Latest Report from ABC and AP News:

“Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

AP

File- In this Oct. 28, 2006, file photo,… View Full Caption

File- In this Oct. 28, 2006, file photo, musician Whitney Houston arrives at the 17th Carousel of Hope Ball benefiting the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Beverly Hills, Calif. Houston died Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, she was 48. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Close

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with “Whitney Houston,” which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. “Saving All My Love for You” brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. “How Will I Know,” ”You Give Good Love” and “The Greatest Love of All” also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, “Whitney,” came out in 1987 and included hits like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

Whitney’s music was a huge part of my good times and memories in the ’80′s and ’90′s, such a loss of talent for the music community.  Such a shame, it’s tragic.  For all of her turmoil, may she now rest in peace…

CG

Related articles

• Whitney Houston & Kelly Price Take The Stage Together! (hellobeautiful.com)
• A Bloody Whitney Houston Looking Worse For Wear In Hollywood [PHOTOS] (socialitelife.com)
• Is Whitney Houston Trying To Kill Herself? (hellobeautiful.com)
• PHOTOS: Whitney Houston Caught with Slit Wrist and Blood Everywhere! (997now.radio.com)
• Whitney Houston Drunk: Singer Attends Grammy Party, Leaves Bloody (theboombox.com)
• Whitney Houston’s Sobriety’s Going Well (thesuperficial.com)
• WTF Happened To Whitney Houston the Other Night? [Whitney Houston] (jezebel.com)
• Whitney Houston pAArtied It UP Last Night!! (perezhilton.com)
• Whitney Houston & Ray-J Have Date Night! (hellobeautiful.com)
• Whitney Houston Takes Center Stage at Pre-Grammy Party (peoplestylewatch.com)

Truly sad news, this man is a true legend…

Former heavyweight boxing champion Smokin’ Joe Frazier has liver cancer.   He is now under hospice care.

Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr

 

SSSSSMOKIN’

Maybe Joe Frazier didn’t hit the status of other champs like Muhammad Ali, but he put a HUGE hurt on some of the world’s best in a career full of highlights.

 

The 67-year-old boxer was diagnosed with liver cancer four or five weeks ago, Frazier’s personal friend and business manager said on Saturday. Leslie Wolff said doctors have not yet told Frazier how long he has to live.

”We have medical experts looking into the all the options that are out there,” Wolff said. ”There are very few. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop looking.”

Wolff, who has been Frazier’s manager for seven years, said the boxer had been in out and out of the hospital since early October and receiving hospice treatment the last week.

”We appreciate every prayer we can get,” Wolff said. ”I’ve got everybody praying for him. We”ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for a miracle.”

Frazier was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali, knocking him down and taking a decision in the so-called Fight of the Century in 1971. He would go on to lose two more fights to Ali, including the epic ”Thrilla in Manila” bout.  Allegedly,Frazier had been bitter for many years about the way Ali treated him back then.   Recently though, he said he had forgiven Ali for repeatedly taunting him.

Smokin’ Joe was a small yet ferocious fighter who smothered his opponents with punches, including a devastating left hook he used to end many of his fights early. TRULY magical!  It was that same left hook that dropped Ali in the 15th round of their ”Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in 1971 to seal a win in a bout where each fighter earned an unheard of $2.5 million.  (Back then, that was a TON of money!)

As HUGE as that fight was, Ali and Frazier put on an even better show in their third fight, held in a sweltering arena in Manila as part of Ali’s world tour of fights in 1975.  Frazier still wanted to go out for the 15th round of the fight but was held back by trainer Eddie Futch in a bout Ali would later say was the closest thing to death he could imagine.  Frazier was nearly blinded by Ali’s punches, but he would NOT go down voluntarily.

Frazier had won the heavyweight title in 1970 by stopping Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden. Smokin’ Joe defended it successfully four times before George Foreman knocked him down six times in the first two rounds to take the title from him in 1973.  Unfortunately, Frazier would never be heavyweight champion again.

In the recent past, Frazier had been doing regular autograph appearances, including one in Las Vegas the weekend of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight in September.

