What we think, we become. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.
- The Buddha
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Liberal economists say Democrats also eyeing cuts to Social Security
Prominent progressive economists are warning liberals and senior citizens not to take Social Security for granted simply because Republicans are out of power, arguing that structural incentives are propelling Democratic leaders to support scaling back the cherished program.
"Social Security faced its greatest danger when Bill Clinton was in the White House," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in an e-mail. "The reason is that the Wall Street Democrats can be counted on to oppose cuts coming from Republicans for partisan purposes. When they are in power, they have no reason to oppose these cuts."
Read more
"Social Security faced its greatest danger when Bill Clinton was in the White House," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in an e-mail. "The reason is that the Wall Street Democrats can be counted on to oppose cuts coming from Republicans for partisan purposes. When they are in power, they have no reason to oppose these cuts."
Read more
Website of the Day
With the tips and tricks on OneBag.com, anyone can be a master packer. The site, dedicated to the art of traveling light—i.e., with only one bag—offers tons of advice on what to pack (and what not to pack), on ideal bags, and on how to pack efficiently, all in the name of doing away with overpacking.
Here's The Joke
An elderly woman went into the doctor's office. When the doctor asked why she was there, she replied, "I'd like to have some birth-control pills."
Taken aback, the doctor thought for a minute and then said, "Excuse me, Mrs. Smith, but you're 72 years old. What possible use could you have for birth control pills?"
The woman responded, "They help me sleep better."
The doctor thought some more and continued, "How in the world do birth control pills help you to sleep?"
The woman said, "Simple, I put them in my granddaughter's orange juice every morning and I sleep better at night."
Taken aback, the doctor thought for a minute and then said, "Excuse me, Mrs. Smith, but you're 72 years old. What possible use could you have for birth control pills?"
The woman responded, "They help me sleep better."
The doctor thought some more and continued, "How in the world do birth control pills help you to sleep?"
The woman said, "Simple, I put them in my granddaughter's orange juice every morning and I sleep better at night."
Beef and Bean Sloppy Joes
This shortcut sloppy joe recipe uses under 5 ingredients and is simple to make. Use canned pork and beans and your favorite barbecue sauce in these sloppy joes and have dinner on the table in 20 minutes.
Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 15 min
Ingredients
* 1 pound ground beef
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 28 ounces can pork & beans
* 3/4 cup barbecue sauce
* 8 hamburger buns
Instructions
1. Brown ground beef and onion in 10-inch skillet; drain. Stir in beans and barbecue sauce.
2. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes until thickened. Serve on hamburger buns.
Notes
If you're looking for other fun recipes with 5 or fewer ingredients, check out our collection of 14 Fun Recipes with 5 Ingredients or Less
Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 15 min
Ingredients
* 1 pound ground beef
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 28 ounces can pork & beans
* 3/4 cup barbecue sauce
* 8 hamburger buns
Instructions
1. Brown ground beef and onion in 10-inch skillet; drain. Stir in beans and barbecue sauce.
2. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes until thickened. Serve on hamburger buns.
Notes
If you're looking for other fun recipes with 5 or fewer ingredients, check out our collection of 14 Fun Recipes with 5 Ingredients or Less
The Pope & The Haircut
A man was getting a haircut prior to a trip to Rome. He mentioned the trip to the barber who responded, "Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded, dirty and full of Italians. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"
"We're taking TWA," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"TWA?" exclaimed the barber. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"
"We'll be at the downtown International Marriott."
"That dump! That's the worst hotel in the city. The rooms are small, the service is surly and they're overpriced. So, whatcha doing when you get there?"
"We're going to go to see the Vatican and we hope to see the Pope."
"That's rich," laughed the barber. "You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the man again came in for his regular haircut. The barber asked him about his trip to Rome.
"It was wonderful," explained the man, "not only were we on time in one of TWA's brand new planes, but it was overbooked and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a beautiful 28 year old stewardess who waited on me hand and foot. And the hotel - it was great! They'd just finished a $25 million remodeling job and now it's the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us the presidential suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the barber, "I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, for as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder and explained that the Pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down as he spoke a few words to me."
"Really?" asked the Barber. "What'd he say?"
He said, "Where'd you get the lousy haircut?"
"We're taking TWA," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"TWA?" exclaimed the barber. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"
"We'll be at the downtown International Marriott."
"That dump! That's the worst hotel in the city. The rooms are small, the service is surly and they're overpriced. So, whatcha doing when you get there?"
"We're going to go to see the Vatican and we hope to see the Pope."
"That's rich," laughed the barber. "You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the man again came in for his regular haircut. The barber asked him about his trip to Rome.
"It was wonderful," explained the man, "not only were we on time in one of TWA's brand new planes, but it was overbooked and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a beautiful 28 year old stewardess who waited on me hand and foot. And the hotel - it was great! They'd just finished a $25 million remodeling job and now it's the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us the presidential suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the barber, "I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, for as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder and explained that the Pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down as he spoke a few words to me."
"Really?" asked the Barber. "What'd he say?"
He said, "Where'd you get the lousy haircut?"
Monday, August 30, 2010
Ads from a Rove-connected group attack Democratic Senate candidates with faulty claims on health care law.
A group with ties to Karl Rove sends viewers astray in a $2 million ad campaign attacking Democratic Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, California and Kentucky. The ads make badly misleading claims about the health care legislation that those Democrats supported.
* An ad attacking Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania claims that "hard-hit families" will see $2,100 premium hikes. But that's not true for the large majority, who are likely to see somewhat lower premiums, according to the very source the ad cites. Any families that do see such large premium increases are likely to also get federal subsidies to help pay them, resulting in lower cost to most of them as well.
* The ad also claims that "Sestak voted to gut Medicare." That's a wild exaggeration. It's true that the law calls for restraining the future growth of Medicare spending by about $555 billion -- about a 7 percent reduction spread over the next 10 years. And millions who now have private Medicare Advantage plans are likely to see their extra benefits reduced. But that hardly amounts to eviscerating the program.
* An ad attacking California's Sen. Barbara Boxer claims that she voted to "cut spending on Medicare benefits" by $500 billion. But Boxer didn't vote for cuts in benefits. Rather, as we note above, the law puts restraints on the growth of future spending, mostly payments to hospitals and other providers. And that won't necessarily lead to cuts in benefits, except for Medicare Advantage plans.
* A third ad, attacking Jack Conway in Kentucky, also makes misleading references to higher taxes, Medicare cuts and higher premiums.
Note: This is a summary only. The full article with analysis, images and citations may be viewed at FactCheck.org
* An ad attacking Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania claims that "hard-hit families" will see $2,100 premium hikes. But that's not true for the large majority, who are likely to see somewhat lower premiums, according to the very source the ad cites. Any families that do see such large premium increases are likely to also get federal subsidies to help pay them, resulting in lower cost to most of them as well.
* The ad also claims that "Sestak voted to gut Medicare." That's a wild exaggeration. It's true that the law calls for restraining the future growth of Medicare spending by about $555 billion -- about a 7 percent reduction spread over the next 10 years. And millions who now have private Medicare Advantage plans are likely to see their extra benefits reduced. But that hardly amounts to eviscerating the program.
* An ad attacking California's Sen. Barbara Boxer claims that she voted to "cut spending on Medicare benefits" by $500 billion. But Boxer didn't vote for cuts in benefits. Rather, as we note above, the law puts restraints on the growth of future spending, mostly payments to hospitals and other providers. And that won't necessarily lead to cuts in benefits, except for Medicare Advantage plans.
* A third ad, attacking Jack Conway in Kentucky, also makes misleading references to higher taxes, Medicare cuts and higher premiums.
Note: This is a summary only. The full article with analysis, images and citations may be viewed at FactCheck.org
17 Alternative Uses for Toothpaste
See how a little dab of toothpaste will clean more than just your teeth.
