I don't usually write about items in our local Westminster, Maryland newspaper (The Carroll County Times) but a few things in today's Sunday edition got my juices moving. (Some good juices and some bad juices.)
First, the bad juices:
01. The Associated Press reports that thousands of African albinos have gone into hiding after 58 have recently been killed and dismembered under the belief that albino body parts have magical powers. Up to $75,000 can be made by selling a complete dismembered set of parts.
Albinos normally have normal children. Albinism is hereditary, but only when both parents have albinism genes.
(Would it be feasible for the U.S. to offer refuge to albinos? They probably are not safe anywhere in Africa.)
02. The AP also reports that protesters are rioting in Geneva, Switzerland (of all places!). They are protesting the seventh WTO (World Trade Organization) Ministerial Conference, opening tomorrow. (I would like to know who is protesting, who is supporting them, why they are protesting, and what their demands are, if any.)
03. It was a homemade bomb that terrorists used to destroy a high-speed Russian train and the lives of 26 people. (What kind of mentality allows innocent people to be killed for any cause?)
04. Dwight Dingle passed away on November 26th, just a few days after the honorary Dwight Dingle Day in Carroll County. He ran the Maryland radio station devoted to the County and was instrumental in making it a communications device followed closely by almost everyone in the County. Dwight had a long and varied career in his 63 years of life.. it is a shame that he could not have at least another 20 years to do his good works.
A few years ago, I was privileged to meet Dwight and do a series of radio spots at his station. Dwight helped bring the details of Carroll County service agencies, like the ones I represented, to his listeners. (I was honored with induction into the Maryland Senior Citizen Hall of Fame last year, but I think that Dwight was far more qualified than I was and I'm sure that he would have been given that honor eventually, except for his very untimely death.)
05. Deer hunting season began yesterday. Last year over 100,000 deer were killed as well as several hunters. Please, hunters, find a way to freeze the meat (not human) you don't need so that poor people, at home, in institutions and in hospitals can get some protein.
06. A letter to the editor by a "religious" woman says: "God is not anti-sex. He is the one who initiated and blessed human sexuality. Yet, in my years of study, I have found no biblical support for the homosexual lifestyle...doesn't it seem odd that he (God) and his son Jesus are silent on the subject?... what the Bible does not tell me is so, is, well, not so."
Does the Bible say it is ok for priests to engage in "gang bangs" with children? It isn't mentioned in the Bible, yet even a Bishop's Group said this occurred, they are sorry for it, and will pay massive retribution.
This also begs the question: Where will the money come from to pay the claims? From the Priests or from the people? (As one of the richest organizations in the world, probably the sale of one bejeweled crown would handle the payment.)
Incidentally, at the time of Jesus' life, homosexual activity with boys was not frowned upon in the Roman/Helene world. I've read that Women were only used as "vessels for child bearing, a necessary function." Has the writer ever studied the writing and life of Saul/Paul/St. Paul? A Roman citizen in a Greek style world. Wasn't it Paul who wrote that spreaders of the Gospel should be celibate?
What I am trying to say with all of this is that "It ain't necessarily so. The things that you're liable, to read in the Bible. It ain't necessarily so."
The part of that song that I like the best is:
" Methuselah lived 900 years.
Yeah, old Methuselah lived 900 years.
But, what use is livin',
When no woman will give in,
To no man what's 900 years."
We know many gay couples and some are even bringing up beautiful, well-adjusted children. What the hell is wrong with that?
Well, I'll save my good juices for another blog. Thanks for listening.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Just Say "NO!"
Do you receive a lot of irritating telemarketing calls and wonder why?
How many times have you been asked by a store clerk for your telephone number? How many times have you given it to them? Have you asked why they want it? Usually they say it is because they need it to "send you some coupons". HUH?! Think about that for a moment.
When a company has your telephone number, they have a valuable asset. Your telephone number is a wonderful piece of information for telemarketers. It is worth a LOT OF MONEY! (EXPECT SOME CALLS!)
The company that obtained your telephone number can sell that item to telemarketers because the telemarketers will then know that you have actually purchased a product at the store that obtained the number. This is fantastic information for them.. you are a known purchaser of a type of product they can probably get you to purchase again.. (EXPECT SOME CALLS!)
But.. you will say.. "they can't call me because I signed on to the "do not call" list." Well, if you have ever done business with the telemarketer .. or with the company that they bought your telephone number from.. the "do not call" list does not apply. (EXPECT SOME CALLS!)
So.. unless you like to get those irritating telemarketer calls.... my advice to you would be.. whenever a clerk asks you for your telephone number.... JUST SAY: NO!
How many times have you been asked by a store clerk for your telephone number? How many times have you given it to them? Have you asked why they want it? Usually they say it is because they need it to "send you some coupons". HUH?! Think about that for a moment.
When a company has your telephone number, they have a valuable asset. Your telephone number is a wonderful piece of information for telemarketers. It is worth a LOT OF MONEY! (EXPECT SOME CALLS!)
The company that obtained your telephone number can sell that item to telemarketers because the telemarketers will then know that you have actually purchased a product at the store that obtained the number. This is fantastic information for them.. you are a known purchaser of a type of product they can probably get you to purchase again.. (EXPECT SOME CALLS!)
But.. you will say.. "they can't call me because I signed on to the "do not call" list." Well, if you have ever done business with the telemarketer .. or with the company that they bought your telephone number from.. the "do not call" list does not apply. (EXPECT SOME CALLS!)
So.. unless you like to get those irritating telemarketer calls.... my advice to you would be.. whenever a clerk asks you for your telephone number.... JUST SAY: NO!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Ponder on this!
Yesterday, at the Doctor's office, I reaquainted myself with Harper's Magazine. I had forgotten what a great communications document it is. One of the features of the magazine is Harper's Index. Two items in that index "grabbed" me:
01. The estimated number of cars that it takes to produce as much co2 as a single cargo ship = 10,000! This estimate was attributed to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau, Alaska.
Some time ago, I heard on National Public Radio that if all of the containers on just one cargo ship were placed on multi-wheeled trucks, and the trucks were lined up from the unloading dock in a line.. that line would extend (in Baltimore, Maryland's case) all the way to the start of the New Jersey turnpike!
I tried to calculate this myself.. I figured that the average container is 50 feet long and the front of the truck is 10 feet long. That means a length of 60 feet for each unit and if there were 1,000 units on the container ship... the total length would be 60,000 feet or only about 11 miles. The turnpike is a lot farther away than that. (40 miles?)
Maybe the length of the front of a truck is longer? Maybe the size of containers is greater than 50 feet? Maybe the number of containers on a ship is greater than 1,000? Maybe NPR made a
mistake? Maybe Joe Vaughan mis-heard? Could someone set me straight on this?
02. The Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland has estimated that there are 37,964 planets in the galaxy that are hospitable enough to support life as intelligent as human beings.
Who said that human beings are intelligent? (And don't put too much stock in IQ tests and LSAT scores. As a Mensa member for 30 years, I feel qualified to say that.)
I read that Catholic Bishops have been meeting lately to figure out what to do if life is found on other planets. I'm sure that they are reasoning that if God is all-powerful, He (or She) could place intelligent creatures anywhere he wants to in the universe.
(Did you hear the one about the Priest, the Minister and the Rabbi who set out in a space ship?)
..........................................................................
01. The estimated number of cars that it takes to produce as much co2 as a single cargo ship = 10,000! This estimate was attributed to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau, Alaska.
Some time ago, I heard on National Public Radio that if all of the containers on just one cargo ship were placed on multi-wheeled trucks, and the trucks were lined up from the unloading dock in a line.. that line would extend (in Baltimore, Maryland's case) all the way to the start of the New Jersey turnpike!
I tried to calculate this myself.. I figured that the average container is 50 feet long and the front of the truck is 10 feet long. That means a length of 60 feet for each unit and if there were 1,000 units on the container ship... the total length would be 60,000 feet or only about 11 miles. The turnpike is a lot farther away than that. (40 miles?)
Maybe the length of the front of a truck is longer? Maybe the size of containers is greater than 50 feet? Maybe the number of containers on a ship is greater than 1,000? Maybe NPR made a
mistake? Maybe Joe Vaughan mis-heard? Could someone set me straight on this?
02. The Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland has estimated that there are 37,964 planets in the galaxy that are hospitable enough to support life as intelligent as human beings.
Who said that human beings are intelligent? (And don't put too much stock in IQ tests and LSAT scores. As a Mensa member for 30 years, I feel qualified to say that.)
I read that Catholic Bishops have been meeting lately to figure out what to do if life is found on other planets. I'm sure that they are reasoning that if God is all-powerful, He (or She) could place intelligent creatures anywhere he wants to in the universe.
(Did you hear the one about the Priest, the Minister and the Rabbi who set out in a space ship?)
..........................................................................
Sunday, November 22, 2009
That's funny...
Listening to the Sunday radio news, I noticed that Oprah's plan to quit her popular show in 2011 was mentioned earlier than the Senate news on Health Care Reform.... Some of us remember her when she was on Baltimore TV.. she has indeed "come a long way, baby!" She is, of course, . a multi-billionaire, and stands to increase her wealth with her new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
I think that it would be wonderful for the people of the world if she and Bill Gates would each donate one billion dollars of their wealth to stem cell research. Perhaps they could fund some million dollar prizes to be given to the first scientists to make breakthroughs in that area. (Although maybe that would be duplicating a Nobel prize... Well then, how about a billion dollar prize to the scientist who shows the first practical application of stem cell methodology to breast cancer?)
Oprah has a dignified manner of speaking, and does not "trash talk" like some other communicators.
Sometimes, while listening to XM radio, I accidently switch to the channel that bills itself as a "laugh" channel, but which has "comedians" who think that every other word should be a vulgarism. What has that to do with humor? XM Channel 151 is my choice for a true "laugh" channel. The real comedians, who don' t have to rely on vulgarisms to be funny, are heard on that channel.
A little risque humor is fine, and "double entendres" are fun, and ordinary, old fashioned cuss words don't seem to detract from intelligent jokes. But "jokes" that rely on the use of "naughty" words that the "jokester" thinks will get a laugh, fall flat, in my opinion. The only comedian who got away with the use of vulgarisms in his routine was Redd Foxx.. but when you listened to him, you knew that he was being satiric in his usage.. and, as those of us who loved his TV show, he could be hilarious without the vulgarity.
I've told this story before somewhere in my blogs, but here I go again. Tony, a high school buddy of one of our friends here in Baltimore (Jim) was a comedian who performed in night clubs. Tony was performing in a downtown bar and called Jim to invite him to come down and watch the show. What Tony did not realize was that Jim would bring his wife and me and my wife along with him.
The bar was a sleezy joint that was probably the last place for strippers before they applied for Social Security. Our table was next to the door from which the strippers would emerge and it was a good vantage point to observe the appendix scars, c-section scars and hairy moles of these senior citizens.
