geezerdom

1000 trees for the 700 people in viola

2008-04-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

This August marks the three year anniversary of when a tornado struck Viola, causing more than $2 million in damage. Since then, citizens and volunteers have been slowly rebuilding the village.

One person involved in the cleanup activities is Harley McMillen. McMillen is being given the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council's Distinguished Service Award for his dedication and commitment to his community.

McMillen was an important part of the Viola cleanup. When he learned the village would not receive financial assistance from FEMA, he and other community volunteers came together to begin cleanup activities in Viola.

McMillen also helped organize Trees for Viola, a nonprofit group dedicated to replanting trees destroyed by the tornado. As part of Trees for Viola, McMillan applied for and received a grant for $15,202. The organization also raised additional money that was used to buy trees and fund other community projects.

To prove how successful Trees for Viola is, they will be meeting their goal of planting the one-thousandth tree in the village this month. Also, thanks to McMillen's dedication, Viola has become a Tree City USA community.

Excitement for Richland Center

2008-02-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, this bank had a 'bubbler' ot front bythe corner where the kids hung out. Friday nights were the big time when all the farmers came to town. This was the spot where I heard my first 'fuck'. Said by a sweet looking farmers wife. I was SHOCKED! Probably because at 7 or 8, I didn't know what the helll that was. So, we went home and used that word.....the soap didn't taste so good.....geez, my mother had no sense of humor.....

A Richland Center bank has been selected for the filming of a robbery scene in the gangster flick "Public Enemies," according to a newspaper report.
M&I Bank in Richland Center, which was built in the 1920s and features chandeliers and marble floors, is one of four banks to be robbed on camera, the Richland Observer reported. The other three have yet to be determined.
Scouts visited the Wells Fargo and Baraboo National banks in Baraboo a month ago, but seem to be broadening their search, visiting communities across Wisconsin, Illinois and parts of Indiana. Universal Pictures location scout Adam Boor told the Observer the studio has verbally committed to shooting in Richland Center, but no contract has been signed. The only other Wisconsin site Mann has chosen is the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, the scene of the John Dillinger gang's 1934 shootout with federal agents.
"That means that we're still in the running," said Gene Dalhoff, executive director of the Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce. "That's better than the alternative."
The film is set to star Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bale as the FBI agent who hunted him down. Filming reportedly will begin in Chicago. The Observer reports filming in Richland Center is scheduled for one day in early March.
While scouts choose locations for filming, others on Mann's team will conduct a casting call for Depression-era vehicles to appear in the movie. Filmmakers want people with antique cars, trucks and buses from 1930 to 1935 to bring them, or pictures of them, to Milwaukee's Miller Park on Sunday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. About 45 people turned out for a recent vehicle call in Madison, although nearly all just brought pictures of their vehicles because of road conditions.

You go guy!

2008-01-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I had argumets with my bank managers over using the drive up window at the bank. Much easier than taking the bike inside and I was always ready, so I didn't delay anyone. After a few discussions, they let me use the drive up window without hassle. Alas, that bank no longer exists....ATMS rule the day

Perhaps, one day, freeways will give way to bikeways.....

Chuck Thomas tried to get a TxTag; he really did.
Thomas, a financial analyst at Dell Inc., went on the tollway Web site and started filling in the boxes.

Texas 45 North's shoulders are wide, clean and smooth - ideal for Chuck Thomas, whose commute takes him about an hour.

"I got as far as 'type of vehicle,' " he says.
That was a problem, though, because you see, there's no box for "bicycle."
Yes, Thomas wanted to ride his bike to work on the Texas 45 North tollway. Actually, Thomas does ride his bike to work on the Texas 45 North tollway — has done so since October.
As far as I know, he's the only tollway bicycle commuter in Austin. And as far as I know, he's not deranged.
The Texas Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Safety aren't quite so sure. Thomas e-mailed TxDOT back in early October, inquiring about the legality of riding a bicycle on the four tollways here in Austin (TxDOT runs three of them, including Texas 45 North). He expected to hear that what he had in mind was against the law. To his great surprise, it isn't. Not yet, anyway.
Marcus Cooper, a spokesman for TxDOT's Austin district, replied in an e-mail to Thomas that the agency really wishes he wouldn't do it, that the tollways are designed for cars going 70 mph and that entrance and exit ramps would be especially problematic because the shoulders are thinner than on the highway proper.
"However, if it comes down to it, (it) is not against the law," Cooper concluded.
So Thomas, who has commuted by bicycle his whole working life (he's 43), started using Texas 45 North last fall. He and his family had moved west of Lakeline Mall off RM 620, rendering his former McNeil Drive commuting route well out of the way. The tollway is a straight shot, about 14 miles portal to portal. The ride takes about an hour.
He uses the shoulders, of course, not the highway lanes. The shoulders are a spacious 8 feet wide, Thomas says, and, being relatively new and made of concrete, are unusually smooth. There's very little trash, unlike Loop 360, for instance, where many cyclists ride, and traffic is much lighter than on 360 or other Austin highways. He says he feels safe.
There have been obstacles, though, mostly of the organic life-form variety. He began pulling into tollbooths at the Lake Creek plaza and asking what he needed to pay. Sometimes they charged him the 75-cent toll, sometimes not. But many times, in the early weeks, they told him he wasn't supposed to be riding there with his $600 Fuji Silhouette bike and its special commuter tires coated with Kevlar.
He carries a copy of the Cooper e-mail as a sort of hall pass, and that tended to do the trick.
"I'm not trying to freeload on anything," Thomas says. "I'm perfectly willing to pay a reasonable fee for a 30-pound bicycle." Whatever that might be.
TxDOT has since determined that it can legally charge tolls only on motorized vehicles, and the tollbooth hassles have ceased.
State troopers have pulled him over twice. He flashed the e-mail at 'em.
"Now they wave at me," Thomas says.
Then there's his wife, Pei. They have a 14-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. Thomas said that, philosophically, his wife likes that he's doing something ecofriendly. And that it keeps him in shape (5 foot 11 inches tall and a sturdy, wind-resistant 200 pounds) and saves the family money (they have just one car).
"But she's concerned about the danger," he says. "There is some risk."
Thomas stays well to the outside on the shoulders, and he has developed strategies to minimize his exposure time on the ramps. He says his exit at La Frontera Boulevard has a 6-foot shoulder and is lightly used because most eastbound Dell commuters take an exit east of Interstate 35 instead.
Despite the well-publicized deaths of a couple of cyclists in the past couple of years, both on Loop 360, Thomas said he is not frightened while riding on the tollway.
"I would like some company, though," Thomas wrote in a blast e-mail he sent to a cyclist forum in November.
Thomas has yet to see another cyclist on the tollway, and he's worried that if some don't join him, the powers that be might ban turnpike biking. The Texas Transportation Commission has the authority to do so, according to TxDOT, but hasn't.
"I would like to have some momentum (number of cyclists) to fight it in case that happens," he wrote in that posting.
Thomas never did get that TxTag, by the way. After being foiled on the Internet, he phoned the tag office and inquired. Given that he has no windshield for the tag, and the general oddity of his request, the tollway folks decided not to complete the sale.
"It jangled them," Thomas says. "I'm sure they had a good laugh and shared it around the water cooler."

You go guy!

2008-01-26T10:44:00.001-07:00

I'm a geezer who began riding on Washington's streets during the Johnson administration. I've never had any real problem with motorists, and I've never caused any motorist to do anything crazy or unsafe. Counterintuitively, I've found that drivers of buses and large trucks are among those least fazed by my presence. On both sides, I believe it's clear that sharing the road is all about competence and attitude and that the physical situation is not a problem unless we make it one.
With regard to bike paths, I think it's absurd to burn gasoline in order to take a bike ride. I'd rather just push my bike out the door and start riding than to load my bike onto my truck and take a drive before taking a ride.
TOM WILLIAMS

rebates

2008-01-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

I guess Walmart is not part of the economy

Tim from Richland Center, who questioned whether tax rebates to stimulate the economy would work if people will just spend them at Wal-Mart.

Pi a la mode

2007-12-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

from south dakota

Our Friday afternoon meeting was over, a poll question had been set, but as we were walking out, someone asked “What if we were to include pi (3.14) in our weekend question asking our readers’ favorite pie?”
Perfect. Not only are we big fans of math humor (when have you ever seen those two words used in the same sentence), but we had long been looking for a way to tap into that elusive, coveted demographic: geometry teachers.
And, despite its potential obscurity, we have been pleasantly surprised by pi’s showing in the race. Despite still trailing the field, it has more respectable John McCain-type numbers as opposed to Dennis Kucinich-type results. The tally as of 3 p.m. Monday:
Apple (523 Votes, 22%)Cherry (310 Votes, 13%)Lemon meringue (358 Votes, 15%)Pecan (482 Votes, 21%)Pumpkin (425 Votes, 18%)3.14 (249 Votes, 11%)

Way to go PI!!!!!

Used to be a cool guy, but now he is a geezer!

2007-12-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

Paul Soglin was once mayor of Wisconsin, some 35 years ago....I think he may have turned into a geezer!Suggesting bicyclists who venture out in winter storms be taken out and shot may not win friends in the two-wheeled world, but the modest proposal is a hit on the Internet.That wasn 't former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin 's main intent when he slipped the suggestion -- which he insists was meant to be subtle and ironic and topical -- into his blog, http://www.madison.com/toolbox/%22http://www.waxingamerica.com/%22. But it has opened a car door of insults onto a coasting commentary."Some people have no sense of humor, " he said Thursday, as the number of hits on the blog, and on him, continued to climb.Links to the blog, which Soglin shares with UW-Madison telecommunications professor Barry Orton, were passed around the country and soon the response list was replete with insightful and inciteful commentary.Winter bicyclists from the Yukon were pedaling their insults in response to Soglin 's relatively brief Wednesday commentary: "Bicycling Madison Style: As Dumb as it Gets. ""I was driving home Tuesday at a snail 's pace, and there were these lunatics out there riding their bikes in a snowstorm, which they had been doing over the weekend as well, " Soglin said Thursday."So there was a new five inches of snow on top of the ruts and ice we already had on the streets, and it was the middle of rush hour. And (the bicyclists) were all over the road, not to mention the guy who was on a moped, " he said."As a bicyclist myself, I hold us to higher standards than that. We are supposed to be more rational, more sane, smarter and better looking, " he said.In writing the storm-bikers should be "taken out and shot, " however, he used a phrase he thought would be familiar to the blog 's usual readers.The comment was an oblique reference to a similar comment posted facetiously by a teacher on another blog in mock praise of the Columbine shooters. The suburban Milwaukee teacher was arrested, but Washington County officials said this week he would not be prosecuted.But some in the bicycling community, especially those who bicycle during the winter, were incensed at Soglin 's remark."Fat, grumpy, intolerant ex-mayors ought to be shot. Get some exercise, ------- " was one, posted by "cyclomaniac. ""Maybe I was too subtle, " Soglin mused."There is a certain artistry to writing a post for a blog, and I had carefully woven in (self-effacing) references to calcified hippies, ' and then ... I thought this would be a subtle way of linking together all of us in the cheddarsphere ' who follow Wisconsin news and politics. "Orton thought Soglin was sort of asking for it."Paul deliberately put should be shot ' to echo that controversy, but not overtly, " Orton said. "Looking at it in straight print, it doesn 't always work so well."At the same time, he had a valid point. There are bikers who, in the middle of a storm, take it as a personal challenge to see if they can do it. The problem comes when bikers make that magic transition from biker to invisible being. "Many of the comments were impolite, some profane, and a few seriously discussed winter bicycling. Some savvy bloggers suggested the comment was "link-bait, " and the traffic was up, Orton confirmed. There were 1,600 hits by noon Thursday.A local bicycle listserve not only carried sarcastic reactions to Soglin 's comments but also a discussion on equipment for riding a bicycle in winter. (Tungsten carbide studded tires were recommended.)Soglin, who has defended himself online in a light-hearted, sometimes caustic fashion, notes he has consistently stuck up for bicyclists ' road rights and frequently tweaks the authorities if bicycling conditions are not addressed."As a bicyclist, I felt I had a responsibility to say something (about the snowstorm bikers). That 's probably why they are so upset, because it is coming from another biker. "By mid-day Thursday, Soglin sounded as if he was tiring of the controversy."If these nitwits don 't leave me alone, I 'm going to go after the trail bike riders next, " he threatened, subtly.

Max McGee, RIP

2007-10-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Met him once when he came to our High School is Wisconsin....

Max McGee, the unexpected hero of the first Super Bowl and a long-time challenge for Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, died Saturday after falling from the roof of his home, police confirmed. He was 75.
Police were called to the former Green Bay receiver's Deephaven home around 5:20 p.m., Sgt. Chris Whiteside said. Efforts to resuscitate McGee were unsuccessful.
McGee was blowing leaves off the roof when he fell, according to news reports. A phone message left at a number listed for an M. McGee wasn't immediately returned.
"I just lost my best friend," former teammate Paul Hornung told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "(His wife) Denise was away from the house. She'd warned him not to get up there. He shouldn't have been up there. He knew better than that."
Inserted into Packers' lineup when Boyd Dowler was sidelined by a shoulder injury, McGee went on to catch the first touchdown pass in Super Bowl history in Green Bay's 35-10 victory over Kansas City in January 1967. Still hung over from a night on the town, McGee caught seven passes for 138 yards and two TDs.

"Now he'll be the answer to one of the great trivia questions: Who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history?" Hornung said. "Vince knew he could count on him. ... He was a great athlete. He could do anything with his hands."
Though an admirer of Lombardi, McGee time and again pushed the tough-as-nails coach to the breaking point.
McGee -- remembered for saying: "When it's third-and-10, you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time." -- put Lombardi to the ultimate test prior to the first Super Bowl.

geezer having fun?

2007-10-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have met enough 80 year old men fighting over women to not be surprised about this story. I just could never understand why they do not share....

"An 80-year-old man accused of locking his girlfriend in a camper trailer has been sentenced to probation and ordered to attend an anger management class when he returns home to Oregon."
This odd story from the Reuters wire makes you go "hm".
The first thing that caught my attention is that the 80-year-old geezer has a girlfriend. I imagine a Depends-clad octogenarian vegetating in front of a TV, aiming his remote control at the alarm clock as he desperately attempts to change the channel.
But with the advent of Viagra, every old coot imagines himself the stud of the rest home. You go old man, I'm glad you aren't shooting blanks.
The old guy locked his girlfriend in a camper trailer; maybe that's the only way an octogenarian can keep a girlfriend for any length of time.
The idea of an 80-year-old goat taking an anger management class simply does not compute. When you reach the ripe old age of 80, your habits and temperament are set in stone. There is no way in hell that taking a class will make a senior citizen change his pugnacious ways.
I'm glad the old codger wasn't sentenced to a 30-day jail term; at his advanced age he may not have that many days left.

In it for the money?

2007-09-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

A group of 60-something men who live in Madrid are peddling something that may sound like it would not have much of a market.
The group, which calls itself the Geezers, is publishing the Nude Geezers calendar featuring nude pictures of themselves.
"There are some people who are offended at naked old men," said Doug Wesley, one of the participants.
"All clothes does is cover up the beauty," chimed in Len Self.
"Well, that's what our theory is, actually," said Wesley.
"If you come out in favor of motherhood and apple pie, somebody in town is going to take exception to it," added Peter Bruso, a third member of the Geezers to be featured in the calendar.
Unlike other beefcake calendars of firemen or police officers, the money raised by selling the Naked Geezers is not going to charity. It's going to the Geezers.
"This summer was my 60th birthday and so I officially became a geezer by our rules," said Wesley. "I gave this project to myself for a birthday present."
The grand unveiling of the Nude Geezers calendar takes place Saturday afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. at Madrid's old boarding house, and the geezers will be on hand to sign the calendars.
So far, the Geezers say the reaction to their project has been positive.
"Well, the women," said Bruso, "I've gotta fight 'em off. I'm approached on the street every day and it's been a project fighting 'em off."

Geezer sex

2007-08-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

THE NEW report from the New England Journal of Medicine detailing the sex lives of the elderly might have a big "ewwww"; factor for some people. Especially those whose image of "elderly" is a doddering, frail 90-year-old with limited, er, faculties.
That's not our image of the elderly, at least not since the AARP started stalking us through the mail a few years ago.
In fact, we're happy about the news that many people between 57 and 85 report having active sex lives, engaging in it at least two to three times a month.
For us, the "ewww"; factor comes after pondering the implications of this news. By that we mean: Geriatric STDs.
For as night follows day, isn't it safe to assume that if more elderly are having sex, more are also suffering from sexually transmitted diseases?
The Center for Disease Control says its data doesn't show an increase in STDs among the elderly, although other health experts are not so sure. Anecdotal evidence suggests that certain sex-transmitted diseases could be on the rise.
So, for all you dirty old men (and women) out there: Have fun. But be careful. *

Father in law used to work at S&S in Viola

2007-07-10T17:06:00.001-07:00

Thousands of motorcyclists are expected here when S&S Cycle holds a 50th anniversary celebration in June of 2008.S&S, which has facilities in La Crosse and Viola, plans to sell the first 50 cycle engines it produced to 50 of the top custom cycle builders in the world during the celebration. That sale will be only one event during what organizers believe will be a rally that could attract 2,000 or more cyclists.S&S was founded S&S was “founded on speed,” by world record holder George Smith Sr., in 1958. Now under the leader of Smith's grandson, Brett, S&S remains devoted to producing engines and parts that make motorcycles, ranging from Harleys to custom cycles, go faster. The company employs more than 400 people, ranging from engineers to workers on the assembly line. S&S opened a 170,000 square foot facility in La Crosse in 2005 and has its original plant in Viola.S&S might be best known in Wisconsin for the development, production, marketing and sales of performance parts for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. But the company has more than 6,000 domestic and international customers, primarily dealers, distributors and most recently, American motorcycle manufacturers like Victory Motor Cycles, Indian, Titan and Big Dog. Tens of thousands of riders annually install S&S parts on their bikes. The company's line of Super carburetors, with a distinctive chrome teardrop air cleaner cover, has been the industry's most popular carburetor for years. S&S products also have won numerous awards in competition. Some recent ones include Hot Bike's High Tech Product of the Year for its performance motors, American Rider's Aftermarket Company of the Year, and Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year's Special Award for "Relentless Research & Development."

