Daffodil Lane

May 13, 2007

The Lake House

Excellent movie! If you haven't seen it, watch it! :O)

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April 18, 2007

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

* Grief counseling
* Memorials
* Communication expenses
* Comfort expenses
* Incidental needs

In the wake of this tragedy, we are confident that Hokie Spirit will only grow stronger and more resilient. We thank you for your continued support.

If you want to contribute click here and to find out more go here.

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March 27, 2007

And While You're At It Check Out The Movie Too!

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March 26, 2007

Read it!

You won't be sorry! ;o)

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March 12, 2007

Stranger Than Fiction

Jamison and I watched Stranger Than Fiction yesterday afternoon and it's a wonderful movie! Will Ferrell is brilliant! Emma Thompson is fantastic! And Queen Latifah is superb! If you haven't seen it yet check it out! The story is poignant, well thought out and well acted. You can't ask for more than that!

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December 15, 2006

Must See TV

I just watched a really cute hoilday movie that I had TiVoed called Santa Baby. If you get a chance and see it on ABC Family check it out! Click on the picture below for more info! *<:o)

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Posted by: Leann at December 18, 2006 3:27 PM

December 5, 2006

Must See DVD

Coming soon to DVD The Great Warming:

We are living at the dawn of a new epoch. Year by year, degree by degree, Earth is growing warmer... a legacy of the Industrial Revolution, population growth, and our addiction to technology, speed and power.

Just as other generations spoke of a Great Plague and a Great Depression, our children will be compelled to endure The Great Warming - and find a way to conquer its consequences.

Filmed in eight countries on four continents, endorsed by dozens of the world's leading scientists, this three-hour television series is the most factually accurate, visually stunning and wide-ranging production ever mounted about this complex, fascinating subject.

It's time to stop burying our heads in the sand. At this point if you don't believe in global warming you're just like the people who didn't believe the world is round or those who thought the Sun orbited the Earth. It's time to wake up to reality. Our lives and the lives of our children and our children's children depend upon it!

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November 29, 2006

Clerks II

We just got finished watching Clerks II and let me tell you it's hilarious! I'll admit the original Clerks is by far not even close to my favorite Kevin Smith movie (That would be Dogma, closely followed by Jersey Girl), in fact it ranks dead last, but this one is great! If you haven't seen it and you enjoy Kevin Smith's humor then by all means check it out. But for those of you who don't like off color slightly dirty humor then I advise you just move along.

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November 17, 2006

Fast Food Nation

I had seen the book cover in passing, it's pretty hard to miss with it's French fry cover, but I never actually read the book itself. Jamison's mom mentioned the movie last weekend and I hadn't heard anything about it, but since then I've seen things about it everywhere!

The fact that fast food is bad for you is no secret. And we all (or most of us anyway) do eat it from time to time, some more than others. We here at Daffodil Lane average once every week or so. When Jamison and I first met that number was much greater and as time passes it's slowly diminishing, because quite frankly fast food sucks!! If I'm going to spend money on food I want something that at least tastes decent, but that's a rant for another time.

In short just because something is "easy" doesn't make it good. This movie is being lauded as a smack in your face in terms of what is actually in your fast food, as if we didn't get enough of a smack with Super Size Me! The thing to remember is these companies don't care if your healthy or not, all they care about is the almighty dollar!

Anyway, it looks to be interesting. Go see it!

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November 1, 2006

Everything You Want

We watched a really cute movie a week or so ago called Everything You Want. If you get a chance check it out. It was really sweet.

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September 4, 2006

The Future Of Food

We just got through watching the documentary The Future Of Food dealing with genetically modified food. Check it out if you get a chance...It's very enlightening!

Update: They have a webpage too! Check it out here..

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Posted by: Jamison at September 5, 2006 10:54 AM

July 10, 2006

Now This is Neat!

Need to send something for a special occasion, holiday, thank you or condolence? How about sending an arrangement you can eat, instead of flowers that will die, or a cookie bouquet that isn't so healthy!

