... and nestled just behind the shrine to Our Lady of Fatima...
... was this gorgeous totem...
... carved from a dead tree...
... which had never been cut down.
Such luscious images!
And how strange that I was the only one that noticed it's presence, let alone it's beauty, that day.
I've become addicted to Deadliest Warrior, which is basically Jackass with reenactors, computers and ballistics gel brain cases.
The basic premise is to match two historical warriors who would never have met each other in real life, rate their weapons then run computer simulations on who would win. The pairings are hilarious and unlikely: Apache vs Gladiator, Viking vs Samurai, Spartan vs Ninja, Pirate vs Knight... Here comes the funny part. They invite experts to whack the ballistics gel torso with their chosen warrior's weapons. A doctor comes out and explains in detail what just happened to the dummy and how terribly dead this guy now is. No, really, the funny part is getting the two teams of experts together and watching their faces when their warrior loses. Some of them actually whine at each other. I'm pretty sure if the show's producers allowed it, things would turn into an all out brawl.Hmmm. I wonder if Contagion and Grau have heard about this? I dunno about you, but I can totally see them gearing up for a battle like this!
You Are A Train |
 You are a true romantic. You have big dreams about how life should be. You take life at a slow and steady pace. You try to appreciate every moment you have. You are a very visual person. You are always on the lookout for beauty and inspiration. You are able to relax and let go more than most people. |
Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out “high carbon” food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment.C'mon. Get serious. (Actually, get a grip.) If you want to wipe out the Irish economy, this is a dandy way to do it.
Out will go kebabs, greenhouse tomatoes and alcohol. Instead, diners will be encouraged to consume more potatoes and seasonal vegetables, as well as pork and chicken, which generate fewer carbon emissions.
Tin...Nye...Ate...7up...Sex...Fye...Foe...Tree...Too... Wun..._____
"What in the heck is rhythm gymnastics and where do you see it?" Rick enquired.SWF, 20, 5'7", 102 lbs., brn/grn, former Romanian rhythmic gymnast currently studying massage therapy seeks SWM, 25-40 for fun and companionship. Interests include big dogs, good bourbon, baseball and nude yoga. You?
In MemoriamOn Memorial Day, I salute soldiers everywhere who fought and fight to make and keep us free, the sacrifices they make, and the families and friends who support them
(To Private D Sutherland killed in action in the German trenches, 16 May 1916, and the others who died.)
Ewart Alan Mackintosh (killed in action 21 November 1917 aged 24)So you were David's father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting,
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year get stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.You were only David's father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers',
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed 'Don't leave me, sir',
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer.
Still, Peterson was “a little bit taken aback” by the decision not to reduce his bond at all, defense attorney Joel Brodsky said.Goody. I don't suppose this entered into that decision at all:
A few months before his third wife drowned in a bathtub, Drew Peterson offered someone $25,000 to kill her, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow contended today in court as he sought to keep Peterson jailed on murder charges in Kathleen Savio’s death.
And just three weeks before Savio’s 2004 death, Peterson — then a Bolingbrook cop — complained to another officer that his pending divorce would be so financially devastating that “my life would be easier if she were just dead,” Glasgow said.
Glasgow did provide other details -- confirming a Chicago Tribune report that the state has hired a financial expert to determine how much Peterson stood to lose in his divorce with Savio. Glasgow said $60,000 was missing -- in violation of the divorce judge's order -- from a "bank account" that held cash from the sale of the Petersons' Montgomery bar. That money was to be split between the parties, he said.A jointly owned home and a jointly owned bar were also at stake in the divorce settlement. Estimates of the assets is upwards of $300,000.
I will simply say this: the biggest perceived threat to Christianity doesn't come from The Gays, or from Hollywood, or from booze, or from the "Rock of Love Bus"; it comes from within Christianity itself. The problem manifests itself in the people who warm the pews and praise God on Sundays but betray Him with their mouths and actions on Monday. The problem continues from this when our kids see hypocritical behavior from authority within the church. They see it in the egregious transgressions of those who eagerly clamor to lead the flock. They see it from a university that claims Catholicism yet honors a president who has made it a point to favor abortion groups with regards to policy, groups that go against a tenant of the Catholic faith.Can I get an "Amen"?
