Everybody knows

that diets aren't the answer; that it's a lifestyle. Or do they? I was reading through the comments at a blog the other day. Both the blog writer and reader were commenting on their own obesity. The reader said she had successfully lost 60 pounds, kept it off for six years, been a counselor in a commercial weight loss program, and then gradually all the weight returned as she realized that without spending all her day thinking about what she would eat, there was no way she could maintain her weight.

And the thought occurred to me that most people of "normal" weight probably do just that--think about what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat, and how the calories will be expended if overeating does occur. I do. So do others who are not overweight. I just finished breakfast (fruit and walnuts); I'm already thinking about lunch (4 or 5 vegetables). In fact, my husband is the only person I know who seems to have built-in signals that keep him from over eating, but if he does decide he's "packed on" 5 lbs., he stops eating crackers and peanut butter in the evening, and in a few weeks, he's back to normal (ca. 155 lbs.)

My great-grandmother Nancy (1833-1892) had nine children, as did her mother-in-law Elizabeth (1791-1878), who lived with her after her husband's death. You don't think these ladies spent most of their day figuring out how to bake enough bread or slaughter and stew enough chickens to feed a bunch like that? This is nothing new for women--what's new is abundance instead of scarcity, choices instead of physical labor, and we haven't learned the new game plan.

We went out to eat Friday night with friends we've known (but not well) for about 30 years. She's thin and toned. She's probably in her early 70s, but has looked this way to me since her 40s. For dinner she ordered a turkey wrap and a salad. She took half the wrap order home. The next day she was going to be biking 20 miles to have breakfast with friends. The temperatures here were about 30 degrees, and it was windy. She's also a swimmer. We then went to their home where she served a wonderful warm pumpkin tart made with Splenda topped with sugar-free Cool-Whip. You don't think she plans, computes and calculates everything that goes in her mouth and how many calories are burned in biking and swimming?

Oddies, Endies, and Undies

Yesterday I noted that my husband squeaked through on registration to tour the new Dublin Methodist Hospital to get 3 credit hours in health, safety and welfare for his continuing education requirements. At supper last night (homemade pizza) he couldn't stop raving about the design, creativity and planned well-being for patients. So it is definitely a winner, all around. You folks who live in Dublin and surrounding areas are going to have one super community hospital.


As I was settling in for a nap (one of my favorite events of the day) about 2 p.m. I heard a loud crash. I was a bit groggy, but realized the roof was not above me--the master bedroom is there. So I walked upstairs carefully, thinking perhaps a mirror or painting had fallen. When I got to the master bath, I saw that all the marble trim tile had fallen off the edge of the vanity. If anyone had been standing there in bare feet, he would have had a broken toe. I walked downstairs and told my husband (he uses that bathroom), and he said he wasn't surprised, that it was noted in the inspection in 2001 when we bought the condo, but hadn't been fixed.

So I settled in again for my nap. The phone rang and my husband picked it up from the kitchen. I opened an eye and looked at the TV screen. A name and phone number appeared. The conversation was with the buyer of one of the condos that has been for sale for a year. My husband is president of the association, and this purchase has involved many meetings of the board. When he hung up he said the purchase was final. I asked the buyer's name, but he couldn't remember. Was it--and I mentioned the name that had appeared on our TV screen, and he said Yes. Now that's weird. We assume it is something in her phone, because to our knowledge, this has never happened before. Has this ever happened to you?

A nap was definitely out of the question after two interruptions, so I decided to go Christmas shopping. I had four cards from Macy's. Two for $15 off a $50 purchase, and two for $25 off a $100 purchase. The problem was Macy's was also having a one day sale--something like "take another 20% off the already 50% markdown." I'm math challenged. So when I got my carefully totalled gifts (in my head) to the head of the check out line (waited 10 minutes), they only came to $82. So I'm refiguring what we'd agreed on, and go back and pick up an item that was $18 (although the $9 would have done just as well). See, that's how they trap you. In my head, I'm deducting the $25 off my son's gift, so it evens out with my daughter's and son-in-law's, but the receipt shaves each item--and actually totals $26 and not $25. I'll stick with my head on this.

I still have two cards left, so I browse the ladies lingerie department--not for a gift, but for me. My favorite brand of undies (which always seems to be on sale) has a buy 3 get one free (ca. $18), although because of the sale, I have no idea what it will be when I get to the register. So I go down stairs and look at shoes to see if there's something in 8.5 AA, and I select 2 Naturalizers and take them to the desk (no one comes to you these days). You would have thought I'd asked for the moon. "We have no narrow sizes in any style," she sniffed (She was quite large, and I think that's why narrow sizes are disappearing). You see, I thought if I bought a pair of shoes I didn't really need, I'd get the panties I didn't really need almost for "free." Saved from consumer hell by a shoe width.

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 37. What is your score? Get it here.

That was close!

As an architect, my husband needs a certain number of continuing education credits each year to keep his license, and he has plenty, but was .5 short in one category--health, safety and welfare. One of the problems with finding anything out is that he doesn't use a computer, and all his newsletters have gone to e-format. So I'm the one who glances through them, and mentions things to him. (Like the architect his age who died when he fell off the ladder cleaning gutters.) But because he didn't know until 2 days ago about the 1/2 missing credit, I haven't really been paying attention. So yesterday I scanned the last few issues to see if we missed something, and at 4 p.m. an e-mail popped up about "only 4 spaces left." I thought maybe it was spam because I didn't recognize the sender's address, but I clicked on it. There it was: 3 credits for something today at 3 p.m., near-by, and inexpensive! I hollered downstairs, "I found something, but it's tomorrow!" I printed it off, he called, and the office was closed. So this morning about 9:15 he called--got an answering machine. She calls back in 5 minutes, and said she'd just had a cancellation (it was full). So he's in, and should have a good time previewing a new hospital in Dublin, Ohio.

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Books are such wonderful things

My mother wanted to be a librarian. She worked in the library at Mt. Morris College when she was a freshman there in 1930-1931 (the college had a disasterous fire in the spring and closed the next year). The Depression, then marriage and motherhood ended any career dreams, but she briefly worked as a clerk in the town library in the late 1950s. She was quiet, well organized, determined and tenacious; if anyone ever said a negative word about her, I never got wind of it. She drove to Rochelle to teach migrant workers to sew, held Bible studies in her home for years, ran a retreat center on her family's farm, and looked after innumerable relatives. For the most part to fulfill her dreams, she just read, researched and collected. We always received books or magazine subscriptions as gifts at Christmas from my mother and grandmother. Shortly before she died in 2000 she was still walking to the town library, which had become a public library while she was in college, and she had card #14. When she was in high school, she won an essay contest at the Dixon, Illinois public library, the nearest library to their farm. I think this was written when she was 15 or 16 and was published in the paper, so I only have the clipping and not the date.

Books are such wonderful things
There is one place, above all others, that holds a fascination that is not to be dimmed by frequent explorations. That place is a library. Rows on rows of books reaching to the ceiling. Some are nicely bound, clean and little used; others are shabby, worn out by loving an d unloving hands. They are there waiting for me, quiet and orderly from the outside, as they rest in neat lines on the shelf. Inside of the multi-colored covers is action, teeming life, successes and failures, tragedy and comedy.

To prepare for a trip is a different task, especially if it would be a journey that would reach around the world, turn back the centuries and allow me to live with the world from the earliest time to the present day. Such a journey is, of course, impossible, although extremely pleasant to dream of taking; time has never been known to stop or turn back. Out of the years has come something better for men. People of all times have written or recorded their thoughts on stone, parchment and paper. Only the best is left to us, and we may have a microscopic, yet comprehensive view of the world.

Only a slight motion of the hand is necessary and the cover of a book is opened; a kingdom waiting to be explored. Perhaps in this lies some of the wonder of a book. One need not leave the room to enjoy adventure or learn what is going on in other countries. What has happened hundreds of years ago is as close at hand as the present day. We may know more about Mary, Queen of Scots, than the “first lady of the land.”

