Terri Shaivo 1963-2005
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Terri Shaivo 1963-2005
The end has come for this poor woman. She passed away today. May she rest in peace.
This post is dedicated to her.
Back ground on this woman:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Key Dates in the Terri Schiavo Case
Timeline in the case of Terri Schiavo:
- Feb. 25, 1990: Schiavo collapses in her home from a possible potassium imbalance caused by an eating disorder, temporarily stopping her heart and cutting off oxygen to her brain.
- November 1992: Schiavo's husband, Michael, wins more than $1 million in a malpractice suit.
- July 29, 1993: Bob and Mary Schindler try to have Michael removed as their daughter's guardian. They accuse him of not properly caring for Schiavo. The case is later dismissed.
- Feb. 11, 2000: Circuit Judge George W. Greer approves Michael Schiavo's request to have Terri's feeding tube removed, agreeing that she had told her husband she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially.
- April 2001: State and U.S. Supreme courts refuse to intervene, and Schiavo's tube is removed, but another judge orders it reinserted two days later.
- Feb. 13, 2002: Mediation attempts fail, and Michael Schiavo again seeks permission to remove feeding tube.
- Nov. 22, 2002: After hearing medical testimony, Greer finds no evidence that Schiavo has any hope of recovery and again orders tube removed.
Latest News about this sad story:
Terri Schiavo Dies but Feud Continues
Autopsy May Shed Light Schiavo Case
Vatican Denounces Terri Schiavo's Death
Schiavo Case Sparked National Discourse
Bush Says Schiavo's Death Saddens Millions
Mourning and Prayers Mark Schiavo's Death
A Collection of Quotes on Schiavo's Death
Vatican Cardinal Condemns Schiavo Death
Schiavo Attorney Focuses on Right-To-Die
Profiles of Key Players in Schiavo Case
- Oct. 15, 2003: Tube removed for second time.
- Oct. 21, 2003: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush signs hastily passed bill allowing him to intervene, then orders tube reinserted.
- Dec. 2, 2003: Independent guardian finds "no reasonable medical hope" that Schiavo will improve.
- Sept. 23, 2004: Florida Supreme Court strikes down the law that allowed Bush to intervene and have the tube reinserted as unconstitutional.
- Feb. 25, 2005: Greer gives permission for tube removal at 1 p.m. March 18.
- March 16-17: Florida House passes bill intended to keep Schiavo alive but the Senate defeats a different version. In Washington, lawmakers can't reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate.
- March 18: Feeding tube removed. Greer rules against congressional Republicans who had tried to put off tube removal by seeking her appearance at hearings.
- March 19: Congressional leaders from both parties agree on a bill that would allow a federal court to review the case and prolong Schiavo's life.
- March 20-21: Congress passes the bill after members scramble to return to Washington for an early morning vote. President Bush signs the bill outside his White House bedroom. Parents file an emergency request with a federal judge to have the tube reconnected.
- March 22: U.S. District Judge James Whittemore refuses to order the reinsertion of the tube. Parents appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- March 23: The 11th Circuit declines to order the reinsertion of the tube. The Schindlers turn to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- March 24: The U.S. Supreme Court denies the appeal.
- March 25: The Schindlers again ask Greer to intervene, saying Schiavo tried to say, "I want to live."
- March 26: Greer rejects another effort by the Schindlers to get the feeding tube reinserted; Florida Supreme Court declines to intervene.
- March 29: 11th Circuit agrees to consider the Schindlers' emergency bid for a new hearing on whether to reconnect her feeding tube.
- March 30: The 11th Circuit declines to intervene. Hours later, the Schindlers appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which also refuses to intervene.
- March 31: Terri Schiavo dies at 41.
This post is dedicated to her.
Back ground on this woman:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Key Dates in the Terri Schiavo Case
Timeline in the case of Terri Schiavo:
- Feb. 25, 1990: Schiavo collapses in her home from a possible potassium imbalance caused by an eating disorder, temporarily stopping her heart and cutting off oxygen to her brain.
- November 1992: Schiavo's husband, Michael, wins more than $1 million in a malpractice suit.
- July 29, 1993: Bob and Mary Schindler try to have Michael removed as their daughter's guardian. They accuse him of not properly caring for Schiavo. The case is later dismissed.
- Feb. 11, 2000: Circuit Judge George W. Greer approves Michael Schiavo's request to have Terri's feeding tube removed, agreeing that she had told her husband she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially.
- April 2001: State and U.S. Supreme courts refuse to intervene, and Schiavo's tube is removed, but another judge orders it reinserted two days later.
- Feb. 13, 2002: Mediation attempts fail, and Michael Schiavo again seeks permission to remove feeding tube.
- Nov. 22, 2002: After hearing medical testimony, Greer finds no evidence that Schiavo has any hope of recovery and again orders tube removed.
Latest News about this sad story:
Terri Schiavo Dies but Feud Continues
Autopsy May Shed Light Schiavo Case
Vatican Denounces Terri Schiavo's Death
Schiavo Case Sparked National Discourse
Bush Says Schiavo's Death Saddens Millions
Mourning and Prayers Mark Schiavo's Death
A Collection of Quotes on Schiavo's Death
Vatican Cardinal Condemns Schiavo Death
Schiavo Attorney Focuses on Right-To-Die
Profiles of Key Players in Schiavo Case
- Oct. 15, 2003: Tube removed for second time.
- Oct. 21, 2003: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush signs hastily passed bill allowing him to intervene, then orders tube reinserted.
- Dec. 2, 2003: Independent guardian finds "no reasonable medical hope" that Schiavo will improve.
- Sept. 23, 2004: Florida Supreme Court strikes down the law that allowed Bush to intervene and have the tube reinserted as unconstitutional.
- Feb. 25, 2005: Greer gives permission for tube removal at 1 p.m. March 18.
- March 16-17: Florida House passes bill intended to keep Schiavo alive but the Senate defeats a different version. In Washington, lawmakers can't reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate.
- March 18: Feeding tube removed. Greer rules against congressional Republicans who had tried to put off tube removal by seeking her appearance at hearings.
- March 19: Congressional leaders from both parties agree on a bill that would allow a federal court to review the case and prolong Schiavo's life.
- March 20-21: Congress passes the bill after members scramble to return to Washington for an early morning vote. President Bush signs the bill outside his White House bedroom. Parents file an emergency request with a federal judge to have the tube reconnected.
- March 22: U.S. District Judge James Whittemore refuses to order the reinsertion of the tube. Parents appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- March 23: The 11th Circuit declines to order the reinsertion of the tube. The Schindlers turn to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- March 24: The U.S. Supreme Court denies the appeal.
- March 25: The Schindlers again ask Greer to intervene, saying Schiavo tried to say, "I want to live."
- March 26: Greer rejects another effort by the Schindlers to get the feeding tube reinserted; Florida Supreme Court declines to intervene.
- March 29: 11th Circuit agrees to consider the Schindlers' emergency bid for a new hearing on whether to reconnect her feeding tube.
- March 30: The 11th Circuit declines to intervene. Hours later, the Schindlers appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which also refuses to intervene.
- March 31: Terri Schiavo dies at 41.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Isnt this a little Too Late??
So...it is day 12 or something like that for this poor woman. She is about as close to death as any human being can be and now this??......
I just dont understant. I think it is time to let this woman rest in peace and join her creator.
Story from NY Times Online Edition:
____________________________________________________________________
March 30, 2005
Appeals Court to Consider a Petition in the Schiavo Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:38 p.m. ET
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) -- A federal appeals court agreed to consider an emergency bid by Terri Schiavo's parents for a new hearing on whether to reconnect her feeding tube, raising their fading hopes of keeping the severely brain-damaged woman alive.
In its order late Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn't say when it would decide whether to grant the hearing. It was not clear what effect reconnecting Terri Schiavo's feeding tube would have on her, as she approached her 13th day without nourishment. As of early Wednesday afternoon, no further word had come from the appeals court.
The order issued Tuesday allowed Bob and Mary Schindler to file the appeal, even though the court had set a March 26 deadline for doing so.
Its one-sentence order said: ``The Appellant's emergency motion for leave to file out of time is granted.'' Three times last week, the court ruled against the Schindlers.
In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not whether previous Florida court rulings met legal standards under state law. The Schindlers' motion also said the federal appellate court in Atlanta didn't consider whether there was enough ``clear and convincing'' evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition.
``We're going to do everything we can. She's still alive,'' her brother, Bobby Schindler, said Wednesday.
Attorneys for the Schindlers didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, declined to comment.
Time was running out for Schiavo. Bob Schindler described his daughter on Tuesday as ``failing.''
``She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances,'' Schindler said. ``You can see the impact of no food and water for 12 days. Her bodily functions are still working. We still have her.''
Doctors have said Schiavo, 41, would probably die within two weeks after the tube was removed March 18. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, insists he is carrying out her wishes by having the feeding tube pulled.
The request for a new hearing asks that the tube be reinserted immediately ``in light of the magnitude of what is at stake and the urgency of the action required.''
The order was a ray of hope for the Schindlers, who are battling their son-in-law over their daughter's fate. The case has wound its way through six courts for seven years; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene five times.
Legal experts say the Schindlers shouldn't read too much into the court's latest decision.
``I would not read that to mean there is a likelihood relief will be granted,'' said Atlanta attorney Craig A. Gillen.
Another Atlanta attorney, Robert Schroeder, said the court is simply acting to make sure every argument has been aired.
``Basically the court is just saying that if you think we've made a mistake, we want to consider all legal arguments that might be out there,'' Schroeder said. ``It is not saying there are more legal arguments out there.''
Protesters keeping a 24-hour vigil outside the hospice praised the latest decision.
``There's a chance for a miracle,'' said Christine Marriott. ``Anything positive is a breath of life.''
Dr. Sean Morrison, a professor of palliative medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said it's hard to predict what would happen if the tube were reinserted because it's highly unusual to do that after life-prolonging treatments have been stopped.
He said that if her kidneys have already shut down, reinserting the tube might prolong her life by just hours or days. However, it could also hasten her death, Morrison said, because it would supply fluids to a body that can no longer get rid of them.
