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Four out of every ten. Now, that is just the stats for women who are in veteran’s hospitals, but it is overwhelming nonetheless.

And these are just the women whoa re brace enough to report it.

One of the biggest reasons that women in the military may not report a rape or other sexual assault is the fear they have of losing their job, being harassed, or that nothing will be done about the incident. In 2007, only 181 out of 2,212 reports of military sexual assaults (8 percent) were referred to courts martial. In the civilian world, a full 40 percent of those arrested on similar charges are prosecuted.

We all know that no matter how much it is denied, the military is still a man’s world. However, this has got to change. An institution that is supposed to be made of people whoa re protecting our nation should not be an institution where rape is commonplace and often covered up.

One recent, and harrowing, example is Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. She filed a rape claim with the military against Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean seven months before he was accused of killing her

Since I live in Florida, I love eating local seafood. Oddly, the best prices at the market are not usually for local seafood, but I can still find domestic products for a good price. I am pretty picky about only buying domestic seafood and I even go as far as to only buy wild caught fish. After all the stories I have read about the way fish and shrimp are farm raised in China, I’ve become super choosy about from where my seafood originates.

One product we can often find around here is Key West shrimp. I love shrimp and I will go to great lengths to find pink shrimp caught in and around Key West. Yum.

My friend Priscilla has a dish she makes called Shrimp Mozambique. You can find several different versions online and they all have their own unique twist. I based mine on the typical Mozambique recipe, but I omit the packaged seasoning and substitute white wine for the beer. Plus, I make it super spicy. The recipe calls for serving it over rice, but its better just served in a dish so you can dip crusty bread into it.

1-pound medium-large shrimp (shelled)
1 stick butter
1 cup white wine
6-7 teaspoons chopped garlic
1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup chicken stock
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon crushed Red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Red hot pepper sauce (to taste)

Add chicken stock and butter to a saucepan and simmer on low until butter melts. Add garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir and simmer on low for 3-4 minutes. Add shrimp and wine, stir, then turn up the heat. When the sauce just begins to boil, lower heat, cover and simmer on very low for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon juice, parsley, and hot sauce to taste. Stir, cover and simmer on very low 4-5 minutes.

I really should work up a version to enter in a seafood Cook off. One of the best is the Fifth Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off Aug 2-3 at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center. They know their seafood in New Orleans. Can you even imagine some of the dishes that they’ll be cooking up?!

Louisiana invited all of the states to send their best and Florida answered the challenge by sending Andre Bienvenu of the renowned Joe’s Stone Crab Shack. In 2006, Chef Justin Timineri of Florida won the title of King of American Seafood. You never know – Florida might being home the prize again.

Believe it or not, every year there are untold treasures left unclaimed in Florida’s bank safe deposit boxes. If items are left unclaimed for three years and the owners cannot be located after two years of searching, the banks send the items to the state. The state auctions them off and uses the proceeds for funding public schools.

Over 40,000 unclaimed items will sold at an auction at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay on Saturday. The items are estimated to have a value of $500,000.

So, if you are in the market for a Rolex or a pair of platinum and gold earrings or an Australian coin collection, this might just be the auction for you.

The public will be permitted to preview auction items Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt, at 2900 Bayport Drive in Tampa. The auction is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. Registration opens at 8 a.m.

I went over to Tampa today with my daughter and my friend Michelle, and her four children. We had some lunch and then our plan was to go over to the Museum of Science and Industry.

My mistake was in not checking out the prices online before we made the drive. Wirth the price of gas, I would have been better off not going at all.

Why? Because the admission for an adult is almost $25 and for a child it is about $20. I stood there and for the life of me I could not justify spending that kind of money for a one-day pass to a museum that is far outshone by the Air and Space museum in Washington, DC – which just happens to be free.

I know that growing up in the DC suburbs spoiled me for almost any other museum. The Smithsonian museums are superior to most other museums and they are free for everyone. However, I suppose I expected to pay some sort of fee today, but I did not think it would be over $15. I was hoping it was closer to $10. When I stood there trying to make myself pay almost $45 for me and my daughter, I decided I would much rather turn around and go home.

I did not have to ask my friend twice. She would have had to pay about $110 for her family to get in.

I don’t think so.