A brilliant idea! I love it! These arrangements are beautiful, fun and even healthy! Check it out here.

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July 9, 2006

Aero Bed For Kids

When we were planning on heading to Tennessee this week, before we found out that Jamison had to go to Texas instead, we purchased an Aero Bed For Kids for Alexis so she would have somewhere nice and comfy to sleep. It meant we didn't have to drag her bed rails with us, since I'm not ready to have her rolling off of the bed all night, and it meant my Mom didn't have to worry about cleaning up the spare bedroom she uses for storage. The added benefit was that it would also come in handy for her sleeping wise when we go to the Outer Banks in September, and also allow us to leave the bed rails at home on that trip as well. So even though we aren't in Tennessee right now, it will still come in handy in September.

Anyway, it arrived here late last week and today I decided to blow it up to make sure everything was ok in case we needed to send it back, and let me tell you...This thing is AWESOME!!! I think I'm going to get a king sized Aero Bed mattress for Jamison and I as well in case we ever need it for anything!! It blows up almost instantaneously and deflates within 20 seconds! Not bad at all! And Alexis loved it! In fact she was sad when we deflated it! And it comes with it's own pump and handy dandy carrying case!

If you need a portable air mattress I highly recommend the Aero Beds...The infomercial doesn't do them justice and they look pretty cool on there to start with!

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June 3, 2006

What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality

I just finished reading a fantastic book that I had ordered a while back after watching the episode of 30 Days where the straight, conservative, Mid-Western guy went to live in San Francisco for 30 days to see what it was like to walk in someone else shoe as it were. That's the whole premise of the show.

Anyway, at one point during the episode when the straight guy went to talk to the pastor at Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco and she suggested that he read What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, I was intrigued. So I purchased the book from Amazon.com. At the time I was still taking classes so I just recently got around to reading it and I was quite impressed!

Although Neo-Christians will stand on the hilltops and scream that the book is bad and gay people are bad, the Catholic priest that wrote it makes a very strong, a very convincing argument as to why the Bible does NOT condemn homosexuality. And before anyone starts screaming about verses he's got those too!

Of course hate filled Neo-Christians are not going to listen to reason and they have no understanding whatsoever about love and charity, but for those others of you out there that are capable of using your mind and appreciating a very well argued point of view I highly recommend reading this book. It's very enlightening, especially if you're struggling with understanding the subject matter.

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May 30, 2006

HBO Original Films: Elizabeth I

If you have HBO or any of the other HBO channels and you get a chance you should check out Elizabeth I! Helen Mirren is EXCELLENT! She puts forth a very feisty, very smart Elizabeth. She really has outdone herself with the performance! Definitely 5 stars out of 5! Check it out if you get a chance!

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May 28, 2006

Nanny McPhee

If you haven't seen Nanny McPhee you should! It's a very cute little story! And as far as I'm concerned anything with not only Colin Firth (Oh my!), but also Emma Thompson is more than worth watching!

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May 23, 2006

Taking The Long Way

I pre-ordered The Dixie Chicks' new album Taking The Long Way on iTunes a few weeks ago and it was ready for download this morning and I have to say I LOVE it! Aside from the in your face, go to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks vibe of Not Ready to Make Nice, which I fell in love with when they released in on their website a month ago or so, I would have to say so far my favorite song is The Long Way Around because it sums up much how I feel about the town I grew up in and then some! Heck the whole album is awesome! Run now and go get it...what are you waiting for??!!?

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May 9, 2006

What's Left of Me

I just got finished listening to What's Left of Me, Nick Lachey's sophomore solo effort and I HIGHLY recommend this album! It's excellent! I had heard several of the songs before it was released, but the whole album is a wonderful listen! To be perfectly honest I had never heard of Nick Lachey before Newlyweds, but the man can sing! It's soulful, it's heartfelt and the music is wonderful! And of course Nick's voice and emotion brings it all together. Check it out if you get a chance...It's definitely worth it!

