Life takes us in many strange directions and wonderful discoveries. It never turns out the way we thought it would.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Jack's Africa: To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arm...
Jack's Africa: To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arm...: To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms - NYTimes.com
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Jack's Africa: 13 Moths In Solitary Confinement In A South Africa...
Jack's Africa: 13 Moths In Solitary Confinement In A South Africa...: Dear Langley: When I was growing up in the 1950's there was a show on television called Alcoa Theater. Each weel there was a segmen...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas Day 2012
My dear friends it's Christmas morning. I'm up early.When we were children, Christmas eve was spent at home with our mother and father. We would get to open one present each. We would eat fancy European cheeses, sausages, and crackers. I would have a little shot of bourbon with mom and dad. My sister and I would then go to bed and get up around 3:00 AM to open the rest of the presents. Dad would take us out during the day while mom cooked the traditional turkey dinner. OK now we have a South American Christmas with la Noche Buena. We eat around midnight and open gifts. Copernicus got a big leather dog bone. I got a new electric razor. Elena got a beautiful leather suitcase, a Dyson heater, and a new television that will be delivered tomorrow. Elena loves You Tube and Netflix. The new television will connect right to the internet and she can watch all the things that she loves. This has been a year of great achievements but also sad and hard times including the loss of Cassi. Elena will sleep late and rest today.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Jack's Africa: Puntland Forces Rescue 22 Hostages Who Had Been He...
Jack's Africa: Puntland Forces Rescue 22 Hostages Who Had Been He...: Puntland Forces Rescue 22 Hostages Who Had Been Held Captive For Nearly Three Years
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
Jack's South America: Hundreds plunder supermarkets and face the police ...
Jack's South America: Hundreds plunder supermarkets and face the police ...: Hundreds plunder supermarkets and face the police in Bariloche - Terra Brazil
Brasilian Company Wins The Right To Use The IPhone Name
Brazilian company wins right to use iPhone name
Comment on this story
It's not your Apple's iPhone.
A Brazilian company has begun
selling smartphones in Brazil with the iPhone brand after winning the
legal right to use the name in Latin America's biggest country.
Adding insult to Apple Inc.'s injury, the phone runs on the Android operating system from archrival Google Inc.
Gradiente SA said in a statement
that it filed its request to use the iPhone brand in 2000 when it
realised “there would be a technological revolution in the world of
cellphones with the convergence of voice and data transmission and
reception via mobile Internet.”
In 2008 Brazil's government gave Gradiente the right to use the brand on its cellphones.
Brazilian trademark office
spokeswoman Maratan Marques said Gradiente requested permission to use
the brand before Apple did and has the exclusive right to use it through
2018.
Brazil
Apple spokeswoman Maria Parra Rodriguez said the company had no
immediate comment. Phone calls and emails to Apple Inc.'s headquarters
in California went unanswered.
Gradiente said on its website that it started selling its iPhone on Tuesday for 600 reals ($300).
It runs the relatively old 2.3
version of Android and its features include a 3.7-inch touch-sensitive
screen, Bluetooth, dual chip capability, 3G, Wi-Fi and camera. Its
appearance is similar to that of Apple's iPhone.
The Brazilian company said it did
not use the iPhone name until now because its “priority was to conclude a
corporate restructuring process that ended earlier this year.”
“In Brazil, Gradiente has the
exclusive right to use the iPhone brand,” the statement said. “This
company will adopt all the measures used by companies around the world
to preserve its intellectual property rights.”
A company official said Apple had
not contacted Gradiente and she didn't know of any attempt by Apple to
contest Gradiente's use of the iPhone name.
The
executive, who insisted on speaking anonymously because she was not
authorised to speak to the press, added that she did not know if
Gradiente would try to stop Apple iPhone sales in Brazil.
