2869 Blogging at work

Some of my favorite bloggers either write from work, or write about work, or write about co-workers and supervisors, or write about clients. Not a good idea. If even one person knows your URL, or true identity, you're toast. Maybe not today or tomorrow. Eventually. I'm retired, and I know where a lot of bodies are buried, but I know I can't tell.

Sometimes it's a learning experience, teaches patience and forgiveness.

2868 How to lie with statistics, charts and quintiles

David R. Henderson at TCS Daily has an interesting thought. Read the Census Report on income, poverty and health 2006 before deciding that the gap between rich and poor is widening. It's important to note, he says, that income is not wealth (ask any retired baby-boomer). To me this is always the most glaring failing when liberals try to cram horror stories about the economy down our throats at election time. The oldest boomers are now 60; many have retired. Hello! What happens to income when you retire? It either stops, or is reduced drastically. Does that make you poor? Not if you have a home, pension and investments.

I'm guilty. I haven't read the report. But here's what I know for a fact going in.

• Married people are wealthier than unmarried;
• children of divorce are poorer than children of in tact families;
• divorced and unmarried fathers are less likely to provide a college education for their children than fathers married to the children's mother;
• people who work have more money than people who don't work;
• government programs often encourage people not to work, or at least reward them for working less, so they have the unintended consequence of creating a poor class;
• people in the bottom quintile usually don't stay there because their age, education or marital status changes;
• inexpensive leisure activities and entertainment lull people into not doing their best but create great wealth for a small number;
• millions of destitute people sneak into our country every year and are added to the poverty rolls;
• marijuana and alcohol keep a lot of people poor and dysfunctional while making a small number rich;
• for 30+ years schools have encouraged students to seek non-monetary satisfactions and rewards in life and liberals shouldn't complain if it is working.

Women (of certain types and political thought) have been leading the charge that keep families poor for over 30 years. Wake up and smell the coffee, ladies.

poverty
U.S. Census
economy

Friday Family Photo

This group of young college students, ca. 1895, were enjoying the social contacts made through their "boarding club," at Mt. Morris College in Mt. Morris, IL. I know they don't look thrilled to be there, but I think that's because photography still required the subjects to be quiet still. The older woman in the middle of the group is the "house mother," probably a local widow who opened her home and supplied the meals for a small income. Many of the student would have also roomed at homes in the community.



My maternal grandparents probably met this way, she is in the upper left, next to her future brother-in-law, and he is in the lower right. Grandma was from Ashton, about 20 miles away and probably used a train to travel back and forth, but Grandpa was from near Dayton, Ohio, (Jamton, which no longer exists) and I am told that he and his brother bicycled from the Dayton area to get to Mt. Morris. Bicycles were still fairly new then and long distance travel was not unusual, especially with clubs. Their materials and innovations and the rider's sense of freedom and independence really paved the way for the automobile, and many early bicycle makers became auto makers.

One of the things I find interesting in this photo is the clothing. It looks rather plain to us in the 21st century, but these young people were most likely members of the German Baptist Brethren (later called Church of the Brethren), but none are dressed "in order," the word "order" meaning discipline and separation. For men this might be suits without ties or lapels, and for women dresses with no adornment and prayer coverings over the hair. I would need to check with an historian of this group, but it is possible that they did not dress "in order" until they were baptised which may have been in adulthood.

After one year of college, Grandma went home to Ashton to manage her father's farm home because her mother died, but she did continue with her painting and took private lessons. Grandpa and his brother after two years of college headed west, taught school along the way in the Dakotas, worked as lumberjacks in the northwest, and tried to get into Alaska for the gold rush. Eventually the young adventurers returned to the midwest. My grandparents got together to renew a college friendship (he was probably out of money), and married in 1901.

Update: Modern view on anabaptist dress.

Church of the Brethren
Mt. Morris College
Mt. Morris, Illinois

Thursday Thirteen

13 things I just don't get (in no particular order). I do like to have certain things make sense. Call it age, but there are common every day sights and experiences that just baffle me. I come up with a blank for an explanation on these thirteen.