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May 2, 2006

Last Holiday

An EXCELLENT movie! Five stars! If you haven't seen it DO!!

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April 27, 2006

P!nk's Dear Mr. President

If you haven't heard P!nk's new song entitled Dear Mr. President with the Indigo Girls then you're in luck...I have a link for you! It's a very impassioned and very meaningful song. And to top it off she does an excellent job with the song...the song itself and the music are beautiful and extremely moving! P!nk's whole new album entitled "I'm Not Dead" is awesome...I highly recommend it!

Check it out here.

And just for fun let's throw in the lyrics too!:

"Dear Mr. President"
(Feauring the Indigo Girls)

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you

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April 26, 2006

Climate: A Crisis Averted

Check out the short film Climate: A Crisis Averted via Future Films. It's set in the year 2056 and looks back to 2006 and what an ordinary bunch of citizens did to help avert the growing climate crisis on our planet.

Brought to you by FutureFlix.

Sponsered by: Stonyfield Farms, The Earth Day Network and Clean Air Cool Planet.

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April 25, 2006

The Ressurection of Al Gore

He invented the Internet (sort of). He became President (almost). Now Al Gore has found his true calling: using the power of technology to save the world.

By Karen Breslau

One evening last December, in front of nearly 2,000 people at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium, Al Gore spoke in uncharacteristically personal and passionate terms about the failed quest that has dominated much of his adult life. Save for his standard warm-up line - "Hi, I'm Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States" - there was hardly a mention of the White House. Instead, during the next 90 minutes, Gore had plenty to say about thinning polar ice caps, shrinking glaciers, rising carbon dioxide concentrations, spiking temperatures, and hundreds of other data points he has woven into an overpowering slide show detailing the catastrophic changes affecting the earth's climate. The audience was filled with Silicon Valley luminaries: Apple's Steve Jobs; Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt; Internet godfather Vint Cerf; Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang; venture capitalists John Doerr, Bill Draper, and Vinod Khosla; former Clinton administration defense secretary William Perry; and a cross section of CEOs, startup artists, techies, tinkerers, philanthropists, and investors of every political and ethnic stripe.

After the souped-up climatology lecture, a smaller crowd dined at the Schwab Center on campus. There, at tables topped with earth-shaped ice sculptures melting symbolically in the warmth of surrounding votive candles, guests mingled with Gore and his wife, Tipper, along with experts from Stanford's Woods Center for the Environment and the business-friendly Environmental Entrepreneurs. The goal: to enlist the assembled leaders in finding market-driven, technological solutions to global warming and then, in quintessential Silicon Valley style, to rapidly disseminate their ideas and change the world. "I need your help here," an emotional Gore pleaded at the end of the evening. "Working together, we can find the technologies and the political will to solve this problem." The crowd fell hard. "People were surprised," says Wendy Schmidt, who helped organize the event and, with her husband, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, supported Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. "They think of a slide show about science, they think of Al Gore. But they come out later and say, 'He's funny, he's passionate, he's real.'"

I truly admire Al Gore and his fight to bring global warming into the main stream consciousness. He truly is an amazing man. It's really sad that 2000 went down the way it did because he would have made a truly amazing president, who would have greatly helped the environment. I can't wait to see the documentary made on this presentation he's been giving! They trailer alone gives me chills!

I know there is buzz about a 2008 run for Mr. Gore, but I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand it would be amazing, but on the other I think he's found his niche and can do so much more for the environment from where he stands now. Either way he's an asset...And a powerful one at that!

Check out the Wired article...it's an excellent read!

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April 20, 2006

Veronica Mars Season 1 DVD

Last night we finally got to see the last part of the 1st season of Veronica Mars and OH...MY...GOD!!! I didn't see the ending coming at all and the cliff hanger has you guessing! Now we've got to figure out how we can watch Season 2 before Season 3 hopefully starts on the new CW network in the fall! Hopefully they'll put out the 2nd season on DVD before hand...who knows?!!??!!?!

Click on the extended entry below if you want to see my synopsis.

Warning: Veronica Mars Season 1 Spoilers below!!

I like Veronica and Logan together. Even now that we know Duncan is not her brother I still like Logan better. In fact Jason Dohring is one of the few people on the planet that I've found out was a Scientologist and I'm able to remove myself from that fact when I'm watching him play a part. He's good! And I think he and Veronica are cute together. Duncan I must say reminds me a lot of Dawson from Dawson's Creek...he's a bit of a whiner! Logan standing on the edge of the bridge telling Weevil to bring it on was priceless!!

I have to say I did NOT see Logan's father as the murderer coming at ALL!! I mean it was pretty evident he was a total ass given how he treated his wife and Logan, but I didn't see the murder angle coming!! That one was a shocker! But I guess that is the sign of a good plot!

And who was at Veronica's door at the end of the episode? Was it Duncan? Was it Logan? (This is my wish, though I would bet he's going to get the crap beat out of him by Weevil!) Or was it Wallace there to comfort his best friend while his mom is at the hospital with Veronica's dad?

And Veronica's mom...I'm so over her! She needs to get moving!! I like Wallace's mom so much better!

I have purposely avoided any information on the first season, although I was tempted many times to pull up episode overviews online to see what was going to happen next! I've already told Jamison I want this on DVD! :o)

As I've said before it's an excellent show! Check it out...I think you might just like it!

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April 17, 2006

Vanity Fair Green Issue

Check out this month's issue of Vanity Fair...their first ever Green Issue! There is a lot of good information and it's a very thought provoking issue. It's an excellent read.

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April 10, 2006

Bill Maher

If you didn't catch this week's "Real Time with Bill Maher" you really missed a good show! Senator Biden, Ben Affleck and Maher were on fire! I know they reshow the program through out the week so if you didn't catch it, make sure that you see it sometime soon!

The right wing guy they had on for the token conservative desperately clung to his talking points handed to him from the top of the GOP, but the other three men smacked his trivial pleadings down at every turn! It was a sight to behold! Affleck has a particularly good rant about the fact that if Bush has committed treason it's an offense punishable by hanging or the firing squad. And I didn't know much about Biden before this show, but I must say I was very impressed with what he had to say and the fact that he just came out and said he was running for president in 2008. I wish Russ Feingold would do the same.

Anyway, check it out if you get a chance and check out some of the after show videos as well.

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March 30, 2006

Loose Change - 2nd Editon

For years I've had a lot of doubts about what actually went down on 9/11. The pieces of the puzzle just don't fit together and as evidence continues to come out daily it shows that those of us who have had some doubts were right to do so. How did a plane crash into a 16 foot hole in the side of the Pentagon? Where did the wings and the rest of the plane go? Why were there no big plane pieces left? Why did the buildings implode down on themselves in New York? Why were there so many reports of other explosions especially right before the buildings imploded? Where is the wreckage from flight 93? When a plane crashes there is always debris, even planes that were blown up in mid air like the one over Lockerbie leave large chunks of aircraft, so where were the pieces of flight 93? These are but a few of the questions that need to be answered, so why is there such a cover up?

Loose Change - 2nd Edition is an excellent documentary! Get a copy. It's points out a lot of inconsistencies with the "official" 9/11 "story" that have bugged me all along and puts together information that may surprise you.

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February 18, 2006

Check It Out!

My dear, dear friend Sonya has started her own blog! She's been talking about it for ages and she finally took the plunge! I give you The Random Chickidee! Stop by and say hello! :o)

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February 15, 2006

Enjoying

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Paramount to release Gore's global warming film

The producers of a global warming documentary starring former Vice President Al Gore have landed a worldwide distribution deal with Paramount Pictures' specialty label, the Viacom Inc.-owned studio said on Tuesday.

"An Inconvenient Truth," profiling Gore's campaign to raise awareness about the links between carbon emissions and climate change and making his case for what should be done about it, will open in U.S. theaters on May 26, Paramount said.

