I think I've mentioned in most of my blog entries about new products that I will be carrying. I finally have some of them listed! Yay!

My first line are Eternity Nursing Necklaces. They are a wonderful addition to the nursing necklaces that I currently hand make that are designed to be all about developing baby's senses. These are designed to be strong enough to use as a nursing necklace but to make mommy feel beautiful, and isn't that what most mommies need? Eternity necklaces can be worn with or without a baby on your hip and last long after the nursing relationship is done. But the best part is, they're not just for mommy, they're a perfect gift for any caretaker that spends their days surrounded by kiddies, grandma, auntie, your neighbor or that teen that seems to have EVERYTHING would love the Glow-in-the-dark Eternity Necklace!

My next new product are my Emergency Bracelets designed for all of the little people in your life. This is a great bracelet for mom & dad's peace of mind. When out and about, have your little guy wear this bracelet, which features YOUR cell phone number! Let's hope it never gets used but if your little guy somehow gets lost in the crowd at Disney or even at the mall, instead of relying on a store intercom, you can be called directly to know exactly where he is! I'M LOST! CALL MY MOMMY!

Similar concept to the Emergency Bracelets are my Allergy Bracelets.  Take off the phone number and add "NO NUTS" or "NO FLOUR" or whatever ails your monkey to the bracelet so when your little one is at school or a friend's birthday party, they wear a cool little gem that tells the world what could potentially harm them!

Having an allergy has never been so cool!

I have some currently listed in my Etsy store:  SnapdragonDesign.etsy.com but will be constantly listing new ones as I get them made so stay tuned or just send me an email (snapdragondesignhouse@yahoo.ca) if you had something in mind, I'd love to design it for you!

By Dr. Tracy Scott

A little knowledge about stress and its effect on health benefits everyone.  It is estimated by the American Institute of Stress, that 75% to 90% of all doctor’s visits are caused by reactions to stress.

Stress poses a profound difficulty for everyone.  But more black men die from heart attacks associated with stress than any other ethnic group in the United States.

• 50% of African Americans who suffer from the “blues” or depression do not seek help
• 88% of women and 69% of men will get headaches and stress is the number one cause
• Stress is the number one health problem facing African Americans.  35% of African American men compared to 25% of other ethnic groups are affected by hypertension (high blood pressure)
• 1 out of every 9 women who seek care in the emergency rooms is there because of injuries resulting from domestic violence.  There is evidence to support that neighborhood crime is rooted in unhealthy stress
• Stoke is identified as being 67% higher in African American men than other ethnic groups and 88% more blacks are more likely to die from a stroke than whites

The everyday struggle of dealing with prejudice also contributes to the high and potentially deadly levels of stress in the African American community.  With the challenges of poverty, discrimination, injustice, poor choices, etc., the quality of life for African Americans both male and female encourages an ongoing and constant schizophrenic mind set of anger and assimilation that many experts believe is a primary reason for the increased death rates among the African Americans.

Suggested Stress Checklist for African Americans

• Being out of work for a month or longer

• Having a serious illness or accident

• Not having enough money for food, clothing, housing, or other necessities of life

• Being concerned with getting credit

• Having a problem with getting things repaired around the house

• Having a check arrive late or lost in the mail

• Having something stolen or having the house or car broken into

• Having a violent argument with a friend or relative

• Having some other kind of trouble with family members

• Being concerned about living in an unsafe area

• Living with racism  (Patrick Romano, 1990)

Daily Devotion

Sunday: Read and meditate on Matthew 11:28

Monday: Learn to realize that all stress is not bad.  Read John 16: 19-28 and Isaiah 55:1-3

Tuesday: Strive to be patient with yourself.  Read Romans 12:12 and II Timothy

Wednesday: Change your faulty beliefs.  Read Matthew 6: 25-34.  Remember 40% of the

                     things people worry about never happen

Thursday: Learn to relax.  Read Psalms 23&123 and Hebrews 4:4 over and over again

                  while listening to Christian/Gospel music at least 15-20 minutes a day

Friday: Take a grace inventory.  Remind yourself of what God has done in your life. 

              Read Philippians 1:6, 4:4; 4:6 and 4:19

Saturday: Develop a sense of humor.  Learn to control what you can and what you cannot.  Read Proverbs 31:25; Psalms 37:13 and II Corinthians 7:4

For more information about Healthy Living Seminars, visit us on the web at www.healthylivingseminars.org or call us 1-888-805-6616

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 345 passengers made an emergency landing Friday with a gaping hole in its fuselage after a mysterious "explosive decompression," officials said.

