First the feel good story of the week a week early. One man's journey to find the person that saved his life:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/10/more_than_60_years_after_the_r.html
Now on to a somewhat controversial subject. A man that writes a parenting blog took his wife and eleven year-old son to Hooters after the son's football game. He then wrote about the experience on his blog. He was hammered by posters. He also received support. At first I was in the "it is the wrong thing to do to take a boy that young to Hooters" camp but after reading his defense in a column in today's USA Today I am not so sure. Read the column here:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/10/column-sex-ed-and-a-trip-to-hooters-.html
Now on to Dancing With The Stars. This was without a doubt the best performance week this season. The dancing was just top notch. The judges, even Len the Grouch, were really nice. If memory serves me correctly the lowest score was twenty-one. Three stars tied for the high score. If the performance shows continue like this the audience will come back! Now on to the results show. Highlight was the tribute to Michael Jackson with the professionals dancing to Thriller using all the famous Jackson moves. Top notch entertainment. The lowlight was the elimination of Natalie. It should have been either Louie, Aaron, or Michael. I hope one of them goes next week.
I am looking forward to Top Chef tonight and maybe this is the week Robin goes. Or maybe the guy whose goat she gets the most, Michael I will go. Remember tonight it is restaurant wars.
Questions for the day. Is Hooters an appropriate place to take an eleven year-old boy? After reading the dad's reasoning, does that change your mind? And would you search for over sixty years for the person that saved you life?
TODAY'S TRIIVIA:
Yesterday's answers:
Mr. Mom, Tootsie, and Young Frankenstein. Besides all had Teri Garr in them.
General Electric Theater, Death Valley Days, and The First Patsy Awards were all hosted by Ronald Reagan.
A balloon, a cork, and a question can all be popped.
Angel, Ribbon, and Glass are all waterfalls.
Monkey wrench, mason jar, & Morse Code were all named after their inventor.
Today's Who Am I?
Born in New York in 1830 I was an attorney, politician, educator and author. I worked for for women's rights before the term feminist was not in use. I overcame many social and personal obstacles related to gender restrictions. After college, I became a teacher and principal, working to equalize pay for women in education. In 1879 I became the first woman to be allowed to perform before a legal body. I also ran for president of the United States. I started teaching by age 14 and married my first husband at age 18. My first husband died five years into our marriage, three years after our daughter was born. I was left with no money and quickly realized that I needed a better education to support my daughter and I. I graduated with with honors in 1857 and soon became the headmistress of a school. I found that whether I was teaching or working as an administrator I was paid half of what my male counterparts were. In 1866 we moved to Washington D.C., as I believed it was the center of power in the United States and would provide good opportunities to advance in the legal profession. I remarried to an older man in 1868. We had a daughter together but she died before she was two. I was refused admittance to one law school as the staff believed I would be adistraction to male students. I later was admitted to what is now e George Washington University Law School) along with several other women. I completed my studies in 1873 though the law school was unwilling to grant a diploma to a woman. Thanks to President Grant's interference I received my diploma later that year. I an anti-discrimination bill to have the same access to the bar as male colleagues. From 1874 to 1879 I lobbied Congress to pass it. It was signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes. It allowed all qualified women attorneys to practice in any federal court. In my later life I was a well-respected writer. I strongly believed in working for world peace co-editing a journal called The Peacemaker. I in 1917 and was buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Among by awards is several communities were named after me, a merchant marine ship was named after me and in in the nineteen eighties I was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. My inscription reads: "Using her knowledge of the law, she worked to secure woman suffrage, property law reforms, equal pay for equal work, and world peace. Thriving on publicity and partisanship, and encouraging other women to pursue legal careers, She helped to open the legal profession to women." Who Am I?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Help & Royalty
Sorry for being late today. I was at Mom's last night and this morning kind of got away from me helping Mom get ready for her bridge club.
OK, posters and readers. Pat needs our help. Yesterday she wrote the following comment:
"A woman at my mother's facility occasionally goes inward and mutters to herself, "Hody, hody, hody" over and over. I have no idea where this comes from and can't ask the lady herself, as she's quite deaf and probably not even aware she's saying it when she does. Googling only produced a Czech song with a video of decorating eggs, but DR thought it might be a midwestern thing. Only other thing I can think of is "hodie" in Latin, which I think means "today". Anybody got any ideas?"
I know from the Who Am I's of the day that you out there are marvelous researchers. Can you use your research skills to help Pat out? Post your answers here.
On to another subject. You can read an interesting article here:
http://news.aol.com/article/us-nurses-aide-charles-wesley-mumbere/721004?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fus-nurses-aide-charles-wesley-mumbere%2F721004
The article brings up the questions for the day. First, if you were working a normal job would you hide the fact that you were really a King or Queen? And what would you do if you woke up one morning and discovered that you were royalty?
My answers. I might or might not hide the fact that I was a King. I can see reasons for hiding it. People would treat you differently if they knew you were royalty. I can also see reasons for coming clean about being was royalty, it might help me get dates. If I woke up one day and found out I was royalty? I would immediately try to think of ways to use my new found title to help people and I would make every effort to keep my life as normal as possible.
Looking forward to your answers. My you be treated like royalty today!
TODAY'S TRIVIA
Yesterday's Answer: Letitia "Lettie" Pate Whitehead Evans
I didn't really have time to do a Who Am I, so for today were are back to what do these three things have in common.
What do these three things have in common:
Mr. Mom, Tootsie, and Young Frankenstein. Besides being movies.
General Electric Theater, Death Valley Days, and The First Patsy Awards. Besides being television shows.
A ballon, a cork, a question.
Angel, Ribbon, Glass.
Monkey wrench, mason jar, & Morse Code.
OK, posters and readers. Pat needs our help. Yesterday she wrote the following comment:
"A woman at my mother's facility occasionally goes inward and mutters to herself, "Hody, hody, hody" over and over. I have no idea where this comes from and can't ask the lady herself, as she's quite deaf and probably not even aware she's saying it when she does. Googling only produced a Czech song with a video of decorating eggs, but DR thought it might be a midwestern thing. Only other thing I can think of is "hodie" in Latin, which I think means "today". Anybody got any ideas?"
I know from the Who Am I's of the day that you out there are marvelous researchers. Can you use your research skills to help Pat out? Post your answers here.
On to another subject. You can read an interesting article here:
http://news.aol.com/article/us-nurses-aide-charles-wesley-mumbere/721004?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fus-nurses-aide-charles-wesley-mumbere%2F721004
The article brings up the questions for the day. First, if you were working a normal job would you hide the fact that you were really a King or Queen? And what would you do if you woke up one morning and discovered that you were royalty?
My answers. I might or might not hide the fact that I was a King. I can see reasons for hiding it. People would treat you differently if they knew you were royalty. I can also see reasons for coming clean about being was royalty, it might help me get dates. If I woke up one day and found out I was royalty? I would immediately try to think of ways to use my new found title to help people and I would make every effort to keep my life as normal as possible.
Looking forward to your answers. My you be treated like royalty today!
TODAY'S TRIVIA
Yesterday's Answer: Letitia "Lettie" Pate Whitehead Evans
I didn't really have time to do a Who Am I, so for today were are back to what do these three things have in common.
What do these three things have in common:
Mr. Mom, Tootsie, and Young Frankenstein. Besides being movies.
General Electric Theater, Death Valley Days, and The First Patsy Awards. Besides being television shows.
A ballon, a cork, a question.
Angel, Ribbon, Glass.
Monkey wrench, mason jar, & Morse Code.
Monday, October 19, 2009
What Makes A Hero?
I am going to try to find one feel good story each week to post on the blog. There was one in this morning's Oregonian, you can read the story here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/a_purple_heart_comes_home_to_v.html
The two guys that worked so hard to find the owner of the medal are in my mind heroes.
I watched the Amazing Race last night and my new favorites are the interracial married couple. He is just so nice and she shows her love of him in many ways. I am now officially rooting for them. The couple I liked the least were eliminated last night. I just couldn't stand him and didn't like her enough to overcome my dislike of Lance.
In honor of the two guys in the above story today we are going to discuss what makes a hero.
I am using he and and himself in this paragraph as inclusive of all sexes. My definition is someone that is always true to himself and his beliefs. They do things not for fame or fortunate but because what they are doing is the right thing to do. They are good people. He helps people when others turn a blind eye. He is kind. He is humble. They often put others before themselves.
Some of my heroes. Mother Theresa. My Dad. Our Soldiers. The Kennedy family (they were wealthy and could have stayed in the background enjoying their wealth, instead they gave their lives to our country.) Rosa Parks. My Mom as she ages. A lot of the answers to my Who am I of the day. And the list goes on.
What is your definition of a hero? Who are some of your heroes?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
1953
Yesterday's answer: Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards
Born in 1872 I was known as an American businesswoman and philanthropist. Born to one of Virginia's most established families I enjoyed private education and other luxuries. I married an attorney in 1895. We had two sons. My husband and an associate came up with the idea of bottling Coca Cola beverages and was granted an exclusive contract. When my husband died I took over the family's business affairs and real estate assets. I remarried in 1913. In 1934 I was the first woman to serve on the Board of Directors of a major American corporation. During my lifetime I donated millions of dollars to more than 130 different organizations. In 1945 I formed a foundation in my name that was dedicated to charity, education and religion. I survived both my husbands and my two sons. Upon my death the corporation that I served on the Board of Directors for noted of me "Endowed with material things, she had a conviction that she held them as trustee for the poor, the meek and the unfortunate." A special collection in the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University holds many of my papers and writings. Several academic buildings are named in my honor including an administration building at Georgia Tech and a new freshman residence hall on Emory University's main Atlanta campus that opened in 2008. I died in 1953. Who Am 1?
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/a_purple_heart_comes_home_to_v.html
The two guys that worked so hard to find the owner of the medal are in my mind heroes.
I watched the Amazing Race last night and my new favorites are the interracial married couple. He is just so nice and she shows her love of him in many ways. I am now officially rooting for them. The couple I liked the least were eliminated last night. I just couldn't stand him and didn't like her enough to overcome my dislike of Lance.
In honor of the two guys in the above story today we are going to discuss what makes a hero.
I am using he and and himself in this paragraph as inclusive of all sexes. My definition is someone that is always true to himself and his beliefs. They do things not for fame or fortunate but because what they are doing is the right thing to do. They are good people. He helps people when others turn a blind eye. He is kind. He is humble. They often put others before themselves.
Some of my heroes. Mother Theresa. My Dad. Our Soldiers. The Kennedy family (they were wealthy and could have stayed in the background enjoying their wealth, instead they gave their lives to our country.) Rosa Parks. My Mom as she ages. A lot of the answers to my Who am I of the day. And the list goes on.
What is your definition of a hero? Who are some of your heroes?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
1953
Yesterday's answer: Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards
Born in 1872 I was known as an American businesswoman and philanthropist. Born to one of Virginia's most established families I enjoyed private education and other luxuries. I married an attorney in 1895. We had two sons. My husband and an associate came up with the idea of bottling Coca Cola beverages and was granted an exclusive contract. When my husband died I took over the family's business affairs and real estate assets. I remarried in 1913. In 1934 I was the first woman to serve on the Board of Directors of a major American corporation. During my lifetime I donated millions of dollars to more than 130 different organizations. In 1945 I formed a foundation in my name that was dedicated to charity, education and religion. I survived both my husbands and my two sons. Upon my death the corporation that I served on the Board of Directors for noted of me "Endowed with material things, she had a conviction that she held them as trustee for the poor, the meek and the unfortunate." A special collection in the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University holds many of my papers and writings. Several academic buildings are named in my honor including an administration building at Georgia Tech and a new freshman residence hall on Emory University's main Atlanta campus that opened in 2008. I died in 1953. Who Am 1?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Updates
Not much to update you on this week that we haven't already discussed. I am anxious to hear how things are with all of you and how things are going in your lives. Now some entertainment updates.
On Dancing With The Stars Chuck was eliminated. He and Aaron were in the bottom two. The drama right now on Dancing With The Stars is just how long is Michael Irvin going to last. Some news about old Dancing With The Stars contestants. Mellissa Rycoff has the swine flu, we wish her well in her recovery. Gilles the hunk from last season is joining the cast of Brothers and Sisters.
On Top Chef Ash was eliminated. He was in the bottom with Robin and a couple of the other contestants. The drama now on Top Chef is just how long is Robin going to last. All the contestants have wanted her to go for weeks now. She just keeps hanging in there. It is driving Michael I nuts, which in my mind isn't a bad thing. I am rooting for Jennifer to win, I've kind of developed a crush on her.
On the Amazing Race Zev and Justin were eliminated despite finishing first. When they finished first they discovered one of their passports was missing and since they couldn't find the passport before the last team arrived they got the boot. I was kind of sad because I really liked the respect they had for each other and how they treated each other. Anyone else wonder how long the poker players are going to last?
I don't know how I can do an entertainment update without mentioning the Balloon Boy. I am in the hoax camp. Even if it isn't a hoax I wonder about the father's parenting skills. What kind of father would parade a son out there minutes after a traumatic experience?
Do you think Balloon Boy is hoax? Who do you want to win Top Chef? Amazing Race? Dancing With The Stars? The blog is now yours. Post anything you damn well please!
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Marek Edelman
I was born in 1842 and died in 1911. I was an environmental chemist in the United States in the 1800s, pioneering the field of home economics. I attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later taught there. I was a "pragmatic" feminist, as well as a founding "ecofeminist" who believed that women's work within the home was a vital aspect of the economy. I would have been awarded the first doctoral degree but MIT balked at granting this distinction to a woman, and did not award its first doctorate until 1886. I married in 1875 the chairman of the Mine Engineering Department at MIT. I paved the way for women to be admitted to MIT in 1883. I was a consulting chemist for the Massachusetts State Board of Health from 1872 to 1875 and the official water analyst from 1887 until 1897. My interest in the environment led in 1892 to introduce into English the word ecology which had been coined in German to describe the "household of nature" My' interests also included applying scientific principles to domestic situations, such as nutrition, clothing, physical fitness, sanitation, and efficient home management, creating the field of home economics. In 1908, I was chosen to be the first president of the American Home Economics Association. I was a founding member of the AAUW which today has more than 100,000 members, 1,300 branches, and 500 college and university partners nationwide. In my honor, MIT designated a room in the main buildings for the use of women students, and in 1973, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of my graduation, established a Professorship for distinguished female faculty members that was named after me. Who Am I?
On Dancing With The Stars Chuck was eliminated. He and Aaron were in the bottom two. The drama right now on Dancing With The Stars is just how long is Michael Irvin going to last. Some news about old Dancing With The Stars contestants. Mellissa Rycoff has the swine flu, we wish her well in her recovery. Gilles the hunk from last season is joining the cast of Brothers and Sisters.
On Top Chef Ash was eliminated. He was in the bottom with Robin and a couple of the other contestants. The drama now on Top Chef is just how long is Robin going to last. All the contestants have wanted her to go for weeks now. She just keeps hanging in there. It is driving Michael I nuts, which in my mind isn't a bad thing. I am rooting for Jennifer to win, I've kind of developed a crush on her.
On the Amazing Race Zev and Justin were eliminated despite finishing first. When they finished first they discovered one of their passports was missing and since they couldn't find the passport before the last team arrived they got the boot. I was kind of sad because I really liked the respect they had for each other and how they treated each other. Anyone else wonder how long the poker players are going to last?
I don't know how I can do an entertainment update without mentioning the Balloon Boy. I am in the hoax camp. Even if it isn't a hoax I wonder about the father's parenting skills. What kind of father would parade a son out there minutes after a traumatic experience?
Do you think Balloon Boy is hoax? Who do you want to win Top Chef? Amazing Race? Dancing With The Stars? The blog is now yours. Post anything you damn well please!
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Marek Edelman
I was born in 1842 and died in 1911. I was an environmental chemist in the United States in the 1800s, pioneering the field of home economics. I attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later taught there. I was a "pragmatic" feminist, as well as a founding "ecofeminist" who believed that women's work within the home was a vital aspect of the economy. I would have been awarded the first doctoral degree but MIT balked at granting this distinction to a woman, and did not award its first doctorate until 1886. I married in 1875 the chairman of the Mine Engineering Department at MIT. I paved the way for women to be admitted to MIT in 1883. I was a consulting chemist for the Massachusetts State Board of Health from 1872 to 1875 and the official water analyst from 1887 until 1897. My interest in the environment led in 1892 to introduce into English the word ecology which had been coined in German to describe the "household of nature" My' interests also included applying scientific principles to domestic situations, such as nutrition, clothing, physical fitness, sanitation, and efficient home management, creating the field of home economics. In 1908, I was chosen to be the first president of the American Home Economics Association. I was a founding member of the AAUW which today has more than 100,000 members, 1,300 branches, and 500 college and university partners nationwide. In my honor, MIT designated a room in the main buildings for the use of women students, and in 1973, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of my graduation, established a Professorship for distinguished female faculty members that was named after me. Who Am I?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Ethical Dilemmas
Today let's discuss ethical dilemmas. A Louisiana justice refused an interracial couple a marriage license. You can read the article here:
http://news.aol.com/article/interracial-couple-denied-marriage/719806?icid=main|htmlws-sb|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Finterracial-couple-denied-
marriage%2F719806
Personally I think the justice is a racist pig but he was being true to himself and his beliefs. I just think this is a case where you suppress your beliefs and do what the law allows. What do you think?
