Peter's Place

I glommed this from a post on UCG BBS : Amount spent each year in Europe and the United States on pet food: $17 billion Cost per year to achieve basic health and nutrition for the entire world: $13 billion Amount spent on perfumes each year: $12 billion Clean water for all the world: $9 billion Amount spent on cosmetics in the US: $8 billion Basic education for the world's children: $6 billion Total amount the US spends on Christmas each year: $450 billion (or 16 years worth of food, water, and education for the world) Initial cost of the US Government bailout of failing financial institutions: $700 billion (or 25 years worth of food, water, and education for the world) Coming to grips with the alarming disconnects of our consumerist society: Priceless

Unlike most folks out there, I've decided not to upgrade to Firefox v3.0 (" FF3.0 ")just yet. You see, there are a couple of add-ons (aka extensions) that I really rely upon, and they're incompatible with FF3.0, which means that if I upgrade, I they won't be able to function anymore. So for the time being, I'm stuck with Firefox v2.0 (" FF2.0 "). The other day (I think it was Monday this week), my FF2.0 was updated to version 2.0.0.19. A message came up on the "Firefox Updated" page that that was going to be the LAST FF 2.0 release, and the further support for FF2.0 would thereby cease. In fact, here's the quote from that page : You’ve been updated to the latest version of Firefox 2. This is the last planned update for Firefox 2. That’s it for Firefox 2… Update to Firefox 3 Today! Mozilla is not planning any further security & stability updates for Firefox 2, and recommends that you upgrade to Firefox 3 as soon as po...

As you may recall, my niece, Jennal, had a stroke when she was two days old resulting in a TBI; she currently is diagnosed with very severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Jennal has been attending the John A. Coleman School & Children's Rehabilitation Center in Westchester County , New York. Over the past month (since the new school year has started), the school has been negligent (and in my opinion, grossly negligent) in their care of Jennal by not monitoring her for seizures and by not administering medication to her in a timely manner when she has had a seizure. The latest incident left Jennal seizing for more than three hours as no one checked on her at the school, resulting in Jennal spending a few days in ICU, on a respirator, at the local children's hospital. My sister has been advised that it is too early to determine whether or not there has been any permanent damage. Thankfully, Jennal was well enough to be discharged from hospital earlier today, although she...

Six years ago, today, my grandmother's corporeal existence terminated. I know that she is still with me, in another presence, and her memory is well alive. But I miss her, terribly. I love you, Elizabeth "Betty" Zoel Frank, wherever and however in the Universe you now exist.

This morning I wrote my grandfather's obituary, based on notes that he had provided for the purpose. I went with my sister and my father's brother to the funeral home to arrange for services and what not. The funeral director made a few changes to what I had written, and added in the last two paragraphs (advising as to the arrangements that were made). It cost nearly $1,000 to run the obituary for one day in The Journal News (you don't want to know what the total cost of the funeral came to...): Sidney J. Frank, Jr. , a 60 year resident of Rye Brook, NY died at home June 28, 2008 surrounded by his family. He was born April 6, 1921 in Greenwich, CT to Sidney and Mary Selzer Frank. Raised in Rye, NY, Sidney graduated from Rye High School in 1938. He served as a corporal in the US. Army Air Corps during World War II. He married Elizabeth Zoel of Port Chester at Our Lady of Mercy Church on April 9, 1944. They were married 58 years at the time of Elizabeth's passin...

My grandfather just died. :(

My father just called me. I think I posted how my grandfather had three heart attacks and a stroke last summer. I know I've posted about his melanoma. Well after his heart attacks and strokes last summer, apparently they decided to do nothing about the melanoma. On Monday, my father told me that my grandfather went to the doctors as his legs weren't working and he was getting worse, and they "discovered" that his legs were covered with the tumors from the melanoma. The oncologist decided not to do anything about it because he's lived long enough. So now my father just called and said that the priest was coming to administer last rites and he's apparently unconscious. It's going to take me around four hours to get up there, as I have to take three separate buses. Last weekend my younger brother, John, who's a paranoid schizophrenic with bi-polar disorder, decided to self-medicate as he had stopped taking his medications. He felt a need to "become ...

The Sierra Club has an interesting video/commercial out urging us to take action against Climate Change . I'm placing it here for your convenience, and also because I thought it was pretty damned cool.

Am-I-Dumb.com - Intelligence Test

So Mom paid for me to get my hair done today--finally! Here's the most recent picture I have of me before the cut (it was taken approximately one month ago so you'll have to imagine my hair approximately another half-inch longer, not that you can really tell how long it was in the photo because my hair becomes curly when it gets long--stepping out of the shower with my hair soaking wet, my hair would hit the nape of my back (you know, that spot between your shoulder blades where there's like a "hole" in your back right below the shoulders), which is pretty darned long--and I hadn't bothered to shave in a while): And here we are this afternoon, after the cut (Mom took this photo of me with my camera phone, a Sprint Sanyo MM-8300 -- completely outdated but I'm waiting for the 2.0 megapixel camera phones to come out before I upgrade): And here we are inside; I took this one myself, so it's not quite as good, and the lighting was kinda crappy. Plus it'...

MTV Networks launches video hub for gay community | Tech news blog - CNET News.com From the article: "This is the kind of content that has only been available at art houses," Sherman said. "But the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) audience, can now check out content that has never been available to them nationally." Some of the full-episode shows that can be found at Logoonline.com are Big Gay Sketch , Noah's Arc , and Outlaugh Festival on Wisecrack . Documentaries include Elephant in the Room and The Two Cubas . There are also short clips, news, and music.

One of my Gather.com buddies pointed out this article to me and straight away I noticed a glaring error. I tried to find a forum to post a comment to the article, and instead could only find a general e-mail address to the web site; I couldn't even find a link to e-mail the individual interviewer/research fellow. I appreciate that this web site is providing both sides of the story; however, I hold firm the belief that it is a journalist's responsibility to do their fact-checking and point out any errors or omissions in the facts contained in their publication. Here's the e-mail that I sent to Pew Research : Hi I couldn't find a way to comment on your articles. I write specifically in reference to your article entitled " Two perspectives on gay marriage ." There is a factual error in Senator Santorum's argument. He states, See, I think that's the foundational flaw with this whole debate. The law is as it has been for 200-plus years, and so the burden ...