There were no injuries, but some passengers vomited after disembarking the Boeing 747-400, said Octavio Lina, Manila International Airport Authority deputy manager for operations.

The cabin's floor gave way, he said, exposing some of the cargo beneath and part of the ceiling collapsed.

"There is a big hole on the right side near the wing," he said, adding it was 7 1/2 feet to 9 feet in diameter.

Flight QF 30, from London to Melbourne, had just made a stopover in Hong Kong. Passengers who talked to the media at the airport described hearing an explosion, and then oxygen masks were released.

"One hour into the flight there was a big bang, then the plane started going down," passenger Marina Scaffidi, 39, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press by phone from Manila airport. "There was wind swirling around the plane and some condensation."

She said the hole extended from the cargo hold into the passenger cabin.

"No one was very hysterical," she said.

June Kane of Melbourne described how parts of the plane's interior broke apart in the depressurized cabin.

"There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first (class) and the oxygen masks dropped down," she told Australia's ABC Radio. "It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm."

Video shot by a passenger showed people sitting with their oxygen masks on - just-served meals on their tray tables - as the plane descended quickly to 10,000 feet en route to an emergency landing at Manila's international airport. Cabin crew continued to work, walking down the aisles and showing no sign of panic.

Applause erupted as the plane touched down safely.

Geoff Dixon, the chief executive officer of Qantas, praised the pilots and the rest of the 19-person crew for how they handled the incident.

"This was a highly unusual situation and our crew responded with the professionalism that Qantas is known for," he said.

Qantas - Australia's largest domestic and international airline - boasts a strong safety record and has never lost a jet to an accident, although there were crashes of smaller planes, the last in 1951.

However, the airline has had a few scares in recent years. In February 2008, a Qantas 717 with 84 passengers on board sustained substantial damage in a heavy landing in Darwin, Australia.

In addition, union engineers - who have held several strikes this year to demand pay raises - say that safety is being compromised by low wages and overtime work.

A report by the Manila International Airport Authority, quoting pilot John Francis Bartels, said the plane on Friday suffered an "explosive decompression." Australia's air-safety investigator said an initial investigation suggested "a section of the fuselage separated."

The passengers were taken to several hotels while waiting for another plane to Melbourne late Friday, Wantas said. The plane was towed to a hangar in Manila.

Chief Superintendent Atilano Morada, head of the police Aviation Security Group, said his officers, including explosives experts, may assist in the airline's investigation.

"So far, they don't want us to touch it, so we will respect the aircraft owner. But we will make our personnel available if they need assistance in the investigation," he said.

Qantas touts itself as the world's second-oldest airline, founded in 1920. As of December 2007, Qantas was operating 216 aircraft flying to 140 destinations in 37 countries, though in recent months it has announced it will retire some aircraft and cancel some routes - as well as cutting 1,500 jobs worldwide - due to skyrocketing fuel prices.

A programmed inspection of a culvert between Highfield Farm and East Torrington on the C005 revealed serious damage to the brickwork with segments of the arch and abutment having collapsed. The road will remain closed until the structure can be rebuilt. It is anticipated that work will start on site during the week commencing 18 August 2008.

David Walton, Principal Client Services Officer, said:
“The county council apologise for any inconvenience this road closure may cause, but of course the wellbeing of road users has to be our priority and the works are necessary from a safety aspect. Every effort will be made to open the road as soon as possible.”

The signed diversion will be C005 south, A157 south west to Wragby, B1202 to Holton-Cum-Beckering, an unclassified road to Bleasby Moor, C005 clockwise and vice versa.

Why won't Nancy Pelosi allow congress to vote on off-shore drilling so that we can have new gas and not have to be reliant on oil from people who are trying to kill us.  We are sitting on more oil than they have.  Our people can become rich for a change.  Instead of sending our money to countries that support terrorists, we need to allow our people to drill for oil on our own land instead of taking OPEC to court to force them to drill their oil. At least we know that the money can be used to grow our economy and reduce our deficit and not used to kill our people.

You can go to the American Solutions website and sign the petition asking congress to Drill Now, Drill Here, Pay Less:

<script src="http://www.americansolutions.com/Gadgets/FormPrint.aspx?Page=Petition&g=54ec6e43-75a8-445b-aa7b-346a1e096659&H=580&w=220" type="text/javascript"></script>

Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency. In fact, there are now in effect four presidentially-proclaimed states of national emergency: In addition to the national emergency declared by President Roosevelt in 1933, there are also the national emergency proclaimed by President Truman on December 16, 1950, during the Korean conflict, and the states of national emergency declared by President Nixon on March 23, 1970, and August 15, 1971.

