The drive from Chicago to Bloomington/Normal was nice. I wished I had thought to bring a camera. There was one place where an Andrew Wyeth painting was visible, sans the girl. And there was a beautiful old barn. At one point there was a collection of three old buildings, including a barn that was severely leaning, with a windmill that appeared to be in perfect working order.
Monthly Archives: July 2008
Trip to the Midwest
The trip to Illinois was a little bumpy just after taking off and just before landing. However, none of the overhead bins opened, so it wasn’t as bad as I’ve been in before. Other than that, the flight was very nice. I had an aisle seat and was quite happy with that.
An ancient ship
It’s not quite as old as Dielli, but it’s getting there.
[S]cholars … will be able to delve into Greek naval construction techniques thanks to the amazing find of still-intact hemp ropes used to ‘sew’ together the pine planks in its hull – a technique described in Homer’s Iliad.
…
Archaeologists believe the ship sank in a storm some 800 metres off the coast while transporting goods from the Greek colony in Gela back to Greece in around 500 BC.The bow of the ship, along with an astounding array of amphorae, drinking cups, oil lamps and woven baskets, were brought to the surface in 2003. On Monday coastguards and experts from the Caltanissetta culture department salvaged the rest of the vessel using a boat equipped with a crane able to lift loads of up to 200 tonnes.
from Ansa News in English via Mirabilis
for Dielli
I’m going away again.
I’m flying to Illinois to see friends of mine. I’ll be gone Wed to Sun.
Have fun while I’m gone! I am, apparently, going on a cheese hunt.
The Power of Perception
He who has been bitten by a snake fears a piece of string. (Persian proverb)
Recently the power of perception has been a notable point in my brain. I read somewhere that the perception of a thing is what causes our emotional reaction. I thought it was a good point. Then I was reading The Shack and Papa, I think, was asking what made things good; was it the thing itself or our response to it?
Then I was reading a post on how race in America is not so black and white as we thought.
In a series of research studies, Yale social psychologist Richard Eibach has observed the comparable result that White Americans typically perceive more progress towards racial equality than do Blacks. One reason for this racial gulf is that Whites typically answer the type of question found in the Times poll by comparing the present to the past, whereas Blacks tend to answer it by comparing the present to the racial ideals they envision for the future.
In other words, when you ask White Americans about race relations in this country, on average they tend to respond by thinking, well, things are certainly better now than they used to be, so I’ll say we’re doing OK. Blacks, on the other hand, are more likely to think about their personal experiences with prejudice or current racial disparities in important outcomes like health, income, or employment. Accordingly, Blacks more typically think, things still aren’t as good as they could or should be, so we’re not doing so great.
The quote is from Sigmund, Carl and Alfred.
It’s all about perception. How does one go about changing one’s perception?
DNA is not as reliable as we thought.
Mirabilis let me know that the billion to one odds are actually not that accurate, unless there are more than a billion prisoners in our system.
It’s from the LA Times originally.
Visiting
I went to Dallas, visited friends, and went shopping. I bought pants, a cute teal tee, a purse, and a wallet. I ate Chinese food twice in one day.
I had tons of fun and no internet.
Vocabulary: lethologica
Lethologica: “The state of not being able to remember the word you want.”
As a person with seizures whose ability to use words is effected, I thought this was a great word. I wonder if I will remember it when I need it.
“I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of lethologica, but I’m talking about the big green thing that you sit on to watch TV.”
“Due to lethologica, I am unable to grade your papers this weekend.”
“Lethologica does not mean that you are able to make fun of your mother.”
brought to you via a great daily blog read, Scribal Terror
2nd Amendment Rules!
I got my CHL and am now carrying my 9 mm everywhere. I will probably have to buy a new purse soon, since the gun is heavy, but it’s worth it.
I am excited to be participating in the American system.
9/1 date to be placed on a CRESCENT and star flag!!!
Not all of us can make it to Pennsylvania next week to help Tom Burnett Sr. stop the re-hijacking of Flight 93, but if anyone needs another reason to try…
The crescent memorial to Flight 93 will have the 9/11 date inscribed on a separate section of Memorial Wall that is centered on the bisector of the giant crescent, in the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag.
Check it out. As can be seen on our blogburst logo, there will be a copse of trees that sits roughly between the tips of the giant crescent (roughly in the position of the star on a crescent and star flag). That is the Sacred Ground Plaza, which sits just above the crash site. Inside the Sacred Ground Plaza is a two part Memorial Wall that follows the flight path down to the point of impact:
Elevation view of Memorial Wall. (Click picture for larger image. Source document here.)
The lower section of Memorial Wall (on the left) contains forty “translucent marble†blocks, inscribed with the names of the 40 murdered heroes (including Tom Burnett Jr.)
