Good stuff through a straw

I could use some help here. I'm cooking for someone who currently can't eat except through a straw. I find myself sliding into a rut. Any ideas you have on straw-suitable soups, healthy drinks, and regular foods that can still be somewhat palatable after dilution and pureeing would be appreciated. It's bad enough not being able to eat solid food, without having the liquid stuff get monotonous.

To get the ball rolling, here are a few tips from around here.

= A few years back, we noticed that the nutrition tallies for Carnation Instant Breakfast were almost identical to the nutritional tallies for the expensive and rather chalky nutrition supplement the doctor prescribed. We haven't used the fancy stuff since. We use whole milk to boost the calorie count.

= Split pea soup is easy to make from scratch. There are lots of variations, but here's how we generally do it around here: Wash the dried split peas you're going to use (I put them in a colander, sort out anything that isn't supposed to be there, then rinse under the faucet). Put the peas into a saucepan with three to four cups of water for every cup of peas. (My usual batch uses two cups of peas.) Add a pat of butter or other oil to keep the soup from getting too much froth. Toss in some diced onion and whatever else suits your fancy. Traditional recipes call for diced ham, but one day when I didn't have ham I tried chopped carrots and found that we liked that better. A lot of recipes suggest celery, but I haven't tried that yet. Add some salt and pepper and simmer or cook at a gentle boil until the peas fall apart when you stir. Add milk to bring it to the consistency and taste you want. If the soup's too thin, simmer until it's thick enough for you. (Steam equals water, you know.) Tah dah, cream of split pea soup. A lot of recipes use chicken broth instead of water, and omit the milk, but we like the creamy stuff. I keep chopped onion in the freezer, ready to use at a moment's notice, which makes it even easier. To make 'chopped onion in the freezer,' chop onion like usual and put it in a freezer bag or container and put it in the freezer; I'm sure some folks blanch it, but just plain old onion works for me. You can also buy commercially prepared chopped onion in the freezer section of your grocery store, if you get sick and tired of dealing with raw onion (been there, done that).

=Cream of potato soup is also easy. Cook chopped potatoes with chopped onions until done. Drain excess water, if any. Mash and dilute with milk. If you don't need it straw-suitable, you can skip the mashing part or do a half-hearted job of it. Salt and pepper makes it better. A dab of butter in the cooking water is also good. You can dress it up by adding carrots or ham or whatever else sounds good to you.

=Cream of wheat cereal and some other cooked cereals work great through a straw if you add enough milk.

=Yogurt works if you stir in enough milk. Beef it up by adding a banana or other fruit and putting it in the blender.

(Yes, we use a lot of milk around here. Why do you ask? :)

=If you use a lot of fruit juice, buying frozen juice can save you a lot of money. Mixing fruit juices in unlikely combinations sometimes produces disaster but sometimes turns up something really good. (To my surprise, I find I like cranberry juice mixed with orange juice.) Of course, making juice from scratch, leaving in a lot of pulp, is probably better. But it can get messy. We use 2-quart plastic fruit juice bottles because they're easy to handle and have screw-top lids. (Obviously, at some point we splurged and bought ready-to-drink juice instead of frozen juice.) To save fuss, we thaw the frozen juice in the fridge before opening, so we can just pour it into the bottles. If you like, use a funnel, but pouring without a funnel gets easier with practice. To wash the bottles, put dish soap and water in the bottle, put the lid on, and shake. To rinse, dump the soapy water and put in plain water and shake and dump, repeating as many times as necessary. It doesn't take much dish soap to make a whole lot of suds, by the way.

Your turn. Feel free to provide either a link or a full recipe in the comment box.

Marking an anniversary

Two years ago today, a disabled woman -- who could make responsive sounds but not sentences, who smiled at friends but was wary of strangers, who brightened up at John Denver songs, who laughed to hear a familiar voice on the phone, who had a family who wanted to take her into their embrace and care for her -- died after her adulterous 'husband' got a probate judge to rule in favor of her being starved and dehydrated.

