Merry Christmas !!!

Welcome Christmas! Bring your cheer.
Cheer to all Who's ~ far and near.

Christmas Day is in our grasp,
So long as we have hands to clasp.

Christmas Day will always be,
Just as long as we have we.

Welcome Christmas, while we stand,
Heart to heart And Hand in hand
T. Geisel 1957,1966

Merry Christmas, and a safe and happy holiday season to everyone. I also want to thank every one of my friends for being there. Nothing means more to me than you all being part of my life.

B

The Story of the Kingdom of Tewksbury

My friends recently purchased a house in the town of Tewksbury, MA. and I was asked if I was excited to be going to see them there over the Christmas Holiday...


Ahhh..yes… Tewksbury. How could anyone resist the lure of such a lavish Eden??

21 square and blissful miles bordering on the Merrimack river…
Settled in 1637, and finally incorporated in 1734, after a bitter and heart-wrenching
battle for freedom from the vile oppressors of Billerica ~ a struggle now known as THE MIGHTY MORON MASSACRE OF ’34.

After that, reparations were made and the peoples of this new venture in social organization settled down to
heal and live their lives in peace. They gathered each Sunday to worship their deity, THE GREAT TEWK, who followed in the
path of his mentor and father, THE NOT-SO-GREAT-TEWK, who, to be honest, had some nasty issues with raping & pillaging.

For a short while, the citizens of this happy hamlet were TEWK-LESS, until NOT-SO-GREAT, whose given name was really EARL
(remember this, it’s important), had a young son who would be groomed to take the mantle of leadership.

Many locals refer to this time as “the dark ages”, though, in fact, it had little to do with them being leaderless,
and more to do with the fact that they lost the two sticks they had been using to start their fires. (historian’s note: It appears that the full objective was not achieved in the aforementioned MIGHTLY MORON MASACRE)

Finally, when almost all hope was lost, and people began to despair, the young prince saved the day by bringing light and fire back to their world.
The legend is told that one day in late Fall, after working in the town’s pig farm, the young and curious prince took a walk through the woods on his way to the stream to wash himself off. After cleansing himself (and unknowingly poisoning half of the inhabitants of Billerica by putting pig fecal matter into their drinking water), he lay out in the sunshine to dry his clothes in the late day sun. Tired, the prince quickly dozed off, and woke some time later to find that a thunderstorm was quickly approaching. Fascinated by the billowing dark clouds, the less-than-brilliant prince decided to climb the nearest tree to get a better view of the powerful storm. Once at the top of the tree, he watched in wonder … right up until the lightning bolt struck him senseless. Falling to the ground, his life was saved only by the large pile of leaves he landed in. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the lightning ignited his clothing.
AND the leaves.
And the tree.
Seeing the smoke, the townspeople came running, and that is how the young prince brought fire back to the town.
Overjoyed, the townsfolk put out the young prince and hoisted him on their shoulders, marching him into town.
Declaring them their hero and savior, the prince was then coronated as the new leader .. THE GREAT TEWK.
Wonder and happiness fill ed all the inhabitants, and they began to chant…
Knowing that this miracle would not have happened without the NOT-SO-GREAT-TEWK’s fortune of having a son, they gave thanks…
chanting over and over those words now glorified in song…

TEWK! TEWK! TEWK! TEWK of EARL!!!
TEWK! TEWK! TEWK of EARL!
TEWK! TEWK! TEWK of EARL!

(Thank you for groaning)

Words of Wisdom

...from the TV show "ANGEL"

Demon: "HOW can your species even begin to run this world?"
Mortal Human: "With opposable thumbs. And fire. And television."

On Thinking Ahead...

OK, so this isn't the most profound parable-type story in the world ... and I'm sure most everyone has heard it. But I heard it only recently and I like the concept of teaching personal responsibility....

HA. Now I need to get some.




"An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family.He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized that we would have done it differently. Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today." Unknown author

Some Pictures of Pawtuxet

Took some pictures of the neighborhood near my townhouse during last night's storm...

I LOVE Hot Chicks

This morning ... during the weather on Fox News' "Fox & Friends", (currently holding a strong lead in the contest for "Worst Piece of Crap EVER") , I was told in closed captioning that a apparently a woman named "Alba Kirky is hot" today.

Honest.

Almost fell off the treadmill.

What star system are these people from anyway?
Alphabet Story ?

'Tis the Season !!!

Whew!!! Aaaaaannnd it's Christmas time once again.

How do I know?

Because EVERY commercial on TV is now telling me that I am not a man unless I buy my girl diamonds or a new car.

Of course! What was I thinking. A true expression of love cannot be made with small-ticket items, or heartfelt sentiment, or a personalized little token to show that one person is thinking of another. Nooooo!

It must have 4 -8 intermittently activated cylinders, full leather interior and independent back seat DVD systems. Oh, and a high end navigation system (which IS pretty cool, but that's besides the point).

And it CAN'T be the holidays unless every woman is presented with diamonds. Many. Multiple sizes. In front of children, so that the gluttonous, insincere tradition can be stamped into their psyche, making sure that they always remember that parental & spousal neglect can be remedied with SHINY STUFF !!! Naturally.

Fluid Dynamics in the Office

Point of Note:

The standard HP computer keyboard holds 1/3 - 1/2 of a cup of coffee.

It also takes an entire roll of paper towels and one half hour to clean up so that none of the kkkkkkeys sttttttickkkkkkkkkkkkk.

SSSON OF A BITCH!

Giving the Bird ...

From US News & World Report:


Bush Turkey Pardon Lampooned

In Washington Post column, Dana Milbank says the White House press corps "strutted their stuff" yesterday as they awaited President Bush in the Rose Garden. Bush was there to officially pardon a Thanksgiving turkey (plus a back-up). Their names? "May" and "Flower." Milbank writes, "Somebody said the two birds should be named 'Scooter' and 'Libby.' Another proposal: 'Ramos' and 'Compean' -- the two imprisoned border agents whose pardons CNN's Lou Dobbs fervently seeks." Meanwhile, "Ken Herman of Cox News feared that Bush would ship the birds off to Gitmo, where they would be 'water-basted.'

It's THANKSGIVING !!!

Meaning that it's time to proudly bring back the symbol of Thanksgiving festivus....

Tryptophan Tom ...

