Have you tried Dumpr?

It can do all sorts of interesting things to your photos. Dumpr. Puzzles. Museum. Scary monster.

This is a sketch of your photo

This is the Rubik's cube version of your photo

HT Librarian in Black

Post Thanksgiving thoughts

It's not so bad using my laptop in the kitchen--I can get up and clean a drawer or cabinet while waiting for slow pages to load.

We ate leftovers with family last night, but first watched, and watched and watched (3 overtimes) the Arkansas and LSU game. The announcers even commented that Buckeyes were watching this game closely because if Arkansas won, OSU moved up. Yes. Goodness, such screaming and yelling from the men in the family. What if it had actually been the Buckeyes playing?

Although I didn't fix the turkey, I got the carcass. It's stewing on the stove right now, releasing yummy fragrance with a few onions.

We've finally had some frost--still many trees loaded with leaves, and my husband has gone to the lake to rake leaves at our summer home. Last pick up is next week. Most summer home owners close up on Labor Day and never look back until Memorial Day. The trees in Lakeside know this, so they send their leaves to our yard.

It must be very cold somewhere. Yesterday out of 100 hits, 16 were to my post on frozen car doors. I thought global warming might take care of that. Even so, there doesn't seem to be much agreement on how to take care of this problem.

Tomorrow we celebrate our son's birthday--we'll probably go to Bob Evan's after church. He and his band are working on a CD so he'll have to hurry back to his home on the east side. I'd show you a photo of the band, but everything is on the other computer which isn't working. So here's one of us from a year ago that I've already posted. I've given up on the daughter-in-law search, so if you come across that blog (I had his permission, btw), don't submit an application.


My Memory Patterns blog continues to chug along at about 80-100 page views a week. I wrote it for only one month--November 2005--matching up old photos with old sewing patterns. Seem to be a lot of people looking for apron patterns--you know, the decent coverage-size that actually give you some protection! I was never a really good seamstress like others in my family, but you don't notice you've given something up until 10 or 15 years have gone by and you realize you'll probably never again thread a bobbin, or walk through the fabric department, touching and dreaming.

I read an interesting article on pedometers this morning in a recent issue of JAMA. When I digest it, I'll blog it, but it looks like just wearing one lowers BMI and blood pressure. Apparently, you'll eat less and move more just by knowing it's there. I'll have to look for mine--like contraceptives, they don't work in the drawer do they, no matter how committed you are to the outcome. After a big week of eating seems like a good time to strap it on, don't you think? I had to push a little flesh out of the way to read the numbers.

The computer fix-it places I called, never called back. I suppose they want a holiday too. I'll have to look a bit further for someone in the data recovery business in Columbus, Ohio. Know anyone?

We've gotten our fourth edition of the Smithsonian catalog--this one has the word Christmas right on the cover.

Another broken zipper. A favorite pair of slacks that went with everything--a warm tan-beige lined 100% wool. Sigh. I blogged about a broken zipper in a pair of khakis that were about 20 years old about 2 years ago. I suspect these are at least 10-15 years old because the Talbot's tag says "Made in the USA." When was the last time you saw that on a piece of clothing?

I think I'll invest in new tires. I notice the van is slipping on wet pavement. We don't get tons of snow around here, except maybe once a season, with a humongous storm about once a decade, but the roads can get icy and slushy making traction difficult. Nothing scarier than trying to get out of the way of an on-coming car and have your tires just buzz the pavement.

My friend AZ and I have challenged each other to unclutter our personal spaces. Today while looking for the Christmas wreath to hang in the outside entry, I found an empty file box in the basement. It's already labeled correctly, "Norma's notebooks," and I have a bulging box of used notebooks in my office cabinets, so I think I'll move them into this box. Does this meet the test for de-cluttering, since I'm just moving them? We lived for 34 years in a house with no basement--since having one, I've become quite careless.

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How to charge your iPod using an onion

I don't own an iPod, so I wouldn't trust anything I say about this one, and I couldn't try it, but I thought it was sort of interesting.



This is from the The Household Hacker.

Central Ohioans and rising gas prices

The news stories yesterday worked very hard to gin up a problem with travel and the economy, but I don't think they pulled it off. My e-mail always comes up with a news story, and it was something about the dark mood of the American consumer. The reporters in the airports couldn't seem to find anything except orderly, patient crowds, and millions were traveling despite gloom and doom stories (like the lady who was only going to fly to Atlanta once in 4 weeks). And then today the shoppers are jamming the parking lots on "black Friday" spending like there would never be another Christmas.

They took a survey in Ohio about high gas prices, and it was reported in the paper today.

73% said they were very or somewhat concerned about the rising price of gasoline for their own family.

But. . .

64% said they weren't cutting back on travel as a result of gasoline prices.

83% said they hadn't bought a new car to get better mileage.

59% said they weren't going to avoid long distance driving.

61% said NO to carpooling.

Remember when a few liberals wanted a $1/gal "patriot tax" on gasoline after 9/11? What did they think it would do? They're having a global warming conference in Bali and the private jets are jamming up the airport. Have these guys never heard of telephone conferences or I-see-U-see on the computer? I wonder if they plane-pooled?

Yesterday I saw gasoline for $2.99/gal on Rt. 33 south of Fishenger.

I wouldn't have a clue how to text message--I rarely use a cell phone--but you can go to this site, read the guidelines, and send a message. I used e-mail. Yesterday I listened to some wonderful interviews with our men and women in Iraq on the Laura Ingraham program. They were truly an inspiration--from age 21 to 42, loving their jobs and fellowmen, but looking forward to coming home soon.

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Thursday Thirteen--The menu edition

It's all about being thankful--for family, friends, country and milestones passed. So yesterday after church we drove along the river and past some woods to my daughter's home for her 40th birthday and our Thanksgiving celebration. I asked several times and offered to bring something, but she wanted to do it all, and she really did. All I did was dry the dishes after dinner.

Here's the fabulous meal that awaited us--and we're going back today for leftovers! Everything was sugar-free, and most dishes were low-fat until we got to dessert. She used her lovely Lenox wedding china and crystal and seasonal decorations.

1. A 24 lb turkey roasted to perfection--I've never seen a prettier golden brown.
2. A spiral sliced honey baked ham.
3. Cubed and roasted butternut squash, the best I've ever tasted.
4. Fresh, buttered beets.
5. Homemade, chunky applesauce.
6. Wild rice and mushroom stuffing (I think I saw one of her Martha cookbooks on the counter).
7. Sausage/corn stuffing (with a side portion without corn for my husband who hates corn)
8. cranberry relish, home made
9. Veggie platters of 4 colors of bell peppers, grape tomatoes, pickles, celery
10. hot clover leaf rolls
11. Mashed potatoes and gravy
12. red wine (2 choices), coffee
13. 2 deep dish homemade pies (apple and cherry) and one pumpkin pie, with crusts so tender and flakey she's getting very close to my mother's standard, served either with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream

Thursday Thirteen

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Artificial or pseudo-twinning in adoption

Every event seems to have its own special day, week or month, and November is National Adoption Month. I was not familiar with the concept of pseudo-twinning, adopting children no more than 8 months apart in age, until I read about Nancy Segal who has done a lot of work on the nurture/nature aspects of twins raised apart. Through her research, I came across an article (from 1997) by Patricia Irwin Johnson who writes to prospective adoptive parents who have been through years of frustration with fertility issues and adoption red tape. It's worth reading the whole article because she knows she's going to be really unpopular, that adoptive parents who have "twinned" will be defensive, and she addresses that first.

The author observes, "The goal of parents who artificially twin babies is the same, no matter how these babies arrive: instant family. It is a logical, understandable goal, born out of great frustration and long term disappointment and pain. But pseudo-twinning is usually not a carefully thought through goal and it comes from self-centered thinking rather than baby-centered thinking. Most of the time it reflects parents’ nearly desperate need to regain control over their family planning and to “get” a child. . . Parents of exceptionally close-in-age babies who protest that they didn’t do this on purpose (and many take this position) are kidding themselves. Adoption doesn’t happen accidentally in the way that birth control fails."