The release schedule for other territories has not been decided, a studio spokeswoman said.

The 95-minute film, which grew out of Gore's lecture circuit PowerPoint presentation on global warming, premiered to favorable reviews last month at the Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary is directed by Davis Guggenheim, whose credits also include the HBO western "Deadwood," the FX cop show "The Shield" and the public television production "The First Year."

Executive producers include Laurie David, the wife of actor-producer Larry David, the star of HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

The production company behind the film, Participant Productions, also produced politically based films "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Syriana."

The commercial opening of the film in May will coincide with release of the book version of "An Inconvenient Truth," as a follow-up to the former Democratic presidential nominee's 1992 bestseller "Earth in the Balance," from Rodale Books.

Finally! I can't wait to see this. It should be very enlightening. I'm looking forward to his new book as well. Sadly the people who really need to watch this won't see it since they are too closed minded to actually listen to anything regarding the environment and what we might do to help our planet.

Found via Yahoo! News.

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February 12, 2006

Really Cute Movie

If you haven't seen Just Like Heaven I highly recommend it! Even though I detest Reese Witherspoon I was able to get past that and this is a really cute movie in a sappy not real life sort of way! A real feel good movie! Definitely five out of five stars! Check it out!

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January 26, 2006

My new FTP Client

Having a blog you need an FTP Client about once every year or so. Since Dianne got a new computer since the last time we needed to use one I had to find a new FTP client. And guess who had one?? Firefox!!! That's right! It slices, it dices and now it's a FTP Client platform as well. There is a great plug-in called the FireFTP that integrates into the Firefox browser. It has all the functionality you need for an FTP Client, they claim it's a little slow but I hardly noticed after doing it manually for the hour before. I was really surprised by how easy it was to use as well. Anyway, I got Dianne's 3.2 plug-ins she wanted up on the system. So if you find yourself in need of a FTP Client I highly recommend the FireFTP plug-in for Firefox. If you don't use Firefox I don't know what to tell you. You need to be upgrading to the better browser today!

Get the FireFTP plug-in.

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October 4, 2005

DOE Launches Energy Conservation Campaign

As I covered in my bitter diatribe earlier this week the notion of a godless Republican animal daring to tell me to conserve is one of those things that just makes me so angry I can't see straight. Some of us haven't lived our entire lives in utter irresponsibility to the environment and to the nation as a whole. But much like every other Republican hypocrisy, underneath all the lies and deception there is actually some good stuff under there that they flat out stole from people who actually know right from wrong. It's funny that all these tree hugger ecofreaks that you worthless scum have been trashing continuously for the last 30 years were right and your radical hate ideology led exactly where they said it would. Yet not even for a moment is there any acknowledgement of that on the radical right. They are just going to pretend this was their idea all along and they had nothing to do with getting us into this mess. As a matter of fact they are working daily trying to continue to undermine our future with their hate ideology and anti-America agenda. The entire avoidance yet again of raising the CAFE standards is a perfect example of their efforts to sabotage the future to support their radical hate ideology now, then tell us to conserve to get us over the "rough" patch. It's infuriating!!!

Ok, let's say for completely personal reason not related to commander in chief crackhead you want to do something to try and blunt the massive rise in your utility bills that are coming this winter because of the energy crisis. If you decided to help yourself out and tell your local Republican to stuff it, you could go over to the DOE website for energy conservation. Nothing really revolutionary over there to tell you, cover your windows, cover your hot water heater, lower heat temperatures, raise air conditioning temperatures and upgrade to energy star appliances. All good stuff that is fairly cheap to do, but the return on investment is relatively low unless you do the major upgrades. I'm so thankful that I decided to upgrade my heat pump this spring. I've yet to see significantly lower bills because electricity went up so much over the last year, but as far as percentage of usage it's definitely been a great investment. And by the time this winter is over I expect that it may be critical. Anyway, review the DOE site for yourself and take seriously the considerations offered.

Read more here.