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Tired of the Games

RE: The Article Reposted Below:

I am sure people will simply say that "this is done everywhere", and that it's an insignificant part of the election process, but guess what? That doesn't matter. Hillary Clinton does not get my vote because of repeated displays of phony-ness by her and her campaign.

I am an Independent voter.

And I will chose who I vote for by who I feel is the best candidate, not by their party affiliation. In fact, to me, the development of party affiliation as it has developed, appears to have prevented progress and proper governing. That, however, is a rant for another day

I have now heard Ms. Clinton campaign in a"fake" accent, contradict herself in her statements, and now allow questions to be planted at campaign events.

If there is a statement of policy or opinion that a candidate wishes to get out, then MAKE THE STATEMENT. Don't play games by pretending that you are having a discourse with the electorate.

If there is NOTHING that candidates should have learned ... hell, that HILLARY should have learned ... it's that honesty is paramount in an elected official.

I find this ridiculous.
Am I naive?
No. I am not. And even if I was about this subject, so what? It's my right to expect proper behavior from someone who wants to be the president of this country.

I demand honesty from that person.
Do I need to know every detail as they run the country? No. That would be unwise to expect or require ... and THAT is why I need to TRUST the person.

Hillary Clinton, like the current administration, has not been honest with me.
How can I trust this person?

She can go away now.
No vote for you.


==========================================
GRINNELL, Iowa (CNN) -- The college student who says she was told what question to ask at one of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events said Monday that "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one who was planted.

Student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff said a staffer told her what to ask at a campaign event for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

In an exclusive taped interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, said that giving anyone specific questions to ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.
Gallo-Chasanoff, whose story was first reported in the campus newspaper, said what happened was really pretty simple: She says a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in Newton, Iowa, on November 6.
"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said.
"'I don't think that's a good idea," the staffer said, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, "because I don't know how familiar she is with their plans."
He then opened a binder to a page that, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, had about eight questions on it.
"The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."
Topping that sheet of paper was the following: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"
And while she said she would have rather used her own question, Gallo-Chasanoff said she generally didn't have a problem asking the campaign's because she "likes to be agreeable," adding that since she told the staffer she'd ask their pre-typed question she "didn't want to go back on [her] word."
Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee has said in a statement responding to the initial campus article that the senator "did not know which questioners she was calling on during the event."
Gallo-Chasanoff wasn't so sure.
"I don't know whether Hillary knew what my question was going to be, but it seemed like she knew to call on me because there were so many people, and ... I was the only college student in that area," she said.
In a statement, the campaign also added, "On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum. ... This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again."
Gallo-Chasanoff may have some doubts about that one as well.
"After the event," she said, "I heard another man ... talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question."
The man she references prefaced his question by saying that it probably didn't have anything to do with energy, and then posed the following: "I wonder what you propose to do to create jobs for the middle-class person, such as here in Newton where we lost Maytag."
A Maytag factory in Newton recently closed, forcing hundreds of people out of their jobs.
During the course of the late-night interview on Grinnell's campus, Gallo-Chasanoff also told CNN that the day before the school's newspaper, Scarlet and Black, printed the story, she wanted the reporter to inform the campaign out of courtesy to let them know it would be published.
She said the "head of publicity for the campaign," a man whose name she could not recall, had no factual disputes with the story. But, she added, a Clinton intern spoke to her to say the campaign requests she "not talk about" the story to any more media outlets and that if she did she should inform a staffer.
"I'm not under any real obligation to do that, and I haven't talked to [the campaign] anymore," Gallo-Chasanoff said, adding that she also doesn't plan to.
"If what I do is come and just be totally truthful, then that's all anyone can ask of me, and that's all I can ask of myself. So I'll feel good with what I've done. I'll feel like I've done the right thing."
Asked if this experience makes her less likely to support Clinton's presidential bid, Gallo-Chasanoff, an undecided voter, said, "I think she has a lot to offer, but I -- this experience makes me look at her campaign a little bit differently."
"The question and answer sessions -- especially in Iowa -- are really important. That's where the voters get to ... have like a real genuine conversation with this politician who could be representing them."
While she acknowledged "it's possible that all campaigns do these kind of tactics," she said it still doesn't make it right.
"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me."
Calls placed to representatives from the Clinton campaign late Monday night were not immediately returned.
Gallo-Chasanoff's story comes at a time when a second person has also come forward with a similar one. Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Illinois, a town located on the Iowa border, told CNN the Clinton campaign also wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.
"He asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. "I told him it was not a question I felt comfortable with."
No questions were taken at the event. Elleithee said this incident was different than what happened with Gallo-Chasanoff in Newton. Elleithee said the staffer "bumped into someone he marginally knew" and during a conversation with Mitchell, "Iraq came up." Elleithee denied the campaign tried to plant him as a friendly questioner in the audience.
Mitchell said he had never met the staffer before the event.

Focks Gnues Rools !!!

While at the gym today, running my miles on the 'dread-mill', I had the misfortune of picking a machine directly in front of a TV that had the Fox News channel on it.

(Aside) ...I personally think that it would be better if they put any TV with that channel on it behind me, since I would run as fast as I could the OTHER WAY. It'd give me a much better workout.

Aaaanyway, they had the closed captioning on, and they were going over entertainment news. Apparently Jennifer Lopez is pregnant, and, I dunno ... I guess I'm happy for her or whatever.
So glad you can procreate. I GUESS that counts as entertainment news.
Isn't she BRAVE to take on the responsibilities of parenting? (get it? Her new CD is called 'Brave'). Yeah, I know... STFU... OK, OK.

No, the thing that was REALLY entertaining was the closed caption.
It said: "Jay Lowell pregnant...."

Why do I think, for some reason, that the manual task of typing for closed captioning is outsourced to somewhere VERY, VERY FAR AWAY.

A Pomeranian Puppy Poser

I never understand the whole 'dressing up your dog for Halloween' thing.
TREATING them like people (which is different enough anyway) doesn't mean you have to HUMILIATE them like people !

Oh, well. Whatever.

I have a friend who dressed their dog - a Pomeranian - in a Tom Brady jersey.
I guess that makes him .... ummm....
The QuarterBARK?

Incredible!

And except for the 3 or 4 times throughout the season that I counted them completely out of it, cursed their very existence and KNEW they were dead in the water, I never doubted them .... !!

Physician Heal Thyself...

Caveat - I work for a health care system.

This was in the local paper here today. I am not sure how I feel about this concept. How DO we fix the health care system? I personally don't know. But we all have our own experiences to reference on the subject. And the more experiences we have, the more we realize how broken the current set up is.
MD's here are vehemently opposed to these clinics. Yet, it is very difficult in the current environment to obtain the kind of low-level services that these clinics offer. It's frustrating and a serious issue. Don Williams, the head of the RI health services council, has an extremely valid point when he counters the doctors' opposition. For many things, patients DO know what they need. And their time is significantly wasted in traipsing all over the place in order to wait exorbitant amounts of time for the "required" service. As patients we SEE that the doctors are at odds with the insurance providers ... and that we are basically pawns in the middle.

The reason I was moved to write about this at all was the specific statement by Dr. Elizabeth Lange about halfway down the article. Dr. Lange is the VP of the RI chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics (WHY must every health care org have these insanely long names??).

In her statement against these clinics, she makes her argument about the importance of overall care and attention at every office visit. OK, whether I agree that this HAPPENS in reality or not is debatable. But her next statement just angers...
“Medicine is a relationship,” Lange said. “It is not a business transaction.”
Excuse ME? Perhaps if you started with the word "Ideally" it would be a valid statement...
But please don't use such rhetoric to brush over what the reality is in today's world.
If medicine is not a business transaction, then why are we all asked for our insurance card BEFORE anything happens when we enter the doctor's office? Why are there no more house calls?
I am just tired of political posturing and arrogant verbosity to achieve agendas.
Of COURSE this subject is about financial well being.
Will there be mistakes at these clinics? Sheer numbers indicate that there will be. Just as there are in every facet of health care. And the doctor associations (unions) will drag every one through the public media to "prove their point" about the unsafeness of clinics that exist to serve a quite viable need.

Yes, it MUST be buyer-beware. The patient MUST know that these are not MD's, and that these are a low-level clinics they're attending. ... But please stop insulting our intelligence with the superior rhetoric when we all know what this is really about. Cash & power.
But sadly, this is the type of manipulative world we now live in.

OK .. so maybe I DO know where I stand on this... I don't say I'm right about it...


================================================
Local doctors oppose MinuteClinics coming to R.I.
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, October 25, 2007
By Felice J. FreyerJournal Medical Writer

Customers leave a CVS Minute Clinic inside a CVS in West Hartford, Conn. MinuteClinics provide quick care for minor health problems. A nurse practitioner makes the diagnosis and writes a prescription, if needed.
The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski
If clinics that treat minor problems open up in local stores, one thing seems certain: people will go to them. Lots of people.
But whether that’s a good thing remains open to debate. And that debate is heating up again in Rhode Island.
Last week, the two top officials of MinuteClinic, the biggest company offering the store-based, nurse-provided care that has become popular around the country, went head-to-head with the folks who helped fight them off in Rhode Island two years ago: the doctors.
Michael C. Howe, chief executive officer, and Dr. Glen D. Nelson, chairman, made the case for MinuteClinic to the Health Department’s Primary Care Physician Advisory Committee. If the executives’ purpose was to win over the primary-care doctors, they did not succeed. But they don’t need the doctors’ approval — just a license from the Health Department — and the discussion that ensued provided a glimpse of what MinuteClinic would mean for Rhode Island.
“MinuteClinic provides access to health care seven days a week in convenient locations,” Howe explained. Typically this location is a CVS drugstore; CVS bought MinuteClinic last year.
Staffed by nurse practitioners, the clinics are open seven days a week, till 8 on weeknights. They require no appointments, and waits are brief. The nurse practitioner, guided by a checklist, diagnoses and treats a limited menu of simple health problems, such as sore throats, urinary tract infections, ear infections, and rashes, typically for $59 a visit. Most health insurers will cover these visits, and uninsured people often find them affordable.
If the problem looks serious or complicated, the patient is referred elsewhere. Otherwise, the patient gets a prescription if needed, a diagnostic record, educational materials, a bill, and a toll-free number for after-hours questions. If the patient has a primary-care provider, a record of the visit is immediately sent to that provider. If not, MinuteClinic refers the patient to a local doctor.
Dr. Elizabeth B. Lange, vice president of the Rhode Island chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics, spoke in rebuttal. No medical visit is simple, she declared. When a child has a bladder infection, for example, that could indicate anything from sexual abuse to a need for circumcision. And even if the infection is uncomplicated, these visits provide an invaluable opportunity to review the medical chart, see whether vaccines are up to date, and ask how the child is doing in school.
“Medicine is a relationship,” Lange said. “It is not a business transaction.”
She also accused MinuteClinic of “frank conflict of interest” when its nurses prescribe medications that can be purchased in the same store.
Lange acknowledged that the doctors’ objections are financial as well. The kind of quick, easy care provided at MinuteClinics is the bread and butter of primary-care practices, which in Rhode Island are reimbursed at lower rates than in most other states. Pay is so low in Rhode Island that many primary care practices report difficulty recruiting new doctors. If MinuteClinic “skims off” those services, doctors are left doing the harder, slower work that pays little, such as managing chronic illnesses or interacting with schools. “We need the reimbursement to keep our doors open,” she said.
Responding to the accusation of conflict of interest, Nelson, the MinuteClinic chairman, said that MinuteClinic has documented that its nurse practitioners do not prescribe antibiotics when they’re not needed; in fact they do a better job at that than doctors. “Physicians overprescribe because the mother insists,” Nelson said.
Furthermore, Nelson said, doctors can’t deny that MinuteClinic fills a need. “There isn’t access to care. The primary-care system is not addressing the needs of patients,” he said. “You need to take a look at yourselves and ask ‘Is MinuteClinic the problem or is it what we’re providing?’ ”
Howe said that in other states MinuteClinics have had little financial effect on doctors. The clinics don’t compete with the doctor’s office, but serve as an adjunct to it, he said.
Doctors at the meeting said that just means more fragmentation of care, giving doctors new responsibilities while draining away their income.
MinuteClinic, said Dr. Albert J. Puerini, a Cranston family doctor, “provides something that McDonald’s and Burger King provide. Patients don’t see that. They don’t understand that’s not the way to get medical care, just like going to McDonald’s is not the way to eat.”
Donald C. Williams, the Health Department’s chief of health services regulation, told the doctors that some of their comments were “fairly paternalistic” and that patients often do know what they need. He noted that the MinuteClinic faces “no legal impediment” to opening as long as it meets the terms of a Health Department license. “There’s a demand for this service,” Williams said. “It’s not going to work to put blinders on.”
Indeed, MinuteClinic may be unstoppable. Launched in Minnesota in 2000, the company has recently been growing at an astounding rate. In the middle of last year, it had 86 clinics in 10 states; today there are 321 in 25 states, with plans to raise the number to 450 before year’s end.
Slower to get a foothold in the more heavily regulated Northeast, MinuteClinic now has 15 clinics in Connecticut. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is considering its proposal to open 20 to 30 MinuteClinics in the Boston area. The department is first drafting regulations that may include such requirements as limiting the number of repeat visits by a patient, establishing policies to ensure the clinics “do not promote the use of services provided by the host retail location” and posting a sign alerting patients that they can fill prescriptions anywhere, not just at the host store.
MinuteClinic first approached Rhode Island regulators in 2005, seeking a license to open clinics in CVS stores in five upper-middle-class communities. But doctors raised objections, the Health Department showed reluctance to waive its requirements for sinks and toilets in the clinics, and it became clear that the regulatory process would be lengthy. MinuteClinic withdrew its application, promising to return.
The company has not yet reapplied for a Rhode Island license, and Howe would not say when that application would be filed. But his appearance at the Health Department last week suggests it will be soon.
While doctors worry about MinuteClinic, another group remains sanguine: nurses.
“This is all about power and control. This is not about access,” Donna Policastro, executive director of the Rhode Island State Nurses Association, said in a phone interview. “This is about the doctors not being in direct control of MinuteClinics. This is a nurse-driven model. I don’t think they like that.”
Policastro predicted that parents would continue to take children to their pediatricians, would use the MinuteClinic only when their doctor isn’t available, and would then go back to the doctor.
“We’re a team,” Policastro said. “This should be a team effort.”

