Some of us need to move

The U.S. is divided into 3,100 counties. Of the top 30 counties that have received billions in disaster aid, 22 of them are either in Florida (13) or Oklahoma (9). Caddo County, Oklahoma has been declared a disaster area 13 times in the last decade, according to a story in USAToday yesterday. And it isn't just tornadoes, like you might think--that county has had a little of everything. If the rest of us are going to pay, either in taxes or insurance, for rebuilding after the hurricanes, brush fires, and flash flooding, then rich folk shouldn't be building their McMansions on hillsides in California or summer homes with coastal ocean and bay views, or on stilts with decks over river vistas in Ohio. Federal aid is a disincentive for insurance companies to insure, or for home owners to build in safer areas. I don't have a solution, and obviously our Congress doesn't either. They only talk about it when they aren't worrying about athletes on steroids, what Rush Limbaugh said, or alar on apples. But here's a thought.

Heath Ledger, Accidental poisoning?

Unless it's your pet Lab that will enthusiastically eat the wall board with a pillow for dessert, no one accidentally takes oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, tempazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine, all found in the system of Heath Ledger. Heath made choices along the way to anesthetize his brain and emotions.

I had a comment yesterday from someone who read an entry of mine about marijuana. He/she insisted that after using 20 years, it simply had no impact on his mind, and wasn't a gateway drug. Of course, he mentioned that the Iraq War had been running for 8 years, so it had impaired his math ability a bit, because that would mean President Clinton lead us into it--which he did sort of with all the hype about WMD, but that's another blog. He also had forgotten how to use capital letters. How hard can it be to use the shift key?

Most of these deaths aren't happening to star struck actors, they are happening to young white women. Poisoning mortality rates in the U.S. rose 62.5% during the 5-year period 1999 to 2004. 20,950 deaths in 2004 alone, up from 12,186 in 1999. The largest increases were among females (103.%), whites (75.8%), persons living in the southern U.S. (113.6%), and persons aged 15-24 years (113.3%). Among all sex and racial/ethnic groups, the largest increase (136.5%) was among non-Hispanic white females. So what's that include? Overdoses of illegal drugs and legal drugs taken for nonmedical reasons, legal drugs taken in error or at the wrong dose, and poisoning from other substances (alcohol, pesticides or carbon monoxide).

You can't slowly poison your brain cells with alcohol, marijuana or pain meds, and expect it to then indefinitely make the correct decisions on other drugs that become available, maybe because you lied to the doctor or the pharmacist to get a bigger high or low.

Gay black men have disproportionate rates of HIV

A recent article in JAMA (Jan 23, 2008) tries to sort through the puzzling statistics of HIV among gay black men. Try as she might, Ms. Voelker can't link poverty or lack of health care, although she tries. Like most of the other health problems among Americans, it's behavior.

"Studies Illuminate HIV’s Inequalities," Rebecca Voelker, JAMA. 2008;299(3):269-275.

Here's my take away from reading the article:

1) They have unprotected sex with men, as do many gay men, and report less than other groups since 1990--before that it was much higher.
2) They are more likely to have sex with other black men who are also likely to be infected. This could result in co-infections.
3) They have numerous sex partners, although this is common for gay men in general, so is not an unusual trait for their race, and they report fewer than other groups.
4) They "don't disclose their sexual orientation [to researchers]", i.e. they lie about being gay (called down low), or don't consider themselves gay even if having sex with men. I would think this could affect the results of #1 and #3.
5) Because they don't think they are gay, they don't seek antiretroviral treatment, which means they have high levels of the virus in their blood, and if having sex with other black men, are more likely to transmit it.
6) More likely to have other current STDs which lowers their immunity--gonorrhea incidence among HIV-positive men is soaring and there is an ongoing syphilis epidemic among gay men.

The presenter of the statistics, Greg Millett, MPH, a CDC behavioral scientist, will probably get into trouble for pointing out these racial differences. Or, maybe he'll just get more grant money to study the behavior more closely. But for every dollar spent focusing on social problems like race and income, that's one less dollar focusing on the virus.