Just for fun what would you do in the following situations: (My answers follow each question)
You are on a country road and see two neighboring farm houses on fire. One is yours and the other belongs to a new couple who just moved in. Your wife and child are at home as are your neighbors. You can only save one house. Which one do you save? (Of course I save my house and call 911 for the other house)
You run an orphanage and have had a hard time making ends meet. A car dealership offers you a new van worth $15,000 for free if you will falsely report to the government that the dealership donated a van worth $30,000. You really need the van and it will give you an opportunity to make the children happy. Do you agree to take the van? (Nope)
You are shopping and notice a woman stuffing a pair of stockings into her purse. Do you report her? (I should report her but in all reality I wouldn't because I wouldn't want to get involved.)
You discover a wallet lying on the street. It contains $1000.00 and has his id in it. Do you send it back to him? (Yes. I've actually done this before.)
It is 3 a.m. and you are late getting home. As you approach the intersection you notice that no one is around. Do you drive through the red light? (I know the correct answer but I'm going through the damn light)
You can only rescue one of each of the following, which do you save?
a) A child or an adult (I'd cheat and rescue them both)
b) A stranger or your dog (the stranger unless it was Limbaugh or O'Reily)
c) Hitler or lassie. (Lassie)
d) Your spouse or a Nobel Laureate (Spouse. No hesitation.)
It is going to be interesting to see if your ethics are as flexible as mine! May your day be filled more with joy then ethical dilemmas!
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Amelia Jenks Bloomer
Today's is from Connie. If any of you have a hero or someone that you think would make a good Who Am I please go ahead and send them to me.
I was born in either 1919 or 1922. After my mother died when I was 14 I was looked after by other staff members at the hospital where she had worked. I went on to become a cardiologist. After World War II I authored books documenting the history of wartime resistance against the Nazi German occupation. In 1939, after the German invasion of Poland I was confined to the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942 I founded an underground group. With the help of my comrades we began obtaining weapons and organizing into units that would make up for lack of training and munitions with an intimate knowledge of the Ghetto. In 1943 we started an uprising. On the second day of the Uprising a prominent insurgent was killed. Over the next three week the fighting was intense. We killed dozens of Nazi soldiers. On May 8 my commander was surrounded by Nazi soldiers and killed himself leaving me in charge. The Germans proceeded to flush out the remaining fighters by burning down the Ghetto. We escaped through the sewers and made our way to the non-Ghetto part of Warsaw. After World War II the Uprising was sometimes given as an unusual instance of active Jewish resistance in the face of the horror perpetrated by the Germans. We knew perfectly well that we had no chance of winning. We fought simply not to allow the Germans alone to pick the time and place of our deaths. When asked of my heroics I was quoted as saying: "We knew we were going to die. Just like all the others who were sent to Treblinka.... Their death was far more heroic. We didn't know when we would take a bullet. They had to deal with certain death, stripped naked in a gas chamber or standing at the edge of a mass grave waiting for a bullet in the back of the head.... It was easier to die fighting than in a gas chamber." In mid-1944 I participated in another Uprising when Polish forces rose up against the Germans before being forced to surrender after 63 days of fighting. In 1981 despite it being dangerous to speak out in the country that I lived in I denounced racism and promoted human rights and later was interned by the government. In 1983 I refused to take part in the official celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the aforementioned Uprising sponsored by the Communist government. I believed that this would be an act of cynicism and contempt in a country where social life was dominated throughout by humiliation and coercion. Instead I walked with friends to the street where a comrade's bunker had been located. In my old age I spoke up for the Palestinians as I felt that the Jewish self-defense for which he had fought was in danger of crossing the line into oppression. In August 2002 I wrote an open letter to the Palestinian resistance leaders. Though the letter criticized the suicide bombers, its tone infuriated the Israeli government and press. I wrote in a spirit of solidarity from a fellow resistance fighter, as a former leader of a Jewish uprising not dissimilar in desperation to the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories. There was a howl of rage in the Israeli press, especially since I had consciously used the terms that described the structures of the resistance movement in WWII. I was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and the French Legion of Honour. I was married and had two children. When my wife and children emigrated from the communist country we lived in to France I stayed behind and each April I laid flowers in my country for those who had served with me in the uprising. I died October 2, 2009. Who Am I?
http://news.aol.com/article/interracial-couple-denied-marriage/719806?icid=main|htmlws-sb|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Finterracial-couple-denied-
marriage%2F719806
Personally I think the justice is a racist pig but he was being true to himself and his beliefs. I just think this is a case where you suppress your beliefs and do what the law allows. What do you think?
Just for fun what would you do in the following situations: (My answers follow each question)
You are on a country road and see two neighboring farm houses on fire. One is yours and the other belongs to a new couple who just moved in. Your wife and child are at home as are your neighbors. You can only save one house. Which one do you save? (Of course I save my house and call 911 for the other house)
You run an orphanage and have had a hard time making ends meet. A car dealership offers you a new van worth $15,000 for free if you will falsely report to the government that the dealership donated a van worth $30,000. You really need the van and it will give you an opportunity to make the children happy. Do you agree to take the van? (Nope)
You are shopping and notice a woman stuffing a pair of stockings into her purse. Do you report her? (I should report her but in all reality I wouldn't because I wouldn't want to get involved.)
You discover a wallet lying on the street. It contains $1000.00 and has his id in it. Do you send it back to him? (Yes. I've actually done this before.)
It is 3 a.m. and you are late getting home. As you approach the intersection you notice that no one is around. Do you drive through the red light? (I know the correct answer but I'm going through the damn light)
You can only rescue one of each of the following, which do you save?
a) A child or an adult (I'd cheat and rescue them both)
b) A stranger or your dog (the stranger unless it was Limbaugh or O'Reily)
c) Hitler or lassie. (Lassie)
d) Your spouse or a Nobel Laureate (Spouse. No hesitation.)
It is going to be interesting to see if your ethics are as flexible as mine! May your day be filled more with joy then ethical dilemmas!
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Amelia Jenks Bloomer
Today's is from Connie. If any of you have a hero or someone that you think would make a good Who Am I please go ahead and send them to me.
I was born in either 1919 or 1922. After my mother died when I was 14 I was looked after by other staff members at the hospital where she had worked. I went on to become a cardiologist. After World War II I authored books documenting the history of wartime resistance against the Nazi German occupation. In 1939, after the German invasion of Poland I was confined to the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942 I founded an underground group. With the help of my comrades we began obtaining weapons and organizing into units that would make up for lack of training and munitions with an intimate knowledge of the Ghetto. In 1943 we started an uprising. On the second day of the Uprising a prominent insurgent was killed. Over the next three week the fighting was intense. We killed dozens of Nazi soldiers. On May 8 my commander was surrounded by Nazi soldiers and killed himself leaving me in charge. The Germans proceeded to flush out the remaining fighters by burning down the Ghetto. We escaped through the sewers and made our way to the non-Ghetto part of Warsaw. After World War II the Uprising was sometimes given as an unusual instance of active Jewish resistance in the face of the horror perpetrated by the Germans. We knew perfectly well that we had no chance of winning. We fought simply not to allow the Germans alone to pick the time and place of our deaths. When asked of my heroics I was quoted as saying: "We knew we were going to die. Just like all the others who were sent to Treblinka.... Their death was far more heroic. We didn't know when we would take a bullet. They had to deal with certain death, stripped naked in a gas chamber or standing at the edge of a mass grave waiting for a bullet in the back of the head.... It was easier to die fighting than in a gas chamber." In mid-1944 I participated in another Uprising when Polish forces rose up against the Germans before being forced to surrender after 63 days of fighting. In 1981 despite it being dangerous to speak out in the country that I lived in I denounced racism and promoted human rights and later was interned by the government. In 1983 I refused to take part in the official celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the aforementioned Uprising sponsored by the Communist government. I believed that this would be an act of cynicism and contempt in a country where social life was dominated throughout by humiliation and coercion. Instead I walked with friends to the street where a comrade's bunker had been located. In my old age I spoke up for the Palestinians as I felt that the Jewish self-defense for which he had fought was in danger of crossing the line into oppression. In August 2002 I wrote an open letter to the Palestinian resistance leaders. Though the letter criticized the suicide bombers, its tone infuriated the Israeli government and press. I wrote in a spirit of solidarity from a fellow resistance fighter, as a former leader of a Jewish uprising not dissimilar in desperation to the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories. There was a howl of rage in the Israeli press, especially since I had consciously used the terms that described the structures of the resistance movement in WWII. I was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and the French Legion of Honour. I was married and had two children. When my wife and children emigrated from the communist country we lived in to France I stayed behind and each April I laid flowers in my country for those who had served with me in the uprising. I died October 2, 2009. Who Am I?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Let's Play Favorites.
Today I want to know some of your favorites. Some of mine are:
Favorite Movie: To Kill A Mockingbird.
Favorite Book: A Civil Action.
Favorite Male Author: William Bernhardt, Richard North Patterson, David Baldacci.
Favorite Female Author: Janet Evonovich, J.A. Jance, & Margaret Atwood.
Favorite Current TV Show: Tied. Top Chef, Dancing With The Stars, Flash Forward.
All-Time Favorite TV Shows: Barney Miller, The Fugitive, Murder She Wrote, The Rockford Files, Matlock, Perry Mason.
Favorite Holiday: Thanksgiving. Christmas without the shopping.
Favorite Actor: George Clooney, Tom Hanks.
Favorite Actress: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams. Sandra Bullock.
Favorite Childhood Memory: Riding my Shetland Pony to school for show and tell.
Favorite Get Away: Ashland, Oregon.
Favorite Day of The Week. May through December, Sunday. January through April Saturday.
Favorite Meal: Turkey with the trimmings. Ham and scalloped potatoes.
Favorite Male Comedian: Currently Jeff Foxworthy, all time Bob Newhart.
Favorite Female Comedian: Currently S.D., All time Lucille Ball.
Your turn. Answer any or all of the above. Or create you own list and answer them. If there is a favorite of mine not listed that you would like to know fire away. May you be everyone's favorite today!!
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Lydia Marie Child
There is an article of clothing that is associated with my name even though I didn't invent it. Born in 1818 I was an American women's rights and temperance advocate. I came from a family of modest means and received only a few years of formal schooling. I married an attorney at the age of 22. My husband encouraged me to write for his New York newspaper. I spent my early years in New York. We moved to Iowa in 1852. I am commemorated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Ross Tubman in the calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church. In 1849 I began publishing my views on temperance and social issues in my own bi-weekly publication. While my newspaper initially focused on temperance I allowed Elizabeth to contribute articles on the broader issues of women's rights. My newspaper contained a broad mix of contents ranging from recipes to moralist tracts, including topics such as marriage law reform and higher education for women. My paper circulation was over 4,000. When asked what it was like to be the first woman to own, operate and edit a news vehicle for women, I said. "It was a needed instrument to spread abroad the truth of a new gospel to woman, and I could not withhold my hand to stay the work I had begun. I saw not the end from the beginning and dreamed where to my propositions to society would lead me." In my publication I promoted a change in dress standards for women that would be less restrictive in regular activities. I felt the costume of women should be suited to her wants and needs. Their dress should conduce at once her health, comfort, and usefulness, and while it should not fail to also conduce her personal adornment, it should make that end of secondary importance. I remained a suffrage pioneer and writer throughout my life, writing for a wide array of periodicals. I led suffrage campaigns in Nebraska and Iowa, and served as president of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association from 1871 until 1873. Susan B. Anthony used my publication as voice for many women reformers. I died in 1894. Who Am I?
Favorite Movie: To Kill A Mockingbird.
Favorite Book: A Civil Action.
Favorite Male Author: William Bernhardt, Richard North Patterson, David Baldacci.
Favorite Female Author: Janet Evonovich, J.A. Jance, & Margaret Atwood.
Favorite Current TV Show: Tied. Top Chef, Dancing With The Stars, Flash Forward.
All-Time Favorite TV Shows: Barney Miller, The Fugitive, Murder She Wrote, The Rockford Files, Matlock, Perry Mason.
Favorite Holiday: Thanksgiving. Christmas without the shopping.
Favorite Actor: George Clooney, Tom Hanks.
Favorite Actress: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams. Sandra Bullock.
Favorite Childhood Memory: Riding my Shetland Pony to school for show and tell.
Favorite Get Away: Ashland, Oregon.
Favorite Day of The Week. May through December, Sunday. January through April Saturday.
Favorite Meal: Turkey with the trimmings. Ham and scalloped potatoes.
Favorite Male Comedian: Currently Jeff Foxworthy, all time Bob Newhart.
Favorite Female Comedian: Currently S.D., All time Lucille Ball.
Your turn. Answer any or all of the above. Or create you own list and answer them. If there is a favorite of mine not listed that you would like to know fire away. May you be everyone's favorite today!!
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Lydia Marie Child
There is an article of clothing that is associated with my name even though I didn't invent it. Born in 1818 I was an American women's rights and temperance advocate. I came from a family of modest means and received only a few years of formal schooling. I married an attorney at the age of 22. My husband encouraged me to write for his New York newspaper. I spent my early years in New York. We moved to Iowa in 1852. I am commemorated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Ross Tubman in the calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church. In 1849 I began publishing my views on temperance and social issues in my own bi-weekly publication. While my newspaper initially focused on temperance I allowed Elizabeth to contribute articles on the broader issues of women's rights. My newspaper contained a broad mix of contents ranging from recipes to moralist tracts, including topics such as marriage law reform and higher education for women. My paper circulation was over 4,000. When asked what it was like to be the first woman to own, operate and edit a news vehicle for women, I said. "It was a needed instrument to spread abroad the truth of a new gospel to woman, and I could not withhold my hand to stay the work I had begun. I saw not the end from the beginning and dreamed where to my propositions to society would lead me." In my publication I promoted a change in dress standards for women that would be less restrictive in regular activities. I felt the costume of women should be suited to her wants and needs. Their dress should conduce at once her health, comfort, and usefulness, and while it should not fail to also conduce her personal adornment, it should make that end of secondary importance. I remained a suffrage pioneer and writer throughout my life, writing for a wide array of periodicals. I led suffrage campaigns in Nebraska and Iowa, and served as president of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association from 1871 until 1873. Susan B. Anthony used my publication as voice for many women reformers. I died in 1894. Who Am I?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Mom In Limbo, Women In Space.
I took Mom to her neurologist last Monday. Her hands have gotten a lot worse since we were last their two years ago. Surgery on her right hand was recommended by Dr. Zorba (our nickname for him because he looks like the doctor from the old Ben Casey series on TV). Mom really doesn't want to have the surgery because she is worried about the rehab and whether or not she will be able to grab her walker and walk. I think if it improves her lifestyle she should have it and between sister, myself, the caregiver, and if necessary additional health we all can survive the rehab period. The next step is to meet with the surgeon on the 28th of October. The deal is that the same neurologist suggested that mom have the surgery two years ago, the surgery was scheduled, and then Mom canceled it. I can't help but wonder if Mom had went through the surgery then if her hands wouldn't be better now. I would lover your input in how to handle Mom. Should I encourage her to have the surgery? Should I back off and let her make her own decision? I would also appreciate your prayers, good thoughts, good vibes, and anything you can muster up to send my direction!
On to an interesting news article. Had a secret program not been canceled women might have been the first Americans to be in Space. Maybe that would have led to a woman being the first American to take a step on the moon. Here is a link to an article about the subject.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2009-10-14-astronauts-women_N.htm
A more in depth article written by Brandon Keim can be found here:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/mercury-13/
The question for the day. How do you think history would have changed had the secret program not been canceled and instead of Neil Armstrong being the first person to walk on the moon it had been a woman? Would that have led to more equality for women not only in aeronautics but in other industries and occupations?
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Margaret Brent
Born in 1802 I was an abolitionist, women's rights activist, opponent of American expansionism, Indian rights activist, novelist, and journalist. My writings in journals and about anti-slavery fiction reached wide audiences from the 1830s through the 1850s. I shocked my audiences by taking on issues of male dominance and white supremacy. Despite my efforts I am most remembered for a Thanksgiving poem. I was born in Medford. I received my education at a local dame school and later at a women’s seminary. When Mom died I went to live with my older sister where I studied to be a teacher. I married a lawyer whose political activism and involvement in reform introduced me to the social reforms of Indian rights and Garrisonian Abolitionism. I was a women's rights activist that did not believe significant progress for women could be made until after the abolition of slavery. I believed that white women and slaves were similar in that white men held both groups in subjugation and treated them as property instead of human beings. However, I did not care for all-female societies. I believed that women would be able to achieve more by working alongside men. I am sometimes said to have been the first white person to have written a book in support the freeing of slaves. I was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and became editor of the society's National Anti-Slavery Standard. I left the paper I because I refused to promote violence as an acceptable weapon for battling slavery. Later after the beating of a good friend I changed my mind about the use of violence to protect the antislavery emigrants in Kansas. I sympathized with the radical abolitionist John Brown but did not condone his zealous violence, I deeply admired his courage and conviction. My first novel was about an interracial relationship between a white woman and a Native American man, who was the father of her son. They divorced and the heroine remarried, reintegrating her and her child into Puritan society. This issue of miscegenation, or mixed relationships, was a theme I used in later anti-slavery fiction. During the 1860s I wrote pamphlets on Indian rights. I died at age 78. Who Am I?
