Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers'

Vegetarians are generally less likely than meat eaters to develop cancer but this does not apply to all forms of the disease, a major study has found.

Honda may develop plug-in hybrid cars as Obama alters US policy

bloomberg.com : Honda, which sells the FCX Clarity hydrogen car, may also develop plug-in electric models as US policy shifts to favor battery-powered autos. US President Barack Obama has announced no new federal effort to promote hydrogen. Honda still sees hydrogen as the best long-term alternative that can cut carbon exhaust tied to global warming, Honda President Takeo Fukui said. Still, the company will respond to a push by the Obama administration for carmakers to sell plug-in hybrids. "Oil prices are going to go up. When that time comes, fuel cells, solar panels, hydrogen, those will be the key words," Fukui said. "We will have packages that will be very competitive at that time." General Motors, Toyota and Nissan, and startups Tesla and Fisker are rushing out plug-in hybrid cars as the US moves to tighten fuel-economy and greenhouse gas rules. Honda has yet to announce plans to sell one, citing high costs for the lithium-ion batteries needed to power them and poor range. Honda last week began building a lithium-ion battery factory with joint-venture partner GS Yuasa to make packs for gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Honda plans to produce the vehicles in late 2010. - And I was wondering where was Honda's PHEV policy. Now with Honda officially in the plug-in hybrid game, being one of the last major car-makers to announce their PHEV plans, the race for market share is on. Now all we need to change the entire global vehicle fleet and transport infrastructure to run on electric power is around 30 years, $45 trillion, and a lot of luck. See also : 1. Peakoiler buys 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid FD3 2. 2010 Honda Insight specifications released : 41 mpg, 1.3L, 98hp, i-VTEC, CVT 3. Honda, GS Yuasa JV to make lithium-ion batteries for 2010/2011 Honda Civic Hybrid

The Many Seasons of West Lake

While I taught, Sue, Peter, Jack and Stefania rode to West Lake, today. The lotus plants were in full bloom and Sue took many shots of them for future painting inspiration! So much new growth on the lake! In the winter time, all of this is trimmed down to brown stalks that are below the water line. What a difference a few months makes!Near the lake is a small rock garden that they wandered through, off of Beishan Lu.Stefania, Jack and Peter, stopping for a rest. Tomorrow after Sue finishes class we get on the bus to Ningbo, about a 2 hour ride from here. We'll do a quick tour of the town and visit our friend "Anita" who works there now. Expect a couple of days until I get around to blogging again!Last but not least, here's a little video of Sophie doing a dance she learned at school:

Rich nutration

a taste of kent

The last weekend in September was a bright and sunny one here in Canterbury.It was perfect timing for Eurofest, a festival and market held right near our house, designed to celebrate regional foods from here in Kent, and farther afield in France and Italy.It was a great opportunity for Daiku and me to become more familiar with some of the goodies grown and made right in our backyard.Such as chutneys made from local fruits and spirits. Plum chutney with English rosé wine? Yum.Some fine Kentish beer made with some fine Kentish hops.this beautiful locally-grown russet apple. (a little taste of home and apple picking!)along with some other local produce: pears and bramley apples. from abroad, we had delicious and colorful produce from France, such as these blood-red tomatoes,these plums, fresh of the tree with their bloom as proof,artichokes the size of my head, bunches and bunches of lavender (I've loved learning the subtle scent differences between English and French lavender),possibly some of the best marinated olives and mushrooms I've ever tasted (including "pistou" olives marinated in basil and garlic- yum!a range of mustards that would make even the most hard-core mustard lover swoon, and nuts and dried fruit as far as the eye can see. It has been really fun getting to know our local landscape, and getting to try out all the wonderful produce that is grown here in Kent and all of the yummy foods prepared with it as well.

