A Little Help from the Stars

After having a bowl of cut melon for breakfast, I headed out the door to get my hair cut and coloured.  The salon where I go serves great coffee, so I had two cups, and then after my colour was applied, I settled in to read one of my favorite magazines, Star.

Salons are where I catch up on reading the pulp magazines covering the lives and fashions of the stars. Believe it or not, I find looking at the photos very motivating in terms of watching what I eat and staying fit. Fashion magazines like Vogue or Elle don’t do it for me, but Star, US Weekly, In Touch and People hit a chord in me that makes me want to stay looking good.

Sounds incredibly shallow, I know. It’s not that I want their money or their fame or their glitzy lives. I know that stars have personal trainers that push them every day. Often they have special cooks and nutritionists that feed them; and some simply use their money to stay slim surgically. But I guess I know at some level they are no different than I am in the struggle to maintain an image of  healthy good looks.

The paparazzi catch on film and blast to the world every new pound of flesh a star gains. How many times have we watched Oprah lose and gain weight? Britney Spears? Kirstie Ally? I can gain 20 lbs and and no one cares. It must be hell to live under such scrutiny. I imagine stars must dread going to the gym every day; hate having to be so careful about how much they eat. They must be really happy when their star burns out and they’re left in peace.

I guess I recognize their struggle, and when I see how great they look in their beautiful clothes and their makeup and hair, I figure hell, if they can do it, I can do it. I know I sound superficial and shallow, but if a little of that is going to help me stay my course, then so be it.

And it did. I went home feeling like a million dollars; had a light lunch of pea soup and a tomato sandwich.

Dinner was a helping of homemade tuna casserole with a small green salad, and an apple.

Exercise consisted of a 15 minute walk outside to get the mail, 20 minutes on the exercycle, strength exercises on the G-Force machine, crunches and stretches.

I had only one set back when, having eaten 1 chocolate covered digestive,  I grabbed 4 more out of the package. I came to my senses after gobbling two down and returned the others to the package.

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BILLY HERRINGTON 01

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Corn Maze - September 24, 2009

Who said that you can’t have fun and still get in some exercise at the same time?  It’s amazing the amount of calories you can burn off walking around in a gigantic maze cut into a corn field while getting frustrated that you can’t figure out a map to save your life.  You should try it!

Located in beautiful Lodi, Wisconsin is the Treinen Farm and a wonderful stretch of land on which sits a field of corn cut into an elaborate maze of mermaids, clam shells, circles, fish and waves.  This is also the home of a charming little dog, aptly named Little Dog, who will escort you into the corn maze and linger long enough to determine whether or not you have snacks to share.  He will abandon you after you find the first checkpoint, never to be seen again, as if to say, “You’re on your own, suckers!”  Don’t be alarmed by this though, as you would have gotten lost with or without Little Dog, and you know it. 

Here's Little Dog, leading the way. He's wearing some PVC pipes to keep him from getting through the fence and bothering Big Dog.

Little Dog, searching for snacks

I had a lot of apprehension about doing a corn maze because I am directionally challenged when outside of my hometown.  There is nothing to worry about though, and you’ll just have to trust me on that.  We started out in the little store to pay our admission fees ($6 per person) and to get a blank map with our first clue taped to it.  The “map” is a regular sheet of paper with eight blank squares on it.  You are given the first square of the map and the instructions are this:  “Find the first checkpoint and you will receive the next square of the map at that place.”  You are also given an actual map of the maze, stapled shut.  If you can return to the store at the end of the maze with all eight pieces of the map, and the real map still stapled shut you will win a prize.

Sounds easy enough, right? 

Here's Mary, ready to start off the adventure, and there's the corn

We were told that it would take the average person between one hour and one and a half hours to complete the maze.  It was 5:30 when we started, and sunset was supposed to be at 6:39.  With no flashlights available the pressure was on to be the average person, or get lost in the dark in the corn. 

We found the first checkpoint without much trouble, and then the second one came rather quickly after that too.  It wasn’t until the third checkpoint proved elusive that we began to lose confidence.  There were a few points where we found ourselves on the outside of the corn field, but that was a lucky mistake as it allowed us an opportunity to orient ourselves with the maze.  It was somewhere after the fourth checkpoint where the map orientation and the maze itself started to make sense to me, but we did still struggle a bit if only because we overestimated the size of the field, and the speed with which our preplanned turns would come up, making it easy to pass them up. 

We arrived at the seventh checkpoint just as the sun was setting.  Victory was so close we could taste it, but it was much harder actually finding it.  Within about five minutes, however, there it was…checkpoint #8.  The prize would be ours. 

The observation tower was right near the exit, so we climbed it in order to snap a photo of our fully-completed map before we checked back into the store for our major award. 

Kristin and the completed map of the maze. Boo-ya!

