2287 The National Security Strategy of the United States of America

The WSJ says that "promoting democracy has become the central theme of Mr. Bush's second term," based on this report.

2286 I've learned a new coding trick--I think

Blue Star Beth and her sisters and cousins and brothers are always adding fancy stuff to their blogs. So today I tried just one little thing. And I did get it to work the very first time. I coded a link so it would open a new page instead of leaving mine. This is useful because if you are like me, you start clicking on links and lose track of where you started. I'd seen this code before but wasn't sure how it worked. If I try to type the code and then save this entry, blogger will smack me and tell me I've done something illegal, so I'll just refer you here to the Blogger Forum. Now, if I've done this right, you should see that window open without losing mine, so you can come back and finish reading all my good stuff like How not to marry a jerk, or my defense of Hillary Clinton.

Thirteen things about my date to the St. Patrick's Ball
1. Balls at the University of Illinois were usually sponsored by a campus wide or large organization and held in more public places like the Armory or the Athletic building; dances were for the individual fraternity, sorority or independent residence. Other balls during that era were Sno-Ball, Beaux-Arts Ball, Military Ball, Interfraternity Ball and Panhellenic Ball.

2. Balls always had a nice dance band or small orchestra; dances usually a combo. To not have live music would have been unthinkable. There was also a photographer to take a formal portrait. I can't find the 1959, so the photo is from the 1960 Ball.

3. First we had a coffee date to get acquainted, since the St. Pat's Ball was an invitation from a guy I didn't know.

4. I borrowed a red lace dress from my housemate Sally who was slightly smaller.

5. My date wore a jacket that had belonged to his grandfather, who was slightly larger.

6. I weighed more than my date.

7. He borrowed a car from a friend.

8. I was 19 and living in McKinley Hall.

9. He was 21 living in Armory House.

10.My date was one of the few good dancers I'd ever dated. We went to many more dances.

11. He was a city boy, I was a small town girl.

12. He probably wanted to impress me so he told me that night he'd like to marry me.

13. He did.

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2284 Why teachers have more voice problems

When I was browsing the internet looking for vocal warm-ups and singing tips, I came across the Voice Academy which is for teachers. It is sponsored by the University of Iowa. Here's why teachers have so many problems. When you think about everything from the environment and acoustics of the classroom to the illnesses of the children, it makes a lot of sense.

1. Teachers simply use their voices more each day than most other professionals.
2. Teachers get little recovery time - typically working five days a week with only two-day weekends to rest. Personal and sick days are few and far between.
3. They are constantly exposed to students with sniffles and sore throats. Viruses and other upper respiratory episodes usually wreak havoc on the voice.
4. More children are hard of hearing as compared to previous generations. [Do you suppose it's their music?]
5. Environmental conditions. In particular, chemistry, art and industrial education teachers are exposed to irritating fumes. Chalk dust, dusty ventilation systems, low humidity, or molds can all contribute to vocal tissue irritation and difficulty voicing.
6. Many classrooms have poor acoustics.
7. About 75 percent of all teachers are female. Since women usually speak at a higher pitch, their vocal folds collide more times each day than those of men.
8. Teachers probably haven't been taught healthy ways of speaking. Knowledge of optimal voice use from disciplines such as speech-language pathology hasn't crossed over to the field of education. Also, when teachers have a voice problem, they may be unsure how to seek help.

There's some really interesting information at this website.

The Chapin Sisters

I had a pleasant surprise today visiting Natalie's Thursday Thirteen. She is a record/performer/music buff (loves the 60s), both old and new. In one of her posts she mentioned that the Chapin Sisters were a really nice group to listen to and provided a link to I don't love you. I love it. I've listened several times, resetting the button thingy. Simple guitar, sweet voices. They are the daughters of Tom Chapin and their half sister (they have the same mother). I wrote about Tom Chapin July 28, 2005 as a performer at Lakeside.

I didn't care for the Chapin Sisters' web site at all--found it squashed and not easy to read or navigate, but I did find a nice album cover at their dad's site.



Thanks for the tip, Natalie. I'll be back to visit some more of your suggestions.

2281 My ridiculous invention

Glenn Beck was doing an over the top routine on the new Idol show about inventions. Like the watch alarm that goes off when the hand gets near the mouth, or the butt crack designer jeans that actually has creative cut outs placed strategically and then is marketed to 15 year olds, not plumbers. So he's having a contest for the most ridiculous invention.

I won't submit this because I think someone ought to get a Small Business Administration loan and go for it. Invent a nice smelling hand cream, one for sugar junkies and one for salt freaks that emits an odor like raccoon feces when the hand dips inside the package or touches the plate of the offending food. The fat, or salt or sugar triggers a chemical in the cream, and you'd have to head for the nearest rest room and scrub down. After a few tries, my hand, like Pavlov's dog would be avoiding that bag of Fritos. But not right now.

2280 Help us plan our trip

I get a brain freeze when it comes to trip planning. I'm pretty good at the "Why don't we. . . " part, and paralyzed when it comes to final decisions. This summer we're planning to go to Helsinki, Finland to see Finn friends whom we met in the late 1970s. She's a veterinarian and he's an architect. And while we're there and so close we plan to go to St. Petersburg, either by train or by bus. We are working with a woman who helped us in 2003. Today she was riding in a car with another woman and mentioned what she was doing. The other woman said not only had she taken that exact same trip, but she had visited the couple we are planning to see (and indirectly she knows me too through my former job at the vet college).

So my husband called her, and of course, got a million suggestions because I think they stayed in Helsinki 9 months, not 2 weeks.

If you've been to Finland, or to St. Petersburg, I'm open to suggestions, especially any small tour company you might have used, little restaurant you loved, vistas you enjoyed, etc.

I've already told them I won't go naked in the sauna at their summer cottage.

Virtual tour of St. Petersburg

2279 Harvey's unhappy

He decided on his 40th birthday to come out to his doctor, a major emotional breakthrough for him*. He was disappointed that "he did not discuss my sexual history or recommend that I be tested for HIV, nor did we discuss the need for hepatitis A or B immunizations." And when he was at the registration desk of a hospital he was listed as "single," when he told them he had a partner. Harvey, I feel your pain. No one has ever suggested I be tested for HIV, and I've even had to inquire about a tetanus shot when I got a new kitten and "should I be worried about this spot on my arm."

In our diversity-hysteria society it must be very tough for doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, police, and school teachers to say nothing of bakers and candlestick makers to know what they are legally allowed to ask or advise. How many ways are there to spell l-i-t-i-g-a-t-i-o-n? It's just a suggestion of course, but if anyone, gay, straight, bi, tri or trans thinks he/she/they might have gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, lymphogranuloma venereum, hepatitis, HPV, or any of those other "fun diseases," just speak up. Anyone can fill in the "who to notify in an emergency" box. It may not be legal in that jurisdiction to even ask you what you've been doing with your free time and with whom. Harvey, by the way, IS a doctor.

[*NEJM, March 2, 2006]

2278 Recruiting hospitalists

The term "hospitalist" first appeared about 10 years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine. The term seems to be a bit squishy and nebulous and my spell checks flag it, but I think it means "there's a doctor in the house," the same one most of the time looking after other doctors' patients. Originally, doctors "in transition" took these jobs while waiting for something better to turn up. Now it is considered a specialty. Today I was perusing the ads for hospitalists in JAMA and noticed it's either a growing field, or no one wants those jobs, because there were a lot of ads. Also, some ads promote the location more than the job--unless there was nothing to say about it, then said nothing.

1. Hartford, CT: Upscale living choices, easy access to NYC and Boston, first rate schools, pleasures of coastal environment. . .
2. Brunswick, ME: 1/2 hour north of Portland, minutes from the ocean, good schools, serene life style, boating. . .
3. New York City: says nothing about the location, assuming I suppose that everyone knows the Big Apple. . .
4. Prince George's County, MD: I think the ad writer hopes all readers will know this is a DC suburban area, but she could be wrong . .
5. Indianapolis Community Hospital: not a word about the city or location. No oceans, no mountains. Just my relatives.
6. Denver: beautiful Rocky Mountains . . .
7. California: beautiful central coast. . . pretty vague, but at least it isn't LA. . .
8. Eugene, OR: major university, PAC-10 football, pristine rivers, forests, lakes, snow covered peaks in the Cascades. . .

2278 Why would you do this?

If I ever write a Thursday 13 about foods I can't cook, rice-anything would be at the top of my list. Third world women using an open fire in a pit can cook rice, but not me. If rice is going to be on our menu, we've either gone to a restaurant, or it is the boil-in-a-bag type. But this week I bought a pouch of Knorr/Lipton Rice Sides, Cheddar Broccoli, rice & pasta blend and will fix it for dinner tonight. Even in the picture, you can barely see the broccoli, so I'll have to add some. For some reason I haven't figured out yet, I buy more prepared food now than I did when I was working. Trying new recipes was not on my list of things to do during retirement.

However, I noticed in reading the instructions that to microwave this dish takes 12 minutes; stove top takes 7 minutes. Definitely not a time saver.

2277 Have they no shame?

This morning I went to the sweeper repair shop to pick up my wonderful Panasonic vacuum cleaner and noticed the police were there and the front door was busted with glass broken. Fortunately, an alarm or someone must have scared the bad guys away, and they weren't successful. "What were they trying to steal?" I asked the owner, thinking maybe they were after cash or something. "Oh, the vacuum sweepers--they go fast on the street." Imagine. Clean and tidy thieves and fences. Do you suppose a thief is dumb enough to give his girl friend a vacuum cleaner as a gift?

I don't remember when I got this sweeper, but I know I ruined one by vacuuming up paint dust when we were sanding the window trim in the dining room of our former home before painting (don't ever do that--ruins the motor because the dust is so fine). So I'm thinking 30 years? And this is the first repair or tune up it's ever had. The owner of the repair shop told me that some of today's models barely last 2-3 years--and he showed me one that had just been brought in.

Mine is a good machine--the new Panasonics like it but with a few more amps (12 instead of 7) cost about $299, and he'll give me a trade in on this one worth $50. But I think I'll just hang on to it for another 30 years. They'll have to pry it out of my hand for the funeral.


Dust mite is smaller than the size of this period.

If your spouse or kids wants to know why you are washing all the bedding in the middle of the week, tell them it's because Norma said they are full of dust mites. Although not as many as reported by the Wall St. Journal.

Monday Memories

Have I ever told you I was horse crazy when I was a little girl?
During 1949 and 1950, when I wasn’t hanging out at the livestock barn owned by father and son, Charlie and Raymond, in our little town, Forreston, IL, I was heading out to a farm of a girl friend to ride her horses. At Charlie’s barn I had to be sort of sober and grown up because there were only adults there and it was a place of business. I could watch them muck the stalls, shoe the horses, and listen as they explained the parts of a saddle and tack. I was allowed to sit on the horses and wash or curry them; and I could ask questions which seemed to cause the men a lot of mirth and red faces, such as, “How do you tell a steer from a bull?”

None of my friends were as interested in horses as I was, so after school I’d go to the barn by myself, within walking distance of our home but outside the town limits. I knew how to open the latches to the doors, so I’d let myself in. When my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I'd climb up on the stall dividers, scoot over and slide onto the horses. If I did take a friend with me, I would show off by walking under the horse. I shudder now to think of the danger I was in. There wasn’t an adult within a half mile. Usually, Charlie and Raymond bought nice, well-trained horses, but they were in the resale business and never kept an animal very long, so who knows what behavior problems they could have had? I probably weighed less than 100 lbs., and the average horse can be over a 1,000 lbs., and really, they aren't very bright.

Charlie and Raymond would take me with them in their stock truck on their buying trips--I remember going with them up to Wisconsin and over to Iowa. Again, I can’t imagine I would have allowed my children to do this, but it was a different time, and my parents knew them, or at least Dad did. I was a reasonably well behaved child, but I do remember wandering around stock barns and county fairs by myself as the men attended to their buying. I can remember being too embarrassed to ask about a rest room or for something to eat. So I wasn't as brave as it might sound. Then the cattle or horses would be loaded into the truck and we’d start for home.

Charlie and me and a gray pony
I don’t remember how I met Marlene and Carol and their large family. At least one was my age, so possibly we met at summer Bible School. They didn’t go to elementary school in our town, but attended a one room rural school. However, for Bible School, the country kids came to town, which was always exciting because it meant some new faces--important in a town of 1,000 or less. Their mother was a jolly farm woman who made beef tongue sandwiches for our lunch (which made me gag and decline her hospitality) and all the children in the family could play the accordion.

For my first visit to their farm, which was on Route 72 between Forreston and Leaf River, my mother probably dropped me off, but after that, I was on my own. So I rode my standard bicycle along a busy highway, with a gravel and dirt berm before the days of helmets and safety concerns. It was years later working in an agriculture library that I learned about the high injury and death rate among farm children because of dangerous machinery, but their townie friends, like 10 year old Norma riding her bike out to see them, were probably at risk too. (We'd also take rides on the tractor driven by a 14 year old, but that's another story.)

This family had two riding horses, one a handsome, fast sorrel mare, and the other a blind, overweight “Indian” pony, named Pinky. Pinky’s eyes were blank and glassy, but one was blue. He was white and his pink skin showed through, which is probably how he got his name. If he wasn’t an albino (who often are blind), he was close to it. The sorrel I would gallop around a pasture where she would attempt to rub me off against the fence while spinning so she could make a break for the barn.

