Yoga, Boring Days, & Exciting Cities

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Margaret B. Davis.

First up today is a woman that I would absolutely love:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101129/lf_nm_life/us_fitness_yoga

Sometimes my life is really boring. Ever wonder what the most boring day in history was? I have the answer for you:

http://www.switched.com/2010/11/29/computer-declares-most-boring-day-william-turnstall-pedoe/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl5%7Csec3_lnk1%7C187004

Are you so bored that you want to move to a different city? The most recent survey of the best places to live is out. Number one the best places to live also shows up as number one on the worst places to live. Mary's Seattle and Pat's Los Angeles make this surprising list of best cities.

http://realestate.aol.com/home-prices/us-cities-we-want-to-live-in?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl9%7Csec1_lnk3%7C186995

Short post today because I have to pack and get ready to spend the next two nights at Mom's. What was the most boring day in your life? I can't really answer that because I have had to go to so many accounting seminars during my life. If you wanted to move from the city you now live in, would you move to any city on the above list? I would like to re-try Los Angeles. Then Ashland, Oregon. Are you going to doing you yoga at 92? Not me, I'll be dead. Any other comments you would like to make? Feel free.

Turkeys, Open Minds, & Oscar Hosts.

I wanted to let you know that Snugpug checked in with us. You can read her comment in the comment section here:

http://thedahnreport.blogspot.com/2010/11/tunnels-trunks-heartless-thieves.html

Her husband had quite a scare and she has been up to her ears in hospital waiting time. Her husband is home now and we wish him the best.

Turkey is big this time of year and turkeys in the news have big all year. Here are the biggest turkeys this year according to AOL news.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/aol-news-2010-news-turkeys/19711562?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C186338

I would put the teen that the tried to blow up downtown Portland on the list. Anyone you want to add to the list? Anyone that is already on the list that shouldn't be?

Next up is an article I would classify as the master of the obvious:

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/mind-soul/2010-11-23-goodtraits23_ST_N.htm

Of course being open minded and happy you live longer. Or do you agree?

I'm closing with the article that discloses who will host the Oscar telecast next February. I found it to be a complete surprise. Not in the Steve Martin or Ellen DeGeneres mold:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101129/ap_en_ce/us_oscars_hosts

Are you surprised by the choices?

That is it for the day. Off to do some mailings and then tonight Mom & I are taking brother-in-law out for dinner for his birthday. Comments are always appreciated.

WHO AM I

I was born ub 1931 and started a career as a paleoecologist, a discipline that studies past ecologies of the Earth by geological evidence in fossils. Paleoecologists had been utilizing correction factors between 4:1 and 35:1. I threw a monkey wrench in these calculations by suggesting correction factors of as much as 24,000:1. After growing up I attended Radcliffe College, where I studied floral physiology and ecology as well as stratigraphic pollen deposits from the late Quaternary period. I earned my B.A. degree in biology. I won a Fulbright Fellowship from 1953 through 1954 to research of pollen from ancient plants at the University of Copenhagen. When I returned I married and then fourteen years later divorced. I used my Europe findings to earn my Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University. Harvard retained me as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow for two years and then I transferred this fellowship to the California Institute of Technology. I eventually went to Yale for a year to study the correlation between vegetation composition and pollen sedimentation in lakes. I would eventually become a professor of biology at Yale. I am now Regents’ Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at a Midwestern college. Throughout my career I published more than 65 papers, and served as president of the American Quaternary Association and of the Ecological Society of America. I have received numerous honors, including the Ecological Society of America’s Eminent Ecologist Award as well as the 1993 Nevada Medal. If you don't know who I am by now did you wonder what I had to say ON THE THEORY OF POLLEN ANALYSIS?

Terrorist Plots & Updates

Update Sunday is here and the first thing I am going to update you on is the terrorist plot discovered here in Portland, Oregon. This is a series of articles from this morning's Oregonian and also from their web page, http://oregonlive.com/


http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/court_documents_test_bombing_i.html

The plot started several months ago when the teen was derailed from a trip to Alaska and then put on the no fly list. Because of an email to a terrorist in Pakistan the FBI watched him from then and even sought him out posing as terrorists. Yes, the thought of thousands of people being killed or injured in the town I am living in is extremely disturbing but nobody was ever in danger. Right now I am more concerned about what is going on in Korea because that has a real chance to turn into a war. What was the teen like? What did his friends think of him? Read on:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/suspect_in_attempted_portland.html

The accounting firm I work act during tax season is Napier & Company, check out the name of the neighbors. I'm not really sure there is a relationship there but the name is unusual enough that it makes me wonder.

The following article will tell you what this might lead to. Certainly a lot of jail time for the teen. At least I hope, I am concerned that a good attorney will claim entrapment. I'm also curious why the Mayor of our great city wasn't informed of the plot, don't you think he should have been? I'm also concerned about an over reaction leading to property damage and maybe the loss of life:

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2010/11/early_morning_fire_reported_at_islamic_center_in_corvallis.html

The church had nothing to do with the plot. The teen wanted to perform Jihad since he was thirteen or fourteen. According to one expert interviewed on KGW-TV Channel 8 here in Portland most of the terrorist plots since 9-11 have involved an individual that sought out a group and not the other way around. Of course in each case we wouldn't have been alerted to the individual had we not been monitoring the groups. However, the terrorist expert indicated the individual would have eventually performed the act of terrorism on his own.

Now on to my Update. I'm feeling a little better today so am taking Mom out to lunch and if my energy stays in focus some shopping. Tomorrow is my brother-in-law's birthday so we are taking him to dinner. Tuesday and Wednesday nights are at Mom's. Thursday, maybe a movie. Friday and Saturday me time.

Last week was a busy one. Sunday was breakfast with the boys. Monday & Tuesday were work days. Wednesday I picked up the suit and spent the night at Mom's. Thursday was a family celebration. Friday was a get together to eat leftovers and watch the Oregon-Arizona football game. Saturday was recovery day, resting all day. The suit was a success with Mom. I will try to get pictures later but my Mom's reaction and her friend's Marion's reaction told me I did the right thing.

The couple that got engaged on The Amazing Race last week, Chad & Stephanie were eliminated. The winner of Dancing With The Stars was Jennifer Gray, runner-up was Kyle, and Bristol finished third. On The Apprentice Stuart was sent packing. There are three left on The Apprentice and one of the three will be eliminated at the start of this week's show. My guess is the final will be between Lisa and Clint and Clint will win.

The blog is now yours. You know the drill, tell me all about your life and comment on anything in today's post.

Tunnels, Trunks, & Heartless Thieves.

Sorry I am a little late today. I've been fighting the start of a cold. I kind of kick backed and relaxed this morning. I'm doing all the things to keep whatever I'm feeling from turning into a full fledged cold. Rest, aspirin, lots of liquids, and a good dose of self-pity. After I share articles from all over the world it is back to the recliner.

First up is in Singapore. The men's water polo team has caused a national controversy by their briefs:

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/848499-singapore-water-polo-team-criticised-for-inappropriate-swimming-trunks

Are the trunks inappropriate?

Next we head to the great city of San Diego, California and what they discovered there. Not one tunnel but two:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101127/ap_on_re_us/us_drug_tunnel;_ylt=Ao2DkUv7uX0m.gveT.y04EGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFpbHEwdXFoBHBvcwMzNwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDc2FuZGllZ29kcnVn

Let's move on from San Diego to about three thousand miles Northeast of there where the story of a heartless thief will make you so angry you want to kick something. Then the story will make you happy that good people took over to replace the funds so the boy can be normal.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/surgery-money-stolen-at-fundraiser-for-aidan-sullivan/19734973

Hope this is a great day for you. Your comments are appreciated.

PS

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Marietta Pierce Johnson

Good Friday.

In some corners today is referred to as "Black Friday" but not here, not on this blog. Black Friday is being turned into Good Friday on the blog. We are reporting only on the good.

