More than 200,000 kids spanked at school

There is an article on www.cnn.com today about how many kids are spanked at school in the USA. This floored me! Canada hasn't allowed spanking or the strap in schools for so long I assumed the USA also outlawed it... guess not. I found it interesting which states still allowed it ... I'm not judging I'm just saying... To read the article click HERE

Political Map VS Corporal Punishment Map

Mitch Hedberg Video

Food Network

OK I spend way to much time watching the Food Network so much so that I actually have a top 10 chef's list ... so here goes:

Number 1 - Lynn Crawford

Number 2 - Jamie Oliver

Number 3 - David Adjey

Number 4 - Gordon Ramsay

Number 5 - Bobby Flay

Number 6 - Robert Irvine

Number 7 - Tyler Florence

Number 8 -Masaharu Morimoto

Number 9 - Ina Garten

Number 10 - Rachael Ray

Guitarist Bo Diddley dead at 79

Bo Diddley, the musical pioneer whose songs, such as "Who Do You Love?" and "Bo Diddley," melded rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll through a distinctive thumping beat, died Monday

"I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,
I use a cobra-snake for a necktie,
I got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made from rattlesnake hide,
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of a human skull,
Now come on take a walk with me, arlene,
And tell me, who do you love?"

He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in January 1987.

R.I.P

Happy Mothers Day

Love You Forever is a short book written by Robert Munsch and published in 1986

It always makes me cry.

"I'll love you forever,I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

To listen to Robert Munsch read the story CLICK HERE

Free Your Mind

Free your mind and the rest will follow, be colorblind, dont be so shallow
Before you read me you gotta learn how to see me

Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann died Tuesday. He was 102.

Albert was a Swiss scientist best known for synthesizing lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

Hofmann authored more than 100 scientific articles and wrote a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child

Click here to read LSD: My Problem Child

Snippit of a song By John Prine called Long Monday

You and me
Sittin' in the back my memory
Like a honey bee
Buzzin' 'round a glass of sweet Chablis
Radio's on

Windows rolled up
And my mind's rolled down
Headlights shining
Like silver moons
Rollin' on the ground

Bunny Survival Tests

http://www.keypad.org/bunnies/

Purpose of Website ...
To determine specific weaknesses and/or strengths possessed by "Marshmallow Bunnies"

In order to determine said weaknesses and strengths, many Volunteer Bunnies and Control Bunnies risked their lives to take part in several tests. The tests were usually painful, yet not always cruel.

Top 10 Secrets to Being HAPPY!

I found this online the onther day and liked it so I thought I'd pass it on....

1. Decide to be a happy person. As Lincoln observed, most people, most of the time, can choose how stressed or happy, how troubled or relaxed they want to be. Choose to be happy.


2. Watch and Read less news. As a recovering news addict, I know this can be difficult because the stock market fluctuates, politicians politic, and sports teams compete. But, most of the time, you don't need the stress. So, just don't watch. I think it was Henry Thoreau who noted that if you've ever read about a train wreck, you understand the principle and don't need to know any more about it.


3. Practice the Attitude of Gratitude. We all have so much to be grateful for. Just thanking the many people who assist us, encourage us, teach us and open doors for us could take all day!


4. Take Time. My dog has taught me much about loyalty, about noticing the sights, sounds, and smells in the yard, about being relaxed and about play. Eat when you're hungry, nap when you need it. Get your ears scratched whenever possible!


5. Laugh everyday. Hear a joke, tell a joke, laugh at yourself, laugh with your friends and family and co-workers. There are very few medicines as powerful as laughter, and I don't think you can over-dose, although it is addicting!


6. Love well. Express your affection, appreciation, friendship and warmth to those around you, and they will almost always respond in the most amazing ways! Be generous--it pays great dividends!


7. Work hard. This one comes as a bit of a surprise, but there is tremendous satisfaction in being competent, and joy in completing our assigned tasks. One of the great sources of happiness is to do work that is worthy of you, and to do it well.


8. Learn something new, everyday. To be happy, most of us must also be growing, expanding, learning and challenging ourselves. Read, listen, adapt and stretch to accommodate new ideas and new information.


9. Use your body as it was designed. Walk and run, stretch, throw things, and lift things. Dance! Exercise is good, but so is making love, mixing up a batch of cookies, or exchanging backrubs. You have a body and it can be either a source of joy, or a source of aches and pains. Your choice.


10. Avoid toxins. I prefer writing positives (things to do) rather than negatives (things to fear), but reality says there are negative people and there are bad chemicals, stressful noises, and unsafe places. Don't go there! Avoid poisons whenever possible. It seems to work out better that way

The Moldy Peaches

OK I am a fan !!!
The Moldy Peaches are stuck in my head and I can't get them out.
It's not a bad thing.

"Up up down down left right left right B A start

Just because we use cheats doesn't mean we're not smart

I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else

But you"

lyrics from Anyone Else but You by The Moldy Peaches

Fidel Castro Resigns

Castro was born August 13, 1926, in Oriente Province in eastern Cuba. His father, Angel, was a wealthy landowner originally from Spain; his mother, Lina, had been a maid to Angel's first wife.

