15.Watching yourself run in a mirror can make a treadmill workout go by faster and feel easier.

16. Third-hand smoke—the particles that cling to smokers' hair and clothing and linger in a room long after they've left—is a cancer risk to young children (and pets).

17. Walking against the wind, in the water, or while wearing a backpack burns about 50 more calories per hour than walking with no resistance. People who wear pedometers also tend to burn more calories and lose more weight.

18. Trained sexologists can infer a woman's orgasm history by observing the way she walks.3 In other research news, men find women who wear red sexier than those who wear "cool" colors such as blue and green.

19.Foreign accent syndrome and exploding head syndrome are real (but very rare) medical conditions. The American Sleep Association explains that a person with exploding head syndrome experiences a a loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside the head.

20. Vitamins don't seem to help older women guard against cancer or heart disease.

21. Some men experience pain, headaches, or sneezing as a result of ejaculation. The increased activity in the nervous system during orgasm may be the culprit in triggering headaches.

22. Germ-killing wipes can spread bacteria from one spot to another if you reuse them. Researchers at the Welsh School of Pharmacy at Cardiff University in Wales issued their concern on the use of the wipes in hospitals and the importance of a routine surveillance program in reducing risks of infection to patients.

23. Oatmeal, citrus fruits, and honey can boost your sex drive and improve fertility. Oats produce a chemical that releases testosterone into the blood supply, increasing sex drive and orgasm strength. Vitamin C found in citrus fruits improves sperm count and motility, while vitamin B from honey helps the body use estrogen, a key factor in blood flow and arousal.

24. Twenty-nine percent of Americans say they have skipped filling a prescription due to the cost, and 23 percent use pill splitting as a way to save money.

25. Facebook may be good for your health: Studies show that staying in touch with family and friends can ward off memory loss and help you live longer.

Become a fan of Health.com on Facebook for weekly healthy-living tips and updates.

Sources:

1. JAMA: Cigarette Smoking and Hearing Loss

2. British Journal of Sports Medicine: "Doctors Fighting Fit or Couch Potatoes"

3. Physorg.com: Gait may be associated with orgasmic ability

Swine Flu

2009-04-27T12:23:00.001-05:00

source: digg_2000"Swine Flu" - http://digg.com/d2phD4?OTC-...

The Future of Google

2009-04-21T07:05:00.001-05:00

source: Gyana_04

An Undelivered Nixon Speech

2009-04-20T18:46:00.014-05:00

Nixon Speech if Neil Armstrong had died on the Moon

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The following speech, revealed in 1999, was prepared by Nixon's then speechwriter, William Safire, to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts on the moon:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

source: watergate.info

Battery Powered Battery Charger

2009-04-19T08:49:00.001-05:00

source: sandossu's photostream

"Yup, This is Modern Art"

2009-04-19T08:40:00.002-05:00

YouTube - TV Shows and Movies

2009-04-19T08:34:00.001-05:00

YouTube has rolled out platform for TV shows and movies: http://youtube.com/shows or http://youtube.com/movies

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel

2009-04-19T08:12:00.001-05:00

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.
Here is the first SprintCam v3 showreel, made for NAB 2009 exhibition.
Mostly 1000FPS shots, made during a recent rubgy competition in the Stade de France, Paris.

10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About

2009-04-19T07:48:00.006-05:00

Youtube - You know that site with videos and all. Yeah! It turns out that its quite popular and you happen to visit and use it quite often. Instead of just searching and playing here are some top Youtube URL tricks that you should know about:

1. View high quality videos
Youtube gives you the option to switch to high quality videos for some of the videos, however you can check if a video is available in high quality format by appending ‘&fmt=18′(stereo, 480 x 270 resolution) or ‘&fmt=22′(stereo, 1280 x 720 resolution) for even higher quality.

2. Embed Higher Quality Videos
While the above trick works for playback, if however you want to embed hig quality videos you need to append “&ap=%2526fmt%3D18″ and “&ap=%2526fmt%3D22″ to the embed url.

3. Cut the chase and link to the interesting part
Linking to a video where the real action starts at 3 minutes 22 seconds, wondered if you could make it start at 03:22? You are in luck. All you have to do is add #t=03m22s (#t=XXmYYs for XX mins and YY seconds) to the end of the URL.

4. Hide the search box

The search box appears when you hover over an embedded video. To hide the search box add ‘&showsearch=0′ to the embed url.

5. Embed only a part of Video

Just append ‘&start=30′ to skip first 30s of the video. In general you can modify the value after start= to the number of seconds you want to skip the video for.

6. Autoplay an embedded video
Normally when you embed a Youtube video and load the page, the player is loaded and it sits there waiting for you to hit the play button. You can make the video play automatically by adding ‘&autoplay=1′ to the url part of the embed code.

7. Loop an embedded video
Append ‘&loop=1′ to make the video start again without user intervention after it reaches the end.

8. Disable Related Videos
Publishing your content in the form of Youtube video? Don’t want people to see other people’s content that may be related but may as well be in competition to you? Just add ‘&rel=0′ to the end of the url part of the embed code and you just turned off the related video suggestions!

9. Bypass Youtube Regional Filtering
Some videos are only available in certain parts of the world. Your IP Address is used to determine your location and then allow or deny access to the video. Change the url from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= to http://www.youtube.com/v/

10. Download Video
Although not inherently a youtube trick but useful all the same for downloading videos. Just change youtube to kickyoutube in the url of the video and it will take you to kickyoutube.com with all the options for downloading the video you were watching.

(By) Varun Kashyap - Programmer, Blogger and Tech enthusiast, who also blogs about tips, tricks and hacks on TechCrazy Blog

Tabletop Technology

2009-02-26T08:28:00.006-06:00

I love this....technology has come so far!

Funny Commercial

2008-08-26T13:24:00.002-05:00

This is my favorite commercial of all time!

Cheese-ball Alert

2008-08-17T19:00:00.002-05:00

This made me cry today...

Source: The Daily Purge

Interesting facts about high Oil company profits

2008-08-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

ExxonMobil CEO and chairman Rex Tillerson recently defended his company's staggering $11.7 billion in profits for the second quarter on ABC news, saying that the company's earnings reflected the magnitude of its business operation .

"I saw someone characterize our profits the other day in terms of $1,400 in profit per second. Well, they also need to understand we paid $4,000 a second in taxes, and we spent $15,000 a second in cost," Tillerson told ABC News' Charles Gibson. "We spend $1 billion a day just running our business. So this is a business where large numbers are just characteristic of it."

Source: ABC News

QUESTIONS THAT HAUNT ME!

