Did you know, or even care?

Space scientists have invented underwear that can be worn
four or five days – without causing a stink.

Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to live on the
International Space Station, is now testing them in space.

The clothes are designed to kill bacteria, absorb water, insulate
the body and dry quickly.

The new undies should reduce the amount of clothing that
needs to be sent to the space station, which has no laundry
facilities.

—–

The first TV commercial advertisement was sponsored by
the Bulova Watch company on July 1, 1941.

—–

Did you hear about the man who thought he would try
being a salesman?

About a week later he ran into a friend, and the friend
asked him if he had sold anything.

The man replied, “Well, no, but I got three orders last
week — get out, stay out, and don’t come back.”

—–

Authorities in Florida allege a Camden County inmate broke
out of jail, burglarized a store and was then apprehended
sneaking back into jail.

Harry Snapp was arrested Saturday entering the jail with
14 packs of cigarettes allegedly stolen from store about a
block away. Harry the crook allegedly escaped by using wire
from a broom to unlock an electronic door in the jail.

Snapp already was serving time for various other charges
including burglary.

—–

Authorities in Tennessee say an allegedly intoxicated man
stole a school bus to pull his car out of a ditch, then returned
the vehicle to where he found it.

Deputies arrived at the scene of an accident to find Nikobaum
Creech had taken the school bus, used it to pull his car from a
ditch and returned the bus to where it had originally been parked
outside a residence.

Creech was arrested at the scene after a brief struggle with deputies.
He was charged with driving under the influence, felony thief,
resisting arrest and vandalism to county property.

—–

DID YA KNOW OR DO YA CARE?

Pogonology is the study of beards.

—–

You know you’re from up north when:

You have more miles on your snowblower
than your car.

You have 10 favorite recipes for venison.

The local Hardware store on any Saturday
is busier than the toy stores at Christmas.

You live in a house that has no front steps,
yet the door is one yard above the ground.

Driving is better in the winter because the
potholes get filled with snow.

Making it home during Mud Season is a
competitive sport.

You owe more money on your snowmobile
than your car.

The local paper covers national and
international headlines on l/4 page, but
requires 6 pages for sports.

At least twice a year, the kitchen doubles
as a meat processing plant.

The most effective mosquito repellent is a
shotgun.

Your snow-blower gets stuck on the roof.

You think the start of deer hunting season
is a national holiday.

You frequently clean grease off your barbecue
so the bears won’t prowl on your deck.

There is only one shopping plaza in town.

The major parish fundraiser isn’t bingo- its
sausage making.

You find -20F a little chilly.

The trunk of your car doubles as a deep
freezer.

You attended a formal event in your best
clothes, your finest jewelry and your
snowmobile boots.

Mountains

MOUNTAINS

Sierra Nevadas

Yosemite

Lake with mountains in background

Misty mountains

moonrise

mountains

India’s women

Information About India’s most

influential women…

Sonia Gandhi

It’s only fitting that we start with the president of the ruling Indian National Congress party and arguably the most influencial woman in India today; in fact, according to Forbes Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women of 2008, Sonia is the 21st most powerful woman in the world.

An Italian by birth and widow of the late PM Rajiv Gandhi, a grieving Sonia cut herself off from public life after the assassination of her husband in 1991. She rebuffed repeated entreaties from Congress officials to enter the political arena until 1997, a year after the party lost the national elections and was in a state of utter chaos. In a bid to preserve the crumbling legacy of the Gandhi family, she finally became a primary member of the Indian National Congress and within three months of joining, was party president. Having steered her way into Indian public and political life, there was no looking back — Sonia led her party to victory in the national polls in 2004. And when controversy arose over the country having a prime minister of non-Indian origin, she stepped aside and recommended renowned economist and present PM Manmohan Singh, who is known to defer to her in all matters.

Kiran Bedi

In 1972, the Indian Police Service recruited its first lady officer — Kiran Bedi. Her career with the force has seen her go from strength to strength — during her glorious tenure spanning more than three decades, she was Inspector General Prisons of Tihar Jail, an award-winning prison policies reformer and finally retired as Director General of the Bureau of Police Research & Development, Ministry of Home Affairs. It is said that she once had PM Indira Gandhi’s car towed for illegal parking!
Kiran has also founded two NGOs for welfare, preventive policing and drug-abuse. And despite her dedication to her career, she still found time to be a dutiful wife and a doting mother.
Life lesson from Kiran:

Defy convention, because nothing is impossible — and be the best you can be.

