The humorous part is that during his sentence Umar argues ” a life time sentence in prison is cruel and unusual punishment, as well as unconstitutional.” So first the man himself is going to bomb a aircraft with over 200 people, and potentially would of killed them is calling the punishment cruel, and were being unconstitutional for saving another future attack from Al Qaeda? Well if this isn’t screwed up then what is, huh. 

This man is 25 years old, before had pleaded not guilty to eight charges against him, which include attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction. Theres cruelness in just mentioning to use a weapon of mass destruction on others, just because your what trying to be a constitutional man and divine your own thought? 

So you can all decide for yourselves whether this sentence was right or not. I think there should be no trials for these types of matters, because if its caught on tape, with over 100 witnesses on the plane theres no need to hire lawyers, and waste time, just slam down the hammer, and sentence him to life time!

Don’t I look fantastic?

How’s dinner sounding now?

Have fun catching me to serve for dinner.

You better catch me before I catch you, I just might want to make you my dinner.

All in all, it’d be an interesting dinner for someone or something.

Ah, chocolate! So many different kinds to choose from, and all of it delicious! But where did it originate – and is it really an aphrodisiac?

The average American consumes 11.7 pounds of chocolate a year. To get an idea of how much – imagine almost 12 packages of butter as being made of solid chocolate – or about the size of your average well-fed house cat. That is a lot of chocolate! (And it won’t stop meowing for some reason.)

The treat so loved worldwide has very humble beginnings. The cacao bean begins life inside a fruit, called a pod, on a tree in the tropics, primarily in remote areas of West Africa, Southeast Asia and Central and South America.

These delicate, flower-covered trees need much tending and, when farmed using sustainable methods, grow in harmony in tropical forests beneath other cash crops such as bananas, rubber or hardwood trees. Grown on small family farms, the beans leave cocoa farms by hand, in carts, on donkeys or rugged trucks to be sold to a local buyer and then to processors abroad. Once in the factory, they are ground, pressed, heated and stirred to create luxurious chocolate.

3,000 years ago, the ancient Meso Americans discovered the seeds which would be processed into what we now know as chocolate on the cacao tree, found in the tropical rainforests of the Americas. They mixed the ground seeds with seasonings back then, to make what they believed to be a health elixir – a bitter, spicy drink that could be considered the World’s first Cocoa drink.

The pods that the cacao seeds grew in were considered by the Mayans to symbolize life and fertility, and so the Mayans often used the symbol of the pod in their religious rituals. They called cacao “The Food of the Gods”. The Aztecs also believed the plant had magic properties, and that it could bestow wisdom and power. They also thought it to be a great source of nutrition – and most interestingly, used it as an aphrodisiac, which today’s science says isn’t so far off!

The Spaniards were the first to introduce sugar to chocolate – and thank goodness they did, or else we wouldn’t be enjoying all of the sweet confections available to us in the present. They also added new spices to the health elixir the Mayans and Aztecs enjoyed, and the modified beverage quickly spread throughout Europe like wildfire, enjoying a reputation as “the drink of the elite” for centuries.

Leave it to the French, however, to further the food’s reputation as an aphrodisiac! Casanova – the infamous womanizer – drank chocolate before seeing his lady friends, and as word of his romantic prowess spread, so did the romantic reputation of chocolate, inspiring much erotic art and literature in the French royal court.

In Barcelona in 1780, finally the first machine-produced chocolate was made. It was still in liquid form, however; smooth, solid eating chocolate would not be available until British chocolatier Fry & Sons developed the first solid chocolate bar in the early 1800s.

So when did Valentines Day chocolates begin to become a tradition? Richard Cadbury, founder of Cadbury Chocolate, introduced the first box of Valentine chocolates in 1868. However, the chocolates must have been dark, because the first milk chocolate was not brought to market until 1875, when a Swiss chocolate maker named Daniel Peter introduced it.

Chocolate became so popular around the world that during World War II, the U.S. government shipped cocoa beans to the troops. Even today, the U.S. Army includes chocolate bars in their rations. Chocolate has even been taken into space by NASA.

