Blueflute Blog

World's tiniest snake species

2008-08-04T10:49:00.008-04:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/03/tiny.snake.ap/index.html

Scientists found the world's tiniest snake species in Barbados under a rock. Just what I needed the thought of a four inch slimy thing. This little creature is about the size of a quarter when curled up.....The snake is not poisonous.

What's in a Name?

2008-07-24T20:14:00.002-04:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_re_au_an/new_zealand_bizarre_names

Well in this case a New Zealand, family court Judge said enough was enough. He made the 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed. The little girl's name was Talula Does The Hula. What were her parents thinking?

Blogging Again

2008-07-13T22:35:00.002-04:00

It's been a year since I added any posts. Life has a way of getting in the way. My two oldest have joined the Army, so far I am blessed that neither one has seen any action yet. I've gotten a new job that I actually like. My youngest son has a form of high functioning autism. We all stay busy with him.
After a year of no posts I still find contact requests in my email every week, so I have decided to start posting again. Not as frequently as I did in the past. Got to love those offbeat news stories.

Puppy Heart

2007-07-14T16:48:00.000-04:00

A chihuahua puppy was born in Northern Japan with a perfect heart.......on his back. A sure symbol of love. Got to love him.

http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,22050968-5006007,00.html

Roswell Convention

2007-07-07T11:16:00.000-04:00

60 years ago this week marks the anniversary of the alleged ufo crash in Roswell, NM. Fact or Fiction? http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/incident.htm Was it just a weather balloon?, a military experiment?, or an actual alien space craft that crashed landed in July of 1947?

Well whatever it was Roswell has become the center of all things alien. This weekend is their ufo convention. Some say Roswell is trying to make money off of paranoia, but hey if Disney can make money off a mouse, why not Roswell off a ufo?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-07-06-roswell-ufo-convention_N.htm#uslPageReturn

Dry Cleaners beat law suit

2007-06-25T15:18:00.000-04:00

The 65 million dollar law suit that was filed by Roy L. Pearson (a judge) against a small dry cleaners, later changed to 54 million dollars was won by the dry cleaners. Not only did they win but the residing Superior Court judge Judith Bartnoff made the plaintiff pay for all the court costs.
I'm glad that the outcome was in favor of the dry cleaners, had he won, the outcome could have proved disastrous for all small businesses.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19414287

Is TSA going a bit too far?

2007-06-16T21:48:00.000-04:00

The Transportation Security Administration held a women and her toddler for 45 minutes over a sippy cup of water. I understand the need for security but come on. Enough is enough. The woman spilled the water and was made to clean it up and missed her flight. If it had been me, I would of thrown the cup at the TSA agent. I hope the women sues. Any body who has ever traveled with a toddler has enough stress when flying. TSA is pushing their authority around.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19266957/

Justice Served

2007-06-14T10:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a new twist on justice. A Canadian judge sentenced a man to three years of no girlfriends. First I've ever heard of but it fit the crime. I think more judges should pass out a sentence like this. The guy had been diagnosed with a dependent personality disorder. Sounds a lot more fairer then putting him in jail.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070614/ap_on_re_ca/no_girlfriend

Mom groups

2007-06-11T00:33:00.000-04:00

Being a mom, means having very little time for yourself, especially when you are a stay-at- home-mom. It can be extremely frustrating when your family demands more of your time then hours in the day. So where do you go for socializing when you aren't able to just get up and go, or for advice when there is no one to turn to?

I've found a few on-line groups that fill that void for those times when no one is available and you need advice, a friend or to just vent those frustrations. One of those groups is Cafe Mom, http://www.cafemom.com/ this group is open to all women with children any age and moms- to- be, sorry no men. You create your profile and add as much or as little info as you want to about yourself and your kids. There are hundreds of groups to join what interests you or just add journal entries to the main section.

Another group I enjoy very much is Maya's Mom, http://www.mayasmom.com/ same concept as Cafe mom but allows both mothers and fathers. So if you need a place to go to help keep your sanity, because with kids we all have those moments we need someone to communicate with that might be able to at least let us know that there are others out there going through the same things.

New Indian Jones Movie Coming

2007-06-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

I just love romantic adventure movies. There's a new movie in the works, Indian Jones 4. They haven't got a name for it yet. Set to come out May 22, 2008. About the only thing they've really said about the movie is Harrison Ford is in it, but Sean Connery who played his dad in the second movie won't be.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070607/ap_en_mo/people_sean_connery

Is Home Food Safety Slacking?