I have never heard the choir mentioned in the following article sing but the article makes beautiful music with me.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/phame_academy_choir_reminds_au.html

Most of the followers of the blog and myself have been on deaths' door once or twice during our lives and the fight in us closed the door on death and kept us here to enjoy a few more years on earth. Want to read about a fighter that is still here? Then read the following article:

http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/24/for-mandi-schwartz-and-family-truly-time-to-be-thankful/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%7C186404

I share a lot of articles on positive medical research. New discoveries in treatments of different diseases make me happy because it means less suffering in the world. That is why I would call the following article a good article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101124/ap_on_he_me/us_med_aids_prevention_pill2

Your comments are appreciated and also let me know if you braved the malls and/or the stores today. May this be anything but a black Friday for you, may it be a fun and rewarding Friday for all of you.

WHO AM I?

I was born in 1864 and died in 1938. I was born as a twin to a close knit family in Minnesota attending public schools. After graduating from a state Normal School I taught in rural elementary and secondary schools, and served as a training teacher in normal schools. I found success and popularity as a traditional instructor, priding myself on how quickly I could teach first graders to read. After a decade and a half of classroom work I suddenly rejected the very methods I practiced and demonstrated so impressively. With all the force of a religious conversion experience I was convinced that my well-intended but misguided teaching methods violated the order of development of the nervous system. I realized that my enthusiasm was destructive, and the more efficient I was, the more I injured the pupils. The catalyst for this change was a personal reading program that led me from child psychology books into works by Jean Jacques Rousseau, Friedrich Froebel, and John Dewey. Through these readings as well as my own observation, I came to see that children move through distinct stages as they grow and that parents and teachers should key their educational efforts to the developmental process. My belief in social reform made me unusually receptive to ideas on educational reform. My husband & I were socialists and moved to the small Gulf Coast village of Fairhope, a utopian community dedicated to the single-tax philosophy of Henry George, author of Progress and Poverty. At home among former Midwesterners and northeasterners who seemed determined to set an example for the rest of the world I added an educational dimension to the Fairhope experiment. I immediately began searching for ways to educate each student as a complete organism–a "whole child," as Progressive educators would soon have it–paying balanced attention to body, mind, and spirit. The success of the program catapulted me into national prominence. Soon the School of Organic Education that I founded was attracting talented teachers and well-to-do boarding students from throughout the country. Johnson's approach to education was genuinely radical. I steered students away from books until the age of nine. Younger children, I maintained, were not ready for print. They could learn more through direct experience with the environment. Every student did daily handwork in the shop, while students and teachers joined in daily folk dancing. Students did no homework and took no tests until high school; nor did they receive grades or report cards. I refused to compare one student to another and rejected "external, competitive" standards in favor of the "inner, human" standard of simply doing one's best. To critics who charged that the school was a "do-as-you-please" school & common caricature of child-centered Progressive education I countered that "children have no basis for judgment and do not know what is good for them. I was a charismatic woman who projected self-confidence. In an era when males imposed a business-oriented, measurement-driven version of progressivism on public schools, a few women opened private schools as child-centered alternatives. But I was less autocratic than most of my peers, and my school differed in significant ways. During my lifetime, one-half to two-thirds of my communities white families chose to send their children to my. school. I worked to create a climate of equal opportunity for females, accommodated disabled students, but reluctantly yielded to community pressure to bar African Americans. I spent much of her time on the lecture circuit, speaking throughout the United States and in several other countries, recruiting boarding students whose tuition and fees subsidized the attendance of local students. I was especially popular in the New York City area, where a group of socially prominent women organized the Fairhope Educational Foundation to support my efforts. If you don't know who I am by now maybe you should wonder about ORGANIC EDUCATION: and TEACHING WITHOUT FAILURE.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Sarah Josepha Hale. The woman that saved Thanksgiving is also the same woman that wrote Mary Had A Little Lamb. Here is an article about the history of Thanksgiving:

http://wilstar.com/holidays/thankstr.htm

The first thing I am thankful for us Sarah Josepha Hale.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving itself.

I am thankful for all of you here. You give me purpose. You give me a reason to continue to learn and write.

I am thankful for my Facebook Friends who sometimes inform me and sometimes make me laugh.

I am thankful that I still have my Mom and for how she makes me feel. To her I am the most handsome man in the world that always looks nice. I'm fortunate to have the perfect role model to teach me how to age gracefully. God love you, Mom.

I am thankful for the Dad that I had. He gave me a goal to be as good as man as he was.

I am thankful for having the ability to earn a living even in these tough economic times.

I am thankful for my Sunday Breakfast boys.

I am thankful for my real life friends.

I am thankful for my Sister her husband that they is now are here sharing the duties with Mom.

I am thankful for my Korean dry cleaner that always has a smile for me and always asks the question "how is the stock market doing?"

I am thankful for the employees of the Sherwood Safeway and the Sherwood Walgren's. They always smile and say hi Mr. Dahn or Bill. Even if I am just passing through on a walk and don't buy anything.

I am thankful for all the authors that write wonderful books that I spend time reading.

I am thankful for the creative folks that write and produce movies and allow me to get lost in their talents for a couple of hours.

I am thankful for those in the military, police and fire departments, EMT's, and all those that keep me safe.

I am thankful for all the waiters and waitresses that make my Mom feel special when we are out enjoying a meal together.

I am thankful for cousins, here, there, and everywhere but especially my cousins in Albany, Oregon that are fun to be around and treat my Mom like a queen. Don and Belva and their family are unique people that make the world a better place.

I am thankful for cousins that aren't really cousins but are really sisters and brothers. Dixie this means you.

I am thankful that I really had two sets of parents. Blood lines would say Frank and Velma were an uncle and an aunt but the hell with blood lines they were and are a second mom and dad.

I am not thankful for the memory I have because sure as shooting I forgot to mention something or someone that I am thankful for.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL. Now tell me what you are thankful for?

Food

I think saying that Thanksgiving and food go hand in hand would be an understatement. Today to help you prepare your Thanksgiving Dinner and to help with the start of your Christmas shopping today the blog will all about food.

You don't want to use the same old stuffing for your turkey tomorrow? I have just the answer for you:

Rhttp://www.slashfood.com/2010/11/23/stuffing-secret-add-white-castle-sliders/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl5%7Csec4_lnk2%7C185987

Remember when bread makers were the rage? Everyone had to have one. It was on everyone's Christmas list. I just have a hunch that the machine mentioned in the following article is going to be the rage this Christmas:

http://shopping.aol.com/articles/2010/11/17/sodastream/?ncid=AOLCOMMshopDYNLsec0001&icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl6%7Csec3_lnk1%7C185950

Remember the kids table at Thanksgiving dinners? I do. I also remember my Mom telling me to clear my plate or else I couldn't have desert. It was really OK with me because I was one of those rare kids that never liked deserts all that much. I would have much rather skipped desert than eat spinach or some other weird thing. Turns out when Mom told me to clean my plate she could have been wrong.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101122/od_nm/us_eating_parents

So are you going to try a new stuffing, make some good soft drinks, and clean your plate this four day weekend?

Hope you have a great day. I am off to Mom's to spend the night there tonight and the day there tomorrow.



WHO AM I?