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September 29, 2005

Solar Outdoor Christmas Lights

Now this is cool! They are a little pricey, but on the flip side you don't have to replace bulbs and such and they don't cost anything to run.

Beautiful Lights Last Nearly Forever, No Outlet Required

These solar string lights won’t add a penny to your energy bill, and can be hung anywhere year round. 104 bright LED bulbs will last indefinitely, and come on automatically each evening. The solar panel/battery pack can be wall or stake mounted. Run time on full charge averages 8 hours.

Check them out at the Gardener's Supply Company.

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September 27, 2005

Hangaroo 2

Want to play an addicting game? Check out Hangaroo 2! I could play it for hours!

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September 21, 2005

My Name is Earl

If you didn't catch the premiere episode of My Name is Earl, I HIGHLY recommend it! It was fantastic, which means they'll take it off the air because they always take the good shows off and leave the airwaves crammed with utter crap, but I digress. Anyway, if you get a chance check it out. You'll laugh your head off!

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September 3, 2005

Whole Foods Disaster Relief

If you are near a Whole Food store, whether you regularly shop there, or you know where one is, stop in and make a donation:

At all Whole Foods Market stores across the country, shoppers wishing to donate to the relief efforts may do so by simply adding a donation to their purchase. 100% of collected funds will go directly to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. To further help relief efforts, Whole Foods Market will match in-store customer donations for up to a total of $1 million. Please join us in helping those in need.

Now that's a good thing. Read more here.

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September 1, 2005

Tour of Hope

A few weeks ago when I blogged about the American Cancer Society's Blog for Hope I received an email from my good friend Joanne about one of her friends Christopher Millard who is participating in the Tour of Hope and I decided that I must blog about him.

Here's a little information on Christopher:

Christopher Millard

Christopher Millard waited to see a doctor for more than a year after he discovered a lump on his shoulder. He is a well-educated biologist, and thought he knew what a cancerous tumor felt like. But when he finally had the lump looked at, he learned it was a high-grade sarcoma that required immediate and intense treatment.

Doctors told Christopher about a clinical trial and treatment for his cancer that showed a lot of promise. Christopher was taken aback by his cancer diagnosis and was further surprised to learn of the many clinical studies underway to treat it. “I wasn’t aware of how many clinical trials there were and that they were available for the general public,” he says. “I participated in one and it has made all the difference.”

Nevertheless, Christopher says he waited too long to see a doctor about the lump on his shoulder. His procrastination meant a longer and more involved treatment for a tumor that had grown from the size of a quarter to the size of a softball in the course of a year. As a member of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™ Team, Christopher wants to encourage people to see their physicians immediately if they find a lump or experience any symptoms of cancer.

Christopher is very open about his cancer experience and takes the opportunity to promote early detection and the promise of cancer research. He welcomes questions from friends and acquaintances. “I always encourage folks to ask,” he says. “I want to get rid of the stigma associated with cancer. I want people to know it’s OK to talk about it and learn from it.”

As a cancer survivor, Christopher feels compelled to reach as many people as possible with his message. He’s been given a second chance and wants to return the favor by taking his story on the road with the Tour of Hope. “I hope that others will find strength, hope and knowledge in the Tour of Hope, and see me and my teammates as an inspiration.”

Joanne tells me that he is an amazing person whom she respects a lot. She says she was amazed at how he carried on and worked all through out his cancer treatment. Joanne also says he is a very upbeat person that people really like. Christopher sounds like an all around great person! And on top of this he is involved in a great cause.

The Tour of Hope is a great thing. If you can, check them out and see how you can help. After all every little bit helps and hopefully one day in the very near future they can find a cure for cancer so that everyone faced with this disease will be a survivor.

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Posted by: Joanne at September 1, 2005 2:33 PM

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Posted by: Joanne at September 2, 2005 9:46 AM

Posted by: Dianne at September 2, 2005 11:19 AM

August 5, 2005

National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth

I'm watching National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth series right now and I must say it's excellent! I just finished watching the first disc from Netflix and I can't wait until the next one arrives. I think I'm going to have to get a copy of this one for my permanent collection. If you get a chance check it out.

