Lives in a Shoe

Etta James Has Died

RIP, Miss James.

"Tell Mama" below

Here He Is: Yam-I-Am

We were running low on dogs around here --  so just in time our newest family member, Yam, arrived last Friday from his ancestral home in Vallejo, California.  I am having difficulty with my vision so haven't been posting regularly.  But.  This little guy is so adorable, and I'm been having such a good time hanging around with the dogs -- I am highly motivated to learn how to post videos. 

Here is my first effort.  Bella the Beauty Queen is my Aussie Shepherd girl who has a fine mind of her own.  Belle is rowdy when she plays with the big dogs.  She LOVES little Yam though and lets him jump on her and sit on her head.  Walk-ons by Edgar the Mini-Schnauzer, Momo Kaddafi the Papillon, and Radar the Kurelian Bear Dog.

More to come, I promise.

 

 

 

Yam Update

We keep thinking we will change his name when he gets here in January and we meet him in person -- but we are constantly talking of him as Yammer, Little Potato-Head, Yamster, Yam-I-Am...

Here is his December 9th update:

It's obvious he's searching for a disc to chase.

Urban Legends

As a girl entering my teens I shivered at hearing such urban legends as The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs, The Hook on the Car Door, The Tarantula in the Ratted Hairdo. These stories, passed from kid to kid, often had something to do with transmitting social values through icy fear.

 

Scariest of all was the Spanish Fly Story. Seems a couple went to a drive-in where the boy spiked the girl's drink with Spanish Fly which drove the girl to uncontrollable lust. The boy ran off, or variously was found prostrate from exhaustion -- but the girl was found bloody and dead from having pleasured herself on the gear shift.

 

Apparently the Saudi  Religious Council has heard the story too.

 

Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in "no more virgins", the country’s highest religous council, working with Kamal Subhi, formerly a professor at the King Fahd University has warned.  No. More. Virgins A-tall.

The report warns that allowing women to drive would ‘provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce’.

Within ten years of the ban being lifted, the report’s authors claim, there would be ‘no more virgins’ in the Islamic kingdom.

And it pointed out ‘moral decline’ could already be seen in other Muslim countries where women are allowed to drive.

Here's the best part:

In the report Professor Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state.

‘All the women were looking at me,’ he wrote. ‘One made a gesture that made it clear she was available... this is what happens when women are allowed to drive.’

Really, Proffessor Subhi?  All the women were looking at you?  Really?

Imagine all these Arab men in their keffiyahs whispering the story to one another in deep dismay, believing that in this universe there is something that will cause women to become sexually insatiable.  And it's a drivers license. 

 

Billions and Billions

The Hubble telescope was aimed at a piece of the sky about the size of a dime at 75 feet, or a grain of sand held at arm's length.*  It appeared to be empty -- but see what is really there -- the farthest we've ever seen into the universe.  One hundred billion galaxies in the universe, each containing more than a billion stars -- more stars than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world. 

Four minutes well spent.

 

There are a few YouTube videos; this was a least obnoxious I could find quickly.  I want to know why it is that astronomer types have to put in oooga-wooga music.  The images are mystifying enough.  So stop it already.

__________________________

* The entire sky contains 12.7 million times that area.

New Family Member -- Meet Yam

Yam is a McNab, one of eight in his litter.  He will be here in a few weeks.  George was working in Atlanta over the summer at the Skyhoundz World Competitions and fell in love with the breed and insists that we need one. 

 

Look at that face.

We'll probably rename him but I think his middle name should always be Yam -- the theme of his litter was Thanksgiving, since they were born November 10th.  His siblings are Pilgrim, Puritan, Autumn Apple, Pie, Gather, Pudding, Daisy.

 

Making My Family Sick

This Thanksgiving I tried a variation for the old tried-and-true mashed potatoes. Knowing that George and Marcella both love potatoes but both have issues with dairy, I warned them ahead of time and also got some Lactaid.  I promised them something really good.

 

On the big day, with love in my heart, I peeled and boiled and mashed. I proudly served the beautiful mashed potatoes in my mother's yellow bowl. We agreed that these had to be the very best mashed potatoes EVAH. I felt really good to have given them such a treat.