On to an interesting news article. Had a secret program not been canceled women might have been the first Americans to be in Space. Maybe that would have led to a woman being the first American to take a step on the moon. Here is a link to an article about the subject.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2009-10-14-astronauts-women_N.htm
A more in depth article written by Brandon Keim can be found here:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/mercury-13/
The question for the day. How do you think history would have changed had the secret program not been canceled and instead of Neil Armstrong being the first person to walk on the moon it had been a woman? Would that have led to more equality for women not only in aeronautics but in other industries and occupations?
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Margaret Brent
Born in 1802 I was an abolitionist, women's rights activist, opponent of American expansionism, Indian rights activist, novelist, and journalist. My writings in journals and about anti-slavery fiction reached wide audiences from the 1830s through the 1850s. I shocked my audiences by taking on issues of male dominance and white supremacy. Despite my efforts I am most remembered for a Thanksgiving poem. I was born in Medford. I received my education at a local dame school and later at a women’s seminary. When Mom died I went to live with my older sister where I studied to be a teacher. I married a lawyer whose political activism and involvement in reform introduced me to the social reforms of Indian rights and Garrisonian Abolitionism. I was a women's rights activist that did not believe significant progress for women could be made until after the abolition of slavery. I believed that white women and slaves were similar in that white men held both groups in subjugation and treated them as property instead of human beings. However, I did not care for all-female societies. I believed that women would be able to achieve more by working alongside men. I am sometimes said to have been the first white person to have written a book in support the freeing of slaves. I was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and became editor of the society's National Anti-Slavery Standard. I left the paper I because I refused to promote violence as an acceptable weapon for battling slavery. Later after the beating of a good friend I changed my mind about the use of violence to protect the antislavery emigrants in Kansas. I sympathized with the radical abolitionist John Brown but did not condone his zealous violence, I deeply admired his courage and conviction. My first novel was about an interracial relationship between a white woman and a Native American man, who was the father of her son. They divorced and the heroine remarried, reintegrating her and her child into Puritan society. This issue of miscegenation, or mixed relationships, was a theme I used in later anti-slavery fiction. During the 1860s I wrote pamphlets on Indian rights. I died at age 78. Who Am I?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Stories From The Internet
Just news items today.
First up we bring to your attention a hospital error. Officials oof Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California issued a statement fessing up that a computer error caused radiation overdoses in over two hundred patients who underwent CT Scans there. In a written statement Monday, hospital officials said "a misunderstanding about an embedded default setting applied by the machine" resulted in a higher than expected amount of radiation." The patients received eight times the normal dose of radiation and the error went undetected for 18 months. According to the statement several patients lost patches of hair as a result of the error. The scanner's manufacturer, General Electric, says the machine was not defective. The FDA issued an alert urging hospitals nationwide to review their safety protocols for CT scans.
Next up is misguided ads. Some Louisville, Kentucky officials don't find ads for their city all that funny. One ad mentions Louisville as a "Possibility City" that understands why a man wants a better life with a girlfriend that has a tatoo on her butt. The erectile-dysfunction ad promotes their city as one where happiness lasts more than four hours.
Those that own Fords should be aware that Ford has recalled 4.5 million cars due to a faulty part that could cause fire. Among the cars recalled are Ford Windstar Mini-vans, and Lincoln and Mercury autos. If you own a Ford, call your local Ford Dealer to see if your car is on the recall list.
That is all for the day. Looking forward to Top Chef tonight. Questions of the day. Do hospital errors worry you? We have been pretty happy with the hospital we go to here so I don't worry much about errors there. What about the ads for Louisville, over the top or acceptable? I am in the over the top camp. Hope this is a great day for you without any recalls!
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Frida Kahlo
I had a Liberty Ship of World War II named after me in 1943 over two hundred and fifty years after my death. I was born in 1601 and was the first woman in the English North American colonies to go before a body. I was also a significant founder of two of the original thirteen colonies. I was said to rank with Anne as being among the most confrontational and controversial women figures to rise to prominence in early Colonial American history. The period of emigration of myself and my siblings occurred during a period of agitation against those suspected of a recusancy preceding the English Civil War. I was one of six daughters of and thirteen children of a Lord. I was a direct ancestor to relative knighted in 1066. Due to by our lineage account we were said to be descendants of William the Conqueror. We arrived in the colonies in 1638. A Proprietary Governor appointed me his executrix while on his death bed entitling my sisters and I to land grants of equal size to those that arrived in the colonies in 1634. On October 4, 1639 I became the first female land owner in the colony I lived in. I assembled armed volunteers to assist the Governor's forces in suppressing a rebellion. In 1648 the Provincial Court appointed me attorney-in-fact to a Lord. On January 21, 1648 I entered the Provincial Court's assembly and entered a plea for voice in the assembly's council and a second plea for two votes in its proceedings (one as landowner and one as the Lord's attorney in fact), Governor Greene flatly refused me as they considered by the assembly at the time to be privileges reserved only for queens. I left but not before I protested against all proceedings unless I wase present and had my votes. I appeared a final time as the Lord's attorney on February 9, 1648 in a case against Mr. Cornwallis and was replaced by a man. Though I was more of a businesswoman than a lawyer I entered more lawsuits than anyone in the colony. I founded a community across the bay called "Peace. I was one of very few English women of my time never to marry. Who Am I?
First up we bring to your attention a hospital error. Officials oof Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California issued a statement fessing up that a computer error caused radiation overdoses in over two hundred patients who underwent CT Scans there. In a written statement Monday, hospital officials said "a misunderstanding about an embedded default setting applied by the machine" resulted in a higher than expected amount of radiation." The patients received eight times the normal dose of radiation and the error went undetected for 18 months. According to the statement several patients lost patches of hair as a result of the error. The scanner's manufacturer, General Electric, says the machine was not defective. The FDA issued an alert urging hospitals nationwide to review their safety protocols for CT scans.
Next up is misguided ads. Some Louisville, Kentucky officials don't find ads for their city all that funny. One ad mentions Louisville as a "Possibility City" that understands why a man wants a better life with a girlfriend that has a tatoo on her butt. The erectile-dysfunction ad promotes their city as one where happiness lasts more than four hours.
Those that own Fords should be aware that Ford has recalled 4.5 million cars due to a faulty part that could cause fire. Among the cars recalled are Ford Windstar Mini-vans, and Lincoln and Mercury autos. If you own a Ford, call your local Ford Dealer to see if your car is on the recall list.
That is all for the day. Looking forward to Top Chef tonight. Questions of the day. Do hospital errors worry you? We have been pretty happy with the hospital we go to here so I don't worry much about errors there. What about the ads for Louisville, over the top or acceptable? I am in the over the top camp. Hope this is a great day for you without any recalls!
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Frida Kahlo
I had a Liberty Ship of World War II named after me in 1943 over two hundred and fifty years after my death. I was born in 1601 and was the first woman in the English North American colonies to go before a body. I was also a significant founder of two of the original thirteen colonies. I was said to rank with Anne as being among the most confrontational and controversial women figures to rise to prominence in early Colonial American history. The period of emigration of myself and my siblings occurred during a period of agitation against those suspected of a recusancy preceding the English Civil War. I was one of six daughters of and thirteen children of a Lord. I was a direct ancestor to relative knighted in 1066. Due to by our lineage account we were said to be descendants of William the Conqueror. We arrived in the colonies in 1638. A Proprietary Governor appointed me his executrix while on his death bed entitling my sisters and I to land grants of equal size to those that arrived in the colonies in 1634. On October 4, 1639 I became the first female land owner in the colony I lived in. I assembled armed volunteers to assist the Governor's forces in suppressing a rebellion. In 1648 the Provincial Court appointed me attorney-in-fact to a Lord. On January 21, 1648 I entered the Provincial Court's assembly and entered a plea for voice in the assembly's council and a second plea for two votes in its proceedings (one as landowner and one as the Lord's attorney in fact), Governor Greene flatly refused me as they considered by the assembly at the time to be privileges reserved only for queens. I left but not before I protested against all proceedings unless I wase present and had my votes. I appeared a final time as the Lord's attorney on February 9, 1648 in a case against Mr. Cornwallis and was replaced by a man. Though I was more of a businesswoman than a lawyer I entered more lawsuits than anyone in the colony. I founded a community across the bay called "Peace. I was one of very few English women of my time never to marry. Who Am I?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
If Only
Thanks to a column by Margie Boule in today's Oregonian I came across an interesting blog. The owner of the blog is writing a book that is a collection of letters sent to her by people writing the things they would have said to someone. So many letters, some funny, some revengeful, some amazingly touching. If only you had the chance to go back in time and say something you should have said would you? This blog gives you a chance to do just that.
http://www.thethingsyouwouldhavesaid.blogspot.com/
It has been a fun but busy day. That is why I am a late posting today's entry, to mcuh work, to little time. The day started out with me getting Mom's breakfast together. Then I went home and did a few some things. Next on the agenda was Mom's grocery shopping. Then it was checking out hotels with Mom, Bev, and Belva. The later two are cousins from Albany. We are planning a cousin reunion in July of next year and I have been designated the point person. Of course we stopped and had lunch. The hotels we visted were the Northwind Best Western, The Century Hotel, and The Courtyard by Marriot in Tigard. I think we are all leaning towards the Best Western. While we were out and about we chose July 29-30-21 of 2010 as the date for the reunion. I have great cousins. They were willing to make a two hundred mile round trip just to help me choose a hotel! They also offered to help. I'm really very thankful for and to them.
Only a couple of questions for the day. Is there anyone that you would like to write to, to say the things you should have said at some point in the past? And what would you look for in a hotel, if you were the point person on a reunion that might have forty people in attendance and you needed fifteen rooms?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Antoinette Brown Blackwell, first woman to be ordained as a minister in the U.S.
I was born in 1907 and died much to young in 1954. My works have been said to articulate my own pain and sexuality. I was born in a different country than my father and mother. My mother and father married shortly after the death of my father's first wife. Although my parents were in a unhappy marriage they had four daughters, I was the third. I also had two half sisters. I often lied about the year of my birth so that people would associate my birth with the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. I contact polio at age six, which let my right leg smaller than my right. Despite my handicap I participated in boxing and other sports, In 1922 I enrolled on of Mexico's premier schools were I was on of thirty-five girls. During school I witnessed armed struggles in the street as the Mexican Revolution continued. In 1925 I was riding a bus that was in an accident. I suffered a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in my right leg, a dislocated shoulder and other injuries. After the accident I turned away from the study of medicine and began a career as a painter. The accident left me in a full body cast and I painted to occupy my time. I painted myself because I was often alone and I am the subject that I know the best. My mom had a special easel made for her so I could paint in bed and dad lent my brushes and oil paints. My miscarriages, numerous operations, and my marriage my works are characterized as stark portrayals of pain. Of my 143 paintings 55 are self-portraits incorporating symbolic images of physical and psychological wounds. I never painted dreams, I painted reality. I married my mentor in 1929 we divorced after my husband had an affair with my sister but remarried in 1940. I was a communist sympathizer and Trotsky once stayed in my home. Despite my talents my works were not widely recognized until years after my death. In became prominent in the early 1980s after the artistic movement known as Neomexicanismo began. On June 21, 2001 I became the first Hispanic woman to be honored with a stamp. Who Am 1?
http://www.thethingsyouwouldhavesaid.blogspot.com/
It has been a fun but busy day. That is why I am a late posting today's entry, to mcuh work, to little time. The day started out with me getting Mom's breakfast together. Then I went home and did a few some things. Next on the agenda was Mom's grocery shopping. Then it was checking out hotels with Mom, Bev, and Belva. The later two are cousins from Albany. We are planning a cousin reunion in July of next year and I have been designated the point person. Of course we stopped and had lunch. The hotels we visted were the Northwind Best Western, The Century Hotel, and The Courtyard by Marriot in Tigard. I think we are all leaning towards the Best Western. While we were out and about we chose July 29-30-21 of 2010 as the date for the reunion. I have great cousins. They were willing to make a two hundred mile round trip just to help me choose a hotel! They also offered to help. I'm really very thankful for and to them.
Only a couple of questions for the day. Is there anyone that you would like to write to, to say the things you should have said at some point in the past? And what would you look for in a hotel, if you were the point person on a reunion that might have forty people in attendance and you needed fifteen rooms?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Antoinette Brown Blackwell, first woman to be ordained as a minister in the U.S.
I was born in 1907 and died much to young in 1954. My works have been said to articulate my own pain and sexuality. I was born in a different country than my father and mother. My mother and father married shortly after the death of my father's first wife. Although my parents were in a unhappy marriage they had four daughters, I was the third. I also had two half sisters. I often lied about the year of my birth so that people would associate my birth with the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. I contact polio at age six, which let my right leg smaller than my right. Despite my handicap I participated in boxing and other sports, In 1922 I enrolled on of Mexico's premier schools were I was on of thirty-five girls. During school I witnessed armed struggles in the street as the Mexican Revolution continued. In 1925 I was riding a bus that was in an accident. I suffered a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in my right leg, a dislocated shoulder and other injuries. After the accident I turned away from the study of medicine and began a career as a painter. The accident left me in a full body cast and I painted to occupy my time. I painted myself because I was often alone and I am the subject that I know the best. My mom had a special easel made for her so I could paint in bed and dad lent my brushes and oil paints. My miscarriages, numerous operations, and my marriage my works are characterized as stark portrayals of pain. Of my 143 paintings 55 are self-portraits incorporating symbolic images of physical and psychological wounds. I never painted dreams, I painted reality. I married my mentor in 1929 we divorced after my husband had an affair with my sister but remarried in 1940. I was a communist sympathizer and Trotsky once stayed in my home. Despite my talents my works were not widely recognized until years after my death. In became prominent in the early 1980s after the artistic movement known as Neomexicanismo began. On June 21, 2001 I became the first Hispanic woman to be honored with a stamp. Who Am 1?
Monday, October 12, 2009
"The Only Girl I Loved"
A real love story, read it, smile , then shed a tear for one of the great loves of our time:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/portland_couple_built_a_love_t.html
On to a lighter tone. According to The Edge Column in the October 9, 2009 Oregonian the average number of hours a week of housekeeping a live-in boyfriend does is 10, while the average number of hours a week of housekeeping a husband does is 9. Also in the same column, the number of pairs of underwear the average American man owns is 15. While the average number of holes he will have in his underwear before tossing them is 7. And remember if Snoop Dogg married Scooby Doo, he'd be Snoop Dogg-Doo.
There are some phrases that are often used wrong, do you know what I mean? Or couldn't you care less? In a fun article, author Jeremy Taylor gives us eight phrases that we use and then describes what we really mean. The phrase that hit number one on the list was "you could care less" when you really mean you couldn't care less. It begs the question and let's table this are other examples that he uses as phrases we frequently use wrong. You can read the entire articles here:
http://www.asylum.com/2009/10/06/phrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean/?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asylum.com%2F2009%2F10%2F06%2Fphrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean%2F
This brings to mind something that I noticed the last couple of times I went to the movies. Before the previews came on there was always a warning "this preview has been approved for all audiences." That phrase as now been replaced with "this preview has been approved for appropriate audiences." What the heck is an appropriate audience? All three year-olds? All people over 100? Drives me nuts.
Questions of the day. Are you surprised that men do less housework after they get married? Does it shock you that we own fifteen pairs of underwear and won't ditch them before they have seven holes in them? What phrases on Mr. Taylor's list do you agree with? What phrases would you add to the list? I want you all to know that this blog entry has been approved for appropriate audiences. Are you appropriate?
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Herta Mueller
I was born in 1825. I was a well-versed public speaker on the paramount issues of my time, and distinguished myself from my contemporaries with her use of religious faith in my efforts to expand women's rights. After daring to inject a prayer into my family's religious observance, I was accepted into my family's branch of the Congregational Church at age nine. Shortly after becoming a member of the congregation I began to preach during Sunday meetings. At the age of sixteen I taught school. I was not content to be a schoolmarm so I wanted to receive a degree in theology and wanted to start a career in the pulpit. Despite the college administration opposed the idea of a woman engaging in any kind of formal theological learning and training the college eventually capitulated but with a specific set of pre-conditions. I could enroll in the courses, but she was not to receive formal recognition. Despite the stipulations made regarding my participation in the theology course I was a prolific writer and charismatic public speaker. I believed that the Bible and its various pronouncements about women were for a specific span of time and certainly not applicable to the 19th century. Without a preaching license following graduation I decided to pause my ministerial ambitions to write for an abolitionist paper, The North Star. I spoke in 1850 at the first National Women's Rights Convention. I eventually given a license to preach in 1851. At my ordination Pastor Lee delivered a sermon testifying to my suitability as a preacher and my calling from God. Unfortunate I failed in my first ministerial appointment. Following my separation from the ministry I focused on women's rights issues. Many women's rights activists opposed religion on the basis that it served to oppress women but I was steadfast in my belief that women's active participation in religion could serve to further their status in society. Unlike many of my peers I cared more about improving women's status in society than for suffrage. I believed that the inherent differences between men and women limited men's effectiveness in representing women in politics; thus suffrage, would have little positive impact for women, unless it was coupled with tangible leadership opportunities. Despite believing a single woman had more independence I married in 1856. We had seven children, two dying in infancy. Family obligations lead me to quit lecturing and start writing. My writing was my outlet for initiation positive change for women; I encouraged women to seek out masculine professions, and asked men to share in household duties. In 1875 I wrote The Sexes Throughout Nature. I argued that evolution resulted in two sexes that were different but equal. At the last National Woman’s Rights Convention held before the outbreak of the civil war I engaged in the heated debate about divorce with her colleagues and contemporaries, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I was a staunch abolitionist and suffragette but supported the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which did not include the right of free women to vote. In 1920, at age 95, I was the only participant of the 1850 Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, to see the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. I died the next year. Who Am I?
