Medical film classics on line

I found the old AJ Cronin classic "The Citadel" on youtube...LINK

OR for a more quirky film about doctors, try one of Cary Grant's lesser known films LINK

and the Masterpiece Theatre version of Vera Brittain's autobiography as a nurse during World War I is also on line LINK

The bad news is that most of these films are hopelessly out of date from a medical standpoint.

So is this series, about pre WWII veterinarians, but it's still enjoyable to watch:

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oh, just a note for the P2P police: Ruby bought a multi movie DVD at the Palenke today so she could watch Chipmunks 2, and it included Avatar...which opened last week in Manila.

Talk about efficiency!

Musical Interlude of the day

Actually, I "identify" with the character Kaylee, not Zoe or Inarra...
And Just as there are "Trekkies", there are "Browncoats"...

Sci Fi rules

Link is to my BNN essay...

While the president disses the space program, a lot of us think that a program that gave us microchips, satellite Internet connections, and GPS systems is worth saving.

Maybe that's why Brown won the Firefly vote....

Paleography

Professor Beard laments the closing of King College's department of Paleography.

but the National Archives has a tutorial HERE, along with a course in Latin.

----------------

Ehrman lectures on bible history, with a "historical" Jesus slant (i.e. no way J is God) but aside from the sceptical approach he is quite good...and this part is about paleography

----------------

and of course then there is this:

Tobacco, the new Solar cell?

YUM! Frankenmeat...

If GM crops are Frankenfoods, are In Vitro meats Frankenmeats?

and would In Vitro grown Bacon be Kosher?

The Rabbi compared this to two previous cases with kosher food: cheese and gelatin. Both contain animal products which may not be kosher, so specific variations have to be made for people who are strictly Orthodox. On the other hand, the Conservative movement viewed these objects as being so far changed and removed from their original source, that they don't need to be kosher. Says Bienstock, "these elements are re-defined as not really being meat, as the substance is so incredibly transformed. So using [this technology] the Conservative movement might say it's not really meat because it doesn't come from an animal."

Top Ten Savage Chickens

Your Top Ten
Here are the most-visited cartoons from the past year:

1. Meh
2. Roses
3. Ming Collector
4. Volcanology
5. Movie Poster
6. Badass Names
7. Warning!
8. Calling In Sick
9. Tigger (the first cartoon to make the Most-Visited list two years in a row!)
10. Birthday Essentials

Asian stuff below the fold

ten most important archological finds in China.

0-----------------------
China's version of the google vs china spat.

-----------------
and KimChee!

literary Stuff below the fold

Ralph McInerney, of the Father Dowling mysteries, has died.

So has JD Salinger...although I must confess I didn't manage to read the whole book, because he seemed to be a spoiled whiney rich kid...

Quote of the day from Bishop Chaput:
For Christians, art is a holy vocation with the power to elevate the human spirit and lead men and women toward God...

Cat Photo of the day

moar funny pictures

The "PU" (Politics Uggh) headlines of the day

Drudge has a headline pointing out Hillary wasn't at the SOTU.
Is she running for president? Is that why her support blogs have been hit by trolls and those running them losing jobs because of charges they are "racist"?
Inquiring minds want to know.
-----------------------

in the Philippines, charges that our lovely president failed to stop the Manguindanao massacre are unfounded, said her spokemen:
Summary: They were warned not to run against the governor, so it's their fault that his wife and 30 press folks with them were massacred.

--------------------------

Big ice storms in the midwest...one of the joys of living in Oklahoma is the blackouts from the wires going down, and driving is made impossible.
In an earlier storm, SD Indians lose electrical power due to ice on wires...usually the problem there is being 2o below...I had a patient die because he got lost between the house and the barn in a storm...
-------------------------

Foreigners in Malaysia arrested for links to Pantybomber...
the cleric, described in various news reports as a "freelance" preacher or "graduate student" holding the meeting is a Syrian, and many attending his "lecture" at his private house were foreigners, not locals...
------------------------

Local stuff

Divina Pastora now has a "Cybrershrine" on line. LINK

Three Kings Church website has photos from Christmas mass, and the dome restoration being done.
more photos at NEJournal

the headlines at the NEJournal, however, report checkpoints for guns and the shuffling of police to make the next election "safe".
Heh. We're still waiting for justice.

