Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies

In the last 4 presidential elections, readers of Family Circle Magazine have successfully predicted who the winner will be based on the winning recipe submitted by the spouses of the candidates. This year Cindy McCain has submitted a recipe for Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies and Michell Obama has submitted a recipe for Shortbread cookies. Because I'm an Obama supporter I'll include her recipe here. If you want to see McCain's you can go to the Family Circle Magazine website http://www.familycircle.com/

You can also register and vote on your favorite and look at recipes from past campaigns

Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Amaretto (almond liqueur)
1 teaspoon each orange and lemon zest
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg white
Chopped nuts or dried fruit (optional)

Directions
1. Heat oven to 325 degree F. Line a 17 x 12 x 1-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. In large bowl, cream together butter and 1-1/2 cups of the sugar.
2. Slowly add egg yolks, and beat well until smooth. Beat in Amaretto and zest.
3. Stir in flour and salt until combined.
4. Spread dough evenly into prepared pan, flattening as smoothly as possible.
5. Brush top of dough with egg white; sprinkle with nuts or fruit (if using) and with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
6. Bake at 325 degree F for 25 minutes or until brown, turn off oven and allow cookies to sit in oven (with door ajar) for 15 minutes. Cut while slightly warm.

How rich are you?

Here is a pretty interesting website where you enter the amount of money you make and it tells you and shows you on a graph where you rank in the work in terms of wealth. I was pretty surprised by my ranking (the 277,391,305 richest person in the world) since I don't consider myself particularly rich.
http://globalrichlist.com/

The reason for the website:
"We are obsessed with wealth. But we gauge how rich we are by looking upwards at those who have more than us. This makes us feel poor.
We wanted to do something which would help people understand, in real terms, where they stand globally. And make us realise that in fact most of us (who are able to view this web page) are in the privileged minority.
We want people to feel rich. And give some of their extra money to a worthwhile charity."

Thanks to NV for sending me the link to this website.

Another Dad Picture

Here is another picture I took of my dad sleeping in his favorite recliner with my daughter Tam and Smokey

My Dad, Bill LeGrand

My dad was born in Houston, Texas on May 5, 1916. His mother was Sarah Effie Meads and his father was Henry Fain LeGrand. He spent his childhood in Houston and Bryan and after graduating from high school enrolled at Texas A & M where he received a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering. In 1940 he started working for Gulf Oil and he continued to work for them until he retired in 1978.
I didn't have a really close relationship with him as a child but we became closer after my mother died, and had a really good relationship when I became an adult, especially after my daughter Tamara was born. He really adored her and they spent a lot of time together when she had breaks from school. Today she works in the same industry he worked in and I think that would have made him very happy. He would have been really happy if any of his grandchildren had gone to A & M
but none of them did. He absolutely loved A & M and attended all of their football games with his friends Joe and Jesse.
After my mom died he had to start cooking for us and became a wonderful cook. Everybody in my family remembers how wonderful some of his meals were especially his spaghetti and meatballs.
He loved water and fishing and after he retired built a house on Lake Livingston. He also built a lot of the furniture that was in the house. He could build just about anything . He enjoyed taking his boat out on the water at sunset or sitting on his deck sipping his scotch and soda.
He also loved cats and always had at least one. When I was in high school we adopted a gray kitten named Smokey from the SPCA and he kept her for many years and even had an oil painting done of her which I still have. He also had several strays who adopted him over the years including a black cat he named Shadow, because she followed him everywhere, and a gray Tom who called my dad meow (that was his joke).
He died on June 6, 1998 from complications from a stroke he had had over a year earlier. The stroke left him partially paralyzed and he was very unhappy, so his death was a relief, but I still miss him, especially on Father Day.

Michelle Obama

Pictures of Michelle Obama were recently displayed on Fox News or Fixed News as Keith Olbermann calls them, referring to her as Obama's Baby Mama. When I first saw this I figured it had to be derogatory since it was on Fox but I didn't know what it meant. According to urbandictionary.com "baby mama" is an unmarried woman with whom you had children and are not otherwise involved with. This is not what you call a man's wife, or even a girlfriend.

