Archive for December, 2008

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December 29, 2008

Monday, December 29th, 2008
Really Good Quotes "A mind, once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Greetings, Quotaholics:

Years ago I had a friend who had two young sons. My friend wanted to raise the boys to be as healthy as possible, so they never had white sugar, processed cereals, candy, snacks or junk food in their home.

In our home my wife and I kept all kinds of snacks around. I don’t think I could survive without sugar!

When my friend’s son would come to visit, the first thing he asked for was cereal. He would sneak candy from anywhere he could find it. All he wanted to do was eat.

I’ve always wondered what happened to this child when he grew old enough to buy his own food. Did he stick to the strict diet his parents taught him, or did he binge on snack foods once he was away from his parents?

My personal belief was that by having the foods available to our children, we were teaching them moderation. Hopefully they learned that these foods were OK in the proper amounts and at the proper times. I always felt my friend was teaching his sons that these treats were “forbidden fruit” to be lusted after.

Of course, along with our snacks we provided nutritious home cooked meals. It seems that nowadays many children are eating more fast food than home cooked.

WSBTV.com reports on a recent study of children’s meals served at fast food restaurants. One of the more shocking quotes from the article was this one;

“One-quarter of children ages 4 to 8 eat fast food on a typical day, according to researcher Sharon Hoerr of Michigan State University.”

Of course, we’re seeing more fast food places offering healthy alternatives to the usual burger and fries. I’ve just never met a child who would settle for a salad and milk when everyone else in the place was having burgers.

So how bad could it be for kids to eat so much fast food?

“In the study, 65 percent of kids’ meals exceeded guidelines for fat, 75 percent lacked enough calcium and 85 percent needed more vitamin A.”

“The best meals had fruit as a side dish, milk to drink and usually featured deli-style sandwiches, according to a news release on the work.”

“The authors said the restaurant industry should develop and market more nutritious kids’ meal options and parents should seek nutrition information and make better choices for their children.”

So everyone will jump on the bandwagon trying to make the fast food industry protect our children. What about the parents who feed their kids fast food instead of home cooked meals? Don’t they bear the most fault here?

If nutrition is your goal you’re not going to take your child to a fast food place anyway. What kid is going to drink milk and eat raisins at McDonalds? And what parent is going to take their child there and not let them have a burger?

Does it seem right to you that the focus seems to be making the restaurants change? Shouldn’t the focus be on the parents?

Do you eat out a lot? When you do are you concerned about the nutritional value? Does your choice of restaurants change if you have children with you? Are you more or less likely to go the burger and fries route if children are with you? Do you think fast food is OK as an occasional treat or should it be avoided?

Nutritiously,



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Today's Quotes


"Things are worth what they will fetch at a sale." - Edward Coke, English jurist (1552-1634)


"You can make a throne of bayonets, but you can’t sit on it for long." - Boris Yeltsin

Today's Chuckle

A Religious Donkey

A man bought a donkey from a preacher. The preacher told him that this donkey had been trained in a very unique way, (being owned by a preacher). The only way to make the donkey go is to say "Hallelujah!"; and the way to make him stop is to say, "Amen!" The man was pleased with his purchase and immediately got on the animal to try out the preacher’s instructions. "Hallelujah!", shouted the man. The donkey began to trot. "Amen!", shouted the man. The donkey stopped immediately. "This is great!", said the man. ‘With a "Hallelujah!", he rode off very proud of his new purchase.

The man traveled for a long time through some mountains. Soon he was heading toward a cliff. He could not remember the word to make the donkey stop. "Stop!", yelled the man. "Halt!", he cried. The donkey just kept on going. "Oh, No!" . . . "Bible!" . . . "Church!" . . . "Please Stop!", shouted the man. The donkey just began to trot faster. He was getting closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Finally, in desperation, the man said a prayer: "Please, Dear Lord, please make this donkey stop before I go off the edge of this mountain; in Jesus’ name, Amen." The donkey came to an abrupt stop just one step from the edge of the cliff.

