Life is Healthy

Hi, I'm Dade Freeman, that's me, well part of me anyway. I'm just an average guy with big dreams and little hope.

The purpose of this blog is to keep you informed of how my life is going and also as a kind of diary for me too.
I'm a nomadic creature with no place to call home, although currently Spain is where I'm at, although lived most of my life in the UK (all around).
Having a short attention span means I need a lot of things to keep me occupied, the net does a great job of that. When I'm not at my wonderful Macbook pro you may find me with my Canon 450d.
I have recently took up photography (hopefully as a serious venture) which I am enjoying immensely although tough learning curve involved.

Anyway this blog will feature what I do on a daily, weekly and sometimes hourly basis. It highlights things that amuse me and is simply the ramblings of an ageing man on the world as I see it!

Hope you like it ;)

My Social Networks

My father-in-law was visiting us over the holidays and he commented on how I wear too much black. He said I would look younger and slimmer if I only wore some lighter colored clothes.

Well I thanked him for his fashion guru advice and told him he's the first person I've heard say that a woman looks slimmer in white or light colors. I think almost every woman knows that black makes you look a bit slimmer.

This reminds me that I saw a photo of Catherine Zeta Jones in a black outfit from about a month ago and I was going to post about how she seems to have lost a lot of weight over the past months. This was before I saw photos of her two weeks later (from an event on December 14th) where she is wearing the red dress. It's amazing how she can look so different weight-wise in a matter of just two weeks.

People Magazine is hitting the newsstands tomorrow with their annual "Half their Size" weight loss issue. Check it out when you do your grocery shopping over the next week. They always have some very inspirational stories of people who've lost over a hundred pounds.

This year they feature Mary Smith, who went from size 28 to a size 4 with low-carb eating, Janene Campbell who lost 207 pounds in two years with the help of LA Weight Loss and Tiana Silva who lost 150 pounds by walking, cardio kick-boxing and lifting weights.

They also interview Mia Tyler who's happy to be a plus-size model and says that if you feel healthy, some extra pounds shouldn't get in the way of your happiness.

I wasn't able to find a photo of the upcoming issue but above is their cover for last year, featuring success stories by Cathi Lee and Angela Hefel amongst many others.

African States Work To Share Nile Water


By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent
Mon Dec 25, 11:34 AM ET

ENTEBBE, Uganda - After three years of closed-door talks, nine nations are quietly edging toward a deal to jointly oversee the waters of the Nile, an agreement that has eluded lands along the great river since the days of the pharaohs.

An expected meeting of water ministers next month may produce a preliminary accord, officials say. "I hope we'll reach a very good result, but I cannot guarantee it," Egyptian negotiator Abdel Fattah Metawie said in Cairo, the likely site for the session.

Such a pact would right a colonial-era wrong that reserved the world's longest river for irrigation in Egypt and Sudan, effectively denying its waters to Uganda and other upriver countries.

Nature may be pushing political leaders toward compromise, said Gordon Mumbo of the Nile Basin Initiative, an umbrella office here for joint activities among the riverine nations.
Drought and heat have lowered the level of nearby Lake Victoria, the vast lake that spills an outlet stream northward to start the Nile's 4,000-mile meander — from this region of jungle and crocodiles to the camel-crossed deserts of Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

"One of the greatest realizations is that the waters of the Nile of Lake Victoria are finite. They can be depleted," said Mumbo, a regional project manager. "The issue is how can people come together and best manage them today and tomorrow."

The long-term vision sees irrigated crops from central Africa feeding Egypt, for example, and Ethiopian dams supplying hydroelectric power across the region. Even millennia back, Egypt's pharaonic empire tried to push its rule south to ensure no one would block their Nile lifeline.

More at the link.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Nile River is regarded as the longest river on Earth (flowing for 4000 miles) with two main tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White Nile flowing apart until the meet near Khartoum in Sudan. The northern section of the river flows from Sudan into Egypt, which has depended on the waters of the Nile since ancient times when pharoahs flooded the river to provide fertile soil and in return would receive the crops grown. Nearly all of the historical sites of Ancient Egypt are also seen along the banks of the Nile River which ends in a delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

The source of the Nile is considered to be Lake Victoria, which also has rivers that feed into it from Rwanda, and Tanzania. This is known as the White Nile. The Blue Nile flows over eight hundred miles to Khartoum where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to form the "Nile proper". 90% of the water of the Nile originates in Ethiopia, but only in summer, when the rains fall on the Ethiopian Plateau. Otherwise, the rivers feed it weakly.

More History of the Nile River

There has also been much heated debate throughout history as how to best maintain the waters of the Nile River in an equitable fashion.

The Nile River: Building or Stumbling Block?

Is there hope now? Well, as the article above makes clear, circumstances are such that those nations involved will have no choice, as UN experts say populations in the river basin may double by mid-century and that scenarios show global warming decreasing water flows in the Nile by up to 40 percent.

Nile Basin Initiative
The Nile Basin Initiative shares a vision that those resources can be managed without conflict. Let us hope that is a reality.

Also see my entry:

Water Levels In Lake Victoria Dropping Fast

To you all, from me. Who could have predicted in August that the nation would be transfixed by an abandoned bath mat for five weeks later in the year? Quite literally nobody. But we were and a lot of it was due to being spurred on by your comments. So thank you.

And I may be appearing on the radio over the festive season, with Annie Mole from the excellent Going Underground blog and possibly a pigeon in an interview about unsung blogs. I think it will be on Anita Rani's show on Boxing Day at 10pm on BBC Five Live, but it might not be. Maybe there will be some kind of listen again feature on the website. I have appeared on the radio before, and I should warn you that the BBC use very poor-quality microphones that turn my rich, deep, sonorous voice into something a bit high-pitched and nasal.

My girlfriend and I are staying with friends who have two young children. Because of this they do not have a lock on their bathroom door. Because of this I am always slightly nervous when I visit them, and when possible I like to let people know that I am going to use the bathroom. I do this quite casually and naturally (I am a gifted conversationalist), but I leave everyone in no doubt that that is where I am going and that under no circumstances should anyone even come near the bathroom door.

This, however, is the first time that we have stayed overnight with them, which necessitates a full undress and shower in the morning. I had thought that I had made it reasonably clear that that was what I was going to do – not only did I say, “I'll just go and have a shower then”, but I had a flipping towel over my shoulder! It was therefore with some surprise that I look through the completely transparent shower curtain to see a small boy telling me that it is time for breakfast.