Pinky was a step down in prestige, but was easier to catch. If you’ve never ridden an overweight equine, let me explain. When he galloped, or attempted to, his breath expelled with very loud heaving noises, especially when the three children on his back came down out of the air to make contact in sequence. Because Pinky was so fat, the saddle girth wouldn’t fit, so we rode him bareback. Away we'd go, along busy Route 72, always with two or three children atop, with cars whizzing by, many honking their horns to see if they could startle the horse. As Pinky would hesitate and balk, confused by the noise, the gravel, and holes in the dirt, we kids would slip-slide back and forth on his sweaty back, our thigh muscles burning, hanging on to his mane, the reins, and each other for dear life.

Mother would have had nightmares had she known. It’s a mystery to me that I don’t.

Readers and other Monday Memory contributers: 1. Lady Bug , 2. Katherine 3. Scouser, 4. Lazy Daisy, 5. D, 6. Beckie 7. Rowan, 8. Ocean Lady , 9. Darianna,10. Kdubs 11. Shelli, 12.
Renee,13. Libragirl 14. FrogLegs 15. Jen
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2275 My best student

Last summer I taught blogging at the coffee shop in Lakeside. It was not an overwhelming success. Having something to say, knowing how to type, even a little, and being able to put some sentences together in an interesting way are important for would-be bloggers. So far, Eric is my star pupil, and has five entries on his blog, and is experimenting with photographs. He and his wife Sharon have just celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary in Puerto Rico. They were back by the week-end, and Sharon did a lovely performance in a trio for church.

2274 Catholic parents: what are you paying for?

Sometimes Glenn Beck is really the "sick twisted freak" he calls himself. However, if most of your news stories come from the cable or network news, listening to his homegrown hysteria is sometimes enlightening. Like the time he interviewed Columbus' mayor live about the assault on a disabled student, but that's not this story. This morning he told about attending his daughter's performance in her Catholic high school play. Nunsense. With 13-17 year olds.

Beck is a former Catholic (now a Mormon), but his daughters from his first marriage attend a private Catholic high school. He started the program by reporting that his eldest told him, after the fact, that her theology teacher at this school had denied all Jesus' miracles and the resurrection, that they were just nice stories to make a point. Then he moved on to describe the stage production (which even when he mentioned the title I knew was way too wrong for teeny-boppers) where the sexual innuendo, ribald jokes, and ridicule of Roman Catholic doctrine were horribly out of place being performed by children in a Catholic school. He told of them swinging their crucifix on their belts, and pretending to perform sex acts to ridicule the Virgin Birth. He said if such an outrage were performed in a public school, Catholics would storm the administration and school board, but since it was a Catholic school, no one seemed to object. Except him. A Mormon. He is outraged that he is paying for a Catholic education that is ridiculing Catholic doctrine and faith.

Catholic schools
Nunsense
Glenn Beck

2273 Show the bump maternity fashion is just ugly

There. I've said it and I'm not sorry. Clingy, tight maternity fashions showing plumbers' crack and cleavage just make pregnant women look uncomfortable and unglam, with a bursting sausage look, the opposite of what I think they believe they are doing. (Not that fashion in general makes any sense.) Low rise jeans with tube tops--please save that outfit for housecleaning. Don't go out in public and subject the rest of us to it. Pregnant women are beautiful. They are our future. Today's maternity clothes (and I actually can't tell if they just moved up a size or two or bought a specially designed outfit) make the women look like they grabbed something out of the box meant for Good Will and are in denial about what's going on.

The 2006 Auto Show

This afternoon we went downtown, parked in a wet garage (there had been flood watches earlier), and walked to our ugly, ugly convention center designed by Peter Eisenman. We stayed about an hour, and although they let you sit in a $60,000 Lincoln or Mercedez Benz, they rope off the $344,000 Lambourgini. I couldn't believe the gas guzzlers (like 11 mpg) I saw. And people whine about gasoline prices?

I think my favorite is still the Dodge Magnum for comfort, looks and value. But Dodge has a new little guy that was really cute and reasonably priced--the 2007 Caliber.
There seemed to be plenty of room inside, the seats fold down for cargo space, and the gas mileage is good. Auto Week doesn't seem to know what to call it--"Coupled with a Magnum-like face, flared fenders and bold shoulder lines that flow into the taillights, it’s little wonder people mistake the car for an SUV. . . It’s not an SUV, and we wouldn’t call it a mini crossover either. This new Dodge may be boldly styled and ride a tad higher, but at its core the Caliber is still a sedan, just a new interpretation of what a compact sedan can be."

