Happy St. Patrick's Day

Anniversary of our first date, 1959, for the St. Pat's Ball at the University of Illinois.  He told me he was going to marry me.  I wore a borrowed dress, red lace (I guess Sally didn't have anything in green) and he wore his grandfather's coat.

My 2017 card from my husband

Remembering Uncle Clare--Friday family photo

In sorting through the basket of Christmas cards and letters this week, I found one from my cousin Sharon who lived in a Chicago suburb when we were children.  She is the daughter of my mother's oldest brother, Leslie.  The letter was dated December 20, 2000. Our parents' brother, Clare, had been killed in WWII in October, 1944. I recall my mother saying he couldn't be a pilot because of a hearing problem, but was trained for photographic mapping.  He was an aerial engineer for the 24th Mapping Squadron of the 8th Photo Group, Reconnaissance (10th Air Force) which served in the China, Burma, India theater. Clare and a pilot in his unit were killed in an explosion when their plane hit a gasoline supply, through the stupidity of his commanding officer who insisted the men go up in a blinding storm. No one else in that unit lost his life and we only found out how Clare died when a great nephew, Steve, attended one of their reunions in the 1990s.

Sharon writes in December 2000: "I just finished gathering Steve's information, pictures, and letters from Clare and sent it off December 7.  I hope it gets there.  I copied the letters from Clare and the photos, just in case.  Leslie (Sharon's father) had at least 40 letters from Clare which I also loved reading.  I had no idea he had been stationed in so many places around the United States.  He was even out in Kingmore, Arizona, for awhile.  I told Steve how we cousins would walk down the hall to "Clare's room" and peek in and see the flag and the purple heart.  He was someone we wished we had known.  Gayle remembered that too. [As did I.]

I have one vivid remembrance of Clare visiting us in Chicago and giving me a stick of Dentyne gum.  I was 6 by then in 1944 and I remembered because of the pungent flavor of the gum.  I thought it was so good.  Then I read in his letters it really did happen and he even took a picture of Richard and me standing by the back door.  The negative had been laying in the letter for 56 years.  He told Leslie they didn't bother developing it because they thought it was too faint and maybe he could have it made up.  When I held it up I could see 2 little kids on it, so I took it in and sure enough it was Richard and I as we were that day with Clare. [I remember Clare visiting our family in Mt. Morris, so it may have been the same trip.]

Leslie wrote Clare in September, 1944, and it must have come back to him [my grandmother also had a letter returned to her that he never received]. It was with Clare's letters.  It must have been so awful. I said to our daughter I wish I could've been more responsive to it all then and she said, "You were just a child."  So I said to Steve if his children don't grasp it all right now, they will someday and your book (Steve was working on a book about Clare's life) will be there for them.

While I was copying pictures for Steve's project, I made up some extra ones for my cousins.  I'll get them off to you in the new year.  These pictures and letters make me feel like I didn't miss out on knowing Clare after all.  We enjoyed visiting with Howard in October and having him help me identify pictures, names and places.  Muriel also was a big help.  We noticed from my old pictures there had been 2 Marmon cars over the years with Charles and Mary (our grandparents). I asked Muriel how they got all that camping equipment in the Marmon for their trips out to Kansas and she said they strapped it to the running board.  Mary would prepare for weeks."  

Sharon mentioned that the camera store had been able to develop the glass plates that came to her from her father's collection of slides, movies, and negatives. He had died in November, 1999 in Arizona when he was 97. In the developed plates below, Clare is in each one, and the lower right has my mother with him. Although Sharon doesn't say, I assume Leslie took the photos since he isn't in any of the photos in the other plates.

Some of the developed glass plates from Leslie's collection sent by Sharon.

Government surveillance

Just heard an IT professional call the Hugh Hewett show (98.9 FM Columbus, 6-9 a.m.) during a discussion of government surveillance the history of which went back to Nixon. His advice: Just as "all guns are loaded" is a precautionary warning, so also "all electronic devices can watch us." 

 

The government is not just collecting metadata, but content. In my opinion, the larger the company, the more likely they are to allow government snooping--helps cut out the competition if they cooperate. It's not real time in your social media, the algorithms of Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter are manipulated to influence your thinking and judgement. Whether you're Tea Party or Black Lives Matter, someone in government is watching and collecting data. Facebook cooperated with the Chinese Communists which by law allows that snooping, so why would it not cooperate with NSA or CIA? Yahoo allowed government perusal of users emails. I don't generally recommend Wikipedia, but look at The Church Committee for a little history.

