LOUD NOISES!

Due to noise pollution, some birds are forced to sing at higher frequencies making them less attractive. Noise pollution from roads, industries and other sources forces some birds to sing at higher frequencies. Since the male birds are having to change their tunes, they become less attractive to females. (I know some men in real life who are like this.)

A new study shows that when bombarded by noise pollution, some male birds begin to sing higher tunes, rendering them less attractive to females. Data from study suggests that birds must make difficult trade-offs in urban areas and areas where loud noises threaten to drown them out. In order to rise about the norm in an area surrounded by noise, they sing less appealing songs or tones, or sing the songs that make them sound appealing at the risk of not being heard at all.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years with these birds.

Link to story: http://news.discovery.com/animals/noise-pollution-birds-110829.html

Apple Of My Eye

Apple says goodbye to Steve Jobs as CEO and welcomes Tim Cook into the position. I believe Apple will continue to thrive, regardless of who the CEO is. I'm giving Tim the benefit of the doubt and believe he will carry on where Steve left off. Congratulations, Tim, and may you continue to carry on a legend.

Link to story: http://theweek.com/article/index/218645/5-tips-for-apples-new-ceo-tim-cook

"I Love Boobies"

The title is derived from a bracelet campaign to help fight breast cancer. While at the doctor yesterday for my annual, I noticed a pamphlet about breast cancer. Cancer has been on the forefront of my mind recently, due to people currently in my life who have fought and beat it. The title, "Nearly 90% of women who get breast cancer have NO strong family history" caught my eye.

What caught my eye next was "now there's a genetic test as individual as you are that can tell you your risk for breast cancer." Knowing the people I do who have or had cancer, never had a family history of it. In a way, it's as if cancer just randomly chose them. I was intrigued to see what type of test this was and how it was able to tell you your risk, based on genes and family history just on a single test alone.

The test is called OncoVue. It's a new genetic breast cancer risk test based on multiple gene combinations shown to have a significant relationship to breast cancer. This test is genetic based, relevant to all women, regardless of family history. The OncoVue test results enable you to understand individual risks of developing cancer by analyzing DNA together with family history and personal lifestyle factors. The OncoVue test score indicates lifetime risk of developing cancer, but is not a diagnosis.

The best part is how this test works. OncoVue uses the latest understanding of the human genome in identifying specific genetic changes that are strong indicators for risk. The test is quick, painless, and only requires you to swish a little mouthwash in order to collect some cheek cells to determine DNA. When results are ready, you meet with a medical professional to review score and discuss individual level of risk.

I don't know about you, but for just a gargle and swish mouthwash to determine cancer, I'm definitely on board!!! Amazing how Science is making such a miraculous break through!

Diamonds Aren't Just For Girls...

Scientists have found a planet believed to be a giant diamond. The body is leftover from a massive star, now reduced to solid crystal-like carbon diamond. This planet is part of a binary star system located 4,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Snake), which lies about one-eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The diamond planet was found as part of an ongoing search for pulsating stars, known as pulsars, which scientists like to use as probes.

Link to story: http://news.discovery.com/space/diamond-planet-110825.html#mkcpgn=emnws1

I'm Accidentally Rich, B****!

Science.discovery.com released a top 10 list of accidential inventions. These accidents have also caused their inventors to be extremely wealthy. Thank you, inventors, for the accidents you stumbled upon! The list consists of the following:

10. Saccharin
9. Smart Dust
8. Coke (Coca-Cola)
7. Teflon
6. Vulcanized Rubber (what tires, shoes, and hockey pucks are derived from)
5. Plastic
4. Radioactivity
3. Mauve
2. Pacemaker
1. Penicillin

link to story: http://science.discovery.com/brink/top-ten/accidental-inventions/inventions-01.html

News-Worthy?

I went to the Dallas Morning News website this morning to do some reading and exercise my brain with the crossword puzzle. The most news-worthy story that made the site headline was about an ex CEO of Hooters. Really? This is headlining news, why??? Glad to know where priorities are with our news publication.

