1940 Face Recognition needs some tweaking--I hope

MyHeritage.com has a face recognition site where you can be matched with celebrity photos. It thought my husband looked like Hilary Clinton (when he was in high school, had red curly hair and weighed 120 lbs.) and that in 2003 I looked like the young Britney Spears when I had medium blonde hair. But in a 2004 photo when I had longer brown hair, my celebrity face was Yasser Arafat! If it is measuring face maps for genealogical purposes, it is quite a distance from Arafat to Spears! So I tried a third photo and got Kim Jong Il.

I Googled Mr. Kim and found this out: "Say what you like about Kim Jong Il's appearance -- at least it's distinctive. Absolutely no one in North Korea ever has to ask "Who's that squat little man in the glasses and khaki windbreaker?" Also, there's his signature hairstyle. The dictator artfully conceals his diminutive stature by wearing platform shoes and whipping his hair into stiff peaks. So what if the autocrat feels a little self-conscious about his height? That's understandable -- he's only 5'2". Napoleon was four inches taller. . ."

I tried a fourth photo and got Harry Belafonte. So I sent them some feedback. Four different ethnicities?

HT Daddy's Roses.

1939 A glorious Christmas morning

We were communion servers this morning and that is always such a privilege. There was only one service instead of four (there were probably 10 or 12 last night), and it was quite full. It is so wonderful to hand the bread and wine to a person who comes to the rail looking like he is at death's door (and aren't we all?), and see his face light up with peace when I say, "The body of Christ given for you," and my husband then says, "The blood of Christ shed for you." Particularly the elderly seem to really understand the gift--many can't kneel so they just stand and smile. Perhaps you need a lifetime of thinking about this.

When we were putting on our robes in the back room, the lector, who had to read the OT lesson (Isaiah 52:7-10), the NT lesson (Hebrews 1:1-9) and the Gospel (John 1:1-14), said, "I've been doing this since 1963 and I still get stage fright (although he used a much more colorful expression dealing with bodily functions).

And Tony Gonzaga sang "O Holy Night," and that's worth the trip in the rain and cold right there. Our choir loft is in the back of the church, but he could have been three blocks away and we would've heard him. And we got to sing out of the hymnals which only happens about once a year (screens have words but no music), and say the Nicene Creed, and hear the liturgy. Yes, a lovely Christmas morning.

1938 We think she's the one

After a year of grieving the loss of her beloved Chihuahua (who lived about 17 years), our daughter and son-in-law visited a 4 month old at the breeder's home, and decided she's the one. They were not getting their hopes up--were waiting to see her and interact. Here she is. They'll pick her up tomorrow.

1937 Is Detroit differently abled?

Detroit's handicapped stickers, placards and hanging tags are on the increase causing a serious problem for handicapped finding parking places, according to this article in the Detroit News.

"The number of drivers with disability license plates, placards or free-parking decals jumped 17 percent from 2000 to 2004, while the state's population grew only 1.8 percent, according to the U.S. Census. Today, more than 10 percent of Michigan's 7.2 million drivers have a disability designation. The Secretary of State runs the program."

Disability advocates say the causes include growing over-65 age group which grew 10 percent from 1990 to 2000. . . African-Americans and Hispanics nationwide have higher rates of disability and 82% of Detroit residents are black and the city's Hispanic population is growing. . . 33 percent of residents live in poverty and nearly 30 percent of Detroit's workers are employed in the manufacturing, construction and transportation/warehousing industries which tend to have higher rates of injuries.

I might add, if you build them (handicap accessible parking spots) they will come. I don't know how it's done in Michigan, but I know relatives and friends of disabled or elderly people who have the tag and sticker because they supply the transportation. Many disabled people don't drive at all because they can't see or use their arms, legs or hands well enough to drive. However, their drivers don't use the service just when the relative or friend is with them, but all the time just for the convenience of getting a parking place close to a restaurant or shop.

HT to Perry Peterson, another retiree blogger.

1936 Outsourcing education

While I was Christmas shopping this week I noticed that all the labels on sheets, blankets, and towels at Macy's were from India and Pakistan. Global competition isn't new, but it did make me remember what a healthy textile industry we used to have in the United States. It isn't my intention to research this topic right now because I'd be in way over my head trying to sort out NAFTA, improved technology, role of unions and environmental regulations, and trade agreements, but here's a site for North Carolina that does present some positives and negatives in the textile industry.

