A Penny for your Thoughts??

How many pennies do you have laying around the house in a jar or two?
I have quite a few coins but dont keep the pennies seperate.

A news story I just read talks about the current U.S. Sec. of the Treasury being asked about the ilimination of the venerable coin with copper metal and Lincoln's face on it.


Click link below for more info:

JS Online: Associated Press News

Cook accused of stuffing hair into steak

"And how much HAIR would you care for in your steak tonight sir???"....

Being that I work in the restaurant business, whenever I see a story about stuff that goes on in other restaurants, I often read the article right away.

This one has to be one of the more interesting stories I have heard in a while.

In a million years I can not imagine someone purposely screwing with someone's food.

I hope this guy gets "shitcanned" and never works in another restaurant EVER....

Click on link below for the entire story:

JS Online: Cook accused of stuffing hair into steak

Feb. 26, 1993

Fifteen years ago today, at 12:18 p.m., terrorists detonated 1,500 pounds of explosives in a rental van in the parking garage of the World Trade Center, blasting a crater five stories deep and half a football field wide. While the terrorists fled the area after lighting the bomb’s fuse, they left behind six victims, including a pregnant woman, and one thousand injured people.

Just felt it was a good day to remember the 1st attack on the Twin Towers.......

http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/history/index.html

A link above to some of the history of the towers.

There goes the Economy.....

So I guess the economic stimulus plan that the current administration is trying to orchestrate isnt going very well. At least according the latest news article I am reading (click on link below).

I hope that $800.00 check comes in the mail soon. But that probably wont help much either.
Oh well...time to tighten the belt even further......

JS Online: Associated Press News

"Communication Isolation" of Iran??

So a few weeks ago some major undersea cables carrying internet traffic through the mideast were "accidently" cut. The news outlets all reported the initial cut off of the coast of Egypt.
Then a few days later another one off the Arabian peninsula which was pretty much in the same area as the Iranian ships when they supossedly tried harrassing the U.S. ships that were there. The end result of the cuts pretty much took Iran out of the internet commuication circle. Maybe Iran felt that our ships were up to something sneaky?????

Could this be an isolation tactic of the U.S. as a precurser of sorts to some sort of military action coming their way???


That is what some are speculating as this little ditty I grabbed off of a news site talks about:
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Cable Breaks Leave Iran Without Internet
04-Feb-2008
Last week, two fiberoptic cables carrying internet traffic were cut in a supposed accident involving a ship near Egypt.

Now a third cable has been cut off the coast of Dubai. The third cable segment lies between the United Arab Emirates and Oman, about 40 miles from Dubai.
All three cuts are being blamed on ships dragging anchors due to heavy weather in the Middle East, but the cutting of so many cable over such a short time has inevitably led to rumors that it was done intentionally, either by elements seeking to isolate one country or another from the internet, or by terrorist activity.

According to internet network status reports as of February 3, Iran has lost all internet service. US military doctrine includes the isolation of adversaries from access to information and information transfer prior to attack.

........Now two more cables have been cut, and authorities are declining to speculate about the reason.
Cables near Penang, Malaysia and another cable off the port of Alexandria have also been cut. While some traffic is being re-routed, the overall effect of the cuts has been to slow down or terminate service in more than a dozen countries. 60 million internet users in India have been affected, 12 million in Pakistan, and an unknown number in Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

Because of the complexity of repairing the cables, they are not expected to be working again soon, although two repair ships have arrived off Alexandria. In the meantime, millions of people across this entire region of the world are affected by slow internet access, no internet access, slow or no telephone service and corporate data and video traffic.

Because of the US's stated objective of isolating areas targeted for military action from communications, there has been concern that the damage is a precursor to some sort of military strike against Iran.
At present, the International Cable Protection Committee will not speculate on the cause of the cable damage.
___________________________________________________________________
To see how these cuts are still affecting that part of rhe world, click on the link below. Last time I looked it seemed Iran had no connectivety to the internet at all.

