From the moment of birth, we begin the battle against death -- against the inevitable. Statistics say that a newborn child can expect to live an average of 76 years. But averages may not be what they use to be.

In 1786, life expectancy was 24 years. A hundred years later it doubled to 48. Right now, it's 76.

"Over half the baby boomers here in America are going to see their hundredth birthday and beyond in excellent health," says Dr. Ronald Klatz of the American Academy of Anti-Aging. "We're looking at life spans for the baby boomers and the generation after the baby boomers of 120 to 150 years of age."  (more)

Physicist Hawking gets taste of zero-gravity

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - British physicist Stephen Hawking took a flight on Thursday that gave the renowned scientist, who is confined to a wheelchair, a taste of the weightlessness of space.

Hawking, 65, and an entourage of caretakers and other thrill-seekers took off from the space shuttle's runway at the Kennedy Space Center in a specially modified jet that dives through the sky to give passengers an experience of zero gravity.

They returned to the space center in Florida about two hours later.

Taiwan stung by millions of missing bees

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's bee farmers are feeling the sting of lost business and possible crop danger after millions of the honey-making, plant-pollinating insects vanished during volatile weather, media and experts said on Thursday.

Over the past two months, farmers in three parts of Taiwan have reported most of their bees gone, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported. Taiwan's TVBS television station said about 10 million bees had vanished in Taiwan.

A beekeeper on Taiwan's northeastern coast reported 6 million insects missing "for no reason", and one in the south said 80 of his 200 bee boxes had been emptied, (continued)

Chicago Man Exonerated; Becomes 200th Exoneree Nationwide

Jerry Miller was exonerated today in Chicago after serving 24 years in prison. He becomes the 200th person to be exonerated by DNA evidence. The 200 exonerees spent 2,475 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit. Today the Innocence Project launches a month-long national campaign to prevent this injustice from happening to more people.   (MORE)

To heal and inform - courtesy of Goodshit

This book took ten years to get written because of the post traumatic stress disorder syndrome that the former marine had to battle, and it is a book that tells us what our Iraq vets are also facing--yes, Nam and Iraq share this in common--and so the book is a stark plunge into what is too often ignored or hidden from our view . link to Amazon.com page for the book.

Who’s to say what set off the young fellow at Virginia Tech last week.  But one thing’s for sure in my humble opinion.  We’re going to see more of it. 

Thousands and thousands of our troops are headed home from the Middle East in increasingly stress addled conditions.  And extending their tours and not putting in place a proper support system for them when they get home is going to cause us to see a lot of acting out.  Typical scenes from everyday urban life will be enough to trigger Flashbacks and PTSD’s in lots of former combat troops.  Couple this with urban warfare experience and training and you’ve got a potentially lethal formula that will make the freak outs of some of the Vietnam Vets look like child’s play.

  We’ve got men and women living in extreme high stress… life and death scenarios on a daily basis for extended periods… With many of them being there against their will by virtue of Stop Gap Orders and Forced Rotations…  Ask many a psychologist or psychiatrist and you’d find that this is fertile ground for psychoses of many kinds.  Stories are now beginning to come to light of family problems caused by extended tours and the divorce rate is rising among our troops.  Add to this the financial stresses of being away from higher paying jobs that a lot of our National Guard troops are facing… And we’re facing a real mess.

The mental health support capabilities of our V.A. system is just as raggedy as the shortfalls seen at Walter Reed for the physically injured… And the mental health facilities and personnel are a much, much smaller part of the V.A.’s budget!  I hate to be posting some long mournful jeremiad lamenting the horrors that await us upon the return of our much beloved troops… But… If we wish to show our support of them… It’s up to us here at home to raise our voices to the dough-heads in the Administration and Congress to make haste in preparing the way for them to come home.  As usual… The idiots are posturing and speechifying and pestering to “Bring Em Home!!!”  But are any of them talking serious or introducing legislation to get the V.A. up to speed to handle the tidal wave of vets who are going to need counseling at the very least?  … In a word… NOPE.

