Planet Text: How SMS Messages are Changing the World

How did we ever live without mobile phones and text messages? While the technology is still relatively new in he grand scheme of communications, texting has quickly become an integral part of daily life for most of us. What would you do if you suddenly lost the ability to send and receive text messages?

Created by: MBA Online

Urgent: Call to Action

I don’t usually post things like this, but this case has been really bothering me. What it comes down to is life or death for Troy Davis.

Davis is on death row in Georgia. He was convicted of killing a police officer. He was scheduled to die, but the Supreme Court issued a stay so that they could decide whether or not to grant him an appeal.

Now the Supreme Court has decided to deny the appeal, clearing the way for Davis to be executed. He will be put to death on Monday, October 27, 2008 unless there is some intervention between now and then.

Here’s some of the reasons intervention in this case is necessary and the RIGHT thing to do:

Seven of the nine key witnesses against Davis have recanted their testimony. No murder weapon or physical evidence implicating Davis was found. The case against Davis was made on the testimony of these nine witnesses. One of the witnesses still standing behind the story that Davis is guilty is thought to be the person actually responsible for the murder… so he’s got a lot to lose if he changes his story, huh?

So, on the faulty and coerced testimony of these witnesses, this man was sentenced to die. And now the state of Georgia says that it’s time.

Please take a moment to send an e-mail to the Georgia Board of Pardons and the governor of Georgia, asking them to halt the execution of this man whose guilt is highly questionable. It’s very easy to do and just takes a minute – Click here to help

For more information about Troy Davis:

Court clears way for Davis execution

ACTION ALERT: Supreme Court rejects Troy Davis’ appeal; urgent action needed to save Troy’s life

RIP Bernie Mac

One of the original Kings of Comedy, Bernie Mac, passed away yesterday in Chicago. He was coarse, used very rough language and was brutally honest in his routines. He was funny as hell though and will be missed. RIP Bernie Mac.

I Think I'm Back..

Well, this database is as good as it gets and it is current as of.. well.. a 2-3 months ago or something like that. So I’m back!

There’ll be lots of tweaking and youse guys that had links will have them again. It’ll just take me a little while to get it all put back together.

Thanks for the support!

A Challenge For All – Win 1000 Entrecard Credits + FREE Advertising!

Up for grabs: 1000EC + 1 Month FREE Advertising in the best spot on this blog!

I was thinking yesterday morning – and I know it's dangerous. However, I was thinking about what I would do if I suddenly came into a lot of money or were financially able to just spend money however I chose.

I guess I was thinking about it because I had just seen on the news that an Iraq veteran just won $1 million with a scratch off lottery ticket. They asked him what he would do with the money and he said he would be investing and saving it. He's a smart guy.

If I had a lot of money, especially right now, I would have to at least spend some of it to organize some pet adoption drives and help out the shelters. Spring is coming quickly and there will be tons of puppies and kittens that need homes and sadly, won't find them in time.

So that was on my mind. There are many worthy causes that I would probably try to help, but the pet problem was on my mind. I have 10 cats, 3 dogs and an African parrot in my household right now. I'm full, so I can't possibly take in any more animals myself, but I think anyone who is thinking of getting a pet or has the room and the resources to adopt a pet should check out their local animal shelter to find a new friend.

So after having this little thought explosion in my mind, I checked my e-mail. My friend Amy had forwarded an e-mail to me that said that our local animal shelter that has depended fully on Pedigree to feed all of the animals in the shelter for the past 5 years had announced that Pedigree was no longer running that program. Pedigree still offers a free bag of pet food for people who adopt pets from the shelter, but as for the animals in the shelter now and the ones that will be coming in, there is no food coming in for them.

I went to the Pedigree website and sent them an e-mail to try to confirm this information. Then I called them. I was referred to the administrator of the shelter food program, so I called them. The lady was very nice and said that she would look into it and let me know what the situation is.

The e-mail that I received stated that Pedigree is discontinuing the shelter food program for all shelters, not just my local shelter. I am trying to verify that this is true.

In the meantime, my local shelter says that they are desperate for pet food donations. At the Pedigree site you can donate bags of food to the shelters and they will match your donation. I donated 10 22lb bags of dog food and they will be sending it to them directly. It is tax deductible.

I went to Wal-Mart today and bought about 80lbs more cat food and dog food and a bag of treats, because I figure these animals probably don't ever get to have treats, especially now that food is scarce. I met my friend Amy for dinner tonight and handed the food off to her and she will deliver it directly to the shelter for me.