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June 22, 2005

Buy Blue

I came across the most interesting website today. The website is called "Buy Blue" and this is their mission:

You may have voted blue, but every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest. By purchasing products and services from companies that donate heavily to conservatives, we have been compromising our own interests as liberals and progressives.

As a progressive I was immediately intrigued. So I looked up some of the companies that I buy products from on a regular basis and here are some of their ratings in blueness:

Starbucks = 100% Blue
Whole Foods = 50% Blue (this one surprised me a little bit, but since the Whole Foods originated in Texas, I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that much.)
Trader Joes = 50% (Again a bit surprising)
Tom's of Maine = 100% Blue
TiVo = 50% Blue
Target = 17% Blue
T-Mobile = 28% Blue
PetsMart = 0% Blue
Panera Bread Company = 100% Blue
Outback Steakhouse = 2% Blue
Netflix = 72% Blue
Michael's = 0% Blue
Luxottica Group S.p.A. (Owner of Pearle Vision) = 100% Blue
L.L Bean = 97% Blue
Krispy Kreme = 0% Blue
IKEA = 50% Blue (This one surprised me too. I thought it would be a bit higher given their environmental stance.)
Home Depot = 18% Blue
Hewlett Packard = 41% Blue
H&R Block = 55% Blue
Wells Fargo = 42% Blue
eBay = 57% Blue
Dominos = 0% Blue
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (Owners of Olive Garden and Red Lobster) = 9% Blue
Comp USA = 50% Blue
Burlington Coat Factory = 100% Blue
BJ's Wholesale Club = 50% Blue
AT&T = 44% Blue
Amazon.com = 41% Blue

Looks like I need to do some work on this. Some of the other companies I use on a regular basis aren't listed, but it's an interesting idea.

Check it out here.

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Posted by: Leann at June 23, 2005 10:45 AM

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Posted by: Dianne at June 23, 2005 3:35 PM

June 9, 2005

Democrats are Sexy T-Shirts

I found several sites that offer the Democrats are Sexy T-shirt similar to the one I posted earlier today. I like the first one in the list the best, but I thought I'd post them all in case someone out there in cyberland liked one of the others better. So here you go:

http://www.abc-shirts.com/design/label/220

http://www.cafepress.com/democratnation1/550300

http://www.cafepress.com/angryintheusa/393963

http://www.unemployeddemocrats.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cat=3

Enjoy!

Posted by Daffodil at 11:56 AM | Comments (1)

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Posted by: dalkOceance at January 26, 2008 10:49 PM

June 7, 2005

Mayors sign 'urban environmental accords'

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP)

Mayors from around the world on Sunday signed an international treaty calling for increased use of public transportation and drastic cuts to the amount of trash sent to landfills.

The signing of the "Urban Environmental Accords" capped the United Nations World Environment Day Conference in San Francisco. The nonbinding accords list 21 specific actions that can make cities greener.

San Francisco was the first U.S. city to host the annual conference. Much of the conference focused on global warming and what mayors can do to curb emissions of "greenhouse gases" such as carbon dioxide that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere.

Mayors participating in Sunday's ceremony came from Zurich, Istanbul, Melbourne, Seattle and dozens of other cities. They signed the agreement before heading outside to hear a 500-member gospel choir sing a song composed for the event called "Together We Can."

"What you are doing here today is taking a different approach _ a united approach -- on the stewardship of the environment," U.S. House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi said.

The accords call for policies to expand affordable public transportation coverage for city residents within a decade. They also call for increasing access to safe drinking water, with a goal of access for all by 2015.

Other goals include creating an accessible park or recreation space within a half-mile of every city resident by 2015 and achieving zero growth in the amount of waste being sent to landfills and incinerators by 2040.

Among the most pressing issues was a recommendation to increase the use of renewable energy to meet 10 percent of a city's peak electric load within seven years.

