So, y'all are not impressed? Well, I was, when I found this in the english edition of a chinese People's Army general's commentary of Master Sun's Art of War (at last a commentary on the military virtues and errors, not all that economic and management blab you usually get from the Western authors). Imagine, a cutie l'il kitty, RIDIN' DA TIGER!

Oh, Yes, indeed I am impressed...I would like that kitty on my side. The very fact that they are not extinct speaks of their success in this enterprise Must check this out. Clever little devils, are they not!

Who are Austin 360 (our competition?!) and why are we not listed in their Web Directory of Communities Online?

I am still sitting on the soft grass from long time ago waiting to see the shuttle flyover. You promised...!

Couldn't resist *grin* PENN STATE 41 ARIZONA 7

That's the second site I've seen this embarrassment for Dick Tomey and all the players he took from Hawaii on...how many others are there? Hmmmm...

Just the one in Geo and the one on my Screwed topic, where I just put your Texas story. It was the beginning of what started out to be a happy day but is now ashes.

Why so glum? U can e-mail me if necessary. Or call...935-7171 ext. 426

It is what the email asking about confidences was about...

Thanks for last night, John...*smile*

U R welcome...everyone else, it's not what you think!

John, you are a gentleman and a scholar of the first order. I am a lady. You listened to me when there was no one else to talk to. Thank you for that. And, for the rest of you. Whatever where you thinking?!

Check out my post on Free Republic Is your Church BATF & FBI approved? http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37c9 click Here

Check out my post on Free Republic Is your Church BATF & FBI approved? http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37c9 Click Here

I get it right someday! Click Here

America needs a William Wallace now!

Marcia - and everyone else: I'm not thinking! How often do I have to explain... Davey, mah man - why should I check your post, and who's the Bill? You gotta work on dem teasers, man! (Side-question: If American needs a William Wallace now, what does it need tomorrow? And what does the rest of the world need? Just curious. And harmless.)

Which William Wallace is he talking about?!

Gosh, YOU gotta know - you're at least an US-citizen! How'm I to know?

The last William Wallace I knew sat behind me in 3rd grade. Historically, was he not "Braveheart" of cinema fame? Ask the Scots amongst us!

Great Scot, you knew Will Wallace! Whew! Tell us - how was he like? And, most important - what quality did he possess that your country - well, you know, *their* country, all the non-Hawaii-places - might be in great demand now?

Wild Will Wallace - boy, I still can't believe it!

The one I knew was kind of a jerk. Sniffled instead of blowing his nose...that sort...best left unremembered. And, I wonder how he remembers the girl who sat in front of him in 3rd Grade...! (yes, I know, Alexander, I did not make myself very clear on stating that these were two entirely different WW's!!!)

(Now, I got that, just wanted to tease you...) So, did Will the Wallace ever pull your braids? Or pin stupid notes on your back?

Not until the 4th grade when we got ink wells. He stuck one of my braids in his ink well, and while whipping my head around to see what he was doing, I managed to spray him with the ink in my hair!

Just desserts!

okay... I like chocolate raspberry anything... fruit cobblers are awesome... cheesecake accompanied with coffee is very worthy of my time... (how am I doing?)

If'n y'all's gonna talk like that, bring two spoons!!! I am HONGRY!!!

Ok time to awaken the intelligencia here...(there is intelligent life on the Internet, right?!) Check out Project Gutenberg on the net. Their goal is to make every book in existance FTP-able to your hard drive for free. Knowledge of the entire world at your fingertips. How incredible that seems to me! http://promo.net/pg

Friday, December 3 NASA and its various websites listed below will carry live from Mars the Polar Lander beamed to Earth from 157 million miles away. The sites will contain weather reports, science data, first sound clips ever beamed to Earth from "out there" and lots of pictures. Main Mars site will post the latest pictures and updates throughout the 90-day mission: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98 or http://marslander.jpl.nasa.gov JPL's main page has links to the latest Mars project as well as to probes sent to other planets over the last 20 years: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov JPL's Mars Educational site which includes activites for children and teachers: http://marsnt3.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.html UCLA, where the primary science team is based, offers a site focusing on the experiments aboard the Mars Volitiles and Climate Surveyor payload. http://mars.ucla.edu

Under the "why can't we just get along" topic (which was too hard to find so I put this here): German Tourists More Popular Than Some May Think BERLIN (Reuters) - Britons fond of mocking German vacationers for using towels to reserve poolside lounge chairs at holiday resorts may be in for a surprise. German tourists are more popular abroad than the traditional image suggests, a survey in the mass-selling Bild newspaper showed on Tuesday, particularly in Austria where 71 percent of locals said they found German tourists ``very agreeable'' or at least ``pretty agreeable''. Of the French respondents, 55 percent liked the Germans, while 54 percent of the Italians in the survey welcomed tourists from Germany, although 12 percent complained that they were arrogant. German tourists were least popular in Spain, a holiday destination for 14 million Germans each year, where 26 percent said they didn't like the Germans. However, in the tourist haven of southern Spain where German sunbed-grabbing antics are said to be at their worst 70 percent of respondents said they found the Germans agreeable.

Sure they do! Multiply 14 millions with, say, one thousand Marks, and you get a lot of smiling faces in Spain! When we have a bad recession here, it means for most people taking only two vacations a year instead of three. Like, "we won't have money for new ski-gear all around, so let's skip St. Moritz this year..." Huh, wish I'd be so well off! I'm with the some people who say "what recession? Doesn't look worse to me than usual..., with all dem black clouds and unpaid bills."

Hang in there, my dear. I am sure Spain subscribes to the "keep Spain green, bring money!"

Our money is copper, green and silver (the coins), and blue, green, brown and other stuff (the bills & the larger bills, which I can't remember to have seen in a while).

No wonder Spain is so colorful. The Deutchmark (and pfennig)has been making it so. I always wondered about that. hmmm...

My mother died today. My sister called about 10 am with the news. We were expecting it but I had hoped to visit her in two weeks. My last conversation with her was one of the best I have had in years, I didn't think it was going to be my last. She passed away peacefully. So I've been thinking back through the years today and remembering how her life was with it's ups and downs, her car accident, the wonderful years as kids at Chautauqua, the times in Houston when she moved to her apartment and the last years in Walnut Creek California where she stayed with my sister. Alice had been a real savior to mom over the last years, providing her with a home and comfort. She called my Uncle Harold and Aunt Ann today, and cousing Muriel and Aunt Jean in LA. Alice was in tears when she called this morning, it had only happened about 15 minutes before she called. It's a real different feeling, not having mom around any more.

Terry, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. When my grandmother died, I knew that I had seen her and been able to talk to her on one of her last lucid days, and that has always been a comfort. I'm glad you and your mom had been able to have a good talk before the end. My thoughts are with you and your entire family.

Thinking of you

*Hugs* Terry. Moms are very special people and I know you had a really good one because you turned out so splendidly. Everything you do and say reflects positively on her memory - I am sorry I did not meet her to thank her for you. My thoughts will be with you...as they are quite often anyway. Take care!

From John Burnett Terry, I am sorry about your mother's passing. Being prepared makes arrangements easier but you can't do your grieving in advance. I lost my dad in 1993 and not a day goes by that I still don't think about him. You are in my prayers. May God bless you. John

It's great that you two had a good relation with each other, Terry, and that she left without pain. Those are values one can't estimate too little. I wish you and your folks all the best. Comfort and take care of each other. Thinking of you, A.

A new Droolian (but long time email friend of mine who responded the night we needed a contact in Canada...) asked me to post this for her: Could you please convey my deepest condolences to Terry. I don't know him yet but he does great stuff for CF. Indeed he does; you are in our hearts and prayers tonight, Terry!

Oh, sorry...that was from Silvie!

God, terry, i am so sorry. i will be praying for you.

From another lady in Drool who is not quite comfortable about posting here: I was very sorry to hear about Terry's mom. Could you please forward my condolences to him. Tell him that Rumi is a great comfort in these situations. ...MoonDreams

Sending a big hug to you, Terry. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for all your good wishes. While I go to attend some affairs, I'm asking Ray and the folks steering austen.com and firth.com to continue on with the move to the new site.

gosh Paul, I feel like I've been under a rock... I'm sorry to hear about your mother's death. That whole wheel of life seems decidedly separate from our daily living and beyond the initial shock and sadness, I hope your thoughts and reflections regarding your mother and your times with her are warm and comforting.

Thanks Stacey, I've got a pile of cards on my dresser from the nice folks at Spring who sent condolences, I do have many nice thoughts of my mom, like the times she chased me around the tree at the park and many good memories, especially of the summers at Chautauqua.

Chautauqua? As in the area around Boulder?

Chautauqua as in upstate New York? My former father-in-law spent his summers there, as well. It was quite the place! Wonder how it has evolved over the years and if it is still as prestigeous...!

The chautauqua of which I speak is in Illinois, just across the Missouri border north of St. Louis. What are the areas around Boulder and upstate NY like? I'm glad you're out from under the rock, Stace' I wish more folks would emerge from out under their rocks!

You say rock? I say roll! WHAZZAT SPELL? WHAZZAT SPELL?

Also, I second the motion Terry put forward: "Folks, time to stop hibernating. What you waiting for, that hell freezes over? Damn, it might 'ave 'appened, and you coulda already 'ave missed it!" I 'ave spoken.

The Chautaqua area of New York State is in the Finger Lakes area in the north central area. A truly beautiful area and the home town named Chautaqua, NY. Alexander, I have no idea whazzat spell, but I am happy to see you posting again. Aloha!

Whazzat spell? Why, rock 'n' roll of course! Silly girl! hey hey, my my, ...

(I knew...*grin*)

... rock and roll will never die... (to finish Alexander's thought) Paul... Chautaqua is an area inside Boulder... right around the Flatirons. It's a gorgeous hiking park area... you used to live near Boulder during your bee pollen days, no? Marcia, your Chautaqua sounds very pretty too!

'Tis lovely. Lotsa big trees and serene lakes. Adirondack Mountains. Mosquitoes... I prefer your beautiful mountains, given the choice, Stace!

I visited Boulder for about a week when we were on the Caravan around the country. We picked rosehips in the snow up near Ward, CO. That was in the schoolbus days.

You are a most interesting man, Terry. I just have to spend an evening with you sometime to learn some of the intracies of which I see lttle hints here and there. Fascinating! Intriguing, even...

RELEASED AT 1:30 P.M. February 2, 2000 ALASKA ALERTS PUBLIC TO FRAUDULENT SOLICITATION FOR FAMILY MEMBERS SEATTLE -- It is with great regret that Alaska Airlines must alert Internet users that a fraudulent Web site has been created on the World Wide Web soliciting donations for the families of the passengers and crew of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. The site is not sanctioned in any way by Alaska Airlines. Further, the fraudulent site may also cause further damage by the spreading of a computer virus to those who visit the site. The only official site for information about Flight 261 and benevolent fund raising efforts for the passengers and crew is www.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines has mobilized its own specially trained team of employees to support and care for the family of the passengers and crew on Flight 261. The airline will continue to help loved ones and families through this difficult time.

from Arca Max weird news Wed, 09 Feb 2000 12:57:35 PST Things That Almost Make Sense A Billy Joel song has sparked a bit of controversy in the New York Senate race. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is tweaking first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton over a piece of music that was played over the sound system prior to her otherwise carefully staged announcement Sunday that she is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York. A technician was playing a Billy Joel "greatest hits" CD -- evidently because it contained the anthem-like "New York State of Mind." But another prominent track on the CD is "Captain Jack," a story song about a young guy who passes the time on a Saturday night by smoking marijuana and giving himself pleasure. . . The New York Times quotes Giuliani as saying that "everything was written out, everything was planned...and the message that got out, and they say by mistake...is 'Let's say yes to drugs.'" A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton's campaign said neither the first lady nor her campaign staff chose to play the song, and that Giuliani should stick to the issues. But then, a lenient stance on drugs sounds like it might just be an issue...

The Oldest Known Valentine in English The oldest known valentine message in the English language has been discovered in the British Library. Written in Norfolk in 1477, the letter from a young lady to her fiance goes on display at the library next month. "My heart bids me evermore to love you over all earthly things" it reads "and if my friends say that I do amiss they shall not stop me from doing so". 'Technology may have changed, but some things are the same' A spokesman for the library said.

Like they say, "The more things change, the more they stay the same" (never quite understood that one, though...) Thanks, Maggie!

Somewhere way off topic Terry asked me about Geomagnetism. I posted this in Geo and in Radio, but am not sure he will see it. So, I post in Porch, also: ---------------------- SFI=192 | A=28 | K=3 down from 4 at 0300 on 25 February. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: at unsettled to minor storm levels Aurora Level: 8 ********** That is a propagation report, for those who do not know. The strength and clarity of distant radio signals is directly a result of those numbers. The higher the first number is( SFI = Solar Flux Index), the better. All of the others, the lower the better. Solar flux is the stuff which the Sun flings in all directions as it pulsates from internal fusion. It is seriously bad stuff for Earth. We are saved from most of it by Geomagnetism. When the ionosphere is bombarded with enough ionized particles, Auroras occur, and if it is strong enough, can interrupt long distance phones, satellites, missle defense systems and other things terrestrial. Here is a little graphic which shows how it works: Oh yes, the GMF designation above = Geo Magnetic Field.

Since I still cannot telnet, would you please link History 5 to Today conference, please?! No one goes into history much, and the topic is "This Day in History" which is appropriate to Today as well as to History... ..isn't it?

I hope you don't mind me posting this here - I find it very upsetting. This is my part of the world. WEST AFRICA: IRIN Focus on child trafficking [2000229] [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] CHILDREN: IRIN Focus on child trafficking in west and central Africa LIBREVILLE, 28 February 2000 (IRIN) - From 14-year-old girls forced into prostitution to domestics just out of their infancy and pre-teen boys leased to cattlemen, west and central African children are being condemned to deprivation and servitude, researchers and officials told IRIN. No-one knows exactly how many young lives are broken in this way. In fact, finding out and keeping data bases on the twin evils of child trafficking and the exploitation of children's labour are part of a common platform for action agreed at a regional consultation held on 22-24 February. In most of the region, girls, some of them as young as eight years old, are taken from from rural areas to towns to work as domestics. Many work for 12 hours each day and more, and are subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse. Those taken from their countries also face isolation, some studies noted. Children from Mali are taken to Cote d'Ivoire via Burkina Faso, which is both a supplier of and transit point for child workers. So are Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, some of which are also recipient countries. Children are taken to Equatorial Guinea and to and from Cameroon. Gambian researchers suspect that there might be children going to work as domestics in Banjul from the southern Senegalese region of Casamance where a guerrilla war has been going on for 17 years. Kounboua Boulo Edoux of the Ministry of Labour in Chad told IRIN that nomadic cattlemen from northern Cameroon and central Chad travel to Moyen Chari region in southern Chad in the dry season, contract boys from farming communities to tend their herds, and take them as far as Central African Republic (CAR). The 'Subregional Consultation on Developing Strategies on the Trafficking of Children for Exploitative Labour Purposes in West and Central Africa' was held in Libreville, capital of Gabon, one of the countries to which people illegally ship children, some of whom die along the way. In one such case some two years ago, Nigerian researcher Professor Peter Obigbo told IRIN, about 30 children drowned when a boat capsized while taking them from southern Nigeria to Gabon. Child trafficking occurs both within and between countries as studies presented at the consultation - organised by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) showed. While doing sensitisation work in southern Chad on the worst forms of labour - the subject of a mid-1999 ILO convention that the Libreville meeting urged African governments to ratify - he met a small group of herdboys who had run away from their masters in the CAR. They were haggard, hungry and covered with wounds sustained while trekking through the bush back to the Chad border, according to Edoux. Their ages? "Twelve, thirteen," he said. The herdsmen approach parents either directly or through middle men, or area residents who earn 3,000 CFA francs (less than US $5) per boy, according to Edoux. The child is supposed to work for six months after which he receives a calf as payment and is taken back to his parents, an arrangement which some masters honour. Others, however, find pretexts to end it prematurely, which means that the child is not paid, while some take the children with them when they go back to their home areas at the end of the dry season. According to Edoux, soldiers from Moyen Chari stationed in central Chad sometimes rescue children left stranded after being abandoned by or running away from their bosses. Boys are also contracted out to cattle rearers in Ghana, receiving a cow at the end of four years' service, according to Emelia Oguaah, executive director of the African Centre for Human Development and one of a