The erosion of the religious integrity comes when you have people who cherry pick which of God's laws they want to follow and try to validate it with moral relativism.
The WHO is poised to declare a full pandemic of the virus, which has infected more than 11,000 people in 42 countries and killed 86. And U.S. health officials released $1 billion for companies to get started on a vaccine in case it is needed.
"You have to have not only the intellect to be able to effectively apply the law
to cases before you," Obama said in an interview carried Saturday on C-SPAN
television. "But you have to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see
through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in
practical day-to-day living."
In the note he circulated this month, Asness denounces the president for castigating Chrysler bondholders when they opposed his plan to pay them only 29 cents on the dollar. "He called them 'speculators' who were 'refusing to sacrifice like everyone else,' " Asness writes. "The president's diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union [the UAW] that delivers money and votes for him. Why is he not calling on his party to 'sacrifice' some campaign contributions, and votes, for the greater good?"Just so.
"This is America," Asness concludes. "We have a free enterprise system that has worked spectacularly for us for two hundred plus years. When it fails, it fixes itself. Most importantly, it is not an owned lackey of the Oval Office to be scolded for disobedience by the president."
The problem is that we did not evolve a baloney-detection device in our brainsApply as needed.
to discriminate between true and false patterns. So we make two types of errors:
a type I error, or false positive, is believing a pattern is real when it is
not; a type II error, or false negative, is not believing a pattern is real when
it is.
The half-brother of a 4-year-old Mokena girl has been charged with
first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing her to death.
A South Side alderman has introduced legislation to create "official placards" that Chicago's 50 aldermen could place on their vehicle dashboards, but she emphasized it wouldn't be to avoid parking tickets.Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!!!
In another sign of how abruptly the landscape is changing at Tribune Broadcasting-owned WGN-AM (720), the station said it is discontinuing the popular "Kathy & Judy Show" effective today.Popular? These gals have a yearly two-day convention that fills the Hyatt Regency to capacity.
They will be missed and we wish them much happiness.More like, "So long suckers, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out."
Dropping O'Malley and Markey is sure to further alienate the core audience that has sustained WGN for decades. [You bet your sweet bippy it is.] The question now becomes: can WGN quickly find a new audience to supplant it.Sure they can. All they have to do is hand out free iPods at all the local junior high and middle schools. Seems to me that's the audience they're targeting.
With Memorial Day Weekend closing in on us, what better way to honor those who have come and gone by honoring those who have stepped into their combat boots and begun their march toward the American Way. San Diego has two large pre-deployment photo sessions coming up for our military and their families. Supplies are needed. Each Marine or Sailor deployed must receive an album 4×6 or larger (6×6 is the largest that fits into pockets on camo pants I hear), that can hold up to 30 photos. The books must be sturdy as they serve as a lifeline between the deployed and those left at home. Each photographer is then also responsible for sendng the completed book to wherever the person is deployed. The families pay not a single cent.She's shouldering the bigger financial burden and the time intensive process of taking photos, getting them developed and assembling the albums.
For those of you wondering why I’m getting involved with Operation: Love Reunited before my own personal finances are stable, go to Nick Popaditch’s website and you’ll understand. Each man and woman who deploys faces the unknown. I feel it’s my duty to give them an hour or two of family fun captured in photos to keep at their sides when they’re going into areas that are likely unsafe. I want them to feel the love and the power and the pride of the MANY who stand proudly behind them.I can't think of a less expensive or better way to give a Marine or Sailor a little bit of home to carry with them. After all, they're putting their lives at risk, leaving their own families and going to faraway places to protect our families.
... Biden says he has a really good compass and Fancy Nancy thinks her memory is coming back since having her Botox pump removed last week._____
A cleanup crew working along the Des Plaines River discovered a decayed body near Channahon, but police late Wednesday couldn't determine if the remains might be those of Stacy Peterson or Lisa Stebic.Not that I wish either woman dead, but I hope for their families' sakes that it turns out to be one or the other of them.