The resulting fluid buildup could essentially drown Schiavo, and she could die gasping and choking, he said.
Morrison said Schiavo would have no awareness of this because of her persistent vegetative state, but reinserting the tube might ``transform a peaceful death into one that can be very distressing for families and friends to witness.''
Early Wednesday, a man was arrested when he tried to take a plastic cup of water into the hospice. Officers stopped him at the gate as he shouted: ``You don't know God from Godzilla!''
He was the 48th protester arrested since the tube was removed.
Schiavo suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.
The Schindlers have maintained that their daughter would want to be kept alive.
Federal courts were given jurisdiction to review Schiavo's case after Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging her life. But federal courts at three levels have rebuffed her parents.
On Tuesday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with the Schindlers and first lady Laura Bush said the government was right to have intervened on behalf of Schiavo.
Jackson was in Tallahassee on Wednesday, and met with Gov. Jeb Bush.
------
Associated Press writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. in Atlanta contributed to this report.
I just dont understant. I think it is time to let this woman rest in peace and join her creator.
Story from NY Times Online Edition:
____________________________________________________________________
March 30, 2005
Appeals Court to Consider a Petition in the Schiavo Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:38 p.m. ET
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) -- A federal appeals court agreed to consider an emergency bid by Terri Schiavo's parents for a new hearing on whether to reconnect her feeding tube, raising their fading hopes of keeping the severely brain-damaged woman alive.
In its order late Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn't say when it would decide whether to grant the hearing. It was not clear what effect reconnecting Terri Schiavo's feeding tube would have on her, as she approached her 13th day without nourishment. As of early Wednesday afternoon, no further word had come from the appeals court.
The order issued Tuesday allowed Bob and Mary Schindler to file the appeal, even though the court had set a March 26 deadline for doing so.
Its one-sentence order said: ``The Appellant's emergency motion for leave to file out of time is granted.'' Three times last week, the court ruled against the Schindlers.
In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not whether previous Florida court rulings met legal standards under state law. The Schindlers' motion also said the federal appellate court in Atlanta didn't consider whether there was enough ``clear and convincing'' evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition.
``We're going to do everything we can. She's still alive,'' her brother, Bobby Schindler, said Wednesday.
Attorneys for the Schindlers didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, declined to comment.
Time was running out for Schiavo. Bob Schindler described his daughter on Tuesday as ``failing.''
``She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances,'' Schindler said. ``You can see the impact of no food and water for 12 days. Her bodily functions are still working. We still have her.''
Doctors have said Schiavo, 41, would probably die within two weeks after the tube was removed March 18. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, insists he is carrying out her wishes by having the feeding tube pulled.
The request for a new hearing asks that the tube be reinserted immediately ``in light of the magnitude of what is at stake and the urgency of the action required.''
The order was a ray of hope for the Schindlers, who are battling their son-in-law over their daughter's fate. The case has wound its way through six courts for seven years; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene five times.
Legal experts say the Schindlers shouldn't read too much into the court's latest decision.
``I would not read that to mean there is a likelihood relief will be granted,'' said Atlanta attorney Craig A. Gillen.
Another Atlanta attorney, Robert Schroeder, said the court is simply acting to make sure every argument has been aired.
``Basically the court is just saying that if you think we've made a mistake, we want to consider all legal arguments that might be out there,'' Schroeder said. ``It is not saying there are more legal arguments out there.''
Protesters keeping a 24-hour vigil outside the hospice praised the latest decision.
``There's a chance for a miracle,'' said Christine Marriott. ``Anything positive is a breath of life.''
Dr. Sean Morrison, a professor of palliative medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said it's hard to predict what would happen if the tube were reinserted because it's highly unusual to do that after life-prolonging treatments have been stopped.
He said that if her kidneys have already shut down, reinserting the tube might prolong her life by just hours or days. However, it could also hasten her death, Morrison said, because it would supply fluids to a body that can no longer get rid of them.
The resulting fluid buildup could essentially drown Schiavo, and she could die gasping and choking, he said.
Morrison said Schiavo would have no awareness of this because of her persistent vegetative state, but reinserting the tube might ``transform a peaceful death into one that can be very distressing for families and friends to witness.''
Early Wednesday, a man was arrested when he tried to take a plastic cup of water into the hospice. Officers stopped him at the gate as he shouted: ``You don't know God from Godzilla!''
He was the 48th protester arrested since the tube was removed.
Schiavo suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.
The Schindlers have maintained that their daughter would want to be kept alive.
Federal courts were given jurisdiction to review Schiavo's case after Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging her life. But federal courts at three levels have rebuffed her parents.
On Tuesday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with the Schindlers and first lady Laura Bush said the government was right to have intervened on behalf of Schiavo.
Jackson was in Tallahassee on Wednesday, and met with Gov. Jeb Bush.
------
Associated Press writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Another Bunny Day come and gone.....
This entry finds me ending Easter day.
We had a very succesfull Brunch at the hotel where I work at and all those that worked the laborous event....
(Not I....though I did supply some talent via some of my employees, and took quite a few reservations and handled angry grumpy people who couldnt get a reservation becuase they DIDNT plan ahead)
.......pulled off another succesfull holiday function for the people of Racine.
I got to enjoy some of the "leftovers" though....ahh the pleasure of working in the food business....and from what I saw, all the stops were again pulled out. It seemed everyone was leaving happy and full (I had just come in for the evening shift as the brunch was winding down) and all the little ones in their "Easter Finest" clothing, jumping up and down and looking for more fun outside of the ballroom. And a sunny day with comparitive warmth....a good day in all.
I hope all of my friends and family had a nice easter. I missed my family and friends because of work, but had a nice evening with the staff and the hotel guests. On easter Eve, I even turned into the "Easter bunny"! There was a guest who stays with us alot and I noticed he was in that evening (and also away from his family on the holidays) so I put together a little basket with a few candy bars and his favorite sodas and had them brought up to him...with a little paper bunny and a message of warmth. I think that made his day.
Happy Easter to all and to all a good monday....
We had a very succesfull Brunch at the hotel where I work at and all those that worked the laborous event....
(Not I....though I did supply some talent via some of my employees, and took quite a few reservations and handled angry grumpy people who couldnt get a reservation becuase they DIDNT plan ahead)
.......pulled off another succesfull holiday function for the people of Racine.
I got to enjoy some of the "leftovers" though....ahh the pleasure of working in the food business....and from what I saw, all the stops were again pulled out. It seemed everyone was leaving happy and full (I had just come in for the evening shift as the brunch was winding down) and all the little ones in their "Easter Finest" clothing, jumping up and down and looking for more fun outside of the ballroom. And a sunny day with comparitive warmth....a good day in all.
I hope all of my friends and family had a nice easter. I missed my family and friends because of work, but had a nice evening with the staff and the hotel guests. On easter Eve, I even turned into the "Easter bunny"! There was a guest who stays with us alot and I noticed he was in that evening (and also away from his family on the holidays) so I put together a little basket with a few candy bars and his favorite sodas and had them brought up to him...with a little paper bunny and a message of warmth. I think that made his day.
Happy Easter to all and to all a good monday....
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Someone FINALLY decided to pursue one of my Passions!
I have mentioned before a series of books I am currently reading (yes still) about an illusive 12th planet orbiting our Solar System and who's history is suposeddly deeply intertwined with our own. The books in their entirety are called "The Earth Chronicles" and authoured by a man named "Zacherria Stinchen".
A short excerpt from the site I linked to below:
In 1976, Zechariah Sitchin composed and published a book entitled The Twelfth Planet, which delved into Sumerian texts and proclaimed their writings as truth. Their records state that the inhabitants of Nibiru invaded earth, mined it for gold, devastated it and then up and left. There have been many reports of such a planet in a variety of creation myths throughout time, and this author even goes so far as to directly state that modern religious texts as well refer to this mysterious Planet X. Now to give you chills, let me tell you what NASA found three years after the publication of Zechariah Sitchin’s book: Planet X. Not quite the twelfth planet, but the tenth. So for those of you who adore adventure stories that dip into the realm of possibility and then stretch like taffy into the realm of the absurd, Future Games’ upcoming Nibiru may be a godsend.
The planet of this race's origins is called Nibiru and some now refer it as "Planet X", which by the way, NASA has been searching for (and according to some websites....has found....orbiting the far outer reaches of our solar system.
I have often thought that someone should make a movie of this scenario that is outlined in the books. Well, unfort. that has not happened yet (the closest thing is probably the "Stargate" movie and tv series)......but someone in France decided to make a software game based on all of this! I cant tell you how excited I was when I came upon the link to the story. I will surly be one of the first to buy this game when it eventually hits the store shelfs. (Soon I hope!)
A sypnosis of the idea behind the game follows (the concept of which I have blogged about previously) and there is also a link to a trailer for the game...I am downlowding it right now..quite a download. Dont bother trying to download the trailer if you dont have a broadband connection. I have also included a link to a site that trys to shed a little more light on the "12th planet ideas" as well.
Happy Thursday
The game Nibiru: http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,428
Some background on Nibiru:http://xfacts.com/x2.htm
A short excerpt from the site I linked to below:
In 1976, Zechariah Sitchin composed and published a book entitled The Twelfth Planet, which delved into Sumerian texts and proclaimed their writings as truth. Their records state that the inhabitants of Nibiru invaded earth, mined it for gold, devastated it and then up and left. There have been many reports of such a planet in a variety of creation myths throughout time, and this author even goes so far as to directly state that modern religious texts as well refer to this mysterious Planet X. Now to give you chills, let me tell you what NASA found three years after the publication of Zechariah Sitchin’s book: Planet X. Not quite the twelfth planet, but the tenth. So for those of you who adore adventure stories that dip into the realm of possibility and then stretch like taffy into the realm of the absurd, Future Games’ upcoming Nibiru may be a godsend.
The planet of this race's origins is called Nibiru and some now refer it as "Planet X", which by the way, NASA has been searching for (and according to some websites....has found....orbiting the far outer reaches of our solar system.
I have often thought that someone should make a movie of this scenario that is outlined in the books. Well, unfort. that has not happened yet (the closest thing is probably the "Stargate" movie and tv series)......but someone in France decided to make a software game based on all of this! I cant tell you how excited I was when I came upon the link to the story. I will surly be one of the first to buy this game when it eventually hits the store shelfs. (Soon I hope!)
