“Let It Snow” Google Search

“Let It Snow” Google Search Results in Snow

If the weather outside today is more “delightful” than “frightful” where you live and you’re wishing for some snow without all the hassles of shoveling, there’s one place you can definitely see some (virtual) snowflakes: Google’s search results.

Type in “let it snow” (without quotes) when you visit Google and you’ll be treated to a new Easter egg. Snowflakes will fall from the top of your screen and slowly cover Google’s search results (prominently featuring links to YouTube videos of the famous song “Let it Snow”) in a light coating of snow.

But don’t worry if you get caught in a complete virtual whiteout, because Google has provided a Defrost button, which replaces the usual blue magnifying glass search button (if you click the Defrost button, the flakes will continue to fall, but without any accumulation). You can also click and hold your mouse to manually brush off some of the white stuff.

While there’s a 100 percent chance of snow on Google’s results when you type in “let it snow”, many in the U.S. are hoping for a real white Christmas. The Weather Channel is keeping track of the regions most likely to see a blanket of snow on the ground for the holidays.

What is it?  If you said this was a DUCK PRESS, you were correct:

A duck press is an innocuous-enough sounding name for a kitchen tool that actually has a rather macabre use.

Pressed duck is a famous dish in French cuisine and it uses, what else — a duck press for its creation. The dish begins innocently enough, with a roasted duck, with the legs removed and grilled. Thin slices are cut from the duck breast and those slices and the legs are returned to a reduction of red wine on a hot plate or in a chafing dish. The entire remaining carcass is then placed into the duck press.

A duck press, incidentally, is usually made of brass or another heavy-weight metal. It stands about 20 inches (51 centimeters) tall and weighs somewhere around 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms). The press has a heavy disc attached to a turning screw, which ratchets the disc down into a container. The truly macabre ones stand on brass webbed duck feet.

After the duck carcass is placed inside the duck press, the waiter screws the metal disc down, down, down, pressing the carcass flat, in order to extract all the remaining juices and marrow. When this gruesome task has been accomplished, the waiter adds those juices to the wine reduction, along with a little brandy or cognac, and some butter. The resulting sauce and duck breast slices are then presented to the diner, along with the duck legs, with perhaps a shaving or two of truffle.

Protect Wild Lands

Act Now to Protect Wild Lands

Under President Bush, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had ceased inventory and protection work for wilderness quality lands. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has acted to resume that work by establishing a new "BLM Wild Lands Policy". The BLM manages the largest tracts of unprotected wilderness quality lands in the lower 48 states so this is an important policy for land conservation and habitat resiliency. Unfortunately, anti-conservation forces in Congress have gained ground by successfully attaching a rider to the recent federal budget Continuing Resolution which "defunds" the Wild Lands Policy. We need to make sure that provision does not carryover into the 2012 budget bill to be voted on in the coming months. The opponents of the BLM Wild Lands Policy are promoting oil and gas wells for America’s dwindling wild lands. Currently, much more BLM land is allocated to oil and gas development than to wilderness protection. And, the amount of public land that is pristine enough to qualify as having wilderness characteristics is ever shrinking. Please tell your elected officials to protect America's wild lands by making sure the BLM Wild Lands Policy de-funding rider is NOT carried over into the 2012 budget bill. CLICK HERE TO HELP! Please act to support the Bureau of Land Management "Wild Lands" Policy by opposing the carryover of the "de-funding rider" included in the recently passed Continuing Resolution. Forty-four members of the House recently wrote President Obama asking him to keep such a rider out of the 2012 federal budget and to retain the provisions of the BLM Wild Lands Policy. Much of America's natural heritage remains unprotected and most of that is on lands managed by the BLM. These are remarkably special places. From Utah's red rock canyonlands, to New Mexico's Otero Mesa grasslands, and Oregon's Owyhee desert these lands are vital to the natural world and provide an enduring wilderness resource for the nation  enduring only if protected. Please support revocation of the Simpson-Bishop de-funding the BLM Wild Lands Policy, encourage the Interior Department to reinstate Secretarial Order 3310, and work to keep any de-funding riders out of the 2012 budget.

New Hampshire Elected Officials

Below are links to New Hampshire’s elected officials websites that constituents may find helpful. If you do not find the resources you are looking for please contact Senator Shaheen’s office for additional information.

