I got this from Chester and thought it was interesting: And about some carcharodons...notes by Chester Skotak, Costa Rica Neoregelia 'Tiger' was found in Rio de Janeiro state, Estrada Marica, Itaborai on the road to Rio Bonito at the 10 km marker. The true location was first discovered by Rafael Oliveira de Faria and Chester Skotak in 2004. These plants grow on rocks or as epiphytes. When I first saw this plant growing in a very tall tree I remember thanking God that goats cant fly but in the end it didnÂt really matter. That road has now been paved and the forest severely cut, as last I heard. Neoregelia 'Macho' was grown and collected by Luiz (Luis) Correia de Araujo. He had them growing in giant clay pots around the restaurant he owned at the time. Several people brought back pups in the 90s, including me. The plant was found in Vargem Grande, Rio de Janeiro state. Neoregelia 'Silver' was being grown at Pedro NahoumÂs nursery. I spoke with him recently about this Neo and he told me he acquired the plant from Roberto Menescal. It was collected in Vargem Grande also. Neoregelia 'Rainbow' was found near Santa Maria de Madalena around 1995, Rio de Janeiro state. It was growing on rocks at the garbage dump. I was traveling with Rafael Oliveira, Pedro Nahoum, Jorge Gastin and Giorgio Croce. On this same road 2 kilometers further along we found Vriesea croceana, named in honor of Giorgio Croce. These four Neoregelia species (16 plants total) were sent to the U.S.A. by me in the 90s to: Michael Kiehl, Dennis Cathcart, Wally Berg and Harry Luther. They each received four plants, one plant of each new species. Since they were all being called carcharodon at the time, I wanted to distribute these neoregelias in hopes of getting a valid species name on them and also get them into collections. Maybe one day this group will be sorted out. It should also be noted that these species are usually not found in colonies but as individuals or only a few plants and seem to be quite rare where they are found, leaving one to wonder how they even manage to propagate in the wild.

I received my wonderful box from Jeanette! It was full to the brim with bright orange and black wrapped surprises! I got: a wonderful Halloween kitchen towel. I love to change my kitchen towels for the season and didn't have a Halloween-themed one - thanks! a cute pumpkin votive candle holder with a scented candle in it a black and orange paper lantern a wonderfully scented potpurri mix a halloween wind sock a spider web wine/champagne goblet (so cute!) a spider on a spring a silver starred Halloween hat (sorry Jeanette - no digital camera to take a picture - my daughter kept saying "you're not going to wear that in front of my friends are you? - LOL!" a spooky hanging ghosty that emits an eeery sound - scares the daylights out of my little dog......... mummy's passion fruit tea bags and a ghost tin of chocolate kisses (oops all gone - how did that happen he he) Thanks Jeanette! Sue G.

Olychick, you are right, that is the best explanation for how I feel and how I want to reply to Magglepuss. I am taking the liberty of copying and pasting here. By Janus Adams, Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian and producer When news first broke of Paula Deen's indelicate turns of phrase, I ignored it. C'mon. What American hasn't used the word [the N word]? We teach children the word each time Mark Twain's Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are assigned in class. After the initial headlines, there came anecdotes so salacious that she was a no-show on The Today Show, where she'd been scheduled to give a mea culpa and get on with her life. Through it all, my admiration never waned for her along with Martha Stewart and B. Smith, women who'd turned housework into home-making, built empires and given millions of women immense pride in the work they do for their families. Then, I heard Ms. Deen speak of her great-grandfather's having gone into a barn and shot himself because the Civil War had been lost and "he didn't know how to deal with life with no one to help operate his plantation." "There was 30-something people on his books and the next year's census it's like zero," she told a live audience. "He couldn't deal with those kinds of changes." Never did she mention the price paid by Blacks, pre- and post-change, over centuries of enslavement and segregation. She did say that "Black folks were such an integral part of our lives; they were like family." She even called a Black male employee, Hollis Johnson, "black as a board" onstage. "We can't see you standing against that dark board," she joked. To Matt Lauer on The Today Show, she offered her critics a self-serving monologue and a defiant "I is what I is, and I'm not changing!" Hence, this open letter: Dear Ms. Deen, I know that you're in great pain at this time. Your world -- and everything you've worked for -- has been rocked. Much as it was for your great-grandfather, it must seem that life has brought "terrific changes." I cannot, however, sympathize with the plight of your great-grandfathers who, for centuries, victimized mine. I will not mourn the "way of life" lost to those who joined the Ku Klux Klan, lynch mobs and "picnics" where white families spread blankets, shared baskets and "picked [n-word]" to dangle as "strange fruit" from their hanging-trees. You are suffering because you refuse to understand that lives have been lost to the "I is what I is" mentality in which you take such pride. Given a forum, you gave a diatribe. "Someone evil out there saw what I had worked for and they wanted it." Do you understand that millions of hard-working people only want to hear you say: "I said the things I said. I was wrong. I'm willing to learn and to grow?" Given a lifeline, you chose a lie when you said the only time in 30 years you used the word [n-word] was when a Black man had you at gunpoint in a bank robbery. Playing to stereotypes instead of humility, you sought to justify bigotry. Forget worrying that what some say about you isn't true; it's what you're saying about you that's causing outrage. Do you know what it means to me, a dark-skinned person, to watch a man who looks like me publicly humiliated for his skin tone? His family had to see that. What were you thinking? Should you tolerate being "white as puss?" If you won't, should I sneer at you for being politically correct? Your laugh-line was the work denied me for being "dark enough to offend." "Were you 5' 9" and blonde, I would've hired you in a minute," said one network news executive. Your employee's humiliation was my first day of college. A white dorm mother had me stand for inspection -- as if on an auction block -- to give my assigned white roommate's parents the option of having me removed from "their daughter's room." My family paid the same tuition with no such option. And, do you really think a wedding celebrating the heyday of plantation life is a good idea? No, Ms. Deen, this isn't just about the N-word. It's about the picnics of your youth. It's about your lack of remorse -- or compassion -- today. It's about your timing. You misused your platform for self-pity two days after George Zimmerman's defense attorney opened a murder trial in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, dark-skinned teen, with a knock-knock joke. This is about what you're willing to do for yourself, for the millions of people who've believed in you and the thousands whose livelihoods depend on your "brand." And, it's about your caring enough about them to use your pain to move others toward the healing our nation so desperately needs and rightly deserves. Sincerely, Janus Adams

moccasin - those are some nice lights! i can see why you like them. I bet they're more than 20-30 $s each tho... I loved that the globes come in colors... I'd stay away from the red tho. OTOH that could be good for an emergency signal to a neighbor. I'm too poor to pay much for the lights - even if I find a SWern one i like it's sure to be more than 30.00 and I think I should limit it to that. I need 3 - plus a few (plus) inside need replaced based on they are UGLY. I found these 2 at lowe's. both plain but would do the job - cheaply. it'll probably be the first one unless I find something better for the price in the store. around 25.00 with clean lines. I'd have to see how my chubby little fingers fit for changing the bulb. it's better I don't have to mess with those little screws and chance dropping the globe since things seems to jump out of my hands. I remember changing bulbs in the screw on globe type yrs ago. max wattage is 100w this one is about 21.00. I like it, again clean, simple lines - this one has a frosted globe. has the little screws tho and max wattage is 60w.