Thursday, August 6, 2009

Jeff Chandler with Jim & Karen

Jeff Chandler joined Jim & Karen on Spirit FM...what a great time! You can get Jeff's CD at Best Buy, Family Christian Stores, Amazon or on his My Space page!









Check out Jim & Karen's conversation with Jeff Chandler...


Sunday, August 2, 2009

TODAY IS MONDAY - AUGUST 3, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on
SPIRIT FM

THIS IS YOUR LIFE:The underroar of the flip-flops was back this past weekend I Columbia at the Walm-Mart…indicating that MU students arae returning just like the swallows to Capastrano!

GREAT WESBITE FOR MOMS : Tips and tools to help parents help their kids succeed in school. A panel of “real” moms and has lots of videos, articles, blogs, etc. that can be a big help during the school year! How to keep kids organized, setting a new bedtime, helping with the first day jitters and a lot more.

Which do you prefer a manual toothbrush or an electrict toothbrush? One could be better than the other!

It's possible to brush your teeth effectively with a manual toothbrush. But an electric toothbrush can be a great alternative to a manual toothbrush, especially if you have arthritis or other conditions that make it difficult to brush well. The bristle movement of an electric toothbrush might even help you remove more plaque from your teeth and improve your gum health. If you choose to invest in an electric toothbrush, look for one that's comfortable to hold and easy to use. A rotating-oscillating head is best. Other specific features, such as adjustable power levels, timers and rechargeable batteries, are up to you. What's most important is regular brushing, whether you choose a manual toothbrush or an electric toothbrush, and daily flossing.


TODAY IS:
Today is National Watermelon Day.

Single Working Women's Week begins today.

The annual Chocolate Festival is this week in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. For six days they eat, drink, and breath chocolate. After six days of chocolate, I would turn into a (5-foot-10, 180-pound) zit!

The annual Dog Obedience Championships are this month in Los Angeles. They wouldn't take my dog, Buddy . On his aptitude test my dog showed talent for only two things: barking at the wind -- and scooting across the carpet.

Christopher Columbus set sail on this date in 1492 to prove the world was round. And today, the world is still round. It's all that junk food. Actual, in those days, everybody thought the world was flat. Now, thanks to OPEC, it finally is.

This is National Smile Week, a time to look on the bright side of things. So go ahead, smile right now…before you hear the rest of this morning show and may not feel smiling later.

National Chigger Week begins today. A chigger is a tiny red bug that likes to bury up in your leg and have you for lunch. And dinner and breakfast.

Chiggers are so sneaky you don't even know they're eating you until after two or three meals. You'd think by now somebody would have invented a chigger alarm.


IN THE NEWS:

The X Games were going on in L.A. BMX racers, skateboarders, and motocross dudes all competing. I love watching people test the limits of their bodies and these dudes would have to be seriously athletic to do everything they do. The only event I don’t like is when the skateboarders grind down the stair rail. It makes a very annoying sound. It’s like Jessica Simpson. Very annoying.


Graduate Sues Her College Because She Can’t Find A Job
Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back.
The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her a job.

The information-technology student blames Monroe's Office of Career Advancement for not providing her with the leads and career advice it promised.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," the frustrated Bronx resident wrote about the school in her lawsuit.


Iraq’s First Christian Radio Station is Taking Off!
Dramatic news out of Iran this weekend. More than 3,000 Reformers arrested. Some 600 wounded. Conflicting reports about deaths. Some say at least 19 have been killed by the security forces. CNN has unconfirmed reports put the number of deaths at 150.

But this isn’t the only story of revolution in the region. What the media isn’t telling you is that the Revivalists are moving powerfully to share the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Muslim world.

Last month, for example, the Kurdish government of Iraq in May gave permission for a Christian radio station that The Joshua Fund helped finance to officially begin broadcast operations. The establishment of such a station owned and operated by Iraqi followers of Jesus Christ is really an historic development in the history of Christianity in the land once called Babylonia, and we are deeply grateful for your prayerful and financial support in making this happen.

The station is operating on 97.1 FM in Erbil and has a translator station operating on 104.7 FM in the city of Kirkuk, a city of about 850,000. Each transmitter operates at 250 watts. That station — which can be heard throughout the Kurdish region and thus by more than two million people — is broadcasting Christian music, original and previously-produced educational programs, original and previously-produced cultural programs, Bible reading programs and radio dramas based on the Bible. All of this is in the Kurdish and Arabic languages.

“Growing up under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, we never thought we would see the day when we who love Jesus could run a radio station in Iraq,” the station manager told a TJF staffer. “We are excited to see how the Lord will use us to bless the Iraqi people, and particularly the Kurdish people. Please be praying for us that the Lord’s favor would be with us and we would make a real impact in people’s lives here.”


Magnetic Signs For Teens Who Have Just GottenTheir Driver’s License
There is no easy cure for teenage traffic deaths and injuries, but Susan Kessler believes she has at least come up with a way to help limit the carnage: When a new driver gets behind the wheel, just slap a temporary warning sign on the car.

Kessler has developed signs for teens with learner permits and first-year licenses. They are attached magnetically to the car's sheet metal and display the words "Caution Newly Licensed."

It's not hard to imagine the signs being a nightmare to teens obsessed with what their peers think. But, Kessler, a Kennesaw, Georgia, mother of six, says the real horror is out on the highway: thousands of young people are killed and injured in traffics every year.

More than 15,000 of people have ordered the signs since Kessler and a group of other moms introduced them four years ago.

Parents can mount one on the trunk when a teenager takes off in the family car and remove it when he or she returns home. Once other drivers see it, they presumably exercise extra caution and create a "protective bubble" around the new driver, or so the thinking runs. AOL Autos: Rules for safe driving


4500 Year Old Skeleton Found on Beach in Rome – I didn’t even know Joan Rivers was traveling recently..did you?
A well-preserved 4,500-year-old skeleton of a man was found on a beach south of Rome, Italian police told Reuters.

The man is believed to be a warrior killed by an arrow in the chest, Reuters reported.

Six small vases were also found buried near the man.

"We thought it was that of a Roman solider, but then the experts identified it as dating back to the third millennium B.C.," said Raffaele Mancino, an official who oversees Italy's cultural heritage.

The skeleton was discovered during a routine air patrol of areas of archaeological interest.


Twenty Blind People Test Drive Car
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Several blind people were able to get behind the wheel of a new high-tech vehicle designed by Virginia Tech engineering students.

Twenty blind people took turns maneuvering the retrofitted dune buggy Friday in a parking lot at the University of Maryland. The test drive capped a National Federation for the Blind summer camp for 200 blind youth from across the country.

Virginia Tech was the only university to take on a 2004 challenge from the federation to build a vehicle that could let blind people drive.

The buggy they designed uses a laser sensor to figure out the road ahead. A special vibrating vest worn by drivers communicates speed and warns when to stop. And a headset relays voice commands signaling which way to turn.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY - JULY 29, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on
SPIRIT FM

One of world’s best kayakers has just set an unofficial new world record.
The Daily Mail says 22-year-old Montana native TYLER BRADT just took his kayak over Palouse (puh-loose) Falls in eastern Washington state. That’s a 186-foot drop! The fall itself only took about 4-seconds, but Bradt reached speeds of around 100 miles-per-hour.

The only injury he suffered was a sprained wrist and a broken paddle. The record is expected to be confirmed by the Guinness Book soon. The previous world record was set just a few weeks ago by PEDRO OLIVIA when he plunged 127-feet over a waterfall in Brazil. You can watch the video on YouTube…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QSkyB3e474



What Can Blue M & Ms Do For Spinal Cord Injuries?

The food dye that gives blue M&Ms their colour can help mend spinal injuries, researchers have claimed after tests on rats.

The compound Brilliant Blue G blocks a chemical that kills healthy spinal cord cells around the damaged area - an event that often causes more irreversible damage than the original injury.

BBG not only reduced the size of the lesion but also improved the recovery of motor skills, the rodent tests showed.

Those treated with BBG were later able to walk, although with a limp. Rats that did not receive the BBG solution never regained the ability to walk.

On the downside, the treatment causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue and BBG needs to be injected soon after the trauma. The test injections were given within 15 minutes.

More tests will be needed to prove the safety of BBG before human clinical trials can begin.

But researchers are optimistic new treatments for acute spinal cord injuries could emerge in the next few years.



FAITH GYM Opens in the MidWest

BARBERTON, OHIO: The doors of the old church at Third Street Northwest and Paige Avenue have reopened, but for a different kind of congregation.

The building now houses Faith Gym, offering hope for a different kind of resurrection of the body.

Barberton developer Al Horvath of Ohio Realty Consultants Inc. converted the abandoned church along Lake Anna into a fitness center for everyone from the beginner, who has never exercised to the competitive athlete.

Horvath, 41, calls himself a ''small-time developer'' and a ''risk taker,'' with an ''all-or-nothing mentality.''

This is the eighth building Horvath has remodeled in downtown Barberton. Some of the other businesses include a coffee shop, barber shop, flower shop, Lake Anna After Dark night club and the 42nd Step Party Center.

He said he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the building when he bought it in 2005. The building was for sale after the former Moore Memorial United Methodist Church merged with another Methodist church and moved out.

Horvath said he has been working on the project as money became available. He has spent just under $1 million.

It was important, Horvath said, to keep the building's religious theme. The original stained-glass windows, installed when the church was built in 1892, remain.

He added the murals painted on the ceiling in the main lobby area depicting familiar Bible story figures, including Noah's Ark, Sampson and Delilah, Adam and Eve and David and Goliath.

Bible verses and other sayings having to do with the word ''faith'' adorn the walls of the second-floor hallway.