Joan Walsh writes in Salon "Are they racist, or just clueless? Isn't there racism even in their cluelessness, if somebody didn't know what "baby mama" means, but used it anyway? Even at Fox, won't somebody have to apologize?"

No one will apologize or lose their job over this and Fox will continue to slander the Obama's. They can't come up with any real criticism so have to stoop to racism.

Latest Poll Numbers

These numbers were taken from polls conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal and reported last night on Countdown with Keith Olberman.



Overall Obama is leading McCain 47% to 41%.

Obama is also leading in all of these groups:

Independents 41 to 36

Blue Collar 47 to 42

Catholics 47 to 40

Women 52 to 33

Latinos 62 to 28



I'm feeling hopeful. It will be so wonderful to have an intelligent, articulate person in the White House.

Bush's Farewell Trip to Yurp

Steve Bell, a cartoonist for the British paper The Guardian, is one of my favorites, especially when his subject is GWB.

Bush is on a week-long farewell tour to Slovenia, Germany, Italy, France and Great Britain. I'm sure they are happy this is his last trip.

John McCain -- Lost in Space

Here is a link to a video of John McCain done by Brasscheck TV:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/325.html

I don't think McCain is an evil person like bush but can we stand another 4 years with a president who can't keep his lies straight?

Games

Here is a link to an addicting game: http://oos.moxiecode.com/examples/reflex/

And another one called Note Pad Invaders: http://www2.b3ta.com/notepadinvaders/

Here's one called Save Fred the Bunny: http://www.10mg.nl/

If anyone can figure the last one out let me know.

Another cute picture of Rosie and Ginger

National Donut Day

The first Friday in June is National Donut Day. It was officially established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to raise much needed funds because of the depression.
Donut trivia:
More than 10 billion donuts are produced in the US every year and it is a 3.6 billion dollar industry.
Canada has more donut shops per capita than any other country in the world.
The hole appeared in the center in the 1st half of the 19th century. The purpose of the hole is to help it cook move evenly.
Adolph Levitt invented the 1st donut machine in 1920.

The official Library of Congress heading is Doughnuts and the call number is 641.865 (Dewey) or TX770.D67 (LC)

The pictures are of the cataloging and processing departments at HCPL celebrating National Donut Day.

Pictures

Here are some pictures I took of my new car and my really cute pups. There is an Obama bumper sticker on the car.

Libraries and Wireless Internet

After complaints of headaches, weakness, stress, balance, and eye problems by the staff, four libraries in Paris have turned off their wireless Internet access. Library workers in the U.S. and Canada have also expressed concern about wireless networks. The director of the library at Southwestern College in Santa Fe left her job last year because of insomnia which she attributes to the wireless network in the library, and the president of Lakehead University in Ontario has prohibited his university from installing a wireless network on campus because of concerns over the health of the students. I have heard about the dangers of living near power lines for years and the dangers of constant cell phone use so this doesn't really surprise me.
This information comes from The Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com/and The Connection http://www.connectionfrance.com

Acai

I became aware of Acai (ah-sigh-ee) a few years ago when I noticed it as an ingredient in the mango tea I drink by Honest Tea. Acai berries, which are grown in the Amazon, have more antioxidants than blueberries and pomegranates and more anthocyanins (good for the heart) than red wine. They’re also rich in protein and dietary fiber and have high levels of Omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Of course, the less processing the better and today I found a company that sells the berries as unprocessed as possible. The company is http://www.ezoetic.com/

There is a lot on information on their web site about Acai, including how to order, why it's good for the Amazon, and some yummy recipes. I may check with Whole Foods to see if they are selling the product or will sell it as that would be a lot easier.

A Painless Root Canal!

