Bogus HUD Official Exposes New Orleans

A man who pulled a hoax on Louisiana officials and 1,000 contractors by presenting himself as a federal housing official said Monday he intended to focus attention on a lack of affordable housing in New Orleans.

By the way, the media hasn't exactly gotten the story right. This guy is trying to show what's really happening to the residents displaced by Katrina. There's perfectly good housing that WAS NOT touched by the flood waters, but there's just one problem - the rich folkes want the land, so the city is going to tear it down. This is the ultimate plan for New Orleans, drive out the poor African Americans, and build a new kind of city - Just a Traveler

Back to the story - here was the real agenda . . .

"We basically go around impersonating bad institutes or institutes doing very bad things," said the man, who identified himself as Andy Bichlbaum, a 42-year-old former college teacher of video and media arts who lives in New York and Paris.

"That would be HUD. At this moment, they're doing some really bad things."

Bichlbaum introduced himself as Rene Oswin, an official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

He followed Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (dumb dumb) and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (dumber) to the lectern this morning at a meeting of the Gulf Coast Reconstruction and Hurricane Preparedness Summit, and he laid out plans for what HUD should be doing for the poor people of New Orleans.

In his speech, Bichlbaum said the department's mission was to ensure affordable housing is available for those who need it.

"This year, in New Orleans, I'm ashamed to say we have failed," he said.

To change that, HUD would reverse its plans to demolish 5,000 units "of perfectly good public housing," with housing in the city in tight supply, he said.

Former occupants have been "begging to move back in," he said. "We're going to help them to do that."

The government's practice had been to tear down public housing where it could, because such projects were thought to cause crime and unemployment, he said.

But crime rates in the city are at a record high and there is no evidence that people in the projects are more likely to be unemployed, he said.

The man added that it also would be essential to create conditions for prosperity.

Toward that end, he said, Wal-Mart would withdraw its stores from near low-income housing and "help nurture local businesses to replace them."

Wal-Mart was unmoved, and a spokesman stated that they had recently reopened two stores in the New Orleans metropolitan area, and there is absolutely no truth to these statements.

In a comment that elicited applause from the contractors and builders, Bichlbaum said, "With your help, the prospects of New Orleanians will no longer depend on their birthplace, and the cycle of poverty will come to an end."

Finally, to ensure another hurricane does not inundate the city, Exxon and Shell have promised to spend $8.6 billion "to finance wetlands rebuilding from $60 billion in profits this year," he said.

Hud officials in Washington said this was a sick joke. The only thing "sick" about this situation is that the original residents of New Orleans are no longer welcome in their hometown.

Read For Whom is New Orleans Being Rebuilt?

U.S. Online Users Being Held Hostage

According to market analysts, the costs U.S. users pay for broadband service is more than eight times higher than what subscribers pay in Japan and South Korea.

Japanese consumers pay a mere 75 cents per megabit. South Koreans are charged only 73 cents.

But U.S. users are paying $6.10 per megabit. Internet service abroad is also much faster than it is here.

Why are U.S. online users being held hostage to higher rates at slower speeds?

Blame the business plans of the phone and cable companies.

As technology pioneer Bob Frankston and PBS tech columnist Robert Cringely recently explained , the phone and cable companies see our broadband future as merely a "billable event."

Frankston and Cringely urge us to be part of a movement where we--and our communities--are not just passive generators of corporate profit but proactive creators of our own digital futures.

That means we would become owners of the "last mile" of fiber wire, the key link to the emerging broadband world. For about $17 a month, over ten years, the high-speed connections coming to our homes would be ours--not in perpetual hock to phone or cable monopolists.

Under such a scenario, notes Cringely, we would just pay around $2 a month for super-speed Internet access.

Source: The Nation

Join the fight for Internet Freedom! Find out where YOUR SENATORS STAND
http://www.savetheinternet.com/

10 Man Made Wonders of the World

While it’s the phenomenal feats of mere mortals that comprise the list of man-made wonders, actually seeing them in person is nothing short of divine.

Little surprise, given that many favorite creations were designed with a heavenly audience in mind, whether in the depths of a Cambodian jungle, on an Athenian or Peruvian hilltop, or deep in a Mexican peninsula.

While a list of this sort could easily cover just ancient wonders like these, there's room for modern and contemporary marvels, too, picking a good dose of both, on homegrown soil and as far away as Asia, while also looking to the future – and pegging a cutting-edge city with the promise of wonders still to come.

http://shermanstravel.com/destinations/top_ten/Man_Made_Wonders#4

Imbalance in Wealth and Power

To gain some perspective on the extent of human suffering, avarice, and depravity associated with the gross imbalance in wealth and power, weigh these facts:

1. More than half of the 6.5 billion human souls populating Earth subsist on less than $2 per day. 790 million of the deeply impoverished suffer from chronic malnutrition (while 65% of US Americans are overweight).

2. 20% of the human race does not have access to clean water and 31% of the world’s population has no electricity.

3. Combining the gross domestic products of the 48 poorest nations (representing 25% of global population) yields a figure that is less than the wealth of the three richest people in the world.

4. “Developed nations” account for 80% of the world’s consumption and 20% of the world’s population.

5. The wealth gap between the richest and poorest countries went from 3 to 1 in 1820 to 72 to 1 in 1992.

6. Corporations account for over half of the 100 wealthiest entities in the world.

7. And most tragically:
“According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year.”

Source: Global Issues.org

The Human Element

On this really cool site, you can select a face from among hundreds around the world - and discover the human element - http://www.dow.com/Hu/

The International Eco Tourisim Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people."

This means that those who implement and participate in ecotourism activities should follow the following principles:

- Minimize impact
- Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect
- Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts
- Provide direct financial benefits for conservation
- Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people
- Raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate
- Support international human rights and labor agreements

Artificial Islands Attract Tourism

Dubai invests in artificial resort islands to attract tourism dollars

The Palm Islands will support luxury hotels, residential villas, theme parks, restaurants and shopping malls.

In Dubai, space for hotels and beachfront villas is being created on four artificial islands being constructed off the crowded coastline. The first and smallest was completed in 2004 and is shaped like a palm tree.

A phase under construction will comprise 264 smaller islands forming a vast map of the world. Altogether, four of these huge new projects are to be crafted out of rock and sand.

Unlike the other Gulf States, Dubai has practically no oil reserves, and has therefore set its sights on luxury tourism, aiming to boost the numbers of tourists visiting the country from the current 4.5 million per year to twice that number in just five years' time.

These tourists are primarily looking for accommodation close to the water, but the problem is that Dubai's coastline is only about 18 miles long.

Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai has therefore developed an ambitious plan to create four offshore islands, shaped to generate the greatest possible length of shoreline.

Three islands will be shaped like palm trees, whilst the fourth will effectively comprise 264 smaller islands together forming a map of the world. Each of the projects will be protected by its own breakwater.

Dubai is aiming to serve the market for moneyed tourists and owners of second homes. Dubai can offer sun, sea, sand and safety - safety being relatively simple to achieve on an island so easily shut off from the rest of the world, thus guaranteeing privacy for the rich and famous.

Source: Concrete Monthly

Women Travelers and Sex Tourism

As the spread of AIDS continues around the world, especially in Africa, the Caribbean islands, and Asian countries, the subject of sex tourism among women is a popular subject being featured in books, films and plays . . . just a traveler

An estimated 600,000 Western women have engaged in travel sex from 1980 to the present. About one in 30 holiday encounters leads to a lasting relationship.

Featuring Charlotte Rampling as one of a trio of female sex tourists in Haiti in the 1970s, the movie Heading South can be expected to increase the number of women seeking holiday romances.

The play Sugar Mummies, slated to open in London next month, similarly features lots of sex between middle-aged women and the men they visit in Jamaica, and may further boost awareness of holiday flings in the Caribbean and worldwide.

"The Jamaican tourist board noted a quantifiable increase in trips to Jamaica after the 1998 release of the film How Stella Got Her Groove Back," notes Jeannette Belliveau, 52, the Baltimore, Md.-based author of Romance on the Road: Traveling Women Who Love Foreign Men.

"Heading South and Sugar Mummies are even more explicit looks at travel sex than Stella," Belliveau noted.

"Heading South shows a whole group of women -- American, English and French Canadian -- interested in no-strings relationships with Caribbean guys."

"Whereas Stella might be taken as a movie about one American author's accidental romance on holiday," she added, "Heading South makes it clear that this is a mass phenomenon and a response to dating wars and man shortages at home.

"Overall, the film is a tremendously accurate look at female sex tourism."

Given Haiti's economic and health problems, Belliveau noted that "Heading South may encourage women to visit, rather than Haiti itself, the neighboring Dominican Republic, with its underground reputation for having men, many who are Haitian emigres, who want to give visiting women an unforgettable sexual experience."

Both Heading South, the film, and Romance on the Road, the book, touch on the engines propelling female sex tourism:

• Man shortages. In the movie, Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), aged 55, notes, "If you are over 40, and not as dumb as a fashion model, the only guys who are interested in you are natural-born losers or husbands who's wives are cheating on them." Male shortages are real and especially acute for urban Western women, while male surpluses are common in the developing world. A plane ticket may cure loneliness for both parties.

• The commodification of sex and sexual connoisseurship. In the film, Legba, the Haitian lover of two of the women, receives necklaces, meals and bus money from his girlfriends, and appears to genuinely like both of them in return. The women's gifts procure them a youthful, virile young lover who would be off-limits to them back home.

• Benefits to poor men. Legba is shown giving cash obtained as gifts from foreign girlfriends to his impoverished mother. In the real world, in the West African nation of the Gambia, young beach boys similarly pass their earnings from foreign girlfriends to their mothers, who protested when the government wanted to crack down on their sons' activities.

• Healing for the divorced or unhappily married woman. Brenda (played by Karen Young) enjoys her first orgasm at age 45 with a teen-aged Legba. And Sue, a visitor to Haiti (played by Louise Portal), is rejected by men at home in Montreal. But in the sweetest scene in the film, her lover Neptune, a fisherman, sells his catch of the day and then goes to a sleeping Sue, undressing, slipping into bed, and tenderly stroking her arm.

• Identity loss. Sue notes, "Here, I feel like a butterfly, free, alive, unattached. I love Nepture. Elsewhere, it'd be laughable. But not here. Here it isn't, because we all become different." Women who lived sedate lives at home, ignored by male co-workers and friends, feel free to act differently far from home, when foreign men treat them as desirable and worth pampering.

Basic facts about female sex tourism

(Citing: Romance on the Road: Traveling Women Who Love Foreign Men):

• In addition to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Barbados remain the giants of Caribbean sex tourism by women.

• Worldwide, Greece, Spain and Italy also attract female holidaymakers, as do Gambia and Kenya in Africa.

The beach boys of Phuket in Thailand and Bali in Indonesia appeal to Japanese and Australian women.

Less well-known destinations for women seeking romance with local Romeos include Nepal, Chiang Mai in Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, virtually all smaller Caribbean islands, Ecuador, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Fiji, and Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.

• Casual travel sex by women has been around for more than 150 years and likely began with Lady Jane Digby, an Englishwoman, in 1849, as she entertained three suitors during a brief visit to Rome.