 

So why are some assuming candidate Trump wasn't the subject of surveillance by the Obama administration?

Christians in Japan

Although I haven't started to actually read Rodney Stark's The Triumph of Faith (2015), I had flipped through the pages, quickly reading some of the charts.  He was so far off on his figure of Christianity in Nigeria (he reported zero percent and it's about 50.1%), I decided to check Japan, which he listed as 2%. After checking several on-line sources, I figured 2% is a little high.

"Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack. They always have, ever since the first of them, St. Francis Xavier, landed in Kyushu in 1549. His first impression, based on an initially friendly reception, was, “In my opinion no people superior to the Japanese will be found among the unbelievers.” Two years later, he left disheartened, calling Japanese Buddhism “an invention of the devil.”

Missionaries today use different language but express similar frustration. The Japanese have so eagerly embraced everything Western — from fads to philosophies, baseball to scientific method. Why not Christianity? Even China, officially atheist and repressive of anything outside state control, counts 52 million Christians. In South Korea, 30 percent of a population of 50 million professes Christianity. In Japan? Less than 1 percent." http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/20/national/history/christian-missionaries-find-japan-tough-nut-crack/#.WMkd_LhSKGY

It's always interesting to read the comments about on-line articles (often one or two completely ignorant of history) and then everyone else chimes in. The internet is full of anti-Christian trolls and haters. Unfortunately, they love to see themselves in cyber-print.

Back to veggies for lunch

 

Wednesday is volunteer day at PDHC, so I pack a lunch. Lately I’ve been eating too many sandwiches and cookies because it is easy and quick. Sometimes I take a Hormel dinner which can be warmed up. I gained weight while I was sick in January and February.

So it’s back to veggies for lunch. I like to steam vegetables and then use the broth as a nice hot drink to replace coffee or tea. It’s also very fast—about 5-7 minutes. I prefer something warm for lunch on these cold days, so I steamed a cut up potato with a little onion. I put it in a container and added a hard cooked egg with a few olives. Then steamed some cabbage and corn together and put in another small container, all of which I can warm up in the staff room at PDHC.

• There are 164 calories in 1 medium potato (flesh and skin). Calorie breakdown: 1% fat, 91% carbs, 8% protein.
• One large hard-boiled egg has 78 calories and 6 grams of protein with all of the essential amino acids. An egg is a good source of vitamins B12 and E, folic acid, iron and zinc. The egg yolk also provides vitamin D.
• A 1/2 cup of steamed cabbage has about 20 calories, and probably 20% of vitamin C for the day. I mixed in about 2 tablespoons of frozen corn.
• At about 20 calories for a very small amount corn, it is rich in vitamin C, magnesium, B vitamins and carotenoids, such as leutin and zeaxanthin. Corn contains very little fat, less than 1 gram per serving (without toppings), and in a full serving is a good source of fiber, clocking in around 3 grams per half cup.

So that’s 282 calories, plus all that other good stuff like protein and fiber and vitamin C and B. A Hormel ready to eat dinner has about 300-400 calories and is high in fat (contains meat) and salt. USDA clocks a ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat with a little mayo and mustard at 461 calories. A single slice of ham has 4.7 grams of protein and 2.4 grams of fat, while a single slice of cheese has 5.2 grams of protein and 1.5 grams of fat. And of course, I’m not taking a couple of cookies or carton of yogurt with me.

My new slow cooker

I sort of outsmarted myself.  I was looking for another slow cooker and saw one on sale at Wal-Mart, so I bought it.  It was only $3 more than a smaller one.  But when I got it home, I discovered that the overlap of the removable pot wouldn't allow the cabinet door to close.  So I have the heating element in one cabinet, and the removable ceramic pot in a deeper, over the frig cabinet, which is a little tricky to get to.

“Enjoy home cooked meals in your own dining room or on the road with a Crock-Pot NCAA 6-Quart Slow Cooker. It's ideal for making a fluffy corn casserole or enough savory chicken stew to satisfy a hungry crew. The Crock-Pot slow cooker is the busy family's best friend: pop dinner in before you leave for work and it's ready to serve when you walk in the door. The large-capacity device serves at least 7 people, has customizable temperature settings and uses a secure lid-locking system to make it easy to take with you. Both the interior oval stoneware and removable glass lid, which do not absorb food odors and make it easy to check on its progress, are dishwasher safe. This rice slow cooker is available in various team colors, making it a smart way to display your school or state pride. Each cooker comes complete with unique recipe ideas. “

The rating was 4.6—one person said 5 were purchased for their kids as Christmas gifts. One woman said she got one for her husband, and he loves how much it will hold. Maybe my kids can borrow it for an OSU football party.