An environmental friendly Congressman

2007-07-10T17:01:00.001-07:00

Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) is a bicycle fanatic who rides his various bikes about 2,300 miles a year.
One of his bikes, a limited-edition Trek, cost $6,800. "Better be quiet about that, my wife may be listening," he said quietly during a telephone interview from his home.
It should be no surprise that Oberstar -- the powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- recently inserted a bicycle provision into a hefty bill dealing with major airport and airplane projects.
On page 13 of the 168-page bill needed to fund the Federal Aviation Administration and its next-generation air traffic control system, Oberstar ensured that bicyclists and their rides were being represented.
The bill would allow airports to use federal funds -- which are usually tapped to build terminals and parking garages -- to construct bicycle storage facilities for passengers.
"Doesn't it make sense?" Oberstar said, noting that the fathers of aviation, Wilbur and Orville Wright, were originally bicycle builders.
Oberstar, 72, said he got the idea to include the bicycle provision in the FAA bill when he read a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about a man who rode his bike to catch a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The man could not find a place to put his bike, so he locked it to a signpost inside the terminal, the newspaper reported.
When the traveler returned from his trip, his classic Raleigh three-speed was gone. It had been cut up and carted away by security, said Oberstar, his voice dripping with equal parts remorse and disgust.
Oberstar quickly enlisted the help of bicycle enthusiasts to reassemble the bike. It was returned it to its owner at a press conference just days before the November elections. The incident got Oberstar thinking: Why were there no storage facilities for people who might want to use pedal power to reach the airport?
He made a pledge to his bicycle friends. "I told them that we are going to change the law," Oberstar said.
If the bicycle language becomes law, serious questions will soon emerge. Who would ever want to ride a bike to the airport? How would you get your luggage there -- in a side car?
"True, you likely wouldn't be going to an airport on a bike with a suitcase," Oberstar concedes, adding that bikes might work better when flying out on short trips.
Even if your airport has bike racks -- Reagan National has them; Dulles International does not -- how do you safely navigate NASCAR-inspired cabbies and other drivers racing to catch a plane?
Oberstar, who has never ridden a bike to take a flight, said he is already thinking of a solution: bike lanes on airport roads.

Geezers Rule

2007-07-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

The Geezer Brigade,celebrating its tenth anniversary (http://www.thegeezerbrigade.com) as THEhumor organization for "clever old people and their attorneys," has oncemore proclaimed July to be "Appreciate A Geezer!" with the theme, "EmpowerYour Inner Geezer!" Curmudgeons everywhere are again urged to speak up: "Not only do I wantmy Seniors' Discount, I'd like a little more APPRECIATION around here! Ididn't get to look this way just sitting around waiting for The DenturesFairy ... " (Phyllis Diller, the group's first Honorary Comedian, obviouslyinfected the Geezers early on with her offbeat irreverence for their"Golden Years.") Geezer-in-Chief, Hurricane Katrina survivor -- "It went right over ourintergalactic headquarters with me in them!" and Founder, 73-year-old JohnKernell, a former vice president of Hill and Knowlton International PublicRelations, is now calling on the talents of fellow Geezer, writer-artist-designer Ann Williams, 71, of Traverse City, MI, to remake the Website andhelp take the organization into its second decade online. The Brigade, with over a million visitors to its site since itsinception and 300 dues-paying members still standing (with help), willcontinue to offers its members a reliable dose of offbeat Senior humorevery morning of their fearsomely feisty lives, but plans on even moreinteractivity. A recurring theme continues as part of each morning's "Nooze of the Dayfrom The Geezer Brigade." The Chief always tells members of The Brigadewhat his helper. Babette nee O'Kallikak, of Wiggins, MS, is "doing" whileshe is, in fact, away visiting family. When she returns, she is inevitablyhorrified to discover the fantastical lengths to which he has gone to amuseand delight The Geezership. E.g. Artist Williams is asking visitors (and members) to picture whatthey think Babette will look like once she takes the bag off her head. Key to the future is how the Brigade redefines the word "Geezer" tosuit itself as "A mildly eccentric older person of either sex, who isgenerally fun to be around." "For example," chortles Kernell, "if good ol' eccentric Dick Cheneyonly knew how much fun he could be if he tried, we'd be out of Iraq in, oh,720 days, or so."

I miss you already Mr. Wizard

2007-06-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Don Herbert, 89, who as television's Mr. Wizard was for many years one of the nation's foremost popularizers of science, particularly noted for his ability to attract, inspire and hold the interest of children, died June 11 at his home in the Los Angeles area.
A son-in-law, Tom Nikosey, said Mr. Herbert died of cancer.
'Don Herbert, 89, who as television\'s Mr. Wizard was for many years one of the nation\'s foremost popularizers of science, particularly noted for his ability to attract, inspire and hold the interest of children, died June 11 at his home in the Los Angeles area.
Once an aspiring actor, Mr. Herbert used gifts of showmanship, imagination and manual dexterity to create demonstrations that satisfied the senses, expanded the mind and provided insight into the workings of nature.
People of all ages remained enthralled by his television appearances, which included brief science news flashes for adults, a number of TV science specials and "Watch Mr. Wizard," the long-running children's show that transfixed the baby-boom generation.
His instructional legacy, begun in the days of small-screen black-and-white television, has continued into the computer age, with the Web site http://www.mrwizardstudios.com.
Of all his achievements, his son-in-law said, Mr. Herbert probably considered his most important legacy to be "communicating science to children." Nikosey said thousands, and perhaps millions, were influenced by his TV show.
A significant figure in television history, Mr. Herbert brought his first show to the air on NBC on March 3, 1951. Television was still in its infancy in terms of the number of viewers and the effect it had on American culture.
Mr. Herbert's 30-minute show seemed to symbolize the potential of the new medium to instruct and entertain and to unite a mass audience around a common interest.
Within three years, almost 100 stations carried the show and science clubs inspired by it sprung up around the United States. In contrast with the modern admonition "don't try this at home," Mr. Wizard's viewers were prompted to do just that: that is, to reproduce the experiments and demonstrations they watched on the show.
Mr. Herbert had served in World War II as the pilot of a heavy bomber, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross and holding the rank of captain, and was unfazed by the challenges of performing live in the days before the modern TV prompter.
However, he prepared himself with "18 file cabinets full of notes," he once told the New York Times, and kept reminders to himself posted around the studio, out of sight of the camera, for emergency use.
Another of his secrets: "Even when things went wrong, we could always explain why."
With almost 550 live broadcasts, the show ran through 1965, winning praise from scientific organizations and earning Mr. Wizard the image of a permanent ambassador from the world of science.
After being revived on NBC, the show came to life again on the Nickelodeon cable channel from 1983 to 1990.
Donald Jeffrey Herbert was born in Waconia, Minn., on July 10, 1917, and studied at Lacrosse State Teachers College, now a branch of the University of Wisconsin. He studied drama and science in college and once performed in summer theater opposite Nancy Davis, the future wife of President Ronald Reagan.
In Chicago, where Mr. Herbert acted on radio, he presented broadcasters with the idea that combined his interests in theatrical performance and in the hard facts of scientific truth.
His first marriage ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife and three children.
The "wizard" of the title of Mr. Herbert's trademark show might seem to be the antithesis of science, but Mr. Herbert knew its value.
"We thought we needed it to seem like magic to hook the audience," he said, "but then we realized that viewers would be engaged with just a simple scientific question, like, why do birds fly and not humans?"

One tough geezer....

2007-06-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

A man cut off his own leg with a pocket knife to free himself after he was pinned beneath a fallen tree for almost 11 hours.
Al Hill, aged 66, from California, was working alone chopping down trees in a remote area of woodland, when one fell on his leg.
Unable to summon help because he could not get a signal on his mobile phone, he cut off his trapped leg. His cries for help were eventually heard by a neighbour, Eric Bockey, who ran for two miles before he was able to get a signal strong enough to call the fire service.
Mr Hill had been working near Iowa Hill, 60 miles from Sacramento, on Friday. The town of 200 people has no electricity and few services. Mr Bockey and another neighbour loaded Mr Hill on to a truck and drove him to an emergency landing site from where a helicopter flew him to hospital. Mr Hill, who had not gone into shock despite, received amputation surgery, said Luana Dowling, Iowa Hill's fire chief. "He's a pretty remarkable person," Mr Dowling said.
"Only me, Al and God were there that day," said Mr Bockey.
In May 2003, 27-year-old climber Aron Ralston, from Colorado, used a penknife to amputate his right arm below the elbow after spending five days trapped beneath a 57-stone boulder.

Burning books in Kansas City

2007-05-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

There are segments of this city where you go to an estate sale and find five TVs and three books," Leathem said.
The idea of burning the books horrified Marcia Trayford, who paid $20 Sunday to carry away an armload of tomes on art, education and music.
"I've been trying to adopt as many books as I could," she said.
Dozens of other people took advantage of the book-burning, searching through the books waiting to go into the flames for last-minute bargains.

flying with viagra?

2007-05-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I would not want to be on the test flights where they are testing viagra for jet lag....a bunch of horny guys stuck in the aluminum tube could get ungly....worse than snakes on the plane.....maybe we could call it woodies on the plane!

Worried about jet lag? Researchers think they might have just the ticket to perk you up: Viagra.
While it's too early to know if it will work in humans, Argentinean researchers are reporting that the drug sildenafil -- better known by the brand name Viagra -- appears to reduce symptoms of jet lag in hamsters.
Viagra does come with potential side effects, and some men might not appreciate experiencing a temporary respite from erectile dysfunction at 30,000 feet. Still, a sleep specialist called the research promising.
"We do need more effective therapies for jet lag and for sleep difficulties that occur as a consequence of shift work," said Dr. Robert Vorona, an associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School who's familiar with the study findings.
In the study, researchers administered small doses of sildenafil to hamsters before adjusting the cycles of light and dark they lived in. This reset their body clocks as if they'd taken a six-hour plane trip to the east.
The hamsters recovered 25 percent to 50 percent more quickly from the equivalent of human jet lag, needing less time to synchronize themselves to the new schedule, said Dr. Diego Golombek, a researcher with the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires. He said sildenafil worked at least as well as melatonin, a jet-lag treatment.
But the drug didn't help hamsters who underwent a simulation of westward jet travel.
The findings were published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The drug, originally developed to treat high blood pressure and angina, might alleviate jet lag by interfering with a molecule that sends signals to the hamster brain's body clock mechanism, Golombek said.
But the potential impact on humans isn't clear, and Golombek said people shouldn't rush out to prevent jet lag with doses of Viagra. For one thing, Viagra can cause side effects such as low blood pressure.
As for the next step, Golombek said "a full-scale clinical trial has to be performed in humans, which is indeed quite expensive and time-consuming. Jet-lag trials might involve laboratory simulations, but we also need 'the real thing,' which means testing pharmacological treatments on long-haul air travel."
And that, he added, will take even more time.

quiet, please!

2007-05-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

Sam Rozati of Colchester, England, regarding an incident that started when he walked past a nest of geese at a tranquil lake while talking on his cell phone:
"They flew over and started biting my hand until I dropped the phone."
One of the geese made off with the cell phone.

I am glad we did have commencement when I went to this school....

2007-05-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

Ellen Foley

Deborah Cureton, dean and CEO of the University of Wisconsin-Richland in Richland Center, invited me to give the commencement address May 11 to the school's 70 or so graduates.
It was a thrill to spend some time with the dedicated faculty at this intimate campus about an hour and a half drive west of Madison and to get to know the stories of the hardworking students, most of whom hail from the Richland Center area and many of whom will attend four-year campuses of the university next year.
I understand that a DVD version of my speech will be coming out next week. For those of you patient enough to read the full speech, you'll understand why that might be rather entertaining.
Here's your editor in her multimedia splendor:
Commencement Address
University of Wisconsin-Richland
It is such a treat for me to drive through the rolling hills of Wisconsin to Richland Center.
I couldn't help pondering on the drive from Madison the very words that name your school and your town: RICH LAND.
I am humbled to have been asked to share a bit of commencement wisdom with the graduates of such a magical place
You are some of our best and our brightest. Many of you are the first person in your family to graduate from college. And we know that it hasn't been an easy pull for most of you.
I sit on an interesting perch as an editor of a newspaper who is becoming the editor of a newspaper AND a website.
Technology is changing my work life dramatically. And because I realize that your lives are about to change dramatically, I feel surprisingly qualified to share with you a few observations about what the world needs from the graduates of this fine school.
You are blessed with at least two great gifts that are going to propel you into leadership roles ---- not only in your home communities --- but most likely in the world.
These two gifts are tools and timing.
We'll take timing first.
Congratulations on choosing the best time since the year 2000 to be looking for a job. The economy is booming for many industries. The stock market keeps setting record highs. There are a lot of business moguls with lots of cash investing in very interesting corners of American life.
A recent article in the Wisconsin State Journal (which you can also see on madison.com/wsj), noted that the hiring of college grads will increase almost 20 percent this year from 2006. That's a 20 percent increase in just one year. The big winners are those studying engineering, business, health care and computer-related fields.
However, recruiters told the State Journal that the job-seekers who will command the highest salaries and the best jobs have one distinguishing trait: They are well rounded.
Employers are looking for graduates who have had jobs during school, who can communicate, who have leadership potential and who can work on a team.
In short, they are looking for the kinds of students who come from this Rich Land.
In addition to your school work, your dean tells me that you have been athletes, newspaper editors, student government leaders, campus ambassadors, musicians, thespians, tutors, work-study students, Road Ralley winners (AND LOSERS. Sorry about that) active members of various clubs ---- and much more.
You are exactly what the nation's employers and universities are looking for.
You also have an historic demographic shift going for you. There are many Baby Boomers, like me, and a lot fewer of you. There will be many more jobs than job seekers in the coming years as the Boomers retire. If you play this right, you will be in the driver's seat when you go to find a job.
So let's move to gift, No. 2.
Tools.
You are THE multimedia generation. You have amazing tools. You watch movies at home via DVDs or TIVOs. And you do this ---- cuddling your laptops so you can IM your friends and keep your eye on the text messages coming in on your cell phones. (Laughter)
I have observed this at my own home.
Most likely every one of you has a cell phone that you will use to take photos tonight. Some of you may even be recording me right now with your Ipods.
Recently a professor at the Madison campus suggested the next wave of change will involve nanotechnology in the wallpaper of our homes. It will sit there quietly monitoring our vital signs ready to call our physicians if we need to go to the emergency room. This astonishes me!
Very soon OUR WALLPAPER IS GOING TO BE CALLING OUR DOCTORS!!!
Yes, I see you're laughing, but I also know that you are a bit relieved, because you don't want to be the ones coming by to check mom's blood pressure every day.
Let the wallpaper do it!
My point here is that the tools will continue to evolve exponentially and in another year or perhaps two, the job you have trained for or the topic you are preparing to study at your next college will be changing and you will need to be nimble enough to change with it. You will need to create the next tool. You will need to build on the technology.
With these two gifts come almost unfathomable challenges. Author Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in his recent bestseller told us that our world is flat. Routine jobs, such as customer service call centers, will be offshored to places, such as India, where the cost is lower and the quality may be better.
You will need to stay one step ahead of these complicated global changes, including the warming of the planet.
Many of you are saddled with debt from student loans. We worry about how you will build a life when starter homes in places like Madison cost $200,000 and health care benefits take increasingly larger bites out of paychecks.
You are coming of age at time of random violence, from Oklahoma City to Columbine to 9/11 to Virginia Tech. These horrific events will define the rest of your lives and keep you ever vigilant.
We are a nation at war, as your colleague Cody can attest to. We look to your leadership so that this conflict will come to an end.
We will look to your skills of diplomacy so our nation can resolve other international tensions without resorting to warfare and the deaths of our brave soldiers.
Yes, you are a lucky group but you will need to use your gifts wisely.
This, of course, is why your administrators invited ME to give this commencement speech.
I have the secret to success.
And I will give you that secret in just one minute after I explain to you how hard this is. You see, the problem with commencement addresses is that no one ever remembers what the speaker says.
I asked our State Journal researchers to help me remember the details of my own commencement from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1974. I was pretty sure it involved Sen. George McGovern and the reading of a poem.
Not only was George McGovern NOT the commencement speaker but there was no poem. (Laughter.)
Our speaker was then-Lt. Gov. Marty Schreiber and he spoke to us passionately about avoiding another Watergate scandal. You'd think I'd remember that.
So graduates, listen up. This is the only thing we expect you to remember after you have long forgotten Ellen Foley or mixed her up with Hillary Clinton. (Hoots.)
If you remember nothing else, remember THIS simple secret to success:
Are you ready?
WALK ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET.
Walking on the sunny side of the street is a choice you will have to make every day of your life from now on. And I want to emphasize that word "Choice". It is a daily job.
It is hard work to choose the sunny side.
I am not going to go on and on about this because it's getting late, and we all know you are NOT going to remember much of what I just said. So I'm going to try something that I hope will embed this secret of survival into your reptilian brains. And I'm going to use one of those multimedia tools I referred to --- albeit a low tech one.
I'm going to sing a little song for you.
A capella.
This should be memorable.
I have never done this before in public in my entire life.
GRAB YOUR COAT AND GET YOUR HAT
LEAVE YOUR WORRIES ON THE DOORSTEP
LIFE CAN BE SO SWEET
ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET
CAN'T YOU HEAR THE PITTER PAT
AND THAT HAPPY TUNE IS YOUR STEP
LIFE CAN BE COMPLETE
ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET
I USED TO WALK IN THE SHADE
WITH MY BLUES ON PARADE
BUT I'M NOT AFRAID
THIS ROVER'S CROSSED OVER
YOU'LL BE RICH AS ROCKEFELLER
GOLD DUST AT YOUR FEET
ON THE SUNNY
ON THE SUNNY
ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET.
Congratulations, graduates.

A bad time a long time ago....

2007-05-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

There is little overt physical evidence now that UW-Madison's Sterling Hall was the site of a horrific act of domestic terrorism.
To date, there has been nothing to mark the fact that a young post-doctoral student in physics, Robert Fassnacht, lost his life there.
That's about to change.

