Musings from the Den Mother

The Den Mother Is Moving...

2010-10-24T22:16:00.000-04:00

...from Blogger to Wordpress — http://denmotherblog.wordpress.com/. I have transferred all posts from here to the new site, and all future posts will be published there. So update your bookmarks. I'll see you there!

Clueless or Stupid?

2010-10-22T14:10:00.001-04:00

Study this photo and decide which label best fits the individual who parked this car:

Yes, that sign on the left is:

They walk among us, and they drive.

How I Spent My Summer, er, Autumn Vacation

2010-10-20T23:44:00.000-04:00

With all the effort I expend informing the uninformed and entertaining my readers, it was inevitable that I would need a break, which (frequent readers already know) consisted of a week in a place with warmer temperatures and an ocean around the corner. That was after a 15 hour drive (including periodic stops to fill the gas tank, eat, pee, and stretch), which sounds worse than it was because my friend Sandy kept me company and shared the driving.

There are three kinds of vacations: relaxation vacations, recreation vacations, and socializion vacations. Most vacations are a combination of the three. In my experience, most people don't understand the difference between recreation and relaxation, but that's another story for another time. This particular vacation was primarily, but not entirely, of the relaxation variety. We pretty much did what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it, and we didn't do anything we didn't want to do. What we wanted to do most days was go to the beach and eat.

With daytime temperatures consistently above normal all but one day, we did a lot of lying on the beach. We stayed at a house that is literally a three minute walk to the beach, but because there is no public parking in that vicinity, the beach is never crowded. That made it easy for us to pick a spot, plant our beach chairs, and vegetate. I did a lot of vegetating. And some swimming, because even though it's October, the Atlantic Ocean down around the Carolinas is still quite warm. And taking pictures, even though I had only the 3.2 megapixel camera on my BlackBerry Bold 9650. I managed to creatively get myself (or at least a couple small body parts) into the first picture I took of the beautiful beach (above). Yes, those are my toes in a pair of cheap flip-flops. BTW, you can click on this and any picture in this post to see a larger image. The rest of the pictures do not involve my feet.

Besides basking in the rays, one of the first things we did was stop at Mystic Treasures Jewelry to visit jewelry designer Tommy and his partner Judy, who also owns the Topsail Art Gallery next door. I know Tommy via my brother and sister-in-law, who are long-time frequent customers. Alas, both Sandy and I fell under Tommy's spell and bought jewelry from him. Sandy chose the Armada Hook bracelet, one of Tommy's original patented designs. I went with a slightly less pricy necklace and earring set, also hand-crafted by Tommy of fused glass with sand from the nearby beach fired in.

A less costly venture brought us to the mainland to visit the venerable Dr. Rootbeer and his Hall of Foam. Part soda fountain, part museum, it's loaded with vintage (and some reproduction) root beer memorabilia from around the world. Apparently this business venture was a way for Dr. Rootbeer to display his vast collection in a way that didn't drive Mrs. Rootbeer to divorce court. As for the edibles, my personal favorite menu item is the key lime float, made with vanilla ice cream and Lime Rickey soda. He also sells six-packs of his own recipe root beer plus, much to my delight, two other eclectic beverages I enjoy, Moxie and birch beer. No Dr Pepper, though.

Also close to the island are two U.S. Marine Corps installations, Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station. I have always thought that our Declaration of Indepencence should have included one additional self-evident truth: that Marines are hot. Some of them may have fugly faces, but from the neck down, there isn't a one of them I'd kick out of bed for eating crackers. So naturally, we had to do dinner out one evening near the installations so we could do some Marine-watching. We chose the Marina Cafe, which wasn't much to look at but had fabulous seafood. Dining on the deck at twilight, we selected one healthy entree (grilled mahi-mahi) and one not-so-healthy entree (fried seafood platter) and shared both. Thus it was that I had fried oysters for the first time in my life, but I hope not the last. The exceptional food somewhat made up for our disappointment over the fact that all the Marines we saw happened to be there with their pregnant wives or girlfriends.

At some point, we realized that the famous resort area of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was only a couple hours' drive south, and as it happened Sandy has old work friends there. They invited us down for an overnight, and on the way, we stopped at South Carolina's famous Willard's Fireworks. It wasn't that we had any particular desire to shoot off fireworks; we merely wanted to pick up some sparklers to bring home, where the state legislature doesn't have anything better to do than take our money and our fun. I suppose I am now officially a smuggler, although I came close to crossing over to the dark side about ten years ago when I briefly contemplated bringing back some Cuban cigars from Montreal. Anyhoo, I am now ready to rip next summer.

After arriving at Sandy's friends' house, going out to dinner with them, and enjoying a comfortable night's sleep, we slowly made our way back to the other Carolina, stopping at heart of Myrtle Beach to check out, you guessed it, the beach. It was much more crowded than what we had been experiencing on Topsail, but then Myrtle Beach is teeming with high-rise hotels and condominiums. Think a mini Miami Beach or Waikiki. Not my bag. But the beach was beautiful, and because it was a warm and sunny day (we'd had nothing but at that point) we kicked off our shoes and poked around the water's edge. This is probably the ideal time to be there if you like the area because the water is still warm enough for swimming, the sun is strong enough to get a bit of a tan, and the sun-worshippers are relatively few. My understanding is that Myrtle Beach draws thousands in October, but they're golfing, not swimming. You couldn't pay me enough to be there before labor day or during an April school vacation, when the beaches must be jammed with bodies.

Our streak of unseasonably warm weather ended on Friday, when it was only in the low to mid 70s. It was still sunny, though, and perfect weather for walking. We set out for a late morning walk to the Surf City pier, a perfect location for people-watching, especially if one enjoys watching people fishing off a quarter-mile long pier. It costs a dollar to walk onto the pier and $3 to fish; the money collected pays for beach refurbishment after storms. A worthy cause, I thought, and it was the best dollar I spent all vacation. I've never liked fishing, but it was surprisingly fun to watch those who did. It was also windy. Sandy was lucky to get the above shot of yours truly without hair blowing in my face. The next time I go, perhaps on a less breezy day, I'll bring a folding chair and a book and hang out for a couple hours.

All good things must come to an end, and so it was for my vacation. With another 15-hour trip ahead of us, we headed out early Saturday morning, but not before making one last trip to the beach. It was shortly before sunrise, the ocean was unusually calm, and a couple early risers had beaten us there to fish or walk their dogs. There is something awe-inspiring about watching day break over the Atlantic, knowing that it's already mid-day on the other side. But rather than feeling dwarfed by the sea, I tend to think of it in more intimate terms. For most of my adult life, being at the ocean has evoked memories of being on Cape Cod with my long-distance boyfriend. This time, before I walked back to my car, I imagined a day when I would be with him again. Maybe I'll be able to show him this very beach.

Those readers who know me personally are welcome to view the other 45 of the vacation pictures I took on my phone. Go to www.ITookThisOnMyPhone.com, and when you get there, type my first initial and last name onto the end of the URL. For example, http://www.itookthisonmyphone.com/dmother (except that my real name isn't Den Mother). Sorry, if you don't know my name, you're out of luck. I have pictures there of other people that I'm not comfortable making public. Don't take it personally.

Happy Thanksgiving...

2010-10-11T10:12:00.001-04:00

...to my Canadian readers. I am thankful for one particular Canadian whom I feel with me every day.

Thelma and Louise's Autumn Vacation

2010-10-09T07:10:00.000-04:00

There come times in every woman's life when she must slow down and relax before life's stresses send her around the bend. My friend and co-worker, Sandy, and I each have reached one of those times, but for different reasons. Rather than hang around and risk going postal, we are instead going to the beach.

October is a nice time, weather-wise, to travel to the southern North Carolina coast. Average daily highs are in the 70s °F (about 21-27°C), with water temperatures still comfortable enough for a northerner to take a dip. The wild card is the possibility of hurricanes, the season for which is just tailing off. Fortunately, there is nothing in the forecast that will threaten us for the next week.

Many of the island's busiest establishments during the summer tourist months are closed for the season, but enough stays open to serve the year-round population. We will probably head down to Wilmington one evening to take my niece to dinner, thereby giving her a brief respite from college food. Perhaps another evening we'll find a watering hole up in Jacksonville, prime Marine-watching territory. The only other place I absolutely must get to is Dr. Rootbeer's Hall of Foam, a retro soda shop run by a native Midwesterner and former Connecticut resident who quit the rat race and moved south to enjoy life. I went there a few years ago and had the most delicious Key Lime float (Lime Rickie and vanilla ice cream). What will I try this time?

Answer to Friday Stumper

2010-10-09T07:00:00.039-04:00

What phrase does the following depict?

T	M	C
A	U	O
H	S	M
W	T	E

Answer: "What goes up must come down."

Friday Stumper

2010-10-08T07:00:00.001-04:00

What phrase does the following depict?

T	M	C
A	U	O
H	S	M
W	T	E

Answer will be posted tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. EDT.

Important Women's Health Issue

2010-10-07T16:33:00.001-04:00

The Den Mother takes seriously her responsibility to provide an important public service to her readers. With that in mind, I would like to pass along the following important communication I received today at work. You're welcome.

Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
Do you suffer from shyness?
Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?
Do you suffer exhaustion from the day to day grind?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Wine.

Wine is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Wine can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything. You will notice the benefits of Wine almost immediately, and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Wine.

Wine may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Wine. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include:

Dizziness
Headache
Nausea
Vomiting
Dry mouth
Dehydration
Incarceration
Table dancing
Erotic lustfulness
Loss of motor control
Loss of clothing
Loss of money
Loss of virginity
A strong desire to sing Karaoke

WARNINGS:

The consumption of Wine may make you think you are whispering when you are not.
The consumption of Wine may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
The consumption of Wine may cause you to think you can sing.
The consumption of Wine may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

Why Can't We Get Players Like That?

2010-10-07T12:18:00.001-04:00

Long-time Boston sports reporter and anchor Bob Lobel had a little thing he did when reporting on outstanding accomplishments by athletes who once played in New England and then moved on to achieve great things elsewhere. After describing the notable feat, he concluded with the rhetorical question, "Why can't we get players like that?"

I suspect many a Torontonian said something similar upon hearing of last night's gem by erstwhile Blue Jay and current Phillies ace Roy Halladay. In game 1 of the divisional series against the Cincinnati Reds, the newly christened Doctober threw only the second no-hit game in Major League Baseball playoff history. Only a full-count walk to Cincy shortstop Jimmy Rollins in the fifth inning separated Halladay from the only player to have a perfect postseason game, the less exceptional Don Larsen, who might or might not have been hungover at the beginning of his perfect game for the Yankees against Brooklyn in the 1956 World Series. I presume Halladay was cold sober last night. He was also a bit more experienced than Larsen at this no-hit thing, having thrown his own perfect game on a hot southeast Florida day earlier this season against the Marlins.

Not bad for a guy who spent 11 major league seasons languishing in a Blue Jays uniform during a period when the team wasn't good enough to even mention their consecutive World Series championships almost two decades ago.

As Bob Lobel and his fellow Boston sports fans will attest, it sucks to be stuck on the outside looking in when someone you cheered for all those years gets it done for someone else. It is with that knowledge that I say it must suck large to be a Toronto fan this morning. But to look on the bright side, at least until tonight, the Leafs are tied for first place.

(Note: Cross-posted at the Triumphant Red Sox Blog.)

Of All the Things I've Loved and Lost, I Miss My Mind the Most

2010-10-05T08:08:00.001-04:00

I don't know if it's the current stress and hectic pace of my life, or my advancing age and changing hormonal status. But whatever the cause, this chart perfectly exemplifies where I'm at.

I've Been Pushed...

2010-10-04T13:28:00.001-04:00

...over the line.

After being played by a certain clueless real estate attorney whose clients' house I am trying to buy, I drew a line in the sand today. The aforesaid attorney wants "one more day" to get everything set. I instructed my counsel to tell him that he and his clients have already had six weeks. Get it done by end of day tomorrow or I'm walking.

Methinks he has just learned that I am a very nice, cooperative person until I decide you're jerking me around. Then, I pull this out.

Put the Phone Down and Drive

2010-10-01T14:05:00.002-04:00

We've all seen them, drivers cruising down the street, paying only sporadic attention to where they're going because they're also reading or writing text messages on their cell phones. I admit to being an occasional offender. But I'm officially a reformed woman, because as of yesterday, texting while driving here in the Bay State will get you fined.

With its new Safe Driving law, which also prohibits talking on a cell phone by minors and public transit operators, Massachusetts joins 27 other states that make it illegal to use a cell phone to text from behind the wheel.

Proponents of the law say it's all about safety. But are such laws effective? An editorial in today's Boston Globe mentions a study that sheds doubt. I haven't read the study, but it seems intuitively obvious that texting (or reading a map, or shaving, or applying make-up, or trying to eat a salad) while driving is indeed dangerous and oughtn't be done. It is possible that both the study and my intuition are correct: texting while driving causes accidents, but laws against it don't change drivers' behavior.

Presuming that is true, the question becomes whether there should be such laws at all. Are texting bans ineffective intrusions on personal liberty, like some people believe seatbelt laws are? I don't think so. Failing to wear a seatbelt doesn't cause more accidents, and when an accident occurs, it hurts no one but the individual who wasn't buckled up. Neither passengers nor other drivers nor pedestrians are harmed. (Yes, personal injury insurance claims would increase and be more costly, causing a hike in premium rates, but I don't see why insurance policies can't limit benefits for those who aren't buckled up.) Texting bans are different because they seek to reduce behavior that actually causes accidents, some of which might injure or kill others. Keeping it legal simply because many people would ignore a law makes no sense, just as the fact that the law might not stop the homicides in Detroit doesn't warrant legalizing homicide.

In any case, texting while you drive is now prohibited here in Massachusetts. So if you must partake, please pull over, wait for a red light, or do it far away from me.

(Note: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety maintains an updated list of state laws restricting cell phone use while driving.)

P.S. Here I was, thinking my post title was so clever. It turns out that at least one newspaper, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle, thought of it first.

Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue

2010-09-30T13:07:00.001-04:00

The post title is one of my favorite lines from the 1970s spoof Airplane!, but substance abuse and drug dependency are no laughing matter. This morning, I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness first-hand how hard it can be for people to stop using addictive drugs, even those taken as prescribed for a legitimate purpose.

