Lifestyle13

Women and girls today are so overwhelmed with images of beautiful and skinny women.  This of course puts unreal expectations on us and can lead to poor self esteem and eating problems.  Along with the girls being influenced, I think the boys are getting an unrealistic image of what girls should be as well. 

Twenty years ago, in the eighties, most fashion models were a size 8.  Now, most are a size 0.  During the same time, the average 5′ 4″ woman went from a size 10 to a size 14.  Size 14 now is considered a plus size, but it was the dress size of sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe.  I don’t think she was considered fat!

Buddy Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Holly has taken action against Peggy Sue Garron.   Garron is the inspiration of Buddy’s 1957 hit “Peggy Sue.”

Peggy Sue has written a book “Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?” in which she claims she and Holly were very close and at one point Holly suggested the pair divorce their spouses and run away together.

Maria Elena Holly has petitioned her to cease and desist claiming, Buddy “never considered Peggy Sue a friend.”  She fears the book will hurt her reputation and tarnish Buddy’s memory.

We changed the clocks back to Standard Time yesterday morning.  If you forgot to do that you’re probably running early today. 

It always takes me a while to get back on track after we switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard, or from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time.  It seems like after we change the clocks I’m out-of-whack for a while.  Beau might argue that I’m always a little out-of-whack regardless of the time.

Here’s a post by Seth Godin from a couple of years back about the history of DST:  This time, it’s different

I just read something really neat so I thought that I would share it with all of you……The flashing light on top of the Capitol Records tower spells out Hollywood in Morse code. Not that you really needed to know this bit of information but it’s kind of interesting.

Here are 13 places you might actually see a ghost.

- Eastern State Penitentiary

- Stone’s Public House

- The Melon Heads

- Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast

- Ernest Tubb Record Shop

- Michigan Bell Building

- Chico Hot Springs Lodge and Ranch

- Illinois Central Ghost Lights

- Alpha Theta House

- 1891 Castle Inn of New Orleans

- Spook Hill

- Whaley House

- Fort Washita

Have you ever wondered who else you might share your birthday with. Well I found a website that allows you to answer that very question. It’s called Biography.com. My birthday was on the 9th. Here are some of mine.

John Lennon

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

(Frederick) Donald Coggan, Baron Coggan (of Canterbury and of Sissinghurst)

Alfred Dreyfus

Aimée Semple McPherson

Immigration authorities released 100 new questions immigrants will have to study to pass a civics test to become American citizens.  Here are a few.  See if you can pass the test.

1. Who is in charge of the executive branch?

2. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

3. Name one of the 2 longest rivers in the United States?

4. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

5. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?

6. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South?

7. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

8. Name one U.S. territory?

9. What did Susan B. Anthony do?

10. Who was president during World War I?

Answers:

1. President     2. Thomas Jefferson     3. Mississippi or Missouri River

4. Nine     5. Nancy Pelosi     6. Civil War     7. 13 original colonies

8. Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, North Mariana Islands

9. Fought for women’s rights, civil rights     10. Woodrow Wilson

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is reported to be involved in an authorized documentary about the late George Harrison of, The Beatles. Harrison is often regarded as the lesser known member of the former rock n’ roll band, but a musician of great talent.  Harrison’s widow, Olivia will serve as Producer of the project which is expected to take several years to complete.  Former Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are also reported to have agreed to participate in the documentary which will cover Harrison’s time with The Beatles, his solo career and his involvment in eastern mysticism.

Did you know that the @ symbol is said to be more then 500 years old. The only reason that it seems new to us is that it has been taken up for the internet. The symbol is actually said to come from the 1400’s. This is what Wikipedia has to say about @.

It is not known which particular word gave rise to the modern at sign, although there are several theories, including:

• In the Middle Ages, used by monks to shorten the Latin word ad which means “at, toward, or by.” It also means about when followed by a numeral, though no Latin document showing the @ symbol used in this way is known.

• In the 1400s for the Spanish unit of weight arroba = “jar”.

• An abbreviation of the Greek preposition a?? (ana), which means ‘at the rate of’ when used with numerals, exactly its modern commercial usage.

• A professor of history in Rome, claims to have traced the @ symbol back to the Italian Renaissance in a Venetian mercantile document signed by Francesco Lapi on May 4, 1537.[citation needed] The document talks about commerces with Pizarro and in particular the price of an @ of wine in Peru, where @ stood for amphora (Italian anfora; Spanish and Portuguese arroba). The word arroba still means both the at symbol and a unit of weight (see below). Under this view, the symbol was used to represent one amphora, which was a unit of weight or volume based upon the capacity of the standard terra cotta jar, and came into use with the modern meaning “at the rate of” in northern Europe.

It could be the abbreviation of any word beginning in a, and more than one such symbol was likely in use, but there is no continuous record between any of the possibilities and the modern symbol.

So the next time you use @ in something your doing remember people have been doing the same thing for more then 500 years.

The crooked house, built by Szotynscy Zaleski, is the most photographed building in Poland.  It is a 4,000 square meter house located in the Rezydent shopping center in Sopot, Poland.  Construction began in January 2003 and was completed in December 2003. 

The architecture is based on a famous Polish illustrator, Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg pictures and paintings. 

It has colorful stained glass entrances, stone elevation decors and windows framed with sandstone. There is also an unusual roof covered with sheet metal with enamel roof tiles colored with green shades, and Parishian blue, which makes the illusion of dragon scales.

 NASA has decided it’s time to change their old slogan, ”Explore. Discover. Understand. “They have come to realize that what you say is more important than what you do. Therefore, it has asked the U.S. public to suggest a new slogan to replace the current one.  Among those that have been offered are:

• Went to the Moon, invented Tang. For Mars, who knows?
• Weightless sex. Open up your wallets and make it happen.
• Earth — we’re outta here!
• From the increasingly dirty blue marble all the way to the stars!
• One small step for man, one huge debt for mankind.
• NASA: We can see your house from here.
• Look up, look down — do you see any insulation all around?
• We play with Mercury.
• We go long.
• We decide which way’s up.
• Now offering development property with out of this world views!

Are Walgreens and Wal Mart owned by the same people?  Both stores begin with WAL.  That has led some to believe that the two chains are related.

Walgreens began in the year 1901 by Charles Walgreen Sr.

Wal-Mart began in 1962 by Sam Walton.

So to those of you that think the big - mean - corporate giants Wal-Mart and Walgreens are out to take all your money, think again.  These two are competitors which will drive prices down, not up.

Want to see how far we’ve come or relive some old memories?   I went to Classictvads.com and viewed some old tv commercials.  I was shocked at how many of these theme songs I remembered just by seeing the product again, before I even watched the commercial.  It’s funny how it just comes back to you. . . it’s the power of advertising.

For some old commercial viewing  - click here

or to see the cartoon characters ” The Flintstones” selling Winston cigarettes - click here