This afternoon, more than 37 years after a truck bomb blasted a crater in Sterling Hall, the UW-Madison physics department will dedicate a plaque in memory of Fassnacht, who was killed in the Aug. 24, 1970, attack.
"I'm personally embarrassed that it's taken so long," said UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, who knew Fassnacht well from his days here as a physics graduate student.
"The department's been trying to do something for a long while," added physics professor Wesley Smith.
The dedication will take place in the courtyard between Sterling and Chamberlin halls, near the bombing site.
Several members of Fassnacht's family -- possibly including wife Stephanie, son Christopher, and twin daughters Heidi and Karin -- are expected to attend.
"I did talk to Stephanie before we did this and got her permission," Wiley said. "We wanted to be respectful of her and she approved it."
The bombing capped a tumultuous time of protest on the UW-Madison campus against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The target was the Army Math Research Center on the upper floors of Sterling Hall, where it was alleged weapons research was being conducted.
The perpetrators hadn't counted on someone like Fassnacht being there at the time. Karl Armstrong, one of four people involved in the plot, said later that they bombed Sterling Hall in the wee hours of the night because they assumed it would be vacant. They hadn't wanted anyone to be hurt.
But Fassnacht, 33, was in his basement lab at Sterling Hall that night trying to finish a project before leaving on vacation with his family the next day for San Diego.
The blast at 3:42 a.m. was so powerful that pieces of the stolen Ford Econoline van containing the ammonium nitrate bomb landed atop an eight-story building three blocks away. Twenty-six buildings in the area sustained damage.
The bombing and Fassnacht's death rocked not only the Madison and university communities but also the anti-war movement.
The plaque commemorating Fassnacht's tragic part in history is simple, stating what happened there that summer morning.
There are lessons in that violent episode worth remembering, Wiley said, and posting a plaque is part of that.
"It's very valuable in a university that honors and respects free speech (to recognize) that there are limits to what's appropriate," Wiley said. "This was way beyond the extreme limits of what's appropriate."

a scared little boy

2007-05-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

Shawn Hainstock made no secret of his tears Thursday after a Sauk County Circuit Court hearing for his 16-year-old son, Eric, who is charged with killing the principal of Weston School in September.
"I'm concerned (Eric) might say the wrong thing (in an adult prison) and somebody would hurt him," Shawn Hainstock said, tears in his eyes. "Somebody would kill him, and that would be that."
In his first public interview since the shooting, Shawn Hainstock said he visits his son in the Sauk County Jail every day or two. "He kind of breaks down and cries a lot," he said.
Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart's decision last month that the younger Hainstock be tried as an adult was a "tragedy," Hainstock said. "My heart's been tore out," he said. "That just about killed me."
Eric Hainstock is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of John Klang, who was shot three times with a handgun while Hainstock wrestled with him at the school on Sept. 29.
Shawn Hainstock's comments came after Taggart heard a request from Assistant Public Defenders Jon Helland and Rhoda Ricciardi that the teenager's videotaped confession to police be declared inadmissible at trial.
Ricciardi argued the youth was railroaded into confessing to the shooting by law enforcement officers. She said police didn't make sure Eric Hainstock understood his rights before they questioned him.
"This kid had his rights rammed down his throat," Ricciardi told Taggart.
Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett countered that police were polite and thorough.
When the teenager said he was uncomfortable, police took his handcuffs off, she said. "Very, very quickly this confession occurs," he said.
On Thursday, Shawn Hainstock said Eric was drinking a lot of coffee to help him deal with confinement and sitting through court hearings.
"Nobody knows him like we do," Shawn Hainstock said. "They don't realize how loving a boy he is. He can be saved."
But he said his son is "getting railroaded."
Defense lawyers have argued the youth was abused from the time he was 2, suffered from hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder and had a troubled home life with his father and his adoptive mother.
Shawn Hainstock and his wife, Priscilla, have previously declined requests for interviews, but witnesses have testified that both parents abused him and failed to follow through on getting medication and counseling for the troubled boy when asked by school and social services workers.
Shawn Hainstock did not address those allegations Thursday.

A date to remember

2007-05-02T20:06:00.001-07:00

At three minutes and four seconds after 2 a.m., on May 6, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07.

Get down with math....

2007-05-02T20:03:00.001-07:00

Totally geeky, totally cool...

http://blog.syracuse.com/newstracker/2007/04/youtube_hit_what_you_know_abou.html

My hero!

2007-04-29T20:13:00.001-07:00

At 101-years-old, Clair Duckham, who co-founded the Dayton Cycling Club in 1961, pedaled his low-riding Whiz-Wheel trike from Vandalia to Troy Sunday morning under ideal bicycling weather in celebration of his recent birthday.
It's a trip that Clair said he has made hundreds of times over the years.
Among those who rode with Clair was former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft. This makes the sixth time that Taft rode in this birthday celebration ride, five times as a governor.
"It's a tradition," said Taft. "I'll be back next year if Clair rides."
The distance from Vandalia to Troy along the rural winding back roads of Montgomery and Miami Counties is 18 miles.

Oops, wrong kind of abstinence....

2007-04-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Randall Tobias, the former AIDS czar, resigned Friday after admitting he used the services of a Washington escort service.
Tobias -- in his former position as ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief -- was known for advocating sexual abstinence over condom use. More recently, he served as director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Tobias told ABC News Thursday he had been a customer of Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort service, although he said he received massages, not sex. His cell phone number was given the network by Judith Palfrey, nicknamed the "DC Madam," who faces federal charges for allegedly promoting prostitution.
"I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey said in an interview with ABC to be broadcast next week.

15 year old is an adult....

2007-04-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

Sue Klang's head dropped to her hands Monday after Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart ruled 16-year-old Eric Hainstock would stand trial as an adult for fatally shooting her husband Sept. 29.
Minutes later, Klang chose her words carefully for the media. "We are satisfied he's staying in adult court," Klang said. "I don't want him out free."
But she wasn't happy, she said - that word wasn't fitting for a tragedy all around.
"There's no good that comes out of this," she said. "There's no 'happy' there."
Monday ended a five-day hearing - a minitrial really - on a defense request that Hainstock be waived from adult to juvenile court, where, if convicted, the state would have been forced to release him at age 25.
Instead, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of first- degree intentional homicide.
Klang, widow of Weston School Principal John Klang, said treating Hainstock as a juvenile would have only encouraged those who use the Internet to exhort teenagers to school shootings and violence. "There are people out there to whom Eric Hainstock is a god," Klang said.
Klang said she doesn't blame anyone for the events. "I don't know if there is a blame - the school and social services were identifying problems (with Hainstock), and the family wasn't following through."
Hainstock is accused of shooting Klang three times in the hallway of the school outside Cazenovia as the principal tried to wrestle a handgun away from him. Hainstock was 15 at the time.
When he was arrested, he had a box of 12 shotgun shells and 44 bullets for the handgun in the pouch of his hooded sweatshirt, state Department of Justice special agent Elizabeth Feagles testified Monday.
Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett, who opposed treating Hainstock as a juvenile, said he faces an arraignment and a trial on the charges. But defense attorney Rhoda Ricciardi said Hainstock's defense team would have to decide first whether to appeal Taggart's ruling.
Ricciardi argued Hainstock would not get adequate treatment for his depression, hyperactivity and other personality disorders in Wisconsin's adult prisons.
She also told Taggart that Hainstock's behavior reflected untreated trauma in Hainstock's childhood, including sexual and physical abuse.
Hainstock, she argued, reacted violently to being touched unexpectedly, and defense witnesses testified that the teenager had no ability to carry out a plan to murder the principal.
After he was arrested the day of the shooting, two videos were made of Hainstock in the Sauk County Jail. In the first, the youth said he didn't intend to kill the principal, that he just wanted to talk to Klang about classmates who picked on him and called him a fag.
In the second, much shorter video, Hainstock is shown telling a jailer that he doubts his lawyer will be able to get him out of jail. "I doubt that'll happen since it's attempted (sic) homicide, I guess," the teenager said. "Which really sucks 'cause I can't ever hunt now."
A bit later on the video, Hainstock said to the jailer, "I have a question. Does (sic) felonies go away when you are 18? 'Cause that's what I was told was when you turn 18, your felonies are dropped because you're not a juvenile anymore."
Making the ruling, Taggart agreed that Hainstock probably wouldn't get adequate treatment in adult prisons.
But Taggart said the evidence showed "a level of organization" that demonstrated intent by Hainstock, and the judge said he had to consider whether juvenile court penalties would be severe enough to deter other potential school shooters.
On a police video shown Friday, Hainstock said he wanted to talk to Klang and his teachers about classmates who regularly called him a fag, rubbed up against him and punched him.
He told police he ate breakfast that Friday morning, then waited until his parents, Shawn and Priscilla Hainstock, went to work before getting two of his father's guns from locked cabinets and loading them, getting gasoline out of a lawnmower and putting it in a truck, then driving to school.
That "does show a level of organization toward a goal," Taggart said.
Ricciardi argued Hainstock's plan was to make somebody listen to his complaints.
"His plan was not to kill somebody," she said. "He was grabbed. He freaked out. Please listen to him now."
Sue Klang said she opposed Hainstock's transfer into juvenile court at least partly because she believes that's what her husband would have wanted.
She also said the same people who revile her on Web sites as "a liar" and "a poor excuse for a Christian" would be encouraged if Hainstock faced more limited, juvenile court penalties.
No trial date was set.

Wisconsin to make fuel from pooh!

2007-04-24T16:46:00.001-07:00

Making motor fuel from corn comes with a variety of problems, from the amount of energy it takes to produce ethanol to the impact on food prices.
But a report prepared today for a biofuels conference at Monona Terrace says other burnable material such as prairie grass, crop residue, papermaking waste or cow manure holds far greater promise for turning Wisconsin into an energy powerhouse.
Switchgrass grown at Agrecol, a business of agricultural ecological solutions in Evansville.
Wisconsin has almost 15 million tons of potential excess "biomass" that could produce 1.3 billion gallons of ethanol per year, enough to displace half of the 2.6 billion gallons of gasoline consumed in the state last year, according to the report from Better Environmental Solutions.
If burned to produce electricity, this same amount of biomaterial could also replace about 15 million tons of coal, roughly 55 percent of the state's entire coal use, the report said.
Tapping into these renewable resources is important because Wisconsin is almost totally dependent on importing its energy sources. Some $12 billion in energy spending leaves the state each year for purchasing coal, gasoline, natural gas or other fuels.
Expanding biofuel production will reduce this job and income drain and create better markets for the state's agricultural and forest production, the report said.
"Wisconsin has major untapped biomass reserves," said report author Brett Hulsey, president of Better Environmental Solutions. "While the state may not be able to match Silicon Valley as a high tech leader, it could be the Cellulose Prairie and Forest for biopower and biofuels."
The report was released today at the Nelson Institute Conference "Sustaining the Wisconsin Landscape: Biofuels Challenges and Opportunities."
Also today, Rod Nilsestuen, secretary of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, announced formation of a 12-state North Central Bio Economy Consortium.
The effort, which is being helped with a $100,000 grant from the Energy Foundation of San Francisco, is aimed at using perennial crops and crop residues to turn the Midwest into a leader in the next stage of bio-energy development.
Virtually all the biofuel produced in the U.S. comes from corn. Iowa and Illinois are the leading states in producing ethanol from corn. With the opening of United Ethanol in Milton on March 29, Wisconsin now has six operating ethanol facilities compared to more than 50 plants in Iowa.
But the Midwest states also have up to 231 million tons of potential excess biomass each year, according to the report. If converted to ethanol, this could yield 13.9 billion gallons of motor fuel, more than doubling current ethanol production. This excess biomass could also be burned, replacing 154 million tons of coal or about one-third of the coal burned in the 12 Midwest states each year.
"The Midwest is the potential biofuel Saudi Arabia of America," said Hulsey.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has been a big booster of the biofuels industry, proposing $40 million in his budget to promote renewable fuels including $5 million for a cellulosic ethanol plant.
Erin Roth, president of the Wisconsin Petroleum Council, said the oil industry is not opposed to ethanol per se, as long as its use is not mandated. A bill to require ethanol to be added to gasoline in Wisconsin failed to gain passage in the Legislature.
"We feel the market should decide," said Roth.
Roth's group is supporting legislative initiatives being advanced by the Wisconsin Soybean Association designed to develop and enhance Wisconsin's marketplace for biodiesel, Those initiatives include regulations to ensure the quality of biodiesel fuel; tax incentives for wholesalers, retailers and bulk users of biodiesel; and requiring all state motor fleets to increase their use of biodiesel to 20 percent by 2010 and 50 percent by 2015.
Hulsey's report said the state's greatest natural resources are its forests and wood products; corn production and corn stover, a major biomass source; dairy and beef cattle, therefore manure; and prairie grasslands in the Conservation Reserve Program and other conservation programs.
The state also has the largest papermaking facilities in the country, with many mills using wood for energy and looking for new sources of energy and revenue to compete with stiff international competition.
Already there are promising projects in the works. The Flambeau Paper Mill in Park Falls is experimenting with an advanced ethanol project and several Wisconsin ethanol plants are studying advanced biopower projects.
"If we take these steps, we will speed our efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, coal and save money while creating jobs and helping family farmers," Hulsey said.

Einstein sighting at University of Arizona

2007-04-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

A student was cited and released for minor in possession while attending Spring Fling, 4502 N. First Ave., around 10 p.m. April 12.Police saw a man helping a woman who was bent over a garbage can. The man then held the student in a "baby-lap position," according to reports.The officer approached them to check on the woman. She said she did not have identification but identified herself with her CatCard.The student's eyes were red and watery and her speech was slurred.When she put her CatCard back in her wallet, the officer saw her Arizona driver's license and found the girl was 20 years old.She was cited and released for minor in possession, after telling the officer that citing her was unfair because Albert Einstein was following her.

The saga of Cazenovia continues

2007-04-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how these incidents just go from bad to worse.....what to do with this 15 year old?

Eric Hainstock's voice was flat in a video interview with police Sept. 29 as he confessed to shooting Weston School Principal John Klang not even three hours before.
In a grainy video with bad audio, the 15-year-old high school freshman sprawled in a chair in bloodied pants and shirt as he told investigators that he didn't want to kill Klang when he took two loaded guns to school that Friday morning.
Why did he pull the trigger then? police asked. "I just freaked out," the teenager said. At another point, he mumbled, "My adrenaline was going."
Asked whether he fired the gun three times at Klang by accident or on purpose, he responded, "On purpose."
"It was pop, and then a couple of seconds later, pop, and then a couple seconds later, pop," Hainstock said, describing the sequence of shots fired in a school hallway decorated for homecoming.
The video confession was played Friday, the fourth day of a hearing before Sauk County Circuit Judge James Taggart to decide whether Hainstock should be treated as an adult or a juvenile in Klang's murder.
The hearing, sought by defense attorneys, is expected to continue through Tuesday.
On Friday, Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett called witnesses who testified they saw Hainstock after he came through the school's front door with two loaded guns.
Weston guidance counselor Angela Young said she heard Hainstock say, "I'm here to (expletive) kill somebody."
And special education teacher James Nowak testified he saw Hainstock point the handgun at Klang's head, then sweep the gun toward Nowak. "That's when Mr. Klang made his move," Nowak said.
During Hainstock's video confession, he told police Klang started coming closer and closer, and finally caught the boy in a bear hug. "He wrapped his arms around me, and I fired," the boy said.
"I shot him," Hainstock said.
On the video, he demonstrated how he fired the .22-caliber revolver from underneath his left armpit. "Then, when (Klang) fell down and took me down with him, I nailed him in the leg," he told investigators.
At one point during Hainstock's video confession, he loudly cracked his knuckles. At another point, he asked what kind of shoes the jail was going to give him.
A bit later, he asked if jail officers would let him keep wearing a plastic bracelet given him by his girlfriend.
He asked about a phone call to which he was entitled. He told investigators he would use it to call his girlfriend or his best friend, not his parents - he told police he didn't want his parents notified.
On the video, Hainstock said he awakened at 6 a.m. that morning feeling like he couldn't take any more insults from his classmates - classmates who regularly called him a fag, rubbed up against him and punched him, he said.
Hainstock said he wanted to talk to Klang and his teachers about the incidents. He told police he ate breakfast, then waited until his parents, Shawn and Priscilla Hainstock, had gone to work before getting two of his father's guns from locked cabinets and loading them. He said he was going to talk to Klang.
"I was just going to hold it (the gun) out," he said on the video.
After school custodian Dave Thompson wrestled the shotgun away from him at the front door of the school, Hainstock said, "I pulled out the handgun, pulled the cock back and fired" at Klang.
During the video interview, state Justice Department Special Agent Elizabeth Feagles pointed out blood stains on Hainstock's pants and shirt. Hainstock said it was "blood from the principal."
With the interviewing winding down, Feagles asked him how he felt. "Tired," the teenager said.
Do you wish this hadn't happened? Feagles pressed.
"I don't wish nothing," Hainstock said. "I'm just tired."

It is eerie how similar this is to VT and happening this week

2007-04-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Eric Hainstock, who allegedly shot and killed the principal at his rural Sauk County school, was bullied by classmates but bullied other kids himself, a friend and a teacher testified Wednesday.
Hainstock, 16, who is charged with shooting Weston High School Principal John Klang on Sept. 29 at the school, was constantly bullied by "quite a few" kids, said his friend, Morgan Gudenschwager, during the second day of a hearing to determine whether a first-degree intentional homicide charge against Hainstock should remain in adult court or be sent to juvenile court.
Gudenschwager, 15, said Hainstock was bullied and was called names by other students and said he and Hainstock had reported the bullying "about 30 times" to school officials.
He said nothing was ever done about it. Gudenschwager's grandfather, Allen Gudenschwager, also testified he reported the bullying but nothing was ever done.

But on cross-examination by Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett, Morgan Gudenschwager agreed that Hainstock did his share of bullying, too, that it was "kind of a two-way street."
Math and physical education teacher Corey Brunett, who had held Hainstock down after a wounded Klang had already wrestled the alleged shooter to the ground, expressed similar sentiments.
"I would classify him as someone who would more likely give and take than be the victim," Brunett said.
Hainstock's attorneys, public defenders Rhoda Ricciardi and Jon Helland, presented Hainstock in court as the victim of bullying from kids at school and physical and sexual abuse from an extended family member. Hainstock also suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and is socially maladjusted, they said.
They want his case removed to juvenile court so that he can receive treatment.
If tried as a juvenile, Hainstock could be kept in a juvenile correctional facility until he is 25 years old. As an adult, he would face life in prison with release on extended supervision possible only after serving 20 years.
Under state law, anyone 15 or older who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide is automatically charged in adult court.
Earlier Wednesday, child psychiatrist Marty Beyer said under cross examination from Barrett that once Hainstock is released at age 25 from a juvenile facility, she could not guarantee that even with a combination of treatments that he would be prepared to face society.
"I can't predict it that specifically," Beyer said. "But likely with a combination of services that meet his needs he won't be acting out from immaturity or trauma."
Shelley Hagan, of the state Division of Juvenile Corrections, said there would be nothing the state could do to keep Hainstock behind bars or on supervision once he's released from a juvenile facility.
Gerald Konitzer, a section chief from the state Department of Corrections Bureau of Offender Classification and Movement, testified that there's a "maybe 10 percent" chance that juveniles sentenced for an adult crime would be sent initially to juvenile facilities during their teen years before being transferred to adult prisons. But Ricciardi said she was told by someone else at the DOC that there's a "99.9 percent chance" that if convicted, Hainstock would be initially assigned to the Green Bay Correctional Institution for its special education program.

Iraq and VT

2007-04-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have been wondering how the famlies of the war dead feel with all the publicity on VT. In the last 3 weeks, I am sure there have been 33 dead in Iraq.....what a shame all around.....

Wineke: Thousands die while Congress, Bush duck
BILL WINEKE
Just so we don't forget: As of Thursday morning, some 68 American service members have died in Iraq during April.
At least one American has been killed every day of this month. On some days, six have been killed. One day saw the death of nine Americans.