One of my dear friends is recuperating from major surgery involving multiple large incision sites. Because of the nature of the surgery and the high degree of pain involved, her doctor prescribed hydromorphone (most commonly known by one of its brand names, Dilaudin) for pain relief. After four weeks, the doctor recommended that she begin to wean herself off the medication.

What my friend didn't know, and the doctor didn't tell her, is that hydromorphone is a powerful morphine derivative with a moderately high potential for dependency that is belied by the tablet's small size. So she had no way of knowing that increasing the time between doses from four hours to six hours the day before yesterday wasn't sufficient to wean herself from the drug. When I was at her house this morning, the beginning of day two without the drug, she was experiencing severe headache, hot and cold flashes, what she described as an overall tingling sensation, and emotional lability.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV, but I knew enough to recognize her symptoms as withdrawal and tell her she can't stop this drug cold turkey. I took the liberty of cutting a few of her tablets in half and advised her to take half a pill every 6 hours for a couple days. She resisted ("I just don't want to take this any more") but I insisted and threatened to morph—no pun intended—into Nurse Ratched if she gave me any more trouble. Beyond that, I didn't know what to recommend.

I have since spoken to a nurse with detox experience. I learned from her that it takes more than just a couple days to come off hydromorphone, and that another dose reduction might also be necessary. This evening, I will stop by her house, share the information I got from the nurse, and recommend that she call her doctor and demand a specific plan to reduce and end use of the drug.

What angers me is that my friend is at the mercy of a lay person with a little medical knowledge (practicing medicine without a license, I called it) because a physician who should have known better gave a patient insufficient information about this drug and no guidance about the need or the method to properly taper her usage. So on top of continuing pain as her incisions heal, she is now going through painful withdrawal.

Opioids are serious and dangerous drugs that should be treated as such by the doctors who prescribe them. With a license to dispense controlled substances comes a responsibility to educate patients so they don't experience the suffering of withdrawal or, even worse, addiction.

On My MP3 Player

2010-09-24T15:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't listened to the radio or mp3 player for more than two weeks, for fear of hearing a song that would give me the weepies. But I just plugged it into my work computer speakers. So far, I have stumbled upon no landmines.

Here are the last ten songs:

"Revival" — The Allman Brothers Band
"December" — Norah Jones
"Up and Down" — John Lee Hooker
"Loose Duck" — Wynton Marsalis
"Love Has Come" — Matt Maher
"Knocking at Your Door" — Deep Purple
"Lyin' Eyes" — The Eagles
"Shiny Happy People" — R.E.M.
"Crazy Love" — Van Morrison
"Jungle Love" — The Steve Miller Band

The Van Morrison song was, to borrow a phrase, a bit spicy, but it it didn't set me off. Perhaps it's finally safe to go back into the water.

My World Famous Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake Is Now...

2010-09-22T14:42:00.002-04:00

...my world famous AWARD-WINNING spiced pumpkin cheesecake! Judges' choice in the Cakes category at today's Unum United Way Cook-Off, baby! The honor comes with a $50 prize, which is about $15 more than what the ingredients cost me. Don't you just love a profit?

Because we had to provide tasting samples for the judges and up to 200 employees (the People's Choice part of the contest, ~~the results of which have not yet been announced~~ see update below), I had to make two cakes: one that would be judged for presentation before being cut, and another just for cutting. For garnish on the presentation cake, I used sliced gourds, a dollop of whipped cream, and mums clipped just minutes earlier from the planters outside our building.

The event did not go entirely smoothly; after making the first cut to begin dishing out samples, I wiped the knife blade with a paper towel and cut my finger. The tasters were pleased that I avoided bleeding on the cake. One judge, a senior VP and general counsel at our company and the co-chair of this year's United Way of Central Massachusetts campaign, quipped that I might have a worker's compensation claim.

I'd like to thank the judges for their votes, my mother for the use of her oven (which holds a pan large enough for a proper bain-marie), and my friend and co-worker Sandy H. for entering me in the contest without my prior consent. When I was taking the second cake out of the oven at 1:00 this morning I was cursing her, but now that I've won $50, all is forgiven. Everyone has a price, and apparently mine is $50.

UPDATED 2:53pm — I won the People's Choice award too. Hooray for me!

Remember the Days at the Old School Yard

2010-09-20T14:20:00.000-04:00

Just got back from lunch at my old high school, where I met with the Director of Alumnae to offer advice about the use of social media to promote ongoing relationships with graduates. It's a little frightening when I'm called upon as the expert on Facebook. But I digress.

Part of my visit was the nickel tour, during which I got to see the renovated biology and chemistry labs, the expanded art room, the fabulous music center, the under-construction chapel, and the new computer lab (a big step up from the Commodore PET computers of my senior year, though those computers made us feel like such hot shit). As we wandered down the third floor corridor, I pointed out my old locker — #427. I'm surprised I remembered that from 28 years ago.

I was a bit stunned to learn that the current tuition is $11,000. That's several thousand more than what I paid for a similar school for my son, who graduated eight years ago. Then again, that tuition has gone up too. Neither includes books, which must be purchased as they are at the university level and are almost as expensive. Most of my classmates were what you might call comfortable, a few were wealthy, and then there was the younger sister of the Saudi oilman who was driven by limousine to school every day and wore designer clothing and diamond jewelry. To their credit, the better-off girls never acted like it; we were all classmates and our friendships aligned more by interests (sports, arts, music) than by socio-economic stratum.

And there were students of more modest means, as I would imagine there are now. How do those parents afford it the five-digit tuition? No doubt financial aid helps, as it helped me a bit in paying my son's tuition. In his senior year, I also got a small loan from my brother and sister-in-law and paid it back with a second job, which I kept in anticipation of college tuition. You do what you what you have to do, and I was able to do it. But for some families, it requires greater sacrifice. One of my high school classmates spent eighth grade home economics class making her uniform, only to find out at the end of the school year that the uniform had been abolished. She worried, I found out years later, how her parents would be able to afford to buy school clothes for her, so she worked after school to help out and then stayed up late doing homework. I recall her being a simple dresser, but I thought it was because that's what made her comfortable. It never occurred to me that paying tuition (about $1,000-$1,250 at the time, I think) literally broke the bank for her parents.

As I walked through the school today, I wondered how many of the girls I saw hanging out in small groups talking, sitting in front of their lockers studying, or eating lunch in the new student center appreciate what they have. When I was in their shoes, I didn't, not really. Part of that was because paying private school tuition didn't throw my parents into financial dire straits. But I know now that they also sacrificed. They never drove fancy cars, and they drove them into the ground. We took an annual two-week family vacation, but we always went camping, never jetted off to Florida or Bermuda, never spent weekends at a cottage we owned on the Cape, though by the time I was in high school, we had upgraded to renting a place on the Cape for a week or two each year. My parents chose to spend their money instead on a big old house with a spacious yard (the better with which to entertain our friends), new clothes and shoes whenever we needed them, music lessons, and of course parochial and private schooling, not to mention a full college education, for my brother and me. We had everything we needed, and most of what we reasonably could have wanted. I have never though, "If only my parents had driven Cadillacs and brought us to Disney World every year, I would have had a better childhood."

I once heard a motivational speaker, Rita Davenport, say that some parents are so busy giving their children what they didn't have that they forget to give them what they did have: faith, family, love, respect, character and values. Those are the things that make a successful adult, like my friend who couldn't afford new school clothes, who now has a doctorate and serves in the state legislature. The lean years of her youth taught her hard work and to take nothing for granted.

I hope the students I saw today manage to learn the same lessons.

Words to Live By

2010-09-13T17:28:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Gina for reminding me, via this post on her Facebook page, that it isn't all about me.

Truly loving someone is wanting them to be happy in life, even if it doesn’t involve you.

Song Lyric of the Day

2010-09-12T22:17:00.003-04:00

From folk singer/guitarist/songwriter and native New Englander Ellis Paul. Sometimes you have to let someone you love "fly free." But damn, it's difficult.

If you want to run, I'll pack my suitcase
And if you want to stay, I'll make a front door key
And if you need space to fly free
Take all the sky you need

Remembrance

2010-09-11T11:07:00.000-04:00

From the White House come requests that government agencies and individual citizens:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2010, as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. I call upon all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States to display the flag of the United States at half-staff on Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance in honor of the individuals who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. I invite the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and interested organizations and individuals to join in this observance. I call upon the people of the United States to participate in community service in honor of those our Nation lost, to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities, including remembrance services, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time to honor the innocent victims who perished as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Friday, September 10, through Sunday, September 12, 2010, as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance. I ask that the people of the United States honor and remember the victims of September 11, 2001, and their loved ones through prayer, contemplation, memorial services, the visiting of memorials, the ringing of bells, evening candlelight remembrance vigils, and other appropriate ceremonies and activities. I invite people around the world to participate in this commemoration.

I encourage those near Boston to stop by Fenway Park today before 3:00 p.m. to give blood at the annual Day of Remembrance blood drive. This is the first year in many that I haven't volunteered due to other commitments, but it is a meaningful way to mark the anniversary.

Song Lyric of the Day

2010-09-10T17:20:00.001-04:00

Some twelve-bar blues from Guy Davis:

There's a storm outside
And it feels like it's raining in my soul
There's a storm outside
And it feels like it's raining in my soul
Lord, my burden is heavy
Seems like more than I can hold

Treasure Every Moment

2010-09-08T17:14:00.000-04:00

It's funny how events sometimes come together in a way that makes you think some higher power is trying to make a point. Today is one of those times.

A friend of mine from work lost her husband a few months ago to Legionnaire's Disease, and today is his birthday. I talked to her briefly this morning, just to let her know I was thinking about her, and reminded her to cherish the memories of her time with him and try to draw strength from them. Apparently, she was already in that frame of mind because she immediately related a story to me that made her smile even as her eyes filled up.

Just a few minutes ago, I finished a difficult telephone conversation with someone close to my heart. Our history is long and rocky, but what has been constant is our love for each other, though we didn't always know it. Alas, decisions both of us made long ago have kept us mostly apart. But over the last 13+ months, we have experienced many miracles together, not the least of which has been the miracle of time, not a lot of it, but enough to communicate, get to know and understand each other better, and heal old wounds.

Now the time has come for us to part ways, again. I don't know whether the future will ever bring us back together or, if it does, when that will happen. It is entirely out of my hands. What is in my control is what I do today. I have decided to take my own advice: cherish the memories of the moments we shared and try to draw strength from them.

As the immortal Dr. Seuss once said, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." In truth, I will probably do both, just like my friend who today remembers her husband. Maybe the love of my own life is gone forever, too. But I will never, ever stop hoping he returns. And I want him to never, ever forget that if he changes his mind, I will be here for him — to use words he wrote to me over 25 years ago — not as a crutch, but as a friend and as a lover.

They Aren't Like Us

2010-09-01T18:59:00.000-04:00

Via Ann Althouse, I see the New York Times ran an article yesterday about chemical attacks against girls' schools in Afghanistan, a topic I was just discussing Sunday with my cousin, Lt. Col. Jonathan L., just back from Kabul. Jon has two daughters, both in the lower elementary grades, who don't have to worry about Neaderthals trying to keep them out of school. If such a thing were happening here, presumably we would want the feds to protect them and guarantee their safe attendance, like National Guard troops did in the south during the earliest days of school integration. I'd like to ask some of the people who think we should leave Afghanistan why American girls are more deserving of education than Afghani girls. The answer, I suspect, is simple xenophobia. One aging hippie actually once said to me years ago in reference to the controversy over education of females in Afghanistan, "We can't impose our culture on them. Our ways aren't their ways." So much for universal human rights.

Sometimes, Peaceful People Aren't

2010-08-25T14:52:00.000-04:00

One of Ann Althouse's commenters recalls and opines on the 1970 bombing of a University of Wisconsin academic building by opponents of American involvement in the Vietnam War:

My roommate asked a fireman "What happened?" He answered "It was a bomb." That answer was shocking. How could it have been a bomb? You mean someone did this on purpose? How can that be? the peace movement isn't about bombs, it's about peace?!

[ . . . ]

The anti-war movement was a sham; a cover for violent anarchists. It wasn't actually anti-war; it was mostly anti-draft, and nothing more. It was over-indulged white males who didn't want to be conscripted. It would never have happened if there hadn't been a draft.

Bottom line: even today, most "peace activists" aren't working for peace at all. A few are, like my friends Scott and Claire who run the Catholic Worker house in Worcester, Massachusetts; they try very hard to be consistent in their beliefs and to practice what they preach. But from what I can tell, most other anti-war protesters, though they don't generally engage in physical violence like that perpetrated by Vietnam protesters of their parents' or grandparents' generation, are really just anti-U.S.-involvement-in-wars. Or, as Glenn Reynolds puts it, "They're not anti-war; they're just on the other side."

Significant Events

2010-08-18T06:12:00.043-04:00

On this date in history:

1289 – Pope Nicolas IV issues the Supra montem.
1817 – Newspapers in Gloucester, Massachusetts, tell of a wild sea serpent seen offshore.
1920 – The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is ratified when Tennessee become the 36th state to approve it.
1935 – New Brunswickers swelter through the province's warmest day on record, at 39.4°C (102.9°F).
1968 – The Canadian National Exhibition opens on a Sunday for the first time.
1976 – USSR's Luna 24 spacecraft soft-lands on the moon.
2000 – B is born.
2005 – Pope Benedict XVI begins his first foreign trip as pontiff, returning to his German homeland.

How, Exactly, Does One F*ck Tea?

2010-08-12T15:59:00.000-04:00

Ben Smith reports (hat tip: Ann Althouse) that progressives have decided the most effective way to fight the Tea Party movement is to sell t-shirts that appeal to the intellect of seventh graders. I'm not sure what this proves except that Tea Party foes can't handle words longer than three letters. That's more like kindergarten, really.

Last summer, Democrats argued that the tea party movement was the AstroTurf creation of corporate groups. Now that the grass-roots conservative resurgence has emerged as a clear force on the right, the left is making a different case: that tea parties are simply the enemy.

To that end, the Agenda Project, a new, progressive group with roots in New York's fundraising scene and a goal of strengthening the progressive movement, has launched the "F*ck Tea" project, which is aimed, the group's founder Erica Payne wrote in an e-mail this morning, "to dismiss the tea party and promote the progressive cause."

How this "promote[s] the progressive cause" I don't quite understand, unless by "promote" they mean "kill." And if the t-shirts don't do it, they could try tea-themed sex toys.

