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Sadly, this will be the first New Year's Eve in my life spent without the much beloved Dick Clark. To many people Dick Clark IS New Year's Eve, as he hosted the perennial ABC program Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve live from Time's Square in New York City every year for over forty years.
Clark's death in April at the age of 82 brought an end one of the longest-standing holiday traditions in the US. For countless millions, it will be difficult to imagine celebrating the New Year without his presence. When the former American Bandstand legend began hosting the special forty-one years ago, no one—least of all Clark—realized how popular—even iconic— the event would become over the years.
Clark hosted the event even after suffering a series of health setbacks, including a near-crippling stroke which left him unable to speak. Through rigorous and often-painful therapy, he regained his speech and ability to walk and continued his hosting duties of the yearly spectacular. American Idol host Ryan Seacrest was brought in to help share some of the hosting responsibilities, but Clark was still a powerful presence, as he gave viewers his yearly New Year's blessing and kissed his wife of thirty-five years , Kari, with a champagne toast just as the clock struck midnight and the crystal ball descended, as Time's Square erupted into celebration frenzy, complete with a drunken rendition of "Auld Lang Syne", millions of pounds of ticker tape and a fireworks display.
No, it certainly won't be the same without spending my New Year's Eve with Dick Clark. ABC is planning a special two-hour memorial to honor Clark on tonight's broadcast, which begins at 8:00 Eastern Time.
An Oregon woman found more than she bargained for when she purchased a cheap set of styrofoam headstone Halloween decorations on clearance from her neighborhood K-Mart: a letter begging for help from someone at a forced Chinese labor camp!
42-year-old mother Julie Keith of Portland, Oregon, was shocked when she discovered the handwritten letter hidden between the two novelty headstones she had purchased in October for Halloween. The earnest letter starts out by stating "Sir: If you occasionally buy this
product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right
Organization...Thousands people here who are under the
persicution [SIC] of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank
and remember you forever." The anonymous author goes on to say that if the workers do not comply or meet their quotas, they suffer from "torture, beatings and rude comments."
The letter, written in broken English with Chinese lettering, goes on to say that the Halloween decoration was made at theMasanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China, where laborers are forced to work 15 hour days without time off for weekends or holidays and are only payed 10 yuan a month, which is the equivalent of $1.60US.
Keith, who is a charity worker for a Goodwill store in Portland, was unsure of what to do with the letter at first. She posted a photograph of the plea on her Facebook page, which immediately began to draw comments from friends, family and acquaintances with advice on what to do. She showed the letter to a Chinese national friend who works at the Goodwill store and was told the letter appeared authentic.
The China director at Human Rights
Watch, Sophie Richardson, told newspaper The Oregonian that the origin or
authenticity of the letter couldn't be confirmed. "We're in no position to confirm the veracity or origin of this,' she said. 'I think it is fair to say the
conditions described in the letter certainly conform to what we know
about conditions in re-education through labor camps."
"I fully believe it is real," Keith told local reporters. She had originally purchased the novelty headstone in 2011, but did not open the box until this year, while preparing for a pre-Halloween birthday party for her five-year-old daughter.
A Louisiana woman can keep her Christmas light decorations turned on featuring a hand saluting the neighborhood with a raised middle finger, a judge has ruled.
Sarah Childs caused an uproar in her town of Denham Springs, LA, after erecting the lights, apparently in an effort to spread as much Christmas cheer as possible. If she thought her neighbors might take offense at the "flipping the bird" holiday message, they certainly did, immediately notifying local authorities. After police threatened Childs with hefty fines or even jail time if she didn't take down the lights, she contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, who decided to take her case to court.
Childs has been granted the right to turn the Christmas lights back on, in a move that would even make evil old Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life cackle his approval. The judge ruled Childs can put the lights back up, at least until a January 7 hearing. (Who else thinks she'll keep the lights up until then?) I guess some of the parents who live in the neighborhood could explain that Ms. Childs is of the Jewish faith and the decorations are her attempt at fashioning a menorah for the Hanukkah holiday, should they ask the meaning of the festive display.