So, here is my challenge to you. I challenge everyone reading this to step up and donate to your local animal shelter. You don't have to give cash, you can buy food or any other supplies that they need and drop them off. Get a receipt so that you can deduct the donation on your taxes.

More specifically, I am challenging every person who is able, to donate an amount of pet food equal to his or her own body weight. It doesn't cost a fortune, there is no tax and no shipping charges and if you do it through the Pedigree site they will match your donation . So in order to participate in the challenge you can buy half your body weight in food and let Pedigree match it to complete this challenge.

This challenge will run for the entire month of March. If you have participated in this challenge, let me know by commenting on this post. I have no way of knowing if you did it, so this part of the contest will have to rely on the honor system.

If you completed the challenge, post here (you don't have to reveal your weight or details of what you bought) and at the end of March I will let my child randomly pick a winner from all who participated and blogged about the contest. I will then send the winner 1000 Entrecard credits. I know that's not a gigantic prize, but hopefully if this challenge gets a good response I will continue running it monthly and increase the prizes and also offer prizes that people who do not use Entrecard can use too.

Update: I've also decided to throw in a month's worth of free advertising for the winner. See that Big Brother banner at the top of this blog? The winner will get to run an ad there FREE for a month and the only restriction is that it is a banner suitable for general audiences, nothing adult oriented will be allowed. The winner can run an affiliate banner or an ad for their own site in that spot.

Also: You can get two entries in this contest if you participate and then write a little post about this on your blog and link back to this post. Just let me know in a comment where your post about this is.

So there you go, I've thrown down the gauntlet. Donate your body weight in pet food and let me know that you did it in order to enter this contest. Again, you do not have to reveal your weight or amount of pet food purchased in order to participate in the challenge. It's the honor system, so you just have to let me know you did it.

Please help your local shelters in any way you can!

I Have A Dream

Actually, it's a recurring nightmare. It goes like this:

A giant lizard is racing around my house in a red car on a track made of cookie dough. When I call 911, my ex-husband answers and tells me he doesn't have time for my drama. Then the fire department arrives at my home and shoots it full of expanding foam and the sides split and the roof lifts off the top.

Don't even try to analyze that, it will make your head hurt.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a much better dream.

Here, to honor the memory of this great man, is a transcript of Dr. King's famous speech, delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places
will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Mr. Corey also stopped by with an important reminder about Dr. King's late widow, Coretta Scott King. You can read Mr. Corey's post here:  Coretta Scott King Dies .  It includes a link to one of the few New York Times articles that are worth reading.

10 Ways To Avoid The Hangover!

'Tis the season. You know, the season for drinking too much and paying the hefty price for it the next morning. I don't mean waking up in a strange bed with someone after the beer goggles are gone, I am talking about the hangover that will have your skull in a vice and make you want to hit your toe with a hammer just to try to even out the pain.

But there is some good news. According to the National Headache Foundation and howstuffworks.com there are things you can do to avoid feeling like an awe got stuck between your eyes the night before.

1. It will apparently help to plan ahead a little bit and have a big greasy cheeseburger, donut or hotdog dripping with chili before you start doing the Jaeger shots. Foods that are high in fat will form a slimy lard coating on your intestines and will inhibit, or at least slow down the alcohol absorption process. So you'll get stupid a little slower.

2. A spoonful of honey makes the medicine go down, and also gives your body some fructose to help metabolize the alcohol you'll be chugging. It's also a good source of vitamin B6 and cellulite for your thighs. So if you have some honey on a cracker or toast either before or after the party, it might help you avoid wanting to kill yourself in the morning. If you'd rather not fatten up your thighs, have some tomato juice instead. It also has fructose, but possibly not quite as many calories as the honey.

3. The experts say to pace yourself and sip slowly on that Buttery Nipple and have a non-alcoholic drink in-between the liquor. Who are we kidding here? You're not going to do this, so skip to #4.

4. Try to order the mixed drinks that have fruit or vegetable juices in them. Have a Bloody Mary and get your tomato juice and liquor all at once!

5. Not that you'll listen to this either, but they say to skip the red wine and dark liquors like bourbon and tequila. The reasoning behind this is that the red wine and dark liquors have a higher percentage of congeners, which are a nasty little byproduct of the fermentation process that causes your head to throb. But, since I know you're going to eat the worm anyway, so let's move on.

6. According to the hangover prevention unit, having a cup of broth or a sports drink after drinking can help out. I know you probably don't carry a bouillon cube around with you, so just pick up some kind of sports drink when you stop at the 7-11. Sports drinks have the minerals and salts in them to counter the dehydration you'll have from drinking like a clown and sweating like you've gone 9 rounds with Lennox Lewis.

