1245 Laurie R. King, mystery writer

Samantha the Librarian is a King fan, and reviews her latest book, Locked Rooms, at her blog Random Thoughts. I'm not generally a fiction reader, and mysteries, almost never. I read two of King's novels in her Mary Russell series because I'm in a book club, one of the huge advantages of joining a group. It challenges you to open a book outside your comfort zone. I wrote about meeting King when I attended the Festival of Faith and Writing in April 2004.

1244 Buying a baby in three hours

A really sad story of ‘flop bachchas’ (illegitimate children) and how easily they are sold. Mumbai Mirror (via Amit Varma)

Mumbai is the renamed Bombay.

1243 What were they thinking?

Trouble understanding the Left or Liberals who are having problems understanding Islamofascism or the War on Global Terrorism? Even friends or family members? There's help on the way with regular reading of: Shrink Wrapped is a psychoanalyst, Neuro-Conservative is an untenured blogger who needs to remain anonymous, and Dr. Sanity, blogs about life's insanities from Michigan.

Shrink Wrapped, for instance, pointed out in an entry about political correctness:

1. Everyone is equal, therefore the only reason outcomes are ever unequal is because of flaws in the system. In a perfect system, equality of outcomes would be assured.

2. Since everyone is equal, there can be no differences between people; men and women, therefore, are not just equal, but are identical in every way. Anatomy is no longer destiny, in fact, it is irrelevant.

3. All differences in outcome, therefore, must be the result of the powerful group, the ruling class, discriminating against the weaker groups. Check here.

Doesn't that sound like the premise of workshops you've been required to attend?

Neuro-conservative, who is not a Christian, ponders: "Are we really living in a society in which the Koran must literally be treated with kid gloves, in which all manners of speech (including flag-burning) are to be tolerated, yet the 10 Commandments are singled out for special opprobrium?" Check here.

So now we know there are other inquiring minds wondering why our gov't buys Korans for Gitmo's prisoners, but shields school children from forbidden Bibles.

1242 The secret is out

CBS Sunday morning show on July 3 featured a small segment on Lakeside. Because so many Lakesiders either didn't know it was going to be on or were in church at Hoover Auditorium, the clip was shown at last night's program. It got lots of laughs and cheers. Kevin, the director, announced the Association has had phone calls and e-mails all week. One Florida woman in her 90s e-mailed him that she had vacationed here as a child and had no idea the community was still here. Six people have contacted him about retiring here (I hope they have a place to go in January and February).

The program last night was Dallas Brass. No one in the group was from Dallas or even Texas, but that's apparently where the group started. They did a wonderful show and got two standing ovations. If you ever get the opportunity to hear them (they perform for a lot of school groups apparently), they are excellent and very audience friendly.



I had a great time this week in the watercolor classes taught by Barbara Cox. After the end of yesterday's session she gave each class member a wonderful print of one of her paintings. My husband is teaching perspective drawing next week, but I see there is a portrait class at the same time--now I'm torn. A knitter is offering 5 or 6 special classes, but I suspect I'm not far enough along. Found out my neighbor Carol is a knitter, so maybe I can get some pointers from her.

The drama group had try-outs for "Our Town" and I've heard they've drawn a wonderful group in to the production. Performances are August 1 and 2. Today is the Lakeside Hotel Rummage Sale at South Auditorium. That's always a great place to go to find other people's cast offs and books (I always find a book). One year I bought a book for a quarter that had a pension update stuck inside for a Civil War veteran. The money goes to Friends of the Hotel to help in their renovation of rooms (the hotel is over 100 years old).



Monday night is the Lakesider Sunset Cruise on Lake Erie. We've got our boarding pass and sweaters. Hope Dennis' tail end is passed by then.

This coming Thursday at 5 p.m. is the sneak preview of the Lakeside Art Show. My husband helped check in paintings yesterday. One really wonderful painting had to be turned down because it was too large. Another is on the ropes--a nude. This is Lakeside, afterall.

1241 Memorables

"I look forward to attending the first joint Mullah-enviromentalist press conference on global warming -- that is, if ladies are permitted to attend." Amy Ridenour

"That was an impressive sight yesterday in Gleneagles, Scotland, of British Prime Minister Tony Blair responding to the London Terror attacks flanked in solidarity by all the world's major leaders. Now let's hope those leaders react with the resolve President Bush showed after 9/11 rather than retreat the way Spain did after the Madrid bombings last year." Wall St. Journal editorial, July 8, 2005

"But sorry, old chaps, you are dealing with an enemy that does not want anything specific, and cannot be talked back into reason through anger management or round-table discussions. Or, rather, this enemy does want something specific: to take full control of your lives, dictate every single move you make round the clock and, if you dare resist, he will feel it his divine duty to kill you." Amir Taheri

1240 Friday feast

There is no Friday Feast for July 8, so I went into the archives and got July 9, 2004.

Appetizer
If you were a color, which color would you be, and why?
What is this? A therapy session?

Soup
When was the last time you went to the doctor, and what was your reason for going?
I think it was December--annual check up.

Salad
What do you collect?
Lots of things: Hull Pottery, although it has become so expensive that I rarely buy a piece anymore; first issues of journals, and I even keep a blog on that topic; here at the lakehouse I seem to be accumulating (that's the early states of collection) books about the Great Lakes and novels with ocean and lake themes (Summer of "42, Outer Banks); I have a collection of Cat's Meow lighthouses; I have a collection of kitty boxes--not the litter type, but little boxes of metal, wood or china with feline themes; we buy art for our anniversary, and we're coming up on #45, so it is becoming a collection.

Main Course
What were you like in high school? Name one thing you miss and one thing you don't miss about those days. (If you're still there, imagine how you'll remember it in the future.)
What you see is what you get with me. I was pretty much the same in kindergarten, except that I thought God looked like Mr. Bechtold, our mailman. I don't miss anything about high school, especially not the cliques. I always wanted to be an adult, and I got my wish. However, because my family lived in that town, it was easy to go back and enjoy the good things, and I often write about it. The ladies of my high school class had breakfast together on the 4th, a tradition they've continued over the years.

Dessert
Pretend you're standing in front of your home, with your back towards your home. Describe the view - what can you see? Trees? Cars? A zoo? Wal-Mart?
Here, I look around and see several 19th century houses and a few early 20th century camp style cottages; I see 6 American flags moving lightly in the breeze; I see our pink and white impatiens which were almost dead two weeks ago--a permanent vegetative state which reversed with some water and fertilizer; a lightly blacktopped street; our neighbors' flowers--roses, petunias and lilies; 10 cars and one golf cart; one lady walking her dog.

1239 Разработка онтологий 101: руководство по созданию Вашей первой онтологии

OK, I’m just showing off. This is a neat site available in English, French and Russian called, Ontology Development 101 : A Guide to Creating Your First Ontology. I saw it at John Dupuis’engineering library blog (he always finds such fun things to explore--no one has more fun than a librarian).

Here’s the abstract, and this exhausts my knowledge of the subject: Ontologies have become core components of many large applications yet the training material has not kept pace with the growing interest. This paper addresses the issues of why one would build an ontology and presents a methodology for creating ontologies based on declarative knowledge representation systems. It leverages the two authors experiences building and maintaining ontologies in a number of ontology environments including Protege-2000, Ontolingua, and Chimaera. It presents the methodology by example utilizing a tutorial wines knowledge base example. While it is aimed at users of frame-based systems, it can be useful for building ontologies in any object-centered system.

Without further ado, please go here.

1238 Let's revisit Vietnam

Neo-neocon and Vietpundit (see my links) are really excellent reads for revisiting Vietnam and its aftermath, but so is a recent post by Victor Davis Hanson on July 4. He writes:

"The al Qaedists and former Ba'athists anticipate another impending U.S. retreat, like the 1984 flight from Lebanon or the 1993 exit from Somalia after the horrific dragging of American bodies in the streets of Mogadishu. Both pullouts, enshrined in al Qaeda propaganda, contributed to the pre-September 11, 2001, folklore that the United States lacked the stamina to defeat terrorists.

