View to a Thrill...Not !!!

One of my Fav artists

2011-08-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

beautiful stuff, talented guy. all around nice human being.

Famous World Ideologies, as explained by references to Cows

2011-08-08T21:20:00.002-07:00

I'm going with Surrealism.....makes the most sense.

Feudalism: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

Pure Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else’s cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you all the milk you need.
Bureaucratic Socialism: Your cows are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs the regulations say you should need.
Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
Pure Communism: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.
Real World Communism: You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your neighbors bicker about who has the most “ability” and who has the most “need”. Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk, and the cows drop dead of starvation.
Russian Communism: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market.
Perestroika: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the Mafia takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the “free” market.
Cambodian Communism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
Militarianism: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
Totalitarianism: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.
Pure Democracy: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
Representative Democracy: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
British Democracy: You have two cows. You feed them sheeps’ brains and they go mad. The government doesn’t do anything.
Bureaucracy: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
Pure Anarchy: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.
Pure Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Capitalism: You don’t have any cows. The bank will not lend you money to buy cows, because you don’t have any cows to put up as collateral.
Enviromentalism: You have two cows. The government bans you from milking or killing them.
Political Correctness: You are associated with (the concept of “ownership” is a symbol of the phallo-centric, war mongering, intolerant past) two differently – aged (but no less valuable to society) bovines of non-specified gender.
Surrealism: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

Singing My Sister Down By Margo Lanagan Doc

2011-07-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

UPDATES

2011-05-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

I will be revamping links and all that jazz , I have a New Fav I have to get set in:)

I'm a Little Monster Now!!! Yay!!

Lady Gaga - Judas

2011-05-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

LOVELOVELOVE!!!!!THIS!!!!SONG!!!

Nurturing Animals Shaped Human Evolution | Animal Connection Drove Development of Language and Domestication | LiveScience

2011-02-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

By Jeremy Hsu, LiveScience Senior Writer

posted: 02 August 2010 09:43 am ET

Our love of all things furry has deep roots in human evolution and may have even shaped how our ancestors developed language and other tools of civilization.

This 'animal connection' compelled humans to learn about and care for fellow creatures, said Pat Shipman, a paleoanthropologist at Penn State University. She added that the behavior seems highly abnormal for other animals on the rare occasions that, say, captive tigers nurture pigs or vice versa.

'The animal connection runs through the whole [human history] and connects the other big evolutionary leaps, including stone tools, language and domestication,' Shipman explained. 'Instead of being isolated discoveries, there's a theme here. It's very deep and very old.'

Such nurturing behavior also paid off when humans learned to harness animals as living tools rather than just as food or companions, as detailed in the August 2010 issue of the journal Current Anthropology. That allowed people to essentially use the evolutionary advantages of dogs, cats, horses and other animals for themselves.

The seemingly unique human tendency still persists in modern societies – for instance, more U.S. households have pets than have children.

'You see homeless people on the streets with pets, and people in dire circumstances keeping pets,' Shipman told LiveScience. 'That suggests there's something humans get out of it, which is pretty old.'

Sticks, stones and words

Humans may have begun honing the animal connection after they made the leap from prey (think saber-tooth tigers sinking their fangs into our ancestors) to competitive hunter. That change grew from the development of tools and weapons (to defend oneself) starting around 2.6 million years ago.

'Once you undergo that funny ecological transition that hardly any other animal has made, you have double the advantage if you become extremely alert and extremely observant of what other animals are doing, where they are, how they move, how they communicate with each other,' Shipman said.

Next, the need to communicate that knowledge about the behavior of prey animals and other predators drove the development of symbols and language around 200,000 years ago, Shipman suggests.

For evidence, Shipman pointed to the early symbolic representations of prehistoric cave paintings and other artwork that often feature animals in a good amount of detail. By contrast, she added that crucial survival information about making fires and shelters or finding edible plants and water sources was lacking.

'All these things that ought to be important daily information are not there or are there in a really cursory, minority role,' Shipman noted. 'What that conversation is about are animals.'

Of course, much evidence is missing, because 'words don't fossilize,' Shipman said. She added that language may have arisen many times independently and died out before large enough groups of people could keep it alive.

Not just food

The third major evolutionary leap took place around 40,000 years ago, when humans began domesticating animals by selectively breeding them for certain traits. But Shipman believes that the common explanation – humans wanted domesticated animals for food – has the story backwards.

'It takes a very long time to domesticate animals,' Shipman said. 'To actually do it for the motivation of getting food, you'd have to be planning at a ridiculous time depth.'

Besides, killing a deer in the woods gets the same amount of meat as killing a deer in a fenced area, Shipman pointed out. In her view, something else must have driven humans to corral or keep animals in the first place.

Furthermore, the earliest known domesticated animal was not a delicious porker, but man's best friend. Shipman considers humans' strong connection with animals, rather than a desire for food, as the more likely explanation for why people decided to keep dogs around.

'If you look at all the domesticated animals, they often get eaten some time at the end of their life,' Shipman said. 'But they also provide all these renewable resources all their lives.'

Such resources include cow's milk for sustaining babies and adults alike, as well as fur or wool for making clothing or other items. Domesticated animals also have helped humans pull or carry goods. They have revolutionized transportation and exploration, not to mention carried humans into battle and changed the face of warfare.

Evolutionary shortcuts

The animal connection's transformation of formerly wild beasts into living tools gave humans a decisive edge in adapting to new environments and using the evolutionary advantages of animals for themselves.

For instance, humans living in arid regions domesticated hardy camels as reliable mounts and cargo-carriers that could survive long periods without water. In other words, humans gained an evolutionary shortcut, Shipman said.

'If you have a dog that can hunt, you don't need to turn into a fast-moving animal with sharp teeth,' Shipman said. 'If you're storing grains [known to attract rodents], you don't need to evolve claws and an intense focus to kill rats, [because] you have cats that do it for you.'

Shipman eventually hopes to explore her hypothesis in a book. Until then, she continues to look for more prehistoric evidence.

She also admits that some people simply don't harbor any real affection for animals, which makes sense given natural variability in populations. But the widespread nurturing of animals across practically all cultures suggests something powerful cultivated the animal connection.

'People who are really devoted to pets or raise livestock, a lot of them get this deep in their bones,' Shipman said.

Prehistoric Cemetery Reveals Man and Fox Were Pals

2011-02-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

By Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor
posted: 03 February 2011 11:48 am ET

A red fox skull was found in Grave I at 'Uyun al-Hammam in Jordan (shown here after conservation and reconstruction). Credit: Lisa Maher et al.

Before dog was man's best friend, we might have kept foxes as pets, even bringing them with us into our graves, scientists now say.

This discovery, made in a prehistoric cemetery in the Middle East, could shed light on the nature and timing of newly developing relationships between people and beasts before animals were first domesticated. It also hints that key aspects of ancient practices surrounding death might have originated earlier than before thought.

The ancient graveyard known as 'Uyun al-Hammam, or "spring of the pigeon," was discovered in the small river valley of Wadi Ziqlab in northern Jordan in 2000 and named after a nearby freshwater spring. The burial ground is about 16,500 years old, meaning it dates back to just before the emergence of the Natufian culture, in which pioneers used wild cereals (such as wheat, barley and oats) in a practice that would eventually evolve into true farming. These communities dwelled 11,600 to 14,500 years ago in the Levant, the area that today includes Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The Natufian culture was known to bury people with dogs. One case discovered in past excavations in the area involved a woman buried with her hand on a puppy, while another included three humans buried with two dogs along with tortoise shells. However, the new discovery at 'Uyun al-Hammam shows that some of these practices took place earlier with a different doglike animal, the fox.