"The challenge is to take these goals and ideas and to manifest them. We are accountable to getting things done," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said.

This is very encouraging! I hope to see more efforts like this one in the years to come. There are some very good ideas put forth here.

Read it all here and here.

Posted by Daffodil at 1:53 PM | Comments (3)

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Posted by: ManDrake at June 7, 2005 2:27 PM

Posted by: Dianne at June 7, 2005 2:33 PM

Posted by: ManDrake at June 7, 2005 2:46 PM

May 1, 2005

Silent Bob Speaks, The Collected Writings of Kevin Smith

As I mentioned before I ordered a copy of Kevin Smith's new book and it arrived yesterday. I had had it up to my eyeballs with projects and homework and finals, and decided to take a little break from all that and do a little reading that had nothing to do with learning, and had everything to do with laughing my head off! I had intended to read a few pages and then get back to work, but I couldn't put this book down! It's a fast read and it's hilarious! Next thing I knew I had read all 325 pages! (OK, well I didn't read the whole section with the interview with Tom Cruise, because quite frankly I've never understood why a sane man would leave Nicole Kidman, and he's a little creepy, and while we are on the subject what the hell is the deal with Katie Holmes?? How does a seemingly intelligent young woman find herself dating a freaky man that was stupid enough to dump Nicole Kidman? But oh well that's really a rant for another time!) Anyway, I HIGHLY recomend this book! It's irreverant, tacky, crude, dirty, funny, heart warming, rude and oh so Kevin Smith!

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Posted by: Monica at May 2, 2005 1:54 PM

April 6, 2005

Sky-Watchers Await Solar Eclipse on Friday

Well for those of you in the US there will be a partial eclipse going on for your Friday between 5 and 7 pm EST. Remember to user the proper precautions before viewing a solar event.

Read more here.

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March 16, 2005

New Maine Health Plan Blends Public, Private Funds

I think Maine may be onto something with their new Dirigo Health Plan. It's actually similar to something I was suggesting yesterday on Tom's site as a solution for small Businesses benefits. It was amusing to hear about it actually happening in Maine. Personally I think we would all be better served by something happening at the Federal Level to decrease health care costs, but given the campaign contributions made by Big Medical, I find it hard to believe that anything positive will be happening for us at that level. Personally I would love to see some sort of extension of the FSA Healthcare accounts, that allows them to carry over money from year to year. That would allow people to pay for medical expenses tax free. Another change that would help would be the introduction of nationwide drug purchasing for all citizens. It's amazing to me that companies get to deduct all the expenses from drug research and a good portion of the research is actually funded by the tax payers, then they get to turn around and charge what the market will bear and it's suppose to be ok??? Effectively they got the drug research for free, so if anyone ever tells you that the first pill is expensive, they are lying to you and probably listening to some drug company propaganda. I've got no problem with people making a buck, but not when they are effectively charging me two or three times for the same pill. It drives me nuts that there are people that think that's a good idea. Finally cost savings change so what we need to make is nationally license doctors. See the problem now is that a doctor can lose his license in one state and move to another and start right up where he left off. This is important because basically you have a walking lawsuit being allowed to continue to harm people. Those lawsuits make us all worse off. So why not just fix the problems and move on. Anyway, I digress, the Maine system is a really good idea. If you are in Maine and have the chance take advantage of the new Plan. If your employer is dragging their feet, get on their case about getting involved. Trust me it will work out to the benefit of everyone in the end, no matter what the conservative morons scream at the top of their lungs.

Hear more about it here or go to the Maine website for it .

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January 31, 2005

Polka Dot Mittens

I'm really enjoying a new blog I stumbled across called "Polka Dot Mittens" which bills itself as "an illustrated journal." It's fantastic! Check it out if you get the chance.

Posted by Daffodil at 10:34 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

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Posted by: tammy at February 2, 2005 3:26 PM

Posted by: Dianne at February 3, 2005 8:12