That book you've been meaning to ship to a friend?

If you live in the United States, you might want to clear out your to-mail or to-order stacks in short order.

New postal rates go into effect May 14.

I keep looking at the new media mail rates (for books, CDs, DVDs, etc.), and cringing. Under the new rates, postage for the least expensive package -- one that weighs less than a pound total -- is $2.13.

For comparison, the current price (in effect since January 8, 2006) for the same package is $1.59.

Ouch.

Rates go up for other types of mail, too. (But pardon me if I focus on the media mail. My husband and I are booksellers.)

Senior citizens have right to sing (imagine that)

It's a sad day in America when people quake in their boots over senior citizens singing a religious song before eating.

My thanks to the Alliance Defense Fund for taking on cases like this, and for its continuing efforts to educate people about what protections the First Amendment provides.

A hero

While of course I wish that Liviu Librescu had by some miracle survived yesterday's massacre at Virginia Tech, I am grateful that he did what he did, putting himself in harm's way so that his students could escape. I want his family to know that I join those in Romania and Israel and Italy and Virginia and elsewhere who want him to be remembered with honor.

In a wider sense, I don't pretend to know what it's like for the people at Virginia Tech or the loved ones of those injured or killed - or for the school administrators and police who are being loudly second-guessed by armchair experts armed with hindsight and the sort of certainty that only comes to certain types of people watching events from a distance - but I want them to know my thoughts and prayers are with them.

Just for laughs

The Book Den: Tech Support in the 15th Century links to a family-friendly comedy sketch, acted in Norwegian, with English and Danish subtitles.

No, really.

"Six Simple Strategies for Achieving Misery"

Sol Herzog offers succinct advice on how to produce misery in your life. If that's what you want, of course. ;)

For instance, did you know that "Too often people cheat themselves out of misery by maintaining perspective..."?

Heh.

Addressing supposed Republican rifts

At Backbone America » Introducing Jerome Noirot, a Fulbright scholar completing his political science doctorate on modern conservatism in the United States shares some of what he's found in his research. He also draws on voices from the past to explain some of the foundations of conservative thought.

hat tip for leading me to Backbone America via a mention of Backbone Radio: Hugh Hewitt

Don Ho has died

Hawaiian performer Don Ho has died of heart failure. He was 76. Sadly, some reports are omitting something very important in articles about him.

For instance, this article states:

Ho had suffered with heart problems for the past several years, and had a pacemaker installed last fall. In 2005, he underwent an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart in Thailand.

But it never gets around to explaining that Don Ho emphatically had nothing to do with embryonic stem cell treatment, as I noted in December 2005 (Don Ho Recovering From Adult Stem Cell Procedure). From an article by Associated Press writer Jaymes Song (which was well-done as filed, but was stripped of its balance by most editors, as far as I could see), there was this:

The "VesCell" technology Ho underwent was developed by TheraVitae Co., which has offices in Thailand and laboratories in Israel, where Ho's stem cells were sent to be multiplied.

Dr. Robb MacLellan, associate professor of cardiology at UCLA, said a similar stem cell procedure has been used in Europe for a couple years and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved studies are currently being conducted.

"The difficulty with any new therapy, no matter how promising it looks in animal models and even in small controlled human studies, we're never really sure if it's really safe or effective until rigorous controlled studies are done," he said.

Dr. Ralph Shohet, a molecular cardiologist at the University of Hawaii medical school, said there's a lot of excitement in the medical community surrounding stem cell therapy but the risks are not yet known.

"It's entirely an experimental procedure at present," he said.

Brown noted that Ho was not participating in controversial procedures involving embryonic stem cells.

"Don did not take stem cells from a fetus. He doesn't believe in that," he said. "He took blood from his own body and re-injected that into his heart."

From today's article (first link above), there is this:

In the final years of his life, Ho's heart problems couldn't keep him away from the stage. He was back performing at the Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel on a limited schedule less than two months after his heart procedure in Thailand. His final performance was Thursday, Jung said.

Ho is survived by his wife, Haumea, and 10 children, including Hoku, who sometimes performed with her father.

Now, that's a trouper.

My condolences to his family and friends.

This, that, and the other thing

At The Paragraph Farmer: Unrecognized beauty and its implications, Patrick O'Hannigan takes on beauty, art, music, film, worldviews, novelist Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and more - and ties it all together wonderfully. (I really enjoy Mr. O'Hannigan's essays when he cuts loose like this. And he has quite a few links for further reading, too. :)

Daniel Henninger, writing at OpinionJournal, notes that more people seem to be latching onto the idea that a rebirth of civility would be a very good thing. (To which I say Hear! Hear!)

From Bertie Wooster to Don Imus by Gina Dalfonzo is related. I don't often see Bertie Wooster held up as a role model of sorts, but she has a point. Or two. The world would be nicer if more men refused to be ungallant, and objected when other men were. (Is ungallant a word? I'm not sure it is, but you know what I mean, I hope.)