team of consultants who presented at the consultation preliminary findings from research they did for a subregional project of the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC). Other boys work as assistant fishermen and, according to information she obtained while doing her survey in areas along the Volta Lake in eastern Ghana, these children fall into two categories. "Most are brought by their parents as apprentices in fishing or to work and assist the fishermen," Oguaah told IRIN. "Their parents collect money and visit their children regularly. But there is another group of children who, people in the area suspect, were stolen and sold to the fishermen." Area residents told her nobody visited these children "who become more or less slaves and are maltreated in various ways." Other Ghanaian children, girls, are taken to Cote d'Ivoire to work as maids, helpers in small restaurants or prostitutes, mainly by middle-aged Ghanaian women living in Cote d'Ivoire, according to Oguaah. Their unsuspecting parents generally have no idea of the conditions under which they work, she said, adding that the families of those forced into prostitution are made to believe their children would be given work. Overworked and illtreated, some run away and find their way to the Ghanaian border. "Those who come back are mostly those taken for prostitution and they are usually between 10 and 14," Oguaah told IRIN. Public transport operators, she said, told her they often arranged transportation for the returnees, but some refused to go back home because of conditions there and ended up living on the streets of Takoradi, a major town in the west of the country. Why do parents send their children to town or abroad to work? The reasons are legion, but poverty is one most often cited, according to Oguaah, Ebigbo - who was also a member of the team of ILO-IPEC consultants - and other participants in the Libreville encounter. Other contributory factors include lack of awareness of the risks involved, insufficient training and educational opportunities and a high demand for cheap, submissive child labour, the inexistence or inadequacy of national laws on child trafficking, weak institutional mechanisms and inadequate border controls, according to the platform for action that participants in the consultation have undertaken to implement. The platform includes strengthening sensitisation campaigns - which some countries have already started - targeting not only adult groups such as the media, women's associations and other NGOs that defend the rights of the child, but also children, through children's parliaments and other forms of organisation involving them. The platform also provides for reviewing penal codes to include child-trafficking offences which, it says, should be defined, and adequate and severe penaties set. It includes drawing up an international convention on child trafficking, stiffer regulations on the movement of children out of countries, training people who would implement new laws, and strengthening the capacity of monitoring structures and intervention units in terms of personnel and equipment. Another key area on which the consultation focused was the effect of trafficking and exploitative labour on the children. A UNICEF survey on Nigeria presented at the meeting noted that these practices result in the interruption of children's education, traumatises them and impairs their development. In the long term, children thus abused face a future of poverty and destitution and are sometimes caught up in a cycle of violence, insecurity and lawlessness, and HIV/Aids, according to the survey. A similar presentation on Burkina Faso noted that the traffic, "which is a brutal separation of the child from his or her family with all the emotional traumas this can cause ... develops negative sentiments and violent reactions in this fragile being, and makes him/her accustomed to violence" and certain types of anti-social behaviour. Improving care for the victims is therefore part of the platform. The government ministers, other state officials and non-governmental representatives who participated in the Libreville encounter agreed on a series of actions such as setting up or strengthening halfway houses and transit centres for children subjected to trafficking. They also expressed a commitment to "put in place human resources necessary for the medical and psycho-social support of children, and any other form of support, while waiting to reunite them with their families" and, after reunification, to empower parents to care for them. Empowering and strengthening the capacities of NGOs and providing protection for the victims of child trafficking, are also among the provisions of the platform, which provides further for improved knowledge and monitoring of trafficking. To guarantee implementation of the platform, the ministers undertook to report on its results as soon as they returned home, and delegates agreed, among other things, to set up a standing sub-regional monitoring committee comprising representatives of governments, labour, employers and civil society, with the participation of ILO and UNICEF. [ENDS] [IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 20 217354 Fax: +225 20 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci] [This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.] Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000