2007-06-07T12:26:00.000-04:00

Food is important. We all need it. We can't live without it. So why are we not safer about how we prepare it? I read an article by Steven A. Shaw called "Take a Rat to Dinner"

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEED71E31F935A25750C0A9619C8B63&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=1

It was interesting that he pointed out how people freak out about the safety of food preparation in restaurants, but will fail worse in our own homes when it comes to food safety. Some of the things he mentions I never even thought about. Something to ponder...

Second Vermont Republic?

2007-06-05T22:07:00.000-04:00

In March of 2008 group of Vermont citizens hopes to put the question before it's citizens on whether or not to persuade state lawmakers to declare independence from the US and return Vermont to status it held from 1777 to 1791.

I doubt the US government would let that happen but there is nothing in the US constitution that explicitly forbids secession.

If nothing else it will send a clear message to the US government that people aren't happy with the way things are going.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=3242717&page=1

Diplomas Denied

2007-06-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

This time every year marks the end for many of one phase of their life and the beginning of a new phase......... For those who have strived to make the most of their education and to receive their diploma for accomplishing the criteria of their schools. Graduation... a sense of accomplishment well earned. But what happens when over zealous family and friends cause you not to get your diploma. That's what happen to five students recently when cheers from their family and friends caused them not to receive their diploma. Was this fair to the students? I don't think so. I believe asking the disruptors to leave would of been more appropriate. Having the students do community service to get the diploma is not fair. Maybe they should just skip ceremonies and mail the diplomas and just keep graduation to boring speeches.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_re_us/graduation_decorum

New theme park coming

2007-05-31T15:11:00.000-04:00

When you think of summer, the first thing that comes to mind is fun. Nothing is as fun as going to an amusement park or theme park. I remember when I was growing up theme parks were very few and we would go to the carnivals that came to town for a week every summer.

Now there's a new theme park that will be coming in 2009 to Orlando Florida "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter", Yes they are making a theme park based on Harry Potter, It should prove to be an exciting attraction. It is set to open at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park late in 2009.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070531/ap_on_en_mo/harry_potter_park

US health authorities searching for people possibly exposed to rare TB

2007-05-29T19:23:00.000-04:00

US Federal Health Authorities are looking for people who may have been exposed aboard a plane to someone infected with a drug resistant form of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB.

The infected patient traveled Europe via Air France Flight 385 departing Atlanta, Georgia on May 12 and arriving in Paris May 13.

Anyone on this flight should immediately contact their doctor to be tested.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/05/29/tb.flight/index.html

Hungry?

2007-05-27T23:17:00.000-04:00

A recent survey showed what the best fast food picks were. The best hamburger was from Wendy's. Yum...I'll agree with that. Best fries were from McDonald's, good fries but I think Dairy Queen's is better. Best shakes were from Dairy Queen, mmmmmmmmm.
Best chicken from Chick-Fil-A. So if you want a great fast food meal you got to make several stops..... I've made myself hungry....

For a full service meal, Outback Steakhouse was first. My overall favorite, Taco Bell didn't even make the list aaawwww......

http://food.yahoo.com/blog/edlevineeats/5452/the-best-fast-food-in-the-u-s

Turkey Talk

2007-05-25T00:22:00.000-04:00

In June a $200 million dollar power plant will come online full scale in the US. It's source of power.....turkey waste. The 55 megawatt Fibrominn LLC plant is the first poultry litter electric plant in the US. It will produce enough renewable energy to service power for 50,000 homes.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275042,00.html

Panty Raid

2007-05-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

A man faces felony charges for steeling 1,300 pairs of under garments worth $6000 between Sept 2006 and May 2007. The funny part is who in their right mind would go and reclaim them.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274876,00.html

Plastic Corpses?

2007-05-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

When it comes to death, It's more than just being buried in the ground. You have options on how you want to dispose of your body. Besides being buried, you have the option of cremation, and for the rich you can freeze your body and hope that someday they might find a cure for what killed you and bring you back. Now there's Plastinated.

Okay so I'm a little sarcastic. Over 7,000 people have agreed to donated their body after death to get plastinated, which is the process of draining body fluids and replacing it with liquid plastic.
This is just weird in my book.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WireStory?id=3194629&page=1

For our troops

2007-05-20T12:54:00.000-04:00

In support of our troops, this is a video that was made by a 15 year old girl. It brought tears to my eyes. I have a son in the Army. At this time he is still in training. I thought I would share this with everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervaMPt4Ha0

Beadforlife

2007-05-19T22:05:00.000-04:00

Beading is one of my favorite hobbies, I'm always in the market for new beads. I just purchased a bag of loose beads from here.