The only reason to even report on HIV/AIDS is because of the attention it gets from the media, the President (see the outrage over the 2009 budget that he didn't fund it at higher levels), the ex-President and Bill Gates. Only about 5% to 7% of male adults and adolescents in the United States identify themselves as men who have sex with men, but they have 71% of the AIDS/HIV. One of the unintended consequences of improved treatment has been a growing carelessness about protection and casual sex.

Auto accidents are still far and away the big killer of young people and we could save thousands and thousands of lives of our children just by raising the legal driving age to 18. No one has been able to figure out a poverty, gender or race angle for this common sense move, so we'd rather shower research dollars on a behavior we can't control.

Monday Memories--Berkeley, whose side are you on?

I'm a California ex-pat, according to the Bear Flag League bloggers (see my links). Sometimes they invite me for blogging lunch, but I have to say no, living in central Ohio. My dad was stationed in California during WWII before being shipped out. He was a Marine. Mom and my aunt Muriel packed us all into the car and away we went, driving from northern Illinois to Alameda, California in 1944. Things didn't look good for the war effort towards the end. The war easily could have gone the other way; our losses were huge. We probably lost more men in training accidents than we've lost since 2003 in Iraq. But Baby boomlets don't read history--probably isn't required in public schools of California. Now the city of Berkeley wants to chase out the Marines. A librarian (surprise!) has called it a knee jerk reaction. No, lady, it isn't. Your state is huge and your economy larger than that of many countries. Your entertainment industry has virtually ruined our culture, and now you want to sabotage more of it. We are the UNITED STATES, and you're undercutting our government and military. Shame, shame, shame. How did California accumulate so many kooks? We've got a lot of family living in Southern Cal, and not a one of them or their friends are weird. But then, none lived or went to school in Berkeley. I've written to the mayor, mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us. They need some guidance and help out there.

Some women

understand glamor. Thank you Beyonce. 2008 Grammy awards
And congratulations to one of my favorite groups, The Band, for their life time achievement award. Four Canadians and an American, they're the best (some deceased). Story here, in a Canadian newspaper.

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Dead tree or cyber winged budgets?

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post is not so thrilled that the 2009 budget is digital instead of paper--even if 480 trees were saved. Considering that I can't even access some of my own publications that were on the "disk" version of 1999, I wish the American public and future researchers good luck in accessing important documents that trendy lawmakers have decided need to get on the digital bandwagon. Let's hope there are always a few paper copies kept in secure libraries and archives.

"Honestly, I am still using the paper books, as is most of my staff," Tom Kahn, the staff director of the House Budget Committee, told me by e-mail. "Online is much harder to use. It makes the information less accessible and harder to ferret out. Frankly, it is no fun staring for hours at a computer screen to find obscure spend-out rates. You can't underline, can't make a note on a page, and who wants to read a computer in bed?"

I love being able to get snippets, or even whole chapters, on-line--like Ruth's article. But I don't want to give up the 3 newspapers I read everyday--in paper with my coffee. I particularly enjoy being able to get archived older articles--and I sure hope the digitizers can keep up with ways for us to read them. But when I have to read closely, I print it off. I hate trying to scroll across the page to figure out columns for years and amounts and quantities.

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Temporary and contract workers--their health

Is it the regulations or the personal behavior that cause "contingent" workers to be less healthy and have more accidents? It's a government funded report in the January 30, 2008 issue of JAMA (NIOSH and CDC), so without even reading the article, "Contingent workers and contingent health; risks of a modern economy," you just know it's going to be the fault of the federal government for not covering certain workers--usually part-timers who work for smaller firms or private contractor/self-employed. Otherwise, how would these ladies fund their positions?

