Friday, November 21, 2014

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Flintstones’ Bedrock CityWilliam, Arizona









































Flintstones’ Bedrock City

William, Arizona


How Giving Up Booze Helped Me Reclaim My Identity

On one hand, I can't believe it's been this long, and I'm so proud that I've made it this far. On the other, life before sobriety is a distant memory, a completely different lifetime ago.

I'd like to share my story with you: what it was like, what happened, and what it's like now. While I'm not necessarily an advocate for getting sober, I am an advocate is making decisions that will significantly improve your life. For me, getting clean three years ago was a turning point in my life, and set me on the path of achieving everything I desire.

With that, here's my story, and why sobriety is one of the best decisions I've ever made:

It was Thanksgiving Day, and internally, I was suffering. I missed my family but I was also angry at my family. The emotions were just under the surface but they were bothering me. At a party with friends, I can remember anxiously waiting for the first beer to arrive. "I want it NOW!" I thought. Once I got it, I was off! The memories of that night are hazy, but the shame I woke up with told me it wasn't good.

Dread. Despair. Embarrassment. Sadness. Unfortunately, this was not the first time I woke up in this state.

For whatever reason, though, this particular morning was different. November 25, 2011. Although it carried a resemblance to mornings I'd experienced in the past, it also carried something new: ugly truths that I had to come face-to-face with. For the first time, I knew that I could not control my drinking. As long as I continued to drink, I would have many other mornings that felt like this. I knew I couldn't live with myself if it happened again.

I had to get out. Yet the thought of making this change was completely terrifying! "Who am I if I don't drink? What will I do if I don't drink?" My identity was so wrapped up in drinking culture, I literally had no idea who I would be if I gave it up. And I also knew I couldn't continue with it.

Luckily, there was a message inside of me that was faint, fearless and strong. It said, "Shelly, if you quit, you'll be more powerful than you've ever been before. Life hasn't even begun for you."

Difficult thoughts not withstanding, I knew this was true. And so, clutching that belief, I started the journey, one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, climbing my way out.

I've read that when people hit their bottom they experience an awakening, or a shattering of reality as they once knew it. It's like you wake up in your bedroom and you look out the window but it's not your neighborhood that you see: it's Oz. It looks familiar, but everything has changed. This phenomenon is very difficult to explain, but it happened to me.

My vision of myself completely changed. It's like I broke through a layer of consciousness. Everything looked different from that day forward.

Today, I can proudly (and with tears in my eyes) tell you that I'm still sober. How do I do it? One way: I connect to my higher power (love, truth, soul, spirit, and yes… God) within.

I know God can be a touchy concept, but to me God simply signifies the energy of love in us all. In other words, God is an essence within us. At least in my experience. It's not something outside of me that's dictating my fate. It is me, the highest version of me. When I connect to this source by practicing the principles of love, I'm aligned to God, and life is damn good.

Anytime I drank or used drugs, I did it to "get high," to feel a heightened sense of being, to transcend the ego (boredom, lack, despair) and to feel love. Alcohol and drugs could give me a high temporarily, but with a lot of consequences. A spiritual connection transcends the ego altogether. It's really some good s#*t.



My spiritual practice is the best high there is, and it keeps me sober. What I've learned from this journey is that anytime I was seeking anything outside of myself to feel good, what I really wanted was to be connected to love. That's what we're all seeking all the time.

I encourage you to make decisions that will set your life on the right path. Put one foot in front of the other and take it one day at a time. Trust your inner guidance because you (and your soul) know the way. Accept that you can be the person you know you're meant to be, and you will set the world on fire.

Please leave a comment below telling us about one time you felt an awakening, an a-ha moment or a feeling of transcendence. We would love to hear from you. If you'd like to know more about how I can help you awaken to your highest self

How to Turn a Cool Moment Into a ShirtStorm

The UK Now Has A Bus That's Powered By Poop

With global climate change already affecting people's lives in tangible ways, countries around the world are unveiling new strategies to reduce their carbon footprints. The Netherlands built the first solar road, Tesla is making electric cars mainstream, and now the UK has a poop bus.

Yes, it's exactly what you think: a bus powered by human waste.

According to the BBC, the gas that runs the "Bio-Bus" is generated through anaerobic digestion, which is when oxygen-starved bacteria breaks down biodegradable materials to produce methane-rich gas.

The 40-seater can travel 186 miles on a single tank, which is the equivalent of five people's annual waste. Using this fuel, up to 30% less carbon dioxide is emitted compared to conventional diesel engines, which is significant because the bus' route — between between Bath and Bristol Airport — is very popular, carrying about 10,000 passengers a month.

"Gas-powered vehicles have an important role to play in improving air quality in UK cities but the Bio-Bus goes further than that and is actually powered by people living in the local area, including quite possibly those on the bus itself," said Mohammed Saddiq, the general manager of GENeco, the Wessex Water subsidiary whose sewage provides the biomethane gas that powers the bus.

