By Gabrielle Pantera

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 2011/12/6 – Now’s a good time to pick up gifts for the kids, before the holiday rush.

KnotGenie

1. KnotGenie brush detangles children’s hair. Created for every mom that has endured the challenges of detangling their child’s snarly hair. The Knot Genie works on even the curliest, most knotted up hair. Also for adult use.  Pick the color you want $20.00 Right now they’ve got a special buy two get one free.

www.knotgeniestore.com

2. The Brainy Company Brainy Baby’s ABCs: Alphabet Collection Bundle of educational products for children under 5 which includes Brainy Baby’s ABCs DVD, ABCs Board Book and ABCs Flashcard set. $24.99
www.thebrainycompany.com

3. Ratuki is a card game where  you build piles of cards from 1 to 5 be the first to slam a 5 on the top of the deck, shout “RATUKI!” and the cards are yours. Ratuki comes with 170 cards, 5 reminder cards and instructions. For 2 to 5 players. Ages 8 and up. $9.99 Also a good stocking stuffer.

www.hasbro.com

Crazy Bones collectible figures from Gogo Crazy

4. Crazy Bones by JDNA Inc. Small figurines great for collecting, playing games and learning. Hundreds of designs and colors. Each Gogo Crazy bones  has a unique name, Series 1 collectors set  has Gogo’s Carry Case, three Gogos and three stickers. Gogos Collector Tin with 10 exclusive Gogos inside. Gogo’s design, personality and special ability. Start at $8.99 and up.

www.gogoscrazybones.com

5. Nano Magnetics Nanodots Maqnetic Constructors are super magnets you can form into shapes for sculpture or jewelry. It’s geometry with magnets. No flashing lights, computer chips or batteries, these tactile dots derive their allure from sheer magnetic force and human imagination. For original set $34.99 and go up from there depending on color of nanodots.

www.thenanodots.com

6. Bizu, uses a simple wand and bead for girls or boys to create new accessories. The jewelry can also be twisted into creatures that can sit on a table or night stand.

http://thebizuworld.com

By Robin Rowe

Surprise snowstorm freezes Heathrow and European Christmas travel

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 12/19/2010 – For the second day, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic and all other flights to London Heathrow airport were canceled. The largest airport in the United Kingdom, and busiest airport in the European Union in terms of passenger traffic, is paralyzed by freak storms and heavy snow that some attribute to Global Warming.

Christmas travelers are discovering they can expect to be stranded for days, with airports across Europe being effected by the storms. Rebooking displaced passengers quickly is proving impossible as many flights were already fully booked for the holidays. There are no seats available.

“The recent severe weather conditions have severely affected all flights in and out of the UK,” says a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson. “We’re working hard to re establish our flying program and get our passengers on their way during this most critical time of year. However, as a result of the extended closure of London Gatwick, and particularly Heathrow runways, throughout the weekend of the 18th and 19th December, a number of our aircraft are out of position. It will be 24 to 48 hours before our schedules are completely back to normal.”

Stranded air travelers sleeping at London Heathrow

“Just to stress, you must confirm your flight is operating before coming to Heathrow,” says a Heathrow spokesperson. “Heathrow will be open and limited arrivals and departures will operate from 6am Monday.” Flight service through the smaller  London Gatwick airport was restored today. Everyone traveling through Europe is calling the airlines trying to find a way to make it home for Christmas.

“We have extra staff on the phones, but still have very high call volumes,” says a British Airways spokesperson. “Please contact us only if you’ve been affected by our announcements and you need to rebook your flight. Monday’s flying schedule until midday is now updated on ba.com.” Because all British Airways flights to Europe hub through London, all BA travelers to Europe are being delayed.

British Airways customers scrambling to rebook canceled flights from the United States faced phone hold times of three hours today, when they could get through. When heavy Internet traffic crushed the main British Airways website at ba.com today, savvy fliers tipped off by Twitter pointed their browsers to British Airways more lightweight website www.ba2go.com. That was designed for use by mobile phones. Customers found they could rebook flights online there. However, they didn’t like their options. They were told the soonest available flight to London from the U.S. would arrive Christmas Day.

Arriving on Christmas Day in London is more uncomfortable than many U.S. travelers realize. They not only spend Christmas Eve in the air but will arrive on the one day of the year when almost all of London public transportation is closed for holiday. Heathrow Christmas passengers can take the Express rail line the fourteen miles to Paddington Station in central London. However, that’s just about the only transportation. Arriving in London on Christmas, visitors will find themselves on foot, with no London Underground or taxis operating anywhere.

Twitter is where travelers are finding the latest updates of official announcements:

http://twitter.com/heathrowairport

http://twitter.com/britishairways

http://twitter.com/virginatlantic

Lollibakes, let them eat cake...and lollipops

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 11/17/2009 – “I love making Lollibakes,” says Lollibakes dessert baker Diana Sproveri. “They’re like creating little works of art. I have so much fun coming up with new flavors and being creative.”

