978 Pope Benedict XVI

Eamonn Fitzgerald summarizes and collects comments on the new pope here.

977 Democrats don’t want young workers to benefit?

The calculator being used at 16 Democrat websites to figure the Bush overhaul of Social Security is inaccurate, according to Fact Check.org.

“Democrats have been using a web-based "calculator" to generate individualized answers to the question, "How much will you lose under Bush privatization plan?" For young, low-wage workers it projects cuts of up to 50% in benefits. And a $1-million TV advertising campaign is amplifying the claim, saying, "Look below the surface (of Bush's plan) and you'll find benefit checks cut almost in half."

In fact, the calculator is rigged. We find it is based on a number of false assumptions and deceptive comparisons. For one thing, it assumes that stocks will yield average returns of only 3 percent per year above inflation. The historical average is close to 7 percent.

The calculator's authors claim that they use the same assumption used by the Congressional Budget Office. Actually, CBO projects a 6.8 percent gain.”

Everyone agrees that as the boomers age and there are fewer and fewer workers to support them, someone’s going to have to water down the soup to make it go around. That’s how my grandmother managed when poor neighbors showed up at the door close to dinner time during the Depression. Add a little water to the gravy.

It won’t matter to me--I’m not eligible for SS, but who will be there for my children, now middle-aged? Democrats really don’t want any Bush administration plan to work, but especially not this one. It takes some of the control away from the government and hands it back to the worker--especially that choice and inheritability thing. Ohhh! That’s so scary. A constituency that doesn’t need the party for favors is one that might vote libertarian or Republican. It cuts into their base.

And Republican congress people are really lackluster in their support, too. In yesterday’s WSJ Ed Crane of Cato Institute commented that inheritability and personal control, which he considers the best features, are rarely even mentioned, even by Republicans. And Democrats NEVER do--but that’s no surprise at all, now is it? Choice is OK to kill a baby (although not for your breast implants), but not OK for your money.

Cell phone follies

My husband has a cell phone which I rarely use. It's hardly ever turned on, so consequently the messages build up. But we don't know how to access them. In 2001 we loaned the phone to our son, so the message is his voice and 4 years old with all the wrong information. During our trip to Illinois it began beeping whenever we had it on, so we turned it off, which meant anyone who tried to call us, got the 4 year old message. When you've been married 45 years, it's the little things that start to bug you--like why don't you just go to the local office and have them show you what to do?

Today I left the house with the cell phone in my purse and was determined to find out how to listen to a message. They were nice at the cell phone office, but since he hadn't listed me as an owner on the account, they wouldn't give me the password which is needed to get the messages. They did offer me a nice deal on new service with 2 phones, however. Each person who looked at our cell phone said something along the order of, "my, this is so old I've never even seen one like it." Reminded me of the time I took my camera that still had film in it from 1957 to a shop in 1975 and the camera was older than the clerk.

My husband didn't know his password, so finally we called the 800 number which instructed us in the 337 numbers we had to enter to change the password. Finally I got it figured out. There were about 5 messages from a female Indian or Pakistani doctor who had been paged, supposedly from our number. There were a couple of hang-ups and one with people just talking in the background. Then 3 from my brother-in-law telling us about a detour, and then from Duke inviting us to stay for lunch on Saturday.

I'm still thinking about the offer of new service and phone. Sounded like a good deal. And no one would laugh at our poor little phone.

975 What I heard about you

If you've ever lived in a small town, you know exactly what this poem is about, and if you haven't, you just wouldn't understand. And speaking of small towns, this trip we did manage to see Brownsburg, Indiana and Plainfield, Indiana, both under 20,000. Until Saturday, Brownsburg was a place to buy gas. Plainfield has a new library that looks really terrific; easy access to Indianapolis if any librarians are looking for a good spot for a dual income family. I checked to see if a photo was on the web, but didn't see one. The closest I could come is the history site.

What I heard about you
by Norma Bruce

I heard you’d gone to Canada;
I heard you’d crossed at night.
I heard you loved the open space,
and spoke their English right.

I heard you’d moved to Oregon;
I heard you’d gone for good.
I heard you took your saxophone,
and a wore a woolen hood.

