EVEN SQUIRRELS NEED HELP ONCE IN A WHILE

Give A Squirrel A Helping Hand @ Yahoo! Video

PICTURE

MARY DID YOU KNOW

MARY DID YOU KNOW
written by Mark Lowery
sung by Kathy Mattea

Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would someday walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
Has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know that your baby boy
Has walked where angels trod?
When you kissed your little baby
Then you've kissed the face of God.

Mary Did you know??
Mary, did you know??

The blind will see, the deaf will hear
The dead will live again
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak,
the praises of the Lamb.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy
Was Heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the great "I AM".

LADIES HELP MEN LIVE LONGER AND HEALTHIER LIVES PLEASE!!!

I rather enjoyed reading through the article on this study.  There are some points that need to be cleared up, but that might be for another government grant and another study. Cherie brought this article to my attention, I thought Gator and she had finally finished their in-depth study, and this was their findings, but it seems they are still studying/researching. . .

STARE AT BOOBS FOR LONGER LIFE: A STUDY

(Yeah, longer life, sure, try staring when her overly large, in a fit way, boyfriend, brother, husband, fiancee, significant other is around)

From: TheMedGuru by Neharika Sabharwal
Frankfurt, Germany, December 6 -- A rather bizarre study carried out by German researchers suggests that staring at women's breasts is good for men's health and increases their life expectancy.

According to Dr. Karen Weatherby, a gerontologist and author of the study, gawking at women’s breasts is a healthy practice, almost at par with an intense exercise regime, that prolongs the lifespan of a man by five years. (This is going to give a whole new depth of meaning to "exercise buddy".)

She added, "Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female, is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics

work-out."(and thinking of all the time I have wasted over my lifetime hiking, running, gym time, rather depressing)

A five-year research on 200 men
Researchers at three hospitals in Frankfurt, Germany did an in-depth analysis of 200 healthy males over a period of five years. Half the volunteers were instructed to ogle at the breasts of women daily, while the rest were told to refrain from doing so.
(obviously a control group of men who were to "ogle"  other women's breasts only when their wives/girlfriends were with them was not in place for this study)

At the close of the study, the researchers noted that the men who stared at the breasts of females on a regular basis exhibited lower blood pressure. (All the wasted money spent on blood pressure pills, if I had only known.)

(My by-bass was so unnecessary!!)

Sexual desire linked to better blood circulation
The researchers declared that sexual desire gives rise to better blood circulation that signifies an overall improved health.  (So suddenly we went from staring at a woman's breast, one of the most wonderful works of art ever created, to having full blown [no pun intended] sexual desire?  They must have edited out some of the study.)

Weatherby explained the concept stating, "Sexual excitement gets the heart pumping and improves blood circulation. There's no question: Gazing at breasts makes men healthy.  (My bypass was so unnessary!)

(OH OH!! Another study!! Who has the grant forms?  Question: Are short men healthier than tall men?)

"Our study indicates that engaging in this activity a few minutes daily cuts the risk of stroke and heart attack in half. We believe that by doing so consistently, the average man can extend his life four to five years." (I personally think that doing what Dr. Weatherby suggests could lessen a man's life time four to five years, takes a lot of energy out of you to recover from severe beatings.)

In addition, she also recommended that men over 40 should gaze at larger breasts daily for 10 minutes.  (Why men over 40? and why larger breasts? Not everyman likes larger breasts, most men like all breasts!!  Geez, I think I could have done a more scientific study!!)

The German research is believed to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  (Believed to be??)

Just not the same healthy feeling is it???

A DREAM --- PRISCILLA AHN

We all should have such dreams and live such full lives. A new artist (to me) I came across when wandering through halls laden with music and tunes. Hope you enjoy her voice as much as I did.
Her new album

DREAM
written and performed by Priscilla Ahn

I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream

MY MUSE IS STILL MISSING, BUT I FOUND MY GUARDIAN ANGELS

Yes, sad to report, my muse is still missing, but on the bright side I did find my Guardian Angels,





and that sure does explain a lot that has happened in my life.
                       

  

MYSTERY MEAT ???????

It is no wonder a Sausage company helped sponsor this research. . .we have come a long way from that brown gravy over toast served in school cafeterias, and that strange looking pinkish rectangle in the blue can. . .I just cannot figure what direction we went in. . .