I have a little experience with "involuntary" worker status. (In bureaucratic jargon that doesn't mean I was a slave or indentured, it means I would have preferred a permanent position some of those years, therefore my status of "involuntary.") One of my earliest part-time academic positions for which I received no benefits except a tuition waiver was translating medical newspapers from Russian into English. Later when I was a library grad student I had a hazardous 20 hour a week position keeping a PL480 shelving area clean and tidy and lifting heavy boxes of books upon which being cataloged no one would open, yea these 42 years. It was really dirty and I'm sure my lungs suffered from dirt, dust mites and chemical fumes from cheap Soviet paper. Also I experienced dangerous paper cuts from the ubiquitous LC cards we carried from room to room while cataloging, all the while risking ankle and arch damage wearing high heels on polished floors. "Real" workers (degreed librarians) didn't do those jobs--just we lowly peons. From 1978 to 1986 I had a series of temporary, contract positions ranging from 3 months to 3 years, and I thank God for them. I loved the start up, the risks, the poking my nose into places it didn't belong, meeting interesting people, being home with my kids after 3 p.m. and during summers, and not being required to attend faculty meetings or be on committees like my colleagues. And although I didn't know it then, I was being prepared in the school of experience and hard knocks for the best job of my life, Head of the Veterinary Medicine Library at the Ohio State University. My most memorable work-related injuries were all during full-time, faculty employment: rotator cuff problems from lifting heavy journals, and a fall outside a lab when water leaked into the hall. But I digress.

The authors of the article admit to two problems--most studies on the health of contingent workers have been done in Europe, and those studies and the few in the U.S. show that temporary workers tend to have a set of behavior and personal deficiencies that most regular workers don't. And it's most likely those deficiencies that impact their health. They are

• more alcohol-related deaths
  
• more smoking related cancers
  
• more psychological problems
  
• more musculoskeletal disorders
  
• more likely to be in high risk jobs
  
• less experience
  
• fewer hours of safety training
  
• more likely to be using equipment for which they hadn't trained
  
• more likely to have language deficiencies (illegals)
  
• self-employed, independent contractor not covered by current laws on health and safety

But not to worry, the authors plow ahead with plans to answer "the many questions that remain," and to "collect information on contingent status" which might now not be fully captured to explain workers' illnesses and injuries. No doubt they will recommend changing the current laws (last 40 years) which mostly exempt employers with <15 or <20 workers (age discrimination 1967, occupational safety 1970, health and retirement standards 1974; disabilities 1990; family leave 1993). This will be more of the ongoing destruction of the small businessman with more federal regulations, and the self-employed/ private contractor, creating a demand for more government services, a larger bureaucracy and universal, low quality health care for everyone except the politicians.

"Contingent Workers and Contingent Health Risks of a Modern Economy," Kristin J. Cummings, MD, MPH; Kathleen Kreiss, MD, JAMA. 2008;299(4):448-450.

Cats can learn new behavior

My cat ignores the cat and dog commercials on TV. They apparently don't sound real to her. But the other day I came across a blog that had a kitty widget (movable cartoon-like character embedded in the page). With the cursor passing over the kitty's head, she would meow, and over her chest she would purr. My cat was sitting in my lap at the time, and immediately tried to investigate when she heard the meow and purring. Not wanting her to mess up what I was doing, I changed pages. But she is still much more interested in the screen than she was before, and it's been several days. She seems to be looking for that kitty that is hiding somewhere in my office.

Saturday she was preparing to leap up to my lap and I wasn't paying attention. My left hand was there, and as she jumped she dug in her back claws. Ooo, that hurt. She must have felt the difference too as I slipped my hand away. I didn't yell or scold, because it isn't her fault that someone ripped out her front claws before we got her (Cat Welfare), and for balance she has to dig as firmly as she can with her back paws when she jumps two or three times her height. But I did start rubbing my hand and when I saw the blood, I set her on the floor, and immediately went to the restroom to scrub and put on an alcohol rub. Perhaps it's my imagination, but she's been waiting longer to get my attention and gurgles a half-meow before she jumps up now. You can bet she's trained me to pay more attention!

