High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Big Fish Games is a provider of Internet media delivery...

Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be...

2009 Internet Directory Web 2.0 Edition Vince Averello Mikal E. Belicove Nancy Conner Adrienne Crew...

In the first installment her Bride Quartet series, the New York Times best-selling author presents...

...

The Avengers Request to Remove Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton

From: Steve.America@shield.gov
To: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Bruce@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: A formal request…

Hi Nick,

Sorry to bother you. I’m writing on behalf of the Avengers here, but we wanted you to formally reconsider the inclusion of Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton to the Avenger initiative. Amongst us we include a world class spy, a serum induced WWII super-soldier, an impenetrable beast, a genius with an iron suit and a nuclear reactor for a heart, and a legitimate demigod. We collectively agree that Clint, while pretty great at shooting a bow and arrow, should not be included in our ranks.

We understand this is a difficult position to put you in, but it might even be the best thing for Clint. He’s an excellent worker and will be able to land on his feet wherever he ends up… whether it’s an amateur archery range, or the archery section of an REI, or wherever, I’m just brainstorming here.

Thanks Nick,

Steve “Captain America” Rogers, on behalf of the Avengers

---

From: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
To: Steve.America@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Bruce@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Hi guys,

As always I’m happy to keep the discussion open and look forward to hearing your input. That being said the Avengers were created with a specific goal in mind, and your skills have clearly worked well together to combat the forces we’ve faced. He seems to fit his role nicely. So I don’t see any changes in the near future.

Keep at it,

Nick.

---

From: Steve.America@shield.gov
To: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Bruce@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Hi Nick,

We definitely appreciate your time and consideration on this matter… however we really don’t feel like you’re seeing the whole picture here. Don’t get us wrong, we think Clint is a great guy and good friend. He’s definitely excellent at his skill set, we just are confused as to what his role is beyond ‘The guy with the bow and arrow’.

Best,

Steve (and the Avengers)

---

From: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
To: Steve.America@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Bruce@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com

Subject: RE: A formal request…

Hi Steve,

I’ve noticed most enemies tend to avoid him. Maybe he’s doing something right.

Best,

Nick

---

From: Tony@stark.com
To: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: Steve.America@shield.gov, Bruce@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Nick,

If I’m fighting a bunch of aliens with lasers and there’s one in the corner holding a boomerang I’m not telling people “We gotta get rid of that boomerang dude.” No one wants to bully the remedial kid.

-Stark

---

From: Bruce@shield.gov
To: Tony@stark.com, Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: Steve.America@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Hi Nick,

We totally get where you’re coming from. He’s definitely doing something right… gumption, dedication. Lord knows how much stuff he passed up in school to keep working on his bow and arrow skills with the rest of the Webelos. He’s a dedicated archer. Absolutely.

Now I don’t want to put words in people’s mouths, and we all appreciate the opportunity you’ve given us here, but we were all a bit hesitant when Clint was originally included in the emails. We all kept a positive attitude, and tried to showcase his exceptional use of antiquated technology, but to be honest I was a little insulted when I saw his name on the list. Like, was there something I was doing wrong? You know?

I think he’s also getting the sense we’re not all that into his ‘power,’ and he’s definitely overcompensating. During battle he spends a sizable chunk of his energy trying to impress us instead of fighting.

Best,

Bruce

---

From: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
To: Bruce@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Steve.America@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Overcompensating? How?

Nick

Sent from my Droid, excuse typos

---

From: Bruce@shield.gov
To: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Steve.America@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

He makes bets about how accurate he can get. He’s started calling us his merry men. Once he made everyone stop fighting to prove he could hit the same arrow that was already buried in a dead guy. I’ve also overheard him say things like:

-“So your catchphrase is ‘Hulk Smash’ huh? Yeah I was thinking ‘It’s time to shoot this bow and arrow.’”

-“Oh shoot. I’m out of arrows. Guess I can’t carry this Avenger battle anymore. Take it from here everyone else.”

-“Oh you’re a Norse god? That’s cool. I’m kinda like Katniss from the Hunger Games.”

-“Don’t call me Clint! My name is Hawkeye! Hawks are excellent hunters, I’ve seen one catch a pretty big fish before!”

-“If you could have any super power what would it be? Mine would be using a bow and arrow well.”

When I hulk out I can’t remember where I am, or even if I mauled the love of my life. I have vivid memories of all of these things, which should prove to you how ad naseum the entire situation has become.

Bruce

---

From: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
To: Bruce@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Steve.America@shield.gov, natalia@shield.co.ru, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Natasha, thoughts?

Nick

---

From: natalia@shield.co.ru
To: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Bruce@shield.gov, Steve.America@shield.gov, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

If I have to hear one more Cupid’s Arrow pun I will snap.

-N

---

From: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
To: natalia@shield.co.ru
Cc: Tony@stark.com, Bruce@shield.gov, Steve.America@shield.gov, Thor@rocketmail.com
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Alright. We’ll let him have one more week as to not blindside him, but I’ll start writing up his recommendation. Until then I met someone who might be a good replacement. He goes by Daredevil. Full disclosure: He’s blind. But he’s got great hearing. He is also pretty flexible.

Nick

---

From: Thor@rocketmail.com
To: Nick.Fury@shield.gov
Cc: natalia@shield.co.ru, Bruce@shield.gov, Tony@stark.com, Steve.America@shield.gov,
Subject: RE: A formal request…

Fuck you, Nick.

-Thor

Sea Shore Memories

There’s a place by the ocean
There’s a place close by the sea
There’s a place down by the ocean
That really mean the world to me

All my childhood day’s were spent there
Playing games by the roaring sea
Learned the trade like many others
Grew up in the fishery

All us kid’s worked at the cod fish
From the time that we could walk
Had to make our work a pleasure
Scarcely had the time to talk

Grew to learn the good of labor
Harvesting cod fish from the sea
Worked in the cod stage ,and on the drying flakes.
In a country great and free

Bucked sawed fire wood each winter
Each and every spring and fall
Lugging water from the old well
Picking big fish off the trawl

How we loved to use the jigger
Pulling large cod from the sea
The huge cod traps ,full of cod fish
Now a sad and happy memory

Each three season’s to the School house
Each day we had to go
Junk of wood for the old giant stove
Often to our guts in snow

Ran to our homes each dinner hour
Eat our dinner fast for fun
To the saw horse, buck sawed fire wood
Rushed back to the school by one

Each evening when school was over
Buck sawed fire wood real fast
Lugged in our wood and water
Hopefully for a day it would last

Done the other chores we had too
Ran to skate on the new fall ice
Or we’d sled the hills of winter
Our life style was so nice

Done our school home work after supper
Knit a pound of cod trap twine
Went to a house where us kids would gather
Had our fun, back home by nine

All young girls done near likewise
Mostly there’s was a household choir
Made up beds, washed the dishes
Sweep and scrubbed the bare board floor

The scrubbing board, there cloths washer
A wooden tub, filled with water hot
All contained within my memories
Some things just can’t be forgot

As we grew, and reached adulthood
Trained for responabilities
Made our trade much easier
To become fishers of the deep blue sea’s

Since 92, our lifestyle has changed
For each young boy and girl
And the rest of us as elders
A more complex ‘ to easy and hard old world

Gerald G E Pye
December 2007

This Day/Today in Baseball History -- from Mary Landers

This Day in Baseball History -- It was 100 years ago today -- on May 18, 1912, the Detroit Tigers field a team of replacement players against the Philadelphia Athletics. With 19 players on strike in protest of the recent suspension of Ty Cobb, the Tigers lose to the A's 24-2 at Shibe Park. The Tigers' lineup includes a number of local semipro players. Allan Travers, a St. Joseph's College pitcher, takes the mound for the Tigers, who are fielding an amateur team to avoid a $5,000 fine due to the team's refusal to play the A's in support of Cobb. In what will be his only major league appearance, the collegiate hurler goes the distance giving up 24 runs, 14 earned runs, 26 hits, seven walks, but does strike out one.

Today in Baseball History -- May 18

1875 -- In a match-up of undefeated teams, the visiting Boston Red Stockings (16-0) beat the Dark Blues (12-0) at the Hartford Ball Club Grounds, 10-5. The record crowd of 10,000 fans attends the National Association contest, including Mark Twain, who will later offer a five dollar reward for the return of his English-made brown silk umbrella pilfered at the game by a small boy when the famous writer stood up to cheer for the hometown team.
1929 -- In the first game of a twin bill, the Dodgers rout the Phillies, 16-0. Johnny Frederick scores five times giving the Brooklyn center fielder a major league record of tallying eight runs in two games.
1929 -- At the Baker Bowl, the Phillies split a doubleheader with Brooklyn, 16-20 and 8-6. The 50 runs scored is a major league record for tallies scored in a twin bill.
1931 -- Dodgers' outfielder Babe Herman hits for the cycle for the first of two times this season. In 1933, as a member of the Cubs, he will again hit for the cycle, making him and Bob Meusel the only major leaguers to have accomplished the feat three times since 1900.
1942 -- Night games in New York are banned for the duration of WW II, leaving fans in the dark about the status of the All-Star game scheduled to be played at the Polo Grounds on the evening of Monday, July 6. The prohibition of nighttime tilts, announced by NYC Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine, will change the starting times for 28 contests involving the Dodgers and Giants. (The first night game at Yankee Stadium will be played in 1946)
1958 -- On his 25th birthday, Carroll Hardy, pinch-hitting for Roger Maris, blasts a three-run home run giving the Indians a 7-4 walk-off victory. The 11th inning round-tripper off Chicago's Billy Pierce is the Cleveland rookie's first major league homer.
1969 -- César Tovar and Rod Carew combine to set a major league record for most steals by teammates in one inning swiping five bases against the Tigers' battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan. During the third inning, Tovar, the Twins' leadoff hitter, steals third base and home followed by Carew, who pilfers second and third base and home plate in the 8-2 loss at Metropolitan Stadium.
1976 -- In a 5-3 victory at Tiger Stadium, Carl Yastrzemski plays in his 2,293rd game wearing a Red Sox uniform, surpassing Ted Williams's team record. The Boston legend will extend the franchise mark to 3,308 contests before he retires in 1983.
1988 -- In the year of the 'Year of the Balk', Dave Stewart breaks a major league record committing his twelfth balk of the season. The A's right-hander will extend the single-season record to 16 thanks to the strict interpretation of umpires on a minor rule change.
1990 -- Cubs' second baseman Ryan Sandberg's errorless game streak comes to an end after 123 games and 584 chances. Joe Morgan had held the previous record of 91 games.
1992 -- WQAM becomes the voice of the Marlins signing a four-year deal as the flagship radio station of the team. Listeners in Miami and southern Florida will be able to pick up the play-by-play action of the new National League expansion team at 560 am on their radio dial.
1998 -- Due to drastic payroll cuts reducing the World Champions' effectiveness, two class-action lawsuits are filed against the Marlins - one for breach of contract and the other accusing the team of false advertising.
1998 -- With a 6-3 victory over the Orioles, the Devil Rays become only the second expansion team in major league history to sweep an away four-game series. The 1993 Colorado Rockies, who did it against the Dodgers, is the other team to accomplish this feat.
1999 -- Diamondbacks' outfielder Luis Gonzalez homers in his first at bat extending his hitting streak to 30 games, tying three other players for the longest streak in the decade.
1999 -- After missing the team's first 36 games, Joe Torre returns to the Yankee dugout, two months after undergoing successful surgery for prostate cancer. Prior to the 6-3 loss to the Red Sox, the 58-year old skipper receives a two-minute standing ovation from the Fenway Park crowd when the scoreboard welcomes him back.
2000 -- In a 6-2 loss to the Padres, the Marlins steal 10 bases which is one shy of the National League record. Luis Castillo (3), Cliff Floyd (3), Preston Wilson (2), and Mark Kotsay (2), the top four batters in the Fish lineup, are responsible for the grand theft.
2000 -- Mark McGwire passes Mickey Mantle into eighth place on the all-time home run career list with 539. 'Big Mac' goes deep three times as the Cardinals beat the Phillies, 7-2.
2002 -- At Fenway Park, Pedro Martinez becomes the 11th pitcher in American League history to record an immaculate inning when he strikes out the side on nine pitches in the first frame. The Red Sox right-hander fans Ichiro Suzuki, Mark McLemore, and Ruben Sierra to begin Boston's eventual 4-1 victory over Seattle.
2004 -- At the age of 40, southpaw Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game when the Diamondbacks beat the Braves, 2-0. The ‘Big Unit’ joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo and Nolan Ryan as the only hurlers to throw no-hitters in both leagues and creates the longest time span between no-no’s having first accomplished the feat against the Tigers in June of 1990.
2008 -- It takes a pitchout and a perfect throw by Brewers catcher Jason Kendall, but Jacoby Ellsbury is finally caught stealing after swiping 25 consecutive stolen bases to start his big league career. The Red Sox outfielder is second all time to Tim Raines who recorded 27 straight thefts with the Expos before being caught in 1981.
2008 -- With his seventh stolen base in the last two games, Marlins' second baseman Luis Castillo is one theft shy of tying a National League mark. The record of 8 pilfered bags in consecutive games was set by Walt Wilmont of the Chicago Colts (Cubs) in 1894.
2009 -- Jason Kendall collects his 2,000th career hit when he singles in the Brewers' 8-4 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The 34-year old backstop becomes the 254th player, but only the eighth to be primarily a catcher to reach that milestone.

hell yeah going back to camp again, hope to see a bear i want to shoot one. the great thing about been there is the front yard is where the fish and beavers at and the backyard is where the birds and big games lot of fun

Top Ten Ways to Connect With Your Children
By Melissa Taylor

It ranks among one of my top priorities in life. I know my time with them is borrowed. My own mother told me to make the most of the time I have with my children, because it will be gone before I know it. Wow, isn’t that the truth? But what exactly does it mean “to make the most of the time” we have with our kids? I think a lot of it has to do with the ways we choose to connect with them. There are many ways we can find to bond with our children. Here are my Top Ten.

10. Ignore your cell phone when you are with them. Let it ring and let the caller leave a message! Send the message to your child that they are #1 and way more important than anyone who may be calling you.

9. Show up. Be there for their special days, no matter how little or big the event or the child is.

8. Game Time. Playing games is a great way to just hang out, be competitive, insert values when they don’t realize it, and just have fun! There are so many fun family games. Just last night, I observed my 9 year old daughter playing “Go Fish” with my husband. It was the tiniest deck of cards you ever did see, but they were laughing and having the best time.

7. One on one time. Be intentional on having some time just for you and one of your children. For me, this is tough sometimes. I have to make this happen. For example, my daughter and I have a lot of time alone and we do a regular Mommy~Daughter date night, but my sons and I don’t. (We used to, but since they have gotten older, not so much.) I have to create that time so I try to select an activity that will intrigue them…like going to Starbucks, to a sports store just to look around, to a movie then ice cream, or sitting in the garage to listen to the drums. The activity isn’t so important as the time is.

6. Family Devotions. Priceless. If you can get your whole family together for some Family Time Devotions and discussion, do it!!!! It’s a great time to have the opportunity to bring God’s Word to life and learn to apply to real life. My kids learned how to look up Bible verses because of family devotions.

5. Car Time/Bedtime. You have a captive audience in the car, don’t let that time slip by. Talk to them. Pay attention to what they want to listen to on the radio and let them listen to it. Ask them about their day. And at bedtime, tuck them in. Again, you have a captive audience. Sometimes this is when your kids will just unload. For some reason mine seem to let their guards down at bedtime. Pray for them and let them hear you.

4. Family Meals. Whether you are a single mom or the mom of six, try to make time for a meal together. Not only does it encourage conversation, but also table manners. We used to all have breakfast together. Something we like to incorporate into our Dinner time is reporting the High-Lows: Each person reveals their high of the day and their low of the day. Quite telling.

3. Get interested in what they love even if it’s not what you love. Find out the best way for THEM to communicate. This may not be your #1 way. Follow them on Facebook. Look at their iTunes music files. Play their video games. Text them. Get to know their friends and love them.

2. Talk to them about anything! And listen too! From early on, let them know that they can ask anything, talk to you about anything, or approach you with any subject. NOTHING is off limits. Oh I have stories on this one!

1. Be available. Show your children that they matter by being available to them.

And finally, one I can’t leave off.

*Pray for them. Pray a specific verse for them. Let them know you are doing this. It may be a life verse you have claimed for them or just a prayer you have on your heart that day. This is a way you can connect with them EVEN IF THEY DON’T RESPOND TO THE OTHER 10 SUGGESTIONS.

44% of kids watch television before they go to sleep

In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was first established for the specific purpose to combat the counterfeiting of money

Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents

In 1967, the IMAX film system was invented by Canadian Ivan Grame Ferguson to premier at Expo 67.

