Cold and flu season--I repeat

"At the Veterinary library our materials were on occasion returned with blood, guts, semen and vomit, and almost always human viruses. We really weren't in that much danger from the zoonotics, but a sick patron could infect and reinfect my staff. We had a roll of paper towels and cleaner handy, and a box of kleenex for patrons at the circ desk. Viruses can live a long time on hard surfaces like counter tops, door handles, and books returned with fingers that just swiped a runny nose. When kids are going into debt for higher education, they don't stay home to nurse a cold. Even if you have to buy these supplies out of your own pocket, it is worth it."

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3172 A note to children and Republican legislators

#41. It is not well to put back on the dish what you have once had on your plate.

"Christopher Dock's One Hundred Necessary Rules of Conduct for Children," translated by Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, originally published about 1764 in Saur's Geistliches Magazien. Reprinted in Pennsylvania German Society Proceedings.

[Christopher Dock was born in Germany and came to America ca. 1714. Because he was already a trained school teacher in Germany it is unlikely that he was a Mennonite in Europe, since their employment was restricted. He attended Skippack Mennonite Church, married a Mennonite woman, and all his children remained active Mennonites. Except for 10 years as a farmer, he devoted his entrie life to teaching, and had a reputation as a saintly schoolmaster. He used many hymns and psalms in his teaching. He believed that having a right heart was central to the life of the faithful. Suzanne E. Gross, Hymnody of Eastern Pennsylvania German Mennonite Communities. Thesis. 1994.]

Let's get down to business--I repeat

If you smoke or drink, are promiscuous or overweight, if you enjoy the sun or use earbuds or headphones more than an hour a day, then stop fussing about bird flu, mercury poisoning in fish, plastic in the microwave, ozone holes, mad cow disese or the ingredients in your shampoo and soap. You're avoiding the obvious measures to protect your health and hiding behind your bogus, media-generated fears so you won't have to behave yourself and take responsibility. Just your worrying alone is shortening your life and you are not doing anything about the things you can control.

You know who you are.

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3170 No toxic soup after Katrina

One of the myths the media used to terrorize us after the Katrina disaster was the "toxic soup" story. The Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain were already some of the dirtiest water sources in the nation even before the storm. However, within a few weeks they had recovered remarkably--much faster than anyone expected. The water was unsanitary, but not toxic. The most recent issue of Environmental Science and Technology November 15, 2006, reports that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) testing shows very little difference in the pollution level of the lake a year later than before the storm.

"Compared to lake sediments all over the country, Lake Pontchartrain sediments are similar,” says Peter Van Metre of USGS, who is the lead author of the ES&T research. “There’s a lot of urban contamination, and Lake Pontchartrain is typical of that.” Still, Van Metre and his colleagues found that pollutants were concentrated at the mouth of the 17th Street Canal, through which much of the flood water was pumped out of the city.

The team analyzed mud from the city and sediments from canals and Lake Pontchartrain for a long list of possible urban contaminants. In some cases, particularly for fragrances, newer pesticides, and cholesterols, they used novel methods. Zinc, PCBs, and DDT, among other compounds, appeared in mud and lake-sediment samples at the mouths of several canals. High concentrations at many sites dissipated weeks after the hurricane passed. Lake Pontchartrain “is big enough and the circulation is strong enough in and out of the Gulf of Mexico” to dissipate those inputs, Van Metre says."

And speaking of water contamination--we're all contributing to the headache!

Last week contaminated acetaminophen, a common headace remedy, was in the news. Sometimes it is doing the contaminating. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) chemists investigated probable chemical reactions involving acetaminophen when the drug is subjected to typical wastewater processing. Acetaminophen is the most widely used pain reliever in the United States, and a study of 139 streams by the U.S. Geological Survey found that it was one of the most frequently detected man-made chemicals. The drug readily reacts in chlorine disinfection to form at least 11 new products, at least two of which are known to be toxic. From NIST Tech Beat. Abstract.