"Hallelujah!!!", shouted the man.

Life Sentences

"Trickery and treachery are the practices of fools that have not the wits enough to be honest." - Benjamin Franklin

"Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class." - Al Capone


"It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen." - Muhammad Ali

 
Image'n That

New Japanese Invention

Imp-Revised News

E-Mail the Imp


So far astronomers have discovered over 300 planets beyond our solar system. It’s amazing…until you consider that our sun has eight or thirteen planets (with five dwarfs) considering your point of view. With billions of galaxies out there, each consisting of millions or even billions of stars…that leaves a tremendously large number of solar systems left to find. The potential number of planets there can be absolutely boggles my mind. I have difficulty wrapping my brain around “billion”, and the number of planets could number in the billions of billions.

So far only three of the extrasolar planets discovered have been seen by telescope. The rest have been detected by their gravitational impact on the star they orbit or by the change in the starlight when the planet passes between the observer and the star. To get a star to wobble the planet has to have a large mass. A very large mass. The smallest star discovered has a mass of about 3.3 times that of Earth, and there are very few of the planets that are small enough to be measured by multiples of Earth mass. Most are measured in multiples of Jupiter’s mass, and Jupiter is 318 times as massive as earth. That means those alien planets we’ve found so far are big, really big, humongously big.

It’s too early in the planet finding business to say that all the planets out there are bigger than the earth and mostly gas giants of tremendous proportion. There haven’t been any terrestrial like planets discovered…rocky planets like the Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, but they will be smaller than the gas giants and harder to find. In our solar system only one planet out of four has found an orbit in the “sweet” spot that allows life as we know it to exist, and flourish.

The odds of that occurring elsewhere are small. If only one planet out of a million is suitable, that leaves possibly millions or billions of planets that could be Earth twins. (I said the numbers of stars to consider was huge). In our solar system we have moons around gas giants that might support life in some form and if they could be moved into an earth orbit, might become earthlike. That means there might be billions of moons, rather than planets that contain life.

Even if we could make our way to these terrestrial moons or planets that are 25, 50, or 100 light years away we’d probably find most were uninhabitable. Life on earth has adapted to a particular mix of atmospheric gases, a certain level of ultraviolet and cosmic radiation, gravity, sunlight, and water. The odds of that combination being duplicated are huge, but they may support life of a different nature. Even if there is only one earth twin out of every billion, that makes several billion new homes for man.

By the time our technology advances to the point that we can get to those planets, we’ll probably have the technical ability to terraform planets that are only marginally habitable for humans. We may also have the technology to genetically alter humans so they can inhabit the marginally suitable planets. That would be quicker than checking back every few thousand years to see if we can move in.

We could end up with humans living on some strange orbs out there in the far reaches of the galaxy. There could be humans on terraformed moons around gas giant planets. We could find ourselves with cousins living on a planet in a binary solar system. Just think, orbiting one sun, having a regular night and day for half a year (however long that would be), and half a year having no nights, but maybe a bright sunshiny day and a dusky sunshiny night.

We might even find an orphan planet or two with dozens of moons floating in space with no sun around. It could have been ejected from a solar system whose star collapsed and was forced out when the star went super nova. If it was a really huge gas giant our technology might be able to trigger the planet into becoming a mini-star or brown dwarf developing enough radiant heat to allow us to inhabit one or more of the moons.

Of course we’ll probably have to play “European and Native” if we run into Alf and his buddies on new worlds, otherwise they won’t let us play on their planet, let alone stay. I wonder what the intergalactic equivalent of $24 dollars worth of beads is.

The Bad Sied

Most Embarrassing or Scary Moment

Just who do we the haves think we are? You know? Back in the day we all believed one way, and that way was that no matter who you were or where you came from you deserved love and respect from your fellow man. I was taught that no matter how much money or what kind of a living arrangement some one had did not decide how I viewed that person. I was taught that all men were created equal and that we are all as one, as well as being individuals in the sight of some one more powerful than am I. I learned that we are all created in the likeness of God, and this should put us all on the same playing field, shouldn’t it?