When you absolutely, positively have to have a salty chip snack

Heat some vegetable oil--maybe 1/4 - 1/2 inch in a small sauce pan. Cut up a corn tortilla (I use Azteca) into strips (scissors work better than a knife) and drop them into the oil for a few minutes, watching carefully. When they start to darken just a bit to a golden color, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel. Sprinkle salt. Enjoy, but wait a few seconds or you'll burn your tongue. Tip: like pancakes, the first batch isn't very good--don't know what that principle is called, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th should be just fine. One day I was helping with lunch at church during advent and we made these to go with bean soup. I thought it might come in handy for an emergency snack attack. I've tried this with flour tortillas and sprinkled with sugar/cinnamon, and that's yummy too, but I rarely crave anything sweet.

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What do you do with your old Christmas cards?

I love the time between Thanksgiving and Epiphany--lots of first class mail as cards and letters drop through our mail slot. Then what to do with them? My tendency to save paper memorabilia is a bit of a problem--especially what to do with what my grandmother saved from the 1880-1890s! I save the letters, the cards with notes, the hand-made or designed cards, and the cards with particularly lovely scenes--usually from a watercolor print. Over the years, that's a lot of paper!

This week we discovered something new to do with holiday greetings. We got a post card from a pastor and his wife of a church we occasionally visit. It's close by, has communion every Sunday, and offers a week day, day-time Bible study led by the pastor. (And the best reason to attend is we know nothing of the inner political squabbles that all churches have.) The postcard said they'd received many beautiful cards and letters at Christmas and each day selected one to pray for the senders, and they had prayed for us on Monday, Feb. 4. That's such a nice idea I think I'll freshen my prayer list with that idea.

What media bias?

Did you see the front page poll in the WSJ today, story by Suzanne Something? Shocking, shocking. 21% of the respondents to the NBC/WSJ poll were strongly against voting for a Mormon, and 20% were strongly against an Evangelical (i.e. a Southern Baptist minister). The story, of course, was all about anti-Mormonism, because then she could bash Christians, but not about anti-Evangelicalism, because then she'd have to bash liberals. Somehow, she found a pastor of a huge congregation of 35 people to quote. This woman digs so deep she needs to drain the swamp to climb out.

But more ridiculous was the anti-Hillary and anti-Obama figures. I think for Obama the poll only found 4% wouldn't vote for a black. We've come a long way baby, but not in my wildest dreams of what wonderful unbiased folk singing kumbaya we are, will I buy that figure. I've heard "Obama's a Moslem" 10 times more than I've heard Romney's a Mormon in my white, well-heeled, Republican suburb (with a very noisy Progressive/liberal element).

Nobody's going to admit to a pollster, especially one from, not one but two liberal media, that they won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or Obama because he's black. There are millions and millions of registered voters whose only exposure to African Americans is watching Hippity-Hops grabbing their junk and flashing their bling on YouTube and TV, calling women Ho's and their buddies nigger. Sure, they'll buy their music, but that's also the image they'll take with them to the voting booth.

What would we do without government studies?

In September 2006 I fessed up that going from dial-up to broadband had been. . . broadening for me. Yes, the 20 lbs I put on I called my blogging weight. There's just no way to sit in front of a computer screen for several hours a day (which I did more before I retired), snack on peanut butter, salty chips, cheese and crackers, eat sandwiches for lunch, eat out with friends, and NOT put on weight. So I did a TT on it--about eating less and moving more--and over the next four months, shed the blogger-fat.

Fortunately, I now have a government study to back me up. Don't tell me I never give you valuable research! Yes, people who eat out at least twice a week and eat fewer fruits and vegetables than people who eat out less often and eat more fruits and vegetables and who also have less physical activity than people who have more physical activity will be FATTER. I'm just stunned, aren't you? Who knew that eating 3,000 more calories a day than your body can possibly use, would add pounds?

