The cowboy philosopher, Will Rogers, once told an audience, "I do not make up these stories, I just read the news". Knowing, that all of you lead a hectic life, I thought that perhaps I would go through a few of the most recent news articles that I have seen, which you may never see on your main stream news media.

$1,000,000,000
The next time you hear your favorite politician make a comment like, "It will only cost $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars)to build this highway, foot trail and bridge", you may want to consider just how much one billion dollars really is. In this day of age of common millionaires, the sum of one billion dollars does not seem to be that much, considering the national deficit is around three trillion dollars. Last evening, while watching the Neil Cavuto Report, he brought this sum into proper prospective. If you equate one billion dollars to the measure of time, you will discover that:
One Billion Seconds ago, it was 1959!
One Billion Minutes ago, Jesus was still alive!
One Billion Hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age!
One Billion Days ago, no one walked on the earth, at least on two feet!
Yet, a Billion Dollars ago was only 8 Hours and 20 Minutes, at the rate our government is spending!

TESTOSTERONE
Researches, recently discovered something that most women have know since early childhood. On Tuesday, researchers revealed that too much testosterone in the male can kill brain cells. The next time you accuse your mate of being "brain dead" you will at least have some documented proof. To be fair, the same researches decided to compare hormones of both men and women. In the study is was discovered that Estrogen is neurprotective and there is less cell death in the presence of Estrogen. The problem of to much Testosterone can be created by those athletes or males wanting to become "buff" by using additional amounts of Testosterone or Steroids to increase their strength and stamina in athletics. This research answers the questions that I have maintained about some of our professional athletes, they are indeed brain dead!

THAT "MONA LISA SMILE"

The "Mona Lisa" is most likely the most notable work of art in our history. Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in the 16th Century. Duplicates of the picture are seen in most art galleries as well as songs being written about the smile of "Mona Lisa". Researcher's that have been studying the painting using 3-D images have discovered several things about this painting that were not previously known. Perhaps, "Mona Lisa" should be re-named to "Mama Lisa" Scans turned up evidence of a fine, gauzy veil around Mona Lisa's shoulders, a garment women of the Italian Renaissance wore when they were expecting a child. As the painting aged, the veil darkened and even made it difficult to tell what color of dress she was wearing, black, brown, or green.
The scans also make clear that Mona Lisa does not have her hair down, as it appears. Most of her tresses are pinned back into a chignon and covered with a veil. In 1950, Nat King Cole asked in a song lyric if she was smiling to "tempt a lover" or "to hide a broken heart", now we know the whole story, she was glowing with child.

PINK CONVERTIBLE PURCHASED
Recently, a Pink Convertible (make and model unknown) was purchased on eBay for $17,000. For a collector of fine cars, this does not seem like a large amount of money for a "collectors item". However, one would have to wonder how much the individual that purchased the car actually knew about the value of such items. Jack Neal was the high bidder on the Pink Convertible when the time expired for bids, however, he was the owner for just a short time, before his mother discovered that he had purchased the automobile. The problem is that Jack Neal is only three years old! Jack's mother had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the "buy it now" option to complete the purchase. The seller of the car was amused by the bid and agreed not to force the sale. The next time, your child throws a potted plant in the aquarium or sneaks an extra cookie, you may want to consider, it could be worse, he could be on eBay!