A dip in the use of fraud and deceit to gin up support for federal legislation would also be nice. Matt Barber has some background on that. (I'm issuing a parental warning on this one.) Be sure and read the part that comes after "Now, here's where it gets hysterical..." (Ninth paragraph onward.) Admittedly, Mr. Barber isn't as civil as he might be (was a Michael Nifong jab really necessary, I ask you?), but under the circumstances I think he's showing admirable restraint, don't you?

While we're on the subject of despicable behavior, did you know that several popular teen sites have been targeted by people daring kids to make and post blasphemous videos on the Internet? And offering rewards for doing so? Catherine Claire has info on that, and on a response being mounted by some Christians.

Apparently it's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Growing up, I remember being led to think that the Holocaust was a fluke, something that happened because the Germans had something in their make-up and society that made them go bad now and then, or at least more susceptible than the rest of us to really bad, sweeping ideas imposed ruthlessly. Bookworm claims that idea is all wrong - that it's significant the Holocaust was spawned in Germany because, she says, at the time Germans had come to be considered the world's most civilized nation.

And, finally, some original content. This week, at the laundromat, I met an old man who had driven across the country to visit his son. The laundromat I frequent has recently had some sprucing up. The walls have been painted, broken equipment has been removed, a new wheeled cart has made an appearance to make it easier to move wet clothes from washer to dryer, reading material has appeared on a new table, potted plants have made an appearance - and a bit of humor and perspective have entered the picture, in the form of some old photographs of washerwomen dealing with tubs and washboards; some of the pictures have captions added, others just drive home the point that laundry used to be more of a chore than it generally is today.

The old man, not ancient by any means but definitely retirement age, walking with a limp, looked at one of the washerwomen pictures and laughed. 'Oh, I remember those days!' he said, and with a little encouragement from me he was off on tales of growing up in coal country, soot on everything, and wash days in those days. His job was to get the wood for the fires used to heat the water. 'I was pretty little for that job, but that's what I did' he said, trying not to look too pleased with himself for having pulled it off despite having been awfully young for such a responsibility.

He talked about how poor the people were around there, and about cracks in the floors and the walls of most of the houses; how you had to keep fires burning in the winter just to survive. But, he said, beaming, people had come a long way since then. I should just see the town now, nice houses all over the place. Sound houses. People had brought themselves up.

I stuck my oar in with one of my favorite what-I-learned-working-at-a-newspaper stories. Back before Owyhee Dam was built in southeast Oregon, the land around was semi-desert, not farmable. But people, upon hearing that a dam was going in, smelled opportunity down the road and converged on the area, many of them so poor they couldn't afford even a tar shack. So some of them built dugouts in the hills, and lived in those until they got work, perhaps helping to build the dam, or until the irrigation system was operational and they could farm the land they'd staked out.

I forget what the main assignment was, but during the course of researching the article I wound up talking to some folks who had lived in dugouts as kids, and then moved up to tar paper shacks, and now proudly showed me their brick houses in a nice part of town. 'Only two generations, and look!' they said.

What set me back on my heels was that these folks were so proud of their parents. You never saw such open, honest pride in your life. 'They didn't have anything, but they knew opportunity when they saw it. And they worked. Only two generations, and look at our family now!' These people beamed with love and appreciation; they had profound respect for their parents. After having spent part of their childhood living in a hole dug into a hillside, mind you.

Well, that makes sense to me now (having learned more about the relative importance of things), but it was a shocker then, I tell you.

So, I told the old man at the laundry about those people and he knew, really knew, what I was saying. We just looked each other in the eye and he had a look of understanding and joy on his face: hey, someone else who gets it, yay might serve as a translation.

But then he got a troubled look and told me that his son could never seem to understand about stuff like that. That he couldn't seem to get it through his head about people who had to struggle. That he looked down on them. 'We don't see eye to eye on that. No, sir. We don't see eye to eye on that. But...' the old man faltered, 'he's always had somebody looking out for him, you see?'

I didn't know what to say. I'm more or less in his son's generation and I know how perilously close I came to turning out like that myself.

We talked of other things. I told him of an older lady who grew up in the Midwest and talked about how they didn't have roads that were passable in the winter until they got RFD (rural free delivery mail service). He laughed, and said when they got RFD it didn't change the road situation any because their mail came on horseback. He shook his head, and marveled about the postman and his wife, who more or less dedicated their lives to getting the mail delivered. 'But of course we didn't have all those ads and other junk then, you know,' he added.

He talked about surviving the Depression, of the family killing a hog every year and canning sausages, and how good the sausages were, and how fantastic meals cooked in pork fat were. Of tossing every bit of unused flour back into the bin, which was all right except for the lumps that got into it that way. Of how it was much better to live in the country in the Depression, because then you could grow food. How hard it was on city folks.