On Friday I went to my dentist to have a root canal. After 2 hours of unsuccessful drilling, he sent me to a specialist. I was supposed to see the specialist on Wednesday but called Saturday morning to see if I could get an earlier appointment. Anyway, yesterday a wonderful endodontist, James C. Morrison, Jr., DMD at Greater Houston Endodontics on Woodway was able to do the root canal and I had no pain. I was totally relaxed and was surprised when it was over because I never felt a thing. His office staff was great too. He reminded me a little of Michael Knight from season 3 of Project Runway. I could be all wrong about this because it's all a fog and I couldn't find a picture of him online but that's the impression I have. It doesn't really matter what he looks like anyway because he is a dental genius but of course looking good never hurts. I still have a lot more work to do but this was the worst of it. All of my fillings are 20-40+ years old and need to be replaced. The total will be about 4,000 but my insurance will pay about 1700.
While all of this was going on I was watching MSNBC with the volume turned up really loud so as not to hear the drill. There was a lot of speculation about HRC dropping out of the race, finally. Bill C. had made some comments hinting at that earlier in the day and so had HRC to her staff. BREAKING NEWS: She will concede tonight! Anyone who knows me or reads this blog will know how happy this makes me.

Move On www.moveon.org started a petition in response to Scott McClellan's book that reads: "People who helped lie this country into an unnecessary war should not be rewarded for it. Scott McClellan should donate all the proceeds from his book to a group that helps Iraq veterans--like Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America."
Today on Meet the Press, Scott announced that a portion of the profits from his book will go to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

55

Here is some trivia about the number 55 from Wikipedia:


55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
There are 55 gallons in a drum containing liquid.
55 was the highest speed limit allowed in the US between 1974 and 1986.
In years of marriage, 55 is the emerald wedding anniversary.
55 is restaurant slang for root beer.
In 1973, Spiro Agnew, resigned the Vice Presidency at age 55.
55 is the atomic number of caesium.
The number 55 is also know as double-nickles in the gambling world.



The number 55 can also be written as fifty-five (Cardinal), LV (Roman) and 110111 (Binary)

Famous people who will turn 55 this month: John Edwards, Tim Allen, Cyndi Lauper, and fourdogmom.

I left work early on Thursday to meet my sister, my 2 nieces, and their SO's at Chuy's. They were driving back home after vacationing on the Frio River. Since some people don't like personal information about them on the internets for all to see, I won't use their real names. My sister is the oldest person and is seated on the right. I sometimes call here TOTY because a few years back she was Teacher of the Year! I am standing next to her in one of the pictures. We were both a lot smaller before we ate Mexican food that day. Next to her is my favorite niece who I'll just call Ernie, and next to her is her SO, B. I'm sure Ernie has given him a nick name because she gives everyone a nick name (sort of like our current POTUS) but I don't know what it is. He has a personality a lot like Ernie which make him as nice and wonderful as Ernie. He is leaving for Nepal soon and Ernie is leaving for Madagascar.
Next to them is my favorite niece who we sometimes refer to as Buck. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and after many years of looking, finally found a man who is as wonderful as she is, even if he is often mistaken for a homeless person. They have been happily married for 3 years now.
We had a nice lunch and then they surprised me with a sopapilla birthday cake.
Despite rumors to the contrary, none of us had a lap dance. Chuy's is a family restaurant.

Vegan Terrorists

Moles are being solicited by the FBI to infiltrate vegan pot luck dinners in the Minneapolis area before the Republican National Convention. They are expected to show up at vegan events, schmooz, and then report back to the FBI possible terrorist activities. "The effort’s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division’s website, is to "investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines.""

I found this information in the City Pages Newspaper in a article written by Matt Snyders. Here is the link: http://articles.citypages.com/2008-05-21/news/moles-wanted/

Peak Season Map

Here is a link to a map that has fruits and vegetables currently available in your state:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/seasonalingredientmap

What (TF) Happened

For anyone paying attention the last 8 years, the revelations in Scott McCellan's book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, won't be news.

In the book, the former press secretary accuses Bush of "self-deception" and of maintaining a "permanent campaign approach" to governing rather than making the best choices. He accuses bush of using propaganda to sell the war and accuses the press corp and the "liberal media" of going too easy on bush.