Computer stuff below the fold

An identical letter to lots of different newspapers...duh. Astroturfing of course. No story here....

Except the Jawas note:
In all the years I've been tracing IPs from wanna-be-terrorists, I've never had that many different IPs from the same person in that short of time....(this)suggests that the person/persons behind the emails was either a) already tech savvy or b) went through a great deal of trouble to cover their tracks.... unless he's an IT guy or a hacker...(this) suggests organization.

------------------------

Young mother who got caught only has to pay$54 thousand instead of two million for downloading 24 songs.

Heh. wonder what they'd fine the vendors in the Palenke who sell mp3 discs and hit movies for 35 pesos a disc?

----------------------------

It's Steve Jobs vs Obama...

Uh, maybe they need to rename the IPad...(via AnnAlthouse)

----------------------

China vs Google:What it means and why it's important.

For the geek in your life

In the old days, you could identify a geek because he had a sliderule in his hand and a pocket protector in his shirt.



Various sliderule collections (and this cartoon) HERE


and for the nostalgic:

A virtual Sliderule Emulator

Al Gebra and the weapons of Math instruction

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney General Eric Holder said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

'Al-Gebra is a problem for us', the Attorney General said. 'They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.' They use secret code names like 'X' and 'Y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.


As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle'.

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, 'If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.'

White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President. It is believed that the Nobel Prize for Physics will follow...

--------------------

the pun of the day from Col Updraft.
and yes, I'm old enough to remember slide rules.

Stuff below the fold

The Bad News: Animal rights activists tell Aussies that they can't kill cane toads with bags and C02.

The really bad news:The only alternative is to go back to clubbing them to death.

But there is Good news: China will buy some to use as traditional medicine, and to eat.

Yum. Kentuckyfried Canetoadlegs!

(Sound familiar, kermit?)


And of course you can always use their skins for leather.

History and tongue in cheek discussion of cane toads HERE.
Yes, it's time to negotiate with the canetoad terrorists.
-------------------

It cost Kenya half a million to deport a Jamaican Islamic "cleric"...who preached that Muslims should kill Jews and Hindus...and inspired terrorists....

While stranded in Kenya, he started riots among the Somalis in Kenya to protest his deportation. Since the government was a bit vigorous in stopping the riots, the human rights folks were there claiming human rights violations, of course.
And since no airline would carry him, he was deported by private chartered jet.
------------------
the "WTF" headline of the day:
climate-change scientists say ozone hole stops global warming

-------------------
for those who love "Shangri la", a story on building a road to connect Nepel with Chinese run Tibet.
the hope is that trade will result in an easier life for the people.

----------------------
Photos of cities in Yemen...go check it out.
A future site for ecotourism...

stuff in the news

The Hillbuzz blog is being "outed" and harassed by "PUMA hunting"?
the Rhetorican says it's a pre emptive strike against the Hillary 2012 movement.

------------------------
Filipino Nuncio in Haiti has sharp words for those criticizing aids groups:
"Conducting relief efforts on a grand scale in a country without the basic infrastructures and with significant security and social problems is hugely problematic."
Translation: destroyed port, damaged airport, few roads, and lots of blocked streets slow down getting the stuff there...and everything has to be imported.
--------------------------------

Chip in for more Arroyo legacy ads, other gov’t agencies urged :
Yes, unlike the US, here the press here isn't a lapdog for the president.

---------------------
But there are some good headlines:
Move aside, Miss Congeniality:
Don't mess with the new Miss England...aka "Combat Barbie", given the name for her heroism in Basra.


ironically, she was only first runner up, but the winner lost her crown after a barroom brawl.

Happy Burn's night

Attention Homeland security:
Forget that man on the terrorism watch list who wears a codpiece and has all those Yemeni stamps on his passports:
Keep an eye out for the real danger: Haggis smugglers.
Burns' night was Jan 25: and alas The BBC reports that the hagis ban remains, meaning that gud Scots in the colonies will have to refrain from the dish.
Ode to a Haggis:

Want to die happy?