1) Declarative sentences that end with a question mark. (The voice rises at the end and the eyebrows go up even though there is no question.) Women do this much more than men. I would almost rather hear the word "like" 15 times in a sentence, than hear it go up at the end.

2) Why I would put on 20 lbs three years after I retired, but not the first two years. It's not the how (too many calories), but the timing.

3) Ugly art. Why bother to create it or buy it? We have friends who spent about $70,000 on their son's fine art education, and I use the term loosely. I would demand my money back.

4) The moral level and premise of popular TV shows like Sopranos (New Jersey psychopaths and their relationships), Desperate Housewives (botoxed and enhanced women as non-productive mooches sleeping with the help), Weeds (Tupperware type woman who makes ends meet by starting her own door-to-door pot dealing business), etc. If those are your favorite shows, what would you be turning off? Football and golf on TV look better to me all the time.

5) Rancorous political pundits in blogs. Left or right--are they just letting off steam or harming the nation? The left far outnumber the right and are even more outrageous and conspiratorial, I just don't link to them. I've already told you I don't read potty mouth bloggers in another "13." Nothing worse than a woman stumbling up to her blog template with a dirty mouth.

6) Fashion trends that glorify sway backs, bellies and muffin tops. I hope the natural waist returns soon to slacks and skirts, someplace other than the L.L.Bean catalog.

7) Poker and gambling glorified on cable TV. We don't have enough addictions in our society? Just invest in stocks. Held long enough, you'll get about 10% over time.

8) Loud, thudding worship music. Do you think God is deaf? Or does your music director own stock in Peavey?

9) Crotch grabbing musicians and poets. Ode to crabs? And inseams that start below the knees. Oh please. Those guys look like men in skirts.

10) Why sex offenders on the Internet or next door is a left-right issue. Why public librarians are such wimps about it.

11) Why we blame restaurants, advertisers and food vendors for Americans being overweight (and Europeans are just a decade behind us). No one is dragging us into the store and force feeding us.

12) Why we can't build roads that will keep up with the traffic, instead of creating life time employment for state workers.

13) Men with earrings. Sissies. The whole bunch. With a pony tail and tattoo they really look dumb and driving a pick-up truck won't change it. Leave the tresses to ladies wearing dresses. Next they'll want their own scrunchies.

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2865 If your kids are fat, blame Bush

The latest report about obesity in children has some clues about who is to blame. It isn't genes; it isn't choice; it isn't TV advertising. It isn't even fast food. It's the government. And that, as we all know, means Bush.

This was in my mailbox from Rueters:

"There was a national campaign called VERB done by CDC and the federal government to increase children's awareness of being physically active," he added. "That was shown to be effective in doing those things but then it ceased to be funded."

The program ends this month."

And this from the same article:

"Many parents have complained that testing requirements, budget crunches and other factors have caused schools to drop recess and physical education -- two important opportunities for children to get exercise.

"From my perspective as a physician and public health professional ... I'd have to say we should not remove physical activity from the school day," Koplan said.

"You put a group of 8-year-olds together sitting in a chair all day and ...they, like us, will lose concentration," he said."


"Federal funding for Verb was $125 million in 2001, $68 million in 2002, $51 million in 2003, $36 million in 2004 and $59 million in 2005. At press time, the House had proposed $11.2 million for Verb in the fiscal year 2006 budget, while the U.S. Senate had proposed no funding at all. According to the 2006 budget justification released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the “budget request reflects the elimination” of Verb, noting that the program was originally authorized for five years in 2001. However, Congress can reauthorize Verb funding if it desires or simply continue appropriating funds for the program." Nation's Health.

2864 Wedding Photos

In August we attended a lovely wedding (although we left before the dancing started so we could get back to Lakeside). Eric has now posted photographs of the wedding party and festivities. Eric is one of my blogging students from last summer, although with his background, it was pretty easy. We've known Eric and Sharon about 30 years and watched their two boys grow up.

2863 Fall tasks

My husband and son are painting the trim on his house today.