I heard you’d flown to Arkansas;
I heard you’d sold your horse.
I heard you sang the old sad songs,
and found your twang, of course.

I heard you’d camped in Alabam;
I heard you’d snared a crook.
I heard you set a clever trap,
and then you wrote a book.

I heard you’d traveled Iowa
I heard you’d hired a boat.
I heard you bought a soybean farm,
and that was all you wrote.

I heard you’d biked to O-hi-o;
I heard you’d tried to call.
I heard you lost your BlackBerry,
while browsing Tuttle Mall.

I heard you’d entered Mexico;
I heard you’d seen the Rio Grande.
I heard you searched for ancient tribes,
and all you found was sand.

So nowadays I don’t pretend
the tales I hear are strange;
if anyone your name brings up--
my plans don’t rearrange.

Home again speaking 85% General American English

We left town on April 8 and got back last night around 6:30. The cat looked at us suspiciously--she enjoyed being spoiled at our daughter's home.

At Jen's site this morning I noticed a link to a quiz for the type of American English. Perhaps it was just the trip to Illinois and Indiana, but I came out 85% general American English, and midwestern with a smattering of southern. That's probably because we had lunch with Duke and Kinga yesterday and they lived a spell in Kentucky before moving back to the Indy area. The quiz didn't ask how I pronounce Warshington D.C. or dish warsher.

Your Linguistic Profile:

85% General American English

10% Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Upper Midwestern

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

972 Spring Break

Taking a break to write some poetry, paint watercolor and clean up the art room, take a brief trip, and work on a pile of books. If I blog at all I will try to catch up on my hobby at In The Beginning.


Spring Break

April is National Poetry Month
By Norma Bruce 2003

April is National Poetry Month
So gather your poems today!
Take out your favorite paper and pen
And let words on the pages play.

Stop VCR, TV and DVDs,
Store heavy coats and woolen clothes,
Write a happy or serious poem
Put away winter’s weather woes.

Any meter, form or period,
Free style, irregular or rhyming,
Sit in the sun or watch the birds,
April’s best for the poet’s timing.

Lavender lilacs, yellow daffodils,
Buzzard to Hinckley, dove or wren,
Housecleaning, grass seed or garden,
All lovely topics--’cause it’s Spring again.

From the archives

If there's anything worse than cleaning out the garage, it is cleaning out computer files--drafts, quotes, used-up, moved-on, out-of-date, etc. While on my blogging break, I'm browsing files to see what can be thrown out or recycled. Very tedious. I can't find that I ever posted this one about the product called Octavo. I was alternately impressed and depressed as I read about this wonderful opportunity. According to the file date, I wrote this in January 2004:

Digital editions of famous, beautifully illustrated, ancient and old texts are available from Octavo. For instance, Josiah Dwight Whitney’s Yosemite Book is a spectacular record of a 19th century survey with 28 photographs--a book that helped convince the Congress to preserve Yosemite is available for only $25, a digital Wycliffe New Testament in Middle English could be mine for $40, the Gutenberg Bible in Latin for $80, and a Latin Mercator Atlas for $65. Even for personal use, these digital editions are affordable.

However, my concern would be the next generation or three of computer technology. I now own three, built in 1994, 2001 and 2003--less than a decade. Octavo has already issued three versions corresponding to the abilities of Adobe Acrobat. None would work in my oldest computer, and maybe someday, a version wouldn’t work in my 2003. To work back and forth is a headache if it were even possible.

What I buy digitized today, will it work in 3 or 5 or 10 years, or sit in the back of the cabinet with the old “floppies,” fat cables for printers, switching boxes, early USB cables, photo imaging software? When I look at my book shelves, I can pull off books owned by my grandparents and great-grandparents and immediately access.

From the archives #2

While I'm noting changes in computer software (see previous post), might as well include this one about your homemade CDs and DVDs I wrote last June.

Although I think librarians have known about this guide for some time, the Wall Street Journal in June 2004 featured a story about Dr. Disc, mild mannered Fred Byers of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He’s promoting a seal of approval for a disc’s longevity.