I'm trying this out with my frozen corned beef to make sure it works before I put the box in the garage. One think I noticed immediately is how hot the outside gets.  I think you could burn yourself.  I don't think the ceramic container could be removed to serve from it separate dish.  Too hot. 

The Trump Hatred

I really did think Democrats would get over it, but they haven't and it's getting worse. Starting to concern me. Some of it is the nature of capitalism. The mega wealthy actually support Democrats’ push for higher taxes and more regulations. I know that sounds counter intuitive, but it helps them cut their competition off at the knees. The bigger the bull, the more likely it is to support Democrats. 

I also see that old timey RINOs see him as a threat because it means if a businessman can run Washington better than they can, they are failures. It’s pretty obvious they can’t hold together like Democrats do. 

Young people, I can sort of understand. Ignorance. Lack of foresight, or knowledge of history. They’re up for a riot or protest no matter what the cause, and the further left the better. With social media, it’s easy to call the gangs out for a riot. Communism? Terrific. Islam? Anything to defy Christianity. Police? We know the answer.

Vandalism of Trump property, insulting his family, protesting every regulation and law that undoes Obama’s, insulting him nightly on the comedy shows and the self worshiping award shows--that’s a way to keep the country standing still until the next Democrat Congress and President, which is what they’re working on. Because of Obama's race, all that was off limits. A difference kind of racism. Snoop Dog has a new video of assassinating Trump (Ron Klump).  Imagine a wealthy celebrity white entertainer being allowed to do that to Obama!

Meanwhile, millions of Americans can’t get better jobs, better health insurance, better educations, lower taxes, and better infrastructure. Sure, some capitalists will be happy for fewer regulations so they can compete, but it’s no skin off their noses if Democrats make this fail—they’ve got a lot of other countries to which they can relocate.  They don't care if foreigners with HB1 visas take the jobs of graduates from the public universities, whose education we paid for.

 http://hotair.com/archives/2017/03/13/washington-post-describes-trump-golf-course-vandalism-as-daring-act-of-defiance/

Trump invites people to tell their insurance stories

I find these stories breath taking, although I've heard it from others, like losing a doctor or network, or not being able to find a doctor who would take it.  Think what a family could do with $8,000, what that money could have done for the economy. How many small businesses couldn't expand due to unaffordable health insurance.  No wonder it was such a slow recovery and only the top 1% gained.  Many conservatives like myself have always believed it would implode by design so that they could put single payer in place. If Mrs. Clinton were president, that's where we'd be. Then instead of controlling 1/5 of the economy, the federal government would probably be controlling 1/4.

"One of the participants in the listening session was Brittany Ivey of Georgia, who said her insurance premiums started at $650 per month in 2009 for her family of four, "but from 2009 to 2015, [it] went up 102%. "Finally, [my husband's] employer told us in 2015 when it went up the final time and additional 34%, that they couldn't carry our family any more, so I had to enter back into the workforce but couldn't find a job that offered health insurance," she said.

As a result, the family had to get insurance on the ACA exchange, she continued, adding that she believed it when former president Obama had said that under the ACA, if you liked your doctors, you could keep them. "So even though we were going to have to pay $1,300 a month for Obamacare, we thought we'd still be OK for our doctors. We were on it for 5 months, our pediatrician wouldn't take it, my doctor wouldn't take it, so we paid $8,000 for 5 months and were never able to use it."

Another participant was Kim Sertich of Arizona, who said she lost her plan three times during the ACA era. After seeing her premiums rise from $365 per month last year to $809 per month this year, and her deductible was slated at $6,800. "It just didn't seem like a good use of my money," she said, adding that she has dropped out of her ACA plan and instead is now on a faith-based share program in which, typically, members send in checks to cover the cost whenever a fellow member gets sick. "My husband also runs his own business and can't afford to offer insurance to his employees."  Medpage Today

