A hot cuppa tea & biscuits...to build an entire city !

Bite-size city takes the biscuit said the BBC UK on February 20th, 2006

Song Dong - a Chinese artist built a huge city in miniature out of biscuits at Selfridges department store in London. An estimated 72,000 biscuits, including digestives, chocolate digestives, rich tea, hobnobs, caramels and fruit shortcake, were used during the week-long project. The public was allowed to chow down 2 days after the exhibit! Free tea was provided by Selfridges.

Listen to an interview with the biscuit builder Courtysey BBC UK

More Pictures Here

Mr Dong has also built biscuit cities in Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and Paris.

Ok so this was old news....but I thought it would be great to bring out
this story for hose who missed it, especially with all the rain and tea kinda
weather !

For a great cup of spiced chai...I would recommend Twinings Tea. You can also learn to make a fabulous cup of chai or to learn about Indian Chai ...go here !

Masala Chai

1 ½ cups water
2/3rd cup whole milk
6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any un-perfumed loose black tea or
4 single tea bags (Lipton)
1/4th teaspoon Masala Tea mixture
OR
A 2" piece of fresh gingerA pinch of Cardamom powder

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the masala tea spice mixture. Let it boil for a minute. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. You may avoid adding the sugar and add a sweetener in the end while serving. Throw in the tea leaves or bags. The tea mixture will rise and many spill over the top, so be aware and remove from the heat (electric stove) or turn off the heat (gas stove). Let it sit for 2 minutes. Strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately. Sip and enjoy!

For a good DUNK MUG !!! Firebox has a fabulous idea for a gift to a biscuit dunker ! I love the traditional Digestives !

Happy Thanksgiving & A Poem ~ In My Dreams !

In My Dreams

by Steven Robert Heine

In my dreams
all wrongs are righted,
all sins are forgiven
all wounds are healed.

In my dreams
all lost friends are found
all loved ones are united
all pain is forgotten.

In my dreams
laughter replaces anger
smiles replace frowns
and love replaces hate and fear..

But then I awaken
and I realize that I cannot fix
everything that is broken in the World.
And I decide to try to make it just
a little better somehow.

Heard of Heritage Turkeys? What are you eating this Thanksgiving ?

A small flock of exclusive birds, called "Heritage Turkeys,'' is making an impact on Thanksgiving for serious foodies.
These birds are not just free range, drug free and organically grown. These birds have papers, going all the way back to Christopher Columbus. They are farm-raised, naturally inseminated and have their own reality TV show on the Internet.

Heritage Foods USA, the mail-order business founded by Martins and Todd Wickstrom in 2001 say that people willing to spend $200 for a fully-traceable turkey.

What is a heritage turkey?

To be classified as a heritage turkey, the bird must meet the following criteria:

• Reproduced and genetically maintained through natural mating. Expected fertility rates should be between 70 percent and 80 percent.
• A long productive lifespan. Breeding hens are typically productive from five to seven years, breeding toms from three to five years.
• A slow to moderate rate of growth, reaching marketable weight in 26 to 28 weeks. This gives the birds time to develop strong skeletal systems and healthy organs before building muscle mass.

For information about Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch or heritage turkeys, visit the farm's Web site at www.reeseturkeys.com.

New Gadget to Stop Snoring !

Snoring occurs when the muscles of the throat, tongue and soft palate relax during deep sleep. The tissue sags, narrowing the air passage and causing one to inhale more forcefully. This in turn causes the tissue at the back of the throat to vibrate. There are a number of contributing factors, including smoking, obesity, alcohol consumption, or physical characteristics like a narrow airway or an elongated soft palate. In some cases, finding a way to quit snoring will require a specific diagnosis of the cause.

Seeking a simple and effective solution to snoring has been a major concern for the 37 million American sufferers and their loved ones. Snoring has become an everyday occurrence, much more common than many care to admit. For many of those who struggle with snoring problems, finding an effective snoring product can prove to be extremely challenging. For many who snore, constantly being the butt of jokes can be humiliating. For their partners, continual interruptions during the night can have a dramatically affect their mood, job performance and general outlook on life. In serious cases, health problems that are related to interrupted breathing patterns associated with severe snoring may arise. One such disorder is Obstructed Sleep Apnea (OSA), which is when a person stops breathing because the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep.

A 1993 National Commission on Sleep Report revealed that chronic sleep disorders affect 60 percent of Americans. The result: "Sleepy individuals are less ambitious and less productive. Sleep loss impairs performance É and decision making." Numerous studies have shown that REM sleep is necessary to recharge our mental functions, and non-REM sleep is necessary to repair our physical functions. While the current national average requirement is 7ð hours, "short sleepers" (6% of the population) require less than six hours to feel fully rested, and "long sleepers" (4% of the population) require nine hours or more.

Sleep medicine specialists suggest that you're getting adequate sleep if about 85% of your total time in bed is spent asleep. Snoring can prevent you and those sleeping with you from getting the vital deep and REM sleep.

Your snoring problem could be a thing of the past, and you never again will have restless nights because of your snoring, get up tired in the morning, worry about your partner leaving the bedroom, or worry about snoring surgery or dental implants. You won't have to undergo expensive snore surgery to solve the problem. And there's no need to take pills.

This revolutionary product will solve your snoring blues and save your marriage. (that's what the people who sell it say) Just strap it to your wrist and, thanks to its sensitive micro-sound detector, it will detect your snoring and send a mild harmless electric signal without waking you or disturbing your sleep. Eventually, your body will learn to avoid the electrical signals by not snoring during sleep. $59.95 Link

Anyone try this yet?