 

Then. First Marcella, who cannot tolerate butter, and then George, who has some sort of lactose intolerance, got indigestion. Bad indigestion.  Woe was me. Turns out you have to take the lactase stuff for three days before it's effective. I'm not sure that would have helped, but maybe.

 

Anyhow, the potatoes really were terrific. They were my midnight snack and then made a good breakfast, heated in the microwave and eaten by me.  All alone.

 

So here is the recipe..  I guess we can call this:

 

Lucrezia Borgia's Awesome Spuds

 

Five pounds of potatoes. 

One cube of butter.

One square package of cream cheese.

Salt, pepper.

Milk as necessary.

Peel and boil potatoes. Or don't peel them; I don't care. When they're cooked, drain and mash. Add butter, cream cheese. Add milk until the consistency is good. Add salt and pepper.

 

This will either make your family sick right away or it will work on their arteries in a more stealthy manner and they will keel over with a coronary in the middling future.  Lucrezia would probably consider this a win-win.

"Do you know how this happened, Tank?"

 

Creepy.

http://net-security.org/secworld.php?id=11683

Technology Facebook Caught ‘Inadvertently’ Tracking You Once You Log Off

• Posted on September 28, 2011 at 11:00am by Liz Klimas

• Facebook cookies were accidentally tracking other sites users went to, even after they logged off. The cookies sent this information to Facebook.
• Facebook has fixed what it says was a malfunction in its software.
• Advice: Log off Facebook when done. Remove Facebook cookies. Use a different browser when you get on Facebook.
• Social media sites are figuring out what their role is in protecting user information and freedom of speech.

Love it, hate it, view it as a necessary evil. However you feel about social media sites, they are tracking you one way or another, cataloging your movements on their site — and sometimes off it. Take Facebook.

Facebook was recently exposed as “inadvertently” tracking your web movements, even after you logged off its site. Australian blogger Nik Cubrilovic, like many alarmed by the upcoming Timeline changes to Facebook that will automatically populate your profile with items from your past or sites you’re viewing, looked into how to disable this feature, which could “accidentally share a page or an event that you did not intend others to see.” Cubrilovic writes another blogger’s advice to combat this problem is to log off Facebook. But that isn’t enough:

[...] logging out of Facebook only de-authorizes your browser from the web application, a number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to Facebook.com. Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions.

Pokey Ahoy

Marcella sent these beautiful photos of Poke on her boat ride.  She smelled the salt air and helped net fish and crab.  She pigged out on chicken tenders.  We loved her so much and miss her, miss her.

 

 

Smile

 

 

 

Heh

Cake Wrecks -- "The Cake that Started it All".

Stiull worth a laugh after all this time.

Circle

In 2005 I walked the Susan Komen Three-Day.  What an experience that was.  Darn near killed me but I bet George that I would walk every inch of the 60 miles.  It was in memory of my mom Mary Voda Daniels who died of breast cancer; it was in honor of my co-mother-in-law Linda Siegle who was diagnosed the same year I was and who also had a double mastectomy -- and who also has survived.  (She and I were born the same day, same year.  My son married her daughter.)  And it was in gratitude to my oncologist Ben Chue, MD. The Seattle PI interviewed me the following autumn -- entire article is here: 

 http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/health/article/Living-Well-Doctor-s-bold-step-paid-off-for-his-1186197.php#ixzz1YzvG3qyx

During the summer there was advance word about the promising clinical trials for a breast cancer drug called Herceptin.... And rightfully so. Herceptin appears to be a direct and effective match for many women with tumors that churn out too much of a protein called HER2. About 20 percent of breast cancer patients are HER2-related cases....The drug doesn't help every single HER2 patient -- common among medications -- but that didn't stop early buzz about the Herceptin trials in July when Catherine Daniels participated in a three-day, 60-mile walk for breast cancer.

"Everyone was talking about it," said Daniels, 58, a breast cancer survivor. "Every day."