No word on what the initial neighborhood fight that started the entire incident was about, but I imagine the sentiments "Peace on Earth" and "Love Thy Neighbor" aren't very popular this holiday season on Sarah's block...
With the nightmare of last week's massacre of innocent children in Newton, Connecticut, fresh in all of our minds, it might help to look back into the past to remember a forgotten event in US history that perhaps might put things into perspective.
While most people will be able to recount the horrific images of last Friday for years to come, just as many recall the tragedy of the Columbine school massacre with clarity, the worst school massacre in US history is all but forgotten.
The small town of Bath, Michigan, was witness to the unimaginably evil deeds of one madman, who killed 45 people in a day of infamy, 38 of which were innocent children, 85 years ago.
Andrew Kehoe was quite notorious around the village of Bath, for his eccentric, often violent behavior and his dislike of taxes and any "intrusions" the federal government forced upon his life. Neighbors and family recounted how Kehoe once shot a dog for barking too much and killed his horse for being "too lazy". He was also known around town as the "dynamite farmer". Controls on dynamite were not as strict in 1927 as now, and neighbors report he was always setting off blasts on his farm, to blow up stumps of rotted trees, old barns and other dilapidated structures.
Kehoe ran for town clerk of Bath in 1926, but his eccentric, often violent reputation preceded him and he was easily defeated in the election. His hatred of federal taxation came to a head during this time. Taxation of local residents had been raised to help pay for the beautiful and more modern Bath School, which could house many more students than the old school.
This angered Kehoe considerably, so much so that he began to hatch a plan to exact a diabolical revenge on both the people of Bath and the federal government he blamed for his problems. He secretly gained access to the bright and beautiful new schoolhouse and began to place explosives around the property.
On the morning of May 18, 1927, Kehoe put his deadly plan into action. After murdering his wife and blowing up his own farm, he detonated the charges around the school at 8:45 AM, just as students and faculty were convening for the start of morning lessons. The devastating blast shattered the peace of a usual Bath morning, leveling the once-beautiful school and killing 38 children and teachers.
Kehoe then parked his explosive-laden truck close to the disaster scene. While conversing with the school superintendent who had survived the initial blast, he detonated the dynamite in his truck, killing himself, the superintendent and several other people trying to help find survivors of the school blast. The disaster could have even been far greater: Authorities later found over five hundred pounds of explosives under a portion of the school that had not detonated. If Kehoe's plan had worked, the entire village of Bath would have been leveled.
Just as in the Newton killings, there was an immediate media frenzy after the tragedy. Newspapers and radio announcers descended onto the tiny town, and memorials began poring in from around the country. The frenzy only lasted a few days, however, as a young pilot named Charles Lindburgh took off in his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis in the very first trans-Atlantic flight three days after the massacre, which quickly captured the world's attention.
It took the town decades to recover from the devastating events of that single day in history. Eventually, the event was all-but forgotten to the world at large, although there are plaques and memorials in the town to commemorate those innocent victims who lost their lives to the ravings of one mad man, intent on revenge and destruction.
If you are hankering for a juicy Big Mac and soggy fries instead of turkey and ham and all the delicious trimmings cooked with love by your Mother on Christmas Day, you just may get what your heart desires.
McDonald's has sent out a series of internal memos pressuring its franchise owners to remain open on Christmas Day in an attempt to boost sales and the bottom line for the company. The first memo, written by McDonald’s USA Chief Operating Officer Jim Johannesen and dated November 12, says "Our largest holiday opportunity as a system is Christmas Day. Last
year, [company-operated] restaurants that opened on Christmas averaged
$5,500 in sales."
The news comes after the company posted an unexpected 2.5% increase in sales in November, after a 2.2% decrease in October. Company head honchos are attributing the sales increase to the fact that the restaurant chain remained open on Thanksgiving Day for normal business hours. Johannesen states in a second internal memo dated December 12 that the franchises which remained open on Thanksgiving day averaged approximately $6000 in sales. Although that may not seem like a great deal, every penny adds up in a troubled, sluggish economy.
