So for years it was advice to take vitamin supplements for your health. Now, a series of studies finds that vitamin E can cause lung cancer if taken in excess and asthma if deficient, as can beta carotene. The latest study shows that smokers are more at risk.

Does anyone in the nutrition business actually know what they are talking about? I begin to suspect not. Surely a normal and healthy diet is simply the best way to ensure health but even there these clowns argue over what is healthy and normal.

My advice - forget it and live your life... vitamin supplements are just another craze design to separate you and your hard earned cash anyway....

Occasionally you read stories about stupid thieves but for me the latest story is the most funny. Imaging raiding a bar intending to rob it only to find a meeting of 50+ bikers in progress there? Thats just what happened in Sydney according to a BBC news story. One would be robber was so keen to escape he tried to run THROUGH a plate glass door....

Thieves these days appear to be becoming more and more incompetent. Whatever happened to the idea of 'casing the joint?'

I saw Duran Duran on TV the other week. Wow has Simon Le Bon aged. There he was doing a poor job of lip synching still dressed like he was 21 but his clothes were just a little tight you know so that his neck and face appeared to bulge out from his body. I really wish pop stars would simply age gracefully like the rest of us because Le Bon looked - well stupid and pretty awful. He has put on weight in the face and he really does look like a 50-year old guy trying to be 21 again - yuk.

An Aging LeBon

Here are a few more stories from my fellow bloggers;

Life. Money. Development. presents Diet Tips for Preventing High Cholesterol Levels posted at Life. Money. Development., saying, "A neat collection of diet tips for keeping cholesterol in recommended levels."

Robyn J McCleary presents ORIGINAL NINTENDO posted at THE BEAUTY OF ART TODAY.

Ian Welsh presents Essential Insanity posted at Firedoglake.

Don't know about you but I hate it when there are lots of flies around? I invested in a fly swatter to deal with the pesky things. The worst are mosquitoes which appear to just adore me and in the summer I will awake covered in bites. But now I have my swatter, I have had to redecorate to cover up all the tiny little blood marks left by swatting mosquitoes...

Anyway - if you enjoy swatting flies too, try this on line fly swatting game.

The no-tell motels in Beijing's university districts pulsate with sex.

Every weekend, lusty college couples make a beeline past greasy spoon restaurants and bootleg video game shops for the dim hotel lobbies to book three-hour blocks of privacy. Students fill half the simple but tidy rooms at the Cheng Lin Ming Guang Hotel, a 10-minute walk from Beijing Normal University.

China is in the midst of a sexual revolution, a byproduct of rising prosperity and looser government restrictions on private life. The relaxed attitudes about sex mark a historic turnaround from the days when love and sex were denounced as bourgeois decadence, and unisex Mao suits and drab austerity were the norm.

Rest of story at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/02/china.sex.ap/index.html

In an environmental dispute seemingly scripted for eco-friendly California, a man asked prosecutors to file charges against his neighbors because their towering redwoods blocked sunlight to his backyard solar panels.

But the couple next door insisted they should not have to chop down the trees to accommodate Mark Vargas' energy demands because they planted the redwoods before he installed the solar panels in 2001.

Experts say such clashes could become more common as California promotes renewable energy and solar systems become more popular.

"Five or ten years ago, you wouldn't have seen this case because there weren't that many systems around," said Frank Schiavo, a retired environmental-studies professor at San Jose State University. "I can almost guarantee there are going to be more conflicts."

These days it seems that more and more folks shop online while building an online store for your business just gets easier and easier. One leading provider of shopping cart software is Ashop commerce who offer a complete range of services for anyone interested in building an online business.

If you want to get an idea of just how easy it is to build a store online visit their demonstration area. You can change the theme, add products - just about anything you want to do and its all hosted for you so you just need an internet connection. You don't need graphic design or HTML skills - just a few products to sell and an idea to do it over the internet.

Not only that but they have several options ranging from a set up for the small guy who just wants to sell a few products all the way to a top of the line, fully fledged online business - and its all very affordable with low cost monthly plans.

The Eurovision song contest has been going for decades. For American readers, its a contest between European nations for the best 'song' and its sheer nonsense but appears to be popular in Europe and particularly seems to have caught on in Central and Eastern Europe recently. The idea is that each European nation holds a mini Eurovision song contest and has its viewers vote for the song and act that will best represent the country in the main competition.