Try a Bacon wrapped deepfried Twinkie!

Gluten Free Twinkies?

Here in the Philippines, you either eat street food and risk various types of food poisoning, or else you buy cakes etc. that are so full of preservatives that even the cockroaches won't eat them.

But if you want a recipe for healthy, gluten free Twinkies, check out the recipe at Elena's Pantry.

TwinkieHenge!

Twinkies!

I once heard that in case you need to see and don't have a candle, that you can light a twinkie, or a cheese puff.

But this experiment at the Twinkie's project at Rice University says you either need a dry Twinkie or some alcohol to make it burn.

according to Snoopes, Hostess claims it takes 45 seconds to make a twinkie in the microwave burn... TheTwinkiesProject said it took 30 seconds to start spouting out fumes, but no flames.

Parable for today

This guy is 72 years old and loves to fish.

He was sitting in his boat the other day when he heard a voice say, "Pick me up."

He looked around and couldn't see any one..

He thought he was dreaming when he heard the voice say a gain, "Pick me up."

He looked in the water and there, floating on the top, was a frog.

The man said, "Are you talking to me?"

The frog said, "Yes, I'm talking to you. Pick me up then, kiss me and I'll turn into the most beautiful woman you have ever seen. I'll make sure that all your friends are envious and jealous because I will be your bride!"

The man looked at the frog for a short time, reached over, picked it up carefully, and placed it in his front breast pocket.

Then the frog said, "What, are you nuts? Didn't you hear what I said? I said kiss me and I will be your beautiful bride."

He opened his pocket, looked at the frog and said, "Nah, at my age I'd rather have a talking frog."

your email of the day from TiaMaria.

The Sphinx

article at Smithsonian magazine, and links to the PBS NOVA tv program.

Stuff below the fold

Saint Cory?
God will decide, says a local priest.
I say, why not Sts. Ninoy and Cory? Two for the price of one.
---------------------

Why are earthquake deaths so bad in Haiti?

Senator Loren Legarda says: It's corruption that allows shoddy construction to take place, citing examples in Turkey and Japan and China.
The bad news?
if it happened in Manila, The study points out that such an earthquake could cause 33,500 deaths, an additional 18,000 deaths from fire, and 114,000 injuries....
----------------------------

The next big PC no-no: Lawns.
It's the lawnmowers that are the problem. And yes, I had a push mower in the US, but the kids who did my lawn used to borrow their dad's lawnmower because pushing it was too much work.
Related headlines:

• 
  
• Airborne dandruff can turn on rain, Science Online, 01 Apr 2005

no its not a commercial for Head and Shoulders.
----------------

And the quote of the day is from Dustbury:


I mean, nobody likes impatient, surly drugs, right?

Cat photo for a Monday Morning

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

FYI

From Salihan blog:
Two ways to reuse your bath puff after it unravels.

--------------------
From Librivox:
How to Sing
Nope, no way I can breathe well enough to hold a high note.
-----------------
and from Instructables: How to make homemade Peanut butter...using a food processor.
Sigh. We don't have a food processor.

So I'd have to make it with a morter and pestle.
peanuts here are cheap, but peanut butter costs a fortune.

-------------------
In Africa, a common side dish was peanuts and greens. The recipe is at the Congo cookbook.
In Zimbabwe, they ate it with sazda, cornmeal mush.

Vertical farming

Treehugger has links to vertical farming articles.

and check out this

How Aid destroyed Haiti before the Earthquake

there is a lot of fingerpointing to blame the poverty and chaos of pre earthquake Haiti, and a lot of the articles have scapegoats (from "God" to "Gaia" to the US to France).

Most of the anti US blame is from leftists sites that only use their usual anti American meme to criticize the US for it's evil capitalists.

But could the poverty be partly caused by the best and the brightest trying to help that poor country?

This thoughtful article at the African Executive says maybe.

Stuff below the fold

Peter Jackson interview.

-----------------
McDonalds plans to study cow flatulence.

------------------
How to plan your garden

---------------------
Jihad! the Musical ridicules the fear of being blown up.
UKTelegraph comments: Why not just do an Islamic version of the Life of Brian?

and FYI: The LOB is now on Youtube, until the copyright police find it.