When he ventured into stories about neighbors and relatives who made moonshine and I didn't cut him off I was treated to some wild tales. Family feuds. Gunfire in churches. I mean really wild tales, told with chuckles and tears in the eyes, probably the sort of tales he gets shushed at if he tries to tell them back home. At a guess. ;)

But a couple/three more times he came back to his son, and how he couldn't or wouldn't understand people who had less than he did. Each time the old man faltered. Each time he explained, 'But he's always had someone look out for him, you see.' The son never, in other words, had to really struggle himself. I don't think this man was trying to excuse his son. I think he was embarrassed. I think he was trying to understand him. And couldn't. Not on this one thing. It was unfathomable to him, I think, how a man could grow up in a family that had overcome steep odds, and end up looking down on people facing steep odds.

I never did figure out what to say in reply.

Addition: In case you were wondering, the Owyhee name (which shows up here and there in the Oregon-Idaho border region: a county, a river, towns...) sprung up in pioneer days in memory of some men native to Hawaii, and is pronounced like Hawaii without the 'h'.

I'm back, sort of...

Well, just my luck. I'm finally well enough to attempt a bit of blogging, and it's Friday the 13th. In my culture, a Friday falling on the 13th of the month is supposed to mean bad luck. In reality what it means is that you get conditioned to place inordinate weight on anything that goes wrong on a Friday the 13th, so that you can join in the fun of jumping up and down and saying see, see, see, it is bad luck after all. Besides, knocking wood (aka touching wood) several times a day is also fun, if you're doing it in the spirit of play and don't really take it seriously. If you do take Friday the 13th seriously, my condolences. There's nothing like being sure your day is going to be miserable to take the zest out of living.

Changing subjects, I'm feeling a bit like Rip Van Winkle here. Not only was I not well enough to work, but I wasn't up to following the news, either. And since I have more than a week's worth of work (real work -- the sort that either keeps the house livable or helps put food on the table) to catch up on, it might be a while before I'm up to speed around here. My thanks for your patience.

In the meantime, let's clear up some unfinished business. Laurie nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award, which means I'm supposed to turn around and hand the award to five more blogs, the hosts of which are then supposed to hand out the award to five more blogs, etc., etc., etc. It's something of a glorified meme or linkfest, really, but since it concentrates on content and provides a wonderful excuse to plug some blogs that have made me reconsider what I thought I knew, I'm game. On the other hand, I tend to take these things too seriously, and being confined to five nominees made me feel rather like I was back in grade school and only allowed to invite a handful of kids to a birthday party (but Mom, that means I can't invite everyone I like, and the kids who don't get invited will be hurt and maybe they'll hate me...), so...

So, this list has been different every time I've tried drawing it up, but in its current state it features a good variety of blogs, each of which has introduced me to new ideas, information, and perspectives, and has persuaded me to change my mind about something. That, to me, makes it a reasonably good list, considering that it leaves off a dozen or so blogs I'd like to include.

So, if your blog is on this list, you are now the proud recipient of a Thinking Blogger Award. Rules and buttons here.

Brandywine Books
Cafe Hayek
Joust the Facts
Mere Comments
Neo-Neocon

Noted in passing

It snowed today. Of course it did. I listened to my impatience instead of my experience and just got rid of pretty much all the winterizing we still had around here.

That is, between naps I did that. I came down with a bug last week. That's on top of seasonal allergies. And since my old allergy medications were discontinued, I'm trying a new one... which...zzzz....has....zzzzz....some side effects, I'm finding. (She types as she tries to not nod off...)

I'm doing much better than a couple/three days ago, so with any luck I should be back to full blogging sometime this week.

How math is taught (more or less)

Via an email from Terri Leo here's a video on how math is being presented to many school students these days. You might be surprised at the contortions and extra steps kids are being asked to go through to multiply and divide. (When, of course, they aren't just told to go ahead and use a calculator...)

This is related to what is covered in this article from last December: Leo: Connected Math an Example of Why SBOE Needs More Authority (Lone Star Report, Texas Insider).

In today's email, Leo states:

Why do students learn Math more slowly in Texas today? Because the Texas Education Code (TEC) ties the hands of the State Board of Education (SBOE) from rejecting textbooks and math programs that use poor teaching methods. Poor teaching methods = slower learning. The legislature by law prohibits the SBOE from designating methodologies in Math instruction. It would be counter productive for the SBOE to try to accelerate learning in Math standards (TEKS) before the legislature removes this prohibition in the TEC. The faster you try to teach with poor teaching methods, the less students learn. Below is a link to a brief but superb video on K-12 math education that every parent and policy maker needs to see.