Generally, the songs are mediocre flop pop delivered by acts that seem to have the 80's in mind when it comes to fashion sense ad dance routines. The contest is also usually marred by block voting between the different countries so that rather than the best song/act winning the result is usually politically expedient. To me, its a reason why there will never be a real Europe filled, as it is, with national pride, block voting and politics. Yes - I detest the contest and never watch it or take any interest. But this year I will.

Hilary Clinton should already have stepped down in favor of Obama. She represents the status quo - the old ways of doing things under here husband and the Bush regimes. Obama on the other hand represents a new generation and a fresh approach.

The old way of doing things is to steal elections and run campaigns based on lies and rumors. In marketing, if you say it enough, it must be true. So the Clintons are working their cronies behind the scenes making sure that the Florida poll counts even though it was illegal according to DNC rules and the only candidate that run was - yes - Clinton. This was always their back up plan you see - that's why she broke the rules and campaigned in Florida.

According to CNN, a California town has banned cussing. That's all well and good but it also requires a definition of what you mean by cursing.

Last time I went to the US, I was redirected by immigration to a lady at the back of the immigration hall to obtain a more complete address for the hotel I was staying at. The lady asked me where the hotel was and I replied "Hell, I don't know". She then refused to assist me on the grounds that I was 'cussing' at her. It took me several minutes of pleading before she would assist me during which I attempted to point out to her that 'Hell' might be cursing for her but for 99% of the world's population it was not. In fact, you could hear the word 'Hell' used in TV dialogue any night of the week.

Really scares me when someone in a uniform can dictate issues like what constitutes a cuss word.

Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that married Italian women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour.

The court gave its landmark ruling after hearing the case of a 48-year-old woman, convicted of giving false testimony to police by denying she had lent her mobile phone to her lover.

The appeal court did not agree that she had broken the law.

It said bending the truth was justified to conceal extra-marital relationships.

Rest of the story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7284134.stm

Here is another link that I was sent that is very funny. Just click over to here. Enter your first name and last name in the spaces provided and click on 'vizualizer' to enjoy.

Who dreams this stuff up? and how do they have the time?

I must confess that I had never thought much about this issue. I mean people take all kinds of prescription drugs and that's that right? Well, no it isn't. Those drugs go through our bodies and come out when we visit the bathroom. From there, they enter the water supply and end up coming out of the faucet you drink from!

How do I know this? Well, CNN is covering a story about analysis of drinking water from around the US and it is pretty frightening reading. That story is here.

For a couple of months I have been trying to sign up this blog for PayPerPost. The first two attempts resulted in rejection but it was third time lucky for me and Rant Here yesterday when we finally obtained approval. Why so excited I hear you all ask?

PayPerPost is a service that links bloggers and advertisers such that bloggers can actually get paid a little for writing about a topic. It has an extensive blog network that advertisers can utilize to get the word out. Now the word advertiser doesn't sound so good but in fact it can be anyone who simply wants to generate some buzz about what they are doing. In fact, it could even be me asking other bloggers to write a post about this site for example. The advertisers are very varied indeed.

The Clinton's act as if they were the United States Royal Family. Now Hilary is offering Obama the position of Vice President - how kind and regal of her. I suppose her ego is so large that she hasn't yet noticed that she is trailing behind Obama in delegates, popular vote and every other measure of the democratic process?

I heard a voter who voted Clinton say that he couldn't lose because she was a twofer - you got "Hilary and Bill in the White house and Bill was pretty good." Someone ought to remind him that term limits means that Bill can't run again...oh, my mistake... term limits don't apply to the Clinton royal family and if his wife is elected, he just circumvented those rules.

Funnily enough, when Bill was elected he was young and inexperienced - just the critique the Clinton's now throw at Obama. But Obama isn't a royal. And, if he is so experienced why on earth do you want him running on your platform then? Please do make your mind up lady!

I feel for Hugh Laurie. In a recent interview, Laurie said: "There's a peculiar British attitude that I took an oath I wouldn't be successful, and reneged on it," as he talked about how work back home has dried up since he became a big star stateside in House. He is quite right you know.

To be British has its hang ups and one of them is success. Yes, Brits hate to see others being successful - it's a sell out you know. What I guess this means is that deep down, Brits like to be failures, second rate and depressed.

I speak from experience too. When I went off to college rather than into a job at age 18, it was as if I had betrayed my working class roots. All of a sudden, friends didn't speak to me, ignored me or told me to my face I was betraying my 'class' by going to college rather than getting a 'proper job'. When I went on and gained my degree it just got worse.

A retired physics professor became the latest public figure to debunk the myth of a "consensus" behind man-made global warming when he slammed big money interests for pushing climate change propaganda that was at odds with real science in a speech yesterday.