And Now for Something COMPLETELY Different...

As some of you know, I have had the opportunity, no the PRIVILEGE, of taking Rhode Island’s public transportation to work in Providence recently.
In REAL words, that means TAKING THE BUS.

Now … other than one day early on when the bus actually just drove right by me as if I was invisible (something I am not entirely convinced doesn’t happen from time to time ~ kind of like I’m on HEROES), the RI bus transit service…RIPTA … isn’t really all that bad. The travel time is the same as if I drove myself, along basically the same route, and the pick up /delivery times are pretty convenient. We’ll see how the winter goes…
But really - it’s $22.50 per month, so…

The true benefit, however, in taking public transportation is the on-bus experience itself. I get to immerse myself – and luckily interact with – my fellow Rhode Islanders up close and personal. We’re talking a veritable cornucopia of culture here.

And now that I’ve seen this, I feel that I just HAVE to share it with everyone. It would just be selfish to keep it hidden inside. And God knows, I’m all about sharing.

Thus begins what will most assuredly be a reoccurring piece about “the ways of the bus” …where all walks of life and all forms of organisms meet and thrive. Something I’ve chosen to call: BUSTEALITY.

I can’t help but think that riding on the bus must have been what gave Darwin his jump-off point for radical & evolutionary thought. Seriously, you gotta see this, people.

More later…

Internet Story

I'm not going soft, but sometimes I like these heartwarming stories, and this one truly is amazing. Enjoy

1986, Dan Harrison ( see picture above ) was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University .

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teen aged son.

As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry - I just love this joke.... Hee!

The Long & Not So Winding Road

Yesterday's adventure was a bike trek along the Western Rhode Island Bike Trail. A very nice jaunt (45 miles round trip) from my house to the far reaches of the state. These trails are built along extinct rail paths and, when completed, this one should reach out to the Connecticut border. I'm thinking that it will eventually lead directly to Foxwoods. The wonder of it all, hunh?

In the mean time, there are some pictures of the trip posted below, and the silent movie above is my low-budget version of a Universal Studios ride: E.T.Adventure. I am just too heavy to get off the ground....

A Nation Rejoices!!!

R.I.P Max Roach

What must it have been like to go to clubs in NY and see a band with Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis ...

Max Roach basically created drums as we know it. Read below ...HE was the guy who assembled all the parts of a drum kit from the various rhythm types of the world, and who used them as a full instrument.

Music affects out lives from the moment we are born, and is a huge factor in our development, no matter who we are. Yet unless some teacher is "into" music history, most kids this week won't even hear about Max Roach.

You can't legislate a sense of history, and it's so very sad that no one teaches the appreciation of at any more.


=====================================

Pioneering Jazz Drummer Max Roach Dies at 83
by Neda Ulaby - From NPR Online


All Things Considered, August 16, 2007 · Max Roach was the hottest drummer in New York by the time he was 20 years old. By the time he died at age 83, he was truly one of the giants of jazz.
Roach died early Thursday morning in hospice care in New York after a long illness.
In addition to being a drummer, Roach was also a composer, a bandleader, an activist and a teacher.
He redefined what it meant to be a drummer. Before he arrived, the drum functioned basically as a timepiece. Roach says he made his drums sing solos.
"I felt that the instrument itself could be just as vital as any of the others I could think of," Roach said. "And by virtue of the fact that you deal with that instrument with all four limbs, you have four voices you deal with when you think like that."
In 1989, Roach described the drum kit as an American invention that combines cymbals from the Middle East, tom-toms from Africa and snares from Europe. His band mate Cecil Bridgewater says Roach's genius was in putting those parts together.
"Max doesn't play fundamental drumbeats behind you just to keep the time going," Bridgewater says. "He's making musical statements at all times."
Max Roach was born in a North Carolina town founded by freed slaves, and grew up in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood. His mom gave him drums to keep him off the street. But it was on Manhattan's 52nd Street that Roach started experimenting with harmony and melody alongside Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk and Charlie Parker.
"We hated to sleep," Roach said. "We'd work 9 'til 9 in two different clubs. We'd spend the day looking for places, working out arrangements on things like [Thelonius Monk's] 'Around Midnight.'"
Before his death in 1993, Dizzy Gillespie commented that Roach was a remarkable innovator.
"He had terrific ideas," Gillespie said. "And he developed them as we went along. He had the lick for the shtick."
Roach founded a seminal quintet in 1953 with trumpeter Clifford Brown. But after just three years, Brown was killed in a late-night car accident. He was only 25. Shocked and grieving, Max Roach buried himself in music, and in the blossoming civil rights movement.
In 1960, he recorded an album called "We Insist—The Freedom Now Suite" that featured, among others, singer Abbey Lincoln. It was Roach's answer to the turmoil of the time.
Roach continued to speak out for social justice and helped launch the field of jazz studies. His magnet for talent led him into lifelong collaborations with dancers, playwrights, filmmakers and musicians of practically every genre and every country.
What seemed to happen whenever Max Roach was around was fearlessness—on the bandstand, in the classroom, and on the streets.

Toonces ... You're the best!!!

OK, so this AP article appeared today everywhere... CNN, MSNBC, a ton of local papers, MAD Magazine ... everywhere. This facility is adjacent to Rhode Island Hospital, which is part of the corporation for which I work.

The incredible farce of the world we live in was never more evident than when I walked across the hospital campus this morning to attend a meeting. My trek brought my past this facility, The Steere House.

It looked like a "land-recreation" of the scene from JAWS where every hack boater on the planet was on a quest to catch the shark ... pure chaos. There were media trucks EVERYWHERE. Satellite dishes, cameras, cables, trucks rumbling, reporters standing on marked broadcast spots, speaking their drivel into the camera.

ARE.
THEY.
KIDDING???!!!!

THIS is what the media mobilizes for?

Fine... it's a quirky, fluff kind of story ... but to see the spectacle that was going on this morning was ridiculous. You mean to tell me that there is NO other news? No other story to investigate or report on? Of course there is...but this represents the Barnum & Baily side of the media world as it exists today.
Revolting.

And that brings me to a thought....
How incredible would it be if it turned out that little Oscar's wasn't super-sensitive or prescient.
Suppose that it was OSCAR that was infecting these people with some immediately terminal condition whenever he curled up so lovingly next to them?

I'm just askin' ...
How ironic.

In the mean time.... Send in the clowns.
===========================================================

When death comes calling, so does Oscar the cat
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP)

Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours.

His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live. "He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours. Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.

Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work there, said Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill She was convinced of Oscar's talent when he made his 13th correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the woman wasn't eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near. Oscar wouldn't stay inside the room, though, so Teno thought his streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor's prediction was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient's final two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.

Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don't know he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a harbinger of death. Most families are grateful for the advance warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

No one's certain if Oscar's behavior is scientifically significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the

cat notices telltale scents or reads something into the behavior of the nurses who raised him.
Nicholas Dodman, who directs an animal behavioral clinic at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and has read Dosa's article, said the only way to know is to carefully document how Oscar divides his time between the living and dying.

If Oscar really is a furry grim reaper, it's also possible his behavior could be driven by self-centered pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said. Nursing home staffers aren't concerned with explaining Oscar, so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the dying. Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his "compassionate hospice care."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press

Zzzzzzzzzz......

Never is a person more in love with anything
than their bed at the very moment the alarm goes off....

TWISTED MISTER

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I've been really busy.
No, really. Shut UP.
Hard to believe, I know.
And this post is not even remotely humorous, unless you find the idea of your intelligence being insulted by the Commander-in-Chief to be funny. Honestly, Sir... yeah, we're just sheep who will still accept verbatim whatever you say. Let's once again change your reasoning and approach to promote a failed agenda. Let's use hack political rhetoric and push-button scare
tactics to attempt to manipulate opinion.

Your credibility is non-existent to me, and it angers me almost beyond words that you treat the American people with such disregard.

Below is a US News & World Report synopsis of yesterday's NEW presidential approach.
It's a cross-section of the overall media response.

There have been 3 times in my lifetime where I have been outraged by the actions of my President and/or his administration ~ Nixon, Clinton & now. And this time just is more frustrating to me because the world seems different, more political, more media-driven (though that's probably not true), and the actions and statements appear to be such blantant attempts at manipulation. More importantly, they seem to be continuing unthwarted.

Please. Just stop this ridiculous and transparent farce. I beg you.


(Off on vacation next week.... will post more after...much funnier, I'm sure)
==================================================

POLITICAL BULLETIN - US NEWS & WORLD REPORT
All the Day's Political News From Newspapers, TV, Radio, and Magazines

SUBJECT: TODAY'S POLITICAL NEWS
DATE: WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2007
Washington News

Media Derides Bush Focus On Al Qaeda
To considerable skepticism from the media and Hill Democrats, President Bush yesterday made the case that Al Qaeda In Iraq and the terror network that attacked the US on 9/11 are closely connected. The State, of Columbia, SC, reports that in remarks at a Charleston military base, Bush said both groups "answer to terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden," and they both want "to destroy freedom." The Los Angeles Times notes Bush said it "would be news to Osama bin Laden" if al Qaeda in Iraq was "not part of the organization that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and is not intent on attacking" the US homeland. The Washington Times calls the speech Bush's "most direct effort to date to connect al Qaeda to the Iraq war," taking "direct aim at Democrats who charge the president has exaggerated the al Qaeda presence in Iraq." The AP says Bush presented his case "in broad strokes," and goes on to assert that despite Bush's argument, "Al Qaeda had no active cells in Iraq when the US invaded in March 2003, and its operation" in Iraq "is much larger now than before the war, US intelligence officers say." UPI runs a similar, brief dispatch on Bush's comments yesterday. MSNBC's Hardball called Bush's speech "one of the most provocative...of his presidency." He spoke "about al Qaeda, the terrorist organization that attacked America on 9/11. Today...Bush said that some group -- the same group, is making its stand not in Pakistan but in Iraq." The Washington Post also casts doubt on Bush's conclusions, noting "Democrats and others" instead believe "al-Qaeda is not running the war" in Iraq, "but is instead benefiting from it." Those same criticisms were echoed yesterday by Democratic lawmakers. Fox News' Special Report reported "top Democrats responded quickly, saying the president was again trying to scare the American people into continuing the war." The New York Times says Democrats "accused Mr. Bush of overstating" the ties between Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Iraq "to provide a basis for continuing the American presence in Iraq." The Los Angeles Times notes Sen. John Kerry called Bush's case "a phony argument," and said that 'the principal threat' in Iraq is not Al Qaeda but a civil war that pits Sunni against Shiite and an Iraqi government that is not joining the fight." The El Paso Times notes Rep. Silvestre Reyes, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also criticized Bush's remarks, arguing "the US presence in Iraq could backfire when it comes to protecting the homeland against attack, because al Qaeda -- painting coalition troops as 'occupiers of the Holy Land' -- is able to raise money, recruit fighters and train against specific U.S. tactics and equipment." The Charleston Post And Courier (SC) says that "by stressing al-Qaida's burgeoning operation in Iraq, Bush aimed to frame the war in the public's mind as a matter of protecting the United States." Likewise, CNN noted Bush "mentioned al Qaeda 93 times in just 29 minutes, in an attempt to convince the American people US troops must stay in Iraq. The strategy is simple: emphasize al Qaeda's role in the violence, not the fighting between warring Iraqi groups." The CBS Evening News said the President used "a new rationale...clearly shifting from policing sectarian violence to targeting Al Qaeda." Bush "barely mentioned the Sunni-Shiite violence US troops constantly confront, using the phrase 'sectarian strife' just twice in a half-hour speech, explaining why US troops are in Iraq." Similarly, NBC Nightly News reported, "Critics argue the White House overlooks that Al Qaeda only gained a foothold in Iraq because of the US invasion, a point intelligence officials concede." USA Today describes Bush's remarks yesterday as part of an effort to sway public opinion in his direction with an eye on Gen. Petraeus September 14 Iraq report. "For the next seven weeks," says USA Today, "the commander in chief becomes salesman in chief." The New York Times also says the speech "reflected concern at the White House over criticism that he is focusing on the wrong terrorist threat."