Barkha Dutt

Television journalist and presenter with news channel NDTV, Barkha has been making waves in the media world ever since she became a part of it. She first shot to fame in 1999, with her fearless reporting on the Kargil conflict at the Indo-Pakistan border. She is also the youngest journalist ever to receive the prestigious Padma Shri Award for her career contributions. While her reporting on the Mumbai 26/11 terror strikes was widely criticised, she remains one of the most prominent media personalities in India today. Life lesson from Barkha:

Take risks for what you believe in.

Indra Nooyi

Meet the Indian woman who beat Sonia Gandhi and a host of other influential ladies from around the world to bag third position on Forbes‘ Top 100 Most Powerful Women of 2008 list — CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi. This business-minded lady has been in the boss’ chair since 2006 and has been in the news lately for her aggressive measures to help PepsiCo brave the economic downturn. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government in 2007 and also serves on the board of organisations like Motorola, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Rescue Committee, among others. And oh yes, she’s married and has two daughters as well. Life lesson from Indra:

You’ll reach the top if you have what it takes — and make sure to keep climbing.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Ash is an achiever if ever there was one. From winning the Miss World pageant in 1994 to forging a successful acting career in Bollywood to becoming the face of the Indian film industry in Hollywood, this gal has been there and done it all. Ash was the first Indian actress to serve on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival, the second film personality (after her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan) to have a likeness of her displayed in London’s Madame Toussaud’s Museum and has even had a special variety of tulips named after her in the Netherlands. As for detractors and controversy, she’s had her share of those too, but always prefers to keep her personal life private and remain gracious in the face of criticism.
Life lesson from Aishwarya:

Take criticism in your stride and meet harsh words with silence — let your accomplishments speak for you.

Mayawati

Love her or hate her, you can’t ignore politician Mayawati. The CM of Uttar Pradesh started life off in humble surroundings, the daughter of a Dalit telecommunications clerk in Delhi. Securing bachelor’s degrees in Law and Education, she became a teacher before joining the Bahunjan Samaj Party in 1984 and switching to fulltime politics. The BSP, which sought to represent the Dalits, has become a political force to be reckoned with in the last few years and many are of the opinion that she will be the nation’s next prime minister. Today, Mayawati is the highest income tax-paying politician in India, shelling out Rs 26 crore per year and is closing in on Sonia Gandhi on Forbes‘ list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women — she weighed in at number 59 as of 2008. Life lesson from Mayawati:

Turn your perceived weaknesses into strengths; the lower down you start, the higher you’ll climb.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Kiran was the country’s richest woman as of 2004, with an estimated net worth of Rs 2,100 crore. This gutsy lady was the daughter of a master brewer with United Breweries and although she initially considered following in her father’s footsteps, fate had other things in store for her. Instead of opting for the beer industry, Kiran founded her biopharmaceutical company Biocon in her garage back in 1978, with a capital of Rs 10,000 and today, it is India’s biggest biopharmaceutical organisation. Cheers to that!
Life lesson from Kiran:

It’s better to forge your own path rather than tread one laid down by others.

Ekta Kapoor

The daughter of Bollywood actor Jeetendra, you could say that Ekta was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but her individual success speaks volumes about her own ability to turn everything she touches to gold. Instead of making her foray into Bollywood like most star kids, she started out very young, turning television producer and tapping into TV audiences with a host of popular serials that saw phenomenal success. The creative head of her own production house, Balaji Telefilms, Ekta is known to run a tight ship but it has certainly paid off — today, Balaji is the largest production house in all of South Asia and the Middle East and has also produced five Bollywood movies. And Ekta herself is the undisputed czarina of Indian soaps. Life lesson from Ekta:

You’ll see success very early in life if you have what it takes to make it.