Fortunately, the bus does not emit silent-but-deadly flatulence out of its tail pipe. Before being used as fuel, the impurities are removed from the gas so that it produces virtually odor-free emissions.

We think the rest of the world should take a page from Bristol's book. If this type of fuel spreads worldwide, our time spent flipping through magazines on our porcelain thrones would feel a lot more productive.

Obama’s Amnesty Lawlessness Demands Accountability



david limbaugh 4

Obama has admitted on several occasions that he had no authority to act unilaterally, via executive order, to grant amnesty to millions of immigrants who came here illegally, so his doing so is, in his own opinion, flagrantly illegal.

Daily he proves to us that his words mean nothing. They are utilitarian tools to serve his political purposes. When traveling the country to rally support for the DREAM Act, he confessed that he had no power to pass it on his own, but shortly thereafter, on the heels of his failed efforts to secure sufficient congressional support for this legislation, he issued an executive order implementing provisions of the act anyway.

His action wasn’t nuanced or diluted in any way to create even an arguable distinction between his fiat and the provision that Congress explicitly had rejected. Not in the slightest.

It is not as if this lawless dictate, which Obama pretended to issue as an act of compassion, was of minimal consequence. Many have convincingly argued that it led to the southern “border invasion” we experienced a few months ago.

But Obama’s current action would go much further — which is hardly surprising, considering that he never seems to be brought to account for his abuses of power. One could say that the recent congressional elections held him to account, but he is doing his best to show that the electorate and the rule of law have no hold on him. He is above the will of the people. He soars above the Constitution. He is a law unto himself.

This executive order could protect up to 5 million people from deportation and possibly grant them work permits. Other than certain fringe Constitution-disrespecting progressive law professors, no one seriously believes that Obama has the authority to do this, even under the rubric of “prosecutorial discretion.” Even liberal MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell couldn’t find a single Democrat who could cite any authority for this act.

In attempting to rationalize every one of Obama’s serial outrages, liberal politicians and pundits invariably draw arrows from their bloated moral equivalence quivers. “President Obama is doing nothing other than what Republican presidents have done in the past,” they say. “Why didn’t you conservatives complain then?”

A number of discriminating writers have conclusively put the lie to this specious claim. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush issued executive orders concerning immigration, but their actions were in furtherance of implementing legislation passed by Congress. Obama’s order is in direct contravention of Congress’ express will on the matter. It was fashioned out of whole cloth, and no amount of leftist spin can change that inconvenient truth. In seeking to justify the unjustifiable, Obama doesn’t just say — dishonestly — Republicans did it first. He makes an even more absurd and equally contemptible argument. He says he really regrets that members of Congress forced his benevolent executive hand on this, for if they had fulfilled their own duty to pass immigration reform legislation, he wouldn’t have been compelled to act. So he’s issuing the unlawful order under duress — with a legislative gun to his head? Seriously?

Tell me why such Orwellian canards don’t disturb rank-and-file Democrats or people in the liberal media who purport to respect the Constitution. Can anyone on the face of the earth point to a single provision in the Constitution that says the principle of separation of powers will be suspended and congressional authority subordinated to that of the president anytime a president, in his sole and absolute discretion, decides such because Congress hasn’t yielded to his legislative demands?

Have some among us become so cynical as to believe that our Constitution’s framers distributed federal power among three branches and imposed an intricate system of checks and balances as a matter of mere whim? Forbid that abominable thought. This structure, often attributed to French philosopher and lawyer Montesquieu, was believed fundamental to establishing and preserving our individual liberties — perhaps more fundamental than even the very Bill of Rights. In Federalist No. 47, James Madison wrote, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

Would-be dictators and bullies must be opposed, resisted and defeated. It will not be acceptable for Congress to sit on its hands after Obama’s usurpation. It must act not as a matter of partisan competition but on behalf of the Constitution itself and the sovereignty of the American people, which it has a sacred duty to safeguard.

Animas Forks, Colorado The first log cabin in Animas Forks, a...

















Animas Forks, Colorado


The first log cabin in Animas Forks, a former mining and mill town, was constructed in 1873 and by 1876 Animas Forks was a bustling mining community. The town eventually contained 30 cabins, a general store, a saloon, a hotel and a post office. By 1883, its population rose to 450 but every fall Animas Forks residents migrated en masse to the warmer town of Silverton, Colorado. In 1884, a 23-day blizzard inundated the town with 25 feet of snow and the residents had to dig tunnels to get from building to building.


When mining profits declined, further investment in Animas Forks was no longer justifiable. Mining made a brief comeback in 1904 when the Gold Prince Mill was constructed, but the town’s days were nearing an end regardless. A rail line ran through the area and stimulated mining interest in the community again but the railroad never quite reached its expectations and Gold Prince Mill closed in 1910 and seven years later, most of the mill was dismantled and major parts were taken to a new facility in Eureka, Colorado. Animas Forks was a ghost town by the 1920s.


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