Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Is Snopes reliable?

Snopes, the fact checking source on the Internet, doesn’t always get it “right,” but they seem left to many conservatives because the right leaning people don’t check out stories they see on the internet and pass them along. The right makes it a cottage industry for them and keeps them in business. Facts are facts. Today I corrected a Mother Teresa quote on FB—the “Do it anyway” saying that you see everywhere on posters--for about the 10th time. It was written by Kent M. Keith in 1968. They (Snopes) cite their sources, and those can be biased—every source has some bias just by what it chooses to report or leave out. Also, keep in mind some responses called “Snopes” come from its “Forum” which is a discussion group, and not sourced. Snopes does editorialize, but so do I. There’s no reason for them not to have an opinion on the sources they find if it's positive about Trump or negative about Clinton.  There are other fact finding web sites, so you can always check more than one source (I often do), but 9 out of 10 times, Snopes is best.

Sound of Silence Cover by Disturbed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7RVw3I8eg#t=119
David Draiman, the lead singer of the band Disturbed, covering Simon & Garfunkel’s classic of 1964, “Sound Of Silence.”  This performance was done on Conan O Brien’s show on March 28.  When I viewed it there were over 12 million views.  Paul Simon gave it his approval on social media.


Hitting the glass ceiling whine

She was tired of the greed driven profession so she quit--$400,000 income.

 "I encountered blatant gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and a very clear glass ceiling." she said. 

Poor thing. I feel as sorry for her as the female movie stars who feel slighted because of making only a million or so per film. Of course, as I read through her rant, she experiences what most moms do who work a lot of hours away from the children. She resents working with men who are single or who have stay at home wives to make life easier to work long hours. But a lot of women are missing the kids for $40,000/year, not $400,000. And if she didn't have two children to care for and long for, she could work those longer hours and do the travel of her male colleagues. But she calls it a glass ceiling.  I call it reality.  I didn't return to work, first part time, temporary contracts with summers off, until my children were in elementary school.  I accepted a full time, tenure track position when our son was a senior in high school.  Then I worked hard at being the best librarian I could be, publishing, attending meetings, and making national and international contacts and friendships. I never found a meeting or a challenge on the campus that was better than being at home with growing children.

Ladies, yes you can have it all, just not all at the same time.  And $400,000 a year?  I don't know any librarians or WaPo journalists who get that.

Washington Post story about Kristen Jarvis Johnson by Petula Dvorak, April 28 (can't get link to copy)


Please pray for our military chaplains

 "It is a hardship upon the Regiment I think, to be denied a Chaplain." George Washington

“A still small voice frequently asked me, where is your God?” he wrote recently in his journal. “I feel so alone in this world. I am so isolated and alienated from people, the world, and myself. I feel like a Prisoner of a War who has been forgotten on the battlefield.” (Washington Post article, May 29)

If you Google Military ministry you'll find a number of organizations helping those traumatized by war or serving chaplains and military families. And of course, always research carefully before you donate, but prayers for those with trauma and PTSD are always safe and stamped in red "approved by God."

Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, Chaplains

Archdiocese for Military, Roman Catholic

Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Armed Forces ministry

Orthodox Church in America Military Chaplains

U.S. Marine Corps, Religious ministry 

Presbyterians caring for Chaplains 

Prayers for soldiers, families, enemies, USCCB




Monday, May 30, 2016

Give locally; know your charity

 No one benefits when you drop your used clothing in a Planet Aid box. And it also gets millions from the U.S. government (that be us).
"Reveal and NBC Washington dug up IRS records showing that Planet Aid makes up to $42 million per year. That money is supposed to be donated to needy communities in places like Malawi and Mozambique. But in an FBI file on Planet Aid’s parent organization also obtained by NBC, investigators wrote that “Little to no money goes to the charities.”

Planet Aid seems to be controlled by a Danish organization known alternately as Tvind or The Teachers Group, which was founded in the 1970s by a man named Mogens Amdi Petersen. According to Danish court documents, Tvind is a kind of secular, ostensibly humanitarian cult, in which members are instructed to live collectively, “transfer all their available income to joint savings,” and “forgo their personal rights, such as the right to start a family to their own wish.” Petersen himself is an internationally wanted man, having allegedly committed fraud and tax evasion and his home country, and the NBC report speculates that he may be hiding out in a $25 million, 494-acre compound in Baja, Mexico."
 http://gawker.com/planet-aids-yellow-clothing-donation-bids-are-part-of-a-1778611205

https://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-articles/planet-aid-39-s-34-recycling-34-program-debunked-/88

http://metrovoicenews.com/is-planet-aid-scamming-you/

 http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Behind-the-Bins-What-Did-Planet-Aid-Do-With-Your-Taxpayer-Dollars-380333921.html

I donate to the Discovery Shop (cancer), Volunteers of America, and to our church's resale shop and food pantry.  There are so many scams and non-profits so poorly checked, that you really need to do your own investigation.