The cross on the altar also was kept and moved to the wall of a stairwell.
Obviously, some changes were required.

The pews — donated to a church in Kentucky gutted by fire — have been replaced with rows of workout equipment.

Horvath created a Superman theme for the former sanctuary area. A Superman figure opening his shirt and displaying the big ''S'' stands in the forefront of a telephone booth when you first enter the main room.

Membership is $35 per month.



Support Site For Pastors’ Wives
http://pwr.nazarene.org/

PoWeR— the Pastors' Wives Resources website provides resources for the parsonage family. It is also a place where you will find a common bond with those who constantly face the joy and challenges of parsonage life They even want you to submit your stories and experiences and welcome pastors to visit as well!



Texting While Driving More Dangerous For Truckers

Truckers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to crash or get into a near-wreck than an undistracted driver, while car drivers face the greatest danger when dialing their cell phones, a transportation study found.

"From the study that we did, we found that it was almost five seconds out of a six-second window that we were looking at that the driver's eyes were off the forward roadway, so that's a tremendous amount of time driving at highway speeds and a lot of opportunity in that period of time to get into trouble."

If a highway driver takes his eyes off the road for even 4.6 seconds, it "equates to a driver traveling the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the roadway."

Because of the increased dangers associated with cell phone use while driving, the Virginia institute suggests that drivers avoid using phones while driving, even if they are communicating with a hands-free phone, which lessens risk, the news release said.

Researchers also recommend that newly licensed teen drivers not use phones while driving and that texting be banned.




HOMESCHOOLED JONAS BROTHERS AT ROCK THE RIVER ST. LOUIS THIS WEEKEND

If you have teenage or tween-aged girls in your household, you have no doubt heard of the Jonas Brothers. Even if you don’t have musical girls with talent in your household, the Jonas Brothers’ popularity is such that you probably know who they are. But, there may be some things you don’t know about them.

Kevin, Joe & Nick Jonas are coming to St. Louis Tuesday, July 28 to the Scottrade Center. If you don’t have your tickets yet, there may still be some available.

The Jonas Brothers are well known for their Disney connection & have made movies and recordings. But, did you know that they were homeschooled in a Christian household, have written Christian praise music, wear purity rings & know firsthand what Type I diabetes is like? Or, did you know that the oldest brother, Kevin – age 21, just announced his engagement to marry his girlfriend. Jonas Brother’s mother, Denise, gave an interview earlier this year with Homeschool.com blog. In the interview, she answers pointed questions directed about homeschooling. If you miss the Jonas Brothers’ concert or are looking for some more high energy music with a Christian message, don’t miss Rock The River, touring up the Mississippi River. It will be in St. Louis on August 2 at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Rock The River is a Billy (and his son, Franklin) Graham ministry. The event begins at 2:30-9:30 with the grounds opening at 1:00. It is a free event. Bring lawnchairs or blankets. Plan on hearing some great performers. Included are: Flyleaf, Kirk Franklin, Red, Canton Jones, Hawk Nelson, Lecrae, Skillet & action sports JSAW.

For an even more enjoyable time, get a group of homeschoolers together to attend either event – or both. You’re sure to be more than entertained. In the case of the Jonas Brothers, you will be encouraged to watch the rewards and results of homeschooling in a Christian family. In the case of Rock The River, you’re sure to be inspired to continue living a pure and powerful life or to make desirable changes in the way you currently live that will be sure to impact those who are important to you in your family and friends.

Who are some famous home schooled kids? The list is quite impressive!

PRESIDENTS…
John Adams
• John Quincy Adams
• Grover Cleveland
• James Garfield
• William Henry Harrison
• Andrew Jackson
• Thomas Jefferson
• Abraham Lincoln
• James Madison
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Theodore Roosevelt
• John Tyler
• George Washington
• Woodrow Wilson
Statesmen
• Konrad Adenauer
• Henry Fountain Ashurst
• William Jennings Bryan
• Winston Churchill
• Henry Clay
• Pierre du Pont
• Benjamin Franklin
• Alexander Hamilton
• Patrick Henry
• William Penn
• Daniel Webster
Military Leaders
• John Barry - Senior Navy Officer
• Stonewall Jackson - Civil War General
• John Paul Jones - Father of the American Navy
• Robert E. Lee - Civil War General
• Douglas MacArthur - U.S. General
• George Patton - U.S. General
• Matthew Perry - naval officer who opened up trade with Japan
• John Pershing - U.S. General
• David Dixon Porter - Civil War Admiral
U.S. Supreme Court Judges
• John Jay
• John Marshall
• John Rutledge
• Sandra Day O'Connor
Scientists
• George Washington Carver
• Pierre Curie
• Albert Einstein
• Michael Faraday - electrochemist
• Oliver Heaviside - physicist and electromagnetism researcher
• T.H. Huxley
• Blaise Pascal
• Booker T. Washington
• Erik Demaine - Popular Science Mag: One of the Most Brilliant Scientists in America
Artists
• William Blake
• John Singleton Copley
• Claude Monet
• Grandma Moses
• Charles Peale
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Andrew Wyeth
• Jamie Wyeth
Religious Leaders
• Joan of Arc
• William Carey
• Jonathan Edwards
• Philipp Melancthon
• Dwight L. Moody
• John Newton
• John Owen
• Hudson Taylor
• John & Charles Wesley
• Brigham Young
Inventors
• Alexander Graham Bell - invented the telephone
• John Moses Browning - firearms inventor and designer
• Peter Cooper - invented skyscraper, built first U.S. commercial locomotive
• Thomas Edison - invented the stock ticker, mimeograph, phonograph, and perfected the electric light bulb
• Benjamin Franklin - invented the lightning rod
• Elias Howe - invented sewing machine
• William Lear - airplane creator
• Cyrus McCormick - invented grain reaper
• Guglielmo Marconi - developed radio
• Eli Whitney - invented the cotton gin
• Sir Frank Whittle - invented turbo jet engine
• Orville and Wilbur Wright - built the first successful airplane
Composers
• Irving Berlin
• Anton Bruckner
• Noel Coward
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Francis Poulenc
• John Philip Sousa
Writers
• Hans Christian Anderson
• Margaret Atwood
• Pearl S. Buck
• William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Willa Cather
• Agatha Christie
• Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
• Charles Dickens
• Robert Frost - Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Alex Haley
• Brett Harte
• L. Ron Hubbard
• C.S. Lewis
• Amy Lowell
• Gabriela Mistral
• Sean O'Casey
• Christopher Paolini - author of #1 NY Times bestseller, Eragon
• Isabel Paterson
• Beatrix Potter - author of the beloved Peter Rabbit Tales
• Carl Sandburg
• George Bernard Shaw
• Mattie J. T. Stepanek - 11-year-old author of Heartsongs
• Mercy Warren
• Phillis Wheatley
• Walt Whitman
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
Educators
• Amos Bronson Alcott - innovative teacher, father of Louisa May Alcott
• Catharine Beecher - co-founder of the Hartford Female Seminary
• Jill Ker Conway - first woman president of Smith College
• Timothy Dwight - President of Yale University
• William Samuel Johnson - President of Columbia College
• Horace Mann - "Father of the American Common School"
• Charlotte Mason - Founder of Charlotte Mason College of Education
• Fred Terman - President of Stanford University
• Frank Vandiver - President of Texas A&M University
• Booker T. Washington - Founder of Tuskegee Institute
• John Witherspoon - President of Princeton University
Performing Artists
• Louis Armstrong - king of jazz
• Charlie Chaplin - actor
• Whoopi Goldberg - actress
• Hanson - sibling singing group
• Jennifer Love Hewitt - actress
• Yehudi Menuhin - child prodigy violinist
• Moffatts - Canadian version of Hanson
• Frankie Muniz - child actor
• LeAnne Rimes - teen-prodigy country music singer
• Barlow Girl - Alyssa, Rebecca, and Lauren Contemporary Christian Music
• Jonas Brothers - Kevin, Joe, and Nick Performers
• Jacob Clemente - Broadway Actor

Business Entrepreneurs
• Andrew Carnegie - wealthy steel industrialist
• Amadeo Giannini - Bank of America’s founder
• Horace Greeley - New York Tribune founder
• Soichiro Honda - creator of the Honda automobile company
• Peter Kindersley - book illustrator and publisher
• Ray Kroc - founder of McDonald's fast food restaurant chain
• Jimmy Lai - newspaper publisher; founder of Giordano International
• Dr. Orison Swett Marden - founder, Success magazine
• Adolph Ochs - New York Times founder
• Joseph Pulitzer - newspaper publisher; established Pulitzer Prize
• Colonel Harland Sanders - started Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Dave Thomas - founder of the Wendy’s restaurant chain
• Mariah Witcher - founder of Mariahs Famous Cookies
• Daniel Mills - founder of Salem Ridge Press

Others
• Abigail Adams - Wife of John Adams; mother of John Quincy Adams
• Ansel Adams - Photographer
• Susan B. Anthony - reformer and women’s rights leader
• John James Audubon - ornithologist and artist
• Clara Barton - Started the Red Cross
• Elizabeth Blackwell - first woman in the U.S. to receive a medical degree
• John Burroughs - Naturalist
• George Rogers Clark - Explorer
• Davy Crockett - frontiersman
• Eric Hoffer - social philosopher
• Sam Houston - lawyer; first president of the Republic of Texas
• Charles Evans Hughes - jurist; Chief Justice
• Mary D. Leakey - fossil hunter; wife of Richard Leakey
• Tamara McKinney - World Cup Skier
• Harriet Martineau - first woman sociologist
• Margaret Mead - cultural anthropologist
• John Stuart Mill - Free-market Economist
• Charles Louis Montesquieu - Philosopher
• John Muir - naturalist
• Florence Nightingale - Nurse
• Thomas Paine - political writer during the American Revolution
• Bill Ridell - Newspaperman
• Will Rogers - Humorist
• Bertrand Russell - Logician
• Jim Ryan - World Runner
• Albert Schweitzer - Physician
• Sir Ernest Shackleton - Explorer
• Herbert Spencer - philosopher, sociologist
• Gloria Steinem - founder and long-time editor of Ms. magazine
• Jason Taylor - plays in the National Football League
• Mary Walker - Civil War physician; recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor
• Lester Frank Ward - "Father of American Sociology"
• Martha Washington - wife of George Washington
• Frances E. C. Willard - educator, temperance leader, and suffragist
• Frank Lloyd Wright - Architect
• Elijah ben Solomon Zalman - Jewish scholar
• Balaram Stack - Award winning Surfer
• Lia Del Priore - Award Winning Gymnast
• Taylor Gladstone - Ballerina

