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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Jul 22 2008, 06:50 AM
What makes those who are locked away believe they have the same rights as those who are on the outside? As I finish writing that statement I realize how sad it is in this case...a double edged sword.
Josef Fritzel is the 73 year old Austrian man who is in jail awaiting trial for keeping his daughter prisoner in the cellar for 24 years. While there, he raped her and fathered seven children. Three of the children had never seen the light of day.
This man is pure evil. And he is now locked up and afraid he will be harmed…and he should be afraid.
But get this…the poor guy (I don’t mean that) is a little upset. He’s demanding to be let outside for breaks. He’s going stir-crazy being locked up. All he cares about is himself.
Fritzel has got one 19 year old daughter, who he fathered with his daughter who was kept prisoner, who is dying from organ failure.
I wish there was such a thing as being sentenced to life in a cellar with no windows....
Watch…he’ll plead insanity.
Josef Fritzel Going Stir Crazy In Cell í here
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jul 17 2008, 05:30 PM
So it’s the third day with oil prices tumbling…yes, I said it, tumbling below $130 a barrel…in over a month. A year ago that would have been an inconceivable thought. Right now I’ll go with it.
Since July 4th natural gas prices are down 20 percent and just since Monday, oil prices have dropped 10 percent cheaper a barrel.
Whoo-hoo!
So is this a trend?
Or just something temporary?
We’ll have to wait and see, now won’t we?
But we can enjoy it for the weekend.
Read one story at MSNBC å here
But you’ll be hearing more about this for awhile.
By Adam Schreck
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jul 17 2008, 07:02 AM
By Janet Evans
Monday, Jul 14 2008, 08:54 PM
Back in June I blogged about vacationing in Dubai and their real estate dealings. Dubai prides itself in being a sophicated and cosmic center of architecture and activity.
They have a problem though. They have one foot in their religious beliefs and culture and the other in attracting tourists from all over the world...and this is causing a huge clash.
The latest problem is on the beaches. Nude sunbathing isn't going over very well in Dubai. There's a lot of gawking going on ...
"Over the past two weeks, police have detained a total of 79 people whose behavior was "disturbing families enjoying the beach," Zuhair Haroun, a spokesman for Dubai's Criminal Investigation Department, said Monday.
First-time offenders may be issued a warning, but if caught twice, tourists could be referred to the public prosecutor for possible criminal charges, authorities said. "
Dubai detains 79 for indecent behavior on beaches à here
If you surf around the internet regarding visiting Dubai, you’ll find quite a few questions from people who aren’t sure of the protocol for visiting the area. People are confused regarding how to dress and the customs.
People come to the United States to vacation and they are allowed to do just that. If you are going to attend a place of worship while you are here, you may do so, and you may dress appropriately.
If I vacation in another country, I want to do that, vacation. I am not going to wear a berka as a U.S. citizen if you want me to spend my money in your country. And either you allow nude sun bathing or you don’t. Which is it? You can’t ask Westerners to come to your country in droves and then expect them to not be Westerners.
Perhaps the Muslim men in Dubai should be home with their wives rather than hanging around the beaches gawking at other women, anyway.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
(AP) With backdrop of the
Burj Al Arab hotel, People
enjoy the Umm Suqaim
public beach in Dubai.
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jul 14 2008, 11:49 AM
If you are planning on attending the Olympics in Beijing...be warned...streaking will not be tolerated.
But you probably knew that already.
Beijing has advised spectators of a list of items that should not be brought to the Olympics, and high on the list is banners.
Even a banner such as Go, China! will not be permitted ...
"We advise that you do not bring banners of any kind to the Games because we must create a fair play environment for the athletes from all countries," Huang Keying, deputy director of spectator services division at the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), told a news conference.
"The kind of banner with "Go China!" on it would be unfair for athletes from other countries."
Umbrellas will be permitted as the Chinese are not particularly fond of sun bathing.
Personally, if I were attending the Olympics in China, I would read all of the rules very carefully....
Read the story from Reuters í here
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By Janet Evans
Friday, Jul 11 2008, 11:02 PM
Eat your food, there are people starving in__________________
Enter name of country ….
During my childhood the country of choice was “China.”
I cringe when I think of being told that statement.