Still thinking about Mozambique. MOZAMBIQUE: IRIN Focus on reconstruction [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] JOHANNESBURG, 6 March (IRIN) - The scourge of landmines laid during Mozambique's 16-year civil war could pose a new threat to returning villagers when the flood waters subside, leaving many of the deadly weapons exposed, unstable or swept to new areas. Demining specialists in Mozambique told IRIN they feared that the hidden devices would make rehabilitation that much harder, and complicate the campaign to rid the country of landmines. "We did not know for sure where the landmines were located before the floods started. Now we know even less after the mines were displaced by the floods," Jakob Kaarsbo of the UN's demining team in Mozambique told IRIN on Monday. Kaarsbo said demining activities have been put on hold because of the difficulty of access caused by flooding. Reconnaissance and surveys will have to be started afresh and maps redrawn once the floodwaters had subsided, he said. Nevertheless, the mine awareness campaign in Mozambique would continue. Kaarsbo's remarks were made as the country weighed the massive reconstruction effort that will be required to repair damaged roads, railway lines, bridges, schools and other infrastructure. Chissano estimates a multi-million package President Joachim Chissano announced that at least US $250 million will be needed to repair infrastructure in a country where the floods have also left more than a million people homeless, destroyed 10,000 hectares of planted fields, and claimed an estimated 30,000 head of cattle. Rui Fonseca, chairman of the state-owned Mozambican Ports and Railway Company (CFM), told IRIN the parastatal is losing an estimated US $50,000 a day due to floods which have paralysed the rail system in the southern parts of the country. Fonseca added that CFM has so far lost US $4.5 million in revenue since the start of the rains in February. "CFM will need about US $7 million to repair the damage to the rail system," Fonseca said. He added that the worst damaged line is the Limpopo line that links the country's capital, Maputo to Zimbabwe. Fonseca said about 4km of the line was submerged, while a further 4km was hanging precariously over huge gullies. "We expect the line to be operational in a month," Fonseca said. The Ressano Garcia line, linking Maputo to South Africa was reopened last Wednesday after the waters started receding, added Fonseca. Fonseca said, however, that the current repairs are being undertaken under an emergency plan, and that more substantial rehabilitation would cost much more. "Under normal circumstances, repairing a kilometre of track costs between US $300,000 and US $400,000." International lending agencies decline to cancel debt Meanwhile, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, whom Mozambique owes at least US $8.3 billion have said they will not cancel the country's debt. The IMF is, however, reportedly considering an emergency support credit to Mozambique and will accelerate the country's access to the approved funds totalling US $17.5 million for the roads and coastal shipping project. A World Bank official in Maputo, told IRIN on Monday that the Bank has also offered a helping hand: "The Bank has decided to suspend Mozambique's debt service for one year while the country tries to recover from the disaster." Jubilee 2000, the debt cancellation group, argues that Mozambique pays about US $73 million a year on debt servicing. This, said Jubilee 2000, compares to the country's budget of US $20 million for primary health care and US $32 million for primary education. Bilateral lenders Some bilateral creditors, however, have indicated their preparedness to cancel Mozambique's debt. Britain last week decided to cancel US $150 million owed by Mozambique, while Portugal wrote off US $150 million and Spain cancelled US $20 million. Jubilee 2000 argued that debt cancellation would make a significant difference only if Russia, Italy and France write off Mozambique's debts, which make up 50 percent of the country's bilateral debt. After completing six years of IMF-driven economic reforms, Mozambique was offered debt relief of US $3.7 billion last year under the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative. Debt service payments were reduced on an annual basis from an average of US $114 million to US $73 million.

I've followed the flooding stories and the 'relief efforts'... so hard to imagine so much hardship while living in my cozy little house... with my cozy little job and my cozy husband... We haven't had a TV in so long, I was horrified to watch the QuickTime movies of the rescues... don't see that ugly drama in the newspaper or on the radio...

Just wait'll you deliver your baby in a tree top! I would not have survived and neither would have my son! Lots of this stuff posted in Geo http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/Geo/25 Miserable beyond belief!

We oughta have a place to announce really good stuff on conferences which we otherwise might not frequent. I can't find a better place than here that everyone reads (well, almost everyone...) so here goes. Geo topic 15 is Geosites for Kids (a place to find interesting stuff for parents, teachers, kids or really with-it adults.) There have been some really good stuff in there lately - even Emeritus Prof Frank noted how good it was. Now, do something really fun for yourself and check it out! Mahalo!

