We haven't had an inspirational story for a while so here is one:
http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/07/21/boston-college-scoreboard-reads-mark-herzlich-1-cancer-0/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fncaafootball.fanhouse.com%2F2010%2F07%2F21%2Fboston-college-scoreboard-reads-mark-herzlich-1-cancer-0%2F
Now how about an everyday hero?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100721/od_nm/us_usa_pizza_savior
Ok, enough about feel good stories. Let's go into the information mode. Not heavy duty information but entertainment information. One of the great shows on television when I was in school was the ultimate soap opera, DARK SHADOWS. It came on about three-thirty in the afternoon and I remember rushing home from school so I wouldn't miss it. It was a great series that still has a cult following. I anticipate new fans now once the movie starring Johnny Depp hits the big screen. The following article also has a little more news. Amy Adams has been chosen to play Janis Joplin. The third bit of information in the article is the story of John Edwards may also hit the big screen. You can read the entire article here:
http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2010/07/16/dark-shadows-sees-the-light-amy-adams-janis-joplin/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl2|link5|http%3A%2F%2Finsidemovies.moviefone.com%2F2010%2F07%2F16%2Fdark-shadows-sees-the-light-amy-adams-janis-joplin%2F
Of course babes in the woods like Dona and Kim probably haven't heard of Janis or Dark Shadows. I have. Have you? Would you attend a movie about John Edwards? I wouldn't, not in this lifetime. I really don't care to see life stories of cheating scumbags. How about a movie about Janis Joplin? I think I might. I'd be interested in learning why she chose to end her life at such a young age. How about Dark Shadows? Were you a fan? You bet I was.
Your comments about anything and everything are always appreciated.
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Lucy Stone.
I was an early American publisher born in 1738. I was the first woman to hold the position that would have supervised Cliff Claven. I followed the career path of my dad. I was also the first to print a famous declaration with all the names of the people who signed it. My family set up a printing press and printed the first newspaper of a well known Rhode Island city. When my brother went traveling I took over the paper and published it throughout the war going on at the time. When my brother returned a quarrel resulted in me giving up the newspaper and heading to Baltimore to start my famous first and to run a book store. I also published an almanac. When the Continental Congress moved that a Declaration be widely distributed I was one of the first to offer the use of my press. This was in spite of the risks of being associated with what was considered a treasonable document by the British. I continued supervisoring the letters of many for fourteen years when I was removed from my position by Samuel. He acted in an ungentlemanly manner despite general protest from the Baltimore community. Samuel, the doofus, asserted that the position required "more traveling...than a woman could undertake" and appointed a political ally of his to replace me. Over 230 citizens of Baltimore, including more than 200 leading businessmen, presented a petition demanding my reinstatement. It was unsuccessful. Following my dismissal I sold books, stationery, and dry goods. I died in 1816 still beloved by my community. Who Am I?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Flexible Facts.
Today on the blog we are going to discuss an interesting subject from an article that Pat provided. While the article is pretty lengthy it is well worth the read. I always thought I was open minded and when presented with the facts willing to change my mind. Now, after reading the article I'm not so sure. My doubt centers clearly on the subject of politics. It disturbs me to no end when the political talk show pundits distort fact after fact and yet their followers are convinced they are telling the truth. Now I wonder if I am as guilty as those that I accuse. You can read the entire article here:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=1
Quoting a paragraph on us ignoring facts "On its own, this might not be a problem: People ignorant of the facts could simply choose not to vote. But instead, it appears that misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions. A striking recent example was a study done in the year 2000, led by James Kuklinski of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He led an influential experiment in which more than 1,000 Illinois residents were asked questions about welfare — the percentage of the federal budget spent on welfare, the number of people enrolled in the program, the percentage of enrollees who are black, and the average payout. More than half indicated that they were confident that their answers were correct — but in fact only 3 percent of the people got more than half of the questions right. Perhaps more disturbingly, the ones who were the most confident they were right were by and large the ones who knew the least about the topic. (Most of these participants expressed views that suggested a strong anti-welfare bias.)"
Quoting another paragraph "What’s going on? How can we have things so wrong, and be so sure that we’re right? Part of the answer lies in the way our brains are wired. Generally, people tend to seek consistency. There is a substantial body of psychological research showing that people tend to interpret information with an eye toward reinforcing their preexisting views. If we believe something about the world, we are more likely to passively accept as truth any information that confirms our beliefs, and actively dismiss information that doesn’t. This is known as “motivated reasoning.” Whether or not the consistent information is accurate, we might accept it as fact, as confirmation of our beliefs. This makes us more confident in said beliefs, and even less likely to entertain facts that contradict them."
Quoting a third paragraph, trying to understand why we ignore facts. "One avenue may involve self-esteem. Nyhan worked on one study in which he showed that people who were given a self-affirmation exercise were more likely to consider new information than people who had not. In other words, if you feel good about yourself, you’ll listen — and if you feel insecure or threatened, you won’t. This would also explain why demagogues benefit from keeping people agitated. The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are."
Why is it so hard to admit we are wrong? Why do we ignore the facts that prove us wrong? Do you feel facts change your mine when you are wrong? In the third paragraph above it seems to explain how cults expand and then keep people under their wings, have we reached the point where our political parties are now cults?
Thanks, Pat for an interesting article and subject for discussion! It gives new meaning to the phrase from Dragnet, "just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Willa Cather
I was the first woman born (1918) in my state to earn a college degree. I was the eighth of nine children born to a hard drinking dad with a bad temper that ruled the household. Mom often had to beg dad for money to buy clothing and other necessities for the family. Mom sometimes stole coins from his coin purse, and she sold an occasional cheese out of his sight. I was unhappy seeing the subterfuge required of my mother to maintain a simple household. When the Bible was quoted to me to defend the subordinate position of women to men, I declared that when I grew up I'd learn Greek and Hebrew so that I could correct the mistranslation that I was confident lay behind such verses. At sixteen I began teaching to augment the family's income. I replaced a male teacher but was paid less than half his wage. I asked for equity and my salary increased to sixteen dollars per month, higher than average pay for a woman but less than that of a man doing the same work. When nineteen instead of taking another teaching position I enrolled in school. I studied algebra, logic, geography, literature, manners, and more. I continued to teach and, when possible, to study at private academies. When I lost my sister I stayed close to home to keep my grief-stricken mother company. Before turning twenty-five I traveled by train, steamship and stagecoach to Oberlin College, the country's first college to admit both women and African Americans. I entered college believing that women should vote and assume political office, that women should study the classic professions and that women should be able to speak their minds in a public forum. While there I experienced severe headaches and took to removing my bonnet during Sunday sermons to ease the pain but was required to sit in the back row so that others would not see my barehead in church. In my third in college I met an abolitionist and suffragist and together we would eventually marry abolitionist brothers and thus become sisters-in-law. I was the first recorded American woman to retain her own last name after marriage. My first solo speech was given at the invitation of a local anti-slavery society in celebration of the anniversary of West Indian emancipation. I took my place among the men on the speaker's platform and delivered my speech. I was called before the College's Ladies' Board to answer for the transgression of speaking to a mixed audience. Against my families advice I became a well known lecturer. I wrote and spoke extensively about a wide range of women's rights, publishing, often distributing speeches by myself. I was called "the morning star of the woman's rights movement." In 1856 I was accused in court, and spoke in defense of a rumor put forward by the prosecution that I gave a knife to former slave Margaret Garner, on trial for the killing of her own child to prevent it from being enslaved. I wowed Mr. Greeley at the first Women's Rights Convention with the following words: "We want to be something more than the appendages of Society; we want that Women should be the coequal and help-meet of Men in all the interest and perils and enjoyments of human life. We want that she should attain to the development of her nature and womanhood; we want that when she dies, it may not be written on her gravestone that she was the "relict" of somebody." Who Am I?
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=1
Quoting a paragraph on us ignoring facts "On its own, this might not be a problem: People ignorant of the facts could simply choose not to vote. But instead, it appears that misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions. A striking recent example was a study done in the year 2000, led by James Kuklinski of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He led an influential experiment in which more than 1,000 Illinois residents were asked questions about welfare — the percentage of the federal budget spent on welfare, the number of people enrolled in the program, the percentage of enrollees who are black, and the average payout. More than half indicated that they were confident that their answers were correct — but in fact only 3 percent of the people got more than half of the questions right. Perhaps more disturbingly, the ones who were the most confident they were right were by and large the ones who knew the least about the topic. (Most of these participants expressed views that suggested a strong anti-welfare bias.)"
Quoting another paragraph "What’s going on? How can we have things so wrong, and be so sure that we’re right? Part of the answer lies in the way our brains are wired. Generally, people tend to seek consistency. There is a substantial body of psychological research showing that people tend to interpret information with an eye toward reinforcing their preexisting views. If we believe something about the world, we are more likely to passively accept as truth any information that confirms our beliefs, and actively dismiss information that doesn’t. This is known as “motivated reasoning.” Whether or not the consistent information is accurate, we might accept it as fact, as confirmation of our beliefs. This makes us more confident in said beliefs, and even less likely to entertain facts that contradict them."
Quoting a third paragraph, trying to understand why we ignore facts. "One avenue may involve self-esteem. Nyhan worked on one study in which he showed that people who were given a self-affirmation exercise were more likely to consider new information than people who had not. In other words, if you feel good about yourself, you’ll listen — and if you feel insecure or threatened, you won’t. This would also explain why demagogues benefit from keeping people agitated. The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are."
Why is it so hard to admit we are wrong? Why do we ignore the facts that prove us wrong? Do you feel facts change your mine when you are wrong? In the third paragraph above it seems to explain how cults expand and then keep people under their wings, have we reached the point where our political parties are now cults?
Thanks, Pat for an interesting article and subject for discussion! It gives new meaning to the phrase from Dragnet, "just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Willa Cather
I was the first woman born (1918) in my state to earn a college degree. I was the eighth of nine children born to a hard drinking dad with a bad temper that ruled the household. Mom often had to beg dad for money to buy clothing and other necessities for the family. Mom sometimes stole coins from his coin purse, and she sold an occasional cheese out of his sight. I was unhappy seeing the subterfuge required of my mother to maintain a simple household. When the Bible was quoted to me to defend the subordinate position of women to men, I declared that when I grew up I'd learn Greek and Hebrew so that I could correct the mistranslation that I was confident lay behind such verses. At sixteen I began teaching to augment the family's income. I replaced a male teacher but was paid less than half his wage. I asked for equity and my salary increased to sixteen dollars per month, higher than average pay for a woman but less than that of a man doing the same work. When nineteen instead of taking another teaching position I enrolled in school. I studied algebra, logic, geography, literature, manners, and more. I continued to teach and, when possible, to study at private academies. When I lost my sister I stayed close to home to keep my grief-stricken mother company. Before turning twenty-five I traveled by train, steamship and stagecoach to Oberlin College, the country's first college to admit both women and African Americans. I entered college believing that women should vote and assume political office, that women should study the classic professions and that women should be able to speak their minds in a public forum. While there I experienced severe headaches and took to removing my bonnet during Sunday sermons to ease the pain but was required to sit in the back row so that others would not see my barehead in church. In my third in college I met an abolitionist and suffragist and together we would eventually marry abolitionist brothers and thus become sisters-in-law. I was the first recorded American woman to retain her own last name after marriage. My first solo speech was given at the invitation of a local anti-slavery society in celebration of the anniversary of West Indian emancipation. I took my place among the men on the speaker's platform and delivered my speech. I was called before the College's Ladies' Board to answer for the transgression of speaking to a mixed audience. Against my families advice I became a well known lecturer. I wrote and spoke extensively about a wide range of women's rights, publishing, often distributing speeches by myself. I was called "the morning star of the woman's rights movement." In 1856 I was accused in court, and spoke in defense of a rumor put forward by the prosecution that I gave a knife to former slave Margaret Garner, on trial for the killing of her own child to prevent it from being enslaved. I wowed Mr. Greeley at the first Women's Rights Convention with the following words: "We want to be something more than the appendages of Society; we want that Women should be the coequal and help-meet of Men in all the interest and perils and enjoyments of human life. We want that she should attain to the development of her nature and womanhood; we want that when she dies, it may not be written on her gravestone that she was the "relict" of somebody." Who Am I?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Dreaming About Inception.
Dreams. We all have them. Some of us dream in color. Some of us dream full story lines. Some of us dream the same dream over and over again. I often dream I am held hostage in a bank robbery. My other frequent dream I am standing nude in the ticket line at the movie theater and can't find my wallet. Just where does a nude person put a wallet? What if we had the ability to go into each other's dreams? What if I could go into Dona's dream, DR's dream, or Pat's dream? Then once in your dreams I had the ability to change your dream? What if I could have go deeper inside of dreams to the depths of the subconscious? What if I had the ability to go into the subconscious of the bankers and stockbrokers that screwed America and while there plant in their subconscious thoughts of doing the right thing? Would you want the responsibility?
The movie Inception is directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Ellen Page (Juno), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer), Michael Caine, and Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies) among others. Here is the summary of the movie from IMDb: "Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming."
Loved the movie. Great special effects. Superb acting. Interesting storyline. My two favorite performances were by Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe. Page has come a long way since Juno. Watanabe commanded the screen every time he was on it. DiCaprio gives an Oscar winning performance. I was really struck by how much alike Page & Cotillard looked. The two drawbacks to the movie are that sometimes it was hard to separate reality from dreams and at two hours and thirty-nine minutes the movie is a little long. They could have shortened it by cutting out one or two of the repetitive battle scenes. I am, however, going to give the movie my highest rating, five footballs. One for directing, One for writing, One for Cinematography, one for special effects, and one for the acting ensemble as a group.
Questions for the day. Do you dream? Do you dream the same dream over and over again? Care to share your common dream here? If you could go into someone's subconscious and change the course of history would you want the responsibility? If you had that power whose head would you go inside of? While I wouldn't want that responsibility if I ended up with there would be so many historical figures thoughts that I would want to change that it would be take twenty-five hours a day. I'd start with Hitler.
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Elizabeth Eckford
Born in 1873 and died in 1947 I was an author who wrote about the original great frontier. I was born on a farm to a father who had lived on the land for six generations and my mother was a pioneer woman. I was the eldest of seven children. I became a contributing writer to a state newspaper while I was in college but after moving to the home of the Steelers and the Pirates I began writing for a monthly magazine about home things. While in the Steel city I taught English in high school. I would later become head of the English department at another high school. I moved to the Empire city where a magazine serialized my first novel with writing that was influenced by my love of Henry James. I infuriated a Christian Group by writing a critical biography of them. The Scientists were outraged and tried to buy up all the copies of my book. A university would later reprint the book. When I started writing novels I moved back to the prairie. I was celebrated by critics like H.L. Mencken for writing in plainspoken language about ordinary people. When novelist Sinclair won the Nobel Prize in Literature, he paid homage to me by saying that I should have won. I later won another prize for one of my works, The winning book was inspired by my cousins wartime letters home to his Mom. My cousin was the first officer killed from my home state. When I was in college I used the name William and wore masculine clothes. My life's most significant friendships were with women. In later life I moved to Canada. While there being an extremely private person and I destroyed many old drafts, personal papers, and letters. My will restricted the ability of scholars to quote from the personal papers that remained. I have both a gold coin and a stamp named after me. I am in both the Nebraska Hall Of Fame and The National Cowgirl Hall Of Fame. I was also the first woman president of a language association. I was "One of Ours" that became a "Lost Lady" in my writings. Who Am I?
The movie Inception is directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Ellen Page (Juno), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer), Michael Caine, and Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies) among others. Here is the summary of the movie from IMDb: "Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming."