It was the thing to do during the 60s…
Maybe not everyone went through that, but I know from talking to others, they did too.
So I was supposed to eat more than I really wanted to because there were starving children in China?
My eating and cleaning my plate made it better?
Oh, wait…don’t waste any food on your plate…not when there are starving people in China.
I’m still cringing and would never think to say such a thing.
Then there's "waste not, want not."
That's the new motto of Britain.
Because of the economy and food shortages, they are being encouraged to think back to the time when the did have actual food rationing, during wartime.
"Well, of course, in the war years it was not only immoral to waste food — this was one of our slogans then — it also was illegal," said Marguerite Patten, 92, who worked at the Ministry of Food during World War II and urges a return to those more thrifty days.
"I know it's old fashioned, but some old fashioned things are worth doing," she said. During the war, Nazi Germany's U-boats crippled the flow of ships carrying food to Britain. Diets were tightly controlled by rationing. Bananas and pineapples became exotic treats, and enterprising housewives traded recipes for baked hedgehog and carrot fudge."
Britain Urging Return To Wartime Frugality í here
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Jul 8 2008, 06:25 PM
We’ve all heard of the Lost City of Atlantis.
Maybe you’ve seen the movie Waterworld.
With the threat of global warming climate change and the ice caps melting, causing more water, there is a concern of the need of additional places for people to live. After the typoons in Asia, that is another reason to have alternate living sources.
In comes the “Lilypad.”
Floating cities....
"Based on the design of a lilypad, they could be used as a permanent refuge for those whose homes have been covered in water. Major cities including London, New York and Tokyo are seen as being at huge risk from oceans which could rise by as much as 3ft by the end of this century.
This solution, by the award-winning Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, is designed to be a new place to live for those whose homelands have been wiped out.
The 'Lilypad City' would float around the world as an independent and fully self-sustainable home. With a lake at its centre to collect and purify rainwater, it would be accessed by three separate marinas and feature artificial mountains to offer the inhabitants a change of scenery from the seascape.
Power for the central accommodation hub is provided through a series of renewable energy sources including solar panels on the mountain sides, wind turbines and a power station to harness the energy of the waves. "
I guess Mr. Callebaut didn't see the movie Waterworld.
I did.
Even though it was fictional....that doesn't mater.
Who the heck wants to float around on a "lilypad " for the rest of their lives.
People were meant to live on land, not on the water.
I suppose if that happens, we may as well evolve and form gills.
Temporary, yes...permanent...no.
Read the story from the Daily Mail à here
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jul 7 2008, 08:08 PM
Children are like sponges.
We’ve heard that before.
Wait until you hear this one.
The article is so short I don’t want to spoil it by quoting it on my blog.
But I’ll comment about it.
Those Brits are daft in what they have come up with regarding racism.
At least in my opinion.
What do you think?
Just click the old Mr. Yuk sign to see what I'm talking about!
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By Janet Evans
Sunday, Jul 6 2008, 09:23 AM
The Beijing Summer Olympic organizers have reported that they don't see there will be any major problems next month even though China has been through rioting, a major earth quake, flooding, now mold, algae and even locusts.
View this stunning slide show of the removal of blue-green algae from Qingdao, China beaches.
Bloomberg Slide show algae removal China
About 10,000 people are scooping algae out of the sea at the eastern city of Qingdao, while officials in Inner Mongolia are preparing to fight off a plague of locusts that may arrive in the capital city during the Olympics. It's unbelievable what the Chinese people have gone through these past several months because of the wrath of nature. You have to wonder how much manpower is going into the Olympics at the expense of their people. Read an article from Bloomberg í here
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By Janet Evans
Saturday, Jun 28 2008, 08:35 PM
As I’ve said before, my daughter travels often, and has been to Thailand and China many times. She flies business class and is treated very well on the flights. I know once she did fly in coach on a last minute trip to China and it wasn’t the best experience. The flight, which had very few Americans on it, was very noisy, for one thing.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been trapped on an airplane for a short period of time. I’ve heard those horror stories of people being kept against their will on an aircraft six, seven, ten, twelve hours at our own U.S. airports, under horrible conditions.
When I’ve been stuck it’s been for, at most, forty minutes. That was enough to be panic time for me. There is no air movement because the air doesn’t come on unless the engines are going. It just gets so hot.