Throughout the Victorian and Edwardian eras, American and English women visited Southern Europe, the Near East and India for scandalous love affairs, typically with marchese, sheiks, maharajas and princes.


Source: Beaumonde Press

American Movies Popular in France

The Pirates of the Caribbean have seized Paris -- and most of France!

Since the Hollywood blockbuster opened here last week, the Pirates have shot to the top of the cinema charts and swash buckled past other selections.

And though the black skull and cross bones Jolly Roger will hardly be replacing the tricolor blue, white, red French flags, there's little doubt that American films have long ago secured a beachhead in a land which has, let's face it, a love/hate relationship with the USA.

It's hard not to notice or to miss the overwhelming American influence over French cinema tastes.

Of the top ten films now playing in Paris, eight are from the U.S., including The Lake House, Superman Returns, Flight 93, Garfield 2, etc. American movies are popular for their special effects and action scenes while the heavily state subsidized French film industry turns out more cultural or comedic movies -- the types that don't pull in big box office numbers.

Clearly the grand cinemas of the Montparnasse and Champs Elysees are immersed by Hollywood flicks.

Over the past year for example, of the top ten films playing in the Paris region, again seven are American with Harry Potter leading the list. Other films include the Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, and Ice Age.

Now Miami Vice and Adieu Cuba (the Lost City) Andy Garcia's nostalgic view of old Havana, have just opened.

Actually the fascination with America goes beyond movies -- TV and radio are equally deluged by selections from the U.S. Clearly in the market place of choice in entertainment, America remains an odds on favorite.

While French selections are easily found, and in many cases of high quality, the fact remains that the popular choice favors the U.S.

Why is this all so important?

While much of the French political class, right and left, rails against the bete noir of "globalization" such is a simple fact for quite a long time.

Is not the rock music which is easily found on the airwaves for at least forty years not a part of the musical globalization? And what of the worldwide trend towards wearing blue jeans which have long ago been a "fashion" statement on all the continents?

Is this not part of a single, should we say "global" statement?

The T-shirts worn by so many Parisian youth, and the American baseball hats which have long been part of the fashion statement on the Paris Metro, reinforce a trend.

A Senegalese teenager in Paris will wear a New York Yankees cap, an Algerian kid will sport an NBA sweatshirt, and both will probably be Rap music fans, although in French, the language of Moliere!

The sociologists and the political doyens of the Rive Gauche will drone on about the French language and culture being under assault by the Americans, and in a way it really is, but at the same time let's not forget that in a society of free choice, selections cannot be programmed.

French and Americans may often differ over politics, but at the cinema box office, they seem to see things the same way.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues.

Images from Around the World

A Day in pictures from the BBC International Version
Some of the most striking images from around the world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5260006.stm

Making Change for Katrina

In response to my previous posting on the Katrina Critical Mass Movement, a fellow blogger stopped by and posted a link to her blog, which is dedicated to the national fundraising campaign.

It's so important that we do not forget Katrina. A natural disaster could happen to any town in the U.S., and any of us could be in the same situation. The response by our federal government was the most embarrassing response to any disaster in the world.

And to date, no resident in New Orleans has received ANY money to rebuild.

Here's the response to my posting, please visit the blog, the website and help our fellow Americans:

Check out my Blog! It's dedicated to a national fundraising campaign I'm working on and I update it daily on Hurricane Katrina/The Gulf news, discussions, and recovery/rebuilding efforts.

Making Change for Katrina

Cultural DNA

Wal-Mart recently announced it was pulling out of Germany, losing $1 billion along the way. Wal-Mart Critics say the corporate giant failed to understand the cultural DNA of the country.

Wal-Mart trains its employee "greeters" to smile at every customer coming through the door, and welcome them to Wal-Mart. However in Germany, this was unpopular.

While most Americans can't grasp that a country would feel that smiling and greeting customers as unpopular, we need to understand that the WORLD is not about "US" and how we think.

While Western culture, and our parents, teach us that "smiles" and "friendly greetings" are the way to get ahead on this side of the globe, in Germany too much of that is seen as suspect. Rather than think Germans are cold, and crazy for feeling this way, if you find yourself there - like Wal-Mart, it would be wise to know this information before investing millions of dollars into a concept that is contrary to German culture.

And from a tourist prospective, if you don't find many smiles on the streets of Germany, or even Russia, it's not because both cultures are unfriendly, it's just the way they have been socialized.

If its touchy, feely you want - then the Greeks and Italians are tops on the list. Westerners in these countries often find themselves in an environment that is maybe too intimate. In both countries the culture dictates lots of hugging and kissing. And in the Greek culture, the elderly have the authority, quite unlike here in the U.S., where being young and beautiful is the ultimate quest.

In France you will see people shaking hands a lot - they love this gesture. The French attitude is that they are superior to most cultures. Whether you believe that or not, they is what they have been socialized to believe. So if you plan to travel to France, get ready for that aspect. Also, in conversation, if you are perceived as being uninformed or unintelligent, you will be promptly ignored.

In other words, as we move into this global society, the skill most Westerners need to learn is seeing things from other cultures point of view - especially if we find ourselves in THEIR culture.

I personally feel one of the biggest problems this country faces today is the inability to fully understand the culture of the Middle East. We don't understand a lot of cultures around the world, but we find ourselves at war with Muslims at the present - so I'll start here.

In a recent post, I mentioned President Bush's remarks at the recent G8 Conference of world leaders. When asked about the start of the war with Lebanon and Israel, all our president wanted to talk about was "eating pig". The eating of pork is something both Jews and Muslims detest, and Bush is not "culturally aware" to realize his comments were insulting to both Jews and Muslims.

At the start of the Iraqi War, Bush mentioned the word "crusade", which was a call for Muslims around the world to fight. If you don't know what that means, then go back into the history of the "crusades". Of course his handlers quickly picked up on the uproar the mention of that word caused, and he hasn't mentioned that word again, but the damage was already done.

The latest insult is the phrase "Islamic Fascists", which is an insult to the religion of Islam, not a description of terrorists. If you disagree, then we should start tagging the word "Christian", "Catholic" or "Jewish" with the same terms. Are there no bad people in those religions?

Oh, I know we are a nation of "tags" and "labels", but let's stop the habit of throwing everyone in a particular religion or group into the same bag. It goes no where towards cultural diversity and understanding.

In the Caribbean islands Americans and other foreigners want to walk around town, shops and eating establishments in their swim wear - and this is against the social norms of local islanders. Also, visitors who want to disrobe on island beaches find that their behavior is not welcome, and sometimes against the islands law. While there are many islands, and places around the world that permit nude bathing, many visitors just don't do their homework and think they can impose their wishes wherever they go.

In many Asian countries opening doors for others is not part of the cultural norm. Does that mean if someone in these cultures don't hold the door, or open the door for you that they are rude. No, it just means that it is not something that is taught at home, or an expectation in their culture.

On the other side of the coin, many visitors to this country find Americans cold, and unfriendly. Around the globe, it is well known that Americans are suspicious of strangers, especially people of color, people of Arab descent, and those who just look different from the "average" American. Of course one has to ask, what is the "average" American?

The next time you travel outside the country, tuck your cultural DNA in the drawer at home, do some research on your destination, and just chill out and have a new cultural experience.

Source on Culture DNA - Michael Gates

German Prosecutors Waiting on Madonna

HAS MADONNA FINALLY GONE TOO FAR?

Madonna's "Confessions" tour comes to Germany this weekend with thousands of adoring fans expected. Other interested parties, such as German prosecutors, will be there, too -- for business, not pleasure.

Prosecutors in Germany are intending to find out when Madonna comes to town to play Düsseldorf on Sunday.

Controversy over a mock crucifixion during the concert has dogged the tour so far, and the German regulators will be watching in an attempt to determine whether the scene could be construed as insulting religious beliefs.

The German authorities will make up their own minds on the crucifixion matter this weekend and also on whether the giant screen, which flashes images ranging from the pope, Osama Bin Laden, President Bush, Chinese leader Mao Zedong to Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, is in bad taste.

Taj Mahal Threatened

The Taj Mahal was built by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jehan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It houses their graves and a mosque, as well as several graves of lesser Mogul royalty. The Taj Mahal draws more than 2 million visitors each year.

Soldiers are on a 24-hour guard at the Taj Mahal after officials received a letter threatening to blow up the monument.

Authorities are investigating a handwritten letter from a terriorist group who said they planned to blow up the 17th century momument.

New Age of Travel

By 2016, the traditional passport, paper visas and printed tickets could be replaced by a credit-card sized ID containing a microchip that stores all personal travel information, from ticket and visa information to fingerprint scans," speculates Britain's biggest holiday company, Thomson.

And a quick bit of surgery may speed progress still further: "Frequent travellers may even have the option to implant this microchip underneath their fingertips to further reduce travel time." Now that's rather scary!

The future has already arrived at some airports - notably Amsterdam Schiphol, where frequent flyers can get through passport control in the blink of an eye, thanks to the Privium scheme that scans the irises of their eyes.

And we're just taking off our shoes . . . looks like we got a long way to go!

Britain's Cultural Cowardice

An excerpt from Simon Nixon's article from The Australian

Britain's loss of nerve is one of the main reasons it has become a global centre of Islamic extremism.

For decades, successive British governments have regarded multiculturalism as an article of faith.

The idea that Britain should become a joyous melting pot of different cultures and religions living side by side in mutual toleration and respect is a noble vision. But it's not working out that way.

Instead, the benefits of immigration are being lost through a failure to control numbers and a reluctance to pursue policies that might promote integration. As a result, Britain has a huge Muslim population, much of which is increasingly alienated from mainstream society.

"Londonistan" is no longer just a safe haven for foreign extremists. Today, it nurtures home-grown terrorists, many born in Britain, educated at British schools and attending British universities.

Read the full article here:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,20163815-7583,00.html

Katrina Critical Mass

August 25th marks the 1-year anniversary of Katrina reaching hurricane strength.

In the days that followed the storm would strengthen rapidly over an unnaturally warm Gulf of Mexico, ultimately striking the coast and leaving thousands dead and homeless, victims of an uncaring government, centuries of racism, and an ever more chaotic global climate.

This year, let’s take to the streets with a reminder that the tragedy in the Gulf continues and a demand that it never be repeated.

Get ready for a Critical Mass for Climate Justice on August 25th in your town!

Microsoft Leads In June Net Visits

comScore networks has released its monthly analysis of worldwide internet activity at top online properties, revealing that 713 million people, age fifteen and older, used the internet from all locations in June.

Among those visitors, 21% came from the United States followed by 11% from China and 7% from Japan.

While the United States led in online population, Microsoft sites topped the list for global properties with about 500 million global visitors.

Yahoo! Sites, with 481 million visitors, and Google Sites, with 454 million visitors, trailed in second and third, respectively.

As for page views, Yahoo Sites dominated with 116 billion views during June. Rounding out the top three once again were Google Sites with 84 billion and Microsoft Sites with 75 billion.

