Web Chick's Blog

There is a renewed campaign to reduce the national speed limit to 55 again.

From our national FOX web team story ...

"Nearly 15 years after it was removed by Congress, the effort to limit driving speed in the United States to 55 mph is back.

The national 55-miles-per-hour speed limit was introduced in 1970s.

Proposed by President Nixon and enacted in January 1974, the nationwide speed limit was supposed to be a temporary emergency response to oil shortages and was to expire in mid-1975, but Congress quickly made it permanent."

Read The Story Here

Do you think this will make any difference? Can you drive 55 again?

I don't think I can do it! That drive to Columbia is sooooooooo long when you have a 55 mile an hour speed limit.

Did you know politicians were thinking about this?  This is the first I'd heard about it!


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

I was thrilled last week to get word that Ronnie Baker Brooks is coming back to town!

It's been a year since we saw him and we've been ready for it!

So here's the scoop ... RBB is coming as part of the Labor Day Big Muddy Blues Festival ... woo hoo what a weekend it will be!

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Chicago's own " Torch of the Blues", Ronnie Baker Brooks returns to Saint Louis this Labor Day weekend / August 29, 30, 2008!!!

RONNIE BAKER BROOKS
August 29, 30, 2008
Shamrock Pub
1131 S Broadway
St Louis, MO 63104, United States

9:30pm

Saturday Aug 30 will be the first of the 2-day Big Muddy Blues Festival this year. Ronnie's show that night, right down the street, will be the Shamrock's AFTER FEST BASH. Expect a magical night celebrating the delivery of the Mississippi's creative lifeblood to the banks of the blues in Saint Louis and beyond. And don't be surprised if you see a very special guest or two joining us that night…

These will be Ronnie's ONLY appearances this summer in the 'Lou, so pick your night (or nights), mark your calendars and plan on a big party on the big muddy… Highly recommended festival appearances on Saturday include Marquis Knox, Big George Brock and the Houserockers, and Kenny Neal. For a complete festival lineup please visit www.bigmuddyblues.com.

Ronnie's had a hand in two releases this summer, both of which broke the top 10 on the Billboard and RMR blues charts. To hear his latest collaborations, pick up Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater's West Side Strut on Alligator Records, and The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue's Command Performance on Delta Groove Records, recorded live on tour with The Tommy Castro Band, Deanna Bogart and Magic Dick (the "Whammer Jammer' of J Geils Band fame).

Also, look for Elvin Bishop's new release The Blues Rolls On, also on Delta Groove, due to be released in September. Ronnie Baker Brooks joins a stellar list of participants including B.B. King, James Cotton, Derek Trucks, George Thorogood, Warren Haynes, Kim Wilson and Tommy Castro on what is destined to become an instant classic.

Thanks for helping to keep these blues alive. See you at the show!!

Mom and dad visited from Oregon this summer and brought 16 boxes of "stuff" from my childhood.  Included in this delivery were 3 boxes of china from grandma, nothing special or expensive, just some cheap old china dad bought for her years ago.

I immediately threw away four boxes of junk that mom could not bring herself to throw away herself (I felt bad they drove it all the way out, but I had told them to throw it away).

I am stuck now with a box of old trophies ... I went to one of those schools that passed them out like water ...

... well, what do you DO with them!?  Is there a way to re-purpose old trophies?

Give me some ideas ...


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

On the way to work I saw the strangest combination ...

... a taxi company was advertising on the side of a bus!

It sorta seems like the two would be competing with each other for the same customers.

It just seems so weird to see ...


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

So I have a bad habit of baking cookies, then sharing!  I admit it!  Brought in a batch of oatmeal and a batch of chocolate chip this week.

Whenever I bake, I always laugh at the subtle differences that can drastically change the whole character of the treat.

Milk Chocolate or Semi-Sweet - which chocolate chips do you prefer?  I grew up with milk chocolate, so to me, that's the best chip to use.  I don't like chocolate chip cookies too much, but I love chocolate chips in my oatmeal cookies!

Nuts or No Nuts - in your cookies?  I like nuts - just not in my cookies!  When baking for others, I usually either do no nuts at all or only in one flavor - I've worked several places where at least one person was allergic to nuts and I wanted to make sure they could enjoy at least one of the cookies.

Oatmeal with Raisins or Chocolate Chips - I like my oatmeal cookies with both raisins AND (milk) chocolate chips.  It's funny how many other people like only one or the other ... and there seems to be no consensus on which is better.