So far… I haven’t even mentioned the potential mental state of a lot of the wounded… We’re talking folks that have survived injuries that would have killed them in previous conflicts...  Injuries so terrible that in some cases it may have been better to let some of them die when the psychological and medical expenses become clearer.  Imagine the mental state of a formerly vital and athletic young man or woman who is released from hospital with literally half a body?  Call me a pessimist… But I see a potential explosion and massacre in an Arab American enclave somewhere in Middle America… I see some poor fellow barricaded in at his former employer’s place of business where he’s just been fired for his inability to adjust back to everyday life and now he “scares” his co-workers… How about the returnee dweller of a low-income neighborhood set off by the sounds of gunfire in an alley late some night?  Rinse and Repeat.

Folks… We’re gonna see an even more terrifying specter if we don’t get moving on this… Women committing acts of violence unheard of since Ma Barker and Bonnie Parker.  But this will be much, much worse… Ma and Bonnie were simple thieves.  Our women soldiers are combat trained and baptized by fire.  The first time one of these ladies goes off and it takes a SWAT team to take her down… The media is going to go crazy.    But it’ll be too late then.  The tide will be coming in. 

Even with our best efforts… These things will happen… Sometimes…  Too many soldiers… Too much stress… Too little time… Too much apathy.  But… We CAN move to minimize these incidents… And we’d better get Moving… And Calling… And Writing…

I guess that so many people were overwhelmingly stunned with the stupid Imus thing that no one seems to have noticed nor  mentioned the fact all races creeds and colors have their own proprietary words.

Don’s big mistake wasn’t so much WHAT he said as the context in which he used it!  The simple minded wretch made the mistake of thinking he could speak a language in which he wasn’t fluent.  To wit: Not even your coarsest and ignorant rapper would be caught dead calling those particular women “Hoes”… of any kind.  Period. 

When you see a rap video with rump shakin, pole dancing, half nekkid females letting guys swipe ATM cards between their butt cheeks… Guess What?... You’re seeing Hoes!  And in that context… They are in fact, being referred to correctly.

Now… calling any… and I mean ANY respectable female a hoe is pretty near in the same violational factor as calling that same female a bitch.  You’re going to get pretty near the same slap and cuss either way.  Everybody knows what a hoe is …same as everybody knows the context of calling a woman a bitch.  And we all know that hoes and bitches come in all races, creeds and colors… And we all know at least one of each.

Imus made his thing racial by adding “nappy headed” to the descriptive.  Oops!  There you go!.. Don… you don’t gots no nappy head.  You don’t gets to comment on nappy heads.  Not in public anyway.   Same thing as you don’t refer to Wops, Guineas and Dagos informally unless your last name happens to be Corleone or Soprano or Cuomo or something that would be recognized as simpatico by someone with such a last name.  Capisce?

You don’t ordinarily hear people of color going on about redneck peccadilloes even though Jeff Foxworthy has done a hell of a job trying to make it a mainstream term.  It’s a term that white folks can bandy about with nary a second thought, but might be cause for some uncomfortable pauses in the conversation if… say… a man or woman from Harlem or South Central L.A. should break out with… “So there’s these two rednecks…”

Much has been made of black folks using the “N” word amongst themselves rather freely… Well… And this is just my opinion… But I would argue that it’s their word to co opt as they will.  Granted …It was forced upon them… But irregardless… if the word is said… the picture that pops into one’s mind is pretty predictable.  I say that black folks have earned the right to use that word in any way they damn well please amongst themselves.

As  much as the PC crowd needs to have us all live in a color or race blind society… The truth is… That as long as there are cultural differences… There will always be words that are proprietary to a particular culture and we would all do well to just mind our manners.

Posted by thefoureyes

With Thursday's approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, the design and site plan for the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire goes to the city zoning committee next week.

"This is a wonderful project, and everyone is very enthused," said Constance Buscemi, spokeswoman for the city's planning department.

The 150-story tower, which would feature 1,200 residences, would unseat Chicago's 1,451-foot Sears Tower as the tallest U.S. building. It would also top New York's 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, under construction at the former World Trade Center site. (continued)

Researchers compared organic molecules preserved in the T. rex fossils with those of living animals, and found they were similar to chicken protein. (continued)

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The mood in the basketball arena was defeated, funereal. Nikki Giovanni seemed an unlikely source of strength for a Virginia Tech campus reeling from the depravity of one of its own.