At least 11 people were buried at the site in Jordan, most of whom were found with artifacts such as stone tools, a bone spoon and bone dagger, and red ochre, an iron mineral. One grave held the skull and upper right arm bone of a red fox, with red ochre stuck on its skull, along with bones of deer, gazelle, tortoises and wild cattle. A neighboring grave with human remains also contained the nearly complete skeleton of a red fox, missing its skull and upper right arm bone, suggesting that a single fox had parts of it moved from one grave to another in prehistoric times.

"What we appear to have found is a case where a fox was killed and buried with its owner," said researcher Lisa Maher, a prehistoric archaeologist at the University of Cambridge in England. "Later, the grave was reopened for some reason and the human's body was moved, but because the link between the fox and the human had been significant, the fox was moved as well."

The fact that the fox was reburied with the human could mean the animal was once seen as a companion. The researchers suggest its bones may have been moved so the dead person would continue to have the fox as a comrade in the afterlife.

"The fox was treated in a special way from any other animals at the site," Maher told LiveScience. "We think that this represents a significant social relationship, something that clearly goes far beyond the domestication of animals as livestock."

Although foxes are relatively easy to tame, domesticating them might have failed because of their skittish and timid nature. This might explain why dogs ultimately achieved "man's best friend" status instead. However, fox symbolism and fox remains are quite common in later Stone Age sites, both in domestic and burial contexts, "so even when other animals were domesticated, prehistoric people maintained an interest in the fox," Maher said.

The graves at the Jordan site do contain the remains of other kinds of animals, so "we can only take the fox-dog analogy so far," said researcher Edward Banning at the University of Toronto.

The notion that foxes served as pets happens to fit with modern preconceptions about human-dog relationships, and is just one possible explanation among many — for instance, it could have had some spiritual meaning instead, Maher said. Also, foxes did not always receive special treatment — other fox bones at the site bore signs of butchery and cooking, suggesting they were eaten for meat.

In any case, the findings reveal these burial practices and even the use of cemeteries go back further in time than previously thought.

"The repeated use of a particular location for the burial of the dead suggests that the people had a special connection to this site," Maher said. "Perhaps having a nearby place to return to and visit your ancestors or loved ones was as important in prehistory as it is in many cultures today."

The scientists detailed their findings in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.

Dept of State issues Worldwide Caution for U. S. Citizens anywhere

2011-02-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

Dept of State issues Worldwide Caution for U. S. Citizens anywhere: "This information is current as of today, Tue Feb 01 2011 15:00:51 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time). Tue Feb 01 16:59:10 2011.

The Department of State has issued this Worldwide Caution to update information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world.

U.S. citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. This replaces the Worldwide Caution dated August 12, 2010, to provide updated information on security threats and terrorist activities worldwide.

The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations, and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. U.S. citizens are reminded that demonstrations and rioting can occur with little or no warning. Current information suggests that Al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bombings.

Extremists may elect to use conventional or non-conventional weapons, and target both official and private interests. Examples of such targets include high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas, and locales where U.S. citizens gather in large numbers, including during holidays.

U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Extremists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime services. In the past several years, these types of attacks have occurred in cities such as Moscow, London, Madrid, and Glasgow.

Current information suggests that Al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. and Western interests in Europe. European governments have taken action to guard against terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions. In the past several years, attacks have been planned or occurred in various European cities.

Credible information indicates terrorist groups also seek to continue attacks against U.S. interests in the Middle East and North Africa. For example, Iraq remains dangerous and unpredictable. Attacks against military and civilian targets throughout Iraq continue. Methods of attack have included roadside improvised explosive devices, mortars, and shootings; kidnappings still occur as well. Security threat levels remain high in Yemen due to terrorist activities there. The U.S. Embassy has had to close several times in response to ongoing threats by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). U.S. citizens as well as other Westerners have been targeted for attack in Yemen. U.S. citizens have also been the targets of numerous terrorist attacks in Lebanon in the past (though none recently) and the threat of anti-Western terrorist activity continues to exist there. In Algeria, terrorist attacks occur regularly, particularly in the Kabylie region of the country. In the past, terrorists have targeted oil processing facilities in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

A number of Al-Qaida operatives and other extremists are believed to be operating in and around Africa. Since the July 11, 2010, terrorist bombings in Kampala, Uganda, for which the Somalia-based, U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility, there have been increased threats against public areas across East Africa. The terrorist attacks of August and September 2010 against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in Somalia, as well as the bombing of hotels and minibuses in Somalia, highlight the vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks in East Africa and around the world. Additionally, the terrorist group, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has declared its intention to attack Western targets throughout the Sahel (which includes Mali, Mauritania, and Niger), and has claimed responsibility for kidnappings, attempted kidnappings, and the murder of several Westerners.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years - Yahoo! News

2011-01-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

very interesting.Hope it works.

2011-01-09T23:24:00.004-08:00

I still have a soul

Meanwhile at Barka Raton — Cute Overload

2011-01-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile at Barka Raton — Cute Overload: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Corset Training Page | Corset Training

2010-12-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

Corset Training Page | Corset Training

Watch 101 Classic Christmas Videos Online - Christmas - Fanpop

2010-11-29T01:33:00.000-08:00

Watch 101 Classic Christmas Videos Online - Christmas - Fanpop

Priceless to any Dog owner , you know these dogs:)

2010-11-18T15:56:00.001-08:00

dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts...like Moving.

From: Hyperbole and a Half.
excellent work and the art , makes the whole thing perfect..
.I Know these dogs .Proud dog mother of 2 simple dogs and a helper dog.
also...we move Alot....

More goodness:)

this is for Oovie...I love her.

http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?FBLike=http://cuteoverload.com/2010/11/04/ushering-in-nosevember/

2010-11-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?FBLike=http://cuteoverload.com/2010/11/04/ushering-in-nosevember/

The Talking Goat

2010-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Wood Spider

2010-10-14T12:41:00.001-07:00

Phantoms and Monsters: Paranormal, UFOs, Cryptids and Unexplained Phenomena

2010-09-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

Video: Possible Hominid - McKenzie River, Central Oregon

New from Ikea — Cute Overload

2010-07-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

New from Ikea — Cute Overload

Beware of Sunburn Boosters

2010-06-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

read ......

Tea Party Pin, Teapot lapel pin, Tea Party jewelry, Tea pot patriot pin, rand paul pin,sarah palin pin

2010-06-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Tea Party Pin, Teapot lapel pin, Tea Party jewelry, Tea pot patriot pin, rand paul pin,sarah palin pin

2010-05-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

Black Sabbath's Ronnie James Dio Dies at 67...

Hard-rocking singer Ronnie James Dio passed away on Sunday at the
age of 67.

The former singer for Black Sabbath, who fronted the band briefly
after Ozzy Osbourne's 1980 exit, had been struggling with stomach
cancer, and had undergone seven rounds of chemotherapy.

His wife and manager Wendy Dio confirmed the sad news on his
website, noting that "many, many friends and family were able
to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away...
Ronnie knew how much has was loved by all."'

Wendy had admitted it was a challenge replacing the enormously
popular Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. "Ozzy especially had
some real staunch fans, and for someone else to come into
Sabbath, God, that was sacrilegious," he said.

He was known for his wailing vocals and for the "devil's horns"
gesture that has become a heavy-metal trademark.

In March, Wendy vowed to beat his disease."Cancer? I'll kick the
hell out of you...I refuse to be beaten in any shape or form so
I'm going to beat you, too."

Diamond And Mystic Topaz Men's Ring: Pride Of Ireland

2010-04-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

nice

Spectacular Statement Diamonesk Ring

2010-04-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

pretty, princess or emerald please:) size 6

Mega Cute:)

2010-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Top Sellers

I have been… and always shall be… YOUR FRIEND — Cute Overload

2010-04-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

I have been… and always shall be… YOUR FRIEND — Cute Overload

coool

2010-04-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

My Avatar

Make your Own:)

Analysis Finally Clears Donner Party of Rumored Cannibalism - Yahoo! News

2010-04-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

welll Damnit all to Hell....there goes that good grisly story....
stupid technology....