Major cellphone operators and retail outlets advertised Apple iPhones on their websites Wednesday. - Sapa-AP
If I Truly Believed That The World Was Going To End Today
Perhaps the world will end today. If I truly believed that I would have taken Elena last night to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in San Francisco for our last meal. I would have drank the whole contents of my bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. I would have watched my three favorite films of all time. Two films are from Argentina with the titles of A Man Facing Southeast and The Secret of Your Eyes. The third film is a Brian de Palma science fiction film from 2000 with the title of Mission to Mars.. I would have given loving goodbyes to my sister Marianna, my niece Kelly, Anna Claudia Chagas, Luah Fontana, Pedro R, Peres, neto, PhD, Joao Santos, Djenane Santos and my grand daughter Bianca. Elena would not have gone to work today. We would have spent our last hours together giving each other love and comfort. I would hope that the end would be quick and painless. Ah but the alarm will go off at seven this morning. Elena will get up and go to work. I will begin my day of work that ends with cooking dinner. The world will still be here at midnight!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Elena and I Enjoyed An Incredible Day On San Francisco's Peninsula
I took Luah to the airport a little after 5:00 AM. It was cold outside; in the low 30's Fahrenheit. Luah was excited about going to New York City. I got her to United and we checked her baggage. I was hungry afterwards.I went to Gunther's and had a great early morning breakfast of chicken fried steak, scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes and sourdough toast washed down with copious amounts of coffee. (I will take my cholesterol medication tonight!) Afterwards I came home. Elena slept late and deserved it. She had a day off and it was a beautiful winter day with lots of sun. She got up and walked the dogs. I went to the swimming pool and swam 1.5 hours. I came home and Elena cooked us pasta for lunch. We then went out and did errands. We got a gift for a baby shower. We went to Elena's office. I hung a plate in her office. It is from Colombia before the Spanish came. It was a sign saying that a doctor was giving medical care. Elena and I then took Copernicus to Linda Mar Clinic. Stitches were taken out of his head. We then went to a farmer's market and bought a few things. We then went to Lunardi's to get some more food. It was wonderful to be together and outin this beautiful weather.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A Solution To The Tragedy In Connecticuit
OK everyone I have been in deep agony since the tragedy of Friday in Conn. Certainly we can make some changes to gun control laws including making sure that any one who buys a gun, even at a gun show or from a private individual gets one heck of a background check. We could, for example, make it just as hard to get an assault rifle as it is to get a machine gun. The real answer to the problem is to spend a heck of a lot more money on mental health. We need to identify troubled people and help them long before they destroy themselves and others.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Running Into An American Hero At Mazzetti's Bakery
I always love a cup of coffee and a sweet on Saturday morning. (The sweet is a cake donut now due to calorie limitations.) I went to Mazzetti's Bakery. I prepared a coffee and ordered a cake doniut. Space was limited so I took a seat across from a distinguished-looking older man. We started to talk. I found out that his name was Ed. He had graduated from the University of California Davis in 1950. He was in Air Force pilot training when the Korean War started. He was trained to fly the F-86 Sabre jet. After graduating and getting his wings, he was sent to Japan. He picked up his jet fighter and flew it to a base in South Korea. He soon found himself flying missions over North Korea and into" Mig Alley." Ed was soon surprised to find that as soon as a Mig pilot saw a Sabre Jet they turned tail and made a run for Manchuria where US planes could not follow. His hopes of becoming an "Ace" by shooting down several Migs was thwarted. Instead he was ass
igned to bomb and strafe targets in North Korea. He knocked out so many locomotives that he thought that he should get locomotive symbols on the side of his airplane. Ed was ordered to stay above 1,000 feet when making these ground attacks. One day he went down lower and made a bombing run. After he pulled up he noticed pain in one of his legs. He soon realized that shrapnel from one of his own bombs had hit him. He was able to fly his plane back to base and land it. When he was taken to the hospital the doctor told him he was lucky that the shrapnel had not punctured an artery and caused him to bleed to death. Ed was awarded a Purple Heart for his wound. Ed left the Air Force when his enlistment was up. He worked as an engineer. He married and raised children. His grand children describe him as a true hero. I agree with them. Ed is 83 years young and an incredible man who I admire very much.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
A Beautiful Christmas Night In Pacifica
Wednesday was one day in the life of the Earth. Participants were supposed to go out and make photos of things going on in their area. Elena and I went out to photograph things going on in the night. We took pictures of Christmas lights decorating houses. One house was really special. It had the most beautiful decorations of all the house that we saw. Even more fascinating was the fact that the owners, Adam and his wife, stood in front of the house dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus. They welcomed all who came with a gift of a candy cane. They took pictures with all visitors. It was a special moment.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Jacob Zuma's Lavish Presidential Palace