Make sure you tune in to the A&E cable network on Wednesday night as they broadcast live Criss Angel’s escape from Clearwater Beach’s Spyglass Resort, minutes before the building implodes. It’s the first time Angel’s show, Mindfreak, will be broadcast live.

Angel is calling this stunt his “biggest and baddest” escape. He will start out by getting out of handcuffs on the sixth floor of the Spyglass Resort, get out through a series of locked doors and on to the roof where he will leave in a helicopter. Right after that, the nine-story building will implode.

How will he do it? Angel says, “Some of it’s real, some of it’s an illusion and I try to blur the line between both…”

Angel says this is his third trip to the Clearwater area and that in the past he has visited Clearwater and Tarpon Spring. Since he is Greek, he was particularly fond of Tarpon Springs and its huge Greek community. He says he hopes he can find time to stop there again when he is in town for his stunt, since he will be in town until Thursday evening.

Criss also commented, “…once I do this and God-willing I’m successful I vowed to my mother that I will not be doing things of this nature. I’ll still be doing television and my show where there’s a lot of dangerous things. But I won’t do things like this.”

This post is simply to voice my dismay. I just saw a headline on the website of my local paper that reads: “Our critic never saw the TV show, but he likes the movie.”

What?

Am I THAT old that I cannot believe there is someone working as a media critic that has not seen an episode of the X-Files on TV? I was already out of college when the TV show launched and I immediately became fixated. Even those around me who were not as into the show as I was saw an episode or two along the way, even if it was in syndication.

And, am I alone in thinking that the least the St. Petersburg Times could do is send one of their reporters who IS familiar with the television show to see and review the film? I think you’d be losing something in the review if you cannot give the readers some insight to the flow between the show and two movies.

Flabbergasted. That’s what I am.

We all have our own little quirky ways of saving money. Some are quirkier than others. I thought I would make a little list of ways I regularly save pennies here and there so that my budget goes a little farther from month to month.

Ten ways I save pennies:

1. My dentist is super generous with toothpaste and floss samples, not to mention toothbrushes. I have not bought any of those items in at least a year and we always have plenty.
2. See a penny, pick it up…and after 99 more you’ll have a buck. That’s what I’ve taught my daughter. When we see loose change on the ground, we pick it up – and then give it a good rinse – and put it in a little jar we have in the bedroom closet.
3. Reuse Ziploc bags. I am astounded at how many people do not reuse Ziplocs. Unless I’ve had meat in the bag, I turn it inside out, give it a good wash, let it dry and use it again, …and again and again.
4. Shop the loss leaders. Nearly every week in all of the grocery store ads, there are a few items that are so cheap they are almost priced at a loss of profit for the store. Those are called loss leaders. They are specifically aimed at getting you in the store so you will do all your shopping for the week while you are in there. So, make note of when I will pass each store through the natural course of my weekly errands, run in for the loss leaders, and get out. I don’t stay to be tempted with impulse items.
5. I wash every thing I can in cold water when doing the laundry. I save a little by not using water that had to be heated and my darks and colors love me for it.
6. No convenient snack packs. It is SO tempting to pick up little individual serving packs of chips, cookies, juice, and such for my daughter’s school lunches. However, when I just buy a regular pack or Oreos or bag of Cheetos and pack a serving in a little sandwich bags I save SO MUCH money. I try and use a thermos too, even though my daughter adores those Capri Sun packets.
7. Look at tags BEFORE you buy. I avoid clothes that need dry cleaned. When I was married, my ex’s parents owned a dry cleaning chain, so it was like paradise to have anything we wanted dry cleaned for free. Now, I just buy clothes we can wash right here at home.
8. OK, I admit it – I am one of those people who bring my own snacks to the movies. I even have a special purse. It’s a very cool Kenneth Cole that is nice and tall and happens to be made out of a dull vinyl, so it can be wiped clean. We take our own candy bars, chips and even sodas.
9. Kids eat free. When my daughter and I do take the time to go out to eat, we try and plan around a handful of local restaurants that have nights that kids eat free. I particularly like to go to Cody’s Original Roadhouse on a Monday or Tuesday during Early Bird Pricing. I get my meal cheap, my daughter eats free, and we love the salad.
10. Learn to love your pressure cooker. When I use my pressure cooker I can buy less expensive cuts of very lean meat and it comes out flavorful and so tender it falls apart. Plus, dinner is done a lot faster.

