#114 End of the month round up, November 30, 2003

Our senior pastor had colon surgery this week. The mass was benign. One of the associate pastors is calling him “Semi-colon.”

“Columbus Bar Briefs”suggests legal writing needs more periods, fewer commas. Strive for an average of 18 words per sentence. Good advice for non-lawyers, too.

First Sunday of Advent at our church. So many things planned. Our Visual Arts Ministry had four items in the weekly reminder handed out this Sundays. Hope I remember.

In the last 7 days we celebrated two birthdays on Sunday and one on Saturday, went out for lunch with a visiting friend from San Antonio on Tuesday and then enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at our daughter’s home on Thursday. This has caused me to search the closet for the next size up pair of slacks.

We watched the DVD Bruce Almighty on Thanksgiving Day. Funny and thought provoking. Seemed appropriate for our family.

Best quote seen this month: WSJ Nov. 20 p. D8 “[Al Green] put the afro in aphrodisiac, writing songs that inspired a generation and helped create another.” Ashley Kahn

After finishing "In the Beginning” the story of how the Bible in English came to be, I walked through the house and counted Bibles: 22. Only one was King James. And to think that people were exiled, imprisoned and executed for translating the Bible into English!

Today we put up the Christmas tree. So far, the other half of “we” has been doing all the work, while I write my blog.

#113 Can hardly believe it

Could a teacher, someone with a college degree, really say this?

#112 Finished the Beginning

Book club meets tomorrow night, and I finished the selection, "In the Beginning; The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture," about 15 minutes ago. I learned many interesting details which I may comment on later, and in general thoroughly enjoy the book.

There were two things about this book that did not please me. I can't put my finger on it, but somehow there are sections that don't seem to hang together--like McGrath dropped his note cards or misplaced a document on his computer. Also, the documentation consists of a very large bibliography pp. 317-328, but no notes. The author of "Seabiscuit" who is an editor of a horse magazine and suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome compiled the most incredible, detailed, unobtrusive notes I've ever seen in a non-scholarly work. McGrath could have at least tried with a far more important topic.

#111 [In the] Black Friday

I never shop the two days after Thanksgiving. I always look at those six hour specials that I see in the fliers on Thanksgiving Day. This year I even noted that there was an $88 digital camera at Target and my daughter’s Christmas china was 50% off at Lazarus, but still I didn’t venture out on Black Friday.

I hear that the economy is depending on me! It’s the cost of freedom I heard on a talk show this morning! It’s just too much pressure! What ever happened to the good news, that God in Jesus Christ humbled himself and became one of us?

This year I’ll again take the time to write seasonal checks to Nurturing Network (saves unborn babies by helping the mothers), Lutheran Bible Translators (380 million still waiting for a Bible in their own language), Cat Welfare (caring for homeless cats), Samaritan’s Purse (outreach to children), and our church, which needs to retire a large mortgage. It still puts money into circulation, even if it doesn’t benefit the retailers

#110 Penmanship

Last night we went to the dollar theater to see Freaky Friday, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. It really was a cute movie, very well acted, with only the wooden performance by Mark Harmon spoiling it. But then, maybe he was supposed to be that way and is really a fun guy who had to tone it down?

In one scene, Annabell the daughter (in the body of her mother) goes to a parent teacher conference and gets to read an essay her brother Harry (played by Ryan Malgarini) has written about her--expressing his love and admiration. (They had been squabbling throughout the movie.) The essay is in cursive writing (the audience gets to read it, too).

However, I've been told that cursive is no longer taught in public schools. Recently a senior in high school filled out a form for an art show, and I had to ask her about the word, "Paradize." She spelled it aloud for me, correctly, when I asked. I think she didn't know the difference between a "z" and an "s" in writing but is very bright. Probably only uses a computer. So I asked her if writing was taught in school, and she turned up her nose--"we never use it."

This private school in Houston is proud of teaching first graders cursive. Perhaps the boy in Freaky Friday went to private school.
Kimberly at Number 2 Pencil had these comments on "fancy writing."

#109 Harry Smith radio talk show host?

Harry Smith was named an anchor of CBS’ The Early Show in October 2002. He has served as the host of A&E’s “Biography series since 1999 and continues in that role while co-hosting The Early Show. I’ve always felt a bit sorry for him trying to be a respected journalist in that female dominated gossipy, gabby Early Show. Which came first, The View or The Early Show? Harry is handsome, charming and articulate, and his talent is totally wasted with his vapid co-hosts.

I think Harry secretly wants to be the host of that phantom and fantasized left-of-center talk show the Democrats are trying to fund and place on the radio waves to combat the popularity of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Dr. Laura, et. al. I watched Harry interview Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the President’s National Security Advisor, this morning about President Bush’s surprise Thanksgiving Day trip to Iraq, which included her.

To the troops Bush said: "You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq so we don't have to face them in our own country." We’ve heard it many times.

And Harry couldn’t pass it up. “Why does he say that when everyone knows Iraq wasn’t behind Al-Qaida and wasn‘t a terrorist threat” is a paraphrase of what he said, trotting out the liberal media line. Did his bosses insist he turn an interview into a high school debate, or was it his own idea? Or perhaps, it was a set up by the President’s speech writers to allow Dr. Rice to reiterate all the administration’s reasons for taking the war to Iraq? I’m not sure she made it through the 10 reasons the war helps fight terrorism, but she’s good--and fast. If Harry had a two hour talk show with commercials every ten minutes, he could have done better.

#108 A cup of coffee on Thanksgiving morning

Many employers really do give Thanksgiving Day off. This morning I had quite a search to find an open coffee shop. Panera’s, Caribou, Starbucks, Bob Evans, Tim Horton’s, Wendy’s, McDonald’s. All were closed so employees could enjoy time with their families, or time to sleep in, or time to clean the garage.

Finally I saw an open White Castle and pulled in. I’d never been in one. No house newspaper or classical music, just big windows and small booths, but the coffee was excellent. Perhaps because it was a holiday with no baggage for them, there were two Hispanics, an Asian woman, a developmentally disabled man, and a Canadian supervisor (I don’t know that, but his haughty attitude and countenance reminded me of Peter Jennings, so I’m calling him a Canadian) working the pre-dawn hours. I’ll have to stop back tomorrow--they wouldn’t take a $20--and said I could pay next time.

I found a turkey stuffing recipe using White Castles.
http://www.channel3000.com/health/2665725/detail.html I think I'd sub the
sausage sandwich.

10 White Castle hamburgers, no pickles
1 ½ cups celery, diced
1 ¼ tsp. ground thyme
1 ½ tsp. ground sage
½ tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
¼ c. chicken broth

In a large mixing bowl, tear the burgers into pieces and add diced celery
and seasonings. Toss and add chicken broth. Toss well. Stuff cavity of
turkey just before roasting. Makes about 9 cups (enough for a 10- to
12-pound turkey). Note: Allow 1 hamburger for each pound of turkey, which
will be the equivalent of ¾ cup of stuffing per pound.

#107 The Great August 2003 Blackout

I was sitting in a music class at Lakeside that day in mid-August when shortly after 4 p.m. the lights went out. We assumed it was local, and the instructor continued. When I got home about 5 p.m. I heard it was northern Ohio. I removed our uncooked dinner from the oven and we went out to eat at a local restaurant that had gas stoves. Only coffee wasn’t available.

Even though we were then at the start of what later was known as the great blackout cascade affecting huge areas of the United States and Canada, our power returned in 4 hours. Other areas of the country suffered for days. Now the interim report “Causes of the August 14th Blackout in the United States and Canada” (November 2003) provides some interesting analyses, conclusions and a good look at possible security problems.

C/Net found this quote within the report: "While the very largest provider networks--the Internet backbones--were apparently unaffected by the blackout (in North America), many thousands of significant networks and millions of individual Internet users were offline for hours or days," the report stated. "Banks, investment funds, business services, manufacturers, hospitals, educational institutions, Internet service providers, and federal and state government units were among the affected organizations."

Related stories at C/Net.

106 Wenger, Wanger, Winger, Wingert--you may be one too!

My grandfather was only 16 and living on a farm in Montgomery County, Ohio, when his widowed mother died. Consequently, her surname, Wenger, wasn’t in my consciousness until I took a mild interest in genealogy. Once I learned to look for Wenger, I noticed a huge book (over 1200 pages) at a used book store, “The Wenger Book; a foundation book of American Wengers,” Samuel S. Wenger, Ed. (Pennsylvania German Heritage History, Inc., 1978). So I bought it. The book chronicles the descendants of one Christian Wenger who arrived in the United States from Switzerland in 1727 with his wife Eve Graybill (Kraybill, Krabill). I think by 1900 they had about 200,000 descendants, but as many of them as there were, they are not my Wengers.

My Wengers are descended from Hans and Hannah according to "Hans and Hannah Wenger, North American Descendants," a four volume work by Daniel L. Wenger. They didn’t come to this country until 1749, but they were also Mennonites. This information is available on CD and an on-line database which makes it easy to search.

Three of their sons and Hannah immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1748 and 1749. Hans apparently died shortly before the trip. Their descendants have spread across the country and the world. Many other families are also included in the database, including other Wenger lines, in particular many descendants of Christian Wenger, immigrant of 1727 (of the book I can‘t use). There are over 100,000 names of individuals who are not connected to the Hans and Hannah Wenger family. These names (like my father’s parents) were collected in order to assist in identifying possible other ancestors of Wenger descendants and possible other Wenger descendants.

The DLW genealogy database contains over 232,000 names (last updated Oct. 1, 2002) of individuals, mostly descended from 18th century Mennonites, River Brethren (Brethren in Christ) and German Baptist Brethren (Church of the Brethren) who settled in Lancaster, Lebanon and Franklin Counties, Pennsylvania, in Ontario, Canada and in Washington County, Maryland and Botetourt County, Virginia. In the 1800s a number of the families moved to Darke County and Montgomery County, Ohio and to Iowa, Indiana and Kansas. In the early 1900s there was continued migration to Upland and Modesto, California.

The database can be searched at RootsWeb. If you are a descendant of Hans and Hannah and known to the author, you will have a unique number in this database. And that would make us cousins.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN Blogroll

#105 Low fat, sugarless, high carb and delicious

Yesterday I bought a huge amount of raisins at a low price. We eat raisins on our oatmeal, but I think these would last until 2005 at the small sprinkling we use. So what to do?

Last Friday a widower walked into the watercolor workshop at the senior center (all women) and jokingly said, "Where's the food?" People who live alone have a struggle finding good nutrition and socializing. So many senior centers, including ours, provide lunch for a reasonable fee and friends to share it with. But still, there is that hankering for something special, something home made. So I thought I'd make a raisin pie and take it to the senior center for snacking.

I haven't tasted raisin pie probably in 40 years, so I'm thinking it was probably something popular when dried fruit was used in place of fresh. I didn't find what I was looking for among Mother's recipes, or in my cookbooks. Not even "Granddaughter's Inglenook" had one. So I googled the following at cooks.com, using Splenda in place of sugar, and a peanut oil pie crust. Smells fabulous. Maybe I should taste it first--you know, just to be sure it is OK to share?

2 cups raisins
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (Splenda works)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
pie dough for double crust

Cook raisins in o.j. and water for 5 minutes (I wash mine first). Reduce heat. Combine sugar, cornstarch and allspice; stir into raisin mixture. Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in nuts and lemon juice. Cool 10 minutes.

Pour into unbaked pie shell and cover with top crust. Cut slits for steam. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue baking 25-30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.

#104 Tyndale and the King James Bible

As a Christian, I’ve experienced distress and amusement at the battles that rage among other Christians over the King James Bible (see King James Only and responses ). At our next Book Club, we’ll be discussing “In the beginning; the story of the King James Bible and how it changed a nation, a language, and a culture” by Alister E. McGrath (New York: Doubleday, 2001). As usual, I’ve left it to the final week to read, so have divided it into equal parts and am trying to discipline myself to read (I’m a slow reader). Much of the information is not new, particularly the influence on the English language because a few years ago I read and thoroughly enjoyed “The story of English.”

Peggy, the leader of December’s meeting sent 3 pages of discussion points for us to consider ahead of time, and I noticed this interesting aside (I’ve added the links) :

“There is a group called the Tyndale Society which promotes the works of William Tyndale. The founder of the Society is David Daniell, who has issued Tyndale's New Testament and Old Testament translations unaltered except for modern spelling. He and members of his society think that the credit for the accurate and memorable phrasing of the KJV should really belong to Tyndale. According to their analysis, 83.7 % of the KJV New Testament comes from Tyndale; 2.4% from Coverdale, 2.2% from the Great Bible, 4.7% from the Geneva Bible, 2.2% from the Bishops' Bible, 1.9 % from the Rheims Bible, and only 2.8% is original to the King James. Of the Old Testament books that Tyndale translated (Genesis to Chronicles), 75.7% of the KJV comes from Tyndale, 6.1% from Coverdale, 9.6% from the Geneva Bible, and 8.7% is original to the KJV.

Daniell writes: "Astonishment is still voiced that the dignitaries who prepared the 1611 Authorized Version for King James spoke so often with one voice--apparently miraculously. Of course they did: the voice (never acknowledged by them) was Tyndale's." Furthermore, Daniell maintains that many of the changes that were made in Tyndale's translation by the KJV were inferior to Tyndale's in that the KJV smoothed off the freshness; made it more Latinized than English; were less true to the Greek or Hebrew sense; and made it more formal, majestic, and to remove it from the people and promote Anglican church hierarchy. We do not have the materials to debate Daniell's claims, but I bring it to your attention, and I will give some of his examples.”

I do not doubt that the KJV committee could have used Tyndale’s translation, nor that God could have used this for his own purposes to get his word out to the world through a political power that he used for that purpose. Oh, that the 3,000+ translations into English would just be read and believed. Click here for chronology.

#103 Rand Beers and national security

Can a man who until March worked for Bush and since July is working for a man who wants his job, say his former boss is doing anything right without damaging his current boss?

“Rand Beers, most recently special assistant to President Bush and
senior director for combating terrorism at the National Security
Council, will discuss "The War on Terrorism: Are We Safer Today?"
He is now national and homeland security issue coordinator for the
John Kerry for President campaign. Beers will discuss Afghanistan,
Iraq, weapons-of-mass-destruction terrorism, the United Nations, the
United States approach to the Islamic world, and homeland security and
civil liberties. The talk is at noon Monday (11/24) in 120 Mershon
Center and is part of the center's National Security Speaker Series.” [OSUToday, Nov. 21]

In a July article in the Washington Post, Beers is quoted as saying, “"Counterterrorism is like a team sport. The game is deadly. There has to be offense and defense," Beers said. "The Bush administration is primarily offense, and not into teamwork. . .The difficult, long-term issues both at home and abroad have been avoided, neglected or shortchanged and generally underfunded."

If I were a Democrat, I think I’d probably be looking at Kerry. However, it’s unlikely Kerry can beat out Dean, but this job is a good way for Beers to get his message out.

#102 Inspired by tzungtzu, Chinese dumplings

Dora Hsiung, my college roommate, has an exhibit at a theater lobby in Harvard Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, MA. There's a review of her show and the play "Snow in June" by Charles Mee inspired by a 13th century Chinese drama at the theater website. If you are in the area, stop in.

#101 The big lie

My Kroger grocery receipt for 11/21/03 says I saved $9.61, and that my total Kroger Plus Card savings to date is $659.22. It’s a lie, of course. First of all, when I occasionally drop in there to shop (where I used to shop often), I use a friend’s card. So she’s the one with the $659.22 “savings.” Second, the prices on everything in the store have been jacked up to cover the cost of the data mining for this phony savings plan.

In our community, Giant Eagle, Big Bear and Kroger all offer loyalty cards--Big Bear and Giant Eagle are struggling and will probably go out of business. Behemoth Wal-Marts will be moving in, although none close enough for me to shop there. I can save a lot more by going to a Meijer or a Wal-Mart that sells groceries. I can get much better service and more interesting choices by going to my non-chain, neighborhood grocery, Huffman’s Market, which also doesn’t ask me to show a plastic card linked to my personal information.

Anecdotal and survey evidence indicates you’ll pay 25-70% more by using loyalty card stores. I realize I’m spitting into the wind here--it is virtually impossible to convince an American consumer that businesses that give away their products don’t succeed. I used to be a loyal Kroger shopper. I occasionally return to “my” store (carries the kitty litter brand I need) and have watched everything in the store go up in price to cover the cost of the program.

These plastic card loyalty plans are just newer forms of sweepstakes, green stamps and coupons that were ubiquitous in the 60s through the 80s. Just as coupons were sized to the dollar bill, these are sized to look like credit cards, updating the consumer scam with the times. The first coupon was a wooden nickel around 1900. But that wooden nickel couldn’t track you--loyalty cards can.

I have no idea if CASPIAN is just another front for some anti-business protest group, but they are against loyalty cards and the invasion of privacy they represent. Nor do I think John Ashcroft has time to worry about what brand of toilet paper I like. I am so sick of being asked to carry around a bunch of cards for footwear, office supplies, airlines, pharmacies and any other commodity, I’m about ready to take to the streets with a placard.

#100 Career track protestors

If you check on the Volokh Conspiracy, a group of lawyers who blog together (see link on the right hand side), you’ll find an entry about how few people turned out for the Bush protests in London. The writer said, “The crowd is a little bigger than the crowd two days ago, who were protesting the ban on feeding the pigeons, but certainly smaller than the crowd last month, who were protesting tuition hikes at universities.” A look at the stop the war web site clearly shows the same Communist and Socialist groups who were protesting 35 years ago, with a few newer Muslim groups thrown in. And they aren’t shy--big red star.

The Cincinnati Post editorial said, "Rather than damage British Prime Minister Tony Blair's shaky public approval rating, the Bush visit might actually improve it."

Frederick Forsythe in the British Guardian reminded us, “The British left 70 years ago opposed mobilization against Hitler and worshipped the other genocide, Joseph Stalin. It marched for Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Krushchev, Brezhnev and Andropov. It has slobbered over Ceausescu and Mugabe. It has demonstrated against everything and everyone American for a century. Broadly speaking, it hates your country (U.S.A.) first and mine second.”

#99 Desperately using Susan

Susan Sarandon on the cover of Heifer International catalog? And other actors on the inside? The organization was organized by Dan West in 1942, and supported by a pacifist denomination, Church of the Brethren. For a $50 gift you can give a heifer worth $500 to a family in need. But having a collection of Hollywood actors, most active in far-left, anti-administration activities doesn’t provide any prestige or credibility for its reputation, as far as I can see. I have supported this organization in the past, but no more. If you’re interested in both peace and relief services, try the Mennonite Central Committee.

#96 Where was your money during the slump?

Which companies are Web smart? Do you know what your investments were doing during the slump? The bust is over--according to BusinessWeek Online (and just about every other source). The 50 companies featured in this article are not necessarily tech companies, but those that know how to use the web to their advantage, like Stop and Shop, Krispy Kreme, and Wal-Mart.

“The Web Smart 50 profiles the most innovative projects within corporations. The trends that cut across industries are distilled into six categories, from collaboration and customer service to management. It makes for a diverse crew of companies, with plenty of surprises. Dell Inc. you would expect. But Whirlpool Corp. and the FBI? They offer innovations of their own.” With links to stories about the companies.

#95 Poor writing

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on poor academic writing in the (free) Oct. 24 edition. It is so poorly written and so difficult to wade through, I’m wondering if it is a parody.

#94 What you believed at age 13

“Adults essentially carry out the beliefs they embraced when they were young,” he explained (George Barna). “The reason why Christians are so similar in their attitudes, values and lifestyles to non-Christians is that they were not sufficiently challenged to think and behave differently – radically differently, based on core spiritual perspectives – when they were children. Simply getting people to go to church regularly is not the key to becoming a mature Christian. Spiritual transformation requires a more extensive investment in one’s ability to interpret all life situations in spiritual terms.” Read the rest of Barna’s report here.

He points out that upon comparing data from a national survey of 13-year-olds with an identical survey among adults, the belief profile related to a dozen central spiritual principles was identical between the two groups. Those beliefs included perceptions of the nature of God, the existence of Satan, the reliability of the Bible, perceptions regarding the after-life, the holiness of Jesus Christ, the means of gaining God’s favor, and the influence of spiritual forces in a person’s life.

So at least statistically, what you believed at age 13, you will believe when you die. Scary isn’t it? This is not true in my case. I grew up in a liberal Protestant denomination and knew nothing about sin or grace or the deity and saving work of Jesus. However, I don’t doubt that in a survey of large numbers it would be accurate. I’ll have to reevaluate my opinion of the value of various children’s ministries. Having the church form the attitudes and beliefs rather than the family doesn’t seem to be Biblical, but I’m willing to take another look.

And I still may be correct about the time, effort and money that go into children’s programming. In an earlier report, Barna stated that “For most teenagers who have spent years attending church activities their faith is not integrated into who they are and how they live. Most of the young people who claim they developed an understanding of the Bible that enables them to make decisions based on biblical principles show no evidence of using that understanding in relation to the core beliefs and lifestyle choices that we studied.”