2008-08-06T13:54:00.002-05:00

If you have sex with a prostitute against her will, is it considered rape or shoplifting?
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Can you cry under water?
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How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
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Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?
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Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?
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Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
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What disease did cured ham actually have?
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How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
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Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
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If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
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Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
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Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
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Why do doctors leave the room while you change?
They're going to see you naked anyway.
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Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?
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Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
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If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
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Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
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If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
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Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?
They're both dogs!
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If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
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If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
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Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
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Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
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Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?
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Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Presbyterian Church votes to end discrimination against LGBT members

2008-07-08T08:40:00.002-05:00

Friday, June 27, 2008
Presbyterian Church (USA) just voted 54% to 46% to end discrimination
against LGBT members San Jose: This is an amazing moment in history. I give thanks to God for all of you who have been praying, believing and working for the Presbyterian Church (USA) to end discrimination against its own lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender daughters and sons, sisters and brothers in Christ.

Today, the 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA voted 54% to 46% to end discrimination against LGBT members of our Church; and to provide spiritual and ordination equality for LGBT Presbyterians.

The Assembly approved the Boston Ordination Equality Overture which called for a deletion of the "fidelity in marriage, chastity in singleness" requirement and lifted up our historic Constitutional questions for ordination and installation. This part of the overture requires ratification by the presbyteries in the next year.

The second part of the overture provides a new Authoritative Interpretation struck down the anti-gay policy statements beginning with the 1978 Definitive Guidance and the subsequent 1979 ruling that homosexuality is not compatible with service in the Church, sinful and not part of God's design. These profoundly informed and homophobic statements from the past of our Church have no further force or effect with the approval of this Boston Ordination Overture.

More Light Presbyterians gives thanks to God for all of the Commissioners, Youth Advisory Delegates and other delegates who are serving faithfully this week. There is clearly a sea-change in our Church, society and world as more people are letting go of the old beliefs and prejudice about homosexuality, same-gender loving persons
and embracing what it means to recognize Christ and the divine image within all of God children, no exceptions.

Source: Topix

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ENERGY SAVER LIGHT BULBS!

2008-06-23T07:33:00.002-05:00

Interesting clip....We are going NUTS in this country!

Medical Accomplishments

2008-06-11T15:49:00.000-05:00

A Japanese doctor said, 'Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks.'

A German doctor said, 'That's nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks.'

A British doctor said, 'In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half of a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in two weeks.'

A Texas doctor, not to be outdone said, 'You guys are way behind. We took a man with no brains out of Texas; put him in the White House, and now half the country is looking for work.'

Something Light: Kids say the darndest things

2008-06-05T07:37:00.005-05:00

I used to love watching Kids Say the Darndest Things with Bill Cosby and Art Linkletter. If you never got to see the show, its premise involved Cosby or Linkletter interviewing young children, whose candid replies kept audiences in stitches. (It sure beat much of the reality television that has aired in recent years!) Here’s a clip from the show.

What’s the funniest thing a child ever told you?

Source: WorldMagBlog - Kristin Chapman

Harvey Korman 1927 - 2008

2008-06-02T08:33:00.006-05:00

The late Harvey Korman, second from right, in a 1968 skit on "The Carol Burnett Show," in which some shapely legs -- and then their owners -- are revealed to the audience. From left, Betty Grable, Martha Raye, Jackie Gregory, Lyle Waggoner, Korman and Burnett.

"Give me something bizarre to play, or put me in a dress and I'm fine," Korman jokingly said in a 2005 Chicago Sun-Times interview.

My family to this day will recite lines from "Eunice and Ed" when we get together.

Korman and Conway developed an uncanny rapport that made them arguably one of television's most lethal comic teams; Conway's on-camera ad-libs often made Korman crack up; producers wisely kept them in the show.

For about eight years, until late last December, the pair toured the country in a stage show that, more than anything, was a homage to their years with Burnett. They performed about 120 shows a year.

"I don't know whether either one of us was the straight man," Conway said. "The most important thing in comedy when you're working together is for one guy to know when to shut up. And we both knew when to shut up; quiet show, actually."

One of their favorite routines from the Burnett show was the dentist sketch, "where I kind of anesthetize my entire body with Novocain" while trying to fill Korman's teeth, Conway told The Times on Thursday.

"They play it at all the dental schools, as kind of an introduction on how not to do it," Conway said.

Korman suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm in January, the same malady that claimed my uncle Toots in his early sixties, several years ago. Most people cannot survive it but Korman battled for four months before passing on Thursday.

I think my favorite memory of Korman is from Blazing Saddles, when his character Hedley Lamarr was constantly irritated at having to correct the pronunciation of his name.

"Head - leh"

It's been a difficult week for Hollywood legends, and those of us who are their fans.

source: Brains and Eggs

Marriage is Fun

2008-05-27T18:32:00.022-05:00

In honor of California's recent victory, here are some examples of mistakes NOT to make in your marriage announcements...

At least these two tired.....

Source: Famous Like Me

Holding Us Back

2008-05-20T08:13:00.007-05:00

The oil producing nations are causing our high gasoline prices. The third largest producer of crude has put millions of oil reserves off limits to drilling because of leftist interest.

It may surprise Americans to discover that the United States is the third-largest oil producer, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. We could be producing more, but Congress has put large areas of potential supply off-limits. These include the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and parts of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. By government estimates, these areas may contain 25 billion to 30 billion barrels of oil (against about 30 billion barrels of proven U.S. reserves today) and 80 trillion cubic feet or more of natural gas (compared with about 200 tcf of proven reserves).

What keeps these areas closed are exaggerated environmental fears, strong prejudice against oil companies and sheer stupidity. Americans favor both "energy independence" and cheap fuel. They deplore imports -- who wants to pay foreigners? -- but oppose more production in the United States. Got it? The result is a "no-pain energy agenda that sounds appealing but has no basis in reality," writes Robert Bryce in "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of 'Energy Independence.' "

Then there is the ethanol crises which we heavily subsidise farmers and manufactures, while we throw a $0.58 a gallon tarrif on on top of the state and Federal taxes of $2.00 a gallon Brazillian Ethanol.

But major obstacles remain. Unlike Brazil, U.S. producers make ethanol from corn, which is a far less efficient source, yielding four times less energy than sugar. Ethanol prices in the U.S. are less competitive than in Brazil. U.S. producers are protected by a 54 cent per gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol.

Source: liberty's blog

The Real McCain

2008-05-18T19:04:00.001-05:00

Source: The Real MCcain

Summing up W

2008-05-13T07:38:00.004-05:00

Six Words For Bush asks that you sum up the current presidency in only six words.

It's a contest that runs til Inauguration Day.

We'll have to think a bit before we submit our own entry to christinehalvorson@yahoo.com, but submit we will. All in due time, my pretty.

Don't whine that six isn't enough words for you rednecks to assemble a coherent history of W.