While the "big three" properties of MSN, Yahoo and Google clearly led the pack in June, a few upstarts broke into the top 15, gaining deserved attention.

Wikipedia Sites ranked eighth on a worldwide basis with 128 million visitors, and MySpace earned the 15 spot with 66 million.

South Korea Best in Global e-Government

Brown University's Taubman Center for Public Policy has completed its sixth annual analysis of online government services offered by 198 nations around the world.

The researchers find that many nations are improving services and providing information for users. The United States ranks fourth, behind South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Asian countries once again dominate e-government ratings, taking three of the top five spots in a global e-government study undertaken by researchers at Brown University.

South Korea, ranked 86th last year, earned the top rank, followed by Taiwan, Singapore, the United States and Canada.

The study shows that 29 percent of government agencies around the world are offering online services, compared to 19 percent in 2005.

http://www.public-cio.com/newsStory.php?id=2006.08.17-100603

Angkor Wat

A dear friend gave me a picture of Angkor Wat several years ago. I've out off getting it framed, but after writing this post, I will make a point to frame the poster, and give it a proper place in my room.

Angkor Wat is located in Cambodia, and is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient architecture. It is the largest religious monument in the world, and is on Unesco's list of World Heritage sites.

For hundreds of years, it was hidden after being swallowed by the jungle. As in many ancient sites around the globe, no one knows why the huge complex was abandoned.

Go to Google for more information about Angkor Wat

Post A Secret

Blogger Frank Warren, of Germantown, Maryland has been posting thousands of secrets -Some of them are quite funny, while others are dark, and many quite sad. It's all just a reflection of human life, and his site is described as Confessional Art.

Have a secret? Anyone can contribute. All Frank asks is that you mail him a card, and if he likes it, he will post on his blog. And the best part is that you can get your "secret thoughts" out in the open without exposing your identity.

Take a look into the secret side of human life. I'm definitely going to send Frank a card!

http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com

Vote To Keep Pluto

The International Astronomical Union (didn't know there was such a thing) has set out the find a new definition of the word "planet" this week.

Word is Pluto should remain a planet, but a few others will join it soon.

The new definitions will leave eight "classical planets" - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Everything else, including Pluto, which was named the ninth planet when it was discovered in 1930, will be a pluton.

The scientists never asked how many of them wanted to wipe Pluto out of the "planet" category, or how many wanted to keep it in. Evidently two wanted to keep it, and two said no, so the final decision was "unanimous" according to the union.

I bet most students don't know the existing planets, and since the science books are never revised, will this make any difference?


I was taught Pluto was the ninth and smalles planet in the solar system, and I like Pluto, so with my one vote, I vote to keep Pluto.

59 Year Old Woman Diverts Flight

By now everyone knows about the flight that was diverted from London to Boston.

When the news reports indicated that the cause was a 59 year old American woman, I was curious as to what she could have done to cause air force planes to scrample, and really mess up the other passengers day - well listen to this

According to reports, a Vermont resident, Catherine C. Mayo's erratic behavior began a few hours into the trans-Atlantic flight when she started pushing against the aircraft bulkhead. Instead of going back to her seat at the request of the flight crew, she requested to speak to an air marshall.

Later in the flight, the woman started communicating with the flight crew through a series of bizaare notes.

About two hours and twenty minutes into the flight, Mayo requested an unopened can of Pepsi. She then went to the bathroom, and upon leaving told the flight attendant "I left the Pepsi can in the bathroom & there is something in it."

The flight crew later found the open can discarded in the lavatory trash bin. When Mayo was asked why she had done that, she had no explanation. Then she took a bottle of water from the overhead bin that had not been supplied by the flight crew. We've all heard that bringing liquids onboard are a restricted item.

Then things really got crazy when she started making references to having been in Pakistan illegally, and then accused the flight attendants of going through her bags.

She eventually had to be subdued and handcuffed by two fellow passengers, then the airforce planes appeared to guide the plane to the Boston airport.

Now, we can add 59 year old American women to the terror profile!

Dumb & Dumber

I ran across this article at the Falls Church News Press on the recent posting about Senator Apologizes for Racial Remark.

The article entitled Dumb & Dumber is written by Nicholas Benton, and I thought it was a great read, not only about Senator Allen, but just how the nature of politics is changing.

And speaking of Dumb . . .

As Israeli warplanes were preparing an attack on Lebanon Thursday afternoon, and a Lebanese militia was aiming a rocket at the ancient Israeli city of Safed, President George W. Bush was bantering with reporters in Germany about a pig.

Bush kept bringing up the roast wild boar he was about to dine on at a banquet that night, even when asked about the swelling crisis in the Middle East, where pig meat is forbidden to religious Jews and Muslims.

'Does it concern you that the Beirut airport has been bombed?' a reporter asked. 'And do you see a risk of triggering a wider war?'

'I thought you were going to ask me about the pig,' Bush replied blithely. Then he brought the pig up again - for the fifth time - before giving a long answer that ended with his saying Israel needed to protect itself."

Here's the Root cause of Dumb . . .

More Americans know who Harry Potter is than can name Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to a new survey.

While 57% cent of American citizens correctly identified JK Rowling's fictional teenage wizard, just 50% could say who Britain's leader was, despite his close alliance with George W Bush.

The poll, commissioned by the producers of Gold Rush, a new online game on popular culture, also found that while more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of Americans could name two of Snow White's seven dwarfs, less than a quarter (24 per cent) could identify two of their country's nine Supreme Court justices.

Asked what planet Superman was from, 60% named the fictional planet Krypton, while only 37% knew that Mercury is the planet closest to the sun.

Professor Robert Thompson, of the Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture, said the findings were not about Americans being stupid, however.

"These results are not about how 'dumb' Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated and retained by citizens than many of the messages that come from government, educational institutions and the media," he said.

"There are important lessons to be learned here."

Yes, there are very important lessons, but having some "smarts" is required for learning!

World Trade Center Movie Omits Black Soldier

Have you gone to see the World Trade Center Movie yet? Or have you seen it?

Here's the REAL Sgt. Jason L Thomas

Following disasters of historically epic proportions like the attack on the World Trade Center, there are bound to be countless tales of self-sacrifice, heroism and triumph.

Some stories, like those told in the movies “Flight 93” and Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center,” premiering Aug. 9, are made into blockbusters for the world to see.

Others are either whispered quietly among family and friends or confined to the memories and souls of those who refuse to speak of them.

Such is the tale of United States Marine Corps Sgt. Jason L. Thomas--in spite of the fact that his story and the one told in “World Trade Center” are one in the same.

I saw Sgt. Thomas on the Rita Cosby show, and was so glad to actually see this article in print at the Philadelphia Inquirer site.

Jay Z Water for Life

Way to go Jay-Z!

Def Jam President Jay-Z is joining United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and MTV President Christina Norman this Wednesday to announce a joint effort aimed at educating young people on global issues.

Jay, born Shawn Carter, will be appearing in a new documentary, entitled "Water for Life" where the multi-platinum rapper witnesses first hand the impact of the global water crisis.

More than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water, according to statistics, and water-related diseases are the leading cause of death – constituting 80% of the world’s sicknesses.

The television segment will "document his personal learning journey as he meets children and families who suffer daily and count among the more than one billion people worldwide who do not have access to safe drinking water."

"I'm not just going to go there and, you know, to Rap to them," Jay-Z said to a packed U.N. conference room that included Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"I want to touch and help and maybe see what I can do in these areas." Cameras will also follow Jay-Z during his slated visits to places where environmentally-friendly solutions are in place, bringing fresh water to devastated communities.

His world tour will begin in Poland and MTV will begin filming his travels to distressed areas in Turkey.

The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life is scheduled to premiere Nov. 24 on over 150 MTV channels and 50 local programming stations in over 179 countries.

The network has also planned to offer free access to the documentary for use by teachers, K-12 educators and librarians in 80,000 schools in America through the "Cable in the Classroom" program, as well as through Think.MTV.com website.

Source: http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=6007

Oprah Travel Scam

Remember, tickets to the Oprah Winfrey Show are Free!

A travel company operator pleaded guilty to bilking about 60 people, mostly senior citizens, by selling them bogus tickets and charter bus trips to Chicago to see the "Oprah Winfrey Show."

Terrance M. Hawkins, 45, pleaded guilty Friday to 17 counts of aggregate theft over $500.

He agreed to pay full restitution within two years, prosecutors said. Hawkins has paid back some victims and now owes about $22,000.

Hawkins faces seven years in prison, but under a plea deal, most of his sentence will be suspended, prosecutors said. He also faces supervised probation for three years at a sentencing hearing Sept. 29.

Operating his business under the names Royal Travel and Royal Stages Travel Group, prosecutors said Hawkins accepted payments between December 2004 and April 2005 for trips that were never delivered.

The "Oprah Winfrey Show" is free, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Source: AP

Senator Apologizes for Racial Remark

Republican Sen. George Allen Allen of Virginia has been accused of racial insensitivity before.

He wore a Confederate flag pin in his high school yearbook photo, used to keep a Confederate flag in his living room, a noose in his law office and a picture of Confederate troops in his governor's office, but has said he has grown since then.

Well,let's see . . .

Sen. George Allen apologized Tuesday for remarks that offended a man of Indian descent who was tracking the Republican's re-election campaign for Democratic challenger Jim Webb.

Allen, who is positioning himself for a possible run for president in 2008, said the name was "just made up" and that he had no idea that macaca is a genus of monkeys including macaques. The name also could be spelled Makaka, which is a city in South Africa.

Here's the Senator's quote . . .

"This fellow over here with the yellow shirt _ Macaca or whatever his name is _ he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere."

Then Allen said "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

What the Senator didn't realize was S.R. Sidarth was born and raised in Fairfax County Virginia.

Allen spokesman Dick Wadhams said the name "Macaca" was a variation of "Mohawk," the nickname Allen campaign staffers gave Sidarth for his partially cropped haircut.

Senator Allen, however, said Tuesday that he made up the name himself.

WHATEVER!

Fuel Cost Calculator

Gas Prices Just Keep Rising!

In case you haven't heard, here's a great tool if you plan on hitting the road. If you do know about it, pass it on - we all need help putting petro in our cars these days.

The Fuel Cost Calculator uses current gasoline prices from the company’s Fuel Gauge Report, along with the highway fuel economy ratings to estimate the amount and cost of gasoline needed to complete a trip based on the make and model of the car.

AAA says the sites usage has gone up from 43,250 visit in January to 748,829 in May.

Web site: http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com

Stop Killing Unborn Girls

Stories like this just make me crazy! The media constantly talked about the women in Afghanistan who were forced to cover their bodies completely, and Saudi Arabia where women can not drive automobiles - But, not a word about U.S. trading partner - India

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on parents in India to stop seeing girls as an economic liability, and to end the practice of killing unborn female fetuses.

Singh's appeal on India's 59th Independence Day came four days after the grisly discovery of 25 female fetuses from a private clinic in northern Punjab state.

"We must end this crime against females. We must eliminate gender disparity," Singh said in an address to the nation.

"We have a dream of an India in which every woman can feel safe, secure and empowered. Where our mothers, sisters and daughters are assured a life of dignity and personal security," he added.