Life's A Beach

Mission Beach

Likes & Dislikes Of Big Brother

In Berlin, Germany, officials are trying to make the Facebook "like" button illegal. "The state of Schleswig-Holstein's data protection commissioner, Thilo Weichert, on Friday ordered state institutions to shut down the fan pages on the social networking site and remove the "Like" button from their websites, saying it leads to profiling that violates German and European law. On Friday, Weichert issued a statement saying technical analysis by his office shows Facebook violated German and European data protection laws by passing content data to the social network's servers in the U.S." Seems quite ridiculous to me. Sieg Heil!

Link to the story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/facebook-like-button-illegal-germany_n_931652.html

Life's Calling

We have all undoubtedly battled with the $75,000 question, "What do you want out of life?" or "What do you want to do with your life?" Many people already know the answers to these questions by the time they begin college, or even discover it upon completion of college. However, many others, such as myself, are still grappling with this. We are still on the path to self-discovery and trying to figure out life's plan for us.

It has taken me well over 4 years to complete a Bachelor's Degree. It's because I have changed majors many times and still haven't quite found my calling. Again, I've always been told I'm a wonderful writer and have a great way with words. I have been told to get an English degree. While declaring a Business major and taking Business classes, I had several writing assignments. I did better on the actual writing assignments than I did on the quizzes and exams.

Case in point. I retook Accounting this past Summer and pulled off a B. Math was never a strong suit and I do poorly in classes I don't care 2 cents about. I received an email from my professor today in regards to grading comments on an Annual Report Project I submitted. I made a 100. (Further proof that hard work and dedication really do pay off!) This is what the email said:

"Marianne – Good through ratios. Used Reuters.com for comparisons. She would invest. Investors should hold stock. Earnings per share has increased. Steady sales throughout the year. Steady earnings throughout the year. Revenue up for the current year. Earnings per share better than Lowe’s. Effective management. Attributes lower sales for the last quarter to the housing slump. Discusses debt-to-equity changes. Don’t understand 'minimal historical surprises’. Home Depot is a steady company preferable to Lowe’s for investment. 100 points When I consider buying stock, I tend to start in 3 areas: customer confidence - sales revenues are at least stable if not increasing; management's competence - how does management generate cash flow and control debt?; market confidence - measured by the price earnings ratio. If satisfied with the above, then I'm willing to spend the time to analyze in detail. I agree with everything you said but would like to see more raw analysis of the numbers comparing your notion of key ratios to industry or sector or to Home Depot's direct competition, Lowe's. Thanks for a well-done, thoughtful paper. Dean Wallace"

I am quite thrilled and proud of myself! I put forth most of my effort on an English-based assignment and did well. Looks like English really is my life's calling.

It Smells Like Teen Spirit Birthday

Happy birthday to Frances Bean Cobain! This young, beautiful, fashionista turns 19 today. It's such a shame that her mother, Courtney Love is a train wreck (love her music, though, just not her) and her father, Kurt Cobain, isn't around anymore to see how lovely she's turned out.

link to story: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/thread-count/frances-bean-cobain-fashions-timely-new-muse-20110818

Vampire Craze

photo: Robert Pattinson as a vampire in "Twilight." credit: Summit Entertainment

Vampires have been a hot, trending topic these past several years. No, there is no end in site, at least not within the next couple of years. What some people don't realize is vampires date back to the early 16th century. Not all vampires have been like Robert Pattinson's character in "Twilight" and Tom Cruise's character in "Interview With the Vampire," but it is interesting to see how many variations have derived from the original.

link for story: http://news.discovery.com/human/beyond-twilight-vampires-110817.html#mkcpgn=emnws1

I Love Goooooold!!!

Gold is at an all-time high right now and it keeps increasing daily. It opened up on the NYSE this morning at a quote of $1,825.10 (cost of 1 ounce). If you have gold that you don't want anymore, or if you're in need of money, sell it and become richer. Then again, current predictions for the cost of 1 ounce by December 2011 will be $2,500. Crazy! Hide yo kids, hide yo wife.....

Fry, Baby, Fry!

