1575 Buy it, burn it, return it

Some of you seem to think you need a thousand tunes on your iPods, or that you need to burn those CDs on your shelves to your computer. This is a phenom that has really passed me by. Who would want all that noise all the time, she wonders. I've noticed in the last 5 years it is increasingly difficult to understand what someone is saying if music, TV, or yard crew are in the background. Head phones, which I use occasionally while walking, are really irritating. My theory is your brain only can process so much sound in your lifetime and continue to make sense of it, so all that extra noise ends up growing nose and chin hairs. I think people now in their teens and twenties will probably be experiencing this by the time they are 35. So look out, kids. Anyway. . . Wall Street Journal featured a story on some music store owners who decided they'd have to join the downloaders or lose their business. Sort of like our church adding yet another X-Alt service to our already crowded worship schedule to satisfy worshipers who want damaged ear drums and racing heart rates along with their Bible.

"earlier this year, the four-store chain [Scotti's Record Shops] announced its new "Buy It, Burn It, Return It" policy. Customers can buy a used or new CD, take it home, listen and, if they want, burn a copy to a computer. Within 10 days, they can return the CD for 70% store credit."

They're running into legal problems, but maintain they need to remain creative or go out of business. Story here.

1574 Fashion Fugs won't worry about me

Go Fug Yourself is a fashion blog that tracks celebs. So I guess my entries about fashion and my photos of what to wear on a river cruise are safe. I'm not only not a fashionista, I'm not even a disaster. I see them at the coffee shop but I don't want to be one--especially not one of the over-50's in the short skimpy tops showing waistlines with love handles, or the strolling spandex follies. But Go Fug Yourself written by 30-somethings is a must read for some, even for the celebs it criticizes.

An aside. I was flipping channels and came across a Dukes of Hazzard rerun the other day and thought I'd look up Daisy Dukes and see what she looks like today--after all she's 51 and a lot of women in their 50s look smashing. EEEEEEEK. Don't do it. She's gained a tremendous amount of weight, but wears clothes that definitely don't flatter a larger woman.

Back on track: But blogging about fashion isn't easy, according the the site's webmistresses:

"Like a lot of people who have succumbed to the blogging craze, Ms. Cocks and Ms. Morgan are discovering that the medium has huge challenges. The money is minimal. So far, Go Fug Yourself is generating just $3,500 a month through advertising. Getty Images, the big digital photo supplier, threatened a copyright infringement lawsuit and temporarily shut them down. They sometimes wake up in the morning to profane, raving emails from readers.

Most of all, the blog treadmill is exhausting. Blogs require constant updates to recruit new fans and keep existing ones coming back. So the two women scramble to answer hundreds of emails from readers on their lunch breaks and spend hours scouring the Internet for photos to post. "Some days I start looking in the morning and there's just nobody who looks bad enough," says Ms. Cocks. "If I haven't found anything by midafternoon, I start panicking." "

I know just how they feel. Here it is 5:30 a.m. and I'm writing about people and clothes about which I have absolutely no interest.

1573 Happy Birthday

I had my birthday while on the Danube Cruise. At dinner they turned out the lights and brought out a fabulous chocolate cake/mousse spouting a huge sparkler, which is good, 'cause that many candles would have set the ship on fire. Our table of 6 was able to eat half the cake and then shared the other half with another table.



I took this quiz on what age I act, and first got a 24, so I went back and redid it trying to select more mature answers like Creme brulee instead of banana split, and I got it up to 29. Some questions, like TV shows I just had to take a stab since I didn't recognize them.

You Are 29 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

1572 Hugh Hewitt and James Lileks on the Media

Hugh Hewitt interviewed James Lileks, one of my favorite essayists/journalists who is on line and in Minnesota. It was recorded at Radioblogger.com on Thursday September 29.

"HH: Now let me talk about the media and New Orleans. I just did this...oh, it was so classic PBS, sitting around the table talking with three people about something that nobody's going to watch. But it was fun. And they're defending the media down there, and you know, the slashed baby throats, and the forty people in the freezer, et cetera, as, you know, they were the captives of Ray Nagin. What do you make of this?

JL: I think, I'm going to defend the media here, because I think that if somebody runs screaming out of the dome, shouting that a giant octopus is eating people in the upper deck, I think it's the duty of the media to report that. Because if the media went inside, they might be eaten by the giant octopus. So I'm on their side in this one.

HH: But couldn't they have spared a couple of cub reporters to snap a picture of the octopus before they got eaten?