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/portland_couple_built_a_love_t.html
On to a lighter tone. According to The Edge Column in the October 9, 2009 Oregonian the average number of hours a week of housekeeping a live-in boyfriend does is 10, while the average number of hours a week of housekeeping a husband does is 9. Also in the same column, the number of pairs of underwear the average American man owns is 15. While the average number of holes he will have in his underwear before tossing them is 7. And remember if Snoop Dogg married Scooby Doo, he'd be Snoop Dogg-Doo.
There are some phrases that are often used wrong, do you know what I mean? Or couldn't you care less? In a fun article, author Jeremy Taylor gives us eight phrases that we use and then describes what we really mean. The phrase that hit number one on the list was "you could care less" when you really mean you couldn't care less. It begs the question and let's table this are other examples that he uses as phrases we frequently use wrong. You can read the entire articles here:
http://www.asylum.com/2009/10/06/phrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean/?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asylum.com%2F2009%2F10%2F06%2Fphrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean%2F
This brings to mind something that I noticed the last couple of times I went to the movies. Before the previews came on there was always a warning "this preview has been approved for all audiences." That phrase as now been replaced with "this preview has been approved for appropriate audiences." What the heck is an appropriate audience? All three year-olds? All people over 100? Drives me nuts.
Questions of the day. Are you surprised that men do less housework after they get married? Does it shock you that we own fifteen pairs of underwear and won't ditch them before they have seven holes in them? What phrases on Mr. Taylor's list do you agree with? What phrases would you add to the list? I want you all to know that this blog entry has been approved for appropriate audiences. Are you appropriate?
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's answer: Herta Mueller
I was born in 1825. I was a well-versed public speaker on the paramount issues of my time, and distinguished myself from my contemporaries with her use of religious faith in my efforts to expand women's rights. After daring to inject a prayer into my family's religious observance, I was accepted into my family's branch of the Congregational Church at age nine. Shortly after becoming a member of the congregation I began to preach during Sunday meetings. At the age of sixteen I taught school. I was not content to be a schoolmarm so I wanted to receive a degree in theology and wanted to start a career in the pulpit. Despite the college administration opposed the idea of a woman engaging in any kind of formal theological learning and training the college eventually capitulated but with a specific set of pre-conditions. I could enroll in the courses, but she was not to receive formal recognition. Despite the stipulations made regarding my participation in the theology course I was a prolific writer and charismatic public speaker. I believed that the Bible and its various pronouncements about women were for a specific span of time and certainly not applicable to the 19th century. Without a preaching license following graduation I decided to pause my ministerial ambitions to write for an abolitionist paper, The North Star. I spoke in 1850 at the first National Women's Rights Convention. I eventually given a license to preach in 1851. At my ordination Pastor Lee delivered a sermon testifying to my suitability as a preacher and my calling from God. Unfortunate I failed in my first ministerial appointment. Following my separation from the ministry I focused on women's rights issues. Many women's rights activists opposed religion on the basis that it served to oppress women but I was steadfast in my belief that women's active participation in religion could serve to further their status in society. Unlike many of my peers I cared more about improving women's status in society than for suffrage. I believed that the inherent differences between men and women limited men's effectiveness in representing women in politics; thus suffrage, would have little positive impact for women, unless it was coupled with tangible leadership opportunities. Despite believing a single woman had more independence I married in 1856. We had seven children, two dying in infancy. Family obligations lead me to quit lecturing and start writing. My writing was my outlet for initiation positive change for women; I encouraged women to seek out masculine professions, and asked men to share in household duties. In 1875 I wrote The Sexes Throughout Nature. I argued that evolution resulted in two sexes that were different but equal. At the last National Woman’s Rights Convention held before the outbreak of the civil war I engaged in the heated debate about divorce with her colleagues and contemporaries, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I was a staunch abolitionist and suffragette but supported the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which did not include the right of free women to vote. In 1920, at age 95, I was the only participant of the 1850 Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, to see the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. I died the next year. Who Am I?
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday Update.
Happy Sunday. Looking forward to hearing about your lives today. I am not going to repeat what this day is about because you all know the drill. If you are new to the blog this is the day the blog becomes the readers' blog and you can post anything you darn well please. If you are new to the blog or have read the blog for a while and haven't posted please take an a minute or two and post an introduction.
Sis has been here since last Monday and left this morning to return to Utah. I was able to get out and about. Went to the coast one day for a nice lunch. I also went to two movies. Then I got some much needed rest. There were a couple of dinners out with Mom, Sis, and her husband. But on four days I disappeared in to the no contact zone for some pressure withdrawal and me time. Everything returns to normal this week.
The big event of the week is that I received a phone call from the CPA firm that I worked for last year. The one where on the first day of the job I fell and ended up with a concussion. The call was kind of unusual because most firms don't start getting their tax season staff together until late November. The firm offered me more money to come back to work for them. They also offered to pay for a tax seminar for me to attend. I was feeling pretty good about my abilities and the good work that I do until they said they wanted me back because without me there it was really boring. So they want me back not because I work hard and am smart but because I am not boring. Should I be flattered? I agreed to work for them three to four days a week. I go to the seminar in January and start work middle of February.
The entertainment updates: The Internet Dating couple was eliminated from The Amazing because they chose the wrong roadblock. Jennifer won a fifteen grand gift card from Macy's as the winner of this week's elimination challenge on Top Chef. She said she would use part of the prize to buy her cooking partner for this week, Kevin, a suit. Ashley got the axe from Top Chef. On Dancing With The Stars even though he got the votes to stay on the show Tom Delay gracefully dropped out of the show due to injury. There was an Internet rumor going around that ABC pushed Delay out the door because they attributed a drop in viewership to him being on it. Voted off of Dancing With The Stars this week was Debie Mazer. I was kind of hoping she would stay on a while longer and that Michael Irvin would be the one taking a hike.
The question for the day, would you rather be respected for your mind or because you aren't boring? The blog is now yours. Introduce yourself! Update me on you lives! Post anything you damn well please and have a day that isn't boring.
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's Answer: Jerry LeVias.
Today's Who Am I.
I am a novelist, poet, and essayist. I was born in 1953 in German speaking town in Romania. My dad served in WWII and my mother survived five years. in a Gulag slave labour camp in Ukraine in the Soviet Union after World War II. My writings have been translated into over twenty languages. In 1976 I began working as a translator for an engineering factory, but I dismissed in 1979 for my refusal to cooperate with thee Communist regime's secret police. After I dismissal she I earned a living by teaching kindergarten and giving private German lessons. My first book, published in 1982, was about a child's view of the German-cultural Banat. In 1987 I left Romania for West Berlin with my husband due to pressure of the Romanian government. I still live in Berlin. This year one of my novels was nominated for the German Book Prize and is now among the six finalists. This describes the journey of a young man to a Gulag concentration camp in the Soviet Union as an example for the fate of the German population in Transylvania after World War II. The President of The United States and I were recently in the news for the same reason. Who Am I?
Sis has been here since last Monday and left this morning to return to Utah. I was able to get out and about. Went to the coast one day for a nice lunch. I also went to two movies. Then I got some much needed rest. There were a couple of dinners out with Mom, Sis, and her husband. But on four days I disappeared in to the no contact zone for some pressure withdrawal and me time. Everything returns to normal this week.
The big event of the week is that I received a phone call from the CPA firm that I worked for last year. The one where on the first day of the job I fell and ended up with a concussion. The call was kind of unusual because most firms don't start getting their tax season staff together until late November. The firm offered me more money to come back to work for them. They also offered to pay for a tax seminar for me to attend. I was feeling pretty good about my abilities and the good work that I do until they said they wanted me back because without me there it was really boring. So they want me back not because I work hard and am smart but because I am not boring. Should I be flattered? I agreed to work for them three to four days a week. I go to the seminar in January and start work middle of February.
The entertainment updates: The Internet Dating couple was eliminated from The Amazing because they chose the wrong roadblock. Jennifer won a fifteen grand gift card from Macy's as the winner of this week's elimination challenge on Top Chef. She said she would use part of the prize to buy her cooking partner for this week, Kevin, a suit. Ashley got the axe from Top Chef. On Dancing With The Stars even though he got the votes to stay on the show Tom Delay gracefully dropped out of the show due to injury. There was an Internet rumor going around that ABC pushed Delay out the door because they attributed a drop in viewership to him being on it. Voted off of Dancing With The Stars this week was Debie Mazer. I was kind of hoping she would stay on a while longer and that Michael Irvin would be the one taking a hike.
The question for the day, would you rather be respected for your mind or because you aren't boring? The blog is now yours. Introduce yourself! Update me on you lives! Post anything you damn well please and have a day that isn't boring.
TODAY'S TRIVIA;
Yesterday's Answer: Jerry LeVias.
Today's Who Am I.
I am a novelist, poet, and essayist. I was born in 1953 in German speaking town in Romania. My dad served in WWII and my mother survived five years. in a Gulag slave labour camp in Ukraine in the Soviet Union after World War II. My writings have been translated into over twenty languages. In 1976 I began working as a translator for an engineering factory, but I dismissed in 1979 for my refusal to cooperate with thee Communist regime's secret police. After I dismissal she I earned a living by teaching kindergarten and giving private German lessons. My first book, published in 1982, was about a child's view of the German-cultural Banat. In 1987 I left Romania for West Berlin with my husband due to pressure of the Romanian government. I still live in Berlin. This year one of my novels was nominated for the German Book Prize and is now among the six finalists. This describes the journey of a young man to a Gulag concentration camp in the Soviet Union as an example for the fate of the German population in Transylvania after World War II. The President of The United States and I were recently in the news for the same reason. Who Am I?
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Cost Of Silence, The Benefit Of Lying.
Today I am writing about the cost of silence and the benefits of lying.
Portland, Oregon has several unsolved murders. Many remained unsolved because people don't come forward even though they have information that could solve the crime. Last week the Portland Police produced a video titled "The Cost of Silence" and sent it out to various sites, including You Tube. The video was made to encourage people to come forward and to tell the truth. I like the idea of the video but will it be helpful to crime solving? I just don't know and in spots the video was a little confusing. If the video helps to solve one crime than it is deserves to be shared. You can watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyRYN7SByuM
Following along the lines of truth telling, I recently attended the movie THE INVENTION OF LYING. The movie is a comedy film, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. It stars Gervais and Jennifer Garner. The film is set in an alternate reality in which no one has ever lied. Not only does no one tell a lie, but people often tell the entire truth, or blurt out very blunt remarks and opinions that people in normal society would normally keep to themselves. Organized religion does not exist, nor are there any forms of fiction, in both film and literature. Ads for commercial products tell the truth. I am not going to review the movie because it really wasn't that good. Really not worth the money the theaters now charge. However, the concept was interesting and it brought about several questions.
Could we live in a world where everyone told the truth about everything? Would we want to? I try really hard to be truthful in all areas of my life but I will admit to both white lies to avoid an argument or to avoid hurting someone's feelings. I will also admit to lies (not really lies, but just not volunteering information) to help my clients. Would I want to have that option taken away? I honestly don't know.
Would I want to hear for example, "I don't want to date you because you are out of my league" instead of "we just don't have chemistry?" Would you want to hear, "yes your butt looks big in that outfit because it is big in any outfit", instead of "honey, you look good in anything." What about "that is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of" rather than the idea has potential? When you turn on TV and the ad appears before you would like to hear "Go ahead and buy this soft drink even though it has more sugar than anything on earth and leads to bad health and may lead to diabetes." Would you buy the product? Remember the decline in sales of the company leads to job loss and unemployment, which in turn could lead to higher prices. And the list goes on.
I am often been described by friends and relatives as "honest to a fault." I never really thought about it until I went to THE INVENTION OF LYING. Now I am wondering if there is a room in this world for some form of untruthfulness and maybe my friends and relatives are right. It is a fault to be as honest as I try to be.
Questions for the day. Will the video THE COST OF SILENCE lead to some crimes being solved? Would you want to live in a world where all forms of lying was banned? Are you always honest? Tell me the truth.
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Amazing Grace. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
Today's Who Am 1?
This is from Connie. Today we are going to honor college football Saturday with a male barrier breaker. I was born in 1946. I was the first football player of my race to be recruited by a Texas University. I had over one hundred scholarship offers but none from traditionally all black football powers because I was considered to small by those universities to be a football player. In 1966 I made my debut as the first football player of my race in the conference of the university I attended. I lead the university to our first Cotton Bowl appearance in two decades. I was consensus all conference the times and an All American as a senior as well as an Academic All-American that year. HBO produced a documentary about the integration of college football which highlighted my struggles while I integrated my conference. I played my first season of professional football with the Houston Oilers, later in my career I played with the San Diego Chargers. After my football career ended, I became a successful businessman. I was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and to the National College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Who Am I?
Portland, Oregon has several unsolved murders. Many remained unsolved because people don't come forward even though they have information that could solve the crime. Last week the Portland Police produced a video titled "The Cost of Silence" and sent it out to various sites, including You Tube. The video was made to encourage people to come forward and to tell the truth. I like the idea of the video but will it be helpful to crime solving? I just don't know and in spots the video was a little confusing. If the video helps to solve one crime than it is deserves to be shared. You can watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyRYN7SByuM
Following along the lines of truth telling, I recently attended the movie THE INVENTION OF LYING. The movie is a comedy film, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. It stars Gervais and Jennifer Garner. The film is set in an alternate reality in which no one has ever lied. Not only does no one tell a lie, but people often tell the entire truth, or blurt out very blunt remarks and opinions that people in normal society would normally keep to themselves. Organized religion does not exist, nor are there any forms of fiction, in both film and literature. Ads for commercial products tell the truth. I am not going to review the movie because it really wasn't that good. Really not worth the money the theaters now charge. However, the concept was interesting and it brought about several questions.
Could we live in a world where everyone told the truth about everything? Would we want to? I try really hard to be truthful in all areas of my life but I will admit to both white lies to avoid an argument or to avoid hurting someone's feelings. I will also admit to lies (not really lies, but just not volunteering information) to help my clients. Would I want to have that option taken away? I honestly don't know.
Would I want to hear for example, "I don't want to date you because you are out of my league" instead of "we just don't have chemistry?" Would you want to hear, "yes your butt looks big in that outfit because it is big in any outfit", instead of "honey, you look good in anything." What about "that is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of" rather than the idea has potential? When you turn on TV and the ad appears before you would like to hear "Go ahead and buy this soft drink even though it has more sugar than anything on earth and leads to bad health and may lead to diabetes." Would you buy the product? Remember the decline in sales of the company leads to job loss and unemployment, which in turn could lead to higher prices. And the list goes on.
I am often been described by friends and relatives as "honest to a fault." I never really thought about it until I went to THE INVENTION OF LYING. Now I am wondering if there is a room in this world for some form of untruthfulness and maybe my friends and relatives are right. It is a fault to be as honest as I try to be.
Questions for the day. Will the video THE COST OF SILENCE lead to some crimes being solved? Would you want to live in a world where all forms of lying was banned? Are you always honest? Tell me the truth.
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Amazing Grace. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
Today's Who Am 1?
This is from Connie. Today we are going to honor college football Saturday with a male barrier breaker. I was born in 1946. I was the first football player of my race to be recruited by a Texas University. I had over one hundred scholarship offers but none from traditionally all black football powers because I was considered to small by those universities to be a football player. In 1966 I made my debut as the first football player of my race in the conference of the university I attended. I lead the university to our first Cotton Bowl appearance in two decades. I was consensus all conference the times and an All American as a senior as well as an Academic All-American that year. HBO produced a documentary about the integration of college football which highlighted my struggles while I integrated my conference. I played my first season of professional football with the Houston Oilers, later in my career I played with the San Diego Chargers. After my football career ended, I became a successful businessman. I was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and to the National College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Who Am I?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Speeding To Whatever.
"How does a $200,000 speeding ticket grab you? For driving a mere 25 mph over the limit? Well, we're not talking about the U.S. -- this world-record speeding fine was levied in Finland"
That is the first paragraph of an article that you can read at the following link:
http://autos.aol.com/article/highest-speeding-fines
Other highlights of the article are that in Canada speeding tickets can cost up to twenty-five grand. In England speeding tickets can reach eight grand. In Norway ten percent of your income. In Ireland they can reach $2,700. In France, Switzerland, Italy the speeding tickets can reach $2,100.
The United States? The highest Fines are twenty-five hundred smackers. Drivers clocked at high speeds in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire all are liable to be fined up to $1000 for their actions. Drivers clocked at speeds deemed unsafe in Michigan, New Jersey and Texas all are subject to a second fine being imposed a year later that often can tally more than the original $1000 once court costs are included.
Now that we are all going to slow down in our cars once we get out of the cars we need to speak slower and reconsider some words in the English language that we use daily.