United States Senate

Senator Jeanne Shaheen
http://shaheen.senate.gov

Washington
520 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2841

Manchester
1589 Elm Street
Suite 3
Manchester, NH 03101
(603) 647-7500

Senator Kelly Ayotte
http://ayotte.senate.gov/

Washington
188 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3324 

Manchester
41 Hooksett Road
Unit 2
Manchester, NH 03104
(603) 622-7979 

United States House of Representatives

Congressman Charles Bass
http://bass.house.gov/

Washington
2350 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5206

Concord
114 North Main Street, Suite 200
Concord, NH 03301
Phone: (603) 226-0064 

Congressman Frank Guinta
http://www.guinta.house.gov/

Washington
1223 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
p. (202) 225-5456

Manchester
33 Lowell Street
Manchester, NH 03101
p. (603) 641-9536

New Hampshire State Officials

Governor John Lynch
http://www.governor.nh.gov/

State House
25 Capitol Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 271-2121

Tell Congress to End Tax Breaks for Big Oil!

There are many difficult decisions to be made by Congress as they work to reduce the budget deficit. But cutting $40 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for the oil and gas industry should not be difficult. Believe it or not, every year American taxpayers gives four billion dollars in outdated tax breaks and subsidies to one of the most profitable industries on the planet. These loopholes, some of which have been in place for nearly a century, are no longer necessary; in fact, high prices at the pump are reflected in the industry’s record profits in 2010 and 2011. These subsidies and tax breaks for big oil waste taxpayer money, contribute to the federal deficit and lock the United States into a dirty energy future. It is time to eliminate these handouts to a mature and profitable industry. Urge your Congressperson to end tax breaks for Big Oil. CLICK HERE TO HELP! Form letter content from the link above: For nearly a century, oil companies have enjoyed generous subsidies from the federal government at the expense of American taxpayers. Originally intended to support a nascent, homegrown industry, these tax breaks have outlived their purpose, persisting in an age when multi-national oil companies comprise the world's largest and most profitable corporations. The past several years have seen oil companies post record profits to the backdrop of skyrocketing crude oil prices. Despite facing a looming federal deficit the federal government continues to subsidize these companies by more than $4 billion each year. Unnecessary tax breaks contribute to the federal debt and waste taxpayer dollars. I urge you to support efforts to eliminate gas subsidies, and to cut these handouts to the oil industry.  The Joint Economic Committee concluded in a recent report that ending tax breaks for the oil industry will have a negligible impact on both consumer prices and domestic production. Oil subsidies have failed to protect consumers from spikes in gasoline prices. By eliminating these loopholes, we stand only to save American taxpayers billions of dollars a year and encourage investment in alternative energy technologies.  Please follow President Obama's recommendations to repeal oil and gas industry tax breaks.

Gingrich under fire as GOP rivals try to stall his momentum

Japan declares crippled nuke plant stable – USATODAY.com

Japan declares crippled nuke plant stable – USATODAY.com

AP

TOKYO (AP) – The tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has reached a stable state of "cold shutdown" and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation, Japan's prime minister announced Friday.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announcement marks a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

But experts noted the plant remains vulnerable to more problems and it will take decades to decommission.

"The reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant have reached a state of cold shutdown," Noda told a Cabinet meeting.

The government's official endorsement of the claim by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that the reactors have reached cold shutdown status is a necessary step toward revising evacuation zones around the plant and focusing efforts from simply stabilizing the facility to actually starting the arduous process of shutting it down.

But its assessment has some important caveats...... continued

New Photo's Uploaded:

New Photo's Uploaded: CLICK HERE

Movie List Gotta See!

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a revolution; an action-packed epic featuring stunning visual effects and creatures unlike anything ever seen before. At the story's heart is Caesar (Andy Serkis), a chimpanzee who gains human-like intelligence and emotions from an experimental drug. Raised like a child by the drug's creator (James Franco), Caesar ultimately finds himself taken from the humans he loves and imprisoned. Seeking justice, Caesar assembles a simian army and escapes -- putting man and primate on a collision course that could change the planet forever.

Action / Sci-Fi/Fantasy / Adventure

105 min

2011

PG-13

20th Century Fox

English

Airline: Pilots can use iPads in cockpit?

Airline: Pilots can use iPads in cockpit: MyFoxBOSTON.com

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - You may have to switch off your electronic device before take off, but your pilot can still tap away in the cockpit.

Starting Friday, American Airlines pilots will be allowed to use iPads instead of paper flight manuals.

The FAA approved the move earlier this week. 

Despite the new rules, passengers are still required to shut down all electronic devices until the plane reaches 10,000 feet. Watch our Let it Rip for more on this story.

Read more: http://ow.ly/80lQK

Casey Anthony wants $750,000 for first interview

Updated: Thursday, 15 Dec 2011, 8:15 AM EST

Published : Thursday, 15 Dec 2011, 8:15 AM EST

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Casey Anthony wants up to $750,000 to deny killing her daughter on TV.