A sypnosis of the idea behind the game follows (the concept of which I have blogged about previously) and there is also a link to a trailer for the game...I am downlowding it right now..quite a download. Dont bother trying to download the trailer if you dont have a broadband connection. I have also included a link to a site that trys to shed a little more light on the "12th planet ideas" as well.
Happy Thursday
The game Nibiru: http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,428
Some background on Nibiru:http://xfacts.com/x2.htm
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
A Story in the News that I "think" I can relate to.
I just finished reading an article in the NY Times. I don't know why I clicked on the link for the story in the first place...but as I started reading on, I started getting a very odd sense that a lot of what the story talked about, sounded kind of familiar and that I was relating to most of it (more so than I probably want to)...which is the scary part. Why would that be??
Because the article tries to describe a form of bipolar disorder called "Hypomania".
I have heard the word before but never knew really what it meant.
Now I am NOT saying that I am Bipolar, but maybe there is something in my genetic makeup that is similar. I have had people call me manic-depressive, anal rententive, and worse...and most of THOSE people WERE those things.
We all have our quirks and our faults and no one is perfect.
I do relate to a lot of the stuff that this story talks about...such as sometimes feeling happy for no apparent reason, emotional highs (or not... depending) after having completed a project or winning an award and then the ensuing (sometimes but not always) depressing lows, the ability to talk about 10,000 subjects at one time, starting 10 projects at once and sometimes not finishing them all in the time that I have wanted to, intense bursts of energy at times where I am not tired for days at a time, feelings of being totally invincible at times and having so much confidence that I can do anything......and a lot of the other things mentioned in the article.
I should probably let my friends and family read the article and decide for me....those closest to us, usually can tell us more about ourselves than we ourselves can. It is hard for me to look real close at these things....which like I said above, makes it kind of scary when I can actually relate to a lot of it.
Just don't put me in a White Rubber Jacket and lock me up in a "loony bin"!!
"I really am a nice & lovable joe (oops...John).....that by the way, was a joke.......
The article in it's entirety below (Warning: It is a long read)
Warm Regards and Happy Thursday
__________________________________________________________________
March 22, 2005
Hypomanic? Absolutely. But Oh So Productive!
By BENEDICT CAREY
Sometimes when talking to people, I'll tell them that I've just had a lot of coffee, even though it's not true, because I know I fire off in all directions, and I can talk to you about anything - literature, string theory, rock guitar - I once worked for Leo Fender - and one thing I say to people is that, of course, I live near the edge; the view is better."
Laurence McKinney, 60, who lives near the edge of Boston, is a business consultant, a Harvard graduate and self-described polymath who has had a career that is every bit as frenzied as his conversational style.
Among other ventures, he said, he has started pharmaceutical companies, played in rock bands and helped design electric guitars, and written a book about the neuroscience of spirituality. This month, for the first time, he helped start a Web site for people like himself. They are known as hypomanics.
At some point, almost everyone encounters them - restless, eager people, consumed with confident curiosity. Researchers suspect that their mental fever shares some genetic basis with that of bipolar disorder, known colloquially as manic depression, a psychiatric disorder characterized by effusive emotional highs and bouts of paralyzing despair.
In recent decades, scientists have found that bipolar disorder is widely variable, and that its milder forms are marked by hypomanias, currents of mental energy and concentration that are less reckless than full-blown manic frenzies, and unspoiled, in many cases, by subsequent gloom.
New research helps explain how people with manic or hypomanic tendencies navigate the small triumphs and humiliations of daily life, and provides clues to how some of them quickly shake off the emotional troughs that their ambitious natures should make inevitable.
"It kind of goes against the common assumption, but many people who are inclined to hypomanic or manic symptoms have an underlying resilience," said Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. "They may get trashed by their peers, laid low, but they respond very strongly."
In a new book, "Exuberance," Dr. Jamison argues that flights of joyous energy similar to hypomanic states frequently accompany scientific and literary inspirationally have known for more than a century that bipolar disorder, unlike any other mental illness, is often associated with some financial and professional accomplishment. Mania can inspire destructive shopping or gambling sprees, but it can also generate bursts of creative and focused work.
Psychiatrists and psychologists have found ample evidence for bipolar tendencies in the life histories of many famous writers and painters. The composer Robert Schumann, for example, experienced extreme mood swings; so, some now argue, did the poet Emily Dickinson.
Some studies suggest that first-degree relatives of people with bipolar illness, who are likely to inherit some genetic basis for bipolar disorder, are particularly likely to enjoy high socioeconomic status.
Most recently, researchers have turned their attention to the mild end of the bipolar spectrum, and sliced it into many permutations. Bipolar II, III and IV, for example, each include depressive episodes and varieties of Hoffman, or exuberant moods. Cyclothymic disorder involves rapid cycling from moderate depressive to manic symptoms, and hypertensive is a state of elevated mood.
"When you look across the entire bipolar spectrum, you find that maybe 10 percent to 15 percent of these people never get depressed: they're just up," said Dr. Ronald C. Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
As one psychiatrist put it, Dr. Kessler said, "The goal in life is constant Hoffman: you never sleep too much; you're on; you keep going."
With the exception of Bipolar II and cyclothymic disorder, which are accepted as standard psychiatric diagnoses, these permutations of low-level bipolar disorder overlap with each other and with normal ranges of mental function so much that some scientists question how distinct they are.
"For some of us, there is a lot of wariness about this tendency to see bipolar disorder everywhere," said Dr. William Coryell, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa School of Medicine, adding that "it's very difficult to determine reliable boundaries between one diagnosis and another" and document the true prevalence of the conditions.
Yet even if bipolar disorders can be reliably diagnosed in only 2 percent of the population, some now believe that Hoffman or similar charged states are more prevalent than previously imagined. About 6 percent of college students score high on personality tests that measure hypomanic tendencies, some studies find, and about 10 percent of children rate as temperamentally "exuberant," a related quality.
Outsized delight in small successes may be central to what kindles hypomanic natures and sustains them. In an effort to learn how the joys and sorrows of daily life affect mania and depression, Dr. Sheri Johnson, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, began surveying men and women in whom bipolar disorder had been diagnosed.
Originally, Dr. Johnson was interested in the effect of negative events, like struggles at work or arguments at home. "But the people in the study told us we were getting it wrong, that it was when good things happened that they felt they had their manias," Dr. Johnson said.
In two studies involving 149 people, one completed in 2000 and the other a continuing project, Dr. Johnson has found that personal victories like a promotion oran award very often precede or coincide with manic symptoms, though the person may be feeling neither manic nor depressed when life takes a good turn.
Even when small successes do not arouse manic symptoms, they appear to prompt exaggerated surges of confidence. In one study, scheduled for publication later this year, Dr. Johnson led a team of psychologists who rated a group of 153 college students on a hypomanic scale, which included items like: "There have often been times when I had such an excess of energy that I felt little need to sleep at night," "I often feel excited and happy for no apparent reason," and "I often feel I could outperform almost anyone at anything."
The scale was intended to identify people at risk for developing bipolar disorders.
The researchers gave the students a hand-eye coordination test, then told them that they had scored very well, regardless of their true scores. Offered a choice of which test to take next, the hypomanic group selected a significantly more challenging exam than their peers did. These students not only expected to do very well, Dr. Johnson reports, they were more willing than peers to pursue difficult goals after an initial success.
Researchers do not know whether this surging confidence and hunger for challenge persists, or for how long, but it is a familiar pattern to some psychiatrists who treat mild forms of bipolar disorder.
Dr. John Gartner, a psychiatrist in Baltimore who specializes in treating Hoffman, recently published "The Hypomanic Edge," a book that identifies hypomanic symptoms in the lives of American historical figures from Christopher Columbus to the biotech entrepreneur J. Craig Venter.
"These are people who are always moving the goal posts," Dr. Gartner said in an interview. "If they do well at one thing, they shoot for the moon."
In a footnote in his book, Dr. Gartner recounts the story of how Henry Ford sailed off on a luxury steamer on a whim in 1915 to personally end World War I and bring world peace. "I'll bet this ship against a penny," Ford boasted to the reporters, "that we'll have the boys out of the trenches by Christmas."
This grandiosity practically begs for a tragic fall. Difficult goals are by definition less likely to be achieved, even by those with mental power packs, and there is little question that people with hypomanic tendencies feel disappointment deeply. For some, their fevered, scavenging curiosity may overwhelm any excess rumination: new projects beckon before the old ones can be mourned.
"I'm not so much smarter than other people as faster," said Mr. McKinney, the polymath near Boston, who contacted Dr. Gartner after hearing of his book. "I swing more often, I make errors, but I make them faster. That's how I sometimes describe it. If you can focus this energy, you can do great things with it. If not, well, I think it can be difficult."
And that is one catch. Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of the University of California's Neuropsychiatric Institute in Los Angeles, said that he considered true hypomanic types to be rare and that some of them crashed at midlife, or later.
"Usually what happens in the clinical domain," Dr. Whybrow said, "is that these people come in when they've had a business reversal and they're very depressed. They look back on their lives and realize that they were hyperactive, hypomanic, that they started a lot of projects but finished very few of them."
The view may be better, but it is easy to lose your balance.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
___________________________________________________________________
Because the article tries to describe a form of bipolar disorder called "Hypomania".
I have heard the word before but never knew really what it meant.
Now I am NOT saying that I am Bipolar, but maybe there is something in my genetic makeup that is similar. I have had people call me manic-depressive, anal rententive, and worse...and most of THOSE people WERE those things.
We all have our quirks and our faults and no one is perfect.
I do relate to a lot of the stuff that this story talks about...such as sometimes feeling happy for no apparent reason, emotional highs (or not... depending) after having completed a project or winning an award and then the ensuing (sometimes but not always) depressing lows, the ability to talk about 10,000 subjects at one time, starting 10 projects at once and sometimes not finishing them all in the time that I have wanted to, intense bursts of energy at times where I am not tired for days at a time, feelings of being totally invincible at times and having so much confidence that I can do anything......and a lot of the other things mentioned in the article.
