727 Secrets, Steps, Strategies, and Myths

With one of these four words in the title, you can boost your sales. I'm thinking of adding one or all four to my blog subtitle, or slipping them into a meta tag. All these books were big sellers in 2004. So now you know the secret.

Thin commandments; the 10 no-fail strategies for permanent weight loss

Dr. Ro's 10 secrets to livin' healthy

French women don't get fat; the secret of eating for pleasure

Weight watchers weight loss that lasts; breakthrough the 10 big diet myths

Your best life now; 7 steps to living your full potential

Perricone promise; look younger in 3 easy steps

The secret life of bees

726 Comfortable in the 21st century

It has finally happened. Writing 19-- seems odd. It's taken five years, but finally I'm comfortable in the 21st century.

There are still a number of Americans who are children of Civil War veterans--not grandchildren, but children. Just recently I've come across some articles about them. One is a black woman in Tennessee whose father was in the Confederate Army as the cook for his uncle. Lillie Harding Vertrees Odom's father was the son of a white woman and a black man, and was raised by his paternal grandfather who was also white. According to her, there was no favortism in the family, and when the war started he went too as his uncle's servant. Peter Vertrees, her father, died in 1926. I noticed her story at www.LISNews.com. Another story is about the 98 year old son of a Confederate veteran. In Wisconsin, Bill Upham was only 8 years old when his Civil War veteran father died--he was born in 1841. Story here. There was a 45 year age difference between his parents.

725 Today in the Obituaries. . .

In the Columbus Dispatch Obituaries for January 13 a local resident "fell asleep in the Lord," another "was promoted to Glory," one was "welcomed into Heaven," another was "reunited with his beloved" and several had a version of "went home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ." Mostly, people just "passed away," the ever popular euphemism for death, and a few "departed this life," which is a vague hint there may be another hope for the next flight. Eight years ago when I checked the obituaries, I discovered most people were dying without a verb to help them in their journey. So today's paper, although only a snapshot of what is happening this week, shows a slight increase in spirituality. The verbs are much more dynamic, descriptive and other-worldly. I wrote a poem about lack of verbs in obituaries in 1997.

Dying for a Verb
September 28, 1997 by Norma J. Bruce

Emmy Lou departed this world;
Frank entered his eternal rest;
Polly is at home with the Lord.

Ray’s gone to his home in glory;
Ted is asleep with the angels;
Ann Louise simply crossed over.

And I am left to wonder why
They sent him off without a verb--
“Ralph David, May 15, at home.”

When my earth's book is overdue,
Please open heaven’s library;
Let me live in God’s promises.

When finally I fold this tent,
Lease me a heavenly mansion
Renewable eternally.

When I slip out of the saddle,
Boost me up high to ride bareback
On a steed into the stronghold.

When the last crumbs have been swept up,
Seat me at the banquet table
To listen with the disciples.

When the final ticket’s been bought,
Give me the best seat in the house
To hear the angels’ choir sing.

When I’ve gathered up the harvest,
Fill my buckets, silos and bins
To overflowing with God’s love.

When the bow breaks in the treetops,
Bear me up on wings of eagles
Never faint, tired or weary.

Pine box, urn, or fancy casket,
Paragraph, note or just a line;
Don’t send me off without a verb!


At home with the Lord. Hope to see you there.

724 Hyphen happy editors

Today's American English writing standards require far fewer commas than when I was in school. Even when I wrote for my professional journals in the 1990s, the editors would always chop away at my commas. However, someone took those commas from the punctuation dump, whacked them around a little bit and retooled them into hyphens. The Wall Street Journal is quite vigorous about recycling commas into hyphens. Today I found in the International section:

far-reaching; ground-level; Soviet-era; free-market; Stalin-era; second-term; oil-rich; two-thirds; joint-venture; foreign-investment; often-ambivalent; watered-down; market-opening; mid-1980s; low-end; and Congress party-led.

On the technology page I found home-page restoration and tracking-cookie detection. The Op-Ed page included war-torn; import-hungry; record-breaking; and current-account in a three sentence paragraph. Or, as the WSJ would edit, "a three-sentence paragraph." When I got to the Money and Investment page I found health-care; continuing-education; credit-card; cost-cutter; waste-cutting; cost-saving; one-time; light-speed; business-related; and more-rigorous.