"Findings from our population-based survey suggest that higher levels of weekly physical activity were needed for successful weight loss maintenance if the respondent consumed fewer than five low-energy–density fruit and vegetable servings on the previous day. Our data provide insights into the details of behavioral patterns among people reporting success at weight loss maintenance and support findings in the literature that suggest both dietary and physical activity approaches are key in helping people manage their weight. Citation: Kruger J, Blanck HM, Gillespie C. "Dietary practices, dining out behavior, and physical activity correlates of weight loss maintenance." Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(1). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/
jan/06_0158.htm. Accessed Feb. 8, 2008].

There's still a lot researchers don't know about how weight affects the incidence and intensity of diseases that kill us, but this much they do know--if you use more calories than you take in, you will not be fat. Maybe that's gastric by-pass, or Jenny Craig, or going for a walk every day. For most of the history of the planet, poverty and starvation were the norm for most populations (the move to private ownership of land and then other resources has changed that). Now even the poorest have too many calories. Lots of things make us fat--I know what works for me, and it will be different for you.

All this is to introduce you to a journal that recently has focused on the diseases of older people, Preventing Chronic Disease. Although I find it frustrating that so many studies focus on gapology--gap between minorities and whites, between men and women, between rich and poor, between Hispanics and Asians, between Caribbean baseball players and Alaskan mushers (I made that one up), occasionally someone discovers that no one has researched the obvious--the things we do that make us sick.

Thursday Thirteen--13 fudge phrases in American English.

English is a marvelously flexible language--has about 2 million words because it borrows from so many cultures. So why overuse some of them and dumb down our lovely language? These 13 get my vote--and my goat. If I never heard them again, I'd dance on their graves.

1. I have nothing against . . . or I don’t have a problem with. . . [be on the alert for racist, sexist, ageist or ethnic comment with the first, and nit-pickiness about a committee or task force report on the second] Another version is, Some of my best friends are. . . .

2. If it’s all the same to you . . . [You know it probably won’t be.]

3. Do you mind if I smoke. . . [We don’t hear this one much anymore--smoking near anyone is now against the law in Ohio in many places, even outdoors, but in the “bad old days” you knew he was going to light up and make your clothes stink and your lungs rot. Women didn't even bother to ask.]

4. Let’s do lunch sometime. . . [Good-bye, I’m waaaay too busy and important to talk right now.]

5. With all due respect. . . [A way to say, “I disagree,” without saying it.]

6. I’m looking to. . . [Only the less educated used this in the past, but now it is everywhere, even the WSJ and NYT. It means "I’m planning to . . ." or "I’m thinking about. . .", but seems to imply using logical thought to make a decision is suspect. Probably came along with using "I feel" instead of "I think."]

7. I think we need to ask ourselves. . . [Experts use this phrase to introduce what they want you to do--it’s a fudgy way to be bossy and authoritative.]

8. At the end of the day. . . [I actually heard a caller to a talk show say, “At the end of the day there’s light at the end of the tunnel” and “Finally, at the end of the day, the bottom line is. . . “ This is a useless phrase; if it has a meaning, it is “finally.”

9. It’s generally believed that. . . (fill in the blank) [Something is about to be said you’ve never heard of, or disagree with, like “humans control global warming“ and you (but not I) need to cut back on your carbon footprint.]

10. How ‘bout them Buckeyes or (your team’s name here). [Guys say this in place of ordinary polite greetings, such as “Good Afternoon,” or “How are you?”]

11. I’m no expert, but. . . [I’m about to pretend to be one.]

12. It’s easy, you just . . . [This won’t be easy at all--you‘d better take notes.]

13. Basically / Absolutely. Basically, these two words are the most overused words in American English. Don’t you agree? Absolutely! “Basically” is used in place of stammering (repeat the phrase 3 or 4 times to make it work) while you think of something to say, and “Absolutely” is a 4 syllable word for Yes.

The big one

Can you guess how many ones (numeral or words) appear on the U.S. one dollar bill? Before taking one out of your wallet or purse jot down a number. I guessed 10, and so did my husband. The student from CSG at the coffee shop guessed 5, another guy said 7. Actually, it depends on the bill, but in looking at three different one dollar bills, I had between 22 and 29 ones on a one dollar bill.

