Controversy erupts over fundraiser for Shelly Leonard (AlienGirl)

This is not a very well written item, but somehow it seems that the Church of Scientology is trying to use AlienGirl's popularity now that she can't fight back.

Once a year Yosemite spectacle

Yosemite waterfall turns to 'flowing lava' in rare February spectacle caught on camera

By Associated Press
Last updated at 7:13 PM on 19th February 2012


Fame: The waterfall's lights last for just about two minutes, giving the lesser-known waterfall in the park - though the longest free-falling one - its annually short-lived but long-remembered fame

A window of time just opened in Yosemite National Park when nature photographers wait, as if for an eclipse, until the moment when the sun and earth align to create a fleeting phenomenon.

This marvel of celestial configuration happens in a flash at sunset in mid-February — if the winter weather cooperates.

On those days the setting sun illuminates one of the park's lesser-known waterfalls so precisely that it resembles molten lava as it flows over the sheer granite face of the imposing El Capitan.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2103408/Yosemite-waterfall-turns-flowing-lava-rare-February-spectacle-caught-camera.html#ixzz1my1p0Nvm

Murmuration of tree swallows in Florida

Apparently tree swallows have been swarming in Florida at various places - Sarasota in mid-December and now Ruskin since about the first of February. My sister and her husband are going to try to watch them tonight

Here are some videos that people have posted on YouTube:

Chuprcabra or Texas Blue Dogs?

I've been sure that these things were mangy coyotes, but this seems to indicate there are other possibilities!

Texas Blue Dogs
Jon Downes travels to the Lone Star State to solve a canine cryptozoological mystery
By Jon Downes


The blue dog stuffed and mounted in Dr Phyllis Canion's fireplace

February 2012
FT280

My search for the blue dogs of Texas began in November 2004, when I visited a farm in Elmendorf, just south of San Antonio, where local rancher Devin McAnally had shot a hairless, blue-skinned canid in July that year (see FT199:48–49) (1). He took photographs of it to a local convenience store where one of the customers said that it looked just like “the chupacabra that her grandmother had told her about when she was a girl”.

Thus was born the legend of the Texas chupacabra. I took one look at the bones of the unfortunate creature and was convinced that it was nothing of the sort. Meanwhile, the Elmendorf beast was discussed widely across the Internet and dismissed as a coyote with mange. Well, I was pretty sure that this couldn’t possibly be the answer either, and over the next six years I studied the matter from afar and hoped that I would eventually get back to Texas to investigate in person.

In the spring of 2009 – thanks to the generosity of Richie and Naomi West – Corinna and I returned to Texas and became involved in the hunt for the blue dogs, as what started as a holiday became a full-scale investigation. Richie and Naomi had already visited Blanco, Texas, where another specimen was languishing in the deep freeze belonging to a local student taxidermist. He took a number of tissue samples, which were sent off for DNA analysis. The results have since come back from the Davis Labs, California: it was a coyote cross; although what it was crossed with proved impossible to isolate.

More with a good amount of factual information: http://www.forteantimes.com/features/fbi/6298/texas_blue_dogs.html

What Got Lost in the Debate About Birth Control

Hassling T-Mobile for fun and frustration

For a long time I've been getting debt collection calls. Problem is, not one is looking for me. My phone is listed as A. E. Ziggy in the phone book and I keep getting calls for people whose first name begins with "A" and the last name of Ziggy. Andrew, Andreas, Anthony, Amanda, Abigail, etc.

Most of the time there is a human on the line that I can tell (1) they have the wrong number and no one by the name of A----- Ziggy lives here and (B) Don't call this number again. Sometimes, it's a robocall but when I call back the number I can reach a human and tell the (1) and (B). It's worked, those companies do not call me again.

T-Mobile? Nope, no humans involved. It's a robocall. If I make any of the choices in the menu, I eventually get to a place where I have to have a T-Mobile phone number or account number to get to a customer service representative. I've never been a T-Mobile customer, so that gets me no where.

I reported them to the Do Not Call list but I kept getting calls. I called the local T-Mobile sales place, tried every T-Mobile number I could find on the web, still get the calls. This has been going on for months.

So I put in a complaint with the state consumer agency and for good measure, the state Attorney General. I got a nice letter from the consumer agency with a copy of a letter from T-Mobile. The T-Mobile letter claimed they had removed my phone number from their accounts and notified their debt collectors to put it on their do not call list. The next day I got a robocall from a T-Mobile debt collector looking for Andrea Ziggy...

I had already written a letter to the consumer agency telling them that while I appreciated that MY number had been removed from T-Mobile's list, that did not solve the problem of other consumers having no way to tell T-Mobile that they have the wrong number and that T-Mobile should not call it again.

Tonight I got a call from a T-Mobile customer service person. She was trying to convince me that T-Mobile had done everything they could to make sure I was not called by their company again. Uh, lady, you JUST called me. According to her, my number has been on their do not call list since December and I should not get any calls from them. So who was it claiming to be calling from T-Mobile LAST WEEK?

I warned her in the first minute of the call that I was antagonistic to any one from T-Mobile. I was polite and did not use any curse words, but was not pleasant. I explained to her everything I wrote above.

At the end of our discussion, she asked what she could do to make me happy. I told her "Nothing. T-Mobile will never be able to make me happy with the company. I've never been a T-Mobile customer, will never be a T-Mobile customer, and will tell everyone I know, in person, in emails and over the internet that they should never be T-Mobile customers."

I did tell her that I might be satisfied if I don't receive a call from T-mobile or anyone representing them for at least two years. Or never.

My husband tells people I don't hold grudges - I nail them to the wall and throw darts at them.

Oh yeah - DO NOT do business with T-Mobile.

OK, maybe her son will redeem her - Bobby Deen on Not My Mamma's Meals

First episode I've watched, he tackled Paula Deen's infamous Krispy Kreme burger. I missed the calorie count on the original but here's his remake of it:

AlienGirl - Former Democratic state House candidate Shelly Leonard dies of cancer

Tallahassee Mayor gets Leon Co. Democratic committee in hot water

Whining thread - I got good news and bad news about my knees

The good news is that I am discharged from physical therapy.

The bad news is that I am discharged because the PT is not going to help my worn out knees.

The physical therapist says that the motion and strength are good and gave me exercises to try to maintain, but he thinks that the sooner I check into knee replacement, the better. Since I am bone on bone, the damage will just get worse. If I put it off too long, replacement may be much more difficult.

The three questions he asked me is if the knee pain:
Keeps me from doing what I need to do?
Keeps me from doing what I want to do?
And keeps me from sleeping?
The answer to all of those has been YES for well over two years.

So I guess I need to call my orthopedic surgeon and talk to him. I want to see if they will replace both knees at the same time. I only want to go through this once, at least in this decade. But I'm worried about cost - our insurance will only cover 70%. I don't know how much the 30% will be and how I will cover it.

Getting old sucks.

Excuse my whining. I've been in denial and hoped that the therapy would help delay things. That he gave up after only three sessions is NOT a good sign.