Loved the movie. Great special effects. Superb acting. Interesting storyline. My two favorite performances were by Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe. Page has come a long way since Juno. Watanabe commanded the screen every time he was on it. DiCaprio gives an Oscar winning performance. I was really struck by how much alike Page & Cotillard looked. The two drawbacks to the movie are that sometimes it was hard to separate reality from dreams and at two hours and thirty-nine minutes the movie is a little long. They could have shortened it by cutting out one or two of the repetitive battle scenes. I am, however, going to give the movie my highest rating, five footballs. One for directing, One for writing, One for Cinematography, one for special effects, and one for the acting ensemble as a group.
Questions for the day. Do you dream? Do you dream the same dream over and over again? Care to share your common dream here? If you could go into someone's subconscious and change the course of history would you want the responsibility? If you had that power whose head would you go inside of? While I wouldn't want that responsibility if I ended up with there would be so many historical figures thoughts that I would want to change that it would be take twenty-five hours a day. I'd start with Hitler.
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Elizabeth Eckford
Born in 1873 and died in 1947 I was an author who wrote about the original great frontier. I was born on a farm to a father who had lived on the land for six generations and my mother was a pioneer woman. I was the eldest of seven children. I became a contributing writer to a state newspaper while I was in college but after moving to the home of the Steelers and the Pirates I began writing for a monthly magazine about home things. While in the Steel city I taught English in high school. I would later become head of the English department at another high school. I moved to the Empire city where a magazine serialized my first novel with writing that was influenced by my love of Henry James. I infuriated a Christian Group by writing a critical biography of them. The Scientists were outraged and tried to buy up all the copies of my book. A university would later reprint the book. When I started writing novels I moved back to the prairie. I was celebrated by critics like H.L. Mencken for writing in plainspoken language about ordinary people. When novelist Sinclair won the Nobel Prize in Literature, he paid homage to me by saying that I should have won. I later won another prize for one of my works, The winning book was inspired by my cousins wartime letters home to his Mom. My cousin was the first officer killed from my home state. When I was in college I used the name William and wore masculine clothes. My life's most significant friendships were with women. In later life I moved to Canada. While there being an extremely private person and I destroyed many old drafts, personal papers, and letters. My will restricted the ability of scholars to quote from the personal papers that remained. I have both a gold coin and a stamp named after me. I am in both the Nebraska Hall Of Fame and The National Cowgirl Hall Of Fame. I was also the first woman president of a language association. I was "One of Ours" that became a "Lost Lady" in my writings. Who Am I?
Monday, July 19, 2010
I Spy.
I have always wanted to have a more exciting occupation than accountant. If you tell someone you are a CPA they get visions of green eye shades and immediately think you are boring. Just for fun when asked what my occupation was I used to lie and say I was a spy. I gathered from the following article in The Washington Post that now if someone tells you a spy they may not be lying. May sure you click on the "continue reading button" so that you can read the entire article.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fprojects.washingtonpost.com%2Ftop-secret-america%2Farticles%2F
The above article caused so much concern that the Post felt the need to defend themselves from publishing it in a later article. Here is their defense:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100719/pl_yblog_upshot/washington-post-editor-defends-publishing-intelligence-complex-expose;_ylt=AqXhQK69vW5Tn.T_ktoY4iKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTVqa2oydWY5BGFzc2V0A3libG9nX3Vwc2hvdC8yMDEwMDcxOS93YXNoaW5ndG9uLXBvc3QtZWRpdG9yLWRlZmVuZHMtcHVibGlzaGluZy1pbnRlbGxpZ2VuY2UtY29tcGxleC1leHBvc2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDd2FzaGluZ3RvbnBv
Lots of questions today. Have you ever not want to tell people what your occupation is because you felt it was to boring? Ever wanted to be a spy? Does the first Washington Post article surprise you? Concern you? Do you think the Washington Post needed to defend themselves or should have they let the original article stand by itself?
WHO AM I?
I was born in 1941 as one of six children and I would later become one of a nine and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, awarded to me by the man that was the Governor of the state that I was born in. My dad worked as a dining car maintenance worker and Mom taught at a segregated state school for blind and deaf children, instructing them in how to wash and iron. The first time I tried to attend a certain high school we were refused admittance. While with the Guard's help I succeeded in my second attempt to enter that high school I was surrounded by an angry mob of four hundred people that threatened to lynch me. I was saved by a white woman. The next day the mob grew to a thousand people and the President sent in the troops for our protection. The troops stayed the entire school year but that didn't prevent me being thrown down a flight of stairs. All of the city's high schools closed the next year but I garnered enough credits in night school to graduate. I would go on to earn a B.S. degree in history and later serve five years in the Army. I also wrote for a couple of newspapers. After that I worked as a waitress, history teacher, welfare worker, unemployment and employment interviewer, and a military reporter. I would later jointly win an award with a high school classmate that was shown in a Counts' photograph screaming at me as I tried to break down a barrier and enter high school. During the reconciliation rally of 1997 we made speeches together. I am currently a probation officer in Little Rock and is the mother of two sons. Who Am I?
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fprojects.washingtonpost.com%2Ftop-secret-america%2Farticles%2F
The above article caused so much concern that the Post felt the need to defend themselves from publishing it in a later article. Here is their defense:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100719/pl_yblog_upshot/washington-post-editor-defends-publishing-intelligence-complex-expose;_ylt=AqXhQK69vW5Tn.T_ktoY4iKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTVqa2oydWY5BGFzc2V0A3libG9nX3Vwc2hvdC8yMDEwMDcxOS93YXNoaW5ndG9uLXBvc3QtZWRpdG9yLWRlZmVuZHMtcHVibGlzaGluZy1pbnRlbGxpZ2VuY2UtY29tcGxleC1leHBvc2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDd2FzaGluZ3RvbnBv
Lots of questions today. Have you ever not want to tell people what your occupation is because you felt it was to boring? Ever wanted to be a spy? Does the first Washington Post article surprise you? Concern you? Do you think the Washington Post needed to defend themselves or should have they let the original article stand by itself?
WHO AM I?
I was born in 1941 as one of six children and I would later become one of a nine and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, awarded to me by the man that was the Governor of the state that I was born in. My dad worked as a dining car maintenance worker and Mom taught at a segregated state school for blind and deaf children, instructing them in how to wash and iron. The first time I tried to attend a certain high school we were refused admittance. While with the Guard's help I succeeded in my second attempt to enter that high school I was surrounded by an angry mob of four hundred people that threatened to lynch me. I was saved by a white woman. The next day the mob grew to a thousand people and the President sent in the troops for our protection. The troops stayed the entire school year but that didn't prevent me being thrown down a flight of stairs. All of the city's high schools closed the next year but I garnered enough credits in night school to graduate. I would go on to earn a B.S. degree in history and later serve five years in the Army. I also wrote for a couple of newspapers. After that I worked as a waitress, history teacher, welfare worker, unemployment and employment interviewer, and a military reporter. I would later jointly win an award with a high school classmate that was shown in a Counts' photograph screaming at me as I tried to break down a barrier and enter high school. During the reconciliation rally of 1997 we made speeches together. I am currently a probation officer in Little Rock and is the mother of two sons. Who Am I?
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Updates, Yours & Mine
No Who Am I Today. Yesterday's answer was Emma Lazarus. She is the author of the poem that is on the Statue Of Liberty. The name of the poem is The New Colossus and you can read the poem here:
http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm
On last week's agenda was one night at Mom's. One disagreement with sis. I should have bit my tongue and not responded when I got kind of tired being told to do things that any idiot would know how to do. Sis does so much for Mom since being here and I really couldn't have done the last month replacing the caregiver without her. Sis has been a lifesaver to me and I appreciate her immensely. However, when I am sitting in Mom's car and the only way to get the car on the road is to back the car up because if I went forward I would have run into my own car, I don't think it is really necessary for someone to say to me, "now you have to backup the car." I mean I am pretty sure I am smart enough not to total my car and Mom's car in front of Mom's house. Still a deep breath would have been better than the words, I know enough to backup the car. That was hurtful. I will try to do better in the future. No dinners out with he family. One dinner and two lunches out with Mom. Regular boring life errands like pickup and deliver my dry cleaning, grocery shopping, grocery shopping for Mom, and picking up drugs for Mom. I also put together fifteen welcoming packages for the cousin reunion. There will be quite a bit more than fifteen people here, but there won't be more than fifteen families and I am pretty sure all my cousins have been taught to share. If not, they will be soon. I also came to the decision that I needed help with my lawn and hired a landscaper. All my weeds are gone. All my trees are trimmed. My hedge is leveled off. The bark dust is down. One thing I really liked about this landscaper, is that they took care of the weeds and laid the bark dust all the way to the street. That covered some land that is really owned by the city but it is hard to tell that it isn't mine. Plus mine is the first house you see when you come into the neighborhood and I want people coming into the neighborhood to see a nice entrance.
Really the only thing on the coming week's agenda is Saturday night at Mom's, buying the staples for the cousin reunion, and housecleaning. Now that the outside of my house is primo, I better get the inside of it looking good too!
Not much on the entertainment from this week. I did go to INCEPTION and will review it later in the week. It was an incredible movie with an interesting premise. Then there was Mel Gibson. Let's just say Gibson is a clueless idiot and leave it at that. Now the Top Chef Update. Winner of The Quickfire Challenge was Ed. Winner of The Elimination Challenge was Kenny. Sent packing was Timothy. My gal Kelly is still hanging in there.
The blog is now yours. Tell me everything including all your secrets!
http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm
On last week's agenda was one night at Mom's. One disagreement with sis. I should have bit my tongue and not responded when I got kind of tired being told to do things that any idiot would know how to do. Sis does so much for Mom since being here and I really couldn't have done the last month replacing the caregiver without her. Sis has been a lifesaver to me and I appreciate her immensely. However, when I am sitting in Mom's car and the only way to get the car on the road is to back the car up because if I went forward I would have run into my own car, I don't think it is really necessary for someone to say to me, "now you have to backup the car." I mean I am pretty sure I am smart enough not to total my car and Mom's car in front of Mom's house. Still a deep breath would have been better than the words, I know enough to backup the car. That was hurtful. I will try to do better in the future. No dinners out with he family. One dinner and two lunches out with Mom. Regular boring life errands like pickup and deliver my dry cleaning, grocery shopping, grocery shopping for Mom, and picking up drugs for Mom. I also put together fifteen welcoming packages for the cousin reunion. There will be quite a bit more than fifteen people here, but there won't be more than fifteen families and I am pretty sure all my cousins have been taught to share. If not, they will be soon. I also came to the decision that I needed help with my lawn and hired a landscaper. All my weeds are gone. All my trees are trimmed. My hedge is leveled off. The bark dust is down. One thing I really liked about this landscaper, is that they took care of the weeds and laid the bark dust all the way to the street. That covered some land that is really owned by the city but it is hard to tell that it isn't mine. Plus mine is the first house you see when you come into the neighborhood and I want people coming into the neighborhood to see a nice entrance.
Really the only thing on the coming week's agenda is Saturday night at Mom's, buying the staples for the cousin reunion, and housecleaning. Now that the outside of my house is primo, I better get the inside of it looking good too!
Not much on the entertainment from this week. I did go to INCEPTION and will review it later in the week. It was an incredible movie with an interesting premise. Then there was Mel Gibson. Let's just say Gibson is a clueless idiot and leave it at that. Now the Top Chef Update. Winner of The Quickfire Challenge was Ed. Winner of The Elimination Challenge was Kenny. Sent packing was Timothy. My gal Kelly is still hanging in there.
The blog is now yours. Tell me everything including all your secrets!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Writing, The Fun & The Serious.
Today we are all about writing. Scanning the Internet I found a site that will analyze your writing and tell you what famous author you write like. I found both the article about it and the site quite interesting. The first of the following two links is the article about the site. The second of the two links is the site where you submit a paragraph of your writing and in seconds it will come back and name the author that you write like.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_en_ot/us_web_i_write_like
http://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/14/i-write-like/
Curiosity got the best of me so I clicked the "analyze your writing button" in the box under the featured author's name and submitted two paragraphs from Searching For Justice. The fist paragraph that I submitted was from the Lost Loves that I wrote about on the blog about a month ago. The second paragraph was the introduction to Searching For Justice that I shared on the blog over a year ago, titled "Don't Shoot My Daddy."
When I wrote romance the author that I wrote like was an author that I really had never heard of before. David Foster Wallace. Ever heard of him? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
When I wrote drama and suspense the author that I wrote like? I know him. I studied him in school. We all had to study him in school. George Orwell. Does that mean I write drama well? Or is my writing futuristic?
Come on now all of you go to the web site and submit something you have written. It can even be a comment you have recently posted on the blog. Then tell me who you write like. I want to know who your inner writer is!
Speaking of writing. One of the blogs that I go to frequently posted a link to an article by Janet Fitch where she listed the rules of writing. Because I always like to give credit where the credit is due this is where I found the link:
http://chaoschronicles.com/blog/2010/07/13/ten-things-to-like-this-tuesday-july-13-2010/
And this is the link to the article about the rules of writing:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/janet-fitchs-10-rules-for-writers.html
While I like some of her rules I don't agree with all of them. Do you agree with them? When you read a book would you want to read a book written under Fitch's ten rules for writing?
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Lillian Hellman
I was born in 1849 and died in 1887, the lady with the Torch embraces some of the words that I have written. I was the fourth of seven children born to a Mom and Dad that had settled in New York during the colonial period. From a very early age I studied European literature and learned several languages. My writings fascinated Mr. Emerson so much that he corresponded with me until he died. While I am most known for sonnets and poems I also wrote a novel and two plays. I became interested in my Jewish ancestry after reading Mr. Eliot's novel. That lead me to began translating the works of Jewish poets into English. In the winter of 1882 multitudes of destitute Ashkenazy Jews emigrated from the Russian Pale of Settlement to New York. I taught technical education to help them become self-supporting. I was an important forerunner of the Zionist movement. These are my words on the lady that greets you as you come into the big city in the East:"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Who Am I?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_en_ot/us_web_i_write_like
http://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/14/i-write-like/
Curiosity got the best of me so I clicked the "analyze your writing button" in the box under the featured author's name and submitted two paragraphs from Searching For Justice. The fist paragraph that I submitted was from the Lost Loves that I wrote about on the blog about a month ago. The second paragraph was the introduction to Searching For Justice that I shared on the blog over a year ago, titled "Don't Shoot My Daddy."
When I wrote romance the author that I wrote like was an author that I really had never heard of before. David Foster Wallace. Ever heard of him? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
When I wrote drama and suspense the author that I wrote like? I know him. I studied him in school. We all had to study him in school. George Orwell. Does that mean I write drama well? Or is my writing futuristic?
Come on now all of you go to the web site and submit something you have written. It can even be a comment you have recently posted on the blog. Then tell me who you write like. I want to know who your inner writer is!
Speaking of writing. One of the blogs that I go to frequently posted a link to an article by Janet Fitch where she listed the rules of writing. Because I always like to give credit where the credit is due this is where I found the link:
http://chaoschronicles.com/blog/2010/07/13/ten-things-to-like-this-tuesday-july-13-2010/
And this is the link to the article about the rules of writing:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/janet-fitchs-10-rules-for-writers.html
While I like some of her rules I don't agree with all of them. Do you agree with them? When you read a book would you want to read a book written under Fitch's ten rules for writing?
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Lillian Hellman
I was born in 1849 and died in 1887, the lady with the Torch embraces some of the words that I have written. I was the fourth of seven children born to a Mom and Dad that had settled in New York during the colonial period. From a very early age I studied European literature and learned several languages. My writings fascinated Mr. Emerson so much that he corresponded with me until he died. While I am most known for sonnets and poems I also wrote a novel and two plays. I became interested in my Jewish ancestry after reading Mr. Eliot's novel. That lead me to began translating the works of Jewish poets into English. In the winter of 1882 multitudes of destitute Ashkenazy Jews emigrated from the Russian Pale of Settlement to New York. I taught technical education to help them become self-supporting. I was an important forerunner of the Zionist movement. These are my words on the lady that greets you as you come into the big city in the East:"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Who Am I?
