Monday morning musings…

As I delicately slurp my coffee this morning, I’m still trying to get over the shameful exit my Lakers made from the playoffs. It stressed me out. So, this morning I’m looking at places to shed that stress.

There’s places you can de-stress in a brewery, a prison or underwater spas. The world's strangest spas are in the last places you'd look.

Photo –you no longer have to visit Poland to experience salt caves built with crystals from the Black Sea—thanks to the Polish and Ukrainian specialists who came to Chicago to construct the first U.S. salt-iodine caves (opened in 2005). Visitors spend about an hour in the dim caves, listening to calming music, and breathing in the salty air.

After nearly five years as co-anchor of TODAY, Meredith Vieira has decided to leave the show in June. Ann Curry will take her place as co-anchor of America’s No. 1 morning show along side Matt Lauer. Meredith will continue in a new role at NBC News, with an official announcement in the coming months.

Tens of thousands of Mexicans Sunday marched into the capital city to protest the wave of killing that has claimed 38,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drug gangs in late 2006.

Demonstrators, many wearing white and walking in silence, held up placards that read "Not a single more death," "Enough already" and "No more bloodshed."

The march started Thursday about 45 miles from the capital in the tourist city of Cuernavaca, which has been rocked by drug-related violence and where in March suspected hitmen killed the son of writer Javier Sicilia, who is heading the march.

Photo - A demonstrator, his hair cut and his head painted in red, to read in Spanish: 'No More Violence,' protests during a march against gang violence in Mexico City on Sunday

Requiem for a Dynasty in the NBA: Lakers get swept in playoffs

You get spoiled when your team wins year-after-year. It’s like supporting an undefeated  heavyweight champion. You know that the odds are against him from winning forever. Someday, someone will out punch him out. Today was that day for The Lakers.

It was a sad day for a lot of reasons. The two-time consecutive champion(s) looked old and were battered into submission.
One, was they way the Lakers got beat. It was humiliating. It was never close. The team didn’t (couldn’t?) rally for “The Gipper” aka Phil Jackson. No story book ending.

The Mavs made playoff history with a million 3-pointers! (At least it seemed like that many!) I lost count after they hit 11 of them in the first half! The 3’s continued to come down like rain in the second half with nine more 3s for a total of 20 in the game. The record is twenty 3s in a game. Ouch! That’s some slugging!

Two, what a sad legacy for Hall of Famer Phil Jackson, the most winning coach in NBA history. His last team self-destructed. They were blown out in game four. I should say knocked out like a tired old heavyweight. Everyone thought the Lakers had plenty of fight left, and that no team could sweep them. He never coached another team that played so shamefully in the end.

Throughout this series with the Mavs, there was an undertone of discontent among certain players on the team. Rumors flew. Bad things happened. The players were defeated by toxic chemistry in the locker room. It was a poorly held secret. Kobe’s wife involved with Pau Gasol’s girlfriend in getting her to leave him. Pau was mad at Kobe. Kobe caught in between. Then Lamar Odom’s reality show with his famous wife was too painful for his team mates to watch. Just too much. All of this drama worked against Jackson who hoped for a better exit to his illustrious career. He certainly deserved better than this. he deserved professionals, but got a bunch of drama queens.

Three, where was the pride the Lakers have always shown in their playoff history? It wasn’t there. The players hung their heads like criminals awaiting execution. They were like deer frozen by the Mav’s hoopster headlights… then ran over. All but Kobe. He never gave up. He played his heart out. Like, or dislike Kobe, you have to respect the pride he played with. Right up until Jackson took him out.

When you’re a champion you have to lose like a champion. Odom was thrown out of the game for a flagrant II foul on Dirk. Then Bynum creamed J.J. Barrea (another flagrant II) and was ejected from the game a minute later! I never saw a more embarrassing playoff loss in my life! The Lakers were down by 27 points at the time frustrated and pissed off. Each player has to know their legacy has been tainted now as part of this 2011 team.

History tells me what will happen next. The Lakers management is going to dismantle this team (with the exception of Kobe). There’s a few other key players under contract for a year, but even they could become trade material.
It’s the end of an era. Sigh.
I wish it could have happened with more dignity.

As It stands,One thing won’t change today however…I’ll continue being a loyal Laker fan (over four decades and counting)  and hope for better days ahead.  
 

As It Stands: Humboldt County columnist announces bid for presidency in 2012

UPDATE! My Online Campaign Headquarters will be ready to roll on Monday May 9th. It’s time for REAL CHANGE!

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 05/08/2011 02:40:40 AM PDT

Thank you for stopping by today because I have an announcement to make: I'm running for president of the United States.