I know that’s the time of year I have travelled though because my daughter reported a flight one morning where it was so frigid, with below zero temperatures, and she was on the first flight of the morning. The heat happened to be broken and the flight really should have been cancelled. The passenger’s teeth literally chattered the entire trip.
Anyway, I don’t know what I would do if I was trapped on a flight. No way could I last all those hours without fainting without air.
But on last Friday, on a flight that had about 200 people flying from Beijing to the city of Yantai, China….52 passengers actually refused to leave the plane when they were told to because their flight was cancelled.
First, they spent three hours sitting in the plane because of bad weather. Then when the other passengers left, those 52 decided they were going to stay on that plane.
I know Beijing isn’t that bad of a city that staying on a plane 12 hours was better. Even the airport looks pretty nice.
What’s up with that?
Read the article from Reuters
Passengers Sleep on Plane After Flight Was Cancelled à here
Beijing Capital International Airport
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jun 23 2008, 07:41 PM
The latest “first” for Barack Obama comes off the Milan runway. Calling the U.S. presidential hopeful "the man of the moment," Donatella Versace dedicated her Spring-Summer 2009 collection presented Saturday evening to Obama, creating a style she said was designed for "a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power."
Chatting with reporters in the cool of the garden of her private palazzo in downtown Milan at an after-show dinner party, the designer also had some fashion tips for the campaign trail. "I would get rid of the tie and jazz up the shirt," she said.
 AP Photo Model wearing one of Versace men's
spring/summer 2009 fashion collection, at Milan fashion week
Well, I am trying to think back a few years as to which leader has been “flexing muscles to show he has power.” Reagan? No. Bush 41? No. Clinton? No.
Bush 43? Let me think….Uh, huh. No.
No….None of those leaders really had any six pack abs to flaunt that I recall. No great biceps either. Nope.
Still, it could be a comment about Bush 43. It could be a comment about mental muscle. If that comment is directed at Bush….it should be taken as a compliment. And it will make me feel that much more secure to know if Barack Obama ends up in the White House, at least he will be dressing well when he can’t make tough decisions.
from the Associated Press Ü here
Barack Obama inspires Milan men's runway styles
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Jun 17 2008, 10:23 PM
So this guy meets his ex-girlfriend at a pub in Genoa, Italy (like the salami), they probably throw back a few glasses of Chianti and he takes her back to his place.
Trouble is…it sounds like she might not have wanted to go to his place. It sounds like she was forced to go there. Not only that, when she gets there, it sounds like she was forced to do a couple other things against her will, too.
It’s horrific enough to be kidnapped. But this isn’t your ordinary kidnapper. This must have been your metrosexual kidnapper.
Ð here
Italian man accused of kidnapping ex-girlfriend
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By Janet Evans
Wednesday, Jun 11 2008, 07:01 PM
Seriously, I think I’ll pass on the vacation to Dubai….
After all, they can’t have their cake (oil) and eat (sell) it too (right).
It might be a nice place to live (oil is cheap and they can wear white shoes all year long).
Poor things though…
I guess we aren’t giving them enough.
Isn’t over $4 a gallon doing it?
They can't seem to complete their newest treasure...the tallest building on the planet...that's right, I said "planet"....the Burj Dubai.
Computer-generated view of Burj Dubai once completed
"Construction of the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, has been delayed and will be completed only in September next year, the developer was quoted on Tuesday as saying.
The tower, which is expected to reach a final height of 900 metres (2,953 feet), was due for completion in the bustling city state at the end of 2008. "
Ouch....You can read that story from Breitbart ç here
Then, today, this….they're snapping up more real estate in the U.S.
Chrysler Building, NY
"The latest Big Apple trophy being coveted by oil-rich sovereign wealth funds is the landmark Chrysler Building.
Sources say the super-rich Abu Dhabi Investment Council is negotiating an $800 million deal for a 75 percent stake in the Art Deco treasure that has defined the Midtown skyline since 1930. "
Read that in the New York Post ç here
Did I hear that correctly in that video? It only rains a couple times a year?
Hmm…
Nope....somehow I think there might be too much control over my blogging ç here
I'll stick around in Franklin.
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By Janet Evans
Wednesday, Jun 4 2008, 06:50 AM
Why?
How?
Senseless!
Photo / AP
15 minutes into the bike race near the US-Mexico border
A drunk and a car ....
Photo / AP
28-year old Juan Campos, of Brownsville, TX is accused of killing
one and injuring 10 cyclists in Matamoros, Mexico.
Read the story in the Sun-Sentinel í here
AP Photos í here
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jun 2 2008, 04:15 PM
I know…It’s a war.
There’s nothing positive about war.
Well, we have to mention when things are looking up, because the media tends to ignore that.
U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war
high.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq's oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war just 12 months ago.
Read the story from Reuters
Iraq hits milestones on U.S. troop deaths and oil í here
Some photos of those who serve…
ACADEMY FLYOVER
U.S. Naval Academy graduates cheer as the Navy's Blue Angels fly over Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., during their commencement ceremony, May 23, 2008. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the ceremony's guest speaker.
Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
NIGHT FIRE
While looking through night vision gear, U.S. Marine firefighters put out a fire in front of the old
Gunner’s Gym, May 6, 2008, during a simulated terrorist bombing on Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ashley Stadel
STAYING THE COURSE
A plebe listens for instructions before starting an obstacle course
during Sea Trails at the U.S. Naval Academy, May 13, 2008.
Sea Trials are divided into six phases to provides physical and
mental challenges to test the plebes teamwork and mental stamina
through shared adversities.
U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Todd P. Cichonowicz
CEREMONIAL COLOR
U.S. Navy Seaman Seth Green participates in the color guard for a change of
command ceremony for the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian, Sasebo,
Japan, May 8, 2008. Lt. Cmdr. Steven H. DeMoss relinquished command to
Lt. Cmdr. Theodore E. Essenfield.
U.S. Navy photo Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua J. Wahl
WE ARE AMERICANS
Two hundred fifty-nine foreign-born U.S. troops serving throughout Iraq become American citizens
at Al Faw Palace, Camp Victory, Iraq, April 12, 2008, in the largest U.S. naturalization ceremony to date in Iraq.
U.S. Army Sgt. Jasmine Chopra
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, May 29 2008, 11:50 AM
Flying while intoxicated? In Space?
Well, I hope not....but who knows what tricks space travel and gravity can do to you.
And, in space?
Well, yes...Sometime soon, Astronauts may be able to enjoy a cold beer after a long day flying, or walking in space.
That could make for an interesting sobriety test.
Could you walk a straight line please?
Touch your finger to your nose?
Anyway, it seems a Japanese brewery, Sapporo Holdings, is putting out the first "space beer" using the third-generation descendants of barley grown on the International Space Station.
Read about it at AFP í here
And let’s hope NASA gets that Space Station toilet working before the beer is ready.
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, May 27 2008, 11:50 AM
“The government has been telling us the truth,” declared David Clarke, a senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, who has a side interest in U.F.O.’s. “There are a lot of weird things in the sky, and some of them we can’t explain, but there’s not a shred of evidence for a single alien visitation.”
Thank goodness the British government has a handle on alien encounters.
They've been probing the issue for years.
Who would want any of the spacecraft depicted in their government files to actually be real!
Such as drawings like the one below....
At first I thought someone just copied it right out of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind...but look, the craft is on skis! It must be a recreational alien spacecraft.
The National Archives
Read the article from the New York Times - Europe ç here
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By Janet Evans
Friday, May 23 2008, 06:45 AM
My daughter called me last evening from O’Hare.
She had just passed through Customs after returning from a trip to China.
We talked for a while as she passed the time.
She couldn't wait to get home to her new husband of just over a month.
For her, China was just different this time.
The day she left to go there was the day of the earthquake.
Besides that, Monday was another unusual day for China.
There was a three day period of mourning for the earthquake victims that was unlike one ever seen before in China.
1.3 billion people stood in honor of the victims at 2:28 p.m., the exact time of the earthquake.
My daughter said she, and the employees of the workplace she was visiting in Beijing, were ushered out into the streets. Everyone formed lines and faced flags, that were at half mast.
The lines were formed with the shortest persons at the front. Because my daughter and her colleague were guests, they were put to the front of the lines to face the flags. It was an uncomfortable moment for my daughter, as her 5’2” frame was taller than the person behind her.