Friday, July 16, 2010
Smelling Great, Staying Alive & Chasing The Opposite Sex
My dad wore Old Spice. I used to wear Old Spice but know I am partial to Azzarro Chrome. However, if this ad campaign works a lot people are going to go back to wearing Old Spice because they will "smell like a man"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_en_ot/us_old_spice_viral_videos
Right now the ad campaign accounts for eight of the eleven most popular videos on You Tube and have been viewed by over twenty-one million folks. I think I will stick with my Chrome. What do you like to smell on a man? Old Spice? Nothing? Obsession for men? Other suggestions?
Have you ever written to a dead person? I really can't say I have knowingly done that but a Austrian Power Company can't say that. Well, she turned out to be alive but they thought she was dead.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100715/od_nm/us_austria_letter_odd
How do you think you would react if you received a letter that started, "We are sorry to hear of your passing." At first I'd be really ticked, then I would laugh, and then I would be scared at all of the paperwork I might have to go through to prove that I wasn't dead.
I have to admit that in my time I have chased a woman or two. Never really caught one because they all seem to run a lot faster than I do. Some females do stop traffic and some males will go into traffic to catch that stopping traffic female. Here is an article that verifies that:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100715/od_nm/us_germany_llama_odd
Have you ever stopped traffic? Ever chased a member of the opposite sex into traffic?
I hope today is the start to a great weekend for all of you!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Mae Jemison.
I was born in 1905 and died in 1984 and was the inspiration for a famous mystery writer's main character, a result of a thirty year affair I had with the writer. Growing up I spent six months each year in New York and the other six months in the home of this year's Super Bowl Champs. Foxes, attics, and toys will remind you of me as will the time of my life that I was blacklisted. So will an Oscar winning film based on one of my books. In 1950 I appeared before a committee in front of Congress due to my boyfriend being Communist. I was asked to name names with communist affiliations. Part of my prepared statement said "To hurt innocent people whom I knew many years ago in order to save myself is, to me, inhuman and indecent and dishonorable. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions, even though I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group." That lead to my ban from Hollywood. Some of the statement was false because I was at time political being a member of the League of American Writers and serving on their Keep America Out of War Committee during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact. An author later wrote about my two invented lives because at one time I wasn't sure what was true about my own life. In one instance I said I knew nothing about the Moscow Trials in which Stalin had purged the Soviet Communist Party of Party members who were then liquidated when I had actually signed petitions applauding the guilty verdict and encouraged others not to cooperate with John Dewey's committee that sought to establish the truth behind Stalin's show trials. I also opposed the granting of political asylum to Leon by the United States. My feud with Mary lead to Ephron's play Imaginary Friends. Mary famously said of me on The Dick Cavett Show that "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." I replied by filing a $2,500,000 slander suit against Mary, Cavett, and PBS. After I died on Martha Vineyard from natural causes at the age of 79 the suit was dropped by my executors. Before dying I appeared in an episode of The Simpson's during which in Lisa's dream I urged her to take up smoking. I died an Unfinished Woman. Who Am I?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_en_ot/us_old_spice_viral_videos
Right now the ad campaign accounts for eight of the eleven most popular videos on You Tube and have been viewed by over twenty-one million folks. I think I will stick with my Chrome. What do you like to smell on a man? Old Spice? Nothing? Obsession for men? Other suggestions?
Have you ever written to a dead person? I really can't say I have knowingly done that but a Austrian Power Company can't say that. Well, she turned out to be alive but they thought she was dead.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100715/od_nm/us_austria_letter_odd
How do you think you would react if you received a letter that started, "We are sorry to hear of your passing." At first I'd be really ticked, then I would laugh, and then I would be scared at all of the paperwork I might have to go through to prove that I wasn't dead.
I have to admit that in my time I have chased a woman or two. Never really caught one because they all seem to run a lot faster than I do. Some females do stop traffic and some males will go into traffic to catch that stopping traffic female. Here is an article that verifies that:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100715/od_nm/us_germany_llama_odd
Have you ever stopped traffic? Ever chased a member of the opposite sex into traffic?
I hope today is the start to a great weekend for all of you!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Mae Jemison.
I was born in 1905 and died in 1984 and was the inspiration for a famous mystery writer's main character, a result of a thirty year affair I had with the writer. Growing up I spent six months each year in New York and the other six months in the home of this year's Super Bowl Champs. Foxes, attics, and toys will remind you of me as will the time of my life that I was blacklisted. So will an Oscar winning film based on one of my books. In 1950 I appeared before a committee in front of Congress due to my boyfriend being Communist. I was asked to name names with communist affiliations. Part of my prepared statement said "To hurt innocent people whom I knew many years ago in order to save myself is, to me, inhuman and indecent and dishonorable. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions, even though I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group." That lead to my ban from Hollywood. Some of the statement was false because I was at time political being a member of the League of American Writers and serving on their Keep America Out of War Committee during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact. An author later wrote about my two invented lives because at one time I wasn't sure what was true about my own life. In one instance I said I knew nothing about the Moscow Trials in which Stalin had purged the Soviet Communist Party of Party members who were then liquidated when I had actually signed petitions applauding the guilty verdict and encouraged others not to cooperate with John Dewey's committee that sought to establish the truth behind Stalin's show trials. I also opposed the granting of political asylum to Leon by the United States. My feud with Mary lead to Ephron's play Imaginary Friends. Mary famously said of me on The Dick Cavett Show that "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." I replied by filing a $2,500,000 slander suit against Mary, Cavett, and PBS. After I died on Martha Vineyard from natural causes at the age of 79 the suit was dropped by my executors. Before dying I appeared in an episode of The Simpson's during which in Lisa's dream I urged her to take up smoking. I died an Unfinished Woman. Who Am I?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Separating The Good From The Bad
Seems like we are discussing health related matters this week. It just seems like this week when I look for interesting things to share on the blog the most interesting stuff is health related. One article about doctors, one article about nurses with both scaring the hell out of me. First up are doctors:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100713/ap_on_he_me/us_med_reporting_bad_doctors
While this article does scare me it doesn’t really surprise me. I actually think this is true of all professions. I can’t see attorneys finking out other attorneys, or accountants finking out other accountants but neither of those professions usually have clients facing life threatening issues. In this case a doctor not turning in another doctor could cost a patient his or her life. Two questions for you on this subject. Are you surprised by the article? Does it scare you?
The next article isn’t much better. Nurses keep working despite drug convictions and in some cases despite losing their licenses in other states due to poor patient care.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-15-1Anurses15_CV_N.htm
Certainly there has to be a better way, like a national registry? It just seems right now a lot states are getting lazy before granting nurses the right to practice in their states. What is your take on the article?
Hope you have a great day!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was the author of "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" Maya Angelou born Marguerite Ann Johnson.
I am a high flying physician born in 1956 as the youngest child of a maintenance supervisor and an elementary school teacher. It was at three when I started to assume I would be spaced out. Early on I pursued a career in science. When my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up I told her a scientist and she responded "don't you mean a teacher or nurse?" Despite my love of science I also loved the arts and began dancing at nine, taking ballet and jazz among other types of dance. When in high school I changed from wanting to be a scientist to wanting be a professional dancer. My last year in college I had to decide whether to attend medical school or become a professional dance. "You can always dance if you're a doctor, but you can't doctor if you're a dancer." I entered Stanford when I was sixteen years old. I graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in chemical engineering and fulfilling the requirements for a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies. Four years later I received my Doctor in Medicine from an Ivy League school. I came back West and interned at the USC medical center. During medical school I traveled to Cuba, Kenya and Thailand to provide primary medical care to people living there. After completing my medical internship, I joined the staff of the Peace Corps and served as a Peace Corps Medical Officer responsible for the health of Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone. While In the Peace Corps I fell in love with Sneeze and Fleas, a cute little kitty, who stayed by my side for fifteen years. Being a Star Trek fan I was motivated by Lt. Uhura to check out a program in Houston. My first application at the famous Houston center was turned down but my second was accepted. I was in the first class of space dudes and dudettes after a famous accident. When I first when up into the air I took a poster from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company along with me. Many people do not see a connection between science and dance but I consider them both to be expressions of the boundless creativity that people have to share with one another. I was the first African-American to share an occupation with Edward, Michael, and Neil. I also lived a dream by appearing on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have the distinction of being the first real astronaut to appear on Star Trek. I later founded a company that examined AFTE as a treatment for anxiety, nausea, migraine and tension headaches, chronic pain, hypertension and hypotension, and stress-related disorders. When people say I am a role model I tell them "Here's the deal: Everybody's a role model. ... Role models can be good or bad, positive or negative." I am now a Professor at the Ivy League School that I received my doctorate from and was a professor of Environmental Studies at another Ivy League school. I was on McCall's list of Ten Outstanding Women for the 90s and am a member of the National Women's Hall of Fame. Who Am I?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100713/ap_on_he_me/us_med_reporting_bad_doctors
While this article does scare me it doesn’t really surprise me. I actually think this is true of all professions. I can’t see attorneys finking out other attorneys, or accountants finking out other accountants but neither of those professions usually have clients facing life threatening issues. In this case a doctor not turning in another doctor could cost a patient his or her life. Two questions for you on this subject. Are you surprised by the article? Does it scare you?
The next article isn’t much better. Nurses keep working despite drug convictions and in some cases despite losing their licenses in other states due to poor patient care.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-15-1Anurses15_CV_N.htm
Certainly there has to be a better way, like a national registry? It just seems right now a lot states are getting lazy before granting nurses the right to practice in their states. What is your take on the article?
Hope you have a great day!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was the author of "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" Maya Angelou born Marguerite Ann Johnson.
I am a high flying physician born in 1956 as the youngest child of a maintenance supervisor and an elementary school teacher. It was at three when I started to assume I would be spaced out. Early on I pursued a career in science. When my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up I told her a scientist and she responded "don't you mean a teacher or nurse?" Despite my love of science I also loved the arts and began dancing at nine, taking ballet and jazz among other types of dance. When in high school I changed from wanting to be a scientist to wanting be a professional dancer. My last year in college I had to decide whether to attend medical school or become a professional dance. "You can always dance if you're a doctor, but you can't doctor if you're a dancer." I entered Stanford when I was sixteen years old. I graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in chemical engineering and fulfilling the requirements for a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies. Four years later I received my Doctor in Medicine from an Ivy League school. I came back West and interned at the USC medical center. During medical school I traveled to Cuba, Kenya and Thailand to provide primary medical care to people living there. After completing my medical internship, I joined the staff of the Peace Corps and served as a Peace Corps Medical Officer responsible for the health of Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone. While In the Peace Corps I fell in love with Sneeze and Fleas, a cute little kitty, who stayed by my side for fifteen years. Being a Star Trek fan I was motivated by Lt. Uhura to check out a program in Houston. My first application at the famous Houston center was turned down but my second was accepted. I was in the first class of space dudes and dudettes after a famous accident. When I first when up into the air I took a poster from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company along with me. Many people do not see a connection between science and dance but I consider them both to be expressions of the boundless creativity that people have to share with one another. I was the first African-American to share an occupation with Edward, Michael, and Neil. I also lived a dream by appearing on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have the distinction of being the first real astronaut to appear on Star Trek. I later founded a company that examined AFTE as a treatment for anxiety, nausea, migraine and tension headaches, chronic pain, hypertension and hypotension, and stress-related disorders. When people say I am a role model I tell them "Here's the deal: Everybody's a role model. ... Role models can be good or bad, positive or negative." I am now a Professor at the Ivy League School that I received my doctorate from and was a professor of Environmental Studies at another Ivy League school. I was on McCall's list of Ten Outstanding Women for the 90s and am a member of the National Women's Hall of Fame. Who Am I?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Follow-ups & Lists
Just a couple of things on the blog today. First up is a follow-up article to our yesterday's discussion about Alzheimer's:
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-alzheimers_14nat.ART.State.Edition1.293bf6e.html
I am a little concerned that the early diagnosis may go overboard and we may end up with what we are seeing now with some cancers. Over-treatment. While I am very glad we are starting to talk about this dreadful disease and exxploring ways to delay the onset of i, I worry that more diagnosis of it does bring with it the risk of more cases of wrong diagnosis. I'm withholding judgment.
Next up is a list that I hope will help you complete many tasks! Need to remove blood stains from your clothes? Do you need help loosening a rusty bolt? Neutralize a jellyfish sting? Relieve congestion? Strip paint off of furniture? Here is the list that will help you do it!
http://www.wisebread.com/51-uses-for-coca-cola-the-ultimate-list
As always you comments and takes on the above two articles are greatly appreciated!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer Margaret Bourke-White
I was born in 1928 to a father that was a doorman and a navy dietitian and a mother who was a real estate agent, trained surgical nurse, and a merchant marine. I am most known by a nickname my brother gave me that is the same name as one recent contestant on Dancing With The Stars. One of my early influences was The Bard. My parents' marriage ended when I was three and we went to Governor Clinton's State to live with my dad's mother. We were later returned to the care of my mother where I was raped by my mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend was found guilty and jailed for one day. Four days later he was found dead. Many think it was the work of my uncle. I became mute because of the trauma and because I thought that my voice had killed him. I spoke again five years later. The teacher that helped me speak again introduced me to authors. During WWII I attended high school and studied dance and drama at a labor school. During school I became the first female streetcar conductor in the Golden Gate city. Three weeks after school my first son was born. As a single Mom at times I had to work as a prostitute or madam to support us. In all I would marry three times. My talents led me to travel Europe with a production of Porgy and Bess. I learned the language of every country we performed in. We moved later to New York and that is where I began to write. I am credited with organizing the Cabaret For Freedom to benefit a leadership conference. When in Ghana I became close friends with Malcolm X and helped him build a civil rights organization. I suffered greatly when both Martin and Malcolm were assassinated, Martin being assassinated on my birthday. After their assassinations I wrote an award winning autobiography. I also wrote one of Flack's song and composed movie scores. When Roots hit the airwaves I had a supporting role in it. When Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993 I recited one of my poems. Nobody since Frost and JFK had done that. I would become the first woman of my nationality to direct a major motion picture. My life was chronicled in a series of five autobiographies, the first described by Julian Mayfield as a work of art that eludes description. The first autobiography was criticized by many parents causing its removal from school curricula and school libraries. After reading my poem at Bill's coming out party sales of my paperbacks and poems rose three hundred to six hundred percent. While my first autobiography was banned from many schools it has also been used to train teachers how to talk about race in their classrooms. I am considered on of the most honored writers of my generation including induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame and winning the National Medal of Arts. Pat already knows who I am and I am betting if others think of a bird singing after escaping from a cage they will know the answer to the question, Who Am I?
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-alzheimers_14nat.ART.State.Edition1.293bf6e.html
I am a little concerned that the early diagnosis may go overboard and we may end up with what we are seeing now with some cancers. Over-treatment. While I am very glad we are starting to talk about this dreadful disease and exxploring ways to delay the onset of i, I worry that more diagnosis of it does bring with it the risk of more cases of wrong diagnosis. I'm withholding judgment.
Next up is a list that I hope will help you complete many tasks! Need to remove blood stains from your clothes? Do you need help loosening a rusty bolt? Neutralize a jellyfish sting? Relieve congestion? Strip paint off of furniture? Here is the list that will help you do it!
http://www.wisebread.com/51-uses-for-coca-cola-the-ultimate-list
As always you comments and takes on the above two articles are greatly appreciated!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer Margaret Bourke-White
I was born in 1928 to a father that was a doorman and a navy dietitian and a mother who was a real estate agent, trained surgical nurse, and a merchant marine. I am most known by a nickname my brother gave me that is the same name as one recent contestant on Dancing With The Stars. One of my early influences was The Bard. My parents' marriage ended when I was three and we went to Governor Clinton's State to live with my dad's mother. We were later returned to the care of my mother where I was raped by my mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend was found guilty and jailed for one day. Four days later he was found dead. Many think it was the work of my uncle. I became mute because of the trauma and because I thought that my voice had killed him. I spoke again five years later. The teacher that helped me speak again introduced me to authors. During WWII I attended high school and studied dance and drama at a labor school. During school I became the first female streetcar conductor in the Golden Gate city. Three weeks after school my first son was born. As a single Mom at times I had to work as a prostitute or madam to support us. In all I would marry three times. My talents led me to travel Europe with a production of Porgy and Bess. I learned the language of every country we performed in. We moved later to New York and that is where I began to write. I am credited with organizing the Cabaret For Freedom to benefit a leadership conference. When in Ghana I became close friends with Malcolm X and helped him build a civil rights organization. I suffered greatly when both Martin and Malcolm were assassinated, Martin being assassinated on my birthday. After their assassinations I wrote an award winning autobiography. I also wrote one of Flack's song and composed movie scores. When Roots hit the airwaves I had a supporting role in it. When Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993 I recited one of my poems. Nobody since Frost and JFK had done that. I would become the first woman of my nationality to direct a major motion picture. My life was chronicled in a series of five autobiographies, the first described by Julian Mayfield as a work of art that eludes description. The first autobiography was criticized by many parents causing its removal from school curricula and school libraries. After reading my poem at Bill's coming out party sales of my paperbacks and poems rose three hundred to six hundred percent. While my first autobiography was banned from many schools it has also been used to train teachers how to talk about race in their classrooms. I am considered on of the most honored writers of my generation including induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame and winning the National Medal of Arts. Pat already knows who I am and I am betting if others think of a bird singing after escaping from a cage they will know the answer to the question, Who Am I?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Health Issues
Today the blog is all about articles about health issues. One about Parkinson's, one about dementia, and last but not least carrot allergies and other weird diseases.
The following article relates Vitamin D levels to the onset of Parkinson's Disease. More sun, less chance to get the disease. However, more sun the greater risk of skin cancer. Vicious circle. Looks like I am going to seriously think about taking Vitamin D supplements.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100712/hl_afp/healthresearchusfinlandparkinsons
Next up is Alzheimer's and Dementia. The following article states that people caring for a relative or spouse suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia wait to long to get paid help and in the process endanger their own health. I'm going to add something that wasn't completely discussed in the article and that is sometimes we see signs of Alzheimer's or dementia in a close relative or friend and do nothing about it. We are so terribly afraid of embarrassing them that we don't have their doctor test them for either. If we did have them tested for Alzheimer's or demantia we could possibly delay the onset of it. I saw signs of dementia in my dad for four or five years before a stroke brought dad's dementia on full bore. Neither Mom and I wanted to have Dad tested because we just didn't want to make him feel like less of a man. A mistake on our part. Learn from us and don't make the same mistake. Please if you see signs in a spouse or relative then talk to their doctor about having them tested for either disease. There is a very real possibility that the doctor may be able to test them without them really knowing what they are being tested for.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-13-alzheimerscare13_ST_N.htm
Did you know that there is an actual illness where people believe themselves to be either dead or missing organs? Yes, it is a real disease. It even has a name, Cotard's syndrome. There is a new book that describes all the weird diseases people say they have and we make fun of. Read about the new book here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-13-IanLandau13_ST_N.htm
Your comments are always appreciated!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Barbara McClintock
I was born in 1904 and died at age sixty-seven of Parkinson's Disease eighteen years after I developed the first symptoms of it. My dad was a non-practicing Jew and Mom was Irish-Catholic. I'm a Jersey girl. My dad made me a perfectionist and Mom taught me resourceful homemaking. My older sister became famous for work at Bar Association in Chicago. My interest in photography began as a hobby. Despite my interest in the camera world I began studying herpetology at an Ivy League school. My dad died after one semester in college and I left that school. I transferred to several other colleges eventually graduating from a different Ivy League school than the one I first attended leaving behind a photographic study of the rural campus for the school's newspaper. I married at age twenty and divorced at age twenty-two. I became an associate editor and staff photographer for a financial magazine when I was twenty-five. I am well-known as the first female photojournalist allowed to take pictures of industries within the Soviet Union. I was Life Magazine's first female photojournalist. Like a long ago Who Am I of the day I photographed drought victims of the Dust Bowl. I married a second time at age thirty-five and divorced a second time at age thirty-nine. I traveled to Europe to record how Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia were faring under Nazism and how Russia was faring under Communism. While in Russia, I photographed a portrait of Stalin with a smile, as well as portraits of Stalin's mother and great-aunt when visiting Georgia. I was the first female to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II. In 1941 I traveled to the Soviet Union just as Germany broke its pact of non-aggression. I was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy I then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera. As the war progressed I went with the Air Force to North Africa then to Italy with the Army and later Germany. I repeatedly came under fire in Italy in areas of fierce fighting. After surviving a helicopter crash I gained a famous nickname, "The Indestructible."
When I went to Germany I traveled with a general who had an academy award winning movie made about him. This is when I arrived at Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp. I said, "Using a camera was almost a relief. It interposed a slight barrier between myself and the horror in front of me." After the war I interviewed and photographed Mohandas K. Gandhi just a few hours before his assassination. I had brain several brain surgeries after the onset of Parkinson's. Before dying I wrote my autobiography that was published in the sixties and became an instant best seller. Who Am I?
The following article relates Vitamin D levels to the onset of Parkinson's Disease. More sun, less chance to get the disease. However, more sun the greater risk of skin cancer. Vicious circle. Looks like I am going to seriously think about taking Vitamin D supplements.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100712/hl_afp/healthresearchusfinlandparkinsons
Next up is Alzheimer's and Dementia. The following article states that people caring for a relative or spouse suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia wait to long to get paid help and in the process endanger their own health. I'm going to add something that wasn't completely discussed in the article and that is sometimes we see signs of Alzheimer's or dementia in a close relative or friend and do nothing about it. We are so terribly afraid of embarrassing them that we don't have their doctor test them for either. If we did have them tested for Alzheimer's or demantia we could possibly delay the onset of it. I saw signs of dementia in my dad for four or five years before a stroke brought dad's dementia on full bore. Neither Mom and I wanted to have Dad tested because we just didn't want to make him feel like less of a man. A mistake on our part. Learn from us and don't make the same mistake. Please if you see signs in a spouse or relative then talk to their doctor about having them tested for either disease. There is a very real possibility that the doctor may be able to test them without them really knowing what they are being tested for.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-13-alzheimerscare13_ST_N.htm
Did you know that there is an actual illness where people believe themselves to be either dead or missing organs? Yes, it is a real disease. It even has a name, Cotard's syndrome. There is a new book that describes all the weird diseases people say they have and we make fun of. Read about the new book here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-13-IanLandau13_ST_N.htm
Your comments are always appreciated!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Barbara McClintock
I was born in 1904 and died at age sixty-seven of Parkinson's Disease eighteen years after I developed the first symptoms of it. My dad was a non-practicing Jew and Mom was Irish-Catholic. I'm a Jersey girl. My dad made me a perfectionist and Mom taught me resourceful homemaking. My older sister became famous for work at Bar Association in Chicago. My interest in photography began as a hobby. Despite my interest in the camera world I began studying herpetology at an Ivy League school. My dad died after one semester in college and I left that school. I transferred to several other colleges eventually graduating from a different Ivy League school than the one I first attended leaving behind a photographic study of the rural campus for the school's newspaper. I married at age twenty and divorced at age twenty-two. I became an associate editor and staff photographer for a financial magazine when I was twenty-five. I am well-known as the first female photojournalist allowed to take pictures of industries within the Soviet Union. I was Life Magazine's first female photojournalist. Like a long ago Who Am I of the day I photographed drought victims of the Dust Bowl. I married a second time at age thirty-five and divorced a second time at age thirty-nine. I traveled to Europe to record how Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia were faring under Nazism and how Russia was faring under Communism. While in Russia, I photographed a portrait of Stalin with a smile, as well as portraits of Stalin's mother and great-aunt when visiting Georgia. I was the first female to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II. In 1941 I traveled to the Soviet Union just as Germany broke its pact of non-aggression. I was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy I then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera. As the war progressed I went with the Air Force to North Africa then to Italy with the Army and later Germany. I repeatedly came under fire in Italy in areas of fierce fighting. After surviving a helicopter crash I gained a famous nickname, "The Indestructible."
When I went to Germany I traveled with a general who had an academy award winning movie made about him. This is when I arrived at Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp. I said, "Using a camera was almost a relief. It interposed a slight barrier between myself and the horror in front of me." After the war I interviewed and photographed Mohandas K. Gandhi just a few hours before his assassination. I had brain several brain surgeries after the onset of Parkinson's. Before dying I wrote my autobiography that was published in the sixties and became an instant best seller. Who Am I?
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Charming & The Troubling.
Here is the charming story of the week!
http://www.pawnation.com/2010/07/09/u-s-marines-rescue-kittens/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pawnation.com%2F2010%2F07%2F09%2Fu-s-marines-rescue-kittens%2F
Just to damn adorable for words!
The next subject isn't adorable at all, I find it very troubling:
http://www.aolnews.com/money/article/womens-pay-gap-with-men-stops-narrowing/19548380?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fmoney%2Farticle%2Fwomens-pay-gap-with-men-stops-narrowing%2F19548380
There is so much about this article that bothers me. The pay gap widens as women get older which strikes me not only as sex discrimination but age discrimination as well. The pay gap has quit widening and maybe dropped a little. Have women got to comfortable where they are and quit fighting for equal pay? We don't seem to see the vocal equal rights leaders out there that we used to. Does the poor economy have anything to do with the increasing gap?
Your comments are always appreciated.
WHO AM I?
I was born in Connecticut in 1902 and died in New York at age 90. I am most known for my work in genetic structure of maize and a famous prize in Physiology. I was the third of four children of a physician and a homemaker. I was independent from a very young age. From about the age of three until the time I started school I lived with an aunt and uncle in order to reduce the financial burden on my parents while dad established his medical practice. My mother resisted the idea of higher education for her daughters, believing it would make them unmarriageable. The family also had financial problems. I was almost prevented from starting college, but my father intervened. I went to an Ivy league's College of Agriculture to study botany. A professor was impressed by my interest and telephoned to invite me to participate in a graduate genetics course. Because women could not major in genetics at the Ivy League College my MA and PHD earned in consecutive years were in botany. After I was appointed an instructorship at the college I developed a technique using carmine staining to visualize maize chromosomes. I was the first person to describe the cross-shaped interaction of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. Because of my work I was given fellowships that allowed me to continue to study genetics at a University in the show me state and at a famous technical school in the west. Another fellowship sent me to Germany for six months of training. One of the things I dd was discover transposition and then used that to show how genes are responsible for turning physical characteristics on or off. I was the third woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences and was the first woman president of a gene society. was awarded fourteen Honorary Doctor of Science degrees and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. I was also inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. I was cosidered one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. Who Am I?
Do you know how to tell an X chromosome from a Y chromosome? You pull down its genes.
http://www.pawnation.com/2010/07/09/u-s-marines-rescue-kittens/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pawnation.com%2F2010%2F07%2F09%2Fu-s-marines-rescue-kittens%2F
Just to damn adorable for words!
The next subject isn't adorable at all, I find it very troubling:
http://www.aolnews.com/money/article/womens-pay-gap-with-men-stops-narrowing/19548380?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fmoney%2Farticle%2Fwomens-pay-gap-with-men-stops-narrowing%2F19548380
There is so much about this article that bothers me. The pay gap widens as women get older which strikes me not only as sex discrimination but age discrimination as well. The pay gap has quit widening and maybe dropped a little. Have women got to comfortable where they are and quit fighting for equal pay? We don't seem to see the vocal equal rights leaders out there that we used to. Does the poor economy have anything to do with the increasing gap?
Your comments are always appreciated.
WHO AM I?
I was born in Connecticut in 1902 and died in New York at age 90. I am most known for my work in genetic structure of maize and a famous prize in Physiology. I was the third of four children of a physician and a homemaker. I was independent from a very young age. From about the age of three until the time I started school I lived with an aunt and uncle in order to reduce the financial burden on my parents while dad established his medical practice. My mother resisted the idea of higher education for her daughters, believing it would make them unmarriageable. The family also had financial problems. I was almost prevented from starting college, but my father intervened. I went to an Ivy league's College of Agriculture to study botany. A professor was impressed by my interest and telephoned to invite me to participate in a graduate genetics course. Because women could not major in genetics at the Ivy League College my MA and PHD earned in consecutive years were in botany. After I was appointed an instructorship at the college I developed a technique using carmine staining to visualize maize chromosomes. I was the first person to describe the cross-shaped interaction of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. Because of my work I was given fellowships that allowed me to continue to study genetics at a University in the show me state and at a famous technical school in the west. Another fellowship sent me to Germany for six months of training. One of the things I dd was discover transposition and then used that to show how genes are responsible for turning physical characteristics on or off. I was the third woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences and was the first woman president of a gene society. was awarded fourteen Honorary Doctor of Science degrees and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. I was also inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. I was cosidered one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. Who Am I?
Do you know how to tell an X chromosome from a Y chromosome? You pull down its genes.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
A Ghostly Update
The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Queen Lydia Kamakaʻeha Kaola Maliʻi Liliʻuokalani. That was a mouthful!
Last week. Two nights a Mom's. Taking Mom Shopping one day. Dinner out with sis, brother-in-law, caregiver, and Mom. Lunch out with Mom. Fourth of July BBQ at Sister's. Some writing. Some work on a tax return assignment for Mark and Paul. Some work on the cousin reunion.
This coming week: Today I am taking Mom to lunch and then to the Library to get her more books. The woman is a reading fool, reading at least four books a week. Tomorrow is a well deserved me day. Tuesday is taking Mom to the credit union and then spending the night at Mom's. I will be glad when my nephew returns from vacation! Wednesday is dinner out with the family. Thursday is buying staples for the reunion. Friday and Saturday nothing is planned but I am pretty sure somebody somewhere will find errands for me to run for them.
Not much on the entertainment front this week. On Top Chef Kenny won the Quickfire Challenge. Then the contestants divided into teams of two to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After breakfast the winning team was not required to compete the rest of the day. After lunch the winning lunch team didn't have to compete for dinner. The team eliminated this week was Lynne and Arnold. Didn't cook the pasta correctly. The winning team was my gal Kelly and her cooking partner Andrea. One won a trip to Italy, the other won a trip to Spain.
Sort of a cousin reunion update. One of the things that I am doing is putting together a welcome to Oregon package for the guests. Within four miles of the hotel where they are staying are six shopping centers, about twenty restaurants, two movie theaters, several pharmacies, four grocery stores and a host of other things. Besides a little blurb with directions to each of the aforementioned and a star besides the one that have my approval, I'm also putting in their package brochures of things to do in Portland. The brochures I have chosen are:
Oregon Zoo
Oregon Museum Of Science & Industry - The world through Einstein's Eyes
World Forestry Center - Be caught in a forest fire.
The Grotto - A religious retreat with beautiful gardens.
Washington Square Mall - sales tax free shopping.
Saturday Market - a craft fair that some of you have been too.
Antique Mall in Lafayette - self explanatory
Portland Spirit River Cruises - through downtown Portland.
And the one my sister has already made reservations for. She isn't going but she made reservations of her daughter, her four grandsons, and her husband. Click on "overview."
http://www.portlandwalkingtours.com/tours/beyond_bizarre.php
Sis isn't going because she is kind of scared of ghosts. If I didn't have to stay close to the hotel and act as host, I'd go in a heartbeat. Would you? What of the above brochures would attract your attention?