As soon as you quit laughing, allow me to explain why I couldn't do any worse than the idiots who currently entertain the same thought. Let's start with Donald Trump. He tried a “birther” platform, and when that failed to work, he became the butt of every comedian in show business and President Obama. Trump didn't miss a beat and went after the president's school records!

Don't ask me why. It makes no sense. People seem to be fascinated with him, but that's just the point. Real estate mogul Trump is also an entertainer (”You're fired!”). Recently, he's deluded himself into thinking he can buy some prime real estate at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C.

If people can take Trump seriously, then I see no reason why they can't take me seriously and vote for some real change. As an open and transparent candidate, I'll be ready to show my “Live Certificate of Birth” (Cleveland, Ohio), my military records (Army), my school records, and a blue first-place ribbon I won in third grade for making 10 out of 10 free throws.

If Sarah Palin decides to throw her tube of lipstick into the presidential candidate parade, I'll be ready. When she starts with that “I can see Russia (or was it Putin?) from my back porch” babble I'll counter with, “I can see redwood trees from mine.”

Her claim is obliviously ridiculous, and mine is absolutely true.

That's the biggest reason to vote for me; I'll tell you the truth, and I don't have to cater to lobbyists and career politicians. I'm no political party's puppet. I'll tell you straight out. I can barely tolerate politicians. Especially career politicians. I don't think the Constitution was written with such an animal in mind.

Since our society has decided we need political parasites, I'll introduce term limits that will apply to all elected positions. No exceptions. One term, and it's time to go down the road and earn a honest living. If a person wants to leave a positive legacy, they'll spend all their time in office serving the people who elected them.

That will eliminate the need to build up a billion-dollar campaign chest halfway through a term of office in order to get re-elected.

I'll also make sure that politicians who are caught in corrupt acts suffer a lot more than a puny censure from their peers. In my administration, they'll face the same penalties as anyone else caught doing the same crime, regardless of their status in office or society.

Another big benefit when you vote for me is I don't know any politicians in Washington. Not one. That will allow me to objectively look at every person's resume for appointed positions, including my cabinet.

I'll gather the best non-partisan economists in the country and take their advice on how to get America out of debt. There'll be cutbacks, but they won't be on the back of the middle class and the poor. Programs like Medicare will face intense scrutiny. The millions being flushed down the drain in fraud will dry up when I set the watchdogs loose.

None of these things will happen if you don't vote for me. My goal is to shake up this country with common sense instead of the political rhetoric that's polarizing our entire political process.

If elected, it'll be just my wife, our pug and myself in the White House. Taxpayers won't pay for extravagant parties because we aren't interested in having any. We'll stick with the current furniture and decorations and won't go through the White House changing things around like past presidents did. It wasn't easy to get my wife to agree to this condition, but she promised, if I'm elected.

Please don't send me any campaign contributions. I'm running my campaign on a shoestring budget (my monthly allowance after paying all the bills). All I ask is that you vote for me in 2012. It would be nice if you'd tell your friends about my candidacy as I'm depending upon word of mouth to inform the voters.

As It Stands, in the interest of full disclosure, my hair is real, and my teeth are false!

Web sites carrying this column:

AOL NEWS – Online news magazine (May 8)

Basic Famous People – You have to be famous to be featured in this online magazine. They have all things Trump and comments about him.

Birth Records are Free - Birth Records Free For Research

Donald Trump for President - donaldtrumpforpresident.org is an website that endorses, and wants to help Donald Trump get elected president in 2012. They are a grass roots organization, made up of fans of Donald Trump, and his ideas. They are not connected directly to Donald Trump, or any of his organizations.

TRUMP 2012 - This website was created and is funded and maintained by volunteers who seek a better America and who believe Donald Trump as President may provide the leadership to make that happen.

So Donald Trump in Real Time – Online magazine that follows Trump’s progress in politics. In association with SoCeleberties magazine.

Schema-root – Encyclopedia of current events (May 8) Cross-referenced news and research resources about  columnists

Cleveland Newswire - Comprehensive Real-Time News Feed for Cleveland, OH (article #22 - 5/8/11)

PennRealtySite - The Best place to find news on Pennsylvania real estate. (Don’t ask me why, I don’t get it)

Waterindtell - Water Purification Stocks, Wave Energy, Tidal Power, Water Desalination Companies (Here’s another unusual blog that picks up my column every week)

Survive December 2012 – Are these the end times? You might be right or wrong.

Humboldt County Newswire - Comprehensive Real-Time News Feed for Humboldt County, CA.

