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On January 18th 2020, the Lanaʿi Culture & Heritage Center, in Lana'i City, celebrated its 13th anniversary. Visitors to Lanai should visit this museum to share and experience its stories about Lana'i's heritage and natural history and also Hawaiian traditions, cultures, ranching and plantation era histories.
When the voyagers of Polynesia came to Hawaii, they brought with them traditions and legends that would be passed on to generations to come. Since there was no written language, these traditions and their stories were artfully expressed in combination with movements that later became known as the 'hula'.
One thing is certain; if you live long enough you're going to get old! There is no question that your world slows up a bit and some lifestyle changes are essential.
Quick and accurate diagnosis of an infectious disease like 2019-nCoV is critical to manage current and future outbreaks. As the number of people in China and elsewhere that are infected with the novel coronavirus (which is now called 2019-nCoV) grows, a great many labs and commercial entities in China, S.
The following are the 9 worthwhile things to do in Hawaii in no specific order of importance:
The home of the Paniolo or Hawaiian cowboy, Parker Ranch in Waimea is the birthplace of ranching and the cowboy lifestyle in the Aloha State.
Things to know about the Maui Zipline Tours before you make a booking:Do you have any health or medical problems?Generally speaking if you are in good health taking a zipline tour will not be an issue.
A few decades ago a small group of activists in Hawaii decided that it was time to revive the Hawaiian language, for Hawaiians to relearn their native language and Hawaiian to be included in traditional schools.
So you're trying to decide where to have your wedding. Keep this in mind. Of the top twenty locations in the United States to have your wedding, only Austin Texas provides a better price value than Hawaii.
In past times there were two ways for visitors to discover one of Hawaii's most unique experiences, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, the former leprosy colony, intentionally hidden from the outside world on Kalaupapa Peninsula on the small island of Molokai.
The Hawaiians were masters of a self-sustaining and self-replicating ecosystem in ways that could only be envied by modern-day environmentalists. No where can this be seen and demonstrated better than in their use of the Hawaiian fishponds that were built throughout the islands of Hawaii between 1000 and 800 years ago.
Mauna Loa, the world's largest mountain and volcano, is about 600,000-1,000,000 years old. Although not erupting as frequently as its younger neighbor Kilauea, it is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
The Battleship Missouri Memorial is located just a ship's length from the USS Arizona Memorial. Visitors have a unique and immersive historical experience that spans the sinking of USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor and Imperial Japan's formal surrender aboard the USS Missouriin Tokyo Bay.
Snorkeling in Hawaii should be a top goal for any visitor. With clean, warm waters, abundant coral reef, and colorful fish, it's easy to see why so many people are drawn to snorkeling.
Although it is obviously impossible to predict the weather for any particular Big Island beach on any given day in the future, it is possible to provide you with a generalization for usual weather patterns as they exist on the Big Island at different parts of the year.
The Big Island offers a marvelous array of options for visitors just looking for scenic strolls or for hiking excursions for a full-day or part of one.
Birders in the U.S. and around the world should know that Hawaii's birds consist of the greatest variety and examples of adaptation anywhere in the world.
Every island in Hawaii is blessed with beautiful beaches which are found on all the shorelines. Every beach, much like a fingerprint, is entirely different.
There has been much discussion in recent years regarding pollution of the planet and particularly the pollution that is caused directly by humans. There is much evidence for this claim and it is undeniably true that with the excessive burning of fossil fuels found within our earths crust that we are, at least to some degree, effecting the global weather.
Tom Barefoot's Tours has been really happy to help young adults, their parents and grandparents to vacation together in Hawaii. We all know that multigenerational travel is a growing trend, but our staff experiences special gratification by bringing several generations together and helping them to select just the right activities and tours.
Hawaii has its own unique cannabis history. The Hawaiian language term for cannabis is pakalolo (crazy or numbing tobacco). This term first appeared in a Hawaiian newspaper as early as 1842.
Charles Lindbergh traveled the world in his lifetime. He could have chosen any place on the planet as his final resting place. The place he chose was Hana -- a remote settlement on the eastern coast of Maui.
The health of coral reefs is more important than most people realize. Not only are coral reefs essential to healthy coastlines but also to healthy coastal economies, literally supporting thousands of businesses.
The health of coral reefs is more important than most people realize. Not only are coral reefs essential to healthy coastlines but also to healthy coastal economies, literally supporting thousands of businesses.
In recent years there has been considerable news in Hawaii, the mainland and also internationally regarding the lava flows that are covering the Puna and adjacent districts of the Big Island.
Sustainable Tourism is defined by the United Nations World Tourism Organization as tourism that takes into account its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts.
Award-winning journalist and editor, Susan Casey, is a lover of oceans and marine life. She is the author of three bestsellers including one about America's great white sharks.
Just about everyone that knows anything about Maui has heard the name Haleakala. The "House of the Sun" has the highest peak on Maui (10,000+ ft.
The location of Father Damien's Leper Colony was chosen because of its remoteness. Leprosy, or Hansen's Disease, was communicable and it was important that those infected by it would be separate from others in society.
A few decades ago a small group of activists in Hawaii decided that it was time to revive the Hawaiian language, for Hawaiians to relearn their native language and Hawaiian to be included in traditional schools.
Maui and Lanai have more snorkeling sites within easy reach than any other Hawaiian island. There is snorkeling for every snorkeler, no matter experience, age, fitness or any other factor.
Full-Face snorkel masks are in the news in Hawaii. This is a new innovation in snorkel masks that has become increasingly popular since its inception and availability to the public in 2014.
There are few things that visitors to Hawaii enjoy more than putting on their fins and heading for the warm ocean waters surrounding Hawaii's islands.
Having the envious mission of customizing experiences in Hawaii for clients and guests, wedding and special event planners know that each beach on each Hawaiian island is very different, visually and in the feelings and spirit that they communicate.
Of the eight major islands in Hawaii, six of them have airports: Big Island, Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Lanai. You are likely aware of the major airports on each island such as Honolulu International Airport, Lihue Airport, Kahului Airport and Kona International Airport but there are a number of much small commuter type airports that are interspersed among the islands.
This is a story of failure. This is also a story of success. Whether the balance tips in favor of success or failure is a subjective decision and you can decide.
Adventure travel is one of the most popular segments of the travel industry. In recent years there has been tremendous global growth in adventure travel.
Nothing will bring shivers down your spine faster than the site of an 8 inch centipede (in Hawaii, they can actually reach a foot in length). When you see one it is always startling as they are seemingly there for a moment and then they are gone.
Of the various types of volcanoes found on the Earth, the least destructive of them are the Shield Volcanoes such as the ones found in Hawaii. These volcanoes are primarily made of basalt, which in its fluid state is less viscous or sticky and as an analogy it flows more like water than like honey.
Not that you would want to, but if you did want to enter into a world of confusion, just bring up the concept of climatic zones in Hawaii. As you are well aware, the planet has a multitude of different climates.
While Hawaii is a crossroads for international and especially Asia Pacific travel, the number of visitors from China annually is small, less than 1% of arrivals in Hawaii.
More than just helping visitors to enjoy Hawaii's attractions on land, on water and under water, and in the air, Tom Barefoot's Tours is committed to preserving and protecting nature's bounty in the state.
Hawaii is a hot place, not just the temperature at the beach but even moreso the real estate market. Sellers usually receive multiple bids on their property.
Honolulu has the dubious distinction of being the third-most expensive city in the US to buy a home, behind San Francisco and Boston. Buyers have been paying a median of $684 per square foot to buy a 1,000-square-foot home in Honolulu.
Who can we believe when it comes to real estate projections? Is the real estate market poised to explode or is the bubble about to burst? Let's try to put some of the most important drivers of Hawaii's real estate market in perspective, starting with population projections and forecasts of non-resident real estate buyers.
Well, it's not necessarily the most sought-after or desirable list to find yourself on, but Hawaii finds itself at the very top of the list of states in the union with the most endangered species.
In 2018, an eruption of the Kilauea volcano changed the island of Hawaii forever. From May through August, large lava flows covered land southeast of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park destroying over 700 homes and devastating residential areas in the Puna District.
Extremely rich soil from heavy rainfall and a mild year-round climate has made Hawaii a prime agriculture state. The state is home to approximately 3,600 crop farms and 1,100 livestock farms.
At Tom Barefoot's Tours, we consider ourselves stewards of corals in Hawaii as well as the state's tropical fish. The reasons are deeper and well-beyond simply business self-interest since Tom Barefoot's Tours offers so many snorkeling, scuba, snuba and other tours in Hawaii's waters that depend on the health of coral.
January 15, 2016 was a date that people will remember. Surfing history was in the making. The place was the surf break of Jaws on the North Shore of Maui.
Recently Gov. David Ige presented Hawaii's annual State of the State address. He discussed commitments to boosting preschool education, housing and tax relief for families.
Our Hawaii video articles previously covered Gov. Ige's recent state-of-the-state in which he affirmed that easing Hawaii's high cost of living would be a central objective of the 2020 legislative session.
Hawaii deservedly is viewed by the rest of the world as "paradise". Even so people living in the islands, and their business and community leadership, are well aware of the fact that Hawaii faces some significant economic and human problems.
One of the main reasons that people love to visit Hawaii is its geographic and topographic diversity. This diversity helps to explain the unpredictability of the weather from place to place.
Oahu will have the strictest single-use plastics ban in the state based on a controversial bill passed recently by the Honolulu City Council. Faced with the daunting prospect of getting rid of huge stocks of plastics containers, many food industry leaders opposed the measure.
Honolulu airport is one of 20 airports in the nation where the US government has instituted passenger screening for the Corona virus. Keep in mind however that this screening procedure was set up in 2005, and not specifically in response to this virus.