As the three minute “moment of silence” began, every car horn, car alarm, and siren in the area blasted for the entire time, non-stop, in honor of the victims. With there being so many victims, many people in the lines behind my daughter had relatives who had been lost.
My daughter said it was a sorrowful moment, and when it was over, and people turned away, she could barely look at the others expressing personal grief far stronger than hers from just being a participant.
For three days, there was to be no entertainment, or television, other than news.
My daughter is always treated with such respect in the workplace when she visits Asia. She has seen some amazing things and had some interesting experiences.
While it’s unfortunate that this horrific disaster happened, I’m sure she will take away a valuable lesson from it. She’s has always been a very compassionate person.
Read about the three day mourning period for the 50,000 victims of the earthquake in China from the
Boston Globe Éhere
Video of 3 minutes of silence É here
May 21: Parents mourn their children lost when the school they were in collapsed from the earthquake.
May 22: Chinese earthquake survivors make their way through a neighborhood destroyed
by last week's earthquake in Hanwang town, Sichuan province
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By Janet Evans
Sunday, May 18 2008, 07:05 AM
 Saudi King Abdullah, left, gestures toward President Bush during an
arrival ceremony at Riyadh-King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, Friday, May 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Enjoy your oil, King Abdullah!
Thanks for sticking it to us....again!
Looks like President Bush was shown the way out of the palace when he made his request for Saudi Arabia to increase oil production to help drive down our prices. He only won an agreement for 300,000 barrels a day, which won't be much of an improvement.
"Speaking to reporters in Egypt Saturday, President Bush says he told King Abdullah that it is in Saudi Arabia's long-term interest to put more oil on the world market.
"I said very plainly, I said you've got to be concerned about the effects of high oil prices on some of the biggest customers in the world," he said. "And, not only that, of course high energy prices is going to cause countries like mine to accelerate our move towards alternative energy.
"President Bush says the kingdom's decision to boost output to make up for other shortfalls is something, but it is not enough."
President Bush is calling on Congress for more oil exploration at home.
Read the story at Voice of America here Ã
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By Janet Evans
Monday, May 12 2008, 09:31 PM
 In this photo distributed by the official Xinhua news agency, rescuers search for students
at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometers from
the epicenter in Wenchuan county of southwest China's Sichuan province, on Monday
May 12, 2008. Nearly 900 students here were feared buried when a high school building
collapsed in the earthquake, Xinhua said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Chen Xie)
"One of the worst earthquakes in decades struck central China on Monday, killing nearly 9,000 people, trapping about 900 students under the rubble of their school and causing a toxic chemical leak, state media reported. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated a hilly region of small cities and towns in Sichuan and nearby provinces. The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone and dozens of other deaths were reported in surrounding areas."
When I woke up, I immediately thought about my daughter. She would be leaving for the airport to set out on her journey to Beijing for her two week business trip. Her third visit to China, after recently returning from Belgium and Thailand before that.
Of course I was worried for her when I heard of the devastating news of yet another tragedy in Asia; this time a massive earthquake, with a death toll now reaching well over 9,000 people. This on the heels of the Myanmar disaster caused by the cyclone last week. While the earthquake was hundreds of miles away from where my daughter will be working, buildings in Beijing were swaying from the quake. Who knows what parts of China will feel aftershocks.
So much death and sorrow from natural disasters is happening in the world right now, including in the United States with wildfires in Florida, tornadoes in Oklahoma, flooding in Maine and other parts of the Northeast. It is, it seems, never ending. The weather is wicked and unforgiving.
So, while I normally worry about my daughter during her travels, I'll be more concerned than usual this time around. She has a brand new husband of just a month who'll be concerned, also. But she's a very independent person and I know she'll be fine.
Some, here, in our country can relate to the hell these poor people in Myanmar and China are facing....those who have been through the devastation of a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake or wildfire, or flooding. Of course we don't have the concentration of population and the desolate living conditions. Those of us who haven't had to face natural disasters are so very fortunate.
"ANOTHER natural disaster in another Asian country claims many thousand lives. But the response of China’s government to an earthquake that struck the central Sichuan province on the afternoon of Monday May 12th appears to be strikingly different | |