Just remember what Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of strategery."

Source: THE BRAZOSPORT NEWS

Update: Submitted my entry, "Advisors should be advisors – not policymakers."

This seems like a good use of taxpayer dollars...

2008-05-13T07:30:00.003-05:00

KHOU-11 reports that the City of Houston will decide whether or not to allocate $150,000 to defend Chief Hurtt's no facial hair policy:

The case centers around four Houston police officers who filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against HPD over their beards.

The officers have not been allowed to wear a uniform because of the department’s strict no facial hair policy.

Yeah, with HPD's manpower shortage, this idea was pure genius: Sideline four officers AND spend thousands of dollars!

Source: blogHouston.net

A tasty tidbit: Beef brisket is good for you

2008-04-30T08:26:00.004-05:00

A&M scientists say corn-fed cattle yield meat that's high in healthy fat

Texas A&M University scientists Tuesday gave a big thumbs up to barbecued beef brisket, saying the mainstay of he-man Texas cuisine is loaded with the same type of healthy fat found in olive or canola oil.

The high level of monosaturated fat found in brisket — up to 50 percent — comes from feeding cattle corn in a feedlot setting, AgriLife meat scientist Stephen Smith said. The more corn a steer eats, the higher the percentage of the good fat.

Olive and canola oils contain up to 80 percent monosaturated fat.

Smith and Texas A&M graduate student Stacey Turk, who conducted the research for her master's thesis in animal science, contend the discovery bodes well for other beef products in grocers' meat counters.

Grinding brisket, or grinding parts of brisket that contain the highest concentration of fat, could provide a healthy alternative to conventional ground beef, which typically is made from cuts higher in saturated fat, Smith said.

The key to brisket's monosaturated fat seems to be the corn-fed finishing most American cattle receive in feedlots. The same breeds of cattle fed entirely on grass do not develop the health-enhancing quality, nor is all fat in cornfed beef high in monosaturated acids.

Smith and Turk said they believe the new findings will be a boon to the beef business.

But there are concerns.

With biofuel makers now in the corn market, the golden grain is costing feedlot operators a whopping $5 a bushel, Smith noted.

And hours after Texas A&M announced its study Tuesday, the Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health issued a scathing report on cattle feedlots and other aspects of modern industrial farming.

Hitting where it really hurts, other studies have indicated that grilling or barbecuing animal protein can generate heterocyclic amines linked to breast and colon cancer.

But not to worry.

Smith said Wagyu, Japanese cattle that typically spend their entire lives in pastures eating grass, also build up healthy levels of monosaturated fat in marbled flesh.

Perhaps the solution is to chow down on a delectable hunk of Wagyu. Raw.

Source: Houston Chornicle - allan.turner@chron.com

Sordid Lives: The Series

2008-04-26T08:07:00.002-05:00

Logo will premiere Sordid Lives: The Series on July 23 at 10p with twelve 30m episodes based on the 1996 play and 2000 film of the same title about a dysfunctional southern family and citizens of Winters, TX.

The television series will star Bonnie Bedelia, Beth Grant, Leslie Jordan, Rue McClanahan, Olivia Newton-John and Caroline Rhea.

Source: Ellegedly.com

Just Because.....

2008-04-24T22:30:00.001-05:00

New Living Will Form

2008-04-10T08:32:00.007-05:00

I, ____________, being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of pinhead partisan politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it, or lawyers/doctors/hospitals interested in simply running up the bills.

If a reasonable amount of time passes, and I fail to ask for at least one of the following:

______a Martini ______a Margarita _______ a Cape Cod with 2 limes
______a Bloody Mary ______a Rum drink with an umbrella
______a Steak ______Lobster or crab legs ______The remote control
______a bowl of ice cream ______The Chronicle entertainment section -or-
______Chocolate

it should be presumed that I won't ever get any better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my appointed person and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes, and call it a day. At this point, it is time to call the New Orleans Jazz Funeral Band to come do their thing at my funeral, and ask all of my friends to raise their glasses to toast the good times we have had.

Signature: _________________________________

Date: _____________________

Help me pick my daughter's senior Pics

2008-02-25T22:18:00.010-06:00

Please take a look at the pics of my daughter below and let me know your favorites. We are trying to decide which ones to order.....
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -

On a light hearted note - - boyfriend didn't believe him - --

2008-02-14T07:46:00.005-06:00

It's a time-worn president's trick: walk up to a congressman chatting on the phone and send your regards to the astonished person on the other end of the line, charming the listener with your regular-guy credentials.

That's what President Bush did Monday night at the State of the Union address, when he approached Newton Democrat Barney Frank, who was talking on his cell phone in the House Speaker's lobby before Bush's speech.

What Bush didn't know was that the congressman was talking to his boyfriend.

"Tell him I said, 'Hello,' '' Bush said to Frank, leaning in to pat the congressman' s shoulder. As Bush continued into the House chamber, Frank told his skeptical boyfriend that it had been the conservative Republican president sending his good wishes. Frank's boyfriend didn't believe him, so the Massachusetts lawmaker put one of the sergeants-at- arms on the phone to back up his story.

After the speech, Frank said, he felt he had to tell Bush what he had done. After all, the president opposes gay marriage, and gay rights groups do not see the president as an ally.

Frank sought out the president, who put his hand on the back of the congressman' s head to hear him more clearly in the noisy, crowded room.

"Mr. President, by the way, the person I was talking to when you said to say hello was my boyfriend,'' Frank said he told the commander-in- chief.

"Well. I hope you said how open-minded I am,'' Frank said the president replied.

"I considered telling [the president] I wouldn't marry him,'' Frank said, "but then I thought, 'Nah.' ''

Source: Susan Milligan, Boston Globe

Lest we forget - " - - Over 65,000 homosexuals were interred or murdered

2008-02-13T08:31:00.005-06:00

"We know Jews were the primary victims of the racism experienced during this horrendous period, but homosexuals were also targeted along with Roma gypsies and disabled people.

Event to remember gay suffering
A special ceremony took place at Liverpool's St John's Gardens in memory of the thousands of homosexuals who suffered at the hands of the Nazis. It was described as an opportunity to remember all those who died.

It was part of the events to leading up to National Holocaust Memorial Day being held in the city on Sunday.

A pink wreath in the shape of a triangle, the badge that gay men were forced to wear, was laid prior to a two-minute silence.

Over 65,000 homosexuals were interred or murdered between 1934 and 1945.

The wreath was laid by representatives from the Homotopia festival, Armistead, a sexual health service for gay and bisexual men, Lambda Centre Warsaw and Merseyside Police Anti-Hate Crime Unit.

