Staying home Memorial Day? Take a virtual tour of Pompeii instead!

By Michael S. Cole, M.D.

It is my opinion that Pompeii is the most important archeological site anywhere. Almost every other ancient urban site is simply the remains of a ghost town, long ago deserted by its citizens who carried away with them everything of value. Prior to the eruption of Vesuvius, Pompeii was a thriving city. Then it was buried with so little warning in 79 A.D. that Pompeii was literally frozen in time.

If we want to know details about what life was like in a Roman city during the first century, I think by studying Pompeii we can get the very best perspective with the least speculation. We can understand how the privileged rich man and the ordinary slave lived from day to day in the Roman Empire during the time when Christianity was beginning to spread throughout the Mediterranean. A better understanding of life in Pompeii, a city with both Roman and Greek influence, can help us to better understand many of the writings of the New Testament.

Click here to go on a virtual tour of Pompeii.

text and image via The Cole Family

Have scientists found the fabled 'missing link?'

Somehow I never figured the missing link to man would have a tail! Not being a scientific type myself, I don't fully understand why they feel this is the much talked about missing link. I'll go a step further...

I doubt if there is a missing link, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

From the Daily Mail...

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 6:10 PM on 21st May 2009

Her name is Ida, she is three feet tall and if scientists are right, she could be a common ancestor of apes and monkeys - and you.

Researchers yesterday revealed the beautifully preserved remains of the lemur-like creature who died in a lake 47million years ago.

Scientists claim she is an important 'missing link' in mankind's family tree and will shed light on a crucial part of evolution.

Read the rest of the story here.

photo and text via the Daily Mail Online

Shirley and I recently spent a day at Glass Beach...

 

ATTENTION SEA GLASS COLLECTORS! THERE'S A WEB SITE FOR YOU! READ ON...

Shirley and I are grinning happily as our blogger buddy "Feather" takes this photo. Feather lives in Ft. Bragg, where Glass Beach is located, and has amassed a really impressive treasure trove of photos! She was also kind enough to show us the best spots to look! A lot of people go to the wrong areas and think the glass is all gone. Not so. You just have to know where to look. Link below...

Meet Feather at Sea Glass Lovers She took all of the photos shown here.

I enjoy looking for stuff and it was fun having Millie (right) along. It was a great day.

  

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LEVI VAN VELUW: he's growing with his landscape art

 

Levi van Veluw´s photo series are self-portraits, drawn and photographed by himself: a one-man-process. His works constitute elemental transfers; modifying the face as object; combining it with other stylistic elements to create a third visual object of great visual impact. The work you see therefore is not a portrait, but an information-rich image of colour, form, texture, and content. The image contains the history of a short creative process, with the artist shifting between the entities of subject and object.

Click here to read the rest.

Press Release and art via Levi van Veluw

Get a Grip on the Drip: Fast Food Bibs for Drivers!

  A few years back my wife was kidding about coming up with a bib for people who are driving and eating. We joked about it, but of course didn't do anything. She even made the comment, "I bet someone comes up with the idea and makes a mint." Well Shirley, you were right. I found some people who did come up with your idea. Oh well, I guess if you snooze you lose!

From Patent Storm...

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bib and, more specifically, to a bib with a pocket portion formed thereon to prevent food and drinks from spilling or falling onto the user's lap.
2. Description of Related Art
Eating and drinking while driving or riding in a car have become ever more common with the proliferation of fast food outlets and quick stop convenience stores. While this is convenient and time saving for most people, food and drink are often spilled while the vehicle is in motion causing substantial damage to people's clothing and to the interior of the automobile.

Click here to read the rest.

image and article via Patent Storm

From Eat Me Daily...

At first glance, The BeltzBib seems to solve one of life's major dilemmas: How do we keep our clothes clean while stuffing our faces with drive-thru while we're in the car? It goes so much further than the obvious solution of a mere bib — this being America, land of invention, land of fast food, and land of the automobile, a simple shirt covering won't do.

The BeltzBib, brilliant product that it is, has a built-in pouch to hold the food, and attaches to the seatbelt (safety first!) with Velcro to ensure the bib doesn't slip. Priced at a highly reasonable $13.95 (with free shipping no less), we can't decide if this yet another sign of the end-of-times or an important step in the evolution of snacking.

Click here to read the rest.

Jesse Ventura asks, 'If waterboarding is okay why don't we let the police use it?'

 Photo and text from the Raw Story...

 By David Edwards and Stephen Webster

 Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, making a guest appearance on ABC’s The View, gave co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck a lesson or two about the torture technique known as waterboarding.

Ventura, who underwent a barrage of torture techniques at the military Survival, Evade, Resist and Escape (SERE) school, confirmed for Hasselbeck that waterboarding is torture and not just an “enhanced interrogation technique.”

“If waterboarding is okay, why don’t we let our police do it to suspects to learn what they know?” he asked to a chorus of applause.

