Don't read unless you want to be depressed.
Polygamy is now legal in the Netherlands
The Netherlands will not only allow disabled babies to be killed, but allow killing disabled elderly
Hentoff says we are already killing the disabled...
Is there a connection between Darwin, Malthus and Eugenics? asks this right wing site
Yes, says PBS
And Leon Kass discusses how family breakdown and autonomy is leading to the abandonment of the elderly LINK
Yet precisely as the need for long-term care is rising, the number of available caregivers -- professional and volunteer -- is dwindling. This is due in part to smaller and less stable families, greater geographical mobility, and the career demands of men and women. A crisis in long-term care will soon be upon us.
The shortage of caregivers is made worse by our cultural refusal to honor the need for care. ....
But this emphasis on autonomy ignores the truth of human interdependence and of our unavoidable need for human presence and care, especially when we can no longer take care of ourselves.
FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Mad elk disease?
TEST results confirm a rare brain-wasting illness similar to mad cow disease claimed the life of a 53 year-old northern Idaho woman earlier this month, state health officials said.The results bring to three the number of confirmed cases this year in Idaho of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, an incurable illness involving a malformed protein that kills brain cells.
Idaho officials believe a naturally occurring form of the disease is responsible for the three cases and may be involved in an additional four deaths this year.
Further testing is under way to rule out variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, considered the human form of mad cow disease and linked to eating beef from infected cattle.
The "mad cow" cases in Canada were near Idaho, but the dirty little secret is that deer and elk suffer from a similar disease...
However, such deer have not been reported in Idaho LINK
What is really puzzling is that the green/ecology/anti hunting types have not managed to hype the hysteria yet...even though the hunting magazines are on top of it...
So we're not all going to die of it yet.
However, the Asian press is really concerned about other epidemics, including the encephalitis epidemic in India, and the Dengue fever epidemic in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore...
And the REALLY BIG threat is Bird Flu....
Idaho officials believe a naturally occurring form of the disease is responsible for the three cases and may be involved in an additional four deaths this year.
Further testing is under way to rule out variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, considered the human form of mad cow disease and linked to eating beef from infected cattle.
The "mad cow" cases in Canada were near Idaho, but the dirty little secret is that deer and elk suffer from a similar disease...
However, such deer have not been reported in Idaho LINK
What is really puzzling is that the green/ecology/anti hunting types have not managed to hype the hysteria yet...even though the hunting magazines are on top of it...
So we're not all going to die of it yet.
However, the Asian press is really concerned about other epidemics, including the encephalitis epidemic in India, and the Dengue fever epidemic in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore...
And the REALLY BIG threat is Bird Flu....
But the dead deer with an IV made it weird
Cops in North Carolina thought it was odd enough a Jacksonville man was driving an ambulance reported stolen hours earlier.
Odder still was that he was wearing a makeshift doctor's uniform consisting of a stethoscope, a pager-like gadget and latex gloves stuffed in his back pocket.
But then things started getting really strange when they saw a dead deer, fully stretched out and wedged in the back. Some said there was an intravenous line attached to the animal and there was evidence a defibrillator had been used.
Others were just stunned.
"I don't know how the man got it up in there," said Sgt. Robert Pearson of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. "It was a six point buck."....
Yup...sounds like the start of Deer season to me...
Odder still was that he was wearing a makeshift doctor's uniform consisting of a stethoscope, a pager-like gadget and latex gloves stuffed in his back pocket.
But then things started getting really strange when they saw a dead deer, fully stretched out and wedged in the back. Some said there was an intravenous line attached to the animal and there was evidence a defibrillator had been used.
Others were just stunned.
"I don't know how the man got it up in there," said Sgt. Robert Pearson of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. "It was a six point buck."....
Yup...sounds like the start of Deer season to me...
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Attention music fans
Chinese Rap music, in the Shanghai dialect...complete with video downloads
LINK2
explains it in English...
LINK2
explains it in English...
Cats one, maid zero
And here we are reading the article that praises a true american hero who is discussing how to rescue the cats: LINK
And all that Blair, an Aussie blogger, can think about is: What happened to the maid?
I’m in the lounge of the Four Seasons with Sean Penn and other assorted media creatures, debating the merits of rescuing animals instead of humans in a disaster area. To my left is the eminent historian Douglas Brinkley, a friendly academic whose careful diction reminds me of Bob Woodward’s. Brinkley is my contact in Houston. He’s friends with Penn, and when he evacuated his home in New Orleans earlier in the week, he left his cats and his maid behind in the flood zone. Now he and Penn are talking about commandeering private jets, helicopters and weapons for a grand mission into hell that begins tomorrow.Two points of interest here. One: Brinkley has a maid. Two: he left her behind in the flood zone. ......No word on whether Brinkley’s maid got out. She isn’t mentioned after the second paragraph.
And all that Blair, an Aussie blogger, can think about is: What happened to the maid?
I’m in the lounge of the Four Seasons with Sean Penn and other assorted media creatures, debating the merits of rescuing animals instead of humans in a disaster area. To my left is the eminent historian Douglas Brinkley, a friendly academic whose careful diction reminds me of Bob Woodward’s. Brinkley is my contact in Houston. He’s friends with Penn, and when he evacuated his home in New Orleans earlier in the week, he left his cats and his maid behind in the flood zone. Now he and Penn are talking about commandeering private jets, helicopters and weapons for a grand mission into hell that begins tomorrow.Two points of interest here. One: Brinkley has a maid. Two: he left her behind in the flood zone. ......No word on whether Brinkley’s maid got out. She isn’t mentioned after the second paragraph.
Sounds about right....
| Your Blogging Type is Commanding and Larger Than Life |
 In blogging circles, you tend to rise to the top with your take charge personality. You are driven to solve problems, connect bloggers, and be an influential force. You are also motivated to keep your blog fresh and high quality. Your hard work has paid off - you set a high standard for other bloggers to aspire to. |
PWTN
The Curt Jester imagines how EWTN (Mother Angelica's Cable TV network) would look if it were run by the "progressive" wing of the Catholic church...
(insider jokes for EWTN fans only)
(insider jokes for EWTN fans only)
CS Lewis and Tolkien
CS Lewis and Tolkien were close friends from 1928, but their friendship became less close in the mid 1940's and they rarely saw each other in the 1950's...partly due to age, partly due to Lewis' finding other friends who disliked Tolkien and criticized him, and partly due to Lewis' marriage and the fact he changed universities...
(and I wonder if it is partly because Christopher Tolkien, who was also an Inkling, had grown up and was able to discuss as an adult with his father, and to the fact that in the 1940's Tolkiens marriage disputes, mainly about religion, seemed to have settled down..)...
(I have the book "The Inklings" that discusses this...)
One would think 30 years of friendship would make a good story, but it sounds like this film's agenda is the differences, not the similarities...
And I am especially annoyed at this:
"In CS Lewis, Beyond Narnia, Lewis and Tolkien are shown having a violent argument about The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Lewis wrote afterwards: "No harm in him, only needs a smack or so."
Actually, that quote is from Lewis' diary...and was written in 1926, when he met Tolkien for the first time...
Ironically, although Tolkien, a strict Catholic, opposed Lewis' marriage to a divorcee, his wife, who met Lewis' wife in the hospital, seems to have made friends with her...which is more amazing since she disliked Lewis, who unlike others of Tolkiens' friends and students, did not make friends with her and the children...
(and I wonder if it is partly because Christopher Tolkien, who was also an Inkling, had grown up and was able to discuss as an adult with his father, and to the fact that in the 1940's Tolkiens marriage disputes, mainly about religion, seemed to have settled down..)...
(I have the book "The Inklings" that discusses this...)
One would think 30 years of friendship would make a good story, but it sounds like this film's agenda is the differences, not the similarities...
And I am especially annoyed at this:
"In CS Lewis, Beyond Narnia, Lewis and Tolkien are shown having a violent argument about The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Lewis wrote afterwards: "No harm in him, only needs a smack or so."
Actually, that quote is from Lewis' diary...and was written in 1926, when he met Tolkien for the first time...
Ironically, although Tolkien, a strict Catholic, opposed Lewis' marriage to a divorcee, his wife, who met Lewis' wife in the hospital, seems to have made friends with her...which is more amazing since she disliked Lewis, who unlike others of Tolkiens' friends and students, did not make friends with her and the children...
Photo of the day
The National Geographic posts the photo of the day on their website...and you can download it as a screensaver...
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Human Rights watch
The Left wing Blogs are posting all over about THIS report: LINK
but they are ignoring THIS REPORT:
And I say shame to those protesting the first who ignore the second...
Stephen Spielburg, call your office...
but they are ignoring THIS REPORT:
And I say shame to those protesting the first who ignore the second...
Stephen Spielburg, call your office...
Not tonite, dear, I'm British
Women bypass sex in favour of 'instant pregnancies'
By Charlotte Edwardes and Andrew Alderson
(Filed: 25/09/2005)
Women are increasingly seeking inappropriate IVF treatment because they do not have the time or inclination for a sex life and want to "diarise" their busy lives.
IVF treatment
The cost of a single IVF treatment is at least £2,500
Wealthy career women in their 30s and early 40s, some of whom have given up regular sex altogether, are turning to "medicalised conception" - despite being fertile and long before they have exhausted the possibility of a natural conception.
(Gee, I know women who opt for Instant Childbirth, aka Caesarian Sections, but this is getting ridiculous...)
By Charlotte Edwardes and Andrew Alderson
(Filed: 25/09/2005)
Women are increasingly seeking inappropriate IVF treatment because they do not have the time or inclination for a sex life and want to "diarise" their busy lives.
IVF treatment
The cost of a single IVF treatment is at least £2,500
Wealthy career women in their 30s and early 40s, some of whom have given up regular sex altogether, are turning to "medicalised conception" - despite being fertile and long before they have exhausted the possibility of a natural conception.
(Gee, I know women who opt for Instant Childbirth, aka Caesarian Sections, but this is getting ridiculous...)
Don't coo at the baby...we're British
Debbie Lawson, neo-natal manager at the hospital's special care baby unit, said: "Cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me.
Don Adams R.I.P
Don Adams of "Get Smart" has died....
The link is from Instapundit, and tells the story of when he miraculously was cured of blackwater fever...which he caught when he was a marine in Guadalcanal...
The link is from Instapundit, and tells the story of when he miraculously was cured of blackwater fever...which he caught when he was a marine in Guadalcanal...
Katrina: The Good news...
Remember all those murders at the Superdome?
They were...urban legends...
Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — Beron doesn't remember his name — came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalled the doctor saying.
The real total?
Six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the handoff of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice.
State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been murdered inside the stadium....
At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies have been recovered, despite reports of heaps of dead piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been murdered, said health and law-enforcement officials...
Alas, those using these stories for political gain (and that includes those overseas who wish to bash America and americans) will not print retractions...
They were...urban legends...
Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — Beron doesn't remember his name — came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalled the doctor saying.
The real total?
Six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the handoff of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice.
State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been murdered inside the stadium....
At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies have been recovered, despite reports of heaps of dead piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been murdered, said health and law-enforcement officials...
Alas, those using these stories for political gain (and that includes those overseas who wish to bash America and americans) will not print retractions...
There she is...
Miss international Beauty....