But, knowing that adoptive parents will go ahead any way, she has the following suggestions for those raising babies close in age. Our children are 12 months apart and not the same sex, so they aren't "twins" in the sense of this research, but I often got the "are they twins?" questions. I nearly crippled my back for life by carrying one on each hip (they weighed almost the same). For years I tried to make every thing "fair," which does nothing but create jealousy and cranky kids.

I think all nine of these are important points, even if you just have children who are close in age but not "twinned." In my opinion, it is definitely easier if close together children are not the same sex, but if at all possible, I would seek out different teachers in the school system. Each of us pops out of the womb already stamped with our personality, skills, intelligence, and physical appearance in place. Don't saddle close together sibs with the teacher's expectations--yours and grandma's are enough of a burden.

"Here are nine practical strategies for parents of very close-in-age siblings who arrived as babies.

1) People are fascinated by multiple births and will expect your family to want to do “twin things” because they think twinning is neat and desirable and because they presume that lumping twins together is “easier” on parents. You will need to go to extra lengths to refuse to allow yourself or anyone else in your children’s lives–daycare providers, teachers, grandparents, etc.–to “treat” your children as twins. Dress them differently, give them individual toys (and rooms, if possible), acknowledge birthdays separately, etc. No matter how close they are in age, treat them not as a twinned pair but as you would treat children born at least a year apart.

2) Become acutely tuned in to your babies’ age-related developmental differences, particularly during their first two years of life when change and growth is rapid, and be individually responsive to these differences. As they grow older, be especially observant of and supportive about your children’s individual interests and talents while at the same time fostering their sibling interactions.

3) Remain aware that in all families parents and others have a natural tendency to “lump” close-in-age children together even when they are not twins. This is more often about accomplishing the tasks of family life as efficiently as possible than about not wanting to see children as individuals. In your family this issue becomes more important than in families whose close-in-age children are genetically related.
The common fascination with multiples also means that you will need to be particularly aware when your children are babies of the need to establish family privacy boundaries concerning who really “needs” detailed information about the unusual beginnings of your family. As your children become older, help them to develop their own scripts about how to respond to the curious.

4) Being artificially twinned is likely to be harder on same-sex siblings than on opposite sex pairs. If your children are the same sex, you’ll need to work even harder not to twin them.

5) If your children are of the same race, the assumption that they are fraternal twins will be even greater than it will be if they are of opposite sexes or racially/ethnically different. On the other hand, close sibs of differing races may draw even more questions from the curious, causing the children to feel awkward and uncomfortably “different.”

6) As your children grow, support their close friendship but discourage what could be their inclination to become “twin entwined” as exclusive friends who are frightened of separation from one another.

7) Give serious consideration to planning from pre-school forward to separate your children in school by more than just different rooms and teachers for the same grade. There are two ways to do this: you may decide to hold one back from the beginning (boys in particular often benefit from starting formal kindergarten at 6 rather than 5) or, if the cognitive development of both children makes it in their individual best interests to start school at the same time, you might consider sending them to separate schools.

8) If there was a birthparent deception involved in one or both of your babies’ arrivals, honor your child and his genetic parents by fixing the lie as soon as possible. Allowing this potential problem to exist unaddressed can and will begin to feel like a sword hanging over parents’ heads. Furthermore, the longer you wait, the more likely your child’s birthparent–and eventually your child himself–will feel betrayed. Consider engaging the help of a professional social worker or other mental health professional with mediation training to assist you in sharing this information with your child’s birthparent and establishing a more honest relationship.

9) Above all, give yourself credit for having had the best of intentions in being so eager to build a family that your children arrived close together. Be the best parent you can be to your individual children. If you acknowledge and address your family’s unique issues, allowing yourselves to reach out for support or help when you need it, your family will do very well!"