MEAT GROWN IN LABRATORY; A WORLD FIRST
from The Telegraph.co.uk on-line edition, science section; Nov. 29, 2009

Researchers in the Netherlands created what was described as soggy pork and are now investigating ways to improve the muscle tissue in the hope that people will one day want to eat it.

No one has yet tasted their produce, but it is believed the artificial meat could be on sale within five years. 

Vegetarian groups welcomed the news, saying there was “no ethical objection” if meat was not a piece of a dead animal.

Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University, told The Sunday Times: “What we have at the moment is rather like wasted muscle tissue. We need to find ways of improving it by training it and stretching it, but we will get there. 

“This product will be good for the environment and will reduce animal suffering. If it feels and tastes like meat, people will buy it.

“You could take the meat from one animal and create the volume of meat previously provided by a million animals.”

The scientists extracted cells from the muscle of a live pig and then put them in a broth of other animal products. The cells then multiplied and created muscle tissue. They believe that it can be turned into something like steak if they can find a way to artificially "exercise" the muscle.

The project is backed by the Dutch government and a sausage maker and comes following the creation of artificial fish fillets from goldfish muscle cells.

Meat produced in a laboratory could reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with real animals.

Meat and dairy consumption is predicted to double by 2050 and methane from livestock is said to currently produce about 18 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases.

Animal rights group Peta said: “As far as we’re concerned, if meat is no longer a piece of a dead animal there’s no ethical objection.”

However the Vegetarian Society said: “The big question is how could you guarantee you were eating artificial flesh rather than flesh from an animal that had been slaughtered.

“It would be very difficult to label and identify in a way that people would trust.”

(Did anyone else start thinking of that classic Charlton Heston movie, SOYLENT GREEN as you were reading this??)

 

  

ODD ONE OUT -- PICTURE PERFECT

Is one odder than the next?







Camera is a Kodak Z612 Easyshare.  Some Orbs I have collected.  Every Orb, is a good Orb.

Want to join in the fun and creativity?  Go here for information on Picture Perfect / FotoFriday:   http://fotofriday.multiply.com/

SHOSHOLOZA THE DRAKENSBURG BOYS CHOIR

I do not think there are many things that are as powerful and as moving as massed voices.  I came across these young men when searching for music from The Mississippi Mass Choir.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  The first part is showing the parts of the song, the second is the entire Choir singing, the change in energy and power that is felt is overwhelming! You cannot help but smile.  I hope you feel recharged and energized as I did. Heather, consider this an early Happy Birthday from the Homeland.  Enjoy.

(Following entry from the Wikipeida Encyclopedia)

Shosholoza is a traditional Southern African folk song. The song was traditionally sung by all-male work gangs in a call and response style.

The song has been recorded by a variety of artists, including Helmut Lotti, Ladysmith Black Mombazo, PJ Powers, The Glue, Soweto Gospel Choir, and Peter Gabriel,  as well as being a standard of most gumboot bands. The song gained further popularity after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and is a favourite at sport events in South Africa.

The Zulu word Shosholoza means go forward or make way for the next man, and is also reminiscent of the sound made by the steam train (stimela) described in the song. The song has also given its name to Team Shosholoza, the first African challenger for the America's Cup, and to Shosholoza Meyl, the long-distance passenger train service operating in South Africa.

The lyrics of the song vary, as do the transcriptions. Here is one example:

Shosholoza

Ku lezontaba

Stimela siphum' eSouth Africa

Wen' uyabaleka

Wen' uyabaleka

Ku lezontaba

Stimela siphum' eSouth Africa

A rough translation:

Move fast

on those mountains

train from South Africa.

You are running away

on those mountains

train from South Africa.

The original version has the country name Rhodesia instead of South Africa, since this song was sung by migrant labourers from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) travelling on the train down to the mines in the Transvaal.  

PICTURE PERFECT --- MEMORIES

Do the dead Dream?
Do those at rest Remember?
Do they think of us,
as we think of them?
Do they fade as the memories fade?
Do they diminish at each forgotten reminiscence?
Do they wane into shadow,
or is it we who become the lesser,
 for memories forgotten?
JohnO

Camera used was a Kodak Z612 EasyShare.  The picture was taken Friday, Oct. 23rd, 2009, at the old Monterey cemetery.   The picture was solarized, and then the exposure settings were played with. 