Pollsters at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., college surveyed 938 U.S. adults by telephone Aug. 3-Aug 6. The margin of error is 3.2 percentage points. The five choices included were chosen by people at the poll discussing what popular words and phrases might be considered especially annoying. As the most annoying word whatever with forty-seven percent easily beat out "you know," which especially grated a quarter of respondents. The other annoying contenders were "anyway" (at 7 percent), "it is what it is" (11 percent) and "at the end of the day" (2 percent).
I don't agree with the poll. This is how I am ranking them: You Know (not until you told me and if I do know there is no need to tell me), At the end of the day (I don't want to wait that long), anyways (plural, I am OK with it in singular form), whatever is fourth on my list, and the one that bothers me the least is "it is what it is."
The questions of the day, does the cost of speeding tickets in some countries surprise you? Would people stop speeding if we had the outrageous fines other countries do? And what phrase bothers you the most? The least? Whatever,you know I'd like to hear your opinion anyway because it is what it is.
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Ernest Hemmingway's third wife and journalist, Martha Gellhorn
Today's Who Am 1?
My nickname will bring to mind a famous religious song. A Navy destroyer is named after me. I was born in 1906. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics in 1928 and pursued my graduate education at Yale University, where I received a Master's degree. I taught mathematics at Vassar in 1931, and by 1941 I was an associate professor. I married my husband in 1930 and divorced him in 1945. I earned a PHD from Yale in 1934, graduating with honor. In 1938, I obtained a leave of absence from Vassar and was sworn in to the United States Navy Reserve, one of many women to volunteer to serve in the WAVES. I reported in December and trained at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. I graduated first in my class in 1944, and was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University as a Lieutenant, junior grade. My request to transfer to the regular Navy at the end of the war was declined due to my age (38). I continued to serve in the United States Navy Reserve. From 1967 to 1977, I served as the director of the Navy Programming Languages Group in the Navy's Office of Information Systems Planning and was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1973. I retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Commander at the end of 1966. I was recalled to active duty in August 1967 for a six-month period that turned into an indefinite assignment. I again retired in 1971 but was asked to return to active duty again in 1972. I was promoted to Captain in 1973. In.1983 due to a joint resolution in the House of Representatives I was promoted to Commodore. In 1985, the rank of Commodore was renamed Rear Admiral, Lower Half. I retired (involuntarily) from the Navy in 1986. At a celebration held in Boston on the USS Constitution to celebrate my retirement, I was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat award possible by the Department of Defense. At the moment of my retirement, I was the oldest officer in the United States Navy, and aboard the oldest ship in the United States Navy. I was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery in 1992. Before my death I became the first person from the United States and the first woman of any nationality to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. There is a building named after me at the Naval Academy. The famous quotation "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" is often attributed to me as is the quote, "A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for." Who Am I?
That is the first paragraph of an article that you can read at the following link:
http://autos.aol.com/article/highest-speeding-fines
Other highlights of the article are that in Canada speeding tickets can cost up to twenty-five grand. In England speeding tickets can reach eight grand. In Norway ten percent of your income. In Ireland they can reach $2,700. In France, Switzerland, Italy the speeding tickets can reach $2,100.
The United States? The highest Fines are twenty-five hundred smackers. Drivers clocked at high speeds in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire all are liable to be fined up to $1000 for their actions. Drivers clocked at speeds deemed unsafe in Michigan, New Jersey and Texas all are subject to a second fine being imposed a year later that often can tally more than the original $1000 once court costs are included.
Now that we are all going to slow down in our cars once we get out of the cars we need to speak slower and reconsider some words in the English language that we use daily.
Pollsters at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., college surveyed 938 U.S. adults by telephone Aug. 3-Aug 6. The margin of error is 3.2 percentage points. The five choices included were chosen by people at the poll discussing what popular words and phrases might be considered especially annoying. As the most annoying word whatever with forty-seven percent easily beat out "you know," which especially grated a quarter of respondents. The other annoying contenders were "anyway" (at 7 percent), "it is what it is" (11 percent) and "at the end of the day" (2 percent).
I don't agree with the poll. This is how I am ranking them: You Know (not until you told me and if I do know there is no need to tell me), At the end of the day (I don't want to wait that long), anyways (plural, I am OK with it in singular form), whatever is fourth on my list, and the one that bothers me the least is "it is what it is."
The questions of the day, does the cost of speeding tickets in some countries surprise you? Would people stop speeding if we had the outrageous fines other countries do? And what phrase bothers you the most? The least? Whatever,you know I'd like to hear your opinion anyway because it is what it is.
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Ernest Hemmingway's third wife and journalist, Martha Gellhorn
Today's Who Am 1?
My nickname will bring to mind a famous religious song. A Navy destroyer is named after me. I was born in 1906. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics in 1928 and pursued my graduate education at Yale University, where I received a Master's degree. I taught mathematics at Vassar in 1931, and by 1941 I was an associate professor. I married my husband in 1930 and divorced him in 1945. I earned a PHD from Yale in 1934, graduating with honor. In 1938, I obtained a leave of absence from Vassar and was sworn in to the United States Navy Reserve, one of many women to volunteer to serve in the WAVES. I reported in December and trained at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. I graduated first in my class in 1944, and was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University as a Lieutenant, junior grade. My request to transfer to the regular Navy at the end of the war was declined due to my age (38). I continued to serve in the United States Navy Reserve. From 1967 to 1977, I served as the director of the Navy Programming Languages Group in the Navy's Office of Information Systems Planning and was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1973. I retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Commander at the end of 1966. I was recalled to active duty in August 1967 for a six-month period that turned into an indefinite assignment. I again retired in 1971 but was asked to return to active duty again in 1972. I was promoted to Captain in 1973. In.1983 due to a joint resolution in the House of Representatives I was promoted to Commodore. In 1985, the rank of Commodore was renamed Rear Admiral, Lower Half. I retired (involuntarily) from the Navy in 1986. At a celebration held in Boston on the USS Constitution to celebrate my retirement, I was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat award possible by the Department of Defense. At the moment of my retirement, I was the oldest officer in the United States Navy, and aboard the oldest ship in the United States Navy. I was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery in 1992. Before my death I became the first person from the United States and the first woman of any nationality to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. There is a building named after me at the Naval Academy. The famous quotation "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" is often attributed to me as is the quote, "A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for." Who Am I?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Hoarding
I'm taking another day off so today we have DR as a guest blogger with an interesting subject. Thank you DR for doing my work for me:
Why do we cling to the comfort of "old things," be they clothes or furniture or thoughts or beliefs or whatever? Kind of like the old joke about the husband not wanting to replace the couch or his recliner. I find myself more and more in sympathy with this man.
Is it because there are so many changes in our life and in the world around us we can't control? Does this make us want to cling to the familiar? And it's usually silly stuff, although not always. My chair in my office -- poor thing is almost twenty years old and used A Lot in the last ten years. The support straps are about gone, the cushion fabric is torn to where I have to cover it with blankets. I could certainly afford to buy a new chair or move one of the recliners (which I still haven't put on Craig's list!) up here, but I don't wanna. The chair is comfy and cozy and I've spent untold hours writing Morning Pages, meditating, reading and editing in it. Plus, it has an ottoman, where the Skeet curls up while I do all the aforementioned, as well as when I'm on the computer.
Then there's the old black velour housecoat. I have two new housecoats. The old one is worn thin, has a couple tears. Do I throw it out? No. I wear the new ones periodically, but when I want comfort and cozy, I drag out the old one, despite its flaws. Ditto clothes. I dutifully update my wardrobe with a couple or more new outfits each season, whether from a department store or garage sales (yes, they often have the styles I prefer), yet when I need to feel confident or comfortable or reassured, I reach for the outfits that are often ten years old or the jeans I've had for more years than I care to admit. Or the tee shirt that's ancient, but "feels good."
Himself wants to replace the kitchen stove, but I fight like a tiger for its cub. Yes, it's eccentric, but I like the fact it's oversized, as two ovens (even if one is a bit "touchy") and has counter space beside the burners. Yes, I know it can be replaced and probably make room for a small dishwasher, but I've been washing dishes for twelve years and what's the big deal about that?
I'd like to believe I'm simply being frugal and sensible, but I know it goes beyond that. Some of this represents a comfort zone and I don't want it messed up. It's interesting that, on the one hand, I have no hesitation decluttering and removing items that mean nothing, take up space, don't have any particular meaning, even though they may have monetary value. On the other hand, there are things that have no dollar value, have clearly passed their "sell by/use by" date and I refuse to part with them.
Anyone else have this secret vice or is it some unique quirk, maybe genetic or learned during my childhood? I'm pretty good about "something comes in, then something has to go out," but don't mess with my chair or housecoat or stove. There are just some things that are critical to my sense of well-being, even if it makes no sense. What do you have that you won't part with, regardless of its worth or condition?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: The first woman to win the medal of honor, Mary Edwards Walker.
Today's Who Am 1?
Although I was the third wife of a famous novelist I have my own accomplishments having a journalist award named after me. Born in 1908 to half-Jewish parents, a dad that was a doctor and a mother that was a suffragette, I ended my life in 1998 by taking poison after a battle with cancer and losing most of my eyesight.. Walter, my brother, was a noted law proferssor at Columbia University. I left college before graduating to pursue a career as a journalist. My first articles appeared in The New Republic. In 1930 I was determined to become a foreign correspondent and went to France for two years where I worked at the United Press bureau in Paris. While in Europe I became active in the pacifist movement and wrote about my experiences. After returning to the US I was hired as an investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. I wrote about the impact of the Depression on the United States. Eleanor Roosevelt read my reports and we became lifelong friends. I first met the famous novelist during a 1936 Christmas family trip to Key West. We agreed to travel in Spain together to cover the Spanish Civil War. We celebrated Christmas of 1937 together in Barcelona. Later, from Germany, I reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler and in 1938 was in Czechoslovakia. After the outbreak of World War II, I described these events in the novel. I reported the war from Finland, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore and Britain. Lacking official press credentials to witness the D-Day landings, I impersonated a stretcher bearer. I followed the war wherever I could reach it. I was among the first journalists to report from Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated. My husband hated my absences and asked me "Are you a war correspondent, or wife in my bed?" We divorced in 1945. After World War II I covered tthe Vietnam War, the Six-Day War in the Middle East and the civil wars in Central America. At age 81 I traveled impromptu to Panama, where I wrote of U.S. invasion. Only when the Bosnian war broke out in the 1990s I confess to being to old to go. I published books of fiction, travel writing and reportage. Some of my selected letters were published posthumously in 2006. I was a committed leftist throughout my life and was contemptuous of those who became more conservative. I considered the so-called objectivity of journalists “nonsense”, and used journalism to reflect my politics. Politically my two favorites were Israel and the Spanish Republic. I described myself as “hater” and attacked fascism, anti-communism, racism, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the Palestinians. Although I was only married twice I had countless lovers. "If I practiced sex, out of moral conviction, that was one thing; but to enjoy it ... seemed a defeat. I accompanied men and was accompanied in action, in the extrovert part of life; I plunged into that ... but not sex; that seemed to be their delight and all I got was a pleasure of being wanted, I suppose, and the tenderness (not nearly enough) that a man gives when he is satisfied. I daresay I was the worst bed partner in five continents." If the sun rises you should be able to tell me Who Am 1?
Why do we cling to the comfort of "old things," be they clothes or furniture or thoughts or beliefs or whatever? Kind of like the old joke about the husband not wanting to replace the couch or his recliner. I find myself more and more in sympathy with this man.
Is it because there are so many changes in our life and in the world around us we can't control? Does this make us want to cling to the familiar? And it's usually silly stuff, although not always. My chair in my office -- poor thing is almost twenty years old and used A Lot in the last ten years. The support straps are about gone, the cushion fabric is torn to where I have to cover it with blankets. I could certainly afford to buy a new chair or move one of the recliners (which I still haven't put on Craig's list!) up here, but I don't wanna. The chair is comfy and cozy and I've spent untold hours writing Morning Pages, meditating, reading and editing in it. Plus, it has an ottoman, where the Skeet curls up while I do all the aforementioned, as well as when I'm on the computer.
Then there's the old black velour housecoat. I have two new housecoats. The old one is worn thin, has a couple tears. Do I throw it out? No. I wear the new ones periodically, but when I want comfort and cozy, I drag out the old one, despite its flaws. Ditto clothes. I dutifully update my wardrobe with a couple or more new outfits each season, whether from a department store or garage sales (yes, they often have the styles I prefer), yet when I need to feel confident or comfortable or reassured, I reach for the outfits that are often ten years old or the jeans I've had for more years than I care to admit. Or the tee shirt that's ancient, but "feels good."
Himself wants to replace the kitchen stove, but I fight like a tiger for its cub. Yes, it's eccentric, but I like the fact it's oversized, as two ovens (even if one is a bit "touchy") and has counter space beside the burners. Yes, I know it can be replaced and probably make room for a small dishwasher, but I've been washing dishes for twelve years and what's the big deal about that?
I'd like to believe I'm simply being frugal and sensible, but I know it goes beyond that. Some of this represents a comfort zone and I don't want it messed up. It's interesting that, on the one hand, I have no hesitation decluttering and removing items that mean nothing, take up space, don't have any particular meaning, even though they may have monetary value. On the other hand, there are things that have no dollar value, have clearly passed their "sell by/use by" date and I refuse to part with them.
Anyone else have this secret vice or is it some unique quirk, maybe genetic or learned during my childhood? I'm pretty good about "something comes in, then something has to go out," but don't mess with my chair or housecoat or stove. There are just some things that are critical to my sense of well-being, even if it makes no sense. What do you have that you won't part with, regardless of its worth or condition?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: The first woman to win the medal of honor, Mary Edwards Walker.
Today's Who Am 1?
Although I was the third wife of a famous novelist I have my own accomplishments having a journalist award named after me. Born in 1908 to half-Jewish parents, a dad that was a doctor and a mother that was a suffragette, I ended my life in 1998 by taking poison after a battle with cancer and losing most of my eyesight.. Walter, my brother, was a noted law proferssor at Columbia University. I left college before graduating to pursue a career as a journalist. My first articles appeared in The New Republic. In 1930 I was determined to become a foreign correspondent and went to France for two years where I worked at the United Press bureau in Paris. While in Europe I became active in the pacifist movement and wrote about my experiences. After returning to the US I was hired as an investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. I wrote about the impact of the Depression on the United States. Eleanor Roosevelt read my reports and we became lifelong friends. I first met the famous novelist during a 1936 Christmas family trip to Key West. We agreed to travel in Spain together to cover the Spanish Civil War. We celebrated Christmas of 1937 together in Barcelona. Later, from Germany, I reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler and in 1938 was in Czechoslovakia. After the outbreak of World War II, I described these events in the novel. I reported the war from Finland, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore and Britain. Lacking official press credentials to witness the D-Day landings, I impersonated a stretcher bearer. I followed the war wherever I could reach it. I was among the first journalists to report from Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated. My husband hated my absences and asked me "Are you a war correspondent, or wife in my bed?" We divorced in 1945. After World War II I covered tthe Vietnam War, the Six-Day War in the Middle East and the civil wars in Central America. At age 81 I traveled impromptu to Panama, where I wrote of U.S. invasion. Only when the Bosnian war broke out in the 1990s I confess to being to old to go. I published books of fiction, travel writing and reportage. Some of my selected letters were published posthumously in 2006. I was a committed leftist throughout my life and was contemptuous of those who became more conservative. I considered the so-called objectivity of journalists “nonsense”, and used journalism to reflect my politics. Politically my two favorites were Israel and the Spanish Republic. I described myself as “hater” and attacked fascism, anti-communism, racism, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the Palestinians. Although I was only married twice I had countless lovers. "If I practiced sex, out of moral conviction, that was one thing; but to enjoy it ... seemed a defeat. I accompanied men and was accompanied in action, in the extrovert part of life; I plunged into that ... but not sex; that seemed to be their delight and all I got was a pleasure of being wanted, I suppose, and the tenderness (not nearly enough) that a man gives when he is satisfied. I daresay I was the worst bed partner in five continents." If the sun rises you should be able to tell me Who Am 1?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Where The Wind Takes Me.
Sis is here so I am taking the day off and am not writing much today. It has been fun to be free. Yesterday I went to a movie, LOVE HAPPENS. Today I am getting in the car and going wherever the wind takes me. Since I am not doing a lot of thinking this morning I really have nothing original or challenging to write about so I thought I will just tell you how I choose the Who Am I of the day
Truthfully my motivation for the daily Who Am I is not to stump you as much as it is to inform you. Selfishly the motivation is also for me to learn more about history and in particular women in history. Since mostly women read the blog I think I should make a real effort to learn of women in history that paved the way for women. Once in a while I will run across a man that has a remarkable story that is to good not to share.
I come up with an idea. Then I do an Internet Search. For example. "the first woman doctor" or "the first woman to fly a military aircraft." Sometimes the search will lead me to someone with a boring history, more often than not it will lead me to a very interesting or remarkable woman. And sometimes it will take me off in to a completely different direction where right before me is the life story of someone that I think we should all learn about.
Other ways I find the daily Who Am I are stories the newspaper and through the readers here. Once in a while a reader will send me an interesting Who Am I. Interestingly enough that when the women here send me a Who Am I, it is usually a man. Sometimes in the newspaper there will be a story about a recent death of a woman that I hadn't heard about and in the story will be a remarkable fact about her. I run with it.
So in summary the Who Am I usually finds me rather than me finding her or him.