”I was very sad to hear the news. It’s a tragedy,” leading British promoter Frank Warren said. ”He’s one of the greatest fighters of his generation and one of the best heavyweights in history. It’s a sad thing and I know everyone in boxing will be wishing him well.”

Related articles

• ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier diagnosed with cancer (3news.co.nz)
• Joe Frazier Has Liver Cancer, Under Hospice Care (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Joe Frazier Cancer: Former Heavyweight Champion Diagnosed With Liver Cancer, In Hospice Care (huffingtonpost.com)
• Former boxing champ Joe Frazier has liver cancer (sfgate.com)
• Boxing great Joe Frazier in hospice with cancer (cnn.com)
• Legendary Boxer, Smokin’ Joe Frazier Battling Liver Cancer (hellobeautiful.com)
• Former boxing champ Frazier has cancer, under hospice care (thestar.com)
• Smokin’ Joe Frazier Is Critically Ill [Boxing] (deadspin.com)
• Boxing champ Frazier fighting advanced liver cancer (alternet.org)
• Ex-heavyweight champ Joe Frazier has liver cancer (thenewstribune.com)

Ok,

   Whoever said that there’s no streaking with Windex, never said it so good!  I MUST give credit where it is due, to the Royal Badass of Ladydom, Kirsten/RNTGRL of http://www.resultsnottypicalgirl.com…  She posted this on her “WTF Wednesday” post yesterday, and I, as a loyal subscriber, get auto-notified…  You MUST subscribe, she’s a freakin’ riot!  But first, check out this vid that she posted yesterday, I dang near wet my pants laughing!!!!  Happy Thursday, enjoy!

Related articles

• New use for Windex, from my wife ! (wdednh.wordpress.com)
• New $0.75/1 Windex Coupon + Awesome ShopRite Deal! (livingrichwithcoupons.com)
• Nation’s top-selling glass cleaner Windex turns 75 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Windex Turns 75! {Giveaway} (makingtimeformommy.com)
• Windex – Got Coupons? (livingrichwithcoupons.com)
• Printable Coupon Roundup – Degree, Scotch, Windex & More (livingrichwithcoupons.com)
• Dynamic Duo (gubatron.com)
• Quick Tip: Move Heavy Appliances with Windex Charles & Hudson (apartmenttherapy.com)
• New Cleaning Products Coupons – Pledge, Windex, Drano, Shout (livingrichwithcoupons.com)
• Reader Shopping Trips: Walmart (livingrichwithcoupons.com)

  I’m cool with alot of things, but THIS one takes the cake… or in this case, the sandwich.  (ES)  In Honolulu, Safeway has decided NOT to press charges against a couple after they took 2 sandwiches, ate them as they shopped, and failed to pay for them.  2 sandwiches, $5.  Why?  Well, you see, the law in Hawaii makes it mandatory that if 2 parents are being arrested, child welfare must be called in to take the child.  In this case, not ONLY did they take their 2 year old child, the mom,  Nicole Leszczynski, is 30 weeks PREGNANT.  Her husband, Marcin, is a former Air Force staff sergeant. 

Now, here’s where it gets messed up for me.  She’s pregnant, she has her other child with her, and he’s a former Air Force staff sergeant.  They BOTH OPENLY ate the sandwiches while they shopped.  They CLAIMED that they saved the wrappers to scan at checkout.  Really?  WHERE DID THEY GO???  THEN, she says,  

“I didn’t know it was such a taboo thing,” she said. “Where I grew up in a small town it’s not seen as stealing for sure.”

Ok, so you DIDN’T think it was stealing, and you DIDN’T forget to pay???

“When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified,” Nicole told AP on Monday. They were led upstairs, where the couple expected to get a lecture, pay for the sandwiches, and be allowed on their way.

But store managers wouldn’t allow them to simply pay, she said.

Oh, but it gets better…  Now Safeway is saying that their people didn’t handle the situation properly.  The manager called to APOLOGIZE.  So now, whaddya think happens???

The Leszczynskis had hired a criminal defense lawyer to fight the charges but are unsure about whether to pursue legal action against Safeway.

“I haven’t even considered it because I was just so worried about the charges,” Nicole said. “I do feel like something went terribly wrong and we were abused in some way.” 