Lalita Gupte

Lalita started off her career as a trainee in ICICI Ltd (before it merged with ICICI Bank) back in ‘71. Serving with the company for the next 35 years, she rose through the ranks to become joint managing director of ICICI Bank, along with Kalpana Morparia in 2001. Lalita was hugely responsible for getting the bank listed on the New York Stock Exchange — the first Indian organisation ever to do so — and her inspiring career saw Fortune Magazine list her as the 31st most powerful woman in business outside of the US in the year 2001. Today, she is chairperson of the ICICI Venture board and also serves on the board of Nokia Corporation. Life lesson from Lalita:

The seeds of long and hard labour always bear fruit.

Shahnaz Husain

Shahnaz hailed from a royal Muslim family and although she was allowed to receive a modern education, she was married off when she was only 15 and had a child a year later. When she travelled with her husband to Teheran, she took up a course in cosmetology and the next decade saw her study at leading beauty institutes across the world. Upon her return to India, Shahnaz set up her first beauty salon and having studied the ill effects of chemicals on the body, she offered only natural, Ayurvedic products and treatments. Today, she is the CEO of Shahnaz Herbals Inc, with over 400 franchise clinics across 138 countries! Her company’s value was more than $100 million as of 2002 and she is arguably one of the world’s biggest women entrepreneurs. Shahnaz received the Padma Shri in 2006 for her astounding achievements. Life lesson from Shahnaz:

Don’t let circumstances get the better of you — work towards your dream.

Sania Mirza

The highest ranked Indian female tennis player ever (as high as number 27 in singles and 18 in doubles), the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tournament, the first Indian woman to make it to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament — and she’s only 22! Sania changed the face of Indian tennis and has created an identity for herself at par with some of the most famous sports personalities in the world. She turned professional at 18 and is probably India’s best-known female sports personality. Way to go! Life lesson from Sania:

Strive to break not only others’ records, but your own too.

Pratibha Patil

All hail the nation’s first ever woman president! President Patil was also the first ever lady governor of Rajasthan and alongside her political career, she is well-known for her philanthropic ventures. She founded the Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, which runs several schools and colleges in Jalgaon and Mumbai; the Shram Sadhana Trust that runs women’s hostels in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune; an engineering college in Jalgaon; a cooperative sugar factory, Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana; and the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari cooperative bank. While her detractors claim that she does not match up to predecessor Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and she has had her share of controversies, it cannot be denied President Patil is one of the nation’s most influential women. Life lesson from President Patil:

Make time for a worthy cause no matter what other responsibilities you shoulder.

Kalpana Morparia

By her own admission, Kalpana’s childhood ambition was to grow up, marry and become a housewife. But three months of domestic chores left her so bored she resumed her education and kept working even after marriage! She wound up with ICICI Bank for the next 33 years, serving as joint managing director along with Lalita Gupte from 2006 to 2008. Today, she is one of the country’s seniormost domestic bankers and CEO of bank JP Morgan’s India operations. Life lesson from Kalpana:

If what you think suits you actually doesn’t, be sensible enough to make the switch.

The Mangeshkar sisters

They’ve ruled the Bollywood musical roost for decades now and both Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle have won the hearts of millions with their sweet voices. The eldest of five siblings, Lata started focusing on her singing career at age 13, when her father died. Talent and hard work helped her create an unparalleled reputation in Bollywood for playbacksinging and she held a position in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for making the most recordings — reportedly 25,000 — in the world. She is the second vocalist to receive the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.

Asha’s career started off after an unhappy marriage. Left to fend for her three children, she started off with small playback parts in the movies and moved her way up to a standing at par with sister Lata. Today, she is far more active in the music industry than her elder sister, having collaborated with a host of foreign artists and releasing non-movie albums. She became the first ever Indian singer to be nominated for the Grammy Award in 1997 and has even found the time to become a restaurateur — she owns eateries named after her in Dubai and Kuwait.

Life lesson from the Mangeshkar sisters:

If you pursue your talent, the sky’s the limit.