A book is for relaxation of tired minds and bodies, inspiration through the actions of some ancient hero of mighty deeds. It has the power to lift the reader from surroundings that are familiar to places of dazzling splendor or trouble or squalor. A book will take you farther and faster than Mercury’s wings.

One summer day I sat down to read. The air was heavy with heat; only by reading could I forget the uncomfortable weather. My book was an Alaskan story. I climbed snowy mountains and crossed bleak valleys with the lone traveler. As the story proceeded, the traveler crossed a supposedly frozen lake but disaster came upon him. The ice was thin and gave way. I sailed through the icy waters with no hope of rescue, with the unfortunate man. It was terrible for life to end this way--no friends to weep, just lost. I shivered as the awful desolation of the north held me in its power. With a dry throat and my heart pounding wildly I stopped at the end of the chapter to find myself shaking with cold under the rays of a scorching sun.

A book is so wonderful, if it is truth from the author’s heart. It can do more than dazzle the brain with facts and fancies. It will reveal the vision of life as the author sees it. It may be ugly or it might be beautiful, joyous; it might be merely silly. Through the thoughts of his characters will run his own thoughts, their actions, what he himself might have done. Their philosophy of life is his, though it may not appear so on the surface. The author cannot keep himself hidden no matter how he tries.

Through the ages, men have attempted to tell realistically of the actions and lives of others. No matter how they failed or succeeded, they left a true picture of themselves--an example of the real feelings of that time more exact than any attempted story. That is why books are such wonderful things.

Monday Memories--A special Christmas

Christmas is a time to bring out the memories, isn‘t it? This one is quite fresh--last night, in fact. It is so easy to let special times slip by without mention--we think we'll always remember. That’s why a diary (this blog) is so useful when the memory track becomes so jumbled, scratchy and full--and a thesaurus might help too, because some superlatives can be overused.

Our couples group from church, called SALT (Serving and Learning Together), met for dinner at members’ lovely, traditional home in south Arlington. Treasures collected over many years of marriage--through lean and plenty--decorated every room. Nothing splashy or over done, but lovingly displayed each year--a framed needlepoint, tiny ceramic Santa Claus, an angel. Each one precious with stories to tell. Our hostess provided a delicious pork loin, and the other couples brought appetizers, salad, potatoes and dessert. Every morsel was prepared lovingly and to perfection--the wonderful smells wafted throughout the house. However, it was the Christian fellowship that made the night so special. The five couples sat around the dining room table, beautifully set with seasonal treasures, with just the right touches of holiday greens and red candles, china, silver angel napkin rings and goblets.

After catching up on our activities since we last met in November, the talk easily flowed to Christmases past and what was special “in the old days.” Many of us had parents born in the early years of the 20th century (my parents were born in 1912 and 1913, as were those of several others), and we told what modest celebrations they had--perhaps an apple or an orange, a plate of cookies or a new outfit. In the case of my mother, nothing, because Christmas wasn’t observed in her family when she was small except to go to church. Then we moved along the years to our own childhood Christmases, then our children’s, and now the grandchildren’s--with the bag of gifts growing with each year. It’s probably our age, but we all seemed a bit nostalgic for a time when we had less! There were funny stories, too--one man told of carefully slitting the wrapping, peeking inside the boxes, and then meticulously rewrapping the presents; another recounted the time his little brother unwrapped all the beautiful presents their mother had so artistically wrapped and placed under the tree--the day before Christmas. One woman told of an uncle who would come by with sleigh bells, circle the house, jingling them outside while the children were in bed (but still awake), banging on down spouts if someone had already fallen asleep. Was it the laughter, the candles, the sharing--but something felt like a warm cozy blanket in that room.

Then we moved to the living room to sing carols--our hosts have a gorgeous piano and a room that complements it in color and size. One of our members is an accomplished pianist and church musician. I love to watch her play--the graceful hands, the studied, far away look on her face, so I stood by the piano (Oh, it was beautiful!). We shared more stories and then prayer concerns. I’ve been in many groups over the years, but this one seems the most spiritually mature, the most dependent on God for strength and comfort through prayer and service.

I was opposite the tree. The lights in the room were dim--or seemed that way--and as the evening progressed, the tree appeared to glow. The lights reflected against the silvery roped strands, sending reflected light from the ornaments into the room. I’ve seen hundreds of Christmas trees in my life, but on this special night with friends, celebrating the first advent of our Lord, this tree was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. About 9 p.m. we held hands and prayed, then moved out into the starry, crisp night. Yes, a wonderful Christmas memory to pack away and treasure.

Maybe there’s a volcano or other hotspots?

Scientists have discovered what they think may be another reason why Greenland's ice is melting: a thin spot in Earth's crust is enabling underground magma to heat the ice. They have found at least one “hotspot” in the northeast corner of Greenland - just below a site where an ice stream was recently discovered. The researchers don't yet know how warm the hotspot is. But if it is warm enough to melt the ice above it even a little, it could be lubricating the base of the ice sheet and enabling the ice to slide more rapidly out to sea. “The behavior of the great ice sheets is an important barometer of global climate change,” said Ralph von Frese, leader of the project and a professor of earth sciences at Ohio State. Read the news release at Ohio State University Research

Green pork

Green, green, grant green they say,
On the side of Capitol Hill.
Green, green, not goin' away
'Cept where the grass is greener still.

"The House Committee on Education and Labor recently approved legislation that would create a new grant program for colleges and universities to promote sustainability. Originally reported in the AIA Angle in October, the Higher Education Sustainability Act of 2007 (H.R. 3637), drafted by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), would allow institutions of higher education to apply for federal funding for the development of programs and initiatives that address sustainability, specifically in the areas of green building, energy management, and waste management.

Education Committee Chair George Miller (D-CA) included The Higher Education Sustainability Act in a comprehensive higher education bill, The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (H.R. 4137). The committee unanimously approved the legislation, and it is expected to be debated on the House floor before the end of the year. And on Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced a version in the Senate (S.2444) . The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingman (D-NM); Christopher Dodd (D-CT); Edward Kennedy (D-MA); and John Kerry (D-MA). The House and Senate hope to finalize the bill and send it to the president by early next year." From AIA Angle, December 13, 2007

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words is called alliteration. I wonder how long it took the author to come up with this title, "Commercialization, Commodification, and Commensurability in Selective Human Reproduction: Paying for Particulars in People-to-Be." It's almost too cute for a very serious subject, selective reproduction (also called "offspring enhancement") by author Dov Fox, of Yale Law School, appears in the Journal of Medical Ethics. This type of enhancement looks a bit more troublesome than rich athletes using steroids, don't you think? Other than taxing it or regulating it, I'm guessing Congress won't do much. Once God's been kicked out of the public square it's hard to invite him back in. As a nation we've decided that the less-than-perfect products of conception deserve a pre-natal death; so designing the uber-perfect baby is probably the next step in our moral decline.

Pre-natal screening and genetic modification may one day enable parents to pick individual traits for their offspring from among a range of available options. If Americans already enhance themselves at a cost of $50 per orgasm, $500 per patch of hair, $1,000 per SAT point, $2,500 per cup size, and $50,000 per inch of height, and if the unlikely prospect of biological design nevertheless became possible, why wouldn’t parents opt for mathematical aptitude, a witty disposition, or straighter teeth for their children-to-be? Fortune magazine gauges the prospective U.S. market for preconception sex selection alone at over $200-million-a-year annually.Abstract here, with links to downloading

Is she kidding?

Ellen Goodman claims the Democrats are suffering from an embarrassment of riches, and the Republicans just an embarrassment.

I know she's a liberal, but blind, deaf and dumb, too? How does this woman survive with so many talented pundits trying to get her job? [She's not in this magazine--I just liked the cover.] The Republican roster, even including the ones I don't care for, like Rudy and McCain (mainly because of their messy personal lives), so far outshine the troika of Hillary, Obama and Johnny there's just no match. Hillary claims "change and experience." She's a has been before she gets to the gate. Who wants to go back to Bill running things and calling it a change? Edwards keeps whining about 2 Americas trying to paddle that canoe in the Great Society swamp, and Obama can't quite get the black folks to believe he's one of them (for very good reason).

