A sampling:

Most of it doesn’t matter.

Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means waiting for ever.

Trying to please other people is largely a futile activity.

Everything takes twice as long as you plan for and produces results about half as good as you hoped.

See also Augustine's Laws.

So true

Things I wish I’d known when I was younger

Cool off with a cocktail, enjoy fine cuisine and explore the life aquatic to the sounds of live jazz each Friday night this summer during Jazz Journeys at the Georgia Aquarium. World-renowned jazz musicians will perform sounds to calm the spirit and arouse the senses while guests enjoy some of nature’s most enchanting aquatic animals. Drinks and light cuisine will be available for purchase.

The Aquarium will remain open until 10 p.m. each Friday night this summer through Aug. 31st with FREE jazz music starting at 7:30 p.m. in the lower atrium.

July 20 - Just Ahead
This Atlanta-based group combines various styles of live jazz, ranging from contemporary smooth jazz, swing and danceable, to traditional jazz standards and funk-oriented sounds. The newest member to Atlanta’s local jazz scene, they’re currently completing new CD "This Way.”

July 27 - Jeff Sparks
This multi-faceted musician offers a refreshing style of jazz, letting his heart speak through his soprano saxophone. In his 30+ years as a saxophonist, he has shared the stage with such noted artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Branford Marsalis, Al B. Sure and Oleta Adams.

August 3 - Eric Essix
Atlanta's favorite smooth jazz guitarist blends gospel, blues and soul music with jazz for a sound that is uniquely informed by his southern upbringing. He’s had top 10 radio hits and 11 albums in a career that spans 18 years.

August 10 - Ken Ford
Riveting, electrifying, sensational and personable describe the music of this renowned electric violinist.

August 17 - The Peachtree Jazz Edition
This 18-piece band has been playing together for 10 years. They offer an expanded repertoire of big band jazz tunes from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as more modern pop-jazz tunes from the 1990s.

August 24 - Kathleen B
With a repertoire that ranges from straight-ahead jazz standards to spirited gospel and R&B, this artist returns to the Georgia Aquarium with smooth vocals from a variety of genres.

August 31 - Madoca
A pianist, keyboardist and composer, this Atlanta-based musician blends jazz, fusion and funk. She has performed around the world and won several awards in her native country, Japan.

This looks like it might be a nice way to spend a Friday night

Weekly Jazz Journeys at Georgia Aquarium

These "litte people" remind me a lot of Fairie Doors

This is cool! I love the fairy doors.

Little People Random Street Art

The tale of a young Kansas girl who dreams of a better world "somewhere over the rainbow." When Dorothy is thrust into the
eye of a tornado and lands in the fantasy world of Oz, she soon
finds herself in a heap of trouble with three hapless misfits to guide, an evil witch at her heels, and no way to get home.

rated G, 119 mins Run Time

If anyone is interested in seeing it on the big screen The Wizard of Oz is playing at the Fox tomorrow night.

Wizard of Oz playing at the Fox

1. Fun to watch graphics

Count the number of blocks as they fall down in various shapes. It's more like a sandglass than a timer!
The number of blocks piled at the bottom indicates the time passed .

2. Unique set/start buttons

Once you have set the timer, it can easily be started just by turning around the body .

3. Mode change-over switch

Press the mode change-over switch to display the exact time passed.
An easy-to-read display with large digital numbers can be read even at a distance.

unique and entertaining way to keep track of when your dinner will be ready :)

Tetris cooking timer

This video is rad!! They are playing video games and showing short videos using the lights in highrise buildings!!

Blinkenlights Arcade

This is the one web site that lists all of the known pick your own fruit and vegetable farms in almost every state in the U.S. and 5 other countries, as well!

Why pick your own?