Babula Cooking

A few months ago, my friend Ruth (yes, the Ruth of rooibos chocolate cake and buamba fame), handed me a small, square, well-worn booklet, stored in a protective Ziploc bag. “The cookbook I was telling you about – the one compiled by missionaries where I grew up in central Zaire. I think you will like it.”Like it I do. The recipes in Babula Cooking III (named after the Tshiluba word for a small charcoal stove) come from the kitchens of about two dozen women, and bear cozy, homespun names such as “My Best Gingerbread,” “Crazy Cake”, “Company Pudding,” “2-Minute Mayonnaise,” “Eggplant Supreme,” and “Mother Merle’s Corn Soup.” But Babula Cooking is more than an Africanized Garden Club cookbook – it is also a survival guide for wives and mothers far from supermarkets and reliable refrigeration. It contains handy tips for improving the taste of powdered milk (add vanilla and a pinch of salt), keeping (or getting) bugs out of dry goods like flour, rice and beans, and preserving meat through canning and corning. And the recipes themselves speak to these women’s amazing flexibility to devise substitutions and re-create the smells and tastes of home.Lack ketchup? Try puréed tomatoes with sugar and vinegar. Don’t have garlic? “From the forest come leaves and bark with a very pungent odor quite like garlic. [The locals] mix crushed leaves or powdered bark with red pepper and salt.” Here, in the jungle of Zaire, missionary women prepare gravy with palm oil, employ dioshe, a common squash, in “pumpkin” bread, and use papayas to make jam “almost like peach jam.” Meri-meri (a local berry) are the sweetly tart secret in muffins, cobblers and jelly, while mangoes fill in for apples in cobbler, pie, sauce and butter. In a display of thrift, leftover oatmeal and rice get transformed into muffins, and eggplant is grated, browed and mixed with ground meat as a “meat stretcher.” “Philadelphia cream cheese” is concocted with drained yogurt.Babula Cooking is not all Mid-West-cum-central-Africa. The women also incorporate local recipes into their personal repertoires. Aurie Miller, one of the editors, provides this introduction to her recipe for bidia, a stiff porridge made from cornmeal and manioc (cassava) flour:“African women do not measure but know how many handfuls to put in from long practice. They laugh hilariously when they hear there is a recipe! It would be well for you to watch someone whose bidia you like to figure out your own proportions….” Marcia Murray adds that bidia can then be cubed and fried: “Eaten with salt and catsup,” she notes, “They are like hush puppies.”This, the third edition of Babula Cooking, was published in 1985. In the foreword, the editors write: “Our hope is that we become less dependent on the expensive imported foods and simplify our lives as we live among those who have so much less than we.” In the era of food miles and food riots, it is a message for us all.So, instead of having my mom send me a care package of graham crackers, I tried out Janette Fulton’s homemade version. I found it hard to roll the dough thin enough, so they didn’t have the right crunch, and the texture was a bit too crumbly…but the taste? Well, I’ll be darned if they didn’t taste like the real deal.Honey Graham CrackersFrom Babula Cooking IIIMakes 24 crackers2 cups / 240 grams flour½ cup / 60 grams whole wheat flour1/3 cup / 57 grams brown sugar½ cup / 113 grams shortening (I used butter)¼ cup / 60 milliliters honey¼ cup / 60 milliliters oil3 tablespoons / 45 milliliters cold water1 teaspoon / 5 milliliters salt1 teaspoon / 5 milliliters baking sodaPreheat oven to 425°F / 220°C. Stir all ingredients together until well-blended. Roll out on two lightly oiled cookie sheets. Score, prick, and bake for 8-10 minutes. Cut apart while hot. Cool and store in tin with tight top.

Le Cordon Bleu.

No your food here

Have u ever eatten these?

1923 famous wine?

Top Ten Tuesdays: How are we justifying our bonuses to taxpayers?

Special bonus edition!11) Achieved bonus goal of obtaining tax money to pay for bonuses.10) Giving needy citizens rides to the unemployment office in our new Porsche (pending available seating).9) Obtaining bids from multiple vendors before using bonus money to purchase hookers and blow.8) Managed annual salary so poorly, need a bonus to bail us out.7) Need additional funds to pay for our guillotine insurance.6) While it's right for the government to give businesses public funds, it will make Baby Jesus cry if it says how businesses should spend those funds.5) Promising to invest that bonus money in companies that will help the American economy and not those like A.I.G. 4) The same way we justified them to our shareholders...through equations that no one wants to admit they don't understand.3) Sitting back, lighting a cigar with a $100 bill, and letting the Times do our justifyin' for free.2) Hey, nobody took away George W. Bush's salary.1) "Justify"...sorry, we're not familiar with that word. We're MBAs, not English majors. Now who wants a little caviar with their fillet mignon?

Fried duck and potato

Franz Ferdinand, Live @ Ogden Theater, Denver, 4.22.09

Photos by Merry Swankster Last week Franz Ferdinand brought their brand of stylized rock to Denver for a show at Colfax's Ogden Theater. The stopover was part of the trek of reverse Coachella pilgrims swinging through Colorado from the California desert. The boys from Glasgow played from a setlist of music spanning all three albums and placed the heaviest emphasis on the bookends of their CV. All but four songs from their blockbuster self titled debut were played, half the songs from this year's Tonight: Franz Ferdinand and only four from 2006's You Could Have It So Much Better. Not sure what you can read from a single night's set, but that ratio seems pretty in line for constituting a successful night. The Scottish lads toyed with subtle stabs at new interpretations for some of their older, more established material. So subtle that I wondered if it was indistinct for most people in the audience. Results of the new arrangements, much like the bands albums, where a mixed bag. As much as I hate to knock a band when flirting with new ways of refreshing older tracks, for the sake of honest relaying, I can't deny my underwhelmed feelings. On "The Fallen"'s coal-tinted glasses view of dystopian messiahs the band took to an odd swinging cadence. Singer Alex Kapranos handled the lyrics with a corny and somewhat uninterested, almost ironic flow that sounded like bad retirement home entertainment - or a man bored with his own music. However, and this is a big however, even as I interpreted a possible new rendering of one of their most lyrically interesting songs as boredom, the showy part of this and other lackluster songs in the beginning of the set were mostly saved by the energetic pace of the men onstage (save for the banged up keyboardist anchored on a chair). The more straightforward takes worked better. On new songs like the upbeat "Bite Hard" it was the unmeddled approach that hit right on the money. Similarly, the band tore the place up on the relative oldie, "40'". Starting off with a breezy loungy vibe - think the hipper room with better music abutting the aforenamed old folks home - before turning down a glass road of face-melting, psychedelic jammyness. Which brings to mind Franz's other stimulating elements of the live show. In past reviews I've not hidden my sincere appreciation for actual perceptible imagery while enjoying a rock show. It's something that is almost always complementary and yet still surprises me how too often bands overlook the creative possibilities of dressing up a feast for eyes. I also understand how such offerings may not change fans' preferences either way, but I'm willing to bet my money that a full spectrum of galvanizing triggers beats a bare stage when compared in a vacuum. Franz Ferdinand has always been a band that comfortably combines arty sensibilities into what they are about. For this tour the entire rear of the stage holds a giant rectangular video screen made up of approximately 2' square cubes 14 across by 6 vertical. Its most memorable use came during the last song of the main set, the underrated "Outsiders". Real time projections of the band were shown filtered with neon edged, pencil sketch effects. Definitely interesting even amidst the familiarity of the production (to anyone who has ever played around with Photoshop filters anyway). As I've seen them do before for a grand culmination of the show, the entire band congregated over the drums to wail on the kit for a frenzied end. Much to the delight of the crowd, the hobbling rhythm guitarist/keyboardist tossed his crutches and somehow held his balance during the excitement. Encores then kicked off with the terrific pounding of "Ulysses", an invigorated "Darts of Pleasure", the superb post-punk revival/electro twofer that is "Lucid Dreams", and finally an explosive show closer - "Fire". A solid night for all involved, but only the first course for the lady and I. Set on making the most of a bounty of music traversing Colorado, we hightailed it out of the theater during the closing notes before heading for a 30 mile drive to Boulder for an altogether different experience. Next: The Kills sexy intensity is cut short, but even in compacted form leaves a lasting impression.

