sapi

Cow Tale memories... I have a unique memory of caramel cow tails from when I was a child. It is a bit ridiculous, but I was a bit gullible. My grandpa told me about a delicious candy called cow tails. We lived on a farm so I thought we had plenty of those. I asked my grandpa if I could have one. He told me to go and get one for myself. He said those cow's tails had a fine, yummy powder on them. I thought I would go try it. I went out to one of our cows and tried licking the powder off it's tai! After all we did get the milk from those cows!

Well I must have frightened that cow when I pulled on her tail because she kicked me right in the eye. I was a pitiful sight. My grandpa and my parents felt really sorry for me because it was their fault for telling me that. They had no idea I would be dumb enough to believe it even though I was only five years old. So, they gave me a real caramel cow tail! I have always loved them. It made me feel better at a time when I thought I was really stupid for believing such a thing existed. I can't find them in any store now days. ~ Becky from Texas

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I grew up in the middle of rural Iowa, we were miles from anywhere. So when we got to go to town it was really a big treat. I remember going out in the cow pasture to met my grandfather on the way back from his daily walks. I think he must have been 8 feet tall, anyway that's the way I remember.

When he was feeling good, and in a good mood, he would lean down and ask me if I had been a good girl that day. of course I always was good!!! Then he would give me a cow tale stick, or if he had none he would give me a few pennies to save for the next time that I got to go to town. I would be so rich that I could buy my own cow tales. They were always so sweet and creamy in my mouth. Sometimes I would even give my grandfather a little piece. I sure loved those cow tales, and this candy always brings back warm loving memories. Thank you!! ~ Lousena from Texas

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I grew up really enjoying this candy in the late 70's early 80's as it brings back wonderful memories. I attended kindergarten through 2nd grade at a very small private school about 4 blocks from my grandma's house. My grandma would walk me to and from school everyday and we would always enjoy a cow tail for what seemed like longest walk back then. ~ Duane from Georgia

laki laki

This article is about the Male sex. For the city, see Malé. For other uses, see Male (disambiguation).

The shield and spear of the Roman god Mars, which is also the alchemical symbol for iron, represents the male sex.

Male (♂) refers to the sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male cannot reproduce sexually without access to at least one ovum from a female, but some organisms can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

Not all species share a common sex-determination system. In humans and most animals, sex is determined genetically but in other species it can be determined due to social, environmental, or other factors. The existence of two sexes seems to have been selected independently across different evolutionary lineages (see Convergent Evolution). Accordingly, sex is defined operationally across species by the type of gametes produced (ie: spermatozoa vs. ova) and differences between males and females in one lineage are not always predictive of differences in another.

Male/Female dimorphism between organisms or reproductive organs of different sexes is not limited to animals; male gametes are produced by chytrids, diatoms and land plants, among others. In land plants, female and male designate not only the female and male gamete-producing organisms and structures but also the structures of the sporophytes that give rise to male and female plants.

maiden in virgin

Virgin" and "Maiden" redirect here. For other uses, see Virgin (disambiguation) and Maiden (disambiguation).

In Roman times, the Vestal Virgins remained celibate for 30 years on penalty of death.

A virgin (or maiden) is, originally, a young woman of age to be married. More popularly a young woman characterized by absence of sexual experience (see Etymology). Virginity is the state of being a virgin (never had vaginal intercourse). The word is also often used with wider reference by relaxing the age, gender or sexual criteria.^[1] Hence, more mature women can be virgins (The Virgin Queen), men can be virgins (The 40 Year-Old Virgin), and potential initiates into many fields can be colloquially termed virgins, for example a skydiving "virgin". In the last usage, virgin simply means uninitiated, i.e. unmarried.

Also by extension from its primary sense, the idea that a virgin has an emotional "blank slate",^[2] without complications for her potential intimate emotional life with men,^[2] leads to the abstraction of unadulterated purity (see below). Hence, virgin can even be used with non-human referents. Unalloyed metal is sometimes described as virgin.^[1] Some cocktails can be described as virgin, when lacking the alcoholic admixture.^[1] Similarly, olive oil may be called virgin if it contains no refined oil and has an acidity below 2%, or extra-virgin if it comes from a cold pressing with an acidity below .08%.^[1]

The last instance also incorporates yet another association of virginity—the notability of its loss. More properly, the association is with the significance of the addition of a new status, rather than a loss. Hence this association is typically found in references to the first instance of a potentially extended series of like events. Just as extra-virgin olive oil is from the first pressing, so a maiden or virgin speech is an incumbent's first address. The same metaphor, using the synonym maiden, is applied to the first or maiden voyage of a ship. A woman's maiden name is the surname she had when she was (presumed to be) a virgin—her first surname. In cricket, a maiden over is an over from which no runs were scored. Maiden Castles are those with the reputation of never having been captured.

