JabberWocky!

Due to the eruption of the Icelandic Volcano Eyhafjallajokull, (”Bully” to many of us), last week, many European airports have shut down and many airlines have stopped flying because of an ash cloud that has decided to float over many European countries and until that ash cloud passes, many airports and airlines will continue to be at a stand still.

Ash, (for those of you that have been stranded on a deserted island and have no access to television, radio and/or newspapers), we have been told over the past few days, has a very strange effect on the engines of airplanes in that it gets into the engines and Can make them stop working! SO! If you look at it that way, then it is probably a Good thing that there has been no air travel over Europe or that Europe has become a “No Fly Zone” for the past few days!

But! I do have some good news and some bad news…which do you want first?

OK, I will give you the good news first!

The good news is, that as of yesterday, April 10, 2010, some of the airlines around Europe have been allowed to fly out, if even for only a small portion of the flights that they usually handle in any one day during the good times.

The bad news is that there are still millions of passengers that have been stranded and unable to get home or where ever their end travel destinations were/are suppose to be.

Another little piece of bad news is that even though the airlines may be starting to fly again this does not mean that the stranded travelers are going to be going anywhere any time soon as the travelers that are holding tickets on the flights out will have priority. So stranded travelers may well be Still stranded for a while longer.

This blogger has heard that it may take weeks to get all of those that have been stranded to their final destinations! Needless to say that those stranded travelers are going to need to have a LOT of patience, something that I unfortunately do Not have, so it is a Very Good thing that I am not one of those millions that have been stranded!

BUT! For some good news again! For a very nominal fee travelers can get help in planning how they are going to get to where they are going!

There is a site on the Web called:

Cranky Concierge.com

and “For less than it costs to check in two bags”, they boast, they will help you with flight planning, delay and cancellation assistance, travel product discounts, flight monitoring, post trip dispute assistance and much more. This site offers Global Assistance And! If there are more than one traveler traveling on a single itinerary then you only pay one price for all.

I heard this morning that they are helping many stranded travelers during this recent crisis in planning how they are going to get to their final destinations.

So, if you are one of those millions of stranded travelers, or if you know someone that is, you may wish to check out this travel planning site and see if it may be something that you/they can use to help, not only for Now but also in the future!

That’s all for me today, I hope to see you back here again soon for some more good, old fashioned…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

I have heard about this Website for a long time from many of my friends that use it and have been going to blog about it many times but it seems that each time I was going to blog about it something else came up and they had to take a back seat!

I am speaking about the Freecycle Network. They started out in 2003 as a nonprofit organization that provided recycling services to downtown businesses and also provided transitional employment to the good people of Tucson, Arizona.

Soon after starting out they began to see perfectly good re-usable items being thrown away and found themselves calling and driving around to local nonprofit organizations to see if they could use any of the items.

After seeing how much time and fuel was being used doing this, the founder, Deron Beal, came up with an idea of an easier way of doing this and set up a Freecycle e-mail group that enabled Everyone in Tucson to give And receive and at that point ‘freecycle’ took off!

Now 6 years down the road, ‘freecycle’ has spread out over the entire World touching 85 countries and growing every day. There are thousands of local groups and millions of people helping people by…

“changing the world one gift at a time”

At this time they are also keeping approximately 500 tons a day out of landfills which amounts to 5 times the height of Mt. Everest in just one year alone.

Freecycle is a FREE, no strings attached network for giving and receiving, it also instills a sense of generosity, strengthens community ties and it promotes environmental sustainability and reuse.

People from all walks of life are joining together to turn their trash into treasure and if you have a bit of “treasure” that you would like to give Or if you are looking for a bit of “treasure” then I would suggest checking out the Freecycle Network and seeing if there just might be something you can give Or use to help sustain our environment!

freecycle

That’s all for me today, I hope to see you back here again soon for some more…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

I saw an article on the news a few days ago about a zoo located in Gaza City. I was sitting on one side of the room working on the computer and looked over my shoulder to see that the zoo had gotten two new zebras and the children were having a fun time looking at them.

It wasn’t until I actually started listening to the words that I realized that these zebras were not zebras at all but they were in fact donkeys that had been painted by a professional painter made to Look like zebras!

