News Roundup 2

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/business/global/01italy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

"Is Italy Too Italian?" 

There are supermercados and a few other chains, but Italians stick with non-chain pizza places and cafes. They have different priorities and views. Much like Spaniards, they are clannish and their loyalties are on the regional level instead of the national level.

"While its finances are not as precarious as those of Greece, Portugal or Ireland, because it is far larger — the Italian economy is the seventh largest in the world — its troubles are more frightening." "'Italy’s problem isn’t that we have a lot of debt. It’s that we don’t grow.'”

"Until recently, there weren’t any rules about what “Made in Italy” actually meant, but that will change when a new law goes into effect in October. It states that if at least two stages of production — there are four stages altogether — occur in Italy, a garment is made in Italy."

"Economists said that Mr. Barbera had a point, but they also said that worrying about this issue was like fretting about the head cold of a patient with Stage 3 cancer."

"It is defined, to a large degree, by deep-seated mistrust — not just of the government, but of anyone who isn’t part of the immediate family — as well as a widespread aversion to risk and to growth that to American eyes looks almost quaint."

"Italians, notes Professor Altomonte, are among the world’s heaviest consumers of bottled water. 'Do you know why? Because the water in the tap comes from the government.'"

Health issues abound in recent news:

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/641751.html - comparison of Italian and African kids' diets and their gut bugs.

"The problem is we eat too much cheap, convenient food because it's our lifestyle and that can contribute to allergies," added Marianne Grant, a registered dietitian and health educator at Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center in Corpus Christi.

With the introduction of antibiotics and vaccines we might have also got asthma and allergies. Whoppee doo.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405602444073276.html

At least this one makes sense - bad food leads to bad cholesterol. What I don't like is that this focus could neglect to realize there are some people with bad cholesterol who lead healthy lives. Many times it is controllable yet sometimes it is not.

Mosque at Ground Zero? 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10846716

"The Muslims are not responsible for 9/11. There have been extremists in all religions. Denying them the ability to build a mosque… would be like London denying the Roman Catholic Church the opportunity to build a church during the years of the IRA bombings."

Unfortunately the issue isn't that simple; the physical presence will not erase feelings. If someone fears them, they will most likely fear them more. If someone understands the difference, they will continue to understand the difference. There probably would be some who take the initiative to research or who will listen to those who try to explain the difference, but unfortunately, I think this is the wrong step to take towards creating more awareness.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/03/2010-08-03_six_teens_drown_in_shreveports_red_river_while_trying_to_save_each_other_in_loui.html

A very good idea to learn at least the basics on how to swim. Or how to rescue others even if no one knows how to swim. Sticks or rope, anyone?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-03/tropical-storm-colin-forms-east-of-antilles-on-likely-path-east-of-bahamas.html

I like how this tropical storm has just managed to achieve its status by going 1 mph over tropical depression. Also, its name is Colin. :)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202439/as_smartphone_growth_skyrockets_which_brand_will_dominate.html?tk=hp_new

Along with the news that iPhones are much easier to jailbreak, I think Android is doing quite well, don't you?

News Roundup 1

Every week I get an email with a summary of news. It's far from dry and boring but it certainly doesn't cover everything and it misses things I would like to know about or that I'd find interesting. So, this is my own round-up. It might not be every week, it might be more than once a week, it might turn out to be monthly. It might not interest you, it might bore you to death, it might be all repetitive. But it's the news that interests me and I'd like to keep a kind of "newspaper clippings" blog that might be fun to browse through again in the future. Plus, I don't read the news anywhere near as much as I feel like I should to be an informed citizen so this is an added incentive. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-30/russian-farm-crisis-spreads-as-wildfires-kill-five-leave-2-178-homeless.html

Moscow hit 100 degrees F yesterday - for the first time in the 130 years of record-keeping. I'm surprised they're managing to deal with the heat wave at all. While it is sad that there are any death, I'm surprised only 25 have died so far. I have trouble beginning to fathom just how much land has been destroyed with wildfires - 25.5 million acres? Searching for equivalence shows that's almost 11 Yellowstones. Okay, so big. It is the size of developed land in the U.S.A in 1960. A better comparison perhaps, but our developed land has more than doubled since then and I wasn't around in 1960. "The land area of the lower 48 states is approximately 1.9 billion acres. To put things in perspective, keep in mind that California is 103 million acres, Montana 94 million acres, Oregon 60 million acres and Maine 20 million acres." The commonly used yardstick of Rhode Island is tricky, for the exact same reason that measuring coastlines technically lead to infinity. But, like the guy says, the smallest state with no coast line is Vermont, which is 9,249.56 square miles, or 5,919,718.4 acres. Okay so 4 and just under 1/3 Vermonts. Not sure I'm any closer to understanding how big the area is beyond "like, whoa, a lot." A bit more detailed search about land size than I'd intended. Moving on ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2010-07-30-hailstone-largest_N.htm?csp=34news