With the low end model right around $14,000 and good gas mileage, I think people will like this one. I did.

Getting ready for the summer shows

Last summer my husband had a one artist show all summer long at the Patio Restaurant in Lakeside. I'm not sure if he's made arrangements for summer 2006, but he'll certainly have the paintings ready to go. I think he's done 14 in the past month. That would be an entire year's output for me. I've done 3 in 2006, and the one of the hockey players never came together so we're down to two. Too much blogging, I guess. Here are some of his recent works, with the cat stepping into the picture at the last minute. See those windows. That's north light. Wonderful for a studio, but I have yet to put brush to paper on that nice spot we set up for me in December.

Lighthouse cottage at Marblehead, OH
Lotsa artsa

2270 Columbus has a new magazine

It's for the young professionals and adults on the verge of greatness. I blogged about it today at In the Beginning, my blog about premiere issues.

Shame, shame on those "31 Ohio pastors"

That's all you'll need to type into Google to get the story noted in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. Just "31 Ohio pastors." They don't care a whit about politics from the pulpit when they are preaching their viewpoint. I've been a member of a liberal church, and you better believe you hear politics. I didn't hear a squawk from them when Kerry and Edwards were making the rounds of the black churches and speaking from their pulpits.

This is pure pew envy. The largest churches in Columbus, like Upper Arlington Lutheran, First Community, Vineyard and Grace Brethren didn't sign on. These liberal pastors probably can't even raise a quorum in their own congregation, let alone attract new members. All their congregations added together could probably fit into our sanctuary. You'll determine their politics almost immediately by the tone of the news coverage. Usually, the media ignores churches, unless they can spot a juicy fight on the horizon.

Not that the non-signers have been pillers in the public square. Two years ago the pastor of First Community (and they don't get much more liberal) said, "If we work to take away the tax exempt status of All Saints Church in Pasadena and World Harvest Church in Columbus, that means we must do the same with First Community Church." [First News, Feb. 19-Mar. 4, 2006] OK, so that's sort of self-serving. Rich Nathan, pastor of Vineyard published a wimp-out article in the Dispatch saying in effect Can't we all just get along and stick to the Bible from our pulpits so we don't turn unbelievers off. I wonder if he means preach non-political things like sanctity of marriage, evils of abortion, evolution, parental choice, etc. UALC pastors haven't commented to my knowledge. The last time we did anything even remotely political was to sing "God Bless America" the evening of 9/11 at a church service filled with terrified people.

Cleveland Channel 5: "Another group comprised of 31 Ohio pastors believes Restoration Ohio is breaking the law, and has asked the IRS to investigate.

"They crossed the line and they're not acting as a church, in my mind. They're acting more like a political organization to elect a single candidate," said the Rev. Eric Williams.

Everson delivered a strong warning about illegal campaigning.

"Are we going to let this cancer spread to our charities and churches? Now is the time to act before it is too late," said Everson."

PewForum: "Churches and religious organizations agree to abide by the regulations of the Internal Revenue Code when they accept tax-exempt status as 501(c)(3) organizations. The 31 Ohio pastors who recently asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate possible violations by two pastors and their religious organizations had reason for concern.

The Revs. Rod Parsley and Russell Johnson have been upfront about their political objectives. They have created separate affiliates (Reformation Ohio by Parsley and Johnson's Ohio Restoration Project) to build a network of conservative pastors to promote political candidates sympathetic to their conservative religious agenda.

According to the complaint to the IRS, Parsley, the pastor of World Harvest Church, and Johnson of Fairfield Christian Church, have practically adopted J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state, as their favored candidate for Ohio governor, showcasing him on road trips and events to the exclusion of other candidates for the same office. The complaint accuses the evangelical coalition of launching a voter registration campaign and voter-education materials intended to garner Blackwell maximum support.

It is common enough for candidates to make the rounds of religious establishments, especially in African-American churches, to be introduced to the congregation. It is a different story when churches align themselves so plainly behind specific candidates. The involvement alleged in the complaint goes far beyond a mere visit. It suggests church-activated machinery to promote one candidacy."

Columbus Dispatch: HARTVILLE, Ohio — Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell told conservative religious leaders yesterday not to be deterred from political participation by a federal complaint filed by 31 Columbus-area pastors.

"You tell those 31 bullies that you aren’t about to be whupped," said Blackwell, the secretary of state, who said that "political and social and cultural forces are trying to run God out of the public square."

Trying something new

I'm not sure why you would want this, but. . .