Law enforcement let her down; instead of protecting her life, police helped keep her friends and family and clergy from even giving her ice chips to suck on to ease her suffering, even after the suffering became acute. Government let her down, starting with the judge who made it possible for her to be deprived of the barest necessities of life. The press let her down, portraying her as a vegetable at best. (Now, being a John Denver fan might not be overly sophisticated, but c'mon.) Feminists let her down; if ever there was a time to protest a man's treatment of a woman this was it; he had chosen and publicly announced his next wife but wouldn't cede control of the first. Her bishop let her down, too, not putting his weight behind Catholic teachings to fight for the defenseless and defend the dignity of human life, not to mention the call to love even when that loving calls for self-sacrifice; worse than that, he put out statements contrary to church teaching, giving ammo to the people who wanted to starve her.

What happened to Terri Schiavo was inexcusable.

It was also a wake-up call. I don't know if you had imagined that health care and courts and legislatures had people in them campaigning for the view that a handicapped life wasn't worth living, much less campaigning successfully. I hadn't. I was still walking around assuming that a doctor who thought there wasn't much more he could do would say "I'm sorry, there isn't anything else I can do." The idea of a doctor who decided that since he couldn't make you as well as he'd like you would be better off dead simply didn't occur to me, much less that any doctor would think he had a right or even duty to hurry things along. And even in my nightmares I don't think I could have conjured up judges to provide doctors and nurses with legal cover if they actually caused death. I wouldn't have thought that withholding food and water from a living creature, much less a human, would ever be sanctioned, much less legal in the case of humans, much less the weapon of choice of the death-defeats-difficulties crowd.

I also assumed that the law would never side with a husband who wanted his wife killed and asked someone else to arrange it. That a husband can do this amazes me. That the person to whom he goes to arrange it is a judge worries me. (Not personally. I don't have that sort of husband. But in general, it definitely worries me. Where are you supposed to go for protection after judges get in the habit of signing death decrees for people not on death row? It seems a bit too much like a woman going in for a restraining order and the judge siding with the stalker and having the bailiff do her in. Well, no, maybe not. But you get the picture? You see why I'm concerned?)

We are not talking about not doing some fancy futile thing for a person in the final days of her life here. I can understand not throwing everything imaginable at a person who is terminal and wants to die in peace, naturally and without interference. By all means, more people should be allowed to die in peace, naturally and without intervention. For that matter, I support the rights of anyone to forgo any medical procedure or treatment they want to forgo, minor, major, or in between, for whatever reason or none at all, whether they are dying or not. I support the right of guardians to draw the line on medical care they don't think is appropriate for someone who isn't capable of deciding amongst options for herself. But that's not what happened with Terri Schiavo and that's not what we're talking about here. We are talking about cutting a life short by taking deliberate action to make living impossible. And getting away with it. Openly.

I thought my country was better than this.

I think it can be.

But we have a long way to go.

At least these days, due in large part to the family and friends of Terri Schiavo, there are more places a disabled person can turn if he finds himself fighting for his life, faced off against people who see the downsides of disabilities but look right past the person coping with trouble.

In addition to other efforts, there are coalitions of bloggers dedicated to helping get the word out if anyone finds he needs public support in a right-to-life case. Blogs for Terri, organized to fight for her life, is still in business. ProLifeBlogs.com is also in the fight.

Bumper stickers

Barbara at Praying for Grace has new wheels and is looking at the pro-life bumper sticker options these days. If you have one you particularly like, you might pop over and drop her a comment.

She says in her post, "My old sticker was very plain Jane. Which, I like. It just states the fact without being cheeky (I'd rather not take pot shots on the freeway!)."

I'll second that sentiment. I don't do bumper stickers, but if I did, those would be my guidelines.

She has one follow-up post so far, with samples of what's been suggested.

hat tip: I found Barbara's blog through this post at Rosetta Stone. Give me a recipe for bread or for meatballs and I'm there (and Michelle has both).

Book, movie, television note: Nick Carter, House, Sherlock Holmes

By a rather roundabout way (starting with a search engine set for "literary sleuth"...), I've just discovered that I've had the wrong idea about a book series. We've sold a fair number of used books in the Nick Carter: Killmaster series, but not being the sort of person who finds something with "Killmaster" in its identity appealing - and the cover art not changing my mind - I've not paid much attention to them. I guess I assumed they were just one of many men's adventure series cooked up in recent decades, the masculine counterpart to the short romance novels cranked out hand over fist for women.

