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Two cats, one man and no pet carriers; even as I write this it sounds like a bad idea! Seven the dog has no trouble behaving in the car. She commutes back and forth to work with me so she puts on more miles in a year than most humans. So with this in mind, I headed off to the vets office this morning with Booty the cat and his cat brother Chang and said the heck with those stupid pet carriers, it a nice day and my boys will enjoy the scenery. Apparently the only scenery they wanted to see was on the floor of the drivers side of the car, because they seemed to move as a cohesive unit to get down to where those interesting peddles reside. This started the minute I pulled out the driveway and continued until I was past the half way mark to our final destination. I'm please with the fact that they are finally calming down and acting like respectable travelers, so I grab my cell phone a take a quick picture to share with my gal who thought I was nuts for leaving without the pet carriers. It seems that Chang was concerned that I might be taking boring pictures, so right after this shot the decided to spice things up a bit by throwing up all over his brother. Of course, Booty's first reaction was to get the hell away from Chang, so he jumps into my lap and proceeds to use my cell phone, arm, shirt and shorts for vomit removal. After a few colorful phrases, I toss them both in the back seat while I attempt to cover the vomit with items laying around the car to prevent them from tracking it all over the place, but Chang isn't much concerned about keeping the car clean. In fact, he decided to remove any doubt I had about the use of cat carriers by taking a crap on the back seat. By the time we arrived at the vets, the three of us were a stinking mess! The first order of business at the vets office was to purchase two brand new cat carriers which are now stacked up with the other two I already had in the garage. Between cleaning the cats, my car and myself, this was a hard learned lesson!

I caught this article and started to wonder why I'm trying to loose weight if we're all going to be dead in four years anyway. It seems I can't pick up a paper with out someone trying to scare the pants off me about something! There's a large colony of bees that show up in one of our warehouse every summer. If I don't see them by the Fourth of July, its Big Mac time! Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross Published: 15 April 2007 It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well. The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives. The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast. CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned. Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK." The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left". No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks. German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines. Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause. Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real." The case against handsets Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up. Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset. Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives. Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting. Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers Source: Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? - Independent Online Edition > Wildlife

As part of the "Why Blog" tutorial, I'm offering a brief description of each of my categories as examples of potential subjects that members might want to cover in a blog. Ever get those eyebrow lifting moment followed by a little voice in the back of your head that says "Cool"? Well why not pass it along to others so everyone can share in your discovery!