Though he grew up in wealthy circumstances, Oriente was a poor area wracked by a peasant rebellion in Fidel Castro's formative years, which is thought to have influenced his political leanings.

Educated in Jesuit schools, Castro earned a law degree from the University of Havana and offered free legal services to the poor. In 1952, at the age of 25, he ran for the Cuban parliament.

But just before the election, the government was overthrown by Fulgencio Batista, who established a dictatorship that put Castro on the road to revolution.

In 1953, Castro was one of about 150 fighters who attacked a military barracks in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Batista. The attack made him famous throughout Cuba, but it also earned him a prison sentence.

He was released in 1955 and lived in exile in the United States and Mexico, where he organized a guerrilla group with Raúl Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, an Argentine doctor-turned-revolutionary.

The next year, 81 fighters landed in Cuba. Most were killed; the Castros, Guevara and other survivors fled into the Sierra Maestra Mountains along the southeastern coast, where they waged a guerrilla campaign against the Batista government that finally brought it down in 1959.

Although the United States quickly recognized the new Cuban government, tensions arose after Castro began nationalizing factories and plantations owned by American companies. In January 1961, Washington broke off diplomatic ties.

Less than four months later, a group of CIA-trained Cuban exiles, armed with U.S. weapons, landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in a disastrous attempt to overthrow Castro.

Two weeks after the Bay of Pigs, Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state.
In October 1962, Cuba became the focus of a tense world crisis after the Soviet Union installed nuclear weapons in the country. President Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove them and quarantined the island, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.

The Soviet Union backed down and removed the weapons.

Through the years, Castro was the target of scores of CIA assassination attempts. He took delight in the fact none of them ever succeeded.

"I have never been afraid of death. I have never been concerned about death," he once said.

As for Castro's private life, he is believed to have fathered eight children with four women. His longtime companion, Dalia Soto del Valle, is the mother of five of his sons.

Things that make My Blood Boil - Part 3

Provincial Government has now introduced a "Taxi Bill of Rights".

Ok this irritates me… A Taxi Bill of Rights????

The more I think about the tax money and time spent on this “Taxi Bill of Rights” the more my blood boils.

For those of you that haven’t read this yet I’ve added them below. (I’ve also added my comments in brackets)

As a Taxi Passenger you have the right to:

Be picked up and transported to your stated destination by any available on duty taxi driver. (OH is that how the whole call a cab thing works. You call a cab … a working taxi driver picks you up… and then take you to your destination. Thanks for clearing that up)

Pay the posted rate by cash, or accepted credit card or TaxiSaver voucher (DOH! I always pay with jellybeans)

A courteous driver who provides assistance, if requested (Personally I always expect to be treated this way but for those of you out there with self esteem issue that like to be abused this “rights for you”)

Travel with an assistance dog or portable mobility aid (Wasn’t it already the law that guide dogs could go where there owners go?? And is there a rash of taxi drivers saying “you can come in the cab but your oxygen tank stays??”)

A taxi that is clean, smoke free and in good repair (Hey I wish my husband would do this with our car)

Direct the route, or expect the most economical route (It scares me that this one needs to be in righting)

A quiet atmosphere, upon request (Are there grown ups around that don’t know they can ask the cab driver to turn down the music?)

A detailed receipt, when requested (Again isn’t this the law already?)

As a Taxi Driver you must obey all laws and have the right to refuse to transport a passenger:

To avoid contravening a law or condition of license (not only should this go without saying why are they using the word avoid?)

To protect your, or any passenger’s, health or safety (Ok I get the refusing a passenger if they are drunk or abusive but how would a taxi driver be protecting my health and safety by refusing me a ride?)

If the passenger is acting in an offensive manner (Are there cab drivers that don’t know this? And if so should they be driving?)

If the passenger refuses to provide a deposit, if requested (DUH)

The Ministry of Transportation new title should be Ministry of Stating the Obvious or perhaps The Ministry of Spending Tax Payers Money it the Most Frivolous Way, but I guess there are just to many Ministers that applies to.

I'm not saying they are bad sentiments, I'm just saying does the Government need to spend tax dollars on stating the obvious?

Happy Robbie Burns Day

Robbie Burns (1759 – 1796) Born in Alloway in South Ayrshire in 1759, the son of a farmer, Scotland’s national bard was the eldest of seven children. At this time Scotland was probably the most literate country in Europe and as a result Robert was well read and educated, despite regarding himself as a simple tenant farmer.

He was a poet and a lyricist and is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland,

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death became an important source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism.

Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature.

Address To The Toothache

By Robbie Burns

My curse upon your venom'd stang,
That shoots my tortur'd gooms alang,
An' thro' my lug gies monie a twang
Wh' gnawing vengeance,
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!