Hey Kids! — Cute Overload

2010-04-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids! — Cute Overload

omg soo cute I want one , a purse goat!!!!!

Groooovy Man.....

2010-04-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

actually pretty interesting.....

Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again

By JOHN TIERNEY

As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.
Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.
Scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, which became taboo among regulators after enthusiasts like Timothy Leary promoted them in the 1960s with the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Now, using rigorous protocols and safeguards, scientists have won permission to study once again the drugs’ potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of consciousness.
After taking the hallucinogen, Dr. Martin put on an eye mask and headphones, and lay on a couch listening to classical music as he contemplated the universe.
“All of a sudden, everything familiar started evaporating,” he recalled. “Imagine you fall off a boat out in the open ocean, and you turn around, and the boat is gone. And then the water’s gone. And then you’re gone.”
Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. He ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects.
Researchers from around the world are gathering this week in San Jose, Calif., for the largest conference on psychedelic science held in the United States in four decades. They plan to discuss studies of psilocybin and other psychedelics for treating depression in cancer patients, obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction to drugs or alcohol.
The results so far are encouraging but also preliminary, and researchers caution against reading too much into these small-scale studies. They do not want to repeat the mistakes of the 1960s, when some scientists-turned-evangelists exaggerated their understanding of the drugs’ risks and benefits.
Because reactions to hallucinogens can vary so much depending on the setting, experimenters and review boards have developed guidelines to set up a comfortable environment with expert monitors in the room to deal with adverse reactions. They have established standard protocols so that the drugs’ effects can be gauged more accurately, and they have also directly observed the drugs’ effects by scanning the brains of people under the influence of hallucinogens.
Scientists are especially intrigued by the similarities between hallucinogenic experiences and the life-changing revelations reported throughout history by religious mystics and those who meditate. These similarities have been identified in neural imaging studies conducted by Swiss researchers and in experiments led by Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins.
In one of Dr. Griffiths’s first studies, involving 36 people with no serious physical or emotional problems, he and colleagues found that psilocybin could induce what the experimental subjects described as a profound spiritual experience with lasting positive effects for most of them. None had had any previous experience with hallucinogens, and none were even sure what drug was being administered.
To make the experiment double-blind, neither the subjects nor the two experts monitoring them knew whether the subjects were receiving a placebo, psilocybin or another drug like Ritalin, nicotine, caffeine or an amphetamine. Although veterans of the ’60s psychedelic culture may have a hard time believing it, Dr. Griffiths said that even the monitors sometimes could not tell from the reactions whether the person had taken psilocybin or Ritalin.
The monitors sometimes had to console people through periods of anxiety, Dr. Griffiths said, but these were generally short-lived, and none of the people reported any serious negative effects. In a survey conducted two months later, the people who received psilocybin reported significantly more improvements in their general feelings and behavior than did the members of the control group.
The findings were repeated in another follow-up survey, taken 14 months after the experiment. At that point most of the psilocybin subjects once again expressed more satisfaction with their lives and rated the experience as one of the five most meaningful events of their lives.
Since that study, which was published in 2008, Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues have gone on to give psilocybin to people dealing with cancer and depression, like Dr. Martin, the retired psychologist from Vancouver. Dr. Martin’s experience is fairly typical, Dr. Griffiths said: an improved outlook on life after an experience in which the boundaries between the self and others disappear.
In interviews, Dr. Martin and other subjects described their egos and bodies vanishing as they felt part of some larger state of consciousness in which their personal worries and insecurities vanished. They found themselves reviewing past relationships with lovers and relatives with a new sense of empathy.
“It was a whole personality shift for me,” Dr. Martin said. “I wasn’t any longer attached to my performance and trying to control things. I could see that the really good things in life will happen if you just show up and share your natural enthusiasms with people. You have a feeling of attunement with other people.”
The subjects’ reports mirrored so closely the accounts of religious mystical experiences, Dr. Griffiths said, that it seems likely the human brain is wired to undergo these “unitive” experiences, perhaps because of some evolutionary advantage.
“This feeling that we’re all in it together may have benefited communities by encouraging reciprocal generosity,” Dr. Griffiths said. “On the other hand, universal love isn’t always adaptive, either.”
Although federal regulators have resumed granting approval for controlled experiments with psychedelics, there has been little public money granted for the research, which is being conducted at Hopkins, the University of Arizona; Harvard; New York University; the University of California, Los Angeles; and other places.
The work has been supported by nonprofit groups like the Heffter Research Institute and MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
“There’s this coming together of science and spirituality,” said Rick Doblin, the executive director of MAPS. “We’re hoping that the mainstream and the psychedelic community can meet in the middle and avoid another culture war. Thanks to changes over the last 40 years in the social acceptance of the hospice movement and yoga and meditation, our culture is much more receptive now, and we’re showing that these drugs can provide benefits that current treatments can’t.”
Researchers are reporting preliminary success in using psilocybin to ease the anxiety of patients with terminal illnesses. Dr. Charles S. Grob, a psychiatrist who is involved in an experiment at U.C.L.A., describes it as “existential medicine” that helps dying people overcome fear, panic and depression.
“Under the influences of hallucinogens,” Dr. Grob writes, “individuals transcend their primary identification with their bodies and experience ego-free states before the time of their actual physical demise, and return with a new perspective and profound acceptance of the life constant: change.”

Pinup Girl Clothing! - Retro Clothing, Retro Dresses, Rockabilly Clothing, Vintage Reproduction Clothing and More!

2010-04-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah gettin some of this...

MarketPlace Handwork of India

2010-04-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

MarketPlace Handwork of India

Crown Pet ID Tags

2010-04-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

Crown Pet ID Tags

No one expects the Spanish Lickquisition! — Cute Overload

2010-04-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

OMG

Welcome to Madeleine Rose Couture-Exquisite Doll Couture

2010-03-23T23:37:00.001-07:00

I just Found this site !!
Fabulous going in the Links , Oh Yeah!
Gorgeous!

Good Dog:)

2010-02-26T20:40:00.002-08:00

Good people do good things for ‘just a dog’

By Carole Cloudwalker

This document was published online on Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Printable E-mail Archives No comments posted. Comments

His name is “Toby” and he’s just a dog.

But I think Toby, who is a handsome male basset hound with deep brown, soulful eyes, also is a symbol of all that is good about Wyoming and the people who live here.

Toby apparently was born with some leg problems that have caused him frequent, severe pain. They required surgery to correct.

But because these are tough times financially, and folks find it hard enough to provide medical care for humans, much less for dogs, Toby wound up in a foster home. His former owners apparently were unable to pay for the surgery, but could not bring themselves to euthanize Toby.

It was lucky for Toby that his foster care was arranged through the Wyoming Basset Hound Rescue, Inc., headquartered in Cody.

Toby’s foster home is in Casper, and he was taken to a veterinarian in Colorado for the specialized surgery he required.

The surgeon was pleased with the outcome of the operation that took place last week, which involved work on both of Toby’s elbow joints.

The ulna in the right leg was cut, but no rod or extension was added. Instead, the vets are allowing the muscle and the bone to work together to get the leg to the right length.

In addition, all the loose pieces of bone were removed, and joints in both legs were cleaned up.

Toby’s left elbow could possibly require surgery in the future, but it wasn’t as bad as the right.

“Cleaning up the joints and clearing the fragments has taken care of so much of the trouble in that left elbow,” said Holly Moen of Cody, president of the Wyoming Basset Rescue organization.

What is so amazing, though, is not that a dog is recovering from successful veterinary surgery. That happens often enough.

The amazing part is that the surgery to date has cost $3,023 and, through donations, the bills are paid up.