3169 Checking the library shelves

When I read this review. . . : "I know all about dissing the South. I've been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt, worn it out, and thrown it away. But D.C. pundit Kevin Phillips still wears the anti-Southern shirt with pride in his new rant American Theocracy. For Phillips, the South's distinctive contribution to America is fundamentalist, anti-rational, anti-modern, ultimately theocratic religion.

You see, there's an American "Disenlightenment" going on, and its epicenter is somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line. While the North has its symphonies and universities, not to mention a higher IQ (yes, he really says that), the South has a "religious citizenry, more caught up in fecundity and the idea that children are gifts of the Lord." Southerners spend so much time poring over the Bible that they can't possibly participate constructively in a modern knowledge-based economy." TAE

I just knew Upper Arlington Public Library would have multiple copies of this anti-conservative, anti-Christian title (which I'd never heard of). But this obscure title's quantity surprised even me. When I checked the on line catalog, I found five copies of the regular edition, one large print, and one audio book recording. Do I know librarians, or what? Censorship and bias are more likely to happen during selection and purchase than by what is rejected or withdrawn based on patron complaints. Someone on the library staff has really skewed the collection.

NYT, of course, loved it, but did note there was little new or original material in it. What a shock!

Update: I checked the most recent Bill O'Reilly book, Culture Warrior, and the library has one regular copy with 11 requests waiting (if each person kept it 2 weeks that would be about 5 months), 1 large print checked out, and one audio, checked out. One copy just says unavailable--I have no idea if it is lost, on order, or being processed because the catlog record is very difficult to read. The Factor, which I believe sold very well, had only 2 copies in the collection.

3168 Disappearing manufacturing jobs

Since 2000, over 4.5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost nationwide. Labor and political activists are agitated. Some wonder if the country should limit its connections to the global economy.

But the country in question isn't our country--it is China. Those manufacturing jobs disappeared in the Asian country that is supposedly stealing all of our factory work. So how can China also be experiencing a net loss of blue-collar jobs? The answer, in a word, is productivity. Story here.

Total manufacturing output in the US is higher than it's ever been.

3167 When readers write

the writers should read. The Wall Street Journal is probably the most liberal newspaper in the country when it comes to news stories. Just like NYT and WaPo, any time there is good news about the economy, the war, health breakthroughs, education or traditional families it is fitted into a "yes, but. . ." template. The editorials and the letters, however, are another story--the right story. Today a reader writes what I wish the over-paid journalists who work for a business publication in a democracy with a thriving economy could say:

"Republicans did fail their values when they attempted to purchase their seats with spending, shrunk from reforming budget-killing entitlements, and found no effective response to illegal immigration." Dan Pisenti, a reader not a journalist, said that, and then told Republicans they need to get a spine. And I point to our failed Ohio Senators, DeWine and Voinovich, who needed implants in two locations.

The media and Democrats drone on about the election losses being about the war, and unfortunately President Bush is willing to go along with them rather than just smack Republicans up side the head and tell the truth. Dems don't want to reveal they know the real reasons, because they want their turn at the trough they lost in 1994, and will divert attention by bullying Bush.

Don't read this blog

Unless you are a single, Christian woman looking for a nice mother-in-law.


OK. Maybe not a mother-in-law. Maybe just a nice guy to meet? Central Ohio? I remember reading a blog a year ago where a mom posted a photo of her son and said he was looking. I forgot to bookmark it, so I don't know if it worked.

So you can e-mail me, using the address at the left. No comments here, please. In fact, I'm disabling them for this entry, and if you drop them at another entry, I'll delete them.