Grocery shopping is a chore that now bring some anxiety, Nicole said, adding that she has read countless comments online criticizing her for eating before paying.

Now, in my opinion, the manager is a MORON.  Are you telling me they both saved the wrappers, but they BOTH forgot to pay?  He now pretty much said, OK, go ahead, SUE US.  She even said that,  “I didn’t know it was such a taboo thing,” she said. “Where I grew up in a small town it’s not seen as stealing for sure.”  Ok, so you just assumed you could walk around and eat a free sandwich?  BOTH of you?  And now they may sue for her “emotional damages???”  Are you freaking KIDDING me?!  So, they figured IF they got caught, they’d just pay up and be on their merry way?  ROFL!  Really?  Now she’s on every interview saying that it was “horrifying.”  Yeah, well, when you STEAL, that tends to happen….  Eat and run is theft.  PERIOD.

Image via Wikipedia

Listen, I’d be horrified to be arrested and have my kid taken away for being such a freaking MORON, for doing something so STUPID.  But emotional distress?  That’s YOUR fault, and YOUR PROBLEM, honey!  And again, BOTH of them “FORGOT to pay???  $5???”

Sorry, I’m not buyin’…

CG

Related articles

• Safeway calls cops on Hawaii parents over $5 (cbsnews.com)
• Pregnant Mom Says Sandwich Arrest Was “Horrifying” (socyberty.com)
• Safeway Not So Safe for 2-Year-Old Girls With Absentminded Parents (reason.com)
• Pregnant Mom Says Sandwich Arrest Was ‘Horrifying’ (huffingtonpost.com)
• Hawaii Couple’s Daughter Taken Away for 18 Hours Over Alleged Sandwich Theft (foxnews.com)
• Mom says sandwich arrest was ‘horrifying’ (msnbc.msn.com)
• Pregnant mom says sandwich arrest was ‘horrifying’ (hosted.ap.org)
• Mom who forgot to pay for snack arrested; daughter taken (ctv.ca)
• Cheap Supermarket Sandwich Briefly Tears Family Apart [Justice] (gawker.com)
• Pregnant Mom Calls Sandwich Arrest ‘Horrifying’ (foxnews.com)
• Couple Loses Custody of Daughter for Stealing Sandwiches (inquisitr.com)
• US girl put in care after police arrest parents over alleged sandwich theft (guardian.co.uk)
• Hawaii Couple’s Daughter Taken Away for 18 Hours Over Alleged Sandwich Theft (gunnyg.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after his car became ensnarled in a fiery 15-car pileup on Lap 13, flew over another vehicle and landed in a catch fence just outside turn 2.  The race was actually ended, and the drivers did a salute lap in Wheldon’s honor.

“IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries,” IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race.”

“It was like a movie scene which they try to make as gnarly as possible,” said Danica Patrick, making her final IndyCar start. “It was debris everywhere across the whole track, you could smell the smoke, you could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car. There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered.

“I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ryan Briscoe said. “The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there’s just stuff everywhere. Crazy.”

The 33-year-old racer was a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, including this year’s race.  Three other drivers, including championship contender Will Power, were hurt in the pileup.

Related articles

• IRL Driver Dan Wheldon killed in Las Vegas Race (sugarslam.com)
• Dan Wheldon Crash: Driver Injured In Massive 15-Car Crash At Las Vegas Indy 300 (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• IndyCar Officials Announce Driver Dan Wheldon Died In Today’s Fiery Crash [Video] (deadspin.com)
• Dan Wheldon dies in horrific IndyCar wreck (theglobeandmail.com)
• British driver Wheldon dies in crash (guardian.co.uk)
• IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon dies in wreck (abclocal.go.com)
• Former Indianapolis 500 Winner Dan Wheldon Has Died (88-central.com)
• Wheldon injured in fiery IndyCar crash at Vegas (espn.go.com)
• Wheldon hurt in huge IndyCar crash at Vegas (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• 15 Car Crash at IndyCar Race Las Vegas (lockersmash.com)
• Dan Wheldon Crash: Drivers React To Scary Wreck At Las Vegas Indy 300 (sbnation.com)
• Wheldon hurt in huge crash at Vegas (denverpost.com)
• You: Wheldon seriously injured in wreck at Las Vegas (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• Wheldon in hospital after 15-car crash at Las Vegas Indy (tsn.ca)

So I go to check in on Facebook, and i keep seeing this video all over the place.  Didn’t play it, I thought somebody got hacked, and some moron was trying to spam everybody with it.  Well, I walk in, and my husband’s playing it…  Omg, lol!  like the title says, check it out!