Approximately 40% of the U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit by the end of the Civil War

Every three days a human stomach gets a new lining

In 1873, Colgate made a toothpaste that was available in a jar

The Kodiak, which is native to Alaska, is the largest bear and can measure up to eight feet and weigh as much as 1,700 pounds

The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley

Mars is the home of Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in our solar system

The Gastric Flu can cause projectile vomiting

The second best selling game of all time is Jenga. Jenga is a Swahili word, meaning "to build."

Cinderella is known as Rashin Coatie in Scotland, Zezolla in Italy, and Yeh-hsien in China

The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

The fur of the binturong, also known as the "Asian Bear Cat," smells like popcorn. The scent is believed to come from a gland located near the tail

In 1894 the first big Coke sign was found on the side of a building located in Cartersville, Georgia, and still exists today

The longest distance a deepwater lobster has been recorded to travel is 225 miles

Orcas (killer whales), when traveling in groups, breathe in unison

The Great Pyramids used to be as white as snow because they were encased in a bright limestone that has worn off over the years

NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80%

Paul Hunn holds the record for the loudest burp, which was 118.1 decibels, which is as loud as a chainsaw

A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana

There are six million parts in the Boeing 747-400.

The first TONKA truck was made in 1947

In the U.S., over one million gallons of cosmetics, drinks, and lotions are sold that contain aloe in them per year

Sugar Bear (the mascot for Golden Crisps cereal) was born in 1963

The Tonle Sap River in Cambodia flows north for almost half the year and then south for the rest of the year

Japanese research has concluded that moderate drinking can boost IQ levels

For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America

Baskin Robbins plain vanilla ice cream is the number one selling flavour and accounts for a quarter of their sales

Elizabeth Taylor has appeared on the cover of Life magazine more than anyone else

The typical lead pencil can draw a line that is thirty five miles long

The word "toy" comes from an old English word that means "tool."

Smokers are twice as likely to develop lower back pain than non-smokers

Humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone

The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing "melanin" which gives the hair colour

In 1960 there were 16,067 gambling slots in Nevada. By 1999, this number rose to 205,726 slots which would be one slot for every 10 people residing there

It takes the Hubble telescope about 97 minutes to complete an orbit of the Earth. On average, the Hubble uses the equivilent amount of energy as 30 household light bulbs to complete an orbit.

The two factories of the Jelly Belly Candy Company produces approximately 100,000 pounds of jelly beans a day. this amounts to about 1,250,000 jelly beans an hour

Pucks hit by hockey sticks have reached speeds of up to 150 miles per hour

The "naked recreation and travel" industry has grown by 233% in the past decade

The Planters Peanut Company mascot, Mr. Peanut, was created during a contest for schoolchildren in 1916

Most lipstick contains fish scales

The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the english language

The expression cooked "al dente" means "to the tooth." What this means is that the pasta should be somewhat firm, and offer some resistance to the tooth, but should also be tender

Of married couples, 70% of men and 60% of women have cheated on their spouse

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times

More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes

The first couple to be shown on a sitcom sleeping in the same bed was "Mary Kay and Johnny."

Asthma affects one in fifteen children under the age of eighteen

A one ounce milk chocolate bar has 6 mg of caffeine

Throughout the South, peanuts were known as "Monkey Nuts," and "Goober peas," before the civil war

Scallops have approximately 100 eyes around the edge of its shell

In 1810, Peter Durand invented the tin can for preserving food

The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth is called Arachibutyrophobia

Men in their early twenties shave an average of four times a week

Colour is not an indicator for the taste or ripeness in cranberries

Each year there are approximately 20 billion coconuts produced worldwide

A chicken with red earlobes will produce brown eggs, and a chicken with white earlobes will produce white eggs

Not all polar bears hibernate; only pregnant females polar bears do

There is a restaurant in Stockholm that only offers all-garlic products. They even have a garlic cheesecake

Serving ice cream on cherry pie was once illegal in Kansas

Superman The Escape rollercoaster, located in California at Six Flags Magic Mountain, goes from 0 to 100 miles per hour in only 7 seconds

Five thousandths of a millimeter is the tolerance of accuracy at the LEGO mould factories

2.5 cans of Spam are consumed every second in the United States

In 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna held an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg. updated

A meteor has only destroyed one satellite, which was the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993.

The Koala bear is not really a bear, but is really related to the kangaroo and the wombat.

One gallon of pure maple syrup weighs 11 pounds

Instead of a Birthday Cake, many Russian children are given a Birthday Pie

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system in India, employing over 1.6 million people

The word "comet" comes from the Greek word "kometes" meaning long hair and referring to the tail

The average price for a major league baseball game in 2004 is $19.82

The hydra, which is related to the jellyfish, can grow its body back in a couple of days if it is cut in half

The deepest mine in the world is the East Rand mine, which goes to a depth of about 3,585 metres

Native Indians have been known to paint their doors blue, which they believe keeps the bad spirits out

Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.

It would take about fourteen and half million notes of currency to build a mile high stack

Chinese Crested dogs can get acne

It costs about 3 cents to make a $1 bill in the United States

Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself."

The cross bow was invented by the Chinese and records of its usage goes back to as far as the Three Kingdom Period (220 a.d.-280 a.d.).

It is estimated that by the end of 2000, there has been 142,600 tonnes of gold mined in the world

One-third pound stalk of broccoli contains more vitamin C than 204 apples

The Flintstones cartoon was the first thirty-minute cartoon to be aired during prime time

The abbreviation Xmas for the word Christmas is of Greek origin. Since the word for Christ in the Greek language is Xristos, which starts with the letter "X," they started putting the X in place of Christ and came up with the short form for the word Christmas

Dipsomania refers to an insatiable craving for alcoholic beverages

China has more English speakers than the United States

Pitcher Darold Knowles once pitched all seven games of one World Series

In a day, kids in the U.S. that are between the ages of 2 - 8 spend 28 minutes of their time coloring

The Ancient Greek women made a type of cheek blush by painting their cheeks with herbal pastes which was made out of crushed berries and seeds

Herbert Hoover, who was the 31st president of the United Stated, turned over all the Federal salary checks he received to charity during the 47 years he was in government

Macadamia nuts are not sold in their shells because it takes 300 pounds per square inch of pressure to break the shell

Japan has approximately 200 volcanoes and is home to 10% of the active volcanoes in the world

Before 1928, yo-yos used to be called bandalores in the United States

The only South East Asian country that has never been colonized by a Western Power is Thailand

In 1631, two London bible printers accidentally left the word "not" out of the seventh commandment, which then read, "Thou shalt commit adultery." This legendary book is now known as the "Wicked Bible."

The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar an England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes

Irish Wolfhound dogs have a short lifespan and live about 7-8 years

When Queen Elizabeth I of England died she owned over 3,000 gowns

Female alligators lay about 40 eggs that hatch in 60 - 70 days

The nickname for a Japanese businessmen is "Salarymen."

Emus cannot walk backwards

The external tank on space shuttles is not painted. It is the only part of the shuttle that is lost after launch, so it is not necessary to worry about metal corrosion.

The most popular Twizzler candy flavour is strawberry

Thirty percent of all bingo players are under the age of 35

Infants spend more time dreaming than adults do

The famous Casanova (Giacomo Casanova) was a librarian for many years before he died

The only species of turtle that lives in the open ocean is the sea turtle

Toronto was the first city in the world with a computerized traffic signal system

Seniors who drink a cup of coffee before a memory test score higher than those who drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise

Some octopuses have been known to eat their arms off when they are exposed to stressful situations

On average, 749 pounds of paper products is used by an American individual annually

The skeleton of a spider is located on the outside of the body. The name for this is exoskelton

Incas used to create pots in the shape of peanuts that were highly prized

The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements

Over 200 varieties of watermelons are grown in the U.S

The most dangerous job in the United States is that of a fisherman, followed by logging and then an airline pilot

The words "abstemioius," and "facetious" both have all the five vowels in them in order

French soldiers during World War I had the nickname "poilu" which translates to "hairy one."

Former U.S. President William Taft converted the White House stable into a four car garage in 1909

People living on the east coast prefer creamy peanut butter, while people living on the west coast prefer chunky peanut butter

Some snails live on branches in trees

Tomato ketchup is a good conditioner for the hair. It also helps get the greenish tinge that some blonde haired people get after swimming in water with chlorine in it

The youngest pope was 11 years old

Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 other million people in the world

Soldiers disease is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts

The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, which is 176 verses

During the First World War, cigarettes were handed out to soldiers along with their rations

The longest freshwater shoreline in the world is located in the state of Michigan

There are bananas called "Red banana" that are maroon to dark purple when ripe

Franklin Pierce was the first U.S. President to have a Christmas tree in the White House

The USA bought Alaska from Russia for 2 cents an acre

Walt Disney had originally suggested using the name Mortimer Mouse instead of Mickey Mouse

The length of brink of the Canadian "Horseshoe" Falls located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada is 2600 feet

The smile is the most frequently used facial expression. A smile can use anywhere from a pair of 5 to 53 facial muscles

The right lung of a human is larger than the left one. This is because of the space and placement of the heart

Native Americans used to use pumpkin seeds for medicine

The pound key (#) on the keyboard is called an octothorpe

The chemical name for caffeine is 1,3,7-trimethylzantihine

Corals take a long time to grow. Some corals only grow one centimeter in one year

Walmart-mart sells more apparel a year than all the other competing department stores combined

Canada has more inland waters and lakes than any other country in the world

Ramses II, a pharaoh of Egypt died in 1225 B.C. At the time of his death, he had fathered 96 sons and 60 daughters

The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want

Since its introduction in February 1935, more than two hundred million Monopoly board games have been sold worldwide

Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States

The smallest man ever was Gul Mohammed (1957-1997) of India, who measured 1 feet, 10? inches

500,000 tons of dog excrement are dumped annually on the streets of Paris

Hydrogen gas is the least dense substance in the world, at 0.08988g/cc

In Belgium, there is a museum just for strawberries

The Simpsons is the longest running prime-time animated series on television history

The more a person struggles to get out of quicksand the faster they will sink. Staying still, and being calm will actually make the body float in the quicksand because the body is less dense than the quicksand is

On average, a Canadian girl owns seven Barbie dolls, whereas an American girl owns eight

A piece of French toast that was partially eaten by Justin Timberlake sold on eBay

The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she provided twenty-five years of service

Atari had to bury millions of unsold "E.T." game cartridges in a New Mexico desert landfill in 1982

The biggest disco ball in the world has a diameter of 2.41 meters and 137.89 kilograms. It also has 6,900 mirror squares on it

The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses

An average city dog lives approximately three years longer than an average country dog

On average, falling asleep while driving results in 550 accidents per day in the United States

Scatologists are experts who study feces. (aka. crap, dung, dookie, dumps, feces, excrement, etc.)

Pumpkins contain potassium and vitamin A

The greatest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge, extending 64,374 km from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean

Pepsi got its name from the ingredient pepsin, which is said to aid in digestion, however, it is not known

The spray WD-40 got its name because there were forty attempts needed before the creation of the "water displacing" substance

Contrary to popular beliefs, chocolate does not cause acne

Detroit, Michigan has more registered bowlers than any other city in the USA

The fastest moving land snake is the Black Mamba, which can move up to 7 miles per hour

Annually Americans eat 45 million turkeys at Thanksgiving

Rabbits can live up to ten years

The average life span of a single red blood cell is 120 days

Over 250 million Slinky toys have been sold since its debut in 1946

In 1961, Italian artist Piero Manzoni packed his feces in cans, signed and mounted them, and then sold them as art

The last thing Elvis Presley ate before he died was four scoops of ice cream and 6 chocolate chip cookies

Some Chinese chopsticks contain gold as on of their materials

The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million

The watch was invented by Peter Henlein of Nuremberg in 1510.

In North America there are approximately 618 roller coasters

The concept of Boxing Day, which is on December 26th, was to give boxes of food and clothing to the poor. It is now viewed in some countries as a time to get merchandise from stores at reduced prices

Crayola is a French word that means "Oily chalk."

Every year, Burger King restaurants prepare over 950,000 pounds of bacon for their breakfast customers

Isaac Newton used to be a member of parliament

Dumbest Dog: Afghan hound

At just four years old Mozart was able to learn a piece of music in half an hour

It would take twenty new mid-size cars to generate the same amount of pollution that a mid-size 1960's car did.

The honey badger can withstand hundreds of bee stings that would otherwise kill another animal

There are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year

Black pepper is the most popular spice in the world

In Greece, the climate is so warm that many of the cinemas do not even have roofs

The word "moose" comes from the native Algonquian Indian word meaning "twig eater."

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill

An armadillo can walk under water

There are over one hundred billion galaxies with each galaxy having billions of stars

The Uape Indians, who live in the Amazon, mix the ashes of their recently cremated relatives with alcohol, then all members of the family drink the mix with fond memories of the deceased

The word "diamond" comes from the Greek word "adamas," which means "unconquerable."

On average, a typical dairy cow lies down and stands up about 14 times a day

For the movie "Tootsie" actor Dustin Hoffman thought of the title. His mother used to call him that as a child

The world record for rocking non-stop in a rocking chair is 480 hours held by Dennis Easterling, of Atlanta, Georgia

The Sears Tower consists of nine framed tubes, which connects nine skyscrapers as one building

The first subway system in America was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1897

There are approximately 45 billion fat cells in an average adult

To make one pound of butter, 29 cups of milk are needed

The dot that appears over the letter "i" is called a tittle

The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments

Close to 73% of girls in Bangladesh are married by age 18

Nerve impulses for muscle position travel at a speed of up to 390 feet per second

In the summer of 1858, the smell of the sewage in the Thames River in London was so bad that the Members of Parliament had to leave from the chamber of the House of Commons. This was a result of two million people dumping all their sewage into the river

One out of five people that eat ice cream binge on ice cream in the middle of the night. The person is usually between 18 - 24 years old

The Basenji dog is the only dog that is not able to bark

There is a dog museum in St. Louis, Missouri

The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that it breaks the sound barrier. The crack of the whip is actually a tiny sonic boom.

There is a city called Smackover located in Arkansas

An average person laughs about 15 times a day

The labels for Crayola crayons come in 18 different colors

The temperature of milk when it leaves the body of a cow is 101 degrees Fahrenheit. The milk is then quickly chilled and stored at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit

In Spain, it is common to pour chocolate milk or cafe au lait on cereal for breakfast

Over 50% of the wedding in the U.S. occur in the afternoon

Before the fur trade had started in Canada, it was estimated that there were over 6 million beavers

Eating dandelions can make you urinate more

Enough paper is recycled in the USA every day, that a 15 mile long train of boxcars could be filled up with paper.

The palms of your hands and the soles of your feet cannot tan, or grow hair

At the White House, president John Adams was said to be the first to display fireworks there

About 10% of the 100,000 thunderstorms that occur in the USA every year are classified as severe.

Sylvia Plath was a famous poet who killed herself at age thirty-one by sticking her head into a gas oven

A baseball will go farther in hot temperature than in cold temperature

A rabbit is not able to vomit

The aorta, which is largest artery located in the body, is about the diameter of a garden hose

Niagara Falls actually stopped flowing back in 1848 for about 20 hours because there was ice that was blocking the Niagara River

The world's first underground was the London Underground in1863. It has 275 stations and 253 miles of track.

The first American president to deliver a speech over the radio was Warren G. Harding

There are more than 40 million Americans that have "chronic halitosis," which is bad breath that never goes away

The human body makes anywhere from 1 to 3 pints of saliva every 24 hours

Cheetahs are the fastest land animal and can reach speeds up to 72mph

The purpose of tonsils is to destroy foreign substances that are swallowed or breathed in

The country with the highest consumption of candy at 29.5 pounds annually per person is Denmark

One of the most dangerous insect in the world is the common housefly. They carry and transmit more diseases than any other animal in the world

Every day, over 1,300 babies are born prematurely in the USA

The sun is approximately 149 million kilometres from the earth

The Great White Shark can grow to be more than twenty feet long and can weigh approximately 4,000 pounds

In 1832, in Paisley, Scotland the first municipal water filtration works was opened

The only popcorn museum in the world is lcoated in Marion, Ohio, USA

Any animal that has skin hair or fur can get dandruff, but in animals it is called "dander."

The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons

In 1819, the USA purchased Florida from Spain for the cancellation of a $5 million debt

In a lifetime, the average driver will honk 15,250 times

Jewelers Tiffany & Co., based in New York, are responsible for making the Super Bowl trophy

Skippy Peanut Butter is sold more in the world than any other peanut butter

The highest bridge in the world is located in the Himalyan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army, in 1982, and is about 5,600 metres above sea level

In 1893, the first mosque in the United States was built

Apples are part of the rose family

Every eleven minutes in the U.S., a woman dies of breast cancer

Mr. Butts invented the game SCRABBLE. The game was originally called "Criss Cross Words."

