Musical interlude of the day

turn up speakers and enjoy!

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day

DaveBarry remind all of you that today is Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

And for those of you who speak Tolkien, here is a translation for you

Somwhere in Holland, a group of piratical Tolkien fans celebrated Dutch Tolkien Day (Sept. 11) with a contest to see who could come up with the best Tolkien-to-Pirate translation. They sent along too many to print here, but our favorites include:

One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all,
and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where shadows lie

Translated as:

“Arrr! Booty' be steerin’ them landlubbers,
Aye! it be findin’ them
Beauty' be' makin’ them walk the plank,
arrr! it be,
In t' holes of bilge rats where black spots placed be”

Happy National Cheeseburger day

actually it was Sept 18, so we missed it.



see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Geography lesson of the day

headsup TYWKIWDBI

Stories below the fold

Vaccine paranoia kills kids.
A couple days after I posted about the problem HERE, StrategyPage provides more details here.

related item: Is the internet fueling paranoia?
maybe, but we were pretty paranoid in the 1950's
and Professor Anderson in her course on Germany history does point out how the technology of the printing press fueled religious hatred: Printers found that the most radical pamphlets sold more so they made more money...some printers even published screeds from both sides. The result was the religious wars in Germany.

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Strategypage also has a summary of Philippine war news HERE.

but they have it wrong: it's BIFF, not BILF...as in the BIFF for the MILF.

and yes, you can buy it on a teeshirt HERE at Zazzle.

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Factoid of the day BIFF in the UK means a unix mail program... more HERE.

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Does eating low fat yogurt when pregnant increase your kid's chance of allergies?
Actually the study was trying to prove evil milk caused more allergies, but they only found an increase in yogurt eaters, making one think that maybe it was a selection error (yogurt eating is more common in health conscious and in those with lactase deficiency).

related item: Yuck. Yogurt Sodapop.
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autism and GI problems may be related...

uh, which autisitc kids? there were only 22 in the study, and they didn't say if it was fragile X or another genetic problem as the cause.
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The heart of a hero

Rich Rescorla will join the ranks of Nixon and Harvey Milk by having an opera written in his honor.



Another video preview HERE.

more HERE.

Factoid: His photo was on the front of the book "We were soldiers once, and young"...which was later made into the movie "we were soldiers"... more bio facts HERE.

more about the opera and you can buy the opera album HERE.

No,I won't buy it: I dislike modern "opera" type music for it's atonality.

Craft item of the day

Git along git along

via the Daily what

Because we all need a "cute" moment

Moringa: latest herbal fad?

This article says that the lowly Malunggay plant (moringa oleifera) is being pushed by some development workers in Sierra Leone as a miracle plant:

It is unclear how the plant first came to Sierra Leone.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) which has promoted its use in Ghana and Liberia says it first brought the seeds to Sierra Leone in 2001, later training some 150 farmers on how to cultivate it.

Freetown botanist Christian Jones, says: "It is likely that it was one Pakistani soldier serving in the UN Peace mission who discovered the presence of Moringa in the 1990s in the back yard of a house in the capital."

Catholic NGO Caritas recently led a campaign to popularise the use of Moringa by distributing samples in the northern city Makeni, urging some 2,000 residents to replant them in their back yards and farms.

Yeah, but I hate to be cynical, but yes, it's delicious and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhigh in vitamins/anti oxidants, but unless they can make it a "fad" in the west and export it to the aging yuppies, I don't see how it will be any better for the folks than any other green vegetable.

On the other hand, we do eat it in the Philippines as a veggie.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
more HERE.

a recipe for tinolang manok with malunggay HERE.

Mungbean soup with shrimp and malunggay HERE.

I looked for a video recipe, but all of them seemed to be poor quality or in Tagalog (not even in Taglish).

And for how it is used in traditional medicine in India, check out THIS page.

Spratlys problems again

India is helping Vietnam, and China is threatening both.

no international law doesn't count if China claims they "owned" the area a century ago.

At least they never "owned" the Philippines, but Vietnam was once a colony of China, as was Korea...

The US is Mr. Milquetoast in all of this which bodes poorly for the area.

