Unlike the original Founding Fathers, our current batch of politicians have more important stuff to discuss. The link below shows what they have been up to while debating the wars, National Health Care, the waning economy, etc. Cars and banks are not enough, now they get into football. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isQ1DkWtlreF6Tk2_...
A House subcommittee has approved legislation aimed at forcing college football to switch to a playoff system to determine a national champion.
The bill would ban the promotion of a post season NCAA Division 1 football game as a national championship unless that title contest is the result of a playoff. The measure passed by a voice vote Wednesday by a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee. That should solve the current economic crisis.
Dec 11, 2009
Garlic and the Flu
If you want to get stinking rich in China today forget real estate, gold, or silver, because garlic has outperformed all of them. As fears of swine flu grow, traders are hoarding garlic and watching the price of the pungent vegetable go through the roof. Prices have risen sharply since unscrupulous investors began buying up all the garlic available.
According to China's Ministry of Commerce the average price for a kilogram of garlic has risen from 14p in March to 54p and in some markets the price has reportedly risen 40-fold.
Jerry Lou, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, said dealers can make millions. "You need a warehouse, a lot of cash and a few trucks," he told the Washington Post. Basically, you buy as much supply as possible, then bid up the price.
The reason for this is many people believe garlic can protect against the H1N1 virus.
In one high school in Hangzhou, staff bought 200kg of garlic and fed it to their luckless pupils every lunchtime for the good of their health.
China produces three times more garlic then the rest of the world combined, but anticipating falling prices during the world recession, its farmers planted less garlic last year. Speculators made fortunes by moving in and buying up the harvest before it was ripe.
According to China's Ministry of Commerce the average price for a kilogram of garlic has risen from 14p in March to 54p and in some markets the price has reportedly risen 40-fold.
Jerry Lou, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, said dealers can make millions. "You need a warehouse, a lot of cash and a few trucks," he told the Washington Post. Basically, you buy as much supply as possible, then bid up the price.
The reason for this is many people believe garlic can protect against the H1N1 virus.
In one high school in Hangzhou, staff bought 200kg of garlic and fed it to their luckless pupils every lunchtime for the good of their health.
China produces three times more garlic then the rest of the world combined, but anticipating falling prices during the world recession, its farmers planted less garlic last year. Speculators made fortunes by moving in and buying up the harvest before it was ripe.
Dec 4, 2009
Inspiration
To many, the holidays are a time of loneliness instead of joy and celebration. If this helps one person feel better, it is worth it. When you are feeling down, don't give away your frowns. They will only beget more frowns.
Give away a smile and see what you get back. It is impossible to give away a smile without getting one back.
Saint Nicholas Day
St Nicholas died on December 6, 343 and is remembered every year on the 6th of December. It continues in many places, and some cultures still use this occasion to give gifts to children. There are still celebrations in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Milwaukee also has a strong tradition of celebrating "St Nick’s Day," due to its large immigrant German community.
The Dutch celebrate the 'Feast of Sinterklaas', (Santa Claus is a variation of the name), as we celebrate Christmas. Some celebrate on December 5 (like Christmas eve). The myth involving Sinterklaas is that he rides on his white horse across the roofs of houses, and that his small helpers, who are entirely black and called Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), climb down the chimneys and put presents in people's shoes. Children leave a carrot in the shoes for his horse.
St Nicholas (or St Nickolas) was Bishop of Myra (Turkey) and remains the Patron Saint of sailors, fishermen, the falsely accused, pawnbrokers, thieves and a number of cities.
You can see from the picture why old pictures of Santa Claus show the bishop's miter (hat) and staff.
Many miracles and good deeds are attributed to St Nicholas. One relates how a father, who could not afford a dowry for his three daughters (which would mean they were unable to marry, and might have been sold), would find little bags of gold coins thrown through his window, under cover of night. The bags landed on stockings left to dry before the fire. This is why people hang stockings on the fireplace at Christmas, hoping for them to be filled with goodies.
Growing up, we celebrated St. Nicholas day by throwing small bags of candy on neighbor's porches at dusk, then running away. We were always home in time to enjoy the candy treats thrown on our porch.