THE UK's THOUGHTS ON ZUMA
We read and know all about this and tend to treat it as dirty laundry in our own backyard ~ but it makes news overseas with who knows what consequences on tourism, investment et alAnd don’t we look like turkeys for allowing it to happenThanks for sending it BarbaraLoveUK gives £19million aid to South Africa - its president spends £17.5million on his palaceIt is a nation racked by poverty, where 13 million people survive on less than £1 a day, and two million have no access to a toilet.Yet as his people struggle in squalor, South African president Jacob Zuma has sparked outrage by spending £17.5 million to upgrade his rural family home.Lavish works – which include the construction of 31 new houses, an underground bunker accessed by lifts and a helipad – will cost almost as much as the £19 million British taxpayers send to South Africa in annual aid.Not quite right...South African president Jacob Zuma continues to have a lavish lifestyle despite many parts of his country struggling for survivalThe costly upgrade to Zuma’s once-humble home in the village of Nkandla includes Astroturf sports fields and tennis courts, a gymnasium and state-of-the art security systems, including fingerprint-controlled access pads.And nearby roads have benefited from a further £40 million of improvements.When African journalists revealed the astronomical cost of the work, Zuma’s ministers turned on the whistle-blowers, saying that revealing the details of ‘top secret’ documents was illegal.Originally the cost of the project, which began two years ago, was put at £500,000 – but it has since skyrocketed. South African taxpayers are footing most of the bill, although Zuma, a polygamist with four wives and at least 20 children, is said to be contributing £700,000 of his own money – a stretch on his annual £185,000 salary.However, he also receives a controversial £1.2million in ‘spousal support’ for his wives – despite recently calling on fellow politicians to tighten their belts – and pays only a peppercorn rent of £560 on the tribally owned plot in the Zululand hills where his mansion sits.Zuma has named his residence a ‘national key point’ – a status invented by the previous paranoid apartheid government – which means it is entitled to security measures ‘in the interests of the nation’.Bewildering: Work continues on Zuma's 'palace' as 31 buildings in his residence get given the go aheadLast week he was grilled in parliament about what he and his family were costing the nation, and struggled to answer, protesting that he was unaware of the scale of the work.‘All the buildings and every room we use in that residence were built by ourselves as family and not by the government,’ he protested. He did not know the amount spent on bunkers, claiming: ‘I don’t know the figures; that’s not my job.’Under pressure, Zuma has been forced to agree to two investigations: one to probe the spiraling costs at Nkandla, the other to see if there was a breach of parliamentary spending rules.Support: Zuma, pictured left, remains high in popularity in South Africa much to do with his friendship with Nelson Mandela (right)‘Nkandlagate’ – as the state-owned media have been banned from calling it – is just the latest scandal to engulf the 70-year-old African National Congress leader. In 2004 he faced trial with his financial adviser Schabir Shaik over racketeering and corruption claims for accepting tens of thousands of pounds in bribes from European arms firms.Shaik was imprisoned for 15 years, but Zuma’s case was ‘discontinued’ after complicated legal wrangling – even though a judge said there was ‘overwhelming’ evidence of a corrupt relationship between the two men. The following year, a 31-year-old HIV-positive woman accused him of rape. Although he was acquitted, Zuma’s ludicrous claim that he took a shower after sex to prevent contracting HIV made him a laughing stock.His personal life also came under scrutiny following the 2000 suicide of his first wife, who left a note describing ‘24 years of hell’ with him, and again after the illegitimate birth of another child in 2009. He accused the media of invading his privacy when revealing the scandal.Meanwhile, South Africa is in an increasingly parlous state, having had its credit rating downgraded following industrial unrest. Workers at the Marikana platinum mine were mown down and killed by armed police last month when they dared to demand better pay. A truck-drivers’ strike later led to more deaths, and last week thousands of farmworkers downed tools in protest at their £4.85 day-rate.Yet Zuma – who glories in his nickname ‘100 per cent Zulu boy’ – still has substantial support among the people, bolstered by his freedom-fighter credentials, having spent ten years imprisoned on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela.Britain is committed to spending an average of £19 million a year in aid on South Africa until 2015, mainly aimed at reducing HIV. But the Department for International Development is examining how it spends the UK’s aid budget, and recently announced plans to slash the controversial £280 million a year it sends to India.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Our Dog Copernicus Is Out Of Surgery!!!!
Everyone Copernicus came home after a two-hour surgery to remove a small growth on his head. The doctors and support staff at Lind Mar Animal Hospital did an incredible job. He is resting and recovering. He will get good food and light workouts for the next week. He is an amazing little man and a real survivor!!
Jack's Africa: Sasol to invest $21bn in US gas plants - FT.com
Jack's Africa: Sasol to invest $21bn in US gas plants - FT.com: Sasol to invest $21bn in US gas plants - FT.com : 'via Blog this'
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Trends in College Tuition vs. Bachelor’s Degree Wages; Interesting Demographics of Student Loan Debt History
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)