Gmail Offers Free Phone Calls
If you have a gmail account from Google, you can now make free phone calls from your computer to (almost) any US or Canadian phone number. You will have to download a small app for your browser
Which Home Improvements Hold Their Value Most?
When you pay good money on home improvements you hope you will be able to recoup your investment when you sell the house. Here is a list of 33 popular remodeling projects and the amount you can likely recoup on the sale of your home, based on where you live.
Website of the Day
No worries about making the store before it closes if you restock your supplies at Soap.com. Open-24/7 they offer more than 25,000 everyday essentials for you and your home and supercompetitive prices. Bonus: If you spend more than $49, you get free shipping.
Barbecue Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Joes are everyone's childhood favorite. Re-live the memories with this tasty recipe that can be made in a slow cooker.
Ingredients
* 2 pounds hamburger
* 1/2 cup onion
* 1/4 cup celery
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
* 1 teaspoon vinegar
* 1 teaspoon mustard
* 1/2 cup catsup
* 5 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
1. Put all ingredients into slow cooker and let cook all day.
Alternate Method:
Stovetop: Fry hamburger; drain off excess fat. Put into a dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour.
Ingredients
* 2 pounds hamburger
* 1/2 cup onion
* 1/4 cup celery
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
* 1 teaspoon vinegar
* 1 teaspoon mustard
* 1/2 cup catsup
* 5 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
1. Put all ingredients into slow cooker and let cook all day.
Alternate Method:
Stovetop: Fry hamburger; drain off excess fat. Put into a dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
How Well Do You Know Your Partner?
Research shows that one of the most important features of successful relationships is the depth of the friendship. Do you know your partner's inner world? Answer yes or no to the following questions:
1. I can name my partner's best friends.
2. I know what stresses my partner is currently facing.
3. I know the names of some of the people who have been irritating my partner lately.
4. I can tel you some of my partner's life dreams.
5. I can tell you about my partner's basic philosophy of life.
6. I can list the relatives my partner likes the least.
7. I feel that my partner knows me pretty well.
8. When we are apart, I often think fondly of my partner.
9. I often touch or kiss my partner affectionately.
10. My partner really respects me.
11. There is fire and passion in this relationship.
12. Romance is definitely still part of our relationship.
13. My partner appreciates the things I do in this relationship.
14. My partner generally likes my personality.
15. Our sex life is mostly satisfying.
16. At the end of the day my partner is glad to see me.
17. My partner is one of my best friends.
18. We just love talking to each other.
19. There is lots of give and take (both people have influence) in our discussions.
20. My partner listens respectfully, even when we disagree.
21. My partner is usually a great help as a problem solver.
22. We generally mesh well on basic values and goals in life.
What your score means
15 or more yes answers
Congratulations - your friendship and your marriage are strong.
8 to 14
There are many strengths that you can build on, but there are also some weaknesses that need attention. While counseling is an option, you might also benefit from simply spending more time together doing activities that you both enjoy, or scheduling a vacation during which you can reconnect.
7 or fewer
Your relationship may be in serious trouble. If this worries you, you probably still value the relationship enough to get help. Consider seeking the advice of a trained couples therapist or taking a marriage retreat where you can focus on mending your relationship.
Source: Gottman Institute, gottman.com
From July 2010 Issue Oprah Magazine pg 90
1. I can name my partner's best friends.
2. I know what stresses my partner is currently facing.
3. I know the names of some of the people who have been irritating my partner lately.
4. I can tel you some of my partner's life dreams.
5. I can tell you about my partner's basic philosophy of life.
6. I can list the relatives my partner likes the least.
7. I feel that my partner knows me pretty well.
8. When we are apart, I often think fondly of my partner.
9. I often touch or kiss my partner affectionately.
10. My partner really respects me.
11. There is fire and passion in this relationship.
12. Romance is definitely still part of our relationship.
13. My partner appreciates the things I do in this relationship.
14. My partner generally likes my personality.
15. Our sex life is mostly satisfying.
16. At the end of the day my partner is glad to see me.
17. My partner is one of my best friends.
18. We just love talking to each other.
19. There is lots of give and take (both people have influence) in our discussions.
20. My partner listens respectfully, even when we disagree.
21. My partner is usually a great help as a problem solver.
22. We generally mesh well on basic values and goals in life.
What your score means
15 or more yes answers
Congratulations - your friendship and your marriage are strong.
8 to 14
There are many strengths that you can build on, but there are also some weaknesses that need attention. While counseling is an option, you might also benefit from simply spending more time together doing activities that you both enjoy, or scheduling a vacation during which you can reconnect.
7 or fewer
Your relationship may be in serious trouble. If this worries you, you probably still value the relationship enough to get help. Consider seeking the advice of a trained couples therapist or taking a marriage retreat where you can focus on mending your relationship.
Source: Gottman Institute, gottman.com
From July 2010 Issue Oprah Magazine pg 90
Spiced Carrot Cheesecake Bars
50% fewer calories • 70% less sugar than the original recipe—see the comparison. This sweet treat is also a great source of vitamin A.
Prep Time:25 min
Start to Finish:2 hr
makes:20 Servings
Spiced Carrot Bars
Nonstick cooking spray
3/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
11/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely shredded carrots
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup fat-free milk
Yoplait® Yogurt Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup frozen light whipped dessert topping
1/4 cup Yoplait® vanilla low-fat yogurt
Reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel)
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x9x2-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil over the edges of the pan. Lightly coat foil with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. Add carrots, 1/2 cup of the nuts, the egg, oil, and milk. Stir just until combined. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool bars in pan on a wire rack.
4. Using the edges of the foil, lift the uncut bars out of the pan. Spread top evenly with Yoplait® Yogurt Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup nuts. Cut into 20 bars.
5. Yoplait® Yogurt Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting: In a medium bowl, beat half of an 8-ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened, with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in 1/4 cup Yoplait® vanilla low-fat yogurt until smooth. Fold 1/2 cup frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed, into cream cheese mixture.
Yes Sir!
A three-year-old had been told several times to get ready for bed. The last time his mom told him, she was every insistent. His response was, "Yes, Sir!" Since he was talking to his mother (and she is a woman), it was not expected of him to call her "Sir".
"You would say, 'yes sir,' to a man, I am a lady, and you would say 'Yes Ma'am,' to a lady," Mom said. To quiz him on is lesson; she then asked him, "What would you say to Daddy?"
"Yes Sir!" was the reply
"Then what would you say to Mama?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" he proudly answered.
"Good boy! Now what would you say to Grandma?"
He lit up and said, "Can I have a cookie?"
"You would say, 'yes sir,' to a man, I am a lady, and you would say 'Yes Ma'am,' to a lady," Mom said. To quiz him on is lesson; she then asked him, "What would you say to Daddy?"
"Yes Sir!" was the reply
"Then what would you say to Mama?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" he proudly answered.
"Good boy! Now what would you say to Grandma?"
He lit up and said, "Can I have a cookie?"
Beef Stroganoff Sandwiches
2lbs ground beef
1/2 C chopped onion
1t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
1 loaf french bread
butter/marg
2 C sour cream
2 tomatoes ( diced)
1 lg green pepper
3 C shredded cheddar cheese
Brown ground meat & onion, Add salt, garlic and pepper. Cut bread lengthwise & butter both halves and place on baking sheet. Remove meat from heat and add sour crem. Spoon onto bread. Sprinkle with tomatoes, green pepper and cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 mins or until cheese is melter. Longer for crispy bread.