I should probably let my friends and family read the article and decide for me....those closest to us, usually can tell us more about ourselves than we ourselves can. It is hard for me to look real close at these things....which like I said above, makes it kind of scary when I can actually relate to a lot of it.
Just don't put me in a White Rubber Jacket and lock me up in a "loony bin"!!
"I really am a nice & lovable joe (oops...John).....that by the way, was a joke.......
The article in it's entirety below (Warning: It is a long read)
Warm Regards and Happy Thursday
__________________________________________________________________
March 22, 2005
Hypomanic? Absolutely. But Oh So Productive!
By BENEDICT CAREY
Sometimes when talking to people, I'll tell them that I've just had a lot of coffee, even though it's not true, because I know I fire off in all directions, and I can talk to you about anything - literature, string theory, rock guitar - I once worked for Leo Fender - and one thing I say to people is that, of course, I live near the edge; the view is better."
Laurence McKinney, 60, who lives near the edge of Boston, is a business consultant, a Harvard graduate and self-described polymath who has had a career that is every bit as frenzied as his conversational style.
Among other ventures, he said, he has started pharmaceutical companies, played in rock bands and helped design electric guitars, and written a book about the neuroscience of spirituality. This month, for the first time, he helped start a Web site for people like himself. They are known as hypomanics.
At some point, almost everyone encounters them - restless, eager people, consumed with confident curiosity. Researchers suspect that their mental fever shares some genetic basis with that of bipolar disorder, known colloquially as manic depression, a psychiatric disorder characterized by effusive emotional highs and bouts of paralyzing despair.
In recent decades, scientists have found that bipolar disorder is widely variable, and that its milder forms are marked by hypomanias, currents of mental energy and concentration that are less reckless than full-blown manic frenzies, and unspoiled, in many cases, by subsequent gloom.
New research helps explain how people with manic or hypomanic tendencies navigate the small triumphs and humiliations of daily life, and provides clues to how some of them quickly shake off the emotional troughs that their ambitious natures should make inevitable.
"It kind of goes against the common assumption, but many people who are inclined to hypomanic or manic symptoms have an underlying resilience," said Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. "They may get trashed by their peers, laid low, but they respond very strongly."
In a new book, "Exuberance," Dr. Jamison argues that flights of joyous energy similar to hypomanic states frequently accompany scientific and literary inspirationally have known for more than a century that bipolar disorder, unlike any other mental illness, is often associated with some financial and professional accomplishment. Mania can inspire destructive shopping or gambling sprees, but it can also generate bursts of creative and focused work.
Psychiatrists and psychologists have found ample evidence for bipolar tendencies in the life histories of many famous writers and painters. The composer Robert Schumann, for example, experienced extreme mood swings; so, some now argue, did the poet Emily Dickinson.
Some studies suggest that first-degree relatives of people with bipolar illness, who are likely to inherit some genetic basis for bipolar disorder, are particularly likely to enjoy high socioeconomic status.
Most recently, researchers have turned their attention to the mild end of the bipolar spectrum, and sliced it into many permutations. Bipolar II, III and IV, for example, each include depressive episodes and varieties of Hoffman, or exuberant moods. Cyclothymic disorder involves rapid cycling from moderate depressive to manic symptoms, and hypertensive is a state of elevated mood.
"When you look across the entire bipolar spectrum, you find that maybe 10 percent to 15 percent of these people never get depressed: they're just up," said Dr. Ronald C. Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
As one psychiatrist put it, Dr. Kessler said, "The goal in life is constant Hoffman: you never sleep too much; you're on; you keep going."
With the exception of Bipolar II and cyclothymic disorder, which are accepted as standard psychiatric diagnoses, these permutations of low-level bipolar disorder overlap with each other and with normal ranges of mental function so much that some scientists question how distinct they are.
"For some of us, there is a lot of wariness about this tendency to see bipolar disorder everywhere," said Dr. William Coryell, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa School of Medicine, adding that "it's very difficult to determine reliable boundaries between one diagnosis and another" and document the true prevalence of the conditions.
Yet even if bipolar disorders can be reliably diagnosed in only 2 percent of the population, some now believe that Hoffman or similar charged states are more prevalent than previously imagined. About 6 percent of college students score high on personality tests that measure hypomanic tendencies, some studies find, and about 10 percent of children rate as temperamentally "exuberant," a related quality.
Outsized delight in small successes may be central to what kindles hypomanic natures and sustains them. In an effort to learn how the joys and sorrows of daily life affect mania and depression, Dr. Sheri Johnson, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, began surveying men and women in whom bipolar disorder had been diagnosed.
Originally, Dr. Johnson was interested in the effect of negative events, like struggles at work or arguments at home. "But the people in the study told us we were getting it wrong, that it was when good things happened that they felt they had their manias," Dr. Johnson said.
In two studies involving 149 people, one completed in 2000 and the other a continuing project, Dr. Johnson has found that personal victories like a promotion oran award very often precede or coincide with manic symptoms, though the person may be feeling neither manic nor depressed when life takes a good turn.
Even when small successes do not arouse manic symptoms, they appear to prompt exaggerated surges of confidence. In one study, scheduled for publication later this year, Dr. Johnson led a team of psychologists who rated a group of 153 college students on a hypomanic scale, which included items like: "There have often been times when I had such an excess of energy that I felt little need to sleep at night," "I often feel excited and happy for no apparent reason," and "I often feel I could outperform almost anyone at anything."
The scale was intended to identify people at risk for developing bipolar disorders.
The researchers gave the students a hand-eye coordination test, then told them that they had scored very well, regardless of their true scores. Offered a choice of which test to take next, the hypomanic group selected a significantly more challenging exam than their peers did. These students not only expected to do very well, Dr. Johnson reports, they were more willing than peers to pursue difficult goals after an initial success.
Researchers do not know whether this surging confidence and hunger for challenge persists, or for how long, but it is a familiar pattern to some psychiatrists who treat mild forms of bipolar disorder.
Dr. John Gartner, a psychiatrist in Baltimore who specializes in treating Hoffman, recently published "The Hypomanic Edge," a book that identifies hypomanic symptoms in the lives of American historical figures from Christopher Columbus to the biotech entrepreneur J. Craig Venter.
"These are people who are always moving the goal posts," Dr. Gartner said in an interview. "If they do well at one thing, they shoot for the moon."
In a footnote in his book, Dr. Gartner recounts the story of how Henry Ford sailed off on a luxury steamer on a whim in 1915 to personally end World War I and bring world peace. "I'll bet this ship against a penny," Ford boasted to the reporters, "that we'll have the boys out of the trenches by Christmas."
This grandiosity practically begs for a tragic fall. Difficult goals are by definition less likely to be achieved, even by those with mental power packs, and there is little question that people with hypomanic tendencies feel disappointment deeply. For some, their fevered, scavenging curiosity may overwhelm any excess rumination: new projects beckon before the old ones can be mourned.
"I'm not so much smarter than other people as faster," said Mr. McKinney, the polymath near Boston, who contacted Dr. Gartner after hearing of his book. "I swing more often, I make errors, but I make them faster. That's how I sometimes describe it. If you can focus this energy, you can do great things with it. If not, well, I think it can be difficult."
And that is one catch. Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of the University of California's Neuropsychiatric Institute in Los Angeles, said that he considered true hypomanic types to be rare and that some of them crashed at midlife, or later.
"Usually what happens in the clinical domain," Dr. Whybrow said, "is that these people come in when they've had a business reversal and they're very depressed. They look back on their lives and realize that they were hyperactive, hypomanic, that they started a lot of projects but finished very few of them."
The view may be better, but it is easy to lose your balance.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
___________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
A shooting in Minn and a VERY Close Call here in Racine...
And right across the street from where I work.
What IS this world coming to???
Read on:
(Taken from JSOnline.com)
_____________________________________________________________
Racine Case student arrested with sawed-off shotgun
Classmates say he had talked about killing other students
By MEGAN TWOHEYmtwohey@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 22, 2005
Mount Pleasant - A student at Racine Case High School was arrested this morning after police caught him carrying a sawed-off shotgun in the hallway, said Lt. Tom Petersen of the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
The boy's motivation for carrying the gun was unknown, Petersen said.
But Case Principal Tom Sager said the incident was particularly unnerving given yesterday's shooting rampage at a Minnesota high school. A boy in Bemidji killed seven people at his high school before shooting himself.
"We have no knowledge of a connection," Sager said. "But it's crossed our mind. It worries me."
Sager said the student hadn't been caught before carrying a gun or fighting. However, students who knew him said he was a gang member. They said that he had been talking in recent weeks about killing other students.
"He was in a gang," said Brian Johnson, a junior. "He was making comments a week ago during lunch and passing periods saying, 'I'm gonna kill some of these [expletive].' "
Around 9:30 a.m., a girl told a police officer who works at the school that the boy was carrying a gun, Sager said. Several minutes later, the police officer and a hall monitor stopped the boy in the hallway and found the gun, he said.
"I saw it happen," said Tashia Carr, a senior. "I heard someone say - 'I told him not to bring it.' People knew he had it. He had been talking about it."
___________________________________________________________________
Like I said...what is the world coming to?
This high school is located directly across the street from the Racine Marriott Hotel that I work at.
Happy Tuesday
What IS this world coming to???
Read on:
(Taken from JSOnline.com)
_____________________________________________________________
Racine Case student arrested with sawed-off shotgun
Classmates say he had talked about killing other students
By MEGAN TWOHEYmtwohey@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 22, 2005
Mount Pleasant - A student at Racine Case High School was arrested this morning after police caught him carrying a sawed-off shotgun in the hallway, said Lt. Tom Petersen of the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
The boy's motivation for carrying the gun was unknown, Petersen said.
But Case Principal Tom Sager said the incident was particularly unnerving given yesterday's shooting rampage at a Minnesota high school. A boy in Bemidji killed seven people at his high school before shooting himself.
"We have no knowledge of a connection," Sager said. "But it's crossed our mind. It worries me."
Sager said the student hadn't been caught before carrying a gun or fighting. However, students who knew him said he was a gang member. They said that he had been talking in recent weeks about killing other students.