Safely back at the barn, we handed over our completed map and the other map, still stapled shut.  The happy man at the counter handed over our trophy:  a piece of our choice of candy from a bucket.  I chose the Pal Bubble Gum, and Mary chose the SweetTarts.  Success never tasted so sweet!

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Race For The Cure

Hey guys...I am going to run a 5k in "support" of breast cancer. It is on October 25, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. in City Park in New Orleans.

The website for more information is here.

If you can, please donate by going here. I am trying to raise $200.00, which is a small drop in the bucket of what they need.

Thanks!

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Local History Roundtable

Please join us for our second meeting of Huntington Public Library's Local History Roundtable on Wednesday, October 3rd at 3pm. New members welcome.
For more information, contact Teresa Schwind or Lori King at 631-427-5165 ext.251.

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Musto Congratulates Tina Cook

Musto sponsored athlete Tina Cook won individual and team gold at the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships on Sunday (27/09) riding Miners Frolic in Fontainebleau, France.

Tina was also part of the British team that picked up its eighth successive team gold medal, along with fellow Musto-sponsored rider William Fox-Pitt, who finished fourth individually.  Tina also set a new record, as the first mother to win an individual gold medal; she now has the full set of individual European medals having won silver in 1993 and bronze in 1997.

Her European triumph comes on the back of the two bronze medals she won on her Olympic debut in Beijing last summer.

Tina commented after winning, “Its one of the greatest days of my life and I can’t believe it.  I have a great partnership with my horse who tries hard to leave the fences up.”

Musto have sponsored Tina for over ten years, supplying her and her team with clothing enabling her to concentrate fully on training and competing whatever the weather.  Tina has won European medals at junior and young rider level before gaining her first senior team appearance in 1993 where she won individual silver.

The European Eventing Championships is a bi-annual competition which began in 1953, in the British town of Badminton. Since then Britain has hosted the event ten times, and won 22 team gold medals, making them the most successful nation in the competition’s history.

Musto, with the slogan “Keeping athletes warm, dry and comfortable“, is the world’s leading sailing and country sports clothing brand, and is further extending into lifestyle outdoor clothing. Established in 1965, it was founded by Keith Musto, a British Olympic sailor and engineer, who combined his sports and technical expertise to create product to withstand even the most extreme conditions.

Article Ref: HSLP0101AA7

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Amazing Second World War Pictures: Part 1

A German messenger dies on the tracks. Seems like the eastern front. Russia has the muddy slush.

Dead German soldiers in Stalingrad. Seems like a massacre. The Russians were ruthless.

Dead soldiers, destroyed tank

The dead at Stalingrad. Wonder how they dies. Aerial bombardment? Or Russians spraying bullets from heavy machine guns?

The vanquished: German POW. Sad state of an once proud and aggressive army.

Two emaciated American civilians, Lee Rogers left and John C. Todd, sit outside a gym which had been used as a Japanese prison camp following their release by Allied forces liberating the city.Philippines,1945

German soldiers prepare for an execution of partisans. Chilling.

RELATED ARTICLES----

• Amazing Second World War Pictures: Part 1
• Amazing Second World War Pictures: Part 2
• Amazing Second World War Pictures: Part 3
• Amazing Second World War pictures: Part 4
• Some amazing facts about the Second World War

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Some rare photos of ADOLPH HITLER

Hitler with his dog (bitch) Blondi. The dog and Eva Braun died from cyanide.

What is surprising, then, is that Hitler never visited a single concentration camp, let alone death camp. He kept himself aloof from the dirtiest work of his regime. He did not speak about the "Final Solution", even to his closest entourage, other than in vague terms.
He spoke publicly, and in the most vicious way, about the persecution of the Jews, but he never associated himself in plain language with their killing, as Himmler did. In October 1943 the Reichsführer addressed SS leaders about what it was like to see 1,000 corpses lying side by side, describing "the extermination of the Jewish people" as a "glorious page in our history that has never been written and is never to be written".

By Professor Ian Kershaw, The Telegraph

Hitler as a soldier during the First World war. Can you spot him?

Most writers (even on the Internet) rubbish Hitler's hatred for Jews as irrational. Was it? Did Jews exploit Germany when it was in the doldrums after the humiliation at Versailles? Any answers?

Hitler's girlfriend/wife Eva Braun in happier times. Hitler married her shortly before their death.





EVA BRAUN

The existence of Eva Braun - Adolph Hitler's mistress for more than 12 years and, in the end, his wife - was one of the most successfully guarded secrets of Nazi Germany.

According to Hitler's chauffeur Erich Kempka Eva Braun was "the unhappiest woman in Germany. She spent most of her time waiting for Hitler." He had always kept her out of sight - as soon as guests arrived, he almost invariably banished her to her room. Joachim Fest tells in his biography of Hitler how Eva Braun continued to be kept in semi concealment during the years, stealing in by side entrances and using rear staircases, contenting herself with a photograph of Hitler when he left her alone at mealtimes. But gradually she accepted her frustrating role - content to be sole woman companion of the great man.