7. It's true. Have some caffeine when you wake up, it will help shrink down the blood vessels in your head that you decided to blow up and make balloon animals with at the party. You clown. Had to be
the life of the party, didn't you?

8. It's also helpful if you suck down some eggs and bananas when you wake up. Waffle House isn't that far, you can crawl down there and order something scrambled.

9. It's not true. The hair of the dog that bit you is not going to do anything except give you a hairball. Do not wake up and start drinking again unless you really can't deal with yourself and are just going to attempt to stay drunk. In that case, you and your friend Lindsay Lohan can just crack the seal on a new bottle of liquor as soon as you wake up and no one is going to say a word about it. However, if you'd like to help yourself back to the path of being a productive citizen, don't reach for another drink – at least until your body has a chance to purge all the toxins you put in it the night before.

10. Be the designated driver. Stay sober, get your friends home safely and you won't have to worry about any of this stuff because you won't have a nasty hangover to deal with.

Drink Responsibly folks ~ I want to see you around here after the party so I can make fun of you for being such an ass clown while you were wasted.

A Sincerely Good Cause

I saw this story on CNN this morning and it touched my heart. We bake our own cookies at my house, but I'm ordering a box of these as well. Maybe you will too after you read this. I hope so.

Liam Witt is a little boy. He's a preschooler. His life has just started.

He has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma. 50 percent of children diagnosed with neuroblastoma relapse and the survival rate is currently only about 30 percent.

Liam's mom is having a bake sale. Not to raise money for Liam's treatment, but to fund more research to find new and better treatment options for all of the children who suffer with this form of cancer.

All of the ingredients and packaging and man-power is taken care of by donations and volunteers, so 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of these cookies will go for neuroblastoma research.

So, this is why I call this a sincerely good cause. On the news I saw a doctor saying that because this cancer is relatively rare, there has been no interest or funding by the drug companies in finding new treatments. I say, that if your kid got cancer, you really wouldn't care how rare it is, you would want doctors and scientists working for a cure. I know I would.

So, if there is someone you need a gift for this holiday season, or if you could possibly spare a little cash for a donation or make a purchase of a box of these cookies it would be great. I never ask you guys to buy anything, I never EVER have – until now. I'm asking you to consider buying a box of cookies or to make a donation to this effort.

I won't ever know if you did or if you didn't, so don't do it for me. Do it for the children that the drug companies don't seem to care whether or not they live or die – because they aren't profitable enough.

Here it goes:

Liam's Page

and here is a direct link to the COOKIES FOR CANCER Page

Where Can I Get It The Cheapest?

When I shop, I do a lot of online price comparisons. There is absolutely no reason not to, unless you just like spending more money than you should. Sometimes two stores will have the same item for about the same price, but if one of them offers free shipping, a coupon or rebate, they win. I'm looking for the lowest overall cost for identical products.

The problem is, all that running around and doing all of this comparing takes a little bit of time. It's usually worth it, because you get the better deal. But if it were easier to find the best deal, that would be cool too.

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I visited TechBargains.com. Here's the deal: This site lists tons of tech bargains, and they do the comparison shopping for you. At a glance you can find out who has the best price on the item you want and who's offering free or bargain shipping – it's all right there. You can find out about exclusive deals to help you save money and also take advantage of coupons and rebates too. There is an RSS feed for the site, so you can stay up to speed on what deals and bargains are out there and even on holidays and weekends, they still deliver. Even while you are out shopping, you can access the site and RSS feed on your mobile device so you can get the best deals all of the time.

If you are looking for a great deal on something specific, it's easy to set up a deal alert at the site and they will let you know when there's a deal available for you!

The way I figure it, this site will help me save time and money – and that, I like.

The Redneck Bar and Grill

Tim and Ernie have found some new digs.  Now, I first met these guys at the Blue Beaver Beer blog and we had some good times.  However, times change and it was time for them to get a bigger place, a new neon sign and some Wordpress plugins.

So they went out and got themselves an adjustable rate mortgage and opened The Redneck Bar and Grill and it's up to us to tart the place up with peanut shells and empty beer bottles and in general, keep it out of foreclosure.

I'm gonna miss the old blog, but I gotta tell you, the spam catcher over there drove me nuts.  Either I'm going blind or they wern't using normal English characters just to screw with me when I left a comment.

So all in all, I think the guys have dun reel guud for theyselves.  Stop by and tell them I said hi.  I'll be by with my rusty knife to start their first bar brawl shortly. 

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