And remember today is your day so catch me on your liives and post anything you damn well want to! I want to hear all about what you are doing and are going to do. If you need prayers and good vibes let us know! Need to vent? Do it here. We have a special on vents today. Two for the price of one
Last week. Two nights a Mom's. Taking Mom Shopping one day. Dinner out with sis, brother-in-law, caregiver, and Mom. Lunch out with Mom. Fourth of July BBQ at Sister's. Some writing. Some work on a tax return assignment for Mark and Paul. Some work on the cousin reunion.
This coming week: Today I am taking Mom to lunch and then to the Library to get her more books. The woman is a reading fool, reading at least four books a week. Tomorrow is a well deserved me day. Tuesday is taking Mom to the credit union and then spending the night at Mom's. I will be glad when my nephew returns from vacation! Wednesday is dinner out with the family. Thursday is buying staples for the reunion. Friday and Saturday nothing is planned but I am pretty sure somebody somewhere will find errands for me to run for them.
Not much on the entertainment front this week. On Top Chef Kenny won the Quickfire Challenge. Then the contestants divided into teams of two to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After breakfast the winning team was not required to compete the rest of the day. After lunch the winning lunch team didn't have to compete for dinner. The team eliminated this week was Lynne and Arnold. Didn't cook the pasta correctly. The winning team was my gal Kelly and her cooking partner Andrea. One won a trip to Italy, the other won a trip to Spain.
Sort of a cousin reunion update. One of the things that I am doing is putting together a welcome to Oregon package for the guests. Within four miles of the hotel where they are staying are six shopping centers, about twenty restaurants, two movie theaters, several pharmacies, four grocery stores and a host of other things. Besides a little blurb with directions to each of the aforementioned and a star besides the one that have my approval, I'm also putting in their package brochures of things to do in Portland. The brochures I have chosen are:
Oregon Zoo
Oregon Museum Of Science & Industry - The world through Einstein's Eyes
World Forestry Center - Be caught in a forest fire.
The Grotto - A religious retreat with beautiful gardens.
Washington Square Mall - sales tax free shopping.
Saturday Market - a craft fair that some of you have been too.
Antique Mall in Lafayette - self explanatory
Portland Spirit River Cruises - through downtown Portland.
And the one my sister has already made reservations for. She isn't going but she made reservations of her daughter, her four grandsons, and her husband. Click on "overview."
http://www.portlandwalkingtours.com/tours/beyond_bizarre.php
Sis isn't going because she is kind of scared of ghosts. If I didn't have to stay close to the hotel and act as host, I'd go in a heartbeat. Would you? What of the above brochures would attract your attention?
And remember today is your day so catch me on your liives and post anything you damn well want to! I want to hear all about what you are doing and are going to do. If you need prayers and good vibes let us know! Need to vent? Do it here. We have a special on vents today. Two for the price of one
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Three Things
Three subjects today. The first subject has three descriptions, the weird, the funny, and just plain wrong:
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/07/06/when-quit/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fjobs.aol.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F07%2F06%2Fwhen-quit%2F
Why do I think what they did was wrong? I just think you never burn bridges. A bad reputation is easy to acquire and terribly hard to change. A good reputation is hard work and even harder work to maintain but it is probably one of the most valuable things you can have. When I applied for the seasonal job that I have worked the last two years they asked for references during the initial interview. I have this thing with phone numbers. I will be damned if I can remember names or faces but I could sit down right now and write five hundred phone numbers and know who they belong to. When they asked for references I gave them ten phone numbers and names. They called and checked each one. One of the highest compliments I've ever received in my life was the first year that I worked there the female partner in the firm told me the only reason they were hesitant to hire me was that they didn't think they could live up to my reputation. I plan on working hard to keep that reputation and if I quit any job I'm doing in a way I don't burn bridges.
Next subject is inspiring women. I've never met this woman but I love her!
http://www.asylum.com/2010/07/07/77-year-old-crossing-guard-makes-ju-jitsu-history/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl7|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asylum.com%2F2010%2F07%2F07%2F77-year-old-crossing-guard-makes-ju-jitsu-history%2F
What a great role model for all of us. I think the most exciting thing I do is either give a guest the remote control or try to navigate life without a to do list. I plan on changing that.
The third and final subject falls under the category of good health news.
http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/07/08/u-s-cancer-death-rates-drop/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2F2010%2F07%2F08%2Fu-s-cancer-death-rates-drop%2F
I'm getting more positive each year that we will find a cure for cancer in my lifetime.
Questions for the day. Have you ever quit a job in such a way that you burned a bridge? Or is your reputation more important than that? Are you going to follow the ju-jitsu history making lady and try something that would surprise all of us? Is a cure for cancer forthcoming?
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer was Ernestine Rose.
Since some of the women in my life were a royal pain last week today's Who Am I celebrates royalty.
I was born in 1838 and before I died in 1917 I became the last monarch of a Kingdom and the only queen regnant that the Kingdom ever had. I was born to a High Chiefess and a High Chief. In accordance with tradition I was adopted by another family. I was one of fifteen children. I spent my childhood studying and playing with my foster sister. I received my education at a Royal School and became fluent in English. I married at age twenty-four to a future governor. We had three children. My brother won a majority vote of the Legislature and was anointed king. After my younger brother's death the cannons sounded and I was named heir apparent of the throne being referred to from then on as Crown Princess. One of my first acts as Crown Princess was to tour the kingdom. I inherited the throne from my brother when I was fifty-three give or take a few years. I moved to get rid of the Bayonet Constitution that was signed under the threat of death before I took power. I drafted a new constitution that would restore the veto power to the monarchy and voting rights to the economically disenfranchised. The effort to draft a new constitution never came to fruition and it was the proximate cause of the overthrow of the Kingdom. Threatened my proposed new constitution, American and European businessmen and residents organized to depose of me. I was deposed and temporarily relinquished my throne to "the superior military forces of the United States". I had hoped the United States, like Great Britain earlier in the Kingdom's history, would restore sovereignty to the rightful holder. A provisional government, composed of European and American businessmen, was then instituted until annexation with the United States could be achieved. Grover Cleveland commissioned a study and based on its findings concluded that the overthrow of the Kingdomi was illegal and that U.S. Minister and American military troops had acted inappropriately in support of those who carried out the overthrow. Cleveland proposed to return the throne back to me if I granted amnesty to everyone responsible. I initially refused and it was reported that I said I would have them beheaded. With this development, then-President Grover Cleveland sent the issue to the United States Congress. I later changed my position on the issue of punishment for the conspirators and demanded my reinstatement by the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government refused. Congress responded to Cleveland's referral with a U.S. Senate investigation that resulted in a report that found all parties with the exception of the me "not guilty" from any responsibility for the overthrow. I was arrested several days after the failed revolution. I denied any knowledge at my trial, defended by a former attorney general. I was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison by a military tribunal and fined $5,000 but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom. During my imprisonment I abdicated my throne in return for the release of my jailed supporters. Following my release I was placed under house arrest for a year and later received a full pardon. I then made several trips to the United States to protest against the annexation of the Kingdom by the United States. For two years I entered claims against the U.S. totaling $450,000 for property and other losses, claiming personal ownership of the crown lands, but was unsuccessful. I died from complications from a stroke. Who Am I?
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/07/06/when-quit/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fjobs.aol.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F07%2F06%2Fwhen-quit%2F
Why do I think what they did was wrong? I just think you never burn bridges. A bad reputation is easy to acquire and terribly hard to change. A good reputation is hard work and even harder work to maintain but it is probably one of the most valuable things you can have. When I applied for the seasonal job that I have worked the last two years they asked for references during the initial interview. I have this thing with phone numbers. I will be damned if I can remember names or faces but I could sit down right now and write five hundred phone numbers and know who they belong to. When they asked for references I gave them ten phone numbers and names. They called and checked each one. One of the highest compliments I've ever received in my life was the first year that I worked there the female partner in the firm told me the only reason they were hesitant to hire me was that they didn't think they could live up to my reputation. I plan on working hard to keep that reputation and if I quit any job I'm doing in a way I don't burn bridges.
Next subject is inspiring women. I've never met this woman but I love her!
http://www.asylum.com/2010/07/07/77-year-old-crossing-guard-makes-ju-jitsu-history/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl7|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asylum.com%2F2010%2F07%2F07%2F77-year-old-crossing-guard-makes-ju-jitsu-history%2F
What a great role model for all of us. I think the most exciting thing I do is either give a guest the remote control or try to navigate life without a to do list. I plan on changing that.
The third and final subject falls under the category of good health news.
http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/07/08/u-s-cancer-death-rates-drop/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2F2010%2F07%2F08%2Fu-s-cancer-death-rates-drop%2F
I'm getting more positive each year that we will find a cure for cancer in my lifetime.
Questions for the day. Have you ever quit a job in such a way that you burned a bridge? Or is your reputation more important than that? Are you going to follow the ju-jitsu history making lady and try something that would surprise all of us? Is a cure for cancer forthcoming?
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer was Ernestine Rose.
Since some of the women in my life were a royal pain last week today's Who Am I celebrates royalty.
I was born in 1838 and before I died in 1917 I became the last monarch of a Kingdom and the only queen regnant that the Kingdom ever had. I was born to a High Chiefess and a High Chief. In accordance with tradition I was adopted by another family. I was one of fifteen children. I spent my childhood studying and playing with my foster sister. I received my education at a Royal School and became fluent in English. I married at age twenty-four to a future governor. We had three children. My brother won a majority vote of the Legislature and was anointed king. After my younger brother's death the cannons sounded and I was named heir apparent of the throne being referred to from then on as Crown Princess. One of my first acts as Crown Princess was to tour the kingdom. I inherited the throne from my brother when I was fifty-three give or take a few years. I moved to get rid of the Bayonet Constitution that was signed under the threat of death before I took power. I drafted a new constitution that would restore the veto power to the monarchy and voting rights to the economically disenfranchised. The effort to draft a new constitution never came to fruition and it was the proximate cause of the overthrow of the Kingdom. Threatened my proposed new constitution, American and European businessmen and residents organized to depose of me. I was deposed and temporarily relinquished my throne to "the superior military forces of the United States". I had hoped the United States, like Great Britain earlier in the Kingdom's history, would restore sovereignty to the rightful holder. A provisional government, composed of European and American businessmen, was then instituted until annexation with the United States could be achieved. Grover Cleveland commissioned a study and based on its findings concluded that the overthrow of the Kingdomi was illegal and that U.S. Minister and American military troops had acted inappropriately in support of those who carried out the overthrow. Cleveland proposed to return the throne back to me if I granted amnesty to everyone responsible. I initially refused and it was reported that I said I would have them beheaded. With this development, then-President Grover Cleveland sent the issue to the United States Congress. I later changed my position on the issue of punishment for the conspirators and demanded my reinstatement by the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government refused. Congress responded to Cleveland's referral with a U.S. Senate investigation that resulted in a report that found all parties with the exception of the me "not guilty" from any responsibility for the overthrow. I was arrested several days after the failed revolution. I denied any knowledge at my trial, defended by a former attorney general. I was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison by a military tribunal and fined $5,000 but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom. During my imprisonment I abdicated my throne in return for the release of my jailed supporters. Following my release I was placed under house arrest for a year and later received a full pardon. I then made several trips to the United States to protest against the annexation of the Kingdom by the United States. For two years I entered claims against the U.S. totaling $450,000 for property and other losses, claiming personal ownership of the crown lands, but was unsuccessful. I died from complications from a stroke. Who Am I?
Friday, July 9, 2010
Finds & Places Not To Go
What would you do if you found five million dollars of buried treasure? This is an amazing story here:
http://www.aolnews.com/article/brit-finds-5m-stash-of-roman-coins-with-metal-detector/19546977?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Farticle%2Fbrit-finds-5m-stash-of-roman-coins-with-metal-detector%2F19546977
Would you cash the coins in? Sell them? Keep them? Donate them to a museum?
I'm a pretty charitable person but I'm selling those suckers and taking the five million cash to live life and help others.
A lot of people have lists like things you want to see or places you want to visit before you die. Here is a different kind of list, ten places that you don't want to visit before you die.
http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/07/08/10-destinations-not-to-visit/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.travel.aol.com%2F2010%2F07%2F08%2F10-destinations-not-to-visit%2F
What does it say about me that I've already been to two of the ten places not to visit? Luxor in Las Vegas and Four Corners. Any place not on the list that you don't want to visit? I really don't have any place that I don't want to visit. I'm pretty sure I could find something charming anywhere I ended up.
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer: was Rose Schneiderman
"...The wisest of all ages have acknowledged that the most important period in human education is in childhood. . - - This most important part of education is left entirely in the hands of the mother. She prepares the soil for future culture. . . . But the mother cannot give what she does not possess; weakness cannot impart strength. With an imperfect education . . . can she develop the powers, call out the energies, and impart a spirit of independence in her sons? . . . The mother must possess these high and noble qualities, or she never can impart them to her offspring..." I said this sometime between when I was born in 1810 and when I died in 1892. Before dying I became an individualist, feminist, abolitionist, freethinker, and atheist before dying in 1892. My father was a rich rabbi and my mother the daughter of a wealthy businessman. At the age of five I began to question the justice of a God who would exact such hardships at the frequent fasts that her father performed. As I got older I began to question my father even more. By the age of fourteen I had completely rejected the idea of female inferiority and the religious texts that supported that idea. At age sixteen Mom died, and my father betrothed me, without my consent, to a young Jew who was a friend of his. Not wanting to enter a marriage with a man I neither chose nor loved I confronted dad, professing my lack of affection towards him and begging for release. He denied my plea. I traveled to the secular civil court, where I pleaded my case. The courts ruled in my favor, not only freeing me from the betrothal, but ruling that I could retain the full inheritance that I received from Mom. I decided to relinquish the fortune to dad but gladly took my freedom from the betrothal. When I returned home I discovered that in my absence dad had remarried to a sixteen year old girl. I left home at seventeen. I traveled Europe. On the way to England the ship I was sailing wrecked. I made it to England safely but all of my possessions were destroyed, making me destitute. In order to support myself I sought work as a teacher in the languages of German and Hebrew and continued to sell room deodorizers. While in England I met a socialist who was so impressed by me that he invited me to speak in a large hall for radical speakers. In spite of my limited knowledge of English, the audience was so impressed that from then on my appearances were regular. While there I married Bill in a civil ceremony believing marriage to be a civil contract rather than a religious one. We returned to the State becoming naturalized citizens and I opened a fancy perfume shop. I continued to give lectures. traveling to different states to espouse my causes of the abolition of slavery, religious tolerance, public education and equality for women. I was once called "a female Atheist... a thousand times below a prostitute." When I responded to the slur in a letter to the competing paper I sparked off a town feud that created such publicity that, by the time I arrived, everyone in town was eager to hear me. Despite opposition I was elected president of a convention thanks to the support of Susan who said, "every religion – or none – should have an equal right on the platform". I died in England in 1892. Who Am I?
http://www.aolnews.com/article/brit-finds-5m-stash-of-roman-coins-with-metal-detector/19546977?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Farticle%2Fbrit-finds-5m-stash-of-roman-coins-with-metal-detector%2F19546977
Would you cash the coins in? Sell them? Keep them? Donate them to a museum?
I'm a pretty charitable person but I'm selling those suckers and taking the five million cash to live life and help others.
A lot of people have lists like things you want to see or places you want to visit before you die. Here is a different kind of list, ten places that you don't want to visit before you die.
http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/07/08/10-destinations-not-to-visit/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.travel.aol.com%2F2010%2F07%2F08%2F10-destinations-not-to-visit%2F
What does it say about me that I've already been to two of the ten places not to visit? Luxor in Las Vegas and Four Corners. Any place not on the list that you don't want to visit? I really don't have any place that I don't want to visit. I'm pretty sure I could find something charming anywhere I ended up.
