Another year with the Fabulous Lovelies of the Follies

The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies is a three-hour, razzle-dazzle, song and dance vaudeville-style extravaganza showcasing the music and dance of the '30s, '40s and '50s with one amazing difference… each of the cast members is from 59 to 84 years "young!"

In addition, the Follies' all-new seventeenth season presents another outstanding line-up of celebrated guest stars including Broadway actress and star of television's classic sitcom The Mothers-in-Law, Kaye Ballard; The Four Aces performing their legendary hits "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" and "Strangers In Paradise"; Grammy-nominated recording artist and Tony Award-winning musical star, Melba Moore; and television, film and Broadway star, the Tony Award-winning Anna Maria Alberghetti.

The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, at the Plaza Theatre, 128 S. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs (tel. 760/327-0225; www.psfollies.com), a vaudeville-style show filled with production numbers, is a long-running hit in the historic Plaza Theatre in the heart of town. With a cast of retired showgirls, singers, dancers, and comedians, the revue is hugely popular. The season runs November through May; call for exact schedule. Tickets range from $39 to $89. Matinees at 1:30pm, Evening at 7pm.

Endless Beauty

Sun Peaks Resort: At the south-central British Columbia ski area, a 45-minute drive from Kamloops Airport, a ride uphill is followed by a bracing descent. That's because Sun Peaks has the biggest vertical drop (2,891 feet) in interior B.C. Spread across three mountains are 121 downhill runs up to five miles long.
(Margo Pfeiff)

Another Queen to Set Sail

Cunard's newest ship, the Queen Victoria, has sold out its first two trips and an around-the-world cruise before even starting its career. And that's not all that's making tongues wag. On Monday, the ocean liner will be christened by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The next day, the ocean liner, whose unique touches include fencing classes, a two-story library and private theater boxes, sets out on its maiden voyage, a 10-day European round trip out of Southampton, England. On Jan. 30, the ship calls on Los Angeles during its world cruise. (800) 728-6273, www.cunard.com .

Cloud Formations Enhance the Beauty of the Colorado River

Square Watermelons from Japan

A round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator and the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves. ?

The Japanese Farmers have forced their watermelons to grow into a square shape by inserting the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

The Calico Ghost Town

Calico California was founded in March 1881, the year that marked the beginning of one of the largest silver strikes in California. About one-third of the town is original, with the remaining being "re-creations in the spirit of the old west." Walter Knott, of Knott's Berry Farm fame, bought the town in 1951 and started the restoration process. Walter Knott donated the town to the county of San Bernardino in 1966, and is today run as a regional park. Calico is located about ten miles north of Barstow along Interstate .
The old narrow-gauge railway.

A wise lady who spoke with determination and compassion

"We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours."

Golda Meir (1898 - 1978), to Anwar Saddat just before the peace talks.


Golda Meir (1898-1978)

Golda Meir, born in Kiev, Russia, became the fourth prime minister of Israel. Golda Meir and her husband emigrated from the United States to Palestine, as Zionists. When Israel won independence, Golda Meir was the only woman appointed to the first cabinet. Golda Meir had retired from public life when she was called on to lead the Labor Party. Golda Meir became prime minister when the party prevailed, serving 1969-1974.

Selected Golda Meir Quotations

• At work, you think of the children you've left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself, your heart is rent.

• I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.

• We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon—no alternative. 1969

• The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight. 1969

• It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? … Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either. 1973

• Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil! 1973

• To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don't be. 1974

• I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively. 1977

Bimini: The Road to Atlantis

In the early 1900's, famed American psychic Edgar Cayce predicted that evidence of the lost continent of Atlantis would appear in the Bahamas in 1968 or 1969. Curiously, in 1968 pilots photograhed from the air structures that looked like buildings, walls and roads under the waters off of Bimini island. Others have claimed to have seen pyramids and stone circles on the sea bed, but the only thing that has been confirmed for sure is what has become to be known as the Bimini Road.
Skeptics claim that the Bimini road is a natural formation, even though it is a unique one. But there is no denying the strange set of circumstances surrounding it. Cayce's prediction was uncannily accurate. And there is no denying, the "roads" are straight and look man made. Perhaps they are even part of a wall that has fallen or part of a larger buried structure. ..

Amateur photographer won Pulitzer Prize for hotel fire photo

Arnold Hardy, an amateur photographer who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his gripping 1946 photo of a woman falling from a burning hotel, has died. He was 85.

(From the Associated Press)

The Future will be GREEN but what shade ???

Advocates of alternative-fuel vehicles would seem a unified bunch of tree huggers, bound by their determination to wean the world's automobiles off fossil fuels. But there's a red-hot fight brewing in the green-car world.

Proponents of the two most hyped technologies -- hydrogen fuel cells and plug-in electric hybrids -- are squared off in an increasingly bitter fight. They are vying for publicity, manufacturer acceptance, favorable regulation and, especially, funding for research and investment in infrastructure and marketing.

The battle has been simmering for several years, but with the technologies coming tantalizingly close to commercial reality, the stakes are higher than ever. Whoever gets the upper hand now could determine what kind of cars we all drive in the future.

Something New That is Clever and Convenient . . . From Japan

An Impressive Development in Miami

This buildings’ great architecture done by Fullerton Diaz, simmilar of New York’s Chrysler tower .Capital towers will be located in the Brickell Area on center of Downtown Miami . The twin 53 and 57-story towers will have vast bay, city and park views.

What happened to Truman Capote ???