Shortly after returning to Japan from Hawaii, in early February, a Japanese man was hospitalized with a high fever. He was then diagnosed with pneumonia and ultimately tested positive for COVID-19 – the latest name for Coronavirus.
The islands of Hawaii have a large number of Federal and state historic sites, many of which are worth visiting. The state is home to 33 sites that are part of the US National Historic Landmark program.
The water temperatures on beaches in Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island attract visitors any time of year.
Private property was unknown to ancient Hawaiians. They created a very complex system of land division. Central to this system was that all land was controlled by the highest chief or king.
One of the most amazing experiences a visitor could have on a visit to Hawaii would be to go on an ocean swim with wild Manta Rays. Actually, the only Hawaiian island that operates this type of tour on a daily basis is the Big Island and these tours are offered off the Kona Coastline.
Sea turtles ('honu' in Hawaiian) are one of the most interesting forms of sea life to be found in the waters of Hawaii These sea turtles, which are primarily the 'Pacific Green Turtles' are found on all the Hawaiian Islands and in fact are directly related to species of turtles that are found throughout the entire planet.
Questions about sharks and shark attacks are some of the most frequently asked questions people ask regarding their upcoming trips to Hawaii. Although the minds image of such horrific attacks are prominent in ones imagination the reality is that these happen very infrequently and in fact they actually happen less frequently over the course of a year worldwide than do deaths associated with taking 'Selfies'.
According to statistics compiled by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), Hawaii's hotels finished 2019 with the nation's top hotel rate and revenue per available room (RevPar).
Have you ever seen a beach with green sand? Well you have a chance to do so if you are going to bevisiting the Big Island. Actually you are going to have to really want to see it because it is located off the main road and down a very bumpy dirt road which leads to 'South Point' which is the very furthest point south on the Big Island as well as being the very furthest point south in Hawaii and for that matter the very furthest point south in the United States.
Just as reliable as Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park, the mysterious Box Jellyfish of Hawaii will arrive on its shores between 8 and 12 days after each full moon.
Goats, just like pigs, were not endemic to Hawaii, and were brought in by humans presumably to provide a source of food. Each in tern rapidly turned wild when allowed or encouraged to roam and the consequence today is that the land of Hawaii is rapidly being ravaged and destroyed by both animals.
Honolua Bay is roughly half of the Honolua-Mokule'ia Bay Marine life Conservation District. (See article on MLCDs) Most of the Bay is usually quite well protected unless winter swells roll straight in and conditions can change rapidly.
This is a question that comes up quite regularly with regard to helicopter tours on Maui. Obviously weather can be very different on alternate days but in what ways will it really affect your flight.
Anyone who wants to enjoy Big Island Activities and Big Island Tours certainly prefers to be blessed with a day of perfect Hawaiian weather. On most days in Hawaii, the weather cooperates beautifully, but sometimes can be unpredictable.
When you come to Hawaii you almost certainly will attend the famous Hawaiian feast called a luau. This is a celebratory feast of epic proportions in which hundreds of people gather together to essentially eat, drink and be merry.
Maui County (which includes the islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai) has a unique geography that allows the activity industry to offer a unique set of Maui activities and Maui tours.
Generally speaking, you could not be on a better island to enjoy great weather than Kauai. Consequently, enjoying Kauai activities and Kauai tours is as good as it gets as well.
Everybody knows that biking down the slopes of Haleakala is a big industry on Maui, but do you know how it began. I do, and it has been a curiosity to see how it has adjusted, morphed and grown over the course of years.
Visitors to the Big Island are always concerned about how the volcanic activity will effect their Big Island Activities and Big Island Tours. Although it is impossible to predict nature, we are providing you here with a chronicle of past volcanic events in hopes that this will give you an over view of one of the most continuous dramatic geologic events in recent years.
Shore divers on any island should have at least some knowledge of Hawaiian weather. The more the better. In fact, for the purpose of choosing the proper dive site for the day, shore divers need to know a lot about how to interpret not only winds but currents, waves and tides.
One of the reasons you are undoubtedly coming to Maui is because of the great weather here. Another reason you are probably coming to Maui is to enjoy some of the great Maui activities and Maui tours we have here.
One of the biggest concerns visitors to Oahu have is how the weather might effect the Oahu activities and Oahu tours they reserve. Some people think they should wait until the day before an event (or even the day of the event) to make reservations to assure themselves of having the best weather possible.
Hawaii has weathered major landfalls from only two tropical storms and two hurricanes since 1959. Even though hurricanes don't often directly hit land, however, they can and do cause damage.
Coral reefs in Hawaii comprise over 80% of U.S. coral reefs. Hawaiian reefs possess some of the most abundant levels of marine species in the world. These reefs shelter over 700 species of fish, 400 species of algae and over 2000 species of invertebrates.
We all know that Hawaii is a very unique place. In addition to its volcanic origin and diversity of beauty and attractions, the islands attract visitors because of their geographic isolation.
This is an extremely personal call since each type of boat is very different. Keep in mind that you will be going to see the very same areas but the issue being discussed is simply regarding the type of vessel you will be taking.
Plant life in Hawaii works hand in hand with the geology of these islands to not only keep expanding the Hawaii footprint with new land being made by the volcanoes but nature also does its best to regenerate this barren rock into beautiful forests.
Like Dorothy would say in the Wizard of Oz,'we're not in Kansas anymore'. That is the way that all visitors should view their relationship with the beautiful oceans that surround Hawaii.
West of Princeville, on Kauai's North shore, Hanalei and its surroundings offer one of the most unforgettable places to visit in Hawaii. Hanalei has fully recovered from the torrential rainfall and flooding it experienced in April 2018 and stores and restaurants are open for business.
Most people heading for Waimea Canyon pass through Waimea rather quickly to get to Kauai's version of the Grand Canyon. Seeing the canyon, 10 miles wide and 3000 feet deep, is one of Hawaii's greatest experiences.
More than 10 million visitors came to the Islands in 2019, setting a new all-time high according to year-end data from the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).
The Pacific Ocean waters just offshore from Kona on the Big Island are the habitat of an amazing variety of big game fish. In Kona's waters you can catch everything from mahimahi to wahoo to skipjack and yellowfin tuna.
Some folks on the mainland may suddenly discover that they may have a lace bug problem in their flower garden. At first, it's not easy to figure out because these garden pests are only about 1/8 of an inch long.
Billionaire Larry Ellison, the tech industry titan, already owns 98% of the former Pineapple Isle. Now he wants to buy Lanai's power plant and grid from Hawaiian Electric.
Newcomers to Hawaii are often completely perplexed by Hawaiian words and are simply just stumped to the point that they can't even possibly make a guess as to how to pronounce a word.
There are many fish that can be caught in the waters off Hawaii but one of the favorites for sport fisherman and gourmet chefs alike is the Mahi Mahi. These fish are fun to catch and fun to eat.
Few visitors think about visiting wineries when planning vacations in Hawaii. They don't know what they're missing. One of the most special destinations in the islands happens to be MauiWine on Maui's Ulupalakua Ranch.
Located in Central Maui, just west of Wailuku, towering peaks guard the lush valley floor of Iao Valley State Park. This 4,000-acre, 10-mile long park is home to one of Hawaii's and Maui's great landmarks -- the 1,200-foot high Iao Needle.
A leisurely two-hour walking tour will take you through Lahaina's historic highlights. But there is much to see, and even more to learn to appreciate Lahaina's rich history.
So why is Maui considered the world's Mecca for windsurfing? It's true that there are many places on the planet that windsurfing is possible and many places where it is continuously enjoyed.
If you'd like to see what one of the original Hawaiian inhabitants looks like, take a look at the photo of the Monk Seal below! The original human Hawaiians arrived in Hawaii from the South Pacific Islands about 1600 years ago, the Monk Seal arrived in Hawaii about 4 million years ago.
Waves of Polynesians from remote Pacific islands settled on Molokai eons ago. Europeans arrived at least 700 years later. The island began to be developed in the late 1880s.
Each of Hawaii's 400-plus species of fish has its own unique role in the nearshore environment and seeks out a different habitat. Some fish are at home in sandy bottom areas, others in boulder-strewn waters off rocky shorelines.
Located near the summit of Kīlauea Volcano off Crater Rim Drive, Nahuku and its lush rainforest trail have been popular features in the park. An eruption from Kīlauea 550 years ago produced vigorous streams of lava, and the long, hollow tunnel was left behind when the molten rock drained away.
Easy to find, just south of Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, Kaloko Honokohau National Historical Park is one of the best places in Hawaii to learn about the survival of early Hawaiian settlement on the Kona coast.
Everyone's favorite things to see and do on Oahu probably include snorkeling and mingling with sealife in the turquoise waters of Hanauma Bay and strolling down the long beautiful arc of sand at Kailua Beach.
The glider rides are fantastic! They are fun and they are very different. As far as seeing large portions of Oahu from the air...........this won't be in the cards.
Over the next year Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) will try to root out illegal vacation rentals (VRs). Everyone knows, of course including the city, that over the years illegal VRs have proliferated on Oahu, in spite of a three-decades-old ban.
The first people to come to Hawaii were the Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands, arriving on the islands sometime between 300 A.D. and 600 A.D. A second wave of Polynesian settlers came circa 1000.
Almost every day there's another announcement from community leaders in Hawaii about initiatives to protect the state's environment. Just recently, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu announced its elimination of the sale of all single-use plastics on its campus.
The Hawaiian islands have a fascinating history of polo that goes back to the reign of King David Kalākaua, the kingdom's Merrie Monarch. The first polo match in Hawaii was held in 1880 in Palama, a neighborhood of Honolulu.
Hawaii has a $100 million tuna industry. Hawaii's fishing industry is governed and managed by federal law and members of Congress are trying to figure out how to improve federal law governing the management of U.
There is a long history in Hawaii of English being taught in Hawaii's schools. In 1862 Kamehameha IV addressing the Kingdom's legislature said: "… it is important to change all Hawaii's schools to English speaking schools, and I once again put this forth to all.
Previous video articles by Tom Barefoot's Tours have discussed the importance of residents and visitors using reef-safe sunscreens to protect coral reefs around Hawaii.
It's always good to share news about successful efforts in Hawaii to preserve, restore and enhance the environment. The latest news is about an initiative that has returned about a half-million native trees to deforested Hawaii ranch lands over the last decade.
No one should be surprised that Paradise has a housing shortage, especially on Oahu which has about 40% of future housing needs. According to recent projections, Hawaii will need an additional 65,000 housing units statewide by 2025.
On Hawaii's Big Island protests by Native Hawaiians have flared for years against the construction of an 18-story telescope atop the volcano Mauna Kea.
Oahu has more than 100 miles of coastline and 100 beaches. Visitors to many of these beaches generally find excellent possibilities for swimming, diving, snorkeling, bodyboarding, surfing, and fishing.
When I first came to Hawaii in the early 70's and worked in a major hotel I was surprised at the number of tourists who would call housekeeping to come and remove a gecko they may have found on their wall or on their window screen.
The simple answer is......there are certain things you have to do at least once! You're coming all the way to Hawaii, would you not go to a luau? Would you not jump in the ocean? So yes, you'll have to go see the sunrise or you'll feel you missed out.
If you are concerned about sharks in Hawaii, you have good precedent to be concerned. Over the past couple of centuries of history regarding shark attacks there has been plenty of evidence confirming attacks have taken place and people have lost their lives.
Well this is the question every angler wants to know. As usual, as every fisherman will tell you, your fishing 'juju' always depends on the 'day' and yes, 'luck', 'karma' and 'having your good deeds rewarded'.
Stand Up Paddling (SUP) is perhaps the single best exercise available to you in Hawaii to provide you with optimal physical conditioning. You may want to give this a try while you are here to see what all the rage is about as SUP has gone 'off the charts' in its popularity.
The Mauna Kea Access Road, which leads to Mauna Kea's summit on the Island of Hawaii, was closed indefinitely by the state on July 15, 2019. The purpose of the closure was so equipment could be moved into place for the start of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) construction project.
On every Hawaiian island visitors can enjoy an amazing variety of private, semi-private and group surfing lessons and venues. Surfing locations and experiences on each island and even parts of each island all differ.
Most people will overlook the value of taking a helicopter flight of Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island when they first arrive on the island.
Sandalwood has always been one of the most enjoyable fragrances to be used in spa treatments the world over. Its likability is almost universal.
Hawaiians believe that a person's spiritual essence (mana) resides within their bones (iwi). Following death, a persons's bones or iwi were considered sacred because within the bones resided a person's mana.
We all know that Hawaii is a very unique place. In addition to its volcanic origin and diversity of beauty and attractions, the islands attract visitors because of their geographic isolation.
The legendary surfing nirvana on the north shore of Maui, 3 miles east of Paia, received its suitably scary nickname from three surfers in 1975. The nickname came from the film "Jaws" and the unpredictability of a shark attack.
Parasailing wasn't introduced as an activity in Hawaii until the early 1980's. It was popular from the start but it was operated in a completely different manner in those days.
Located 18 miles from Kauai, across the Kaulakahi Channel, Niihau is the oldest of the inhabited Hawaiian islands. It is also the least changed. The people of Niihau speak Hawaiian as their primary language and Niihauans still fish and hunt for their main staples of food.
An important part of the job of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) is to overcome preconceived notions about Hawaii that discourage tourism. Tourism is too important (21% of the state's economy) for Hawaii's image as a vacation destination to be mainly a place where mom and dad or grandma go, although their importance for Hawaii's tourism cannot be overstated.
An important part of the job of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) is to overcome preconceived notions about Hawaii that discourage tourism. Tourism is too important (21% of the state's economy) for Hawaii's image as a vacation destination to be mainly a place where mom and dad or grandma go, although their importance for Hawaii's tourism cannot be overstated.
As is true of most life forms who find themselves introduced to the Hawaiian Islands, wild or feral pigs like it here, they thrive here and they are multiplying in great numbers here.
Introduced into the Hawaiian Islands by Polynesians,leis were constructed of flowers,leaves,shells,seeds,nuts,feathers and even the teeth of animals. According to the history of the Hawaiian lei, ancient Hawaiians wore leis for adornment and, in some instances, beautification.
Perhaps the ultimate symbol of Hawaiian culture known throughout the world is the Hawaiian flower lei. For decades Hawaiian visitors have been greeted at the airport with the gift of a flower lei placed ceremoniously around their neck and shoulders accompanied by a kiss.
Ukuleles suddenly appearing or arriving in Hawaii is a small but really interesting part of the history of the state.A British clipper ship named the SS Ravenscrag arrived in Honolulu on Aug 23, 1879, from the island of Madeira, Portugal.
Of all the aspects of Hawaiian culture that are known in mainland America and other countries perhaps the one most notable icon is the Hula Skirt. Everyone has seen the cheesy or 'camp' car dashboard attachment of a hula girl with skirt that moves side by side as the car moves and turns with the traffic.
The Garden Island is full of beauty, hiking adventures and challenges. The oldest island in Hawaii, its incredible landscape includes Mt. Waialeale, the wettest spot on earth and, as legend says, the home of Menehune, pygmies that were highly skilled stone workers.
The next Hawaiian island is being formed right now and is expected to make its debut on the world stage in (perhaps) tens of thousands of years. The island already even has a name, Lo'ihi.
First of all, let's define a zipline. A zipline consists of a suspended cable with a sliding pulley. Ziplines usually are made of a stainless-steel cable mounted between two points on an incline.
Could there be any doubt that dolphins love to have a good time. Being animals at the top tier of intelligence in the animal kingdom the dolphin often spends its spare time simply frolicking and having fun.
The very largest of the Marlins are the Blue Marlins and of all the possible trophy fish found anywhere in the world, this is the prize! Yes, they are found in large numbers throughout the islands of Hawaii but they, and related species, are found throughout the tropical and subtropical oceans of the world.
We are still learning fascinating facts about the origins, culture and spread of Polynesians. First of all Polynesians include Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, Tahitians, Hawaiians and other indigenous people throughout the Pacific region.
Possibly the most colorful bark found on any tree in the world can be found in Hawaii and it is referred to as the Rainbow Eucalyptus. Originally coming from the Philippines this beautiful tree can now be seen in various places in Hawaii and is most famously found on the Hana Highway where a beautiful stand of trees can be seen just off the roadside.
Thanks to the Hawaii State Division of Forestry, the Napali Forest Reserve area is managed as a wilderness. A rich variety of native plant species thrive in the Reserve and along its trails.
The islands of Hawaii are one of the largest resort destinations in the United States and this is not because of their spectacular beauty alone but also of course because of the fabulous weather found here.
Hōkūleʻa -- Star of Gladness – has a unique and inspirational place in Hawaii's history. Double-hulled sailing canoes brought the first Polynesians to Hawaii.
Many life forms have in various ways found their way over vast distances to the Hawaiian Islands and then have evolved and adapted to the conditions they found here.
The Big Island is located south of the Tropic of Cancer. The sun's rays, this close to the equator are much more intense than many Hawaii visitors are used to.
The Taro plant is a staple of the Native Hawaiian diet. But taro is much more, so much more that it is central to Hawaiian culture. Hawaiians believe that the taro plant is sacred.
Water temperature is a constant concern for people coming to visit Hawaii. This is one of the most asked questions we receive from Hawaii visitors prior to their arrival.
Retiring at the age of 40 in Hawaii certainly sounds wonderful – that is, for those who qualify. However, according to a recent analysis by Seattle-based Redfin Corp, candidates need to have a household income of about $185,000 per year and managed to save about $80,000 per year for their almost 20 years in the workforce.
The mongoose was deliberately brought from India to the islands of Oahu, Maui and Molokai in 1883 to assist with the rat problem that existed in the sugar plantations.
In most places chickens are in cages but in Hawaii there is a large population of feral chickens who live in the wild. This is true of all islands but to a larger extent on the island of Kauai where it is speculated that large quantities of birds were loosed from their cages during both hurricanes Iwa and Iniki and have been wandering in the wild ever since.
Since day one the islands of Hawaii have been a magnet for all sorts of life forms that could make the long journey from anywhere else on the planet to the islands.
An estimated 600,000 tons of abandoned netting gear – 'ghost nets' -- finds its way into the oceans every year. The United Nations estimates that some 380,000 marine mammals are killed every year by either ingesting or being caught in derelict fishing gear.
The Big Island is coffee drinkers' paradise. The vast majority of the hundreds of coffee farms in Hawaii are on the Big Island. Other islands also have sizeable coffee operations.
Tours & activities account for about 10% of global travel spending annually. Increasingly travelers are seeking out activities and tours that exactly fit the experiences that they want, their values, physical capabilities, and other personal needs and preferences.
Tours & activities account for about 10% of global travel spending annually. Increasingly travelers around the world and in Hawaii are seeking out activities and tours that exactly fit the experiences that they want, their values, physical capabilities, and other personal needs and preferences.
Most basically a travel agency and its travel agents sell travel products and services on behalf of suppliers such as airlines, steamship companies, railways, bus companies, car rental firms, hotels and sightseeing operators.