Oh, yes! Wolf has created a bunch of new topics in the collecting conference. Anyone collect Sports Memorabilia ****(Please link with Sports conference since I am still without telnet access to Spring!)**** Tie flies and collect same or fish for fun and/or food? How about model trains? I added mine to her collecting collection. Please check it out, too! http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/browse/collecting/all/new and Geo: http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/browse/geo/all/new

Specific plea: Link Collecting Topic 59 to the Sports Conference, Please.

I'm talking about the Oscars in movies tonight, since I just watched it and it's fresh in my mind. Did anyone else catch this years Oscars? Too bad Jeremy Northam didn't win supporting actor for the Winslow Boy, and Annette Benning lost in best actress. DeForrest Kelly wasn't mentioned among the departed cuts. George Lucas was totally ignored. But then there *was* something called the Matrix. Classiest act of the night was Michael Caine, he really gave others their credit. The comment to Tom Cruise was pure, unadulterated class. (He told him that supporting actors don't make near as much and it would have got him a pay cut).

DeForest Kelly was not mentioned? How could they ignore "Bones" of Star Trek?! I am very disenchanted with the whole Oscar scene...alas. Jaded, perhaps?

"Blame Canada" was clearly the best song! The rest were all boring pop-style songs.

Oh, that's what he was called in the original series? In German, they'd dubbed him "Pille" - pill. Didn't know he'd died, hope it was hard for him. Hmh, perhaps they didn't mention it, because all the huffy movie folks got him marked as a tv person? Might be... I don't know any movies he'd been in but the early Star Trek movies... Where else was he in?

Before the original Star Trek (for TV) made him famous, he was a bit player in B-rated Westerns and invariably played a bad guy with a serious need for a shave. Not appealing, at all!

The Star Trek movies count for something.

Indeed! (Large understatement on my part - sorry!)

Oh, definitely, Terry! And thanks for the info, Marcia!

*smile* Happy to help a fellow trekkie and those lurking...

Who's lurking?

If they would quit lurking and post something perhaps we qwould all know...yes? I have no idea ;)

Ah so...

and something a bit serious....i posted this in web but not many people have that on their lists (thanks marcia).... i may sound like an alarmist and this is the wrong topic to post this in but, here goes nothing..... please teach your children to be careful surfing the web. pedophiles and stalkers are out there and are blatant about what they want. with chat rooms being offered as free additions to websites, it's harder for "moderators" to control and report anything suspicious. i've removed the chat rooms from my site.

Thannks for posting this important message here. Two 11 yr old girls were lured to New Yrok City and raped recently. One is too many. Please take care and be aware of what your children are doing on the Internet.

also, cops are posing as kids on the internet and arranging meetings to catch the bad guys, isn't that great? the show i watched last night showed them do just that! a male officer posed as a 13 year old teenage girl......luv it when they catch the bad guys.

Me too...makes my day....*grin*

i would like to get the word out, does anyone know of any sites that spread the word about online pedophiles with buttons you can add to your site to help educate and inform your viewers? i have an anti child pornography on the web button but am looking for more of the same. and speaking of that, today, i got an email about teen sex sites and fetishes. disgusting.

Never noticed. I shall from now on, though. Adultstory.com has some mentioned in the intro at the top of the frontpage...

Wot? You did not get one about animals?! Talk about disgusting...!

http://www.pedowatch.org http://www.asacp.org http://www.hackers.com/ehap http://www.safesurf.com

well, thank goodness, hotmail made a bulk mail box for those mails that have multiple addresses on them. i had been sending a lot of junkmail to hotmail's abuse email account and now this bulk box appears. what a great idea.

Excellent. The more sites involved the less the chance of it proliferating, I hope, anyway...!

thanks for those links. i've got a pic up with a link to pedowatch.org. maybe we should add a couple for around here?

I think that is a splendid idea. One in Parents conference would be good and one in Collecting and SpringArk (I know you can do the latter 2 - can you do Parents, as well?)...Not sure about Geo but I can put one in there.

Porch is the most travelled conference - or used to be outside of Drool. Post one!!!

don't have access to parents but will do it in para, collecting, springark, and poetry...