Of course, employees for the company who dream of spending their Christmas Day with family, friends and loved ones are going to be on the losing end of all this, but anything to boost that bottom line, right? Now I feel bad about popping in yesterday for that "special holiday" egg nog milkshake! Unfortunately, it was good...
We can all enjoy the following video of a McDonald's commercial from the 1980s, a time when family closeness, friendship and celebrating the small joys in life were more important than the Bottom Line...
A pair of circus elephants caught in a freezing blizzard have their fast-thinking minders to thank for saving their lives—with two cases of vodka!
The two Indian elephants found themselves in quite the predicament when hay in the truck used to transport the enormous pachyderms caught fire. The caravan had to pull over to the side of the road and release the massive beasts—in the middle of a raging Siberian snowstorm.
The pair's trainers quickly went into action to save the elephants from certain death, mixing the handy cases of vodka with warm water and forcing the animals to drink it while jogging around until help could arrive. The elephants "roared like it was the jungle" according to a local official. The elephants didn't get away completely unscathed: they did suffer minor frostbite on their legs and ears, but should make a complete recovery.
The elephants are part of a Polish circus troupe touring Siberia. Although the vodka apparently helped the elephants in this case, veterinarians and doctors alike warn that while alcohol makes you feel warmer, it actually reduces the body's core temperature, creating more danger in a life-threatening cold weather emergency.
The poor East Coast of the United States. Not only has it been pummeled by a series of terrible storms, (including one so horrific a new meteorological term "Super Storm" had to be coined to describe it accurately) now the menacing Godzilla has been spotted just off-shore!
Observant geeks viewers of local affiliate WBZ out of Boston, Massachusetts, snapped some hilarious screen caps of what appears to be the mighty radioactive reptile Godzilla terrorizing the East Coast (and giving the long suffering residents of Tokyo a bit of a reprieve from his continuous nuisance and destruction). The anomalous image appears in the radar echoes of a winter storm skirting the coastline near Boston and Provincetown.
Of course, it is simply a coincidence that the mythical beast just happened to appear on the date of 12/12/12...
Second Update: Although downgraded to a tropical storm, Bopha continues to pack a punch as it brings heavy winds and rains to the northern part of the Philippines, which was relatively unaffected by the typhoon during its first hit on the southern islands only a few days ago. Tropical Storm alerts are in place and officials warn of low-lying flooding and potentially deadly landslides throughout the region. The official death count is 950, with hundreds more still missing or unaccounted for in the wake of the killer storm.
Emergency Bulletin: Weather forecast models predict the remnants of Typhoon Bopha will make a dramatic U-Turn, possibly striking the Philippines for the second time in only four days. Government officials are scrambling to prevent further tragedy should the storm hit again. Some models have the storm taking a turn out to the South China Sea, but either way, the storm will probably bring more heavy rains to a region already flooded and in ruins, with more strong winds and possible landslides and dangerous flooding.
President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has declared an official "State of Calamity" across the Southeast Asian nation after Super Typhoon Bopha brought death, misery and destruction to the country.
The death count currently stands at 560 but officials have stated that number will continue to rise precipitously as rescue workers scramble to uncover survivors left in the rubble of buildings blown down by the intense winds or washed away by the record-breaking storm surge.
The president's declaration of a state of national calamity will now allow local governments
to access funds for rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas left in complete devastation from the nightmarish storm. One of the worst hit areas was the poor, remote Compostela Valley region
on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, where thousands of shanty homes were swept away, many with entire families inside seeking refuge from the killer storm.
Illegal logging and mining in the region is being blamed
for the high number of fatalities in the southern Philippines where
typhoon Bopha also created a very wide “horror-river” in
New Bataan. Heavy rains from the typhoon swept down hills that have been stripped of trees and topsoil due to deforestation and illegal mining. The flood waters created an "inland tsunami" that washed across hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land, destroying everything in its path.
