One of the most powerful earthquakes in history hit Asia Sunday, unleashing a tsunami which devastated coastal areas of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and tourist isles in Thailand.
The death toll is over 118,000. That number seems to keep rising, as reports
come in from around the world.
update:Make that 135,000 people dead.
update: Make that 140,000 people dead.
update: Make that 155,000 people dead.

Why is it that Christmas in my family can not by any means consist of a peaceful evening…? Arguments and fights all year long and I can’t ask for one day a year to be nice for a change! Why does life have to be so stressful? I never thought that I’d be like this, I thought I’d only get simpler. Am I being unfair to ask for one day without a fight? I’m so tired of everything being about my parents and not about me. To them everything I do is to hurt them or get back at them. If I go to the movies or I’m not at home or they don’t know where I am 24/7 they freak out. They want a phone call and update every 10 minutes. I hope I’m not the only person out there with an attached family. How can I fix this situation without causing another issue to arise? My stress levels are high enough as it is. I think I live a rather boring life compared to what I’d like to due to my family. They just can’t let me go…

Taken from Turning Pickets Into Pledges (plannedparenthood.org)

"It’s an ingenious idea." says Planned Parenthood.  "Create a no-win situation for anti-choice protesters — the more picketers who demonstrate outside a Planned Parenthood clinic, the more donations the Planned Parenthood clinic receives."

A number of Planned Parenthood affiliates have created different versions of this scenario. Here’s how it works at Planned Parenthood of Central Texas (PPCT) right down the street in Waco, where the Pledge-a-Picket program is going strong: Each time a protester shows up at the clinic, a donation is made to PPCT. “This campaign makes lemonade out of lemons by allowing Planned Parenthood supporters to pledge between 25 cents and one dollar per protester.”

According to organizers, when the program was first launched, some of the protesters would shout, “Count me, count me!” not realizing apparently that they were raising money for the organization they were protesting.

“Suicides of U.S. Marines have reached their highest level in five years, prompting a Defense Department effort to encourage Marines to seek mental health services, a Marine Corps spokesman said on December 21, 2004. But spokesman Bryan Driver said there was no evidence linking the higher suicide rate with the long tours of duty and frontline fighting Marines have engaged in Iraq . A U.S. Marine is shown at a base near Falluja in western Iraq, Nov. 4. Photo by Eliana Aponte/Reuters” (from yahoo)


I really hate to hear that, especially around Christmas. Tough times…..

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli man who refused to provide child support to his ex-wife for nearly eight years finally had to start paying up when he remarried and police raided the reception to seize wedding gifts.

The 40-year-old man had managed to avoid payments since 1997 by frequently changing address to escape the clutches of the law, Israel’s Maariv daily reported Friday.

With 198,000 shekels ($45,530) owed to her, his ex-wife finally tracked him down when a relative passed on a copy of a wedding invitation for his second marriage this week.

Police and bailiffs allowed the newlyweds to celebrate before confronting the groom and confiscating the wedding hall’s safe in which guests had deposited cash and checks, a tradition for Israeli nuptials.

Police decided not to arrest the stunned groom, but that was of little consolation to his distraught bride, who fainted as her wedding turned into a nightmare.

I’ve been fooling around with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elvish language. I’ve taken a liking to it and have been writing it for friends like John here and there. A guy named Ned Gulley got me started on this venture.


Here’s my name in Elvish (Tenwar– Quenya style) :




If you’d like your name or a phrase written in Elvish, simply ask me. I’ll be happy to do it for you.