5:21 PM - Explaining the car on my profile...

When I was 15, I fell in love with a car. It was a 1971 Dodge Challenger. It had a slant 6 engine and it was beautiful. It was my first car, which my parents bought me for my 16th Birthday... I was a lucky girl. Anyway, this car was my baby and I drove it all the time. It was pretty quick too, I would sometimes race big blocks and nearly beat them, which is pretty good for my little 6. The slant 6 engine was one of the best that Dodge made, it lasted forever and barely had any problems. It was also really good on gas. At that time my BF was a real gear head and he used to work on his cars, Chevelles, mustangs etc. I already had my car when I met him so you can see we had this mutual affinity for muscle cars. I was a tom boy of sorts you could say. This was back in the mid to late 90's. I even had a CB installed in my car (al la Dukes of Hazard). My handle was "Wonder Woman"... LOL

Anyway, for years I'd said that if Dodge could make another Challenger with all the new technology in it but still just as beautiful, it would be a dream come true. AND THEY FINALLY DID! The ned Challenger looks so similiar, not like some of the other classic car reproductions. It is really true to the name Challenger. So I am pretty thrilled about it and have posted it in honor, as my background picture.

It is a beauty. Now if only they could make them with Hydrogen enginges...





 

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1:00 AM - Charter Schools, Study Tech and the future for real....
Current mood: determined
Category: School, College, Greek

Hey, well if you've talked to me for any length of time about anything important then you probably have heard me talking about starting a new Charter School here in LA. I have been researching this for a bout a year off and on because I have 3 kids who all need a good education and not a whole bunch of cash to pay for it. Plus  I already pay taxes so I shouldn't have to pay extra! Anyway, I've looked into many of the local LA Charter schools and a lot of them have many good qualities. I actually also think that a lot of the normal public school teachers have a lot of good qualities too, they care about the kids and they try hard. We have had our kids in public school since January and I saw first hand. There was one teacher there though, who was bad news, made everything too serious and made the fact that my kid wasn't up to where she wanted, my kids problem, not hers. The others there really put a lot into helping my kids which was great and overall it was a great school. BUT they don't have the STUDY TECHNOLOGY.

Well the "Study Tech" (for short) was developed by L Ron Hubbard. It's not Dianetics, it's not religious, it's just the answers to why people fail in study. He wrote tomes of books and realized he would have to help handle the literacy level of the populace for us to be able to understand what he was writing about. So aside from all of his other writing and research into the human race and the human spirit, he discovered how to handle study problems.

I was raised using it and tested at 14th grade literacy at the age of 11. There are three basic rules in the study technology he developed and a lot of aides for helping to use them and apply them to anyone. They are so simple and they make total sense. Just go and buy The Basic Study Manual from Applied Scholastics and read it for yourself.

Anyway, seeing my kids struggle in public school even with the teachers doing their best, I knew I had to get them into a place that knew and understood the study tech.

This is another huge reason I was looking into Charter schools. I learned that the Charter Schools were the way to introduce new methods in the public school as a sort of testing grounds. Our education levels pale in comparison to where they were in the 50's, and not to mention how we compare to some of the other countries on earth.  Strange, technology advanced so far, yet our people learn less and less. Anyway, Charters are the way for the public school system to try out new and better ways of delivering education. Through the Charter School results our publicly funded school system, OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS could implement these methods. Knowing that the Study Tech actually works and can handle anyone to learn anything, I knew that all that would have to happen is for a Charter School to be created and run properly, using the Study Tech, we would have those results and therefore be able to raise the entire education level of first the LA area for generations to come. Then the rest of California and the rest of the US and so on….  I just found out that there are two already in existence, one is in San Diego and one is in Arizona.

Over the past year or so I have personally approached several schools in LA about this idea and none wanted to do it; too much red tape, too many hurdles, or whatever the reasons. But then I heard about this woman and she was on the same page as me. Someone here in LA who has been running a successful school for 20 years using the study tech wants to become a charter school.
My kids just started in her school while it's in the process of getting the Charter approval, and already they are telling me how much they like school again.  I can see the change in their faces. In my heart I know that I have saved my children from an uncertain and unhappy future.

The lack of knowledge about the Study Tech in our public schools, where millions of children are taught every day, is a crime to humanity in my opinion.

