Buzz Aldrin's Freak Show Continues......

Here, where you get more bang for your black-market currency.....

More Moldovians....

I always had a thing for girls from Chisinau.... making bread; wearing the traditional dress of Trans-Dniestria; it's things like that make Buzz a little frisky.

Speaking of Parasitic Flowers....

Several species of Rafflesia grow in the jungles of Southeast Asia, all of them threatened or endangered. Rafflesia arnoldii is the largest; its blossom attains a diameter of nearly a meter and can weigh up to 11 kg. Not only is it the world's largest flower, it is one of the most bizarre and improbable organisms on the planet. It produces no leaves, stems or roots but lives as a parasite on the Tetrastigma vine, which grows only in primary (undisturbed) rainforest. Only the flower or bud can be seen; the rest of the plant exists only as filaments within its unfortunate host. The blossom is pollinated by flies attracted by its scent, which resembles that of carrion. The Rafflesia is rare and fairly hard to locate. It is especially difficult to see in bloom; the buds take many months to develop and the blossom lasts for just a few days. How many of these strange plants still survive is unknown, but the last of them can be expected to vanish as the remaining primary forests of Borneo and Sumatra are burned.

Thomas Crapper Would Be Proud.....

"The entire toilet movement is taking on the world scale. People are saying, We want good toilets ....because you see a toilet is a basic human right and this basic human right has been neglected." Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, speaks at the fourth World Toilet Summit, which opened this week (Nov. 15-20, 2004) in Beijing. Taken from globeandmail.com