just a rant

Some people care. Some people don't. Those that don't give a damn about you or your life should really just stay where they are and not intrude. If I don't care about you, you won't see me in your life. You'll know I care because I do participate in your life.

Ya know though, if I don't give a damn, I just stay away. I don't hang out. I don't put up false fronts; smiling at your face and then shoving a dagger in your back when you turn around, enjoying your misery, pain, heartache, or sadness.

I hope there comes a day when I no longer know such people.

It's a meme for September 15

I wasn't tagged, but I got this from Kitty and Dixie .

I'm supposed to look up my birthdate on Wikipedia and list three events, two births and a holiday that fall on that date. I'm not always so good at following the rules and cause so much stuff has happened on the day I was born throughout history that I decided to leave it all in. I'm too much of a history buff type person to delete it. Who knows, maybe some kid or teacher will see this and think, wow and it will help spark a child's interest in history. So, here goes...

Events
• 608 - Saint Boniface IV becomes Pope.
• 668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.
• 921 - Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.
• 1514 - Thomas Wolsey is appointed Archbishop of York.
• 1556 - Vlissingen ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain.
• 1584 - San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.
• 1590 - Giambattista Catagna is elected as Pope Urban VII.
• 1616 - The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.
• 1644 - Giambattista Pamphilj becomes Pope Innocent X, succeeding Pope Urban VIII.
• 1656 - England and France sign a peace treaty.
• 1683 - Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by 13 immigrant families.
• 1762 - Battle of Signal Hill
• 1776 - American Revolutionary War: British land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.
• 1789 - The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as Department of Foreign Affairs).
• 1812 - The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
• 1821 - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua jointly declare independence from Spain.
• 1830 - The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens (see also deaths, below).
• 1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
• 1835 - The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
• 1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• 1873 - Franco-Prussian War: The last German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.
• 1883 - The Bombay Natural History Society is founded in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.
• 1894 - First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats China in the Battle of Pyongyang.
• 1914 - World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.
• 1916 - World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
• 1917 - First issue of Forbes magazine published.
• 1928 - Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
• 1928 - Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
• 1931 - In Scotland, the two-day Invergordon Mutiny against Royal Navy pay cuts begins.
• 1935 - Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
• 1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
• 1940 - World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoot down large numbers of Luftwaffe.
• 1941 - The U.S. Attorney General rules that the Neutrality Act is not violated when U.S. ships carry war materiel to British territories, opening the door for the Lend-Lease Act.
• 1942 - World War II: The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
• 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
• 1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
• 1946 - The Brooklyn Dodgers are beating the Chicago Cubs, 2-0, in the 5th inning when a swarm of gnats causes the game to be postponed.
• 1947 - The U.S. Air Force is separated from the US Army to become a separate branch.
• 1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
• 1948 - The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 1080 km/h.
• 1949 - The television series The Lone Ranger premieres on ABC.
• 1950 - Korean War: United States forces land at Incheon, Korea.
• 1951 - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes closes on Broadway in New York City after 740 performances.
• 1952 - United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.
• 1954 - The U.S. Postal Service issues its 2¢ Thomas Jefferson Liberty Series stamp.
• 1955 - Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
• 1957 - West Germany holds its third parliamentary election. Konrad Adenauer remains chancellor.
• 1958 - A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 58.
• 1959 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
• 1959 - Paul Orgeron detonated a bomb at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary School that killed 5 people and himself.
• 1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.
• 1962 - The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1963 - The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
• 1964 - The Sun newspaper launches, replacing the Daily Herald.
• 1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
• 1968 - The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
• 1969 - Major League Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Steve Carlton sets a record by striking out 19 New York Mets in a single game.
• 1972 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.
• 1972 - An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malmö-Bulltofta Airport.
• 1974 - Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.
• 1975 - The French department of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
• 1975 - Progressive Rock artists Pink Floyd release Wish You Were Here.
• 1978 - Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks for the world heavyweight boxing title.
• 1981 - The United States Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court.
• 1981 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.
• 1981 - Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations.
• 1982 - The first issue of USA Today is published by Gannett.
• 1983 - Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.
• 1987 - U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
• 1989 - The U.S. Congress recognizes Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.
• 1990 - France announces it will send 4,000 troops to the Persian Gulf
• 1993 - Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II disbands parliament.
• 1997 - Hastings Wise murders four at a lawn mower parts factory in Aiken, South Carolina.
• 1998 - WorldCom and MCI Communications finish their landmark merger, forming MCI WorldCom which would later be renamed WorldCom and become the largest bankruptcy in United States history.
• 2000 - Sydney 2000 Olympic Summer Games open in a lavish Opening Ceremony.
• 2001 - Alex Zanardi, driving in a CART race is injured in Germany, resulting in both legs being amputated below the knee.
• 2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.
• 2006 - UPN ceased operations after eleven and a half years. The CW Television Network launched 3 days later.

Births
• 973 - Al-Biruni, mathematician (d. 1048)
• 1254 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)
• 1580 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (d. 1659)
• 1613 - François de La Rochefoucauld, French writer (d. 1680)
• 1649 - Titus Oates, English minister and plotter (d. 1705)
• 1715 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (d. 1789)
• 1789 - James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist (d. 1851)
• 1828 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov, Russian chemist (d. 1886)
• 1830 - Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico (d. 1915)
• 1852 - Edward Bouchet, American physicist (d. 1918)
• 1857 - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (d. 1930)
• 1858 - Jenő Hubay, Hungarian violinist (d. 1937)
• 1860 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya, Indian engineer (d. 1962)
• 1867 - Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1920)
• 1876 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (d. 1962)
• 1876 - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian novelist (d. 1938)
• 1877 - Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and zionist (d. 1938)
• 1879 - Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
• 1881 - Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile engineer and designer (d. 1947)
• 1883 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician and engineer (d. 1950)
• 1887 - Carlos Dávila, former President of Chile (d. 1955)
• 1888 - Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (d. 1925)
• 1889 - Robert Benchley, American author (d. 1945)
• 1890 - Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
• 1890 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
• 1892 - Silpa Bhirasri, Italian sculptor (d. 1962)
• 1894 - Jean Renoir, French film director (d. 1979)
• 1894 - Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist (d. 1977)
• 1895 - Magda Lupescu, consort of King Carol II of Romania (d. 1977)
• 1898 - J. Slauerhoff, Dutch poet and novelist (d. 1936)
• 1901 - Sir Donald Bailey, British engineer (d. 1985)
• 1903 - Roy Acuff, American musician (d. 1992)
• 1904 - King Umberto II of Italy (d. 1983)
• 1906 - Jacques Becker, French screenwriter and director (d. 1960)
• 1907 - Fay Wray, Canadian-born American actress (d. 2004)
• 1908 - Penny Singleton, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1909 - C.N.Annadurai, Former Chief Minnister of Tamilnadu
• 1911 - Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born American golf entrepreneur (d. 2000)
• 1913 - John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General and Watergate figure (d. 1988)
• 1914 - Creighton Abrams, American Army general (d. 1974)
• 1914 - Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (d. 1999)
• 1915 - Albert Whitlock, English motion picture matte artist (d. 1999)
• 1916 - Margaret Lockwood, British actress (d. 1990)
• 1918 - Nipsey Russell, American comedian (d. 2005)
• 1919 - Nelson Gidding, American screenwriter (d. 2004)
• 1921 - Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress (d. 2001)
• 1922 - Jackie Cooper, American actor and director
• 1922 - Bob Anderson (fencer), English sword-master
• 1923 - Anton Heiller, Austrian organist (d. 1979)
• 1924 - Bobby Short, American musician (d. 2005)
• 1926 - Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician
• 1926 - Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director (d. 2006)
• 1928 - Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1975)
• 1929 - Eva Burrows, the 13th General of The Salvation Army
• 1929 - Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1933 - Henry Darrow, American actor
• 1933 - Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor
• 1934 - Fred Nile, Australian politician
• 1937 - Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 - Fernando de la Rúa, 51st President of Argentina
• 1938 - Gaylord Perry, baseball player
• 1940 - Merlin Olsen, American football player and actor
• 1941 - Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer
• 1941 - Signe Toly Anderson, American singer
• 1941 - Mirosław Hermaszewski, First Polish Cosmonaut in Space
• 1941 - Yuri Norstein, award-winning Russian animator
• 1945 - Jessye Norman, American opera singer
• 1945 - Ron Shelton, American film director
• 1946 - Tommy Lee Jones, American actor
• 1946 - Oliver Stone, American film director
• 1948 - Suzyn Waldman, American Sportscaster
• 1949 - Joe Barton, American politician
• 1951 - Johan Neeskens, Dutch football player
• 1951 - Pete Carroll, American football coach
• 1954 - Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor (d. 2007)
• 1955 - Theodore Long, American professional wrestling executive
• 1955 - Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
• 1956 - Maggie Reilly, Scottish folk singer
• 1958 - Joel Quenneville, National Hockey League player
• 1958 - Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress (d. 2005)
• 1961 - Dan Marino, American football player
• 1961 - Terry Lamb, Australian rugby league player
• 1968 - Danny Nucci, American actor
• 1969 - Jim Curtiss, American writer
• 1971 - Nathan Astle, New Zealand cricket player
• 1972 - Princess Letizia of Spain
• 1972 - Jimmy Carr, British comedian
• 1972 - Kit Chan, Singaporean singer
• 1973 - Julie Cox, English actress
• 1975 - Jamie Stevens, German singer
• 1976 - Paul Thomson, Scottish drummer (Franz Ferdinand)
• 1977 - Sophie Dahl, British model
• 1977 - Jason Terry, American basketball player
• 1978 - Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
• 1979 - Amy Davidson, American actress
• 1979 - Patrick Marleau, Canadian Hockey Player
• 1980 - Jolin Tsai, Taiwanese pop singer
• 1980 - David Diehl, American football player
• 1980 - Mike Dunleavy, Jr., American basketball player
• 1984 - Prince Henry of Wales
• 1987 - Vova Galchenko, Russian juggler