A study by British medical journal The Lancet said this year that India may have lost 10 million unborn girls in the past 20 years, but Indian experts say the figure is not more than five million.
Oh, just five million - this is just mind boggling! JAT

Under Indian law, tests to find out the gender of an unborn baby are illegal if not done for medical reasons, but the practice continues in what activists say is a flourishing multi-million dollar business.

Premier Singh urged parents not to neglect their girl children.
Neglect! They're killing them! JAT

"It should be ensured that every young woman is educated and skilled and capable of guiding a new generation," he said.

Punjab state has 798 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of six while the national average is 927 -- still well below the worldwide average of 1,050 female babies.

Girls in India are often considered a liability as parents have to put away large sums of money for dowries at the time of their marriage.

Centuries of tradition also demand that couples produce at least one male child to carry on the family name.

Many grooms demand dowry well beyond the means of families of their spouse -- demands which often result in the killing of newly-married women.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, India in 2004 posted 19 dowry-related deaths every day but women's organizations say the actual figure is 10 times higher.

Source: AP

Traveler Wish List

Gee, if I only had the money . . . But college tuition is more important right now, or maybe I should put my old laptop on Ebay - oh well, take a look.

This laptop with a 13-inch screen weighs in at only 4.75 pounds and comes well-armed for travel with an Intel Centrino Duo 2.0 GHz processor, 2 GBs of internal memory, a 100 GB hard drive, Microsoft XP and Microsoft Office Professional.

Also in the mix are S-Video capability, a DVD+/-RW drive and high-speed USB 2.0 and IEEE four-pin Firewire.

As for protecting the home-front, Systemax says that all tech-support calls and e-mails are answered in the U.S. by U.S. workers.

$1,799.99; http://www.systemax.com/.

51 Million Blogs on the Internet

Technorati, the recognized blog tracking service, reported that there are fifty-one million blogs were in publication, and counting . . . WOW!

This is one hundred times more blogs than were in existence when the tracking service started, three years ago.

It is estimated, based on Technorati's numbers, that the blogosphere, the global blog space, is doubling in size about every six months.

One hundred and seventy-five thousand blogs are created every day--two every second. These aren't blog entires, but new blogs, each with dozens to thousands of articles. an estimated 1.6 million entries are posted to blogs each day--eighteen per second.

These numbers do not account for the comments, trackback pings, and e-mail distributions that follow many of the articles.

While most bloggers post in English--about thirty-nine percent--thirty-one percent ware written in Japanese. Together, these languages comprise seventy percent of the blogosphere.

Source: Technorati

Trouble in Mexico

A human head washes up on an Acapulco beach . . . . Protesters hassle visitors at makeshift checkpoints in the colonial city of Oaxaca.

And in Mexico City, leftist demonstrators turn the tourist draws of Reforma Avenue and the Zocalo plaza into sprawling, ragtag protest camps.

Growing political unrest and drug violence are making some foreigners think twice about visiting Mexico, where the $11.8 billion tourism industry is the country's third-largest legal source of income, after oil and remittances from migrants in the United States.

Mexico has been struggling since last fall, when Hurricane Wilma hit the country's biggest tourism moneymaker, Cancun.

No tourists have been reported hurt in Mexico City, Oaxaca or Acapulco, but hotels are being hit by cancellations of thousands of reservations.

In Mexico City alone, hotels, restaurants and stores are losing $23 million a day, according to the city's Commerce, Services and Tourism Chamber. Some businesses have threatened to stop paying taxes unless the government cracks down on the demonstrations.

Protesters in Oaxaca, claiming fraud in the state gubernatorial race, have taken over the picturesque downtown to pressure Gov. Ulises Ruiz to step down. They forced the cancellation of an ethnic festival, and tourists must pass through checkpoints to reach the arch-ringed main plaza.

Protesters want to use the unrest to ''force the population that relies on tourism to pressure the government,'' said Jose Escobar, head of the Oaxaca employers' federation.

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

China Bans Cartoons

CHINA has banished foreign cartoons such as The Simpsons, Pokémon and Mickey Mouse from primetime television in an attempt to protect China's struggling animation studios.

Foreign cartoons, especially those from Japan, are hugely popular with Chinese children, and the country's own animation studios have struggled to compete with a flood of imports.

Communist leaders are said to be frustrated that so many cartoons seen by China's 250 million children are foreign-made, especially after efforts to build up Chinese animation studios.

Chinese animators produce hundreds of hours of programmes a year but are not known for flair or originality. They draw on traditional stories and have yet to invent characters to match the appeal of Mickey Mouse or Japanese icons such as Pokémon.

The cartoon campaign comes amid efforts by president Hu Jintao's government to tighten control over other popular culture, ranging from films to magazines and websites.

TV stations have been told to limit foreign programming, have their hosts dress more conservatively and use fewer English words on air.

Most cartoons on China Central Television, the national broadcaster, are Chinese-made. But other broadcasters show everything from The Simpsons to Japanese, South Korean and European cartoons.

Film studios have been pushed to merge to create big, well-financed operations. Officials have set up 15 animation centres to nurture the industry, invoking communist guerrilla vocabulary by dubbing them "production bases".

"The reason for the regulation is clear. It is to protect domestic cartoon production," the Southern Metropolis newspaper said. It cited a recent study that found that 80 per cent of Chinese children liked foreign cartoons and disliked domestic animation.

scotman.com News




Technorati Profile

Fly Now, Bill Me Later

Following its merger last fall with America West Airlines, US Airways is adopting system wide a service called ``Bill Me Later," which lets people book flights online without having to use a credit card.

The service, run by I4 Commerce of Maryland, lets customers who open special accounts book tickets and wait up to 90 days to pay, although you get assessed 18 percent interest on delayed payments.

Continental Airlines and Hotels.com are among other travel companies offering Bill Me Later payments.

18%! WHAT A RIP OFF! Travel has gone up nearly 19%, and adding another 18% on top of that to my calculations adds up to 37%.

I LOVE to travel, but this is crazy!!! Just DON'T do it

Christmas Brownies Land in Iraq

AP Correspondent Robert H. Reid covers Iraq events from Baghdad.

AP Correspondent Rebecca Santana is embedded with the New Jersey National Guard at Camp Anaconda, Iraq.

Antonio Castaneda is embedded with the U.S. Marines, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Regiment.

Head on over to the AP Blog, and read what's going on
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4107799.html

Carry Your Prescription

Many air travelers were caught off guard yesterday when suddenly they were required to present proof that the medicines they wanted to carry on board were prescription and necessary.

The BBC reported that UK security was letting some non-prescription items, like aspirins, through, as long as they could be inspected. But US authorities were being much stricter.

Who carries a prescription? And once you've had a prescription filled, don't you give it up? For many seniors who need medication or insulin every few hours, this is a serious problem.

From now on, as a matter of course, seniors who travel and need medications while in flight should get in the habit of carrying a photocopy of their prescription, or a letter from their doctor explaining why they need to take the medications on board.

I found this posting on About.com, a great travel resource, and source of travel related information.

It's such a sad world we live in now. Who knows what the next terror act will be, and what travelers will have to do in order to get to their destination.

I remember a day when traveling with my parents, that the only issue was did we remember to bring everything, did we remember to stop the mail, and have family or neighbors look after the house.

Then of course, our other thoughts were what we would do while on vacation, and how much money we would spend (my parents concern, not mine).

Traveling around the U.S., Caribbean and other parts of the world were eye opening to other cultures, and provided memories and pictures to last for a lifetime.

Will traveling become more of a hassle now?

Mother Sells Baby to Pay for Travel Expenses

A destitute woman in India's eastern Bihar state sold her three-day old daughter for 21 rupees (.50 dollar) to meet travel expenses to her hometown, it was reported Sunday.

Rita Devi, a resident of Muzaffarpur district, 60 kilometres north of state capital Patna, sold her daughter to another woman, Rajkumari Devi, the Times of India Daily was quoted by DPA as saying.

Rajkumari said Rita sold the baby as she did not have money to afford travel expenses to reach her hometown, where she had decided to return because she was unable to fend for herself and the new-born after the death of her husband.

Reports of impoverished parents selling their children are common in various parts of the country.

Though India is recording a high economic growth in the past few years after initiating economic reforms, one quarter of its billion-plus population still lives in poverty.

Bihar is among India's poorest states where nearly 45 per cent of people live below the poverty line.

Florida Sues Online Travel Agencies

Duval County is suing several online travel companies, alleging the companies failed to pay taxes on hotel rooms they sold.

Duval County filed the lawsuit seeking class-action status in Duval County Circuit Court against the companies including Hotwire, Travelocity, and Orbitz, the Florida Times-Union reported for its Sunday edition.

The county claims the companies paid taxes on wholesale room rates instead of the higher retail rates consumers are required to pay. The county said 39 Florida counties were affected, but does not specify the counties.

A call placed Saturday night to the law office handling the suit was not immediately returned.

Last week, Leon County filed a lawsuit against 11 online travel companies saying the companies failed to pay Florida counties more than $5-million in hotel room taxes.

The majority of the companies being sued are members of the Interactive Travel Services Association, an industry trade association.

Tour de France for Wimps

For everyone who has fantasized about competing in the Tour de France, Breakaway Adventures is offering a "Tour de France for Wimps" through Sept. 23.

The South Carolina-based company's tour allows you to pedal some of the same streets and countryside as the race participants -- but at a more relaxed pace. Instead of 115 miles a day, you'll cover 86 miles over the course of a nine-day trip.

The trip begins in Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace region of northeastern France, and winds across the German border and back again to France.

Riders get a detailed itinerary with maps and travel at their own pace without a guide, but a local staff member is on call to help with bike problems, move luggage and deliver wine.

The tour costs $1759-$1855 per person.

For details, call 800-567-6286 or go to www.breakaway-adventures.com.

New guides from Pauline Frommer, Not Arthur

A new series of Frommer's guidebooks is coming out carrying the name of Pauline Frommer rather than her famous father, Arthur.

The books are geared to "the adult budget traveler -- but not the backpacker," Pauline Frommer said at an Aug. 1 event to celebrate the launch of "Pauline Frommer's Travel Guides."

"It's in the blood," said the younger Frommer, 40, who grew up traveling with her parents and who has worked on other Frommer's books.

She will edit all the books in the new series and write some of them, including "Pauline Frommer's New York City," one of the first three.

Also out already are "Pauline Frommer's Hawaii" and "Pauline Frommer's Italy." Editions on Paris, London, Costa Rica and Las Vegas are due out later this year. They are priced at $16-$20.

Frommer said, she hopes the books will help readers find what she called "the other New York, the other Paris, the other Las Vegas. How do you get under the skin of a city, but also how do you meet the locals?"

MEETING THE LOCALS & GETTING OFF THE REGULAR TOURIST TRACKS IS THE REAL VALUE IN TRAVEL! My Comment

In the New York guide, you'll learn how to get a tango lesson at the Argentinian Embassy, a cooking class with a top chef, or a ping-pong session with a grandmaster.

Source: Detroit Free Press

Look Whose Moving to the Big Apple

Have you ever tried to find a reasonably priced hotel in New York?

