Lofty Matters

The last day of January is here! We are happily experiencing a bit of a “January thaw” this weekend with temps spiking well up into the 30s where I live! This is certainly a welcome respite from the frigid weather we’ve been having for a lot of this winter. I think I need to seriously consider “snowbirding” somewhere because this has become rather unpleasant….

Anyway…I was looking for happy news and here’s what I found! Enjoy!

Plums Poised to Give Blueberries Run for the Money

There’s an new star in the super-food world! Plums are the newest discovered superfood of healthy nutrients.

Blueberries have some stiff competition now with “stone fruits” the emerging stars.

The plum is being shown to match or exceed the much-touted blueberries in antioxidants and phytonutrients associated with disease prevention. Blueberries are still a good nutritional choice. But plums are good too, especially in tight economic times. There is one relatively inexpensive plum that contains about the same amount of antioxidants as a handful of more expensive blueberries.

Coffee May Aid Mental Health

Great news for coffee lovers out there!

Coffee may do more than just keep you alert in the morning. Recent studies show that coffee can be linked to increased mental health. A team of Swedish and Danish researchers observed a group of 1,409 men and women for a period of 21 years. Those who reported drinking three to five cups of coffee per day were 65% less likely to have developed dementia than those who drank two cups or less.

Although the observational study does not provide any concrete evidence that coffee consumption prevents dementia, researches offer several possibilities. It may be that coffee has an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream.

Luke Lytle, 12, and his brother Sam, 8, bought a new metal detector and before the day was out they had made a great discovery! They decided to try their new tool out at a nearby playground. It didn’t take them long to find a golden ring buried six inches under the earth.

“When I first saw it I thought “oh boy, Cash for Gold here I come” but soon I heard the Lord telling me that I needed to return the ring to its owner,” Lytle said.

After looking on the Internet using the initials on the inside of the ring, they learned the ring belonged to Franklin Weeks, of Lufkin. Early Tuesday they were at his house to return what was rightfully his.

The ring had been missing for over twenty years. The best that Weeks can figure he must have lost it when he was helping a local church put in new playground equipment at the spot where the ring was found.

This is cool. Below you will see an Amy Poehler CozmoTV player that any girl would love to take a closer look at.

This is a widget I just found that is called the Amy Poehler CozmoTV widget. It’s a video player that plays interviews done by Amy Poehler. Do you recognize Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live? Anyway, Amy Poehler interviews a variety of girls of different ages with varying interests. Just about any girl would be able to identify with at least one girl on the video. Each girl is important and has a special talent to share that is interesting and might spark something in another young girl who happens to see this. This sends a positive message to all girls and this simply cannot be underestimated. Anything that sends a positive message needs to be highlighted.

Anyway, if you’re interested, you can also embed this widget on a blog, Myspace, or Facebook page. It’s very easy – one simple click – and you’re off and running.

Please visit and get your own widget here. Let’s spread these positive vibes!

This is an artist’s idea of how a sensor and camera-equipped snakebot might be used to inspect scaffolding. The support doesn’t have to be circular for the robot to be able to climb up. It can also get past obstacles and continue on its way.

Snake-like robots that can climb scaffolding at high-rise construction sites, bend to defuse roadside bombs or descend down your esophagus to see your digestive tract may soon be helping construction workers, soldiers and doctors.

Researchers have developed a collection of snakebots that can literally roll up or down obstacles.

But the big idea behind the 3-foot-long snakebot is to use flexible universal joints to let the mechanical snake roll up poles, scaffolds and other structures.

I can think of lots of interesting uses for clothing with custom embroidery logos. At Threadsmith you can browse among their template selection to create something unique or you can use something that already exists on their site. You also have the option of using your own company logo for items or clothing for a really neat way to promote your company.

As I was browsing the site, I saw many great ideas for gifts…even baby items that can be embroidered to be personalized for a special child. This is definitely something to remember…you can preview your order, they offer same-day shipping, and there are no minimum quantities for special orders.

Check this out!

There is a new study just released out of Harvard University that has found that young people are not as likely to be propositioned on the internet as formerly believed. Basically, the findings conclude that the risks on the internet are not that much different than real-life risks.

Cyberspace is not a perfectly safe haven…so don’t let your guard down and let your kids run wild, though. As kids get older the tendency to get into trouble online increases. This is especially true of kids who are engaging in other risky behaviors like alcohol or drug use.

Since 1998 more than 41,000 incidents involving suspected sexual solicitation over the internet have been reported. Also since that time, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has twice released study results for how many young people have been solicited online.

