actnow

I was wanting to purchase a pet ball python and I saw an ad for a bumblebee ball python for $1,000 and a spider ball python for $299. I looked at both snakes and I can't tell a major difference between the two. The price is very different though! Both have the yellowish tint with very thin dark (black?) striping. The head of the spider is darker than the bumblebee and that's the only difference I see. But, I don't see why the head color would put a drastic difference in price between the two snakes. I researched a bit on it and I saw articles that said the spider is the bumblebee's parent... but I can't find any articles that describe the clear distinction between the two patterns and all the pictures I found are all different from each other in some form or other that I can't really tell what makes one a bumblebee as opposed to just a spider...

He is currently in a 129 gallon tank with inverted clay pots for hideouts several logs, plastic plants, and a water dish. I would like to redecorate this tank with a rock wall, flowing water riverbed (with filter), and real live plants. I'm thinking of putting 2 layers on the warm side of the tank, the bottom layer will be his hide-out close to the heat pad underneath. Then I will put something like a hill on top with plants and rocks to make the bottom layer look like an underground burrow. I'm thinking of putting orchids on the rock wall and a "fallen log" scene with ferns and vines in the middle. The log will be hollow for additional hide-out. Also, I would put aspen bark on some areas, moss on some areas, and rocks towards the riverbed. This is not something I can empty out and clean every week. I can change the bark and moss every week but the rest would be a permanent structure. Is this something a ball python can live in?

I got a Powertrain 4500watt portable generator. The manual only says engine oil... doesn't say what kind? Can somebody help ASAP? Thanks! I googled Powertrain, no luck... even called the store. Store people didn't know!

I got this in my email today. I thought it was funny but then upon closer inspection, there is a grain of truth to it, don't you think? I'm not American but I'm thinking of applying for citizenship. I'm not sure if I should anymore.

I'm pasting the email as is - no changes. It was sent by a McCain supporter. I'm not into McCain versus Obama so, please disregard the political leaning. Just think of it as America as a whole. I need your NON-PARTISAN opinion on the matter.

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER FABLE

Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

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MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Obama gets his old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008

I'm thinking about embarking on a business to print t-shirts to sell as birthday or party favors. It would be great if I can use some copyrighted images - like a Disney character, or a sports team logo, or a car marquee to use in the designs. How do I go about getting consent to use copyrighted material? Is there an average cost to such a consent, or is it pretty much up to the company?