Homosexuals 'targeted'

Director of the Homotopia festival, Gary Everett, who has organised the wreath-laying event said: "The Holocaust was one of the most horrific and evil chapters in modern history.

"It is of continuing importance that we not only remember the many lives lost but always be vigilant that something of this magnitude never happens again."

Liverpool's Lord Mayor, Councillor Paul Clark, said: "Holocaust Memorial Day gives us all the opportunity to remember those groups who were persecuted during the Holocaust.

"We know Jews were the primary victims of the racism experienced during this horrendous period, but homosexuals were also targeted along with Roma gypsies and disabled people.

"All the events running up to Sunday's main commemorative event play a pivotal role in educating people of all ages about the atrocities experienced during the Holocaust and more recent genocides."

Oil Prices!!

2008-01-24T16:05:00.000-06:00

Gore for same-sex marriage

2008-01-23T13:23:00.000-06:00

Not sure what prompted this, but Al Gore has quietly released a video with a forceful endorsement of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians. It pushes the Democratic establishment that much closer to a position he now shares with Eliot Spitzer and some other leading Dems, and is prompting a bit of grumbling in gay political circles that this batch of candidates aren't quite there.

"Gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women -- to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage, and I don't understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage," he says on the video, which appears on his Current TV network. "Shouldn't we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to ones partner regardless of sexual orientation?"

Gore's words come after the leading presidential candidates have tiptoed up to, but not crossed, the line of support for same-sex marriage. All three support equal substantive rights for gay and lesbians couples, and they've sought to woo gay voters in other ways: Elizabeth Edwards has voiced her support for same-sex marriage, for instance, and Barack Obama recently scolded the black church for homophobia, in a speech to an African-American congregation.

(via Towleroad)

America's worst 20 fast food items

2008-01-14T07:51:00.000-06:00

Most folks can get by quite well with eating less than 2,000 calories per day. Each of these food items pretty well gets you there.

Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes?

By the way, just to show that you can find almost anything on the Web, The Healthy Dining Finder can help you pick healthier choices from standard restaurant menus by eliminating high-calorie add-ons.

Source: Houston's Clear Thinkers

Myths about oil are hard to dispel

2008-01-14T07:41:00.000-06:00

Amidst the demagoguery of a U.S. Presidential campaign, it's rare to find the mainstream media willing to run Robert Bryce's common sense on energy policy and oil prices. For example:

Myth 3: Energy independence will let America choke off the flow of money to nasty countries.
Fans of energy independence argue that if the United States stops buying foreign energy, it will deny funds to petro-states such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. But the world marketplace doesn't work like that. Oil is a global commodity. Its price is set globally, not locally. Oil buyers are always seeking the lowest-cost supplier. So any Saudi crude being loaded at the Red Sea port of Yanbu that doesn't get purchased by a refinery in Corpus Christi or Houston will instead wind up in Singapore or Shanghai.

Refer to this article whenever you are listening to the candidates from either party start talking about energy policy. Come to think of it, while considering political choices, you should also keep handy this Bryan Caplan/WaPo op-ed entitled 5 Myths About Our Ballot-Box Behavior.

Source: Houston Clear Thinkers

Want to lose weight really, really fast? Chew gum.

2008-01-14T07:30:00.000-06:00

Here's a short new study from German scientists who found that excess intake of sorbitol, a sweetener widely used in chewing gum, could induce severe weight loss. Patients could lose, in fact, as much as 20 percent of body mass.

From a summary of the article:

The first patient (a 21 year old woman) chewed large amounts of sugar-free gum, accounting for a total daily dose of 18-20g sorbitol (one stick of chewing gum contains about 1.25g sorbitol). The second patient (a 46 year old man) reported chewing 20 sticks of sugar-free gum and eating up to 200g of sweets each day, which together contained around 30g sorbitol.

After both patients started a sorbitol free diet, diarrhoea subsided, normal bowel movements resumed and weight gain was achieved.

As possible side effects are usually found only within the small print on foods containing sorbitol, consumers may be unaware of its laxative effects and fail to recognise a link with their gastrointestinal problems, write the authors.

It's true that this information is clinically useful to physicians, but does anyone else see the great potential for abuse here by those wanting to go on crash diets?

1. Eat 20 sticks of gum
2. Get really sick
3. Lose 20 pounds
4. Fit into that wedding dress

Originally posted by SciGuy

Change

2008-01-14T07:23:00.000-06:00

"Top Ten Least Popular Holiday TV Specials"

2008-01-07T07:42:00.000-06:00

Well, the results are in......enjoy!

"Top Ten Least Popular Holiday TV Specials"

As submitted by viewers of Dave Letterman.

10. "Mugging On 34th Street"
- Mike M., Wonder Lake, IL

9. "Gift Wrapping With The Stars"
- TJ L., Racine, WI

8. "Donald Trump's Holiday Combovers"
- Jeffrey W., Roscoe, NY

7. "Hillary Clinton in 'Pantsuits of Christmas Past'"
- James B., Mt. Ida, AR

6. "The 75th Annual Leaving of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Out On The Curb"
- Richard F., Saint Mays, CA

5. "That's Hot: Paris Hilton Tells The Story Of The Yule Log"
- Christine N., Del Mar, CA

4. "Pamela Anderson Celebrates 'The Twelve Days of Marriage'"
- Vern P., Gainesville, VA

3. "Larry Craig's Tappin' New Year's Eve"
- Anne S., Seattle, WA

2. "Michael Vick in 'Snoopy's Last Christmas'"
- Greg F., Columbia, SC

1. "Rudolph, The Performance-Enhanced Reindeer"
- Mark L., Kansas City, MO

Wonder Dog

2008-01-04T09:04:00.001-06:00

Life's Journey

2008-01-03T15:34:00.000-06:00

Love is for Everyone

2008-01-03T09:51:00.000-06:00

Click on image to view full content....

Combating the Bible's "clobber passages"

2007-12-26T10:04:00.000-06:00

For those of you interested in combating the unfavorable Bible texts thrown your way, check out this online magazine for GLBT Christians:

http://whosoever.org/bible/

The negative or critical e-mails I've received advise me to read my Bible. Specifically, I've been urged to read at least one or all of the six passages we as GLBT Christians know as the "clobber passages". These are verses, we're told, where God condemns homosexuality in no uncertain terms.

I have read my Bible, and I've paid close attention to those "clobber passages." So have many Bible scholars. We all agree that nowhere in the Bible are same-sex committed and loving relationships condemned. It's just not there. Instead, the Bible holds much joy, comfort and love for GLBT Christians willing to wade into its pages and hear the loving voice of God.

This section of Whosoever explores the 6 "clobber passages" and several other verses used as "prooftexts" of homosexuality's condemnation...........