Family news

Joy and Chano and the farmers are out getting in another rice field. We postponed it for the last two days because it rained during the night, and by the time the fields dried, it started raining again.

Last night it didn't rain a lot, So they are out trying to get another field done before it rains (and it's getting dark...)

our main jeep thresher is getting old, and our new secondary thresher (which can be wheeled out to the fields with a waterbuffalo) is smaller...but the rice is cut by hand so usually we get a lot of folks to help. Even Dita (our 65 year old cook) takes off to help her kids during harvest season.

I am staying home. I was city born and bred, and would be in the way.

The good (and bad) stories of the day

The Good news of the day:

the astronauts landed safely.

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The bad news of the day (from Wired):why expensive weapons systems fail:

Air Force Lt. Col. Dan Ward provides a nerdy-but-accurate examination of the Empire’s acquisition flaws in building the moon-sized death ray:

In the Star Wars universe, robots are self-aware, every ship has its own gravity, Jedi Knights use the Force, tiny green Muppets are formidable warriors and a piece of junk like the Millennium Falcon can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. But even the florid imagination of George Lucas could not envision a project like the Death Star coming in on time, on budget.

The Empire’s answer to Ash Carter should have seen it coming. It’s embarrassing enough that the galaxy’s supposedly most fearsome weapon was felled by crappy duct work.

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Good news of the day: The anti mosquito pill.

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who built the Stone Circles in the Middle East?


Giant stone structures in the Azraq Oasis in Jordan (David D. Boyer APAAME_20080925_DDB-0237)
(headsup HistoryNewsNet)
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Inside the Great Pyramid, from Smithsonian magazine.

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except for scurvy, syphilis, amputated limbs, life in the Navy of Nelson's era was fine...

and women on board UK Navy ships is not new: More HERE.

Finnish?

Andrew Cusak says if you like Tolkien, try pronouncing these lovely Finnish words.

kaupunkilaissuomenruotsalaiset — Finland-Swedish townspeople


pyyhkäisyelektronimikroskooppi — scanning electron microscope


paikallispuolustusjärjestelmä — local defense system


ylioppilastutkintolautakunta — matriculation examination board


tietojenkäsittelyjärjestelmä — data processing system
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The Kalevala was partly behind some of the LOTR, but especially behind the sad tale of Turin Turumbar.

And this cheesy Russian/Finnish film was based on some of the stories in the Kalevala



as was the Chinese film Jade Warrior

and there is a Disney version, starring Uncle Scrooge...

Video of the day

Rosselini's classic film Open City is now on youtube:

The big question in the Philippines today

Who is bigger? Aussie's Cassius Clay or our Lolong?

another big question here: Did Miss Philippines lose the Miss Universe crown because she said she'd chose God over her boyfriend?

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more news:

Lysistrata in Mindanao...

The JI terrorist group "graduates" 20 bomb makers, and so Catabato city is on alert.


half of the world is using counterfeit software.

Yeah, it's all over the place here, even when you buy a computer with guaranteed legal windows.

WTF headline of the day

Barry Manilow on Ron Paul: ‘I agree with just about everything he says’


via Drudge, of course.

Insomnia dowloads of the week

biography of Brother Dutton of Molokai ...he's an interesting character (a Civil war vet suffering from ptss, alcoholism, a bad marriage etc. who sobered up and went to help an ailing Father Damian). However, I suspect this is a pious book, so it will put you to sleep.

What is it with PTSS? John Bradbourne had a similar background of ptss from World War II, and when he was killed was proclaimed a saint by the locals who loved him (not the more "useful" missionaries who were similarly killed).

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Librivox also has their latest collection of mystery stories for your listening pleasure,
older stories

1. Various. "Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1" · (readers)
2. Various. "Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 2" · (readers)
3. Various. "Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 3" · (readers)
4. Various. "Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 4" · (readers)
5. Various. "Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 5" · (readers)
6. Various. "Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 6" · (readers)
7. Various. "Short Mystery Story Collection 001" · (readers)
8. Various. "Short Mystery Story Collection 002" · (readers)
9. Various. "Short Mystery Story Collection 003" · (readers)
10. Various. "Short Mystery Story Collection 004" · (readers)
11. Various. "Short Mystery Story Collection 005" · (readers)
12. Various. "Short Mystery Story Collection 006" · (readers)

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and I never liked Alice in Wonderland, but you can find several different versions of Carroll's various books HERE.

the hidden algebra behind Alice

The trouble with democracy

from the Phil Inquirer:

A bigshot Swiss conservancy group wants the endangered crocs to be released into the wild, but local mayors and barangay leaders are saying no way.