JL: Cub reporters? No. Because generally, you know, there's a lot of investment with these people, because there's a whols rigmarole you got to go through with social security. I say send in some interns. And if they don't like it, you know, catapult them in. You know, use some sort of giant bungee cord to actually shoot them in, gather their impressions, and they'll spring right out, and you can run with that. No, Hugh, I think you're absolutely right. And it's fascinating to me to see how the pride and the chest thumping that went on after Katrina, the media had finally grown their kumquats back, and they were going to stick it to the administration. Now it seems to have been replaced by sort of a muttered coughing and a looking away, and saying oh my."

1571 How MoveOn.org will fix New Orleans

They don't seem to have a plan for the white Texans hurt by Hurricane Rita, but here is the plan for NOLA.

"Liberal Group Lays Out Its Agenda"

Step 1. Throw in the kitchen sink. Repeat as often as necessary, but have no rebuilding plan.

The group is demanding "a responsible exit strategy from Iraq with a timeline that starts now."

How would an exit strategy have gotten drowned busses to the convention center; caused a levee secure for category 3 to withstand a category 4 hurricane; and correct all the past greedy politicians of both parties, local and state, who have kept New Orleans poor all these years through graft and corruption?

That means increasing the minimum wage, the group said.

2.7 % of working Americans make minimum wage or less. What does this have to do with damaged levees or terrible schools? Teachers and construction workers are protected by unions and make big bucks.

"We'll also work to prevent Republicans from privatizing Social Security and offering more tax cuts for millionaires -- policies which benefit the very rich and leave most of us behind," the press release said.

Adding a private plan to an overburdened government benefit program that gets borrowed to fund other programs won’t stop levees from failing, but won’t build them either; it won’t graduate students from poor schools, nor building new schools. Focus, people. Keep with the program, please.

And under the heading of "sustainability," MoveOn.org mentions global warming - which "almost certainly increased the force of Hurricane Katrina."

So will you also be telling China what to do with their industry? Their use of natural resources, particularly oil, will soon surpass ours. There’s not a shred of evidence that global warming caused this hurricane, unless it was a problem in the 1940s when there were more.

It also mentions out-of-control gas prices and says it will fight for "energy independence."

Don’t suppose that independence includes drilling in Alaska, or more refineries in the lower 48?

MoveOn.org also said its members want electoral reform - and Supreme Court justices that "serve the public, not just their friends."

Liberals have controlled the Supreme Court for years, so just what are you saying? Be careful what you wish for. Cronyism has served you well.

MoveOn.org has one goal only--to get us out of Iraq and allow millions of Iraqi people to die in the chaos that will follow--just like we did in VietNam, and to keep the Middle East destabilized so Israel can be destroyed.

1570 Bush is spending money like a Democrat

I'm not the only Bruce unhappy with the way Bush throws money at problems when government programs consistently have been proven to be a huge part of those same problems. Tammy Bruce agrees with me. He will never win the admiration or votes of Democrats for imitating them, and he most certainly alienates Republicans and Libertarians, who unlike Dems, have a reputation for NOT standing by their man.

1569 Good Samaritans and Katrina

A "Good Samaritan" is a term for someone who helps someone else without thought of pay back. It's based on Jesus' story in the New Testament. In veterinary medicine there are donor dogs and cats called "good Sams." We saw many Good Samaritans on the scene after Katrina. As I noted early in September, I sent my donation to the Southern Baptists after seeing the Central Ohio Chain Saw team get ready to go south before the flooding to clear trees. The rest of the country thought the hurricane had by-passed NOLA at that time and had gone back to business as usual.

There are also Good Samaritan laws intended to protect people, organizations or corporations that may be performing a service that places them in harm's way (i.e., in the cross hairs of lawyers). The American Institute of Architects has a whole package of proposals, one of which the passage of federal and state "Good Samaritan" legislation that protects architects and other design professionals from tort liability during the voluntary provision of free services to governmental authorities in times of disaster and catastrophic events.

I have only one problem with AIA's package. The AIA v.p. of Government Advocacy is a former Louisiana legislator. I have no idea if he is a Democrat or Republican, if he was good or bad in that position of responsibility. I do know this package comes with a huge price tag, and Louisiana has a really poor track record for abusing government funding, whether it's for pulling people out of poverty, educating children for employment and college, or building levees.