A' down my beard the slavers trickle,
I throw the wee stools o'er the mickle,
While round the fire the giglets keckle
To see me loup,
An' raving mad, I wish a heckle
Were i' their doup!

When fevers burn, or ague freezes,
Rheumatics gnaw, or colic squeezes,
Our neebors sympathize to ease us
Wi' pitying moan;
But thee! - thou hell o' a' diseases,
They mock our groan!

Of a' the num'rous human dools --
Ill-hairsts, daft bargains, cutty-stools,
Or worthy frien's laid i' the mools,
Sad sight to see!
The tricks o' knaves, or fash o' fools --
Thou bear'st the gree!

Whare'er that place be priests ca' Hell,
Whare a' the tones o' misery yell,
An' ranked plagues their numbers tell
In dreadfu' raw,
Thou, Toothache, surely bear'st the bell
Amang them a'!

O thou grim, mischief-making chiel,
That gars the notes o' discord squeal,
Till humankind aft dance a reel
In gore a shoe-thick,
Gie a' the faes o' Scotland's weal
A towmond's toothache.

Farewell

My Pal Eric is going into early retirement today.

In the 60's people used to go "Find themselves" all the time.

These days people who "drop out" of the norm are called bums.

Personally I'm very happy that my friends is quiting his job and taking off into the unknown.

I wish you well on your journey and I expect you to blog regularly from where ever you land http://www.ericsestimate.com/

Below is a snippet of a Dylan song that reminds me of you, well at least you before you decided to quit.

HIGHLANDS
Words and Music by Bob Dylan
"Well my heart's in The Highlands with the horses and hounds
Way up in the border country far from the towns
With the twang of the arrow and the snap of the bow
My heart's in The Highlands, can't see any other way to go

Every day is the same thing, out the door
Feel further away than ever before
Some things in life it just gets too late to learn
Well I'm lost somewhere, I must have made a few bad turns

I see people in the park, forgettin' their troubles and woes
They're drinkin' and dancin', wearin' bright colored clothes
All the young men with the young women lookin' so good
Well I'd trade places with any of 'em, in a minute if I could

I'm crossin' the street to get away from a mangy dog
Talkin' to myself in a monologue
I think what I need might be a full length leather coat
Somebody just asked me if I'm registered to vote

The sun is beginnin' to shine on me
But it's not like the sun that used to be
The party's over and there's less and less to say
I got new eyes, everything looks far away

Well my heart's in The Highlands at the break of day
Over the hills and far away
There's a way to get there, and I'll figure it out somehow
Well I'm already there in my mind and that's good enough for now"

The End of the Internet

CLICK HERE TO REACH THE END OF THE INTERNET

The Gunslinger

OK I am re-reading (for the sixth time) The Gunslinger Series by Stephen King.

I am a huge Stephen King fan and have read and re-read all of his books. I know there are those of you out there that discount his books and I am here to urge you to read this series.

I am a veracious reader and this series is perhaps the best EVERY written. Even if you hate Stephen King you need to read these books.

Just the first sentence was enough for me to be hooked

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed"

The novel was inspired by the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning

It is about a Gunslinger named Roland Deschain of Gilead that is on a quest to reach The Dark Tower, the axis upon which infinite numbers of parallel worlds rotate. The Dark Tower is under assault by the Crimson King, Lord of Discordia, a Satan-like figure bent on destroying the Dark Tower by undermining the "Beams" that support it.

So in the high speech of Gilead " I ask you to remember the face of your father and yield to your Ka. Read this book!"

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)

Taj Mahal - The Blues

I could listen to Taj Mahal 24 7

LOST John Lock

I miss LOST :o(

Is it me or is this never going to come back on?

The Blues Brothers in B.C.

We went to the Blues Brothers Show at The River Rock Casino last night in Richmond, B.C.

It was an amazing show and a fantastic venue. It had everything from great music to laugh out loud fun. It was a complete performance!

Dan Akroyd as Elwood Blues did an amazing vocal and his energy on stage was electric.

Not only was Dan in town entertaining the masses he was also promoting his new line of Wine and Tequila.

Jim Belushi as Zee Blues sang his heart out and gave a perfect stage performance.
Jim can also be seen touring with The Sacred Hearts or on his TV Show According to Jim.

The Sacred Hearts are a spectacular Band. The talent in this group is overwhelming.

Larry Lee Lerma (bassist)
Johnny Lee "Shotgun" Schell (guitarist)
Glen Clark (piano)
Joe "Lester" Sublett (saxophonist/composer)
Julie "The Dove" Delgado (vocalist)
Johnny "The Beast" Rubano (vocalist/trumpet)
Darrell "The Good Shepherd"
Leonard (trumpet)
Tony "Diamond Ring" Braunagel (drummer)
J.J. "Taboo" Holiday (guitarist) - Member of the Imperial Crowns
Jimmie "The Dynamic" Wood (harmonica/vocals) - Member of the Imperial Crowns

On a personal note I'd like to say Thank You to Dan, Jim and the band for an amazing night and give a shout out to Dave, Wally and Amy.