Yeah, it's a bummer that voters don't want their kids to be eaten.

Cat item of the day

headsup BoingBoing

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

It's the mid autumn harvest festival in China

Yes, they celebrate it in Manila (but not here in the Provinces, where there are few Chinese).

celebrate with a mooncake or two or three or four...

mooncake recipe HERE.
or watch this:

Stuff below the fold

Factoid of the day:

• 
  
• In 1940, the actor Cary Grant donated much of his earnings from The Philadelphia Story to a charity that financed the evacuation of British children from London and other cities suffering under the blitz to Canada and the United States.

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The Holy Lance (or one of them) can be found at this Armenian Monastery

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Turkey's new Ottoman wannabe president visits Cairo as a way to support the Palestinians...

But some tweeters who remember their history aren't impressed. And what about all those Kurds you oppress?

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Saudi Arabia is arresting human rights activists for "insulting the judiciary"...

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Measuring the speed of light...using Jupiter and it's moons.

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Bachman just lost my vote, not that as a Democrat I would have voted for her, but she is now officially into Art Bell (or Jesse Ventura) conspiracy territory.

and she can't even get her conspiracy theories correct: Gardesil causes teenage girls to have sex, it's MMR that causes retardation and polio vaccine that gives you AIDS...

Sigh. I wonder how many of these nuts have seen children die of Measles, be crippled from polio, or die from cervical cancer?

Stop the vaccine, and you won't have to live in Africa to see these problems.

Mark your Calender

the next "End of the world" day will be September 26th, when the earth will be hit by the comet Elenin.

and if that doesn't do it, don't worry: The planet Nibiru is due next year.

Mark Your Calender

September 19th (every year)

is International Talk Like A Pirate Day

via Dave Barry

Video of the day

I can haz cheezberger?

US scientists have developed a strain of green-glowing cats with cells that resist infection from a virus that causes feline AIDS, a finding that may help prevent the disease in cats and advance AIDS research in people. Picture: REUTERS/Mayo Clinic

Craft item of the day

Boost your wifi signal with a beer can.


actually it won't work here, because someone put the wifi up near the ceiling next to a concrete wall that blocks the signal.

Sigh.

but after a year, I finally got an internet wire connection to the bedroom so I can blog downstairs.

Stuff below the fold

Spongebob Squarepants is bad for kids because it makes them ADD.

The results should be interpreted cautiously because of the study's small size, but the data seem robust and bolster the idea that media exposure is a public health issue, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis

by making it a public health issue, they will allow the government to intervene.

Presumably, Bugs Bunny and RoadRunner are okay.
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What do you call it when those from a religion that must not be criticized attack a funeral by those of another religion, and then go off to riot?

A sectarian clash.

We see similar headlines in Nigeria, and in the Philippines..

of course, the main target for the haters is innocent people from other versions of Islam or those who actually think Islam is a religion of peace...

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Al Jezeerah allowed this "editorial" linking Michelle Bachman with the 30 years war,

they fail to notice, of course, like most Norwegian Minnesotans, neither she nor her ancestors had anything to do with it.
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and NCR has instructions on anticatholic bashing for dummies.
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Factoid of the day:

the Yugas and how the ancients saw the precession of the equinoxes.

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More people attend Christian churches in China than in Europe.


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Charice performed the National Anthem at the NFL 911 tribute game,



and then sang "God Bless America" at halftime.

After the original 911, one snotty Brit sneered about why Americans seemed so eager to ask the deity to bless America.
Well, he got the idiom wrong. When someone does you a favor, a common expression is "bless you sir", which means "God bless you for what you have done for me".

The song was written by Irving Berlin, whose family fled the pogroms of Russia....