Instant Family (1997)

The stem cell miracle breakthrough

It will be interesting the see the left/right line up on the news of the new stem cell technique that doesn't require the complexity of removing an egg from a woman. I don't understand the old method or the new, except it doesn't come with the moral and ethical baggage of the old. Here's the explanation by Dr. Jonathon Lapook at CBS News.

What's so surprising is that the recipe is relatively easy to follow. I expect there will be an explosion of stem cell research all over the world.

Essentially, this new method makes the old way of destroying harvested or left over embryos the dinosaur. Researchers who have invested their careers, grants and labs in this are not going to be happy. It's like the guy who invested his fortune in buggy whips when people started buying into the idea of the automobile.

I don't think it will end the national debate peacefully, as WaPo quoted Rev. Thomas Berg. The left will never concede this victory to Bush. If he hadn't held the line on refusing to release federal money in destroying human life, this easier, simpler and cheaper method probably would not have been found.

[James] Thomson said he was surprised it didn't take longer to discover how to reprogram ordinary cells. The technique, he said, is so simple that "thousands of labs in the United States can do this, basically tomorrow." In contrast, the cloning approach is so complex and expensive that many scientists say it couldn't be used routinely to supply stem cells for therapy.

We'll just have to see. There have been promised breakthroughs before.

Creating the holiday sob story

Yesterday I heard a brief report of bad financial news on the radio (they will be on the increase until the election and then will disappear): it seems that the elderly and/or their caregivers are now dipping into their own savings to pay for their care!!!! Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Ever hear about saving for a rainy day?

Then there was this economic horror story in today's WSJ: a woman who is flying home for Christmas (Atlanta) has decided to stay home for Thanksgiving because of "soaring" travel costs. My daughter lives 5 miles down the road and I might not see her between Thanksgiving and Christmas, either. Honestly, some people just have to invent problems.

My friend Mitzi used to spend every week-end taking care of her father-in-law. She lived in Illinois and he lived in Arizona. Beat that one!

Kindergarchy

In today's WSJ, Joseph Epstein in his article "Desolate Wilderness" mentions living under the rule of children.

"For some time in America we have, of course, been living under Kindergarchy, or rule by children. If children do not precisely rule us, then certainly all efforts, in families where the smallish creatures still roam, are directed to relieving their boredom if not (hope against hope) actually pleasing them.

Let us be thankful that Thanksgiving has not yet fallen to the Kindergarchy, as has just about every other holiday on the calendar, with the possible exceptions Yom Kippur and Ramadan. Thanksgiving is not about children. It remains resolutely an adult holiday about grown-up food and drink and football."

Sam Levinson, the comedian who died in 1980, first used the word, kindergarchy, but he was referring to the older children--the college student who rules the parents, particularly their purse strings. The age of the ruling class now has dropped about 20 years.

We'll spend our Thanksgiving with adults, but come Christmas we'll be with adults, their children, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren and a variety of boyfriends and significant others and their little ones. And everyone will be expected to stand transfixed and in awe of their antics. Someone will even be showing video of the next one in the womb.

When Rush bores me

Rush Limbaugh is a happy, upbeat guy with a huge following (heard locally at 610 am, noon week-days) and an even bigger opinion of himself. But, lest you point fingers, he thinks everyone should have a good opinion of herself, work hard, and invest in the future of America. Your talent is on loan from God, also. Media Matters (founded by the Clintons) holds Rush to a higher standard than the other media, which makes for interesting fireworks. However, he does have some topics that bore me.

1. Golf
2. Football
3. Cigars
4. Hillary's lock box--or anything to do with the Clintons. I don't think there is anything to say about them that he hasn't already said numerous times.
5. Music--he's a former sports announcer and disc jockey, and enough younger than me that I find it a little loud and wearying.
6. The marvels of Florida.
7. Harry Reid--especially after that last round. It's like making fun of a box of rocks.
8. His weight. It's like Oprah.
9. Dinner parties he attended over the week-end.
10. Fund raising or political events he attended over the week-end.

