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Trakr, a German shepherd that with his handler was one of the first to arrive and begin searching for survivors on September 12, 2001 at the site of the World Trade Center is the winner of the Golden Clone Giveaway, a competition that sought the most cone-worthy dog. Presented with 5 puppies named Trust, Valor, Prodigy, Solace and Deja Vu one of which is an “exact replica of Trakr” according to Trakr’s owner and handler, former Canadian police officer James Symington said.

Trakr is now dead, so his clones will pick up where he left off.

Symington says that Trust is an exact replica of Trakr. “The physical similarities are uncanny,” he told AFP. “He’s the spitting image of the Trakr that I first met in 1995. He has exactly the same markings, the way he moves, everything. Very alert, very intelligent and intuitive.”

BioArts boss Lou Hawthorne said dog cloning, at about $144,000 per clone, would remain beyond the reach of ordinary pet lovers. But that won’t and hasn’t stopped those with the means from seeking to recreate a beloved companion.

Cloning is a controversial topic in the US as it challenges religious beliefs on many different fronts. Despite the fact that cloning isn’t truly a way to raise the dead, it may be possible one day to use ancestry dna to recreate an Abraham Lincoln .

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Google Trends provides a list of the top most searched on terms in the last 24 hours.

Today’s terms unsurprisingly have Mr. Letterman paired with Sarah Palin and her daughters once more. Maybe this time his apology for the appalling joke he made at their expense will ring true. His first was totally lacking in sincerity.

Topmost search term however is “Statue of Liberty garment” — I don’t really see much returned on that, so the fact that it’s #1 on the list is puzzling. Maybe it’s a term for some paper assigned to a class somewhere.

Other personalities in the search are Joe Buck and Artie Lange. Apparently, Mr. Lange hijacked Mr. Buck’s television show opener. I’ve never heard of either person….does that make me comedy deficient?

Also unsurprisingly are searches for Father’s Day gifts (guys, take a hint from me and give him a golf vacation at the Westgate!). This coming Sunday is the day, you know….

There seems to also be several searches on Zicam and Zicam side effects and Zicam recall. If you’re taking Zicam, you may want to check into the latest news concerning this drug. Apparently some versions of it permanently kill you sense of smell!! And if they don’t kill your sense of smell, they leave you sniffling. Not fun!

Lastly, but not leastly are the searches on the various world soccer team match-ups. Sadly the US lost to Italy in a demeaning 3-1 trouncing.

Now the most interesting term in the top ten is Buzkashi – you might remember a scene from a James Bond movie that had the men playing this game. This traditional game is apparently being put aside in favor of skateboard ing in Kabul. Guess it’s getting to be too hard to find goats and horses.

Til next time.

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Ken and my mom both have been diagnosed with late-onset diabetes — that form of diabetes that comes on later in life and is a result of too high carbohydrate diets, obesity and our sedentary lifestyles. I should have it, but so far have dodged the bullet.

At any rate, I try to keep abreast of any new findings to help alleviate the results of this disease.

I wasn’t aware that diabetes and dementia and/or Alzheimer’s disease are related, but according to the natural news, it is. It makes sense after reading and thinking on the articles though. Another thing I found out is that depression is also a by-product of diabetes. Knowing how both Mom and Ken go through bouts of depression from time to time certainly brings this fact home to bear.

A couple of natural supplements are touted as helping to reduce the effects of diabetes — chromium which is a trace mineral required for normal carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism is one of them. It’s available in many multivitamin supplements as well as stand-alone supplements. Until recently only Chromium Picolinate was supported by scientific studies, but now Chromium histidinate has shown excellent results in controlling blood sugar. Unfortunately, Chromium isn’t easily found in foods, so getting enough to make a difference almost has to be done via a pill.

Another all-natural supplement is cinnamon — yes, you read that correctly  cinnamon — that lovely russet colored spice that you add to all those tasty baked confections or sprinkle with sugar on your morning toast. A study done in Pakistan showed that as little as 1 gram of cinnamon daily can have positive results in controlling diabetes. The really nice thing about cinnamon is that it need not be taken in the form of a pill or capsule. Drinking cinnamon tea, adding cinnamon to foods — even baked or cooked foods — gives the results!  The active ingredient in cinnamon isn’t affected by heat! That doesn’t mean you should go out and gorge on cinnamon buns, though!  Add ground cinnamon to your salads, orange juice, or sprinkle it on your burger instead.

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• Great Fat Burning Foods (fitnesstipsforlife.com)
• More evidence links diabetes to Alzheimer’s risk, researchers say (thestar.com)

Daft — I know — simply daft — animals can’t talk, but that doesn’t stop me from having several favorite blogs that are authored by — you guessed it — animals!

I try really hard not to miss a Sunday at Daisy’s — her comics are better than any in the newspaper! And Harley is getting handsomer by the day. I’m so glad Daisy’s Mom decided to adopt him.

Being the horse lover that I am, Cactus Jack Splash is one of my favorite sites authored by a horse — Cactus Jack is such a card! Yesterday he got to play with Tweety Bird and a Tiger! OH MY!

Although not authored BY a horse, Behind the Bit talks about horses a lot — I never go away from there disappointed even when all she talks about are her purple Dansko clogs. There’s another Harley here and what a handsome dude he is! And smarts seem to go with these guys named Harley, doesn’t it?

Then there is the lovely Sadie from the Beaded Tail. Her tail would look awesome in dreds, don’t you think? It’s such a nice, fluffy tail.

How about visiting these notable blogs and see for yourself that Animals CAN talk!

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