Meteorologists stated that the conditions surrounding Typhoon Bopha were highly unusual, with a confluence of weather events creating a "Super Typhoon", not unlike the strange sequence of events that brought about "Super Storm" Sandy that devastated the Eastern Seaboard of the United States in October. Weather experts warn the trend of highly destructive storms will more than likely increase dramatically, as the intensification of global climate change wreaks havoc on weather patterns, leading to more and more "super" storms.
World leaders and government officials from around the planet have been forced to issue appeals for calm while growing panic circles the globe regarding the so-called "End of the World" as the date of December 21, 2012, draws closer.
The panic stems from a massive disinformation campaign created by the world media, claiming that the ancient Mayans, who lived in what is current day Mexico and Central America, predicted the end of the world on that date. Although no data suggests the Mayans predicted anything of the sort, the media has attached itself eagerly to the idea, spreading fear and panic throughout the world. The purpose of the disinformation campaign is to throw the world's population off the course of the truth about what is currently taking place on our planet, with the dramatic and intense changes in climate, as well as dire changes in our geological and socioeconomic stability. A dramatic alteration in both human and animal behaviors has disturbingly taken over the headlines of the evening news, rendering the news depressing and unbearable to watch. The disinformation campaign has worked like a charm.
When the December 21st date comes and goes without any appreciable event (as it undoubtedly will), the media will again go into overdrive, assuring the population that there is simply nothing wrong or unusual about the confluence of events currently underway, giving the world a false sense of security and allowing people to rest on their laurels and continue to live in deep denial.
Russian governmental officials urged calm among its citizens today, as thousands of people have begun to stockpile on non-perishable food and other emergency items to survive any coming Apocalypse. Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, even addressed the situation. "I don't believe in the end of the world," before adding somewhat
disconcertingly: "At least, not this year," he stated, by way of reassurance. Many stores ran out of certain food items, as well as kerosene, batteries and candles.
Pope Benedict made a special appeal from the Vatican last week, telling followers to remain calm and to have faith during these highly difficult and uncertain times, as the Euro crisis continues its stranglehold on Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. He offered a prayer for peace and calm to the people of the world, urging people not to believe "false prophets" and their predicitions. The current escalation in hostilities between Israel and the Gaza Strip also has people on the edge regarding Armageddon.
Panic-buying has also been reported out of China, where State run media keeps a tight hold on all news being reported, as well as using highly sensitive Internet filters to control what Chinese citizens can read online. The panic started when posters on the Chinese version of Twitter commented that "Three Days of Darkness" would take place in the days leading up to December 21. Unlike the Judeo-Christian culture, the Chinese culture has not been noted for a preoccupation with the end of the world.
Thousands of believers have flocked to the town of Bugarach, France, where rumors of an oasis where people can survive Armageddon. atop a mountain have surfaced. A commune of survivalists have been congregating at the top of Pic du Bugarach, a location famous for UFO sightings and paranormal activity.
Mexican officials have tightened security around the famed Mayan pyramid of Chichen-Itza in the Yucatan, out of fear that "suicide" cults will stage a mass death near the site as the December 21st date looms ever closer. The truth regarding the Mayan calendar "end date" and its actual purpose are not known, although many experts believe the date was simply a warning to people living in the future to look out for this particular time, as the people living during the era would have to endure great and difficult challenges in order to survive. The Mayans were obsessed with mathematics, the Cosmos and the cycle of life, and knew things about the universe that we are only now beginning to re-learn, courtesy of our modern technology.
Even that modern technology that we now depend on has turned against us: The Webbot Project, a computer software program that patrols the Internet and seeks out specific changes in linguistic patterns, has also predicted that we are living in the "End of Days" and foresees a cataclysmic event on the global horizon within the next year.
The December 21st date does coincide with Earth's direct alignment with the "Galactic Center" of the universe. Little is known about the significance of this event, but it obviously held great merit to the Mayan people.
Motorists in Switzerland who are craving a bit of vehicular romance before heading into work each day are in luck, as the European nation has given the green light to roadside "sex boxes" to be used by prostitutes and their clientele.
The city of Zurich has passed an ordinance that will allow for construction of the sex boxes, which will begin appearing city-wide next year, and will provide a more discreet, safer location for local sex workers to rendezvous with their johns. The "boxes" are actually parking garage cubicles that will allow for a vehicle to park inside, where the prostitute and his or her client can get down to business in relative privacy. The proposed site will be able to handle approximately thirty vehicles and their passengers at a time.
Although the world's oldest profession is completely legal in Switzerland, local authorities have struggled for years to control the crime and violence often associated with the illicit trade. The decision was also prompted by local residents who have grown weary of seeing the sex workers patrolling the streets and neighborhoods where they live, often engaging in sex acts in public, in open view of passing pedestrians and motorists, including young children.
The prostitutes who use the sex boxes will also be required by law to take out medical insurance and to be tested for STDs. They will also have to pay a licensing fee and will have to "clock in" each day by inserting €5 into a machine in order to enter a cubicle.
Drive-in sex boxes have been used in neighboring Germany for the past several years, apparently to great success...
Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder after a "hideous" gargoyle statue recently sold at auction for a record-setting £66,000 ($105,000 US).
Despite the statue's grotesque appearance, people fought to obtain the unique objet d'art when it hit the auction block this week at the Wooley & Wallis auction house in Salisbury, England. The statue was created by the prestigious pottery manufacturers the Martin Brothers circa the turn on the 20th Century.
The figure depicts a squat, smiling gargoyle holding onto its ample chest with gnarled fingers, with a beaming smile on its porcinelike face. Auctioneers attribute the record sum paid for the figurine to the upcoming release of the new film The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings saga based on the classic books of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Gargoyles first began appearing over 2000 years ago, originating in Ancient Greece and Egypt. They became popular cathedral and building adornments during the Middle Ages, as they were used to decorate buildings and to provide a spout for rainwater to drain. They also became popular as a good-luck charm, as many people believed that placing gargoyles atop structures would help keep evil spirits at bay.
Mi libro paraniñostituladoEl Largo Viajedeun Pequeño Colibrí ya está disponible paracompraren línea en Amazon.com y también en CreateSpace.com. Nelson
... El Largo Viaje de un Pequeño Colibrí cuenta la maravillosa historia
de dos colibríes, Nelson y su hermano Mateo, y sus increíble viaje
volando de sus casa de verano en Indiana a sus casa de invierno en
San Miguel de Panixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, México antes de que el frío amargo llega, no importa lo que cueste. Hay
luchas difíciles junto con destellos de esperanza en el camino,
mientras los colibríes se enfrentan increíbles dificultades para
sobrevivir, encontrando enemigos y hacer nuevos amigos. Por último, es
la historia de cómo el amor, la fe y la esperanza pueden guiarnos a lo
largo de nuestros más difícil de odiseas y cómo el poderoso amor de la
familia y los amigos se puede hacer todas las cosas en vida posibles.
Al contar lahistoria de loscolibríes ysuincreíble odisea, también estoy contando la historia demiles de inmigrantesMexicanosque viven y trabajanen los EstadosUnidos, quetienen cada unola esperanzacerca de suscorazones devolver a suquerido Méxicoun día yreunirse con susfamilias.
Nelson...El Largo Viajedeun Pequeño Colibrí es un cuento hermoso de la esperanza y el verdadero poder de amor que ningún niño se olvidará. Es un maravilloso regalo de Navidad o cumpleaños para los niños de las edades de 3 a 8, especialmente los niños de padres inmigrantes que han luchado para encontrar el respeto, la dignidad y una vida buena en los Estados Unidos. El libro se enseñará a los niños a nunca perder la esperanza, a conquistar sus miedos en la vida y ser siempre fuerte.
El libroprontoestará disponible enunaedición en idiomaInglés también. Compre sucopia hoy!