I'm also not fond of, but don't switch channels, when he takes a phone call from a liberal. Really, it's just not fair. He's made millions, after starting at the bottom, with a great voice and wit explaining his political views, and then he gives these poor guys who've never done any public speaking some rope, and they make their own noose and throw it over the light pole. I don't know if his call screener just waits until some dolt calls in who can't put two sentences together, or if liberals who listen to him are really that confused.

Remember Mrs. Kerry?

She's the one who lost the cookie baking contest against Laura Bush. Her first husband's name was John Heinz, a Republican politician who died with 6 others in a plane accident. There is a Digital Research Library and Web-based catalog (University of Pittsburgh) for the Library & Archives of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania (HSWP) at the History Center named for him which contains over 29,000 records. The collection is non-circulating materials documenting life in Western Pennsylvania, so having them scanned and available is great. The Reading Room and collections are located at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, 1212 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222. If you're doing genealogical research for Pennsylvania family members, you might take a look. I've been browsing an old book on Beaver County where my husband's grandfather and great-grandparents lived. It seems these folks really did come from Scotland (Charles Bruce, d. 1812) way back when.

How many other problems

will the greenies compound? Steamier weather in Iowa this summer was attributed to more corn (which is driving up our food costs) being grown and narrower rows.

Climatologists are building evidence that crops, particularly corn, are driving up dew points as they put water into the atmosphere through evaporation. They also may make corn-growing areas cooler and alter rain patterns. Story

Doesn't anyone read the research from the 70s when we went through all this hysteria before the gen-xers were born? It's bad enough to drive through our beautiful farmland--90.5 million acres of corn this year, up 15 percent--and see nothing but corn planted right up to the roads, encouraging erosion and destruction of bird habitat, but just crazy when you think of rising food costs, agricultural inputs and all our tax money being thrown at it.

Cellulosic ethanol--which is derived from plants like switchgrass--will require a big technological breakthrough to have any impact on the fuel supply. That leaves corn- and sugar-based ethanol, which have been around long enough to understand their significant limitations. What we have here is a classic political stampede rooted more in hope and self-interest than science or logic. WSJ hot topic

And nary a new refinery or coal mine in sight (God's plan for storing vegetative matter for later fuel use) as the Chinese burn dirty coal putting filth into the atmosphere to make our "energy saving" light bulbs, while grabbing up the oil markets. Thank you Algorians.

Unintended consequences of planning ahead

I've always been an early riser, and I go out and meet the folks about 6 a.m. at the coffee shop (different ones depending on the day). I even blog about it. Coffee Spills. But I also bring home the refill. For a long time, I just warmed it up to drink later; then I started saving some for the next morning. Then I started saving the whole thing for the next morning. Along came the "fall back" time change. Early risers hate this time of year (we love the "spring forward". Now we're waking up at 3:30 instead of 4:30. Lately, it's been 3 a.m. because I know that coffee is downstairs waiting for me. Even if I dawdle in the shower, take special care with my make-up and hair, and don't warm it up until 4:30, my mind at 3 a.m. knows it is calling, calling. Even the cat who likes to start smacking the window blinds around 4 a.m. thinks this is way to early for breakfast.

This morning I killed a little time trying to encourage sleepiness by shifting to the couch. I didn't want to watch Birdman of Alcatraz (when I was a veterinary librarian, I had his books in the collection), so I watched a cooking show on Food Network about another bird, the turkey, thinking it would put me to sleep. But I got caught up in the techniques. Aren't these TV chefs amazing? The eye and ear are not clever enough to determine how the chatter evolves seamlessly with the green bean casserole. I know it's the miracle of writing (are their writers on strike, too?) and editing, but it's the smoothness that amazes me. The tricky biscuit dough wreath rolled in cinnamon just appears on the sheet from rolling to cutting to placing in seconds, but her cheery, instructional voice doesn't change, her jeweled sweater doesn't have egg wash splashes, nothing sticks to the rolling pin, there's nothing under her fingernails, and strands of her long, blonde hair don/t appear in the gravy. The woman is amazing.

What would Jesus buy?

This film just might save you from making huge mistakes this Christmas. It tells the story of anti-consumerism preacher Reverend Billy. Along with his Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir he goes on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse. I saw the trailer--actually saw the words "Merry Christmas" at a store--although it may have been a movie set. I don't think it's in Columbus yet.

I looked through a few blogs, and saw the usual anti-business, anti-capitalism comments from readers and wondered if the person writing had thought about where she was in the food chain of consumerism. Distribution of the product? Marketing? Salesclerk? Gas station attendant gasing up the SUV? Restaurant worker serving shoppers? Construction worker building the mall? Sanitation worker hauling the trash? Musician selling the iTunes? Farmer raising the turkeys and pumpkins? Baker making the pies and cookies? Think about it. Where do you want the consumerism to stop and how much 'til you can't pay the rent?

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But did they have a legal driver's license?

Personal vehicles were the most common conveyance used to smuggle cocaine into the United States in 2006, arriving primarily across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Seizures: 27% in California; 20% in Arizona; <1% in New Mexico; 10% in West Texas; and 42% in south Texas.

Cocaine Smuggling in 2006

Update on Ramos and Campeon

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Guess who's coming to dinner?

During the last two decades, Dengue Fever has been on the increase in Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s a mosquito transmitted disease with 4 virus serotypes, and having one doesn’t make a person immune-- he can get the other three. Each infection places the person at greater risk for Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), a life threatening condition. There is an outbreak on the Mexican side of the Mexico-Texas border. So guess who’s coming to dinner? This is reported in a recent issue of JAMA. This content is free, and well worth reading when you get tired of hearing about bird flu and MRSA on CNN or Fox.

JAMA, although one of my favorite journals, has a strong liberal editorial bias when it comes to health issues which are impacted by current public policy, so no mention is made in this issue about U.S.-Mexico border security, only that, "Clinicians in the south Texas area and members of the public should be aware of the potential for DHF in addition to dengue fever in the region." Gee, thanks for the heads up.

JAMA also doesn’t go back to basics and point out that dengue fever, because it is mosquito spread, can be controlled with DDT. Although just a few mosquitoes can infect an entire household with the virus and those people can in turn infect co-workers and schoolmates, neither JAMA nor the WHO document it cites, mentions control of mosquitoes with DDT.

However, a 2005 document at Yale Global let it slip out:

"Dubbed "breakbone fever" when it was first diagnosed more than three centuries ago, because it causes extreme pain in the joints, dengue began its global spread around Asia during World War II, when it traveled with warring armies from country to country. After the war, Aedes mosquitoes and dengue flourished along with Asia's rapid population growth and urbanization and then was carried aboard ships and planes to Africa and the Mediterranean.

When the use of the insecticide DDT in Latin America was stopped in the 1970s after the apparent eradication of yellow fever, which Aedes mosquitoes also carries, dengue was able to stage a comeback in the New World."

The virus seems to be going first class these days, using airplanes to travel, plastic lids and containers for breeding, and residing in clean, urban settings. You definitely will not need to be living in a swampy rural area to get this virus. Dengue currently infects about 50 million people, particularly in Asia, and has researchers scratching their heads, looking at computer models, and apply for grants. "Warming globalists" will note in their hot air, alarmist messages how these diseases were once defeated, but will blame global warming on their resurgence without mentioning that DDT could be among the tools to help control them.

Maybe they think mosquitoes are on the endangered species list and need to be protected?

[Emerging Infectious Diseases also notes its mysterious suppression and then reemergence, but doesn't say why or how. The decade of the 1970s seems to hold the secret. . . could it be. . .? "In the Pacific, dengue viruses were reintroduced in the early 1970s after an absence of more than 25 years. Epidemic activity caused by all four serotypes has intensified in recent years with major epidemics of DHF on several islands. Despite poor surveillance for dengue in Africa, epidemic dengue fever caused by all four serotypes has increased dramatically since 1980. . . In 2005, dengue is the most important mosquito-borne viral disease affecting humans; its global distribution is comparable to that of malaria, and an estimated 2.5 billion people live in areas at risk for epidemic transmission."