Famous Homeschool Parents
Will Smith - singer, actor
• Michael Card - singer, songwriter
• Mike Farris - lawyer and co-founder of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
• Robert Frost - Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
• Christopher Klicka - attorney and Senior Counsel of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
• Len Munsil - attorney and President of The Center for Arizona Policy (CAP)
• Paul Overstreet - musician, songwriter
• Kelly Preston - actress, wife of John Travolta
• Mike Smith - lawyer and co-founder of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
• John Travolta - actor, pilot
• Lisa Whelchel - former actress, "The Facts of Life", now a pastor's wife and author
• Darrell Waltrip - NASCAR Racer
• John Travolta - actor, pilot

Sunday, July 26, 2009

TODAY IS MONDAY - JULY 27, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on
SPIRIT FM

Now that Jim is gonna be a Grandpa he better learn some of the kids favorite games as we grow older:
1. Sag, you're it
2. Pin the toupee on the bald guy.
3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear
4. Kick the bucket
5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over
6. Doc Goose
7. Simon says something incoherent.
8. Hide and Go Pee
9. Spin the Bottle of Mylanta.
10. Musical Recliners

HOW COOL OF A GRANDPARENT WILL YOU BE?
1. Who are the Jonas Bros.? Actors/musicians
2. If your grandaughter is talking about Gossip Girl what is she referring to? A TV Drama on the CW network
3. What teen vampire-romance novel series that packed bookstores and movie theaters in 2008? Twilight
4. Your tween grandson spends all day trying to master a new skateboard trick, only to fall so hard he sprains his wrist. He and his friends would call the botched stunt? An epic fall
5. Destiny Hope is the real name of this 16-year-old star of film, TV, and music, whose father is a one-hit wonder country star from the 90s..who is she? Miley Cyrus
6. What is a frenemy? Someone who acts like your friend, but talks about you behind your back
7. The Last Remnant, MadWorld, and Fallout 3 are all what? Video games
8. Translate this grandchild's report on last night's outing: "Totes saw my exie at Mark's. Such the awkward sitch, for realsies." It was an awkward situation when my ex-boyfriend arrived at Mark's birthday party.
9. What are the top three popular social-networking website for tweens and teens? MySpace, Facebook and Twitter
10. If robots are the new ninjas and ninjas were the new pirates and pirates were the new unicorns what are we talking about? We are talking about nothing.
Karen scored 8 out of 10 and was told she may know too much as a grandma!!!
(Taken from papers written by a class of 8-year-olds)

WHAT ARE GRANDPARENTS??

-Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no little children of her own. They like other people's.

-A grandfather is a man & a grandmother is a lady!

-Grandparents don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the shops and give us money.

-When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.

-They show us and talk to us about the color of the flowers and also why we shouldn't step on "cracks."

-They don't say, "Hurry up."

-They wear glasses and funny underwear.

-They can take their teeth and gums out.

-They have to answer questions like "why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?".

-When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.

-Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television because they are the only grown ups who like to spend time with us.

-They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time and kiss us even when we've acted bad.

-It's funny when they bend over, you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog."
100 THINGS YOU CAN TEACH YOUR GRANDCHILDREN:
You don’t have to be an expert in anything to impress a child with your knowledge, and leave an indelible impact. From tying a necktie to driving a car, here’s a list of things you can teach them that they’ll never forget.
1.Whistle. This simple skill tops the wish list for preschoolers everywhere. If your grandchildren already know how to whistle, teach them to use their fingers to make it extra-loud.

2. Spread icing on a cake. Show them how to spread icing smoothly on all sides to make it look just so. Get creative and pipe on some decorations, too. Don't forget to lick your fingers — and the bowl!

3. Dive. It's the coolest way to enter the pool. Help your grandchildren learn to use the proper technique and hit the water straight as an arrow. But remind them that diving is only for the deep end!

4. Grow a plant from seed.

5. Shoot a basketball like their idols. By middle school, many young cagers are ready and eager to shoot one-handed like their favorite players.

6. Tie a necktie. Grandsons will feel grown-up when they ditch clip-on ties for the real thing. Watch them practice and give pointers. Older kids likely don't know how to tie a real bow tie, a lost art and a classy touch — and one you'll teach them.

7. Paint fingernails and toenails.

8. Write a thank-you note. This is a skill your grandchildren can use for the rest of their lives. The simple appreciative gesture is fading fast.

9. Discover the wonders of the local library. Show your grandchildren all the amazing free things the library has to offer. Search on the computer for books they love and teach them how to use call numbers to locate them.

10. Jump rope. Young children love the simple joy of mastering this healthy activity. Teach older children how to jump double-dutch.

11. Make water defy gravity. Young grandchildren will be amazed by the simple trick of holding water in a straw by placing your thumb over the top.

12. Identify a bird by its features and call.

13. Make a bird feeder. Whether or not you are a carpentry whiz who can make one of the little wooden houses or a bird lover who uses a plastic bottle, bird crafts are fun and educational.



14. Shuffle cards the cool way. Every kid wants to learn the riffle shuffle.

15. Hit a baseball. If your grandchildren play T-ball, softball, or Little League, the fundamentals of hitting are the same. Watch their self-esteem grow with each base hit!

16. Blow on a dandelion and make a wish.

17. Swim all the strokes. Teach them the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and how to breathe as they swim freestyle.

18. Crochet a sweater or scarf.

19. Ride a two-wheel bicycle.

20. Putt a golf ball. Whether your family is made up of Arnold Palmers or of mini-golf lovers, teach them the art of the pure stroke.

21. Tie their own shoelaces.

22. Do push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and other exercises. Make healthy physical exertion fun. The younger kids start, the better.

23. Discover the world from home. Explain what a globe is, then spin it. Have your grandchildren stop it with their finger, and tell them about the country they landed on, including time, climate, and cultural specifics.

24. Make a hat out of newspaper.

25. Set the table. Get out your fine china and show them what a full place setting looks like, complete with all the accoutrements, and teach them how to elegantly fold a napkin, too.

26. Use good table manners. Teach your grandchildren what each piece of silverware is for and how to use it politely. Make this fun with a tea party (real or imaginary).

27. Shake hands firmly.

28. Eat with chopsticks.

29. Play with the garden hose. Show them how to use their thumbs to make the hose spray a wide arc or squirt a focused stream.

30. Practice photography. For grandchildren, who don't often get a chance to play with a real camera, share yours with them and point out which techniques make for good photos.

31. Shop for a discount. Show your grandchildren how to get more for less, whether you are buying fancy new shoes or just your weekly groceries.

32. Snap their fingers.

33. Pump their legs when they swing.

34. Use all those tools in the garage. Your grandkids may have no idea what the tools are for. Let them help you with a simple home-improvement project. The best way to learn is hands-on, after all.

35. Tell time on an analog clock with hour-and-minute hands.

36. Play a new card game. If your young grandchildren don't know any card games, start with War .

37. Assemble a jigsaw puzzle. Set the top right-side up so you can refer to the image as you go. Find all the straight edges that form the perimeter. Group together pieces clearly from the same area of the image. Your young grandchildren will love this stuff.

38. Show the basic movements of each piece on a chess board.

39. Tell a good ghost story.

40. Speak another language. Teach them all the different ways to say buenos dias and au revoir. After that, start them on colors and counting.

41. Throw a Frisbee. It's all in the wrist. Once they get down the basic backhand toss, there are other cool throws like the forehand and the hammer. Later, teach them how to play Frisbee golf.

42. Do crossword puzzles.

43. Solve a Sudoku puzzle.

44. Play a game of hangman. Play this simple game almost anywhere, as long as you have a pen and a sheet of paper.

45. Play croquet in the backyard.

46. Play jacks. Forget video games; this classic game will fascinate your grandchildren. Bounce the ball, grab the jacks, and catch that ball!

47. Arrange a vase of flowers.

48. Make an ice cream soda.

49. Share basics of sailing. Impart the special vocabulary (aft, starboard, come about), explain how a boat harnesses the wind, and let their imaginations run wild with thoughts of nautical adventure.

50. Sound it out. Young children need an adult who will sit while they slowly read their first books. Grandparents always want more cuddle time. Win win!

51. Fold origami shapes.



52. Wrap a present elegantly.

53. Drive a car. Increase what the kids learn in drivers' ed, take them to an empty parking lot and let them show their stuff. If you can teach them how to drive a stick shift, so much the better.

54. Shoot pool. Demonstrate the best way to shoot the cue ball with a cue. Help them hold their hands the right way and strike the cue ball cleanly.

55. Make scary flashlight faces.

56. Tie different kinds of knots. If you're a former sailor, eagle scout, or boy scout pass on your knowledge. Teach them how to tie a slipknot, a butterfly knot, or a figure eight.

