Whadaya think Jana? You in?
Thu Jan 25, 9:29 AM ET
TALMEY EL'AZAR, Israel, Jan 25 (Reuters Life!) - Hold the Dead Sea salts and tea-tree oil. An Israeli health and beauty spa has introduced a new treatment to its menu -- snake massage.
For 300 shekels (70 dollars), clients at Ada Barak's spa in northern
Israel can add a wild twist to their treatment by having six non-venomous but very lively serpents slither and hiss a path across their aching muscles and stiff joints.
"I'm actually afraid of snakes, but the therapeutic effects are really good," customer Liz Cohen told Reuters Television as Barak let the snakes loose on her body.
Barak uses California and Florida king snakes, corn snakes and milk snakes in her treatments, which she said were inspired by her belief that once people get over any initial misgivings, they find physical contact with the creatures to be soothing.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Feral Shih Tzus roam Georgia condo complex
MARIETTA, Ga., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A small pack of feral, and very small, Shih Tzus has been evading capture at a Georgia condominium complex.
The group of four dogs first showed up at the Covered Bridge complex in Cobb County in the Atlanta suburbs around Thanksgiving. Since then, two of them have disappeared, including one believed to have been killed by a car.
The two remaining dogs appear to have reverted to their wild roots as the alpha male and female of their own small wolf pack -- albeit wolves that weigh about 7 pounds each. They have successfully evaded efforts by Covered Bridge residents, the manager and Cobb County animal control officers to trap them, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Tranquilizer guns are, apparently, not in order because they are designed for larger animals.
Gabriella Toth, a resident, is trying to catch the dogs with kindness -- providing food, water and even a dog house. She hopes eventually to give them a permanent home.
"People act as if they are 400-pound tigers," she said. "They bark a lot, but they are scared and don't know what else to do."
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
The group of four dogs first showed up at the Covered Bridge complex in Cobb County in the Atlanta suburbs around Thanksgiving. Since then, two of them have disappeared, including one believed to have been killed by a car.
The two remaining dogs appear to have reverted to their wild roots as the alpha male and female of their own small wolf pack -- albeit wolves that weigh about 7 pounds each. They have successfully evaded efforts by Covered Bridge residents, the manager and Cobb County animal control officers to trap them, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Tranquilizer guns are, apparently, not in order because they are designed for larger animals.
Gabriella Toth, a resident, is trying to catch the dogs with kindness -- providing food, water and even a dog house. She hopes eventually to give them a permanent home.
"People act as if they are 400-pound tigers," she said. "They bark a lot, but they are scared and don't know what else to do."
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
You go Walter!
ATHENS, Georgia (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney has bullied federal agencies and given absurd advice about the nation's risk and Iraq, Walter Mondale said Friday.
Mondale said behavior such as Cheney's never would have been tolerated when Mondale was vice president.
"I think that Cheney has stepped way over the line," Mondale said at the opening of a three-day conference about former President Jimmy Carter at the University of Georgia.
Mondale, who served under Carter, said Cheney and his assistants pressured federal agencies as they prepared information for President Bush.
"I think Cheney's been at the center of cooking up farcical estimates of national risks, weapons of mass destruction and the 9/11 connection to Iraq," he said.
That does not serve the president, because he needs facts, Mondale said.
"If I had done as vice president what this vice president has done, Carter would have thrown me out of there," Mondale said. "I don't think he could have tolerated a vice president over there pressuring and pushing other agencies, ordering up different reports than they wanted to send us. I don't think he would have stood for it."
Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, had this response to Mondale's comments: "Twice elected to serve with President Bush, the vice president is committed to protecting Americans from those who wish to do us harm."
She also cited a September television interview in which Cheney said he would take issue with "any suggestion we've gone beyond where we should have."
Academics credit Carter with expanding the role of the vice presidency during his administration.
As vice president, Mondale served as the president's senior adviser. He held an office in the West Wing of the White House, had private meetings with the president and spoke on behalf of the president before influential groups.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
Mondale said behavior such as Cheney's never would have been tolerated when Mondale was vice president.
"I think that Cheney has stepped way over the line," Mondale said at the opening of a three-day conference about former President Jimmy Carter at the University of Georgia.
Mondale, who served under Carter, said Cheney and his assistants pressured federal agencies as they prepared information for President Bush.
"I think Cheney's been at the center of cooking up farcical estimates of national risks, weapons of mass destruction and the 9/11 connection to Iraq," he said.
That does not serve the president, because he needs facts, Mondale said.
"If I had done as vice president what this vice president has done, Carter would have thrown me out of there," Mondale said. "I don't think he could have tolerated a vice president over there pressuring and pushing other agencies, ordering up different reports than they wanted to send us. I don't think he would have stood for it."
Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, had this response to Mondale's comments: "Twice elected to serve with President Bush, the vice president is committed to protecting Americans from those who wish to do us harm."
She also cited a September television interview in which Cheney said he would take issue with "any suggestion we've gone beyond where we should have."
Academics credit Carter with expanding the role of the vice presidency during his administration.
As vice president, Mondale served as the president's senior adviser. He held an office in the West Wing of the White House, had private meetings with the president and spoke on behalf of the president before influential groups.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The pilot of an Oklahoma City TV news helicopter used the wind from the aircraft's rotor to push a stranded deer to safety after it lost its footing on a frozen lake and could not get up.
A small crowd had gathered to watch the deer struggling, its hooves repeatedly slipping, near the shore of Lake Thunderbird, near Norman, Oklahoma around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
With the helicopter's camera rolling, KWTV pilot Mason Dunn used the wind from the rotor to push the deer, initially sending it into a break in the ice where the animal managed to hold onto the ice with its front legs.
Dunn then lowered the helicopter and the wind sent the deer sliding on its belly across the ice until it reached shore and scampered into a nearby wooded area.
A small crowd had gathered to watch the deer struggling, its hooves repeatedly slipping, near the shore of Lake Thunderbird, near Norman, Oklahoma around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
With the helicopter's camera rolling, KWTV pilot Mason Dunn used the wind from the rotor to push the deer, initially sending it into a break in the ice where the animal managed to hold onto the ice with its front legs.
Dunn then lowered the helicopter and the wind sent the deer sliding on its belly across the ice until it reached shore and scampered into a nearby wooded area.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Congress Wants to Blame the Grassroots for Its Own Corruption
Congress to Send Critics to Jail, Says Richard Viguerie
MANASSAS, Va., Jan. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a
statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com,
regarding legislation currently being considered by Congress to regulate
grassroots communications:
"In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but
isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on
grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress.
"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the
Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to
500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report
quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220
would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive
intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history,
critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.
"The bill would require reporting of 'paid efforts to stimulate
grassroots lobbying,' but defines 'paid' merely as communications to 500 or
more members of the public, with no other qualifiers.
"On January 9, the Senate passed Amendment 7 to S. 1, to create
criminal penalties, including up to one year in jail, if someone 'knowingly
and willingly fails to file or report.'
"That amendment was introduced by Senator David Vitter (R-LA). Senator
Vitter, however, is now a co-sponsor of Amendment 20 by Senator Robert
Bennett (R-UT) to remove Section 220 from the bill. Unless Amendment 20
succeeds, the Senate will have criminalized the exercise of First Amendment
rights. We'd be living under totalitarianism, not democracy.
"I started GrassrootsFreedom.com to fight efforts to silence the
grassroots. The website provides updates in the legislation and has a
petition to sign opposing Section 220.
"Thousands of nonprofit leaders, bloggers, and other citizens have
hammered the Senate with calls in opposition to Section 220, which seeks to
silence the grassroots. The criminal provisions will scare citizens into
silence.
"The legislation regulates small, legitimate nonprofits, bloggers, and
individuals, but creates loopholes for corporations, unions, and large
membership organizations that would be able to spend literally hundreds of
millions of dollars, yet not report.
"Congress is trying to blame the grassroots, which are American
citizens engaging in their First Amendment rights, for Washington's
internal corruption problems."
CONTACT: Mark Fitzgibbons, +1-703-392-7676 or +1-703-408-3775, for
GrassrootsFreedom.com.
SOURCE GrassrootsFreedom.com
MANASSAS, Va., Jan. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a
statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com,
regarding legislation currently being considered by Congress to regulate
grassroots communications:
"In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but
isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on
grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress.
"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the
Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to
500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report
quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220
would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive
intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history,
critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.
"The bill would require reporting of 'paid efforts to stimulate
grassroots lobbying,' but defines 'paid' merely as communications to 500 or
more members of the public, with no other qualifiers.
"On January 9, the Senate passed Amendment 7 to S. 1, to create
criminal penalties, including up to one year in jail, if someone 'knowingly
and willingly fails to file or report.'
"That amendment was introduced by Senator David Vitter (R-LA). Senator
Vitter, however, is now a co-sponsor of Amendment 20 by Senator Robert
Bennett (R-UT) to remove Section 220 from the bill. Unless Amendment 20
succeeds, the Senate will have criminalized the exercise of First Amendment
rights. We'd be living under totalitarianism, not democracy.
"I started GrassrootsFreedom.com to fight efforts to silence the
grassroots. The website provides updates in the legislation and has a
petition to sign opposing Section 220.