Medha Patkar

A tireless social worker, Medha was born to parents who were also passionate about social causes — her father actively participated in the Indian Independence Movement and her mother worked with an organisation that aided women. Medha is particularly known for her fight against the construction of the Narmada Dam and even went on a hunger strike in protest back in 2006. Her tireless work for the downtrodden has garnered her several awards, including the Right Livelihood Award (1991) and the MA Thomas National Human Rights Award from the Vigil India Movement (1999). Life lesson from Medha:

Stay true to your cause, no matter what.

Farah Khan

She started of her career as a dance choreographer in Bollywood and today, Farah Khan is a filmmaker in her own right, with two successful movies to her name. She is part of an exclusive inner circle in the industry with friends like Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. Farah is also married to director Shirish Kunder and is a doting mother to her triplets born last year. This lady’s got it all — a great career and family life! Life lesson from Farah:

Don’t be afraid to think big.

Neelam Dhawan

The managing director of Hewlett-Packard, Neelam is an inspiration to young women everywhere. She has worked in the IT field for 22 years now; she started off as a trainee with HCL and in 2005, she became Microsoft’s fifth woman country manager worldwide when she took over Indian operations. Last year Neelam moved to HP as the new MD and in an industry where women make up only 18 percent of the workforce, she has managed to make it to the top of the ladder. Life lesson from Neelam:

Don’t let limitations and statistics hold you back from achieving success.

Anjolie Ela Menon

One of India’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Anjolie embarked upon her career early in life. At the age of 18 she held her first solo showing and such was her talent that the French Government presented her with a scholarship to the exclusive art school ?cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Awarded the Padma Shri in 2000, her works are coveted by collectors all over the globe and sell at steep prices. Life lesson from Anjolie:

Forge your way ahead and focus on what it is you want to do.

Ritu Kumar

Ritu is undeniably one of the most celebrated and respected Indian fashion designers in the world today. The likes of the late Princess Diana and Jemima Khan have been fans of her work and in her professional capacity, she has also co-authored a book, Costumes and Textiles of Royal India, published by Christie’s in 1999. In a sea of fashionable talent, her name and designs stand out a cut above the rest. Life lesson from Ritu:

Your work always needs that something extra to put you above the rest.

Priyanka Gandhi

Born into the prominent Gandhi family, Priyanka has followed in the footsteps of generations before her and became a politician with the Indian National Congress. She has a reputation for being gracious, calm and organised and besides fulfilling her career obligations, she is also a wife and mother. And we love that she doesn’t hang on to appearing conventional — unlike mum Sonia, who’s always in a sari, Priyanka wore pants to Parliament recently. Now that’s style!

Life for Children

I have in Wilmington, NC who is trying to rescue (adopt) three children from the slums in Rio de Janeiro. I have translated her blog here-

Original blog in Portuguese

Children Love and Security Brazil- USA A difference you can make! We are in the 21^st Century, and in a promising social era; yes, they are difficult times, however there have been major social advances. When it seems that human beings are starting to fall in the abyss of social injustice, I hear an account, which must be one of many in the most chaotic regions of the world, which is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this region, a large proportion of the population lives in so-called favelas (slums), embroiled in drug trafficking, human violence, and war with the military police. This region has treated its children as economically, socially, and morally useless. The birthrate increases every year as unemployment and inflation increase. For this, and other reasons, the rate of minors abandoned by their mother is also increasing. Today, the mother feel forced to give up their children and get rid of them like unwanted objects.

Do not let this depravity continue! Concerning this issue, through my cousin, who is a pastor and missionary in Rio de Janeiro, my husband and I were informed of the existence of 5 children abandoned by their mother, who preferred to give them to close relatives who didn’t have the financial resources to support them, much less have love or compassion for them, and she also made it clear that she would give the children to whomever wanted them. The children are ages 2-14. Two of the children have already been adopted, leaving behind the older ones. They are three sweet and cute children, that even through all of this, they have not suffered major emotional trauma, and are being monitored by the Evangelical Church of Rio de Janeiro. After being made aware of this case, my husband and I decided to adopt them. Taking into consideration the plight of these children that don’t have any prognosis of a future, and also because I am a psychologist and recognizing the facet that separating them could give them even more emotional shock than they have already suffered in their few years of life. One of their emotional traumas, for example is that these children witnessed the death of their father due to a drug overdose. We knew then that if a definite solution were not taken with respect to the dignity of these children, we would be promoting and contributing to three more members of this lifestyle.

