High gas prices hit schools in the lunchbox

A report at the link below adds schools to places being hit hard by high food prices.

The school lunch program -- long a reliable source of food for kids -- is having serious trouble making cheap, healthy meals.

The culprit is food prices that have rocketed higher as fuel prices rise. It's not just the zooming cost of oil and gas; food prices are also driven by demand for corn-based ethanol.

Link

Is methane cow gas causing global warming?

Scientists are examining cow belching and flatulence in an unusual bid to combat global warming.

Experts said the slow digestive system of cows makes them a key producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide.

Doesn't she look cool with that pink gas tank?

Will we soon have battalions of Bovine Flatulence Control Police? Hmm…that would be an interesting entry on ones résumé.

Maybe an igniter should be attached to the rear end of every cow.

Can’t you just see Harry Reid & Nancy Pelosi calling for congressional investigations into bovine flatulence? They will probably create a research committee to study what happens when cows ‘break wind.’

Is Al Gore behind (pun intended) this?

If we buy cow gas offsets can we keep our SUV’s?

Link to the cow gas tank story here.

Paper shampoo gets by airport screeners

Paper Shampoo is great for traveling because it gets you safely past the TSA liquid police at airports.

The product comes in sheets of dissolving paper. The manufacturer claims it can even be used with sea water. We wonder how well it neutralizes the negative effects of salt water?

Link

China tries to clear out Beijing pollution in time for Olympics

China steps up efforts to improve air quality.

The Olympics are exactly one month away, and Beijing is working hard to clear out its dirty skies for the games. One key is shutting down polluting factories in nearby areas.

An economy that had been thriving is now suffering because of the frantic efforts to clean up Beijing’s choking pollution.

Many workers in China are temporarily unemployed because of the factory closures. China has stopped most truck traffic in the area to help curb air pollution.

When the last Olympic banner is down and the last foreign athlete has left town, the factories will start up again and the skies over Beijing will be as murky as ever.

Link

Fastest way to “solve” the Rubik’s Cube

Got this today from grandson Allen Peoples:



Allen is aware that the diabolical Rubik’s Cube has always intrigued me.

He also knows that the Rubik’s Cube has also intimidated and sometimes infuriated me.

… thanks Allen.

Cigarette machine security fails to stop minors

A Japanese company has placed cigarette machines in various locations in Japan. The vending machines use face-recognition software to determine if a person is old enough to buy cigarettes.

The legal age to buy cigarettes in Japan is reportedly 20. If the machine sees a face that appears to be older, the person is allowed to buy cigarettes from the machine.

The software, however, can’t tell the difference between a one-dimensional photo and a real person.

Well kids, gather up magazine photos of older people, buy your cigarettes and light up.

The company said it is now working on a more advanced system that will make sure each face belongs to a real person.

So, who will be the first kid to fool the new machines with a three-dimensional mask of an older person?

Link

Goose hangs out with herd of goats

We have always heard that birds of a feather flock together.

There is a goose in Texas that didn’t get the message. The goose is making its home at the Herford, Texas wastewater treatment plant.

For two years the goose has been hanging out with a herd of goats.

Workers have tried to put the goose out on the ponds with other waterfowl, but it hasn't worked and the goose just keeps going back to the goats.

The goose eats what the goats eat and won't even try to swim or fly.

Link

Oprah losing her battle with the bulge - again

Oprah is the yo-yo diet queen. She goes from thin to heavy and back again.

So what? She is a big girl (pun intended) with enough money to do whatever she wants.

The picture on the right was taken in 2006 when she was thin - again. Picture on the left shows her as she looks now.

With her money she can wear tight, white clothes any time she wants no matter what she weighs. Besides, why can’t people just leave her alone and accept her for what she is regardless of her weight?

It’s not as if she is trying to get leading lady movie rolls. Her viewers love her and stay with her no matter how she looks.

Link

RAF Red Arrows air show over New York City

On June 26 the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, put on a 25-minute show over New York.

Many in New Jersey and New York saw the nine-pilot team as they dazzled onlookers.

Link

Algae: an unwelcome attendee at the Olympics

China’s pledge of a “Green Olympics” has taken on a whole new meaning at the sailing venue.

Will a ‘sea’ of algae be an even more embarrassment to China than choking pollution as the country feverishly gets ready for the Olympics?

(click on picture to enlarge)

The photo below shows the Australian Men's 470 class team on their boat 'Dead Calm' training on a bed of algae at the Olympic sailing venue at Qingdao in China.

Did the algae appear suddenly or did the Chinese just discover the green gunk lurking where the sailing event is scheduled to take place?

Link

Trying to get back in the ‘loop’

Our trip to the Hoyt family reunion was great.

Now it’s time to just hang out with a freind amid the flowers for a while ‘till I can catch my breath.

Found on a car bumper...

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Grow your own dope:

Plant a man
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Web site reports bad neighbors

Can’t we all just get along?

Apperently not.

(click on picture to enlarge)

Annoying neighbors, beware: You may be known as the jerk next door. What was once over-the-fence gossip is showing up on a Web site.

The site founded last July is part online therapy, part trashy paperback novel. It singles out neighbors for offenses ranging from shoddy lawn upkeep ("They have garbage all through their yard") to alleged violence ("He has tried to run us down with his push lawnmower").

"It's kind of like watching a train wreck," admits 51-year-old Maegan Polak, of Flossmoor, Ill. "You know you shouldn't be enjoying it, but you are."

Users are invited to post advice on dealing with neighbors who fight and yell, who let their animals defecate on other people's property, who neglect their septic tanks -- even those who cook foul-smelling food.

The site shows how neighborhoods are changing, said Polak, a figure skating instructor who visits RottenNeighbor.com occasionally.

Link