Related articles

• Rants and Raves (justasiamdenise.wordpress.com)
• Swap emotional baggage for a song! (onsoftware.en.softonic.com)
• Posting Comment Rant (colleenmullinscpr590.wordpress.com)
• A Facebook rant (heatworld.com)
• IndeedPodcast #35 – Bumper Sticker for my Sandcrawler (indeedpodcast.wordpress.com)
• My Rant And America’s Mad as Hell Moment (businessinsider.com)
• A Video Rant To The U.S. Government – Balance Yo Budget! (pienbiscuits.wordpress.com)
• Complaints, and Rants/ and Facts (macattack56.wordpress.com)
• VIDEO: Derek Dooley’s Mother Unleashes Awesome Radio Rant (sbnation.com)
• Micro-Youth Work-Rant (walkingplasterdispenser.wordpress.com)

   Yesterday, a man in Albuquerque, New Mexico plead guilty to charges of  “adulterating food,” (!!!) and making false statements to federal investigators.  Adulterating food?  Well you see, he’s a grocery store worker accused of handing out a semen-tainted yogurt sample at an Albuquerque market.   Garcia admitted that he tainted a sample of the yogurt he was handing out at Sunflower Market in January. He also admitted putting some of his semen on a plastic spoon that he placed in the yogurt.  Then, well, he walked up to a woman and offered a sample for her to taste.  Sick bastard…

  The woman later told police that after tasting the sample, she spit on the floor several times and wiped her mouth on the garment she was wearing to get the taste out of her mouth.  (Sorry, but all I can picture is the episode of iCarly where Spencer gets kissed by a disgusting girl, then runs to the sink, grabs the long-handled scrubber, and douses it with soap and begins FRANTICALLY scrubbing his tongue…)  Investigators collected samples of the woman’s spit from the floor and took the garment she was wearing as evidence.  Police say Garcia was linked to the yogurt through DNA samples.

In court documents, federal prosecutors called the allegations “sickening and appalling.”  Ummmmm, ya THINK?!  The only thing I’d love to know is what they’ll do to him in prison…  Or his FOOD, for that matter!  Either way, he’ll deserve every last lick of it, lol!   See, he faces up to three years of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release.   He has been in federal custody since his arrest in July, and remained detained pending his sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.  Hey, would YOU let this guy go back to work handling YOUR groceries?  Brings a whole other meaning to “taste test,” ya know?  Even more morbid, police now believe that he’s done this before at a different location as well.  AND, while arresting him police also found that Garcia had an outstanding warrant for “inappropriate sexual contact with a minor.”  Really ???  SERIOUSLY?!?!?  And WHYYYYY isn’t this man already serving hard time????

“The criminal conduct to which Anthony Garcia pleaded guilty today is completely outrageous,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said after Garcia’s appearance in federal court. “No one should have to endure this type of experience simply because she or he accepts a food sample while shopping for groceries.”

Related articles

• Grocer Pleads Guilty To Giving Out Free Yogurt Samples Tainted With Semen (citysubwaycreatures.com)
• NM man in tainted yogurt case heads to court (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• NM Man in Tainted Yogurt Case Heads to Court (abcnews.go.com)
• Man pleads guilty to offering semen-tainted yogurt (hosted.ap.org)
• Greek Yogurt (turnerandrew.wordpress.com)
• Foodie Friday: Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt (eating.health.com)
• The Truth Behind Greek Yogurt (marcusknowsweightloss.com)
• Foodie Friday – Yogurt Style (letstalkandwalk.com)
• Caramel Apple Frozen Yogurt (momdecuisine.wordpress.com)
• Woman charged with stealing bull semen (cbsnews.com)
• Restaurant Design: Olo Yogurt Studio by Baker Architecture & Design (chictip.com)
• Woman Sues Sushi Restaurant for Adding Semen to Her Spicy Sauce [Gross] (gawker.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Housing BOOM?  You bet!

