deep down

From my Tickle.com Ultimate Personality Test:

If there is a change in the air, Thinker, nobody is more aware of it than you. You have an unusually refined sensitivity to subtle changes in your environment and from time to time, this can manifest as a fear that the worst is going to happen. You may have a tendency to be constantly on guard because you ultimately are working to prevent a perceived catastrophe from happening.

More than three million Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tests are administered each year in the U.S.: more than four million people have taken Tickle's Ultimate Personality Test.

good song rhyme

From "Coal Miner's Daughter":

"The work we done was hard
At night we'd sleep, 'cause we were tired."

The last word pronounced as you'd expect from Butcher Holler.

vulnerability

My areas of greatest vulnerability, apparently:

Your greatest vulnerability is that your senses are on overdrive, soaking in anything and everything from the environment. Things that others might not notice sometimes can send you reeling. The reason this makes you vulnerable is that it can affect your ability to cope with the world effectively. Although your sensitivity is a wonderful asset, it can be scary knowing that you could be distracted at any time. If someone wants to push your buttons, they can go after this, because there's not much you can do to protect yourself from your own sensitivity. Be your best: Buffering yourself with quiet and calm situations will help, and recognizing and choosing friends and associates who respect your boundaries will also make things easier.

Scottish turkey?

my hero, the Bumble

Though I was scared of him when I was a youngster!

"Prison Break" question

Seems as if it would make good sense, after breaking out of prison, to change one's looks...and I'm not just suggesting putting on a baseball hat. If I had hair, I shave it. If I were clean shaven, I'd quickly grow a beard, etc. But noooo...not on television. That'd make it too difficult to identify escapees in a nanosecond or less. Just sayin' ...

Matilda pic

Here's a picture of her half on the floor and half on a pad...doesn't look comfortable to me, but it's not my bed.

Tickle personality test

Here's the results of an online personality test I took on Tickle.com in May:


Relaxed or Apprehensive


Self-Doubt or Confidence


Safety-Seeking or Risk-Taking


Internal Experience or External Appearance

Matilda progress

This is her first day at home along. We'll see what happens! I imagine she'll just sleep herself happily through the time. Going to her first vet appointment here tomorrow afternoon. We're going to get her all fixed up and in ship shape!!

Matilda on her way home from Exeter, Rhode Island!

Is a 1000 bucks worth a picture?

Nope...much more.

An art collector has paid about $2.3 million for a $1,000 bill printed in 1890, according to the auction house that brokered the transaction between two anonymous private collectors.

"This $1,000 bill is one of only two known of its type; the other surviving example is in the museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco," Greg Rohan, president of Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, said Friday.

Rohan said that type of bank note is known to collectors as a "Grand Watermelon" because the green-striped zeros in the denomination "1,000" printed on the back of the bill look like the fruit.

"Only two Grand Watermelon examples are known with red-color Treasury Department seals printed on the front; the half-dozen other surviving Grand Watermelon notes have brown seals," he said in a news release.

The $2,255,000 price is more than double the previous record for an 1890 Grand Watermelon note. The previous record for any bank note was $2.1 million, according to the Heritage Auction Galleries.

Rohan said the buyer was "a very advanced and sophisticated East Coast collector of art and rare currency."

all my schooling

1. Episcopal nursery school, Columbia, TN
2. Westminster Presbyterian kindergarten, Columbia, TN
3. J. R. Baker Elementary School, Columbia, TN
4. Waverly Junior High School, Waverly, TN
5. St. Patrick's Catholic School, McEwen, TN
6. American School, Tampico, MX
7. Waverly Junior High School, Waverly, TN
8. Springer Junior High School, Wilmington, DE
9. Fernwood Junior High School, Biloxi, MS
10. Biloxi Senior High, Biloxi, MS
11. University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
12. University of Mississippi Medical School, Jackson, MS
13. University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS

miscellaney

• I think a Rusty Nail drink (Scotch whisky and Drambuie liqueur) tastes awful when cold. Well, still drinkable, but weird.
• I know I'm old when I remember that my seventh-grade year (1977) was going to be the first year in Tennessee that women played full-court basketball, instead of the half-court basketball my mother played while growing up.
• Why is it that football teams, like the University of Southern Mississippi and the New Orleans Saints, do really well against tough teams, like Florida State and the Dallas Cowboys, but then crap out against less-successfull teams like Southeast Louisiana State University and the Washingston Redskins, for example?
  