Wrong. Nick Carter apparently sprang up as a scientific detective in 1886, making him more or less a contemporary of, and fellow spirit of sorts to, Sherlock Holmes. (Some references I've read today say Nick Carter came first, others say he sprang up on the heels of Holmes. Since A Study in Scarlet appears to have come out in 1887, I'd have to, grudgingly, concede an earlier launch date to Carter unless someone comes along with a solid reference saying otherwise. For whatever that's worth...)

Carter's been presented over and over and over again in books, on radio, in movies, on television, sometimes being faithful to the original idea, sometimes "updated." Walter Pidgeon, one of my favorite actors, played him in a 1939 movie called, as it happens, "Nick Carter, Master Detective."

There's even a story that "In his dime novel days, the hero was so popular that, as James Thurber relates, an American tourist was able to scatter a group of Paris toughs by exclaiming "Je suis Nick Carter!" ("I am Nick Carter!")."

Oh, wait. I'd heard that story... (BTW: That link has a surprising amount of info in a short space, including a list of authors who wrote under the Nick Carter byline for the Killmaster series. Should I be surprised that Martin Cruz Smith is among them? I've never read any Martin Cruz Smith books either, so don't have any reference point on this.)

I guess I just never tied all the Nick Carter stories together in my mind. I guess at least part of the trouble was that in the early days he appears to have been aimed, at least somewhat, at a Sherlock Holmes audience (albeit at the dime novel level), while in the books that customers traded in at our bookstore he was altered to compete with James Bond. You'll pardon me, I hope, that I didn't recognize him as the same fellow...

A side note: While trying to pin down whether Nick Carter sprang up independently of Holmes or was inspired by him, I came across Sherlockian.Net, which had, to my mild surprise, a link to a website for the television show House M.D., which has a page listing Connections Between House and Holmes, and a page about Differences between Holmes and House, and even a House and Holmes blog.

I prefer a life with little to no television in it (I always seem to have more time in the day when I keep the tube off, and I don't much enjoy being offended on a regular basis, either), but I know some serious House fans in this blog neighborhood, and I don't know if they've made the literary connection yet. So, there it is.

And since I also seem to have more hours in the day when I don't follow links around willy-nilly, ahem, I think I'll get back to work now... :)

A boomer remembers

Via Soccer Dad, I Remember JFK takes trips down memory lane.

Remember, for instance, The Floating VW Beetle Ad?

BTW: A floating car has its pros and cons. I know someone who told me about trying to ford a river crossing in a VW bug. Didn't work. You can't drive if the wheels don't stay on the river bottom...

Favorite poetry anthologies

Over at relevantblog: Writerly Musings, Mary E. DeMuth is asking for recommendations for good poetry anthologies.

Skywalkers aren't just in Star Wars

These days, they're at the Grand Canyon, too. (Yikes!) Pay your entrance fee and you can become a Skywalker, too...

I'm not sure quite what I think about the Grand Canyon Skywalk. Perhaps I'll form an opinion when the strangeness wears off?

Perhaps I shouldn't say this, but (according to local legend at least) in early settlement days in the West, people were fond of building grand hotels more or less in the middle of nowhere, confident that people would flock to their hotel, bringing fame and fortune to the owner and providing the foundation on which a town could be built. This happened enough times, and failed enough times, that the public took to calling such would-be tourist attractions follies -- usually with the unfortunate owner's name attached: i.e., if I'd lived back then and done such a thing, my grand attraction, to which I'd clipped a fancy name like The Broadmoorian-Savoy, would be called Judson's Folly by neighbor and passer-by alike. (In general, pretentiousness had a hard time getting much respect - or cooperation - in the young American West.) The term, if I understand correctly, came to be used for any sort of structure that seemed jarringly out of place and/or somehow pie-in-the-sky and/or simply impractical. (Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not an expert on these things. I'm just going on what I've been told.)

Of course, the Skywalk is in a place that already draws tourists, so the comparison isn't very good, but that's what I thought when I first looked at the pictures of the Skywalk: why, look, someone's gone and built a folly, I said to myself. (That was before I went to the website and found out about the restaurants, bars, museum, theater, gift shop, meeting facilities, etc., that are part and parcel of the project.) I hope they prove me wrong. Any folly that actually turns a profit is, by definition, no longer properly called a folly, as I understand it.