Beadforlife is a non-profit organization that sells beads made by African women in Uganda to help them rise from poverty. The beads are made from strips of brightly colored paper that are rolled then lightly varnished.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10397946/

The beads and jewelry can be purchased here:

http://www.beadforlife.org/

Sunken treasure recovered

2007-05-18T11:23:00.000-04:00

For all of you who are coin collectors, sometime in the future you may be able to purchase coins found in a sunken ship in the English channel by a company called Odyssey Marine Exploration. They recovered 500,000+ coins, about 17 tons of gold and silver coins of the colonial-era with an estimated $500 million value.

They aren't saying where they found it or what country or countries the coins are from. Most likely a 17th century merchant vessel possibly England. it was found beyond any Territorial claims or jurisdiction of any country. Nice haul.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070518/ap_on_re_us/treasure_ship

http://www.shipwreck.net/

Please don't smell the popcorn

2007-05-17T12:15:00.000-04:00

Every day there's something in the news about this being toxic and that being toxic. Now they are picking on my favorite snack food.....popcorn. Microwave popcorn to be precise. In the factory the workers are being exposed to a chemical called diacetyl, it's what makes the buttery smell, so when you open a bag of microwave popcorn don't smell it. Think i'll go back to my air popped popcorn........course the air is not good for you either............................

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3179470

Glub Glub

2007-05-15T01:00:00.000-04:00

I've always wanted to go on a cruise. I grew up watching "The Love Boat" and thought it would be great to go on a cruise vacation to some exotic port, but with the most recent cruise ship that has run into the rocks in Alaska, thoughts of the Titanic come to mind.

Maybe I'll just go get a rubber duck and a daiquiri and go soak in my bathtub at least I won't run into the ground.........

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-05-14-alaska-cruise-ship-evacuation_N.htm

Please help find Madeleine

2007-05-14T11:24:00.000-04:00

This little girl 4 year old Madeleine McCann was abducted from Praia da Luz Holiday Village in Algarve Portugal on 03 May 2007. There is a campaign on Myspace to get her picture circulating in the hope that someone might have seen her. She could be any where in Europe.

more info, photos and videos can be found at:

http://www.myspace.com/findmadeline

http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com

Help bring home this little girl

Mother's Day

2007-05-13T12:34:00.000-04:00

Today is Mother's Day. Remember your mom. Carnations have always been a symbol for Mother's Day. Red or Pink if your mother is still living. White if your mother has died.

To all mothers,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

To jail or not to jail

2007-05-12T21:59:00.000-04:00

It just astounds me that celebrities think they are above the law, Paris Hilton being the most recent one. After getting caught not once but two times on a suspended driver's license, she's circulating a petition not to go to jail because she thinks she's too beautiful. Now 45 days may be a bit excessive for the offense, but she should serve her punishment like everyone else.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070509/hilton_petition_070509/20070509?hub=Entertainment

Pizza for the homeless

2007-05-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday an inmate on death row in Tennessee was asked what he wanted for his last meal. He asked for a vegetarian pizza to be delivered to someone homeless. A simple request, but he was denied. The prison officials didn't give to charities.

On Wednesday night after the Execution of Phillip Workman, 150 pizzas were delivered to the homeless and dozens more to various shelters.

Yes something good came out of something tragic

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/09/execution.pizza/index.html

Makers of Oxycontin plead guilty

2007-05-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

Oxycontin makers have pleaded guilty to deceiving the public on the addictiveness of their drug.
Surprise, surprise this pain killer has destroyed more families in my county because the doctors wrote prescriptions like it was just strong aspirin. Sit in a doctors office sometime and see how many pharmacy sales people will come in with their briefcases to give doctors free samples to push on their patients. The doctors believe what the pharmaceutical companies tell them about their products. It's a big problem.
http://yahoo.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-10-oxycontin-plea_N.htm?csp=1

"Cocaine" energy drink

2007-05-08T17:32:00.000-04:00

Why would an energy drink need a name like this? Couldn't they have come up with something better? Advertising this as a legal alternative. Does anyone really need this much caffeine. We don't need to glorify drugs. While one site says there is 280 milligrams of caffeine in a 250 ml can, the FDA says there is 1,100 milligrams of caffeine in each can. Do we need our kids drinking this stuff? It's a heart attack in the making. For once the FDA is doing it's job.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070508/ts_afp/lifestyleusdrink_070508185149

charts of drinks with caffeine

http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/cocaine-energy-drink

Itsy Bitsy Spiders

2007-05-07T15:44:00.000-04:00

This just made me go and clean my ears. A 9 year old boy had two spiders in his ear. This could happen to anyone. Kinda gives me the chills. Where's my can of Raid...............