Next there is a gap marked “trail,†then the separate upper section of Memorial Wall has three more translucent blocks, inscribed with the 9/11 date. (There is one more translucent block on the flight path: the huge glass block that dedicates the entire site. It sits at the upper crescent tip, at the end of the Entry Portal Walkway. That bring the glass block count to 44, equaling the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists.)
The path that divides the wall into two parts can be seen on the Crescent of Embrace site plan:
Purple: the path that divides the Memorial Wall into separate upper and lower sections. Aqua: the separate upper section of Memorial Wall, inscribed with the 9/11 date. Red arrow: the centerline of the giant crescent (points to Mecca).
Just by looking, you can see that the upper section of section of Memorial Wall is centered on the bisector of the giant crescent, placing it in the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag. (Click picture for larger image.)
The date goes to the star on the Islamic flag. The date goes to the terrorists.
Just one of many Islamic and terrorist memorializing features in the planned memorial, and all of it remains completely intact in the Circle of Embrace redesign, which only disguises the giant crescent with a few irrelevant trees.
August 2nd
At about 1PM (when the Memorial Project meeting lets out) Mr. Burnett and Alec Rawls will host a press conference and a rally outside the Somerset County Courthouse (where the meeting will be held).
Saturday evening we will have dinner someplace that can be flexible about our numbers (probably a big buffet style restaurant). Sunday morning we will visit the crash site. (Alec is making arrangements with the Park Service now, in case we get a large turn out.)
The only reason to try to make it to the meeting itself (10AM-1PM) is if you want to sign up to speak during the public comment period at the end. Otherwise the meetings are pretty dreary.
The larger purpose is to make a statement to the national news outfits that Mr. Burnett’s presence will likely bring. (Fox news gave Mr. Burnett some nice coverage a couple of months ago.) A substantial rally would help that cause, hard as that will be to achieve out in the hinterlands of Pennsylvania.
Somerset is a long way to go to make a statement, but the crash site is well worth visiting in its own right. If you’ve been thinking of making the trip, the weekend of August 2nd would be the time. It is a chance not just to pay a visit, but to in some small way honor the heroes of Flight 93 by following their footsteps and tackling our own hijacker.
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A reason to play Risk as a family
Reuters has an article that says:
Adolescents who took part in family activities more often had sex less frequently, less unprotected sex, and fewer sex partners, Dr. Rebekah Levine Coley of Boston College and her colleagues found.
…
The more times a week that an adolescent reported having dinner with their family, “doing something religious” as a family, or having fun with their family, the less likely he or she was to engage in risky sexual behavior, the researchers found.
So pull out Risk and play.
Personal Essay for College
The Core Knowledge Blog wrote an interesting, and excellent, post about college entrance essays. The article suggested a research paper or three papers graded by the students’ high school teachers instead.
Last year’s common application, used by scores of colleges and universities around the country, asked students to discuss an issue of personal concern, a person, fictional character or historic figure who influenced them, a life experience or a topic of their choice, the AP notes. At the risk of sounding churlish, the unlived life is not worth examining.
E has already had trouble in college with his lack of life experience. He’s now sixteen. He’s also now a sophomore. When his freshman comp teacher expected him to answer questions very like the ones above, he was at his wit’s end – and in tears- because he didn’t have anything to say. Now he was young, but there are plenty of eighteen year olds who don’t have anything life changing in their life.
So I’m not too thrilled that this next month he’ll be writing just this kind of essay so that he can go to UT or A&M or somewhere else. He does have some experience outside the box. He tutored an inner city kid in reading. But other than that… nope.
Most high school students, thank God, don’t have huge life crises to write about.
A fun debate
Between Obama and McCain, although since I thought it was fun it should be obvious McCain won.
Clay Pot Refrigerator
Scribal Terror tells about a guy who won an award for making a “refrigerator” that didn’t need to use electricity.
Here’s how it works. You take a smaller pot and put it inside a larger pot. Fill the space in between them with wet sand, and cover the top with a wet cloth. When the water evaporates, it pulls the heat out with it, making the inside cold. It’s a natural, cheap, easy-to-make refrigerator.
This could be one of those things Dielli’s people remembered that others forgot… or vice versa.
Update: A Bronze Age Refrigeratorwhich may have been like this has been found.
Parts of two ceramic “pithoi,” or pitchers, were found in the trench near the edge of the town. The pots, which could be as much as 2 meters tall, were kept in or near homes, suggesting that houses in the lower town stretched to the trench, another indication that Troy’s lower town was fully inhabited and the city was bigger than revealed in previous expeditions, Pernicka said.