And, hey, I like that it's an attraction that requires courage, or daring at least, on the part of its customers. Heh. :) And I'm in awe of the imagination and engineering. I admire the spirit of the thing.

But... but... what an odd thing to do on the rim of a perfectly good canyon... (Have I mentioned yet that I'm not quite sure what to think about the Skywalk?)

What's your impression?

hat tip: Jane

Website campaigns for re-release of "Song of the South"

There's a website dedicated to celebrating the Disney classic movie Song of the South.

It also has an online petition for people to sign if they'd like to see the movie re-released. (Disney could use a bit of encouragement about this, apparently.) They've got well over a hundred thousand signatures already.

hat tip: Townhall

Barbara Curtis is compiling a Mother's Day web album...

...of mothers with their children with Down syndrome.

Downi Creations : dolls with a difference

Elizabeth at Daily Inklings introduces a nonprofit organization that promotes acceptance of people with Down Syndrome - in part by producing a line of dolls with features characteristic of the syndrome.

A bit of a backlash against feminism

"Neo-housewives" are making news (and writing books) in Germany. Who knew?

So far I haven't found any indication that Eva Herman's books are available in English. Correct me if I'm wrong.

hat tip: Gudrun Schultz

Teachers banning Legos (just for starters)

Read John J. Miller's Banning Legos: And building a world where “all structures will be standard sizes.” (NRO, March 27, 2007) to learn more reasons why "What did you learn in school today?" can be a very important thing for a parent to ask.

FIRE Readies Launch of Campus Freedom Network

From The Torch (March 26, 2007):

In the upcoming weeks, FIRE will formally announce the launch of the Campus Freedom Network (CFN), a dynamic new initiative aimed at connecting students and faculty across the country in support of individual rights on our nation’s campuses.

Envisioned as a loosely knit coalition of faculty and students, the CFN will allow members across the country to work together in new ways to more effectively defend basic liberties at our universities and colleges. Besides becoming a part of FIRE’s extended team of first responders for constitutional rights on campus, members will enjoy new access to FIRE staff members and resources. Perhaps most exciting will be the launch of our CFN website, which will allow CFN members to communicate with each other about everything from successful strategies to counter speech codes to the best methods of raising student awareness of free speech and academic freedom issues, all while forming a viable online community united in defense of individual rights in higher education...

Read the rest of their post

Living in Community

Catez Stevens of Allthings2all is hosting a Living in Community series that's prompting some thoughtful posts around Bloggityville. The lead-in post is here.

hat tip: Shannon

Aptonyms

I've heard them called other things, but aptonyms has a nice ring to it. It also makes sense. Visit the Canadian Aptonym Center for the answer to what they are. (hat tip: Frank Wilson)

Homemade heating pads, then and now

Well, I feel silly. I just got caught again trying to come up with a snazzy solution where a simple trick would do.

One of my favorite gifts of all time is a tubular pillow made especially for my husband and given to him as a parting act of kindness by a family that was moving out of the area. It's filled with flax seed. You put the pillow in the microwave and zap it for a while, and it's a great heating pad. It keeps warm for a surprisingly long time, and you can take it anywhere.

I've thought about making another, but flax seed doesn't seem to be a common - or inexpensive - item around here. Plus, I wasn't sure which fabrics were safe to put in the microwave.

Then I learned that other people use uncooked rice instead of flax seed for the same purpose. But I still didn't know what type of fabric would be all right. And in the meantime my sewing machine has a few issues...

So... I was at the pharmacy and they had a Healthy Home News newsletter full of all kinds of tips, among them the suggestion that to make a homemade heating pad you can put rice in a sock and tie off the end and zap that in the microwave.

Oh. Of course. Duh. A nice thick one hundred percent cotton athletic sock would not only be safe in the microwave, but that thickness would help prevent burns, I bet. And it's a no-sew solution, too. Such a deal.

So, I just happened to have cleaned out the sock drawer and had a stack of socks that were going to the trash or the thrift store or the rag pile. I grabbed one of those, poured in some rice, tied off the end, zapped it. Presto. Heating pad.