I thought I had figured out that hyphens were inserted to make a few nouns and adjectives that were clinging to each other into a single adjective, but upon careful reading, I discovered many inconsistencies. I propose an idea. Perhaps it is our German genes coming to the fore. In our cell memory (and about 1/3 of Americans can trace their ancestory to that part of Europe) we want to experience very-long, impossible-to-pronouce nouns. If you've got a better theory, I'm will to listen--just don't hyphenate it.

723 How to fold a shirt

I haven't tried this yet, but I understand it works. How to fold a shirt.

722 Jogging my memory for exercise

A reader has asked me why I don't write more blogs about our hometown. So I decided to pull out my freshman yearbook to see if anything rang a bell. I have recorded these remarks exactly as written, with blanks, missing words, misspellings and grammatical errors. One is from the reader who suggested I write about home. The challenge, if he decides to take it, is to determine which one is his (at age 16)?

Good luck and have fun when you deliver papers.

Best wishes to a swell girl, but you really were a pest.

How’s your horse?

How about the times at G.A.A.?

Good luck to a neice girl.

Remember the talks about “you know who.” Was I a help?

We didn’t even have fun at your house, did we?

Best of luck in trombone playing.

Since I can’t of anything to write I’ll just say Good Luck. So Good Luck.

Good luck to a swell girl with only three more years of slavery.

Don’t flirt with any boys while you have a boyfriend.

We’ll suffer together through hic, haec, hoc again this year.

To a wonderful girl--I hereby nominate you for student council next year.

Remember when I had that party out to my house? I was with ____, and you were with___ ? (blanks are actually in the original and I have no idea who this person is talking about)

Remember the real cool parties we have had. All we do is sit around and eat and “gab.”

Set besides you on the bus.

My old study hall neighbor. We got along pretty good when you & Sara weren’t jabbering.

So there you have it. Memories from the old, home town.


"The Campus"

Update: He e-mailed me the correct answer. After 50 years, he was able to identify his own comments dashed off at a yearbook signing event (I think we didn't get the yearbook until summer so the Spring events would be in the book). It's also quite possible he wrote the same thing in every girl's yearbook, which made it easier to remember.

721 Why would anyone want to be alone?

He's devoted and in his face, breathing his exhaled air and ripping up dog cages like they were tinker toys. Brando, who never wants to be alone again, is featured in Ken Foster's story at Urban Dog. There's something about Brando that reminds me of Rosa, my son's dog, who eats bedspreads and wallboard, and tops it off with a piece of carpet for dessert, with a side order of phone cable. "But Mom, she's just a puppy," he's been saying for a year and a half. I noticed a link to Urban Dog at Book Moot and decided to investigate.


This is NOT Rosa, but is a Chocolate Lab (brown hair, brown skin).

720 Stage IV Pink and Black

Joanne Jacob's education blog mentions the death of Charter Schools advocate Sue Bragato who died January 5, 2005 at 47 from metastisized breast cancer at home with family and friends. Sue put up a web page about her disease to which others contributed.

Susan Andrews tells her story at Sue's site, a story of being shuffled around going from nothing to stage IV (terminal) in a matter of months.

"Can you believe that 15 months after my last mammogram, I was diagnosed with stage IV. Most of you didn't even know there are stages. There is 0- IV. My stage is terminal. Nobody talks about this stage. I'm on an internet support group of stage IV ladies. We lose our friends all the time and the last one we lost was 42, she lived 2yrs after her diagnosis. Some in our group were first diagnosed at early stages and then after a few months or years were restaged at IV. I believe our youngest member is 33.