Matilda's day 2

Matilda is the most guileless animal I've ever encountered! Hmm, but she doesn't like dill pickles, so so much for that as a potential snack for her. Matilda doesn't eat a lot, particularly, or beg for food, so I imagine she's gotten used to eating low-quality, high-calorie food. With better food and more exercise we're hoping to have her in fighting trim before too terribly long! A trim in the next couple of days to a local veterinarian will get her and us working together on whatever plan is necessary to make her elderly years as pleasant and comfortable as possible!

Hey, and the New Orleans Saints won the NFC South division. Way to go!

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

Did I blog about "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest?" Surely I must have. It bit the big one, without a doubt. It was a silly, long-winded mish-mash, which ended up being no more than a tw0-and-a-half hour commercial for the sequal.

(I just saw an ad on television for the DVD. That's what prompted this diatribe!)

Matilda

Good God Almighty, Matilda's as sweet as sugar, gooder 'n gold, nice as can be, cute as a bug or bean, happy as a clam, and on and on and on. She's one big simile!!! I'm glad to be able to give her an easy life from now on...a healthy one (her left hip seems to hurt), a happy one, and everything else she wants. Matilda's a purebred bulldog who has had numerous Caesarean sections, from her breeding years. She even still has her stitches from being spayed, and that was at the beginning of July. Jerry and I are going to take her to a vet and get her going on a healthier, happier lifestyle. She deserves it!!!

bad news for smokers

You can't quit halfway:

When you quit smoking, it's all or nothing, says Scientific American. In a Norwegian study of 51,000 people over a 20-year period, researchers found that just cutting back on cigarettes didn't reduce the risk of death. Those who quit completely significantly boosted their long-term health. But those who cut their pack-a-day habit by half suffered the same consequences as those who still smoke the whole pack. Both groups suffered impaired cardiovascular health and serious heart and lung damage.

While you're quitting, it's okay to start off by cutting back so that withdrawal symptoms are not severe, says Dr. Kjell Bjartveit, who led the study. But to reap the health benefits, stop smoking altogether, says Bjartveit. "You can't give your health a better present."

interesting facts

With its declining population and persisting squalor 15 months after Hurricane Katrina, New Oreleans now has the nation's highest murder rate--73.5 murders per 100,000 residents, surpassing Compton, California, which has 67 murders per 100,00 last year.

• USA Today

Counterfeit alcohol kills about 42,000 Russians annually. The phony booze, usually sold in bottles marked "vodka," contains such lethal substances as cleaning fluid, rust removers, and window de-icers.

• Associated Press

Polonium 210, the isotope used to assassinate former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, is 5,000 times as radioactive as radium. A lethal dose would weigh only 0.2 millionth of a gram, and be no bigger than a couple of grains of salt.

• The Wall Street Journal

two good quotes

"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow."

• Charlotte Bronte, quote in The Montreal Gazette

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quetly and safely insane every night of our lives."

• Sleep expert William Dement, quote in Salon.com

preparations for Matilda

Jerry and I spend about $350 yesterday (good thing he got a $750 Christmas bonus from his kind employers), to get supplies for Matilda: we got her a sleeping crate, towels, food bowls, a 44-pound bag of Royal Canin Bulldog 24, toys, a leash, books about bulldogs, etc., etc.!

I'm glad I called yesterday morning about Matilda. Apparently 4 people called after I did, asking about adopting her. I called earlier this morning, too, to say that I was still very serious about coming down to adopt Matilda, and that Jerry and I would be there tomorrow, for sure.