The New York Daily News reports a Los Angeles-based producer has been shopping around the first interview with Anthony since her acquittal in the slaying of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Scott Sternberg Productions is asking between $500,000 and $750,000 and is insisting it co-produce the talk show.

The 22-year-old Florida mom was accused of killing her daughter in 2008 by administering chloroform, gagging her with duct tape and burying her remains in a shallow grave.

Read more: New York Daily News

Thief Steals $7,200 Earrings - New Hampshire News Story - WMUR New Hampshire

Thief Steals $7,200 Earrings - New Hampshire News Story - WMUR New Hampshire

Diamond Earrings Stolen From Store At Mall At Rockingham Park

POSTED: 7:37 am EST December 15, 2011 UPDATED: 7:49 am EST December 15, 2011

Thief Steals $7,200 Earrings

SALEM, N.H. -- Salem police said they are searching for the thief who swapped out an inexpensive pair of earrings for a pair of diamond earrings at a store at the Mall at Rockingham Park.

Police said the manager of JB Ronsinson Jewelers reported that the theft happened on Monday evening. Police said the manager told them that someone stole a pair of 2-carat, yellow diamond earrings, valued at $7,200. The manager said the earrings were switched with a pair of $60 earrings in the display case.

Anyone with information is asked to call Salem police at 893-1911 or the Southern New Hampshire Crime Line at 893-6600.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 by a 34-year-old copywriter named Robert L. May, who came up with a poem about a misfit reindeer at the request of his employer, Chicago-based Montgomery Ward, for a Christmas story they could use as a store promotional gimmick.

The Montgomery Ward store had been buying preprinted coloring books and giving them away at Christmas every year, and the thought of creating their own would save them a lot of money. May, who had a knack for writing children's stories and limericks, was asked to create the booklet.

Drawing in part on the tale of The Ugly Duckling and his own background (he was often taunted as a child for being shy, small and slight), settled on the idea of an underdog, teased by the reindeer community because of his physical abnormality: a glowing red nose. He then proceeded to write Rudolph's story in verse, as a series of rhyming couplets, testing it out on his 4-year-old daughter as he went along. Although his daughter was thrilled with Rudolph's story, May's boss was worried that a story featuring a red nose - an image associated with drinking and drunkards - was unsuitable for a Christmas tale.

May responded by taking Denver Gillen, a friend from Montgomery Ward's art department, to the Lincoln Park Zoo to sketch some deer. Gillen's illustrations of a red-nosed reindeer overcame the hesitancy of May's boss, and the Rudolph story was approved.

Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of the Rudolph booklet in 1939, and although wartime paper shortages stopped printing for the next several years, a total of 6 million copies had been given away by the end of 1946. The post-war demand for licensing the Rudolph character was tremendous, but since May had created the story as an employee of Montgomery Ward, they held the copyright and he received no royalties. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was printed commercially in 1947 and shown in theaters as a nine-minute cartoon the following year.

The Rudolph phenomenon really took off, when May's brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, developed the lyrics and melody for a Rudolph song. Marks' musical version of "Rudolph", recorded by Gene Autry in 1949, sold two million copies that year and went on to become one of the best selling songs of all time, second only to "White Christmas." The TV special about Rudolph narrated by Burl Ives was produced in 1964 and remains a popular holiday favorite.

Did you know...

While both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game,male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers until after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen - had to be a girl. We should've known. Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

Fortune Cookies

Anyone who has been to a Chinese restaurant has had, or at least seen, fortune cookies. These almond or vanilla flavored treats not only taste great, but they have a surprise inside – a small strip of paper with a prediction or saying printed on it. The fortune cookie is a cookie with a piece of paper inside with words of supposed wisdom and/or prophecy.

Theories abound to the origin of the fortune cookie, but what is certain is that no matter how the cookie originated, it has become a permanent part of Chinese-American culture.

Theory 1:     It is believed that fortune cookies first appeared in the United States in 1914, made by Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese man in San Francisco. He owned the business that is now known as the Golden Gate Park Japanese Tea Garden and served the cookies with tea.

Theory 2:     However, there is another belief that the cookies did not make their first American appearance until 1918, when the Chinese-American man David (Tsung) Jung, who also owned the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, began serving cookies stuffed with biblical passages to his customers.

Theory 3:     The 49er theory also originates in northern California. In the mid-1800s, many Chinese immigrants worked to build the country's railways in Nevada and Canada. They wanted to celebrate the Moon Festival, a holiday where it is customary to give special cakes with messages inside. Seeing as they had only biscuits, they improvised and created the fortune cookie.

