Archive for the 'Environment' Category

Cooler Weather Coming Soon

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Found a poll on the local news web site about the coming cooler weather. They asked, “what are you looking forward to most about the upcoming fall season?”

Here are the choices:

  • Cooler weather
  • Trees changing colors
  • College football
  • NFL games
  • New television shows
  • Fall fashions
  • Hunting
  • Fall school break
  • Daylight savings time change

Learning More About Omega 3s

Friday, August 20th, 2010

We’ve been watching a lot of documentaries the past couple of weeks. The new season of TV shows is still about a month away and I’m sick of the reruns. So we’ve flipped to the channel to other shows and we have learned a lot.

One of my favorite series was about sea life. We’ve learned about sharks, whales, dolphins and a variety of other sea creatures, including krill. I always knew that krill is a food source for whales and fish.

Now I have learned from the krilloil.com web site that krill is an important source of Omega 3 fatty acids for humans. They have made krill oil capsules that can used as a dietary supplement.

According to the krilloil.com web site, krill oil is comparable to fish oil. Although fish oil may be a cheaper, the krill oil is absorbed by the body faster and easier.

I al always interested in learning more about natural health products, and I’m going to ask my brother to check out the krilloil.com and let me know what he thinks about trying some krill oil as a supplement.

The Innocent Victims in Pakistan

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Today I found a list of charitable organizations working to help the innocent victims of the recent floods in Pakistan. They are all asking for cash contributions to perform their work saving lives. Each organization has a web site and method for sending contributions directly to the Pakistan relief efforts.

American Red Cross

Provides emergency humanitarian aid.

Church World Service

Distributes food packages and shelter material for families affected by the floods in Pakistan’s provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

International Rescue Committee

Brings help to victims of monsoon floods.

Islamic Relief

Carries out an emergency campaign to aid the victims of the Pakistan floods.

Oxfam

Conducts emergency aid effort for victims of the flood.

Save the Children

Provides humanitarian relief as emergency health care and providing non-food items and shelter.

UNICEF

Provides assistance with clean water, sanitation, health, and nutrition.

World Food Programme

Mobilizes their resources to make sure relief measures in Pakistan are met quickly.

Severe Flooding in Pakistan

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

There has not been much local news coverage about the recent flooding in Pakistan, but I do see articles on the bigger national news web sites. Evidently, more than 15 million people have been affected by the floods, with over 1,600 fatalities reported so far. This is reportedly their worst flooding in 80 years.

The number of victims is greater than the combined total of the last three natural disasters:

  • the 2005 South Asia tsunami (5 million),
  • the 2005 South Asia earthquake (3 million), and
  • the 2010 Haiti earthquake (3 million).

They estimate over 290,000 homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged in Pakistan, which is almost the same as the number of homes destroyed in Haiti earlier this year.

Tornado Touchdown

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Last night we had some heavy storms, just about dinner time. The sky got very black and I knew that it looked serious. Sure enough, just after the 5:00 news finished broadcasting, a severe storm hit downtown. Turns out we had a tornado touchdown, just north of downtown. Thank goodness it stayed north – no one downtown was hurt. They all just got a little wet.

Ren Faire Costumes

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

This year we missed the Tennessee Renaissance festival. It is always on weekends in May, including Memorial Day. We’ve gone to every one since we moved here in 1992, but this year we had a lot on our plate and we kept putting it off. Next thing we knew, it was June and we missed out.

The local Ren Fest is always at the property of a man who built a real castle. Part of the Festival admission allows you to tour the castle. It was an ambitious undertaking and he did a lot of the work himself, including all the hand placed tiles in the castle kitchen.

The wife was looking at a web site with Halloween costumes and found a sexy pirate costume that would be great for a Ren Fest costume. We have always dressed up like peasants in the past, but if she wants to go as a pirate next time, maybe I will find a new costume for myself, too.

I had not even thought of looking on the internet for sexy Halloween costumes that would serve us as a Ren Fest costume. I’m glad she was looking at the Halloween site and got the idea. That opens up our costumes options quite a bit.

This is the same site that my step daughter used last Halloween when she chose a sexy cop costume to go to work dressed up on Halloween. All the employees were allowed to dress up in Halloween costumes as long as they did not wear a mask or wear anything too revealing. After all, it is a family shopping destination.

The good thing about this Halloween costume web site is that they have a category dedicated to plus sized women. So my stepdaughter was able to find something that she knew would fit and not have to worry about getting something too small and then sending it back.

Green and Clean

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

These day, when you are talking about a clean car, you aren’t talking about your recent trip to the full service car wash. You are talking about Hybrids. The buzz words are now green and clean when you are talking about cars and trucks.

I was amazed to find out that my mother, at her age, has bought a new Honda because she has been wanting to get a hybrid. I would have thought she would be more concerned about comfort than the environment. Just goes to show!

My brother has a honda accord and he loves it. I guess when it is time to do car shopping, I’ll have to go drive his for a day and see if I like it enough to buy one for our household.

Grand Strand Accolades

Friday, July 9th, 2010

The May issue of Golf Digest listed 7 Myrtle Beach area golf courses in their “America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses” list for 2009-2010.

Myrtle Beach placed more public golf courses on the new Golf Digest’s list than any other golf destination in the country, followed by the Pinehurst and Pebble Beach areas.

I’m happy to say that I have played in all three areas and Myrtle Beach is still my favorite area for both quality and variety, hands down.

Set It Up Joe

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Back in the 1980′s, I took at job at a consulting company who did a lot of business with the Federal Government and the U. S. military. A big part of doing business in those days was getting your connections to join you for a round of golf. So I learned how to play golf and I have been playing ever since.

Maybe it was the 80′s or maybe it was the DC area, but I never had a problem getting tee times smack on the time frame I wanted or very close to it. I could even get a quick pick up game if I had the chance to cut out of the office a couple hours and play 9 holes before dark.

But then I started going to Myrtle Beach every year and that is the one place in America known for their golf courses. Everyone goes there and everyone needs to know about www.48hourteetimes.com so their golf time can be based around convention schedules and family time at the beach. So setting up the right schedule ahead of time is very important.

The smartest thing to do about scheduling plus saving a little money on the course fees is to log in to the 48 hour tee times web site and set up everything right there.  You have to admit that 48 hours is pretty quick when the courses are in such demand. But trust me, they are worth it!

No Relief in the Gulf

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spew thousands of gallons of oil into the water. This whole situation is unbelievable to me. How can this continue to gush unabated? Why have they not found a way to plug this thing? Obama seems content with BP’s explanation that they are working as hard as they can to find a solution and that they will clean up all the mess on U. S. land and waters. Meanwhile the wildlife is being killed a terrible death and our waters are being poisoned by the raw oil. The beaches are having tarballs wash up onto the beaches and it is unsafe to swim in the waters of three Gulf states. They have to stop this!