I'm doing laundry and getting ready for our trip to California. We will be there for a week, so blogging might be light. Every time I say that, however, I find a way. . .

2862 Blogmares

Mark Leggott says he has blogmares. That's the blogger's version of the dream that you've got an exam and can't find the classroom.

1) you create a new "cutting edge" post only to realize you made essentially the same post 12 months ago
2) you create a new post about something you just read, only to realize that you did the same thing last month and said something completely different
3) you get a message from a blogger you've never heard of asking why you copied his stuff without credit
4) you delete the best comment ever (one of the few you've ever had) when cleaning up your #@*^% blogspam
5) then of course there would have to be the you-forget-you-have-a-blog-until-the-conference-talk-on-blogs one...

See the whole post at Loomware.

2861 Terrible tragedy in Canada

I've been watching the terrifying footage of the Canadian campus where a gunman shot many students. The first thing that struck me as I watched the students running, was that they were still wearing their backpacks. If I thought I was fleeing for my life, would I weigh myself down with 20 lbs of books and computer?

2860 Matt Lauer and Debra Lafave

Why is he even giving her the time of day? Would she have been interviewed if she were ugly? Find your own link.

Rosie O'Donnell hates Christians

Why not just stop watching The View? If they are going to let a host insult 80% of the audience and call it freedom of speech or political commentary, then let's use freedom of the remote and change channels. (Disclaimer: I've never watched more than 5 min. of The View without changing channels.)

Rosie O'Donnell
The View
Debra Lafave

2859 If the election were today, Joe would win easily

According to Survey USA Election Poll #10179:

Independent Lieberman 13 Points Atop Democrat Lamont for U.S. Senate:

In an election in Connecticut today, incumbent U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, running as an Independent, defeats Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Alan Schlesinger, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WABC-TV New York. 8 weeks to the 11/7/06 general election, it's Lieberman 51%, Lamont 38%, Schlesinger 7%.

Lieberman leads 6:1 among Republicans, 3:2 among Independents. Lamont leads 3:2 among Democrats. 83% of the Democrats who voted for Lieberman in the 08/08/06 Democratic Primary, which Lamont won by 4 points, stick with Lieberman as an Independent in the General Election. 16% of Democrats who voted for Lieberman in the Primary switch to Lamont in the General. 17% of Republicans support the Republican Party's nominee, Schlesinger.

Of those who approve of President Bush's position on Iraq, 76% vote Lieberman. Among those who disapprove of Bush on Iraq, 59% vote Lamont. Of those who say "Terrorism" is the most important issue, 75% vote Lieberman. Of those who say "Iraq" is the most important issue, 73% vote Lamont.

SurveyUSA asked voters whether they are voting "for" their candidate or "against" another candidate. 57% of those who vote Lamont say they are voting "against" another candidate. 60% of those who vote Lieberman say they are voting "for" Lieberman.

For Lamont, there is solace in this one fact: of voters who in 2000 voted for Joe Lieberman both for Vice President of the United States and for U.S. Senator from Connecticut, half now vote for Lamont, half now vote for Lieberman. But that alone is not enough to elect Lamont.

HT GOP Bloggers

2858 Get out of my way, dude

I have a hair appointment at 9:30. Need to leave the drive-way at 9:15. There is a gravel truck parked at the end of my drive-way, and a a road grader parked in front of him. I'd better get out there about 9:10 and raise hell for 5 minutes, because nothing stands between me and Melissa when the roots need attention.

2857 You just don't say this in a small town

Right Murray? Sylvia? Amy?

"Last month, New York Times Sunday Styles columnist Bob Morris aimed a finicky gaze at the upstate town where he and his partner, literary agent Ira Silverberg, keep a second home.

Mr. Morris, 48, meant to poke fun at the clash between his own metropolitan snootiness and small-town reality. “When I’m there,” he wrote, “I see a new gas station with a sign so big I’m convinced it’s illegal, a market that would be adequate only if you could eat lottery tickets, fishing camps that resemble trailer parks, a river that shouldn’t be so brown, and an unpainted gazebo off Main Street that makes a tiny park look like a cluttered lawn furniture outlet.”

“I didn’t think anyone would notice,” Mr. Morris said. “I didn’t even name the town.”

Mike Calderone, New York Observer, story about the newspaper wars that resulted from his misplaced observations.

2856 Bloggers and journalists

I've never confused the two--i.e. the little people like me and the alpha bloggers, especially when I listen to folks on the Popular Mechanics blog--who are both. But I thought this observation worth pointing to:

". . . blogging takes up a lot of time. Not just the time to write a post but the time spent combing the ‘net for something interesting. Or documenting episodes in your life via pictures to create a post.

And beyond that blogging takes a lot of mental energy. When you aren’t blogging, you ar thinking about it. You think about your traffic, links, comments; you wonder how to get an edge on other bloggers. You wonder why your [deleted] blog is ignored, why you toil in obscurity while someone else’s [same word] blog becomes a media darling.

Above all there’s the realization that while you can, on your best day come up with a brilliant or near brilliant post, there are others who are doing it consistently on a daily basis. Sometimes twice or three times a day."

And he goes on to say that unlike when he started [and he has to write anonymously because of his profession], now the biggest blogs are all controlled by people who are in the media by profession. Also, unlike two years ago when conservative and libertarian, well-reasoned blogs were blossoming, now it is the radical left wing bloggers and conspiracy kooks who have taken over the ranks of bloggers (I've noticed this too).

"Blogging once held out great hope that the media could be held to account for their inaccuracies, biases and blatant falsifications of the news. But modern journalism has proven to be like the old Soviet Union - you could invade and cause great damage but ultimately you would run out of steam and like punching Jell-o it would eventually bounce your fist right out."

Sad to say, I absolutely agree.

From Meatriarchy

2855 Paragraph Farmer

had this conversation with his pastor.

My pastor and I had the following exchange before Mass yesterday.

"Frankly, Father, I'm tired of praying for peace. I'd rather pray for victory."

"Well, we'll pray for Jesus to come back. That'll fix everything."

Pretty good, huh?

Paragraph Farmer blog.

2853 Middle of the night with the conspiracy theorists

As I mentioned about a week ago, I've been sleeping in the guest room with my cold and my cat. But that means I can leave the radio on all night. You know, I'd sort of forgotten how bizarre nighttime a.m. radio can be with UFOs, seances, tattoo artists, and 9/11 conspiracy theorists--much more outrageous than nighttime TV with its health scares, crystals and blind dates. How do these seriously sick people earn a living? I'm so happy that Popular Mechanics is on the job.

This morning on Glenn Beck I heard the author of the book that evolved from the article debunking the various theories. And it wasn't hard. Most of the time all they had to do was go to the original quote or sources--like the one about a cruise missile hitting the pentagon, where the first part of the sentence--"An American Airlines jet flying so low it looked like" a cruise missile with wings.

• Claims that air traffic control violated standard operating procedures by not immediately intercepting the stricken jets;
  
• That the fire caused by the crashes wasn't actually hot enough to melt steel and cause structural damage in the World Trade Center;
  
• That the holes in the Pentagon were too small to have been made by a Boeing 757;
  
• That Flight 93 was actually shot down by an Air Force plane.

Hear the interview with Jim Meigs and David Dunbar here at Popular Mechanics Radio. Don't miss the description of the radically different construction used on the WT towers--the lightest buildings in NYC. They did not have steel girder columns holding them up. And how the conspiracists thought the word "Pull-it" referred to bringing down a building, but they were discussing getting the firefighters out.

"How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy so black that, which it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men.…What can be made of this unbroken series of decisions and acts contributing to the strategy of defeat? They cannot be attributed to incompetence.…The laws of probability would dictate that part of…[the] decisions would serve the country’s interest." Joseph McCarthy, 1951

The Internet ignites a conspiracy faster than jet fuel in the hands of Islamofacists propped up by left wing bloggers. You have my word.

conspiracy theories
Popular Mechanics

2852 Heading back for "old math?"

Someone in the Ohio Department of Education (or whoever hands out teaching licenses) noticed I had no college math on my transcript back in the early 1970s. Apparently in the 60s, someone decided math wasn't needed for a "liberal" education. So I went over to Ohio State and signed up for Math 101 at the beginning of the push for "new math." Fortunately, the instructor was not a grad student from India or China (although we had some that subbed), but a math teacher from West High School in Columbus who was going to grad school. It wasn't too bad, and he was an excellent teacher, but I'm awfully glad I didn't learn the basics that way. I think I got a B+. I'd hate to haul out a calculator if I needed to figure out whether to buy a package of 8 rather than 12 of paper towels. I'm not sure how the "new math" of the 70s compares to TERC, the term used today for math instruction that doesn't use drill and memorization.

Today's WSJ has an article on the scores of American students in math, and how some schools are offering "Singapore Math" based on the methods used in Singapore, whose students score the highest. They memorize, don't use calculators, and work problems out in their heads. I couldn't even come close to figuring the problems presented in the article.

Here's a site comparing, Singapore, TERC and Saxon (which is probably closer to what I learned as a kid). So this war among math educators and even homeschoolers will make Iraq look like kids' play.

And all this leads to a website called The Math Worksheet. You select the type of problems (i.e. fractions), the level of difficulty, and whether you want the answer sheet. There is also a subscription option where you pay for quantity. I don't know what method this is called, but it looks like a good review for someone like me.

HT Dawn treader

Singapore math
math

2851 Congratulations, Median Sib

Carol, who writes the blog Median Sib has recently returned from a lovely trip in Alaska where she got married, to the same nice guy she married the first time.

2850 Lincoln Museum

Last night our book group discussed Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Our discussion leader had recently visited the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Most of us had never heard of this wonderful Lincoln resource so close to home (i.e., if you were going to be in northern Indiana anyway).

"In 1905, Arthur Hall and a group of business leaders from Fort Wayne, Indiana, founded The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. Hall, a lifelong admirer of Abraham Lincoln, wrote to the president’s only surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln, to ask for a photograph that the company might use on its letterhead. Robert replied, “I find no objection whatever to the use of a portrait of my father upon the letterhead of such a life insurance company named after him as you describe; and I take pleasure in enclosing you, for that purpose, what I regard as a very good photograph of him.”

The company prospered, and in 1928 Hall took the opportunity to repay the Lincoln family by creating the Lincoln Historical Research Foundation, dedicated to the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. The Foundation, under the leadership of Dr. Louis A. Warren, began to collect Lincoln-related material in 1928, published Lincoln Lore in 1929, and opened The Lincoln Museum to the public in 1931."

The very popular current exhibit (extended) is on weddings in American history which includes the story of the weddings of the three Mary Lincolns—Mary Todd Lincoln, Mary Harlan Lincoln and Mary Lincoln Isham.

Our next selection is A share in Death by Deborah Crombie. This is the first (1993) in a series, and although mysteries are my absolutely least favorite genre, I'll play along. Also, it's my turn to do dessert that night.

Abraham Lincoln

Monday Memories: Carpenter Ants

It was our first spring in our new home. We just couldn't believe our good fortune. A gorgeous baby girl, a wonderful house in a beautiful neighborhood with old tall trees and a fresh start for my husband's career in a different city. Life was good, I thought, as I heard a light rain start. But wait. It was only raining in one room. In fact, I looked outside and it wasn't raining at all. I walked into the den and held my ear against the paneling. Sounded just like rain falling lightly--inside the walls.

The image you see on your screen is about the size of this ant and they can be more destructive than termites. The sound I heard was actually sawdust falling behind the paneling. Eventually we took the roof off the den, and found underneath a thick mat of ants, thousands, maybe millions. In those days, you could still use strong chemicals to kill ants (EPA doesn't allow it now). They really got blasted--the guys pulled the roof back and the exterminators went to work.

The next time you hear unexplained rain, put your ear on the wall.

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