An instant ice age

Puts man made global warming and industrial pollution into perspective, doesn't it? We can't hold a candle to natural disasters. From the University of Illinois LAS News:

"A new study provides “incontrovertible evidence” that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, researchers report.

The volcano ejected an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, leaving a crater (now the world’s largest volcanic lake) that is 100 kilometers long and 35 kilometers wide. Ash from the event has been found in India, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and the South China Sea.

The bright ash reflected sunlight off the landscape, and volcanic sulfur aerosols impeded solar radiation for six years, initiating an “Instant Ice Age” that—according to evidence in ice cores taken in Greenland—lasted about 1,800 years.

During this instant ice age, temperatures dropped by as much as 16 degrees centigrade (28 degrees Fahrenheit), says University of Illinois anthropology professor Stanley Ambrose, a principal investigator on the new study with professor Martin A.J. Williams, of the University of Adelaide. Williams, who discovered a layer of Toba ash in central India in 1980, led the research."

Did you know that the warming cooling cycle research on the earth's temperature had been gradually removed from Wikipedia by global warming fundamentalists?

Ouanaminthe is safe

There has been a terrible earthquake in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. We received an e-mail last night from our UALC pastor in Haiti, that Ouanaminthe is safe. They felt it, but there is no damage. "Everyone is fine," he reported. Video of the school and medical clinic we support (the young man with the Akron t-shirt is Frandy, who has spent time with us, and you briefly see Zeke also). My husband goes again in February and is so anxious to get back--he loves the Haitian people.

People of all political stripes in the U.S. need to look hard at Haiti; conservatives for what happens when government provides nothing--not police, not electricity, not safe water, not postal service, not roads; liberals for what happens when aid from non-profits and other countries goes to line the pockets and decorate the palaces of corrupt, mini-Africa type despots and dictators year after year--nothing makes it to the people.

Update: a bus loaded with medical personal and supplies left Ouanaminthe on Friday for Port au Prince with the intention to give away the supplies and find their students who were studying in the area and return with any of their townspeople who wanted to come home. The good news today was they accomplished this and are safe!

Attention Black Caucus

Still wearing your Che t-shirts? Swooning over all those wonderful medical benefits Castro doles out ala Michael Moore's propaganda pics?

"Afro-Cubans officially make up 62 percent of the Cuban population and possibly 70 percent. Afro-Cubans “are experiencing strong and growing instances of racism on the island, with their 25-odd civil rights movements reporting a wide range of discriminatory practices in hiring, promotion and access to Cuba’s socialized medicine and educational system,” according to the U.S. State Department." Read article by Matt Hentoff, Rampant racism in Cuba

HT SafeLibraries

$787 Billion in Stimulus, Zero Jobs “Created or Saved”

Are we surprised? You only have to read the history of the 1930s to know what was going to happen. It's one thing to sprinkle a little fairy dust to get people shopping again; it's another to pour billions into "shovel ready" projects that were already on the books, or into zip codes that don't exist. When does government "create" jobs, except when it increases unemployment and needs to add red tape and bureaucracy to its own rolls?

"The problem with infrastructure spending as stimulus, and really government spending as stimulus, is that Congress does not have a vault of money waiting to be distributed. Every dollar Congress injects into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. No new spending power is created. It is merely redistributed from one group of people to another. Businesses are telling pollsters that among the biggest reasons they are not creating jobs is the prospect of new tax and regulatory burdens. A better solution to reduce unemployment is to simplify and reduce the barriers to business success." The Foundry Blog

And the sluggish economy is definitely linked to the Democrats' obsession with passing health care, no matter what, no matter how, no matter how many businesses go under, no matter when, but right now is what they prefer.

"Congressional "reforms" of the American health delivery system have gone through dozens of versions. The separate bills passed by the House and Senate worry small businesses, in particular. They fear their labor costs will increase because of mandates to spend much more on health insurance for their employees. The resulting reluctance of small businesses to invest, expand and hire harms households as well, because it slows the creation of new jobs and the growth of labor incomes." WSJ Uncertainty and the slow recovery

Got Milk--cutest website

The Got Milk website had me just staring at all the activity and listening to the upbeat, but calming music. Like a horse jogging on a treadmill. A lot of thought and money goes into marketing campaigns. This is so cute, I almost forgot I went there for a recipe. In fact, I had to look a bit, but click on the blender icon on the lower left, and you'll find absolutely wonderful milk drinks that look and sound like what you might get at one of those upscale juice bars at a trendy health/exercise spa.

Take care of your bones. And don't forget Vitamin D!

Monday Memories--The Chemise

The clothing and hair shapes and styles of the late fifties were harbingers of the changes we would see in the early 60s--blousy and bouffant. Especially after the beautiful, young Jackie Kennedy led the way. My mother was a good seamstress, so I wanted something I’d seen in Mademoiselle magazine, and although I don’t have the pattern, the above photo from the April 1958 issue is similar. Also similar is that teenagers regardless of the era are pretty bossy and careless about other’s time commitments, especially their mothers!

April 8, 1958

Dear Family,

[other stuff about my sister Carol and me visiting at Easter]

Mother: If you look on page 102 of the April Mademoiselle I think you'll find a good idea for the chemise pattern. I still need an outfit I can wear for school, but that combination would be darling for good.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

April 17, 1958

Dear Ones,

I'm still waiting for my new sheath and chemise.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

April 21, 1958

Dear Ones,

I received my package and really went wild. I love the yellow chemise. That material is wonderful for spring skirts. Mom, could you get some more for 2 or 3 straight skirts--brown or green?

In less than 2 weeks, Mom found the magazine, the style, the fabric, made it and shipped it to my college in Indiana. And before she could catch her breath, I was asking for more!

This was excerpted from my sewing blog, Memory Patterns, with stories of crafts, quilts, doll clothes, formals, housecoats, aprons, etc. And I wasn't even a good seamstress!

Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster

I started to read the bizarre account in New York Magazine of John Edwards and his wife, and what was really going on during the last presidential campaign, but finally just had to stop. Whether it is gossip, sleaze or half-truths, it was too sick. You can almost see how a candidate can become a megalomaniac, and his wife might be a shrew-- "abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending, crazywoman"--considering what she'd been through (although it appears she was that way before), but I kept wondering, "Why do the staff put up with it? Why would they want people like this running a hot dog stand, let alone our country?" So I gave up, not on the Edwards, who seem to deserve each other, but on their campaign staff. It would seem megalomania is contagious.

Harry Reid shouldn't resign

That was a stupid remark he made about Obama--about him being light skinned and talking white to be acceptable to whites (or was that talking black to be acceptable to blacks--he did both, you know). He told the truth, and many people black and white have said essentially the same thing especially before he became the clear front runner. No, kick old Harry out for being stupid, for being a traitor when speaking against the war saying the war was lost and giving aid to the enemy, for the illegal cornhusker bribe--but I don't think he's a racist. Is there a double standard? Absolutely. They kicked Trent Lott's butt for a lot less, and remember the macaca guy--no one even knew what that was so how could it be racist? Harry's just a man of his era--he thinks African Americans are "Negroes" and useful for political purposes as long as they don't leave the Democratic plantation or cause too much trouble. This is just one more crisis for Rahm Emanuel to manage.

Update on why Reid should resign for being a crook, not a racist: "While you passed out Christmas gifts to loved ones, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid passed out Christmas bonuses via the passing of the Senate health care bill -- what I call perpetual pork, gifts that keep on giving, unlike those familiar single hits at the public trough. He initiated a new frontier in pork barrel politics. His corrupt and creative diversions included giving out Medicaid and Medicare credits like another round of pork projects. . . And all the costs haven't even been calculated yet because the bribery isn't over. The House and Senate leaders will hold private negotiations this month to merge the Senate's $871 billion health care bill and the House's $1 trillion bill." Read more from Chuck Norris, If the Price is Right HT Bill L.

Maybe Obama should try some Reagonomics

Lower taxes, smaller government. After dawdling for a year over crises that don't exist, Obama now says he's concerned about jobs. That should have been his number one priority last January, instead he frittered away his popularity going after a notch in his history belt and a bee in his socialist bonnet.

Grace--pass it on

We don't get a lot of snow, but it can close schools and events when we do. This photo is from the OSU Image of the Day page, by B. Tran, of the "Oval," and you can see classes were not closed out by 4" of snow. But Thursday and Friday last week the radio announcements were full of closings.

On Thursday our Lytham Road UALC campus closed at 3 p.m. to allow staff to get an early start. Buff Delcamp, our Celebration Service leader, after cleaning off his own car decided to go over to the school (near our church) where his wife works and clean off her car too--and then a God moment hit him--why not clean off everyone's car? So he did. Spreading a little love and grace. The teachers and staff were surprised and pleased when they made their way to the parking lot and found their windshields, lights and mirrors were ready to go!

One teacher e-mailed his wife and said she was now looking for a way to pass it on.

The attack on Westergaard cows media and academics

"The attack on [Kurt] Westergaard is a textbook application of terror. Even the weapons chosen — an axe for example — contributed to instilling fear. Although Westergaard himself escaped unharmed, every European writer knows that the next victim may not be so lucky. And that next writer may be himself. The Somali also demonstrated the second object lesson of terrorist pedagogy. They reminded the world that they never forget. Salman Rushdie is still on the run. Westergaard will have to be guarded until the day that he dies. There is no statute of limitations on al-Qaeda’s anger. Blasphemy is forever.

And it works. By slow degrees the intellectuals are being cowed into silence. . ." Belmont club

Ralph Nader--Car and Driver Interview

When you buy a new car, after you do the test drive you do a lot of sitting around in offices with plastic plants or showroom floors with shiny monster SUVs while they pile up the papers you need to sign, even when you pay cash the way we did in November when we bought our 2010 Town and Country. I can't just SIT. I have to be reading or writing, so I did both, and took notes on the Car and Driver interview with Ralph Nader in the September 2009 issue. Maybe you're too young to remember, but Ralph Nader was the consumer crank of my generation who got all the press in the 1960s and 70s. Didn't hurt that he was Hollywood handsome, very photogenic and quirky--he actually lived the lifestyle he recommended for others, as I recall. On auto safety, he says history has redeemed him, and the critics in the government, industry and the media now look like fools. Even the horse chariots in Roman times had a padded dash, he said.

"Everything we’ve gotten so far, we should have gotten years ago. And everything we don’t have, we should have gotten years ago. The first generation of auto safety devices are in play now—you know, seatbelts, airbags, padded dash panels, collapsible steering columns, side protection, head restraints, things like that—but there’s a second generation out there. Part of it is made up of upgrading existing standards that came out in 1968 or so, because they get obsolete. So we need to take that first generation and upgrade them—better collapsible steering columns, stronger side protection, airbags that protect you at higher speeds. Then there’s the second generation, of which most people are not aware, like collision-avoidance systems, much more effective vehicle dynamics in terms of handling and braking—all these should have been phased in back in the 1980s and 1990s. All in all, though, over a million lives have been saved."

When asked what he could have done differently, he responded,

"Well, I’d like to have had a different set of presidents."

But he also tosses in the unions with the automakers as blame worthy, and you can look at the current bailouts and payoffs for health care boondoggles and bennies right up to today to see that he is correct.

"Fuel efficiency, that was the real disaster. Anybody could have seen this coming, and the UAW and GM marched up on Capitol Hill and crushed, year after year, any attempt at fuel-efficiency legislation. And that’s why GM went bankrupt. They did it to themselves."

Then he closes with a quote (paraphrased I assume) from Ross Perot.

" He was talking to some senior GM executives in 1986, and he said here’s a company that doesn’t like its dealers, doesn’t like its workers, doesn’t like its customers—you people don’t even like each other!"

That said--and I do believe auto safety is important--it's not more so than some common sense. Lowering the speed limit to 55 in the 1970s not only saved thousands of lives and billions of gallons of fuel, it made driving far more pleasant and allowed much smoother, more pleasant trips. The decade following 1995 when the speed limits went back up (had been 55 mph), studies show an additional 12,500 people died and about 36,500 injured through 2006, even though overall deaths are going down due to safer cars, more seat belt use, and alcohol crack downs. And health care costs? Gracious, even lives that are saved through safety features, if those people are in an accident the costs to the person, the insurance companies, their investors, the court system in litigation and the state and federal tax system while people are out of work, are billions. Better to get the driver and passengers to their location at "fifty five and alive," but no one wants that any more. The death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan of our brightest and best? Not high compared to our highways. We lose 5,000+ teen-agers (16-20) a year on the highways just because we won't raise the legal driving age from 16 to 18! Their passengers are in danger, too--nearly 5,000 teen passengers were killed in 2006.

Where are our priorities! I can only conclude there is no political advantage to either party or lobbyists or the free market or wing-nuts at either end of the political spectrum to save lives through common sense and raising the legal age to drive.

Get in line. . . Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, New York. . .

"Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for $6.9 billion in federal funds in his state-budget proposal Friday and warned that state health and welfare programs would be threatened without the emergency help." Link at WSJ

Why are U.S. medical costs high?

Open the newspaper. I've got the Columbus Dispatch in front of me.

1. Cordray opposes Medicaid break for Nebraska. The Cornhusker Kickback made headlines, but this kind of bribery is rampant in all legislation--sometimes it goes to big Pharma, sometimes to the states.

2. Latex paint will no longer be accepted by SWACO (toxic cleanup). I'm sure there were research grants to determine if latex paint leaches into the ground water system, but I'm also sure in 10 years some green non-profit will be filing a lawsuit and we tax payers will be paying to clean it up.

3. Ratus Norvegicus (brown rat) control program has been cut, despite an increase in the income-tax rate to handle these problems. It's below 2%, so no action is needed. Listen up OSU students--clean up your own fast food trash and beer bottles you leave in the streets and alleys. Don't let the rats return to your neighborhood!

4. Blake Haxton's parents are suing for medical negligance the very doctors and hospital who saved their son's life after he developed flesh eating bacteria (not at the hospital) and had to have his legs amputated with less than a 20% chance to live. He's now attending college.

5. An auto accident kills one, injures two, destroys 3 autos. A man stops to help an 18 year old in a ditch and is hit by another driver who lost control and hit them both.

6. Two owners of dogs are sued under dog bite statute. No pictures of a child's face torn apart by a dog and the resulting surgeries, but you can find them on the web. Don't ever, ever say, "Oh, he won't bite." All dogs will bite, given a reason, some of which only they know.

7. EPA grant to make school buses in Olentangy School District more "environmentally friendly." Retrofitted to reduce fine particulate emissions.

8. Central Ohio Technical College is expanding into Pataskala (already has locations in Columbus, Mt. Vernon, Newark and Coshocton)--nursing, lab tech, public safety programs. Health care is a growth industry. Purchased a former banquet hall and remodeled it.

Then turn the page and find. . .

9. A man shot in an SUV (why the auto make is significant, I don't know--I think because SUVs aren't "green" and therefore they contribute to gunshot wounds) but he was declared dead at the hospital.

10. Red Cross Clinics taking blood and H1N1 clinics dispensing vaccines. I've seen the cost figures for UK and Canada--can't find them for the U.S. Frankly, I think vaccines are worth the cost of development and marketing, but this one was definitely confusing and. . . botched. People have become so distrustful there will probably be millions of doses and billions of dollars lost.

11. Joe Montgomery, former OSU running back, is suing OSU over false information in his medical records while he was a player which is now cutting into his disability claim. Ah, more lawyers involved in our "health care" and nary a senator to take a peek.

And that was just one day, and I didn't even read the entire paper--like the obituaries!

Obama Tries to Turn Focus to Jobs, if Other Events Allow

IF OTHER EVENTS ALLOW? (Headline in NYT)

There was zero urgency to tackle health care; zero urgency to raise our taxes with cap and trade; zero urgency to insult the Cambridge police department; zero need to appoint all those czars and tax cheats who were clueless; zero, zero, zero. That's his score for his first year, not a B+ as he thinks. He should have tackled the economy as his number one priority. He was a Senator in a Democratic controlled Congress when unemployment started to rise a bit. It has soared on his watch with his absolutely ineffective "stimulus" and his threats to "fundamentally transform" our country while he's dawdled over the troop surge, played golf more than any other president in recent history, and refused to see terrorism as a necessary war we need to fight with determination and leadership.

"Anita Dunn [the gal who admires Mao so much], until recently Mr. Obama’s communications director, said that when the health care bill was completed, “that will give the administration more space to really communicate to the American people about those things that have been done and that the president continues to push forward on to make the economy work for middle-class families.”"

When Rush Limbaugh announced that he hoped Obama failed, he meant fail in his plan to destroy our economy. However, it looks like he has succeeded in proving Rush wrong--which is hard to do. His most egregious and grandiose plan is working!

Watching the Elvis birthday tribute

Last night I watched/listened to about an hour of the Elvis documentary, Elvis on Tour, on the Turner Classic Movies network which had a marathon and decided that I'd been quite influenced by our local Elvis impersonator, Mike Albert, the Big-E who sings often at Lakeside. By the time Elvis died at 42, I was long past listening to him, and only rarely saw him on TV. But Mike does a great show--the entry, the costumes, the back-up singers, water, scarves, the works, including a great voice--and I've finally learned to like Elvis.

This is from King Creole, HT Invincible Armor. I don't think I've ever seen this one at Lakeside. What's with the swishy limp wrists?



JD Sumner of the Stamps singing "Elvis has Left the Building."

Today's New Word--BRFSS

There are websites devoted to acronyms, but here's one that affects you whether or not you know what it means. "The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a state-based system of health surveys that collects information on health risk behaviors, preventive health practices, and health care access primarily related to chronic disease and injury. For many states, the BRFSS is the only available source of timely, accurate data on health-related behaviors. Established by the CDC in 1984, more than 350,000 adults are interviewed each year, making the BRFSS the largest telephone health survey in the world. [If you don't have a land line, are you in the game? I'm sure buried in the code book are corrections for that or they'd lose the younger population.] Here's why you should know what it is: States use BRFSS data to identify emerging health problems, establish and track health objectives, and develop and evaluate public health policies and programs. Many states also use BRFSS data to support health-related legislative efforts.

Here's the context. In the December 16 issue of JAMA there was an article about perceived insufficient rest or sleep. I like this section of JAMA because 1) I can usually understand a MMWR report, and 2) if I can't there is a good editorial explanation. This one's a bit tricky--the old double negative. "Insufficient sleep" means "not enough sleep" to me, but the wording is "no days of insufficient sleep or rest." So my brain has to stop and think "no no sleep days." But. . . here's what was interesting.

"Retired persons (43.8%) were most likely to report no days of insufficient rest or sleep in comparison with adults reporting other types of employment status (P = .003). Those with less than a high school diploma or general education development certificate (GED) (37.9%) also were more likely to report no days of insufficient rest or sleep in comparison with those with a high school diploma or GED (33.8%) or with some college or college degree (28.0%). Finally, reports of no days of insufficient rest or sleep were similar among adults of varying marital status, although never married adults (31.6%) were more likely to report no days than members of an unmarried couple (28.4%; P = .005)."

Almost everyone my age that I've ever talked to complains about not sleeping as well as she or he did when younger. But BRFSS data says that's not how it's reported--assuming I'm reading that double negative correctly. Also, could there be a trifecta here? It looks like elderly, less educated old maids sleep better than the rest of us. Is that how you read it?

Friday Family Photo--the Deardorff Sisters

It wasn't too long ago, just yesterday as a matter of fact*, that I found out what happened to Uncle Cornelius' grand daughters, Bessie, Rhea and Carrie. They are the 3 young ladies with X's above their heads in the back row of this photograph. Uncle was the older brother of my Great Grandfather, David. They were born in Adams County, Pennsylvania. David started out for California when he was about 20 to prospect for gold, but settled down to farm instead in Lee County, Illinois, after working in Rockford as a carpenter for awhile. His family was German Baptist Brethren (now Church of the Brethren), and there were a number of that group in the Franklin Grove/Ashton area. For awhile, Cornelius also lived in Lee County. One of Cornelius' daughters married a Sarchett, the other a Deardorff. At some point, the Deardorffs moved to California, and people sitting on my branch of the family tree back in Illinois and Iowa didn't know what became of that branch.

Yesterday I received a packet of information from a 2nd cousin once removed in Iowa from a third cousin once removed in Virginia. She has written an article for a Chinese American history journal, but when I checked the web, I see she'd also added something to the web about the Berean Bible School in Los Angeles, which is where I found this photo. This school was modeled after the Bethany Bible School in Chicago of which my grandfather was a trustee. Both of these schools had very active missions among the Chinese in their respective cities.

*I actually learned about this family in 2004, but hadn't put all the pieces together and had lost the e-mail of the source.

All this fuss over forgiveness

Brit Hume has come under attack for making a suggestion about Tiger Woods spiritual needs.

"He's said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn your faith—turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.'"

I've seen every imaginable lurid and ridiculous comment about his promiscuity, adultery and disease spreading behavior--even a 12 month calendar featuring his mistresses, but leave it to a Christian offering comfort and help to really upset the left. Story here. Oprah is a much bigger name than Hume and she talks up her faith all the time--that warm, fuzzy, new agey stuff--they don't complain about her, nor do her supporters, fans and sponsors.

HT Helen.

Prayer march in Houston for Life

Planned Parenthood is renovating a former bank in Houston, turning it into a 78,000 square foot facility that will include a surgical wing equipped to provide late-term abortions. There will be a prayer march January 18 headed by Lou Engle, founder of the pro-life group The Call to Conscience to protest this expansion by Planned Parenthood which targets minority groups.

Joining Engle at the prayer march will be Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Religious leaders expected to attend include Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church; Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Star Parker, president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education; and Abby Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic. Story at CNS.