So how did the American Cancer Society come up with the age 40 for yearly mammograms? We want people to be aware of these things about breast cancer. We are trying to start a campaign for Pink & Black ribbons. The public makes Breast Cancer out to be all fuzzy, pink and cute. There is nothing cute about nausea and vomiting. I got some of the meanest stares at my bald head that I couldn't hide well enough with most hats. Our real situation is mostly unknown by the public. Most people think that after chemotherapy is done, you're cured. Hello, there IS NO CURE." Susan Andrews

Maureen, who found a lump and was told her pain was from an infected cyst, writes:

"The following week when I went back the cyst was gone but the pain wasn't, she than ordered a mammogram since the pain wasn't as bad as the week before. It just showed increased density and to keep an eye on it. My doctor than sent me to a Breast Surgeon who had me have another Ultrasound which now said that the cyst was gone but breast tissue in the subareolar region looked suspicious and recommended a biopsy, which they did and found out I had " Invasive Carcinoma with Lobular and Ductal Features". I pretty much figured I had cancer by than but since I had been so careful with my health and since I felt they caught it in time I was sure it would be maybe a stage 1 and they would just have to do a lumpectomy. After my dx they ordered a Cat and Bone Scan and then I went back to my surgeon who told me there would be No surgery because it had already metastasized to the bones. Since my mother-in-law had died of breast cancer I knew about metastases." Maureen Moore

Ladies, we're not making huge progress against this disease--they are just finding it earlier, finding lumps that may have never been a problem. But when you or the technology find something, don't take "it's probably just a . . . fill in the blank [fibroid, hematoma, a swollen lymph node, infected cyst]. Don't accept, "We'll keep an eye on it," or "Don't worry about it," even if it makes you feel good. They remove and biopsy moles that change color and grow; they remove and biopsy polyps in the colon as soon as they are found; they needle-biopsy lumps in the neck. Get that lump to the lab!

719 Advice for Democrats

Dan Gerstein has a face smacking lecture for his fellow Democrats in today's Wall Street Journal. Still, he just can't resist impugning George W. Bush's record and reputation--his Vietnam service, the Iraq war, his terrorism battles, and even the 2000 election.

He whines that Karl Rove was ruthless and cunning, and Dems "shouda cudda wuuda" this and that. Hello? Did you see any of the ridiculous political ads we were forced to watch in Ohio all summer and fall of 2004? Danny Boy, get a grip before you suggest changes in your party.

He asks a rhetorical question he himself should heed: "When do we stop beating our heads against the wall and try something and someone different?"

Peggy Noonan's advice (and she's a Republican) actually makes more sense. (Jan. 6, WSJ) "The Groups--all the left-wing outfits from the abortion people to the enviros--didn't deliver in the last election, and not because they didn't try. They worked their hearts out. But they had no one to deliver. They had only money. The secret: Nobody likes them. Nobody! No matter how you feel about abortion, no one likes pro-abortion fanatics; no one likes mad scientists who cook environmental data. Or rather only rich and creepy people like them. Stand up to the Groups--make your policies more moderate, more nuanced, less knee-jerk.

Don't reflexively oppose President Bush on Social Security reform. Talk and listen and consider; ask open-minded questions at hearings. If he's wrong--if his prescriptions don't promise to make the system stronger and more just down the road--then make a persuasive case, one a grown-up could listen to and understand. Don't do "sound bites for blue heads in Dade County," be serious. People can tell when you're not. They just punished you at the polls again because you weren't. You have nothing to gain but stature."

718 Women fall through the glass ceiling

Three of the four people fired in the September "circle the wagons" CBS scandal were women. Isn't it great that women have knocked a big enough hole in the glass ceiling that they can fall back through?

Gone are Mary Mapes, producer of the report, Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday," his top deputy Mary Murphy, and senior vice president Betsy West. Competitive pressures for ratings, not hate for George Bush, is given as the reason for their flub. See? Given opportunity and free rein, women can be just as competitive in the market place as men.

Anchor Dan Rather wasn't fired. I guess he just reads what is put in front of him.

717 So you're not a librarian?

You don't have to be a librarian to enjoy Geoff's Blog Driver's Waltz, to which I've added a link. He's Canadian, an academic librarian, a husband and homeowner, with a herd of pets and has some photo galleries on his web site that are really good. He also has one of the best looking blog skins I've seen, attractive, easy to read and navigate.


Geoff's Daisy

716 Greetings from Iraq

While posting an entry at my blog about new journals, In the Beginning, I was browsing the web page for Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I came across the story of Captain Kevin Kuwik, the Assistant Basketball Coach at OU who was called up to serve an additional 18 months in the fall of 2003. He's now in Iraq and his letters are posted at the Bobcat webpage. He is a graduate of Notre Dame and has coached in Tennessee and Vermont. He says he'd appreciate some mail--snail or e-mail. CPT Kevin Kuwik, HHC/113th Engineer Battalion, APO AE 09334. kevin.kuwik@us.army.mil

715 Made in Sri Lanka

After tossing about $60 of groceries in the cart, and $25 of HBH (health, beauty & household) purchases, I looked through the 50% off racks in the clothing section. I selected a rose colored, corduroy short jacket with three buttons and three pockets and some elastic at the bottom edge and wrists. I looked at the tag. "Made in Sri Lanka." I wondered if the women who had constructed it in the garment industry there were still alive. I hoped that because they had factory jobs perhaps they lived inland, but I'm suspecting that they were probably in their home villages for the week-end which may have been close to the water. Sri Lanka is an island, after all.

But there's another tsunami coming for those women. In November, the Washington Post reported that as of January 1, 2005 many of the garment industry jobs originally outsourced from the southern US, will be leaving some of the world's poorest countries to take up shop in China.

On Jan. 1, World Trade Organization rules governing the global textile trade will undergo their biggest revision in 30 years. The changes are expected to jeopardize as many as 30 million jobs in some of the world's poorest places as the textile industry uproots and begins consolidating in a country that has become the world's acknowledged low-cost producer: China.

About $400 billion in trade is at stake, but the implications are greater than the money involved. Since 1974, many developing countries have pinned their economic hopes on a complicated system of worldwide quotas that guaranteed each a specified share of the lucrative textile markets in the United States and Europe. By specifying how many blue jeans or how much fabric an individual country could export, the quotas have effectively limited the amount of goods coming from major producers like China, while giving smaller or less competitive nations room to participate. Capital and jobs followed the quotas, helping countries build an industrial base through textile exports.

The jobs are low-paying and tough: Overseas textile plants have been a central target for labor and human rights activists. But the textile industry has, since the Industrial Revolution, provided an opening wedge for broader economic development, and officials in dozens of countries hoped it would continue to do so.

The USA and Europe, in order to protect their own workers, have punishingly high tariffs and quotas for some of these countries affected by the tsunami. After we clean up the ravages of the earthquate driven storm, we'll need to look at what our own policies are doing. I'm sure the message won't be lost on Muslim terrorists.

714 NGOs worth supporting

Diplomad says there are some NGOs worthy of your support. He still has nothing good to say about UN relief agencies--reports they are still having meetings (16 days after the tsunami) while the militaries of the U.S., Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand are the quick responders.

The agencies he says are doing a terrific job are:

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

CARE

Catholic Relief Services

Mercy Corps

Save the Children

"All of these have very dedicated people working under very tough conditions for a fraction of the salaries earned by the UN blowhards. All of these organizations moved extremely quickly (especially IOM) in the wake of the tragedy and have saved countless lives."

713 Oil for Food Scandal

Sunday night the report was released. And who in the media is working on Sunday night?

WaPo reports quietly and calmly on Tuesday:

"The committee that released the audits and other internal U.N. documents is headed by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker. It is investigating allegations of corruption in the $64 billion program, which oversaw the sale of Iraqi oil for the purchase of humanitarian goods while the nation was under U.N. economic sanctions.

In a 35-page briefing paper, the Volcker committee said the audits highlighted the "wholesale failure of normal management and controls" over some of the program's operations. It also faulted the United Nations' internal auditors for failing to scrutinize areas of the program that were most vulnerable to corruption: the sale and purchase of oil and humanitarian goods."

So the sale and purchase of oil and humanitarian goods were not audited by the U.N.? Well, duh! That means the corruption the Volcker committee found were in the non-critical parts? He found only "inappropriate management?" They spent all these months and found--nothing. I'm no expert in accounting, but it truly is hard to investigate a non-audit.

I'm not going to carefully track this story because others are doing that. Check here for a blog on "UNSCAM." Here's a story from NRO in April. And an investigation from 2003.

712 Necessary Rules of Conduct for Children

A photocopy of three pages of "Necessary Rules of Conduct for Children" fell out of our road atlas today. I have no idea how they got there, but I remember photocopying the article from [Proceedings and Addresses?] of the Pennsylvania German Society [early 1900s]. Since I don't have the whole article I can't give you the correct citation (shameful behavior for a librarian and I'm not sure I want to go into the stacks at OSUL to look for it). Anyway, it is fun to read.

#62. Abstain from all coarse, indecent habits or gestures in school, such as to stretch with the hands or the whole body from laziness; to eat fruit or other things in school; to lay your hand or arm upon your neighbor's shoulder, or under your head, or to lean you head forwards upon the table; to put your feet on the bench, or let them dangle or scrape; or to cross your legs over one another, or stretch them apart, or to spread them too wide in sitting or standing; to scratch your head; to play or pick with the fingers; to twist and turn the head forwards, backwards and sideways; to sit and sleep; to creep under the table or bench; to turn your back to your teacher; to change your clothes in school, and to show yourself restless in school.

#83. All indecent habits which, under Rule No. 62, you ought to avoid in school, much more ought you to avoid in church.

It's possible these are a translation or modification of the rules developed by Christopher Dock, and I'm guessing something similar is used by homeschoolers even today. For a good laugh, try googling the terms "rules of conduct for children" and just see the "suggestions" and "guidelines" and "appropriate behavior" you'll bring up. Things have changed a bit since the 18th century. Although here is a fairly stern one for a library.

711 New book reviewer link--Deborama

Deborama's book reviews is a new link I've added. Like me, Deborama actually has a number of different blogs because she is interested in so many things and just can't contain her enthusiasm. I like that! She describes her self as a "hot" 52 year old Minnesotan living in the UK, and that I can't verify. She could be a 13 year old from San Diego, and how would I know? She's just all over the map spiritually, so that page I'm not recommending--I settled that puzzle when I was 34 and don't wish to get mired down again. Seems to have an interest also in words and food. Me too.

710 What she loves about the South--especially Texas

Ambra collects a few of the things she likes about the South at her Nykola blog.

"Still I say, the South is the only place in all of America where a white person and a black person can sit down together at the same table and eat a bowl of grits. . . Sometimes I wish the South could come up North and teach classes. On the top of the docket of topics would be “How to open a door for a woman, How to say 'Ma'am' and 'Sir', How to say thank you, How to fry food, How to barbebque, How to worship God.”

In defense of the South, a region about which people generally have very few nice things to say, I’m going to re-run my list of things I love about Texas:

Chivalry

Everything’s big

Chapels in the airports

The presence of the following fast food chains: Chik-fil-A, Whataburger, Popeye’s, Sonic

White people who know how to barbeque and eat grits

Nice, friendly, and outgoing people

Christian bookstores within a 5 mile radius

Four bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2500 square ft. homes for sale at the sickeningly low price of $175,000 (you couldn’t even buy a 350 sq ft condo in Seattle for that price)

State pride.

Primetime television starts at 7:00 pm

Biscuits with everything."

Every state is different. When we moved to Columbus, Ohio from central Illinois the people and the weather seemed the same. However, during my first visit to downtown Columbus I noticed everyone smiled and said "Hello." I hadn't experienced that in Illinois, not even in much smaller towns. I'm not sure it's still that way, but it should be.

709 Lawyer was surprised

She was expecting a "vegetable," but instead Terri was sitting in her wheelchair, without tubes, making eye contact, showing understanding and expression. The lawyer, who'd never seen her before was surprised, having thought her family had perhaps been exaggerating her level of ability.

After a 45-minute visit Christmas Eve, attorney Barbara Weller concluded Schiavo was so alert that she "should have been gathered around the Christmas dinner table enjoying the holiday with her family."

Weller, along with attorney David Gibbs, took over the lead counsel role in September for Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who are in a protracted legal battle with her husband, Michael Schiavo, to keep their daughter alive.

Full story here.

708 Woman defies belief, but not aging

A San Diego woman, Debra Scheufler, has filed a lawsuit saying she wants to make advertisers tell the truth about "age-defying" creams that don't live up to their claims. She filed a class action lawsuit in California against Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Estee Lauder for selling anti-aging creams that allegedly employ false advertising.

From the looks of this photo, she has a good case. She definitely has not been able to turn the clock back, but I’ve never heard of a single native speaker of English who thought “anti-aging” would really change her birth date. NBC San Diego story here. Maybe she has spent too much time in the sun?