1893 Chicago World's Fair

Columbia

World's Columbian Exposition: Chicago World's Fair of 1893

Taking a virtual tour of that year's fair, held in front of the University of Chicago, on the Midway Plaisance, makes me appreciate just how low-class-looking the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans was!

Who'd'a thunk it?

According to Jim Rutz, in a column titled "A Devil Food is Turning Our Kids Into Homosexuals," posted on WorldNetDaily's "The Big Picture":

"Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality."

Lord, have mercy.

the Olsons

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson have become so harsh looking in their grown years. Ashley's wide-eyed look and trout lips just don't look good...ever.

Concert for Diana

In this interview about their upcoming Concert for Diana, it's interesting to hear the princes speak...to put voices with their faces.

Matilda Sally Cadden

Soon to be coming home with us, from an animal shelter in Exeter, Rhode Island! Presenting...Matilda Sally Cadden!

I wanted to adopt Matilda for 3 reasons:

1. I've always wanted an English bulldog.
2. Given how many homeless animals there are wanting homes, I don't think it's right to buy an animal.
3. I told myself that the next animals I adopted would be ones who really needed homes, animals with infirmities (blind, deaf, paralyzed, elderly).

Matilda fits the bill in all three cases!

top-10 QB-coach combinations

From Sports Illustrated:

2. Otto Graham/Paul Brown:

"Going strictly by results, the pairing of Brown and Graham in Cleveland has no peers. They were together for 10 years in pro football (four in the AAFC, six in the NFL), and went to the championship game of their league every year, winning seven times (four in the AAFC, three in the NFL). Their 105-17-4 record in that decade seems unbreakable."

I don't think I knew of Graham and Brown.

Peter O'Toole's "Venus"

I hope Peter O'Toole wins an Oscar for his role in Venus.

"Backscatter" X-ray technology

Oof-da! Better get back on my diet! From the Electronic Privacy Information Center:

Here I am in the machine!

You call that a knife?

From the Guardian Unlimited:

The Swiss Army knife, weighs 2lb and costs nearly £500. But can you actually use it for anything? Andrew Martin puts the ultimate tool to the test.

most dangerous toys of all time

From RADAR Online: "Pray for Coal: The Most Dangerous Toys of All Time"

But what about Clackers? Besides the terrible arm bruises those caused, a breaking one would take out teeth, windows, you name it! Ah, but such fun!! Challenging, too.

"Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascistic"

From Radar Online: "Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascistic"

Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'Izzaddin Waddaulah
of Brunei Darussalam

And PARADE's annual list of the 10 worst dictators

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro, is coming out this Christmas. It blends a fantastical fairy tale into the harsh reality of Franco's Spain just after the civil war.

More on this subject from Wikipedia.

Go, Jaibos Tampico-Madero!

more horror from "Blender"

more horror, according to Blender:

The 50 Worst Things Ever to Happen to Music
The 50 Worst Songs Ever!
The 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars
The 50 Dumbest Rock-Star Extravagances

50 Worst Artists in Music History

Blender magazine's "50 Worst Artists in Music History"

A taste:

50. Iron Butterfly
36. 98 Degrees
26. Celine Dion
15. Yanni
6. Kansas

more friends

"A friend in need is a friend indeed."

I'd say, "A friend in need needs a friend indeed."

apocrypal friendship

A faithful friend is a strong defense.
A faithful friend is the medicine of life.

• Apocrypha

frustrating

I can't get my blog to post to carrollcadden.com anymore...the posting/publishing times out, with a java.net.ConnectException error. So I'm using this blogspot address for a while, till Blogger fixes the problem that I and many, many others are having.

pig waste

Rolling Stone's contributing editor Jeff Tietz reports this month that "the chairman of Smithfield Foods, Joseph Luter III, said once,

"The animal-rights people want to impose a vegetarian's society of the U.S. Most vegetarians I know are neurotic." Wow, such eloquent logic!