Contribute with life! This blog posting was written to communicate the fact that we have established our lives here in the US, and that we have the means and love to raise the children. However, we had not planned on an adoption as we have two minor children and two in college. Adopting older children is not easy, especially considering the facts described above. We first had to articulate and share with our friends about the problem of raising funds, exclusively for the costs of the legal documents for adoption (lawyers, “cartorio” (office that handles paperwork such as registrations, etc), passports, consular medical exams, as well as the paperwork that is already in the Brazilian judicial system). We need donations especially to buy the plane tickets. I am Austrian and a naturalized American. I have a degree in gerontology and psychology from UNC Wilmington. My husband is American and has a civil construction company. We were married in Austria and live in North Carolina. Despite the resources we have, we did not plan on these special expenses. Because of the little time we had to plan, and the urgency to keep these children safe, we decided to share this story, through this blog, to whom can partner with us in only the costs to bring the children, including plane tickets, legal documents, and consulate fees.

Please visit the bottom of http://lifeforchildren-love.blogspot.com/ to see donation information.

Puns

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Circumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’

19. The petite fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

20. The World War I soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is a seasoned veteran.

21. A backward poet writes inverse.

22. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.

23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

24. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

25 Things about to become extinct in America

25 THINGS ABOUT TO BECOME EXTINCT IN AMERICA
Will this happen in our life time?

25. U.S. Post Office
They are pricing themselves out of existence. With e-mail, and online services they are a relic of the past. (refer to #9) Packages are also sent faster and cheaper with UPS.

24. Yellow Pages
This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry. Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs), to local search engines and combination search/listing services like Reach Local and Yodel Factors like 20 an acceleration of the print ‘fade rate’ and the looming recession will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even reach 10% this year — much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen in past years.

23. Classified Ads
The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that could signal the end of civilization as we know it.  The argument is that if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online listings at sites like Craigslist.org and Google Base, then newspapers are not far behind them.

22. Movie Rental Stores
While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000 left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a quest of Circuit City. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood Video brand, closed up shop earlier this year. Countless small video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost already.

21. Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008. The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable high speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up Internet access.

20. Phone Land Lines
According to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, at the end of 2007, nearly one in six homes was cell-only and, of those homes that had land lines, one in eight only received calls on their cells.
19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs
Maryland’s icon, the blue crab, has been fading away in Chesapeake Bay. Last year Maryland saw the lowest harvest (22 million pounds) since 1945. Just four decades ago the bay produced 96 million pounds. The population is down 70% since 1990, when they first did a formal count. There are only about 120 million crabs in the bay
and they think they need 200 million for a sustainable population. Over-fishing, pollution, invasive species and global warming get the blame.

18. VCRs
For the better part of three decades, the VCR was a best-seller and staple in every American household until being completely decimated by the DVD, and now the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In fact, the only remnants of the VHS age at your local Wal-Mart or Radio Shack are blank VHS tapes these days. Pre-recorded VHS tapes
are largely gone and VHS decks are practically nowhere to be found. They served us so well.

17. Ash Trees
In the late 1990’s, a pretty, iridescent green species of beetle, now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the
Midwest, and continue to spread. They’ve killed more than 30 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash trees are currently at risk.

16. Ham Radio
Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide) wireless communications with each other and are able to support their communities with emergency and disaster communications if necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of electronics and radio theory. However, proliferation of the Internet and its popularity among youth has caused the decline of amateur radio. In the past five years alone, the number of people holding active ham radio licenses has dropped by 50,000, even though Morse Code is no longer a requirement.

15. The Swimming Hole
Thanks to our litigious society, swimming holes are becoming a thing of the past. ‘20/20′ reports that swimming hole owners, like Robert Every in High Falls, NY, are shutting them down out of worry that if someone gets hurt they’ll sue. And that’s exactly what happened in Seattle. The city of Bellingham was sued by Katie Hofstetter who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole in Whatcom Falls Park. As injuries occur and lawsuits follow, expect more swimming holes to post ‘Keep out!’ signs.