I have three simultaneous thoughts:

– It would be wrong to make a big deal out of this. The human body is a natural thing, and if I shriek and cover myself up he will have a view that willies are dirty and shameful and will grow up to be the kind of person that doesn't like people seeing his willy and gets into a complete state when a small child accidentally sees his willy.

– I don't want him to see my willy! They are dirty and shameful!

– This could go horribly, horribly wrong and I could spend the next 25 years picking glass out of my food. What if he mixes up “I saw Salvadore's willy” and “Salvadore showed me his willy”? It's a subtle grammatical difference that I think might be lost on a 5-year-old, but not on 12 of my peers.

Maybe it would be better to get my side of the story in first. But even a man of my conversational talents might find it difficult to segue from “Tea or coffee, Salvadore?” to “I wasn't masturbating!”

Instead, I casually, but strategically move the loofah and say that I'll be down in a minute. And hope that they at least spell my name correctly on the register.

I was in the Olympic Stadium, Berlin, watching a football match with some friends. This, of course, was the venue of the controversial 1936 Olympics, the highlight of the opening ceremony of which was a flypast by the Hindenburg, the largest aircraft ever to be built.

And what did they have at half-time? A radio-controlled model airship flying around the stadium. It was pretty impressive, though I assume that health and safety regulators had insisted it be filled with helium, like the Hindenburg was originally designed to have been. I assume this as, with no sympathies for any survivors or relatives of victims who might have been present, the person flying it proceeded to accidentally crash it into one of the goals.

This was a golden opportunity for someone as quick-witted as myself. How many times in my life would I witness an airship crash, particularly in such resonant circumstances as that day's? But what were the chances of my friend having at least a passing knowledge of Herbert Morrison's radio commentary of that tragic event from 1937?

I had to risk it. I turned to him and, in my most anguished tones, wailed, “Oh, the humanity!”

He just stared at me. By the time I'd explained it all the second half had kicked off.

International Year of The Desert

Desertification, in the words of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is one of the world’s most alarming processes of environmental degradation. The issue is often obscured, however, by a common misperception: that it’s a “natural” problem of advancing deserts in faraway developing countries. In fact, Desertification is about land degradation: the loss of the land’s biological productivity, caused by human-induced factors and climate change. It affects one third of the earth’s surface and over a billion people. Moreover, it has potentially devastating consequences in terms of social and economic costs.


Desertification and International Policy Imperative

This is information about the desertification conference held in Algiers that just ended today. I will be posting on the outcome when more information is known.

Battling The Desert In China

Main causes of drylands/deforestation

*climate change from the burning of fossil fuels causing less rainfall and over evaporation of the soil
* over population
* over grazing
* overusing groundwater
* deforestation/destroying trees
* the use of wood as domestic fuel
* growing water intensive crops (like rice)

These are all actions that can be reversed by humans taking the initiative, which will be the only course of action as this crisis worsens.

Battlestar Galactica with Lorne Greene : Battlestar Galactica with Edward James Olmos :: Old Blogger : New Blogger

Every so often a big bestseller comes along that serves to inspire and motivate people. This Christmas season, the big winner is The Secret. The Secret is all about how people can inspire themselves to creating a new lifestyle and a new future for themselves.

'The Secret' is probably the ultimate truth; which is that our thoughts are the major factor in determining our lives and our futures. If one can somehow move to a different mind frame, and take on everyday life in a new mindset, this can completely transform the texture of our daily lives and can be the easy driver which enables us to meet our goals.

The Secret comes in DVD or book format and has become the surprise best-seller in the couple of weeks since it was released. This must be due to word of mouth because it hasn't benefited from a massive marketing campaign.

All the small bookstores are promoting it as a great Christmas gift. (Here's one example). Most people are saying that the DVD even more so than the book is incredibly inspiring for making profound lifestyle changes.

Update January 29th: The Secret is being featured on the Oprah show on February 8th. Rhonda Byrne will make her first TV appearance since she released the film. She'll be joined by Jack Canfield, Michael Beckwith, Lisa Nichols, and James Ray.

Here's the trailer video clip of the Secret DVD;

I do not often suffer from l'esprit de l'escalier (coming up with the right thing to say far too late). Instead, I suffer from something whereby I say funny things at exactly the right time, but to a particularly small, unappreciative or incomprehending audience.

Some time ago I was with a girlfriend who had a bit of a problem in her “lady area”. It was the kind of problem that can be cured with the help of natural yoghurt, so when we were out she popped into a shop and bought some Greek-style yoghurt. When she showed me her purchase, quick as a flash, I said, “Surely if it's Greek-style, you'd stick it up your arse”.

This is quite possibly the quickest that my wits have ever worked, but the audience was (a) just one person, (b) who didn't know the non-dairy product meaning of “Greek-style”, and (c) who wasn't in the best mood for laughing anyway, what with having a poorly front bottom.

How come Oscar Wilde never had this problem? Though I suppose that his partners never needed natural yoghurt...

Better Farming Urged To Limit Deserts, Refugees

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Desertification could create millions of refugees unless governments promote less water-intensive farming and new jobs ranging from solar energy to eco-tourism, U.N. experts said on Thursday.

They said many of the world's drylands, home to 2 billion people and including many crop regions from Africa to Australia, were under threat of turning to dust, in part because of a global warming widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.

"Bad policies are as much to blame for aggravating desertification as climate change," said Zafar Adeel, head of the U.N. University's Canada-based International Network on Water, Environment and Health.

About 200 experts from 25 nations will meet in Algiers on Dec. 17-19 to try to advise on new policies to slow the spread of deserts, which now cover about a quarter of the world's land surface from the Sahara to the Gobi.

Conference organiser Adeel told Reuters 10-20 percent of drylands are already degraded, affecting almost 200 million people. Some estimates say 135 million people are at risk of being driven from their homes by desertification.

"If millions of people with skills as farmers suddenly find themselves living in desertified areas ... they have no time to adapt and have to flee," Janos Bogardi, head of the U.N. University's Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn, told Reuters.

New policies could include helping people whose lands are at risk from erosion to plant more drought-resistant crops or turn to new activities such as eco-tourism, fish farming or production of solar energy.

CROPS, FERTILISERS

One idea was to encourage poor people in rural areas to stop traditional burning of crop residues and animal dung for fuel, shifting to wind or solar energy. Crop residues and dung could then be used as fertiliser, slowing desertification.