Daniels got a chance to tell her story to fellow walkers. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2000...While browsing the Internet, she found out about Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, known for its integrative medicine approachD

 

Dr. Chue talked to George and me about Herceptin and asked us to consider trying it.  Before I'd met with him I had read the book Her-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer and sort of understood in a foggy way.  Wasn't sure it was the best thing to do and asked him how this Her-2 thing is measured and he said "A scale of one to three."

I asked, "Where do I fall?"  "Three-plus," he said, "If you were my mother I would strongly encourage you to do this."  So I did.  And I'm alive now.  Don't think it would have this happy an ending without Herceptin because these tumors tend to be "aggressive and resistant to treatment".  As it was I had three tumors and the disease had spread to my lymph nodes.

Fast forward to the present.  My beautiful niece Leigh has done.the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and mentioned Mom and me on her webpage: http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/LosAngeles?px=6205640&pg=personal&fr_id=2060 

I got my credit card ready and was just about to go there and click my donation -- I was closing a news site when I read this about a "Holy Grail" treatment for breast cancer:

The new drug combines an existing drug, Herceptin, which revolutionised breast cancer treatment 10 years ago, and a new anti- cancer treatment. It is the first time two drugs have been used in this way.

My bolding.  Entire article is here: ://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/273486

I've learned that many cancer treatments are introduced with a great fanfare (think Interferon) and then quietly fade away.  So we'll see if this one really is the grail or another tin cup.

Meanwhile, Leigh and thousands of other walkers are helping to cure this awful disease, one step at a time.  Thank you so much, Leigh and all of you.  Thank you.

Note for my family below: 

 

Atlas Shrugs. Ayn Rand Spins.

 

CALEDON ATLAS SHRUG

Inspired by the blockbuster book by Ayn Rand, the Atlas Shrug is more than a fashion statement. It's a statement about modern society. The construction is reminiscent of railway lines, in the color of the metal created by the brilliant industrialist. Knit your own Atlas Shrug in Caledon Hills yarn and tell the world that you value your independence.

Just the thing to wear to that picnic in Galt's Gulch.

Note:  For those non-knitters among you:  A shrug is a kind of truncated sweater that covers from shoulder to shoulder down the back, and across the sleeves. 

Note to Caledon copywriter:  the "brilliant industrialist" is Hank Reardon. 

"Dave's Not Here, Man..." Still Makes Me Smile.

Commercial.  Nice to see old friends, but -- funny a little; sad a lot.

 

I miss Janis but kind of glad she died before she was tempted to make commercials.  "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a pack of Depends..."

Welcome to the Family, Smokey!

Melikssa and Mario's new mutt.  He's a tiny black pug and I hear he's a Very Good Boy.

 

Summer 2011

 
Skagit County Fair, August 2011.  Left to right:  Tanya, Derek, Di, Jeff, Melissa, Cath.

A Yarn Yarn

Lorette, who blogs as www.TheKnittingDoctor, is visiting Scotland.  We share a passion for yarn and things knitting so I was interested to get this email from her:

We found a billion sheep, but little local wool. A woman at a local croft shop that I stopped at told me that most of the sheep are raised for meat, not wool. There are some folks raising sheep varieties more for the wool, but not many, yet. I did get some good stuff though. And ate a lot of lamb!

George and I were in Scotland and Ireland a coujple of years ago.  I was excited about the yarn-buying opportunities I fancied would be there for the finding.  Alas...

Dublin: I searched and found very little actual yarn, but many shops that sold "hand knit jumpers" (sweaters, for those of you who are not world travelers).

We were searching for George's people who according to Ellis Island records emigrated from Boyle in County Roscommon.  Lovely tiny town with its own castle -- and lorry after lorry (trucks, for those of you who are not world travelers) stacked high with fleeces rumbling down the center street heading somewhere else. 

I found a sort of clothing/notions shop and asked for "knitting wool".  The lady looked puzzled and then -- Aha!  She dove into the dark bottom of a cupboard, rummaged like a terrier, then surfaced holding aloft yellow sparkly stuff balled big as a prize pumpkin.  No label, but not wool.  She said the fleeces were sent "away" and "nobody knits anymore except old women". All-righty, then. (This shopkeeper was no spring chicken her own self.  Just sayin'...)