Children think they are stupid, they're told they are slow; they fall behind, drop out of school, or just have a really hard time studying things they don't understand, and end up, if they graduate with a piecemeal education. Many resort to cheating, many learn facts and figures like a parrot and never fully understand their meanings or how to apply what they've learned and within a few years of adult hood, they forget most of it... some go on to college where they struggle with the same issues. Some bright kids make it through on those extra special teachers who took extra time to go over things, or those parents or grandparents who really showed them how to do their homework and were raised this way. But for many, even this advantage, without the study tech, bog down.

Have you ever wondered why you can read an entire page of a book and then it's like it went blank to you and you can't remember what you just read. THAT is handled specifically by the Study Tech. Imagine a school system where children actually fully understood their textbooks through and through? Imagine kids graduating from high school at age 14 instead of 18 and becoming productive members of society instead of taking too long and having time to get mixed up in the boredom and rebellion of those sacred teen years. Finding themselves could be a much more fulfilling process. There are a small few who make it through their teens without getting mixed up in drugs and other things that they may latter regret…

Setting life goals and actually having the ability to reach them is what would keep a child happy, through school and blossoming into a happy adult. Success, ability, accomplishments, a stable certainty about themselves and their intellect; who knows where our human race would be in a few generations of this as a dominant way of things. Imagine if you could learn anything you set your mind to?

And so after more ranting I am back to the matter of the Charter School again. It's happening. And if your children aren't whizzing ahead in their studies, there is a reason why. Knowing what it was like for me, and seeing many others, I can safely say that is physically possible for any student to graduate by the age of 14 with a real high school education, if they were properly applying this method. The problem is that there is controversy! This very notion, so hard to believe that there is a way to study that works no matter what…  usurps all of the misinformed  explanations for study problems and "diseases" that have been created for those who don't roll right a long like the rest of the kids. These are all explanations for why a teacher can't teach the child. The product of teaching is that the child learns and understands. So if they can't understand, noooooo it's not because they have a deficiency, it's because our population has been plagued with a well funded continuous tirade of psychobabble which results in many kids on drug$. Seriously it is mandatory for every teacher in the public schools and even daycares and preschools now, to study psychology. I know they mean well, but really these labels don't solve anything at all and actually cause a huge problem. We miss the real reasons and instead drugs are given…. That's the real end result. So $$$$$$ makes the world go around, hard to face but look at it. Could it be that billion dollar funding, pushing education bills over many decades, which enact psychology's involvement in schools, has affected the way our current population perceives it's study problems and their solutions? Every family that I knew in the public school had to deal with the school psychologist. They are there, they are the authority.

But why not the Study Tech? Because it's never been proven in a properly approved environment, a proper study officiated by approved government systems. Well that's what these charter schools are going to do. 5 year grants and we're showing people just how real it is to salvage students' educations. Just go and read the Basic Study Manual, or go and check out the many other Applied Scholastics schools and you will see that the answer is sitting right there. Surrounded by mysticism and prejudiced and even deliberate black propaganda, is L Ron Hubbard's Study Technology. It works no matter what you've heard about L.Ron Hubbard or Scientology, just look for yourselves.

If you want to keep wasting time not using this method you can, but the charter schools will be the proving grounds and we will take responsibility for raising the education level of our fellows and our future generations.

I'm already 30! Heck, soon these kids will be the adults and I'll be in diapers! So how about it, MAKE STUDY TECH be known. I call to all who know it works, and to all who dare to look at something new. Let's save that kid who thinks he's dumb, and show him that he's bright and able. Let's not let another day go by where a little kid gets labeled and given drugs needlessly. Save tomorrow.
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4:07 PM - NASCAR

I went to my first NASCAR race. I have to say that I love fast cars, I
love loud engines and it was quite a thrill, can't compare it to much
(except maybe flying). Those things aren't even cars, they're more like
rockets on wheels... and the sounds they make when they zip by, it
shakes you to the bones with excitement. '

But isn't it such a waste? I mean 100 cars give or take, going around in circles for 3 hours, burning fuel like there's no tomorrow?

I couldn't help having the conversation with myself as I sat there. It goes against every sustainability theory and belief that I have.

But it sure is RAD when they go by, practically stops your heart. And those boys have got some serious skill and cahones!!! Racing isn't easy. You could crash and die, and people do. They actually are going about the speed of a small airplane but on the ground. Little grains of tire rubber fly at me as the rip past, struggling for a better position, (we had seats right at the front).

The other me, chimes in - we're wasting rubber too! Did you know how many times they had to change their tires out for new ones...? A lot!