--------------------------
First the beef, now the Salami

----------------
Animal lovers object to a program aimed at sterilizing feral cats...
Well, here the feral cats population is kept low due to the feral dogs...George the Cat killing dog is available at any time if you want to rent him.
------------------

and finally: the Cat video of the day

Photo of the day

Photo Matthew McDermott:
NYPost story here. rescuers were NY city Cops and firefighters.

Ah, but firefighters rescuing folks is an everyday story, as this story of an offduty fireman named Christopher Murray shows.

headsup TheAnchoress.

Family news

Joy just had laser surgery for a torn retina, and developed some new problems so we had her checked in Manila today...no problem found, and everything is okay.

Space photo of the week

Picture courtesy ESO
from Nat Geo: The cat's claw nebula

Musical interlude (take two)

yes I know it's not Christmas time, but this is cute

The Vikings are coming! the Vikings are Coming!

Photo:14th August 2007 at 13.39, the crew of the Sea Stallion arrived in Dublin. Accompanied by the tunes of Irish Army No. 1 Band, the ship made fast at Custom House Quay in central Dublin.

Don't look now, the Vikings are coming, and Mad Max will be there:
Gibson: I want a Viking to scare you. I don’t want a Viking to say, “I’m going to die with a sword in my hand.” I don’t want to hear that. It pulls the rug out from under you. I want to see somebody who I have never seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living shit out of me coming up to my house. What is that like? What would that have been like?

Uh, like this?


More HERE.
Ah, but eventually even Vikings settled down and got jobs.

Viking DNA in modern UK.

Musical interlude of the day

Haiti report

Report on Blackfive from Rubicon Rescue

Posted for later reading

I have lots of stuff to do, so am posting links to articles to read slowly later in the day.

-------------
Attacks on Asians at SouthPhilly high are finally getting some legal pushback.

-----------------------------
Too much government money for electric wheelchairs?
the problem is with the regulation:
"To receive a complex rehabilitation wheelchair, a beneficiary's limitation must be deemed to result from a neurological condition, muscle disease or skeletal deformity."
---------------------------


Intergalactic Tube style map.

The map displays the vast and complex interconnections of the Milky Way in a familiar way Photo: SAMUEL ARBESMAN / NEWSTEAM

---------------------------------------
A UK reporter who has been immersed into the culture of death being promoted in Europe visits the dying in Venezuea and learns about choosing life
Yes, that is one reason that we returned to the Philippines.
(headsup NotDeadYetBlog).

Another UK article discusses another taboo subject: becoming hetero.
----------------------------

Puppy Cam!

(headsup Lileks).

Or, if you like birds, try Father Z's BirdfeederCam

Musical interlude of the day

Stuff below the fold

Joseph Pearce has a new book on CSLewis...Escape from Puritania.excerpt here.

--------------------------

Art as seeking beauty and Christianity as Eastern. An interview with Japanese artist Makoto Fujimora.
Blog HERE.
This abstract painting is called the River of Grace.

----------------------------------

Great Balls of Fire!
Webecoist discusses Holy meteorites.

In November, I posted about Tut's fireball, the Libyan glass that was found as a jewel on his mummy. Here's part of the BBC program



Webecoist has an article on meteor craters HERE.

--------------------

Cat photo of the day

They found a temple to the Cat Goddess, aka "Sekhmet, who was also associated with Hathor and was often referred to as Sekhmet-Hathor, Sekhet-Hor, etc. She figured in the destruction of mankind myth. Obviously, her ferociousness had been toned down a bit by Greek times:"

Headlines of the day

The really big electoral news: Erap is allowed to run again.

Well, that should mess up Noynoy's plans for an easy election.
---------------------------

WTF vote in Massachusetts. Good news for Republicans?

My take at BNN: No, the revolt of the moderates (Independents and Clinton Democrats) against the elites running Washington

-------------------------
Lucid Lynx alpha is available for download.

--------------------------
Starwars 1, Breast Cancer 0:
Microwave zapping as treatment for breast cancer?

--------------------------
Mbeki's advice from HIV denialists not to treat HIV patients resulted in 300thousand deaths...
More HERE and HERE.
Conspiracy theories do kill, and a lot of them start in prominent UK or US magazines.

