Saying good-bye.

We lost our little "grandpuppy" Abbie, a fawn and white colored Chihuahua, on Thursday. She was 12 and died suddenly with no warning.  She was always the center of attention at family gatherings or with anyone visiting--she seemed to think they came just to see her. Our whole family is so sad. She usually came to our house when her people were traveling or vacationing.  Most recently she spent part of July with us. She would sit on our laps with her eyes glued to the window waiting, waiting.

HRT, good or bad for menopausal women?

I do wish the medical community could come to some agreement on the benefits and dangers of HRT. Thirty years ago it was being pushed as the miracle preventative for osteoporosis, heart disease and dementia for menopausal women; then it became the kiss of death almost over night; then the waffling began after women lived in fear they'd taken the poison pill. Still arguing. But if it is this difficult to figure out how women, nature and hormones work (over fifty years of research), why in the world do some researchers and academics push the silly and dangerous transgendered woman nonsense. Is it just more money for Big Pharma or more big government grants for the medical schools?

https://www.medpagetoday.com/obgyn/hrt

"For women aged younger than 60 years or who are within 10 years of menopause onset and have no contraindications, the benefit-risk ratio is most favorable for treatment of bothersome VMS and for those at elevated risk for bone loss or fracture. For women who initiate HT more than 10 or 20 years from menopause onset or are aged 60 years or older, the benefit-risk ratio appears less favorable because of the greater absolute risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, venous thromboembolism, and dementia. Longer durations of therapy should be for documented indications such as persistent VMS or bone loss, with shared decision making and periodic reevaluation. For bothersome GSM symptoms not relieved with over-the-counter therapies and without indications for use of systemic HT, low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy or other therapies are recommended." North American Menopause Society statement, 2017

http://journals.lww.com/menopausejournal/Abstract/2017/07000/The_2017_hormone_therapy_position_statement_of_The.5.aspx

What the new tax plan does for many income levels

This is an interesting article even if you skim--fast food workers will get a better reduction than librarians. I'm waiting for my liberal friends and relatives to refuse their reduction in taxes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tax-plan-senate-take-home-pay-changes-every-income-level-2017-12

Fast Food Cook
Average salary: $20,570; Current tax: $1,059; Tax under the Republican plan: $857; Percent tax cut: 19.1%

Paralegals
Average salary: $53,180; Current tax: $5,753; Tax under the Republican plan: $4,999 Percent tax cut: 13.1%

Zoologist
Average salary: $64,890; Current tax: $8,156; Tax under the Republican plan: $7,575; Percent tax cut: 7.1%

Mathematicians
Average salary: $105,600; Current tax: $16,296; Tax under the Republican plan: $15,105; Percent tax cut: 7.3%

CEOs
Average salary: $194,350; Current tax: $35,541; Tax under the Republican plan: $35,457; Percent tax cut: 0.2%
and so forth. . .

Calculate your BMI and physical activity

I tried three different BMI calculators, and got three different answers (all within normal). But I like this one best because it took my sex and age into consideration and eliminated Asian Americans from the race category (they are smaller than European Americans). Also the site added some advice. https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/?ru=2 So if you're going to do the usual New Year's resolution, try this one.

I was surprised when reading this article on physical activity and its relationship to the deadliest killers, to see that 54% of American adults actually do get the recommended 150 minutes a week (about five 30 minute workouts).  There are at least six fitness/gyms within 2-3 miles of my residence, so someone in suburbia is working out.  I am registered at two of them, but I'm not very regular, except on my exercycle in my office. I prefer walking outside, but a slight hill bothers my bursitis.

https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=gyms&find_loc=Upper+Arlington%2C+OH

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5327681/

"Adults who met the PA guidelines were significantly more likely not to report high cholesterol, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis, asthma, depression, or overweight. Furthermore, adults meeting the PA guidelines were significantly more likely to report having health insurance, consuming fruits daily, consuming vegetables daily, and not being a current cigarette smoker."

