Outside This Box

Amazing Things.

A friend sent me this.

Very cool.  Check it out.

This is unacceptable.

This is unacceptable.  I don't know what else to say about this article other than it is absolutely unacceptable.  We will have 2/3 less polar bears by 2050?

This is why:

Without enough sea ice, polar bears would be forced onto land, but they are inefficient hunters once they get out of the water and ice, the researchers said. The bears' disappearance would probably take place as young cubs failed to survive to adulthood and females were unable to reproduce successfully.

There can't be any compromise on this.  It is becoming more and more evident that our elected officials are not going to do what is needed to reduce carbon emissions.  It is up to us.  Reduction of our own personal carbon footprints is necessary.  What is a carbon footprint?

A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

You can calculate your carbon footprint here.

Looking for simple solutions?  Take a shopping tote with you when you go to the grocery store.  It is easy to get past the paper and plastic addition we have when we go to the store.  Use energy saving flourescent lightbulbs in your home.  Don't just use one but change out every bulb you have in your home. Turn your TV off when you're not watching it. 

I want my future grandchildren to be able to see a live polar bear.  Don't you?

Pregnancy diaries: get your hand off my tummy!

I don't know why but there are some people who really get off on touching a pregnant woman's belly.  They know no boundaries.  They will touch your obviously pregnant belly without any concern for personal space.  This happened to me, at work, all the time.

One guy, in particular, felt it was necessary to touch my belly any time he saw me.  He would walk right up to me, his arm outstretched, and plant his open hand right on my person.  Sometimes the hand landed on the top of my bump, sometimes it landed more towards the bottom of the bump which was way too close to an area that only my husband and gynecologist had any right to wander towards.  It didn't matter how many times I pulled back, moved his hand away or outright told him to beat it...his hand was like a pregnant belly magnet. 

Management knew he was doing this.  Management thought it was funny...they thought it was cute.   This was one of their "boy wonders" they had recruited to work in the office.  You know, the "boy wonders" that are drop dead gorgeous and/or had played some type of high profile sport in college.  The kind that move up through the ranks like a hot knife cutting into butter.  Super smooth transitions into jobs that they were not qualified for or had experience in performing.

Those kind.

I still will never understand why someone feels they have the right to walk up to a pregnant woman and touch her belly without permission.  I guess there is some twisted psycho-social need to touch something that is growing in another human. 

At 30,000 feet.

I have seen heaven and it was on the way to Vegas. 

Earlier this week I flew from Albuquerque to Vegas for a clothing show.  I don't normally get a window seat (even though I love window seats) but this flight I did.  I was by myself and sat on the side of the plane where I knew I would be able to get some fabulous views of the Grand Canyon.  I wasn't expecting the incredible thunder heads that we ended up flying through. Digital camera in hand I started taking some pictures.

It was almost like I was having an out of body experience.  The ride was smooth; absolutely no turbulance.  I was floating through the atmosphere right by the most incredible clouds I have ever seen in my life.  Occasionally I would see a spark of lightning shooting down towards the Earth.  The clouds were enormous.  Fluffy.  Colorful.  Incredible shades of blues, grays and pure whites.  They had pockets in them...almost cave like.  I could almost imagine seeing my loved ones who have passed on setting on the edges of the storm, waving as the planes sailed by.  I don't think I will ever look at the sky the same way again.

Another thing of beauty that is certainly not to be ignored.