Lakeside is more than just a pretty face (. . . lake)

I know it sounds crazy when the lake, tennis courts, shops and parks are so close, but this is often where you'll find me at Lakeside, attending one of the wonderful lectures. Next week is WWII history to honor the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. This is actually the movie theater, the only one in the county. Also have morning Bible studies here with preacher of the week.

Pickles like mom made

Make your own Delicious Crisp Refrigerator pickles!
You'll Need:
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1-2 teaspoons celery seed (I use 2)
1 teaspoon salt

3 cups sliced cucumber
3 small onions, thinly sliced

View the Complete Recipe and Directions here:

http://savoringtimeinthekitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/refrigerator-pickles.html

Cleopatra was a very rich woman

"The Ptolemaic system [the Ptolemys were Cleopatra's dynastic family and the Greek rulers of Egypt, after its conquest by one of Alexander the Great's generals] has been compared to that of Soviet Russia; it stands among the most closely controlled economies in history. No matter who farmed it -- Egyptian peasant, Greek settler, temple priest -- most land was royal land. As such, Cleopatra's functionaries determined and monitored its use. Only with government permission could you fell a tree, breed pigs, turn your barley field into an olive garden." 

Hmmm. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? Cleopatra was worth about $96 billion – or about 21st wealthiest in world history. (Cleopatra, a life, 2010)

My family tree

Back to Bruce Jenner—who got bumped by Rachel Dolezal

"Bruce Jenner is a 65-year-old father of six children; 6’2″; thick-boned Olympian; over 200 pounds and still in possession of his penis. Yet we’re willing — no gleeful — to glimpse his burly frame in a maxi halter dress and kitten slippers on his veranda, while vilifying anyone calling him anything but his new moniker. “Caitlyn.” He poses on the front of Vanity Fair with a bathing beauty pinup model suit worthy of a 1940’s movie siren, discretely hiding his “package.”" Angela West

Dolezal timeline

Fallout from Obamacare—we’re losing doctors

My husband saw a medical specialist today who had an interesting story, which she said she can't tell her children because they are all Democrats and think Obama walks on water. She said that for the first three months after signing up for Obamacare (we live in Ohio, of course), the person isn't charged premiums (or at least they aren't due). So they get a lot of medical care during that time, then by the time the insurance claims make it through the system for payment to the doctor, they haven't paid their premiums and the doctors don't get paid. Neat scam, right? So how many doctors do you think will take Obamacare enrollees as new patients? Dr. Meenam says, “Absolutely true, and the doctors are not given any notice that the patient is delinquent, just told to send back the payments they have received if the patient who had services doesn't pay.”  She got out of medical care before Obama’s plan kicked in.

Proximity to healthy food doesn’t mean people will eat healthy

Research published in 2012 debunked the idea that "food deserts" were hurting poor people. You can take people to the best supermarket or freshest farmer's market, but you can't make them eat fewer calories, give up junk food, or buy/eat healthy. The mayor of Baltimore can't control crime increases in Baltimore, so she thinks she perhaps she can force them to eat differently

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-food-desert-20150610-story.html?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/do-food-deserts-matter-do-they-even-exist/2012/04/18/gIQA1B56QT_blog.html

“Results showed that only 15% of respondents shopped for food within their home census tract. Although the closest supermarket was only 2.0 km from home, the mean distance to the primary supermarket was 4.8 km. Nonwhite respondents lived the same distance to the closest supermarket than Whites, but traveled further to their primary store. College graduates lived closer to supermarkets and shopped closer to home than non-graduates. No significant effects were found by income.”

http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/24/1_MeetingAbstracts/lb331

True, but Communism, not ammonia, killed more

"The synthesis of ammonia made possible the growth of the world's population. ... [B]y 1900, most of the good arable land in the world was already being farmed, so that increased food production could come most readily from the application of additional fertilizer. ... The Haber-Bosch process for synthesizing ammonia made it possible to increase the food supply and support the world's current population of about 6.2 billion people. In other words, in the twentieth century, the population of the world increased from about 1.6 to 6.2 billion largely because of the Haber-Bosch process. That increase in the human population alone makes the twentieth century unique in all of human history. ... More than that, it also made possible the industrial production of explosives, and, because Germany was the first to use this new technology, increased the confidence of its military leaders. And that was to be a crucially important factor contributing to the outbreak of world war in 1914."  Origins of the Modern World (2007)

http://www.delanceyplace.com/view_archives.php?2818&p=2818

The USSR and China killed millions with death camps and starvation.  Now we have a new global form of Marxism, intent on reversing the gains of the 20th century. Globalism.

Liberals are bullies, bigots and babies

“Tim Hunt is a serious scientist. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research. In 2006 he was awarded the Royal Medal, whose past recipients include Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Francis Crick, and Paul Dirac. His topic at the conference where he made his offending remark was the public good of science, and why scientific research should be publicly supported. He was making, as the Royal Medal award says, “important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge” — in this case, on the subject of cancer.”

