Do you need Mollom?

Blake, who runs LISNews.com battles spam all the time, and reports that he has switched to Mollom and has been amazed at the increase in comments the site has been getting (reports news about libraries and supports librarians' blogs). Apparently, the other spam filters he'd been using had been turning down comments or frustrating users. I don't know what filter blogger.com uses, but it certainly better than what my OSU e-mail service uses. I clean off 10-20 spam a day at my bruce dot site, and only a few at my other RR e-mail. But don't forward me jokes, smear stories on Obama, or cutsy photoshoped images of Palin, because I don't want your plate of cookies, thank you.

The Helsinki Complaint Choir

We all have the same complaints, except this one, "And the Finnish language is bloody difficult to learn." I laughed out loud and loved seeing the places we visited in 2006.



The video begins and ends in the train station designed by Eliel Saarinen.

Explain yourself, John

I agree with all the Democrats and Republicans who are crying foul on the new stem cell ad from the McCain Palin campaign. "Embryonic" is never mentioned, since right on his web page he says what he's against: "John McCain opposes the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes. To that end, Senator McCain voted to ban the practice of "fetal farming," making it a federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes. Furthermore, he voted to ban attempts to use or obtain human cells gestated in animals. Finally, John McCain strongly opposes human cloning and voted to ban the practice, and any related experimentation, under federal law." However, in 2006 he voted aye, as did Obama, on a bill the president vetoed. Later in 2007 a procedure was announced that didn't need embryos. Democrats haven't been happy about that. However, remember, it's never been illegal to perform embryonic stem cell research in the U.S.--it's just not for federal money beyond a few lines. Most stem cell research in the world has been done by U.S. researchers--it's just one more anti-Bush myth that we were falling behind.

But most people won't listen that carefully to this ad. They won't go to McCain's web page. Here's the script:

John McCain will lead his congressional allies to improve America's health.

Stem cell research to unlock the mystery of cancer, diabetes, heart disease.

Stem cell research to help free families from the fear and devastation of illness.

Stem cell research to help doctors repair spinal cord damage, knee injuries, serious burns.

Stem cell research to help stroke victims.

And, John McCain and his congressional allies will invest millions more in new NIH medical research to prevent disease.

Medical breakthroughs to help you get better, faster.

Change is coming.

Congressional allies is code for Democrats not conservatives like Palin; and stem cell research hasn't produced any of the claims in this ad. It's a hope for change--and where have we heard that? Investors love a good cure--there's millions to be made if it worked. So far, it's just expensive experiments. Unless he wants to lose those of us who jumped on board because of a true conservative at his side, he'd better pull this or listen to Mrs. Palin's team.

Besides, as I noted in 2006 after Bush's veto, "All you evolutionists should just wait around and see if some mold in the corner that the janitor missed turns into a highly developed, functioning human being. If it happened once without help from the Big Guy, you should be able to do it with a few spores, some ammonia and fairy dust."

Dear TTLB (The Truth Laid Bear)

I appreciate being restored to my mammal status, after all, I work hard at telling the truth and blogging. When I looked the other day and saw I had been demoted and had dropped several thousand points in the ranks of prominent bloggers, I figured you'd changed the game plan. But I guess it was that mess with Site Meter losing my total count. Anyway, thanks guys, it's nice to be back in great form.

Love ya!
#229

Sorry, Charlie. The people want interviews without bias, not bias with no interview

Remember the Starkist tuna commercial from the 1960s?

"Sorry Charlie. . .StarKist wants tuna that tastes good, not tuna with good taste."

"ABC's Charlie Gibson is only the latest to offer himself upon the altar of self-parody with his pop-quizzing of the Alaska governor during their interview last week.

Gibson: "Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?"
Palin: "In what respect, Charlie?"

Which was a sensible answer, given that no higher authority than Jacob Weisberg of Slate has counted six versions of the thing (including "absence of any functioning doctrine at all"). Further pressed on the subject, Gov. Palin explained that "what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism," which better sums up the gist of Bush policy than Mr. Gibson's cramped definition of the doctrine as "anticipatory self-defense." WSJ article here

When I was a community organizer

I certainly wasn’t Jesus Christ. Although there are some nattering nabobs of punditry (that means chattering know nothings who think they are rich with words) who have tried to reframe what we did (Donna Brazile, Tom Brokow, Steven Cohen, etc. and other brilliant theologians) and who Jesus is.

Let’s be clear. Christians believe Jesus is God incarnate who stepped into the world he created for a very specific purpose, and it wasn't political, social or cultural. I, however, in those days was a friendly, well-intentioned young adult from the middle-class and middle west going door-to-door taking surveys and feeling benevolent in a poor and working class neighborhood in California. Our surveys were probably worded so that no matter what the residents answered about their needs, we already had the answer. I don’t remember, but I know that’s how it is done. Saul Alinsky and the Communists didn’t invent this, the churches did--maybe that‘s why from a 50 year perspective a very ignorant, in-the-tank for Obama, MSM has picked up on this mantra. I was idealistic and had a vision that I could make a difference. I suspect most of the families and certainly the teenagers my own age that I met in that African-American community moved into the middle class through their own efforts. There were a few female-headed households, but not too many. There were married fathers in the homes of that community. The adults in that neighborhood were the off-spring of migrant workers who had arrived in California in the 1930s during the Depression, leaving behind the poverty and racism of the South. Although their lives weren’t materially as good as what I had enjoyed growing up in Illinois, they were light years ahead of their parents and grandparents.

Food pantries, clothes closets and job assistance came later, maybe the 70s. In the 1950s we offered play ground supervision, Bible school, canteen type activities for youth, a community garden, and maybe some tool sharing like lawn mowers--not sure about all the services. Whatever we did, I’m quite sure we made no long term difference in the community. You’re never any smarter than the era in which you live, and the reason it’s better to give than receive, is because no one wants to be anyone else’s charity project. When was the last time you had to accept help and felt good about it?

I had a great time, learned a lot, got much more than I gave, and would never, never even consider that it belonged on my resume.

My recollections also

Wizbang writes,

"I have no grand unified theory that explains the collapse of the subprime mortgage industry, no overarching explanation for the events that led to the collapses that have shaken Wall Street to its very core this week (if that is what happened -- I'm not even up enough to know how much of the hysteria is hype), but I do recall certain things that seemed to me, at the time, bad ideas that would lead to major problems.

Many years ago, there was a huge push to approve a lot of mortgages that the banks had been refusing. There was a huge stink about "redlining," where banks were compelled to issue loans in areas they didn't wish to invest. And in the last couple of years, "creative" mortgages were all the craze -- especially the "no-documents" loans, where the applicants would just say how much money they made and the lenders would say "sure, we trust you!" " Full story here.

Yes, this is my recollection, although it wasn't "many years" ago. In 2004 we were helping our son look for a home he could afford on his income. We hadn't done much home buying since our primary home and our vacation home (1963, $14,000, 6.5% for 20 years mortgage; 1988, $52,000, 10.5% for 30 years mortgage), but we had a formula in mind--no more than 1/3 of his income should go toward housing and he ought to have some equity (which we'd planned to provide for him, just as my father had done for us). We found the "creative" financing available 4 years ago nothing short of stunning, and thought it looked risky. So we financed it ourselves and then he bought the home from us this past summer. The hoops he had to go through in 2008 compared to 2004 could have saved the country this mortgage and bank melt down.

Dear Valued Customer

Rarely do I get a letter from a company that starts that way and ends well, but this one did. I have used the freebie from SiteMeter since I started blogging 5 years ago, and so do most of the bloggers I visit, because yesterday I was frantically looking at them. SiteMeter had "upgraded" and I'd lost every reason I'd used them, including my total count, which I figured was about 245,500. What was available to me was totally worthless, so I fired off an e-mail of complaint. Apparently several thousand others must have too.

Dear Valued SiteMeter Customers,

As you’re no doubt aware by now, we’ve chosen to roll back our website to the previous “classic” version.

Based on some performance issues we were experiencing along with feedback from the community it appears we have pushed our new site live prematurely."

Ya think? Today, my old version with the features I like was back, but if I'd had more time to pursue it yesterday, I would have already replaced the code and would never have known I'd been switched back.

There's a very basic marketing principal in business and in relationships. You can't give away something and then later change your plan and expect people to value your product and pay for money what used to be given away.