Why I didn't think of this on my own, I don't know. It's obvious, now that somebody mentioned it.

So, shortly after that I was talking on the phone with an older relative, and I told her about it, and she perked up. Oh, Grandma J--- used to do that! she said.

Grandma J. was before the time of microwaves, of course, but also before the time sugar came in paper bags. She used sugar sacks to make pillows filled with rice, which she heated in the oven to use as heating pads to ease the pain of her arthritis. When the family ran short of rice, they poured out the rice, washed it, cooked it, and ate it. Why not?

Hey, in the old days, they knew how to make do.

(I can't believe how often I feel outclassed by my ancestors.)

Utah takes new tack in eminent domain battles

Utah has become the first state to reduce protection for property owners since Kelo, according to The Castle Coalition (Utah Guts Eminent Domain Reform, March 21, 2007):

Arlington, Va.—Yesterday, Utah Governor Jon Huntsman signed House Bill 365, a bill that rolled back the state’s prior eminent domain reform passed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London. The legislation, which passed unanimously in the Senate and overwhelmingly in the House, allows local governments to take private property for another private party’s gain. Worse yet, it allows property owners to vote their neighbor out of their home or business, thereby imposing a tyranny of the majority.

“This bill is bad for Utah property owners, who once had one of the strongest protections against eminent domain abuse in the country,” said Steven Anderson, director of the Castle Coalition, which helps homeowners nationwide fight the use of eminent domain for private development. The Castle Coalition is a grassroots organization coordinated by the Institute for Justice, which litigated the Kelo eminent domain case before the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago. “Local governments will no doubt be emboldened by the legislation to take property from one person and transfer it to someone else. This is a sad day for anyone who owns a piece of property in Utah.”

Utah once had one of the most comprehensive laws in the nation against the abuse of eminent domain. Under Utah’s 2005 Senate Bill 184, local governments were not allowed to acquire property in so-called “blighted” areas for private redevelopment. In most states, the definition of “blight” is so vague that nearly any well-maintained property could be declared “blighted,” thereby clearing the way for the government to take it. House Bill 365 allows property owners who own a large majority of property (in size or value) to vote to force out neighbors who want to keep their homes or small businesses. That means property owners who merely want to be left alone to enjoy what is rightfully theirs are exposed to abuse.

“This new law marks an unfortunate turn in the battle against the abuse of eminent domain,” Anderson continued. “It shows that the beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse—local governments and developers—will not sleep until their power, called ‘despotic’ by the U.S. Supreme Court centuries ago, is restored. Developers, unlike the public in general, hire well-paid lobbyists who patrol state capitals to expand their power to threaten ordinary homeowners and small businesses. Your right to own your home or farm or small business in Utah should not be placed at risk because developers and local governments wield more political power. Tragically, Utah property owners are now at risk.”

“Kelo educated the public on the horrors of eminent domain abuse so citizens around the country realize when their rights and their property are threatened,” Anderson said. “We expect this loss of rights in Utah will spark yet another popular backlash against eminent domain abuse.”

Why I want to pair that press release with Robert's Great Moments in British Statesmanship, I'm not quite sure... I guess it's because there have been people who understood that government exists to serve the people, not herd them about to please other people with good connections. There are, in fact, people today who understand that. There just don't seem to be enough of them in the right places...

Well, let's see what the folks involved have to say...

The Utah governor's office notes the signing of House Bill 365 in a list of 28 bills signed by the Governor. So far I haven't found a separate press release touting what a great thing this particular bill is supposed to be, or what it's supposed to accomplish, or what it's supposed to prevent. The sponsor is listed as Rep. Stephen Urquhart. Urquhart has a blog. He doesn't seem to think the governor signing this bill is worth posting about (or at least he hasn't posted as of my post time). His Utah House of Representatives webpage is just a thumbnail sketch - although it notes he's Republican. It does contain a link to bills he's introduced/sponsored. Including HB 365. And HB 365 Substitute. There are audio recordings of debates and bill texts and fiscal notes, or rather links to same, which I haven't followed up yet. (As if I can translate Legislative Lingo with assurance?)