In 2000 the number of solicitations was 1 in 5. In 2006 the number was 1 in 7.

Were you aware that paper trash makes up approximately half of what goes into urban landfills? Taking steps to reduce our paper use will help preserve trees and other natural resources, not to mention reduce this needless amount of waste going into landfills.

Dolphin Blue is a good source of environmentally responsible office supplies. It is the only online source where all products contain recycled content.

Finding ways to cut back on the amount of paper used and even learning how to go “paperless” is becoming more popular among people of all walks of life. With the newer digital gadgets it isn’t even hard now to stop using many of the items that we used to have on paper. You don’t need a hard copy calendar anymore! You don’t even need as much notepaper as used to be necessary. Jotting down appointments and notes to yourself on your phone or computer is very easy to do.

Going green not only saves the planet, it can save us money, too.

All of the hoopla surrounding last week’s inauguration almost completely overshadowed a huge information breach that occurred at a Princeton, New Jersey credit card processor’s computer network. In fact, this may just rank as the biggest data breach in history and involved over 100 million transactions.

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., reported that card numbers, expiration dates, and internal bank codes were improperly accessed. No SSNs, encrypted PINs, addresses, or telephone numbers were accessed.

Heartland processes 100 million Visa, MC, AmEx, and Discover Card transactions per month for over 250,000 businesses across the country. The merchants involved and how may customers were involved was not disclosed.

This makes it impossible for consumers to know if they have been affected by this breach. For this reason, everyone should pay extra attention for signs of any unauthorized charges on credit cards and for new accounts being opened in their name.

How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? We are entering into the fourth week of January and by now many people have already abandoned their goals and hopes for 2009. This is actually quite a shame, because one of the most important things to realize about attempting to change behavior patterns is that it takes time and there will be setbacks. Even when you make mistakes or fall short of your goals it is important to pick yourself back up again and get back to work!

Another important thing to realize is that women who are serious about taking care of their current and future health can now easily do this with C’elle. C’elle’s service gives women the unique opportunity to collect and preserve their stem cells collected from the body’s menstrual fluid during the menstrual cycle.

These stem cells can be used to treat many possibly life-threatening diseases that a woman or a parent or a sibling or even her children may face in the future. Diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are all treatable with stem cells.

C’elle provides women with an easy collection method with clear directions along with mailing instructions. This allows women to collect their menstrual blood right from their own home.

This is one New Years resolution that women can keep! Here is a pricing page and here you can order now.

Weekend Greetings!  Hope everyone is warm, healthy, happy…enjoying a little relaxing down time as Saturday dawns bright and chilly.  Where I live we enjoyed a brief respite from the really cold weather, but now this weekend we are shivering again.  Not quite as bad as it was…but right now my computer says it is -6.  Thinking I’m staying put where I am today!

Enjoy the good news I found…and stay warm!

Idwal, Ivor, and Morgan Llewellyn were born in 1928 and recently celebrated their 81st birthday.

Imagine the unbelievable surprise for their father Daniel and their mother Emmy, who were expecting only one child, when three babies were born! Their combined weight was 17 pounds. The brothers recall being called “trip” at school, since people could not tell the identical triplets apart.

The triplets celebrated the milestone with a pub meal at Llantrisant with family and friends.

Changing Travel, One Tweet at a Time

“There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people.”

Those words were quickly typed on Janis Krums’ iPhone just after US Airways flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River. This marks another milestone in the microblogging revolution. Krums (a Sarasota, FL entrepreneur) posted his observations and this photo of the airplane to Twitter. It was seen by hundreds of people before any other media organization knew about the accident.

Twitter and other related sites have been breaking news since they’ve been around. They’ve offered first-hand accounts of events such as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Virginia Tech shootings, and California’s wildfires.

Saving Lives with Satellite Data

A new system for rescuing crews in trouble proposes to use satellite navigation to locate the position of the casualties.

British company Sci-Tech Systems has come up with a plan to help save lives using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Their system is named Person Overboard (POB) and provides real time monitoring of the casualty’s position, enabling an immediate and more efficient rescue.

This system sends the real-time position coordinates back to the ship of where the person is in the water, not where the person fell overboard. This will help in locating the casualty faster.

President Obama will have his beloved BlackBerry in the White House…and possibly another more secure smartphone-like device as well.

The president has insisted that he continue to use his BlackBerry despite concerns of the National Security Agency.

Whatever model of customized BlackBerry Obama uses will be heavily encrypted to deter information from winding up in the hands of hackers. One feature the device will not have is GPS.