So the media-savvy terrorists have redirected their attacks yet again — back to American troops. Just last week, female Marines, who allay Iraqi unease over the searching of Iraqi women at checkpoints, were blown up aboard an armored truck returning to base from a checkpoint.

In response, the ghost of Vietnam is again being conjured. Given this tendency to compare the two wars, we really should re-examine the horror of Vietnam, specifically its final years."

Our pull out didn't just cause the deaths of millions of our allies, but caused the bubbling up of all sorts of problems when we were perceived as weak and indecisive.

"Those who evoke Vietnam should think carefully of the entire lesson of that tragedy. We hear daily how we once foolishly got into that chaos but rarely the lessons on how we got out.

This present war is not just about the Sunni Triangle, but whether reformers of the Arab world will step forward to emulate a fragile democratic Iraq that survives the jihadist counterassault. For the last three decades, Middle East autocratic regimes either attacked their neighbors or reached understandings with Islamic terrorists to shift blame for their own failures onto an apparently unconcerned United States."
Complete article here.

1236 Robert Kennedy on autism

The evolutionary biology people think I'm soft on science just because I'm a 6-day creationist and pro-life. Not so. I can spot scientific clap-trap from 100 yards (even as a child when I received all the evolution dogma I thought it sort of fanciful). For instance, Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s article in today's WSJ on autism and vaccination. It's his big thing to keep his name out front. Play on the fears of panicked parents, while putting millions of children at risk for diseases controlable with vaccines.

Autism is a painful problem. I found this site comprehensive, but compact enough to read through.

1235 Is this the government?

Today I read an article in an OB/Gyn on-line magazine about how the Bush administration was moving aggressively to stop a woman's right to choose (i.e., to abort) through ideology and pseudoscience. I read through the article and found very little about the current administration, but a lot about what states are doing--and have been doing since before Bush I. Then I started looking at the references mentioned as "government reports." So I followed up on one that was prepared by the staff of Rep. Henry Waxman about why abstinence education was a bad idea. Here's his record:

Voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)
Voted NO on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)
Voted NO on banning human cloning, including medical research. (Jul 2001)
Voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)
Voted NO on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)
Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record. (Dec 2003)

This report was about what was wrong with the abstinence curricula offered in some high schools. Most of the sentences were "one curriculum. . ." did this or that wrong. With Waxman's record (100% rating by NARAL), I can't imagine that his staff would prepare anything other than a negative report on a program supported by President Bush. All curricula from math to physics to health have errors. None worse probably than the sex ed courses. . . but Waxman's staff probably didn't look at those.

So why is this considered a "government" report?

1234 Your library probably won't buy this

unless you ask. If last year's campaign offerings were any example, you probably won't see 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America : (and Al Franken Is #37) by Bernard Goldberg
on the new book shelf at your local public library.


From Amazon site: Goldberg names names, counting down the villains in his rogues' gallery from 100 all the way to 1 -- and, yes, you-know-who is number 37. Some supposedly "serious" journalists also made the list, including the journalist-diva who sold out her integrity and hosted one of the dumbest hours in the history of network television news. And there are those famous miscreants who have made America a nastier place than it ought to be -- a far more selfish, vulgar, and cynical place.

But Goldberg doesn't just round up the usual suspects we have come to know and detest. He also exposes some of the people who operate away from the limelight but still manage to pull a lot of strings and do all sorts of harm to our culture. Most of all, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America is about a country where as long as anything goes, as one of the good guys in the book puts it, sooner or later everything will go.

1233 London updates

This site usually reports trivia, but has updates on the London bombing. Noticed at Rainy Day.

