Wheeler, the German Shepherd - A Rags to Riches Story

We've all heard touching rags to riches stories, but about in the life of a canine?  Wheeler, the German Shepherd was once an abandoned pup wandering the streets of New York.  Like many in his situation, he ended up behind bars at the New York State animal shelter.  Little did he know that his luck was about to change.  According to Petside, Wheeler was adopted by Liz Keller, who works for the Glen Wild Animal Rescue.  Liz saw that Wheeler had potential as a police dog and soon he was enrolled in a rigorous, 20-week training program at the New York State canine division.

Wheeler, now referred to as Sgt. Wheeler, has helped police investigators with tasks such as narcotics detection, cadaver detection, building searches, and tracking.  He even has his own profile page on the New York State Police website.

And Sgt. Wheeler is not the only dog to go from shelter life to a life of fighting crime.  About one third of New York State's police dogs are rescued from shelters.

Frequent Hair Washing - A Relatively New Concept

Would you be surprised to find out that people didn't always wash their hair every day?  In the past, shampooing ones hair wasn't a daily or even a weekly occurrence.  It wasn't until the early 1900's that frequent shampooing became popular.  During this time, America's Industrial Revolution was in full swing and there were many new advances in modern conveniences like indoor plumbing which made bathing and hair washing more accessible.  A New York Times column in May of 1908 advised women of the day that it was perfectly OK to wash their hair once every two weeks.



In prior centuries, hair was only washed when absolutely necessary.  In fact, in the Middle Ages, washing the hair was an undesirable habit and medieval cultures avoided it like the "plague".

The 1970's ushered in the lather, rinse, repeat customs that many adhere to today.  Ad campaigns from that era used celebrities like Farah Fawcett to convince the general public that they could shampoo their way to  shiny locks of lustrous hair.



We've learned a lot since then and, while our medieval predecessors may have taken the "no shampoo" lifestyle to the extreme, dermatologists and other health care professionals generally agree that shampooing the hair every day is not necessary and actually damages hair by stripping it of natural oils.

Man Order Priciest Starbucks Drink

Ahh, Starbucks. Land of the $4 cappuccino ... and $23.60 Frappuccino? That's the final tally one man managed to ring up on his quest to order the most expensive Starbucks drink ever. Logan Warren started by requesting the largest size beverage, the 31-ounce Trenta. Into it went a Java Chip Frappuccino, enhanced with plenty of that'll-cost-you-add-ons: 16 shots of espresso, soy milk, caramel, banana and strawberry purees, vanilla beans, and Matcha and protein powders, all topped with a bit of caramel and mocha.

If that sounds gross, well, Warren went so far as to explain on Geek on Call...........read more

Woman's Dog Saves Her From Intruder

The woman began to open the door, thinking it was a neighbor, and the man forced his way inside.

The two began to struggle and that is when the woman’s dog jumped in.

The dog, a Doberman mix named Damien,............read more

Wedding Trends: The Choreographed Dance

Your wedding day is one the most memorable days of your life and one of the hottest new fads trending today is for the couple or the entire wedding party to perform a choreographed surprise dance.

The trend actually started some time ago, but thanks to internet sites like You Tube and reality shows like Rock the Reception the choreographed wedding craze, just like the videos, have gone viral.

Traditionally, the bride and groom share a special two-step shuffle to a slow, romantic tune , but today’s couples are going for performance-quality, “Dancing with the Stars”-style routines that are unique and memorable instead of simply sentimental.

Sometimes it’s the just the couple performing, but more often the whole wedding party is involved making it a full-blown production that is likely to be remembered for a long time. There are even dance studios cropping up that include a program for choreographed wedding dances.  If you are thinking of following the trend of choreographed first dances for your own wedding, check out these videos for inspiration:

Norm and Renee’s wedding dance to Michael Jackson

Baby Got Back wedding video

Julia and James’ Dirty Dancing video

 

The History and Cultivation of the Stevia Plant

Native to South America and grown in other tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, Stevia is an herb cultivated for its leaves that contains an extract that is exponentially sweeter than sugar. 

Ancient Origins of Stevia

Evidence indicates that Stevia was first used by the Guarani and Mato Grosso Indian tribes who lived in the region of modern-day Paraguay.  For many centuries, these natives utilized the leaves of the Stevia plant as a sweetening agent for various bitter teas, as well as for medicinal concoctions.  In the 1500’s, the Spanish Conquistadors learned of Stevia’s sweetening properties from the Indians.  Over the next few hundred years, the use of Stevia had spread to other parts of South America and Mexico. European travelers were taking a keen interest in the herb and began taking samples of it overseas to learn how to.......read more

Pen Still Works after 25 Years

Have you ever heard the energizer bunny mantra:  "Takes a licking, but keeps on ticking"?  This usually refers to batteries, but in this case, it was a pen.  It would be hard enough to believe that a pen would work after 25 years, even in normal circumstances, but after being in a woman's stomach all that time?

A 76 year-old, British woman was sent to a GI specialist when she began to suffer various symptoms including weight loss.  With a few diagnostic tests, the doctor concluded that she had a linear-shaped object in her stomach.  It was then that the woman remembered having accidently swallowed a black felt-tip pen a quarter century ago.

Upon inspection of the decidedly corroded pen after removal from her stomach, it was determined that the pen still had ink in it and could be used for writing.