But that's the awesome power of the human race! We can make these things that are just machines for speed. They rock the very atmosphere as they pass you... in a whole new time zone... and ya we use a few tires and a bunch of gas but who cares! It's awesomeness on display! The pure awesomeness of what we will do to have fun and to enjoy the thrills of life, like going fast! We are the masters of this place are we not?

I supposed to myself that I could justify it but at the same time, thinking that we had better do some really good things to make up for our extravagances. I hoped that one day soon we would have self powered automatically charged engines  that run on nothing but water, or sunlight, or some such thing, and that we could get our jollies racing those around.

And I have to say that some of the fans of NASCAR are the most Whiskey Tango people I've ever soon! What is the deal with that? Now I know why they made so many of these jokes in Talladega Nights. I saw old wrinkled up women in low cut tanks with implants and tattooed arms, bleach blond hair and a beer. I bet if they smiled they were missing teeth. And some of those guys, were definitely alcoholics at best.

Please, not all NASCAR fans are like this but damn there were a lot!

Then there were the families that were there for the fun and were pretty respectable. Their kids all excited about the racecar drivers.. it was super cute.

And so that finishes my thoughts about NASCAR.... : )

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4:01 PM - turning 29

well its has been an interesting past week or so as I approached my 29th birthday and passed it. I don't mind getting older, infact I've always kind of looked forward to 30 for some reason. What I can say about turning 29 is that, probably because I am ambitious and always have planned to achieve big goals, that it just makes me want to get more done sooner because time is passing by.

I ended up going dancing for my birthday which was great, fun as I hadn't been for a long time. I even got Sean to dance with me for two songs! (He hates dancing). I notice that most guys are not into dancing! But it was at a nice bar and grill so there were lot sof chairs in a great atmosphere for the non-dancing types to hang out and chat.

Thanks to those of you who could make it. It was awesome seeing you. It was short notice and I'm sorry about that.

I have a lot of plans for this year so on with it! :)

Love, Kimberly

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10:35 AM - love cool things but don't be stupid

We live in what I call a 'capitol city'. It's aplace where we take for granted the many amenities we have, we live in excess.It's not bad to have nice things, but when I look at what the general publicseems to have as a priority it saddens me.

Who looks the hottest, who has the most expensive clothes or car etc etc. Thegossip rags are filled with meaningless tidbits about actors and actresses andthis makes headlines.

What is cool to me? Someone who is smart, ethical, kind, and making adifference with their life somehow.

The average person in middle class LA has to own a house and a few cars atleast. And all of it on loans where they end up paying at least 3 times theamount the actually bought it for, but no ones seems to mind. The banks suck upthe interest, our corrupt tax system sucks up money from all angles and uses itto pay back loans the government has taken out and keeps taking out, to supporta nation in debt. We live on credit. One of the most effective ways to enslavea nation or a person is to put them into debt to you. That's what has happened.Instead of putting away what you would have paid on a mortgage for 5 years in asavings account and then buying a house outright, we sign ourselves up happilyfor loans where we pay nearly 95% interest for years, just to the bank forletting us have the loan. Doesn't that sound crazy? Why is it so accepted?

We entertain ourselves with TV shows, soap operas and sports. We drink as a wayof escaping our daily hamspter-wheel of work and bills, and our health is someof the worst in the world, from illnesses we could avoid, like emphysema,diabetes, obesity and much more.

WALL-E was not far off when it depicted the future of our people.

It's a sick machine we have come to tolerate.

We have to look more and care more.

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6:23 PM - Wanna go to COMICON?

Hey, a good friend of mine has an awesome booth at COMIC-CON convention to promote his movie. He's there doing signings and asked if I know any spunky model types to come down there and hand out postcards for them. It's a paying gig. If you want to go let me know. This would be for tomorrow! The COMIC-CON is a huge deal! There are booths from major studios all around their booth, lots of movie industry people.

Make money and have fun at this sold out, very special event! Write me for details!

Kimberly

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12:05 PM - Finally a Big Pharma bust!

July 15, 2008 ..

California Announces $23 Million Drug Price Settlement With Bristol Myers-Squibb

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11:04 PM - Immigrants who take advantage?
Current mood: discontent
Category: News and Politics

I had to forward this.