IN PRAISE OF TEACHERS

To most teachers, it is more than a job, we can not thank them enough. Kiss a teacher today.

QUIRKY CLASSICS AND A HISTORY OF MUSIC

A group new to me.  I keep thinking -- The Blue Men Meet Mozart.  I hope you enjoy. . .STRING FEVER. . .

   The History Of Music in 6 minutes or less . . .and yes they are all brothers, two of them must look like Mom, and the other two must take after Dad. . .not even going to there. . .

Thank you all for your comments, glad you are enjoying these four musicians, in answer to some questions of the group and a CD  here is the groups home page, thanks again for visiting.

http://www.stringfever.co.uk/

IMAGES AND WORDS WEEK 24 ANIMALS

My sister would kill me if she knew I used LadyBug's pictures in a challenge with the theme Animals. And to infer that The Princess eats food from a can, well that is just adding fuel to the fire!! So, if you do not hear from me in a while, it is because I am in hiding!!!  Just Kidding!! Judi loves me and I love her.  But just in case you do not hear from me in a while. . .




music

  

For Challenges

sees candy

PICTURE PERFECT -- TEMPTATION

Your Favorite:?

Nuts

 

 10

Chewies

 

 5

Creams

 

 10

Okay, this was not my fault.  I simply went to take a picture or two.  But, remember how Luke was pulled by The Force?  This was a lot like that.  I had no will of my own. A force like the moon pulls the tides, irresistible, unrelenting, unending, until the first bite of a Bordeaux washes across your taste buds.  Okay maybe it was the fifth or sixth Bordeaux, you know how it is!

To find out how you can join in the Picture Perfect fun, please click here.

TRIPLE PLAY 8 -- THE HEART

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are made for.”

--- William Shedd; Theologian (June 21, 1820 – November 17, 1894) ---

Our hearts are like that.  So safe from harm and hurt if we hold them close, wrap our arms like breakwaters around ourselves, don't share, don't care, don't feel, no storm will touch us here,  but that"s not what our hearts are made for.

THE WATER IS WIDE
(Traditional – 1600s)

The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And we shall row, my love and I

For love is gentle and love is kind
The sweetest flower when  first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like  morning dew

 There is ship and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I'm in
I know not how I sink or swim

For love is gentle and love is kind
The sweetest flower when  first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like  morning dew

The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And we shall row, my love and I

(This is Mary Black's version, the original has several more stanzas)

PICTURE PERFECT -- CAPTURE AND CAPTION

This was taken several weeks ago at the annual Sand City Artists and Art Festival. The camera is a Kodak Z612

TRIPLE PLAY #6 IN THE DARK

In the dark
so easy to lose your way
stumbling on smooth paths
never knowing if you are going towards
or running from.
So easy to see
so clearly
in the dark
things that are not.
So easy to miss
so quickly
in the dark
things that are.
Running your hands
along walls
mumbling tall tales in the dark
as you return to where you began.
A velvet comfort
in the dark
until you choose

to open your eyes.

(thanks Rodent!!)

The Cave is in the Lava Beds National Monument, Northern California.  The picture was take by LindaO, certainly a member of the family!!!  I lost all of mine in a computer crash, from which I still did not learn to back up information!!!  Some photo shopping took place, names were changed to protect the guilty.

  

ZOMBIES COULD EASILY TAKE OVER THE WORLD

Another one of those studies that you just have to shake your head in wonder over.  This time it is Canadian tax dollars at work!

ZOMBIES WOULD MOST LIKELY WIPE OUT HUMANITY IF THEY REALLY EXISTED CLAIMS SCIENTISTS
by Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent; The Telegraph, UK, online edition

Civilisation would most likely be finished in the event of a zombie outbreak, claim Canadian mathematicians who have calculated the possible devastation caused by an attack by the fictional monsters.

Zombie gathering at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire. Photo:PA

Using models developed to calculate the effects of more plausible pandemics, the team from the University of Ottawa have discovered that unless man struck back quickly and aggressively then they would be doomed.

The scientific paper, which is published in a book “Infectious Diseases Modelling Research Progress”, (The Study is at this link, it is a PDF file: P. Munz, I. Hudea, J. Imad and R.J. Smith? When zombies attack!: Mathematical modelling of an outbreak of zombie infection (Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress 2009, in: J.M. Tchuenche and C. Chiyaka, eds, pp133-150).  --JohnOh) looks at an attack by the undead creatures, who infect the living with a bite.

In their study, titled When Zombies Attack!, the researchers picked “classic” slow-moving zombies such as those in Dawn of the Dead as models and divided humanity into three: the living, zombies and the “removed” – zombies who had been killed by decapitation.

They concluded there was no point trying to cure those infected or live with them - the best thing was to destroy them as quickly as possible.

“A zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly,” they write in the book:

“While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often.

“As seen in the movies, it is imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly, or else we are all in a great deal of trouble.”

Joe Imad, the study's co-author, said: “If you look at it in a more realistic way, zombies are about the same as any other major infectious disease, they get out and we try to eliminate them.

“Modelling zombies would be the same as modelling swine flu, with some differences for sure, but it is much more interesting to read.” 

  

BEER MADE WITH 45 MILLION YEAR OLD YEAST

Shades of JURASSIC PARK!!!  At the face this is just fascinating, and shows just how tenacious life is.  But I cannot help but wonder if a bacteria that could be extremely harmful could also be activated.   As that great Greek philosopher Anonymous, said thousands of years ago.  "Just because you are paranoid, does not mean they are not out to get you."

PREHISTORIC YEAST REBORN IN MODERN BEER

ERIC BLAND; Discovery News

Sept. 23, 2008, Discovery News Channel -- Trapped inside a Lebanese weevil covered in ancient Burmese  amber, a tiny colony of bacteria and yeast has lain dormant for up to 45 million years. A decade ago Raul Cano, now a scientist at the California Polytechnic State University, drilled a tiny hole into the amber and extracted more than 2,000 different kinds of microscopic creatures.

Activating the ancient yeast, Cano now brews barrels (not bottles) of pale ale and German wheat beer through the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.

"You can always buy brewing yeast, and your product will be based on the brewmaster's recipes," said Cano. "Our yeast has a double angle: We have yeast no one else has and our own beer recipes."

The beer has received good reviews at the Russian River Beer Festival and from other reviewers. The Oakland Tribune beer critic, William Brand, says the beer has "a wierd spiciness at the finish," and The Washington Post said the beer was "smooth and spicy."

Part of that taste comes from the yeast's unique metabolism. "The ancient yeast is restricted to a narrow band of carbohydrates, unlike more modern yeasts, which can consume just about any kind of sugar," said Cano.

Eventually the yeast will likely evolve the ability to eat other sugars, which could change the taste of the beer. Cano plans to keep a batch of the original yeast to keep the beer true to form.

If this has a ring of deju-vu, it could be because Cano's amber-drilling technique is the same one popularized in the movie Jurassic Park, where scientists extracted ancient dinosaur DNA from the bellies of blood-sucking insects trapped in fossilized tree sap.

Cano's original goal was to find ancient microscopic creatures that might have some kind of medical value, particularly pharmaceutical drugs.

While that particular avenue of research didn't yield significant results, the larger question of how microscopic creatures survived for millions of years could help scientists understand certain diseases, said Charles Greenblatt, a scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem who studies ancient bacteria.

"We've got cases of guys who contracted [tuberculosis] during World War II and lived with it for 60, 70 years," said Greenblatt. "Then suddenly they get another disease, the TB wakes up from its dormancy and kills them."

Inducing dormancy could be a new way to fight disease and infection, said Greenblatt. Instead of outright killing infectious creatures, doctors could instead put them to sleep. The infection would still be present in the patient's body, but it wouldn't hurt the patient.

Neither Cano nor Greenblatt can say what the upper limit for hibernating yeast or bacteria is; it could be hundreds of million years. But while other scientists work on that, Cano plans to spend his time tossing back a few cold ones, and hoping others will too.

"We think that people will drink one beer out of curiosity," said Cano. "But if the beer does taste good no one will drink a second."