The quality is much better than any store or farm stand, when you choose the fruit and get it right from the plant. It looks and tastes better. The produce is healthier, too, because it is fresher and you can choose organically grown farms. The costs are usually substantially less; the farmer doesn't need to pay labor to pick, and he has no packaging or shipping costs. If you plan to can or preserve any jam, fruit or vegetables, this is the best way to get the quantity, quality and price you want. And finally, it's fun!

If you like to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables check this site out. A friend turned me on to this when she gave me some blueberries that she had gotten on one of these trips and they were the best blueberries I have ever tasted. The site also has tips on picking and directions on how to preserve it or can it.

Pick your own

Love the game? Now love the magnet set which has been adapted from the classic computer puzzle game that had us so addicted to conquering the never-ending stream of falling blocks back in the 1990s.

Tetrius stick to a fridge, an office whiteboard or any other metal surface. The set itself comprises seven different color blocks

These are cool. I think I will have to get a few sets. There are also sets of pillow tetris for small children (shown below) where they can build with them and then climb on it which is kinda interesting.

Tetris for your home

A long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, a war was being waged between the noble Autobots (led by the wise Optimus Prime) and the devious Decepticons (commanded by the dreaded Megatron) for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. The Autobots managed to smuggle the Allspark off the planet, but Megatron blasted off in search of it. He eventually tracked it to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), but his reckless desire for power sent him right into the Arctic Ocean, and the sheer cold forced him into a paralyzed state. His body was later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, and before going into a comatose state Megatron used the last of his energy to engrave a map, showing the location of the Allspark, into the Captain's glasses, and send a transmission to Cybertron. He is then carted away by the Captain's ship. A century later, Sam Witwicky, nicknamed Spike by his friends, buys his first car. To his shock, he discovers it to be Bumblebee, an Autobot in disguise who is to protect Spike, as he bears the Captain's glasses and the map carved on them.

This movie fing rocks BIG!!!!!! You must see it in theater!!!

Transformers The Movie!!!!!!!!!

Scientists from Georgetown University Medical Center have found that blocking the pathway that leads stressed people to gain weight is the key to manipulating fat — at least in laboratory animals.

The findings, explain why people who are chronically stressed often develop "metabolic syndrome," a condition which causes individuals to gain more weight than they should based on the calories they consume.

Sixty million Americans were estimated to be affected by metabolic syndrome in 2000, according to a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004.

This pathway, according to researchers, involves two players − a neurotransmitter (neuropeptide Y, or NPY) and the receptor (neuropeptide Y2 receptor, or Y2R), which activate in two types of cells in the fat tissue: endothelial cells lining blood vessels and fat cells themselves.

The researchers found that both NPY and Y2R are activated during stress, leading to apple-shape obesity and metabolic syndrome.

With this understanding, researchers were able to add fat selectively to the mice by injecting NPY into a specific area. They were also able to block weight gain and metabolic syndrome by injecting the mice with Y2R blocker into the abdominal fat.

"We couldn’t believe such fat remodeling was possible, but the numerous different experiments conducted over four years demonstrated that it is, at least in mice; recent pilot data also suggest that a similar mechanism exist in monkeys as well," said the study’s senior author, Zofia Zukowska, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at Georgetown University Medical Center.

For the study, stressed animals fed a normal diet did not gain weight, but stressed mice given a high-fat diet did. The researchers found these mice put on more weight than expected given the calories they were consuming.

"They gained twice as much fat as would be expected, and it was all in their belly area," said Lydia Kuo "Stressed versus non-stressed animals ate the same amount of food, but the stressed animals processed it differently", she said, adding, "the novel finding here is that NPY works on fat tissue, not in the brain."

"We are hopeful that these findings might eventually lead to control of metabolic syndrome, which is a huge health issue for many Americans," Zukowska said. "Decreasing fat in the abdomen of the mice we studied reduced the fat in their liver and skeletal muscles, and also helped to control insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, blood pressure and inflammation. Blocking Y2R might work the same way in humans, but much study will be needed to prove that."

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this

Have scientist found a way to block weight gain in stressed people?