57. Declare a thumb war — one, two, three, four.

58. Draw better. Share tips on how to draw figures with sharper dimension and better detail.

59. Perform tricks with a yo-yo.

60. Bait a hook. When fishing with the grandkids, teach them how to bait a hook themselves.

61. Braid a friend's hair.

62. Use a compass to find the way.

63. Identify constellations in the night sky.

64. Train a dog. Introduce the kids to ways to have dogs respond to a simple task like "sit" or "fetch." It will also bond the grandchildren to the dog for life.

65. Throw fastballs, curveballs, and more. Share the tricks to make a pitch dip, dive, curve, or rise, and your Little Leaguers will thank you over and over.

66. Throw a football in a tight spiral.

67. Make a sandcastle. Show them how to make a castle that stands proudly.

68. Build a campfire.

69. Make a fire without matches or a lighter.

70. Play a musical instrument. Teach them the basics of your favorite instrument and see if they take to it.

71. Wash the car. This is one of life's great activities for kids: They learn how to wash a car, you both get all wet and have fun outside, and you get a clean car out of the deal!

72. Read music. Teach your future Mozarts the basics of how to read notes and measure time.

73. Tie a pretty bow. Young grandchildren hold this skill in very high regard. Bows decorate many things they hold dear: hair, presents, clothes, and shoes.

74. Do a cartwheel.

75. Twirl a hula hoop. Not only will your grandkids love learning to hula hoop, they will never forget the sight of you shaking your hips!

76. Whistle with a blade of grass. If you know how to do this, your grandchildren will be impressed. If you teach them to do it, they will remember it forever.

77. Juggle three or more balls.

78. Make play dough at home.

79. Show the steps to your favorite dance. If you are not exactly Fred Astaire, teach them something silly like the Hokey Pokey or the Chicken Dance!

80. Sing the lyrics to a Beatles' song.

81. Balance a spoon on your nose.



82. Cook eggs. There are a number of fun and easy tricks that grandkids can learn: crack the shell on the counter, separate the yolk from the white, make an omelet and fold it.

83. Make a star with a rubber band.

84. Catch fireflies. Catching these enchanting little creatures is one of those magical childhood memories that the grandkids should not miss.

85. Walk along the curb like it's a balance beam.

86. Make shadow puppets with your fingers.

87. Tell a joke. Help your grandchildren exercise their funny bones; give them pointers on making their punchlines sparkle.

88. Throw a piece of popcorn in the air and catch it in your mouth.

89. Blow a bubble with a piece of gum.

90. Teach a stock-market lesson. Give your grandchildren a few shares, real or imaginary, in a company (even a single share will do). Encourage them to keep track of how the stock is performing and talk to them about the factors at work.

91. Shoot a rubber band across the room.

92. Make a drinking glass sing by tracing the rim with a damp finger.

93. Play hopscotch. Get out the sidewalk chalk and introduce your grandchildren to this timeless game.

94. Create a flower necklace.

95. Fly a kite. Show your grandchildren how to run it out, give it slack, pull it taut, and manage the spool.

96. Make paper snowflakes.

97. Play Rock, Paper, Scissors. Kids love the simplicity of this game and will use it to settle almost any dispute.

98. Skip a rock across calm waters.

99. Amaze friends with simple magic tricks. Pull a rabbit from a hat, pull a quarter from behind their ear, or pull their nose off with a bit of deception. Whatever fun tricks you can impart, they will cherish.

100. Make guacamole. This delicious dip involves a little bit of seasoning and a lot of messy squishing. Let them use their hands (washed, of course).

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

TODAY IS THURSDAY - JULY 23, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on SPIRIT FM

The Colonel’s Recipe May No Longer Be A Secret!


The obsession started years ago after a challenge from his wife: Could finance manager Ron Douglas, an avid cook and Kentucky Fried Chicken fan, really crack the code to the best-kept culinary secret in the country? After several attempts, the Long Island, N.Y., man says he may know the 11 herbs and spices in KFC’s recipe — and now he's sharing the secret with the world.

Douglas, 34, began his quest by searching the Internet for clues to the recipe.
The decision has so far paid off: Douglas scored a deal with Simon & Schuster, which published his "America's Most Wanted Recipes" earlier this month. The book includes a recipe for KFC's 11 herbs and spices — which Douglas says he discovered after six attempts.

"The exact recipe has never been released," Douglas admitted, "but mine comes really, really close. I kept trying, and with the help of the online community, we figured out a recipe that's so good most people can't tell the difference."
Ron Douglas shares the ingredients for his version of KFC's 11 herbs and spices recipe:
— 1 teaspoon ground oregano
— 1 teaspoon chili powder
— 1 teaspoon ground sage
— 1 teaspoon dried basil
— 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
— 1 teaspoon pepper
— 2 teaspoons salt
— 2 tablespoons paprika
— 1 teaspoon onion salt
— 1 teaspoon garlic powder
— 2 tablespoons Accent


A Prayer For Our Captured Solider In Iraq

On June 30th, Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban from the Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan. Bergdahl has comrades, family--including a girlfriend he hopes to marry and friends who are all praying for his safe return. Please join us in prayer for Bergdahl's safe return back to his comrades and his family.

Heavenly Father,
Please make haste to help and make speed to save Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, a soldier who went overseas to fight for his country. In this time of uncertainty, while fear has struck his heart because of the uncertainty of his situation, please reveal your perfect love which casts out all fear. Protect him from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet so that his captors may not harm him. May your presence be known in the places that they take him to so much so that they will be consumed and will release him. Empower all of his family, friends, fellow soldiers, military supporters, government, and people around the world to send prayers and positive thoughts to him. Let us all be encouraged to continually be in prayer for this young man and all the young men and women who consider it not robbery to serve their country.

In Jesus Name,
Amen


YOU Pick The Seven NEW Wonders Of The World With The Winners Announced in 2011

Go Here To Vote: http://www.new7wonders.com/

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY - JULY 15, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on SPIRIT FM

THIS IS YOUR LIFE:

Lots of people are going to their class reunions this summer. I read about them all over FB. I went to my class reunion a few years back and they weighed all of us and collectively we all gained enough weight to add 33 more people to our graduating class.

TODAY IS:

Today is St. Swithin’s Day. According to English legend, if it rains today, it will rain for the next 40 days. The St. Swithin Society’s annual celebration is held in Toronto. But I wouldn't bet on it -- at least not until we check with our personal psychic meteorologist, Mike “Swami” Roberts.

Today is Cow Appreciation Day

Today is National Get Out of the Dog House Day.

Today is Be a Dork Day and Gummi Worm Day.

National Rabbit Week begins today, paying tribute to the rabbit as a house pet

Amedeo Obici was born on this day in 1877. Amedeo founded the Planters Nut Company; but more important, he discovered how to roast peanuts so they could be skinned without breaking in half. Thus, the U.S. became the first nation to produce whole nuts while the rest of the world was still half nuts.

Remember, July is Avoid Boredom Month. Here's how to do it:

Sneak into McDonalds and dump ten pounds of popcorn into the French fryer.
Attend a Weight Watchers meeting dressed like a hot fudge sundae.


Sunday is National Ice Cream Day, which it says here is observed "on behalf of all the dairy farmers who produce all the milk and all the cream. Which should come as quite a shock to all the cows. My favorite ice cream flavor is mulberry almond fig. But only because persimmon pepperoni is soo hard to find.


IN THE NEWS…..

McCartney Shows
Paul McCartney is set to play two shows at Citi Field this week. McCartney should feel right at home there because just like the Mets, he hasn't had a decent hit in 23years.

Shuttle Delays
Bad weather has delayed the launch of the shuttle Endeavor for the third time. All Nasa has to do is lose the astrounauts' luggage and it'll be just like flying on Delta.


The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor got underway. President Obama has another nominee in the news — his nomination for surgeon general is a doctor who practices in rural Alabama and still makes house calls. Of course, in Alabama, a house call is when the patient drives his house to you.


Joe Biden’s wife Jill is had surgery yesterday to relieve pain in her shoulder. Apparently, it’s a repetitive stress injury from elbowing Joe every time he says something stupid.


More than 10,000 competitors have been taking part in events from watermelon-seed-spitting to armpit-squelching at this year's Redneck Games.

The most popular contest of the games, which take place in East Dublin, Georgia, is the mud-pit belly-flop. Fully clothed contestants throw themselves into a vat of red mud clay with points awarded for beauty of form and the size of the splash produced.

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF…
Your kid takes a siphon hose to show-and-tell.
You've been on TV more than 5 times describing the sound of a tornado.
Your wife's best shoes have steel toes.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE A REDNECK IF…
Your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.
Your mother keeps a spit cup on the ironing board.
Your gene pool doesn't have a "deep end".


In Chicago, a truck crashed on a busy highway and spilled 9,000 pounds of Chinese food. Nobody was hurt. Although three people standing nearby were chow meined -- and one little old lady was foo yunged.

Bid'ness is Bid'ness:
Don't be surprised if you see a BILLY MAYS infomercial today. The spots for Mighty Putty’s new Superpack of epoxies hosted by Billy begin again today, and if you're offended because it's just two weeks since his death, Billy's business associates say it's OK — because it’s what he would have wanted.

And the NY Times says we can also look forward to:
• another ad for Mighty Putty,
• a new infomercial for a wireless speaker phone called Jupiter Jack,
• and perhaps the older ones as well. Billy's family has signed off on using his commercials (possibly since they still get the royalties from the pitches), although at least one company — Church & Dwight, the makers of OxiClean and the cleaning solution Orange Glo — say they still haven't decided.
So if you see Billy pitching the Awesome Auger or any other product again, you needn't worry about it being in bad taste — at least the family doesn't think so.



