The science of music

There's an interesting display on the science of music at the Science and Engineering Library at the Ohio State University. Also links to some books (including e-books) you might enjoy. I had no idea. . . I'm practically next door and I probably won't make the trip over, but you can see a lot from the web site.

There's a link to History of the 8-track. I think I saw a box of these in the basement yesterday when I was looking for the box of Christmas dishes. We used to have a HUGE collection because my father-in-law (the Indiana one) worked for RCA. I can still remember him saying that the cassette would never have the good sound quality of the 8-track. When it comes to technology, never say never. Our first 8-track player was in our 1968 (?) Olds Delta, 4-door, dark forest green. We had two baby seats in the back and still could have had room for the grandparents, all 6 of them.

Porta-potties and prostitutes

Some of the $160 million inauguration obamafest money could have gone for more toilets--I heard this morning that 5,000 have been put in place. That won't even begin to accomodate the women's line--women take about 5 minutes longer than men, and imagine the struggle with all the winter layers! Then there's the homeless. I understand they are shipping them to shelters outside the view. That's liberals. Ask for their vote, but do a street sweep. Obama could have put each homeless person up for a few nights in a nice hotel and 3 hots for only a few million, and he never would have missed it. And they are telling the prostitutes to get lost too.

The fire in Grandview Heights

Yesterday a terrible fire raged through the business district of Grandview Heights, Ohio, for several hours as firefighters from several cities battled the freezing temperatures and aging buildings with nooks, crannies and shared attic and hallways where the flames could hide. One of the artists we've featured several times in our Visual Arts Ministry at UALC is local photographer Joe Wagenhals. Take a look at his slides of the fire.

Story in the Columbus Dispatch.

Good news for coffee drinkers

Not only are we happier, but we're less likely to develop dementia.

"Midlife Coffee and Tea Drinking and the Risk of Late-Life Dementia: A Population-based CAIDE Study." Marjo H. Eskelinen, Tiia Ngandu, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Hilkka Soininen, Miia Kivipelto. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Vol 16, No 1, January 2009 (in press). Link.

Abstract: Caffeine stimulates central nervous system on a short term. However, the long-term impact of caffeine on cognition remains unclear. We aimed to study the association between coffee and/or tea consumption at midlife and dementia/Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in late-life. Participants of the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) study were randomly selected from the survivors of a population-based cohorts previously surveyed within the North Karelia Project and the FINMONICA study in 1972, 1977, 1982 or 1987 (midlife visit). After an average follow-up of 21 years, 1409 individuals (71%) aged 65 to 79 completed the re-examination in 1998. A total of 61 cases were identified as demented (48 with AD). Coffee drinkers at midlife had lower risk of dementia and AD later in life compared with those drinking no or only little coffee adjusted for demographic, lifestyle and vascular factors, apolipoprotein E ε4 allele and depressive symptoms. The lowest risk (65% decreased) was found in people who drank 3-5 cups per day. Tea drinking was relatively uncommon and was not associated with dementia/AD. Coffee drinking at midlife is associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD later in life. This finding might open possibilities for prevention of dementia/AD.

But an even better reason to drink coffee is that it is good for the environment! "It is projected that 340 million gallons of biodiesel can be produced from the waste coffee grounds around the world. The coffee grounds after oil extraction are ideal materials for garden fertilizer, feedstock for ethanol, and as fuel pellets." Link. That clinches it--will probably become law now that you must drink coffee.

Today's new word is LIGNIN

Yes, another one I should have remembered, but didn't. Lignin is an organic bonding material found in the wood fiber of untreated papers. The acidic properties of lignin have a deteriorative effect on paper and photographs. When buying a scrapbook or photo album makes sure they are lignin free.

At How Stuff Works: "Lignin makes wood stiff and trees stand upright. You could say it acts as a glue to bind the cellulose fibers together. It is a polymer, a substance that is formed by the joining of simpler molecules into giant molecules that act differently than the smaller molecules did. Dr. Hou-Min Chang, a professor of wood and paper science at N.C. State University in Raleigh, N.C., compares lignin to the concrete used in buildings, with cellulose as the steel frame. Without lignin, Chang says, a tree could only grow to be about 6 feet tall. Lignin also helps protect the wood from pests and other damage. Newsprint, which must be produced as economically as possible, has more lignin in it than finer papers. At the mill, the wood that will be turned into newsprint is ground up, lignin and all." That's why old newspapers turn yellow very quickly.

About 30 years ago I moved these photos of my 12 year old classmates from a scrapbook that was crumbling to a cheap photo album, and now it's starting to go. Fortunately, black and white photos are a lot more permanent than color.

Click to enlarge

The 70s called--they want your hair back

Ambush makeover web site from the Today Show is a lot of fun to browse. I wonder if these women wear their grandmother's kerchiefs or roll out of bed without combing or make-up in order to get picked. I've never seen so many frumps--well, actually I have.

This woman wants to look good for her 11th wedding anniversary--says her husband has never seen her dressed up!

An interview

These questions came from Pauline at
Writing down the words.




1. If you had $1,000,000, what would you do with it?

Because of the economy, I think I’d go for venture capital and invest in a bright, young, hard working entrepreneur or two. This is the future of our country--small businesses create a lot of jobs. I’ve been quite discouraged over the years seeing what happens to endowments to churches and colleges. After the donor or family die off, the recipients start using it for whatever, no matter how careful the instructions. And that may not be all bad--you can’t control your good works from the grave!

2. What have you learned from your children? What do you think they've learned from you?

I learned children pop out of the womb fully made and ready to go with intelligence, personality, abilities, appearance, voice, body language, gifts and foibles already in place. B. C. (before children) I was a big believer that environment matters most. No longer. We are what we are. I’m awfully thankful to God for their presence in my life, and that they live right here in Columbus. They will often say something like, "My parents taught me. . ." or "I get that from Mom. . ." and occasionally they'll mention a grandparent as an influence, but frankly, I don't see a lot of resemblance. But how nice that they think so. My daughter is better about writing thank you notes than I am--she seems to remember when I held them hostage until the note to grandma was written. "Meanest mother in town," then.

3. What living famous person would you most like to have as a dinner guest, and why? What would you serve?

I would love to have Laura Bush at my dinner table--she could bring George if he’s free from speaking engagements. She’s a former librarian who never wanted the spot light (like many of us in that field) but learned the ropes in order to follow her husband. George is a recovering alcoholic and so that takes a special person to live with that--not too wimpy or controlling--because don’t we always think we know best--especially those of us who got the librarian genes? I'd serve warmed over politics with roast journalists on the side.

4. If you could re-do one thing in your life, what would it be?

Do-overs are hard to imagine because you might mess up something down the road, however, I don’t think this idea would. I took chemistry in college, and this past summer I took a class in geology, and found it really interesting, so I think for a non-scientist science requirement, that might have been interesting. Of course, then I wouldn’t have dated the chemistry lab assistant, but that didn’t go anywhere any way, so I doubt that would have messed up my future. Of course, I might have flirted with someone in geology class. . . and not transferred to the University of Illinois where I met my husband.

5. What are you most looking forward to when you are able to retire?

I’ve been retired since October 2000. I was quite concerned about it, so I looked ahead and did some planning. I even wrote a story about (My lost suitcase) and distributed it. I loved my job, it offered me great opportunities to publish, travel, and working with fascinating topics and people (and animals). But I haven’t missed it at all. I’ve done most of the things on my list to try except in-line skating and bird watching (although I sit on my deck and watch them). Blogging I didn’t know about (started in October 2003), but writing was on my list, so that worked out nicely.

* * *
Now, if you’d like to answer interview questions of my own devising:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick what they will be or I‘ll send this one.)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Seen at . . .

Vital Signs Blog Between the Rollover Republicans (I'll scratch your back, you rub my tummy) and the sycophant, slobbering journalists, this is a lovefest the likes of which we'll never see again.

Looking for the artists

The first piece I bought 50 years ago at Manchester College from an artist named Alison Adams. The odd discoloring was caused by sticking it in the corner of a mirror for about 40 years. The second piece is a ceramic bowl by an artist named Wilks and I'm guessing from the colors it is about 30 years old and was probably purchased in Columbus, possibly at an art fair. Anyone have information?

Just give him a chance!

Why? He's already gone back on most of his campaign promises and hired all the old Clinton retreads--not even the left can trust him, let alone the right. (OK, so it's a bit of hyperbole--he hasn't broken ALL 510 campaign promises.) And spend? Oh my goodness! His $150 million inaugural makes Bush and Clinton look like pikers! Where, oh where, are all those progressive / liberal / marxist pundits and bloggers of 2004-2005 who moaned and groaned about Bush's extravagance? And tax us? Whew! Out the wazoo! And the arrogance. Strutting around and giving orders like he was the president the last two months. Didn't grandma teach him manners? Don't they have guidebooks for guys on a steep learning curve? Now he's stroking and snuggling up to a tax crook who doesn't know how to file quarterly the way the rest of us with self-employment income are required to do? And he's the guy who supposedly knows how to turn the economy around!! Perhaps we follow suit and see if President Obama gives us a job. Usually presidents wait 100 days before it's obvious they are clueless. So why wait? Why give him a chance when by Jan. 20 he will have already used up 77 days proving his worth?

"Before President Bush took office, the federal government took in $2 trillion in revenue in 2000. As Bush leaves office, the federal government is expected to take in $2.4 trillion in 2009. In other words, after eight years under President Bush, the federal government is taking in $400 billion more a year in revenue. So why did Congressional Budget Office project a $1.4 trillion deficit for the 2009 budget? Massive spending increases. In 2000, the federal government spent just $1.8 trillion. Now the CBO estimates that the feds will spend almost double that, $3.5 trillion, in 2009 . Oh, and by the way, these figures do not include the nearly $1 trillion in new deficit spending that President-elect Barack Obama wants to throw at our struggling economy." Heritage Foundation, Morning Bell, January 16, 2009

". . . if you are one of the people who is sitting back waiting for Obama to ride in and clean up the mess his party has helped to create, quit holding your breath. You might as well exhale...it will be business as usual. You know, throw some money here and throw some money there. Blow some smoke and blame the other party while perpetuating the problem. After all, our legislators created a crisis and want you to think we need them to resolve it. What we need is for them to go home, leave our taxes alone and let us upright the economy. Whoever heard that the wise thing to do when you are in debt is to go further into debt? The more money they blow the longer and more expensive the recovery! Obama has already expressed that this crisis will take years to resolve thus implying that we will probably need him and his party for another term or longer. They can milk the Bush blame game forever." Murray Sez

Friday Fridge Soup

Nothing like a wind chill of minus 25 to make you open the refrigerator door and look for soup fixins.

a pint more or less of chicken broth made last week
two wilted carrots of indeterminant age
one medium size onion, chopped
two tired potatoes, sprouting
a half jar of salsa, medium hot, left from a Sunday football game
one small can of vegetable juice
one lonesome turkey bratwurst, sliced, cooked lightly in microwave, drained
all the celery hearts (forgotten about when I bought a fresh bunch) chopped
salt and pepper to taste
And nothing like the flash of a camera to let you see all the spots on the wallpaper. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything I liked as well as this. Goes with the cabinets and counters. But I then did try a little of that magic eraser, and found it removed a lot.

Faith Hope Love Ministry of Anne and David Wan

Because of the cold, my husband decided it was best to cancel the exercise class today, so we were trying to find phone numbers. There are a few Chinese women who attend, so I was looking at Anne and David's Christmas letter to see if I could find a phone listing, and instead discovered their ministry called Faith Hope Love, which started as a small gathering of Christians in their home and is now a ministry. Check it out here.



Anne and her daughter Priscilla travelled to Europe the summer of 2008 with an evangelism team and visited seven countries--Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, German, Luxembourg and Holland. They saw many miracles of physical and spiritual healing. Anne was a translator and Priscilla was a worship leader. Here's the video which I found on their web site.



I also found this in their photo file of a family trip to Taiwan, and I think is our O-H-I-O Buckeye cheer.

Thursday Thirteen--13 reminders

In the previous entry I reported on supplements C & E not helping much. What to do? Here's my thirteen reminders on healthy living--from years of observation, and several previous blogs.