What I did sit up and take notice of was an article in Kiplinger's about outsourcing math and science tutoring to India. Growing Stars is a California based on-line tutoring service which uses Indian tutors with American English accents. They charge $20 an hour, which is about half the rate you'd pay if you used a homegrown math genius for Susie. Smarthinking in Washington DC also uses foreign tutors from Chile, India and the Philippines who were educated in the United States.

1935 Vince Morris returns to Columbus

Didn't know he left--didn't know he existed, but now he's back and playing at the Funny Bone at Easton Town Center (I also didn't know that our comedy club had moved--I'm so behind).

Anyway, it is reported that he will have material on everything from ignorance and self-respect to hip hop, and he's thought provoking, but not preachy.

Big deal. So's my blog. Well, maybe I'm just a leeeetle bit preachy and I'm hip-hop-lite, but I'm all that other stuff and no one will pay $15 to see me blog.

1934 Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

That sad old hillbilly song may have to be updated.


It is reported that Kenny Chesney told Life in October that the break up of his marriage to Renee Zellweger was "like opening the door of your house and having someone come in and take your big-screen TV off the wall during the big game, and there's nothing you can do about it."

My toe is tapping along with the keys, but I haven't quite got the tune.

1933 Dear Donna Sapolin

Actually, I may address this letter to Laura Dye Lang. Ms. Sapolin is the Editor-in-Chief of Home and Ms. Dye Lang is the Executive Editor. Magazines have the most bloated titles you've ever read, but that's another blog. This one isn't about that, but is about a suggestion made in the January/February 2006 issue, a suggestion I'm seeing more frequently as print magazines have tie-ins with their websites. So here's my draft:

I see you tell your readers to go to their local library to use the internet to set up a free e-mail account and then visit your website to get into a contest for free giveaways.

As you at Hachette Filipacchi Media well know, these giveaways aren't "free" for your company. Neither are libraries. The library staff will have to assist anyone who doesn't understand simple computer functions (using a mouse, pressing the enter key, finding a login and password that works, to say nothing of going through the advice they'll need to even find a free e-mail website, etc.) This could take 15-30 minutes of staff time depending on the level of comprehension or computer savvy of the client. And if they don't have a computer and are relying on the library, that ability may be fairly limited.

Don't get me wrong, the library staff are willing to help, but perhaps if libraries are helping you, you could help them by reminding your readers to support their local libraries when bond issues or levies roll around. You could maybe work in some decorating themes or ideas for homey furniture groupings in libraries."

Well, it needs a little work, but that's what I've got so far. It is in response to this item on p. 18 with instructions for entering a "giveaway" sponsored by the magazine where the details and rules were only posted on-line. "If you don't have internet access, inquire at your local library about how to set up a free e-mail account, and then visit our website. No purchase necessary to enter or win."

1932 A change of menu plans

Did I tell you what happened to my wonderful $26 standing rib roast (it was on special so I bought it about a month ago). When I took it out of the garage refrigerator/freezer Thursday it was soft! I nearly died. Also about $12 worth of chicken. Had to dump it all because I didn't know when it happened. The turkey was rock solid in November--took about 5 days to thaw in the frig and even then had some ice crystals in that bag of gunk I always toss. So I don't know when the freezer died. So it will be a boneless pork roast with cranberry topping for our Christma Eve dinner tonight, which is too bad because my daughter's serving that Sunday (in Cleveland) when they visit her in-laws. Then I'm also having the festive Christmas salad (cauliflower, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and hard cooked eggs), spiced honey carrots, apple/onion dressing, something-potatoes (haven't decided) and pumpkin pie. I think the nice bread I had frozen will probably be too stale, so I'll have to do a bit of shopping this morning.

I love to get out the china and crystal and silver(plate), and say hello to all the visiting memories of Mom, grandma, my husband's grandmother, my sisters, all of whom either passed down or gifted some lovely pieces, rarely used but always appreciated.

