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Newsletter 07/26/2009

In a world where are you hear about is the negative things the news media puts out, there are still many bright spots. An example.
University of Cincinnati neurosurgeons say they used a new technology involving the creation of a 3-D map to remove a large tumor from a patient’s brain.
The surgeons used multiple brain scans that were fused and installed into a surgical guidance computer, whose function is similar to that of a global positioning system. By revealing the fist-sized tumor’s relationship to all the functional centers, electrical pathways, arteries and veins in the patient’s brain, the surgeons were able to chart a safe pathway to the tumor.

Some of you that are reading this remember a magazine called “Life”. It was a premier magazine in the ‘40, ‘50 and ‘60’s but died as all magazines did that could not change with the times. The articles and pictures that were in this magazine were some of the most spectacular ever published. Google has now archived the pictures and made them searchable for all to enjoy. The pictures range from the 1860’s to the 1970’s.
http://images.google.com/hosted/life

Home prices seem to have hit just about bottom now so some of you probably are in the market for buy a vacation home, rental house, or just wanting a change. When in the house buying market, you need to keep current on what the interest rates are doing in your area. The best site for this is bankrate.com. Besides showing the current rates, this site has the best mortgage calculator, it has CD rates, credit card rates, financial info, retirement calculators, and much more. An excellent site to bookmark.
http://www.bankrate.com

A few years ago Microsoft publish a CD called Encarta. It wasn’t a big sellers but did have some good information for a CD encyclopedia. One feature I did like was the “this day is history”. Well it is now available on the MSN web site for all of us to use. So, the next time you wonder what happed this day in history, check out this site.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/onthisday.aspx

John Dillinger. Al Capone. The KKK. John Gotti. Patty Hearst. The Unabomber. Bonnie and Clyde. The FBI has investigated them all… and many more spies, terrorists, and criminals besides. At their web site, grouped according to their top investigative priorities and related categories, are many of their famous and most significant cases over the past century. The monographs and write-ups are now available for your use. Check out some to the great stories.
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/famcases.htm

The next site will be of interest to all the computer geeks and Internet junkies reading this newsletter. DSL is one of the ways we get are high speed Internet connection and DSL Reports web sites keep up to date on all the happening related to DSL service. IF you want to check the quality of your DSL service, including speed, etc., you can do that too. Actually it has a lot of information for all you non computer geeks too.
http://www.dslreports.com/

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. “
C. S. Lewis

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Independance Day

What does this day mean for Americans? Our constitution give us certain rights and one of our founding fathers has these words:

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
– Thomas Jefferson –

He went on to say a little later in life,
‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’

Can we learn from past great leaders? Apparently not.