Tips on raising well-adjusted, entitlement-free children:
• Emphasize the importance of family. No matter how far removed or alienated your kids may seem to be, it helps if they have a strong sense of family.
• Demonstrate unconditional love and balance. Strive to seek a healthy balance between being a child-centered family and a parent-focused family.
• Consciously define fundamental values. Actively educate children by pointing out and explaining interactions and behaviors. Use teachable moments with yourself, your child and others as examples.
• Constantly re-evaluate normalcy. Every once in a while, find a way to step back and gain the perspective you need to stay calm and resist getting swept up in doing something simply because most people are doing it.
• Practice active parenting. Kids need active parents to help them navigate their access to the world and excess of information and "things." Your strong presence attests to your love and helps you thwart the power of negative techno-social influences on your children.

• Model behavior consistent with moral character. Children will surprise. Even when you think they are not paying attention, they are picking up on your most subtle traits.
• Keep pace with technology and the youth culture. Being complacent about the effects technology and culture have on your children is risky and dangerous. If you are lagging behind in the discussion, you are sure to fall behind in your parenting as well.
• Establish and maintain appropriate limits. Without limits and boundaries, the world becomes a scary and unsafe place. If you establish and maintain limits, your children will be less likely to ask for things excessively and more likely to have self-discipline, positive self-esteem, a good work ethic and respect for authority and themselves.
Source: Adapted from "Generation Text: Raising Well-Adjusted Kids in an Age of Instant Everything" by Dr. Michael Osit, a New Jersey-based clinical psychologist.


Pet Airways Hits The Skies
NEW YORK – One trip for their Jack Russell terrier in a plane's cargo hold was enough to convince Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel that owners needed a better option to get their pets from one city to another.

On Tuesday, the first flight for the husband-and-wife team's Pet Airways, the first-ever all-pet airline, took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y.

All commercial airlines allow a limited number of small pets to fly in the cabin.
Others must travel as checked bags or in the cargo hold — a dark and sometimes dangerous place where temperatures can vary wildly.

Binder and Wiesel used their consulting backgrounds and business savvy to start Pet Airways in 2005. The last four years have been spent designing their fleet of five planes according to new four-legged requirements, dealing with FAA regulations and setting up airport schedules.

The two say they're overwhelmed with the response. Flights on Pet Airways are already booked up for the next two months.

Pet Airways will fly a pet between five major cities — New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The $250 one-way fare is comparable to pet fees at the largest U.S. airlines.

For owners the big difference is service. Dogs and cats will fly in the main cabin of a Suburban Air Freight plane, retooled and lined with carriers in place of seats. Pets (about 50 on each flight) will be escorted to the plane by attendants that will check on the animals every 15 minutes during flight. The pets are also given pre-boarding walks and bathroom breaks. And at each of the five airports it serves, the company has created a "Pet Lounge" for future fliers to wait and sniff before flights.

The company will operate out of smaller, regional airports in the five launch cities, which will mean an extra trip for most owners dropping off their pets if they are flying too. Stops in cities along the way means the pets will take longer to reach a destination than their owners.

A trip from New York to Los Angeles, for example, will take about 24 hours. On that route, pets will stop in Chicago, have a bathroom break, play time, dinner, and bunk for the night before finishing the trip the next day.

Monday, July 13, 2009

TODAY IS TUESDAY - JULY 14, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on Spirit FM


TODAY IS:

Today is Roasted Chicken Day, commemorating the day in 1993 when Kentucky deleted the Fried from its Chicken and introduced the Colonel’s Rotisserie Gold roasted chicken. I think the late Colonel rolled over in his bucket when he heard this!

Today is Honda Civic Day, marking the debut of the popular car on this date in 1972.
Today is M&Ms Argument Day, a day to discuss which is best, Plain, Peanut, or Almond.
1990: The Rotary Club in Oliver, British Columbia, baked history’s largest cherry pie: 20 feet in diameter, 37,740 pounds 10 ounces. Since July is also National Ice Cream month I wonder if they served it ala’mode?


Baseball's Pete Rose was born on this day in 1941. Odds are six to one he can't blow out all the candles with one puff.

The tape measure was patented on this date in 1868. The tape measure actually comes in two sizes: Regular size for measuring most things, and Extra-Large size for measuring things like Shaquille O'Neill.


IN THE NEWS…..

Free Mocha Mondays at McDonalds now through August 3rd.!



CIA Program Killed
The CIA is scrapping a program designed to find and kill al Qaeda terrorists. The White House wants the agency to focus more time and energy finding finding something even more elusive in America today -- jobs.

Obama the Sportscaster
President Obama will join the TV broadcasters for an inning or two at Tuesday night's All-Star Game. Of course the game is being broadcast by FOX, so the president is refusing to speak to any commentators without getting a helmet and protective gear first.


What a Way to Go!
A New Jersey man has died after falling into a vat of chocolate. There is no solid evidence of foul play, but police are holding Willie Wonka for questioning.


Apparently, there are rumors out there that Osama Bin Laden is hiding out in a hotel in Pakistan.

Signs You're Staying At The Same Hotel As Osama Bin Laden

He's registered under the name Osama bin Johnson
Sign on the door reads: do not disturb, infidel pig dog
Clumps of camel hair in the jacuzzi
Guy in the room next door keeps shouting, "Death to overpriced minibar snacks!"
Main ballroom is booked for the 9th Annual Jihaddy Awards


Bernie Madoff going away for 150 years. His wife, Ruth, was left with 2 ½ million dollars. The confiscated everything. She lost her house, her car, her savings . . . it’s like being a Bernie Madoff client.



Over the weekend, North Korea test-fired several missiles — their way of say, “Iran’s not the craziest country, we are.”



Nine months into the fiscal year, the federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time. The imbalance is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation, and already pressuring the value of the dollar.



So I suppose you could say our government now suffers from BDD.
Budget Deficit Disorder.



In Internet news: Twitter is trying to trademark the term "Tweet". Wow -- if they succeed -- they are gonna make millions when they sue all the little birdies.


Teen Falls Down Manhole While Texting
One second a Staten Island teenager was walking down the street, the next second she was gone.

Alexa Longueira was walking down Victory Boulevard and getting ready to text-message when she fell into an open sewer manhole. Now the city is trying to figure out why the manhole was left open and unblocked.

Alexa suffered some cuts and scrapes but is otherwise OK.

He mother says workers told her they left the manhole open and unattended for just seconds while they went to fetch some cones from their truck.

The Department of Environmental Protection says it is investigating.

Alexa's mom says it doesn't matter that her daughter was text-messaging, the manhole should not have been left open. The family plans to file as lawsuit.

VIDEO LINK:
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/nyc/090710_Texting_Teen_Falls_Down_Open_Manhole


Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman Dedicate Maria’s BIG HOUSE

The pro-adoption ministry of Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, recently opened a six-story “healing home” for special needs orphans in China and received prominent coverage from a number of Chinese media outlets.

“The day after the grand opening, the morning news and the evening news covered it with stories,” exclaimed Mary Beth on Friday.

“God is so good. I can’t even tell you how wonderful it has been. Definitely bittersweet at times, but beauty is going to rise from our personal tragedy,” she added, referring to the death of one of her daughters last year.

Maria’s Big House, named in honor of the Chapman’s youngest daughter, officially opened this past Thursday in the presence of national and local government officials.
The 60,000 square foot building, located in Luoyang, China, will be dedicated to saving the lives of special needs orphans in China and has so far transitioned in 40 children with room for about 90 more, according to a report by Mary Beth on Friday.

Most of the children will transition in groups from the state-run Luoyang city orphanage, which takes care of nearly 700 children from all around the Henan province, where Luoyang is located. With a population of approximately six million, the Henan province is one of the poorest provinces in all of China.

According to Show Hope, the ministry co-founded by the Chapmans in 2003, the children that Maria’s Big House of Hope will be taking in – all five years old or younger – are among the most ill of Luoyang’s orphans and also include those from other areas who are in desperate need for further medical care, which the facility has been equipped to provide.

At full capacity, Maria’s Big House of Hope will have 190 nurses and nannies on staff and 128 beds available.

The building has a floor for children who have been through surgery, recovered, and awaiting adoption; two floors for children with long-term chronic care who are not healthy enough to survive on their own or in the state-run orphanage; a floor dedicated to hospice care for children who are terminally ill; a floor for children coming in from all over China to stay before and after surgery; and a floor for long-term staff and visiting medical physicians.

The fourth floor also offers an intensive care area, emergency room, and isolation room.

Our Open House ... was just more evidence of what an incredible thing God is doing,” he reported.

Mary Beth expressed similar sentiments when she and her team from Tennessee witnessed last week’s grand opening.

“We really felt the spirit of God there as we stood there in front of Maria's Big House and dedicated it back to Him and in honor of Maria, who was a special needs orphan herself,” Mary Beth reflected the day after the grand opening.



Mommy Blogs Are Becoming BIG Money Makers

There are the free trips to Sea World and Disney World and free hotels and car rentals, not to mention the free products that pour in through the mail every day.

Turns out, being a mommy blogger can really pay off. By some estimates, there are as many as ten thousand mommy blogs on the Internet now. They share advice on everything from baby care and parenting to the best burp cloths or strollers. And as these blogs have evolved over the past few years, many have now become minibusinesses with little oversight by the government.

Colleen Padilla is the mother of two behind classymommy.com, a product review site she started from her house in suburban Philadelphia just for fun.

Her front room is filled with free products she's gotten in recent days. There's the new Nintendo Wii right in front. Toys and baby products are stacked up three feet high. Her freezer is filled with microwave meals from Healthy Choice.