Heaviest hailstone recorded in the United States! Okay, maybe not the world's largest or even the nation's largest in circumference ever recorded. And it may have been smaller than it originally was since the farmer kept opening the freezer to show it to people before the official measurement. But it's big and makes me wonder whether how much damage it could have done if it hadn't simply landed on the lawn but, say, a cow or his house.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202249/amazons_new_kindle_spells_doom_for_other_ereaders.html?tk=hp_blg

As someone who holds a library science degree, I am supportive of embracing new technologies and cheer when I hear people mention their ebook readers have led them to read a lot more than they would have otherwise. As a backpacker, I am fascinated by the idea of how many books you can cram on one of them and thus (hypothetically) freeing up space. But as a reader? Nope, just not interested. So darn expensive, would probably keep the tree versions, would get them from the library if I can, wouldn't want my books "accidentally" deleted, needs to be charged, wouldn't take it backpacking anyway, and sometimes - shock! - I am weary of using electronic devices. However, I keep a tab on ebook readers and this idea of lower prices is definitely of interest to me. I think if they went low enough I would get one to see how it went - they can be handy and I don't think they're going away anytime soon. It's good to keep in touch with what people use that libraries might need to pick up on.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/07/north-korea-shames-its-world-cup-losers/1

Six hours of taunting in front of 400 important people?? Improvement because they used to be sent to prison camps if they performed badly? And this is after the government had banned live broadcasting of the games in North Korea because they knew they were going to do badly. And then they decided it wasn't humiliating after all after they lost 2-1 in their second game so they lifted the ban. Good grief. Oh, and I like this part:

"Also, coach Kim Jong-hun reportedly has been relegated to a construction job and expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea. (They make him a blue collar guy, but won't let him be in the Workers' Party? Go figure.)"

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE66T0ST20100730

I really want to get my hands on a translated copy of this book. I would read it with criticism but it's got to be extremely interesting to read. The reason for the confiscation of the biography of Kim Jong-Il? "The embassy officials said it contained false information because it made references to other texts published in North America about Kim, son of North Korea's late founder, Kim Il-sung, the country's "eternal" president."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/world/la-fg-korea-torpedo-20100724

Someone needs to finally figure this out. It doesn't seem like that complicated of a whodunnit, but then you add the words "nuclear bombs" and "world politics" to the picture and it's impossible to solve. 

Did the president make a bad move showing up on "The View?" Well, I'm unfamiliar with the show and I haven't watched the particular episode but I think it's a lot of hullabaloo over what should just be a way for citizens to connect with the president and hear what he has to say. Katie Couric is right to say "it's not beneath him" but I think I agree that instead of reaching out to people who need to hear from him, it might have been a bit more like preaching to the choir. It is true that his rankings have been declining so he might have needed to bolster the spirits of his supporters. Also, it didn't hurt the show any since they were being considered for termination.

Well, that's enough for "News Roundup #1." Let me know if you liked/disliked it.

Why *is* a raven like a writing desk?

I tend to like anything related to Alice in Wonderland. Just have ever since it was my favorite movie to watch when we lived in the trailer (before I was five, so before I could read captions). By following a strange line of "only on the Internet" connections, I have found what is by far my favorite answers.yahoo.com, which happens to be about Lewis Carroll. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100304071140AAuCUY0
Now, I always knew the author never intended for the question to have a real answer, but the part about "nevar" I nevar knew before. I like typing "nevar" so it's fun to have validation from one of my favorite authors. :) I found http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1173/why-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk had a more colorful and explanatory description of the whole hullabaloo over "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Although Carroll Lewis did eventually provide an answer and I do like "Because there's a B in both and an N in neither," I find it more fascinating that the Mad Hatter asked the question, didn't have a clue what the answer might be, and we're still wondering. It reveals more than it conceals, just not of the expected subject. The connection between ravens and writing desks? No, the nature of the human mind which simply insists that there be a connection.