State Representative Bill Zedler's HB 3557 would fix this problem. Please thank Representative Zedler for carrying this bill in the House, and ask your own state representative to sign on to it as a co-author. I am still needing a Senate sponsor.

Nominated

Laurie's nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award.

My thanks to Laurie for the honor. I don't feel like I've lived up to it lately, but I'll do my best not to embarrass her in future. How's that?

I'll be back with my nominees, today if I can swing it, but more likely next week sometime.

Favorite children’s picture books

In A Gracious Home » Favorite children’s picture books, Sallie lists some of the books that have been hits around her place.

“Little Emilio” in trouble in Texas

From an April 5, 2007, press release from The Alliance Defense Fund:

Federal judge refuses to grant temporary restraining order to save life of “Little Emilio” in Texas

Hospital plans to cease boy’s treatments on April 10; federal judge to take matter under advisement, state court judge to hear case Tuesday

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge decided Wednesday not to grant a temporary restraining order filed by an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney which would have allowed a toddler to continue to receive medical treatment while his case moves forward in court. The judge did, however, say he will take the matter under advisement pending the outcome of the state court hearing set for Tuesday. In March, an “ethics” committee at the Children’s Hospital of Austin deemed the child’s life “futile” and voted to end his treatments. Without the treatments, the boy, named Emilio, will likely die in a matter of hours.

“The Children’s Hospital of Austin should do the right thing, and that is to make sure little Emilio gets the treatment he needs to live,” said Joshua Carden, the ADF-allied attorney working on the case, Gonzales v. Children’s Hospital of Austin, along with lead counsel Jerri Ward. “Instead, the hospital has betrayed this little boy by subjecting him to ‘death by vote.’ We are very disappointed that the court today refused to stop this insanity.”

Though doctors are not certain in their diagnosis, they believe Emilio has Leigh’s Disease, a condition that is treated primarily through vitamin therapy. But on March 12, a hospital ethics committee voted behind closed doors to end Emilio’s treatment, deeming his life “futile.”

Under Texas law, a hospital is required to wait only 10 days before discontinuing treatment, to allow for a transfer to another hospital willing to admit the patient. Due to litigation, the 10-day window in Emilio’s case was extended until April 10; however, because of hospital bureaucracy and extensive paperwork, a successful transfer to another hospital is unlikely to occur in time to save Emilio’s life. A state probate hearing on this case is scheduled to take place at the Travis County Courthouse on Tuesday--the same day the hospital plans to cease giving Emilio his treatments.

An outside nurse reviewing Emilio’s records noticed that the hospital had removed the boy’s vitamin treatments during the initial 10-day period, bringing up concerns among some that the hospital could be rushing to end the toddler’s life to avoid discovery of malpractice in the boy’s treatment.

“People who could profit from an innocent person’s death should not get to decide when it occurs. Whatever the hospital’s motives are for pushing to end Emilio’s treatment, a child’s life outweighs all other concerns--whether it’s to cut costs, or for convenience, or something else,” said Carden. “And furthermore, the twisted state law that allows hospitals to exterminate disabled children over their parents’ wishes needs to be changed.”

A story of two wolves

Received, unattributed, in an e-mail titled Cherokee Wisdom:

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:"Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Families United for our Troops and their Mission seeks petition signatures

Gateway Pundit: Gold Star Families Launch Petition to Support Iraq Mission! has info on a drive to gather a million signatures in support of the troops. The sponsors would like to present the petition to Congress sometime around September 11.

Hot Wheels: History and memories

Ron Enderland was eight years old when Hot Wheels toy cars came out...

Author note: Jeanne Marie Laskas

The blogger at At A Hen's Pace recommends books by Jeanne Marie Laskas.

The Network of enlightened Women (aka NeW)

This is interesting, and encouraging. Conservative women on college campuses are organizing NeW Chapters, which sound much more civilized than NOW Chapters. Much. The movement (there are enough chapters already for me to feel justified in calling it a movement, albeit a small one yet), started as a book club at at the University of Virginia in 2004. Book discussions are still part of the program.

hat tip: Is Feminism Finished?, by Jennifer Roback Morse, Townhall.com, April 2, 2007 (via Lightweight Feminists Never More Apparent, by Julie Ponzi, No Left Turns, April 2, 2007).

Hostage drill prepares school for attacks (from rabid Christians)

I wonder who thought this was a brilliant idea?

In the March 23, 2007, David Levinsky article Hostage drill prepares school for crisis (phillyBurbs.com) Burlington County Times, we find that Burlington Township High School recently had a disaster drill in which a scenario of gunmen taking hostages was played out. OK, so in this day and age to have the cops come in for practice runs under controlled circumstances probably isn't such a bad idea. People without a properly-maintained inner compass will sometimes target schools, unfortunately.

