One would think that Arabs wouldn't have much to do with Israel, unless it was to get some territory back. However enemies appear to be able to put their differences aside in one area: to watch porn.


Ah yes, porn, the international language.

Need a lawyer? Fees are going up: way up, like the far side of $1000 an hour billing for top firms. Is any lawyer really worth that much? Probably not unless your on death row, and think they have at least a slim chance of getting you off. Or possibly a large companies and corporations.


In my case the "vomit point" is reached long before half that.

 
About one and a half to two years ago I was given a Hoa Quynh plant that bloomed last night for the first time. And no, I can't pronounce it let alone remember the name of it. I just call it my Viet Nam plant like many other people. Probably because they are very common there, and many servicemen brought them home. This is a member of the "Night Blooming Cereus" family and sometimes also called "Queen of the night."

I was expecting it to bloom around midnight as per rumor, so I was quite surprised to find it fully open when I checked at 10:30PM. Fortunately I already had my camera set up on the tripod in closeup mode because I was busy setting up a forum most of the night. From the look of the blooms I may also missed the fullest opening of them (you can darn near watch them open). By 2AM the only two blooms on the plant (which is already over 6 ft tall now) were showing signs of wilting. By around 4-5 AM they were closed and wilting away.

Anyhow here are a couple of the pictures I took. Click either picture for a larger view (opens in a new window or tab).





In this second picture I couldn't get a proper angle to get both in the picture with the bloomed flower facing the camera. The stems are a pretty flimsy and delicate so I can't move them around too much. But I included it to show you somewhat how the rest of the plant looks. Maybe I should say bush or tree instead of plant. The slender dark stalk to the left of the blooms is a leafless shoot that sprouted up in the last 6 weeks or so, and is the over 6 foot part of the plant. The older part where the blossoms are is a little over 3 feet.





If you find one of these plants they are very easy to care for. In fact it's rather hard to abuse them even if you forget to water it. Probably because it is a member of the cacti family.

Also anytime a leaf, breaks off (usually if I accidentally smack it), I just stick it in another pot and in a few months you have another one growing. The friend who gave me this plant had a piece of stem left from pruning hers. She cut it into four pieces and planted them. They all grew.

If you are in the Janesville, WI area and want one, I have half a dozen started now so leave me a comment below (or email Sandi on the navbar). I've given at least four or five of them away in the last year or so.

Up until now I have been pretty happy with the Google Browser Toolbar add-on for FireFox. However after trying the Applian Media Toolbar Applian Media is one of the worlds leaders in stream capture recording tools. I've uninstalled the Google toolbar add-on now, and doubt I will miss it. About the only element of Google's toolbar that I used very often anyway was the handy "Search this site" feature.

The Applian toolbar also has "Search this site," but a few other features that I find useful, leaving Google in the dust.


Click to see my Applian toolbar normal size (new window)



One feature that I like is a "Record Anything" button with a drop-down menu with options to capture stream, convert and burn, turn any stream into MP3, make screen capture videos etc.





Another great feature if you like music like I do is the Radio Player. It comes with more than a dozen stations preset but you can add as many as you like. Presently I have mine set to 50s 60s 70s oldies.

 



A habit I have had for sometime is checking the weather and temperature often. Weather Bug and other desktop or browser add-ons were unsatisfactory at best. The Applian toolbar has weather built in. The temperature, customizable to most popular cities, is always displayed on the toolbar after the radio player or privacy button (popup blocker).



Clicking on the Temperature will bring up the local 3 day forecast. Further information is available by clicking on one of the 3 days in the forecast.





Right now I can't report on the popup blocker (shows as "Privacy" on the toolbar) because I haven't had it installed long enough to form an opinion. As far as the rest of toolbar, it works great. And there are more features than I've shown you that I find little interest in, like toolbar buttons for a media guide and Applian News. You can find more about them at the Applian website shown in the link at the top of this post.