The Lion DOES Sleep Tonight...

I never knew the multitude of musical areas Medress influenced beyond just singing that song...
R.I.P.


From CNN.COM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Hank Medress, whose vocals with the doo-wop group the Tokens helped propel their irrepressible single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to the top of the charts and who produced hits with other groups, has died of lung cancer. He was 68.
Medress died Monday at his Manhattan home, relatives said.
He was a teenager at Brooklyn's Lincoln High School when he launched his vocal quartet in 1955 with Neil Sedaka, performing as the Linc-Tones. When Sedaka departed for a successful solo career, lead singer Jay Siegel joined brothers Mitch and Phil Margo and Medress to become the Tokens.
It wasn't until 1961 that the group scored its singular smash, its hypnotic "Wimowehs" derived from a traditional Zulu melody. The Weavers had made the song a folk staple in the '50s, but the Tokens brought their version to No. 1 on the pop charts. (Siegel handled the distinctive lead, with its wordless falsettos.)
The band had other minor hits, including "He's in Town" in 1964, "I Hear the Trumpets Blow" in 1966 and "Portrait of My Love" in 1967 -- but never recaptured the success of its enduring single.
Medress would return to the charts, though, when the Tokens landed a production deal. The all-girl vocal group the Chiffons benefited from his studio touch with the classic '60s singles "He's So Fine" and "One Fine Day."
After splitting with the Tokens in the 1970s, Medress worked with a record company executive and singer ("Bless You") named Tony Orlando, persuading him to handle vocals on "Knock Three Times" -- a move that catapulted the song into pop history. Medress and production partner Dave Appell also produced the Orlando and Dawn hit "Candida."
In the 1980s, Medress helped former New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen reinvent himself as lounge lizard hipster Buster Poindexter, producing his debut album and the single "Hot, Hot, Hot."
From 1990-92, he served as president of EMI Music Publishing Canada. More recently, he worked as a consultant to Sound Exchange, a nonprofit group helping musicians collect royalties.
He was survived by four children and two grandchildren.

SteamPunk Rules ...

Courtesy of WIRED.COM

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mods/multimedia/2007/06/gallery_steampunk?slide=1&slideView=3

How Does This Happen?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh?printable=true

Star City, We Have a Problem

So the Russian computers that control the international space station's orientation and oxygen and water supplies died last night ~ and they are having trouble getting them started again.

Ummm...know why?

Because no one at the PC Help Desk Call Centers in INDIA speaks Russian.

This is what happens when you buy this crap at the Moscow Wal-Mart. Sure, they got a good price, but nobody showed them how to re-boot the damn things.

Besides - you really CAN'T run a Space Station with an old Intellivision

Hunh??

I'm Totally confused here....
If it's "counterfeit" toothpaste, then why is Colgate recalling it? It's not THEIRS.
(OK, so I get that it's a PR thing... but still... it's NOT THEIRS)
Also - wouldn't this all be rather easily traceable? the discount store bought from a supplier. If they can't produce records for the purchase, then they get penalized/prosecuted/shut down for poisoning. If they DO produce records, then the same thing holds true for the distributor, and the "importer", etc, etc ...
Plus ... Since WHEN would someone believe that SOUTH AFRICA was a viable producer of TOOTH PASTE????

the longe rI live, the more fucked up the world is... I swear.


Counterfeit Colgate Toothpaste Recalled
Antifreeze chemical found in tubes in 4 states; no injuries reported

MSNBC.COM Updated: 7:10 p.m. ET June 13, 2007
The Colgate-Palmolive Company said Thursday that 5-ounce tubes of counterfeit toothpaste sold in discount stores in four states under a Colgate label are being recalled because they may contain a poisonous chemical.
A Food and Drug Administration official, Doug Arbesfeld, said Wednesday that testing had found the chemical in a product with the Colgate label, but said in the initial announcement that the FDA was unsure whether it really was Colgate or a counterfeit.
“We are aware that toothpaste is something that’s been counterfeited in the past,” he said. “We don’t want to alarm people unnecessarily.”
MS USA Trading, Inc. of North Bergen, N.J., the importer involved in the initial recall announcement, said the toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze.
The company said the toothpaste, imported from South Africa, was sold in discount stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
“Made in South Africa” is printed on the box and includes Regular, Gel, Triple and Herbal versions.
The trading company said the problem was discovered in routine testing by the Food and Drug Administration. It said no illnesses have been reported to date.
Counterfeit tubesThe same chemical has led to the recall of several brands of toothpaste imported from China in recent weeks.
Consumers who have purchased 5-ounce toothpaste under the Colgate label can return them to the place of purchase for a refund, MS USA Trading said.
Colgate-Palmolive issued a press release early Thursday saying the tubes are counterfeit.
The company said it does not use, nor has ever used, diethylene glycol as an ingredient in Colgate toothpaste anywhere in the world.
“Colgate does not import toothpaste into the United States from South Africa,” said the statement from Colgate-Palmolive. “In addition, the counterfeit packages examined so far have several misspellings including: ‘isclinically,’ ‘SOUTH AFRLCA’ and ‘South African Dental Assoxiation.

