SATURDAY FUN - The latest News

University awards first Beatles degree

London. A Canadian woman has become the first person in the world to graduate with a Masters degree in Beatles studies. To become a politician ?

Naked man rescued from trash chute
Honolulu emergency crews rescue a naked man from a trash chute of a Waikiki apartment building after a physical confrontation with his roommate, police say. At least his clothes didn't get dirty !

Social networking leads to sex faster?
NEW YORK - Nearly four out of five women and three of five men say they believe texting, Facebook and other social networking tools cause new couples to jump into bed faster, a survey released on Monday showed. Don't break your legs !

UK pensioners drive into German church
BERLIN - Two British pensioners landed in hospital in southern Germany
after their car's GPS directed them to drive into a church. The 76-year-old driver then plowed into the side of the village church, writing off the car, knocking a picture off the wall and damaging the building's foundations. Total damages were some 25,000 euros, police in the nearby town of Immenstadt said. They must be very religious

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FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. On Monday after acqua gym we discussed about the benefits of light therapy and if it would be worthwhile to buy a lamp. As Dominique had already one, she said that it helped her very much during these dark winter period. It's true that lots of people have the winter blues. Therefore after having lunch together, I went with Dominique to different stores to see what was on the market and of course also to compare prices. She found a wonderful alarm clock, which wakes you up slowly with increasing light and to the sound of bird chirping. It also can be used as bedside lamp.

2. My friend Chantal also suffered from the rain and darkness and proposed to do some window shopping in a very big antique store, where we could walk around and look at pretty or ugly things without getting wet. After that we had a cup of tea at home and of course again we talked about light therapy and she said that she already has a lamp like that when it wasn't on the market in Belgium yet and her mother had bought it in France in a pharmacy.

3. I decided to buy my lamp. Not so easy, they were sold out in 3 stores ! Finally I went back to the first store, got the last lamp which was exposed, bought it and asked Mr. G. to install it besides my Computer. He of course grumbled about "again a useless thing" but after all the explanation he then heard from different sources, he found it good too.

4. In the morning I started my computer, took a cup of coffee and switched on the lamp. The light was bright but not steady and waggled. After a while it got steady, but then there was a strange noise which really got on my nerves. It was damaged ! I took it back and asked to change it, there was no problem besides one .... no lamp in stock ! They ordered it for me and I have to wait.

5. In my painting class they had taken away the Christmas decoration (it was about time) and had put up these building paintings. We all got the impression to paint in the middle of the Grand'Place in Brussels ! It looks very nice !



Besides lamp hunting I worked on my Blog book. Other Bloggers have told me that it is very easy, I don't know what I am doing but my book composition takes time !

THE PILL

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

Letter : P

In the beginning of the 60th, the poor Pope and the catholic church in general lived a terrible nightmare ! Some scientists had dared to invent a pill which gave women the freedom to decide if they wanted children or not, immediately or a few years later. Suddenly birth control was possible to almost 100 %.

The pill was commercialized in Belgium beginning 1960 and everybody could buy them in the pharmacy without a prescription. You just could go into a drugstore and buy your pills like caugh candies or aspirines.

Many women were very happy about this invention and lots of them tried it out as soon as it was on the market. Of course I bought them too, not to jump from one bed into the other, but just in case, you never know and then they said it was good for the skin, avoided pimpels and also helped to regulate menstruation problems.

Unfortunately people were not informed enough about this matter and it came to some rather strange incidents.

A couple filed a complaint because the woman got pregnant despite The Pill. After investigation it turned out that her husband had taken the pill instead, because the wife got stomac troubles so he devoted himself and took the pill.

Another woman had to be hospitalized because she had swallowed all pills at once, to be sure that she won't forget one day. Of course after several similar incidents a new law came out, that The Pill could only be bought on prescription, and a visit to the gynecologist for a check up and explanations became obligatory.

Today The Pill is used all over the world and is a very good mean for birth control.

It also gave some more freedom to women who in general had to pay for the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy, while men could disappear in nature or deny all responsibility.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here

MY WORLD - "Shame" Manifestation in Brussels

I don't want to get political, but just show you how my world in Belgium looked on Sunday.People just got together in a manifestation for their country and that they want to stay together and not be devided into two parts, a Flemish and a Waloon . No political party was mentioned. It had been especially pointed out by the organizers not to get political.

The organisers were 4 flemish and 1 student from Brussels who organized a march to call for national unity and demand a government after seven months of political impasse, which is a sad European or maybe even worldwide record. And all that because the elected Flemish party has been unable to agree on a government in negotiations with Francophone Socialists.