"Thousands of nonprofit leaders, bloggers, and other citizens have
hammered the Senate with calls in opposition to Section 220, which seeks to
silence the grassroots. The criminal provisions will scare citizens into
silence.
"The legislation regulates small, legitimate nonprofits, bloggers, and
individuals, but creates loopholes for corporations, unions, and large
membership organizations that would be able to spend literally hundreds of
millions of dollars, yet not report.
"Congress is trying to blame the grassroots, which are American
citizens engaging in their First Amendment rights, for Washington's
internal corruption problems."
CONTACT: Mark Fitzgibbons, +1-703-392-7676 or +1-703-408-3775, for
GrassrootsFreedom.com.
SOURCE GrassrootsFreedom.com
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Actual Newspaper Headlines
Some are just slips of the tongue
* Grandmother of eight makes hole in one
* Deaf mute gets new hearing in killing
* Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers
* House passes gas tax onto senate
* Stiff opposition expected to casketless funeral plan
* Two convicts evade noose, jury hung
* William Kelly was fed secretary
* Milk drinkers are turning to powder
* Safety experts say school bus passengers should be belted
* Quarter of a million Chinese live on water
* Farmer bill dies in house
* Iraqi head seeks arms
Some become unintentionally suggestive
* Queen Mary having bottom scraped
* Is there a ring of debris around Uranus?
* Prostitutes appeal to Pope
* Panda mating fails - veterinarian takes over
* NJ judge to rule on nude beach
* Child's stool great for use in garden
* Dr. Ruth to talk about sex with newspaper editors
* Soviet virgin lands short of goal again
* Organ festival ends in smashing climax
Grammar often botches other headlines
* Eye drops off shelf
* Squad helps dog bite victim
* Dealers will hear car talk at noon
* Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
* Lawmen from Mexico barbecue guests
* Miners refuse to work after death
* Two Soviet ships collide - one dies
* Two sisters reunite after eighteen years at checkout counter
Once in a while, a botched headline takes on a meaning opposite from the one intended:
* Never withhold herpes from loved one
* Nicaragua sets goal to wipe out literacy
* Drunk drivers paid $1,000 in 1984
* Autos killing 110 a day, let's resolve to do better
Sometimes newspaper editors state the obvious
* If strike isn't settled quickly it may last a while
* War dims hope for peace
* Smokers are productive, but death cuts efficiency
* Cold wave linked to temperatures
* Child's death ruins couple's holiday
* Blind woman gets new kidney from dad she hasn't seen in years
* Man is fatally slain
* Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say
* Death causes loneliness, feeling of isolation
* Grandmother of eight makes hole in one
* Deaf mute gets new hearing in killing
* Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers
* House passes gas tax onto senate
* Stiff opposition expected to casketless funeral plan
* Two convicts evade noose, jury hung
* William Kelly was fed secretary
* Milk drinkers are turning to powder
* Safety experts say school bus passengers should be belted
* Quarter of a million Chinese live on water
* Farmer bill dies in house
* Iraqi head seeks arms
Some become unintentionally suggestive
* Queen Mary having bottom scraped
* Is there a ring of debris around Uranus?
* Prostitutes appeal to Pope
* Panda mating fails - veterinarian takes over
* NJ judge to rule on nude beach
* Child's stool great for use in garden
* Dr. Ruth to talk about sex with newspaper editors
* Soviet virgin lands short of goal again
* Organ festival ends in smashing climax
Grammar often botches other headlines
* Eye drops off shelf
* Squad helps dog bite victim
* Dealers will hear car talk at noon
* Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
* Lawmen from Mexico barbecue guests
* Miners refuse to work after death
* Two Soviet ships collide - one dies
* Two sisters reunite after eighteen years at checkout counter
Once in a while, a botched headline takes on a meaning opposite from the one intended:
* Never withhold herpes from loved one
* Nicaragua sets goal to wipe out literacy
* Drunk drivers paid $1,000 in 1984
* Autos killing 110 a day, let's resolve to do better
Sometimes newspaper editors state the obvious
* If strike isn't settled quickly it may last a while
* War dims hope for peace
* Smokers are productive, but death cuts efficiency
* Cold wave linked to temperatures
* Child's death ruins couple's holiday
* Blind woman gets new kidney from dad she hasn't seen in years
* Man is fatally slain
* Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say
* Death causes loneliness, feeling of isolation
Dear Jenny
George Bush's plan to escalate the war in Iraq is wrong for Iraq and wrong for America.
That's why Senator John Edwards is calling on Congress to block funding for Bush's escalation of the war.
Please join me and thousands of others in demanding that Congress take action now to block Bush's plan:http://johnedwards.com/action/sign-petitions/nofunding/
Your action can make a critical difference in how Congress responds to George Bush.