>> This is a subject close to my heart. Do you know that we have adult
>> students at the school where I teach who are not US citizens and who
>> get the PELL grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back
>> required) plus other federal grants to go to school?
>>
>> One student from the Dominican Republic told me that she didn't want
>> me to find a job for her after she finished my program, because she
>> was getting housing from our housing department and she was getting a
>> PELL grant which paid for her total tuition and books, plus money
>> leftover.
>>
>> She was looking into WAIT which gives students a CREDIT CARD for gas
>> to come to school, and into CARIBE which is a special program (check
>> it out - I did) for immigrants and it pays for child care and all
>> sorts of needs while they go to school or training. The one student I
>> just mentioned told me she was not going to be a US Citizen because
>> she plans to return to the Dominican Republic someday and that she
>> 'loves HER country.'
>>
>> I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US is giving her and
>> then not even bothering to become a citizen and she told me that it
>> doesn't bother her, because that is what the money is there for!
>>
>> I asked the CARIBE administration about their program and if you ARE
>> a US Citizen, you don't qualify for their program. And all thewhile,
>> I am working a full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a
>> week, and everyone in my family works and pays for our education.
>>
>> Something is wrong here. I am sorry but after hearing they want to
>> sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did
>> they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other
>> language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key
>> and should be sung word for word the way it was written. The news
>> broadcasts even gave the translation -- not even close. Sorry if this
>> offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY.
>>
>> IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass this along. I am not
>> against immigration -- just come through like everyone else. Get a
>> sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes,
>> live by the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have
>> in the past
>> -- and GOD BLESS AMERICA!
>>
>> PART OF THE PROBLEM, Think about this: If you don't want to forward
>> this for fear of offending someone -- YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!
>> It is Time for America to Speak up If you agree -- pass this along, if
>> you don't agree --- delete it!

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8:24 AM - Tradesmen and Handymen needed
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Now Hiring!

Silver Building & Development is a high end remodeling and development company and it is growing at a time when most remodel companies are going out of business. Why, because they do it right.

We're looking for professionals to add to the team of subcontractor resources and professional staff.

We need General Contractor types who can do it all well, and specialists like:
Plumbers
Electricians
Carpenters
Drivers/Purchasers
Handymen
& general helpers.

This company pays well for good work.
Write me if you know someone who fits the bill!
kimboffice@yahoo.com for resumes.

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4:03 PM - I’ve always known there are many earthlike planets out there!
Current mood: adventurous

Astronomers find batch of "super-Earths"

Mon Jun 16, 7:53 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European researchers said on Monday they discovered a batch of three "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well.
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They said their findings, presented at a conference in France, suggest that Earth-like planets may be very common.

"Does every single star harbor planets and, if yes, how many?" asked Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory. "We may not yet know the answer but we are making huge progress towards it," Mayor said in a statement.
see their photo

The trio of planets orbit a star slightly less massive than our Sun, 42 light-years away towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations. A light-year is the distance light can travel in one year at a speed of 186,000 miles a second, or about 6 trillion miles.

The planets are bigger than Earth -- one is 4.2 times the mass, one is 6.7 times and the third is 9.4 times.
..

They orbit their star at extremely rapid speeds -- one whizzing around in just four days, compared with Earth's 365 days, one taking 10 days and the slowest taking 20 days.

Mayor and colleagues used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher or HARPS, a telescope at La Silla observatory in Chile, to find the planets.

More than 270 so-called exoplanets have been found. Most are giants, resembling Jupiter or Saturn. Smaller planets closer to the size of Earth are far more difficult to spot.

None can be imaged directly at such distances but can be spotted indirectly using radio waves or, in the case of HARPS, spectrographic measurements. As a planet orbits, it makes the star wobble very slightly and this can be measured.

"With the advent of much more precise instruments such as the HARPS spectrograph ... we can now discover smaller planets, with masses between 2 and 10 times the Earth's mass," said Stephane Udry, who also worked on the study.

The team also said they found a planet 7.5 times the mass of Earth orbiting the star HD 181433 in 9.5 days. This star also has a Jupiter-like planet that orbits every three years.

Another solar system has a planet 22 times the mass of Earth, orbiting every four days, and a Saturn-like planet with a 3-year period.

"Clearly these planets are only the tip of the iceberg," said Mayor.

"The analysis of all the stars studied with HARPS shows that about one third of all solar-like stars have either super-Earth or Neptune-like planets with orbital periods shorter than 50 days."