Top 10 list of things we shouldn't fry, according to the Huffington Post. It's quite interesting, however, why WOULDN'T you fry bacon?! Bacon ANYTHING is delicious!

One way I could gain weight is to eat all of these items, minus the spam curds. Really? Spam curds? That sounds sickening, fried or not! It may eventually make me gain weight, however, my heart, arteries, and body in general would hate me forever.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/14/10-things-we-shouldnt-be-frying_n_926555.html#s329608&title=Pickles

DWI: Driving With Igloo

My friend, Jerod Alexander, had this article posted on his facebook. It sparked my interest.

A 23 year-old Australian man was arrested for drunk driving. He was caught driving a motorized, homemade beer cooler without a license. His attorneys convinced to grant an ajournment to determine whether or not the cooler in fact was a motor vehicle.

Here in Texas, we see this quite frequently with John Deere riding lawn mowers. It's still highly amusing to read these stories. What will people come up with next??

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/09/drunken-driving-motorized-beer-cart_n_922552.html#s331202&title=Lyle_Monroe_Bensley

Broke As A Joke

The United States, in a nutshell, is broke. With a $14 trillion deficit, almost matching up with our GDP, we're simply broke. You can see for yourself at the website usdebtclock.org (same website I referenced in a couple blogs ago.) "'It seems to me it's physically, humanly impossible for the U.S. to ever pay off its debt,' Jim Rogers, the famous stock expert, tells CNBC. 'They can roll it over and continue to play the charade, but the U.S. is bankrupt.' Rogers, the best-selling financial author and co-founder of the Quantum Fund, warns that the S&P's recent downgrade didn't go far enough, as Washington probably doesn't even deserve the AA+ rating.

Famed economist and author Robert Wiedemer recently warned that Washington, D.C.'s, reckless financial policies could lead us to a 90% stock market collapse, 50% unemployment, and 100% annual inflation."

taken from: http://www.grassrootsactionalert.com/archive.asp?ref=7-GrassrootsActionAlert-100817-TMA

Here's a link for a video on how to protect your financial future: http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CD63-1


We can argue to the death about who is ultimately at fault, but that's a waste of time. What we need to do is vote NEW people into the government. 133 people (give or take a few) ultimately make decisions for us and obviously they're doing a horrible job. Times need to change and it starts with voting. So go do it and get these morons out.

Separation Of Church and Employer

Thanks to an email from my bff, Becky Summers, I had a great laugh today. Normally, the saying is separation of church and state. In this case, separation of church and employer. I found this highly amusing and had quite decent belly laugh from this. Sadly, there have been many times I've thought exactly what this states. Thanks, Beck, for making my day. If any of you were amused by this, let me know and I'll post some more.

Debt Crisis

As we all know, the debt crisis is a hot topic and has been for quite some time. No one is on board with the damage done by our country, regardless of what party you are. I read today that Barack Obama is unveiling a tour bus. With the United States currently over $14 trillion in debt, it makes me wonder, "Where did he get the funding for the bus?"

link for article: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/obama-bus-catches-buzz-233029764.html

Also, here is a link for current state debt clocks and world debt clocks. It's also on real time changing rapidly, less than a second. Quite fun to watch if you ask me :)

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Age Of Innocence?

Growing up, I watched "Sesame Street." It was educational and fun to watch. It also kept me entertained and acted as a wonderful babysitter while the parents needed a short break from us.

When I was doing my daily reading on theweek.com., and on the internet in general, I stumbled upon "Sesame Street clarifies puppets' sexuality." I was caught off guard. I remember clearly watching the show and its many segments. I never once thought at age 5 (give or take a couple years), "gee, are Bert and Ernie married?" What bothered me about this article is why can't kids just be kids? Why can't they enjoy educational, fun shows without having to worry if the puppets are gay or not? Don't get me wrong, this isn't a "I'm bashing gays" blog. That is NOT my intent.

