Big Leather Couch

Hummm….need to work on my teacher’s presentation skills as I did not get as many comments on THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD as I had expected!

Or maybe it is just that I have a bunch of slackers in my classroom!

Coco...teach me to motivate please! (more on Coco & teachers later)

Well…it all comes down to tonight. Game 7 of the National League Championship… Mets vs. Cardinals…one game for the Championship…never gets better than that!

Will we get a Detroit vs. St. Louis World Series and the Duck (our friend Damm) vs. The DuckMaster (our friend Dixie) grudge match? We will see.

Have to be impressed with the poise of John Maine, the rookie pitcher for the NY Mets.

BIG spot and he handled it like a veteran. Even after loading the bases in the first inning, he got the final out to hold the Cardinals without a run.

Paul…Paul…Paul…you should have listened to your kids.

This McCartney-Mills divorce is going to be uglier than a lard bucket full of armpits…

Wooo…THE COUCH is using Country Slang already! (tis toooo I found it HERE)

This woman is going for every penny she can get and making some real nasty allegations. The DAILY MAIL (OK, so it ain’t the Wall St. Journal), says it has acquired a court document, that if true, could ruin the “cute Beatle” forever.

According to the Mail, the papers allege:

• McCartney once attacked his wife with a broken wine glass, stabbing her in the arm and causing profuse bleeding.
• That he used illegal drugs and drank to excess.
• That McCartney had pushed his estranged wife into a bathtub while she was pregnant with their child.
• McCartney had later objected to his partner breast-feeding their daughter. The newspaper quoted the alleged court papers as saying McCartney had told his wife "they are my breasts."
• McCartney had grabbed his wife's neck and started choking her during a trip to the U.S. in 2003 and on an earlier occasion pushed her over a coffee table.
• McCartney had forced her to cancel surgery for two months, as it interfered with their holiday plans.

Mishcon de Reya, (sounds like a resort town in Mexico to us!) the law firm representing Mills McCartney in the divorce, said it would not comment on "leaked or allegedly leaked documents."

Paul McCartney's law firm said the musician "would very much like to respond in public and in detail to the allegations made recently against him by his wife and published in the press but he recognizes, on advice, that the only correct forum for his response to the allegations made against him is in the current divorce proceedings."

Now…THE COUCH knows that Paul isn’t an angel and probably still likes to “roll one up”, but some of this stuff makes us shake our heads.

THE COUCH can imagine the comment “those are my breasts” said in jest, and now being used as if it were said in anger and jealousy.

If all these other abuse allegations were true…with the media spotlight this “lovey-dovey” romance garnered from the beginning, don’t you think we would have heard about them earlier.

THE COUCH was always a John fan…but we think Paul is being raked across the mud by a money-hungry witch. But we will see.

So, Madonna fell "in love at first sight" with this 13-month old Malawi child she is trying to adopt.

THE COUCH did not realize the child has a father who is now asking all the groups trying to stop the adoption to butt out.

Seems Yohane Banda has said “These so-called human rights groups should leave my baby alone.”

Why does it seem to THE COUCH that Mr. Banda is doing just that…”leaving his baby alone” and that there is some real cash being handed under the table on this one.

YO… Madonna Louise…there are thousands of children WITHOUT parents who are in need of adoption…do not let us find out you are buying this one…that it is a business deal…

Finally for today…the happy story…

USA Today has compiled its 2006 All-Star Team.

No, not sports stars, or musicians…

BUT TEACHERS!

"Through enthusiasm, energy and innovation, these extraordinary teachers are making a difference for their students, their schools and communities," says USA Today editor Ken Paulson. "It's our honor to recognize their impressive achievements."

All-USA Teacher Team members are selected each year from kindergarten through 12th grade teachers nominated nationwide. Education professionals in a two-step judging process consider how well nominees define and meet their students' needs and most importantly, the impact they have on students and student learning.

You can find the complete list of teachers HERE.

Now, all that visit THE COUCH know about one particular teacher who would be on this list if they included Canada in the selection process.

We do know that recently she was recognized by her superiors and asked to speak to a group of her peers on how to reach “at risk” students and that she is torn between her classroom and the opportunity to become an administrator and help other teachers to do what she does every day.

We salute you also Coco.

Enjoy your day all….

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

Remember .. Nets For Malaria - UNFoundation.org/malaria - find the big SI's Nothing But Net logo ... Or call 202.887.9040. Every cent goes to buying nets to place over the beds of children in Africa to stomp out Malaria. PLEASE HELP.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.

As I had thought A few of you wrote in wondering why your favorite Halloween Spooky Joint was not listed.

Remember, this was not my list...I was just the messenger.

But in the interest of full-disclosure and to ensure anyone in your area knows where to get the s**t scared out of them this Halloween season...

Dixie wrote in: "Just down the road here from Jackson, in a town called Medina, they have a "HAUNTED HALLOW"... they have been doing this for more than 20 years now...The last time I went I actually got the pee scared out of me! Literally.... scared out of me...ummmmmmm... haven't been back since... ;- "
No web site that I could find - but that is one place I am gonna have to visit!