8- 10 servings
1/2 C chopped onion
1t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
1 loaf french bread
butter/marg
2 C sour cream
2 tomatoes ( diced)
1 lg green pepper
3 C shredded cheddar cheese
Brown ground meat & onion, Add salt, garlic and pepper. Cut bread lengthwise & butter both halves and place on baking sheet. Remove meat from heat and add sour crem. Spoon onto bread. Sprinkle with tomatoes, green pepper and cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 mins or until cheese is melter. Longer for crispy bread.
8- 10 servings
Glenn Beck's Hypocritical Revival
Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and a crowd of thousands descended on the National Mall in Washington yesterday where politics took a backseat to calls of "restoring honor" back to America. After taking flak for scheduling the rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech, Beck made the gathering more about religion, saying "We've got to go to God Bootcamp." He also stuck back at what he sees as a divided America: "There is growing hatred in the country. We must be better than what we've allowed ourselves to become." But Beck can't profit from fear and division all week during his radio show and then try to denounce them one Saturday. If he wants to get the "poison of hatred" out of the country, he'll first have to apply the standard to his own televangelism as well.
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Lawns & God
GOD: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir.
GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stoke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE: Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about ...
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir.
GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stoke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE: Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about ...
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
More Rules for Life
No One is Perfect. The quicker this is realized the faster you can get on with being excellent. Start every morning ready to fight harder than you did the day before and run further than you ever imagine.
Avoid over explaining yourself. Be confident with who you are.
Keep balance in your life. Write down what’s most important to you and show up. Sometimes we tend to do the things that are most important to us when it’s written down.
Play the hand you were dealt. Have the courage to face challenges head on it builds character. Start looking for a way through instead of a way out.
Be a student of life. Learn something new every day. The day you stop learning is the day you become obsolete so keep learning.
No Excuses. Stop making excuses replace them with ways to do better. Excuses are a waste of time and energy.
Let others know where you Stand. Be uncompromising and be up front when someone steps on your core values.
Never be afraid of a challenge. You put on your shoes like every other man. Now it comes down to who wants it more.
Service to others. Small, simple or important be a volunteer and give the very best of you.
Work like hell. Everyone has a job to do so do it. Cross every “T” and dot every “I”.
Discover You. Find your passion, life purpose, and take action.
Don’t take it Personal. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself self confidence shows that you’re comfortable in your own skin.
Manage your time. Our situation and environment is ever changing so be careful not to confuse the things that are urgent with the things that are important. Look for time wasters and eliminate them.
Ask for help. Life can be tough remember you never have to do it alone.
Do your homework. Know what you getting into before you start. Doing your homework reduces uncertainty and fear.
Day Dream Often. On the weekend when you are relaxing embrace a day dream. During the week take action to preserve your dreams.
Be A HERO. Cultivate a healthy dose of forgiveness and set someone free. Learn to forgive others and stop carrying those bags of hate, guilt or regret.
Stay One Step Ahead. Be proactive, Take the initiative, Brainstorm with the big picture in mind.
Self Love. Become your own priority. Strive to be the you, you want to be.
Finish what you started. Avoid the urge to stray.
Avoid over explaining yourself. Be confident with who you are.
Keep balance in your life. Write down what’s most important to you and show up. Sometimes we tend to do the things that are most important to us when it’s written down.
Play the hand you were dealt. Have the courage to face challenges head on it builds character. Start looking for a way through instead of a way out.
Be a student of life. Learn something new every day. The day you stop learning is the day you become obsolete so keep learning.
No Excuses. Stop making excuses replace them with ways to do better. Excuses are a waste of time and energy.
Let others know where you Stand. Be uncompromising and be up front when someone steps on your core values.
Never be afraid of a challenge. You put on your shoes like every other man. Now it comes down to who wants it more.
Service to others. Small, simple or important be a volunteer and give the very best of you.
Work like hell. Everyone has a job to do so do it. Cross every “T” and dot every “I”.
Discover You. Find your passion, life purpose, and take action.
Don’t take it Personal. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself self confidence shows that you’re comfortable in your own skin.
Manage your time. Our situation and environment is ever changing so be careful not to confuse the things that are urgent with the things that are important. Look for time wasters and eliminate them.
Ask for help. Life can be tough remember you never have to do it alone.
Do your homework. Know what you getting into before you start. Doing your homework reduces uncertainty and fear.
Day Dream Often. On the weekend when you are relaxing embrace a day dream. During the week take action to preserve your dreams.
Be A HERO. Cultivate a healthy dose of forgiveness and set someone free. Learn to forgive others and stop carrying those bags of hate, guilt or regret.
Stay One Step Ahead. Be proactive, Take the initiative, Brainstorm with the big picture in mind.
Self Love. Become your own priority. Strive to be the you, you want to be.
Finish what you started. Avoid the urge to stray.
Website of the Day
If you’re planning to renovate or redecorate, start the process at FloorPlanner.com. Put in the dimensions of your room, then play around with the preloaded furniture, fixtures, windows, doors, and more. Save, e-mail, or print your plans.
What are the facts about the proposed cultural center and mosque near New York’s former World Trade Center?
Are there other mosques near ground zero?
Yes. The New York Times profiled two mosques that have been in existence for years not far from ground zero. Masjid Manhattan, founded in 1970, is four blocks away from the World Trade Center site, on Warren Street, and Masjid al-Farah, which used to be on Mercer Street, is 12 blocks away on West Broadway. Prayer services have actually been held at the 45 Park Place location since the latter part of 2009.
Is the center scheduled to open on Sept. 11, 2011?
Organizers say no. As best we can determine, the idea that the cultural center and mosque would open that day is unfounded speculation. Project organizers say that no official date has been set for the opening of the proposed center. Imam Rauf told Newsday back in May that it could take anywhere from 18 months to three years to raise the money to complete the project, and added that the center wouldn’t open on the anniversary of Sept. 11. Project organizers took to the social networking site Twitter as recently as Aug. 20 to knock down the claim, saying: "Reports that we will open on 9/11 or begin construction on 9/11 are false and inflammatory. Our timeline to build is 18 - 38 months."
Is Imam Rauf an anti-American radical?
We see no evidence of that. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has a long history of cooperation with the U.S. government, beginning during the Bush administration. In February and March 2003, he led cultural awareness training for FBI employees in the bureau’s New York field office, New York division officials told us. In 2007 and twice in 2010, he traveled to the Middle East to talk about religious tolerance and Islam in America as part of a speaker program organized by the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs.
Read more
Yes. The New York Times profiled two mosques that have been in existence for years not far from ground zero. Masjid Manhattan, founded in 1970, is four blocks away from the World Trade Center site, on Warren Street, and Masjid al-Farah, which used to be on Mercer Street, is 12 blocks away on West Broadway. Prayer services have actually been held at the 45 Park Place location since the latter part of 2009.
Is the center scheduled to open on Sept. 11, 2011?
Organizers say no. As best we can determine, the idea that the cultural center and mosque would open that day is unfounded speculation. Project organizers say that no official date has been set for the opening of the proposed center. Imam Rauf told Newsday back in May that it could take anywhere from 18 months to three years to raise the money to complete the project, and added that the center wouldn’t open on the anniversary of Sept. 11. Project organizers took to the social networking site Twitter as recently as Aug. 20 to knock down the claim, saying: "Reports that we will open on 9/11 or begin construction on 9/11 are false and inflammatory. Our timeline to build is 18 - 38 months."
Is Imam Rauf an anti-American radical?
We see no evidence of that. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has a long history of cooperation with the U.S. government, beginning during the Bush administration. In February and March 2003, he led cultural awareness training for FBI employees in the bureau’s New York field office, New York division officials told us. In 2007 and twice in 2010, he traveled to the Middle East to talk about religious tolerance and Islam in America as part of a speaker program organized by the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs.