In Scotland I noticed that everybody, except those who lived smack in urban areas, had sheep.  So whoopee, I thought -- my ship has come in.  But no.  I resorted to asking a waitress in Edinburgh to check the phone book thinking maybe there was some local terminology that had been eluding me.  Nothing, nothing. 

Eventually, in St. Andrews (George golfed The Old Course)  I found a gorgeous wool shop with shelves of truly scrumptious yarn.  Weird thing, though -- every time I liked something and checked the label it appeared to be from Italy or Japan.  I bought a book of patterns -- something "Scotland Experience".  Haven't made anything from it yet.  Great souvenir, though.

 

Broke R Us

Sometimes it's hard to wrap your mind around the national financial situation.  This makes it easier.  (I'd like to attribute this but can't remember where I found it.)

Why S&P Downgraded the US:
U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
April budget cut: $38,500,000,000  

Let’s remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:
Annual family income: $21,700
Money the family spent: $38,200
New debt (this year) on the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Budget cuts: $385

 

Rosalie Pokeybottom Died Last Week...

... she was euthanized when it got to the point that we feared she would be unable to swallow. 

She was born in March, with the sunshine and warmer days -- and she lived in the brightness of summer.  Born "Zory" and named Rosalie Pokeybottom by Marcella but called "Poke" by her friends, she was a puppy of sparkle and light.  She died as autumn came to the northwest, on a morning with spiderwebs and dew. 

At first we, foster mother Cassi, Heather (the breeder), our vet -- all of us believed her stiff little legs were a result of an injury.  An x-ray showed nothing, and we began a course of physical therapy including swimming and massage, plus steroid injections.  She seemed to improve at first but soon we noticed deterioration.  Her walking and balance seemed compromised.

 
 
(Thanks to Mike for the photo.)

We stayed in touch with Heather, who notified us right away when she learned that probably what was happening was called Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (article below the jump).  This awful hereditary disease has been seen in rottweilers and only fairly recently has come to light among papillon puppies.  Heather was broken-hearted and determined to do the right thing.  She contacted the national papillon people and learned all she could.  We corresponded with Leona Domino who is the genetics chair for the national papillon organization.  She sent us some descriptions of the course of the disease, and we learned that Dr. Giger,  a veterinarian at Penn, is working to find a genetic marker.  There is no treatment, and the disease is invariably fatal.  We agreed to send blood and her tiny body to Dr. Giger when the time came.  This was done and we take comfort in the hope that Pokey's little life can help combat this horrible disease.

Maybe it would have been  wiser to euthanize her the instant we learned of her condition.  But by then we loved little Poke deeply and we considered her part of our family.  So we did our best to give her a life full of joy and good feelings.  The disease took something from her almost daily.  She lost the use of her back legs.  She developeard spastic head-throwing, diffriculty eating and swallowing.  She gradually lost the use of her front legs.  She lost her vision. 

We had a little cart made for her and she taught herself to sort of paddle her front legs from the shoulder to scoot it around; we fashioned little booties from the thumbs of garden gloves to give traction.  She loved the grass, whipped cream, our lab mix Joyful.  She did not like being left alone to sleep and would have a little temper tantrum if you tried to make her do it.  She wanted to sleep in our lap or with us in bed.  She LOVED parties and being wheeled around by the kids.  And strawberry ice cream.  And going out on the boat, smelling the sea and freshly-caught fish and crab.  And oh how she LOVED Marcella and would just wiggle with delight when she heard her voice.  She loved being the office dog at George's office and being fed and held by so many nice people. 

 

The little cart is still now; her small butterfly crinkle toy lies abandoned.  For such a tiny dog with a life measured in mere months, she has left a papillon-sized hole in our house and our hearts.  Little Poke, we loved you so much. 

WOOFD2 Tenth Anniversary.

 

Washington Owners of Flying Disc Dogs 10th Anniversay video.  Many of the founding dogs have died now -- but watching this brought back wonderful memories and provoked tears and a lump in my throat.  Gorgeous talented dogs doing what they so love to do. 

"I closed my eyes and she slipped away..."  Babe is here and there throughout. 

Radar O'Really appears about 4:10 -- look at those choppers.  Then Rick O'Shay.  And George, with his WOOFD2 license.

Friends dear to our hearts -- we've shared so many good times over the years, so many adventures.  "We're with the disc dogs..." 

Thank you, Tombi, for the beautiful video.

 

9/11

I remember who did it -- and after ten years of studying and trying to understand, I know why.  If you really want to honor the brave and the innocent dead, educate yourself.  Read the Koran.  Then look up "Abrogation".  There is a lot more to know but that will give you a start.

All this self-indulgent wallowing around in "tribute" --  maybe it would be better to quietly put a plaque somewhere at the Pentagon, at the WTC site, and in Shanksville.  All this other hoopla is a bit too show-biz for my taste.  We are not that weak, that teary, that old-womanish. If this were a movie, somebody would slap us silly and order us to get a grip.   

We are Americans, strong and brave. That is what we should never forget.

***************************************

Having said all that, and in a nod to inconsistency:  Here's the Budweiser 9/11 tribute -- shown once.  I remember I saw it and tried to describe it to George and could not stop crying.  Still affects me like that.

 

Something Wonderful

Anna Burden, a 17-year-old from Indiana.

 

"The Pearls Are Absolutely Non-Negotiable."

The Baroness.  Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1975-1990 -- The Iron Lady, my hero.  I admire her more than any other public figure of my lifetime.  I named my formidable cow after her meaning no disrespect but the utmost appreciation of her strength and intelligence.  She is famously quoted, "Tbe problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money."  She is in ill health now with Alzheimer's and it's sad, sad.

Some time in the early 90s she came to Seattle to give a speech.  Mom (who also loved her) and George and I went to hear her.  It was a big crowd but so respectful that you could hear every word.  She spoke of limited government and strong defense -- as I recall it was pretty much what you would expect.  It was a thrill to be in the same space with her.

A film is being made.  Meryl Streep seems like a good choice.  Hope they don't goober it up.  Here's the trailer:

 

 

Kittehs

I am auntie to these tiny felines who live in Brice and Claudia's house.  New family members Lucy, hunting invisible mousies --

-- and Fred, looking adorable.

 
 

Claudia says they are smart and are already a handful.  As cute as they are I don't think it matters.  Just looking at them is pleasure enough.. 

Disc Dogs!

 Video here:

http://www.goskagit.com/home/article/mount_vernon_man_dog_learning_to_fly/

 

 

 

 

 

(I have to break in here to note that in this photo Rick has the disc in his mouth so he appears to be dedicated -- but really it is so he can go "Nyah nyah nyah" to Radar and keep it to himself.)

 

 

 

Sally Go Round the Pretty Roses

I'm recovering from two surgeries for a detached retina -- all is well so far, according to the surgeon who appears to be about twelve and fugitive from study hall.  Hard to read or write anything sustained.  My Nook has a setting for the Missus Magoo font -- four or five words per page -- so I can at least keep up with my recreational read: Margaret George's Elizabeth I.

I miss posting so I'll share something I like very much.  This is "Sally Go Round the Roses" by the Jaynetts. (I didn't care at the time but the making of the record is an interesting yarn.)  This was 1963 -- a summer of beaches and golden sunshine every single day. 

 

I just can't resist -- here is the same song done by  ? and the Mysterians.  Complete with feather fans and (WTF) pandas. Pandas? Really?  Some things are destined to remain mysterious.  Forever. 

Current Events

Man with dead weasel accused of assault

Associated Press, by Staff    Original Article

Hoquiam, Wash. – Police say a man was carrying a dead weasel when he burst into an apartment and assaulted a man in Washington state. The victim asked, "Why are you carrying a weasel?" Police said the attacker answered, "It's not a weasel, it's a marten," then punched him in the nose and fled. ...

Must Have Been One Heck of a Party

Lazy Saturday morning.  Neighbor Sue calls:  "Your little brown calf has a chair on his head".

Huh?  At first I thought she'd said my little brown cat had a chair on its head and I don't have a little brown cat.  So I stood there holding the phone trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about --  

Sure enough, Isaac Hays, the little punk, was lounging in the pasture with a lawn chair affixed to his head.  He appeared calm.  I called Marcella in case he got scared and we would have to rodeo him up to the barn and some confined place.  But no. He looked at us as if to say, "What?  What?"  The dogs were barking at the top of their lungs, making fun of him.  "Isaac," I said, "You look like a dork, dude."  He tried to carry it off as if he'd meant to do it, as if a lawn chair headdress is the dernier cri of bovine summer fashion.

He was keenly interested in the pan of grain we'd brought so I was able to twist the chair off with no trouble.and give him a good ear rub, checking to make sure there were no owies from where the chair had split.  "As you were," I said to the herd.  I closed the gate and turned to see the four of them, enjoying the sunshine, munching grass on this gorgeous lazy sunny Saturday in June.

Who knows what wild revels occur in the north pasture during soft midsummer nights?  Cows have secrets -- and they aren't telling.

Well, Sure.

Article in Business Insider "Dogs Make employees More Productive at Work".

George's office has ever been dog-friendly, encouraging, as a perk, employees to bring their dogs.   Cats too -- Marcella brings her cats Fluff and Noodley from time to time to broaden their experiences.

One terrific pit bull, Petee, who belonged to one of the paralegals, was a wonderful ambassador for his breed and a good judge of character.  I'm told he growled only once -- at a client who had been convicted of child molestation.  Little West Highland Terrier Lily, a teeny grande dame, is in daily with one of the lawyers and admired by all for her beauty.  Sometimes our Ricky or Radar go in with George.  Our wonderful Babe, of course, was there all the time and George has a wall in his office to showcase some of her trophies.

 

Peak Oil, Peak Energy -- Probably Not

Strange to find this article in Salon.

Two arguments for switching to renewable energy -- the depletion of fossil fuels and national security -- are no longer plausible.

Also addresses the global warming issue:

The scenarios with the most catastrophic outcomes of global warming are low probability outcomes -- a fact that explains why the world’s governments in practice treat reducing CO2 emissions as a low priority, despite paying lip service to it. But even if the worst outcomes were likely, the rational response would not be a conversion to wind and solar power but a massive build-out of nuclear power. Nuclear energy already provides around 13-14 percent of the world’s electricity and nearly 3 percent of global final energy consumption, while wind, solar and geothermal power combined account for less than one percent of global final energy consumption.

Worth reading the whole thing.

Memorial Day

Once each May, amid the quiet hills and rolling lanes and breeze-brushed trees of Arlington National Cemetery, far above the majestic Potomac and the monuments and memorials of our Nation's Capital just beyond, the graves of America's military dead are decorated with the beautiful flag that in life these brave souls followed and loved. This scene is repeated across our land and around the world, wherever our defenders rest. Let us hold it our sacred duty and our inestimable privilege on this day to decorate these graves ourselves -- with a fervent prayer and a pledge of true allegiance to the cause of liberty, peace, and country for which America's own have ever served and sacrificed. ... Our pledge and our prayer this day are those of free men and free women who know that all we hold dear must constantly be built up, fostered, revered and guarded vigilantly from those in every age who seek its destruction. We know, as have our Nation's defenders down through the years, that there can never be peace without its essential elements of liberty, justice and independence. Those true and only building blocks of peace were the lone and lasting cause and hope and prayer that lighted the way of those whom we honor and remember this Memorial Day. To keep faith with our hallowed dead, let us be sure, and very sure, today and every day of our lives, that we keep their cause, their hope, their prayer, forever our country's own."  -- Ronald Reagan

Snatched from the always-excellent MaggiesFarm.

Who's Sorry Now?

A 40-year-old Bangladeshi woman cut off a man's penis during an alleged attempted rape and took it to a police station as evidence, police in a remote part of Bangladesh said on Monday.

An Infidel Looks at Islam

...and would like to share what she learned and invite discussion.

Shortly after 9/11 I believed and repeated the "Islam is a religion of peace" tune and it really bothered me that there might be a backlash against peaceful Muslims particularly in the US.

 

After awhile -- maybe a few years -- reading the news and learning about the bad behavior of Muslims worldwide I tried to understand how so many of these people could be so clueless about their own religion.  If it really is a religion of peace, and if jihad really is a spiritual quest rather than a militant one, then how come these folks didn't get the memo? 

Dad, USMC

My brother Greg found this photo in a book he's reading, which he got from my Dad.  We don't believe Dad read the book, which was a gift to him, but we think the conductor in this photo could be Dad -- middle of photo, with pith helmet.  Looks like him.

 
From Greg's email:

I've been reading a book about the Solomons campaign.  I knew that Dad was on Guadalcanal, and I knew that that island had been declared secure before he got there (They were married in Jan of '43 and he left shortly after so I peg his arrival about March).  As I got older I always assumed that Dad was just repeating stories he heard from the veterans of the fighting on Guadalcanal (like the one about 'Washing Machine Charlie').

 

What I hadn't realized is that there was fierce fighting all the way up the island chain through '43 and '44.  Guadalcanal got the press because it was the first, but there were many bloody battles after that.  A lot of the names of these islands bring back memories of his stories.  Rendova, Vela Lavella, Bougainville and Espritu Santo are just a couple of names that I remember.  Now I wish I'd talked to him more about his experiences.

                                            ....

By the way, Dad rarely talked to me about the war either after I had grown.  The only thing he told me once was that he had to act as a machine gunner on a plane and strafe barges the Japanese were using to reinforce the islands.  The barges were full of troops and he got really emotional describing it, so I didn't press it.  As I said earlier I doubted that there was much combat after he arrived over there but now I know better.  Did he really do this?  Well, he was attached to the First Marine Air Wing (which flew planes duh!) and being a musician wasn't exactly a full time job so it's not unlikely that he could've been pressed into service like this. 

Minding Our Own Beeswax

I don't live in California and would not have voted for Arnold.  But I've had it up to HERE with the sanctimonious comparisons of Maria Shriver to Hillary Clinton, how they must have known (yes) and yet carried on pushing their husbands for office, and ain't it awful?

 

It's not relevant, is it?  History is replete with flawed indidivuals who led well.  Churchill drank too much; so did General Sherman.  Martin Luther King was a womanizer.  Gandhi had a thing for little girls.  Lincoln probably had a history of mental illness.  If called upon to do so I could expand this list without much trouble.

 

A question of character, you say?  Yes, but to a limited extent. Private virtue and private vice do not pertain to ability to lead.  Financial dishonesty.  Unlawful business practices.  Unpaid parking tickets.  These are public-arena items, legitimately our business.  Strictly private failings?  Not our business. 

 

It's easier and kind of fun to read about the sexual escapades of politicians.  It's hard to comprehend political issues as dire as deficits and unfunded liabilities.  In California especially, it can be hair-raising.  But we are grownups, and that's what grownups are expected to do.

Wrestler Randy Savage Died This Morning

In 1984 I attended a WWF event in the Tacoma Dome with two young boys.  Randy Savage was beaten to the canvas and one of the villains grabbed a chair -- a chair! -- and advanced with evident intent to knock his brains out.  I know it's hard to believe, but the ref was facing the other way and did not see this, despite yells from the crowd.  In the nick of time, Miss Elizabeth jumped into the ring and grabbed the chair from the bad guy, saving Macho Man from certain debraining. 

I followed the story of Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth* for years in a kind of absent way.  Interesting to see that their action figures are still for sale -- "Power and Beauty" -

Leaving aside the issue of hypocrisy of these steroid-enhanced actors, WWF wrestling in those more-innocent days was a vehicle for transmission of our society's morality, our ideas of right and wrong.  Fair play is right, chivalry is right, staying in school is right, avoiding drugs is right.  This was a good thing. 

WWF wrestling was a place of almost cheerful sexism and racism.  Miss Elizabeth was scantily dressed.  The Asian guy came out to the strains of tinkly "chinese" music.  The black guy wore a bone necklace and carried a macaw.  The Arab wore a burnoose and carried a wad of dollars marked "oil money".  This was not so good. 