What strikes me as odd, and not too bright, not to mention rather unhelpful, is that the fictional maniacs in this set-up were cast as:

...members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the “New Crusaders” who don't believe in separation of church and state. The mock gunmen went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class...

Words fail me. (But please keep reading, because I'm going to give it a shot anyway, at least from a tangent or two.)

It could be worse, I suppose. The school might have been one of those where history teachers have given up teaching about the Holocaust and/or where talking about Crusaders is, in effect, taboo. Not that Crusaders was used appropriately above, but at least it hasn't been erased from their vocabulary yet. Maybe kids at this school district will now be curious about what a Crusader is, and get their hands on non-PC sources, and not be too poisoned to give those non-PC sources a fair read? (Yes, I know, that's really, really stretching for a silver lining. But I'm a silver lining type of person. Live with it.)

I had a relative who, when I went to visit her, spent her days being afraid someone might use a garage door opener while she was around and thus expose her to what she thought would be unhealthy radio waves -- but who had a fridge crawling with mold, contaminating what she ate. What can I say? Some people are like that, ignoring real threats because they don't have time left over from worrying about stuff that's never likely to hurt them. But at least she doesn't work in law enforcement or school administration.

Now, I'm still holding out hope that I've totally misread what happened at Burlington Township High School. I come from a part of the world with a strange, lively, and imaginative sense of humor that often displays itself when people are talking about disasters (it's a variety of gallows humor, I expect). It's barely conceivable to me that they might have thought this was soooo outrageous that it was funny, providing a much-needed aspect of comic relief to an otherwise dreadful duty. (Face it, sometimes really, really outrageous things are funny, simply because they are so absurd.) If anyone finds any evidence for that sort of thing in this case, I'm all ears.

......

Oh, wait, a brilliant thought has struck me. Let's see if the district has anything to say that might clear this up (...pause while your hostess googles...). Ah, yes. Here's the district's statement in its entirety (no direct page link available):

STATEMENT REGARDING MARCH 22, 2007 EMERGENCY EXERCISE

Burlington Township, NJ - Concerns have been shared regarding the emergency management exercise conducted at Burlington Township High School on March 22, 2007, in conjunction with the Burlington Township Police and Fire departments. The main goal of the exercise was to practice our lockdown and evacuation procedures, and test our abilities to respond to an emergency situation.

Any perceived insensitivities to our religious community as a result of the emergency exercise are regrettable. It was certainly not the intent to portray any group in a negative manner. We cherish, respect, and celebrate the diversity of cultures and faith that exist within our community.

Our schools have respected and supported staff members’ and students’ right to pray. Students and staff have held morning prayer vigils. There are various prayer groups within the High School as well as an established Bible club.

Oh, good. They don't hate Christians after all, or consider them alien beings, or try to make them leave their faith at home. I feel better.

It was still a very odd choice of bad guys, though. Wasn't it? And straight out of a secular-leftist playbook of the most irrational sort, too.

Notice to my local school district: Let's not try this here, shall we? And (looking at another aspect of all this) really, it's OK by me if you portray groups that have declared war on humanity in a negative manner. Sanity trumps mindless suicidal niceness any day, in my book.

hat tip: for the Burlington County Times article, I started at the second-to-last link at Bookworm Room: The Islamist War on children continues, and kept following links back to the source.

"We are what we read..."

There's a discussion on "We are what we read more than we know" over at the Albert Mohler blog, starting with quotes from a 2003 David McCullough speech and building on them.

As if my to-read list isn't long enough, McCullough's mention of books read when he was younger has me reaching for the list to add a few.

Mohler suggests that parents of boys might want to take a look at what type of reading lit a fire under McCullough when he was young.

I think there is a lot to what both men say.

"Tradition" in Newspeak

The New York Times and Mark Mossa have different ideas about the proper use of the word tradition. I'm with Mark.

Another large tsunami

The Solomon Islands, near Australia, suffered an 8-magnitude undersea earthquake followed by a tsunami. Details are still confused and sketchy, but there's no question that huge waves hit some inhabited areas. BBC coverage here.

The USGS earthquake animation map shows that the area has been hit by many very large aftershocks. (This map is updated constantly, showing activity over the last seven days.)

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?

Moderate Muslim group offers to raise defense fund for any passengers sued by Flying Imams

See Power Line: A Man Who Deserves to be Heard for a short post mentioning the American Islamic Forum for Democracy's offer to defend any reporting party sued for discrimination by the six imams who were removed from a US Airways flight last November after they were disruptive - and a link to a segment (15:43 run time) from Bill Bennett's radio show where Mr. Bennett speaks with AIFD's spokesman, Zuhdi Jasser.

See also: AIFD's March 13, 2007 Press Release: Not All Muslims Support CAIR Plan to Sue U.S. Airways on Behalf of Six Imams.

Press coverage: at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Washington Times, and UPI.

