Here's an article for you: Daily Dose of Caffeine May Cure Alzheimers, Scientists Find.
And while this is good news if you're wanting reasons to justify your Starbucks purchases, it's not so good for your previous dedication to that daily glass of red wine. Oh well.
Heck, maybe it's better to be safe rather than sorry. Coffee AND wine? Problem solved.
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ABC content starts arriving on Hulu this week, which means that lots of relatively recent TV shows are going to be available for viewing -- joining lots of other stuff that you might find interesting, as well as at the right price (free).
What else is at Hulu? Just now, they were showing the following as their most popular movies (there are lots of movies there):
Virtuality
Benny & Joon
The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three
The Last Of The Mohicans
Prelude To A Kiss
We have a mysterious guest here in the garage. He's been here about a week.
That's when the dogs first starting going nuts, sniffing the outside wall of the garage - as well as inside, where cardboard boxes are stacked and there's a couple of old window screens lined up against the back.
Of course, the first thing I thought was RATS.
EWWWWW.
This made sense, because the little old man next door (we've nicknamed him Thomas Pinchon, and for all anyone knows, he IS) loves to feed the birds. He's 112 and has the skin to prove it. Long white hair and beard. A real sweetie, and from what I can tell, the only exercise he gets is roaming his front yard and back, dispensing seed and water for his little feathered friends.
Which I assume he then watches from his window for a good part of his day. At 112, this is a good life, you know.
But I've learned that rats love bird seed better than birds do, and I'm think that in the Rat World, Thomas Pinchon is busy each day replenishing the Rat Feeders with sunflower seeds and such.
So, rats made sense. Until the rug moved.
Two days ago, right before the holiday, I was standing outside watching the dogs and testing the heat (it really was hot ... we were over 102 at that point). And then, I heard a huge noise and when I investigated, things had changed in the garage.
A big cardboard box had fallen because a big, rolled up tapestry rug had been pulled right into it. A big, heavy, wrapped, tied, too-heavy-for-one-person-to-pick-up rug. Moved. A significant distance.
Either I'm hosting SuperRat or something else is out there. A Monster of some sort.
Big Hint. It's bigger than a rat.
Plus, the dogs will not jump out of the car until I walk all the way around it, and then only if I stand right by them. And, they won't go in the car without looking underneath it.
Another Big Hint. It's bigger than a rat and it's been underneath my car at some point.
Ewwwww.
Possum? Raccoon? Skunk? Cat? Snake? Elf?
I don't want to put poison out. That's too dangerous. So, here's what I've done. I've thrown mothballs all around that wall where the boxes are and the dogs were sniffing.
Why? Mothballs put off fumes. Nasty fumes that rodents and such don't like and I don't believe cats or possums or raccoons will eat. Because maybe it'll make the Mysterous Guest leave, and find someplace else to escape the noonday heat.
At least, I hope so. I'm feeling pretty hopeful right now.
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Last September, shortly after the FDIC Chairwoman's press conference announcing 117 banks were on the FDIC Watch list, I wrote about whether or not we should feel comfortable with our money in the bank - especially as we become more and more a cashless society, using debit cards and credit cards for even the smallest purchases. That article had lots of details that I'm not going to repeat here, but it's worth a re-read if you're interested in this sort of thing.
That post got lots of traffic, I got lots of emails, and it also appeared in several publications. And, today, when I read the news that last Friday, five more banks were closed across the country (bringing the total to 45 closures so far this year), I thought I'd look into this issue a bit more. And here's what I've found.
1. The Coming Depression has links to sources relaying the following info: Panasonic is ordering its employees back to Japan by September 2009, and US Embassies are being told to gather enough local currency to cover their operations for a full year.
2. The FDIC has an online list of banks which have failed since October 1, 2000. By my count from this list, as of today, this totals:
Oct to Dec 2000 - 2
2001 - 4
2002 -11
2003 - 3
2004 - 4
2005 - 0
2006 - 0
2007 - 3
2008 -24
Jan - June 28 - 45
That's right. Forty-five banks so far this year, and we're only half-done with 2009.