Details for Asia /// Internet Traffic Report

Makes one think.......

Analysis: A Mideast nuclear war?

Sometimes I read an article that truly is thought provoking and insightful to the point that I think others need to see it.

Such is the following article from a man that many feel is one of the smarter guys in the world today.
Read the article by clicking on the link below:


Analysis: A Mideast nuclear war? - Middle East Times

Woman killed Sat Feb. 9th, 2008 -My cousin Sue Bourassa

I was watching the news on TV (Milwaukee Channel 4) just now and heard the name of a woman mentioned and that she had been killed on saturday while crossing the street. When the name was mentioned my brain registered it as being a familiar name. I looked on the internet and there was a story in the daywatch section of the online paper.
It turns out that the woman was Susan Bourassa who is one of my 2nd cousins who lived in Milwaukee.

I had not seen Sue in many years but knew her well as I was growing up. Her mother Anita was my mother's 1st cousin and they were more like sisters than cousins and so growing up I thought of Anita as my aunt and I thought of her daughters Sue, Kathy and Debbie as very cool older sisters.

I grew up in Wisconsin Rapids and through my youth our family would drive down to Milwaukee once every year or so to visit this wonderful family. It was always something I looked forward to and as I became a teenager and got my driver's licsence I would come down to Milwaukee to spend weekends visiting with them.

In the middle 90s I moved to Milwaukee and often visited with Anita and would be lucky to sometimes see some of my cousins as well. I remember there was also a young man who had lived in an apt. that was adjacent to Anita's for many years and I think his name was John as well. Anita and her daughters had taken this young man and made him a part of their family and treated him just like a son. I remember meeting him a few times but didn't know him too well.
Anita passed away just a year or so after my mom. I think it was in early 2000 or maybe 2001.

A few years ago I was in Milwaukee one afternoon at a Walmart store on 27th street, a few miles from where Anita and her girls lived when I was a kid. I was in one of the aisles when I heard my name being called from down the aisle way. I looked down the aisle and could not believe my eyes. There was this woman standing there and she looked just like my mom. My brain was registering very strange emotions at that point as I knew it couldnt be my mom as she had passed away a few years back. But at the same time the woman who was standing there looked just like my mom. Tears started welling up in my eyes and I walked slowly towards the woman.
She said "Are you John, Marlene's son??" to me...
And then I figured it out. It had to be one of Anita's daughters! It was Sue. The resemblence between her and my mother was unbelievable. We stood there and talked about old times and told each other we would try and stay in touch.

Unfortantely I had lost contact with her and her sisters (my cousins) and after hearing about the death of Sue just now, I need to get into contact with them to offer my condolances and share in their grief.
As the comments in the below article from the Journal say from my cousin Kathy while talking about Sue, she was one of the most wonderful and happy people I had ever met. I know that my mother and her mother are now welcoming her with open arms and taking care of her in heaven.

Article below courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal Online
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SUNDAY, Feb. 10, 2008, 1:37 p.m.By Jennie Tunkieicz

Pedestrian killed in Greenfield identified

The woman struck and killed Saturday as crossed the street in Greenfield has been identified as Susan Bourassa, 53.Bourassa, of Greenfield, was walking through the intersection of S. 70th St. and W. Cold Spring Road when she was struck by a car shortly after 4 p.m.
The driver was a woman in her 40s. Greenfiled police were not releasing any further information today and said the incident remains under investigation.

"She had the biggest heart in the world," Kathy Bourassa said of her sister. "If you needed anything you could call her and she would help, no questions asked."
Susan Bourassa had previously worked at St. Luke's Hospital.
She loved to crochet and made hundreds of mittens and scarves for the needy each year and she also made afghans for friends, her sister said. She also loved animals, particularly her lovebird, Daisy Mae.
"She was one of the friendliest people in the world and was never in a bad mood," Kathy Bourassa said.
In addition to her sister, Kathy, she is also survived by her father, Gordon, another sister, Debbie, and a brother, John Schmidt.Funeral arrangements are pending.