On Katrina: "One of the worst disasters in our nation’s history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush’s presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush’s second term. The perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath.”

There are also revelations about the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame and the role Scooter and Rove played as well as revelations about many other White House scandals and cover-ups.

None of this is news to those who care about our country. Bush and his partners in crime have gotten away with murder and will continue to get a way with murder until they are out of office. Anyone who supports him and his disastrous policies has the blood of hundreds of thousands of people on their hands.

The book will be on sale June 1. HCPL has 15 copies on order but I'm hoping we will get more including the audio book.

UPDATE: Because of the interest in the book and because some copies were already sold, the book will be on sale today.

Fourdogmom's Dogs

Here are some cute pictures of Sparky and Rosie. Sparky had just returned from getting his hair cut for the summer. Rosie wants everyone to know that she is not fat but that the camera adds 10 lbs.

Yes We Can!

I scream, you scream

Memorial Day is almost here. I can finally wear white shoes without fear of the southern fashion police reporting me, although Miss Grimm told me the other day that only old people wear white shoes. I think she was just referring to white pumps but it really doesn't matter because I am old. It's also the time for picnics, BBQ's and best of all, ICE CREAM! This afternoon we are having an ice cream party here at work. I'm trying unsuccessfully to be vegan so will indulge. At home I've been having little containers of HEB's very delicious orange sherbert.

If you have little furry animals and don't want to share your $5 a pint Haagen Dazs, there are several several companies that make ice cream for dogs. Cold Nose Creamery http://www.coldnosecreamery.com/ makes lactose free ice cream in 4 flavors: Puppernut, Puppernilla, Pup o' Latte, and Puppermint. Purina sells Frosty Paws in 2 flavors, original and with peanut butter, which is available in most grocery stores.

You can purchase the adorable ice cream cone shirt for your best friend at http://www.artfulpups.com. Just be sure not to buy them any white doggie pumps.

Finger Foods

That's what my neighborhood newspaper is calling a new development on West Dallas and Waugh Drive. The 13 acre lot is going to house a 50,000 square foot Whole Foods Market, and a new six-story, 445-unit apartment complex by Finger Apartments. This will be the 6th Whole Foods for Houston and will be the biggest, with features the other stores don't have. Construction is expected to begin next year.

California Wild Flowers

According to the person who sent me this picture, it is real and was taken just outside of Bakersfield, California.

Elizabeth Edwards

Last night I went to the Wortham Center with a friend from Rice to hear Elizabeth Edwards speak. The event was sponsored by The Progressive Forum, an organization in Houston "whose aim is to enrich our democracy and culture by presenting the great minds who we believe are moving humanity and life towards success, speakers from all the fields of human endeavor—the sciences and humanities as well as politics and public affairs. " Some of the past speakers have been Molly Ivins, Garrison Keillor, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Al Gore.

Edwards spoke for about 45 minutes about her life as a breast cancer survivor and about the support she received, and continues to receive, from her family, friends, and strangers who reached out to her after her diagnosis. She talked about her children, including her son Wade who died in a car accident when he was in high school, and about her relationship with her husband, John Edwards.

After speaking, she answered some questions from the audience including a few about politics and the 2008 presidential race.

It was a wonderful event and has made me want to read her book Saving Graces and also to attend future events sponsored by the Progressive Forum. Here is a link to their website:http://www.progressiveforumhouston.org/

I took the two picture with my brand new digital camera. This was the first time I had tried using it and I obviously need some practice.

Gasoline Price Comparison Map

This is from http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx and is customizable by location.

Hillary

Mosquitos

I just found the product Mosquito Barrier on DIY Life and it sounds like the perfect way to control mosquitos and other pests without using chemicals. Here is some more info from Debra McDuffee about her experience with the product:

"It's easy to apply: just mix with water and spray onto your lawn every 3-4 weeks.
With only one gallon needed for the entire season (even less for most yards), it is very affordable at $85.00 per gallon
It won't harm the environment, or my kid, dog, or other wild animals that frequent my yard.
In addition to mosquitoes, the black flies have made themselves scarce.
We also haven't found a tick on the dog since we sprayed, and that is a small miracle in itself."