Padilla never expected or asked for any of it. But after she'd been blogging on her own for a little while about the products she used and liked, her mailbox started to fill. First it was mom inventors sending products. But then larger and larger companies started sending her things for free

Padilla is paid by Energizer to be "an official online brand advocate" for their rechargeable batteries. Better Homes and Gardens paid her to make over her kitchen. And a blog about her son drinking chocolate milk turns out to be "sponsored by Healthy Choice."



Do You Cat Lovers Control Your Cats or Do Your Cats Control You?
If you've ever wondered who's in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It's your cat.

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings.

This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore.



SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS Turns 10 Years Old
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - He lives in a pineapple under the sea but has fans in more than 170 countries, a theme-park ride and is one of the best-connected celebrities in the world.

Now cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is celebrating his 10th anniversary on television, a major milestone for any star. His creators are still mystified at his lofty status as an global pop culture icon who counts U.S. President Barack Obama, actor Johnny Depp and singer David Bowie among his friends.

It has been a surreal, goofy journey for the talking yellow sponge from Bikini Bottom, his pink starfish friend Patrick and greedy employer Mr. Krabs.

But SpongeBob's naive optimism, the show's humor and even a brief controversy over his sexuality have merited celebrations this week ranging from a 10th anniversary documentary to the unveiling of the first-ever wax figure of an animation character at Madame Tussauds in New York.

Few behind SpongeBob's July 1999 debut on children's TV network Nickelodeon expected him to win as many hearts as he has.

President Obama named SpongeBob his favorite TV character, telling TV Guide in 2007 it was "the show I watch with my daughters." Depp and Bowie are among the celebrities who have lent their voices to guest characters over the years, thanks mostly to their children.

Comedians Robin Williams, Will Ferrell and Ricky Gervais will appear as themselves in a one-hour anniversary special to be broadcast in the United States in the fall.



Five Neat and Easy Ways to Burn Calories All Day Every Day!

You know that friend, the one who is always tapping her leg, getting up to straighten the bookshelf, the one who generally just can’t sit still? She’s likely burning an extra 200 to 300 calories a day on top of any workouts she does or the amount of calories she burns just being alive. This process is neatly called NEAT, which stands for “NonExercise Activity Thermogenesis” (say that 5 times fast!), and it’s essential for successful weight loss. Basically, it’s the extra stuff you do, physically, all day long that adds up. Make a point to add more “neat” into your day and you can zap another 500 calories! Here are a few ideas:

Do crunches in bed: You could burn about 20 calories in under 5 minutes just by drawing your knees to your chest 25 to 50 times, plus it strengthens your abs and gets your blood pumping.

Dance around while getting dressed: Turn up the radio or listen to upbeat music on your iPod (if you can) while doing all your morning rituals—an hour of hip shakin’ can burn about 55 calories.

Stand up! Don’t sit when you can be on your feet—you’ll burn about 40% more calories. So just take a stand—when you’re on the phone, watching kids at the playground, making small talk at a party.

Laugh: Watch something that’s consistently funny (like 30 Rock) and you could burn about 40 calories if you guffaw for 10 to 15 minutes straight.

Walk, pace, jog down the hall: In other words, MOVE! Doing little bits of activity all day—taking the stairs to use the restroom on another floor at work, doing an extra lap around the grocery store—can help you burn an additional 375 calories a day!

TODAY IS TUESDAY - JULY 14, 2009

TODAY IS TUESDAY - JULY 14, 2009

Thursday, July 2, 2009

TODAY IS FRIDAY - JULY 3, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on SPIRIT FM

TODAY IS:

On this date in 1890 Idaho became the 43rd U.S. state. If it weren't for Idaho, one of the most famous American phrases would be missing from the English language -- "You want fries with that?"

On this date in 1965: The most famous movie star horse died. Trigger. His owner was Roy Rogers, the "King of the Cowboys". Roy had Trigger stuffed and mounted. Don’t you do the same thing with the old deejays around here after they’re gone, Jim?


IN THE NEWS…..

Pentagon Order
The Pentagon says it will buy more than 5,200 new armored vehicles designed to protect troops from roadside bombs. Now all the Pentagon has to do is find an American auto company that's not out of business.

So Sad…
Michael Jackson's father announced he's looking for the next Michael. Hey, he's sad about Michael, but it's time to get back to business. Being filthy rich doesn't go as far as it once did.

A public memorial for Michael Jackson will be held on Tuesday morning at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, it was reported Thursday.

CNN and MSNBC said the event will be held at 10 a.m. and that there seemed to be a great deal of activity at center, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and other L.A.-area teams.

In some ways, the Staples Center is a fitting venue: Jackson rehearsed at the 20,000-seat coliseum the day before he died.

All week long the Internet has been exploding with false rumors of celebrity deaths. Jim and I were NOT reported dead. Because, as I said, -- the hoaxes only involved celebrities.



Baghdad has opened its first Ben & Jerry's ice cream store. The most popular flavor is Iraqi Road. A delicious combination of chocolate ice cream, with nuts, marshmallows, and schrapnel.


DOGGY
A report shows obesity is a problem for -- dogs. Experts say obesity can make a dog very unhappy. You know your dog is overweight if he gets out of breath chasing cars. Parked cars.


DISEASE DOGS
Dogs are being trained to sniff out diabetes. Experts say dogs can be trained to sniff out other medical problems too. Soon -- at the medical clinic - instead of saying "The doctor will see you now" -- the receptionist will say -- "Fido will sniff you now".


VEGGIE
A study published yesterday shows vegetarians have weaker bones. Weak bones can fracture during physical activity. So -- all you vegetarians -- try not to move around too much -- as you fight your way to the top of the food chain.


iPHONE
There's a report iPhones can shut down in a summer heatwave. But don't worry -- Apple engineers are working to come up with an iPhone app that creates clouds.



New Air Guitar Record Set! _ We could so do this at Crossover next year!!!

NEW YORK -- The cast and crew of the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages" and hundreds of inspired New Yorkers have broken the world record for the largest air guitar ensemble.

A representative from Guinness World Records counted 810 air guitarists after Wednesday's matinee performance at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. That beats the previous world record of 440 people.

William Ocean, the 2007 National Air Guitar champion, taught the audience how to play the air guitar.

The group rocked out to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for 2 minutes, 34 seconds



Edy’s Launches Recession Ice Cream
Layoffs, bankruptcies and the economy have many people screaming.
One company is hoping they’ll be screaming for ice cream.

Banking on consumers’ willingness to shell out a few dollars for a bowlful feel-good ice cream, Edy’s has a new flavor: Red White & No More Blues. The frozen confection combines vanilla ice cream, strawberries, blueberries and a bit of recession humor.

"Dishing out smiles is core to the spirit and heritage of our ice cream,” said John Harrison, who is the official taster for Edy’s Grand Ice Cream.
"Red, White and No More Blues delivers cheer and cool relief, one scoop at a time,” Harrison said.

Cartons of the limited edition flavor sell for $5.99 at grocery stores.

It’s not the first time ice cream has made hard times a little sweeter.

In 1929, during the Great Depression, nearly all ice cream was made in three flavors — chocolate, vanilla and strawberry — and served as sundaes.

Ice cream maker Bill Dreyer added walnuts and marshmallows, cut into bite-size pieces using his wife’s sewing shears, to his chocolate ice cream, according to Edy’s.

The company claims that Dreyer and Joeseph Edy named the creation Rocky Road to give folks a smile and offer hope in tough times.



Disco Tune Saves Man’s Life

Debra Bader was taking a walk in the woods with her 53-year-old husband one morning when suddenly he collapsed. At first she thought the situation was hopeless.

"I looked at him and said, 'He's dead,' because he wasn't moving or making any sounds at all," Bader remembers. "But I pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and called 911, and then a public service announcement I'd heard on the radio popped into my head."

The one-minute PSA from the American Heart Association instructed listeners, in the event of cardiac arrest, to perform chest compressions very hard to the beat of the 1970s Bee Gees song "Stayin' Alive." When someone suffers cardiac arrest, as pop singer Michael Jackson did last week, the heart stops functioning completely, and brain death begins within four to six minutes if the victim doesn't receive help.

"I sang the song and gave directions to the EMTs at the same time. It was like, 'Stayin' alive, stayin' alive -- take a right here, take a left here -- Stayin' alive, stayin' alive -- take this path down here -- Stayin' alive, stayin' alive,' " Bader remembers.

For 15 minutes Bader, who had never taken a CPR class, pumped her husband's chest until the ambulance arrived and the EMTs delivered a shock to his heart with a defibrillator. Christopher Bader survived, but 95 percent of people who go into cardiac arrest die before they get to the hospital.

Bader says doctors at the hospital where her husband was treated have an alternative song. "They told me they do CPR to 'Another One Bites the Dust,' which also has about 100 beats per minute," Bader says. "Doctors have kind of a dark sense of humor."


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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

TODAY IS THURSDAY - JULY 2, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on SPIRIT FM

TODAY IS:

Today is Halfway Point of 2009. At noon today, the first half of 2009 (182½ days) will be gone. Optimists will quickly realize they have 182½ days left.

Today is I Forgot Day, a day to make up for all the birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations you forgot during the first half of the year.

Today is Be Nice to People You Don't Like Day.

Today is National Try to Find Your Slinky Day.

Nostradamus died on this day in 1566. Nostra was the great prophet who annually got all the other prophets together to share their prophecies. And this was history's first system of prophet-sharing.

1982: Larry Walters flew a lawn chair to 16,000 feet over San Pedro, California. He had tied 42 helium-filled weather balloons to the chair. He even made it back down safely.

1988: Rick Krause became the world champion cherry pit spitter in Eau Claire, Michigan, with a record spit of 72 feet 7.5 inches.

1992: The one-millionth Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line.


IN THE NEWS…..