I was born in 1788 and died in 1879. I was an advocate for women's education, poet, editor, and innovative novelist. I was one of most influential American women of the mid-nineteenth century. My earliest education was provided my mother. Thereafter my brother, a student at Dartmouth College, helped broaden my educational acumen. Being an autodidactic I augmented my self-learning while working as a schoolteacher. I married a lawyer and we established a small literary club. I Sarah dabbled with writing. Following My husband’s unexpected death, pregnant with her fifth child, was in financial difficulty. I turned to a career in the literary arts and with financial help from my husband’s Masonic colleagues I published a well-received book of poems and later saw great success with the release of a novel, a story about slavery, preceding Harriet Beecher Stowe's seminal Uncle Tom’s Cabin by more than two decades. With my writing success I was offered and took the position as editor of Ladies’ Magazine . I went on to become editor of the new Godey’s Lady’s Book. Under my remarkable forty-year editorship, Godey’s became the most successful women's magazine at the time. I was a staunch advocate of women’s education, and she avowed that Godey’s was to be a means for widening women's scope of knowledge. To that end, I published reading lists comparable to ones used in college classes, so that readers could be exposed to great works in American arts and letters, and circulated lists of schools that admitted women for study. I soon emboldened my position for the advancement of women’s education by calling for equal education, proposing that women should receive the same type of education as men. While I championed women’s advancement, teaching opportunities, and economic independence and promoted social and women’s issues, including public health, early childhood education, child welfare, and the increase of female doctors and overseas female medical missionaries, I did not align the feminist movements. I opposed suffrage and women's public speaking. Instead, I encouraged readers to develop within their proper sphere—the home—and marketed my magazine to husbands and fathers, ensuring them that, with a subscription, their wives and daughters would be better able to satisfy. My editorials campaigned for a national holiday. When a famous president proclaimed that holiday I moved to become involved in social causes and humanitarian organizations, including fund-raising for completion of the Bunker Hill Monument and the Boston Seamen's Aid Society, a charitable organization founded in Boston in 1829 with the goal of improving the condition and character of seamen and their families and of which I was its first president. You should already know who I am because I've been featured as Who Am I before but since I am considered to be the lady that saved Thanksgiving Bill thought it would be an appropriate repeat today. Who Am I?

Run Bambi Run

I remember the story well. A police officer was convicted of killing her husband's ex-wife. After sent to prison she escaped and fled to Canada. Several people in Wisconsin thought she was innocent and wore "Run Bambi Run" t-shirts. I didn't know she was in good old Portland, Oregon. She died last week in our fair city. Here is the story:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/laurie_bambi_bembenek_a_former.html

When I read about the case I also thought she was innocent and was wrongfully convicted. Being a former Playboy Bunny may have influenced the jury and maybe caused some sexism on the police force. I thought her husband was guilty. Do you remember the story? Did you think she was guilty or innocent?

Although it wasn't an eye witness account that convicted Bambi in a lot of trials the eye witness accounts are the nail in the coffin. Just how reliable are eye witness accounts? Check out the following article:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/109543674.html?showAll=y&c=y

Does it surprise you how wrong eye witness accounts can be?

Enough of the legal stuff. I love gaffes. I make enough of them myself that when someone in power makes a gaffe it makes me feel better about the ones I make. Here is kind of an embarrassing one made my Canada's Industry Minister:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101123/od_nm/us_sex_clement_odd

Do we need more stories about sex? Does Canada need more stores about sex?

Hope this is a great day for you, your comments are appreciated.

PS

The answer to yesterday's who am I was Emma Willits

A Peachy Police Dog

I am sitting here with the gas fireplace going waiting for the snowstorm to come in. We decided sister would do tonight at Mom's and I would to tomorrow night weather permitting and Wednesday night. I want to do Wednesday night because sister is doing the dinner.

When you think of a police dog what comes to mind? A German Shepherd? I picture a growling German Shepherd holding a suspect until his trainer takes over. Check out Japan's newest police dog:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AI1EE20101119

I think if Peach was after me I'd stop and want to pet her.

A couple of days ago we discussed weird things you could put into a dishwasher. It really didn't do much good since none of you had or used a dishwasher. This may be a stretch but I am guessing that some or all of you have toasters. What is the Wurst thing to put into a toaster?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101118/od_nm/us_sausage_toaster_odd

I'm really glad I don't drink. It makes people do stupid things. I bet you are going to feel real safe after reading the following article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101122/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_drunk_nuke_drivers

Hope this is a great day for you. Your comments are appreciated.

WHO AM I?

I was born in 1869 and died in 1965. I was a pioneering woman physician and surgeon who played an important role in the development of a Children's Hospital. I am believed to be the third woman to specialize in surgery in the United States. I was educated at Quaker schools until I moved to Chicago to enroll in the Women's Medical College of Chicago, then affiliated with (and later absorbed by) Northwestern University. After receiving my medical degree I served my internship at the Women's Hospital of Chicago. I later moved to the City By The Bay to serve as a resident at their Children's Hospital (for Women and Children). When I completed my residency I opened my own private practice but maintained an affiliation with Children's. I was initially a member of the surgical staff of the Department of Pediatrics, and later became chief of the Department of Surgical Diseases of Children. I later became the chair of the Department of General Surgery. I am believed to be the first woman in the United States to head a surgery department. To add to my knowledge I visited the Mayo Clinic several times over the course of my career and spent several months studying in Vienna. If you are not sure who I am by now maybe you should read the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE 11 April 1965 and you will be able to answer the question, Who Am I?

A Late Update, Snow May Be Coming.

I'm late with my update today for a couple of reasons. I actually slept in this morning and got a late start to the day. Then it was off to breakfast with the guys. After which I needed to get some shopping done. They are predicting snow or ice for tonight and into the morning. I wanted to have some things on hand just in case I became housebound. Simple things like bread and milk. I didn't get home until just a little while ago.

Last week it was three nights at Mom's instead of the planned two. The caregiver never gets a flu shot because she has a phobia of them. Because she doesn't get her flu shot she gets sick four or five times a winter. She went home sick Friday morning so I did Friday night. Sister did last night and is doing tonight. I get Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Last week besides the nights at Mom's there were some work related projects, the movie Unstoppable, the suit purchase, and house related things.

Next week of course we have Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. Looking forward to it. It is going to be sister, her husband, Mom, and myself. My niece Kristi and her family may come too. The more the merrier. There will be three to five nights at Mom's. Checking raffle tickets on Tuesday to see if I am a millionaire. Picking up the suit on Wednesday. Then the process of starting to think about Christmas shopping. Other than that it looks like a slow week.

The Entertainment update. Kicked off of The Apprentice was Stephanie. Her ego was bigger than the Grand Canyon so I wasn't sorry to see her go. Now if they can kick Lisa to the curb it will be even better. I'm picking Clint to win it all. On The Amazing Race another one of my favorite teams bit the dust, the father and daughter team. I do think for the first time in the history of the show a female team is going to win the race. The two doctors. Dancing With The Stars eliminated the perfect scorers Brandy and Max. Bristol Palin made it another week despite being the worst dancer on the show. It has created a lot of controversy making newspapers and newscasts everywhere. There were reports that several sites that supported Palin programmed over fifty thousand phony email addresses and sent in five votes per each email address for her. Frankly, I do think Palin will win and if she does I won't watch the show again. Of course ABC is currently happier than a lark because their ratings have shot through the roof and have been the highest in several seasons. I really want the best dancer to win and that would be Jennifer.

That is it for the week. You know the drill. You report in on your lives and what is on the table for you next week. Have any Thanksgiving plans? Any medical issues? Need to vent? Want to introduce yourself? Have any issues you want to discuss? This is the day for you to post anything you damn well please on the blog.

Clean Potatoes & New Suits.

Got any potatoes that need cleaning? Just put them in the dishwasher. After reading the following article you will be able to put a ton of different things in the dishwasher.

http://www.diylife.com/2010/11/15/things-you-can-put-in-the-dishwasher/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%7C185289

Now if you are a teen you can probably get away with putting a ton of things in the dishwasher you just can't have a bake sale in New York.

http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/11/15/police-bust-teens-bake-sale-in-new-york/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-sb-n%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C184773

Now about the suit I bought. I did step up a notch and went with Canali. Here is a picture of the suit I bought:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3062246?cm_cat=datafeed&cm_pla=suits/sets/wardrobers:men:tailored_suit&cm_ite=canali_charcoal_wool_suit:265927_1&cm_ven=Linkshare&siteId=WUqD6wTpSTg-Zb6ifRKNwBp3pDAcCFeREQ

Thursday morning I woke up and started the day out by making a decision to began a twelve month period where I do as many things that I can that I haven't done before. I looked at my life the last two or three years and decided I spent to much time alone and to much time saying no. It had gotten easy to refuse to do things because I didn't have the right thing to wear, because I had to take care of my Mom, because I wasn't feeling well, and so forth and so on. This is going to be twelve months of going forward not backward, of accepting opportunities, of trying harder, and doing things differently. The suit was the first step.

Hope your weekend is going well and will continue to do so. Your comments are always appreciated.

PS

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was EDITH PECHEY-PHIPSON, MD.

It's All About Me.

I'm not really cheap, I am just frugally aware. I do sometimes wonder if I just shouldn't bite the bullet and kick it up a notch and go the more expensive route. At least once in a while. I looked for a suit yesterday. Right now I have two Men's Warehouse Suits that I bought a little over two years ago and they are still doable. However, both are black which made me think I should look for a different colored suit with the holidays coming up. Today we are going to have a quiz not only about suits but about yours truly. First up are the suits that I looked at. I did stop at the Dollar Tree first but they didn't have suits.

I went to Nordstrom's, The Men's Warehouse, and Macy's. Each have several brand name suits which allowed me to chose amongst several price ranges and several styles.

The first up is Canali. It is an Italian brand name. Their suits range from about twelve hundred dollars to about seventeen hundred dollars.

http://search.aol.com/aol/image?q=canali suits&v_t=keyword_rollover

Next up is Armani. Everyone knows their brand name, they are the Cadillac of suits. While you can get them as low as twelve hundred dollars the better ones go for eight hundred or more.

http://www.bluefly.com/Armani-Mens-Suits/_/N-1z140jiZ7qkZapt8/designerslist.fly?referer=Rgoogle&cm_mmc=EF-_-Google-_-Sui_D_A_Arman_B-_-Armani_Suits&ef_id=JhNM5q-PAAAAEuo:20101119171143:s

Following are pictures of Men's Warehouse suits. You can actually get them as low as two hundred dollars but the good ones run near five hundred smackers.

http://www.menswearhouse.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation_-1_10601_10051_10051_/Suits/@/N-1z141seZ1z141yjZ1z141ye/Ne-b/dp-1z141se

Did you know that Nordstrom's has their own brand name of men's suits? They run from three hundred to six hundred bucks:

http://couponalbum.over-blog.com/article-look-fashionable-with-men-s-suits-37225941.html

Macy's had suits for as little as two hundred bucks:

http://www.shopstyle.com/browse/mens-suits?fl=r2

Here are the questions for the day. What suits do you like the best? Did I kick it up a notch and buy a more expensive brand? What brand name was described by one salesman as "better material than Armani but not as expensive. Those in the know buy this brand." If you answer that question correctly you will also have the answer to the following three questions: What suit felt the best on me? What suit made me feel stylish and confident? Before the next question I need to explain that this was at a store where I tried on several brand names and the one that I was wearing at the time was not the most expensive. "What suit caused the following reaction by the female tailor, you look stunning in this suit."

Thanks for your help. The answers and the reason for the suit I purchased will either be on tomorrow's blog entry or in the comment section of today's post. This will be the final all about me post for a while!


WHO AM I?

I was born in 1845 and died in 1908. I was one of the first women doctors in the United Kingdom and a campaigner for women's rights. I spent more than 20 years in India as a senior doctor at a women's hospital. My dad was a Baptist minister with an MA from Edinburgh University and my Mom was a lawyer's daughter who, unusually for a woman of her generation, had studied Greek. I was educated by my father after which I worked as governess and teacher before joining efforts to persuade Edinburgh medical school to teach women. After arriving at Edinburgh University I passed my matriculation exams with honors. As the first year student with the highest marks in chemistry I seemed to be entitled to a prestigious scholarship but this was given to a male student who finished behind me in grades. The group of seven women medical students to which I belonged had to give up the struggle to graduate at Edinburgh. My next step was writing to the College of Physicians in Ireland to ask them to let me take exams leading to a license in midwifery. I worked for a time at the Birmingham and Midland Hospital for Women, Next I passed my medical exams in German and was awarded an MD. During the next six years I practiced medicine in India involving myself in women's health education and lecturing on a number of medical topics, including nursing. In reaction to the exclusion of women by the International Medical Congress I set up the Medical Women's Federation of England and I was elected president. I then went to India where I was in charge oa Dispensary for women. In India I met my husband and started to use a hyphenated surname. When ill health caused me to leave the medical field I was involved in the suffrage movement, representing Leeds suffragists at an International Women's Suffrage Alliance congress. I died soon thereafter of breast cancer. In my memory my husband set up a scholarship at the London School of Medicine for Women in my name which was granted regularly up to 1948. If you're not sure who I am by now maybe you should search ALEXANDRA NATIVE GIRLS'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION and look for the untold story. That should help you answer the question, Who Am I?

Obsolete But Healthy

An article that has gone viral reports on a new study where forty percent of the respondents thought marriage was obsolete:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_declining_marriage

I've been single all my life and while I can list the benefits of being single from memory I've always admired my married friends and the institution itself. I've always thought I would thrive in the institution of marriage and its built-in support system.

If the institution of marriage is obsolete than aren't the laws relating to marriage also obsolete? Joint ownership of houses and what happens to if one member of a couple dies? Other property? Before we declare marriage obsolete I think we really need to think this through. What is your opinion? Is marriage obsolete? Does the study surprise you?

Right after reading the study on marriage being obsolete the following article popped up in my in desk:

http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/arthritis/happy-marriage-can-ease-arthritis-pain?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk1%7C184871

The institution may be obsolete but it can also make you healthy. What do you think, can obsolete things be healthy?

I'm closing with one of my favorite subjects, teens doing good things.

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/11/10/alzheimers-disease-alissa-anderegg/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%7C184871

Your comments are always appreciated. Off to lunch with a friend and former business associate. Then I am hitting the mall to look for a new suit.

PS

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Jane Elizabeth Hodgson.

The Living Dead, Handucffs, & Starving.

Today most of our subjects are going to be difficult to read and discuss so we are going to start out with a sign on an Arizona highway that some people might say is to die for:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101115/od_nm/us_arizona_zombies

If you were driving along and saw a sign warning you to look for Zombies what would you do? I'm not sure if I would laugh, turn around and go the opposite direction, or keep on driving with my eyes on the lookout for the living dead.

The next article bothered me greatly. Most of the information is in a court filing so the events are alleged and not verified. The response by the school and the police hasn't been filed yet:

http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/11/mom_sues_gresham_police_and_sc.html

If the information in the filing is true what bothers me is that teachers left an eight year-old out of the class room unsupervised. What if he ran away? What if some kidnapped him? I think that was extremely poor judgment. The other thing that bothers me is handcuffing a child that young. Two adult policemen can't control an eight year old? What is your take on the article? Who is at fault her. The teachers? The student? The police? Or a combination of all of them?

Next is another disturbing article. Before you read the article, pick a number and tell me how many people in the United States are starving?

http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/report-45-million-americans-went-hungry-in-2009/19720882?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec4_lnk1%7C184698

I was off by about twenty million. Certainly we can do better. How far were you off? Can we do better?

That is it for the day. Your comments are appreciated.

WHO AM I?

I was born in 1915 and died in 2006. I am the only person ever convicted in the United States of performing an abortion in a hospital. I trained at the Mayo clinic. My 50 year career focused on providing reproductive health care to women. In addition to providing medical care to women I was also an advocate for women's rights. I received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and my medical degree from the University of Minnesota . I met my husband when we interned at the same hospital. We both gave time and talent to Project Hope, serving in Tanzania, Peru, Ecuador, Egypt, Grenada, and China. My early research included pregnancy-testing methods and I became a Founding Fellow of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. My advocacy for and contributions to, the field of women's health earned me Federation of America’s Margaret Sanger Award in and the American Medical Women's Association’s National Reproductive Health Award among. Iwas one of the first physicians to be inducted into the International Women in Medicine Hall of Fame. If you are not sure who I am by now maybe you should think about THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY GENDER BATTLE and the DIFFICULTIES IN PERCEPTION. That should help you answer the question, Who Am I?

Let's Flirt.

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Dr. Marie Equi. This week's who am I will feature women doctors in history.

Let's flirt today. I really wish I knew two things, how to flirt and when a woman was flirting with me. According to the following article there are five types of flirting. They five types are physical, traditional, polite, sincere and playful, If I did flirt I would probably waiver between the polite, sincere, and maybe once in a while playful.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101115/od_nm/us_usa_flirting_odd

Do you flirt and if you do what style of flirt are you?

Have you ever been standing in front of a vending machine and you just can't decide what you want to spend your money on? Coffee, tea, or milk? Don't worry because help is on the way:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101115/od_nm/us_japan_machines_odd

Would you take the machine's advise or would you kick the damn machine in the gut because you were annoyed that a machine was trying to tell you what to do? I'm not really the kicking type but a talking vending machine telling me what to drink or eat just might push me over the edge.

You have now flirted and gotten advise from a machine, now we are going to tell you were to live if you don't want to deal with pollution? The cleanest cities in the United States follow:

http://realestate.aol.com/pictures/feature/least-polluted-cities?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl9%7Csec1_lnk3%7C184385

I noticed that most of the cities on the list may be clean but they certainly aren't the best climate wise. North Dakota and Minnesota have winters that I wouldn't want to deal with and Texas has out of sight hot weather in the summer that wouldn't please me. If you were going to move to a new city, what would be more important to you, weather or pollution? I'm going with the weather.

Off to Mom's for the next two nights and Thursday Morning. Hope this is a great day for you and that your flirting is successful, the advise you get from vending machines is right on, and that you aren't polluted. Your comments are appreciated.

One Way Trips & Bad Habits

A little housecleaning from yesterday's post for those that want to see how talented our Dona is and view her craftwork here is a link to her blog:

http://mrgreenjeans.blogspot.com/

Have you ever wanted to send someone on a one way trip to outer space? Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson come immediately to mind as a candidates for what scientists are suggesting in the following article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101115/ap_on_sc/us_one_way_to_mars

Who is on your list to take the one way trip in the above article?

Speaking of flights, I found the following article very disturbing:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_cocaine_airways;_ylt=AlxIBpm271iT_fQAwVhq05ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNtaXBnczQ3BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMTE1L3VzX2NvY2FpbmVfYWlyd2F5cwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzYEcG9zAzMEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawN1c2dhbmdzYnV5amU-

The lengths some people go to break the law is troubling. Just think if they put all that intelligence, money, and inventiveness to use doing good and helpful things. What a better country this would be.

One of my most charming features is how many bad habits that I have. To many to count. Fortunately, I don't have the bad habit mentioned in the following article, however, sixty-six percent of women do.

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/11/12/66-percent-women-use-expired-makeup/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk1%7C184164

WHO AM I?

I was born in 1872 and died in 1952. My father was Italian and my mother was Irish. At the age of twenty-one I moved to Oregon with Bess. We had what was called a Boston marriage. There I was a subject of an article where I publicly threatened to horsewhip my employer for not paying the hundred bucks he owed me. I carried out my threat but still didn't get the hundred bucks. The whip became a subject of a raffle where more than a hundred bucks was raised and given to Bess & I. We took the money and moved to San Francisco. There I began studying medicine and completed my degree. I received my medical degree at the Portland campus of the University that right now has the number one rated college football team in the nation. Their Portland campus was on of the few medical schools in the U.S. to admit women. After the earthquake in 1906 in the city by the bay I organized a group of doctors and nurses to provide humanitarian aid in the wake of the disaster, earning me a special commendation from the United States Army. I was one of several doctors in Portland who performed abortions, and did so without regard for social class or status. I was active in the movement to provide access and information about birth control. I also knew Margaret Sanger and some have hinted that I may have had a relationship with her. I was active in the women's suffrage movement in Oregon, which achieved success in 1912 when the state granted women the right to vote. I visited the site of a strike by women cherry sorters at the Oregon Packing Company, a strike action supported by the Industrial Workers of the World among others. While attending to an injured worker I was attacked by the police, whose brutality in attempting to end the strike led me to denounce capitalism and become an anarchist. I adopted a girl who at age sixteen became the youngest woman in the Pacific Northwest to fly an airplane solo. On 31 December 1918 I was convicted of sedition under the newly-revised Espionage Act for a speech made at the IWW hall opposing World War I. My lawyers were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn my conviction, and my daughter later recalled how she and I were spat upon in the streets during this period. In prison I wrote letters to friends, one of which expressed anxiety and doubt about her "queerness," If you don't know who I am by now hop on THE OREGON DOCTOR TRAIN and read about PORTLAND'S RESPONSE TO THE 1906 SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. Then you can easily answer the question, Who Am I?

Sunday Update & A News Quiz

It looks like we have a mixed bag here, some of us are night folks and some of us are morning folks.

Last week there was one night at Mom's, a family dinner out, grocery shopping, and I took Mom to the movies on Veterans Day. We went to see MORNING GLORY. Not a bad movie but certainly not a must see. I was disappointed that the theater only had one person taking tickets and one person in the concession stand. I thought that was the definition of incredible stupidity. The Tigard Theater management obviously couldn't understand that on holidays when kids aren't in school and parents aren't at work they often go to movies. The line to get the tickets was very long, then the printer jammed making the line even longer. When it is cold and you have an elderly woman in a wheelchair that isn't the most pleasant thing in the world. The line at the concession stand was to long to even consider getting snacks before or even during the movie. I hope Tigard Theater management get their act together. Tigard theater really is the best theater in the area for the handicapped because they don't have stadium seating. Mom can sit in the back. When theaters have stadium seating they place the handicap seats in front and anyone that has had cataract surgery really can't endure the screen that close. My rant for the week is finished.

Next week will be a mixed bag. Today I bailed out on breakfast with the guys because I have a work assignment that I want to finish. Tonight is dinner out with the family. Tomorrow I am sending books to various charities. They are new books and the charities will be breast cancer and abused women support groups. I will also donate some books to libraries in retirement communities. I really like doing things like that, it makes me feel good. I'm also going to try to fit in the movie FAIR GAME tomorrow. Tuesday and Wednesday is at Mom's. Thursday morning I will also be at Mom's and then weather permitting will have lunch with a former business associate. The weather people are predicting snow next Thursday or Sunday. Friday and Saturday will be me days. If all the work assignments are done and the house is clean I am going to do some serious writing.

The entertainment update. On The Apprentice the men dominated team did a better job of selling perfume than the women dominated team and Poppy was eliminated. On The Amazing Race the really nice father-son team was eliminated. I was really sorry to see them go. On Dancing With The Stars for the third week in a row a better dancer was eliminated in favor of Bristol. This week it was former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner.

The blog is now yours. Let me know what went on with you last week and what is going on with you the coming week! Feel free to post anything you damn well please.

PS

For those of you that like quizzes her is the AOL news quiz for last week. You can scroll down for the answers. I got a perfect score, what did you get?

What network is Conan O'Brian's new show on?

Why was Keith Olberman suspended by suspended by MSNBC?

Thinning Ozone layers are causing sunburn in a sea animal do you know which one?

A Carnival Cruise Ship lost power do you know what caused the power outage?

Which president has a memoir out and appeared last week on various TV shows including Oprah?

President Obama visited a country where he lived for over ten years of his life, which country is that?



















TBS

Giving donations to Democratic Candidates

Whale

Fire

George W. Bush

Indonesia

Night People Are Smarter.

Although I am sure this will make DR & Pat happy it is much to my chagrin that recent studies have concluded night people are smarter than morning people:

http://theweek.com/article/index/209165/night-owls-vs-morning-people-whos-smarter

Which one are you? This little quiz will tell you:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/bjlogie/test.htm

I ended up with thirty points which put me in the definitely the morning person category.

Next up we will honor the answer to yesterday's Who Am I, Mary Elizabeth Lease. Ms. Lease figured out in 1890 what we all discovered in September of 2008, that Wall Street Owns The Country. To honor Ms. Lease the next article is about Bernie Madoff and what they are doing with his stuff. While he sits in a North Carolina prison the government is auctioning off his monogrammed underwear. I also have monogrammed underwear, it says, "Fruit Of The Loom."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101113/ap_on_bi_ge/us_madoff_auction;_ylt=Ak9r_IPNSkqDIdnwMSdTA1.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNtc2RobzY4BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMTEzL3VzX21hZG9mZl9hdWN0aW9uBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMTAEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNnb3Zlcm5tZW50c2U-

Are you going to buy anything of Bernie's?

On to the next article. Have you really ever given much thought to how a cat drinks? I mean you are sitting around chatting with your spouse or your best friends and to break the silence someone asks, how does your cat drink? Did it bother you that you couldn't give a better answer then they just slurp? Now we have the answer to the question.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/sc_afp/usscienceresearchanimalcat

There have been periods in my life where I drank faster than the human eye could see, how about you?

Enjoy your Saturday and comment at will.

Enlarge, Speeders, & Art Work.

In the comments section in yesterday's post Pat indicated it was hard to read the articles on Alzheimer's because the print was to small. In a bit of synchronicity one of the articles I found today had just the advise needed on how to enlarge the print. I tried it on the "I'm Still Hill" article and I'll be damned it worked. Just place the cursor anywhere on the article and hit control and + at the same time. A larger version of the article will appear. It works on any article you find on the Internet. If the font is to big, then hit the control - key at the same time and the font will reduce in size. The same article had some other interesting advise:

http://daol.aol.com/articles/personalize-your-computer?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%7C183778

Next up is a German Judge that has an interesting take on speeders:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101111/od_nm/us_germany_drivers_speeding_odd;_ylt=AmMZoxEanR0KHHMJTHzoUnCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFmYjg4OWJwBHBvcwMxOTcEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9vZGRfbmV3cwRzbGsDZ2VybWFuanVkZ2Vs

I will end this day with some advise. Look around your house for some Chinese vases. Why? Check out the following article:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gDkhEjtSUMBc9Ejv_10-dpobLP6w?docId=2fb48fad394e4a78b5310d9e247fe988

That is it for the day. Hope this start of the weekend will be a great day leading to a great weekend for all of you. You know the drill, your comments are always appreciated!


TODAY'S WHO AM I?

I was born in 1853 and died in 1933. I was an American lecturer, writer, and political activist. I was an advocate of the suffrage movement as well as temperance but I was best known for my work with the Populist party. I was born to Irish immigrants. At the age of twenty I moved to Kansas to teach school and married three years later. I believed that big business had made the people of America into "wage slaves", declaring, "Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. It is widely believed that I exhorted Kansas farmers to "raise less corn and more hell." I later said that the admonition had been invented by reporters. I was recognized as being a powerful orator who was adept at expressing the discontent of the people. I was often heavily criticized. I was accused of being overly vulgar and foulmouthed. I was described by a republican editor as "the petty coated smut-mill [...] Her venomous tongue is the only thing marketable about the old harpy, and we suppose she is justified in selling it where it commends the highest price." It was attempted to remove me from my own party and my outraged reaction at the attempt to have her removed prompted even my own party members to distance themselves from me. Yet this was not the end of my political career. I again came into the spotlight when Theodore Roosevelt was elected into office. I felt that my work and efforts with the Populist party had finally been rewarded: "In these later years I have seen, with gratification, that my work in the good old Populist days was not in vain. The Progressive party has adopted our platform, clause for clause, plank by plank." I divorced my husband in 1902 and spent the rest of my life with one or another of my children in the East until my death in 1933. Literary scholar Brian Attebery claimed me to have been the model for Dorothy in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. If you are not sure who I am by now maybe you should ask yourself if WALL STREET OWNS THE COUNTRY, that you should help you answer the question, Who Am I?

Health Today

I wanted to thank all those that have served this country in our military and all those that have paid the ultimate price to insure our freedoms. This day is to honor the veterans and they deserve this day. My respect and thanks are everlasting.

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Burnita Shelton Matthews. This week I am featuring women lawyers that impacted history and most likely most of have never heard of.

Today we are talking health issues. According to the following article most of us do a very poor job of finding out the medical history of our families. This leads to doctors giving us bad advise and not being aware enough of diseases to watch out for.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_family_health

Who among you like chocolate? Did I see everyone's hands rise? There have been many articles about the health benefits of chocolate and now I can share one more with you:

http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/heart-disease/women-who-eat-chocolate-have-healthier-hearts?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl3%7Csec4_lnk2%7C183158

November is Alzheimer's awareness month. A couple of weeks ago The Oregonian did a special section on Alzheimer's. I am going to share that special section with. I am not suggesting you read any of it. I will leave that completely up to you. This is a disease that is just so damn hard to talk about or read about. However, I am in the school of bring it out of the dark corners of our lives and talk about it. The more aware we are of Alzheimer's and the more we talk about this dreadful disease can only help lead to a cure. If you were to read just one article I would recommend "I'M STILL HERE" by Kate Dyer-Seeley. Seeley is the author of UNDERNEATH THE ASH, a look at her Mom's early onset Alzheimer's during the time that Mount St. Helens erupted. My second choice would be THE SCIENCE OF THE BRAIN, complete with a diagram of the brain. It is on page two and is written by Nicole Fink. You get to it my clicking on "next page" at the bottom of the page that Seeley's article is on.

http://shopping.oregonlive.com/SS/Page.aspx?secid=92047&pagenum=1&sstarg&facing=false

Hope this is a healthy day for you and don't forget to hug a Veteran today. Comments are always appreciated.

Unusual Day

Tonight I am at Mom's. She is hosting a bridge party so I will help her set it up. She loves to play bridge, talk, and be a hostess. Tomorrow I have a lunch appointment with a friend and former business associate. She is one of my favorite people.It is going to be a busy couple of days. Being busy forced me to get organized for the first time this week.

Some days I struggle to find things for the blog but today there were so many things that appeared before me that I had to decide whether I should go with unusual, health, or the interesting. I chose unusual.

Do you have an old airplane sitting around that you don't know what to do with? You can do what the lady in the following article did, make a home out of it:

http://www.shelterpop.com/2010/11/09/plane-home/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl12%7Csec3_lnk1%7C183165

Not unusual enough for you? How about a vacuum made out of oceanic garbage? How about keeping the elderly fit by employing sensors?

http://www.switched.com/2010/11/05/week-in-design-electrolux-trash-alessi/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl9%7Csec3_lnk3%7C183126

Let's move on to unusual contests:

http://www.asylum.com/2010/11/09/gurning-faces-pictures/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl4%7Csec4_lnk1%7C183197

I might have a shot at winning that contest!

Hope you enjoy the unusual. Have a healthy and fun day. As always comments are appreciated.


WHO AM I?

I was born in 1894 and died in 1988. I was sent by my father to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, so that I could earn a living teaching music lessons. However, I enrolled in the National University Law School instead and earned my law degree. Despite passing the District of Columbia bar I was not welcomed into the professional associations by male lawyers—the District of Columbia Bar Association returned my application and check for dues. I said the hell with them and with other women lawyers formed our own professional associations, including the Woman's Bar Association of the District of Columbia and the National Association of Women Lawyers. I went on to form my own law firm with two other women. I worked closely with the suffragist National Woman's Party, eventually serving as the organization's counsel. I represented the party in its effort to prevent condemnation of its Washington headquarters by the federal government; the land was condemned and the U.S. Supreme Court erected on the site, but I successfully obtained the largest condemnation settlement awarded by the U.S. government at the time. I would become a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and be the first woman appointed to serve on a U.S. district court. I heard several newsworthy cases, including the passport denial of actor Paul Robeson and the bribery trial of Jimmy Hoffa. I served as an active-duty judge until 1968 when I took senior status and served as a senior district judge until my death. If you don't know who I am by now maybe you should think about TORTS OVER TEMPO. That should help you answer the question, Who Am I?

