CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION AWARD OF THE WEEK

There is enough corruption on both sides of the isle in the grand halls of Congress, but this weeks  CC Award goes to Congressman William Jefferson (D) of Louisiana.  Some of you may remember that he commandeered several National Guard Trucks and troops to go to his house in New Orleans, and help move personal items.  This was while people were still stuck on roof tops and flooded homes.  The following article might just explain why he was in such a hurry to move things out of his house.   Wonder if the freezer was one of the items the National Guard troops moved for him?

ABC News link to an article that mentions Congressman Jefferson's "borrowing" of the National Guard trucks and men:   http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/cold_cash_congr.html

Indicted Louisiana House member bids for 10th term

By Kevin McGill    Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sordid bribery allegations and jokes about "cold cash" hidden in Rep. William Jefferson's freezer apparently did not matter much to voters two years ago when the New Orleans Democrat won a runoff election for his long-held congressional seat with a surprising 57 percent.

Hurricane Katrina was a fresh memory throughout much of the city. Jefferson lost his seat on the House Ways and Means Committee amid the burgeoning scandal, yet could argue that his seniority and clout in Congress were vital to the region.

Now that two more years have passed, Jefferson's political future has become more precarious. He is awaiting trial in Virginia on federal bribery charges; his brother and two sisters are ensnared in a separate federal criminal case in New Orleans.

Donations to his re-election have slowed and there is a reported campaign debt of $250,000. Still, few count Jefferson completely out as he faces six challengers in Saturday's primary.

"He's still influential in Congress. He still has supporters in Congress, and in the district," pollster and political analyst Silas Lee said.

Political scientist Ed Chervenak of the University of New Orleans said he detects a sense among some people in the 2nd Congressional District that Jefferson is being persecuted, but he questions whether that will be enough to save the nine-term incumbent.

"It's really the great unknown in terms of whether people will rally around Jefferson or whether they just say, `We've had enough,'" Chervenak said.

While campaigning for a new term, Jefferson also is preparing for a December federal trial in Virginia on allegations that he took bribes, laundered money and misused his congressional office for business dealings in Africa. He is accused of taking about $500,000 in bribes and travel expenses and about 34 million shares of corporate stock.

In what became fodder for late-night talk show monologues well before he was indicted, Jefferson is famously alleged to have hidden in his freezer some $90,000 received from an FBI informant. Jefferson, who did not grant an interview for this story, has maintained his innocence.

Meanwhile, his brother Mose and sister Betty, a New Orleans tax assessor, have been indicted on federal fraud charges in New Orleans. Both are accused of using family owned companies to funnel federal and state grant money to themselves for personal use.

A second sister, Brenda Jefferson, pleaded guilty in June to helping conceal the alleged scheme.

Attacks on Jefferson in television and online ads by his opponents have been unmistakable if oblique, not mentioning him by name

Former television reporter Helena Moreno sits in a house still in ruins three years after Katrina, bemoans the lack of progress and promises to "restore honesty and integrity" to the office. State Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans says the people of the district "need and deserve real leadership right now."

While the recovery from Katrina is the biggest issue, the race also boils down to geography, demographics, turnout and political alliances.

Most of the district's 369,000 registered voters are in New Orleans. But almost one-third are in neighboring Jefferson Parish, where popular Sheriff Newell Normand has endorsed parish councilman Byron Lee. Most of the voters are black; almost one-third are white.

If voting patterns break along racial lines, that would aid Moreno, the only white candidate in the primary, in earning a spot in an expected Oct. 4 runoff.

Turnout is expected to be low and the vote will be divided among several well-known candidates.

In addition to Moreno, Lee and Richmond, City Council member James Carter, former council member Troy Carter (no relation to James) and Kenya Smith, a lawyer and former aide to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, are running.

"Jefferson's got a core constituency in both parishes," said demographer Gregory Rigamer. "They're going to split this vote up really fine."

