by Tina~in_ut
Here are most of the towel animals on our cruise.
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| My favorite.....this one made me laugh~ |
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Flashmob Beethoven en Sabadell
by Michael
This flash mob, contracted by Banco Sabadell and comprised of 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l'Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs, performing "Ode to Joy" in Sabadell, Spain, I am posting because it's beautiful, and, I don't know about you, but I need to gaze at something beautiful in the world right now.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
IMMUTABLE LAWS
by Dianne
Throughout time, human experience with the elements of our society have provided a history of repeatable occurrences. These occurrences then become accepted as Laws that govern our life. Here is a digest of the most obvious (and important) of those Laws:
1. Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.
2. Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible place in the universe.
3. Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
4. Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal - and someone always answers.
6. Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).
7. Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
8. Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know INCREASES dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
9. Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, IT WILL!!!
10. Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
11. Law of the Theater & Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk.
12. The Coffee Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.
13. Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
14. Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor, are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.
15. Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible IF you don't know what you are talking about.
16. Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly.
17. Oliver's Law of Public Speaking -- A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET!!!
18. Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it, OR the store will stop selling it!!
19. Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better.. But don't make an appointment, and you'll stay sick.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
~ Needle Sandwiches ~
by Tina~in_ut
MINNEAPOLIS — Jim Tonjes was high above North America when he bit into a hot turkey sandwich aboard a Delta Air Lines flight and felt a sudden jab in his mouth.
Glancing down, he noticed what looked like a sewing needle in the food. Another passenger on the plane reported the same thing.
When he pulled it out, “it was a straight needle, about one inch long, with sharp points on both ends.”
Now U.S. and European authorities are trying to determine how the needles got into meals served on at least four Delta flights from Amsterdam to the U.S. and why anyone would place them there.
“We are keeping all options open because at this moment, we have no idea why somebody or something put needles inside the sandwiches,” said Robert van Kapel, a spokesman for Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
The FBI and the airport’s police department have opened criminal investigations. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it does not view the matter as a threat to national security.
A Delta spokeswoman said the needles were found Sunday in six sandwiches on four flights. Passengers discovered four of them. The flights included one to Minneapolis, one to Seattle and two to Atlanta.
Tonjes was returning after a visit to Amsterdam for his mother-in-law’s 90th birthday. The nine-hour flight was about 90 minutes from Minneapolis when flight attendants offered Tonjes, who was seated in business class, a cold Mediterranean salad or the hot turkey sandwich.
“I’ll be very honest, the first bite, I thought, ‘Boy, this is pretty good,’” Tonjes said. “It was the second bite that got me.”
Now Tonjes is on a 28-day course of pills (at a cost of $1,400) aimed at warding off any infection, including hepatitis or HIV. His doctors have asked the FBI to tell them right away if they find any residue on the needle.
The sandwiches were made by Gate Gourmet, one of the world’s largest airline caterers, with facilities on five continents.
The company serves many airlines, but only Delta flights appeared to be affected. The company said it was investigating. Spokesman David Fisher declined to elaborate.
Delta Air Lines Inc. spokeswoman Kristin Baur said security has been stepped up at all of the Gate Gourmet facilities used by the airline. Delta is also using more prepackaged food.
Gate Gourmet was founded in 1992 to cater Swissair flights and grew by taking over other airline caterers, including that of British Airways. It went into private ownership in 2003.
Even though U.S. airlines no longer serve free meals in coach on domestic flights, the airline catering business is still a big industry. Gate Gourmet provides food for 9,700 flights per day. That’s 250 million meals a year from 122 flight kitchens.
Those kitchens are often not on airport grounds, so meals are taken by truck to a “sterile” area where planes are parked. The TSA monitors the area in the U.S. Local authorities monitor it at overseas airports.
“Food delivery to airports is a very strict process,” said Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent who was the chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the police department at Los Angeles World Airports. Truck drivers get background checks, and “those trucks are inspected for everything from sealed packages to explosive devices,” said Southers, who is also managing director of counter-terrorism at TAL Global Corp., an international security consulting service.
The needles are a reminder that insiders — people who work within the industry and have passed a background check — are among the biggest threats to aviation security, Southers said.
Gate Gourmet’s ads for cooks say applicants must be able to pass a criminal background check. The TSA declined to discuss the security process.
Ton Scherrenberg, chairman of the VNC union that represents some 7,000 Dutch cabin personnel, said cabin crews check prepared food for foreign objects when they open catering packages, “but you can’t check every single sandwich.”
When the needles were discovered on the first Delta flight, a message went out to other Delta flights, which is why some of the needles were found before they got to passengers. The TSA said it “immediately notified all U.S. air carriers with flights from Schiphol to ensure awareness.”
On board Tonjes’ flight, he pushed the flight attendant call button as soon as he found his needle. A few minutes later, another passenger nearby did the same thing. He said flight attendants offered to call ahead for an ambulance.
“When we landed, it was very, very impressive. When they opened the door, it was flooded with customs agents, police, paramedics and firefighters. It was the whole jetway full of people.”
The FBI interviewed him for about three hours. He said he was told the remaining sandwiches were X-rayed, and a third needle was found.
Gate Gourmet was cited by the FDA in 2005 for failing to keep meat at proper temperatures and for the presence of live flies and roaches near its salad production area, plus other violations.
Roy Costa, who runs food safety consulting firm Environ Health Associates in Deland, Fla., and used to be an auditor with the Department of Health and Human Services for more than 20 years, said food preparation standards are not as tight in Europe as in the U.S.
“Everything we do over here, we do because the (Food and Drug Administration) requires it,” he said.
“There’s just a huge hole there.”
Can you just say CRAP?!!!!!~ The thing that got me was the medication this man has to take for HIV and hepatitis. This is one crazy ass world!!!!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Speed Flying from the Mont Blanc
by Michael
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