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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Robert E. Lee

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


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Confederate General ... great defender of the southern states - will undergo a retrospective of the true man seperated from the myth of 150 years. 

Complex and tormented he would have preferred to sit out the war and not wage combat against the US Army he fought alongside in the Mexican War.

He was the consumate general, although anguished over the secession of southern states, he made the difficult decision to join the cause "and never looked back."  He was honourable and loyal - hallmarks of his gentrified Virginian upbringing and West Point training.  In his late 50s during the war, his dark hair turned stark white within months. 

He was incredibly smart, able to understand complex military operations of his army, the enemy and terrain.  A careful planner he read his opponent's minds and anticipated the unfolding campaign by reading maps.  He understood he was outnumbered and maximised his troops' impact.

A morally complex figure he was wholly embraced by Christian hero-worshippers but did not embrace religion until later in life.  After his death the lost-cause movement turned Lee into a symbolic chivalrous diety - what he was was fascinating and important and much more interesting than the myth around him.

http://watch.thirteen.org/video/1653201518/

Connections through time ...

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Who knew ... pop music groups Boney M and Milli Vanilli are connected!?

They share the same German producer, Frank Farian.

Boney M was hugely popular in the 1970s and 80s - the sole male member Bobby Farrell was found dead in his Russian hotel room recently.  Although he performed live with the pop group, he lip synched on stage while Farian sang the male parts in studio.  A curious case since lip synching was the scandal that destroyed Milli Vanilli when Farian repeated his hoax years later.

Boney M had a hit titled Rasputin about the noted historic Russian, Grigori Rasputin, whose body was discovered on the same day in history that Farrell's body was found in his St. Petersburg's hotel room.

Quite a few connections I say.

World Heritage Sites

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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911 global properties with cultural and natural heritage of universal value.  A really special list to check out.

Brain Balance

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We continue to discover the awesome abilities of humanity.

The ability to predict when a lie is about to be told to us, to imagine what others are thinking and learn from their social habits - all are tools that tell us when something is amiss. 

The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex  in the front of the brain triggers this instinctive response with increased activity or its calm converse.

Not out-of-Africa?

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Discovery of 400,000 year old human remains may force a reasessment of evolution.  The theory holds that homo sapiens wandered out of Africa 200,000 years ago.  Other remains have been found in Asia and Spain adding uncertainty and now pre-historic remains have been found in Israel near the Ben Gurion airport. 

Eight teeth of the Mid Pleistocene Age found in the Qesem cave near Rosh Ha'Ayin are the oldest remains found anywhere and supersede 160,000 year old remains found in Middle Awash Aramis, Ethiopia. 

The cave also revealed a sophisticated early human society with stones sharpened, tools and evidence of hunting and use of fire.  More discoveries are anticipated.

Of course these regions are not at great distances one from the other - and certainly more evidence of antiquity will be unveiled adding more pieces to our human puzzle.

Hitler hooey

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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If for any reason you desire to see more pictures on the life of the man we love to hate then click here for Hitler photos.


Inside his bunker ...
http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/42032/wwii-inside-hitlers-bunker?xid=weeklytopten

Among the crowds ...
http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/26982/adolf-hitler-among-the-crowds#index/0

Playboy Phew

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Several years ago when Hugh Hefner permitted the world by way of reality tv into the inner sanctum of his playboy existence I was beseiged with curiosity.  That program was the first installment of The Girls Next Door with Holly, Bridget and Kendra - who all went on to become successful women in their own right.

My curiosity was led by the near total mystery that shrouded the myth of Hefner sexuality - now an old man, I wondered if there actually was any sex left in him and what did he do with all these young blonde girls.  It was a window onto a world that was no longer mysterious when the second installment rolled around.

I believe his mistake was to open his personal life to the world for the veneer of his age defiance and sexual longevity are laid bare for everything it is not.  Hugh Hefner is an old man - he is after all only a man.  And now we know ... I know.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

William Bonney - Billy the Kid

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Billy the Kid may be pardoned after 130 years due to allegations that New Mexico Territorial Governor 1878 to 1881, Lew Wallace, promised to pardon Bonney in exchange for his testimony against three murder suspects.

The descendants of Wallace and Sheriff Pat Garrett who shot Bonney to death in July 1881 dispute this point of history while insisting no promise of pardon was made and would besmirch the legacy of Wallace as a dishonourable liar!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Auto Negative Thought

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Negative thoughts ... Negative life.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Thought Today

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"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Hefner turn around

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Well I'll be ... damned.  Hugh Hefner is engaged for Christmas!

