I had total sticker shock when I bought my ticket to go home this summer – I paid for an economy class ticket what I used to pay for a business class ticket. Ulp. More money, less legroom, more headaches . . .
The Washington Post ways we have more unpleasant surprises in store:
Airline passengers, already enduring persistent flight delays and other customer service headaches, are confronting another aggravation: mounting fees for everything from checking a second bag to sending a child alone on a trip.
Carriers are turning to the fees and charges — some of which are built into the cost of a ticket — to help them cope with rising fuel costs, which account for increasing portions of their budgets.
Just in time for the summer travel season, airlines have tacked on a $25 fee to check a second bag, and yet another carrier announced last week that it was adding a fee for curbside baggage check-in. Others have steadily brought back pesky overnight-stay requirements to help them better separate business fliers from penny-pinching leisure travelers. Most have tried to slip fuel surcharges into the cost of tickets — fees that have climbed past $150 each way on some international flights.
Passengers won’t be feeling the squeeze just in their purses. Most major carriers have also announced reductions in flights by the fall to help improve efficiency, a move that will cram more passengers onto already crowded jets.
You can read the entire article HERE.
I’m fascinated with the concept of trying to eat “local” and there is an article in Wired: How to Shop and Eat Locally that tells us more about it. Below is an excerpt:
Innumerable books and other media extol the virtues of eating food that’s grown and processed near you: it benefits the planet, it benefits the farmers, it tastes better, it’s better for you. ReadMichael Pollan or Barbara Kingsolver for examples.
But piecing together a local menu isn’t as easy as going to the Local aisle of your supermarket. Here are some tips for bringing your meals closer to home.
Start small. Shopping locally goes against the grain (pun intended) of our globalized economy, so it’s not the easiest thing to do. Even if you live in a region that’s rich in vegetables and meats, chances are you won’t have easy access to staples like sugar, salt, oil, and flour. Just focus on what you can get, and keep an eye out for sources and/or substitutes for what you can’t.
Personalize. If you want to try the classic 100-mile diet, you can find your personal 100-mile radius at 100milediet.org.
Get a supplier. You can find farms, greenmarkets, and locally oriented stores in your area using web tools offered atEatwellguide.org and Localharvest.org. If you live in a city, investigate CSA — Community-Supported Agriculture. Citydwellers pay a fee to subscribe to a farm, and get a share of its output delivered in weekly boxes of joy. Just Food offers a listing for New Yorkers.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a sunny day, sunny and no clouds. This is actually a color photo of what it looks like this morning:
The cloudiness has lowered the daily temperatures about 10 degrees, giving us just a tiny bit more Springtime – we thought the Spring was over when the temperatures started hitting 100°F. This morning it is a refreshing 73°F / 23°C.
Here’s the problem. Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. OK, OK, we have our holy books, and they give us character guidelines. I am talking about specifics here, when life hands you those lemons, how do you make lemonade? Specifically!
When we move to Florida, we thought we were in Paradise. We had a house with a big pool, surrounded by shady trees, families of racoons, beautiful gardens – what’s not to like?
Paradise came with chamaeleons, lizards, cockroaches, even in the best houses. And fleas. We had to learn how to deal with them.
During our first and only flea infestation, at first we blamed the cats. Being a terrible mother, I asked my son to help, and he went into the walk in shower (No! Not naked! He was wearing swimming trunks!) to bathe the cats with anti-flea shampoo. I would get the cat trapped, put the cat in the shower, he would shampoo them, let one out and I would hand him the next one. Both cats loved him the best; he had chosen them from the litter.
When I saw this photo on LOLCATS, I really had to laugh.
see more crazy cat pics
Just so you will know, the solution is to take the cats to the vet and have them treated for fleas professionally. While the cats are at the vets, pour 20 Mule Team Borax over all your carpets and in all your upholstered furniture, let it stand overnight, and vacuum it all up. After you vacuum, bring the cats back. It really works. The borax creates a saline environment in which the fleas (and cockroaches) can’t survive, but it doesn’t hurt pets.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Olympic torch arrived at the airport here from Paris in the wee hours Tuesday morning, exited out a side door and was escorted by motorcade to a downtown hotel. There it took a well-deserved break in a room complete with cable TV, room service and views of the city’s popular Union Square shopping district.
