Ladies Feel Over The Hill At 29

A new study purports to show that women start feeling old at 29. But take it with a grain of salt — the study was commissioned by funeral home.

According to the New York Daily News, a British company called Avalon Funeral Plans polled 1,000 people on their website. On average, women said they started feeling old at 29 (the Daily News reports this finding as, "29 is when women don't have 'it' anymore," which sounds sort of sinister). And they gauged their horrifying senescence by outward markers like gray hairs, sagging skin, and "assets heading south." Meanwhile, the average male respondent started feeling old at 58, and was more likely to cite behavioral markers of aging like finding music too loud or experiencing erectile dysfunction.

Read more here...

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Last Day!

February 18th was the last day for the coffee shop inside the Borders Bookstore on St. Charles Avenue. The long front porch was one of the best places in uptown New Orleans to have a cup of coffee and watch the world go by, along with the occasional streetcar.

March 29th was the last day the store was officially "open", though there was not much merchandise inside except for the bookshelves that were purchased and being picked up by customers.

The bookstore itself was unique for a big chain store - and rumored to be haunted - since it was located in a former funeral home. Good-bye big clearance sale and great lunch break escape!

Local uptown book shops will likely benefit from the closure. An estimated third of the nation's Borders sites will be closed since Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The closest Borders not on the chopping block is the Baton Rouge store.

European Killjoys

Controllers at several European channels have banned episodes of The Simpsons that contain jokes about nuclear meltdown. They want to stop the hit cartoon poking fun at nuclear danger during the battle to save the tsunami-hit Fukushima plant, reports the Daily Star. Bungling Homer Simpson works at disaster-prone Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, run by money-grabbing Mr Burns, in the hit show. It is a running joke that safety at the plant, that has blown up or come close to meltdown several times, is notoriously slack. Beer-swilling Homer is a Nuclear Safety Inspector, but repeatedly puts the town at risk by neglecting his duties and falling asleep. He even casually tosses away a radioactive rod he finds in his clothes during the hit show's title sequence. The PC plonkers have been blasted for failing to separate fact from fiction. German channel Pro7 was the first to stop the fun. ORF in Austria and SF in Switzerland were quick to follow suit. The Austrian channel is thought to have taken the most extreme action, banning eight episodes until a review next month. The censored shows include one that features scientists Marie and Pierre Curie dying of radiation poisoning and another, which contains jokes about a nuclear meltdown. However, critics of the European killjoys insist the show is harmless and cannot be compared to the situation in Japan.

P.S. I think it's silly if people compare this cartoon to real life. I mean, come on, can you really base reaility on The Simpsons?

Romantic for a History Lover

200-year-old love letter found in chair

“A 200-year-old love letter has been found in the arm of a chair at a furniture upholsterers in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. The note, written in French, was in the chair bought in a house clearance in France. “‘When I started to work on the arm”, said Graham Simpson of Theocus Furniture, “I could see a small note, tightly folded up, about the size of a penny. When I opened it, to my amazement it was a note written in pencil, in old French.”

“The style of language suggests the letter was composed about 200 years ago. It was written from a man to a woman and sent from the town of Mercurol in the Alps:

“The translated letter: “‘My dear small love, do not be worried, do you seriously believe I would tell anything to these people, who don’t understand anything about love?

“‘If someone insists that I say something, it will be anything but the dear love acquired by you, which is the great treasure hidden in my heart.

“‘I didn’t tell you to come yesterday because I didn’t have the opportunity, but do come every Tuesday around 5:30, and Fridays as well; I count/hope on you tomorrow.

“‘At the moment I write this letter, I can hear my aunt yelling, who else annoys us all day long, today and tomorrow.

“”My dear, I cover you with kisses and caresses until… I need you in this moment of desire. I love you.”

Man Up For Japan

Japan has been good to all of us present and previous ALTs. It has given us a home, many new friends and more opportunities than we can possibly count. And the country needs ...our help now, so please 'MAN UP FOR JAPAN'

Cheers!