For the professional surfer, the famous Vans Triple Crown of Surfing on the North Shore of Oahu is one of the most sought-after surfing competition titles in the world.
The ancient art of fire dancing that shows up in the history of luaus began hundreds of years ago by the people of Polynesia. Although it's not possible to pin-point exactly where in the 4,000 square miles of Polynesia fire dancing began, it is believed that the Maori people of New Zealand actually were the first pioneers in the long evolution of the fire dance from its origins with "poi.
Every Hawaiian island is unique and very different from the others. Partly because of these differences, each island in Hawaii offers special and unusual activities and tours.
Americans take less vacation time than they did in decades past and want to make the most of their vacation days. They are doing a great deal of online travel research.
Waimea Canyon, often referred to as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific," is a mile wide, more than 3,600-feet deep and 14 miles long. Quite small by comparison to the Grand Canyon in Arizona (277 miles long and 6,000 feet deep), Waimea Canyon provides panoramic vistas, deep valley gorges and, in combination with Kokee State Park, great hiking options.
Walking on the soft white sand of a beautiful beach in Hawaii is what we all dream about. Are we aware how truly amazing this exercise is for us however?
The accolades are endless regarding the beauty of the Na Pali Coastline on the North Shore of Kauai. Why do so many people think this is the most beautiful piece of coast line they have ever seen? It is because this is the most beautiful piece of coastline they have ever seen.
Travel publications these days all have articles on the topic of wellness travel. Basically wellness travel to any destination is for the purpose of rejuvenation.
So many of the things we observe about whales and their behavior are a mystery to us. Explanations about many topics regarding whales are simply conjecture or best case likelihoods but in reality are only good guesses.
Humpback whales are found in every ocean in the world. Their Latin name, Megaptera novaeangliae ("big wing of New England") refers to giant pectoral fins which can grow up to 16 feet long.
Every Hawaiian island is different and they all have special activities that are unusual and well suited for that particular island. There are special Maui activities and Maui tours that fit the bill for this island as well.
In the following list provided by Tom Barefoot's Tours, you will see the most popular categories of Kauai activities and Kauai tours based upon popularity.
Maui has snorkel spots all around the island. There are plenty of places where you will find both fish and coral formations. What you may not find so easily is good access to your snorkel location, and a safe place to snorkel.
Yes there are literally hundreds of Oahu activities and Oahu tours that are available on the island. What many people don't realize is that Oahu has some really unique tours that you simply wouldn't expect.
As we do on each of the islands, we will give you a ranking here of the 10 most popular Maui activities and Maui tours. This is important information for you, particularly on Maui, because, the activities that are most popular are also the ones that book up first.
Kauai Tours and Kauai Activities are very different than those found on the other Hawaiian islands. The primary reason for this has to do with the geography of the island of Kauai.
The Big Island delivers primordial experiences, and these experiences translate easily into Big Island tours and Big Island activities as you will shortly see.
Since the mid nineteen hundreds the highest mountains on the Big Island and Maui have been the homes of some of the most expensive and sophisticated observatories on the planet.
Horses became important in Hawaii, and in Kauai, as a result of the introduction of cattle to the islands. In 1793, Captain George Vancouver brought the first cattle to the Big Island.
Hawaii is lucky enough to have three islands where you can take a submarine ride. Atlantis Submarines operates from Waikiki Beach on Oahu, from Kailua-Kona on the Big Island and from Lahaina on Maui! If you haven't taken one of these adventures you are missing out and here is why.
Where ever you come from you are most certainly familiar with the mosquito. Perhaps unpleasantly familiar. Not only do they cause bites and itchy welts on the skin but they can occasionally be a carrier of various diseases such as Malaria, Dengue Fever or Zika.
So, most people will determine which month they will visit Hawaii based upon vacations and time off work, time off from school or weather conditions in their local regions.
First of all, let's define a breach. A breach is often considered to have occurred when a whale launches above the ocean's surface with over 40% of its body completely out of the water.
Diamond Head Crater is perhaps the most recognized geologic formation in the Hawaiian Islands. With the most recognized beach in Hawaii at its base (Waikiki Beach) it is no wonder that Diamond head is such an iconic feature.
Each of the Hawaiian Islands of Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, will generally have a couple of companies that will offer a 'doors off' flight.
There is no question that of all the helicopters flown in Hawaii, the A-Star helicopter and its newer cousin, the ECO-Star, are the aircraft of choice used by most helicopter touring companies on Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island.
The chances of swimming with dolphins while you're on Maui are less then they are on the islands of Oahu or Hawaii. The big reason why it is not likely that you will actually be able to get into the water and swim with dolphins on Maui is that in order to do so on a regular basis, you need to be able to predict exactly where they will be.
There is something exciting about seeing a shipwreck. It's intriguing and somehow mysterious. The huge tanker that is wrecked on the eastern coast of Lanai makes a visit there all that more exciting.
People are always curious to know about the dangerous creatures we have here in Hawaii like poisonous snakes and poisonous insects. There are of course no poisonous snakes in Hawaii but the fact is that considering the quantities of species that live in Hawaii we actually have relatively few animals or insects that can do you significant harm.
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Cervical cancer regimen comes up short
- Experimental treatment is less effective against advanced cancer in Indian women
- Experimental treatment used radiation and immunotherapy
- Doctors hoped regimen might help impoverished women around the world
KOLKATA, India — They lie in long rows of beds in a hospital women's ward — weak and forlorn as they battle cervical cancer.
The plight of such women inspired a team of doctors from Louisville, Ky., and Kolkata in 2007 to explore a new treatment for the potentially deadly disease.
But that team is now reaching a disappointing conclusion: An experimental radiation and immunotherapy regimen appears less effective against advanced cancer than the traditional Western treatment, which remains out of reach for many poor, Indian women.
"The data show that chemo and radiation, which is the consensus way to treat advanced cervical cancer in the States," seems to work better than the experimental treatment among the Indian patients, said University of Louisville researcher Dr. A. Bennett Jenson.
"I was (initially) under the notion it was as effective as chemo. And I don't think it is," said Jenson, of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center. "I'm disappointed. It wasn't the answer we wanted. ... (But) seventy-five percent of clinical trials don't yield the results you want them to yield."
Initial results from the five-year study at India's Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute looked promising, with the experimental regimen accounting for slightly more recoveries than the conventional treatment two years into the study.
Hopes were high that the experimental regimen might help impoverished women around the world, including in rural, low-income areas.
But now, nearly a year after the last woman enrolled, the results have become discouraging.
Of 103 women in the experimental arm of the trial, 42 are free of disease, six are alive with recurrent disease, and 55 have died. Of the 106 women in the control arm — those treated with conventional treatment — 61 are free of disease, 10 are alive with a recurrence, and 35 have died.
Cervical cancer at late stages is uniformly fatal if left untreated, and even with chemo-radiation treatment, the five-year survival rate is 50 percent or less.
As of now, "the study shows the immunotherapy does not have any advantage over the conventional chemo-radiation," said Dr. Partha Basu, head of the department of gynecological oncology at Chittaranjan and principal investigator in the study.
"I wish the immunotherapy arm would have done a little better. I really wanted it to work better for the patients," said Debapriya Banerjee, clinical trials manager for gynecological oncology at Chittaranjan.
Basu stressed that they are still following up with patients, and questions remain — including some that raise doubt about whether the difference in deaths is statistically significant and will hold up over the long term.
For example, he said, more women who joined the study early were placed into the experimental arm, meaning they've had more time for relapses and death to occur than those in the control arm. Also, he said, it's been difficult to determine what has happened to every participant, since some women never returned from remote villages for follow-up.
No matter what they find, Basu and Jenson said there's an undeniable upside to the study: a commitment to providing more patients with chemotherapy.
Before 2007, Basu said most Chittaranjan patients with advanced cervical cancer received only radiation because there weren't enough hospital beds for chemotherapy.
"As we started providing chemotherapy through the trial, more patients started demanding chemotherapy," Basu said, resulting in a day chemotherapy center opening at the hospital.
Deadly in India
Basu and Jenson said the study also underscores the need for cervical cancer prevention.
Jenson, one of the inventors of the Gardasil shots that protect against the human papillomavirus that causes most cervical cancer, is now working on an inexpensive version for the developing world that would cost as little as $3.
Basu, meanwhile, has become more involved in improving cervical cancer detection and awareness, partly through "screening camps" in remote areas. He recently operated on 50-year-old Neburjan Bibi, who lives in a village seven hours from Kolkata and whose early-stage cancer was discovered at a screening camp.
"The chance of recurrence is very low," Basu said, touching Bibi's arm as she lay in a hospital bed. "She'll be OK."
Cervical cancer is both preventable and curable at early stages. Yet it remains the biggest cancer killer of Indian women, striking 130,000 each year and killing 75,000.
Poverty, combined with a lack of cervical cancer screening and access to health care, means the vast majority of cases are diagnosed late.
In the United States, women are routinely screened for cervical cancer with Pap smears and often have precancerous lesions removed before they turn into cancer. About 12,000 American women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 4,000 die.
A study released in 2009 by the World Health Organization found that Indian women have a lower rate of infection from human papillomavirus, or HPV, than Americans.
But Indians face risk factors Americans don't. For example, village women often marry in their teens and get pregnant soon afterward, which suppresses immune systems weakened by malnutrition and increases the likelihood that an HPV infection will progress to cancer.
And once cancer strikes, getting care can be difficult for the poor, rural women who are hardest hit. There are fewer than a third as many hospital beds per person in India as in the United States, and many rural villages are hours from hospitals.
A new approach
The Louisville-Kolkata trial, which began enrolling women in the fall of 2007, randomly assigned participants with advanced cancer to the chemotherapy-radiation control group or the study group.