These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of Federal law. These hundreds of statutes delegate to the President extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by the Congress, which affect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing manners. This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal Constitutional processes.

Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may:
seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens.

A majority of the people of the United States have lived all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of national emergency.

Following the allied victory, Wilson relinquished his wartime authority and asked Congress to repeal the emergency statutes, enacted to fight more effectively the war. Only a food-control measure and the 1917 Trading With the Enemy Act were retained. This procedure of terminating emergency powers when the particular emergency itself has, in fact, ended has not been consistently followed by his successors.

The Trading With the Enemy Act had, however, been specifically designed by its originators to meet only wartime exigencies. By employing it to meet the demands of the depression, Roosevelt greatly extended the concept of "emergencies" to which expansion of executive powers might be applied. And in so doing, he established a pattern that was followed frequently: In time of crisis the President should utilize any statutory authority readily at hand, regardless of its original purposes, with the firm expectation of ex post facto congressional concurrence.

Besides the 1933 and Korean war emergencies, two other states of declared national emergency remain in existence. On March 23, 1970, confronted by a strike of Postal Service employees, President Nixon declared a national emergency. The following year, on August 15, 1971, Nixon proclaimed another emergency, under which he imposed stringent import controls in order to meet an international monetary crisis. Because of its general language, however, that proclamation could serve as sufficient authority to use a substantial proportion of all the emergency statutes now on the books.

Over the course of at least the last 40 years, then, Presidents have had available an enormous - seemingly expanding and never-ending - range of emergency powers. Indeed, at their fullest extent and during the height of a crisis, these "prerogative" powers appear to be virtually unlimited, confirming Locke's perceptions. Because Congress and the public are unaware of the extent of emergency powers, there has never been any notable congressional or public objection made to this state of affairs. Nor have the courts imposed significant limitations.

A 60-day state of emergency was put in place in the San Mateo district, 90 kilometres east of Lima, where Gold Hawk Resources runs the Coricancha metals mine.

Government officials said the mine's storage dump is unstable and at risk of collapse, which could release arsenic and other toxic chemicals into the Rimac River, Lima's main water source.

Gold Hawk, which acquired the mine more than two years ago, issued a statement Friday saying Peruvian officials have asked the company to relocate its processing plant and dump area away from the Tamboraque hillside.

CEO Kevin Drover told CBC News the company knows the area is unstable and has already taken action.

"There has been no leakage whatsoever; there has been no impact to the environment. The only impacts have been to our company because we brought ourselves to our knees," Drover said.

Crushing and milling operations at the mine were suspended in May because of ground displacement around the dumping area, which the company attributed to overwatering by local farmers.

Both company and government experts say farmers overwatering their crops have made the hillsides around the mine soggy, cracking its cement foundation and increasing the risk of landslides.

Oxfam representative critical of mining practices

Farmers say, however, that there has been a local decree in place for the past three months that forbids them to irrigate, according to a representative of Oxfam America in Peru.

"So they lost crops in order to not add more to the overall risk of the mine while the mine continued to add to the tailing dump," Fran Boern told CBC News.

There is a legacy of toxic waste dumping by gold mining companies in the region, which has led to numerous human rights complaints.

Three years ago, the Peruvian government was warned by an international human rights commission to clean up toxic mining waste in the area, and the Coricancha mine was chosen as a place to store all of it.

The mine's current storage dump, also known as a tailings area, was scheduled to be replaced by a nearby waste facility this summer. Gold Hawk announced last month, however, that it will "seek a long-term tailings handling solution" at another site, Chinchan, which is currently in the engineering stage.

Boern said he is skeptical of such a move.

"Goldhawk indeed has started to move to a new place but it doesn't have an Environmental Impact Assessment and the possibility is still open that after that, they will have to move it to yet another place."

With files from the Canadian, Associated Press

Inmet bids $321M for Petaquilla

This flight was going to be one of the last ones for the pilot.

When they arrived in Bangkok, the pilot invited the whole crew out to dinner.

And to thank him, they sang a song for him after their meal: Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver.

The next morning, they sang it again for him - I guess as a double thank you and farewell.

According to Sandro, singing this song for crewmembers who are retiring, quitting or leaving the company is a tradition among airline personnel.

I didn't know that and thougth it was kind of touching.

In addition, the idea of the whole happy cabin crew singing just made me smile.