"We need to have innovative solutions," Adeel said, adding that governments would have to come up with more money.

Bogardi estimated the number of people driven from their homes mainly by environmental causes already exceeded the world's 20 million political refugees. It was hard to judge because there is no category of "environmental refugee".

Governments could consider investing in solar panels to let farmers sell power as an alternative livelihood in sunny, arid regions. Even parts of southern Spain were more suitable for producing solar power than for growing water-intensive crops.

Too often farmers tried to offset degradation of drylands by ever more costly irrigation rather than switching to less water-demanding activities.

"Crops transpire water. It's a very water-intensive process," Adeel said. He added that fish farming -- such as in Egypt, Pakistan or Israel -- was a way of producing food without such heavy water use.

And tourism could also earn money for people on the fringes of deserts, as long as it did not waste valuable water. "Tourists should not expect golf courses or green lawns but be happy seeing cactus gardens," Bogardi said.© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

~~~~~~~
There needs to be a WORLDWIDE drought summit next year apart from the one mentioned in this article, in which bold and firm resolutions are set forth to help countries deal with a global drought that is now not just to be considered indigenous or sporadic.

Drought is now more pervasive, more sustained, more destructive, more costly, and more deadly than ever before. Along with the destruction of our oceans, drought is the most crucial environmental crisis we now face because it leads to lack of water and food shortages that millions of people depend on for life.

And climate change is oneof the chief causes for this desertification, along with wasteful corrupt practices regarding water management that must be changed with governments that do not take it upon themselves to push for conservation and more innovative farming management and methods being penalized for it.

And linked to that are the concerns raised in the article above surrounding bad policies regarding farming and the waste that comes from it. And as I have stated before, SOLAR energy is what will save Africa, and they need it NOW.

Other forms of irrigation include:

Drip irrigation

Irrigation in Africa:

Look at this picture from the link above. What is wrong with it?





This entry is a work in progress and more information will be added to it on an ongoing basis for the next week.

For reference:
World Water Council/Drought Preparedness

Ring-ring! Ring-ring!

The telephone is ringing; this is an exciting incident in my day. I hardly ever get phone calls during working hours, and when I do they are often of a thrilling nature, like somebody offering me a job. Whoever said that bad news travels faster than good news clearly wasn't a freelance writer, in whose world crushing rejection comes in the post from people too embarrassed at the poverty of your idea to want to speak to you, but acceptance and offers of employment like to be made immediately and vocally with lots of ego-boosting encouragement. Though I am now getting crushing rejections by email as well, so perhaps whoever came up with that maxim was not only right, but remarkably prescient.

ME: Hello.

WOMAN ON PHONE: Er, hello. I'm phoning about BT Broadband.

Oh for goodness' sake! I am ex-directory and have removed myself from every possible telephone and mailing list, yet still these people get through. Do they not realise that I am a writer, and I might have been about to create something brilliant? Coleridge was once interrupted by “a person from Porlock” and never managed to recall the dream that inspired his poem afterwards. Though whether this person was flogging high-speed internet access is not recorded.

ME: Yeah, I'm not interested.

WOMAN: Oh, it's just that it doesn't work.

Blimey! This is the worst salesperson ever. BT can hardly blame the break-up of the UK telecom monopoly for their woes if this is the calibre of staff that they employ. Unless it is some amazing reverse-psychology technique that starts off by making you agree with how poor their services are, then ends up with you buying broadband, gas, electricity and a timeshare in the Algarve from them.

ME: I'm actually very happy with Tiscali.

WOMAN: Oh. Is there anything you can do?

It slowly dawns on me. This woman is not a salesperson, and is just a BT broadband customer who has accidentally called me thinking that I am the fault reporting department. All that I've done is to tell her that I'm not interested, that my broadband works fine, and that a competitor is much better.

ME: Like I said, Tiscali are quite good.

I put the phone down and go back to work.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan...

Nope, it's gone.

Satellites Weigh Africa's Water


By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

Photo above:
The Grace twins weigh the changes in the storage of water on land.

Africa has experienced a significant drying in the past three years, new satellite data reveals.
The volume of water lost from the land amounts to 334 cubic km, which is almost as much as all Africans have consumed over the period.

The data comes from Nasa spacecraft that can detect changes in gravity caused by water as it cycles between the sea, the atmosphere and the land.

Experts stress no firm conclusions should be drawn from the short study. Professor Jay Famiglietti from the University of California-Irvine said much longer times series were needed to detect real trends and any signal that might indicate a significant shift in climate. "There are natural climate variations, the natural ups and downs," he explained.

"Another big factor is human control of the water cycle - reservoir management, the storage of water on continents. "Groundwater mining leads to heavy depletions of water. Wetland drainage, river diversion projects - all of those factors contribute to these storage variations that we see and we'll be working on trying to sort those out over the next few years," he told the BBC.
More at the link.
~~~~~~~~

A fellow Googler just let us know that her friend Aaron is currently blogging his Peace Corps experience from Togo, West Africa. In his own words:

"Take a peak at the trials and tribulations of a techie in Togo at aaroninafrica.blogspot.com. It's the stories, pictures and videos of a Peace Corps computer geek trying to spread the good news of computers in a mid-sized city in Togo, West Africa. The blog is smart and funny, and offers fun cultural insights and tidbits. From reporting on moving, cross-cultural moments to describing the big to-do when a new traffic light was installed, to up-close and personal interactions with his Togolese friends and neighbors, Aaron's blog opens a window on the society and culture in which he has immersed himself. Read about the computer center he is setting up in "Project," in which he hopes to provide affordable computer access to his community. If you like the idea, he is looking for people to help fund it."

Customer Service Centre
South West Trains
Overline House
Blechynden Terrace
Southampton
SO15 1GW


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to draw your attention to this picture that I took at Kingston station recently. As you can see, the sign reads “We regret that owing to a fault no information can be displayed at present”. This is confusing because this statement is itself information, so therefore the information that the sign is displaying (that it cannot display information) is incorrect.

By displaying the information that it cannot display information this sign represents a paradox – in fact, a dot-matrix version of the liar paradox that dates back to Greek philosopher Eubulides of Miletus in the fourth century BC. Another example of the liar paradox is “This statement is false”.