Excerpts from an article by Jane Smiley:

"What new can one say about Truman Capote anyway? He said much of what there was to say himself -- in fact, about three-fifths of the way through newly released "Portraits and Observations," in an introductory essay to a volume of his early work, Capote gives himself a review: "But something like 'A House on the Heights,' where all the movement depends on the writing itself, is a matter of how the sentences sound, suspend, balance and tumble; a piece like that can be red hell, which is why I have more affection for it than 'A Ride Through Spain,' even though I know the latter is better, or at least more effective." And then, at the end, he gives himself a very bad review: "Again and again I read all that I had written of 'Answered Prayers,' and I began to have doubts -- not about the material or my approach, but about the texture of the writing itself." His doubts did not go away, though he changed his approach again, and then again. At the time of his death, Capote still had not done what he wanted to do, and so we may, I think, wonder whether he died considering himself a failure.

By the evidence of this volume (arranged chronologically), far from it. Every piece is a treasure of effects, and over the whole 500-plus pages and 38 years, the effects hold together and speak back and forth to one another. The result is a visible evolution and a telling portrait of what happened to Truman Capote -- not to his life but to his aesthetic, with his life as a frequently fascinating background.

Romney addresses the question of his Mormon faith

In a much-anticipated speech about his Mormon faith, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney avoided discussing theology -- except for this:

"I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind." That is an accurate statement of Mormon belief, and with it, Romney could claim common ground with evangelical Christian voters. But as he noted in the very next sentence: "My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths."

Indeed, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded on the premise that all other Christian traditions are false. A teenager named Joseph Smith said he received that revelation in a vision in 1820.

Over the next seven years, Smith said, he was visited several times by an angel named Moroni, son of Mormon, who guided him to gold plates buried in upstate New York.

With the help of "seer stones" given to him by Moroni, Smith said he translated the plates into English. The nearly 6 million Mormons in the United States consider that translation, the Book of Mormon, a holy text, on par with the Bible. Its theology has some striking elements:

Mormons hold that God and Christ have physical bodies. They believe that man can become God-like after death, a concept called ultimate deification. They also believe that heaven has more than one tier; only those baptized and married in a Mormon temple can achieve the most exalted realm.

Faithful Mormons -- Romney among them -- do not smoke or drink alcohol or coffee. Many men serve a two-year missionary term, donning dark suits and knocking on door after door in an effort to spread their faith.

Another defining feature of Mormonism is the belief that God communicates through the modern-day prophets who lead the church.

In 1978, for instance, the church president said God revealed a need to end the practice of excluding blacks from the priesthood, even though the Book of Mormon describes dark skin as a divine mark of disfavor. Romney has said he wept with joy upon hearing that revelation.

Another practice endorsed by Joseph Smith -- polygamy -- was ended by the church more than a century ago, in 1890.

Non-Mormons often find Smith's testimony hard to accept, and that may affect voters' attitudes toward Romney.

When a candidate "believes things most Christians believe to be heresy -- doctrinally, just plain wrong -- that poses problems for [voters'] comfort level," said David Gushee, an evangelical theologian at Mercer University.

But Mormons counter that they accept the same fundamentals as other believers -- namely, Christ as savior. And they say it's unfair to brand Smith crazy.

"The foundational story of Christianity, that [Christ] was raised from the dead, is also not rational," said Scott Gordon, president of a Mormon theology group called FAIR. "We consider ourselves Christian. What right do you have to say we're not?"

Shown above is the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.

All Aboard

A preacher goes into a bar and says "Anybody who wants to go to heaven, stand up." Everybody stands up except for a drunk in the corner.

The preacher says "My son, don't you want to go to heaven when you die?" The drunk says "When I die? Sure. I thought you were taking a load up now."

Finally . . . an honest and straight-forward Outhouse !!!

"Dreaming warm and far lands"

For more photos by Vittorio Pellazza, click on the link below:

Alfred Eisenstaedt, Photographer of the Defining Moment

Alfred Eisenstaedt, the German photographer whose pioneering images for Life magazine helped define American photojournalism, died in 1995 while vacationing on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. He was 96 and had lived in Manhattan.

Over a career that lasted more than 50 years, Mr. Eisenstaedt became famous as the quintessential Life photographer, producing more than 2,500 picture stories and 90 covers for the magazine. He was especially renowned for his ability to capture memorable images of important people in the news, including statesmen, movie stars and artists.

Still, his most famous photograph is not of a celebrity, but of the joyful celebrations in Times Square on V-J Day, Aug. 14, 1945, when Japan's surrender brought the end of World War II. The picture, which shows an exuberant American sailor kissing a nurse in a dancelike dip, summed up the euphoria many Americans felt as the war came to a close.

The photograph was published on the cover of Life and quickly became a classic example of photojournalism. In recent months it has been widely reproduced in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the war's end.

Another of Mr. Eisenstaedt's best-known images is a 1933 shot of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, glaring at the camera. "Here are the eyes of hate," the photographer wrote later.

An Enchanting Classic

David Lean's lushly photographed classic about a spinster (Katherine Hepburn) who falls in love for the first time while visiting Venice. American tourist Jane Hudson's lack of romantic experience makes her insatiably vulnerable to the lush beauty of Italy, and leaves her wide open to the charms of a handsome Italian man (Rossano Brazzi). So intoxicated is Jane by their whirlwind affair that she is reluctant to relinquish her new love, even after discovering that he is married and has a family. A touching performance by Hepburn and stunning Technicolor scenes of Venice make SUMMERTIME (1955) an enchanting classic.

Incredible but true !!!

In 1971 the Harlem Globetrotters lost 100 to 99 to the New Jersey Reds, ending a 2,495-game win streak.