NEW Toys for the little ones.....this winter !

Have toddlers running around the house? This is a great gift.

Bring their favorite carnival ride home with Razor's Bumper Buggie. Certainly safer than the bumper cars at amusement parks, this cute little buggy is made of shatter-resistant plastic and features seat belts and a breaker switch for added security. Speeds up to 2 mph make the Bumper Buggie safe for ages 3 and up.

Its available at Target and Walmart for $99.

Ok so if you want o have fun....get 2 !!!

Alarm clocks that fly !

Ok so lets face it, waking up in the morning is gruelling for some of us lazy bones. I know my husband twists and turns and then physically slams the snooze button a gazillion times before he rolls out of bed !

The Flying Alarm Clock has certainly will make you fly out of your bed.....proven it’s mettle as a formidable device that is more than capable of waking up even the most battle hardened sleeper, as it literally takes to the skies (or as far as your ceiling permits), flitting around with the noise of an annoying mosquito in it’s efforts to jolt you out of your slumber.




To keep it silent, all you need is a fly swatter. Nah, I’m kidding - you will first have to get up and catch it. There really isn’t any point turning on the Snooze mode as it will take off from it’s base after a designated amount of time, repeating the irritating process all over again, hence it is advisable to just get up and greet the new day with enthusiasm. Those who sleep with their windows open might be distressed to find out that their alarm clock has literally flown out of the window, leaving them no avenue to wake up.



Of course, you could be stubborn and refuse to get up, letting the Flying Alarm Clock grace the ceiling space in your room until it’s battery is exhausted, where it will then drop to the ground with a spectacular crash. I doubt that anyone would want that to happen as you wouldn’t want to fork out £19.95 for a replacement each time it crashes and burns.

Montage-a-google

This is a project done by Grant Robinson a Digital Designer from Wellington New Zealand, seen here on the left. His website is very interesting and he has many impressive projects under his belt ~ like the Quizoo, Quiz Rooms which he did for the BBC UK. The one that I loved playing the most was the Hard Spell game ! Pretty cool stuff ! Way to go Grant ! Love it !


What is Montage-a-google?

Montage-a-google is a simple web-based app that uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Not only an interesting way of browsing the net, it can also be used to create desktop pictures or even posters.



TIP:If you want to print or save your montage you can take a screen grab of it ('Prt Sc' key on PC) and paste it into you favourite photo or paint application to print or save it from there.


View photos tagged with 'Montage-a-google' in Flickr to see some examples of what other people have made.

Go Ask Alice ! Huh ?

A health question-and-answer site run by Columbia University's Health Promotion Program,

Go Ask Alice! is a great place to ask embarrassing medical questions anonymously.

Go Ask Alice! is a health Q&A Internet service. It works to provide readers with reliable, accessible information and a range of thoughtful perspectives so that they can make responsible decisions concerning their health and well-being.

Alice! Health Promotion Program
Phone 212 854 5453
Office Hours Monday - Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm

Check out their Archives as Go Ask Alice started in 1994 and has a lot of information to browse.
Categories include : Alcohol and Other Drugs; Fitness & Nutrition; Emotional Health; General Health; Sexuality & Sexual Health and Relationships. They also have a weekly poll.

SorryGotToGo.com ~ Warding Off Pesky Unwanted Phone Calls

I do feel for the people behind the scenes just making a living with the Telemarketing jobs. Yes, their job is important but my time is precious at the end of a very busy day ! Most of us, like myself, are polite enough to listen to most of what they want to say.....

But we all have enough things to do at the end of each day without having to be polite to listen and then say no...every few minutes? Well, now you can fight back with these handy little "sound bytes," providing a medley of perfect excuses for cutting off unwanted conversation.

Wanna know more? Take your self to Sorry, gotta go for some ready made audio clips with some of the most creative excuses. Some are downright funny! Download the audio clips and put the phone up to the computer when that unwanted call comes and this time you will be armed with an excuse to put the phone down politely. You can use classics such as "There's the doorbell," "My other line is ringing," and "I can't hear you over the crowd noise" will have you thrilling to a peaceful dial tone in no time.

Link

How to keep up with stuff on the net?....social bookmarking, social pics, social news and more !

The blogosphere is EXPLODING with blogs, widgets, social bookmarks, webtools, ...I could go on and on...I am just thinking of the new words that are going to be included in the English Dictionary.



Gosh we can hardly keep up with the news from DIGG, NEWSVINE, TAILRANK, SLASHDOT, TECH CRUNCH and more....ok so you are going to ask what am I going to tell you?????????? BTW.... Did you know how many SPELLING ERRORS I get just by mentioning these new things on this blog :)



Ok let's get to it. I just installed the new WEB2.0 TOOLBAR !

The toolbar is great. I dont have to go visit all the websites and check on the latest diggs, news and pics anymore...I just click on the toolbar for example the LINKS tab has - Delicious, Meta filter, Stumble buzz, Furl, Squiddo and more. I get to read the headlines all in one click of the tab. Yes you can go the site that interests you. Its a great time saving tool if you are trying to keep up with or learn the Web 2.0 space.

What they (the people who made this plugin ) say......

It’s a small plugin for your browser that contains all of the most popular content from the web 2.0 sphere in one spot…your browser. The best Social Bookmarking, Pictures, Videos and News all one click away.

My recommendation...Install it if you have space up there on your toolbar......its def worth it !~