Oh well, I posted the photo three times, but Blogger isn't working so you can look at her HERE....
Oh well, I posted the photo three times, but Blogger isn't working so you can look at her HERE....
Monday, September 26, 2005
Biloxi news
Everyone was fixed on NOLA...but Mississisppi was the place that was really destroyed by winds.
So I put up a MS link:
TOP STORY
09/25/2005 07:02 AM CDTRita proves no match for battle-hardened PearlingtonBy MIKE KELLER, mkeller@sunherald.comThose already battered by Katrina's direct hit received a glancing blow from Rita, adding more than insult to injury. But most took it with a resiliency forced by the hand of nature. They had nothing left to lose, anyway. » More coverage
CITY BY CITY
BILOXI Cleanup moves to private property
Jim Mashek Rev. Brooks, Bay St. Louis on the rebound
HEADLINES
Latham 'had an uneasiness' - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Katrina scars up towns far inland - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Residents demand answers - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Capitol Beat Politicians, beware invoking Katrina - 9/25/2005 07:21 AM CDT
Jim Mashek Rev. Brooks, Bay St. Louis on the rebound - 9/25/2005 07:19 AM CDT
University of South Carolina sets $400K for storm study - 9/25/2005 07:14 AM CDT
AROUND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI - 9/25/2005 07:08 AM CDT
Survey: Katrina shifted Dauphin Island - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Your lost pet may be in Hattiesburg - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Basic mold cleanup - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Sheriff donates aging cruisers - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Tornado kills at least one - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
I don't have time to make links, but you get the idea...
So I put up a MS link:
TOP STORY
09/25/2005 07:02 AM CDTRita proves no match for battle-hardened PearlingtonBy MIKE KELLER, mkeller@sunherald.comThose already battered by Katrina's direct hit received a glancing blow from Rita, adding more than insult to injury. But most took it with a resiliency forced by the hand of nature. They had nothing left to lose, anyway. » More coverage
CITY BY CITY
BILOXI Cleanup moves to private property
Jim Mashek Rev. Brooks, Bay St. Louis on the rebound
HEADLINES
Latham 'had an uneasiness' - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Katrina scars up towns far inland - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Residents demand answers - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Capitol Beat Politicians, beware invoking Katrina - 9/25/2005 07:21 AM CDT
Jim Mashek Rev. Brooks, Bay St. Louis on the rebound - 9/25/2005 07:19 AM CDT
University of South Carolina sets $400K for storm study - 9/25/2005 07:14 AM CDT
AROUND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI - 9/25/2005 07:08 AM CDT
Survey: Katrina shifted Dauphin Island - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Your lost pet may be in Hattiesburg - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Basic mold cleanup - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Sheriff donates aging cruisers - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
Tornado kills at least one - 9/25/2005 03:01 AM CDT
I don't have time to make links, but you get the idea...
Those Darn Baptists...making people fat...
BILOXI, Miss. - Scott Kemmis tried to push Hurricane Katrina out of his mind.
Fall is a busy time in the oil and gas industry where he works, and Kemmis, who lives in Glendive, thought that's what needed his attention. But he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that he needed to do something to ease suffering on the Gulf Coast.
"God was pulling at my heart, and he wouldn't let me go to work," Kemmis said.
So Kemmis joined dozens of other volunteers with the Montana Southern Baptist Convention who opened up a mobile kitchen on the outskirts of Biloxi. So far, they have served 70,000 to 80,000 meals to residents in this community, where most neighborhoods have been reduced to piles of bricks and twisted tangles of wires, wood and sheet metal.
On Thursday, the Montana volunteers were packing up and anticipating news that they'd be moved somewhere new to respond to Hurricane Rita. Earlier in the week, they were told they were going to Houma, La., outside New Orleans, to help hurricane survivors there. But that town has been evacuated.
"We're not sure where we're headed next," said Steve Fowler, of Billings, who is supervising the meal operation in Biloxi.
Fall is a busy time in the oil and gas industry where he works, and Kemmis, who lives in Glendive, thought that's what needed his attention. But he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that he needed to do something to ease suffering on the Gulf Coast.
"God was pulling at my heart, and he wouldn't let me go to work," Kemmis said.
So Kemmis joined dozens of other volunteers with the Montana Southern Baptist Convention who opened up a mobile kitchen on the outskirts of Biloxi. So far, they have served 70,000 to 80,000 meals to residents in this community, where most neighborhoods have been reduced to piles of bricks and twisted tangles of wires, wood and sheet metal.
On Thursday, the Montana volunteers were packing up and anticipating news that they'd be moved somewhere new to respond to Hurricane Rita. Earlier in the week, they were told they were going to Houma, La., outside New Orleans, to help hurricane survivors there. But that town has been evacuated.
"We're not sure where we're headed next," said Steve Fowler, of Billings, who is supervising the meal operation in Biloxi.
Science, God, and truth...
" Knowledge is good in itself and should be pursued for its own sake.
"All men by nature desire to know," Aristotle wrote. St. Thomas Aquinas agreed, and strengthened the point by his interpretation of the book of Genesis. We are made in God's "image and likeness," in that we have an intellect, by which we know and understand; and a will, by which we choose. The pursuit of knowledge is not only part of a good human; it is the human activity in which we are most like God. Seeking knowledge is, therefore, good in itself.
Moreover, the Catholic tradition insists on the unity of all knowledge. Truth is one. Knowledge in every branch of inquiry is intrinsically valuable, and scholars in diverse disciplines pursue the same truth. Truths found in physics and biology do relate to those found in art, literature, and philosophy, and our common pursuit of truth must include conversations across disciplines. The Catholic tradition resists the fragmentation of knowledge; it insists on the essential unity of a university.
This is a Catholic vision, but not exclusively so. Scholars throughout history have affirmed by their lives that knowledge is valuable for its own sake, and their commitment to a common, respectful conversation has revealed a belief that truth is one.
The second principle: There is a deep harmony between faith and reason.
Our faith inspires our use of reason, and reason sharpens our understanding of faith. Together, they both serve our search for truth...".
John I Jenkins...
"Human curiosity soon asks the question HOW: In what way (did the universe) come to be? And since recognizable "pattern" suggests design, may proceed to "why"....
Those who believe in a personal God, Creator, do not think the Universe is in itself worshipful, though devoted study of it may be one of the way of honoring Him...." JRR Tolkien
"All men by nature desire to know," Aristotle wrote. St. Thomas Aquinas agreed, and strengthened the point by his interpretation of the book of Genesis. We are made in God's "image and likeness," in that we have an intellect, by which we know and understand; and a will, by which we choose. The pursuit of knowledge is not only part of a good human; it is the human activity in which we are most like God. Seeking knowledge is, therefore, good in itself.
Moreover, the Catholic tradition insists on the unity of all knowledge. Truth is one. Knowledge in every branch of inquiry is intrinsically valuable, and scholars in diverse disciplines pursue the same truth. Truths found in physics and biology do relate to those found in art, literature, and philosophy, and our common pursuit of truth must include conversations across disciplines. The Catholic tradition resists the fragmentation of knowledge; it insists on the essential unity of a university.
This is a Catholic vision, but not exclusively so. Scholars throughout history have affirmed by their lives that knowledge is valuable for its own sake, and their commitment to a common, respectful conversation has revealed a belief that truth is one.
The second principle: There is a deep harmony between faith and reason.
Our faith inspires our use of reason, and reason sharpens our understanding of faith. Together, they both serve our search for truth...".
John I Jenkins...
"Human curiosity soon asks the question HOW: In what way (did the universe) come to be? And since recognizable "pattern" suggests design, may proceed to "why"....
Those who believe in a personal God, Creator, do not think the Universe is in itself worshipful, though devoted study of it may be one of the way of honoring Him...." JRR Tolkien
Maureen Dowd: Commentator
Now that the NYTimes is asking $40 a year to read their editorial pages, I rarely read them anymore.
However, the Manila Bulletin editors must have a lot of money, because they always print Maureen Dowd's acid tongued humor in the foreign news section...
However, about two weeks ago, I got annoyed, since the headline of her column and the content was her usual satire, but if someone just read it, they would have thought it was true...so I wrote the Bulletin a letter pointing out that by placing her column in the news section and not noting it was editorial commentary, they were essentially publishing biased news...
Voila, today, her column has a new lable: "Commentary"...
Think it was my letter? naah...couldn't be....
However, the Manila Bulletin editors must have a lot of money, because they always print Maureen Dowd's acid tongued humor in the foreign news section...
However, about two weeks ago, I got annoyed, since the headline of her column and the content was her usual satire, but if someone just read it, they would have thought it was true...so I wrote the Bulletin a letter pointing out that by placing her column in the news section and not noting it was editorial commentary, they were essentially publishing biased news...
Voila, today, her column has a new lable: "Commentary"...
Think it was my letter? naah...couldn't be....
Bird flu
Bird flu is spreading thru Asia...some reports of it in the Philippines, but the authorities said no...but it's spreading in Indonesia.
After the scare of SARS (which hit Tornonto but didn't get much publicity in the USA), the World Health Organization is worried...
But there are questions what one can do (after all, it can be spread by migrating birds, and then "jump" into men who eat them...)
After the scare of SARS (which hit Tornonto but didn't get much publicity in the USA), the World Health Organization is worried...
But there are questions what one can do (after all, it can be spread by migrating birds, and then "jump" into men who eat them...)
The United Nations agency says part of the problem may be the unpredictable nature of what countries are preparing for.
It is impossible to know from where a global pandemic may emerge, says Hitoshi Oshitani, a WHO bird flu expert in south-east Asia. "So it's difficult to tell what we can do to prevent the pandemic virus emerging," he says. "If it was clear, if we had a clear strategy, then maybe the wealthy countries in the world would have a better idea of where to put their money."
And here is how the Philippine government is trying to stop it from breaking out here: LINK
God talk
(Email from my brother)
Here's a list of all variations of the "God Speaks" billboards. The
billboards are a simple black background with white text. No fine
print or sponsoring organization is included. These are
awesome...enjoy.
Let's meet at my house Sunday before the game. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
C'mon over and bring the kids.-God
--------------------------------------------------------------
What part of "Thou Shalt Not..." didn't you understand?-God
--------------------------------------------------------------
We need to talk. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Loved the wedding, invite me to the marriage. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
That "Love Thy Neighbor" thing...I meant it. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
I love you and you and you and you and... -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Will the road you're on get you to my place? -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Big bang theory, you've got to be kidding. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
My way is the highway. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Need directions? - God
--------------------------------------------------------------
You think it's hot here? -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Have you read my #1 best seller? There will be a test. -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have any idea where you're going? -God
--------------------------------------------------------------
(And my personal favorite...)
Don't make me come down there. -God
Saturday, September 24, 2005
TA=DA! it's a bird, no, it's a plane, no it's DYNAGEL to the rescue!
(heads up from Michelle Malkin)
Peter Cordani, head of Dyn-O-Mat, holds a bowl showing how his product Dyn-O-Gel, lower right, converts water into gel at his plant in Riviera Beach, Fla. Cordani said Dyn-O-Gel could be used to slow down hurricanes by pouring the white powder into the ocean. The powder would convert the water into a gel-like substance that would cool the temperature of the water.
(AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Funny, my metamucil does the same thing....
