Finestkind Clinic and fish market

Sigh

2009-11-09T11:20:00.001+08:00

Benny HIll

2009-11-09T10:14:00.004+08:00

Benny Hill won't get his own stamp in the UK:

"Benny Hill has been included in previous presentations but concerns were raised by our public relations team as it was in direct opposition to company's policies on harassment in the workplace," the minutes stated.

Gift item of the day

2009-11-09T10:06:00.003+08:00

A Nativity set for the bear lovers in your home.

Stuff below the fold

2009-11-09T09:09:00.003+08:00

How a casual remark brought down the Berlin Wall...
BBC calls it a "baffling year".

JP2, Reagan, Thatcher, andSolzhenitsyn might have had something to do with it...

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Pashtuns and Kurds and Baluchis o my...

Do you give tribes their own country, or integrate them into larger countries, or ethnically cleanse the area, like the Turks did to the Greeks?

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Forget the JDAMS:

Beware of the Bears.

Movie Suggestion for the week

2009-11-09T07:19:00.002+08:00

Post Traumatic stress syndrome is not a new problem...

and for my spin on the Fort Hood murders, I have it on BNN. And my non PC version is HERE.

Japanese names

2009-11-08T15:11:00.003+08:00

I am always fascinated on how different cultures devise names.

Until the reforms of the Meiji period, one's "name" would essentially be a description of one's family...

"...Here's how it breaks down: Saito, the family name, refers to a real or fictitious ancestor's official post as head of ritual purification (sai) at Ise Grand Shrine in present-day Mie Prefecture, the nation's holiest Shinto site. Ichiro, meaning "first-born son" (just as Jiro means "second son," Saburo "third son," and so on) isn't so much a name, as it would be today, as a kind of decoy — more on that in a moment. Sama-no-kami means "Head of the Left Horse Stables," an ancient title evocative of ancestry serving in the Imperial Palace, where all duties were divided for symmetry into "left" and "right." Minamoto is a clan name. Ason is another ancient title, of the sort known as kabane — there were eight in all, awarded to clan chieftains most eligible for hereditary government office. And Tadayoshi is the personal name, whose utterance in everyday situations that decoy "Ichiro" made unnecessary. Why was that desirable? Because in Japan until the Meiji Era, personal names — used sparingly even today — were taboo..."

headsup TokyoMango

First step toward a space elevator?

2009-11-08T15:00:00.001+08:00

"...The team's robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.

Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at the robot's photo voltaic cells that converted the light into electricity, the LaserMotive machine completed one of its climbs in about three minutes and 48 seconds, good for second-place money..."

podcast on space elevator HERE

Purple Waffle Plant 1, indoor pollution 0

2009-11-07T19:45:00.002+08:00

want to decrease indoor pollution?

Buy a houseplant.

According to Kays, some indoor plants have the ability to effectively remove harmful VOCs from the air, and not only have the ability to improve our physical health, but also have been shown to enhance our psychological health. Adding these plants to indoor spaces can reduce stress, increase task performance, and reduce symptoms of ill health.

Photo: Hemigraphis alternata, or purple waffle plant, one of the highest rated ornamentals for removing indoor air pollutants. (Credit: Photo courtesy of Dr. Stanley Kays)

Medical photo of the day

2009-11-07T11:05:00.004+08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

and now for the really bad news:

You can give it to Fluffy...

moar funny pictures

actually, cross species infections are a real danger...which is why SARS and Bird flu are so dangerous...and why a lot of us worry about the hype about cross species transplatation or making Chimeras that can live...

Hot Chocolate, Colombian Style

2009-11-07T09:11:00.002+08:00

MyColombianRecipesBlog has instructions on how to make Colombian style Hot Chocolate.

You can eat it with PanDeYuca...

Hint: quesoFresco is farmer's cheese...similar to Mozzarella or pressed cottage cheese...how to make it found HERE.