Holidays and observances
• Persia - New Year's Day.
• In Slovakia - Holy day of the Seven sorrows of Virgin Mary.
• In ancient Greece, the second day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the priests of Demeter declared the public start of the rites.
• Independence Day from Spain (1821) for Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, celebrated everywhere with marches from schoolchildren.
• Catholic Calendar of Saints - Feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows.
• The United Kingdom - the British commemorate the Battle of Britain on the day of the last massive Luftwaffe attack in 1940.
• Bulgaria - The first day of each school year.
• Thailand - Silpa Bhirasri Day.
• In India Engineer's Day celebrated on birthday of Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya.
• Slovenia - Restoration of Primorska to the Motherland Day

Porcelain from Deruta or How cool are my boss and his wife

La mia sporgenza e la sua moglie hanno dovuto andare a casa in Umbria occuparsi del visto e del roba del passaporto. Mentre erano casa, la sua moglie lo ha selezionato sul resto del cucchiaio della porcellana più bello da Deruta. Le batterie per la mia macchina fotografica digitale sono guasti in modo da sto caricandole o avrei un'immagine da inviare ormai. È splendida.

So che deve avere un nome con frutta in esso poichè ci è uva, fichi e un'altra frutta, ma non posso realmente dire che cosa l'altra frutta è. Vendiamo la porcellana da Deruta, ma non trasportiamo questo stile specifico. Googled fino a che non fossi blu nel fronte e non potessi trovare il picchiettio esatto e non potesse ricordare il nome del modello.

Se non vediate mai la ceramica dipinta a mano da Deruta, mancate fuori poichè sono allineare alcune di cose più belle nel mondo.

Now the English version:

My boss and his wife had to go home to Umbria to deal with visa and passport stuff. While they were home, his wife picked me up the most beautiful porcelain spoon rest from Deruta. The batteries for my digital camera are dead so I'm charging them or I would have a picture to post by now. It is gorgeous.

I know it must have a name with fruit in it as there are grapes, figs, and another fruit, but I can't really tell what the other fruit is. We sell porcelain from Deruta, but we do not carry this specific style. I have googled until I am blue in the face and cannot find the exact patter and she cannot remember the pattern name.

If you have never seen hand painted ceramics from Deruta, you are missing out as they are truly some of the most beautiful things in the world.

Linguists seek a time when we spoke as one

Linguists seek a time when we spoke as one

A controversial research project is trying to trace all human language to a common root.

Around 50,000 years ago, something happened to our ancestors in Africa. Anatomically modern humans, who had existed for at least 150,000 years prior, suddenly began behaving differently. Until then, their conduct scarcely differed from that of their hominid cousins, the Neanderthals. Both buried their dead; both used stone tools; and as social apes, both had some form of communication, which some think was gestural.

But then, "almost overnight, everything changes very rapidly," says Merritt Ruhlen, a lecturer in the Anthropological Sciences Department at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Humans began making much better stone tools. They started burying their dead with accouterments that suggested religion. And perhaps most telling, Homo sapiens, the "wise" apes, began creating art.

"People started having imagination at this time much more than they had earlier," says Dr. Ruhlen.