1931 Wouldn't this add to the cost of your couch?

Home Magazine's latest issue suggests buying a $600, 4 megapixel digital camera to take with you when shopping for furniture, then you can send the photo to a friend for instant suggestions or confirmation on your choice. p. 33. If you're that insecure, spend the $600 on an interior designer.

1930 Pieces of string and bad photographs

Years ago I heard a story (maybe on Paul Harvey) about a frugal lady who died. In cleaning out her home her children found a ball of string labeled, "Pieces of string too short to use." We are in the midst of a huge housecleaning and room shift, which involves all our art materials, paper scraps, old references from yellowed newspapers, dried up watercolor tubes, maskoid and gesso that's looking doubtful, old supply catalogs and rusty paper clips. I found a large file box full of photos and negatives that we'd forgotten about because we stored it so well. So I'm trying to sort and pitch. I found one envelop labeled, "Bad photos of paintings." Obviously, my frugal husband's work.

We also traded a small 24" bookshelf for a larger 36" one with our son. Originally, the whole set was ours, but one unit was too big, we thought, and let him use it when we moved here. Now after rearranging, we have room for the larger one, but not the smaller unit. So my husband drove there today and made the trade. After some struggle and maneuvering, we got it past light fixtures and down a turning staircase and set up where we wanted it. As it warmed up from the cold, the entire lower level of our house began to smell like cigarette smoke. If wood absorbs this much smoke in 4 years and has to gas out, imagine what's happening to his lungs, liver, kidneys, skin, hair, tongue, etc. which have been enduring this torture for over 20 years. Sigh. And I took such good care of him as he was growing up.

Disclaimer: he reads my blog.

1929 Instructions for writing to Santa Claus

The Post Office will help here.

If first mistyped this, "Stanta." Which reminds me, I almost got a letter from Stan last week. He wrote a note on an envelop in which he'd placed something and inserted it in the Christmas card. I'm going to save it and put it with the one he wrote me in 1967.

HT Michael, the Library Despot.

1928 The Crunk Awards

This website "Regret the errors" lists corrections in the news--like writing "Jew Jersey" instead of New Jersey, "socialist" instead of socialite and "beef panties" instead of beef patties. The typos get corrected--the media myths that I listed earlier, are just left dangling out there to continue confusing the public.

HT to ACRLog.

1927 A second look at the public library collection

Yesterday I mentioned that there was only one evangelical Christian magazine subscription at our public library, quite lopsided when compared to what might loosely be called the "popular arts" serials. Today I went back and looked at books. There were two titles, both from the early 60s on Lutheranism. Maybe three on Methodists and Baptists, several shelves of Catholicism, and 5-10 each on Amish and Shakers. Except for the Amish books, all looked pretty old just viewing the shelves. I'm not sure what is out there on the history of Lutherans in the United States, but I'm sure something's been published since the early 60s--there have been numerous mergers of synods, if nothing else. Lutherans were pretty clanish and ethnic, so I don't think they had as strong an influence as Methodists (the great awakenings, abolition of slavery, temperance movement, woman's movement) on the American culture. However, this community has one of the larger Lutheran churches in the country and there is a Lutheran college and seminary in Columbus.

Then I stepped into the huge video/DVD section to look at those journals (they are separate from the general content journals) and here's what I found:

Absolute sound
Air Fare (WOSU)
Animation
Box Office
Camcorder
Camcorder and computer video
Cineaste
C.F.Q.
Cinefex
Electronic gaming
Emmy
Entertainment
Film Comment
Film Quarterly
Film Maker
Films of the Golden Age
Gramophone
Guitar Player
Guitar World
Jazz times
Keyboard
Mojo
Hollywood life
Perfect Vision
Premiere
Rolling Stone
Sight and Sound
Sound and Vision
Stereophile
Take One
Widescreen Review

In the other journal section of the reference room there are two Mac and four PC journals, that I noticed. I don't think I'm comparing apples and oranges here. I'm looking at the total serial budget (something the librarians apparently haven't done) and am asking does this breakout reflect the activities and interests of the community, or a few people on the staff? There are two golf titles and three boating titles--and even those seem a bit stunted compared to the popular culture/entertainment titles.