That’s where Wyoming people come in.

In the least populated state in the nation, where many people have minimum-wage jobs if they are fortunate enough to be employed at all, and at time when it’s probably a great idea to hold on to savings for dear life, Wyoming residents dug deep into their pockets and made donations to help “just a dog” live on in comfort and without pain.

“We collected donations for about half of the invoice ... and then I had a commitment to make up the other half,” Moen said last week.

“Any money taken in from here on out will be applied to Toby’s one follow-up visit in Loveland,” she said.

Money also will be used to refill his anti-inflammatory and other medications and to pay any bills from Casper vet visits that may be needed as follow-up during Toby’s rehabilitation.

Wyomingites are sometimes thought of as hunters who do not value animal life, and who would prefer to practice “survival of the fittest,” destroying animals that are not strong enough to make it on their own.

We also are thought of as people who shoot first and ask questions later, bringing down stray animals for target practice and throwing bags of unwanted kittens into rivers.

And sure enough, those people are out there. I myself once lost a wonderful, but wandering, Irish setter dog to one of them.

But fortunately for dogs like Toby, those people are the minority.

I’m so glad that under this big sky, on these sweeping plains and in the shadows of our lofty mountains live people who can care for “just a dog” despite declining revenue and interest rates, rising taxes, failing banks and a flagging real estate market.

Good dog, Toby. Live long, and prosper.

I just love this

2010-02-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

OMFG

2010-02-10T13:06:00.002-08:00

Take off ya Hoser, so there...:P

2010-02-02T14:33:00.002-08:00

Just a little something for our good friend Right Wing Extreme....

Call me, Laugh your Ass Off and Hang Up...

Tubby Bitch...

Romanesco broccoli

2010-01-10T12:23:00.002-08:00

I want this, looks yummy. Imagine dipped in homemade Hollandaise Sauce.

Neologism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010-01-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

hummmm ,interesting.

2009-12-31T13:44:00.002-08:00

Blue moon on New Year's Eve: Satanic or benign? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2009-12-31T12:55:00.000-08:00

By Mike Cronin
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Last updated: 10:39 am

Tonight's blue moon might not be the auspicious start to a new decade that people hope it is.

The month's second full moon could be the devil taunting humanity -- at least that's what Christians believed during the Middle Ages, said Gregory McNamee, who writes for Encyclopedia Britannica.

Medieval Christians used the moon to identify the correct date for Easter, said McNamee, who's based in Tucson.

Each month was supposed to have just one full moon, so the Christians called a second one "belew" -- Middle English for "false" or "betrayer," McNamee said.

"It was like Satan was trying to trick you so you can't celebrate the real date of Christ's Resurrection," he said.

So The Lord of the Bottomless Pit has something in common with the song that begins "Bom-ma-bom, a-bom-bom-a-bom." The Marcels' "Blue Moon" hit No. 1 in 1961.

The moon becomes full a second time this month at 12:13 p.m., Pittsburgh time, today, said Kim Long, author of "The Moon Book" and "The Moon Calendar."

A blue moon last occurred on New Year's Eve in 1990, said Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine in Cambridge, Mass.

Despite the phrase, "once in a blue moon," blue moons are fairly common.

They appear about once every 2.7 years, MacRobert said. The last blue moon filled the sky in May 2007. The next one is in August 2012.

"And they have no importance whatsoever," he said. "It's just a cool, interesting fluke of the calendar -- not an indication of how the universe works."

The concept, however, of a blue moon meaning something that happens never or very rarely dates to 16th century England, said Long, who's based in Denver.

"Yet several times since then, the moon has looked blue due to ash, dust particles or pollutants in the atmosphere," Long said.

McNamee conceded that popular musicians such as Bill Monroe, who penned and sang "Blue Moon of Kentucky" in 1946, and Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, who recorded "Blue Moon" in 1933, were not even remotely aware of the devil's possible influence on blue or "betrayer" moons.

"They're using 'blue' to mean 'down' or 'sad,'" McNamee said.

"Still, it is interesting that no positive songs to my knowledge exist about blue moons -- only sad and lonesome ones."

___________________________________________

Blue heaven

On average, blue moons occur:

• Once every 2.7 years

• Seven times every 19 years

• Once every 33 months

• Thirty-seven times every century

• Once every 33 full moons

Glenn Beck - 2009 Person Of The Year

2009-12-31T12:44:00.000-08:00

This I like:)

Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek" receives knighthood

2009-12-31T00:43:00.000-08:00

How very Cool!
Huzzah!
:::deep curtsey::::

thoughts....Thanks for the Info Missy.

2009-12-15T19:58:00.001-08:00

July 23, 2009

Senator Bayh,

As a practicing physician I have major concerns with the healthcare bill before Congress. I actually have read the bill and am shocked by the brazenness of the20government's proposed involvement in the patient physician relationship. The very idea that the government will dictate and ration patient care is dangerous and certainly not helpful in designing a healthcare system that works for all. Every physician I work with agrees that we need to fix our healthcare system, but the proposed bills currently making their way through congress will be a disaster if passed.

I ask you respectfully and as a patriotic American to look at the following troubling lines that I have read in the bill. You cannot possibly believe that these proposals are in the best interests of the country and our fellow citizens.

Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self insure!!

Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!

Page 42 of HC Bill:The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice!

Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to you ur banks accounts for elective funds transfer.

Page 65 Sec 164: is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and=2 0their families in Unions & community organizations: (ACORN).

Page 84 Sec 203 HC bill: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the Exchange.

Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!

Page 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill: Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services. Example - Translation: illegal aliens.

Page 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18: The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan.

Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans. AARP members - your Health care WILL be rationed.

Page 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill: Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

Page 124 lines 24-25 HC: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly.

Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/ American Medical Association - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make! (salary)

Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE!

Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.

Page 150 Lines 9-13: Business's with payroll btw 251k & 401k who doesn't provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.

Pag e 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Page 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)

Page 195 HC Bill: Officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans finances /personal records.

Page 203 Line 14-15 HC: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that!

Page 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors, low income and poor are affected.

Page 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill: Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same!

Page 253 Line 10-18: Govt sets value of Doctor's time, proffession, judgment etc. Literally value of humans.

Page 265 Sec 1131: Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries.

Page 268 Sec 1141: Federal Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.

Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151: The Govt will penalize hospitals for whatever Govt deems preventable re-admissions.

Page 298 Lines 9-11: Doctors, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission -Govt will penalize you.

Page 317 L 13-20: PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Doctors what/how much they can own!

Page 317-318 lines 21-25, 1-3: PROHIBITION20on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand.

Page 321 2-13: Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. Can u say ACORN?!!

Page 335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339: Govt mandates establishment of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing.

Page 341 Lines 3-9: Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advance Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing people into Govt plan.

Page 354 Sec 1177: Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people! Unbelievable!

Page 379 Sec 1191: Govt creates more bureaucracy - Tele-health Advisory Comittee. Can you say HC by phone?

Page 425 Lines 4-12: Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life patients.

Page 425 Lines 17-19: Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney. Mandatory!

Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3: Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death. (assisted suicide)

Page 427 Lines 15-24: Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has a say in how your life ends.

Page 429 Lines 1-9: An "advanced care planning consultant" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates.

Page 429 Lines 10-12: "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOVT!

Page 429 Lines 13-25: The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

Page 430 Lines 11-15: The Govt w ill decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life!

Page 469: Community Based Home Medical Services = Non profit organizations. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!!?

Page 472 Lines 14-17: PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORIGINATION. 1 monthly payment 2 a community-based organization. Like ACORN?

Page 489 Sec 1308: The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt into your marriage.

Page 494-498: Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services.

Senator, I guarantee that I personally will do everything possible to inform patients and my fellow physicians about the dangers of the proposed bills you and your colleagues are debating.