“It has very comfortable accommodations,” said Mike McCarron, an airport spokesman, who said the flame — ensconced in a handsome brass lantern and accompanied by several backup flames — was “treated similar to a head of state.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the flame will be under no such bushel as it makes its only appearance in the United States on an increasingly tense international tour en route to Beijing. It will star in a two-and-a-half-hour relay along this city’s waterfront, involving six miles of pavement, 79 runners and untold scores of law enforcement officials.
The precise route remained in flux on Tuesday as the torch extravaganza threatened to become more civic migraine than celebration in the face of potential protests by those upset with China’s human rights record and recent crackdown in Tibet. Mayor Gavin Newsom met with police and relay officials amid concerns that disruptions in London and Paris this week not be repeated here.
“I can only confirm that the route is dynamic,” said Nathan Ballard, a city spokesman.
Whoda thunk?
I am (almost) speechless!
Can this be a turning point in Kuwait? Are we going to have laws that might actually be meant to be followed? Wooo Hoooo, traffic police, Woooo Hoooooo, court of law!
From The Arab Times: Kuwait Crime:
‘Deport motorist’ – Driving on E-lane
KUWAIT CITY : Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs, Major-General Thabet Al-Muhanna has ordered the deportation of an Arab man who was caught driving at 140 km/h along the Fifth Ring Motorway, reports Al-Seyassah daily.
According to a security source Al-Muhanna saw the motorist driving along the emergency lane and ordered his immediate arrest.
After his arrest the man admitted to committing the offence. He apologized and said he was in a hurry. However, the man will be administratively deported, say sources.
Questions and Comments: Woo Hooo, al-Muhanna!
Suggestion: With the great advent of tiny, easily carried cameras and cell phone cameras, photographic evidence is easy to provide. How about the Ministry of Interior setting up a website where we can send them photos of people WE see in flagrant violation of the laws?
Thank you – you know who you are – for starting my day with a laugh-out-loud election year joke:
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his
herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.
The driver, a young man in aArmani suit, Gucci shoes,RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, ‘If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?’
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, ‘Sure, Why not?’
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebookcomputer,connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resoluti on photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany ..
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilotthat the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email o n his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-Tech Miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, ‘You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.’
‘That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,’ says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, ‘Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my ca lf?’
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, ‘Okay, why not?’
‘You’re a Congressman for the U.S. Government’, says Bud.
‘Wow! That’s correct,’ says the yuppie, ‘but how did you guess that?’
‘No guessing required.’ answered the cowboy. ‘You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew,to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don’t know a thing about cows…this is a
Herd of sheep. . . .
Now give me back my dog.
The friend who sent this forward to me knows I like folk remedies and natural medicines, and even though that is true, there are parts of this forward about which I am seriously skeptical. Cinnamon and honey taste good. They probably can’t hurt you if you try it for bad breath, or weight loss, or gas, or a cold.
If you have high cholesterol or cancer – this forward does not cite any studies for the benefits claimed, so if you were to add cinnamon and honey to your diet, it probably wouldn’t hurt you, but if you stopped taking your medications without consulting your doctor – that would be a very bad idea.
Add cinnamon and honey to your toast, to your tea, but, in addition, take some of these suggestions with a grain of salt.
Subject: Benefits of Cinnamon & Honey
Facts on honey and cinnamon:
It is found that a mixture of
honey and cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of
the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as
a ” Ram Ban” (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases.
Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.
Today’s science says that even though honey is
sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm
diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, on its
issue dated 17 January, 1995 has given the following list of diseases
that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as
researched by western scientists:
HEART DISEASES:
Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on toast instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the
patient from heart attack. Also those who have already had an attack,
if they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next
attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and
strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada , various nursing
homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you
age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged;
honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.