Actually,this is used to clean up industrial and medical spills...
LINK
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
Peter Cordani, head of Dyn-O-Mat, holds a bowl showing how his product Dyn-O-Gel, lower right, converts water into gel at his plant in Riviera Beach, Fla. Cordani said Dyn-O-Gel could be used to slow down hurricanes by pouring the white powder into the ocean. The powder would convert the water into a gel-like substance that would cool the temperature of the water.
(AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Funny, my metamucil does the same thing....
Actually,this is used to clean up industrial and medical spills...
LINK
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
Friday, September 23, 2005
Our female watchdog kept miscarrying pups, so we had her fixed...alas, she removed her sutures and so now is unhappily wearing a tee shirt...
Posted by Picasa
Posted by Picasa
The building at the back is the classrooms we are building...we just bought the lot in the front, but have to clean the trash from it
Posted by Picasa
Posted by Picasa
Fred visiting the Tsinales (sandal) fiesta. This is in front of our town square, where there were many booths
Posted by Picasa
Posted by Picasa
Firefox question
can someone tell me why firefox always "loses" my bookmarks?
I have to download the old ones from IE every few months, but that loses "new" bookmarks.
Ah, but so far Opera is working ok
I have to download the old ones from IE every few months, but that loses "new" bookmarks.
Ah, but so far Opera is working ok
Hands up and put DOWN your...
Pressure cooker?
Oh well...from Improbable research...
And watch: It's a pdf file...
They also have an article on how to use your automatic vacuum cleaner to train toddlers...
LInk
Oh well...from Improbable research...
And watch: It's a pdf file...
They also have an article on how to use your automatic vacuum cleaner to train toddlers...
LInk
...Although it's fine at sucking up dirt, finding its way around the room and returning to its charging station, its real achievement is in not only getting the children to clean up their toys first but also tiring them out before bed.
This works with three magic phrases:
- "Roomba's coming out tonight. Clean up your toys or Roomba will eat them!"
- "If you can clean them up fast you can stay up to watch Roomba!"
- "Here goes Roomba. Don't let him touch you!"
National Geographic, how could you?
we expect the MSM to slant their articles, covering tiny PC demonstrations with headlines (while ignoring stuff like the half million strong prolife marches) LINK
But an Anchorage newspaper notes that outsiders covering Alaska seem to make up stories
First, grab your August issue of National Geographic Adventure:
"Alaska outside of Anchorage was a joy, one of those rare places that delivers what it promises. We began our trip with a rainbow arcing across the sky, sunlight breaking through the clouds and setting the wet tundra bushes and fir trees gleaming."
Wet tundra bushes? Fir trees?
Where Are We Now?
Wrong! We're on the Glenn Highway, pedaling our bicycle for Palmer and points beyond.
Tundra, taiga, tapioca? Who cares. Fir trees, pine trees, spruce trees? Big deal.
If you're a reporter, writer, blogger, stenographer or simple hack on sojourn in the North, don't sweat the details. It's all about capturing the color. And, of course, that fabled Alaska wilderness that's closer than we Alaskans might think.
"White-topped peaks rose in the distance, over land that showed no sign of human habitation beyond the highway and its 'espresso exits.' It didn't take long to find wilderness in Alaska; less than 1 percent of the land is privately owned, civilization quickly becoming a novelty.''
No sign of human habitation? What about all those homes along the highway?
Am I being overly sensitive here? Probably.
But then journalism is my profession. Sometimes, obviously, even journalists have to wonder. Journalism has been called many things by other people, and given some of the garbage that gets into print it's easy to see why.
Yeah, well try reading about the Philippines...all stories are about manila, or about "poverty", or about disasters...
The last story I read about how the country is changing with globalization was an article in the 1990's about Ramos....
And, of course, even when asia is "chic" the Philippines, like the reliable older brother, tends to get ignored...
But an Anchorage newspaper notes that outsiders covering Alaska seem to make up stories
First, grab your August issue of National Geographic Adventure:
"Alaska outside of Anchorage was a joy, one of those rare places that delivers what it promises. We began our trip with a rainbow arcing across the sky, sunlight breaking through the clouds and setting the wet tundra bushes and fir trees gleaming."
Wet tundra bushes? Fir trees?
Where Are We Now?
Wrong! We're on the Glenn Highway, pedaling our bicycle for Palmer and points beyond.
Tundra, taiga, tapioca? Who cares. Fir trees, pine trees, spruce trees? Big deal.
If you're a reporter, writer, blogger, stenographer or simple hack on sojourn in the North, don't sweat the details. It's all about capturing the color. And, of course, that fabled Alaska wilderness that's closer than we Alaskans might think.
"White-topped peaks rose in the distance, over land that showed no sign of human habitation beyond the highway and its 'espresso exits.' It didn't take long to find wilderness in Alaska; less than 1 percent of the land is privately owned, civilization quickly becoming a novelty.''
No sign of human habitation? What about all those homes along the highway?
Am I being overly sensitive here? Probably.
But then journalism is my profession. Sometimes, obviously, even journalists have to wonder. Journalism has been called many things by other people, and given some of the garbage that gets into print it's easy to see why.
Yeah, well try reading about the Philippines...all stories are about manila, or about "poverty", or about disasters...
The last story I read about how the country is changing with globalization was an article in the 1990's about Ramos....
And, of course, even when asia is "chic" the Philippines, like the reliable older brother, tends to get ignored...
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Pink Bunny alert
Giant pink rabbit. Photograph: Gelatin
Italy is a country famed for its wealth of artistic treasures, but that reputation may have taken a slight knock this week, writes Rosalind Ryan.
A controversial Viennese art group, Gelatin, has erected a giant pink rabbit on the side of a mountain where they plan for it to stay until 2025.
(headsup from boingboing)
Medical stories from Katrina, take two
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been talking about the dangers of Vibrio breeding in brackish warm water and infecting wounds, which is especially dangerous in immunocompromised hosts. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, under the leadership of Dr. David Schwartz, is now determining the risks posed by various toxins and chemicals in the water. There are concerns with mosquitoes breeding in the infected water, but right now, there are no indications of dengue or malaria.
Our experience from the tsunami is that first you see acute care problems as people are wounded or hurt. Four months later, with poor living conditions, overcrowding, and many people in close contact with one another, you see the emergence of infectious diseases. Tuberculosis is the poster child for this type of disease, for which risks greatly increase in these conditions.
Medscape: What are the risks of spread of communicable diseases to other regions as the evacuees migrate, and what can be done to minimize these risks?
Dr. Henderson: This does not necessarily pose as much of a danger as you might first think. ...
-----------------------------------
The CDC guidelines for responders are HERE...
------------------
And here are a lot of gadgets you can buy for yourself...if you think an Ipod mini is more important than a gallon of drinking water...
But of course, I'm cynical: Because in hurricanes, you can plan, but tornadoes and earthquakes, the gadgets might be destroyed along with the rest of your house...
Ah, but you can always run down to WALMART and buy the stuff you need...(Instapundit comments HERE)
....If you mention the Red Cross or FEMA to people in Slidell, you hear rants about help that didn't arrive and phone lines that are always busy. If you mention state or national politicians, you hear obscenities.
But if you visit the Wal-Mart and the Sam's Club stores here, you hear shoppers who have been without power for weeks marveling that there are still generators in stock (and priced at $304.04). You hear about the trucks that rolled in right after the hurricane and the stuff the stores gave away: chain saws and boots for rescue workers, sheets and clothes for shelters, water and ice for the public.
"This was the only place we could find water those first days," said Rashan Smith, who was shopping with her three children at Wal-Mart on Saturday. "I still haven't managed to get through to FEMA. It's hard to say, but you get more justice at Wal-Mart."...
Sam Walton, call your office...
People helping people
East Texans find disaster, gratitude in Mississippi
By GABRIEL D. BROOKS
By GABRIEL D. BROOKS
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
More than 90 Mount Pleasant volunteers made a three-day visit to the disaster-struck state of Mississippi over the weekend.
Two school buses and seven trucks were converted into a Hurricane Katrina relief convoy, shipping 61 students and 31 Mount Pleasant High School staff members and parents to Leaksville, Miss., a town of just more than 1,000 residents....
LINK is a list of other small groups in East5 Texas helping
A long list...of people, churches, small businesses and groups...I stopped counting at 29...
Ironically, Hurricane Rita is scheduled to hit east Texas LINK
And here is a report of Okies about their experience helping in Mississippi: LINK
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Drunk Shrimp
I'm sort of flat due to a local monsoon ( you think hurricane Rita is the only problem?)
It's planning to hit only northern Luzon, so we're safe...but whenever the low pressure is around my arthritis puts me in bed...and Fred serves me gormet things to make me happy...
InOurKitchen blogspot has a Drunk shrimp recipe worth using for such days...
2 pounds of Fresh Shrimps
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil and saute' the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Add the shrimp, toss, add the wine, cover and steam until cooked. Season with salt & Pepper and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with steamed rice....
Bon Appetit
and, continuing on the typhoon/hurricane topic, Pilgrim'sPotsAndPans has an entry about New Orleans and Filippino shrimpers...
LINK
LINK2
It's planning to hit only northern Luzon, so we're safe...but whenever the low pressure is around my arthritis puts me in bed...and Fred serves me gormet things to make me happy...
InOurKitchen blogspot has a Drunk shrimp recipe worth using for such days...
2 pounds of Fresh Shrimps
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil and saute' the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Add the shrimp, toss, add the wine, cover and steam until cooked. Season with salt & Pepper and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with steamed rice....
Bon Appetit
and, continuing on the typhoon/hurricane topic, Pilgrim'sPotsAndPans has an entry about New Orleans and Filippino shrimpers...
LINK
LINK2
Breaking spaghetti: Film at 11
How bent spaghetti breaks
Bent dry spaghetti do not break in half but instead in three or more pieces. With the aim to explain this surprising phenomenon, we studied a related problem, namely the dynamics of an elastic rod that is bent quasi-statically and then suddenly set free. Counter-intuitively, we find that the mere release of the rod induces a stress increase. The multiple breaking of bent rods, like dry spaghetti pasta, can then be understood as a cascade of releases (loss of cohesion upon breakings) followed by stress increases leading to new cracks.
CNNI showing bias again
I have ranted twice about CNNI misinterpreting the Catholic church in reporting on the pope.
But you know, it's bad when they misreport the war on terror's successes.
We see every day the "if it bleeds it leads" type stuff on CNNI about Iraq...never put into context, but what the heck...
But in the last two days, they have gone overboard.
First, on reporting on the election in Afghanistan, we were told "only" 50 % turned out...
Umm..fellahs, under the Taliban there were no elections at all, and for 50% to show up under threats of death is a pretty good turnout...
Second, twice they misreported about the British soldiers rescued in Basra...and I say misreported because they did not put it into context...this is about the Iranian backed Shiite militia and the fact that they have infiltrated the local police...and that imman's been causing problems since day one...yet even so, the terrible scenes involved a couple dozen people in a town of a million...
At the same time, there were over a million Shiite pilgrims who went to their holy city of Karbala...only a couple killed by "suicide" bombers...but the pilgrimage was peaceful...so did CNNI report this as wonderful, especially since such pilgrimages were forbidden by Sadam Hussein?