Of course, these are all small ways to save money. They can only help so much if you have run up a lot of debt. Personally, I try to by as much as possible with money I already have, thus avoiding debt as often as possible. Still, I went through a time after my divorce where I needed Debt help and turned to tips on Debt consolidation.

As America creeps closer and closer to a very dangerous financial landscape, more and more people find themselves overwhelmed with debt and in great need of Debt relief. Often, the wisest move is to find a way to bundle things all together and Consolidate debt. A good place to start is Bills.com, where they have a huge amount of articles and tips to get you started on understanding and paying down debt.

If you use the site FilmMetro.com to get free passes to movie screenings, I have a tip for you. Arrive very early.

When you print the passes, there is a note about arriving early, since they issue more passes than actual seats to ensure a full theater. Tonight was the first time I was going to use passes from the site and I planned to arrive an hour early.

It rained as soon as we left the house. I had given myself an hour of travel time, even though I was just going across the Bay into Tampa. I knew there might be traffic. Despite all of my best guesses, it took a whopping hour and 40 minutes to get to the theater! My only hope was that the driving rain was keeping people at home.

No such luck. When we got there, we found out the screening was already full and had been full for nearly an hour and 45 minutes before the start time. Even if we had arrived as planned, we would still have been too late.

I imagine that people who are local to the theater go and get their passes reserved very, very early and then go have dinner. Lesson learned on my part, I suppose.

Since I never see screenings listed near my house, I will probably only print passes for screenings when I have a whole afternoon and evening free.

So remember to arrive about 2 hours early for film screenings.

I know a lot of my readers find their way here, because they are part of an elite community of at-home crafters looking to begin their own businesses. Due to that, I like to offer input from time to time about the importance of establishing your online identity.

Domain names are the first step on setting up your website. You have to get your hands on a great domain name that reflects either the name or the nature of your business, before you can go about putting your website files online with your webhost.

The internet grows exponentially each year and as time goes on,. It seems like there are less and less available domain names. If you find that the domain name you want is available, register it now – even if you are not ready to put your site online. That same domain name could be gone by the time you actually feel ready to use it. Snap it up now and it’s yours for as long as you pay the registration fees for it.

GoDaddy.com is the world’s leading domain name registrar. They also offer web hosting, site creation tools, and e-commerce and security solutions. On top of their solid reputation for on-target customer service, they offer very low prices – especially compared to other companies with similarly good reputations. Plus, right now you can use the coupon code BLOGGER799 to get your .COM domain for just $7.99 at GoDaddy.com. And yes, .COM is still the best choice for your domain’s small business – as opposed to .net, etc.

So, if you have a domain name in mind and find out that it is available – buy it today!

I was in the studio audience for the filming of the pilot of “The Golden Girls.” My family and I had never heard of the show, but knew it starred some amazing actresses. It was an experience I will never forget and I have to admit that I feel lucky that of all the shows we could have been there for, we ended up in the audience of a show that became a hit.

I always identified with Estelle Getty’s character of Sophia. She clutched her purse all of the time – even when she was in the house. I have always had a similar relationship with my purse and I loved loved loved that she gave Sophia that trait.

Getty died today at the age of 84. Hollywood tabloids have been reporting for a while now that she was suffering from dementia. Her Golden Girls cast mates all commented on how much she will be missed. I think several generation of TV viewers agree. I know I will miss her, but Sophia and her purse will always live on for me.

Last week I took my nephew to see Journey to the Center of the Earth, the new film starring Brendan Fraser. If you love the book, you’ll love the movie. It’s not based on the per, as much as it is centered around the book. It’s an intriguing twist. And, the 3D rocks in this film! I was very impressed. Not only was the movie packed with fun little 3D tricks, like when the toothy fish jump out of the water or smoke swirls off the screen and in front of your face – the rest of scenes also benefitted from the 3D. A simple scene of Fraser sitting in a room talking on the phone had perceivable depth. I enjoyed the 3D the entire time I was watching the movie and when I saw Kit Kitteridge the next day with my daughter, I rather missed it.