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

2007-10-23T09:26:00.000-05:00

No hand held calculators, no internet, no TV, no cell phones, no iPods, no electricity, no cars; so is all the new technology really helping????

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam:

Salina, KS, 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie', 'play', and 'run.'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? & lt; BR>10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) (Do we even know what this is???)
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication.
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of: Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it? This also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers, and I failed the 8th grade test!

politically correct

2007-10-13T05:23:00.000-05:00

Indeed, Miss Manners has come to believe that the basic political division in this country is not between liberals and conservatives but between those who believe that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers and those who do not.

-- Miss Manners (Judith Martin)

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey

2007-09-24T11:23:00.000-05:00

*TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey*
Name:	Tom
Birthday:	11/22/1960
Birthplace:	Victoria, Texas
Current Location:	Houston, Texas
Eye Color:	Green
Hair Color:	Light Brown
Height:	6'1"
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Left
Your Heritage:	Anglo
The Shoes You Wore Today:	black & brown boat shoes
Your Weakness:	Can't say "NO"
Your Fears:	Saying "NO"
Your Perfect Pizza:	All Meat - thin crust
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	earn a huge bonus
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	LOL
Thoughts First Waking Up:	Cully!
Your Best Physical Feature:	eyes
Your Bedtime:	11:30-midnight
Your Most Missed Memory:	coming out so late in life
Pepsi or Coke:	neither - can't have bubbles......
MacDonalds or Burger King:	BK
Single or Group Dates:	single
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Republic of Tea
Chocolate or Vanilla:	chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Late'
Do you Smoke:	no
Do you Swear:	some
Do you Sing:	some
Do you Shower Daily:	YES
Have you Been in Love:	YES
Do you want to go to College:	already did
Do you want to get Married:	already did
Do you belive in yourself:	yes
Do you get Motion Sickness:	yes
Do you think you are Attractive:	yes
Are you a Health Freak:	no
Do you get along with your Parents:	the one still alive
Do you like Thunderstorms:	yes
Do you play an Instrument:	used to
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	yes
In the past month have you Smoked:	no
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	no
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	yes
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	no
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	no
In the past month have you been on Stage:	no
In the past month have you been Dumped:	yes
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	no
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	no
Ever been Drunk:	yes
Ever been called a Tease:	yes
Ever been Beaten up:	no
Ever Shoplifted:	yes
How do you want to Die:	quickly
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	in love
What country would you most like to Visit:	GB
*In a Boy/Girl..*
Favourite Eye Color:	green
Favourite Hair Color:	blond
Short or Long Hair:	short
Height:	6'
Weight:	HWP
Best Clothing Style:	put together
Number of Drugs I have taken:	1
Number of CDs I own:	150
Number of Piercings:	0
Number of Tattoos:	0
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	a lot
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

Before you judge Britney, watch this......

2007-09-11T23:23:00.000-05:00

Police Officer Steals Marijuana

2007-09-11T19:13:00.000-05:00

Police Officer bakes brownies then calls 911 and says "I think we are dying".

Thought for the Day...

2007-09-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

The 10 Rules of Life

2007-09-07T09:22:00.001-05:00

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.

A Heterosexual Questionnaire

2007-09-05T08:34:00.000-05:00

What do you think caused your heterosexuality?

When and how did you first decide you were heterosexual?

Is it possible that heterosexuality is a phase that you will grow out of?

Is it possible that you are heterosexual because you fear the same sex?

If you have never slept with someone of the same sex, how do you know you wouldn't prefer that? Is it possible you merely need a good gay experience?

To whom have you disclosed your heterosexuality? How did they react?

Heterosexuality isn't offensive as long as you leave others alone. Why, however, do so many heterosexuals try to seduce others into their orientation?

Most child molesters are heterosexual. Do you consider it safe to expose your children to heterosexuals? Heterosexual teachers particularly?

Why are heterosexuals so blatant, always making a spectacle of their heterosexuality? Why can't they just be who they are and not flaunt their sexuality by kissing in public, wearing wedding rings, etc.?

How can you have a truly satisfying relationship with someone of the opposite sex, given the obvious physical and emotional differences?

Heterosexual marriage has total societal support, yet over half of all heterosexuals who marry this year will divorce. Why are their so few successful heterosexual relationships?

Given the problems heterosexuals face, would you want your children to be heterosexual? would you consider aversion therapy to try to change them?

...from "Becoming Visible: a Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School and College Students," 1994, ed. by Kevin Jennings,
Alyson Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA 90078

© Copyright 1999 Montrose Counseling Center, Inc. and Texas Commission on
Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

You don't have to be gay to be gay on the inside.

2007-09-04T08:52:00.000-05:00

You don't have to be gay to be gay on the inside. Anyone can do it! It just requires three things:
(1) consider that you might be different from the way people think you are;
(2) consider that you might be different from the way you think you are supposed to be;
(3) be willing to accept that other people may disapprove of your choices, and realize that their approval doesn't matter all that much anyway.

Get past those things, and you can start thinking about what you really need to be in order to be your true self.

A GUY'S QUICK TRIPTO WALMART

2007-08-29T10:44:00.000-05:00

You are in the middle of some kind of project around the house. Mowing the lawn, putting a new fence in, painting the living room, or whatever. You are hot and sweaty. Covered in dirt or paint. You have your old work clothes on. You know the outfit, shorts with the hole in crotch, old t-shirt with a stain from who knows what and an old pair of tennis shoes.
Right in the middle of this great home improvement project you realize you need to run to Wal-Mart to get something required to complete the job. Depending on your age you might do the following:

In your 20's: Stop what you are doing. Shave, take a shower, blow dry your hair, brush your teeth, floss and put on clean clothes. Check yourself in the mirror and flex. Add a dab of your favorite cologne because you never know, you just might meet some hot chick while standing in the checkout lane. You went to school with the pretty girl running the register.

In your 30's: Stop what you are doing, put on clean shorts and shirt. Change shoes. You married the hot chick so no need for much else. Wash your hands and comb your hair. Check yourself in the mirror. Still got it. Add a shot of your favorite cologne to cover the smell. The cute girl running theregister is the kid sister to someone you went to school with.

In your 40's: Stop what you are doing. Put a sweatshirt that is long enough to cover the hole in the crotch of your shorts. Put on different shoes and a hat. Wash your hands. Your bottle of Brute Cologne is almost empty so you don't want to waste any of it on a trip to Wal-Mart. Check yourself in the mirror and do more sucking in than flexing. The spicy young thing running the register is your daughter's age and you feel weird thinking she is spicy.