Have Your Heard about the Ground Zero Muslim Gay Bar?

2010-08-11T14:55:00.000-04:00

No, that isn't a headline from The Onion. It's a real story.

In brief, a Muslim imam named Feisal Abdul Rauf and other Muslims want to build an Islamic center near the site where two of the four planes hijacked on September 11, 2001, flew into buildings, killing 2,500 people. There are many and disparate opinions about whether this is a good idea (as examples, read one for and one against). But if the raging debate isn't interesting enough on its own, libertarian pundit Greg Gutfeld has co-opted the proponents' rhetoric of tolerance by announcing plans to build a gay bar catering to Muslims next door to the proposed Islamic center.

Leaving aside questions about the true motivations of either the imam or the pundit (I, for one, believe both are being belligerently provocative), The Atlantic's Megan McArdle yesterday accurately summed up the conflict as she tendered her opinion of the gay bar:

This is kind of a jerk move. But it's a brilliant jerk move. I am hoping that at least one person will attempt to explain why we should support the mosque near Ground Zero, but not the gay bar next to the mosque near Ground Zero.

Good point. The proponents (or, at least, defenders) of the Islamic center reflexively "bigotry" as the motivation of the opponents. But a Twitter account holder known as Park51, which might or might not be the group that is proposing the Islamic center, had this to say in response to Gutfeld's idea:

You're free to open whatever you like. If you won't consider the sensibilities of Muslims, you're not going to build dialog

But what "sensibilities" does the tweet imply Gutfeld isn't considering? The Muslim intolerance of homosexuality? Indeed, Islam isn't the only major religion that considers homosexual acts to be sinful; Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and some conservative or fundamentalist Protestant denominations do as well. But Islam is the only major religion under which gays are even today being executed.

New Yorkers and others who survived September 11 attacks, lost loved ones in the attacks, or are aware that each and every hijacker that day was a Muslim who was so interolant of American and Western culture that they saw fit to slaughter thousands, don't want to execute Muslims. Nor do the overwhelming majority of them want to ban Muslims from New York or anywhere else in America or prevent them from practicing their religion in non-violent fashion. They just wish that the planners of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, the claimed purpose of which is to "build dialog," would consider their sensibilities just as they want others to consider theirs. Or better yet, if the Islamic center's proponents and defenders consider opponents' reactions to be a sign of bigotry, then perhaps they should admit that their own reaction to a proposed Muslim gay bar is bigotry, too. You know, pick a position and be consistent.

In that spirit of consistency, I tweeted in response to Park51's above post:

Same goes for Imam Feisal, right?

We'll see if I get a reply.

Should There Be a Wall of Separation?

2010-08-02T11:44:00.001-04:00

I'm not talking about church and state; I'm talking about academics and business. What prompts the question is this New York Times article (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds) that caught my attention only because it mentions Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, president of my alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At issue is whether it is wise, either for a university or a corporation, to have a university official serving on a corporate board of directors.

While academics can often bring fresh perspectives, managerial experience and the imprimatur of a respected institution to a board, they are also serving in an era when corporations wrestling with fallout from the financial crisis (think Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs) or very public mishaps (think BP, Johnson & Johnson and Toyota) have raised the stakes for board members expected to guide corporations.

Some analysts worry that academics are possibly imperiling or compromising the independence of their universities when they venture onto boards. Others question whether scholars have the time — and financial sophistication — needed to police the country's biggest corporations while simultaneously juggling the demands of running a large university.

Those are good questions which I admit having never thought about until now. Concern about compromising the independence of universities seems a bit ridiculous to me in light of the relationships many universities already have with commercial/industrial enterprises. The Management department at RPI, for example, boasts on its web site about "corporate partnerships [being] an integral design characteristic of all of the academic degree programs." Such relationships, done prudently, enhance the educational experience and the prestige of an academic program.

As for whether academic leaders are qualified to make decisions for corporations, the answer depends on which leaders you're talking about. During my early college years, our president was George Low, a brilliant engineer whose tenure at RPI was preceded by a successful career in aeronatics and astronautics that culminated in his leading NASA's Manned Space Flight program from the inception of the Mercury program to the earliest days of the Space Shuttle program. Not every university president can claim that kind of background in industry and innovation, but then again, those aren't the only experiences that can be beneficial to a company.

It seems to me that the key to success for any board—corporate, academic, or non-profit—is balance. I certainly wouldn't want a corporate board comprised entirely of academics, but the academic mind might be a valuable part. Nor do I believe every board member must be an expert in the business of the corporation on whose board he or she sits. Outside perspectives can help prevent the groupthink that sometimes imperils organizations or even entire industries (think investments and banking over the last couple years).

So to me, the issue isn't whether it's a good idea for university presidents to sit on corporate boards. What people should be asking is if an individual, whatever his or her background, has knowledge and experience that would serves the corporation well.

This Is the Country with Which Our President Wants to Negotiate

2010-07-27T17:17:00.000-04:00

How a nation's laws treat women says a lot about the nation itself. We can draw some conclusions from the sentence an Iranian judge imposed on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani for the crime of adultery.

Mohammadi Ashtiani was originally sentenced to 99 lashes, but the sentence was later changed to death by stoning. Under international pressure, the government again changed the sentence to death by hanging.

The man with whom Mohammadi Ashtiani committed adultery is nowhere to be found in the news stories. It is not unreasonable to think that he received either a significantly lighter sentence or none at all. But even if the man involved were also sentenced to die by stoning, the penalty is administered differently for men and gives them an advantage. A man sentenced to be stoned is buried to his waist, a woman to her neck. If the condemned manages to free him/herself, the sentence is set aside. Obviously, the one buried to the neck—always a woman—has no chance of escape, while one buried to the waist has at least a fighting chance.

The government that perpetuates such barbarism is the same government with which the Obama Administration wishes to engage in dialogue "without preconditions" and which the United Nations rewarded with election to its Commission on the Status of Women.

It takes a special kind of clueless to tender special treatment to the likes of Iran. No woman should take seriously the lip service either of this Administration or the U.N. until they come to their senses and treat Iran like the pariah it is.

Today's Email Exchange

2010-07-22T16:09:00.000-04:00

My company is sponsoring an employee blood drive tomorrow. As the internal contact, I get many calls and emails from people who have questions. This just in:

From: S____, Jill
To: J____, Kelly

Hi Kelly,

I'm interested in giving blood, but is there a weight minimum? I weight 108lbs.

Jill S____

To my credit, I resisted the urgee to go to her office and ram a layer cake down her throat. I issued this reply instead:

From: J____, Kelly
To: S____, Jill

Dear Jill,

Minimum weight is 110. You can either have a really big dinner tonight, or I can lend you one of my thighs.

Kelly J____

No response yet.

What Liberals and the GOP Establishment Have in Common

2010-07-21T16:37:00.000-04:00

I spent a couple hours last evening driving by some homes for sale, when I came across an interesting home-made sign on one front lawn.

Don't vote out the Democrats
Vote out the Politicians

Planted as it was next to the "Miss Me Yet?" sign, it would be easy to presume that the homeowner is a loyal Republican. Or is s/he? Perhaps this is someone who merely thinks George W. Bush screwed things up less than Obama is now doing, which is the view I take; as horrified as I was by Bush's fiscal policies vis-à-vis TARP and bank bailouts, Obama has proven to be exponentially worse.

The clarification can be found in the other sign. The problem isn't with one particular party. The problem is with the mindset of entrenched career politicians who are more concerned with maintaining their own power and influence than they are with doing right by their constituents and the country as a whole. That's why we have some Republican politicians who are every bit as fiscally undisciplined as the big spenders and earmark kings/queens in the Democratic party. The lust for power knows no idealogical boundaries.

This is the lesson that liberals as well as the Republican establishment have failed to grasp about the Tea Party phenomenon. Tea Partiers, while being fiscally conservative, will not hesitate to take to task politicians of either party who legislate waste. Party loyalty? Not if you preach fiscal restraint but practice something different. Here in Massachusetts, Tea Party activists recently protested Senator Scott Brown's decision to support the Obama-Pelosi-Reid financial regulation bill that they believe will bring even more harm to our already battered economy. You might recall that many Tea Partiers supported Brown's candidacy, and now they're holding him accountable. Their message, to paraphrase an old parental threat, is, "We the voters put you into that job and we can take you out of it. An 'R' beside your name won't innoculate you from our wrath."

Many pundits and pols expect something of Democratic blood bath in this November's mid-term elections. But more Republicans than they realize are in danger too, and they overestimate party loyalty at their peril. By the same token, Democratic candidates who prove they are serious about budget responsibility might yet find some unlikely allies in those who are fed up.

It isn't too late for candidates on both sides of the aisle to learn the lesson. If they're smart, they'll embrace it. If not, well, enjoy retirement.

My Eyes, They Hurt

2010-07-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

With the Den Nephew taking golf lessons this week and the British Open underway, I am slightly more interested than usual in all things golf. Nothing, though, could have prepared me for what I found today over at the Daily Caller, which for some reason has chosen to feature a slide show sampling of John Daly's duds. All I can say is that even God him/herself never thought up some of those colors. Daly's pants are exponentially worse than the ugly embroidered pants that were worn by some during the preppy years of the 1970s and 1980s and are apparently still available.

To each his own, though. If Daly's goal is to set himself apart from the pack, he has succeeded wildly.

Nature's Wrath

2010-06-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

I had heard a short news item about the earthquake that struck Ontario and Quebec this week, but I didn't know many details beyond what I read about in this article. This morning, a Canadian friend emailed me this picture showing the devastation in Toronto.

A Confluence of Sports Records

2010-06-23T23:40:00.003-04:00

June 23 has been a significant date in sports history since the AAA International League's Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings completed the longest game in organized baseball history in 1981 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The game actually spanned three days: it began after a rain delay on the evening of April 18, was suspended with the score tied 2-2 after 32 innings a couple hours before dawn on April 19, and finished two months later in the 33rd inning, before the start of a regularly scheduled game on the Red Wings' next trip to Pawtucket. The teams' rosters for that game included several major-leaguers-to-be, the most notable being future Hall of Fame third basemen Cal Ripken, Jr., and Wade Boggs.

Perhaps it bodes well for the future success of tennis players Nicolas Mahut and John Isner that, on the 29th anniversary of the conclusion of one record-shattering game, they started another. Their first-round match went to a fifth set, and when the it was suspended due to darkness, the results looking like this:

4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 59-59

59-59? That's almost a basketball score. For those trying to do the math in their heads, this match is comprised of 163 games so far. It's the longest professional tennis match in history, and after ten hours of play, it still isn't over.

"The fifth set on its own was longer any other game in history at this point... its [sic] pretty extraordinary," observed Scott Bordon, head of TV for the Laureus World Sports Awards, which are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the previous year.

[ . . . ]

The previous record for longest professional tennis match belonged to Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement in the 2004 French Open. Santoro finally prevailed after 6 hours, 33 minutes.

Six hours 33 minutes? That was Isner and Mahut's warm-up.

The match will continue tomorrow. When it does, someone will win. Eventually. And 29 years from now, at Wimbledon 2039, they'll be talking about Isner and Mahut's unique place in sports history, and how back when it was happening, they thought it would never end.

"There is no greater love...

2010-06-21T11:55:00.000-04:00

...than to lay down one's life for one's friends. —John 15:13

A 13-year-old boy has drowned after jumping into a river to save a friend.

Declan Shanley, from Summerston in Glasgow [Scotland], was swept away by a strong current in the River Kelvin, near the West of Scotland Science Park.

He had gone to the aid of a friend who had strayed into deep water in an area known locally as the beach.

The girl was able to get back to shore. However, Declan, described by his head teacher as a "popular boy", was pronounced dead in hospital.

(Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)

Our Clueless President

2010-06-15T12:39:00.001-04:00

Loved this recent cartoon in the Boston Globe.

I Hope She Isn't a Math Teacher

2010-05-28T11:36:00.002-04:00

Why would a public employee, a teacher no less, lie in public about something the public can verify? Probably because the truth wouldn't support her political stance, and she thought she wouldn't get caught.

That must have been the motivation for one New Jersey teacher when she complained about her salary to Governor Chris Christie, whose education budget the teacher criticized.

[I]t turns out that that very teacher that claimed to be unfairly compensated, and that she would love to make $83,000, actually gets a salary of $86,389. Plus healthcare. plus pension.

Apparently, she didn't get any basic intelligence, common sense, or integrity with her master's degree. Let's hope she isn't representative of teachers in New Jersey.

(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds.)

Speaking of Flags...

2010-05-20T12:10:00.000-04:00

I was flabbergasted to see a headline on the Drudge Report saying, "WWII Vet Ordered To Remove US Flag From Outside Home." The article to which Drudge links has an almost identical headline: "Veteran Ordered To Remove Flag From Outside Home." It sounded like some guy owns a house, has a flag pole in his front yard or affixed to the house, and was told by someone (police? zoning board?) that he couldn't fly the flag. But the story is something quite different.

Joe LeVangie, 88, said he's upset after he and his neighbors were told to take their flags down because flying them was against management policy. He said there should be an exception for the flag.

LeVangie, a World War II veteran, said he used to fly his American flag outside his apartment at the Maple Leaf complex in Hillsborough.

So it's an apartment complex, not a house. And Mr. LeVangie is a renter, not an owner. That's a very different thing. In my opinion, an apartment complex owner (or even the owner of a single-family house rented to someone else) should be able to control the exterior appearance of his or her property. That may include disallowing window boxes, exterior Christmas lights, bird feeders, signage, and even flags, especially when the display requires attaching or affixing something to the facade. Condominium complexes typically have similar policies since, even though the condos have individual owners, the exterior is maintained by the association.

The headlines for this story, both on the TV station web site and on Drudge, are misleading. I don't blame Mr. LeVangie and others for complaining, but I most certainly do blame the media for deliberately misrepresenting the situation to stoke public passions. And members of the media wonder why no one trusts them.

Fly the Flag Low

2010-05-20T10:24:00.000-04:00

On my way to work this morning, I noticed two instances, one in Shrewsbury and one in Worcester, of the United States flag being flown at half-staff (sometimes referred to as half-mast). I hadn't heard of someone important dying, but inquiring minds want to know so I tried my luck on Google. Here is the announcement on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts web site:

Please be advised that Governor Patrick has ordered that the United States and Commonwealth flags be lowered to half-staff immediately until sunset on Thursday, May 20 at all state buildings in honor of former Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Frances Alexander of Beverly, who died Saturday, May 15, 2010.