"Smithfield Foods (they now kill one of every four pigs sold commercially in the U.S.) is the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world. They killed 27 million hogs last year, according to this month's Rolling Stone. Hogs produce three times more excrement than human beings do. The 500,000 pigs at a single Smithfield subsidiary in Utah generate more fecal matter each year than the 1.5 million inhabitants of Manhattan. That would fill four Yankee Stadiums."

"Smithfield Farms are flanked by open-pit cesspools known as lagoons. A single lagoon, like one in eastern North Carolina, can run thirty-feet deep and cover 120,000 square feet. Even light rains can cause them to overflow; major floods turn entire counties into pig-shit bayous. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd washed 120 million gallons of hog waste into the region's rivers--the dark-brown tide that resulted was visible from space. Even without such catastrophes, however, industrial hog waste causes what one former environmental regulator calls a "mass imbalance" in the area's ecosystems. Pig waste contains a host of toxic substances and more than 100 microbial pathogens. Released into rivers and streams, it spurs the growth of vegetation; the decaying scum chokes of the oxygen necessary to sustain aquatic life."

"The area around a slaughterhouse can contain hundreds of lagoons, some of which thirty-feet deep. The liquid in them is not brown. The interactions between the bacteria and blood and afterbirths and stillborn piglets and urine and excrement and chemicals and drugs turn the lagoons pink."

RMV

It's on wonder those employees, and the people they "serve" are always in such a bad mood. Nothing ever seems to go smoothly at one of those places. I've been twice already, trying to register my new motorcycle, and I still don't have everything I need. So I'll go back again next week, I suppose.

spam story

Here's a "story" from a spam e-mail I just got...fascinating!:

honour, i only take wine and iron. i need a tonic, mother says, to repairmuch creaking of rusty hinges and some clearing away of rubbish, was seta mite but what sanch brought, for three days; and i always go halves, "ah, my dear, it 's a very common them, and i do want you, for i haven't the heart to drag uncle out anymore, because i quite agree with you that it is necessary to have an anchor somewhere
david had begun to think they had waited long enough, but

had loved so much. remembering the conversation of the afternoon, the boyover to mrs. minot's, and it was her first attempt at going out since thesays i need n't go to school regularly, while you are here, only two oramy was listening, "it was an abominable thing, and she doesn't deserve of oz were disclosed to view. they paused, astonished, at sight christie beyond measure. she would not make light of it, as he did, "if
"up there with wet blankets, while i get out the hose!"

"up there with wet blankets, while i get out the hose!"mac gave a groan and fell back vanquished, foranswered the princess. "someday i'll have her fried for breakfast."the tears ran down his cheeks, and a maid popped her head in to who were to have no christmas tree. in the other bath; and while simmering there, he watched the performances and determined to venture a bold stroke, though not very hopeful
spirits, bearing a great bridal-looking bouquet for 'mrs. john brooke',

"dan took him out, to keep him quiet. he's all rightshe had worn the trinket hidden under her black sleevewith my friend the scarecrow!" the hasty-pudding, and finding every one asking, "where is nan?"
dr. alec saw the injured look and did not mind his body, except to pity and help him to bear it. of him is gone from the gallery where the others are, so i peeped
by a very sleepy little son, and aunt plenty retired to bed, used
that, as i was born to be drowned, an eligible opportunity now presentsribbon ought to take its place, and poked peanut shells about withroof.i couldn't bear her. the boys came yesterday, and seemed rather as polly ran down to meet mr. shaw one evening, and was helping away the flies that were tormenting him. "by no means," replied they got amy home, and after an exciting time of it, she fell
"maudie, run and bring me my other cigar geordie also, for i think these books are as bad for the smallover others than she herself suspected, simply because of "indeed it is," agreed the scarecrow. "it may
the boys heard her, but no one spoke f: you shouldn't go to so many of wrath and grief, rebellion and remorse, seething in heart
to a woman, especially the older ones, who liked to talk over"wonder where the boy is," added ben, feeling as you ask more freely than of him? try it, and see if he doesn't

Mississippi's heath ranking

From America's Health Rankings - 2005 Edition:

Overall Rank: 49

Change: up 1

Strengths:

• Ready access to adequate prenatal care
• High per capita public health spending
• High immunization coverage

Challenges:

• High percentage of children in poverty
• High infant mortality rate
• High premature death rate

Significant Changes:

• In the past year, the incidence of infectious disease decreased by 13%
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty increased by 15%
• Since 1990, the prevalence of obesity increased by 106%
• Since 1990, the prevalence of smoking declined by 24%
• Ranking: Mississippi is 49^th this year; it was 50^th in 2005.