Read more
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Katrina Recovery Benefited the Rich
Like so many other storylines of Hurricane Katrina, the tale of New Orleans' recovery diverges for affluent whites and low-income blacks. For people who were well-off before the storm, they are more likely to be back in their homes, back in their jobs and to have access to good health care," said one leading advocate. "For those who were poor or struggling to get by before the storm, the opposite is true." Earlier this month, Lousiana's program to hand out grants to property owners whose holdings were damaged by the hurricane was found to discriminate against black homeowners. In Mississippi, low-income, uninsured homeowners were hurt by a decision to refuse rebuilding grants to property owners who suffered wind damage. And a recent survey found that African-Americans in New Orleans are more than twice as likely to believe they have not yet recovered from Katrina.
Read more
Read more
Saved from street and sheriff, goat and dogs are together again at Dallas pet orphanage
This is a story about a Great Dane, a goat and a three-legged retriever.
And, no, it is not a joke.
It all began last month when Dr. Karen Fling, owner of the East Lake Pet Orphanage, decided to take in a pair of runaway animals – Minelli, a male goat, and Judy, a female Great Dane. They were discovered wandering around the Alexander Mansion wedding chapel in Garland.
"They were just so touching and so sweet from the very beginning," Fling said. "They were an inseparable pair. They slept together and cuddled together and ate together."
The inter-species love affair immediately softened the hearts of staff members at the animal hospital and nonprofit rescue shelter on Northwest Highway near White Rock Lake. And before long, pictures of the cuddling animal cousins appeared on blogs and local television stations.
Read more
And, no, it is not a joke.
It all began last month when Dr. Karen Fling, owner of the East Lake Pet Orphanage, decided to take in a pair of runaway animals – Minelli, a male goat, and Judy, a female Great Dane. They were discovered wandering around the Alexander Mansion wedding chapel in Garland.
"They were just so touching and so sweet from the very beginning," Fling said. "They were an inseparable pair. They slept together and cuddled together and ate together."
The inter-species love affair immediately softened the hearts of staff members at the animal hospital and nonprofit rescue shelter on Northwest Highway near White Rock Lake. And before long, pictures of the cuddling animal cousins appeared on blogs and local television stations.
Read more
Olympian to teach zoo's apes the art of swinging
Most monkeys naturally know how to swing -- but when orangutans at Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen were having trouble, the zoo hired gymnast Epke Zonderland to help them.
Website of the Day
Check out Solipskier, a unique new Web game that brings some slope time to your desktop.
Here's a riddle
by Alexander Green
Here's a riddle.
What is the secret of eloquence, the standard of virtue, the basis of moral authority, the object of philosophy, the most formidable power on earth, the noblest expression of the human spirit, and beauty itself?
Thoreau said it was better than money, love or fame. The New Testament proclaims it the basis of personal freedom (John 8:32). Schopenhauer observed that it is first ridiculed, then violently oppressed, then accepted as self-evident.
The answer, of course, is truth. Yet you'll notice that the supply often exceeds demand.
The other day, for instance, a friend forwarded me a political email filled with dubious accusations and misstatements of fact. You would think a message that is unsigned, printed in three colors and written in ALL LARGE-CAPS might engender a bit of skepticism. Yet it resonated with him so strongly that he eagerly accepted it.
We all want to believe that we are in possession of the truth. Even when we're uncertain, we like to feel that we're evaluating information rationally and will surely recognize the truth when we see it.
But as Winston Churchill observed, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
We all walk around with a picture in our heads that we believe reflects the world as it truly is. We depend on this image. It governs our thoughts, feelings and behavior.
But is it accurate?
With today's radio, cable TV and Internet, you can watch, read or listen to whatever kind of news pleases you, and indulge your political, social and scientific theories, whether sophisticated or naive, extremist or pedestrian, grounded in reality or so far out you're floating in the asteroid belt.
It's called selective exposure. Rather than dealing with the unpleasant sensation of having our beliefs tested, we simply steer clear of information that contradicts what we think we know. We carefully select the messages we consume.
As a result, we're not just arguing over what we should be doing. We're arguing over what is happening. We're no longer just holding different opinions. We're holding different facts.
We don't have time to investigate everything ourselves, of course. So we rely on conventional wisdom and the opinions of others. We draw generalities from specific circumstances. We accept things we hear or read if they sound credible - and especially if they appeal to our personal prejudices. As we grow older, we even forget or misremember our own experiences.
We are creatures of culture too, brought up to accept certain narratives about how the world is. Yet these preconceptions harden and make us resistant to opposing points of view. They prevent us from opening our eyes... or our minds. And out of politeness or political correctness, we are reluctant to ask questions or voice dissent. We fall back on what is generally accepted rather than doing the heavy lifting and thinking for ourselves.
And that should make us consider from time to time whether our version of reality - our truth - is correct.
Social scientists observe that what we believe - what we accept as true - is highly dependent on our upbringing and the society we live in. We are all caught in a web of cultural context.
Postmodernists and deconstructionists have taken this to extremes, claiming that there is no such thing as objective truth, only culturally-based worldviews and opinions, none any more valid than another.
What a depressing thought, for what are we all pursuing if not objective truth? Yet Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins effectively skewers the postmodern position in River Out of Eden. "Show me a cultural relativist at thirty thousand feet," he says, "and I'll show you a hypocrite. Airplanes built according to scientific principles work... Airplanes built according to tribal or mythological specifications don't. If you are flying to an international congress of anthropologists, the reason you will probably get there - the reason you don't plummet into a ploughed field - is that a lot of Western scientifically-trained engineers have got their sums right."
It is not possible to thoroughly investigate every claim we accept. But not all modes of knowing are equal. In fact, most of our beliefs are derived in one of three ways.
The first is tradition. These are beliefs that are handed down from grandparents to parents to children and so on. The problem here, of course, is that if a particular fact or story or folk remedy was in error to begin with, it's as untrue today as it was originally, no matter how many generations have passed it along.
The second source is authority. If a teacher, public official or expert tells us something is true, we're more inclined to accept it. This can be a valid shortcut. But, regardless of their credentials, experts are often mistaken. Just because information comes from someone important, it doesn't guarantee its reliability.
The third source of belief is reason and evidence. Here we are on firmer ground. Historians use documents, letters and photographs to piece together the past. Judges base their opinions on physical and circumstantial evidence, eyewitness testimony and well-confirmed facts. Scientists construct hypotheses, test them by observation and experiment, share their methods and offer the results for confirmation or rejection.
Scientists - like historians and judges - are far from perfect and their claims are always subject to revision. Yet the scientific method - with its double-blind methodology and rigorous peer-review process - is based on a fine understanding of human fallibility. It is designed to weed out erroneous conclusions.
In 1989, for example, Martin Fleischmann, then one of the world's leading electro-chemists, and Stanley Pons announced their discovery of cold fusion, nuclear fusion near room temperature. But their results could not be replicated and their "discovery" was soon dismissed for lack of evidence.
The success of science in the modern era has given it a powerful aura. Indeed, some have tried to make it the unquestionable authority and final arbiter of truth and knowledge.
That's a mistake.
Scientists are just as egotistical, ambitious and biased as the rest of us. Even the peer-review process - as we have seen in the recent ClimateGate scandal - can fall prey to ideological conflicts and personal vendettas.
Science has plumbed the depths of the ocean, the hinterlands of space and the recesses of the atom. It has increased our understanding of life immeasurably. But it has not told us why we're here or given us the answer to life's meaning.
Science does an excellent job of telling us what is. It cannot tell us what ought to be.
That is left for historians, theologians and philosophers. Some important truths we have to discover for ourselves.
Here's a riddle.
What is the secret of eloquence, the standard of virtue, the basis of moral authority, the object of philosophy, the most formidable power on earth, the noblest expression of the human spirit, and beauty itself?
Thoreau said it was better than money, love or fame. The New Testament proclaims it the basis of personal freedom (John 8:32). Schopenhauer observed that it is first ridiculed, then violently oppressed, then accepted as self-evident.