Midmarket brands opening sleek hotels across Manhattan

Choosing a hotel in New York City has long meant deciding between two less-than-winning options: splurging beyond your financial comfort zone, or resigning yourself to what could be a fleabag.

Not anymore -- and the middle ground is far more stylish than you might expect.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/ADVISOR/08/08/new.york.hotels/

Girl From Baghdad

Stopped by Baghdad Burning blog tonight, and Girl from Baghdad hasn't posted since August 5th.

None of us here in the States can begin to imagine, even after reading her blog, what it's really like to be living in Iraq.

I started reading the older posts first, and the horror of what she and her fellow countrymen have been through is quite overwhelming. As in a novel, you get involved with character development, but this is not a novel.

I pray that she is alive and well.

Looking for "Gutsy" Women Travelers

You'd have to be a bit gutsy yourself to start a company called Gutsy Women Travel.

Gutsy, after all, could mean either having rather more than the average-size stomach, or being adventurous and/or strong-minded.

For April Merenda, co-founder and president of Gutsy Women Travel of Glenside, Pennsylvania, the latter is the preferred definition.

Merenda says her company offers more than 25 American and international tours "designed for women by women".

The company was created "because women typically travel quite differently than men," she says.

"How many times have you seen a couple on vacation and the man is standing around holding the woman's handbag looking completely disinterested while she is off photographing flowers in a beautiful botanical garden or shopping?"

"There simply are some things that men just don't like to do, so why force a man to travel with you when you'd probably have more fun with your girlfriends."

Gutsy Women Travel tours enabled women to travel with groups of other women with the opportunity to create new friends.

Merenda went on: "Women prefer to stay in one hotel rather than moving around from hotel to hotel; safety is undoubtedly a strong concern so they prefer to travel together in a group with a knowledgeable guide."

"They enjoy the culinary side of a destination which means both dining in different restaurants as well as learning how to cook the local cuisine; they seek more interactive experiences."

For women, travel is about creating a bond, both with others on the tour and those that they meet in a destination. They prefer to make their tour more experiential rather than simply being uninvolved observers like men.

Merenda said a high percentage of Gutsy Women travellers are married women with children "who decided it's no longer taboo to leave the husband and kids at home and go off and indulge a lifelong desire to visit Paris or to have fun and relax with the girls at a spa or on a Caribbean beach".

Hot destinations for women travellers this year are Italy, Greece and China, she said.

"There's never been a better time to be bold, be adventurous, be spontaneous, and just be gutsy."

http://www.gutsywomentravel.com/

Source: AAP

Longer Weekends Cause Stress in Korea

More play, less toil creates stress for some Korean families

Jun In Kyung is one unhappy housewife in Seoul, South Korea.

Her husband's employer just started giving him two Saturdays off a month. The 36-year-old wrestling teacher's new schedule, though, means Ms. Jun has to spend more of her time cooking and doing extra housework. Plus, she grumbles, after staying out late with his buddies on Friday nights, her husband sleeps a lot on Saturdays -- cramping their two children's indoor playtime.

"Home is supposed to be women's space and I don't like it when he spends more time in my space," says Ms. Jun, also 36. "It's like an invasion."

Ms. Jun isn't the only one here with weekend woes. South Korea began phasing in the five-day workweek two years ago. And even though they are paid the same wages to work fewer hours, many Koreans are still unsettled by the prospect of having more free time.

Son Jae Ho, a director at an English language children's magazine, spends two to three hours each week on the Internet researching museums hours, restaurants, sports lessons -- and frets about how to pay for all this new Saturday fun.

The whole thing "gives me stress" sighs Mr. Son, a 42-year-old who is married with two young sons.

Even two full years after having his hours cut, Kim Jeong Hyun, a 45-year-old marketing executive at Samsung Everland Inc., operator of the country's biggest amusement park, is still struggling to amuse himself on Saturdays.

A longer weekend is "something I could have never imagined," says Mr. Kim. He says he is learning how to use his extra leisure time and now feels "less uncomfortable" when he goes cycling or heads to the countryside with his family. But, he confesses, "I still come to the office a couple of Saturdays a month."

To help ease the free-time burden, the Korea Culture & Tourism Policy Institute is making available yeoga kwallisa, or leisure counselors, "to teach people to seize their time," says Yoon So Young, a chief researcher at the institute. "It is something that needs to be learned."

The five-day workweek is spreading across Asia as many countries grow more prosperous, allowing them to pay more attention to social development. The trend is especially catching on in the civil service, where governments can more easily regulate work hours.

Like their counterparts elsewhere in Asia, Korean officials say they are concerned about staff morale and quality of life -- as well as productivity levels damped by tired workers.

Asian authorities are also eager to promote pro-family policies. Last month, for instance, Hong Kong started giving its civil servants Saturdays off, citing the need for quality family time as one reason. Some private businesses are following suit.

In Singapore, a move to a five-day week for civil servants -- something long resisted -- was one of several family-friendly measures unveiled in 2004 to address the city-state's relatively low birth rate. "I think we need a better work-life balance," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the time. Otherwise, he asked, "How to have children?"

Large companies in Korea introduced the five-day week in 2004. Smaller companies like Mr. Son's are preparing to phase in a shorter workweek by giving employees two Saturdays off per month. Mr. Son's company started in March last year. By mid-2011, companies of all sizes must have implemented a five-day week.

In a survey by the Korea Culture & Tourism Policy Institute published in late June, 63 percent of respondents said they worry about "the economic burden" all the leisure time is imposing on them.

Meanwhile, sales have gone up for things such as theater tickets and TV sets. Business at local sauna complexes known as jimjilbangs has jumped. Travel agents report an increase in domestic trips, and outbound tourism has spiked to destinations such as the Philippines and Thailand.

Some businesses have set up "leisure clubs" that offer activities like cultural excursions and weekend gardening sessions to help workers make the most of their time off.

Discount retailer Shinsegae Co., with 15,000 employees, is ahead of the curve. After internal surveys showed employees wanted to commune with nature and their families, but didn't know how, Shinsegae created a special program. Today, employees can apply to participate with their families in a company farm program. Together, they cultivate such things as eggplant and Chinese cabbage for kimchi, the national dish, which is donated to the needy, says Lim Sang Hoon, an executive in charge of the program. From an initial 42 families, the program has swelled to 104.

The shorter week has come as a particular shock to older members of Korea's predominantly male work force. Mr. Kim, for instance, grew up listening to official nation-building propaganda songs with lyrics like "Let's wake up early in the morning, work hard and make a good town." School books of the day hammered home such lessons as: "I was born for reviving and rehabilitating our nation."

For Koreans in their mid-forties and older, "feeling guilty, staying long hours, and not knowing how to rest is part of the legacy of Gen. Park Chung Hee," says Park Tae Gyun, a Korean-studies professor at Seoul National University. The dictator ran South Korea during nearly two decades of rapid industrialization until his assassination in 1979.

Not everyone is having trouble adjusting. Mr. Kim's 39-year-old colleague, Lee Sang Cheon, has embraced the extra days off. Now, Mr. Lee says, he has time to take Japanese lessons, practice golf and go on weekend outings with his wife and two young daughters. "I love this: being with my family and friends near the beach and being able to relax," he says, laughing while his little daughter crawls over him at a seaside restaurant on a weekend jaunt.

Some fear that less motivated types may turn the country into a nation of couch potatoes. "The culture of leisure is young in Korea and we are in a very early stage of its development," says Ms. Yoon of the Culture & Tourism Policy Institute. "So there are still a lot of people who just walk around their neighborhoods, just rest or watch TV at home."

Source: Lina Yoon, The Wall Street Journal

Many in State Dept. Can't Talk the Talk

Lack of Proficiency in Languages Assailed

According to an article in the Washington Post, nearly 30% of State Department employees based overseas in "language-designated positions" are failing to speak and write the local language well enough to meet required levels, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

"We have a shortage of people with language skills in posts that need them," said John Brummet, assistant director for international affairs and trade at the GAO. "If people do not have the proper language skills, it is difficult to influence the people and government and to understand what they are thinking. It just doesn't get the job done."

Another example of foreign policy incompetency, Read the rest of the article at The Washington Post

Homeless Bloggers

If the media is concerned about Bloggers at home in their Pajama's - what will they make of HOMELESS BLOGGERS!

Happy Ivy doesn't have a bathroom or a kitchen in the bus he calls home. He does, however, have a video-editing station.

Living in a squalid, Woodstock-style bus parked in a Fillmore, California, orange grove, the 53-year-old homeless man charges a power generator from a utility shed and uses Wi-Fi from a nearby access point. From this humble camp, he's managed to run a "round-the-clock internet television studio", organize grassroots political efforts, record a full-length album and write his autobiography, all while subsisting on oranges and avocados.

Ivy isn't the only homeless person who makes it a priority to keep gadgets handy even when a cooked meal is hard to come by.

Many of those now living without a permanent roof over their heads have cell phones in their pockets or laptop computers at their hips.

While people living in shelters and alleys have found it difficult to cross social divides, the digital divide seems to disappear on the streets. Nearly all homeless people have e-mail addresses, according to Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "More have e-mail than have post office boxes," Stoops said. "The internet has been a big boon to the homeless."

Helping the homeless get e-mail addresses has been a priority for years at shelters across the country. And in an age when most every public library in the nation offers internet access, the net has proven a perfect communication tool for those without a firm real-world address.

"Because of technology, people are able to keep in contact with their families," Stoops said. And perhaps most importantly, they are able to get some footing in society regardless of how removed from it they may feel.

Terri Hellerich's connection to the information superhighway is all that made life livable on the streets. "It kept me sane and provided my income," she said. Hellerich found herself homeless after a landlord in West Sacramento kicked her out and kept her belongings to make up for a debt. She didn't have a change of clothes, but she did have an old cell phone that she could use to stay online and check her inbox.

Hellerich slept on benches but she frequented a women's shelter with a cluster of internet-connected computers used mostly by the children who arrived at the safe house with their mothers. She started blogging and conducting a business. As an independent internet marketer, she was able to maintain bank accounts, nurse existing client connections and forge new business relationships. The business brought in only about $100 a month, but that was enough to help get her life back on track.

Hellerich now rents a room in Northern California, and she's bought an old computer and broadened her online presence with MySpace and Flickr pages. But she lives in fear that at any point, circumstances could throw her back into the urban wilderness.

And while many homeless people are quick to talk about the empowering elements of the internet, experts emphasize that technology won't erase the aspects of one's personal life that put them on the streets in the first place. "People believe that information is power, and it is sometimes, but it is still a complicated system," Stoops said. It is rare for technology alone to pull someone out of the cycle of habitual homelessness.

But if the internet can't provide the homeless with an out, it can at least provide them with an outlet. Stoops knows numerous cases where modern technology has afforded valuable opportunities to the homeless.

Las Vegas vagrant Kevin Barbieux runs a blog that's brought him a dose of digital stardom. He's been writing The Homeless Guy since 2002. "It's the only real success I've had in my life," he said.