Further research revealed that Alexander was something of a pace-setter:

She was the first woman to serve as president of the Beverly Board of Aldermen (now the City Council) — a job that goes to the at-large candidate garnering the most votes citywide. She was also the first woman to represent Beverly in the Legislature.

That second article goes on to say, "when Alexander first ran for office in the early 1970s, a seat on the school board was regarded in many quarters as the highest office to which a woman might logically aspire." With this I would disagree. While it's true that Massachusetts doesn't walk the liberal walk where electing women and minorities is concerned, in 1970 the state's 10th Congressional District was represented by Margaret O'Shaughnessy Heckler. That isn't to diminish Ms. Alexander's accomplishments or contributions, merely to clarify the situation.

Incidentally, if you are a Massachusetts resident and would like to know when and why the flag is lowered to half staff, send an email to Half-Staff Notification. I believe this covers when the flags are lowered at the state level. To find out the flag status in some other states, check out the links at Daily Flag Status.

This Crap Wasn't Appropriate during the Bush Administration...

2010-05-19T14:53:00.017-04:00

...and it isn't appropriate now.

The [Jefferson County, Alabama] teacher was apparently teaching his [Corner High School] geometry students about parallel lines and angles, officials said. He used the example of where to stand and aim if shooting Obama.

"He was talking about angles and said, 'If you're in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president,'" said Joseph Brown, a senior in the geometry class.

Malicious or stupid? Maybe he's both.

Haven't We Reached the Point Where This Should Be No Big Deal?

2010-05-11T10:05:00.004-04:00

From the Daily Caller:

Top White House officials bristled Monday when asked whether they think Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's sexuality will become an issue in her confirmation hearings.

"It's not anything I'm going to get into," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, speaking to reporters in his West Wing office.

Gibbs was asked a handful of times about rumors that Kagan is gay, and gave terse responses each time.

Asked why the White House pushed back so aggressively when CBS News published a piece on its website (CBS appears to have pulled the piece) that said Kagan, if confirmed, would be the country's "first openly gay justice," Gibbs said it was not an issue to the president.

When President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to become the country's first hispanic justice, neither he nor his annoying mouthpiece Gibbs bristled at press coverage of the historic nature of her appointment. What is it about the prospect of a gay justice that would cause people so supposedly tolerant to be so skittish?

It isn't fear about how ultra-traditionalist Republicans in the Senate might react. If anything, anti-gay grandstanding by a few persistently backward Senators might help Kagan's cause. And the nomination only helps the Administration with gay rights supporters, who so far have been given the cold shoulder and a slap across the face by Obama (Don't Ask Don't Tell, Defense of Marriage Act, etc.) So what gives?

I have reached the conclusion that Obama just doesn't like gay people all that much but hasn't had the balls to come out and say it because he doesn't want to further alienate his liberal base, who have become increasingly disgusted with him over his failure to close Gitmo, his backing down on the public option in medical insurance regulation, and a host of other issues. He is comfortable enough appointing Kagan, but he'd rather not talk about what makes her a first among justices. Think of it as a Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for Supreme Court nominees.

When he was elected, there were a very few things I though I would like about Obama. His openness toward gay and lesbian people was one of them. Like so many characteristics that drew so many people to him, that appears to have been a false facade. I guess that makes me one of the rubes.

(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds.)

Best Totally Tasteless Joke about a Disabled Person, Ever

2010-05-07T11:20:00.001-04:00

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I laughed out loud when I saw this recent "American Voices" feature on The Onion:

In a new documentary, celebrity physicist Stephen Hawking says that while there are almost certainly other life forms in the universe, we should avoid contact with them lest they decide to strip our planet of its resources. What do you think?

Jonathan Klug, Oculist: "He's only saying that because, if aliens did invade, he’d have the hardest time running away."

God, I love The Onion.

Anti-Feminist Sentiment of the Week

2010-05-03T13:54:00.001-04:00

Wish I could say I was surprised that it involves Muslims.

Muslims in Malawi have been angered by government plans to ban polygamy.

A spokesman for the Muslim Association of Malawi told the BBC the proposed law would discriminate against the country's Muslim minority.

He said with about 6% more women than men in Malawi, if polygamy were banned, many women would be left without a husband and become prostitutes.

[ . . . ]

"Every woman has the right to be under the shelter of a man."

No word on what the Muslim Association of Malawi has to say about the other kinds of "shelter" Islam provides for women.

(Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)

It's Marine Week Boston

2010-05-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

Thousands upon thousands of extremely well-conditioned men (and women) descend en masse upon the birthplace of the American Revolution this week.

In uniform, no less. God bless America.

If I weren't emotionally attached, not to mention old enough to be most of their mothers, I'd take a day off to go Marine fishing.

But seriously, there is lots going on through Sunday. Check it out, have fun, and take a moment to thank some of our nation's very best for the job they are willing to do on our behalf.

Significant Events

2010-04-25T07:36:00.011-04:00

On this date in history:

1507 – German geographer and cartographer Martin Waldseemueller is the first to label a continent "America," in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.
1872 – Cricketer Charles Burgess Fry is born in England.
1886 – Sigmund Freud opens a practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna.
1916 – Boston Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth pitches a complete game against the New York Yankees, winning 4-3.
1940 – Quebec women are allowed to vote and run for office in provincial elections, 22 years after women were granted the federal vote.
1964 – The Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-0, to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup.
1981 – G steals my heart on his way through my kitchen.
2007 – The Dow Jones industrial average tops 13,000 for the first time, ending the day at 13,089.89.

So Many Games, So Few Televisions

2010-04-23T11:44:00.000-04:00

Tonight is a big sports TV night. The Celtics at Heat game is on CSNNE channel 65 at 7:00. The Bruins at Sabres game is on NESN channel 66 at 7:00. The Red Sox vs. Orioles game is on at NESN-Plus channel 15 at 7:00. I have one television. What's a girl to do?

Answer: Use the indispensible "favorites" feature on the remote control. As opposed to using the "last" button, which toggles between the last two viewed channels, "favorites" lets me program in multiple channels to run through with the push of a button. Between that, my laptop, and the ScoreMobile app on my BlackBerry, I should be all set.

(Note: channel numbers are for Shrewsbury municipal cable only. To find CSNNE on your cable system, go here and enter your zip code at the bottom of the TV listing. To find NESN-Plus and NESN-HD on your cable system, go here and click the appropriate link. To find NESN on your cable system, contact your provider.)

New Look

2010-04-21T13:42:00.001-04:00

I got tired of trying to retrofit my old template (which I really did like) for the new Blogger, so at last I succumbed to one of the new generic templates. I'm not entirely happy with the colors, the line spacing, or that awful orange star in the upper left, but at least the blog is once again readable. The details can be tweaked over the next few weeks.

Are These People Trying to Make "Human Rights" a Joke?

2010-04-21T11:43:00.001-04:00

If not, they're doing a good job anyway. This is what happens when you start pretending that nice-to-haves are rights.

The European Union has declared travelling a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidize vacations with taxpayers' dollars for those too poor to afford their own trips.

[ . . . ]

"Travelling for tourism today is a right. The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life," Mr. Tajani told a group of ministers at The European Tourism Stakeholders Conference in Madrid on April 15.

[ . . . ]

Mr. Tajani wants to ensure people's "right to be tourists" remains intact.

I think being free of stupid people like Mr. Tajani should be a human right.

Friday Stumper

2010-04-16T07:32:00.001-04:00

Three brothers share a family sport:
A non-stop marathon.
The oldest one is fat and short
And trudges slowly on.
The middle brother's tall and slim
And keeps a steady pace.
The youngest runs just like the wind,
Speeding through the race.
"He's young in years, we let him run,"
The other brothers say,
"'Cause though he's surely number one,
He's second, in a way."

Who are the three brothers?

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<The hands on a clock (hour, minute, and second).>

Good News on Tax Day/Tea Party Day

2010-04-15T16:29:00.002-04:00

Tea Party protesters planning to rally in North Carolina today were informed recently that poles longer than one foot in length—including flag poles—would be banned from Tax Day Tea Parties across the state. The reason for the ban was that flag poles, sticks holding up signs, and other such objects might be used as weapons. The ban was not specific to Tea Party protests but was put in place last year and applied to all assemblies on public property.

When I first heard about it a couple days ago, I thought it was stupid. Cars can be used as weapons too, but there is no ban on people driving to such gatherings. Besides, every Tea Party protest I've ever seen had lots of people waving big flags on poles, and not once were the poles used as weapons of any kind. Except, possibly, in the imaginations of Tea Party opponents who really, really, really want the Tea Partiers to be vicious hateful racists (and if they aren't, well then they'll pose as Tea Partiers and act like vicious hateful racists!)

Apparently others complained too, and the state is now worried that the ban may be illegal. Officials have suspended enforcement "until a review can be completed."

The Den Mother thinks that's a good and prudent call by North Carolina officials.

(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds.)

Sadness and Anger

2010-04-12T14:17:00.002-04:00

Saturday's plane crash deaths of Poland's President, First Lady, government and military leaders, and many others is a tragedy of epic proportions. Poles and Polish-Americans have held vigils and Masses in memory of the dead. In an age when the internet mirrors real life, the web sites of the Polish national government, the President, both houses of Parliament, the National Bank of Poland, and the Polish Embassy in Washington, DC, have all gone gray.

For such a significant event, the crash seems to have made little impression on most people I know. That is astonishing to me, considering the number of high-ranking officials on board, of which the following is only a partial list:

Lech Kaczynski, President
Maria Kaczynska, First Lady
Andrzej Kremer, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jerzego Szmajdzinski, Vice-Marshal of the Sejm (lower chamber of Parliament)
Przemyslaw Gosiewski, Deputy (member) of the Sejm
Zbigniew Wassermann, Deputy of the Sejm
Grzegorz Dolniak, Deputy of the Sejm
Gen. Franciszek Gagor, Army Chief of Staff
Aleksander Szczyglo, chief of the National Security Bureau
Slawomir Skrzypek, governor of the National Bank of Poland

Imagine a similar plane crash that killed President and Mrs. Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three other members of Congress, Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew (next in line to Secretary Hillary Clinton), a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the National Security Council, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and several other important military and political figures.

Some areas of the blogosphere have been abuzz with theories of Russian covert involvement in the crash. Neo-neocon is inclined to dismiss such thoughts, pointing out that "Even the Soviets could not have made the weather foggy." Still, it doesn't comfort me to know that Stalin-wannabe Vladimir Putin has pledged to take personal charge of the investigation. He hasn't even seen fit to apologize on behalf of his country for the event the doomed leaders were headed to commemorate, Katyn Forest massacre. Why should anyone believe he will suddenly decide to do right by the Polish people with this investigation?

Friday Stumper

2010-04-09T07:03:00.008-04:00

Two men are fishing in the middle of a lake. They are doing well when a third man calls from the bank of the lake and asks to join them. They say yes, so he gathers his bait and rod and goes to them. The lake is fairly deep, but the fisherman just walks over to them and starts to fish. How?

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<They are ice fishing.>

What a Relief As Summer Approaches

2010-04-08T18:54:00.002-04:00

That guy in Virginia who was arrested for indecent exposure after someone looked into his window and saw him unclothed has been found not guilty by a jury, thus clearing the way for me to stand stark naked in front of my window air conditioner the next time I have a warm-weather hot flash.

God bless America.

Wednesday Word

2010-04-07T11:10:00.003-04:00

Cacophony — The best use of this word I have ever heard comes from a short piece I read online recently in which a person with schizophrenia describes his/her pre-treatment auditory hallucinations "a near-constant cacophony, a din that was both very distracting and extremely annoying."

ca·coph·o·ny \cuh-CAW-fuh-nee\ or \cuh-CAH-fun-nee\
noun
: harsh or discordant sound : DISSONANCE; specifically : harshness in the sound of words of phrases

(Edited to add a non-Boston/Worcester pronunciation.)

For more, see the complete entry at Merriam-Webster online.

This Is What Being Apart Feels Like

2010-04-06T13:56:00.000-04:00

I held a jewel in my fingers
And went to sleep
The day was warm, and winds were prosy
I said, "Twill keep"

I woke - and chide my honest fingers,
The Gem was gone
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own

—Emily Dickinson

The Sex Police at Yale

2010-04-05T11:10:00.001-04:00

Via Glenn Reynolds, I learn that Yale University has officially banned sex between faculty members and undergraduate students.

The new policy, announced to faculty in November and incorporated into the updated faculty handbook in January, is "an idea whose time has come," says Deputy Provost Charles Long, who has advocated the ban since 1983.

In his decades at Yale, Long has seen many faculty-student romances. Most turn out fine, he says, but others are destructive to students. "I think we have a responsibility to protect students from behavior that is damaging to them and to the objectives for their being here."

Previously, the university had prohibited such relationships only when the faculty member had "direct pedagogical or supervisory responsibilities" over the student. That remains the rule for affairs between faculty and graduate or professional students, and between grad students and undergrads.

On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer. But when you consider that lower-level faculty, such as instructors and adjunct professors, may be recently out of graduate school, you realize that socially, they are the students' peers. At a large university, they may not even encounter one another in an academic situation.

And what of the faculty member whose young spouse, who never finished his or her degree, chooses to take advantage of the family tuition benefit to enroll at Yale? Are they exempt from the rule? Is it really anyone's business to consider?

No answers here, just thinking out loud.

Things That Make You Go, "Eeeewwwwwwww!"

2010-04-02T15:26:00.002-04:00

From the Health Department in my town, via text alert:

PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISORY

The City of Worcester Department of Inspectional Services, Housing and Health Inspections Division and Division of Public Health in conjunction with the Town of Shrewsbury's Board of Health issue this PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISORY relating to recreational activities on Lake Quinsigamond.

The recent record rainfall caused flooding and contamination of the lake by harmful bacteria. Increased concentrations of bacteria are a health risk to anyone conducting recreation in stormwater impacted areas. Please be advised to avoid contact with all surface waters including Lake Quinsigamond, particularly south of Route 9. The water quality will be monitored and tested until there no longer is a threat to public's health.

The "harmful bacteria" that typically cause problems in cases like this are from animal feces that get washed into the lake during heavy rains. If that isn't enough to keep you out of the water, I don't know what is.