The Democratic nominee will face three little-known challengers -- one each from the Green, Libertarian and Republican parties.

QUIET REFLECTIONS

Before the rhetoric starts in earnest; Let's us take a little of our time, to reflect and give thanks for the Nation we live in, for any Nation, where its' people have free speech, the right to vote, where we do not have to worry about a night visit that causes friends and family to disappear.  Where we do not have to worry about being pulled off the streets for voting the wrong way.  Or worshipping or not worshipping as we chose.  And think on the millions of known and unkown who have suffered, even to the ultimate of being murdered for their views, or color, or religion, or heritage. . .

A member of the Human Rights Madres de Plaza de Mayo looks at the pictures of people who disappeared during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship, during the inauguration of Buenos Aires' Memorial Park November 7, 2007. An Argentine government report estimates that around 11,000 people either died or disappeared during a crackdown by the military to wipe out suspected dissidents during the dictatorship, although human rights groups say the number is closer to 30,000.  from Rueters News Service

  The executed were buried in mass graves at Choeung Ek. Some were required to dig their own graves but they were unable to dig very deep due to their weaken physical state. from SqueakyMarmot's blog, Cambodia during the regime of Pol Pot.

 

Nora Cortinaz, the leader of the human rights group Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Disappeared), {Doesn't this translate closer to: Mothers of the Square of May? Would appreciate any input.--JohoOh} stands in front of a wall with the names of people who disappeared during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship, as she visits Buenos Aires' Memorial Park to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared August 30, 2007. An Argentine government report estimates that around 11,000 people either died or disappeared during a crackdown by the military to wipe out suspected dissidents during the dictatorship, although human rights groups say the number is closer to 30,000.

 

THE IMPERIAL CONGRESS

I wonder when Congress began to see themselves as above the 'common man' who elected them.  What happened to our founding Fathers ideals of Public Servants?  It seems so much more like Self Service!! Both sides of Congress are guilty of this, this example just happens to be recent and two of the most powerful Democrats.  If CEOs spent  investors' money, like Congress spends our tax dollar investment, they would be in jail.  All Hail The Imperial Congress. 

 

 

 

Pelosi to protesters: "Can we drill your brains?"

Politico On Line edition, by Ryan Grim -Aug, 26,2008

House Democratic leaders and protesters waving McCain signs had a war of words Tuesday at a press event outside an old train station. The demonstrators interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with chants of “Drill here! Drill now!”

Pelosi paused and asked the group, “Right here?”

 

 

 

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Speaker of the House, I am not sure if this is a picture of her Congressional Office.

 

 

 

 

Seeming to enjoy the back and forth, she followed with another question: “Can we drill your brains?”

 

She went on to refer to the protesters, who continued to chant sporadically, as “handmaidens of Big Oil.” Arguing that increased offshore drilling would reduce gas prices by only a couple of pennies a decade from now, she referred to the demonstrators as the “2-cents-in-10-years-crowd.”

 

 

Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer swiped at the demonstrators, too, saying that “sophomoric chanting” won’t solve the energy crisis and that “all thinking Americans know” — stressing the word "thinking" and looking at the crowd — that America doesn’t have a quarter of the word’s fossil fuels yet uses a quarter of the world’s energy.

Stoney Hoyer (D-ML)  House Majority Leader

TEST YOUR HUMMINGBIRD NECTAR

Hummingbirds are amazing little creations.  So small, clothed in radiant gem like feathers, so fast, yet can hover motionless, on wings beating so fast they are invisible.  But with so many backyard feeders, it is important to know  if your nectar mix is right.  One way is to observe the hummingbirds as they feed.

 

For the duration of this blog, and with humble apologies to Mr. Rimsky-Korsakov, the following work is retitled  The Flight Of The Hummingbird.

 

WE LIKE SHEEP GO MERRILY ALONG

Sometimes, the most insight can be seen in humor.