1232 Thank you, ABC

Thank you, thank you for Dancing with the Stars. We've never watched a reality show format, but this one was a winner. We disagree with the judges--John O'Hurly and Charlotte Jorgensen were more graceful and obviously having a better time than the winners, Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo (he was the best of all the professional dancers). I hope the show will be repeated, and I know many people will be signing up for ballroom dance lessons.

And thank you too for dropping that stupid idea , Welcome to the Neighborhood, which could have set human relations back a decade or two. Even if you weren't smart enough to figure it out on your own.

1231 Lutheran Chautauqua

This week at Lakeside is "Lutheran Chautauqua." Dr. Fred Meuser is the Chaplain of the week. I heard him Sunday at church, yesterday at Chapel and last evening at Vespers. He is just outstanding. He used to be President of Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus. Yesterday morning he gave one of the best sermons on communion, "Come to the table," I've ever heard, although it wasn't offered at that service. Last night he talked about modern day martyrs of the faith. He showed us his "clergy cap" with a removable "collar."

Yesterday I went to the afternoon watercolor because I wanted to hear Dr. Meuser in the morning. However, it was for beginners, and I didn't get much out of it. And I sat between two children--who were really good! How threatening!! So today I'll go up to the 10 a.m. class and see if I can get in with the other instructor, Barbara Cox, who is doing seascapes and landscapes.

1230 Coleen--your hairdresser called

This morning I watched an interview with Coleen Rowley (FBI "whistleblower) on a morning talk show. Whether her Republican opponent will also be interviewed for free air time I don't know. But she needs to see her hairdresser if she hopes to win (don't worry, my fashion predicitions are usually wrong). She looks like she hasn't changed her hair style since college making her look like a 1970s hippie--and I suspect she's actually younger than that. But even worse, she's letting it go natural, the cheap way--at the roots only. A short hair cut will get rid of that dishwater blonde if she intends to stay gray.

Katie Couric pulled out all the stops trying to get her to denounce the war and the Bush administration, but Coleen is a smart cookie even with dowdy locks, and didn't fall for her. She says there might be "another way," but didn't get to specifics.

I once wrote the website of a Democratic candidate (don't remember what office) and let them know about glaring errors in grammar. I think people should fall on their own swords, not the poor schooling of their volunteers. So maybe one of Coleen's advisors will see this.

1229 Political advertising a roadmap? I hope not!

Steven J. Fredericks, president-CEO of TNS Media Intelligence, presented 2005 ad spending predictions at last week’s AdWatch Conference. Among other figures I noted this one with some concern, since we in Ohio were drowned with political advertising in 2004, some of it very nasty.

“Political advertising, Mr. Fredericks noted, has become a perennial category, as well. “Election 2004 was a watershed event with spending exceeding $1.45 billion,” he said. “The number and diversity of advertisers and messages created a roadmap of new standards by which future campaigns and advertising battles will be waged.” More than 400 mayors are up for re-election this year, he noted, including in San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and San Diego, will receive an injection of political advertising dollars this year thanks to high profile mayoral elections and “New York TV will get a huge chunk of change from Mayor Bloomberg,” he said. Outside of elections, special interest groups are advertising around causes, such as prescription drugs, the environment and, what is likely to be the next big the next big issue, a Supreme Court Justice appointment. To date, those groups have spent $90 million on advertising, according to TNS data. Fourth quarter, estimates Mr. Fredericks, could see an additional $50 million from groups spending money in preparation for the 2006 midterm election.

Mr. Fredericks also took on the notion that the TV upfront is considered a leading indicator of the medium’s advertising market, noting that the cumulative error over 14 years of predictions has amounted to $24.5 billion -- about $1.9 billion a year. In only five of 14 years was total TV ad spending within five percentage points of the upfront-based prediction. It’s a “poor predictor” because buyers can exercise options to cancel their buys during first through third quarters, the networks vary their sellout levels from year to year and, he said, drawing what were likely cynical chuckles from the buyers in the crowd, sellers are the primary reporting sources for the totals.”

Complete predictions here.