The answer, of course, is truth. Yet you'll notice that the supply often exceeds demand.
The other day, for instance, a friend forwarded me a political email filled with dubious accusations and misstatements of fact. You would think a message that is unsigned, printed in three colors and written in ALL LARGE-CAPS might engender a bit of skepticism. Yet it resonated with him so strongly that he eagerly accepted it.
We all want to believe that we are in possession of the truth. Even when we're uncertain, we like to feel that we're evaluating information rationally and will surely recognize the truth when we see it.
But as Winston Churchill observed, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
We all walk around with a picture in our heads that we believe reflects the world as it truly is. We depend on this image. It governs our thoughts, feelings and behavior.
But is it accurate?
With today's radio, cable TV and Internet, you can watch, read or listen to whatever kind of news pleases you, and indulge your political, social and scientific theories, whether sophisticated or naive, extremist or pedestrian, grounded in reality or so far out you're floating in the asteroid belt.
It's called selective exposure. Rather than dealing with the unpleasant sensation of having our beliefs tested, we simply steer clear of information that contradicts what we think we know. We carefully select the messages we consume.
As a result, we're not just arguing over what we should be doing. We're arguing over what is happening. We're no longer just holding different opinions. We're holding different facts.
We don't have time to investigate everything ourselves, of course. So we rely on conventional wisdom and the opinions of others. We draw generalities from specific circumstances. We accept things we hear or read if they sound credible - and especially if they appeal to our personal prejudices. As we grow older, we even forget or misremember our own experiences.
We are creatures of culture too, brought up to accept certain narratives about how the world is. Yet these preconceptions harden and make us resistant to opposing points of view. They prevent us from opening our eyes... or our minds. And out of politeness or political correctness, we are reluctant to ask questions or voice dissent. We fall back on what is generally accepted rather than doing the heavy lifting and thinking for ourselves.
And that should make us consider from time to time whether our version of reality - our truth - is correct.
Social scientists observe that what we believe - what we accept as true - is highly dependent on our upbringing and the society we live in. We are all caught in a web of cultural context.
Postmodernists and deconstructionists have taken this to extremes, claiming that there is no such thing as objective truth, only culturally-based worldviews and opinions, none any more valid than another.
What a depressing thought, for what are we all pursuing if not objective truth? Yet Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins effectively skewers the postmodern position in River Out of Eden. "Show me a cultural relativist at thirty thousand feet," he says, "and I'll show you a hypocrite. Airplanes built according to scientific principles work... Airplanes built according to tribal or mythological specifications don't. If you are flying to an international congress of anthropologists, the reason you will probably get there - the reason you don't plummet into a ploughed field - is that a lot of Western scientifically-trained engineers have got their sums right."
It is not possible to thoroughly investigate every claim we accept. But not all modes of knowing are equal. In fact, most of our beliefs are derived in one of three ways.
The first is tradition. These are beliefs that are handed down from grandparents to parents to children and so on. The problem here, of course, is that if a particular fact or story or folk remedy was in error to begin with, it's as untrue today as it was originally, no matter how many generations have passed it along.
The second source is authority. If a teacher, public official or expert tells us something is true, we're more inclined to accept it. This can be a valid shortcut. But, regardless of their credentials, experts are often mistaken. Just because information comes from someone important, it doesn't guarantee its reliability.
The third source of belief is reason and evidence. Here we are on firmer ground. Historians use documents, letters and photographs to piece together the past. Judges base their opinions on physical and circumstantial evidence, eyewitness testimony and well-confirmed facts. Scientists construct hypotheses, test them by observation and experiment, share their methods and offer the results for confirmation or rejection.
Scientists - like historians and judges - are far from perfect and their claims are always subject to revision. Yet the scientific method - with its double-blind methodology and rigorous peer-review process - is based on a fine understanding of human fallibility. It is designed to weed out erroneous conclusions.
In 1989, for example, Martin Fleischmann, then one of the world's leading electro-chemists, and Stanley Pons announced their discovery of cold fusion, nuclear fusion near room temperature. But their results could not be replicated and their "discovery" was soon dismissed for lack of evidence.
The success of science in the modern era has given it a powerful aura. Indeed, some have tried to make it the unquestionable authority and final arbiter of truth and knowledge.
That's a mistake.
Scientists are just as egotistical, ambitious and biased as the rest of us. Even the peer-review process - as we have seen in the recent ClimateGate scandal - can fall prey to ideological conflicts and personal vendettas.
Science has plumbed the depths of the ocean, the hinterlands of space and the recesses of the atom. It has increased our understanding of life immeasurably. But it has not told us why we're here or given us the answer to life's meaning.
Science does an excellent job of telling us what is. It cannot tell us what ought to be.
That is left for historians, theologians and philosophers. Some important truths we have to discover for ourselves.
Honey Chicken Skewers With Grilled-Corn Salad
Serves 4
Hands-On Time: 10m
Total Time: 20m
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* kosher salt and pepper
* canola oil, for the grill
* 6 ears corn, shucked
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into pieces
* 2 scallions, sliced
Directions
1. Place twenty 8-inch wooden skewers in water to soak. Heat grill to medium-high. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, honey, and Worcestershire sauce; set aside.
2. Slice the chicken lengthwise into twenty 1/2-inch-thick strips. Thread each strip onto a wooden skewer. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
3. Lightly oil the grill. Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes, basting with the ketchup mixture during the last 2 minutes of cooking.
4. Meanwhile, grill the corn, turning occasionally, until slightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes. Cut the kernels off the cobs, place in a medium bowl, and toss with the butter, scallions, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Serve with the chicken.
Where are they now?
A look back at some of the most memorable child actors from the last two decades and see what they're up to nowadays.
Factory Chicken Farms Produced Poisoned Eggs
Meet the Chickens at a Free-Range Egg Farm
This farm's free-range philosophies even extend to how they sell their eggs. See how this alternative farm works.
This farm's free-range philosophies even extend to how they sell their eggs. See how this alternative farm works.
Are Your Emotions Running Your Life?
Some of us are a little out of touch with our feelings. And some of us are way too in touch with them. You may not realize it, but your emotions could be keeping you from finding that perfect man, job or opportunity. Find out how to keep your feelings in check so they can help you live the life you've always wanted.
Blueberry Cobbler
Serves 6
Hands-On Time: 20m
Total Time: 50m
Ingredients
* 2 pints blueberries
* 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
* 2 cups heavy cream
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375° F. In a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish or a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate, toss the blueberries, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon flour.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and the remaining flour and sugar.
3. Add the butter and blend with your fingers or 2 knives until coarse crumbs form. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cream and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
4. Drop mounds of dough over the blueberry mixture. Bake until the berries are bubbling and the top is golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve with the remaining cream for drizzling, if desired.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Today's Quote
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one... the being a force of nature...”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
Irish writer
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
Irish writer
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl w ill do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl w ill do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!
The Facebook Hit List Murders
In southwestern Colombia, teenagers are turning up dead after their names appear on a list on Facebook. The terrifying Internet hit men holding a town hostage.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Today's Quote
"An unwritten want is a wish, a dream, a never-happen. The day you put your goal in writing is the day it becomes a commitment that will change your life. Are you ready?"
Tom Hopkins
Author and Speaker
Tom Hopkins
Author and Speaker
Out in the midwest, tornadoes often hit with sudden devastation, and without warning...
In one case, a house was completely whisked away leaving only the foundation and first floor. A silver-haired farm lady was seen sitting dazed, in a bathtub, the only remaining part of the house left above the floor.
The rescue squad rushed to her aid and found her dazed, but unhurt. She was just sitting there in the tub, talking to herself.
"It was the darndest thing... it was the darndest thing," she kept repeating.
"What was the darndest thing, Ma'am?" asked one of the rescuers.