Meanwhile, Channahon resident Michelle Williams said she notified local police about a blue barrel she saw on the riverbank three days before the remains washed up.Second City Cop asks, "Who Left This Here?"
"I wish I had $10,000 for every time they pulled a body out of a river in the Chicago area," Brodsky said. "People will assume what they want to assume."Thank you, Mr. Sensitive. I hope you and your creepy client are nervous -- VERY nervous.
But I do not want to see him playing football until that happens. it just sends the wrong message. He has to prove that he's sorry - not just sorry he got sent to jail.I can go along with that.
Of the initial staff of six, two had developmental disabilities. Of the current staff of 16, all but the four managers have some type of cognitive impairment. Each employee is paired with a task to suit his or her strengths.Yep. I just had to smile.
“Why are you wearing a tiara?”I love a woman with a style of her own!
I stopped and thought for a moment.
“Because I own a tiara.”
Rather than voting to either override or sustain Board President Todd Stroger's veto of a measure that would have repealed the sales tax increase, Collins said she would vote "present" -- the fence-straddling strategy more often employed in the state Legislature, where she once served.Earlean Collins. Remember that name. Vote for whoever is running against her.
Then Collins added for the benefit of those who might disagree with her non- decision: "You want to vote me out of office? Hooray. I would just love to go home for once in my life and relax."
Now there's this gruesome little story about some Florida idiot(s) killing cats and mutilating their carcases, and we can only hope it's in that order.
- This waste of oxygen who threw his infant out of a moving car and onto a busy highway.
- This pinhead who used his girlfriend first for a punching bag, and second for a speed bump.
- This mental giant who snuffed his wife and kids and didn't do the world a favor and take himself out, too.
The Northbrook-based based company said at the end of the first quarter, it had $12.2 billion in GAAP equity and $23.1 billion in cash or highly liquid assets in its investment portfolio, sums that were achieved from taking steps in the last year that included suspending the share repurchase program and reducing operating costs. Since the end of the first quarter, the company also completed a $1 billion debt offering and reported an improvement in its securities portfolio of more than $1.5 billion as of May 13.That's reason right there to throw your business their way.
You Are Red |
 You are lively and fiery. You embrace the world and live passionately. You are moody but generally enthusiastic. You love so many things. You are able to have a lot of drive and focus. Some people would call this obsession. You are aggressive about getting what you want in life. You look out for yourself first. |
Up until recently, I've been pretty negative on the Kindle, but book publishers' move towards a bigger and heavier paperback format that I find increasingly difficult to hold and resentment towards the $2.00 upcharge from a normal size paperback have had me rethinking my position.
The debut of the new Kindle DX was even more appealing.
They're lightweight. The downloads are speedy so the "wait" time is almost nil. The screen is bigger and more readable. Amazon is way ahead of the other electronics manufacturers with this technology.
... BUT...
I think they're wildly overpriced at this time.
The internal memos are flying out of Kevin Metheny's office. And in them, the WGN-AM (720) program director's message to his on-air talent is crystal clear: Be more edgy. Get pissed off occasionally. These blunt directives are part of how Metheny is starting to create a new sound at WGN -- one sharply at odds with what many of the station's long-standing (older) listeners are used to hearing.
In an interview Thursday, Metheny admitted he's trying to drive change. Metheny also doesn't deny that such a massive upheaval in style at WGN could alienate some listeners.
Important health issueJust doing my civic duty here.
Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
Do you suffer from shyness?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.
Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions.
Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything.
You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.
Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past.
You will discover many talents you never knew you had.
Stop hiding and start living, with Margaritas.
Margaritas may not be right for everyone.
Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas.
However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.
Side effects may include:WARNING: The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not.
- Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration
- Erotic lustfulness
- Loss of motor control
- Loss of clothing
- Loss of money
- Loss of virginity
- Excessive touching
- Excessive rubbing
- Extreme Fellatio desires
- Table dancing
- Headache
- Dehydration
- Dry mouth
- A desire to sing Karaoke
WARNING: The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
WARNING: The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to think you can sing.