 

  

 

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. -- Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ;  English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)

 

 

 

 

OBAMA WILL LOSE, UNLESS. . .

Remember when we used to get news like this on this side of the Atlantic, straight news, where the reader is to make his own mind up?  The opinions stayed in the opinion pages.  An interesting read from our old Motherland.  

       so I won't be labeled as unfair   

Message of change will doom Barack Obama, swing voters warn

Barack Obama will lose the November election to John McCain unless he overhauls his message of change, outlines specific plans and reassures Americans that he is one of them, according to swing voters in Denver.

By Toby Harnden in Denver
Last Updated: 10:46PM BST 25 Aug 2008,   The Telegraph on line:  Telegraph.co.uk

The results of a focus group held by Frank Luntz, the leading American pollster, on the eve of the Democratic convention should sound alarm bells for the Obama campaign after a month in which Mr McCain, the Republican, has drawn level in the polls.

"The way that he gets here to the Democratic nomination - 'change' - is not how he gets there, to the White House," said Mr Luntz. "If it's change, by itself, he will fail. Change what? Change how? Change why?" Mr Luntz is a Republican but his work on focus groups is respected on both sides of the aisle.

Some 21 carefully-selected undecided voters were gathered in a conference room in a downtown skyscraper. Observed by The Daily Telegraph and a small group of other media through a one-way mirror, they were grilled by Mr Luntz about their views of the candidates in a two-hour session.

Although 12 said they had voted for President George W. Bush in 2004, not a single person described themselves as a Republican - bad news for Mr McCain, who has to shake off his party label to claim victory.

But these undecideds were willing to separate their disdain for the Republican party from the individual candidates. The one-word descriptions of Mr Obama showed he has mountain to climb to overcome the doubts of these swing voters in the swing state of Colorado - a top Democratic target in November. 

  Among the words offered for Mr Obama: apocalypse, terrifying, scary, pizzazz, unknown, inexperienced, innovative, new, charismatic, smooth, unaffordable, change, hopeful.

Mr McCain's name inspired: dependable, strong, experienced, scary, patriot, veteran, experienced, Bush Two, veteran, older generation, little boy, integrity, frightening, honest, older, cantankerous, repeat.

The reason why the Obama campaign is trying so hard to link Mr McCain to Mr Bush was clear from the reaction to the current president: self-centred, disciplined, unreliable, disappointing, conventional, dishonest, idiot, crook, nightmare, felon, self-assured, irresponsible.

But another disturbing element for Mr Obama was how sceptical and even dismissive most of the group was about the word that has been central to his campaign - change. Some voters believed Mr Obama could not relate to them and did not share their everyday concerns.

"Stop giving me all these general things," said Doug, 48, a fireman. "I want specifics, not pie in the sky. There were nods around the room. "He has to put some substance behind the charismatic talk," interjected another man.

A woman in her 60s said: "I want less oratory; show me what you have done and what you are going to do." Sondra, 43, a catering manager, said: "Change for change's sake got us in this mess. We want change but we're afraid of what it might bring."

Asked to address Mr Obama directly, the voters said: "How are you going to get it done?"; "Prove you have experience."; "How will you fix things?"; "Stop the dramatic talk, we want reality."; "Focus on issues, not personality."; "Don't just give me an empty balloon."

Most of the undecided voters said they wanted "accountability" rather than change. From a long list of election concerns, 17 highlighted a top theme of Mr McCain's: "Ending wasteful Washington spending and balancing the federal budget."

The next most important concern was "reducing inflation and keeping costs down", with ten votes while "Ending American dependence on foreign oil" and "bringing accountability and honesty back to the government" got nine.

Some favourite concerns of Democrats were virtually ignored. "Holding President Bush accountable for all his mistakes and failures" got two votes and "Improving our global image and public support internationally" just one - another indication that Mr Obama's recent foreign trip and speech in Berlin were mistakes.