"I was visiting my daughter here, taking a bath and all I did was pull the plug and the whole darned house suddenly just drained away."
The rescue squad rushed to her aid and found her dazed, but unhurt. She was just sitting there in the tub, talking to herself.
"It was the darndest thing... it was the darndest thing," she kept repeating.
"What was the darndest thing, Ma'am?" asked one of the rescuers.
"I was visiting my daughter here, taking a bath and all I did was pull the plug and the whole darned house suddenly just drained away."
Website of the Day
Every year we chuckle when words like “staycation” or “unfriend” are admitted into our dictionaries. But we often forget about the other, venerable words that get bumped to make room. Feel bad? Fear not. Save the Words, a clever new Web site from Oxford University Press, is doing something about it.
The makers of the Oxford English Dictionary (which catalogs every word in English, ever) have developed the site based on the simple idea that a word won’t die if it gets used often enough. To that end, the site creatively displays a swath of at-risk lexemes, each of which you may adopt by promising to use it at least once a day. This isn’t as easy as it might seem. Try, for instance, using “frutescent”—approaching the appearance of a shrub—or “archiloquy”—the first parts of a speech—naturally. But then, it’s better than speaking a language whose most interesting words come from clever rhymes and Facebook.
The makers of the Oxford English Dictionary (which catalogs every word in English, ever) have developed the site based on the simple idea that a word won’t die if it gets used often enough. To that end, the site creatively displays a swath of at-risk lexemes, each of which you may adopt by promising to use it at least once a day. This isn’t as easy as it might seem. Try, for instance, using “frutescent”—approaching the appearance of a shrub—or “archiloquy”—the first parts of a speech—naturally. But then, it’s better than speaking a language whose most interesting words come from clever rhymes and Facebook.
Kittens From Heaven
This is a true story about a Pastor that saw a little kitten stuck up in a tree and the kitty would not come down.
The tree was not sturdy enough to climb so the Pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten. He did this, checking his progress in the car frequently, then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved just a bit further, the rope broke. The tree snapped upright and the kitten instantly sailed through the air and out of sight.
He felt just terrible and walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they had seen a little kitten. Nobody had and finally he prayed, "Lord, I commit this kitten to Your keeping," and then went about his business.
A few days later he was at the grocery store and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her why she was buying cat food when she hated cats so much.
She replied, "You won't believe this but I have been refusing to buy my little girl a cat even though she has been begging for one. Finally I told her that if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.
"I watched my child go out into the yard, get on her knees and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky with its paws spread out and landed right in front of her. Of course I had to let her keep the kitten since it came from God...."
The tree was not sturdy enough to climb so the Pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten. He did this, checking his progress in the car frequently, then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved just a bit further, the rope broke. The tree snapped upright and the kitten instantly sailed through the air and out of sight.
He felt just terrible and walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they had seen a little kitten. Nobody had and finally he prayed, "Lord, I commit this kitten to Your keeping," and then went about his business.
A few days later he was at the grocery store and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her why she was buying cat food when she hated cats so much.
She replied, "You won't believe this but I have been refusing to buy my little girl a cat even though she has been begging for one. Finally I told her that if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.
"I watched my child go out into the yard, get on her knees and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky with its paws spread out and landed right in front of her. Of course I had to let her keep the kitten since it came from God...."
Drinking Water Proven to Help Weight Loss
It's a popular dieting secret: Drink more water, and you'll shed more pounds. Finally, science is adding weight to the practice.
After about three months, a new study found, obese dieters who drank two cups of water before each meal lost 5 pounds more than a group of dieters who didn't increase their water intake. A year later, the water-drinkers had also kept more of the weight off.
Read more
After about three months, a new study found, obese dieters who drank two cups of water before each meal lost 5 pounds more than a group of dieters who didn't increase their water intake. A year later, the water-drinkers had also kept more of the weight off.
Read more
NYC Cabbie Stabbed by Islamophobe
It goes without saying that Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, et al., feel no responsibility for this whatsoever: A New York City cab driver named Ahmed Sharif was stabbed by a passenger who allegedly asked "Are you a Muslim?" before carrying out the attack. When the cab driver said yes, the passenger allegedly pulled out a Leatherman tool and slashed his throat, arm, and lip. Sharif was able to lock the passenger in the back of his car, and is currently in the hospital recovering from his injuries. The passenger, Michael Enright, is a 21-year-old filmmaker who recently returned from Afghanistan. In a statement, Sharif said "I feel very sad. I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before."
Read more
Read more
Chile tells trapped miners what they must do to stay alive
Just 35 inches (90 centimeters) around the waist — that's how skinny Chile's 33 trapped miners have been told they need to be to squeeze through the escape tunnel, the health minister said Wednesday.
Dr. Jaime Manalich said rescuers are applying a holistic plan to support the miners' well-being during the months it may take to carve out the tunnel, including exercise and other activities to keep them from gaining weight.
"We're working to determine a secure area where the miners can manage things. The space they're in actually has about two kilometers of galleries to walk around in," he said. "We hope to define a secure area where they can establish various places — one for resting and sleeping, one for diversion, one for food, another for work."
Read more
Dr. Jaime Manalich said rescuers are applying a holistic plan to support the miners' well-being during the months it may take to carve out the tunnel, including exercise and other activities to keep them from gaining weight.
"We're working to determine a secure area where the miners can manage things. The space they're in actually has about two kilometers of galleries to walk around in," he said. "We hope to define a secure area where they can establish various places — one for resting and sleeping, one for diversion, one for food, another for work."
Read more
Sheesh, you take care of your kids as best as you can, and then they go and unfriend you on Facebook
Mothers have found a even better way to humiliate their children than showing baby pictures: becoming a friend on Facebook.
Like the cyber version of being picked up in an uncool car, teens are now mortified by nagging chats and clueless comments left by their mothers on their online profiles.
Nearly a third of Facebook teens are ready to unfriend their parents on the social networking site and are twice as likely to want to avoid Mom as Dad, according to an AOL study released Tuesday.
Read more
Like the cyber version of being picked up in an uncool car, teens are now mortified by nagging chats and clueless comments left by their mothers on their online profiles.
Nearly a third of Facebook teens are ready to unfriend their parents on the social networking site and are twice as likely to want to avoid Mom as Dad, according to an AOL study released Tuesday.
Read more
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Today's Quote
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Facts no match for media narrative
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The backlash against Obama's blackness
From the Guardian, a London paper, commentary on our 'redneck nation'.
The August madness into which America has descended is about several things. It's about the still-sputtering economy, of course, and the fear it engenders. It's about xenophobia, never far below the surface. And it's about a rightwing media-political complex that plays on the public's ignorance.
But there's a unifying theme that few wish to acknowledge. What we are witnessing at the moment is the full, ugly furore of white backlash, aimed directly and indirectly at our first black president.
The case was made, inadvertently, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last week by Republican congressman-turned-lobbyist Dick Armey, the godfather of what might be called the Tea Party movement's corporate wing. Armey and his co-author, Matt Kibbe, proudly dated the birth of the Tea Party to 9 February 2009.
Barack Obama's $800m stimulus bill was not approved until three days later. Which is my point. The most notorious political movement of the Obama era, grounded in racial fears if not flat-out racism, sprung into being within weeks of Obama's inauguration, before he'd had a chance to do anything, really. If Obama was for it, they were against it.
The Tea Party winter and spring of 2009 led to the "death panels" of summer, and to rightwing hero Glenn Beck's declaration that the president harboured "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture". Minor issues involving Acorn, a heretofore obscure agency that helped register urban, mostly minority voters, became a cause célèbre. A little-known African American bureaucrat, Van Jones, was hounded out of office for having allegedly expressed offensive views about the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 – views he later said he had never voiced and did not hold. Protesters spat upon and directed racial epithets at African American congressmen as the healthcare debate reached its climax.