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the flight attendants also sang on the plane during their emergency-exit-oxygen-mask-routine? I mean, what would lend itself better to a musical number than this cabin-crew-choreography before every flight?

What a shame that so many airlines have meanwhile reverted to showing videos demonstrating the emergency procedures. Some even with computer-generated passengers and crew. Yeach!

That has no style whatsoever! I paid for the live show!

More music on airplanes

Speaking of song-and-dance routines and music in general on airplanes: a few years ago, I was on a flight to Spain. It was a pretty rough flight and as soon as our plane touched down, the crew played some soothing music over the cabin sound system.

The first song the passengers heard was Time to say good-bye by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.

When that was over, the next song was Who wants to live forever by Freddy Mercury and Queen.

I always wondered if they’d played those songs in reverse order during the flight in case those turbulences had gotten worse…

Have you ever thought about how easy it may to have an overflow of water in your basement and not become conscious of it for an amount of time? It could be several days or much more before you havethe motivation to go downstairs in the domicile's basement for something unless you have a finished basement that you use for an entertaining room or if you have a washing room down there. If this is your circumstance you probably frequent your cellar more frequently than that. With any luck, if your cellar is done, you have previouslymade that any impending problems were worked on before youremodeled it. Nevertheless, if you just use your lowest floor as a storeroom you probably didn't have a motive to go downstairs often.

A carefully scheduled protection plan including a scrutiny of your pipework is an acceptable way to stop leakage problems before they begin. Sometimes folks are so on the go that they don't foresee needing to thwart these issues until they are already a big issue. It can be too late to worry about precautions then and the state of affairs should be managed.

At once shut off the electricity if you learn you have h2o or overflow in the lowest level. You can easily get electrocuted by a dryer or other electrical device. After you know that the power is off, see where the wetness is coming from. If it is a pipe that reptured, you will have to shut the water off straight away. Turn the h2o off on the shut off regulator that connects to the pipe inside your home if you have one. For example, there are ordinarily shut off valves for commodes, beneath basins, and to a washing machine. If there is no shut off valve to the damaged or leaky pipe go outside and shut the water off at the water main.

If you know something about fixing pipes, you may very well be able to repair a dilemma yourself. If you aren't plumbing confident then telephone a specialist to resolve the matter. The leading concern after switching off the water is mopping the the large quantity of h2o off the floor area. Then, you have to discard any soaked items from the spot also. See that the floor and wet possessions are carefully dried as quickly as you can. If you are fortunate and the problem was created by a damaged washer pipe or cylinder, this should be unproblematic enough to restore. If the water is getting in from the outside you could have an issue that is often more serious.

There could possibly be a crack in the cement blocks and structure of the lowest level itself that has let rainfall or melting snowfall to seep into your base. This is something that you are almost certainly going to call upon an expert to handleit. If you can see where the h2o is coming in and it is not too critical, it might be conceivable to mend it on your own, but if it is terrible enough to create serious overflow of water, getting in touch with an expert is your greatest solution.

Two members of the chapter's Disaster Action Team drove to the home on Rodale Street in Davenport, and provided four adults with temporary shelter, comfort kits (personal hygiene kits), odor-control concentrated cleaner to help salvage items from the home, a Red Cross clean-up kit, and stuffed animal toys to help comfort them.

Home fires are still the most common disaster affecting local families - 209 families in Polk County from July 2007 to June 2008. Another 11 families have been affected in Polk County since July 1, 2008.

Please take whatever precautions you can to prevent home fires and make sure you have a plan for every member of your family to escape the home safely in the event of a fire.

The doctor (where are all the hot docs?) comes in to tell me the good news that I'm not having a heart attack...but (there's always a but in there) the test is positive for a possible blood clot.  (Oh shit, a stroke, that's even worse than a heart attack!).  He wants to know how much coffee and alcohol I drink.  Well, about 4-5 cups of coffee and a couple drinks a day.  How much is a couple he asks?  Ummm...you know, a couple beers or a couple glasses of wine, I stay away from the hard stuff, that shit'll kill you.  He's like, are we talking big glasses?  Depends on the day...

Then I wait...since it's not an emergency anymore, you get bumped down the priority list.  Which is OK, I almost didn't go because I thought if I was having a heart attack, I didn't want to end up with a big scar where they ripped my chest open and did open heart surgery.  And the co-pay thing.  Good reason, huh?