I don't want to take anything away from the horror we're all feeling at the senseless murder of 32 people Monday at Virginia Tech. The idea that students and their teachers can be minding their own business studying in quiet classrooms only to meet a violent death is deeply disturbing.
The students didn't deserve to die.
But neither did the service members who died in Iraq. They, too, had homes and families and friends. They, too, had hopes of bright futures that will now never be.
Sometimes, we can allow statistics to numb us to the horror of what is happening around us.
We are shocked at the Virginia Tech massacre because it involved so many. The situation would have been just as horrifying had only one person been murdered - but it would have been a minor "story" and would have been soon forgotten.
We pay virtually no attention to the daily accumulation of reports of American deaths in Iraq for the opposite reason. So many have died - 3,314 at latest count - that one more American death seems just a blip, one reported only in the community the fallen soldier called home.
The deaths of Iraqis, the people we invaded to help, are newsworthy only when something spectacular happens.
The deaths of 32 at Virginia Tech - 33 when you count the killer, who surely was a victim of his own derangement - shocked us to the core. But the death of 33 Iraqi citizens is a virtually daily occurrence. On Wednesday, more than 230 people were killed or found dead in Iraq.
The Virginia Tech victims had families, friends and futures. The U.S. service members had families, friends and futures. The Iraqis had . . . well, you get the picture.
That's why it was so dismaying to see reports emerge Wednesday from President Bush's meeting with congressional leaders. They all keep posturing. They all keep weaving and ducking. None of them - not the president, not the leaders of Congress of either party - is talking seriously about the situation in Iraq or about how we can end the seemingly endless killing.
Perhaps they have nothing to say.

Richland County, Wisconsin

2007-04-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we were visiting relatives and drove through Cazenovia. The road sign said the population was 325 and there were a couple of bars and a gas station and maybe a store or two.

This area is becoming very Amish. Very rural wtth residences far, far apart once you get out of the 'metropolis.' I can appreciate feeling abandoned in this situation and the results can only be ugly. Being hated at being called names and picked on. It certainly does not justify the ugly thing he did, but that feeling of bleakness is hard to overcome.

It is ironic that his hearings are during this very dark week at Virginia Tech.

We need to tak better care of the kids.....

Eric Hainstock woke up Friday morning, Sept. 29, feeling desperate.
The 15-year-old wanted someone to recognize how tormented he was in school and how unhappy at home.
He hated being called a "fag," and he wanted school officials to stop upperclassmen from picking on him.
He loaded two guns from his parents' house, took gas out of the lawn mower and put it in his parents' truck, then drove to school.
That's what child psychologist Marty Beyer, a defense witness, testified Tuesday in Sauk County Circuit Court.
"I had no plan," Hainstock told Beyer after the shooting. "I wanted to make people listen. No one would help."
Hainstock is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly shooting Weston School Principal John Klang three times with a handgun while Klang wrestled with him at the school on Sept. 29.
The testimony Tuesday came during the first of several days of a "reverse waiver" hearing, where Hainstock's public defenders, Jon Helland and Rhoda Ricciardi, are seeking to convince Judge James Taggart that Hainstock should be tried as a juvenile rather than as an adult.
Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett will get her chance to present witnesses later this week.
If Hainstock, who is now 16, is tried and convicted as an adult, he faces a possible life sentence without parole. As a juvenile, he could be released at age 25, said Helland.
"This is very significant," Helland said of the hearing, which is expected to last through Thursday.
Beyer, a Virginia psychologist who interviewed Hainstock for 11 hours in January and reviewed police and social services records, said the records showed the teen-ager had been sexually abused when he was 6 by a 13-year-old stepbrother and physically abused by his father and adoptive mother.
Ruth Willis, wife of the Rev. Paul Willis at Valton Friends Church, which Hainstock attended, said a few years ago she told Mike Ecker, then the Weston principal, that Hainstock could become a school shooter if no one helped him.
"I told him if he didn't find help for this boy, he was going to have another Columbine on his hands," Willis testified. "I could see the signs in Eric - he lived in a house with lots of guns. He needed someone in his corner."
Willis said Hainstock was part of the youth group at the church when she and her husband arrived five years ago, and she took him under her wing, helping him with his homework, buying him clothes, working with his teachers.
But Hainstock's parents, Sean and Priscilla Hainstock, began to resent her involvement, Willis said, and the boy began to take advantage of her. She withdrew from the family, she said.
But she described Hainstock as charming and helpful. "I believe Satan entered that boy, and that's what caused him to do this," Willis testified.
Beyer said Hainstock was diagnosed with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder when he was 4 and was treated, off and on, with Ritalin to calm him.
Every year brought the same school assessment of Hainstock's social and academic difficulties, she said, but plans to help him were inadequate.
He moved seven times in eight years as his parents divorced, then found new partners. At one point, Beyer said, Hainstock didn't see his biological mother for three years.
Willis said the boy would get a little crazy every year around Christmas and his birthday because his biological mother would promise to visit but never did. "He wanted to hear from his biological mother," she said.
'Grandma listened'
Irene Hainstock, the boy's paternal grandmother, was the first to testify on his behalf. She wept at times when she said he had been a loving and affectionate youngster. "He liked to talk, and Grandma listened," she said.
Her grandson frequently arrived at her house after arguing with his parents, she said, and he lived with her for a while. "He was terribly nervous and jumpy and easily flustered," she said.
A pediatrician prescribed Ritalin, and Irene Hainstock said it helped calm the boy. But, she said, Sean Hainstock later decided he didn't want his son to take the medication.
The teenager called her from jail right after the shooting, Irene Hainstock testified. "I said, 'Eric, what have you done?' and he said, 'Grandma, I don't know. Something snapped in my head.' "
Letter confis cated
Beyer revealed the teen-ager wrote a letter to Klang's widow, Sue, from jail, though it was confiscated by officers and never delivered.
In the letter, he wrote, "It's me, Eric. I'm sorry for what happened."
Hainstock wrote that, "I often cry about what happened. I know it will never be the same."
He ended with "I'm so sorry" and a little drawing of a heart.
Beyer said the letter showed Hainstock was out of touch and emotionally immature. "He doesn't seem to realize what it would be for Mrs. Klang to receive such a letter," Beyer said.
Beyer also said Hainstock's behavior at school - talking too much, interrupting conversations, hyperactivity - may have prompted other students to pick on him.
"They picked on him for many years," Beyer testified, "early on because of his learning disabilities - he couldn't keep up in reading and math - and later on because of his body odor, wearing clothes that smelled and wearing some clothes day in and day out."
Most recently, however, Beyer said he was most troubled by being called gay when he was not.
The hearing is expected to continue today.

I hate the "Final Arrangement" ads....

2007-04-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

I feel a senior moment coming on
The calendar stares at me in black, white and sepia. Try as I might, I can’t change the reality of dates as they swiftly approach.
In recent months, dates such as April 3 have commanded my attention. That was election day, and it was a big deal to folks like journalists, unethical political consultants and yard-sign makers. In a few weeks, I’ll focus on the date when we publish a special edition. We fondly call it Gradzilla, because gathering the names of all high-school graduates is a monster task.
But for now, I’m zeroing in on two more dates. On those days I will visit schools in Blue Springs and Independence to speak in career-day programs.
I’m comfortable in front of groups, and I’ve addressed kids many times. So why should I feel differently now?
Maybe it’s because I’ve crossed the threshold and actually become what my son started calling me more than a decade ago. Something that’s anathema to the whippersnappers I’ll be addressing: Geezer.
A few months back, I hit 55. When the calendar turned, I became a candidate for age-related safe-driving courses, specialized insurance solicitors and even an occasional senior discount.
I can only pray that Depends remain a long way off.
Of course, my family and friends have poked fun at my gray hair for years. I found my first silver-colored strands while in college. But now, after looking at my hairbrush, I’m just happy to have any gray left on my head.
As they say, it beats the alternative — and I’m not talking about Grecian Formula.
I guess there’s just no denying that I am old. Why, I even remember when the Royals were really good and the Chiefs were really bad.
What more proof do I need?
When I turned 55, I also became eligible for early retirement. Oh, it’s not gonna happen anytime soon. If I surrendered my keyboard now, my pension might be visible with a microscope. In terms of corporate numbers, at least, I’m not so old, after all.
Of course, my son will never believe that. A few years ago, I told him that if he was going to tease me he had to do it right. He had to show some creativity.
I soon started hearing things like: “You’re so old … that Noah gave you your first boat ride.”
Soon his friends, and even my wife, were contributing such day-brighteners.
But I haven’t heard any for quite awhile. I wonder if the calendar has moved too many pages and they want to spare the old guy’s feelings.
Nah.
And neither will the kids at the career-day events. They might think I’m chronologically challenged, but I haven’t lost all of my skills.
In fact, I can still do something that few kids today have ever experienced: Program a VCR.

Bike trouble? Steal a car....

2007-04-17T20:03:00.001-07:00

Woman has Bicycle Trouble -- Steals Car

Police in Florida have said that 50-year-old Kathleen Mary Pedemonti stole a car after she was having trouble with the bike she was riding. Ms Pedemonti jumped into a 2006 Chevy on the 26th of March after it was left running.
She will face a grand theft auto charge in court on the 10th of May, according to the paper Florida Today. The car was found because the man who owned the Monte Carlo had GPS installed, and police just followed its signal.

Confesions of an Old Geezer

2007-04-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

While resting at a mall on what he calls "husband benches," Richard J. Schwartz Sr. came up with the idea of writing Confessions of an Old Geezer.Schwartz, 86, self-published the 236-page account of his life in November 2005 through AuthorHouse.
"I wrote it for my ego," he said with a chuckle.His wife of 64 years, Vivian, chimed in, "He's an old geezer now. Just teasing. He doesn't act his age."Schwartz, who worked for Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, N.Y., for 27 years, said there are some humorous anecdotes in the book, as the title may indicate.But more importantly, he said, within the 10 chapters are thought-provoking stories about the early 1920s, the Great Depression and his late teen years. There also are tales of his days in the military, his family and camping outings and remembrances of Faun Lake, where he and his wife lived in upstate New York.The couple bought a place in Tavares in 1980. They spent the winter months there and have lived there permanently for nearly three years.Schwartz said of the title, "I thought it would catch people's attention."The military years tell of the 39 months from December 1942 to March 1946 he spent in the Army. He went to officer's school and was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base for two years. He later got on a ship and sailed for 40 days to get to Okinawa."I was on a ship longer than my brother," Schwartz said. "He was in the Navy."While in Okinawa, Schwartz began writing a diary to give to his wife when he got home. The first date of entry is June 25, 1945, and the 51 pages were rewritten into the book. Toward the end of the diary it tells of coming home."Some of the men got off the ship and kissed the ground," he said. "We were happy to be back in the United States."After retiring from Eastman Kodak, he and his wife started an RV business in New York state. They operated the business for 22 years. Schwartz, who has three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, sold the business to his son Richard Schwartz Jr.All members of the family have a copy of the book.The younger Schwartz, who has since sold that business and moved to Oregon, said, "The book is a great account of my parents' life back then, and I learned a few things I didn't know before about my dad."It sounds like he's the kind of guy I would have liked to hang around with when I was younger -- he had a lot of fun."The final chapter of the book is called "Reflections," which includes "words of wisdom concerning what an old geezer has learned, or not learned, during his . . . years on Earth."And it's where the term "husband bench" was coined.He said the inspiration to write his memoirs came to him while sitting on a "husband bench" at a mall in Greece, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester: "Husband benches (my own terminology) are the park type benches placed in strategic locations in shopping malls, usually in the center court, or arcade areas," he writes."This is a gathering place, usually for men waiting for their wives to meet them following a shopping spree. . . . I happened to be alone that afternoon on the husband bench so I engaged in people watching. . . . One observation that came to mind was the lack of senior citizens in the octogenarian group such as myself. Then it dawned on me, there aren't too many of us left on the planet. . . . A few days later I fired-up my word processor and started to type."The elder Schwartz designed the cover of the book. He looked at it and said, "You know what is amazing? It's how much I can remember. You think of one thing and it reminds you of something else."After flipping through the pages, he said, "I enjoy reading my own book. I'm going to read it again."Schwartz started writing his second book, Calories are Crumbling, some time ago. His humorous outlook on dieting has about 3,000 words now."I haven't decided to finish it," he said. "I may someday."Confessions of an Old Geezer is $15 in paperback and $20 in hardcover, including shipping and handling. To purchase one, call Schwartz at 352-343-6150 or e-mail him at rch5070@localnet.com.

list of annoying people at the game....

2007-04-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Most Annoying Fans At A Game

10. Drunks. OK, being drunk may contribute to this entire list, but let's get rid of them now (if only it were that easy).

9. Any guy over 16 wearing a glove. Come on, dude, look at yourself.

8. Old guy who sits in student section and continually yells "Sit down in front!" Hey, geezer, sit someplace else.

7. Anybody who sits a quarter-mile from the field and yells at players or officials as if they can hear him/her. (Also using the flash on your disposable camera from that distance and figuring it makes a difference.)

6. The guy who waits until fourth down on the goal line to stand and order his hot dog and sixth beer.

5. Anybody who gets hysterical because a TV camera is aimed your way. (You are guilty of this, admit it.)

4. The guy who listens to you and your friends and corrects everything you say about the game. (Shoot him, 'cause no jury will convict you.)

3. The guy with the hairy back who takes off his shirt. (Dennis Salvagio gets a pass -- I guess.)

2. Any fat guy sitting next to you in those 19-inch arena seats. (I can't stand that, but I blame the seats.)

But the most annoying has to be:1. Anyone who blocks your view by leaving early, no matter how close the game may be. (If you don't care about how it ends, stay home and change the channel!)But that's just me.

We were in Viroqua last week at this time

2007-04-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

glad we decided to go last week, although it was bitterly cold.....why does that word want to be cod?

More spring-like temperatures are expected in Wisconsin after the snow storm that hit the state yesterday.
Following highs today in the 30s, it is expected to reach the 40s statewide tomorrow and Saturday, the upper 40s to the low 50s Sunday and the 50s Monday.
Most of those who lost power during yesterday's storm have it back today.
Alliant Energy and We Energies reported 30,000 customers each without power at times yesterday.
But they said only about 100 were still out today.
Milwaukee and Madison broke snowfall records for the date yesterday, with seven inches falling in Milwaukee and 5.3 inches in Madison.
Milwaukee got a trace of additional snowfall overnight while Madison had an additional .4".
The weather service says other major accumulations for the storm included Taylor (nine and a half inches), Viroqua (eight), Waupaca (7.1) and Arcadia and Richland Center (seven).

gotta love this geezer

2007-04-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

My dad sits in the corner.....I wonder.....

You don't need to be a rock historian to know Rolling Stone Keith Richards has enjoyed the odd narcotic.
But the legendary guitarist and songwriter, whose fondness for drugs has been openly acknowledged for decades, astonished even his hardened fans with his admission in British music bible NME that he once snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
Richards, 63, told the magazine his unusual experiment with paternally enhanced cocaine came after his father's cremation five years ago.
"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father.
"I snorted my father. He was cremated, and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow," Richards said in the interview, which was posted on NME's website. Richards's father, Bert, died in 2002 at the age of 84. "My dad wouldn't have cared," he said, adding: "It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."
An NME spokeswoman said the story was genuine and not a late April Fool's joke. But Richards' long-time manager Jane Rose last night insisted the rocker was joking. "Can't believe anyone took it seriously," Ms Rose told MTV News.
Richards said he was proud of his ability to survive despite the excesses of his lifestyle.
"I was No1 on the 'Who's Likely To Die' list for 10 years. Some doctor told me I had six months to live, and I went to their funeral."
But he admitted his survival was partly the result of luck.

firing overpaid workers

2007-03-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Circuit City should reduce executive compensation instead of firing floor employees that make 'too much' money....

Steven Rash, 24, said he was one of 11 workers fired at a Circuit City in Asheville, N.C. The store manager broke the news during a meeting at 8:15 a.m. and escorted them out of the store. Rash said he has worked for the retailer for seven years and was one of the most junior members of the affected group.
He said he earned $11.59 an hour and worked from 15 to 20 hours a week. He received four weeks of severance pay. Though he has a full-time job at Bank of America, he said he needs to find part-time work to help pay his student loans.
"It's not just a part-time job," he said. "It's about paying the bills."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage for retail salespeople was $11.14 in May 2005, the latest data available.
Circuit City chief executive Philip J. Schoonover received a salary of $716,346, along with a $704,700 bonus last year. He also has long-term compensation of $3 million in stock awards and $340,000 in underlying options, according to company filings.

You go Grandma!!!

2007-03-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

I guess it is ok to steal if you give it back once you are caught?

An Oklahoma City woman forced to fight back after her grandson's bike was stolen.
Ellen Alsup says, "This kid was going around stealing all the kid's bikes."
Alsup says she'd had enough. Her adopted grandson Timmy's bike was one of those taken. She says when she saw the suspected thief down at the end of the block she knew what she had to do.
Oklahoma City Police Sergeant Gary Knight says, "She went up and asked this young man about it, a 13-year-old."
Alsup marched down the street to confront the young man.
She says, "He never took his eyes off me, just like saying come on lady."
Once down the street she grabbed the handlebars on the suspect's bike, refusing to let go.
Alsup says, "I said where is my son's bike? What did you do with my son Timmy's bike? He said, 'It's at my house.'"
She then began shaking the bike telling the teen he'd better bring Timmy's bike back.
Alsup says, "He slapped me on the side of the face."
She was shocked, but managed to tell the boy he would now have to deal with the police.
Alsup says, "He knew the police were coming so he brought the bike back."
She says she's frustrated with the whole situation and will press assault charges. However, she says it's not the 13-year-old that's to blame.
Alsup says, "Where are the parents? What are they doing? Do they just not care about their kids? Do they not care what their kids are doing? Do they want them to end up in jail or prison?"
The teen will likely not end up in jail. However, he is facing misdemeanor charges of assault and battery. Police say he will not be charged for taking the bicycle because he did return the bike.