   In North Dakota, work is plentiful!  Apparently, they’re having an oil boom that is not only keeping their unemployment rate down to 3%, McDonald’s has to put starting wages at $15 an hour to get people to come in for a job!

   Right now, North Dakota is putting out millions of barrels of oil, resulting in BILLIONS of dollars coming in.  The state is having an employment boom, but a shortage in housing!  The people coming in to get work are sleeping in their cars until they can find a place to stay.  Local developers are building housing , hundreds of homes and thousands of apartments, just to try to keep up.  The Mayor, Ward Koser, is having one heck of a time trying to keep up.  Increases in traffic violations, parking AND moving, building permits, sewage treatment, they’re saying it’s a MESS.

   The oil is coming from the Bakken Rock Formation.  It runs14,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana and Canada.  Right now the USGS says that there’s at least 14 BILLION barrels to be had, but others say it could well be 4 to 5 times that amount.  (oil crisis?  no more!)  Check it out:

 ”Clearly, it is the largest oil field we’ve found in North America in the last 40 years,” said Bud Brigham, the founder and chief executive of Brigham Exploration (BEXP +0.96%, news), which has staked the company’s future on the Bakken oil business. “If it’s more than 15 billion barrels, it may be the biggest oil field found in America ever.”

Some out of staters have been able to land work within hours of their arrival: 

“It’s a zoo,” said Terry Ayers, who came to town from Spokane, Wash., slept in his truck and found a job within hours of arrival, tripling his salary. “It’s crazy what’s going on out here.”

Related articles

• North Dakota has a new record of 440,000 barrels a day in August (nextbigfuture.com)
• ND Oil Rush: Three Affiliated Tribes Want Higher Tax Cut for Road Repair (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• MHA Nation Requests Oil Companies Help Repair Reservation Roads (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Tex Hall: MHA Nation ‘Going Gangbusters in the Bakken’ to Process Oil (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Unemployed? Go to North Dakota (usatoday.com)
• How North Dakota Became the New Saudi Arabia (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
• New Boom Reshapes Oil World, Rocks North Dakota (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• Comparing Bakken Stocks (fool.com)
• Double your salary in the middle of nowhere, North Dakota (money.cnn.com)
• North Dakota Considers Legislation to Improve Native American Education (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)

One of my Facebook friends posted this phrase tonite.  I dunno where he got it, but I thought it was PERFECT:

Three Apples changed the world.

The first one seduced Eve.

The second one fell on Newton.

The third one passed away on Wednesday….

Steve Jobs passed away Wednesday.  In the unlikely case that you might not know who he was (it can happen),  he started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parent’s garage 1976.  The man has changed technology, created it as we know it today…

“A college drop-out and the son of adoptive parents, Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on the breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today.

The rebel streak that’s central to his persona got him tossed out of the company in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the rollout of a troika of products — the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad — that again upended the established order in major industries.”

Let’s not forget that he more or less pioneered Pixar.  Eventually, Disney, after seeing the massive success of the Toy Story movie, wanted ALL of it…  They struck a deal with Jobs, and kept him on as the largest shareholder and the chairman.

But what he will ALWAYS be known for is his attitude toward life.  He had said he “wanted to leave put a ding in the universe.”  (ya THINK???)

Six years ago, Jobs had talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life… Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve, you made a CRATER in the universe, and left a ding in the hearts of millions… 

R.I.P.

CG

Related articles

• Steve Jobs and Xerox PARC (q-ontech.blogspot.com)
• How Steve Jobs changed computing (telegraph.co.uk)
• RIP Steve Jobs (nunosaqueferreira.wordpress.com)
• RIP: Steve Jobs (makefunnotwar.wordpress.com)
• The Apple Museum | Steve Jobs (stevejobstheapplegenius.wordpress.com)
• Obituary: Steve Jobs, 1955 – 2011 (techradar.com)
• Reblog: And don’t forget Steve Wozniak! (jdwaggoner.wordpress.com)
• Why Steve Mattered (mitzine.ca)
• Remembering Steve Jobs – msnbc.com (news.google.com)
• The Life & Times of Steve Jobs (mashable.com)

Image via Wikipedia

NJ Quake: Earthquake in New Jersey?  Who Woulda Thunk It????