Those in the study group got radiation plus immunotherapy consisting of pills of retinoic acid, a derivative of Vitamin A; and shots of the protein interferon-alpha. When recruiting subjects, doctors said they emphasized the experimental nature of the regimen.
This wasn't the first trial to test the treatment; it had shown promise in three of four pilot studies elsewhere. But researchers said it is the first time it was tested in untreated women with cancer as advanced as the majority of cases in India.
Doctors said both treatments cost about the same. Treatment medications and hospital care are free to participants, and Jenson personally donated $5,000 for other medicines that patients in the trial might need.
Basu said there were fewer side effects among women in the experimental arm of the trial. And two years into the trial, 69 of the 114 who had enrolled were disease-free, with the experimental arm accounting for a greater number of disease-free patients than the control arm.
But over the next few years, cancer returned among more patients taking the immunotherapy treatment than in those receiving traditional chemotherapy.
Prevention effort
As chief coordinator of the Cervical Cancer Prevention & Control Initiative, a partnership among Chittaranjan, the medical testing company Qiagen of Germany, and the ministry of health in West Bengal, the state where Kolkata is located, Basu said he is focused now on trying to head off cervical cancer before it starts.
His efforts include working with several nongovernmental organizations, training field workers to raise awareness in their communities and using a Qiagen HPV test to screen for pre-cancers among women in remote areas.
Meanwhile, research on a new HPV vaccine continues in Louisville.
Jenson and colleagues are looking at using Kentucky tobacco to develop the inexpensive vaccine and hope to have a federally approvable version within two years.
"What we want more than anything is to deliver an economically viable vaccine that can be used in places like India," Jenson said. "If we are successful with this, Partha would be the first person to vaccinate women. And I would hope to go there to see the first person be vaccinated."

subset: commoncrawl


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Last week, I reviewed the Retinol serum by Body Merry and this week I will be reviewing their Hyaluronic Acid. This is a combination serum that is boosted with other ingredients like:
- Vitamin C
- Green Tea
- Aloe Vera
- Jojoba Oil
- And Vitamin E
All ingredients are Natural or Organic. Free from harsh chemicals such as Parabens, Sulfates and Phthalates. Also, no fragrances or alcohol are ever used and the product is produced in the USA.
Ingredients (as listed on their site):
- The Hard Hitters: Plant Derived Hyaluronic Acid + Vitamin C + Wildcrafted Green Tea
- The Organic Ones: Aloe + Jojoba Oil
- Just Some of the Others: Witch Hazel + MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) + Geranium Essential Oil + Vitamin E
Price Point: $14.99 for a 1 fluid ounce bottle that comes with a dropper top. Backed by a 100% Money Back Guarantee too!
Hyaluronic Acids help boost the amount of moisture your skin cells can hold. You get a plump and smoother look on the surface, so while you are quenching the skin, why not add other nutritional ingredients to improve its health? Body Merry does just that and even if you are prone to clogged pores, blemishes, acne, blackheads, this is a non-clogging formula. My T-Zone should be called my pimple zone because I can be prone to breakouts. I admit I sometimes just dab and pretend to moisturize these areas but always lightly. I was able to apply a thin layer of the Body Merry's Hyaluronic Acid serum and woke up the next day without any skin issues. You will notice as the weeks go by and with continued use, the serum has lasting results. Due to its plumping nature and how well it drives moisture to the areas applied, I went for it and I applied it on my lips. I usually use whatever is left on my finger tips after applying to my face and neck area, which is usually more than enough. Chapped lips/Winter lips are now not an issue and I follow up with a nourishing balm enriched with Coconut oil. Another great product by Body Merry that is affordable, performs well and with regular use, rewards you with better looking skin. I figure I will start my 2015 looking better than years before!
Get your Body Merry fix at:
I received the above product(s) free of charge from Body Merry. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.


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New Ford Dealership near South Lyon and Brighton MI
Find a quality new Ford car, truck, or SUV in the Fenton, MI area today with the help of Lasco Ford. Whether you're after an eco-friendly sedan for your daily commutes, a slick, sporty looking car for turning heads in MI, a spacious SUV for all of your adventure gear, or a rugged truck that will stand up to the wear and tear of everyday life, our Ford dealership has you covered! Located just a short drive from our Flint, Howell, South Lyon, and Brighton, MI neighbors, we have a massive selection of the new Ford Bronco, Escape, F-150, Edge, Explorer, models and so much more! So, take a look through our inventory above to see what piques your interest. Once you find the model (or two) that seems like the best fit for your needs and your lifestyle, contact us to set up a test drive to ensure that the comfort, features, and performance all live up to your standards!
Are you after a specific new Ford vehicle and can't find a match in our inventory? Let us know! Just fill out our CarFinder form to tell us the details about your dream Ford car, truck, or SUV, and we'll use our resources to help you find a match. Once located, we'll contact you to see if you're interested, no obligations!
More About Buying a New Ford, Car, Truck, or SUV in Fenton, Michigan near Flint
After the test drive, once you're confident that you've found the new Ford that you want to drive back to your Fenton, Flint, Howell, South Lyon or Brighton MI home, it's time to sit down with our finance experts to run the numbers. Regardless of whether you're after a traditional car loan or a Ford lease, our team will work hard to help you secure a finance plan that is tailored to your unique budget. So, stop putting off this exciting time in your life! If a new Ford is what you want, contact us today to see how we can help you make that dream come true!
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On December 23, 2003—five days after my 24th birthday, two days shy of Christmas and six days before my older brothers' 26th birthday—my mother passed away quietly in our home after a long bought with cancer. She was my best friend, confidant and a real-life version of Martha Stewart. I was devasted, broken and silent. I couldn't cry, I couldn't even move. 2004 is still a blur to me.
What I didn't realize then was that, in time, my wounds would heal. I would learn to smile again and maybe even look on this day and be at peace with it. Better still, my pain might help someone else get through theirs—and in the years following, it certainly proved to do so.
But what happens when it's you that needs a shoulder to cry on? Sure, history has proven that you can weather the storm and recover, but being strong all the time is exhausting. At least I know it's been for me. My girlfriends are great people with huge hearts, but sometimes I feel like life has been much kinder to them and they can't really understand what I'm going through. I've always been the "big sister" with weighty advice and reflective suggestions, but now I needed someone to be that for me. What was I to do?
I decided to take a walk. I walked near a park, around my block and to my favorite coffee house close by. I didn't go in, though. I sat on a bench outside and soon smelled the comforting aromas of freshly brewed coffee and warm baked goods. I started watching the people come and go around me and wondered where they were going. Who were they going home to? What kind of life did they live? Then it hit me—everyone has gone through something and has a story. Mine was no different and no more important. Sure, maybe I had more loss in my life, but my friends loved and cared about me enough to support me when I was having a rough time. Not everyone has that blessing.
Maybe instead of assuming the worst, take a chance and reach out to your friends and loved ones. Explain to them what you're going through—they are your friends and family for a reason, after all. Call it a leap of faith, but I've found people can surprise you in the most incredible ways. If you're still concerned, take your trusty dusty pen and write it down.
Next time you're concerned that your friends may not understand, try one of these actions first:
- Take a walk to reflect on the many blessings in your life.
- Sit still and breathe deeply—sometimes slowing down is what you really need.
- Write it down—seeing the words on the page can be truly healing.
My father always tells us that there is wisdom in all things, and for everything under the sun, there is a time and a season. Everyone goes through hard times and needs a caring shoulder to cry on. Trust the people in your life. It makes all the difference!
Need other strong vinas in your life to be there for you? Start swiping on the Hey! VINA app today.


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After seeming to talk us into the shunt surgery in the ER, our neurosurgeon seemed to spend our clinic visit talking us out of it. While she seems to agree that the surgery is basically inevitable, there is still a slim slim chance the hydrocephalus will arrest, and since she's not having severe symptoms at this time, we have a little time to wait. In the meantime, we're probably going to start her on Zantac and see if that helps the vomiting.
I'm glad this means no surgery this week, though I'm pretty sure she will need the shunt at some point. Guess we'll be staying in style when that happens, because the new infant and toddler unit at our children's hospital will be open by then.
I also realize I haven't updated about MY health issues in a while. Based on my slow recovery and echo-cardiograms, my cardiologist had me do a contrasted cardiac MRI. It was kind of crazy to actually feel the contrast get warm in my chest every time the MRI machine was on, and I now totally see why claustrophobic people totally wig out in those things. Personally, I pretended I was an astronaut about to be blasted into space. Anyway, the upshot is, it looks increasingly like I have a congenital heart defect called left ventricle non-compaction syndrome, which basically means the tissue in my left ventricle didn't form correctly, which is why it's weak and has such a "poor squeeze." The strain and stress of the pregnancy on my body is what finally made my condition severe enough to notice. I now feel vindicated and want to go back to every PE teacher I ever had and explain that my poor performance in everything endurance related is actually the fault of my heart.
The MRI also showed that my ejection fraction (a measure of how well the heart pumps blood into the body) has improved from 15% to about 30% (normal is still 50% or better). I'm still doing well on my ever-increasing cocktail of meds, and I think my doctor will be adding a third medicine (I'm already on a beta blocker and an ace inhibitor) this week, and I hope the transition goes well.
Anyway, that's what's going on with Claire and me health-wise. Thank you again for all of your support, thoughts, and prayers.


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In my last post, I observed that Ellen Mosley-Thompson's archiving record was even worse than that that of her husband, Lonnie Thompson, whose failure to adequately archive his ice core measurements has long been a subject of criticism at Climate Audit. In particular, I observed that Ellen had archived nothing from the 15 expeditions to Greenland and Antarctica that, according to her CV, she had led.