Using electronic dials to register their second-by-second reactions, the voters were shown television advertisements from each candidate. Again, the results were encouraging for Mr McCain.

Although most of the 21 said they did not like the concept behind Mr McCain's notorious "Celebrity" ad, which compared the Democrat with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears - one said "crap", another "ridiculous" - a dozen conceded it made Mr Obama look bad.

The Obama ad that attacked Mr McCain for having seven houses and not being able to recall the number fell flat. But Mr McCain's response ad that highlighted a land deal Mr Obama had struck with Tony Rezko, a real estate dealer subsequently convicted of corruption, prompted more than half the dials to shoot up.

A couple of the voters suggested that Americans did not resent wealth. "I really don't care how many houses you have but it does matter how you got that house," said Doug.

A CNN/Gallup poll released on Monday showed Mr Obama and Mr McCain tied with 47 percentage points each, despite the abysmal favourability ratings of Mr Bush and Republicans, the ailing economy and the unpopular Iraq war. It is too early to tell if the choice of Joe Biden, the experienced senator, as Mr Obama's running mate will alter the polls.

"There's a golden opportunity for either candidate to seal this but neither has done it yet," said Mr Luntz. "If Obama comes across as just another typical politician, he won't be president. If McCain thinks experience alone is going to do it, he's wrong. It's dead level."

BOMB IRAN NOW!!!!!

Actually he is talking about Iran's nuclear production facilities, but hey it is a gripping headline, certainly grabs one attention!!!

A Nuclear Iran is Like a Nuclear Bin Laden

"'One cannot avoid the inevitable' - this adage came to mind when I read the pronouncement by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad 'Ali Ja'fari, who said: 'My country is easily capable of closing the Straits of Hormuz, the main passageway for oil freighters, if the country is attacked due to its nuclear program.'

"In my estimation, confronting this country, which is trying to gain the time necessary to acquire nuclear weapons, is unavoidable. The possession of nuclear weapons by a state like Iran, which is ideological to the core, is more or less like Osama bin Laden having a nuclear bomb. They are two of a kind. Despite the difference in their turbans and in their religious beliefs, the end result is the same.

"Perhaps it is our bad luck that we  and the Gulf states would be the first to suffer from a military confrontation with Iran and from its response, and the problem would become even more grave if Iran succeeded in closing the Straits of Hormuz, as the IRGC commander threatened. But our situation with Iran is like that of the sick man who refuses to have his illness treated with cauterization. Yes, the pain of the burning is horrible, but this malady can only be treated through this military confrontation -cauterization.

"History has taught us that ideological countries only pay heed to victory over their ideology… They never accept any halfway situation, even when they find themselves on the brink of disaster."

"Confrontation Is The Solution"; "The Absolute Priority Must Be Our Strategic Security in the Gulf"

"Confrontation is the solution, and there is no solution but confrontation. The game of the carrot and the stick played by the U.S. and E.U. will be to no avail.

"At present, we are suffering from two things: Iran's attempts [to gain] regional hegemony, and its attempts to impose its influence via its sectarian allies - the fifth column of Arab Shi'ite fundamentalists. Imagine what Iran's influence, hegemony, and fifth column would be like if Iran had a nuclear bomb.

"Perhaps it is a strange coincidence that, this time around, our strategic interests coincide with those of Israel. The regime of the mullahs in Iran is our enemy, and at the same time it is an enemy not just of Israel, but of world peace and security.

"I know that the Arab demagogues stand together indiscriminately with anyone who is against Israel and America. But we need to not be swept away by these demagogues as we were in the past. This time, the absolute priority must be our strategic security in the Gulf, which is threatened by Iran - even if this comes at the expense of the Palestinian cause.

"In politics, nothing prevents you from allying with the devil for the sake of your interests. This is what confronting the Iranian danger - which is close - demands of us. This issue, in my estimation, cannot suffer delay or hesitation. Every passing day benefits Iran.