Actress Meryl Streep holds the record for the most Oscar nominated actress, with a record of 13 nominations

In a year approximately 900 million trees are cut down to make the raw materials needed for American pulp mills and paper

Enamel is hardest substance in the human body

A leech has 32 brains

Thomas Edison designed a helicopter that would work with gunpowder. It ended up blowing up and also blew up his factory.

In the late 1800's, washing machines and butter churners were sometimes powered by dogs walking on treadmills.

In China, people eat a bar of chocolate for every 1,000 chocolate bars eaten by the British

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors

Clarence Crane the inventor of "Crane's Peppermint Life Savers" sold his rights to the popular candy for less than three thousand dollars.

Namco, who are the manufacturers of Pac Man the video game, has estimated that the original arcade game has been played over 10 billion times by individuals

In Ivrea, Italy, thousands of citizens celebrate the beginning of Lent by throwing oranges at one another

The sloth moves so slowly that green algae grows in the grooves of their hair

In the world, the United States and France have the most pet dogs. Approximately one out of every three families has a pet dog. Switzerland and Germany are the lowest only having one dog per every ten families

There are 50% more males that are left handed compared to females

Armadillos breed in July, but get pregnant in November after delaying implantation. This allows the young to be born during the spring when there is an abundance of food

Carbon monoxide can kill a person in less than 15 minutes

The Nobel Peace prize was first awarded in 1901 to Jean Henry Dunant, who was the founder of the Swiss Red Cross

In August 1999, Lori Lynn Lomeli set a record by spinning 82 Hula Hoops at the same time for three full revolutions

The wheelbarrow was invented by the Chinese.

The colour blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones

Over 20 million BluBlocker sunglasses have been sold since its debut in 1986. They now come in over 100 different styles

Crabs have very small hairs on their claws and other parts of their body to help detect water currents and vibrations

In 1962, the first Wal-Mart opened up in Rogers, Arkansas

Duracell, the battery-maker, built parts of its new international headquarters using materials from its own waste

Vampire bat saliva has been responsible for many advances in research into stroke recovery

During the making of the the movie "Fight Club," actor Brad Pitt chipped his tooth. However, he did not get his tooth capped until after the movie was done filming as he thought it would look better chipped for his character

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted peoplewithout killing them used to burn their houses down - hence theexpression "toget fired."

In ancient Rome, it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose

The word "checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah-Mat," which means the king is dead

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee

A common drink for Tibetans is Butter Tea which is made out of butter, salt, and brick tea

Bourbon was first made by a Baptist minsister from Bourbon County in Kentucky in 1789. That is where it got its name

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites

McDonald restaurants serve food and drink to an amazing 43 million customers on a daily basis

The game Monopoly was once very popular in Cuba; however, Fidel Castro ordered that all games be destroyed

Nearly half of all Americans suffer from symptoms of burnout

During the era of Louis XIV, women used lemons to redden their lips

70% of the poor people in the world are female

The thickness of the Arctic ice sheet is on average 10 feet. There are some areas that are thick as 65 feet

The adult human body requires about 88 pounds of oxygen daily

The biggest pumpkin the world weighs 1,337.6 pounds

The highest consumption of Pizza occurs during Super Bowl week

During World War II, condoms were used to cover rifle barrels from being damaged by salt water as the soldiers swam to shore

Approximately 55% of movies released are Rated R

The Roman emperor Domitian took great pleasure in being secluded in his room for hours and catching flies and stabbing them with pens

Tarantulas can live up to 30 years

On average redheads have 90,000 hairs. People with black hair have about 110,000 hairs

More than half the time spent in United States courts is cases that involve automobiles

One barrel of petroleum holds 42 gallons

The smoke that is produced by a fire kills more people than a burn does because of carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases

The Saguaro Cactus, found in South-western United States does not grow branches until it is 75 years old.

In Belgium, 172,000 tons of chocolate are produced in a year

The word Nike comes from Greek Mythology. Nike is the goddess of victory and was often depicted as a small winged figure whom the goddess Athene carried

The biggest bug in the world is the Goliath Beetle which can weigh up to 3.5 ounces and be 4.5 inches long

Leaving the water running while brushing your teeth can waste four gallons of water in a minute

Steve Fletcher holds the record for the largest gum wrapper collection. His collection has 5300 gum wrappers from all across the world

There was once a country called Prussia. After World War II, it was divided among Poland, Germany, and the USSR

The word Spain means "the land of rabbits."

In 1936, the first practical helicopter was invented. It was the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61.

The word tulip comes from the Turkish word for turban

Psychokinesis refers to the ability of moving objects through psychic power

The fat that comes from sheep, which is called tallow, can also be used to produce soap and candles

In Britain, one out of every four potatoes is eaten in the form of french fries

In the movie Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, chocolate syrup was used for blood in the shower scene

The movie "Chicken Run" made in 2,000 had the most plasticine used in an animated movie. They used 2,380 kg of plasticine for the movie

During WWII, because a lot of players were called to duty, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles combined to become The Steagles

The titan arum flower is the largest flower in the world and gives off a horrible odor that smells like rotting flesh when it blooms

Every day, the average person swallows about a quart of snot

When the only queen ant dies, so does the entire colony, because no new workers are born

The Dutch people are known to be the tallest people in Europe

The average American kid will eat approximately 1.500 peanut butter sandwiches by high school graduation

Goats do not have upper front teeth

It has been suggested that shepherds are responsible for inventing the game golf. It is said that they used to use their staffs to hit the stones

There are about 6,800 languages in the world

Studies have shown that by putting on slow background music it can make a person eat food at a slower rate

By walking an extra 20 minutes every day, an average person will burn off seven pounds of body fat in an year

Ironically, when doctors in Los Angeles, California went on strike in 1976, the daily number of deaths in the city dropped 18%

Octopus and squid are thought to be the most intelligent of all invertebrates

On average, a beaver can cut down two hundred trees a year.

The name of the first menthol cigarette in the United States was "Spud."

A world record 328 pound ovarian cyst was removed from a woman in Galveston, Texas, in 1905. updated

The fastest shark is the "Shortfin Mako," which can swim as fast as sixty miles per hour

The flatulation from domesticated cows produce about 30% of the methane on this planet

Ironically, watermelons, which are 92% water, originated from the Kalahari Desert in Africa

The first tattoo machine was invented by Samuel O'Reilly. He did this by using equipment that Thomas Edison used to engrave hard surfaces.

In a lifetime, an average human produces 10,000 gallons of saliva

A slug has four noses

Chili Powder was invented in the 19th century in the American Southwest

The sea cucumber spills its internal organs out as a defense mechanism

Approximately 25,000 workers died during the building of the Panama Canal and approximately 20,000 of them contracted malaria and yellow fever

Braces were first invented by Pierre Fauchard in 1728. The braces were made by a flat strip of metal, which was connected to the teeth by thread.

Marilyn Monroe had six toes

There is a town in Texas called Ding Dong. In 1990, the population was only twenty-two people

The total volume of mail that went through the Canadian postal system in 1950 was 1,362,310,155 items

The highest toll paid by a ship to cross the Panama Canal was by the Crown Princess on May 2, 1993 in the amount of $141,349.97 U.S. funds

The name of the famous snack "Twinkies" was invented by seeing a billboard in St. Louis, that said "Twinkle Toe Shoes."

The word "Nazi" is actually an abbreviation for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which refers to the National Socialist German Workers Party

The unique characteristics of Barbie dolls in Japan are that they have their lips closed with no teeth showing

The Coca Cola company offers more than 300 different beverages

Neptune was the first planet in our solar system to be discovered by mathematics

Five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married

Camel is considered unclean meat in the Bible

Soldier Field is the oldest field in the NFL

In the U.S., over one million gallons of cosmetics, drinks, and lotions are sold that contain aloe in them per year

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the"General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

Eating eight strawberries will provide you with more Vitamin C than an orange

The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".

Mosquitoes have teeth

To be born on Sunday was considered a sign of great sin during the Puritan times

The citrus soda "7 UP" was created in 1929. The original name of the popular drink was "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda", but it got changed to "7 UP."

The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day

Prosopagnosia refers to the inability to identify people by their faces. In severe cased prosopagnosia a person may not be able to identify themselves in a mirror

On November 29, 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an "Honorary Harlem Globetrotter."

An adult sheep can eat between 1 to 4 kg of food per day

In 1888, Hollywood was founded by Harvey and Daeida Wilcox, who named the city after their summer home in Chicago

Blood is such a good stain that Native Americans used it for paint

In 1876, the first microphone was invented by Emile Berliner.

"I am." is the second shortest complete sentence in the English language

On average, a person will spend about five years eating during their lifetime

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, Diamonds - Julius Caesar

Many cancer patients that are treated with chemotherapy lose their hair. For some when the hair grows back, it can grow back a different colour, or be curly or straight

A volcano has enough power to shoot ash as high as 50 km into the atmosphere

The longest hiccups on record was by an American pig farmer whose hiccups persisted from 1922 to 1987

Coupons were introduced in 1894 when Asa Candler bought the Coca-Cola formula for $2,300 and gave people coupons that he had written out to receive a free glass of coke

Panthers are known as black leopards, as they are the same species of leopard. If looked at closely, black spots can be seen on a panther

Approximately 25% of all scald burns to children are from hot tap water and is associated with more deaths than with any other liquid

In London, during rush hour traffic moves on average at 13 kilometres an hour

Tomatoes and cucumbers are fruits

In the United States, approximately 50 million people fish per year

Cattle can produce up to 180 litres of saliva in one day

Dolphins hear by having sound waves transmit through their skull to their inner ear region

Teflon was accidently discovered by scientist Dr. Roy Plunkett while he was conducting a coolant gas experiment in 1938

The risk of cardiovascular disease is twice as high in women that snore regularly compared to women who do not snore. updated

Close to 80% of people who watch the Super Bowl on television, only do so to view the commercials

The first theatre to show motion pictures was the Nickelodeon on June 19, 1905 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was opened by Harry Davis on Smithfield Street

The White House has a movie theater, swimming pool, bowling lane, jogging track, and a tennis court

About two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Druids used mistletoe to celebrate that winter was approaching

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about ten

A butterfly can see the colors red, green, and yellow

In the game of Monopoly, the most landed on properties are B&O Railroad, Illinois Avenue, and "Go."

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the nameof the Don McLean song.)

Lions cannot roar until they reach the age of two.

A baby kangaroo is called a joey

Montreal is the second largest French speaking city after Paris

There were 43,687 toilet related accidents in the United States in 1996

In Albania, nodding your head means "no" and shaking your head means "yes."

Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce. Ironically his name means "apple sauce" in Japanese

The average US worker toils for two hours and 47 minutes of each working day just to pay income tax. Indeed, the average American pays more in taxes than for food, clothing and shelter put together

There is cyanide in apple pips

True spiders always have organs for spinning silk known as spinnerets

Great Britain has the highest consumption of ice cream than any other European nation

Every continent has a city called Rome

The movie "Cleopatra" cost $44 million to make in 1963. The same movie would now cost $300 million to make taking inflation into account

A species of dolphin is born naturally blind in the Indus and Ganges rivers in South Asia. These dolphins have a highly sophisticated sonar system and swim on only one side of their body

Kermit the Frog was named after Kermit Scott, a childhood friend of creator Jim Henson, who became a professor of philosophy at Purdue University

Weatherman Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald

Aztec emperor Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant "plenty of excrement."

Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.

Actor Sylvester Stallone once had a job as a lion cage cleaner

Play-Doh was introduced in 1956 by Hasbro Inc. The only color availabe was an off white, and it came in one size which a one and a half pound can

The USSR launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957.

An oyster can change its gender

From all the states, Montana has the most different species of animals

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is

Queen Elizabeth I always wore a necklace with a little perfume bottle attached everywhere she went

A group of people that are hired to clap at a performance are called a claque

The tallest tree recorded is located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California. It is a coast redwood and has been measured at 117 metres high

In 1926, a waiter in Budapest committed suicide. He left his suicide note in the form of a crossword and the police had to get help from the public to solve it

Anti-American demonstrators protesting in Bangladesh after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks carried posters of Osama bin Laden sitting alongside Bert, a beloved Sesame Street Muppet character

Polar bear livers contain so much Vitamin A that it can be fatal if eaten by a human

Leather skin does not have any smell. The leather smell that you sense is actually derived from the materials used in the tanning process

Finland is also known as "the land of of the thousand lakes," because of the over 188,000 lakes found in this country

In an year, an average American kid eats 46 slices of pizza

In Las Vegas, casinos do not have any clocks

Bubble gum contains rubber

When Kleenex was first introduced to the market in 1924, it was marketed as a make up or cold cream remover

In the year 1900, for a women to be a telephone operator she had to be between the ages of 17 and 26 and not be married

The first spacecraft to visit the planet Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962.

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure

Babies that are exposed to cats and dogs in their first year of life have a lower chance of developing allergies when they grow older

Urophobia is the fear of urine or urinating

In 1949, forecasting the relentless march of science, Popular Mechanics said "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."

Water that is safe to drink is referred to as POTABLE

Actor John Ritter was the voice of Clifford, from "Clifford The Big Red Dog."

Chocolate accounts for less than two percent of the fat in the American diet

The band Duran Duran got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella."

The accent that Mike Myers used for the character Shrek came from the accent that his mother would use when she was telling him bedtime stories when he was a child

In the Netherlands, there are special traffic lanes for bicycles. There are approximately 17,000 kms of cycle lanes with special bicycle traffic lights.

It was believed by Ancient Hindus that the world was a sphere and rested on the back of four elephants, which stood on a turtle

Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar were both epileptic

Every year, more than one million miles of Twizzlers licorice is made

A penguin swims at a speed of approximately 15 miles per hour

The word Thailand means "land of the free."

A rose imprint that was fossilized in a slate was discovered in Florisant, Colorado, which is said to be thirty-five million years old

U.S. bills are 2.61 inches wide, 6.14 inches long, and are .0043 inches thick and weigh 1 gram

The highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere is Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. It rises 22,834 feet above sea level

The Barn Owls hearing is so highly developed that they can hunt for their prey in total darkness

The average number of bridesmaids at a wedding is four

Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

In 1876, Maria Spelterina was the first woman to ever cross Niagara Falls on a high wire

On April 6, 1925, the first in-flight movie was shown. It was a silent film and appeared on a Deutsche Luft Hansa flight

The temperature of lightning bolts is sometimes hotter than the surface of the sun.

When Burger King introduced the Whopper Sandwich in 1957, it cost only thirty-seven cents

Chopsticks originated from China approximately 4,000 years ago

The favorite honeymoon place is Hawaii

The 1960 Summer Olympics were the first Olympics to be aired on television by CBS

The Canadian holiday Boxing Day got its name from the custom of giving. Servants were given boxes which had money hidden inside them from their employers. The servants would have to break the box into pieces to get the money

In proportion, if Jupiter were a basketball, then the sun would be the size of the Louisiana Super Dome

The Toronto Maple Leafs used to be called the Toronto Arenas, then the St. Patricks and finally the Maple Leafs

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world

In 1391, China began producing toliet paper for use by its Emperors

In the United States, the most frequent month for a tornado to occur is in May.

There are some ice creams that are 75% air

In the United States, lightning hits the ground 40 million times a year.

A mother hen turns her egg approximately 50 times in a day. This is so the yolk does not stick to the shell

The reason why flamingos are pink is because they eat shrimp which have a red pigment

Totally Hair Barbie is the best selling Barbie of all time. It sold over ten million units

Jellyfish have been on Earth for over 650 million years. This is before sharks and dinosaurs

Although white wine can be produced from both red and white grapes, red wine can only be created from red grapes

Shirley Temple was considered to play the role of Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz."

Babies that wear disposable diapers are five times more likely to get a diaper rash than babies wearing a cotton diaper

One million cloud droplets are needed to make enough water to produce one raindrop.

In the world, the Netherlands has the highest concentration of museums in the world. Just in Amsterdam alone there are 42 museums

Amongst pre-schoolers, Caillou is the fastest-ever-growing television show and is seen in close to 97% of U.S. households

Rice flour was used to strengthen some of the bricks that make up the Great Wall of China

Research has indicated that a tie that is on too tight can increase the risk of glaucoma in men

Each year all of the Hostess bakeries combined bake 500 million Twinkies a year. (A twinkie is a sponge cake with a creamy filling.)

Charlie Chaplin once lost a contest for a Charlie Chaplin look a like

Pluto is the only planet in our solar system that has not been visited by a spacecraft

The worlds tallest free fall rollercoaster is The Giant Drop located in Australia. The drops is 120 meters which is equivalent to a 39 storey building

Stalks of sugar cane can reach up to 30 feet

The markings that are found on dice are called "pips."