Click here for rest of the story.

Check out some cool movie posters made with Lego parts

There is seemingly no end to Lego creativity. Models, stop motion movies, amazing ads and art recreation…
And now, even movie posters are being recreated with that unique-tongue-in-cheek style you can only get with lego bricks and minifigs. For 20 more posters click here.

images and text from Speckyboy

What do you think about parents allowing an 8-year-old to change gender?

From the Associated Press...

Omaha couple to allow 8-year-old to live as a girl

A west Omaha couple says their 8-year-old son has asked for years to wear dresses and change his name, so they’re enrolling him in a new school where he can live openly as a girl.

The parents say their middle child is transgender, and he’s asked to be called a girl since age 4.
“One night she said, ’Every night when I go to bed, I pray my inside will match my outside. But it never happens,“’ the mother said, recalling a conversation with her child.

The family, which is not being identified to protect them from possible harm, met with therapists and gender experts before deciding to switch the child’s gender affiliation.
Ellie Hites, an Omaha therapist who’s worked with more than 200 transgender people in the city, says it’s healthier to live as one’s chosen gender when there’s a discrepancy with the biological gender.

“It’s like they arrive here with one biology but the mental set is counter to that,” she said.
Many of Hites’ transgender clients have suffered from nervous breakdowns, suicide attempts and deep depression because they’ve been forced to hide their true identity, she said.
As the 8-year-old explained: “It’s kind of like you’re trapped somewhere and you can’t get out.”
He’s been allowed to dress as a girl at home, but has had to dress and act as a boy in public. The family says that will soon change.

Read the rest here.

The Anonymous Hugging Wall for Social Facilitation & Mood Elevation

As part of the her ongoing series Methods & Apparati for Social Facilitation and Mood Elevation, Keetra Dean Dixon has created “The Anonymous Hugging Wall”. It is yet unclear if they come in deluxe form or what their cost may be.

Other parts of the series include the “Full Spectrum Optical Invigoration Unit, Psuedo Simile Guides, and the Colling Inhalation Aid (aka Fridgi-Poofs)”.

Story and text by The Laughing Squid

Audacity Vs. Reality: Jews and Arabs will never agree

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY...

Middle East: President Obama seeks a grand, unlikely reconciliation between Jews, Shiites and Sunnis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decidedly undreamy Mideast agenda is about survival.

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Read More: Middle East & North Africa

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In the Middle East of the early 21st century, the world is challenged by two big facts: one, a problem with no solution; the other, a problem it's been pretending isn't really there.

The first fact is the troubled co-existence of Israel with its hostile Muslim neighbors.

It's obvious that the Jewish state will never be accepted as legitimate by a large number of Arabs.

There will always be Muslim nations and armed organizations that will never accept its right to exist, and that would try to get rid of it.

Yet year after year we hear most of Western Europe, Third World nations and now apparently America insist that a Palestinian state is the key to a lasting Mid East peace.

Click here for the rest.

image via www.naiveabroad.com/

California Desalination Plant to Be Largest in Western Hemisphere

It looks like steps are being taken to meet California's water needs for the future. The new desalination facility is supposed to be done by election year (2012). This article by GREENBIZ.COM gives the particulars:

By GreenBiz Staff
Published May 18, 2009

The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board last week unanimously voted to begin work on a $300 million desalination facility to help meet the water needs of the region.

The reverse-osmosis desalination facility will be built by the Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources, and the company expects the facility to be online by the beginning of 2012. When it is fully operational, the plant will be able to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water every day, or about 10 percent of the region's water needs.
Poseidon is building the facility in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, and it is just the first of many such facilities in the works in California. The state is in the third year of a drought, and faces pressures on water supplies from a growing population and agricultural water needs.

Read the rest here.

(photo above - This desalination plant in Perth, Australia, will be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere when completed) photo by ABB.com

Oh yea...those were the good old days for us guys!

image via Fukung

An ill Wind: Parachutist reads the warning sign too late!

image via sharenator

Western Conference Finals next:Lakers finally close out tough Rockets

photo by Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Lakers center Andrew Bynum steals the ball from Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks, who was driving through the lane, in the first half today.

In a series that should never have gone to 7 games, the Lakers won when it counted this afternoon. Still unanswered; which Laker team will show up against the Denver Nuggets Tuesday night (6:00 p.m. California time) during the Western Conference Finals? Why did a seriously undermanned Houston team match up so well for so long? What Laker weaknesses were exposed? I've never seen a more erratic (okay chaotic) team than this seasons version of the Lakers. If you're into betting, leave the Lakers alone! They'll break your heart and wallet!

When a warning causes a political flap, America's enemies rejoice

FROM TODAY's Time-Standard...

Dave Stancliff

Posted: 05/17/2009 01:27:20 AM PDT

Politicians leaning left or right must learn how to cooperate to effectively fight the rising threat of extremists in our country.

A recent assessment report to law agencies, released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), warned that extremists in America are taking advantage of current events to recruit members.

This report has caused a lot of controversy, for all the wrong reasons.

Click here to read the rest of the column.

image via Google Images

Who wouldn't want to drink something called Coolpis?

FROM INVENTORSPOT we have...

The

Top Ten Weird and Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks

By Steve Levingstein

Ahh, refreshing Coolpis... THE soft drink to offer guests - before removing their blindfolds.

Actually a Korean copy of the disturbingly named Calpis, Coolpis comes in Peach flavor and (stop reading now, if you can...) Kimchee flavor.

Kimchee, for those unacquainted, is a traditional Korean dish made from fermented cabbage and LOTS of red pepper.

Makes Peach flavored Coolpis almost appealing, doesn't it?

Anyone for a Calpis vs. Coolpis taste test? We could call it a pis-ing contest.

Stimulus money goes toward removing lethal lead paint in low income neighborhoods

I wrote this column Lead Exposure From House Paint Study Shows Ties With Criminality on October 19th, 2008.

In it, I talk about the poorer neighborhoods being the most affected by lead paint, and some surprising results from that exposure when it came to criminality. I discussed how the children were the main victims of lead in the home, and some the symptoms involved.This news article looks like a step is being taken in the right direction to combat this deadly lead exposure.

(From the Associated Press today)

     Nearly $100 million in federal stimulus money will go toward a program to remove lead- based paint and other health and safety hazards from low-income homes, Vice President Joe Biden announced Friday.
Biden announced the plan in the courtyard of an affordable-housing devel­opment operated by a community group that is getting $875,000 of that money to help identify and remove toxic paint and other health hazards from 225 Los Angeles homes.
      Biden said the program will immediately employ workers to do the lead­abatement work. He said it will also save the country millions in future health care costs that otherwise would be spent treating peo­ple suffering from neurolog­ical damage, slowed growth and other ailments connect­ed to growing up in contact with lead-based paint.
     “This is a real bang for the buck here,” he said. “You have people from this community filling good jobs, helping other fami­lies, helping children to stay healthy.”
South Los Angeles’ Esper­anza Community Housing Corp. was among 53 local programs in 20 states and Washington, D.C., getting grants through the U.S. De­partment of Housing and Urban Development to re­move lead-based paint and other hazards such as mold.

Image via leisureguy.files.wordpress.com

Chocolate, running shoes, and Spam sales are recession busters!

•   By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer –
•   Sat May 16, 12:27 pm ET

It's not all doom and gloom in the U.S. economy. Some products are bucking the recession and flying off store shelves.

Sales of chocolate and running shoes are up. Wine drinkers haven't stopped sipping; they just seem to be choosing cheaper vintages.

Gold coins are selling like hot cakes. So are gardening seeds. Tanning products are piling up in shopping carts; maybe more people are finding color in a bottle than from sun-worshipping on a faraway beach.

Strong sales of Spam, Dinty Moore stew and chili helped Hormel Foods Corp. post a 6 percent increase in first quarter sales in its grocery products unit.

Consumers have trimmed household budgets and postponed buying cars, major appliances and other big-ticket items. Yet they still are willing to shell out for small indulgences and goods that make life more comfortable at home, where they are spending more time.

Read the rest of the story here.

Photo via AP and is from a recent promo ad by Hormel Company.

The following links are being provided to you to so that you can track all information sources used in the article.

National Sporting Goods Association http://www.nsga.org

Information Resources Inc. http://www.infores.com

Mintel International http://www.mintel.com/

National Gardening Association http://www.garden.org

W. Atlee Burpee http://www.burpee.com

The Wine Institute http://www.wineinstitute.org

Enviorsell http://www.envirosell.com

Leo J. Shapiro & Associates http://www.ljs.com

 

More News From China: 'Love Land' is China's 1st-ever Sex Theme Park!

Things are sure changing in this communist country that once banned all forms of porn. It almost looks like their entering a "sexual revolution."

Westerners are flocking to China in record numbers. It must be the "new attitude" that Chinese have about Capitalism (once their sworn enemy).

From Most Emailed from Yahoo today.... 

Visitors try to get a glimpse of "Love Land", billed as China's first-ever sex theme park, in southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

The sex theme park is slated to open in October, but detractors hope the project will never see the light of day, as the exhibits of naked human sculptures, giant genitals and boasts a sex technique workshop is stirring up howls of protest.

(AFP)

A Strange Hen: Caught laying two eggs simultaneously!

FROM China Daily...

A chicken farmer named Mao Rui'an in Qingdao, Shandong province, is giving special attention to one of his chickens.

The unique hen is able to produce two eggs at the same time through two excretory openings. An expert said the hen probably has two separate reproductive systems.

He discovered the strange hen while he was giving vaccine shots to the chickens two months ago.

The lucky hen is enjoying a private henhouse and is fed with wheat seedlings instead of grass.

(Peninsula Metropolis Daily)