"Thus, we need to push the world powers, and especially the U.S. and the E.U., towards military confrontation to neutralize the Iranian enemy, whatever the cost, before the nuclear bomb makes it too late - even if it is against the will of the Arabs of the north."

*****

Now for the Surprise, if you have read this all the way you know that this course of action is being pushed by a: 

Saudi:

with the headline of:

Bomb Iran Now, Let Chips Fall Where They May
In his August 4, 2008 column in the liberal Arab e-journal Elaph, Saudi columnist Saleh Al-Rashed argued that the Gulf states should urge the West to attack Iran before it acquires nuclear weapons.   www.elaph.com

****

Just thought this was an interesting insight into opinions from that part of the world.  You, the reader can certainly make your own conclusions.  Not sure why Mr. Al-Rashed is calling on the US and the EU, at least the Kuwati's called for a meeting of the Arab Council a few months past  to discuss this and take care of it themselves.

 

As for the background pic, not a bombing, a picture of a B-17 from the 390th Bomb Group releasing food packages over Holland during Operation Manna-Chowhound, May 1945.  The British and the Canadians were using their planes to drop food in this humanitarian operation also.

 

 

 

 

PICTURE PERFECT ---- LOOK A LIKE

 

A row of abandoned warehouses on the former Ft. Ord military base.  These were built in the 1940s, so many memories they must hold of the young men and women who have passed through over the years.   I had hoped to capture a photo of the WWII barracks, as they look as if made from a cookie cutter,  but most have been bulldozed, and, let's just say the Federal Police have little to no sense of humor if they find people in some areas.

Camera is a Kodak Z612.   Used the B&W tool, and a contrast setting of 4.

This is what the original looked like.

Welcome to

PICTURE PERFECT

For more information click here ------>   http://fotofriday.multiply.com/

 Each week a new theme will be posted here on Friday morning. You are invited to put up your best picture on your own blog with that theme in mind, and you do have the whole weekend to post your picture, so there is no rush

Remember it should be just  ONE and ORIGINAL, taken by YOU,and not off the internet,

Then come back and leave a comment on this page in the comment box so that everyone can link to your blog and see your photo. Don't forget to OPEN your page to EVERYONE for that day.

By all means mention your camera and lens used, and if the picture has been altered or enhanced in any way, so we can all learn and improve our techniques.

Try and post a decent size picture on your blog page for an increased WOW factor. Often so much is lost or distorted if the size is too big or too small.

Remember this is NOT a competition, this about being creative having fun and being supportive of one another.

Out of the box thinking is encouraged.

~ Have FUN out there! ~

 

SWEET AND ARMED

This is one teenager who will hopefully think about the path he has chosen, and which he will chose for the future.  I bet he thought he had an easy mark in an 85 year old women, a really brave young man.  Any bets his pants were damp during the phone call?

 

 

There is saying from our history.  "God made men, Col. Colt made them equal." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARMED 85-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FORCES INTRUDER TO CALL COPS

 

POINT MARION, Pa. (AP) — An 85-year-old woman boldly went for her gun and busted a would-be burglar inside her home, then forced him to call police while she kept him in her sights, police said.

 

 

 

 

Does She look like a victim??  She easily could have been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I just walked right on past him to the bedroom and got my gun," Leda Smith said.

Smith heard someone break into her home Monday afternoon and grabbed the .22-caliber revolver she had been keeping by her bed since a neighbor's home was burglarized a few weeks ago.

"I said 'What are you doing in my house?' He just kept saying he didn't do it," Smith said.

After the 17-year-old boy called 911, Smith kept holding the gun on him until state police arrived at her home in Springhill Township, about 45 miles south of Pittsburgh.

The boy will be charged with attempted burglary and related offenses in juvenile court, Trooper Christian Lieberum said. He was not identified because of his age.