Furthermore, If you vote for a bill that enforces socialized medicine on the country and destroys the doctor/patient relationship, I will do everything in my power to make sure you lose your job in the next election.

Respectfully,

Stephen E Fraser MD

stuuffff

2009-12-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

the tricorder broke
communicator is dead
and my shirt is red

Jeffrey in Dallas, Texas

TechGeek Haikus ...omg sooofunny.

Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch

2009-12-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch

lol

2009-12-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin.
Jay Leno

Some Light reading of great importance.

2009-12-03T07:29:00.001-08:00

Sgt. Grit, I served in our beloved Corps from 1987 - 1991. I have been a letter carrier for the Postal Service for the past 16 years. I have a walking route that crosses many busy streets and businesses. I have a Senior Citizen Center on my route. Every day I see a van dropping off senior citizens.

One day, after dropping the mail off, I noticed a man wearing an Iwo Jima survivor hat. I nodded as I walked by but I didn't speak to him as he was involved in a conversation with a few other gentlemen.

About a week later, I saw the van again. When the man got off the van, he looked at me and nodded as we passed. I stopped, turned around and shouted "Hey Marine!" He could have been an 18 year old boot all over again. He stopped, turned, stood at attention and responded, "I haven't been called Marine in 60 years". He saluted smartly and I returned the salute.

The next time I saw him, he had his daughter with him. She told me that when he came home the week before, he was walking taller and seemed in much better spirits. He told her what had happened. She said that she felt obligated to come and meet me. I told her that all Marines are brothers no matter when they served. This Marine survived one of the bloodiest battles of WWII and everyone is in his debt.

I still see him weekly and always say "hello" and make sure he is not in need of anything.

Former, X, whatever... A Marine is a Marine - plain and simple!

Sincerely,
Jeff Zgorzelski
Sgt Grit.-

Regular People

I have a story that I am certain every Marine can understand how exactly it was we felt. I am currently deployed with the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines with a group of 23 Marines from 12th Marines Regiment in Okinawa, Japan. We are a small unit and don't see any action, just supporting the command and the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. Thanksgiving day rolling around for us means a good meal at the chow hall (one that's not either microwaved or fried) and an extra 6 hours spent out on the road escorting some "Distinguished Visitors" from the US Congress. (I know most people probably have never heard of OEF-Philippines. But its real, Google it.)

As one of the few NCOs down here, I am proud to say that me and my Marines executed flawlessly, as we always do. It's no Iraq or Afghan here, but spending long amounts of time in up-armored vehicles in 90 degrees with 90% humidity, along with full body armor and combat loads seems to make me think of another war in the Marine Corps' history. We get the DVs to our compound and disembark to get some chow, hopefully a good meal. None of us rush in to get food, though, we make sure our weapons are clear and functioning and that nothing has happened to our trucks while we were out.

By the time our weapons are put up (no weapons in chow hall here) and gear and trucks secured, the party of "D.V.s" is seated and eating their Thanksgiving dinner. We walk up to the door and are turned away by an Army E-8 saying we are not allowed to eat right now. Nearly appalled (and pretty p!ssed because who in the h&ll is this hooah to deny my Marines a Thanksgiving meal!?), I ask the MSgt why; "Regular people aren't allowed in while the DVs are in there. You guys can come back when they are finished."

I calmly explained that we were there security escort, and as soon as they finished we had to take them back out, could we get food to go? Nope, guess not. I tell my guys to hold on, and I go find Gunny with a major WTF? Look on my face. (Note: Last Christmas in Okinawa, I recall Marine Colonels and Generals serving their Marines food, not taking over the chow hall for themselves.) Gunny gets it arranged so we can get a quick bite to go before we head back out, but on thanksgiving a turkey sandwich and a can of cranberries just doesn't cut us. But not once, NOT F'IN ONCE, do I hear any of my Marine gripe or complain, they simply step off, suit up, go Condition 1, and head back out to our trucks

We prep the vehicles and wait for our DVs to come out, tummies with just enough in them to make a man mighty angry. Everyone's out, missions go, we move out, one hand on my M9, one on the wheel. After a few stops at designated "Visit Locations," the DVs are out and back on the plane. We head back to the compound, but games not over yet. We still got 15 mikes outside the wire. Our shoulders relax a little with the DVs out of the target area. We get back and all non-USMC personnel rush out of the convoy to eat for the second time.

Not my Marines. We clear our vehicles, secure hatches, check and double check our weapons. Brush off our armor, and then head to the chow hall. Almost closing time, but we make it in. Not a soul in sight in there except for our buddies the Filipino cooks. What a pleasant surprise. After hours in the heat totally tac'ed up in gear, being denied chow because we are just "regular people," and some crazy driving through the streets in the Philippines, we Marines can sit down and eat a real Thanksgiving dinner with just each other. We go through the line sticky, sweaty and worn the h&ll out; get some cold turkey, some mashed potatoes that aren't quite as squishy as they probably were when the hooahs got to eat, some dressing crumbs, and, well, we all know what happens to gravy when it gets cold. The cake is droopy by now, all the pies are gone, there isn't even any d*mn ice cream left.

We sit down with each other, and I realize that as sh*tty as the end of the stick is that we got today, this makes it worth it. We don't care about feeling important and eating with important people, it's that every single one of us got back and are able to sit down and eat thanksgiving dinner with each other. Some days I regret enlisting, like everybody does, and I am certain that I am only doing 4 and out, but this camaraderie, this family I have developed with my Marines cannot be found anywhere else. This is what makes it worthwhile. As we finish our meals, one of the workers, who is grinning from ear to ear, comes out and sets a fresh baked pumpkin pie down right in front of us. Not sure why they saved it for us, but my advice to every Marine out there, make friends with your chow hall workers.

Today my Marines did their jobs, and they did them d*mn well. We didn't expect much, but we didn't expect to be denied Thanksgiving dinner because we are just regular people, but I guess that's how the army does it. We knew we weren't going to get a thank you or a job well done from anybody but Gunny and maybe the TF Commander (Army O-6, but he's a h&lluva guy, for a hooah). But we did get a fresh pumpkin pie and we got to eat it together. And brothers, we are what it is all about. I couldn't care less what a US Congressman thinks of me or my guys, because the only thing that matters were the guys eating Thanksgiving dinner with me.

S/F
Phil Stover
Cpl USMC
Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines
SOCPAC/ 3rd Bn 12th Marines 3d MarDiv

:)

2009-11-23T08:41:00.001-08:00

This is La Muffy she is a Diva , and totally Gorgeous, We follow her Tweets:)

Quick restart of Big Bang machine stuns scientists

2009-11-21T09:16:00.001-08:00

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer Alexander G. Higgins,

GENEVA – Scientists moved Saturday to prepare the world's largest atom smasher for exploring the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs.

The nuclear physicists working on the Large Hadron Collider were surprised that they could so quickly get beams of protons whizzing near the speed of light during the restart late Friday, said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

The machine was heavily damaged by a simple electrical fault in September last year.

Some scientists had gone home early Friday and had to be called back as the project jumped ahead, Gillies said.

At a meeting early Saturday 'they basically had to tear up the first few pages of their PowerPoint presentation which had outlined the procedures that they were planning to follow,' he said. 'That was all wrapped up by midnight. They are going through the paces really very fast.'

The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments — probably starting in January — regarding the makeup of matter and the universe.

CERN, as it is known, had hoped by 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) Saturday to get the beams to travel the 27-kilometer (17-mile) circular tunnel under the Swiss-French border, but things went so well Friday evening that they had achieved the operation seven hours earlier.

Praise from scientists around the world was quick. 'First beam through the Atlas!' whooped an Internet message from Adam Yurkewicz, an American scientist working on the massive Atlas detector on the machine.