So is chocolate an aphrodisiac? Chocolate contains a small amount of phenylethylamine, which has been linked to the regulation of physical energy, mood and attention. A tiny amount of this chemical is released during moments of emotional euphoria, elevating heart rate and blood pressure. There’s no evidence that this chemical in foods elevates the level of the chemical in humans – however, the extra dopamine boost that you get from the caffeine and sugar in chocolate, combined from the happiness of eating such a yummy treat, might put you in a better frame of mind, which can only be a good thing when it comes to romance! Also, some scientists have said that chocolate causes the release of oxytocin, aka “the love chemical”, which causes us to bond with one another. Final analysis? It never hurts to believe!

And it can even help, if it gets you to eat a little chocolate: Dark chocolate (as opposed to milk or white chocolate) contains healthful flavonoids similar to those found in tea, red wine, fruits, and vegetables. Studies have shown that dark chocolate can improve blood vessel flow and may improve blood sugar and insulin sensitivity to help reduce the risk of diabetes. But beware, chocolate candy has plenty of saturated fat and sugar, so enjoy small portions of as part of a healthy diet.

If you do happen to overindulge, just remember, these “Chocolate holidays” only come a few times a year, so just get back to your healthful eating plan as soon as possible – and take a nice, long walk outside to get your motivation and energy back in line. That always does a body good!

Tour a Chocolate Factory in San Francisco (video – RealPlayer required)

“Don’t wait for big things before you start.” This was one of the striking lines that seemed to flash in my memory after reading Bo Sanchez’s article. Every week, I keep on receiving emails from him for my Soulfood subscription. Early that day before I opened Bo’s article, I wrote a blog related to success but it was full of questions. I sighed in relief reading his teaching to reaffirm my ‘ideology’.

“I am very busy.” Sounds very familiar, isn’t it? This is the lamest excuse people have in order to escape from doing something. Bo gave a very simple example. Reading this anecdote, I smiled and remembered a lot of people I know having similar excuses. Here’s an excerpt from Bo’s article.

One November morning, an overweight guy told me, “I really want to get healthy. I want to start walking one solid hour every morning.”

“Great,” I told him, “When will you start?”

“I just need to buy a new pair of rubber shoes,” he beamed, “and I’m good to go. I want to walk with those hi-tech rubber shoes with air cushions in their soles. Once I buy that, I’m ready to conquer the streets. Boy, am I excited!”

When I checked him out in December, he said, “Oh Bo, it’s the Christmas season. I’m just super busy now. You know, with all the shopping and late-night parties.  But I promise you Bo, when Christmas is over, I’ll really get to it. Nothing is going to stop me from my morning exercise!”

In the middle of January, I bumped into him. He said, “I’ve not been able to start yet. Gosh, there’s a huge backlog in the office. Let me clear that off first. And I’ll jump into my exercise program right away…”

When I talked to him in April, he said, “Summer is crazy, Bo. My kids taking painting classes and music classes, and I have to drive them to all these classes every day.  After the insanity of summer is over, I’m really going to start walking every morning. You just wait. I’ll be burning the road. I’ll be sweating like a horse. I’ll be losing pounds….”

When June rolled in, he said, “The kids are back in school. Let me just settle them, buy their books, their uniform, their notebooks, and I’ll reeeeeeeeally start my exercise program in the morning. I mean, I can’t wait to walk on the road. The moment I start, I won’t stop. That’s me. That’s my personality. I don’t want to start anything half-baked…”

When I checked on him in October, he said, “Oh Bo, Christmas season is starting early this year. Let me let Christmas season pass by and I’ll reeeeeeeeeally get started on my morning walk…”

I got tired of hearing this kind of excuse. What makes me sad is that whenever there are parties and other celebrations people tend to forget their “being busy”.

Christmas morning, 1996, I woke from a phenomenal dream. For whatever reason I was lying prone outside somewhere in nature, when a healthy tree grew up out of my diaphragm and the tree spread a W I D E canopy over me, like a fifty foot drip line, and then it began to fruit and mature, and the tree was large and the fruits appeared in spectacularly lush colors. Then the fruits continued the smoothly instant maturing process above me before my eyes, and began to, one by one, here and there and then over there as well, become so ponderously huge and lush and low-hanging that it was thrilling to behold. And then pop and then pop, here and then over there, the most gigantiful fruits began splitting open, revealing luscious pulp to the world. Utterly low effort high yield. That’s how it struck me. And then I woke.