Mulberries!

First, a couple updates:

1) The new house is wonderful! Of course not perfect, especially the disappointing discovery that the soil in the small gardening area is simply too wet for the plans I had (it was actually completely underwater after an especially drenching rain earlier this week). It's so much quieter; no horns or loud engines. You can hear the train but it is about half a mile away and the whistle seems whimsical to me now. Most of the people in this subdivision have dogs, there's quite a lot of families with children, and we're about 300 feet from a lake. Not much of a beach really, but at least a place to drop a canoe or small sailboat in. It takes just under three minutes to drive to the train station, lakes and trails are abundant, and there's plenty of shopping not too far away in multiple directions (if you know me, you know I mean things like groceries and walmarts, not expensive clothing stores). Strangers smile and greet you, which I didn't realized I'd missed so much. Overall, I feel less stressed, happier (such a generic and boring term but it'll do for now), and life feels like it holds so much more.

2) Ashley and Philip's wedding in Austin, TX went superbly! Of course, I wasn't aware of all the planning and detail hiccups that inevitably cropped up, but the celebrations were a blast. As one of the bridesmaids said afterwards, you know it's a good wedding when the pastor is dancing barefoot to AC/DC. Colin made fast friends with our host, one of Ashley's Austin friends, who is also a computer geek. I really enjoyed seeing so many K College people and swing dancing with Laurel. We managed to take a 4 oz jar of local honey through airport security that was a wedding favor. At the Houston airport while we were waiting for the flight to Milwaukee, Colin noticed they were looking for two people to volunteer their seats. After contacting some work people, we decided to go for it and partway through the planning with the airlines, we realized we could call up my aunt who lives in Houston and see if we could see them or possibly stay with them instead of at a hotel. It all worked out; my cousin picked us up and we got to see their "new" house (they've been living there for 7-10 years). In the morning before heading back to the airport, another cousin brought over her daughter who is less than two years old and the last time we saw her she was about 3 or 4 months old. She had great fun playing a "game" with me of picking out a blueberry in her cereal, looking at my reaction, putting the blueberry back in the bowl, looking at my reaction, picking it out, and so on. That was just before we left; after half an hour or so of being shy and climbing all over her mom, she was warming up to me.

Now onto the main topic:
There is backyard space that is shared with other houses and along the back perimeter are trees blocking the view to the houses nearby not in the subdivision. Colin and I ambled back there and I noticed a tree with berries on it. "Are those mulberries?" I asked. With a little internet searching, I found my suspicions were right and I started forming ideas of making jam or pies. Colin worried about whether or not we were allowed to pick them, but when I emailed our landlord, she said "Why not? Go for it!" So the next day, which happened to be the same day Tom was hanging out, I suggested we go pick them. It was fortunate he, who has some canning experience, was there to help pick out the equipment and know things like wiping off the lips of the jars before putting the lids on them. It took maybe three hours from tree to can and it was quite fun. We filled up 5.5 half-pint jars! Mulberry jam/preserves are delicious; if you've never had any, it's sweet and flavorful and the seeds don't seem to get stuck in your teeth. It does stain your hands really well and the biggest chore is taking the stems off (or more accurately, taking the pulp off the stem). Then about a week later, I checked the tree again and found many more were ripe and ready again. I was afraid the thunderstorms had caused most to fall off but there were plenty for another round of canning with Tom. We filled "only" four jars this time but there are so many berries still on the tree (yes, one tree). Colin suggested I take pictures of the process and post about it.

First, the tree and unripe berries:

I remembered the camera after we were done picking so I took this picture on the way back out:

The berries!