Five Years Later, a Memorial

2010-04-02T07:34:00.004-04:00

Five years ago today, my cousin, Jeff, died of necrotizing fasciitis.

During the week before Easter, Jeff had been feeling lousy, fighting what he described as flu-like symptoms. His sister, Jen, and her family were hoping he would feel well enough to join them in Connecticut for Easter dinner on March 27, but he failed to arrive or call. Being unable to contact him, Jen called one of his friends in New York, who went to his apartment and found him unconscious and critically ill. For eight days, he underwent aggressive antibiotic treatment and multiple surgeries, including amputation of an arm, in an attempt to stop the spread of the bacterium. The infection spread anyway, and when the doctors recommended a more radical operation to remove the entire shoulder, his parents made the difficult decision to forgo further surgery. The family had discussed it and agreed that it was the decision Jeff would have made for himself. Less than a week after he was admitted to the hospital, he died.

Friday Stumper

2010-04-02T07:11:00.002-04:00

Match the quote with its speaker. See the answer by highlighting between the brackets.

The choices are:
a. Albert Einstein
b. Will Rogers
c. Abraham Lincoln
d. Winston Churchill
e. Mark Twain

1. "Common-looking people are the best in the world; that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."
<c. Abraham Lincoln.>

2. "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down at us. Pigs treat us as equals."
<d. Winston Churchill>

3. "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."
<a. Albert Einstein....>

4. "A classic is something that everyone wants to have read and nobody wants to read."
<e. Mark Twain........>

5. "Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
<b. Will Rogers........>

Practical Jokes

2010-04-01T16:57:00.003-04:00

I have never been big on elaborate practical jokes. For one thing, I never think about it far enough in advance to plan anything really good. Instead, I fall back on things I can pull off on the fly.

Two people today have been the beneficiaries of my antics. The first prank was work-related and wouldn't mean anything to my readers. The second one was more understandable.

Being a native New Englander, an almost-life-long Massachusetts resident, and a big sports fan of a certain age, I had the good fortune to grow up watching Bobby Orr play hockey. At the time, I didn't appreciate that I was watching the greatest hockey player of all time, but I knew he was really good, not to mention adorable. To this day, I remain a big fan of #4 and still haven't forgiven my mother for not getting his autograph for me the time she spent a half hour talking to him in a post-September 11 line at Logan Airport.

Meanwhile, the Love of My Life is also a hockey fan who, though not a Bruins follower, nonetheless recognizes Orr's greatness. I decided he was a good target, and we had this exchange via BlackBerry text message:

To: [LOML]
Subject: I WON!!!!!
Sent: Apr 1, 2010 10:15

The new sports radio station in Boston had an on air trivia contest and I was one of the correct callers to be a contestant. There were 4 of us doing general sports trivia, and yours truly was the last one standing! Woo-hoo!

Grand prize is...

Dinner and a game with Bobby Orr!!!!!

Right on cue, he replied:

From: [LOML]
To: [The Den Mother]
Subject: Re: I WON!!!!!
Sent: Apr 1, 2010 10:16

Wow! Seriously??? That's fantastic.
I'm so excited for you. Holy crap! When?

When I then casually inquired what today's date was, he told me I was "awful" and "mean" and had "no shame," and he even castigated me for "invoking the sacred Bobby Orr" and "taking the Lord's name in vain." To which I said, Mission Accomplished.

I'm already working on ideas for next year.

Revealed: Stars without Make-Up Look...Just Like the Rest of Us

2010-03-30T17:23:00.001-04:00

Every now and then, a magazine or web site publishes pictures of beautiful celebrities with and without the make-up (and hair styling, and wardrobe) they don in professional settings. The Fox News site currently has such a collection. The tag line is, "Some celebs look great without the paint! Some, well, er, um, yeah..."

What is most striking about the photo array is how stunningly average most of these people look when they're just knocking around. Some are very pretty (almost all are women) even when they aren't done up. A few are, in my opinion, downright ugly au naturel (or at the very least, the pictures captured unflattering expressions), and there are even two or three I don't think all that attractive with make-up, either. (For example, what's up with Sofia Vergara's left boob?) The run the gamut on the physical beauty scale. In other words, they are like most people. Actually, I know several people who are better looking than many of those who are hyped as beautiful by celebrity magazines.

The lesson is that I could probably be a glamorous celebrity if I had access to a professional make-up artist, a top hair stylist, fabulous clothes, and the couple hours it takes to put it all on. Nice to know, for future reference.

Technical Problems, Still Unsolved

2010-03-30T14:23:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged lately because of a glitch that surfaced a few weeks ago and rendered this site unviewable with older versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. After much testing, I still haven't found the problem. But since readers with newer browsers don't seem to have any trouble viewing the site, I decided to resume blogging while making a final effort to solve the problem. The last resort will be to re-create the blog. Thanks for your patience in awaiting new material.

Friday Stumper

2010-03-26T07:16:00.008-04:00

What is the word, phrase, or saying depicted below?

VA DERS

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<space invaders>

Friday Stumper

2010-03-19T07:30:00.012-04:00

It's more powerful than God. It's more evil than Satan. The poor have it. The rich need it. If you eat it, you will die. What is it?

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<Nothing>

And the Gaffes Go On

2010-03-18T19:26:00.004-04:00

Remember when then-Sen. Joe Biden, on the campaign trail after being chosen as Barack Obama's running mate, asked a State Senator who uses a wheelchair to "stand up, let the people see you?" Would that healing the disabled were so easy.

Now it appears the Botoxed One is trying to bury people alive. Yesterday, the Vice President made reference to the Irish Prime Minister's deceased mother who is not yet deceased.

Speaking at a St. Patrick's Day event, Wednesday, the Vice President ad-libbed, "His mom lived in Long Island for ten years or so. God rest her soul. And- although, she's- wait- your mom's still- your mom's still alive. Your dad passed. God bless her soul."

One must necessarily worry about someone who is so quick to say so much that makes him look so stupid.

The "Me" President

2010-03-18T17:21:00.006-04:00

Remember when President Obama's medical insurance regulation legislation had to be passed for the good of the country? Now that most of us don't want it, he has come up with a new, much more important reason: the very success of his presidency. That was the reason all along, of course. Why else would such an egomaniac do anything? On Planet Barack, it's all about him, and the rest of us are here to applaud, tell him how magnificent he is, and let him do what he wants so he can say how much he got accomplished. That is more important than the will of the governed, who are too simple to know what's for our own good.

One [Congressional Hispanic Caucus] member told POLITICO that Obama won him over by "essentially [saying] that the fate of his presidency" hinged on this week's health reform vote in the House. The member, who requested anonymity, likened Obama's remarks to an earlier meeting with progressives when the president said a victory was necessary to keep him "strong" for the next three years of his term.

Another caucus member, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), said, "We went in there already knowing his presidency would be weakened if this thing went down, but the president clearly reinforced the impression the presidency would be damaged by a loss."

Added Serrano: "He was subtle, but that was the underlying theme of the meeting — the importance of passing this for the health of the presidency."

How healthy does he think his presidency will be come November, when voters hand Democrats their heads on a silver platter?

(Hat tip: Instapundit.)

In Obama's White House, Every Day Is Christmas!

2010-03-17T17:44:00.004-04:00

Call him Obama Claus, because he promises to give us everything we want and need, for free. His medical insurance regulation legislation, for example, will cover more people, give everyone better coverage, and yet cost less. It's like magic! He even had this to say at a recent rally in Ohio:

"You'll be able to buy in, or a small business will be able to buy into this pool," Obama said. "And that will lower rates, it's estimated, by up to 14 to 20 percent over what you're currently getting. That's money out of pocket.

[ . . . ]

"Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent," said the president, "which means they could give you a raise."

Premiums will fall by 3,000 percent? How is that possible? Once they fall by 100%, they are down to zero. And yet, it must be true because Obama said it. It's like magic!

But wait, there's another perfectly logical explanation, according to one of the elves:

A White House press spokesman later said the president misspoke; he had meant to say annual premiums would drop by $3,000.

Oh, come on. He misspoke? The man reads everything from a teleprompter. Maybe his reading is as bad as his math.

The point is that our President pulls things out of his ass on a regular basis. With him, the old quip rings true: How do you know when Barack Obama is lying? His lips are moving. More and more people are figuring that out, and the more he pushes for what the voters don't want, the worse his approval numbers are.

The lesson here is that most people realize there is no Santa Claus. Or even Obama Claus.

The Inanity Boggles the Mind

2010-03-17T12:53:00.005-04:00

How did I miss this? Almost a week and a half ago, former Republican House Speaker Tom DeLay appeared on CNN and participated in the following exchange with Candy Crowley about unemployed people:

"In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out," he argued.

"People are unemployed because they want to be? " asked Crowley.

"Well, it is the truth. And people in the real world know it," said DeLay.

It's an odd statement, even for Tom DeLay, who has said some foolish things in his career. I have collected unemployment, and it is true that receiving that check takes a little of the edge off and slightly assuages the sense of urgency to find work this minute. But that's a far cry from wanting to be unemployed. I also have no doubt that some people who were working by choice rather than necessity are now content to collect unemployment and take it easy. Those people, though, comprise a small percentage of those receiving benefits.

Frankly, DeLay's contention is one I would expect from the Obama administration as a way to explain away the effective unemployment rate, which is much higher than even the bleak official numbers that are reported each month. (Effective unemployment rate measures not only people actively looking for work, but also those who have dropped off the unemployment rolls and have given up the hunt out of sheer frustration.) But even the White House spin doctors aren't stupid enough to use such an excuse. Mr. DeLay, apparently, is.

Tacky Earrings of the Day

2010-03-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

When I began posting my daily tacky Christmas earrings last December, I mentioned that the tackiest earrings I owned were Irish trolls. This being St. Patrick's Day, here they are.

These were given to me by my co-worker Hanna along with several of the Christmas earrings I featured here. But I think you will agree that green hair trumps all those others. I wear them this one day only, mostly because they tickle. For the record, I am also wearing a green top and plastic green beads (think Mardi Gras beads). And I had a green bagel with breakfast.

In Honor of St. Patrick, a Game of Trivia

2010-03-17T10:00:00.005-04:00

We had a work breakfast this morning for St. Patrick's Day, and our festivities included a trivia contest, put together by yours truly. The first round was multiple choice questions; the top three finishers won lottery scratch tickets. I also prepared four additional questions to be used to break a tie.

Just for today, let's designate St. Patrick the patron saint of trivia.

See the answer under each question by highlighting between the brackets.

What is the Irish Gaelic name for Ireland?
a. Éire
b. Éirn
c. Érin
d. Érne
< a. >
What creatures are said to have been driven out of Ireland by St. Patrick?
a. Cockroaches
b. Killer bees
c. Locusts
d. Snakes
< d. >
Which county is not part of the Republic of Ireland?
a. Donegal
b. Galway
c. Tyrone
d. Westmeath
< c. >
What is the real name of the Irish rock star known as Bono?
a. Gerry Adams
b. David Evans
c. Paul Hewson
d. Gordon Sumner
< c. >
Who is the current Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland?
a. Bertie Ahern
b. Brian Cowen
c. Mary McAleese
d. Mary Robinson
< b. >
The island of Ireland is home to two countries, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of what union?
a. Channel Islands
b. Great Britain
c. Kingdom of England
d. United Kingdom
< d. >
What is a cláirseach?
a. Irish bells
b. Irish fiddle
c. Irish flute
d. Irish harp
< d. >
Which of the following actors was not born in Ireland?
a. Pierce Brosnan
b. Sean Connery
c. Colin Farrell
d. Richard Harris
< b. >
What is the capital city of the Republic of Ireland?
a. Belfast
b. Cork
c. Dublin
d. Waterford
< c. >
10. What Irish-American woman’s cow is blamed for starting the Great Chicago Fire?
a. Mrs. O'Leary
b. Mrs. O'Malley
c. Mrs. O'Rourke
d. Mrs. O'Shea
< a. >
11. At which Irish university is the Book of Kells, a famous early 9th century decorated manuscript of the four Gospels, on permanent display?
a. National University of Ireland, Galway
b. Trinity College, Dublin
c. University College, Cork
d. University of Limerick
< b. >
12. What is Ireland’s oldest airline?
a. Aer Arann
b. Aer Lingus
c. Aviajet
d. Ryanair
< b. >

The four tiebreakers are:

What is the nationalist political party that was an offshoot of the Irish Republican Army?
<Sinn Féin >
St. Patrick wasn't actually born in Ireland. He was born in what is now which country?
<Scotland >
Which Irish rock/pop group had hit songs entitled "Linger" and "Zombie?"
<The Cranberries>
What was the primary cause of the Great Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine, between 1845-1852?
<Potato blight >

UPDATE: Congratulations to contest winner Karen, who got nine out of 12 correct and broke a tie with Sue by knowing the answer to the first tiebreaker. Sue placed second, Joe third.

Wednesday Word

2010-03-17T07:17:00.007-04:00

Ubiquitous — This word takes me back, oddly, to college hockey games. For some reason, perhaps because our football team sucked, our cheerleaders decided to do the hockey games, too. Since there is nothing in a hockey arena comparable to sidelines, the cheerleaders often did their thing in a walkway, thereby blocking the view of the game for those sitting in the vicinity. One of their cheers was:

B....E....A-G-G....R-E-S-S-I-V-E!
BE....AGGRESSIVE....B-E AGGRESSIVE!

Since they always seemed to be in the way during an important play, my friend Michael used to parrot it back to them, but with a twist:

B....E....U-B-I....Q-U-I-T-O-U-S!
BE....UBIQUITOUS....B-E UBIQUITOUS!

I'm not sure they knew what it meant. It was an engineering school; few students were there because of their sophisticated vocabularies.

u·biq·ui·tous \yoo-BIK-wuh-tus\
adjective
: existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered : widespread

For more, see the complete entry at Merriam-Webster online.

If We Could But Touch the Hem of His Cloak

2010-03-16T12:08:00.008-04:00

When the going gets tough, President Obama's disciples get religion. And the religion they follow is that of their Messiah, Obama himself. So it was at the New York Times, which ran this image with an online article entitled, "As Health Vote Waits, Future of a Presidency Waits, Too." Is that violins I hear? What about harps? A choir of angels?

The photo is credited, "Illustration by Nola Lopez, photograph by Damon Winter/The New York Times." Ann Althouse is "not sure where the photograph ends and the illustration begins," but I don't think that matters. What matters is the symbolism.