When I was the vet librarian at Ohio State, if I'd purchased one title on dogs and 31 on llamas just because I liked or raised llamas, I think I would have been fired. (Actually, there aren't 31 health or breed journals on llamas--or there wasn't in the 1990s--so this is just hyperbole to make a point, just in case you are a librarian who's a stickler for detail.)

1926 Is there a doctor in the house?

Your house? The December 7 JAMA has a review of "Seventy five books from the Osler Library" edited by Faith Wallis and Pamela Miller, $40, ISBN 07717-0625-1. It's probably too late for Christmas, but perhaps an IOU? The Library is at McGill University in Montreal. The reviewer, Elizabeth Fee, is from the History of Medicine Division of NIH and comments:

"gorgeous book"
"polished little miniatures of scholarly erudition"
"well designed"
"fine quality paper"
"some surprises"
"exquisitely decorated manuscript"
"delightfully illustrated"
"sprinkling of curiosities"
"elegant little essays"

The reviewer suggests that doctors buy it for their waiting rooms as an engaging alternative to People, Time and Fortune.

1925 December 21st, a poem

I posted this two years ago, and here it is, December 21 again.

Christmas will be here in only four days.
House is festive--we found the artificial poinsettia
in the attic with other mementoes of holidays past.
A big roll of wrapping paper--blue with snowmen--and scissors
wait on the dining room table for those final exchange gifts
we’ll take to Indiana, socks for a guy, gloves for a girl.
The decorative shopping bag waits for its next assignment.

Christmas will be here in only three days.
It’s always been a pagan holiday, but now it’s more so.
The cranky ACLU is just spinning its wheels in snow
because not even Christians can make it religious these days.
Mistletoe, holly, evergreen trees, candles, and Santa Claus,
feasting, caroling, office parties, gift giving and shopping.
It’s all worldly or completely secular, therefore legal.

Christmas will be here in only two days.
The early Christians scooped up local winter festivities
in a giant snowball, soft and white, and pronounced it holy.
The godly let the Angles, Saxons and Romans keep their ways.
People do not care who they worship if they have a good time.
Our Puritan forefathers tried to stamp out the revelry.
They were the nay sayers of yesterday, spoiling the party.

Christmas will be here in only one day.
Yes, there really is a new born babe, and a sweet young mother,
and angels announcing to shepherds in the fields, Peace on Earth.
But Rachel is weeping because Herod is killing her sons.
One baby lives on only to die on a cross for my sin,
including celebrating his coming rather than going,
his birth, not his death and resurrection.

Christmas poetry
Christmas customs

1924 Need a score card

Today I got the e-newsletter from the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois (GSLIS). Before they ask alumni for money, they always tell you about new stuff. I think I'll need a score card to keep the degree programs straight, and I don't think I know what social entrepreneurship, community informatics, or bioinformatics mean. But if you were thinking about what we used to call librarianship (we got a Christmas card today from someone who said she was), here's what's new[from the newsletter]

Chicago-Based MS Track in Community Informatics
In fall 2006, incoming Chicago-based students will be the first to participate in a new MS track in Community Informatics (CI). The program was first conceived of through ongoing collaborations between the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) in Chicago's Humboldt Park and the GSLIS Community Informatics Initiative. . . The CI track will emphasize social entrepreneurship and community library and information service, and provide opportunities for both Chicago-based and on-campus students to create innovative information services, implemented within and across a range of community-based and public interest organizations. For more information, visit: http://www.prairienet.org/cii/public_engagement.htm

Master of Science in Bioinformatics
As a professional school specializing in information management and systems, GSLIS is a natural fit to offer a concentration within the campus-wide M.S. in Bioinformatics. In the GSLIS Concentration in Bioinformatics (GCB), students may take courses in several departments across the University of Illinois campus. This breadth of training provides students with the multidisciplinary skills that are required for a career developing and managing information systems for the biological community. The program provides training from faculty who are international experts in many areas of information management, including bioinformatics, biology, chemistry, statistics, and computer science. The GCB is an entirely separate program from the existing GSLIS M.S. degree, and the new concentration is not accredited by the American Library Association. Final approval of the program is expected in early 2006. For more information, visit http://www.lis.uiuc.edu later this spring.