You can see for yourself that he's handsome--about 6'1", maybe 180-190 lbs. (haven't asked), athletic build, very dark brown eyes and curly hair, 38 years old. He's a divorced Christian (Lutheran). No children. Employed. Owns his own 3 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood and 2 cars--no debt (except a home mortgage), but no extra money either, so if that's important to you, move along. Used to have his own automotive repair business. Loves sports, gardening, landscaping, fishing, camping, and music. Cooks. Has a large dog and a small, overweight cat. Plays guitar. Nice singing voice. Tons of friends. Not real techy, but can hook up a computer and uses one at work. Don't think he is into I-pods, the internet, Blackberries or current music. Everyone notices how personable he is. Customer service is his strength and he is really put off by pushy, rude people, gossipy women, and people who look down on others because of some flaw they perceive. I don't think he enjoys reading or movies--can't think of the last time he even mentioned those. He's apolitical--not even registered vote (this is a dig). He's got a short fuse, but usually gets over it quickly. People who carry grudges will not work well with him. He is very good to his parents, and when his grandparents were alive, he was a softy for them.

The rest of us
What does he want? Well, he's just as shallow as the next guy, in my opinion. He's partial to pretty stunning blondes. And I can't imagine why, because it hasn't worked well in the past, and besides, there are no natural blonde adults. If you have issues, baggage or are high maintenance, this guy will have zero patience. But I'll forward inquiries to him. I promise.

nablopomo
singles
central Ohio

3165 Our government workers' sense of humor

One day in aerobics class the instructor mentioned she had a new position with the state of Ohio and needed a researcher. "I'll do it, I'll do it," I wheezed while managing a particularly difficult lunge with a grapevine step. So began my adventure working for the Ohio Department of Aging, long before I was a senior citizen. If you have ever worked for the federal, state or local governments, you've discovered that they are staffed both by the relatives of donors to the party in power, and by some incredibly smart, dedicated and funny people who do their best for the public with a missionary zeal.

And on a slow day, the humor must bubble to the top at the office. Take for instance, the coffee break where they were tossing out names for what to call leaky storage tanks: "How about LUST, or Leaking Underground Storage Tanks," someone who doesn't want the credit suggested. Perfect. And now the newsletter is digitized and called LUST LINE. I'll betcha they get the perverts at that website!

But some storage tanks are unique. Because of EPA regulations way back in the 80s it became cheaper to abandon gas stations and buried oil tanks than to clean them up. Regulations are so strict in fact, it is almost impossible to clean up a tank for a small business owner because it can cost $125,000 to clean up a site. Not too many small businesses can afford to do that, so you'll see a lot of abandoned lots in small towns. Underneath is probably a leaky tank.

The Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) is responsible for promoting the cleanup of leaking underground storage tank (LUST) sites with a program called RAGS, Cleaning Up and Reusing Abandoned Gas Station Sites.

3164 EXCIT-ING News for stroke victims

The acronym EXCITE stands for Extremity Constraint-Induced Therapy Evaluation, a trial that shows if stroke victims have intensive physical therapy and the "good" limb is restrained so that it doesn't "help" then the patient experienced remarkable improvement in 2 weeks over the traditional treatment (which can range from no treatment after concluding formal rehabilitation to drug or physiotherapeutic interventions). The study appeared in the November 1 issue of JAMA, "Effect of constraint-induced movement therapy on upper extremity function 3 to 9 months after stroke: the EXCITE randomized clinical trial," (Vol. 296,no. 17, p. 2095).

"This study demonstrates that for up to 30% of the stroke population, individuals with upper extremity impairment who have some initial movement capability can use a relatively inexpensive rehabilitative approach to improve upper extremity function and that this effect will persist for at least one year," the study's principal investigator, Steven Wolf, PhD, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, told Medscape.

"This intervention is not difficult to implement but it does require a great deal of cooperation in both the clinical and home environments. We live in a world where we have a multi-billion dollar drug industry, which has conditioned patients to believe that everything can be fixed with a pill and that they don't have to take any responsibility for their own health. But this is not the case with catastrophic injury and patients have to understand this," Dr. Wolf said."

I think this study has implications beyond stroke victims. Whether it is friends, family, spouses, or the federal government, sometimes we need to allow people to get stronger by not helping them so much.

3163 Family values--illegal immigrant version

Apparently, another myth we've been fed by the current desire to bring more "guest workers" into this country to take jobs Americans don't want (like construction, plumbing, roofing, etc.) is that they have stronger, more stable families. Not so, says this article at City Journal.