The Dutch celebrate the 'Feast of Sinterklaas', (Santa Claus is a variation of the name), as we celebrate Christmas. Some celebrate on December 5 (like Christmas eve). The myth involving Sinterklaas is that he rides on his white horse across the roofs of houses, and that his small helpers, who are entirely black and called Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), climb down the chimneys and put presents in people's shoes. Children leave a carrot in the shoes for his horse.
St Nicholas (or St Nickolas) was Bishop of Myra (Turkey) and remains the Patron Saint of sailors, fishermen, the falsely accused, pawnbrokers, thieves and a number of cities.
You can see from the picture why old pictures of Santa Claus show the bishop's miter (hat) and staff.
Many miracles and good deeds are attributed to St Nicholas. One relates how a father, who could not afford a dowry for his three daughters (which would mean they were unable to marry, and might have been sold), would find little bags of gold coins thrown through his window, under cover of night. The bags landed on stockings left to dry before the fire. This is why people hang stockings on the fireplace at Christmas, hoping for them to be filled with goodies.
Growing up, we celebrated St. Nicholas day by throwing small bags of candy on neighbor's porches at dusk, then running away. We were always home in time to enjoy the candy treats thrown on our porch.
Frogs
The name frog comes from the Old-English 'frogga', which means, to jump. There are over 5,000 varieties of frogs.
* From a taxonomic perspective, all members of Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered toads. Frog usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic with smooth and/or moist skins, and the term 'toad' generally refers to species that tend to be terrestrial with dry, warty skin.
* A group of adult frogs is referred to as an Army of frogs and also a colony or a knot.
* Frogs legs are considered a delicacy in China, Greece, New Orleans, and France.
* Frogs will only eat something that moves; in nature that would be insects or spiders. Tadpoles are vegetarian.
* Amphibians, such as frogs, always return to water to breed. However, there is a midwife frog where the male carries the frogspawn around on his body. When he senses the time is ripe, he swims out into the water and the tiny tadpoles emerge from their egg-jelly and swim away.
* Frogs, can change their color to suit their background; not as spectacularly as chameleons, but enough to save them from a casual predator.
* Ranidaphobia means fear of frogs. Touching frogs will not give you warts, that's just a myth.
* From a taxonomic perspective, all members of Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered toads. Frog usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic with smooth and/or moist skins, and the term 'toad' generally refers to species that tend to be terrestrial with dry, warty skin.
* A group of adult frogs is referred to as an Army of frogs and also a colony or a knot.
* Frogs legs are considered a delicacy in China, Greece, New Orleans, and France.
* Frogs will only eat something that moves; in nature that would be insects or spiders. Tadpoles are vegetarian.
* Amphibians, such as frogs, always return to water to breed. However, there is a midwife frog where the male carries the frogspawn around on his body. When he senses the time is ripe, he swims out into the water and the tiny tadpoles emerge from their egg-jelly and swim away.
* Frogs, can change their color to suit their background; not as spectacularly as chameleons, but enough to save them from a casual predator.
* Ranidaphobia means fear of frogs. Touching frogs will not give you warts, that's just a myth.
Farming
37.5% of the US population was involved in agriculture in 1900 and today less than half of one percent are in that business. We still have all the food we need, as well as supply other parts of the world.
There are 2.2 million farms and 50.4% of farms are less than 99 acres in size, with the average age of a farmer at 57.1 years old.
We export $115.5 billion of farm products a year. The top five farming counties in the US are in California. All data taken from the census.
There are 2.2 million farms and 50.4% of farms are less than 99 acres in size, with the average age of a farmer at 57.1 years old.
We export $115.5 billion of farm products a year. The top five farming counties in the US are in California. All data taken from the census.
Escape for iPhone
With this handy program you can have an excuse to get off the phone every time and no one needs to know about it. Just set it to anyone in your contacts list, select a delay time (up to two hours) and press the sleep button on the top of your phone. Escape Call Free for iPhone will sit silently until the timer has run out, at which point you will get an urgent call and you can decide if it is time to leave.
Chipotle
A chipotle (chi-POET-lee) is a smoked, dried jalapeño chili used primarily in Mexican, Mexican-American, Tex-Mex, and Mexican-inspired cuisine. The deep red jalapenos are smoked for days until completely dry. It takes about 10 pounds of jalapenos to make a pound of chipotle.
Until recently, chipotles were almost exclusively found in the markets of central and southern Mexico. As Mexican food became more popular, it expanded into Northern Mexico and eventually the United States and other places, such as China.