Wool can be virgin.^[1] Computer systems can be virgin.^[3] Unfertilized gametes can be virgin.^[1] Females of various species, by analogy with Homo sapiens, if they have never mated, can also be called virgin.^[1]

Chastity is a near synonym of virginity,^[1] the distinction being that chastity views sexual integrity in terms of faithfulness to a spouse, rather than as absolute inexperience. Sexual jealousy is a recurrent theme throughout the history of literature. Virginity derives its significance from this context, because it distinguishes between unmarried women who have had no sexual partners and those who have.

sega

Rice is a cereal foodstuff which forms an important part of the diet of many people worldwide and as such it is a staple food for many.

Domesticated rice comprises two species of food crops in the Oryza genus of the Poaceae ("true grass") family, Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima. Oryza sativa is native to tropical and subtropical southern Asia and African rice, Oryza glaberrima, is native to West Africa.^[1]

The name wild rice is usually used for species of the different but related genus Zizania, both wild and domesticated, although the term may be used for primitive or uncultivated varieties of Oryza.

Rice is grown as a monocarpic annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial and can produce a ratoon crop and survive for up to 20 years.^[2] Rice can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and soil fertility. The grass has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long. The edible seed is a grain (caryopsis) 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick.

Rice is a staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in tropical Latin America, and East, South and Southeast Asia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain.^[3] A traditional food plant in Africa, Rice has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare.^[4] Rice provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.^[5] In early 2008, some governments and retailers began rationing supplies of the grain due to fears of a global rice shortage.^[6][7]

Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low labor costs and high rainfall, as it is very labor-intensive to cultivate and requires plenty of water for cultivation. On the other hand, mechanized cultivation is extremely oil-intensive, more than other food products with the exception of beef and dairy products.^{[citation needed]} Rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a steep hill or mountain. Although its species are native to South Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade and exportation have made it commonplace in many cultures.

The traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields with or after setting the young seedlings. This simple method requires sound planning and servicing of the water damming and channeling, but reduces the growth of less robust weed and pest plants that have no submerged growth state, and deters vermin. While with rice growing and cultivation the flooding is not mandatory, all other methods of irrigation require higher effort in weed and pest control during growth periods and a different approach for fertilizing the soil.

letter

he basics of good business letter writing are easy to learn. The following guide provides the phrases that are usually found in any standard business letter. These phrases are used as a kind of frame and introduction to the content of business letters. At the end of this guide, you will find links to sites that give tips on the difficult part of writing successful business letters – arguing your business objective. By using these standard phrases, you can give a professional tone to your English business letters.

Natural

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. Manufactured objects and human interaction are not considered part of nature unless qualified in ways such as "human nature" or "the whole of nature". Nature is generally distinguished from the supernatural. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the galactic.

The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "the course of things, natural character."^[1] Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.^[2] This is shown in the first written use of the word φύσις, in connection with a plant.^[3] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4][5]

Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness – wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the latter being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind.

virgin prt 3

It has been a very busy start to the month of October for Virgin America. So far, they’ve rolled out point redemption in the EleVAte frequent flier program, launched Main Cabin Select, added refundable fares, introduced a credit card, and started looking for even more money. Whew. Let’s look at some details on what they’ve been up to.

EleVAte Points Redemption
It *only* took them 15 months, but the airline has finally brought out a redemption plan for its frequent flier program. The structure seems to make a lot of sense to me in that it’s based on how much you spend, but there are issues in my opinion.

First, you earn 5 points for every dollar you spend on the BASE FARE. Taxes and fees annoyingly don’t count. I’d rather see 4 points per dollar for all dollars spent than 5 just for the base fare. It makes it harder to figure out how much you’re going to earn instead of just being able to look at how much you’re putting on your credit card.