"It was exciting," Smith said. "I just hope I broke up the (burglary) ring because they have been hitting a lot of places around here."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.  USA TODAY on line edition

THE CISCO KID and PANCHO

Linda and I were talking a while back, about TV shows and movies.  And one I used to watch on TV and the movies, especially on the Saturday Matinee's at the local theater was The Frisco Kid, staring Duncan Renaldo as The Frisco Kid  and Leo Carillo as Pancho. 

 

 

They were the good guys, fighting wrong and catching the bad guys.  This video though, is one I have never seen, or at least do not remember.  But haven't we all made up dialog watching some of the old movies!?  Take a trip down the darkened theater, surrounded by the smell of buttered popcorn, and the snap of Ghirardelli's chocolate stars, find a seat, and enjoy the matinee. . .

 

,

 

there is a part two if you care to find out the end of the story. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26szpR9-DMw&feature=related

MONOCHROMATIC MONDAY #20 PLUS #6

 

The finished picture.  I call this, The Ghost Tree.  Local stories have it, that  in the 1800s, a man was hung here for a crime he did not comment.  And on certain days,  just after sunrise, when the sun is still low on the coastal hills, his shadow can be seen in the cattle pond.  But then, that is just a story.

 

Step One, the original picture, taken at The Frog Pond preserve in Del Rey Oaks, CA.  I also used this picture in last weeks Picture Perfect / Foto Friday challange.  (For info on joining in the fun at PP/FF follow this link ------>http://fotofriday.multiply.com/  )

 

 

 

 

Step Two:  I  used the Mirage tool at 6, to find which setting I wanted, and to find a reference point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step Three: removed the Mirage, and using the reference point, I made the bottom half transparent with the Touch Up Brush tool. 

 

 

 

 

Step Four  I replaced the Mirage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step Five was a whole lot of Cloning Tool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Why is it a male will not look at Maps or Read Directions?  I played with the tints and color settings, then remembered that The Gator had a blog that we should read, which I finally did, and realized we were returning to Monochrome, with the option of a Plus project.  What to do What to do?  One thing is read directions first, but doubt if that is going to happen. Old Dogs and New Tricks and all that.  So a lightbulb went off, perhaps a bit dim, but it did go off!!!  On our Dear Cherie's page we were talking about movies we would like to see again, and The Ox-bow Incident is one I would like to see, so with that in mind, I proceeded.

Step Six, after the Cloning Tool work was done,  I played with the Exposure Settings, and the Brightness and Contrast tools and then added Sepia tones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But something was missing, so I added a little something special in, played with exposure and transparency again,  and I faded it to make it look like a very old photo, and so that the picture would tell more of a story,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the Plus for this week, I just started playing with tools, settings, tints, exposures, etc, with no thought of what it was going to look like, just followed what appealed to me.  Is that chasing the Muse Gator?  I call this Blue Hearts.  Reminds me of a fractual art.

 

This was the original I started with, I cloned waves over the seals, more waves were cloned from the top of the pic into the bottom to make the waves move balanced.  Then just played and played with tints, mirages, swirls, ripples, polarizing, cropping,  rotating, Smart Colors, and who knows what else.

 

 

 

 

For More information on joining in, having fun, meeting people and learning all at the same time, click on the link   ----------->    Monochromatic Monday PLUS

PICTURE PERFECT -- 10 MINUTES FROM HOME

 

Camera is my trusty Kodak EasyShare Z612

This is at the Frog Pond in Del Rey Oaks. Easily within ten minutes driving time.   It has a very well maintained and beautiful hiking trail that loops around the entire Preserve.  This is on the back side of the Preserve.  I am fascinated by trees that over hang a trail, or form a canopy, embracing over the trail from both sides, perhaps with vines intertwined among the branches. I do want to go back on a day that is not overcast, so the colors will be a bit more vibrant. This specific spot always reminds me of Robert Frost's poem:

 Road Less Traveled.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

by Robert Frost


I understand that some cannot view Photobucket, so this is a smaller version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to

PICTURE PERFECT

For more information click here ------>   http://fotofriday.multiply.com/

~ Each week a theme will be posted up on Wednesday, and you are invited to put up your best picture with that theme in mind, it should be just

 ONE and ORIGINAL, i.e not off the internet,

Then come back and post a comment on this page
so that everyone can link to your blog and see your pic.