Now I do not know if the children that were viewing them Knew they were zebra donkeys or not but from across the room, Until I actually listened and heard they were Not zebras, they looked pretty convincing to Me and I have seen a few real zebras in my day!

It was very ingenious if you think about it, but in fact the story behind it was a sad one!

It seems that they the zoo did in fact have two zebras in the zoo until they were neglected and died of hunger earlier this year during the Hamas War in Gaza City. When the zookeepers tried to replace the zebras they found that it was just too expensive and came up with the idea that if they bought two cheaper donkeys instead, they could be made to Look like zebras!

I suppose sometimes you just have to make do with what you have!

The zoo also has a few other animals by the way, an aging tigress, a camel and a few monkeys, birds, rabbits and cats. Not quite the type of zoo that I have ever seen, but the children seemed to be happy with what they had.

Donkey Zebras

That’s all for me today and I hope to see you all back again soon for some more good old fashioned…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

Memorable Moments from Michael Jackson’s Memorial

Michael Jackson’s Changing Face Through the Years

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

One of the methods of ridding yourself of a phobia, according to the professionals, is to confront your fear and then magically it will probably go away.

Speaking as a person that does have a couple of phobias I have never been able to do this, what can I say? I am weak! I am afraid! In fact, I think I have a phobia about trying to cure my phobias! I don’t quite know what they call a phobia about curing your phobias but I do know the name of one of my personal phobias and that is…Acrophobia! Yes! I have a terrible fear of heights!

So I was reading about the tallest building in the United States today, The Sears Tower, soon to be renamed to Willis Tower, and how they now have “The Ledge”, or I suppose, The Ledges, which are glass balconies that are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the building’s 103rd floor Skydeck!! They consist of transparent walls, floor and ceiling leave visitors with the impression they’re floating over the city!!! I Don’t Think So!!! I don’t even like being IN the Sears Tower, much less 4 feet from it in the middle of the air!

I don’t know about any other acrophobics, but I do know about this one, and I for one, will Not be trying to confront my fear of heights by stepping out onto “The Ledge” to see if I can overcome my fear of heights! In fact, just seeing a photo of one today gave me heart palpitations!

But for those of you that do want to confront your fears OR for those Evil Knievels of the World that love thrills and danger all I can say is:

The First Step is the Hardest!

That’s all for me today as I am going to lie down now and try to get these palpation’s stopped! But I hope to see all of you back again soon for more…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

A few days ago a red panda cub was shown off to the World for the first time at the Calgary Zoo. She was born on June 4 of this year and is said to be doing very well. She is obviously eating well as she supposedly already has a nice, big tummy!! The public will not be able to view her until the end of the summer.

Zoo keepers are keeping watch over her and her 5 year old mother, Malikha who gave birth to this little ones sister two years ago. Malikha is reportedly a good mother and while she only tolerates her new cub being taken away from her for brief periods of time for the necessary health checks she takes care all of the the rest of her cubs needs such as grooming and making sure that she is returned to her nest box!

When a new red panda is born and raised by it’s mother it is very special because unfortunately the mortality rate for these red panda cubs are as high as 74%! Red pandas reach maturity at about 18 months old.

There are less than 10,000 mature red pandas in the World today and they are classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red list.

The cub hasn’t a name yet but when she does I am sure that it will be something very fitting for this:

Red Panda Cub!

That’s all for me today but hope to see you back again soon for some more good old fashioned…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

The Internet phenomenon Susan Boyle, finalist in the Britains Got Talent music show, sang the song that made her so famous 7 weeks ago, “I Dreamed a Dream”, from the musical “Les Miserables”, last night in the finals. Her entree “I Dreamed a Dream” from 7 weeks ago has been viewed millions of times and she is now the fifth-most watched clip in the history of YouTube.

When she gave her final curtsy after singing her entry no one thought that it would be, Her Final Curtsy, as she was favored to win not only by the people but also by the bookmakers. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as she came in second loosing to an acrobatic dance troupe called Diversity which consists of 10 members ranging from 12 to 25 years old.

The winners of Britains Got Talent have now earned £100,000, ($160,000), and the right to perform for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show in December.

Even though Susan Boyle did not win the Britains Got Talent music show last night it is not over for her by any stretch of the imagination as she has already appeared on Oprah Winfrey and Larry King and of course it is expected that she will land a lucrative recording contract as a result of her global fame and impressive voice.