So what exactly does the image symbolize? Since we're talking about medical insurance legislation, the cross might be the familiar red cross symbol used on ambulances and first aid kits. But it isn't red, and I have no idea why a tiny White House is at the base of it. More likely, it's intended to evoke the Christian cross, which would also explain why Obama was given a halo. That's it—defeating the ObamaCare bill is not only going to bring down the Obama presidency, but it is actually the same thing as crucifying Obama, the Holy One.

Next you'll be hearing House Democrats saying, à la the wacky Pat Robertson, that God came to them in a dream and commanded them to pass the bill. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Today's Preferred Commuting Method: Backstroke

2010-03-15T08:59:00.004-04:00

It's nasty out there. My umbrella blew inside out and broke. But I live on a hill and we never get flooded, so it could be worse.

Flooding expected as rain bombards region (Worcester Telegram)

Waltham fights flooding (Wicked Local)

Nor'easter to Cause More Serious Flooding in New England (AccuWeather)

Flooding halts Green Line trains near Fenway Park (Boston Herald)

Bay State soaker (WBZ News Radio)

Storm drenches region, causes power outages (Boston Globe)

Friday Stumper

2010-03-12T07:00:00.006-05:00

In a spelling bee, Pamela beat Luigia. Mario beat Brendan. Kathy scored lower than Brendan. Ahmed scored lower than Kathy but better than Pamela. What was the order from first to last?

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<Mario, Brendan, Kathy, Ahmed, Pamela, Luigia>

Wednesday Word

2010-03-10T16:53:00.004-05:00

Onomatopoeia — I don't think I have used this word since high school English with Mrs. Deal. Oh wait, there was that one time a few years ago when a friend and I were talking about high school, and she said, "What's that term for when a word sounds like what it means?"

on·o·mat·o·poe·ia \AH-nuh-MAH-tuh-PEE-uh\
noun
: the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)
: the use of words whose sound suggests the sense

For more, see the complete entry at Merriam-Webster online.

Please Help Me Fight Cancer

2010-03-10T16:33:00.004-05:00

Once again, I am raising money for the American Cancer Society through their local Relay for Life event. Relay supports the cancer research, treatment, and patient support. I was a top-ten fundraiser for last year's Worcester Relay and hope you, my loyal readers, will help me by visiting my Relay page and making a donation.

I have never met someone who has not been personally touched by cancer. Literally everyone I know either has or had cancer, knows someone who has or had cancer, or lost someone to cancer. Everyone I know. It boggles the mind to think about how widespread this disease is. No one is immune, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity. People in all walks of life get cancer. The rich and famous are as much at risk as the poor and anonymous. Unless you are unique and very, very fortunate, you have been touched by cancer, too.

Many of my readers are strangers and may not feel comfortable donating on my behalf. If you are one of those people, please consider making a donation directly to the American Cancer Society or, if you are an international reader, to a similar organization in your home country.

Relay is June 18-19, so you have lots of time. If you want to come back later, a link will remain at the top of this blog until fundraising is finished in August. Thanks.

If Shakespears Were Writing Today...

2010-03-09T13:29:00.010-05:00

He might write about current efforts to enact federal medical insurance overhaul legislation, and the work might be called Barack I. Or so imagines the venerable Iowahawk.

This day is call'd the feast of Reconciliation.
He that votes aye this day, and comes home
To face the slings and arrows and pitchforks of the town-hall mob,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Reconciliation.
He shall have returned to DC on this day, and have the last laugh,
And a seven-figure sinecure on K Street.
In his stately paneled office with Potomac view
He will yearly on the vigil feast his lobbying-staff,
And say 'To-morrow is Health Care Day.'
A PowerPoint graph of his Gallups he will show,
And say 'These wounds I had on Reconciliation day.'

More about That Hit

2010-03-09T10:44:00.000-05:00

After posting about Sunday's Matt Cooke hit on Bruins forward Marc Savard on YouTube last night, I heard some local sports radio guys this morning discussing the incident. The concensus was that it Cooke had used an elbow, not the shoulder. Based on what I had watched, I disagreed—until I saw the replays about a half dozen times on a wide-screen TV.

The ambiguity arises from the medium-high camera angle often used in hockey to capture a wide view of the ice from end to end. It isn't the best angle for noticing the movement of Cooke's arm, especially because his forward motion and the lifting of the elbow were toward the camera and the view is partially blocked by Savard. Unfortunately, I can't find clearer video online or a sequence of good photographs to illustrate what I'm talking about. The only thing I can suggest to those who wish to study it further is to try to catch the replay on a television where the image is much clearer.

If in fact there was upward motion of Cooke's elbow, as the replay seems to me to show, it would shed a bit more light onto reports that Savard sustained a jaw injury in addition to the concussion. It would also means that the hit wasn't just vicious and thuggish, it was also illegal.

But even if you give Cooke the benefit of the doubt and assert that he leaned in with his shoulder to deliver a legal check, what is beyond dispute is his intention to hit Savard in the head. Savard was slightly down after having taken a shot, and Cooke came in from the side to hit him after the fact. Perhaps it's time for the NHL to grapple with the issue of intentional hits to the head, whatever body part the aggressor uses.

Matt Cooke Is a Thug

2010-03-08T23:06:00.008-05:00

And Marc Savard is recovering from a concussion because of him. I don't believe for one minute that it wasn't an intentionally dirty hit. Cooke skated deliberately toward Savard and lowered his shoulder to hit Savard in the head.

I missed most of the game, including the Savard injury, and just saw the video tonight.

Sorry, I'm not buying Cooke's act. Cut the crocodile tears. The Oscars are over, you lousy bum.

Understatement and Misstatement

2010-03-08T17:01:00.001-05:00

CNN.com reported last week that John Patrick Bedell, the so-called Pengaton shooter, "had a history of mental health problems." One can presume they mean problems besides Bush Derangement Syndrome and 9/11 Trutherism.

Bedell, 36, suffered from bipolar disorder, according to court records from a 2006 California arrest for a man by the same name. That man's birth date matches the one authorities gave for the Pentagon shooter.

Bedell had been committed to mental institutions at least three or four times, according to [San Benito County, California, Sheriff Curtis] Hill.

The Christian Science Monitor rushed to declare him a right-wing extremist despite his leftist views on many issues. They were quickly forced to backtrack on that claim with an update noting, "As more information emerges about Mr. Bedell, the less it appears that any coherent ideology was behind his actions, except that he was deeply antigovernment." Adding insult to injury, right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin found out Bedell was a registered Democrat. Lefty-turned-righty neo-neocon points out that the same media reflex to label Bedell as a conservative also manifested itself in the case of Joseph Stack, the guy who flew a small aircraft into a building housing an Internal Revenue Service office—even though Stark's final writings documented kneejerk Bush hatred and the anti-capitalism that is the hallmark of late 20th century liberalism.

Long Ago and Far Away

2010-03-08T16:27:00.002-05:00

You just never know what will come out of a short message on an internet site.

Way back in August 2000, I posted these two inquiries on genealogy.com, looking for information about my great-great-grandfather whose ancestors were (and, unfortunately, remain) a mystery to us. He fought for the Union side in the Civil War, a fact I stated in my posts in the hope it might grab the attention of someone with interest and knowledge in that era.

Imagine my surprise when I got the following email yesterday about my inquiry:

To: [me]
From: Floyd [Xxxx]
Subject: thomas g w jefferson

Found the following post on genealogy.com

Was in an antique store in York, SC yesterday and hanging on the wall is the a framed document, printed late 1890's [most likely by Conn. GAR group] about Thomas G W Jefferson's Civil War Co. stating where all he served. If you are interested in this document please let me know and I can put you in touch with the shop

We have a similar document that was given to my G-Grandfather in the early 1900's from the GAR group in Fremont, OH, which used to hang on Grandma's wall while I was growing up.

These are the only 2 such documents that I have ever seen.
Floyd

The G.A.R. document he mentions wouldn't shed any light on Thomas' ancestry, but it would be a terrific addition to the family collection. My friend Karen, who is a genealogy buff, advises me that we definitely want to get a hold of it.

Incidentally, Thomas is the same man whose items my mother and I brought to Providence, Rhode Island, almost five years ago when Antiques Roadshow was there. The appraiser we spoke to, Rafe Eledge of Savannah, Tennessee, was so captivated by the items—specifically the canteen, given to Thomas by a Confederate soldier he met in hospital—that he did the appraisal on tape for the program, which first aired the following spring (details at the link). The transcript documents a small error my mother made: her reference to "Fort Jefferson" (I think she actually said "Port Jefferson") should have been "Port Hudson."

Hope for the Future

2010-03-07T22:35:00.004-05:00

I have written before about how annoying I find it that young people who work in retail don't seem to grasp the basics of good manners. But an experience last week restored a bit of of my faith in the younger generation.

It was Thursday night and I went to Burger King to pick up a salad from the drive-through. I placed my order, the voice in the speaker told me the total and asked me to drive up, and I said, "Thank you." Then the most astonishing thing happened. The voice in the speaker said, "You're welcome."

So pleasantly surprised was I that, when I reached the window to pay for my purchase, I complimented the clerk. She seemed amused that a customer would mention something that was, to her, unremarkable. It's too bad she is the exception among her peers rather than the rule.

Significant Events

2010-03-06T08:01:00.000-05:00

On this date in history:

1806 – Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is born in Durham, England.
1834 – The City of Toronto, Ontario, is incorporated with William Lyon Mackenzie as its first mayor.
1852 – Newfoundland Electric Telegraph is completed between St. John's and Carbonear.
1886 – The first alternating current power plant in the United States starts in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
1950 – Silly Putty is invented.
1964 – G is born.
1976 – American Dorothy Hamill wins the world figure skating championship.
1992 – New York Yankees pitcher Pascual Perez is suspended for one year for cocaine use.

I Love Irony

2010-03-05T17:08:00.000-05:00

They should make these t-shirts in adult sizes.

Where Did These People Learn to Write?

2010-03-05T12:31:00.004-05:00

As a graduate of 12 years of Catholic school, I feel justified in being something of an English language snob. Say what you will about nuns (and what I say about them, as a post-Vatican II baby, is that they were pretty cool and somewhat hippie-ish) but they taught me proper grammar, usage, and punctuation. I bet I could still diagram a sentence if forced.

That knowledge, which has stayed with me over these many years, causes me to cringe when I encounter bad English. In just the last 18 hours, I have seen two glaring examples of bad punctuation. One was the subject line of a spam email I received this morning.

I don't know who first thought it would be a good idea to use quotation marks for emphasis, but his or her error doesn't excuse all the other people who repeat the same mistake. They should all stop.

Now, perhaps the author of that email is someone in a third world country for whom English is not a primary language. If so, their ignorance of the language can be forgiven. But the University of Washington students protesting budget cuts can't use that defense.

(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds.)

Another Milestone Anniversary

2010-03-05T07:18:00.003-05:00

It was 35 years ago today that Patrolman James Lonchiadis, a 28-year-old married father of two, was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He was the first Shrewsbury officer—and, we hope, the last—to be killed in the line of duty in the town's history. His killer was paroled two years ago, even though, as far as I'm concerned, he could never have paid his debt to society, our town, and the Lonchiadis family.

Friday Stumper

2010-03-05T07:00:00.010-05:00

The names of three cities from the same U.S. state are hidden in the sentence below. Can you find them? (The letters are in consecutive order.)

"Watch out for that kayak," Ron said on Sunday to no one in particular, raising the panic level and upsetting the crowd.

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<Akron, Dayton, Cleveland>

The Den Mother's Olympic Recap: Dénouement

2010-03-04T07:25:00.046-05:00

Every Olympics has its own memorable moments, and Vancouver is no exception. There was drama, conflict, elation, devastation, fun. There were many emotional situations. Speaking strictly of sports, there were also several breakthroughs.

The closing ceremony was light and fun. In a brilliant stroke of self-deprecation that also put the closing parenthesis on the Games, the ceremony began with a worker repairing the fourth tower to the Olympic cauldron, the one that a mechanical malfunction prevented from rising at the opening ceremony. Catriona LeMay Doan reprised her opening ceremony appearance, finally getting to do what the glitch prevented her from doing two weeks ago. The Canadian celebrities who headlined the ceremony were funny and irreverent. Most of all, the ceremony was exactly what it should have been: an end to a remarkable 17 days of sports.

In my (almost) daily recaps, I have written about some of the mosts, firsts, firsts-in-a-long-time, etc. in some of those sports. A few events provided dramatic surprises, a few athletes set records, a few nations rose to new prominence in certain sports. Each fan has his or her favorite stories. I have neither the space nor the time to write about them all. Instead, I'll write about the tangible measure of Olympic success, the medal count.

The United States led all countries in total medals for only the second time in Winter Olympic history, the first being way back in 1932 when Lake Placid first hosted the Games. If that isn't impressive enough, Team USA's 37 medals are a new Winter Olympic record. It's worth noting that there are multiples more events than there were when the Winter Olympics started 86 years ago, but then again there are also many more countries fielding teams. Without comparing apples to oranges, it is still safe to say that a total of 37 medals is a remarkable achievement.

Canada, the gracious hose, also set a Winter Olympic record. The country that had never won a gold medal either of the previous two times it hosted the Olympics picked up 14 of them in Vancouver, more than any country in the history of the winter Games. Considering that Canada has about one-tenth of the population of the United States, the achievement is even more remarkable.

Way back on day 7, I took a look at how countries were doing in terms of the ratio of medals to population. The U.S. may have won the most medals and Canada the most gold, but Norway won more medals per capita than any other nation. Here are the final calculations, based on population figures obtained from multiple online sources.

Country	Medals	Population	Medals per 10mil people
Norway	23	4,644,457	49.521
Austria	16	8,344,319	19.175
Slovenia	3	2,039,400	14.710
Sweden	11	9,220,986	11.929
Switzerland	9	7,581,520	11.871
Finland	5	5,244,749	9.533
Latvia	2	2,266,013	8.826
Canada	26	33,212,696	7.828
Estonia	1	1,340,638	7.459
Croatia	3	4,491,543	6.679
Czech Republic	6	10,220,911	5.870
Slovakia	3	5,406,030	5.549
Netherlands	8	16,645,313	4.806
Germany	30	82,140,043	3.652
Belarus	3	9,850,000	3.046
South Korea	14	48,607,000	2.880
France	11	62,048,473	1.773
Poland	6	38,122,972	1.574
Australia	3	21,007,310	1.428
United States	37	304,059,724	1.217
Russia	15	141,800,000	1.058
Italy	5	58,145,320	0.860
Kazakhstan	1	15,340,533	0.652
Japan	5	127,704,000	0.392
Great Britain	1	61,399,118	0.163
China	11	1,330,044,544	0.083

Most participating countries won no medals at all. That's always the case, but it's always worth mentioning because it is part of what makes the Olympics the greatest collective sporting event. Of 92 countries that sent teams to Vancouver, 65 won not a single medal. The huge majority of athletes participate with no expectation of success, but they come nonetheless. Instead of medals, what they get is the right to forever call themselves Olympians.