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer: was Rose Schneiderman
"...The wisest of all ages have acknowledged that the most important period in human education is in childhood. . - - This most important part of education is left entirely in the hands of the mother. She prepares the soil for future culture. . . . But the mother cannot give what she does not possess; weakness cannot impart strength. With an imperfect education . . . can she develop the powers, call out the energies, and impart a spirit of independence in her sons? . . . The mother must possess these high and noble qualities, or she never can impart them to her offspring..." I said this sometime between when I was born in 1810 and when I died in 1892. Before dying I became an individualist, feminist, abolitionist, freethinker, and atheist before dying in 1892. My father was a rich rabbi and my mother the daughter of a wealthy businessman. At the age of five I began to question the justice of a God who would exact such hardships at the frequent fasts that her father performed. As I got older I began to question my father even more. By the age of fourteen I had completely rejected the idea of female inferiority and the religious texts that supported that idea. At age sixteen Mom died, and my father betrothed me, without my consent, to a young Jew who was a friend of his. Not wanting to enter a marriage with a man I neither chose nor loved I confronted dad, professing my lack of affection towards him and begging for release. He denied my plea. I traveled to the secular civil court, where I pleaded my case. The courts ruled in my favor, not only freeing me from the betrothal, but ruling that I could retain the full inheritance that I received from Mom. I decided to relinquish the fortune to dad but gladly took my freedom from the betrothal. When I returned home I discovered that in my absence dad had remarried to a sixteen year old girl. I left home at seventeen. I traveled Europe. On the way to England the ship I was sailing wrecked. I made it to England safely but all of my possessions were destroyed, making me destitute. In order to support myself I sought work as a teacher in the languages of German and Hebrew and continued to sell room deodorizers. While in England I met a socialist who was so impressed by me that he invited me to speak in a large hall for radical speakers. In spite of my limited knowledge of English, the audience was so impressed that from then on my appearances were regular. While there I married Bill in a civil ceremony believing marriage to be a civil contract rather than a religious one. We returned to the State becoming naturalized citizens and I opened a fancy perfume shop. I continued to give lectures. traveling to different states to espouse my causes of the abolition of slavery, religious tolerance, public education and equality for women. I was once called "a female Atheist... a thousand times below a prostitute." When I responded to the slur in a letter to the competing paper I sparked off a town feud that created such publicity that, by the time I arrived, everyone in town was eager to hear me. Despite opposition I was elected president of a convention thanks to the support of Susan who said, "every religion – or none – should have an equal right on the platform". I died in England in 1892. Who Am I?
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Heat Wave
A good day today. I figured out how to set the timer on my coffee pot. I haven't been this happy since I set the timer on my VCR several years ago.
Heat waves seem common throughout the country now. The East Coast has had brutally hot temperatures for several days. Our heat wave started yesterday with the heat in the high nineties and an expected triple digit reading today. Because I want you to all be careful out there and get help if you suffer heat stroke I am passing on the following article on how to tell if your are suffering from heat stroke:
http://www.aolnews.com/article/heat-wave-how-to-self-diagnosing-heat-stroke/19543766?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Farticle%2Fheat-wave-how-to-self-diagnosing-heat-stroke%2F19543766
Now on to the next subject. The Wave. We have all been there, tooling along when a car coming the opposite direction wants to turn left in front of us into a shopping center, business, or driveway and trying to be a courtesy driver we wave the car to go ahead and turn in front of us. What happens if a car behind you is to stupid to figure out why you are stopping and goes around to smack right into that turning left car? Who is at fault? The person making the wave may be. Checkout the following article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/07/portland_jury_decides_whos_at.html
Quoting one of the attorneys mentioned in the article: "We are blessed here with courteous drivers," Bachofner said. "That's why we moved to Portland, Oregon. ... What message do you want to send?"
Questions for the day. What are the temperatures in your neck of the woods? If you were on the jury of the trial mentioned in the second article, what message would you send? Would you deem the waver liable? The person making the left hand turn? The person that drove past you in the other lane that hit the car? All of them? Are you going to suspend the wave for a while?
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer: was Mary Violet Leontyne Price
I was born in 1882 and died in 1972 and I am most noted as being a socialist and a labor union leader. I was born in Poland as the eldest of four children. My parents worked in the sewing trade to support our family. Two years after migrating to New York dad died and left our family in desperate poverty. My brothers and I spent over a year in orphanages before mom could reunite us. I worked as a cashier at age thirteen. We moved to Canada where I developed an interest in both radical politics and trade unionism. I returned to New York and started to organize women in my factory. I was elected the New York branch's vice president of a women's labor union. When a fire in a factory that had no fire escapes or alarms killed one hundred and forty-four people I was livid. I wrote a blistering article condeming law enforcement and unions. I served on the National Recovery Administration's Labor Advisory Board in the 1930s, was a member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "brain trust" during that decade, and worked as secretary of the New York State Department of Labor from 1937 to 1944. I was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union, active in the American Labor Party in the 1930s and a close associate of Eleanor Roosevelt. In addition to my union organizing I was an active feminist, campaigning for women's suffrage as a member of the National American Women Suffrage Association and running for the United States Senate. I saw suffrage as part and parcel of my fight for economic rights. I, however, opposed passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution proposed by the National Woman's Party on the grounds that it would deprive working women of the special statutory protections for which the unions had fought so hard. My most memorable quote is:
"What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist — the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with."
Who Am I?
Heat waves seem common throughout the country now. The East Coast has had brutally hot temperatures for several days. Our heat wave started yesterday with the heat in the high nineties and an expected triple digit reading today. Because I want you to all be careful out there and get help if you suffer heat stroke I am passing on the following article on how to tell if your are suffering from heat stroke:
http://www.aolnews.com/article/heat-wave-how-to-self-diagnosing-heat-stroke/19543766?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Farticle%2Fheat-wave-how-to-self-diagnosing-heat-stroke%2F19543766
Now on to the next subject. The Wave. We have all been there, tooling along when a car coming the opposite direction wants to turn left in front of us into a shopping center, business, or driveway and trying to be a courtesy driver we wave the car to go ahead and turn in front of us. What happens if a car behind you is to stupid to figure out why you are stopping and goes around to smack right into that turning left car? Who is at fault? The person making the wave may be. Checkout the following article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/07/portland_jury_decides_whos_at.html
Quoting one of the attorneys mentioned in the article: "We are blessed here with courteous drivers," Bachofner said. "That's why we moved to Portland, Oregon. ... What message do you want to send?"
Questions for the day. What are the temperatures in your neck of the woods? If you were on the jury of the trial mentioned in the second article, what message would you send? Would you deem the waver liable? The person making the left hand turn? The person that drove past you in the other lane that hit the car? All of them? Are you going to suspend the wave for a while?
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer: was Mary Violet Leontyne Price
I was born in 1882 and died in 1972 and I am most noted as being a socialist and a labor union leader. I was born in Poland as the eldest of four children. My parents worked in the sewing trade to support our family. Two years after migrating to New York dad died and left our family in desperate poverty. My brothers and I spent over a year in orphanages before mom could reunite us. I worked as a cashier at age thirteen. We moved to Canada where I developed an interest in both radical politics and trade unionism. I returned to New York and started to organize women in my factory. I was elected the New York branch's vice president of a women's labor union. When a fire in a factory that had no fire escapes or alarms killed one hundred and forty-four people I was livid. I wrote a blistering article condeming law enforcement and unions. I served on the National Recovery Administration's Labor Advisory Board in the 1930s, was a member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "brain trust" during that decade, and worked as secretary of the New York State Department of Labor from 1937 to 1944. I was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union, active in the American Labor Party in the 1930s and a close associate of Eleanor Roosevelt. In addition to my union organizing I was an active feminist, campaigning for women's suffrage as a member of the National American Women Suffrage Association and running for the United States Senate. I saw suffrage as part and parcel of my fight for economic rights. I, however, opposed passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution proposed by the National Woman's Party on the grounds that it would deprive working women of the special statutory protections for which the unions had fought so hard. My most memorable quote is:
"What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist — the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with."
Who Am I?
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
College or Not?
Sorry I am late posting today but it really hasn't been all that great of a day. Sometimes family members say hurtful things they don't really mean and it isn't all that much fun. Meant or not they are still hurtful and sometimes it requires shutting out the outside world to get your focus back. This has been one of those days and one of those times.
Enough complaining. I only have one subject today, college. Growing up none of us in our family thought we had any choice but to go to college. College was the main topic of most dinner discussions. It was just assumed that the next step after high school was college. All three of us kids ended up with some form of college and our lives have definitely been better for it. That is why I was kind of surprised by the following editorial arguing that college isn't always the best choice:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-07-07-column07_ST_N.htm
What do you think of the above column? Agree with him? Disagree? When you graduated from high school was it drilled into you that college was your only choice? I actually agree with the columnist despite the fact that I think my parents did the right thing by instilling in us the motivation to continue our education after college. Just because it was right for our family doesn't mean it is right for every family.
Who Is She?
Yesterday's answer: Jovita Idar
She was born in Mississippi in 1927 and raised in the segregated South. Her father worked in a lumber mill and her mother was a midwife who sang in the church choir. They had waited 13 years for a child, and she became the focus of intense pride and love. Given a toy piano at age 3, she began piano lessons right away with a local teacher. When she was in kindergarten, her parents traded in the family phonograph as the down payment on an upright piano. At 14, she was taken on a school trip to hear Marian Anderson sing in Jackson, and she remembered the experience as inspirational. In her teen years she accompanied the "second choir" at St. Paul's Methodist Church while singing and playing for the chorus at the black high school. Meanwhile, she often visited the home of an affluent white family for whom her aunt worked as a laundress. The while lady encouraged the girl's early piano playing, and later noticed her extraordinary singing voice. Aiming for a teaching career She enrolled in the music education program at an all-black College. Her success in the glee club led to solo assignments, and she was encouraged to complete her studies in voice. She sang in the choir with another soon-to-be-famous singer. After school she went on a tour of Europe, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. After appearing in Vienna, Berlin, London, and Paris, the company returned to New York when Broadway's Ziegfeld Theater became available. On the eve of the European tour, she married a noted bass-baritone. She would later become the first black to appear in a leading role in a televised Opera, several affiliates canceled the telecast in protest. She rose to international fame during a period of racial change and became the first African-American to become a leading prima dona at the Met. When she appeared at the met a New York Times critic wrote of her "voice, warm and luscious, has enough volume to fill the house with ease, and she has a good technique to back up the voice itself. She even took the trills as written, and nothing in the part as Verdi wrote it gave her the least bit of trouble. She moves well and is a competent actress. But no soprano makes a career of acting. Voice is what counts, and voice is what she has." Her voice ranged from A flat below Middle C to the E above High C. (She said she reached high Fs "in the shower.") Among her many honors are the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the Kennedy Center Honors , the National Medal of Arts , numerous honorary degrees, and nineteen Grammy Awards, including a special Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also one of the recipients of the first Opera Honors given by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her last role was in 1977 in San Francisco In 2001,, at age 74, she was asked to come out of retirement and sing in a memorial concert in Carnegie Hall after the September 11 attacks. With James at the piano, she sang a favorite spiritual, "This Little Light of Mine", followed by an unaccompanied "God Bless America", capping it with a bright, easy high B-flat. Miles Davis, in his self-titled autobiography, writes of her "I have always been one of her fans because in my opinion she is the greatest female singer ever, the greatest opera singer ever. She could hit anything with her voice. She is so good it's scary. .. I love the way she sings Tosca. I wore out her recording of that, wore out two sets." Who is She?
Enough complaining. I only have one subject today, college. Growing up none of us in our family thought we had any choice but to go to college. College was the main topic of most dinner discussions. It was just assumed that the next step after high school was college. All three of us kids ended up with some form of college and our lives have definitely been better for it. That is why I was kind of surprised by the following editorial arguing that college isn't always the best choice:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-07-07-column07_ST_N.htm
What do you think of the above column? Agree with him? Disagree? When you graduated from high school was it drilled into you that college was your only choice? I actually agree with the columnist despite the fact that I think my parents did the right thing by instilling in us the motivation to continue our education after college. Just because it was right for our family doesn't mean it is right for every family.
Who Is She?
Yesterday's answer: Jovita Idar
She was born in Mississippi in 1927 and raised in the segregated South. Her father worked in a lumber mill and her mother was a midwife who sang in the church choir. They had waited 13 years for a child, and she became the focus of intense pride and love. Given a toy piano at age 3, she began piano lessons right away with a local teacher. When she was in kindergarten, her parents traded in the family phonograph as the down payment on an upright piano. At 14, she was taken on a school trip to hear Marian Anderson sing in Jackson, and she remembered the experience as inspirational. In her teen years she accompanied the "second choir" at St. Paul's Methodist Church while singing and playing for the chorus at the black high school. Meanwhile, she often visited the home of an affluent white family for whom her aunt worked as a laundress. The while lady encouraged the girl's early piano playing, and later noticed her extraordinary singing voice. Aiming for a teaching career She enrolled in the music education program at an all-black College. Her success in the glee club led to solo assignments, and she was encouraged to complete her studies in voice. She sang in the choir with another soon-to-be-famous singer. After school she went on a tour of Europe, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. After appearing in Vienna, Berlin, London, and Paris, the company returned to New York when Broadway's Ziegfeld Theater became available. On the eve of the European tour, she married a noted bass-baritone. She would later become the first black to appear in a leading role in a televised Opera, several affiliates canceled the telecast in protest. She rose to international fame during a period of racial change and became the first African-American to become a leading prima dona at the Met. When she appeared at the met a New York Times critic wrote of her "voice, warm and luscious, has enough volume to fill the house with ease, and she has a good technique to back up the voice itself. She even took the trills as written, and nothing in the part as Verdi wrote it gave her the least bit of trouble. She moves well and is a competent actress. But no soprano makes a career of acting. Voice is what counts, and voice is what she has." Her voice ranged from A flat below Middle C to the E above High C. (She said she reached high Fs "in the shower.") Among her many honors are the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the Kennedy Center Honors , the National Medal of Arts , numerous honorary degrees, and nineteen Grammy Awards, including a special Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also one of the recipients of the first Opera Honors given by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her last role was in 1977 in San Francisco In 2001,, at age 74, she was asked to come out of retirement and sing in a memorial concert in Carnegie Hall after the September 11 attacks. With James at the piano, she sang a favorite spiritual, "This Little Light of Mine", followed by an unaccompanied "God Bless America", capping it with a bright, easy high B-flat. Miles Davis, in his self-titled autobiography, writes of her "I have always been one of her fans because in my opinion she is the greatest female singer ever, the greatest opera singer ever. She could hit anything with her voice. She is so good it's scary. .. I love the way she sings Tosca. I wore out her recording of that, wore out two sets." Who is She?
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
From Religion To Politics.
As I have previously stated I usely avoid writing about politics and religion on the blog because anything I say isn't going to lead to anyone changing their opinion on either politics or religion. All of our opinions are firmly set in stone and not even a sledge hammer is going break our barriers down. I did post an interesting article about religion not to long ago and today I am posting what I think is an interesting article about politics.
Siena College Research Institute surveys presidential scholars on who are the best and worst presidents in US History. The survey is done approximately every eight years and this is the fifth survey taken. In the recently completed survey two hundred and thirty-eight scholars participated.
The presidents are ranked on the six personal attributes of background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks. They are also ranked on the five forms of ability of compromising, executive skills, leadership skiils, communication skills and overall performance. Finally they are ranked on their accomplishments in economics, in other domestic affairs, how well they worked with Congress and their own party, how they did at appointing supreme court justices and other members of the executive branch, how they did at avoiding mistakes and how well they did with foreign policy.
THE TOP TEN IN ORDER
F. Roosevelt
T. Roosevelt
Lincoln
Washington
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
Wilson
Truman
Eisenhower
THE FIVE WORST FROM WORST
Andrew Johnson
Buchanan
Harding
Pierce
GW Bush
Now friends George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton finished twenty-second and thirteenth respectively. Ronald Reagan comes in at eighteenth. The two that surprised me the most were JFK (11th) and Obama (15th). I loved JFK and have often said his brother RFK was a hero of mine but I honestly don't think he was in office long enough to accomplish enough to put him at the eleventh position. While I supported Obama during the election I'm kind of disappointed in his accomplishments and pretty much think less than two years in office doesn't establish enough history for him to be rated as either a good or bad president.
Additional things that surprised me. We haven't had a top ten president since 1960. Four of the top ten were founding fathers. Following this paragraph are two links. The first link is the article about the survey. The second link gives the results of the survey. In the second link I found the ranking by category extremely interesting. Who were the top two ranked in leadership, for example.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/01/poor-andrew-johnson-poll-ranks-worst-and-best-presidents/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2010%2F07%2F01%2Fpoor-andrew-johnson-poll-ranks-worst-and-best-presidents%2F
http://www.siena.edu/uploadedfiles/home/parents_and_community/community_page/sri/independent_research/Presidents%20Release_2010_final.pdf
The questions of the day. Which of the top five presidents is not on Mount Rushmore? What about the survey surprises you? Will we ever see a president gain a top ten ranking in our lifetime? No. Has the adversarial atmosphere in today's political world prevented presidents from accomplishing enough to gain a top ten ranking? Yes. Will the atmosphere ever go in our lifetime from one of preventing the other party from accomplishing something to working together for the best of America? Nope, not unless a viable third party takes hold.
Looking forward to your take on it.
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer: Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrickson Zaharias
I was born in 1885 and died in 1946. I was a journalist, political activist and civil rights worker that worked hard to advance the civil rights of Mexican-Americans. My two brothers and I worked for a newspaper that was edited and published by my dad. I earned my teaching certificate at a Holding Institute in Laredo and later taught about forty miles from there. I was the first president of a Women's League that was founded to offer free education to Mexican children in addition to unify the intellectuals of Texas around the issues of protection of civil rights, bilingual education, lynching of Mexicans, labor organizing and women's concerns. It developed into a social, political and charitable organization for women that in part provided food and clothes to those in need. During a revolution a friend and I went South of the boarder to care for the wounded. I would later marry a tinsmith and plumber and move to San Antonio. There I founded a newspaper but it only lasted four years. Who Am I?
Siena College Research Institute surveys presidential scholars on who are the best and worst presidents in US History. The survey is done approximately every eight years and this is the fifth survey taken. In the recently completed survey two hundred and thirty-eight scholars participated.
The presidents are ranked on the six personal attributes of background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks. They are also ranked on the five forms of ability of compromising, executive skills, leadership skiils, communication skills and overall performance. Finally they are ranked on their accomplishments in economics, in other domestic affairs, how well they worked with Congress and their own party, how they did at appointing supreme court justices and other members of the executive branch, how they did at avoiding mistakes and how well they did with foreign policy.
THE TOP TEN IN ORDER
F. Roosevelt
T. Roosevelt
Lincoln
Washington
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
Wilson
Truman
Eisenhower
THE FIVE WORST FROM WORST
Andrew Johnson
Buchanan
Harding
Pierce
GW Bush
Now friends George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton finished twenty-second and thirteenth respectively. Ronald Reagan comes in at eighteenth. The two that surprised me the most were JFK (11th) and Obama (15th). I loved JFK and have often said his brother RFK was a hero of mine but I honestly don't think he was in office long enough to accomplish enough to put him at the eleventh position. While I supported Obama during the election I'm kind of disappointed in his accomplishments and pretty much think less than two years in office doesn't establish enough history for him to be rated as either a good or bad president.
Additional things that surprised me. We haven't had a top ten president since 1960. Four of the top ten were founding fathers. Following this paragraph are two links. The first link is the article about the survey. The second link gives the results of the survey. In the second link I found the ranking by category extremely interesting. Who were the top two ranked in leadership, for example.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/01/poor-andrew-johnson-poll-ranks-worst-and-best-presidents/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2010%2F07%2F01%2Fpoor-andrew-johnson-poll-ranks-worst-and-best-presidents%2F
http://www.siena.edu/uploadedfiles/home/parents_and_community/community_page/sri/independent_research/Presidents%20Release_2010_final.pdf
The questions of the day. Which of the top five presidents is not on Mount Rushmore? What about the survey surprises you? Will we ever see a president gain a top ten ranking in our lifetime? No. Has the adversarial atmosphere in today's political world prevented presidents from accomplishing enough to gain a top ten ranking? Yes. Will the atmosphere ever go in our lifetime from one of preventing the other party from accomplishing something to working together for the best of America? Nope, not unless a viable third party takes hold.
Looking forward to your take on it.
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer: Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrickson Zaharias
I was born in 1885 and died in 1946. I was a journalist, political activist and civil rights worker that worked hard to advance the civil rights of Mexican-Americans. My two brothers and I worked for a newspaper that was edited and published by my dad. I earned my teaching certificate at a Holding Institute in Laredo and later taught about forty miles from there. I was the first president of a Women's League that was founded to offer free education to Mexican children in addition to unify the intellectuals of Texas around the issues of protection of civil rights, bilingual education, lynching of Mexicans, labor organizing and women's concerns. It developed into a social, political and charitable organization for women that in part provided food and clothes to those in need. During a revolution a friend and I went South of the boarder to care for the wounded. I would later marry a tinsmith and plumber and move to San Antonio. There I founded a newspaper but it only lasted four years. Who Am I?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Spiders & Friends
I hope you all survived yesterday's celebrations with all your fingers, arms, and legs in tact. I was at Mom's last night and I am there today and tonight. Sis does Tuesday and Wednesday night and then the caregiver is back Thursday night. Now on to today's subjects, spiders and friends.
Are you scared of spiders? I'm not really scared of spiders but growing up once I was bitten by a brown one that caused me all sorts of problems. I even had to take drugs for a while. Still that didn't leave me afraid of the little critters because I am bigger than they are. There is now an Austrian university that is seeking young girls to participate in a study to figure what about the little dudes that scare us. Here is a brief article about the study:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100630/od_nm/us_spiders_fear
Maybe you aren't scared of spiders but are you lonely? Need friends? Here is an article to tell you how you can get a few friends:
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/07/02/rentafriend-com-find-a-friend-for-a-price/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl2|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F07%2F02%2Frentafriend-com-find-a-friend-for-a-price%2F
I just want you all to know I will be your friend for free. No Charge. I'm loyal and can bark like a dog.
Questions of the day: Are you scared of spiders? Do you want to know why? Would you ever rent a friend? If they had two friends for the price of one coupons would that make a difference?
Enjoy the day!
Who Am I?
I was born in 1911 and died much to young in 1956. Oh the records I could have set if I lived longer. I am remembered as being as versatile as Lottie. I was the sixth of seven children born to immigrants from Norway. I moved to Texas when I was four. I am said to have acquired my famous nickname after hitting five home runs in a childhood baseball game. I gained my fame in other sports besides baseball. I could sew with the best of them and won the sewing championship at a State Fair. I made all my outfits. I was also a singer and a harmonica player that graduated from high school but never attended college. I recorded several songs including one where she felt like a kitchen appliance. I married a professional wrestler. After which I did some part time acting. We had no children. Besides the sport that I medaled in I was an excellent diver, roller-skater, and bowler. I won two golds and one silver four years before Jesse was snubbed by Hitler. I worked as a secretary for a company that allowed me to compete in the AAU championships in which one year I competed in eight of the ten events, I won five of them outright and tied for first in a sixth. I set five world records. After that I performed on the vaudeville circuit. I also competed in billiards though not winning a championship. I later would become famous in a sport that made Jack and Arnold famous. I was denied amateur status and was the first woman to compete in a men's event which wasn't duplicated until almost sixty years later. I was diagnosed with colon cancer at forty-two years old. After cancer surgery I made a comeback and become the second oldest woman ever to win a tour event. The cancer recurred two years later during which I still won two of eight events that I competed in. I died when I was sill in the front of all my female competitors. Before dying my husband and I established a Fund to support cancer clinics. I broke the accepted models of femininity in my time, including the accepted models of female athleticism. Although just 5'5" tall I was physically strong and socially straightforward about my strength. Although a hero to many I was also derided for my "manliness". I died ten years before the Second Wave of feminism that altered the social landscape of the United States. My real claim to fame is being mentioned in a Simpson's episode. I penned an autobiography that is no longer in print but is available in many libraries. Who Am I?
Are you scared of spiders? I'm not really scared of spiders but growing up once I was bitten by a brown one that caused me all sorts of problems. I even had to take drugs for a while. Still that didn't leave me afraid of the little critters because I am bigger than they are. There is now an Austrian university that is seeking young girls to participate in a study to figure what about the little dudes that scare us. Here is a brief article about the study:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100630/od_nm/us_spiders_fear
Maybe you aren't scared of spiders but are you lonely? Need friends? Here is an article to tell you how you can get a few friends:
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/07/02/rentafriend-com-find-a-friend-for-a-price/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl2|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F07%2F02%2Frentafriend-com-find-a-friend-for-a-price%2F
I just want you all to know I will be your friend for free. No Charge. I'm loyal and can bark like a dog.
Questions of the day: Are you scared of spiders? Do you want to know why? Would you ever rent a friend? If they had two friends for the price of one coupons would that make a difference?
Enjoy the day!
Who Am I?
I was born in 1911 and died much to young in 1956. Oh the records I could have set if I lived longer. I am remembered as being as versatile as Lottie. I was the sixth of seven children born to immigrants from Norway. I moved to Texas when I was four. I am said to have acquired my famous nickname after hitting five home runs in a childhood baseball game. I gained my fame in other sports besides baseball. I could sew with the best of them and won the sewing championship at a State Fair. I made all my outfits. I was also a singer and a harmonica player that graduated from high school but never attended college. I recorded several songs including one where she felt like a kitchen appliance. I married a professional wrestler. After which I did some part time acting. We had no children. Besides the sport that I medaled in I was an excellent diver, roller-skater, and bowler. I won two golds and one silver four years before Jesse was snubbed by Hitler. I worked as a secretary for a company that allowed me to compete in the AAU championships in which one year I competed in eight of the ten events, I won five of them outright and tied for first in a sixth. I set five world records. After that I performed on the vaudeville circuit. I also competed in billiards though not winning a championship. I later would become famous in a sport that made Jack and Arnold famous. I was denied amateur status and was the first woman to compete in a men's event which wasn't duplicated until almost sixty years later. I was diagnosed with colon cancer at forty-two years old. After cancer surgery I made a comeback and become the second oldest woman ever to win a tour event. The cancer recurred two years later during which I still won two of eight events that I competed in. I died when I was sill in the front of all my female competitors. Before dying my husband and I established a Fund to support cancer clinics. I broke the accepted models of femininity in my time, including the accepted models of female athleticism. Although just 5'5" tall I was physically strong and socially straightforward about my strength. Although a hero to many I was also derided for my "manliness". I died ten years before the Second Wave of feminism that altered the social landscape of the United States. My real claim to fame is being mentioned in a Simpson's episode. I penned an autobiography that is no longer in print but is available in many libraries. Who Am I?
Sunday, July 4, 2010
An Independent Update.
I know the Fourth of July has an important meaning. It is the day the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776 with the following document:
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/index.htm
However, it is has become my least favorite holiday due to the idiot factor. How many stories are we going to hear this year of someone blowing a finger, an arm, or a hand off? How many fires are going to be started due to careless setting off of fireworks? How many purchases of illegal fireworks are going to be made? How many pets are going to be scared witless and run away? The meaning has gone from celebrating independence to embracing stupidity. Maybe it also has become a guys holiday:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/susan_nielsen/index.ssf/2010/07/fourth_of_july_trying_to_love.html
Enough of my rant now the weekly update:
I had a nice coffee meeting with Red Whistle on Tuesday, a nice birthday lunch yesterday (we had trouble meshing our schedules) with Naomi, spent Wednesday night at Mom's, met with the caterers on Tuesday, had a nice lunch with Mom on Friday, dinner out with sis and Mom on Monday, worked on the cousin letter on Thursday and stuffed, stamped and sent it out on Friday, there was also a lunch on Monday with a friend and I finished reading Janet Evanovich's SIZZLING SIXTEEN.
Next week it is tonight and tomorrow night at Mom's, putting together a package of events for the cousin reunion, the wonderful task of laundry, finishing two work assignments, and buying some of the staples for the reunion.
Not much on the entertainment front this week. This was men's week on Top Chef. Kenny won the Quickfire Challenge. Arnold won the Elimination challenge. Three men and one woman finished in the bottom four and of course the woman, Tracey, was sent packing. I was really sorry to see Tracey go because she really had a colorful personality.
The blog is now yours. Catch me up on your lives! I would really love to hear from Dona and The Dude (also known as The Shankster.) We also haven't heard from Snug and how her parents are doing for quite a while. This is your time to shine. Vent. Jump with joy. Introduce yourselves. Tell me what is on your plate. Both the fun and boring things you are doing. Post anything you damn well please. And answer two questions: Do you like the fourth? And has it become a man's holiday?
THE ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S WHO AM I WAS Ella Josephine Baker
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/index.htm
However, it is has become my least favorite holiday due to the idiot factor. How many stories are we going to hear this year of someone blowing a finger, an arm, or a hand off? How many fires are going to be started due to careless setting off of fireworks? How many purchases of illegal fireworks are going to be made? How many pets are going to be scared witless and run away? The meaning has gone from celebrating independence to embracing stupidity. Maybe it also has become a guys holiday:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/susan_nielsen/index.ssf/2010/07/fourth_of_july_trying_to_love.html
Enough of my rant now the weekly update:
I had a nice coffee meeting with Red Whistle on Tuesday, a nice birthday lunch yesterday (we had trouble meshing our schedules) with Naomi, spent Wednesday night at Mom's, met with the caterers on Tuesday, had a nice lunch with Mom on Friday, dinner out with sis and Mom on Monday, worked on the cousin letter on Thursday and stuffed, stamped and sent it out on Friday, there was also a lunch on Monday with a friend and I finished reading Janet Evanovich's SIZZLING SIXTEEN.
Next week it is tonight and tomorrow night at Mom's, putting together a package of events for the cousin reunion, the wonderful task of laundry, finishing two work assignments, and buying some of the staples for the reunion.
Not much on the entertainment front this week. This was men's week on Top Chef. Kenny won the Quickfire Challenge. Arnold won the Elimination challenge. Three men and one woman finished in the bottom four and of course the woman, Tracey, was sent packing. I was really sorry to see Tracey go because she really had a colorful personality.
The blog is now yours. Catch me up on your lives! I would really love to hear from Dona and The Dude (also known as The Shankster.) We also haven't heard from Snug and how her parents are doing for quite a while. This is your time to shine. Vent. Jump with joy. Introduce yourselves. Tell me what is on your plate. Both the fun and boring things you are doing. Post anything you damn well please. And answer two questions: Do you like the fourth? And has it become a man's holiday?
THE ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S WHO AM I WAS Ella Josephine Baker
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Good News
Good news on the health front:
http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/07/01/best-2-tests-for-predicting-alzheimers/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2F2010%2F07%2F01%2Fbest-2-tests-for-predicting-alzheimers%2F
They are making great strides in predicting who is at risk for Alzheimer's. While they can't now cure it there are several drugs and methods available to delay the onset of it. While I believe this is really good news, it won't be great news until we find a cure for it.