Tiny, almost elfin, her delivery blunted by the loss of a lung, Giovanni brought the crowd at the memorial service to its feet and whipped mourners into an almost evangelical fervor with her words: "We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech."

Nearly two years earlier, Giovanni had stood up to Cho Seung-Hui before he drenched the campus in blood. Her comments Tuesday showed that the man who had killed 32 students and teachers had not killed the school's spirit. (continued)

1. go to www.google.com

2. click on "maps"

3. click on "get directions"

4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)

5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)

6. click on "get directions"

7. scroll down to step #23

DICTIONARY FOR PERSONAL ADS:

40-ish.............................................49
Adventurous.................Slept with all your mates
Athletic......................................No t*ts
Average looking...............Has a face like an a*se
Beautiful...........................Pathological liar
Contagious Smile..................Does a lot of pills
Emotionally Secure......................On medication
Feminist.........................................Fat
Free spirit....................................Junkie
Friendship first..........................Former sl*t
Fun..........................................Annoying
Gentle..........................................Dull
New-Age............................Body hair problems
Open-minded.................................Desperate
Outgoing........................Loud and Embarrassing
Passionate..............................Sloppy drunk
Poet.......................................Depressive
Professional....................................B*tch
Romantic.......................................Frigid
Voluptuous...................................Very Fat
Large lady.................................Hugely Fat
Wants Soul mate...............................Stalker
Widow.........................................Murderer

WOMEN'S ENGLISH

1. Yes = No
2. No = Yes
3. Maybe = No
4. We need = I want..
5. I am sorry = you'll be sorry
6. We need to talk = I need to complain
7. Sure, go ahead = I don't want you to
8. Do what you want = You will pay for this later
9. I am not upset = Of course I am upset, you moron!
10. Are you listening to me? = Too late, you're dead
11. You have to learn to communicate = Just agree with me
12. Be romantic, turn out the lights = I have flabby thighs
13. You're so manly = You need a shave and you sweat a lot
14. Do you love me? = I am going to ask for something expensive
15. It's your decision = The correct decision should be obvious by now
16. You're certainly attentive tonight = Is sex all you ever think about?
17. I'll be ready in a minute = Kick off your shoes and find a good game on TV
18. How much do you love me? = I did something today that you're really not going to like

MEN'S ENGLISH

1. I am hungry = I am hungry
2. I am sleepy = am sleepy
3. I am tired = I am tired
4. Nice dress = Nice cleavage!
5. I love you = Let's have sex now
6. I am bored = Do you want to have sex?
7. What's wrong? = I guess sex is out of the question
8. May I have this dance? = I'd like to have sex with you
9. Can I call you sometime? = I'd like to have sex with you
10. Do you want to go to a movie? = I'd like to have sex with you
11. Can I take you out to dinner? = I'd like to have sex with you
12. Will you marry me? = I want to make it illegal for other men to have sex with you
13. You look tense, let me give you a massage = I want to have sex with you within the next 3 mins.
14. Let's talk = I am trying to impress you by showing that I am a deep person and then I'd like to have sex with you.
15. I don't think those shoes go with that outfit = I'm gay

Blood Pressure

"Suck my balls"

And underneath it, in different handwriting,

"If you have balls then why are you in the girl's bathroom?"

Please wiggle Handel

Written below it:

If I do, will it wiggle Bach?

WHY LOOK HERE-THE JOKES
IN YOUR HAND

Capitol tunnel workers have lung disease

WASHINGTON - Three of the 10 men who work in the utility tunnels underneath the U.S. Capitol have asbestos-related lung disease, and another four “most likely” are developing asbestos-related lung disease as well, according to an independent asbestos specialist who recently examined them. The three received a diagnosis of definite asbestosis — the scarring of the lungs caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. The other four received a diagnosis of probable asbestosis. (continued)

Couples going under the knife together

Atlantans Terrie and Tony Ramsey have been married for 17 years. They run an underground construction business and together raise a blended family (seven children from previous marriages). The Ramseys are avid walkers, and Terrie maintains a healthy glow with bimonthly facials and occasional micro-dermabrasion.