1. Choose your parents and ancestors wisely.
   
2. Eat all the colors, the darker the better.
   
3. Learn to prepare your own food--it's cheaper and healthier than eating out frequently or buying processed. Lots of wonderful root crops; and frozen will be better than that stuff that sits in the back of the frig for 2 weeks, which may have been old when you bought it. Don't bother with those search and destroy missions; the human race got this far without infomercials and expensive eating programs.
   
4. Avoid high calorie, sugary or salty snacks and desserts. They just make you more hungry; but also, don't deprive yourself completely or you'll binge. Chocolate in moderation is good for you. I hope they don't reverse that research.
   
5. Don't smoke at all; not for any reason, no, no, no, not any weed. Nicotine is never good for you, gives you wrinkles, yellow teeth, bad breath, puts you at risk for all sorts of diseases, and you smell bad. Plus it costs hundreds a year. That third hand smoke danger stuff is an urban legend, however. Based on nothing but personal opinion survey. No studies--zip, nada, zilch. If you get too hyper, you'll just give yourself an ulcer.
   
6. Don't have more than a few alcoholic drinks a week; red wine may even be good for you--even more so with a little chocolate. But grape juice is good, too. I cooked up a bunch of grapes getting a little old along with some fresh pineapple starting to turn and a tired apple. Ran it all through the blender, and my! that was tasty.
   
7. Get regular exercise. I know, I know. I hate it too. But it's good for you. Especially the bones. It will also help your balance. Falls are dangerous. You don't want to go to the hospital or nursing home for any reason--bad germs there. Plus it sets you up for pneumonia.
   
8. Wash your hands often. Keep a little bottle of the alcohol rub around for emergencies.
   
9. Brush your teeth.
   
10. Floss. Protect your gums. You can really get bad stuff from decay around your gums. I hate to floss. And I had gingivitis in my 30s, so I should know better. But I do have all my teeth--even my wisdom teeth. That helps me write 11 blogs.
    
11. Protect your ears. Oh, I hate to see these kids blasting away their hearing hour by hour with ear buds and i-pods. Hearing is so precious. My grandmother was blind, and you know what she said? Hearing loss is worse than sight loss because it interferes with communication. I can't stand it when I see parents taking their helpless infants and toddlers into the loud, clangy bangy church service (called x-alt at our church) with the drums and rock music. It's child abuse in my opinion. If my ears are too tender for that CCM noise, think what theirs must be!
    
12. Choose solid, stable, supportive shoes. Oh you foolish girls, trying to look like you have 5 more inches of leg by wearing stiletto, expensive pumps with pointy toes. I like a little stacked heel just because it's comfortable, but you're asking for sprained ankles and strained backs. You'll have corns, bunions and arch cramps for sure.
    
13. Forgive. Don't carry around grudges. How long ago did she say that nasty thing? 20 years? Bad thoughts pull down your face and cause you to get less sleep, which give you bags under your eyes.

The Old Thursday Thirteen is gone; here's the new site. http://thursday-13.com/

Vitamins E and C in preventing cancer in men

Of course, the next study could say something different, but the one published in the January 7 issue of JAMA suggests nutritional supplements E and C (8 year study, 14,641 men) do not reduce the risk of prostate or total cancer. The only reassuring thing in the study was they don't do any harm. The multivitamin study hasn't been published yet.

Results: During a mean follow-up of 8.0 years, there were 1008 confirmed incident cases of prostate cancer and 1943 total cancers. Compared with placebo, vitamin E had no effect on the incidence of prostate cancer (active and placebo vitamin E groups, 9.1 and 9.5 events per 1000 person-years; hazard ratio [HR], 0.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-1.09; P = .58) or total cancer (active and placebo vitamin E groups, 17.8 and 17.3 cases per 1000 person-years; HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.95-1.13; P = .41). There was also no significant effect of vitamin C on total cancer (active and placebo vitamin C groups, 17.6 and 17.5 events per 1000 person-years; HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.92-1.10; P = .86) or prostate cancer (active and placebo vitamin C groups, 9.4 and 9.2 cases per 1000 person-years; HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.90-1.15; P = .80). Neither vitamin E nor vitamin C had a significant effect on colorectal, lung, or other site-specific cancers. Adjustment for adherence and exclusion of the first 4 or 6 years of follow-up did not alter the results. Stratification by various cancer risk factors demonstrated no significant modification of the effect of vitamin E on prostate cancer risk or either agent on total cancer risk.

Conclusions: In this large, long-term trial of male physicians, neither vitamin E nor C supplementation reduced the risk of prostate or total cancer. These data provide no support for the use of these supplements for the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men.

The only beneficiaries seem to be the companies that produce and market nutritionals. And although there are no published negative affects, think about all those supplements being passed through to the sewage treatment plants--is there anyway to get that stuff out of the water? We get so worried about what the animals are passing through to the ground water, what about us? I looked at a few articles about this, but didn't see anything worth linking to--sort of hard to find the right descriptors or tags.

Robert Eric McFadden, Scum Strickland Staffer

A former member of Governor Strickland’s staff, Robert McFadden, 46, Dublin, Ohio, who headed his Faith Based Initiatives program until October 2007 has been arrested as one of the main organizers of a Columbus area prostitution ring. A local TV station, NBC4 reports: “Police said McFadden was involved in Columbus prostitution for about six years and was also widely known in Democratic politics and Catholic politics as the leader of Central Ohio’s Catholics for Clinton during the last primary election.”

The Columbus Dispatch reports: “The charges include compelling prostitution involving a minor, promoting prostitution and pandering. He is being held in the Franklin County jail pending an appearance in Municipal Court this morning. Police said they have seized a computer and two vehicles. One was his wife's car, which detectives said was the setting for photos of the 17-year-old girl that McFadden then posted online.”

And the Dayton Daily News: "McFadden has been involved in Democratic politics, working for Catholics for Kerry in 2004, Catholic Alliance for the Common Good in 2006, and Sen. Hillary Clinton's primary bid last year. Strickland appointed him to head the Office on Faith-based Initiatives, a post McFadden held from February 2007 to October 2007. Dailey said, "He was not a good fit for the role... It was a mutually agreed to decision that the position wasn't working out for him."

Lots of churches and non-profits in Columbus do this faith based initiative grant stuff at the local and federal level to rehab houses, feed and serve the poor. Personally, I think it’s a bad idea. The government gets cheap labor, and the church folk get screwed. When there’s a change in administrations, the programs suffer plus the church has been taking handouts instead of tithes. It's a pact with the devil--don't preach the gospel and we'll give you money. Wonder how much he’s tainted these programs? Let's hope some observant Christians reported to Strickland--You don't become a crook over night. They leave crumbs to follow. What better place for the fox to hide than inside the hen house? After he left the governor’s staff he worked for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. What a combination! Didn’t anyone catch on to this guy? Don't they need references?

Strickland is having problems vetting the morals of his staff and fellow Democrats. Marc Dann, Ohio’s attorney general, finally resigned after sexual harrassment and misuse of government funds were revealed. As one wag put it, they couldn’t get him on adultery, or they’d lose half the legislature. After the 2004 loss, Democrats looked around at what worked for Republicans and decided it was religion and family values. Governor Strickland, a former Methodist pastor, seemed a good bet, and he ran on a squeaky clean ethics platform because our former governor didn’t report a free golf game.

The Marc Dann stories in Dispatch, right up through this week.

Update: While checking this story later in google for updates, I see a rabid anti-Republican, anti-Bush web site (got BDS bad) in the original title referred to McFadden as a GOPer. After realizing he was a Democrat, the blogger (I think it was a Huff Puff post) changed GOPer to Pol, not Dem. However, the URL remained the same even though the title changed, so when you see it on Google, it looks like McFadden was a Republican. Porno-pimpers come in all colors and parties and I doubt that his party had a significant role in his scumminess. However, I think it's delightful that the blogger looked at his "faith-based" and assumed the worst, then found out he worked for Kerry, Clinton and Strickland, all loyal Democrats.

Today's new word--SPHYGMOMANOMETER

Perhaps you were calling it "that blood pressure thingy." Sphygmo is from the Greek word for pulse; manos for thin; and metron for measure. I like to read medical journals, so I could fill up a blog with the words I don't recognize, but this one was in a JAMA essay called "Drama in Medicine?" and I have to admit, I didn't get his point, but he did refer to the drama of the otoscope and sphygmomanometer. According to my Tabor's, it's an instrument for determining arterial blood pressure indirectly. I have always had low blood pressure; if the assistant is new, she immediately does it over. But drama?

It's nice to know that doctors too need to brush up on their medical terms, not just retired veterinary librarians. This issue (Jan. 7, 2009) had an article "How to use an article about genetic association," where the hypothetical case is presented that a patient consults with his doctor because Alzheimer's Disease afflicted both his father and grandfather, so he wanted to know about genetic tests. So the doctor consults his texts and finds an array of confusing words, plus more than 1000 publications on genetic associations of AD with mention of hundreds of genes. So there is a full page of a basic glossary--about 25 words before launching into the topic--how to read and understand the genetic literature.

This would never happen to you or me

"LA Times: Though he was a prodigy in the world of economics, Timothy F. Geithner underwent an IRS audit in 2006 and ended up paying back taxes for a mistake in two years' worth of filings. That was embarrassing enough.

But just as he was about to be named to head the Treasury Department, a more awkward fact came to light: Geithner had made the same error in two earlier tax years and failed to fix it even after the audit."

Someone at IRS gave Geithner a pass Go, do not go to jail card, because he was too big to fail. It was the Obama team vetting him that found the error. The IRS let him off the hook. Another too big, too brilliant to fail, Washington insider. When will we learn? We are about to have a tax crook as head of Treasury! Wasn't this Madoff's problem? Wasn't this the story with the Indian Enron guy? [B. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam] A different set of rules for our buddies? The little guy is hounded, charged interest, and fined for even a minor infraction of "forgetting" a tax rule. When our son needed to dip into his IRA a few years back to pay his bills, he carefully (he thought) paid the penalty and taxes due. But something was overlooked (don't ever try to figure out those rules without an accountant or lawyer), and shazam, down came the IRS on him 2 or 3 years later with a fine and interest. He had the additional cost of hiring a lawyer. Geithner gets into trouble, and the IRS doesn't even follow through. Dual set of rules. And then there's the domestic staff issue. Why do all these Democrats get caught by this? Why can't they figure out why that domestic is such a bargain? Wasn't that a Clinton staffing problem too.

And all these Democrats and media talking heads excusing him for being "sloppy," or "overlooking" something. Would they be so kind to a Republican appointee, or even my son?

Three word Wednesday

The words this week are Entwine, Forfeit and Tryst. Here's how it works, and anyone can play. Take the words proved, write something with them, then come back to the 3WW site and leave a link, and visit the others and leave a comment.



She's twisted
And
trysted

He's entwined
And
refined.

Time's up
Payment's overdue,
You forfeit.

Photo from Softies Central

New Year's Resolution Nine

Join Mindy's watercolor class on Tuesday afternoon. This is from a photo of Mindy's husband walking in Ennis Woods--it must have been on one of our few sunny days.

Today's new word is THRENODY

from threnos (thray'-nos), from the base of throeo; wailing -- lamentation. A song of lamentation; a dirge; a funeral song; a lament. There is actually a blog called, "Threnody of an ethereal dreamer" written by an 18 year old Malaysian girl! Now why would her life be one long funeral song?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem, Threnody, after the death of his 5 year old son (excerpt)

O child of Paradise!
Boy who made dear his father's home
In whose deep eyes
Men read the welfare of the times to come;
I am too much bereft;
The world dishonored thou hast left;
O truths and natures costly lie;
O trusted, broken prophecy!
O richest fortune sourly crossed;
Born for the future, to the future lost!

William Shakespeare wrote a poem, Threnos.

Threnos.

Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclosed in cinders lie.
Death is now the phoenix` nest;
And the turtle`s loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity:
`T was not their infirmity,
It was married chastity.
Truth may seem, but cannot be;
Beauty brag, but `t is not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.
To this urn let those repair
That are either true or fair;
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.