(It's funny how many people grew up having chocolate chips in their oatmeal cookies and thought *those* were chocolate chip cookies!)

How do you like your cookies?


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

By ARIEL DAVID Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

Read full story HERE
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What do you think?

This guy is coming to town Friday night and we just listened to him online ... and wow!  You'd never guess a ukulele could sound that good!

http://www.jakeshimabukuro.com/

No more "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" here folks!

He rocks!

He's performing at some of the Jimmy Buffett shows this tour ... and he's played at festivals over the last couple of years.

He'll be at Lucas School House Friday night.


-- Jill --

NEW YORK (AP) -- United Airlines says a passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane before it took off, and ignored flight attendants' orders to return, was removed by a security guard.

A fellow passenger on the United flight Wednesday from John F. Kennedy airport in New York to San Francisco says the Orthodox Jewish man was praying near the lavatories during boarding and ignored flight attendants telling him to return to his seat.

When the man stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual.

An airline spokeswoman says the man was taken off the plane, and put on another flight Thursday.

She says flights cannot depart unless all passengers are in their seats.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Do you have damage?  Do you have surveillance video?

Submit your photos to the blog photo galleries.  We want to see what happened at your home, work, or in your neighborhood!  Then tell us what happened so we know how to describe your photo.

If you have surveillance video, give the newsroom a call at 314-644-7541.


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

I grew up in California and am used to earthquakes.  Hubby and I woke up right when it started and listened to our brick house rattle.

Hubby asked me "what's that?!" and I told him it was an earthquake.  Wow, he said, it's been a long time since I've felt one.

So now our phones are ringing off the hook here at the station (I came in early) and many people are wondering what they should do.  Now ... nothing.  During an earthquake ... get to the strongest part of your house ... doorways.  If your house starts to suffer damage, get out of the house.

We're putting up as much information as possible on the site and we'll be giving you links all day long.

So ... what did you feel ... and do you have any questions for this Californian who's been in a lot of earthquakes?


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

SAINI SUNPURA, India (AP) -- In India, a baby born last month with two faces is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess.

The baby, Lali, has a single head with one set of ears. But she has two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes. The local hospital director says Lali is healthy otherwise, "drinks milk from her two mouths and opens and shuts all the four eyes at one time."

Rural India is deeply superstitious and the little girl is being hailed as a return of the Hindu goddess Durga, a fiery deity traditionally depicted with three eyes and many arms.

Her father says up to 100 people have been visiting Lali at her home every day to touch her feet out of respect, offer money and receive blessings. A village official says, "Lali is God's gift to us."

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Read more about the baby and see photos HERE.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The dwindling numbers of women joining Roman Catholic religious orders have caught up with the Carmelite Sisters of Indianapolis.

They're giving up their convent and moving in with another order 60 miles away.

The Carmelites, who've maintained a presence on Indianapolis' northwest side for 75 years, are moving this summer to the southeastern Indiana town of Oldenburg to live alongside the Sisters of St. Francis.

Only nine of the Carmelite convent's nuns are left, and their average age is in the mid-70s. Meanwhile, efforts in recent years to recruit new members have produced few takers.

It's a fate other religious orders for women also face. The Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, where the Carmelites are headed, have dropped from a peak of 850 to about 290.

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Here is the link to the St. Louis order.

WHITE HOUSE (AP) -- Churches and other non-profit organizations that provide mentors for prison inmates can apply for federal grants under a measure being signed into law today by President Bush.

Prison Fellowship vice president Pat Nolan says he'll attend today's signing ceremony, although his ministry doesn't plan to apply for grants under the Second Chance Act.

Nolan says the funds can help local churches recruit and train volunteers who can minister with the personal concern that keeps inmates accountable and makes mentoring effective.

Nolan says, "We can't expect the government to love people that way, but that's what the church is supposed to do."

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Does your house of worship sponsor any programs like this?

Should tax money be given to programs like those mentioned above?

... so on the way in to work this morning, I heard the Violent Femmes "Add It Up" and now it's stuck in my head!

It's one of those songs that does that to me every time.

My mom always hated "Another One Bites The Dust" because she couldn't shake it for days.  I would torture her with it when I was a kid.

When someone starts humming a song that I know will get stuck in my head, my way of getting them back is with another song that can get stuck in your head ... "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands!"

What songs get stuck in your head and stay there for days?


-- Jill --
The Web Chick

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO
Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.

"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population -- a stable percentage -- while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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Here are some more stats on world religions ...

Wikipedia

Adherents

ReligiousTolerance.org