"He was in a gang," said Brian Johnson, a junior. "He was making comments a week ago during lunch and passing periods saying, 'I'm gonna kill some of these [expletive].' "
Around 9:30 a.m., a girl told a police officer who works at the school that the boy was carrying a gun, Sager said. Several minutes later, the police officer and a hall monitor stopped the boy in the hallway and found the gun, he said.
"I saw it happen," said Tashia Carr, a senior. "I heard someone say - 'I told him not to bring it.' People knew he had it. He had been talking about it."
___________________________________________________________________
Like I said...what is the world coming to?
This high school is located directly across the street from the Racine Marriott Hotel that I work at.
Happy Tuesday
Monday, March 21, 2005
Marriott...A Company I am PROUD to Work For
There are a lot of hotels in the world. But you know what??
I think I work for one of the best. In the Twenty plus years I have been gainfully employed (and by some very good companies such as The Marcus Corp and prior to that The Stuart Anderson's Steakhouse chain out in Colorado), I don't think I have ever been as fufilled in a job as I have been for the last Six plus years.
Not only do I have top rate professional bosses, but I feel I have one of the best staff's any manager could ever ask for.
Add to all that "fluff" comes more "fluff". The "fluff" that makes the guests happy. And without those guests...I would NOT have a job.
Read on.....
A press release (taken from Hotel Management E-Letter that I subscribe to) from Marriott:
___________________________________________________________________
Marriott announces guestroom initiatives
WASHINGTON
-Marriott International unveiled its new Marriott and Renaissance guestrooms to more than 800 of the company's general managers and executives. The new full-service guestrooms will be installed in newly developed hotels and replace the current room décor and bedding in existing properties as renovations are scheduled.
A key component of the room is new bedding, which features a feathered mattress topper, 300-thread-count sheets, a white sheeted duvet freshly laundered for each new guest, euroshams, decorative bed scarf and more pillows. The wooden headboard extends from night table to night table and offers built-in reading lights.
Bathrooms, featuring two cherry entry doors, warm brown cherry millwork and granite countertops, will offer a custom line of Bath & Body Works Energizing Aromatherapy products and Archive personal amenities.
The guestroom will incorporate state-of-the-art technology and entertainment elements that include a 32-inch flat-panel LCD television with 30-watt speaker systems and greater channel selection.
The rooms also will include digital music and dataports for work and entertainment devices, a custom-designed pivoting desk with high-back ergonomic chair and high-speed Internet access.
___________________________________________________________________
Heck....I may just move in to one of those rooms once we are renovated!! Sounds as good as home if not better. (I would be closer to work also)....oops-on 2nd thought I think I will stay where I am. I am still pretty close to work. Enough said.
Add to that the folks up on top seem to be attending alot of "wine and cheese tasting parties" to try and make sure our guest's drinking pleasures are enhanced. Read on:
(Another excerpt from Hotel Management E-letter):
__________________________________________________________________
Marriott International introduced its new Gold Standard wine portfolio. After two weeks of extensive blind tastings of over 650 wines, more than 70 new wines were added to the list, which features 150 wines from 88 different vintners.
__________________________________________________________________
Not too shabby hey??? I heard about these initiatives at a manager staff meeting a few months ago and our hotel is already in the process of planning for all of these upgrades. It is an exciting time in the hotel industry and those who try to really "Wow" the guests, are the ones who will truly succeed in the next few years as the travelers who stay at the full service properties become more and more like me....The generation who grew up in the 70s and 80s and who demand a lot of creature comforts and like to be pampered when on the road.
I just wish I could afford to stay at these places.
Oh Wait....I can (with my Marriott discount at least).
If anyone is interested in learning more about the hotel industry (my career path) click on some of the following links. Brought to you compliments of me.....
Hope Everyone has a happy Tuesday
Links:
Visit HotelMotel.com to find the latest industry news and analysis, events, eDirectory, links to industry suppliers and more.
Click here to subscribe to Hotel & Motel Management, the leading news magazine of the hospitality industry since 1875.
To subscribe to Week in Review, click here.
I think I work for one of the best. In the Twenty plus years I have been gainfully employed (and by some very good companies such as The Marcus Corp and prior to that The Stuart Anderson's Steakhouse chain out in Colorado), I don't think I have ever been as fufilled in a job as I have been for the last Six plus years.
Not only do I have top rate professional bosses, but I feel I have one of the best staff's any manager could ever ask for.
Add to all that "fluff" comes more "fluff". The "fluff" that makes the guests happy. And without those guests...I would NOT have a job.
Read on.....
A press release (taken from Hotel Management E-Letter that I subscribe to) from Marriott:
___________________________________________________________________
Marriott announces guestroom initiatives
WASHINGTON
-Marriott International unveiled its new Marriott and Renaissance guestrooms to more than 800 of the company's general managers and executives. The new full-service guestrooms will be installed in newly developed hotels and replace the current room décor and bedding in existing properties as renovations are scheduled.
A key component of the room is new bedding, which features a feathered mattress topper, 300-thread-count sheets, a white sheeted duvet freshly laundered for each new guest, euroshams, decorative bed scarf and more pillows. The wooden headboard extends from night table to night table and offers built-in reading lights.
Bathrooms, featuring two cherry entry doors, warm brown cherry millwork and granite countertops, will offer a custom line of Bath & Body Works Energizing Aromatherapy products and Archive personal amenities.
The guestroom will incorporate state-of-the-art technology and entertainment elements that include a 32-inch flat-panel LCD television with 30-watt speaker systems and greater channel selection.
The rooms also will include digital music and dataports for work and entertainment devices, a custom-designed pivoting desk with high-back ergonomic chair and high-speed Internet access.
___________________________________________________________________
Heck....I may just move in to one of those rooms once we are renovated!! Sounds as good as home if not better. (I would be closer to work also)....oops-on 2nd thought I think I will stay where I am. I am still pretty close to work. Enough said.
Add to that the folks up on top seem to be attending alot of "wine and cheese tasting parties" to try and make sure our guest's drinking pleasures are enhanced. Read on:
(Another excerpt from Hotel Management E-letter):
__________________________________________________________________
Marriott International introduced its new Gold Standard wine portfolio. After two weeks of extensive blind tastings of over 650 wines, more than 70 new wines were added to the list, which features 150 wines from 88 different vintners.
__________________________________________________________________
Not too shabby hey??? I heard about these initiatives at a manager staff meeting a few months ago and our hotel is already in the process of planning for all of these upgrades. It is an exciting time in the hotel industry and those who try to really "Wow" the guests, are the ones who will truly succeed in the next few years as the travelers who stay at the full service properties become more and more like me....The generation who grew up in the 70s and 80s and who demand a lot of creature comforts and like to be pampered when on the road.
I just wish I could afford to stay at these places.
Oh Wait....I can (with my Marriott discount at least).
If anyone is interested in learning more about the hotel industry (my career path) click on some of the following links. Brought to you compliments of me.....
Hope Everyone has a happy Tuesday
Links:
Visit HotelMotel.com to find the latest industry news and analysis, events, eDirectory, links to industry suppliers and more.
Click here to subscribe to Hotel & Motel Management, the leading news magazine of the hospitality industry since 1875.
To subscribe to Week in Review, click here.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Art imitating Life??
I was watching one of my favorite new shows on tv the other night and halfway through the show, the characters in the show (Stargate SG1) decide to take a road trip and they are on the highway and there is a sign that says 285South. That is the highway that leads to Roswell NM from the middle of the state......ok...so I am thinking they are going to Roswell. Cool. I took that exact road....but then...the trip continues........
......Yes......Roswell to Chicago. For those of you that dont know, part of my roadtrip out west last spring took me to Roswell. The trip home from NM followed the exact route that these characters took!!
The funniest thing was that while they were driving, a map would come up on the screen tracing their journey.
It could have been MY Road Atlas up on that tv screen!!The exact roads, higways, signs, towns that they stopped in or drove by....it was just too damm weird. As they are driving along, I am thinking...ok....this is the town they will past next...and sure enough they did!
After Ill, they ended up going on to New York (and get this....) and followed the "route" that I HAD mapped out on my original itinary.....if I had had just a little more time, I was planning on driving up to...and through New York, to visit a few former coworkers who are now living in Conn. where the corporate headquarters for my hotel company is.
Like I said before.....this was just too weird. Funny...the world we live in.
A link to the website for this (I think) very cool and awesome show
http://www.scifi.com/stargate/welcome/index.html
And a specific link to the episode that freaked me out so much:
http://www.scifi.com/stargate/episodes/season2/0221episode.html
Yes....I know....Strange...
Happy Wed!!
......Yes......Roswell to Chicago. For those of you that dont know, part of my roadtrip out west last spring took me to Roswell. The trip home from NM followed the exact route that these characters took!!
The funniest thing was that while they were driving, a map would come up on the screen tracing their journey.
It could have been MY Road Atlas up on that tv screen!!The exact roads, higways, signs, towns that they stopped in or drove by....it was just too damm weird. As they are driving along, I am thinking...ok....this is the town they will past next...and sure enough they did!
After Ill, they ended up going on to New York (and get this....) and followed the "route" that I HAD mapped out on my original itinary.....if I had had just a little more time, I was planning on driving up to...and through New York, to visit a few former coworkers who are now living in Conn. where the corporate headquarters for my hotel company is.
Like I said before.....this was just too weird. Funny...the world we live in.
A link to the website for this (I think) very cool and awesome show
http://www.scifi.com/stargate/welcome/index.html
And a specific link to the episode that freaked me out so much:
http://www.scifi.com/stargate/episodes/season2/0221episode.html
Yes....I know....Strange...
Happy Wed!!
I am Still Alive...but my Laptop Died.....
Yes indeed.
Hey Folks....a suggestion for everyone out there: BACKUP
Remember that word...espessially if you have important files on a computer that you do NOT want to loose....which is what happened to me.
My laptop started acting up early last week, so I decided to do a "System Restore" and roll back the operating system (Win XP Service pack 2) to an earlier date....which I have done a few times when errant software installs have made things buggy.
But I forgot to backup my files before hand. (I know...stupid!).
Well...the restore did not work and I couldnt get back into my operating system. I tried for hours and hours and no luck.
So I decided to give up and try and reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows.