“You can call them Bronze-Age refrigerators,” he said. “They were used for storing water, oil or maybe grain.”
Redshirting Kindergarten
Core Knowlege talks about a Harvard study that says more six year olds are going to kindergarten at age six. This, the study says, makes them more likely to drop out of school without a good education.
Hogswaggle.
If a child goes to kindergarten before they are ready, then they will be more likely to drop out of school.
Those parents who hold their children back until they are six have to either stay home with them or pay for child care, so only parents who are better off financially are going to have six year olds in kindergarten. Those kids are going to have a culture of going to school and getting through.
I’d have to see the original study to see if it has any more merit, but it doesn’t appear to have any for me based on this article.
The article said that schools are legislating kids to come later. Well, heck, that’s not going to hurt them. They can legislate the top end too. And I’m sure they do.
Did you know that many children have learning disabilities because we taught them to read before their brains were ready? That’s another study, by the Friedmann Foundation. And I think there’s a lot of veracity to that.
I enjoyed Wall-E.
Now I like it even better.
Go here to read a behind the scene’s story of the creation of this sweet and hopeful film.
Lowest Weight in 12 Years!
I am at 154 this morning. Whoo hoo!
Turkey Frittata
1/4 onion, coked in 1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBS jalapeno peppers
1/2 c cheese
1 turkey breast diced (4 oz)
1 lg egg
4 lg egg whites
16 oz can tomatoes, drained
Cook in oven for 30 minutes at 350.
Then broil for 2-3 minutes.
500 bad guys, 70 good guys
And the good guys won.
God bless the families of the nine who died.
God bless the families of the other sixty-one and bless them as well.
Flight 93: Muslims Against Sharia
“I hope I’ll see your face again baby…â€
Thanks to Muslims Against Sharia for putting together a short video on the re-hijacking of Flight 93:
The voice at the beginning is flight attendant CeeCee Lyles.
CeeCee’s family has really struggled without her. One of the many stories that clearly illustrate how much one life matters. (Serious tear-jerker warning.)
Check out The Strata-Sphere
Last week’s blogburst asked those hero bloggers who forced the redesign of the crescent memorial back in 2005 to please notice that the giant Mecca-oriented crescent is still there.
Many thanks to AJ Strata for taking another look, and writing a long post on the fundamentally unchanged memorial. It looks like he might keep after this too, since he gives the memorial another mention amidst his debunking of recent claims that Obama’s birth certificate scan shows signs of Photoshopping.
If you aren’t familiar with The Strata-Sphere, it is second to none as a source for terror war news and analysis.
The Pennsylvania press reports our “who broke the circle?” email campaign, and covers up the Park Service’s refusal to answer
Since the memorial design is still being described as a broken circle, and since the unbroken part of the circle (the crescent) remains completely unchanged, our email campaign demanded to know “WHO is being depicted as breaking the circle?”
It can only be the terrorists. The circle is a symbol of peace, and it was the terrorists who broke the peace on 9/11. So the design shows the terrorists breaking our peaceful circle and turning it into a giant Islamic shaped crescent. A clearer depiction of al Qaeda victory is hard to imagine.
The Memorial Project and the Park Service sent evasive replies to the hundred or so emails they received, never answering the question posed, but the fact that they issued a mass response made the email campaign news. How did the Pennsylvania press cover it? With a cover up.
Reporter Kecia Bal mentions our “who broke the circle?” subject line, but never reports the substance our letter: that the circle can only have been broken by the terrorists, who then succeed in turning it into a giant (Islamic shaped) crescent.
Instead, Kecia quotes an emailer admitting that “it was a cut-and-paste kind of thing,” as if they might not even have understood the content, which remains a mystery to Kecia’s readers. She does not even let her readers know that the official government response failed to answer the question.
Why is the local media covering this up? Because the entire Memorial Project, including both advisory boards, was appointed by the Somerset County Board of Supervisors. As a result, it is stacked with local eminences, all of whom are by now deeply implicated in the two and a half year cover up. Kecia thinks she is doing these local eminences a favor by trying to make this story go away, but she is not.
The further that architect Paul Murdoch’s terrorist memorializing plot proceeds, the bigger the scandal. All of these local folks could still be heroes by stepping up and tackling the hijacker. Continuing to block for him instead is the worst thing they can do, not just for the country, but for themselves. We are trying to haul these people out of a burning building and they are tearing their fingernails out on the doorjambs. Crazy.
The August 2nd Memorial Project meeting
If you are within weekend traveling distance, please consider joining Tom Burnett Sr. in Somerset PA on August 2nd. If you get there early enough for the Memorial Project’s public meeting (10AM-1PM) you can sign up to speak. We will rally in the afternoon on Saturday, and visit the crash-site Sunday.
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