Good news on another front. Well, some might say it isn't all that good news. Now sixty-three percent of all men enjoy something that a much smaller percent used to enjoy:
http://www.stylelist.com/2010/06/29/men-close-grooming-gap-with-women-study-finds/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2F2010%2F06%2F29%2Fmen-close-grooming-gap-with-women-study-finds%2F
And the last good news of the day? When you are done painting your house and have some paint left over there a lot of things you can do with it:
http://www.diylife.com/2010/06/29/10-uses-for-leftover-house-paint/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl8|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diylife.com%2F2010%2F06%2F29%2F10-uses-for-leftover-house-paint%2F
Here are the questions for the day. Are you happy that us slobs are taking up more of your bathroom time so that we look nicer and smell better? Or does that just mean that we are becoming more vain? An are you going to use leftover paint to create the next Van Gogh? Or are you just going to paint the light switches in your house? Or throw it away? And finally do you thing we will ever find a cure for Alzheimer's?
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer was Felisa Rincón de Gautier
I was born in Virginia in 1903 and died in New York in 1986. I was a behind the scenes civil rights worker who helped fight for equal rights over five decades. I worked alongside some of the most famous civil rights leaders of the twentieth century, including: W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr.. I also mentored such then young civil rights stalwarts as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks and Bob Moses. As a young girl I listened to my grandmother tell stories about slave revolts. My grandmother had been whipped for refusing to marry a man chosen for her by the slave owner. I graduated from college as class valedictorian. As a student I challenged school policies that I thought were unfair. I would later protest Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and supported the campaign to free the Scottsboro defendants in Alabama, a group of young black men accused of raping two white women. In the 1960s, the idea of "Participatory Democracy" was created and I supported it. There were three principles of the Democracy (1) an appeal for grass roots involvement of people throughout society, while making their own decisions, (2) the minimization of hierarchy (leaders) and the associated emphasis on expertise and professionalism as a basis for leadership, and (3) a call for direct action as an answer to fear isolation and intellectual detachment. As a recruiter for the civil rights movement my ability to treat everyone with respect helped me. I helped initiate voter registration campaigns and identify other local grievances in the South. I believed in nonviolent protests. I was once called the "Godmother of SNCC." I helped to coordinate the region-wide freedom rides of 1961. I also helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) as an alternative to the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party. I lent my voice to the Puerto Rican independence movement, spoke out against apartheid in South Africa and allied myself with a number of women's groups, including the Third World Women's Alliance and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. I remained an activist until my death.
I differed in opinion and philosophy with the famous Martin and once claimed that the movement made Martin, and not Martin the movement. I also urged activists to take control of the movement themselves, rather than rely on a leader with "heavy feet of clay," which was widely interpreted as a denunciation of King. I was such a private person that people didn't know that I was married for twenty years. I am quoted as saying "You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders." Who Am I?
http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/07/01/best-2-tests-for-predicting-alzheimers/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2F2010%2F07%2F01%2Fbest-2-tests-for-predicting-alzheimers%2F
They are making great strides in predicting who is at risk for Alzheimer's. While they can't now cure it there are several drugs and methods available to delay the onset of it. While I believe this is really good news, it won't be great news until we find a cure for it.
Good news on another front. Well, some might say it isn't all that good news. Now sixty-three percent of all men enjoy something that a much smaller percent used to enjoy:
http://www.stylelist.com/2010/06/29/men-close-grooming-gap-with-women-study-finds/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2F2010%2F06%2F29%2Fmen-close-grooming-gap-with-women-study-finds%2F
And the last good news of the day? When you are done painting your house and have some paint left over there a lot of things you can do with it:
http://www.diylife.com/2010/06/29/10-uses-for-leftover-house-paint/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl8|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diylife.com%2F2010%2F06%2F29%2F10-uses-for-leftover-house-paint%2F
Here are the questions for the day. Are you happy that us slobs are taking up more of your bathroom time so that we look nicer and smell better? Or does that just mean that we are becoming more vain? An are you going to use leftover paint to create the next Van Gogh? Or are you just going to paint the light switches in your house? Or throw it away? And finally do you thing we will ever find a cure for Alzheimer's?
Who Am I?
Yesterday's answer was Felisa Rincón de Gautier
I was born in Virginia in 1903 and died in New York in 1986. I was a behind the scenes civil rights worker who helped fight for equal rights over five decades. I worked alongside some of the most famous civil rights leaders of the twentieth century, including: W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr.. I also mentored such then young civil rights stalwarts as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks and Bob Moses. As a young girl I listened to my grandmother tell stories about slave revolts. My grandmother had been whipped for refusing to marry a man chosen for her by the slave owner. I graduated from college as class valedictorian. As a student I challenged school policies that I thought were unfair. I would later protest Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and supported the campaign to free the Scottsboro defendants in Alabama, a group of young black men accused of raping two white women. In the 1960s, the idea of "Participatory Democracy" was created and I supported it. There were three principles of the Democracy (1) an appeal for grass roots involvement of people throughout society, while making their own decisions, (2) the minimization of hierarchy (leaders) and the associated emphasis on expertise and professionalism as a basis for leadership, and (3) a call for direct action as an answer to fear isolation and intellectual detachment. As a recruiter for the civil rights movement my ability to treat everyone with respect helped me. I helped initiate voter registration campaigns and identify other local grievances in the South. I believed in nonviolent protests. I was once called the "Godmother of SNCC." I helped to coordinate the region-wide freedom rides of 1961. I also helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) as an alternative to the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party. I lent my voice to the Puerto Rican independence movement, spoke out against apartheid in South Africa and allied myself with a number of women's groups, including the Third World Women's Alliance and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. I remained an activist until my death.
I differed in opinion and philosophy with the famous Martin and once claimed that the movement made Martin, and not Martin the movement. I also urged activists to take control of the movement themselves, rather than rely on a leader with "heavy feet of clay," which was widely interpreted as a denunciation of King. I was such a private person that people didn't know that I was married for twenty years. I am quoted as saying "You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders." Who Am I?
Friday, July 2, 2010
Human Trafficking
Multnomah County in Oregon has declared July as Human Traffic Awareness Month. Here is the article of why they were compelled to do so:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/07/multnomah_county_commissioners_4.html
Not in the article but from U.S. Department of Health And Human Services under The Administration for Children and Families section:
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines “Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons” as:
Sex Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years; or as
Labor Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
Also quoting from their web page:
"Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide, according to the U.S. Department of State. These estimates include women, men and children. Victims are generally trafficked into the U.S. from Asia, Central and South America,and Eastern Europe. Many victims trafficked into the United States do not speak and understand English and are therefore isolated and unable to communicate with service providers, law enforcement and others who might be able to help them."
You can read more about human trafficking at their web page:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_human.html
As far as I know the six hundred to eight hundred thousand only included victims trafficked into the United States. When you add to that number the estimated two hundred thousand victims trafficked within the US the numbers reach a million. When I did an Internet search I saw one statistic that put the international number up to four million. The average age of a human trafficking victim is twenty years old. UNDP estimates that that trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation in the U.S. is a $7 billion/ year business.
As we celebrate our Independence this weekend let's just take a moment to think of these modern day slaves held against their will Your comments are appreciated.
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Susan La Flesche Tibbles
I was born in Puerto Rico in 1897 and died there in 1994. I was the oldest of nine siblings. My father who was the nephew of an early Mayor of San Juan was my political influence. Mom died when I was eleven. After high school I went on to become a pharmacist. I moved to New York and learned fashion design. I returned home to open a style and flower shop. I strongly believed women should have the right to vote and was an active participant in the suffragist movement, motivating many women to register. When the law allowing women to vote was passed I was the 5th woman to officially register. I married a San Juan lawyer who served as the Assistant Attorney General of Puerto Rico. We had a long and happy marriage but produced no offspring. I later was elected mayor of San Juan. Under my leadership San Juan was transformed into a great Latin-American urban center. I designed innovative public services and established the first pre-school centers which would eventually become the model for the Head Start programs in the United States. I also renovated the public health system and was responsible for the establishment of the school of medicine in San Juan. During the Cold War era I ordered the establishment of the island's first Civil Defense system. Under my direction San Juan was awarded the All American City Award. I started a Christmas tradition which has continued. On the Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), celebrated on January 6 I would give gifts and treats to the poor and needy children. Once I even had a plane load of snow delivered to San Juan so that the children who had never seen or played in snow, would be able to do so. After my twenty-two years as mayor I served as a Goodwill Ambassador for four US Presidents. When I died I was given the burial honors of a head of state and dignitaries from all over the world attended my service. I have public structures in Puerto Rico named after me. In Brooklyn there is a school named after me. In New York City you can go to an Institute For Law & Public Policy named after me. Who Am I?
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/07/multnomah_county_commissioners_4.html
Not in the article but from U.S. Department of Health And Human Services under The Administration for Children and Families section:
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines “Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons” as:
Sex Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years; or as
Labor Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
Also quoting from their web page:
"Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide, according to the U.S. Department of State. These estimates include women, men and children. Victims are generally trafficked into the U.S. from Asia, Central and South America,and Eastern Europe. Many victims trafficked into the United States do not speak and understand English and are therefore isolated and unable to communicate with service providers, law enforcement and others who might be able to help them."
You can read more about human trafficking at their web page:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_human.html
As far as I know the six hundred to eight hundred thousand only included victims trafficked into the United States. When you add to that number the estimated two hundred thousand victims trafficked within the US the numbers reach a million. When I did an Internet search I saw one statistic that put the international number up to four million. The average age of a human trafficking victim is twenty years old. UNDP estimates that that trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation in the U.S. is a $7 billion/ year business.
As we celebrate our Independence this weekend let's just take a moment to think of these modern day slaves held against their will Your comments are appreciated.
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Susan La Flesche Tibbles
I was born in Puerto Rico in 1897 and died there in 1994. I was the oldest of nine siblings. My father who was the nephew of an early Mayor of San Juan was my political influence. Mom died when I was eleven. After high school I went on to become a pharmacist. I moved to New York and learned fashion design. I returned home to open a style and flower shop. I strongly believed women should have the right to vote and was an active participant in the suffragist movement, motivating many women to register. When the law allowing women to vote was passed I was the 5th woman to officially register. I married a San Juan lawyer who served as the Assistant Attorney General of Puerto Rico. We had a long and happy marriage but produced no offspring. I later was elected mayor of San Juan. Under my leadership San Juan was transformed into a great Latin-American urban center. I designed innovative public services and established the first pre-school centers which would eventually become the model for the Head Start programs in the United States. I also renovated the public health system and was responsible for the establishment of the school of medicine in San Juan. During the Cold War era I ordered the establishment of the island's first Civil Defense system. Under my direction San Juan was awarded the All American City Award. I started a Christmas tradition which has continued. On the Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), celebrated on January 6 I would give gifts and treats to the poor and needy children. Once I even had a plane load of snow delivered to San Juan so that the children who had never seen or played in snow, would be able to do so. After my twenty-two years as mayor I served as a Goodwill Ambassador for four US Presidents. When I died I was given the burial honors of a head of state and dignitaries from all over the world attended my service. I have public structures in Puerto Rico named after me. In Brooklyn there is a school named after me. In New York City you can go to an Institute For Law & Public Policy named after me. Who Am I?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Drugs & Exercise
Thanks for all the responses yesterday regarding the cousin reunion and a special thanks to DR for her email. Really not much to write about today. Lately my creative side has been on vacation. Today we just have two cancer related stories.
The first story just makes want to take the executives at Walmart and ask them, what in the heck are you thinking? Read the story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100701/od_nm/us_walmart_marijuana_lawsuit_odd
This isn't a case of a pot head smoking dope on company time. This is the case of a doctor prescribed pain management. Unless the person was exceeding the under the influence levels for the state he lives in there is no way he should have been fired. The person probably has a ton of bills left over from his cancer and brain tumor treatments and now he is jobless. Guess who is going to end up paying? We are. What is your take on the lawsuit? Do you want him to win the suit against Walmart? Do you want him to lose the lawsuit? Did Walmart have the right to fire him?
The next story is advise for Cancer survivors is to get up and get moving:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100629/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_cancer___exercise
It seems lately that exercise is the cure to a lot of ills. Do you exercise? If not get with it!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Angelina Grimke
I was born in 1854 and died in 1903 who is known as a writer, lecturer, interpreter, artist, and progressive spokesperson for Native American rights. I am a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame. I was one of seven children born to the son of a French fur trader and a Ponca wife. Dad was the last chief of a famous tribe. After I went to a Presbyterian mission school I attended a girls' school in New Jersey. As a young woman I became interested in politics. Because my paternal grandmother was a Ponca, Dad and I traveled to Oklahoma to investigate conditions after the tribe's removal from Nebraska. I worked with a journalist to publicize the conditions we found. A Chief and his followers were arrested when they returned to their traditional territory. The journalists coverage of the chief's imprisonment was instrumental in gaining him prominent volunteer defense attorneys. I acted as the chief's interpreter during his trial as the chief successfully challenged the lack of grounds of his arrest and imprisonment, arguing that Indians were persons under the law, and had all the rights of U.S. citizens. Following the trial I accompanied the chief, the journalist, and others on a speaking tour of the Eastern United States. In addition to interpreting for the chief I spoke separately as an orator. During the tour, the journalist and I testified in Washington before a Congressional committee, where I spoke for the rights of Native Americans. I married the journalist and we went on a speaking tour of England and Scotland with the chief. My husband I did witness the Wounded Knee Massacre. After my death in 1903 I was eulogized in the US Senate. Ninety years later in recognition of my role as a spokesperson and writer about my people I was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame. I was some times called Bright Eyes. Who Am I?
The first story just makes want to take the executives at Walmart and ask them, what in the heck are you thinking? Read the story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100701/od_nm/us_walmart_marijuana_lawsuit_odd
This isn't a case of a pot head smoking dope on company time. This is the case of a doctor prescribed pain management. Unless the person was exceeding the under the influence levels for the state he lives in there is no way he should have been fired. The person probably has a ton of bills left over from his cancer and brain tumor treatments and now he is jobless. Guess who is going to end up paying? We are. What is your take on the lawsuit? Do you want him to win the suit against Walmart? Do you want him to lose the lawsuit? Did Walmart have the right to fire him?
The next story is advise for Cancer survivors is to get up and get moving:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100629/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_cancer___exercise
It seems lately that exercise is the cure to a lot of ills. Do you exercise? If not get with it!
WHO AM I?
Yesterday's answer was Angelina Grimke
I was born in 1854 and died in 1903 who is known as a writer, lecturer, interpreter, artist, and progressive spokesperson for Native American rights. I am a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame. I was one of seven children born to the son of a French fur trader and a Ponca wife. Dad was the last chief of a famous tribe. After I went to a Presbyterian mission school I attended a girls' school in New Jersey. As a young woman I became interested in politics. Because my paternal grandmother was a Ponca, Dad and I traveled to Oklahoma to investigate conditions after the tribe's removal from Nebraska. I worked with a journalist to publicize the conditions we found. A Chief and his followers were arrested when they returned to their traditional territory. The journalists coverage of the chief's imprisonment was instrumental in gaining him prominent volunteer defense attorneys. I acted as the chief's interpreter during his trial as the chief successfully challenged the lack of grounds of his arrest and imprisonment, arguing that Indians were persons under the law, and had all the rights of U.S. citizens. Following the trial I accompanied the chief, the journalist, and others on a speaking tour of the Eastern United States. In addition to interpreting for the chief I spoke separately as an orator. During the tour, the journalist and I testified in Washington before a Congressional committee, where I spoke for the rights of Native Americans. I married the journalist and we went on a speaking tour of England and Scotland with the chief. My husband I did witness the Wounded Knee Massacre. After my death in 1903 I was eulogized in the US Senate. Ninety years later in recognition of my role as a spokesperson and writer about my people I was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame. I was some times called Bright Eyes. Who Am I?
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