Nope...they stressed the car bombs, and followed it by a segment about the impending civil war between shiites and sunnis...
Guess no one at CNNI bothers to read Milblogs....
-----------------------------------------------
Update 5-22-05
Or the Australian papers
LINK
But you know, it's bad when they misreport the war on terror's successes.
We see every day the "if it bleeds it leads" type stuff on CNNI about Iraq...never put into context, but what the heck...
But in the last two days, they have gone overboard.
First, on reporting on the election in Afghanistan, we were told "only" 50 % turned out...
Umm..fellahs, under the Taliban there were no elections at all, and for 50% to show up under threats of death is a pretty good turnout...
Second, twice they misreported about the British soldiers rescued in Basra...and I say misreported because they did not put it into context...this is about the Iranian backed Shiite militia and the fact that they have infiltrated the local police...and that imman's been causing problems since day one...yet even so, the terrible scenes involved a couple dozen people in a town of a million...
At the same time, there were over a million Shiite pilgrims who went to their holy city of Karbala...only a couple killed by "suicide" bombers...but the pilgrimage was peaceful...so did CNNI report this as wonderful, especially since such pilgrimages were forbidden by Sadam Hussein?
Nope...they stressed the car bombs, and followed it by a segment about the impending civil war between shiites and sunnis...
Guess no one at CNNI bothers to read Milblogs....
-----------------------------------------------
Update 5-22-05
Or the Australian papers
LINK
....Apart from the activities of al-Sadr's supporters, military intelligence has concluded that Iran has been supporting an Iraqi terrorist group run by Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, who is blamed for the murder of at least 11 British soldiers in the area.....
Read the whole thing...
Don't get stuck on stupid
newest internet buzzz...that ragin cajun general telling off the MSM who kept asking about the past when he was trying to convey new lifesaving information...
COMA/
This discusses brain imaging and diagnosing lack of consciousness...
The problem is that the press has called people in "persistant vegetative state" as "in a coma"...when they open their eyes, follow you when you are nearby, respond to pain etc they are not in a coma...indeed, an old study showed 40 percent of those diagnosed as "pvs" by neurologists (i.e. after a one or two hour examination) were not PVS according to caretakers. In other words, it's a trash can diagnosis, similar to the old "schizophrenia" diagnosis before the DSM-4 divided it into different catagories...
The second problem is that the underlying idea behind the entire discussion is not mentioned: The idea that if one lacks "consciousness" then you are essentially dead, and therefore we can kill you either by starvation (one prominent neurologist named Cranford said even spoon feeding people with PVS is optional medical treatment...which is why they did not allow Terri Schiavo to go thru a swallowing rehabilitation program before removing her feeding tube)...
Knowing that some "ethicists" have long argued that infants, people with IQ's under 40, and senile people "lack the criteria for personhood", we should be very cynical about such things...
When the Dutch are killing infants legally, we should not shrug and say there is no danger of history repeating itself...
The problem is that the press has called people in "persistant vegetative state" as "in a coma"...when they open their eyes, follow you when you are nearby, respond to pain etc they are not in a coma...indeed, an old study showed 40 percent of those diagnosed as "pvs" by neurologists (i.e. after a one or two hour examination) were not PVS according to caretakers. In other words, it's a trash can diagnosis, similar to the old "schizophrenia" diagnosis before the DSM-4 divided it into different catagories...
The second problem is that the underlying idea behind the entire discussion is not mentioned: The idea that if one lacks "consciousness" then you are essentially dead, and therefore we can kill you either by starvation (one prominent neurologist named Cranford said even spoon feeding people with PVS is optional medical treatment...which is why they did not allow Terri Schiavo to go thru a swallowing rehabilitation program before removing her feeding tube)...
Knowing that some "ethicists" have long argued that infants, people with IQ's under 40, and senile people "lack the criteria for personhood", we should be very cynical about such things...
When the Dutch are killing infants legally, we should not shrug and say there is no danger of history repeating itself...
Opera!
Opera is offering free downloads for their new browser...
I am using Firefox now, but lately it has been crashing, so I plan to try it...
I am using Firefox now, but lately it has been crashing, so I plan to try it...
Name that future star
Lileks discusses the movie The Blackboard Jungle, and finds familiar faces...
For nostalgia buffs only...
For nostalgia buffs only...
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Mooncake time
The people of Beijing munched through 15,000 tonnes of mooncakes -- more than 1 kg (2.2 lb) per person -- and bought one tenth of all the round cakes sold nationwide for Sunday's Mid-Autumn Festival, Xinhua news agency said Monday.
LINK
This link is to the traditional story, and has the recipe...
If using home made dough, roll out to about 1/4" thickness. Cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. If using prepared dough from the tube, roll 1/4" thin and shape or cut into 2" rounds. Place the rounds on a cookie sheet and let rest for a few minutes. Prick the rounds with a fork to prevent puffing while cooking. Have an adult bake the rounds or 'moon cakes' until puffed, light golden in color and cooked through. The adult should carefully remove the sheet from the oven to a cooling rack with oven mitts. Let cool. With a spatula, remove the 'moon cakes' to a plate. Spread jam or bean paste on one moon cake and top it with another moon cake. If the moon cakes are thick, split them in half then spread jam or bean paste inside. Celebrate!
LINK
This link is to the traditional story, and has the recipe...
If using home made dough, roll out to about 1/4" thickness. Cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. If using prepared dough from the tube, roll 1/4" thin and shape or cut into 2" rounds. Place the rounds on a cookie sheet and let rest for a few minutes. Prick the rounds with a fork to prevent puffing while cooking. Have an adult bake the rounds or 'moon cakes' until puffed, light golden in color and cooked through. The adult should carefully remove the sheet from the oven to a cooling rack with oven mitts. Let cool. With a spatula, remove the 'moon cakes' to a plate. Spread jam or bean paste on one moon cake and top it with another moon cake. If the moon cakes are thick, split them in half then spread jam or bean paste inside. Celebrate!
National Talk like a pirate day
Yup...I missed it (it was the 19th)...but the link is to Dave Barry's original column that started the whole craze...
So I have decided to throw my full support behind Talk Like a Pirate Day, to be observed this Sept. 19. To help promote this important cause, I have decided to seek the endorsement of famous celebrities, and I am pleased to report that, as of today, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, Oprah Winfrey, the Osbournes, Tiger Woods, Ted Koppel, the Sopranos, Puff Doody and the late Elvis Presley are all people who I hope will read this column and become big supporters. I see no need to recruit President Bush, because he already talks like a pirate, as we can see from this transcript of a recent White House press conference:
REPORTER: Could you please explain either your foreign or your domestic policy?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Arrrrr.
So I have decided to throw my full support behind Talk Like a Pirate Day, to be observed this Sept. 19. To help promote this important cause, I have decided to seek the endorsement of famous celebrities, and I am pleased to report that, as of today, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, Oprah Winfrey, the Osbournes, Tiger Woods, Ted Koppel, the Sopranos, Puff Doody and the late Elvis Presley are all people who I hope will read this column and become big supporters. I see no need to recruit President Bush, because he already talks like a pirate, as we can see from this transcript of a recent White House press conference:
REPORTER: Could you please explain either your foreign or your domestic policy?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Arrrrr.
Houston bus drivers are heroes
On Sept. 3, while most Houstonians were enjoying the Labor Day weekend, a convoy of 142 HISD buses made its way to Louisiana to help evacuate survivors.
Some 400 drivers, HISD police and other personnel, took part. Although they were paid, all had volunteered, said HISD transportation manager Bonnie Russell.
Their duties, Russell said, included: picking up survivors at ferry landings and taking them to hospitals and shelters, retrieving residents in wheelchairs from nursing homes, and transporting 600 National Guard troops with their equipment from New Orleans for rescue missions in flooded rural parishes....
Ah, but what about all those buses in Drudge's famous photo, the ones in N.O. that sat unused in flooded parking lots? Why weren't they used?
LINK
On Sept. 4, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., explained on Fox News Sunday why the buses weren't used: "Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out in the city in front of a hurricane."
Another report you didn't see in the MSM...which now even the Grey Lady (i.e. NYTimes) is saying exaggerated the problems...
......But the media's willingness to report thinly attributed rumors may also have contributed to a kind of cultural wreckage that will not clean up easily....many instances in the lurid libretto of widespread murder, carjacking, rape, and assaults that filled the airwaves and newspapers have yet to be established or proved, as far as anyone can determine. And many of the urban legends that sprang up - the systematic rape of children, the slitting of a 7-year-old's throat - so far seem to be just that. (i.e. false rumors)
Some 400 drivers, HISD police and other personnel, took part. Although they were paid, all had volunteered, said HISD transportation manager Bonnie Russell.
Their duties, Russell said, included: picking up survivors at ferry landings and taking them to hospitals and shelters, retrieving residents in wheelchairs from nursing homes, and transporting 600 National Guard troops with their equipment from New Orleans for rescue missions in flooded rural parishes....
Ah, but what about all those buses in Drudge's famous photo, the ones in N.O. that sat unused in flooded parking lots? Why weren't they used?
LINK
On Sept. 4, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., explained on Fox News Sunday why the buses weren't used: "Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out in the city in front of a hurricane."
Another report you didn't see in the MSM...which now even the Grey Lady (i.e. NYTimes) is saying exaggerated the problems...
......But the media's willingness to report thinly attributed rumors may also have contributed to a kind of cultural wreckage that will not clean up easily....many instances in the lurid libretto of widespread murder, carjacking, rape, and assaults that filled the airwaves and newspapers have yet to be established or proved, as far as anyone can determine. And many of the urban legends that sprang up - the systematic rape of children, the slitting of a 7-year-old's throat - so far seem to be just that. (i.e. false rumors)
Living overseas, this bad reporting will only increase disdain for the USA, and few will hear the correction of the falsehoods...and of course the 'racial" angle has already been played up by Howard Dean, head of the Democratic party...for political gain...which will make more Democrats like myself wonder if we really want to belong to a party run by moonbats...
Study finds no best schizophrenic drug
This article needs to be read entirely...if you just read the beginning, you discover that perphenazine, an old drug that we still use for nausea, works "as good as" the newer anti psychotics, which cause obesity and therefore diabetes...
But if you read furthur down, you find this statement:
But if you read furthur down, you find this statement:
The findings are striking considering that perphenazine can cost no more than $50 a month compared with more than $600 for Zyprexa, depending on dose. Indeed, the nation will spend about $10 billion this year on those atypical antipsychotics, said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the research.
A troubling finding: Three-quarters of patients switched medications because of inadequate symptom control or intolerable side effects.....
....First-generation drugs' chief concern was Parkinson's disease-like movement problems: tremor, rigidity, involuntary flailing. Zyprexa and its newer cousins rapidly gained popularity by promising an end to those problems, but have their own side effects....
Translation: if you take Haldol, you get stiff... you sit there and have to move your legs constantly, (restless leg syndrome).....if you take perphenazine, you don't get as stiff, and it's cheap, but you fall asleep, you might have hallucinations because it's not as strong, and you have to take it four times a day...(something not mentioned in the article)...if you take Zyprexa, you take it once a day, you move normall, you don't get "restless leg syndrome", but you get fat...if you take nothing, you hallucinate and have to be hospitalized...