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/07/spiderboy.ap/index.html

Spider-man 3

2007-05-06T22:58:00.000-04:00

I got a chance to see the new Spider-man 3 movie this weekend. My son took me. Actually I drove since he is only 14, and he payed for it. It was his birthday gift to me.

I have to say of all three Spider-man movies, this one in my opinion is the best of the three. The special effects were fantastic. It tied up a lot of loose ends from the first two movies.

I can hardly wait for the DVD to come out. It will definitely be added to my collection of movies. I would recommend seeing it in the theater to get the full experience of the movie.

Have you checked lately?

2007-05-04T17:29:00.000-04:00

When was the last time you checked your smoke detector? Do you even have one? You and your family should always know what to do in case of an emergency. You just never know.

We had an unfortunate mishap that could have turned disastrous if it hadn't been for the fact that we had a plan. Maybe not the best plan but it work. Our stove works off gas, the tubing that supplies the gas to the stove broke causing a leakage that the pilot light ignited and it exploded. My family was able to get out of the house and the gas was shut off to prevent further fuel added to the fire. The wall was doused with water so it wouldn't burn and a soaked towel was thrown over the pipe to smother the oxygen to the fuel.

My wall is scorched, but everyone followed instructions and got out. So have you got a plan?

Info on fire safety can be found at http://www.firesafety.gov/directory/public

65 Million Dollar Pants

2007-05-03T16:37:00.000-04:00

I'm all for justice but is a pair of lost pants worth a 65 million dollar law suit. A pair of pants that were found the next day? I think a Washington DC administrative law judge went a little over board when he sued a dry cleaners owned by South Korean immigrants. The couple originally offer a thousand dollars to replace the pants and found them the next day. The judge still being upset refused even after two other offers. I believe lawsuits are getting out of hand. If he wins this case over something so stupid as a pair of pants, what does that say about our legal system.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/03/missing.pants.ap/index.html

Tainted Feed Minor Threat to Humans?

2007-05-01T19:48:00.000-04:00

Why is the FDA so laxed when it comes to food for humans?

Pet food was recalled when it was found to contain a chemical called melamine that they found in wheat glutton that came from China. (Why are we buying wheat products from China, when they get the wheat from us to start with?)

On Monday the FDA announced that byproducts from tainted pet food was being used in chicken and hog feed.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/01/ap3674415.html

Their argument was that only a small portion of poultry is used in the human diet. (How would they know are they watching what you eat?)

Do you get the feeling our government is trying to kill off a bunch of the population?

Caller ID

2007-04-23T13:58:00.000-04:00

How many times have you had the phone ring and looked at your caller ID only to find "unknown caller" show up. Chances are if you do not want me to know who you are, then I probably do not want to talk to you.

I would be a very happy person if phones didn't exsist. It never fails that when I'm in the middle of doing something, it's going to ring.

I've got an answering machine as well and it just amazes me that "unknown caller" does not know how to leave a message either. So if you can't tell me who you are or leave a message don't expect me to pick up the phone.

Never leave home without your duct tape

2007-04-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

I think duct tape is the greatest invention ever made. It has saved me countless times with temporary, minor repairs, and in some cases some permanent fixes.

From patching hoses, repairing pools, taping down my dvd player so my three year old wouldn't pull it down, to making armor for my six year old. It's strong yet you can tear it with your bare hands. Duct tape when doubled over can pull a 2000lb car out of a ditch.

If anyone told me I could only choose one product to use, it would have to be duct tape. Okay, so I have too much time on my hands, time to get creative, let me go get my duct tape.......

Six Please

2007-04-21T14:56:00.000-04:00

Blueflute Blog..... try saying that five times fast. This is my first blog. Not a very interesting blog, but sometimes you have to just jump right in with both feet and sink or swim. So why blog? I know a whole lot about nothing in particular. Along the way I occasionally learn a thing or two about how not to do something. It could come in handy someday you never know.

When you find yourself in one of those situations, just think back to how many times you screwed something up similar then DON'T do it. Plain and simple. It's like when you buy something you use all the time but you buy it cheap and it breaks. So you go out and buy something similar, also cheap and it too breaks. Go buy a good one, sure it costs more but how many cheap ones have you broken and replaced where you could have bought a good one to start with and probably would still have it. Chances are that good one will even have a replacement warranty on it so you save even more money.

There are a few things I've had to replace numerous times, it took me a bit to realize that I was spending more on cheap. Six can openers later I came to this realization. Not a good thing when you need to open that can of coffee. Mmmm Coffee..........