The albums of Haiti mission--Monday Memories

We've been trying to look at our albums (about 70 of them) each evening. We aren't using any particular order, so we chose Haiti for Sunday evening. Bob has been volunteering in Haiti for 10 years with a team from our church, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. One of our pastors, Dave Mann and his wife Pam, were missionaries there for about decade, and are now back in Columbus working at our church with the large international community in Columbus. Huges Bastien is the director of the school, Institution Univers. In recent years the team has been getting smaller as attention to other destinations grows, so it's doubtful they will go this year, at least not in the spring.  The team is still looking at the possibility of a fall trip if you are interested.  Ten years of service means we have a lot of photo albums about Haiti, and we looked at 2007 and 2009. Two of the 2009 graduates, Zeke and Frandy, came to Akron to live and study after graduation, and visited with us twice, in our Lakeside home, and at Christmas that year. Six graduates of the school who went on to get college degrees have returned to work at the school. There are now 2,600 students at Univers, and each year they have to turn down applicants.  COCINA raises money to support the school and students.

Zeke and Frandy at Lakeside in 2009

Pam Mann and Huges Bastien, director of Institution Univers

But the sun is shining today

Is the Golden Rule found in Islam?

NO.

Howard Kainz writes, " The Golden Rule, in its negative or positive formulations, is incorporated not only in Christianity (Matt. 7:12), where Jesus declares it is a summary of “the law and the prophets,” but also in other major religions. For example, in Judaism, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor”; in Hinduism, “Let no man do to another that which would be repugnant to himself”’; in Buddhism, “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful”; in Confucianism, “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do unto others.”

I took this as evidence of the relative universality of rational ethical principles in the world. But in Islam, I could find nothing of the sort, rather just the opposite – a reverse Golden Rule, so to speak: “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Be merciful to one another, but ruthless to the unbelievers” (Qur’an 48:29); “Never take unbelievers for friends” (3:28). Furthermore, the commands in the Qur’an to slay the unbelievers wherever they find them (2:191), not befriend them (3:28), fight them and show them harshness (9:123), and smite their heads (47:4) – accentuate distance from the Golden Rule."

He goes on in this article to point out that Islam also reverses the last seven Commandments.

Our album of Christmas photos

Album of Christmas greetings.  College roommate Dora and her family

 Our project of looking at an album every evening is moving rather slowly.  We're not doing them in any order--so Thursday evening we did our September 2015 trip in Spain--Madrid, Cordoba, Granada, Murcia, etc.  Then last night we did the album of friends made over the years who sent photos with their Christmas cards. If we have earlier photos such as high school friends for both of us—Dick Green and Duke Low for Bob, and JoElla, Sylvia and Lynne for me—I’ve included those too. But I noticed that there were no photos after 2008. So today I got down the box of Christmas letters I save (I have trouble throwing away the printed/written word) and pulled out the photos, writing on them which I should have been doing long ago and matching up to the letters.

So I also spent some time rereading the letters, but not as much as I thought I would. My eyes would sort of glaze over and soon the trips to Europe from Nelson Potter, Jr. and the grandchildren from Lakeside neighbors who were were 3 in 2008 and 10 in 2016, and the career changes of Marie Peterson’s son, the move to Colorado or Florida, and the pets who died since the last letter, and weddings of children and grandchildren and how they said good-bye to grandma, and the obituaries of the Crabbs all started to bunch together. It’s stirred up the memory of Mom and I going through all the letters and cards in 1983 that Grandma Bessie saved, reading them once, and then disposing of them or returning them to sender. Then I did it for Mom’s letters and cards in 2000 after her death, taking home all the letters (about 40 years) I’d written to them. So. . . I will probably shred the letters now to save my daughter that job.  I knew the people who had sent cards and letters to my mother and grandmother.  If I can’t bring myself to re-read the letters of friends who were fine in 2008 and now have Alzheimer’s Disease and don’t know their own kids, I’m sure I’m doing my daughter a favor by giving them a proper, respectful burial now.

The prompt today from Tweetspeak, a poetry site, was "Things Invisible." Those letters and cards were invisible in the guest room closet, stored on the top shelf in a green basket. I didn't have to think about them.

Things Invisible Poetry Prompt from Tweetspeak
Old Christmas letters, cards and photos.
The basket was in the closet for years.
Invisible since placed there.
Visible only when I added more.
Then things became invisible again.

I took it down from the top shelf.
Sneezed a little from the dust.
Struggled past the seasonal clothes,
ornament boxes waiting for next year,
Wrapping paper, sacks, and ribbons.

Sisters, brothers, aunts, and parents.
College roommates, business partners,
Lakeside neighbors, cruising colleagues,
In-laws, cousins once or twice removed.
Nieces, nephews, her cats and his dogs.