3. Back in March, the Senate Banking Committee Chairman was moving to get the FDIC a line of credit totalling $500 billion for its DIF. DIF, meaning the Depositors' Insurance Fund, which covers depositors when banks go belly up - insuring accounts up to a certain amount ($100K, $250K in some instances). If the FDIC doesn't have the money to cover its insurance protection promise, that's a cause for concern and obviously it didn't appear to be on solid ground back in March.
4. This week, we come into the end of the second quarter of June, and banks will have to file quarterly reports with the feds. The FDIC is getting an emergency "assessment" from banks to boost its DIF based upon numbers showing in these quarterly reports. Banks have until September to pay the FDIC this assessment.
5. What's the most stable currency in the world? Yep, someone studies that - in fact, they have turned it into a reputable business. EWI, or Elliot Wave International, is the largest market forecasting company in the world and it issues its determinations of the most stable currencies worldwide, using eight (8) factors. So far, EWI is finding these as the top four:
Swiss Franc
Singapore Dollar
New Zealand Dollar
US Dollar.
5. Of course, there's lots and lots of talk (and TV commercials) about gold as the safest currency. I think I saw G. Gordon Liddy as the spokesman for one of these gold vendors recently ....
6. And, then there's the recognition that a dollar is only a method of exchange. If things were to get so bad that banks didn't have cash to hand out, would it mean that your sawbucks were worth more because cash could not be had (depends upon the government printing press, now doesn't it) or would it mean that your buck was worth less because there were so many dollars on the books?
For many people, the answer to this is to stockpile goods that in a crisis would be practical for exchange. Everything from food items, to batteries, to ammo.
So, bottom line, should you pull your money out? I don't have a clear answer on that one, but I'll keep looking. Meanwhile, what does your gut tell you to do?
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I would post the full video here, but it's been right-protected at YouTube, so you will have to click HERE to go watch this amazing, wonderful event.
Please do this.
On this Easter Sunday, when so many things seem so dark and so many are scared and skittish, it will warm your heart and encourage you -- may God bless Susan Boyle for what she has done for so many of us, by having the courage to do what she did.
Amazing performance. Amazing event. A true gift to us all, in so many ways.
Please go watch this.
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Here in San Antonio, we're lucky to be close enough to the Mexican border that we can get our hands on Coca-Cola made in Mexico, where they don't put high fructose corn syrup in their product. Yep, in Mexico they use sugar -- just like our good old American cokes had in them until the 1980s. (Locals, you can get Mexican Coca-Cola anytime at Central Market.)
However, during Passover, everyone in the US gets a break. Because Coca-Cola actually distributes a Kosher version of Coca-Cola that is made with sugar, not HFCS. Here's how you can tell which bottles are with sugar, and why you should care.
First of all, high fructose corn syrup is bad for you -- no matter what their advertising campaign is telling you -- so that's a given, you should avoid it. But for Coke aficionados, it's more than that.
Coca-Cola made the old-fashion way just tastes better. Sugar in the soda gives it a slightly different bang for your buck. Give it a try -- just look for the Coca-Cola bottles with the YELLOW cap.
News reports are that it's "flying off the shelves." Maybe you better hurry.
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Pork tenderloin was cheaper than chicken at the store today, so I bought one. I've never been a big pork fan, but I may change my mind. This was very easy to cook, didn't take long, and it turned out fabulous.
This video shows how to cook a tenderloin -- and I like this video because she did what I did: I just put that baby in the oven. No throwing it into a frying pan first to get some saute action going. No sirreebob and I don't think foregoing that step was a problem at all.
Tex-Mex hint on leftovers: take a corn tortilla, put in some pork, a couple of avocado slices, some cilantro, and some shredded cabbage. Fabo taco. Addicting. Truly.
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A new study of consumer shopping habits in the United States is revealing that people aren't planning are changing back from their new "tighter" ways of spending, should the economy bounce back.
Apparently, Americans like the feeling of getting good deals, looking for bargains, and living more simply. Good, right?
Well, the retailers aren't happy about it. They're busy trying to figure out how to deal with this new consumer mindset. Some retailers are planning on downsizing, others are considering being "one-stop" shopping stores.
And, of course, who's setting pretty among all these retail stores? The big warehouses like Sam's Club and Costco, and ... yes ... WalMart.
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and here's a short version of a nice homemade solar oven on wheels ...
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