Most chipotle chiles are produced in the Northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. This variety of chipotle is known as a morita (Spanish for blackberry or black raspberry; literally "little purple one"). This is a description of how the chipotle looks.
Most chipotle chiles are produced in the Northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. This variety of chipotle is known as a morita (Spanish for blackberry or black raspberry; literally "little purple one"). This is a description of how the chipotle looks.
Post Office
The US Postal Service delivered 19 billion cards, letters, and packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. I wonder how many trees that is?
Post Office Two
Couldn't resist this one. The Post Office has another official web site http://www.usps.com/green/ Seems like an oxymoron to have a 'green' website for a business that deals in delivering paper. Here is a clip from the site -
"did you know…We're building new postal facilities with the environment in mind. We use recycled fiberglass, natural lighting, thermal windows and solar electric and thermal systems. And water tanks to harvest rainwater."
Sheep Burps
I first thought this was a hoax, but it is from a reputable scientific organization, and I verified it with other publications. Australian scientists are looking for ways to reduce harmful methane emissions from the country's woolly flocks, a researcher said Nov 29, 2009.
Twelve percent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions originate with agriculture, and some 70 percent of that amount is blamed on livestock, with most of it coming from burps, study leader John Goopy said. (Yes, that is his real name)
With sheep, almost all of the methane produced comes out of their mouths. "There's not very much passed out the animal's anus at all," said Goopy, from the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment.
Scientists measure the sheep's methane emissions by herding them into a specially designed booth shortly after they eat and then calculating the amount of gas belched. They hope to find whether there is a genetic link between the sheep that produce the least methane, which could then be exploited to breed low-emissions sheep.
Sheep produce about seven kilograms (15 lb) of methane a year while other cattle produce ten times that amount. Cows, sheep, goats, camels, buffaloes, and termites release methane.
"Of the 200 sheep so far tested, about half produced much more than average while the other half belched considerably less methane." (Hmmm, real science here)
Methane has about 17 to 21 times the environmental warming capacity of carbon dioxide. However, methane lasts only 12 years in the atmosphere vs. CO2, which lasts 100 years in the atmosphere. Wikipedia says the main greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
Let's sum this up - most of 70% of 12% comes from all livestock, of which sheep are some part of, and half of them produce more burps than the other half, so let's change nature and breed out the burping half. - We will deal with farting cows later.
And these people actually get paid by the government for these kinds of goopy studies. Of course, half get paid more and half get paid less than average.
Twelve percent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions originate with agriculture, and some 70 percent of that amount is blamed on livestock, with most of it coming from burps, study leader John Goopy said. (Yes, that is his real name)
With sheep, almost all of the methane produced comes out of their mouths. "There's not very much passed out the animal's anus at all," said Goopy, from the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment.
Scientists measure the sheep's methane emissions by herding them into a specially designed booth shortly after they eat and then calculating the amount of gas belched. They hope to find whether there is a genetic link between the sheep that produce the least methane, which could then be exploited to breed low-emissions sheep.
Sheep produce about seven kilograms (15 lb) of methane a year while other cattle produce ten times that amount. Cows, sheep, goats, camels, buffaloes, and termites release methane.
"Of the 200 sheep so far tested, about half produced much more than average while the other half belched considerably less methane." (Hmmm, real science here)
Methane has about 17 to 21 times the environmental warming capacity of carbon dioxide. However, methane lasts only 12 years in the atmosphere vs. CO2, which lasts 100 years in the atmosphere. Wikipedia says the main greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
Let's sum this up - most of 70% of 12% comes from all livestock, of which sheep are some part of, and half of them produce more burps than the other half, so let's change nature and breed out the burping half. - We will deal with farting cows later.
And these people actually get paid by the government for these kinds of goopy studies. Of course, half get paid more and half get paid less than average.
School Facts
In 1990, 24.8% of people 25 and older did not complete high school. In 2000, 19.6% did not complete high school. This is down from 33.1% in 1980
In 1990, 20.3% of people over 25 completed college. In 2000, 24.4% completed college. This is up from 16.2% in 1980. Finally some numbers are going in the right direction.
In 1990, 20.3% of people over 25 completed college. In 2000, 24.4% completed college. This is up from 16.2% in 1980. Finally some numbers are going in the right direction.
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