February 28, 2007

Who's Counting?

Worldometer - includes (for this year) births, cars produced, movie visitors, carbon dioxide emissions (no subcategory for Gore's house), lightning strikes, people who died of hunger today, dollars spent on dieting in the USA, and deaths from a variety of causes.

Posted by marybeth at 01:05 AM | Comments (0) Cool Links

February 27, 2007

The Meal Wheel

If you want to eat out but can't decide where to go, enter your zip code and spin the wheel. You can change the query to a type of cuisine if you're in the mood for pizza, steak, Thai food or whatever.

Posted by marybeth at 05:31 PM | Comments (0) Food

February 25, 2007

Timing is Everything

Watch for the car coming up in the fourth lane from the left.

Posted by marybeth at 01:30 PM | Comments (0) Box of Rocks

Not Caught at the Border

Hundreds of cattle from Canada, which this month confirmed its ninth case of mad cow disease, have entered the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags, according to documents obtained by cattlemen in Washington state.

No one is happy about this but what seems to have caused the most concern is that Washington state released correspondence between state officials and American cattle and meat companies. Meatpacking companies, feedlot owners and brokers from the U.S. and Canada have sued the state claiming that it violated "a state law protecting confidential business information from disclosure."

Posted by marybeth at 04:00 AM | Comments (0) News

February 24, 2007

OK Go

The treadmill video fascinated me. Even if I hadn't liked the music I would have watched it (with the sound off). This new video is just as creative, maybe more so.

Posted by marybeth at 03:42 PM | Comments (0) Cool Links

February 21, 2007

Guidance for Mouse Warmer

Excerpts from the instructions that came with a heated optical mouse:

The fixed temperature 319 Kelvin (for the adjustable one, temperature rang is from 310 Kelvin to 319 Kelvin)

It is not comfortable to use the computer for working and studying in the winter. It is with a lower efficiency due to freeze hands and easy to lead to a chilblain.

With a radiating into your hands by infrared daily, the cycle of blood can be quicken, which help to deduce the ache and led to the combustion of fattiness.

As long as it's combusting fattiness, I wonder if I can use my thighs as a mousepad....

...lots of bacilli live in the surface of mouse... With the mouse warmer's coming it is easy to bring you an axenic circumstance and healthy with the effective function of sterilization through infrared's irradiation.

Posted by marybeth at 03:10 PM | Comments (1) Shiny Things

February 20, 2007

And Possibly A World Without You Either

Posted by marybeth at 07:19 PM | Comments (0) Politics

February 17, 2007

A Full House, No Flush

The water main near us broke so we have no water. It was fine this morning when my husband got ready for work so I knew it wasn't a frozen pipe. I called the water company and they told me about the break in the line and said that they were working on it. They couldn't tell me how long it would take so I decided to go to the grocery to get several (20) gallons of water.

On the way I saw a water company truck and one man walking around with some stick-like thing. I guess it's a divining rod. No repair work was being done yet. He was gone when I got back from the store. Still no water though.

Update: The water has been back on for a few hours now. I still have quite a few jugs of water left. I'm trying to convince everyone that was my plan - to add them to my earthquake supplies. I don't think they're buying it though.

Posted by marybeth at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) Other Stuff

February 15, 2007

I Used to Believe I Could Stop at One...

I bought one of these today. Gun shopping has introduced me to a whole new vocabulary. I still have to stop the conversation and ask for a definition of terms that are new to me.

I'm getting used to that but the review of the S&W M&P that I linked to has a sentence in it that doesn't make sense in the world that I'm used to: "Any of these loads should work very well for social situations." "Antisocial situations" seems more appropriate to me.

I was tempted to get a .357 revolver today too but exercised great self-control and will wait until later for that.

Posted by marybeth at 05:38 PM | Comments (2) Guns

30 Seconds Done, 14:30 To Go

The news feature that WHAS TV did on women and shooting is now online. I added a link to the article/video in my original post.

Posted by marybeth at 03:16 PM | Comments (1) Guns , News , Oldham County

February 14, 2007

So Wrong In So Many Ways

MST3K short on the film "Catching Trouble" about capturing animals for the Chicago Zoo.

Posted by marybeth at 01:20 PM | Comments (0) Cool Links

February 12, 2007

Does This Mean I'm Trendy?

I'm going to be on WHAS TV news Wednesday at 11:00. The piece was taped recently at OpenRange in Crestwood and is about the growing trend of women taking an interest in shooting.

When I took the safety class the gun range offers I wasn't so much afraid of guns as I was uncomfortable with them. My lack of experience (and, I imagine, that of many of the women who take the class) made me a better student. I knew that I didn't know anything so it was important for me to pay attention to make sure I learned how to handle a gun properly. It's easier to learn good habits than to unlearn bad ones.

Posted by marybeth at 08:20 PM | Comments (0) Guns , Louisville KY , News , Other Stuff

February 10, 2007

When the Minimum Wage Goes Up

Arizona's minimum wage was raised from $5.15 to $6.75 per hour last month.

Some Valley employers, especially those in the food industry, say payroll budgets have risen so much that they're cutting hours, instituting hiring freezes and laying off employees. And teens are among the first workers to go.

Companies maintain the new wage was raised to $6.75 per hour from $5.15 per hour to help the breadwinners in working-poor families. Teens typically have other means of support.

A small percentage of workers have benefited but the teens who are trying to save money for college and gain work experience are going to find this harder to do. (I don't even want to think about what they're going to find to do to occupy their after-school time now.)

It seems to me that this may create more older minimum wage workers in the future.

Posted by marybeth at 11:27 AM | Comments (1) Politics

February 04, 2007

You Can Find Anything Online

An online driver's license search.

Posted by marybeth at 07:26 PM | Comments (1) Cool Links

February 02, 2007

If My Only Choices Are Panic of Inaction...

Global Warming Man-Made, Will Continue - "The public should not sit back and say 'There's nothing we can do'," Steiner said. "Anyone who would continue to risk inaction on the basis of the evidence presented here will one day in the history books be considered irresponsible."

I hope they spell my name right.

Posted by marybeth at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) Science

February 01, 2007

Snow!

We may have gotten a whole inch of snow last night. At least that's what some of the TV news stations are reporting. It doesn't look even that deep to me. Regardless of the amount, our schools are closed today.

Much of the county is rural so it really doesn't take much to close the schools. I would have loved this as a child. Now, not so much.

Posted by marybeth at 06:30 AM | Comments (1) Oldham County

Fools Rush In

Or to put it more politely, let's say it's an example of the Law of Unintended Consequences - Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare

Just a few years ago, politicians and environmental groups in the Netherlands were thrilled by the early and rapid adoption of “sustainable energy,” achieved in part by coaxing electrical plants to use biofuel — in particular, palm oil from Southeast Asia.

Spurred by government subsidies, energy companies became so enthusiastic that they designed generators that ran exclusively on the oil, which in theory would be cleaner than fossil fuels like coal because it is derived from plants.

But last year, when scientists studied practices at palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, this green fairy tale began to look more like an environmental nightmare.

Rising demand for palm oil in Europe brought about the clearing of huge tracts of Southeast Asian rainforest and the overuse of chemical fertilizer there.

Worse still, the scientists said, space for the expanding palm plantations was often created by draining and burning peatland, which sent huge amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Posted by marybeth at 04:18 AM | Comments (1) Politics , Science