“Counterfeit toothpaste is not manufactured or distributed by Colgate and has no connection with the company whatsoever,” the company said, adding that Colgate is working closely with the FDA “to help to identify those responsible for the counterfeit product.”
But Colgate said consumers who suspect they may have purchased counterfeit product can call Colgate’s toll-free number at 1-800-468-6502.

R.I.P. Olive...

Lost my friend today.

Thanks, Olive, for being there whenever I came home...
Always forgiving;
Always loving;
Always loyal;
And ALWAYS treat-ready!

You protected this house from everything from moths to monsters.

And you gave me more than you ever took.
Thanks, girl.
Godspeed

"TWO Sizes Too Small.."

From The Drudge Report 06/08/09
Cheney to have heart defibrillator replaced


I bet they open him up and find an empty chest cavity... Just sayin'

Big girls Don't Cry...

From CNN.COM
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge has ordered Paris Hilton returned to jail to serve out her 45-day sentence for a parole violation in a reckless driving case.
She was taken from court screaming.
"It's not right!" shouted the weeping Hilton. "Mom!" she called out to her mother in the audience.
Earlier, a crying Hilton was taken to court in a police car Friday for a hearing on her early release from jail.
Hilton appeared to be in handcuffs when she was placed into a black-and-white patrol car, which sped away from her Hollywood Hills home with lights flashing. Paparazzi sprinted in pursuit and news helicopters pursued overhead, broadcasting live TV coverage....

Stated the prison warden: "We'll always have Paris."

(Sorry, folks - I just COULDN'T resist...!)

WAR OF THE WORLDS

As some of you know, I own a cat by the name of Olive. Well, as cats go, a human doesn't really OWN them as much as they are "tolerated in the presence" of a cat.

And Olive has been ill, thus requiring the administration of two pills per day to her.
Olive is quite a good-tempered pet, but it must be pointed out that she and pills are not a compatible mixture.

I have tried multiple methods of getting her meds in her. And the process is an adventure to say the least. Some friends have told me that grinding up the pills in baby food has worked for them, so I gave it a shot.

Well, Olive scoffed at the baby food idea.
She sniffed, then tasted (it was turkey – and smelled exactly so), took one HARD look at me … and walked away. I swear I heard her say "Foolish Human" as she did, too.

DRAT! FOILED AGAIN.

But being the coyote to her road-runner, I will keep trying.
(I have ordered and am waiting for delivery of one ACME Pill Launcher)

At that point we then had a huge ‘throw-down’ over the traditional pill-taking method.
It was quite worthy of something that FOX would show as a new reality series.

That succeeded in getting ½ of a pill down her throat (DON’T ASK how it got cut in half – suffice it to say it was not a planned event but feline eye teeth and
my remaining 9 fingers were involved).

I then ground the rest up and mixed it with some tuna. Success.

Until I tried the same thing this morning,
Much like Cylons, Olive adapts, evolves ... and has a plan.
The tuna disguise was useless against her olfactory powers and steely will (not to be confused with ‘steely-wool’, which has no health benefits, but does clean the pots fairly well).

So I donned my urban camo fatigues and snuck up on her from behind – pretending to be a coffee table.
Once close enough, I pounced, oven mitt covered hands forcing her mouth open in a way reminiscent of crocodile wrestling on Mutual of Omaha
and SLAMMED the pill down her gullet.
Completely taken by surprise, she gulped and inadvertently swallowed it whole.
I think it was the surprise involved in being force-fed by a coffee table.

But I know, just as the sun will set and Buddy Cianci will return to power once again, that she will not fall for that methodology again.

I am contemplating a new plan for tonight – one that involves the jaws-of-life and a blow-gun.
To paraphrase The Who: "She won’t get fooled again…"

Ducks of Diversity.

I SO want about 100 of these to throw in the pool ...
They are just cool.




I also like the part in the ad that says "Assorted Beak Colors" ...
That's an important thing to consider.


http://www.intheswim.com/shopping/product.aspx?productid=SKU702&GCID=C14163x039&e7=Y&e8=T9050&pcode=113&keyword=T9050

Rhetoric Doth NOT Warm a War

“HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (AP) -- President Bush on Wednesday discounted Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to retarget missiles on Europe, saying "Russia's not going to attack Europe."”

Yeah… that will put their minds at rest, since he’s been spot-on with every other one of his assessments about ANYTHING in the last 7 years.

Diplomacy: No Country Left Behind

VERY IMPORTANT ....

In future administrations, this will be used to resolve all conflicts.
(considering the LAST method really hasn't worked for shit.
We must study this, learn it, know it.
Live it ~ Be it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Win-at-Rock%2C-Paper%2C-Scissors

The Russians Are Coming ! The Russians Are Coming!

Russia has solved global warming.
Great.
Now all they have left to solve is INDOOR PLUMBING.

These are the same scientists who made their sputnik spacecraft land ON LAND.

So this is TOTALLY believable … particularly the sulfur sprayed into the atmosphere part.
Now let me get this straight .. sulfur is one of the elements most spewed out by volcanic activity … and universally has been proven to poison the atmosphere and has AIDED in planet-wide greenhouse issues after major eruptions. I realize that ash also plays a role, but really .. are these guys serious?