Speaking of medals, the ones handed out in Vancouver were distinctive, to say the least. I liked them, but I suppose not everyone did. That most trusted of news sources, The Onion, did a short article about a couple medalists' reactions. As always with The Onion, a grain of salt is warranted.

And that concludes my Olympic commentary this time around. I'll be back at it in 2012, when I hope to be blogging from London rather than my living room. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Musings from the Den Mother.

Top Ten Ugliest Olympic Ice Dancing Costumes

2010-03-03T17:07:00.013-05:00

Before I wrap up the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, I wanted to make good on my promise to write about the awful figure skating costumes. OK, most of them weren't awful, at least not where the pairs and individuals were concerned (Johnny Weir aside). Ice dancing, however, was another story. Is there some kind of hideous-costume requirement I don't know about, or do ice dancers just feel the need to make up for the lack of jumps and lifts by making spectators' eyes bleed?

Whatever the reason, there were so many bad costumes that I found it impossible to whittle it down to my originally intended top three. In fact, I was lucky to get it down to ten.

To understand the reasoning behind ice dancing costumes, you have to know a couple basic things about the sport. Ice dancers must complete three distinct kinds of programs. In the first kind, called the compulsory dance, each pair skates the same dance, the same sequence of steps, to music provided for them in advance by the International Skating Union. Most pairs chose costumes that go with the music they must skate to, which in this Olympics was the Tango Romantica. The second program of the competition is the original dance, which used to be called the original set pattern dance. The ISU chooses the general theme, which this year was folk dance, and stipulates certain steps that must be performed. Within the established theme, selection of music and choreography are up to each pair. As with the compulsories, the skaters often choose costumes that fit the established theme of the original dance. The third program is the free dance, which as the name implies gives each pair maximum freedom in choosing the theme, music, and choreography of their dance.

This year it was the original dance produced the most hideous costuming, but that particular program didn't have a monopoly on ugliness.

For the brave of heart and those not prone to seizures brought on by harsh colors and gaudy ornamentation, here is the gallery of...

The Den Mother's Top Ten Ugliest Costumes Seen in the 2010 Winter Olympic Ice Dancing Competition

10. Sinead and John Kerr, Great Britain, original dance. Brits (or, like the Kerrs, Scots) can almost get away with the country hoedown theme. But that hat has to go. So do the short-shorts. You aren't skating at Hooters.

9. Cathy and Chris Reed, Japan, original dance. They are Japanese on their mother's side, so they are entitled to go with the Japanese theme. But a kimono-as-skating-dress just looks like a summer bathrobe.

8. Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, Italy, original dance. I can't be the only person who thought they looked exactly like Hodel and Perchik dancing in the field in Fiddler on the Roof. And dear God, I hope Federica's face doesn't freeze that way.

7. Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, Russia, original dance. OK, the really shiny boots are cool. I'll even let the ruffled skirt slide. But green and teal don't belong together, ever. And Sergei? Get a hair cut.

6. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, France, original dance. Whatever made two French people think that dressing as cowboys was a good idea? Here's a hint for next time: if you aren't from Texas, Calgary, or the Australian outback, it won't work.

5. Christina and William Beier, Germany, original dance. Besides the fact that the leis look like something from Oriental Trading Company, Germans skating a Hawaiian dance makes as much sense as Polynesians wearing lederhosen.

4. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, Russia, original dance. I think I had dolls like this when I was six. But seriously, are you identical twins? No? Then you have no business dressing alike. Please stop.

3. Tanith Belbin and Agosto Benjamin, United States, original dance. Their theme was a Moldavian folk dance. I doubt very much that Moldavians are really this tacky, or that the women wear bright red suede boots.

2. Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, Russia, free dance. There should be a special place in hell for anyone who makes this list twice. What's Jana supposed to be, some kind of schizophrenic parrot?

And the number one ugliest costumes seen at the 2010 Winter Olympic ice dancing competition:

1. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, Russia, original dance. This was supposed to be an aboriginal dance, but I was too busy trying to gouge out my eyes to hear from where. All I could think of was Adam and Eve on crack.

The Den Mother's Olympic Recap: Days 15-17

2010-03-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

Better late than never, I bring you a rundown of the last three days of the Vancouver Olympics, which were a mad dash to grab up the medals awarded in the remaining 16 events.

Friday featured lots of speed skating, including medal races in three short track events. Canadians took gold in the men's 5000 m relay, as well as individual gold and bronze by Charles Hamelin and Francois-Louis Tremblay in men's 500 m. South Korea also won three short track medals: silver in both those events, plus a bronze in the women's 1000 m, which was won by China's Wang Meng. American Apolo Ohno was disqualified in the 500 m after bumping Tremblay in the final lap and later complained about it. But that's the nature of short track, which has a sort of "no harm, no foul" attitude. If the contact hadn't disrupted Tremblay, Ohno probably wouldn't have been disqualified. Ohno himself has benefited from similar calls in the past and, for that reason as well as basic good form, should have kept his mouth shut.

On the snow, Norway won yet another Nordic skiing medal, this one gold inthen men's 7.5 km biathlon relay. Austria got silver in that event, as well as a silver later in the day in women's alpine slalom and a bronze in snowboard parallel giant slalom, which were won respectively by Germany's Maria Riesch and the Netherlands' Nicolien Sauerbreij. Reisch had previously won gold in the super combined and is a phenomenal slalom racer. If you haven't watched much slalom racing, the next time you do, notice how the skiers' heads and upper bodies barely move; all the back-and-forth action is from the hips down. It's a wonder to behold.

Women's curling wound down Friday with medals going to Sweden (gold), Canada (silver), and China (bronze). And on Saturday, the men got their medals: gold for Canada, silver for Norway, and bronze for Switzerland. My father is now suffering from curling withdrawal despite his protestations that his daily viewing was no indication of his interest in the event.

Saturday brought a pleasant surprise for Team USA when the four man bobsleigh team led by Stephen Holcomb won gold for the first American win in that Olympic sport since 1948. Holcomb's team, known as the "Night Train," included two Bay Staters. Americans also medaled in men's team pursuit speed skating behind Canada. Women's team pursuit medals were awarded to Germany, Japan, and Poland, something I found interesting because they none of those countries medaled in the men's event.

The hosts, in the person of Jasey Jay Anderson, won gold in men's parallel giant slalom snowboard, ahead of Austria's Benjamin Karl and Mathieu Bozzetto of France. Europe fared well in snowboarding, which should put to rest the cynical complaints of years past that snowboarding wasn't a legitimate sport outside North America. In other snow events, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won her third medal of the games, half her country's total, by beating Norwegian Marit Bjoergen by 0.3 seconds in the women's 30 km cross country classic. That is an astonishingly close finish for such a long race; the bronze medalist, Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, was more than a minute behind.

Finally, serving as a prelude to the final event of the Games, Finland beat Slovakia 5-3 for the men's hockey bronze medal. Which brings us to Sunday.

The day started with the longest cross country event of the Olympics, the men's 50 km classic, which was even more of a nail-biter than the women's 30 km a day earlier. Norway's Petter Northug, like Kowalczyk, took gold by 0.3 seconds, but he was one of five skiers who crossed the line within 1.6 seconds of each other. Think of the last time you saw that happen in a marathon and you'll have an idea of how unusual it is.

But the big event of the day, and the traditional final Winter Olympic contest, was the men's hockey final. The United States and Canada had dutifully won their semi-final games on Friday, setting up the match-up I wanted. Ominous shades of the women's final crept in when Canada scored twice in the first half of the game. The U.S. kept the heat on and cut the deficit in half on a Ryan Kesler goal a little more than five minutes later. Hopes were high for the third period, which was scoreless until the final minute, when Zach Parise tied the game with 25 seconds remaining and celebrated by flinging himself into the plexiglass. I had predicted that morning that the game would end with a shoot-out, but I was wrong; Sidney Crosby ended it with the game winner 7:40 into overtime. And there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Despite the loss, U.S. goalie Ryan Miller was named the tournament's most valuable player. He played more minutes (355:07) than any other Olympic goalie and allowed fewer goals per game (1.35) than all except Sweden's Henrik Lundqvist (1.34), Finland's Niklas Backstrom (1.09), both of whom played a fraction of the minutes Miller did.

For reasons I cannot fathom, only the gold and silver medals were awarded post-game. The Finns had gotten their bronzes the previous evening. I hope someone nixes that bad idea in time for Sochi. All medalists should be there together.

The Vancouver 2010 web site has more details about results and medals. Stay tuned later today for an Olympic wrap-up post or two.

Wednesday Word

2010-03-03T07:04:00.024-05:00

Ae — Another good Scrabble word, but for different reasons from last week's entry. Two-letter words are essential to any good Scrabble player's vocabulary because they can be used to join two parallel words. For example:

ae \AY\
adjective
: one

For more, see the complete entry at Merriam-Webster online.

Olympic Recap Is Forthcoming

2010-03-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

It's taking me a little longer than usual to write the last recap. For some reason, I can't seem to get more than two or three sentences written before the words "F*ck Sidney Crosby," "Sidney Crosby looks goofy," or "Sidney Crosby's mother wears army boots" creep in.

God Bless My Employer

2010-03-01T11:30:00.001-05:00

Times are tough, so believe me when I tell you that every day I am grateful that I have a job that is reasonably secure. It isn't my dream job and it will never make me rich, but it pays the bills and gives me a chance to work with some good people.

Somehow, the company has managed to perform well enough in this difficult economic client that the board of directors of Benevolent Mother Unum once again has seen fit to approve bonuses. The technical term is "Performance-Based Incentive," and whether we get it and how much depends on three factors:

Corporte performance — If the company's overall financial performance for the previous year was favorable, the board approves a payout.
Business performance — Each subsidiary gets a slice of the total depending on its performance within the parent entity. The subsidiary for which I work had a very strong 2009.
Employee performance — Individual payout depends on an employee's performance review for the previous year and is a percentage of annual salary. Most employees don't get 100% of the bonus available.

I got 95% of the available amount, which comes to (drum roll, please) 5% of my annual salary. Not huge, but with so many Americans unemployed and millions more working under salary freezes or cuts, I realize how fortunate I am not only to have a job but also to be getting a raise and a bonus.

The Powers That Be seem to have the same attitude. For the second consecutive year, we will have food drives across all locations the week leading up to the payment of our bonuses. As a multi-national corporation (U.S., U.K., Ireland) with multiple locations, we are directing the collections at each office to an organization in each community. Ours are going to the Worcester County Food Bank, which distributes food to a variety of local shelters, pantries, and other programs. That is in addition to the community organizations the corporation makes direct financial contributions to throughout the year.

For those who reflexively bash big businesses, especialy successful big businesses, it is worth remembering that success and profit allow companies to do things they wouldn't be able to do otherwise, e.g. hire people and keep them employed, support charitable endeavors, etc. They may not be perfect, but then again the people who criticize them seldom are either.

"I Love You" in Ten Languages

2010-02-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

With special thanks to my co-worker, Peg, for passing this along.

English — I love you

Spanish — Te amo

French — Je t'aime

German — Ich liebe dich

Vietnamese — Tôi yêu bạn

Italian — Ti amo

Greek — Σε αγαπώ

Swedish — Jag älskar dig

Polish — Kocham cię

Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia — Nice tits, get in the truck

The Den Mother's Olympic Recap: Days 13-14

2010-02-26T15:50:00.004-05:00

Sleep.....I need sleep.......ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz..............

Huh...What? Oh, sorry about that. Let me just wipe the drool off the corner of my mouth. There, I'm fine now.

We're in the home stretch, people! Heading into the final three days of the 2010 Winter Olympics, a few trends are developing: First, the United States, which has already broken its own record for medals in a Winter Olympics we didn't host, appears to be breaking away in the overall medal count, now leading Germany by six. Second, Canada, while falling short of their stated goal to lead in overall medals, is tied with the U.S. and Germany for gold with eight. And third, Vancouver 2010 may very well be remembered as the Olympics in which a few countries broke out in certain events. So without further ado, let's recap the last two days of competition.

The men's hockey quarterfinals all book place on Wednesday, with the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Slovakia advancing. Team USA and Finland are playing as I post this (no spoilers), followed by Canada and Slovakia at ~~6:00~~ 9:30.

Canadian women did well Wednsday, taking four medals, including gold and silver in women's bobsleigh. The two Canadian teams, as well as the American bronze medal winning team, tamed a run that saw three crashes, including one in which a German brakewoman Romy Logsch was ejected from her sled and hurtled out of control down the track. There were no serious injuries in any of the crashes. The American medalists were Nutmegger Erin Pac and her brakewoman Elana Meyers.

Canada's other medals went to speed skater Clara Hughes in the women's 5000m, who nearly five seconds behind Czech winner Martina Sablikova. Germany won the silver medal. Later in the day, Canada won silver in the women's short track 3000m relay, edging out the United States but falling short of China. The Chinese, for their part, did pretty well Wednesday as well, winning silver and bronze in women's freestyle aerial skiing, behind Australian Lydia Lassila.

Foggy conditions at Whistler postponed the women's giant slalom after the first run, but one run was enough to end hopes of another medal for Lindsey Vonn. The battered American, one of 17 skiers who failed to finish, crashed into the fencing at the edge of the course, breaking a finger in the process. The second run was rescheduled for Thursday.

Ah, Thursday. A day packed with seven medal events. When women's giant slalom resumed, the victor was Austrian Victoria Rebensburg, trailed closely by Slovenian Tina Maze and Austrian Elisabeth Goergl. As an aside, notice that the events determined by the combined times of two runs can be interesting in that the medalists may not have won either run. In this alpine event, for example, only Goergl actually won a run (the first). It's not an uncommon occurrence, but I thought it warranted mentioning since I'm not sure how many viewers have never noticed it.