Each table was in an alcove so that patrons (and the police) could not observe what was transpiring within. The 3-piece band kept up a sufficiently noisy "bump and grind" sound so that one could also not hear what was transpiring within the alcoves.
Tony was surprised and extremely nervous when he found out that Jim had brought his wife and friends. When his time came to tell his jokes, he decided to clean them up in order not to shock Jim's wife and guests. The audience did not like that.. and the manager began to yell at him from the wings: "Tell the dirty jokes or you're out of here!" We decided that by us being there, we were going to get him fired, so we left.
Jim lost touch with Tony and always wondered what became of him. Maybe he is one of the "performers" on the raunchy XM laugh channel.
Now, I am not a prude.. I think that "damn" and "hell" and mild curse words are great when used for emphasis.. but I do think that the constant use of very strong vulgarisms governs how ordinary people think about you and how you get placed within society and your community. It can also control the kinds of jobs you will be able to have in your life. .So.. save the vulgarisms for when you hit your thumb with a hammer.. or for when you are alone in your car in irritating traffic with the windows rolled up. (Meanwhile, did you hear the one about the two naked ladies and the yard sale?)
...........................................................................................
I think that it would be wonderful for the people of the world if she and Bill Gates would each donate one billion dollars of their wealth to stem cell research. Perhaps they could fund some million dollar prizes to be given to the first scientists to make breakthroughs in that area. (Although maybe that would be duplicating a Nobel prize... Well then, how about a billion dollar prize to the scientist who shows the first practical application of stem cell methodology to breast cancer?)
Oprah has a dignified manner of speaking, and does not "trash talk" like some other communicators.
Sometimes, while listening to XM radio, I accidently switch to the channel that bills itself as a "laugh" channel, but which has "comedians" who think that every other word should be a vulgarism. What has that to do with humor? XM Channel 151 is my choice for a true "laugh" channel. The real comedians, who don' t have to rely on vulgarisms to be funny, are heard on that channel.
A little risque humor is fine, and "double entendres" are fun, and ordinary, old fashioned cuss words don't seem to detract from intelligent jokes. But "jokes" that rely on the use of "naughty" words that the "jokester" thinks will get a laugh, fall flat, in my opinion. The only comedian who got away with the use of vulgarisms in his routine was Redd Foxx.. but when you listened to him, you knew that he was being satiric in his usage.. and, as those of us who loved his TV show, he could be hilarious without the vulgarity.
I've told this story before somewhere in my blogs, but here I go again. Tony, a high school buddy of one of our friends here in Baltimore (Jim) was a comedian who performed in night clubs. Tony was performing in a downtown bar and called Jim to invite him to come down and watch the show. What Tony did not realize was that Jim would bring his wife and me and my wife along with him.
The bar was a sleezy joint that was probably the last place for strippers before they applied for Social Security. Our table was next to the door from which the strippers would emerge and it was a good vantage point to observe the appendix scars, c-section scars and hairy moles of these senior citizens.
Each table was in an alcove so that patrons (and the police) could not observe what was transpiring within. The 3-piece band kept up a sufficiently noisy "bump and grind" sound so that one could also not hear what was transpiring within the alcoves.
Tony was surprised and extremely nervous when he found out that Jim had brought his wife and friends. When his time came to tell his jokes, he decided to clean them up in order not to shock Jim's wife and guests. The audience did not like that.. and the manager began to yell at him from the wings: "Tell the dirty jokes or you're out of here!" We decided that by us being there, we were going to get him fired, so we left.
Jim lost touch with Tony and always wondered what became of him. Maybe he is one of the "performers" on the raunchy XM laugh channel.
Now, I am not a prude.. I think that "damn" and "hell" and mild curse words are great when used for emphasis.. but I do think that the constant use of very strong vulgarisms governs how ordinary people think about you and how you get placed within society and your community. It can also control the kinds of jobs you will be able to have in your life. .So.. save the vulgarisms for when you hit your thumb with a hammer.. or for when you are alone in your car in irritating traffic with the windows rolled up. (Meanwhile, did you hear the one about the two naked ladies and the yard sale?)
...........................................................................................
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A Weird Problem for a .-- . .. .-. -.. Person
I wonder if anyone else has the curse (-.-- ..- .-. ... .) that I have. It's a problem I have had since I learned Morse Code in the Air Force. Ever since then, my mind is always sending or receiving code in the background of my mind. For example, while doing a crossword puzzle today, the clue was: 7 letter word for "chains". Immediately, my mind began coding .-.. . - - . .-. ... (fetters). That code was being generated and transmitted by my brain subconsciously.. and I only realized it when I made an effort to concentrate on what was being transmitted in my head at the time.
When I was going to radio operators school, I had trouble with the Morse Code for "p" and "c", so I began to repeat the code for "percent" in my mind, over and over... (.--. . .-. -.-. . -. -) because of the presence of code for "c" and "p". It worked, I learned those code letters; the repetition caused the code for those letters to no longer be unlearnable... however, this learning aid never stopped generating and continues to generate in my mind when I am not thinking of other things.. even today.. over 50 (!) years later.
Let's see what is generating right now. Based on what I am involved it, it is not generating the usual "percent", but rather -... .-.. --- --. (blog) Let me make this clear.. this generation of Morse Code in my brain is continuous. Something is being coded every minute. Sometimes I even wake up with a "code in my head" ... Although this is a pun...(.--. ..- -.) I am serious about this.
This is a problem for me, but not a big problem. I guess it is like when I was stationed in Germany for almost 4 years.. at the end of that time, I was thinking in German and translating into English in my head. (Yes.. the Morse Code then spelled out German and English words.) So, I guess that Morse Code is like a language that lies in the background of your brain. However, after I got back to the US, in a few weeks I was thinking in English and German was shoved out of sight for a while.
But Morse Code seems to go on forever, generating in the background.
Another language I was a fluent in was French, but it never took over my brain and lies dormant.
So, why does Morse Code refuse to lie dormant, but continues to generate in the background.
Anyway.. if anybody is reading this who has (or had) "the Morse Code in the background" situation, could you let me know how you got rid of it.. if you did.
--. --- --- -.. -... -.-- . (Goodbye)
................................................................................................................
When I was going to radio operators school, I had trouble with the Morse Code for "p" and "c", so I began to repeat the code for "percent" in my mind, over and over... (.--. . .-. -.-. . -. -) because of the presence of code for "c" and "p". It worked, I learned those code letters; the repetition caused the code for those letters to no longer be unlearnable... however, this learning aid never stopped generating and continues to generate in my mind when I am not thinking of other things.. even today.. over 50 (!) years later.
Let's see what is generating right now. Based on what I am involved it, it is not generating the usual "percent", but rather -... .-.. --- --. (blog) Let me make this clear.. this generation of Morse Code in my brain is continuous. Something is being coded every minute. Sometimes I even wake up with a "code in my head" ... Although this is a pun...(.--. ..- -.) I am serious about this.
This is a problem for me, but not a big problem. I guess it is like when I was stationed in Germany for almost 4 years.. at the end of that time, I was thinking in German and translating into English in my head. (Yes.. the Morse Code then spelled out German and English words.) So, I guess that Morse Code is like a language that lies in the background of your brain. However, after I got back to the US, in a few weeks I was thinking in English and German was shoved out of sight for a while.
But Morse Code seems to go on forever, generating in the background.
Another language I was a fluent in was French, but it never took over my brain and lies dormant.
So, why does Morse Code refuse to lie dormant, but continues to generate in the background.
Anyway.. if anybody is reading this who has (or had) "the Morse Code in the background" situation, could you let me know how you got rid of it.. if you did.
--. --- --- -.. -... -.-- . (Goodbye)
................................................................................................................
Saturday, November 07, 2009
More Wait Wait Info from Nov 7, 2009
One learns so much from NPR's great show: Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! For instance, today I was amazed to learn this information:
01. The 7-11 stores will be selling their own brand of wine shortly. (As this was mentioned, the music in the background had what sounded like these lyrics: "I've got cheap wine, and free time...")
02. The hard hat was invented by Franz Kafka. (I find this utterly fantastic, but one should not be too surprised by anything that Mr. Kafka created.)
03. Someone somewhere has combined an MP3 player with a tazer.
04. Coco Krispies boxes boasted that the cereal could boost children's immunity. (But probably not to diabetes, someone said.) According to a television report last night, the company may have agreed to take the boast off the box.
05. According to a study, 22% of male texters are ending their messages with "hugs and kisses" symbols. (Cute!)
06. It was reported that a judge somewhere visited x-rated adult book stores hundreds of times recently. The judge said that he went to the store because they had such delicious chicken soup in their vending machine.
07. A Canadian study found that pregnant women who have a lot of morning sickness end up with babies with high IQ's. (Ok, fellow Mensa members, what do you think of that?)
08. Another study found that bad drivers are not to blame for their problems.. they inherited the traits from genes passed on from their parents.
09. In Germany, some inventive advertising person placed banners on flies legs and they displayed his messages as they flew about the audience.
10. South Korean cab drivers are now allowed to watch TV while they drive.
11. A woman called 911 to report that she was driving drunk. (or maybe to report all those cars that were driving on the wrong side of the freeway.)
...........................................................................................................................
01. The 7-11 stores will be selling their own brand of wine shortly. (As this was mentioned, the music in the background had what sounded like these lyrics: "I've got cheap wine, and free time...")
02. The hard hat was invented by Franz Kafka. (I find this utterly fantastic, but one should not be too surprised by anything that Mr. Kafka created.)
03. Someone somewhere has combined an MP3 player with a tazer.
04. Coco Krispies boxes boasted that the cereal could boost children's immunity. (But probably not to diabetes, someone said.) According to a television report last night, the company may have agreed to take the boast off the box.
05. According to a study, 22% of male texters are ending their messages with "hugs and kisses" symbols. (Cute!)
06. It was reported that a judge somewhere visited x-rated adult book stores hundreds of times recently. The judge said that he went to the store because they had such delicious chicken soup in their vending machine.
07. A Canadian study found that pregnant women who have a lot of morning sickness end up with babies with high IQ's. (Ok, fellow Mensa members, what do you think of that?)
08. Another study found that bad drivers are not to blame for their problems.. they inherited the traits from genes passed on from their parents.
09. In Germany, some inventive advertising person placed banners on flies legs and they displayed his messages as they flew about the audience.
10. South Korean cab drivers are now allowed to watch TV while they drive.
11. A woman called 911 to report that she was driving drunk. (or maybe to report all those cars that were driving on the wrong side of the freeway.)
...........................................................................................................................
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
More "Stuff" from a 1962 Scrapbook
I need to take a break from all of the things I have to do today, so I will get back to some items in a 1962 scrapbook. I think it's fun to see if anything has changed in 47 years.
01. In Kobe, Japanese farmers are fattening their cattle with sake and beer, and then massaging them to marble the meat, making some of the best beef in the world. (I wonder if aliens invented beer so they could enjoy marbled human beef when they come back to earth at harvest time? Sorry.)
02. One should try a Hong Kong delicacy, duck eggs that have been buried in lime for 60 days, or immersed for months in salted water. (Don't knock it until you've tried it.. or so
I've been told...)
03. Saigon swallow's nests are reported to be the best in the world.
04. In Hong Kong, one can buy cobra gall mixed with rice wine. Its supposed to be a good medicine for arthritis.
05. Hong Kong menu items: Lotus seed buns, shrimp and bean cakes, pig's tongue, shark fin buns, and dried macaroni and egg. (Yum!)
06. Another Hong Kong delicacy: Beggar's chicken wrapped in lotus leaves and cooked in clay. It is brought to the table with a hammer and is bashed open right at your elbow.
07. Albert Camus at age 43 writes: "The theater is the greatest of literary forms because it is the most difficult. The difficulty consists in putting lofty ideas to a wide audience where imbeciles sit side by side with intelligent people. It demands great art."
08. Camus has always held that life is an absurdity, but he has somewhat modified that view by the 1960's.
09. A guy with an amazing name: Townsend Hoen, has built a patio outside of his home on St. Georges Road (Baltimore?). It consists of lithographic stones used in the family business to print maps, labels and diplomas. (If you get tired of gazing at the sunset, you can check out the bricks to see who got an MD from Hopkins in the 1930's.)
10. Dr. Daniel Torrance of Ruxton (Baltimore) grows bonsai and some of them are over 75 years old. Most bonsai range from 12 to 24 inches, but there are some that are smaller than an inch!
11. There is a picture of a baby born in Philadelphia weighing 13 pounds 8 ounces. Nearby is the proud father, blowing cigar smoke into the air space around his fat baby. (I've heard that babies with such a weight are not that uncommon for French-Canadian families in Quebec.)
12. At Cincinnati's Good Samaritan Hospital, a waiting room for expectant fathers has opened. It is called the "Heirport."
13. A spurned girlfriend tried to get back at her ex-boyfriend by attacking his firehouse with her car. She broke doors, smashed an ambulance, dented a fire engine and a hook-and-ladder. Her tactic didn't work as well as she expected because her boyfriend worked at a different firehouse.
14. Two Baltimore 16-year olds were arrested for beating a tired old cart horse with a sledge hammer. (Not much has changed in this regard.)
15. Psychiatrist Peter Ostwald is trying to find out why people hum. (Save your money, Pete, it's because they don't know the words!)
16. A New York import firm is offering cigarette boxes with lids made of real rock with lichen growing over it.. guaranteed to live for 1,000 years.
17. Douglas Bottom painted his name on the lid of his garbage cans as is customary. Guess how the garbage men place his empty cans in his driveway.
18. J. Paul Getty gave some reasons why he should not be tossed from a balloon to keep it aloft.
a. I am probably lighter than the others in the balloon.
b. At 68, I'm probably younger than the other millionaires in the balloon. Oldsters should go first.
c. I pay more taxes than anyone else in the US.
19. Strickland Gililan wrote a literary work whose title was longer than the work itself.
Title: Lines Upon the Antiquity of Fleas
Body: Adam had 'em.
20. While idling in her driveway, the 1955-model car of Mrs. Doris Heddgepath of Glen Burnie (Maryland) blew up. Suspected cause: pressure build-up in the transmission.
21. Sun paper news item: "The two suspects were held at police headquarters and are to be enraged tomorrow with narcotics violations, police said."
22. A Xenia, Ohio town ordinance says that three days leave of absence with pay will be granted any city employee who submits proof of death.
23. High winds in Memphis, Tennessee, blew Harry Howard's $220. over a parking lot. With the help of friends, he recovered $221.
24. Typical Baltimore headline: Scheffing Thinks Sept Losses to Birds Hurts Tigers.
25. Finally, a cartoon from the Chicago Tribune: A man in a suit is taking off his coat and saying to his wife: The boss is beginning to notice my work.. he fired me today."
Enough!
...............................................................................................
01. In Kobe, Japanese farmers are fattening their cattle with sake and beer, and then massaging them to marble the meat, making some of the best beef in the world. (I wonder if aliens invented beer so they could enjoy marbled human beef when they come back to earth at harvest time? Sorry.)
02. One should try a Hong Kong delicacy, duck eggs that have been buried in lime for 60 days, or immersed for months in salted water. (Don't knock it until you've tried it.. or so
I've been told...)
03. Saigon swallow's nests are reported to be the best in the world.
04. In Hong Kong, one can buy cobra gall mixed with rice wine. Its supposed to be a good medicine for arthritis.
05. Hong Kong menu items: Lotus seed buns, shrimp and bean cakes, pig's tongue, shark fin buns, and dried macaroni and egg. (Yum!)
06. Another Hong Kong delicacy: Beggar's chicken wrapped in lotus leaves and cooked in clay. It is brought to the table with a hammer and is bashed open right at your elbow.
07. Albert Camus at age 43 writes: "The theater is the greatest of literary forms because it is the most difficult. The difficulty consists in putting lofty ideas to a wide audience where imbeciles sit side by side with intelligent people. It demands great art."
08. Camus has always held that life is an absurdity, but he has somewhat modified that view by the 1960's.
09. A guy with an amazing name: Townsend Hoen, has built a patio outside of his home on St. Georges Road (Baltimore?). It consists of lithographic stones used in the family business to print maps, labels and diplomas. (If you get tired of gazing at the sunset, you can check out the bricks to see who got an MD from Hopkins in the 1930's.)
10. Dr. Daniel Torrance of Ruxton (Baltimore) grows bonsai and some of them are over 75 years old. Most bonsai range from 12 to 24 inches, but there are some that are smaller than an inch!
11. There is a picture of a baby born in Philadelphia weighing 13 pounds 8 ounces. Nearby is the proud father, blowing cigar smoke into the air space around his fat baby. (I've heard that babies with such a weight are not that uncommon for French-Canadian families in Quebec.)
12. At Cincinnati's Good Samaritan Hospital, a waiting room for expectant fathers has opened. It is called the "Heirport."
13. A spurned girlfriend tried to get back at her ex-boyfriend by attacking his firehouse with her car. She broke doors, smashed an ambulance, dented a fire engine and a hook-and-ladder. Her tactic didn't work as well as she expected because her boyfriend worked at a different firehouse.
14. Two Baltimore 16-year olds were arrested for beating a tired old cart horse with a sledge hammer. (Not much has changed in this regard.)
15. Psychiatrist Peter Ostwald is trying to find out why people hum. (Save your money, Pete, it's because they don't know the words!)
16. A New York import firm is offering cigarette boxes with lids made of real rock with lichen growing over it.. guaranteed to live for 1,000 years.
17. Douglas Bottom painted his name on the lid of his garbage cans as is customary. Guess how the garbage men place his empty cans in his driveway.
18. J. Paul Getty gave some reasons why he should not be tossed from a balloon to keep it aloft.
a. I am probably lighter than the others in the balloon.
b. At 68, I'm probably younger than the other millionaires in the balloon. Oldsters should go first.
c. I pay more taxes than anyone else in the US.
19. Strickland Gililan wrote a literary work whose title was longer than the work itself.
Title: Lines Upon the Antiquity of Fleas
Body: Adam had 'em.
20. While idling in her driveway, the 1955-model car of Mrs. Doris Heddgepath of Glen Burnie (Maryland) blew up. Suspected cause: pressure build-up in the transmission.
21. Sun paper news item: "The two suspects were held at police headquarters and are to be enraged tomorrow with narcotics violations, police said."
22. A Xenia, Ohio town ordinance says that three days leave of absence with pay will be granted any city employee who submits proof of death.
23. High winds in Memphis, Tennessee, blew Harry Howard's $220. over a parking lot. With the help of friends, he recovered $221.
24. Typical Baltimore headline: Scheffing Thinks Sept Losses to Birds Hurts Tigers.
25. Finally, a cartoon from the Chicago Tribune: A man in a suit is taking off his coat and saying to his wife: The boss is beginning to notice my work.. he fired me today."
Enough!
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Monday, November 02, 2009
Catching up on the news.
I've been tied up for some time planning a conference. Now that it is over, I can concentrate on other things and maybe catch up on the news. Reading my favorite magazine The Week for November 6, 2009, and watching a little TV, I found the following news items to be quite interesting:
01. GOLF. There now is an 850 mile long golf course in Australia. Par 71. (Golfers have to be wary of wombat holes.)
02. SPY. Who would have thought that Fidel Castro's sister would have been a spy for the CIA? (Mr. Cheney may not know that she "outed" herself.)
03. RATINGS. FOX News is apparently enjoying being called "a wing of the Republican Party.
04. SEX. The "US Federales" have captured 700 bad people across the country in three days. This included a lot of alleged pimps engaged in child prostitution. Some child prostitutes are as young as ten!
05. SWINE FLU. I read that some "shock" radio persons are spreading rumors that the H1N1 vaccine "is tainted with antifreeze" as part of a plot by the Government to kill Americans.
This is extremely ridiculous and irresponsible. Some people who should get the vaccine, may not get it because of this misinformation. People need to take this situation seriously and make rational decisions about the vaccine. During the Flu Pandemic of many years ago, my Grandfather served his community as a volunteer nurse. In that community, nearly every family lost a member. There was no vaccine against the flu then. (Luckily, none of his 15 children got the flu bad enough to die from it.)
06. RODENT. Once again, a small animal has panicked lots of great big humans. Three hundred people were delayed for three hours while their airplane to London was "de-miced".
07. SUICIDE Epidemic. Palo Alto, California, is having a problem with teen suicides. Four students from the same high school have stepped in front of commuter trains on purpose. Eight more have been prevented from doing so. Is this the result of "ennui" for living in such a wealthy town?
08. FLY-PAPER?. A Florida man wore a "defective" pair of underwear for two weeks and claimed that the fly flap rubbed his genitals like sand-paper. He sued for compensation. Thank goodness the judge threw this one out.
09. WATCH OUT FOR STRANGE VEHICLES. If you travel in Minnesota, watch out for a drunk guy driving a motorized recliner with a built-in stereo set.
10. BRUSH UP YOUR SHAKESPEARE: If you travel in Dallas, be careful, police are ticketing motorists for being "non-English-speaking drivers." George Bernard Shaw was fond of saying that Americans haven't spoken the English language for years.
11. WHERE'S THE BEEF? The owner of the three McDonald restaurants in Iceland is closing them down because the current cost of importing ingredients would cause him to have to charge the equivalent of $7 for a Big Mac, apparently too many KRONA for folks to pay.
12. ARE YOU A NONE? A study found that 14 million Americans have no religious affiliation.. they are called "nones". Some of them believe in God, some are atheists, some agnostics, and some find labels unimportant.
13. ENDANGERED SPECIES. Several Canadian provinces have banned smoking in both public and private places, even in cars and apartment buildings! However, crackheads, who have a disease called addiction, are exempted and will have medical places where they can legally "inhale"!
14. PIE IN THE FACE. Soupy Sales died last week. He was 83. His claim to fame was that he had had 20,000 shaving cream filled pies hit him in the face over the years. If that is funny, he was a very funny man.
.............................................................................................................
01. GOLF. There now is an 850 mile long golf course in Australia. Par 71. (Golfers have to be wary of wombat holes.)
02. SPY. Who would have thought that Fidel Castro's sister would have been a spy for the CIA? (Mr. Cheney may not know that she "outed" herself.)
03. RATINGS. FOX News is apparently enjoying being called "a wing of the Republican Party.
04. SEX. The "US Federales" have captured 700 bad people across the country in three days. This included a lot of alleged pimps engaged in child prostitution. Some child prostitutes are as young as ten!
05. SWINE FLU. I read that some "shock" radio persons are spreading rumors that the H1N1 vaccine "is tainted with antifreeze" as part of a plot by the Government to kill Americans.
This is extremely ridiculous and irresponsible. Some people who should get the vaccine, may not get it because of this misinformation. People need to take this situation seriously and make rational decisions about the vaccine. During the Flu Pandemic of many years ago, my Grandfather served his community as a volunteer nurse. In that community, nearly every family lost a member. There was no vaccine against the flu then. (Luckily, none of his 15 children got the flu bad enough to die from it.)
06. RODENT. Once again, a small animal has panicked lots of great big humans. Three hundred people were delayed for three hours while their airplane to London was "de-miced".
07. SUICIDE Epidemic. Palo Alto, California, is having a problem with teen suicides. Four students from the same high school have stepped in front of commuter trains on purpose. Eight more have been prevented from doing so. Is this the result of "ennui" for living in such a wealthy town?
08. FLY-PAPER?. A Florida man wore a "defective" pair of underwear for two weeks and claimed that the fly flap rubbed his genitals like sand-paper. He sued for compensation. Thank goodness the judge threw this one out.
09. WATCH OUT FOR STRANGE VEHICLES. If you travel in Minnesota, watch out for a drunk guy driving a motorized recliner with a built-in stereo set.
10. BRUSH UP YOUR SHAKESPEARE: If you travel in Dallas, be careful, police are ticketing motorists for being "non-English-speaking drivers." George Bernard Shaw was fond of saying that Americans haven't spoken the English language for years.
11. WHERE'S THE BEEF? The owner of the three McDonald restaurants in Iceland is closing them down because the current cost of importing ingredients would cause him to have to charge the equivalent of $7 for a Big Mac, apparently too many KRONA for folks to pay.
12. ARE YOU A NONE? A study found that 14 million Americans have no religious affiliation.. they are called "nones". Some of them believe in God, some are atheists, some agnostics, and some find labels unimportant.
13. ENDANGERED SPECIES. Several Canadian provinces have banned smoking in both public and private places, even in cars and apartment buildings! However, crackheads, who have a disease called addiction, are exempted and will have medical places where they can legally "inhale"!
14. PIE IN THE FACE. Soupy Sales died last week. He was 83. His claim to fame was that he had had 20,000 shaving cream filled pies hit him in the face over the years. If that is funny, he was a very funny man.
.............................................................................................................
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Best "Wait, Wait" Halloween Show Yet?
Some of the topics for the October 31, 2009 "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" show were interesting. Zombies, beer, Barbie, toplessness in Disney film, hoaxes, Colonel Sanders, homelessness, golf, Halloween.
01. Beer: Officials at DC's FedEx Field admitted that they were selling beer in the men's restroom. (Is this is what is known as "The Cycle of Life".. ? It seems ecologically sound to me; however, it probably could be considered discrimination to women.)
02. Avoiding Discrimination to women: In response to a claim that women are left out of the President's athletic endeavors, President Obama played golf with a woman. (A number of other Presidents have also enjoyed sports with women.. although of a more intimate nature.)
03. Zombies: I learned that Zombies do not run, because they would snap their legs off at the ankle. Also, I learned that they may be organizing.. like Italian Americans, and Afro-Americans, they would be called Zombie-Americans.
04. Halloween: A man dressed himself as Colonel Sanders (KFC) and invaded the UN offices in New York. He even got so far as to meet the Secretary General before he got caught. Apparently, everyone thought that he probably was the head of some country that had had a military take-over.
(I remember great times when I was in elementary school when my Aunt Marjorie would get us kids together on Halloween and lead us into a dark cellar where she would pass around grapes and say they were eyes, licorice sticks and say they were ghost's hair.. you get the idea.. she would scare the daylights out of us.. and we loved it!)
(The first time that I went to a Halloween Party where grownups were, (First Baptist Church) I dressed as a clown magician. I had some simple pocket tricks and a deck of playing cards. As I was doing one of the card tricks I had practiced for hours, one of the "'church ladies" grabbed my cards, chewed me out, and made me leave. It took me a while to figure out that I was ousted because I had violated one of the Ten Commandments, in the view of the Church.)
05. Barbie: I hear that Barbie has a new boy friend... supposedly, he is called: "Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken."
06. Disney movies and Sex: It was mentioned that in one 1977 Disney movie, as some cute little animals are cavorting in a building, if you looked closely through one of the windows, you would see a topless woman.
Disney once made a movie called: "The Story of Menstruation", sponsored by Kotex.
07. Bed Clothes: It was reported that some bedding clothing company is making bedding that looks like the nighttime coverings of homeless people. You know, cardboard and newspapers and that sort of thing.
08. Surprise!: I learned that ex-President George W. Bush has started a new job as a motivational speaker! (His mother has been one for a while. I'm not sure about his father, who likes to spend his spare time jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.)
09. Thieves: A one-legged man stole one shoe... and was quickly caught.
And remember the dumbest burglers of the year: They disguised themselves by marking their faces using black markers. What these guys didn't realize was that these were "permanent" markers.. and they were also quickly caught.
... If you have never listened to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", do yourself a favor. It has to be the funniest program on the radio. If the broadcast time is bad for you, "google" the title and plug into their easy to find website where you can easily listen to the show whenever you want.
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
More Old News
Things are a bit hectic right now, so, to relax, I'm looking through my 1962 scrapbook again. Take a look over my shoulder, read the articles and enjoy the pictures.. let your mind wander back to that year.
01. A nice aerial view of Ocean City at the height of its flooding by a terrific northeaster in March. It was termed worse than the famous 1933 hurricane. The city is completely covered by the ocean; however, it looks like there is not much damage, except to a luxury apartment hotel on the beach at 39th street.
An expensive, at the time, $80,000 home survived the storm by being on steel pilings.
02. The Russians claim to be planning a 160 mile tunnel under the Caspian Sea, linking Baku with Krasnovodsk. They want to use atomic blasts to dig it out... but Western countries think that this is just a ploy for the USSR to get moving on secret weapons testing.
03. Frank Lloyd Wright made some sketches for a planetarium to be built on Sugarloaf Mountain south of Frederick, Maryland. The planetarium was never built.
04. University of California scientists have discovered that the chloroplast, like the gene and the virus, contains genetic material and controls its own reproduction within the living cell.
05. J. Robert Moskin, Look Magazine Senior Editor wrote: "In the next 25 years (1987!) it is likely that man will create life in a test tube. He will transform chemicals into living material that can grow and reproduce itself. He will perform an act of God."
Linus Pauling, Nobel laureate, foresees the day when scientists will be able to make artificial genes and put them into living bodies.
06. A cartoon of JFK sitting in an ambulance labeled Old Age Health. Running after him, hoping for a ride are three men, labeled: Health Insurance Companies, GOP Plan, and Rep Miller. (So, you see, even back in 1962 people were fighting over Health Insurance.. at that time it was for the elderly and was pushed through Congress as Medicare by Lyndon Johnson.. if Obama studies what Johnson did and he uses the resources that he already has, he should be able to push through universal health insurance.)
07. Mrs Leila Mae Simhof writes the Baltimore Sun that after paying their monthly rents, old people are left with the magnificent balance of from six to ten dollars for their month's food, clothing and insurance. (The time is right for Medicare.)
08. The Social Security Administration building in Woodlawn, Maryland, receives hundred of foreign visitors each week. It also sends out major press releases in 22 languages. They also publish pamphlets in Spanish, for distribution in New York City and in areas along the Mexican border and in southern California.
09. A woman in a coma delivers a baby. She had been injured in an automobile accident.
10. Robert M. Ball becomes Commissioner of Social Security and its 34,661 employees.
11. Maurice, the book man of Greenwich Village is having a problem with the subway locker people. Even though he stores hundreds of books in 49 lockers, and even though he pays for them with dimes every time he thinks of it.. the "Locker Nazi" wants him to get his books out of the lockers so people can use them for personal items. Maurice says that each subway station has lots of unused lockers and he really is a good customer for the company.
12. The Smith College Club of Baltimore is getting ready for their 4th annual used book sale. (As my daughter, Elizabeth, was being born in 1961, I was not allowed anywhere near the Delivery Room, so I went outside on the street to wait. Next to the hospital was an empty store and inside the 3rd annual Smith College Book Sale was going on. I bought a lot of books before I went back in to see my new daughter. To celebrate Elizabeth's birth, I visited all of the Smith College Book Sales for the next 40 years! Changes in location and prices has made the sale quite different than it was.. but it still is fun... if you want to get that book that you always wanted to read.. you will find it there.
13. Arthur C. Clarke quotes K. E. Tsiolkovski (1857-1935) : "Earth is the cradle of the mind: but one cannot live in the cradle forever." Clarke says: "... as we reach out into space, sooner or later we will discover that we are not alone. It may well be that our civilization is one of the most primitive now existing..."
14. A review of African Genesis by Robert Ardrey. "This book is presented as a personal investigation into the animal origins and nature of man." Ardrey's basic argument is that man is instinctively an aggressive and ruthless animal .. an innate killer. This is a very provocative and controversial book.
15. A Long Island supermarket has worked out a plan whereby customers turn cash register slips in to any local church. The store pledges to pay churches one percent of amounts shown on slips.
16. A beautiful picture of snow-capped Mount Fujiyama in Japan.
17. Some beautiful prints by Japanese artist Harunobu from around 1720.
18. An interesting article about Tokyo, titled: On Ginza, Glitter, Gastronomy and Girlie Shows.. and Geishas.
................................................................................................................................
01. A nice aerial view of Ocean City at the height of its flooding by a terrific northeaster in March. It was termed worse than the famous 1933 hurricane. The city is completely covered by the ocean; however, it looks like there is not much damage, except to a luxury apartment hotel on the beach at 39th street.
An expensive, at the time, $80,000 home survived the storm by being on steel pilings.
