Overheard In Des Moines

Another sculpture has found its way home!

Overheard on the d-line today regarding the sculpture park: "They can forget that sh*t and give me the money."

Shallow, I'm so Shallow

It creeps me out to think of myself laying on display for all to see, not to mention laying in the cold, cold ground for eternity, and I've been very clear to all that I want to be cremated immediately upon expiration, but I almost changed my mind when I saw Michael Jackson's beautiful coffin.

Blood Gallstones?

My mother had some gallstones removed yesterday and will likely have her gall bladder removed today. According to Wikipedia, there is quite a market for gallstones; especially in China:

"Gallstones are a valuable by-product of meat processing, fetching up to US$32–per–gram in their use as a purported antipyretic and antidote in the folk remedies of some cultures, particularly in China. The finest gallstones tend to be sourced from old dairy cows, which are called Niu-Huang (yellow thing of oxen) in Chinese. Those obtained from dogs, called Gou-Bao (treasure of dogs) in Chinese, are also used today. Much as in the manner of diamond mines, slaughterhouses carefully scrutinize offal department workers for gallstone theft."