"Unless the life chances of children raised by single mothers suddenly improve, the explosive growth of the U.S. Hispanic population over the next couple of decades does not bode well for American social stability. Hispanic immigrants bring near–Third World levels of fertility to America, coupled with what were once thought to be First World levels of illegitimacy. (In fact, family breakdown is higher in many Hispanic countries than here.) Nearly half of the children born to Hispanic mothers in the U.S. are born out of wedlock, a proportion that has been increasing rapidly with no signs of slowing down. Given what psychologists and sociologists now know about the much higher likelihood of social pathology among those who grow up in single-mother households, the Hispanic baby boom is certain to produce more juvenile delinquents, more school failure, more welfare use, and more teen pregnancy in the future."

Even if you believe all the repetitive, ubiquitous filler stories we read in our liberal press about how unfair the U.S. economic system is and how the gap is widening between the rich and poor, how would you expect the gap to ever close if we constantly import victims for the media, the Democrats and the unions to exploit? Punishing the successful and destroying Wal-Mart and McDonalds business plans and efficiency will not help the poor, native or imported, even if it does knock down a few of the wealthy CEOs. Don't ask an increased minimum wage floor to make up for an unmarried mother or no high school diploma or poor English. There are some things even $10.00/hour can't do!

3162 Monday Memories

Did I ever tell you about John and Wilma?
We went to their 50th anniversary party yesterday and had an old time, 1950s blast. Their three children hosted it at the Nutcracker Restaurant in Pataskala, OH which is completely decorated in 1950s decor, without being hokey--and in beautiful condition. The invitations had arrived with a 50s rock 'n roll theme, and guests were urged to wear 50s clothing (we didn't--I still have a 1955 formal that requires a 23" waist--but some of the outfits were hilarious).

Usually the restaurant closes at 2 p.m. on Sunday, but someone knew the owner who agreed to stay open for the party and have his experienced staff serve all the dinners. We all enjoyed huge combos of either chili-cheese hotdogs and/or cheeseburgers with sides of coleslaw, onion rings and french fries, served with root beer floats or any other soft drink we wanted. A gorgeous cake was served from the authentic fountain area that had a yummy raspberry filling. A disc jockey played 50s music all evening plus some popular Christian music--Gaithers if I'm not mistaken.

Their children had prepared a nice video of photographs of their parents' family life and career, including all the grandchildren. A photographer was roaming taking shots that will later be put on a web site. They also supplied trivia at each table on cards with John and Wilma's wedding photo and gave out prizes to the winners--Elvis records (not cds). Most of us could shout out the answers to "What was Mohammed Ali's real name?" and "Who did President Eisenhower defeat to win re-election?"

John and Wilma met when she was in high school and he was in college. She had just moved to Lynchburg, OH and he was home for a visit with some other guys when she caught his eye. They were interviewed by their two oldest grandchildren (in their 20s) with questions submitted by the guests and told some funny stories about their long courtship and early married life, when he was a high school coach and she was working. One thing a little unusual for a 50th is that their mothers are still living, and Wilma's was at the celebration--not looking a day over 80. John's mother is in a nursing home, but even after raising 12 children is alert and sharp, he said.

We met John in the early 1980s when my husband was a partner in Feinknopf, Macioce, Schappa, Architects and had gone down to Hillsboro, OH to supervise a school construction project. He was so impressed with the superintendent, John, that he just raved about him. I went with him on one trip (beautiful country down there), and was also charmed, not just with John, but the lovely community tucked away in the hills with a thriving economy. One thing that impressed my husband was that John knew every child in each building by name! And last night he did the same, by going around the room and introducing each guest by name and telling how they knew them and met. One guy, probably in his 60s, was a member of one of the high school teams John coached--another had been an older mentor, also a coach, others members of Bible study groups going back 20 or 30 years.