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The AIDS Estimate

What's the reason for overestimating the effects or spread of a terrible disease? WaPo reports on the inaccuracy of the UN estimates of the size and course of the AIDS epidemic.

The United Nations' top AIDS scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they have long overestimated both the size and the course of the epidemic, which they now believe has been slowing for nearly a decade, according to U.N. documents prepared for the announcement.

AIDS remains a devastating public health crisis in the most heavily affected areas of sub-Saharan Africa. But the far-reaching revisions amount to at least a partial acknowledgment of criticisms long leveled by outside researchers who disputed the U.N. portrayal of an ever-expanding global epidemic. Source Washington Post (may need registration)

It is good that 40% fewer will suffer, unfortunately I doubt that it means that the programs in place have been successful, but rather those who run the programs have been inflating the numbers in order to get more money. The unintended consequences are probably doner fatigue both from NGOs and governments, and less money directed to other programs that need it.

I've written about this before: "Western interference in the economies, politics and cultures of third world developing countries has not turned out well. The American Left loves to point fingers at Christian missionaries who started hospitals, schools, churches and developed a written language for Africans, Asians, and Islanders, but their footprints are tiny compared to the disaster of foreign aid from Europe and the U.S. The missionaries at least were accountable to God and their denomination; the governments and the U.N. agencies who soaked the guilt-swamped for more money funded various interventions in their societies which were accountable to no one, not even us taxpayers, elevating a class of dictators, bureaucrats and home grown thieves."

For all the statistics on what aid has done, check The White Man's Burden; why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good, by William Easterly (Penguin Press, 2006) and The Trouble with Africa; why foreign aid isn't working, by Robert Calderisi (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). From WaPo's review of Easterly's book: [He writes about] "the spirit of benign meddling that lies behind foreign aid, foreign military interventions and such do-gooder institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations. In his account, such efforts are fatally contaminated by what the philosopher Karl Popper called "utopian social engineering." Easterly's list of well-meaning villains stretches from the economist Jeffrey Sachs to the rock singer and charity impresario Bono."

Sleep soundly

Baldilocks says, because SSgt Lawrence Dean, USMC, is watching out for you. See the interview.

Christian basher tries to intimidate

I'm being watched for racist comments because I'm a "self-proclaimed" Christian by

Dr. R. Watnicke
The University of British Columbia
2329 West Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
tel 604.822.2211

He left a comment on my Thanksgiving entry of four years ago when I noted the international diversity of the crew working at White Castle, the only place open on that holiday. He didn't like my humor I guess. I said the Supervisor was Canadian because his haughtiness (with the staff) reminded me of Peter Jennings (he was alive and well then). In Canada it is currently considered a hate crime to publicly criticize any identifiable group, or to say they are wrong for any reason. Especially from the pulpit. Witnessing to a non-Christian about Jesus I suppose could be hate speech in Canada, because you would be telling him you think he is a sinner, and therefore doing something wrong, and that would be an attack. This is what passes for tolerance in some countries.

I did offer at that post White Castle's turkey stuffing recipe, not realizing I'd pick up some turkeys along the way.

10 White Castle hamburgers, no pickles
1 ½ cups celery, diced
1 ¼ tsp. ground thyme
1 ½ tsp. ground sage
½ tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
¼ c. chicken broth

In a large mixing bowl, tear the burgers into pieces and add diced celery and seasonings. Toss and add chicken broth. Toss well. Stuff cavity of turkey just before roasting. Makes about 9 cups (enough for a 10- to 12-pound turkey). Note: Allow 1 hamburger for each pound of turkey, which will be the equivalent of ¾ cup of stuffing per pound.

Vancouver is one of my favorite cities.