Little sins mean a lot

Most of us at one time have said, or thought, something like:
  • “So I procrastinate, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone!”
  • “Enough about you, back to me.”
  • “I deserve this, so I’m treating myself!”
  • “If I can’t have it, she shouldn’t either.”
  • “I’ll get around to it… or not.”
  • “It’s not really gossip if it’s all true, right?”
  • (And the granddaddy of them all) “But that doesn’t make me a bad person!”
Are these really sins, you ask? After all, they’re not murder, theft, or violence. Don’t they just mean we’re human?

   
https://www.osv.com/Shop/Product?ProductCode=T1690

Memorial Day Week-end, Monday Memories 2016



Our daughter and son-in-law also got in on the fun of yard work and spring cleaning this year which we traditionally do on Memorial Day week-end. With four more hands and two younger bodies we got a lot accomplished.  But we did take some time off for fun.  We drove to Sortino's in Sandusky for a great Italian meal Friday evening. The portions are so large that we each got a take home box and enjoyed it for Saturday evening, too. Really wonderful food.

Time Warner came out to install internet on Saturday so certain people who vacation there in July and their parents will continue to be connected. The nice thing is that we'll be able to watch our cable TV programs we subscribe to without having cable service at the lake. We made sure everything worked on our devices--collectively among us, we had 4 phones, 2 Nooks, 3 i-pads, 1 laptop and 1 TV while getting internet service for wi-fi. Our daughter got everything running smoothly. She's a tech wizard.

Bathrooms by Barack

President Obama's directive didn’t just apply to the bathrooms in schools or retail outlets like Target. It also entered the space of locker rooms, showers, dorms, overnight hotels for field trips, and other places you might not expect. This is not about "rights" for the under .03%---the plan is much more grandiose. The guidelines are very broad with generalizations, and will be a cottage industry for lawyers. I still haven't figured why the progressives who see a rapist in every college bar and apartment- are pushing this. I guess women's issues are as passe as the giant shoulder pads. But I DO KNOW that female athletes and your underage children are the next to be hurt (pedophiles are being renamed, "minor attracted people" and they want your sympathy and their rights to your kids). This has been in the works since 2012; BO's folks looking out for you.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/11_states_sue_feds_over_new_guidelines_for_restroom_and_locker_room_use_by_

 http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/law_prof_sees_title_ix_collision_course_in_federal_directives_on_bathrooms

What becomes of old blogs and bloggers?

Today I found my blog listed in “Evolving Internet Reference Resources,” by William Miller and Rita Pellen, a book which also appeared as two issues of Journal of Library Administration, not uncommon for library publications. At that time (information probably collected 2004-2005) about 150 librarians had web logs in the U.S. I was retired when I started my blog in 2003, but still wrote about library topics, something I rarely do today, and participated in a few library related discussion groups.  This blog, Collecting My Thoughts, was listed as personal musings, entertainment, and doubtful for a reference tool:      

The Kept Up Academic Librarian is an example of a librarian blog the authors liked and recommended, so I looked it up to see if it was still viable.  It closed out in August, 2012.
"After nearly 8 years, 5,000 posts and 500,000 page views, this is the last post at Kept-Up Academic Librarian. It has been a good run but the need for this blog is diminished and even though the time it takes to compose it each day is not great, it is time I could use for other activities. Now with so many others sharing higher education news on social networks, along with other sources such as University Business' daily update, Academic Impressions and daily news items in the Chronicle and IHE, it's clear there is less need - and that is supported by the stagnant usage data."
The blog owner wrote a good summary of what happened to blogdom that concerned any profession or hobby or special interest.  People flocked to other social networking sites from Facebook, to Twitter, to Pinterest, and many on-line publications improved their review coverage. Indeed, many of my FB friends are people I met while blogging.  But it is interesting to browse this one and see many concerns of four years ago are still in the forefront of the news, and still nothing has been done.
"Exponentially growing student loans are driving up tuition and creating a demographic time bomb as well as a higher-education bubble that could explode in taxpayers' faces."  Link
I suspect this is our housing bubble of 2007, so hang on to your pocket books ladies, it's coming just in time for the next administration, since this one did nothing but exacerbate it. But that link is dead, and so this is only a summary, something not unusual in blogdom.  I find a lot of dead links on my blog as online publications disappear or are rewritten.

The STLQ blog essentially ended in 2009, with a referral in 2011 to his personal blog, which hasn't had much going on for years.
"As it has been over two years since my last post, it is evident that STLQ's time has come to an end. I want to thank everyone who has followed my posts here since the blog began in April 2003. I continue to maintain my personal blog, The Pod Bay Door, should you wish to follow me there."

And what did Google have in mind 10 years ago (reported on this now defunct blog).