Yes, the Caspian Sea is the largest salt lake or inland sea in the world. Here is some information on it: The giant Volga River empties into the Caspian and controls its various levels during the year. The sea has no outlet, and therefore accumulates dissolved salts. Yet its salinity is low, except for the water in its land-locked gulf, Kara-Bogaz-Gol, where salt deposits build up through evaporation and create mirabilite, or Glauber's salt. Because of seepage and evaporation, the Caspian shrinks a few inches every year. Since 1930 its level has dropped more than 8 ft., leaving fishing villages and port facilities high and dry and cutting fish catches in half. Soviet scientists, alarmed over the loss, have begun plans to connect the north-flowing Pechora River to the south-flowing Kama River, a tributary of the Volga, in hopes of getting more water into the sea. They conducted a test in 1971 in which they detonated three 15-kiloton nuclear charges to determine how effectively they could blast a 70-mi. canal. The explosions produced very little radiation. The proposed ditch between the Pechora and Kama rivers calls for about 250 devices in the range of 100-200 kilotons. American scientists have warned the Soviets that diverting the Pechora's warm water would reduce the Arctic Ocean's temperature and cause major climatological repercussions. The North Caspian and South Caspian are very different. The North freezes from December to March. Vegetation is sparse, and marshlands preclude any serious agriculture. The South, on the other hand, has luxuriant, almost tropical vegetation and a bustling sugarcane industry. Alexander the Great found the sea's southern extremity in 330 B.C. Cartographers thought the Caspian was part of the northern oceans till the 2nd century A.D. Czarist expansion into Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries secured Russian control of the Caspian, but only in the past 100 years has the sea been developed. Now huge oil tankers ply their trade from the massive Baku oil complex on the Caucasus shore to the cities of western Russia up the Volga River. The sea provides Russia with a first-rate fishing industry. Most sturgeon, from which caviar is obtained, comes from the Caspian Sea. So, for Annette, Bobbie, and Nancy, four (salt cellar) stars! Have a lovely week. Our delightful weekend has turned into a sweltering week with temps in the 90s (94 expected on Thursday) and high humidity. Ugh. Hope you all have better to look forward to this week. Thanks for playing. Cynthia

I don't remember dlm's boys - maybe she'll post another picture for us? yeah, I guess Tom Skerritt (Skerrit?) is OK. I've got kind of a push-me-pull-me thing going on with Willem Dafoe. He can be really creepy. Oh, and Sandra Bullock is cute, in very good shape for her age, but I really can't say she's beautiful or charismatic enough to be considered "classic". I'm looking for people who still have "it" as they age. Though I did list a few guys who "curl my toes" right now, though they may end up looking like Marlon Brando or Elvis in their later years.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

"I've not given specifics. Just said "be nice" and left it at that." Don't mean to be insensitive here, but how in the world is that going to help? It's a request that's not specific enough to actually use. "Be nice? I am nice!" Do you want him to not enforce clearly defined existing rules? To refrain from dishing out punishments for ambiguous offenses? To not yell, spank or send kids to time out - ever? To enforce ONLY a few clearly defined rules. What do you want him to do if the kids misbehave when you're not around? (By the way -- I'm assuming he actually IS nice, that his discipline is reasonable, and that the kids merely don't like it because they're not used to having another 'boss'.) Of course -- If he's not nice to you OR your kids, then cut your losses, learn your lesson and boot him out! IMO, mistake number one was instituting rules at the same time BF moved in. Even if BF is 'Dad of the Year' parenting material, the timing of the new rules contributed big-time to the kids' perception that it is BF who's the 'meany'. If they were used to getting by with stuff with you, and BF won't let them do it, then he's in an absolute 'no win' position. They'll blame him for the rules they don't like, and blame him for enforcing rules they don't accept. Even if you're doing the enforcing, it's just because they're "his rules." So if the rules started when BF moved in, then I think the first public step should be a family meeting (you and the kids - let BF skip this one) where YOU lay it out to your kids that YOU are the one who made the rules, that you made them for a reason, and that YOU are to blame for not having made those rules crystal clear to them long before BF even entered the picture. Maybe open the floor to discussion about the reasonableness of those rules, and possibly even agree to modify a few if the kids have a good reason and feel strongly. Then print them up on a chart and post them in a conspicuous place. Those are the house rules - everybody follows them. Agree on what the consequences will be for failing to follow the rules and write them down also. Then Mom, YOU enforce those rules. Explain to BF that you mistakenly set him up for failure by changing the house rules when he arrived, and asking him to implement them. Let him know that the children are blaming him unfairly, and that from now on, YOU'LL be the bad guy. For rules on the list, you handle it if you're around; and for goodness sake, stick to the list and consequences! If you're not around, BF should make a simple verbal observation that "The house rule says ..." and see if the problem stops. (A prolonged look can be added to assure compliance.) If the problem continues and you're home, he should then get you. If you're not home, then he should go ahead and implement the predetermined and agreed-upon consequence. Anything NOT on the rules chart that involves no serious risk of physical injury or property damage should be dealt with by you only. If the risk of harm is serious, then I'd use "babysitter guidelines" to STOP the behavior but not declare a specific punishment. Again, YOU'RE the parent, and those should be your decisions. I don't think your relationship is necessarily doomed. But you are 'in the hole' and need to dig yourself out with both your BF and with your kids. The way you handled it wasn't fair to any of them.