from a Pori, Finland website...

Even though Finns traditionally have not been keen on 'small talk', it has become an increasingly common habit in recent years. Still, Finns don't usually pat others on the back or interrupt you when you are speaking. Finns know how to keep quiet together, naturally. This should not be considered discourteous, as it is just part of being Finnish. Finns do not mean to be rude if they do not include phrases like 'how are you' or 'nice to see you' in their speech. They are just not part of the Finnish language or culture; thus, they are rare when Finns speak foreign languages.

-------my great-grandparents immigrated from Pori, Finland

3:21 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost -1915

4:25 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

The Declaration of Independence, interesting
Category: News and Politics

....

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Preamble Outlines a general philosophy of government that justifies revolution when government harms natural rights.[37]	We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Indictment A bill of particulars documenting the king's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties.[37]	Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Denunciation This section essentially finished the case for independence. The conditions that justified revolution have been shown.[37] Many Americans still felt a kinship with the people of England, and had appealed in vain to the prominent among them, as well as to Parliament, to convince the King to relax his more objectionable policies toward the colonies.[38] This section represents the Framers' disappointment that their attempts were unsuccessful.	Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
Conclusion The signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions, and by necessity the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion contains, at its core, the Lee Resolution that had been passed on July 2.	We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

2:24 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

question

what invention in all time has changed the world the most?

8:16 PM - 11 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

masculine,,,

I think he'd wear me well....

8:14 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

feathers and gossip
Current mood: cheerful

"In a small village, a young woman spreads an unkind rumor. Her victim goes to the village rabbi to get justice for her ruined reputation. The gossipmonger offers to make amends by taking back her words, demonstrating that she does not truly understand the harm she has caused. The rabbi invents a creative way to teach the heedless woman the destructive power of rumors and gossip.

"He tells her: 'Take my feather pillow to the market square. Cut it open and let the feathers fly through the air. When this task is done, bring back the feathers, every one.' Although she thinks the rabbi has gone mad, she follows his strange instructions. Of course, she cannot possibly retrieve all the feathers, and thus learns the intended lesson: 'I suppose,' she sighed as she lowered her head, 'they are like the words I can't take back from the rumor I spread.'

6:03 PM - 7 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

how well do you know me quiz - to the right

Create your own Friend Quiz here

11:43 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

intoxication

I look into the eyes of this man and there is something not the same - a contagious intoxication. with twinkles and love and acceptance .. without pretense and I feel quite at ease and at home. what more could a person want? (and he makes pot pies with half veggie just for me!!!)

5:19 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

yesterday was fun
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Life

I done did git myself a boyfriend .  yesterday, we flew to minneapolis and finally, at long last, I got to eat at Azia again!  I love those cranberry puffs and Pho soup.  Anyway, the flight was very nice.  I got to sit in the copilot seat  and listen to the "tower" people and whomever talking airplane talk, which was pretty neat-O.  Flying over Duluth just past sunset was beautiful.  We do live in a lovely part of the world! 

6:11 AM - 9 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Meat Raises Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Risk - thanks SL

Meat Raises Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Risk

Meat consumption appears to increase the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), a cancer of white blood cells. Data collected from 88,410 women in the Harvard Nurses' Health Study over a 14-year period showed that those eating beef, pork, or lamb daily were more than twice as likely to develop NHL, compared with those who consumed these products less often or not at all. Meats contain carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that form from creatine, amino acids, and sugars found in animal muscle tissues. Trans fats, commonly found in baked goods and snack foods, also increased risk.

The take-home message is to avoid meats and to look on package labels for "partially hydrogenated oils," which indicates the presence of trans fats.

Zhang S, Hunter DJ, Rosner BA, et al. Dietary fat and protein in relation to risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1999;91:1751-8.

What Is It About Those Vegetarians?
It's the fiber! It's the beta-carotene! No, it's the phytoestrogens! Scientists have been trying to figure out why vegetarians have only about half the cancer risk of meat-eaters. The latest plant supernutrient, beta-sitosterol, was lauded at the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology by University of Buffalo nutrition researcher Atif Awad, Ph.D.

Beta-sitosterol was shown to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells in the test tube, cutting the number of cancer cells by 66 percent compared with control cell cultures. Dr. Awad had previously found that beta-sitosterol inhibited prostate cancer cell growth but did so by a different mechanism, inhibiting an enzyme called PP2A, which is involved in cell growth.

10:05 PM - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment