It's Spring

Do you know where your New Year's Resolutions are? I just came across my Thursday Thirteen of 13 Resolutions. I have only been able to keep two of them--#1 and #7.

1. When I see an outrageously dressed person, brown cotton eyelet full circle skirt, gray pumps and pink bandana I will turn my head or close my eyes instead of drawing a sketch.

7. When I accidentally come across Katie Couric or another gloomy news reader, I'll just change channels.

Actually, on #1, I didn't turn my head, I did stare, but I resisted sketching. and I cheated a little on #7 too. I'm watching almost no national broadcast news.

Evaluation of diaper product

Clarity needed. I saw an ad in the paper today recruiting parents for a study. For two weeks, if they pass the interview test, they will evaluate "diaper product." Is that a new name for what we called poopy pants or is the product being evaluated a diaper?

More Ohioans dying without a verb

You probably think I have too much time on my hands, but this research project goes back about 11 years. I watch the verbs in the obituaries. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer, almost no one gets out of here with a verb of any kind, but almost everyone is "beloved." In Columbus, we are more verbal. Today seven people died without a verb; 22 passed away; 12 died; one entered eternal rest; one closed her eyes; and one went home to be with the Lord. That last gal definitely had the right idea. That's the verb I want in my obituary. Here's my poem written in 1997, on my blog 3 years ago.

The IRS

The clerk at Panera's told me this spells THEIRS.

Beijing's air quality

is so bad it is a risk for Olympic athletes. Those "energy" efficient, mercury containing light bulbs you're buying to save the environment? They're made in coal fired factories in China. That's your soot in their lungs.

Estrogen and Alzheimer's

Elderly women who took estrogen replacement were 50% less likely to develop AD later in life, if they took it during the critical period of 10 years after menopause. Taking the hormone later (65-79) may cause harm. WSJ 3-18-08.

Ireland 2.0

"Sixteen of the 41 U.S. presidents and 25% of U.S. citizens can trace their ancestral roots to Northern Ireland." Celtic Tiger 2.0 ad in WSJ on St. Patrick's Day.

Rising food prices caused by rising gasoline costs

The cost of gasoline is going up because of our current flailing, misguided, disastrous Gore-inspired bio-energy program and the bloated USDA programs to bail out US farmers. The USDA programs are older than Al Gore, so he definitely isn't to be blamed for what his senator father might have helped put in place to protect agricultural interests (he was a tobacco farmer). Dead vegetation stored in the ground for centuries with heat and pressure becomes petroleum deposits. And we aren't running out--we're just out of common sense. Corn was hugely overproduced in 2007--no place to store it, plus it took acreage normally used for wheat and soybeans. Milk was being called "white gold" in ag circles, the price went so high. How are you helping the poor by taking milk from children?

No one knows how safe the emissions from the blended gasoline from corn or grass or wood chips will be; we only know that the trade offs are more expensive food and more expensive fuel which doesn't get as good mileage as real gasoline. Even if we had let gasoline prices float to $4 or $5 a gallon, it would have been cheaper than all the food cost increases--which are causing riots in some countries. The pizza we had Wednesday evening was $2.50 higher than a year ago; my Philly Cheese on Friday at the Bucket is $2.00 higher than a year ago. It adds up.

In my Ohio county, the cost of gasoline has gone up an average of $486 per household between 2005 and 2007, according to today's Columbus Dispatch. [I plan to fill up this morning at $3.12/gal.] That means for some people with Hummers and light trucks, it's gone up much more, and others with little Hondas and Saturns, much less. I have a 6 cyl. Dodge mini-van, which gets good mileage, so I'm probably the average. For this household, if we made smart choices, we'd change our routine Friday night date, to 40 nights instead of 52 a year. Those other 12 nights maybe we'd have friends in, instead of going out--much cheaper. That's all it would take to make up the difference. Or, we could eliminate our one glass of wine from our restaurant dinner ($13 for 2 of us counting the gratuity), and have it at home ($1.50, Charles Shaw, three buck chuck). For other families, it might mean eliminating 4 packs of cigarettes a week, or a 6 pack of beer, or a large pizza or stop going to Starbucks for a latte and going to the 7-11 instead. Maybe it would be dropping broadband or HBO. But eventually, those cut backs affect the restaurant servers, and the quick-stops, and the Starbucks staff, and then those people have to start laying off employees or reducing hours, and then they can't pay their utilities, baby-sitter, etc.