Was I this silly when I was a liberal? Don't think so. I probably held my nose when voting for Bill.

Global Warming; the origin of the consensus

Let's look back a few years--to 1992. I'm not sure I was even aware of global warming in 1992--I probably was still under the influence of the global cooling theories. 1988 was the hottest summer I can remember, but then I wasn't around in the 1930s, although my parents could tell the stories of the dust bowl and the ghastly hot summers. I had watched Lake Erie rising and had seen the huge boulders they were bringing in to keep it from destroying the lawns that led down to the flat rocks. I could see from the old photographs of Lakeside that the lake was much higher in the 1970s than it was in the 1950s or the 1920s. Of course, all that has changed now--the lake is low again, and would be even lower if it weren't for the other Great Lakes draining into it. The boulders look a bit silly and lonesome now.

Check out what Richard S. Lindzen said about the origins of the "consensus" in 1992, and then what he said in 2006. Then browse a bit of history--like how cold it was in Europe in the late middle ages--how people froze from the cold, or starved because the growing seasons were so short after experiencing a balmy period in the 11th and 12th centuries. Then ask yourself, why should the world always be only the way I remember it? (Of course, Ohio used to be covered with a glacier, so I know it is getting warmer, and I'm so glad it did.)

And then pause to remember the Chinese, yes, the billions and billions of Chinese, who are just on the cusp of wanting what we in America and western Europe already have. They could sign 10 Kyotos, and it won't make a snippet of difference (following a contract is not in their tradition), while Al Gore and friends try to shut down the American economy in hopes of cooling the planet. Yes, think about China as you screw in your energy-saving, mercury filled bulbs made in coal fired factories in China and congratulate yourself for being so careful with fragile, elderly Mother Earth.

JAM says he could take global warming more seriously if only the people warning us about it were acting out their concern or behaving respectfully toward the environment in their daily lives. He's a bit more generous. I might take it more seriously if they weren't the same folks who say it took millions and millions of years for humans to develop a brain and walk up right, owls to learn to eat field mice, and terns to learn to navigate to their nesting area over thousands of miles, but now we're going to hell in a handbasket in just a couple of hundred years. How did evolution ever succeed without Al and his oversight committee of the IPCC?

Do your part to save the planet:

lose weight,
stop smoking,
pick up trash along the road side,
conserve resources,
plant a garden,
pick up after your dog poops in someone else's yard,
keep your cat in the house,
don't put out bird seed or throw bread to the ducks,
don't take down the fence rows on the farms,
put up a purple martin house,
don't drive like a drugged jack rabbit,
and be nice--reduce hot air by using your common sense.

Wild turkeys

couldn't keep me away from browsing "deepwoods" photos over at Weather Underground photo blogs.



She writes (but I can't find a place to comment and tell her how much I've enjoyed her photographs): "I am a lady who is now a stay at home homemaker. I live in the woods on the rocky coast of Maine. There are many opportunities to snap some great nature and wildlife scenes, as well as whatever else catches my eye as being interesting or a little different. I also love to bake, and do bake all our bread. Reading is one of my favorite pasttimes, non-fiction only. I am working on a book about my dog, Ridge, who also appears in many of my photos, as he is my constant companion...my hiking buddy, and my best friend. My firm belief and hope is that everyone will one day make a visit to the great state of Maine....it's not called "Vacationland" for nothing!" Sounds like a great life, doesn't it? I spent a summer session at a college in Maine, and we went there to see some fall color in the late 1970s. It is truly a gorgeous state. And winter doesn't look too shabby either!

Don't you need a kitty to love?

Capital Area Humane Society is looking for you. 3015 Scioto-Darby Executive Court, Hilliard, OH 43026 (614) 777-7387 FAX (614) 777-8449.

Where do you display your Christmas cards?

A survey at USAToday reported 46% on a table, 22% on the fireplace mantel, and 17% on a bookshelf. It's the 15th of December. My credenza is full; we need to find a new spot. In our other house, we wrapped red ribbon around the hall closet door, and taped the back side of the card to the ribbon so it sort of became a bulletin board.



See the photo of the boys on the far right side of the mirror? I nearly cried when I saw them. Could not believe how grown up they are. They now live in Texas, but their parents lived here when they were pre-schoolers--they are now 17 and 20 and the younger one is taller than the older. Our guys met on a job interview; architecture was so slow in Texas, but my husband's firm was unable to hire this promising, young Tejano architect. We invited them to church and became friends. When they moved back to Texas two years later when the economy improved, we were sorry to see them go.

This year birds are the winners--probably 4 cardinals in the snow cards with several other species, then kittins, then lion and lamb, maybe two dogs. Only a few snowmen, and really not very many baby Jesus cards either.

The weather outside is. . .

Snowing in central Ohio. Grab a camera. I've just been browsing Weather Underground and the superb photos posted there. I think you join, and post weather related photos. The horse photo was posted after the December 13 ice storm, and the barn in Missouri earlier by idzrvit (I have no idea who that is, but I just liked the photos). In the search window enter, "ice storm." With some 300,000 people without power don't talk to these folks about global warming.

How Google can help clean your bathroom

The Internet isn't a library, but like library stacks, it can be a lot of fun to browse. Ten or twelve years ago when I would attend a professional conference, we'd hear comments like "The Internet is like having a key to someone else's garage," or "The Internet is like a library with everything on the floor." It's come a long way with incredible finding tools, especially Google. But I still love serendipity and browsing, the same thing I do in libraries. Here's this morning's trip and I started with a book:

For morning devotions I've been reading "Keep a quiet heart" by Elisabeth Elliot. Flipping through the back I noticed the 266 essays are actually culled from Elliot's newsletter, "The Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter" published 6 times a year, for $7.00/year. I flip to the front and see that my paperback copy was published in 1995, so I figure it's unlikely the newsletter is still in publication. I've actually met her when she gave a talk at our church many years ago on finding God's will for your life. But I get up from my comfortable chair and sit down at the computer--for two hours!

When I Google "Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter" I find a website for AA, Alcoholics Anonymous bibliography, that had quoted her newsletter's mention of Gertrude Behanna, who is apparently a well-known star among speakers on alcoholism, and I stop to read her autobiography, "God is not dead." It's really super, and I strongly recommend it if you have an alcoholic or druggie in your life.

I see that her life story was made into a movie starring Anne Baxter, The Late Liz, but skip over that tucking it away to check our library's excellent video collection (assuming it hasn't been rejected because of spiritual content).

But I got interested in her sons (of different marriages)--one a recovering alcoholic who is not a Christian and the other a priest who isn't an alcoholic, so I Google "son of Gert Behanna" since she didn't mention their names. This just brings up more references to the movie, but does link to the 27 page pdf list of videos by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. This looks like something our church librarian might like, so I print it in draft, and the printer spits the 27 pages all over my office while I'm in the basement putting a load in the washer.

The last page I pick up is p.1, since it prints backwards, and my librarian's obsessive spirit asks, "Well, just how difficult could it be to check a few of these titles on the Internet to see if they are available for purchase?" The first title is "The gift of the creed," by Dr. Timothy F. Lull and Rev. Patricia J. Lull, presented to the 1993 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA (our synod). Although I find a reference to it, I don’t see availability, so I then Google “ELCA DVD” browse its list of available video products and decide it’s either too old, or was a very limited production only sent to churches.

Then I Google “Timothy F. Lull” and find out he died in 2003 after surgery. However, he was such a popular teacher at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, some of his students put together his lectures on Luther and Lutheranism and published it on Lulu.com at “The Press of the Society of the Three Trees” dedicated to the study of the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. This press has published 5 titles, plus a journal, Christus Lux.

Because I collect first issues of journals, I decide to Google Christus Lux to see if it might be worth buying Vol. 1, no. 1. (It’s $15--a bit out of my range).