14. Answering Machines
The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly tied to No 20 our list — the decline of landlines.  According to USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped 159% between 2004 and 2007.  It has been particularly bad in New York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It’s logical that as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional landlines, that there will be fewer answering machines.

13. Cameras That Use Film
It doesn’t require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance of the film camera in America.  Just look to companies like Nikon, the professional’s choice for quality camera equipment.  In 2006, it announced that it would stop making film cameras, pointing to the shrinking market — only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to 75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.

12. Incandescent Bulbs
Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt) bulb was the mainstay of every U.S. home. With the green movement and all-things-sustainable-energy crowd, the Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL) is largely replacing the older, Edison-era incandescent bulb. The EPA reports that 2007 sales for Energy Star CFLs nearly doubled from 2006, and these sales accounted for approximately 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market. And according to USA Today, a new energy bill plans to phase out incandescent bulbs in the next four to 12 years.

11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
Bowling Balls. US claims there are still 60 million Americans who bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag, go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow miniature golf.
Bowling lanes also have been added to many non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and resorts, and gambling casinos.

10. The Milkman
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1950, over half of the milk delivered was to the home in quart bottles, by 1963, it was about a third and by 2001, it represented only 0.4% percent. Nowadays most milk is sold through supermarkets in gallon jugs. The steady decline in home-delivered milk is blamed, of course, on the rise of the supermarket, better home refrigeration and longer-lasting milk. Although some milkmen still make the rounds in pockets of the U.S., they are certainly a dying breed..

9. Hand-Written Letters
In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion e-mails were sent each day..  Two million each second. By November of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones, and 80% of the world’s population had access to cell phone coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant, polite hand-written letter?

8. Wild Horses
It is estimated that 100 years ago, as many as two million horses were roaming free within the United States.  In 2001, National Geographic News estimated that the wild horse population has decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory board states that there are 32,000 free roaming horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the total number of free range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective euthanasia.

7. Personal Checks
According to an American Bankers Assoc. report, a net 23% of consumers plan to decrease their use of checks over the next two years, while a net 14% plan to increase their use of PIN debit. Bill payment remains the last stronghold of paper-based payments — for the time being. Checks continue to be the most commonly used bill payment method, with 71% of consumers paying at least one recurring bill per month by writing a check. However, a bill-by-bill basis, checks account for only 49% of consumers’ recurring bill payments (down from 72% in 2001 and 60% in
2003).

6. Drive-in Theaters
During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were still operating.  Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so there isn’t much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.

5. Mumps & Measles
Despite what’s been in the news lately, the measles and mumps actually, truly are disappearing from the United States.  In 1964, 212,000 cases of mumps were reported in the U.S. By 1983, this figure had dropped to 3,000, thanks to a vigorous
vaccination program. Prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine, approximately half a million cases of measles were reported in the U.S. annually, resulting in 450 deaths. In 2005, only 66 cases were recorded.

4. Honey Bees
Perhaps nothing on our list of disappearing America is so dire; plummeting so enormously; and so necessary to the survival of our food supply as the honey bee.  Very scary. ‘Colony Collapse Disorder,’ or CCD, has spread throughout the U.S. and Europe over the past few years, wiping out 50% to 90% of the colonies of many
beekeepers — and along with it, their livelihood.

3. News Magazines and TV News
While the TV evening newscasts haven’t gone anywhere over the last several decades, their audiences have.  In 1984, in a story about the diminishing returns of the evening news, the New York Times reported that all three network evening-news programs combined had only 40.9 million viewers.  Fast forward to 2008, and what they have today is half that.

2.. Analog TV
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in the U.S. get their television programming through cable or satellite providers.  For the remaining 15% — or 13 million individuals — who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor antenna to get their local stations, change is in the air.  If you are one of these people you’ll need to get a new TV or a converter box in order to get the new stations which will only be broadcast in digital..

1. The Family Farm
Since the 1930’s, the number of family farms has been declining rapidly. According to the USDA, 5.3 million farms dotted the nation in 1950, but this number had declined to 2.1 million by the 2003 farm census (data from the 2007 census is just now being published).  Ninety-one percent of the U.S. FARMS are small  Family Farms.