A Photo essay on the Haight Ashbury experience in the 60’s & 70’s

  

  

 

  

A long, long time ago… you Mother would know…

Photos VIA Google images

The joke now is on the critics of the president’s foreign policy

In one gloriously mistimed editorial, written just ahead and in ignorance of the raid on Abbottabad, Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, mocked Mr Obama for “leading from behind”. All the Republicans had to do, argued Mr Kristol, was to nominate “a real leader: a workhorse not a show horse; a steady hand not a flip-flopper; a profile in courage not in cleverness; a competent man or woman with strength and confidence in defense of liberty at home and abroad.”

A wise man once said, “He who laughs last…laughs last!”

Grow your very own Sangre de Grado - Dragon’s Blood Tree

Now wouldn’t this be a handy addition to your back yard? I don’t know how big they get, but they sure have a lot of healing properties. If you’d like to know more about the Dragon’s Blood Tree click on link below:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4419868_grow-dragons-blood-tree.html

Main Preparation Method: undiluted resin is taken internally (in small amount of juice/water) or applied topically.
Main Actions (in order):
wound healer, antifungal, antiseptic, antiviral, antihemorrhagic (reduces bleeding)

Main Uses:

To stop bleeding and to seal, and heal wounds, burns, cuts, tooth extractions.
For herpes virus ulcers (taken internally and applied topically).
For skin fungi, rashes, and dermatitis.
For insect bites, poison ivy and other itchy or allergic skin reactions.
For stomach ulcers, ulcerative colitis, dysentery and diarrhea.
Properties/Actions Documented by Research:
Anesthetic, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antidysenteric, antifungal, antihemorrhagic (reduces bleeding), antileukemic, antioxidant, antiseptic, antitumorous, antiviral, neurasthenic (reduces nerve pain), wound healer.
Other Properties/Actions Documented by Traditional Use:
Analgesic (pain-reliever), anticancerous, anti-itch, antiulcerous, astringent, and a blood cleanser.

Saturday morning musings…pass the sugar please

It’s Saturday and a busy day lies ahead for me. Here’s some of the news items that caught my eye while slurping my coffee and getting my caffeine fix this morning:

Achoo! Allergies to keep getting worse  the 2011 spring allergy season is shaping up to be a miserable one, with pollen levels reaching record highs, thanks to heavy winter snows, early spring rains, and an early spring warm-up. photo source

Man trains for marathon eating nothing but McDonald's 

Remember the guy who trained for a marathon in Los Angeles this past March by eating nothing by McDonald’s food for 30 days straight? Joe D’Amico (left) of Palatine, Ill., explains what the hell he was thinking in an interview with WSCR radio in Chicago on Wednesday.

 

 

 

South Korea's "kiss apple" for better breath, dating pleasure

In South Korea, home of kimchi and other pungent, garlicky food, having fresh breath for life's big moments -- such as a kiss -- is a major concern.

Speaking of apples, I’m going to grab one and head on down the road…

The Lakers lose key Game #3 against the Mavs tonight…ouch!

I’m trying to come up with inspirational quotes for my Lakers (as a fan for over 44 years I feel a certain ownership), but it’ll take a lot more than talk to save this best of seven series.

One more loss to the Mavs…and it’s time to go home. Time to ride off into the sunset with no three-peat. No storybook ending for Phil Jackson in his last year as a coach. The game was close up till the end, until the Mavs did the clutch thing. Peja producing 11 4th quarter points proved to be too much.

Dallas stands on the threshold of moving on to the Western Conference Finals. Pau Gasol just couldn’t rise for the big event. The story (according to the Orange County Register) is his girlfriend broke up with him two weeks ago and he’s been mooning ever since. To add some real drama to it, the story says Kobe’s wife instigated the breakup and Pau and Kobe had words. Since they they reportedly haven’t talked. It shows.Two strangers passing in the night instead of two basketball pros passing the ball to each other.

I can’t help bemoaning the irony of the timing of these events. Why now? It completely destroyed the chemistry of the team. It especially dismantled the successful pick-and-roll that Kobe and Pau had going prior to all of this madness. Without that chemistry, the Lakers have turned into mere mortals. A team that was on the brink of history – another three-peat – fell short for many reasons. This little squabble is certainly one of them.

Would it have helped if Ron Artest wouldn’t have been suspended for this game? I doubt it. The basketball world is shifting. New powers are rising from the West. New young guns have arrived in town and are looking for their place in history. Dallas, Oklahoma, and Memphis. All bit players for decades on now on center stage. Once only punching bags for the powerhouses like the Lakers, the Houston Rockets, and the Spurs, their time has come.