Well, my question then is this. If it is true what our declaration of Independence says that we are all created equal and have the same basic needs as every one else, then who do we think we are going round passing judgment on others? Do we have the right to be judge jury and the one who hands down the punishment? The answer is very simple. We do not have any such rights as that, and we will one day reap all that we sow.
May God be with you all.

REMEMBER, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU HAVE, BUT WHO YOU SHARE IT WITH

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
FROM,
CELINE KITTY! THE ROWDY DOG! AND THE, TAZZ!

 
Patti's Parenthetical Past

On this day in history, December 29, 1876: A bridge over the Ashtabula River collapses. The bridge was 11 years old and was the first Howe-type wrought iron truss bridge built. The bridge was designed jointly by Charles Collins and Amassa Stone. There is some speculation today stating Collins was reluctant to use the design as it was "too experimental" but caved in to pressure from the railroad.

A blizzard struck northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania dropping lake effect snow over the area. The heavy, wet snow fell all day, blanketing the region. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Train No. 5, The Pacific Express, left Erie, Pennsylvania heading west. They were 2.5 hours late in departure and had four pusher locomotives added to help plow through the ever deepening snow. The train left Erie at 3 PM and by 7:24, while approaching Ashtabula, Ohio’s railway station, passed a heavy freight train heading east. This train had made it over the fated bridge.

About 100 yards (91 m) past the station, the train approached the bridge at 7:27 PM. Engineer Daniel McGuire was in the lead locomotive, "Socrates." He felt the train shift after hearing a loud crack. The trailing engine, "Columbia," seemed to sink. Another crack sounded and the south truss fell away. The center of the bridge sunk as Socrates passed and McGuire opened the throttle, trying to gain purchase on the western side.

The entire bridge buckled as Socrates passed onto the west abutment. The shifting tracks derailed both engines. The train fell into the Ashtabula River 70 feet (21 m) below with later cars crushing passenger cars already at the bottom. Many of those lucky enough to survive the crash then found themselves trapped by fires that spread through the wreckage, started by the stoves used for heat. There were 159 passengers and crew on the train: 64 were injured and 92 were killed either immediately or died later of injuries (48 of the victims were unrecognizable or totally consumed by the flames).



"The haggard dawn which drove the darkness out of this valley and shadow of death seldom saw a ghastlier sight than was revealed with the coming of this morning."



"On each side of the ravine frowned the dark and bare arches from which the treacherous timbers had fallen, while at their base the great heaps of ruins covered the hundred men, women and children who had so suddenly been called to their death."



"Piles of iron lay on the thick ice or bedded in the shallow water of the stream. The fires smoldered in great heaps, where many of the hapless victims had been all consumed, men went about in wild excitement seeking some traces of loved ones among the wounded or dead." – all from the Cincinnati Gazette describing the wreck.
Kids' Weird Words, The Date from Hell, How I Met My Mate
Kirsten's Krazy Kaleidoscope

Email Kirsten

“There is not the slightest indication that energy will ever be obtainable from the atom.”
~ Albert Einstein ~

We are always on the lookout for alternative sources of energy. We are starting to vote for politicians who promise to launch incentives into fuel efficiency; we are wagging our fingers at the auto industry for having gotten itself into a mess by consistently manufacturing gas-guzzlers that fewer people want to buy. We want our transit systems to run more smoothly so that they can be a viable alternative to driving for more people.

It’s not that we lack the technology. Several alternative energy sources are in use - the first ones that come to mind are solar power and wind power. Every now and then we read articles about people recycling sunflower oil. Hybrid vehicles are becoming more popular, although the technology is still experiencing some teething problems. And when Bruce gets his message to the right people (note that I said “when”, Bruce, not “if”), the phrase “hydrothermal power” will become part of everyday venacular.