Home made CDs and DVDs are coated with dye, and the laser burns a pattern. But the dye can fade, particularly in the sunlight.

The guide http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/ is dated October 2003 and is 50 pages, or try thenice one page summary, http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/disccare.html

971 Power

Who was the only one with no power in this story? Terri Schiavo. The president had it. The congress had it. The governor had it. The courts had it. Michael had it. Even her parents with lawyers and friends and supporters, had it. Even we the people had the power to speak out. Only Terri was powerless. [paraphrased, March 30 broadcast] Glenn Beck.

970 Judicial Oligarchy

That's what Glenn Beck was calling it this morning when it was announced that Terri Schiavo "died." Government by the few. Government by one branch of the three. We elected the Congress. We elected the President. Judge Greer and all the judges who refused to take another look overrode our system of government. The judges didn't find it odd that Michael only recalled her wish to die after the trial and the money award. Greer ruled that the evidence showed she wished to die, and all the other judges fell lock step in line. (Goose step might be a better phrase.) "What will we do now?" Beck asked. I'm hoping there will be some changes made; that we don't continue to have the courts make law and run the country.

When parents of the handicapped are polled on the value and importance of life, the figures are very different than when you poll the general public, Beck said. Do you suppose they know something we don't? He told of a family living a few blocks from Terri's hospice facility with an adult daughter in the same condition since 1991. Her husband gave her back to the custody of her parents and moved on with his life in another city. Her parents, in their 70s, consider it a privilege to have her. Her former husband visits her several times a year with their son. "Who loses in this arrangement?" Beck asked.

Glenn Beck started talking about Terri five years ago and brought her case to the attention of the public. I first heard about her through his program three years ago (Dr. Laura was pulled from this market and replaced by Beck after 9-11, probably because of pressure from gays). He is the one who got the ball rolling to save her life. And Terri has brought to our attention a multitude of issues through her final struggle, not the least of which is we've become a culture of death.

969 Ideas have consequences

One of the things that has disturbed me about the Terri news coverage is that the outrage about the starvation and thirst (even the callous Europeans are horrified), might actually work in favor of the pro-death crowd. Denyse O'Leary writes: "Starting slowly in the early 20th century, but now picking up speed, naturalism has begun to make deep inroads into our culture, including the school systems. And we are seeing the results.

At one time, only unborn children slated for abortion were treated with complete indifference to their possible suffering. Now it could be you. And if you complain that Terri is being treated cruelly, you will be told that a lethal injection would be more humane. In other words, going the whole way of treating all humans as animals would be more humane.

So, even if you are not religious or not socially concerned, but merely selfish, wake up and care."

The whole essay is well worth reading.

Cross-posted at Church of the Acronym

968 The explosion didn’t change who I am. .

Thirty six year old Maj. Tammy Duckworth of the Illinois National Guard was interviewed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC on C-SPAN today. Her amazing courage, positive attitude, sense of humor and devotion to her country are inspiring. Her husband of 12 years, Capt. Bryan Bowlsby, was with her and he is also in the National Guard. She has lost her right leg above the knee and left leg below the knee. Much of her right arm was torn away or crushed and it has been rebuilt with skin flaps and muscle from her stomach and chest. She hopes to return to active duty as an aviator, and that is her goal and why she is working so hard in therapy. She demonstrated her C-leg--a computer leg which should enable her to walk without a limp. “The explosion didn’t change who I am, and I am honored to serve. . .it is a privilege.” Friends in Illinois are rebuilding their home. Her civilian job is with the Rotary. The day before the interview, her father had been buried at Arlington Cemetery. The program was called “Conversations with U.S. Soldiers Wounded in Iraq.”

NPR also interviewed her.

967 Million dollar coupon

If you clip and save coupons, I've got a deal for you. In the WSJ today the O'Keefe Group at Russ Lyon Realty has a coupon for $1,000,000! It is only good on the Jensen Estate, priced at $9,950,000, near Scottsdale, AZ.

If you've ever wondered if a coupon was worth the paper on which it is printed, this should give you an idea. (Hint: It isn't.) Small print: one coupon to a customer please. Affirmative action marketer.

