Jasper Jones

Not sure if having a garden district is just a southern thing or if the northern cities have them, too. I know the garden district in New Orleans if really beautiful , with dozens of very upscale homes and old mansions. There are a lot of celebrities and local VIPs with homes there, and it is the subject of bus tours for tourists.

Chattanooga’s garden district is much smaller than the New Orleans one, but is similar in that the homes are large Victorian style houses and other upscale buildings, with large lots and beautiful landscaping. Ours has a nice collection of bed and breakfasts, little cafes, and boutiques. But just a few. Although small in scale, it is a nice feature of our city and one of the prettiest areas along the river.

Here’s some information that would make great trivia questions and answers or even a Jeopardy answer.

Q: What country produces the most sugar?

A: Brazil. The 30 million tons of sugar that Brazil produced in 2006 made up 20% of the world’s total sugar production.

Never knew that about half of the Brazilian sugar produced every year is held back for ethanol production in Brazil, and a substantial amount of raw sugar is consumed by Brazilians. But sugar is a huge commodities export for that country and it is big business all over the world. The different qualities of sugar are sorted and graded before they are sold. Most sugar exported by Brazil is raw or centrifugal sugar, and there are different Sugar Types sold depending upon the type of refining used.

The grade that most Americans get for their highly refined white sugar crystals served on kitchen table all over the U.S. is called ICUMSA 45, but there is a whole range of the grades, including ICUMSA 150 - the type that most exported sugar is graded, and ICUMSA 400 - 1500 which is raw brown sugar that needs to be refined in the country that buys it.

So now you know a little more about sugar!

Remember me telling you about that darn snake? Well, I was out walking in the yard just kinda looking at the brown grass (we really need some rain) and not paying much attention to anything else. Well that’s not totally true, I was watching every step I took just in case……….you never know what might be slithering on the ground after the other morning.

Anyway, I noticed this black streak kinda zig-zag like on a tree about 15 feet in front of me. I started to walk over to see what the heck it was, thinking to myself, ‘maybe lightning hit the tree, just a little bolt to make a black streak like that on a tree’ and suddenly realized the darn black streak was moving UP. So dumb ass me walks a little closer because I just can’t imagine how a streak like that can move when it suddenly dawns on me…………it’s another stinking SNAKE!!! Man I didn’t know they could climb like that. This thing was going up the tree like it was on the ground, just slithering side to side like they do when they go anywhere BUT UP THIS TREE, MAN!!!!

You know, there were a couple other guys and some ladies around so I couldn’t run and scream like a girl like I wanted to, so I just kinda strolled back into my house and changed my underwear. j/k

I’m not walking under any more trees, especially that one, because it’s gotta come down sometime and just might fall………….on me!!!!!!!

Mona Vie is new drink that is a modern wonder in the world of health.  This drink contains all the essential vitamins and nutrients one would need in an entire day. A typical order would be one case of Mona Vie. The cost is about one hundred and forty dollars. All you have to do is take a two ounce shot two to three times a day.  It will help transform you life from that of and pain filled nightmare to a healthy and wonderful life. Each bottle contains a blend of many vegetables and fruits that the body needs in order to be healthy. Look at Mona Vie as a great investment in your life and the lives of your loved ones as well.  It just could change your life.

  Global warming is effecting the world faster than ever.  In north Alaska, near the arctic circle, there are ponds that are rapidly releasing methane into the atmosphere.  This is causing the planet to warm up. Other things that are effecting global warming is the amount of pollution caused by factories.  Their excess gases going into the air are warming the planet as well.  This effects a lot in the planets ecosystem.  For instance, the glaciers of the Alaskan mountains are melting.  This melting is raising the water levels by massive amount.  The oceanic currents are shifting.  This causes the waters to shift, raising and lowering tides.  Global warming has effects that can change the earth forever.  We can slow this warming by stopping pollution.  But what do we do able these methane geysers?  That is a question that we are still trying to figure out.

   The world is making a big shift from home PC’s to portable laptops. Laptops are simply more convenient than the big and heavy PC’s of old.  College students are rarely found not owning one.  Making trips to the library with a laptop is more common than checking out a book for a college student.  Also, students are very rapidly venturing away from taking notes on paper while in class. They are starting to carry laptops to class for taking notes, thus cutting back the expense of buying paper notebooks (which just might save a lot of trees) and lots of pens.  Laptops are not all that expensive.  A good one can be found from about $400 to $1000.  This is about the same as a good home PC.

To keep progress moving forward, sacrifices must be made.  These means that new cities are going up and forests and beautiful landscapes are being torn down.  I believe in progress, but is it worth destroying nature?  Not just some nature, all of it.  Trees clean our earth by soaking up carbon dioxide and producing air.  It has been said that since all these trees are being destroyed, more carbon dioxide is in the air and it is increasing global warming.  There are some companies that are doing their part to help change this. Esurance issues all of their insurance policies online.  This saves some hundreds of trees every year.  There should be more that to follow this example. It is not a hard change to make for any business. It could save forests all over the planet, and also help save the Earth.