coquina

...and I'm not a sloppy housekeeper, just "neatness challanged".

Somewhere I read/heard that the problem is specifically in the density of the legs - especially if the person has long ones without much fat on them. The legs sink and pull the rest of the body down.

Yes there is - but it's connected to the sternum by cartilage. It's called the "xiphoid process". Look here: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/humananatomy/skeletal/sternum/xiphoid.html See the dark areas? That's the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum - it's flexible so your rib cage will expand when you breathe. NPK - how do you "crack" your sternum? Injuring the xiphoid process can cause it to get a callus. I separated mine from the rest of my sternum by hanging over the edge of a boat hatch. I was working on the engine with both hands and all my weight was resting on my ribs. There isn't any way to set it, so it healed at an angle - now I have 3 protrusions on my chest rather than two.

True - it's easier for some people to float than others. I can float on my back with my hands under my head and my legs crossed, and I have a heck of a time diving to the bottom when snorkeling - even with flippers. One trick to floating easily is to put your head back in the water until it almost comes up to your eyebrows.

It sounded screwy, glad to have confirmation. I sent your link to the person who sent me the email and asked her to send it back up the line.

This email is going around, but I haven't heard about it anywhere else. Is it true?

I recall that people of Northern European and Arctic heritage tend to put on extra layers of fat for insulation against cold winters. You can really notice it in the faces of Innuit people. Thousands of years ago, before central heating, this is a trait which would have been selected for. Also, people with lower metabolisms would have had an advantage because it would help them endure a long winter when little food was available. I have that heritage, and I have been obese most of my life. I'm 5'4" and I can maintain 161 by walking 3 or 4 miles a day and keeping calories under 1200. Yes - calorie count is what's important. When you try to reduce them, you need to eliminate foods that are high in calories, and low in volume and nutritional content. That means eliminating (or very strictly reducing) both high fat and high sugar or starch foods. Sugars and starch are double trouble because they not only are high in calories, but they stimulate your pancreas to overproduce insulin, which keeps you hungry and craving sweets all the time. I lost weight by eating mostly seafood - such as steamed or grilled shrimp, scallops and fish, some chicken, a little pork, and red meat on rare occasions. I eat oatmeal for breakfast, low fat cottage cheese, and a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. I cut out bread, pasta, white rice, pies, and cakes. In August 2002, I weighed 270 pounds, It took me a year to lose 110 pounds by exercising and changing my eating habits. I have kept it off for almost 2 years and do not expect to ever gain it back. I am not on a diet, I changed my lifestyle. My body is very good at conserving calories. This would be a major advantage in a time of famine, but it is a major disadvantage in times of plenty. However, it is not a genetic trait that is likely to be eliminated by natural selection, because people generally don't die of heart disease or diabetes before they are old enough to reproduce.

You don't?? You can buy a CD ROM for $295.00 http://www.oed.com/about/

Oxford English Dictionary

Bass-Alt

Using an old pan, get some industrial degreaser (the detergent kind, not the solvent kind) put some water in the pan, add the degreaser and bring to boil - stand there and watch it, or you will have soapsuds everywhere. Pour the boiling water down the drain, repeat until it is clear. In the future, keep a metal can for grease in the fridge - pour any excess from cooking into it. It will harden into a solid lump - when the can is full and when you're ready to take out the trash, dump it into a grocery bag and discard.

String Theory meets Chaos Theory

I've read that you shouldn't do the same exercise everyday, because you overwork the same set of muscles. Also, you should alternate on cardio and strengthening exercises. You could alternate with some weight training exercises on the upper body and on the side of the legs. A sports doctor told me that a lot of knee injuries occur because the muscles that support the knee from the front and back are much stronger than the ones that support it from side to side. Get some ankle weights - lay on your right side and lift your right leg as high as you can to strengthen the outer leg muscle - then raise the opposite leg which will strengthen the inside thigh muscle. Do at least 2 sets of 10.

So the difference is an "internal" state, vs a "functional" state.

I'm terrible at this kind of test, but my mom was great. When she was 95, she broke her hip and the social workers were trying to decide whether to try to fix it or just send her to a convalescent center to be wheelchair bound the rest of her life. To test mom, they brought a tray with 30 items on it - then removed it and asked mom how many she could remember. The social worker was absolutely astounded that she remembered all 30 items, and where they were placed on the try. I don't think she had ever seen anyone, regardless of age, who could remember that well. Me - I'd be hard-pressed to remember that there was a tray!

This is a guess - The epidermis has separated from the dermis and will eventually peel off, that's what give's it the whitish look. After football practice, you were perspiring, but the damaged epidermis wasn't allowing the perspiration through as fast as it would have if it were still attached. However, it was able to seep out gradually and after a few minutes it was gone. Did you immediately put your burned hand in cold water? It's amazing how much that helps limit skin damage.

Did you?

There were too kinds of tadpoles, the smaller ones are turning into the green leopard frog. http://images.google.com/images?biw=&q=leopard+frog&hl=en I don't know what the real large ones will be - they are just developing their legs. I suspect that they might be spade-footed toads. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=lang_en%7Clang_de&biw=852&q=spadefoot+toad because they are the most common amphibian we have. I had read that frogs are becoming scarce, and that many have been born deformed. I suspect that this may be because the mosquito control people poison the water to get rid of mosquito larva. I was going to suggest to them and to the school superintendent that it would be a neat project for the kids to raise tadpoles for release to increase the frog population. Since they eat mosquito larva, it would be a natural way of control. Before I said anything to anyone about it, I wanted to see how easy they would be to raise.

Has anyone ever done this? My grandson found a bunch of them in a ditch that was rapidly drying up. We put them in a big plastic container with an aerator in it, and have been watching them develop. We've been feeding them cooked lettuce and fish food, and we put some objects in the tank barely above the water line so the little frogs would have something to hop up on. This morning, two little green frogs were perched on a limb and there are more about to make the final transition. No, the question is - where can I release them that they will have the best chance to survive. There is a small pond nearby, but it is stocked with bass. I hate to think that after we went to all the trouble to raise them that they will become dinner for a bass.

I had an aunt who loved to read and had a wonderful vocabulary. When someone really annoyed her, she referred to their actions as "reprehensible". My vocabulary improved significantly just because I visited her and talked with her a lot. Go to Merriam Webster Online http://www.m-w.com/ . In addition to a dictionary, there is a thesaurus. There is also a section on word games you might find enlightening.

I don't know much about welding. Are you using welding rod? I think the two metals you are welding together have to be the same. Hopefully, someone here knows more. I'm not at home right now - if you don't find answers I have books at the shop and can probably look some info up for you.