Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hope everyone is out there having a great time today! After a trip home to visit my Dad, we are heading back to Virginia with our 2 cats. Another interesting adventure, I'm sure. It's been rather hectic on the home front, so I haven't had the opportunity to post - should be able to start that back up soon, although more in-laws are descending upon us when we arrive back in Virginia. Sure good to visit with everyone over the holidays though.

Update:
Made it to Lexington, KY where I am typing this. Everything closed on the trip down, except for Waffle House's and truck stops. Stopped at a Flying J truck stop and had an excellent buffet with very friendly folks. Wireless Internet Access at Flying J's for $1.95/hour which is really cheap - didn't try it out, but nice to know as there are many of those around. Our cats were the best on the trip down. Are now hiding under the bed in our motel room, which is the same thing they did on the trip up! Weird - must feel safe though. If you didn't get any Xmas greetings this year and need one, then visit this site. Thanks to my Arkie bud for that one. 

An Interesting Few Days

Decided it was time to go home to visit my father who is not doing so well lately (at 90, who is?). I'll probably be lucky to make it to 70! Of course about 30 minutes before I'm ready to leave home, the power goes out in the house and comes right back on. Unbenownst to me, it messes with one of my USB ports that my external backup Hard drive is connected to. It looks like the Hard Drive is toast, along with the USB 2.0 PCI card and mini-hub and maybe even the printer. After getting all those suppliers to ship me new parts (no questions asked either, which was surprising), I decided to unplug everything, reboot the machine and then plug everything back in. Of course, voila - everything goes back to working. Nothing like adding to post departure stress! (back on the phone cancelling all those orders)

For more fun, we decide to take the 2 cats along with us. Our one cat, Turbo, has made this trip before, but the little one Willow, who is high strung, has not. Turbo goes willingly into his cat carrier and proceeds to snooze for the next 5 hours without so much as a peep. Willow, shows her great pleasure with the whole experience, by deciding it is time to do a number #2 in her cat carrier, just 20 minutes from the house. Needless to say, that caused some excitement in the ol' car and a quick exit off the road. A few minutes of cat cleanup (good job, Janet!) and we are headed off again. 30 minutes later while paying for some food at Wendy's in the driveup lane, Willow decides that she isn't getting enough attention and does the ol' heave ho all over my camera bag sitting on the back floorboard. Another cleanup and fortunately, by now she has about exhausted herself. The next 4 hours she spends curled up in Janet's lap, heart pounding, but doing better.

As soon as we reach the motel for the night and lug the 2 varmints inside, they both make a run for under the bed and although Turbo comes out later for a look around, Willow remains firmly attached to her square of carpet under the bed and does not come out for anyone. In the morning, we have to move the bed and pry her off the carpet. Fortunately, once in the car she snoozes off for the remainder of the trip, which lasts another 5 hours.

Believe me, I was glad to end this trip!

Fascinating Insights from Saddam Interview

Bearing Questions, 4 New Iraqi Leaders Pay Hussein a Visit: "'The world is crazy,' said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a Governing Council member in the room on Sunday after Mr. Hussein was captured near his hometown, Tikrit. 'I was in his torture chamber in 1979, and now he was sitting there, powerless in front of me without anybody stopping me from doing anything to him. Just imagine. We were arguing, and he was using very foul language.'"

Hardly seems contrite, does he? Quite an interesting short article - read it now (NY Times articles are free only for 7 days). And after you finish that one, you can check out William Safire's comments, one being "I think Saddam is still Saddam — a meretricious, malevolent megalomaniac. He knows he is going to die, either by death sentence or in jail at the hands of a rape victim's family. Why did he not use his pistol to shoot it out with his captors or to kill himself? Because he is looking forward to the mother of all genocide trials, rivaling Nuremberg's and topping those of Eichmann and Milosevic. There, in the global spotlight, he can pose as the great Arab hero saving Islam from the Bushes and the Jews."

Quote of the Day
Save the Environment -- Plant a Bush Back in Texas
 

A "Christmas Present" for the Iraqi People

Saddam Captured - Iraqi News Today Wow, what a shocker this morning. Much to the woe of his supporters in the Arab world, Saddam didn't die fighting. Maybe that will tell them something about the kind of person he really was. Interesting times surely lie ahead. Hopefully, they will let his trial spin out long enough so that all the evidence is heard against him. That would be important for the Arab world to hear , especially if it is an Iraqi run trial. One must not forget that for many in Arab countries, their news can be a rather lopsided version of actual events. This will be hard to hide. Strangely, in a way, I felt sorry for the sorry ol' goat - but then I am reminded of how many millions he slaughtered for no good reason and that feeling quickly vanishes. I also had the sinking feeling that this would just put another feather in the cap of ol' GW and no doubt hasten his reelection - a foreboding thought , if there ever was one. A long slog still lies ahead - hopefully enough international pressure and criticism will keep the U.S. somewhat in line and prevent its (GW's and gang) imperialistic tendencies. It would be nice to see Iraq emerge on its own - definitely, not a certaintity despite todays events.  