I'm convinced. Two of my neighbors have had major tick infestations so maybe this will prevent my dogs from getting them too and the mosquitos are already causing problems. Here is a link to the company http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/

T. Boone Pickens

T. Boone Pickens, the founder of Mesa Petroleum and one of the richest people in the United States is getting into clean energy. Over the next 4 years he plans to erect 2,700 wind turbines in the Texas Panhandle, enough to power about one million homes. It's not about being green but about making money and the people of Sweetwater are already benefiting from his latest money making endeavor. The town, and neighboring counties are experiencing a boom from jobs created to build and service his wind farms. The ranchers whose land he will use for the turbines will also receive $10,000 to $20,000 a year per turbine in royalties.
While Pickens has always been a big supporter of Republicans, including W, he is frustrated by the lack of action by the government to make the US energy independent. It's too bad he wasn't open minded enough to support a presidential candidate who was open to developing alternative energy, like Gore in 2000.
Pickens isn't someone I could ever really like, especially after his 3 million contribution to the swift boaters, but I'm glad that someone with his business expertise is getting involved in alternative energy. He is also interested in developing a solar energy corridor from Texas to California and is a outspoken opponent of the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

This really beautiful picture is by Chris Crawford Photography and is entitled Clouds over Texas Panhandle.

Design Your Own...

Here's a link to a site where you can design a box, print it, and fold it. Fun if you are really bored.
http://media.k10k.net/issues/issue074/design.html

If you want to make an animal to go in the box click on this link: http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/animal-global/index.html

The picture is of an Okapi made with the pattern supplied on the web site.

There are many, many more things to make on Web Zen under the topic Paper Zen http://www.chaoskitty.com/webzen/archive.php?choice=74.08.08

Natural Air Freshner

Because of my four dogs, my house could use a good air freshner. I don't ever buy the ones in the stores because of all the chemicals. I don't even buy scented candles unless I'm sure they are natural. Ginger, one of my dogs, has seizures, and one of the things I did to try and stop her seizures without resorting to drugs was to remove all the chemicals and artificial fragrances from the house. I also switched to all green cleaning products. Today on DIY Life I found a recipe for a natural air freshener that's pretty easy to make. Here is the recipe:

Easy Cinnamon and Applesauce Air Freshner

1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup cinnamon
plastic zip-type bag
waxed paper
various cookie cutters
small rolling pin
unsharpened pencil
string or ribbon
Mix the applesauce and cinnamon together inside the zip-type bag. Seal the bag and mix the ingredients together well, until they form a dough. (Note: This part is GREAT fun for kids.) Dump the dough out onto a sheet of waxed paper. Cover with a second sheet, then roll out to 1/4 inch thick; too thin and it will crack, too thick and it will take too long to dry. Carefully use the cookie cutters to cut out shapes in your dough. When finished, use the pencil to poke a small hole in the top to tie in a ribbon or string for hanging. Leave your air fresheners to dry overnight or longer if necessary, then hang them in your car, kitchen, or even stick them in a dresser drawer.

Golf Gate (new links added)

In an interview yesterday, Bush said that he gave up playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of the soldiers killed in the Iraq war. Here is the exact quote: "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal. "

This may turn out to be just another one of his lies. Blue Girl Red State points out in her blog http://bluegirlredmissouri.blogspot.com/2008/05/bush-claims-to-have-quit-golf-at-same.html that his giving up golf probably had more to do with a muscle tear in his right calf and aching knees than out of any respect for the troops or their families.

Rolf Laub just did a cartoon about this. You can find it here:http://theweeklycartoon.blogspot.com/

And here is a link to Olbermann's special comment about Bush and his games:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24635229#24635229

Houston

This is the time of year that I start thinking about moving to a cooler, drier city. I do this every year, all summer long.
Yesterday a report from Forbes listed Houston as one of the top 10 recession proof cities, which make me feel a little bit better about living here. Here is the complete list: Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas-Ft.Worth, San Jose, Raleigh, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Forbes looked at unemployment, job-growth, and home prices. All four cities in Texas have lower home prices than the rest of the country and falling unemployment rates. Now if we could just do something about the heat and humidity...