Paper mills in Fitchberg, Mass

Another strange economic analysis in the USAToday today, to prove, I suppose how bad "this economy is." There's a large photo in the print edition with caption, "Troubled times: the paper mills have closed in Fitchberg Mass., on the Nashua River, and the city is in an economic slow down." We visited that part of the East in the late 70s, and most of the paper mills, furniture factories, and textile mills were on their way out then or were being turned into renewal projects from the perfect storm of union strikes, environmental regulation, and improved technologies which reduced the number of workers, or required expensive upgrades to old buildings. I've checked several web sites about Fitchberg, and can't find anything about a recent closing of paper mills, at least not since its unemployment rate of 5% in April 2008.

But also, I found on the web the 2000 census, and guess what? In 1999 (i.e., long before George W. Bush), Fitchberg was below the national average in college and high school graduates, it was above average in disabilities, it had fewer foreign born than the rest of the U.S. (was about 1/3 foreign born in 1920), had a lower household income than the rest of the country, lower median income, and families below the poverty rate was 12.1% compared to 9.2% for the country, and 15% for individuals, compared to 12.4% for the country. Clearly, Fitchberg was in trouble a decade ago, but it certainly wasn't "this economy" and the current slow down.

Also, the reporter decides to feature a 47 year old divorced mother of 17 year old twins who was 9 months behind on her mortgage before she sought help from the non-profit counseling agency. This is the example of what "change" is needed? Four years ago she had purchased a home for $210,000 on an income that was from 2 jobs--a house cleaner and a home health care worker. Her patient went to a nursing home, and she lost that part of her income. What she did to bury herself even further is not told, but clearly, she shouldn't have had that level of indebtedness no matter who was in the White House.

And yet she's hopeful that a "change" in Washington might make a difference in her life. Yes, 'mam the way FDR dug the hole deeper that Hoover started in the late 20s and extended for 10 years.

The good news about Fitchberg is its 29 year old woman mayor. Seems to be a trend, because she looks like a woman who plans on big things, just like another small town mayor who's been in the news lately.

Also, the rivers are clean now, not brown like they were when the paper mills were running.

From little ACORNS grow squirrelly fraud

Still seething at the idiots who called our Lord and Savior a "community organizer" at the level of these crooks.

Yid with a Lid writes “Well we finally know what a community organizer does, if that community organizer is ACORN what they do perpetuate Voter fraud. One quick google search will show all the times it has been sited for voter fraud. Now the Detroit Free Press reports that this group with ties to the Obama campaign is trying their dirty tricks in Michigan:”

Ike blew through here yesterday

and it's hard to imagine what they must have experienced in Texas, after seeing our downed trees and power lines and released roof shingles. I drove past the OSU Golf course this morning and there are many trees down--the Meijer's store where I'd been shopping was on generator power, and most of the stores along Henderson Road were closed, and traffic lights off. We got no rain out of this, but I've heard Chicago got some flooding. Last night we were hosts for our couple's group from church (planned that way) and the other 3 couples from different parts of the city had no power.

Here's some good news, though. Honey Crisp apples are in stock at Meijer's! You'll pay at least $1 a piece for them, but oh it is worth it to bite into one and have the juice dribble down your chin and shirt.

Update: A friend who lives in one of the NW Columbus areas without power was told by PUCO that it could be 7-14 days before their power is restored, and yes, our crews are on their way back from Texas. I invited them for supper, but she's taking her thawing meat to her son's home to cook it on the grill. The local TV stations are showing enormous damage in Columbus. My son is off work because they have no power, so he's picking up pieces of his roof today.

It's the world we voted for

I see brands of green,
dollar signs too,
regulations are growing--
for me and for you.

And I think to myself,
So we control the world?

I see inventors leave,
small businessmen too,
Unions are flexing--
for them not for you.

And I think to myself,
It's a Democrat world.

The colors of a rainbow
once thought so cool,
just special interest groups--
with power to rule.

And I think to myself,
it's a never change world.

Michigan, Ohio,
and Illinois too,
are ranked the lowest--
soon it will be you

And I think to myself
it's an Obama world.

Don't hear babies cry,
Or see them grow,
A lot were aborted--
More than we know.

And I think to myself,
Do we want such a world?

Finding Leslie

I found a terrific reviewer at Amazon this morning, her name is Leslie and that led me to her blog! Oh happy day--a reviewer of Christian books who reminds us to go beyond the anecdote and proof texting and points out what many Christian writers have forgotten

The gospel is the incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, burial, bodily resurrection, ascension, and eternal reign of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Not once does she [Fitzpatrick] indicate that the gospel is something "we do." It is a work that is done for us for the glory of God. Our only work is to believe, to look to the crucified. [from her review at Amazon of Elyse Fitzpatrick‘s Because he love me]

I’m so bored with Christian writers who make no or little mention of the cross, pick a verse or two on which to hang their latest need for grant money or donations, and jump into “community,” or “relationships” or “healing,“ or “saving the environment.“ I’m increasingly going back to read the classics or at least books older than me. And that's old!

Go to her web page or her Amazon profile and be refreshed!

Whatever happened to Joe Biden?

Don't see him much on TV. Is he out on the campaign trail, the sawdust trail for the chosen one? This can be sung to the tune of "Old Black Joe."

Gone are the days when Joe’s heart was young and gay,
Gone are Dem friends from the beltway far away,
Gone from the shore to a better sea a sailin',
I hear their vicious voices calling Sar-ah Palin.

Chorus: I'm going, I'm going,
but I thought it should be me,
I hear their nasty voices calling Hill-a-ry.

Why do I weep, when my heart should feel no Palin?
Why do I sigh that my friends come just a sayin’?
Grieving for polls now departed long ago.
I hear their shaky voices calling Old sad Joe.

Chorus: I'm going, I'm going,
for my choice is not so free,
I hear their nasty voices calling Hill-a-ry.

Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The party so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go,
I hear their sorry voices calling Old sad Joe.

Chorus: I'm going, I'm going,
I do it for my part-y,
I hear their nasty voices calling Hill-a-ry.

Sarah Palin Sexism Watch

Like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. Wish I'd thought of this one! Sarah Palin Sexism Watch includes some awful, some hateful, and some unexpected folks. Mostly they're terrified Democrats, with a few on the opposite of the political fence. Me? I'm paraphrasing that old feminist line on abortion: I wouldn't run for vice president myself if I were a governor and had 5 children, but I support the right of a mother of 5 who governs a state and wants to go higher.

For the most part her group of shameful journalist articles (with links) seems to be in the same bag of obsequiousness that has paved the way for Obama.

Does Barack really send his own e-mails?

At Panera's where I buy my morning coffee there is a new desk with a computer next to the coffee and cream bar. It's for employee training, not the customers. They log-in, put on their head phones, and learn about all the latest products and procedures (nice photos). I'm sure it's a way to have all employees, particularly new ones, cover the same ground, but it also helps the long term employees catch up. We had something like this in the OSUL for training our student staff, but it was so primitive (in late 90s) I don't think my staff ever used it.

However, sitting at a computer is not too useful for senators, presidents or representatives. Better they should have to put the budget or census reports on their lap and experience the heft. In fact, government staff in general have gotten themselves in deep doo-doo sending e-mails, which causes our tax money to be used to hire battalions of lawyers on both sides to figure out what was purged, what was meant, and who sent it. Little jokes on the side when you think you're chatting with staff in on the background, sound pretty dumb when parsed by the hostile media or blogosphere.

I'm thrilled John McCain doesn't send e-mail. I'm not impressed at all that Barack Obama sent a text message (did his little pinky really press "send?") to his Gen-Next supporters to announce he's added an old guy, Joe Biden, a long time senator who with him holds down the ratings of Congress, to the ticket. Let them write long hand the way George Washington and John Adams did. If Barack writes the way he talks (multiple parenthetical and clarifying phrases per sentence), it could fill libraries of the future.

Update: Hot Air reports that this appeared in the Boston Globe and Forbes in 2000:

"McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

”He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. ”I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”

Another update at Hot Air points out he regularly reads his e-mail even though typing is difficult, and was chair of the Senate telecommunications committee--probably knows more than Obama. Does not having served in the military disqualify Obama from being Commander in Chief, it's asked, since sending e-mail seems to be a qualification? I'm betting they pull that ad if it's not gone already! Sort of like Joe Biden asking that guy in a wheel chair to stand up, innit?

The Library Quarterly

If you are planning to purge your bookshelves, you shouldn’t place the stack at the door to take to the garage and then your car, and then the Friends of the Library Sale later. No, if you are really determined, place them in a dark garbage sack, hustle them to your husband’s car, and don’t look back, because they will call to you like a puppy who’s been left in the culvert by a farm, in hopes someone else will want him.

I looked at this old friend (in the 1960s I was a Slavic cataloger at the University of Illinois and at Ohio State University) lying on the floor this morning and made the mistake of leafing through it. What could be less useful than what librarians were saying about their collections in 1965--collections that specifically dealt with Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Islamic countries, and Russia (the former Soviet Union)? Today’s whiz kids librarians with their Twitter, air guitar and hip-hop programs and digital doo-dahs wouldn’t pause for a moment over a controversy on whether the Library of Congress should be spending time producing cards(!) in the original language or should speed things up with transliteration and English and catch up 20 years later to the incredible disgorging of the Soviet presses when improved technology permitted. Little did we understand in 1965 what “improved technology,” and a very young Russian immigrant who would invent Google, would do to our profession.

No, I just couldn’t do it. I carefully wiped off the mildew (it’s in pristine condition otherwise--none of the pages have loosened the way today’s paperbacks do after one reading), and it will go back on the shelf with all the other unread titles like The Federalist and SoDoku for Dummies. However, I did discard some of my old library school text books like AACR cataloging rules. Not too useful these days, in fact, a bit like reading recipes that call for dollops, swigs and “moderate oven.”

Slip-ups by McCain and Obama

Both candidates made very odd statements last night. First McCain mentioned that the confidence/popularity of Congress was at an all time low--I think he said 9%--lower than the President's. But he's going to restore faith in government if he's elected. Well, three of the four people trying for the new administration are Senators. If you know how to fix it, why didn't McCain, or Obama, or Biden do something?

Then Obama was asked about his plan to require (insist, suggest, encourage--he's vague on this) government service for all young people. But then he mentioned how hard the young people are working on his campaign. They are volunteers I assume, and truly committed. So if people really care, they do volunteer, so why more government funding for what's already available through the private sector? It's just another huge bureaucracy with political strings.

Friday Family Photo--Latin Class Doodles

When my husband left for exercise class this morning I had strict instructions to start cleaning off the bookshelves in his office. He had found mold on a number of the books, so he's in high gear today. I started with my sophomore Latin book and got no further. I found a band assembly program and just had to scan it and put it on my class blog (and also since I have a new computer the scanner is acting up, so that took about 30 minutes to figure out).

So when he got home, he asked how much I'd done. "I stopped after one book," I explained. "It was just too interesting." "You can't do that! How are we ever going to get done if you look at every book?" Obviously, the man never had to withdraw thousands of books from a library collection--it's like drowning puppies for a librarian.

I looked up cleaning mildewed books on google, and it seems I need some alcohol and some sunlight, or if the book is really valuable, I can put it in the freezer. Several people who had never tried it suggested 10 seconds in the microwave, but I'm already sneezing. I remember that freezer trick from my working days. Our library roof leaked spring and fall and also winter when the ice thawed (bad roof drain), so the preservation office dubbed its freezer, "The Veternary Memorial Freezer."


Latin class doodles. I think my girlfriend Tina drew Gene Autry to go with my horse and a note about "wrigglies spearment gum". We sat together and giggled a lot. She's now a great-grandmother! Still giggles.
Also written on the back cover of the lst year Latin book, "Living with the Romans":

Latin is a language
as dead as it can be.
First it killed the Romans
and now it's killing me.

Will ya won't ya can't cha
Don't ya wanta
Won't your mother let cha
Oh go on you said you would
Won't cha Huh?

They were not in my handwriting, so I flipped to the front to see if it was a used book. This book had been used by my two sisters in 1951 and 1952.

Shame on you, Charlie

The not-so-subtle sexism and hostility in Charlie's opening question for Sarah Palin about experience and hubris would have never been asked of Barack Obama, or any man running for public office. Fortunately, she was a lady as well as an experienced leader, and she "didn't blink." Ladies, we have a long way to go--vote McCain-Palin.

Mr. Gibson, she answered you the first time, you didn't like the answer, and then you just looked silly.

GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?

PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.

GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.

PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.

GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.

PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself. More here