The answer, of course, is to have the discipline to save in good times--some experts say have 3 months living expenses set aside for emergencies. Never were we able to do that when our children were young (one income), but we always had a savings account to cover emergencies. Tithing your income is another good discipline--keeps you from slurping up the excess each month or hitting the mall when you have nothing to do. Also, pay your bills promptly--don't live on plastic.

Rising costs for food banks

Today's newspapers are full of stories about struggling food banks and pantries. Where to even begin on that one. The examples the reporters use are quite anecdotal--guy driving a truck to work now needs $50 a day. Lost his house. Utilities unpaid.

Food banks were set up to help farmers, not the poor. Now farmers are busting a gut and ripping out fences that provide sanctuary for birds to fill up the acreage with corn or other biofuel stuff, and there's no more surplus.

"Ohio food banks have received less in federal aid in recent years. The decline is attributed to a sharp drop in excess agricultural commodities."

But the farm bill isn't jammed up over debate about nutrition programs. Much of the dispute is focused on billions in government subsidies for farmers of crops such as wheat and cotton.

[Sherrod] Brown said the subsidies are excessive and favors scaling them back by providing farmers a "safety net" during bad times. "Too many on the agricultural committee want the subsidies to continue," he said. CD story, March 20

These food banks were set up 30-40 years ago to help the poor, but in fact they functioned as a place to sell (through distributors which sold to food banks) the surplus food our farmers were growing. The government also paid farmers (called soil banks) NOT to produce. I work occasionally at a Lutheran food pantry. It is a wonderful facility, called a "choice" pantry, because the client is able to choose with the assistance of a volunteer. It has commercial freezers and refrigerators to take advantage of surplus produce, shelving for staples, seating for the clients, staff areas and offices. However, churches have made a Faustian deal--most of our members who respond to the appeals (we have a big one going on right now) don't even know that probably 95% of this is funded by the government--90% by USDA, the rest in smaller local grants, which originates with various federal agencies and is filtered down to the cities and counties. Although those of us who work there on a rotation system through various churches are volunteers, there are regular paid staff whose salaries come from the government grants. The summer lunch program our church sponsors in a suburban school district is also funded by the USDA.

I am not familiar with the restrictions about evangelizing, but I'm sure there are some if the church food pantries are doing the government's food distribution job. We used to put evangelistic literature and church magazines into the grocery bags; now it is laid out for the clients to pick up if they wish.

This blog entry is my personal opinion and does not reflect the sentiments of my fellow volunteers or church members, but I don't think what we're doing for the poor meets the Matthew 25 standards.

Interest in Rezko

There's a new website tracking only blogs and media mention of Obama and Rezko, called Rezkorama.com. The site meter isn't blocked, so I took a look at it. The site went up on March 6, and is getting about 4500 page reads a day. I must be blogging the wrong topics. Referrals indicate most come from Hugh Hewitt's Townhall blog, but some are finding it via Google. A lot of interest.

Also it's tax season, and where is Hillary's returns so we can see how much Bill profits from campaign speeches for her? Why does Michelle Obama get to mention her husband's race and how important it is in this campaign (and the only good thing that's happened in her lifetime), but the topic is off limits for Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 VP Democratic candidate? I think the Obama advisors are making a mistake by trying to hush up mention of his race by anyone but his own supporters, wife, or enemies of the USA like Latin American dictators.

"I was talking about historic candidacies and what I started off by saying (was that) if you go back to 1984 and look at my historic candidacy, which I had just talked about all these things, in 1984 if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice presidential candidate," Ferraro said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "It had nothing to do with my qualification."

Ferraro said she has a 40-year history of opposing discrimination of all kinds, including race, and that she was outraged at criticism of her remarks by David Axelrod, Obama's chief media strategist, because he knows her and her record.(AP story)

On the other foot, the shoe hurts. Many people have been fired or forced to resign for pointing out the obvious, unless the minority is a Republican, of course.

Hell hath no fury etc.

There's a lot of free floating sympathy for Mrs. Spitzer, and none for her pompous, pimping husband, a wealthy man envious of others who earned their wealth, so he grew his fame and fat threatening and defaming them. It brings to my mind one of the episodes of "Law and Order," not all of which I remember. I think the wealthy husband who had some enemies was accused of murder--can't remember if the victim was a call girl, but prostitution was part of the story. His loyal, faithful wife stood by him through out insisting on his innocence. But in the end, it turns out she had set him up, and the final scene is a melt down and harangue in the court room as she pours out her venom as a wife not just wronged, but humiliated and tormented by his sexual perversions while she endured a loveless marriage. If Mrs. Spitzer knew her husband made special arrangements to be with a prostitute on Valentine's Day and all she got was a cheap card and a box of candy--I'm just saying--maybe she decided to blow the whistle to his enemies. Money, position and kids be damned.

I'm sure there will be more. I'm thinking up a poem just for his downfall. The news story on the front page of WSJ today was a puff piece, not unexpected since the press overlooked for so many years his other sins. You remember the drill, don't you? It's just sex. So there were shell companies. Big deal. OK, a violation of the Mann Act, and that's a felony. What's a little money laundering? Republicans are just mad because he used arm twisting threats instead of legal methods to bring CEOs down. They made too much money anyway. Selling women on the internet? Using a friend's name? Setting himself up for blackmail. What's the big deal? This has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it Hillary?

On the editorial page of WSJ Kimerbly Strassel describes how the press treated him

"What the media never acknowledged is that somewhere along the line (say, his first day in public office) Mr. Spitzer became the big guy, the titan. He had the power to trample lives and bend the rules, while also burnishing his own political fortune. He was the one who deserved as much, if not more, scrutiny as onetime New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso or former American International Group CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg.

What makes this more embarrassing for any self-respecting journalist is that Mr. Spitzer knew all this, and played the media like a Stradivarius. He knew what sort of storyline they'd be sympathetic to, and spun it. He knew, too, that as financial journalism has become more competitive, breaking news can make a career. He doled out scoops to favored reporters, who repaid him with allegiance. News organizations that dared to criticize him were cut off. After a time, few criticized anymore."

God's plan made a hopeful beginning
But man spoiled his chances by sinning
We trust that the story
Will end in God's glory
But at present, the other side's winning
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

If your link has disappeared,

not to worry. I'm just struggling through some changes. Eventually. . . I'll get this figured out.

I much prefer coding to squeezing things into "widgets." I can't use my scroll feature; can't put my changing quote where I want it. I used so many widgets they rolled off my layout screen and I couldn't see them, although they were there. So I did it over and put all the blogrolls in one widget instead of three, two site meters in one widget instead of two, and so forth. Anyone else who changed to layout from template having that problem? Blogging used to be much easier.

The week I couldn't read

Finnish is a daunting language. In Finland, you're better off to try Swedish, their second language--at least it might sound like something you'll recognize. Here's what I wrote two years ago this July on not being able to read--I was so desperate I bought Time Magazine:

I paid 4 euros (about $5.00) for 52 pages of Time, 19 of which were photos of the World Cup. Photos I can figure out in Finnish. Five pages were devoted to bashing the "Bush Doctrine." No mention or credit for liberating the Iraqi people from a cruel dictator; no credit for identifying North Korea within months of taking office as part of the Axis of Evil; no mention that his neo-con advisors are former Democrats; or the 500 WMD that have been found; that the Iraqi people have voted in free elections. Although Bush has always acknowledged we were in for a long battle against Islamic terrorists, when he reiterates this, the MSM seems to think it is a victory for their side.

So what does Time recommend? Some Truman era reruns. They don't mention how extremely unpopular Truman was his second term--I think he was lower in the polls than Bush. Another article by Jos. S. Nye, Jr. pined nostalgically for the days of FDR and containment. Tell that one to the Estonians and the millions of other east Europeans who died in the Gulags waiting for the Americans to come and free them. Sixty years ago we sold out 40 million East Europeans to the USSR; let's not repeat that mistake by selling out the Iraqis.

Even so, it was good to be able to read again.

Only the kitty died

Every year thousands of teens die in auto accidents. They get STDs and HPV; they develop obesity problems that will lead to heart attacks and diabetes; they have a soaring rate of unwed pregnancies and abortions; they start smoking and that leads to a life of misery and money going up in smoke; their musical tastes are leading them to early deafness. But let a little kitten they played with be diagnosed with rabies, and the public health departments of four states and the federal CDC launch into action. Public Health Response to a rabid kitten.

During the July 2007 South Atlantic Summer Showdown softball tournament 60 teams of 12 players each from multiple states along with families, friends, coordinators, coaches and one little kitten gathered for at least six games. The coach of the NC team took the kitty home, and then decided it was behaving abnormally, so she took it to an emergency vet, who euthanized it and held it for cremation.

Three days later the mother of one of the girls found out the fate of the kitten and she contacted the vet because she'd been bitten while trying to feed it during the tournament. The vet hadn't tested it because no one had reported any bites. The mother went to the clinic and got the dead kitten and took it in her car to her local health department for testing. About a week later the dead kitten was identified as having a raccoon variant of rabies.

Well, Mom had been around a bit by then, so she had to give her travel itinerary to the NC Div. of Public Health which then contacted the SC Dept of Health and Environmental Control and they got the team rosters and then notified Georgia and Tennessee who also had teams in the tournament and the CDC. Exposed-to-the-kitten people had to have postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), so they used e-mails, newspapers, telephone and TV to alert the public. In that process they found out there were other kittens in that litter handled by other people, plus a lot of the girl softball players had played with the first kitty. These girls were interviewed by the health department personnel, who couldn't track down all the spectators, but I think they decided they hadn't handled the kitty, just the players. Out of 38 people connected with 60 teams a possible 27 had direct exposure to that one kitty! They got the PEP test. No one got human rabies; and there were no adverse reactions to the PEP. Only the kitten got sick; only the kitty died.

Reading through this amazing chain of events, which shows how quickly health and government departments can respond to a threat, I thought that Ray Nagin of NOLA's Katrina in 2005 needed a few more mothers of softball players to put his plans in action. I'm betting a few concerned mothers could have moved those buses.

Are there more Scientologists than Lutherans in Upper Arlington?

Although I was unaware the Upper Arlington Public Library policy forbids meeting space to groups that pray during their meetings, I'm not surprised (Columbus Dispatch, March 8). The UAPL collection policy is quite hostile to both political conservatives and to conservative Christians. Although these two groups are not necessarily the same, the group that is bringing a law suit is both. For almost 30 years I was a Democrat and a conservative Christian, and before that I was a humanist, a member of First Community Church and a Democrat. One does not necessarily mean the other. By the way, any UAPL librarian that classified the 2003 film on Martin Luther with the subject heading, "Lutheran convert," is probably not up on the finer points of the faith.

The collection policy at UAPL seems to be to buy everything possible in the special interest areas of the staff (if they are liberal, progressive or Democrats) rather than select those titles which reflect the majority of the community. Remember the outrage about the gay free-circ newspapers left in the lobby of the library a few years back? With explicit sexual "guidance." The library director held her ground against concerned parents and community leaders. Although she wasn't obligated by any policy I've ever heard of to provide space and distribution for free advertising fish wrappers, she then brought them from the lobby INTO the library and had special shelving built. UAPL has a first class collection on film and theater and a jazz CD collection larger than rock or pop music. And although I'm not familiar with the size of the genre, the UAPL collection on homosexuality for young adults is large.

I'm sure liberals more often request and use titles owned by the library--conservatives by default have learned to go to bookstores, trade titles with each other, or go to their church libraries. Most people don't complain--they vote with their feet. They stay away.

Several years ago I reported in writing to the [position title unknown] staff that the most recent book on Lutherans was 40 years old. There's been a lot of water over the theological dam and numerous mergers since then. Plus, UA has three Lutheran churches, one being one of the largest in the country. They got right on it--and in a year or so, they purchased ONE book with Lutheran in the title published in the 21st century. I can't be positive it was the result of my request since I never got a response. "We've always done it this way," doesn't happen only in churches. Trust me.

But to get to my point. Imagine my surprise this morning when I saw sixteen hardcover Scientology titles on the New Book shelf at Lane Road branch, all by L. Ron Hubbard (these were not his fiction titles, but his church titles and guidebooks). If the on-line catalog weren't so difficult to use, I'd check to see if there is an equal number at Tremont Road, because the author search certainly brought up more than 16. Martin Luther, John Wesley and John Calvin have probably written 500 or more titles, and I'd make a guess that not even one unique volume in their own "Works" appears in the collection in a nice new clean edition (there is a volume or two in a Christian series).

Advent Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran and Upper Arlington Lutheran Churches can probably seat about 2,000 folks on a Sunday morning in 15 or so services. I wonder how many Scientologists the librarians could gather up to do whatever they do.

Difficult passages

In our abbreviated service this morning Pastor Paul noted that the topic of Israel had been suggested by Pastor Jeff in the planning of the series. He has since left for a new position in Minnesota, so Paul had the challenge of preaching on Israel.

But probably not quite the challenge that I Kings 14:10 presents. I found this sermon at another blog and I laughed so hard tears were rolling. But gosh, the preacher makes some good points about wimpy men.

"Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxcyqeRc-4

Snow aftermath

Between yesterday's blizzard and the time change, our 8:30 a.m. church service at Lytham was pretty sparse--about 25 people in the pew and 20 in the choir. Our former choir director played the piano because the organist couldn't get there; our former children's choir director organized the choir and played the hymn she selected in place of the anthem; another former children's choir director directed the choir because the choir director couldn't get in; the prayer team didn't get there, so two men from the congregation stepped into that role. They invited us all to sit up front--first 3 pews, and also had the choir up there, so really we sounded pretty good. It was a good sermon, and the Holy Spirit showed up, as he has promised. Many in our congregation live in Hilliard, Worthington and Columbus, and some areas hadn't had their streets plowed yet, or if they had, their drive-ways were covered up by the street clearing.

But if you really want to see snow, visit these photos from near Ottawa. Mr. Cloud's snow problems. We have nothing to complain about.

Good to Great

Among Democrats, 56% rate their own financial situation as good to excellent, but only 7% think the rest of us are doing OK according to a story in the week-end WSJ. Those Democrats. Don't they have just the biggest, softest hearts? It makes a great campaign issue, because perception trumps facts every time. To be fair, it isn't just Democrats. About a decade ago I remember reading a happiness survey. The people surveyed scored very high on their own satisfaction and happiness scale, but felt so badly for everyone else whom they perceived as not doing as well. Then I noticed a story about the family leave act. Most people are satisfied with the law--they like being able to use up to 12 weeks when THEY need it, but they think others are abusing it and the laws should be tightened up.

Stolen, Borrowed or Misrepresented Links

Have you ever visited a link that was recommended by a reliable site, or which appears in a Google search to match your topic, and then discovered that in some sort of weird way, its body has been taken over or occupied by an evil spirit or advertiser? Today I was looking through the caregivers links from Family and Consumer Sciences at Texas A & M--something I'd recommended years ago, but now had a broken link (error). So I thought I'd try to track it down. In the course of that search I saw a link to a bioethics site, so I clicked to it. It was just advertising: A Rolling Stones T-Shirt (for elderly rockers?), a blue collar "ethic" belt buckle, Wolfgang Puck hearty vegetable soup, Rabbit Air BioFresh Ultra-Quiet Air Purifier w/ Germicidal Protection, 1/4" Extra Thick Deluxe High Density Yoga Mat, and so forth. Not a very ethical way to do business, in my opinion.