Joseph Gayetty is credited for inventing toilet paper in 1857. Unfortunately, his invention failed and did not catch on until ten years later

A newly hatched fish is called a "fry."

The music band UB40 got its name from an unemployment form in England

The Olympic Flame was introduced in 1928 in Amsterdam

The YKK on the zipper of your Levis stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the worlds largest zipper manufacturer

Armadillos can be housebroken

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies

The material to build the Taj Mahal was brought in from various parts of India by a fleet of 1000 elephants

Medical research has found substances in mistletoe that can slow down tumor growth

In the USA, 32% of employees eat lunch and work at the same time

In Alabama, it is against the law to wear a fake mustache that could cause laughter in the church

In the United States, more than 4.2 million couples live together that are not married

Bill Gates house was partially designed using a Macintosh computer. new

The male howler monkey of Central and South America is the noisiest land animal, which can be heard clearly from a distance of ten miles away

Nerve cells can travel as fast as 120 metres per second

It is said that grapefruit got its name because it grows like grapes in clusters. One cluster can have up to 25 grapefruits

Abdul Kassam Ismael, Grand Vizier of Persia in the tenth century, carried his library with him wherever he went. Four hundred camels carried the 117,000 volumes

An average adult produces about half a litre of flatulent gas per day, resulting in an average of about fourteen occurrences of flatulence a day

Maine is the toothpick capital of the world

Peanut butter is an effective way to to remove chewing gum from hair or clothes

The longest kiss on record lasted 30 hours and 45 minutes. Dror Orpaz and Carmit Tsubara recorded it on April 5, 1999 at a kissing contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel

Polar bears are excellent swimmers. They have been known to swim more than 60 miles without a rest

The most expensive perfume in the world is Parfum VI, which was made by Arthur Burnham. A 4 inch bottle which is covered with diamonds and 24-carat gold costs $71,380

If Wal-Mart was classified as a country, it would be the 24th most productive country in the world

Cimeti?re du P?re Lachaise located in Paris is the most visited cemetery in the world. The cemetery opened in 1805 and has over one million people buried there, including rock star Jim Morrison

In Australia, a dust-devil is called a "willy-willy

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is 58.36 metres above the ground

Americans write approximately 50 billion checks a year making it the second most frequent payment method used after cash

The name "Snickers" for the popular candy bar was named after a horse that the Mars family owned

The #1 peanut producing state is Georgia

Keeping Warm With an Axe, is the title of a real how-to book. Click Here For More Details

An artificial Christmas tree last up to six years in a home

Women are four times more likely to have foot problems than men

In 1783, the hot air balloon was invented in France.

There was an army general during the Liberia Civil War who used to lead his army into battle naked. His nickname was "General Butt Naked." Joshua Milton Blahyi (his real name) is now an evangelical preacher in Monrovia

There are no two zebras who have stripes that are exactly the same

The Angel Falls in Venezuela were named after an American pilot, Jimmy Angel, whose plane got stuck on top of the mountain while searching for gold

Lake Ontario was originally named Lake St. Louis

Actor John Travolta was offered the role of Billy Flynn many times for the movie "Chicago." Richard Gere ended up playing the role

The Canadian province of New Brunswick had a bloodless war with the US state of Maine in 1839

There are more than 2,400 flea species in the world

Ninety-nine percent of pumpkins sold in the United States are for the sole purpose of decoration

David McConnell started the California Perfume Company (CPC) in 1886. Today the company is known as Avon, which he named after his favorite playwright William Shakespeare, and Stratford on Avon

Americans did not commonly use forks until after the Civil War

Chicago has the largest cookie factory, where Nabisco made over 4.6 billion "Oreo" cookies in 1997

In 1963, Mister Rogers was ordained as a Presbyterian minister

There was a post office on the Russian space station Mir. Visiting cosmonauts would use unique postal "markers" to stamp envelopes and other items as having flown aboard the Mir space station

In one day, 230 marriage licenses are issued in Las Vegas

Every second there are 418 Kit Kat fingers eaten in the world

The Great Comet of 1843 had a tail that was over 300 kilometres long.

The dumbest dog in the world is the Afghan Hounds

There are no blossoms on the branches of a fig tree, instead it is inside the fruit

The largest chicken egg ever laid weighed a pound and had a double yolk and shell

Billiards used to be so popular at one time that cigarette cards were issued featuring players

Chewing gum has rubber as an ingredient

An orca whale can hold its breath for up to 15 minutes

Alexander the Great was an epileptic

Wood frogs can be frozen solid and then thawed, and continue living. They use the glucose in their body to protect their vital organs while they are in a frozen state

Canadians eat more Kraft Dinner (Macaroni and Cheese) per capita than any other country in the world

In a day, a mature oak tree can draw approximately 50 gallons of water

The reason why bubble gum is pink is because the inventor only had pink colouring left. Ever since then, the colour of bubble gum has been predominantly pink

Emilio Marco Palma was the first person born in Antarctica in 1978

A top freestyle swimmer achieves a speed of only 4 miles per hour. Fish, in contrast, have been clocked at 68 mph

Every single hamster in the United States today comes from a single litter captured in Syria in 1930

Research on pigs led to the development of CAT scans.

The Hundred Years War lasted for 116 years

Some dolphins can swim up to 40 kilometers an hour

In the last 30 years, only seven people have been killed by a polar bear in Canada

The longest U.S. highway is Route 20, which is over 3,365 miles

The largest LEGO castle that was ever built was built with 400,000 LEGO bricks and was 4.45 m x 5.22 m

In the U.S. there are approximately 65.8 million cats

One of the steepest main streets in Canada is located in Saint John, New Brunswick. Over a distance of two blocks the street rises about 80 feet

Avery Laser Labels are named after company founder R. Stanton Avery

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado

On September 9, 1950 dubbed laughter was used for the first time on television. It was used for the sitcom "The Hank McCune Show."

A violin actually contains 70 separate pieces of wood

The human heart can create enough pressure that it could squirt blood at a distance of thirty feet

One out of four American households own a cat

Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. She was also the only Queen the United States ever had

Every day 2,700 people die of heart disease

There are 10 million bacteria at the place where you rest your hands at a desk

The quills of a porcupine are soft when they are born

An average American child watches approximately 28 hours of television in one week

Quality standards for pasta were set in the 13th century by the Pope

The A.A. Milne character of Winnie the Pooh made his animated film debut in 1966 in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree

People have the tendency to chew the food on the side that they most often use their hand

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as isnecessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the ste of Virginia stillhad segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks andwhites.

The Lemon shark grows about 24,000 new teeth a year. A new set of teeth grow approximately every 14 days

One billion seconds is about 32 years

An average American eats approximately 60 hot dogs per year

Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation

The water displacement product, WD-40, can be found in 80% of American homes

Dexter is the smallest type of cow. This cow was bred to be a small size for household living

As part of the original design, the names of 72 French scientists and other famous people is imprinted on the sides of the Eiffel tower

The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com

Thirty to 40 gallons of sugar maple sap must be boiled down to make just one gallon of maple syrup

The most frequent season for most suicides to occur is in the spring. The winter months have the lowest number of suicides

A seven year old boy was the first person to survive the Horeshoe Falls (Niagara Falls) in just a life jacket

The longest punt return for a touchdown was 103 yards

The most popular Hot Wheels vehicle sold is the Corvette

A giraffe is able to clean its ears with its own tongue

The slowest growing finger nail is on the thumb nail and the fastest growing is the finger nail on the middle finger

Flu shots only work about 70% of the time

People of Salt Lake City eat the most lime-flavoured gelatin Jell-O in the United States

In a survey conducted in 2000 by Kimberly-Clark, it was found that men prefer to fold their toilet paper, and women like to wad it

On average, a person has two million sweat glands

France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Greece, and Australia have always been in the modern Olympics since it began in 1896

The longer white infants from low-income families are breast-fed, the less likely they will be overweight as young children, researchers said on Monday

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is one of the few places in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane

The most popular treat for Halloween trick-or-treaters are candy bars with Snickers being the most popular

Corned beef got its name because this beef was preserved with pellets of salt that were the size of corn kernels, which was also referred to as "corns" of salt

The Canandian province of New Brunswick had a bloodless war with the US state of Maine in 1839.

In 1908, the first machine to make lollipops opened for business in New Haven, Connecticut

In 1976, a Los Angeles secretary named Jannene Swift officially married a fifty pound rock. More than twenty people witnessed the ceremony

The most diners per capita in the world are located in the U.S. state New Jersey

In Denmark, people eat about 36 pounds of candy a year. The highest consumption of candy of any country

John Van Wormer invented paper milk cartons after dropping a bottle of milk one morning. The bottle broke spilling the milk everywhere. That annoyance was enough for Van Wormer to come up with the idea.

The long fibres that are found in bananas are excellent in making paper. The long fibres that are found in the banana plant can make the banana fibre paper approximately 3000 times stronger than regular paper

The state of Tennessee was known as Franklin before 1796

Over 90% of poison exposures occur in homes

Honolulu, Hawaii boasts the only royal palace in the United States of America

Seven asteroids were especially named for the Challenger astronauts who were killed in the 1986 failed launch of the space shuttle

Americans consumed more than twenty billion hot dogs in 2000

The production of toilet paper in China began in 1391, which was used for the Emperors

The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yorewhen the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on theground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

It would take approximately twenty-four trees that are on average six to eight inches in diameter to produce one ton of newsprint for the Sunday edition of the New York Times

Every year, kids in North America spend close to half a billion dollars on chewing gum

The tuatara lizard of New Zealand has three eyes, two in the center of its head and one on the top of its head

The world population of chickens is about equal to the number of people

The largest number of children born to one woman, who was a Russian peasant is 69

In a lifetime, an average driver will release approximately 912 pints of wind inside a car

The loss of eyelashes is referred to as madarosis

Approximately 75% of human poop is made of water

The popular chocolate bar "Three Musketeers" got its name because when it was first introduced in 1932 there were three individual bars. The flavours were strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla

Every photograph of the first American atomic bomb detonation was taken by Harold Edgerton

Heinz Catsup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles per year

In 1864, A Quebec farmer found a frog inside a hailstone

Actor Sylvester Stallone once had a job as a lion cage cleaner

The first time there was an instance where they had a separate toilet for women and men was in 1739 at a ball in Paris

In the marriage ceremony of the Ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable

Some birds have been know to put ants into their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid, which kills parasites

On average, 42,000 balls are used and 650 matches are played at the annual Wimbledon tennis tournament

The WD in WD-40 stands for Water Displacer

Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables

Lake Baikal, in Siberia, is the deepest lake in the world

In the Middle Ages, peacocks and swans were sometimes served at Christmas dinners

India has the most post offices in the world

Women take three times longer than men when using the toilet

In America, approximately 25% of kids aged 6-14 have a magaznie subscription

Canada has more donut shops per capita than the United States

In 1886, Coca-cola was first served at a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia for only five cents a glass. A pharmacist named John Pemberton created the formula for Coca-cola

75% of all raisins eaten by people in the United States are eaten at breakfast

Whale oil was used in some car transmissions until 1973

Flamingos are able to fly at a speed of approximately 55 kilometers an hour. In one night they can travel about 600 km

1 out of every 4 kids in the USA is overweight

"Kemo Sabe" means "soggy shrub" in Navajo

In 1903, there were originally only eight Crayola crayons in a box and they sold for five cents

Men are able to read fine print better than women can

On average, 150 couples get married in Las Vegas each day

Spiders usually have eight eyes, but still they cannot see that well

One ragweed plant can release as many as a million grains of pollen in one day

Women hearts beat faster than men

The Central African raffia palm is known to have the longest leaves. The leaves can measure up to 82.5 feet long.

Due to the shortages of lead and metals during World War II, toothpaste was packaged in plastic tub

Dinner was fun,games were funner,(thanks to mom who came to even out the teams)
And a big thank u to Vicky who changed FISH!!!!

The Monkey, the snake and Rose
by Stephen D. Gross

What gives a neighborhood character and distinction is not so much the flora or the architecture so much as the people who live there. Inwood, at Manhattan's northern tip was, when I lived there in the Fifties, mostly Irish Catholic with a liberal sprinkling of Jews, a few Greeks and Poles, and one very quiet Black family.
Looking like a pebble-skinned lizard, Tenth Avenue with its cobblestones and trolley tracks lay beneath the rickety 7th Ave. El which rumbled past the city train yards, the Harlem River, and a million six-story tenements on its way up to Van Cortlandt Park. Three immense smokestacks which continuously belched noxious gases in the direction of the Kingsbridge Veterans Hospital crowned the sanitation department's huge charnel-house of rusty Kelvinators and broken toys. Flatulent buses wheezed up and down Upper Broadway day and night mixing with the metallic waterfall rush of the elevated trains' ebb and flow through the old wooden platform serving the 215th street station.
As is the case with most old neighborhoods, Inwood has been around long enough to develop legends and hero(in)es all its own. The following is a small contribution to the written legacy of Inwood.

In the six-story building next to ours, there lived a caring gamin of a woman, a dynamo named Rose Gridinsky. She loved animals and had an amazing reservoir of patience when it came to their health and well-being.
My mother told me she once got into the elevator in the adjacent building, the one in which Rose lives, on her way up to visit her sister who was also named Rose. There in the elevator was Rose Gridinsky "shushing her" and urging her to be quiet and not awaken her pet collie which was asleep on the floor of the car. The collie was still anesthetized after a visit to the vet and Rose didn't want her disturbed. When Mom took the elevator down two hours later, there was Rose, still riding the elevator, with her collie snoozing contentedly.
And so it was, that when a friend brought her a squirrel monkey one day, she was more than happy to nurture it and give it a warm, loving home. As much as Rose wanted that monkey to be a tiny, little person, it wasn't, and this is what led to the incident at The Lakes one fragrant April Sunday.
The bar closest to our apartment house was called the Lakes of Killarney Tavern and it was very popular, particularly on Sundays. After the neighborhood throngs were done with their Hail Marys and genuflection over at the Church of the Good Shepherd, most of them would seek out a bit of porter at McSherry's Charcoal Pit, the Cork Inn, Flannery's or another of the nine thousand local ale houses. The Lakes was a block from the church and had a new Admiral TV which afforded those who could focus a 17-inch view of the Polo Grounds and Ebbetts Field. Rose lived on the fifth floor, directly above the bar, in an apartment facing Broadway. Figuring it was a warm sunny day and therefore a good day to bathe her monkey, Rose got herself a tub of lukewarm soapy and a washcloth and got down to scrubbing. The monkey was unused to all this washing business and nowhere near as patient as Rose...so he withstood a couple of strokes with the washcloth and then promptly bit Rose's finger. The unsuspecting Rose howled mightily in surprise, and the monkey decided she had taken leave of her senses. So he left. It's a long way from the fifth floor to the cracked pavement below but the simian had it under control. He'd been a city dweller long enough to know that all buildings hosted a maze of parasitic iron branches called fire escapes. It took him no time at all to reach the bustling sidewalk below. Sunday strollers were stunned to suddenly find wildlife among them. A few shrieked in horror. Sensing panic and danger in these large, irrational creatures, the monkey took one look around and decided to get the Hell out of there.
Meanwhile, the post-novena crowd was well into it at the Lakes. The rancid bar was littered with empty bottles of Ballantine and Rheingold, the local bookmaker, with an Old Gold pasted to his lower lip was explaining where he got his latest black eye, O'Brien the cop was boosting a free sandwich, and the neighborhood kids were hitting Frankie the Cook up for handsful of salty pretzels. Little Frankie, a recent immigrant from Italy, sweated over a bottomless pot of spaghetti in the rank kitchen, and was responsible for keeping the pretzel bowls on the bar full. Every youngster in the neighborhood knew he adored kids so two or three times a day we would all run back into the kitchen where Frankie would stuff our fists with all the pretzels we could hold. The season had recently opened and the local rooters craned their necks in the direction of the new Admiral where the Giants and the Dodgers were playing some very serious baseball Pretzel crumbs mingled with saw dust and ciggie butts, the smell of cheap lager put an edge on the stale, motionless air, and the April sun rose high over the tar roofs on upper Broadway.
Fearing for his tiny life, the monkey whirled around on the pavement looking for an avenue of escape. Rose Gridinsky screamed, pointed, and issued orders from her post at her fifth floor window. By now people in the street were jumping and hollering and trying to figure out what Rose was trying to say. The monkey saw a cave; some sort of opening that led to a dark place where he could hide and find sanctuary from these wailing monsters. He plunged ahead, right through the open door and into the Lakes of Sligo Tavern. An eerie hush enveloped the room.
Rose Gridinsky continued to shout instructions from her perch on the fifth floor . My mother was coming back from a shmooze session with her friends on the park benches and walked into the midst of the tumult. She saw and heard her friend, Rose, shrieking and yelled up at her, "what happened?". Rose screamed down to her that her monkey was loose and then proceeded to relate to her, from a height of about seventy feet, the story of Alger the snake. It was remarkably, spookily similar to what was happening at that very moment with the escaped monkey. If you want to hear about Alger, stick around until after we finish with the monkey.
Rose was a lively person and a very fast talker, so she was able to relate this entire episode to my mother from her fifth floor window in just a few short minutes. Meanwhile, the brief, heavy silence in the Lakes of Sligo was about to come to an end.
Mr. Petersen, who owned the clock shop two doors down was sitting at the end of the bar near the door, and was the first to see the monkey. A big favorite of every kid in the neighborhood, Petersen carried hundreds of cuckoo clocks in his shop which he dutifully kept well -wound and in sync with one another so that they squawked, cheeped, and chimed the hour roughly at the same time. If you timed your visit to his shop just right, you would be treated to one of the grandest cacophonies ever to play Broadway. Some of the timepieces featured kinetic displays more complex than birds such as lumberjacks sawing wood and a hatchet-wielding, bonneted fish-wife chasing her lazy husband around a woodland cabin. What Petersen did in the repair shop in back was both a mystery and a source of much animated discussion. The older teens swore Petersen carved lewd figures of naked nuns and masked priests which he made to leap wildly in and out of clock faces. A few of the older men such as One-Eye Reilly claimed to have seen Petersen at the post office looking furtively over his shoulder, while sending well-tuned clockworks in plain brown wrappers ("and jayzus knows what else") to some address in Belfast. Reilly claimed "Petersen' wasn't his real name at all, that his name was Jimmy Phelan and he'd been "active as a 'Patriot' for a long time". Had me fooled! Petersen cared more about the goings and comings at the Lakes than he did about baseball so he generally sat at the end of the bar close to the front door and happened to be watching the street when the monkey bounced into the smoky room. Unable to accept the possibility of such an animal leaping onto a bar on upper Broadway, Petersen instead must have believed it was some kind of insidious explosive device because, word has it, he yelled, "look out!", jumped off his stool and dashed outside.
Flanagan the Bookie had been jumpy and skittish all morning.(he owed some Westies a bundle) and was making a big show out of nursing his latest shiner. While one hand tenderly rubbed the discolored patch around his eye the other nervously tapped the ash from the end of his Lucky Strike. Out of the corner of the same eye that he was attempting to keep focused on Duke Snider, Flanagan spied a dark form move jerkily atop the bar just as Petersen exploded off his stool. Reflexively fending off what must be a terrorist attack, Flanagan quickly threw both arms up to protect his face. With the knuckles of one hand he smartly rapped the cheekbone below his injured eye, while at the same time poking what was left of his Lucky into his other eye.
His scream of surprise and pain awoke the old firehorse spirit asleep within O'Brien the Cop's breast. O'Brien was about six-foot-four, with a beet-colored face and a full head of snowy white hair. Since O'Brien "kept his eye on things" around the neighborhood, he and his wife got into movies, ball games, and shows for free and seldom had to pay for meals or groceries. The O'Briens didn't trust a baby-sitter with their son Joey (who at age twelve was already six-foot-one), so they dragged him around with them wherever they went, which usually meant he didn't get to sleep until three in the morning. Joey was asthmatic, adenoidal and allergic to almost everything and spent most of his class time hours at Good Shepherd either scratching, snuffling or asleep. Behavior of this sort usually resulted in bloody knuckles and detention, but Joey was the son of a cop. So the Brothers put up with his asthmatic snoring and instead laid their yardsticks on somebody else's neck... So Joey, Jr. was sitting in the Lakes with Big Joe, stuffing his freckled face with pretzels and Pepsi when he saw his father lurch and blare. Some folks yell, some holler, others mewl and still others scream or shriek. O'Brien the Cop blared. It was an unintelligible stentorian blast that sounded like a blend of rusty old tugboat horns, and desperate elephants in heat. Mrs. Bramley once described it as a chorus of constipated Sumo wrestlers trying out for the part of Eliza Doolittle. This blare not only scared the hell out of the poor monkey (who had never heard such a thing), but most of the people living on that part of upper Broadway. (After finally conceding, months later, that he did in fact 'blare', O'Brien proudly referred to it as his "personal best"). Joey, Jr., recognizing the blare as a harbinger of disaster, reacted immediately by going into a semi-comatose state. His Irish eyes stopped smiling and became flat and glassy and his mouth, packed with partially-chewed pretzels which he could no longer swallow, laboriously opened and closed like a grouper on reds.
Fortunately, Mrs. O'Brien, who's asthma made her sound like a busy dry cleaner's, had gone home earlier because the smoke in the Lakes bothered her. The wife of a cop and the mother of a sickly child, she tended toward hysteria and was stiflingly pious. Just after my mother's sister Blanche succumbed to cancer Maggie O'Brien told her, "Don't feel bad Pauline, God just needed another angel". A woman of infinite patience, Mom acted as if the good news cheered her right up.
Having never before been confronted with an even remotely similar situation, Big Joe dealt with it by making mouth movements which were remarkably similar to Joey Junior's. For a few seconds, in fact, it appeared that the big guy was mocking his son. But that wasn't the case; Big Joe was just not used to thinking. Now he had to weigh the gravity of his son's attack against his duty (albeit, retired) to protect the local publicans from this obviously dangerous beast. Grabbing Joey's arm O'Brien yelled to no one in particular, "I think I better bring Joey up to the Missus!" and was out in the bright April sunlight before anyone could blink.
By now the panicking monkey had knocked over several Ballantine Ales ("purity, body, and flavor!", decried their labels) and was flinging his feces at whomever moved, as frightened or angry monkeys are wont to do. The few remaining customers were ducking and laughing except for Kelly the bartender. His attitude soured when one well-placed handful of monkey-doo splattered all over Dodger catcher Roy Campanella's face via the Admiral's 17" screen.
Most of the Lakes of Sligo's patrons had made it to the safety of the giant sycamore outside and were standing in the dappled shadows with one eye on Rose Gridinsky and the other on the action inside the dusky grill. Rose had come down from her fifth floor perch and planned to take the monkey's rescue into her own hands. In the doorway of the bar's kitchen stood little Frankie who had left his spaghetti to see what the ruckus was about. His curls lay in a sweaty tangle and he brandished a big wooden spoon in one hand while he wiped the other on his sauce-smeared apron.
Possibly tuning in to Frankie's innate kindness or perhaps sensing that here was someone who could offer sanctuary, the simian leaped off the bar and into Frankie's arms just as Rose walked through the Lakes' door. Frankie did what he usually does when he's set upon by Little People which is, he shoved a bunch of pretzels into the monkey's tiny hand. The monk jumped onto a nearby stool and was inhaling his third pretzel when Rose rushed over and embraced him. Cooing comfortingly, she quickly wheeled and stepped out onto a sidewalk abuzz with the stunned and curious. Without hesitation Rose bounced up the front steps and into her apartment house and rode the elevator back up to her fifth floor apartment.
Half the people who were in the tavern that morning swear there never was a monkey at all - they claim that certain regular patrons suffering from delirium tremens imagined the whole thing. No one ever called Rose to demand payment for damages and breakage, and only one or two people (my mother included) asked her how her monkey was doing. Of course it was very happy to be home in the safety of Rose's sanctuary, but as far as most people who were there that day are concerned, nothing unusual or strange happened at all. .Just ask them. They'll swear It was just an ordinary After-Church Sunday drinking beer and watching baseball at the Lakes of Killarney Bar and Grill.

If you're still with me and would like to hear about Rosie's snake, here's the story:
It seems, recounted Rose, that her neighbor's son, Jason, found and brought home from the park a harmless garter snake. When Rose's neighbor discovered it in her son's toy box, her usual propensity for hospitality swiftly abandoned her. Naturally, Rose adopted the snake, naming it Alger after Alger Hiss, the well-known Nazi spy. After a few weeks of affectionate exchanges between the pair, Rose noticed the snake's abdomen was slowly swelling and decided the little reptile was pregnant. To ease Alger's labor Rose emptied a Breakstone's cottage cheese box and made a little lying-in bed for her.. She placed the wooden box on the window sill where the mommie-to-be could enjoy the sounds of car horns and air brakes as well as the occasional freshets that blew west off the river. Rose must have thought her cheese box was so comfy and appealing, Alger would just kick back and not even think of leaving. Alger apparently didn't agree. She might have been drawn to the flies in the web at the top of the window. More likely she was just seeking the warmth of the sunbaked windowsill. Rose turned back to her charge in time to see just the tip of Alger's tail as she slipped over the ledge.
Up to this point this all sounds quite odd, but given Rose's propensity for nurturing critters, it's really quite believable. But what happened next might be hard to swallow unless you knew Rosie and how straightforward she was. A very happy, perky woman, she was about as naive and simple as they come.
As poor Alger's writhing body pitched toward her destiny, Rose explained to mom, God must have decided that she didn't want to waste a perfectly good snake. God is frugal. God is good. Quite lost in thought, a lady slowly pushed her baby stroller down Broadway. God also has a sense of humor. A rope drops mysteriously from the cloudless sky and thuds firmly against her right shoulder and breast. An shocking event under any circumstances and enough to squeeze a first rate yell out of anyone. The woman was about half way through a resounding inter-borough shout when the rope from the sky lifted its little head and looked her in her saucer-sized eye.
To hear Mr. L. Dominic Shapira, the druggist, tell it, she was like a weasel on methedrine. She jumped about eight feet in the air and amplified her shout into a concrete-cracker that vibrated his plate glass window. "All I could think about was, 'save the poor girl, save her!', he told people later. "I'm a professional and I just acted on instinct". He rushed out of his drug store and grabbed Alger from around the wildly twitching woman's shoulder, and rushing back inside he ran to the bathroom in the rear and shook Alger off his arm and into the toilet which he immediately flushed without looking into it. Slamming the lid down, Mr. Shapira then rushed back outside to see if he could help the hysterical young mother who was still screaming. Bordering on hysteria herself, Rose reached the street just as Mr. L. Dominic was exiting his shop for the second time. Yes, yes the woman is alright now, no harm done, so where's my Alger?, she wanted to know. Between the rise and ebb of noise Mr. Shapira impatiently motioned with his arm toward his shop and Rose heard the word, "toilet". Fearing the worst, she raced inside, into the back room and lifted the commode's lid. There was this little snake face staring up at her affecting as annoyed and pissed off a look as a snake can manage with those expressionless eyes. So Alger's tale ends happily. Except the five-story fall, the horrendous screaming and the good soaking she got apparently caused Alger to miscarry because she never did have any baby snakes.

Different Types of Alien Beings

Space family of alien beings
Copyright © William L. McDonald 1997

Crop Circles 10 Secrets of Alien Science

Crop Circle Gallery 2 Holograms

Different Types Of Alien Beings

* The Traders

* The Travelers

* Other Beings

The following information has been given to me by several individuals who have been in contact with alien beings for many years, but wish to remain anonymous at this time. As I have mentioned earlier, alien beings don't speak. They communicate through a combination of thought, feeling and images. This has been confirmed by world renown researcher Linda Moulton Howe, who has been told been by U.S. Intelligence operatives that alien beings communicate with them in exactly this manner.

The Traders

There are beings known throughout the universe as 'The Traders.' We humans tend to classify all alien beings as one. We sometimes refer to alien beings as the "little gray guys with big eyes." In many cases we are confusing these beings with the beings known as Zetas. I will tell you more about them later.

They are not "guys". In some cases we would know them to be androgynous. There are many things about them we have difficulty understanding. Our science has not progressed enough to know some of these things. I will attempt tell you about them in terms you will understand.

For Billions of Years

Alien beings have been around for billions of our years, so long it is almost impossible for us to comprehend. We must understand that our years, our time, is not the same as it is for others throughout the universe. Part of this is due to our current inability to understand the true nature of what we call time, even within the realm of our own solar system.

Time as we know it does not truly exist in the way we think it does. It is simply a reference for our reality. Like a mile marker on a roadside, it only means something in relation to another marker.

An Intelligence Guides the Universe

These alien beings have been in existence long enough to observe the universe and know there is an order to all things. There is a creative intelligence that governs the universe. If you choose the word "God" so be it. There is a connecting intelligence linking all things, big and small, in the universe. They have observed that a distant comet or even an exploding planet has a purpose.

The Real Birds and the Bees

The next thought is difficult for many of us humans to accept, but the fact is that without these beings we might not be here. They are not our creators anymore than the bee creates the flower. But without the bee carrying the pollen, the flower would not be. It is how all the universe works, and not just with flowers and insects, but with advanced sentient beings as well. So it may be with the relationship of alien beings to humans.

They Are All One

As a group, these alien beings are not a group of individuals. They are a group that has individuals. They are connected. There is no singularity. What one knows, all know. Have you ever watched a large school of fish in an aquarium? Have you ever wondered how hundreds of them can all turn instantly in the same direction at the same time? They are an example of being connected to a group consciousness. Each instantly knows what all the others know. These alien beings have a group consciousness.

The Man With No Name

Many alien beings don't have individual names the way we humans do. In their open interactions with humans they sometimes assign themselves individual earth-sounding names to make it easier for them to address us. Each individual has a frequency. It is a vibration others can feel. Humans also each have a distinct frequency. Like fingerprints, no two are the same. We have just not trained ourselves to sense one another's vibration. We generally rely on sight, or sound of the voice.

The Ultimate Explorers

Group consciousness has distinct advantages for exploration. If a group goes out and does not return, they know what happened. They do not need to send out a search party to find out what happened. They know instantly. Distance is not a factor. Their next step would be to simply not repeat what the first group did. This is very different from what we, as humans, would have to do. To know this will help us understand them.

They Lost Their Planet

A very long time ago these 'Trader' beings discovered how to provide enough energy to supply their entire planet from one source. They utilized the energy of a thing our scientists refer to as a black hole. They had the technology to "rope" a small black hole and pull it close to their planet. They also learned that by feeding it they could increase its energy output to give them even more energy. They began to feed it large asteroids and small planets. However, a side effect of feeding it was that it also grew in size and strength. As it grew it began to devour more and more things, including things they never intended.

Out of Control

As it grew, it began to pull their planet into it. They could not stop it. It grew out of control. They realized it would soon devour their planet. Right up until the last minutes they did everything they could to try and stop this from happening. In the last moments they abandoned our planet. Their planet was consumed and lost. They had only enough time to save themselves. All the other life forms, plants, animals, and other things were lost forever.

Preserve All Life

They were devastated. A life form in the universe, once lost, cannot be replaced. They set for themselves a mission. That mission is to preserve all life forms in the universe. Not each individual, but a blueprint for each species, subspecies, and any mutation. That is why they are known as the Traders: They trade life; they preserve life. They also live by a rule: If they take something they must leave something. That is the law of the universe. So, they don't just take life forms, they trade one for another.

Communication

Alien beings communicate with themselves and others by what we would call mental telepathy. In fact it is more than that. It is a sharing of thoughts, feelings, and other levels of understanding our scientists are not yet aware of. It will surprise you to know that many alien beings have no written language, they don't need one. They each know what every one of them has ever known throughout time. These beings do have certain symbols they use and sometimes project them mentally.

Their Intentions

We, as humans, are very concerned about what the intentions of alien beings are in visiting our planet. Many human Contactees have been told that we have nothing to fear. They have been told that alien beings have no weapons on their ships and they allow no one with weapons to travel outside of their own galaxy. They have no need for weapons. They could fly right through the center of our sun in their ships and feel no ill effect. They can travel through time, space, and distance almost instantly. Many other beings do have powerful energy tools, which like a hammer or screwdriver could be used as an item of self-defense.

Aliens are here to preserve life on this planet
Aliens come to Earth to preserve life-forms
(Copyright © Christine 'Kesara' Dennett)

Their purpose for being here has very little to do with us. They are here for their own purposes, most of which we are incapable of understanding. They have the same level of concern for us that we have for two-year-old children playing in a sandbox. We are unconcerned with what games they are playing. We will occasionally look to make sure they do not destroy the sandbox by playing with matches. Our nuclear toys are the matches. We may destroy many individuals, if we choose, but they will assure the continued existence of our species. They preserve life, all life.

What They Look Like

Humans, are very visual and we want to know what alien beings look like. Many are small compared to us, only three to five feet in height. Some are very slender; they have no need for additional body mass. It would simply get in the way. Their skin color ranges from gray to tan or beige. In relation to our bodies, their heads are larger than ours. Most of them have very little, if any, body hair. As I said earlier, they are sometimes androgynous, neither male or female. However, some of them can select to become either male or female at an appropriate time. Many reptiles and birds on our planet also have this capability.