02. The Russians claim to be planning a 160 mile tunnel under the Caspian Sea, linking Baku with Krasnovodsk. They want to use atomic blasts to dig it out... but Western countries think that this is just a ploy for the USSR to get moving on secret weapons testing.
03. Frank Lloyd Wright made some sketches for a planetarium to be built on Sugarloaf Mountain south of Frederick, Maryland. The planetarium was never built.
04. University of California scientists have discovered that the chloroplast, like the gene and the virus, contains genetic material and controls its own reproduction within the living cell.
05. J. Robert Moskin, Look Magazine Senior Editor wrote: "In the next 25 years (1987!) it is likely that man will create life in a test tube. He will transform chemicals into living material that can grow and reproduce itself. He will perform an act of God."
Linus Pauling, Nobel laureate, foresees the day when scientists will be able to make artificial genes and put them into living bodies.
06. A cartoon of JFK sitting in an ambulance labeled Old Age Health. Running after him, hoping for a ride are three men, labeled: Health Insurance Companies, GOP Plan, and Rep Miller. (So, you see, even back in 1962 people were fighting over Health Insurance.. at that time it was for the elderly and was pushed through Congress as Medicare by Lyndon Johnson.. if Obama studies what Johnson did and he uses the resources that he already has, he should be able to push through universal health insurance.)
07. Mrs Leila Mae Simhof writes the Baltimore Sun that after paying their monthly rents, old people are left with the magnificent balance of from six to ten dollars for their month's food, clothing and insurance. (The time is right for Medicare.)
08. The Social Security Administration building in Woodlawn, Maryland, receives hundred of foreign visitors each week. It also sends out major press releases in 22 languages. They also publish pamphlets in Spanish, for distribution in New York City and in areas along the Mexican border and in southern California.
09. A woman in a coma delivers a baby. She had been injured in an automobile accident.
10. Robert M. Ball becomes Commissioner of Social Security and its 34,661 employees.
11. Maurice, the book man of Greenwich Village is having a problem with the subway locker people. Even though he stores hundreds of books in 49 lockers, and even though he pays for them with dimes every time he thinks of it.. the "Locker Nazi" wants him to get his books out of the lockers so people can use them for personal items. Maurice says that each subway station has lots of unused lockers and he really is a good customer for the company.
12. The Smith College Club of Baltimore is getting ready for their 4th annual used book sale. (As my daughter, Elizabeth, was being born in 1961, I was not allowed anywhere near the Delivery Room, so I went outside on the street to wait. Next to the hospital was an empty store and inside the 3rd annual Smith College Book Sale was going on. I bought a lot of books before I went back in to see my new daughter. To celebrate Elizabeth's birth, I visited all of the Smith College Book Sales for the next 40 years! Changes in location and prices has made the sale quite different than it was.. but it still is fun... if you want to get that book that you always wanted to read.. you will find it there.
13. Arthur C. Clarke quotes K. E. Tsiolkovski (1857-1935) : "Earth is the cradle of the mind: but one cannot live in the cradle forever." Clarke says: "... as we reach out into space, sooner or later we will discover that we are not alone. It may well be that our civilization is one of the most primitive now existing..."
14. A review of African Genesis by Robert Ardrey. "This book is presented as a personal investigation into the animal origins and nature of man." Ardrey's basic argument is that man is instinctively an aggressive and ruthless animal .. an innate killer. This is a very provocative and controversial book.
15. A Long Island supermarket has worked out a plan whereby customers turn cash register slips in to any local church. The store pledges to pay churches one percent of amounts shown on slips.
16. A beautiful picture of snow-capped Mount Fujiyama in Japan.
17. Some beautiful prints by Japanese artist Harunobu from around 1720.
18. An interesting article about Tokyo, titled: On Ginza, Glitter, Gastronomy and Girlie Shows.. and Geishas.
................................................................................................................................
Monday, October 19, 2009
Just a couple of things.
Think about these few things for a while:
01. The McDonald's bun plant in Bomporto, Italy, has made 1.5 billion buns since it opened. How do they get them to the stores before they get stale?
02. Mensan Gary Sitwell, Ph.D, has written Where was God? .. Evil, Theodicy, and Modern Science in an attempt to address the age-old syllogism: "If God is all-powerful and all-good, He would have created a universe with no suffering and no evil. But evil and suffering exist. Therefore, there is no God." Gary has proposed a new theodicy based on modern science.. quantum physics, relativity and chaos theory, that he feels may counter that atheist argument.
03. Mensan Elizabeth Amarante visited former President John Tyler's Virginia plantation in 1998. She found that a grandson of Tyler's was still living. Now, Tyler was born in 1790 and was six Presidents before Abraham Lincoln. How could he have a living grandson over two hundred years later?
President Tyler had 15 children by two different wives. In 1853, at age 63, he fathered a son, who, in turn, fathered the current Tyler grandson in 1928 at the age of 75. The grandson, Harrison Tyler lives at the plantation with his family.
04. Mayo Shattuck III received $15.7 million dollars in compensation from the Constellation Energy Group, Inc. Nolan D. Archibald received $13.7 million dollars in compensation from the Black and Decker Corporation. Bill Smith received $48,500. in compensation from one of these companies for a job which required him to put his life in danger 40 hours a week.
................................................................................................................
01. The McDonald's bun plant in Bomporto, Italy, has made 1.5 billion buns since it opened. How do they get them to the stores before they get stale?
02. Mensan Gary Sitwell, Ph.D, has written Where was God? .. Evil, Theodicy, and Modern Science in an attempt to address the age-old syllogism: "If God is all-powerful and all-good, He would have created a universe with no suffering and no evil. But evil and suffering exist. Therefore, there is no God." Gary has proposed a new theodicy based on modern science.. quantum physics, relativity and chaos theory, that he feels may counter that atheist argument.
03. Mensan Elizabeth Amarante visited former President John Tyler's Virginia plantation in 1998. She found that a grandson of Tyler's was still living. Now, Tyler was born in 1790 and was six Presidents before Abraham Lincoln. How could he have a living grandson over two hundred years later?
President Tyler had 15 children by two different wives. In 1853, at age 63, he fathered a son, who, in turn, fathered the current Tyler grandson in 1928 at the age of 75. The grandson, Harrison Tyler lives at the plantation with his family.
04. Mayo Shattuck III received $15.7 million dollars in compensation from the Constellation Energy Group, Inc. Nolan D. Archibald received $13.7 million dollars in compensation from the Black and Decker Corporation. Bill Smith received $48,500. in compensation from one of these companies for a job which required him to put his life in danger 40 hours a week.
................................................................................................................
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Portuguese Treat
My daughter, Diane, received about one thousand pounds of kale from a friend. She offered it to me and I quickly took it off her hand. I found an authentic New Bedford, Massachusetts, recipe for Portuguese Kale Soup and I spent a couple of hours today making the best smelling kale soup I have ever had the experience of smelling.
I had to change the recipe a bit because Elaine doesn't do garlic. I love garlic, so I sneaked in some garlic powder. Also, I couldn't get linguica, so I got a similar sausage to use. The great thing about Kale Soup is that you only have to cook it for 30 to 40 minutes, after sauteing the meat and onions.
We usually have fun on a Sunday night making special food that we can't get at the restaurant we use on other days, so we will now enjoy our kale soup with some nice red wine.. Elaine will probably have milk instead of wine. Perhaps, as we eat, I will regale Elaine with some Portuguese phrases that I learned as a child in New Bedford.
New Bedford is a great place for people who like good food. Some of the food: Quahog chowder! Twin lobsters! Lobster rolls (even McDonald's serves them)! Portuguese wine.. Madeira, Port, etc; Portuguese rolls; Linguica/curica (sp?); mussels; clams, scallops, etc etc.
I talked to my daughter, Elizabeth, and she reminded me that my late wife made kale soup quite a bit. The first time that Elizabeth ate some, her mother asked her if she liked it... Elizabeth said.. "Oh yes! Except for the green stuff!"
My daughter, Diane, accompanied me to New Bedford for my uncle Allen's funeral recently. After the service, we had supper at Davy Jones' Locker... we had New Bedford seafood and Diane loved it. I would highly recommend a trip to New Bedford, and a sampling of the great food.
New Bedford is a great place for tourism. However, the Fisherman's Union for years has downplayed the tourism issue because they want the city to be known more for scallops and fish instead. I always wanted to offer my services to advertise the city around the world. At least the city finally was able to get the cobblestoned area declared a National Park.
There are still scores of beautiful homes in the city.. most were the homes of Whaling Captains. I lived in one of them for a couple of years. It was a beautiful building.
After the demise of whaling, because of the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania, the textile industry took over in the City. However, when the union movement bothered the mill owners, they moved down to the South and New Bedford became a poor place (after being the richest US city during the whaling era).. until fishing took over .. I think that New Bedford is now the largest fishing port in the US.
If you get a chance to visit New Bedford and/or try kale soup... bon appetit!
...........................................................
I had to change the recipe a bit because Elaine doesn't do garlic. I love garlic, so I sneaked in some garlic powder. Also, I couldn't get linguica, so I got a similar sausage to use. The great thing about Kale Soup is that you only have to cook it for 30 to 40 minutes, after sauteing the meat and onions.
We usually have fun on a Sunday night making special food that we can't get at the restaurant we use on other days, so we will now enjoy our kale soup with some nice red wine.. Elaine will probably have milk instead of wine. Perhaps, as we eat, I will regale Elaine with some Portuguese phrases that I learned as a child in New Bedford.
New Bedford is a great place for people who like good food. Some of the food: Quahog chowder! Twin lobsters! Lobster rolls (even McDonald's serves them)! Portuguese wine.. Madeira, Port, etc; Portuguese rolls; Linguica/curica (sp?); mussels; clams, scallops, etc etc.
I talked to my daughter, Elizabeth, and she reminded me that my late wife made kale soup quite a bit. The first time that Elizabeth ate some, her mother asked her if she liked it... Elizabeth said.. "Oh yes! Except for the green stuff!"
My daughter, Diane, accompanied me to New Bedford for my uncle Allen's funeral recently. After the service, we had supper at Davy Jones' Locker... we had New Bedford seafood and Diane loved it. I would highly recommend a trip to New Bedford, and a sampling of the great food.
New Bedford is a great place for tourism. However, the Fisherman's Union for years has downplayed the tourism issue because they want the city to be known more for scallops and fish instead. I always wanted to offer my services to advertise the city around the world. At least the city finally was able to get the cobblestoned area declared a National Park.
There are still scores of beautiful homes in the city.. most were the homes of Whaling Captains. I lived in one of them for a couple of years. It was a beautiful building.
After the demise of whaling, because of the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania, the textile industry took over in the City. However, when the union movement bothered the mill owners, they moved down to the South and New Bedford became a poor place (after being the richest US city during the whaling era).. until fishing took over .. I think that New Bedford is now the largest fishing port in the US.
If you get a chance to visit New Bedford and/or try kale soup... bon appetit!
...........................................................
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Just some weird news again.
These are some of the stories in the news that interest me this week.
01. Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joe Arpaio.. you remember, the guy who makes jail inmates wear pink underwear.. and who has been called America's toughest sheriff .. has been stripped of his federal authority to make on the street arrests of suspected illegal immigrants by using racial profiling. (Maybe he should quit his police job and go to work for Victoria's Secret.)
02. David M. Rubenstein celebrated his 60th birthday by donating $10 million to the Lincoln Center. I guess this is small change for a guy worth almost $3 billion. When he turned 54, he said: "I have 27 years to go. I could be like the pharaohs and say 'bury me with my money'. Or, I could start giving it away." (Hey, Dave, how about giving one of your billions to cancer research!)
03. WQXR is the only classical music station in New York City. New York and it's surrounding suburbs has a population of 16 million people. Surely the city could support a few more classical music stations. Anyway, WQXR will now become a public radio station.. I wonder how that will affect the amount of music to be played. (I'll bet there are hundreds of rock stations in NYC.)
04. A flock of sheep in Jordan suffered spontaneous combustion because of methane in the soil and a stray spark. (I wonder if that could be the cause of some of the many spontaneous combustion human cases over the years.)
05. A mile of manatee poop has washed ashore in Vero Beach, Florida. (How did they determine that it came from manatees?)
06. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1.8 million bags checked at airlines last year did not arrive at their destinations at the same time as their owners.
07. Former Vice President Cheney will be bashing his former boss in a new book he is writing. The Washington Post reports that Cheney accuses Former President Bush of "going soft," and becoming just "an ordinary politician."
08. Aesop tells about the crow who drops stones in a pitcher to get to the water. Now, researchers have found that this intelligent action is indeed something that crow-like birds can do. The only other creature (outside of man) who would be able to do that is an orangutan.
09. Stray dogs in Moscow have taught themselves to use the subway, or so it is reported in the tabloids. Every morning they take the train into central Moscow, where food is easier to obtain.. and at night they take the train back home to sleep.
10. New Justice Sotomayor has asked more questions in her few days on the court than Clarence Thomas has asked in all the years he has been a Justice.
11. Rubik's Cube has gone high tech. For $150, you can get a cute little cube that flips colors when you swipe your finger against its sides. There are no moving parts.. a "kachunk" sound is broadcast when the flip occurs. (I struggled for many hours with an old-fashioned Rubik's Cube years ago, got frustrated, and gave it up. My son did not have to struggle at all. He just picked it up and solved it in a few seconds!)
12. I haven''t looked recently, but sunsets are supposed to be more colorful than usual, because of the eruption of Russia's Sarychev Peak in June. A lot of sulfur dioxide was thrown into the stratosphere and its tiny particles are scattering blue light and mixing it with the normal red, to produce some weird purple colors.
.......................................................................................
01. Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joe Arpaio.. you remember, the guy who makes jail inmates wear pink underwear.. and who has been called America's toughest sheriff .. has been stripped of his federal authority to make on the street arrests of suspected illegal immigrants by using racial profiling. (Maybe he should quit his police job and go to work for Victoria's Secret.)
02. David M. Rubenstein celebrated his 60th birthday by donating $10 million to the Lincoln Center. I guess this is small change for a guy worth almost $3 billion. When he turned 54, he said: "I have 27 years to go. I could be like the pharaohs and say 'bury me with my money'. Or, I could start giving it away." (Hey, Dave, how about giving one of your billions to cancer research!)
03. WQXR is the only classical music station in New York City. New York and it's surrounding suburbs has a population of 16 million people. Surely the city could support a few more classical music stations. Anyway, WQXR will now become a public radio station.. I wonder how that will affect the amount of music to be played. (I'll bet there are hundreds of rock stations in NYC.)
04. A flock of sheep in Jordan suffered spontaneous combustion because of methane in the soil and a stray spark. (I wonder if that could be the cause of some of the many spontaneous combustion human cases over the years.)
05. A mile of manatee poop has washed ashore in Vero Beach, Florida. (How did they determine that it came from manatees?)
06. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1.8 million bags checked at airlines last year did not arrive at their destinations at the same time as their owners.
07. Former Vice President Cheney will be bashing his former boss in a new book he is writing. The Washington Post reports that Cheney accuses Former President Bush of "going soft," and becoming just "an ordinary politician."
08. Aesop tells about the crow who drops stones in a pitcher to get to the water. Now, researchers have found that this intelligent action is indeed something that crow-like birds can do. The only other creature (outside of man) who would be able to do that is an orangutan.
09. Stray dogs in Moscow have taught themselves to use the subway, or so it is reported in the tabloids. Every morning they take the train into central Moscow, where food is easier to obtain.. and at night they take the train back home to sleep.
10. New Justice Sotomayor has asked more questions in her few days on the court than Clarence Thomas has asked in all the years he has been a Justice.
11. Rubik's Cube has gone high tech. For $150, you can get a cute little cube that flips colors when you swipe your finger against its sides. There are no moving parts.. a "kachunk" sound is broadcast when the flip occurs. (I struggled for many hours with an old-fashioned Rubik's Cube years ago, got frustrated, and gave it up. My son did not have to struggle at all. He just picked it up and solved it in a few seconds!)
12. I haven''t looked recently, but sunsets are supposed to be more colorful than usual, because of the eruption of Russia's Sarychev Peak in June. A lot of sulfur dioxide was thrown into the stratosphere and its tiny particles are scattering blue light and mixing it with the normal red, to produce some weird purple colors.
.......................................................................................
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Knives and Common Sense
Two scenarios:
#1. I am a teen-ager.
I have a straight A average in High School.
I am an Eagle Scout.
I have saved a relative by using CPR.
I am a safe driver, with no citations and no accidents.
I want to attend West Point.
I am a church-going good kid.
A teacher asked me if I carried a weapon in the car I drive to school.
I said that I just had a small 1 1/2" blade in the emergency kit in my car.
I let the teacher open my glove compartment and take out the blade.
The teacher reported me to the principal, and I was suspended for 45 days.
The suspension was changed to 30 days, but will still be on my record.
I will probably not be able to go to West Point now.
...............
Question: Where was the common sense in this punishment?
...............
Scenario #2:
I am six years old.
I am a cub scout.
At a camping trip, I was given an eating tool, with a knife, a fork, and a spoon.
I use my eating tool all the time.
I took my eating tool to school so that I could use it when I have my lunch.
I dropped my eating tool in the school bus.
The school bus driver reported to the school that I was carrying a dangerous weapon.
I was ordered to go to reform school for three years.
My sentence was dropped, but not before the school board amended a rule at a special meeting.
........................
Question: What would have happened if the rule had not been changed? Reform school for elementary school kids? Where is the common sense in that?
........................
My TRIAD police friends agree with me that there should be common sense applied to cases that fit into such categories.
Some people are of the opinion that "La loi est la loi!" The law is the law. Like in Les Miserables, where a man is hounded for the rest of his life because he stole a loaf of bread many years earlier when he was dying of hunger. It didn't matter that he had become an honored man, who had helped make the world a better place.
The position of Judge was created initially to make sure that the law is upheld... and that should still be the case for the Supreme Court of the United States. But other judges are supposed to temper justice with mercy. I agree that "Three strikes you're out" seems to be fair, and seems to work... but "One strike you're out" is ridiculous in my opinion.
When I worked at Social Security, I had a chance to become an Administrative Law Judge. I wanted to be a judge and make sure that applicants and beneficiaries got a fair hearing before being arbitrarily eliminated from consideration. My boss said that I was too valuable to him to lose, so my hopes in the legal direction fell through. However, as an empath, I still am deeply concerned about the two cases I mentioned above.
Will the teen-ager be able to overcome his record of "bringing a weapon to school?" Will West Point or other colleges hold that against him? Will a potential employer decide not to hire him because of this "horrible" infraction?
Will the six-year old's school record show that he brought a weapon to school? Will this cause his future teachers to watch him extra closely and maybe search him for more "weapons"? What about the seven and eight-year olds in the same school... if they have the same utensil, will they get the mandatory 3 year reform school term... where they can learn some real neat criminal tips from the older inmates?
Come on school teachers and principals... let's bring some common sense to our schools and stop trying to cover your butts by destroying the lives of little kids.
...................
#1. I am a teen-ager.
I have a straight A average in High School.
I am an Eagle Scout.
I have saved a relative by using CPR.
I am a safe driver, with no citations and no accidents.
I want to attend West Point.
I am a church-going good kid.
A teacher asked me if I carried a weapon in the car I drive to school.
I said that I just had a small 1 1/2" blade in the emergency kit in my car.
I let the teacher open my glove compartment and take out the blade.
The teacher reported me to the principal, and I was suspended for 45 days.
The suspension was changed to 30 days, but will still be on my record.
I will probably not be able to go to West Point now.
...............
Question: Where was the common sense in this punishment?
...............
Scenario #2:
I am six years old.
I am a cub scout.
At a camping trip, I was given an eating tool, with a knife, a fork, and a spoon.
I use my eating tool all the time.
I took my eating tool to school so that I could use it when I have my lunch.
I dropped my eating tool in the school bus.
The school bus driver reported to the school that I was carrying a dangerous weapon.
I was ordered to go to reform school for three years.
My sentence was dropped, but not before the school board amended a rule at a special meeting.
........................
Question: What would have happened if the rule had not been changed? Reform school for elementary school kids? Where is the common sense in that?
........................
My TRIAD police friends agree with me that there should be common sense applied to cases that fit into such categories.
Some people are of the opinion that "La loi est la loi!" The law is the law. Like in Les Miserables, where a man is hounded for the rest of his life because he stole a loaf of bread many years earlier when he was dying of hunger. It didn't matter that he had become an honored man, who had helped make the world a better place.
The position of Judge was created initially to make sure that the law is upheld... and that should still be the case for the Supreme Court of the United States. But other judges are supposed to temper justice with mercy. I agree that "Three strikes you're out" seems to be fair, and seems to work... but "One strike you're out" is ridiculous in my opinion.
When I worked at Social Security, I had a chance to become an Administrative Law Judge. I wanted to be a judge and make sure that applicants and beneficiaries got a fair hearing before being arbitrarily eliminated from consideration. My boss said that I was too valuable to him to lose, so my hopes in the legal direction fell through. However, as an empath, I still am deeply concerned about the two cases I mentioned above.
Will the teen-ager be able to overcome his record of "bringing a weapon to school?" Will West Point or other colleges hold that against him? Will a potential employer decide not to hire him because of this "horrible" infraction?
Will the six-year old's school record show that he brought a weapon to school? Will this cause his future teachers to watch him extra closely and maybe search him for more "weapons"? What about the seven and eight-year olds in the same school... if they have the same utensil, will they get the mandatory 3 year reform school term... where they can learn some real neat criminal tips from the older inmates?
Come on school teachers and principals... let's bring some common sense to our schools and stop trying to cover your butts by destroying the lives of little kids.
...................
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Solution for Unemployment?
According to Parade Magazine for October 11, 2009, the State of Georgia has come up with an innovative and cost-effective way to reduce unemployment. The Georgia Works program allows jobless citizens to work part-time for up to six weeks at businesses with job openings. No salary is paid, but Georgia pays unemployment benefits and also a weekly amount for transportation and other expenses.
The businesses involved do not pay the workers, but they do provide on-the-job training. So far, 58% of the people in tthe program have been hired by the places where they are working. Michael Thurmond, Georgia's State's Labor Commissioner has said that the employers have saved 15 million dollars in training and labor costs, while the State of Georgia has saved 5 million dollars in money they would have paid to these people, had they remained unemployed.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
It's funny, many years ago, the labor secretary of New Jersey came to SSA to discuss unemployment and he mentioned that (for instance) there were 2,000 job openings in the Newark classified pages.. and 2,000 people looking for work in Newark at the time. He said that his job was to do a match up. Unfortunately, people are picky about the jobs they want. An engineer will not submit to a job at McDonalds, I'm sure.
However, in my work effort mentality, I would not mind working at whatever job there was, in order to provide my family with food.
What happened to the immigrant work ethic? It is probably still alive in the Hispanic neighborhoods.. and that is a good thing, in my opinion.
................................................................................
The businesses involved do not pay the workers, but they do provide on-the-job training. So far, 58% of the people in tthe program have been hired by the places where they are working. Michael Thurmond, Georgia's State's Labor Commissioner has said that the employers have saved 15 million dollars in training and labor costs, while the State of Georgia has saved 5 million dollars in money they would have paid to these people, had they remained unemployed.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
It's funny, many years ago, the labor secretary of New Jersey came to SSA to discuss unemployment and he mentioned that (for instance) there were 2,000 job openings in the Newark classified pages.. and 2,000 people looking for work in Newark at the time. He said that his job was to do a match up. Unfortunately, people are picky about the jobs they want. An engineer will not submit to a job at McDonalds, I'm sure.
However, in my work effort mentality, I would not mind working at whatever job there was, in order to provide my family with food.
What happened to the immigrant work ethic? It is probably still alive in the Hispanic neighborhoods.. and that is a good thing, in my opinion.
................................................................................
Monday, October 12, 2009
Survival of the Fittest
In skimming through a book proof (Simply an Inspired Life) by Mary Anne Radmacher and Jonathan Lockwood Huie, I found this observation of theirs that I think is a great insight: "Fear of the unknown is ... probably our greatest fear, and it has undoubtedly been intensified through evolution."
"Paranoia has had great survival value for the human species. Someone who is very afraid of everything becomes very careful, and lives longer - at least long enough to reproduce and nurture offspring."
"The ancestors of those who are alive today were the men and women who were very afraid of all the potential dangers and acted cautiously. Those who were fearless and foolhardy tended to die at a young age, before they could reproduce and pass on genes carrying their tendency toward fearlessness..."
Doesn't this ring true? And how does this match up with the theory that the medula oblongata of young males does not mature until they are around 25 years old and that accounts for the foolish and foolhardy stuff that they do?
When I was a young High School freshman, I thought of myself as a tough daredevil kid, so I went out for the football team. I had played sandlot ball and loved to take chances and run with the ball.
The coach had me "suit up" for a practice scrimmage. We "new blood guys" would be playing against a few of the first team, including a refrigerator-shaped guy named Bobby Watkins. (Bobby later went on to become an "all American" at Ohio State.)
At the first play, I grabbed the ball and started to run towards the goal, knocking guys down as I ran... all of a sudden, I experienced an earthquake of a high magnitude.. Bobby Watkins hit me and knocked me down. I laid there for a minute, pain coursing through my body, when a great insight ocurred to me... You could get hurt playing this game!
I got up, shook the dust, dirt and blood off of me, wobbled off the field, and said "goodbye" to contact sports forever.
So... I was a survivor.. and therefore my genes were able to be passed on to my progeny.
But what about guys like Evel Kaneval (sp?).. Johnny Unitas? .. Flacco (?) the Hulkster?
These are deep things to think about, my friends. Meanwhile, I would advise my grandson, Jack, to take a lot of extra care while he is playing football. He is really good at the game.. but I would rather that he played baseball.. or maybe golf.. or maybe tiddly-winks and therefore make sure that he will be able to pass his genes (diluted from this old grandfather) on to his progeny.
...................................................
"Paranoia has had great survival value for the human species. Someone who is very afraid of everything becomes very careful, and lives longer - at least long enough to reproduce and nurture offspring."
"The ancestors of those who are alive today were the men and women who were very afraid of all the potential dangers and acted cautiously. Those who were fearless and foolhardy tended to die at a young age, before they could reproduce and pass on genes carrying their tendency toward fearlessness..."
Doesn't this ring true? And how does this match up with the theory that the medula oblongata of young males does not mature until they are around 25 years old and that accounts for the foolish and foolhardy stuff that they do?
When I was a young High School freshman, I thought of myself as a tough daredevil kid, so I went out for the football team. I had played sandlot ball and loved to take chances and run with the ball.
The coach had me "suit up" for a practice scrimmage. We "new blood guys" would be playing against a few of the first team, including a refrigerator-shaped guy named Bobby Watkins. (Bobby later went on to become an "all American" at Ohio State.)
At the first play, I grabbed the ball and started to run towards the goal, knocking guys down as I ran... all of a sudden, I experienced an earthquake of a high magnitude.. Bobby Watkins hit me and knocked me down. I laid there for a minute, pain coursing through my body, when a great insight ocurred to me... You could get hurt playing this game!
I got up, shook the dust, dirt and blood off of me, wobbled off the field, and said "goodbye" to contact sports forever.
So... I was a survivor.. and therefore my genes were able to be passed on to my progeny.
But what about guys like Evel Kaneval (sp?).. Johnny Unitas? .. Flacco (?) the Hulkster?
These are deep things to think about, my friends. Meanwhile, I would advise my grandson, Jack, to take a lot of extra care while he is playing football. He is really good at the game.. but I would rather that he played baseball.. or maybe golf.. or maybe tiddly-winks and therefore make sure that he will be able to pass his genes (diluted from this old grandfather) on to his progeny.
...................................................
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Extra Protein
Watch it! WATCH IT! If you received a free sample of Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters with your morning newspaper. I received two.. one with the Baltimore Sun and one with The Carroll County (MD) Times. The little packets looked very appetising. Elaine ate one and enjoyed it. I ate half of one and then noticed little creatures running through the remaining crumbs.
Weevils, apparently. I threw up a bit and immediately drank a bottle of beer to see if the alcohol would kill the little rascals. Maybe.. maybe not.
I appreciate General Mills giving me that extra protein.. but I would have like to have had it in a better form.
I wrote an email to General Mills to complain, but their web contact info appeared to kill my message as it was being sent.
I called to General Mills, but nobody was there to hear me.
Anyway, be careful... I don't think weevils will kill you, but they probably will tickle the inside of your gut and make you giggle a lot. Also, if you put the little buggers in your closet, they will have a ball, getting into your flour and other grain products.
...........................................................
Weevils, apparently. I threw up a bit and immediately drank a bottle of beer to see if the alcohol would kill the little rascals. Maybe.. maybe not.
I appreciate General Mills giving me that extra protein.. but I would have like to have had it in a better form.
I wrote an email to General Mills to complain, but their web contact info appeared to kill my message as it was being sent.
I called to General Mills, but nobody was there to hear me.
Anyway, be careful... I don't think weevils will kill you, but they probably will tickle the inside of your gut and make you giggle a lot. Also, if you put the little buggers in your closet, they will have a ball, getting into your flour and other grain products.
...........................................................
Thursday, October 08, 2009
A Horrible Event
A 100 year old woman was found strangled at Brandon Woods nursing home in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. This woman was in good health and had been out shopping with her son earlier in the day. This disturbs me even more than it normally would because my mother and step-father were residents of this facility for some time in their later life.
Was this a case of euthenasia by some nurse who believes that a 100 year old person has lived long enough? Was it the act of some nutcase elderly patient? Brandon Woods had a number of nutcase patients, if I recall correctly. Thank God that my sister was able to keep tabs on the situation of our mother and at one time found a fellow patient striking her.
Yes, fellow patients as well as care-givers can sometimes be a problem for incapacitated seniors.
During my TRIAD Conference on October 29th of this year at Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster, Maryland, Ms. Toni Katz will be telling us about drug abuse at nursing homes and hospice locations. I've heard this lecture and seen the secretly filmed activity of some care-givers. Some nurses have even taken pain patches off the bodies of terminally ill patients and sucked the drugs out of the bandages! Toni also can tell lots of stories about the physical abuse of patients.
There is an ombudsman program in Maryland where nursing homes are visited by caring persons who listen to the complaints of residents and take measures to have abusive situations corrected. I hope that the program is being used in other States as well.
.......................................................
Was this a case of euthenasia by some nurse who believes that a 100 year old person has lived long enough? Was it the act of some nutcase elderly patient? Brandon Woods had a number of nutcase patients, if I recall correctly. Thank God that my sister was able to keep tabs on the situation of our mother and at one time found a fellow patient striking her.
Yes, fellow patients as well as care-givers can sometimes be a problem for incapacitated seniors.
During my TRIAD Conference on October 29th of this year at Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster, Maryland, Ms. Toni Katz will be telling us about drug abuse at nursing homes and hospice locations. I've heard this lecture and seen the secretly filmed activity of some care-givers. Some nurses have even taken pain patches off the bodies of terminally ill patients and sucked the drugs out of the bandages! Toni also can tell lots of stories about the physical abuse of patients.
There is an ombudsman program in Maryland where nursing homes are visited by caring persons who listen to the complaints of residents and take measures to have abusive situations corrected. I hope that the program is being used in other States as well.
.......................................................
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Home from down 'e ocean, Hon (good bye ghost!)
(Yes, we had a ghost!)
Well, we are back home after three weeks at the ocean. It was an interesting time. The first week was "biker week".. with 100,000 motorcycle guys descending upon the town. They were everywhere 24 hours a day. It was an adventure trying to drive down the main drag without hitting any of them. One was hit a block ahead of me and clothing was strewn all over the highway.
The next week was "Sunfest" week... Elaine was able to see the "Village People" and also to buy lots and lots of special stuff at the little shops.
The last week was a bit quiet.. lots and lots of fisherguys with trucks parading up and down the sand. I did not see any of the surf fishers catch anything, but that isn't the real reason they are there anyway. Of course, it is to get away from the wife for a few hours.
Our big fun this three weeks was dealing with the "micro ghost." The first morning there, we put Elaine's coffee into the microwave to be zapped. After taking the heated coffee out, the microwave decided to start up again, on its own. It did this over and over for a long time, until I pulled the plug.
When I plugged in again to heat something, it immediately began to heat for 4minutes and 59 seconds. I put water in a cup and placed it in the microwave oven. The micro "ghost" began to heat it for 7 minutes and 45 seconds, on its own.
The next time, it was quiet for a while and let me heat something. After about an hour, it went: beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and different numbers appeared on the dial. It settled on 2 minutes and took off. After two minutes, it went for two minutes again. After a few iterations, it started its strange beeps again and gave us a cute little melody. I pulled the plug.
For three weeks we suffered the playful vagaries of the "micro ghost". (It was kind of fun, not knowing what the damn thing was going to do next.) The owner, Rose, was contacted and warned about the ghost... I could tell that she didn't really believe me... but, since she showed up just as we were leaving.. I'm sure she got the ghost's treatment. I'll have to call her and find out.
Even though it gave us a few laughs, it was nice to come home to a rational, conservative microwave.
..........................................
Well, we are back home after three weeks at the ocean. It was an interesting time. The first week was "biker week".. with 100,000 motorcycle guys descending upon the town. They were everywhere 24 hours a day. It was an adventure trying to drive down the main drag without hitting any of them. One was hit a block ahead of me and clothing was strewn all over the highway.
The next week was "Sunfest" week... Elaine was able to see the "Village People" and also to buy lots and lots of special stuff at the little shops.
The last week was a bit quiet.. lots and lots of fisherguys with trucks parading up and down the sand. I did not see any of the surf fishers catch anything, but that isn't the real reason they are there anyway. Of course, it is to get away from the wife for a few hours.
Our big fun this three weeks was dealing with the "micro ghost." The first morning there, we put Elaine's coffee into the microwave to be zapped. After taking the heated coffee out, the microwave decided to start up again, on its own. It did this over and over for a long time, until I pulled the plug.
When I plugged in again to heat something, it immediately began to heat for 4minutes and 59 seconds. I put water in a cup and placed it in the microwave oven. The micro "ghost" began to heat it for 7 minutes and 45 seconds, on its own.
The next time, it was quiet for a while and let me heat something. After about an hour, it went: beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and different numbers appeared on the dial. It settled on 2 minutes and took off. After two minutes, it went for two minutes again. After a few iterations, it started its strange beeps again and gave us a cute little melody. I pulled the plug.
For three weeks we suffered the playful vagaries of the "micro ghost". (It was kind of fun, not knowing what the damn thing was going to do next.) The owner, Rose, was contacted and warned about the ghost... I could tell that she didn't really believe me... but, since she showed up just as we were leaving.. I'm sure she got the ghost's treatment. I'll have to call her and find out.
Even though it gave us a few laughs, it was nice to come home to a rational, conservative microwave.
..........................................
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Many years ago, when I migrated to Baltimore, I began to create a series of scrapbooks reflecting what was going on at the time. Today, I want to reconstruct some of a scrapbook I created in 1961.. maybe it will trigger some of your memories or at least give you a little insight about what it was like to live 48 years (!) ago.
01. Saying: He who buys what he doesn't need, steals from himself.
How does that relate to today's stimulus payments?
02. A cartoon by A. Toussaint of Belgium: A man in his shirt sleeves stands near an open door. Across the open door is his pants and shoes. Through the door, we see three ladies chattering away. The joke is.. he doesn't know how to cross the open door to get his clothes.
Today, he probably would say: "What the hell." and go across to get his pants without thinking twice about it.
03. A drawing by Leonard Vosburgh in "The Lords Baltimore." It shows a horse team rolling a hogshead of tobacco to a ship in early Maryland.
Rolling Road in Baltimore County was the main "highway" for rolling those hogsheads down to the Patapsco so they could be loaded on boats and ferried to the Chesapeake.
04. A beautiful black and white photograph: Baltimore's Washington monument in the evening, in a snow storm.
05. A newspaper account of crime in Baltimore: There was an outbreak of crime, some of them in broad daylight. In just one week:
A retired tailor was beaten and stomped to death in Mount Vernon Square.
A 16 year old was hit on the head with a thick board.
A motorist in a collision with a taxi, got out and hit the cabbie with a beer can.
A 46 year old man was beaten to death with a tree limb.
A policeman was hit with an empty can thrown by an 11-year old body.
An advertising collector was beaten and robbed by two teen-agers.
A 19 year old girl was thrown off the Orleans Street viaduct.
A purse-snatcher knocked a 63 year old woman to the ground and stole her purse with $12.
A policeman was cut with a knife while being ejected from a bar.
The police suggested that the assaults were the results of long daylight hours and fair weather.
06. A nice black and white photograph: Downtown Baltimore at Fire station #6.. about 1925. One of the store signs reads: Everything Electric Radio (Holmes Electric).
07. Newspaper article: An 8-foot high trash can, dubbed as "Cleanup Charlie" broadcast announcements every few minutes at Howard and Lexington Streets. Sharp-eyed members of the Women's Civic League watched the intersection from a second story window and pointed out litterbugs over a loudspeaker. "Charlie was on duty daily during "Cleanup Week."
08. Photo of a disaster: An apartment house being built in Lutherville collapsed in recent heavy rain and will have to be completely rebuilt.
09. Saying: A miser isn't much fun to live with, but he makes a wonderful ancestor.
10. Newspaper article: 600 French tourists will visit Baltimore.
Wait a minute, they came to our fair city because DC had no available rooms. At night, they will sleep in the Southern Hotel.. during the day, they will tour DC.
11. Letter to the Editor: What is wrong with Baltimore's Heritage that the French tourists have to tour DC and not our fair city? What about:
The Walters Art Gallery
The Cone Collection at the BMA
The home and grave of Edgar Allen Poe
St. Mary's Seminary
The Chapel at St. Mary's and the Battle Monument, both designed by Maximillian Godefroy
Betsy Patterson who married Jerome Bonaparte
The oldest school of pharmacy in the US
Dr. Pierre Chatard
Louis Pascault
Archbishop Ambrose Marchal
The widow Lacombe
J. Pinaud
Fort McHenry
Mount Vernon Place
12. Drawing: A little boy with a flower growing out of his navel. ?
13. Depictions of Baltimore's famous painted screens. It is impossible to see through a painting from outside.
A South Curley street house with painted screens on every window.
Twol screens by Frank Abremski for his house at North Ellwood Avenue.
Two Baltimore scenes custom painted for A. Aubrey Bodine, to reflect two of his famous photos.
A cool painting on a storm window at South East Avenue.
Swan depictions in screens at South Curley and South Chester.
14. Ocean City scenes: The Boardwalk is continuing from 19th to 26th street.
There was a major storm in March which flooded the city and destroyed a lot of property. The Jamaican, a recently completed luxury apartment hotel was completely destroyed. There is a picture of a house on steel stilts that survived.
15. Newspaper article: A 150-year old two-story log house has been renovated in York, PA and furnished with antiques. Usually, log houses are much smaller.
..................................
01. Saying: He who buys what he doesn't need, steals from himself.
How does that relate to today's stimulus payments?
02. A cartoon by A. Toussaint of Belgium: A man in his shirt sleeves stands near an open door. Across the open door is his pants and shoes. Through the door, we see three ladies chattering away. The joke is.. he doesn't know how to cross the open door to get his clothes.
Today, he probably would say: "What the hell." and go across to get his pants without thinking twice about it.
03. A drawing by Leonard Vosburgh in "The Lords Baltimore." It shows a horse team rolling a hogshead of tobacco to a ship in early Maryland.
Rolling Road in Baltimore County was the main "highway" for rolling those hogsheads down to the Patapsco so they could be loaded on boats and ferried to the Chesapeake.
04. A beautiful black and white photograph: Baltimore's Washington monument in the evening, in a snow storm.
05. A newspaper account of crime in Baltimore: There was an outbreak of crime, some of them in broad daylight. In just one week:
A retired tailor was beaten and stomped to death in Mount Vernon Square.
A 16 year old was hit on the head with a thick board.
A motorist in a collision with a taxi, got out and hit the cabbie with a beer can.
A 46 year old man was beaten to death with a tree limb.
A policeman was hit with an empty can thrown by an 11-year old body.
An advertising collector was beaten and robbed by two teen-agers.
A 19 year old girl was thrown off the Orleans Street viaduct.
A purse-snatcher knocked a 63 year old woman to the ground and stole her purse with $12.
A policeman was cut with a knife while being ejected from a bar.
The police suggested that the assaults were the results of long daylight hours and fair weather.
06. A nice black and white photograph: Downtown Baltimore at Fire station #6.. about 1925. One of the store signs reads: Everything Electric Radio (Holmes Electric).
07. Newspaper article: An 8-foot high trash can, dubbed as "Cleanup Charlie" broadcast announcements every few minutes at Howard and Lexington Streets. Sharp-eyed members of the Women's Civic League watched the intersection from a second story window and pointed out litterbugs over a loudspeaker. "Charlie was on duty daily during "Cleanup Week."
08. Photo of a disaster: An apartment house being built in Lutherville collapsed in recent heavy rain and will have to be completely rebuilt.
09. Saying: A miser isn't much fun to live with, but he makes a wonderful ancestor.
10. Newspaper article: 600 French tourists will visit Baltimore.
Wait a minute, they came to our fair city because DC had no available rooms. At night, they will sleep in the Southern Hotel.. during the day, they will tour DC.
11. Letter to the Editor: What is wrong with Baltimore's Heritage that the French tourists have to tour DC and not our fair city? What about:
The Walters Art Gallery
The Cone Collection at the BMA
The home and grave of Edgar Allen Poe
St. Mary's Seminary
The Chapel at St. Mary's and the Battle Monument, both designed by Maximillian Godefroy
Betsy Patterson who married Jerome Bonaparte
The oldest school of pharmacy in the US
Dr. Pierre Chatard
Louis Pascault
Archbishop Ambrose Marchal
The widow Lacombe
J. Pinaud
Fort McHenry
Mount Vernon Place
12. Drawing: A little boy with a flower growing out of his navel. ?
13. Depictions of Baltimore's famous painted screens. It is impossible to see through a painting from outside.
A South Curley street house with painted screens on every window.
Twol screens by Frank Abremski for his house at North Ellwood Avenue.
Two Baltimore scenes custom painted for A. Aubrey Bodine, to reflect two of his famous photos.
A cool painting on a storm window at South East Avenue.
Swan depictions in screens at South Curley and South Chester.
14. Ocean City scenes: The Boardwalk is continuing from 19th to 26th street.
There was a major storm in March which flooded the city and destroyed a lot of property. The Jamaican, a recently completed luxury apartment hotel was completely destroyed. There is a picture of a house on steel stilts that survived.
15. Newspaper article: A 150-year old two-story log house has been renovated in York, PA and furnished with antiques. Usually, log houses are much smaller.
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