Exercise is important . . . butt

Un-stuffed cabbage rolls

I love cabbage rolls, and although this has no rice (which I recall is in my recipe), I think this sounds yummy—in fact I think I’ve made it and just didn’t have a name. From Fifty Plus and Getting Fit.  I usually skip oil and to test it I’ll probably use half the amounts or we’d be eating it for a week.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
  1 tablespoon oil
  1 large onion, chopped
  1 clove garlic, minced
  1 small cabbage, chopped
  2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
  1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
  1/2 cup water
  1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.
Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.
Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Weatherman sings about our winter (Let it Go)

 

The actual song from the movie Frozen

Beating the bushes to find the uninsured to sign up for Obamacare

“Planned Parenthood and other liberal political organizations to find the law's intended beneficiaries: "The hunt for the uninsured in Broward County got underway one recent afternoon when 41 canvassers, armed with electronic maps on Samsung tablets, set off through working-class neighborhoods to peddle the Affordable Care Act door to door. Four hours later, they had made contact with 2,623 residents and signed up exactly 25 people.
"Many of their targets, people identified on sophisticated computer lists generated in Washington as unlikely to have health insurance, had moved away. Some were not home. Many said they already had insurance through Medicare, their parents or a job. A few were hostile at the mere mention of President Obama's health care law. 'We're going to repeal that," one man said gruffly as he shut the door in the face of a canvasser..." “ James Freeman, Wall St. Journal 2-19-14

Will they blame this on the GOP opposition to the forced-to-buy-product-or-be-fined, or will they go back to blaming Bush?.

Mike Rowe—dirty jobs pay well—where are the workers?

I’ve seen Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame on Fox and Friends and on Glenn Beck talk about the importance of training our young people for jobs that are going begging.  Today he mentioned Tulsa Welding School to which he offers scholarships—it has 800 jobs it could fill, if it had the students. He has a foundation to support scholarships and has published a book, Profoundly disconnected.

He said that at the height of the recession in 2008, he was filming at locations that had “help wanted” signs.  There were not enough trained American workers to do the “dirty jobs.”

Meanwhile, Rowe is being attacked for making an ad for WalMart (he did the voice over) which talks about the value of hard work, and that Wal-Mart will be investing $250 billion in the American economy and American made products in the next decade.  On his Rowe’s FB page Sean Murray says, “I thought you were good person. But I just saw your AD that WAL-MART paid for. Your a corporate suck, Rowe.” And that’s mild compared to some I read.

So those who griped that Wal-Mart had too many foreign made products and didn’t pay their workers enough, who picketed their construction sites, are now complaining that Wal-Mart is helping the U.S. economy.  This means it was never about American jobs or American workers, but about trying to destroy a very successful business.

If you want to see hate in action from the ridiculously uninformed anti-capitalists, just read the comments submitted to these videos.  You wonder if they even watched them, or only saw it was about Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart haters have their own Facebook page.

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/11/what-you-need-to-know-about-wal-mart.html

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703960004575427143390869962?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052748703960004575427143390869962.html

http://digiday.com/brands/walmart-social-media/

I am a Ukrainian

On Tuesday morning, huge columns of protestors marched out from their barricaded encampment in the center of the capital, Kiev, and surrounded the parliament building while the chamber was in session. Police responded with stun grenades and rubber bullets, while protestors reportedly set fire to the headquarters of President Viktor Yanukovych’s ruling political party.
Read more: Ukraine Revolution Erupts in Fresh Violence | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2014/02/18/ukraine-revolution-erupts-in-fresh-violence/#ixzz2tlmiH3kP

Why 70% are obese or overweight in the U.S.—maybe

I kid you not.  This is a real diagram in a real research paper which attempts to explain the best method for measuring why if we eat more and move less (energy gap) we gain weight. At least I think that is what it is about. Time to get on the exercycle.

Energy Gap in the Aetiology of Body Weight Gain and Obesity: A Challenging Concept with a Complex Evaluation and Pitfalls

History tells

Some Democrats will whine: “but the bad southern Democrats became Republicans.”  What about all those Democrats in the north and how they voted?

Lunch at the new art hotel, The Hilton

And then after that breath taking show, our Conestoga group went to the new Hilton, had a fabulous lunch in the  Gallerie Bar & Bistro, a 160-seat full-service restaurant and bar and then another art show which hangs throughout the hotel, much of it commissioned by Ohio artists, others purchased from galleries. The pointillist painting behind the front desk isn’t even a painting, it’s the skyline created by Granville, Ohio artist Christian Faur and is made of 30,000 crayons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mBBtgTlrA

The dining area is really lovely.  The art that you can see in the very open area--15,000-foot tall atrium--has a theme—food, or dishes, or glassware, or eatery signs. The artwork is through out the hotel, displayed in functional space, guest rooms (with paintings on the ceiling) and public areas of the hotel and all the furniture, rugs, sculpture, windows, flowers, colors, etc. make it all one big art space. Everything was a feast for the eyes. Our group was divided in the three and we had tour guides.

The food was delicious—everyone at our table agreed on that.  Sorry, I didn’t see the prices listed anywhere since we had paid in advance, so I can’t give you a heads up.

A visit to the Pizzuti Collection inaugural show

Today our Conestoga group (Friends of the Ohio Historical Society) had a mid-winter, kill the blahs tour of the new Pizzuti Collection, lunch at the new Hilton, and then a tour of the Hilton’s wonderful art collection of Ohio artists. What a day!  Just fabulous. And the sun came out and it is in the mid-40s heading for 50 degrees. This inaugural exhibit is the private collection of Ron and Ann Pizutti of contemporary art which they have been collecting since the mid-70s.  The collection is now a 501-c-3 and it includes a lovely renovated building, formerly the United Commercial Travelers insurance building, with 18,000 sq. ft., at 632 North Park Street, 43215, in the Short North neighborhood of Columbus.

Exhibition press release:

The opening exhibitions feature the Pizzuti Collection through two lenses. The Inaugural Exhibition on the first and third floors presents the collection in a narrative form, using works from the collection to connect the threads of experiences, artists, and galleries that guided its formation for more than 30 years. The Inaugural Exhibition will include works by John Chamberlain, Dave Cole, Jean Dubuffet, Carroll Dunham, Leandro Erlich, Darío Escobar, Ori Gersht, David Hammons, Guillermo Kuitca, Josiah McElheny, Louise Nevelson, and Ai Weiwei.

Additionally, the grand opening of the collection can be viewed through a thematic lens. Cuban Forever highlights compelling contemporary art, primarily by native Cuban artists. Much of the artwork in the collection was acquired via trips to artist studios in Cuba to meet and learn more about the art being produced in the country. This exhibition presents the best survey of the Cuban contemporary art scene today. The artists presented include Yoan Capote, Raúl Cordero, Enrique Raúl Martínez, Enrique Martínez Celaya, and Douglas Peréz. In addition to works by native Cubans, the exhibition includes work by Americans Michael Eastman and Teresita Fernández. Eastman’s stunning photographs of Havana and Fernández’s evocative sculptures transcend the artists’ nationalities and underscore the global environment in which Cuban artists work. The name of the exhibition, Cuban Forever, was chosen to emphasize the global nature of the artists included, reinforcing that the Cuban identity is not bounded by geography.

The Pizzuti Collection also includes programs for school children, educational programs, a library, talks by artists (because it features contemporary art many of the artists are alive), lectures, rotating exhibitions with a variety of memberships ranging from$3600 to $75.

From the windows of this building we could see the construction of a new complex which will include a new office building, parking garage and Le Méridien Columbus, The Joseph a 135-room, art-themed boutique hotel on High Street in the Short North arts and entertainment district.

John Kerry believes climate change is the new WMD

As his home state is buried in snow. 18 snow storms this season.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/16/politics/kerry-climate/index.html

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/17/kerry-climate-change-is-the-biggest-wmd-of-all/

http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-climate-change-is-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-2014-2

“. . . the liberals’ obsessive focus on climate is a measure of two things: First, domestic politics — how out of touch they are with ordinary Americans and how much they believe the Democrats’ radical, ignorant base can carry them to victory in the 2014 and 2016 elections. And second (though perhaps first in their minds), ideology — how desperately focused they are on kneecapping the American economy and distributing taxpayer dollars to third-world countries in the interest of “climate justice” while saving the world from a mythical threat.” http://spectator.org/articles/57355/our-political-climate

Remember this?

Excess verbiage

Because verbiage is by definition an excess of words, the phrases excess verbiage and excessive verbiage are redundant.  Notice this example from a writing guide at George Mason University, and also the examples provided. All too wordy and pretentious.

Excess verbiage
Effective writing requires elimination of excess verbiage. The value of concise writing is stated in quotes below from some noted authors.
‘The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.’ Hans Hoffman
‘Often I think writing is sheer paring away of oneself leaving always something thinner, barer, more meager.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘I believe more in the scissors that I do in the pencil.’ Truman Capote
One technique for eliminating excess verbiage is to scrutinize a wordy passage, underline those phrases that contain hard information, and then rewrite the passage using only the underlined portions.

Oh CRAP—made a mistake in the website

I got a chuckle out of this—a library guide with a easy acronym CRAAP, spelled CRAP in the heading.  However, in browsing the video I thought the instructions read like a translation. “The CRAAP test is an method . . .,” “Are there citations and sources for information present?”  “. . .is the site domain make sense.” Nouns were randomly capitalized.   There are other videos in this series.  I’m afraid to look. Except I did.  The video on the “information cycle” almost made me hyperventilate. It seems to be the “news” cycle, not information cycle.

Kitchen conversions—we learned in elementary school

Math refresher.

I don’t see any kitchen conversions in this Basic Match Refresher, but it does look useful without all the kiddy stuff you see on some math sites.

Coconut sugar—have you ever used it?

This is from the web page—not exactly unbiased.  But I’ve never tried it.  I have seen this sugar substitute in recipes.  Might try some.

http://www.essentiallivingfoods.com/superfoods/ingredients/sweeteners/coconut-sugar-organic.html?gclid=CKuFiJjK1bwCFUhgMgodAV8AKA

Good idea, except I kill any plant that enters the house

I guess I’ll just change the furnace filter more often, or buy  one of those super duper air cleaners my friend Bob Barr swears by, Oreck, and continue buying plastic plants.

Father of Justine Pelletier tells his story on Glenn Beck—it’s frightening

But this story is from ABC News, just in case you don’t trust Glenn.

“One day Justina Pelletier was a seemingly healthy teenager performing jumps and spirals at a skating show and six weeks later, on Feb. 10, 2013, she was in the emergency room at Children's Hospital in Boston after a severe bout with the flu, refusing to eat and barely able to walk.

Her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier of West Hartford, Conn., say their daughter was diagnosed and being treated at Tufts Medical Center for mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic disorder with physical symptoms that can affect every part of the body. Justina's sister Jessica, 25, is also being treated for the disease.

But three days later, a team of doctors at Boston Children's said her symptoms were psychosomatic, according to the family. The hospital then filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, as required by law, because they suspected the parents of child abuse for subjecting their daughter to invasive medical treatments and denying her mental health therapy.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/advocates-fight-teen-justin-pelletier-held-state-pysch/story?id=22312907

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/04/the-latest-from-the-parents-of-teen-held-by-hospital-against-their-will-doesnt-look-good-its-scary/

Exercising without stressing your knees and hips

Sometimes my bursitis aches; other times I don’t feel anything. Bursitis is an inflammation of the bursa, and can happen just about anywhere you have a joint.  Advil will knock out the pain, but it is not recommended for those of us who take blood thinners, nor is turmeric. I keep a Thermapac in the freezer and sometimes sit on it.  This comes from Healthbeat, Harvard Medical School.

The following activities are gentle on knees and hips. You can combine these exercises to create a routine lasting 30 minutes or longer:

• Floor exercises (abdominal curls, crunches, push-ups, or leg lifts)
• Resistance training with hand weights
• Gentle yoga
• Swimming
• Exercise ball routines, including stretches, abdominal curls, or leg lifts

Water exercise offers particular benefits because:

• The water supports your weight, reducing stress on your joints.
• You can try out exercises before doing them on solid ground.
• An 85° F pool is comfortable for exercise and soothes joints.
• You can increase range of motion and endurance without strenuous effort or joint pain.

Michael Landon, Jr., Christian production company

I was watching Home and Family on the Hallmark channel while riding my exercycle and Lori Loughlin was the guest and she mentioned Michael Landon, Jr. and his production company (Christian) so I Googled it and found this: "Landon is currently working on several films. Gown of Spanish Lace, a story inspired by a Janette Oke novel which is in development at MPower, Deep in the Heart, based on a true story of unimaginable forgiveness, and Rise, which he is developing with author, Kelly Monroe Kullberg (Finding God at Harvard). . " Kelly Monroe Kullberg is a member of our church. Serendipity is such fun on the internet.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/februaryweb-only/michaellandonjr.html

Christianity Today: How have your father's failures (affair when Michael Jr. was 15 and left the family) on that front affected you as a husband and a dad?

Landon: I think the main thing is remembering the pain I went through. Otherwise I think people would be divorcing left and right. I am extremely protective of my marriage, and I create boundaries for myself with other women that won't allow any of that side to ever happen. We're going on 18 years of marriage, and I've been faithful to my wife. I see my three children and know that the last thing I'd ever want to do to them is be unfaithful to my wife, not only for her sake, but for their sake, for my sake and for my testimony. I refuse to ruin my testimony. So it's a combination of all those things—honoring God and wanting to run the rest of this race as best as I possibly can.

His mother’s manicurist led him and his mother to Christ. after the devastation of his parents’ divorce.