But that’s just on the earning side. Let’s talk redemption. The airline makes it clear that you can redeem points for any flight with seats available in any cabin, but they reserve the right to change the redemption amounts depending upon demand. A quick look shows that they seem to multiply the displayed one way fare by about 46.5 to determine how many points you’ll need. So, a flight from LAX to JFK that costs $149 each way will go for 6,930 points while a $549 flight will cost you 24,372 points. They do make it easy to use the website to see how many points would be necessary.

My only problem here is that it’s not very transparent. It makes it hard to set a goal for how many points you need to save up for a flight, because you don’t know what you’ll need until the time of booking, and that can be annoying. But that being said, it’s still a frequent flier program that’s easy to explain to people, and that’s a good thing.

So let’s look at an example to get an idea of what the value is here. I pulled up LAX to JFK from Nov 11 to Nov 13. All nonstop flights were a low $149 each way or 6,930 points. So, if you spend roughly $3,000 in travel ($2,772 plus tax), you can get enough points for one free roundtrip ticket on those off peak flights.

Of course, it’s apples and oranges to compare this to another airline program because there are so many variables, but let’s assume that we’re talking about someone who exclusively flies LAX to JFK roundtrip. You would need about 5 roundtrips to get enough miles to get one for free. That would be mean you’d have to pay an average of $600 roundtrip to get the same value on another airline that you would get from Virgin America. You can probably do better than that.

Main Cabin Select and Refundable Fares
The refundable fare thing is no surprise. It took JetBlue a few years to realize that there was demand for the product and Virgin America caught on more quickly. So I won’t spend much time focusing on that; let’s talk Main Cabin Select.

As promised, the product is now ready to go, but I am absolutely shocked at the HUGE spread between regular coach and Main Cabin Select. Remember those $149 one way flights I looked at before? To get a little more legroom you’d have to pay $484 one way. Are you friggin’ kidding me?!? When we look at Thanksgiving, a $434 one way in coach would cost $679 in Main Cabin Select. This seems extremely pricey to me for what you get.

At least they’ve reduced the spread on shorter haul flights. A $101 seat from LAX to SFO in coach will only be $189 in Main Cabin Select, but that’s still a pretty hefty pricetag for such a short flight. I think they’re likely pricing themselves out of the market here. The idea isn’t a bad one, but prices are going to have to adjust.

Barclay’s Virgin America Signature Visa Card
There is one big benefit with this card . . . no annual fee. So, if you plan on flying Virgin America, you can basically get free points with this card, and that’s not bad. You’ll also earn 1 point per dollar spent, as you do with most airline cards. That can actually make the Virgin America eleVAte program much more lucrative.

In this case, you can compare airlines because the earning is effectively the same. If I spend $10,000 on my AAdvantage Visa, I get 10,000 points in AAdvantage. If I spend $10,000 on my Virgin America card, I get 10,000 points in Virgin America’s program. And since I can get a roundtrip from LAX to New York for as little as 14,000 points, that $10,000 of spend on my credit can go a lot further. Of course, if you wanted to use it for First Class, it would be a lot better to use your AAdvantage card instead. It just depends what matters to you. If you just want to get yourself across the country for the least amount possible, this is the way to do it.

Looking for More Funding
I promise, this is the last thing I’m going to talk about today. I could probably republish this post as a book. There was an article in the Financial Times saying that Virgin America is looking to raise even more money. In the same breath, they say that load factors are above 80% and they’ll be profitable by the second quarter of next year. Really?

The 80% load factor thing isn’t that impressive if you’re talking about summer loads. Unfortunately they won’t tell us how they’re doing financially, so we don’t know if people are paying more than $149 for those cross country flights. But the fact that they need more money only six months after securing an additional $100 million isn’t a good sign. I suppose it’s possible they just want to store up cash while they can . . . . If the money is cheap and there for the taking, that’s a smart move right now.

Unfortunately, however, we won’t know the reasons here, because they continue to fight the DOT on the requirement to release their quarterly financial data publicly. I know all their arguments, but the bottom line is that people often have to buy tickets fairly far in advance when they fly, and they want to have a good idea that their airline will still be around when it comes time to fly. Until Virgin America starts playing by the rules again (or I should say, until the DOT finally rules on the appeal), we won’t really know much about the financial state of the airline. I’d imagine it’s fine for the foreseeable future, but I really don’t know.

virgin part 4

In a world of sex tapes and naked photos, Miley Cyrus is as pure as a fresh snowfall.