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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9:01 PM - Who was the first man in space?
Current mood: curious

YURI GAGARIN



Early life

Yuri Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino near Gzhatsk (now in Smolensk Oblast, Russia), on 9 March 1934. The adjacent town of Gzhatsk was renamed Gagarin in 1968 in his honor. His parents, father Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin and mother Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina, worked on a collective farm.[1] While manual labourers are described in official reports as "peasants", this may be an oversimplification if applied to his parents — his mother was reportedly a voracious reader, and his father a skilled carpenter. Yuri was the third of four children, and his elder sister helped raise him while his parents worked. Like millions of people in the Soviet Union, the Gagarin family suffered during Nazi occupation in World War II. His two elder siblings were sent to Germany as slave labourers in 1943, and did not return until after the war. While a youth, Yuri became interested in space and planets, and began to dream about his space tour which became true one day.[2] Yuri was described by his teachers in the Moscow satellite town of Lyubertsy as intelligent and hard-working, if occasionally mischievous. His mathematics and science teacher had flown in the Soviet Air Forces during the war, which presumably made some substantial impression on young Gagarin.

After starting an apprenticeship in a metalworks as a foundryman, Gagarin was selected for further training at a technical high school in Saratov. While there, he joined the "AeroClub", and learned to fly a light aircraft, a hobby that would take up an increasing proportion of his time. Through dint of effort, rather than brilliance, he reportedly mastered both; in 1955, after completing his technical schooling, he entered military flight training at the Orenburg Pilot's School. While there he met Valentina Goryacheva, whom he married in 1957, after gaining his pilot's wings in a MiG-15. Post-graduation, he was assigned to Luostari airbase in Murmansk Oblast, close to the Norwegian border, where terrible weather made flying risky. As a full-grown man, Gagarin was 1.57 metres (5 ft 2 in) tall, which was an advantage in the small Vostok cockpit.[1] He became Lieutenant of the Soviet Air Force on 5 November 1957 and on 6 November 1959 he received the rank of Senior Lieutenant.[3]



Career in the Soviet space program

Selection and training

In 1960, after an extensive search and selection process Yuri Gagarin was selected with 19 other cosmonauts for the Soviet space program. Along with the other prospective cosmonauts, he was subjected to a rigorous series of experiments designed to test his physical and psychological endurance; he also underwent intensive training for the upcoming flight. Out of the twenty selected, the eventual choices for the first launch were Gagarin and Gherman Titov because of their excellent performance in training, as well as their physical characteristics — space was at a premium in the small Vostok cockpit and both men were rather short. Soviet officials weighed other factors as well in selecting Yuri: his appearance, his capacity to handle media attention, his Russian heritage and even the name "Gagarin," which was also a family name associated with Tsarist aristocracy.

Space flight

On 12 April 1961, Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1) and return. His call sign in this flight was Kedr (Cedar; Russian: Кедр).[4] During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает").[5][6] The first two lines of the song are: "The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky".[7] This patriotic song was written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1951 (opus 86), with words by Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky.

There are speculations in the media that from orbit Gagarin made the comment, "I don't see any God up here." However, no such words in the full verbatim record of Gagarin's conversations with the Earth during the spaceflight.[8] In a 2006 interview a close friend of Gagarin, Colonel Valentin Petrov, stated that Gagarin never said such words, and that the phrase originated from Nikita Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, where the anti-religious propaganda was discussed. In a certain context Khrushchev said, "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any God there".[9] Colonel Petrov also said that Gagarin had been baptised into the Orthodox Church as a child.

While in orbit Gagarin was promoted "in the field" from the rank of Senior Lieutenant to Major, and this was the rank at which TASS announced him in its triumphant statement during the flight.[citation needed]

Gagarin being safely returned, Nikita Khrushchev rushed to his side and Gagarin issued a statement praising the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as the "organizer of all our victories". Khrushchev saw Gagarin's achievement as a vindication of his policy of strengthening the Soviet Union's missile forces at the expense of conventional arms. This policy antagonized the Soviet military establishment and contributed to Khrushchev's eventual downfall.

" The Earth is blue. How wonderful. It is amazing. "

—Gagarin, to ground control, BBC News

Fame and later life

After the flight, Gagarin became an instant, worldwide celebrity, touring widely with appearances in Italy, Great Britain,[11] Germany, Canada, and Japan to promote the Soviet achievement.

In 1962, he began serving as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he worked on designs for a reusable spacecraft. Gagarin worked on these designs in Star City for 7 years. Gagarin became Lieutenant Colonel (or Podpolkovnik) of the Soviet Air Force on 12 June 1962 and on 6 November 1963 he received the rank of Colonel (Polkovnik) of the Soviet Air Force.[3] Soviet officials tried to keep him away from any flights, being wary of losing their hero in an accident. Gagarin was backup pilot for Vladimir Komarov in the Soyuz 1 flight. As Komarov's flight ended in a fatal crash, Gagarin was ultimately banned from the space program.