Damn Wisconsin Banana Police

2007-03-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Rest easy, Madison, the banana cops are on the case.
You don't have to worry about being overcharged on an undersized banana in this town.
Trader Joe's on Monroe Street had its "Welcome to the Banana Republic of Madison" moment earlier this year when it was busted by the city's weights and measures department for illegally selling bananas for 19 cents each.
To be fair, this is actually a "Welcome to Wisconsin" moment, because the law that city weights and measures inspector Cindy Lease was enforcing is a state law.
"I can't change the law. I just tell them what it is," Lease said. "It's been the law for a long time."
Under section 91.03 of Wisconsin Administrative Code, it is illegal to sell bananas any other way than by net weight. Lease told Trader Joe's it had two options: Either install produce scales - like the vast majority of grocery stores - or weigh the bananas and sell them by the bag.
Trader Joe's chose the second option, put up a cute sign about "fruitful" matchmaking in the produce aisle to announce that "bananas are no longer single" and could be purchased by the bag at 49 cents a pound.
This did not warm the heart of single- banana lover Darlene Gakovich.
"Now you have to buy huge clumps of bananas," she said. "I like to buy two, three or four bananas, all at different stages of ripeness."
She has complained, so far, to the store manager, to the city and to state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison.
Gakovich is not at all mollified that this law is designed to protect her, the consumer.
"They claim the consumer might be shortchanged by buying a small banana at the same price as a big banana," she said. "I'm so angry. I don't even want a bigger banana. I think the small ones taste better."
The folks in charge of these laws say Gakovich should aim her banana elsewhere.
"I don't think the problem is with the law, the problem is with Trader Joe's deciding not to have scales," said Judy Cardin, section chief of regulation and safety for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Cardin, who is chair-elect of the National Conference of Weights and Measures, says Wisconsin's law isn't much different from those in most states. She said the laws are "fundamental consumer protection" because they allow consumers to easily compare prices between stores.
I do appreciate the weights and measures inspectors' work when they're making sure that store scales are correct and that the gas pump at the local station isn't cheating me out of any of that oh-so-expensive gasoline.
But, like Gakovich, I think I'm perfectly capable of judging whether I want to spend 19 cents for a banana.
Lettuce look at those state rules. They allow lettuce and cauliflower to be sold by the head, but not cabbage.
I don't carrot all about how I buy my carrots, but section 91.03 does: Carrots with tops can be sold by the bunch, while topless carrots must be sold by the pound. Can you beet that? Yes. The same rule applies to topless beets.
I know this sounds like sour grapes, but explain why, under state law, you can sell Concord grapes by the quart, but all other grapes must by sold by the pound?
And, someone leeked it to the media that you can buy leeks legally by the bunch, but their cousins, the onions, only by the pound.
How do you like them potatoes? It doesn't matter how you like them. Here in Wisconsin, the potato police have squashed your right to buy them by the piece.
Personally, I think they can kiss my asparagus - after weighing it, of course.

Another enterprise in Richland Center

2007-02-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Gotta love Richland Center....they come up with good enterprises!

A 3-year-old poodle had such long and matted hair that her rescuers at first didn't realize she had only two legs.

Having dealt with three-legged dogs in the past - "tripods" - rescuers had to come up with a new term for the poodle in their care.
"She's a duplex," said Karen Sparapani, community outreach director at the Elmbrook Humane Society.
Acting on a tip, the Elmbrook Humane Society rescued 20 dogs from what they said was a puppy mill in western Wisconsin last week. The poodle, now named China, lost two of her legs when her mother chewed them off, a sign of stress often seen in puppy mills, Sparapani said.
A week later, China is learning to walk for the first time and learning how to behave like a dog, she said.
The dogs were kept in wire pens in a barn in rural western Wisconsin by an Amish farmer.
Elmbrook staff declined to disclose the farmer's name because they want to establish a relationship with him. They are expecting four more dogs as soon as those dogs are done nursing.
The shelter staff is hoping that the farmer turns over all his "cold stock" - dogs too old to breed or deemed unsuitable by the farmer.
The rescuers had to leave behind 150 dogs still being bred twice a year.
Unwitting customers end up buying the product of puppy mills, she said.
"It's never going to end until people stop buying dogs from pet stores and through ads," Sparapani said.
Puppy mills - places where multiple breeds of dogs are frequently bred - are controversial but not illegal in Wisconsin.
The Richland Center puppy mill was cleaner than expected, and the farmer, who gave each dog a number, seemed generally to care about the dogs, said Carol Sumbry, the shelter's volunteer coordinator and humane educator.
Sumbry, who took part in the rescue, said she couldn't look back as she was leaving. She had to concentrate on the ones they could save.
One of those removed was a 4-month-old male Boston terrier. The dog, dubbed Boston by the shelter, severely cut his front paw while the rescuers were in the barn and the farmer didn't want to have to pay the veterinarian bill. Boston is recovering at a Madison hospital and might still lose his leg.
The shelter also rescued a 2-year-old Chihuahua and poodle mix that the farmer said wouldn't breed. Likely under stress at the puppy mill, she has already gone into heat at the shelter.
Two fox terrier and beagle mix puppies were given up because the farmer thought they were ugly.
Some of the dogs have already been adopted, but others remain and are making progress. The first day the dogs were in the shelter, they cowered in the back of their pens, Sparapani said. One week later, they are approaching people and begging for attention.
Anyone adopting the animals will face challenges. The dogs never left their cages, never walked on solid ground and never wore a collar or leash. They will likely be protective of their food, and most are not housebroken. All the dogs will be sterilized before leaving the shelter.
The dogs will learn dog behavior better in a home with another dog, shelter staff say.

Is it cold?

2007-02-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have decided the midwest has become inhabited by a bunch of pussys. I see most of the schools were closed today to cold wether. In the old days, when I lived there, we kept workig outside until it was at LEAST 20 below zero. Then we only stopped because the instruments froze up. Today, it was around 0 this morning and they closed te schools....

I remember one year, it never got above 0 for 32 days or something. Out working each day...then we moved to Arizona.....

WIMPS!

Local colleges

2007-01-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

When I went to Richland Center, many of the students were older - some just coming back from Vietnam - now we have Iraq to bring the coffins home....

When Shawn Cassiman got divorced, she knew it was time to go to college to be better able to support herself and her children.
A high school dropout with an equivalency diploma, she enrolled at UW-Superior at age 40. Commuting from Ashland, she worked at a pizza joint as well as work-study jobs between classes, before gaining her bachelor's degree in 2002.
Now Cassiman has a master's degree and is working toward a Ph.D. in social welfare at the UW-Madison.
She says she was "lucky" to get scholarships and to find the mentors she needed to gain her degrees. But the University of Wisconsin System is launching a new Adult Student Initiative aimed at taking much of the luck out of the equation for older "nontraditional" students such as Cassiman.
"Nontraditional" UW student Shawn Cassiman returned to college nine years ago at age 40 and is now working toward a Ph.D.
The number of students age 24 and older has dropped dramatically in the past 10 years - at the UW-Madison and in the system as a whole. Statewide, nontraditional undergraduate students declined from 27,069 in 1995 to 20,095 in 2005. At UW-Madison, the numbers of undergraduate students age 24 and older dropped from 2,616 in 1997 to 1,661 in 2005.
UW System President Kevin Reilly said the new initiative - proposed as part of the next two-year budget at a cost of $2.6 million - is necessary to close a 5 percent gap in bachelor's degrees that Wisconsin suffers in comparison with Illinois and Minnesota.
That is one reason why the state has a lower average family income and suffers in economic vitality compared to some other states in the region, he said. Creating more high-paying employment opportunities within the state's economy requires an educated population.
"There is a documented need to attract adults with an associate degree or substantial college credit to UW System campuses to complete a bachelor's degree," Reilly said.
The new initiative - to be launched by the UW Colleges and UW-Extension - is in addition to existing programs, and would not mean a cut in funding for traditional students entering college out of high school.
The additional money would be used to identify, recruit and serve potential adult students, expand opportunities for them through distance education and provide more counseling.
Wisconsin has a high level of people with associate degrees who could use UW resources to gain bachelor's degrees, Reilly said. Jobs requiring at least a bachelor's degree include computer system analysts, schoolteachers, physical therapists and graphics designers. The potential market of Wisconsinites age 18 and older who have some college credit or an associate degree is 1.2 million people, and researchers estimate that 60,860 are "extremely or very interested in enrolling in a degree program," UW System officials said.
No one is quite sure why nontraditional students have declined, though the fact that tuition has risen sharply in recent years may be a factor. Sharp competition from private universities offering flexible hours and online courses could also be a factor.
UW System spokesman Dave Giroux added that state budget cuts have forced the system to focus more narrowly on a core mission of traditional-aged on-campus undergraduates. "It has more to do with our internal issues, doing more with less," he said.
But Teri Venker, a spokeswoman for the UW Colleges and UW-Extension, said another major cause is likely a scary university bureaucracy.
"Especially in parts of the state where no UW campus is located, the University of Wisconsin is often perceived as a bureaucracy that some people find intimidating. They don't know where to start," she said.
View from the desks: Rod Perry knew where to start, but he had to get past some obstacles first.
Perry, 63, lost his job as a digitizer in the business outfitters division of Lands' End in Dodgeville in February 2005. He designed digital logos that are embroidered on garments with a computer-assisted sewing machine, but he said he and some 40 others lost their jobs when Lands' End contracted for the work to be done in India and South America.
Perry and others applied for a federal program allowing them to draw unemployment while attending college, but they were denied and had to appeal more than once.
The application was finally approved, and in September Perry started taking classes at UW-Richland in his hometown of Richland Center to get an associate degree in liberal arts, with an emphasis on business.
"The big hang-up is that the program demands that you carry 12 credits. To be 44 years out of the classroom and leap into a 12-credit schedule was at least brutal, but it turned out a little better than I expected," he said.
In fact, Perry ended his first semester with a 3.9 grade point average.
"They want you to finish and then take a job. I said, 'OK, but who would hire me at 65?' "
Perry said he plans to cross that bridge when he comes to it, while Deanna Newlun of Wonewoc has a clear idea of where she wants to go next.
She will graduate from UW-Richland in May with an associate degree in liberal arts and science and intends to pursue a bachelor's degree in criminal justice online through a four-year institution so she can become a probation or parole officer.
Newlun enrolled four years ago at age 28 to find a more interesting career. Married with children ages 8 and 4, she currently works part time as a ticket agent at the Crystal Grand Music Theatre in Wisconsin Dells.
Her husband, Chris, is a truck driver who is often away from home, so it has been a struggle to juggle school, homework, her children and jobs.
"It has gotten easier as my kids have gotten older. At first the classes were difficult because I didn't know what to expect, and some are still difficult," said Newlun, although she has made the Dean's List with high honors every semester.
Both she and Cassiman urged people thinking about going back to school to do so.
"It's never too late, and it's not as bad as you might think," Newlun said. "It has been very rewarding. I've met a lot of new people and I was able to experience college, on a different level but still experience it."
Cassiman said the same, even though, like Newlun, she has also had to take out student loans to get her degrees.
"I ended up with a great adviser in my program. We all need support and help to do anything we do. A big part of support is financial, but encouragement and belief in your ability to succeed are very important," she said.
"It is really important to recognize that because we don't all follow the same type of trajectory doesn't mean that we can't do things. If you didn't do it 20 years ago, that doesn't mean you can't do it. A lot of times people put their dreams on hold."

Where did common sense go?

2007-01-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Why do we need all these laws? If Iwere a lawmaker, I would write laws to get rid of existing laws that do not work! Plenty of those feel good laws out there already.....spike em!

From NJ

After a day of unrelenting ridicule, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick decided yesterday evening to withdraw his bill to ban talking on a cell phone while riding a bike.
"Even my friends didn't like the bill," the Union County Republican said.
A legislative committee on Thursday approved the bill, which would make it illegal for people to use a hand-held telephone while riding a bicycle on a public road. Hands-free devices would still be allowed. Violators would face fines ranging from $100 to $250.
Bramnick said the bill was meant to protect bicyclists and the people they might run into while riding and yakking. He had described the plan as a "common sense proposal."
But the idea crashed harder than a rider flipping over the handlebars.
Criticism came from all angles, from talk radio callers to constituents to casual acquaintances, Bramnick said.
He conceded that even he was having doubts while pitching the bill to fellow lawmakers on Thursday.
"I could feel in my own voice that, as I talked about the bill, I started to have some questions in my mind about my own bill," Bramnick said.
Nonetheless, it was released to the full Assembly, drawing instant media attention followed by a strong dose of mockery, some directed at the bill by fellow lawmakers.
"As my father used to tell me, "You can't legislate common sense,' and that's exactly what this bill tries to do, as the Legislature has already tried to do on so many other occasions," said Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris.
Pete Garnich, owner of Knapp's Cyclery in Lawrence, was among those who failed to see the need. His shop sponsors weekly group rides, and Garnich said he can't recall anyone talking on a cell phone while riding a bike.
"I wouldn't say it's a problem," he said. "You can't breathe and talk. It's absolutely ridiculous."
All of which contributed to Bramnick's change of heart by yesterday evening.
"The thing is, sometimes you make mistakes, simple as that," Bramnick said.

sad day

2007-01-12T17:29:00.001-07:00

More han 30 years ago, thy made the best pizza with everyting on it. Drank a lot of beer there and bowled quite a few lines on these lanes. Times change....

Firefighters battled wind and two received minor injuries battling a blaze that the fire chief called one of the worst fires he has faced in his 30-year career.
The hardest part for many on Tuesday was dealing with the loss of Center Lanes, a popular gathering spot for the community.
The former owner Ken Hansen said it is hard to find words to describe the loss.
"It was a family business. My mother in-law and father in-law built it in 1959," Hansen said. "We ended up working for the family and carried on the business until 1983. And then we sold it to Tom and his wife, and he's owned it ever since."
Hansen said the loss is a blow to the entire community.
"(If) you don't have a bowling alley and a golf course, you don't got much else to do," he said.
According to the Richland Center Fire Department chief, someone saw the fire and called police. Authorities sent an officer to the scene and five people who were getting ready to open the business were evacuated.
"The officer that arrived on scene went in and told the people that the back of the building was on fire and that they needed to evacuate. They weren't even aware of the fire," said Robert Bindl, chief at the Richland Center Fire Department.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation. The blaze took more than two hours to put out because of wind. The building is a complete loss.
Heavy smoke shut down Highway 14 for hours. Authorities said traffic was rerouted and that a nearby home was evacuated.
Even with backup, firefighters battled the blaze for two hours.
"The wind was a major factor. It was blowing everything right against us. It was just a hard fire to fight," Bindl said.
Always a bowling alley, current owner Tom Hauber turned Center Lanes into a social hub.
The local Chamber of Commerce said that the fire destroyed one of the town's most profitable businesses.
"There is a banquet center, wedding receptions are held here. It affects just about every aspect of the community. I can't think of anybody here that has not been to the bowling alley at one time or another," said Susan Price, director of the Richland Center Chamber of Commerce.
The former owner said he just hopes Center Lanes can be rebuilt.
"It is going to be hard to replace," Hansen said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. The Wisconsin fire marshal will start investigating Wednesday.
friends said om Hauber is devastated.
The fire chief said that Hauber was so overcome that they had to keep him from running into the burning building.
Long Rock and Muscoda fire departments assisted in putting out the blaze.

sad day

2007-01-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

geezer from scotland

2007-01-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

However, I agree with much of what he says. Bicyclists can be rude and inconsiderate. They forget they are a VEHICLE....

It's time to put brakes on antisocial cyclists
BRIAN HENNIGAN
I WAS thinking the other day - what is it that stops some cyclists growing up? This crossed my mind after being sliced up while walking along a pavement designed for pedestrians by an adult on a bicycle, for whom the road was evidently a wee bit on the grown-up side.
Before I begin my assault on two-wheeled idiots, let me get my credentials in order. As some readers might recall, I am no fan of cars in the city; I am pro-cycling. I want more cycling in and around Edinburgh. I would like nothing better than an enormous network of cycling lanes going here, there and everywhere, yes even unto Asda.

Every major company should be compelled to provide storage facilities for all their employees who wish to cycle. The lack of a comprehensive infrastructure to help cyclists is laughable.
The provisions for cycles to be stored on trains and on buses - as they so easily are all over the world - is a joke. One can only hope that Edinburgh's proposed new tram system allows for the transportation of bicycles.
Having established that I am not one of those lunatic motorists who view cyclists as being pigeons with wheels, let me continue to rant against those too-many cyclists who seem to think that by virtue of using a form of transportation that is green, they are somehow excused consideration for others.
There is only one reason to be cycling on a pavement: you are a little child who needs adult accompaniment. All other cyclists should be on the road where they belong. If for some reason your traffic lane is congested and you are unable to make progress, tough. It is not acceptable to simply mount the pavement and continue as if you have been in some way sinned against. If you don't have stabilisers on, the road is the only place we should find you whizzing along.
Here is another fact that some cyclists will find shocking: those funny lights that you sometimes see at the junctions of roads apply to both cars AND bicycles. Red means stop. Red does not mean pedal smugly across thinking no-one can see you. Apart from anything else, your invisibility to other road-users might just be proven in a way you did not envisage.
While we are on the subject of meanings, No Cycling signs mean that there should be no cycling. It might seem cute for you to zoom across the Meadows the wrong way, but one day someone is going to get fed-up with your selfish behaviour and you will be amazed how far you can travel without a bicycle when someone jams a stick in your rear-wheel.
Occasionally cyclists are so stupid and selfish it makes you wonder if the wind has somehow whistled through their ears too quickly and sucked their brains out. Cycling without lights at night is not some environmentally courageous way of showing how you and the owls are as one; it's a way of being on a bicycle that says: "I don't care about anyone else other than myself. If some elderly person or small child crossing the road can't see me - hard cheese on them. I am on a bicycle and don't care."
What makes all of the above modes of behaviour inexplicable is that so many cyclists like to ride around as if they have some sort of cloak of environmental awareness flying behind them. Any degree of environmental awareness must take into account the welfare of your fellow citizens.
Rant almost over, but I couldn't possibly sign off without mentioning helmets. Anyone who thinks pedalling au naturale is fine deserves whatever non-indicating delivery van might lie in their future.
Let's just call it Darwinism - anyone who believes they can do without a helmet probably isn't a useful addition to the gene pool. All that remains is to find a way of billing those who don't wear helmets for any hospital-based repairs that are necessary as a result of their recklessness.
I want cycling to be the future, but I want selfish and/or stupid cyclists to become a thing of the past.

whaz the world cummin to!

2007-01-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

AN ANGRY pensioner was told it would take 10 days for Reading Borough Council to remove a mangled bicycle from the footpath in front of his house.
Gerard Gadney, 76, of Pangbourne Street, said he was told removing the bike, run over on Thursday night after yobs threw into the middle of Oxford Road, was not a priority as the bike was not a safety hazard.
But Mr Gadney, who has lived in the area for 36 years, said drunks were likely to use the bike to damage people's property.
He said: "It's lunacy. "That bike will end up through my front window before the night is out."
Luckily for Mr Gadney, the council, after being contacted by Chronicle Extra, removed the bike on Friday morning.

damn whippersnappers!

2006-12-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

The Globe has an interesting article today by Marcella Bombardieri about how aging faculty members might be affecting the university hiring system. The thrust of the piece is that professors who refuse to retire may be "plugging the pipeline" for young academics hoping for one of the rare plum professorial gigs, resulting in a conflict between the wisdom of elders and the fresh new ideas younger academics might bring.
But the article doesn't mention the bigger problem that leads to the Geezer Vs. Whippersnapper battle - if someone retires, the university doesn't always have the funds or the inclination to fill an open space with young blood.
The discussion board related to the article suggests that the "plugged pipeline" comes from somewhere else. One poster by the handle of "SomervilleSlug" called the issue a "red herring" because more and more tenure-track positions are being replaced by adjunct faculty.
Bombardieri herself wrote a recent piece about how "more than half the faculty at Boston University, Northeastern, Tufts, and Harvard are part-time or are not on the tenure track." If that's the case, then the problem isn't geezers defiantly clutching their desks with one hand while beating off the whippersnappers with a stick. The problem is administrations that cut costs by hiring people on the cheap (adjuncts and lecturers get paid less and, in many instances, don't get any benefits to speak of). That doesn't mean that the adjuncts and lecturers are any less intelligent than the professors, but it does mean that these teachers - many of whom teach more classes, depending on the school - don't get the perks that go with being full-time faculty.
In a city filled with universities and their associated full-time and part-time professors, the "plugged pipeline" could have a serious impact on Boston's economy. It's hard to get by on an adjunct or lecturer's salary, and Bombardieri's articles make clear that a problem is brewing in terms of academic job quality in this city. Good college teachers will leave for more affordable places, and eventually students - and the parents who foot the bill - will catch on that schools are raising the cost of education without paying the people who do the teaching.

being old IS funny

2006-12-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Friends ready with a few timely geezer jokesBy Emmet MearaSaturday, December 16, 2006 - Bangor Daily News
I don’t even like Roslindale Leo, Natick Jerome or Moneybags John. Yet they are my dearest, most valued friends.
Leo had been a thorn in my side since, on the night I met him, he invited me to fight on the lawn. And it was my lawn. He ended that night vomiting on the same lawn, an act witnessed by my sainted mother (she actually asked if he would like a tuna sandwich.) Years later, as I lay dying (I recovered) in a Gloucester hospital, Leo asked my (soon-to-be-ex) wife if she wanted to go to a New Year’s Eve party. When she demurred, he said, "He will never know."
Nice guy. In ensuing years, he tried several times to kill me on canoe trips, tipping the craft into ice-filled waters, hitting me over the head with a log and ignoring each bit of advice.
At least you can pick your friends.
I had no choice with Jerome. He came along with the Twomey-Meara clan, disguised as a cousin. Jerome’s claim to fame is that he went back to college and got a music degree, at prestigious Berklee College, at age 55. Then, as testament to this milestone, he never played his guitar again.
He is also known for the night during his rock band days when he played a guitar solo while standing back-to-back with the gorgeous lead singer. His (soon-to-be-ex) wife leaped upon the stage, wrestled the sticks from the drummer and started beating the gorgeous lead singer. Jerome, a trouper, kept right on playing. But, since the gorgeous lead singer was married to the bandleader, Jerome lost the gig, and later, the wife, who took the house and furniture with her. Jerome was left alone, with only folding chairs from the neighborhood funeral parlor for company.
Moneybags John came into my life when he married the (almost) beauty queen from next door in Tenants Harbor. He is a marathoner, perilously thin and takes great pleasure in remarking on my expanding girth and shrinking financial resources. He loves it that my Florida land purchase set off a national, if not international, crash in real estate. John carries a calculator to determine up-to-the-minute calculations on his financial worth and eventual Social Security windfall. Certainly, no one celebrated his open-heart surgery last year, but the event did cut down on the "Emmet is fat" jokes.
John was a naval officer. I could tell how well-trained he was during my brief sailboat ownership when I approached a Rockland dock and threw him a line. I was no naval officer and admittedly failed to secure the line to the boat. But when I looked up, the Navy vet was standing there holding it, instead of lashing it to the dock. We both fell down laughing, praying to God that no one witnessed the feeble act.
The point here (there is one) is that this dastardly trio was born before I was, some of them by several months.
I was born on Dec. 22, along with one Meara Van Der Zee, destined for a career in Hollywood.
That means that I can send them "old" jokes all year long with the understanding that I am still young, at least compared to them.
Now, the days are dwindling down to a precious few. They have already experienced the pain that is age 66 and the tide is turning. Their e-mails grow more and more bitter. The same jokes are now bouncing back.
That’s not funny.
Now that I am next in line, I wonder why I ever had anything to do with this trio in the first place.
Wait till next year.

King George proclamation

2006-10-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a quote from W's visit to Phoenix today. Apparently, he thinks we are idiots and will believe his scare tactics in the campaign which will be dominated by the bizarre story of Congressman Foley who was the chair of the committee charged with protecting children, but who was clearly being very weird with children.....

"If the people of Arizona and the people the United States don't think we ought to be listening in on the conversations of people who can do harm to the United States, then go ahead and vote for the Democrats," Bush said."If you want to make sure that those on the front line protecting you have the tools necessary to do so, you vote Republican for the safety of the United States."

I am sure that a number of people in the front lines and being killed are not Republicans. How can he think we are not in this together?

I read a letter yesterday that said that perhaps the Republicans had been trying to win for so many years, perhaps they do not know what to do when they won? I fear they had no plan other than to make their buddies in big business rich. They certainly have been doing that. One of these years the bills will come due. Remember the inflation of the 70's and 80's? That was paying for the outrageous spending in Vietnam. Our pensions will go up in flames to pay the outrageous price of creating another war in Iraq. Maybe we will be able to install OUR dictator, but that will not last long.....

Wake up and smell the napalm.....

Love the commercial about milk shakes

2006-09-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

They are playing a commercial on TV with a couple of guys shaking cows and singing part of Kelis' Milk Shake song. I am amazed there is not outrage over this. I guess the geezers have not seen the lyrics to the song. For the assistance of both of my readers, here you go.....

My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to chargeMy milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to chargeI know you want it, the thing that makes me, what the guys go crazy for.They lose their minds, the way I wind,I think its timela la-la la la,warm it up.la la-la la la,the boys are waitingla la-la la la,warm it up.la la-la la la,the boys are waitingMy milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to chargeMy milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to chargeI can see youre on it,you want me to teach thetechniques that freaks these boys,it can't be bought,just know, thieves get caught,watch if your smart,la la-la la la,warm it up,la la-la la la,the boys are waiting,la la-la la la,warm it up,la la-la la la,the boys are waiting,My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to chargeMy milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to chargeOnce you get involved,everyone will look this way-so,you must maintain your charm,same time maintain your halo,just get the perfect blend,plus what you have within,then next his eyes are squint,then he's picked up your scent,la la-la la la,warm it up,la la-la la la,the boys are waiting,la la-la la la,warm it up,la la-la la la,the boys are waitingMy milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to charge.My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,and they're like,its better than yours,damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to charge.

I think it is a great play on the song.....and I like the song originally.....

geez, some guys need a date....

2006-09-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I am from Wisconsin:( And they stopped at Walmart to buy comdoms before they went to the cemetery.....ewwww

RICHLAND CENTER, Wis. - A lawmaker says he will propose a law to outlaw necrophilia in Wisconsin after the attempted robbery of a grave in Cassville.
Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, said he was stunned to learn there isn't such a law in effect in the state, which he said leaves law enforcement with few tools to use in such cases.
Twin brothers have been charged in Grant County Circuit Court with attempted third-degree sexual assault and attempted misdemeanor theft in the incident last Saturday .
Someone had called police after seeing suspicious activity. Authorities said they found a hole had been dug down to the vault of a girl who was killed in a motorcycle accident Aug. 27, but the vault had not been opened.
Sheriff Keith Govier said the three never had any contact with the victim but had seen a newspaper obituary on her death, which included a photo.
Court documents quoted Radke as saying one of the accused had wanted to dig the body up for sex.
Attempted third-degree sexual assault carries up to five years in prison and a fine of $12,500, and the theft charge carries up to four months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Laws against necrophilia in other states carry penalties of up to eight years.

87 year old bicyclist

2006-07-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Nothing hurts worse than a broken hip I think. I broke my pelvis a little more than two years ago. Aches when the weather changes.

But, back bicycling

An 87-year-old Palo Alto man suffered a broken hip after he was knocked from his bicycle in a collision with a left-turning vehicle at Middlefield Road and Colorado Avenue Friday.
Police Sgt. Sandra Brown said the unidentified man was crossing Middlefield when his bike was "tagged" by a vehicle making a left turn, driven by a 21-year-old Menlo Park man. She said police are still investigating the case and interviewing witnesses.
The accident, which occurred about noon, was reported to the public by a resident posting an item on Town Square, www.PaloAltoOnline.com.
Brown said from preliminary reports, "It looks like the pedestrian was actually on a bike crossing the street and was tagged by the vehicle," which was making a left turn. The driver remained at the scene, she said.
The bicyclist was taken to Stanford Hospital, and Brown said as of early Friday evening she was still awaiting word on his condition.

A quote we all should listen too

2006-06-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

The idiocy of the war is summed up in this quote.....bring them home....

"I don't know if this war is worth the life of Terry Lisk, or 10 soldiers, or 2,500 soldiers like him," Colonel MacFarland told his forces. "What I do know is that he did not die alone. He was surrounded by friends.
"A Greek philosopher said that only the dead have seen the end of war," the colonel said. "Only Terry Lisk has seen the end of this war."

Geezer still got it

2006-06-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

Won a whole pile of stuff on a local radio rock show for an email I sent in.....woo hoo!

Tonight I announced the winner of the "Lopsided" July 4th Party Pack e-mail contest.CD's: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Rammstein, Wheatus, Gnarls Barkley, The Streets,Divided By Zero, Sissy The Singer, Ashley MacIsaac, Eagle Seagull, <>DVD: Joanna's Angels Vol.1Here is the winning e-mail:I have been a fan of your style of music selection for years. However, since the Lopsided World of L has been on the air, my wife, who has never been a big fan of the music I listen to, has come to LOVE the World of L as much as I do. If I forget to turn you on, and believe me in your mid 50's your mind seems to get slippery about some things, she reminds me to turn you on. After 34 years of marriage, what more could I ask for?Well, I do ask for those other things that just flashed through our minds, but I am used to rejection...Rock on! My wife will be looking forward to the albums :)Mike MillerPhoenix, AZ. 85018*Thanks to all the labels and artists that provided the items*

My geezer hero

2006-06-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hope I grow up just like him!

Perhaps it's not surprising that a lawyer who rides his bicycle to work every day can find splendor in a snowstorm.
Ronald Wallenfang, 62, is an indefatigable bicycle rider.
In a rare instance when he can't pedal downtown from his home in Germantown - a round trip of 42 miles - he'll find time to get miles in during the day.
He's cycled around three of the Great Lakes - always starting from Milwaukee. He's taken two extensive bike trips in Europe. In 1998, he rode from Los Angeles to Milwaukee.
The highlights are many, including shivering alone in a cold thunderstorm on a desolate road on the north shore of Lake Superior.
"At first you feel you are going to die," he said of his Canadian ride. "And then you're afraid you're not."
He owns three bikes - a Trek 520 touring bike, a Trek 7500 hybrid and a single-speed Redline with wider tires that performs best in icy conditions.
When a storm in late March coated Milwaukee's trees with a blanket of snow, Wallenfang was ecstatic.
"For sheer beauty, my bike ride to work today was about as good as it gets," he wrote to an online chat group for recreational bicyclists.
He described how the Oak Leaf Trail was cordoned by snow-covered flora, bright as flocked trees at Christmas. He likened it to "riding into the entrance of a magical kingdom."
Of rides and religion
Since 1993, Wallenfang has ridden 238,000 miles - an average of nearly 50 miles of cycling a day.
He does it with daily rides to the office - a trip that includes long stretches on Bradley Road and the Oak Leaf Trail. Some days he picks longer routes.
On Saturday mornings, he takes a shortcut down Fond du Lac Ave. to serve Communion at Old Saint Mary's Catholic Church downtown.
His vacations often are solitary sojourns in which he sets his own pace and spends much of his waking hours pedaling from one hotel room and a warm shower to the next.
A self-described "compulsive churchgoer," the only thing that will stop him is a Mass.
One of his daughters who books hotels rooms while he is on the road has been known to use the Internet to look for Masses as well.
The highlight of all his rides was pedaling into suburban Atlanta late one summer night in 2005. He was riding from Philadelphia to Savannah, Ga., and coming through Atlanta to visit his son and family on his way to Milwaukee.
His daughter-in-law Charlotte was pregnant and 10 days overdue. He was awakened at five the next morning as Charlotte and his son were off to the hospital. At 8:30 a.m., the baby was born. He rode his bike to see mother and baby at the hospital and continued his ride to Milwaukee.
The most picturesque trip was in Germany along the Mosel River from Koblenz to Trier. As he followed the undulating Mosel, he passed vineyards, quaint towns and Roman ruins.
"An added bonus for me," he wrote to his chat group, "is that after I got a room in a nice little Gasthaus a few miles from Koblenz, had a bottle of the local white wine together with my pork whatever, and gone to bed, I was soon awakened by a 20-piece band playing marches and other songs on the street in celebration of a local guy's 80th birthday. So I went out and enjoyed that."
Keeping the streak alive
Wallenfang is not one of the Lycra crowd who races up and down Lake Drive. He averages 13 to 15 mph on his commute. His chief attribute is his endurance, and sometimes he trades his touring gig for something more competitive.
In 1999, he finished first in the 55-to-59 age group in the National 24-hour Challenge in Michigan, when he rode 326 miles.
Last summer, he came in seventh and covered 301 miles. Leg cramps slowed his pace after "I tried to run with the hounds. This is the kind of thing that teaches you a lesson."
Cycling, he admits, is an obsession.
His wife, Mary Ann, sometimes calls the bicycle his "iron mistress."
A math major in college, he uses a pocket calendar to detail his daily mileage and temperature outside.
He whiles away the riding with little games of calculus, figuring out how many miles he's gone and how many to go as the scenery and his variables constantly change.
His cycling is a "combination of enjoyment - it takes your mind off work - there is the physical fitness aspect to it and the environmental consciousness of saving gas," he said. "You put that all together and it becomes part of your self-identity."
Wallenfang, a partner in Quarles & Brady, has worked at the law firm since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1969.
He starts his commute at 6 a.m. In the winter, he begins before sunrise, outfitted with bike lights and reflective clothing. It takes 1 ½ hours to get to his office at the 411 Building on E. Wisconsin Ave.; his winter commute can take two hours.
When he gets to work, he cleans up with handy wipes and puts on clean clothes that he keeps in his office. If he has a business appointment 3 or 4 miles from his office, he will get on his bike.
His first cycling trip was in the summer after his second year of law school when he rode home to Milwaukee from Cambridge, Mass.
Then came a long period of wandering in a sedentary wilderness. His weight ballooned to 240 pounds on his 5-foot, 9-inch frame.
He didn't start riding seriously until his six children were older, and four were already out of the house. On business or family trips, he will bring along a bicycle or rent one to make sure he gets in some riding time.
He does it all to keep up his streak. His latest is relatively modest - he's ridden his bike every day since Aug. 6, 2005.
His longest streak - from March 6, 1998, to March 21, 2003 - ended abruptly when he was hit by a car in Whitefish Bay and separated his shoulder. He was off the bike for three weeks.
In another car accident, he broke his shoulder blade in 1990.
The potential of accidents or injury must be balanced with the obvious health benefits of riding, he says. At 200 pounds, he is built solid, like a tree trunk.
"The advantage of riding is that maybe I would be dead from a heart attack," he said.
Still, he thinks he is riding a little slower than a few years ago and he feels aches and pains more than he used to.
On his latest trip - a 2,218-mile ride from Key West, Fla., to Savannah to Arkansas to Milwaukee from April 21 to May 6 - his average number of miles per day slipped from 170 to about 140.
His knees also bother him from all of the riding. "I have trouble genuflecting in church," he said with a chuckle.
But the hunger to ride hasn't subsided.
He still needs to knock off four states that he hasn't ridden - South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and Hawaii.
And then there's this little trip he is planning in Europe.
He wants to ride from Nordkap, an isolated village at the northern tip of Norway, to Gibraltar, at the southern tip of Spain, a ride of 3,400 miles.

just getting over the mumps

2006-04-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

Mumps hits IowaMELANIE S. WELTEThe Associated PressPublished March 31, 2006, 10:20 AM CST
DES MOINES -- An outbreak of mumps is sweeping across Iowa, the first in nearly 20 years, and it's puzzling health officials and worrying parents.``We have probably, at this point, what we would call an epidemic of mumps,'' said state epidemiologist Dr. Patricia Quinlisk.As of Thursday, the latest report available, 245 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of mumps had been reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health this year.The first cases were reported in mid-January.``It started in eastern Iowa. It's spreading across the state. We have now seen possible cases in three of our bordering states,'' Quinlisk said.Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska may have one or two cases of suspected mumps, but Iowa is the only state in the United States with so many cases of the virus, she said.Health officials have not identified how it started.Mumps is an infection of the salivary glands. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle ache and swelling of the glands close to the jaw. It can cause serious complications including meningitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries and deafness.The virus is in 36 of Iowa's 99 counties. Dubuque, Johnson and Black Hawk counties in eastern Iowa are reporting the highest incidences.College-age students, those 18- to 22-years-old, have been infected the most, but other age groups are also seeing cases.When 11-year-old Will Hean starting feeling ill in mid-January, his family thought he had a bad case of the flu.But this was different.His face was swelling. So was his throat. His body temperature reached 103. His parents, Wayne and Karen Hean, of Davenport, took him to their family doctor, who sent him to a specialist.``He had the full-blown case of the mumps,'' said his father.``It was on both sides of his cheeks and his throat swelled up. Poor little guy. He was miserable,'' he said.About two weeks later, the Heans' daughter, Kate, 21, also started feeling ill and her face and throat started swelling.She had the mumps too.Hean said he was shocked. Both children had been given the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or MMR. So had their other son, 13-year-old Jimmy, who did not get the mumps.A mumps vaccine was introduced in 1967. People born before 1957 are believed to have been exposed to mumps during childhood and should be immune.``The vaccine is working,'' Quinlisk said. ``The vaccine certainly was made to cover this particular strain because it's a fairly common strain of mumps.''Quinlisk said, however, the vaccine is about 95 percent effective.``What that means is out of 100 people who get vaccinated, 95 of them will have lifelong immunity and will never get mumps even if they're exposed,'' she said. ``Unfortunately, five percent or 5 out of every 100, the vaccine doesn't take.''The last mumps outbreak in Iowa was in 1987 when 476 people were infected. Until this year, less than 60 cases were reported annually, with only one to three cases reported in the past five years.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which was notified of the mumps outbreak in Iowa on Feb. 9, has identified the strain as genotype g.That genotype has been identified in recent outbreaks in Canada, in two New Jersey cases imported from Ireland and an ongoing mumps outbreak in the UK, CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell said.The mumps epidemic in the United Kingdom began in 2004 and peaked in 2005 when 56,390 cases were reported in England and Wales, according to the CDC.In 2004, New Jersey had eight cases of the mumps. For 2005, there were seven cases, but those numbers are not final, said Nathan Rudy, spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.New York reported a cluster of cases at a summer camp in 2005. An investigation by state health officials identified 31 cases of the mumps. According to the CDC, the outbreak was most likely introduced by a camp counselor who traveled from the UK and had not been vaccinated for mumps.``Eradication is only as effective as the population remains at high levels of being vaccinated,'' Russell said. ``That's the health message that we always emphasis over and over again.''

