Dear BK:
Have you read any good books lately?
How about any really stinker books?
Are there any books out there (as in "recently published") that you want to read, but haven't had the time to do so yet?
Dog Calls 911, Opens Door for Police
Friday, October 29, 2004
RICHLAND, Wash. — Faith the service dog phoned 911 when her owner fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help.
Then the 4-year-old Rottweiler unlocked the front door so the responding police officer could come in.
"I sensed there was a problem on the other end of the 911 call," said dispatcher Jenny Buchanan, who answered the call from Faith.
"The dog was too persistent in barking directly into the phone receiver," Buchanan said at Benton County's Southeast Communications Center . "I knew she was trying to tell me something."
Faith is trained to summon help by pushing a speed-dial button on the phone with her nose after taking the receiver off the hook, said her owner Leana Beasley, 45, who suffers grand mal seizures.
Guided by experts at the Assistance Dog Club of Puget Sound , Beasley helped train Faith herself.
"She's a real trooper," Beasley said Thursday.
The day of the fall, Faith "had been acting very clingy, wanting to be touching me all day long," Beasley said.
The dog, whose sensitive nose can detect changes in Beasley's body chemistry, is trained to alert her owner to impending seizures before they happen.
But that wasn't what was happening on Sept. 7, and Faith apparently wasn't sure how to communicate the problem. During Beasley's subsequent three-week hospital stay, doctors determined her liver was not properly processing her medication for the seizures.
"So my whole system was not working right," she said.
Faith "was just very concerned," Beasley recalled. "She wouldn't let me out of her sight. She wanted to be touchy-feely."
After her adult son left for the graveyard shift, Beasley tried to go to sleep. But Faith kept jumping up on the bed, which is off limits.
"It's kind of hard to sleep when you've got an 80-pound dog running around in circles on your bed," she said.
So Beasley got up and checked to make sure all the doors were locked and that there was no one outside. She made another attempt at sleep, but Faith would have none of it. "Within five minutes she was doing the same thing all over again."
So Beasley got up again and decided to make some hot chocolate.
The last thing she remembers is reaching for the tea kettle.
"I didn't feel anything," she said. "I just went unconscious."
After the call from Faith, Buchanan dispatched Richland police Cpl. Scott Morrell. He arrived to see Faith and her predecessor, now-retired service dog Bronson, peering at him from Beasley's front window.
Morrell knocked, and then realized the door was unlocked.
"Faith had already opened the door for him," Beasley said. The dog has been trained to recognize police officers, firefighters and medical personnel as "special friends with cookies."
Inside, Morrell found Beasley on the kitchen floor — unconscious after striking her head in the fall and suffering a seizure — and called for medical assistance.
Faith watched intently while a paramedic tended Beasley and at one point tried to tell him that another seizure was imminent. He didn't recognize the signal, but minutes later, "Boom, I went into another seizure," Beasley said.
She woke up in the hospital several days later. Faith joined her after her transfer to the Veterans Administration hospital in Walla Walla.
Authorities learned about Faith's intervention when Beasley stopped by to thank Buchanan and Morrell after her release from the hospital.
A Benton County Emergency Services news conference Thursday put Faith and her owner in the limelight.
THIS IS MY HOME REMEDY......WORKS GREAT, ESPECIALLY THE LAST PART!
Eat right! Make sure you get your daily dose of fruits and veggies.-
Take your Vitamins and bump up your Vitamin C. Get plenty of exercise because exercise helps build your immune system.
Walk for at least 1 hour a day, go for a swim, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. Wash your hands often. If you can't wash them, keep a bottle of antibacterial stuff around. Get lots of fresh air. Open windows whenever possible. Get plenty of rest. Try to eliminate as much stress from your life as you can.
OR ...
You can take the doctor's office approach. Think about it, when you go for a shot, what do they do first? Clean your arm with alcohol! Why? Because alcohol kills germs!
So......
I walk to the liquor store (EXERCISE!),
I put lime in my Corona (FRUIT),
celery in my Bloody Mary (VEGGIES),
drink on the bar patio (FRESH AIR),
get drunk, tell jokes, and laugh (ELIMINATE STRESS)
and then pass out (REST).
The way I see it---- when you keep your alcohol levels up flu germs can't get
you!!
~ End ~
In Jerusalem, an American female journalist heard about an Old rabbi who visited the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a long, long time.
In an effort to check out the story, she goes to the holy site and there he is!
She watches the bearded old man at prayer--and after about 45 minutes, when he turns to leave, she approaches him for an interview.
"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN, sir, how long have you been coming to the Wailing Wall and praying?"
For about 50 years, he informs her.
50 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
I pray for peace between the Jews and the Arabs. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."
And how do you feel, sir, after doing this for 50 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a f$#&ing wall."
Some levity (for DR Jay)der Brucer
My question for ASK BK day this week (and other DR's of course):
When did you get your first VCR, and what was the first movie you bought on tape?
Jay, I think if the Democrats want to lose again in 2008, then nominate Hillary. As much as I like her, she is too polarizing a figure in this country.
Re: the election
As someone who does not live in the US, I cannot understand this all or nothing approach to determine the presidency. Why do all electoral votes for the state have to go to one candidate? This makes no sense to me.
What bothers me enormously is that so much of that has nothing whatever to do with a person's ability to be a strong President.
Nobody knows why we have the electoral college. I'll repeat that (I think it bears repeating): nobody knows why we have the electoral college. There are many theories regarding its formation that historians love to debate, but we will never, ever know for sure.QuoteMy Comment:
At the Constitutional convention, each state had one vote; the less populated states feared a Dictatorship of the Majority - the Electoral College ensured that does not happen
Anyway, the electoral college has been a bone of contention for some time, and every election year there's a big brouhaha in which people become incensed, and every year it blows over with nothing whatsoever being done to overhaul this archaic and deeply flawed system.
