HAVING FUN WITH MY TEAPOT AND STARBUCKS MUG COLLECTION

I just love to keep my collectibles in good condition. I just dust and wash them often. But the costs are a bit too high. With the recession going on, I have had to cut down on my purchases.

But I am addicted to them, and just can't help buying them. I have to keep an eye on them though, because I am missing a few, and can't keep checking my inventory after everyone visits.

A CHINESE TOWN IS QUARANTINED AFTER A DEADLY PLAGUE OUTBREAK

The town is in a Tibetan area in north-west China. It was sealed off after two of its residents died from pneumonic plague, according to reports from the local government and state media.

Ziketan town in Qinghai province was put under quarantine when lab tests showed it had been struck by the highly virulent disease, as reported by the Qinghai health bureau.

A 32-year-old herdsman had died from the plaque, while 11 others had been diagnosed with it. Ziketan, which is located in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, had enough supplies to get by on its own for the time being, the health bureau stated, giving no indication of when the quarantine would be lifted.

The health bureau urged people who had visited Ziketan on or after July 16Th to seek immediate help if they developed coughing or fever. Pneumonic plague spreads through the air, making it easier to contract than bubonic plague, which requires that a person is bitten by an infected flea.

It is also more lethal, with a fatality rate of up to 100 percent if left untreated, compared with 60 per cent for bubonic plaque.

WERE THERE ANY IPHONES AT THE GATES SAGA ?

There should have been some iphone's and footage of the Gates/Cambridge incident. Many people would like to see the footage before it ends up in court to make an opinion.

If the disturbance happened outside the home, there could be some footage. I just can't believe that professor Gates brought himself to such a level. To make it so personal and to talk about some one's mother.

People said that their opinion of professor Gates had really lessened. There was a time when there was a special on public television and they couldn't wait to get home to see a Gates documentary.

This is not an isolated incident. This happens everyday in America. The officer might not have known who Gates was. It didn't matter who he was .I have asked people did they know who he was and they said no. I probably would not have known if I were not a genealogist. And I am a public radio and NPR fan.

But now I don't think I can ever look at one of Professor Gates documentaries ever again. I see him in a new light now. He took this event to a low level," playing the dozens ". Those are fighting words when you disrespect some one's mother.

Once I went to Vancouver and I was the only one detained from the plane. They questioned me and asked me why I was there and where I was going to stay. I told them at the Abbotsford Hotel and they said there was no such hotel. I gave them the phone number and they called and verified I was staying there.

That's when they let me go. I filed a complaint when I got back home and they called me at work and said that I shouldn't be upset. But my son and I were the only black ones on the plane. I just wondered how they found out where I worked and called me. I just said I would never go back there again.

IS CRYONICS AN OPTION FOR THE JACKSON FAMILY ?

I am wondering if the Jackson family is considering freezing Michael's body to preserve him for the future ? The body's water is replaced with an antifreeze to stop cells from deteriorating. Simon Cowell has said he wanted to be frozen after death so one day he could be reborn.

The body is cooled by dry ice until it reaches 202 degrees below zero. Then the body is put into a metal container and immersed in a tank full of nitrogen. The Cryonics Institute in Michigan,has 70 bodies in liquid nitrogen. Ben Best is the president of the organization.

MICHAEL JACKSON'S MEMORIAL WAS UNFORGETTABLE !!!

I was so relieved to see it done so tasteful. I was sitting there on pins and needles thinking that AEG would just make a mockery out of it. They said that it would be a star studded event. And I know that many people wanted to sing but it would have lasted for many hours if they had let them perform.

The best part of the service was the Andre Crouch choir. I just wanted to hear more of them. But I guess they didn't want to make it too preachy.The service was done with class. There were many people that had never seen a memorial like that . I would like to buy a copy of it without all of the lags and commercials that was in it.

The inspirational dancers were a hit also.This will go down in history. My sister and her nine year old son were bawling. Also her eight year old grand daughter. My nephew will look at his videos 5 or 6 times at a sitting, so he knows all the words. I don't know who organized the memorial, but it was classy and not too glitzy and was done with taste.

IS LARRY KING JERMAINE JACKSON'S BFF ?

It seems that Larry King has attached himself to Jermaine Jackson ever since the death of Michael Jackson. The talk show hosts are jockeying themselves to get a scoop. Larry King hasn't been on his show for a week.

Has he been staying with the Jacksons and taking his son over for play dates ? He has said on his show that his son wants to be black. He was sitting with the family along with Barbara Walters.

The talk show hosts of today are shameless. They will do anything for a story. They are the modern day ambulance chasers. That description was dominated by lawyers.It has been reported today that Joe Jackson has been paid two hundred thousand dollars by ABC-News for a news special to be aired on TV.

WHY ARE MICHAEL JACKSON'S FUNERAL PLANS SO SECRETIVE

Is it because they have sold the exclusive rights to some magazine or the highest bidder? It seems that people are milking this tragedy for every dime they can get. It is a shame. The kids are going to be exploited further than they have to.

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPORTS 77,000 SWINE FLU CASES

332 people have died from swine flu. The WHO states that 6,308 new A(H1N1) cases were reported including 21 deaths since last Monday.

The United Kingdom has the largest increase with 2,288 new infections including two deaths bringing a total of 6,538 infections including three deaths.

Chili has also added 1,025 cases including 5 deaths. It's total number of infections are 6,211 including 12 deaths.

Some affected countries no longer keep track of all cases and others do not report for the 3 time weekly bulletins.

20010 CENSUS : HAS EVERYONE BEEN COUNTED ?

Some enumerators and supervisors have left their jobs at the census. They thought they were going to work about two or three months. What's going on ? Maybe the GOP were on to something when they raised a ruckus about the Obama Administration taking over the reins from the Department of Commerce.

How can they have possibly counted everyone in these towns ? I have never seen any enumerators in my town. And no one I know has seen a census worker. With the billions of dollars that were allotted to the census, what happened to it ? The census workers were on call and didn't work everyday. And for them to work only two weeks, it is a disgrace.

Genealogists and city governments depend on the accuracy of the census and I am wondering if this time around, things are kosher. Time will tell.