1228 How to raise money for Africa--tax the rockers

Mark Steyn totals the original Live Aid help to Africa. Taxes on one dead Brit would've done the same:

"Seven years ago, you'll recall, Sir Paul's wife died of cancer. Linda McCartney had been a resident of the United Kingdom for three decades but her Manhattan tax lawyers, Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts, devoted considerable energy in her final months to establishing her right to have her estate probated in New York state.

That way she could set up a "qualified domestic marital trust" that would... Yeah, yeah, yeah, in the immortal words of Lennon and/or McCartney. Big deal, you say. We're into world peace and saving the planet and feeding Africa. What difference does it make which jurisdiction some squaresville suit files the boring paperwork in?

Okay, I'll cut to the chase. By filing for probate in New York rather than the United Kingdom, Linda McCartney avoided the 40 per cent death duties levied by Her Majesty's Government. That way, her family gets all 100 per cent - and 100 per cent of Linda McCartney's estate isn't to be sneezed at.

For purposes of comparison, Bob Geldof's original Live Aid concert in 1985 raised £50 million. Lady McCartney's estate was estimated at around £150 million. In other words, had she paid her 40 per cent death duties, the British Treasury would have raised more money than Sir Bob did with Bananarama and all the gang at Wembley Stadium that day." Read Steyn article here.

Africa is the only continent in the world poorer than it was 20 years ago when the rockers first banded together to help.

1227 All the good stories are from Hollywood

Ex-Liberal in Hollywood has an interesting account of his move from wide eyed trusting liberal to pragmatic conservative. Probably most interesting for Californians, but since we see so many of these LAPD folk on our TVs, you might learn from this one.

1226 What's the worst decision you've ever made?

That was a topic on a talk show this morning, but the phone rang and I didn't hear what the guest said to do to get out of it. However, at 65 I've got to admit that even the awful decisions, or the ones I agonized about, smooth out over time. Bad ones lead to changes or modifications which evolve into good ones, which maybe wouldn't have come along if you'd done it right the first time.

I remember about 20 years ago we bought a lot on a lake in Indiana on a whim. We'd been out on a moonlit boat ride on a lovely summer night, and for some stupid reason offered the people $10,000 for a lot for which they were asking $25,000. We continued on to Illinois and didn't give it another thought until we got a phone call that our offer had been accepted. I was stunned, and almost physically ill. We kept it about a year, paying the assessment and real estate tax and mowing costs (it was waterfront with improvements, including trees). We listed it and sold it for $25,000. With expenses, realtor's fee and capital gains taxes, we still came out ahead. But I don't dabble in real estate anymore.

Deciding to be a foreign language major in college was a terrible decision at the time. I loved the cultures and the people, but really had no talent for language. Eventually, however, it lead me to Library Science, a field I loved after I was in it, but which definitely was a second choice--one I wouldn't have pursued if it hadn't been right under my nose in 1965.

A Bible promise I hold dear is Joel 2:25: "I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame."

1225 There is no plan B; only A-b-o-r-t-i-o-n

Although I understand the reasoning the media calls Plan B "emergency contraception," it isn't; it is a very early abortion. Let's be more honest than we were with all the coat hanger statistics back in the 1960s. If you believe abortion is a woman's right to choose, and not the death of a human being, then be very clear about what you promote. There is NO morning after solution to tragedy, be it rape, long term promiscuity or one night stand.

"The American Medical Association voted Monday to put its weight behind legislative initiatives around the United States that would require pharmacies to fill legally valid prescriptions in the wake of recently publicized refusals by pharmacists opposed to dispensing the morning-after contraceptive." Chicago Tribune

And this:

"A bipartisan bill introduced last week by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) would require hospitals receiving federal funds to provide rape survivors with information about and access to emergency contraception. The legislation, known as the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies (CARE) Act, comes at a time when other proposals to ensure availability of contraception are the subjects of intense political debate -- proposals such as making Plan B (a form of emergency contraception) available over the counter and a bill ensuring that all pharmacies fill prescriptions for contraception." ACSH