A pi day record!

2006-03-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all the students involved!

Hi there,

My name is Veronica Han-G Benes and I am a MS Math teacher at Westlake Christian School, in Palm Harbor, Florida. I am sending you this email as I have emailed Gene Potter. He gave me your email address and suggested that I email you in regards to what our MS math class has done for National Pi Day, last Tuesday.

My students participated in several various events, which I received various ideas from mathwithmrherte.com. Some of them included citing as many circular objects in the world, circular songs, memorizing digits of Pi, measuring various objects for circumference and area as well as, making a Pi chain.

I understand that North Clayton High, (in an article written by Jeffrey Whitfield) stated they made a 5,000 link Pi chain.

Well, after some research I had seen on Mr. Herte's website that a school in Ohio had made a chain back in 2002 of 5201 links! I am so happy to say that my math students made a Pi chain of 7,095 digits!! It was so impressive that I had our local paper, St. Petersburg Times have a photographer sent over so they could take a pictuer. I am happy to say that we were photographed on Wednesday, March 15th in our Pinellas Times Section of the paper.

I was hoping you could help me so that I could have my students listed somehow, on a record list. In addition, I have a 7th grade student who has memorized 254 digits of Pi!!

I am so happy my students were able to participate in this experience and have a great time...

Please advise me how I can get my students noticed...

Thank you so much!

Veronica Han-G BenesMS Math Teacher
Westlake Christian School
1551 Belcher Road
Palm Harbor, FL 34683

Pi Day is here!

2006-03-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

TUESDAY MARCH 14 (03.14) IS PI DAY -- When Math Geeks, Students & Quants Can Have Their Pi and Eat It Too
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2006--It's Pi Day because the date is 3/14 -- the first three digits of Pi.
It's celebrated across the United States by Math nerds, students, teachers and professors, from elementary school to university, and even die-hard Quants.
Contrary to the pundits, there is a groundswell of enthusiasm and interest in Math and Sciences across the spectrum. Pi Day is the most visible demonstration.
The annual ritual Drop of The Giant Pi, viewed live across the United States, takes place in cyberspace at Pi Day Ground Zero -- the Pi Department at MathematiciansPictures.com -- on March 14 at precisely 1:59 pm (3.14.1:59 -- the first six digits of Pi). The Countdown is already running live.
PI DAY COUNTDOWN, & GIANT PI DROP at:
http://MathematiciansPictures.com/PI/PI_DAY_CENTRAL_Giant_Pi_Drop_MARCH_14.htm
Pi lovers don Pi Day shirts, display Pi Day posters and Pi scrolls, drink from Pi Day mugs, and serve pie in Pi Day aprons, as the Giant Pi descends majestically for its annual 'touch down.'
MEDIA "INTERVIEW WITH THE PI" (Visual & Voice):
Media interviews with the Pi (visual and voice) are available Monday March 13th and Tuesday March 14th as the Pi prepares for its Pi Day drop from the Giant Crane.
PI DAY GEAR: http://MathematiciansPictures.com/PI/PI-DAY.htm
EVERYDAY PI: (American Pi, Strawberry Pi, Pi-in-the-Sky, Apple Pi, Pizza Pi, etc)
http://MathematiciansPictures.com/sp_Pi_Variations.htm#PI_SHIRTS_POSTERS_MUGS
WORLD'S LARGEST PI POSTER (4 feet x 8 feet: One Million Digits):
http://MathematiciansPictures.com/PI/Pi_One_Million_Decimal_Places_Pi_1_Million_Decimal_Places_poster.htm#PI_ONE_MILLION_DIGITS
Pi Scrolls:
http://MathematiciansPictures.com/PI/PI-PANEL_scroll.htm#PI_SCROLLS
Please let us know if you are interested in order that minor technical details for Drop of the Giant Pi coverage, and the Interview with the Pi can be coordinated in advance.

I used to live near these cities.....never thought about the names

2006-03-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, at least we don't live in Il-in-WAH
JAY RATH For the State Journal
The Bible tells us that God looked at the Tower of Babel, scattered its builders and confounded their tongues. This must be the earliest known literary reference to Wisconsin.
How else to explain our welter of impossible city and town pronunciations?
"I think my first week, it was Wau-POON. That was a lot of fun," says Christine Bellport, WMTV (Ch. 15) morning anchor. The California native arrived in Madison in August 2004, only to be ambushed by, of course, Waupun. There's an Associated Press guide to place name pronunciation, "Except - I'm not kidding you - a third of the time they're incorrect," says Bellport.
At northern Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet U.S. National Forest, public affairs specialist Cathy Fox has heard it all. Just looking at the name terrifies. "I had some poor guy call from California once," Fox recalls, laughing. "He said, 'I need to update some information on Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch' - I said, 'Go ahead. Try it!'• "
Only Wisconsinese features a silent "Q." The correct pronunciation is SHAW-em-gun. The strangest she's heard was check-wa-ME-gun. "That was the phonetically correct person," Fox says, coining a new meaning for P.C.
Our maps seem designed to embarrass. Take Rio and Theresa, two Wisconsin villages. You would think that no names could be easier to pronounce. You would be wrong.
Rio rhymes with EYE-Oh, and it's tuh-RESS-uh. Following this logic, the capital should be MADE-ice-own.
Similarly, there is the Strange Case of Muscoda, which you might expect to be mus-KOE- duh. There is hope that the emerging science of quantum mechanics and string theory may yet account for pronouncing it, instead, as MUSS-kuh- day.
We're not as dumb as we think when we bump into unfamiliar place names. We take for granted how much we do know. For example, which "ough" sound should one mimic when pronouncing the city 20 miles southwest of Madison? Looking to "rough," "through" and "thought," it could be called Stuffton, Stewton or Stawton. But somewhere long ago we learned that Stoughton is "STOW-tun."
Then there's the siren's song of familiar, look-alike words that lure us toward the shores of mispronunciation and public embarrassment. Oregon the state is ends with an "un" sound, but in Wisconsin the town is definitely "on." On the back of most nickels you see that Jefferson lived at mont-uh- CHELL-oh, but our Monitcello is mont-uh-SELL-oh. The city of Tomahawk presents no problem, but the city of Tomah does. It's TOE-muh. And you're welcome to take your bow and play the viola in Viola, so long as you pronounce the community's first syllable with an "eye" sound, and not the musical instrument's "vee."
Speaking of music, different meters playing at the same time is called a hemiola; think of a polka played as a waltz. The off-balance effect is as if the instruments are speaking on the wrong syllables. In Wisconsin, we make music of a different sort when we show preference to unexpected syllables. Take, for example, Gillett, which is JILL-it. Boaz is not "boze," but BO-az. And there's New BER-lin. Struggle as we might to be phonetically correct, how can we follow rules when there aren't any? It's not Bos-KOE-buhl, WAW-puk- aw and Muh-ZAHM-uh-nee. First second and third syllables are each favored, in order, in Boscobel, Waupaca and Mazomanie: BOSS-kuh-bell, Wah- PACK-uh and may-zoh-MAY- nee.
Against all reason we speak Vienna with an "eye" sound. But it's not Germanic tongues that tangle most. The French may have ceded the Wisconsin territory to the British in 1763, but they left behind the city whose name should be pronounced "bell-WAH." If you call it that when asking for directions, you'll never find your way to Beloit.
The "sheen" that ends Prairie du Chien would, to a French speaker, be "shee-EN," with a nasalized "n" on the end. Word pairs that are otherwise simple can set up illogical hurdles to pronunciation. Sportscasters who call it GREEN Bay make us snort. But why do we call it Green BAY, as if there are other green things nearby and we mean to refer only to the water? Still, green is GREEN in Spring GREEN. Why? Why, for that matter, is it Sauk CITY but never BEAVER Dam?
Many of us no doubt mangle names drawn from Native American languages, without even knowing it. Look how even the tribal name of the Ojibwa was so long mangled as "Chippewa." Oshkosh is named for the chief whose name was spelled that way, but it's also spelled as the Brooklyn- sounding "Oiscoss." Both spellings turn up in the 1827 Treaty of Little Butte des Morts, a pronunciation challenge in itself. It's no mystery why, history tells us, the chief was also called "Clam."
But we're led astray even within the context of probably- garbled Indian names, especially in the matter of our "aukees." If it's Mil-WAH-kee, Peh- WAH-kee and Oh-ZAW-kee, then why is Waunakee not Wah-NAH-kee, instead of Wah- nuh-KEE?
And then there's . . . Oconomowoc.
It could be a childhood phonics test, with its perfectly alternating hard and soft "O"s. The Wisconsin Historical Society says it's a corruption of "Coo-no-mo-wauk," a Pottawatomie term referring to a nearby waterfall, and that tired pioneers punned it as "I can no mo' walk."
Even the original pronunciation and meaning of "Wisconsin" are lost to us. Its listed translations range from "gathering of waters" and "river of red stone" to "river of the great rock" which, though picturesque, could hardly fit on license plates. The Historical Society says it's the English spelling of a French version of a Native American word. French explorer Jacques Marquette garbled it immediately in 1673, spelling it both "Meskousing" and "Miskous."
Be thankful, then, for failed translations and mispronunciations. Otherwise, instead of "On, Wisconsin!" we'd all be singing "On, Miskous!" But that's better than singing another translation of our state name: "On, Holes in the Bank of a Stream in Which Birds Nest!"
It would be easy to pronounce, though.

good news for geezers?

2006-03-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

The next few decades will see an explosion in the percentage of Americans over the age of 65, but the economic and social impact of this baby boomer sunset may be gentler than had been feared because of a significant drop in the percentage of older people with disabilities, a new federal study has concluded.
Released yesterday, the United States Census Bureau's 243-page report on the aging population, among the largest and most comprehensive on the subject that the bureau has ever compiled, showed that today's older Americans are markedly different from previous generations. They are more prosperous, better educated and healthier, and those differences will only accelerate as the first boomers hit retirement age in 2011.
"Older Americans, when compared to older Americans even 20 years ago, are showing substantially less disability, and that benefit applies to men and to women," said Richard J. Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, on whose behalf the study was conducted. "All of this speaks to an improved quality of life."
What this suggests, Dr. Hodes said, is that while many of these older Americans will eventually become disabled, it will happen later with more of the years beyond 65 free of disability — an increase in what scientists call health expectancy.
And while, as baby boomers age, the growing ranks of the infirm will become a substantial drain on government coffers and devour health care resources, the total impact may not be as devastating as once feared, Dr. Hodes said.
The study showed that the percentage of those over 65 who had a disability that the report described as "a substantial limitation in a major life activity" fell to 19.7 percent in 1999 from 26.2 percent in 1982. There were signs the trend would continue.
Richard Suzman, head of the Behavioral and Social Research Program for the National Institute on Aging, said there was disagreement among those analyzing the results about why this drop occurred. But they assumed, he said, that it was at least partly a result of today's older Americans' being better educated and more prosperous than previous generations.
"People today have a better health expectancy than did their predecessors," Mr. Suzman said. "Education, in particular, is a particularly powerful factor in both life expectancy and health expectancy, though truthfully, we're not quite sure why."
Dr. Hodes cautioned that the growing obesity rate in America may neutralize the positive trend.
The new study, "65+ in the United States: 2005," involved no fresh research but was an effort to draw together all of the relevant information on America's aging population from nearly a dozen federal agencies, said Charles Louis Kincannon, director of the Census Bureau.
"The report tells us that the face of America is changing," he said.
In 1900, Mr. Kincannon said, there were 120,000 Americans over age 85, about 0.1 percent of the population. Today there are more than four million, about 1 percent. Indeed, Mr. Kincannon said, it is the nation's fastest-growing age group.
In July 2003, there were 35.9 million Americans over the age of 65, about 12 percent of the population. By 2030, federal officials predict, there will be 72 million older people, about 20 percent of Americans.
And they will be a substantially different class of people than previous generations. In 1959, 35 percent of people over 65 lived in poverty. By 2003, that figure had dropped to 10 percent. The proportion of older Americans with a high school diploma rose to 71.5 percent in 2003 from 17 percent in 1950.
All of these trends are expected to accelerate, and soon. "The future older population is likely to be better educated than the current older population, especially when baby boomers start reaching age 65," the report concluded. "Their increased levels of education may accompany better health, higher incomes and more wealth, and consequently higher standards of living in retirement."
And as younger workers become scarcer, many companies will have to find ways to convince their older workers to stay on the job longer, Mr. Kincannon said.
The report was not all good news.
Divorce is on the rise among older Americans, the study found, leading to concerns that broken families combined with low birth rates among baby boomers may create a situation where fewer people are available or willing to help care for their aging relatives, pushing even more of the burden onto government.
Also, the drop in poverty has not happened across all population groups. "There are subgroups among the old who still have fairly high levels of poverty, including older women, and especially those who live alone," said Victoria A. Velkoff, chief of the aging studies branch at the Census Bureau.
Ms. Velkoff said that while the aging population was more diverse than previous generations, poverty hit blacks and Hispanics, especially women, harder than whites. While 10 percent of older white women lived in poverty in 2003, 21.4 percent of older Hispanic women and 27.4 percent of older black women did.

Not even a geezer

2006-03-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is sad. He was such a good player in a small ball town. Really, the star of Minneapolis for a number of years. Probably could not live a life after baseball....

MINNEAPOLIS Mar 6, 2006 (AP)— Kirby Puckett died Monday, a day after the Hall of Fame outfielder had a stroke at his Arizona home, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 44.

sad waste of a car....

2006-03-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Plot Thickens in Ferrari CrashA gun's magazine found near the wreckage may be connected to the accident, and a Scottish bank says it might own the destroyed car.By Richard Winton and David PiersonTimes Staff WritersPublished February 28, 2006The mystery deepened Monday in the case of the puzzling crash last week of a $1-million Ferrari Enzo on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.Sheriff's detectives said Monday that they believe a gun's magazine discovered near the wreckage is connected to the crash, and they plan to interview an unnamed person who they believe was in the car with Swedish game machine entrepreneur Stefan Eriksson.The crash has also garnered the attention of a leading Scottish bank, which has informed sheriff's investigators that it may own the destroyed car. At the same time, detectives are trying to figure out why another exotic car in Eriksson's extensive collection, a Mercedes SLR, was listed as stolen by Scotland Yard in London, said Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks.The totaled Ferrari was one of two Enzos that Eriksson brought into the United States from England along with the Mercedes SLR, Brooks said. But detectives concluded that the totaled vehicle did not have appropriate papers and was not "street legal" for driving in California, he said.Detectives have been trying for nearly a week to sort out what exactly happened last Tuesday morning when Eriksson's Enzo — one of only 400 ever made — smashed into a telephone pole, totaling the car. Eriksson told deputies that he was the passenger and that a man he knew only as "Dietrich" was behind the wheel. But detectives have been openly skeptical of the story, noting that Eriksson had a bloody lip and that the only blood they found in the car was on the driver's-side air bag.Brooks said detectives have called in Eriksson for another interview. Eriksson has declined through the security guard at his gated Bel-Air estate to comment. An attorney who has previously represented Eriksson in civil matters, Ashley Posner, also declined to comment Monday.But some city leaders in Malibu, where the crash has been the talk of the town, were less circumspect."The guy should have had an IQ test," said Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Ken Kearsley, who has been following the coverage of the crash with a half-grin. The driver's IQ "couldn't come up above 60 if he was doing 120 on PCH," Kearsley said.But in fact, Brooks said Monday, the car was traveling 162 mph when it crashed, far faster than the 120 mph originally believed. The Ferrari, with just a few inches of undercarriage clearance, hit a bump at a crest in the road, sending the vehicle airborne and into the power pole, Brooks said.Brooks said they are investigating whether someone else may have been present and are trying to determine whether the recovered gun component is connected to the case. He declined to say more about the find or elaborate on the status of the Scottish bank and Scotland Yard in the case.The question of whether Eriksson was the driver is key to the case, Brooks said. Eriksson's blood-alcohol level was 0.09%, higher than the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle.Sheriff's officials are still trying to confirm witness reports that the Ferrari might have been drag racing with another car, and officials aren't sure if that's what happened.Sheriff's officials said Eriksson was an executive with a game company that attempted to take on Sony and Nintendo, but the firm collapsed last year.In Malibu, officials said they are not sure what to make of the accident.Kearsley said the stretch of road was not known for drag racing, but for run-of-the-mill speeders. He said the Sheriff's Department has had success for the last year and a half using radar and lasers to catch overzealous drivers. The lasers are not detectable to drivers, he said."It's straight as an arrow where the accident was," he said. "You really have to go out of your way to hit a telephone pole."Carol Moss, a longtime Malibu resident, activist and meditation group leader, said the accident came as no surprise."It was horrendous, but Malibu is full of idiots," she said. "There are a lot of wild cars and irresponsible people. The roads are dangerous. You always see people with those sorts of cars. You see some wild behavior."But, in keeping with her Zen frame of mind, Moss extended an olive branch. "Everyone is welcome to attend the meditation group. Even the drag racer."

The clumsy geezer

2006-02-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

London - The police report described him as a "falling object" who lost control of his bicycle after being overwhelmed by the challenge of pedalling and waving at the same time.So ended the mystery of how President Bush collided with - and injured - a police officer while cycling at Gleneagles Hotel in Edinburgh on the first day of the G8 summit.The police report read: "The president approached the junction at speed on the bicycle. The road was damp. As the president passed at speed, he raised his left arm from the handlebars to wave to the police officers present while shouting: 'Thanks, you guys, for coming.'

"As he did, he lost control, falling to the ground, causing both himself and his bicycle to strike [the officer] on the lower legs. [The officer] fell to the ground, striking his head."The report went on to divulge how the president skidded 5m after knocking down the police constable, who was off duty for 14 weeks after the accident.The injured officer received a phone call of apology while on his way to the infirmary.

another geezer gone....

2006-02-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hope Kolchak finds the strange creatures....

Darren McGavin, 83, a film and television actor who appeared on an almost limitless number of television series and shows and set a standard for cynical and hard-boiled gruffness as a reporter in "The Night Stalker" and a detective in "Mike Hammer," died yesterday in California.
A son told the Associated Press that he died in a hospital in the Los Angeles area. No cause of death was specified.

Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak on "The Night Stalker."