Nobody wants the stems in their jam. Trial and error taught us that the mulberry stem goes almost the whole length of the berry and the easiest way to separate them is to squeeze off the bottom half then the top half of the pulp. The system:

The technique:

The second batch we decided to keep boiling a bit longer since the first, while it tasted great, was kind of runny. We used a very simple recipe: 1 part berries, 1 part sugar, with a recommended canned boiling time of 5 minutes. The second batch actually tastes better - more like berries but still quite sweet but in the jar it doesn't seem to look different. Stirring the pot:

Lifting out the filled jars:

A couple clues to the clean up (the hands are *after* washing them):

Ta da! The end product:

first post from phone

I've found I have the time to drop a quick entry while in range of the internets but without my "real" computer (which brings up the question of whether or not my netbook counts as a real computer but I think it does). So typing out an entry with many typos, hopefully all of which will get caught but no guarantees. I have been pretty busy this hot humid week moving. Yes, apparently my favorite moving weather when I get drenched in sweat (no exaggeration), get sun burns and rashes, bruised, tired, stressed and sore. But all considered, the move is going remarkably well. Everything except furniture should be out of the old place by tomorrow then furniture gets moved Saturday. Also have to go back to Colin's old place's roommate's new place to pick up what he didn't even move into the current place (no room). We also need a new bed but it's not clear if anyone will pick up our old one via freecycle. And Laura and Mom will be in the area by dinnertime tomorrow night since Laura has her flight to Europe for study abroad Saturday evening - barring any volcanic interruptions of course. Yay stress!

Oh I don't think I have mentioned the new phones. For an early birthday present to ourselves we got google nexus ones. As you may or may not know, Colinhad been falling apart physically for sometime now and mine got so no matter how loud I or the other person yelled it was very hard to communicate (this is on top of my usual trouble with phones and the embarrassment of sometimes finding mysef in public shouting into the phone). Overall they are awesome. I have a bit interference woth my hearing aids which should have died like three years ago. Even without currently ha ing a data plan it's still awesome to use, includin for navigation as long as you look up the directions with wifi before hitting the road. I can't even remember well enough how much the new phone has affected my life but it has in so many different ways. For those pf you with good memory, the Peek is not a lost cause; it will be going to Sarah as a graduation present. Perfect for someone starting out in the real world with a teaching job.

Colin and I along with Emily who took the train from Kalamazoo drove overto Iowa last weekend to see Sarah's graduation. it was a nice weekend although quite warm and a little low on sleeping time. During the
Baccalaureate we sat in the second row and I was on the end. in the midle of one of the songs while we were standing, the elderly man dircetly in frpnt of me suddenly sat down. It was a bit odd but it was't until Colin bent over to doubpe check on him was it apparent that something was wrong. The man was not responding very well and people rushed over to help him and call an ambulance. The ceremony continued while the checked on him, laid him on the floor on his side, and then took him out on a stretcher. I kept making sure there was enough room but the whole time I was also focusing on not freaking out. I had been so sure he was dead ... and it hit me really hard since all I could think about was my grandma and how she just fell out of her chair, sitting next to my mom in a doctor's waiting room ... Colin and I left when they cleared out because I was so shoken up.

I didn't mean to end on such a sombre note but I am tired of typing (just can't get the hang of these onscreen keyboards) and there isn't really any other news. Next time I will hopefully be moved into the new plac, probably with everythig still in boxes - but I can't wait for the moving tp be over. Hopefully we'll have all of Monday to just relax together in the AC!

Much-needed update

It has been a busy month ... let's see how much I can type up here. First, I've been jogging four days per week pretty consistently and just this Monday I was able to jog the usual 2 miles without needing to pause. Exciting but slow and steady progress; I do 12-13 minutes per mile, if the distance markers are correct on the trail. What's funny is how the stairs wipe me out when I come back in afterwards.

We did indeed go and see Neil Gaiman read downtown. We tried to get the tickets the Wednesday before but found that they were no longer available on-line and I had to go get them in person at the place. So I took a trip via Metra and found myself at a darkened ticket booth which was still not at all set up but there were people milling about the area. It turned out the website failed to mention that the tickets wouldn't be available until Friday. So I was disgruntled but I remained polite and did let them know I'd come quite a ways. Long story short, they promised me two tickets would be waiting for when we got there Friday night. We needn't have worried because it wasn't sold out. After a quick dinner with Tom and Keegan, we arrived late for the reading but found that we were just on time. The reading was fantastic; the overhead screen showed a close-up of Neil's face so I could easily understand him. However, they neglected to turn on the video in the second half so I became quite bored and thought he'd forgive me for pulling out "Smoke and Mirrors" and reading it while he read. I was somewhat able to follow along when he was doing Q and A though. Afterwards, we hung out with Sally, Karen and her boy at their hotel room for a bit before finally heading home.