Perhaps you are employing paraconsistent logic and believe that the statement can be both true and false. Or maybe you are using situation semantics whereby the “negation liar” statement can be false without contradiction. Or perhaps your employees have to spend most of their time making the trains run rather than engaging in philosophical discourse. They obviously didn’t have that distraction in Ancient Greece.

May I suggest that you reword the sign to read “We regret that owing to a fault no information can be displayed at present (apart from this bit of information, obviously)”. You may have to replace your dot-matrix displays across the network with ones that have an extra line each, but that would be a small price to pay for logic. (I feel that putting the part in brackets on a separate line that you scroll up to would confuse matters further.) This will then not perplex any passing philosophers, and thus not cause them to miss their trains when they begin to question whether the 18:49 to Waterloo actually exists anyway.


Yours faithfully,

Salvadore Vincent

Just before the weekend we added the final piece to the transition from old Blogger to the new Blogger in beta: members of team blogs can now switch to the new Blogger. This is the last step before we take the new Blogger out of beta.

Team blogs move when the blog’s original creator moves to the new Blogger. When that happens, team blog members will also have to move to the new Blogger in order to post. Team blog members don’t have to wait, though! If you move to the new Blogger, team blogs you didn’t create will still show up on your beta Dashboard. You’ll be able to post with them as before, though they won’t have the new features of the new Blogger. We wrote a help article to explain this all in a bit more depth.

At this point, the pieces are in place:

• The new Blogger is feature complete
• All new accounts are created on the new version
• Known issues on the new Blogger are few and getting fewer
• (Almost*) all users are able to move their blogs to the new Blogger

This one? This one I have no idea about. Three espresso cups and two matching saucers on the pavement. Two cups upside-down on saucers, the middle cup the right way up. What is going on?

It doesn’t fall into the category of “rubbish to be picked up by council”, nor really into “things I don’t need, but someone passing might”. Who doesn't have room for three small coffee cups and two saucers?

Had I interrupted a child’s tea party? Was it some kind of middle-class version of the shell game, fleecing passing north Londoners who failed to find the organic coffee bean? Was this the day the teddy bears were going to have their picnic?

My only other theory is that it was some kind of semaphore signal that Russian spies are leaving for each other. Down/saucer, up/no saucer, down/saucer perhaps meaning “Send more polonium-210”.

I had to know what was under the cups. I looked around for the hidden cameras and steeled myself for anything – the cups being superglued to the saucers, the saucers being superglued to the pavement, my fingers being superglued to the cups...

And what was underneath? Nothing. Nothing under the saucers either. The next day they were gone – either one lucky neighbour is sipping espressos with two friends (one of whom doesn't take sugar), or the teddy bears went down with radiation poisoning.

Water Levels In African Lake Dropping fast

Excerpt:

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent
Sat Dec 9, 1:12 PM ET

JINJA, Uganda - At Jinja pier the rusty red hull of a Lake Victoria freighter sat barely afloat in water just six feet deep — and dropping. "The scientists have to explain this," said ship's engineer Gabriel Maziku.

Across the bay, at a fish packing plant, fishermen had to wade ashore with their Nile perch in flat-bottomed boats, and heave the silvery catch up to a jetty that soon may be on dry land and out of reach entirely. Looking on, plant manager Ravee Ramanujam wondered about what's to come.

"Such a large body of water, dropping so fast," he said.

At 27,000 square miles, the size of Ireland, Victoria is the greatest of Africa's Great Lakes — the biggest freshwater body after Lake Superior. And it has dropped fast, at least six feet in the past three years, and by as much as a half-inch a day this year before November rains stabilized things.

The outflow through two hydroelectric dams at Jinja is part of the problem — a tiny part, says the Uganda government, or half the problem, say environmentalists. But much of what is happening to Victoria and other lakes across the heart of Africa is attributable to years of drought and rising temperatures, conditions that starve the lakes of inflowing water and evaporate more of the water they have.

An extreme example lies 1,500 miles northwest of here, deeper in the drought zone, where Lake Chad, once the world's sixth-largest, has shrunk to 2 percent of its 1960s size. And the African map abounds with other, less startling examples, from Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, getting half the inflow it once did, to the great Lake Tanganyika south of here, whose level dropped over five feet in five years.

"All these lakes are extremely sensitive to climate change," the U.N. Environment Program warned in a global water assessment two years ago.

Now, in a yet unpublished report obtained by The Associated Press, an international consulting firm advises the Ugandan government that supercomputer models of global-warming scenarios for Lake Victoria "raise alarming concerns" about its future and that of the Nile River, which begins its 4,100-mile northward journey here at Jinja.

The report, by U.S.-based Water Resources and Energy Management International, says rising temperatures may evaporate up to half the lake's normal inflow from rainfall and rivers, with "severe consequences for the lake and its ability to meet the region's water resources needs."

A further dramatic drop in Victoria's water levels might even turn off this spigot for the Nile, a lifeline for more than 100 million Egyptians, Sudanese and others.

"People talk about the snows of Kilimanjaro," said Aris P. Georgakakos, the study's chief author, speaking of that African mountain's melting glaciers. "We have something much bigger to worry about, and that's Lake Victoria."

Each troubled lake is a complex story.

Lake Chad's near-disappearance, for example, stems in part from overuse of its source waters for irrigation. Deforestation around Lake Victoria, shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, makes the area a less efficient rain "catchment" for the lake, and overfishing and pollution are damaging its $400-million-a-year fishing industry. Kenya's Rift Valley lakes, some just a few feet deep, have always fluctuated in size, even drying up with drought.

But African leaders say things are different this time, because long-term climate change may eclipse other factors.

"These cycles, when they've happened, they haven't happened under the circumstances pertaining now — the global warming, overpopulation, degradation," said Maria Mutagamba, Uganda's water and environment minister.