About six years ago, John and Wilma bought a summer place at Lakeside, OH where we have a cottage. They purchased a trailer in the campgrounds and just love it there. Although not at all interested when Bob told them years ago about Lakeside, they had apparently visited one week-end and fell in love with it. So we've been able to continue seeing them off and on in their retirement. A few years ago, they bought a condo in central Ohio so they could be closer to the grandchildren, since all their children settled in the Columbus area. But not too close--they are enjoying their retirement, and have many friends and activities.

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1950s
wedding anniversaries
party themes
nostalgia

SIDS and Seratonin

When our oldest son died in 1963, we were told his sudden, unexplained illness was "crib death." After pushing the pathology report across the desk of more doctors than I care to remember, I was told that it was an overwhelming viral pneumonia which can kill even adults if the immune system happens to be briefly impaired. Meanwhile, the medical community came up with a term for babies that go to bed healthy and never wake up--"sudden infant death syndrome," or SIDS. The new name didn't help much, and the causes of SIDS remain unknown, almost 45 years later.

Even though I know that our son's pneumonia was not within the SIDS range of causes, I've always kept my eye on the research, because the horror and emptiness of suddently losing a child gives me common ground with parents of SIDS babies. And although there have been major break throughs in all manner of diseases, and new diseases have cropped up we'd never heard of in the 60s (change the letter S to an A, for instance), there are still no answers for SIDS.

So I read with interest "Multiple serotonergic brainstem abnormalities in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," in a recent JAMA (vol 296, no. 17, p. 2124) about research that links levels of seratonin in the brain which influences breathing, cardiovascular system, temperature and the sleep-wake cycle and sudden death. The editorial writer (p. 2143) praised the research in this field, done both in Japan and the U.S., but quickly wanted to move on to racial and socio-economic factors. There is a higher incidence of SIDS among African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, but particularly boys. Also, there have been aggressive "back to sleep" education programs to teach parents not to put babies down to sleep on their tummies, or in a bed with someone else, or exposing them to cigarette smoke. The rate of SIDS has gone down since the implementation of sleep safety programs.

Unfortunately, the controls used in SIDS research are children who have died of other causes--diseases, accidents, or trauma. And the SIDS babies data comes only from those parents who have allowed tissue samples to be used from their dead child. So this skews the results right there (in my opinion) because only California has a law that renders it unnecessary to obtain informed consent from the individual parents if tissue samples from their child are to be used for research on SIDS. So you've got a small group to start with (2162 infants died of SIDS in the US in 2003), with a pretty small sample, from a rather narrow geographic area.

I know nothing about medical statistics or how to figure risk factors or statistical anaysis. I could barely make my way through the "density of medullary 5-Ht neurons." However, I'm not in favor of parents being required by law to submit samples, or even have an autopsy, so we can have a more diverse racial data base. It's quite possible that most grieving parents will want as much knowledge as possible and many will want their child's death to make a contribution to science, but when laws are passed requiring you to take part in medical research, we've gone too far.

SIDS
JAMA
nablopomo

3160 Pot meet Kettle

Just switched off Maureen Dowd. Gads, talk about whiny, moral hypocrisy. She was opining to that fat guy with a face like a smashed pancake--don't even know the network. How does anyone stand that woman? I thought I would remember her phrasing and sighs long enough to get it into my blog, but she's just too outrageous. Plus her voice sounds like someone tuned her vocal chords with an emory board. Her hair color is the color of a Republican district, regardless of her political leanings. Yuk.

3159 Hanson on illegal immigration

One of the things that handed the Republicans their heads last Tuesday was their namby-pamby stand on illegal immigration. Victor Davis Hanson has some thoughts on whether or not the flow of illegals across the border is actually a good thing for Mexico and the USA, as we are often told. I think we know that Democrats, who need more victims, more low wage workers, more members for their unions, and more household and farm help (including Ms. Pelosi), will try to stop any reasonable solution to keep them out.

Even if it were true that Mexican families are more traditional (and apparently they aren't), take a look at any American city where the children are growing up without their fathers, and women without husbands. The elderly without their sons. Would we think a city like that was a good idea for a solid social and economic base? Are they picking up the negatives of our culture or transporting their poverty and crime across the border?

