Thursday, January 25, 2007

  • hooray for code words! a mother and her children, who had been missing for several days, were found when her family and a pizza guy helped the police discover them. the family said the missing woman called them to tell them she was fine, but when she didn't respond with the proper code word they had established to indicate she was safe, they knew she was being held against her will. i think a lot of other things came together for the police to find them, but how smart that they had established this code word and the whole family knew it. i know that's a technique they teach little kids as far as strangers go, but never thought to use it in my own life. granted, this woman had been in an abusive relationship for a long time and probably really needed this code word, but it does make me wonder if there's any use for such a thing for me...
  • i've become a bit obsessed lately about saving money and retirement. yes, yes, i realize i have quite a while until i get to retire, but i'm still obsessed with it. this story about a single mom who is on her way to becoming a millionaire is very inspiring, with some smart money ideas like encouraging your kids to save by matching whatever they save each month. my dad has encouraged me to save at least 10% of what i earn since i started working at 17, and while i didn't listen very well then, i did listen, and now understand how important saving really is. so i'm always welcoming tips on how to do it even better!
  • man, people are funny. recently researchers released news that two minutes in the microwave can kill most, if not all, of the bacteria in a kitchen sponge. so apparently some people decided they'd try this, with a dry sponge. the sponge must be wet for this to work. i love this guy's comment: "Just wanted you to know that your article on microwaving sponges and scrubbers aroused my interest. However, when I put my sponge/scrubber into the microwave, it caught fire, smoked up the house, ruined my microwave, and pissed me off." oops!
  • american idol is back in full force! i have been watching and each year i seem to cringe more and more at the bad contestants. i just feel awful for those people. i am looking forward to getting down to the good folks! so far i love sundance head and melinda the backup singer, who ironically are from the same audition city. i'm sure there will be others i like but right now those are the ones that stand out. the only thing about sundance is he needs to cover up that bear rug that's on his chest. not so fond of the hairiness.
  • this is the craziest thing i've ever seen. a frilled shark. these suckers apparently live like 2000 feet under water so they're seen very rarely, but one came to the surface because it was sick or something and they caught it in japan. man, there are some weird looking things living on this planet!! check out this article for more pictures and even some video!
  • this may be the weirdest story i've ever read. this guy is 29. apparently, he convinced a 61-year-0ld man and a 43-year-old man that he was 12 and they took him in and had sexual relationships with him. then they enrolled him in school, as a 12-year-old 7th grader. so by day he was a 7th grader and by night he was sex partner to two pedophiles. he went to school for 50 days until they kicked him out for poor attendance. the 43-year-old man, when he was arrested for intent of child molestation or something, said he was "very upset to learn his live in partner was an adult." i don't even know what to say about this story. ironically, all this occurred in a town called surprise, arizona. how about that.

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