In your 50's: Stop what you are doing. Put a hat on, wipe the dirt off your hands onto your shirt. Change shoes because you don't want to get dirt in your new sports car. Check yourself in the mirror and you swear not to wear that shirt anymore because it makes you look fat. The cutie running the register smiles when she sees you coming and you think you still have it. Then you remember the hat you have on is from your buddy's bait shop and it says, "I Got Worms".

In your 60's: Stop what you are doing. No need for a hat anymore. Hose the dog crap off your shoes. The mirror was shattered when you were in your 50's. You hope you have underwear on so nothing hangs out the hole in your pants. The girl running the register may be cute but you don't have your glasses on so you are not sure.

In your 70's: Stop what you are doing. Wait to go to Wal-Mart until they have your prescriptions ready too. Don't even notice the dog crap on your shoes. The young thing at the register smiles at you because you remind her of her grandfather.

In your 80's: Stop what you are doing. Start again. Then stop again. Now you remember that you needed to go to Wal-Mart. Go to Wal-Mart and wander around trying to think what it is you are looking for. Fart out loud and you think someone called out your name. The old lady that greeted you at the front door went to school with you.

2007-08-16T08:10:00.000-05:00

You've got to love this little girl; she knows what she wants already. What a fine woman/wife she'll make!

A teacher asked her class, 'What do you want out of life?'

A little girl in the back row raised her hand and said, 'All I want out of life is four little animals.'

The teacher asked, 'Really, and what four little animals would that be sugar?'

The little girl said, 'A mink on my back, a jaguar in the garage, a tiger in the bed and of course, I'll need a jackass to pay for all of it.'

The teacher fainted.

Headline of the week: Pucker up for this

2007-08-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

My mission as a blogger is to bring a little, er, zest to your life. The latest headline Headline Hall of Fame Headline I've found is this one from Australia's The Age:

Lemon douche is a cervical cancer risk

Don't be bitter. When life hands you lemons ... make a feminine hygiene product. To read the story that goes with it -- no peeling required -- click here.

Untamed tongues a-wagging on the web

2007-07-18T07:43:00.000-05:00

Tired of only reading gossip about Paris and her pals and yearn to get the dirt on your friends and neighbors? The folks behind GossipReport.com certainly hope so. "We are the only site that focuses on gossip of the noncelebrity," said Ashley Murphy, the website's director of media relations, who also pointed out, "We don't create gossip, we just organize it." That's an important legal distinction to make, since Section 230 of the federal 1996 Communications Decency Act doesn't hold websites liable for what's posted by anonymous visitors on their online forums. But just because it's legal doesn't make it ethical. As James 3:5 says about our untamed tongues, "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!" Imagine that blaze multiplied many times over on the Internet.

Coming to a Wal-Mart near you

2007-07-18T07:37:00.000-05:00

Move over G.I. Joe; there's a new gang in town: the Tales of Glory Spirit Warrior Action Figures. The figurines of famous Bible men like Daniel, Sampson, and Goliath will begin appearing on Wal-Mart shelves next month and represent the first time the world's largest retailer has carried a full line of religious toys. Only about one-sixth of Wal-Mart's 3,300 stores will carry the toys and were selected based on the number of Bibles they sell. "They'll carry anything that sells," said David Croyle, president of FamilyLife. "This simply signals intelligent buying within Wal-Mart." If you're a parent, are these toys something your child would play with, and are they something you would buy for him or her?

America's beautiful people

2007-07-13T07:39:00.000-05:00

This is what makes American people so Beautiful!!

Photo of the Week: First Drive-in Service Station

2007-07-12T12:56:00.000-05:00

A far cry from the "Service Station of Tomorrow," provided by the Shell Oil Company, shows a service station built in St. Louis in 1905, the first drive-in station in the world. Its original equipment, a gravity tank on stilts, a faucet and a fifteen-foot length of gardenhose, was considered a radical improvement over the old method of retailing gasoline in 5 and 10 gallon cans at paint and hardware stores.

WWJD?

2007-07-11T17:41:00.000-05:00

I was born and raised Catholic, but I can't help myself fom saying...

The Pope is insane.

Yesterday he reiterated something he's claimed for a long time - years, actually, due to the fact that he was quite high up in the church before he became the head honcho a couple of years ago.

The Catholic Church is the only true church. All other faiths are inferior.

Call me crazy, but I fail to see anything Christian about claiming supremacy above all others and alienating non-Catholic religions.

He stinks of Bush: Old, stubborn & misguided.

That is all.

Why it's OK to yawn at a meeting

2007-07-10T07:55:00.000-05:00

We yawn when we're bored. We yawn when we're tired. We yawn to increase the supply of oxygen to our blood.

At least that's the conventional wisdom. But a pair of novel experiments by University of Albany psychologists suggests we may have yawning all wrong. Here's a summary of the work (complete paper here):

The first experiment demonstrates that different patterns of breathing influence susceptibility to contagious yawning. When participants were not directed how to breathe or were instructed to breathe orally (inhaling and exhaling through their mouth), the incidence of contagious yawning in response to seeing videotapes of people yawning was about 48 percent. When instructed to breathe nasally (inhaling and exhaling through their nose), no participants exhibited contagious yawning.

In a second experiment, applying temperature packs to the forehead also influenced the incidence contagious yawning. When participants held a warm pack (46 C) or a pack at room temperature to their forehead while watching people yawn, contagious yawning occurred 41 percent of the time. When participants held a cold pack (4 C) to their forehead, contagious yawning dropped to 9 percent.

These results clearly suggest that yawning regulates the temperature inside your head, and that perhaps we yawn to cool our brains. What we don't have here is any biochemical cause-and-effect, but this is an incredibly interesting theory all the same.

The findings, if valid, draw a few unexpected conclusions about yawning. First of all, rather than stimulating sleep, a good yawn should fend off falling asleep. And secondly, far from being an indicator of boredom, yawning would appear to be a mechanism for maintaining attention.

So be sure and remember this for your next staff meeting -- it's an excellent excuse, and possibly even a valid one!

As Randall Parker suggests, this finding may have also some practical results. If you feel the need to yawn, do so. If you're mind is lagging at work, hold a cold drink to your forehead. And if you're trying to maintain a productive workplace, keep the environment cold.

Video: Speeding No Small Matter in Australia

2007-07-04T07:13:00.000-05:00

When you first read the slogan, SPEEDING: NO ONE THINKS BIG OF YOU, you might think it was a reminder that people think poorly of those who break the law. Think again. This new road-safety campaign, launched in Australia last week, is aimed a bit more below the belt—by suggesting those men who speed have small penises. In the television and cinema advertisements, young "hoons"—Aussie-speak for speeding or reckless drivers—are mocked by unimpressed women who wave their little fingers at the drivers in a parody of their manhood.

The Top Twelve Differences between Men and Women

2007-06-29T08:32:00.000-05:00

1. NAMES
If Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara go out for lunch, they will call each other Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara. If Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.

2. EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom will each throw in a $20, even though the total is only $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back. When a group of women get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

3. MONEY
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs. A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need, if it's on sale.

4. BATHROOMS
A man has five items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Marriott. The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.

5. ARGUMENTS
A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that...is the beginning of a new argument.

6.CATS
Women love cats. Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.

7. FUTURE
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

8. SUCCESS
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

9. MARRIAGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change , and she does.

10. DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail. A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

11. NATURAL
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed. Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

12. OFFSPRING
Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

Fast Food Marketing -vs- Fast Food Reality

2007-06-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

Now that I'm part of a Marketing group, I've really taken note of all things "marketing"...

Take a look at this fast food reality slide show as seen on KTRH.

The Arby's Beef n' Cheddar is particularly disappointing.

Moons Over Manhattan

2007-06-25T15:11:00.000-05:00

Cheeky Campaign Hits Times Square
Forget Moon over My Hammy, how about Moons over Manhattan. Lots and lots of smiling moons. Courtesy of a toilet company, no less. On July 1, the Toto Washlet company will unveil a giant two-story billboard wrapped around three sides of a Times Square building. And on that billboard will be giant two-storied rears, smiling down on the city. Why are they smiling?

Because the Toto Washlet is moder-day miracle of science (according to the press release). It "upgrades a standard U.S. toilet to state-of-the-art in personal hygiene. It cleans and dries with aerated water and warm air (both adjustable, via wireless remote, for temperature and strength). While over 17 million have been sold worldwide, the U.S. remains an untapped market."

The campaign was created by ML Rogers, New York. They claim the ad was too graphic to run in luxury print titles, but look for it on websites such as Gawker, Salon and FoodandWine.com

Take a look at the Clean is Happy website, which provides some faces to go with those cheeks.

Hillary: You & I

2007-06-21T07:44:00.000-05:00

Hafta admit I'm not a big Hillary fan and I loathe the choice of campaign theme song by Hillary ("You & I" Celine Dion ... blech), but using a "Sopranos" spoof video as the means of announcing it is sheer brilliance.

Note: Secretly, I was hoping for a song more along the lines of Steppenwolf's "Monster". LOL!

Drink red wine, reduce tooth decay

2007-06-21T07:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, really.

Historically wine has long been known to have various medicinal uses, first being employed to clean wounds to prevent the spread of infections. More recently, other health benefits of red wine, such as reducing the incidence of heart disease, have become big news.

But what about that anti-microbial activity from antiquity?

In an article (full version here) published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Italian researchers have investigated the anti-bacterial effects of both red and white wine in the mouth and throat.

To the delight of wine drinkers everywhere, the wines tested surprisingly well.

Red wine was slightly more effective, but both varieties inhibited the growth of several strains of streptococci bacteria that are involved in tooth decay, and some cases of sore throat.

The question becomes, then, would you rather have red-stained teeth or decayed teeth?

Good for a chuckle or two ...

2007-06-20T08:49:00.000-05:00

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
_________________________________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reebok's.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh.... I was gettin' laid!
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh....are you qualified to ask that question?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
______________________________________

And the best for last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Pictures from Robin's Wedding

2007-06-18T12:15:00.001-05:00

Click Here for all photo thumbnails from Robin’s Wedding Albumn

Overindulgent parenting

2007-06-13T09:17:00.000-05:00

When I think back on my childhood birthday parties, I recall fond memories of playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" in the family room and blowing out candles atop a homemade birthday cake. But today's childhood birthday parties are a far cry from those of my day.

A spiraling level of competitiveness to keep up with the "baby Joneses" is driving parents across the nation to pull out all the stops and their checkbooks to make sure that Junior's birthday party becomes the talk of the town.

"Extravagant parties are happening in cities and in rural areas, not just New York and Los Angeles," Cookie magazine's Rebecca Ffrench said. "People everywhere are really pushing the limits. They are spending a lot more than they would have five or 10 years ago."

How does your family celebrate birthdays and what's the most you ever spent on such a celebration?

100 words every high school grad should know

2007-06-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

The editors of the American Heritage dictionaries have selected a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate -- and their parents -- should know.

"The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."

What caught my eye is that a full one-sixth of the words are scientific or technical terms. I have reproduced them below. This, I think, reflects the near imperative of being scientifically literate to prosper in the 21st century.

• chromosome
• gamete
• hemoglobin
• hypotenuse
• kinetic
• metamorphosis
• mitosis
• nanotechnology
• oxidize
• parabola
• photosynthesis
• plasma
• polymer
• quasar
• taxonomy
• tectonic
• thermodynamics

And sorry kids, plasma does not mean "TV." So did you know them all? I did, although I wasn't 100 percent sure of gamete.

Notes from MOM

2007-06-12T14:08:00.000-05:00

Mom writes, "The shuttle was awesome to see it in person it was hard to take pictures!!
We had a great time and now Bob wants to do it again.

Bob and Barbara"

Major Technological Breakthrough

2007-06-12T14:05:00.001-05:00

Apple Computer announced today that it has developed a computer chip that can store and play music -- inside a woman's breast implant.

The iBOOB will cost between $499 and $599.

This is considered a major technological breakthrough, addressing the concerns of women who complain about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

The end of the plug?

2007-06-08T11:39:00.000-05:00

Scientists have sounded the death knell for the plug and power lead.

In a breakthrough that sounds like something out of Star Trek, they have discovered a way of 'beaming' power across a room into a light bulb, mobile phone or laptop computer without wires or cables.

In the first successful trial of its kind, the team was able to illuminate a 60-watt light bulb 7ft away.

The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who call their invention 'WiTricity', believe it could change the way we use electricity and do away with the tangle of cables, plugs and chargers that clutter modern homes.

It could also allow the use of laptops and mobile phones without batteries.

The inspiration came when the lead researcher, Dr Marin Soljacic, was standing in his kitchen at night staring at his mobile phone.

"It was probably the sixth time that month that I was awakened by my cell phone beeping to let me know that I had forgotten to charge it. It occurred to me that it would be so great if the thing took care of its own charging," he said.

To turn this dream into reality, Dr Soljacic needed a way of transmitting power wirelessly.

Scientists have known for nearly two centuries that it is possible to transfer an electrical current from one coil of wire to another without them touching.

The phenomenon, called electromagnetic induction, is used in power transformers and electric motors around the world.

However, the coils in motors and transformers have to be close for power to pass from one to another. Attempting to transfer power over distances is impossible.

The breakthrough came when Dr Soljacic realised there was another way of transferring energy through the air.