I remain a loyal Laker fan and will continue to hope they win at least one game in this series. They have one more chance. If they win then they would have two more chances to win, and could make history as the first team ever to come from behind in a 3-0 to win a series. Imagine that? I sure like to. Go Lakers!

Good Luck Paul! Beatles legend ready for 3rd try at matrimony

Beatles legend Paul McCartney and his girlfriend of four years, Nancy Shevell, are engaged to be married.

McCartney's previous marriage to Heather Mills ended in divorce after 4 years and resulted in a reported $48 million settlement. His first wife, Linda, died of cancer in 1998 after 29 years of marriage.

Hopefully the third time around will work out for Paul and he’ll spend the rest of his life in wedded bliss. Like so many others, I admire the Beatles as a group, but Paul has always been one of the most talented in my humble opinion. Cheerio!

It’s hard to believe it’s been 41 years since this photo was taken…

I was a combat engineer in Vietnam in 1970. Most of the time I did mine sweeping, but there were times my license to drive bucket loaders and earthmovers came in handy when another unit needed a temporary fill-in.

It was a nice break – being able to operate a vehicle - from humping mine detectors for miles every day.

This was taken at Bien Hoa sometime between April and May. I was 19-years old and when I look at myself here it’s like looking at a stranger.

Those were strange days in a strange land that transformed us all to some degree. Some of us lost our humanity. Some of us never came home. Some of us still see ghosts at certain times of the year.If only I could convey my feelings like a grand master on the canvas of life, I would share the madness of war so future generations understood there are no winners…only survivors!

So what is the answer to all of these questions? Anybody?

VIA Association of American Editorial Cartoonists

The Music Scene: Stevie Nicks Releases Solo CD After 10 Years

All I can say is….enjoy!

Fleetwood Mac songstress Stevie Nicks talks about her new album "In Your Dreams," her first solo disc since 2001's "Trouble In Shangri-La."

Fleetwood Mac is one of my all-time favorite groups, and I’ve always enjoyed Stevie Nicks’ work.

Woman awakens from surgery speaking in foreign accent

As medical oddities go, this incident stands out: A lifelong resident of Oregon went to the dentist for surgery and awakened from sedation speaking in a British, or somewhat-British, accent. 
The 56-year-old woman appeared Thursday on NBC’s "Today," answering questions in what this MSNBC story describes as “an odd mixture of Irish, Scottish and northern British, with perhaps a dash of Australian and South African for good measure.”

Story Here

Faster than a bullet or speeding train: not Superman, but JetMan!

HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz. — "JetMan" has soared over the Swiss Alps and rocketed above the English Channel and early today he was given permission to soar over his next target — the Grand Canyon.

Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy was wasting no time, preparing to fly in the next few hours after the Federal Aviation Administration approved plans to use Arizona's scenic wonder as a backdrop for his first U.S. flight in a jet-propelled wing suit.

Story Here

Washington State bans coal tar sealants made from cancer-causing industrial waste

Toxic ingredients turning up in water, house dust, researchers say

Washington state has become the first in the nation to ban toxic asphalt sealants made from cancer-causing industrial waste that have been spread over vast swaths of the nation’s cities and suburbs. Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the measure today, making Washington the largest government to ban or restrict coal tar asphalt sealants. Last month, Prior Lake, Minn., joined a growing number of local governments to ban them. The Washington state legislation and Doggett’s drive for a nationwide ban flowed from studies by the U.S. Geological Survey, which showed that components of the toxic sealants are increasing in many waterways, while levels of most pollutants are declining.

Story Here.

Blogger's obituary was his last post

Being the pragmatic sort, writer Derek K. Miller asked that his last story be published on his blog when he died. It was. On Wednesday, after a four-year battle with cancer, the 41-year-old husband and father's self-penned obituary, titled "The last post," made its appearance and went viral:

Here it is. I'm dead, and this is my last post to my blog. In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down from the punishments of my cancer, then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote — the first part of the process of turning this from an active website to an archive.

If you knew me at all in real life, you probably heard the news already from another source, but however you found out, consider this a confirmation: I was born on June 30, 1969 in Vancouver, Canada, and I died in Burnaby on May 3, 2011, age 41, of complications from stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer. We all knew this was coming.

That includes my family and friends, and my parents Hilkka and Juergen Karl. My daughters Lauren, age 11, and Marina, who's 13, have known as much as we could tell them since I first found I had cancer. It's become part of their lives, alas.

Miller, of Burnaby, British Columbia, wasn't one to mince words. Those who battle diseases like cancer usually don't, quickly losing any euphemisms about the impact of the illness once it takes hold and starts to ravage the body, and sometimes the mind.

In Miller's case, his mind — and his writing — stayed quite clear until the end.