His site isn't the only one on the web with entries about life on the street. WanderingScribe features the ramblings of a homeless woman in England. In Peoria, Willie York has a site devoted to giving advice on street life. And other online efforts have had mainstream attention in the past few years, from New York to California.

Barbieux's site garners 12,000 to 15,000 hits a month. He attributes that to the storytelling ethic of his posts, which detail not only his own travails, but those of colleagues in shelters and city parks. He also comments on the public's perceptions of the homeless, and the factors that force so many of his compatriots into a holding pattern of poverty. "The work I do on my blog is geared toward telling, not just my story, but the story of every homeless person," he said. "If it's just about me then its effect will be limited. I really want to change the world."

If it changes his own life a bit more that would be nice, too. But for now, Barbieux, sans residence, does his blogging in one-hour stints at a public library terminal. He had a Wi-Fi-equipped laptop donated to him through his site, but the machine was damaged and Barbieux has no resources to replace it.

Las Vegas is a great city for Wi-Fi, Barbieux said: You can connect from outside most any hotel or casino, and the homeless keep each other informed about the best hot spots. Technology has helped him collect donations through a PayPal button on his web page instead of having to panhandle.

When he first got online in 1997, he saw a world where one could interact with people without awkward looks and hold conversations without difficult social interactions.

"I have social anxiety issues, and being able to communicate with folks without having an attack was great, and I discovered that I actually had a personality that people liked when I chatted with them," he said. When friends at an internet discussion group suggested he start a blog in 2002, Yahoo tagged it one of the top 10 "new and notable" sites on the web. Suddenly he felt he had the world's attention. "I could be doing other things with my time," he said, "but I can't think of anything else that could be so vital."

Like Barbieux, Ivy hopes to change the world through the power of the web. Living with his wife in his $400 About Us Bus for the past three years, Ivy has driven much of California trying to raise awareness of the homeless, or as he prefers to call them, the home-free.

From his bus, he broadcast the 24-hour internet television show About Us Now in the early days of streaming video. Showcasing music concerts on the beach and offering a glimpse of his Bedouin lifestyle, Ivy believes his was the first successful internet television network. Though he doesn't maintain the show anymore, he still works on internet video -- for most of this year, he's following the United Souls of Awareness, a group of homeless artists embarking on a walk across the country.

Ivy insists he's homeless by choice: He was never comfortable living in apartments. "Walking out the door and seeing everybody had the same door, it would make me get violent, to tell you the truth," he said. But he hopes his efforts online will raise awareness of the plight of the involuntarily homeless community, whose numbers skyrocketed with the Reagan administration policies of the 1980s.

Having a presence online can be a problem.

Hellerich deleted most blog posts from her homeless days when a prospective employer Googled her and found the page (it cost her the job).

While homeless people lurk in the shadows of the physical world, Stoops sees many of them stepping into the virtual sunshine.

"I think people often try to hide the fact they are homeless because they are ashamed of it," Stoops said. "But more and more, others are sort of coming out of the closet. You see writers and poets. There is really a niche of homeless writers now, and I am amazed at that. This is the hook to get people to listen."

Source: Wired News

Election Night in Connecticut & Georgia

Boy, What A Night!

Many of the "experts" predicted that Joe Lieberman would win the bid for his Senate seat, and did that turn out to be completely wrong.

All I could do was laugh when the major TV media starting blasting Bloggers, especially those in Ned Lamont's camp - as if the Lieberman camp didn't have their blog connection, and supporters online.

And the accusations about Lamont supporters taking down the Lieberman website was at the point of being outrageous. As the election results came in, with accusations swirling, and Lieberman whining all over the place, it was almost surreal.

And of course the FBI is coming in to investigate the website hacking - can't wait to hear the report!

Lieberman didn't make this much fuss losing the Vice Presidential race, so why doesn't he take his own advice he gave back then - "second place in American politics has no prize".

And then old Joe says he gonna keep his promise to run as an Independent. Is this strategy the new political maneuver? The people have spoken, you lost, but you won't go away, and instead run as an Independent. Makes about as much sense as the rest of the crap coming out of Washington.

Down South things were also bizarre. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney blamed the voting machines, and has no clue voters in her district were just sick and tired of seeing her make of fool of herself, and them also.

Neither one of these two politicians have a clue that they were not in step with those who originally elected them, and that there are consequences for their actions.

Just a night of sore losers, and reason for all Americans to be mindful of who we send to Washington.

Literary Guide to the World

New site worth visiting . . . Just a Traveler

Sophisticated and novice travelers alike now have access to destination information on a higher plateau than ever before with the launch of Salon’s "Literary Guide to the World".

The new section on Salon.com, sponsored by the Travel Channel via an upfront commitment, introduces features essays by noted writers about their favorite domestic and international travel destinations and the literature that brings these destinations to life.

China is Hottest Tourist Market

China is poised to become the hottest outbound tourism market in the world, with an estimated 100 million international travelers by 2020, and the United States is currently the most popular destination outside of Asia.

The number of international Chinese travelers has already started to explode, with a 43 percent year-over-year increase in 2005, to 31 million tourists.

Including Asian destinations, the United States ranks No. 8 in popularity with Chinese travelers. The #1 choice is Hong Kong (considered an international destination by China), followed by Macau, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Russia and Thailand. #9 and 10 are Singapore and Malaysia.

Even though the U.S. lacks what's known in China as "Approved Destination Status" — countries that are approved by the Chinese government for travel companies to send Chinese group tours to, and to advertise such tours in China.

The typical Chinese tourist is young, female and career-driven, with a great deal of discretionary income. She spends an average of 25 nights at her chosen U.S. travel destinations, shells out an average of $112 a day and visits two states.

What's the typical Chinese female traveler like to do?
Shop, eat in good restaurants, gamble, and do anything not Chinese, and buy what she can't get in China. She prefers to spend her money on luxury goods, but is not so interested in shelling out money for luxury accommodations.

The Real Pirates of the Caribbean Island

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was filmed on the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica.

The location didn't happen by chance, because Dominica is known as the "Nature Island" - featuring bubbling lakes, waterfalls, ambundant hiking paths, and deep emerald pools. The island is basically untouched, and no other movie production had ever filmed on the island.

Most Americans may not be familiar with this tiny island paradise. Dominica is located between the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and it's not easy to get there. There are no direct flights to the island from the US or Europe, and ferry transportation from the neighboring island do not make frequent stops.

To reach Dominica you have to fly either Antigua, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St Lucia or St Martin/St Maarten and then get a flight from there.

Dominica is a true eco tourist/adventure travel destination, and one advantage to vacationing there is you don't have to fight the crowds. The few beaches on the island are usually always deserted.

Another unique factor in Dominica are the Carib Indians. Unlike in most of the rest of the region, the Caribs of Dominica have survived, and now have their own Territory, located on the northeast coast.

Travelers looking for "Not Your Typical Caribbean Island" getaway, will find that Dominica fits the bill perfectly!

Arabs Travel the World on Oil Riches

Interesting article from The New York Sun

The fallout from $75 oil is everywhere.

A recent trip to the Cote D'Azur disclosed — big surprise — a growing presence of well-to-do Arabs, staying at the fanciest resorts and happily spending their petrocash at all the ritziest spots.

Families the size of small cities, hallways cluttered with muscular and slightly formidable bodyguards, piles of deliveries from Chanel to princesses in residence — the signs are unmistakable.

The influence of the Arab visitor is still modest, but one senses it is growing. Young Arab ladies on the Cannes beach are watched over by fully draped servants, who must be scandalized by the naked breasts and the thongs still on view from the Croisette.

Most bars and restaurants now highlight a menu of exotic but alcohol-free offerings, (not likely directed to the French consumer) and the shop keepers at Gucci and Louis Vuitton seem to have laid in more than the usual complement of items which could pass as head scarves.

Also, it seems odd to find American MSNBC and CNN blocked on hotel TVs.

Access to TV Dubai, TV Oman, Al Jazeera, and any number of other Arab offerings is excellent, but somehow the American programs seem to experience ongoing technical difficulties.

Thankfully, Al Jazeera can be relied upon to supply a nightly movie in English, with Arabic subtitles.

Normally the program is hideously violent, and prone to depicting Americans in an especially depraved light. Nonetheless, those hooked on "Law & Order" reruns will find nothing especially out of the ordinary.

For the most part, the influx of Arab nobles to the south of France is accepted gratefully by a region that felt the sting of American rejection just a few short years ago.

Tourism, after all, is one of France's great industries. It is the world's most popular destination by a wide margin, attracting more than 75 million tourists each year, and generating revenues (in 2004) of nearly $41 billion.

The country did suffer from the American boycott following the dispute over the Iraq war, and claims a slightly smaller percentage of European total tourist revenues than was the case a decade ago.

Read the rest of this article at The New York Sun

Travel Agent Offers Space Flights

A SUBURBAN travel agent in Australia's most isolated capital has become one of the first in the world to offer space flights for sale.

But Perth's Bicton Travel is not expecting a big rush on the $260,000 fares to take each person for a spin above the planet for a few hours.

Manager Philip Smethurst says it would be a big event for Western Australia if any local blasted off on one of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space flights that will launch late in 2008 or early in 2009.

“I am sure there is somebody out there, in WA, who would be willing to do it,” Mr Smethurst said. “I know I would, if I had the money.”

The business is one of the first nine agents in the world, all from Australia, who have been appointed official agents to Virgin Galactic after filling out application forms they found in an industry magazine.

“Us nine are the first in the world, they haven't appointed any others yet,” he said.

The travel agents are not selling trips to the moon.

But each ticket will get travellers about three days of space training followed by a two to three hour trip 300,000 feet into space in a ship with two pilots and five other passengers.

Each of the Virgin Galactic fleet's five ships will have big windows to give passengers a good view of earth as they float, weightless, above the planet.

Richard Branson and his two children will be on the first flight which will flown high on the back of a mothership before launching.

They will take off from Mojave in the US until a $US220 million space port is completed in New Mexico for takeoffs from 2011 onwards.

Source: News.com.au

Free Dictionary Link for Blogs & Feed

Fellow Bloggers!

Here's a copy of an e-mail I received today. We all need exposure for our blog, so you might want to visit the site and get your blog feed listed.

We at TheFreeDictionary.com run a relatively new but extremely popular website that has already served over 350 million visitors. We have recently added a new RSS reader to our customizable homepage, and we are happy to report that it is attracting a growing audience.

We noticed that your website already features a number of shortcuts to popular RSS readers, which make it easy and convenient for your users to subscribe to your site’s syndicated content.

We like your site and think our users would really enjoy it as well, so we're hoping that you might consider adding our "Add to TheFreeDictionary" button to your RSS feed page(s). The button will serve as a helpful and convenient shortcut for users, while also allowing you to promote your feeds on our site. The code for the button can be found at: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lookup.htm#addToTheFreeDictionary.

Furthermore, if you have additional RSS feeds that you believe would be of interest to our users, we encourage you to submit them to our directory (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/rss-directory.htm) for review.



Happy Blogging!

First Amendment

If the 1st Amendment means anything, it means that the state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
--Thurgood Marshall, 1969

Wikipedia Goes Travel

Wikia Inc., an online community company started by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, started a worldwide travel site on Monday.