ERRORS to the max and it wouldnt let me reinstall.
So here I was, stuck with a laptop that had no operating system, all my files (Journal, photos, websites, and tons of other stuff)....were all lost.
I ended up taking the laptop to Milwaukee PC to see if they could save the drive. No luck. The drive had failed.
They ended up putting in a new hard drive which set me back about 180.00.
The only good news is that they gave me a 60 Gig hard drive for the price of a 30 gig, so I have double the room I had before.
I have spent the last few days reinstalling apps, trying to reconstruct my journal (which I did mainly from my Blog posts) and I still have a ways to go.
I have the next two days off so this will be my major undertaking.
Happy Wed to all.......
Hey Folks....a suggestion for everyone out there: BACKUP
Remember that word...espessially if you have important files on a computer that you do NOT want to loose....which is what happened to me.
My laptop started acting up early last week, so I decided to do a "System Restore" and roll back the operating system (Win XP Service pack 2) to an earlier date....which I have done a few times when errant software installs have made things buggy.
But I forgot to backup my files before hand. (I know...stupid!).
Well...the restore did not work and I couldnt get back into my operating system. I tried for hours and hours and no luck.
So I decided to give up and try and reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows.
ERRORS to the max and it wouldnt let me reinstall.
So here I was, stuck with a laptop that had no operating system, all my files (Journal, photos, websites, and tons of other stuff)....were all lost.
I ended up taking the laptop to Milwaukee PC to see if they could save the drive. No luck. The drive had failed.
They ended up putting in a new hard drive which set me back about 180.00.
The only good news is that they gave me a 60 Gig hard drive for the price of a 30 gig, so I have double the room I had before.
I have spent the last few days reinstalling apps, trying to reconstruct my journal (which I did mainly from my Blog posts) and I still have a ways to go.
I have the next two days off so this will be my major undertaking.
Happy Wed to all.......
Thursday, March 3, 2005
Finally some photos of the Roswell N.M. leg of my Vacation this last May
I figured it was about time to share some of the photos I took of my Roswell Experience. Now that I have a helper application called "Hello" that lets me post photos to my blog, I will probably end up putting a few more photos of my trip.
Being that I was all alone, I didn't get to share much of what I saw with anyone else....but now I can. I ended up snapping quite a few rolls of film.
Roswell had to be the highlight of my experiences though. I just wish I would have save a little more time for this part. It was already late Tuesday by the time I started this part of my road trip and had I realized how much driving there would be...just to get home....I probably would have tried to get there a little sooner.
But I enjoyed everything and would do it all over again in a second!
On to some photos. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I enjoyed experiencing them as the event were unfolding. I have written captions of each of the snapshots to better help in understanding what everything is. If you click on each photo, it should bring up an even bigger version. Feel free to share, print or use my face for dart practice.
Happy Thursday.........
Being that I was all alone, I didn't get to share much of what I saw with anyone else....but now I can. I ended up snapping quite a few rolls of film.
Roswell had to be the highlight of my experiences though. I just wish I would have save a little more time for this part. It was already late Tuesday by the time I started this part of my road trip and had I realized how much driving there would be...just to get home....I probably would have tried to get there a little sooner.
But I enjoyed everything and would do it all over again in a second!
On to some photos. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I enjoyed experiencing them as the event were unfolding. I have written captions of each of the snapshots to better help in understanding what everything is. If you click on each photo, it should bring up an even bigger version. Feel free to share, print or use my face for dart practice.
Happy Thursday.........
Here I am at the start of hwy 285 south getting ready for the long night drive to Roswell. I had just bought some junk food from the truckstop and gassed up, changed into some comfy driving sweats and decided to get into the mood by getting my laptop out and putting in a movie about Roswell and UFOS and also tuning the radio to "Coast to Coast" which just happened to be talking about aliens and ufos that evening. On the road again in a few minutes! (photo taken May 2004)
I had to stop and snap a photo of this. Only 113 miles to go. I think it was about close to 3AM in the morning at this point and I was beginning to get a little tired. I had been on the road pretty much non stop since leaving Albequerqee at 10PM that evening. It was also a very desolate 2 lane higway (285 South) and other than a few Semi Trucks, I was the only one on the road for hours at a time. (photo taken May 2004)
Saw a cool looking diner on the side of the highway (285) and decided to stop and get a cup of coffee and a slice of Apple pie and look through some info on Roswell and the area that I had on my laptop. Funny thing was as soon as I took out my laptop, the waitress leaned over the counter and said "Ohhh...how does that stay on without wires??" I explained the "battery concept". She seemed awed. Weird! I mean I know I am in the middle of nowhere at 3am in the morning...but come on. (photo taken May 2004)
Ok..so here I am sitting at the counter looking at some info on my laptop (at 3am in the morning) and all of a sudden this light shines on me through the window! WTF I am thinking and starting to freak out sort of..The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end! It turned out to be a "State Trooper" shining his spot light through the window from the road. But why? I never did figure that out except the waitress said there was a trooper who stopped by some times but she never remembered him shining his light through the window. Maybe it was that inquiry I had made a few minutes prior at the gas station to the NMDOT Guys asking about aliens and UFO landing sites...by the way..they were clueless and dumb or something...they said...."aliens? UFOS? We dont know what you are talking about sir!"..I started smellig conspiracy right then and there! (photo taken May 2004)
Finally getting to Roswell at 530AM in the morning and finding a Marriott to sleep in for a few hours. I had to haggle with the Front Desk clerk but she eventually gave me a very generous employee discount. The first thing I did after taking this photo was to close the darn curtians...after I looked out to make sure there were no aliens sitting on my window sill. When I woke up in the morning and I looked out the window, the sky was errie looking as if there was a storm brewing and in the distance there was this tower with a siren on it...they were all over town actually. Tornado warning sirens I think. That was kind of weird. (photo taken May 2004)
I made it. Almost two weeks on the Road and this was my final destination before heading home. It was so damm hot that day and windy. I parked my truck behind me in the lot and walked the 6 blocks to the Museum. Cool little city and so different than what I imagined. Check out the lamp posts! (photo taken May 2004)
I had to stop and get my photo taken with this cute little guy. I was going to stop back after the museum but a storm that hit shortly after had me running back to my truck where I had left my windows cracked because of the stiffling heat. Only a few more blocks to the museum! (photo taken May 2004)
I am walking down the street of Downtown Roswell and then there it is.....my destination only a few feet away on the other side of the street. It was over 100 degrees that day and windy as all heck...it seemed like a storm was brewing which made the whole expereince all that much more cool. An Erie feeling in the air that day..at least for me. (photo taken May 2004)
Of course I had to pretend to be giving a lecture. Some nice lady was kind enough to take this photo of me "pretending" and having the time of my life doing it. The photo in the background was so cool...I wanted that for my living room but the staff said nope...not for sale!...damm. (photo taken May 2004)
The last display at the International UFO museum in Roswell. This is NOT a real alien. It is actually a prop that was used in the Movie "Roswell" that was shown on Showtime a few years back. Notice though the weird orangish color permeating the photo....an alien presense perhaps?? (Photo taken May 2004)
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Homosexual Penquins?? Ok then.....
Here is an interesting story taken from the pages of Russia's Daily newspaper "Pravda":
German penguins lead homosexual lives
The administration of the Bremen zoo in Germany decided to purchase four female penguins from Sweden to put an end to homosexual activities among local penguins. There are five penguin couples living in Bremerhaven Zoo - three of them turned out to be homosexual.
German zoologists were patiently waiting for several years for ten South-American penguins to start breeding. The endangered bird species arranged their "families" and copulated on a regular basis, but baby-penguins would not be born. One of the penguin couples tried to incubate a stone, taking it for an egg. German zoologists ran out of patience and took DNA samples from all penguins of the zoo. When the analyses were complete, specialists were surprised to discover that three of the five penguin couples were homosexual. Specialists contacted their Swedish colleagues and ordered four females for the German zoo.
Scientists, however, fear that the acquaintance between Bremen penguins and Swedish females might not be successful. Such incidents have already been registered before, when zoologists tried to separate homosexual penguin couples.
German penguins lead homosexual lives
The administration of the Bremen zoo in Germany decided to purchase four female penguins from Sweden to put an end to homosexual activities among local penguins. There are five penguin couples living in Bremerhaven Zoo - three of them turned out to be homosexual.
German zoologists were patiently waiting for several years for ten South-American penguins to start breeding. The endangered bird species arranged their "families" and copulated on a regular basis, but baby-penguins would not be born. One of the penguin couples tried to incubate a stone, taking it for an egg. German zoologists ran out of patience and took DNA samples from all penguins of the zoo. When the analyses were complete, specialists were surprised to discover that three of the five penguin couples were homosexual. Specialists contacted their Swedish colleagues and ordered four females for the German zoo.
Scientists, however, fear that the acquaintance between Bremen penguins and Swedish females might not be successful. Such incidents have already been registered before, when zoologists tried to separate homosexual penguin couples.
UFO's Finally Getting Mainstream Attention!! Maybe the Time has Come for DISCLOSURE at Last??
I have always been interested in the UFO phenomenon.
From the age of 7 or 8 I was always looking for or trying to read about anything that has to do with this subject.
I have talked about my feelings and thoughts before and continue to do so frequently with my friends....... and now it seems that finally "mainstream media" is finally also catching on and starting to try to get some of the info out to the masses.
Why is this you may ask?
Some of you may have seen it.....but for those who didn't......ABC ran a "primetime news special" this past week, which at 2 hours long and narrated by Peter Jennings, was a pretty amazing thing.
A lot of the web sites I visit and the Radio show "Coast to Coast" that I listen to at night sometimes, are all abuzz about the show and how most "UFO aficionados" feel it was a professionally done documentary that tried to finally lift the veil "so to speak" a little more from this oh so "hush hush subject" that everyone seems to talk about but that some don't want to- or cant- fathom the implications of what would happen if all or any of this were true.
An interesting email from a UFO enthusiast follows that has some pretty indepth insights into the reasons for this news show being broadcast in the first place (beware-a long read and may be a bit confusing to the uninformed) and a lot of the things this guy says, I have thought about and heard of and even mentioned before either on my blog here or when talking to friends.
