Nothing controversial in this post ...

Sunday, 20 December 2009 20:38 by The Lunatic

Many years ago, a neighbor of mine had a miscarriage after trying to get pregnant, unsuccessfully, for many years. It was very hard for me to see her go through such a terrible time. She was distraught.  I was upset.  Her husband was trying very hard to comfort her, and kept telling her “it was the will of god”. He didn’t know what else to say.

Statistically, over 30% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage before the end of the third month, what’s medically known as a “spontaneous abortion.”  The number might even be higher, there is substantial evidence which says that many women don’t even realize they are pregnant if the miscarriage occurs about the time their next period is due.  Usually, a woman just assumes she is “late” by a few weeks.  The body just decides there is something wrong, and the pregnancy is terminated on the spot.

So here’s my point. There are many who believe More...

Categories:   Religion | Social Issues
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Last night's dinner at Blindekuh

Saturday, 14 November 2009 06:15 by The Lunatic

We finally moved in to our house two weeks ago (after living in a temporary apartment for the past three months) and we’re busy exploring our new neighborhood. We live up on a hill, just southeast of downtown Basel, in a nice and quiet residential neighborhood. At the bottom of the hill, just three tram stops away (or about a ten minute walk) there’s an eclectic commercial district with stores, restaurants, and a huge outdoor ice skating rink that we just discovered last weekend.

I was down the hill the other day and had passed by a Thai restaurant that looked pretty good, so last night I suggested to the family that we give it a try. We haven’t eaten out since we moved, and I’ve been wanting to try out some of the local joints. On the way to the restaurant, we went down a block we hadn’t been down before, and discovered a large group of industrial buildings with a bunch of establishments – an incredible arena with eight huge rock climbing walls, a local theater (live stage), a dinner show, a circus school (not kidding), and a few bars – all mixed in with some light industrial and manufacturing businesses.

On our way out on the other end of the complex, right across the street from the Thai restaurant we were planning to go to, we saw an intriguing More...

Categories:   Miscellaneous
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Something to really think about

Wednesday, 4 November 2009 22:11 by The Lunatic

Just think: If you had started taking AloeControl when it was launched last summer, you could easily be 20 to 50 pounds lighter right now.

Just think: If you had bought AloeAdvanced when you first heard about it, your cholesterol could finally be under control, you could have better concentration, more energy, less stiffness in your joints, better control over your blood sugar levels, and the comfort of knowing that you have the most effective anti-oxidant known on planet Earth combating the harmful free radicals in your body. *

Just think: If you drank AloeRest on a regular basis in the evening or AloeBoost in the morning, you could be sleeping better at night and have more energy More...

Categories:   Social Issues
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I’ll Drink To That (Part II)

Sunday, 11 October 2009 06:48 by The Lunatic

Here’s a cute little nursery rhyme that my mother taught me when I was about five years old (it will take a few tries to get the pronunciation and cadence right):

  1. Starkle, Starkle, little twink -
  2. What the heck I are, you think?
  3. Up a high, the world so bove -
  4. Gee, you’d think I were in Love!
  5. The drunker I sit here, the longer I get.
  6. Why ossifer, what gives you the diarrhea
  7. that I’m under the affluence of incahol
  8. though some think’ll will peep I am!
  9. Hic.

My mother had a lot of these funny drinking poems up her sleeve, but she never drank. Ever. (At least, not after I was born – she did when she was younger).  And myself – I had my very first drink of alcohol on my 21st birthday; a very dear friend named Linda took me out for lunch and bought me a beer.  I remember it well – it was More...

Categories:   Social Issues
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Hey, let’s blame it all on Obama!

Sunday, 4 October 2009 23:43 by The Lunatic

 

A good friend of mine forwarded the following email to me the other day.  Now, before I begin, this friend is one of the smartest people I know.  He is the CEO of a rapidly growing company, introducing successful new products into the marketplace even in this economy. He is a vocal Republican, so all I ever heard from him for about 20 years was that “it’s the Democrats fault” when referring to ANY problems in the world.  I’m neither democrat nor republican, so it's never bothered me any.

But then, halfway through the second term of the Bush administration, he swung around and admitted that maybe it’s not ALL the Democrats fault, the Republicans need to take some part of the blame for the state of the world’s affairs. And horror of horrors, he hesitantly (accidentally?) said some positive remarks towards Obama during the election (but really, I think it was more of an anti-McCain sentiment than anything, in one email he said “clearly McCain is an even worse war monger than Bush, very scary.  I bet he never met a weapon he didn't buy.”)

However, he’s back to his lovable More...