The hype, hysteria and hopes of the new greenies

The Earth Day grows up and brings death to the Third World.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOp0LcRvdj8

HT National Center Blog

Thinking about Mom

It's not her birthday; it's not the anniversary of her death; there's nothing going on that reminds me of her. But yesterday I wrote a blog at my church page about her. Today when I was making a dessert, I took special care to use the one little mixing bowl of hers that I have and always try to use even though it's a little small. And now by accident I've found the perfect birthday gift. A book about magazine paper dolls. I don't know why I am always surprised when someone publishes a book on a topic I know a little about, but didn't think there was enough to write a whole book. There always is, because someone collects or saves or archives that topic. How many times did I look at my grandmother's Ladies Home Journal (which went back to the 1890s) only to find the paper dolls were gone. Well, of course! My mother and her sister probably cut them out and played with them. I have a few of them. Based on the WWI uniform, I'd guess these to be 1917 or 1918. The magazines covered by this book are The Delineator, Good Housekeeping, The Housekeeper, Ladies Home Journal, Ladies World, McCall's, Pictorial Review, and Woman's Home Companion, all of which my grandmother subscribed to or purchased. Notice, there's only one outfit for the girl(s)--just guessing here, but they probably played more with the girl dolls and that's why their clothes didn't survive. The toys I have from my childhood are those I didn't use much or love to pieces.

The blizzard of '08

That's what they are calling it here in central Ohio. Those of you in Illinois, Wisconsin and northern NY would probably yawn and go back to bed, but it's a lot for us, especially since it was near 70 degrees last Monday. It's 12-14" where my husband is shoveling, and the condo crew had cleaned it all off last night by 11 p.m. Our daughter lives in a south west suburb and our son lives in a south east suburb, and they both have more than we do--but it's a good reason to talk on a Saturday morning.





I shoveled a path behind my van this morning, thinking things didn't look too bad, but once I got out on a main street, I discovered that although it had been plowed by the city crews, I couldn't see anything, nor could I turn around. So I continued driving until I got to Panera's and pulled in. I struggled up to the door only to see a sign that said, Sorry, but due to the weather, we aren't opening until 8 a.m. A staffer took pity on me and let me in, turned on the fireplace, and brought me a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Wasn't that sweet? Now that is customer service! I asked him if he'd like to be my grandson. I didn't stay long, and when I went back to my van, it took about 10 minutes to scrape and clean enough to see the road I couldn't really see. Two good things. No one but me and the snow plows were out there. Also, I'd replaced my tires in the fall--and they really came through for me.

Update: 20.4 inches in 24 hours--a new record. The old record was 15" in 1910. We had more snow in 1978, but it was over several days.

Dumbing down is not the best plan for survival

Churches who have tried to go the "seeker" route have found this; those of us on government health care have found this; the trend in entertainment to the cheaper reality shows have proved this. Maybe newspapers could have been saved.

"I never thought I would see the day newspapers would dumb-down, but I’ve seen it. They argue they must do so to survive. I would humbly suggest they took the easy way out, instead of taking the time to rethink their role in society and create new revenue streams to reflect it. But what do I know? I just edited them, I didn’t own them." Djelloul Marbrook, text from a pod cast for journalism students

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I love Google, but. . .

this plan was really dumb. High tech route to terrorism and treason.

"The Pentagon has put the kibosh on Google Street View's access to military bases. The access restriction surfaced after a Google street mapping team took photos on the grounds of Fort Sam Houston in Texas and posted them to the site. U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, reportedly said the images compromised security by showing the location of guards, details about barrier operation and building portals. Google removed the images at the Department of Defense's request." Story at TechNewsWorld by Jim Offner, 3/7/08

I think that some of these companies like Facebook, AOL, Google, Yahoo, etc. who claim they are "sensitive" to privacy concerns are run by people too young to understand security--personal or national. For instance, if I wanted to, I could purchase a site tracker for my blog that could probably figure out exactly where your computer is, then what you're buying from AOL, and then through a subscription to another program where your medical records are; but there's no cost to find out what you look like, and how close the 2nd story window of your house is to an access road. I occasionally wander into a website by accident that tells me more about me and my behavior on the computer than I remember, including a comment I made on a listserv or usenet bulletin board 13 years ago and who my grandparents were! (I don't post my genealogy on the web, but others do.)