Babies born now twenty eight,
Businesses launched now closed.
Pintos and spaniels at Rainbow Bridge.
Career changes, tenure, promotion,
Divorces, weddings, and Alzheimer’s.

Trains across the Canadian Rockies,
Ships around Alaska’s glaciers,
Log cabin in the Wisconsin woods,
Hiking and biking through Arizona.
RV parks in Florida, cello concerts in Michigan.

A fall off a step at his son’s home,
Hospice now for sister Barbara,
Chemo recovery, tests are good.
How long has it been since we saw you,
Let’s get together after New Year.

My old bones pause on the step ladder,
Old memories folded together.
Blending 2016, 2010,
1987, thirty years.
Things become invisible again.

Today's new word--Metabolomics

Metabolomics is the large-scale study of small molecules, commonly known as metabolites, within cells, biofluids, tissues or organisms. Collectively, these small molecules and their interactions within a biological system are known as the metabolome. https://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/online/course/introduction-metabolomics/what-metabolomics  There is a whole course at free at Creative Commons on this subject, which I looked up because it came up in an article about blood pressure and potatoes at World's Healthiest Foods. 

"UK scientists at the Institute for Food Research have identified blood pressure-lowering compounds called kukoamines in potatoes. Previously only found in Lycium chinense, an exotic herbal plant whose bark is used to make an infusion in Chinese herbal medicine, kukoamines were found in potatoes using a new type of research called metabolomics.

Until now, when analyzing a plant's composition, scientists had to know what they were seeking and could typically look for 30 or so known compounds. Now, metabolomic techniques enable researchers to find the unexpected by analyzing the 100s or even 1000s of small molecules produced by an organism.""Do potatoes have a potential for helping lower blood pressure," World's Healthiest Foods

A powerhouse of nutrition:
"One medium potato (5.3 ounces or about 1 cup) contains almost 30 milligrams of vitamin C, which is half of what you need in a day. It has more potassium (620 milligrams) than a medium banana. We should get about 4,700 milligrams of potassium each day to protect our heart,  keep our blood pressure in a good range and ensure that our muscles don’t cramp and our nerves send the right messages. Only about 1 percent of Americans meet their potassium needs.

The potato is a good source of vitamin B6, meeting almost one-third of our daily needs. This vitamin is needed to utilize protein and carbohydrates in our diet as well as to manufacture most protein-related compounds, such as hormones, in our body. A fresh potato is low in sodium, fat-free and gluten-free.

The sweet potato is promoted as much healthier than the potato. The USDA Food Database shows the sweet potato is slightly higher in calories, carbohydrates, fiber, natural sugars, calcium and vitamin A. Vitamin A is the biggest nutritional difference from the regular potato. But the regular potato is lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein, iron, potassium, vitamin C, niacin, vitamin B6 and folate. Yes, the sweet potato is healthy and so is the potato." http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/features/3776076-nutrition-humble-potato-nutrition-powerhouse

Republicans need to work together--act like a Democrat

 Lots of rumbles out there.  Not only the RINOs, Tea Party and spineless in Congress, but all the talk show hosts and groups on the internet. We already have a lot of government "health care" which is insurance not care. Medicaid, Medicare. S-Chip, VA and BIA. 5 different systems for special needs, the poor, the elderly, children, veterans and American Indians. If you want to see how well total government take over of health works, look at BIA--cradle to grave care and the least healthy group in the U.S. There was no reason that in 2009 the Democrats couldn't have come up with a plan to assist or insist for that 15% that didn't have or didn't want or hadn't signed up for health insurance. Now that they've terrified the nation with lies that they will lose a (really bad) benefit, it's difficult to repeal and replace. The average voter/citizen isn't like Ayesha, informed and active. An ex-felon helped design it while in prison. It's tenacles are in every imaginable regulation and law. This will take time. Let the plan unfold. But we do need to get the sick and most vulnerable out of the ER and into the doctor's office. The Democrats in Congress will block anything--we shouldn't help them create chaos.

 Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) made incorrect assumptions according to Dr. Elaina George: "first, that having health insurance equals access to quality affordable healthcare; second, that central planning via government regulations and mandates could be used to control costs; and third, that the behavior of doctors and patients could be controlled by implementing rigid practice guidelines (i.e., value based medicine, care driven by algorithms instead of physician judgement) and increasingly shifting the cost of healthcare to patients leading them to self-ration by pricing them out respectively." If the Republicans can't change the philosophy behind the idea that government knows best, this will be hard to fix.