The only thing they tried to do was to convince the Belgians that French speaking and Flemish speaking people have to hate each other and that the country should be devided.

Fortunately that didn't work at all. The people with an exception of a very small amount of extremists on both sides, wanted to stay together, being Belgians in Belgium.

Therefore about 50,000 people joined the "Shame: no government, great country" march in Brussels yesterday.





The four young students who managed to gather 50.000 people on the street



English was used to show their disagreement with the politicians who want to devide the country.



An idea of the crowds who went throught the streets, peacefully talking together, in a cheerful atmosphere. No significant incident was noticed. The police had only to do a "decorative" job. That's what a friend has told me, who has participated with her two sons.





Some parents had painted their kids faces with the Belgium flag colors.



Students, written in Flemish enraged written in French

Lots of very funny banners full of humor were carried by the people. Here one says "Welcome in Clownistan" referring to the politicians who are acting like clowns. There were also banners saying "Clowns belong into a circus" and "We want beer, chips and a government".

One of the organisers, Thomas Decreus, said the march was meant to show that "the people can act where politicians fail: i.e., working together across the language barrier".

You can read more about this manifestation here on BBC.



I took the photos from our TV while I was watching the News.

more participants here

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND

Helps you to remember what you have done on the weekend of January 22. You never know if you need an alibi ! If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.

This has been a quiet amusing weekend as I went with my friends Dominique and Ilona to the theatre in Waterloo. The title of the play already said it all "The trauma of the rabbit"



It was the story of 4 girls sharing a flat together with a rabbit. It was hilarious and we all had a lot of fun. The Theatre was full and the presentation very good.

After the play we went to Dominique for a last cup of tea before going to bed, but of course it wasn't only one cup but severals and we talked about the play and that we should do this more often.

On Sunday I was invited to my neighbour's (and catsitter) birthday, just across the street. Mr. G. couldn't come with me because he had an eye infection and didn't feel well. He also had to wear an eye patch and looked like a one eyed pirate.



There were family and friends, 11 people all together and we had several kinds of cake and of course champagne ! We all congratulated her to her 27 th birthday pretending that we were all dyslexic. After the traditional "Happy Birthday" song we attacked the cakes and emptied the champagne. We know each other for such a long time in fact since the day we moved into our house in 1975 when here daughters were 6 and 8 years old and babysitted our son. Today one has a 18 year old daughter and they are both in their 40th ! Time surely flies by.

We had a nice afternoon and then I returned to my one eyed man, who had prepared supper and I wasn't hungry at all with all the cake I had eaten. Of course I made an effort and ate the Gnocchis he had prepared. But honnestly now I feel as if I could never eat anything anymore for a whole year !

TRYING OUT LIGHT THERAPY

Already before Christmas I started to see the world in black and often had serious lacks of energy. It hasn't happened to me since 6 years and I was quiet worried that I didn't feel my good old self when I got up in the mornings. In the past I had suffered from seasonal depressions, but that always happened from October on, finished in January and it's quiet a long time I haven't had it anymore.

People who know me are not used that I am suddenly feeling like a motor without petrol. My friends said that as I am a sunshine person it's probably because the winter is so dark this year and we don't have enough light. More and more people also talk about light therapies and energy light lamps are the big hit this year !

My friend Dominique has such a lamp. As she doesn't need it for the moment she lent it to me so that I would get my dose of light which apparently I need. Today I used it for the first time. I put it on my little table and suddenly the room was full of light ! I didn't know how long I could use it and also wanted to know a little more about light therapy. Wikipedia gave me the answer (as usual).

"Indian medical literature dating to 1500 BC describes a treatment combining herbs with natural sunlight to treat non-pigmented skin areas. Buddhist literature from about 200 AD and 10th-century Chinese documents made similar references"
Again, we the Western sophisticated world has only discovered this recently and makes it popular as if they had invented it. Suddenly these lamps and light boxes are "in" and become more and more popular and a new money making market has been created.

Because : The medical applications of light therapy also include pain management, accelerated wound healing, hair growth, acupuncture, improvement in blood properties and blood circulation, and sinus-related diseases and disorders.

That's absolutely great, probably next week I can show you my hairs hanging down to my heels, no cat scratches on my hands anymore, a terrific blood circulation (hopefully through my brain too) and no colds ! And according to the Indians and Buddhists I will have a skin of a 20 year old !



Rosie doesn't seem affected by my light therapy !

PS. Reading your comments I have to precise that this therapy has nothing to do with the sun or sunlight, or sunshine, it's just the brightness.