His father told The Province newspaper in Vancouver, in a story published Thursday, that his son was "proud of his blog and now it is his legacy. It connects him to the world, and to his family, forever. We were there for him, but Derek was comfortable sharing his thoughts with a worldwide community."

Visits to Miller's blog, ThePenMachine, Twitter and Flickr "were so heavy that, despite his planning, those Internet sites kept crashing," noted the newspaper.

In his online bio, Miller talked about the magazines and newspapers he'd written for, and said he started his website in 2000. The last entry in his bio is this: "Late in 2010, I discovered that my cancer is terminal. I expect it will probably kill me sometime in 2011 or early 2012."

But it is not the last entry about his life. That comes in his final posting, and in his words to his wife, Airdrie, and to his daughters:

The world, indeed the whole universe, is a beautiful, astonishing, wondrous place. There is always more to find out. I don't look back and regret anything, and I hope my family can find a way to do the same.

What is true is that I loved them. Lauren and Marina, as you mature and become yourselves over the years, know that I loved you and did my best to be a good father.

Airdrie, you were my best friend and my closest connection. I don't know what we'd have been like without each other, but I think the world would be a poorer place. I loved you deeply, I loved you, I loved you, I loved you.

Story Here

Reason #1 for why I hate Lobbyists–they’ll work for the devil if the price is right!

Alarmed by lawmakers' demands to cut off billions of dollars of U.S. aid after bin Laden was found living in a Pakistani safe house for six years, President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered a full-court press to quell mounting accusations that it helped the al Qaida leader avoid capture.

So Pakistan is paying some unscrupulous US lobbyists to deny it helped bin Laden! It’s enough to make me puke. We’ve been poring billions into Pakistan with the understanding that they were our allies in the search for bin Laden. Pakistan chumped us once, and now they’re going for number two hoping that GREED will pave the way to our lawmaker’s hearts and all will be forgiven.

What gall! Leading this travesty is Mark Siegel, a partner in the Washington lobbying firm of Locke Lord Strategies — which is paid $75,000 a month by the Pakistani government to lie,cheat, or whatever they require. It’ll be interesting to see which senator suddenly sees the light and sides with the Pakistan Dream Team of Locke Lord Strategies, and goes along with the claims that they didn’t know what was happening in their own back yard.

Don’t hesitate to add this lowlife law firm to your shit list of lobbyists without scruples or morals.

Cartoon Via SodaHead

Oh look honey! A dead racoon on the road, we eat tonight!

Freegans" and Others Eating More Roadkill

You didn't read the title wrong. It may or may not come as a surprise to you, but people are eating road kill. More road kill. And many of them are doing it partly as an act of conservationism. Many road kill connoisseurs are part of an underground food/consumption movement, known as "freegans," which has been around for a while. Their practices and rules are surprisingly well-established, and in many states regulated by law.

From Food Safety News:

The practice of eating road kill is part of a waste-not, want-not philosophy that drives other people, some of them previously vegans, to scavenge meat ...

People who eat road kill might be hunters who know their way around a dead animal, or people who call themselves freegans, and are used to eating from unregulated sources, like Dumpsters. Some practitioners have written how-to guides, such as the zine quoted in Sandor Ellix Katz's book The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements

Story Here

Gloom and doom….my Lakers lose again…series is in doubt

It’s hard to watch as a devoted Laker fan, but I’m afraid there’s a changing of the guard going on in the Western Conference.The #1 Seed Spurs got booted out in the first round, and Dallas has taken the Laker home court advantage away in dramatic fashion tonight.

I’m really not sure the Lakers have what it takes to return the favor when the series shifts back to Dallas Friday night. The Dallas little men were the story with the shortest guy on the court torching the Lakers in the 4th period. I won’t even mention the little twirps name. He comes off the bench for Dallas though and just had a career night.

The hope of winning 3 championships in a row again are fading. Darkness sets in with long odds like shadows. Can the Lakers foil fate? Can they turn back their grim play and re-emerge as the Once and Future Champion! As a fan I say…anything is possible in the NBA Playoffs! Go Lakers!

image source

As It Stands Reader Profiles: Rick St. Charles, actor and more

I’ve been meaning to profile readers for some time now. When Rick stopped by and liked what he saw here the other day I thought it would be nice to share his blog with you.

After checking out Rick's Acting Demo, please visit REMOTE CONTROL GRANDPA to see pictures, trailers, cast & crew, synopsis and more on this award-wining mirth-filled movie starring Rick St. Charles.

Some readers may recognize Rick from his films, commercials, voice overs for TV and radio projects, and live theatre performances.