Sincerely,
Susan
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Yvonne De Carlo Dead at 84
Yvonne De Carlo, the beautiful star who played Moses' wife in "The Ten Commandments" but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's "The Munsters," has died. She was 84.
Full article--Kare 11
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
For Sale: Coffee From Partially Digested Beans
(CBS) MINNEAPOLIS Here's a real eye opener for your Monday morning commute: How about a cup of coffee that goes for $10 per cup. Fans enjoy it for its smooth and unique taste. But many try not to think about how it's made: from coffee beans eaten partially digested by Indonesian cats.
A Minnesota roaster is serving... offering the most expensive coffee in the world, but price isn't the only reason people might shy away from it.
An 8-ounce cup of Kopi Luwak coffee sells for $10 at Jim Cone's "Coffee and Tea Limited" store in Minneapolis. One-pound bags go for $420.
Roastmaster Jim Cone told CBS News: "We roast it to, ah, about 420 degrees. It's a very rich, ah, cup of coffee, very chocolaty, ah, actually a carmelly taste around the bottom of your tongue."
Cone says fans enjoy it for its smooth and unique taste. But many try not to think about how it's made.
Kopi Luwak comes from Indonesia and is also called Civet coffee because the beans are eaten by Civet cats. The cats love red coffee beans, especially the skin. It's this exterior that's processed in the cat's digestive system and discharged.
Cone said, "There's a skin on the pulp and that's what's really digested in their system. And the bean is inside that. After they've processed them in their body, uh, people pick them up and clean 'em."
The collected partially digested beans are exported all over the world.
"I'm trying to block that thought from my head at the moment," said coffee drinker Alex Danzberger.
Kopi Luwak isn't offered at major chains like Starbucks, which is probably just as well for the average coffee drinker.
"I'm really interested because of the way that it's processed," said, coffee lover Bonnie Riley. "Very tasteful. It has a lot of body."
Danzberger said, "It's very rich and soft, ah, real full-bodied. Um, there's definitely a different flavor to it, and you can't quite describe what it is. I hate to think what it is, but it's, um, very good."
"There's not much of it available," Cone said, "It's a unique product."
He added, "You have to have an army of Civet cats to pick this stuff an process it."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Thursday, January 04, 2007
nicotini (nik.oh.TEE.nee) n. A nicotine-laced martini
The owner of this bar makes a chocolate nicotini that he calls the "black lung."
BBlebowski
Forget the cosmopolitan. Set aside the mojito. A new drink has emerged on trendy Las Olas Boulevard since restaurants were forced to ban smoking — the nicotini.
Call it a liquid cigarette because this drink comes complete with the nicotine rush and tobacco aftertaste. These tobacco-spiked martinis are being served up for die-hard smokers who don't want to leave their bar stools and go outside to light up.
Larry Wald, the owner of the Cathode Ray Club, came up with the homemade brew as he searched for ways to help smokers cope with the new smoke-free atmosphere Florida voters ordered last fall. Soak tobacco leaves in vodka overnight, deaden the juice's harshness by adding a couple other liquors and voila: the nicotini of Las Olas.
—Scott Wyman, "As smoke clears, club mixes tobacco, vodka," Orlando Sentinel, August 31, 2003
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
LaVonne D. Ulmer 1921-2006
STEVENSVILLE - LaVonne D. Ulmer, 85, of Stevensville, died Monday, Dec. 25, 2006, at Marcus Daly Hospice in Hamilton.
She was born Aug. 21, 1921, in O'Brien County, Iowa, to Glen and Grace (Anderson) Watters.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Ulmer.
LaVonne is survived by her daughter Judy (Bill) Burke of Stevensville; son Gregory L. (Kathy) Ulmer of Gainesville, Fla.; granddaughter Rebecca Burke of Greenville, N.C.; and grandsons Tyson (Anita) Ulmer and Leland Ulmer.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 29, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Stevensville with Father Michael Smith officiating. A reception will follow services.
Whitesitt Funeral Home in Stevensville is in charge of cremation arrangements.
She was born Aug. 21, 1921, in O'Brien County, Iowa, to Glen and Grace (Anderson) Watters.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Ulmer.
LaVonne is survived by her daughter Judy (Bill) Burke of Stevensville; son Gregory L. (Kathy) Ulmer of Gainesville, Fla.; granddaughter Rebecca Burke of Greenville, N.C.; and grandsons Tyson (Anita) Ulmer and Leland Ulmer.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 29, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Stevensville with Father Michael Smith officiating. A reception will follow services.
Whitesitt Funeral Home in Stevensville is in charge of cremation arrangements.
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