my new place!!

i am SOO excited!! it is SUCH a great place!

way-to-go mary for finding it!!

take a look at all the pics!

who wants to come visit....?!?!?!!

happy 4th of jUUUUUly folks

thank you google for reminding me what this holiday is all about. LOL.

ummm, what happened to the "g"??

rubber duckies galore!

Rubber Ducks End 15-Year Odyssey

"Hundreds of rubber ducks are expected to appear off the coast of Cornwall - having been afloat at sea for the past 15 years.

The wayward bath toys have covered 17,000 miles since they accidentally fell overboard in the Pacific Ocean during a storm in January, 1992.

They were among a consignment of 28,800 plastic ducks, beavers, turtles and frogs that were being taken from Hong Kong to Washington State in the US.

Seattle oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been monitoring the toys as a means of mapping ocean currents.

He is interested to see where they come ashore, with some of the toys apparently having reached the east coast of America.

The Daily Express quoted him as saying: "It's now inevitable that they will get caught up in the Atlantic currents and will turn up on English beaches.

If a toy is returned to the manufacturer the finder can claim a £50 reward.

But the ducks are far more valuable if they are sold privately as curiosity items - fetching up to £1,000.

The plastic animals have already reached places as diverse as Indonesia, Australia and South America.

But Alaska has proved a popular washing up point for the washtime toys.

Between 1993 and 2005 Alaska residents Dean Orbison and his son Tyler collected 121 plastic animals as they came ashore near the city of Sitka."

CRAZY!

from sky news.

icky thump, Who'da Thunk?

that it would be SOO great?! i was hoping it would, i knew i'd like it after i heard the single, but this is just too much! i ADORE it. i've been trying to figure out how to best put that into words...but the tom breihan village voice article says it all.

"And so Icky Thump, for me, feels like a revaluation, like the rock-stardom leap I've been hoping they'd make since I first saw the "Fell in Love with a Girl" video on MTV. They sound like they're having fun again: making weird and sometimes deeply annoying noises, turning songs halfway into skits, pushing their self-imposed limitations as far as they'll go, but still remembering to write some fucking amazing songs. I was not expecting to hear a great album from the White Stripes at this late date, but that's exactly what Icky Thump is."

neat

check out this neat way to get some extra storage! could totally be dangerous, but what's life with out a little risk?

speaking of risk...i'm planning a move. i don't have a job yet, and we're still working on an apartment...but come September (or maybe August) 1st i will not longer be a resident of south hadley. not of MA either. ACK!

more on that to come when i work some of the scarey details out. or call and ask me!

two star trek related posts in a row?!

it cannot be helped i'm afraid.

it just so happens that a man with GREEN blood has been discovered.

from CBC canadian news.

Vancouver patient oozes green blood

"Doctors at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital came across something highly illogical when they tried to put an arterial line into a patient about to undergo surgery: his blood was dark green.

The green blood — reminiscent of the Vulcan blood found in Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame — came as a bit of a shock to Dr. Alana Flexman and her colleagues, who report on the unusual case in this week's issue of the journal The Lancet.

The 42-year-old man was already a bit of a medical departure. He had fallen asleep while kneeling, and developed compartment syndrome in both legs.

The potentially dangerous condition involves a buildup of pressure in deep muscle tissue — in this case in the legs — and unless the pressure was relieved, permanent nerve damage could have been sustained.

As surgical staff prepared the man for the middle-of-the-night emergency operation, Flexman and a colleague attempted to insert a line into a wrist artery.

rterial lines are used to monitor blood pressure during an operation; any blood that flows when the line is inserted into the artery should be vivid red, the sign it has been oxygenated.

But in this case, which occurred in October 2005, it was not.

"During insertion, we normally see arterial blood come out. That's how we know we're in the right place. And normally that blood is bright red, as you would expect in an artery," Flexman said in an interview Thursday.

"But in his case, the blood kept coming back as dark green instead of bright red.

"It was sort of a green-black. … Like an avocado skin maybe."

The reaction in the room? "We were very concerned, obviously," said Flexman, who is training in anesthesia at the hospital.

Medication drug may be green cause

Samples were rushed off to the lab, which quickly ruled out a dangerous condition called methemoglobin, in which the hemoglobin in the blood can't bind to oxygen.

While the lab worked, so did the operating team. The man came through the surgery well.

The next day, the lab reported it had detected sulfhemoglobin, a condition thought to be triggered by some medications.

"It's so rare that we don't have a perfect understanding how it happens, but some drug donates a sulphur group that binds to the hemoglobin molecule and prevents it from binding to oxygen," Flexman explains. "And that gives it the green colour."

She and her colleagues believe the condition may have been brought on by the man's migraine medication, sumatriptan, which he was taking in higher-than-advised doses, though they can't prove it.

Green blood can be found in some forms of life such as some marine worms. But it is a condition normally associated with science fiction and not medical texts.