Menlo Park-based Wikia is a for-profit business based on the principles of free "wiki" sites, which are created, updated and edited by the people who used them. Wales founded Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia maintained by its users and based in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Bill Kaufmann, who has traveled to 40 countries, was named "founder" of the new World Wikia travel site, which will post user-written articles and advice on travel to different places.

Girl Blog From Iraq

Known only as "Riverbend," the Iraqi blogger has been providing regular despatches since August 2003, writing in her first entry: "I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That is all you need to know. It's all that matters."

The blog was praised by the New York Times who said her "articulate, even poetic prose packs an emotional punch while exhibiting a journalist's eye for detail."

Her online diary on www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com, which was collected together and issued by Marion Boyars Publishers, was nominated for a major literary prize in Britain.

Israeli Pilots 'Deliberately Miss' Targets

I ran across an interesting article in a blog today about two Israeli fighter pilots who deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon.

Sources say the pilots were worried that targets had been wrongly identified as Hizbollah facilities.

I heard about the images of the children in Lebanon killed on CNN. They said they would not show them because they would upset viewers. While no one wants to see ugly images of war, I had to wonder why we Americans are so often kept from seeing the reality of war. Do we Americans have to have a "sanitizied" war?

At the start of the Iraq war, Americans were permitted to see the nightly show of "shock and awe".

At the start of the war, all I could think about was how many innocent people were being killed. Now that war is on TV, we Americans seem to treat it as a movie - cheering for the "good guys" to bomb the "bad guys". But yet, we are prevented from seeing what these bombs actually do to the people on the ground.

You can read the article about the Israeli fighter pilots on this blog, and also see some horrific pictures of dead children. While many of you may not wish to see this, you need to understand what is really happening - and perhaps you just might change your mind about the policies of war.

http://url2.be/carsoncadogan/333/

Full Story at the Guardian UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1838435,00.html

638 Ways to Kill Castro

I ran across this interesting article in Thomko's Blog today . . .

Poison pills, toxic cigars and exploding molluscs, and once he even offered to shoot himself - sounds like something out of a James Bond movie, but it's all very true!

Fabian Escalante, who once had the job of keeping Castro alive, has calculated that there have been a total of 638 attempts on Castro's life.

Read the rest of the article

Travel

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
Maya Angelou

NOWHERE IS FAR ENOUGH AWAY, I'M LEAVING LEBANON TODAY

An Edmonton student and traveller recounts his evacuation experience for Vue

Her knees buckled and she slumped to the floor of the aisle, her olive skin slowly turning the colour of porcelain. After several turbulent hours at sea, she had fallen gravely ill.

Men flocked to her side, placing their fingers beneath her nostrils, detecting no breath. An old woman began to scream for help, every war-weary wrinkle on her face twisting in fear. The urgency of her cries pushed babies into crescendos of tears, and soon the whole cabin had fallen in to a desperate and confused maelstrom.

Outside, we were being tossed by violent waves. Both internally and externally, the precariousness of our situation had been made manifest.

All you could smell was sour vomit and spilled gasoline.

Read the full article here

Slow Down and Enjoy Life!

No one will disagree that modern life can get insanely busy – if we let it.

Are we too busy though?

How comfortable are we when we don’t have anything to distract us? Are we content when we’re not accomplishing something, moving ahead in our goals or helping others? Is our sense of worth tied to our busyness? Are we a slave to recognition? Are we lonely when we’re by ourselves? It is important not only to reflect upon such questions but to decide to behave differently.

Perhaps we could set aside five minutes of ‘thinking time’ a day. Some people might just ‘be’ while others may choose to meditate or pray.

We might also do well to engage in a solitary activity from time to time or even develop a hobby that we quietly enjoy ourselves. Instead of only reading work-related journals, we should read outside of our area of expertise and read for pure pleasure.

Many of us are performance-oriented and driven by success and competition. We should acknowledge that one day we may be at a loss to know what to do with ourselves when our career is over, retirement beckons, or perhaps we become physically unable to actively pursue the same interests.

Can we still be happy even when we’re not busy? We need to slow down and savor life – not rush through it and miss so much potential beauty and happiness along the way. It is entirely possible to discipline ourselves to slow down and be more fully present in each human interaction and each solitary moment of our day.

Being fully present is impossible if we are constantly rushing about, going over our ‘to do’ list or mentally reviewing the meeting we just left.

To be fully present is to give 100% attention to the task at hand or to whomever we’re talking. It means maintaining a comfortable degree of eye contact, verbally showing comprehension and asking open-ended questions.

Applied to family life, trying to slow down and be more present brings irreplaceable rewards. The dignity of each family member is recognized and deeper relationships result. The next time your child or a young person asks for attention in some way be reminded that nothing is more important or sends a message of love more than willingly giving them your time. It’s a gift of self.

Do not miss the truly important parts of life by being too preoccupied and busy.

Slow down! Resolve today to:

• Look for the beauty around you
• Begin to read a book for pleasure
• Spend some quiet time alone
• Listen better
• Spend some time visiting with family and/or friends

Why We Like the Music We Do

What is music?

All sounds are comprised of sound waves. What distinguishes music from other sound waves is the manner in which the sound waves vibrate and decrease from loud to soft. Dropping a metal pan on the floor presents jarring, erratic vibrations. Striking a note on a piano chord presents a softer more uniform and smooth transition from loud to soft. Obviously, a musical note is going to be much more pleasant to the ear.

There’s an old adage about how “music sooths the savage beast.” Not only is this true, it is actually an understatement. Music plays such a profound part of our lives, that we will barely scratch the surface here, but let’s give it an overview.

All of us grew up with certain songs or instrumentals that strike a chord that reverberates through our entire being. For example, when I hear “A Summer Place,” it immediately carries me back to summer months in the fifties. The experience is so profound that I can remember the feel of the sun on my face, the smell of hot dogs cooked over an open fire and the laughter of friends and family.

There is a theory that certain notes or chords resonate with a vibration that is particularly harmonious to specific people. Have you ever heard a song that gave you “goose bumps"? If so, then you give validation to this theory. When this occurs, the music has a profound affect on the subconscious. Add intense emotion to the equation and you have one powerful, indelible, blueprint on your subconscious that will follow you the rest of your life.

For example, let’s say that you receive news of the death of a loved one while a specific piece of music is playing on the radio. That particular music may have a lasting impression. Years later, for no apparent reason, you may find yourself immediately thrown into a state of depression upon hearing that same tune. The same can be true of “positive” feelings as described in the story above.

The subliminal effect of music is a proven fact. How often do you find yourself humming a fragment of a tune that you can’t identify only to discover that it’s a new “commercial” message you heard on your television. The advertising industry pays huge amounts of money to conduct research into why and how music works on the subconscious mind. This is also the reason why you see the recent trend by large companies to reconstitute classics originally performed by some of the greats of stage and screen.

Just for fun, the next time you find yourself humming a tune, try and remember when, where and under what circumstances you heard it for the very first time. The exercise will probably help you to better understand how past events have shaped your musical preferences.

And, I’ll wager that the next time you hear “A Summer Place,” you will remember reading this article.

Happy Listening!

Children and the Environment

In todays world we see flagrant disregard for the environment that nurtures us as human beings. Sadly, ignoring what is happening is having a profound effect on our children.

What can we do about this?

We can encourage our children to view the world around us in a different way by introducing children's involvement with environment-friendly activities. One such nature-loving activity that children could easily understand and enjoy is gardening. Why should you consider gardening for your children?

Here are some of the ways your children will benefit by gardening:

1. Science

In planting, children are indirectly taught the wonders of science like the plant's life cycle and how human's intervention can break or make the environment. They can have a first hand experience on the miracle of life through a seed. This would definitely be a new and enjoyable experience for the kids.

2. Life

Watching a seed grow into a tree is just as wondrous as the conception to birth and growth of a child. In time, kids will learn to love their plants and appreciate the life in them. Gardening could actually help simulate how life should be treated -- it should be with care. The necessities to live will be emphasized to kids with the help of gardening - water, sunlight, air, soil. Those necessities could easily be corresponded to human necessities, i.e., water, shelter, air, food. By simply weeding out, one could educate how bad influences should be avoided to be able to live life smoothly.

3. Relaxation

Studies show that gardening can reduce stress because of its calming effect. This is applicable to any age group. More so, it stimulates all the five senses. Believe it or not, gardening may be used as therapy to children who have been abused or those who are members of broken homes. It helps build one's self-esteem.

4. Quality Time with the Family

You can forget about your stressful work life for a while be soothed by the lovely ambience in the garden. You can play and spend quality time with your children. You can talk while watering the plants or you can work quietly beside each other. The bottom line is, always do what you have to do, together with your kids. You might discover a lot of new things about your child while mingling with them in your garden.

Let kids become aware of their environment's needs. And one way to jumpstart that environmental education may be through gardening. It's hitting two birds with one stone -- teach them to respect life while you bond with them.

Here are eight tips for getting your kids to enjoy home gardening:

Dirt has always been one of the kids' best toys, so home gardening could just be one fun activity for your children. Excite them by allowing them to pick whichever plant they want to grow. Here are some tips to help you make your little ones become enthusiastic with home gardening.

1. Choose the right plants

Kids will more likely choose plants and flowers with bright colors, so have a load of varieties of plants. Examples of bright flowers are zinnias and cosmos; these will keep your children fascinated. Don't forget the sunflowers. Anything that is tall and fuzzy will surely overwhelm a kid. Make sure these plants will not cause any allergic reactions from your kid.

2. Starting seeds

Give your children the freedom to help you with the staring seeds. Some seeds might be too small for the tiny fingers, but their digits can be of help in covering them with dirt.

3. Home Gardening Memoir

To last the kids' enthusiasm until the plants grow, make them create a home gardening journal. This activity will allow them to use their imagination to sketch on what the plants will be like and write down when they placed in the ground the seeds and when they first witnessed a sprout pushing up.

4. Make sure that the garden is somewhere very visible for the kids.

Before you start home gardening, pick a spot where the kids often play or walk by. Every time they see and pass by their garden, the more they will sight changes.

5. Dirt playing

Always remember that children are fond of playing with dirt or mud. They can help you ready the soil, even if what they are only doing is stomping on the clumps. To make home gardening with the kids more fun, you can provide them with kid-sized tools to make home gardening very engaging for them.

6. Your kids own the garden
A picture of each plant will enable the children to foresee what the flowers will look like. You can also put your child's name on a placard, so everyone can see that it's their garden.

7. Playing with the water

Playing with water is right up there with playing with dirt. Look for a small watering can that they can use to water their garden. You can show them how to let the water go right to the roots of the plants. Hoses want only trouble. They are simply formidable for little hands to control.

8. Kids commit mistakes

Adults, too, are sometimes impatient. Give the kids full control to their garden. If they create a mess, let it be, it's their mess. Allow them to get pleasure from it and take dignity in their own piece of territory. Just don't forget to tell them how to clean up that mess.