Summary of the article here:
While 74 percent of patients switched drugs before the 18 months was up, only 64 percent of Zyprexa users did, giving it a slight edge. Also, 11 percent of Zyprexa users were hospitalized for schizophrenia symptoms, compared with 15 percent to 20 percent of those using the other drugs.
Now, if you notice that the rate of relapse was almost double on older medicine, you can calculate that it's actually cheaper to use Zyprexa...especially since Diabetes is treatable...
Private success in aiding hurricane victims
The CSMonitor lauds private charities...
Government failure, private success
By Michael Tanner
WASHINGTON – While the response to hurricane Katrina has uncovered failures of government at every level - federal, state, and local - it has also revealed again the amazing generosity and effectiveness of America's private charitable efforts.
America is the most generous nation on earth. And we are proving it. From Hollywood glitterati to school-children in rural Georgia; from wealthy executives to men and women on the assemblyline; in our churches, mosques, and synagogues; and in a thousand other ways, we are reaching deep in our pockets and giving.
Within two weeks of the disaster, Americans had already contributed more than $600 million to relief efforts. They've kicked in another $100 million of "in-kind" donations. Private schools are offering tuition-free education to the children of survivors. Countless Americans have volunteered time and effort. Others have opened their homes to the displaced, donated blood, and helped in other ways large and small.
(read the whole thing)
Government failure, private success
By Michael Tanner
WASHINGTON – While the response to hurricane Katrina has uncovered failures of government at every level - federal, state, and local - it has also revealed again the amazing generosity and effectiveness of America's private charitable efforts.
America is the most generous nation on earth. And we are proving it. From Hollywood glitterati to school-children in rural Georgia; from wealthy executives to men and women on the assemblyline; in our churches, mosques, and synagogues; and in a thousand other ways, we are reaching deep in our pockets and giving.
Within two weeks of the disaster, Americans had already contributed more than $600 million to relief efforts. They've kicked in another $100 million of "in-kind" donations. Private schools are offering tuition-free education to the children of survivors. Countless Americans have volunteered time and effort. Others have opened their homes to the displaced, donated blood, and helped in other ways large and small.
(read the whole thing)
Monday, September 19, 2005
Hmmm...did the Japanese settle in Arizona?
Discussion HERE with other links, including THIS
Actually, the Zunis do not resemble the Japanese, so I am skeptical about this...although the Chinese and others did manage to get to the Western coast of the Americas and may have left behind some technology (and babies) one suspects that the Zunis, like the other pueblo tribes, did not have to be taught everything from "superior" cultures...
But since I am not acquainted with pre colombian trade routes, I might be wrong...
Actually, the Zunis do not resemble the Japanese, so I am skeptical about this...although the Chinese and others did manage to get to the Western coast of the Americas and may have left behind some technology (and babies) one suspects that the Zunis, like the other pueblo tribes, did not have to be taught everything from "superior" cultures...
But since I am not acquainted with pre colombian trade routes, I might be wrong...
Nope, no problem yet...
While Gloria basks in her UN glory, the rumors here abound about the military staging a coup...she is quite unpopular here, but no local demonstrations yet...
And the Beeb is too busy showing "poverty v rich" to bother to report anything...LINK
Now, I've been in and out of the Philippines for 15 years, and you know what? The REAL story is the growing middle class, and the ability of people to move up in the world.
The REAL story about Gloria is that she represents the rich Manila elite, who have hold or many of the institutions of government and business and are not always open to outsiders... not the growing and often Prostestant middle class...(Ex president Ramos brought prosperity because he encouraged the growth of this up and coming class of people). And to make things worse, Gloria ousted the demagogue "erap" Estrada, who was the popular choice, an actor who represented the people...and she did so by manipulating the usual suspects and accusing him of being corrupt...
And now SHE is being proven she is corrupt, and the fact that there was not enough evidence to impeach her belies the fact that the congress refused to admit more evidence, and won't allow another impeachment case to be brought in front of congress...
However, Gloria's phone call tape discussing the stealing of the election is common knowledge, as is her family's acceptance of bribes...
So, like her former classmate Clinton, she gets off on a technicality while being corrupt...and everyone knows she is corrupt...
And the Beeb is too busy showing "poverty v rich" to bother to report anything...LINK
Now, I've been in and out of the Philippines for 15 years, and you know what? The REAL story is the growing middle class, and the ability of people to move up in the world.
The REAL story about Gloria is that she represents the rich Manila elite, who have hold or many of the institutions of government and business and are not always open to outsiders... not the growing and often Prostestant middle class...(Ex president Ramos brought prosperity because he encouraged the growth of this up and coming class of people). And to make things worse, Gloria ousted the demagogue "erap" Estrada, who was the popular choice, an actor who represented the people...and she did so by manipulating the usual suspects and accusing him of being corrupt...
And now SHE is being proven she is corrupt, and the fact that there was not enough evidence to impeach her belies the fact that the congress refused to admit more evidence, and won't allow another impeachment case to be brought in front of congress...
However, Gloria's phone call tape discussing the stealing of the election is common knowledge, as is her family's acceptance of bribes...
So, like her former classmate Clinton, she gets off on a technicality while being corrupt...and everyone knows she is corrupt...
Sunday, September 18, 2005
monsoons anyone?
We have a nearby "low pressue system" that has flooded us...we are fine, but the phone and electricity keeps going out, so I can't post on my blog...
Ah, rural living at it's best...luckily we now have a generator for airconditioning...
In the past (i.e. up to last month) we either had no generator, or when we brought the farm generator down here to town, it "wasn't hot" enough to put it on...so I bought my own...as a backup...
95 degrees, 95 % humidity? no problem...
Ah, rural living at it's best...luckily we now have a generator for airconditioning...
In the past (i.e. up to last month) we either had no generator, or when we brought the farm generator down here to town, it "wasn't hot" enough to put it on...so I bought my own...as a backup...
95 degrees, 95 % humidity? no problem...
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Nursing home indictments.
Earlier I posted a link to a NYT story on nursing home deaths...where officials refused to evacuate the patients.
Well, they are now indicted for murder...
And THIS needs investigation...
as Poweline said:More indictments could follow. Forty-five bodies were found yesterday in a New Orleans hospital; it was unclear how many were already dead before the emergency struck and were awaiting transport to a morgue, and how many died when they were apparently left behind in a "hasty evacuation." With a mandatory evacuation order in place well before Katrina struck, how is it possible that local hospitals did not obey, or that local officials failed to enforce the evacuation order even as to such vulnerable individuals--in this case, people who died, according to news accounts, not from drowning but from inattention?
And yes, the UK tabloids are discussing euthanasia en masse at a N.O. hospital...but both the language ("senior doctors", a term not used in the USA), the fact that it was a propriatory hospital which has higher standards than charity hospitals, and the implication that doctors, not nurses, control narcotic keys and give shots, make me wonder how much is true.
If it is true, the doctors are murderers. You see, they had enough drugs to kill, so this means they had enough drugs to keep the patients high in a morphine induced coma for three days until they could evacuate...so the murders would not be euthanasia, but poor judgement, i.e. Panic, making the emotional but incorrect decision they would be isolated forever....not to mention the dirty little fact that they should have evacuated the patient earlier...
-------------------
9-20-05 UPDATE:
Yup...as I expected, these patients were triaged, not killed...
The doctors evacuated the critically ill and gave morphine to those dying and did not evacuate them first...
In triage, the aim is to save the most lives: The dying or those with little chance of living are ignored while you save those who would die without quick treatment...
But those pushing the pro death agenda frequently blur the lines between withholding unwanted treatment and killing, or in this case, blurring the lines between triage and killing, in order to push their agenda, which confuses many good people who don't know the ultimate aims of the movement...which are rarely reported even though they are openly written about in the ethical literature...
Well, they are now indicted for murder...
And THIS needs investigation...
as Poweline said:More indictments could follow. Forty-five bodies were found yesterday in a New Orleans hospital; it was unclear how many were already dead before the emergency struck and were awaiting transport to a morgue, and how many died when they were apparently left behind in a "hasty evacuation." With a mandatory evacuation order in place well before Katrina struck, how is it possible that local hospitals did not obey, or that local officials failed to enforce the evacuation order even as to such vulnerable individuals--in this case, people who died, according to news accounts, not from drowning but from inattention?
And yes, the UK tabloids are discussing euthanasia en masse at a N.O. hospital...but both the language ("senior doctors", a term not used in the USA), the fact that it was a propriatory hospital which has higher standards than charity hospitals, and the implication that doctors, not nurses, control narcotic keys and give shots, make me wonder how much is true.
If it is true, the doctors are murderers. You see, they had enough drugs to kill, so this means they had enough drugs to keep the patients high in a morphine induced coma for three days until they could evacuate...so the murders would not be euthanasia, but poor judgement, i.e. Panic, making the emotional but incorrect decision they would be isolated forever....not to mention the dirty little fact that they should have evacuated the patient earlier...
-------------------
9-20-05 UPDATE:
Yup...as I expected, these patients were triaged, not killed...
The doctors evacuated the critically ill and gave morphine to those dying and did not evacuate them first...
In triage, the aim is to save the most lives: The dying or those with little chance of living are ignored while you save those who would die without quick treatment...
But those pushing the pro death agenda frequently blur the lines between withholding unwanted treatment and killing, or in this case, blurring the lines between triage and killing, in order to push their agenda, which confuses many good people who don't know the ultimate aims of the movement...which are rarely reported even though they are openly written about in the ethical literature...
Walmart now has a blog
(heads up from Instapundit)...
Right now it is looking for fuzzy heartwarming stories...
Or how about this story, about how Walmart and the rock group Three doors down delivered a convoy of supplies to Mississippi...
LINK
Yes, I know: Elites hate Walmart...but Walmart, home Depot, Lowe's, Target etc. are where most people will get supplies to keep going...
Right now it is looking for fuzzy heartwarming stories...
Over the past two weeks, Wal-Mart and its associates have been on the frontlines of every aspect of relief and recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
In that time, we've seen and heard of extraordinary acts of heroism and kindness as neighbors and communities come together to help each other, and we're proud to be part of this community.
Wal-Mart is launching this blog (Wal-Mart's first) to tell these stories and help keep the public informed of ongoing relief efforts and services. This site features the personal histories and photos behind the operations we read about each day-- real-life hurricane heroes who have stopped their daily lives to help, like this Wal-Mart truck driver who was one of the first into New Orleans.
Please come back frequently, and make sure to check back and learn about new ways you can help with relief effortsOr how about this story, about how Walmart and the rock group Three doors down delivered a convoy of supplies to Mississippi...
LINK
Yes, I know: Elites hate Walmart...but Walmart, home Depot, Lowe's, Target etc. are where most people will get supplies to keep going...
Bombs? naah just lighting setting off ammunition...
LINK2
Explosions at a police armoury in suburban Manila have injured at least 107 people, most of them patients at a nearby clinic, and may have been sparked by lightning, officials said.