Rather than sending power from a transmitter to a receiver as a conventional electromagnetic wave - the same form of radiation as light, radio waves and microwaves - he could use the transmitter to fill a room with a 'non-radiative' electromagnetic field.

Most objects in the room - such as people, desks and carpets - would be unaffected by the electromagnetic field. But any objects designed to resonate with the electromagnetic field would absorb the energy.

It sounds complicated, but the result demonstrated by the American team this month was a dramatic success. Using two coils of copper, the team transmitted power 7ft through the air to a light bulb, which lit up instantly.

The scientists say the technique works only over distances of up to 9ft. However, they believe it could be used to charge up a battery within a few yards of the power source connected to a receiving coil.

Placing one source in each room could provide enough power for an entire house.

The receiver and transmitter would not have to be in view of each other.

Professor Peter Fisher, another of the researchers, said: "As long as the laptop is in a room equipped with a source of wireless power, it would charge automatically without having to be plugged in. In fact, it would not even need a battery to operate inside such a room."

The researchers believe there is little to worry about on safety grounds, saying that magnetic fields interact weakly with living organisms and are unlikely to have any serious side effects.

Dr Soljacic said: "When my son was about three years old, we visited his grandparents' house. They had a 20-year-old phone and my son picked up the handset asking, 'Dad, why is this phone attached with a cord to the wall?' That is the mindset of a child growing up in a wireless world.

"Hopefully we will be getting rid of some more wires and batteries soon."

Minor League Braves Manager Goes Crazy

2007-06-06T12:08:00.000-05:00

Minor League baseball can be pretty entertaining

The 60-story house for just one family

2007-06-01T15:50:00.001-05:00

India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is planning a palace in the heart of Mumbai with helipad, health club, hanging gardens and six floors of car parking.

His wife, mother and three children will live there with him, looked after by 600 live-in staff.

Construction has already started on what will eventually be a 175m tower and planners are aiming to complete it in September 2008.

Earlier this year, Forbes rated Mr Ambani as the richest resident Indian with a net worth of US$20.1 billion.

He came 14th in Forbes' 2007 worldwide rankings.

Currently he is chairman of petroleum major Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest private sector company

The building, already worth £500 million, could start a rush on skyscrapers.

Source: Daily Mail

Don't Get Me Started

2007-06-01T11:06:00.000-05:00

#$@(*&$@#(*&@#(!))~!#)~)#$&)$

That's the "soft", PG-13 version of what I'd like to say at the moment.

I hate when people panic and create emercency situations for everyone in their wake.

Hate.

It.

Welcome to the Oil Industry

2007-05-30T08:29:00.000-05:00

To the clueless newbies out there bitching about $3.00+/gal gasoline.
Check out the supply line...the following link is just the start in the chain of multiple events:
"How many companies do you know that can afford to gamble 15 billion dollars over a 10 year span on technologies that have never been tested, and in fact didn't even exist when the money was put on the table, drilling in water deeper than ever drilled in, exploring in a rock formation that until a few years ago, geologists didn't even think there could be oil there."

Link

Sunday Morning.......Oh happy day......

2007-05-30T07:58:00.001-05:00

Do I hear a nomination for the perfect boyfriend award?

Blond Joke O' the Day

2007-05-30T07:33:00.000-05:00

The plane is on its way to Houston when a blonde in economy class gets up and moves to the first class section and sits down. The flight attendant watches her do this and asks to see her ticket. She then tells the blonde that she paid for economy class and that she will have to sit in the back. The blonde replies, "I'm blond, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here."
The flight attendant goes into the cockpit and tells the pilot and the co-pilot that there is a blonde sitting in first class that belongs in economy and won't move back to her seat. The co-pilot goes back to the blonde and tries to explain that because she only paid for economy she will have to leave and return to her seat. The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here."
The co-pilot tells the pilot that he probably should have the Police waiting when they land to arrest this blonde woman who won't listen to reason. The pilot says, "you say she is a blonde? I'll handle this. I'm Married to a blonde. I speak blonde." He goes back to the blonde and whispers in her ear, and she says, "oh, I'm sorry." and she gets up and goes back to her seat in economy
The flight attendant and co-pilot are amazed and asked him what he Said to make her move without any fuss. I told her, "First class isn't going to Houston."

No hurricanes for Houston this year

2007-05-29T08:13:00.000-05:00

The University of Central Florida has released their 2007 hurricane forecast (PDF file). According to their research, the Houston area has a "Much Below Normal" chance of experiencing hurricane-force winds this year. Ditto for the extreme southern tip of Florida.
Actually, I think these long-range forecasts are worse than useless, they are dangerous. These forecasts cause complacency by giving people a false sense of security. ("Hey look Marge, we're in the Green Zone according to these scientists! Let's cancel that flood insurance. We don't need it this year.")

How they made their guesses.

One of NOAA's many animated models. Click the Animate Frames arrow to start. This model looks ahead two weeks, and is anything but fine-grained - it covers the entire northern hemisphere. So we're to believe that hurricane landfall percentages can now be accurately predicted on a county-by-county basis 3-4 months in advance?

Source: Lou Minatti

Pros and Cons of the Top 20 Democratic Party Presidential Candidates

2007-05-25T08:05:00.001-05:00

John Moe provides the fun.

My favorite:

5. JOE BIDEN
Pro: Technically still running for president.
Con: Dude. Come on.

Eurotrashed

2007-05-25T07:57:00.000-05:00

Read this fascinating editorial on how Eastern Europe and Western Europe really, really don’t get along. The setting: an American Idol-like songwriting and performance contest called "Eurovison." It’s nice to hear about international disputes that don’t involve my country.

Scenario speculation

2007-05-25T07:47:00.000-05:00

What would happen if we withdrew our military from Iraq? We can only surmise, says economist Dr. Mark Hendrickson, but he attempts to answer the question by presenting four possible (albeit, simplistic) scenarios. Which do you think is most likely?

O, happy day.

2007-05-25T07:42:00.000-05:00

"Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing."

Oscar Wilde
Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)

Bird Poops On President Bush

2007-05-25T07:36:00.000-05:00

This happened during Thursday's Rose Garden press conference....

Oriental Eye Exam

2007-05-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

If you can not decipher anything, try pulling the corner of your eyes as if you were Chinese. It Works!

Some Funny E-cards

2007-05-23T08:18:00.000-05:00

When you care enough to send something you got free off the internet.

Thanks to ACE

Children......

2007-05-23T08:15:00.001-05:00

No Harvard for you!

2007-05-23T07:59:00.000-05:00

The New York Post has published this list of successful people who were rejected by Harvard. Among the headliners: Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, John Kerry, Tom Brokaw and Sun Microsystem co-founder Scott McNealy. When you look at some of the names on the list, though, what's more surprising than who Harvard rejected is who it let in.