Mysteries of 3,000-year old kingdom of Jinsha

Mysteries of 3,000-year old kingdom of Jinsha

A construction site in the western suburbs of Chengdu in China's Sichuan province looked much like any other. It all started when a bulldozer driver heard a scraping sound as his machine hit deep into the ground. He struck a collection of golden, jade and bronze objects.

Workers and passers by snapped up the treasures and scurried off. Those too late to get anything, disgruntled, report the find to the police. And that's how, in February 2001, the world learned about the relics of a mysterious 3,000-year-old Jinsha kingdom in the mountains of southwest China.

'Jinsha culture is unique, quite different from cultures in other parts of China, but is scarcely mentioned by Chinese historians,' said Zhu Zhangyi, a veteran archaeologist in Sichuan and deputy-curator of the Jinsha Museum. 'The harsh geography made it difficult for outsiders to enter the kingdom and so it was able to preserve its endemic culture.'

Maybe US companies will take notice

Luring Customers with Local Call Centers

Finding that the cost savings of offshoring are offset by losses in client retention and satisfaction, British companies are moving support operations back home.

Bush shares trait with Romans

Bush shares trait with Romans

As a military strategist, President George W. Bush is in the same class as the Roman generals Varus, Aemilius Paullus and Terrentius Varro.

These Romans were all miserable failures who lost their armies because of stupidity, stubbornness and incompetence. Bush as a commander-in-chief is in the same category.

He should be strung up by his short and curlies

Gruesome details in NFL star's indictment cause public outcry that swamps Humane Society

The cold brutality described in the indictment hardly props up any fashionably roguish images. The 52 pit bulls found on Vick's estate were mostly emaciated, authorities said, kept ravenously hungry so that they would eagerly assail the flesh of the dogs they met in the ring. The losing animals, the indictment said, were sometimes executed if they didn't die in the fight. One dog, the grand jury reported, was hosed down after a loss and then electrocuted.

If this proves to be true (and I really have no doubts that it will be), then I hope Michael Vick sees MY version of hell. Him and people like him do not deserve kindness, but death is far too good. A lifetime of pain for the pain and suffering that has been perpetuated upon these animals.

Michael Vick, I hope you rot in hell.

Archaeologists dig up Roman bath complex

Archaeologists dig up Roman bath complex

Archaeologists said Thursday they have partly dug up a second-century bath complex believed to be part of the vast, luxurious residence of a wealthy Roman.

The two-story complex, which extends for at least 5 acres, includes exceptionally well-preserved decorated hot rooms, vaults, changing rooms, marble latrines and an underground room where slaves lit the fire to warm the baths.

meh

I decided it just wasn't worth it, so I'm keeping my fingers tied.

I got something to say

I just don't know how I wish to say it.

I'm rated R

Oh my. Thanks for this Irie. :)

Mingle² - Online Dating

WooHoo, 2 for the price of 1

Ok, so I wasn't typeative the last few days, so I'm putting 2 on here today. My meme one and now this one. Although I'm not really posting anything, just linking, c'est la vie.



Food of the Week

Blueberries

Blueberries are literally bursting with nutrients and flavor, yet very low in calories. Recently, researchers at Tufts University analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capability. Blueberries came out on top, rating highest in their capacity to destroy free radicals.

Mememememememe

I just really haven't been in a typeative mood. Ok, so typeative isn't a word, but talkative doesn't cut it since it's typing I don't feel like doing, well, that and I haven't really had anything noteworthy to type. Well, except yesterday's interesting day.

So, my day yesterday. You YaYa's might already know this, and I suppose it could still be TLFP. But it is a weeeee bit different.

Driving into work on the freeway doing 75-80mph, two mockingbirds are chasing each other. One misses me, the other manages to lodge itself underneath my windshield wiper, driver side naturally, so the remaining 15 miles, I'm looking at the flapping feathers and stiff legs of said bird. The 'thunk' was horrid. How I didn't wreck I'm not sure as I was so totally freaked out. I got a guy friend to come remove it. He laughed at me, but I don't care, sometimes I am very much a sissy type girl.

While at work, I step outside, and notice the WeinerMobile coming up the street. I exclaim. Holy Phuk, it's the WeinerMobile, like I'm 5 or something. They pull into our strip center parking lot and since I am the one standing outside, they say, hey, can we park here. I'm 40 years old and have never seen the WeinerMobile except on TV. I got to go inside and they gave me a whistle. Three of our regulars, gentleman around 50ish are leaving as the Weinermobile people are leaving. The 4 of us are quite excited to get the chance to go inside. My boss who is from Switzerland and his sister-in-law who is Portuguese, do not understand our excitement at going into a big hotdog. They just don't understand.

