3047 From Judah to America

“From Judah and Israel, across Europe, and into America, the centuries have shown that a State that is denied a moral compass does evil, and a State guided by a moral compass that has lost its integrity within the State's halls of power is worse than a State with no moral compass at all. Thus, the danger in current American political discourse is not that religious language will poison the world of politics, but that political participation will gut religious language of all truth.”

Lee, Randy Randall, "When a King Speaks of God, When God Speaks to a King: Faith, Politics, Tax Exempt Status, and the Constitution in the Clinton Administration" . Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 63, No. 1 & 2, Winter/Spring 2000 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=256868 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.256868

3046 People who shouldn't vote

There are a few people who you hope won't show up at the polls today, but I'm sure some Democrat will offer them a ride, or say they were disenfranchised. That's not true. They are too dumb to vote. I was listening to Glenn Beck on Friday while I was ironing. I really don't like his "Moron Trivia" routine because I just hate learning how stupid people are. In this routine, he calls up people who are in NFL cities who work at convenience stores as "shelf replenishment engineers." There's a football connection, but sports bore me, so I won't get into that. Last Friday it was between Baltimore and Cincinnati. I think he talked to five women and one man with four questions. The women sounded to me like they were over 50 and heavy smokers. You know the sound, that deep throaty rattle that women get when they've damaged their vocal chords from years of looking sophisticated.

Anyway, the first question was which politician had embarrassed himself that week trying to tell a joke that had backfired. The women didn't know; so he asked them the next question, "Who is John Kerry?" None of them knew--not even with prompting from Glenn. One of the questions was which party won the November elections (this was 4 days before the election.) My sex went down in such a stunning defeat in both cities, I don't even remember the rest of the questions. But the one male, who had a slight Hispanic accent, got every question right!

Glenn Beck, voters

3045 Wonder where the money went

Ibrahim and Mohamed are buying up expensive houses in the Columbus suburbs and paying way more than the asking price. Such a deal! The Columbus Dispatch revealed this week that 14 such deals worth more than $11 million have closed since Spring. The money is borrowed with no downpayment, the seller gives back to the buyer the difference between what he asked and what he got, and some giant houses are standing empty in some fancy neighborhoods. Nationalities are not known for sure, but they are middle easterners, apparently Jordanian and Egyptian. Ethical real estate professionals and the local BIA are advising home sellers to not take the offers. So the buyers are creating their own companies. One agent who lost his license several years ago has been involved in four of the sales.

"It’s been a growing problem nationally for lenders and neighborhoods. The FBI says banks reported losing $1 billion to mortgage fraud last year, more than double the previous year.

Reports of suspected mortgage fraud jumped 35 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2005, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Under various scams, the buyer can be either a victim of manipulative middlemen who skim cash from mortgages in convoluted transactions, or a co-conspirator "straw borrower" who fronts for sham loans.

Ohio has been hit particularly hard by foreclosures and mortgage fraud, banking and lawenforcement officials say."

Inflated appraisals and mortgages use to be common in inner-city neighborhoods--now they are going upscale.

3044 A letter to Kerry

A Sergeant stationed in Iraq has written a letter to John Kerry. His wife submitted it to American Daughter where you can read the whole thing:

"I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my second tour in Iraq, a tour which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic and Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In college I was a member of several academic honor societies, including the Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted troops. Many of my enlisted colleagues include lawyers, teachers, mechanics, engineers, musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid, Senator Kerry, we might have believed you."

He reminds the Senator that they know what he has said about them in the past, and if he thinks people misunderstand him, it's because he can't communicate clearly.

3043 As you go to the polls

keep in mind that the Democrats do not want to keep the current tax cuts which have lifted our economy. They want to penalize you for doing well, because the lower rates have actually brought in more revenue to the government. Also ask yourself, didn't I already give? Why do they want more? Both parties are guilty of the gimmees.

• Federal income tax
  
• State income tax
  
• city income tax
  
• county income tax
  
• sales taxes--state and local--Ohio doesn't tax food, but some states do
  
• Intangible taxes (on your investments)
  
• Use taxes--gasoline, airports
  
• excise taxes--cigarettes, gasoline--federal and state. About 82% of what consumers pay for a pack of cigarettes (average cost $4.12) ends up going to the government in taxes and other payments rather than for the cigarettes.
  
• estate taxes--also known as the death tax--federal and state
  
• inheritance taxes--state and local
  
• gift taxes--also called transfer taxes
  
• personal property taxes--local taxes imposed on your car, furniture, boat, etc. and other items you already own but are taxed for year after year (we don't have this in Ohio, but we did when we lived in Illinois and Indiana)
  
• real estate taxes--usually your county hits you up for this--reevaluates your home's worth, raises the taxes, then also raises the millage
  
• Social Security taxes--also known as FICA, Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or payroll taxes
  
• Medicare taxes
  
• hospitality and entertainment taxes--like hotels, motels--usually a city tax
  
• utilities taxes
  
• telephone taxes, state, federal and local (surcharges and fees are not taxes) The Spanish American War (1898) tax was just lifted this year.
  
• licenses--driver's, hunting/fishing, business, amusement, etc.
  

If you live in these states, you have the highest local/state taxes in addition to what you pay the federal government; Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, New York, Maine, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas.

federal taxes
state taxes
estate taxes
death tax
telephone taxes
Medicare
Social Security

Monday Memories

Did I ever tell you about our slumber parties in the 50s?

I posted this photo at the class reunion blog, but thought it was sort of cute and decided to also post it here for Monday Memories.


I'm not in the photograph because I'm taking the picture with my Brownie Hawkeye, and it appears to be taken in the morning. But that's our living room on Hannah Avenue, before my Mom redecorated with new wallpaper in a gentle beige and brown stripe. She also took out the pocket doors and wall where I was standing to take the photo. It looks like we were using a card table for gifts.

There are many things here that identify this as the 50s besides the Brownie Hawkeye: pin curls tied up with a scarf around the head (no one had hair dryers); bermuda shorts with knee socks; hard sided over night cases; scarves tied under the collar of a neatly pressed white blouse; big print wall paper in the living room; book club novels in the bookcase; hair cuts by Mom; and home permanents we gave each other.

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My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Ma, Viamarie, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Debbie, Lazy Daisy, Lady Bug, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Michelle, Anna, ChelleY. Jen, Melli Becki, Paul, Friday's Child, Irish Church Lady,Cozy Reader

1950s
teenagers
slumber parties
nostalgia

3041 Couldn't agree more

with this commenter over at the Right Coast. I guess everyone needs a place to hang their spiritual hat, and global warming beliefs do fill a need to believe that humans are all-powerful and worthy of worship.

"Global Warming is one of several religions people have gravitated to after being denied their need for relevance in socialism and other schemes. No need to confuse them with the facts on "warming", because it hasn't worked before. Chicken Little has dressed in the Kings Clothes, and so cannot afford to tolerate those who would point and laugh."

Mike Rappaport had sighed: "The consensus [on global warming] appears to be produced by intimidation and pressure from various ideological and special interest groups. Letters from Congress referring to opponents of the global warming consensus as "deniers" (as in Holocaust deniers) are just the tip of the iceberg."

We see the same stubborn, lemming like behavior in other research that gets politicized. If the government were passing out grants for expanded stem cell research, I'm guessing you would have to struggle to get an innovative, fresh idea for another direction published anywhere. The venture capital would be there if there were a bright future in stem cell, which is definitely legal, but not productive or ethical.

Why was Charles Davis, Jr. on parole

It infuriates me that the press and public can go bonkers over consentual gay sex (if the story is about a Republican or a pastor) but virtually ignore the horrific crimes against women and girls (that don't happen in Aruba or California). This week in the Columbus papers it was reported that Charles S. Davis,Jr. "could get" 89.5 years for raping and terrorizing a teen age girl he kidnapped on her way to a high school game. But he was on parole for a similar crime committed in 1997! Who are the judges, lawyers and members of the parole board who let this creep out to do the same crime again? Why aren't those legal nitwits being investigated on national TV?

"Davis was on parole for the 1997 rape of a Columbus teenager when he abducted a 15-year-old Columbus girl in January and raped her repeatedly in the basement of an apartment complex on Chesterfield Court.

He cut the girl with a broken bottle but begged her to be his girlfriend, prosecutors said. The rape followed the same pattern as the 1997 attack.

Davis was sentenced to seven years in prison for that crime. After he was released in 2004, he was in and out of jail for failing to live where he was registered, on Bay Run Drive on the West Side." [Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 1]

And then there's the unhappy husband from Columbus, Mike Henslee, who lied about his wife's disappearance (reported by her family, not him) and finally admitted he killed her and led authorities to her body this week in Dayton, about 100 miles away. But he got his 10 minutes of fame in a public press conference where he accused her of being unfaithful and said he had an "anger management problem." Her friends said she was the classic battered wife. She had filed for protection against him in August. The violence against her increased when she decided to go back to college, according to her family. "The charges against [Harry Michael "Mike"] Henslee carry a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life." Whoopee--15 years for terrorizing her for years, murdering her, and hiding the body in Dayton. [ONN story via Dispatch, and we'll probably never hear of it again] Also reported at a Domestic Violence blog.

Media bias--the Wall Street Journal

According to a study done in December 2005 by a political scientist at UCLA, the Wall Street Journal is more liberal than the New York Times, LA times, CBS and the rest. See article in UCLA News. Surprised? Well, look at today's news stories:

CONSUMER PRICES FALL, BUT. . .

WHY IT TAKES A DOCTORATE TO BEAT INFLATION.

E BAY PROFIT RISES, BUT. . .

UPHILL HIKE FOR REPUBLICANS

OIL PRICE DROP CHALLENGES OPEC UNITY

SUPPORT FOR CONGRESS SLIDES FURTHER

HOW H-P KEPT TABS ON A WSJ REPORTER

WAL-MART SLOW-DOWN

DOW HITS 12000 FOR FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, BUT FELL SHORT AT CLOSING

INSURERS BASK IN SUN AND PROFITS AFTER NO HURRICANES

MORE HOME LOANS GO SOUR

IRS IS CRACKING DOWN ON POPULAR DEFERRAL STRATEGY

ELI LILY HAD A HAND IN DRUG GUIDELINES

I always enjoy reading this paper, but its social science slant in the basic news stories really bugs me. There is never good economic news for the ordinary citizen, the middle class American. The investor in a pension plan. No. Only the grubby, greedy rich. And poor? The sob stories the WSJ social workers journalists write. Oh my gosh, it must be the reason Americans are rushing over the border to work and seek benefits in Mexico and Canada and taking boats to Cuba. I suppose they can't help it--after all, all journalists are graduates of our U.S. journalism schools, products of our tenured radicals of the 1970s, and if they had time to think about how biased they are, they'd probably quit.

Their anti-Wal-Mart stories are frequent. Today's superimposed a rectangle over the map of Manhattan to show that Wal-Mart covers 17.88 sq. miles of floor space with 3,289 stores (not counting Sam's Club), and that its 1.3 million employees could fill every major league stadium. Is this even relevant? Does this graph mean anything to someone outside NYC? George Wills, on the other hand, says it a bit differently: Wal-Mart is the most prodigious job creator in history; by lowering consumer prices, it adds 100 jobs for every 50 competitors lose; Wal-Mart saves consumers more than $200 billion a year, dwarfing food stamps and earned income tax credits; and of course, Chicago didn't want Wal-Mart inside the city, so the suburbs are getting the business taxes and the employees' jobs.

Pro-business could be pro-American, unless you work for the Wall Street Journal. It's called biting the hand that feeds you.

Wall Street Journal
media bias
Wal-Mart

3039 I'm so popular!

You are too, I'll bet. Yesterday, President Bush and Pat Boone called me! Yes, me! So I put down the iron and put my feet up and just listened. I've been getting other phone calls from the Pryce and Kilroy campaigns (Congress--my district), and just now I just hung up on the Democratic National Committee, and sometimes the callers get so impatient I say, "Hello, hello?" But they've already moved on.

3038 Close, but no cigar.

A WSJ reader, writing about what ails married people commented this week, "Alcoholism and domestic violence, not gay marriage, not pre-nuptial agreements, not no-fault divorce, not co-habitation are the real threats facing families in this country." [Anthony Smith, Arlington, VA] I didn't read the article he was referring to, but just based on his letter, I'd have to disagree. Alcoholism and violence may be a problem for some, but of the marriages I've seen dissolve in the last 40 years, none were for those reasons. In fact, I've seen some incredibly "stable" marriages that are quite pickled in alcohol because of the dependency thing. What I see breaking up marriages is infidelity, greed, materialism and lust for power. The things he says are not a problem are just those problems with new faces.

Friday Family Photo

The Bruce home in Elwood, Indiana



C.L. Bruce's father had disappeared when he was very young. He originally come to Elwood, IN to look for him and worked in the glass factory as a glass blower. He answered an ad for a room in the Heffner household, and met his future wife, Abbie. His future father-in-law who owned a sawmill liked him and gave him a job in the Elwood office. Soon he was in charge of the mill and coal office. He ran for Mayor of Elwood and promised street lights, but lost the election (making his wife quite happy). Abbie inherited money and property from her father, but C.L. was sort of a visionary and added an auto dealership to the sawmill and coal business.

The family first lived in a home owned by Abbie parents, then they had this big house in the photo at 902 South Anderson, opposite Abbie's parents. Abbie died of diabetes when my husband's father, the youngest of 9, was about 4 years old. After C.L. lost his business during the Depression, the family moved back to the smaller home on D Street. To earn a living he went on the road selling fruit, and the 3 younger children were left alone, the youngest my husband's father. They lived for awhile in Marion, IN, with their father and then the two youngest moved to Indianapolis to live with an older sister and finish high school. So my husband and his father attended the same high school, Arsenal Technical High School.

About 10 years ago we drove to Elwood to see if we could find this house. We had only a photograph and a street name. We found a beautifully restored early 20th century home and the owner came out when she saw us taking photographs. She invited us in, and we were just amazed by the beauty and woodwork, and how she had decorated it so authentically for the period. However, at some point she mentioned that there had never been children in this home which is why most of the appointments (elaborate carvings) were still in tact. We realized we were in the wrong house, because C.L. and Abbie had 9 children. We drove further on the street and found it--cut up into many apartments, wrapped in wide, fading aluminum siding, and the porch filled in. It was enough to make you cry.

Adding some Color to my diet, pt. 3

Tomatoes! Pizza is one of my triggers that I wrote about at Thursday Thirteen which I'm avoiding. However, if you read up on tomatoes, pizza is practically a health food! They are great in the summer, and I love it when our son brings over tomatoes fresh from his garden, but they are also terrific when processed, particularly in juice or tomato paste.

Photo used with permission of SusanV who writes a vegan blog
I've always included tomatoes in things like chili, stew, and fresh salads, so I'm not sure this is a new addition as much as an increase. I'm drinking 6 oz. of tomato juice every day. I buy the small cans, because I don't like to drink it cold. I discovered that one of the reasons I always got a stomach ache from tomato juice was that I was drinking it chilled. It tastes much better at room temperature.

Lycopene is the hot word in tomato research. This carotenoid is found in tomatoes and is one of those antioxidents, running around battling those bad things that cause prostate, breast, pancreatic and intestinal cancers. Even catsup is good for you (that's a tomato product I rarely eat). I'm having a colonoscopy at the end of the month (the only test you can take that will actually prevent cancer), and studies show that blood levels of lycopene were 35% lower in people with polyps (the little growths that are removed before they become cancerous).

Tomatoes have lots of other good things--like vitamin C and vitamin A. My 6 oz. of juice has 90% of the C for the day. They are also a good source of potassium, niacin, vitamin B6 and folate, good for cholesterol levels, blood pressure and keeping your blood vessels healthy. There's a lot of research out there showing tomatoes' cardiovascular benefits. Tomato juice helps reduce blood clots, and there's some good studies going on for benefits for diabetics.

This article at World's healthiest foods lists the journal sources if you'd like to check the research yourself. Even if you can't read all the big words, you can look at the summaries and conclusions and see how often the research is cited by others.

So, go out and have a pizza tonight.

Part 1, bell peppers
Part 2, grapes

carotenoids
lycopene
tomatoes
diet
Healthy Living

3035 Teenagers and high risk behavior

Although we were all shaking our heads around here when an Ohio State freshman was killed trying to exit an elevator in which 24 young bodies were packed (a 6' x 7' space), we sort of knew what was going through their heads when each followed the other on the way to that young man's death. Kids that age don't seem to understand consequences, and that's what Sharon Begley was writing about in her Health column today in the WSJ. She says there is new evidence that teens underestimate risk--of STDs, pregnancy, drunk driving, etc. She wrote:

"Young people are especially bad at resisting risk when they are with their peers and when they make decisions on the spur of the moment--the emotional brain hijacks the logical one, so knowing the numberical risk of driving drunk won't stop them. That information is suppressed." So apparently is the knowledge about weight loads in elevators, even though it's posted in every elevator I've ever been on. So apparently is experience, since many of these kids had probably been in that same elevator when it balked between floors with fewer passengers.

I was reading her article and watching the people coming in to Panera's (bakery, deli specializing in fresh and creative meals) for the Friday Follies--that's where someone from the office buys a huge shopping bag full of goodies to take in to work--brownies, huge bagels (about 450 calories) with packets of cream cheese, sweet rolls, bear claws, etc. I'm guessing 90% of the people I saw in line were overweight, and about 10% were grossly obese. All were adults.

If education, experience, pain, poor health, medical warnings, peer pressure and controlled impulsivity mean anything, Ms. Begely, why are adults not using these in making day-to-day food decisions?

3034 Adding some color, pt. 2

Yesterday I wrote about adding bell peppers, red, yellow, orange and green to my diet. Today I read that the green peppers are a bit more bitter, so I'll try to use more of the other colors. Also, I didn't know that pimento and papricka were made from bell peppers. One site described them as the "Christmas ornaments of the vegetable world."

But today I'll mention black seedless grapes. I bought a bunch yesterday, washed them and put them on the kitchen table; they are almost gone. So yummy. Grapes contain flavonoids and that's what give them their vibrant purple color, which you find in grape juice or red wine. The stronger the color, the more flavonoids.

This week the Wall Street Journal and NYT have been running articles on resveratrol, which some venture capitalists are betting has a future as an anti-aging drug. AP highlights here. Resveratrol and Quercitin, two compounds in grapes, appear to decrease degenerative diseases we associate with aging, such as cancer, dementia, diabetes, vascular disease (heart attack and stroke), macular degeneration and arthritis. People like the French who consume high fat diets but also drink red wine, have a low risk for heart disease.

Besides just tasting good (and I liked these black grapes better than red or white), they

• increase levels of nitric oxide, which helps reduce clot formation
  
• decrease blood clotting by red blood cells
  
• increase levels of alpha-tocopherol and antioxidant activity
  
• protect LDL cholesterol from oxidation
  
• inhibit protein tyrosine kinases
  
• inhibit the production of the blood vessel constrictor, endothelin-1, key contributing agent in heart disease
  
• directly affect (through resveratrol) the heart muscle cells, by inhibiting angiotensin II, which reduces the heart's ability to pump efficiently
  
• through resveratrol, cardiac fibroblasts are prevented from changing into myofibroblasts
  
• grape skins contain saponins which bind to and prevent the absorption of cholesterol
  
• red wines have more saponins than white wines
  
• grapes also contain pterostilbene, which is known to fight cancer and may help lower cholesterol--it is also found in cranberries and blueberries
  
• grape juice, not just red wine, has cardiovascular benefits too without the risks of alcohol consumption, or migraines which sometimes occurs because of additives. Six glasses of grape juice are about the same as 2 glasses of red wine in reducing platelet aggregation.
  
• Resveratrol has been identified as a possible cancer preventive agent, and provides protection against benzopyrene
  
• resveratrol has anti-inflammatory properties and is an activator of an enzyme (Sir2) seen in extended life span studies

Information taken from The world's Healthiest Foods

Another advantage of drinking a glass of red wine at dinner is the socialbility factor. We wouldn't sit and discuss the possibilities of the Ohio State vs. Illinois football game Saturday over a glass of tomato juice or grape juice. Somehow, with a glass of Shiraz, it is almost tolerable and interesting.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things about finances women need to think about

I jotted these ideas down from several different articles I've seen in the last month. With boomers starting to retire, there's a lot out there about women and finances, because the push to get women in the workplace and out of the home began around 1970.

1. Today, women are much more likely to have a successful career than their mothers or grandmothers.

2. They are also more likely to inherit wealth.

3. They will work fewer years than men because of time out to raise children.

4. They are more likely to be getting their health care through their husband’s job.

5. They have higher divorce rates than my generation, which affect their pensions and health insurance.

6. The average age of widowhood in America is 55.

7. Women are more likely to be focused on the present, and tend to postpone important decisions that will affect them 20 years from now. It's a lot more fun to plan a birthday party than read the business section of the paper.

8. Fewer than 1/2 of women have a retirement plan. That would be me until about 20 years ago.

9. Women actually prefer a female financial advisor, but there aren’t very many. No comment. I like our guy and he's younger than us.

10. Gen-Y women are often too busy paying off student loans, credit card debt and leisure expenses to worry about retirement. Gen-X hasn’t done much better. I did no retirement stuff until I was in my 40s, then I started putting the maximum allowed in my 403-b, so it is possible to catch up. But we are savers by nature and have never had a penny of credit card debt--you’re a different generation.

11. 45% of 65 year old women will live to be 90. Women should be saving $5,000 a year starting at age 25 to maintain a middle class lifestyle when they are retired. It’s called the miracle of compounding interest (and the impossible dream, in my opinion).

12. The poverty rate for elderly women is nearly twice that of elderly men (13. 1%) and they live an average of 6 years longer. Most of these women were comfortable when their husbands were still alive. Elderly widowers are more likely to remarry (someone younger) which keeps them out of nursing homes, and they have a chauffer, cook and companion. Because I have a teacher’s pension, I am not eligible for my husband’s social security--so you need to know the law when planning.

13. Uncle Sam is a poor step-father for your children, and an even worse live-in boyfriend when you're older. He’ll keep you poor and begging for life if you start depending on him. Marriage and the extended family is still the best financial and health safety net you can have--but take care of yourself.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Leave a comment and I'll add your name and URL. View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
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3032 What it costs to smoke

How do I count the ways? My heart and hopes are with my 38 year old son who has been smoking half his life. When the morning cough and the expense ($8/day--almost $3,000/year) became alarming, he made another resolve to quit. He's made some really good progress this week, and is down to 5 from 45 cigarettes a day.

My husband grew up in a home with smoking parents. His mother who was very fair and blond lost about 5 inches of height in her later years and had a lung tumor (non-operable). Smoking is much harder on women than men. She quit smoking about 5 years before her death (I think she forgot she smoked), and actually recovered some brain function. When I met my husband nearly 50 years ago, he coughed every morning but he wasn't a smoker. We think he probably coughed at least an hour or two each morning when he worked in an office where smoking was allowed. I can remember in 1967 when I was in graduate school at the University of Illinois and he drove me to class, he would cough all the way from our house to the drop off on campus--probably a 20 minute drive. When he went to work for a downtown firm in Columbus in the mid 70s in an older, poorly ventilated office, he told them he would quit if they couldn't get him away from the smokers, so they stopped letting the employees smoke in the office. Over time, smoking has been eliminated in most public places, even stadiums, but I remember when the library employees smoked behind the circulation desk--patrons didn't, but staff areas were OK. And in retail stores--the clerks were all smoking at the registers. You couldn't get away from it. It was bizarre.

I heard Rush Limbaugh complaining today about the liberal conspiracy behind the smoking initiatives in various states. Rush may be right that the backers are liberals, but I hope we can stop issue 4, which will again allow smoking in bars and restaurants, and pass issue 5 which will stop it. Apparently, Rush hasn't noticed how many people earn their living working as waitresses, bar tenders, bussers and kitchen help in restaurants. A public non-smoking law was passed in Scotland this year, and within a month, when they tested the employees of restaurants, there was a huge improvement in their lung function (reported in JAMA).

Vote NO on #4, the amendment to the Ohio Constitution, called euphemistically, "Smoke Less Ohio," which will bring smoke back to our restaurants, hotels, nursing homes, etc.

smoking laws
anti-smoking laws
smoking ban
smokers
Ohio
Politics
Smoke Less Ohio

3031 Go Martha!

USA Today noted that "more than 18 months after Martha Stewart was released from prison, the company she founded continues to show signs of recovery. Advertising revenue for her magazines rose 75%.

Seems that college tuition is up almost 290% in the last 20 years, and hospital services are up 280%. The Consumer Price Index is up 84.3%. That means housing, fuel, food and beverages, electricity, new cars and apparel rose more slowly than 20 years ago. I suppose it depends on where you're spending your money. Tuition averages $5,836 at a public university today, or $12,796 when all expenses are considered.

Blacks seem to be leaving the plantation. USA Today highlighted 6 African American candidates for Senate and Governor today. Three were Republicans and three were Democrats, although the one who got the most inches was Democrat of course.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled last Wednesday in a 4-3 decision that publicly funded, privately operated charters schools are constitutional. I know the unions won't give up and it will come back at us again. Judge Alice Robie Resnick wrote a dissenting opinion. She's our Supreme Court Judge who's had 2 drunk driving convictions in less than a year. She says she'll resign next January, but I wonder why she thinks she can do her job on the bench if she doesn't have enough brain cells left to know she should stay off the roads while under the influence.

We're still squabbling here in Ohio about voter ID. I pity the poll workers. My absentee ballot hasn't arrived yet, although my husband's came yesterday. I 'm sure all this confusion will cause the Dems to cry foul, if they lose. Did you read that dead Democrats are outvoting dead Republicans 4 to 1? Saw that in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

3030 It's not an apology

if you say, "I'm sorry you were offended." Not to your wife, or best friend, or the Army and Marines. Someone let Kerry know so he can try it again. He could choose:

• "I regret what I said. It was rude and untrue."
  
• "I'm so sorry I denigrated our service men and women serving in Iraq. They are the smartest and best we've ever had. Above the national average."
  
• "I'm such a klutz--I tried to insult the President, but insulted you guys instead, and I am sorry. Then I kept making it worse. What a doofus."
  
• "If I'd been a better student myself, maybe I wouldn't keep making these dumb, haughty mistakes. Forgive me?"

John F. Kerry
How to apologize

3029 Adding some color to my life

Once I eliminated all the food triggers from my diet, life at lunch got a bit boring. Not that a sandwich and chips are so beautiful, but I liked the crunch. So I've been trying foods I rarely, or never ate, either because they don't agree with me, or I just didn't like the taste. One thing I'm eating a little of each day, to ease myself into liking, then loving (hopefully), is chopped bell peppers. In the past I've used them in my paintings, but I don't think I ate these.

Summer's Bounty
They are pretty on a salad--red, yellow green, and Meijer's sells small cartons already chopped, so I don't have to buy several and throw half a soft bell pepper away if I don't eat it. Also, they do have a distinct flavor that truly doesn't trigger my taste buds to ask for more!

According to the World's Healthiest Foods website, they are a wonderful addition to my diet, and will protect me from free radicals. I'm not positive what a free radical is, but I think they are like the political radicals, running around with placards shouting deceptive ideas hoping we'll lose the war against heart disease, diabetes and cataracts. In their little red, yellow and green antioxidant uniforms, peppers police the pro-disease rallies of the radicals and throw them out of the parade, tying them up with fiber and hauling the dirty rotten scoundrels off to jail for trial as traitors to our systems.

Red peppers contain lycopene which might help with cancers of the cervix, bladder and pancreas. Peppers contain a lot of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and folic acid, and their consumption is associated with reduced risk of colon cancer. So we've got below the waist covered, right? What about above the waist and neck? If I were a smoker (thank God I'm not) the vitamin A in peppers might help protect me against lung inflammation and emphysema. Long lived smokers have probably been eating peppers! But there are people who get lung cancer who don't smoke, so eating foods in the red-to-yellow family, like bell peppers, pumpkin, papaya, tangerines, oranges, peaches and corn, offer some protection. Some day if I have to have cataract surgery, the red bell peppers will reduce that risk.They're tasting better already!

Bell peppers are in the nightshade family along with eggplant, tomatoes and white potatoes.

bell peppers
Healthy Living
weight loss
nutrients
cardiovascular disease
triggers

Technorati's search by authority

In checking what questions brought people to my site today, I noticed a technorati search on "politics," and was surprised to see that when those thousands and thousands of blogs were sorted by the "authority" limiter, I was number 2. It seems to select by the number of blogs that link here, which for that service was 815. The first on the list had 816. I don't know how this if figured because TTLB says I have about 560 links coming in. I'd never used the authority filter for those large searches. Looks like something I need to look into.

These searches recorded by my site meter are funny. Today someone's question was "my step son wants to be a nudist," so it found the blog I wrote about 2 years ago which mentioned my great grandmother cared for her daughter's retarded stepson and that my dad had recently arranged for his funeral. Blogs that pass in the night.

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statistics counter

3027 Maybe I should have answered nap to that one question

You Are 29 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

3026 Know any good book

shelves? Isn't this a neat idea? Could work in a small space. Self Shelf.

3025 With God and country at the public library.

I can find anything I need about computers, digital cameras, poker, Elvis Presley, movie stars or the latest fiction at my public library. Crafts? I could knit, tat, crochet and scrapbook out the wazoo. But its collection on Christianity and cultural issues from a conservative viewpoint is skimpy--bordering on "banned books." UAPL now has two, yes TWO, evangelical magazines in its huge collection. When I brought the condition of the collection (one) to their attention, they were so puzzled that a reader thought it was inadequate. No one had ever complained they said, and besides, Christian journals aren't listed in their review sources! I even suggested Books and Culture, an excellent Christian review journal, but I guess they couldn't find it listed either.

The poor selection of Christian book titles (if you want to read something other than Billy Graham, Joni Tada, or Rick Warren) is matched only by the selection of politically conservative titles (if you want something other than Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter). It's possible all the newer conservative books have been checked out, but here's what I found today on the new book shelf. Not sure why we need four new titles on the founding fathers, all "reclaiming" them for liberal causes, but I couldn't figure out why we needed that fancy, expensive new drive up book drop either.

American Gospel, God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham, Managing editor of Newsweek.

Founders on religion by James Hutson, Chief of Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, and formerly of the History Department of Yale. Would you believe that before this book there was "no reliable and impartial compendium?" Apparently previous compilations were prepared by "pious conservatives." Can't have that!

The Faiths of the Founding Fathers by David L. Holmes, College of William and Mary. I must have attended an excellent high school because I’m pretty sure that back in the 50s we were taught that some of the founders were deists and some secularists, but this author thinks this fact has been neglected.

Saving General Washington by J.R. Norton. This author works for Al Franken as a researcher, which makes him an authority on the founding fathers and the right wing assault on our legacies.

Fleeing Fundamentalism by Carlene Cross. Author describes her failed marriage to a fundy pastor; leaves her husband and church. Sob story with a silver lining--she forgives him in the last chapter. Does anyone ever write a failed marriage story about a guy who owns a gas station or who sits at a computer 10 hours a day? But you couldn't bash religion if you did that.

The Christian right or wrong; exposing corrupt teachings. . . by John Card, who holds a B.S. degree in "premedicine" (that would be?) This appears to be privately published and is a reprint of "Big Ol' Christian lies" (2002). Must have been a big demand. Not.

Middle Church; reclaiming the moral values by Bob Edgar who is head of the National Council of Churches, the most left wing "let's play church" group in America. He is a former UMC pastor and 6 term congressman. I wonder which party?

Hidden power by Charles Derber. Glancing through this volume, I’d say it is anti-Wal-Mart, anti-Bush, there's a huge rich-poor gap, and we’re on the tip of fascism. Nice to know what you think of your democratically elected officials, Mr. Derber.

With God on their side; George W. Bush and the Christian right by Esther Kaplan who writes for The Nation and Village Voice. The title tells it all. "A truly shocking dossier of recent religious fundamentalist incursions into the soul of American democracy." Didn't we get a shelf load of these titles in the 2004 election?

The Theocons; secular America under seige by Damon Linker. This guy says he worked as an editor of "its" flagship journal, First Things. Was he the coffee gofer? One of my favorite reads. "A devastating critique" the cover says "of the theocratic ambitions of those who control the Republican Party."

The latest expose of Republican Christians David Kuo's memoir about how poorly he did in the halls of power I didn't see on the shelf, but if it bashes Bush, I'm sure it's been purchased. They haven't missed one yet--best collection of Michael Moore you'll ever find in one building.

Libraries, librarians, conservative books
Reading

3024 Librarian costume out of stock

The skirt is made to look like book covers. And the sizes went all the way up to 275 lbs. Maybe next year. . .
picture from Target

3023 Some blogging updates

The Thursday Thirteen on my food triggers on September 28 has been followed religiously, and the target (I don't like the word "goal") which I wrote down elsewhere on September 25 was to lose my birth weight, 9.5 lbs by the end of October. Although my 46 years old scales (wedding gift) doesn't have fractions, I'm calling it for----ME. The other day I cut through K-Mart looking for an item and went through the snack aisle. Oh my, thought I'd pass out as I passed the Fritos. My exercise routine hasn't been as good as I hoped, what with the weather turning chilly, and all these blogs (9) to supervise.

Also, last week I blogged about the used books I was going to take to the library book sale. You'll be delighted to learn that they have moved from my office to the garage, and have finally made it to the car. While I was at Meier's yesterday, I bought a smallish suitcase for $10 with wheels and pull out handle in a bright lime green which is small enough to keep in my van when empty. I've loaded the books into the suitcase, and today when I return my library books, I plan to drag my little red wagon (which is lime green). I also have stacks of magazines waiting for a new home, so each time I go to the library, I take a load and not strain my back. I thought about one of those folding carts, but this works for my purpose.

Stephanie who writes Skinny Jeans has added some great suggestions to my How not to marry a jerk post which I did back in February.

Today is Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve on the Christian calendar with tomorrow being All Saints Day. But like most Christian holy days, this one has pagan origins and we really do go back to the original plan when we dress up like goblins and ghouls (although the trashy streetwalker look is a newer variation with no tradition). I blogged about this last year. Last night I reread my link to a folklore site.

Michael J. Fox was in Ohio stumping for the Democratic candidate for governor (who will probably win because our current Republican governor is so bad). I'd written about embryonic stem cell research here in May. Fox is just plain wrong headed about this--offering hope where there is none. Yesterday's paper reported the huge private venture capital going into anti-aging research which may have other disease benefits too. The media flogs this looking for new victims. But where is the venture capital for stem cell research. It's not illegal. There is no government boondoggle unless the Democrats control the purse strings. I don't want my tax money being used to clone human cells by destroying embryos--talk about a ghoulish Halloween event year around!

3022 Christmas is coming

Whirled Events gives us Eight gift ideas for bloggers.

HT Back in skinny jeans.

3021 Size matters, apparently

In the coffee shop Friday I heard the man behind me complain, "If this keeps up, by the time I'm 60 I'll be 6'4"." I took a peek at him as he left--he was probably 6'5" and 55 years old. He must be concerned about shrinking. I've lost 1/2" myself.

But did you see the article in the Oct. 30 Newsweek about "Skinny is the new fat?" [p.55] Now I know why I weigh more than at any time in my life and can still get into size 12 jeans, about the same as high school. Apparently, the average American woman weighs 155 lbs and is 5'4" and her waist is 34.5" and her hips 43". (Well, one out of four isn't bad.)

But the "subzero" waist size is 23.5", according to the chart with the article. Now that surprised me. When I was 16 or 17, I had a 22" waist, and wore a size 9. I thought most of the other girls had small waists too. Maybe it was just the crinolines and an optical illusion. But a size 9 would be 6 sizes above a subzero! Sewing pattern sizes varied wildly back then, and in this photo I'm adjusting a size 12 pattern.

Who would want to be a shrinking subzero? Doesn't sound too appealing, does it? Nicole Richie looks like she escaped from North Korea during the government sponsored famine that killed millions.

Ten reasons to let go of your skinny jeans
women's sizes
dress size
sizology

3020 October is American Archives Month: Celebrate the American Record

So I'm a bit late in announcing this, since tomorrow is the last day of October, but I've had such a good time looking at the SAA (Society of American Archivists) site. Here's the message for their members:

"American Archives Month is intended to boost everyone’s current efforts and encourage even more participation. It is a tool that may be used to raise awareness among a variety of audiences, including policy makers, "influentials" within your community, resource allocators, prospective donors, researchers, future archivists, the media (including newsletter editors and community relations departments within your own institution!), and the general public. We encourage you to target your audience carefully, and focus on providing a consistent message that will be most likely to influence the thinking or behavior of that key audience."

I'm much more interested in archives now than I ever was when I was employed as a librarian. But even then, I often had things donated that were not for the library record. Fortunately there was a group in Columbus preserving artifacts, school work and memorabilia of veterinarians. I think every church, business, museum, government department, ethnic group, town, city, club, and family probably has an archive whether or not they realize it. When the oldest member of your family dies, often the history goes with them.

There's a very interesting "Introduction to the principals and practices" of archives next Monday and Tuesday in St. Meinard, IN (practically next door!) which "provides an overview of the core archival functions of appraisal, accessioning, arrangement and description, preservation, reference and access." Looks like it would be a wonderful way to become acquainted with the field, and although the registration is pricey, you sure can't beat the housing and food costs.

Monday Memories of Heritage Lake, Indiana

The date on this photo is 1992 and it was taken at my sister-in-law's home on Heritage Lake, a 320 acre lake near Coatsville and Danville, IN west of Indianapolis. She's a lot of fun and a great hostess, always has a crowd around her. One night while visiting there we went for a moonlight boat ride--it was warm and balmy, the music was playing, we were all having a great time, sigh.

Well, the lot next to her was for sale--$25,000. We decided in the heat of the moon to make an offer--but weren't terribly serious because we already had a second home on Lake Erie. Truly, I've put more thought into buying a pair of shoes. We made an offer through a sales agent (a niece) of $10,000. We knew they'd already turned down $20,000, although since then the husband had died. We left and continued on to my parents' home in Illinois not giving it another thought. One evening we got a phone call from the realtor that our offer had been accepted! We were practically in shock--we hardly remembered the moonlight and the crazy offer for a lot 4 hours driving time from Columbus.

We kept the lot about a year, visiting it occasionally and looking at the beautiful view of the water, then listed it for $25,000, and it sold almost immediately. I just googled a lake front lot on Heritage (don't seem to be many now), and it was around $114,000.

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Heritage Lake, Indiana
vacation property
impulse buying

Missouri, Don't do it. Vote no.

Not all entertainers want to throw money at stem cell research. YouTube Response Ad to Michael J. Fox.

3017 A librarian speaks out about copying

Way to go, Phoebe! Phoebe Simpson is the Technical Librarian & Conservation Specialist at the Rhode Island Historical Society Library in Providence. I was looking her up for verification that she had indeed discovered with some other writings a rare 1644 edition of Bloudy Tenent by Roger Williams, who wrote about separation of church and state, and had his books burned in England. He had immigrated to the future U.S. (Massachusetts) in 1631. I saw the item in Christian History & Biography, Winter 2006, the second evangelical title for my public library, purchased at my suggestion(s). UAPL has at least 40 magazine titles on computers and digital gee-gaws, but couldn't seem to find any appropriate Christian titles.

In my sleuthing, I uncovered some off the cuff remarks she said on a library listserv (discussion group), and thought she sounded like a woman after my own heart.

"Sorry to say, but money still talks. Here is says, "Do your own work." Or expect to pay market rate for the archivist's time."

At her library, you can expect to pay $45 an hour for the first hour, and $40 an hour after that, with deliveries, 4-6 weeks if you don't want to carry your own water--or research. Libraries and archives aren't Kinko's, she says.

She also writes about the damage that photocopying does to documents, "with 1 photocopy equal to 24 hours of daylight exposure and scanning is worse."

"Taking notes," she writes, "was sufficent for 98% of researchers until the blessed advent of ubiquitous photoduplication in the 1980's. Modern culture encourages people to "get a copy" of whatever they can. When the collections are damaged a little bit by every round on the copy machine I don't think it is excessive to encourage people to be selective in what they really need to photocopy (with a $.50 per page preservation charge)." May 11, 2005, Phoebe Simpson, Archives & Archivists List

libraries and archives
Rhode Island Historical Society Library
library preservation
photocopying

End of the month blogbits

With 9 blogs, you'd think I'd get everything said, but when I flip through my notebook at the end of the month, I find little snippets that I thought I would research, comment on, and find links. Here are some:

Defense information school (Dinfos), Ft. Meade, MD trains artists in 66 days to learn what their civilian counterparts at art academies take in four years. They attend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 95% of the recuits complete the program. What are our colleges and universities doing wrong that makes education so time consuming and expensive? WSJ story here.

Temp employment agencies in Ohio are weeding out illegals. ICRA (1986) arrests have increased by 638% in the 3 years since the INS was folded into Homeland Security. Garcia Labor Co. in Ohio was watched for 2+ years before the arrest. Columbus Dispatch story

Opinion page in Dispatch blasts Christians. 2 letters to the editor and a column by E.J. Dionne (WaPo)

Zaha Hadid, Pritzker Prize, architect. WSJ article on 10-19. Don't care if she is a woman, I hated the Cincinnati Centre for Contemporary Art. Why do architects try to make you dizzy?

Pet odors, pet smells. I'll still do this one. Very important not to abuse your pets. On the back burner.

Costs of a second income. How 1 income families get along.

Do children really need expensive vacations? I listed all the favorites our family did. Might be a Monday Memory or Thursday Thirteen.

Firsts. Maybe a TT list.

Who has time for breakfast? Are you abusing your oatmeal? 20 minutes? Yikes, I do 60 seconds in the microwave.

Children of alcoholics. The biological connection.

New activity badge for Boy Scouts about down loading pirated movies and music. They learn about copyright and how to identify stolen materials.

Homophily--birds of a feather flock together. Comments on a WaPo story.

B & D infrawave speed oven. I want it.

Do you want Charlie Rangel to be the House Ways and Means Chairman?

If the Dow were plummeting instead of soaring, do you suppose the media would pay more attention? Maybe if someone leaked it?

Draw a 6 x 6 chalk line and ask 24 lawyers to step within the line. Elevator death at OSU.

Licking Co. (Ohio) Child Support Enforcement Agency is still collecting child support from Joe Randolph even though he's had custody of his children for months after the death of his wife. You need a bureaucracy to really screw up a family.

Service Employees International Union Local 1199 and the Homeless Coalition are trying to thwart Ohio's voter ID laws. They are suing Ken Blackwell, our current secretary of state, and Republican candidate for governor. Update at Volokh When they used voter ID in Cleveland in the primaries, the observers said people brought in everything but the kitchen sink. It's not that hard to prove who you are. Dems want to get illegals to the polls.

Over the past 25 years governments at all levels have collected twice as much in gas taxes as the domestic oil companies have earned collectively in profits. Add on corporate taxes and the govt's total take rises to $2.2 trillion in today's dollars. (WSJ column)

Pets are property, not family. But you should make plans for their care in the event of your death or illness.

Gasoline costs and obesity. Engineering Economist, Oct-Dec 2006

Daddies in coffee shops letting their toddlers run when people are walking with hot coffee.

Mussels don't like Prozac. Getting into Ohio's rivers and streams, female mussels release larvae early. Drug screens for sewage?

What I saw in the ink blot ibm.com/special/cio1

American can do spirit. Illinois river fisherman makes money selling carp to China.

Kahuku High School north of Honolulu has 5 graduates in the NFL--2 in CA and 3 in FL. Beaches and palm trees.

Are you pre-diabetic? There's a plan to list it as "communicable disease" and track you with lab tests. Letting the gov't supervise your fatty acids is like letting it plan levees for a city below sea level.

There are over one million head injuries each year from car crashes, falls and assaults. There are about 250 a year from the War in Iraq. (story about how Progesterone can reduce brain swelling)

"My little Golden Book about God" 2 billion sold since 1942. WSJ article 10-6-06

No load, no Republican mutual funds: "Act blue" and "give blue" investments for liberals: Adobe Systems, Apple, CBS Corp., CVS, Costco, Starbucks

blogging leftovers
ideas for blogs
Current Affairs
opinion
health and fitness

3015 How to confuse a voter

Ohioans have two smoking issues on the ballot this November. Issue 4 is a proposed AMENDMENT to the Ohio Constitution which says it prohibits smoking in enclosed areas except tobacco stores, private residences or nonpublic facilities, separate smoking areas in restaurants, most bars, bingo and bowling facilities, separated areas of hotels and nursing homes, and race tracks.

If it passes, it would invalidate all the local and state laws that currently prohibit smoking (like our favorite restaurant). It is called "Smoke Less Ohio."

The second issue #5 is a proposed LAW which would prohibit smoking in public places and places of employment. It exempts certain locations, including private residences (unless it is used as a business), designated smoking rooms in hotels, motels and other facilities, designated smoking areas for nursing home residents, retail tobacco stores, outdoor patios, private clubs, and family owned businesses. It is called the "SmokeFree Workplace Act."

An Amendment trumps a Law, as I understand it. We have many local and municipal smoking ordinances to protect customers and employees of certain businesses.

No one hates smoking than I do. It is a killer and adds tremendously to our health care costs. However, I don't believe the SmokeFree people will stop with this Law. Eventually, they will try to make it illegal to smoke in your home or car. After protecting the workers, they will go after protecting the children (I can't imagine why idiots smoke with a child or pet trapped inside the car with them, but they do.) I'll vote for #5, but I think we can see what's coming. On the other hand, it is so pleasant to go out and not be choked by smoke and come home with stinky clothes.

Then another amendment to the constitution is to permit 31,500 slot machines at seven horse racing tracks and at two Cleveland non-track locations. This is called "Earn and Learn Initiative" because some of the money is earmarked for scholarships.

Doesn't that sound odd--even if you're a gambler? A constitutional amendment for 31,500 slot machines. Why not 32,000? Why not Cincinnati? This is being pushed on TV with ads that promise the money will go for college scholarships and grants to eligible students. But when you read the amendment, 55% goes to the casino owners and operators, only 30% for scholarships, and the rest is divided among local governments, race tracks and the gaming commission. What a rip off! The TV ads don't say a word about race tracks, only college scholarships.

"Charles J. Ruma, whose Beulah Park racetrack in Grove City made $778,000 last year, would reap most of an average $30 million annual windfall from slot machines if state Issue 3 passes.

And MTR Gaming Group, the owner of Scioto Downs on the South Side, would parlay a $1.3 million annual loss into an average $30 million-a-year income of its own.

If voters approve Issue 3, the so called Learn and Earn initiative, a handful of individuals and corporate interests behind Beulah Park, Scioto Downs, five other Ohio racetracks and two new betting parlors in Cleveland will divide an estimated $1.6 billion in revenue by 2012, according to proponents of the issue." [Columbus Dispatch]

gambling
smoking
smoking bans
greed
dishonesty

3014 Buckeye Homecoming

44-0 doesn't quite seem fair, does it? Yesterday was so cold and rainy (parade, pep rally and tailgate) I couldn't imagine that we would end up with a gorgeous sunny, bright October day, a perfect day for football. You've got to feel bad for those Minnesota players. This seemed to go beyond the home team advantage, to just plain good playing.

Our daughter, son-in-law and his widowed father from Cleveland came over for lunch. Somehow we got to talking about games and I brought out the Boggle game. While the guys retired to the family room to watch (the game before OSU), my daughter and I must have played 10 or 15 sets. She's good! She enjoys words, as I do, but thinks Scrabble just takes too long. Her father-in-law got interested because you can also play it alone. In this game you try to find as many words of three or more letters as you can in 3 minutes. Form words by joining letters up, down, side-to-side and even diagonally. The longer and more unusual the words the higher your score. If you both find the same words, you cross those out and don't score with them.

HOME TEAM WINS FOOT BALL GAME

Ohio State University Football
Buckeyes
Boggle

3013 Before you vote

be sure to read Victor Davis Hanson's assessment of where we are in the Middle East. Then if you still want "cut and run" candidates, pause and say a prayer for all the millions of Vietnamese we sent to their death the last time we did that.

". . . by the historical standards of most wars, we have done well enough to win in Iraq, and still have a good shot of doing the impossible in seeing this government survive. More importantly still, worldwide we are beating the Islamic fundamentalists and their autocratic supporters. Iranian-style theocracy has not spread. For all the talk of losing Afghanistan, the Taliban are still dispersed or in hiding — so is al Qaeda. Europe is galvanizing against Islamism in a way unimaginable just three years ago. The world is finally focusing on Iran. Hezbollah did not win the last war, but lost both prestige and billions of dollars in infrastructure, despite a lackluster effort by Israel. Elections have embarrassed a Hamas that, the global community sees, destroys most of what it touches and now must publicly confess that it will never recognize Israel. Countries like Libya are turning, and Syria is more isolated. If we keep the pressure up in Iraq and Afghanistan and work with our allies, Islamism and its facilitators will be proven bankrupt.

In contrast, if we should withdraw from Iraq right now, there will be an industry in the next decade of hindsight exposés — but they won’t be the gotcha ones like State of Denial or Fiasco. Instead we will revisit the 1974-5 Vietnam genre of hindsight — of why after such heartbreak and sacrifice the United States gave up when it was so close to succeeding." VDH Private Papers

3012 Vocabulary builders

At Liberty Books last night (see previous post) I picked up one or two vocabulary drill books. They always look so interesting, but I know I won't do the exercises. Besides, I have two books on my shelves that I just love--and I don't know all the words yet!

The first is English Vocabulary Builder by Johnson O'Connor published by Human Engineering Laboratory, Hoboken, 1939 [c 1937]. O'Connor opens the book with an article he wrote for Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1934, about the relationship between vocabulary and success. But note this from "Acknowledgments":

"The International Business Machines Corporation has enabled the Laboratory to have a set of data-handling machines for the accurate assembly of material. The Atwell Company of Boston has made it possible for the Laboratory to have Ediphone equipment which has contributed to the preparation of this volume."
Of course, we know what IBM is, so this book used the latest technology in 1937 (there were 9 men and 5 women listed as collaborators, which may have been less sexist than IT staffs today), but the Ediphone was used to replace stenographers. It was invented by Thomas Edison to compete with the Dictiphone. The Ediphone had a tube to speak in and the voice vibrations would be recorded on a wax cylinder. A secretary would then type up the recording and then shave the used layer of the cylinder so it could be reused.[scripophily.net]

O'Connor arranged this book by order of familiarity. In 1937, apparently just about everyone, including children, knew the word, "horseshoer," so it was #1. Seventy years later, you probably wouldn't find many children who had ever seen or touched a shoe for a horse, and if they had to draw one might sketch something resembling a Manolo Blahnik. Using the latest data crunchers of the time, the laboratory found 55 words known to all adults--including "fragrant," "quench," and "disordered." From known to all, he moves on to "unknown to 1 per cent," all the way through to "unknown to 99 per cent." The last group has words that 70 years later would not be that rare, like "brochure," "unconscionable," "utter," and "detraction." I was a bit surprised to see that 50% of high-schoolers knew the meaning of "elegiacal" and "asseveration" in 1937, which I might figure out in context, but would not likely use.

With most words, he gives the percentage that knew it or thought it was something else, and what group they were in (college seniors, adults, prep-school, etc.) and words that might be confused, like retinue and retainer or annulled and nugatory.

The second book I have is Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage by Bergen and Cornelia Evans, Random House, 1957. It's not really a vocabulary builder, but a correct usage guide. This book is lots of fun--snarky remarks about English all over the place. This book is old now, and the authors warn the readers that the language is constantly changing--that silly once meant holy, fond meant foolish, beam meant tree and tree meant beam. But I still like it, and am not ready to replace it with something until I learn all the words I should have known in 1957. Don't pay more than $1.00 for it if you see it at a sale.

Cornelia was Bergen's sister, not his wife, and his papers are at Northwestern; if you look through the description of the files, her name appears also. They had planned a second edition, but didn't complete it. She was also a novelist and wrote "The Cloud of Witnesses," and "Journey into the Fog," using the name Cornelia Goodhue. They were born in Ohio.

Bergen Evans
Cornelia Evans
English language
Vocabulary

3011 Why you should buy a world map

Last night after dinner (where I once a week forget turnip greens, tomato juice, and eating healthy) we went next door to Liberty Books. I'd been carrying around a gift card for ages. Although I was a bit surprised that my husband agreed to go in (he's got the male non-shopper gene), I thought perhaps he was humoring me. After much browsing for a premiere issue (there were none I didn't have), I selected a $14.95 paperback (I remember when new pb's were $.25, and trade pb's were $1.00), and he walked up to the cashier with a $4.95 folded world map.

"What's the copyright date on that?" I asked. He looked surprised--so did the clerk. It was all wrapped up, but she went online and looked. "All I want is a world map," he said, sensing his prize slipping away. "It doesn't have to have last week's coup on it." "Nope." I said, standing my ground, "if we need a map, we need the latest." "January 2003," the young lady chirped. "We needed something newer," I said. "This was the only one," he persisted.

So we bought the book and the map. I'm such a softy.

Later that evening I noticed it was spread out on the living room floor. I squatted down (which is much easier to do since I've lost 8 lbs.) and started looking over the map. "China doesn't look as large as I remember," I said, "but, my goodness, Russia is huge!" "And here are the Canary Islands that some of the bloggers I read talk about as vacation spots." And then, "Oh my goodness, in my mind's eye I had New Zealand on the wrong side of Australia! It's been a very long time since geography class in fifth grade."

My husband sat there looking quite pleased. "Yes, but now look at how tiny Israel is, and all the surrounding countries that are trying to destroy it." Even with my glasses, it was hard to spot it. And very sobering to know how many countries are doing everything they can to remove it from the next edition of this map.

Yes, do buy a world map.

world maps
book stores
Love
date night
copyright

3010 Almost makes me wish

all my old photo albums hadn't fallen apart. Isn't this a fun site?

Blogger burps

My site meter has plummeted this week to about 200 a day. Blogger has been having significant problems. I checked their updates:

"You need to look no further than our status blog or perhaps your own experiences to know that Blogger had a significant number of unplanned outages this last week (forgive me my euphemisms?) and a handful of planned ones to clean up from the unplanned ones. It’s been a Murphyesque cavalcade of power failures, fileserver trouble, and wonky network hardware, and I hope you’ll believe me when I say that the Blogger staff is even more sick of it than you are."

Don't you just love the techie talk: "Murphyesque cavalcade of power failures," and "wonky network hardware." Right up there with thingamajig.

All I know is, I couldn't upload my photos today, and had to borrow some from one of my other blogs. But we finally got my classmate Sylvia added to the reunion blog.

3008 Fourteen super foods

I've been reading SuperFoods RX by Steven Pratt,MD and Kathy Matthews. It's interesting, but I can't imagine how one could eat all this stuff as often as the authors recommend. Here's the list, along with what the authors call their "sidekicks," or substitutions, which helps expand the group. But read the book for the details on the micronutrients, health benefits and the shopping suggestions.

• Beans--all beans such as pinto, navy, northern, lima, garbanzo, lentils, green, snap peas and green peas. Try to eat 4 1/2 cup servings per week.
  
• Blueberries--purple grapes, cranberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries, currants, blackberries cherries, and all other varieties of fresh, frozen, or dried berries. 1 to 2 cups daily (!).
  
• Broccoli--brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, turnips, cauliflower, collards, bok choy, mustard greens, swiss chard. 1/2 to 1 cup daily.
  
• Oats--wheat germ, ground flaxseed, brown rice, barley, wheat, buckwehat, rye, millet, bulgur wheat, amaranth, quinoa, triticale, kamut, yellow corn, wild rice, spelt, couscous. 5 to 7 servings a day.
• Oranges--lemons, white and pink grapefruit, kumquats, tangerines, limes. 1 serving daily (can be orange juice).
• Pumpkin--carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, orange bell peppers. 1/2 cup most days.
• Wild Salmon--Alaskan halibut, canned albacore turna, sardines, herring, trout, sea bass, oysters and clams. Eat fish 2-4 times a week.
  
• Soy--tofu, soymilk, soy nuts, edamame, tempeh, miso. At least 15 grams of soy protein, divided into two separate meals and not from fortified products.
  
• Spinach--kale, collards, Swiss chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, romaine lettuce, orange bell peppers. 1 cup steamed or 2 cups raw most days.
• Tea--1 or cups daily
• Tomatoes--red watermelon, pink grapefruit, Japanese persimmons, red-fleshed papaya, strawberry guava. One serving of processed tomatoes or sidekicks a day and multiple servings per week of fresh tomatoes.
• Turkey (skinless breast)--skinless chicken breast. 3 - 4 servings per week of 3-4 oz.
• Walnuts--almonds pistachios, sesame seeds, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews. 1 oz. 5 times a week.
• Yogurt--kefir. 2 cups daily.

I'm dizzy. I have a tummy ache. I can't imagine eating 2 cups of yogurt a day! A dollop on my fresh fruit, yes. And soy? Tofu? Eeeyew. I'm fine with the oats, OK with the OJ, turkey and pumpkin--terrific; but blueberries I might have 3 or 4 times during the summer.

And I'm crushed that apples aren't on the list! I eat an apple every single day. A day without an apple is just not worth waking up for. Tea I'll drink when I don't have coffee.

So today I had a big giant Honey Crisp apple, 6 oz. tomato juice, 1/2 cup of turnip greens/turnips mixed with about 1/4 cup of yellow corn (really makes the greens taste better), a 1/2 cup cantelope, 1/4 cup of sliced carrots mixed with 1/4 cup fresh pineapple topped with fat free cottage cheese. And of course, coffee with cream.

And it's Friday so we're going out to eat and I'll have my favorite sandwich (philly cheese loaded with onions and peppers) and french fries. You can imagine how great that's going to taste after mustard greens for lunch.

Friday Family Photo

Home on Hannah Avenue
My parents owned this home in Mt. Morris, IL from 1951-1958, then moved to Lincoln Street until 1996 when they moved to the Pinecrest Apartments. However, it was the third house Dad bought in Mt. Morris that year. It was his habit to buy a home for his family sight unseen by my mother. I think she got tired of remodeling old clunkers, and said NO to the nice new home on the east side of town because she thought it was too small. So then he bought a new two story on the east end of Lincoln Street, but it was too small also. So he traded that home for this lovely big old house on Hannah Avenue. It also had room for Dad's truck since it had a large barn/garage, a full basement, full attic, 4 bedrooms, and a den/office that doubled as a music room.


My brother and the barn on HannahThis was a great "kid" house. Within two blocks of us lived many children and it had an extra acre in the back yard. It had a tree in the front yard (not in photo) that was perfect for climbing, and I staked my horse in the back. Mom had a huge garden (although that wasn't so great for kids because we had to help) and for awhile we even had chickens (loose zoning). For slumber parties, I took over the living room and Dad's office/music room, and my sister Carol had hers in the attic which had a high pitch and windows on 3 sides. I could have the whole CBYF church group (probably 20 kids or so) on the front porch. When a girl friend moved to Florida after our junior year, I had all the girls from our class in the living room for a good-bye party. Different groups and classes from school used our barn for floats.

Although I wasn't around the summer the decision was made to sell this, my favorite house, it was sold after Mother remodeled everything! The next house, which they lived in for 38 years was cramped, small, had no style and only one bathroom. However, she spent about 1/3 of the value of the home just remodeling the kitchen, and Dad didn't sell it until they were ready to go to a retirement apartment! She used every clipping she'd been saving for years on this kitchen and had a carpenter custom make all the cabinetry because she was short. I call it her payback kitchen.

3006 Did you get your flu shot?

We got ours Sunday at church. I haven't had a bad case of the flu--the achy, breaky, two weeks and flaky kind since the epidemic of 1957 (Asian flu--about 70,000 died) when I was in college. But I do now get a flu shot. Some people don't believe in vaccines. I do.

I read in the paper that there will now be a vaccine, Zostavax, for shingles for people over 60. I will definitely get this. It is a terribly painful and debilitating condition. It emerges from dormant chicken pox in blisters and a rash, and it can turn into severe neuralgia or chronic nerve pain. My dad had it for awhile on his scalp (it is also ugly and leaves scars), and my Aunt PeeWee (yes, that's what we all called her) became a shut-in from it. Sometimes an outbreak is brief, a few days or weeks, and sometimes it can drag on for years.

"There are an estimated one million new cases of shingles in the United States each year, and the risk of contacting the disease rises with the aging of the individual. It is estimated that one out of every two individuals over 85 is at risk for getting the disease. About half of all cases occur in people over 60, but the risk is also extremely high for younger people with immune problems, AIDS sufferers and people with cancer." TheRubins.com

Read the FDA notice here.

Zostavax
Shingles
vaccines
flu vaccine