We've been watching what has been happening in Oaxaca because friends of ours have a son and daughter-in-law who had to flee and are now living with them temporarily in Columbus. However, the family of their daughter-in-law is still there. Hanson specifically comments on Oaxaca.

". . . the state of Oaxaca is also one of the chief sources of illegal immigration to the United States. Hundreds of thousands of dissatisfied Oaxacans have fled to the U.S. and now send millions of dollars back southward. Why, then, is the city on the brink of chaos? Could it be that far from stabilizing Mexico, the continual flight of millions of Mexico's disenchanted - one in 10 currently live in the U.S. - has only made things worse..." The rest of the story.

nablopomo
illegal immigration
Oaxaca

3158 Interesting reading for Veterans Day

I was looking around in the US military archives for my father's separation record**, and found a military photo archive of the war in the Pacific, where I saw a photo about a rescue at sea of prisoners of war from a torpedoed Japanese ship. From there I went to: "Recollections of Lieutenant Commander Landon L. Davis, Jr. of submarine USS Pampanito (SS-383) concerning the 15 September 1944 rescue of British and Australian prisoners of war who survived the sinking of Japanese prison ship Rakuyo Maru enroute from Singapore to Formosa. Pampanito was initially assisted in the rescue by USS Sealion (SS-315), and later by USS Barb (SS-220) and USS Queenfish (SS-393). Pampanito then set course for Saipan, where the survivors were disembarked." It was really an amazing story of picking up the men who had been prisoners for 3 years. They had been abandoned by their captors when the ship was going down--and most were in terribly weakened, emaciated condition.

"The experiences that these men had with the Japs were very interesting. They had been prisoners and, as such, had been subject to every sort mistreatment-quite a few beatings, lack of food, various types of punishment. I don’t believe that there were any cases of actual torture of any of the men that we had, except that anybody who is a prisoner gets kicked in the seat of the pants every now and then, and they had been subject to such treatment as standing in the sun in the middle of a courtyard all day long because of some minor infringement of a rule, but they hadn’t been subject to tortures that people lead you to believe. Their own story was that they were enlisted men and as such, didn’t know anything and the Japs did not want to question them because they knew they couldn't get anything, but they did say that officers were tortured, particularly if they were high ranking and they thought that they had some dope that they didn’t hesitate to do most anything to them to get some dope from them. They had come into contact with both the regular Imperial Army, with the reserves, and with the Korean Guards."

And an interesting observation about what distance does to your commitment to the war--any war.

"It's quite seldom in the submarine navy that we come in contact with the actual so-called horrors and disagreeable side of war. We go merrily along and sink a ship and then go under the waves and never see the results of the thing, but this was one time when our whole crew was exposed to one of the most thrilling and interesting stories that I have ever witnessed myself and you could see every man on board get a big relief and a lift in his feeling an a great hate for the Japs, too, after contacting these poor fellows who had been subject to their mistreatment for three years, and there wasn't a one of us who wouldn't go out of our way now to take a good hard sock at those Japs, whereas before we were sort of noncommittal about it, even though we were fighting the war very seriously."

**Separation Records: "Of the 4,000 requests per day, more than 40 percent ask for only a copy of the separation document, the DD Form 214, or its predecessor forms. Packed with important information such as dates and character of service, final rank, awards earned, and military occupation specialty, the separation document is a key to veterans benefits such as home loans, civil service appointments, education, training, and medical care." From Prologue Magazine, vol. 37, no.1

3157 A tribute to Veterans

This morning I was listening to a Veterans Day Tribute on 700 a.m. Cincinnati. An Iraq veteran of two tours of duty called in to comment. When I see and hear the negative, bad press we get about the war, I wonder if the news people ever talk to the guys who have been there (I know the answer, so I don't really wonder), or read their blogs. This soldier had spent 9.5 months in Fallugia during his second tour, and he said it definitely wasn't pleasant and he had a number of close calls, but he is very proud of what America is doing there. He said the Iraqis he talked to are happy the Americans are there--they feel free for the first time in the memory of many. He also asked why Americans will get excited about corruption or poverty or hunger in Africa, but ignore that it was the same in Iraq and was caused by one man.

