2731 Plaskolite

When you open your cell phone and look at the screen you're seeing this product, whose headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio and which has recently opened a huge plant in Zanesville, Ohio. The vice president of marketing owns the coffee shop Coffee and Cream where I enjoy my first cup of the day.

Trip Tale: Our tour group, The G-6

It's not clear what happened to the rest of them, but by the time we got on the Sibelius train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, there were only six left of the original tour group. The G-8 had caused some shuffling of hotels and tourist sites, so I suppose the others decided to go another time. The six of us had a terrific time and were great companions. Both of the other couples had been touring Scandinavia, although not together, and like us, decided they'd rather have a little help with Russia. We called ourselves the G-6 since the G-8 was meeting in the city at the same time. This way we could all have a window seat in the van, and could all hear our guide. The other two couples, Betty Lou and Barry from Seattle and Gloria and Doug from Cape Cod, had much more travel experience than we did, but we were all novices in Russia!

At the Hermitage

In our hotel dining room

Nordic Saga Tours

2729 It wasn't political, just silly

WaPo's editorial on the House hearings on energy was not political, just silly, off the mark and clueless, says Amy. She suggests that editorial writers at least look up the webcasts of the hearings if no one can attend.

You know, I'm so old that I can remember when heat waves weren't the President's fault. Like 1988 when we had a drought in Ohio, and in 1953 when they closed the schools in my home town (northern Illinois) in September because it was too hot. I can even remember when 92 year olds died in July and they didn't blame global warming.

2728 Demand and Minimum wage

". . . I’ve met no one who, upon finding that he cannot sell his house at his current asking price of $250,000, reasons that he will attract more potential buyers if he raises his asking price to $260,000. I’ve never heard of a supermarket that seeks to clear out excessively large inventories of canned peas or laundry detergent by raising the prices it charges for these items. I’ve never heard of a construction contractor who believes that the higher the price he asks to do a job the more likely he is to be awarded the contract for that job. I’ve never encountered a car salesman who, upon my rejecting the price he asks for a car that I just test drove, says “Okay, okay. I’ll talk to my manager and ask if he’ll accept an even higher price for this baby.” I don’t encounter advertisements by merchants bragging that their prices are the absolute highest in town -- guaranteed!

Do any of you, Dear Readers, know of such behaviors? More importantly, do you know people who are generally more likely to purchase something as its price rises? If you do, surely you are by now a person of enormous wealth.

What is it about unskilled- and low-skilled labor that makes many people fancy that the law of demand does not apply to it? Are the greedy, profit-lusting employers of this labor so foolish that they’ll just dish out more money for the same output as before, without economizing further on labor – say, by buying less of it or by extracting more work from each man-hour hired? Or are low-skilled workers so daft or dysfunctional that they consistently refuse to respond to pre-minimum-wage-hike differences in wages and work conditions?" Don Boudreaux

2727 It takes a computer

Seems that 46 inmates released as far back as 1987 appeared on the municipal jail rolls and were billed to Franklin County (Columbus, OH). They're blaming a Y2K glitch. (Toledo Blade) Oh please. What about the guys from the 80s? How did they get brought forward? Sounds like my checkbook.

And in an unrelated Ohio computer story, Ohio University (Athens, OH) has fired two employees for failing to protect the University from security breaches that exposed 367,000 files with social security numbers, names, medical records and addresses. Earlier their boss had resigned. I think there was a total of 5 break-ins. And now the auditing firm investigating it has destoyed the records according to the Columbus Dispatch. So that's a mess too. I tried to track this on Google and there were so many stories about OU's computer problems, I just gave up. Sounds like they had a lot of extra money. And in searching the inmate story I used the search term "46 inmates." Could hardly believe how many totally unrelated stories involved 46 inmates.

2726 Trip Tale: Russia, first views

We met our trip companions, Gloria and Doug, in Helsinki at the beautiful train station designed by Eliel Saarinen. Martti and Riitta gave us big hugs and repeated the warnings about the dangers we would meet and we boarded the train for Russia on Monday of our second week. The Finnish countryside was beautiful, tidy and meticulous as our Sibelius train neared the border with Russia near Vyborg (which used to be in Finland). Even if it hadn't been announced in three languages we could tell we were in Russia by the smartly uniformed border police and the corresponding crumbling buildings.

But if the Russian countryside was gray and forlorn, the outskirts of Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad, formerly Petrograd) were almost horrifying after tidy, dynamic Finland which has so overpowered its former enemy in everything but military might. From 1917 to the break up of the USSR in the early 90s, the people have suffered the worst form (well, not as bad as North Korea) of totalitarian despotism. And for years before that regime, it was the Tsars and serfdom with not a lot of the population in the middle ground.