Police on Tuesday ruled out sabotage or terrorism. The explosions late on Monday initially raised concerns of foul play in a capital jittery with rumours of coup plots linked to the months-long political crisis surrounding President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, accused of rigging last year's presidential election.... The injured included 101 patients at the drug rehabilitation clinic, four elite police officers and two civilians, police chief Ameto Tolentino said. Demonstrators this month urged Metropolitan Manila police chief Vidal Querol said the explosions shattered windows at his office about 100 metres away. He said the explosions could have been triggered by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm late Monday. Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes sought to reassure the public overnight that the incident was an accident. "There is nothing to be worried about. It was an accident, that's our initial findings, so we can go back to sleep," he said. Ah, that makes me feel so much better....nothing to worry about except carelessness...
the president to resign
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
The Magic bus from Texas
KITTERY, Maine - When the yellow school bus pulled in front of the Superdome in New Orleans last weekend, no one knew what to do with it.
The empty vehicle was not one of the buses chartered by the government to transport Hurricane Katrina victims out of the area. The bus, offering to help as many hurricane evacuees as possible, seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Someone called it the magic bus because no one knew where it came from," said Dan Corcoran, the Kittery businessman who hired the bus driver to go from Houston to New Orleans to help evacuees.
Corcoran, owner of Jackson’s Hardware & Marine, had contacted the Alamo Bus Co. in Houston a few days after the flood waters in New Orleans had trapped thousands of residents inside the city.
Corcoran wired the company money and chartered a bus to New Orleans, telling the company driver to pick up anyone he could find and get them out of the city.
On Sept. 2, a driver and three security officers boarded the bus and drove through the night to New Orleans, Corcoran said. When they arrived in the city the next morning, a police escort took them to the Superdome, where thousands of evacuees were located.
Police officials decided to use Corcoran’s charter as a shuttle service, transporting elderly and ill people from the Superdome to the city’s airport, where a triage center had been set up.
"They didn’t know where the bus came from, but they obviously made very good use of it," Corcoran said last week....
Yup...those great looking Knights
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
Famous Ruler: King Edward III
Living Quarters: Castles
Hardship: The Black Plague
Who wouldn't want to live in the "fairy
tale-like" days of knights and castles?
What Time Period Do You Belong In? (Updated!)
brought to you by Quizilla
Whoops I forgot this history changing event.
And, of course, I ignored 9-11 too...
Now that Katrina is completely politicized, I am going to ignore the spin except for occassional reports on positive stuff, and go back to the really important stuff
Like THIS little known fact:
After the battle, the Austrians discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Turkish encampment. Using this captured stock, Vienna opened the first coffeehouse in Western Europe shortly afterwards.
Now that Katrina is completely politicized, I am going to ignore the spin except for occassional reports on positive stuff, and go back to the really important stuff
Like THIS little known fact:
After the battle, the Austrians discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Turkish encampment. Using this captured stock, Vienna opened the first coffeehouse in Western Europe shortly afterwards.
Dengue fever
We've had a lot of dengue fever here, even in Manila...
So the city is spraying ditches...
However, the real news is that Singapore, the cleanest city in Asia, is in the middle of a similar epidemic...
LINK
Here is the CDC link ...
Of course, the blame is on...global warming...
The first reported epidemics of DF occurred in 1779-1780 in Asia, Africa, and North America.
Yup...global warming as the earth came out of the "little Ice Age"....
So the city is spraying ditches...
However, the real news is that Singapore, the cleanest city in Asia, is in the middle of a similar epidemic...
LINK
Here is the CDC link ...
Of course, the blame is on...global warming...
The first reported epidemics of DF occurred in 1779-1780 in Asia, Africa, and North America.
Yup...global warming as the earth came out of the "little Ice Age"....
Tale of the Gengi
The Tale of the Gengi is on line here...but you have to give them your email address...
Monday, September 12, 2005
Asian Americans helping each other take two
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath may have killed dozens or more Vietnamese Americans living along the Gulf Coast. Asian Pacific Americans belonging to other ethnic groups have also been affected, but the Vietnamese Americans of the region suffered the majority of the casualties among Asians.
Vietnamese American media and organizations reports indicate that perhaps more than 70 Vietnamese Americans around Empire and Buras, Mississippi, may have been killed....
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese Americans living in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama affected by Hurricane Katrina are highly concentrated along the coastline because they work in the shrimping, fishing and shipbuilding industries. Vietnamese Americans make up over 40% of all APAs in Louisiana....
Other Asian Americans in Texas have offered their homes for victims to live in. In a mass e-mail this week to constituents, Councilmember Gordon Quan reported that in Houston, “the Filipino community has settled over 50 evacuees with local families” and that “the Pakistani community has settled 600 people into 200 apartments.”...
Indian American Congressman Bobby Jindal was among thousands of residents in New Orleans, Louisiana, who were left without food or electricity...
Jindal’s legislative victories on natural disaster compensation in Congress this year are critical for Louisianans as they fight yet another major calamity.
Vietnamese American media and organizations reports indicate that perhaps more than 70 Vietnamese Americans around Empire and Buras, Mississippi, may have been killed....
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese Americans living in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama affected by Hurricane Katrina are highly concentrated along the coastline because they work in the shrimping, fishing and shipbuilding industries. Vietnamese Americans make up over 40% of all APAs in Louisiana....
Other Asian Americans in Texas have offered their homes for victims to live in. In a mass e-mail this week to constituents, Councilmember Gordon Quan reported that in Houston, “the Filipino community has settled over 50 evacuees with local families” and that “the Pakistani community has settled 600 people into 200 apartments.”...
Indian American Congressman Bobby Jindal was among thousands of residents in New Orleans, Louisiana, who were left without food or electricity...
Jindal’s legislative victories on natural disaster compensation in Congress this year are critical for Louisianans as they fight yet another major calamity.
The Katrina Migration
As usual the Christian Science Monitor has a well written balanced report of how people are being resettled...
If nothing else, the resettlement is already a story in state-to-state generosity. As of Sunday, there were an estimated 374,000 hurricane Katrina refugees in shelters, hotels, homes and other housing in 34 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Red Cross and state relief officials.
The total number of refugees may surpass 1 million, but a large percentage have been absorbed into their own relative's homes, say experts.
In many cases evacuees have ended up in places far from their native Gulf coast. A surprisingly large percentage of them say they like what they see.
Ah, see that line about a "large percentage...in their own relative's homes? .... hundreds of thousands of Americans have opened their homes to friends and family... It's the big story of simple generosity of people caring for each other...Asian Indians helping their neighbor
IACF, whose goal is to help the poor, the homeless, underprivileged, and the needy with monetary, in kind and volunteer contributions through established Houston area charitable organisations, raised and distributed US$ 27,000 to various charities in the US and in India during tsunami relief efforts.
The Asian American Hotel Owners association has donated US$ 100,000 toward the relief efforts through the American Red Cross and other initiatives.
Several Indian doctors have offered their services for this cause through the Indian Doctors Association working with the Harris County Medical Society.
"It's amazing that in times like this all our doctors poured their heart and time out to help our community. Some even canceled their schedules just to help the needy victims," said Dr Rakesh Mangal, president of IDA.
Various computer professionals are assisting to set up Astrodome Community Technology Center, which enables people to register themselves and help find their kin online.
In addition, various other organisations throughout the US have risen to this occasion. Sewa International USA and Hindus of Greater Houston are also coordinating volunteer services with the Hindu temples, and Indian-American organisations.
Besides, BAPS is also distributing emergency supplies of toiletries, medicines, cooking utensils, disposable kitchenware items (plates, knives and spatulas), and over 15 grocery items including milk, biscuits, sugar, salt and cooking oil.
(and don't forget: Bobby Jindal is helping, but getting little publicity)
Resettling people
This USA TODAY link discusses how Texas is moving some of their refugees on to other states...
....With more than 223,000 refugees already in Texas, Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said officials at relief centers around the state say they are running out of room....
....With more than 223,000 refugees already in Texas, Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said officials at relief centers around the state say they are running out of room....
Texas has been taking in refugees from New Orleans since Wednesday and by Saturday, Perry warned the state was nearing its limit. The storm and its aftermath has displaced some 1.5 million people.
Texas officials estimate about 100,000 Louisiana residents are staying in hotels and motels across the state and another 123,000 are being temporarily housed in 97 shelters throughout the state from the Houston Astrodome to El Paso.....
Ah yes...but people helping resettle refugees don't count...especially if they are Texans...Jane Galt tells it as it is
Asymetrical Informationblog says a lot of things I would like to say to the international press...
Ah yes, it's easier to do an "aint it awful" report than show the success stories...
Item One: The area that was devastated by the hurricane is approximately the size of Great Britain. Tell me again how the EU would have gotten everything under control in a matter of hours had 90% of England, Scotland, and Wales been flattened by an Atlantic storm that also knocked out electricity to Ireland and France....
Item Five Y'all apparently don't even need the "natural" part to produce the disaster. A heat wave that wouldn't even make a New Yorker reach across the sofa to turn up the fan killed as many people in France as the worst-case scenario for American losses to Katrina. They were apparently not saved by Europe's admirably high fuel prices, its finer moral sensibilities about the poor, its stronger committment to taking care of its citizens, or [COUGH] its enlightened attitudes on matters of race and ethnicity....Ah yes, it's easier to do an "aint it awful" report than show the success stories...
PacMan Wins!
the most important story in the Philippines is THIS: and THIS.
THE Philippine flag flew high in Los Angeles Saturday night (close to Sunday noon in Manila). Real, real high. Not one, not two, but three Filipino boxers spearheaded by Manny Pacquiao scored sensational knockout victories at the Staples Center in one of the biggest nights of RP boxing in history. ...
Then late in the night Pacquiao, the biggest name in Philippine boxing today, didn't disappoint, scoring a sixth round KO of Mexican Hector Velazquez.
Pacquiao took the WBC international super featherweight title and more importantly regained some lost pride and cemented his name back in the world stage after losing to Erik Morales in March.
THE Philippine flag flew high in Los Angeles Saturday night (close to Sunday noon in Manila). Real, real high. Not one, not two, but three Filipino boxers spearheaded by Manny Pacquiao scored sensational knockout victories at the Staples Center in one of the biggest nights of RP boxing in history. ...
Then late in the night Pacquiao, the biggest name in Philippine boxing today, didn't disappoint, scoring a sixth round KO of Mexican Hector Velazquez.
Pacquiao took the WBC international super featherweight title and more importantly regained some lost pride and cemented his name back in the world stage after losing to Erik Morales in March.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
English as she is spoken
Just a few phrases from a long list:
Till hither.
I have put my stockings outward.
I have croped the candle.
I have mind to vomit.
I will not to sleep on street.
I am catched cold in the brain.
I am pinking me with a pin.
I dead myself in envy to see her.
I take a broth all morning.
I shall not tell you than two woods.
Have you understanded?
Let him have know?
Have you understand they?
Do you know they?
Do you know they to?
The storm is go over.
The sun begins to dissipe it.
Witch prefer you?
The paving stone is slippery.
The thunderbolt is falling down.
The rose-trees begins to button.
The ears are too length.
The hands itch at him.
Have you forgeted me?
Ahhh, but they fogot the most famous phrase: All your base is belong to us...
thanks to Garfieldridge from Jonah Goldberg)
Till hither.
I have put my stockings outward.
I have croped the candle.
I have mind to vomit.
I will not to sleep on street.
I am catched cold in the brain.
I am pinking me with a pin.
I dead myself in envy to see her.
I take a broth all morning.
I shall not tell you than two woods.