And now we come to the full fruition of all this race-baiting. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 18% of Americans – and 34% of conservative Republicans – believe Obama is a Muslim, proportions that have actually risen since the 2008 campaign. Another poll, by CNN/Opinion Research, finds that 41% of Republicans believe Obama was definitely or probably not born in the United States.
Far worse is the racial, ethnic and religious hatred that has been unleashed, starting with the proposed Islamic centre to be built in New York several blocks from the devastated World Trade Centre site, which Obama endorsed and then (to his discredit) unendorsed, sort of, the next day.
Yes, we've all heard Newt Gingrich draw an analogy between Muslims and Nazis, and we all know that more than 60% of the public has expressed its opposition to what is inevitably, and inaccurately, referred to as the "Ground Zero mosque".
But to experience the pure fury, you have to watch the video of a black man who had the temerity to walk through a group of people protesting the centre. It is a terrifying moment.
There is more – so much more. The anti-immigration law approved in Arizona, which made a star of Republican governor Jan Brewer, notwithstanding the inconvenient truth that illegal immigration across the Mexico-Arizona border is at its lowest level in years. The political crucifixion of Shirley Sherrod. The continuing phenomenon of Sarah Palin, who, at long last, feels empowered enough to reach inside the deepest, darkest recesses of her tiny little heart and embrace a fellow rightwinger's repeated use of the N-word.
It's a frightening time to be an American and to watch this insanity unfolding all around us. There's a sense that anything could happen, none of it good.
Read more
The August madness into which America has descended is about several things. It's about the still-sputtering economy, of course, and the fear it engenders. It's about xenophobia, never far below the surface. And it's about a rightwing media-political complex that plays on the public's ignorance.
But there's a unifying theme that few wish to acknowledge. What we are witnessing at the moment is the full, ugly furore of white backlash, aimed directly and indirectly at our first black president.
The case was made, inadvertently, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last week by Republican congressman-turned-lobbyist Dick Armey, the godfather of what might be called the Tea Party movement's corporate wing. Armey and his co-author, Matt Kibbe, proudly dated the birth of the Tea Party to 9 February 2009.
Barack Obama's $800m stimulus bill was not approved until three days later. Which is my point. The most notorious political movement of the Obama era, grounded in racial fears if not flat-out racism, sprung into being within weeks of Obama's inauguration, before he'd had a chance to do anything, really. If Obama was for it, they were against it.
The Tea Party winter and spring of 2009 led to the "death panels" of summer, and to rightwing hero Glenn Beck's declaration that the president harboured "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture". Minor issues involving Acorn, a heretofore obscure agency that helped register urban, mostly minority voters, became a cause célèbre. A little-known African American bureaucrat, Van Jones, was hounded out of office for having allegedly expressed offensive views about the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 – views he later said he had never voiced and did not hold. Protesters spat upon and directed racial epithets at African American congressmen as the healthcare debate reached its climax.
And now we come to the full fruition of all this race-baiting. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 18% of Americans – and 34% of conservative Republicans – believe Obama is a Muslim, proportions that have actually risen since the 2008 campaign. Another poll, by CNN/Opinion Research, finds that 41% of Republicans believe Obama was definitely or probably not born in the United States.
Far worse is the racial, ethnic and religious hatred that has been unleashed, starting with the proposed Islamic centre to be built in New York several blocks from the devastated World Trade Centre site, which Obama endorsed and then (to his discredit) unendorsed, sort of, the next day.
Yes, we've all heard Newt Gingrich draw an analogy between Muslims and Nazis, and we all know that more than 60% of the public has expressed its opposition to what is inevitably, and inaccurately, referred to as the "Ground Zero mosque".
But to experience the pure fury, you have to watch the video of a black man who had the temerity to walk through a group of people protesting the centre. It is a terrifying moment.
There is more – so much more. The anti-immigration law approved in Arizona, which made a star of Republican governor Jan Brewer, notwithstanding the inconvenient truth that illegal immigration across the Mexico-Arizona border is at its lowest level in years. The political crucifixion of Shirley Sherrod. The continuing phenomenon of Sarah Palin, who, at long last, feels empowered enough to reach inside the deepest, darkest recesses of her tiny little heart and embrace a fellow rightwinger's repeated use of the N-word.
It's a frightening time to be an American and to watch this insanity unfolding all around us. There's a sense that anything could happen, none of it good.
Read more
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tea Party Member
Pitttsburgh Police reported finding a man's body in the
river just off Neville Island. The dead man's name will not
be released until his family has been notified.
The victim apparently drowned due to excessive beer consumption.
He was wearing black fishnet stockings, a red garter belt, a strap-on
dildo, and a Tea Party t-shirt. He also had a cucumber stuffed up his ass.
The police removed the Tea Party t-shirt to spare his family any unnecessary
embarrassment.
Police do care!
river just off Neville Island. The dead man's name will not
be released until his family has been notified.
The victim apparently drowned due to excessive beer consumption.
He was wearing black fishnet stockings, a red garter belt, a strap-on
dildo, and a Tea Party t-shirt. He also had a cucumber stuffed up his ass.
The police removed the Tea Party t-shirt to spare his family any unnecessary
embarrassment.
Police do care!
Another Blonde Joke
A crew of highway maintenance workers were sent to repair
some road signs that vandals had knocked down in a forested
area. The first one they put back up was a symbol warning
of a deer crossing.
As they moved down the road to repair the next sign, one
member, a blonde, of the crew looked back and spotted a deer running
across the highway. She turned to a co-worker and said, "I
wonder how long he's been waiting to cross?"
some road signs that vandals had knocked down in a forested
area. The first one they put back up was a symbol warning
of a deer crossing.
As they moved down the road to repair the next sign, one
member, a blonde, of the crew looked back and spotted a deer running
across the highway. She turned to a co-worker and said, "I
wonder how long he's been waiting to cross?"
The Katrina Divorces
As Hurricane Katrina shuttered homes and left families scattered, the New Orleans divorce rate spiked. Five years later, how the storm led some to reinvent their lives for the better.
Website of the Day
History has the strange quality that it easily could have been otherwise. You can experience one conceivable “what if?” in Moon Graffiti, an excellently executed radio story that plays out what could have happened had the first moon landing gone awry.
Based on a chilling contingency speech written for Richard Nixon titled “In the Event of Moon Disaster,” this nostalgia-laced 15-minute radio broadcast, courtesy of American Public Media, tells its story entirely through the radio communication between Mission Control and the astronauts. Seconds after tuning in, you’ll witness Apollo 11’s crash landing on the moon. Buzz and Neil are okay, but the lunar module is destroyed, and the men are running out of oxygen. The story is haunting in its plausibility, and despite the fact that the astronauts sound less like test pilots from the Air Force than hipsters from Brooklyn, the quality writing and sound effects bring this macabre counterfactual deliciously close to reality.
Listen to moon graffiti
Based on a chilling contingency speech written for Richard Nixon titled “In the Event of Moon Disaster,” this nostalgia-laced 15-minute radio broadcast, courtesy of American Public Media, tells its story entirely through the radio communication between Mission Control and the astronauts. Seconds after tuning in, you’ll witness Apollo 11’s crash landing on the moon. Buzz and Neil are okay, but the lunar module is destroyed, and the men are running out of oxygen. The story is haunting in its plausibility, and despite the fact that the astronauts sound less like test pilots from the Air Force than hipsters from Brooklyn, the quality writing and sound effects bring this macabre counterfactual deliciously close to reality.
Listen to moon graffiti
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches are a great summertime dinner because they're simple, tasty, and easy. This tangy recipe even includes a homemade barbecue sauce that will wow you and make any summer evening one to remember.