He also paid a tribute to the Vietnam vets. He said that many times he and his colleagues looked to and remembered their bravery (and their lack of support from the American people) when they were in really awful, dangerous conditions.

Veterans Day
Iraq War

3156 The Kohler Cimmaron

Such a romantic name for a toilet. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Yesterday we invited a plumber to take a look at our misbehaving toilets and leaking sink faucets. He told us that we couldn't have power flushing toilets back to back--which even the manufacturers didn't know until a few were installed. You can picture, can't you, what happens if two flushes take place at the same time, or if one flushes while the other is being used. Those two toilets will just have their innards replaced--they are less frequently used. The other two we decided to replace with the 1.6 liter model, which according to the literature will save 4,000 gallons of water a year! The plumber recommended a specific plumbing supply store, but didn't recommend Lowe's except for one model of American Standard.

So on the prettiest day in weeks, we were toilet shopping. I almost passed out at the price--nearly $400 for a very ordinary toilet and the seat wasn't included--that was another $15-30 depending on what you selected. Colors were another $100. My husband liked some of the fancier models, but I nixed that since I do the cleaning and I don't want any cutesy carved looks to gather the residue of poor aim. The sink faucets seemed to be near $200. So off we went to Lowe's.

At Lowe's we found the exact same (to my eye) Kohler Cimmaron complete with seat for $222 or $226 (elongated bowl costs $5 more). Comfort model (that means it's for grown ups and not children), with a class 5 flushing system (no idea what that means, but I think it's good). We went home, looked it up on the web, got all the specs, and it still looked like the exact same model. My husband called the plumber; he assured us that Lowe's and the supply house don't carry the same thing. Then he called a contractor he uses a lot in his business; he assured us that Lowe's and the supply house don't carry the same models, but he gave us the name of another supply house. My husband was definitely believing the plumber and the contractor, but I was believing my eyes and the specs.

So finally I said--"Let's call Kohler's and ask them." He did and identified himself as an architect specing a job--which was actually the truth. The Kohler rep assured him that they are the exact same model, it's just that Lowe's purchases in such huge quantity, they can offer a cheaper price. Plus, she said, even that price will vary from store to store (I noticed this while checking the web, that we found the Cimmaron as low as $217.) We also checked consumer comments about this model on the web, and found some very satisfied customers. One web site even described how easy it was to install--had his 17 year old daughter do it--but we weren't willing to go that far.

Back we went to Lowe's after dinner and ordered two Kohler Cimmaron toilets, one in stock, and one to arrive in a few days because of the color (which does cost more and doesn't come with the seat). Even so, with the 3 new sink faucet fixtures (now very hard to find the brass color, so if you want that, rush out and buy it now) we spent nearly $800, but probably $500 less than at the supply house.

nablopomo
bathroom fixtures

Friday Family Photo--Veterans Day

When you go home
Tell them of us, and say,
For your tomorrow
We gave our today
Kohima Epitaph
Across the nation we're observing Veterans Day, November 11, which memorializes the end of WWI (armistice was the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918), and honors all veterans of the armed services. Today's photos are my Uncle Clare looking sharp and spiffy in his dress uniform in New Orleans and home on leave with his parents. He was 32 when he went into the Army Air Force in 1942. I think he could have had an exemption because he was a farmer and essentially was managing the Illinois and Iowa farms for his parents who were 68 and 66, and doing all the physical work on the home place. But I think he also saw the war as an opportunity to do some of the things he'd always dreamed of--he was a fabulous mechanic and loved airplanes. I have a dim memory of my mother telling me he couldn't be a pilot because of a hearing problem, but was trained for photographic mapping, and was an aerial engineer for the 24th Mapping Squadron of the 8th Photo Group, Reconnaissance (10th Air Force) which served in the China, Burma, India theater.