I watched and was a fan of the Girls Next Door with Holly, Bridget and Kendra.  Didn't watch the second version with Crystal and the twins.  Holly wanted to marry Hef so badly and broke it off when he refused.

So imagine my surprise to hear he chose another - he was certain he would remain a confirmed bachelor.

Holly must be pissed!  I think.  Or maybe she cares no longer.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Xmas Eve ... !

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception



Fall on your knees,
O' hear the Angel's voices
O' night divine,
O' night when Christ was born.

:Love that chorus ~ a real favourite.

Ancient Arctic Forest Emerges

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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A landslide preserved an arctic forest - mummified 2 to 8 million years ago - recently discovered.  As arctic ice melts more buried forests are expected to appear, scientists hope these discoveries will assist in predicting today's arctic response to global warming.  Unfortunately the warming of these frozen forests will boost the gas house effect as exposed wood begins to rot and methane and carbon dioxide are released.

This forest distinguishes itself for being so far north - when the earth cooled 11 million years ago - it would have been first to feel the effects. 

Fuhrer Christmas 1941

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Pictures of Hitler and high command Nazi officials at a SS officers cadet Christmas party in Munich have surfaced.  Hitler rejected religion as part of his 1000 year Reich and replaced the Christian Saint Nicholas with the Norse god Odin.  He encouraged Germans to mark the season as a winter solstice holiday, not Christmas.  A swastika replaced the angel as a tree topper and decorations featured runic symbols and iron crosses.

The images taken by Hitler's photographer Hugo Jaeger were buried by him in glass jars outside Munich towards the end of the war for fear they would be confiscated - later sold to Life Magazine which will publish them this week.

During 1944-45 the Nazis again reinvented Christmas as a commemoration of the dead, mostly fallen soldiers - by then almost 4 million men were lost.

Germans baked swastica shaped cookies and depictions of the regime adorned their trees, many still referred to the season as Christmas. 

http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/51341/inside-a-nazi-christmas-party-1941?xid=weeklytopten

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Bride Becoming ...

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


Zara Phillips, Kate Middleton
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"The manicured and non-manicured brides-to-be spoke volumes about class and aspiration, about the suburbs that seethe with ambition and country houses stuffed with the idle and noble. ... Frankly it proved the old truth - if you are really rich and posh, you don't have to bother yourself.  It is only the aspiring and the determined, rest of us who have to make the effort day after day."

Religious Jerks

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception 


Sherrie Shepherd of The View sends her Christmas holiday cards with religous images regardless of the religions of her recipients.  Viewers stopped Joy Behar on the street to let Sherrie know that what she does is not right and just not done.

If I received holiday cards from every religion in the world with all their various and glorious depictions - I would be so happy to learn about their religious expressions.

These ridiculous thin-skinned puritanical fanatical religous bigotries is frankly beneath my intellect.  Get a grip ... you people are ridiculous!  Accept people with all their beliefs.  We control nothing and no-one so get over it, stop trying to create a world that benefits only you and your prejudices.

20,000 Fossils Discovered

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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The Luoping fossil site in Yunnan Province.

20,000 ancient fossils are revealing to scientists how life on earth rebounded after its greatest cataclysmic extinction.  A trove of marine ecosystem fossils were found buried in a mountain in China apparently created when ocean sediments solidified millions of years ago.

An ecosystem of shellfish, sea urchins, bigger sea predators all emerged from a mass extinction 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian period.  After massive volcanic activity and suffocating global warming only one in ten species survived and they represented the recovery of life  - called the Triassic period - that took 10 million years to develop.

During this period China was a large island south of the equator.

Some of those marine creators look down right scary!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

New Human Specie

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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A new human specie?


Lived alongside our ancestors 30,000 years ago ... the cave men, Denisovans, walked the earth during the last ice age when modern humans were developing jewelry, tools and art from stone. 


DNA of a tooth and finger bone unearthed in a Siberian cave proves there were three distinct human species living at the same time - Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans.  The finger, of a little girl, was found in the Denisova cave in the Atlai Mountains of southern Siberia. 


Are there more species waiting to be discovered?

The Land of St. Nick

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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No snow or north pole - the land of Saint Nicholas is a town by the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey.  A 4th century legend of a Christian bishop recalls a patron saint of poor sailors and children who was neither rotund nor secular.  A pious Santa not Coca Cola Santa.