Hitler's personal valet, Heinz Linge, later recalled how the staff used to call her the "girl in a gilded cage". But Hitler became genuinely fond of Eva and found relaxation in her company. "Fraulein Braun is a young girl," Hitler once said to Linge, "too young to be the wife of one in my position. But she is the only girl for me. So we live as we do. But one day I shall give up the leadership of the Reich. I shall cease to be the Fuhrer and retire to Linz to a house that can be managed by a small staff. Then I will marry Fraulein Braun ..."

Playing with Goebbels' little girl. Goebbels killed his family, then consumed cyanide and shot himself as the Russians were at the doorstep.

Goebbels in a happy mood with Hitler.

The joy at the fall of France. Hitler does a little jig.

Posing before the Eiffel Tower.

Meeting the top aces of the German air force Luftwaffe

Hitler's study

The bad news starts pouring in. A grim Hitler visits a spot bombed by the Allied planes. The end was near.

Hitler at his parents' grave.

The last photo taken of Hitler.



After it all ended. Russians examine the blood stains on the sofa. Hitler consumed poison and shot himself on the head.

LAST DAYS OF ADOLPH HITLER

Hitler took up residence in the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945 where he presided over a rapidly disintegrating Third Reich as the Allies advanced from both east and west. By late April Soviet forces had entered Berlin and were battling their way to the centre of the city where the Chancellery was located.

On 22 April Hitler had what some historians later described as a nervous breakdown during one of his military situation conferences, admitting defeat was imminent and Germany would lose the war. He expressed his intent to kill himself and later asked physician Werner Haase to recommend a reliable method of suicide. Haase suggested combining a dose of cyanide with a gunshot to the head.

Hitler had a supply of cyanide capsules which he had obtained through the SS. Meanwhile, on 28 April Hitler learned of Heinrich Himmler's attempt to independently negotiate a peace treaty. Hitler considered this treason and began to show signs of paranoia, expressing worries the cyanide capsules he had received through Himmler's SS were fake. He also learned of the execution of his ally Benito Mussolini and vowed not to share a similar fate. To verify the capsules' potency he ordered Dr. Haase to try them on his dog Blondi and the animal died as a result.

After midnight on 29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the bunker complex. Antony Beevor states that after hosting a modest wedding breakfast with his new wife Hitler took secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament. He signed these documents at 04:00 and then retired to bed (some sources say Hitler dictated the last will and testament immediately before the wedding, but all sources agree on the timing of the signing).

Hitler and Braun lived together as husband and wife in the bunker for less than 40 hours. Late in the morning of 30 April, with the Soviets less than 500 metres from the bunker, Hitler had a meeting with General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, who informed Hitler the Berlin garrison would probably run out of ammunition that night. Weidling asked Hitler for permission to break out, a request he had made unsuccessfully before. Hitler did not answer at first and Weidling went back to his headquarters in the Bendlerblock where at about 13:00 he got Hitler's permission to try a breakout that night. Hitler, two secretaries and his personal cook then had lunch consisting of spaghetti with a light sauce, after which Hitler and Eva Braun said their personal farewells to members of the Führerbunker staff and fellow occupants, including the Goebbels family, Bormann, the secretaries and several military officers. At around 14:30 Adolf and Eva Hitler went into Hitler's personal study.

Some witnesses later reported hearing a loud gunshot at around 15:30. After waiting a few minutes, Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, with Bormann at his side, opened the door to the small study. Linge later stated he immediately noted a scent of burnt almonds, a common observation made in the presence of prussic acid, the gaseous form of cyanide. Hitler's SS adjutant, Otto Günsche, entered the study to inspect the bodies, which were found seated on a small sofa, Eva's to Hitler's left and slumped away from him. Owing to an exit wound towards the top, left side of his head Hitler appeared to have shot himself in the right temple with a Walther PPK 7.65 mm pistol which lay at his feet. According to Hitler's bodyguard, Rochus Misch, Hitler's head was lying on the table in front of him Blood dripping from his temple and chin had made a large stain on the right arm of the sofa and was pooling on the floor/carpet. Eva's body had no visible physical wounds and Linge assumed she had poisoned herself.

Günsche exited the study and announced that the Führer was dead. Immediately afterwards, several people in the bunker began smoking cigarettes (which had been forbidden, given Hitler's strong dislike for smoking). Several witnesses said the two bodies were carried up to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit to a small, bombed-out garden behind the Chancellery where they were doused with petrol and set alight by Linge and members of Hitler's personal SS bodyguard. Someone was heard to shout: 'Hurry upstairs, they're burning the boss!' The SS guards and Linge later noted the fire did not completely destroy the corpses but Soviet shelling of the bunker compound made further cremation attempts impossible and the remains were later covered up in a shallow bomb crater after 18:00.

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ROGER ESPERON 07

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