The allegedly racy photos of the young singer never depict her in anything less than underwear. That would be considered bundling up for truly promiscuous celebs such as Tila Tequila.

If Miley says she's a virgin, I see no reason to disbelieve her. What proof does anyone have to the contrary? A Vanity Fair photo shoot featuring her covered by a sheet?

Please.

Aside from Cyrus' word, let's look at her schedule. She's often on tour. She's the star of her own TV show. When would Miley even have time to find a boyfriend and build up the sort of trust needed to allow him into her precious garden of love?

Miley Cyrus has given us such hit songs as "7 Things" and "See You Again."

The least we can do in return is give her the benefit of the virginal doubt.

NO by Free Britney

Years ago, a fresh-faced teen burst onto the scene with a catchy sound and a clean image, leading us to believe she was saving herself for marriage.

Turns out she gave up her v-card at age 14 to some dude named Reg Jones.

Reg was the first of many, many men to get in Britney Spears' pants. Is Miley Cyrus destined to fall apart and end up under involuntary psychiatric hold like Britney? Probably not. But wake up, people - you're being conned.

"But, Free Britney, she wears a purity ring," you say! Oh, right, how can I forget.

What is this, Lord of the Rings? I hate to break it to you, but other than subversive mind-control over parents who read about it and decide Miley's music is therefore appropriate for their teenagers' ears, said ring has no actual power.

Miley, The Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato are all corporate drones pimped by a cutthroat media conglomerate and the purity ring nonsense is but a Disney company line. It's called marketing. End of story.

But forget these theories. Look at the conduct Miley herself has displayed.

Miley nearly took it all off for Annie Leibovitz - who's heinous - with her father right there! Think Lucas Till can't get in her pants after a few wine coolers and some slow, seductive music while Billy Ray's outta town?

Please.

The supposedly virginal Miley Cyrus in some of her best photos.

virgin part 5

In a world of sex tapes and naked photos, Miley Cyrus is as pure as a fresh snowfall.

The allegedly racy photos of the young singer never depict her in anything less than underwear. That would be considered bundling up for truly promiscuous celebs such as Tila Tequila.

If Miley says she's a virgin, I see no reason to disbelieve her. What proof does anyone have to the contrary? A Vanity Fair photo shoot featuring her covered by a sheet?

Please.

Aside from Cyrus' word, let's look at her schedule. She's often on tour. She's the star of her own TV show. When would Miley even have time to find a boyfriend and build up the sort of trust needed to allow him into her precious garden of love?

Miley Cyrus has given us such hit songs as "7 Things" and "See You Again."

The least we can do in return is give her the benefit of the virginal doubt.

NO by Free Britney

Years ago, a fresh-faced teen burst onto the scene with a catchy sound and a clean image, leading us to believe she was saving herself for marriage.

Turns out she gave up her v-card at age 14 to some dude named Reg Jones.

Reg was the first of many, many men to get in Britney Spears' pants. Is Miley Cyrus destined to fall apart and end up under involuntary psychiatric hold like Britney? Probably not. But wake up, people - you're being conned.

"But, Free Britney, she wears a purity ring," you say! Oh, right, how can I forget.

What is this, Lord of the Rings? I hate to break it to you, but other than subversive mind-control over parents who read about it and decide Miley's music is therefore appropriate for their teenagers' ears, said ring has no actual power.

Miley, The Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato are all corporate drones pimped by a cutthroat media conglomerate and the purity ring nonsense is but a Disney company line. It's called marketing. End of story.

But forget these theories. Look at the conduct Miley herself has displayed.

Miley nearly took it all off for Annie Leibovitz - who's heinous - with her father right there! Think Lucas Till can't get in her pants after a few wine coolers and some slow, seductive music while Billy Ray's outta town?

Please.

The supposedly virginal Miley Cyrus in some of her best photos.

Virgi prt 2

In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female blacktip shark in a Virginia aquarium contained no genetic material from a male.

The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Nebraska, zoo.

"This first case was no fluke," Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. "It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion."

The scientists cautioned that the rare asexual births should not be viewed as a possible solution to declining global shark populations. The aquarium sharks that reproduced without mates each carried only one pup, while some species can produce litters of a dozen or more.

"It is very unlikely that a small number of female survivors could build their numbers up very quickly by undergoing virgin birth," Chapman said.

The medical mystery began 16 months ago after the death of Tidbit, a blacktip shark that had lived for eight years at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach. No male blacktip sharks were present during her eight years.

In May 2007, the 5-foot, 94-pound shark died after it was given a sedative before undergoing a yearly checkup. The 10-inch shark pup was found during a necropsy, surprising aquarium officials. They initially thought the embryonic pup was either the product of a virgin birth or a cross between the blacktip and a male of another shark species -- which has never been documented, Chapman said.

Tidbit's pup was nearly full term, and likely would have been quickly eaten by "really big sand tiger sharks" that were in the tank, Chapman said in a telephone interview from Florida.

That is what happened to the tiny hammerhead pup in the Omaha case.

"By the time they could realize what they were looking at, something munched the baby," he said of aquarium workers. The remains of the pup were used for the DNA testing.

Virgin birth has been proven in some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds, and has been suspected among sharks in the wild.

The scientists who studied the Virginia and Nebraska sharks said the newly formed pups acquired one set of chromosomes when the mother's chromosomes split during egg development, then united anew.

Absent the chromosomes present in the male sperm, the offspring of an asexual conception have reduced genetic diversity and, the scientists said, may be at a disadvantage for surviving in the wild. A pup, for instance, can be more susceptible to congenital disorders and diseases.

The scientists said their findings offer "intriguing questions" about how frequently automictic parthenogenesis occurs in the wild.

"It is possible that parthenogenesis could become more common in these sharks if population densities become so low that females have trouble finding mates," said Mahmood Shivji, one of the scientists and director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

The DNA fingerprinting techniques used by the scientists are identical to those used in human paternity testing.

Chapman, who is with the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook, was assisted in the study by Beth Firchau of the Virginia Aquarium.
Chapman and Shivji were on the team that made the first discovery of virgin birth involving the Nebraska shark

Virgin

My virginity was not a sensitive topic. There was no taboo discussion with the parents. None of my friends talked about it. I was a weird little girl who read Stephen King books and watched Unsolved Mysteries. I was not a normal child. When I decided to lose my virginity….wait a minute…why virginity has to be lost? I don’t remember finding as a child. When I decided to fuck, I was a horny 17 year old college senior. My boyfriend wanted to turn me out and I am glad I didn’t. He turned out to be a cross-dressing bastard.I can sit here and say I regretted it, but I don’t. At the time, I loved and trusted him. I was glad to get my virginity out the way because it has been uphill ever since. Thank God he was a good size and had great girth. That was great training for my future fuckcapades. With him, I made sure I used condoms and birth control.

I believe that virginity should be lost in teenage years. Why? These are the most care-free days of your life. A bad day was a zit. Or not being accepted in the cliques. Or school lunch. Hell, I am only 24 and I desire those days back. In high school, you are finding yourself, learning about dating, making friends and trying to pass classes with a 70 or above. Sure, some girls may get attached to the guys, but it’s better to be a fool at 17 than 26. I never understood adult virgins. What hopeless dating lives they must have. I can imagine the number of failed dates they muster up in a year. Hell, I put out and I got a high count. If I was a man, I wouldn’t want to deal with a virgin simply because that is too much pressure and too much convincing. Would I date a virgin? Hell no. I fuck married men with children and they can’t fuck. Why would I take a chance on training a dick? Then he may come too quickly. Then he may blow up my cell phone. Too much.

I respect virgins and their lifestyle. Anyone who can suppress all those urges and feelings inside gets my vote for Saint of the Year. Do I understand them? Not at all. Should teenagers have sex? Yes, they already do. I just believe that we adults shoud teach them to have safe sex. Should adults be virgins? No. There is enough drama with being an adult. Bills, student loans, marriage, friends, family, career, health. Those are the topics that I am dealing with. I can understand how virgins want someone who really appreciates them, know them, love them, yadda yadda, yadda. That’s cool. But how can you know what’s good if you’re never had it?

People make mistakes. That’s why we have divorces, abortion and jail. Virgins looking for a Prince Charming in this over-sexed, porn-filled society where stripper poles are being installed in Middle America will be disappointed. Sex is important. If two people didn’t feel horny, you wouldn’t be here. So I hate it when people say sex is overrated. It isn’t overrated. Your sex life is non-existent. Which really sucks.