By all means mention your camera and lens used, and if the picture has been altered or enhanced in anyway! Out of the box thinking is encouraged!!

Please open your page for viewing for all for that day...and then visit as many others as you can! Try and post a decent size pic on your blog page, so much is lost if the pic is too small or too big.

The entries will close at midnight on Friday

 This week's theme is a little unusual... a challenge, if you will.

The International Photography Walk is taking place this week. I decided we could all take part in a small way.

Your challenge is to walk, run, cycle, fly, jump, drive for 10 minutes and take a photo at that point. I'm sure we can all spare 10 minutes : )

oOOo 10 Minutes  oOOo

HOW TO BUILD A BETTER BRA

I love science, I find some of the most interesting articles from the Brits and the Aussies.  It just seems like their reporters and scientists have more fun than ours.  Who says learning cannot be fun??

HOW 'INTELLIGENT FABRIC' WILL GIVE WOMEN BETTER BRAS

by Roger Dobson, The Independent, Science Section,  UK

Scientists have developed an "intelligent fabric" with its own sensors that can be used to design bras for women more accurately in the hope of putting an end to the discomfort and even long-term injury that can result from poor bra design.

Researchers have established that even when the bra is the correct size and properly fitted women can suffer pain and even nerve damage from bra straps.

The vertical movement of the chest can exceed 70mm (almost three inches) during vigorous effort and they say the stresses and strains can affect nerves around the shoulders so seriously that it causes numbness in fingers. Better support is needed because the female breast contains no supportive muscle or bone.

 

"A consequence of current brassiere design is that the brassiere straps bear much of the load generated by breast momentum during physical activity," say the researchers in the Journal of Biomechanics this week.

"As breast mass increases, breast bounce momentum also increases, placing large loads on the straps and, in turn, excessive pressure on the wearer's shoulders." They add: "Apart from strap-related pain, many females, particularly large-breasted women, are restricted from participating in physical activity due to exercise-induced breast pain associated with excessive vertical breast displacement."

In the research at the University of Wollongong, in Australia, scientists designed a special fabric with sensors to detect movement as women walked and jogged on a treadmill.

 

 

 

 

 

An early wire support bra??

 

 

Two women aged 30 and 39 with a 36D and a 38DD brassiere took part in the research where they walked at 7 kilometres an hour (4.3 miles an hour) and jogged at 10 kilometres an hour. The greatest vertical movement was monitored in the larger woman at a maximum of 68mm during jogging. That compared to a maximum of 53mm in the smaller woman. Movement during walking ranged from 11 to 25 mm.

 

The researchers say future bra designs must limit excessive breast movement without causing discomfort. "It is imperative that brassiere designers have access to methods that can accurately and reliably quantify the effects of various brassiere design features on breast motion while not altering the material properties of the brassiere," they say. "However, most commercially available technologies have traditionally been comprised of rigid parts, such as strain gauges or buckle transducers, which can interfere with performance."

 

 

Did Wonder Woman have the first Wonder Bra??  And just what kept it up??

 

 

 

 

They say recent advances in polymer science allow sensors to be built into fabrics to monitor human motion. "Our results show that the fabric sensors are suitable to monitor breast motion and brassiere function," they say. "Brassiere designers will have the ability directly to assess the effects of changes to each brassiere component on vertical breast and brassiere motion using fabric sensors."

