Be on the lookout for a 1951 Chevy, red with white top, suspected of transporting illegal immigrants!

Hardworking word-lovers everywhere can now learn the meaning of the word staycation ("a vacation spent at home or nearby") along with nearly 100 other new words and senses added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. America's best-selling dictionary offers its new 2009 entries in its updated print edition and online here at Merriam-Webster.com.

Many of the new words address: concerns about the environment (carbon footprint, green collar), government activities (earmark, waterboarding), health and medicine (cardioprotective, locavore, naproxen, neuroprotective), pop culture (docusoap, fan fiction, flash mob, reggaeton), online activities (sock puppet, vlog, webisode), as well as several miscellaneous terms such as haram, memory foam, missalette, and zip line.

Check out just a few of the new words and their definitions by clicking below:

1. acai
2. carbon footprint
3. cardioprotective
4. earmark
5. fan fiction
6. flash mob
7. frenemy
8. goji
9. green-collar
10. haram
11. locavore
12. memory foam
13. missalette
14. naproxen
15. neuroprotective
16. pharmacogenetics
17. physiatry
18. reggaeton
19. shawarma
20. sock puppet
21. staycation
22. vlog
23. waterboarding
24. webisode
25. zip line

Wonder where Bernie Madoff got the idea for his ponzi scheme?

So, when the government does it, it's okay?

  Researchers left 240 wallets around Edinburgh, Scotland, to see how many would be returned.

The wallets, each containing money, were set up in groups that had different contents. Those containing photographs showed a higher rate of return:

• Baby photos - 88 %
• Puppy photos - 53%
• Family photos - 48 %
• Lame/Disabled - 48%
• Older couples - 28%
• No photo, but charitable giving - 20%.

It seems that if you want to get your lost wallet back, fill it up with pictures of babies and puppies!

For the complete story, Click Here

I bought another gun.  It's a replica of a Remington cap and ball pistol from the civil war era. First you pour in powder, ram in a round ball and then insert a cap that causes the powder to ignite when the hammer strikes it.


I haven't fired it yet, but I'm planning to go to the range next week.

Cancel the clown!

It's time to get out my favorite Independence Day DVD movie, 1776. This movie is an adaption of the Broadway musical and was filmed 37 years ago in 1972.  There are superb performances by Howard Silva as Ben Franklin and William Daniels as John Adams.  It's a wonderful movie, a fun way to relive our history, and a great way to add to the 4th of July. 

In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single "nay" vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants.

Click Here For More Information

For those that haven't been following this case, a British truck driver filed a lawsuit to prevent the airing of Gore's alarmist myth in England 's public schools.  I am perplexed as to why the American press / media did not deem this British High Court finding to be of importance to report.  Of course, we all know the answer: Let’s not confuse a political agenda with facts.

1. The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government's expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.
2. The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The Court found that the film was misleading: over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.
3. The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that it was "not possible" to attribute one off-event to global warming.
4. The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that this was not the case.
5. The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice.  It turned out that Mr Gore had misread the study: in fact four polar bears drowned and this was because of a particularly violent storm.
6. The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream thereby throwing Europe into an ice age: the Claimant's evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.
7. The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.
8. The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.
9. The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, the evidence is that it is in fact increasing.
10. The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7 meters causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40 centimeters over the next hundred years  and that there is no such threat of massive migration.
11. The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand . The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

Not all of the inaccuracies in the film were fully considered by the court as the judge requested a sample on which to consider the case.

I envy the energy of this pair and I love this style of dance!

Click here to see an earlier post: Will & Maeva Dancin' The Boogie/

A close friend of S. Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's made this comment "way off the record" regarding the disappearance of his old pal last week . . .  and his sudden reappearance after reports surfaced that he'd been hiking the Appalachian Trail when, in fact, he was actually in Argentina:   

"In all fairness to his aides, 'I'm getting some Argentinean tail' sounds a lot like 'I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail' when you're on a fuzzy satellite phone connection. Who hasn't had that kind of innocent misunderstanding?"