Have you understanded?
Let him have know?
Have you understand they?
Do you know they?
Do you know they to?
The storm is go over.
The sun begins to dissipe it.
Witch prefer you?
The paving stone is slippery.
The thunderbolt is falling down.
The rose-trees begins to button.
The ears are too length.
The hands itch at him.
Have you forgeted me?
Ahhh, but they fogot the most famous phrase: All your base is belong to us...
thanks to Garfieldridge from Jonah Goldberg)
Oklahoma responds
The Ragemonkeys have a bunch of links on the OKC response to Katrina...
Here is another story LINK
and many are helping kids adjust LINK
A local bank collected $50 000 to help LINK
the OKNG is in N.O. LINK
the Choctaws sent money LINK
and the Cherokee sent firedancers to help clean up LINK
(these are local firefighters...see photo)Allen Washington, left, gets some help from Ron Proctor is loading equipment for the Cherokee Nation Firedancers trip to New Orleans. The group of firefighters will be helping clean up the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
And one of my collegues, a dentist, has been called up to serve...
Was the president blamed for not evacuating these people?
1000 poor people died because no one evacuated them from their homes...
Call the press! call the press!
It's all the president's fault...not
What you didn't hear about it?
One of the overlooked mass tradgedies in American history...and it could have been prevented if they had been evacuated from their homes...
via Gavinblog...
And, of course, the Europeans similarly ignored similar deaths in 2003.... LINK...
Call the press! call the press!
It's all the president's fault...not
What you didn't hear about it?
One of the overlooked mass tradgedies in American history...and it could have been prevented if they had been evacuated from their homes...
via Gavinblog...
And, of course, the Europeans similarly ignored similar deaths in 2003.... LINK...
Michael Brown's resume
I don't know much about his work in Edmund Oklahoma, but here is a PBS discussion about FEMA in Florida last year....
Same folks worked that hurricane...
And here is a Florida paper on Fema from last year LINK
Hmmm...
Same folks worked that hurricane...
And here is a Florida paper on Fema from last year LINK
Hmmm...
Texans helping refugees
Houston, Texas – In just a few days, the population of Da Minh Convent in Houston, Texas, has increased more than 3 folds. The convent which housed 50 nuns received more than 100 refugees, victims of Katrina Hurricane. More are still coming.
Sister Hang Pham said: “Since Monday, while the news of Katrina came to us, Da Minh Convent still didn’t know how we could help. But then, from Saigon Houston Radio, we heard that Hong Kong 4 shopping mall is the place where refugees are coming looking to for help.”
“The first few days, Vietnamese arrived to Houston not knowing where to stay. Some were sleeping in their cars and others sleeping on the sidewalks. So we, along with other organizations, offered some to come to our convent.” Sister Pham laughed: “But don’t worry, we are not asking them to convert!”
According to Sister Theresa, there are now more than 200 people signing up to stay at the convent. More than 100 are now living in the convent’s recreation room. A few more, “are coming once their motel stays run out.”
(Via the Curt Jester)
Sister Hang Pham said: “Since Monday, while the news of Katrina came to us, Da Minh Convent still didn’t know how we could help. But then, from Saigon Houston Radio, we heard that Hong Kong 4 shopping mall is the place where refugees are coming looking to for help.”
“The first few days, Vietnamese arrived to Houston not knowing where to stay. Some were sleeping in their cars and others sleeping on the sidewalks. So we, along with other organizations, offered some to come to our convent.” Sister Pham laughed: “But don’t worry, we are not asking them to convert!”
According to Sister Theresa, there are now more than 200 people signing up to stay at the convent. More than 100 are now living in the convent’s recreation room. A few more, “are coming once their motel stays run out.”
(Via the Curt Jester)
New Mexico to the rescue....
Medpundit has several links to reports of people helping people, including the above link about a New Mexican group at the superdome...
...when Hesch stepped into the world of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 11 days ago, he found unusual, unsettling things. First, the obvious: The catastrophic damage was incomparable to anything he'd seen before.
Hesch -- one of 35 people in a self-contained, federally funded team from New Mexico -- arrived in New Orleans at 3 a.m. Aug. 30 with 20 tons of supplies. Without a wink of sleep, the group set up treatment tents in the Louisiana Superdome, which was packed with tens of thousands of refugees.
But between 9 and 10 a.m., their plans were quickly altered. "We had people running through screaming that the levy just broke, and we had to evacuate," Hesch said in a telephone interview from Louisiana on Thursday.
Alone, the New Mexico team -- and one doctor from New Orleans -- set up a full-scale acute medical-care clinic by 11 a.m. in the basketball and hockey arena, which is connected to the Superdome by a causeway. The sick and injured from the Superdome came to them. Some had head injuries. Some had gunshot wounds. Some had cuts on their bodies from walking through the water-filled streets. Some had gone cold turkey off their medications.
In the space of 40 hours, the staff treated 800 to 1,000 patients. Hesch said he sutured wounds under the light of his headlamp....
In other disasters where Hesch has worked, people pulled tightly together as a community. But New Orleans didn't seem to know how to do that. "The Dome turned into a den of depravity at some point," he said,....
Hesch, luckily, met a few of what he calls "salt of the earth" people who kept him from losing faith in humankind. Two brothers who cleaned up the wreckage. A quadriplegic man in a wheelchair who took care of his cantankerous 84-year-old mother. A circle of people singing hymns.
"That was uplifting, but the rest of the time was like walking in a tiger's den," Hesch said.
In the midst of chaos, Hesch noticed a missing ingredient that could have helped. "Usually martial law is imposed so order is maintained," Hesch said. "Here, we did not have that."
The National Guardsmen deployed to New Orleans were young, inexperienced and not intimidating, he said. By contrast, at Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 82nd Airborne Special Forces carried locked and loaded AK-47s at all times, with the National Guard in strong force, he said.
A former Air Force guy himself, Hesch and other ex-military members of the team planned to set up a defense perimeter and "fight to the end," if the situation grew dangerous.
That didn't happen.
By Aug. 31, the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the exhausted New Mexico team it was time to leave. "You guys are just incredible but you're pushing it way too far," Hesch recalls FEMA telling the crew.
...
And now things are settling down, and volunteer doctors are not needed as much....LINK
...when Hesch stepped into the world of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 11 days ago, he found unusual, unsettling things. First, the obvious: The catastrophic damage was incomparable to anything he'd seen before.
Hesch -- one of 35 people in a self-contained, federally funded team from New Mexico -- arrived in New Orleans at 3 a.m. Aug. 30 with 20 tons of supplies. Without a wink of sleep, the group set up treatment tents in the Louisiana Superdome, which was packed with tens of thousands of refugees.
But between 9 and 10 a.m., their plans were quickly altered. "We had people running through screaming that the levy just broke, and we had to evacuate," Hesch said in a telephone interview from Louisiana on Thursday.
Alone, the New Mexico team -- and one doctor from New Orleans -- set up a full-scale acute medical-care clinic by 11 a.m. in the basketball and hockey arena, which is connected to the Superdome by a causeway. The sick and injured from the Superdome came to them. Some had head injuries. Some had gunshot wounds. Some had cuts on their bodies from walking through the water-filled streets. Some had gone cold turkey off their medications.
In the space of 40 hours, the staff treated 800 to 1,000 patients. Hesch said he sutured wounds under the light of his headlamp....
In other disasters where Hesch has worked, people pulled tightly together as a community. But New Orleans didn't seem to know how to do that. "The Dome turned into a den of depravity at some point," he said,....
Hesch, luckily, met a few of what he calls "salt of the earth" people who kept him from losing faith in humankind. Two brothers who cleaned up the wreckage. A quadriplegic man in a wheelchair who took care of his cantankerous 84-year-old mother. A circle of people singing hymns.
"That was uplifting, but the rest of the time was like walking in a tiger's den," Hesch said.
In the midst of chaos, Hesch noticed a missing ingredient that could have helped. "Usually martial law is imposed so order is maintained," Hesch said. "Here, we did not have that."
The National Guardsmen deployed to New Orleans were young, inexperienced and not intimidating, he said. By contrast, at Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 82nd Airborne Special Forces carried locked and loaded AK-47s at all times, with the National Guard in strong force, he said.
A former Air Force guy himself, Hesch and other ex-military members of the team planned to set up a defense perimeter and "fight to the end," if the situation grew dangerous.
That didn't happen.
By Aug. 31, the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the exhausted New Mexico team it was time to leave. "You guys are just incredible but you're pushing it way too far," Hesch recalls FEMA telling the crew.
...
And now things are settling down, and volunteer doctors are not needed as much....LINK
Georgia Team Commander Judy Edwards had been told by FEMA officials to expect between 10,000 and 14,000 refugees at Reunion Arena that had not seen a doctor, nurse or pharmacist for days.
What she found on Sunday morning was about 300 evacuees at Reunion and about 4,000 evacuees at the nearby Convention Center.
And at the Convention Center, county officials, along with local hospitals, had set up a state-of-the-art medical facility with separate areas for pediatrics and emergency care.
"It was beautiful in there," said Mark Spradlin, who is in charge of logistics and planning for the Georgia team. "If they had shut down and we had moved in, the level of medical care would have gone down."
Ah, but does the press congratulate Texans for their sterling work in setting up medical care and for finding better places to house their refugees?
Nope...the headline of the article is: Bureaucratic mistakes frustrate Georgia Team
Can't praise Texas Can't praise Texas...
Gulf coast: The overlooked disaster area
The ports that export much of middle America are affected by this hurricane...
But people are helping each other...but you have to read the whole article to see that help...
Biloxi lost 20 percent of their homes (and their lucrative casinos) (the link is about a Florida volunteer who helped in the first few days)...
LINK
If you scroll to the bottom of this report, you find a link to a film of Biloxi...and this comment: The survivors we came across were extraordinary. They could not have been more gracious and friendly. They had lost everything, and were offering us cold drinks and a place to get out of the sun!
Peterson Air Force base lost 20 percent of their homes...and others are helping these families...
Blake and two dozen others from Colorado Springs are among 200 volunteers from the 30,000-strong Air Force Space Command who were sent to the hurricane zone. It’s the first time the command has deployed forces to aid in a domestic disaster.
Gen. Lance Lord, who heads the command, flew Friday to Mississippi in a Lear Jet loaded with everything from toothpaste to diapers donated by Colorado Springs airmen for delivery to Keesler.
And a small article about burying the dead...LINK
But people are helping each other...but you have to read the whole article to see that help...
Biloxi lost 20 percent of their homes (and their lucrative casinos) (the link is about a Florida volunteer who helped in the first few days)...
LINK
If you scroll to the bottom of this report, you find a link to a film of Biloxi...and this comment: The survivors we came across were extraordinary. They could not have been more gracious and friendly. They had lost everything, and were offering us cold drinks and a place to get out of the sun!
Peterson Air Force base lost 20 percent of their homes...and others are helping these families...
Blake and two dozen others from Colorado Springs are among 200 volunteers from the 30,000-strong Air Force Space Command who were sent to the hurricane zone. It’s the first time the command has deployed forces to aid in a domestic disaster.
Gen. Lance Lord, who heads the command, flew Friday to Mississippi in a Lear Jet loaded with everything from toothpaste to diapers donated by Colorado Springs airmen for delivery to Keesler.