Categories:   Economics | Politics
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An ode to Washington D.C.

Sunday, 19 July 2009 06:37 by The Lunatic

It was one year ago today, July 19, 2008, that I moved with my family to Washington D.C.

And in ten days from now, we’ll be leaving! We’re moving back to Europe next week.

We knew our stay in D.C. would be only a year, which was fine with me.  I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy the nations capital. Although I was born on the east coast, we moved to Spokane, Washington in 1968, when I was five years old, and I lived on the west coast for the next 38 years.  Prior to moving here, my only visit to D.C. was a quick business trip in the early 80’s – for a trade show, which meant I spent the entire time at the convention center and didn’t really get out to see anything else. About the only thing I remember from that trip was A) it was the middle of winter, and whenever the roll-up doors were opened to let a truck into the exhibit hall during setup, there was an arctic blast of horrendously cold air, and B) I had to drive to New York after the trade show, and I got lost trying to get out of Washington D.C.  All the diagonal streets are horribly confusing for a first timer.

But in the year that we’ve lived here, I’ve really come to love Washington D.C.  Besides the obvious More...

Categories:   Social Issues
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I’ll drink to that!

Thursday, 16 July 2009 04:11 by The Lunatic

Here’s a funny story from when we lived in Europe a few years ago ...

Our kids went to a Montessori School in Waterloo, Belgium (famous for the battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated) and one sunny spring day the school had their annual fund raiser – an “International Day” where all the families brought foods from different countries, and visitors paid a few Euros per plate to sample all the delectables. They had song and dance performances from all over the globe, and a big auction of some of the students’ artwork and other donated items.  And of course, as expected at any good Belgian event, they served copious amounts of beer to the parents, teachers, and visitors. Good, strong, Belgian beer.

After the day was done they had about three cases of beer left over – which the teachers piled in a very neat stack in one corner of the third grade classroom. This stack of beer was there in the class for a few months until their next school event came around, when it was finally More...

Categories:   Social Issues
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Sleep Aid Found To Be Useful For Extinguishing Forest Fires

Friday, 5 June 2009 05:44 by The Lunatic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
EnergyByAloe
425-296-6616 (Voice)
866-293-6994 (Fax)
Shop@EnergyByAloe.com
http://Shop.USAloe.com
http://www.EnergyByAloe.com


Sleep Aid Found To Be Useful For Extinguishing Forest Fires

Washington D.C., June 5 2009 – In addition to being the healthiest and most effective natural sleep aid on the market, local distribution company EnergyByAloe has shown positive data that AloeRest is very effective at extinguishing forest fires. “The biggest problem we’ve found” says EnergyByAloe owner David Workman “is keeping enough AloeRest in stock.”

Indeed, during the two day test trial in which numerous forest fires were started in the Washington DC area, one almost got out of control because of a shortage of AloeRest.

“It was a close one,” says Workman, “we almost had to More...

Categories:   Social Issues
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Does the Post Office ever want to make you go Postal?

Monday, 1 June 2009 08:48 by The Lunatic

I’ve been mailing out a lot of packages lately, and the staff at my local post office just seem to drive me crazy.  Here’s a typical interaction:

“How would you like this to be mailed, sir?”

“Whatever is cheapest – there’s no hurry.”

“Well, we can send it Parcel Post for $4.90 which will get it there in 3 to five business days, priority mail for $10.35 which is two to three days, or $25.15 for overnight express mail.”

“Whatever is cheapest – there’s no hurry. Parcel Post is fine.”

“Ok, would you like to add delivery confirmation or insurance?”

“Does that make it any cheaper?” I asked, hoping she’d get the hint.

“No sir, it does not.  Delivery confirmation is only More...

Categories:   Social Issues
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AloeControl – New from USAloe

Thursday, 28 May 2009 02:38 by The Lunatic

 

AloeControlBottle_Cutout Following the hugely successful launch of AloeBoost and AloeRest, I am happy to announce that USAloe is now shipping their third product, AloeControl.

AloeControl™ is your unfair advantage in the struggle to maintain a healthy weight.

In each healthy 2oz serving you'll enjoy a unique blend of the world's finest fruits, vegetables, and natural ingredients designed to help you control your appetite, efficiently burn calories, and provide you with the essential vitamins and minerals that are MISSING in today's typical American diet.

The four core components of AloeControl™ include Appetite Control, Metabolic Enhancers, Digestive Aids, and Core Nutrition. Get all the details and the ingredient list at:
http://shop.usaloe.com/products-aloecontrol.aspx

I don’t mean to brag, but More...

Categories:   Economics | Social Issues
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