The hypocrisy of academe

Victor Davis Hanson is unhappy with academe-- faculty who make fortunes and careers lecturing about inequality and diversity so they can not feel guilty when buying million dollar homes and fancy cars. It's a mechanism. Paul Krugman earns $225,000 in retirement for studying inequality and not teaching a course. The Ohio State president makes $3.5 million, but entry level faculty salaries have only gone up about 1% over the past 15 years. But they rail about corporations and the poor in society. All the race and class and gender jargon is just that--it means nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsYwekCjkvI&t=40s

How contraception and abortion have changed the Christians' view of women

Christians note: Until 1930, no Christian denomination/group accepted birth control. Once the Anglicans did (Lambeth Conference), other followed. By the 1970s the Methodists, Assemblies of God, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Southern Baptists and many others accepted "family planning" with little theological reflection. They followed the culture. Then in 1973 abortion began making the rounds of Christians groups, now only the Catholics hold the line on both, even if individuals ignore church teaching. ELCA, the largest Lutheran synod, accepts abortion for any reason as a woman's choice.

This led to the acceptance of same sex relationships and marriage, then to the transgender unscientific hypocrisy. Pew Research reports 68% of white, mainline Protestants and 44% of black Protestants accept same sex marriage, a huge change in the last decade. According to Barna, 41% of Christians think cohabitation before marriage is a good idea. This is less than society as a whole, but even secular studies show it is a leading cause of divorce later.

The connection between marriage and procreation (God's first command in the Garden) has been severed and women have been devalued becoming simply sex objects. This has led to the current mess in our hypersexualized culture.

Read the whole article. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/01/protestants-and-contraception

Adoptees face a special problem with genealogy--so do their children and grandchildren

About 6 months ago I got an e-mail from a stranger whose father I barely knew, but we'd attended the same high school. His father was deceased and had been adopted as a young child, so the question was, could I help him find his father's birth family. We chatted a little (via e-mail) and I told him what I could (mostly small town gossip where everyone knew everyone else's business). I heard from him today, he'd done two DNA services and got the same results--a second cousin from a town near where his father and I had grown up--so probably a connection to the elusive grandfather. He's over the moon. He's done extremely well in life, has a wonderful family, good education and great career. But he just always wanted to know. . .

What do leftists really care about? Stopping economic growth and energy independence of the U.S.

The North Dakota Access Pipeline was approved for construction on private land. The land, however, was the site of tribal sacred places under a treaty that was not observed in the 19th century. It is critical for U.S. energy independence and thousands of jobs in many states. So of course, the left opposed it. The Obama administration jumped in the fray in December 2016 after Trump was elected to stop the North Dakota Pipe Line becoming operational. All the required studies had been done, court cases settled and approvals received. Immediately after taking office, President Trump moved it ahead, it was operational in June and in September he visited the site. Another success for the President for making America great again and protecting the country from being held hostage by cheap middle east oil countries.

“The Dakota Access Pipeline Project connects the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to Illinois with a pipeline stretching approximately 1,172 miles. According to the lobbying group Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, the new conduit is supposed to be "among the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world." The main supporters are Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics, two large companies that primarily focus on similar pipeline projects. Constructing a functional pipeline over this many miles is a very costly endeavor, and the major banks and financial corporations underwriting the financing include Barclays, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. In total, Energy Transfer Partners has received $3.75 billion and Sunoco Logistics $2.5 billion in financial support from these and other major banks. In addition to those sums, Energy Transfer Equity, a Fortune 500 company and sister partnership to Energy Transfer Partners, has a credit line with another $1.5 billion in commitments from international banks. According to the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, in total, “there is $10.25 billion in loans and credit facilities from 38 banks directly supporting the companies building the pipeline.” All of them presumably hope to be paid back from the profits generated by the pipeline.

This pipeline will have a drastic impact on the economy. More domestic oil will be produced, making the United States less reliant on international markets; and many jobs could potentially be created. The pipeline is projected to carry half of the Bakken daily oil production – approximately 470,000 barrels per day with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels per day or more. Sunoco Logistics envisions an expansion of the Bakken oil fields production not only to supply multiple markets throughout the United States, including in the Midwest and on the East Coast, but along the Gulf Coast as well through a Sunoco crude oil terminal facility in Texas. American oil exports will rise as imports fall, ultimately creating an economic benefit. In addition, the pipeline will generate an estimated $156 million in sales and income tax payments to state and local governments and add some 8,000 to 12,000 construction jobs throughout the United States.”

http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/brief/past-and-future-dakota-access-pipeline
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060045082
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2016/09/14/five-things-to-know-about-the-north-dakota-access-pipeline-debate/

Sex ratio changes as women postpone pregnancy

I'll have to do a bit more research on something I uncovered recently. Older women have fewer sons than younger women. That changes the sex ratio of the nation as women postpone pregnancy. "Combining all the years studied, older mothers (40 to 44 years of age and 45 years and over) have the lowest total sex birth ratios (1,038 and 1,039, respectively) and mothers 15 to 19 years of age had the highest sex birth ratio (1,054). (CDC, 2005)"

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201104/why-are-older-parents-more-likely-have-daughters
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr051.pdf
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-10-269

Since women do most of the care taking, perhaps it's God's way to provide career women with someone to take care of them in retirement? When she's 85, daughter xyz will only be 40! Or maybe the sex ratio changed because the latest change began around the time of second wave feminist movement. Another odd thing, if the couple has a son (and now there are fewer), the father is more likely to stick around, whether married or not. If the first child is a girl, the divorce rate is higher than if it's a boy. Little girls may be sugar and spice, but dad wants to play baseball.

Thank goodness my parents' fourth child was a boy, but Mom was 29, not an older mother by today’s standards. He's still adorable, the sweetest brother a girl could have.

Mayo Clinic Health Letter advertising

In yesterday's mail we received a large envelop. It contained 8 pages of a description of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter on lined paper, legal size.  It's obviously geared to older people because there was an additional smaller page on sticky paper on top of page 1 about robust people in their 70s and 80s and beyond.

I suppose many older people would just sit down in the recliner and read the whole thing.  Not me. I'm just blogging about it before it goes in the waste basket.  What usually works for me is a free sample of the product along with a half page or card explaining the offer.

Cold remedies--Vicks or Numotizine?

Someone on Facebook today was writing about Vicks Vapor Rub as a cold remedy).  It reminded me that my Mom always used Numotizine, which looks like thick pink peanut butter and she'd swab it on our neck and chest and wrap us up in an old towel or torn sheet. (What wasn't crocheted into area rugs was used as rags for cleaning or medical wraps.) By morning it had dried to chunks but seemed to work. So I looked it up on the Internet to see if it were still made--yes, it's a veterinary product for horses with sore or stiff legs! But I did find a few blogs that admired its assistance for bad colds. It's the heat, I believe. I personally think it was her love and concern that made us better, not that thick pink goo.

In those days the doctor made house calls, but was rarely called.  Those from Mt. Morris, IL may remember Dr. Murray Dumont.  Talk about house calls--Murray Trout told me he was delivered at home and named for Dr. Dumont. Dr. Dumont also delivered me, but in a Rockford hospital.

https://dfarq.homeip.net/the-ultimate-treatment-for-a-cough/

https://www.familyotc.com/Numotizine-Poultice-Ointment-3-5-oz-p/cb3637071.htm

Title X and the birth rate

Federal contraceptive funding was signed into law by President Nixon with Title X co-sponsored by Rep. GHW Bush (R-TX) in 1970. Must have been a success. Our birth rate is now below replacement, and although that accounts for married women, it hasn't changed much the birth rate for unmarried women and girls. It's been very useful in controlling the population of whites, thus we need to import immigrants. White median age is 41; Hispanic 27.
Planned Parenthood uses federal tax dollars to give contraceptives to children under 16 without informing their parents. More sex = more pregnancies = more abortions = more dollars for PP. Title X funding cannot be used for abortions, but Title X grant recipients and abortion providers are allowed to share office and staff. Planned Parenthood, the major recipient of Title X funding is also the largest abortion provider in the country. For FY 2017, Title X received $286.5 million, down from the program’s peak of $317.5 million (in FY 2010). Title X historically has been better funded under Republicans than Democrats. The most drastic cuts since 1982 were under Obama.
Of course, Guttmacher (PP) calls it a war to end birth control.
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/policy-dose/articles/2017-07-17/the-trump-administration-is-waging-a-war-on-birth-control
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/08/title-x-headline_n_846852.html
https://www.hhs.gov/opa/title-x-family-planning/about-title-x-grants/funding-history/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/06/30/the-u-s-fertility-rate-just-hit-a-historic-low-why-some-demographers-are-freaking-out/

Finally, after all these years, she writes. . .

In 1963 we owned a duplex on White St. in Champaign-Urbana, IL, and rented the upstairs to a young couple--he was also an architect, she was beautiful and artsy and their baby daughter adorable. It was a time of grief for us and they were such good neighbors. When we bought another house, we continued to see them. Somewhere I have a photo of them at a party we had at our Charles St. home.  They moved to Washington we moved to Columbus. We've been exchanging Christmas cards with her for over 50 years, but other than a seasonal greeting never got any news, except a photo or two of the daughter growing up and their divorce. Then today. Finally after all these years, a few lines; the grand daughter is getting married and the ex-husband lives in TX with his wife. In my mind's eye they are still a happy couple in their early 20s with a sweet baby and we're gathered around the tree in 1963.

Trump’s accomplishments—according to Trump

The White House listed the 12 categories and highlighted achievements for each. A summary is below:

Jobs and the economy

• Passage of the tax reform bill providing $5.5 billion in cuts and repealing the Obamacare mandate.
• Increase of the GDP above 3 percent.
• Creation of 1.7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to 4.1 percent.
• Saw the Dow Jones reach record highs.

Killing job-stifling regulations

• Signed an Executive Order demanding that two regulations be killed for every new one creates. He beat that big and cut 16 rules and regulations for every one created, saving $8.1 billion.
• Signed 15 congressional regulatory cuts.
• Withdrew from the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement, ending the threat of environmental regulations.

Fair trade

• Made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
• Opened up the North American Free Trade Agreement for talks to better the deal for the U.S.
• Worked to bring companies back to the U.S., and companies like Toyota, Mazda, Broadcom Limited, and Foxconn announced plans to open U.S. plants.

Boosting U.S. energy dominance

• Expanded energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline snubbed by Obama.
• Ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
• EPA is reconsidering Obama rules on methane emissions.

Protecting the U.S. homeland

• Laid out new principles for reforming immigration and announced plan to end "chain migration," which lets one legal immigrant to bring in dozens of family members.
• Made progress to build the border wall with Mexico.
• Ended the Obama-era “catch and release” of illegal immigrants.
• Boosted the arrests of illegals inside the U.S.
• Started the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.

Helping veterans

• Signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act to allow senior officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire failing employees and establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers.
  
• Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act. 
• Signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, to provide support. 
• Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program. 

Restoring confidence in and respect for America

• Trump won the release of Americans held abroad, often using his personal relationships with world leaders.
• Made good on a campaign promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel

List from Washington Examiner

How did we get through college without smart phones and apps?

http://undergrad.osu.edu/buckeyes_blog/?p=26611

Peyton, who is from Hillsboro, writes,

“There’s an app for that!”  When it comes to college, the saying is definitely true. In fact, there are tons of apps that make college life easier. Here are six apps that have helped me to successfully navigate my first semester of college:

1.  GroupMe, which I think is an on-line chat.

2. Tapingo, which lets you order food.  Hmmm.

3.  Transit, for catching the bus.
4.  Quizlet, for making flash cards.
5.  Canvas to track grades.
6.  Ohio State app, schedule, meals, finances, etc.

So much for actually asking others, where's the library, or do you know how to catch a bus to the Ag campus.

Diversity scam is expensive

The diversity scam at colleges and universities. Follow the money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g60ON91ClLA

The one constant in every endeavor--sets up huge bureaucracies and budgets. Diversity, equity and inclusion vice chancellors can get magnificent salaries with lower level bureaucrats sucking up more dollars. Just google "diversity" with the name of any college/university you know. Then check budget. You may never take a class, but you're sure paying the cost.

If you Google "diversity office Ohio State University" you can see the directories--yes plural.  Not only does the main administration have a diversity and gender office, but so do many of the colleges and departments. And the Office of Diversity and Inclusion has sub-departments. This insures the graduates and majors of the various "studies" departments have places to go when they graduate.. . other colleges and universities with similar highly paid positions.  If you pick out a few names and track their biographies and positions, the word "assistant" jumps out.
https://odi.osu.edu/

"The Ohio State University Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) is one of the oldest and most prominent offices of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1970, ODI has supported the recruitment, retention and success of students, faculty and staff who enhance the diversity of The Ohio State University. ODI oversees the Hale Center, the Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male, the American Disability Act program (ADA), the nine-city Young Scholars Program, as well as being home to a wide-range of retention, mentoring, scholarship, and access programs."

Please explain that--Explain That Stuff

"Explain that Stuff is an online book written by British science writer Chris Woodford (author of many popular science books for adults and children, including Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Surprising Science Hidden in Your Home). It includes 450 easy-to-understand articles (plus around 2000 photos and 800 illustrations), covering how things work, cutting-edge science, cool gadgets, and computers."

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/

Also has a Facebook site.

Will infrastructure be next on the agenda?

The infrastructure has been a problem for as long as I've been paying attention. All of a sudden it's Trump's fault? I did at least a 3 minute search and combining "infrastructure" with names of the last 5 presidents only turned up technology and space travel. And some error pages. But I did find an estimate:

"According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, as of 2013 (the year of its most recent comprehensive report), the United States will need $3.6 trillion by 2020 in infrastructure investment to rebuild, upgrade and maintain roads, bridges, dams, water and wastewater systems, levees, landfills, airports and radar systems, inland waterways, ports, rail, mass transit, public parks, schools and energy systems. Roads and bridges account for the lion’s share.

Let states and counties make their own infrastructure decisions based on their population demands and ability to pay, and make users pay for the projects. We need to reduce or eliminate federal taxpayer contributions to U.S. infrastructure needs. Let users bear the burden for improvements through state or local revenue bonds. Pay off the bonds through user fees collected for miles driven, water consumed, flights taken, (dare I say) children educated, etc." Washington Post, Aug. 19, 2016

The failure to Act Report by the ASCE

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/fact_sheets/2018%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheet_Infrastructure%20Initiative.pdf

Obama’s legacy

Obamacare failed both financially and medically. "“This was the first time life expectancy in the U.S. has declined two years [2015, 2016] in a row since declines in 1962 and 1963,” the NCHS, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement." Obama's legacy. Obama's signature legislation--forcing Americans to buy an insurance product under threat of jail or fine.

Some of this decline was in part due to rising drug deaths, which started before Obamacare was implemented, yet President Obama stopped what might have been the biggest drug investigation [8 years by DEA, Project Cassandra] in history-- Hezbollah and its billion dollar criminal drugs, weapons and money laundering--so he could complete his deal with Iran. For shame! He wasn't leading from behind--he was out front leading our enemies.

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/

"But as Project Cassandra reached higher into the hierarchy of the conspiracy, Obama administration officials threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way, according to interviews with dozens of participants who in many cases spoke for the first time about events shrouded in secrecy, and a review of government documents and court records. When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests." 

And now Hezbollah, emboldened by our former President's behavior and help, is leading the fight against Trump and recognition of the obvious for 70 years--Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Of course, in October the Arab/Muslim press was saying war was inevitable. But our so-called allies in the UN fell for these protests, just as the American people fell for the hope and change promises of Obama.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/world/middleeast/hezbollah-nasrallah-jerusalem.html

Different cultures, similar paths--Friday family photo

In the late 1950's my college roommate Dora and I both dated architectural students named Bob whom we married. They both had taken art lessons as children, then put it aside to practice architecture, then developed a hobby of watercolor later in life, particularly after retiring. Here's her Bob.

http://www.galleryblink.com/robert-hsiung