Lost dog made it home after 11 days on cold Iditarod Trail

There was a happy ending to a dog-lost-during-horrendous-conditions story out of this year's Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska. The dog, a 4-year-old Alaska husky who had become separated from her team and was entirely on her own, was found when she walked onto an open patch that serves as an airstrip -- where two men who had just given up searching for her were waiting for their plane's engine to warm up so they could leave, according to Craig Medred of the Anchorage Daily News.

The dog didn't seem to be much the worse for wear. Her thankful musher has renamed her Rohn, after the village where she was found.

Animal rights activists show where their hearts are (or aren't)

Germany has a beloved celebrity in the form of a polar bear cub, the first polar bear to be born at the Berlin Zoo in more than 30 years. But because his mother rejected him and he's been bottle-fed, some "animal rights" activists have been clamoring loudly for him to be killed. Because he's been tainted by human contact, or something like that. And therefore might not turn out to be a "real" polar bear, or so they say. Which is supposedly a fate worse than death, or so some of them insist. Spiegel Online International (English site) has the story. (And pictures of the cub.)

Why does the phrase "The perfect is the enemy of the good" come to mind?

In case anyone is wondering, I think Knut is adorable, I applaud the people who saved his life when his mother fell down on the job, and I think the radical activists should keep their nose out of the Berlin Zoo's business. And even if Knut were an ugly little bear (which he certainly isn't) or was crippled or something, I don't think we ought to condone the killing of any innocent animal just because some over-righteous busybodies are obsessed with stereotypes and flip out when confronted with something outside their preferred and rigid parameters. (Silly me, right?)

Luckily, the zoo officials and the general public adore the cub and will almost certainly be able to protect him from the crazies.

If you happen to be in Berlin, give a friendly hello to the little fellow for me, will you?

hat tip: Kill Knut? The Twisted Logic of Animal Rights Extremists, Albert Mohler blog, Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Update: The BBC has more on Knut, following his public debut. It's too bad so many people can't say "polar bear" without free associating it with 'global warming,' but if you can ignore the folks who can't enjoy a cub romping about without muddying the experience with wild-eyed predictions of doom, click over and enjoy the bear and his admirers.

A tribute to a brave and caring lady

See A well-deserved honor for a true heroine in the battle against tyranny for an introduction to Polish national heroine Irena Sendler, who helped save 2500 Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Poland's parliament and President Lech Kacyzinski recently honored Sendler and the Polish underground Council for Assisting Jews, comprised mostly of Roman Catholics risking their lives defying the Nazis. Sendler is in her 90s, and lives in Warsaw.

From a March 14, 2007, AP article by Ryan Lucas:

Sendler led about 20 helpers who smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto to safety between 1940 and 1943, placing them in Polish families, convents or orphanages.

She wrote the children's names on slips of paper and buried them in jars in a neighbor's yard as a record that could help locate their parents after the war. The Nazis arrested her in 1943, but she refused — despite repeated torture — to reveal their names.

Anyone caught helping Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland risked being summarily shot, along with family members.

[...snip...]

In 1965, Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial awarded Sendler one of its first medals given to people who saved Jews, the so-called "Righteous Among the Nations."

She was given the honor in 1983, after Poland's Communist authorities finally agreed to allow her to travel abroad.

So how does the lady herself feel about the honors being given her these days? From the Lucas article:

"Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory," Sendler said in a letter ...

The Lucas article comes with a slide show. Sendler comes across as a beautiful woman from the inside out.

AgrAbility helps disabled farmers keep farming

Claire Martin, writing in the Denver Post, 3/22/07, takes a look at Colorado's AgrAbility program, which provides help to disabled farmers. Several other states have similar programs. (I didn't know that. Did you?)

For more information, including a directory for federal and state projects throughout the United States, visit the National AgrAbility Project website. It also features resources and tips, some of which might be useful for non-farmers. See, for instance, Assistive Technology.

This is not to mention that the website features a few inspirational stories. For instance: An older Mississippi farmer who didn't let either a stroke or Hurricane Katrina stop him. A young woman who went blind but went on to open her own greenhouse, specializing in plants with bright colors and fragrances. A man who broke his back and suffered spinal injury, but is back to farming and ran for and won a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Sewing Seeds

Where have I been? How did I miss this? Randi's amazing Sewing Seeds project has been barrelling along without me.

In a nutshell, one of Randi's daughters is heading to Africa in June to serve at an orphanage for a couple of weeks, and Randi and another daughter invited readers of I Have to Say... to help make skirts for the 75 girls in two affiliated orphanages. Updates here.

Ooh. Well done.