I notice another book by this press titled, “What’s wrong with sin,” by Derek R. Nelson--and I wonder if our church library might want this so I google the author, and find out he is now at Thiel College in Pennsylvania, a college with Lutheran ties I’ve never heard of. So of course I have to check out its web page, stopping at its library to look at an art show by a Kenyan. I stop to e-mail the author to ask if he thinks it is appropriate for a parish library of a very evangelical Lutheran church.

Then I notice it is about 6:45, so I take my printed and reassembled pdf list of the videos of the Eastern Synod of Canada and go to Caribou. While drinking coffee, I note many other videos I think would be good, like The joy of Bach (Gateway Films), The Great Mr. Handel (Gateway Films) and an interesting video on the art of choral directing by Lloyd Pfautsch of Southern Methodist University produced by Augsburg Fortress in 1988.

When I get home, I carry the laundry up to the bedroom where my husband is getting dressed. I recount to him all the fabulous things I found on the Internet this morning starting with Elisabeth Elliot’s book. His eyes glaze over.

While I’m hanging up his towels, I see the bathroom needs a good scrubbing.

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Why marriage matters

If marriage weren't so important to the survival of society, it wouldn't be worth saving. We are not a society of rich and poor; we're married and unmarried.

"There is a reason that all cultures treat marriage as a matter of public concern and even recognize it in law and regulate it. The family is the fundamental unit of society. Governments rely on families to produce something that governments need—but, on their own, they could not possibly produce: upright, decent people who make honest, law-abiding, public-spirited citizens. And marriage is the indispensable foundation of the family. Although all marriages in all cultures have their imperfections, children flourish in an environment where they benefit from the love and care of both mother and father, and from the committed and exclusive love of their parents for each other.

Anyone who believes in limited government should strongly back government support for the family. Does this sound paradoxical? In the absence of a strong marriage culture, families fail to form, and when they do form they are often unstable. Absentee fathers become a serious problem, out-of-wedlock births are common, and a train of social pathologies follows. With families failing to perform their health, education, and welfare functions, the demand for government grows, whether in the form of greater policing or as a provider of other social services. Bureaucracies must be created, and they inexorably expand—indeed they become powerful lobbyists for their own preservation and expansion. Everyone suffers, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering most."

And much more here.

What liberal bias?

Seen at a library digitization publication, Digital Document Delivery:

A 2005 cartoon by Pat Oliphant depicts God working at a drawing board, with a bearded angel looking over His shoulder, and ascribes to God the words,

“I’ve been trying to perfect some kind of intelligent design, but all I keep coming up with is a bunch of simple-minded, right-wing, fundamentalist, religious fanatics. I think I’ll just let the whole thing evolve.”

They don't mind insulting millions of Christians and Jews who think evolution is a pile of horse pucky, but they are careful to note that they are not reproducing the cartoon out of fear of copyright violation.

Two out of three isn't bad

Yesterday I had lunch with a home-schooled eleven year old. After our Advent services at church we serve lunch, and when I was finished, I sat at a table with Mom, her son, and her male friend. The young man was so articulate and well-behaved I was amazed. He held his own offering opinions on a law suit about a gas line issue here in Columbus. His mom told me that every day she drives him to the east side so he can participate on a swim team. Obviously, she turns off her cell phone and connects with her kid during the 30 minute drive time.

I also met one of our new part-time pastors on our care team. He visits the sick, elderly and shut-ins and helps out in other areas as needed. He has relatives here, so he had actually been visiting our church for years before his retirement. We served communion together, with me giving him a few tips on how we do it, because I don't think he'd served before in our Lutheran church. He is a Southern Baptist.

Then in the evening our Visual Arts Ministry spent an hour or so shifting our supplies and equipment from a first floor phone closet, to a larger storage area on the upper floor near our hanging space. We chatted briefly with the security guard, a handsome young man named Muhammed. I'm still digesting that one.

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Dear Mr. Hotz

I noticed your science column today in the Wall Street Journal--your faith in global warmists is admirable, if misplaced. I'm certainly no scientist, and don't have your credentials. However, if I were going to measure CO2 I probably would not be doing it above the world's largest volcano, as you report. I'd also assume that equipment for measuring it in 2007 was a bit more sophisticated and sensitive than it was in 1958, when it was started, therefore certainly showing big increases. I watch the nightly weather reports, and I'm surprised that even in 1958 when there were no records, that people predicted backwards coming up with a model that just fit their need for grants and publication. Why just last night, I watched today's prediction change from what it had been 12 hours before.

And hundreds of sensors? Where would that be exactly? In countries that can't maintain a government or a road, and where women are covered head to toe and they haven't figured out why AIDS is on the increase?

Sorry, Mr. Hotz, you're not even warm on this. We don't control the earth, the sun or the moon. We gave up trying to figure out what to do with abandoned TV sets, disposable diapers, and old tires, so we decided to change the climate. Now, isn't that a bit silly?

This is your gravy train, so keep it up. Excuse me if some of us aren't buying into it.

Librarians and privacy

What were librarians, the guardians of privacy when it comes to the Patriot Act and pornographers on the internet, saying about Facebook, the social networking site. Well, if you google "librarians Facebook privacy" you'll find they were practically wetting themselves in their eagerness to be relevant.

In today's Wall Street Journal Randall Rothenberg calls the news of the shutdown of Facebook's Beacon program, a victory for "market forces."

Within the space of a month or so, Facebook launched and then shut down an advertising program called Beacon that alerted users to purchases and other activities their "friends" made outside Facebook. The episode has been called many things: "annoying," "upsetting," "creepy," a "nightmare," a "privacy hairball." I call it proof that when it comes to the evolution of the Internet, market forces work.

Apparently, Facebook subscribers didn't like their friends being exploited, even if they didn't think of it in privacy terms. When the internet users respond quickly, and massively, it saves us all from more government regulations, says Rothenberg.

The internet is not free. It's supported by advertising. The advertisers using interactive technology is estimated by Rothenberg to be at $20 billion in 2007, growing to $62 billion by 2011. But they overreached, and alert subscribers said NO.

Still, I've got to wonder where were all those librarians who wanted to keep terrorists' library patterns private and fought the Patriot Act, and not put filters on library computers to protect children because it might interfer with "information gathering." Interesting concerns, these liberals.

It's all the same players

Usually I'm a big fan of the entrepreneurial spirit, the cottage industry that takes off, the bootstrapper who makes it big. Not in this case. They are part of the scam industry of the ages. Along with alcohol, tobacco, electric chairs and viaticals, I'm telling Dave, my investment guy, I want nothing to do with these companies. They are the new snakeoil salesmen. Are you emitting something dirty into the air. Just call your good old "green and clean" representative and they can make it all go away--on paper. Of course, it will cost you.

Green Exchange

Global Change Associates

Nymex Holdings

Evolution Markets

European Climate Exchange

Chicago Climate Exchange

CME Group Globex

It's already a $60 billion dollar business from the folks who brought us the subprime mortgage meltdown. Yes, it's the same players.

Let it snow!

Snow is in the forecast to begin tomorrow around noon. Columbus usually gets less than predicted, Cleveland more. Yesterday I was listening to 700 a.m. (Cincinnati) and Mike was gleeful at the prospect of 4". I think that has been downgraded to about 1" or rain. But over at A Gentleman's Domain, a Floridian who has lived in Canada, comments about snow. It's pretty funny--a month's diary of snow. Our daughter stopped by last night and the 3 of us were remembering getting stranded at different times by the weather between Indianapolis and Columbus. It's just not amusing being trapped by a plow on a rest stop access road when he's coming from the other direction pushing mounds 7-8' high. But it makes for a good story 15 years later.

Faulty weather data

Would you drink water that was as contaminated as the climate change/global warming data?

data from weather satellites
data from weather balloons
equipment changes
poor countries with sparse weather-stations
fewer than 1/3 of the 1970s weather stations are in operation
urban center bias
time changes for measuring
different countries use different models
ignore counter-evidence
slanted language in reporting

"This is no mere tiff among duelling experts. The IPCC has a monopoly on scientific advising to governments concerning climate change. Governments who never think to conduct due diligence on IPCC reports send delegates to plenary meetings at which they formally "accept" the conclusions of IPCC reports. Thereafter they are unable -- legally and politically -- to dissent from its conclusions. In the years ahead, people around the world, including here in Canada, could bear costs of climate policies running to hundreds of billions of dollars, based on these conclusions. And the conclusions are based on data that the IPCC lead authors concede exhibits a contamination pattern that undermines their interpretation of it, a problem they concealed with untrue claims."