Lollibakes are gourmet cake pops, the right amount of cake with frosting. The very moist cake bites are covered with a layer of dark chocolate or white chocolate then decorated.

“I find inspiration in everything from the finest menus to something in the snack aisle,” says Sproveri. “No matter what the inspiration, I like to keep the flavor combinations simple. Simple flavors are what I grew up with and what I continue to like to this day.”

“I think I was 2 or 3 when I started helping my mother bake,” says Sproveri. “One of my earliest memories is cutting out Christmas cookies and decorating them at the kitchen table. Every year my mom would make the most delicious peppermint bark. I love it so much that I had to make a Peppermint Bark Lollibake.”

Sproveri, who so far is the only chef at Lollibakes, will arise at 5:30am to bake for a typical dessert party. Something more ambitious may require she set her alarm for 4 or even 3am. “It really depends on how many clients I’ll be seeing that day,” says Sproveri.

Sproveri will bake anything from a few dozen cupcakes to twenty different items on her menu. “Creating a dessert party where I was asked to make everything on my menu is the most work I’ve ever done for one party,” says Sproveri. “Ther’s something really special about seeing years worth of recipes and ideas on one table.”

Lollibakes ships gift boxes across the U.S. for the holidays. Lollibakes can be ordered online through www.lollibakes.com and local delivery is available in Los Angeles. “The website gives all the information on how to order,” says Sproveri. “The flavors

change weekly, so it’s fun to check back and see what’s new.” Currently, the special holiday flavors are Apple Pie, Pumpkin Spice, and Peppermint Bark.

A dozen gift-wrapped Lollibakes cost $35. A 4-piece Lollibakes gift box is $12. The Stocking-Stuffer Gift Box, with 12 individually wrapped Lollibakes with ribbon and gift tag, is $42. The cut-off date for orders for Thanksgiving is November 18th. The cutoff date for custom Christmas or holiday boxes is December 11th. Custom orders must be placed a week in advance.

Sproveri says her biggest excitement outside of baking was hearing my son say “trick or treat” for the first time. Sproveri says he said, “Treat or treat!”.

Sproveri is preparing to open her own retail space next year. And, she’s working on a book. “The title is under wraps for now,” say Sproveri.

Lollibakes are yummy bite-size cake pops you can eat or share with friends. Great for decorating packages, hostess gifts or stocking stuffers. Taste all the flavors. Nobody can stop at just one.

Lollibakes, a great gift

Marines fire a 3-volley salute on Nov. 2, 2009, as the amphibious transport New York (LPD 21) passes Ground Zero. The ship has 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel in her bow. U.S. Navy photo.

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 11/11/2009 – War is one of life’s irrational situations where most people can agree it’s wrong, yet the consequences without it can be much worse. As long as there are tyrants, and as long as there are those willing to use force of arms to oppose them, there will be wars. At least, if there’s to be freedom in this world.

Veterans Day originally had a different name and a somewhat different intention. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919, as “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day.” It celebrated peace, the end of WW1 a year earlier. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower renamed the holiday as Veterans Day in recognition of the services of all veterans, an idea put forward by a shoe store owner, Al King in Emporia, Kansas.

A peace policy didn’t work when dealing with Hitler and never does with dictators, warlords or pirates. England may have saved money initially with the appeasement of Hitler, but that peace led to war. That England and France didn’t fight to defend Czechoslovakia from Germany’s invasion gave Hitler the raw materials he needed to attack them next.

There was widespread support for a policy of peace at any cost after the horrors of WW1 killed 16 million and the influenza pandemic of 1918 killed 50 million. However, WW2 wasn’t the first time the United States went to war because peace was worse.

In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli’s ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. Asked why U.S. merchant ships in the Mediterranean were being attacked by Tripoli’s ships without provocation, the ambassador replied that it was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave. The Muslim ambassador said that every Muslim who was slain in warfare was sure to go to paradise.

By 1800, U.S. payments for passage on the high seas in ransom and tribute (or “protection” as the mafia calls it) amounted to 20% of the U.S. government’s annual income. To put an end to that, the United States launched the First Barbary War from 1801 to 1805. That peace was short lived because the pirates took advantage of the absence of the U.S. navy while fighting the War of 1812 against England. The Second Barbary War was from 1815 to 1816.

The U.S. marines invaded Tripoli in 1805, as the opening of the Marines Hymn notes, “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli….” General William Eaton and marine first lieutenant Presley O’Bannon made a surprising march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt, to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. For the first time in history, the United States flag flew in victory on foreign soil. In 1816, at the end of the Second Barbary War, 1,083 Christian slaves and the British Consul were freed.

The United States army, air force, navy and marines continue to protect U.S. citizens and allies across the world. Veterans Day celebrates and shows the country’s appreciation of their courage and sacrifice for the cause of freedom and liberty.