Russia knows how to prevent global warming - academic
from The Drudge Report - SOCHI2014
30/ 05/ 2007

MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian scientists have found a way to prevent global warming of the Earth, the director of the Global Climate and Ecology Institute said Wednesday.
Russian Academy of Sciences Academic Yury Izrael told a news conference that the method envisions air spraying of a sulfur-containing aerosol in lower stratosphere layers at a height of 10-14 kilometers (six to 10 miles). Sulfur drops would then reflect solar radiation.
According to scientists, one million tons of aerosol sprayed above the planet would make possible a reduction of solar radiation by 0.5-1%, and a reduction of air temperature by 1-1.5 degrees Celsius.
Unseasonably hot May weather with temperatures at 32.1 degrees Celsius (89.7 degrees Fahrenheit) beating a 116-year-old maximum has already seen last year's energy consumption for this time of year surpassed by about 8% in Moscow and 12% in St. Petersburg, a spokeswoman for the UES electricity monopoly said earlier.
Izrael said the method demands more detailed development, and that a relevant decision on the international level should be made for it to come into force.
However, the academic said the method is not an alternative to measures to fight climate change envisioned by the Kyoto Protocol, which contains commitments by some countries on specific volumes of greenhouse gas emission reductions.
"I don't want any contradiction of the Kyoto Protocol, but in parallel with existing methods, cheaper ones should be developed. I am advocating that work be conducted simultaneously on several methods," Izrael said.
He also said the Russian scientists' method will make the fight against warming faster and cheaper. "It is also good that it can be stopped at any moment," Izrael said.
The Russian academic said global temperature in the coming 100 years could rise by 1.4-4 degrees Celsius, which, he said, will cause droughts, floods and cyclones. He said Russia could face the extinction of 20-30% of its animals and plants if temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius.
However, Izrael said the current high temperatures in Moscow are not connected with a global climate change.
"Any fact, even the most acute should not be directly linked to climate change, but should be considered as part of temperature fluctuations," he said.

PLEASE Don't Let This Be 1978... AGAIN.

From: boston Dirt Dogs site.

Get in Early on this Blockbuster Deal !!!

Yes... waterfront property at EXTREMELY affordable rates. $39.95 in fact.
In Hawaii no less !!!

These people WILL make some money from this ... How cool is that? LOL
check out the site. Oh, and make sure to check out the links to their sales office, etc.

I like the idea of the yearly 'homeowners association' meeting, where you take a boat ride over the site on April Fools Day each year. HA !!

http://www.petroglyphs.com/loihi/default.htm



$39.95 for Hawaii real estate: Waterfront is still underwater
By JAYMES SONG
The Associated Press
HONOLULU — Real estate is often a long-term investment. But 10,000 years?
Lo'ihi Development Co. will soon start offering ocean-view lots that speculators won't even be able to stand on for many millennia. That's because they're currently submerged more than 3,000 feet below sea level — on an underwater volcano called Lo'ihi, about 20 miles southeast of the Big Island.
The company's Web site will be renovated in the next couple of weeks to officially begin selling parcels for an introductory price of $39.95. Buyers will receive a "deed," but as with Internet groups claiming to sell stars, they probably can't call themselves owners.
"What's the scam?" asked Norm Nichols, co-developer of the online venture. "If you really think there's something here that you can't live with, nobody's forcing you to buy it. It's meant to be fun."
The Web site (http://www.petroglyphs.com/loihi/default.htm) advertises, "Lo'ihi Seaview Estates: Real Estate for the Future. Grand Water Front View Lots." A photo of the sales office is a raft in the middle of the ocean.
Nichols and business partner Linda Kramer, both Honolulu entrepreneurs, envision online chat rooms and newsletters to discuss everything from street names to what kind of government to set up. They want to hold a "homeowners association" meeting — a boat ride over the volcano — every April Fools' Day.
Scientists don't really know when, or if, Lo'ihi will break the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Many guess about 10,000 years, but it could take much longer than that.
Stephen Levins, head of the state consumer-affairs office, said the offer could be a problem if it were serious. "However, if the Web site is clear it's a parody and you're not going to be receiving an actual interest in real estate, that's something else," he said.

Outrageous...

The more that comes out, the more incensed I become over the way things have been run.
In the past I have put a concerted effort into listening to views and arguments OTHER than what I've felt. I wanted to understand and wanted to believe that my President and his administration would listen and heed all the information available and make any decisions based on the opinions of those whose job it is to analyze myriads of pieces of intelligence.
I had been consistently told that the US was lied to by Iraqis who promised that they wanted freedom from the oppression of Sadam, and that all they wanted was the opportunity. It was frequently argued to me that the way things worked out could not have been foreseen. my initial response to that has been surprise that our intelligence community would not feel that there was a strong possibility of sectarian violence, leading to infighting and possibly civil war.

As more and more time has gone by I have been increasingly disillusioned and angered by the statements by the President and his people ... and wonder how so many Americans have been willing to accept being spoken to as if we were totally unintelligent.

And now I read that these possibilities, in fact, WERE among the things that the administration was told.

Words cannot express my anger at the way Mr. Bush and his administration have acted on our behalf. HOW has the Iraq situation aided his 'war on terror'? Last week, he even declassified some specific pieces of intelligence in order to use it as "evidence" that al-Queda used the degradation of civility in Iraq to try to set up an operations base there. It smacked once again of manipulation for his public relations agenda. How could it be that someone uses the result of poor war performance to bolster his reasoning of why we should be there. We CAUSED it! It wouldn't have happened if we hadn't created a vacuum there.

Was Sadam any kind of a good guy? Of course not. He did horrific things. But we as a people were lead into this conflict through hand-picked, manipulated reasoning.

And we now find out that specific predictions of what became reality WERE provided ... but ignored.

How has this been intelligent, wise, prudent behavior and leadership?

This Is MY opinion, and I am tired of having to listen to people say that I just don't understand and that we weren't lied to in order to forward a terrible agenda and plan.

For God's sake, they TOLD HIM that this is exactly what might happen!!!

From US News & World Report's Daily Overview:
This weekend it was also learned that the US intelligence community had warned president Bush that an invasion of Iraq could lead to exactly the type of sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq since 2003. On Friday night, NBC Nightly News led off reporting, "We are only now learning that the Bush Administration was warned by the US intelligence community four years ago that Iraq could unravel and turn disastrous no matter how quick, no matter how successful the initial invasion had been. This is all in a rather damning new report on Iraq by the Senate Intelligence Committee." According to a front-page article in Saturday's Washington Post, "Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan. ... Analysts warned that war in Iraq also could provoke Iran to assert its regional influence and 'probably would result in a surge of political Islam and increased funding for terrorist groups' in the Muslim world." The Los Angeles Times, in an article headlined "Spy Warnings On Iraq Turn Out To Be True," said the Senate Intelligence Committee report "brought to light once-classified warnings that accurately forecasted many of the specific military and political problems the Bush administration and Iraqi officials have faced since the invasion in March 2003. The report also details that these warnings were distributed to senior officials with daily access to President Bush and others at the very top of the administration."