Beat the Flu with a simple home Remedy!

Alternatives to the Flu Vaccine 12/13/03: "Preventing the flu (and other illnesses) as described in greater detail below is obviously 'your best medicine.' But if you do get the flu, one of the most important and simple things you can do is to use hydrogen peroxide in your ears. Yes folks, simple hydrogen peroxide, about a half of a capful in each ear, several times a day, is more than likely to abort the flu reaction. I didn't believe it when I first saw it, but I have now seen many hundreds of cases that have been rapidly aborted with the use of hydrogen peroxide. You can read my original posting on peroxide for this purpose. It costs less than a penny, so you really don't have much to lose. Give it a try. I can guarantee you that it is less toxic and more effective than any flu vaccine on the planet."
Doc Mercola has come up with another strange one, but hey, if it works! Would be interested to hear from anyone who has ever tried this, so please enter your comments below. I'm not looking forward to getting through this flu season easily, so may be bubbling this stuff down my ears as well!
Quote of the Day
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
Sir Winston Churchill 

A Bolder Approach to Helping the World

Optimism for the World Deepak Chopra looks around at the chaos in the world - wars, terrorism, economic disparities, and social injustice - and sees nothing but potential. Indeed, to him the current state of humanity is like that of a caterpillar, which toward the end of its life eats so voraciously it destroys all the greenery around and becomes bloated and disfigured. But then the destructive insect uses those nutrients to transform into a magnificent butterfly. Check out the latest grass roots organization!

Quote of the Day
The world belongs to the optimists; pessimists are only spectators.
Francois Guizot  

Another Bonehead Move

Bidding for Isolation Well, ol' GW has done it again. He is a master at pissing off the world, that's for sure. Even Canada, who has more soldiers in Afghanistan than even we do. Bet the next time I try to travel to Canada, they'll just tell me to take a hike. 

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TransFat - Something you should know about!

Transfats - They're Everywhere! Check out this Canadian site on TransFats. Lots of good info here.
A landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997 found that among 90,000 nurses studied, those who consumed 1 gram of trans a day for a decade had a 20 per cent increased risk of cardiovascular disease. What worries some scientists is that some Canadians are eating high levels of trans on a daily basis -- according to one Health Canada study, levels between 8 and 39 grams a day.

Some early research has linked trans fats with type two diabetes and Alzheimer's. There are also studies showing trans fats pass through the placenta to the fetus ... Research suggests that mothers who have an high intake of trans, have a greater risk of delivering pre-term..and that their babies may be smaller. Researchers in Denmark suggest that if you were to stop eating all trans fat, it would take several months to a year for it to leave your blood and body fat 

Be cautious, this Xmas Season!

ResellerRatings.com - Compare product prices, read customer reviews of stores. If you're shopping on the Net this Xmas, and you're buying some new gadget/toy from some place you have not dealt with before, you might want to check here first for a rating and actual customer reviews of their service. Better safe than sorry.
Quote of the Day
"I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark."
Dick Gregory
Photo of the Day

Click to view larger image  

Another look at Walmart

Is Walmart a Good Thing?
"Wal-Mart is the greatest thing that ever happened to low-income Americans," said W. Michael Cox, chief economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "They can stretch their dollars and afford things they otherwise couldn't." But will they have any dollars to spend, if Walmart causes their own companies to shut down? That's the critical issue. From what I've read, that does happen - companies have to rely on cheaper overseas companies to produce these goods, thus depriving those very Americans who need to spend at Walmart, of their jobs. Catch 22.

Photo of the Day

click for larger view

Quote of the day
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire 

Talk about a Wild and Crazy Day!

KRT Wire | 12/06/2003 | No. 1 Oklahoma demolished by No. 13 Kansas State Wait till you read this article - talk about a wild and crazy system - gives me a headache just reading it! There must be a better way. On a sad note - my IU Hoosiers blew a 12 point lead in the last 4 minutes of their basketball game to lose to #5 Missouri - hard to take. 

Can Google Grow Up?