Howard C. Hayden, emeritus professor of physics from the University of Connecticut, told a Pueblo West audience that he was prompted to speak out after a visit to New York where he learned that scaremongering billboards about the long-term effects of global warming were being purchased at a cost of $700,000 a month.

"Someone is willing to spend a huge amount of money to scare us about global warming," Hayden said. "Big money is behind the global-warming propaganda."

Rest of article here - http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/031108_big_money.htm

Martina Navratilova has said in the past that President George W. Bush is a liar but her most recent comments are a real eye opener and worthy of some consideration. In regaining her Czech nationality recently she said "The thing is that we elected Bush. That is worse. Against that, nobody chose a Communist government in Czechoslovakia." and that she had swapped "One system that suppresses free opinion for another—it's depressing."

Now she didn't give up her US citizenship but now has dual nationality. My guess is that giving up US citizenship would be too onerous as the IRS would be very interested all of a sudden in why she would give up US citizenship.

If an alien arrived on Earth would we recognize it as an alien? I guess we always assume an alien will look humanoid but what if an alien looked - well - more like a dog? So here is my question to you. Is this an alien? Have they already arrived?

Need another look to be sure?

I'm not at all sure. But if it is just a plain old ordinary dog and the old adage is true that owners look their pets - I wouldn't want to meet this dog's owner!

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Deputies say a woman in western Kansas became stuck on her boyfriend's toilet after sitting on it for two years.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

Here is a site worthy of a browse... Asteroth's Domain. It's purportedly a site by a student of the occult but it actually has some great articles about meditation like this one.

Poop. Not something discuss much is it? I mean, generally, no one in their right mind would get excited about poop. There might be the occasional good joke about it but that is that. So how is it that when a baby poops its a time for excitement, discussion and comment?

I'm serious. Mother in law delights in changing poopy diapers. There then follows lots of discussion about poop, how it looks, its texture, where it originated and so on... Amazing isn't it how something that no one normally talks about suddenly takes on a new level of interest and importance just because the baby did it.

And at the end of the day isn't the baby an eating, sleeping, pooping machine? So I just don't get the fuss over a baby doing something it is actually supposed to do.

Do you?

I just got back from spending a week in the UK and I can tell you I will never return there to live. That Labour Government has been in power for far too long. It is brain dead, out of ideas and just crazy. How you Brits put up with it is beyond me?

The first thing I notice is the large 'Welcome to a smoke free Britain' signs as you leave Heathrow and walk straight into clouds of cigarette smoke as you leave the building. No body obeys the no smoking signs and the designated smoking areas sit unused as everyone puffs on their cigs just outside the main door. Stupid law anyway.

According to the BBC, Senator Barack Obama is actually the 10th cousin, once removed, of President George W. Bush.... The article also notes that he is the distant cousin of Brad Pitt while Hilary Clinton is the distant cousin of Angelina Jolie! I guess if you can go back far enough we are all related.

I wonder how Obama feels about his family now that he knows George is a relative? For sure, not kissing cousins.

These sorts of article regularly appear of course and some US Presidents have encouraged this type of research. Ronald Reagan was keen to point to his Irish, English, Scottish ancestry and other politicians in the US have worked hard to show their British origins. Why? What difference does it make?

Dear Mrs. Clinton,

Thanks for your application for the job of President of the United States. Your application was considered most carefully but in the end rejected in favor of a younger, more qualified candidate whose ideas are solid and original and who has demonstrated a consistent quality to rise above the petty details and focus on solutions to the bigger problems.

Your application demonstrates that your ambition for power and your insatiable ego make you, in the final, a poor candidate for the job. The successful candidate has called for fundamental changes in approach to the job. You, I fear, have continued to demonstrate a blind ignorance of this fact and continue to operate in the old way that we now seek to get away from. Your resume is over inflated and your claims of job experience appear weak - besides they are experiences of the old way of doing things.

Lot's of stories submitted for this issue.... enjoy!

Josh Willis presents The Mercury Girl - Jill Wagner posted at The Wi11is, saying, "The sexy girl from Mercury commercials used to play a vampire and alien on TV. Also video of amazing cute French singer Alizee"

Nathan Deschamps presents Nathan Deschamps Playing Footbag (hacky sack tricks) posted at Nathan Deschamps Footbagger.

Christine presents Is Marriage Outdated? posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France.

To be honest, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at this picture that I was sent recently. On the one hand, it is funny but imagine being this child?

Oh well......