Sex and the City

I hate to admit this but I really loved the HBO series Sex and the City. I just found out today that Samantha has a pet in the new movie version that opens in theatres later this month. She is a little Yorkie named Gidget and she has her own blog which has lots of pictures including the one shown here, videos, and links. You can check it out here: http://www.gidgetgormley.com/

Amy's Kitchen

Amy's, my favorite frozen food company, has a new product, Black Bean Tamale Verde. I tried one yesterday and it was so good I almost went back to Whole Foods to buy another one. Here is the description from their website: "Corn masa tamale filled with tender organic black beans, tomatoes, onions, zucchini and blended with a tomato salsa. Topped with an authentic verde sauce of organic tomatillos. Served with a side of Spanish rice made with organic brown rice."
There is also a cheese version which I didn't see.
I love Amy's because I don't have to read the ingredients to see if there is anything I don't want and everything they make is yummy.

Crowd Farm

Two MIT graduate students, Thaddeus Jusczyk and James Graham have come up with an idea to use human movement to generate energy. Their system, which they have named Crowd Farm involves using a sub floor made up of blocks that depress slightly when stepped on. The movement of the blocks against each other would generate power. The idea is to use this type of flooring in high foot traffic areas such as train stations or concert halls. The students demonstrated the idea at the Venice Biennale and at a train station in Torino with a stool that generates energy when people sit on it. The students won 1st prize for their proposal at the Holcim Foundation's Sustainable Construction competition this year.

Art Car Parade

On Saturday, the annual Art Car Parade was held in the Heights area of Houston. Tom Jones, the curator of the Art Car Museum drove his 1982 Monte Carlo named Swamp Mutha which is the car in the picture. After locking the museum, he and some friends were sitting outside when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Another, more somber parade was held on Sunday when his friends showed up at the museum in their art cars to pay their respects to their friend.

Myanmar Burma Satellite Photos

These before and after photos of Myanmar/Burma were taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

The latest predictions are that the death toll could reach 100,000 with over 1 million left homeless.

The Daisetta Sinkhole

What started as a crack in the road yesterday has turned into a sinkhole the size of six football fields and it's not over yet. Construction equipment, tanks, trees and tractors have fallen into this massive hole located in Daisetta, Texas, a small town 50 miles northeast of Houston. The town, with a population of 1,000, was built on salt domes and experts believe the ground might have caved in because of the collapse of one of these old domes.

What is this?

Any guesses as to what this is a picture of?

Myanmar/Burma

The latest estimates are that 60,000 people may have been killed and a million people left homeless by the cyclone Nargis, that hit Myanmar on Saturday. According to the secretary general of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the destruction of mangrove forests is partially to blame. The mangrove forests, which have been cut down because of the rise in population in the area, used to serve as a buffer from the sea and from storms, just as the Mississippi Delta wetlands used to serve as a buffer for Louisiana during hurricanes.

Laura Bush had the nerve to say this on Monday: "The response to this cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta's failures to meet its people's basic needs." Has she already forgotten our government's/her husband's failure to meet the basic needs of the people of New Orleans after Katrina?

At first, our government was offering 250,000 in aid but has now upped the amount to a whopping 3.25 million. Of course this help is conditional on the government allowing our disaster assessment teams into the country to evaluate the situation. Where were these disaster assessment teams when we needed them in New Orleans? Maybe we could send them the FEMA trailers that have toxic levels of formaldehyde too as part of our humanitarian aid package.

If you are wondering why some of the news refers to the country as Myanmar and some Burma, here is an explanation: According to the BBC it should always be called Burma. In 1989 the Junta changed the name to Myanmar but the United States and the UK do not recognise the name change even though the United Nations and countries such as France and Japan do. Burma's democracy movement also prefers the name Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the unelected regime now in power.