Pig ear

Drawing icecream

Why Do People Suicide?

It is sad you know, when you heard that people are willing to commit suicide.

What do you think the reasons that might encourage them to do so? Is it out

of desperation? or anything else? Please tell me your share of thoughts.

May is National Guide Dog Month

For regular readers, I did warn you that I would be blogging a lot about guide dogs, after all, May is National Guide Dog Month. Today seemed like a good day to write another post about this fundraising effort. Keep in mind that 100% of the money raised will go directly to accredited, non-profit guide dog schools across the country. My company has teamed up with American Idol judge Paula Abdul and Dick Van Patten to raise awareness and money to support guide dog schools. (In this photo above left are Dick Van Patten, Paula Abdul and Jimmy Van Patten, with two guide dogs). There are three easy ways you can help:1) Visit any Pet Co store and make a donation at the register in any amount.2) Make a donation online in any amount- it's easy enough to do right now in fact!3) Buy any specially marked bag of Natural Balance dog food with a sticker of Paula Abdul on it, and 50 cents for each bag sold goes to the guide dog schools.Check out this video of Paula Abdul and Dick Van Patten about this Guide Dog fundraiser:If you can't view the YouTube video above, try this blogger version below: Thanks for watching these videos. Please take a moment to check out this info and make a donation, even just $5 would help. -Rick Rockhill

My best love

Let's pray, shall we?

Financial times are pretty tough for many of us right now, and with that comes new problems and stresses. The recession has altered a whole lot of well laid plans for many of us, and it has been on my mind (and in my face) a lot as of late. It really makes me wonder- What do people without faith do these days? I mean, exactly how do they get through each day? I know,(all too well) that I wouldn't last a single minute without my faith. Here is one example: Each week since I started at the bank in December, a young Dad (early 30's I'd guess...I should pay better attention to his driver's license, I suppose) comes into the bank to cash his unemployment card. (Both he and his wife are out of work... Reno's unemployment rate is now above 11% and climbing.) He's a nice guy, and he always brings along his darling little three year old son. Two weeks ago when he came in, he was really down. It seemed that their washer had broken and the repair man gave them an estimate and then charged them for parts on top of that. He said his wife had had all she could take, and was having a melt down at home.He was at the end of his rope. I offered him some sympathetic looks and some encouraging words, but it seemed to not phase him. Finally I said, "Well, we all just have to hang in there and have faith. You've got to count your blessings.""Like what?!" he said, kind of angry like."Like that little guy there." I replied."Ya, well, we don't even know how we're going to feed him." he snarled back at me and turned abruptly and left. Well, I had to bite my tongue so hard I thought I would scream. Had he never heard the English proverb "there but for the grace of God go I"...? You see, I work with a guy who has a three year old son with leukemia. I wanted to say...no, I wanted to yell at this man, "Hey! How would you like to trade places with that dad? Huh?! You ungrateful man." Of course, I didn't. Instead, I prayed a long silent prayer for him. He can't help it. He doesn't have faith. He is completely alone in this scary, uncertain time we live. Last week, he came in again and I greeted him. "Hi there. Are things looking better this week?" I asked hopefully."No" he grumbled.Again, I prayed for him, and I continue to pray for him, his wife and darling little curly haired boy. One more story, and I will get off my soapbox...a few weeks ago, I was in WalMart (where else, besides TJ Maxx I mean...) and, maybe it was brought on by my own financially challenged situation, or menopause, or hormones, or the moon...but... I was in the midst of a fairly decent sized pity party for myself. (Life is too hard, I'm a good person, why me, my arms are flabby, I have no money, yada yada...) Cruising the aisles, looking at things I couldn't afford to buy, and bemoaning to myself how I was going to do 100 hours of work (painting furniture) in a week, while working 34 hours at a bank to make my squeaky tight ends meet and still get at least five hours of sleep each night, when I came whipping around a corner end cap..and almost ran head on into a sweet faced young boy, maybe ten years old, clinging to the handles of his grocery cart while his Mom was filling a prescription. He had skinny, shiny, metal prosthetic legs and appeared to be slightly mentally handicapped. He was smiling.I swear to you, it was total God thing, if you know what I mean. Seriously.(I still get goosebumps thinking about it and the sheer magnitude of the moment) It was God smackin' me down, telling me to knock it off and get over my bad self..right then and there. I felt ashamed. And humbled. This boy never has an "easy" day. Neither does his Mama. But yet, they move forward.With smiles on their faces.They have faith. I guess...what I am getting at with this rambling , picture-less post is...Yes, these are challenging times, people. But, those of us with a secure faith in God have the competitive edge, for sure. We have something bigger and better than houses and cars and money.So. I'm asking you today, if you are a person of faith, please, please pray. Pray hard. There are lots of folks out there that don't have the security blanket of faith, and I am fearful as to what may happen to them in these trying times.