News has recently broken of a doctor who has devised another means of powering his SUV. Interestingly enough, he also lives in California. I wonder if Bruce knows him. Dr. Carl Allen Bittner is a Beverley Hills cosmetic surgeon. He reasoned that if humans store fat as a potential energy source, then fat extracted via liposuction could have some value. He requested and received permission from some of his patients to experiment with this concept. He converted the fat extracted from the patients into free fuel, and successfully used it to power his car.

Predictably, a storm has erupted over this practice. The powers that be in California are pressing medical malpractice charges. The State of California has decreed that liposuctioned fat is categorized as medical waste, and it cannot legally be used for anything. It has to be properly disposed of instead. Some of Dr. Bittner’s patients also have lawsuits pending against him, based on claims that he used their fat without their consent.

There are skeptics who doubt the whole story. They believe that Dr. Bittner would not have the technical ability to convert the fat into fuel. But who knows? Maybe he knows technically-minded people with the right set of skills. It does make some sense that energy could be harvested from human fat, even though the concept has something of a “grossness factor”. Whether Dr. Bittner actually did this or not, some ethical questions have been raised. The biggest concern is that greedy doctors could start performing unnecessary liposuction in order to sell the fat and make lots of money. This could easily happen without the consent of the patients. It would be akin to selling human organs for transplant, and it would be a lot easier to pull off.

I don’t know if I myself would choose to power my car with human fat. I have no idea what the environmental implications would be. What if the fat was harvested from someone with some illness? Would the bacteria or virus be killed during the conversion process, or could some potentially lethal toxins be released into the atmosphere for people to inhale? What would the byproducts of burning the fat be? And if I was a liposuction patient myself (which is never likely to happen, since I have a fundamental problem with bits of me being sucked out through a straw attached to a vacuum cleaner), I don’t know if I would want my fat to be used in this way.

Kudos to the doctor for thinking outside the box. We need innovative, imaginative people to come up with viable environmental solutions. But I think the horse I’d back in this one would be Bruce.

Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Tim's Tales

Tim’s still celebrating, so here’s one from the archives.
The holidays are a time for parties. All over the world people gather together to celebrate not having to work. I used to work for a law firm that held their holiday party at a downtown hotel. Other companies may rent out the banquet room at a bar. There are a number of possibilities, but one thing they have in common is there is generally a coat rack where you can hang your coat. Some places have a person checking the coats, and some places might have a self-service coat check.

Another thing we know about the holiday season is that crime increases. Mike pointed that out to us last Friday. People need money for the holidays, and some people get that money from taking it from other people. While this is still the season to be jolly, you should always be careful with your valuables. If you are going to check your coat at a party, be sure there are no valuables in it. It is all too easy for some criminal to rifle through your pockets while you’re busy putting a lamp shade on your head.

A brewery in Berlin, German was the site of one such holiday party, and they had a cloakroom where the coats were hung during the celebration. There was also a criminal present, one who thought it would be a good idea to rummage through the coats hung in this cloakroom. Now I’ve explained to you before that criminals are generally stupid, and this one was no exception. The 45 year old Algerian man was spotted searching through these coats, and was soon arrested by 35 policemen. Not surprisingly, he offered no resistance.

You might think sending 35 policemen to arrest a single criminal might be considered a waste of police resources, especially during this period of heightened crime, but they were already on the scene. You see, it was their holiday party this idiot tried to rob..

Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Yarns
Tip of the Day

Uses For Old Newspaper

Stuff hats to keep their shape. - NorCalKat
Poet-Tree


Alright, Christmas is over.  You have no more excuses.  Get those limericks sent in.

How about a twist to this game.  Here’s a limerick that I found.  You can either use the opening line to write your own, or write one that expands on this one.