My intent is this: Kids today are already bombarded with Apple products, Baby Einstein products, and many other flashy, distracting items. Why can't at least a tiny part of their childhood still be sacred without the government or politics becoming involved? It's a 20 minute tv show for crying out loud. Are we really to the point in life now where we have to analyze EVERYTHING, including childhood shows?! Let children watch it and enjoy it without clouding their mind with political subliminal messages. They have their whole life ahead of them to be exposed to that.

http://theweek.com/article/index/218267/only-in-america-sesame-street-clarifies-puppets-sexuality

Flatulence

Happy National Baked Bean Month! (however, not exactly sure what month NBBM falls in) Still great, though. :)

http://coedmagazine.com/2011/07/03/cinemas-7-funniest-fart-scenes-in-honor-of-national-baked-bean-month-videos/#photo=7

Nostalgia

While on the hunt for a dating article to blog about (I'll give you a moment to scoff and chuckle), I found this link on thechive.com. It's making me miss my younger years, for sure. Ah, the good ole days.

http://thechive.com/2011/08/12/i-substitute-your-current-reality-with-a-better-one-down-memory-lane-35-photos/

What's In A Name?

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a friend about football. I know what you're thinking. No, I'm not a big fan of football, especially the Cowboys. I can't stand the Cowboys and will not cheer for them. Never have and never will. The ONLY time I WIll cheer is when money is involved (if and when I buy football squares.) I'm sure I'll lose followers for not being a fan, but oh well. Moving on. In our conversation, I was told that these 5 teams below (football and other sports) are the top 5 teams in the entire world generating the most revenue, based on name alone. Regardless of overall and current stats, these 5 teams bank:

1. Manchester United
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. New York Yankees
4. Washington Redskins
5. New England Patriots

*side note: I do enjoy watching the Pats and am a huge soccer fan. So, I'm thrilled to see soccer as #1 on the list. Take that, Jerry Jones! :P

Food For Thought

I picked up a package of animal crackers a few moments ago to snack on. Before opening, I read the ingredients. (Sure, poke fun, but I read ingredients on everything.) Sure enough, this tiny package included high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient. Needless to say I threw the whole package away.

High fructose corn syrup is such a gaudy, completely unhealthy, unnecessary ingredient!!! I am well aware of the many studies and debates on HFCS and people will argue until they're blue in the face that it's completely fine and healthy. Newsflash: your body CAN NOT process corn. I will even venture out, being completely gross and "unlady like" for a moment and say you'll find corn in your excrement. Your body simply can not process it. At all. So why would HFCS be any different?? It isn't.

I am completely disgusted at the food industry making HFCS such a huge staple in our food products. I have found it in animal crackers, apple sauce (apples are naturally sweet, extra sugar isn't needed), and even hot dog wienies. It seems rather pointless to me to have it in such foods, but you can thank the government (FDA) for declining healthy foods, ergo declining health in America.

Due to the drought, crops are suffering, yet corn is magically thriving. Why is that? Well, the government of course. They spend numerous resources trying to continually grow it. Don't believe me? Its evidence is apparent in the dried up fields you drive by. It's also being grown in factories for cows to eat...who should be eating grass instead.

If you're one of those that doesn't care about what's in the food you eat, by all means indulge. However, if you're like me and actually care what goes into your body, take a gander at the food ingredients in the next item you buy. You'll be surprised at what's inside. Happy eating!

Snail Glow

These unique snails produce light, bioluminescence, creating an illusion of larger appearances to ward of predators.

We're asked at some point in life, "What super power would you have and why?" I believe I have found my answer. Being a 27 year-old, petite girl, it'd be pretty amazing to glow some fluorescent color, appearing larger to ward off my predators..... or ward off creepy guys who hit on me.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/glowing-snail-light-101215.html

LHC FTW!

The Large Hadron Collider. "Researchers think that the Universe originated in the Big Bang (an unimaginably violent explosion) and since then the Universe has been cooling down and becoming less energetic. Very early in the cooling process the matter and forces that make up our world ‘condensed’ out of this ball of energy.

The LHC will produce tiny patches of very high energy by colliding together atomic particles that are travelling at very high speed. The more energy produced in the collisions the further back we can look towards the very high energies that existed early in the evolution of the Universe. Collisions in the LHC will have up to 7x the energy of those produced in previous machines; recreating energies and conditions that existed billionths of a second after the start of the Big Bang.