But he made a joke about women in science labs (I think it was about his own wife and I didn’t even think it was offensive like the author of this article) and he and his wife were fired. Liberals are bullies, bigots and babies.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419712/pc-mob-tim-hunts-scientific-contributions-couldnt-matter-less-ian-tuttle

There are perhaps 10-20 people who run the Twitter campaigns to destroy lives, to make it look like thousands, like it’s burning up the internet with outrage.  So phony. Obviously, no support from his institution or colleagues or even his country to which he has given so much.

“His treatment also demonstrates the innate cruelty of social media, and in particular the savage power of Twitter, which first revealed the scientist’s transgression. The tale also demonstrates how PR departments, in trying to protect the reputation of institutions, often do so at the expense of the individuals who work for or make up those bodies.”

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/tim-hunt-hung-out-to-dry-interview-mary-collins

Thoughts on Jenner and Dolezal

Years ago, I cooked up some turnips, mashed them, served them with butter and salt, and told my kids they were mashed potatoes--because like typical kids they were reluctant to try certain things. They looked like potatoes; even tasted like potatoes. That didn't make it so. And I'm not sure they trusted me on vegetable night after that. Today I didn't straighten my hair, and I think I'm going to pass as Megyn Kelly. If you don't like my fantasy, you're a bigot.

                    

Rachel’s adopted siblings are black; she isn’t.  Sib-envy?

Support family farms, says the poster

I hope that little guy is in the driver's seat just for the photo. Looks about 8 years old.

Small family farms, averaging 231 acres, make up 88 percent of farms and 48 percent of total acres. Large family farms, averaging 1,421 acres, make up 3.9 percent of farms and 13 percent of acres. Very large family farms, averaging 2,086 acres, make up 4.6 percent of farms and 23 percent of total acres.

Farm and ranch families are 2% of the population and produce 262 percent more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (labor, seeds, feed, fertilizer, etc.), compared with 1950. 15% (21 million) of American workers produce, process and sell the nation’s food and fiber, but if you add in restaurant industry workers that's another 14 million. So it still takes a lot of people to feed America--and that doesn't include those Americans who have gardens for feeding their families.

Not sure what "support" means in this poster. The so called "food bill" of USDA is about 1 trillion and 80% goes to social programs not to farming--nutrition programs, energy assistance, rural housing assistance, changing our eating habits to make us less fat, more sustainable programs, etc.

About that kid on the tractor: On average, 113 youth, less than 20 years of age, died annually from farm-related injuries between 1995 and 2002. In 2011, 108 youth died. 33,000 children have farm-related injuries each year (OSHA). However, compared to sports related injuries for children, that's low. In 2009, an estimated 248,418 children (age 19 or younger) were treated in U.S. EDs for sports and recreation-related injuries that included a diagnosis of concussion or TBI. (CDC)

Rural love

I just noticed on TV the online dating service called farmersonly.com. I remember maybe 25 years ago reading the lonely hearts ads in the back of the agriculture and breed (no pun) magazines in the veterinary library.

"Out buildings in good shape. About 40 acres forest. Must like Jerseys. Good cook preferred, appearance not important, Box 423."

or something like that

Exercises for healthy feet

Exercising your feet on a regular basis not only improves overall foot health, but may also reduce your risk for injury. Walking is the best overall foot exercise. When you walk, you put your foot through its full range of motion, from the time your heel hits the ground until you lift off with your toes. Moreover, walking is one of the best forms of exercise for your entire body. It improves your cardiovascular health and can help your circulation, muscle tone, and mood.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/exercises-for-healthy-feet

See the website for simple workouts to stretch and strengthen your feet.

Foods that combat inflammation

Sometimes I feel like I will turn into a salad.  I’ve lost 30 pounds since Christmas—more fruits and vegetables, more exercise, and none of my favorites.  No potato chips, no Fritos, no peanut butter on crackers, no Cheddar cheese, no cookies. Last night we ate at the Rusty Bucket and I get their “3 side orders”—steamed broccoli, salad of tomatoes and cucumbers with mozzarella cheese in olive oil, and then a little cheat, onion rings. I just don’t think the carrots would have made me feel like I’d had date night.

Include plenty of these anti-inflammatory foods in your diet:

• tomatoes

• olive oil

• green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, and collards

• nuts like almonds and walnuts

• fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines

• fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges

Harvard Health Newsletter: “One of the most powerful tools to combat inflammation comes not from the pharmacy, but from the grocery store. “Many experimental studies have shown that components of foods or beverages may have anti-inflammatory effects,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Choose the right foods, and you may be able to reduce your risk of illness.

               

St. James’ advice for the internet users

You probably didn't realize the Bible addresses using the Internet. I need to re-read this advice whenever I read The Daily Beast or The Huffington Post.

James 1:19-27 (NIV) My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Misconceptions about worship

Here’s something American Catholics and American Protestants share—we are overly concerned about how we feel during worship.  It’s all about me.  No, it’s about the risen Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkoaLfR_iCg#t=94

We Americans in any case rather have come naturally to think that in the liturgy we want to express ourselves, and if it doesn’t feel like us, then we don’t want to say it!

But the whole tradition of liturgy is not primarily expressive of where people are and what they want to say to God. Instead it is impressive. It forms us, and it is always bigger than any given community that celebrates it.

Father Jeremy Driscoll

Putin and the assault on Ukraine

I don't know if any of my readers/friends are more sympathetic with Putin (who's pulling the righteous Christian act) than the Ukrainians, but countries have memories that reach back. 7 million Ukrainians were starved by Stalin in the 1930s. These are the horror stories I heard from my classmates in college, most born in the late 1930s or early 1940s whose parents told them.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm

By the spring of 1933, the height of the famine, an estimated 25,000 persons died every day in the Ukraine. Entire villages were perishing. In Europe, America and Canada, persons of Ukrainian descent and others responded to news reports of the famine by sending in food supplies. But Soviet authorities halted all food shipments at the border. It was the official policy of the Soviet Union to deny the existence of a famine and thus to refuse any outside assistance. Anyone claiming that there was in fact a famine was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda. Inside the Soviet Union, a person could be arrested for even using the word 'famine' or 'hunger' or 'starvation' in a sentence.

The Soviets bolstered their famine denial by duping members of the foreign press and international celebrities through carefully staged photo opportunities in the Soviet Union and the Ukraine. The writer George Bernard Shaw, along with a group of British socialites, visited the Soviet Union and came away with a favorable impression which he disseminated to the world. Former French Premier Edouard Herriot was given a five-day stage-managed tour of the Ukraine, viewing spruced-up streets in Kiev and inspecting a 'model' collective farm. He also came away with a favorable impression and even declared there was indeed no famine.

Born and raised white in Montana, now she’s black in Spokane

If Bruce Jenner can claim he's a woman after 3 wives and half a dozen kids to jump start a new reality show, and Elizabeth Warren says on her college applications she's Native American, and Miley Cyrus says she's bisexual to get back in the limelight,I see no reason that white people can't claim to be black to get a job that requires minority status. Thanks to progressives, there are no rules about gender, race, species, consanguinity, marriage, parenting, or sanctity of human life (that's only for animals). White cops, bad; white Christians, bad; white male scientists, bad; unless they can transition to another gender, race, religion, or profession.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3121061/Local-NAACP-leader-professor-African-studies-outed-WHITE-parents-convincing-community-black-years.html

Ravi Zacharias on homosexuality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIw6ngIqaD0

Ravi Zacharias -35 year respected top religious scholar and speaker on Christ and Christianity and the Bible answers one of the tougher questions asked about Christianity and its "intolerance". (from 2009)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

One of the books that didn’t go to the give away pile or the dumpster in our most recent clean out was “Little House in the Ozarks; a Laura Ingalls Wilder sampler, The rediscovered writings.” (1991)  Before her novelist daughter Rose Wilder Lane began editing her fiction, Laura Wilder had written for many farm publications, and even other women’s magazines. If you are withdrawing books from your collection, you must never open them and browse.  They won’t make it out the door.  There are snippets in this book of stories that will later become part of her children’s fiction series. Nothing else will get done once you start to read.

The book is divided loosely into themes, it is not chronological and doesn’t have an index.  If you see something you like (I did) and don’t stick in a bookmark, you lose it (I did).

From Good Reads website:

In more than 140 articles and essays collected here for all to enjoy, this beloved author's writings on American life during a simpler time abound with humor and spunk that transcend the years. Laura Ingalls Wilder -- beloved author of one of the world's most treasured children's series, the Little House books -- wrote articles on a dizzying array of topics; articles that sparkle with her timeless wit and wisdom. Her interesting and insightful views on the changes motor cars and highways brought to her small town; the need to conserve natural resources; the role of women in the work force and in politics -- nothing seemed to escape her keen observation. With a foresight that is astounding, Wilder's many articles examine in depth the ways of life in this country during the late 1800s and early 1900s with a wisdom that holds relevance for our lives even today.

“Whom will you marry?” appeared in the June 1919, McCall’s magazine, and after much reflection when a younger woman asks her about becoming a farmer’s wife (he’s coming home from the war and she needs to give him an answer), Mrs. Wilder concludes at the end of the long article, not unexpectedly:

“If you want ease, unearned luxuries, selfish indulgence, a silken-cushioned, strawberries-and-cream life, do not marry a man who will be a farmer.

If you want to give, as well as to take; if you want to be your husband’s full partner in business and in homemaking; if you can stand on your own feet and face life as a whole, the troubles and difficulties and the real joys and growth that come from them; if you want an opportunity to be a fine, strong, free woman, then you are fitted for the life of a farmer’s wife, to be his partner, the providence of your own little world of the farm and bread-giver to humanity, the true lady of the world.”