The majority Muslim town of Demre does not celebrate Christmas although thousands of Christians journey there to see the Church of Saint Nicholas.

It is believed the man of legend died in Demre in 343 AD - then known as Myra - the town's people spoke ancient Greek.

Giving to those in need is the lengendary man's enduring legacy ...

Hey Catholic Hypocrites

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception 
CLOWNS - WHO THEY FOOLIN'?

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Hey Catholic Church - how come you didn't excommunicate the frocked men who sexually abused little boys and physically and emotionally abused girls and boys!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Prayer Today

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception 


Father in heaven, I choose to trust in You.  Even when things don't go the way I planned, I know You are at work in my life.  Thank you for Your perfect love which casts out all fear.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Monday, December 20, 2010

First Winter Solstice eclipse in 400 years

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Winter Solstice eclipse - first in 400 years!

Blood red moon ... wooooooo!

"Since our ancestors first gazed at the night sky, a total lunar eclipse has been regarded as one of the most auspicious events of the celestial calendar."

First Winter Solstice eclipse since 1968

Gems Forgotten 30 Years!

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A trove of forgotten gems ... forgotten! ... expected to fetch a small fortune.  The emeralds, rubies, diamonds, sapphires were locked away in a private vault some 30 years, the haul of a woman who likely began collecting her pieces in early 20th century.

Doggy Doodies

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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                                       A litter of 17!


Doggies! Doodies!
http://www.cnet.com/2300-1_1-10003660-27.html?s=0&o=10003660&tag=mncol;page

Chocolate Cure

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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For chocolat lovers! Like Meeeeeee! 

Our favoured thing - we always knew it had powers beyond soothing our souls - heavenly goodness.

A chemical compound to make chocolate cough syrup ... theobromine ~ chocolate n' cocoa ingredient.   

Amanda Knox

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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I have only said this in the santuary of my mind but this girl, Amanda Knox, was railroaded in a travesty of a trial in Italy.  The family of the victim, Meredith Kercher, are certain of the guilt of Knox as well as much of the UK population, nationality of Kercher.

A long and very slow process is underway to correct this muddled mis-use of justice. 

It reminds me of the hounded parents of Jon-Benet Ramsey who were also railroaded by a botched police investigation and over zealous law enforcement which saturated the public with their propaganda that sent Mrs. Ramsey to the grave and compounded the burden of grief shouldered by Mr. Ramsey.

You know, folks should be more careful, we are no longer citizens in a world mired in suspicion and mystery - these are not the middle ages - human kind should have grown a brain by now, after all.

Harry Potter

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


Hogwart's Student Hat
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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - go inside this new and cool theme park.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

O'ER OUR BLUE MOUNTAIN

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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O'er our Blue Mountain descends this bright Angel song
To you and all mankind comes Peace today.
O'er our Blue Mountain, where clouds glide with grace along
Sorrow from all mankind shall go away.

O come ye that labour, come ye heavy laden,
To you and all mankind comes Peace today.

O'er our Blue Mountain there rings that sweet song of old
To you and all mankind comes Peace today.
For love shall conquer all fear that each heart may hold
Sorrow from all mankind be gone away.
O come ye that labour, come ye heavy laden,
To you and all mankind comes Peace today

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Jeffry Picower saves Madoff' duped

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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At this point Mr. Picower has long learnt the truth that we do not take our riches to the 'other side' of death's door.

Barbara, the philantropist's widow will return every cent earned through the Madoff scheme - $7 billion - roughly half of Madoff clients' recovered investment.

His lawyers and widow insist Picower knew nothing of the swindle ~ where I come from we call that "straight up 'tief."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/madoff_bonanza_esbA8lescA9zFeGSTYvRbO

Iconic Book Covers

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A collection of covers that evoked the iconic stories therein.  Are you a lover of books?  Fun, entertaining tour of great books, their dust jackets and the movies they inspired.

Earhart Mystery Solved?

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Wouldn't that be a kick in tha head?  I was born into a world that honoured the memory of her mystery? When all mysteries are solved one-by-one, what will we wonder about then?  Let's hope we will always have mysteries to decipher.

Movies I LOVE!

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


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If you grew up in the 80s you may agree that Sixteen Candles was the quintessential teen classic.  Molly Ringwald (always) and Anthony Michael Hall (hilarious) starred but a host of other would-be stars including the Cusack siblings John n' Joan make this movie one of the greatest.  The grandparents are the bomb too.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088128/   

Reminds me of another movie I love, love, love Can't Hardly Wait ... Jennifer Love Hewitt and Peter Facinelli - all star cast as well - is a take-off of 80s high school movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can%27t_Hardly_Wait

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127723/

Friday, December 17, 2010

RHW of Beverly Hills

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  My lovable L.A. Times' take on this week's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin auction

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Lee Harvey Oswald's first pine coffin was auctioned today.  Oswald's first burial took place in 1963 after his assassination by Jack Ruby.


Alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, his body was exhumed in 1981 to clear up suspicions that the body of a Russian agent and not Oswald's lay in his coffin.  His body was ultimately transferred to another coffin due to deterioration of the original pine box.

Goodies .. Goodies

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                Best hair products in 2010! 

Michelle Obama wears Vintage

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Michelle Obama wears a rare garment from the archives of New York Vintage.  Influential mid-century designer Norman Norell (1900-1972) is considered the first American designer to have had the chops to compete with the omniscient French couturiers of the day ... 7th Avenue contender to Parisian fashion.

See nirvana of vintage ... New York Vintage
http://newyorkvintage.com/

Royal Rules of Style

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


Royal Style Staples ....
  • bright colours
  • no black except in mourning
  • weighted hemlines
  • hats
  • gloves
  • bare no cleavage
  • dress to compliment your host
  • jewelry
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Putin's Mistress

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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There's always a chick for sale - a bauble on my arm - a prize for my pride - after I slay my friends and imagined foes.

Reputed Putin mistress, Alina Kabayeva.

Sand Sculptures all the World

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So cool ..... check them out at the link.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Medium weirdness on RHW of Beverly Hills

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Remember Medium on NBC with Patricia Arquette?  She played the part of Allison Dubois, real life psychic medium who tracks killers with law enforcement.

The TV Allison sure is alot nicer than the real one.  I convinced myself she must be so sweet ... not!

Well, the real Allison Dubois is friend to RHW of Bev Hills trouble-maker Camille.  This week we were treated to authentic weirdness - a dinner where the women clashed and Dubois was in attack mode and inebriated.

Also at dinner, the infamous Faye Resnick, friend and confidant of Kyle and a cast member of OJ Simpson/Nicole Brown murder trial notoriety.

Yep, weird indeed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1339364/The-Real-Housewives-shed-Beverly-Hills-polish-dinner-table-brawl.html

http://www.tv.com/medium/show/22414/summary.html

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20451618,00.html

Hitchcock

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Hitchcock, Piece by Piece - a biography with rare family photos and memorabilia from their archives of telegrams, letters, postcards, passports and more.  And he loved the doggies as I do.  Many parallels found in his private life and times matched scenes seen in his movies.

Fall of the Reich in 1945

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Watched a documentary on the History Channel last night that was mind blowing.  The Third Reich: The Fall.  I never thought about exactly what happened to Germans left in Berlin at the fall of the Reich and Germany in 1945.

It was tough - the times and the documentary.

We Germans are finished ... if you were in Berlin in 1945 there was no running water or electricity and the war was being fought outside your front door.  As a million - red army - Russian soldiers circled Berlin, less than 10,000 soldiers, many mere boys were left to defend the city.  5000 Germans committed suicide including Hitler.

As the tanks approached, artillery boomed and fires blazed, women and children darted in the streets in frenzied panic.  They faced the hate and disdain of the world, were made to look at corpses found in death camps and bury the dead.  When that was done they turned to rebuilding Germany, one cinder block at a time, a process that lasted until the decade of the eighties.

Today Germany is the indisputable leader in the European Union's economy.

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii

50th Anniversary Air Tragedy

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50th Anniversary of worst air crash before the aviation tragedies of 9/11.  This day in 1960.  It led to improvements in air control tracking policies after United Air and TWA commercial planes collided over Brooklyn.

ode for Larry King

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Somehow TV won't seem quite the same without Larry King Live on air.

Prince Harry kissed Catherine Ommanney

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hmmm - this Cat Ommanney character graced the Real Housewives of D.C. in a decidedly ungraceful manner.  I was not a fan.

She was uncomfortable in the company of non-white persons ... it seemed.  She was also linked to Prince Harry by a late night-club bottled-spirits kiss.

http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-dc

Remember this RHW featured the Salahis, Michaele and Tareq, White House crashers and shady characters.

Kate .. Kate .. Kate .. plus Royal engagements

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William & Catherine
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337859/Prince-William-Kate-Middleton-pictures-Touching-embrace-shows-love.html
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Royals engaged
http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20395222_20450840,00.html