Christmas night I went out on Mom’s back porch for a cigarette. The sky was starless black and I stood on the steps and prayed up to it: “Thank you God, for that dream. It felt like an announcement that my existence will result in something very good.”

And as I spoke the word “Amen,” a prick of light popped into the otherwise unrelieved blackness. The first star of the night stitched the spot my praying eyes rested on, as though my gaze had pierced the night all the way to Heaven in one tiny place.

The 2011 Party was, in my opinion, the best by far. There were lots more bouncy castles, including ones that were HUGE slides. This enabled the children to climb up the steps that were built into the bouncy castle and then slide down however they wanted. Taj absolutely loved climbing up the steps and the whizzing down the slide.  In fact, Taj went on all of the bouncy castles lots and lots of times.

Another one of Taj’s favourite rides was the helicopter ride. There were lots of small helicopters that were attached to large beams that went up and down whilst going around and around. Taj thought it was fantastic when the ride speed up. I was most impressed with Taj when he reassured whoever was sitting next to him that it was all okay.

There was also a Ferris Wheel at the party. Taj went on this quiet a few times. Here is some video footage of him on the Ferris Wheel.

Last Wednesday, a bitterly cold, miserable day here in Norfolk, I went through my usual initial weekday routine – alarm goes off, drag myself out of bed, go through the usual ablutions, get dressed and head for the kitchen to have breakfast, feed the cats and then feed the wild birds.  The ground was solid, the grass was white with the sharp frost and, needless to say, I wasn’t feeling particularly joyous,  particularly as I had to work.

I climbed the stairs to my office to check my emails and see if any work had come in overnight and saw that I had an email from Hillside.  I instantly thought it was going to be horrible news – that they had some more poor animals that they wished to take in due to torture, abuse or abandonment, but was gladdened by the news that the dogs mentioned in my previous article http://socyberty.com/society/romanian-dog-rescue along with some others were now on their way to a new, more friendly home at the Sanctuary.

The dogs, at the time of the email, were just passing through Austria and Hillside understood that about 10 had been considered strong enough for the very long journey to foreign shores.  Among them were Sanni

Brick

and Petronel

These three little refugees were to arrive with a couple of new found buddies;

Lord

and Yura.

Hillside had sent a representative across to Romania the previous week to assess the situation out there and they had reported that, due to the extraordinary sub-zero temperatures currently affecting Eastern Europe, the rescuers who had been working hard to set up temporary shelters to house the dogs, were trying to compete with the ice and snow which had reached the top of the dogs 6 ft pens. 

On Friday morning I received another email from Hillside.  Apparently 14 dogs had arrived safely at the sanctuary the previous night.  I’ve attached some photographs of the dogs, looking a little bemused and wary, as they were “unloaded” and settled down in for the night.  Ten of them were to remain at Hillside for the time being but the other four were collected by local  foster carers.

Here’s a picture of the dogs as they arrived.

and a picture of a couple of the dogs as they were about to spend their first night on Norfolk soil in safe, warm and cosy beds!

Petronel has now been adopted and the adopters had waited for hours in the icy cold at the sanctuary to collect their little waif and stray and take him to a new safe, stable, non abusive life.  Here’s a picture of the now fit and healthy Petronel with his adopter.

A couple of the sanctuary workers are still out in Romania and are hoping to be able to organise another “shipment of refugees” to UK soil in the not too distant future.

christmas 2007 (Photo credit: paparutzi)

christmas 2007 (Photo credit: paparutzi)

christmas 2007 (Photo credit: paparutzi)

. What am I saying? Well, so did the little ads that have been mysteriously appear on the bureau, office, or stuck on the windshield of his car does not get there by accident. Someone who wants to be very careful what you really want to set. Do not you think that the wind was there, right? Oh, please! Let us review the list and find out what your wife really wants for Christmas. I abbreviated everything for clarity and brevity. This means that the 27 items you really want to be concentrated in only five. Do you understand?