There is only one reason to vote for John McCain, and that's Jihadism. And it's important. But the other ones all go against him. 1) He's too old. 1) He's noted for a flash point, bad temper. 1) Do you want an old guy with a bad temper going up against Iran? 1) He left his faithful, hard working wife and mother of his children who waited all the years he was in a POW situation for a trophy wife. 1) His new wife's father has financed his political career. 1) He's the sponsor of McCain-Feingold (campaign finance reform which is fine for guys with a sugar daddy-in-law). 1) He's squishy on amnesty. 1) He's more concerned with pleasing the guys across the aisle than conservatives or Republicans. 1) He's a media lap dog. 1) He appeals to Democrats and Independents in the primaries, but they'll dump him for their regular date come November. 1) He can't carry the South. 1) He either plays dumb, or is dumb, on the economic issues. 1) He has co-sponsored many bills which are an anathema for conservatives. 1) He loves being the bi-partisanship candidate--why not just have one party? 1) He likes being a maverick, but Democrats hate their own mavericks, why do they like ours? 1) Because they can beat him come November. 1) He snubs and insults conservatives, and was being considered as Kerry's running mate in 2004. 1) Why should time in prison, even if not your fault, be a resume enhancer? 1) He's supported Ted Kennedy more often than George Bush. 1) He has no business experience. 1) He has no executive office experience. 1) He's climbed aboard the broken, creaky global warming band wagon with the other hate America crowd. 1) In order to become a Republican, he'd need to start flip-flopping right now, something conservatives usually don't like. 1) He needs to raise a lot of money just in order to have grass roots support.

How many ones is that? How many do you need not to support McCain. But work very hard for your local guys you'll be sending to Washington, because Hillary doesn't need a rubber stamp Congress in bed with her and Bill.

Three word Wednesday, 72

Today's words are posted here at 3WW, a site where you can comment and invite others to read your offering, which can be an essay, poem, song, etc. Today's words are

Bridge
Disturbed
Still

Photo by Nea, a disappeared blogger
The Hardin Bridge on a summer day, not disturbed by talk of modern weight limits, stands quietly over the still Etowah River in north Georgia, a monument to a time when life was not so hurried, friends were forever, and passers-by weren't scrambling for more stuff. Best not to linger. Sometimes the river is swollen and angry, and if you look closer, you see the guard rails have been battered by drunk drivers at night unable to stay the course. Pause and you might think you hear voices, young lovers from the Great Depression or a soldier on leave before Korea or Vietnam, and then only silence. Even in the symmetry, you begin to see the irregularities--crooked tree branches building an arch over the steel trusses, wavering shadows, a cluster of leaves across a line that attempted infinity, and clouds breaking up a clear blue sky. Move along. Don't long for the past here.

True Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton

At one of my other blogs, I posted a year long Puritan reading list challenge. I'm pretty weak in this area, so the only name I recognized was John Bunyun, and I did struggle through Pilgrim's Progress a few years ago, but that wasn't on the list. For your reading pleasure, I'm supposed to be reviewing for my blog One Month to Live; Thirty Days to a No-regrets Life, by Kerry and Chris Shook (Waterbrook Press, a division of Random House, 2008). But frankly, when you've been reading 17th century Puritans, like Samuel Bolton's The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, 21st century Warren-wannabees are pretty thin stuff. Suffice it to say, the 30 day book is boot-strap Christianity, and I don't know a soul who would have the time or patience to complete the daily three "Make it last for life" homework suggestions, or even the "Make it count moments" that precede them.

Day 17

1. "Number a page from one to five, and list five different gifts that you know you possess. Don't be modest [yada yada]. . . This week ask at least 3 close family members or friends to list 5 gifts they see in you. Have them give you their lists. . .compare. . .what's the surprise and why."
2. "In what ways does your current job or career field reflect your passion? If you knew you only had a limited amount of time [yada yada] List the obstacles that prevent you from having your dream job. . . Go over this in prayer with God."
3. "Think through the handful of people who have helped you most in your life. (thinking, thinking, thinking) Now prayerfully consider sharing one of your struggles with someone this week . . ."