Going home, the transmission starts acting up. I'm doing 50mph, 4000rpm, and scared senseless I'm gonna break down on the freeway, but determined to get it home so I can take it where I want to take it. Turns out that there is a pigtail inside the transmission. Now, I'm thinking, what the phuk, but it is a wire of some sort that connects the automatic transmission thingy to the computer and it had a glitch. Had to miss only 1 day of work thank goodness.

Now I'm home, the neighbor comes running up. Hey, remember the baby squirrel you saved. Uh yeah, did he come by to thank me? He looks at me rather puzzled, says, umm, no. Who did you call. I tell him and ask why. Oh, I have 3 baby skunks in my yard. I have them in a huge trashcan with the lid on it, but they've already sprayed my wife and dog. Thank goodness they are babies cause they don't stink as bad he says. My dog is going NUTS ran through the house like he was at the Daytona 500 or something. I don't know if it is from the smell or they are making some type of high pitched noise that humans cannot pick-up. They at first catch just 2 of the babies and the 3rd one scampers away into the neighbors backyard where his dog Magellan quickly corners it. Baby skunk may not have the full grown stink gland, but it did have some and sprayed poor Magellan.

Live Earth

So, are you watching it?

Are you?

Well, you can catch it here

The shopper's GMO guide

The shopper's GMO guide

"Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food" (Earth Aware Editions, $24.95)

For conscious eaters, the heart of the book is a 14-page guide to your local supermarket. It tells you which foods are the most likely to contain GE ingredients (chips, snacks and baby formula), which aren't (fruits, vegetables, wheat), and how to read labels for "hidden ingredients" derived from corn, soy or canola (hint: look for high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin and canola oil).

(snip)

Before you shop:

Here are a few of the tips on shopping to avoid genetically engineered food, if that's your choice, culled from Andrew Kimbrell's "Your Right to Know." If you have any doubts, Kimbrell says, ask the grocer about suppliers. Look for labels that say 100 percent organic or GE-free or GMO-free.

Fruits and vegetables.
Almost all are not GE. The exceptions are a few papayas from Hawaii and a tiny amount of fresh corn, zucchini and yellow squash.

Meat and fish.
No GE meat or fish are approved for human consumption. But most GE corn and soy is fed to meat animals and farmed fish. So look for wild fish, grass-fed beef and organic meats.

Dairy.
Dairy cows aren't genetically engineered but can eat GE grains unless they're organic. A genetically engineered hormone called rbGH or rbST is used in some dairy cows; look for labels that say no hormones were used.

Baby foods.
Most formula contains GE ingredients, either soy or milk from cows injected with GE hormones. Some also contain corn syrup. Cereals can contain ingredients like GE soy lecithin.

Canned and frozen foods.
Vegetables and fruits packed or frozen without flavorings, additives or corn, soy or canola oil are GE free. Sauces and entrees with lots of ingredients often contain vegetable oil, soy and cornstarch.

Grains and beans.
Corn is the only GE grain on the market. Soybeans are the only GE dried beans. So wheat, rice, oats, quinoa and foods made from them, like pasta, are OK. Check ingredient labels for additives like soy lecithin, which can be GE.

Snacks.
Most are processed foods that contain ingredients made from corn, canola, soy or cotton. Nuts, seeds and dried fruits are good options. Popcorn is not genetically engineered. Conventional chocolate bars often contain soy lecithin, corn syrup or other like GE ingredients. Organic snacks are GE free, but "natural" ones aren't necessarily.

Beverages.
Look for drinks that are 100 percent juice, or sweetened with sugar or honey instead of corn syrup. Beer currently contains no GE ingredients.

Baked goods.
Non-organic breads, baked goods and even chocolate chips often contain high fructose corn syrup, soy, or corn, canola or cottonseed oil, all of which can be GE. Look for products made from wheat, oats and rice, with sugar or maple syrup as sweeteners.

Pharaoh Hatshepsut Died in Pain

Pharaoh Hatshepsut Died in Pain

Obese, plagued with decayed teeth and perhaps a skin disease, Queen Hatshepsut might have spent her last days in pain, according to a preliminary examination of the 3,000-year-old mummy thought to be that of Egypt's greatest female pharaoh.

Bald in front but with long hair in back, the mummy shows an overweight woman just over 5 feet tall, who died at about 50.

This was Hatshepsut, undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary women in recorded history.