Today's Outlook - Foggy early, clearing later

How about a quote to start the day...

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
– William Blake

I think William Blake had one hell of an insight in the remark. In a lot of ways that one comment covers the differences in the two ends of the political spectrum. It also explains the lack of common ground in most public issues. The two side just can't fathom the viewpoint of the other side. We aren't talking different planets here, we are talking about being from different solar systems mentally. Sorry for the "duh" moment, but I just had a "duh" moment.

I am running a little behind this morning due to a doubling of my normal morning email load. Mind you we aren't talking about spam (well none that wasn't actually requested by me at one point or another), mainly just Google Alerts I have running to check on if family or friends end up in the news somewhere. Just another way to keep in touch.

Then there is this from a newsletter I get in my daily email...

What is the most dangerous animal on Earth?

They often work from trucks traveling the roads and streets at night when most people are asleep or fretting about the next day's activities. Without them, road and barge crews couldn't work safely, children would not be safe on playgrounds, dinner on the patio would risk infection, spending a day fishing would bring home more than fish, swimming, hiking, jogging, gardening—any of these activities could be the last outdoor activity one had from life. Their work is not glamorous; it is long and tedious, filled with its own hazards. They battle the single most dangerous animal on Earth; they are the mosquito control officers.

If you like oddball facts about plants (or even just real down and dirty facts), go check out the Killer Plant site. I've been subcribed to their daily emails for years now.

Source: Renfields Garden - KillerPlants.com

The big yellow children hauler just passed by so I better start wrapping this up and finish getting ready to drop my youngest off at the High School. Stay warm, stay happy, we'll catch you down the information superhighway.

Good Morning World

To all my friends on the Blue Ridges and points north...Throw another log on the fire, winter ain't done with y'all yet. Here we switched to a breeze off the gulf so our temperatures are moderating. It's a balmy 45 degrees outside right now and heading back up into springtime temps again today.

For all of the wine drinkers out there the Washington Post is reporting that "Ernest Gallo, 97, who with his brother Julio reaped riches from California grapes, shaping the drinking habits of a nation and creating a wine fortune from a small investment, died March 6 at his home in Modesto, Calif." Maybe their is something to all of these purpurted health benefits in drinking wine...97 years old.

And then there's this...

IN LAST WEEK'S issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a new study on antioxidant supplements, pills that magazine covers in the 1990s trumpeted as potential miracle drugs for their putative cancer-fighting power, concludes that they do not help users live longer and might even increase the risk of death. It's a reminder that you can't rely just on bottle labels to make smart choices about which pills to take.

Source: Don't Take Your Vitamins? - washingtonpost.com

So what's one to do, everything that was good is now bad, everything that was bad is
now good. Does anyone spouting all this nonsense really have any clue about what they are talking? I read an article long ago that quoted government reports on the nutritional value of common fruits and vegetables. They compared the values from different decades and the drop across the board was amazing. Now we are being told that the supplements we have been told to take may actually increase our risk of dieing, the diet we have been told to eat is making us obese, the medicines we are prescribed are killing us...And yet on every TV station, in every magazine, and on most billboards we are bombarded with ads for these very same products...

The title of this post came about from looking at my stats on sitemeter...Seems I had as many international hits as I had from the USA. Good to see you all...