966 Writing your Memoirs

Deborah Santana, wife of Carlos Santana for 30 years, didn’t feel a sense of her own creativity, so she enrolled in a writing class in Oakland CA and wrote her memoirs, Space between the Stars, issued in hardcover and audio book this month. I listened to her interview on NPR, although I probably won’t read the book. Lives of entertainers are not on my to-do list.

I’m in a memoir writing class at our public library, but haven’t discovered anything--no skeletons in the closet, nothing longing to be set free, no drugs, sex and rock and roll. I’ve been married 45 years, grew up in two small towns in Illinois, lived almost 40 years in central Ohio and worked as a librarian in a variety of positions. Most of the really good stories can’t be told! What if I need to go back to work some day!

Some of the instructor’s prompts have been interesting, although I think I’ve scraped the bottom and sides of the memory barrel. My children have never shown any interest in family history, so I’m not sure for whom I’d been saving these. I have met some really interesting women in the class and have learned there are many ways to write down and preserve your past and that of your ancestors. One woman is using poetry, another family recipes and photographs, some are creating novels based on family stories, and some are combining straight genealogy with passed down stories. I enjoy listening during sharing time, and have helped others with editing. Last week Julian focused on grammar exercises and how to cut out wordiness [at this point in time, basically, in light of the fact, it is to be hoped, there is a desire on the part of. . .and so forth]. I was paired with a Korean woman who had taught English in Korea. She knew the rules much better than I who’d studied only the required freshman college English.

Deborah Santana has a lot more material to work with--she is bi-racial, bi-cultural, has dabbled in several religions, tried drugs, dated Sly Stone, and manages her famous husband’s business. The type of memoirs we focus on in my writing class are generally not for publication, except maybe using Kinkos or a print on demand publisher.

Maybe I’ll try that class on reliable but under-used perennials that starts next week.

965 Names for music groups

Coming up with an original name for your garage band must be tough. What if you really make it big? Does the name have to mean something? Should it reflect your roots? How about using a headline? Can you just put words in a hat and draw out 3 or 4, mix and twist, and that's the name? Here's some I found playing around the city this week.

Regonomics
Kola Koca Death Squad
Dogs Die in Hot Cars
Wigglepussy Indiana
Bloodlined Calligraphy
Poison Control Center
Code Blue Band
Principally Speaking
Moving to Boise

Lots of death, violence and mayhem in music these days. And then there's the ever popular,

No smoking
Open stage
Blues jam

What will librarians do with those names? Here's a list of rules for cataloging the names of performers. For example:

LCRI 24.4B: When establishing the heading for a performing group, apply the following:

If the name contains a word that specifically designates a performing group or a corporate body in general (e.g., band, consort, society) or contains a collective or plural noun (e.g., Ramblers, Boys, Hot Seven), do not add a designation to the name.

If the name is extremely vague, consisting primarily of single, common words (e.g., Circle, Who, Jets) or the name has the appearance of a personal name (e.g., Jethro Tull), add a designation to the name.

If the name falls between the above categories (e.g., Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Road Apple, L.A. Contempo), add a designation to the name.

If there is doubt whether a designation should be added, add it.

Use the designation "(Musical group)" unless special circumstances (such as a conflict) require a more specific term.

I suspect that if the works of "Dogs Die in Hot Cars" ever get cataloged, the librarian will definitely need to add a designation.

964 Cruise Care

When we took an Alaskan Cruise in 2001, I was surprised to meet people who’d taken 15-20 cruises, and older people who appeared to be living on cruise ships, booking one cruise after another. Then in the February 2005 Harper’s Index, I noticed this comparison between living out your life on a luxury cruise ship or in an assisted living facility.

Average total cost for a U.S. eighty-year-old to live out the rest of his or her days on a luxury cruise ship: $230,497 [Lee Lindquist, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago)]

Average cost to live them out in an assisted-living facility: $228,075 [Lee Lindquist, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago)]

These figures are examined at Snopes Urban Legends, and found to not be too far off. Apparently there was an earlier version comparing nursing homes and living in the Holiday Inn. It also sites the Lindquist figures, although doesn’t say where they are published.