Mr. Spock, the Enterprise's science officer in the famous TV series, was said to have the green blood of his father, who belonged to the race of pointy-eared, logic-seeking Vulcans.

According to Star Trek lore, however, Vulcans have green blood because the oxidizing agent in their blood is copper, and not iron."

road trip!

some of you may know that i'm a bit of a closet star trek fan...not as bad as some people who have been to conventions, but i have been known to enjoy all forms of this television series.

this is why i cannot believe that i hadn't heard about this sooner. this is a monument dedicated to the FUTURE BIRTHPLACE OF JAMES T. KIRK, the original enterprise captain.

WHOA!

"Another two centuries will pass before Riverside's claim-to-fame arrives, but that hasn't stopped this town from cashing in now on its future good fortune.

Riverside, Iowa is where interstate 380 ends and "the Trek Begins," or so says a sign as you exit. James T. Kirk, captain of the starship Enterprise, will be born here on March 22, 2233. A concrete blob behind a former barber shop marks the spot for present (and future) fans. Riverside wanted to put up a bronze James T. Kirk bust, but Paramount wanted $40K to license the image. Instead, a scale model of the "USS Riverside," which bears a remarkable (but not legally indemnible) resemblance to the USS Enterprise, is docked in the town square.
Throngs of pasty-faced fans invade Riverside during Kirk's annual birthday celebration, swelling the coffers of local businesses such as "Future Designs By Carol" and "Flower Trek".

so who wants to go?

Mont Blanc to Mont Rouge?!

this isn't it. but this is what this guy does. he PAINTS icebergs and mountains (with biodegradable paint). CRAZY.

so his next project will be to climb Mont Blanc and paint the tip of it red.

"The artist refused to reveal the exact date for his project so as 'not to give police any help.'

'My aim is to transform this mythical mountain of Mont Blanc into a Mountain Red and establish a sovereign state, the 'Pink State'' ~ Marco Evaristti

According to the 43-year-old artist, the purpose of his "Mont Blanc Project" is to raise questions such as: "Who owns nature? Who owns the water in the lakes, the snow on the ground, the flowers in the fields and the trees in the rain forests?".

Evaristti said he has the "right" to "create a non-violent state of pluralism and tolerance" on the mountain, which "doesn't belong to France alone."
"As France has taken the right to conduct nuclear testing in French Polynesia thousands of kilometres away, it would be a clear case of double-standards if they now prevented me from occupying a small piece of land for peaceful purposes," he said.

The stunt was not expected to be well-received by the mayor of Chamonix, Michel Charlet, who in December last year called the project "stupid and illegal."

The artist said earlier he had put together a 15-strong team to lug some 1,200 litres (320 gallons) of paint mixed with water up one of Mont Blanc's peaks where the liquid will be poured out to create a red mark measuring 2,500 square metres (27,000 square feet).
The artist will foot the project's 50,000-euro (66,000-dollar) bill himself.

Often in the headlines for his provocative projects, Evaristti caused an outcry in 2000 with an exhibit in Denmark's Trapholt modern art museum that featured gold fish swimming in blenders. Evaristti's exhibit gave visitors the choice of switching on the machine.
"I wanted people to confront their consciences, their inner judgement, their instincts, to press the button of death or not," the artist said at the time."

the article i stole this stuff from.

News I'd Like to F@#k

Samantha Bee on the daily show.

enjoy.

oh craig's list....

from a new york times article.

Online Invitation to ‘Help Yourself’ Surprises the Stuff’s Owner

"SEATTLE, May 17 — The offer had sure seemed strange. Then again, it appeared on Craigslist, the online marketplace that has made its name by upending conventional classified advertising.

“House being demolished,” read the posting on March 24. “Come and take whatever you want, nothing is off limits. Items outside and garage will be open for access into house. Please help yourself to anything on property at 1202 East 64th Street. Tacoma.”

Within a week, the unoccupied house at that address in Tacoma, Wash., had been picked clean. Living room window? Gone. Water heater? Gone. Kitchen sink? Naturally."

this would be enough of a funny story...but oh it gets better....this was NOT posted by the house's owner...

"And the homeowner? Laurie Raye was stunned.

Now the matter has moved from Craigslist to Superior Court, where Ms. Ray’s niece, Nichole Marie Blackwell, 28, is to appear next week to face charges of burglary, malicious mischief and criminal impersonation. Investigators said they had traced the fraudulent advertisement to a computer Ms. Blackwell had previously used to post other times on Craigslist.

“Blackwell said that she had disliked the victim for years and was upset because the victim had evicted her mother from the house in question without letting her mother get her possessions,” said a document filed last week by the Pierce County prosecutor.

“On March 24, 2007, she drove by the house and noticed the garage was open,” the document continued. “Blackwell and her mother entered the garage and took items that belonged to her mother. Blackwell then returned home and was angry at the victim for how she was treating family members and posted the ad.”

Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive for Craigslist, said users had flagged the ad as inappropriate within hours of its posting."

HILARIOUS.