Karl Malden Dead
“The family of Karl Malden says the actor who won an Oscar for his role in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' has died at age 97. He made his screen debut in the 1940 movie 'They Knew What They Wanted,' and was praised for his role as Mitch in the 1951 classic 'A Streetcar Named Desire.'" He and his wife Mona (who survives him) were married 70 years!


California Screamin'
The state of California has still not balanced its budget, and it will now have to print and issue IOU's. In a related story, California can't afford to pay for the millions of dollars it will cost to print and issue IOU's


There May Have Been A Better Way to Handle This
Police said a Florida man charged with domestic battery allegedly sprayed his wife with a garden hose for smoking in the house. The police report of the incident said the victim arrived at her Jensen Beach home while smoking a cigarette. Her husband yelled at her about smoking in the house and sprayed her with a hose.

Have you ever overreacted with your spouse in an argument? What have you done?


Top Paying Jobs For Women
Women are flocking to the labor force in record numbers. Nearly 60% sought or occupied employment in 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available, representing 46.5% of the total U.S. labor force. More than one-third of these women worked in management, professional and related occupations, accounting for 51% of all workers in this top-paying sector.

1. A Pharmacist $86,000 annually
2. Chief Executives $83,000
3. Lawyers $78,000
4. Computer Software Engineers $70,000
5. Computer & Information Systems Managers $65,500



Apple’s New iPhone Is So Hot … It Turns Pink
The problem appears to particularly affect the white handsets of Apple's new turbo-charged device, which is twice as fast as its predecessor, the iPhone 3G, and boasts an improved camera and the ability to record video.

Dozens of users have reported overheating issues, with some iPhone owners unable to pick up the device because the handset gets so hot. Owners of the white iPhone 3GS say the casing turns pink with the heat.

Some users have said the device has been too hot to put to their ear while making a phone call. The overheating seems to occur when owners are using the iPhone's mapping software, which uses the handset's built-in GPS technology to pinpoint their location and provide directions.


Is Missouri The Fattest State In the Union?
Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers. It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. In 31 states, more than one in four adults are obese, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year, and no state experienced a significant decline

Following Alabama, Michigan ranks No. 2 with fat boomers; 36 percent of its 55- to 64-year-olds are obese. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.



A RECIPE FOR RED, WHITE & BLUE POTATO SALAD
A patriotic potato salad can be made a day ahead, leaving plenty of time for you to enjoy the fireworks this Fourth of July.

The white in this salad comes from the potatoes and the dressing made from a combination of light mayonnaise, a little olive oil and thick Greek-style yogurt. We are, after all, a melting pot of nationalities.

Red, White & Blue Potato Salad

Serves 8
2 to 2½ pounds new potatoes some with red skins, some with white and blue if available.
½ cup sliced water chestnuts or 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
½ cup diced sweet onion
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
One large red bell pepper roasted, peeled and cut in strips ½-inch by 1½ inches.
2 ounces or more blue cheese, crumbled or cut in chunks
Dressing
1/3 cup Greek-style yogurt
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup light mayonnaise
½ teaspoon garlic salt

→To prepare potatoes, wash and scrub potatoes. Cook with peeling intact by steaming or submerging in water. Cook about 20 minutes or until tender. Let cool and peel if desired. Slice ¼-inch thick or dice into ½- to ¾-inch chunks. Add water chestnuts or celery, diced onion and relish. Mix with potatoes and keep refrigerated.

→To roast pepper, place the peppers on a foil-covered baking sheet under the broiler in an electric oven. Turn them until each side is blackened. Once charred, move the peppers into a sealable plastic bag. After about 15 minutes, you will be able to remove the peeling using the paper toweling inside the bag. You also can roast peppers over an open flame on a gas stove, holding with tongs until the char is achieved.

→To make the dressing, combine yogurt, oil, mayonnaise and garlic salt. Whisk together until well-blended. Fold dressing into potato mixture with prepared red pepper strips until well coated. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

→Cook’s notes: This potato salad is a keeper and can be served with or without the blue cheese. Blue potatoes are fun to include in the potato mixture but not vital to the salad if you plan to use the blue cheese. All white potatoes may be used if others cannot be found. Just serve the salad in a blue bowl if you decide to ditch the blue cheese and blue potatoes. Roasted red peppers can be found prepared in cans or jars. You can add them raw or use red grape tomatoes instead. The tomatoes make a pretty garnish, as well.

→This potato salad keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and is great for picnics. There are no eggs in the salad.

→Source: Inspired by a recipe from Whole Foods Market.



Sarah Palin Listens To Christian Music When She is Running
Alaska governor and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin might be saving her best stuff for her forthcoming book, but she opened up to "Runner's World" magazine.

She grew up in a family of runners, she said, and runs even when Alaska's temperatures are 20 or 30 below zero. When she listens to music, she plays old Van Halen and AC/DC.

"I have a nice routine: I kick off my runs with the old Van Halen and AC/DC, then I get into my country music, then I always wrap it up with a couple mellow Amy Grant songs," Palin said.

She talked about a memorable run during the campaign:

"I like running alone and having the Secret Service with me added a little bit of pressure. I'm thinking I gotta have good form and can't be hyperventilating and can't be showing too much pain and that adds a little more pressure on you as you're trying to be out there enjoying your run. Then I fell coming down a hill and was so stinkin' embarrassed that a golf cart full of Secret Service guys had to pull up beside me. My hands just got torn up and I was dripping blood. In the debate you could see a big fat ugly Band-Aid on my right hand. I have a nice war wound now as a reminder of that fall in the palm of my right hand. For much of the campaign, shaking hands was a little bit painful."



The Iowa State Fair Will Honor MJ With A Statue of Him Made Out Of Butter

Iowa State Fair organizers announced Tuesday that they will have a statue of Michael Jackson made of butter. The sculpture will be on display along with the annual butter cow, a popular attraction at the event.

Both will be in a 40-degree cooler throughout the fair from Aug. 13 to 23 in Des Moines.

Fair organizers say the butter sculpture is a tribute to the pop icon who died at the age of 50.

Jackson performed at the fair twice with the Jackson Five in 1971.



This Little Piggy WILL NOT Be Going to Market

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - This pig wasn't dubbed the 'ham on the lam' by its local newspaper for nothing.

An 800-pound hog that survived on its own for a week after a truck flipped while on its way to a slaughterhouse has surfaced in a swimming pool at a home near the crash site.

LeAnn Baldy, whose house is only yards from Interstate 430, said Monday she noticed her pool was suddenly overflowing and then saw the immersed pig, which was having a drink in the pool.

About 90 hogs were in the trailer when it overturned where I-430 meets I-40, and about 60 survived. Officials said they thought the last of them had been caught.
Baldy said she found a farmer to take in the pig.

A spokesman for Odom's Tennessee Pride said it can't use the hog in its sausage products because no one knows what the hog had been eating in its week on the lam.


New Toy Allows You To Do Jedi Mind Trick

Later this summer, anybody anywhere will have the ability to physically move stuff with their minds like characters do in "Star Wars." No joke.

A new toy that harnesses the same technology doctors use to monitor brain waves will arrive in stores in August. The toy moves when it senses a change in the user's brain-wave patterns.

"It's pretty cutting-edge," says Frank Adler, executive vice president of Uncle Milton Industries, the toy company that manufactures the "Star Wars"-branded Force Trainer. "It certainly appears to be where things are headed."

It will be if the reaction from 5-year-old "Star Wars" fanatic Ryan Mogg is any indication. Mogg tried out the Force Trainer at a recent "Star Wars" toy fair.

In less than a minute, he was controlling the rise and fall of a pingpong ball in a clear tube — with his brain waves.

"It's like what Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul do!" he said afterward with a big grin.



FOURTH OF JULY HUMOR:
What kind of tea did the American colonists thirst for?
Liberty!

What would you get if you crossed a patriot with a small curly-haired dog?
Yankee Poodle!



70,000 Bees and 40 Pounds of Honey Removed From Kansas Church
LINK TO THEVIDEO:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=14261664&ch=4226713&src=news



OPERATION CARE & COMFORT FOR OUR TROOPS AT YOUR LOCAL OLD NAVY STORE (JEFFERSON CITY & COLUMBIA)
July 1 - 5
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Bring in one of the items below or purchase it at our store for a donation.
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY - JULY 1, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on
SPIRIT FM

TODAY IS:

Today is Second Half of the New Year Day, a checkpoint for those who made New Year's resolutions

Today is National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day.

July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month, a time to remind the 180-million U.S. cell phone users to hush once in a while.

This is National Dog House Repairs Month.

July is National Hot Dog Month, National Grilling Month, National Ice Cream Month, Family Reunion Month, National Baked Bean Month, National Blueberries Month, With all of that maybe it should also be National Maalox Month!

Today is National Postal Worker Day

1963: The U.S. Postal Service introduced the 5-digit zip code.

1979: Sony introduced the Soundabout, a Walkman that sold for $200..

1980: McGruff, the crime-fighting dog, debuted as an advertising symbol to take a bite out of crime.

1983: After 120 hours, the Rev. Ronald Gallagher finally stopped preaching at the Baptist Temple in Appomattox, Virginia. It was history's longest sermon.

1984: "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" became the first PG-13 rated movie.

IN THE NEWS…..

People magazine says FARRAH FAWCETT's 24-year-old son, REDMOND O'NEAL, was allowed to leave the jail where he's currently serving a time sentence for violating his probation on drug charges, to attend his mother's memorial service yesterday afternoon in Los Angeles.