1. Jewellery – You have to ask?What woman does not want to have something light in the fingers, around the neck, wrist, ankle, navel … Well, I’m not talking about jewelry. I’m talking about something that will retain its luster in all weathers and can be counted in the number of carats it has. You may need to adjust at least the following June, probably as late as Thanksgiving …

2.               Chocolate – Milk Chocolate is not NOK, folks.Better for you to choose the brand Pilgrim, Godiva, and Richart are some that come to mind. Yes, you get the little shop is filled with chocolate Santa, too.
3.               A islands! Well, it’s time to splurge. In style and the book at the beginning of February vacation paradise.You know you need both the 17 measurable storm patches up your alley. Oh by the way, no matter how she believes that children will come and make appointments with parents to spend a week to home.If children come down with the flu at least be in a familiar environment with adults who are spoiled rotten

4. Spa Membership – It’s complicated.If you get a spa membership, which means that you think you are fat / old / wrinkles, etc. You are on dangerous ground, men! Better yet, make sure it is a place where friends and hang out. Tell her you want her to have regular quality time with friends. It will not buy property, but will be especially during the presentation with another gift she wants chocolate.

5.Additional administration costs Things in his minivan. You know how hard it is for you to gather their courage to carry on the family van, right? Especially after driving your Dakota weekly. Who wants to be caught driving this thing? This is where you really have to die to self: give spark plugs and spark plug wires for Christmas and stop there. Just kidding! Better to find parts for the car brand that really wants: carpets, upholstery, carpet companies, etc. All frilly little details that make the car as well, yours.

Still not sure what you want? So just watch. This ad is open on the desktop to the next item you will … the one with the big red circle around it. So, just come and go from there. If you do, you will sing “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men” at any time. Merry Christmas!

Alcohol:
In animals also, alcohol can cause an abnormal gait and loss of balance. In addition, alcohol can cause digestive problems such as vomiting and abdominal pain that induce loss of appetite. If these effects may disappear by themselves, ingestion of alcohol sometimes requires placing the animal on a drip to remove harmful substances more quickly.
Chocolate:
Another is often present at Christmas including the inevitable log is chocolate. Many of us consume every day, but it’s totally not recommended for our canine friends: in fact, chocolate contains theobromine, a substance toxic to dogs.
More chocolate is rich in cocoa and it is dangerous. Thus, a few grams of dark chocolate can cause diarrhea, stomach ulcers and vomiting.
In addition, the dog can be a victim of heart disease and tremors or convulsions. Symptoms appear 5-12 hours after ingestion.
And brown:
They contain tannins cause diarrhea and vomiting or bowel obstruction in our dogs and cats.
 

Three plants potentially dangerous to our dogs and cats

Mistletoe and holly
Among the ornamental plants of the period of New Year and Christmas, there are mistletoe and holly.
But beware! The berries of these plants are toxic and ingestion is usually followed by salivation, diarrhea, vomiting and nervous disorders. In addition, mistletoe-induced heart disease. Ingestion of large doses and if untreated can cause rapid death of the animal.
The Christmas roses (poinsettia)
They are irritating to the digestive tract of the animal that ingests them and for the skin and mucous membranes upon prolonged contact with the plant.
Finally, the tree
It can also be a source of disease for our friends. Embellished with glass balls and other Christmas lights, there is a risk of cuts or shock to animals attracted to the tree bright and lively.

Attention to two anti-cold highly toxic to our pets

Salt déneigenement
The winter weather and snow are involved in charming holiday season. But road salt can cause digestive and nervous disorders (agitation, tremors, convulsions) when ingested by our pets. In addition, the ingestion of salt-induced dehydration.
Antifreeze
Another product often used for cars in the winter is antifreeze. This material contains ethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting product and unfortunately very popular dogs. Its toxicity is formidable: 1 to 4 hours after ingestion, the animal is intoxicated, suffers from respiratory problems and dehydration. Death can occur within 4 to 6 hours. If it survives, kidney damage can occur and cause death within days or even weeks.