... and fell in lust. Go to Birdland Creations, and you'll fall in love, too.Oh, come on. Like you’ve never been distracted by someone who has their high-beams on and those beams are pointing off in schizophrenic directions. One’s looking up and to the left, the other one is looking directly over your shoulder or pointing straight down…boobs should not look as if they’re doing the classic John Travolta finger-point disco pose.Heh.
Brain Lateralization Test Results |
| Right Brain (48%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (48%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain |
... blame it on vw bug.Left brain dominant individuals are more orderly, literal, articulate, and to the point. They are good at understanding directions and anything that is explicit and logical. They can have trouble comprehending emotions and abstract concepts, they can feel lost when things are not clear, doubting anything that is not stated and proven.
Right brain dominant individuals are more visual and intuitive. They are better at summarizing multiple points, picking up on what's not said, visualizing things, and making things up. They can lack attention to detail, directness, organization, and the ability to explain their ideas verbally, leaving them unable to communicate effectively.
Overall you appear to have Equal Hemispheres
According to Darwinian theory, optimal evolution takes place with random variation and selective retention. The evolution savvy individual will try many different approaches when faced with a problem and select the best of those approaches. Many historical intellectuals have confessed their advantage was simply considering / exploring / trying more approaches than others. The left brain dominant type suffers from limited approaches, narrow-mindedness. The right brain dominant type suffers from too many approaches, scatterbrained. To maintain balanced hemispheres, you need to exercise both variability and selection. Just as a company will have more chance of finding a great candidate by increasing their applicant pool, an individual who considers a wider set of options is more likely to make quality decisions.-----------------------------------------
You Live an Exciting Life |
 You are anything but a bore. You make sure that life is full of excitement. You have an adventurous spirit, and you don't like to sit still for too long. If you feel like doing something, you don't think about it. You just do it. There's no way you could ever live a boring life. There's too much to do and not enough time. |
You Are Spaghetti Bolognese |
 Compared to most people, you are well grounded and down to earth. You have old fashioned values. Your taste tends to favor what's tried and true. You love comfort food. Familiar situations put you at ease. You think that the best cooking comes from your family's kitchen! |
Excuse me while I gloat.
The Big Brother Mouse team is more than a book delivery group. These folks are trained teachers who thrive in a classroom setting. Since most of the children BBM visit have never seen a children’s book before, the book parties are designed to teach children how reading can be fun. Books don’t always come in the form of school textbooks, they can be funny, scary, or sad - an understanding we take for granted in the western developed world, but comes completely new to these children.You'll be doing a very good thing.
| You Fight Fair |
 For you, a fight is not about proving you're right. |
| You Are 47% Passionate, 53% Compassionate |
 You possess an ideal balance of passion and compassion. |
Dennis Hof is the owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, made famous on the HBO series "Cathouse." Hof says he wanted to hire Rod Blagojevich as his apprentice, whatever that means, but Blago's people turned him down. I mean, come on. It's not as if the ex-gov is interested in doing anything that would tarnish his rep.Indeed they do.
Hof told WBBM-AM, "I think I'm going to go after Drew Peterson. He doesn't have an old lady now. At least they can't find her. He might as well be on my show and have some fun with the girls."
Peterson's publicist says "this might be something he might be interested in exploring."
These people all deserve each other.
What your child’s teachers really want are gift cards to restaurants, stores, and cool educational websites. Your child’s teacher would genuinely appreciate some genuine appreciation. Teachers have very little spare time; gift cards to restaurants are really appreciated. The best educational toys are found online, and since science isn’t tested in most states yet, science toys would be met with grateful thanks that would make you shed a few tears, yourself.It's the little things in life that count!
Teacher Appreciation certificates, good for merchandise, are also well-received. The simple act of letting a teacher know that he/she IS appreciated is really all we want, but a little swag added to it is nice, too.
