A couple of photos from the Cliffs of Moher, on the west coast of Ireland.

These were taken on Christmas Eve.

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Items prohibited by the TSA

I'd like to take Emergen-C, herbal tea bags, foil-packets of tuna, and crackers on an upcoming international trip. It looks like vitamin supplements and dry foods are allowed.

I can't find prohibitions of any of these items, at the TSA web site. But, when a family member went to France earlier this year, the TSA confiscated her Emergen-C, leaving a note that said her bag was inspected and some items were removed.

Has anyone else had non-prohibited items confiscated? In your experience, do you think there's anything on my list that might be removed?

Do we have any DUers living in Dublin, or elsewhere in Ireland?

Gearing up for a tour of Ireland. Any tips?

Dublin to Killarney and back, visiting several places along the way. If any DUers have spent time there during the winter, I would really appreciate your advice--especially about what sort of weather to be prepared for.

I just received my 23andMe results.

Several years ago, my kids got me a mitochondrial DNA test for Christmas. Since then, I've traced the women of the family as far back as 1609. I even met someone who shares a relative from more than ten generations ago.

This year, the 23andMe analysis was my Christmas present to myself.

The health risk details are enlightening. I won't make any immediate decisions based on what I've learned but the information is certainly useful. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and these results are a good starting point.

The ancestry composition results are interesting, too. Assuming that my siblings and I have the same parents, it's fairly certain that we're all of mostly Northern European origin. I'd already done some genealogy research, so the percentages--Irish and British, French and German, Scandinavian, etc.--didn't come as a complete surprise. But it was news to me that a small part of the total composition is Eastern European. I've always had a feeling that some of our ancestors were Ukrainian, and this bit of data points in that general direction.

Off-the-shelf knee braces--anyone have experience with them?

I wonder if the hinged braces are better than the regular elastic ones. Not looking for a diagnosis (I know that is frowned upon here), just a little feedback on hinged versus non-hinged. I may be touring Ireland, soon, and I'll probably be doing a lot of walking.

Any advice is appreciated.

Think about this: in 15 years...

...fully 50% of Americans--regardless of who we vote for, no matter who we hate--will have type II diabetes.

The next time you're out in public, take a look around. One half of everyone you see will be facing heart disease, blindness, limb amputations, permanent disability, job losses, endless medical bills. The streets will be overflowing with homeless families, untold millions of children will be traumatized by the loss of one or both parents, crime will skyrocket, every single social safety net will fail catastrophically. And, when it happens, finger wagging and "I told you so" will be utterly irrelevant.

I am a card-carrying, unreconstructed Liberal. I think that baggers (and right wingers, in general) are crazier than proverbial shit house rats. But so what? That doesn't fix a damned thing. The challenge is figuring out how to transcend our differences, now, and solve the problem.

That is the stuff of Nobel prizes.

I removed the Norton trial stuff from my new laptop last night and now I'm bombarded with ads. Help!

I'm even getting ads on this site where I shouldn't see them at all, as a star member. I'm getting double underlined words that create pop up ads, if I accidentally mouse over them; whole page ads that pop up, when I try to go from one DU page to another; ads underneath the new members box on the right side of the Latest Threads page; and ads at the bottom of every page.

Also, I keep getting this pop up page from rvzr-a.akamaihd.net saying "The media content is not shown properly. It is recommended to update your system player now and there's an "Install Update" button for something called "M.Player 9.2"

Can anyone clue me in as to how to stop this?

I tried to download MS Security Essentials last night, thinking that might help but I got a message saying I needed the 64 bit version and I can't find a link to that version.

PS I have Windows Defender turned on but it's not helping.

ETA Even my own post here is generating those stupid double underlined link words! AAARRRGGGHHH!

If there's a heaven and a hell, what do you suppose will happen to...

...Roger Ailes, when he "dips his toes in the chilly streams of Jordan?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023938484

(Of course, I wish him a long, prosperous life and am only engaging in idle speculation.)

The Tingler--what a hoot!

It's a great old Vincent Price movie on AMC, right now. It has everything! Fear, suspense, LSD!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053363/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl