Monday, February 09, 2015

Weather Rules; NSA; Grandma's Ashes; Footprint; Furniture Replacement; Food Locations; The Improving Economy; Fluid Intake; Kim again; Exercise Benefit; Drone Attack; Orfeo; Coma? Too bad!





Red sky at dawning,
Sailor take warning.
Red sky at night,
Sailor's delight.




For years I have thought that this was a valid poem, but yesterday matters were reversed:


Early in the morning, at the dawning of the sun, the sky was the reddest I have ever seen it.  Later in the day, we had a nice pleasant day.   However, in the evening, the sky was once again filled with red color... and today.. it has been an overcast, dismal, rainy day.


Oh well..  never mind.. let me try to catch up a bit on my blogs by listing a dozen items to talk about (if I can):


01. Is NSA looking at me?


Today, I attended the second presentation of Great Decisions, and we talked about Privacy in the Internet  Age.  Extremely interesting to me.


David Scott, moderator, spoke about his 40 years experience at NSA, so I believe him when he says anything about the Government.  Like him, I have 40 years experience in Government work, and am  interested in anything he says about his job.


Is it true that only routing information is being held?  For instance, if I call Germany, would my information (time, equipment out, equipment in) be held .. or would the actual words of my conversation be held... Dave says the former is true, and it makes sense to me, except that, based on my experience building keyword indices, more intelligence could be obtained from recording and reviewing actual voice correspondence. If correspondence is being data mined, then keywords can be used in order to pick important conversations, matches on specific keywords would be important .


02.  A Different Type of Donation


The staff at the Fenton, Michigan Goodwill Store are trying to find the person who donated an urn containing grandma's cremated remains.  They were neatly contained in a box labeled appropriately: Grandma's Urn."


03.  Even Clouseau could have caught him. (The Week)


A while ago, Australian police captured an elusive disabled burglar.   They were able to do this because the Spring thaw had made the ground a muddy mess and the burglar's one-legged footprints formed a neat map directly to him. 


04.  What a nerve! (The Week)


A Washington State man went into his neighbors' home while they were away and replaced their furniture with his own.  He told police that he thought that his neighbors had abandoned their apartment. 


The late Joan Rivers once said that a burglar broke into her home, stole all of her furniture and replaced it with exact duplicates. (Or was that Henny Youngman?)


05.  Where did your supper come from?


Lila Jenkins (German Society of Maryland)  says that the first two letters of a product barcode tells where it came from:




00-09 - USA
30-37 - France
40-44 - Germany
49      - Japan
50      - UK


3 letters show:


371 - Taiwan
690, 691, 692 - China


06.  Conservatives don't want to give Credit to President Obama.


(So, what else is new?)  The National Review in December 2014 admits that the economy appears to be gathering strength.  Job growth and industrial production are up, oil prices are down and inflation remains subdued.  And I quote: "Conservatives will naturally fear that the good news, if it lasts, will redound to the undeserved credit of President Obama and the Democrats...(but)... better policies would have made for a stronger and earlier recovery and would still have a positive effect."


07.  Watch your Fluids!  (Harvard Heart Letter)


If you have heart problems, your body may be retaining salt and water in an attempt to boost your blood volume.  this causes fluid to build up throughout the body, leading to weight gain, swollen ankles and feet, and shortness of breath.   So, some people need to restrict liquid input and have no more that 8 cups of fluid per day.  What counts as fluid anyway?


Water
Juice
Soda
Gelatin
Soup
Milkshakes
Smoothies
Ice Cream
Sorbet


(one cup of these items equals a cup of liquid)


Ice Cubes - 1 cup = 1/2 cup of fluid


The following fruits and vegetables contain large amounts of liquid.  One cup of each of these counts as a half-cup of liquid:


Cantaloupe
Grapefruit
Strawberries
Watermelon
Celery
Cucumber
Tomato


08.  When the Moon comes over the Mountain.. revisited. (The Week)


Brian Moylan says in Time.com:  "Yes, Kardashian has a big shiny butt that resembles 'a glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut,' and now we've all seen it.  But'that is the end.. pun intended.. of it."


 
09.  Good News if heeded.  (Bottomline Health)


Kate Wolin (Loyola School of Medicine, Chicago)  says that men who exercise just one hour a week may have a reduction in the need to get up twice or more during the night to urinate.  (Hmmmm.)


10.  Watch out for Drones!  (The Week)


A drone was flying around a TGI Fridays in Brooklyn, when it spun out of control and nipped off the tip of a patron's nose with its propeller. Law suit is probably pending.


11. Beautiful Opera Music.  (XM Radio)


While I am writing this blog, the Met Opera Radio station is playing a recording of a 1958 Met performance of Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurideci. (sp)  Amazing music with Rise Stevens.   (A different opera is aired every night at 7 pm.)  It's not Mozart... but close.


12.  Ohio Welfare Decision.  (The Week)


 An Ohio woman had her welfare benefits terminated after she failed to attend mandatory job-training sessions, because she was in a medically induced coma.  I'm not surprised at anything coming out of Ohio after Speaker Boehner's arrival in Congress.  (How can my long-lost brother survive in Ohio's stifling atmosphere?..  I know... I know.. it can't be all bad.)


Ok.. now my juices are stirred.. and I need to wrap up.   A Dios, Muchacos.


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