Still Disorganized.

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was the amazing Clara S. Foltz.

This is the anniversary of my Dad's death and I know it will be hard for Mom . I am taking Mom to lunch discus Dad's life, hopping that will make this day easier for her.

This is day two of being disorganized. I'm so disorganized that the first article is titled Money Saving Monday. An interesting article to share on a Tuesday? Don't worry I haven't completely lost either my mind or track of time as some of the savings are for any day of the week:

http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/10-great-deals-to-start-your-week/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182992

Did you even wonder where the smartest people lived? Neither Portland or Los Angeles made the top ten but Seattle ranked number nine. I guess coffee is better for the brain than bicycles and smog. My guess it that the smartest city in the U.S. will surprise you:

http://realestate.aol.com/pictures/feature/americas-smartest-cities?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl9%7Csec1_lnk3%7C183066

Next up is am article about a reflective ex President, George W. Bush. While I may not be a fan of his administration I appreciated his honesty in the article. He admitted some mistakes and explained some decisions. He also had some surprising admissions like considering dumping Cheney when he ran for re-election.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-11-09-1Abush09_CV_N.htm

That is it for the day. May this be a smart and reflective day full of free stuff for you! Comment on anything or everything!

Random Thoughts

We are starting out the week with random thoughts. It really is more random articles than random thoughts but today I am just having trouble getting organized so I decided to share the first three things that came to my in box.

First up is an article about art that was thought to be destroyed by the Nazis during World War II:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101108/ap_en_ot/eu_germany_degenerate_art;_ylt=Aovi_f_dTQ0M4fyF.RYjkxqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFrbHV2bmdoBHBvcwMxNjEEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50BHNsawNhcnRiZWxpZXZlZGQ-

Next we are going to help you find a place to rent for one dollar a week:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101104/od_nm/us_australia_town

Finally we are going to share the story of a young student that created music using DNA in a virus:

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/grad-student-alexandra-pajak-composes-sounds-of-hiv-songs-using-dna-of-aids-virus/19701375

Your comments are appreciated and since I am disorganized your comments can be too.


WHO AM I?

I was born in 1849 and was a descendant of Daniel Boone and a sister of a U.S. Senator. At age 15, I eloped with a farmer and we immediately began having children. Since he had difficulty supporting our family we moved several times to places including Portland, Oregon and San Jose, California. When my husband deserted me and our five children, I began studying law in the office of a local judge. After being denied admission to law school because of my gender I sued and argued my own case. I won admission. Even though I passed the bar exam California allowed only white males to become members of the bar. I then authored a state bill which replaced "white male" with "person." I kept extensive career scrapbooks, wrote many letters and was in the process of writing my autobiography when I died. I have a building in downtown Los Angeles named after me. Not satisfied with becoming an attorney I became a leader in the woman’s voting rights movement. During a career that spanned 56 years I almost single-handedly pushed a great deal of progressive legislation for women’s rights in the voting and legal fields. At the Chicago World’s Fair , during a "congress" of the Board of Lady Managers I introduced my idea of the public defender, a then-radical concept of providing assistance to indigent criminal defendants. My many trail-blazing accomplishments include becoming the first female clerk for the State Judiciary Committee; the first woman appointed to the State Board of Corrections; the first female licensed Notary Public; the first woman named director of a major bank; and when I was eighty-one I became the first woman to run for Governor of California. I was the first woman to be admitted to the California bar and the first female deputy district attorney in the United States. In my spare time I raised five children as a single mother.I authored the following quote: "Everything in retrospect seems weird, phantasmal, and unreal. I peer back across the misty years into that era of prejudice and limitation, when a woman lawyer was a joke ... but the story of my triumphs will eventually disclose that though the battle has been long and hard-fought it was worth while." WHO AM I?

It's Your Day On The Blog.

I've been updating you on my life all week so today we are doing a hybrid post, part update and part regular posting. I do want you to update me on your lives. What went on last week with you, your relatives, or your friends last week. What is on the agenda for next week for all of you. If you need to vent then this is the one of the most supportive places on the Internet to vent! If you have been following the blog for a while and haven't posted it would sure be wonderful to meet you!

Today I'm going out for breakfast with the guys, tomorrow night Mom & I are taking sister and her husband out for dinner for their twenty-eighth anniversary, Tuesday it is taking mom to a movie, and Wednesday is a night at Mom's. That is all that is on the agenda right now.

The Entertainment update. David, thank goodness, was finally eliminated from The Apprentice. This week on The Amazing Race nobody was eliminated is was the second of three non-elimination legs. Sadly, on Dancing With The Stars Rick & Cheryl were eliminated. Bristol and Kyle are much worse dancers than Rick and one of them should have been sent packing. Top Chef All Stars premieres on December 1.

Yesterday one of the articles I shared with you reported that hospitals were one of the worst places to be if you were trying to avoid a cold. Now it comes to light that the hospital is also one of the worst places to share you social security number:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/11/03/Most-unsafe-places-to-disclose-social/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182554

The list really shocked me because most of us use a lot of places on the list.

Next up is a list of healthy foods. It is a good list too because I actually like most the things on the list.

http://www.thatsfit.com/2010/11/05/6-surprising-health-foods/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk2%7C182340

I think I will have a baked potato tonight.

The blog is now yours. Do what ever pleases you. Comment on today's articles. Share what is going on in your lives. Share what you have planned. Vent. Share joys. Ask me anything. Introduce yourselves. Today on the blog it is your day.

Spring Forward, Fall Back.

This is the day that most of us folks in the United States set our clocks BACK one hour. Normally I complain about the worthless task and I am in the pro leaving the damn clocks alone camp. However, since my day started out with such a marvelous thing as a computer that had crashed a month ago fixing itself I'm in to good of a mood to complain about how awful changing the clock twice a year is. Normally I would say it screws up my sleep patterns & my Mom's medication schedule. Normally I would say pick either standard time or daylight savings time and just keep it. I don't really care which time you choose. However, thanks to the Gods fixing my computer I'm not going to do that. Nope, I am going to tell you where you can get meals under ten bucks at fancy restaurants:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/10/28/for-less-than-10-top-10-meals-for-your-money/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182555

OK, I lied. Not all on the list are fancy restaurants but you can still get good meals at places like Denny's.

Instead of complaining about how all the signs on stores that say "open 24 hours" are wrong tomorrow because they will be open 25 hours I am going to share an article that I hope will keep you as healthy as my now fixed computers:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/11/05/5-germ-filled-places-where-youre-most-likely-to-catch-a-cold-or/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl3%7Csec4_lnk2%7C182555

I truly don't know how you avoid some of the places on the list except by wearing surgical gloves and painting masks which I condone completely. I would suggest, however, that you don't wear ski masks.

I'm going to end with advise for any four year olds that you might know and pass on the advise to them. Don't run into elderly ladies with your trikes. You can be sued:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101101/od_nm/us_lawsuit_child

Your comments are appreciated.

PS

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Betty Ann Waters.

Happy Friday

I like keeping Friday's light. There is nothing lighter than horoscopes. The New moon goes into Scorpio on November 6 which according to the stars means big changes for all of us.

http://horoscopes.mydaily.com/astrology/2010/11/02/november-6-new-moon-in-scorpio-horoscopes/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl9%7Csec3_lnk1%7C182389

I'm supposed to come into money AND find a partner. Or maybe that is I am going to find a woman with money. What is predicted for you?

Since I am coming into money that also means I will have power! Maybe next year you will see me on the list of the Forbe's ten most powerful people in the world!

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/11/03/forbes-10-most-powerful-people-in-the-world/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-sb-n%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182289

I only had heard of only about five of the top ten. How about you?

I like to be happy on Friday. Well, I like to be happy everyday but especially on Friday. Most people spend over half of their waking time at work. If you are going to be happy shouldn't you work a happy job?

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/11/04/military-beats-disney-as-a-happy-place-to-work/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec4_lnk2%7C182406

Did it surprise you that Disney wasn't the happiest place in the world to work?

