2848 What is your blog worth?

Why I can't imagine, but I clicked on it. And that's how web sites make money, by getting you to go there and click. So this guy is a pretty good web businessman.

My blog is worth $413,243.28.
How much is your blog worth?

Still, it's hard to get people my age to buy stuff for the sake of stuff. If we don't have it by now, we've learned how to get along without it.

2847 Would you list your birthdate on a job application?

In the USA, that is a big no-no. Your vita, or CV, or application shouldn't list any dates--not birth, graduation, honors, years of professional membership, etc. You and your wrinkles still have to face the personnel officer and/or the search committee who may be decades younger, but at least you need to get your foot in the door. Laws won't help if you're stupid. Therefore, I was surprised reading a British librarian's website with a link to his CV which just blurted all that out. He's unemployed, or underemployed, or a "consultant," and is looking for work. His birthdate and other personal information (marital status, number of children) are on his CV.

In our family my dad's employment stories were always fun. His first job was at about age 10 when he took water to men in the fields for tips. He retired the first time, I think, when he was about 55 or 57, when he sold his business. He sat around a bit staring out the window and then began a series of jobs that didn't end until his final brief illness in his late 80s. His strength was sales--never met a stranger. In the 1990s he applied for, a got, a job selling agricultural implement parts to farmers--you make the rounds of your customers, check the bolt locker and replace what's needed, send the farmer (who was probably in the field) a bill. It was one of the businesses he'd started and sold after his first retirement. But all these civil rights laws were in place by then, so they didn't now how old he was (over 80) until he filled out the post-hiring paper work. Then they saw his birth date: 1913. The next laugh was on them when he outsold all their younger salesmen.

If he'd told them upon application that he was over 80, I'm sure they would have found some reason to not hire him. And that's the way it is these days with being over 40 or over 50, depending on the job. In the library field, where you're competing with gamers and gen-xers for jobs, I'd get some botox, hair dye, and lie. . . what they know can hurt you.

2846 A 9/11 collection

"Never did I imagine that we would remain free from further attacks, and for that, I blame the Bush Administration and its courageous efforts--despite all the whining, screaming, and hysteria to the contrary--to do what it thought was right to protect America." Dr. Sanity

"It's too late to decide to attack Bin Laden, so let's attack this TV show." Althouse.

"Seeing all the attacks of the 90s laid out and dramatized (with a couple of screwed-up attempts to get Bin Laden thrown in) was kind of shocking, even for someone who is already familiar with the facts. I understand why the Clinton people do not want this to air. About the two disputed scenes: Berger does not slam down the phone but he comes of very very badly anyway. The scene with Albright doesn’t look to have changed at all (from descriptions I heard earlier). I tend to share Lileks’ (and your) view about pre-9/11 actions getting a pass, but I must say, seeing one incompetent act after another does make me angry with the Clinton Administration. I imagine it might have the same effect on other viewers." A viewer who watched the ABC movie, Path to 9/11, in New Zealand, comment on Instapundit

"Once the 9/11 attacks did occur, measures were taken that have reduced the likelihood of a recurrence. But before the attacks, it was psychologically and politically impossible to take those measures. The government knew that Al Qaeda had attacked United States facilities and would do so again. But the idea that it would do so by infiltrating operatives into this country to learn to fly commercial aircraft and then crash such aircraft into buildings was so grotesque that anyone who had proposed that we take costly measures to prevent such an event would have been considered a candidate for commitment. No terrorist had hijacked an American commercial aircraft anywhere in the world since 1986." Review of the 9/11 Commission Report in the NYT by Richard Possner.

"As wild as it may seem to Americans, especially heathens, the war against terror is a religious war. Whether the enemy chooses to conquer us by force with bombs and flaming airplanes, or by our own suicidal and weak-willed acceptance of their demands to change our way of life (swimming pools today; the legal system tomorrow) to adhere to their religious laws, he will attempt to conquer us by any means necessary." LaShawn Barber

"Ysidro came to the United States because of the promise of freedom and the ability to make his own way in the world. He died because terrorists fear and hate that about America and the West. Ysidro stood for something they could not abide: the ability to make his own decisions and live life his own way. Ysidro deserves to be remembered far more than the lunatics who took his life and all the others. Godspeed, Ysidro. I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to know you better. The terrorists stole that opportunity from us." Captain Ed, writing a remembrance about one of the 9/11 lost

2845 My score is dropping

I think it is because I just cleaned my office and don't have any food in here. Or maybe because I had to guess at all the Periodical Table questions. It's been a long, long time since chemistry class.