Via Castle Coalition, here's a March 13 AP article by Brock Vergakis that takes a look at what was, at that point, pending legislation. The headline reads "Utah may relax eminent domain laws." A central issue seems to be a proposed Wal-Mart in Ogden, or rather, clearing the way for same.

So, two strangers nearly ran into each other...

I count myself fortunate to live in a part of the world where, in general, people laugh easily, and where perhaps most of us laugh mostly at ourselves. It makes for pleasant outings. If I need buoying up, I go for a walk and make sure to go somewhere I'm likely to encounter people. Even strangers will do, most of the time.

That's not to say we don't have crooks around here, or cranky people, or busybodies, or other less-than-pleasant people. It is to say that the prevalent attitude around here is one of gentle good cheer - which, thankfully, is one of the most contagious attitudes on the planet.

This morning I was trying to get some errands done in a hurry, and I came away from the bank teller's window at a good clip, heading for the front doors, walking straight into the weather lock (or whatever it's called) without really paying attention. (Oops, on my part.) This weather lock (or whatever it's really called) consists of two sets of swinging doors with just barely more than enough space between them for a person going in or out to manage the second set of doors if the set behind them is closed. It's helpful at keeping wind and heat and cold outside where it belongs but it can feel a little tight if there's more than one person in there at at time. And it can get really interesting if you don't pay attention and find yourself trying to go out when someone else is trying to come in. You must, in that case, maneuver around one another.

So, this morning I sailed into the little area in between the doors at the same time an elderly gentleman stepped in from the other direction. There was nothing to be done but rearrange ourselves, stepping sideways and around each other, letting each other pass. I had my momentum higher than it should have been for the setting, and he was old enough to not be nimble anymore, and of course we both dodged the same direction at first, and so, between us, we didn't exactly set the world's record for most graceful near miss. Which struck me as funny. So I laughed, and said - in the proper tempo for the line from The King and I - Shall we dance?

He shot me a wary, questioning glance, but when we made eye contact and he saw that I was laughing - and also that I was embarrassed at having nearly run into him - and that I wasn't actually suggesting a waltz or anything like that - his eyes lit up. And then he laughed. It is rather like that, isn't it? he said. The thought clearly amused him. Pleased him, too.

I left him shaking his head and smiling ear to ear. Heh.

And to think we could have snarled "Watch where you're going, why don't you!" to one another, instead...

Books for Serious Folks (who need to lighten up)

For The Too Serious Amongst Us Debra at As I See It Now recommends the book Mrs. Appleyard's Year. She calls it "a for-goodness-sake-lighten-up! book."

Says Debra:

Mrs. Appleyard, an empty-nester, will tickle even the most serious of you until she makes you smile... or dare I say break out in a rusty laugh? She'll show you that admitting your faults can be fun, even freeing, and she'll help you find the lighter, more balanced side of your daily grind. She'll remind you of what's right about life and you'll find yourself remarking, "Oh! I'd forgotten about those good, simple, happy things, those delights which did not disappear with the 1950's. I'd only thought they had."

And you'll see that, often, it's what we serious folks have forgotten that makes us what we are today--so dreadfully serious that people avoid us, lest they catch our crankiness. Which, incidentally, is the exact opposite of this whole biblical idea of Christiandom.

I know I've read books that made me laugh at myself or that shot my anger at someone or something into tiny, broken pieces or that made me back off of something that, now that I thought about it, wasn't really my business. But just at the moment no title is coming to mind.

If you happen to think of a book that helped you or someone else "lighten up," please share.

Hello, America. You've been mapped.

For better or worse, while we weren't looking the government has been compiling a database of... Oh, let them tell you: USGS Release: Land Cover Database Details State of the Land: Lower 48 described with Census-like accuracy (3/19/2007 3:01:46 PM):

The U.S. Geological Survey and the federal interagency Multi‑Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) recently announced the completion of a massive database that describes the land surface condition of each 30-meter cell of land in the conterminous United States. Nearly six such cells - each 98 feet long and wide - would fit on a football field. The 2001 National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001) and its products are available at http://www.mrlc.gov/

Land cover is broadly defined as the biophysical pattern of natural vegetation, agriculture, and urban areas. It is shaped by both natural processes and human influences. NLCD 2001 data portrays 16 classes of land cover in the lower 48 states, the percent of tree canopy, and the degree of surface imperviousness in urban areas.