Alaska Volcano Observatory: KVERT Volcanic Warnings Ceased

To whom it may concern,

I can't find a permalink for this notice currently on the front page at the Alaska Volcano Observatory's website, so I'll just reprint it here. (I hope that's all right. It's a public notice, after all.):

March 1, 2007

Dear colleagues:

It has come to our attention that as of January 1, 2007, the Federal Unitary Enterprise State Air Traffic Management Corporation of Russia halted financial support for the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT). Attempts to negotiate renewal of the annual funding agreement by KVERT leadership have thus far failed. As a result, on March 1, KVERT will cease issuing volcanic warnings to the aviation community.

This unfortunate event comes at a time when three volcanoes in Kamchatka are at Color Code Orange and intermittently producing ash. For 14 years, KVERT staff and affiliated scientists have alerted regional ACCs, MWOs, Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs), and numerous air carriers to the onset of volcanic unrest. KVERT's vigilance and volcanologic and technical expertise has resulted in many hundreds of accurate and timely ash cloud warnings. It is a testimony to the success of KVERT and its international collaborations that during this time period of significant volcanic activity in Kamchatka, we are aware of no damaging ash-aircraft encounters among the many hundreds of thousands of flights through the region.

We do not know official reasons for this action, which, unfortunately, has occurred before in KVERT's history. In response, KVERT and AVO have alerted International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) representatives who have contacted the State Air Traffic Management Corporation in Moscow to express concern and urge restoration of funding.

During a period of reduced KVERT operations, the Alaska Volcano Observatory will continue its own routine, daily satellite monitoring of Kamchatka and we will issue hazard warnings to our interagency partners to the best of our ability. However, AVO does not have direct access to seismic or other ground-based monitoring and observational data for Russia, and thus warnings and notifications may not be as timely, accurate, or complete as those routinely provided by KVERT.

Sincerely,

Thomas L. Murray

Scientist in Charge, AVO

Duly noted.

In addition to Alaska's, the U.S. also has volcanic observatories for the Cascades, Hawaii, Long Valley, California, and Yellowstone. They all seem to be associated with the USGS's Volcanic Hazards Program, which has a Most Recent Updates for U.S. Volcanoes page.

And, yes, I live downwind from Mount St. Helens and a few other Cascade volcanoes, plus I have a fascination with volcanoes in general. Why do you ask? ;)

You don't want to hear this...

...but U.S. taxpayer-funded Al-Hurra television has apparently become terrorist-friendly. Joel Mowbray explains. (Television Takeover, OpinionJournal, March 18, 2007.)

God bloggers find themselves in bad company

Monday and again Tuesday I got a notice from Barnes & Noble (Tuesday had a correction):

The Barnes & Noble Affiliate Program is terminating its relationship with BeFree and re-launching on the Performics Affiliate Network.

After March 31st, 2007, our BeFree links will be deactivated and all Barnes & Noble placements on your site must use the links, banners, and/or data feed available from Performics in order to track sales and earn commissions. If possible, please change your links prior to March 23rd to expedite our reconciliation process. All outstanding payments for confirmed orders will be mailed following the close of the quarter.

The Barnes & Noble program is now live on Performics and you may start changing links immediately (see below for instructions on how to apply).

So, I've been dealing with some semi-emergencies and serious family illness and heavier-than-average workload around here and didn't get around to following the link to apply to Performics until this afternoon. (General, public link here.) Look what I came across, in the right hand sidebar under "Who's eligible to become a Publisher." Emphasis mine:

Performics individually reviews each application. Your site may be declined for one of the following reasons:

We were unable to access and review your site based on the URL provided

Your site was under construction

The information provided doesn't match registered domain information

Unsolicited commercial email (Spam) or trademark infringement

Gambling

Libel or defamation

Illegal substances

Violence or hate-oriented speech

Extensive religious commentary or attempts to preach or solicit members for a particular church or faith

Pornography, obscene, or offensive content

It is our policy to fully review each site before approval into our network. If your site has not been approved, please feel free to re-apply after you have made the necessary adjustments to your site.

Nothing like having faith lumped in there with all those other things.

I'm not sure I want to become what this outfit calls a "Publisher" anyway. Some of the fine print worries me. All I want to do is make it easy for people to get more information on books, and maybe buy a book or two through my links now and then. Is that too much to ask? I don't want to run other banners and ads and such.

Augh. I was already upset enough about having to change a few hundred links on short notice.

Now I'm not sure I want to bother. Or even if I ought to.

I defend their right to come up with any qualifications they want. As far as I'm concerned, they could require all their affiliates to be 6 feet 2 inches tall and left handed and able to juggle three bowling pins while standing on one foot.

But I don't mind telling you that I'm seriously disappointed that people who put out the welcome mat for their church are lumped with smut peddlers and spammers and drug dealers.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong? Tell me I'm reading this wrong.

Goodbye to a cat

Those of you who don't get attached to pets are invited to move along now. Nothing to see here.