Are you enjoying the Who Am I? Would you rather have the Who Am I alternate on a daily basis with some other form of trivia? I love all forms of trivia but really the Who Am I has become my favorite. Three of a kind next, but I have pretty much depleted the Tri-Bond game choices. Jeopardy is next. Then general trivia, then the Where Am I, and finally millionaire. How do you rank them? If you have any interesting Who Am I(s) or some interesting questions please email them to me!
Off to be a free spirit. May the spirit find you and lead you to a great day!
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Jacqueline Cochran born Bessie Lee Pitman
Today's Who Am 1?
I won a military award and then a famous cowboy, myself and almost nine hundred others had it taken away by Congress in 1917. I kept the award refusing to give it back to the military. President Carter restored my award. I was born in 1832. I was the youngest of five daughters and had one younger brother. I worked on the family farm as a child and refused to wear women's clothes as I found them to restricting. As a young woman I taught to earn enough money to pay my way through Syracuse Medical College, where I graduated as a medical doctor in 1855 as the only woman in my class. I married a fellow medical school student and we set up a joint medical practice. The practice did not flourish, as female physicians were generally not trusted or respected at that time. At the beginning of the American Civil War I volunteered for the Union Army as a civilian. At first I was only allowed to practice as a nurse, as the Army had no female surgeons. I served at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) and at the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C. I also worked as an unpaid field surgeon near the Union front lines, including the Battle of Fredericksburg at and in Chattanooga after the Battle of Chickamauga. I was awarded a commission as a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)" by the Army of the Cumberland. I was captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy. I was sent to Richmond where I remained for a couple of years before I was released as part of a prisoner exchange. I went on to serve during the Battle of Atlanta and later as supervisor of a female prison in Louisville, Kentucky, and head of an orphanage in Tennessee. After the war I became a writer and lecturer, supporting such issues as health care, temperance, women's rights and dress reform for women. I participated for several years with other leaders in the Women's Suffrage Movement, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The initial stance of the movement taking my lead was to say that women already had the right to vote. Once the movement went the amendment route I fell out of favor of the movement and my penchant for wearing male-style clothing, including a top hat, only exacerbated the situation. I died one year before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which guaranteed women the right to vote. After the war my heroics drew favor from generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas. President Andrew Johnson signed a bill giving me the award that was taken away by Congress and given back to me by President Carter specifically for my services at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). I proudly wore the medal, even during the period of revocation, until my death. I was the first woman awarded this medal. I was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war, and a surgeon. Who Am I?
Truthfully my motivation for the daily Who Am I is not to stump you as much as it is to inform you. Selfishly the motivation is also for me to learn more about history and in particular women in history. Since mostly women read the blog I think I should make a real effort to learn of women in history that paved the way for women. Once in a while I will run across a man that has a remarkable story that is to good not to share.
I come up with an idea. Then I do an Internet Search. For example. "the first woman doctor" or "the first woman to fly a military aircraft." Sometimes the search will lead me to someone with a boring history, more often than not it will lead me to a very interesting or remarkable woman. And sometimes it will take me off in to a completely different direction where right before me is the life story of someone that I think we should all learn about.
Other ways I find the daily Who Am I are stories the newspaper and through the readers here. Once in a while a reader will send me an interesting Who Am I. Interestingly enough that when the women here send me a Who Am I, it is usually a man. Sometimes in the newspaper there will be a story about a recent death of a woman that I hadn't heard about and in the story will be a remarkable fact about her. I run with it.
So in summary the Who Am I usually finds me rather than me finding her or him.
Are you enjoying the Who Am I? Would you rather have the Who Am I alternate on a daily basis with some other form of trivia? I love all forms of trivia but really the Who Am I has become my favorite. Three of a kind next, but I have pretty much depleted the Tri-Bond game choices. Jeopardy is next. Then general trivia, then the Where Am I, and finally millionaire. How do you rank them? If you have any interesting Who Am I(s) or some interesting questions please email them to me!
Off to be a free spirit. May the spirit find you and lead you to a great day!
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Jacqueline Cochran born Bessie Lee Pitman
Today's Who Am 1?
I won a military award and then a famous cowboy, myself and almost nine hundred others had it taken away by Congress in 1917. I kept the award refusing to give it back to the military. President Carter restored my award. I was born in 1832. I was the youngest of five daughters and had one younger brother. I worked on the family farm as a child and refused to wear women's clothes as I found them to restricting. As a young woman I taught to earn enough money to pay my way through Syracuse Medical College, where I graduated as a medical doctor in 1855 as the only woman in my class. I married a fellow medical school student and we set up a joint medical practice. The practice did not flourish, as female physicians were generally not trusted or respected at that time. At the beginning of the American Civil War I volunteered for the Union Army as a civilian. At first I was only allowed to practice as a nurse, as the Army had no female surgeons. I served at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) and at the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C. I also worked as an unpaid field surgeon near the Union front lines, including the Battle of Fredericksburg at and in Chattanooga after the Battle of Chickamauga. I was awarded a commission as a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)" by the Army of the Cumberland. I was captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy. I was sent to Richmond where I remained for a couple of years before I was released as part of a prisoner exchange. I went on to serve during the Battle of Atlanta and later as supervisor of a female prison in Louisville, Kentucky, and head of an orphanage in Tennessee. After the war I became a writer and lecturer, supporting such issues as health care, temperance, women's rights and dress reform for women. I participated for several years with other leaders in the Women's Suffrage Movement, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The initial stance of the movement taking my lead was to say that women already had the right to vote. Once the movement went the amendment route I fell out of favor of the movement and my penchant for wearing male-style clothing, including a top hat, only exacerbated the situation. I died one year before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which guaranteed women the right to vote. After the war my heroics drew favor from generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas. President Andrew Johnson signed a bill giving me the award that was taken away by Congress and given back to me by President Carter specifically for my services at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). I proudly wore the medal, even during the period of revocation, until my death. I was the first woman awarded this medal. I was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war, and a surgeon. Who Am I?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Where Has Honor Gone?
Where has honor gone? It seems the media is fascinated with those that lack character. Do you know who David Letterman is? Mark Sanford? Paris Hilton? Lindsay Lohan? Roman Polanski? Chiune Sugihara?
Chiune Sugihara is the answer to yesterday's Who Am I? My dad always taught me that a true man of honor acted with the same ethics if he were alone or if a million people were watching. I challenge all of you that didn't participate in yesterday's Who Am I to do an Internet search of Chiune Sugihara, for he not only was a true man of honor he was a true hero. He did what he did not for money or fame but because it was the right thing to do. Some of the comments from those that answered yesterday's trivia: Wow, what a story (Connie), another fascinating person (Pat) and with permission here are DR's emails:
" if every person in the world -- regardless of race, creed, religion, prejudice, whatever ... was to read the biographies you include in your "who am I" questions, folks might begin to think more about what can be done to help today and realize the challenges and dangers so many faced, to give us (not just the US, but other free countries) the freedoms we have today and to encourage others to help the rest of the world realize those freedoms. While I realize that hatred and vengeance and greed blind many, if we could open the minds of people around the world to the possibilities, to the rewards of meeting challenges and following the dictates of the heart, rather than those of hatred or dogma... who knows what might happen?"
"We so seldom realize how one person's act(s) -- even if just to one other person -- can change the lives of so many. If one person can give another person hope or a helping hand or encouraging word, who knows how the ripple may spread across the pond of humanity? We may not be able to do much about government or corporations and the like, but I often wonder what would happen if each individual did something *good, helpful or positive* for someone who truly needed it. I suspect the many folks you've featured did what they did without thought to whether they'd appear in history's pages or be recognized during their lifetime or even be thanked."
These two emails bring up several questions. Where are the heroes today? What happened to doing the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do? When did profit and self-promotion become more important motivations than what is best for the United States and all of us as a whole? Where has honor gone? What can we do to bring honor back to the television and movie screens and to the daily newspapers?
TODAY'S WHO AM I?
I born was in 1906 under another name than I am most known by. I was the youngest of five children. My dad was a skilled millwright that moved from town to town. In 1920 I was married at a young age to an aircraft mechanic from a naval base near where I lived. I gave birth to my first son four months later. Four years later we divorced. My son died a tragic death at age five after he set his clothes on fire while playing alone in our backyard. Although I denied my family and past, I remained in touch with my family and provided for them over the years. Later on, one of the ten richest men in the world offered to help me establish a cosmetics business. I married him in 1936. Before marrying him I started taking flying lessons. Within three weeks I learned to fly an airplane. Within two years I obtained a commercial pilot's license. I flew my own aircraft around the country promoting my cosmetic products. Marilyn Monroe endorsed my line of lipstick.
I flew my first major race in 1934. In 1937 I was the only woman to compete in the Bendix race. I worked with a famous woman pilot to open The Bendix Race to women.
Also in 1937 I set a new woman's national speed record. By 1938 I was considered the best female pilot in the United States. I was the first woman to break the sound barrier (with Chuck on my wing), I was the first woman to fly a jet across the ocean, and the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. I won five Harmon Trophies as the outstanding woman pilot in the world. Before we joined World War II, I was the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. In 1940 I wrote to a first lady to introduce the proposal of starting a women's flying division in the Army Air Forces. To qualify for pilot positions to help male pilots we had to have at least 300 hours of flying time, but most of the women pilots that I recruited for the service had over 1,000 hours. We had to pay our own way to travel for a physical exam and flight check. Only myself and twenty-four other women passed muster. Some women were a little reluctant to go overseas because they wanted to be flying for (and in) the United States, but those that went became the first American women to fly military aircraft. In 1942 I was made director of women's flight training for the United States. I was the first woman to land and take off from an aircraft carrier and the first pilot to make a blind (instrument) landing. For my war efforts, I received the Distinguished Service Medaland the Distinguished Flying Cross. I witnessed Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita's surrender in the Philippines, then I was the first (non-Japanese) woman to enter Japan after the War. I also attended the Nuremberg Trials in Germany. After the war I was the first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask. I hold more distance and speed records than any pilot living or dead, male or female. In 1948 I joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. I ran for Congress in 1956 from California's 29th Congressional District as the candidate for the Republican Party. I defeated a field of five male opponents to win the Republican nomination, I lost the general election to the Democratic candidate. I died in 1980. My aviation accomplishments never gained the continuing media attention given to a woman pilot that died at a young age. Countries in addition to The U.S. gave me awards. The government of France recognized my contribution to the war and aviation, awarding me the Legion of Honor and the French Air Medal. I am the only woman to receive the Gold Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Who Am I?
Chiune Sugihara is the answer to yesterday's Who Am I? My dad always taught me that a true man of honor acted with the same ethics if he were alone or if a million people were watching. I challenge all of you that didn't participate in yesterday's Who Am I to do an Internet search of Chiune Sugihara, for he not only was a true man of honor he was a true hero. He did what he did not for money or fame but because it was the right thing to do. Some of the comments from those that answered yesterday's trivia: Wow, what a story (Connie), another fascinating person (Pat) and with permission here are DR's emails:
" if every person in the world -- regardless of race, creed, religion, prejudice, whatever ... was to read the biographies you include in your "who am I" questions, folks might begin to think more about what can be done to help today and realize the challenges and dangers so many faced, to give us (not just the US, but other free countries) the freedoms we have today and to encourage others to help the rest of the world realize those freedoms. While I realize that hatred and vengeance and greed blind many, if we could open the minds of people around the world to the possibilities, to the rewards of meeting challenges and following the dictates of the heart, rather than those of hatred or dogma... who knows what might happen?"
"We so seldom realize how one person's act(s) -- even if just to one other person -- can change the lives of so many. If one person can give another person hope or a helping hand or encouraging word, who knows how the ripple may spread across the pond of humanity? We may not be able to do much about government or corporations and the like, but I often wonder what would happen if each individual did something *good, helpful or positive* for someone who truly needed it. I suspect the many folks you've featured did what they did without thought to whether they'd appear in history's pages or be recognized during their lifetime or even be thanked."
These two emails bring up several questions. Where are the heroes today? What happened to doing the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do? When did profit and self-promotion become more important motivations than what is best for the United States and all of us as a whole? Where has honor gone? What can we do to bring honor back to the television and movie screens and to the daily newspapers?
TODAY'S WHO AM I?
I born was in 1906 under another name than I am most known by. I was the youngest of five children. My dad was a skilled millwright that moved from town to town. In 1920 I was married at a young age to an aircraft mechanic from a naval base near where I lived. I gave birth to my first son four months later. Four years later we divorced. My son died a tragic death at age five after he set his clothes on fire while playing alone in our backyard. Although I denied my family and past, I remained in touch with my family and provided for them over the years. Later on, one of the ten richest men in the world offered to help me establish a cosmetics business. I married him in 1936. Before marrying him I started taking flying lessons. Within three weeks I learned to fly an airplane. Within two years I obtained a commercial pilot's license. I flew my own aircraft around the country promoting my cosmetic products. Marilyn Monroe endorsed my line of lipstick.
I flew my first major race in 1934. In 1937 I was the only woman to compete in the Bendix race. I worked with a famous woman pilot to open The Bendix Race to women.
Also in 1937 I set a new woman's national speed record. By 1938 I was considered the best female pilot in the United States. I was the first woman to break the sound barrier (with Chuck on my wing), I was the first woman to fly a jet across the ocean, and the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. I won five Harmon Trophies as the outstanding woman pilot in the world. Before we joined World War II, I was the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. In 1940 I wrote to a first lady to introduce the proposal of starting a women's flying division in the Army Air Forces. To qualify for pilot positions to help male pilots we had to have at least 300 hours of flying time, but most of the women pilots that I recruited for the service had over 1,000 hours. We had to pay our own way to travel for a physical exam and flight check. Only myself and twenty-four other women passed muster. Some women were a little reluctant to go overseas because they wanted to be flying for (and in) the United States, but those that went became the first American women to fly military aircraft. In 1942 I was made director of women's flight training for the United States. I was the first woman to land and take off from an aircraft carrier and the first pilot to make a blind (instrument) landing. For my war efforts, I received the Distinguished Service Medaland the Distinguished Flying Cross. I witnessed Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita's surrender in the Philippines, then I was the first (non-Japanese) woman to enter Japan after the War. I also attended the Nuremberg Trials in Germany. After the war I was the first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask. I hold more distance and speed records than any pilot living or dead, male or female. In 1948 I joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. I ran for Congress in 1956 from California's 29th Congressional District as the candidate for the Republican Party. I defeated a field of five male opponents to win the Republican nomination, I lost the general election to the Democratic candidate. I died in 1980. My aviation accomplishments never gained the continuing media attention given to a woman pilot that died at a young age. Countries in addition to The U.S. gave me awards. The government of France recognized my contribution to the war and aviation, awarding me the Legion of Honor and the French Air Medal. I am the only woman to receive the Gold Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Who Am I?
Monday, October 5, 2009
This Day In History
Not really having much to write about today I searched the Internet for something to possibly interest the readers. I came across this website:
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/
Fun site. You can type in any date and it will tell you what happened on that date in history. I typed in today's date and here is what happened on other October 5ths.
1969 : Monty Python's Flying Circus makes its debut on BBC Television, there were only 45 episodes aired over four seasons featuring the zany comedy sketches with John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle. Some of the sketches are still considered to be some of the greatest comedy skits including
1925 : The Grand Ole Opry a weekly country music radio program broadcasts live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee launches on the WSM Radio Station.
1930: Great Britons largest dirigible the R-101 Airship crashes in Beauvais, France, killing all on board.
1947: President Harry Truman delivered the first televised presidential address from the White House
1948 : An earthquake measuring magnitude 7.3 strikes Ashgabat and surrounding villages flattening all buildings leaving more than 100,000 people dead. This is one of the strongest and most deadly earthquakes on record.
1954: Yugoslavia and Italy have ended their nine year bitter dispute over the Trieste free territory and have agreed to split it between them with Italy getting control of the Adriatic port of Trieste and Yugoslavia retaining the zone she has occupied since the end of the last World War.
1962: East German guards shot a man with tommy gun blasts on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall and would not allow ambulances from the red cross on the western side to approach even though the man was screaming in pain, the incident took place about 3 miles from checkpoint Charlie.
1962: The Beatles release their first single in the UK "Love Me Do" ( released on a 45RPM Single Format on Parlophone Label, which gets to number seventeen. It was later released in the US on 27th April, 1964 and goes to Number 1.
1986: The first leak concerning the Iran Contra scandal occurs when Eugene Hasenfus is captured by troops of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua where he confesses that he was shipping military supplies into Nicaragua for use by the Contras, that had been created and funded by the United States and run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). After long persistent investigations by journalists and Congress it was found it involved the secret sale of U.S. weapons to Iran and the proceeds from these sales used to covertly fund the Contra war in Nicaragua.
1986: The British newspaper The Sunday Times ran an Israeli former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu's story reavealing the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal, possibly which included as many as 100 nuclear warheads. Mordechai Vanunu is later kidnapped in Rome by Israeli agents and smuggled to Israel, where he was tried for treason and espionage and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
1989: The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet, won the Nobel Peace Prize for shunning violence and seeking liberation from China for his Himalayan nation through peaceful means.
1994: Forty Eight members of the Order of the Solar Tradition Cult committed suicide to escape the hypocrisies and oppression of this world.