Strengths:

Strengths include ready access to adequate prenatal care with 81.3 percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care, high per capita public health spending at $197 per person and high immunization coverage with 83.6 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations.

Challenges:

Mississippi is among the bottom five states on eight of the 18 measures. Challenges include a high percentage of children in poverty at 30.7 percent of persons under age 18, a high rate of motor vehicle deaths at 2.4 deaths per 100,000,000 miles driven, a high prevalence of obesity at 30.9 percent of the population, a high rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease at 408.1 deaths per 100,000 population, a high infant mortality rate at 10.1 deaths per 1,000 live births and a high premature death rate with 10,889 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population.

Significant Changes:

• In the past year, the incidence of infectious disease decreased from 26.0 to 22.5 cases per 100,000 population.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 26.6 percent to 30.7 percent of persons under age 18.
• Since 1990, the prevalence of obesity increased from 15.0 percent to 30.9 percent of the population.
• Since 1990, the prevalence of smoking declined from 31.1 percent to 23.6 percent of the population.

Health Disparities:

In Mississippi, the percentage of women who receive prenatal care varies from 71 percent among American Indians to 91 percent among whites. Cancer is xxxx (data not available).

Clinical Care:

The cost of clinical care in Mississippi is moderate compared to other states and the quality of care is low.

State Health Department Web Site:
www.msdh.state.ms.us/

toys for my 10th birthday

Here's some of what I wanted:

"Dunciad"

The last lines of the Dunciad, by Alexander Pope, as quoted in Gore Vidal's book Past and Present:

Nor public flame no private, dares to shine;
Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!
Lo! thy dread empire, CHAOS! is restor'd;
ight dies before they uncreating word;
Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall,
And universal Darkness buries all.

Go Saints!

They're playing the San Francisco 49ers today.

Jerry and Britney Spears

Jerry's sitting here looking at pictures of Britney Spears' "AY-ree," as Southerners would say. Remember way back when I reported that he said of someone, "the poose (i.e., puss) is loose"? Well, I just followed up with, "If you don't wear underwear, "the pooze (i.e., poozle) will cruise"! Good one, I think!

"Some verses from the Bible"

From my father's mother, Edna Aline McCollough Hardin Ford Lewis:

"Some verses from the Bible and some other sources. that I like to read again and again"

Talking to God is the prescription for anxiety.

Prayer is the key to Heaven; Faith is the key that unlocks the door.

Thankfulness turns all that it touches into happiness.

Exercise yourself spiritually and practice being a better Christian, because that will help you not only now in this life, but in the next life too.
1 Timothy 4:8

Father, the lonely are everywhere. Why don't I see them? Why don't I have sensitivity enough to feel the needs of those close to me? Soften my heart. Help me to take time to care, to love, to express compassion. Today lead me to a person I can help.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

Love that is saved can never be left to anyone. Give it away- Today.

What no man ever saw or heard, what no man ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love Him.
Corinthians 2:9

Father help us to look beyond the little things which people to upset us, so that we may appreciate the big things they do to help us.

When Cecil was sick and dying, this verse from Isiah was my constant help:

I, the Lord your God hold your right hand: It is I who say to you "Fear not, I will help you."

Freddy Krueger

When the kids on Elm Street found themselves in a dream with Freddy Krueger, could they not make themselves wake up? This Freddy vs. Jason movie is cracking me up!

Freddie brought Jason back, and now he can't make him STOP!!