Ingredients
* 1 can (28-ounce) plum tomatoes, chopped (save juice)
* 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
* 1/4 cup honey
* 2 tablespoons tomato paste
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 3 cups water
* 1 1/3 cups cider vinegar
* Salt, to taste
* 4 pounds pork butt, at room temperature
* Soft rolls
*
*
Instructions
Note: Prepare the barbecue sauce at least a day before you plan to cook the meat.
1. Place the tomatoes, molasses, honey, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, cumin, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in a large heavy pot.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the mixture is very thick, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the water and vinegar, then return the mixture to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce gently, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours more.
6. Remove and discard the bay leaf, season with salt, and set the sauce aside to cool.
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
8. Bring to room temperature before adding to the slow cooker.
9. Place the pork in the slow cooker and cover with 2 cups of the sauce, turning the meat to coat all over.
10. Cover the pot and cook on high heat for 5 1/2 hours.
11. Remove the meat from the sauce and set aside to cool.
12. When the meat is cool enough to handle, trim off and discard the fat.
13. Chop the meat coarsely with two knives, or pull it with 2 forks.
14. Place the shredded meat in a large bowl. Pour the sauce through a gravy separator, discarding the fat.
15. Warm the defatted sauce and toss with the shredded meat. Serve on rolls with coleslaw on top and pickles alongside.
Ingredients
* 1 can (28-ounce) plum tomatoes, chopped (save juice)
* 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
* 1/4 cup honey
* 2 tablespoons tomato paste
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 3 cups water
* 1 1/3 cups cider vinegar
* Salt, to taste
* 4 pounds pork butt, at room temperature
* Soft rolls
*
*
Instructions
Note: Prepare the barbecue sauce at least a day before you plan to cook the meat.
1. Place the tomatoes, molasses, honey, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, cumin, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in a large heavy pot.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the mixture is very thick, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the water and vinegar, then return the mixture to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce gently, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours more.
6. Remove and discard the bay leaf, season with salt, and set the sauce aside to cool.
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
8. Bring to room temperature before adding to the slow cooker.
9. Place the pork in the slow cooker and cover with 2 cups of the sauce, turning the meat to coat all over.
10. Cover the pot and cook on high heat for 5 1/2 hours.
11. Remove the meat from the sauce and set aside to cool.
12. When the meat is cool enough to handle, trim off and discard the fat.
13. Chop the meat coarsely with two knives, or pull it with 2 forks.
14. Place the shredded meat in a large bowl. Pour the sauce through a gravy separator, discarding the fat.
15. Warm the defatted sauce and toss with the shredded meat. Serve on rolls with coleslaw on top and pickles alongside.
The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009: What it Means for You
Additional financial regulations and changes stemming from Wall Street reform went into effect over the weekend. Credit card companies now have a longer list of rules they must follow, and you may have a longer list of loopholes to watch out for.
Here is a summary of the new credit card rules:
Credit card bills must be delivered 21 days before payments are due, and payments must be due on the same day every month.
Credit card companies cannot raise your credit card rates without telling you why they are doing so. Additionally, they must reconsider rate increases that have been imposed since January 1, 2009.
Penalty fees for late payments are limited to $25 for most consumers. However, if you are late with a payment or are over your credit limit twice within six months, the credit card company can increase your fee to $35 or more.
Companies cannot charge a higher penalty fee than the action that resulted in the fee. This means if your monthly minimum payment is $20 and you are late with that payment, your penalty fee should be $20. Additionally, if you go over your credit limit by $5, your penalty fee should be $5.
Companies cannot charge you an inactivity fee if you don't use your credit card.
Companies must apply any payment above the minimum to the balance with the highest interest rate.
Stay alert for changes your credit card company might be making to counteract this loss of revenue, which could be as high as $390 million in the first year.
Watch out for possible increases in annual fees and balance transfer fees. These fees are not covered under the legislation.
Companies could create new fees that aren't on the list of those now regulated. Make sure you read your statements and any other mail from your credit card company carefully. Don't allow yourself to be charged any new fees without knowing it.
Keep in mind that none of these new regulations cover interest rate increases, other than notifying the consumer of changes. So while you may pay lower penalties, those penalties are still likely to have an effect on your interest rates.
Many credit card companies began changing their rates while they were still allowed to do so in anticipation of these changes going into effect (since February, changes have not been allowed on accounts that were being paid on time). So make sure you know what your annual interest rates are now for any and all credit cards in your wallet and don't give your credit card company any reason to make a change.
Visit www.feedthepig.org for more money-saving tips.
Here is a summary of the new credit card rules:
Credit card bills must be delivered 21 days before payments are due, and payments must be due on the same day every month.
Credit card companies cannot raise your credit card rates without telling you why they are doing so. Additionally, they must reconsider rate increases that have been imposed since January 1, 2009.
Penalty fees for late payments are limited to $25 for most consumers. However, if you are late with a payment or are over your credit limit twice within six months, the credit card company can increase your fee to $35 or more.
Companies cannot charge a higher penalty fee than the action that resulted in the fee. This means if your monthly minimum payment is $20 and you are late with that payment, your penalty fee should be $20. Additionally, if you go over your credit limit by $5, your penalty fee should be $5.
Companies cannot charge you an inactivity fee if you don't use your credit card.
Companies must apply any payment above the minimum to the balance with the highest interest rate.
Stay alert for changes your credit card company might be making to counteract this loss of revenue, which could be as high as $390 million in the first year.
Watch out for possible increases in annual fees and balance transfer fees. These fees are not covered under the legislation.
Companies could create new fees that aren't on the list of those now regulated. Make sure you read your statements and any other mail from your credit card company carefully. Don't allow yourself to be charged any new fees without knowing it.
Keep in mind that none of these new regulations cover interest rate increases, other than notifying the consumer of changes. So while you may pay lower penalties, those penalties are still likely to have an effect on your interest rates.
Many credit card companies began changing their rates while they were still allowed to do so in anticipation of these changes going into effect (since February, changes have not been allowed on accounts that were being paid on time). So make sure you know what your annual interest rates are now for any and all credit cards in your wallet and don't give your credit card company any reason to make a change.
Visit www.feedthepig.org for more money-saving tips.
US Military 'Overwhelmed' by Mental Health Problems of Soldiers
Nine months after an Army psychiatrist was charged with fatally shooting 13 soldiers and wounding 30, the nation's largest Army post can measure the toll of war in the more than 10,000 mental health evaluations, referrals or therapy sessions held every month.
Read more
Read more
Cats
I telephoned the veterinarian's office to ask when I should
take my three month old kitten in to be vaccinated for
rabies. After a few initial questions, the woman who
answered the telephone asked, "What is the kitten's name?"
"Demon", I replied.
"Demon? That's an odd name," she said.
"Maybe, but it's appropriate anyway."
I heard clicking of a computer keyboard, then she said, "Our
records show that you have cats named Gato [which is Spanish
for 'male cat'], Scamp, Stinky, and now you named one Demon.
Is that right?"
"Yes, it is."
"You really don't like cats, do you?"
take my three month old kitten in to be vaccinated for
rabies. After a few initial questions, the woman who
answered the telephone asked, "What is the kitten's name?"
"Demon", I replied.
"Demon? That's an odd name," she said.
"Maybe, but it's appropriate anyway."
I heard clicking of a computer keyboard, then she said, "Our
records show that you have cats named Gato [which is Spanish
for 'male cat'], Scamp, Stinky, and now you named one Demon.
Is that right?"
"Yes, it is."
"You really don't like cats, do you?"
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Website of the Day
You need to get to the library before closing, but you also have to pick up the dry cleaning, the kids from school (can’t forget that one), and something for dinner along the way. On route4me.com, enter multiple addresses and it will calculate the shortest route to get it all done, complete with driving directions.
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