  

TAMPA (CBSMiami.com) – Former WWE heavyweight champion Randy “Macho Man” Savage died Friday morning in a car accident in Tampa, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Savage, who spent most of the 1980s and ’90s as a superstar in the wrestling industry, died when the 2009 Jeep Wrangler “veered across a concrete median…through oncoming traffic…and collided head-on with a tree.”

I enjoyed your work, Mr. Savage.  Rest in peace.

________________

* Miss Elizabeth and Randy Savage were married briefly.  She died of a drug overdose in the early 90s.

Do Not Miss This

Awww...

 

Autism Epidemic? Maybe Not

It seems that we are tripping over autistic kids lately, and we all wonder -- now that vaccinations have been exonerated -- if it's fast food, something in the air or water...

A study in England has found no evidence that autism is increasing at all, let alone in epidemic proportions. The sense of epidemic may be a result of vigorous diagnosis now -- many adults were found who had no idea they fell on the autism spectrum and when they were included there was no large group of young sufferers, as you would expect. Worth a look.

In fact, more and more research hints that some if not all of the increase in autism may be due to changes in how, and how often, the disorder is diagnosed. Kids who used to be classified as mentally retarded or just plain eccentric, for instance, might now get an autism-spectrum label instead.

"That simply means more people are coming forth and being recognized," Brugha told Reuters Health.

Be Sure to Wear Clean Underwear

End of world next Saturday -- begins with earthquake in Pacific Northwest.

Pocahontas

George is in Texas visiting granddaughters who love the Disney princesses.  I loved princess stories as a girl and it's wonderful to know that little girls still dream like that. 

Someday, though, I hope they learn the real story of Pocahontas instead of the
politically correct claptrap from the cartoon movie.  The real heroine is far more interesting than any plastic princess could be.

I Can Get Pretty Excited About This

I learned to punctuate at the knees of European nuns who placed quotation marks outside of the quoted material, a convention called "Logical Punctuation".  Think about it:  If you put punctuation inside the quotationn marks you have changed the quote.  Duh. 

Americans generally have been sprinkling punctuation inside quotation marks but thank goodness the logical way is gaining ground.

Mother Mary Paul:  If everybody else said "We're going to jump off the bridge!" would you say "Me too"?  

Welcome Little Harley

New member of the family.  Harley -- puppy member of the pack at my brother Chip's house.  So that means I am this dog's auntie. 
Well, sure...

iS THIS A FACE, OR WHAT?

 

 
 

Dogs at Work

WOOFD2 competition, Gig Harbor, Saturday.  Photos by Tombi Erickson.

Ricky (Rick O'Shay) 

Radar (Radar O'Really) -- fourth place.

 

 

Will He Refudiate?

Good grief, dummy Palin garbles the English language again -- oh, wait --

 "...[T]he Amtrak ticketing system is quite like the airline ticketing system where you have to buy a ticket in advance and have you're name on the manifold of who is taking the train. We should be comparing Amtrak manifolds the same way we compare airline manifolds to the terrorist watch lists..."

That was Chuck Schumer today, reacting to information from the bin Laden intel capture .  Still confused even after Don Imus corrected him in 2006.

(Intelligent people misspeak, and normally it's not deserving of comment.  But Sarah Palin gets savaged while others don't so I thought I'd help even it up a bit.)

 

Illustrations distinguishing "manifold" and"manifest" below.

Can This Be Right?

A few days ago on Big Peace -- Breitbart -- there was an interview with Richard Miniter whose book "Mastermind" about Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has just come out.

I was stunned to learn while researching Mastermind that Guantanamo detainees succeeded in convincing prison officials to no longer raise the American flag anywhere they could see it. Each morning on every U.S. military base around the world, the American flag is raised to a bugle.  But in the interests of not offending the detainees, it was stopped at Guantanamo.

Judge George

 
Pro tem, Everett District Court today.  Photos courtesy of Marcella.

 
 

 

 

"You Know What the Meat Drawer Is, Right?"

 

 

Hottest Drink on Campus

The OBL -- two shots and a splash.

Trained with Beggin' Strips and Snausages

Hero dog helped snare Osama.