Read the report and graph

Thirteen Reasons I'm not stressed at Christmas

There seems to be a lot of stress in the air this time of year. Here's 13 reasons I'm not part of it.

1) I'm volunteering at the weekly (noon) Advent services at our church. This allows me a mid-week opportunity to reflect on what this season is about. If they were at night, I'd probably stay home.

2) Because of my career, I didn't do much of the hands-on work like serving lunch or helping in the kitchen. Although working in the kitchen is out of my comfort zone, it is a pleasure to mingle with the saints who can now take a bit of a rest. Wonderful music by our fabulous church organist, and great food and fellowship.

3) Then I slip on my robe and help with communion. Nothing says what it is all about like placing a piece of bread in the hand of a person who has struggled to come to the communion rail to be refreshed by the body and blood of our Lord.

4) My husband painted a watercolor of a wonderful scene with a man and child walking through the snow with a cut tree for our annual Christmas card. This relieves me of any pressure to go to a store or look through a catalog. He even sorts, stamps and puts the return address label on the envelop.

5) I write the letter that goes in the envelop with the card. This gives me an opportunity to sift through the year's events and decide what's worth keeping and what gets thrown out. I enjoy thinking about the family and many friends--some we haven't seen since the early 1960s, and this is the only time of year we're in touch. I keep a scrapbook of all the old photos and have been watching their children grow up, now their grandchildren.

6) Although I sighed when the computer crashed right as I was getting ready to run address labels, handwriting the envelopes wasn't that bad--did about 25-30 at a time and then would do something else.

7) In late November I decided to have a simple open house on the last Sunday afternoon in December. Close church friends, easy menu. Plenty of time to clean and prepare. Maybe the carpet will be cleaned in January, so I won't even look down at what gets tracked in (white carpet). If you keep the menu simple, you have more time to enjoy your guests.

8) I'm running recipes through my head and counting plates--decided not to use paper. Will polish the silver soon while listening to Christmas carols. While I do this I think about the joys of friendship and other Christmases, like when Daddy came home after the end of WWII (and Mom went all out and got us children a sled and a doll house, to be shared by four).

9) I spent a few minutes thinking about some awful Christmases, too--like 1963 and 1964 and 1986 and 1987. If you don't give the bad times their due, they might try to knock on the door and slip in to spoil the day. Now they've been examined and packed away.

10) We'll have the opportunity to spend the week-end before Christmas with my husband's family in Indianapolis. The calendar only cooperates on certain years, since they have this gathering the Saturday before Christmas. So unless Christmas is Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, it usually interfers with our Columbus at-home activities. All we do in the way of preparation is buy and wrap 2 exchange gifts, bring a dish to pass and show up at a niece's home.

11) I bought a new Handel CD which I'm playing during the day, and I'm reading a new (to me) book by Elisabeth Elliot, "Keep a Quiet Heart," for morning devotions.

12) We've had just about the right number of invitations for the Christmas-New Year season. We had a dinner at friends' home 2 weeks ago, a few restaurant dates with other couples, followed by dessert at their homes, and an invite to a New Year's Eve gathering. Nothing frantic, but we don't feel left out, either.

13) We talked about a budget for Christmas in November and won't be hit with big bills in January. My husband's gift was ordered from a catalog and should be arriving any day. Of course, there's the new computer and tires for the van, but we can't call those Christmas related even if the bills show up in January.

So that's my stress-free Christmas. How's yours going?

Big thank you to Amanda for the pretty Christmas banner.

Shelby Steele on Barack Obama

Shelby Steele's new book, "A bound man; why we are excited about Obama and why he can't win," suggests that black voters may reject him, not whites. I think you might want to buy the book because like the "Dewey defeats Truman" headlines in 1948, Steele might be wrong.

". . . Today we blacks have two great masks that we wear for advantage in the American mainstream: bargaining and challenging.

Bargainers make a deal with white Americans that gives whites the benefit of the doubt: I will not rub America's history of racism in your face, if you will not hold my race against me. Especially in our era of political correctness, whites are inevitably grateful for this bargain that spares them the shame of America's racist past. They respond to bargainers with gratitude, warmth, and even affection. This "gratitude factor" can bring the black bargainer great popularity. Oprah Winfrey is the most visible bargainer in America today.

Challengers never give whites the benefit of the doubt. They assume whites are racist until they prove otherwise. And whites are never taken off the hook until they (institutions more than individuals) give some form of racial preference to the challenger. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are today's best known challengers. Of course, most blacks can and do go both ways, but generally we tend to lean one way or another.

Barack Obama is a plausible presidential candidate today because he is a natural born bargainer. Obama--like Oprah--is an opportunity for whites to think well of themselves, to give themselves one of the most self-flattering feelings a modern white can have: that they are not racist." Steele, The identity card

Review by Jason Riley here.

Christians who expect the government to do their job

Chuck Baldwin writes about Christians who want the government to do the heavy lifting.

The idea that James Madison and the other authors of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights intended to prohibit children from praying in school, or state and local governments from posting the Ten Commandments and from erecting Nativity scenes is the invention of modern-age humanists, whose real goal is to eviscerate America's Christian heritage. Such reasoning is a complete inversion of the real meaning of the First Amendment. All the First Amendment was designed to do was recognize religious liberty, something Americans enjoyed until the infamous Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and '63.

That said, it is equally apparent that many Christians and ministers today have developed the attitude that somehow the federal government is supposed to enforce by law what only the Spirit of God can enforce through grace. Let's be plain: the federal government cannot do the church's job.

I suspect Baldwin is a libertarian by politics, because he states that although the government has the right to regulate pornography, prostitution and drugs, it shouldn't be in the business of legislating morality. I wouldn't go that far, because I see much of that as a mental pollution linked heavily to organized crime. But if he's talking about Christians who support it with crossed fingers hoping no one will find out, he's right. These businesses would probably collapse if all the Christians withdrew both their investments in these businesses and their patronage. Christianity Today a few years ago did a report on the millions of Christians addicted to pornography and gambling. Unbelievers like to think that Christians are smugly pointing fingers, but if they are, it isn't in my church, where in 30+ years I've never heard a sermon on any form of public or private morality.

Baldwin goes on to relate this to the upcoming election. And I do agree with him. You can't wedge a piece of dental floss between the theology of Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee--they are all Baptists and believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. I don't doubt their faith for a minute. If I don't meet them in this life, I know I will in the next. How they will translate their personal and political beliefs into policy, however, is very different. Gore and Clinton technically aren't on the ballot, but Clinton's persona, fake and flip-flopping as it may be, is very much a part of the campaign; and Gore's wingnut beliefs are invading every follicle and hair of our lives. Don't let the MSM frighten you about Romney or Huckabee. Look at policy and issues:

Therefore, instead of looking to presidential candidates who will use the federal government to accomplish everything we want done (even the good things we want done), we should support only those candidates who recognize the proper role of the federal government as being limited and narrowly defined (by the Constitution). And then, it behooves us to look to ourselves to be the parents we should be to our own children at home, and to look for pastors and churches that are not trying to be popular, but that are courageous and faithful custodians of the truth.

Greenspan bursts some bubbles

Demand driven by expection I think is a fancy phrase for greed

"I do not doubt that a low U.S. federal-funds rate in response to the dot-com crash, and especially the 1% rate set in mid-2003 to counter potential deflation, lowered interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages and may have contributed to the rise in U.S. home prices. In my judgment, however, the impact on demand for homes financed with ARMs was not major.

Demand in those days was driven by the expectation of rising prices--the dynamic that fuels most asset-price bubbles. If low adjustable-rate financing had not been available, most of the demand would have been financed with fixed rate, long-term mortgages. In fact, home prices continued to rise for two years subsequent to the peak of ARM originations (seasonally adjusted)." in Today's Wall Street Journal

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When is an increase a decline?

When journalists look at job figures and the economy. My friend A.Z. and I were reminiscing about housing prices this week. We're old. We don't remember the Great Depression, however, so we can't tell the stories our parents told us. But like our parents, we wish our children had some perspective. She remembered when they sold their home in south Arlington in 1980 the interest rates were 17%. I recalled paying 10% in 1988 when we bought our summer home in Lakeside, and we were happy to get it. Thirty years ago the unemployment rate was around 7.8%; today it is 4.7%. No matter. It is always gloom and doom when the media get ahold of the figures. Sort of makes me happy I didn't read the economic news in the 1970s.

Kelly Evans at the WSJ reported "little cheer" in the job report for November. Employment ROSE by 94,000 in November (it was 44,000 in September), and unemployment stayed at 4.7% for the 3rd consecurive month. And consumer expectations have "slipped" according to a Reuters/University of Michigan survey (can't imagine a worse state for economic news if that's where the survey was taken). Its index of current economic conditions rose in December to 92.1 from 91.5 in November, but consumers (who have to listen to a constant roar of negative news from the MSM) found higher gasoline prices and are not happy (let's reduce taxes on gasoline and make the consumer smile). Evans' article also mentioned low inflation, and the fact that the average hourly wage earnings jumped to $17.63, up JUST 3.8% from a year ago, and a resilient labor market. Oh woe is me. Can you stand the pain?

I don't know where

Florida Cracker finds her news stories, but she's always entertaining. (She's a librarian.) Women are apparently making some headway in areas formerly reserved for dirty old men.

Mike addresses the immigration problem

Sure, it would be nice if he'd jumped in earlier, but this is workable, certainly better than what we have now, which isn't even being enforced.

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CIA Freedom of Information web site

In 2000, before 9/11 and the current war, the CIA prepared a 15 year forecast. [These are scanned, not digitized, so not particularly easy to read.] It is really instructive to go back and see what career government intelligence employees were warning our elected leaders about. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)were probably the most consistent warning. Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Iraq were said to have "the capability to strike the U.S. and the potential for unconventional delivery of WMD by both states and nonstate actors." I'm sure this is not the only document in there with this information, because we know a number of prominent Democrats like Kennedy, Edwards and Kerry were beating the WMD drum in the late 90s, but then backed off when a President not of their party took their warnings seriously.

There were erroneous predictions about the global economy, and we were in a down turn then and no one foresaw the incredible boom of the 21st century. Although reading between the lines, they were general enough to be true--such has Europe and Japan needed to manage their aging work force or there would be consequences (well, duh!). If the global energy supplies were disrupted, it could have a devastating affect on the whole world (take that you "it's all about oil" peaceniks!). Also, this interesting tidbit: "Recent estimates indicate 80% of the world's available oil still remains in the ground, as does 95% of the world's natural gas." p. 17

I'd say the report was spot on about information technology and biotechnology predictions, if anything, it is a bit sluggish as those fields blossom like mold in a damp basement. The report was pretty accurate here, too: "Most anti-U.S. terrorism will be based on perceived ethnic religious or cultural grievances." Now, I wonder who plays that up and then asks, "What can we do to regain our place in the world and get along?"

For a 51 page report, the amount devoted to global climate change/warming is extremely modest, or maybe it just seems that way given the constant coverage we have today. It did address the "environmental neglect" of the formerly Marxist countries as a problem, and predicted the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, not because of the danger of a Republican administration, but because of the growing economies of China and India.

But it was soooo on target with comments about religion, I almost couldn't believe it: "Activist components** of [Christians and Muslims] and other religious groupings will emerge to contest such issues as genetic manipulation, women's rights, and the income gap between rich and poor. A wider religious or spiritual movement also may emerge, possibly linked to environmental values." Someone in the CIA spotted the rise of pantheism as a world religion. Good job!

You can do a dual search: first search your topic (Iraq= >1000 documents) then limit by year (2007=26). The date will most likely refer to the year it was "released," so you can easily see what was being said or researched in the 90s and review how that works out today. Check out NIE 2002-16HC, "Iraq's continuing programs for WMD, October 2002" which makes a "key judgement" that Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of the UN restrictions. It estimated 100-500 metric tons of chemical warfare agents including mustard, sarin, GF and VX stockpiles.

**"Religious voices are part of a two-week-long United Nations conference on climate change being held in Bali. Delegations from the World Council of Churches, the Vatican, and many Catholic orders are among the participants. The conference plans to develop an international pact to battle global warming. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and other religious leaders urged the delegates to take aggressive action to protect the environment." Report from Bali

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When Blacks are sentenced

Michael Vick, a black football player, is to get 23 months for dog fighting. And he deserves every minute and I hope they get the rest of the ring because these fights don't happen with only one guy. However, I'm looking forward to the day when a big, burly NBA or NFL guy gets 23 months for beating up his wife or girlfriend. She usually ends up dropping the charges and he might get a reprimand and returns to the court or field to make millions for an industry that looks the other way. (And yes, I've heard of Mike Tyson, but that's a different "sport.") Oprah or another woman's show occasionally covers the topic, but the media doesn't give nearly the attention it gives the dogs. Or how about jailing the creeps who sing and dance about the bodies of females encouraging assaults with easily recognisable hate speech?

Then there's Conrad Black who's been sentenced to 6.5 years for cheating the shareholders of Hollinger International (now Sun-Times Media Group), mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He was caught on a security camera removing 13 boxes of documents from his office. Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's national security adviser, was caught also--stole important documents about the Clinton administration response to terrorism from the National Archives, destroyed them, and then lied about it. He got no jail time. Didn't I see somewhere that he was working in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign? He should be doing more time than either Vick or Black.

And if they are lazy?

"OSU Extension/University District, a member of the Franklin County Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition, is looking for volunteers to help hard working low- and moderate- income families prepare their taxes and receive refunds. Experience in preparing taxes is a plus, but training will be provided." Seen at OSUToday, Dec. 7, 2007.

I guess lazy but employed workers won't get any help with their taxes.

Should Al Gore be required lose weight?

Should environmentalists lead the way to reducing the impact of obesity on the environment? [Interesting perspective on Gore's career leading to the prize, here.] "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated, albeit roughly, “previously undocumented consequences” of the ongoing obesity epidemic in America. They report that, through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans increased by 10 pounds. This extra weight caused airlines to burn 350 million more gallons of fuel in the year 2000, with represent an expenditure of $275 millions and emissions of 3.8 million tons of carbon dioxide. In other words, obesity is causing increased fuel expenditures and emissions." from Sensors Watch This writer thinks cheap gasoline may actually lead to obesity since it encourages more driving.

Sheldon Jacobson, U. of I., has crunched the numbers (he looks a tad on the thin side) and figures "Americans are now pumping 938 million gallons of fuel more annually than they were in 1960 as a result of extra weight in vehicles. And when gas prices average $3 a gallon, the tab for overweight people in a vehicle amounts to $7.7 million a day, or $2.8 billion a year." (reported in Science Daily)

Forbes.com reports there are other social costs for obesity: "Obese people are less likely to be given jobs, they're waited on more slowly, they're less likely to be given apartments, they're less likely to be sent to college by their parents." Obese people miss more work, costing employers something on the order of $4 billion. Because people are fatter, airlines spend more on jet fuel, and the obese themselves spend more on gas. But these tend to be hidden from consumers themselves. Many researchers believe that it's actually cheaper, in our fast-food society, to eat a high-fat, high-calorie diet than it is to stay slim. Supersizing a meal at McDonald's, Burger King or Kentucky Fried Chicken costs a consumer only 67 cents out of pocket. But after health costs and the price of extra gasoline are factored in, for some people, the price of the meal may have been effectively doubled.

Over at Food System Factoids, the author reports "Food and drink cause 20 to 30% of the various environmental impacts of private consumption, and this increases to more than 50% for eutrophication. This includes the full food production and distribution chain ‘from farm to fork’."

Mike Huckabee, Republican candidate for President, lost 105 lbs. after being diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes. He says it was hard work.

Bride inherited bad genes

Dear Abby (Jeanne Phillips) had a letter from a distraught mother last week. She was giving her daughter a lavish wedding, paid for by her and the step-father. Dead-beat dad had done nothing for his kid--no child support, ran up bills using her name, etc.--over the years, but a week before the wedding the daughter decides she wants to include him.

Dear Abby replies to mom: She is her father's daughter. Your sacrifices have resulted in a selfish, self-centered, rude adult.

So did the daughter get both her mother's doormat genes and her father's selfish genes? Someone needs to warn the groom!

If the election were today

the lawyers representing both parties would be lining up to sue over the electronic voting, because they haven't fixed it yet. We need to go back to paper ballots. But

between Gore and Obama, I'd vote for Gore.

between Hillary and Obama, I'd vote for Obama

between Hillary and Edwards, I'd probably stay home.

Between Gore and Rudy, I'd vote for Gore

between Hillary and Rudy, I'd stay home.

Between Gore and Romney, I'd vote for Romney,

between Romney and Huckabee, I'd vote for Mike.

The Republicans have a much better field of candidates than do the Democrats.

Our no renters policy

Our condo association has an owner-occupied-only policy. Unfortunately, some owners who are quite wealthy, spend half the year in warmer climes. Then there was the career mom who travelled a lot and left her college age daughter in charge of the high school daughter. My oh my--the parties we were privy to.

So the condo is turned over to the "children" (adults behaving badly). Eight or ten cars (expensive) may be parked haphazardly on our narrow street on a week-end, the garage door left up, lights on all night, beer cans strewn around the lawn.

If they weren't low class they'd have no class at all.

The Bali Earthquake

After the ridiculous vision of 10,000 people flying to Bali to discuss global warming and stay in tents (imagine the "carbon footprint" and pollution), and then having an earthquake on Dec. 7 remind them all that they are in no way in charge of the planet earth, well, it was just too rich. Virtually every story is the same AP report, which down played it (called it a jolt), but over at Forbes.com I did find:

JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Bali on Friday, officials said, and it was strongly felt at a UN climate conference in the resort island. The earthquake, which hit at 17:45 pm (1035 GMT), struck 261 kilometers southwest of the Bali resort of Nusa Dua, where delegates are meeting to craft a strategy to combat climate change, Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said in a statement. There was no threat of a tsunami, and the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, the agency said.

If you don't care for the Genesis account of creation (who did it and why and how long it took) try the more poetic Job 38-41 where the Lord asks Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? . . . Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" And Job admits he spoke of things he didn't understand which were too wonderful for him to know. And he repented.

Gasoline conservation tips

Save on food prices. Put corn in cows, pigs and chickens, not cars. Gasoline prices in central Ohio range from about $2.80 to $3.20. Anything made with basic food stuffs is going up much faster than gasoline, according to yesterday's Columbus Dispatch.

From the Tok, Alaska Mukluk News--and this town really knows transportation (Thanks, Cuz):

1.) Fill up your car in the morning when the temperature is still cool. (The colder the ground, the denser the gasoline.)

2.) If a tanker is filling the station’s tank at the time you want to buy gas, do not fill up. (Dirt from the bottom of their tank might transfer into your car’s tank.)

3.) Fill up when your gas tank is half-empty. (The more gas you have in your tank the less air there is and gasoline evaporates rapidly, especially when it’s warm)

4.) When you’re filling up, squeeze the trigger at the SLOW setting. (Minimizes vapors created while you are pumping.)

Tok, Alaska, established in 1942 has about 1400 residents, 13 churches, a public library, an elementary school, a 4-year accredited high school and a University of Alaska extension program. Local clubs include the Lions, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Chamber of Commerce. According to its nice web site, Tok is not short for Tokyo Camp (as I was told years ago), but was named for a Husky puppy, Tok, which belonged to men of the 97th U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Photo source, Nicky

In Ohio if the election were tomorrow

Given the margin of error and the undecideds, Huckabee could beat Clinton in Cincinnati, Ohio, and does better than Rudy and Mitt. If it were Obama, he definitely would. However, in Cincinnati, McCain does the best against Clinton. This poll was taken in Cincinnati by SurveyUSA.

Remembering why I hate coupons

Generally, I refuse to play games with my food--coupons, sweepstakes, loyalty cards, filling out forms on the internet, etc. But this week we got a coupon for our favorite pizza place up the road. Well, it's not really our favorite--that one is in Grandview and since we moved in 2002, it takes too long to get there. But this one is pretty good. Anyway, there was a "$1.00 off any size" coupon. So even though we really didn't need a pizza tonight (we ate out last night), I called one in. The price had gone up about $3! That's the primary use of a coupon--to cover up a price increase. And I know that because I used to write and interview about these scams, but it still makes me mad. Based on other price increases, it shouldn't have gone up more than $.40. It's you global warminists doing this, you know--putting corn in our gas tanks instead of our cows.

It's not too late

to purchase American made gifts. Made in the USA has some lovely things--glass, pottery, toys, backpacks, etc. You can also support local Christmas bazaars and church sales. This tip came from Janeen's web site, a mommy with a lot of good information about allergies and yummy recipes.

Sweet potato muffin mix at Homestead Gristmill

Homestead also has a craft, workshop and learning site you'll have fun exploring.

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Usually this is called homophobia

observes James Taranto, on the "proof" provided by the Idaho Statesman on Larry Craig. I wonder what is the point? Can closet gays not be good Senators? I admit they probably don't make the best husbands, but that's between him and Mrs. Craig. To look at the roster the Democrats have put forward for president, a Senator's qualifications aren't all that important. They're deciding among the wife of a philanderer (he kept her busy trying to take over health care in the 90s), a lawyer with good hair who's made his fortune suing American businesses and now has a huge carbon footprint to show for it, and a guy who was writing essays about becoming the president while in kindergarten in Indonesia. Maybe it's time they took another look at Bill Richardson or Al Gore.

[Tom] Russell, 48, a Nampa native who lives in Utah, was among three men who contacted the Statesman about what they described as unusually attentive behavior on Craig's part. . . .

Russell worked as a food service manager at Bogus Basin ski resort and said his encounter probably occurred in the 1983-84 ski season, soon after Craig had married following the 1982 page scandal. Russell had taken a food class from Suzanne Craig [the senator's better half] and had heard the rumors that Craig was gay.

Russell, openly gay at the time, said he set out to engage Craig "and attempted to show a personal interest--not in a suggestive way--but a personal interest to see if he would respond."

"I recall that he was very delighted to talk to me--smiling, happy, very delighted--and that he had suggested that we could get together sometime," he said. "Why would he have a personal interest in meeting me elsewhere?"

Russell said he became convinced Craig was gay because he used subtle signals consistent with communication between gay men in public places.

"You've heard the term, 'gaydar'? OK, it's there. You know it. You know when somebody is raising an eyebrow at you because it's their gesture when they say 'hello' or when they are subtly trying to send you a message that they recognize you as being a gay person."

Nothing came of the meeting, Russell said. But he came forward now because he is offended by Craig's denials.

"I'm disgusted because it's hypocritical, and he's lying. He's lying through his teeth. Heterosexual men do not behave like that."

SpudNuts redux

Certain blog entries get hits regularly--broken zippers, frozen car doors, the auto show, Fornesetti plates, Roger Vernam--and SpudNuts. I blogged about this treat which I enjoyed on the Urbana side of the University of Illinois campus in the 1950s and 1960s here.

In rechecking the sites that mention this delectable donut, I found an article written about the inventors, the Pelton Brothers, in the April 1952 Modern Mechanix magazine. The whole article is scanned and almost as tasty as the Spudnuts I remember. However, I'm not sending you to the link, because right after I enjoyed it, I got a notice from McAfee that I had a virus, various messages appeared, and then everything went down. But it's out there, if you want to pursue it. The virus might be totally unrelated, but just thought I'd mention it if any SpudNut fans are reading this.

Update on pedometer: Currently at 8802, which means I'm about 6,000 steps behind. Not easy to get stepping in bad weather.

Hackers hit Oak Ridge

I've lost track of how many times my information has been stolen at Ohio State and the state of Ohio. Sometimes, I don't even know why the information was in the database that was hacked. I surely don't know why an intern was carrying around an unsecured laptop in his car. A recent report on 60 minutes said credit card information is being stolen from retail stores because they're using insecure wireless networks. But even smart, techie people can be fooled, particularly by "phishing," so don't open those attachments.

"Employing a highly targeted social-engineering trick, hackers were able to gain access to a database at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- one of the United States' biggest nuclear facilities -- containing information on people who visited during the past several years. Since the lab handles nuclear material, it collects quite a bit of personal data on visitors, including their Social Security numbers. The bad guys sent e-mails that appeared to be either an invitation to a scientific seminar or a Federal Trade Commission complaint. In both cases, users were prompted to open attachments. Despite the fact that this place employs some of the smartest people in the country, 11 staffers opened the attachments, and the hackers got in. Worse yet, the attack may have been part of a larger coordinated effort -- investigators are looking into that possibility." from TechNewsWorld

The Oak Ridge site posts this warning--and I'd call 15 years a bit more than "several":

The original e-mail and first potential corruption occurred on October 29, 2007. We have reason to believe that data was stolen from a database used for visitors to the Laboratory.

No classified information was lost; however, visitor personal information may have been stolen. If you visited ORNL between the years 1990 and 2004 your name and other personal information such as your social security number or date of birth may have been part of the stolen information. While there is no evidence that the stolen information has been used, the Laboratory deeply regrets the inconvenience caused by this event.

They laughed at me and moved on

Years ago, when I was a bit more militant about women's accomplishments, I suggested at a faculty meeting that a new campus library (I think it was the depository on Kenny Rd) be named for the first Ohio State University Librarian, Olive Branch Jones. I mean, what could have been more perfect--she even had the word "branch" in her name, and most library systems have branches. My suggestion was dismissed as a joke, but I was serious.

Raimund Goerler, University Archivist gave a 2003 Kent State LIS convocation address about Miss Jones here and it is stored in OSU's Knowledge Bank, a digital repository (I backed into this article in a google search and the author was not identified so I redid the search starting with Knowledge Bank--which means you should always have the author's name on the scanned item). I'm so happy to see her getting some credit--after all, she was head of the library from 1887 to 1927. As far as I know, there is no tree, brick or building which bears her name.

She started as Assistant Librarian, becoming the first University Librarian after 8 years--although she hadn't had "professional training." I'd guess the 8 years prepared her, since not much was out there in the way of "library" training. The library degree even today is sort of a key to the door and you'll be an apprentice the rest of your career. After experimenting with various classification schemes, she was one of the first to select the Library of Congress system in 1902 because of the availability of the printed catalog cards (and she had no cataloger on staff). She oversaw the move of the library from a classroom to Orton Hall (where it remained for 20 years), and the eventual design and construction of William Oxley Thompson Library in 1912 (obviously not named for her, but it should have been).

She lost the argument not to build something monumental--she wanted a more practical and useful building, rather than large open spaces and grand staircases. Eventually, long after Olive had gone to the big stacks in the sky, she got her wish, because in the 1970s, Thompson Library was chopped up, modernized and mongrelized into a hodge podge of inconvenient cubicles and little spaces. It's now closed for 4 years and is being restored to something that will look like a monument to learning and knowledge.

It was on the 3rd floor of that library building that Fred Kilgour developed what would become OCLC with 1200 employees and offices in 7 countries, with headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. We both came to Thompson Library in 1967--although he went a bit further--establishing the first computerized library network, while I soon went home to raise children.

Rest in peace, dear Olive Branch Jones. I found out by reading this article that somewhere there is a memorial to you dedicated in 1933. I wonder where it is?

Almost a Friday Family Photo

When I was a little girl, this major league pitcher for 14 years lived on our block, and played with the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Browns, and Boston Braves. I went to school with his children. I knew he'd gone to Mt. Morris College with my parents, but didn't know he'd graduated from Manchester College in 1934. In 2006 he was inducted into the Manchester College Hall of Fame which was established in 1994.

Church kitchens

As long as I was employed, the church kitchens of Columbus were safe. But this week I've worked in two different church kitchens, one to make candy and one to serve an Advent lunch (I also served communion, but that's not done in the kitchen). Yesterday I made cole slaw a new way and wanted to record the recipe before I forgot it. I think it is called "Asian cole slaw," (but not quite). It doesn't taste at all like my mother's slaw, which was sweet and had apples and raisins.

The woman in charge of the kitchen and Advent lunches wasn't there--she has a part-time Christmas job, so she had written out the instructions and purchased the ingredients. Fortunately, a woman I knew whose teen-agers were in Luther League (or whatever it was called in the 80s) with mine had made this before and was able to assist me. I've looked this recipe up in Google today, but most versions have sugar, some have peanuts, some have mayo, some have onions, some seseme seeds and most had more salt. I tend to over salt things, and I thought this was fine and it wasn't dripping with oil like so many church salads. Because so many of the guests are 80 or over, or have special dietary needs, I suspect sugar and extra salt is left out.

First, find a really huge bowl, bigger than anything you have at home and a giant spoon. If you don't spend much time in church kitchens, this is the first challenge--our church has a commercial grade kitchen, guaranteed to drive the ordinary woman crazy.

Add four packages of chopped raw cabbage slaw mix (don't know the size but I'd recognize it if I saw it) to the bowl.

Mix in four packages of Ramen noodles, reserving the flavor packets which are inside (I think this is what it is called--real stiff, hard things in little curls?) Crunch and separate the hard dry Ramen noodles, and mix with the cabbage. If you don't do this, you'll have hard dry lumps in the slaw and your guests will break a tooth. I'm so glad the other lady had made this before, because that part was left out of the written instructions.

Then mix the 4 flavor packets into the dressing, which is made of

2 cups of oil
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper


Mix the dressing thoroughly with the cabbage/noodle mix. Ignore the more experienced church ladies who try to rush you.

Put the bowl in the commercial size frig for at least an hour; friend from the 80s said overnight is even better to enhance the flavor.

Before serving, toss in 2-3 small packages of slivered almonds.

Serve this crunchy delight with the black bean and rice soup, corn bread, and scoops of colorful sherbet in plastic cups with a crisp sandwich ice cream cookie on the side (these are fixed ahead, refrigerated, and put out with the meal) on tables decorated for the season by the other church ladies who were asked to help.

Bring the leftovers home after they've first been offered to the guests; a perk of service for Jesus.

Thursday Thirteen about protecting your skin

Today's Wall St. Journal had a skin care article because that's the woman's business, and WSJ is all about business! I glanced through it, and decided I could glean 13 ideas from it, some I'd never thought of. For instance, I always thought nice skin came as an inheritance from your parents or grandparents, and doing sensible things like staying out of the sun or tanning booth, and not smoking, but this article didn't even mention those things. The interview was with Tracie Martyn, a skin care specialist for celebrities and socialites, and here's what she does in cold weather. This looks like a lot of work, but if it is your business, I suppose it is like investing in yourself. I looked her up, and she really does have fabulous, glowing skin.

1. She exfoliates 3x a week (I looked this up on her web site and it is $90.00 a jar),
2. 10 minutes in the morning,
3. followed with a shower,
4. then moisturizes,
5. applying with an upward movement so she doesn't drag down her skin.
6. Tracie sleeps with a humidifier in cold weather,
7. and wears sunblock even in the winter (I don't know if this goes under or over the moisturizer)
8. and applies extra moisturizer before going outside,
9. and then covers her face with a scarf.
10. She drinks only moderate amounts of alcohol.
11. She sleeps on her back.
12. She never uses a pillow, and says she can tell by her client's skin if they do.
13. She always gets her beauty sleep.

I've heard drinking a lot of water is important for skin health and eating a good diet. But Tracie didn't mention it to the interviewer, so maybe there's a second interview somewhere out there.