End of excerpt.
~~~~~~~~
Lake Victoria-Kenya

The Falling Waters Of Lake Victoria
Courtesy of NASA

Lake Victoria Project
Take a look at how the people in this region are caring for the ecosystems of the lake and involving children in this process.

UN Accuses Uganda Of Draining Lake Victoria
And now see how adults will continue to negate these good efforts:
Independent, The (London), Feb 9, 2006 by Tristan McConnell in Kampala

The United Nations has accused Uganda of draining Lake Victoria to maintain its electricity supplies, despite an impending environmental catastrophe as water levels in Africa's largest lake drop to their lowest in 80 years.

The water is three metres below its normal level, leaving the jetties where pleasure boats moor and the landing sites where fishermen sell their catch high above the water.

The falling water level is affecting 30 million people in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya whose livelihoods depend on the lake. As the waters recede silt and vegetation are encroaching on the lake and goats nibble the green shoots where fish once swam in the shallows. Sudan and Egypt, both of which rely on the river Nile, which runs out of Lake Victoria, for their water supply and for agricultural irrigation, will also be affected. In October last year the UN warned African lakes were the worst affected by climate changes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The need for education regarding climate change is crucial in Africa. And of course, related to that is accountability for water diverted away from people who need it. Dams only cause problems related to water flow and environmental damage, and in essence create the very gases we need to reign in to mitigate the droughts being experienced in almost 40% of this world. The people of this region need alternate ways to create electricity, such as solar power. It is IMPERATIVE in order to maintain equality in water distribution and to help ensure that levels do not go any lower.

How much more of this will have to be reported on before we get it? This is a global catastrophe in the making unless we act now in order to provide developing countries with alternate energy sources to lift pressure off of water resources! And the key to this really is overpopulation and education that seeks to address this crisis at the roots. When is the world going to tackle this on a level that truly addresses the underlying problems as a whole instead of just putting bandaids on it? And that includes the UN. We are making our planet unsustainable for human life. Shouldn't that be enough to know to move us?

The Master Cleanse Diet is back in vogue according to a recent article in the New York Times.

This is a liquid diet recommended for ten days. Beyonce Knowles may be part of the reason for this diet's resurgence. It's been widely publicized that she lost 20 pounds on this fast to get ready for her role for the movie 'Dreamgirls'.

And Robin Quivers, Howard Stern's long-suffering sidekick, told People magazine that she did the fast on three separate occasions in 2004 and shrunk to 145 pounds from a peak of 218.

I've personally tried to fast, three or four times in the last 10 years, but never lasted more than five days. However, the results were great. If you are overweight, it's probably safe to go without food for a few days if you can muster it (but do ask your doctor, as I am no medical advisor and most doctors are reluctant to recommend this route to weight loss.}

My sister, who is very beautiful at the age of 50, has followed this Master Cleanse fasting diet twice in the last two years, for ten days each time. From personal observation, it worked extremely well for her.

The simple recipe for the Master Cleanse Diet is two tablespoons lemon juice, two tablespoons Grade-B maple syrup, 1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper and 8 ounces of spring or purified water. You can enjoy this drink as many times a day as you want.

Chris Stockbridge was all set to get weight loss surgery a couple of months ago. He weighed 340 pounds and wanted to lose more than a hundred pounds.

But the story happened to get out that he was binge eating as his surgery approached. The Boston Herald took photos of him binge eating at a buffet. And many radio stations interviewed him.

His doctor was upset with him. He thought he was setting a bad example for other people who were about to get weight loss surgery. But he's since found out that it's quite common for people to go on a big binge before their planned weight loss surgery.

However the doctor was upset and told him he had to lose forty pounds first on his own, before he would accept him for weight loss surgery.

The good news is that Chris Stockbridge has now lost 56 pounds (in less than three months) and he had changed his mind about taking the surgery route. He thinks he may now be able to lose all his excess weight with the lifestyle change he's made over the past few weeks.

See the full and very interesting story at CalorieLab.

(Watch on YouTube here.)

After a minute's silence, please sing loudly at 1201GMT on Friday 8th.

And did bare feet in recent times
Walk upon this old bath mat blue?
And has the rain of shower or bath
Now been replaced by morning dew?
And did the naked and the wet
Stand forth on this absorbent weave?
And is where dampened bodies dried
Among the fallen autumn leaves?

Bring me my towel; And now my pants;
Bring me my talc (my feet perspire);
Bring me my Lynx deodorant!
Bring me my dressing gown of fire!
I will not cease my Bathmatwatch,
Nor shall the words of doubters scotch,
Till we have somewhere warm to stand
In every bathroom in the land.

If you happen to be a foodie, and enjoy reading foodie books, you've probably got a copy of On Food and Cooking somewhere on a nearby bookshelf. It's written by a wonderful man named Harold McGee, who just happens to hang out here at Google every now and then. (lots of food stuff goes on here, in addition to all the geeky stuff).

A little while ago Harold was telling me about all the supplemental research and material he has, that just won't quite fit into revisions of his book or his New York Times pieces. I suggested that he start a blog using the beta, and soon News for Curious Cooks was born!

He was particular interested in the beta's Label feature, which lets him categorize posts with labels like flavor, nutrition and vegetables. He's also even tweaked the layout himself with the beta's super easy-to-use Layouts feature. If you'd like to subscribe to Harold's blog in your favorite newsreader, here's the feed. Happy cooking and food-blogging!

Some people who have recently lost a great deal of weight are paying $50,000 or more to have excess skin removed surgically. These are typically people who have lost over 100 pounds via bariatric surgery. Though they are much slimmer, they often have extra flaps of skin hanging from their arms, legs or stomach.

Wired Magazine has some good before and after photos of body contouring surgeries. Though this seems like a relatively easy way to get rid of sagging excess skin, it can be painful, will leave scarring, can result in further complications, and costs a fortune.

See how other people have gotten rid of their excess skin naturally over time, via regular exercise.

Eric Case, of Blogger and Google Developer Relations, chatted with noted videobloggers Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson about videoblogging, the history and future of Blogger, and the “changing engines in midflight” that is moving to the new version of Blogger.

46 megs, QuickTime format

It is my sad duty to inform you all that the bath mat has disappeared. Unconfirmed reports at 1145GMT suggested that the bath mat was not there any more. This was confirmed at 1150GMT on the way back from the shop. A thorough search was made under cars and in nearby front gardens, but to no avail. There was a glimmer of hope that perhaps it had gone back to its original home, but that was cruelly snatched away with the circulation of this photograph earlier this afternoon:



Tony Blair has paid tribute to the bath mat in the House of Commons, saying “It was the people's bath mat”. The Queen has ordered all flags on royal palaces to be flown at half-mast, and all bets are off for the Christmas number one as Elton John has announced that he will be recording Bath Mat in the Wind.

The street where the drama of the last five weeks took place was quiet this afternoon, though it is understood that floral tributes are now being laid by the wall at the bath mat's original home.



Nearby streets are suspiciously clean, but when asked to comment on the movements of street sweepers in the past 24 hours, a local council representative said, “Er, I'm not really sure. Can I call you back?” No call came, and one angry fan has already pointed the finger of suspicion, declaring, “It was the street sweeper, in the road, with a broom”. Meanwhile, Mohamed Al Fayed has blamed Prince Philip for the disappearance, and Oliver Stone is busily scrutinising the grassy knoll area in the upper right of the photo.

This is not a time for recrimination though. This is a time to remember the happy times that the bath mat has brought us all and to reflect on its passing. There will now be three days of official mourning – please sign the book of condolences below. As a mark of respect, the Scrappy-Loo and matching bath mat (available in blue or cream) will now be donated at random to one lucky mourner.

Bath mat “missing”. More soon.

Jason Taylor was getting married in a few months and wanted to look his best for the wedding. He weighed 225 and his height is 6'1'.

He succeeded in losing 25 pounds over two and a half months. He also lowered his body fat percentage from 15 to 8.

One can achieve a lot in just two months but he says it took discipline.

Taylor did it by exercising on an elliptical machine six days a week. He also limited himself to 2,100 calories a day and gave up on refined sugar. He ate most of his carbohydrates at breakfast.

See his story here.

As you may have read in the business sections of the Sunday papers, Bathmatwatch, like MySpace and YouTube before it, has been taken over by a massive media conglomeration. There was a frenzied bidding war between News International, Google and Yahoo, each keen to expand their portfolio of Web 2.0 sites, but the outright winner was JonnyB’s Private Secret Diary.

Evil media magnate JonnyB, who allows the Chinese to censor his blog, and who smashed the comedy sidekicks’ union by bringing in Short Tony as scab labour, has insisted that this blog start turning a profit, so to this end I have introduced a number of revenue-generating promotions that will happily sit alongside the innocent daily picture of an abandoned bath mat. Honestly, you will barely notice the difference.

Text alerts! For just £1.40, get a daily text alert for a whole week about how the bath mat is sent straight to your mobile, BEFORE the rest of the world gets the blog posting. Invaluable if you are on holiday, or just away from your computer.

Picture alerts! For just £3.50, get the daily picture of the bath mat sent straight to your mobile for a whole week! Again, this will be BEFORE the rest of the world gets the blog posting. Imagine the envy on your friends’ faces when you tell them that you know where the Honda Civic is!

And remember that every donation made before midday on 8th December gets entered into the prize draw where you could win your very own Scrappy-Loo. People really are giving money, so don’t delay – it could be you! And the more you give, the greater your chance of winning!

To use these services, just send your UK mobile phone number in along with your PayPal donation. You will get seven daily text messages or picture messages, though I’m not responsible for network delays or incompatibilities, or the bath mat disappearing, or the fact that I might be away at Christmas. I promise never to give the number to anyone else. Nor will I use the number for making dirty phone calls to you – anyone who says that I will is lying.

Spot the bath mat. The Honda Civic owner is not making things easy for any of us. (Click photo for answer.)

Camille Tirzah, age 47, was obese for many years. But she finally succeeded in losing all her excess weight. She lost 100 pounds over three years by making a complete lifestyle change her top priority. She began to exercise regularly for the first time and dropped junk foods from her diet.

She says she feels 10 years younger. "I can run and jump. I feel like the Energizer Bunny.”. She's became a certified personal trainer and is now a mentor to others in the Portland-metro area.

I might have to rig up some floodlights till the clocks go forward...

Ten Years To Solve Water Crisis


Ten years to cure 'water crisis'

The plan advocates allowances for water use and meteringBritain's water systems are in crisis and the government has a decade to put things right, according to a coalition of conservation and angling groups.

They are setting out a 10-point plan to make UK water systems sustainable, including fair pricing, slashing waste and upgrading sewerage facilities.

People should have personal allowances and homes should be metered, they say. EU regulations require member nations to have plans for restoring natural watercourses in place by 2009.

The European Water Framework Directive prescribes that the ecology of rivers, lakes and wetlands should be restored by 2015.

For too long, we've taken water for granted

Fiona Reynolds, National Trust

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity," the coalition's report announces.

"With the Blueprint for Water we, a coalition of leading environmental organisations representing some six million people, are calling on the government to act now."

Going with the flow

It is perhaps unusual to find conservation groups such as the Wildlife Trusts, WWF and the RSPB in league with angling associations.

But on water, they find common arguments, namely that Britain should:

waste less water

keep rivers flowing and wetlands wet by barring damaging abstraction

price water fairly

stop pollutants entering watercourses and make polluters pay

upgrade sewerage and drainage systems to avoid fouling of human population centres and sensitive ecological areas

support water-friendly farming

restore and maintain rivers, wetlands and floodplains

"It's clear that adequate supplies of clean water are essential, not only for our lives but for the health of the habitats, species, landscapes and soils we depend on," said Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust.
More at the link

Calculate your water usage here:

Water Calculator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are we hopefully, finally realizing just how precious our water is? We have time to fix this. We can, and we must. And those suggestions above do not just apply to Britain. ESPECIALLY in developing countries, people need EDUCATION and the tools necessary to harvest rainwater, effectively manage irrigation water, grow crops that are less water intensive that will not cause them economic hardship, and be given the truth about the effects of climate change so that they may better manage their lives to mitigate its effects such as drought, which is persistant, sustained, and deadly in areas of the world like Africa, Asia, and Australia.

This must be a global effort, and we must begin NOW. You can begin by making a personal inventory of your daily water usage and pledging to at least halve it within a year's time, making special observation of water you waste on doing things where your comsumption can effectively be minimized without jeoparding your own health and hygiene.

Do you really need to use all of that water to water a sidewalk? Or wash a car? Or fill a pool? Or "irrigate" your lawn? Become aware and become more responsible for what you use...you will not only save water and money, you WILL make a difference. And if you can, support good organizations like Water Partners International. They are doing good things to bring water to those who otherwise would not have it.