Isn't this right out of Willow Creek's Network Guide, which asked for an assessment which you matched with one from three other people? And you had to list your passions? Or am I thinking of What color is your parachute?

Keep in mind, this was just one day--the 17th. This was preceded by several pages of discussing GPS systems, and the Gospel hasn't been leaked yet--not sure the authors get to it. I checked the last few chapters/days and didn't find an explanation of the Gospel. By day 27, it is suggested that if the reader feels a vague, nagging question, sensing her time on earth is running out, she should snap out of her self-focus (which she's just been doing for a month) and start praying for the poor and hurting people on the other side of the world. Would that grab you?

I predict this title (the Willow Creek book says I score high in prophecy and wisdom) will be a very successful--maybe not a best seller like Rick Warren's books, but it has all the elements many church members want--lists, assignments, time frame, God-words, positive pep talks, and anecdotes ranging from construction to leprosy to mountain climbing (which is used as an example of forgiveness rather than the cross).

Time for a new ticker

Not heart surgery, but a new 30 day challenge. I wasn't even close to my 6,000 steps a day (although I think I forgot to update some days), averaging 4600 a day. Now I'm resetting to 7,000. If the weather would settle down, this would get easier. I unclogged a storm drain today which is good for the brakes, but doesn't do much for my pedometer.




It's pretty wet here today, so here's the new ticker.

The high cost of living

or the cost of living high? The middle class isn't disappearing; it isn't endangered. We've been sold a myth.

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Defense spending

A chart in the WSJ today showed that defense spending is at 4% of the GDP. It was above 5% in 1990 according to OMB, then went down to 3% 1999-2001, then rose to 4% 2004-2007 (I'm reading the chart; didn't see the numbers in the article). In Bush's budget predictions it should go up--I'm not sure if that is in spending, or because revenues will be down when the Democrats increase taxes. During the Korean War defense spending was 14% of GDP, and 9.5% during the VietNam War, and 6% during the Reagan years as noted in Bret Stephens article on Declinism. He notes that within a few years of the Reagan military build-up the Soviet Union collapsed. Europe and Japan with virtually no military costs during the same time period entered a period of economic stagnation.

Hand wringing over how Europeans and Asians see us is a politicians' hunt for fools gold, he says. Watch for a new book by Fred Kaplan, another author getting paid for predicting America's decline. They've been quite popular during the Bush administration and will probably drop off if a Democrat is elected, even if nothing changes globally. These declinism books are a bit like the anti-war movies these days. Do they sell--I mean to anyone but public libraries, who love this stuff.

Does anyone who speaks English know what this means?

"Differential access to and ability to use communication technologies creates potentially disenfranchising knowledge gaps."

I'm guessing it means someone at the local level wants federal government money to teach kids to use computers, but only if the kids are poor or minority. What's your guess?

"Distributed Data Curation Center (D2C2) investigates and pursues innovative solutions for curation issues of organizing, facilitating access to, archiving for and preserving research data and data sets in complex environments."

Someone was enamored with the first Star Wars character, R2D2. "Facilitate" is one of the squishiest words in the English language. Very useful--stretches, morphs, expands into total worthlessness. My good spell checker burped at "curation."

"Beginning April 1, 2008, The Frank Gates Companies/Attenta will become Avizent™."

I remember when Lutheran Brotherhood (fraternal insurance company) became Thrivent--a made up name. Acronyms are one thing, like JAMA or OCLC, but "designer names" that sound like pharmaceuticals are just irritating. I would rather do business with a Frank Gates than an Avizent, which sounds like a med for an STD.

I love words, especially in English, and I hate to see them abused and kicked to the curb.

Wine vocabulary;
men and women use different vocabulary;
teen-speak ;
ingredients lists;
Latinized vocabulary
using must, may and might
adverbosity
sheep