Tomato

More than a few of my least favorite things

I was finally getting all settled in to my new apartment. Getting everything put away in it's right place. It's weird but being able to see the floor somehow lets me appreciate the simple quietness of the place. I hear birds singing every day here. Unfortunately, something else is happening almost every day: I see roaches. I have seen a roach almost every day this week in here. In the past 24 hrs, I've washed two down the sink, the most recent one less than an hour ago. I hope the hot water came on soon enough to scald it before it drowned. I hope at least it drowned and that I don't need to worry about it crawling back up the drain like vomit up an esophagus. I would rather have mice than roaches. I would even take rats. I think they are easier to get rid of and maybe my cat would keep them away. I would even take the bats that kept getting into my old apartment in Frederick. The rabies post-exposure series is not that bad. I've lived in 3 apartment complexes that had roaches before and I've already seen 2-3 times as many roaches here in less than a month than I saw in those places in the 6 months, 1 year, 2 years I lived there. This place has a major infestation. And I seriously doubt the exterminator coming on Tuesday will be any more effective than the ones in those other places. I know the routine, don't leave any food or water around. Put down boric acid in the cabinets and drawers. Except I have a cat who is free-fed so there is always food and water out. And then, what about the neighbors? What about this old ass building? I was a child who liked to play with bugs. I still pick up caterpillars to this day. But I've always loathed roaches like nothing else. I think it might be related to seeing Creepshow at a young age. Remember the last segment where the old man's apartment was overrun with roaches? I remember them crawling out of the cereal box and being afraid to eat cereals for months. I would embed a Youtube clip of that here but I can't stand to watch it myself. So the seed of revulsion was planted then and it was in full bloom by the time I was 11. That was when my mother and I stayed at some awful roach motel in Georgia. I remember throwing the bed covers back and seeing one in bed with me and screaming bloody murder. It was by my leg, if not on it. I have to think it must have been on me, because why else would I have woken up like that. There was another one in the bathroom when it was time for my shower in the morning. More screaming. Both times my mother came and dispatched them. Looking back, I'm surprised she didn't scold me for screaming like that and being such a big baby, but she is revolted by all bugs so it makes sense. Also, when she was a small child living in the famous shack in Mississippi her family lived in, they had rats. She said she used to wake up with a sore bloody nose a lot and she still believes the rats were chewing her face in her sleep.I still have the same reaction to them today. The first time I saw one here I screamed. Now I only scream when I am really surprised by one. I can muffle it a little but I still can't help making noises that would make the neighbors think something very bad is happening over here. I've happened to have company on a few occasions when a roach has popped its nasty god-awful head out. They were traumatized (and deafened) by the shrieks as much as I was by the pest.One of these occasions occurred when a boyfriend was over. He was a nuisance insect himself. I remember him commenting on how terrified I looked that night and asking was I all right, but he never moved his ass off that couch to check. Typical. At any rate, that clued him into how much I despised them. Not long after I broke up with him, I found a dying hissing cockroach in my bathroom. It was clinging to my flip flop and barely moving. I shook it off into the toilet and flushed it. I'd had the ex over to my apt post-break up a week or two before that so that was his opportunity to plant it. I'm just grateful that it was dying when I found it because if I had seen that thing moving through my apartment at full speed I would probably not be alive right now. It's getting near bed-time and I'm considering making a run to the 24 hr CVS because I am afraid roaches may have had a playground out of my toothbrush. I'll keep the new one in the fridge. Maybe the freezer. I hope I don't wake up screaming tonight when my cat is lying next to me in the bed and the tip of his tail brushes against my skin. And if something does brush against my skin, I hope it's actually my cat's tail and not some 6-legged montrosity. And I am burning EVERYTHING I own when I move out here.