I seriously think there is possibility that it is a form of"Disclosure" that may be going on. What do I mean by that? Someone(the government perhaps) getting the population at large, ready for some sort of BIG announcement about things that have been hidden away for way too long...... OR POSSIBLY A MAJOR UPHEAVAL such as the one talked about here:
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1753.asp
There is just too much evidence out there and too many things happening.
I have also included a link to the "Coast to Coast website" which I may have done in a previous post but I feel it is a very cool starting site for those that wish to explore some of these things further.
The "Coast to Coast Radio show", by the way, is broadcast every evening on the AM band (Radio station 1130 down here in Racine-Milwaukee area) from 11pm ti 4am every night.
Take a listen sometime. I highly recommend it and I feel its one of the coolest and forthright talk shows on radio or TV that deals with this kind of thing.
I will have some photos soon also of "MY Little Trip to Roswell NM to look for said "aliens" that I took this last spring, which was one of the highlights of my vacation out west. By the way, I have told a few people, but for my vacation this year, I am planning on taking a trip out to Nevada to check out the "Infamous Area 51". There is a 50th anniversary Cookout that is being planned by some people out there to commemorate the Base's history. I am excited already. A link to this subject matter is below also, for anyone interestesd in learning more.
Happy Wed everyone.......
Links of interest
___________________________________________________________________
Coast to Coast web site: http://www.coasttocoastam.com
Area 51 Info web site:http://www.dreamlandresort.com/index_en.html
__________________________________________________________________
Email I mentioned earlier talking about the show on ABC
Well, the word "wow" does come to mind... Not so much "Wow that was amazing," because it was largely what many reading this already know. But "Wow - all that was on the air!"
I'm guessing (but only guessing) that Project Blue Book was still active the last time any valid "news reporting" about UFOs was featured on any of "The Big 3" networks. History Channel and Sci-Fi Channel are one thing, but NO MATTER WHAT Peter Jennings and ABC reported tonight, the most significant factor is that a serious and thought-provoking special on UFOs, showcasing credible witnesses and researchers, finally hit the American airwaves - during prime-time, on a major network, AND was presented as a straight news documentary.
This just cannot be understated. Jennings made no effort to prove or debunk anything, but finally presented to the public at least some of the facts and arguments (pro and con) that can be reported on the topic, and isn't that what we've all wanted, for a long, long time? My quotable quote however, is that "This ABC special hosted by Peter Jennings simply could not have been any more pro-UFO, and still call itself journalism, if it tried. But it *was* journalism..." and that's my point. For the first time in my life I saw honest journalism relating to UFOs on network television. Wow.
ABC didn't have to "try" to prove UFOs are real (or not), as the "tip of the iceberg" they did reveal was, in my opinion, more convincing than anything mainstream America has ever seen. The special undoubtedly covered "both sides" fairly I believe, but the facts always seemed to come down on the side of the fence that says, whatever they are - UFOs ARE HERE... the public believes they exist... and the government's explanation for them is historically unsatisfactory. Not to mention deceptive.
Yes, the documentary included scientists covering all the best arguments against the UFO hypothesis and the eyewitnesses, the supposed impossibility of space travel, etc, etc, etc... However, ABC's investigative coverage, which revealed that The Air Force's Project Blue Book was never anything more than a concentrated debunking effort was, in a word, exemplary. Decades late perhaps, but this glaring fact of American history finally got the prime-time journalistic butt-kicking it sorely deserved.
The abductee community - if it can or should be addressed separately from the UFO community - came out way ahead tonight as well. Jennings even said that "Reporting the UFO story is incomplete without this facet," a statement long-overdue for the more (ahem) "serious" and scientific among us, whose most compelling form of evidence to-date has always been nothing more than eyewitness testimony in the first place. While sleep paralysis and hypno-suggestion were appropriately included in this documentary, the abduction experience no doubt got the "fairest shake" ever seen on prime-time as well. It's not enough to just report (as Jennings did) that "more than 80 million Americans believe the earth has been visited by extra-terrestrials" and "more than 40 million Americans say they have seen, or know someone who has seen an Unidentified Flying Object," without also including (as Jennings did) the fact that 1 of 5 Americans also believe that abductions are happening.
ABC did an admirable job of bringing both the UFO and the Abduction topic to the American table, via the most credible people it could showcase, rather than the most colorful, or most outlandish. Just go to any UFO conference (as Jennings suggested, although I doubt he did) and you'll typically see more news cameras on the man or woman with the glittery outfit and silver make-up, than you'll ever see on the ones with the PhD's.
But... if UFO enthusiasts were the clear winners of this program, who were the losers? Roswell, for starters... or at least it's believers. Just as the best UFO skeptics were given their air-time on this show but came out somehow wanting, the same might be said for Roswell authors Stanton Friedman, Kevin Randall and Don Schmidt. Arguments both for and against the Roswell incident (being alien-related) were presented briefly, but I think anybody watching ABC tonight would have to say that this special ultimately sided with The History Channel's past Roswell special (which also concluded that the Project Mogul view of a top-secret, but altogether man-made event is "the truth").
Disappointing for many, no doubt. Giving Karl Pflock and Project Mogul the last word, and Jennings' use of language like "hallowed ground," "holy grail" and "article of faith" to refer to the Roswell story, even this decidedly pro-UFO documentary let down more than a few people no doubt, ending with Peter Jennings saying (of Roswell believers) that "they cling to a myth." In striking this blow, ABC wins both ways, seemingly maintaining it's journalistic integrity by promoting UFOs as unexplainable by earthly science, yet nonetheless "dissing" Roswell as "the" cornerstone of ufology. Why? ... perhaps the most responsible efforts at journalism inevitably lead to both conclusions in fact, perhaps not. But there is however, another view of UFOs that can only be referred to as "the excluded middle" which might explain the seeming incongruence. This view also lost out on this show, but only becuase it was not represented (understandable and forgivable, given all that was covered in the time allotted).
While neither popularly known about nor financially profitable, a growing number of researchers are beginning to promote the idea that that UFOs are indeed real and beyond conventional explanation, BUT that aliens are not piloting them - or even designing and crashing them for our benefit. Here, I'll simply refer readers to look into this view for themselves via http://www.manmadeufos.com/ (a booklist) and http://www.roswellufocrash.com/ (a view that takes neither the alien nor the Mogul view of Roswell).
What I will say is that those studying these views see a global conspiracy that involves oil, banking, military, mainstream science and conglomerate MEDIA that far surpasses the organization neccessary to cover up extra-terrestrials, if that's "all" that needed to be covered up.
If (and I'm just saying, IF) this view is the most accurate one, then one only needs to remember that in prior decades Walt Disney himself and his mickey mouse company were used by / partnered with the U.S. government to promote the idea of extra-terrestrial life to the American public (just Google it), before the plug was pulled and what we now know as "The UFO Cover-Up" ruled the day, to begin to glimmer WHY Disney-owned ABC *might* have been the first major network to suddenly put UFOs back into the credible, mainstream consciousness.
Is ABC in bed with a government higher than our Federal one? is the question I'm posing. If there's anything to this, then perhaps "The American Public" might be included in the loser list as well, as the aftermath of ABC's Jennings report could have more to do with preparing us for something other than "disclosure" (as some might hope) is all that's behind this out-of-nowhere special. It's a big puzzle that for now I'll leave to the most astute researchers and UFO historians to piece together, but not one that should be ignored. One-world conspiracies left for deeper, darker minds to ponder however, it could well be argued that "sweeps week" is the only reason ABC chose to devote 2-hours to this program.
No matter why though - hey, we're all glad they did. What can those of us interested in these topics say negative about a prime-time special that accurately and plainly states that "the UFO phenomenon (is) only a shadow of mainstream science," but then a moment later gives several minutes of airtime to Art Bell?
While there are no doubt many, many opinions relating to the origin and nature of UFOs, NONE of them are relevant until people believe that they are real to begin with. For some, ABC's special was merely affirmation of what they already know is true; for others it may be the first time they admit there's something worthy of investigation.
But as a result of this special, people are going to talk. They're going to talk about what they've seen, and they're going to share their ideas. And as a result of this special, many of them won't be laughed at. Other people are going to ask questions, and those who have dedicated themselves to finding answers are going to be more in demand. I don't mean to simply say "this is good for business" (although it undoubtedly is), but what I mean is that it's good for the public interest. Very, very good. All views should and will begin to get more airtime, and interested parties will be exposed to more information.
Those with questions can use this documentary to take to your government officials, your churches, your educational institutions and your local media outlets and say "Hey - I want answers, and your previous ones haven't been good enough. Are you going to give them to me? Are you going to give us someone who can? Or am I and my money going to have to go somewhere else?"
As a result of this special, the general public - not just the UFO community - has won a minor moral victory, and ABC and Jennings deserve our thanks for finally showing some integrity by finally delivering this information to the American public, and especially, for doing it without including 10 minutes of Zelda Zoroastrian in the mix. By the way, did you catch the "skeptic" who said that the Phoenix lights were flares that Phoenix radar didn't pick up? He then finished his arguments by saying (60 seconds later!) that it was *also* lights from 5 airplanes (that Phoenix radar apparently didn't pick up either?).
Like I said, ABC and Jennings didn't even have to try, because for once the debunker on TV actually looked more idiotic than the witnesses. It's a new day.
From the age of 7 or 8 I was always looking for or trying to read about anything that has to do with this subject.
I have talked about my feelings and thoughts before and continue to do so frequently with my friends....... and now it seems that finally "mainstream media" is finally also catching on and starting to try to get some of the info out to the masses.
Why is this you may ask?
Some of you may have seen it.....but for those who didn't......ABC ran a "primetime news special" this past week, which at 2 hours long and narrated by Peter Jennings, was a pretty amazing thing.
A lot of the web sites I visit and the Radio show "Coast to Coast" that I listen to at night sometimes, are all abuzz about the show and how most "UFO aficionados" feel it was a professionally done documentary that tried to finally lift the veil "so to speak" a little more from this oh so "hush hush subject" that everyone seems to talk about but that some don't want to- or cant- fathom the implications of what would happen if all or any of this were true.