"Cruise ships offer such a range of amenities — such as three meals a day, often with escorts to meals if needed, room service, entertainment, accessible halls and cabins, housekeeping and laundry services and physicians on board — that they could actually be considered a floating assisted-living facility," says Lindquist. “

The author of the Snopes article says there are other, non-financial considerations, such as proximity to children and grandchildren, loss of friendships and volunteer activities. However, many retirees don’t live close to their children, and seeing them involves travel anyway. Many have already lost their best friends and burned out on volunteer activities. Perhaps the solution would be to have several travel together in lieu of relocating in an assisted-care facility.

963 Creativity

My friend Bev and I went to Capital University in Bexley today to see the 19th Biennial Exhibition of the Liturgical Art Guild, "Contemporary Works of Faith '05" which runs through April 8. It is in the Schumacher Gallery on the 4th floor of the library. We picked out a few pieces and gathered some information on the artists we'd like to pursue as possible exhibitors at our church's gallery. We had lunch at a little deli linked to the movie theater, and listened to two student jazz groups who had set up shop on Main Street. The weather was glorious and they drew a good crowd. One woman enjoyed the music so much she was dancing--probably in her 70s. Bev has a college age daughter in NY and knows various people in the music and arts community, so she kept running into people she knew from various life stages.

Bev is a creative person. Today I heard the most creative reason for not exercising, one I just must remember. She'd decided to begin a healthier life style--good nutrition and exercise. So she started the day with a bowl of steaming oatmeal. But the ceramic bowl was so hot she dropped it on her toe. Now she will have to postpone the exercise part, and I think the dog took care of the oatmeal. Way to go, Bev!

962 ABC headlines another “fake” memo

They didn’t say it was “Republican,” just "GOP." Duh! What were the listeners to think?
Story here, including reports on all the other rush to judgment media who ignored researching it first.

And
BlogHouston

also
PowerLine and PowerLine

and this
Michelle Malkin

and that
Rathergate

and In the Agora really went after it.

961 How to lose a wife with no questions asked

See? There are easier ways.

960 Maybe you're asking too much?

Lots of bloggers gripe about blogger.com as their hosting site. I don't--well, OK, sometimes I do. I think for something free and easy, it's pretty nifty. But I see a lot of sites that are asking way too much and just inviting failure. I left a note at The Crusader's comments. He's really unhappy about Blogger.com's performance. He's a Homespun blogger and I just stopped by to look at his site. There are Bible verses, books' adverts with photos, flags and symbols, all sorts of logos for things he cares about.

As you can see from the load of links I have, I should perhaps not be talking. But I do go through and remove those I think are causing problems. I'd love to have Sal Towse here, but every time I add her link, kaboom, the whole thing goes whacky, so I go to Paula or PJ or Hip Liz and link from them. I also try to not load too many photos and quizes, because I think they slow things down (and seem to add pop-ups and cookies). My note:

"Just an opinion, Mr. Crusader. You have an awful lot loaded on your page--even in your comments--which means more ways to fail. It's like buying the dishwasher or washing machine with all the gizmos, bells and whistles. Sometimes less is more in writing as blog as well as architecture.

I've noticed on mine, that certain links, even to individual bloggers, will cause mine to malfunction or load slowly, and I've had to remove them.

Also, if I've really worked hard on a post I either do it in wp first, or I block and copy before I hit draft. Then I check it, and publish. Occasionally even "draft" malfunctions, but if I've copied it I have it. I've noticed that "publish" in compose causes more problems than "publish" in html."

959 Tinker Tinker little Stat

There was an AP Story reported in today's Wall Street Journal that will have the economists and feminists rewriting the stats.

"A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned nearly $37,800 in 2003, compared with nearly $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released Monday by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women took home slightly less at $37,600 a year.

The bureau did not say why the differences exist. Economists and sociologists suggest possible factors: the tendency of minority women, especially blacks, to more often hold more than one job or work more than 40 hours a week, and the tendency of black professional women who take time off to have a child to return to the work force sooner than others."

They've even suggested that hiring incentives may have something to do with it.

I expect no protests on the campus by the women's studies department.