Certificate of Advanced Study in Digital Libraries
In fall of 2005, GSLIS welcomed the first cohort of students into the Certificate of Advanced Study in Digital Libraries program. These students have come to us with advanced degrees in a wide range of disciplines including LIS, CS, Physics, English, History and Mathematics. For more information, visit: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cas-dl.html

Librarianship
University of Illinois
Informatics

1923 Christmas Shopping

I finally did some Christmas shopping today. I'd done a little last week--the Lenox Holiday flatware for my daughter and a Best Buy gift card for my son-in-law. My husband and I shopped together for his sailing stuff, so that didn't feel like real shopping (it's good he was along because that life jacket was not as large as it looked). But today, wow, I just pushed that cart through the aisles and was throwing things in right and left. The faster I went, the better the stuff looked. Two things are going back tomorrow, however. They didn't hold up too well in the 5 mile trip home, and I'm a careful driver, so I thought perhaps they were just too poor a quality to even bother to wrap, so back they go.

Possibly I could have a new grandpuppy shortly after Christmas. My daughter will go look at her next week to see if they bond. She's 4 months old.

The Gay Cowboy Movie

The mainstream media* has its shorts in a knot raving about the gay cowboy movie. Lawsy, I think Life or Look or one of those purty picture magazines wrote about gay truck drivers about 20 years ago, and I don't recall anyone getting the vapors over that. But the New York Times on Sunday ran two long articles on this topic--one in the entertainment section on the movie, and one in the travel or leisure (or whatever section) on the "real" gay cowboys.

Here's the quote of the month--or year--for the NYT. "The shape of masculinity is narrow." Yup, men can be tall or short, sourpuss or friendly, tenor or bass, complex or narrow, sober or drunk, artistic or vacuous, strong or weak, professors or farmers, computer nerds or retail clerks, bartenders or mechanics, architects or plumbers, brilliant or retarded, but if they are 95% heterosexual, they are "narrow." Breaks your heart, doesn't it?

On the other hand, gay men can be hairdressers, librarians, designers, artists, musicians, or even unfaithful lawyer husbands bringing home diseases never intended for a woman's private parts--but we're supposed to feel sorry for them and admire their bravery at being photographed along a fence post for a story in the NYT about their plight as cowboys. Plus, some of the these guys having sex with men don't consider themselves homosexuals. Word play.

Oh please. If there was ever a reason to stay home and not pay $7 to see a movie, this maudlin tear jerky paen to gays in blue jeans and stetsons would be it. I hope it bombs or we'll be subjected to a hundred imitations that will.

Ditto for love stories about a big ape and a blonde.

*I used to use the acronym, MSM, then found out it also means men having sex with men, so it seemed a little, well, reduntant for this article.

Films
Brokeback Mountain
New York Times

1921 The disappearing Communists

The Khmer Rouge was a self-proclaimed communist organization which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Its name is French: Khmer Rouge in the masculine singular, Khmers Rouges in the plural. The term "Khmer Rouge," meaning "Red Khmer" was coined by Norodom Sihanouk and was later adopted in English.

The Khmer Rouge killed 90% of Cambodia’s artists and performers according to the New York Times. The Times Sunday December 18, 2005 edition in a very extensive article reported on Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian who is trying to rescue his country’s traditional music. The article even mentioned that 1.7 million Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge--it just never mentioned that the Khmer Rouge were Communists. Seems like an odd oversight, doesn’t it? As though it was just some quirky Cambodian thang.

The other day at the public library I looked at two 2005 multiple-volume, histories of World War II looking for information on American opposition to the war effort in the 1940s. One was more an almanac type, the other encyclopedic. Would you believe there was no mention of Communists? It’s as though from 1939 through 1945, all those Stalinists and Maoists and CPUSA'ns just behaved themselves and didn’t kill or imprison anyone, and they certainly weren't Communists, unless the indexers were asleep or out to lunch when they got to COM-.

Communist governments in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and in Mao’s Red China killed, murdered, tortured and imprisoned more men, women and children than were killed in all the wars of the 20th century. Millions they just starved to death, the same way North Korea is taking care of business. So why are the Communists disappearing from our books and newspapers?

Could we call it “intentional design?”