I do believe that professionals working in a volunteer capacity in their field should be shielded from law suits, however. Now that law firms are increasingly outsourcing legal work to India, it will be cheaper and cheaper for them to litigate, but more and more expensive for the rest of us.

1568 Graduate school in Education

Oh Snap is a very interesting blog (new I think).

"Today I had a seminar in which we discuss our student teaching experience. It was interesting--a LOT of the people in my seminar have the same kind of complaints about their schools that I do: lack of discipline, lack of consequences, not enough attention to basic skills and knowledge, etc. Somehow the entire seminar agreed that these schools were examples of "liberalism run amok." So that was amusing.

That whole seminar is hilarious. The guy who runs it is probably the most intense person ever. He has wild black hair and I could tell from the first time I saw him that he holds views that are "radical." He's a great guy, and definitely has sound educational views--a result of teaching for three years in the worst high schools in Philadelphia. But somehow he always steers the seminar away from discussing teaching and schools and toward other social ills that we are really not going to be able to deal with. For example, today somehow we got to the prison-industrial complex."

1567 Bill Bennett's comments on abortion

Bill Bennett on his radio show tried to refute an article in a book (Freakonomics) that says abortions would reduce crime, and he gets strung up by the liberals who cooked up this scheme? Really! Liberals have been saying for years that killing the unborn will "save" children from poverty and a terrible life (and help our taxes). They've also published this crime theory and blacks in scholarly journals.

"Fertility declines for black women are three times greater than for whites (12 percent compared to 4 percent). Given that homicide rates of black youths are roughly nine times higher than those of white youths, racial differences in the fertility effects of abortion are likely to translate into greater homicide reductions." Quarterly Journal of Economics "The impact of legalized abortion on crime" by John Donohue III and Steven D. Levitt. (2001) James Taranto suggests that what really made them mad was his suggesting it was immoral.

Where was the outrage when academics proposed it? Where was Nancy Pelosi then? That woman's hypocrisy really gravels me for some reason. She and Feinstein are so whiny. How do you Californians stand it?

1566 I'll bet you're surprised, but I'm not

You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (61% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

1565 How to control poverty in New Orleans

With very little government interference. Support and promote intact families in the media, in entertainment, in books, in churches, in the entire culture. Women, save your children from poverty.

1564 No slippery slope?

We could just pass the homosexual unions discussion and go directly to legalizing polygamous unions like the Netherlands. LaShawn Barber reports. Once you decide marriage is not between a man and woman, there is really no logical reason not to include any sort of union so the group can get their benefits. We've had serial monogamy for many years with men and women supporting by court decree spouses and children from various unions including those they never married.

1563 What to wear on a river cruise

Casual. I checked with my friend Nancy who travels a lot--in fact, she’d been on a Rhine cruise earlier this year. Casual, she said, very casual. So I carefully went through my Wal-Mart and K-Mart clothes and threw in a few better quality accessories, like Chadwick's and Kohl’s. I really didn’t need my basic, dressy black dress (plus it was a bit snug), but we had plenty of room, so I did take it just in case we had a dress-up occasion. Our weather was great--about 50s in the morning, maybe 65 in afternoon. Cool is better than hot, when you're struggling through cobblestone streets and hills. Here’s what I took.

We had 2 carry-ons bags and one smaller and one larger suitcases. We divided our clothes between the 2 larger suitcases, so that if one got lost, we’d each have at least 3 changes of clothes. Medications and make-up were in the carry-ons. We each packed one change of clothes in our carry-on and a change of shoes. One couple on the cruise did not have their luggage until the 5th day, and had only their carry-on. So pack that bag very carefully!

I chose a brown, black, cream and beige color scheme, with just a couple of other colors, like a bright blue and moss green thrown in so I didn't get too bored.

black, brown, cream

Brown knit slacks
Black knit slacks
Black cotton pull-on slacks to wear on the plane

Black knit skirt (rolled up for carry on)
Brown print skirt
Denim skirt

Cream knit short sleeve sweater (rolled up for carry on)
Cream long sleeve blouse
Black, brown, cream striped turtleneck
Cream long sleeve cotton knit shirt with small blue brown print
Moss green long sleeve turtleneck
White 3/4 sleeve blouse to wear on the plane
Dressy blue/black/pink jacket with sleeveless blue blouse
Short sleeve white knit shirt (never used)

Beige moleskin over-shirt, cardigan style
Beige linen blazer
White cardigan (never used)
Two scarves, one in blue tones, one in autumn colors
Lined, light weight, rain resistent blue jacket with hood

PJ’s, underwear, hose, anklets etc.
Black athletic shoes, loafers, sandals, heels
Tan sandals

If I'd packed differently, I would have left out the dress and bought a dressy sweater set to wear with slacks or a skirt. Dresses do seem to be a dying breed. My husband had two sport coats and two ties, but one would have been sufficient.