There was a young lady so bright
She travelled much faster than light
So she started one day
Running far, far away
And returned on the previous night

Hints:  Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool.  http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules.  http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm 

Submit Opening Line
Submit Limerick

 

There once was a young girl named Jill—
Who lived way, way up on a hill—
She spent and she spent
for her new boyfriend, Kent
and now her savings are down to nil. - Cassandra in New York		 There once was a young girl named Jill,
Who went with her beau up the hill.
It was not for water they went,
Her beau, his seed by then spent,
Wondered then, had she taken her pill. - Bonnie
I’m famous, and quite world-renowned
But my wife keeps my feet on the ground
Though gals may swoon and sway
I’m told if I should stray
She will send me to the dog-pound. - E. Cole Aye		 My wifey’s an absolute flake
She went out and bought a grubstake
Though she found lots of gold
The grubstake she sold
She thought she was buying food and steak. - E. Cole Aye
My wifey’s an absolute flake
No, maybe more like a fruitcake
Or a Fig Newton….
Well, one thing is certain
In eating lunch I should now partake. - E. Cole Aye		 My wifey’s an absolute flake
She just made a big mistake
She’s is now in jail.
Though baked goods were on sale,
By stealing, she really took the cake. - E. Cole Aye 
My wifey’s an absolute flake
These are beauty tips which she partakes:
Eat potato chips,
Use grease on your lips,
And to comb your hair, use a rake. - E. Cole Aye		  

Reader Comments

Re:  Steak Dinners

I’d really have a hard time coming up with a less-Christian suggestion than Patti’s for Christmas in the modern world. The U.S. troops that returned from Vietnam were not popular WWII heroes, they were victims of the left-over Military-Industrial complex. Mid-Eastern vets are the same, having bought the same kind of propaganda in the face of worldwide opposition and ‘net access. They are not fighting terror, they are picking new fights and multiplying the motivation for it. I often "buy a meal" for a soldier who is working to stop the war, but when you serve beef off a feed lot, about twenty other people can’t afford to eat bread. It’s a vicious, vicious cycle. - Bob of the North



Re:  Happy Holidays

Now, all this silliness about being politically correct is just that. Silliness. I’ve friends who celebrate all sorts of holidays during this time of year. I’ve friends who are Jewish, and Christian. I’ve friends who are Pagan, and I’ve friends who believe in nothing but a bit of Kindness, but most of all, I’ve friends who no matter what they celebrate, know that no matter what or how you believe, there’s one common thread that connects us all through space and time. That thread? LOVE!

Have a happy holiday season no matter what your holiday.
Love from the family of Tazz! - REMEMBER, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU HAVE, BUT WHO YOU SHARE IT WITH - HAPPY HOLIDAYS! FROM, CELINE KITTY! THE ROWDY DOG! AND THE, TAZZ!




Re:  Spending for the Rich and Famous

What if we just see how some one looks or what if we just might be wrong about why some one is homeless. And what about the verse in the Bible what says, "Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you"? What if there was some one out there who really had some sort of a problem that got mixed up with drugs or something similar and just couldn’t seem to find their way back? Have you ever been standing in a very dark place and needed just a slight bit of help getting back on the lighted path.

You do not have to give a homeless person money and you do not have to give them your pity. What you should give them is the benefit of the doubt. Not every one is as strong as every one else and some need a little more encouragement and support than others. My line of work and volunteer work puts me rite in the thick of this question each and every day. When a person calls in to my center asking for help, it is not my job to ask why they’re where they are, and it is not my job to judge. It is my job to give them the number or location of a place where they may receive a hot meal, a bath and some clean clothes to where as well as a safe warm place to sleep.

If that is too much to give some one who doesn’t meet up to your standards, I suppose that would be your problem not the homeless persons. This is not an attack on any one in particular, it is just my opinion, and it doesn’t even really count any how. The only opinion that counts in the world is one that comes from a much higher place than where I’m sitting. The true fact is this, unless we’ve actually been where the person is, we haven’t any idea what brought them there. There are those who are so very gripped with fear and dread from things that they have a sickness of drug or other addictions and it might just be that a little love___ could go a long way toward bringing a sole back to the light. May God bless all of his creations. - REMEMBER, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU HAVE, BUT WHO YOU SHARE IT WITH - HAPPY HOLIDAYS! FROM, CELINE KITTY! THE ROWDY DOG! AND THE, TAZZ!

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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time to time.  I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.

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