This post has occasioned fresh commentary on Lonnie Thompson's archiving, which I will review in today's post. In particular, I will assess Thompson's statement in an email to a CA reader stating:
…our ice core data are archived at the World Data Center NOAA Paleoclimate data base in Boulder Colorado…
Despite Thompson's claim, no data whatever is archived for many ice cores. For other cores, my issue is that the Thompson archive is completely inadequate, as I'll discuss below. I remain mystified by Thompson's intransigence in establishing a comprehensive and meticulous archive of his measurement data, as, in my opinion, he should regard the establishment of such an archive as an essential part of his scientific legacy and his #1 priority given his age and health.
Cores With No Archive Whatever
As noted in my recent post, according to her CV, Ellen has led "nine expeditions to Antarctica and six to Greenland to retrieve ice cores". Antarctic sites include Plateau Remote, Dyer Plateau and Siple Station; Greenland sites include those in the PARCA program e.g. GITS, D2, D3, Raven, Tunu. Despite Lonnie Thompson's claim that "our ice core data are archived at the World Data Center NOAA Paleoclimate", no data from any of these Ellen-led expeditions has been archived at the NOAA Paleo website.
In my earlier post, I noted that one Greenland data set associated with Ellen had been archived, but pointed out that this came from a much earlier expedition that she had not led and that the data had been transcribed by third parties. For further clarification of this, in 1966, the first long ice core was drilled in Greenland at Camp Century (1387.4 m to bedrock). Lonnie Thompson studied dust concentrations in this core as part of his 1977 thesis entitled Microparticles, Ice Sheets and Climate (Ohio State University Institute of Polar Studies Report 64). These results were published in an academic journal in 1981 by Lonnie and his wife, Ellen Mosley-Thomspon as Temporal variability of microparticle properties in polar ice sheets (Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 11). In 1990, this data was transcribed at WDC/NSIDC and eventually archived at NOAA (with the most recent deposit dated in 2007). This is the only archived Greenland/Antarctica associated with either Thompson and, as I stated in the earlier post, does not come from one of the 15 expeditions to Antarctica/Greenland led by Ellen Mosley-Thompson.
Subsequent to this early consideration of dust in the Camp Century, Greenland ice core, Lonnie's career, as is well known, has been devoted to high-altitude tropical ice cores. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Thompson drilled a series of tropical ice cores: Quelccaya 1984, Dunde 1987, Guliya 1992, Huascaran 1993, Sajama 1997, Dasuopu 1997, Kilimanjaro 2000 and Puruogangri 2000. Each expedition was punctuated with a short article in Science, none of which, in my opinion, can really be considered as a comprehensive technical report on the ice cores.
Since 2000, Thompson has conducted expeditions to Bona-Churchill (two cores 2002 – NSF award here), Quelccaya and Coropuna (four cores 2003 – NSF award here), Puncak Jaya, New Guinea and Nevado Hualcán, Peru (four cores 2007 – see NSF award here and most recently Alto dell'Ortles, Italy (see NSF award here). See Thompson's NSF award history
Nothing has been archived at NOAA from any of these expeditions despite Thompson's assertion that "our ice core data are archived at the World Data Center NOAA".
NSF funding for Puncak Jaya, Hualcan and Ortles has not expired (it continues in each case to March 2013), but NSF funding has expired for the other three programs (Bona-Churchill – May 2006; Quelccaya/Coropuna – June 2007; Naimona'nyi – March 2010). Nor has there been any publication of the Bona-Churchill ice core, a lacuna noted at CA for a number of years – see here.
Cores with Very Defective Archives
Let me now turn to the archival situation for the early cores, where Thompson has uniformaly failed to provide anything like a comprehensive or definitive archive of measurement data, but has (in some cases, grudgingly) provided digital versions of a single figure in an article, which Thompson has then attempted to pass off as an adequate archive.
Thompson's NSF award for Quelccaya/Coropuna contains a relevant description of the major component of an adequate archive (though, needless to say, Thompson has not established such an archive for these cores):
This award will help obtain and analyze four ice cores to bedrock from the Quelccaya and Coropuna ice caps in the Peruvian Andes. These new cores, covering the last 10,000 years will provide a more robust and detailed history of Pacific sea surface temperature variability than has been possible with previous cores. Approximately 6,000 samples will be obtained from each core for stable isotopes of oxygen and deuterium, insoluble dust concentration and size distribution, and soluble aerosol chemistry analyses. These and other proxy measurements will be used to reconstruct a regional temperature and precipitation history and produce a high-resolution record of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variations
This is precisely in accordance with the sort of definitive archive that I've advocated for a number of years. Each Thompson ice core has several thousand samples, on which various measurements are typically taken: O18, dust, chemistry, etc. If Thompson's ice cores as important as represented, then they deserve nothing less than a definitive archive i.e. the measurements for all 6000 or so samples for each core. These are not "large" archives. I presume that much of the data is already in digital form somewhere at Ohio State.
Other information that is required for a definitive archive is detailed information on layer thickness (including photographs of ice core) used to date the core. The dating of rapidly thinning ice cores is subject to a variety of uncertainties. Subsequent investigators should be able to re-examine Thompson's dating and, if they disagree, they should have the information that enables them to reassess the isotope history. (An example of such a re-consideration is Vinther's recent reassessment of the 1970s and 1980s vintage Agassiz cores in light of information from more recent Greenland drilling.)
Instead of this sort of definitive archive, Thompson's archive at NOAA for Dunde, Guliya and Dasuopu were, until a few months ago, nothing more than decadal O18 chronologies for the period 1000-1990 with no detailed sample information, no ancillary dust, chemistry, nothing on deeper portions of the core.
Aside from mere craftsmanship, there is an important additional reason why Thompson should be expected to archive all measurement data for these cores. In multiproxy studies, the raw measurement data (by sample) is combined with the dating assigned to the samples to produce (for example) isotope "chronologies" (to borrow the term used by dendros). As discussed at CA on numerous occasions – see, for example, here, Thompson has published or distributed inconsistent chronologies (see the figure below.) Some of the inconsistencies are hard to understand. The Dunde version of Thompson et al (PNAS 2006) is inconsistent with the version in Yao et al (Ann Glac 2006), of which Thompson was coauthor. The Dunde version of Thompson et al (PNAS 2006) is consistent with the version used in Mann et al (1998), but not with the intermediate Thompson et al (Clim Chg 2004).
Dunde Versions – see here.
Correspondence with Thompson and Journals
Until 2003, Thompson had archived nothing from any of his Himalaya cores (Dunde, Guliya, Dasuopu), all of which have been important in the paleoclimate discussion. In October 2003, shortly prior to publication of our 2003 article on MBH, I requested data on these cores from the Thompsons, but got nowhere.
In 2004, I was asked to review a response by Mann et al to our 2003 article. In that capacity, I asked to see supporting data for their submission (data that they had refused to supply to me late in 2003.) Stephen Schneider said that, in his 28 years as editor, no reviewer had ever requested supporting data. I replied that times change and that I wanted to see the supporting data. Schneider said that this would require approval by their editorial board. I asked that this be obtained. This incident is documented in 2004 Climategate emails. As a result, Climatic Change adopted a policy requiring authors to supply supporting data, but not code. I then insisted that Mann supply the requested supporting data; Mann appears to have withdrawn the submission rather than comply with the new data policy.
In March 2004, I requested supporting data for Thompson's 2003 article under the new policy, a request that was supported by Climatic Change. However, instead of providing a comprehensive and definitive archive, Thompson simply archived decadal O18 chronologies for Dunde core 3, Guliya and Dasuopu for the top part of the cores from AD1000 to 1990.
Thompson has subsequently pointed to this absurdly inadequate archive as evidence that he has "archived his data". However, for the various reasons set out above, archiving the published decadal O18 histories for these sites is only one small component of a definitive archive.
Over the years, I've attempted to persuade both Thompson himself and the various journals that a definitive archive is both required and long overdue. I've collated this correspondence here. In 2004 and 2005, I tried to persuade Climatic Change. In 2005 and 2006, I tried to persuade Science to require Thompson to provide a definitive archive of cores that Thompson had published in Science. This resulted in them supplying sample information for two Kilimanjaro cores that were interesting (see contemporary CA discussion here) but not relevant to my request for sample data from Dunde, Guliya and Dasuopu. I then had a lengthy correspondence with Science re-iterating my request for details on these three cores; the editors said that they corresponded with Thompson on the matter, but the requests were stymied and ultimately the Science editors stopped answering without ever answering or resolving the matter.
In 2007, I tried to obtain measurement data for the three cores once again with both the editor of PNAS and then Ralph Cicerone, the president of NAS. Once again, the correspondence went nowhere. I asked for an archive of sample data, carefully explaining the difference between sample data and a decadal chronology. PNAS responded that Thompson had told them that he had already provided what I asked for and that I should simply go to the NOAA site – a site that I was obviously well aware of and which I had distinguished in my initial response. And which obviously didn;t contain the sample data that I had asked for. Both Thompson's unresponsive answer and PNAS' seemingly wilful obtuseness to the problem (think Gavin Schmidt or William Connolley on upside-down Tiljander) are all too characteristic of the climate community and have contributed to the present adverse atmosphere.
Rather than enforce journal policies, Cicerone told me to write Thompson, who had refused for years to provide this data. So I wrote to Thompson one more time, this time copying Cicerone, Gerald North, Brooks Hanson of Science. Once again, Thompson ignored my email.
In comments on the prior thread, CA reader Roger has criticized me for being insufficiently diligent in trying to obtain measurement data from Lonnie Thompson. I believe that the attached correspondence completely refutes his criticism.
