Vietnam aims to carve world's biggest jade Buddha

It’s been 40 years (1970) since I was in Vietnam. For decades afterward, all I heard was terrible stories of the high cancer rates among the general population caused by the Agent Orange we sprayed everywhere.

Now it seems, that Vietnam has emerged as a growing economy with it’s own billionaires, despite being communist.

Big businessmen are now looked upon favorably by the government. The 21st Century has been good to this once impoverished country. Rhetoric has been replaced with capitalism (for all intents and purposes).

AP Excerpt:

One of the flamboyant entrepreneurs making it big in booming Vietnam unveiled a massive precious stone on Monday that he plans to transform into the world's largest jade Buddha.

Read the story here.

AP Photo – Buddhist monks look a the jade piece as it was unveiled today in Hai Duong province.

 

Poll: Getting rich seen as a long shot

Americans say job losses, too many bills keep them down

“The Great Recession seems to have pushed Americans into a negative mindset about their prospects for getting rich.

Seven out of 10 say it is harder to get rich in America today than it used to be, according to the most recent Bankrate.com survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.”

Go here to read the rest.

Fog, and people who drive in it without headlights

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Do you remember the 1980 horror movie called “The Fog?”

Anyone with Homichlophobia, or fear of fog, would probably rate it more horrifying than the thriller “Jaws.” Take my advice and don't see the 2005 remake of “The Fog” because it stinks!

There's a so-called “Ten Minute Cure” for Homichlophobia on the Internet. I don't advise anyone to take it seriously. Paying good money for a little CD that's supposed to cure your phobia is like taking a 10-minute home course in The Reproductive Biology of the mongoose and then writing a scholarly article for a prestigious wildlife journal based upon your new found knowledge.

Go here to read the rest.

Network flaw causes scary Web error

This article is a warning to those who post secrets and stuff on Facebook. Beware.

‘Misdirected cookie’ lands Ga. family on strangers' Facebook accounts

“The glitch — the result of a routing problem at the family's wireless carrier, AT&T — revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet, not just Facebook users.” Go here to read the rest.

CLICK FOR RELATED CONTENT

Privacy is dead on Facebook. Get over it.
Check your Facebook privacy settings. Now!
Facebook beefs up security with McAfee

Scientists stop burying live pigs in snow

Growing media pressure generated by activists called it cruel and pointless

Excerpt:

“Scientists say they will no longer conduct avalanche experiments monitoring the deaths of pigs buried in snow, after animal rights groups protested their methods.”

Go here to read the rest.

Who reads this blog anyway?

From time to time I like to share tidbits about who’s reading this blog. Here’s yesterday’ stats: 496 viewers total

The breakdown according to my Stat Counter:
335 - 67.00% United States , 51 -10.20% United Kingdom , 33 - 6.60% Canada , 10 - 2.00% India , 10- 2.00%, Philippines , 5 - 1.00% Russia, 5 - 1.00% Australia , 4 - 0.80% Netherlands , 4 - 0.80%, New Zealand , 3 - 0.60% Serbia , 3 - 0.60% Czech Republic  3 - 0.60% Singapore , 2 - 0.40% France, , 2 - 0.40% Indonesia  2 - 0.40% Trinidad And Tobago , 2 - 0.40% South Africa , 2 - .40% Portugal , 2 - 0.40% Germany , 2 - .40% Latvia , 2 - 0.40% Belgium , 1 - 0.20% Italy , 1 - 0.20% Thailand , 1 - 0.20% Botswana ,1- 0.20% Norway , 1 - 0.20% Poland , 1- .20% Mauritius , 1 - 0.20% Mexico, , 1 - 0.20% Mongolia , 1 - 0.20% Turks And Caicos Islands , 1 - 0.20% Sweden , 1 - 0.20% Denmark , 1 - .20% Finland , 1 - 0.20% Malta , 1 - 0.20% Cambodia , 1 - 0.20% Colombia , 1 - 0.20% Albania , 1 - 0.20% Malaysia , 1 - 0.20% Pakistan

This is a pretty typical day as I average about 500 viewers daily. The stats show 78 colleges, high schools, and education related readers.

As indicated above, the majority of my international visitors come from the The United Kingdom. My family comes from the Yorkshire area so this is no big surprise. I’m an 11th generation Stancliff here in the USA.

The majority of my viewers are from the USA (335 or 67%). To break that down further;126 are from California, and the rest from throughout the nation.

The bottom line is, I appreciate everyone who stops by to check out my blog. If you’re not a “Follower” (see information on the left of this page) why not sign up now? As for my regular viewers (those that come at least once a day – currently at 67), I thank you and I will continue to try to provide a balance in my posts. Humor, optical illusions, editorials, news, editorial cartoons, weird news, and even some local (as in Humboldt) items, are served up for your inspection.

AS IT STANDS – Don’t be afraid to make comments on the posts here. I enjoy them, as do other readers. I don’t moderate posts, so I expect that they will be “kept clean” by the posters. So what do you say? 

 

 

1 in 4 teenage girls involved in violent behavior

About one in four female teens is involved in some sort of violent behavior at school or at work, according to a government report.

Go here to read this report

photo source

Additional As It Stands columns now in worldwide blog/magazine ‘RememMe’

                                  

  As far as I’m concerned, traveling by airplane has never been a pleasurable experience.

 It’ll never rate as high as watching the LA Lakers play the Boston Celtics, or eating peanut butter fudge ice cream.

  When I look at what happens at airports today, with security problems and extremist Muslim terrorists trying to bring down American passenger planes with bombs, I assure you I’ll grow wings and fly before I get back on an airplane. Go here to read the rest at RememMe.
      

Google may leave China in wake of hacker attacks

Google chief Eric Schmidt, second from left, and executives Kai-Fu Lee, center, and Johnny Chou, right, at the 2006 launch of the company's Chinese-language brand name, Gu Ge. (Doug Kanter / Bloomberg News)

It looks like Google is going to stand up against the economic giant China. It’s about time. Human rights are non-existent in China and the rest of the world turns it head and ignores the situation because they’re a superpower now. I say bravo to the Google gang for getting rid of those thieves!

Excerpt:

“The company said it believed that a key goal of the attackers was to access the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, raising the possibility that China's government not only may have hacked in to Google but also may have been using the company's network to conduct political espionage.”

Read the rest here.

Don't be alarmed -- just get up fast and find the flying saucer!

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 01/12/2010 01:30:22 AM PST

I hate getting up early in the morning. Not an uncommon complaint. I recall when my three sons were little, waking them with music. Now, you might be think, “How sweet. He gently woke his children with the soothing sounds of music.”

You'd be wrong. I had a vinyl record of Snoopy and the Red Baron that featured the sounds of World War I planes in combat! At full volume, it never failed to bring them out of their beds in record (pardon the pun) time. I quit using this method when they hit their teens and loud music had no effect upon them.

Go here to read the rest.