And a small article about burying the dead...LINK
To do the best job they can, Chad Riemann said he and other funeral directors in the area will need to rely on volunteers from around the country to aid in the ceremonies to come.
Already, Riemann and Lang have been working with a group of funeral directors from Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama.
"They came down with funeral home supplies, as well as ice, water and gas," Lang said.
On the NFDA Web site, a casket company in Greenville, S.C., offered assistance. The Mississippi Funeral Director's Association main office is fielding calls from funeral directors across the country who want to help.
"When the government starts releasing the storm-related deceased, we are going to have many, many funerals," Chad Riemann said. "We want to ensure funerals occur the way they would have. ... Every person is entitled to a celebration of life."
It's all Bush'....no Brown's fault
The press has found a scapegoat: Someone named Brown who was "unqualified" to lead FEMA...
But wait...he headed FEMA during the "year of the Hurricanes" in Florida...doesn't that make him qualified? I don't really know...as I've said earlier: Bureaucracies are slow, and the politicization of this tradgedy is giving the USA a black eye in the rest of the world...
And there is a lot of racism in the reporting about the Bush administration's supposed racism: why does the MSM assume that there were no poor whites living in the area, or for that matter, Native Americans, Vietnamese shrimp fishemen, Indian/South Asian immigrants, or Mexican immigrants? ...Mansur in Toronto noted that the "cannibalism" statment was retracted but not apologized for...Mansur then reflects: "He apparently did not reflect on his words and ask why only "black victims" would turn to cannibalism."
However, like tiny drips over a dam, we are now hearing about the real heroes who risked their lives
LATimes has a story about the radio stations broadcasting during the worst days of the hurricane...
Damaged roads are still a problem...actually, they have cleared debris from the roads, but the bridges are still out...hmm...maybe this has something to do with the slowness of relief supplies, doyathink?
Nahh...after all, Sean Penn managed to get in (with his publicist) to rescue "40 people"...of course, the many unknown fishermen who did the same at a risk to their lives while winds were still blowing didn't get publicized, but what the heck...don't you know he always is there to represent you poor people?
And New Orleans is in the headlines, but other cities were devestated...Pascagoula had 80 percent of it's homes destroyed...LINK....which is why Trent Lott pressured this hospital ship to go there instead of where the headlines were...
to be continued...
But wait...he headed FEMA during the "year of the Hurricanes" in Florida...doesn't that make him qualified? I don't really know...as I've said earlier: Bureaucracies are slow, and the politicization of this tradgedy is giving the USA a black eye in the rest of the world...
And there is a lot of racism in the reporting about the Bush administration's supposed racism: why does the MSM assume that there were no poor whites living in the area, or for that matter, Native Americans, Vietnamese shrimp fishemen, Indian/South Asian immigrants, or Mexican immigrants? ...Mansur in Toronto noted that the "cannibalism" statment was retracted but not apologized for...Mansur then reflects: "He apparently did not reflect on his words and ask why only "black victims" would turn to cannibalism."
However, like tiny drips over a dam, we are now hearing about the real heroes who risked their lives
LATimes has a story about the radio stations broadcasting during the worst days of the hurricane...
Damaged roads are still a problem...actually, they have cleared debris from the roads, but the bridges are still out...hmm...maybe this has something to do with the slowness of relief supplies, doyathink?
Nahh...after all, Sean Penn managed to get in (with his publicist) to rescue "40 people"...of course, the many unknown fishermen who did the same at a risk to their lives while winds were still blowing didn't get publicized, but what the heck...don't you know he always is there to represent you poor people?
And New Orleans is in the headlines, but other cities were devestated...Pascagoula had 80 percent of it's homes destroyed...LINK....which is why Trent Lott pressured this hospital ship to go there instead of where the headlines were...
to be continued...
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Prayer of Jabez? Bah humbug
I'm always leery about those who think that they have an "in" with God and so think they will always be happy and successful (I have to put up with that kind of stuff here...but that's another story)...
They think they are "blessed" for their belief, and the rest of us sinners are poor/depressed/sick or whatever because we don't have the "in" with God...
Therefore I love this link...
Copies of The Prayer of Jabez began circulating in China in 2001. Many Christians began "talking endlessly about God expanding their borders and keeping them free from pain," says one Chinese pastor whose weekly prayer meeting shrunk to half its previous size.
"Instead of asking God to strengthen the Chinese church they pray for personal fulfillment. They ignore all the Bible except Jabez," he says.
Sun Young, 24, says he and other Christians are tired of hearing only about "the way of the cross."
"Jabez changed my life. I pray every morning, 'God, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm,'" he says.
Unlike his parents, he does not want to suffer for Christ, but rather hopes to flourish in his personal giftings. "Jabez showed us a new way," he says.
They also have a link about Sponge Bob being cured of his being gay...
and links for the hearing impaired, the visually impaired, for eunuchs, and for the bald...
They think they are "blessed" for their belief, and the rest of us sinners are poor/depressed/sick or whatever because we don't have the "in" with God...
Therefore I love this link...
Copies of The Prayer of Jabez began circulating in China in 2001. Many Christians began "talking endlessly about God expanding their borders and keeping them free from pain," says one Chinese pastor whose weekly prayer meeting shrunk to half its previous size.
"Instead of asking God to strengthen the Chinese church they pray for personal fulfillment. They ignore all the Bible except Jabez," he says.
Sun Young, 24, says he and other Christians are tired of hearing only about "the way of the cross."
"Jabez changed my life. I pray every morning, 'God, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm,'" he says.
Unlike his parents, he does not want to suffer for Christ, but rather hopes to flourish in his personal giftings. "Jabez showed us a new way," he says.
They also have a link about Sponge Bob being cured of his being gay...
and links for the hearing impaired, the visually impaired, for eunuchs, and for the bald...
Heh
You are Saint Francis of Assisi! You don't care
what you look like (or smell like) as long as
you can live simply and help the poor. You
should be receiving your stigmata any day now.
Which Saint Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Lucky you
I had a long post with links of people helping people...but then when I went to post, I found blogger was down for maintainance, and then my computer crashed...
The only story I remember is that the Confederate Air Force of Midland Texas (which now has a new PC name, which I can't remember) was using some of their antique planes to help bring in supplies...
There was also another story, from a reporter from a Florida paper, who proclaimed how expertly Cuba did their evacuations...she even had a quote from John Egeland of the UN---you know, the one who always bitches the USA won't give him money for tsunami victims---who praised Cuba because a huge evacuation had no deaths...now if you believe that, John, I know a nice bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell to you...
You see, if you have statistics on any large number of people even sitting in their living rooms, statistically there will be deaths. And if you have one million people evacuated, there will be deaths: some just because people die, but also due to stress, heat, accidents etc...
The only story I remember is that the Confederate Air Force of Midland Texas (which now has a new PC name, which I can't remember) was using some of their antique planes to help bring in supplies...
There was also another story, from a reporter from a Florida paper, who proclaimed how expertly Cuba did their evacuations...she even had a quote from John Egeland of the UN---you know, the one who always bitches the USA won't give him money for tsunami victims---who praised Cuba because a huge evacuation had no deaths...now if you believe that, John, I know a nice bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell to you...
You see, if you have statistics on any large number of people even sitting in their living rooms, statistically there will be deaths. And if you have one million people evacuated, there will be deaths: some just because people die, but also due to stress, heat, accidents etc...
Trapped by local officials
Friday, September 09, 2005
the Katrina I'm okay bulletin board
searches by telephone numbers...if you are looking for relatives check it out.
the RED CROSS also has a similar site HERE...
the RED CROSS also has a similar site HERE...
Essay contestilip
Manolo's wonderful blog is featuring an essay contest about shoes...
If you like fashion, check it out.
and if you like fashion in glasse, he has a photo of these...
a great idea to keep the mosquitos from biting your cheeks...
Lessons learned, and people helping people
Link to previous major disasters....
(they were all Bush's fault...LINK)
Other stories:
Dade county, no stranger to hurricanes, is sending aid to Mississippi...LINK
And another Florida community is housing the displaced LINK...
Orlando is offering places to stay LINK
Daytona Beach has 300 families being cared for LINK
and getting offers of homes from private citizens LINK
(even though they are expecting another hurricane LINK)
And Talahasse is taking in 808 people LINK
Home Depot stores have Florida employees volunteering to help get their stores in the affected areas open LINK
HMMM....The Yavapi Indians of Arizona send policemen to help...LINK
I'm familiar with them...LINK
Fort Belnap tribe in Montana is sending Buffalo meat...and is asking help to ship the meat...LINK
Other Links:
Did local church vans evacuate people? LINK
(I suspect they did...note the writer is from NYC...and one reason I'm posting stuff here is that the little people helping others didn't get on the networks...although it is now starting to be told on CNNI)
An shhhh...porkbarrel politics instead of fixing levees might have complicated matters...LINK
(they were all Bush's fault...LINK)
Other stories:
Dade county, no stranger to hurricanes, is sending aid to Mississippi...LINK
And another Florida community is housing the displaced LINK...
Orlando is offering places to stay LINK
Daytona Beach has 300 families being cared for LINK
and getting offers of homes from private citizens LINK
(even though they are expecting another hurricane LINK)
And Talahasse is taking in 808 people LINK
Home Depot stores have Florida employees volunteering to help get their stores in the affected areas open LINK
HMMM....The Yavapi Indians of Arizona send policemen to help...LINK
I'm familiar with them...LINK
Fort Belnap tribe in Montana is sending Buffalo meat...and is asking help to ship the meat...LINK
Other Links:
Did local church vans evacuate people? LINK
(I suspect they did...note the writer is from NYC...and one reason I'm posting stuff here is that the little people helping others didn't get on the networks...although it is now starting to be told on CNNI)
An shhhh...porkbarrel politics instead of fixing levees might have complicated matters...LINK
Local people, local help
Must read story of local Uptown people rescuing their own...and protecting them from looters...
Multiply this by a thousand and you see the untold stories of local heroes...
Aunt Peggy on local heroes here: LINK
Multiply this by a thousand and you see the untold stories of local heroes...
Aunt Peggy on local heroes here: LINK
It is hard to be a parent at any time, but to be a parent in a life-or-death crisis is brutal. It is hard to give children what they need when you're overwhelmed yourself. It's hard, when you're afraid, to talk to children gently and listen to them, really hear them, so you can figure out what they're really telling you when they ask a surprising or seemingly illogical question. It takes patience not to work out your frustration or terror or pessimism on them, but to show instead forbearance, or frankly fake it if you have to. And to show optimism and faith--"We'll be OK, don't you worry"-- because optimism and faith can become a habit, they are communicable, and the habit of optimism and faith allows children to trust life, to enter it steadily and have confidence in it.
It is exhausting being a parent under trying circumstances. It is probably the hardest thing in the world. But on such things nations rise and fall, endure or falter.
And no one says thank you, or rather no one has videotape of your heroism and replays it in a loop. But for parents in the Superdome and Astrodome, for parents living with children in somebody's spare room, for parents in a motel room crammed with three generations of a family, from the old and frightened to the young and colicky--for those who lost everything and yet are still functioning as parents--well, please consider this a small salute from far away. A small attempt to recognize, and honor. You're saving a country, too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)