'I congratulate the scientists and engineers that have worked to get the LHC back up and running,' said Dennis Kovar of the U.S. Department of Energy, which participates in the project.

He called the machine 'unprecedented in size, in complexity, and in the scope of the international collaboration that has built it over the last 15 years.'

Later Saturday the organizers decided to test all the protection equipment while there still is a very low intensity proton beam circulating in the collider at 11,000 times a second. The tests will take 10 days, Gillies said.

The current beam has relatively few protons to avoid damage to the LHC should control of them be lost.

Gillies said CERN decided against immediately testing the LHC's ability to speed up the beams to higher energy or to start with low-energy collisions that would help scientist calibrate their detection equipment.

In the meantime CERN is using about 2,000 superconducting magnets — some of them 15 meters (50 feet) long — to improve control of the beams of billions of protons so they will remain tightly bunched and stay clear of sensitive equipment.

Gillies said the scientists are being very conservative.

'They're leaving a lot of time so that the guys who are operating the machine are under no pressure whatsoever to tick off the boxes and move forward,' he said.

Officials said Friday evening's progress was an important step on the road toward scientific discoveries at the LHC, which are expected in 2010.

'We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way,' CERN Director General Rolf Heuer said.

With great fanfare, CERN circulated its first beams Sept. 10, 2008. But the machine was sidetracked nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to the magnets and other parts of the collider.

Steve Myers, CERN's director for accelerators, said the improvements since then have made the LHC a far better understood machine than it was a year ago.

The LHC is expected soon to be running with more energy the world's current most powerful accelerator, the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago. It is supposed to keep ramping up to seven times the energy of Fermilab in coming years.

This will allow the collisions between protons to give insights into dark matter and what gives mass to other particles, and to show what matter was in the microseconds of rapid cooling after the Big Bang that many scientists theorize marked the creation of the universe billions of years ago.

When the machine is fully operational, the magnets will control the beams of protons and send them in opposite directions through two parallel tubes the size of fire hoses. In rooms as large as cathedrals 300 feet (100 meters) below the ground the magnets will force them into huge detectors to record what happens.

The LHC operates at nearly absolute zero temperature, colder than outer space, which allows the superconducting magnets to guide the protons most efficiently.

Physicists have used smaller, room-temperature colliders for decades to study the atom. They once thought protons and neutrons were the smallest components of the atom's nucleus, but the colliders showed that they are made of quarks and gluons and that there are other forces and particles. And scientists still have other questions about antimatter, dark matter and supersymmetry they want to answer with CERN's new collider.

The Superconducting Super Collider being built in Texas would have been bigger than the LHC, but in 1993 the U.S. Congress canceled it after costs soared and questions were raised about its scientific value

Gillies said the LHC should be ramped up to 3.5 trillion electron volts some time next year, which will be 3 1/2 times as powerful as Fermilab. The two laboratories are friendly rivals, working on equipment and sharing scientists.

But each would be delighted to make the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson, the particle or field that theoretically gives mass to other particles. That is widely expected to deserve the Nobel Prize for physics.

More than 8,000 physicists from other labs around the world also have work planned for the LHC. The organization is run by its 20 European member nations, with support from other countries, including observers Japan, India, Russia and the U.S. that have made big contributions."

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

2009-11-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

omg, that is frackin gross!

Remember

2009-11-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

US Military Tribute - Far Away - Nickleback

2009-11-16T08:27:00.001-08:00

I Love them all, and Thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you , for everything .

hummmm?

2009-11-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.machinimafordummies.com/

His last appeal denied, Beltway sniper to be executed tonight

2009-11-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

I will not put his picture up, I saw his face and the blank evil eyes and could not look at it again...
My thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families, and for this monsters Mother, poor woman to have borne such a thing.

With his final appeal denied Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Beltway sniper is almost out of time.

Barring a last-minute reprieve by the governor, John Allen Muhammad will die by lethal injection at 9 tonight in Jarratt. A small town north of Emporia, Jarratt is home to Greensville Correctional Center, where the state carries out all of its death sentences.

Up until the 1950s, the condemned were usually executed within two months of sentencing. These days, seven years is more typical. Muhammad's case took six.

He was convicted in November 2003 by a Virginia Beach jury for his part in a shooting spree that picked off victims in the Beltway area and beyond in 2002.

Since then, Muhammad, 48, has spent most of his days in a one-man cell on Virginia's Death Row, located at Sussex 1 State Prison, about 30 miles west of Smithfield.

Death Row cells measure 73 square feet, have one narrow window, a bed, desk, sink and toilet. Prisoners live in isolation, allowed outside their cells for a total of seven hours per week for exercise and showers. They have no contact with one another or other inmates, but are allowed to have books, a radio and a small TV.

Prior to execution, prisoners are moved to Greensville. Muhammad, inmate No. 331009, has been there since early October, locked in one of three cells built right next to the death chamber.

Today, he'll be permitted visits from immediate family, attorneys and spiritual advisers. He'll select his last meal from the regular prison menu, and must have it four hours before his execution. If he wants to, he'll be allowed to shower two hours before he dies.

Greensville houses both the electric chair and the medical equipment necessary for lethal injection. Prisoners can pick their method.

The chair, handmade from oak and outfitted with leather straps, is the same one used since 1908, when the state conducted its first electrocution. The chair's electrical mechanism was updated in 1991.

Only four prisoners have chosen the chair since lethal injection became an option in 1995. Those who don't make a choice - like Muhammad - automatically get injection.

At the appointed hour, Muhammad will be strapped to a gurney. By then, as with every Virginia execution, protesters will have gathered in a field outside the prison - people opposed to the death penalty no matter how terrible the crime.

Armed with signs, they'll read the names of Muhammad's victims, pray and stand silently as the sentence of the jury is carried out.

An IV line will be inserted into each of Muhammad's arms.

The first of three chemicals will render him unconscious.

The second will stop his breathing.

The third will stop his heart.

George W. Bush Secretly Visits Fort Hood Victims - FOXNews.com

2009-11-07T21:21:00.002-08:00

Bless them Both, What a class act!

This shows the real concern and caring they have for the American people, real compassion.
They have nothing to prove ,just commitment and duty to your fellow American in times of Trouble...

....I miss them.

Can't say I'm fond of the current White House residents. bleh.

Pink - Lady Marmalade

2009-11-03T09:20:00.001-08:00

Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive

2009-11-03T09:14:00.001-08:00

Shakira - She Wolf

2009-11-03T08:58:00.001-08:00

The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument in Quantum Theory (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

2009-11-01T22:57:00.001-08:00

interesting the things that just pop in to my mind....

The Official String Theory Web Site

2009-11-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

The Official String Theory Web Site

2009-10-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the season less world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

beautiful....

2009-10-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Indian Serenade

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

I.

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me -- who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!
II.

The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream --
The Champak odours fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The nightingale's complaint,
It dies upon her heart; --
As I must on thine,
Oh, belovèd as thou art!
III.

Oh lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast; --
Oh! press it close to thine again,
Where it will break at last.

Written early 1820.
Published 1822.

Happy Birthday Buupen!

2009-10-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

POLE DANCE CHAMPIONSHIP!

2009-10-12T08:17:00.001-07:00

ok, my cousin sent me this link, not in a pervy way but as dancing and upper body strength way:) Plus the ladies are really cute :)
this is a lot harder to do than most people know, it is a talent.

Humans, Flores 'hobbits' existed together: study

2009-10-12T07:15:00.003-07:00

By David Mark for AM

Posted Sun Aug 2, 2009 12:01pm AEST
Updated Sun Aug 2, 2009 12:17pm AEST

They were just one metre tall with very long arms, no chins, wrist bones like gorillas and extremely long feet.

In 2003, archaeologists excavating in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores made a discovery that forced scientists to completely rethink conventional theories of human evolution.

