Apple cranberry oatmeal bars

I found a recipe card on the floor yesterday; must have fallen out of something.  I didn’t have a few ingredients—like raw sugar and farina, but I like the idea.  So I googled the ingredients I wanted—oatmeal, cranberries and apples, and found this one. I was going to cut up an apple, and I probably will, but cook it a few minutes to make chunky applesauce. Recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens according the the blog author.http://cookingthisandthat.blogspot.com/2009/01/apple-cranberry-oatmeal-bars.html

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking or old fashioned rolled oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
Filling:
1 cup (chunky or smooth) applesauce
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking soda. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture.
Press the remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 11 x 7 baking dish. Make sure you press firmly into the pan - you are making a crust.
Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl. Spread over crumb mixture in baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup crumb mixture.
Bake 30-35 minutes, until top is golden and filling is set. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Friday Family Photo—Dora Hsiung

Here is an old photo of my college roommate, Dora Hsiung, and me 30 years after we met in 1958 at the University of Illinois. I was in Boston for a Medical Library Association conference and we went to the Boston Museum of Art.

Here is a video of Dora demonstrating her fiber art.  I’ve saved all of her Christmas cards and have framed some in a grouping.

http://www.newtv.org/video/inside-the-artist-s-studio/inside-the-artists-studio-fiber-artist-dora-hsiung/

Creation and Life

I’ve always cared about and loved God’s physical world--and wondered about the events and choices that moved lives and nations. As a 5 year old I wondered why my grandmother was blind and my uncle was killed in the war. And I still don’t know, but I know God does. And until the past two decades or so, I thought caring was enough, because caring made me a “good” person. Caring made me better than people who didn’t care as much as I do. Caring elevated me above the hoi polloi, the commoners, the great unwashed who don’t believe as I do.

In brief moments of extreme self-love, I even imagined I was more merciful and caring than God because I knew better how life should be ordered and what made sense and what didn’t! At this age I know caring does nothing, so I will speak out when I am able to promote God‘s Creation and Life. You can argue about candidates or fossil fuel with me, both were put here by God, but you won’t budge me on Creation and Life. (May 11, 2012)

Chris Bradley’s prediction for February

Chris Bradley is our Channel 10 weatherman in Columbus.  On Facebook he said,  FOR WEATHER GEEKS ONLY: The weather pattern has been cold with fast moving Clippers for the last week or so. I see even colder weather for the end of January with subzero temperatures very possible.

But today we are seeing signs of a pattern change that could make for an interesting February. If you like heavy snow.. the change I see happening after the third of February will bring a smile to your face. It appears the Jet Stream will be shift with a trough in the West. I've attached the GFS 500 mb which shows us the wind patterns across the country. This trough allows storms to develop across Texas and Oklahoma and ride up into the Ohio Valley. You heard it here first these are the storms the dump lots of snow. Lets keep an eye on this friends!

Later: I'm calling for temperatures to start falling next Monday with a low in Columbus of 5 Tuesday morning, zero Wednesday morning and 2 Thursday morning. While the low temperatures next week aren't as severe as the first Polar Vortex last week, they could be worse when a second wave of cold air arrives a week later. I have posted the GFS and ECMWF maps which show temperatures by January 27th ranging from 15-20 below. If you experienced problems with your home or car last week... do what you can now to prepare for even colder air later this month!

Bustles have come to stay--1889

An ad in the Ladies Home Journal, March 1889, assured women they needed the bustle:

“If a woman has too large hips, the Bustle relieves them of their protuberance; if she have no hips at all apparently, the Bustle supplies the lack; if she have too large an abdomen, the Bustle gives her symmetry, if she be too tall and thin, the Bustle helps her; if she be too short and broad, the Bustle helps her none the less.” from Magazines in the United States, (Ronald Press, 1949)

Traveling suit worn by Louise Whitfield on April 22, 1887 during the evening of her quiet wedding to Mr. Andrew Carnegie of New York while aboard the steamship Fulda on her way to European honeymoon. Designed for her travels, this practical ensemble consists of skirt with two bodices, extra set of cuffs, collar and front gold embroidered pastron insert of red silk velvet for more formal occasions. Costume Institute at The Met. Found at Pinterest, Becky Morris.

Carnegie became the richest man in the United States, and gave about 90% of his fortune away, much of it to build libraries. He was a poor immigrant—a very interesting person, as was she.

Our free and unbiased press

A NOTE TO WOMEN

“Would you please stop entertaining and sleeping with
these guys? If you are sleeping with a married guy, you are
being used. If you are sleeping with a guy who hasn’t married
you, you are being used. “Living together” is just a fancy term for, “I want to use you for sex until I’m tired of you.”

Please, kick him to the curb and go find a decent man who
accepts you, treats you like an equal, and will give up his life for
you. Anyone else is just a waste of time.

Besides, there is a good chance this loser is going to get you
pregnant. Who is going to be left with the decision about what
to do with the baby? You. Who is the only legally responsible
party? You. Who will bear the brunt of the abortion? You.

You are worth more than that. You deserve to be treated
better, respected more, and protected by someone who is
willing to commit the rest of his life to you. Don’t settle for
anything less.” Abortion: The Ultimate Exploitation of Women. By Brian Fisher, pp. 165-66

Photo from Why you’re better off married.

Black men not telling their ladies the truth

By race, age and risk group, young, black gay and bisexual men (ages 13-29) are the only population in the United States in which new HIV infections increased between 2006 and 2009.

Take a look at this chart of subpopulations.  Notice anything strange?

Although only 2%  of the population, black gay and bisexual men have 61% of the new infections; but black heterosexual women  have more infections (5400) than white heterosexual women (1700)—and although I’m sure there is plenty of cross-racial sex, the majority is within same race relationships. Black men are not telling black women the truth.  If they can’t be honest about their sexuality, why should they expect everyone else to change their views?

The HIV infection rate among African Americans was almost eight times as high as that of whites in 2009, and among African American women it was 15 times higher than among white women.

Also, transgender individuals are heavily affected by HIV. A 2008 review of studies of HIV among male-to-female women found that, on average, 28 percent (from 11% to 78%)  tested positive for HIV. So do these women push up the stats of heterosexual women with HIV?

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/policies/hip.html

The good old days

Thatcher believed in free enterprise—choice, dignity, responsibility, self worth, courage, efficiency and common sense.

Promise zones instead of jobs?

Obama's retread speeches are snooze-worthy, the income gap, class envy, "investments" (aka more taxes) in promise zones (with Democrats in trouble)--anything to avoid the elephant in the room--Obamacare. How does raising the minimum wage and allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country help unemployed black youth, whose work prospects are already dismal? The unemployment rate in December fell because of the numbers leaving the labor force and disproportionately for blacks, "with the labor force participation rate for African Americans dropping by 0.3 percentage points to 60.2 percent, the lowest rate since December of 1977."

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2014/01/unemployments-slow-drip-top-economists-on-the-2013-jobs-record.html

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/unemployment-among-black-youth-393-higher-national-rate

Thursday Thirteen—13 brain helps and exercises

1.  First the best one—eat more dark chocolate.  “ The cacao bean, from which chocolate is made, is  complex, containing more than 400 chemicals. Many of them can affect human biology and health.” Sorry, your favorite candy bar may not help. The beneficial effects of chocolate are not in milk chocolate or white chocolate.

2.  Visit a museum.  Two years ago at Lakeside we had a program on the incredible museums in Ohio.  I just couldn’t  believe the variety. Most recently we toured the Ohio Historical Society and saw the 1950s exhibit—it’s tough when your halcyon days are now in a museum! When you get home from your (guided) tour,  jot down what you remember. “Research into brain plasticity (the ability of the brain to change at any age) indicates that memory activities that engage all levels of brain operation—receiving, remembering and thinking—help to improve the function (and hinder the rate of decline) of the brain.” Brain fitness tips. 

3.  Memorize a song.  “Developing better habits of careful listening will help you in your understanding, thinking and remembering. Reconstructing the song requires close attentional focus and an active memory. When you focus, you release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a brain chemical that enables plasticity and vivifies memory.“  Although it’s not a song, I suppose it would help to sing it—my New Year’s resolution was to memorize the names of the books of the Old Testament by January 31. Today I’m on Amos, Obadiah and Jonah. Brain fitness tips.

4.  Exercise your peripheral vision. I think I remember doing this in elementary school.  Sit outside and stare straight ahead, don’t move your eyes.  Then write down everything you can remember seeing, including the periphery.  This exercise again should help you reinvigorate the controlled release of acetylcholine in your brain.  Brain fitness tips

5.  Learn to play a (new) musical instrument. My husband is trying to teach himself to play the guitar.  I want him to take lessons, so I got him a gift certificate for Christmas.  He had NO musical training as a child—virtually everyone I knew in our little town took piano lessons and later started band instruments.  “Playing an instrument helps you exercise many interrelated dimensions of brain function, including listening, control of refined movements, and translation of written notes (sight) to music (movement and sound).” The photo is our son showing his dad some fingering.

 

6.  Put together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle.  This involves a lot of brain activity, looking at the piece, rotating it in your mind and hand, and figuring out the big picture.

7. Try using your non-dominate hand for simple tasks, like brushing your teeth or buttoning a shirt.  But be careful—might be tough to get the toothpaste out of your misbuttoned shirt. Keep your brain alive, (Workman, 1999)

8.  Add fish—especially fatty fish like salmon—to your diet. If your diet lacks omega-3 fatty acids, commonly found in fish,  your brain may age faster and lose some of its memory and thinking capabilities according to a recent UCLA study.  It also helps your cardiovascular system. 

9.  Physical exercise is also brain exercise. Exercise has positive benefits for the hippocampus, a brain structure that is important for learning and memory. It can even help your brain create new cells.  They already knew endurance exercises were good for the brain, and here’s the research to confirm it.  Think of those little mice running a treadmill just for your brain! I’m in an exercise class a few times a week, and when the weather is better I’ll also walk outdoors.

10.   Get a good night’s sleep.  Memory tasks are easier if you are well rested because the brain can store those tasks in your long term memory.  There are several theories on why sleep is important for memory.

11. At dinner, rearrange the seating chart. This challenges the associations we have.  I wonder if this applies to the pew in church? Keep your brain alive, (Workman, 1999)

12.  Take an unfamiliar route on your commute or drive someone else’s car (ask first).   Pay attention—you’ll be forced to and won’t be on autopilot. Keep your brain alive, (Workman, 1999)

13.  Shower with your eyes closed—but only if you have good balance. Find the faucets, soap, shampoo, etc. and if you’re in my shower, don’t forget to squeegee the tile and glass doors. Keep your brain alive, (Workman, 1999)

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Thirteen, check here.

Allen West on who’s the racist

“This is my clear and succinct message to white Americans. How long will it be before ‘you people’ realize you have elevated someone to the office of president who abjectly despises you – not to mention his henchman Holder. Combined they are the most vile and disgusting racists – not you,” he wrote.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/allen-west-obama-abjectly-despises-whites/

West was commenting on the Holder/Obama demand under threat of losing federal funding that schools “rethink ‘zero tolerance’ disciplinary policies” because they “disproportionately punish minorities.” West has taught in a Florida high school and says most disruptions and fights were started by the black students and it had nothing to do with racial disparity.  It was lack of discipline.

“When a young man took a swing at me while I broke up a beat down that he and three others were giving a young man already on the ground, it had nothing to do with civil rights. It had everything to do with a criminal behavior which does not belong in a learning environment – and he was expelled. Now imagine under these new guidelines and rules, DoJ and DoEd would initiate an investigation.”

In case you’ve had one . . .

hip replacement

Head Start—a very expensive feel good poverty program

The omnibus 1,582 page appropriations bill includes increased funding for Head Start and Early Head Start by $612 million, to $8.6 billion. This administration and those before it have studied this program carefully with the same results--it doesn't work. The 2012 study found little to no impact on cognitive, social-emotional, health, or parenting practices of participants. So why continue to fund it? What politician of either party could risk the backlash?

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/universal-preschools-empty-promises

Even though 74% of American 4 year olds are already in pre-school, Obama thinks the government needs to expand even more into this area and crowd out private and church programs, which will probably be declared "substandard" the way he did with health insurance which over 80% were satisfied with. Maybe he can reduce the gap between rich and poor by making all preschools perform like Head Start?

"The Columbus school district says it will find a way to expand pre-kindergarten even without the money that a levy would’ve raised." Columbus Dispatch Nov. 28, 2013. Professional educators are a powerful lobby for early childhood education--follow the money. Pre-schools have a patch work of standards by city and state for buildings, curricula, teachers, aides, safety, play time, unions--I mean, can you see the economic opportunities here for colleges of education, the building trades, the regulatory agencies?

A bridge shut down is more important than leaking tax information on citizens

Shock and awe. The Obama supporter/employee leading the investigation of the IRS vendetta against conservative organizations who had applied for tax status couldn't find anything. Move along. Nothing.

ttp://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/01/14/no-criminal-charges-expected-in-fbi-investigation-into-irs-scandal/

According to today’s Wall St. Journal, Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who represents many of the targets, says that the FBI has never contacted any of her clients to discuss their treatment at the hands of the IRS. "Shouldn't law enforcement talk to the victims in an investigation?," she asks in an email. "That's like investigating a burglary without interviewing the burgled," notes a Journal editorial.

Wipe out 2 cities, 40% minority, with government money

Planned Parenthood receives about 45% of its support from us, the taxpayers in government grants and reimbursements. The 327,166 abortions that Planned Parenthood did from October 2011-September 2012 was also more than the 318,172 people the Census Bureau estimated lived in the City of St. Louis, Mo., in 2012 or the 306,211 that lived in the City of Pittsburgh, Pa.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/planned-parenthood-did-1-adoption-referral-149-abortions#sthash.Or3epffe.dpuf

King Obama announces he will ignore the Constitution

Joan writes: President Obama’s comments today following his first cabinet meeting of the year should send shivers down everyone’s spines. CBS reports the President said: “We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need. I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone.” Does this sound constitutional to you? It seems the American system providing for separation of powers, the traditional American system of checks and balances, and the limited government our forefathers set up are fast disappearing.

Primary texts of the early Christian church

• The Early Church Fathers (Ante-Nicene; Nicene; Post-Nicene Fathers)
• Early Church Fathers – Additional Texts
• The Fathers of the Church (New Advent)
• Early Christian Writings
• The Early Church Documents
• Gnostic Texts
• Apocryphal Acts
• Non-canonical Literature
• Latin Classical & Patristic Texts
• The Latin Library – Latin Texts
• Biblioteca Augustana: Latin Texts
• The Tertullian Project
• Online Medieval & Classical Library
• Medieval Sourcebook
• Corpus Thomisticum

From a list at the website of Jim Papandrea

Federal Register, 2013

It contains over 80,000 pages of new rules, regulations, and notices all written and passed by unelected bureaucrats. The small stack of papers on top of the display are the laws passed by elected members of Congress and signed into law by the president. Mike Lee, U.S. Senator, Utah, Republican

So I glanced through the online index.  Quite an eye opener, and it’s not difficult to see what is holding back the economy and why the United States has dropped in the “Freedom Index.”

For instance, in 2013 the Food and Nutrition Service published 65 articles—42 of which were Notices, like this on Dec. 31, 2013, asking for public comments on an extension, without change, about the Child Nutrition Database.

Database Qualification Report.
Affected Public: Business for-profit
(Manufacturers of food produced for
schools.)
Form: FNS–710.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
32.
Estimated Number of Responses per
Respondent: 35.
Estimated Total Annual Responses:
1,120.
Estimated Time per Response: 2.0
Hours.
Total Annual Burden: 2,240 Hours.
Dated: December 24, 2013.

“Annual regulatory costs increased by more than $23.5 billion during President Barack Obama’s fourth year in office—and by a total of nearly $70 billion during the first term. While historical records are incomplete, that magnitude of regulation is likely unmatched by any Administration in the nation’s history. And, despite a much-touted initiative to weed out unnecessary regulations, only two major rule changes reduced regulatory burdens in 2012.” Heritage Foundation, May 1, 2013

“The most costly regulations were automotive fuel-economy standards issued by the EPA and DOT that will increase sticker prices by an estimated $1,800, followed by the EPA’s power plant emission limits that will hike utility bills for consumers.”

10 worst regulations of 2013

Jamie Ogg—miracle baby

The doctor said the premature baby boy (27 weeks and a twin) was dead, and he was placed on his mother’s chest so she and her husband could say their good-byes.  After two hours with his mom and dad, and the doctor insisting that his movements and gasping for air were “reflexes,” he was finally pronounced alive. He’s now about three years old.