An interesting email from a UFO enthusiast follows that has some pretty indepth insights into the reasons for this news show being broadcast in the first place (beware-a long read and may be a bit confusing to the uninformed) and a lot of the things this guy says, I have thought about and heard of and even mentioned before either on my blog here or when talking to friends.
I seriously think there is possibility that it is a form of"Disclosure" that may be going on. What do I mean by that? Someone(the government perhaps) getting the population at large, ready for some sort of BIG announcement about things that have been hidden away for way too long...... OR POSSIBLY A MAJOR UPHEAVAL such as the one talked about here:
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1753.asp
There is just too much evidence out there and too many things happening.
I have also included a link to the "Coast to Coast website" which I may have done in a previous post but I feel it is a very cool starting site for those that wish to explore some of these things further.
The "Coast to Coast Radio show", by the way, is broadcast every evening on the AM band (Radio station 1130 down here in Racine-Milwaukee area) from 11pm ti 4am every night.
Take a listen sometime. I highly recommend it and I feel its one of the coolest and forthright talk shows on radio or TV that deals with this kind of thing.
I will have some photos soon also of "MY Little Trip to Roswell NM to look for said "aliens" that I took this last spring, which was one of the highlights of my vacation out west. By the way, I have told a few people, but for my vacation this year, I am planning on taking a trip out to Nevada to check out the "Infamous Area 51". There is a 50th anniversary Cookout that is being planned by some people out there to commemorate the Base's history. I am excited already. A link to this subject matter is below also, for anyone interestesd in learning more.
Happy Wed everyone.......
Links of interest
___________________________________________________________________
Coast to Coast web site: http://www.coasttocoastam.com
Area 51 Info web site:http://www.dreamlandresort.com/index_en.html
__________________________________________________________________
Email I mentioned earlier talking about the show on ABC
Well, the word "wow" does come to mind... Not so much "Wow that was amazing," because it was largely what many reading this already know. But "Wow - all that was on the air!"
I'm guessing (but only guessing) that Project Blue Book was still active the last time any valid "news reporting" about UFOs was featured on any of "The Big 3" networks. History Channel and Sci-Fi Channel are one thing, but NO MATTER WHAT Peter Jennings and ABC reported tonight, the most significant factor is that a serious and thought-provoking special on UFOs, showcasing credible witnesses and researchers, finally hit the American airwaves - during prime-time, on a major network, AND was presented as a straight news documentary.
This just cannot be understated. Jennings made no effort to prove or debunk anything, but finally presented to the public at least some of the facts and arguments (pro and con) that can be reported on the topic, and isn't that what we've all wanted, for a long, long time? My quotable quote however, is that "This ABC special hosted by Peter Jennings simply could not have been any more pro-UFO, and still call itself journalism, if it tried. But it *was* journalism..." and that's my point. For the first time in my life I saw honest journalism relating to UFOs on network television. Wow.
ABC didn't have to "try" to prove UFOs are real (or not), as the "tip of the iceberg" they did reveal was, in my opinion, more convincing than anything mainstream America has ever seen. The special undoubtedly covered "both sides" fairly I believe, but the facts always seemed to come down on the side of the fence that says, whatever they are - UFOs ARE HERE... the public believes they exist... and the government's explanation for them is historically unsatisfactory. Not to mention deceptive.
Yes, the documentary included scientists covering all the best arguments against the UFO hypothesis and the eyewitnesses, the supposed impossibility of space travel, etc, etc, etc... However, ABC's investigative coverage, which revealed that The Air Force's Project Blue Book was never anything more than a concentrated debunking effort was, in a word, exemplary. Decades late perhaps, but this glaring fact of American history finally got the prime-time journalistic butt-kicking it sorely deserved.
The abductee community - if it can or should be addressed separately from the UFO community - came out way ahead tonight as well. Jennings even said that "Reporting the UFO story is incomplete without this facet," a statement long-overdue for the more (ahem) "serious" and scientific among us, whose most compelling form of evidence to-date has always been nothing more than eyewitness testimony in the first place. While sleep paralysis and hypno-suggestion were appropriately included in this documentary, the abduction experience no doubt got the "fairest shake" ever seen on prime-time as well. It's not enough to just report (as Jennings did) that "more than 80 million Americans believe the earth has been visited by extra-terrestrials" and "more than 40 million Americans say they have seen, or know someone who has seen an Unidentified Flying Object," without also including (as Jennings did) the fact that 1 of 5 Americans also believe that abductions are happening.
ABC did an admirable job of bringing both the UFO and the Abduction topic to the American table, via the most credible people it could showcase, rather than the most colorful, or most outlandish. Just go to any UFO conference (as Jennings suggested, although I doubt he did) and you'll typically see more news cameras on the man or woman with the glittery outfit and silver make-up, than you'll ever see on the ones with the PhD's.
But... if UFO enthusiasts were the clear winners of this program, who were the losers? Roswell, for starters... or at least it's believers. Just as the best UFO skeptics were given their air-time on this show but came out somehow wanting, the same might be said for Roswell authors Stanton Friedman, Kevin Randall and Don Schmidt. Arguments both for and against the Roswell incident (being alien-related) were presented briefly, but I think anybody watching ABC tonight would have to say that this special ultimately sided with The History Channel's past Roswell special (which also concluded that the Project Mogul view of a top-secret, but altogether man-made event is "the truth").
Disappointing for many, no doubt. Giving Karl Pflock and Project Mogul the last word, and Jennings' use of language like "hallowed ground," "holy grail" and "article of faith" to refer to the Roswell story, even this decidedly pro-UFO documentary let down more than a few people no doubt, ending with Peter Jennings saying (of Roswell believers) that "they cling to a myth." In striking this blow, ABC wins both ways, seemingly maintaining it's journalistic integrity by promoting UFOs as unexplainable by earthly science, yet nonetheless "dissing" Roswell as "the" cornerstone of ufology. Why? ... perhaps the most responsible efforts at journalism inevitably lead to both conclusions in fact, perhaps not. But there is however, another view of UFOs that can only be referred to as "the excluded middle" which might explain the seeming incongruence. This view also lost out on this show, but only becuase it was not represented (understandable and forgivable, given all that was covered in the time allotted).
While neither popularly known about nor financially profitable, a growing number of researchers are beginning to promote the idea that that UFOs are indeed real and beyond conventional explanation, BUT that aliens are not piloting them - or even designing and crashing them for our benefit. Here, I'll simply refer readers to look into this view for themselves via http://www.manmadeufos.com/ (a booklist) and http://www.roswellufocrash.com/ (a view that takes neither the alien nor the Mogul view of Roswell).
What I will say is that those studying these views see a global conspiracy that involves oil, banking, military, mainstream science and conglomerate MEDIA that far surpasses the organization neccessary to cover up extra-terrestrials, if that's "all" that needed to be covered up.
If (and I'm just saying, IF) this view is the most accurate one, then one only needs to remember that in prior decades Walt Disney himself and his mickey mouse company were used by / partnered with the U.S. government to promote the idea of extra-terrestrial life to the American public (just Google it), before the plug was pulled and what we now know as "The UFO Cover-Up" ruled the day, to begin to glimmer WHY Disney-owned ABC *might* have been the first major network to suddenly put UFOs back into the credible, mainstream consciousness.
Is ABC in bed with a government higher than our Federal one? is the question I'm posing. If there's anything to this, then perhaps "The American Public" might be included in the loser list as well, as the aftermath of ABC's Jennings report could have more to do with preparing us for something other than "disclosure" (as some might hope) is all that's behind this out-of-nowhere special. It's a big puzzle that for now I'll leave to the most astute researchers and UFO historians to piece together, but not one that should be ignored. One-world conspiracies left for deeper, darker minds to ponder however, it could well be argued that "sweeps week" is the only reason ABC chose to devote 2-hours to this program.
No matter why though - hey, we're all glad they did. What can those of us interested in these topics say negative about a prime-time special that accurately and plainly states that "the UFO phenomenon (is) only a shadow of mainstream science," but then a moment later gives several minutes of airtime to Art Bell?
While there are no doubt many, many opinions relating to the origin and nature of UFOs, NONE of them are relevant until people believe that they are real to begin with. For some, ABC's special was merely affirmation of what they already know is true; for others it may be the first time they admit there's something worthy of investigation.
But as a result of this special, people are going to talk. They're going to talk about what they've seen, and they're going to share their ideas. And as a result of this special, many of them won't be laughed at. Other people are going to ask questions, and those who have dedicated themselves to finding answers are going to be more in demand. I don't mean to simply say "this is good for business" (although it undoubtedly is), but what I mean is that it's good for the public interest. Very, very good. All views should and will begin to get more airtime, and interested parties will be exposed to more information.
Those with questions can use this documentary to take to your government officials, your churches, your educational institutions and your local media outlets and say "Hey - I want answers, and your previous ones haven't been good enough. Are you going to give them to me? Are you going to give us someone who can? Or am I and my money going to have to go somewhere else?"
As a result of this special, the general public - not just the UFO community - has won a minor moral victory, and ABC and Jennings deserve our thanks for finally showing some integrity by finally delivering this information to the American public, and especially, for doing it without including 10 minutes of Zelda Zoroastrian in the mix. By the way, did you catch the "skeptic" who said that the Phoenix lights were flares that Phoenix radar didn't pick up? He then finished his arguments by saying (60 seconds later!) that it was *also* lights from 5 airplanes (that Phoenix radar apparently didn't pick up either?).
Like I said, ABC and Jennings didn't even have to try, because for once the debunker on TV actually looked more idiotic than the witnesses. It's a new day.
A Pet Skunk Bit Some Guy's "Junk"-True Story
The following story has got to be the funniest I have read in ages.
It seems some dude was goofing around with his "pet skunk" (I didnt know it was possible to domesticate skunks!!)and the skunk gets a little too rough and "BITES" the dude's family jewels!!! Ouch! That had to have hurt!
Link to story:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/feb05/304927.asp
Happy Wed
It seems some dude was goofing around with his "pet skunk" (I didnt know it was possible to domesticate skunks!!)and the skunk gets a little too rough and "BITES" the dude's family jewels!!! Ouch! That had to have hurt!
Link to story:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/feb05/304927.asp
Happy Wed
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