In New Orleans

With his parents, on the Franklin Grove farm

On a Geocities site I found the following information about this squadron: "The 8th Photographic Reconaissance Group arrived in India on 31 March 1944, assuming operational control of the 9th Photographic Reconaissance Squadron, 20th Tactical Reconaissance Squadron and 24th Combat Mapping Squadron on 25 April 1944, with the 40th Photgraphic Reconaissance Squadron joining the unit on 6 September 1944.

The main mission of the units attached to the 8th Photographic Reconaissance Group was to gather phtographs to be used in making target maps, assessing target damage and identifying potential targets"

Clare and a pilot were killed in an explosion when the plane hit a gasoline supply, through the stupidity of his commanding officer who insisted the men go up in a blinding storm. No one else in that unit lost his life and we found out how Clare died when a great nephew attended one of their reunions. I'm glad my grandparents never knew since they suffered this loss so terribly the rest of their lives (died in 1963 and 1968).

Searching the internet I found lists of accident reports, alphabetic by name of the soldier or civilian--thousands and thousands died in accidents--and his name is listed. Also found this report of USAAF Serial Numbers, "64105 (F-7A, 8th BRG, 24th CMS) w/o on takeoff accident at Hsing Hing, China Oc 29, 1944" which I assume was his plane since nothing else matches the date.

Originally buried near Chengtu, China after his death on October, 29, 1944, Uncle Clare came home on the Honda Knot in 1947 (I found this information on a Lee County, IL obituary web site) with over 200,000 dead soldiers and sailors with fighter escorts and awaiting dignitaries. While we waited in rural Illinois to bury him with other family in Ashton, he was being welcomed home in San Francisco:

"In San Francisco, a similar ceremony took place under an overcast October sky as the army transport ship Honda Knot slipped through the frigid waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay. An aerial escort of forty-eight fighter planes flew over the vessel before dipping their wings in salute and banking away. Surface ships from the Coast Guard and the Navy approached the Honda Knot and led her through a misting rain to anchorage off Marina Point, where a gathering of five thousand mourners waited to pay tribute to the war dead that the ship was delivering home to American soil from the Pacific theater. A navy launch approached the Honda Knot and offered another massive wreath from President Truman. Dignitaries in the audience included Army General Mark Clark, who had led American troops in Italy during the war, and the Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan, who honored these fallen heroes, many of whom had passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on ships bound for the Pacific war. Six of the 3,012 flag-draped coffins aboard the Honda Knot were removed the next day to lie in state in the rotunda of San Francisco’s city hall, where ordinary citizens of a sorrowful nation paid their last respects. The six dead represented servicemen from the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard, along with a civilian, all killed in the war. From the early morning until late that night, thousands of mourners filed by the coffins of knelt in prayer by their sides. The arrival of the Honda Knot and the Joseph V. Connolly officially initiated what one observer called the "most melancholy immigration movement in the history of man," the return to the United States of 233,181 American dead after the end of World War II. America's army of fallen warriors was coming home from the four corners of the earth, from Guadalcanal and Australia, from New Guinea, Japan, China, and Burma in the Pacific theater. From the Mediterranean theater men were returned from Libya, Sicily, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Romania. The bodies of men who had died in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany also came home. David Colley site

Clare is listed on this memorial site for the 10th Air Force.

Update: The National Archives has a site for WWII Honor List of Dead and Missing. You select by branch of the military, then by state, then by county. I found Uncle Clare, although his name was misspelled.

Veterans Day, War Memorials, World War II, Army Air Force, 10th Air Force, China Burma India Theatre

Good-bye Dorothy

One of the ladies I have had listed on my TT site has a URL that's either been removed or hacked, because a sex/porn site comes up when I try to check her blog. I was going to post her website, then thought, "Wait, that's silly. Someone will click on it." Then I got to thinking that maybe Dorothy was a front--a weirdo who had posted on Thursday Thirteen and then clicked her/his red shoes and left OZ. What do you think?


nablopomo
Thursday Thirteen