Like many baby boomers, they desire to look and feel young.

That’s why, last November, after seeing a Discovery Health Channel program featuring plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Maloney, the couple decided to make an effort to look as good as they felt. Terrie, 47, underwent a face-lift, stomach fat transfer to cheeks and lips, a full-face laser treatment, upper and lower eyelid work and rhinoplasty. About a week and a half later, Tony, 64, also had a face-lift, along with upper and lower eyelid work, stomach fat transfer to cheeks and lips, and a chemical peel. The combined costs reached upward of $45,000.

Test: Can You Spot The Fake Smile?

Test Here

Some Pics From China...WARNING!!- There Are Some Disturbing And Graphic Images Here:

This is a mild one:

How to manufacture brand name beers: Get used bottles of premium brands, fill them up with cheap beer and put the caps on again.

PostSecret

Bizarre Human Brain Parasite Precisely Alters Fear

Study: Cat Parasite Affects Human Culture

A parasitic microbe commonly found in cats might have helped shape entire human cultures by manipulating the personalities of infected individuals, according to a new study.

Infection by a Toxoplasma gondii could make some individuals more prone to some forms of neuroticism and could lead to differences among cultures if enough people are infected, says Kevin Lafferty, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In a survey of different countries, Lafferty found that people living in those with higher rates of T. gondii infection scored higher on average for neuroticism, defined as an emotional or mental disorder characterized by high levels of anxiety, insecurity or depression.

T. gondii is a parasitic germ whose primary hosts are cats. However, it can be found in most warm-blooded animals, including an estimated 50 million people in the United States. One study suggests the parasite has altered human behavior enough to shape entire cultures.

Top 10 Cool Moon Facts

Plan to make panda poo turn a profit for research

Terror group's threat to assassinate the Dalai Lama

SECURITY surrounding the Dalai Lama has been tightened after reports of an attempt by the al-Qa'ida-linked terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba to assassinate the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

A three-tier security ring has been thrown around the 72-year-old Buddhist head, who lives at Dharamsala, in the Himalayan foothills, Indian police spokesman Prem Lal said.

All those approaching the exiled Tibetan chief will be closely watched by highly trained Tibetan security guards as well as heavily armed deployments of Indian police.

Visitors are being body-searched before being allowed to approach him.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools!

(\_ _/)

(=’.’=)

(“)_(“)

 This is Bunny… Copy and Paste Bunny into your

 emails to help him achieve worldwide domination!

The domestic dog shows the greatest range of body size of any mammal.

Researchers studied 3,000 dogs from 143 breeds and found small dogs all shared a mutation in a gene that influences size in other animals.

This form of the gene was almost absent in large dog breeds, an international team reported in Science journal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6531049.stm

It’s an enduring mystery that taunts neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists.  If the human brain evolved to maximize its owner’s survival, why are we motivated to help others, even when it incurs some personal cost?

One pat answer is that when we help someone in need, we expect him to return the favor.  But some kinds of altruism aren’t easy to explain away as mere reciprocity.  For example, tax incentives aside, donating money to a charitable cause is unlikely to bring the donor any foreseeable return – except perhaps the "joy of giving."

Two new studies shed light on why it feels good to give by examining how and where altruism originates in the brain. (continued)

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/brain_activity_during_altruism.htm

My son moved out two days ago.   It wasn’t pretty.  I’m torn between pride that he’s showing independence… Fear for his safety and anger at the way it all went down.

What does it mean when a young person feels that irresistible urge to strike out on their own?  When are they old and mature enough to handle it?  How much different is it now than when I left home? 

I was just under 19 when I got my first apartment… All by myself… Lights…Gas… Rent…a car (such as it was)…insurance… The works.  I’d left home in July of my graduating year… which means I was 17.  I moved into my girlfriend’s parents basement for a year.  But I’d been working since I was in 8^th grade… Dishwasher & Short Order Cook. (continued)

posted by thefoureyes

For the second time in 11 years, the galaxy known as NGC 5584 is garnering attention as the brightly colored home of a brilliant supernova.