Obama budget cuts funds for abstinence-only sex education

President Obama's new budget would eliminate most money for abstinence-only sex education and shift it to teen pregnancy prevention a U-turn in what has been more than a decade of sex education policy in the USA.The proposed budget, sent to Congress last Thursday, "reflects the research," says Melody Barnes, director of the team that coordinates White House domestic policy."In any area where Americans want to confront a problem, they want solutions they know will work, as opposed to programming they know hasn't proven to be successful. Given where we've been in recent years, I think this is a very important moment," she says.Abstinence-only sex education programs, which emphasize a no-sex-until-marriage message, received almost $1.3 billion in federal dollars from fiscal years 2001-2009, according to the Office of Management and Budget. At the same time, studies of abstinence-only programs have shown little success; the most often-cited study, released in 2007, was congressionally mandated and federally funded and found that abstinence-only programs don't prevent or delay teen sex. Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association says that 2007 study was "an early study about early programs. Things have changed." Two weeks ago, she says her organization briefed congressional aides about an analysis of studies that she says refutes arguments that abstinence education doesn't affect sexual behavior. Barnes says the budget leaves open a possibility that an abstinence-only program could be funded, if there is evidence of its effectiveness. Obama's budget proposes almost $178 million for teen pregnancy prevention, including $110 million for community-based programs. About 75% of that is for programs proven to have delayed sex and increased contraceptive use or reduced teen pregnancy. The other 25% could be for "innovative" programs. Obama "is open to innovation, and that could include abstinence-only if there is some indication it would work," Barnes says.Huber says her organization must work harder to convince Congress to continue funding abstinence education. "We're encouraging abstinence programs around the country to let Congress know what research they have and share what an abstinence program truly is," Huber says.

Ramen Noodles

Do you eat them? Have you even heard of them?
Ramen Noodles have never been a favorite of mine. I chalk it up to having had them too much when I was a kid. They're extremely cheap, even in today's economy you can get about a dozen packages of Ramen Noodles for only $2.
My family loves Ramen Noodles though. I always keep them in the house. My usband will make them for lunch for him and the kids. He has also begun bringing them to work for lunch.
I just bought myself some Shrimp flavored Ramen Noodles, hoping a change in flavoring would get me to like them a little more. I thought I'd like them because I like the Shrimp flavored Instant Lunch, which is basically Ramen Noodles with some veggies and small bits of meat.

Big Day Out

Its Felix & Oscar's first big day out. I am popping them back into the hutch each night, as we have a new cat roaming the area in the evening.Its so cute seeing a duckling and a chicken following Bonnie around the yard.Bonnie has taken in Banjo's only off spring and is doing a mighty job raising her along with her sister.I called them Felix & Oscar from the show "The Odd Couple" as these two little balls of fluff look so odd running together.Last night when I popped them into bed, Felix (duckling) was on the big duck side of the run. Some how she squeezed through the wire fence and I took me 4 laps around the area to scoop her up and pop her into bed with mum & Oscar.Such a joy having little babies in the backyard. Notice I am being positive about them being little girls?Until next time....hoo roo technorati tags: bantams, chickens, chooks, ducklings, ducks