AND FIGHT PRIVITIZATION OF WATER, and please if you can help it, don't buy bottled water that costs more per gallon than gasoline when that money could go towards efforts to bring potable water to the over one BILLION people in this world who don't have it. EXPLOITATION is wasteful and it is killing people. It is time for that to end, and with the moral will, we can end it.

Thank you.

Today we’re saying goodbye to Steve Jenson, who is leaving Blogger and Google. SteveJ — seen here with his backing band — has worked on Blogger, first at Pyra and then at Google, for the past five years: coding it, fixing it, keeping it alive, and making it better. (By now he's likely worked on it as long as Ev did, which is no small feat!)


(Blogger Family Photo, 2/2003; SteveJ's toward the right)

We say thanks for Blogger, because the site would not even be around today were it not for Steve’s dedication and skill.

We’re going to miss you lots, Steve.

— Pete, Eric, and the rest of the Blogger team

From the Google Blog:

You might have noticed from the Google homepage that today is World AIDS Day. We want to remember all those who have suffered from HIV/AIDS in the 25 years since it was first identified, and we want to support everyone working to eradicate this scourge: Today, there are about 40 million people living with HIV worldwide, and it is increasing in every region in the world. In Africa, it is the leading cause of death -- 5,500 Africans die each day from this insidious disease.

One effort that is making a difference is (RED), a company founded this year by Bono and Bobby Shriver. A percentage of the profits from each (RED) product sold is given to The Global Fund. We are supporting the (RED) effort by offering promotional support to (RED) and (RED) products on Google properties throughout the holiday season.

We hope you choose to support them with your purchases. Companies offering (RED) products have committed to contribute a portion of profits from the sales of that product into Global Fund-financed AIDS programmes in Africa.

Together, let's make a big difference. Read more at JoinRED.com or visit the (RED) blog.

Bathmatwatch continues with its invaluable work of providing a daily photograph of an abandoned bath mat. But this work comes at a cost – shoe leather, broadband fees, danger money etc. So today I am launching Bath Mats in Need and asking you for donations to help this work to carry on. It's easy to give – just click the 'Make a Donation' button on the right and pay via PayPal. Every penny you give goes towards helping Bathmatwatch continue.



And as an extra incentive to give, one lucky donor will receive their very own Scrappy-Loo, an actual blue toilet mat in the post. The more you give, the higher your chance of winning, so please be generous. This is a game of skill, not a lottery – to enter the draw just answer this question in the PayPal Note box: What is the subject of Bathmatwatch? (a) It is a bath mat, or (b) I am an idiot and wrong – it is something else like a carpet sample. Only correct answers will be entered into the draw. All private information such as real names and email addresses will be kept secret. The draw will be held on December 8th 2006.

NB Scrappy-Loo prize does not have eyes or mouth, nor does it speak in any way. Your statutory rights are not affected. Probably.

A month in to Bathmatwatch, and I think that this is a good time to recap, and also to let new readers catch up with an FAQ.

What is Bathmatwatch?

Bathmatwatch is a series of daily photographs of an abandoned bath mat in north-west London. It began on November 1st 2006, and is still ongoing.

UPDATE: Bathmatwatch finished 35 days later when the bath mat disappeared on December 5th 2006. A moving tribute is posted here.

UPDATE: The bath mat made a transubstantiated reappearance on February 9th 2007.

UPDATE: The bath mat sent another message from the afterlife on August 5th 2007.

Is it a bath mat? It looks a bit like a carpet sample to me.

It is a bath mat.

Has the bath mat ever moved?

It made some small movements on Day 2, Day 4, Day 7, Day 10 and Day 14, then a giant leap into the road on Day 22, then an equally giant leap along the road on Day 26. In fact, go back to Day 2 anyway. Doesn’t it look young?

Is the bath mat trying to spell something out with these movements?

So far it has spelt ‘L’. We can only speculate as to what it is trying to say and hope that it uses some abbreviations. At this rate it is like Stephen Hawking using a Ouija board. I would like to think that it will say “Love everybody”, but it might say “Leave me alone”, “Leyton Orient rule OK” or “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch". Though if the latter it will end up in Essex and it will cost me a fortune to see it every day.

Why did the bath mat cross the road?

Because the chicken wanted a bath?

Whose was the best picture drawn in the gallery on Day 11?

The joint winners were Ellie and Doris. Well done, Ellie and Doris. John Plato’s entry was, to be honest, a bit scary. Is that a green cat?

What did you see in the bath mat and then draw on Day 11, Salvadore Vincent? Was it a dog or a mouse?

It was a dog.

Has Bathmatwatch inspired any spin-offs?

There has been one rather poor quality spin-off: Suitcasewatch. Please note that this is not officially endorsed by Smaller Than Life.

How many people in the world have bath mats? If only somebody would do some kind of poll that also expressed that figure as a percentage.

The results of such a poll are here. You can vote in the poll here.

What is Bath Mats of the World?

Bath Mats of the World is a project to collect a picture of every bath mat in the world and plot their positions on a map. So far I have collected over five pictures from more than one continent.

Of the pictures sent in so far to Bath Mats of the World, which is your favourite?

They are all great. Interestingly, it has only been women who have sent in pictures of their bath mats. It is a good job that I am not someone who gets sexual thrills from seeing pictures of women’s bath mats who has set up a blog with the sole purpose of getting people to send in pictures of their bath mats, and just deleting any from men. I am not such a person, and anyone who says that I am is lying.

Where is the bath mat exactly?

The exact location is a strict secret. There are some weird people on the internet.

Who is the hero of Bathmatwatch?

That would have to be Martyn Colbeck, who spent 15 years filming elephants in Kenya. Will I still be doing this when I am 51?

Who is the villain of Bathmatwatch?

That would have to be the street sweeper. Boo!

What was this blog like before Bathmatwatch?

I can’t remember. I think that I wrote stuff like this, this and this. And this.

Is the bath from Day 21 still there?

No, it was gone the next day.

What happened to Things Abandoned on the Pavement Within 100 Yards of My Home That I Have Taken a Photograph of #3?

That will have to wait. The picture has been taken and is being stored safely, though the item itself is now long gone. If you thought Bathmatwatch was good, this will blow your minds.

Do you have a bath mat?

No. I just dry myself over the bath. In fact, if somebody gave me a bath mat, I would probably just leave it out on the pavement for someone else to take.

How did you do the CGI for Scrappy-Loo on Day 24? That was amazing!

I used a sophisticated imaging processing program that is only available to professionals within the animation industry. It is called MS Paint.

Is Bathmatwatch all true?

Every single word of it is true. It is not something that I am making up to make myself look more interesting.

Even the suitcase on Day 28? That is one amazing coincidence that it was abandoned there.

Even the suitcase. That scared me a bit.

Is there any Bathmatwatch merchandising available? eg a mug or a T-shirt.

Not yet. Would you like some?

Does your girlfriend know about Bathmatwatch?

No, and I am beginning to worry how I will break the news to her that I will have to arrange Christmas around it.

Why is the bath mat there?

Why are any of us here?

UPDATE: What is Bath Mats in Need?

Click here to find out.