Airlines Charging Additional Fees

American Airlines (AA) has informed travel agents in USA and the Caribbean that they will charge travel agents a fee of $3.50 per segment on all reservations booked on GDS systems not favored by American Airlines.

Shifting this additional operational air transportation cost to the consumer, and using travel agents as the intermediary is just the latest ploy to add to their bottom line - PROFITS.

For a family of four with a multi-segment travel the cost-increase is considerable. For instance, if you are traveling to the Caribbean, and need more than one carrier to get there, this extra charge is included on each flight. On a roundtrip for a family of 4, that adds up to an extra $60 at a minimum. With the other taxes, and "other charges" no one can easily explain, that comes to an extra $100 at a minimum.

As could be expected Continental, and United have followed in an action which smells of collusion. It's not understood if all the airline carriers are charging the same amount for this new charge - is it $3.50, or $3.00, or perhaps even $4.00? If that sounds like chump change, it adds up to millions of dollars for the airlines.

For consumers who are not aware what a GDS system is, it's simply the computer system used to book our travel. In fact the airlines invented the GDS system to help travel agents sell more, and to offer the consumer unbiased options. Once online booking gained favor with consumers, these GDS systems were made availabe to anyone on the Internet.

Most consumers who book online don't think twice about the GDS system being used - nor do they have to. But you should be aware of these extra charges.

The major GDS systems are Amadeus, Galileo CRS, Worldspan, and Sabre.

Ever tried to find a flight to meet your particular schedule, only to give in to purchasing the next best alternative? This particular situation is called co-sharing.

One of the "secrets" of these systems, especially for those who book online, is that the same flight details, except for the flight numbers keep showing up - thus pushing other competitive flights down lower in the selection. In other words, flights by an airline are jointly marketed as a flight for one or more other airlines.

Bottom Line: When you use particular online booking sites, you are prompted only to those airlines that use that particular GDS system - a partial list is included below.

Consumer organizations and trade organizations have complained about the co-share system and its confusion, along with the deception for consumers, however the airlines seem to have more clout.

Airlines are saving through E-tickets, but have instead shifted the printing of the Conditions of Carriage and Liability on to travel agents. This is an additional paper cost, which is charged by the airlines to the consumer as part of the Ticketing/Service fee.

So now the airlines have travel agents collecting taxes and charges on behalf of the airlines - not to mention questionable fuel surcharges, and all this is done for FREE.

Travel associations are hopeful that the additional charge of $3.50, or whatever the price actually is, will attract the interest of the Competition authorities here in the U.S. and Europe, who are already investigating some airlines for alleged collusion on cargo pricing and fuel surcharges. Operational costs should be part of the Tariff as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Here's a brief breakdown of GDS's used by the major airlines, and online booking sites.

WORLDSPAN is used by Delta, Northwest, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, Priceline

GALILEO is used by United Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, US Airways, KLM and Cheap Tickets

SABRE is used by American Airlines, US Airways, American Trans Air(ATA), Midwest Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and the online booking site Travelocity.

Tourism Figures for U.S. Dropping

Even though the current strength of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar would give international visitors more buying power here in the U.S., we are not capturing those visitors.

Why? Well, J.W. Marriott, Jr. has some answers. . .

J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International, Inc. says the U.S. government should focus more attention on reducing barriers to travel around the world, especially to the U.S., and also promote the country worldwide as a travel destination.

While the global travel industry has grown about 30% over the past 10 years, in part led by emerging middle classes in China, India, and Eastern Europe, the U.S. share of world travel has shrunk from 9 to 6%.

Marriott said this trend was particularly concerning, given the relative strength of some currencies to the dollar that gives many international visitors more buying power in the U.S. "Oddly, we are one of the few developed countries that does not have a minister of tourism, whose sole responsibility is to draw more people and more travel dollars to our country," he said.

Iceland spends more on travel promotion than does the U.S. federal government, and the U.S. Department of Commerce will spend less than $10 million this year marketing the U.S., and that Congress has authorized no such funds in 2007.

Australia spends $120 million annually in tourism promotion and is now the most desired destination, while the U.S. has fallen to sixth favorite.

U.S. visa policy also needs retooling, said Marriott, who pointed out that U.S. regulations require many potential visitors to travel long distances to one of few U.S. consulates and wait for interviews and processing before being granted visas for travel to the United States.

For example, in Brazil, the average waiting time for an interview is 55 days. In 2000, 737,000 Brazilians traveled to the U.S.; last year, only 485,000 came. In 2000, Brazilians spent more than $2.2 billion in the U.S.; by 2004, that had dropped 40% to $1.3 billion.

While security procedures are important, said Marriott, the current system "is fast becoming a barrier to our travel trade, hurting our economy by keeping more reals, euros, and rupees from being spent here. Travel is trade, just like when we export a pair of jeans, a jet aircraft or a tractor."

Climate Code

Beginning October 1, 2006, The Weather Channel will shed light on the science of global warming and other environmental issues with a new weekly series, "The Climate Code With Dr. Heidi Cullen."

Airing at 5 p.m. ET each Sunday, the half hour show will examine the most pressing climate issues of the day through the expertise of Dr. Cullen, as well as the opinions and perspective of national and international figures.

Dr. Cullen, a climatologist formerly with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, says the show will bring environmental issues down to the local level. "We'll be connecting the dots for people," she explained, "taking the time and effort to help our viewers understand and relate to all of the issues and opinions related to the climate, and how they play a role in it all."

The Climate Code will also welcome user-generated content to give people around the country the opportunity to share their efforts in addressing their own local climate issues.

Since 2003, Cullen has been the lead climatologist for The Weather Channel and a principle contributor to the network's position on global warming. She currently writes and produces "Forecast Earth" headlines that air throughout the day.

Source: ENN (Environmental News Network)

Oil Spill in Lebanon

While the horrors of war are being played out on our TV's, an environmental disaster takes place with no media coverage. People that live by the sea obviously depend upon the sea, and the marine ecosystem could take years to recover.

The United Nations has joined an effort to clean up a 50-mile oil slick caused by Israel`s bombing of the Jiyyeh power station in Lebanon.

The U.N. Environment Program has teamed with other international organizations and the Lebanese government to combat the pollution, the BBC reported Tuesday.

'What we have here is equivalent to a tanker sinking, and 20,000 to 30,000 tons reaching the shoreline,' said Berj Hatjian, of the Lebanese Environment Ministry. 'We`ve had it immediately rushing into the sea from the beach line,' he said.

U.N. Environment Program officials said the Lebanese government requested international assistance from the U.N., and we stand ready to do all we can. The spill could cause great harm to native wildlife, which includes some endangered species.

Environment officials say their thoughts are with the suffering of the civilian population, but there must be concern about the short and long-term impacts on the marine environment, including the biodiversity upon which so many people depend for their livelihoods and living via tourism and fishing.

Lebanon has turned to oil producer Kuwait for help. A plane load of equipment is due to arrive from Kuwait via Syria, however the sea blockade could hamper clean-up and delivery of equipment.

Britain & California's Global Warming Pack

Well, if a foreign government and a US State can make a pack, then anything is possible!

Britain and California agreed on Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

As part of the agreement, Britain and the state of California will investigate whether they can cooperate on an emissions trading scheme, said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who launched the agreement with California.

Most scientists link greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels to global warming that could lead to heat waves, stronger storms, and flooding from rising sea levels.

California's Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pursued a strong environmental agenda, putting him at odds with fellow Republican Bush who withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming in 2001, saying its caps on greenhouse gases would cost jobs.

Here's Britain and California's joint statement:

"The environmental and economic consequences of climate change and our dependency on fossil fuels compel both California and the United Kingdom to commit to urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote low carbon technologies"

Of course to be successful any new agreement must include emerging economies like China and India, as well as the United States.

Beaches Contaminated

If you live close to the beach, this excessive heat provides the opportunity to get away and cool off, but be warned . . . the Beach Bums report is out - and it's not good

A day at the beach sounds like the perfect summer break, but a new report released Thursday reveals much of the country's coastline is contaminated.

The National Resources Defense Council issued its annual "Beach Bums" report. Researchers found that contamination, everything from garbage to raw sewage, caused health warnings and beach closings more than 20,000 times last year - and that sets a new record.

The EPA said the numbers could be misleading, because more beaches are monitored now than ever before. But the NRDC said the EPA failed to improve monitoring standards, and it plans to sue the agency.

The annual report said that the ocean was bad enough in Massachusetts to trigger 680 beach closings last year, a 4% increase from the year before. Ninety-one percent of the closings were due to elevated bacteria levels from unknown sources.

Source: The Boston Channel

American Middle East Policy

We Americans like to think we're a pretty smart people, even when evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. And nowhere is that evidence more overwhelming than in the Middle East.

History in the Middle East is everything, and we Americans seem to learn nothing from it.

President Harry Truman took about 20 minutes to recognize the state of Israel when it declared independence in 1948. Since then, more than 58 years of war, terrorism and blood-letting have led to the events of the past week.

Even now, as Katyusha rockets rain down on northern Israel and Israeli fighter jets blast Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, we simultaneously decry radical Islamist terrorism and Israel's lack of restraint in defending itself.

And the U.S. government, which wants no part of a cease-fire until Israel is given every opportunity to rescue its kidnapped soldiers and destroy as many Hezbollah and Hezbollah armaments as possible, urges caution in the interest of preserving a nascent and fragile democratic government in Lebanon. Could we be more conflicted?

While the United States provides about $2.5 billion in military and economic aid to Israel each year, U.S. aid to Lebanon amounts to no more than $40 million. This despite the fact that the per capita GDP of Israel is among the highest in the world at $24,600, nearly four times as high as Lebanon's GDP per capita of $6,200.

Lebanon's lack of wealth is matched by the Palestinians -- three out of every four Palestinians live below the poverty line. Yet the vast majority of our giving in the region flows to Israel. This kind of geopolitical inconsistency and shortsightedness has contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict that the Western world seems content to allow to perpetuate endlessly.

After a week of escalating violence, around two dozen Israelis and roughly 200 Lebanese have died. That has been sufficient bloodshed for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to join in the call for an international security force, ignoring the fact that a U.N. force is already in Southern Lebanon, having failed to secure the border against Hezbollah's incursions and attacks and the murder and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

As our airwaves fill with images and sounds of exploding Hezbollah rockets and Israeli bombs, this seven-day conflict has completely displaced from our view another war in which 10 Americans and more than 300 Iraqis have died during the same week.

And it is a conflict now of more than three years duration that has claimed almost 15,000 lives so far this year alone.

An estimated 50,000 Iraqis and more than 2,500 American troops have been killed since the insurgency began in March of 2003, which by some estimates is more than the number of dead on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the past 58 years of wars and intifadas.

Yet we have seen no rescue ships moving up the Euphrates for Iraqis who are dying in their streets, markets and mosques each day. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has not leaped to Baghdad as he did Beirut.

And there are no meetings of the Arab League, and no U.S. diplomacy with Egypt, Syria and Jordan directed at ending the Iraqi conflict.

In the Middle East, where is our sense of proportion? Where is our sense of perspective? Where is our sense of decency? And, finally, just how smart are we?

Source: CNN