Tomorrow night my sister and I are taking my daughter and my nephew to see a promotional screening of Fly Me to the Moon, which also uses 3D technology. I saw a preview of Fly Me to the Moon before Journey and the preview was in 3D, so I can attest to the fact that the effect is used just as skillfully. I’m genuinely excited and hope we can look forward to more film in the near future that will use 3D. Now that technology has come far enough to make 3D look to fantastic, we may as well enjoy it.

The past two movies I have seen in the theater have included previews for the special WarGames 25th Anniversary event that is coming up on Thursday. The first thing that zinged right into my head is how when I first saw WarGames back in 1983 I developed a massive crush on Matthew Broderick that did not let up for the rest of that decade.

There is such a sincerity and purity to the movies made back in the 80s that film makers today are unable to replicate. I think a lot of it has to do with how jaded the youth of today are. They ask for grittier, sexier, more shocking films. I’m not sure they can relate to the simplicity of some of the 80s teen movies the way we did back then, when those of us who were teens then first saw the films.

I’m thrilled that WarGames is coming to the big screen once more, even if it is only for one night. It comes right in time to help with the buzz for the new WarGames: The Dead Code film and I cannot think of a better lead-in than to show the film that began the cycle.

So, if you want to get a good look at what a computer hacker movie made in 1983 is like (and how adorable Broderick looked when he was 20 or 21), make sure you at your local theatre Thursday (that’s July 24) to see WarGames one last time in a bigger-than-life format.

When I saw The Dark Knight on Saturday night, I thought that a lot of the buildings, streets, and skyline vistas looked a lot like Chicago. There is a particularly telling bit of scenery where water and bridges meet buildings.

Now, an Associated Press article is echoing my suspicions. A lot of people will argue that New York City is the model for Gotham, but the AP article points out that DC Comics illustrator Neal Adams has always thought of Chicago when looking for inspiration for Gotham.

The Dark Knight production spent three months filming in Chicago, even though the key location manager for the film, James McAllister, doubles back and says Gotham is based on NYC. Still, the film makers went in and realized they could use Chicago without having to dress it up or disguise it and still evoke the full feel of the Gotham portrayed in the DC Comics.

I can see the wisdom. Chicago has a more sweeping feel, much like I see Gotham in my mind.

It has been almost a year now since my mom and my sister and I packed the kids into the car and headed to West Virginia for my grandmother’s funeral. We all knew she was fading fast near the end, and my mother was even able to speak to her mother on the phone just hours before she passed.

However, my grandmother did not know my mother anymore. She had been suffering the affects of Alzheimer’s disease for years and little by little she lost parts of her past to the illness. She never was able to remember that I got married or that I had a daughter. She still saw me as a being in my mid-20s.

My sister and I had made her collage of pictures of the kids and labeled them and put them in her bedroom. When I would bring my daughter to visit her dear great-grandmothers, she would look at her and tell her that she “knew those eyes.” She was not sure who my daughter way, but she had conjured up a vague recognition based on the pictures she saw daily in her room.

It’s with great conviction that I can ask you, my readers, to consider participating in the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk®. It’s the biggest event in the United States to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. Over 600 communities play host to the events and you can be a part of a Alzheimer’s Memory Walk in your area. In fact, they still need lots of team captains.

Please, consider getting involved.

When I was little I used to have this recurring nightmare about Ronald McDonald. I would be running from his in this tunnel and he was sort of backlit. He would always be just behind me, almost catching up. He looked just like Ronald McDonald is supposed to look, but in addition to the floppy shoes and the red hair; he also had glistening, long fangs.

It was absolutely horrifying. To this day I am fearful of old Ronald. My daughter, though, loves the guy. She has wanted to meet him for a couple of years now and I have found that is is really hard to track down Ronald McDonald appearances just by searching on the internet. Instead, my sister told me she had taken my nephew one summer to see him do magic tricks at one of the local libraries.

So, I have been tracking Ronald and his appearances at the local libraries and today I finally got up the nerve to take my daughter to see him and his odd little array of magic tricks. I appreciate that he explained that magic only math and science and art and such. I actually learned a lot and will take a good bit of the information into the classroom with me one day.

I think I can say I am no longer fearful of Ronald McDonald, but he still creeps me out.