As I observed above, it remains a source of great puzzlement to me why Lonnie Thompson does not regard the establishment of definitive archives of his data as an integral part of his scientific legacy. At this point, it is evident that it will be difficult, if not impossible, for him to carry out the definitive statistical analyses of his data. Over the past 10 years, he has fallen further and further behind. The logical solution to his quandary is simply to provide a comprehensive and definitive archive and thereby let any interested scientist carry out the analyses that Thompson himself will either never carry out or not carry out for many years. Nor in my opinion should Thompson, at this age and stage of his career, spend his time haring off to yet another drill site. No vice president of exploration in a mineral exploration company would personally feel obliged to sit on a drill rig. Surely there are other people capable of supervising the next drill program. Thompson should let them do their job.


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Dear Readers,
I'm honored to present the caricature of The Divine Miss M(idler) as Winifred 'Winnie' Sanderson of Hocus Pocus!
I chose to caricature Bette Midler's Witch-avatar, because:
- It made my job easier
- It made the drawing more interesting
- She was the only reason I watched Hocus Pocus twice
- On 16th May, she tweeted: "The IRS overtaxing The Tea Party? I never thought I'd say this to the IRS – THANK YOU! THANK YOU FOR DENYING 501C-4 to any group who hates!" – And that my friends, is what led to the small print at the bottom of the image.
Most of you know who I am talking about, but for those who don't know about this potpourri of talents, here's a small intro.
Bette Midler is:
An American Actress, comedian, singer, and entrepreneur, and…she's the master of all these trades!
She was born in 1945 and started her career on Broadway and moved into singing. Midler's debut album released in 1972 was called The Divine Miss M, and it fetched her, her first Grammy.
Till in her mid-thirties, she hadn't worked in a motion picture. Her first movie was "Rose", for which she received a Golden Globe award.Her career details are mind-boggling and this caricaturist will like to excuse herself from the labor required to post them all here. If you are interested, please find Bette Midler's biography and Career Details here.
My Favorite Bette Midler Movies:
- Hocus Pocus
- What Women Want
- The Stepford Wives
- Cats and Dogs – The Revenge of Kitty Galore (As the Voice of the Awfully Awesome Kitty Galore)
Some other Important Midler Movies (this obviously isn't an exhaustive list – and as you may have noticed, I've not even mentioned her sitcoms and albums.)
- The First Wives Club
- The Rose
- For the Boys
- Divine Madness


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We're in the beginning of September, the late home stretch of Summer. A few hot days left, some warm, comforting rain coming soon. As much as I physically and emotionally despise the Winter I do look forward to early Autumn, that is at least until my birthday.
No, I'm not 6, though I often feel that way. I do act child-like (ok kids, childish) in some ways but to me little things make me happy; especially things that I can do to entertain myself. I'm not needy, that way, I amuse myself all the time and I hope to be able to continue to do this until I take my last breath and die.
I laugh out loud to my own jokes with nobody around and sometimes I think I am absolutely hilarious. It doesn't matter to me at all what other people think, as long as I am enjoying myself, and not hurting anyone, that's all I need. I think I got this from my dad who often laughed at his own jokes but back then, as a daughter, things didn't really seem that funny to me. They do now.
I celebrate and look forward to my birthday every year. I have no shame about age, I will be 58 in early October and I hope to be just as happy as I approach the so=called dreaded 60." I admit sixty does sound OLD and it seems impossible that I will be sixty but I hope to celebrate that birthday with even more presents, laughter, family, flowers and friends. Key word : Hope.
Why not? In the past, my mother always lied about her age.. For years she lied about my age and my sister's age, we got younger every few years. She used to say and "this is my daughter." It took us years for her to add-on each name. She gets it now.
She doesn't like me to tell people her age so I'll just say she gave birth to me as a young teen mom. I'm really not coy about age or gray hair. At the moment I am trying to grow out a reddish glaze, not to cover my gray hair but to make it shiny. It didn't work. Now my hair has three shades, all I want is for my natural brown and silver.
I buy myself little things, very little things, a few weeks before my birthday. It could be one cookie or something from a thrift shop, it by no means is expensive. It's my birthday month and who knows better than me what makes me happy?
Think about this the month before your birthday, buy yourself something. Why not? I'm sure you deserve it. Wish yourself a Happy Birthday Month and all good things to come throughout the year.
PS Warm wishes on your special day from ME!


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You may have been in the presence of a writer – any kind of artist – during the moments after they've read a review of what they've created. If it's a good review, as in the reviewer has come down on the side of the work, the producer of that work will be happier than they've ever felt before in their life, or so it feels at the time. If it's a bad review, as in the reviewer has not come down on the side of the work, the producer of that work will be more miserable than they've ever felt before in their life, or so it feels at the time. Either way, however, why does it matter so much? Is it really that important? Shouldn't the artist have sufficient confidence in their practice and work to enable a mature and reasonable response to a review, no matter what judgements and conclusions might have been made? And isn't it true that the work is not the person behind it, that there's a separation to be made? Isn't this the best kind of protective mechanism?
As someone who's had their work reviewed – sometimes positively (every so often amazingly positively), sometimes nowhere near as positively as I'd dreamt – I do understand these things. Even if I wish I didn't, that I was strong and big enough not to care.
Perhaps all this matters because every artist simply wants a considered response, for it's taken days and weeks and months and years, sometimes decades, to create something they consider worthwhile. It is wonderful when family and friends and sympathetic others say they enjoyed the work, that they were moved, that it ended up meaning a lot to them. But there's that other kind of response, from someone whose job it is to consider context, goals and ambition, technique, and ultimately make some kind of evaluation of worth against the broader cultural register. An authority, an expert has given the work a close reading, and a pronouncement has been made. It would be difficult to find an artist who didn't appreciate this kind of response to what they've created, even if they'd like to suggest otherwise.
All these questions and issues will be discussed on Friday 18 October 2013 at a forum organised by the Childers Group, an arts advocacy body for the ACT region (and beyond). The forum, which is better described as a 'Q and A-style' panel discussion, will include participation from Centenary of Canberra Creative Director Robyn Archer, Chief Executive Officer of Ausdance National Roslyn Dundas, eminent author Marion Halligan, Artistic Director/CEO of the Street Theatre Caroline Stacey, longtime Canberra Times stalwart Jack Waterford, and Editor of BMA Magazine Ashley Thomson, amongst others. If you're in or near this neck of the woods, and you're worried about what's perceived to be fewer opportunities for truly independent and robust review (the sort that is beyond simply online opinion), then you may well want to drop in and get involved. For more information, head on over to the Childers Group website.
Here endeth the community service announcement.
And if you hadn't already gathered, I'm a member of the Childers Group. A foundation member even. Never imagined that I'd be a foundation member of anything. Other than Melancholics Anonymous.


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This morning, I was walking my dog when a sexy man wearing a fedora tipped his hat to me. For a minute there, I would've drank his bathwater if he'd let me. Call me old-fashioned, I'm a sucker for a little chivalry.
Yeah, I know. Sir Lancelot may be overdoing it just a smidge.
Yesterday, a self-professed "feminist" wrote a column for The New York Times Complaint Box saying this about chivalry: "I feel patronized when men step aside for me or pull out my chair, as though I am too delicate to make it through my day without their assistance." Well, that's one way to look at it, but I don't agree with the polarizing inference that women can either be treated as equals OR have a man act like a "gentleman" in their presence. I mean, what's exactly wrong with a girl getting a little door action now and again?
This is how I see it: I like my role as a woman. I love that I am the one who will get to wear the wedding dress one day and give birth to our (fill in man here) child. My husband doesn't get that honor. He gets the honor of being Dad (mowing the lawn shirtless will be in our prenup) and doing sexy man things. Don't get me wrong. He can do the laundry if he wants, and I'll mow the lawn (with a shirt) but, for me, with baby bearing and monthly periods should come with a bit of chivalry.
Just to be clear, I always hold the door for the other person if I get there first. I think it's about being thoughtful. But pulling out chairs and offering jackets when the person is chilly? That's man stuff.
Alright, let's hear it! Is chivalry dead? Would you like it to be? Am I stuck in the Dark Ages with Sir Lancelot up there?
More on what (some) women want:
Would You Rather: Date a Rich Workaholic or A Poor Guy With Lots of Time For You?
"Hey Butter Tits," and Other Horrifying Ways Men Have Tried to Seduce Us Online


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The Gallery
C&C prevent auction snipers from bidding in the last seconds to win an auction.
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Bids are contractually binding. To help protect you, we have some rules in place if we think it's been mistyped. Please check and amend what you have entered.


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MYSORE MAGIC: Yoga at the Source
Summary: Magic happens at the source of Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore, India. Thousands from across the planet journey here to deepen their practice. Hear what they say, and enjoy an insider's view into the Mysore experience.
*A portion of the proceeds from this film go to the Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Charitable Fund.
22 minutes.
$4.99 stream rental. $9.99 download purchase.


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This is Guy Adam Ailion's animation, an introduction to his Architectural Masters Thesis called EVERYWHERE IS HERE. He has posted it to YouTube and has included this explanatory text to accompany it;
What is a library when 'everywhere is here'? This architectural animation explores the question of the role of the public library when digital information is everywhere and is everything. What happens to the spaces of books? and how should traditional spaces of information change for a digital world? Even better… in the developing world, how could the library nurture an information society, when people don't have access at home? Could the future of the library be an urban information bar? or a theatre of knowledge? and what does that really mean anyway?
These are question not just for public libraries, but for school libraries too. I like his ideas. Thinking of libraries as 'Urban information bars', or 'Theatres of Knowledge' conjures images of busy bustling centres for all. Just the kind of environment that is equally important in a school setting. It's important that students have a space where all are welcome, where everyone can congregate and share ideas, where everyone can 'fit' without worrying about cliques and social strata.
These are considerations that will occupy my thinking over the next six or so months. Our school has received funding for redevelopment of our School Library. While we have the exterior building design pretty much sorted, it's the interior design and functionality of space that has me excited. As a library staff, we are looking to create something special that will meet our needs for the long term. We want comfort, a space that that is welcoming and creates a sense of belonging for our school community. We want to find new ways to utilise space, creating learning nooks and relaxing recreational areas. We want to be creative with signage and we want to rationalise our collection to meet the changing needs of our community of users.
These are ideas we have been knocking around, but I think we need to go to our users and ask them what they would like to see happen in the space. We have a large display board, circa 1960's I'll have you note, and I'm going to create a banner to adorn it asking;
I'm going to invite our students to share with us their thoughts and post them on this display board. I'm interested in finding out what they see as important. They're a creative lot, it's more than likely that they will generate some ideas that we haven't contemplated. What would be great would be if they could be really creative and produce designs for us to contemplate. I'm sure we could come up with a competition idea to support this with a prize or two that will help to get some creative juices flowing. Our kids learn how to create design briefs in their design and technology classes so we might as well give them a real life scenario to work towards. Perhaps we'll be pleasantly surprised and find that they meld with our thinking or we may be even more surprised and find that they take our thinking to new places.
Thanks to Marianne Lenox for pointing me in the direction of Guy's animation.


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It is 2016 and I am still doing this dance. That slow waltz, yapping about horror films, weird travels, crappy food and silly observations of life. I have had huge aspirations here with not-so-hot results. I know, the Halloween Show fizzled and Christmas was just a disaster. I even tried to do a thirteen day give-away and truth be told, only half the winners have gotten their winnings still and its halfway through January. They will but I managed to drag this gift thing out long enough that I should just put "Happy St. Patrick's Day" on the box.
So what's up? Everything going well? Did you see that Dustin Diamond (Screech) had to report to jail for stabbing some guy in a bar? It seems that dude had some pent-up aggression from being portrayed as a goof for ten years. What were we talking about again?
So, things have been changing for the better over here in VeggieMacabre land. Work damn near killed me but dawn has broken. My career can be described like…imagine you are a professional juggler. You can juggle anything; bowling balls, tennis rackets, chainsaws, knives…anything! Now, imagine you are performing and you are mid-juggle and ask an audience member to toss something into the items you are currently juggling. One person tosses in a soda fountain drink. That is how these past few months have been. Expected to do the impossible because people are fucking dicks.
By the way, I am not a professional juggler. I can't even juggle tissues.
So, I am here to say, I miss this place. I love writing about the dumb things in life and reviewing things no one cares about. It's a strange hobby but it allows one to live in the moment and share it with someone in Romania. I get a lot of inspiration and if I am being honest, even imitation of other sites and blogs. I guess that is the greatest form of flattery.
So I am going to tell you a little story of my dumb childhood. That is, after all, the foundation of VeggieMacabre. It's about Crystal Pepsi, Faces of Death and electrocution.
Back in middle school, I hung around the pretty much everyone but I felt more comfortable with the nerds than the athletic types. My friends Ben and Brendan where the two I spent the most time with and during the weekends we would always be at one of our houses. Those days were filled with comic book shops, Street Fighter 2, Blockbuster and any stupid adolescent food a kid could ingest. It was a great time to be thirteen.
This particular long weekend we lucked out and had a snow day. It was a typical snow day in Georgia which meant enough snow to cancel school in the morning but gone by 2:00 in the afternoon. No matter because the three of us were content to indulge in the finer things in a young dork's life. Like reading Lobo comics, doing a blind fold taste test of Crystal Pepsi vs regular Pepsi and rent movies with suggested parental consent.
That day I found out three things about myself:
- Yes, you can actually be disturbed enough from a film that it ruins a weekend
- Crystal Pepsi is not good
- Electricity is pretty damn scary
We were at Ben's house for that snowy Friday. He was my British buddy whose Mom was sweet as could be and his father was the size of dumpster and could possibly punch through a fridge. He was a professional rugby play in his youth back in England and you could tell from the fact he only had ONE EAR!. He had only one fucking ear because it was ripped off in a game against Norway back in the late seventies, before protective headwear was made mandatory. Watching him wear glasses was something of great mystery.
That aside, Ben's father was a jovial man who joked with us kids and no longer a rough and tough rugby player, he was a rough and sweet CPA for some firm in Atlanta. He used to have weird nicknames for us that didn't really have any meaning rather it just rhymed. For example, my name was "Willy-McBilly" and Brendan was "Brendan My Friendan". Silly, I know, but at thirteen you just thought it was a normal part of being a kid when interacting with parents.
The three of us always hung out in Ben's semi-finished basement. It had everything we needed like a TV, a Super Nintendo, a crappy couch and a poker table behind it. Ben's dad was finishing it bit by bit, doing all the drywall, pluming and electric work himself and it didn't matter if we were down there, fully engrossed in Diehard, Ben's dad would be drilling away.
The movie of choice for that day was somewhat taboo back then and was the talk of every recess since I could remember. Every kid with a jerk older brother had been told about this and whether they had seen it for themselves or just by word of mouth, they captured the attention of an entire lunch table. You know the movie. Faces of Death Vol. 1-3.
Faces of Death was a macabre documentary of people being filmed in there last few minutes of life. A morbid fascination to horror loving creeps like us, it was narrated by a coroner named Francis B Gröss, who showed us everything from real autopsies to a parachutist landing in an alligator farm to a real electrocution/execution. It was graphic, grainy and completely disgusting. It made us feel as if there was a dark film covering our skin and the paranoid reflections in our own mortality encompassed our thoughts for possibly the first time in our life. It would be an exaggeration to say this was as far away from a feel-good film as you could get. A better example would be to say White is to Black as Care Bears: The Great Happy Snuggle Nubbles is to Faces of Death.
To be honest, I don't think we even made it through volume one before we had to turn it off and focus on something that didn't involve awful people hammering open live monkey heads. It was time to find something more productive. A taste test.
Now I don't recall how long Crystal Pepsi aka Pepsi Clear had been on the market when we decided to do this blind taste test but I do know I was no stranger to the product. In fact, I remember being very disappointed my first time trying the "uncola". It had an after taste that seemed almost soapy. Besides Van Halen, I really didn't care for the drink and didn't understand why drinking clear soda was such a big buzz. Obviously I was oblivious during the eighties and early nineties because these campaigns with silly color changes were everything to people. (Google "purple ketchup")
Trying to focus our attention away from the awful deaths of 1978, we laid out the little plastic cups across the poker table and used a rolled up t-shirt for the blind fold. Each of us would take a turn guessing what was regular and what was clear.
Meanwhile, while we were hard at work doing a fake marketing test for our own amusement, Ben's dad was hard at work installing a light switch on the wall approximately ten feet away. A tough guy, knowing how electricity works was mere elementary science and turning off the breaker would be for amateurs or ninnies. He had been finishing out this basement for the better part of the fall and winter so by this time, little things like safety were just annoyances.
It was finally my time to test my senses and see if these taste buds could tell the difference between Crystal Pepsi and boring ol' regular. With sight removed I raised the first cup to my lips and took a sip. Undeniably , it was Crystal Pepsi. At this point it dawned on me we were really bored and needed to go outside or do something more productive. But, like a good sport, I still had three more tastes to complete. (We did two of each to make sure we just weren't lucky guessers)
As I took the second sip I smelled something strange, like a battery operated toy that was red-hot from running too long. The hairs on my arm raised and it felt like I could have touched someone and possibly blown a finger off from the charge in my body. I lifted the blindfold and saw both Ben and Brendan looking passed me and I turned around to see Ben's dad rigid and holding a screwdriver inserted in the switch on the wall.
Almost the instant I looked over at Ben's dad, he made what I can only describe as a muffled Grandpa Simpson scream and he broke the circuit with a loud *POP*, the electricity went out and he collapsed to the floor.
Holy shit! Right after watching Faces of Death, we saw Ben's father get electrocuted in real life! We were frozen in shock and looked at him for a second before realizing we needed to do something. But before we could even get to our feet we saw Ben's dad sit straight up and exclaim, "Bloody dickens! I just shocked me fuckin' self!"
He looked over at us and to see if we had seen his brush with death and he could tell from the horror on our faces, we saw it all. Never breaking a moment from character, he laughed loudly and fell back on the carpeted floor. It was almost a gesture to reassure us that he was okay and a little sorry for scarring us for life.
After a brief moment of levity, we helped him up and Ben ran up to inform his mom that her husband shocked himself and smelled up the basement. She, obviously, went screaming down the stairs and made a huge scene (rightfully so). I had never heard such a wonderful array of British loving profanity.
Ben's mom carted him off to the emergency room to get looked over. At 49, you don't take a shock like that and not at least make sure it didn't toast your heart. Electricity is a funny thing; a lightning strike could just knock you out while a getting toast out of your toaster with a fork could kill you before you hit the floor. Since that innocent, I don't mess with it. I don't even trust myself jumping a car and a few years ago I installed a ceiling fan and texted a friend goodbye before I started.
So, that was my dumb story. I will always link to Crystal Pepsi, Faces of Death and electrocution and with the reintroduction of Crystal Pepsi this June. I hope that doesn't prelude to more electricity incidences.
I am back! Currently I am snowed in so this whole weekend I will be posting videos of me slowly going insane.