Death and legacy

Gagarin then became deputy training director of Star City. At the same time, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot. On 27 March 1968, he and his instructor died in a MiG-15UTI on a routine training flight near Kirzhach. It is not certain what caused the crash, but a 1986 inquest suggests that the turbulence from a Su-11 'Fishpot-C' interceptor using its afterburners may have caused Gagarin's plane to go out of control. Weather conditions were also poor, which may have contributed to the inability of Gagarin and the instructor to correct before they crashed.

In his book, Two Sides of the Moon, Alexei Leonov recounts that he was flying a helicopter in the same area that day when he heard "two loud booms in the distance." Corroborating the above hypothesis, his conclusion is that a Sukhoi jet (which he identifies as a Su-15 'Flagon'), flying below its minimum allowed altitude, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier." The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov believes the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier, and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.

A new theory, advanced by the original crash investigator in 2005, hypothesizes that a cabin vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, thus leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.

There were two commemorative coins issued in the Soviet Union to commemorate 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: 1 rouble coin (1981, copper-nickel) and 3 rouble coin (1991, silver). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia: 2 rouble coin (copper-nickel), 3 rouble coin (silver), 10 rouble coin (brass-copper, nickel), 100 rouble coin (silver).

Gagarin is buried next to Seregin in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.

On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Some experts who had been involved in the original investigation had formulated a new theory, based on modern technology and investigative methods. Government officials said that they saw no reason to begin a new investigation. All found parts of the wrecked MiG-15UTI were collected and are stored in sealed barrels.

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11:11 PM - master the art of living

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results. - Anon

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; its when you had everything to do, and you've done it. - Margaret Thatcher

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both. - James A. Michener

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10:34 PM - Why do elders like gardening so much?
Category: Life

I have noticed that generally people in their 50's and up put a lot into their gardens and gardening. They tend them often. They plant flowers and fix bird feeders and talk of things that grow there. It is a sharp contrast to the average adult I know, at least here in the city, from what I see in their daily routines. It is even something jokes are made of sometimes, "retire and go garden"...

I wondered to myself why is it such a common theme that the elders turn to gardening? I sat and thought and realized why, they have let life pass them in their busy lives so far that by they just learned to enjoy life and all it's beauty. The full sense of these things becomes strong. We younger adults tend to rush around and worry about bills and work and things and never too much time just enjoying just being alive and the beauty of it. What might seem like the most important and horrible problem to us, to the elders isn't enough to worry to much about, just fix it best you can and you move on but always breath in deep to smell the roses. This to me is a visible evolution to a higher platue and though I can take moments  not to worry and try to relax, I know I probably won't master it until I have matured to the stage of an elder in years. It just seems to be the way of things.

I say elder because I want to show respect. I admire them for their wisdom in so many ways. I wish we would sit and listen to stories and learn lessons from them as we used to back in the days of villages long past.

But for now I make note of this little life lesson, they've got something figured out that we sure don't, they focus on the little beautiful things in life and the trivial problems of living aren't so big of a deal.

- Kimberly

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10:26 PM - Forest

In the dark of forest night, birds sings as though daylight. I walk ahead not knowing where I'm going yet ready for whatever comes. The dew is wet upon my feet as I travel through the green. I feel a sense of unity with those living things surrounding me. I may discover a mountain to climb or cozy cave to curl up in, but I know I will enjoy wherever this adventure takes me.

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10:33 PM - Dreams

Dreams are what drives us, it is true, for without them we would loose our way, though sometimes we do anyway. But dreams are what compells us and we are really anything machines, we can do anything and make anything. With enough thought and enough determination we can make anything. It may not always seem clear as to how but if you hold your dreams up they will be your compass to light the way. Things may come and things may go, and as we grow our dreams often do as well. What once seemed most important no longer is, replaced by something new. The one thing remains true, those dreams they guide us through. I tend to dream of things so grand that they could take lifetimes to come through,  but each day is another step towards it. I dream of silver cities that run on the power of the sun. But I also dream of little things like writing a good song. Or having the snuggles of happy children as I put them to bed. I dream of flying to far away places. I dream of telling wonderous stories that inspire generations. I dream of being the best I can be. 

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