The Eyes Have It

Their eyes are larger than ours, but by now you already know this. However, they are not as large as depicted on our television shows. Those shows depict the eyes of the Zeta beings, which are larger than the 'Traders'. Their eyes also have the ability to polarize light.

Ears, Nose, and Mouth

The mouths of the 'Traders' are more fully formed than the Zetas, but still much smaller than humans. They have very small teeth and eat a finely processed synthetic food. They have two small nostrils that function as a nose apparatus and small openings for ears.

Hands and Feet

Their hands have four fingers, with no thumb. They have no fingernails, but they do have little suction cups on the ends of their fingers. Two of their fingers can extend out in a manner similar to a cat's claw. They have thin legs and do not do much walking. They have the ability to float along by using an antigravity technology. Many humans have seen them do this.

How They Travel

The 'Traders' use spacecraft. They have the ability to travel between stars almost instantly. Contactees have been told that They are the only ones who have this technology. However, they do allow others to travel with them. They call these other species the "Travelers." Most of them have the ability to travel between planets, but not between stars. Here is a simple way to understand it. These beings can focus on a given point in space. Then they basically pull space towards them and attach to it, like a rubber band. When they release they are instantly in that spot. Think of space as a piece of fabric, not empty space. Carl Sagan explains it quite well in his book and vidoetape 'COSMOS.'

To make it even simpler, try this: take a piece of paper and put an ink dot on each end of the page. You were trained to think the shortest, fastest way to go from point A to point B was to draw a straight line between the points. In truth, the fastest way is to simply fold the paper and kiss the two points together. They fold space in just this manner and instantly jump from point to point. This is how they navigate the universe.

"Hey, How Did That Happen?"

Some of our scientists accidentally triggered this instantaneous travel capability while trying figure out how one of the craft they recovered worked. While standing in one place, they suddenly found themselves in a completely different part of the room without ever having moved! Imagine their surprise! Especially when they couldn't figure out how they did it or what actually happened!

Alien Mothership
Alien Mothership with departing smaller saucers
(Courtesy of Jeff Neff)

Spacecraft

Aliens have many different kinds of spacecraft. What I have to tell you about them will take some getting used to. There are literally thousands of spacecraft in the immediate vicinity of our planet. Many are the 'Traders'; many belong to others, who I will tell you about shortly. The 'Traders' have the ability to cloak their ships just like in our Star Trek movies. They can also pop in and out of other dimensions at will and thus disappear from our sight instantly.

Size is Important

This will also be difficult for many of us to comprehend or believe at this time, but it has been communicated to some contactees that some craft are the size of our moon, stretching thousands of miles across. There are other craft ranging in size from ten miles across to several hundred miles in diameter. These are what we call "small motherships." There are currently over seven thousand of these craft in our solar system right now!

There are larger "super motherships," which are over 6,000 miles in diameter are within one light year of our solar system. With their technology, any one of them could be here within minutes. There are over a thousand of the super motherships within this one-light-year distance from earth.

Flying Saucers

The craft we know as flying saucers are scout craft. They are generally carried into a planet's atmosphere by small motherships.

Cigar shaped craft containing smallersaucers
Cigar-shaped craft carrying many Flying Saucers as scout craft
(Courtesy & Copyright © 2001 Jeff Neff)

Cigar-shaped Craft

These are the small motherships, long and tapered at both ends. They generally contain eight to ten small flying saucers.

Photographic evidence of alien mining on the moon
Photographs of apparent alien mining operations on the moon

Moon Bases

Yes, there moon bases on the other side of our moon. Our space agency NASA is fully aware of their existence. Abductees and contactees have been 'told' that alien beings have been actively observing our earth for over two hundred million years.

Our Emotional Body

Each of us has within us something known as an emotional body. It is a source of untold potential. We are aware that certain countries in the Western world tend to view this capability as a weakness. The showing of emotions and feelings is but one small part of this ability. A hint: WE, as humans, will never go to the stars until we value, develop, and understand the true abilities of the emotional body within us.

Race

The differences between the races on our planet is a source of great anxiety to us. The differences are also used by many to generate fear within us. Those differences between us are one of the greatest gifts in the universe. On other planets differences are revered; on ours they are feared. Do you know that ours is one of few planets that have different mixes of the same type of being? A great step in preparing us for interaction with alien beings will be for us as humans to learn to value our differences. They are treasures.

A source of great humor to many alien beings is this: We separate races almost exclusively by color of skin, when in fact the greatest differences between us as humans occurs between the sexes. To any outside observer, it would appear that men are a different race from women, not only in terms of physiology, but in terms of completely different societal interactions. A black male has far more in common with a white male than the white male has in common with a white female.

Many different alien beings may be on any ship.
Many types of alien beings are often seen on alien spacecraft
(Copyright © 2001 Christine 'Kesara' Dennett)

Others Travel With Them

There are many beings in the universe, more than we can possibly imagine. It is very difficult for people who are living in a society like ours to accept this. We have believed for so long that there were no others, and now we are faced with a completely new reality. This will take some adjustment on our part. But whether we accept it or not, it is true.

The 'Traders' are the only beings who can traverse between the stars. They do allow others to hitch a ride with them. These other beings attach their craft to their ships as the remora attaches itself to the shark in our oceans. These beings are also peaceful and carry no weapons. They would not allow others to travel with them if they attempted to carry devices of destruction. They are all here to observe our progress. We are not ready yet to join the others, but we are ahead of schedule, according to the 'Traders'.

The Travelers

Those who travel with the 'Traders' are known as the Travelers. They consist of many different kinds and races of beings. There are currently nineteen other races who have achieved Traveler status. Some of them will be discussed in this text. They are all here with intense and loving curiosity to observe your progress. It is an exciting event watching our transition. A world learning it is not alone is the equivalent to a new child being born. It is almost indescribable. Though these alien beings have witnessed this on millions of planets, it is still very exciting to them.

Several of the Traveler races are directly involved with monitoring and encouraging our growth. Again, we have nothing to fear. Any Traveler who brings harm to any sentient being will forfeit their right to travel with the ' Traders'. Such a forfeiture is a serious loss and not taken lightly.

A One-light-year Limit

All races are allowed to develop space travel on their own, up to a limit of one light year. This corresponds to the distance of travel that can be achieved when a society discovers how to use Element 115. This limited distance is enough to explore space, but not enough to reach other stars and invade or conduct war on other societies located on distant planets. The 'Traders' determine when a society is advanced enough to interact with others. At that time they allow them to attach their craft to theirs. Unfortunately, we have not yet reached this level, but we will.

Female Alien
Female Alien being
(Drawing courtesy of Christine 'Kesara' Dennett)

How They Live

As mentioned earlier, they eat small wafers made of processed vegetable matter which contains all the essential nutrients. They sleep very little because Their metabolism is much slower and more efficient than that of humans. Their average life span is approximately seven hundred earth years.

The Traveler Races Speak

Zetas

They are known as Zetas because they come from the star system known to us as Zeta-Reticulum. This is a dual star system. That is, it has two suns instead of one, like Earth. The gravity on that world is nearly twice that of planet Earth.

Zeta's are the ones we are most familiar with. It is their comrades whose bodies the U.S. government has recovered from some of their crashed scout ships. They ride along with the Traders to work with them. We recognize them because of their large almond-shaped eyes. They are larger than those of the Traders. Their mouths appear as mere slits to us. Like the Traders, they do not use them to communicate. They are the beings earth people see when they have what we call "abduction" experiences. That is not what really they are, but it is what we call them.

An Abduction experience begins
An Abduction experience begins
(Copyright © 2001 Christine 'Kesara' Dennett)

The Abduction Experiences

The experiences you call abduction experiences they refer to as interactions. We do not yet understand that these may be experiences have agreed to. We may have graciously given our permission to participate in this process. The material taken from our bodies in most cases during these interactions amounts to less than the amount we would lose when getting a manicure for our fingernails.

This process appears to be a DNA-transfer technology. Apparently it is done to insure our DNA will flourish and thrive on other planets as well as our own. As I said, they are trading life and insuring its continued existence. They do this with great love for humans and with thoughts of protecting our genes. They thank us, and love us for our participation.

The Most Powerful Beings Ever Encountered

There is another reason for the "abduction" interactions. It seems that humans, are the most powerful beings some alien beings have ever encountered. We have abilities beyond our greatest imaginings. Some alien races want to know how and why we have these abilities. They have encountered no other race of beings that have them. A source of some frustration to some of them is the fact that they cannot ask us about them, because we do not know we have them or how to access them.

A Connection to the Ultimate Power Source

There is an energy source that runs throughout the universe and flows through all dimensions. You may call it an energy grid, but it is so much more than that. It seems that humans, are directly plugged into this grid. Some alien races are not and they don't know how and why we are linked to it. It is said that we can literally create material out of thin air. That we are capable of moving the blocks of the Egyptian pyramids by sheer force of will, emotion, and intent.

aliens want to know about human powers
Aliens want to know more about human abilities
(Drawing courtesy of Christine 'Kesara' Dennett)

Emotion and Intent

These two forces, emotion and intent, appear to be the things that link us to the ultimate universal power grid. They are under-appreciated by us as humans. Particularly ignored is emotion. In our male-dominated societies, emotion is looked upon as a weakness and devalued as an attribute of the female gender of our species. These are the keys to the magic kingdom and we don't know what to do with them. We literally throw them away every day.

Fear

Our strongest emotion is fear. Even when we are happy, we manifest fear: fear that the happiness will disappear. By doing this, we literally guarantee that the happiness will disappear. This fear is so powerful that it is one reason aliens seldom pick up humans in groups. A group of us manifesting our fear all together would literally vaporize them on the spot! So, they pick us up individually and anesthetize us very quickly in order to protect themselves. The mantis beings often help other alien beings with this task.

Anything We Want

We, as humans, can literally have anything we want. We can manifest it by our emotions and intent. These two things link us to the universal grid and create it for us.

Communication

Alien communication with humans is most interesting. Many humans who have encountered aliens say they "just know" what they are saying, even though no actual words are used. That is because they put forth a combination of feeling/thought/images most humans are not able to adequately describe. They have never experienced this before. When humans 'hear' aliens, they are making subjective interpretations of what they are feeling and think they are hearing from them. From the alien perspective it is like trying to talk to someone who has reduced levels of hearing. In effect, they have to shout their feelings/thoughts/images to us. It is very exhausting, but it works fairly well.

Fear and Secrecy

Because of this communication gap, humans will tend to hear/feel whatever is already in their consciousness. In the United States there is a lot of fear. People there tend to view their interactions with aliens as violations or abductions. It may surprise you to learn that other cultures on earth receive their experiences with aliens completely differently. In many countries people line up and wait to be interacted with by aliens.

The United States has fostered a high degree of secrecy and military activity surrounding the existence of alien beings. Other humans are threatened when certain segments of the government find out that people know of their existence. This is not so in other countries. This is not a criticism of the United States, just an observation and point of enlightenment.

Individual Interpretations

I cannot emphasize this enough: What people hear/feel from aliens is almost exclusively each individual's interpretation. This causes humans a lot of anxiety because we end up getting multiple versions of what they are all about. Probably none of them are all that accurate.

Love

It seems that humans, have an infinite capacity for love. It is our greatest ability. At the current time it seems to be valued very little on our planet. However, that is changing and not just by our own desire but by forces in the universe we cannot yet begin to comprehend. Forget about propulsion systems, they will get us nowhere. Loving yourself and all that is around you will get you anywhere you wish to go.

A Gift

As a gift aliens have given us a little tip: Humans do not need spaceships to travel to the stars. Most other races do. However, as humans, have capabilities beyond our wildest dreams or imaginations. Some of these are referred to in our religious works. We simply don't understand the ancient language it was written in, or we have completely misinterpreted it. In some cases, we think if in fact these powers do exist they are reserved for the pious and what we call "holy" ones.

The reality is everyone has these abilities already built-in. You can learn to use them with about the same amount of effort it takes to learn to ride a bicycle.

Mantis being

Mantis beings reported being seen on alien motherships.
They are over 6 feet tall and are usually acommpanied by
the "Gray" alien beings. (© 1997 William L. McDonald)

The Mantis Beings

Should you encounter them, do not be alarmed by their appearance. There are many strange and wonderful forms in the universe. To us they appear as a six-foot tall being that resembles the insect we know as a praying mantis. Many people have seen them and have had difficulty convincing others they exist.

In our interactions with the Zetas, many of people can recall being "frozen" in place. This is one of the roles the Mantis beings play in the interaction. Often during interactions with beings from other places, humans begin to become frightened. To them it must appear that our response is to start to run around, making loud noises. The end result is to injure ourselves or others. In order to prevent this they briefly paralyze us.

Contactees and abductees have been 'told' that humans are the only beings in the universe that show their teeth when we are happy OR angry? It is very confusing to some alien beings. Apparently, we are known for this trait.

You might say the Mantis beings are the anesthesiologists of the contact experience. They apparently have evolved over millions of years. They have an organ located in their midsection which can not only sense fear as a dog or wild animal would, but they can amplify the fear and radiate it back to the originator. This amplified energy is what disables our neurological system and freezes you. This is how they prevent us from hurting ourselves. They perform this duty with great love and care for us as humans.

Top Ten Ways to Connect With Your Children

By Melissa Taylor

It ranks among one of my top priorities in life. I know my time with them is borrowed. My own mother told me to make the most of the time I have with my children, because it will be gone before I know it. Wow, isn’t that the truth? But what exactly does it mean “to make the most of the time” we have with our kids? I think a lot of it has to do with the ways we choose to connect with them. There are many ways we can find to bond with our children. Here are my Top Ten.

10. Ignore your cell phone when you are with them. Let it ring and let the caller leave a message! Send the message to your child that they are #1 and way more important than anyone who may be calling you.

9. Show up. Be there for their special days, no matter how little or big the event or the child is.

8. Game Time. Playing games is a great way to just hang out, be competitive, insert values when they don’t realize it, and just have fun! There are so many fun family games. Just last night, I observed my 9 year old daughter playing “Go Fish” with my husband. It was the tiniest deck of cards you ever did see, but they were laughing and having the best time.

7. One on one time. Be intentional on having some time just for you and one of your children. For me, this is tough sometimes. I have to make this happen. For example, my daughter and I have a lot of time alone and we do a regular Mommy~Daughter date night, but my sons and I don’t. (We used to, but since they have gotten older, not so much.) I have to create that time so I try to select an activity that will intrigue them…like going to Starbucks, to a sports store just to look around, to a movie then ice cream, or sitting in the garage to listen to the drums. The activity isn’t so important as the time is.

6. Family Devotions. Priceless. If you can get your whole family together for some Family Time Devotions and discussion, do it!!!! It’s a great time to have the opportunity to bring God’s Word to life and learn to apply to real life. My kids learned (cont below)

brianblog

SCOTLAND...the first time:

I want to tell a couple of stories from my first trip to Scotland in the Spring of 1973...

I mentioned in an earlier chapter that my wife, Cora was from Scotland. She and her mother and her sister moved to Wisconsin Dells in the late 60's and I met her in the Summer of 1972. She was a cocktail waitress at Terry Tobin's Pier II bar in downtown Wisconsin Dells and I had gone in there on a night off to see another girl. The other girl, however, didn't want to see me so I sat and bothered the cocktail waitress all night...Cora and I ended up liking each other enough that evening to agree to go out for breakfast after she got off work...
We started going out and soon we were talking about a trip to Scotland. In the Spring of 1973, Cora flew to the UK. to see her father, Albert, who lived in Edinburgh Scotland. I followed a couple weeks later and flew solo out of Madison to Chicago, to New York. Flying in and out of New York is quite a sight. Manhattan and the coastline. Then it's seven hours to Heathrow in London. I got off the big plane and got on the little plane for the 25 minute hop to Prestwick Airport in Edinburgh. I never got above the clouds for that one, so I could see the British countryside so green down below.

I'll tell you more about Scotland itself after I tell you about the poker games.

Cora's father was a gambler and he had a friend who ran a poker game every night in an apartment he rented just for the game. Serious guys came every night from all over for serious card games for serious money. I played a few times but I didn't bring enough money to play in a big game like this.
These games started around ten pm and went all night till 6 am and even later. I went to the game often even when I didn't play and there was usually a horse-drawn cart outside on the cobblestones delivering the morning milk house-to-house when I left there.
Well, one night a guy I hadn't seen before came and sat down to play and over two or three hours, he lost all his monay and he stood up and asked everbody,

"Would anybody like to buy a brand new 25" Quasar portable TV with a walnut-colored wood-grain cabinet and remote control...?"

Somebody asked him,
"How much...?"

The guy says,
"50 quid ( 50 pounds )...!"