They reported the discovery of a new species of human, one that lived as recently as 12,000 years ago, at the same time as modern humans.

But others disagreed, arguing the one-metre-high skeleton was a modern human that suffered from a deformity known as microcephaly.

The debate has raged ever since. But Debbie Argue, a PhD student from the ANU's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, believes she has settled the question by comparing bone fragments from the hobbits to other hominids.

"We compared them to almost every species in our genus, as well as Australopithecine, which was a genus before Homo evolved," Ms Argue said.

"Of course, we included Homo sapiens.

"We discovered that Homo floresiensis ranged off the family tree almost at the beginning of the evolution of our genus, Homo.

"So that would have been over two million years ago, and as such a very, very primitive being."

'Paradigm shift'

Ms Argue's work was published recently in the Journal of Human Evolution.

She describes the work as a paradigm shift in archaeology, overturning the notion that Homo sapiens were the only hominids on the planet after the extinction of Homo erectus and the Neanderthals.

"This is science, so maybe [it's] not the definitive proof but a very, very solid hypothesis," she said.

"This is the first time such a huge and comprehensive set of characteristics about the whole of the body of Homo floresiensis has been but into one analysis."

Ms Argue says her work challenges another major cornerstone in the theory of human evolution.

"This means that something very, very primitive came out of Africa," she said.

"Previous to this we thought that what came out of Africa had modern body proportions and an expanded brain case, but this is a much more primitive being.

"We know that Homo floresiensis was, in Flores at least, from 100,000 years ago to about 12,000 years ago. And at that time, or at least from 40,000 years ago, we had modern humans in Asia and New Guinea and Australia.

"So here we were sharing the planet where we thought we'd been the only people that survived after the end of the Neanderthals."

Husky Dog Talking - " I love you"

2009-10-07T23:22:00.001-07:00

OMFG
so cuuuuutteeee!

Jack the Ripper's identity finally uncovered?

2009-10-07T06:59:00.002-07:00

Mei Trow used modern police forensic techniques, including psychological and geographical profiling, to identify Robert Mann, a morgue attendant, as the killer.

His theory, the result of two years intensive research, is explored in a Discovery Channel documentary, Jack the Ripper: Killer Revealed.

Trow's research is rooted in information from a 1988 FBI examination of the Ripper case, which had worked up a comprehensive criminal personality profile.

The portrait drawn up of Jack was as a white male from the lower social classes, most likely the product of a broken home.

It was also thought he would have had a menial job but with some anatomical knowledge, something like a butcher, mortuary or medical examiner's assistant or hospital attendant.

Because of prolonged periods without human interaction, Jack would also have been socially inept

It is known that Mann was from an extremely deprived background. His father was absent for much of his upbringing and he had spent some time as a child in a workhouse.

Trow said: "I wanted to go beyond the myth of a caped man with a top hat and knife, and get to the reality, and the reality is simply that Jack was an ordinary man."

Trow makes another startling conjecture, that the Ripper killed another two women.

He believes Martha Tabram, found with 39 stab wounds to her body in Gunthorpe Street, was the first of Jack's victims, and Alice Mackenzie, brutally murdered eight months after the confirmed five killings, was his last.

The two women, along with Polly Nichols and Annie Chapman, would have been delivered to the Whitechapel mortuary in which Robert Mann worked.

After the killing of Polly Nichols, Jack's first recognised victim, Mann unlocked the mortuary for the police so they could examine the body and as such, was called as a witness in her inquest to help establish the cause of death.

Most damningly, he undressed Polly's body with his assistant, despite being under strict instructions from Inspector Spratling to not touch the body, and Trow suspects that this was an opportunity to admire his handiwork.

The Coroner, in his summation of Robert Mann's testimony, concluded that, "It appears the mortuary-keeper is subject to fits, and neither his memory nor statements are reliable."

Professor Laurence Alison, Forensic Psychologist at Liverpool University, who features in the documentary, said: "In terms of psychological profiling, Robert Mann is the one of the most credible suspects from recent years and the closest we may ever get to a plausible psychological explanation for these most infamous of Victorian murders."

Trow's is the latest in a long line of theories about who Jack the Ripper was. More than 100 suspects have been proposed over the years, including a member of the royal family, a doctor and even the artist Walter Sickert.

JACK THE RIPPER: KILLER REVEALED will be aired on the Discovery Channel on Sunday October 11 at 9pm. The accompanying book, Jack the Ripper: Quest for a Killer, is published by Pen & Sword.

Zombie Physics: How to Avoid the Shambling Undead

2009-09-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday , September 29, 2009
By Mike Lucibella

WASHINGTON — When Woody Harrelson escapes the living dead in "Zombieland," a new movie opening this Friday, should he head for the hills or the mall? A recently published research paper suggests that he's probably better off hiding in the mall to save his delicious brain.

The world is full of things that move in zombie-like fashion, such as particles flowing through a turbulent fluid or the unpredictable price changes of the stock market, so physicists seek insight into this behavior by creating so called "random walking" models.

Physicist Davide Cassi at the Università di Parma in Italy looked at how long an entity hiding in a complex structure could survive if being pursued by predatory random walkers. Cassi's paper, recently published in the journal Physical Review E, is the first to describe a general principle of a prey’s likelihood to survive over time while hiding in an irregular structure.

Though the paper itself does not specifically refer to fleeing from zombies, it describes "the survival probability of immobile targets annihilated by random walkers." The conclusions suggest that the people trapped in a mall in "Dawn of the Dead" may be better off than the folks stuck in a farmhouse in "Night of the Living Dead."

Cassi found that the likelihood of survival when threatened by predatory random walkers is closely related to how complex the prey’s hideout is. The more twists and turns, the safer you'll be. In structures that are highly complex and irregular, the chances of the predator coming into contact with its target shrinks down to almost zero.

Cassi formulates a model to describe the behavior of randomly moving particles as they travel through maze-like networks. He said that his work could apply to a wide variety of situations including the distribution of information through the internet and medicine spreading through the human body."

There are a lot of applications of these results in a lot of fields of sciences," Cassi said. "The most amazing field of applications of these results are in biology, biochemistry and other organisms.

"So remember, when the zombies come, flee to the biggest shopping mall you can find and remember that, using zombie movies as a guide, the undead often win.

This article was provided by Inside Science News Service, which is supported by the American Institute of Physics, a not-for-profit publisher of scientific journals.

Ohne dich (Eisbrecher) ;D

2009-09-28T18:20:00.001-07:00

Cows with guns

2009-09-22T06:54:00.001-07:00

OMG -From G-Man, from DuGGLES.

Ra -- Broken Hearted Soul

2009-09-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

Ra- do you call my name

2009-09-17T17:35:00.001-07:00

good song

Dirty Dancing - Time of my Life (Final Dance) - High Quality

2009-09-15T13:20:00.001-07:00

Omg , I feel so sad about this, we knew it was coming, pancreatic cancer is horrible and VERY painful, my aunt died from this just a awhile ago...I will remember him,I said a prayer for him the moment I heard the news, he was one of my teenage crushes, I wanted to be "Baby"....

Tribal Fest '06

2009-09-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

This is Rachel Brice, the Dance Goddess.....she is increadible.

911

2009-09-11T07:24:00.002-07:00

Don't Look at me in that tone of voice....

2009-08-23T11:12:00.002-07:00

I just found this, you know ,
puttering around on the web,
drinking My coffee,
felt it needed a post.
Don't get mad at me, but I do believe it's true.....

We Cannot Blame the White People any Longer

By Dr. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed.D.

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.

I can't even talk the way these people talk:

"Why you ain't,
Where you is,
What he drive,
Where he stay,
Where he work,
Who you be...".
And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk.

And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth.

In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around.

The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.

These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids.

$500 sneakers for what?

And they won't spend $200 for "Hooked on Phonics."