--------------------

More earthquakes in Haiti...the Anchoress is following it.

----------------

What's wrong with this picture?

TimeMag says the 86 page report on the Fort Hood shootings doesn't mention one small detail.
---------------
and the really big news:
Sam Waterson finally got his big star.

Musical interlude of the day

For all those docs and rescuers who work hard to help people in need, this song is for you

Religious posts of the day

Say a prayer for those hurt by the earthquake
and donate if you can...

-------------------------------
Docs and moms and earthquake rescuers and others can't sit and "pray" but for Catholics prayer is lifting one's heart and mind to God, not saying words.

So a quote from St. Francis de Sales: "Do not distress yourself about your prayers. It is not always necessary to employ words, even inwardly, it is enough to raise your heart and let it rest on our Lord...

from fountainOfEliasBlog...also for those who "hate" pious hypocrites, they should know that spiritual writers have a list of various types of false piety, although I think John of the Cross describes them a lot better.

-------------------------------------

disaster Headlines below the fold

100118-N-4774B-006 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 18, 2010) U.S. Navy SH-60F Sea Hawk helicopters from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transport water and supplies from the airport to areas around Port-au-Prince. Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are conducting humanitarian and disaster relief operations as part of Operation Unified Response after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused severe damage near Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, 2010. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker/Released)

Haiti, the disaster.
Yes, when the airport has one runway, the port is wrecked, the roads are blocked by debris, it's hard to get in supplies.
Alltogethernow: It's the logistics stupid.

(headsup Instapundit)


Photo from Phil Inquirer:
TWO MEMBERS of the Filipino peacekeeping troops attend to injured Haitian children in one of the makeshift clinics that United Nations rescue workers set up in Port-au-Prince.
PHOTO COURTESY OF AFP PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS CENTER IN HAITI

Locating areas in Haiti prone to landslides using the space shuttle.

Yesterday's ManilaBulletin had a map of the Philippines with landslide prone and flood prone regions marked out...we are in the flood prone area, but since our home is on a slight rise, we usually don't get flooded out.
Last year's flood hit a lot of the lower rice fields at harvest time, which is why the Philippines will have to import rice (although we are harvesting winter crop now which might help).

This might help too: Scuba rice.
Scuba rice refers to rice varieties that contain the SUB1 (submergence 1) gene, which allows the rice to survive 10 to 14 days completely under water and is specifically designed to increase yield in flood-prone areas.

other related news:
5.8 earthquake in Caymans may be related to the Haiti earthquake

Family news

Joy is having laser surgery this morning for a detached retina...Chano and Ruby went down to be with her.

I'll email news when we get it, but she'll have to stay quiet a few days at her sister's place in Manila.

PreClovis Man in...southern Idaho?

In 1959 and 1960, Ruth Gruhn ...estimated... human habitation 14,500 years ago...using more advanced technology than existed in 1959, she concluded her original estimate of its first habitation was about right.

Subsequent research has shown that timeline is plausible. In 2006, Idaho State University archaeologists dug up stone tools from Castle Rocks State Park in Cassia County that they estimated were 16,000 years old.

not only was this during the ice age but

Geologists believe the first volcanic eruption at Craters of the Moon National Monument didn’t start until 15,000 years ago, and Clovis culture — until recently believed to mark the advent of humans in North America — didn’t emerge until 13,000 years ago.

more here

Musical Interlude of the day

Turn up speakers and dance!

headsup from TiaMaria

Insomnia download of the day

Want to increase your English Vocabulary?
Librivox has an audiobook of English Synonyms LINK

But if you really can't get to sleep, try Short Non fiction essays LINK which includes such gems as # "Poisonous Cheese" from A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons by Fredrick Accum and # Epicurus by Charles Bradlaugh

stuff below the fold

Good news: The Himalaya glaciers are not going to disappear soon.

Bad News: Gaia can't aim.
Danny Glover now says Gaia is mad at those high carbon people so has taken it out on the low carbon people of Haiti.

