Edition 12-25-03

Bob, an experienced sky diver, was getting ready for a jump one day when he spotted another man outfitted to dive wearing dark glasses, carrying a white cane and holding a seeing-eye dog by a extremely long leash. Shocked that the blind man was also going to jump, Bob struck up a conversation, expressing his admiration for the man's courage. Then, curious, he asked, "How do you know when the ground is getting close?"

"Easy," replied the blind man. "The leash goes slack."

In 1847, the coastal city of Yorba Buena in California changed its name to San Francisco. The city took its new name from St. Francis of Assisi, who is recognized as San Francisco's patron saint.

Jerklaw is still at his old shit. This son of a bitch just doesn't get it!
Rep. Bill Janklow filed a motion asking that he be acquitted of second-degree manslaughter or granted a new trial, saying prosecutors didn't present enough evidence to establish his guilt.

Janklow, who was convicted Dec. 8 in a traffic crash that killed Randolph E. Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn., a motorcyclist, filed the motion for acquittal Friday.

During the trial, the defense had argued that Janklow, a diabetic, had not eaten the day of the crash and had low blood sugar when the collision occurred.

A jury found Janklow guilty, and he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

Janklow, a South Dakota Republican and four-term governor, plans to resign from Congress Jan. 20, leaving the state without a representative in the House.

"I wish to inform you that because of present circumstances, I will be unable to perform the duties incumbent on me in representing the people of South Dakota as their U.S. representative," Janklow wrote in his resignation letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert after his conviction.

Aromatherapy offers gentle assistance to help you rebuild your emotional equilibrium after a stress-filled day. Just inhaling the scents of lavender and sandalwood increases the alpha waves in your brain. These waves decrease all the miscellaneous, idle chatter that runs through your mind and encourages you to relax. These two aromas have a long history of creating meditative states. Other alpha wave essential oils are eucalyptus, pine, and fir, which are stimulants, so they offer an extra element of increased attention when you sniff them. Blood pressure rates jump when you're nervous, but just sniffing the scents of marjoram, orange, or geranium drops your pressure two to five points (both the systolic and diastolic rates). That's not significant enough of a drop if you suffer from high blood pressure, but it does indicate a lowered level.
For more information like this, get a copy of Aromatherapy For Dummies, by Kathi Keville.

Word of the Day
adumbrate \AD-um-brayt\ verb

1 : to foreshadow vaguely : intimate
*2 : to suggest, disclose, or outline partially
3 : overshadow, obscure
Example sentence:
In her second book, the author developed ideas that she had only adumbrated in her first work.
Did you know?
You aren't likely to find "adumbrate" in children's stories or on the sports pages. That's not because this shady word is somehow off-color, but rather because it tends to show up most often in academic or political writing. In fact, some usage commentators find it too hard for "ordinary" use (although they are hard-pressed to define "ordinary"). Art and literary critics have long found it useful, and it's a definite candidate for those oft-published "lists of words you should know" (especially for vocabulary tests). You might remember "adumbrate" better if you know that it developed from the Latin verb "adumbrare," which in turn comes from "umbra," the Latin word for "shadow." To "adumbrate," then, is to offer a shadowy view of something.

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