Dying boy, 8, 'marries' school sweetheart for his last wish
An eight-year-old boy who had battled cancer for half of his life 'married' his school sweetheart - before telling his mother 'I can go now' and dying just hours later.
Reece Fleming refused to give in to leukaemia until he had fulfilled his wish of a mock wedding to his special friend Elleanor Pursglove.
The two children, who had been friends for years, had taken part in an emotional ceremony in Reece's front room in which he handed his 'bride' a red rose.
PICTURES
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Neighbors forced to travel one-and-a-half MILES to put bins out
Changes to bin collections in rural areas mean that some householders are facing transporting their rubbish one-and-a-half miles for it to be collected.
Residents of the hamlet of Litherskew, in upper Wensleydale, were told by council officials that their wheelie bins must be taken to the roadside in nearby Sedbusk for collection.
The only other option is to leave the bins permanently in Sedbusk and transport rubbish to them by car.
Councillor John Blackie, who represents the area on Richmondshire District Council, branded the new arrangement 'bonkers'.
The council says that its bin wagons could collect from Litherskew, but only if the four households there pay for a waste compound.
The council has received more than 500 complaints since it introduced wheelie bins to the upper dales six weeks ago.
Most relate to the distance bins must be pushed for collection.
Complainants included cancer patient John Martin, 85, and his 76-year-old wife, Gillian, who suffers from severe arthritis.
They faced dragging their bin 100 yards from their home in Marsett, upper Wensleydale, to the road.
The council initially said they were not eligible for assistance, but has now arranged for its street cleansing team to collect the Martins' rubbish from their doorstep temporarily until a permanent solution is investigated.
'We couldn't push a full wheelie bin 100 yards, so our rubbish wasn't being collected,' said Mr Martin.
Coun Blackie said the situation caused the couple great anxiety and reduced Mrs Martin to tears.
He said of the bins at Litherskew road end: 'What a despoilment of our fine dales countryside.
'The residents of Litherskew are expected to bring their wheelie bins 1.5 miles to this collection point, and then wheel them back after the refuse has been collected.
'This is completely and utterly bonkers.'
Litherskew resident Alice Amsden said: 'We have to pile our rubbish bags into the Land Rover and take it down to the bin, but not everyone wants to share their car with a week's worth of rubbish.'
Local households pay about £2,000 a year in council tax in return for very few services, she said.
Council officers say every complaint will be investigated and have agreed to examine what is meant by a 'main road' in the waste collection policy.
The authority's strategy board rejected Coun Blackie's call for an immediate review of the system and backed officers' proposals, which include an interim review in September and a fuller evaluation in January.
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Ice cream vans threatened by new noise restrictions
The jingling tunes of the ice cream van, a sound of summer, are to be curtailed by council bosses because they are too noisy. Worcester City Council has decreed that sellers' bells cannot exceed more than four seconds, barely enough for a verse of Greensleeves or the Teddy Bears Picnic.
They have also been told they can't sound their chimes before 12pm or after 7pm and can only play music once every three minutes. Councillors have agreed to toughen up on mobile street traders after complaints about the way some operated, including banning them from parking outside schools. Vans are not allowed to trade within sight of other ice cream vans and are banned from being within 164 ft of a school during school hours and the same distance of any place of worship on a day of worship unless they are quieter than 80 decibels at 25ft away.
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Fish rids human feet of scaly skin
Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.
Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.
"This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet," Ho said.
He said he wanted to come up with something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators because of concerns about whether they're sanitary.
Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.
PICTURE
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Did you know this about “ICE CREAM?”
In the USA more ice cream is consumed per head than any other country in the world – such is the love of ice cream amongst Americans. This is reflected in other ways too, not least by the fact that the USA has its own ‘National Ice Cream Month’. Since 1984, when President Reagan proclaimed that National Ice Cream Month be celebrated annually, every July has been a focus for greater attention to ice cream in the United States with the 3rd Sunday of that month each year being National Ice Cream Day..
Definitely One Of My Favorite Holidays Maybe Even Yours.
In the News
$20,000 Earrings Found in New York Trash Dump
Diamonds in the rough? Try a $20,000 pair of the glinting gems in a reeking truckload of trash.
A Staten Island jeweler got her 3-carat diamond earrings back after she, her husband and city sanitation employees sorted through a heap of garbage.
"It's a miracle — $20,000 earrings looking at you from the garbage," said their owner, Haya Sharon.
The studs, an anniversary gift from her husband, were in a small jar of cleaning solution. A worker at the couple's jewelry store accidentally threw it away.
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Dentists' drill and toothbrush under threat from new inventions
The dentists' drill could be consigned to the past while the future of the toothbrush is under threat, with the arrival of two radical new inventions that could be available within five years.
Scientists at Leeds Dental Institute have created a solution that mimics the way the body forms new teeth, which can be used to repair holes naturally without the need for drilling and filling.
The same researchers have also formulated a mouthwash that kills the bacteria that cause plaque when a light is shone into the mouth.
They believe the mouthwash could be available in as little as three years or less while the alternative to drilling could be ready for use within five years.
Diamonds in the rough? Try a $20,000 pair of the glinting gems in a reeking truckload of trash.
A Staten Island jeweler got her 3-carat diamond earrings back after she, her husband and city sanitation employees sorted through a heap of garbage.
"It's a miracle — $20,000 earrings looking at you from the garbage," said their owner, Haya Sharon.
The studs, an anniversary gift from her husband, were in a small jar of cleaning solution. A worker at the couple's jewelry store accidentally threw it away.
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Dentists' drill and toothbrush under threat from new inventions
The dentists' drill could be consigned to the past while the future of the toothbrush is under threat, with the arrival of two radical new inventions that could be available within five years.
Scientists at Leeds Dental Institute have created a solution that mimics the way the body forms new teeth, which can be used to repair holes naturally without the need for drilling and filling.
The same researchers have also formulated a mouthwash that kills the bacteria that cause plaque when a light is shone into the mouth.
They believe the mouthwash could be available in as little as three years or less while the alternative to drilling could be ready for use within five years.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
In the News
Fishing Story
A man who was drowning in a Maine river is recovering after someone reeled him in with a fishing rod. Bob Greene of Hallowell says he heard what he thought was a bird early on Thursday as he was having his morning coffee. He then realized there was a man bobbing in the Kennebec River.He says a 911 dispatcher told him to throw something to the man. He snagged the man's shirt with a fishing lure and reeled him in. Hallowell Police Chief Eric Nason says Greene did the right thing by calling police first and not jumping into the water.
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Pilot Lets Small Plane Fly Itself
A civilian pilot left the controls of his small plane while he untangled a British Army parachutist who got tangled up in the landing gear, London's Sun newspaper reported on Saturday.
The British soldier was one of six participating in a parachuting competition at the Joint Service Parachute Center at Bad Lippspringe in Germany. The first five jumped from the plane successfully, but when the sixth — the instructor — tried to leap out and open his chute at an altitude of 3,000 feet, it only partially deployed.
The flier left his seat for about 30 seconds to reach out and cut the parachute lines that got caught on the twin propeller engine Islander's undercarriage.
A man who was drowning in a Maine river is recovering after someone reeled him in with a fishing rod. Bob Greene of Hallowell says he heard what he thought was a bird early on Thursday as he was having his morning coffee. He then realized there was a man bobbing in the Kennebec River.He says a 911 dispatcher told him to throw something to the man. He snagged the man's shirt with a fishing lure and reeled him in. Hallowell Police Chief Eric Nason says Greene did the right thing by calling police first and not jumping into the water.
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Pilot Lets Small Plane Fly Itself
A civilian pilot left the controls of his small plane while he untangled a British Army parachutist who got tangled up in the landing gear, London's Sun newspaper reported on Saturday.
The British soldier was one of six participating in a parachuting competition at the Joint Service Parachute Center at Bad Lippspringe in Germany. The first five jumped from the plane successfully, but when the sixth — the instructor — tried to leap out and open his chute at an altitude of 3,000 feet, it only partially deployed.
The flier left his seat for about 30 seconds to reach out and cut the parachute lines that got caught on the twin propeller engine Islander's undercarriage.
Conjoined barn swallows cause stir in Arkansas
It's an Arkansas bird story that at first might be hard to swallow. A pair of conjoined barn swallows, attached at the hip by skin and possibly muscle tissue, will be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for study and examination, Arkansas wildlife officials said Friday. If confirmed, officials say it could prove to be an incredibly rare find — a set of conjoined twins among birds.
"I can't even say it's one in a million — it's probably more than that," said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. "There's just to no records of such a thing."
The birds, found by a landowner in White County earlier this week, fell out of a nest as a healthy sibling flew off to learn how to hunt with its parents, Rowe said. The birds first appeared to have only three legs, but further examination found a fourth leg tucked up underneath the skin connecting the pair.