"Just as the U.S. Census is fundamental in assessing patterns of national population growth, we also require an authoritative, periodic review of land conditions ‑ a Census of the Nation's Land Resources ‑ to understand how people and the land interact," said USGS Director Mark Myers. "The National Land Cover Database gives us that. It's a versatile, balanced look at the state of the land."

Based on satellite imagery taken in 2001, the broad, yet precise database was constructed in a six‑year collaborative effort by the 11 MLRC agencies (http://www.mrlc.gov/). The range and accuracy of information in the database enables managers of public and private lands, urban planners, agricultural experts, and scientists with many different interests (for instance, climate change or invasive species) to identify critical characteristics of the land for a wide variety of investigations.

"With a growing population of more than 300 million people and the challenging prospect of climate change, comprehensive information about the condition of our land resources becomes more and more vital," said Barbara Ryan, USGS Associate Director for Geography. "Land cover information is essential for understanding a wide variety of issues: for example, ecosystem status and health; spatial patterns of biodiversity; land use planning; and land management policy."

NLCD 2001 is a second generation effort to update the Nation's land cover information. The first NLCD was completed in 2000 with imagery acquired around the year 1992. Information from NLCD 1992 has been used in thousands of applications in the private, public, and academic sectors ‑ applications that range from helping to site cell phone towers to tracking how diseases spread.

The national consistency of NLCD information makes possible the sweeping, contextual analysis of national land perspectives, such as the Heinz Center's State of the Nation's Ecosystems, the Environmental Protection Agency's Draft Report on the Environment, the USGS National Water Quality Assessment, and the Landfire Program (a federal interagency program to predict and mitigate wildfire). Complete, updated coverage of NLCD 2001 data for Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico is expected to be available by December 2007.

NLCD products are web enabled for download from the MRLC website at http://www.mrlc.gov/. USGS is currently working with private software developers to create publicly available, user friendly tools that can be used to conduct web-based geospatial analyses of NLCD. Future nationwide updates of NLCD 2001 will continue to monitor land cover change across the Nation.

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news or something in between. Something about having my yard scrutinized and put into a database without my permission doesn't exactly thrill me. Nor does that "sweeping, contextual analysis of national land perspectives" idea. Or the "enables managers of public and private lands, urban planners, agricultural experts, and scientists with many different interests (for instance, climate change or invasive species) to identify critical characteristics of the land for a wide variety of investigations" business. And should I possibly have any concerns about mention of the Heinz Center? (Board of Trustees here.)

Well, the database is there. If it can be put to good uses, like improving wildfire programs, that's to the good. If it can be used to show how "climate change" tends to be worse in urban areas because of too much asphalt, I won't complain about that. (Side note: I understand that buildings with roof gardens are naturally much cooler in summer than those with a black tar roof. Which stands to reason. Not that I want roof gardens mandated - I don't - but if you've got a roof that lends itself to the addition of a garden, it's a thought. Plants can also help clean up pollution a wee bit and birds and insects find them useful, too. Such a deal. Just be sure to learn the ins and outs: too heavy a garden and you'll endanger the inhabitants, too light of planting containers and you'll be sending flying objects into pedestrians below on windy days, etc.)

But I have a funny feeling that the info will be misused as well, cherry-picked and diced and plugged into beta-version computer models by people with agendas that aren't necessarily friendly to private property rights or personal freedom.

I hope I'm wrong. But.

You might keep your eyes open. It will be interesting to see what various people/groups/agencies/activists/politicians/the press do with all this data. I don't intend to lose any sleep over it, but I am afraid it might get interesting once any well-positioned folks who confuse knowledge with wisdom get their teeth into it.

What was it President Reagan used to say? Trust, but verify? I like that idea in this case. I'm sure everyone involved with this project means well, but that's no guarantee they won't accidentally run people over while they have their eyes on the far horizon, so to speak.

Oh, and if I had a betting window it would be open right now: Will the press think this massive compiling of data about private property as well as public is good, or bad, or not worth mentioning?