ARTHRITIS:
Arthritis patients may take daily, morning, and
night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small
teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic
arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the
Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors
treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and
half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that
within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73
patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly
all th e patients who could not walk or move around because of
arthritis started walking without pain.
BLADDER INFECTIONS:
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one
teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It
destroys the germs in the bladder.
TOOTHACHE:
Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and
five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be
applied three times a day until the tooth stops aching.
CHOLESTEROL:
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of
Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a
cholesterol patient were found to reduce the level of cholesterol in
the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic
patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is
cured. According to information received in said journal, pure
honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol. (By
the way. if you’re taking cholesterol medicine STOP! They all contain
STATIN which weaken your muscles…including YOUR HEARTand none has
been shown to stop heart attacks or strokes!!!!)
(Blogger comment: Please, this is a forward. Please, don’t stop taking your cholesterol medications without discussing this with your doctor. If it were so simple, wouldn’t we have heard this before?)
COLDS:
Those suffering from common or severe colds should
take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder
daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough,
cold, and clear the sinuses.
UPSET STOMACH:
Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache
and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.
GAS:
According to the studies done in India and Japan ,
it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the
stomach is relieved of gas.
IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens
the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral
attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and
iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white
blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.
INDIGESTION:
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of
honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of
meals
INFLUENZA:
A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains
a natural Ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the
patient from flu.
LONGEVITY:
Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken
regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of
honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder and three cups of water and boil
to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It
keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also
increases and even a 100 year old, starts performing the chores of a 20-year-old.
PIMPLES:
Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of
cinnamon powder paste.
Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and
wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks,
it removes pimples from the root.
SKIN INFECTIONS:
Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts
on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin
infections.
WEIGHT LOSS:
Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast
on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, dr ink honey and
cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it
reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking
this mixture regular ly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the
body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.
CANCER:
Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed
that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured
successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should
daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon
powder for one month three times a day.
(Blogger comment: Research by whom? Again, please discuss this with your doctor – if curing cancer were so easy as eating cinnamon and honey, we would probably all be cancer free by now.)
FATIGUE:
Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of
honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength
of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in
equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done
research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of
water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing
and in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. when the vitality of the
body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.
BAD BREATH:
People of South America , first thing in the
morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powde r mixed
in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.
HEARING LOSS:
Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder,
taken in equal parts restore hearing. Remember when we were kids? We
had toast with real butter and cinnamon sprinkled on it!
A big WOO Hoooo for those of us who need our daily coffee fix – BBC Health News tells us it may help block dementia.
Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.
The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.
. . . . . .
‘Safe drug’
“Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky,” said Dr Jonathan Geiger, who led the study.
“High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood brain barrier.
“Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders.”
A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.
UK experts said it was the “best evidence yet” of coffee’s benefits.
Just in time – gotta go get my second cup! While I am gone, you can read the rest of the article HERE.
I wish he wouldn’t say things like that. Robert Mueller told BBC News that he thinks we will see the end of Al Qaeda in three years.
To me, that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. It’s a dare. I wish he would just go about defeating Al Qaeda in three years, and not talk about it until it’s done. Maybe it is superstitious; I prefer action to talk. When you talk about defeating someone, you might just be setting yourself up to eat humble pie.
The head of the FBI has said he believes the West can achieve victory over al-Qaeda within three-and-a-half years.
Robert Mueller described how his organisation is working closely with British intelligence to confront ever-more-complex plots.
Flanked by broad-shouldered security men with tell-tale bulges beneath their suits, the director of the FBI gave a rare public address in London.
As head of one of 16 US intelligence agencies, Mr Mueller is at the forefront of preventing a repeat of the September 11 attacks.
It was a task, he said, which could not be done without strategic partnerships with allies like Britain.
You can read the entire article HERE.
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