"I can't even say it's one in a million — it's probably more than that," said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. "There's just to no records of such a thing."
The birds, found by a landowner in White County earlier this week, fell out of a nest as a healthy sibling flew off to learn how to hunt with its parents, Rowe said. The birds first appeared to have only three legs, but further examination found a fourth leg tucked up underneath the skin connecting the pair.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Stowaway cat traveled 300 miles in engine compartment
A mechanic described his shock after finding a cat had traveled 300 miles from Scotland to Yorkshire in the engine compartment of a coach.The young ginger tom, who has been nicknamed Gulliver because of his travels, is believed to have got in the National Holidays coach at Arrochar, north of Glasgow, at the weekend.He was only found by mechanic Daniel Parnel after the driver returned to his base in Hull on Sunday.Mr Parnel, 27, said he found Gulliver when he opened a panel to clean the radiator. The cat was sitting on the radiator itself and the mechanic first thought it was a rat or a squirrel.Mr Parnel said he decided to take the cat home and keep it after it was checked out by a vet. He has been told there a lot of feral cats in Arrochar.He said: 'The most likely thing to have happened is he will have been attracted to the heat of the engine, gone to sleep on the radiator and been driven away. He hasn't done badly getting to Hull. It gets really hot in there.'
Happy Birthday Art Linkletter July 17th, 2008
From the 50’s to 1970 Art Linkletter hosted two daytime television programs called "Art Linkletter’s House Party" and "People Are Funny". He ended his program everyday by interviewing kids. I have fond memories of watching his shows.
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Kids Say the Darndest Things - ART LINKLETTER
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Archive of American Television Interview with Art Linkletter.
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More about Art Linkletter.
Friday, July 18, 2008
CDC Report: 1 in 4 U.S. Adults Now Obese
The South tips the scales again as the nation's fattest region, according to a new government survey.
More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee are considered obese. In part, experts blame Southern eating habits, poverty and demographic groups that have higher obesity rates.
Colorado was the least obese, with about 19 percent fitting that category in a random telephone survey done last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 2007 findings are similar to results from the same survey the three previous years. Mississippi has had the highest obesity rate every year since 2004. But Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana have also clustered near the top of the list, often so close that the difference between their rates and Mississippi's may not be statistically significant.
The South has had high death rates from heart disease and stroke, health risks that have been linked to obesity, some experts noted.
The CDC study only surveyed adults, but results for kids are similar, said Dr. Miriam Vos, assistant professor of pediatrics at Atlanta's Emory School of Medicine.
"Most of the studies of obesity and children show the South has the highest rates as well," Vos said.
Why is the South so heavy? The traditional Southern diet — high in fat and fried food — may be part of the answer, said Dr. William Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity division.
The South also has a large concentration of rural residents and black women — two groups that tend to have higher obesity rates, he said.
The study found that about 36 percent of black survey participants were obese, while 28.5 percent of Hispanics and 24.5 percent of whites were.
More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee are considered obese. In part, experts blame Southern eating habits, poverty and demographic groups that have higher obesity rates.
Colorado was the least obese, with about 19 percent fitting that category in a random telephone survey done last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 2007 findings are similar to results from the same survey the three previous years. Mississippi has had the highest obesity rate every year since 2004. But Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana have also clustered near the top of the list, often so close that the difference between their rates and Mississippi's may not be statistically significant.
The South has had high death rates from heart disease and stroke, health risks that have been linked to obesity, some experts noted.
The CDC study only surveyed adults, but results for kids are similar, said Dr. Miriam Vos, assistant professor of pediatrics at Atlanta's Emory School of Medicine.
"Most of the studies of obesity and children show the South has the highest rates as well," Vos said.
Why is the South so heavy? The traditional Southern diet — high in fat and fried food — may be part of the answer, said Dr. William Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity division.
The South also has a large concentration of rural residents and black women — two groups that tend to have higher obesity rates, he said.
The study found that about 36 percent of black survey participants were obese, while 28.5 percent of Hispanics and 24.5 percent of whites were.
Assorted Images
Growing Your Own Money
Hi I'm Henry.
Poor little fella never complains about what we make him eat.
He's always has a smile.
Time for a Break
Crowded PoolAnyone seen my Rubber Tube?
Going Zoom, Zoom
New and the Old
Huffy Bicycle Mower
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