The results from the LHC are not completely predictable as the experiments are testing ideas that are at the frontiers of our knowledge and understanding. Researchers expect to confirm predictions made on the basis of what we know from previous experiments and theories. However, part of the excitement of the LHC project is that it may uncover new facts about matter and the origins of the Universe.

One of the most interesting theories the LHC will test was put forward by the UK physicist Professor Peter Higgs and others. The different types of fundamental particle that make up matter have very different masses, while the particles that make up light (photons) have no mass at all. Peter’s theory is one explanation of why this is so and the LHC will allow us to test the theory."
*definition taken from the www.lhc.ac.uk*

This will be the very last element on earth to be proven. Upon completion, the LHC and data derived from it will change the future of Physics drastically. Here's a link of where it currently stands:

http://batavia.patch.com/articles/fermilab-cern-poised-to-isolate-fabled-god-particle

What's The Purpose Of A Porpoise?

I'm sitting at my desk when I suddenly hear my co-worker giggling like a little kid. I ask what's funny, when he shows me this website. I, too, giggled like a little kid. I thought this was the cutest thing!!! A porpoise is a "toothed whale" related to dolphin and whale. I completely forgot about these cetaceans. Better yet, why is my co-worker looking up mammal articles?

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110164/Life%20of%20the%20dolphin/dolphinvsporpoise.htm

What's Your Favorite Planet? Mine's The Sun!

We've always been taught in school that the Earth and moon rely on each other for gravitational pull. New research shows differently. "Without a moon, life on Earth probably would have flourished as well, since Jupiter and other factors exert a steadying hand."

http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-moon-life-tilt-110808.html#mkcpgn=emnws1

And speaking of Jupiter:

http://news.discovery.com/space/nasas-juno-probe-sets-sail-for-jupiter-110805.html

Comic Relief

Happy belated birthday to the icon Lucille Ball. You know her from the "I Love Lucy" show. It's amazing to see how much of an impact she's had on the comedy scene. Long live her wonderful legacy!!!

http://news.discovery.com/history/lucille-ball-turns-100-photos-110806.html#mkcpgn=emnws1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY8Zw85rqHU&feature=related

She Is Just Not That Into You.

I should be in bed sleeping, but am plagued by too much caffeine, so this is the outcome.

For numerous years, women have been told "He Is Just Not That Into You." You can thank Greg Behrendt and the "Sex And The City" cast and crew for its epic rising. Because of this, there is now a book and a movie. We're taught growing up, via parenting or John Hughes films or Nicholas Sparks films of what dating is/should be or specific actions performed by guys means specific things. That is the case usually, but not all the time.

Eventually, over time, guys have discovered this theory and the power it holds. If you read the book (by the way, prepare for some rude awakenings and reality checks, ladies) you will discover that there is a lot of truth to it. What I have discovered recently is that this premise also applies to ladies.

Ladies, how many terrible dates have you been on? Due to a bad date, how often have you ignored the guy? We are all adults here and each person should converse and simply say to the other "I'm just not that into you." No one wants to have that discussion, but it's necessary. If we have that dreaded discussion, it would eliminate conflict and "stage 5 cling on" incidents.

Contrary to popular belief, guys, not all of you are God's gift to women. Same applies to you, ladies. The "I'm not into you" CAN go both ways. It's very simple: if you have a bad date and choose not to see the person again, simply say "I'm just not that into you." And for Pete's sake, be a decent person and tell the other why. We're all adults, so let's act like it :)

Beginning

If you can't tell by now, I got the "Deep Thoughts" title from the SNL short. Everyone loves a good laugh.

This is also my first time to blog. I've kept a journal (you know, one of those things you write in with a pen or pencil on paper that's now supposedly obsolete) for a while, but have slacked on writing. I've always been told to start a blog, so, here we are.

From time to time, I'll post random thoughts, ideas, funnies, and just overall outlooks on life. Hope you enjoy!