Julia K Cole

Extreme Cold Weather Regions... PLEASE REMEMBER  TO TAP THE HOOD OF YOUR VEHICLES BEFORE GETTING IN! Cats often take shelter under the hoods of cars where it's warm.  So PLEASE...Remember to Tap the hood of your vehicle before getting in.  Or at the very least make enough noise where it will scare the cat out.  DO NOT BLOW YOUR HORNS! Blowing your horns can cause damage to the cat's hearing and/or cause it to harm itself while trying to hurry out.   Remember To  Leave Food and Water.  And to check on the water supply.  In these freezing temps the water will freeze up rather quickly.  So check often throughout the day. Use Straw to line shelters or to put where strays and ferals take shelter like under your house or porch.   Learn more about what you can to do by visiting The Humane Society's website.   Just click HERE

THE Irish singer Bono once  described a difference  between America and his native land. “In the United States,” he explained, “you look at the guy that lives in the mansion on the hill, and you think, you know, one day, if I work really hard, I could live in that mansion. In Ireland, people look up at the guy in the mansion on the hill and go, one day, I’m going to get that bastard.” Alexis de Tocqueville phrased it a little differently, but his classic 19th-century text contains the same observation. Visiting from France, he marveled at Americans’ ability to keep envy at bay, and to see others’ successes as portents of good times for all. Read More

This is so innocent and sweet, it's impossible not to just love it to pieces. A 4-year-old little girl in Australia wrote a letter to the prime minister, Tony Abbott, asking him to "let boys marry boys and girls marry girls," in an effort to persuade him to recognize gay marriage Down Under. Sabrina Franco was inspired to reach out to the prime minister after learning that friends of her mothers, a gay male couple, had to go all the way to New York to be married -- because same-sex marriages are neither recognized nor performed in Australia. Read More

Singing just two songs a day can lower blood pressure by as much as 25 percent, according to Harvard scientists. Singing has distinct advantages over everyday chitchat. When we sing instead of speak, we have intonation, melody line, and crescendo, which gives us a broader vocabulary to express ourselves.   You don't have to be a professional to reap the benefits of singing. While previous studies have shown that listening to music may help lower an individual's blood pressure, new research that was published in the March, 2011 issue of "American Journal Arthritis Care and Research" indicates that singing or producing melodies may provide similar benefits. The researchers followed a 76-year-old woman through her treatment for bilateral knee osteoarthritis. Despite her use of several drug-based therapies, the doctors had to postpone the woman's procedure (total knee replacement surgery) due to her high blood pressure which had reached 240/120. Read More by cli...

Recent hacks involving several high-profile social networking accounts once again highlight the potential  vulnerability of social media. The sheer volume of users and the information that gets posted on social media  sites create plenty of opportunity for an attacker to use social engineering or other methods to gain access to  the accounts of individuals and organizations. The more information you post, the more your security and  privacy are at risk.  What Precautions Should I Take on Social Networking Sites?  Below are some helpful tips regarding security and privacy while using social networking sites:   Ensure that any computer you use to connect to a social media site has proper security measures in  place. Use and maintain anti-virus software, anti-spyware software, and a firewall and keep these  applications and operating system patched and up-to-date.   Be cautious when clicking on links. If a link seems suspicious, o...

 A weight loss trend that involves eating cotton balls has health officials issuing warnings for parents. It seems Americans are obsessed with losing weight or wearing a smaller size, and images from the media reinforce a false perception of beauty. "I think, especially young girls, don't realize that those models are airbrushed," said Amy Garlove, a pediatrician at Norton Healthcare. "There's a lot of Photoshopping that goes into that." Young girls are trying to measure up to the glamorous women they see in magazines and on TV. Many times these models often go to extremes to stay thin. It's an unobtainable -- and dangerous -- goal, and Garlove says social media and websites can make things worse. "Now in this day and age, we have the added insult, essentially, of the Internet, and so girls can get these ideas from other girls," Garlove said. Some of those ideas are so disturbing, they're hard to comprehend. There are now repor...

Last October it became legal to shoot, trap and gas Wyoming's 328 wolves throughout most of the state. Already more than 40 wolves have been killed. Tell Wyoming Governor Matt Mead to put a stop to the slaughter of gray wolves, and end this brutal extermination policy taking place in nearly 85 percent of the state. Wyoming's new law threatens the gray wolf recovery that is under way in the Northern Rockies—and even includes a dangerous loophole that would make it legal to kill wolves no matter how few remain. Help us keep the pressure up!  CLICK HERE to Ask Governor Mead to stop the slaughter, and put policies in place to ensure the survival of wolves now and for future generations.