LUST IN SPACE

NASA continues to deny this, the Russians just smile.   I would think this has crossed most of our minds at least once.  What would love making be like in space, weightless, among the stars, and among 3 or four other crewmates who promise not too look or listen?  Even if NASA or the Russian RKA did not sanction such experiments (where does one volunteer anyway?)  the curiousity of human nature, and human hormones I think would have gotten the better of the astronauts/cosmosnauts. 

ASTRONAUTS TEST SEX IN SPACE -- BUT DID THE EARTH MOVE?

by John Henly, The Guardian, UK, on line edition

US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday.

Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place.

 

"The issue of sex in space is a serious one," he says. "The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity."

He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX (this has to be a typo, wouldn't the codenamed actually be STS-XXX?) was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere.

 

 

 

This is carrying the experiments a little to far!!!

 

 

Twenty positions were tested by computer simulation to obtain the best 10, he says. "Two guinea pigs (I cannot believe they called our astronauts "guinea pigs"!!!!)  then tested them in real zero-gravity conditions. The results were videotaped (hard to believe that has not leaked out yet!!)but are considered so sensitive that even Nasa was only given a censored version."

 

Only four positions were found possible without "mechanical assistance". The other six needed a special elastic belt and inflatable tunnel, like an open-ended sleeping bag.

 

 

 

 

Mr Kohler says: "One of the principal findings was that the classic so-called missionary position, which is so easy on earth when gravity pushes one downwards, is simply not possible

 

 

PEACE IS POSSIBLE

If two distinct and different water fowls can find common ground, if a Duck and a Penguin can agree to co-exist, then why not mankind, who has all the brains, or so they like to think.

Thanks Duck, and Duckess, what a wonderful surprise to find in the mail!!!

I wish you long life,  Smooth flights, and Warm feathers to come home to.   Thanks Chuck and Duckee!!

 

 

And Something for Those who like not so short webbed feet: HERE COME THE DUCKS!

PICTURE PERFECT --- PRECIOUS

PRECIOUS

Precious, ever since reading, and then seeing, LORD OF THE RINGS, I cannot help but think of Gollum and his Precious.  What is precious to us?  Is it false?  Is it true?  If false will it  keep its'  hold on us, even taking us to our end, as it did Gollum?  I like to think, that most of us, will see some light at the end, some illumination, setting us right.

 

 

When the light is dimming,

and  vision blurred,

When the end is near,

and darkness closing,

What is most precious to us

in all we possess

Becomes crystal clear.

Camera is a Kodak EasyShare Z612,  found a tintype on Google Images, which I altered and printed out to use in the picture. That pretty lady sure looks familiar.  I put the picture into B&W, played with the exposure, and then put it into sepia,  painted in the gun smoke, and this was the outcome.  The hat is mine, from around 1970 or so, it doesn't fit too well now, I had more hair back then.  The knife is a butcher bladed bowie, and the revolver is a Ruger Old Army .44.  The bag is my leather possibles bag for a black powder rifle. The pocket watch is mine, a coleman brand.  And the money I need to get back to the bank before morning.

(Sorry, the Icon is the closest I could come to finding opus in a cowboy hat.)

PICTURE PERFECT

~ Each week a theme will be posted up on Wednesday, and you are invited to put up your best picture with that theme in mind, it should be just

 ONE and ORIGINAL,

 i.e not off the internet, 

Here is the link to Picture Perfect Foto Friday Home page:

http://fotofriday.multiply.com/

 

WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY. . .SURPRISE!!!!!!

Sometimes, in too many ways, and too many things, we are our own worst enemy. . .

One thing that really makes me angry, is too see someone carelessly drop garabage within sight of a trashcan.

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives. --Souix proverb

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe. --John Muir  (1838 - 1914)

 

"The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his youth close to its softening influence." --Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux chief

 

 

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect. ---Chief Seattle, 1854

 

 

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money. ---Cree Prophecy

 

 

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,
that's the Way It's Going To Be.

---passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman---