Sometimes Life Can Be Very Interesting

Just When You Thought...

Who knew? (photo credit-email from Jo Anna)

When I got an e-mail from Jo Anna that explained that there is a tab on the end of foil and other wraps to secure the roll, I went to the kitchen to see for myself. I couldn't believe that I was so unobservant! All these years of the roll falling out, unraveling across the floor, me rolling it back up, stuffing the crumpled mess back in the box, and not once did I ever look on the end and see there was a lock to keep the roll in place.

I am glad I'm not the only one.
I sent the e-mail to Marian, (celebrating 89 years last month), and she hadn't known about it either!

Great Month in the Night Sky

Just before dawn on February 22, look to the east.

Tonight as I was headed to the store around 6:30, there was a dramatic hail storm that accompanied lightning and thunder. It was fun. When I came out with my bag of food, it was raining very lightly. While walking to the Buick, I looked up toward the western sky, and there was Venus, brightly shining through the clouds and rain.

To quote Joe Rao, (Space.com); "If you ever wanted to see a planet so bright it will take your breath away, this is your week and Venus is the planet."

I cant remember a time when I have seen Venus as bright and eye grabbing as I have in the last few weeks. I am glad to find out that it is that way for others, as well. It should be perfect for valentines evening. As my Dad would say to Mom at times like this; "I ordered this brightly shining Venus just for you dear."


Penguins Move With Food

"Did you pack my tuxedo?"

From a Discovery News article by; Emily Sohn.

Their prey, which includes squid, anchovies and other small fish, have moved north. So, the birds are now swimming an average of 60 km (37 miles) further to get food for their young, Dee Boersma reported last year in the journal BioScience. Chicks are often left hungry for up to two weeks. Many don't make it.

These findings suggest the need for a major shift in the way we think about protecting penguins, as well as other marine creatures, said conservation biologist Dee Boersma, of the University of Washington in Seattle.


Another Crash Landing

British Airways flight BA8456 from Amsterdam with 67 passengers and four crew on board crash-landed at London's City airport. All 67 passengers were evacuated safely although four people were slightly injured according to the London ambulance service. Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

Cute Coal Video

Parody of anti-global warming ads...See it HERE

More About Space Junk

Space junk surrounding the Earth

I was reading an article about 8 strange pieces of space junk we have circling our planet, (http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/spacestuff.html ), and the one that caught my eye was, Pee!

6. Pee
Over the years, most of the urine produced by astronauts has been simply dumped overboard. Once pee hits the cold vacuum of space, it quickly freezes into tiny crystals which then float around as debris. (Astronauts have described watching urine being released into space as one of the most beautiful sights in orbit). Recently, however, a new pee-recycling system was brought up to the International Space Station to turn urine into drinking water, cutting down on the pee debris.

Good picture of the space station

"Is That You, Joe?"

I was ready to go to sleep early on this Valentines Day-night, and after answering a couple of phone calls, I turned out the light, said goodnight to God and Chrissy,got the covers and pillow just right, and dozed off. At some point, I came to the surface with the thought,"I bet I could find Joe Shamwell using Google search."

"That's true", I said back to myself. "But, I am sure it can wait until the morning, it feels really good here in bed. Let's go back to sleep."

My inner dialogue continued as I tried to reclaim my soothing slumber, until I finally compromised by bringing my laptop to bed so I would be all set to go back to sleep after I checked to see if I could find an address for Joe. I found 2,090 results on Google, but I soon realized we wouldn't be doing a lot of e-mailing...

Songwriter and radio broadcaster Joe Shamwell dies at the age of 62

(October 18, 2006) ABC Radio/Washington, D.C. research director Joe Shamwell died in his sleep Tuesday (Oct. 17). He was 62. Before joining ABC Shamwell was research director for crosstown Howard University urban AC WHUR/Washington.





Joe was my friend and co-songwriter back in Jackson, Mississippi.

When I was doing my radio show on WJDX-FM in 1968, he was doing his show on WOKJ. We would get together and listen to music, write songs, and share as much as we could of our black and white cultures. When Fred Mitchell and I built Jackson Sound Studios, one of my productions was an album that I co-wrote with Joe called, "Natural Blackness".

I noticed that all the sites were using the same biography of Joe, and that it was wrong. I found one site that encouraged additions and corrections and I did my part to set the record straight. If it was Joe who contacted me in my dream state, was that what he wanted, or is there more to this than getting the historical record straight?

Thanks for waking me up, Joe.
I remember great times we shared as young idealists in Jackson.

Speaking of Google

My Humor page theme

I have many Google products that make my computer life easy.

iGoogle is like a Home Page portfolio. I have collections of, "gadgets", (also known as widgets), that display information, pictures, videos, mailboxes, newspapers, etc. in small boxes that I collect and arrange on pages with names like; Home, Chico-Redding, News, Humor, Technology, Art, Music and more.

This gives me the ability to quickly scan hundreds of items, in specific catagories, for something that I might find interesting. I can then read the story, hear the song, watch the video, look at the pictures, digest the information and comment, act upon, or respond in someway to many of this worlds marvels I might otherwise have missed.

Some of Google's stuff is just for the Mac, and some is just for Windows, but most of what they have, (and it's alot), works on both operating systems. I love this stuff.

Todays Relatively Appropriate Song;
Sabre Dance
-Vanessa Mae

Happiness