1999: Two trains collide near Paddington Station in west London at the height of the morning rush hour. There are so far 8 confirmed dead, 40 seriously injured and 200 with minor injuries. ( It was later confirmed that 31 died in the accident which was caused by one of the trains going through a red stop light )
1999: The small Mexican village of Teziutlan is buried by mud and rocks caused by torrential rains, rescuers on the scene have estimated that between 60 and 80 homes are completely buried. Teziutlan is one of many villages in the area affected over the next 3 weeks by mudslides and the full extent of the worst floods Mexico has seen in 40 years will not be known for some time due to the difficulty in reaching outlying areas. In November after the mud was cleared and buried homes checked the final death toll from the October floods was more than 400. The worst affected village was Acalama where 170 were killed after the defrosted side of a mountain collapsed on the village.
2000 : Opposition supporters have stormed the Yugoslav parliament in Belgrade proclaiming Vojislav Kostunica as the new Yugoslav president. The anger and demonstrations were over Milošević's rejection of a first-round opposition victory in elections for the Federal parliament and presidency in September which led to mass demonstrations in Belgrade culminating in the storming of the Parliament building.
2005: Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is indicted by a grand jury on two new charges of money laundering following his indictment by a separate grand jury on criminal conspiracy charges last week.
WHAT A DAY! Natural Disasters. Nobel Peace Prize winners. Peaceful Agreements. Music history. The first televised presidential address from the White House. And in an ironic twist a person mentioned on this day in history is dancing on television tonight. Anything about the events of this day surprise you? What date in history would you be interested in? Are you going to make history today?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Winston Churchill's wife, Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill.
I am a war hero who saved between 6,000 and 10,000 lives. There has been no famous movies made of me but there is a memorial of me in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. When asked why I saved so many lives I was quoted as saying "He who saves one life, saves the entire world." When my widow visited a foreign country she was met by tearful people that I had helped who showed my wife the documents that I had signed. I was born in 1900 and died in 1986. I was the second son among five boys and one girl. I graduated from high school with top honors. My dad wanted me to become a doctor like he was but I deliberately failed the entrance exam by writing only my name on the exam papers. In 1918 I entered college and majored in English Literature. In 1919 I passed the Foreign Ministry Scholarship exam and was recruited by my home country. I was assigned to China where I learned Russian and China and became an expert in Russian affairs. I quit one job in protest over the way my home country mistreated the local Chinese. I married in 1935 and had four sons, the third one died. In 1939 I became Vice-Consul of a Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. From July 31 to August 28, 1940, aware that people without a certain document were in danger if they stayed behind I granted those documents on my own initiative without approval of the higher-ups, which was a direct violation of my orders. Given my inferior post and the culture of my country this was an extraordinary act of disobedience. I spent 18-20 hours a day handwriting documents allowing many to travel safely. I often produced a months worth of documents in one day. I had to leave because my consulate closed. The night before my scheduled departure my wife and I stayed up writing documents. According to some witnesses I was still writing those documents while in transit from my hotel and after boarding the train, throwing documents into the crowd of desperate refugees out the train's window even as the train pulled out. I served as Consulate General in Czechoslovakia, in 1941. When Russian troops entered Romania, Soviet troops imprisoned my family and I in a POW camp for eighteen months. We were released in 1946 and returned to our home country. In 1947 my home country asked me to resign my position. Some sources say I was dismissed because of "that incident" in Lithuania. In later life despite my heroics I took a series of menial jobs to support my family, at one point selling light bulbs door to door. In spite of the publicity given me by many nations I remained virtually unknown in my home country. Only when a large delegations from around the world showed up at my funeral did my neighbors find out what I had done. When asked why I risked my career to save other people, I quoted the old samurai saying: "Even a hunter cannot kill a bird which flies to him for refuge." I died on July 31, 1986. The owner of The Dahn Report shed more than one tear when he read my bio. Who Am I?
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/
Fun site. You can type in any date and it will tell you what happened on that date in history. I typed in today's date and here is what happened on other October 5ths.
1969 : Monty Python's Flying Circus makes its debut on BBC Television, there were only 45 episodes aired over four seasons featuring the zany comedy sketches with John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle. Some of the sketches are still considered to be some of the greatest comedy skits including
1925 : The Grand Ole Opry a weekly country music radio program broadcasts live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee launches on the WSM Radio Station.
1930: Great Britons largest dirigible the R-101 Airship crashes in Beauvais, France, killing all on board.
1947: President Harry Truman delivered the first televised presidential address from the White House
1948 : An earthquake measuring magnitude 7.3 strikes Ashgabat and surrounding villages flattening all buildings leaving more than 100,000 people dead. This is one of the strongest and most deadly earthquakes on record.
1954: Yugoslavia and Italy have ended their nine year bitter dispute over the Trieste free territory and have agreed to split it between them with Italy getting control of the Adriatic port of Trieste and Yugoslavia retaining the zone she has occupied since the end of the last World War.
1962: East German guards shot a man with tommy gun blasts on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall and would not allow ambulances from the red cross on the western side to approach even though the man was screaming in pain, the incident took place about 3 miles from checkpoint Charlie.
1962: The Beatles release their first single in the UK "Love Me Do" ( released on a 45RPM Single Format on Parlophone Label, which gets to number seventeen. It was later released in the US on 27th April, 1964 and goes to Number 1.
1986: The first leak concerning the Iran Contra scandal occurs when Eugene Hasenfus is captured by troops of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua where he confesses that he was shipping military supplies into Nicaragua for use by the Contras, that had been created and funded by the United States and run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). After long persistent investigations by journalists and Congress it was found it involved the secret sale of U.S. weapons to Iran and the proceeds from these sales used to covertly fund the Contra war in Nicaragua.
1986: The British newspaper The Sunday Times ran an Israeli former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu's story reavealing the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal, possibly which included as many as 100 nuclear warheads. Mordechai Vanunu is later kidnapped in Rome by Israeli agents and smuggled to Israel, where he was tried for treason and espionage and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
1989: The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet, won the Nobel Peace Prize for shunning violence and seeking liberation from China for his Himalayan nation through peaceful means.
1994: Forty Eight members of the Order of the Solar Tradition Cult committed suicide to escape the hypocrisies and oppression of this world.
1999: Two trains collide near Paddington Station in west London at the height of the morning rush hour. There are so far 8 confirmed dead, 40 seriously injured and 200 with minor injuries. ( It was later confirmed that 31 died in the accident which was caused by one of the trains going through a red stop light )
1999: The small Mexican village of Teziutlan is buried by mud and rocks caused by torrential rains, rescuers on the scene have estimated that between 60 and 80 homes are completely buried. Teziutlan is one of many villages in the area affected over the next 3 weeks by mudslides and the full extent of the worst floods Mexico has seen in 40 years will not be known for some time due to the difficulty in reaching outlying areas. In November after the mud was cleared and buried homes checked the final death toll from the October floods was more than 400. The worst affected village was Acalama where 170 were killed after the defrosted side of a mountain collapsed on the village.
2000 : Opposition supporters have stormed the Yugoslav parliament in Belgrade proclaiming Vojislav Kostunica as the new Yugoslav president. The anger and demonstrations were over Milošević's rejection of a first-round opposition victory in elections for the Federal parliament and presidency in September which led to mass demonstrations in Belgrade culminating in the storming of the Parliament building.
2005: Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is indicted by a grand jury on two new charges of money laundering following his indictment by a separate grand jury on criminal conspiracy charges last week.
WHAT A DAY! Natural Disasters. Nobel Peace Prize winners. Peaceful Agreements. Music history. The first televised presidential address from the White House. And in an ironic twist a person mentioned on this day in history is dancing on television tonight. Anything about the events of this day surprise you? What date in history would you be interested in? Are you going to make history today?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Winston Churchill's wife, Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill.
I am a war hero who saved between 6,000 and 10,000 lives. There has been no famous movies made of me but there is a memorial of me in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. When asked why I saved so many lives I was quoted as saying "He who saves one life, saves the entire world." When my widow visited a foreign country she was met by tearful people that I had helped who showed my wife the documents that I had signed. I was born in 1900 and died in 1986. I was the second son among five boys and one girl. I graduated from high school with top honors. My dad wanted me to become a doctor like he was but I deliberately failed the entrance exam by writing only my name on the exam papers. In 1918 I entered college and majored in English Literature. In 1919 I passed the Foreign Ministry Scholarship exam and was recruited by my home country. I was assigned to China where I learned Russian and China and became an expert in Russian affairs. I quit one job in protest over the way my home country mistreated the local Chinese. I married in 1935 and had four sons, the third one died. In 1939 I became Vice-Consul of a Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. From July 31 to August 28, 1940, aware that people without a certain document were in danger if they stayed behind I granted those documents on my own initiative without approval of the higher-ups, which was a direct violation of my orders. Given my inferior post and the culture of my country this was an extraordinary act of disobedience. I spent 18-20 hours a day handwriting documents allowing many to travel safely. I often produced a months worth of documents in one day. I had to leave because my consulate closed. The night before my scheduled departure my wife and I stayed up writing documents. According to some witnesses I was still writing those documents while in transit from my hotel and after boarding the train, throwing documents into the crowd of desperate refugees out the train's window even as the train pulled out. I served as Consulate General in Czechoslovakia, in 1941. When Russian troops entered Romania, Soviet troops imprisoned my family and I in a POW camp for eighteen months. We were released in 1946 and returned to our home country. In 1947 my home country asked me to resign my position. Some sources say I was dismissed because of "that incident" in Lithuania. In later life despite my heroics I took a series of menial jobs to support my family, at one point selling light bulbs door to door. In spite of the publicity given me by many nations I remained virtually unknown in my home country. Only when a large delegations from around the world showed up at my funeral did my neighbors find out what I had done. When asked why I risked my career to save other people, I quoted the old samurai saying: "Even a hunter cannot kill a bird which flies to him for refuge." I died on July 31, 1986. The owner of The Dahn Report shed more than one tear when he read my bio. Who Am I?
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Sunday Update
Your day is here again and I'm am so looking forward to you all telling me about your lives. I am also hoping that readers or visitors that haven't posted here before step up to the plate and introduce themselves. And if you have posted before but haven't for a while I would love for you to catch us up on what is going on with you.
Not much to report this week that I haven't already reported on. There was a lot of work assignments this week, two days, one night at Mom's, taking Mom for a blood test, shopping for two households, cooking four lunches or dinners (sometimes even when I am not at Mom's I cook dinners for her my nephew, and the caregiver so Mom doesn't have to.), some dinner and lunches out, and some very little me time. That comes next week. Sister will be here Monday and I am looking forward to it. Their house did sell. They moved into a temporary rental in Utah. He is teaching math as a substitute teacher so things are looking up for them.
Entertainment updates. Amazing Race is tonight, looks like a good mix of teams, dating couples, parent-child, friends, etc. I always like to watch the show to see how the teams react with each other, especially the dating or married couples. Dancing With The Stars tomorrow night and I say let's not Delay Tom's exit.
No Top Chef this week but it returns Wednesday night. One thing I found out is that the HD version is on the HD channel two hours earlier that the regular channel! In some related Top Chef news, remember Fabio from last season? He is getting his own show on Bravo. Here is a blurb about his show:
" Fabio's good looks, charm, memorable quotes and thick Italian accent are coming back to television on his very own show. Bravo is spinning him off into 'Fabio: A Catered Affair,' which will follow him and his business partner as they expand their restaurant and catering domain in Los Angeles."
There are three movies out that I would like to see. Fame, Love Happens, & The Invention of lying. With work and Mom there hasn't been time to go to a movie for the longest time.
I am going to end today's blog entry with a wonderful story of lasting love:
http://news.aol.com/article/elvira-profe-and-fortunat-mackiewicz/701512?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Felvira-profe-and-fortunat-mackiewicz%2F701512
The blog is now yours. Catch me up. Introduce or Re-introduce yourselves. Update me on your lives. Post anything you damn well please. Bonus points for secrets or if you shock us. The blog is now yours.
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, First Lady of France.
Today's Who Am I?
I was born in 1885 to Lady Henrietta and Sir Henry. The rumor is that I was probably an illegitmate bastard fathered by a horseman. My paternity is the subject of much debate and my mom was known for sharing her favors. Mom was found with a lover by her husband but was able to avoid divorce due to her husband's own infidelities. My biographer thinks that since my mom's was sterile that all of her children were fathered by my sister's husband. I was married to a famous leader in 1908. My husband was more than ten years older than I was. We had five children. One is still live today. One child died at the age of three, and the others died in their 50s or 60s. During a war I organized canteens for munitions workers on behalf of the Y.M.C.A. I was often snubbed by wives of my husbands colleagues. During another was I was chairwoman of the Red Cross. During that war I was also the President of the Young Women's Christian Association War Time Appeal and the Chairman of Fulmer Chase Maternity Hospital for Wives of Junior. I received honorary degrees at three colleges. As I aged I became so poor that in 1977 I sent five paintings by my late husband to auction. The sale went much better than expected, and rescued her from her financial difficulties. Only after my death was it discovered that she had destroyed the famous Graham Sutherland portrait of her husband because she did not like it. I had a heart attack and died at age 92. I am buried with my husband and children near Woodstock. Who Am I?
Not much to report this week that I haven't already reported on. There was a lot of work assignments this week, two days, one night at Mom's, taking Mom for a blood test, shopping for two households, cooking four lunches or dinners (sometimes even when I am not at Mom's I cook dinners for her my nephew, and the caregiver so Mom doesn't have to.), some dinner and lunches out, and some very little me time. That comes next week. Sister will be here Monday and I am looking forward to it. Their house did sell. They moved into a temporary rental in Utah. He is teaching math as a substitute teacher so things are looking up for them.
Entertainment updates. Amazing Race is tonight, looks like a good mix of teams, dating couples, parent-child, friends, etc. I always like to watch the show to see how the teams react with each other, especially the dating or married couples. Dancing With The Stars tomorrow night and I say let's not Delay Tom's exit.
No Top Chef this week but it returns Wednesday night. One thing I found out is that the HD version is on the HD channel two hours earlier that the regular channel! In some related Top Chef news, remember Fabio from last season? He is getting his own show on Bravo. Here is a blurb about his show:
" Fabio's good looks, charm, memorable quotes and thick Italian accent are coming back to television on his very own show. Bravo is spinning him off into 'Fabio: A Catered Affair,' which will follow him and his business partner as they expand their restaurant and catering domain in Los Angeles."
There are three movies out that I would like to see. Fame, Love Happens, & The Invention of lying. With work and Mom there hasn't been time to go to a movie for the longest time.
I am going to end today's blog entry with a wonderful story of lasting love:
http://news.aol.com/article/elvira-profe-and-fortunat-mackiewicz/701512?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Felvira-profe-and-fortunat-mackiewicz%2F701512
The blog is now yours. Catch me up. Introduce or Re-introduce yourselves. Update me on your lives. Post anything you damn well please. Bonus points for secrets or if you shock us. The blog is now yours.
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, First Lady of France.
Today's Who Am I?
I was born in 1885 to Lady Henrietta and Sir Henry. The rumor is that I was probably an illegitmate bastard fathered by a horseman. My paternity is the subject of much debate and my mom was known for sharing her favors. Mom was found with a lover by her husband but was able to avoid divorce due to her husband's own infidelities. My biographer thinks that since my mom's was sterile that all of her children were fathered by my sister's husband. I was married to a famous leader in 1908. My husband was more than ten years older than I was. We had five children. One is still live today. One child died at the age of three, and the others died in their 50s or 60s. During a war I organized canteens for munitions workers on behalf of the Y.M.C.A. I was often snubbed by wives of my husbands colleagues. During another was I was chairwoman of the Red Cross. During that war I was also the President of the Young Women's Christian Association War Time Appeal and the Chairman of Fulmer Chase Maternity Hospital for Wives of Junior. I received honorary degrees at three colleges. As I aged I became so poor that in 1977 I sent five paintings by my late husband to auction. The sale went much better than expected, and rescued her from her financial difficulties. Only after my death was it discovered that she had destroyed the famous Graham Sutherland portrait of her husband because she did not like it. I had a heart attack and died at age 92. I am buried with my husband and children near Woodstock. Who Am I?
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Last Legitimate President.
Not much today just a couple of stories.
The first story is an interesting column by Thomas Friedeman in the New York Times in which he wonders whether or not George H.W. Bush will be remembered as our last legitimate president. He also compares our political environment to the environment in Israel before the assisnation of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Interesting stuff. You can read his entire column here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/opinion/30friedman.html?_r=1
The next story is about a woman who created and painted a mural on a gas station wall in Washington D.C. to show the problems with the U.S. Health Care System. She did so to heal from the loss of her husband, Fred Holliday, who had held a series of temporary teaching jobs without benefits, got a full-time position at American University that included health insurance. Finally, he could afford to see a doctor about the blood in his urine and the fatigue that wouldn't let up.
It was too late. The 39-year-old was diagnosed with inoperable kidney cancer. If there was any good news, it was that the family had health insurance to cover Fred's treatment. The bad news, his wife learned, is that even those with coverage must negotiate reams of red tape at a time in their lives when they are most distraught and vulnerable.
In her blog, on Facebook and on Twitter, Holliday recounts the 46 gurney trips Fred made as he was moved from hospital to hospital, hospice to home. During one transfer, a rough move by an orderly broke Fred's hip. Another time he was dropped. Even with health insurance, "they want you out" after two or three weeks in a hospital, she said. "The day you get there they ask, 'What is your discharge plan?' Well, it's like, my husband's really sick."
