The "Gorey" Details

Global Warming is on the rise and experts say we need to reduce are "carbon footprint" by using less energy. Al Gore won an Oscar for his documentary for 'Inconvenient Truth'. But the details were left out. According to ABC News,

"Armed with Gore's utility bills for the last two years, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research charged Monday that the gas and electric bills for the former vice president's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours."

So people are asking why he is not practicing what he preaches. If you want to read all the "Gorey details" click here.

Allerton Library, Monticello, IL

Here are photos of the old Allerton Library in Monticello.











Notice the date is 1896.

Lincoln and Douglas Plan the Debate

Between Bement and Monitcello stand a monument. The iron plate has this message on it:

Lincoln-Douglas

Here on July, 29th, 1858

Abraham Lincoln

and Stephen A. Douglas

First Agreed to Meet in Joint Debate in

Illinois

Photos:

Piatt County Courthouse

In downtown Monticello, you will find the Piatt County Court House.

Allerton Park, Monticello, IL

I made a trip to Monticello, IL. Here are some photos of Allerton Park.

It is kind of a creepy place, so I tried to make the photos creepy to match.

This post is part of Project Illinois.

Fog and Sun

This morning I took a picture of the sun through the fog. I played around with it with photoshop.


Original:



Edited:

Did you see this morning's Sunrise?

Lincoln Statue in Bunker Hill, Il

I was driving to pickup my new dog and noticed a Lincoln Statue in Bunker Hill, Il. I only had enough battery power to take one photo.

Here it is:



If you want to know the history of this statue, here is a link for you.

New Addition to our family

I would like everyone to meet Chico.



He is a 8 week old Chihuahua. And his is just wonderful.

Snow Jabba The Hutt

Today I drove into work only to realize that the office was closed for President's Day. So I came home. But the kid's still had school. After school we made a snow man. It is my best attempt at making a Jabba The Hutt in snow. I used green food coloring for the color. Plastic lids for the eyes and nose and a stick for the mouth.

What do you think of it?

Chief Illiniwek

Hippo Bite!

Got Cookies?

Please Don't Eat Me!

What do you mean, Blizzard!

AT-AT Vs. Some Giant Robot

Picard and Number One

Watch out Number One, I think my horse just took a Number Two!

Frozen Diet Pepsi

Caption Contest...
Can you think of a caption for this photo.
How about:
She's gonna blow!

Or

This Diet Pepsi needs to go on a diet!

LimeHead

Just messing around with photoshop. What do you think?

Bye-Bye Miss American Pie

Well another year has come and went. Its time to dust of the mp3 songs of the late 1950's and load them on the I-Pod or MP3 player and remember a simpler time when music was just rock-n-roll and greenhouse gases were only found in greenhouses. Yes the date today is February 3, 2007. And 48 years ago today was the "Day the Music Died." Songs like Peggy Sue, La Bamba and Chantilly Lace may not mean much to the the 'Britney Spears' generation, but they always will have meaning for those who remember how Rock-N-Roll started. These musicians helped shape what music is today. So next time you are driving by Chantilly Lace on South 5th St, or flipping through the stations on television and catch a glimpse of La Bamba or The Buddy Holly Story, or even a MTV Behind the music special on any of the artists that died that day, just remember what Rock-N-Roll used to be like and how those early stages supplied the bedrock for some of the Rock-N-Roll we have today.

So bye-bye, miss American pie.

Drove my Chevy to the levee,

But the levee was dry.

And them good old boys

were drinkin’ whiskey and rye singin’,

"this’ll be the day that I die."this’ll be the day that I die."

Don McLean American Pie

Quote of the Day:

"Pickles are for closers."

Jim Belushi
According to Jim

Groundhog Day--Origins

I was curious about Groundhog day, wondering where it call came from. Of course, it being a superstition that the groundhog seeing or not seeing his shadow can actually predict the weather is absolutely ludicrous. But looking beyond that, where does this holiday come from.

I found that Feb 2 is the date of two holidays. One is Candlemas and the other is Imbolic. Candlemas is a holiday celebrated by people professing to be Christian and Imbolic is a non-Christian or "Pagan" holiday. Both are closely related to the purification of women. One is the purification of Mary, the other the purification of Mother Earth.
Candlemas honors the Mary and Imbolic honors Mother Earth as a goddess.