People with my husband's health problems are advised to not have pets. But we had pets already, when he fell ill. Two cats. Dear to us. So we decided to not add any more pets and see if we could somehow squeak by with extra attention to house cleaning. We gave it a good shot, but we finally decided the cats had to go.

So we've been asking around, sometimes in earnest, and sometimes (to be honest) half-heartedly, hoping to find someone who could take two indoor-only cats at once so the longtime pair could stay together.

But. Our biggest fear has been that we would accidentally put one or both of them into a bad situation. We care what happens to them. So we decided early on that while getting them a home together would be nice, we'd settle for separate homes if the homes seemed safe and caring: Free to a good home, emphasis on good.

We haven't had many nibbles. These are middle-aged cats; not old, but certainly not kittens. People want kittens, for the most part.

And then yesterday, when my husband was down checking a few things at our gas station cum bookstore, a customer mentioned that he was getting ready to go out of town to a humane society to get a cat. Here was a man willing to drive more than a hundred miles and pay an adoption fee, just to get a cat. The attendant, who knew we needed to find homes for George and Gracie, pointed out my husband and announced that there was a man who had cats that needed new homes.

And so, bam, just like that, a man came by and talked with George a while and we put her in a box and he drove away with her.

He seems to be good with cats. He's had cats. My husband and I were both impressed by his manner and his apparent good sense. He also arranged, all on his own, to have the box in the front passenger seat, so he could reassure her more easily as he drove. I think, in other words, that we probably found her a good home. I'm not scared for her, which is the main thing. Which helps.

But.

Excuse me if I fall into puddles now and then.

After George left, Gracie wandered around a bit, searching, calling. We looked at each other and predicted that she'd either need extra reassurance during the night or would give us the royal cold shoulder treatment, one or the other. We were wrong. She was perfectly all right last night. I wasn't, but she was.

This morning, Gracie is doing everything short of basking in the relative peace and quiet of a George-free environment. Not that she didn't launch at least as many surprise attacks on George as the other way around.

I don't know why I'm surprised. Gracie is a "the universe revolves around me" sort of cat. She's happy, especially if she's got an audience.

She needs a home, though. She's a bit plain Jane to look at (OK, she faintly resembles a cross between a cat and a raccoon), but she's superb at sprawling across your lap when you're trying to read. Anybody local who has a lead, please contact my husband. Thanks.

Update later the same day: I spoke too soon. Gracie gets nervous and cries if left alone, or when either my husband or I leave the house.

On the upside, she hasn't deigned to play with us mere humans in a while, but today she was running after tossed toys and playing hide and seek, etc. Vigorously. I guess humans will do if there's not another cat around.

Grassroot efforts to promote a documentary

In an effort to get commercial movie distributors interested, the makers of Indoctrinate U - Our Education. Their Politics. are asking people to sign up on their website, saying they'd watch the film if there's a local screening.

Once enough people make this pledge, we will have a mandate that commercial distributors can't ignore. In the meantime, we'll arrange for local screenings every time 500 people sign up in a particular area.

Well, of course, commercial distributors can ignore any film they want to. That's their right as free human beings. And since this documentary takes aim at PC-drenched people on college campuses, I have to think that anybody who is somewhat dependent on coastal elites would likely be afraid to show the film.

But that's part of the point, really. That it has become hazardous to oppose the political/intellectual mindset demanded at many college campuses is what prompted this film in the first place.

I'd like to see local screenings all over the place, if for no other reason than I think ivory towers need to have their intellectual barricades rattled if they get too much like something out of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. Thoughtcrime, anyone?

The Indoctrinate-U website has the trailer, if you'd like to see it.

hat tip: Bookworm Room

Journalist Holocaust hero honored

From Catholic.net, Journalists Honor Holocaust Hero:

CARPI, Italy, MARCH 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic journalist Odoardo Focherini saved more than 100 Jews before he died in a concentration camp during World War II, at the age of 37. The Catholic Union of the Italian Press paid tribute to Focherini on Saturday, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The journalist was the administrative director of L'Avvenire d'Italia and president of the Italian segment of Catholic Action.

[...snip...]

Bishop Elio Tinti of Carpi, who opened the celebration, said: "He was a man who knew how to bring joy to the lives of many people, especially the 105 Jews he saved, but also to all those he met, offering a shining example of what it means to be a man of simplicity."

The prelate spoke of the journalist's deep love for his family, "his tender relationship with his beloved wife and his seven dear children -- deep ties that we see revealed in the marvelous letters that he wrote, but ties which did not impede him from living his life for others."

[...snip...]

Focherini organized a network to move Jews out of Italy to safety in Switzerland. He was arrested for this on March 11, 1944. After stops in several prisons, he died from an infected leg wound on Dec. 27, 1944, in the Hersbruck concentration camp in Germany.

[...snip...]