100 most influential Americans

from the December 2006 The Atlantic Monthly

The top 10 are:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
5. Alexander Hamilton
6. Benjamin Franklin
7. John Marshall
8. Martin Luther King Jr.
9. Thomas Edison
10. Woodrow Wilson

nice-looking guy

A. J. Hawk, a rookie linebacker for the Green Bay Packers.

new Vmax!

I've bought a new Vmax, a 1999 one, though I've still got to pick it up in Philadelphia, where the current owner lives. Here's a collaged picture of it (click for a larger version). And if you want to buy your own Vmax, I've got a 1985 for sale.

"The Queen"

I saw "The Queen" today, with Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, et. al. I thought Mirren did a great job, but I didn't really understand the point of the movie, other than its being at attempt to show that someone could do a job imitating Queen Elizabeth II. Other than that, the movie (and definitely its soundtrack) could've done just fine on television. I didn't think there was much substance to the movie: it wasn't insubstantial, of course, but was, I thought, unsubstantial.

Here's Roger Ebert's review of the movie: I do agree that it was interesting to see the queen doing unqueenly like things, like driving her Range Rover, talking car mechanics with the Balmoral support staff, admiring a dead stag, etc.

"Prime Suspect 7"

Don't miss the final case of Helen Mirren as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre this Sunday and then concluding on Sunday, the 19th.

MR2...Mister Mister...aka Meatwad

Meatwad...I like him!

quotes on life and death

From Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life, by Eugene O'Kelly.

For anything that men can tell, death may be
the greatest good that can happen to them:
but they fear it as if they know quite well
that is was the greatest of evils. And what is
this but that shameful ignorance of thinking
that we konw what we do not know?

• Socrates

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

• Steven Wright
  

If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.

• Maria Edgeworth

May you live every day of your life.

• Jonathan Swift
  

"It is never good dwelling on good-byes," she said. "It is not the being together that it prolongs, it is the parting."

• Elizabeth Asquity Bibesco, "The Fir and the Palm"

There is no death! What seems so is transition;
this life of mortal breath
is but a suburb of the life Elysian,
whose portal we call Death.

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

best American work of fiction?

In the last 25 years? The New York Times Magazine said:

The Winner:

• Beloved Toni Morrison (1987)

The Runners-Up:

• Underworld Don DeLillo (1997)
• Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy (1985)
• Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels John Updike (1995)
• American Pastoral Philip Roth (1997)

The following books also received multiple votes:

• A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole (1980)
• Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson (1980)...and others
  

What's your connection's speed?

dreaming of dreaming

Is what we see or seem
but a dream within a dream?

• Edgar Allan Poe

Biloxi $5 note

I didn't even know there were such.

ocean fish in 2048

They're disappearing, quickly...


The world's fish and seafood populations will collapse by 2048 if current trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue, researchers say.

calming the condemned

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-03-deathrowdrugs_x.htm

This combination of lethal injection drugs is posted on the wall in the equipment room next to the death chamber at Southern Ohio Corrections Facility in Lucasville, Ohio.

Andrew Mellon/Andrew Carnegie

"Andrew Mellon was daring capitalist, but a painfully shy man," said Steve Forbes in The Wall Street Journal. "From his 60s on, Mellon lived a dramatic public life--as a tax-cutting Treasury secretary, a scapegoat for the Depression, and a generous patron of the arts." A review by David Cannadine, concludes by saying that "if this man was a villain, here's hoping that America produces 'more such ill-lived lives.'"

Matthew Price in The New York Observer says of Andrew Carnegie, "Andrew Carnegie's early decades were the Horatio Alger story 'writ fabulously large.' and when the 4-foot-11 steel magnate decided to start giving away his money, he became a more ruthless businessman than he'd ever been before." "'There are more knots to untie in Carnegie than there are in 10 men.'"

• from this week's issue of The Week

repost of something important...hydration

WATER

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
(Likely applies to half world population)

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.

4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a U-Washington study.

5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?

nice Biloxi pictures

Of the old days...well, at least the '60s and/or '70s:

East Biloxi, aka "the Point." It's the point of the Biloxi peninsula. Across the now-defunct bridge is Ocean Springs. Oh, it's so different now, not even counting Hurricane Katrina's destruction. No casinos, just shrimp boats and companies, as there were when my family moved to Biloxi in 1979.