Like The Truman Show, this is only going to end one way. Items born of the John Lewis bathroom department have but a short time to live. (I am not saying that John Lewis sell things of unmerchantable quality, by the way. They are an excellent chain, and never knowingly undersold (except by every shop on the internet, but that's an unfair comparison because they have much better customer service – eg I bought a pair of gloves for my mum's birthday today from a very nice woman. (It is OK – my mum does not, as far as I know, read this blog, and if she does, she does not know it is her son's, so I have not ruined the surprise.)). No, I am subtly using a metaphor for life.)

I don't know what I will do when it goes. It would be wrong to replace it with an identical stained, bedraggled and run over bath mat to spare your feelings. It is important that you all learn about death and grieve properly. It would also be wrong to immediately start another abandoned item watch – that would just be a rebound relationship, forever tainted with the unspoken question: “You're thinking about the bath mat, aren't you?”

We just have to take one day at a time.

Just wait. Your water will one day be supplied by Coke or Pepsi, and you will pay through the nose for it. Water is now becoming a commodity to be traded with no value given to its intrinsic value as a human right... and that WILL affect human life.

Infrastructure in North America is in DESPERATE need of fixing, and politicians KNOW THIS but still do not plan for it. Instead, they allow it to crumble as our tax dollars are diverted to other projects of less importance so that privitization of resources can occur to make them money and give them more political clout.

They are exploiting this precious resource for their own gain at our expense... And it is being done subtly and quietly without many people in municipalities even in this country knowing what is going on regarding their own water supply. The price of water even in my own community has gone up FORTY PERCENT, but the money is not going to infrastructure or to provide better service, but to pay off BOND DEBT... Bonds that were issued to build a golf course... How ironic.

People, you need to do a little research as to what is going on regarding water in your own community. Predators in the private sector are just licking their chops to get in and take over your supply because there is now big business in water... and I predict that like in other countries around the world where the people are poor and vulnerable, the same tactics will be employed right here in the U.S., and the people have to stand up against it.

WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT, not a commodity to be sold by Coke for a profit that only the rich will be able to afford!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Water Is The New Oil CIBC
ROMA LUCIW

Globe and Mail Update

The colossal cost of fixing crumbling water infrastructure in the developed world has opened the door to government privatization.

Water delivery systems in the industrial world are in “dire need” of repair, says a report released Monday by CIBC World Markets Inc. At least one-fifth of America's municipal wastewater treatment facilities do not comply with federal regulations and in some U.S. cities, more than half of the water headed to consumers is lost along the way.

CIBC economist Benjamin Tal, author of the “Tapping into Water” report, estimates it will take “hundreds of billions of dollars” to fix dated water infrastructure in North America and Europe. Federal governments are not rushing to fix the infrastructure and municipalities lack the means to do so. “As a result, governments are now much more open to the notion of privatizing their water infrastructure which, in turn, is providing a substantial boost to the private water industry,” Mr. Tal said.

“What we are witnessing here is a trend that is profoundly modifying water as an investment theme throughout the world.”

Canada has one of the world's largest supplies of fresh water, but has its own water woes. Nearly a million British Columbia residents were placed on a boil-water advisory eleven days ago after heavy rainfall triggered mudslides and caused runoff into the Vancouver region's reservoirs, raising concerns about high levels of turbidity. The boil advisory was lifted on Monday.

Water contaminated with E. coli killed seven people and made thousands sick in Walkerton, Ont., six years ago. The bacteria entered the town's water supply from farm runoff, and residents had to boil or buy their water for seven months after their supply was tainted.
Meanwhile, the business of water is booming.

Mr. Tal sees parallels between today's water industry and the oil industry in its golden era, before and after the Second World War. “The market is paying attention,” he said. “Capital investment, deregulation, consolidation, and privatization of global water assets and services are advancing at a pace not seen before.”

In the last three years, U.S.-based water companies — as measured by the Bloomberg U.S. water index — have surged 150 per cent, three times the rise seen by companies on the S&P 500, while paying twice as much in dividends. International water players are doing even better, Mr. Tal said, with their stock values rising twice as fast as their American counterparts in the past year alone.

Water is an attractive investment because it is much less volatile than industries driven by economic cycles, Mr. Tal said. Companies that specialize in “water solutions” can range from pumps, pipes and valves, wastewater treatment, to quality testing. European companies account for half of the global water players, while American companies make up 36 per cent. In Canada, there are few ways for investors to directly invest in H2O. However, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board recently launched a bid for a British water utility. “Water prices in many industrialized countries are now rising much faster than inflation, and this trend will only accelerate in the coming years,” Mr. Tal said.

World Bank estimates suggest that outsourcing and privatization in the water sector are set to double in the coming five years to reach a near 40 per cent share of the market. “If crumbling water infrastructures in North America and Europe provide the private water industry with great opportunities, the potential in the developing world is even greater,” Mr. Tal said.
More at the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Also see:

Water Must Go To Those Who Deserve It Most, The Rich

If you live in the U.S. and your water is supplied by a private company, then say hello to your new owner as of 2002:

RWE

Which bought out:

American Water
Now in 16 states.

Remember, it's all about PROFIT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: 11.30.06

New Report Questions The Future Of American Water

The suitcase is gone. Gone, but not forgotten, as it seems that I have a tribute site: Suitcasewatch.

But fear not – the bath mat's secret location has not been compromised. The site is just a poor spin-off – the Joey of abandoned item blogs. In so many ways.

I am not sure that I should be giving it the oxygen of publicity, particularly when the site owner has a baby and carpenters that he should be spending his time worrying about.

Smaller Than Life is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

I used to watch Brady Bunch when I was a kid. Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) was the beautiful oldest daughter on the show. And now it's been announced she's joining the Celebrity Fit Club because she wants to lose weight. McCormick is 5'3" tall.

How old is Maureen McCormick now? I was amazed to find out she turned 50 this year.

She says she has put on about 25 or 30 pounds since her mother died. She has one daughter who thought it would be a good idea for her to sign up for the Celebrity Fit Club show.

She is joined in the fifth season of VH1's weight-loss series by Tiffany, Kimberly Locke, Da Brat, Dustin Diamond, Warren G, Cledu T. Judd and Ross Matthews.