Category: Things that catch my eye

This is not a polital blog, but I am missing something here and maybe you all can help me. I hear a lot of talk about how the Kerry statement was just a joke, but I don’t understand how Kerry could not have expected this not to be taken as anything but a direct insult.

I started thinking on this more when a good friend of mine, from Florida, sent me this picture last night in an email:

This is in response to a recent Kerry speech in which he said:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Continue reading John Kerry on Iraq? Soldiers are stupid, Vote Democrat or die, or Bush is stupid?

CNN Headlines reported this morning:

NASA has delayed tomorrow’s landing of the space shuttle Atlantis after engineers spotted a mystery object outside the shuttle; weather at the Florida landing site also is a concern. 

 In the CNN article “Mystery object delays shuttle landing”

“NASA engineers spotted the object at about 2:45 a.m EDT Tuesday with a video camera in the shuttle’s cargo bay.

The object, which circled the Earth in the same orbit as the shuttle and is of undetermined size […]
It’s something that we didn’t expect, but it’s something that we’re taking a real close look at,”

This has of course lead to rampant speculation around the office.   The current leading theory is:

Continue reading “Mystery object” delays space shuttle landing…

This story was sent to you by: Dan

——————–

Irwin’s life: A documentary about love, not crocs

——————–

Sheryl P. Kurland

September 8, 2006

While grief over the tragic loss of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin reverberates around the world, the loss of his life hit home. Not because I believe in his conservation causes. (I do.) Not because I agree with his humanitarianism. (I do.) Not because I adore crocodiles. (I do.) It’s the two words I have written in parenthesis — I do — that tell the story. Irwin’s death fell on the cusp of my 17th wedding anniversary. And, as news interviews with those who knew him best reveal, Irwin was, above all, a committed husband to Terri, his only wife and wife of 14 years, and devoted father to his two children.

With our 50 percent divorce rate for first marriages, 67 percent for second marriages and 74 percent for third marriages, their love was a sight seldom seen these days.

Irwin’s life was not about the crocs. His antics with animals were merely a front that allowed us to peer into his heart. And how ironic it is that death befell him by the physical piercing of that extraordinary heart.

As I spend hours watching reruns of his most memorable shows on Animal Planet, I notice that the dynamics between Irwin and his creature friends in the wild pale in comparison to those between him and Terri. The couple shared an unspoken rhythm. Their eyes locked often, they were both filled with verve and gusto, they were both so alive. (Even his 2002 cornball movie Collision Course gushed with romance, though the two never shared a love scene.)

The Irwins lived as husband and wife were meant to be. Working together. Laughing together. Dreaming together. A role-model couple whose dreaming has been cut short. It should have lasted forever.

Fans tuned in for danger, close calls and his trademark beaming grin, but he unabashedly broke stride to take us up close and personal. Footage from their wedding showed a tearful Irwin as he and Terri exchanged “I do’s.” The newlyweds took us on their camping honeymoon to northern Australia. At the birth of their first baby, he wept. At the birth of their second baby, he wept more. (Note the order, marriage first, children second. Another fledgling trend.) Irwin showed how marriage and family life are connected to one’s larger sense of purpose in life.

Their role-model marriage is one in which we should revel. Yet, it is soon to be overshadowed by the erupting global mania over Vanity Fair’s new cover story heralding Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, unmarried, and the first public photographs of their newborn daughter. Consider the facts: This is Tom’s third young damsel to be anointed “the one.” His first, a marriage to “the one” terminated in less than three years. His second, a marriage to “the one” lasted less than 10 years. Any bets in Vegas how long TomKat will last? Will they tie the knot before Katie awakens from his rule and decides to take charge of herself? Their lavish, glamorized, glorified relationship is probably just one more notch in the bedpost of celebrity shams. Time will bear witness.

Indeed, Steve Irwin’s life and legacy remind us that life is not about fame and fortune. He leaves us with lessons about true love and human passion. Crikey, Mate, we’re gonna miss you!

I do.

Sheryl P. Kurland of Longwood is a speaker and author of “Everlasting Matrimony: Pearls Of Wisdom From Couples Married 50 Years Or More” — www.EverlastingMatrimony.com. Copyright (c) 2006, Orlando Sentinel | Get home delivery – up to 50% off

Visit OrlandoSentinel.com

I’ve just noticed that BBC7 – the British radio station that simulcasts on an Internet stream – recently re-aired the Doctor Who episode series “Shada”.

Shada was originally a never made six episode series from 1980 when Tom Baker was starring as the fourth Doctor. And who wrote many of the episodes starring Tom Baker (including this Shada)? Why none other than the late great Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame. Shada was actually Douglas’s last contribution to the Doctor Who TV universe. And finally on New Years Day 2006, it saw (heard) the light (sounds) of day in the shape of made for radio drama aired world wide on BBC7. And this week it was rebroadcast – DON’T MISS IT!!! One word of warning, the plot has been transposed to take place during the eighth incarnation of the Doctor – Paul McGann. Oh – and K9 is there too! 🙂 It’s funny, Shada Episode One starts with The Doctor (McGann) giving with a brief description of the scenes from The Five Doctors when he was in a different incarnation (Baker). It’s just strange. (I guess you had to be there….)

Parts of this episode were filmed with Tom Baker but it was never completed. In fact, if you’ve seen the movie “The Five Doctors” all of the Tom Baker scenes in that movie were original footage made for the Shada episode. “Shada” was first aired over the Christmas holidays last year.

I know it is late notice but today and tomorrow, you can go to BBC7’s “Listen Again” page and scroll down to the 7th Dimension section at 18:00 to see the listing for Shada. It requires Real Player, but you can just click the “Listen Again” link or icon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/

On Sunday, you can still cheat and listen to the show by connecting directly to the RAM file any time right up till 11:59:59pm London time. Shortly after that, the second episode in the Shada series will be found at that link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/rams/0000.ram

If you’ve stumbled on this post after this date and have missed the first episode, send me an email. I’ll commiserate with you. Or you can check out the online comic version of Shada that was written for the now defunct Cult BBC pages. You need to have Flash to enjoy the visual and audio extravaganza: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/shada/one/index.shtml

You can also read more about the episode plot here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/shada/plot.shtml

Favorite Quote: “Tea?” “Yes please.” “Milk?” “Yes” “One lump or two?” “Two please.” “Sugar?” “What???”

BBC7’sEpisode Summary:

DOCTOR WHO: SHADAWritten by Douglas Adams. Directed by Nicholas Pegg. Produced by Big Finish Productions.
Saturday December 10 at 8pm

The good Doctor made a comeback to TV in 2005. But this Douglas Adams adventure has made a comeback on radio instead! Starring Paul McGann, Susannah Harker and Edward Fox.
The Doctor has a spot of unfinished business. Reunited with his old friends Romana and K9, he answers a summons from Professor Chronotis, a retired Time Lord now living the academic life in a Cambridge college.

But the Doctor isn’t the only visitor to Cambridge. Somewhere in the city is the sinister alien Skagra, who is intent on stealing an ancient and mysterious book brought to Earth by the Professor many years before.

What is Skagra’s diabolical masterplan? And who or what is the mysterious Shada? To discover the truth, the Doctor and his friends must embark on a perilous journey that will take them from the cloisters of Cambridge to the farthest reaches of deep space, risking deadly encounters with a sentient spaceship, the monstrous Krargs, and an ancient Time Lord criminal called Salyavin. As the Doctor soon discovers, the fate of the universe hangs in the balance…

A Los Angeles video news service sued YouTube Inc. on Friday in federal court for allowing its users to upload copyrighted video footage onto the popular Web site.

It turns out that the videographer that filmed the OJ chase and the of the beating of trucker Reginald Denny during the LA riots in 1992, is suing YouTube because his video is popular.

This follows YouTube being sued by the RIAA because it included videos WITH SOUND of kids dancing to music. And gosh – none of the 14 year olds paid royalties to dance with the music… go figure!

(BTW this is done with the automated DIGG posting system. I figured I’d give it a try…)

read more | digg story

—————
If you would like to promote this article, please vote to Digg It

Excerpts from: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/13/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — President Bush arrived Tuesday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Bush and his top officials had begun a two-day summit at Camp David, Maryland, on Monday to discuss Iraq’s progress and had scheduled a teleconference with al-Maliki for Tuesday morning.

But Bush secretly left for Iraq on Monday night to see al-Maliki in person.

Bush’s visit comes less than a week after a U.S. airstrike killed terrorist leader Musab al-Zarqawi and the Iraqi parliament approved the prime minister’s nominations for three key security posts in the new Cabinet, ending a stalemate among politicians over these positions.
[..]
Had those posts been filled sooner, Bush would have made the trip months earlier, [U.S. Presidential counselor Dan] Bartlett said.
[..]
“When you’re dealing with issues of enormous consequence, the security of our country, the security of the Middle East and the world, and you’re making such monumental decisions, it’s critically important that you’re able to meet with the new leader, confer with the leader, who you’re going to be making those decisions with,” Bartlett said.

I caught this news article last week and it definately raised my eyebrowse as this is a medicine i’ve had perscriptions for both Serevent and Advair for the past two years. I haven’t taken Advair at all this year nor much of the latter half of last year, since my symptoms have decreased. Still…

A friend of my wife had an asthma attack last year while on vacation. She’s preped herself for a month before hand – dilegently taking her battery of medicines. Near the end of the vacation, the family left giving her a couple days on her own. That’s when she had what I understand was her first and only asthma attack during the vacation. It was bad enough that a woman in a nearby room heard her and called for an ambulance. By the time the paramedics got there, her heart had stopped. Flatlined – dead…

With drugs and physical intervention, they revived her, only to have her OD on the stuff they revived her with. This caused her heart to stop again. Once again they revived her again. This time it stuck.

She’s alive and well and part of the knitting group Denise attends on Tuesday nights.

Advair was one of the medications she diligently used to prep herself for the vacation.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/163034

Asthma Inhaler Type Could Boost Death Risk

June 8, 2006 08:47:39 PM PST
By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
Yahoo! Health: Addiction News

THURSDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) — Adding to the ongoing controversy over a popular class of asthma inhaler medications, a new data review suggests the drugs may be dangerous.
Continue reading [Advair] more than tripled users’ risk of asthma-linked death