Next I get shuttled down the hall in the bed to get an ultrasound on my legs to look for blood clots.  They drive me right by the waiting room and into the general entrance area right by the elevators.  I'm like, I freaking hope I don't see someone I know.  I shouldn't have worn a thong - forgot about that whole back opening thing to the gown. I get totally lubed up on both legs so she can check it out.  I'm like, hey can you move that thing a little south? With all that lube, I'd hate to waste it.

Back to the room and more waiting.  The nurse had said even if they found a clot, worst case scenario would be that I'd be admitted for the night, given blood thinners and that's about it.  In the meantime a lady stops by to ask me if I'll take part in a Drug and Alcohol Survey.  I hate to be rude and tell her to MYOB, so I play along.  Luckily, the doc comes in and tells me that I can go, so no survey for me.  He says I've got Atrial Fibrillation, no signs of any defective valves or anything and that I need to eliminate caffeine and alcohol.

Easy for you to say mister...do you think they have a celebrity rehab for coffee and wine?

Flight carrying members of Congress makes emergency landing

08:15 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 22, 2008

By T.J. Aulds, Michelle Homer & Mark Greenblatt / 11 News

Click to watch the 11 News report on the incident

HOUSTON -- fA Continental Airlines flight carrying seven members of Congress from Houston to Washington was forced to make an emergency landing after it lost cabin pressure Tuesday afternoon.

Flight 458 was bound for Reagan National Airport, but was diverted and landed safely in New Orleans, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Ted Poe told 11 News.

Poe and fellow Texas Congressmen Nick Lampson, Ron Paul, John Carter, Ciro Rodriguez, Solomon Ortiz and Henry Cuellar were aboard the flight, said Poe's press secretary DeeAnn Thigpen.

Ironically, the seven congressmen were trying to get back in time for a Tuesday night vote on an aviation safety bill, a spokesman for one of the representatives said.

There were 118 people total aboard the plane, Continental spokeswoman Julie King said.

No one was hurt.

Continental Airlines said the problem was caused by a sudden loss in cabin pressure.

Trevor Kincaid, a spokesman for passenger and Rep. Nick Lampson, said his boss told him “there was absolutely no panic on the plane.” Lampson told Kincaid the plane’s oxygen masks dropped down.

“Continental Airline’s personnel and staff were exceptional; executing what seemed to me a textbook performance in emergency procedure. I was very impressed,” Lampson said in a release.

Poe told 11 News the flight was about an hour late leaving Houston because of mechanical difficulties with an engine. He said things went downhill from there not long after taking off from Bush Intercontinental Airport.

"Suddenly, we started to descend more rapidly than normal and the oxygen masks came out," Poe said.

The pilots told everyone to fasten their seatbelts.

"There wasn't any talk because a lot of people had their oxygen masks on," according to Poe. "Everyone seemed to be quite calm."

The flight landed about 20 minutes after the scare began.

"You're thinking of everything, of course. You're thinking of all the possibilities," Poe told 11 News. "But the pilots did a great job of getting us down. And when we got down we saw all the fire trucks on the runway, just like in the movies."

For Poe and the others, it was an unforgettable experience.

"It was exciting to say the least," Poe said. "Glad to see that landing gear come down."

The cause of the loss of cabin pressure will be investigated.

Thigpen said the flight is frequently used by members of the Texas delegation who have returned home for the weekend. The 1:05 p.m. flight is the latest one that allows them to get back to Washington in time for 6:30 p.m. votes, she said.

The emergency landing was the third time in two days a plane was diverted over cabin pressure issues. A US Airways flight and a Northwest Airlines flight were diverted to airports in Kentucky and Wisconsin on Monday over cabin pressure issues.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-Walter Benjamin, 1940 ('Theses on the Philosophy of History')

The good news is that I found a repairman to fix my leaky ice maker, but on the flip side, my doctor's office recommended I go to the emergency room yesterday.  Not to alarm anyone, but I was having some irregular feeling chest pains.  Normally I would chalk it up to stress, but my dad had a bad valve replaced two years ago and they suggested at that time that I get mine checked.  Did I? Of course not.  Did I go to the ER? Nope.  I know, I should have...but the symptoms stopped and then there's the whole insurance issue.  $75 bucks for an ER visit copay and then you have to pay 20% on top of that.  Yes, I know you say, $75 compared to say, having a heart attack...is it worth it?  But you do get your money back if you're admitted.  I thought of that, but then if I'm admitted, what about my dog or work?? Better make sure to wear matching undies in case when I call 911 in case the hot fireman is the first responder.

Nach den Klicks...

Snickers - wenns mal wieder länger dauert

Snickers - Neulich in der Notaufnahme