Fred wondered how Busch Gardens, Tampa's HOWL-O-SCREAM was not listed. The web site can be found HERE.

Our Lurking Friend Debbie sends us word about SCREAMS near Dallas, TX. You can find out about it HERE.

Finally, Coco tells us about BOO AT THE ZOO in Moncton. Could not find much on it, but did get to this page HERE.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG...man THE COUCH really hates where we are going as a society...this from the AP this morning:

ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, S.C., school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

Debbie...you are one smart parent...Celeste...your kids will grow up to be insulated, lawsuit minded weenies.
OK, "'spain to me Lucy", why we are now going to select the new SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD?

Ummm...what is wrong with the old SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD kiddies? Are they no longer wonderful? Did they somehow lose their panache?
OK, now, I think this is remarkable.

I guess I need to do research before tackling a subject this big. As i began to check back to ensure I remembered the original SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, I found that there are actually a few lists of SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD!

COUCH NOTE: Most of this information came from Wikipedia.com; Discoverychannel.com with some exceptions.

Let's begin with the original listing:
Great Pyramid of Giza (The only original one still standing)
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria

Then there is a listing of SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD from Medival times: Seven Wonders of the Medieval World is a list whose origin and make-up is unknown. No scholarly resource is known to mention it, and the only known references are in popular books, such as The Rough Guide To England (1994, page 596) or The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Crusades (2001, page 153). However even these lists do not match up.

Examples of what might be in such a list (with source):

• Cairo Citadel (as listed in The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Crusades (2001, page 153))
• Ely Cathedral (as listed in The Rough Guide To England (1994, page 596))
• Taj Mahal (as listed in Palpa, as You Like it, page 67)
• Stonehenge (United Kingdom) (as listed at WonderClub)
• The Colosseum (in Rome, Italy) (as listed at WonderClub)
• The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (in Alexandria, Egypt) (as listed at WonderClub)
• The Great Wall of China (Northern China) (as listed at WonderClub)
• The Porcelain Tower (in Nanjing, China) (as listed at WonderClub)
• The Hagia Sophia (in Istanbul, Turkey) (as listed at WonderClub)
• The Leaning Tower of Pisa (in Pisa, Italy) (as listed at WonderClub)

Ummm..just in case you are shaking your head...yup this SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD list contains TEN Wonders!

OK, had enough? well guess what...there are more lists of SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD...
COUCH NOTE: Blogger is being difficult and not letting me show the links on the following lists in purple, but if you click on the "woonders" you will go to their web page.

The American Society of Civil Engineers compiled another list of wonders of the modern world:

• Channel Tunnel
• CN Tower
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Itaipu Dam
• Delta Works
• Panama Canal

The following list of the TOP SEVEN TOURIST TRAVEL WONDERS (not including pilgrimages) was compiled by Hillman Wonders:

• Great Pyramids of Giza
• Great Wall of China
• Taj Mahal
• Serengeti Migration
• Galapagos
• Grand Canyon
• Machu Picchu

Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, as there has been debate over how large the list should be. One of the many lists was compiled by CNN:

• Grand Canyon
• Great Barrier Reef
• Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• Mount Everest
• Northern Lights
• Paricutín volcano
• Victoria Falls

Not done yet folks....:

This list of underwater wonders is of unknown origin but has been repeated sufficiently often to acquire a degree of notability:

• Palau
• Belize Barrier Reef
• Great Barrier Reef
• Deep-Sea Vents
• Galapagos Islands
• Lake Baikal
• Northern Red Sea

Well, that brings us to this new list which will be unveiled beginning October 27th in USA Today and on Good Morning America.

The goal of the project is to revise the original "SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD," since only one — the pyramids of Egypt — still exists today (but you knew that, since we told you that earlier!).

Finalists for the new group are, in alphabetical order:

Let THE COUCH know which are your favorites?

1. the Acropolis in Athens;
   
2. the Alhambra in Granada, Spain;
   
3. Angkor, Cambodia;
   
4. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico;
   
5. Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro;
   
6. the Colosseum in Rome;
   
7. Easter Island Statues, Chile;
   
8. Eiffel Tower, Paris;
9. Great Wall, China;
   
10. Hagia Sofia, Istanbul;
    
11. Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan;
    
12. Kremlin/St. Basil, Moscow;
    
13. Machu Picchu, Peru;
    
14. Neuschwanstein Castle, Füssen, Germany;
    
15. Petra, Jordan;
    
16. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt;
    
17. the Statue of Liberty, New York;
18. Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom;
    
19. Sydney Opera House, Australia;
    
20. the Taj Mahal, Agra, India;
    
21. Timbuktu, Mali.

OK Kiddies...I know you weren't expecting a lesson today, but THE COUCH likes to think of itself as a place of learning...

See what happens when you put us in a hotel room all by ourselves at night with free internet access!

Hey think about what other subjects we could have come up with!Gonna lighten it up tomorrow...


Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!

Remember .. Nets For Malaria - UNFoundation.org/malaria - find the big SI's Nothing But Net logo ... Or call 202.887.9040. Every cent goes to buying nets to place over the beds of children in Africa to stomp out Malaria. PLEASE HELP.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.