Shangri-La .... or so it would seem

13th Warrior

Last night I dreamed...

I was the 13th Warrior and surrounded by the other twelve warriors including Buliwyf. It was night and there was a hill in front of us. There was a howling or lonely scream coming from up on top of the hill. There was supposed to be a witch that stayed up there and we were there to kill her. Buliwyf and I went on ahead and walked up the trail. I had a spear which had blades that opened up and separated from each other. Buliwyf just had a large sword. We arrived in a clearing on top of the hill and saw an old woman bent-over wearing a black cloak. She didn't appear to move but in fact she moved very fast. She wasn't using her legs to move around on but instead just slid over the ground. She stayed hunched over and slid past us. We decided to check the rest of the clearing and see if anyone else was up here. There was a small hut on the far side and we approached it. When we got close, I turned around to see that the old woman had silently appeared behind Buliwyf and she had a dagger raised at him. I took my spear and thrust it beside him and straight into her belly. It shocked Buliwyf and he jumped to the side. Then in a moment of rage, I pulled back on the spear and pulled her off the ground. She screamed at us as she hung in the air unable to do anything. I made her promise that she wouldn't do harm to us, our friends or anyone else before I let her down. She finally agreed and I set her back on the ground. She faded into the shadows and was never seen again.

What can I get for a Nickel?

I got one of the new nickels as change the other day.

My brother and I used to have a coin collection when we were kids. We split up the collection when he got married, but I still hold onto less common coins when I come across them.

I like the fact that the US Mint has made these recent changes to our coins. Last year, they had a couple more variations on the nickel which celebrated the Louisana Purchase.

And of course, they have the 50 State Quarters program.

The only recent coin that wasn't popular was the Sacagawea Golden Dollar Coin. Most people didn't like the coin because the plating came off really easily. I think it would have lasted a lot longer if it was silver.

Arrested for paying with $2 bills?

This could just be an urban legend, but according to WorldNetDaily - a man was arrested for paying Best Buy in $2 bills.

"A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police.

According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case.

Bolesta told the Sun: 'I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole – and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating.'

After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest, Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.

As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident has a hearty supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the bills to students who take his tours for meal money.

'The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world,' Bolesta says. 'They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.''

Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the cashier at Best Buy Feb. 20.

'She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money – like she's doing me a favor.'

Bolesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called. One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

Said Bolesta: 'I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank.' I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

'Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.''

Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called.

'At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer.'

Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told the Sun: 'It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world.'"

Moonshine - for more than drinking

Vanessa sent me an email today that shows us how to fight High Gas prices with Moonshine. The article appears over at Wireless Flash News

"LAKE ORION, Mich. (Wireless Flash) – Americans who want to fight back
against high gas prices are taking a tip from moonshiners.

That’s according to an unemployed Michigan ditch-digger who is using his
time off to build personal home distilleries that let folks turn corn,
potatoes or other starchy materials into ethanol – an alcohol that can
be used to power cars.

It’s basically the same process used to make moonshine, except you mix a
little bit of gasoline in the final product so it will burn properly in
an auto engine.

Inventor Paul Cavalloro’s Micro Fuel Plant can produce four gallons of
fuel per day from 20 gallons of liquified apples, corn or other raw
materials.

He says you can run the plant in your kitchen from a gas stove and the
resulting fuel would cost you only $1.40 per gallon – plus it burns
cleaner and more efficiently than gas.

Cavalloro says he’s had 36 orders for the stills since he started
selling them for $250 a pop a few days ago, mostly to people in high gas
price hubs like California.

(Contact numbers available only to subscribing media or trial media
users. You can request samples at the Wireless Flash web site.)
Copyright © 2005 Wireless Flash News Inc. All rights reserved."

Let's Begin It

This is to let my sister know that it is time to get ready for school.

(Spin it!)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-oohooh ...

(Let's begin it)
(Bear 'n grin it!)
(Spin it!)

Oh-ee-yeah (Tale Spin)
Oh-ee-yoh (Tale Spin)
Friends for life, through thick and thin
With another tale to spin
Oh-ee-yeah (Tale Spin)
Oh-ee-yoh (Tale Spin)
All the trouble we get in
With another tale to spin

(Spin it!)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ...
(Spin it again!)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ...

Oh-ee-yeah
Oh-ee-yoh
Oh-ee-yeah
Oh-ee-yoh
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Spin it
Let's begin it
Bear 'n grin it
When you're in it
You can win it
In a minute
When you spin it, spin it, spin it!
So spin it!
Tale Spin!

Oh-ee-yeah (Tale Spin)
Oh-ee-yoh (Tale Spin)
Friends for life, through thick and thin
With another tale to spin
Oh-ee-yeah (Tale Spin)
Oh-ee-yoh (Tale Spin)
All the trouble we get in
With another tale to spin

(Spin it!)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ...
(Spin it again!)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ...

gimpShop

Scott Moshella has released a version of the Gimp with standard photoshop menus for Macintosh. This is a great way to learn photoshop without having to spend about $600 for Photoshop.

Squirrel

I was sick this past weekend and my mom offered to pick me up some food from the grocery store. I asked her to get me some cereal and to get the one with the squirrel on it. (Honey Nut Clusters)

She came back with a box of Raisin Brand Crunch that had a picture of chewbacca on it and explained that I might have thought that it looked like a squirrel.

Happy Second Birthday

My blog is two years old today. I've made 316 total entries with 181 made during the last year.