Because this is hurricane season, we chose to fly out of O'Hare rather than Charlotte, and it is actually a shorter distance to Frankfurt. But I like Charlotte's airport better.

1562 More work for lawyers

News that Paxil may cause birth defects during the first trimester, should fill in the time for any lawyers not flogging the Vioxx cases and Katrina mold.

1561 Not yet, but maybe someday

Viet D. Dinh, suggests Vietpundit. I would say it's pretty remarkable he's made it this far.

1560 More comments on the Chronicle Librarian article

Paul provides some real horror stories about some instructors in his library school education. Wow. Wasn't that way when I went to college--I think the professors kept their politics to themselves. We talked about really old fashioned concepts like books, serials, history of information and the future of computers and how to make information accessible. I think the most dramatic thing I remember is discussing "In cold blood" by Truman Capote. Seems a little tame now. Must have been the blue jeans. No instructor--or even students--wore jeans to class in grad school. Raises the standards if you need to look nice to keep your job.

Paul recalls, "The head of the program, since departed, gave a seminar on the Robert Maplethorpe pictures that caused so much controversy due to their explicit depictions and federal funding. We got to see the famous photo of a naked Maplethorpe with a bullwhip stuck in his anus. She also showed us a photo by Mapplethorpe's protege which showed a four-year-old girl sitting down, raising her dress to reveal her vagina (no panties). She had, as our Director said, an "impish grin that revealed her hidden sexuality." Me and the woman sitting to my right were horrified, but we seemed to be the only ones. But, as David Durant points out, many often choose not to speak out in order to fit in."

1559 Little quiz time

You Are A: Lamb!

Peaceful and gentle, lambs have been used in religious imagery for millennia. Lambs are baby sheep, an animal tended by shephards since the dawn of history. As a lamb, you tend to stay together in a flock and graze on grassy land. Lambs don't mind being led and tend not to go off on their own.

You were almost a: Duckling or a Chipmunk
You are least like a: Monkey or a PuppyWhat Cute Animal Are You?

I saw this at Jenna's site.

1558 Why women?

"Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects approximately 2 million people in the United States. RA is prevalent across all ethnic groups, and can occur at any age, although most cases are seen in adults between ages 30 and 60 years. Women comprise 75% of all cases.[1] The disease accounts for more than 9 million physician visits and 250,000 hospitalizations annually, presenting a huge economic burden on society.[1] RA is a chronic, progressive autoimmune inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that attacks the synovial tissue leading to irreversible joint damage, chronic pain, stiffness, and functional impairment.[2] Most patients with RA develop permanent bone erosions and joint space narrowing and with time, many are disabled and may require joint replacement surgery. RA can reduce the average life expectancy by about a decade.[3]" From www.medscape.com. The sooner it is diagnosed, the more successful the treatment, but there is no cure.

"Autoimmune diseases run the gamut from mild to disabling and potentially life threatening. Nearly all affect women at far greater rates than men. The question before the scientific community is "why?" We have come a long way in the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune disease. But more work is needed, especially in the areas of discovering the causes and developing more effective treatments and prevention strategies." from AARDA page

My daughter has Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease with a female to male ratio of 50:1. This disease destroys the thyroid. Do you suppose it is unreasonable to wonder if this was reversed--75% of RA cases were male--we'd have more answers? More funding? Just a thought.

1557 The Democrats may be socialists

but the Republicans are liars, opines Professor Chaos, who attended a party and didn't like what he heard.

1556 Telenovelas on Time Warner

So I was a few months late discovering our Spanish language channel. I was out of town all summer. I'm having a blast watching what I think are the telenovelas, or maybe they are just Latin soaps. Yesterday there was the most incredible cat fight between two women, with screaming, hair flying, eyes popping, slapping, kicking, and one helpless older guy watching and another peeking from behind a door snickering. The fashions, hair-dos, sets, story lines, family fueds, automobiles and other toys are way beyond your usual (yawn) suds stories. Even the commercials are less objectionable when you don't know what they are saying. I'd supply some links, but I haven't been able to catch the titles.