According to Wikipedia: "Modern Pagans have argued that Candlemas is a Christianization of the Gaelic festival of Imbolc, which was celebrated in pre-Christian Europe (and especially the Celtic Nations) at about the same time of year. This festival marked the mid-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The term "Imbolc" translates as either "in milk" or "in the belly," and marked the birth and nursing of the spring lambs as a sign of the first stirrings of spring in the middle of winter."

Wikipedia also has this to say about how they came up with the date for Candlemas.

The date of Candlemas is established by the date set for the Nativity of Jesus, for it comes forty days afterwards. Under Mosaic law, a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain for three and thirty days "in the blood of her purification." Candlemas therefore corresponds to the day on which Mary, according to Jewish law^[2] should have attended a ceremony of ritual purification. The gospel of Luke 2:22–39 relates that Mary was purified according to the religious law, followed by Jesus' presentation in the Jerusalem temple, and this explains the formal names given to the festival.

In the West, the date of Christmas is now fixed at December 25, and Candlemas therefore falls the following February 2. The dating is identical among Orthodox Christians, except that the ecclesiastic December 25th of most Orthodox Christians falls on January 7th of the civil calendar due to a theological dispute related to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, meaning that most Orthodox Christians celebrate the feast on February 15th.

Also if you research Imbolic at all you will find it steeped in the religion of Witches or Wicca.

So one may wonder why any wanting to please God would want to participate in any of these holidays since they both linked with non-Christian teachings. Something to think about...

What does it all mean???

I get these wierd spam emails with bodies like this:


When I finally got the courage to leave there I thanked her in a nice letter telling her that her expectations of me paid off and got me a great promotion at another facility. The campsite had become run down due to mismanagement that led to a decline in tourists numbers, Nacobta said.
"It seems Kyewunyo's mother noticed something foreign in her body and removed the implant hence getting pregnant," saidMugisha. Most often, resorting to the "It's your responsobility" statement when something isn't done according to her rules. SA Tourism Chief Executive Officer Moeketsi Mosola said the importance of excellent service and unique tourism offerings was immeasurable.
We will only be in a position to insult potential investors when our coffers are full and we don't need their money. The heavy downpours also caused several airstrips in the parks, including the most important, Seronera to be closed down.
However the concept is just taking root and there is need to harness it and direct it towards the market in a more cohesive and systematic manner.
However, the call-off was too late to prevent cancellation of flights. The asmotphere is poluate. 55am to arrive in Bamako, Mali at 12.
Here are some tips to help you deal with difficult bosses and supervisors. Tomorrow I face down another bully.
But you see, even though we all subscribe to the adage that beggars cannot be choosers, a lot of water is added to the wine when it becomes a matter of realpolitik. The journey was one of my most interesting part of the day. SA Tourism Chief Executive Officer Moeketsi Mosola said the importance of excellent service and unique tourism offerings was immeasurable.
Tjihukununa added that he estimated that it could take two to three weeks before he makes a final conclusion about the cause of the incident.
Currently, KQ flies three times a week to Dakar, via Bamako on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
This boss is only out for results and will treat people like figures. If you want to use the ISA Firewall MIB objects, then make sure the SNMP service is installed on the ISA Firewall device before installing the ISA Firewall software.
However the ORTPN official, Justine Rurangirwa said the suggestion was good but difficult to implement because the percentage remitted to local communities is normally set by the government.
No matter what "it" was. And the vegetation of the mountain slopes is amazing the way it blends from all types of trees around.
Just like the name suggests, her arrival in the world was a surprise for the sanctuaries' vet doctors and caregivers.
How to deal with an "idiot" boss Do you work for a psychopath?
Discuss your ISA Server issues with thousands of other ISA Server experts. The American tourists led by Runner's World writer Bart Yasso will embark on a 12-day tour from March 14-25 to various parts of the country with a strong athletics tradition.
It would be recalled that five Chinese telecommunications engineers were released last week Thursday after being kidnapped from the Niger Delta region on January 5.
We should stand up and fight the abuse of our own tourist destinations".
Has been over heard talking negatively about other employees or past employees.
Writes people up for things they didn't even know they did wrong. But, in Marangu I found my only little heaven full of surprises and the really feeling of being 'out there!


What does it all mean? I mean come on...