I won't even go into what I could uncover about your hospital records--I spent some time fiddling with that a few years ago and was so frightened, I just stopped. I really didn't want to know--and I was just using the limited, "free" access to find out the profit of "non-profit" hospitals. Before my husband retired (sole proprietor with me as the staff), I used our county auditor's website extensively--it saved us the time of driving to the property, taking photographs and measuring the set backs and access. What? You think criminals don't use computers?

One time I alerted our church pre-school director about how much information I could track about families of her staff in just a few minutes, using completely free things like Google mapping, on-line local newspapers, and the image feature. Most of my e-mails to the church are ignored or don't address my concerns, so I don't know if anything was done. For years I would suggest to the OSU Libraries that our SS# not be our library access number--I don't know if that has been changed, and God only knows what else it is linked to. Here's my real concern: the university runs on low paid, student labor much more knowledgeable about computers than the faculty or administrators--if it (and other universities) had to find staff that smart and at those wages, they'd have to close down (many are foreign, non-citizens, btw, and all our universities have become dependent on foreign governments to pay their tuition costs).

Just a note about Facebook--no, two notes: The creator, Mark Zuckerberg, is now 23 and has a personal worth of 3 Billion dollars, and Facebook is valued at 15 Billion, according to WSJ. He started at age 19 by illegally hacking into the university's database of student records. The second question: did either of the 2 college women whose murders have recently been saturating the cable news networks have their photos and activities on an internet social networking site, like Facebook?

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Time to set a new ticker

Didn't make my goal, but I did better than last month.




We've got 4" of fresh snow on the ground and expecting much more tomorrow, so the first day or so won't be good. Will have to make it up later.

Friday Family Photo--Spring snow 1975

Today we're supposed to have 8-12" of snow dumped on central Ohio, but because Columbus sits in a trough, our weather is always iffy, and snow and rain easily go north or south, and we stand in an inch or two with cancelled activities and a lot of salt on the roads. But not in the Spring of 1975. We'd had one of those big wet early spring snows, and the kids rushed out to make a fort before it all melted.


I don't have a date on the photo, but it's between the January and Easter 1975 photos in the album. When you look at an old photo, you see a lot you hadn't thought about in years. See the fence? My husband designed, built and painted it and talked a friend into helping with the post holes on the hottest day of the year 1970--the intention was to keep our children, particularly our little, very active, very risk taking little boy where I could see them. The city planners of Upper Arlington had decided (our street was platted around 1938) huge front yards with no sidewalks and tiny back yards would make the community look pastoral. This meant we had a very long drive-way, also very difficult to shovel after a snow storm, which we also gated. You can see if you look closely that there is a gate in that fence--that was so our babysitter, Kristy Mellum, could walk through. She and her 40-something widowed mother, Ruth, and brother Bobby lived behind us. They attended Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, which I knew nothing about and had never seen because it was so well hidden in a neighborhood north of us. Someone told me that Ruth was the first woman president (chair?) of UALC's council/board. (We have been members now since 1976.) Later, all the kids who lived on Brixton Rd. used that gate to cut through. Eventually, we removed it, and new neighbors built a huge privacy fence with no gate--they had no children, nor did most families who lived in that house.

The coats the kids are wearing were in their last season. I tried to be thrifty and get 2 seasons out of winter coats which were expensive. That meant the coats were too big the first season and too small at the end of the second season. Our boy looks taller in this photo, but that's because she is bending over. They are 12 months and 3 days apart in age, and around age 13 he passed her up and has been the biggest in the family after years as the smallest.

You can't see them, but they would have been wearing over-the-shoe boots, which meant stuffing wiggly feet into plastic bags, then into the boot, all the while straddling a squirming, struggling child who was in a hurry to get outside to the snow before it melted. You also can't see the attached garage which was on the left, but around 1979 we converted it to a family room, and built a free standing garage on the other side at the end of the drive-way, further reducing the small backyard. You also can't see all the mud and water puddling on the hall and kitchen tiles after they came inside, wet and cold, ready for snack time.