Uh, Gaia Florida is that a way...

more bad news: Guatamala has had an earthquake too...luckily not in an area with a lot of people.
-----------------------------

The drug war you never hear about: Iranian police against drug smuggling from Afghanistan.

Also the article mentions rumors of assasinations by the gov't being blamed on the west, while "moderates" are trying to keep things stable (see previous post on this).

----------------------
Cyberwar between the Koreas...
As the saying goes: Ain't payback a B*****?

--------------------

First it was "Kiroy was here", now it's "secret bible codes"...
presumably if the code was to "Independence day: P's a B" it would be okay.

Spiderman as Bilbo?

if true, good news.

But the One Ring Net says the rumor is not true.

But the article notes this bad news:

Maguire was said to be unhappy with the direction the fourth Spider-Man movie is set to take.

that is bad news for Spidie's friends...sounds like they are trying to change the character again. Sigh. Can't have a patriotic normal guy as a hero in Hollywood now, can we?

Family news

spent the day getting Lolo a checkup...first lab and xray here and then a CT of the head at Cabanatuan...which was normal...

He has been complaining of weakness of his right leg for a week, and now it's getting better, and so probably had a mild TIA back then.

Now that the scan etc are normal he feels better. We went from the hospital to Pizza Hut for a nice high fat high sodium pizza to celebrate before going home.

Musical interlude of the day

Sto Nino festival

The Sto Nino of Cebu->


Yup. Church full today, with lots of kids holding their "Santo Nino" statues. Outside, there is a band, dressed in red, and the float with the Sto Nino on top.

It's children's day, actually the day to celebrate Jesus as a child: reminding us that the Great creator of the universe was once a small boy living in an ordinary family, and that although the rich and famous are considered important by the world, that to God, the most important are the small and helpless: The children.



Unlike the sedate "Infant of Prague" found in US Churches, or even the kingly but smiling Sto Nino of Cebu, here the Santo Nino is a mischevious looking kid with his hands up, as if he's asking you to pick him up. I once spotted him in a local shop "dressed" in children's shorts with a baseball cap. (photo credit)

Often he wears a broad brim hat too, which is the "Spanish" version. You see, the StoNino in Spain and New Mexico is attached to a legend where a small boy brought Catholic prisoners in a Moorish prison some bread to eat. So the Nino is the patron of prisoners and miners.


Since Magellan left a statue of the Sto Nino in Cebu, they have a huge fiesta there.


El Nino is also associated with the black faced Atiatihan festival.
This fiesta predates Christianity, when the Ati tribe left the Panay Malays settle there, so everyone wears black face of the Ati tribe.

So another day, another fiesta.

Grandmom is always right

Headup SigmondCarl&Alfredblog

One way to prevent car theft

see more There I Fixed It

Musical interlude (Take Two)

Soulful Japan.

Headsup via Chachacha delos cristalis blog

Did ya ever have one of those days?

email of the day from Tiamaria...

Musical Interlude of the day

IT's BLINKY BILL AND HIS FRIENDS



turn up speakers and DANCE!

Factoid of the day

Yesterday I got my haircut.

and who is the patron saint of hairdressers?
Sts. Cosmos and Damian, the twin doctors.
Sr. Mary Martha explains why (because in the old days, barbers were surgeons).

Haiti. Sigh

Haiti disrupts into anarchy...the Anchoress quotes (war correspondent) Michael Yon saying :. This is for the military and those with them. The biggest danger will become the same desparate people you want to help.

so the US is sending 10thousand troops, and the good news: The CarlVinsen has arrived...with 19 helicopters.
with the roads and bridges destroyed, they will be needed.

the Philippines is sending a medical team too.

==================================

Fry bread take two

from the movie Smoke Signals, based on Sherman Alexie's book...

Fry Bread

Smithsonian magazine at link has an article about Navajo Fry Bread.

LINK and LINK are recipes, and below is HelenRoy's way to cook it...



want to die happy? Try using fry bread for making Indian Tacos...

Chicken post of the day

a virtual Robot chick

not to be confused with Robot chicken...
if you live in the US, you can watch RobotChickenStarWars HERE

Robot Chicken Star Wars II Part One - For more of the funniest videos, click here

Stories below the fold

Private security hackers 1, botnets 0.