Eight Belles

I hope that the death of the 2nd place winner in the Kentucky Derby, Eight Belles, will bring attention to the cruelty in the racing industry. Many of these horses are raced when they are so young that their bones haven't had time to form and are raced on hard surfaces. They are whipped by the trainers and jockeys and when they are no longer of any use slaughtered. I'm really sick of hearing people say that these horses love to run or how much they love horses.

PETA has launched a campaign calling for the suspension of the jockey and trainer of Eight Belles and that the owner be banned from racing at the track. They are also asking that the tracks be switched to a softer surface and for a ban on the use of whips.

If you would like to send a letter to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority you can click on this link: http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/eight_belles/wk7ssd8r27xnitbe?

Looking For Work Joke

My friend "Kee" sent me this joke:

A Japanese doctor said, Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for
work in six weeks. "

A German doctor said, "That's nothing, we can take a lung out of one
person , put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks."

A British doctor said, "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can
take half of a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them
both looking for work in two weeks."

A Texas doctor, not to be outdone said,
"You guys are way behind. We took a man with no brains out of Texas, put
him in the White House and now half the country is looking for work."

As of last week, I have lost a total of 75 lbs. I would like to lose another 30-50 lbs. but can at least fit into clothes that I haven't worn in years. Today I'm wearing a shirt that I bought at Talbots over 12 years ago. Now, what to do with all the big t-shirts I own? Over at the greenloopblog they are having the "1st Annual ReShirt Cutting Contest: Slice And Dice Your T’s To Win"

For the official rules and prizes see: http://thegreenloopblog.com/2008/04/greenloop-t-shirt-cutting-contest/

Sounds like fun.

About the car. Someone at work suggested that I name my new Versa "Visa" so it will be "Visa Versa."

War President

This photomosaic was made by Joe Wezorek and is composed of pictures of people killed by Bush in his War on Terror. One of my co-workers found it on Flickr and sent me the link. If you want to see the larger version and read some of the comments, here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaumedurgell/358704871/in/dateposted/

Happy Birthday Spam

On May 3, 1978, Gary Thuerk, a marketer who worked for Digital Equipment Corporation sent an e-mail to 393 users on Arpanet, a government computer network, thus making him the world's first spammer. Spam got it's name from the Monty Python song that was sung by vikings in a restaurant where every dish included SPAM. The vikings sang the word SPAM over and over getting louder each time making conversation impossible. Hormel, the makers of the original SPAM, which was introduced in 1937, doesn't object to the use of the word but asks that the capitalized word SPAM be reserved for their product and that it be used as an adjective, as in SPAM luncheon meat. They have fought unsuccessfully however against the company SpamArrest and against the use of the term Spambuster. Hormel has this to say on their website: "Ultimately, we are trying to avoid the day when the consuming public asks, 'Why would Hormel Foods name its product after junk email?'"

Austin, Texas

On May 1, iReport released a list of the 10 greenest cities in the U.S. and Austin was #1. Austin has a new Climate Protection Plan where all city facilities, fleets and operations will be powered by renewable energy by 2012 and carbon neutral by 2020. Berkeley was number 2 followed by Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Here is a link to the full report on all the cities in the list: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-17495
Here is a link to the Austin Climate Protection Plan which details Austin's plans to reduce greenhouse gases: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/mw_acpp_release.htm

NEW CAR!

I left work early yesterday and bought my new car. I decided to get a Nissan Versa. It has 4 doors, a hatchback, and is a lot bigger inside than the Toyota Yaris. I never went to look at the Honda Fit because it was $2,000 more than both the Yaris and the Versa. It's white (fresh powder) with a black (charcoal) interior. I wanted white because it's better in the heat. I haven't had a new car in 12 years so there are some features I'm not used to like keyless entry. It has power everything and a really nice CD player so I'm pretty happy.

Next week I'm going to put my new magnetic Obama 'O8 YES WE CAN! bumper sticker on it.