Big Day Out

Its Felix & Oscar's first big day out. I am popping them back into the hutch each night, as we have a new cat roaming the area in the evening.Its so cute seeing a duckling and a chicken following Bonnie around the yard.Bonnie has taken in Banjo's only off spring and is doing a mighty job raising her along with her sister.I called them Felix & Oscar from the show "The Odd Couple" as these two little balls of fluff look so odd running together.Last night when I popped them into bed, Felix (duckling) was on the big duck side of the run. Some how she squeezed through the wire fence and I took me 4 laps around the area to scoop her up and pop her into bed with mum & Oscar.Such a joy having little babies in the backyard. Notice I am being positive about them being little girls?Until next time....hoo roo technorati tags: bantams, chickens, chooks, ducklings, ducks

New pup in the White House and no one consulted ME, dammit!

The cat is out of the bag, so to speak: a returned-to-breeder Portuguese Water Dog will be the nation's new First Pup.And not to go off on a tangent or anything, but I'm totally gobsmacked the Obamas chose a dog without consulting me. The nerve! The [how should I put it?] — the audacity!After all, I love dogs more than practically anyone. I love dogs so much, in fact, that I am ideally qualified to determine not only who should be allowed to keep a dog, but what type of dog she should be allowed to keep. [I know what you're thinking: "Sounds like she'd also be a good one to decide who should be allowed to have children!" Obviously.]In my world In a perfect world, no one, but no one would have the "right" to choose the size or age or coat-length or temperament of the dog she adopts.People, when you choose a friendly dog, a shy dog dies! When you choose a small dog, a big dog dies! I trust that I am making myself clear. You'll take the dog I choose for you, thank you very much.Also: a potential adopter should work at home, and should have six months' salary in an emergency savings account, a well-maintained house with a fenced yard, no children under twelve years of age and a body mass index no greater than 24.8. Needless to say, I am exempt from these standards since I care about dogs so much more than you do.If the Obamas really loved dogs, they would have followed the example of humane movement leaders like Wayne Pacelle and John Goodman and Ingrid Newkirk. That's right: Wayne and John and Ingrid have stepped up to the plate and adopted pit bulls from their local shelters! Gamebred pit bulls... geriatric pit bulls with bad knees... big, untrained, energetic young pit bulls, and... what? Say again?They haven't? You're kidding me.But... all those other people jumping on the Prez for not getting a rescue dog — those people have shelter pit bulls, right? After all, pit bulls are totally over-represented in shelters — they're the dogs most likely to get killed! That's why Wayne and John and Ingrid promote pit bull adoption every chance they get, right?Say what...?They don't?But that would mean they're just... sanctimonious hypocrites! Insufferably sanctimonious hypocrites. Say not so! OMG, my faith in the integrity of humane-movement talking heads has been shattered. Please excuse me while I take my pound pit bull and my pound pit mix and my pound border collie for a walk to mull all of this over.Seriously, I'm delighted for the Prez and his family. They have years ahead of them to adopt strays, pound pups and lost kittens, if they choose.And I invite anyone who feels the need to whine, "But... but... but... it isn't from a shelter" to visit her local pound and adopt a pit bull, because it's a pretty sure bet not one of the critics has a rescue pit bull or two or three already.[L.A. Times photo by Mark Boster of a pit bull at the Los Angeles County animal shelter in Carson, CA.]Related:Two from Terrierman —Barack Obama, Ordinary ConsumerObama Is on the Edge of a Canine MistakeObama dog puppy to arrive Tuesday–TMZ is my source! [Retrieverman]OBAMA GETS DOG FROM PUPPY MILL! [LA Animal Watch (with interesting comments/discussion)]Memo to the Obamas: All You Need To Know About Portuguese Water Dogs! [The sort of boundless inanity you'd expect from "People Pets."]

Summer fruit, litchi

litchi,also called" empress smile" (妃子笑)in China.

Eating peach, I can't help thinking "beauty monkey king(美猴王)"

Collect litchi core,mill the peach core to be in flower basket shape,is my summer hobby!~

Coffee cup building