Today's Michael Jackson update:
THE FACTS ON THE MJ MEETING WITH ANDRAE CROUCH
“Andrae and Sandra did in fact visit with Michael Jackson two times, once at the recording studio, and once at his home in the last two months, as recently as three weeks ago, asking for prayer concerning the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and how he could make his music more ‘spiritual,’” noted Crouch’s Facebook administrator.
“So Andrae and Sandra explained to him about the anointing and about Jesus. He wanted to know what makes your hands go up, and makes you ‘come out of yourself,’ and what gives a ‘spirituality’ to the music? He then requested to hear his favorite song that he loves and wanted then to sing to him, so they...joined hands and sang together, and he said, ‘it was beautiful.’ He first heard it in New York, and loved it and wanted it on tape. He had the engineer tape the song sang to him by Andrae and Sandra. He definitely had an encounter with them.”

As to whether or not the legendary singer had prayed to receive Christ, through his spokesman Crouch responded: “He did NOT reject Jesus or the prayer when (we) prayed, and gladly joined in prayer.”

“He usually doesn’t touch anybody, but he touched them, and held their hands in a circle as they sang and prayed,” continued Andrae Crouch’s spokesman. “There was NO actual ‘sinners prayer’ however, but they did talk and pray about Jesus and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They also told him, ‘Michael, we consider you as our son,’ and he said, “yes, yes, yes” and gave him his latest music on a CD, and he told him, ‘Andrae I trust you with this,’ and gave him CD’s of 2 songs...unpublished, beautiful music.”

In the story, the Crouch’s reported one peculiarity about Jackson’s rented home: forbidden as a child from celebrating Christmas because of his Jehovah’s Witness faith which precludes such celebration, Jackson was still celebrating Christmas in June: “He still had his Christmas decorations up at home,” noted Crouch’s spokesman.

Did MICHAEL JACKSON nearly die five years ago under the exact same circumstances? A source close to the late singer tells Fox News' Pop Tarts gossip column that his brother, RANDY, found him unconscious back in 2004 and called a life-saving friend who happened to be a paramedic. Obviously, they were able to revive him but a doctor who normally didn't treat Michael was "absolutely shocked" by the amount of prescription medication in the home. The same insider claims the Jackson family had a meeting over the situation in 2001 when he was getting ready for a concert series in New York City. Apparently Michael's mom, KATHERINE, started asking a lot of questions about how ELVIS PRESLEY died and was worried about her son's health.
So with all the continual agonizing over MICHAEL JACKSON, somebody turned up Michael's former best friend, Bubbles the Chimp. Turns out the chimp isn't dead and gone, like many thought — in fact, People magazine says Bubbles is now 26 and living out his middle age in a private, Florida primate sanctuary called the Center For Great Apes.

There's 42 chimpanzees and orangutans which live at the Center, which is in Wauchula, FL, and Bubbles has been there since 2005, hanging out with a group of six chimps. And the primate center says he could live to 60 or so, given the right care.
FYI: The Center is a non-profit organization and supported by donations. To see a picture of Bubbles (their featured primate), head over to centerforgreatapes.org. They're using Michael's death as a fund-raiser for the "Bubbles and Friends Fund."
We haven't heard the last of MICHAEL JACKSON. The Times of London says the late entertainer has more than a hundred finished recordings that he left as a personal legacy to his children. Michael didn't want them to ever be released, but seeing as how his estate is in the minus column for more than 400-million dollars. These tracks could help clear up, or even eliminate that debt.


Billy Mays update:
Doctors told reporters yesterday after the autopsy that Billy had an enlarged heart and likely died of a pulmonary embolism, or blocked artery. There was no sign of head trauma (he was hit on the head when a tire blew out as his plane landed Saturday night and speculation was that it might have caused his death). The autopsy also revealed no indication of drug abuse, prescription or otherwise.

This morning's Philadelphia Inquirer also reports that Media Enterprises, the local company which syndicates BILLY MAYS' infomercials, will pull his pitches for its Mighty Putty and Mighty Mendit products until Jul 06, after he's buried, in agreement with family wishes.

The funeral for television product pitchman Billy Mays will be held Friday in the Pittsburgh suburb where he was born and raised.

The funeral Mass for Mays will be 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mary Church in McKees Rocks.


Madoff Sentence
Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison, making him the only man in America who knows he'll still have health care coverage for more than the next 3 years.

Amish Hurting
The weak economy is even taking a toll on the Amish. Farm income is down, building material costs are up, and the horse union won't budge until it gets a $25 billion dollar federal bailout for the buggy industry.

A Florida school board is considering a ban on the "zero" as a grade. Instead, students would get a grade of 40% even if they miss a test completely or fail to turn in an assignment.

The lowest score that a student could get, even for poor work or miserable performance on a test, is a 49.

Officials of the Hernando County School District tell the St Petersburg Times, that the goal "is to give kids a statistical fighting chance to turn around their overall grade — something tough to do even with a couple of zeros or a few very low marks on the books."

Critics argue that "kids are getting more coddled every day, and a policy that lessens the consequences of failure only makes things worse."

The school board will vote on the proposal next month.

A 40 percent grade even if they miss a test completely? That would imply that kids did at least 40 percent of the work which they did not do. That's called a social promotion. How does getting a grade you didn't earn send the right message?

Businesses do not give you half pay for zero effort. They will, however, show you the door. Zero work deserves a zero grade. Sitting down for a test doesn't deserve a minimum grade. Simply attending class doesn't deserve a minimum grade. If you want a fighting chance at a good grade then do your assigned work.


A New Generation Gap
From cell phones and texting to religion and manners, younger and older Americans see the world differently, creating the largest generation gap since the tumultuous years of the 1960s. A new study released by the Pew Research Center found Americans of different ages increasingly at odds over a range of social and technological issues....including marriage.

Regardless of your age and how you feel about marriage, take this advise from Ogden Nash:

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the marriage cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
Whenever you're right, shut up.



Church Kids Break Legos Record

ELGIN - According to the Bible, God instructed Noah to build an ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits tall.

Not sure how big a cubit is? Well, if a cubit were a LEGO piece, that would equal about 34,900 LEGOs.

More than 150 grade school-aged children found that out this week when they built an expected record-setting 1:37 scale model of Noah's ark made of LEGOs at Harvest Bible Chapel's "High 5" summer day camp.

the LEGO model features the ark as well as a five-color rainbow overhead, surrounded by the words of Genesis 6:8: "But Noah found favor with the Lord." It measures 12 feet long, 2 feet wide and 18 inches tall and includes a 3-foot wide exposed side revealing its three inner decks.

That should find favor with LEGO World Records.

The model will set the record for the largest LEGO model of Noah's ark both "by dimension and brick," according to Pastor Craig Steiner of the Elgin church's Adult Ministries Department.

It will be on display during worship services at Harvest Bible Chapel through July 11. Services are at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9 and 11:15 a.m. Sundays.



TOP GROSSEST THINGS IN YOUR HOUSE

5. Your garbage pail
4. Your loofah, wash cloth or sponge
3. Your vacuum cleaner bag
2. Your toilet seat

1. YOU!
At the end of the day, YOU are pretty disgusting. Your body is home to a wide array of microbes, from bacteria and viruses to (perhaps even) bugs and parasites. There are 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the ecosystem that is your body -- and as many as 182 different species of bacteria live on your skin alone. Yep, if you're looking for the biggest source of grossness in your home, you need look no further than your own fingers, feet and belly button, not to mention those disease-carrying mucous membranes. Much of your own cohabitants are harmless to you, but can potentially cause problems for other humans. So, if you wanted to be supersafe, you could simply avoid all human contact. Sounds like a plan.



July 5th. is DEPENDENCE DAY…ON GOD!

American Christians across the nation will band together the day after Independence Day to repent and pray for God to heal the country.

The newly launched initiative Call2Fall, organized by the conservative Christian group Family Research Council, will focus on the spiritual and moral problems growing in the nation.

"America is a nation in moral crisis,” says FRC President Tony Perkins. “Four out of every ten children are born out of wedlock, and every day roughly 3,000 unborn children are aborted in our county. From homosexual 'marriage' to proposed curbs on religious speech, there are serious matters for the church to address, humbly and with great earnestness, before God.”

Held a day after Americans celebrate their “independence,” Call2Fall will be a day when Christians declare their “dependence” on God, Perkins explains. The name of the initiative means call to fall on our knees.

With July 5 being a Sunday, churches are being called to have their entire congregation pray for at least three to five minutes for the spiritual health of their church and for America. Some churches, according to FRC, are holding a prayer event the entire day.

With July 5 being a Sunday, churches are being called to have their entire congregation pray for at least three to five minutes for the spiritual health of their church and for America. Some churches, according to FRC, are holding a prayer event the entire day.

Call2Fall organizers hope to have eight million Christians participate in the prayer event and declare their dependence on God.



President Interrupted By Annoying Ringtone

We've all been there - deeply embarrassed after our mobile phone has gone off unexpectedly during meetings, conferences, films, and so on.

So this poor journalist's mortification is understandable - though she gets no extra sympathy for her choice of ringtone.

Barack Obama was giving a speech yesterday when - to a reporter's horror - her mobile phone went off, interrupting the U.S. President.

To make matters worse, for some unimaginable reason the unidentified journalist had picked the sound of a duck quacking for her ringtone.

'Whose - whose duck is back there?' asked a confused Mr Obama, who had just been delivering a solemn address on homosexuality and civil rights.

'It's a duck,' First Lady Michelle Obama confirmed, breaking down into giggles.
'Where do you guys get these ringtones, by the way?' the president asked to laughter. 'I'm just curious.'

The President and the First Lady were hosting a reception for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month in the East Room of the White House
And, as the quacking - and the laughter - fell silent, Mr Obama launched straight back in to his speech on fairness and equality.

TO SEE VIDEO:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1196465/Obama-interrupted-speech-journalists-quacking-duck-ringtone.html