This is what they saw and heard last night on Britains Got Talent:

Susan Boyle: I Dreamed a Dream

That’s all for me today, hope to see you back again soon for more…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

Jay Leno, also known as The Holy Grail of Comediennes, was ushered onto the stage last night with a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, by bandleader Kevin Eubanks.

As soon as the applause died down he began his monologue saying:

“Welcome to the exciting season finale of The Tonight Show, I want to thank all the people who made it possible: Michael Jackson, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton.”

Jay Leno also got in a last quip at O.J. Simpson. Leno remarked about cleaning out his office, “I found O.J.’s knife. I had it the whole time.”

His swan song last night had a very limited guest list, he did welcome Conan O’Brien though as his final guest, thus giving him a pre-debut boost since Conan O’Brien will be sitting in Leno’s chair starting Monday, Billy Crystal, who was Jay Leno’s first guest on his first show was there and James Taylor, who was his final musical guest, was present also and performed “Sweet Baby James”. The remainder of the show consisted mainly of the best highlights of the last 17 years.

And so ends yet another era of The Tonight Show, this one with Jay Leno finishing his 17-year tenure as the show’s second-longest running host.

Jay Leno Final Tonight Show

Last night, Friday May 29, 2009, was all for Jay Leno and The Tonight Show just like that’s all for me today! Hope to see you back again soon for some more…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

I was reading this morning how 4 states, Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia have all adopted the Neutral Facial Expression law when it comes to getting your Driver’s License these days.

Now isn’t this going to be something? EVERYONE is always saying just how horrible their Drivers License photo’s look to begin with, in fact most say it looks like a mug shot, and NOW, they aren’t even going to be allowed to Smile in their Driver’s License Mug Shot!!

Well, I suppose most people Don’t Smile anyway when they are getting a Mug Shot taken, but there will probably be a lot more terrified Police Officers out there in these states when they ask people for their ID’s from now on!!!

Needless to say I am sure that a lot more states in America are going to follow suit and adopt this law also, so I suppose we should all get ready for some Worse Driver’s License photos in the future! And remember:

Don’t Say CHEESE!!

That’s all for me today I hope to see you back again soon and I am going to try to return from Hiatus more often also, I’m sorry for the long disappearance’s, but they can not be helped!

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!

As everyone is quite aware of that knows me personally and professionally, you know that I am more than a little remiss in the last few months about my favorite Jabberwocky!…but sometimes I get Extremely Lucky and happen upon something or someone that I think is extremely note worthy and it takes me No Time At All to bring it to everyone’s attention!

Such is the case today! “Wreck” is a friend of mine. “Wreckfish”, is what she is more commonly known by, and I have to say that I have had the privilege to know her for right around 4 months…give or take a day or two!

Through the last four months we have gotten to know each other quite well and oddly enough we are quite the same…although we could not be more different!

We seem to understand each other in some strange, weird way! To her…I am a somewhat odd character and recently she told me that as far as me being crazy…the jury is still out on that one and to me, she is much the same…an odd character that somehow I can relate to!!!

Be that as it May!!! Wreck and I both have our own things that make us tick and for Wreck it is Photography! I have seen Many of her photographs in the past few months and I have to say I think she is more than excellent at what she does!!

Wreck hails from South Africa, so most of her photographs hail from there also. She is not a “still life” photographer but rather a “life artist”.

She has photos of everything from a South African Gentleman carrying an umbrella to being in a helicopter looking down at the dolphins in the ocean.

About the best thing I can say about “Wreck” is…she is real…not only in her life and how she lives but in her photographs.

This is why I have added her to my blogroll, so you can not only get to know the woman but the photographs as well!

For those of you that know me…take my word for it…HDW, Matt, Mark, Plank, Krista, Jan and S.D. from the U.K. grab this link as it is going to be Well Worth Your While!!!

For everyone else…don’t miss this link either, but if you do…Wreckfish is going to be around on this blogroll so you can always pick it up here!

This one’s for you Wreck…You definitely deserve it!!

Wreckfish…The Ninja Worrier

That’s all for me today guys!! Hope to see you back again soon for more…

JabberWocky!

Leave no species behind; Extinction is forever!
Sage’s Unicorn!