You can read the entire article here:
http://news.aol.com/article/regina-holliday-paints-mural-to-show/695567?icid=main|htmlws-sb|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fregina-holliday-paints-mural-to-show%2F695567
Do you agree with Thomas Friedeman? Will George H.W. Bush be or is our last legitmate president? Does the comparison for our politcal environment to the environment in Israel before a assisnation concern you? As to the ladies health care hell, does her story surprise you? Bother you? What about it bothers you?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
Today's Who Am I:
I was born in 1967. I am a singwriter, singer, and former model. I married my husband in 2008. I am a heiress to a fortune created by a tire manufacturing company that was founded by my grandfather. I moved from the country of my birth to escape the threat of a kidnapping by a Marxist-Leninist terrorist group. My biological father is not my legal father, I am the product of a six year affair he had with my mother. My sister is an actress and director. My brother died of complications from Aids. I also have a half-sister. I modeled jeans and subsequently worked for designers and fashion houses such as Christian Dior, Givenchy, Paco Rabanne, Sonia Rykiel, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel and Versace. I was among the 20 highest paid fashion models in the world earning $7.5million a year. I dated Eric Clapton, then Mick Jagger. My nude photo sold at auction for $91,000. I quit fashion to concentrate on music. My debut album was produced by an ex-lover. Even after I became political I continued with my music career. I sang for Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday. It was my first public appearance after beginning my political career. I once recorded a duet with Harry Connick, Jr. I was once quoted as saying "I'm monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry." I was also once quoted as saying that I was "bored with monogamy", and that "love lasts a long time, but burning desire — two to three weeks". I have been awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos III. I don't agree with the Pope's stance on religion and Aids. Who Am I?
The first story is an interesting column by Thomas Friedeman in the New York Times in which he wonders whether or not George H.W. Bush will be remembered as our last legitimate president. He also compares our political environment to the environment in Israel before the assisnation of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Interesting stuff. You can read his entire column here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/opinion/30friedman.html?_r=1
The next story is about a woman who created and painted a mural on a gas station wall in Washington D.C. to show the problems with the U.S. Health Care System. She did so to heal from the loss of her husband, Fred Holliday, who had held a series of temporary teaching jobs without benefits, got a full-time position at American University that included health insurance. Finally, he could afford to see a doctor about the blood in his urine and the fatigue that wouldn't let up.
It was too late. The 39-year-old was diagnosed with inoperable kidney cancer. If there was any good news, it was that the family had health insurance to cover Fred's treatment. The bad news, his wife learned, is that even those with coverage must negotiate reams of red tape at a time in their lives when they are most distraught and vulnerable.
In her blog, on Facebook and on Twitter, Holliday recounts the 46 gurney trips Fred made as he was moved from hospital to hospital, hospice to home. During one transfer, a rough move by an orderly broke Fred's hip. Another time he was dropped. Even with health insurance, "they want you out" after two or three weeks in a hospital, she said. "The day you get there they ask, 'What is your discharge plan?' Well, it's like, my husband's really sick."
You can read the entire article here:
http://news.aol.com/article/regina-holliday-paints-mural-to-show/695567?icid=main|htmlws-sb|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fregina-holliday-paints-mural-to-show%2F695567
Do you agree with Thomas Friedeman? Will George H.W. Bush be or is our last legitmate president? Does the comparison for our politcal environment to the environment in Israel before a assisnation concern you? As to the ladies health care hell, does her story surprise you? Bother you? What about it bothers you?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
Today's Who Am I:
I was born in 1967. I am a singwriter, singer, and former model. I married my husband in 2008. I am a heiress to a fortune created by a tire manufacturing company that was founded by my grandfather. I moved from the country of my birth to escape the threat of a kidnapping by a Marxist-Leninist terrorist group. My biological father is not my legal father, I am the product of a six year affair he had with my mother. My sister is an actress and director. My brother died of complications from Aids. I also have a half-sister. I modeled jeans and subsequently worked for designers and fashion houses such as Christian Dior, Givenchy, Paco Rabanne, Sonia Rykiel, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel and Versace. I was among the 20 highest paid fashion models in the world earning $7.5million a year. I dated Eric Clapton, then Mick Jagger. My nude photo sold at auction for $91,000. I quit fashion to concentrate on music. My debut album was produced by an ex-lover. Even after I became political I continued with my music career. I sang for Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday. It was my first public appearance after beginning my political career. I once recorded a duet with Harry Connick, Jr. I was once quoted as saying "I'm monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry." I was also once quoted as saying that I was "bored with monogamy", and that "love lasts a long time, but burning desire — two to three weeks". I have been awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos III. I don't agree with the Pope's stance on religion and Aids. Who Am I?
Friday, October 2, 2009
Cheating & Marriage
Since I have lived here in my townhouse I have had several neighbors. All were married, most moved because the wife became pregnant. My third neighbor were Mark and his wife. They appeared to be really happy. Walked a lot holding hands. Spent a lot of time with their children. Went to all of their children's events. Mark was a great guy. He was the type of guy that would help anyone at anytime. All the neighbors loved him. He was always doing something for me. Once he saw that one of my tires was a little low, when I went out to pick up the morning paper there he was using an air compressor filing my tire with air. That was Mark. Mark and his wife moved about four years ago into a house in the next neighborhood over. I would still see him and wife walking through our neighborhood. I hadn't seen him for a long time until last night. I ran into him at the Shell station near my house. Him and his wife were divorcing. They are the last couple that I thought would ever get a divorce. Of course I haven't heard his wife's side of the story but according to Mark, his wife came home one day said she wasn't happy and told him had to move out. She apparently is having an affair with an attorney at work. Now they are involved in a couple of nasty battles, including a custody battle. Mark was devastated. I was shocked. If what I viewed as one of the happiest couples I've ever met can divorce, is a truly happy marriage really possible?
Then of course yesterday there was the Letterman story. He admitted to having sex with employees of CBS. He is married. The only reason he came clean is because he was being extorted. He received a letter saying come up with a couple of million bucks or the public will know of your dark side. He went to the authorities. He came clean rather than to pay the million bucks. When he told there story on his show the audience often laughed. Personally, I don't see what so funny about a man cheating on his wife.
Continuing on with the cheating theme. There was an article about Senator John Ensign-R from Nevada in this morning's paper. He was helping his top aide and personal friend find a job in Nevada. It came out in June that Senator Ensign was having an affair with his friend's wife. There is just so much wrong with this picture. Unfaithful to two people, his friend and his wife. That blows.
As someone who has waited so long to find the right woman these stories bother me greatly because I don't think I would ever have an affair. I would just treasure the moments I had with the woman I chose to share my life with. These stories do bring up several questions for me. Do you think the above three stories are the exception to the rule or do these scenarios happen frequently? What does it take to make a good marriage? What makes married people stray?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: LETITIA CHRISTIAN TYLER
WHO AM I?
I was born out of the United States in the late 1700 hundreds. I did not come to the United States until four years after I married my husband. I was a career diplomat at age 27, accredited to the Netherlands. My mother was English and my father was American. My husband fancied after me when I was 19 after we met in London. We married when I was 22. I my two older sons in Massachusetts for education in 1809 when I took a two-to Russia, where my husband served as Minister. Despite the glamour of the tsar's court, I struggled with cold winters, strange customs, limited funds, and poor health; my infant daughter born in 1811 died the next year. Peace negotiations called my husband to Ghent in 1814 and then to London. To join him, I had to make a forty-day journey across war-ravaged Europe by coach in winter; roving bands of stragglers and highwaymen filled my son with "unspeakable terrors" Happily, the next two years gave her an interlude of family life in the country of her birth. When we went to Washing in 1817 my drawing room became a center for the diplomatic corps and other notables. Good music enhanced her Tuesday evenings at home, and theater parties contributed to my reputation as an outstanding hostess. Me moved in the a famous house in 1825 but the move was dimmed by the bitter politics and my her poor health. Despite hoping that I was permanently retiring to Mass in 1831 my husband took another job in Washington and we returned there. I suffered from deep depression. In 1847 my husband and I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary. My husband died 1848, I died in 1852. Who Am I?
Then of course yesterday there was the Letterman story. He admitted to having sex with employees of CBS. He is married. The only reason he came clean is because he was being extorted. He received a letter saying come up with a couple of million bucks or the public will know of your dark side. He went to the authorities. He came clean rather than to pay the million bucks. When he told there story on his show the audience often laughed. Personally, I don't see what so funny about a man cheating on his wife.
Continuing on with the cheating theme. There was an article about Senator John Ensign-R from Nevada in this morning's paper. He was helping his top aide and personal friend find a job in Nevada. It came out in June that Senator Ensign was having an affair with his friend's wife. There is just so much wrong with this picture. Unfaithful to two people, his friend and his wife. That blows.
As someone who has waited so long to find the right woman these stories bother me greatly because I don't think I would ever have an affair. I would just treasure the moments I had with the woman I chose to share my life with. These stories do bring up several questions for me. Do you think the above three stories are the exception to the rule or do these scenarios happen frequently? What does it take to make a good marriage? What makes married people stray?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: LETITIA CHRISTIAN TYLER
WHO AM I?
I was born out of the United States in the late 1700 hundreds. I did not come to the United States until four years after I married my husband. I was a career diplomat at age 27, accredited to the Netherlands. My mother was English and my father was American. My husband fancied after me when I was 19 after we met in London. We married when I was 22. I my two older sons in Massachusetts for education in 1809 when I took a two-to Russia, where my husband served as Minister. Despite the glamour of the tsar's court, I struggled with cold winters, strange customs, limited funds, and poor health; my infant daughter born in 1811 died the next year. Peace negotiations called my husband to Ghent in 1814 and then to London. To join him, I had to make a forty-day journey across war-ravaged Europe by coach in winter; roving bands of stragglers and highwaymen filled my son with "unspeakable terrors" Happily, the next two years gave her an interlude of family life in the country of her birth. When we went to Washing in 1817 my drawing room became a center for the diplomatic corps and other notables. Good music enhanced her Tuesday evenings at home, and theater parties contributed to my reputation as an outstanding hostess. Me moved in the a famous house in 1825 but the move was dimmed by the bitter politics and my her poor health. Despite hoping that I was permanently retiring to Mass in 1831 my husband took another job in Washington and we returned there. I suffered from deep depression. In 1847 my husband and I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary. My husband died 1848, I died in 1852. Who Am I?
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Amazing Story Follow-Up & I Need Your Help
An update from yesterday's amazing story. Here are the first three paragraphs:
"A surgical team at Legacy Emanuel Hospital cut an inch-square opening in the skin-and-bone graft where Steltz's nose used to be. And late in the afternoon, as Steltz came out from under the anesthesia, she breathed through a nasal airway for the first time since March 21, 1999.
"She can breathe out of the nose, but we don't know yet if she can smell," her mother, Jeannie Steltz, said jubilantly.
"I said, 'Close your mouth and your lips and now breathe like you had a nose,'" Jeannie Steltz said. "And she did."
Read the complete story here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/09/post_5.html
I keep praying that the rest of the surgeries will be as successful and that Chrissy Steltz someday will be able to go into the grocery store without people staring at her.
OK, I haven't talked about Mom much lately and the concerns that I have. Mom has two appointments this month with specialists. One is with a neurologist, one is with an orthopedic surgeon. The neurologist is because mom is having trouble with her ankles and one of her wrists. She has trouble controlling the wrist and her ankle swells up. I have really been paying attention to her ankle with icing and pain patches and I think we have that under control. However, the wrist may require surgery. Low risk surgery as far as life but a risk still could be that her she loses some movement in her wrist after surgery. Now the orthopedic surgeon is due to her degenerative hip. She is in almost unlivable pain. One of the things they me do is either cortisone or steroid shots to alleviate the pain. Another choice is hip replacement. The hip replacement has gigantic risks. Mom has heart trouble and she has six stents implanted in her heart. She has diabetes. There is probably a better than fifty percent chance she wouldn't survive that surgery. I'm not sure what choice I would make, live with unlivable pain or risk death. I need all of your good thoughts, prayers, vibes, anything you can muster up and send Mom's direction. I am guessing Mom will appreciate them, I know I will. Let's hope the cortisone or steroids shots do the trick so that mom doesn't have to make an extremely difficult decision.
The question of the day is, what would you do if given a choice of living in pain or taking an option that has a high risk of death?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: HANNAH HOES VAN BUREN
Today's Who Am I.
I was born in 1790 and died in 1842. I was confined to a wheelchair when my husband became resident of a famous house. My husband was the first resident to have a wife die while he lived in that famous house. He also married in that house to another woman after my death. I was the most comfortable at my home in Williamsburg with my bible, prayer books, and knitting table at my side. I was born on a Virginia plantation. Formal education wasn't possible for women during my lifetime but I leaned the skills of managing a plantation, rearing a family, and presiding over a home that was my husband's political refuge. I married my husband on his twenty-third birthday. I had eight children, seven survived. I was crippled due to disease in 1839. One of my daughter-in-laws described me as "the most entiredly unselfish person you can imagine - Notwithstanding her very delicate health, mother attends to and regulates all the household affairs and all so quietly that you can't tell when she does it." Due to me being in a wheelchair I didn't do social events. My daughter, Priscilla, at age 24 assumed the position of the House hostess, met its demands with spirit and success, and enjoyed it.. Wife my son Robert
Priscilla was intelligent and beautiful, with dark brown hair, she charmed my husband's guests--from visiting celebrities like Charles Dickens to enthusiastic countrymen. Once she noted ruefully: "such hearty shakes as they gave my poor little hand too!" The only social event that I attend at the famous House was at the wedding of one of my children. My life was peacefully ended in 1842 while I was holding a damask rose in my hand. She was taken to Virginia for burial at the plantation of her birth, deeply mourned by her family. "She had everything about her," said Priscilla, "to awaken love....", I knew not of his woman before my research. Do you know who she is?
"A surgical team at Legacy Emanuel Hospital cut an inch-square opening in the skin-and-bone graft where Steltz's nose used to be. And late in the afternoon, as Steltz came out from under the anesthesia, she breathed through a nasal airway for the first time since March 21, 1999.
"She can breathe out of the nose, but we don't know yet if she can smell," her mother, Jeannie Steltz, said jubilantly.
"I said, 'Close your mouth and your lips and now breathe like you had a nose,'" Jeannie Steltz said. "And she did."
Read the complete story here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/09/post_5.html
I keep praying that the rest of the surgeries will be as successful and that Chrissy Steltz someday will be able to go into the grocery store without people staring at her.
OK, I haven't talked about Mom much lately and the concerns that I have. Mom has two appointments this month with specialists. One is with a neurologist, one is with an orthopedic surgeon. The neurologist is because mom is having trouble with her ankles and one of her wrists. She has trouble controlling the wrist and her ankle swells up. I have really been paying attention to her ankle with icing and pain patches and I think we have that under control. However, the wrist may require surgery. Low risk surgery as far as life but a risk still could be that her she loses some movement in her wrist after surgery. Now the orthopedic surgeon is due to her degenerative hip. She is in almost unlivable pain. One of the things they me do is either cortisone or steroid shots to alleviate the pain. Another choice is hip replacement. The hip replacement has gigantic risks. Mom has heart trouble and she has six stents implanted in her heart. She has diabetes. There is probably a better than fifty percent chance she wouldn't survive that surgery. I'm not sure what choice I would make, live with unlivable pain or risk death. I need all of your good thoughts, prayers, vibes, anything you can muster up and send Mom's direction. I am guessing Mom will appreciate them, I know I will. Let's hope the cortisone or steroids shots do the trick so that mom doesn't have to make an extremely difficult decision.
The question of the day is, what would you do if given a choice of living in pain or taking an option that has a high risk of death?
TODAY'S TRIVIA:
Yesterday's answer: HANNAH HOES VAN BUREN
Today's Who Am I.
I was born in 1790 and died in 1842. I was confined to a wheelchair when my husband became resident of a famous house. My husband was the first resident to have a wife die while he lived in that famous house. He also married in that house to another woman after my death. I was the most comfortable at my home in Williamsburg with my bible, prayer books, and knitting table at my side. I was born on a Virginia plantation. Formal education wasn't possible for women during my lifetime but I leaned the skills of managing a plantation, rearing a family, and presiding over a home that was my husband's political refuge. I married my husband on his twenty-third birthday. I had eight children, seven survived. I was crippled due to disease in 1839. One of my daughter-in-laws described me as "the most entiredly unselfish person you can imagine - Notwithstanding her very delicate health, mother attends to and regulates all the household affairs and all so quietly that you can't tell when she does it." Due to me being in a wheelchair I didn't do social events. My daughter, Priscilla, at age 24 assumed the position of the House hostess, met its demands with spirit and success, and enjoyed it.. Wife my son Robert
Priscilla was intelligent and beautiful, with dark brown hair, she charmed my husband's guests--from visiting celebrities like Charles Dickens to enthusiastic countrymen. Once she noted ruefully: "such hearty shakes as they gave my poor little hand too!" The only social event that I attend at the famous House was at the wedding of one of my children. My life was peacefully ended in 1842 while I was holding a damask rose in my hand. She was taken to Virginia for burial at the plantation of her birth, deeply mourned by her family. "She had everything about her," said Priscilla, "to awaken love....", I knew not of his woman before my research. Do you know who she is?
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