The cheaply built high rises of the Soviet era we saw in the distance were in various stages of decay, depending on their ages which ranged from 10-40 years (I'm guessing). Our guide who met us at the train with our other companions, Betty Lou and Barry, told us that after the revolution in 1917 the homes of the rich were broken up and the rooms were given to the poor--sometimes six families sharing a bath and kitchen. But even 90 years later, it is still the same in many housing area with several families sharing a bathroom and kitchen. Housing is very difficult to find.

Now in the post-soviet era, crime families have taken the place of the party and the criminals who ousted the Czarist system. One can only pray for the Russian people--that this will be a temporary phase on their way to a republican form of government.



The G-Eight Summit was meeting in St. Petersburg at the same time, so our talented van driver had to take many detours and we sat in a lot of traffic (although not as bad as Washington DC) as traffic was being rerouted so the visitors would see the restored areas with good streets. My husband with a new digital camera was giddy with snapping photos, so a lot of the pictures of our first day look like this.

Other entries about the Russian leg of our trip
Our tour group, the G-Six
Peter and Paul Fortress
Hermitage
St. Isaac's Cathedral
Russian Folk Singers and Dancers
Tsarskoe Selo
Tsarskoe Selo, pt. 2
St. Petersburg by canal boat
Church of the Spilled Blood

2725 I wonder how they do this?

Incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB-wUgnyGv0

Thanks, Mickey.

2724 Lakeside, Week 6, Rhein Center for the Arts

Other classes this week are

• beginning knitting
• ceramic painting
• kites, planes and parachutes
• glass projects
• stepping stones
• stained glass
• beginning and intermediate creative writing
• candles and crafts
• photography
• ceramics
• herb projects
• caricatures and cartooning
• basket weaving
• scrapbooking
• silk painting
• jewelry making
• tin embossing
• easel painting for little kids
• creative crochet
• decorated flip flops
• mosaic top table
• watercolor workshop
• Chinese calligraphy step-stones

Lakeside, Ohio

2723 Lakeside Week 6, Perspective Drawing Class

These are photos of the class my husband is teaching this week. Thirteen brave students have struggled through a 105 heat index in an un-airconditioned building. He has promised them 3 paintings to take home for their efforts.







Lakeside, Ohio

2722 Lakeside Week 6, 2006

Not much to say about the programming--it has been so hot I've been staying inside the house, or slipping off to the coffee shop early. But we had a thunderstorm this morning and the temperature has dropped a bit. So I decided to go for a walk. Then the rain began again, so I just took a few photos. I ducked into the Lakeside Archives and found Jan, the archivist, helping my neighbors Ed and Karen research their house. Shortly after we bought our cottage, we cleaned out the crawl space. The former (and only other) owner had been a house painter, so in addition to old paint and turpentine cans and garden tools, we found his parents' 19th century marriage license and his baptismal certificate in fancy frames. We donated them to the archives.



Jan had put several panoramic photos on display from the 20s, 30s and 40s. Observation: people in the "old days" were thinner and they wore more clothes. Most of the women were wearing hats and the men suits. Must have been dressed for Sunday services. Didn't see many children or teens, who may have all been sleeping in or swimming--assuming it was allowed on Sunday.

These ladies are all from our church in Columbus, here enjoying a respite at Lakeside, and admiring my husband's paintings at the Patio Restaurant.

Our friend Wes is enjoying a novel in the Pavilion by the lakefront. Notice the puddle to his right from the morning storm.

Lakeside, Ohio

2721 Ann Coulter's Godless

Yesterday a friend loaned me her copy of Godless. I had requested it from the library, but was out of town when it became available.

I'll probably return it today--not having made it through chapter one, because I don't agree with her main thesis, which is clearly stated at the beginning (I give her credit here--she's up front). Ann has some peculiar views about Christians. She thinks, or writes for sales, that they are all political conservatives. She sees liberals as worshipping in another faith--a state religion ruled from the temples of NOW, unions, Darwinists, and abortion clinics. I know hyperbole sells books (as it did for Michael Moore), but this is pure hogwash.

I've been an evangelical Christian since 1974 (I score much higher as a Calvinist than a Lutheran), and a Republican since 2001. I voted for Bill Clinton his first term, but not his second. I can't wedge a piece of dental floss between the theology of Bill Clinton and George Bush, one a serial philanderer and one a recovering alcoholic. Both are sinners on earth trusting a merciful God for the next life and guidance in this life based on the saving work of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God doesn't grade on a curve, but Ann does.

Most of the liberals I know are Christians, active in their churches, volunteers in community organizations that enhance the welfare of all, good parents and grandparents, veterans of WWII, Korea, and the Gulf War who love their country. Some are Unitarians or Mormons or Spiritualists or Wiccans, but most of the liberals I know are Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Catholics and United Church of Christ. I haven't met any who worship in the godless temples she describes or who drive fewer SUVs and Hummers. Two of the most godly women I know, members of my Lutheran church, are public school teachers who don't like the NEA or NCLB. They love Jesus and children.

When I was a "liberal"

• I believed that abortion was murder, just as many consevatives believe it is a woman's right to choose. I know the real me was one time a fetus.
• I have never believed in evolution, although I was taught nothing else all through my school years--it wasn't a religious decision as much as it just didn't make any sense to me. After more study as an adult, I am now a 6 day creationist, and that is religious.
• I know very few conservative Christians who go that far--they burble around in million year long "day" theories and Intelligent Design.
• I've always believed that animals should be protected from human cruelty, and that is rooted in my Christian faith.
• I don't believe smokers should pollute my air and lungs--and that's a health decision. And I don't like stinky clothes and paying for their medical bills with my tax money.
• Since first visting Lake Erie in 1974 (where I now have a summer home), I've believed that we need to protect the 95% of the USA's fresh water supply from industrial and agricultural pollution. That isn't liberal or conservative--that's called self preservation.
• When I was a liberal I believed blacks and women should not be denied access to houses, jobs and political office. I'm guessing Ann Coulter believes that too.
• I believed then and now, that only the marriage bed is undefiled as Paul writes in the Bible. But that's a message conservatives as much as liberals. Both liberals and conservatives know Paul wasn't talking about 2 men or 2 women, or groups of people who claim marriage, or serial marriages as many conservatives seem to love.
• I grew up in the anabaptist tradition and firmly believed then and now that we Christians and Americans put way too much faith in worldly goods and social status to bring meaning to our lives--"things" help the economy but they don't do much for the soul. That is not liberal property, but is firmly Biblical.

I still believe what I believed in the 70s and 80s, which is why I know Coulter's thesis is incorrect. Liberals are not godless. They have a solution to sin that is different than mine--more government in our lives. And it isn't a whole lot more successful than conservatives posting the 10 commandments and wagging their fingers at gays.

Ann Coulter
Godless

Thursday Thirteen: 13 places I visited in July

July was a busy time. At night I'm dreaming about train stations and airports and wake up at 3 a.m. not knowing where I am. So here's where we've been. The trip to Finland was to visit friends of 30 years; to Russia just because we could; and the Ohio/Indiana sites were part of an architectural tour taken each summer by Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts from Columbus, OH and vicinity.

1. Helsinki, Finland, see the city with web cam.
2. Suomenniemi, South Karelia, Finland, see my blogs
3. Suomenlinna, Finland (6 islands that make a fortress), see my blog.
4. Porvoo, Finland. See my blog.
5. Hvitträsk, Finland, home of the Saarinens before they moved to the USA. See my blog soon. "Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950)
6. Tallinn, Estonia, see my blog.
7. Vyborg, Russia (Actually, we were only at the train station for an hour while they checked passports. This town used to be in Finland.)
8. St. Petersburg, Russia; I haven't had time to get all the blogs up, but they're coming. A very interesting city.
9. Pushkin, Russia to see Tsarskoe Selo. Read a first hand account of what happened in 1917.
10. Springfield, Sidney and Dayton, OH on a Frank Lloyd Wright Tour. The architecture is amazing. The bank in Sidney was designed by Sullivan, Wright's mentor and employer.
11. Columbus, Indiana, rated the 5th most important site in the USA for architecture. But don't clutter your sanctuary if your building is world-class and famous.
12. Madison, Indiana, old river town on the Ohio River with 133 restored blocks of homes. I haven't posted about it--yet.
13. Cincinnati, Ohio to see two Frank Lloyd Wright homes, and we got inside! We also saw the new museum of contemporary art. Thumbs down from this visitor.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

2719 Fudge Report

The Democrats (don't know who) have launched the Fudge Report (find your own link) to track Republican stories. When we were in Madison, IN last week we took a trolley ride and the driver, a nice lady whose family had been in Madison since 1835, stopped at a fudge shop and honked. The employees came out with free samples. And advertising. It's a good way to publicize your product and make sales. Fudge Report will be citing official Dem sources and lefty blogs. Sweet deal. But don't consume too much--could cause a tummy ache.

2718 The Mel Gibson flap

I have little sympathy for drunks, especially when they are driving. The problem with the designated driver idea is that after a few drinks the brain is so impaired, that it is hard to convince a drunk he needs a taxi. But the media are really mad that Gibson proved them all wrong with his movie Passion of the Christ, so they are beating this story to death. I suppose it is to make up for their own anti-semitism in coverage of the Israel Hezbollah war at the moment. So now they need to be very self righteous. But I thought Maverick Philosopher made a good point.

"What's worse: Driving while legally drunk at 87 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone, or making stupid anti-Semitic remarks? The former, obviously. And yet a big stink is being made about Gibson's drunken rant. I call this misplaced moral enthusiasm. Calling a Jew a bad name won't kill him, but running him over in your speeding 2006 Lexus LS 430 will."

2717 Trip Tale: Visiting Porvoo

On Sunday returning from the cottage to Helsinki we stopped for 90 minutes in the old city of Porvoo/Parvoo, 2nd oldest city in Finland. Most of the old town section has cobblestone streets and one story wood homes. We browsed small shops by artisans and purchased a ceramic image of the parish church that had recently burned (vandals). It would be a great place to vacation.

Every tourist who visits must take this photo!

What I like about Country

They smile, they're cute, and you can actually sing along and clap. Eat your hearts out Dixie chickens.



"You take your all-right; you take your can't-wait.
A lotta of bring-it-on, an' some damn straight,
An' mix it all up with some down home southern drawl, y'all:
You got your yee haw!.

I'm talkin big time, I mean saddle up an' hold on tight,
An' if you know what I'm talkin' about, y'all, yeah:
How about a yee haw, ha, ha.
Yep, bow wow, y-e-e-h-a-w: yee haw."

As seen on ABC this morning.

Trip Tale: the birch bark slippers

These are a reminder of how valiently the Finns fought the Russians for Karelia in the 1940s. They hang in the guest room/den of our hosts' summer log home in the forest of Southern Karelia of Finland.

I could hardly believe the beautiful workmanship and skill. Martti's father made them for his mother as he waited in the trenches and needed to keep busy. The dark is the inside of the birch bark and the light is the outside. They are over 60 years old now. The children of the veterans of this war have not forgotten, but the younger generation has never known a larger Finland, and the teens and twenty-somethings don't remember the USSR. Many Finns from Russia have been repatriated, but their children speak Russian. And we think we have border problems?

2714 The naked truth

I'm just guessing here, but I'm betting all the folks on the Naked Bike Ride are Democrats, when they put on their underwear and vote.


"In their latest Democracy Corps strategy memo, Stan Greenberg and James Carville highlight key points of engagement that clearly demonstrate what the Democrats and Republicans stand for. . . " Democracy Corps Memo, July 28.

2712 Plan B again

Plan B has been in the news again. But this isn't about THAT plan, but this one, written in March:

"Plan B is pretty simple: stop trying to put Iraq together. It has no history of existing as a single country other than in the ruthless bonds of a tyranny or, before that, as an convenience for British imperial administration. What was India became India and Pakistan; what was Pakistan became Pakistan and Bangladesh. The end of Soviet imperial rule was quickly followed by Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia splintering and the splinters are finally beginning to prosper and escape their legacies of hatred. Who says there has to be a country called Iraq?

The most likely partition of Iraq is a “Kurdistan” in the north; a Sunni country in the west; and a Shiite nation in the east. There’s plenty not to like about plan B."

Read the rest at Tom Evslin's Fractals of Change.

2711 Guard the Borders Blogburst

"Our government has undertaken some monumental legislation that fully impacts the American way of life, our freedom, and our sovereignty. The purpose of such legislation is to homogenize Canada, Mexico, and the United States into a North American Union - and we’re all going to sleep through it.

Have you heard of a little-known program called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America? This tri-lateral partnership was signed by President Bush last year without Congressional oversight or public approval. Opponents of the SPP have called it NAFTA on steroids - and we all know how disastrous NAFTA has been for everyone except Mexico. It also appears to be modeled on the ineffective and highly unpopular European Union (unpopular with the people, that is).

I went to the website, www.spp.gov, to begin my research. There are, indeed, no boundaries between Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. when it comes to the cooperation of financial, trade, and foreign affair departments. Though some of the PR language on the website sounds fairly benign, the commissions are picking up momentum. And you know what happens when bureaucrats start grasping at influence and power! Except that now we don’t have to just worry about our own greedy bureaucrats - but Canada’s and Mexico’s too."

Continue reading at Heidi's Euphoric Reality.