Friday, May 20, 2011

Friday morning musings: the world ends tomorrow, and other stuff

Pull up a chair, grab a cup of hot coffee, and get confortable: this may be your last day on earth! Judgment Day is set for Saturday…

Thousands of people around the country have spent the last few days taking to the streets and saying final goodbyes before Saturday, Judgment Day, when they expect to be absorbed into heaven in a process known as the rapture. Nonbelievers, they hold, will be left behind to perish along with the world over the next five months.

With their doomsday T-shirts, placards and leaflets, followers — often clutching Bibles — are typically viewed as harmless proselytizers from outside mainstream religion. But their convictions have frequently created the most tension within their own families, particularly with relatives whose main concern about the weekend is whether it will rain.

Photo - Abby Haddad Carson and Robert Carson say Saturday is Judgment Day; the children, Joseph, Faith and Grace, right, do not.

Not gnarly! Lifeguard pay of $200,000 riles Calif. beach city

Who had any idea lifeguards made this much money? They make more than nurses and many other professions that require years of schooling. Heck, all you have to do is sit and watch the pretty girls in thongs!

The debate over the merits of having lifeguards as well-paid as some CEOs has divided this wealthy coastal city, spawned a pro-lifeguard Facebook page and created headlines as far away as England ("Time for a Career Change? California's Baywatch lifeguards paid up to $210,000 per year!").

Happy Birthday Cher! You’re 65 today and still look great!

When it comes to Cher, the regular rules don't apply. Born Cherilyn Sarkisian, she was a bride  by 18, a No. 1 pop star by 19 and a TV star by 25. It was during her stint on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" that she developed her signature style with the aid of designer Bob Mackie and an ocean of faux locks. She has had "every color wig you can imagine," she once told InStyle. "You cannot do things with your hair because all that styling ruins it. And I love my hair." Cher may be outrageous, but the Hollywood veteran is certainly not reckless.

Image: Tour guide Kim Voorhies of Lafayette, La., giving a day to rescuing osprey chicks in nests too close to floodwaters from the Morganza Spillway, hands a chick to licensed bird rehabilitator Cindy Ransonet of New Iberia, La.

 Baby ospreys saved from gators as flood rises

The rising waters unleashed in parts of Louisiana by the opening of the Morganza spillway, to protect New Orleans and Baton Rouge from Mississippi River flooding, has sent people and wildlife searching for higher ground while leaving birds such as the osprey chicks at risk.

In recent days, bird rehabilitators have swooped in and rescued osprey chicks and eggs from this lake in the Atchafalaya Basin.

A guide who usually shows them to tourists and photographers got federal approval, saying the nests would soon be under water or in reach of alligators.

That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by. It’s time for me to head on down the road…

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