That was cheap for a brand new television even in 1973. So a guy agrees to buy it and this broke guy gets up and leaves and he comes back in 5 minutes and sets this TV on the poker table. The buyer gives him the 50 pounds and the fellow buys back into the game. In a few minutes, he's cleaned out again and he leaves.
An hour or so later, the game breaks up and Albert and I leave the flat ( apartment ) and walk a block or so to his car and there on the corner is a TV shop... with the front window smashed out.

So this guy obviously scoped it out before the game and knew if he went broke, exactly which TV he would go get and everything about it.
Serious guys.

Another guy who came to these games, was a guy names Brian Dunwoody. He was from London and had some connections in the music business there. So he arranged for me to go into a small recording studio in Wall's End, England to record two original songs that Brian could take to people in London. Wall's End is a small town outside of Newcastle up in the north of England near the border with Scotland. Newcastle will be a part of a future story about another trip to Scotland in the Fall of 1973 when Robin went along.
We made a couple of 5 hour car trips from Edinburgh to London following the coastline down. What a beautiful place. I loved all the castles and the history. In London we met people and made plans for more recording and some live performances in some clubs with Robin on our return trip in the Fall.

The other interesting story I want to tell you from this trip happened on the flight home. I was again flying alone because Cora decided to stay in Scotland for a little longer than I could. On the trans-Atlantic portion of the trip, I was in the middle seat and the guy on my right in the window seat was very busy writing in a notebook, and opening and closing books, and pulling them out and putting them back into the briefcase on his lap. It was to be a long flight and he seemed like a pleasant enough guy, so I asked what he was working on. This guy had the appearance of a person who in 2012, would be looked at as a potential terrorist. He could have been Lebanese or Pakistani and maybe his family was from those places, but he was Irish and he was a professor at a University in Dublin. He was flying to the US to give a few lectures at some colleges in New England. The subject of these lectures was to be "Lateral Thinking"

I had never heard of it so, being a curious sort of person, I imposed upon him to explain it to me in layman's terms... and he did so, cheerfully.
Maybe he needed a break from his work or maybe this was helpful for him to talk about this to a blank slate like me. But he explained it to me and answered my beginner-level questions, too.

Lateral thinking, he explained, is a problem-solving tool for your mind. If you have exhausted all your regular processes for solving your businesss or your personal problems, lateral thinking can help.
What it is, is a way to loosen your thought processes and hopefully, pull them off of things that might be blocking your sub-conscious from being helpful.
The way he described it to me is, you relax and clear your mind completely. Then you let your mind "roll". That was the word he used and after he got me trying it, it did feel a bit like it was "rolling. Anyway, with practice, it will get rolling over many things. Most of the things can seem totally unrelated to your problem, but somehow in the mix of all these seemingly unrelated things, a solution will often appear. It's as if you are offering your brain a menu and it as it's rolling, it subconsciously chooses some things. And when you've finished, these things end up highlighted and will often contain elements of the solution to your problem. Fascinating.
This was almost 40 years ago and I still remember it. I tried it on the plane and it seemed to work. So I've used it a few times since then and I believe there is something there.
Try it.

This part is for Sue L., but the rest of you can read on as well...
Scotland in the Spring is much like the Midwest with all it's green spaces and gardens overflowing everywhere. The big difference is that over there everything is 400 to 600 years older than our country! Albert's flat was part of a 600 year old mansion in Leith Walk down the road from Princes St and Edinburgh Castle.
Edinburgh Castle is so old, they're not sure when it was built or who built it. They think it might have been surrounded by water 1000 years ago.
This was all so fascinating to a young guy from America. The money is big and blue and the brown bills are even bigger. You went to the green grocer for your vegetables and the butcher shop for your meats and the baker for your bread. Supermarkets were a new idea there in the 70's and there were a few but not many. It's very much like going back in time.

We walked most places or rode in the big black taxis. So in spite of drinking a lot of tea with milk and sugar, which was always accompanied by fresh cream cakes and scones, I lost weight. Every time I went to Britain, we walked everywhere and I lost weight. And I drank a lot of lager and ate a ton of fish and chips soaked in hot cooking oil and malt vinegar. There was a fish shop right across the street from Albert's house where fish and chips was priced at 15p, which is 15 pence, or about 60 cents American. Cora had an aunt and uncle that had a shop and though it was a long walk away, they never charged us at all! And, in any fish annd chips shop, when they handed you your battered cod wrapped in newsprint with about 100 thick stubby french fries called chips, the package seemed like it weighed 4-5 pounds. It was incredible! Especially, after an evening of drinking all those hand-pulled ales in those big frothy pint glasses.

We loved the pubs and they were everywhere. In Britain, the breweries and whiskey distilleries own most of the pubs, so they don't necessarily have to be so busy to be profitable because they own the real estate and promote their brands.There was a pub on every corner and they were places where neighbors met their neighbors and actually talked to them. They served pub food and people of all ages would go in eat and drink strong beer and mixed drinks with no ice. They would play cards and throw darts. There were NO TV's. You had to make conversation. The pubs were all closed down for two hours in the afternoon back then and I'm pretty sure that if you were tall enough to put your money on the bar, they didn't bother about your age. You could have a drink.

There's so much more to tell. Maybe I'll get to it someday.

Thanks for reading...

Planning for our Jun 9 big Airboating Magazine anniversary party at Turner fish Camp in Inverness FL (11 AM to 4 PM). We've gotten some rain - need some more before the party to bring the river up a little bit. Set you calendar to come out. Swamp Sweetie contest, Swamp Stud contest, games, prizes, good food and music and one of the prettiest places to airboat in Florida - the Withlacoochee River.

playing curious george games on pbs kids with my nephew Chase

Hey, I have to plug PBS for all of the kids shows they have. As a 30 year teacher, most years in early elementary, and a grandma of two, I have looked at their material and they ROCK!!! Even their cartoons are the best around. If you're interested in looking at their things (cartoons, games, etc.) go to PBS Kids. Wonderful!!

Zander has his Moms laptop ... : ) everytime I get online he heads over to open his too.... he's learned all the passwords and how to sign online... now I just have to teach him how to get to pbskids.org lol he will have it figured out in no time.. lol smart kids he just typed pbs into google and it brings him up all the choices ... so he chose the right one pbs kids games ... geez kids are smart now!!!

Although widespread, the term "breakdancing" is looked down upon by those immersed in hip-hop culture. "Breakdancer" may even be used disparagingly to refer to those who learned the dance for personal gain rather than commitment to hip-hop culture.[2]:61 The terms 'b-boys' (or break-boy), 'b-girls', and 'breakers' are the preferred terms to use to describe the dancers. The "b-boys" and "b-girls" were the dancers to DJ Kool Herc's breaks, who were described as "breaking". The obvious connection is to the breakbeat, but Herc has noted that "breaking" was also street slang of the time meaning "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance".[5] B-boy London of New York City Breakers and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as “breakers”.[3] Frosty Freeze of Rock Steady Crew says, “we were known as b-boys”, and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa says, “b-boys, [are] what you call break boys... or b-girls, what you call break girls.”[3] The term breaker is gender neutral. In addition, Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres (co-founder of Rock Steady Crew), Mr. Freeze of Rock Steady Crew and hip-hop historian Fab 5 Freddy use the term “b-boy”,[3] as do rappers Big Daddy Kane[6] and Tech N9ne.[7]

The dance itself is properly called "breaking" according to rappers such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC in the breaking documentary The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy. Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, Michael Holman, Frosty Freeze, and Jo Jo use the original term "b-boying".[3] Purists consider "breakdancing" an ignorant term invented by the media[2]:58[3] that connotes exploitation of the art.[2]:60[3]
Source Quote
Crazy Legs;
Rock Steady Crew "When I first learned about the dance in ’77 it was called b-boying... by the time the media got a hold of it in like ’81, ’82, it became ‘break-dancing’ and I even got caught up calling it break-dancing too."[3]
Action;
New York City Breakers "You know what, that’s our fault kind of... we started dancing and going on tours and all that and people would say, oh you guys are breakdancers - we never corrected them."[3]
Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres; Rock Steady Crew "B-boy... that’s what it is, that’s why when the public changed it to ‘break-dancing’ they were just giving a professional name to it, but b-boy was the original name for it and whoever wants to keep it real would keep calling it b-boy."[3]
NPR "Breakdancing may have died, but the b-boy, one of four original elements of hip hop (also included: the MC, the DJ, and the graffiti artist) lives on. To those who knew it before it was tagged with the name breakdancing, to those still involved in the scene that they will always know as b-boying, the tradition is alive and, well, spinning."[8]
The Boston Globe "Lesson one: Don't call it breakdancing. Hip-hop's dance tradition, the kinetic counterpart to the sound scape of rap music and the visuals of graffiti art, is properly known as b-boying."[4]
The Electric Boogaloos "In the 80's when streetdancing [sic] blew up, the media often incorrectly used the term 'breakdancing' as an umbrella term for most the streetdancing [sic] styles that they saw. What many people didn't know was [that] within these styles, other sub-cultures existed, each with their own identities. Breakdancing, or b-boying as it is more appropriately known as, is known to have its roots in the east coast and was heavily influenced by break beats and hip hop."[9]
Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon "Break dancing is a term created by the media! Once hip-hop dancers gained the media’s attention, some journalists and reporters produced inaccurate terminology in an effort to present these urban dance forms to the masses. The term break dancing is a prime example of this misnomer. Most pioneers and architects of dance forms associated with hip-hop reject this term and hold fast to the original vernacular created in their places of origin. In the case of break dancing, it was initially called b-boying or b-girling."[10]
Benjamin "B-Tek" Chung; JabbaWockeeZ "When someone says break dancing, we correct them and say it’s b-boying."[11]
Timothy "Popin' Pete" Solomon; Electric Boogaloos "An important thing to clarify is that the term 'Break dancing' is wrong, I read that in many magazines but that is a media term. The correct term is 'Breakin', people who do it are B-Boys and B-Girls. The term 'Break dancing' has to be thrown out of the dance vocabulary."[12]
Excerpt from the book New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone "With the barrage of media attention [breaking] received, even terminology started changing. 'Breakdancing' became the catch-all term to describe what originally had been referred to as 'burning', 'going off', 'breaking', 'b-boying', and 'b-girling'... Even though many of hip hop's pioneers accepted the term for a while in the 1980s, they have since reclaimed the original terminology and rejected 'breakdance' as a media-fabricated word that symbolizes the bastardization and co-optation of the art form."[13]
Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory "Breaking of B-boying is generally misconstrued or incorrectly termed as 'breakdancing'. Breakdancing is a term spawned from the loins of the media's philistinism, sociolism, and naivete at that time. With no true knowledge of the hip-hop diaspora but with an ineradicable need to define it for the nescient masses, the term breakdancing was born. Most breakers take great offense to the term."[14]
Jeff Chang "During the 1970s, an array of dances practiced by black and Latino kids sprang up in the inner cities of New York and California. The styles had a dizzying list of names: 'uprock' in Brooklyn, 'locking' in Los Angeles, 'boogaloo' and 'popping' in Fresno, and 'strutting' in San Francisco and Oakland. When these dances gained notice in the mid-'80s outside of their geographic contexts, the diverse styles were lumped together under the tag 'break dancing.'[15]

The term "breakdancing" is also problematic because it has become a diluted umbrella term that incorrectly includes popping, locking, and electric boogaloo.[2]:60[13] Popping, locking, and electric boogaloo are not styles of "breakdance". They are funk styles that were developed separately from breaking in California.[16]
[edit] History
A b-boy practicing downrock at a studio in Moscow.
[edit] Origin

Elements of breaking may be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1980s,[17] but it was not until the 1980s that breaking developed as a street dance style. Street corner DJs would take the rhythmic breakdown sections (or "breaks") of dance records and loop them one after the other. This provided a rhythmic base for improvising and mixing and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves while maintaining to hit specific beats of the break.
[edit] Korea

B-boying was first introduced to South Korea by American soldiers shortly after its surge of popularity in the US during the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the culture and dance really took hold.[18] 1997 is known as the "Year Zero of Korean breaking".[15] A Korean-American hip hop promoter named John Jay Chon was visiting his family in Seoul and while he was there, he met a crew named Expression Crew in a club. He gave them a VHS of a Los Angeles b-boying competition called Radiotron. A year later when he returned, Chon found that his video and others like his had been copied and dubbed numerous times, and were feeding an ever-growing b-boy community.

In 2002, Korea's Expression Crew won the prestigious international b-boying competition Battle of the Year, exposing the skill of the country's b-boys to the rest of the world. Since then, the Korean government has capitalized on the popularity of the dance and has promoted it alongside Korean culture. R-16 Korea is the most well-known government-sponsored event, and is hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
[edit] Japan

Shortly after the Rock Steady Crew came to Japan, b-boying within Japan began to thrive. Each Sunday b-boys would perform breaking in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.[19] One of the first and most influential Japanese breakers was Crazy-A, who is now the leader of the Tokyo chapter of Rock Steady Crew.[19] He also organizes the yearly B-Boy Park which draws upwards of 10,000 fans a year and attempts to expose a wider audience to the culture.[20]
[edit] Uprock

A separate but related dance form which influenced breaking is Uprock also called Rocking or Brooklyn Rock. Uprock is an aggressive dance that involves two dancers who mimic ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music.[10] Uprock as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as breaking, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock.[21]:138 When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some dancers argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be mixed with breaking and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the original moves but poor imitations that only show a small part of the original uprock style [22]

It has been stated that breaking replaced fighting between street gangs.[8] On the contrary, some believe it a misconception that b-boying ever played a part in mediating gang rivalry. Both viewpoints have some truth. Uprock has its roots in gangs.[21]:116, 138 Whenever there was an issue over turf, the two warlords of the feuding gangs would uprock. Whoever won this preliminary battle would decide where the real fight would be.[23] This is where the battle mentality in breaking and hip-hop dance in general comes from.[24] "Sometimes a dance was enough to settle the beef, sometimes the dance set off more beef."[10][21]:116
[edit] Dance techniques
For more details on this topic, see List of b-boy moves.
Bboy.ogg
Gravity Benders crew showcasing the four elements of b-boying—toprock, downrock, freezes, and power moves—some crew choreography, and a short battle.
[edit] Four elements

There are four primary elements that form breaking. These include toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/suicides.

Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, though dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (ie. aggressive, calm, excited). A great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer maintains cleanness, form and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock. Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping, locking, or house dance. Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves are called drops.[25]

Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet. Downrock includes moves such as the foundational 6-step, and its variants such as the 3-step or other small steps that add style. The most basic of downrock is done entirely on feet and hands but more complex variations can involve the knees when threading limbs through each other.

Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body, while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Notable examples are the windmill, swipe, and head spin. Some power moves are borrowed from gymnastics and martial arts. An example of a power move taken from gymnastics is the Thomas Flair which is shortened and spelled flare in b-boying.

Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. They are used to emphasize strong beats in the music and often signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes can be linked into chains or "stacks" where breakers go from freeze to freeze to the music to display musicality and physical strength.

Suicides like freezes are used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. Breakers will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain.
[edit] B-boy Styles
B-boy Timon doing a baby freeze

There are many different individual styles used in b-boying. Individual styles often stem from a dancer's region of origin and influences. Although there are some generalities in the styles that exist, many dancers combine elements of different styles with their own ideas and knowledge in order to create a unique style of their own. B-boys can therefore be categorized into a specific, broad style which generally showcases the same types of techniques.

Power: This style of b-boying is what most members of the general public associate with the term "breakdancing". Power moves comprise full-body spins and rotations that give the illusion of defying gravity. Examples of power moves include headspins, backspins, windmills, flares, airtracks/airflares, 1990s, 2000s, jackhammers, crickets, turtles, hand glide, halos, and elbow spins. Those b-boys who use "power moves" almost exclusively in their sets are referred to as "power heads" or power movers.
Abstract: A very broad style of b-boying which may include the incorporation of "threading" footwork, freestyle movement to hit beats, house dance, and "circus" styles (tricks, contortion, etc.).
Blowup: A style of b-boying which focuses on the "wow factor" of certain power moves, freezes, and circus styles. Blowups consist of performing a sequence of as many difficult trick combinations in as quick succession as possible in order to "smack" or exceed the virtuosity of the other b-boy's performance. This is usually attempted only after becoming proficient in other styles due to the degree of control and practice required in this type of dancing. The names of some of the moves are: airbaby, airchair, hollow backs, solar eclipse, reverse airbaby, among others. The main goal in blowup-style is the rapid transition through a sequence of power moves ending in a skillful freeze.
Flavor: A style that is based more on elaborate toprock, downrock, and/or freezes. This style is focused more on the beat and musicality of the song than having to rely on "power" moves only. B-boys who base their dance on "flavor" or style are known as "style heads".

[edit] Footwork Styles

In edition to the styles listed above, certain footwork styles have been associated with different areas which popularized them. [26]

Traditional New York Style: The original style of b-boying from the Bronx, based around the Russian trepak dance, this style of footwork focuses on kicks such as CCs and foundational moves such as 6-steps and variations of it.
Euro Style: Created in the early 90's, this style is very circular, focusing not on steps but more on glide-type moves such as the pretzel, deadlegs, undersweeps and fluid sliding moves
Canadian Style: Created in the late 90's, also known as the 'Toronto thread' style. Based upon the Euro Style, except also characterized by elaborate leg threads

[edit] Power versus style

Multiple stereotypes have emerged in the breaking community over the give-and-take relationship between technical footwork and physical power. Those who focus on dance steps and fundamental sharpness are labeled as "style-heads." Specialists of more gymnastics-oriented technique and form—at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork—are known as "power-heads." Such terms are used colloquially often to classify one's skill, however, the subject has been known to disrupt competitive events where judges tend to favor a certain technique over the other.

This debate however is somewhat of a misnomer. The classification of dancing as "style" in b-boying is inaccurate because every b-boy or b-girl has their own unique style developed both consciously and subconsciously. Each b-boy or b-girl's style is the certain attitude or method in which they execute their movements. A breaker's unique style does not strictly refer to just toprock or downrock. It is a concept which encompasses how a move is executed rather than what move is done.
[edit] Music

The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different music genres with the aid of remixing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz, soul, funk, electro, and disco. The most common feature of b-boy music exists in musical breaks, or compilations formed from samples taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats per minute with shuffled sixteenth and quarter beats in the percussive pattern. History credits DJ Kool Herc for the invention of this concept[21]:79 later termed the break beat.
[edit] Gender inequality

Like the other aspects of hip-hop culture, graffiti writing, MCing, and DJing, males are generally the predominant gender within breaking. However, this is being challenged by the rapidly increasing number of b-girls. Critics argue that it is unfair to make a sweeping generalization about these inequalities because women have begun to play a larger role in the breaking scene.[27][28]

Despite the increasing number of female breakers, another possible barrier is lack of promotion. As Firefly, a full-time b-girl, says "It's getting more popular. There are a lot more girls involved. The problem is that promoters are not putting on enough female-only battles."[29][30] More people are seeking to change the traditional image of females in hip-hop culture (and by extension, b-boy culture) to a more positive, empowered role in the modern hip-hop scene.[31][32][33] The lower exposure of female dancers is probably caused not by any conscious discrimination, but simply by the fewer number of female breakers compared to the number of male breakers. However, both males and females do practice this art form equally together and are competitively judged only by skill and personal expression, not gender.
[edit] Media exposure
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)
[edit] Film

In the past 30 years since b-boying's creation, various films have depicted the dance, mainly as either a main aspect of the film or in a documentary. In the early 1980s several films depicted b-boying including Wild Style, Flashdance, Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Delivery Boys, Krush Groove, and Beat Street. The 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars chronicled New York graffiti artists, but also includes elements of b-boying. In 1985, at the height of b-boying's popularity during the 80s, Donnie Yen starred in a Hong Kong hip hop film called Mismatched Couples.

The 2000's saw a resurgence of films documenting or utilizing b-boying. The 2002 documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy provides a comprehensive history of b-boying including its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture. The 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy follows crews from around the world in their journeys to Battle of the Year International 2005. The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival audience award) 2007 documentary "Inside the Circle"[34] (2007) goes into the personal stories of three b-boys (Omar Davila, Josh "Milky" Ayers and Romeo Navarro) and their struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives. The 2010 German documentary Neukölln Unlimited depicts the life of two b-boy brothers in Berlin that try to use their dancing talents to secure a livelihood. Most recently Step Up 3D, a 2010 hip hop dance movie, features b-boying as the main type of dance performed. Saigon Electric is a 2011 independent film focused on the b-boying culture in Vietnam.
[edit] Television

In the US, the shows So You Think You Can Dance premiering in 2005 and America's Best Dance Crew premiering in 2008, arguably exposed b-boying back to the forefront of America's hip hop scene, similar to the popularity it had in the 80's. Since b-boying's popularity surge in Korea, it has been featured in various TV dramas and commercials. Break is a 2006 mini series from Korea about a b-boying competition. Over the Rainbow (Drama series 2006) centers on different characters who are brought together by b-boying.
[edit] Commercial

B-boying is widely referenced in TV advertising, titling and program-linking, as well as news, travelogue and documentary segments, as an indicator of youth/street culture. From a production point of view the style is visually arresting, instantly recognizable and adducible to fast-editing, while the ethos is multi-ethnic, energetic and edgy, but free from the gangster-laden overtones of much rap-culture imagery. Its usability as a visual cliché benefits sponsorship, despite the relatively small following of the genre itself beyond the circle of its practitioners.

In 2005, a Volkswagen Golf GTi commercial featured a partly CGI version of Gene Kelly breaking to a new version of "Singin' in the Rain", remixed by Mint Royale. The tagline was, "The original, updated."

[edit] Literature

In 1997, Kim Soo Yong began serialization of the first b-boying themed comic,Hip Hop. The comic sold over 1.5 million books and it helped to introduce breaking and hip-hop culture to Korean youth.
The first b-boying themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur b-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas b-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was inspired by Dalecki's b-boy-themed short story "The B-Boys of Beaumont", which won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest.
Breakin' the city, a photo book by Nicolaus Schmidt, is portraying b-boys from the Bronx and Brooklyn wheeling around on subway cars, in city plazas and sidewalks of New York City.[35] Published in 2011 it is based on a cooperation between six New York based groups and the German photographer in the years 2007 to 2009.[36]

[edit] Video gaming

There have been few video games created throughout history focusing on b-boying. The main deterrence for attempting to create types of games like these is the difficulty of translating the dancing into something entertaining and fun on a video game console. Most of these attempts have had low to average success.

Break Dance was an 8-bit computer game by Epyx released in 1984, at the height of breaking's popularity.
B-boy is a 2006 console game released for PS2 and PSP which aims at an unadulterated depiction of breaking.[37]
Bust A Groove is a video game franchise whose character "Heat" specializes in breaking.
Pump It Up is a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The game involves b-boying and many people have accomplished this feat by memorizing the steps and creating dance moves to hit the arrows on time.
Breakdance Champion Red Bull BC One is an iOS and Android rhythm game that focuses on the actual b-boying competition Red Bull BC One.[38]

[edit] Pop culture
B-boys performing on San Francisco's Powell Street in 2008.

B-boying moves are often incorporated into the choreography of many films featuring martial arts. This is due to the visually pleasing aspect of the dance, no matter how ridiculous or useless it would be in an actual fight.

The 2001 comedy film Zoolander depicts Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) performing b-boy moves on a catwalk.
In the 2003 film Shanghai Knights, Donnie Yen implements a windmill in a fight against Jackie Chan.
The 2004 anime TV series Samurai Champloo features one of the main characters, Mugen using a fighting style based on b-boying.
The 2009 Thai martial arts film Raging Phoenix incorporates b-boying in its fight scenes, along with capoeira.
The 2010 martial arts film True Legend features a scene where Drunken God, played by Jay Chou performs windmills, flares, and airflares in a restaurant.

[edit] References

Well, got rid of all my Rated mature music, videos, and video games. As my boys are growing older they are interested in what I liked, so time to break out the board games, kids video games, and watch PBS. Sometimes change is Good!

My EDGE-cation comes from JAZZ-WITZ

Horace Jazzwitz and his Silver Tongued
Aura Tones. The aura turns and aura tours are lighter and more musical now that the Jesuits and the Jews' wits...have gotten it together to save Western UN Civilization......
They've left it up to God and Biff and God ain't sayin' schitt you ain't heard before and Biff says God is boring.
Mohammed says God is ALLAH...so that's cool...we have a new "NAME" for GOD in town...yada...allah's well...go on and play kiddies...it's Allah in the family..like you gotta hunker down and Bunker down and you can have your cake and EDITH,too..
Kids won't "get" that...That means anyone under fifty two....Under fifty two and you're not playing with a full deck...and even tho' you KNOW those "named"...by asso. ....."Dylan/Edith".....you can't make as many conections as me cuz I'm old and not so LOCKED IN to PUBLIC PUSSY like Dylan/Baez...Randy/Roswitha....Brucie/Pattie.....Billy Joel/ Christie Brinkley......Kanye/ Jay Z.....Bowie/Imam.....Elton/Queen.....
That makes me more mysterious and therefore less dependable as a boring entertainer....you either DON'T GET MARRIED like the Jesuits or phuck small boys like every OTHER Roman Catholic teaching order or you're Jewish and phuck everything....
Randy wants to "poke" another man's wife...he wrote a song about it.

My pimp just called....reviewing the football games ...again...."That's gonna be the WORST Super Bowl in history..New England's gonna MURDER the Giants...!"
"I know...I hate Drew Brees smiling...winning all those awards...he's supposed to be sad ..like us...The team lost...We're the team....we don't get any prizes..."
It's like the HERO emerges from the ashes of defeat....He's the Mardi Gras...we're Ash Wednesday...he's got the dutiful..beautiful wife....third child on the way....I'm stuck with the PEN...eloping with the PAPER screaming at me "Hurt me...hurt the paper..hurt the page..go ahead..hurt me..kill me...!".... and I'm tied to this dickhead of a MAST-PLAN...heading for PEN-ELOPE...the Siren calls interrupting.. luring...my men all deaf from the whacks....I hear the beauty and must possess it but mustn't get too close like that Italian Ship captain on the Carnival Cruise..abandoning his chance to be a hero...I have to conceal myself from my men...to see if....my mano a mano story....cell...
"Hey,Biff...." (it's my pimp)..."I'm down at the Courthouse...jury duty...that murder trial...."
McGinity my fraternity brother for fifty years and now my lawyer ("Biff you just tell me the truth and I'll lie for ya" )..told me..."You can't bring food in the Courthouse...".....I was starving..the jury which included my Pimp was sequestered downstairs.....it was "voir dire" time...I was seated in the empty courtroom...waiting...whispering loud to McGinity..."Where can I get some FOOD...I'm starving ?"..He motioned me out into the hallway...
"You can't eat here..you can't bring food in the building....."
"Well goddam..I'm hungry...."
"Well I have some fried chicken but you have to go outside..."
"Damn, Pat..all these narrow phucking legalisms when you're hungry..."
"Well..there's restaurant downstairs in the corner of the building..."
I ran.
"Grits'n'eggs."
"We stop serving breakfast at ten in the morning..."
"Damn...legalisms...the Courthouse.."
Back upstairs McGinity comes out of the Courtroom into the hall....echoes are like inside a giant Trinidad steel drum...the John F. Kennedy assasination trial comes bouncing back....McGinity had something in his hand..he opened it secretly...hiding two pieces of FRIED CHICKEN so no one could see...he looked from side to side...I felt like Fred Sanford....."Damn LaMont..gimme dat chicken..."
"Pop...I told you you CAN'T..."
I left the Courthouse with two pieces of FRIED CHICKEN..and started scarfing up my cell phone.. rang....it was Jefferson Davis of the City Park Tree Cutting Clinic Band.."Hey Biff..tonight on PBS..nine o'clock...Phil OX..." ...Jeff is under fifty two...

That word "JEW" leapt out...what was that?"....New Orleans was Catholic...so it was impossible that there could be anything else....But that word "jew".... kept coming back....In 1945 it came to prominence in the 'hood when I was eight and all us kids would sing "There's a place in France...where the women wear no pants..and the dance they do..is enough to kill a jew...and the jew they kill..is enough to pay the bill..and the bill they pay..is enough to make them say...I surrender USA..."
Then at age fourteen it came back again...1952....Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed...electrocuted...by a Jewish Judge....to shut up anybody saying ..anti-semitic...anti-semitic...hallu-hallu....
They were convicted of passing secrets to the Russians...Klaus Fuchs was "named" WITH them and HE was a jew...you said JEWISH if you WERE..you said a JEW if you were Catholic or Baptist.....it's O.K. to judge if you're Catholic and write it down...and don't say it out loud....like the Secrets of the Confessional.....a jew has to blab it for money....you have to keep it secret....and leave the Courthouse with greasy palms..
Chicken.

makin' ribs for dinner bored as hell, gonna be back on later....see ya then y'all...hey if you have small kids and have the "sprout channel" you can go to http://www.sproutonline.com sign up and make a birthday wish for your little one. if you have it...i posted for connor and jojo 1/29 and 2/3 hopefully it'll show...love y'all Find easy-to-make crafts, play games, download music, search TV programs, and more with your kids and preschoolers.

Great fun featuring STEM, spectrUM's upcoming exhibit:

PBS KIDS, in partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is participating in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge, an annual competition to motivate interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning among America's youth by tapping into students' natural passion for playing and making video games. The contest is open to four different categories: Middle School students (5th grade – 8th grade), High School Students, College students and Teachers/Educators. Participants who wish to produce games as part of the PBS KIDS stream are encouraged to develop games for children ages 4-8 that focus on early math skills. This site is designed to provide information and resources to help guide game production. This project is part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, and funded by a grant from the U.S Department of Education.

http://pbskids.org/stemchallenge/ PBS KIDS, in partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is participating in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge.

You love the dance, now play Huggy Dance Game! Play word games with WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face to build vocabulary.

i would like to say thank you so much to Mike Sullivan for helping me and baby ant try and save sprout , let your voice be hurd to join in and help save sprout please and thank you http://www.sproutonline.com/ Find easy-to-make crafts, play games, download music, search TV programs, and more with your kids and preschoolers.

welcome back to school...again Get a free 10-day Guest Pass at http://www.pbskidsplay.org. Welcome to PBS KIDS PLAY!, an interactive world filled with learning games and preschool activiti...

HAVE FUN ! Play educational games, watch PBS KIDS shows and find activities like coloring and music. PBS KIDS Games and Shows are research based and vetted by educators.

Nick Jr. Boost is a super fun, highly educational and fully personalized website for kids featuring their favorite Nick Jr. characters. We've teamed with leading curriculum experts and educators to create personalized games and activities that adapt and grow alongside your child's abilities. Offering over 250 skills covering Math, Early Reading, Science, Creative Play and more, your child is guaranteed to learn and have a blast doing it… all in a safe, personalized and ad-free environment. Nick Jr. Boost - Preschool Activities - Preschool Games.

Lily and Tucker have been napping for over an hour and Kayla played Nick Jr games while they napped. It was so quite in the house! Really didn't expect things to go so smooth! Makes me a little nervous. LOL

Help SAVE SPROUT!!! Directv costumers is goin to lose sprout!!! Go here and help us SAVE SPROUT!!! PLEASE!! & Dont forget to SHARE! :) www.sproutonline.com Find easy-to-make crafts, play games, download music, search TV programs, and more with your kids and preschoolers.

check your tv listings for sprout channel for kids jacqueline's b-day card will hopefully make it on tv. if it makes the cut it will air feb.3.2012 they have three mini shows announcing the birthdays. if you miss the morning one the following one will be the same and so on. on your guide it will say todays birthdays and it will give you the exact hour. you can also view her card on www.sproutonline.com under b-day cards.
Find easy-to-make crafts, play games, download music, search TV programs, and more with your kids and preschoolers.

Lauryn Kinnard shared a link. Give kids a hand and play the very best in Oobi games, and watch special episodes and videos.

Natalie N Wilson shared a link. Play educational games, watch PBS KIDS shows and find activities like coloring and music. PBS KIDS Games and Shows are research based and vetted by educators.

Kids playin Wii, ugh, nick jr. fit is one of the best games, but they sound like a herd of elephants playin it!! LOL.... hubby working, YaY! showertime in a little while then snack n bed, well for the kids anyways. 2moro is Jon's birthday, he prolly gotta work all day but still dont stop him from turning another yr older, lmao. Lovin my famil <3 <3

Playing some puck tonight. Going to be thinking about an old teammate/friend that unexpectedly passed away earlier this week. The good ole Jr. Wolverine days were great. We may not have won a lot of games but we sure had a hell of a time together. RIP Nick "Beak" Belanger. You were the man!

My nessa is so smart man she is playing on the computer the nick jr games and she knows wat she is doing and we didnt even show her she just learned and now she know how to even get to the web page damm shes smart so proud of my baby girl

Playing nick jr games with my little sis for now

Nick Jr - The Fresh Beat Band Play Games Online with The Fresh Beat Band and watch Fresh Beat Band videos online. Print The Fresh Beat Band Activity Packs and Coloring Books. Make Fresh Beat Band music crafts. Meet Kiki, Marina, Twist, and Shout, and learn all about the TV show, The Fresh Beat Band and the Fresh Beats! Join The ...

PBS KIDS: Educational Games, Videos and Activities For Kids! http://pbskids.org/

Laughing at CJ playing nick jr. games on the computer... His facial expressions are so silly and him.... Loving this evening.....