Why?
Well, the politicians don't do anything because it's an incredibly easy system to tamper with. And the citizenry doesn't do anything because by and large, it doesn't want to get off its collective duff (and thus risk missing the latest episode of Fear Factor, et al) and force a change. So confusion, chaos, and corruption reign.QuoteMy Comment:
The politicians don't do anything about it because, realistically, the people who are required to change it are the people who most benefit from it - the Electoral College favors small, less populated states over the larger, more populated states; to change the Constitution requires an 3/4 vote of all the states - since more than 25% of the states benefit from the status quo, they are unlikely to change it.
Re: the election
As someone who does not live in the US, I cannot understand this all or nothing approach to determine the presidency. Why do all electoral votes for the state have to go to one candidate? This makes no sense to me.
A direct quote from a good friend who just E-mailed me to commiserate on the election results:
"we survived the pharaoh’s in Egypt, so hopefully we'll get thru this also..."
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, D.R. EMILY!!
Of course, since you live in Canada, it's not as significant a birthday as it is in the US. You've been legal to drink for two years, now! But still, have a great birthday!
If this makes anyone feel better, here's a slogan I read elsewhere:DEMOCRATS ARE SEXYWhen was the last time anyone wanted a nice piece of elephant?[/size]
I am not a person who cries easily...but when I listened to Kerry give his concession speech this morning, I got a large lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. That's all I have to say on the matter.
My question for ASK BK day this week (and other DR's of course):
When did you get your first VCR, and what was the first movie you bought on tape?
Guy Haines shuffled on to the iPod this morning on the way to work and I always forget what a wonderful soothing voice he has.
Well, the Kerry concession is all over the news, and that moron-nazi party wins because they play the terrorist card. The irony here is that I live in the city that's one of the two spots of terrorist activity in 2001, and I don't buy the terrorist threat at all! I thinks it's been a lot of Republican propaganda for the past two years to justify an unjust military activity. I'm appalled that some many moronic American voters fell for that instead of looking out for their civil rights, economic situation, or threats to the Constitution. I'm going to be pissed for a long time.
Before I forget, Jose, there's a new Good Eats on tonight: True Grits!
Elmore I am far from a Republican (heck... I'm not even American) but insinuating that members of that party are "nazis" is wrong - especially because there are several Republican members at this here site who are anything BUT fascists. It's paramount to Democrats having been called communists back in the Cold War.
Well, one thing, with the GOP owning the legislature, the judiciary, and the White House, they can't blame a damned thing on the Democrats. Bush won't be able to deny his mistakes and weasel out of responsibility for what comes.
Yet, the “fear factor” has never been mentioned to me by anyone I know who voted for Bush. I personally was very sad Kerry was elected to represent the Democrats in this election. I’m sorry elmore but I really believe that is why Bush won and I just pray he does a better job of it this time around.
A break from thinking abut disappoinments and bleak futures!
Tomovoz-LOL and another beautiful photo taken from a great angle.So standing on the roof was worth it?
My next dream seemed to be tied up with James Kirkwood's comedy UTBU (Unhealthy to Be Unpleasant) about a company
My nazi accusations refer only to this current Republican regime and to my feelings that a lot of neo-fascists as well as a lot of non-thinking idiots voted this regime back in. My homestate Ohio seems to be home to a large number of them, as I was aware when I lived there, and I'm much happier away from the state.
Well, one thing, with the GOP owning the legislature, the judiciary, and the White House, they can't blame a damned thing on the Democrats. Bush won't be able to deny his mistakes and weasel out of responsibility for what comes.
Elmore - Please remember that 48% of us in Ohio did not vote for the current administration! In fact, I think yesterday's victors should not celebrate a landslide, but pay attention to just how close the election really was.
...I am far from a Republican (heck... I'm not even American) but insinuating that members of that party are "nazis" is wrong - especially because there are several Republican members at this here site who are anything BUT fascists. It's paramount to Democrats having been called communists back in the Cold War.Emily, thank-you.
Anger is fine but labelling people based on their party affiliation (which oftener than not doesn't really have all that much to do with their ideological look on life) is not cool.
...People were saying last night that the Democrats were starting to promote the "ABB" strategy..."Anybody But Bush." A good notion, perhaps, but not enough to win them an election. ...There's a gay personals site I visit every once in a while, which I'm not going to identify because of the "dirty pictures" that can be found there. ::) They currently have close to 15,000 members :o.
There's a gay personals site I visit every once in a while. . .
Oooh! I visited one tonight! I didn't see tomovoz, but, there were at least TEN pages of Ockers seeking other male Ockers.Why would I be there td?
Finally! Election Day is over, and it is once again Ask BK Day.
Tell me if I've asked this one already . . .
On the "Lerner, Loewe, Lane & Friends" concert CD, Brock Peters does a touching rendition of "When You Grow Up You'll Know," from Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane's score for the abandoned MGM musical "Huckleberry Finn."
Was Peters chosen to do this song because it was assumed to have been written for the character of "Jim" (which would have been played by William Warfield)? Would a different singer, or a different song from the unused score have been chosen if it were more commonly known that "When You Grow Up You'll Know" was actually written for the "Duke" character (slated to have been played by Gene Kelly)?
I know it has nothing to do with anything -- just thought I'd ask now, while I'm thinking of it.
Those fries sound good but no homemade veggie burger?
Brigadoon: Never seen it (never been able to get through more than ten minutes of the movie). Not something that would interest me much to record.
I read a statistic somewhere that more Americans voted against Bush than any other sitting president in US history.Yes. But there was also a greater number voting for him. He received a majority of the votes, something that hasn't happened in quite some time. Even Clinton only received pluralities, and never got the majority vote.