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit.

Where were you when he was 2?

Where were you when he was 12?

Where were you when he was 18, and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?

And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward. Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong?

People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something?

Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles (piercings) going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from?

We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa.

I say this all of the time — it would be like white people saying they are European-American — that is totally stupid.

I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, or the Netherlands.

The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to Africa — so stop, already!

With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap...and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.

We have got to take the neighborhood back.

People used to be ashamed.

Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' — or men or whatever you call them now.

We have millionaire football players who cannot read.

We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks, have to do a better job.

Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us.

We have to start holding each other to a higher standard....

+++++++

WELL SAID, BILL!
It's NOT about color...It's about behavior!

PASS! THIS ON AROUND THE WORLD!!!

Deadly Dog Flu Spreads: Discovery News

2009-08-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

ru roh!

Unleashed: There's now a Snuggie for DOGS!

2009-08-17T23:03:00.001-07:00

The Source of Earth's 'Hum' Finally Discovered - It has puzzled researchers for more than a decade - Softpedia

2009-08-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

So that's what that is....

A Flute for Champagne for one our readers. ~ Champagne Living#c1499247639307733269

2009-08-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

A Flute for Champagne for one our readers. ~ Champagne Living#c1499247639307733269

Cavalcade of Vaguely Unsettling Facial Expressions! — Cute Overload

2009-08-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

OMG you have to see this...roflmao

Mike Rowe's World : Mike's Bio: Discovery Channel

2009-08-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

A little bit about our Fav Guy who loves the Dirty Jobs:)
a Link for his forum ,for questions too if you are so inclined:)

People flee Chinese town hit by plague

2009-08-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

not good...:(

Funky Sofas, Funky Chairs - Funky Sofa

2009-08-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

they have very cool looking furniture, might get some,someday ...

Copernicus Remains Verified by DNA Analysis | LiveScience

2009-07-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

cool.

cool and true

2009-07-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

My Standard Poodle Is Smarter Than Bumper Stickers - CafePress

Quotes: Queen Elizabeth I

2009-07-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

words to live by...

bbaaaaaahahahahahahahahah...rofl....

2009-07-27T09:21:00.001-07:00

Wicked Fae

2009-07-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Art:) worth a second or third look...

hummm,interesting....

2009-07-25T10:21:00.001-07:00

What does the week you were born say about you?" with the result The Cusp of Prophecy – Sagittarius/Capricorn Cusp December 19-25.
You are an unusual individual, you may want to have fun, but are too serious to do so. You have highly developed faculties of intuition and sensation. You have mastered the art of silence and do not need speech to get your point across. You leave little doubt to how you are feeling. You do not expect to be liked by other people although you often are. You are independent and do not need the approval of others and that gives you a power and freedom that others lack. You only let a select few into your circle. You have a deep, passionate nature and highly sexual orientation that bind others to you magnetically. You have a great need to be alone. Strengths: Psychic – Inscrutable – Intense Weaknesses: Frustrated – Antisocial – Oppressive .

Taco Bell ad star Gidget the Chihuahua dies at 15

2009-07-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer Robert Jablon, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 35 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – Gidget the Chihuahua, the bug-eyed, big-eared star of 1990s Taco Bell commercials who was a diva on and off the screen, has died. She was 15. Gidget suffered a massive stroke late Tuesday night at her trainer's home in Santa Clarita and had to be euthanized, said Karin McElhatton, owner of Studio Animal Services in Castaic, which owned the dog.

Although she was hard of hearing, Gidget was otherwise in good health up to the day of her death, eating well and playing with her favorite squeaky toys at the home of trainer Sue Chipperton, McElhatton said.

"She was retired. She lived like a queen, very pampered," McElhatton said.

Gidget was found at a kennel and wasn't show quality, McElhatton said; she had an undershot jaw and huge ears.

But Gidget knew she was a star, McElhatton said.

"She was a prima donna, basically. She absolutely knew when she was on camera," McElhatton said.

In a 1997 Taco Bell television commercial, Gidget was seen as a male dog who, through the magic of special effects and a voice actor, proclaims in a richly accented voice: "Yo quiero Taco Bell" — Spanish for "I want Taco Bell."

Viewers were charmed. What was supposed to be a single ad became a campaign that ran from 1997 to 2000.

The ads made the Taco Bell mascot wildly popular, although they provoked criticism from activists who accused them of promoting Hispanic stereotypes.

While other Chihuahuas had bit parts, McElhatton said it was Gidget who got the closeups and the quips (Carlos Alazraqui was the voice).

Gidget traveled first-class, opened up the New York Stock Exchange and made an appearance at Madison Square Garden, McElhatton said.

In later years, she did other acting work, appearing in a 2002 commercial for the insurance company GEICO and in the 2003 movie "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde."

She remained the object of affection after her retirement, going on hikes and beach visits with her trainer. She aged gracefully, and liked nothing more than to snooze in the sun.

"She was like a little old lady. She'd kind of gotten smaller," McElhatton said.

Gidget will be cremated, McElhatton said. Her owners had not decided on a final disposition of her remains. Taco Bell Corp. said in a statement Gidget would be missed by many. "Our deepest sympathies go out to her owners and fans," the company said.

A RED, RED ROSE by Robert Burns, sung by Andy M. Stewart

2009-07-20T16:31:00.001-07:00

I Love this song.

Pause for a moment.

2009-07-20T12:20:00.003-07:00

In my opinion , I think this is beautiful,and so full of Love.
Have a amazing Afterlife Mr. and Mrs. Downes.
"For anyone reading this ,I am in no way making fun at this.
I honestly think this is a beautiful death, we should all be so lucky to have someone love you this much.

To go with you, hold your hand , over that final doorway, together, not alone."

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 1967 file photo, British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, are seen with their new baby son, Caractacus, at the Royal Northern Hospital, London.

This undated handout photo made available Tuesday July 14, 2009 shows renowned British conductor Edward Downes. British conductor Edward Downes and his wife have died at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, their family said Tuesday July 14, 2009. The family said Downes, 85, and his 74-year-old wife Joan died Friday 'peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing' at a Zurich clinic run by the group Dignitas. 'After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems,' the statement said.

i am cow

2009-07-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

For Nacho, and the Boferengi....

This I LOVE!!!!!! earworm:)

2009-07-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Talking toy 'translates' dog barks -

2009-07-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy said on Thursday that it would launch a talking version of its Bowlingual gadget that can "translate" dog barks into the human language.

The new model analyses six emotions, including joy, sadness and frustration, and speaks phrases such as "Play with me!" -- an improvement on the original which just showed them on a screen.

"Dog owners can enjoy the toy at a dog run and a park," said Tomy spokeswoman Chie Yamada.

The original version of the toy, which has a handset and a microphone attached to a dog collar, won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2002. The awards, a parody of the Nobel Prizes, celebrate achievements that make people laugh and think.

The new Bowlingual Voice, priced at 19,950 yen (212 dollars), will be launched in Japan next month, Yamada said.

It will be only available in Japanese at present. The original non-speaking version is also available in English and Korean.

funny...

2009-07-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

..lol...actually crackingup for real...this is so me.......sitting on my porch watching the hippiegrandma across the street....
'What kind of old person will you be?' with the result The Scary Old Person.
You're flat out frickin' insane! How you managed to stay out of the loony bin is anyone's guess. You like to stay locked up inside your house. That's probably where the rumors about the crazy witch lady came from. You don't care about the rumors though, you have much more important things to worry about! Like keeping your 742 porcelain dolls dust free, which is really hard to concentrate on with those ghosts misplacing all of your things! Maybe it's Alzheimer's, maybe there really are ghosts. But you'll be damned if you let that trouble-makin squirrel spill its glass of wine all over your torn grey dress and 47 necklaces and magical charms again!."