Located about 75 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo, NGC 5584 is slightly smaller but similar in shape to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Scientists suspect that, like the Milky Way, the "purple rose" galaxy houses an energetic and supermassive black hole at its center. (continued)

A chance discovery by a Berkshire allotment-holder that a plant widely available in garden centres has the same effect on men as Viagra has been confirmed by experts at one of the world's leading botanical institutions.

The plant is winter-flowering heather, and botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, many of them heather experts who have recognised the source of its active ingredient, now expect it to be the next must-have plant in British gardens. Demand is already high. Nurseries and garden centres in some areas are having trouble finding sufficient supplies as word spreads of the plant's unexpected properties. (continued)

TOP SECRET *  * TOP SECRET *  * TOP SECRET *  * TOP SECRET *

Date: 1 Apr 2007

From: Daryl Gates, head health care planner

To: Tom Delay, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dennis Hastert, Barack Obama, John McCain

Re: Public readiness for medicating the water supply

Public readiness for our proposed health care initiatives is excellent:

The public are entirely willing to abdicate authority to prescribe medications.  This is shown by the total lack of debate on doctors' prescription monopoly, and by the relatively minimal reaction to the FDA trial balloon of banning OTC vitamins.  The acceptance of the war on drugs has succeeded beyond even my wildest dreams.

AIDS patients are an exception, but they won't be around much longer, since we've successfully hushed all news of the cure developed last year.

The public are entirely willing to accede to mandatory medication. Witness the near-total lack of comment on compulsary childhood vaccination.  And nobody but John Birch crackpots ever criticizes fluoridation of the drinking water.  I anticipate near-total acceptance of our proposal to introduce another mineral into the nation's water supply -- lithium.

* The public does care about taxes.  But they know there's nothing they can do about them.  It's no secret that both parties raise them. I wouldn't be surprised at an upsurge in tax noncompliance, but a few major show trials will put a quick stop to that.

The lack of protest about the re-introduction of draft registration is another excellent sign of public compliance:

People are very tolerant of high medical costs, so long as they aren't out-of-pocket directly.  Medicines consisting of sheep fat, milk sugar, and penny-a-ton industrial byproduct minerals sell for thousands of dollars an ounce, and continued price increases haven't slacked the demand at all. Patients are quite willing to accept that a half hour in a box consisting of magnets and a radio transmitter linked to a PC (MRI) is worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars, so long as someone else is perceived as paying. My conclusion is that the public is fully ready for phase I:  full introduction of socialized medicine, so long as it isn't called "socialized" (that word still has negative connotations in this country).

I further conclude that within two years after its introduction, people will be sufficiently upset by the increased tax rates that they'll be ready for phase II, the restriction and eventual banning of all unhealthful activities.  Driving without a seatbelt is already illegal in most states.  We could probably outlaw private planes, skydiving, bungee jumping (already illegal in a couple of states), rock climbing, hunting, bicycling, motorcycling, boating, swimming, and hang gliding as part of phase I, since all of these activities negatively affect the insurane companies bottom line. Although I advise we wait and implement slowly.

But not until phase II is fully in place will the public be ready for the banning of tobacco, alcohol, red meat, milk, cheese, and eggs. Resistance from farmers will of course not be a problem, since we will be buying their total output at above-market rates and shipping those products to leaders of compliant countries at taxpayer expense.

Once the public accepts the necessity of supplementation of the water supply with lithium, nominally to prevent expensive mental disorders, it's a small step to also introducing our fourth-generation hypnotic/compliant drugs.  Those will work best when combined with euphoriants added in strategic doses just before and during major speeches and policy announcements.  This should be fully in place before the next election.

* TOP SECRET *  * TOP SECRET *  * TOP SECRET *  * TOP SECRET *

If this isn't an April Fool's Joke... Then I'm Worried

CNN: Military Sources Respond To McCain’s Escalation Remark With ‘Laughter Down The Line’

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told radio host Bill Bennett that President Bush’s escalation is working. “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today,” he said. Today, when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked McCain why Americans still aren’t able to safely leave the Green Zone in Iraq, the senator replied that Blitzer was giving three-month-old talking points:

General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.

But according to CNN reporter Michael Ware, who has been in Iraq for four years, McCain is “way off base.” He stated, “To suggest that there’s any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I’d love Sen. McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.”