Off to get my haircut, fill the car with gas, buy an anniversary card, and finish a tax return. HAPPY FRIDAY TO ALL.

WHO AM I

I was separated from my brother at an early age as we were sent to different foster homes. My mother had ten children by seven different fathers. As we became adults my brother and I became very close siblings. Wet would do anything for the other. My brother was convicted of murder and sent to prison. I knew he was innocent but nobody would help me prove it. I took on the project myself. Though I dropped out of high school I decided to become a lawyer to help get my brother out of prison. First I went to community college, then to college, and then to law school. My brother was my only client. While attending law school I raised two boys and managed a bar to put food on the table. I gave over seventeen years of my life to get my brother out of jail. I found DNA evidence that everyone in the case told me had been destroyed. The DNA evidence shouted to the world what I knew, my brother was innocent. Despite the DNA evvidence it took another two years to free him. The D.A. was running for r-election and didn't want to free my brother. She said my brother was still guilty as an accessory to the murder. Only when a witness during the original trial recanted her testimony did they free my brother. I am still a cynic about lawyers. Despite my reluctance to court publicity as soon as my brother was freed the Hollywood types started a barrage of phone calls that continued for weeks. Finally A Swank Driver convinced me and the story is now a movie. Right now I am a co-owner of a pub and restaurant overlooking Bristol Harbor. While I spend most of my time running my business I find time to donate to Barry's The Innocence Project. The Innocence Project is a controversial organization that doesn't charge for its services which is to free the innocent currently in jail. I have been described as a nobody with nothing, who grabbed hold of a too-often-indifferent government Goliath and squeezed until I heard “uncle.” Just three months after my brother was released from prison he fractured his skull in a fall and died in the hospital with me at his bedside. If you are not sure who I am by now just think of the wrong CONVICTION of my brother.

Scattered Part Two.

Still at Mom's this morning so still a little scattered. I plan on leaving her around eleven and then go to Conviction, a movie that I am just dying to see. Being scattered I don't have any life changing articles to share with you just some ones that I hope you will find interesting.

One of my cousins Belva & Don's favorite show was WALKER TEXAS RANGER. Our own Pat here was the music editor for the show set in Dallas, Texas starring Chuck Norris. Did you ever wonder what Chuck was up to these days? I have the answer for you:

http://www.popeater.com/2010/11/03/czech-ads-chuck-norris/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182214

Have you just been sitting around pondering? Pondering a variety of different subjects like the meaning of life or at what age a woman should get married?

http://www.lemondrop.com/2010/11/01/oprah-women-in-their-20s-study-chrysalis-stage/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182198

I'm closing with a serious subject. A new method to diagnose hard to find cancers.

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/11/03/jellyfish-cells-used-to-diagnose-hard-to-find-cancers/

You know the drill. Your comments are always appreciated.

PS

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was the first known woman firefighter, Molly Williams.

Scattered.

I am at Mom's today. A lot to do here. Dust, vacuum, grocery shop, and cook. My day is going to be scattered from one activity to another. Therefore, today's post will be scattered to.

First up is some advice from me to you about these "going to reduce your taxes" ads that have taken over the air waves:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/taxes/what-to-know-about-tax-relief-firms/19693100/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk3%7C181849

Next up we are talking spuds. A lot of spuds. A lot of food for one dude in the State of Washington:

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/20-potatoes-a-day-for-60-days-fighting-the-usda-one-spud-at-a-time/19697766

Finally we are going to help you find a good paying job. Thirty-one thousand dollars an hour. You don't even have to strip for it:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101102/od_nm/us_japan_pizza

As you certainly know by now your comments are appreciated. I hope your day isn't going to be as scattered as mine!


WHO AM I?

I was born in 1818 and spent my life getting in and out of hot sports after being held as a slave belonging to a New York merchant. As volunteer 11 I made a distinguished presence in my calico dress and checked apron. I was said to be as good a lady at my work as many of the male employees. I received notice for my work during the blizzard in New York in 1818. I took my place with the men on dragropes and pulled the pumper through deep snow. When asked about my heroics I replied in the best English I knew:: "‘I belongs to ole ‘Leven; I allers runs wid dat ole bull-gine.’" Even as a slave I gained the respect of my fellow fighters. My story and strength paved the way for other women, including the first paid black female in my area of my volunteer work. If your not sure who I am just remember my first name rhymes with the first name of Country singer Parton and my last name is a common one that is the same as Claudine Longet's famous first husband.

Freedom Day.

Since a lot of states have vote by mail most of you have already voted. However, if you haven't voted please do so. I really don't care who or what you vote for as much as do that you vote. You have a voice in how the country is ran, don't pass up the chance to exercise that voice. Then let's hope that the elected officials will pay attention to the words from JFK's inaugural address in 1961:

"So let us begin anew. Remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear but never fear to negotiate. Let Both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us."

Here is part two of a Rapist remains free written for The Oregonian by Steve Duin.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2010/11/part_two_unrepentent_a_rapist.html

How about is a miracle and good story? Check out the following story?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101102/od_nm/us_france_baby

Now here is an article that concerns me greatly. I think what the city is doing is the invasion of privacy of their citizens.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/smile-your-license-plates-on-candid-camera-in-tiburon-california/19699023

Your comments are appreciated. I am off to Mom's for tonight through Thursday Morning. The blog posts will be at various times the next couple of days. Hope you voted today and that your favorites win!

PS

Jody Williams was the answer to yesterday's Who Am I?

Good Fun Precedes Reality.

Let's start out Monday with a fun article. Remember the Edsel? They go down not only as one of the worst cars ever made but they also rank as having one of the worst logos in history:

http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/10/08/what-are-the-best-and-worst-company-logos/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-sb-n%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C181389

McDonald's & Nike ranked one and two. I really don't like either one of them and think this is a case of them more memorable then they are good. What do you think of the list? Do you have a favorite logo?

Let's move on from fun and report on the good. During a couple of years in my storied past I used to donate my time one Saturday during the year on the last weekend in April to a program called Christmas In April. Home Depot would donate materials. Safeway would donate the food. Crews of twenty-five would go to houses throughout the Portland area and would fix them up for the senior citizens and the disabled. It was always one of the most enjoyable Saturdays of the year. It usually was between eight and twelve hours of hard work but at the end of the day you could see both what you accomplished and smiling faces. Could there be anything better? Christmas In April changed their name to Rebuilding Together.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/10/volunteers_whisk_in_and_make_o.html

I'm happy that the program has expanded to more than just April rebuilding. I'm also glad that a War Veteran benefited. What do you think of the story and the work the organization does?

Now the troubling story. This is Monday after all and we can't be all good fun. A little reality has to slap us in the face to start out the week. Steve Duin started his career at The Oregonian as a sports writer then moved on to be a columnist there. His writing continues to improve. This is the first in a series of articles about the tragedy of the criminal just system:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2010/10/part_one_in_the_dark_of_nights.html

The second in the series will be posted tomorrow.

Your comments are appreciated.

WHO AM I?

I am not the chef or the blues singer that share my name. I was born in 1950. I am a teacher and aid worker that worked to ban land mines and who received the Nobel Peace Prize. I have a B.A. Degree in English As A Second Language and a Master's degree in teaching Spanish. I later received a second M.A. in International Relations. I taught ESL in Mexico, The United Kingdom, and D.C. before my first appointment in aid work. In aid work I became a grocery worker of the "Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project" Then I became deputy director of a Los Angeles based charity focusing on medical aid for El Salvador. That lead to my position with The International Campaign to Ban Landmines. We succeeded in 1997 when a treaty was signed in Ottawa. I was one of the founders of The Nobel Women's Initiative along with six sister Nobel Peace Laureates. Six women representing North America and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa decided to bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality. It is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world. I was also the Head of Mission of the High-Level Mission dispatched by the Human Rights Council to report on the situation of human rights in Darfur and the needs of Sudan. If you don't know who I am by know maybe you should think about "An Individual's Impact on Social and Political Change."