--------------------
Dr.E at PersianParadox reports how moderates are trying to stop violence while instituting reform.
She also notes the Nuclear scientist who was killed by a sophisticated bomb was a known "green"...so whoever did the killing is to be condemned.

------------------
Note to Father Z: They need help translating Lord of the Rings into Latin..

Cat photo of the day

moar funny pictures

actually I have a squirt bottle to keep the cats off the table.
The bad news is that if I'm not at the table, the cats line up and beg fish from Lolo.

Family news

Lolo is traveling to Manila for an interview with the US embassy to see if he is entitled to the veteran's bonus for his service during World War II...
I stayed home to clean house...maybe if we can stop the dogs from sleeping in the bedroom we could have a clean house. Sigh.

Headlines below the fold

APPhoto from Inquirer showing Filipino and other UN peacekeepers helping in rescue.

So much aid is arriving that they had to shut the airport...and the roads are impassible.

half a million dead in Haiti?
It was not the earthquake, it was the poverty, corruption, and shoddy buildings.

Manila experts worry if we are prepared...
------------------------

A Little Princess

A little princess is another book by Frances Hodgson Burnett has been made into two movies and one cartoon. But the best version is that with Shirley Temple, which can be downloaded from YOU TUBE or the internet archives HERE.

Turn up speakers and dance:

Podcast of the week

If you enjoyed Julie and Julia you might want to listen to the podcast at the Free Library.
LINK

Headlines of the day

The news from Haiti keeps getting worse and worse.

The US Coast Guard is helping to land planes with supplies and rescue units from all over (airport tower was damaged), and the Carl Vinson is in the area and should be there by tomorrow.
But although the UN Peacekeeper's building was destroyed and some UN personnel have died: however, the 179 Filipino UN peacekeepers are now reported as safe and helping in the rescue.

Aid is pouring in from all over to help.
Yes there is good in the world.
-------------------------
we've also had another small quake, as has West Papua and the Soloman islands. Earthquake map HERE.

-------------------------
Read this and shudder.
Witness is related to both clans.
Yes, there is evil in the world.

-----------------------------------
The latest health scare, coming soon to a headline near you:
Carcinogenic dust from pavement crack sealent.

--------------------------------
Nigerian president in a Saudi hospital, and some unrest in that country. More HERE.

-------------------------
DrSanity links to an article that shows the data manipulation that sees all deaths of those without health insurance in the US as death from lack of health insurance, and points out the flaw in this assumption.

I'm glad someone noticed: Because if you go to the ER, they have to treat you, money or no money....yet few people bother to bring that up (of course, this means packed ER's but that's another story).

Part of our medical training was small meetings to discuss journal articles: and often we found what was reported was statistically flawed or contradicted by another article. So excuse my cynicism.

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Walking the Bible

I have the book and there was a PBS series about it too.
Here is a speech about the book.
I like it because it puts the stories into context of our humanity.

The Secret Garden

someone posted the Secret Garden on Youtube
(quick and watch it before the copyright police find out).
And if you prefer a radio version, ">go HERE...you have to convert to MP3 but never mind it's a nice version.

Green Sahara

video HERE


webpage HERE.
The End of the Era

By about 4,500 years ago, the climate began its slow deterioration to present day arid conditions. Humans no longer lived permanently at Gobero but rather migrated through the area with livestock, sometimes leaving a hearth or discarding their undecorated pottery.

there might have been a worldwide climate change 4500 years ago

more here about the climate change 4500 years ago that affected the Harappan civilization.

Insomonia download of the day

On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus

or you can listen to the original Gray's Anatomy...
this selection is about the nervous system. for pictures, you have to go to Bartlesby.

Hello Kitty post (take two)

from HK Guy (via Artisan Cakes by e.t.at HelloKittyHell:

Hello Kitty post for the day

Gift item of the day

Playmobil Security Check Point
Product Description
The woman traveler stops by the security checkpoint. After placing her luggage on the screening machine, the airport employee checks her baggage. The traveler hands her spare change and watch to the security guard and proceeds through the metal detector. With no time to spare, she picks up her luggage and hurries to board her flight!