Over at Nordic skiing, the women's cross country 5km relay was won by the prodigious Norwegians, ahead of Germany and Finland. Speaking of Germany, American spectators may have noticed that Germany has been on our tail in the medal hunt, but we managed to put a little distance between them and us with gold and silver in men's individual Nordic combined (large hill ski jump, 10km cross country). Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane will forever have the distinction of winning the first Nordic combined medals for the U.S. since the Winter Olympics began in 1924. That's not a bad way to be remembered.

Team USA also notched another silver in men's freestyle aerials with an outstanding performance by Jeret Peterson. "Speedy" narrowly lost the gold to Alexei Grishin of Belarus. Another Chinese, Liu Zjongqing, got the bronze.

The two big events of the night were the women's hockey final and the women's figure skating long program. First, the hockey game. There isn't much to say except that Team Canada's goalie, Shannon Szabados, might as well have been a stone wall for all the damage the Americans were able to do against her. In a game in which the two teams matched each other virtually shot-for-shot and penalty-for-penalty, the deciding factor was two goals by Marie-Philip Poulin within three minutes in the last half of the first period. USA goalie Jessie Vetter got her shit together after that and was solid from then on, but the damage was done. It was an aggressively played, well-skated game, but one team has to come out on the short end and unfortunately we were it. Canada won 2-0, giving millions of Canadians a good excuse to have another beer.

Speaking of adult beverages, the winners stirred the ire of the International Olympic Committee with their on-ice consumption of alcohol and tobacco in celebration of their victory. The spectacle wasn't quite consistent with the Olympic image, but let's cut the young women, even those who are too young to drink, some slack. They were happy; they celebrated. If anyone is going to take heat, it should be the coaches who allowed the stuff to be carted out in the first place. Note to the Canadian grown-ups: next time, keep the bubbly and the smokes under lock and key until everyone gets back to the locker room.

The highlight of the evening for everyone not residing in the Great White North was the women's free skate featuring some exceptional young talent. To say that South Korea's Kim Yu-Na won the gold medal is a gross understatement. She blew everyone else out of the water with a record-shattering score (150.06 for the free skate, 228.56 total) that left silver medalist Mao Asada of Japan more than 20 points behind. Besides excellent jumps, spins, and footwork, Kim also had superior speed, and this being figure skating, fast skating should count for something. The noticable price of her coach, Canada's Brian Orser, prompted NBC commentator Scott Hamilton to comment, "Brian finally has his gold medal." Orser was a two-time Olympic silver medalist who lost out both times to Americans, Hamilton in 1984 and Brian Boitano in 1988.

Asada's silver medal performance was remarkable in its own way. She became the first woman ever to land multiple triple axels in the Olympics, two last night and one in Tuesday's short program. (By way of explanation to the uninitiated, a triple axel is the most difficult of the triple jumps because it is the only one where the skater takes off facing forward, requiring 3½ rotations instead of only three.)

Turning in a solid bronze medal performance was the grieving Canadian Joannei Rochette, only four days removed from the unexpected death of her mother. Rochette was calm and composed, executing all components of her difficult program cleanly with the exception of two jumps she stepped out of slighlty. It was clear the crowd was behind her, as were most people watching from home.

The top U.S. finisher in fourth place was 16-year-old Mirai Nagasu, who scored a personal best and will be a gold medal contender in Sochi. Thus ends a remarkable streak of American women's Olympic medalists going back to 1968. Who were all those medal winners, you may ask? And I would answer: Peggy Fleming (gold 1968), Janet Lynn (bronze 1972), Dorothy Hamill (gold 1976), Linda Fratianne (silver 1980), Rosalynn Sumners (silver 1984), Debi Thomas (bronze 1988), Kristi Yamaguchi (gold 1992), Nancy Kerrigan (bronze 1992, silver 1994), Tara Lipinski (gold 1998), Michelle Kwan (silver 1998, bronze 2002), Sarah Hughes (gold 2002), and Sasha Cohen (silver 2006). The streak almost certainly would have gone all the way back another 16 years if not for the 1961 plane crash that killed the entire United States figure skating team and their coaches, including 16-year-old Laurence Owen, considered the heir apparent to Carol Heiss for Olympic gold in 1964. Even so, of the 69 women's figure skating medals handed out in the Olympics, Americans have won 23, fully one-third.

The Vancouver 2010 web site has more details about results, medals, and schedules.

Friday Stumper

2010-02-26T07:03:00.001-05:00

What three six-letter words that are anagrams of one another can be used to complete the sentence below?

The man tried to _____ his friend to _____ to some secret conversations, but the telephone stayed _____.

See the answer by highlighting between the brackets:
<enlist, listen, silent>

Sports Pet Peeve of the Day

2010-02-25T16:26:00.001-05:00

Sorry, it's a crazy day at work and there is no time for me to sufficiently blog yesterday's Olympics results. I promise a double tomorrow.

What I do have enough time (and, evidently, crankiness) for is to address something I have heard several times lately that drives me absolutely nuts: people talking about an "offsides" call in ice hockey.

Back in the day, when my five-year-old brother started playing youth hockey, I learned the rules of the game so I would know what I was watching. The term I learned for an infraction where an offensive player moves the puck into the other team's defensive zone when one or more of his teammates is already in the zone was "offside." What I never learned about was anything called "offsides." Nonetheless, I hear the latter a lot, even from sports media people who presumably should know better, and it grates on me.

This afternoon, I had had enough. But before I launched into a self-righteous tirade, just in case I was (gasp!) wrong, I went onto the NHL web site, looked up the Official Rules, and found this:

Rule 83 - Off-side

83.1 Off-side - Players of the attacking team must not precede the puck into the attacking zone.

OK, so technically, I was wrong. Who knew there was a hyphen in the term? But if I wasn't quite accurate on how the term is written, I was correct on how it's spoken: without an "S" on the end. In fact, I even searched the entire rule book, and nowhere in it can the term "offsides" or "off-sides" be found.

The next person I hear it from is going to get an earful. At least until my crankiness subsides.

Yet Another Reason Why I'm an Independent

2010-02-24T18:09:00.002-05:00

I may bounce from one party to another on depending on the issue, but I consistently vote "none of the above" in setting my official partisan affiliation. The entitlement mentality exhibited by certain leaders of both major political parties is a huge turn-off, and frankly, I don't want to be associated with the hog of the moment.

Today's featured pig-at-the-trough (elephpant-at-the-trough?) is Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, who apparently is spending the party's money like it's due to expire at any moment.

Most recently, donors grumbled when Steele hired renowned chef Wolfgang Puck's local crew to cater the RNC's Christmas party inside the trendy Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, and then moved its annual winter meeting from Washington to Hawaii.

[ . . . ]

A POLITICO analysis of expenses found that compared with 2005, the last comparable year preceding a midterm election, the committee's payments for charter flights doubled; the number of sedan contractors tripled, and meal expenses jumped from $306,000 to $599,000.

[ . . . ]

Just last week, RNC officials touted a January fundraising haul of more than $10 million. But after hosting the sun-filled winter meeting in Hawaii, paying for the holiday party and taking care of other bills, the committee spent almost all of it. Consequently, the RNC added only $1 million to the committee's $8.4 million in cash, the reports show.

[ . . . ]

In both 2005 and 2009, the committee contracted with Carey International car services. But the number of private limousine and sedan firms being used by the committee tripled in 2009. Overall, the RNC's car service bill was $245,000 in 2005 and $281,000 in 2009.

There's plenty more where that came from. Read the whole article.

RNC officials claim that Steele travels more because he's more in demand. That may be, but it doesn't explain the choice of event facilities and caterers, never mind an annual meeting in Hawaii. And as for the other travel expenses, why aren't this guy and his deputies flying commercial like us little people? Why aren't they taking taxis?

My parents are both registered Republicans who, in the last few years, have developed serious misgivings about the party's national leadership and are reluctant to respond to donation solicitations with anything more than a terse "Not until you get your act together." Behavior like what's described in this article, especially from the party claiming to be fiscally responsible, sure won't make them loosen their grip on their money. And please, don't anyone email me to say how the Democratic National Committee is just as bad. I don't know if that's true, but even if it is, it merely makes my point.

The Den Mother's Olympic Recap: Day 12

2010-02-24T12:36:00.000-05:00

I watched no Olympic coverage yesterday, being at work during the day and at a book group meeting in the evening. By the time I got home, I was too tired to stay up any later. But thanks to the wonder of modern technology, I kept abreast of a couple events via my BlackBerry and got all the news online this morning.

First things first. Switzerland defeated Belarus 3-2 in men's hockey, which sets Switzerland as Team USA's opponent in this afternoon's first quarterfinal game. In the preliminary round, Switzerland lost to the U.S. 3-1, lost to Canada 3-2, and beat Norway 5-4. If the Americans play their game and don't get cocky, this should be a win. Elsewhere in the qualification round, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Canada all advanced. Canada was the only team that won its qualification game by more than one goal. They face Russia this evening in what one Sports Illustrated writer calls "Armageddon".

In curling, the Americans' woes continued. The women fell to China 6-5 and to Switzerland 10-3. The men are done, having finished dead last.

Yesterday's medal events were not kind to the Land That I Love either, despite a surprise (to me, at least) silver medal in the men's team Nordic combined. Elsewhere in the world of Nordic skiing, the U.S. women came in 17th of 19 in the 6km relay, which was won by Russia, followed by France and Germany.

In alpine skiing, men's giant slalom gold went to Switzerland's Carlo Janka, with Norway taking silver and bronze. Bode Miller DNF'd the first run and Ted Ligety finished ninth, thus breaking the American streak of six consecutive medal races.

The United States didn't even have a contestant in the women's ski cross finals. That event was won by Canada's Ashleigh McIvor, bringing the host's medal count to six gold (tied for third) and 11 overall (fifth).

We also failed to medal in the men's 10,000m speed skating, which was won by South Korean Seung-Hoon Lee. But the real travesty of the event was the disqualification of medal favorite Sven Kramer of the Netherlands for failing to change lanes at the appropriate time. Kramer blamed his coach for shouting the wrong instruction, and the coach seemed to agree.

[Gerard] Kemkers, a former speed skater who won a bronze medal in the 5,000m at Calgary in 1988, was also devastated by the turn of events, the Vancouver Sun reported.

"My world collapsed. This is a disaster. This is the worst moment in my career. Sven was right, I was wrong," he said.

The athletes who moved up because of the blunder were gracious in their recognition of Kramer's nullified effort.

"It's not only about your shape, your muscles and your body-feeling," said silver medalist Ivan Skobrev of Russia. "It's also about your head. Today he had huge pressure. I'm really so sorry for him. Today my medal should be bronze."

"Had Kramer not been disqualified, he would have had [the gold]," added the default gold medalist, Lee, who switched to long track in 2009 after failing to make his country's powerful short-track team. "I know I am lucky."

Still, Lee, Skobrev, and Dutch bronze medalist Bob de Jong should be proud of their achievements. Under the rules they all skate by, they did everything properly and can therefore rightly be called the winners.

Tonight, I hope to catch some coverage of women's bobsleigh, an event I haven't seen any of so far. I admit that commpared to luge and skeleton, bobsleigh seems slow and lumbering, but I've liked it since I was a kid watching on ABC's Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay (Remember Jim McKay? I miss him. Bob Costas ain't no Jim McKay.)

I am also sorry to have missed last night's women's figure skating short program, led by 19-year-old Yu-Na Kim of South Korea. She goes into tomorrow's free skate ahead of Japan's Mao Asada, Canada's Joannie Rochette (whose mother died unexpectedly last weekend), Japan's Miki Ando, and Americans Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu. Realistically, the top three are far enough ahead of the rest of the pack that only a major mistake would keep any of them off the podium, but stranger things have happened.

Finally, speaking of strange, check out the story of American speed skater Ryan Bedford's new hair style.

The Vancouver 2010 web site has more details about results, medals, and schedules.

Wednesday Word

2010-02-24T07:19:00.001-05:00

Bibelot — I have never heard this word, but it came up on my employer's intranet web site as a "Word of the Day." It would be a good Scrabble word for a bingo (Scrabble parlance for playing all seven letters in one turn, which carries a 50 bonus points). I also want to try to use it in a sentence in conversation, just to confuse people.

bi·be·lot \BEE-buh-loh\
noun
: a small household ornament or decorative object : trinket

For more, see the complete entry at Merriam-Webster online.

The Den Mother's Olympic Recap: Day 11

2010-02-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry there are no pictures in today's post. I was lucky to get it written at all. I promise to make up for it tomorrow.

Medals were awarded in four more events on Monday. The big news for the host country is that Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won North America's first ever Olympic gold medal in ice dancing. That pushes Canada into the double digits in total medals won. Virtue and Moir also became the youngest Olympic ice dancing champions ever (the specialty became an Olympic sport in 1976).

Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White won silver, as they did four years ago in Turin. The only other U.S. ice dancers to medal in the Olympics were Coleen O'Connor and James Millns in Innsbruck in 1976.

The performances were fun to watch, but some of the costumes were hideous. I'm preparing a separate post just for that.

In a sport as different from figure skating as different can be, medals were also awarded in men's and women's cross country team sprint. Those events were kind to Germany, which took the women's gold and the men's silver, and Russia, which won bronze in both. A men's gold by Norway and women's silver by Sweden rounded out the winners.

The other Nordic event for which medals were given yesterday was team ski jumping, in which the Austrian team crushed its nearest competitors. Germany and Norway won silver and bronze. While watching the jumps, I thought about the dreams I've had that I was flying and found myself wondering if that's what it feels like mid-jump. Not that I ever plan to find out. I like all my bones the way they are, i.e. not broken.

For my money, yesterday's most important events were the women's hockey semi-final games. Team USA defeated Sweden 9-1 and Canada beat Finand 5-0, setting the gold medal matchup everyone knew was coming. Have I mentioned that seven of the U.S. women are from New England? I have now. Tune in for the championship game Thursday 6:30 p.m. EST.

Coming up today in men's hockey are the qualification games, the winners of which will advance to the quarter finals to face the four teams that got a bye. The one I'll be interested in is Canada vs. Germany, because I want an eventual Canada-USA matchup for the gold there too. I will also be keeping an eye on Switzerland vs. Belarus because the winner will face Team USA tomorrow afternoon.

The Vancouver 2010 web site has more details about results, medals, and schedules.