The following week things didn't go so well when I got into an accident. I was driving in the left lane of a four lane road and at an intersection where the light was green, I ran into the back of another car who was waiting to turn left. It's not entirely clear how it happened, but I remember seeing one car in front of me, then noticing "for rent" signs, and when I turned my attention back to in front of me, a different car was stopped. The distance was too small for me to do much but I did try to brake, knowing that the best way was to run into her rather than try to swerve into the other busy lanes. My airbag went off and the hot tea I'd just gotten spilled all over my pants, but otherwise I was physically fine (there was a little airbag rash that I noticed later but it never hurt and I was stiff and couldn't move my neck to look up for a couple days later but overall yes, I am okay). I couldn't open my door to get out and had to roll down my window. My car was totalled with the repair estimated at twice as much as my car was worth. The other woman's car was leaking gas so she had have hers towed too. Commence a lot of stress, insurance crap, trying to not let my general annoyance with area drivers become too out-of-control, etc. Let's just say I really hate the smell of airbags; I peeled off the K College window sticker but had to throw it away because it reeked of airbag.

The rest of the month has been dealing with that but a few other things have happened also. Colin and I both got Google Nexus Ones as birthday presents / this year's toys and overall I've been enjoying it, even without any data plan attached. Still playing around and trying out different apps. There is interference with my hearing aid when people call me but if I hold it a certain way it doesn't happen (unless I'm on the phone with Mom for half an hour and my arm is about to fall off) and I should be looking into new hearing aids soon anyway which will almost certainly have bluetooth connection. Then I'd be really cool!

Last weekend we went and saw a house in Zion. Even though it's two miles from a metra station, it'd be over half an hour drive to Colin's office, and the bedrooms are barely big enough to fit queens in, it's the one we've liked the most so far. Parking - check, puppy - check, good landlord - check. We're still looking though, all around north Chicago area.

We also saw my brother William who was in Chicago on a school trip. It was only for a couple of hours but it was really good to see him. He and his buddies were deceived by the look of the Chicago pizza and thought they could eat it all among the four of them but it turned out that they were only able to eat one slice each, so Colin and I got to eat their pizza after all, even though we ordered a separate pizza which came later and we just had boxed up.

Colin's birthday was Monday. It was pretty low-key but we managed to go out to dinner with a bunch of coworkers which was fun. I did play crossword puzzles on my Nexus One for the last bit while they talked shop.

Today is really warm. 81 degrees right now! I'm looking forward to Tom's birthday party tonight even though we (Colin) still hasn't gotten the beer for it and I'm not sure when we'll be getting there. Time to get back to accomplishing things.

OMG Neil!

This morning, I was slowly jogging earlier today for the second day in a row. Just getting my body used to the idea: "Body, this idea is called "jogging." Remember it?" "Oh my goodness! I'm heavier than I ever was when I jogged or ran before in my life! And I have whiny wimpy muscles! But this could be fun ... it's not that hard ..." Hence the *thought* rather than the action. The key is to go SLOW.

While I was jogging in between the raindrops (it's been thunderstorming and raining on and off the past couple days and I managed to go out when it's not doing those things), a bike passed me from behind. Things like this startle me. I've been hit by bikes because I don't know they're coming. Near my house in Charlevoix, there's a paved trail where some fanatical bikers go like 50 miles everyday so whenever I went walking, running, rollerblading, or biking on it I was constantly trying to not get run over by them. Then I started thinking "How could this problem be solved? Oh hey, that's easy - write something on the back of my t-shirt like HARD OF HEARING or DEAF. But probably not HOH ..." So now I need help figuring out what to put and how to put it on shirts. But doesn't that sound like a simple solution? I mean, sheesh, took me a while to think of how to avoid a certain type of accident ...

Then I got back and found Neil Gaiman had posted a new blog post and - oh my goodness! - he replied to my inquiry! You can see it at the bottom of the post found here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/04/how-to-mortify-your-daughter.html And I wrote a reply thanking him and explaining that a sign language interpreter would be lost on me. So now I'm going to be getting one of the books at the library with "Chivalry" in it to read. And Colin and I definitely plan on going to the event :)

So now it's off to have coffee with Colin before heading to the library and the grocery store. Colin's had to go in earlier than usual the last couple of days because of morning meetings and this morning I missed my alarm because I'd moved from one side of the bed to the other and I slept in later than I have in a long while. I might have needed that sleep though.