(if you really want to laugh, read the customer comments at the bottom of the page)
(headsup TheCorner)

The sad part is that these folks put up with a lot of hassle and do try their best to keep us safe.

So I will lable this one "everyday heroes".

Family news

Lolo is fine, Chano is building an eco tourism/lecture building, and Joy is trying to get Lolo and my paperwork fixed up in Manila.

as for me:

moar funny pictures

Cellphones are good for you

Using a cellphone may get you into an accident, and there is some worry that over use of a cellphone near your ear (i.e. instead of texting, as we use them here) might cause brain cancer, but now the good news:

Cellphones prevent Alzheimers' disease (maybe):
Microwave radiation from cell phones may protect against and even reverse Alzheimer's-like symptoms, according to a new study involving genetically tweaked mice.

So, if you are a genetically tweaked mouse, this is good news.

Video posts of the day

Shebly Foote's best quotes on the PBS series the CivilWar.


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From History Net:The ten best and worst films about Aviation.
And Guess who came out as number one?

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and the eco friendly way to get rid of your Christmas tree:


and alas, the videos still crash the newest versions of Firefox and Chrome...

Walker Percy

PBS is planning a documentary on Walker Percy later this year.
Percy was an MD who gave up medicine due to TB.
One of his friends was Shelby Foote, the Civil War historian.

I have several of his books here with me, and Tolson's award winning biography

Quotes below the fold

MIAMI -- About 100,000 tropical fish being raised on a fish farm in South Florida couldn't bear the cold temperatures Sunday.

Altogether now:Al Gore Lied, and Guppies Died.

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Class, discuss: Oliver Stone plans to put Hitler and Stalin in Context.

Yes, and next week we'll discuss Ghengas Khan and Attila the Hun's gentler side.

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It's now official: Barbara Ehrenlich says Positive thinking is making us miserable.

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Guess who said this?

Our president... applied the freshness of his independent thought to the critical matters at hand. He had convened his seminar, reviewed the reviews, analyzed the intelligence every which way, thought anew about everything, and lo and behold, he finally emerged to tell us some stuff we already knew.

We are under attack.

There is evil in the world...

Our airports are not safe.

Metal detectors can’t detect nonmetal explosives sewn into underwear.

Our incomplete no-fly lists are more like “Welcome aboard” lists.

We still can’t connect the dots, even when the dots are flying at us like 3-D asteroids...

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In the past, we dressed up before flying. Nowadays, a Philippine columnist advises you to travel in casual clothing before you enter the gulag of flying.

2Dress down. I mean, show as much skin as your sense of decency would allow, hoping screeners would get a clue that you’re not hiding anything explosive. I’m talking garter or drawstring shorts, T-shirts (some actually wear camiseta), slippers (preferably flip-flops), which are easier to shed because for some mystical reason, the screeners ask you to take them off anyway even if they see your feet.

Archeology links of the day

Note: The FR articles often link with other articles discussing the topic, but might be filtered out at work because it is political forum.

Ancient Taiwan FRLINK
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Statue of Black Pharaoh found

A Black Pharaoh

• Royal Nubia lies under sand
• Rare Nubian King Statues Uncovered in Sudan
• Surprise Finds At Egypt Temple "Change Everything"
• How Pharaoh Sailed To Karnak
• Black Pharaohs
• SSU exhibit explores archaeology in ancient Nubia [Savannah State University ]
• In The Reign Of The Black Pharaohs

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El Dorado? Earthworks in the Amazon.
FRLINK
1491

Right now I'm reading Pox Americana, about the Smallpox epidemic of 1770's
It includes a section tracing the disease spread up trade routes to Canada.
LINK
Related link

Boring rants linked for your enjoyment

despite brown outs and parties I have written a few rants at BNN.

• Missing the Panty Bomber because PC Rules, 08 Jan 2010

• Is the Comelec Break In connected with the “Hello Garci” Scandal?, 07 Jan 2010

• The Case of the Anthrax Letters is still Open, 06 Jan 2010

• The Hobbits versus the Nanny State, 04 Jan 2010

• How did the “Panty-bomber” get a US Visa?, 29 Dec 2009

• The Breastfeeding Madonna, 29 Dec 2009