2844 Triple the fun

Cathy is a school teacher and she lists this as one of her pleasures this past week. It was fun, clean, and smelled good. When you're working with kids, you can't beat that!

"Placing shaving cream all over the table at school and "finger painting" with the kids. One of the kids decided to imitate what he must see and had it all over his face. We drew faces, wrote letters, made waves, and just had plain old fun. And, afterwards, had a clean table and a great smelling room (it really is an excellent cleaner)."

2843 Lessons in pie baking

After all these years of declaring myself the second best pie baker east of the Mississippi (my mother was #1), I've learned an extremely painful lesson today. I've lost my touch. I may never bake again.

I probably should have figured this one out even without high school chemistry, but apparently, if you're going to make a fresh fruit pie ahead of time, you should freeze it, not refrigerate it. You need something to stop the sugar's reaction with the fruit.

A few days ago I made a fresh peach, two crust pie. As a special treat, I actually used sugar which I rarely do. Then I covered it and put it in the garage refrigerator (which sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, but seems to be on a roll right now). When I went to get it this morning to put it in the oven, the juice had expanded (exploded?) and was everywhere the pie pan wasn't in gooey puddles. I gingerly carried it into the house and with a half a roll of paper towels attempted to clean it up.

It is now in the oven and smells wonderful; however, we all know that the juice is now below the bottom crust, burbling and bubbling, waiting to become permanently gelled to the pie pan as it bakes. The pan is nearing 50 years old (I had it before I was married), but still, I wasn't anxious to toss it. In order to eat this, we'll probably have to treat it like peach cobbler, dousing it with some vanilla ice cream. Sigh.

2842 Do your eyes get misty

when you meet an old friend, especially one you thought was dead? That's a bit how I felt when leafing through the premiere issue of Hallmark Magazine, September/October 2006, Vol. 1, no.1, at the coffee shop today. My friend Bev, who loves to surprise people with little personal gifts, passed it along to me, knowing I collect premiere issues. It will have strong ties to its products and expects to have 550,000 out there for the next issue. There are many delightful articles in this beautifully designed magazine, but when I got to the end there was an excerpt from Alice McDermott's new novel, After This, with soft watercolor illustrations.

I was immediately transported back to an era of women's magazines when you eagerly picked up the latest issue because of the serialized fiction, or short fiction, sometimes on different colored, or textured paper. There I was, for a moment, back in my parents' home on Hannah Ave., stretched out on the living room sofa on a steamy summer afternoon, no air-conditioning or fan, magazine propped up on my then very flat belly, trying to ignore my mother's call to come and snap the green beans before they got tough.

I've confessed here before that I am not much of a fiction reader, having discovered non-fiction in graduate school. But when I did read it in the 60s or 70s, it was most likely in a woman's magazine, perhaps while waiting in the doctor's office or business lobby. Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan (before all the cleavage and sex articles changed it), Redbook, Woman's Home Companion--they all gave many women writers their start. I thought fiction had pretty much disappeared from the traditional woman's magazine, but when I Googled the topic, I learned that isn't so. At least feminists are still writing articles about how it rots women's brains and doesn't reflect real women's lives and somebody somewhere absolutely must do something about it. I don't know what. Force women to write and read about lesbian sex? Women scientists who discover malaria is best controlled by DDT and lose their jobs? Women pols based on Nancy Pelosi's character? Who would read that drivel?

The mother of Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Elizabeth, wrote unkindly about women's fiction in the New Republic in March 1946. Although it wouldn't get her a PhD in women's studies, it harks back to a 1933 study about how trivial the 5 most widely read ladies' magazines were. Actually, she only included one line about fiction, ["boy and girl tales, generally with happy endings consumed endless space"], but we know fiction doesn't consume "endless space" these days. It's been replaced by diet and exercise articles, like we needed to learn that we should eat less and move more.

In March 1949 Ann Griffin in American Mercury blasted women's fiction--out of 100, she said, maybe 10 would be concerned with a genuine, recognizable problem. The settings were "never-never land inhabited by disembodied spirits completely free of entangling environments." And everybody lived in New York, Florida or San Francisco (just like today's mainstream media slant), nobody worked, and no one had problems with housing, the high cost of living (1949?) or elections.

Then came the feminists roaring through in the 1970s, so magazines had to have the obligatory push for women to all be working and worrying about day care, wardrobes for the office, and additional education. I'm not convinced that feminists didn't kill a very nice market for women writers and illustrators. So if you're looking for a thesis topic, I've just given you one.

So truly, I can't be blamed for thinking there was no longer any fiction in the ladies' magazines. It's apparently out there, but I've been reading the Wall Street Journal, or Weekly Standard, or JAMA, or New Republic, or American Artist. And my doctor's office just seems to have golf and boating magazines.

fiction writers
women's magazines
women and media, Hallmark

2841 Rep. Pryce tongue tied on immigration?

To listen to Deborah Pryce's reelection ads, you'd think Ohio doesn't have an illegal immigration problem. She's actually got an opponent this round, but doesn't even address the issue that both Democrats and Republicans say they care about and want action. And she's stupidly campaigning for Democrat votes (that won't happen) by supporting stem cell research in her ads. That issue probably doesn't even register.

Not reform; enforcement. We've got a border. Enforce it. Protect it. How hard is that to say Ms. Pryce? Reform is just another word for more illegals at low wages to pad the sagging Social Security rolls in hopes there's someone around to clean the kitchens and bed pans of America. But guess what? With the unions recruiting them (they need members too), they won't even be available for the reason you're letting them in.

Pryce votes.

2840 Democrats' cherry picking

That's what I've heard Republicans say about focusing on one item, the strawman they set up, in the huge report about the intelligence that preceded the war. Well, Captain's Quarters is actually reading the report, and provides links. He had some analysis by p. 16 that showed Joe Wilson a big liar, but the Dems didn't lead with that story, did they?

"The Senate Select Commitee on Intelligence Phase II reports may take some time to process, reading the source data rather than just relying on the conclusions, but I've found one interesting nugget already. In the WMD accuracy report, a significant passage demonstrates the falsity of one leftist talking point (page 16, emphases mine):"

I opened the first section--151 pages, and peeked at the second, 211 pages, which seems to be posturing by the committee members. I wonder if anyone but the staffers ever read these? What gets rolled out for the media is really skewed. It says pretty clearly that all this mish-mash is based on material gathered after the war.

And all this smoke screen at a time when the Democrats are threatening ABC's broadcast license if they run the docu-drama about the Path to 9-11. Powerline includes a list of the terrorist activities just during the 90s. It is what it is.

2839 Why we must forward e-mails

I NEVER forward an e-mail chain letter or health alert or money appeal, but receive many that tell me to do that. I particularly don't like my e-mail address being forwarded in those batches. I do occasionally recopy what other bloggers say, so this comes from KeeWee's Corner, and I don't know where she got it. But I love it.

I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat crap in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail Program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers. I can't enjoy a good Latte from Starbucks anymore because they WOULD NOT send any coffee to that poor Army Sgt who requested it.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave anymore because it will Blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer worry about sudden cardiac arrest, since I can now cough myself back to life instead of wasting time calling 911.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thanks for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to the great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician, who is a lawyer.

Have a wonderful day.

2838 Friday night date

We've been going out on Friday nights probably for about 38 years. Recently it's been Rusty Bucket; before that Old Bag of Nails; but we've closed a lot of nice casual restaurants and sports bars. Schmidt's on Henderson, Gottliebs in Grandview.



Anyway, I feel too rotten with this cold to go out tonight, plus I can't taste anything. Even the cat has moved to the other bed after keeping me company the first night.

Yesterday David, our investment advisor was in the dining room with my husband (I didn't join them so as not to spread the germs), and he said, "Hmm, something smells really good." I thanked him (baked chicken with an apricot/mustard sauce), but said I couldn't smell it. For lunch today I had some of that sliced left over chicken on a piece of toast--homemade bread my son sent over. I'm sure it was fabulous. Couldn't even taste it.

2837 John McCain for President

If he's the best the Republicans can put forward in 2008, I hope Hillary is running, because I'd vote for her. He gets a black mark from me for personal character. Deserted his first wife after she stood by him through all his Vietnam prison years and campaigned for his release. She never told him about her injury, so when he discovered she wasn't the pretty babe he married, bye bye. Then he looks around for a rich second wife because he had a name (thanks to his first wife) and no money. Doesn't hurt that she's got good looks and political connections.

Then the second black mark is the McCain Feingold Campaign Reform which restrains our freedom of speech. This is not a good foot to start on in a race against Democrats, who are already severely attempting to undermine free speech.

The third black mark is he is smarmy, dishonest, sneaky and a back stabber.

There. I feel much better.

Hillary is looking better all the time. She's stayed married to her piss-poor husband, who has given her every reason to leave, and has been a good senator representing the interests of New Yorkers, even though she had absolutely no ties to that state and was a blatant carpetbagger. Better a carpetbagger than a bumbling, mumbling baglady, like McCain.

John McCain
campaign finance
Free Speech

2836 Funning the liberal bloggers

Go to Google and type in "60 books Bush" and find the outrage among the liberal bloggers that Bush is reported in a national magazine to have read 60 books this past year. That hardly puts him in Truman's league, whom elitists also made fun of, but it is about 55 more than I've read. Lincoln got by with the Bible, Shakespeare and a few law books, and was self educated. They made fun of him too.

"Democratic newspapers had a field day ridiculing his biography. He is "a third rate Western layer," the Herald gloated. "The conduct of the Republican party in this nomination is a remarkable indication of a small intellect, growing smaller." Team of Rivals, p. 257

See what others think about this lastest round of Bush bashing.

This writer calls it "drunk with literacy" and "idle flatulence."

Yes, his critics have a small intellect, growing smaller.

book reading
George W. Bush
liberal bloggers

2835 What's in a name?

For yesterday's Thursday Thirteen the contributors were challenged to write 13 things they liked about themselves. I didn't play--I often have mine written ahead of time, and I sort of liked thinking up 13 wedding gifts I still use after 46 years. That alone tells a lot of my good qualities. Sentimental, frugal, careful, tenacious, etc. But I can see why the co-hostess did it. I am puzzled and perplexed by the titles women give their blogs. When I teach people how to blog I encourage them to put a little thought into the title. It is the front door, and if you've ever put your house up for sale, the realtor will tell you: clean up the door, trim the bushes, and put fresh lightbulbs in the lamps. I can't tell you how many versions I see of "crazy," "mad," "goofball," "mundane," "boring," "tired" or not very flattering descriptions of an animal or body part appearing in blog titles. Frankly, I don't want to go much further if I arrive at a pretty template that says the equivalent of, "this blog sucks, why are you here."

If anyone told them that their children were boring or mundane, they'd scratch their eyes out, but for someone reason find it OK to say that about their childrens' mother.

2834 Labor unions recruiting illegals

Labor unions are heavy contributors to these various immigrant marches and demonstrations so trendy this year. Unions have no qualms about accepting dues from illegals (that's a legal loophole that needs to be plugged). How does the rank and file union member tolerate this? Do they not get what bringing in people who will take lower paid jobs will do to them? Why would an employer hire someone at union wage?

Toledo Blade is having a lock-out. I don't know enough about union negotiations to comment on the issues, but I can read salary information. In Sunday's paper there was a full page ad listing salaries [top range], medical benefits, pension plan, etc. Benefits: they all get 100% medical, surgical, vision, dental; paid sick leave up to 13 weeks; up to 5 weeks vacation; tuition reimbursement; paid holidays, employees assistance plan, overtime pay after 37.5 hours; paid military/jury leave.

I only jotted down two positions, neither of which require a lot of education, communication skills, team effort or personality. Rack sales: $38,617 + benefits ($13,516) = $52,133. Driver: $44,447 + benefits ($15,556) + OT ($7,419) = $67,422.

Next we'll be hearing that Americans don't want to drive delivery trucks or stock newspaper stands. There's a lot of illegals in northern Ohio probably willing to work for much less.

illegal immigration
Immigration Reform
labor unions
unions

2833 A disappointment

Last night I turned on CBS Evening News which I do occasionally, but I usually watch ABC or Fox. I wanted to see what Rush Limbaugh had to say during the Free Speech minutes, which will apparently be a regular feature (not him, but a guest). What a disappointment. Not Rush. Katie. With all that hype I expected. . .well, something. She was dull, bland, looked very tired, and not very well dressed. The female reporters at the Toledo stations we watch have a lot more pizzazz. They've killed what she did best--chit chat, gossip, looking doe-eyed and closing with a zinger.

Katie Couric
CBS Evening News
Rush Limbaugh

2832 The spiritual dimension of exercise.

I saw this subtitle in a retirement article today and comment on the concept at my other, other blog.

Thursday Thirteen

Our anniversary (46th) is next week, so here's a list of wedding gifts I still use.



1) Cookbooks from my mother
2) 6 pc kitchen tools by Ekco (still have 4 pieces)
3) Electric hand mixer (sometimes a bit sluggish, but still does the job)
4) Silverplate flatware, 8 place settings
5) Set of 8 orange glasses, now faded to pink, still have 7
6) White linen tablecloth, used most holidays
7) 3 bowl set of pyrex, with lids
8) kitchen knife set, one piece missing
9) Purple pitcher (art glass)
10) Set of 8 wooden coasters (still have 7)
11) 2 glass coasters with silver plate rims
12) silverplate dish engraved with our names
13) Set of 8 glass dessert dishes, still have 5

Oh yes, and we still have the two childhood friends, JoElla and Tom, who stood up with us.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Leave a comment and I'll add your name and URL. View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Visitors and visited:
MommyBa, Tinkerbell, Friday’s Child, Cindy, Jstar, Wacky Mommy, Merry Rose, Caylynn, Carmen, Aginoth, Ocean Lady, TNchick, Chaotic Mom, Ladybug, Dane, Courtney, Ma, Ghost, Diane, Chelle Y, Jersey Girl, Frog Legs, Titanium, Tracie, Jen, Sandy, Bonita,

2830 The biggest culprit in my eyes

in the whole Plame Blame mess of the last few years is Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor. From the beginning of the investigation, he knew Dick Armitage of the Bush administration was the loose lips source of Novak's story and still he went on and on with the investigation. There was no attempt to out Plame, no conspiracy to besmirch her husband. Just carelessness. Get that man out of there and make him pay back every penny he has taken as a dishonest, cruel special prosecutor who has tried to ruin so many lives. Fred Barnes has a whole list of guilty participants, but I think the top blame for Plame goes to Fitzfizzle.

Patrick Fitzgerald
Valerie Plame
Joe Wilson
PlameGate

2829 Trip Tale: Church of the Spilled Blood

As cathedrals go, this one is fairly new--being completed just shortly before the Russian revolution in 1917. This is the name our guide gave it, but the guide book I bought calls it "The church of the Saviour on the blood." It was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in March 1880. He had brought about many reforms in 19th century Russia, but not enough for a terrorist group known as "The People's Will." It was quickly decided to build a chapel on the spot where he died (the second attempt that day), but it wasn't finished until 1907 so used concrete in construction, had radiators for heat and electrified lighting.





The Soviets closed it in 1930 and used it to store opera sets. In 1970 it became a museum. Restoration has taken a long time because the original mosaics and marble and enameling were badly damaged.




It was about a 45 minutes walk from our hotel to this cathedral, so we saw it on our last day which had nothing scheduled. Then we went to the Russian Art Museum and back to our hotel for lunch (we were the only people in the dining room), to be picked up by our van at 3 p.m. and the return train trip to Helsinki.

St. Petersburg
Church of the Saviour on the blood
cathedrals