Up until World War II fortune cookies where mainly popular in San Francisco area restaurants. Soldiers returning from World War II , would go to their local Chinese restaurants and inquire as to why they did not serve the same cookies that the shops in San Francisco did. A number of Americanized Chinese restaurants copied the idea and fortune cookies became very popular. Mainly served as a dessert after every meal at many restaurants. In addition to a fortune, fortune cookies may also contain lucky numbers (used by some as lottery numbers) and a Chinese phrase with translation.

The first automated production of Fortune Cookies took place in America in 1964 before that they were made by hand.

Although they are served almost exclusively in Chinese restaurants abroad, fortune cookies are almost unknown in China. Places that serve them call them "Genuine American Fortune Cookies."

Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, not China!

Mount Washington Current Conditions

Current Summit Conditions

FULL DETAILS: http://ow.ly/7ZMVu

Preventing pollution requires broad approach | SeacoastOnline.com

Preventing pollution requires broad approach | SeacoastOnline.com

By Lief Friedrichs

December 09, 2011 2:00 AM

I am an environmental science major at Wesleyan University. As part of my Introduction to Environmental Studies class, I am writing to you with regards to the state of the Great Bay estuary.

I have seen the decline of the Great Bay first hand. Mud flats have replaced my childhood memories of boating through eelgrass.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified nitrogen as a primary culprit for the decline of the estuary's ecosystem. The ripple effect of nitrogen on marine ecosystems is well documented, but successful remediation efforts are hard to achieve. Nitrogen is not the sole contributor to the decline of Great Bay. Decreasing levels of nitrogen inflow would help, but it would not by itself bring the Great Bay back to its previous level of health. It is important to try to revive Great Bay through a holistic approach.

A balanced approach with improvements to the way we handle wastewater, storm water and human-produced contaminants is needed. The EPA can only influence the health of Great Bay through the permitting of wastewater treatment plants, but town incentives such as a rebate for decreased treatment demand could be equally effective. It is also important that there be a consensus among the towns in the watershed to try and mitigate this problem.

Storm water management is critically......CONTINUED

Fancy that six-pack

Fancy that six-pack

Is there anyone out there who still cuts up those plastic six-pack ring carriers used to hold cans or bottles in a multi-pack? It’s quite noble of you, but apparently not necessary.
The story used to be that if we let them go uncut into our garbage, and thus into the landfill, poor birds and other creatures would get their poor heads stuck in them and die a horrible, starving death. Six-pack rings today, however, are photodegradable, nontoxic and recyclable. That means they break down in sunlight. They are also approved by the EPA for packaging use.
Some people even applaud the use of the ring carriers as a way to minimize packaging, rather than using fiberboard and corrugated packaging.
Piqued your interest in plastic carriers? Log on to hi-cone.com to get more information. And lose yourself in the many styles and persuasions of six-pack ring carriers.

Dog gets second chance at life after hit by car

Dog gets second chance at life after hit by car

WELM, Wash. -- A dog got a second chance at life in what one Washington state family called a holiday miracle.

The dog named Scamp was hit by a car and presumed dead, but after spending a night in the cold, the impossible happened.

For 6-year-old twins Chevelle and Kaiden Woods, drawing pictures is much more than just colors and shapes lately. It's who they draw, not what they draw that has them both smiling: a dog.

But the colors that surround their world turned dark 10 days ago when they lost their newest family member.

“I was talking and not paying attention and he somehow got outside the fence and the next thing I know I heard the car,” said Paul McKinlay.......

Stop Mercury and Other Toxics

Protect Our Health: Stop Mercury and Other Toxics

Mercury is poison and it's likely in you or your loved ones. Mercury and other air toxics contribute to a host of heinous health problems from birth defects to premature death.  But President Obama and the EPA are on the verge of finalizing historic protections! Unfortunately, Big Coal and Big Oil are trying to block these life-saving efforts. Americans have waited too long for this commonsense safeguard! Urge President Obama to stand up to corporate polluters and issue strong Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants! Protect Our Health: Stop Mercury and Other Toxics http://ow.ly/7ZFYH Can you protect us from mercury? Mercury is poison and it's likely in you or your loved ones.  But we can end the cycle of pollution right now by telling President Obama you support their strong Air Toxics Standard.  The President is considering this standard now -- let him know you support protecting our families from mercury!  Willl you join me? http://ow.ly/7ZGke

Mt Washington

Blowing Snow Freezing Fog and Windy and 1 F at Mount Washington, NH Winds are West at 36.8 MPH (32 KT). The pressure is s1z.us/zk.htm