Oooookay…

   So I’m here at my desk working on my computer.  All’s quiet.  As I’m typing, my chair starts rocking side to side.  I’m thinking my dog is having a nightmare under my chair (he’s 165 lbs..).  I yell, “NICK!!!” and realize he’s across the room.  I look at the floor, as if my puny cat might be able to move my chair, and all of a sudden, I see my flat screen rocking on its pedestal.  Felt the floor moving under my feet.  My 4 year old is asleep on the other side of the house, I go to run to get out of the room, get to the hallway, thinking, wait, am I going nuts?  I look back to my office, and the tv’s still rocking, and now, so are my ceiling fans…  Then, it just stopped.

   Ok, so, big deal???  In NJ, it IS a BIG DEAL!!!  We had ONE tremor, back when I was 16 in Cliffside Park, NJ.  I think it was a 1.5.  Nothing.  Today’s earthquake, the epicenter was in VA, at magnitude 5.8, and 3.7 miles deep.  The Pentagon and White House were BOTH evacuated.  It was felt all the way down in NC, and all the way up to Rhode Island.  Buildings in NJ were evacuated, with many historic buildings reporting possible structural damage.  So far, thank goodness, many of those buildings have been given a green light. Mike Bloomberg is on CNN now, giving his speech, no major damage or disruptions, but they DID shut down the tunnels for a bit.  Engineers are inspecting buildings for cracks.  Penn Station train service was shut down for half an hour.  All nuclear plants are now being inspected for possible damage.   The President is due to come on CNN soon to talk about the impact.  Twitter and Facebook were ON FIRE.   I heard the stocks went up 300 points, wooHAHHHHH!!!!!

  And of course, we have 2 nuclear plants nearby (!).  This in from NJ.com and Associated Press:

”

The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township, which is run by Exelon, is currently operating at full power, said spokeswoman Suzanne D’Ambrosio. Plant operators are following “seismic procedures,” which include walking throughout the facility to confirm the earthquake did not damage equipment or affect operations.

“We will continue to closely monitor plant equipment should there be any additional seismic activity,” D’Ambrosio said.

Exelon declared “unusual events” at its Oyster Creek, Limerick, Peach Bottom and Three Mile Island Unit 1 plants, a classification that is the lowest of the four emergency classifications used in the U.S. nuclear power industry, she added.”

Comforting, huh???

   Colorado  gets a 5.3 this morning ,  Va gets the 5.9, BOTH are getting aftershocks, and there could be 30 more on VA alone, man, SOMEBODY peed in Mother Nature‘s Cheerios this morning….

Oh, and update?  They said President Obama is STILL on the golfcourse playing golf….

Related articles

• NYC buildings evacuated after quake rattles city (nj.com)
• Your reaction: Earthquake rocks New Jersey and New York (nj.com)
• Your comments: Earthquake in Virginia felt all over New Jersey (nj.com)
• Earthquake Shakes U.S. East Coast (online.wsj.com)
• Quake rocks Washington area, felt on East Coast (salon.com)
• 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocks D.C. (sfgate.com)
• Video: East Coast Earthquake Interrupts Dominique Strauss-Kahn Press Conference In NY (mediaite.com)
• Earthquake rocks US east coast (independent.co.uk)
• Earth Quake Shakes North Carolina, D.C. & N.Y. – iqwespeaks (iqwespeaks.wordpress.com)
• Tri-state area transportation delayed, suspended in wake of earthquake (nj.com)
• Area quake unusual for East Coast (philly.com)
• Earthquake rocks New Jersey and New York (nj.com)
• 5.9 Earthquake Hits Virginia And Rocks NY, D.C., NC (hiphopwired.com)
• Earthquake Hits New York City Area And Northeast (newyork.cbslocal.com)