This is a picture of the Broadwater Beach Hotel, so highly thought of. Presient Nixon stayed there after Hurricane Camille, on his visit to the coast. The President Casino had taken over lately, but the hotel has recently been razed, having been so damaged by Katrina. Sad.

fortune cookie

"Fate will find a way."

Like, "The future is coming"...or "The future's gonna happen"? Yeah.

US 90/Old Spanish Trail

I didn't know that old Highway 90 is part of the Old Spanish Trail. Begun in 1915, this trail was part of the "Good Roads" movement, a 2743-mile route running from San Diego, California, all the way across the U.S. to St. Augustine, Florida.

This is the oldest automobile road along the Gulf Coast, and was the first black-top link between Mobile and New Orleans.

Is Bush an idiot?

From Scarborough Country, on MSNBC:

some Bushisms

Of many...

"I think tide turning as I remember it, I was raised in the desert, but tides--it is easy to see a tide turn. Did I say those words?"

"No question that the enemy has tried to spread sectarian violence. They use violence as a tool to do that."

"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking of new ways to harm our country and our people. And neither do we; we must never stop thinking about how best to defend our country."

"I am the decider, and I decide what is best."

"The United States of America is engaged in a war against an extremist group of folks."

"Families is where our nation finds hope; where wings take dream."

"If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for--anything."

"If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything."

"Fool me once, shame on you--fool me--you can't get fooled again.

"In my State of the--my State of the Union--my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it."

"At the high school level and find out that the literacy level of our children are appalling."

"I hear there are rumors on the Internets that we are going have a draft."

"You are working hard to put food on family."

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

"Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. If you a--you're a--"

"You have been given sovereignty, and you are viewed as--a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."

"They muster--mis-underestimated the compassion of our country. I think they mis-underestimated the will and the determination of the commander in chief, too."

a profound quote to remember

"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."

• Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel Prize 1952)

Bob Barker to retire

I'm sad to hear that, though he's soon to be 83. Something about "The Price Is Right," Barker's "reign" to end this coming June, is comforting, perhaps since it's been on television for so many years. I especially like watching the "Showcase Showdown," at the end of each show.

Boy, this post really shows my intellectual nature, doesn't it? I don't know...part of enjoying life is enjoying simple pleasures, even if one them is a game show.

"The Price Is Right" has been running since September 4, 1972, which I was in second grade. Given that I enjoy working with animal shelters, I'm glad to hear that Barker will end his final show as he ends all his shows, with the admonition "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered." Good for him.

most popular science myths

According to livescience.com:

1. A chicken can live without its head;
2. Water drains backward in the Southern Hemisphere due to the Earth's rotation;
3. There is no gravity in space;
4. Humans use only 10 percent of their brains;
5. Eating a poppy-seed bagel mimics opium use;
6. A penny dropped from the top of a tall building could kill a pedestrian;
7. Adults don't grow new brain cells;
8. Chicken soup can cure the common cold;
9. Yawning is "contagious";
10. A dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's;
11. Lightning never strikes the same place twice;
12. Hair and fingernails continue growing after death;
13. A falling cat will always land on its feet;
14. Men think about sex every seven seconds;
15. You get less wet by running in the rain;
16. The five-second rule;
17. Animals can predict natural disasters;
18. Seasons are caused by the Earth's proximity to the sun;
19. The Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure visible from space; and
20. It takes seven years to digest gum.

"The Prestige"

I thought The Prestige was superb! It was fascinating to see David Bowie play Nikola Tesla, too. He's a good actor, though the part was a restrained one. I hadn't realized, having forgotten way too much high-school- and college history, that Tesla and Thomas Edison were rivals.

Christian Bale most definitely isn't hard on the eyes! But, seriously, he is a good actor, and I thought he did a good job with his hard London accent. Also good were Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, and others (I thought Bale's wife in the movie was quite good).