Google in Trouble?
Google is one of the best things to happen to the Net. So will its IPO, expected this spring, be a must-buy? A look inside reveals a talented company facing trouble. A fascinating look inside Google - will you invest next Spring? Got any guts? :) Here's one spooky comment from this article - "Then there's Microsoft. The company has an army of brainiacs working on incorporating web search into MSN and its new operating system, code-named Longhorn, due out in 2006. It plans to be able to index every user's hard drive and use the information to provide better searches. "All I'll say is that search is vitally important to us," says Chris Payne, Microsoft's executive in charge of search." Huh? Index my Hard Drive? How's that for an invasion of privacy? Either this is a misprint or MS is losing it's mind.  

No More Ads at the Top!

Good News - No more ads at the top of these pages. (The Ebates Ad will disappear soon, as well). Blogger was kind enough to remove them for me, so you won't have to be pestered with ad clutter. I realize this was of great concern to my readership. 

Nifty Programs from Mirek!

Here's a nifty little program from Mirek called PalMail. It takes up only the tiniest bit of memory and runs in your Systray. Will check email for you and allow you to remove Spam from your ISP's server, before it even reaches your inbox. Very simple to use and FREE! While you're there, you might as well download MWSnap as well. An excellent screen capture program and naturally, it's FREE, too! (of course the author would appreciate any and all donations, but that's up to you).I've used MW Snap for some time now and it's a great alternative to paying for screen capture programs. Certainly does everything I need it to do! 

Lots of snow in the mountains of SW Virginia

Woke to 2 or 3" of snow and then it just kept on coming. I live at 3200' and the snow fell continually, finally reaching 1'. We'll see if it continues. Temps are around 28, so certainly conducive to more. Sure wasn't anticipating this. Wish I had put my Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires on before this struck! Drove about 4 miles on some Douglas Touring M&S tires, which worked well, but not good enough as the plows were doing a lousy job and it was snowing and sleeting heavily. 

Wireless everywhere!

DailyWirelessBroadband Reports says Intel Centrino television ads have come under fire for depicting wireless users happily browsing while on Mount Everest. According to the Guardian, a television watchdog group has started an investigation into the ad after over 100 disgruntled users complained. The ad shows one climber watching wireless video via his Intel powered laptop while huddled in a snow storm. Unfortunately the watchdog group likely won't have a leg to stand on once they dig a little deeper.

Everest's base camp (at 17,400-feet) actually is wireless ready. One of the web's pioneers and creator of what may be the very first BBS system, Dave Hughes struck a deal with Cisco to wire (or un-wire in this case) the mountain. With the help of native Sherpa Tsering Gyalzen, Hughes not long ago launched Everest's first wireless cafe. This particular edition of the Cook Report tells the tale of Hughes and Gyalzens' efforts to bring connectivity to portions of the mountain. There's also this photo gallery of both the network and the the group's adventures.

If that's not depressing enough for those in civilized and more reasonable climes who still can't get broadband, there's a $250 million dollar plan in the works to run 1200 miles worth of fiber across unstable glaciers to the South Pole (BBC, Wired News).

All of this just makes me wonder if we haven't all lost our minds or something?  

A New Kind of Poverty

America is a country that now sits atop the precarious latticework of myth. It is the myth that working people can support their families Where are we heading? No place good or so it would appear. For all those "middle class" folks out there, it's a wakeup call, as you're only a lay-off away from the soup kitchen.

How often do you remember to leave some money for the woman who cleans your room in a hotel? Makes one pause, doesn't it? (I always do, but most likely, because "I've been there, done that".) That's sometimes the benefit of working in a low paying profession - teaches you respect for others who slog their entire lives in that world) 

Here's your Chance!

EFF: "Verify the Vote: Tell Congress to Fight for Secure Elections!"
Want to know if your Representative has signed on to support for this bill? Just go to the above website and about half way down, you will see a button that says "Learn More about this Issue". Click on it and you'll see if your Rep has voted for it or not. If not, just fill out the form and send him/her an email or fax to express your opinion.

Idiotic Labels

Label Makers
Someday Congress will pass a law stating that all horses led to water will be required to drink.

Sound crazy? That's almost as crazy as a new House of Representatives bill called the Menu Education and Labeling Act (also known as MEAL - cute, huh?), which mandates that if you lead customers into a restaurant it's your duty to make them think.

Here's what I think: It's a terrible idea.

This is a dumb idea. People who are intelligent about their food choices are going to know what to eat and those who aren't intelligent about their choices aren't going to read nutrition info. This one would be one of those that Senator Proxmire would have chosen for his Golden Fleece awards.