Few actors of his generation remained active longer. Mr. McGavin's acting career has been traced back to a 1941 stage appearance in "Lady Windermere's Fan." There were reports that he worked on a TV pilot last year. He won an Emmy for a role on the TV series "Murphy Brown."
But the 20 episodes of the "Night Stalker" series, in which he played a rumpled, grumpy Chicago news reporter whose determination to follow every lead allows him to save society from the dangers of the supernatural, seemed to define his career.
The episodes in which he played Carl Kolchak on ABC in 1974 and 1975 were distinguished by his portrayal of the dogged shoe-leather reporter and combined the appeal of the newsroom drama with the attractions of fantasy and the occult.
Before that, he played Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in the late 1950s, staying just this side of farce in his demonstration of the ultimate toughness of the private eye.
Documentation of his early life seemed sparse last night. In some accounts, he was born in Spokane, in others in the San Joaquin Valley area of California. Delano is listed for his father's middle name, Bogart for his mother's.
Mr. McGavin had a year of college in California, then went east to the Actors Studio.
Survivors include four children.

another geezer gone....

2006-02-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES - Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 81.
died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs "The Andy Griffith Show," and another Knotts hit, "Three's Company."Unspecified health problems had forced him to cancel an appearance in his native Morgantown in August 2005.The West Virginia-born actor's half-century career included seven TV series and more than 25 films, but it was the Griffith show that brought him TV immortality and five Emmies.The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. 1 ranking its final year. It is one of only three series in TV history to bow out at the top: The others are "I Love Lucy" and "Seinfeld." The 249 episodes have appeared frequently in reruns and have spawned a large, active network of fan clubs.As the bug-eyed deputy to Griffith, Knotts carried in his shirt pocket the one bullet he was allowed after shooting himself in the foot. The constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of his self-deprecating humor.Knotts, whose shy, soft-spoken manner was unlike his high-strung characters, once said he was most proud of the Fife character and doesn't mind being remembered that way.His favorite episodes, he said, were "The Pickle Story," where Aunt Bea makes pickles no one can eat, and "Barney and the Choir," where no one can stop him from singing."I can't sing. It makes me sad that I can't sing or dance well enough to be in a musical, but I'm just not talented in that way," he lamented. "It's one of my weaknesses."Knotts appeared on six other television shows. In 1979, Knotts replaced Norman Fell on "Three's Company," playing the would-be swinger landlord to John Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt.Early in his TV career, he was one of the original cast members of "The Steve Allen Show," the comedy-variety show that ran from 1956-61. He was one of a group of memorable comics backing Allen that included Louis Nye, Tom Poston and Bill "Jose Jimenez" Dana.Knotts' G-rated films were family fun, not box-office blockbusters. In most, he ends up the hero and gets the girl - a girl who can see through his nervousness to the heart of gold.In the part-animated 1964 film "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," Knotts played a meek clerk who turns into a fish after he is rejected by the Navy.When it was announced in 1998 that Jim Carrey would star in a "Limpet" remake, Knotts responded: "I'm just flattered that someone of Carrey's caliber is remaking something I did. Now, if someone else did Barney Fife, THAT would be different."In the 1967 film "The Reluctant Astronaut," co-starring Leslie Nielsen, Knotts' father enrolls his wimpy son - operator of a Kiddieland rocket ride - in NASA's space program. Knotts poses as a famous astronaut to the joy of his parents and hometown but is eventually exposed for what he really is, a janitor so terrified of heights he refuses to ride an airplane.In the 1969 film "The Love God?," he was a geeky bird-watcher who is duped into becoming publisher of a naughty men's magazine and then becomes a national sex symbol. Eventually, he comes to his senses, leaves the big city and marries the sweet girl next door.He was among an army of comedians from Buster Keaton to Jonathan Winters to liven up the 1963 megacomedy "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Other films include "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966); "The Shakiest Gun in the West," (1968); and a few Disney films such as "The Apple Dumpling Gang," (1974); "Gus," (1976); and "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo," (1977).In 1998, he had a key role in the back-to-the-past movie "Pleasantville," playing a folksy television repairman whose supercharged remote control sends a teen boy and his sister into a TV sitcom past.Knotts began his show biz career even before he graduated from high school, performing as a ventriloquist at local clubs and churches. He majored in speech at West Virginia University, then took off for the big city."I went to New York cold. On a $100 bill. Bummed a ride," he recalled in a visit to his hometown of Morgantown, where city officials renamed a street for him in 1998.Within six months, Knotts had taken a job on a radio Western called "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders," playing a wisecracking, know-it-all handyman. He stayed with it for five years, then came his series TV debut on "The Steve Allen Show."He married Kay Metz in 1948, the year he graduated from college. The couple had two children before divorcing in 1969. Knotts later married, then divorced Lara Lee Szuchna.In recent years, he said he had no plans to retire, traveling with theater productions and appearing in print and TV ads for Kodiak pressure treated wood.The world laughed at Knotts, but it also laughed with him.He treasured his comedic roles and could point to only one role that wasn't funny, a brief stint on the daytime drama "Search for Tomorrow.""That's the only serious thing I've done. I don't miss that," Knotts said.

death of the 60's

2006-02-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

CALGARY, Alberta - William Cowsill, lead singer of the 1960s singing family band The Cowsills, which inspired the TV series "The Partridge Family," has died. He was 58.Cowsill, who was suffering from emphysema, osteoporosis, and other ailments, died in Calgary, Alberta, on Friday, according to the family and Canadian record producer Neil MacGonigill. He had been in deteriorating health.The Cowsills, inspiration for the "The Partridge Family," recorded a series of top hits between 1967 and 1970, including "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" and "Hair."Four Cowsill brothers played in the band: Barry on bass, William on guitar, Bob on guitar and organ, and John on drums. Their mother, Barbara, and little sister, Susan, eventually joined the group.Barry disappeared after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on Aug. 29. His body was recovered Dec. 28 from the Chartres Street Wharf.The band's career began in Newport, R.I. They were spotted by a producer for NBC's "Today" show which booked them for an appearance that led to a record deal.The band broke up in the 1970s. William, the oldest brother, moved to Canada about 35 years ago, where he continued his music career with Blue Northern, The Blue Shadows and the Co-Dependents.Cowsill is survived by two sons.

Hemp should be legal....

2006-02-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

North Dakota, three other states make pitch to allow hemp cultivation
Ag Commission Johnson says Drug Enforcement Agency ‘cordial,’ but cautioned about fed law complications
Grand Forks Herald
GRAND FORKS, ND -- North Dakota and three other states made their case today with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to allow the cultivation of industrial hemp, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson and counterparts from West Virginia, Massachusetts and Wisconsin met with several DEA officials.
In a news release, Johnson said his department is drafting new rules to control the production of industrial hemp, and that he wanted to solicit input from DEA. The new rules would implement state laws, passed by the Legislature in 1999 through 2005.
DEA officials were “very cordial” but cautioned that the process of legalizing industrial hemp production would be extremely complicated under existing federal law, Johnson said in a statement.
“DEA has never responded to our earlier inquiries,” Johnson said, “but today, we were able to present our case and learn from them what may be required in terms of regulations and safeguards.”
According to the state Department of Agriculture, industrial hemp (cannabis sativa) is widely grown around the world and is used in the manufacture of textiles, papers and rope. Its seed is also used for food and feed. Oil derived from the plant is used in cosmetics, paints and medicinal compounds. The industrial form of hemp contains only trace amounts of the psychoactive drug delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in marijuana, although DEA currently does not recognize industrial hemp apart from marijuana.
The United States is alone among industrialized countries in banning cultivation of industrial hemp, Johnson said, adding that Canada lifted their band in 1998.
He said industrial hemp could do well in North Dakota as a valuable rotational crop and another income source.

poem

2006-02-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

don't kiss your honey
when your nose is runny
you may think it's funny
but it's not.....

say it out loud....

riding in comfort

2006-02-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Recumbent bicycle devotees sing praises of the low riders Comfort factor biggest reason cyclists make switch
Sunday, February 12, 2006
News Staff Reporter
The reclining cyclists on their low-riding bicycles may look a little strange. But those who've switched from the upright to the recumbent bicycle say they'll never go back.
"With some people, it's like they've rediscovered the bicycle,'' said Bob Krzewinski, coordinator of the Wolver-Bent Recumbent Cyclists. "All of a sudden they get on one of these things and start riding it, and they get a smile on their face and say, 'Wow! This is fun and comfortable. I didn't know bikes could be so comfortable.'''
Comfortable bikers will ride more, said Krzewinski, an airline pilot who lives in Ypsilanti. That will improve their health and make them less susceptible to obesity, too.''
On Saturday, the 25-year-old Michigan Human-Powered Vehicle Association met with the 10-year-old Wolver-Bent Recumbent Cyclists at the University of Michigan for their joint annual meeting.
As the owner of Ann Arbor Cyclery, 1200 Packard St., Jon Kieft has tested every kind of bike out there.
His hands-down favorite? The recumbent.
"I love it,'' he said. "I wouldn't ride any other bike after riding that. I'm not out to race, or ride hard off road. I ride recreationally with my family ... It's the comfort factor.''
He said recumbent bikes make up about 14 percent of his total bike sales, up from about 5 percent five years ago. Most customers are 40 to 65 years old and looking for a more comfortable ride, he said. The bikes range in price from $700 to $5,000, with the average bike around $1,600, compared to $700 for the average mountain bike, he said.
"They're becoming more and more popular, but a lot of people still haven't seen them,'' Kieft said. "They're not quite sure what they are, or why people are riding them. So they stare at you as you go past.''
Recumbent bicycles have been around since the late 1800s, but it was not until about 1990 that they started catching on in the United States. Enthusiasts claim they reduce the sore necks, shoulders, backs, hands, and bottoms that can result from riding a traditional bike.
John Vaughan of Ann Arbor bought his recumbent bike nearly three years ago. He now rides 1,200 miles a year during afternoon rides on local trails and streets.
He made the switch because his old bike made his hands hurt or numb.
"I have no discomfort at all now,'' said Vaughan, 51. "When I go on vacation, I take two- and three-hour rides without getting off the bike.''
The Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association sponsors an annual race of recumbent cyclists, said president Wally Kiehler of Grosse Pointe Woods, noting that cyclists can exceed 40 mph.
"With the recumbent, there is no pain,'' he said. "If you work on the correct muscles with the recumbent and have a better bike, you can go faster, also.''
Robert Kay of York Township, a dealer of Greenspeed recumbent bikes, sells his bikes at crank-it.com. He switches between his recumbent bikes and mountain bike depending on his mood.
"Sometimes people think you're riding a wheelchair; they think you might be disabled,'' he said. "And we have a lot of disabled customers; people who don't have balance, or have ridden a bike in the past and gotten injured.''
He said his three-wheeler bike is particularly good for those with balance problems.
Krzewinski still keeps his old Schwinn road bike in the basement, but hasn't ridden it in years.
"I was getting aches and pains on a regular bike, and thought, 'There's got to be a better way,' '' he recalled. "Now I can ride all day without a bunch of pain.''
For more information on Michigan Wolver-Bent Recumbent Bicyclists, which sponsors monthly rides in southeast Michigan, visit wolverbents.org.

a sad way to go....

2006-02-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

An 88-year-old Evanston man was killed Wednesday after a refuse container truck struck him while he was riding a bicycle, said Deputy Chief Brian King of the Wilmette Police Department.
The truck hit Edward K. Meyer, of 2518 Jackson Ave., at about noon at the intersection of Isabella and Poplar streets, King said. The intersection lies on the border between Evanston and Wilmette. Meyer was riding in the lane of traffic when the truck backed up over him.
The truck carried a large refuse container often used at construction sites and was coming from a site in Elmhurst, Ill., King said.
Witnesses contacted the police department when the bicycle was seen under the truck, King said. The driver did not immediately realize the truck struck Meyer.
Meyer was killed instantly, King said.
Evanston police responded to the incident and assisted Wilmette officers in handling the accident.
A team from the Wilmette Police Department will investigate, King said. No charges had been filed as of Thursday evening.
The names of the company and of the truck driver had not been released Thursday evening.

a great bike idea

2006-02-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

A modest proposal

Contributed by Greg Gordon/For the Kaimin
Tuesday, 07 February 2006
This column is dedicated to the memory of environmental studies professor Bert Pfeiffer, who never failed to stand up for his beliefs and put his words into his everyday actions without dogma. Bert actively opposed the Vietnam War, and exposed the use of Agent Orange, a risky and unpopular position in the 1960s. A committed activist, Bert rode his bicycle to campus every day rain or shine well into his 70s, when he finally retired. Trusting in the goodness of the campus community, Bert never locked his bike, but simply left it standing outside Rankin Hall. When my head was filled with despair of global warming, nuclear proliferation and postmodern angst, nothing lifted my spirit so much as seeing 75-year-old Bert wobbling across campus on his rickety, one-speed bike.
Let me see if I have this straight:
1. Global climate change is drastically affecting our weather patterns, creating droughts and hurricanes, melting ice caps, raising sea levels and causing the proliferation of exotic species and tropical diseases. It is wreaking potential havoc on agriculture and ecosystem resilience, not to mention totally messing with the skiing. Cars are a major source of global warming.
2. Missoula suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the country. Cars are a major source of air pollution.
3. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death and injury in this country.
4. We are currently embroiled in a terrible war over access to oil.
5. Parking lots require an enormous amount of space.
6. Bicycles are the most efficient means of transportation on earth.
7. Bicycles are non-polluting, quiet and healthy.
8. The Office of Public Safety reports a grand total of ZERO pedestrian/bicycle accidents.
9. ASUM is considering banning BICYCLES????
The reasons for such drastic action according to Kaimin guest columnist Christopher Lilly and ASUM Senator Jake Pipinich are, as near as I can tell:
1. Bicyclists are rude and wantonly mow down pedestrians. Umm, not too sure about this, so I called the Office of Public Safety and they have no record of any pedestrian/bicycle accidents. I can say that I’ve had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting someone yakking on a cell phone who stepsed out in front of me, totally oblivious to the world around her. Both parties apologized and went on their way. I’ve also been hit twice this year by cars, the drivers yakking on cell phones. Solution: BAN CARS AND CELL PHONES, and issue tickets for rude behavior.
2. Bicyclists have beards, don’t shower and wear wool hats. Solution: Enforced dress code on campus.
3. Bicyclists are immature. Acting in accordance with your principles so as to make the world a better place for ourselves, others on the planet and our children is immature, but driving your SUV 10 blocks, circling three times for a parking space, and then rushing across campus yakking on a cell phone and wearing pajama bottoms to class is maturity?
I propose ASUM consider the following:
1. Ban cars on campus. (Mobility-impaired excepted). There is more than adequate public transportation from anywhere in Missoula to UM. We can put all those parking lots to far better uses. Like a new business school or perhaps the George Bush Institute of Democracy where Pipinich and Lilly could find justification for inflicting their notions upon the majority.
2. Issue free bicycles to all incoming students. Those Ivy League schools give students laptops; UM has to compete. How can we compete with Harvard? We have a bicycle-friendly campus filled with healthy, vigorous students and faculty that trot up a mountain between classes. Note to Lilly: chicks dig hard bodies.
3. Issue free ski passes with registration. Hey, while we’re at it, why not?
4. Ban cell phones and immaturity and rudeness.
5. Ban pedestrians. You don’t hear bicyclists complaining, do you?
6. OK, here’s a real solution: Why not just make bike lanes? A couple of guys with a can of paint can solve the whole thing by painting bike lanes on those wide sidewalks.
Seriously, what worries me about this issue is how instead of seeking input to a perceived problem (did I mention zero record of any reported encounter?) Lilly and Pipinich wish to impose their will upon others by manufacturing a problem and instituting Draconian measures. This seems to be reflective of current political discourse since Dubya took office. We miss ya, Bert.
—Greg Gordon, graduate,
history

state of the union

2006-02-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

I guess in this administration, if you don't agree, you don't get to go to the meeting.....oh, that's right, that is how he ran his campaign stops. Also, he never talks to people that disagree. Isn't it scary that he never gets to talk to real people.....

What Really HappenedBy Cindy Sheehant r u t h o u t PerspectiveWednesday 01 February 2006As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address last night.I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened:This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2245 Dead. How many more?After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns who is in Iraq Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media and everyone knew I was going to be there so I sucked it up and went.I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again.My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat.I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled; "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.The officer ran with me to the elevators yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, "That's Cindy Sheehan." At which point the officer who arrested me said: "Take these steps slowly." I said, "You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps." He said, "That's because you were protesting." Wow, I get hauled out of the People's House because I was, "Protesting."I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things...I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately, and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2245, huh? I just got back from there."I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain.What did Casey die for? What did the 2244 other brave young Americans die for? What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's way for still? For this? I can't even wear a shirt that has the number of troops on it that George Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies are responsible for killing.I wore the shirt to make a statement. The press knew I was going to be there and I thought every once in awhile they would show me and I would have the shirt on. I did not wear it to be disruptive, or I would have unzipped my jacket during George's speech. If I had any idea what happens to people who wear shirts that make the neocons uncomfortable that I would be arrested...maybe I would have, but I didn't.There have already been many wild stories out there.I have some lawyers looking into filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the government for what happened tonight. I will file it. It is time to take our freedoms and our country back.I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government. That's why I am going to take my freedoms and liberties back. That's why I am not going to let Bushco take anything else away from me...or you.I am so appreciative of the couple of hundred of protesters who came to the jail while I was locked up to show their support....we have so much potential for good...there is so much good in so many people.Four hours and 2 jails after I was arrested, I was let out. Again, I am so upset and sore it is hard to think straight.Keep up the struggle...I promise you I will too.

NOT a recommended trade....

2006-01-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO - A man apparently tired of pedaling his bicycle ordered a woman out of her car Sunday then side-swiped a pole as he screeched away in the stolen Honda, San Diego police said.The 61-year-old woman was sitting in her car with the door open in an alley in Hillcrest when the man pedaled his bike over.
The carjacking -- which happened in the 3800 block of Seventh Avenue -- was reported at 12:35 p.m., SDPD Sgt. Rodney Vandiver said.
The man dropped his bicycle and ordered the woman out, Vandiver said, adding that the car swiped a pole on the way out of the alley.

A sucky way to end the day!

2005-12-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Michigan man bowls third 300 game of life, then dies
Associated PressDec. 30, 2005 12:00 AM
PORTAGE, Mich. - A bowler collapsed and died at a bowling alley shortly after rolling the third perfect game of his life.Ed Lorenz, 69, bowled a 300 on Wednesday in his first league game of the night at Airway Lanes. When the retiree got up to bowl in the fifth frame of his second game, he clutched his chest and fell over, and efforts to revive him failed."If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it," said Johnny D Masters, who was bowling with Lorenz.Friends said Lorenz started bowling in 1957 and ended last season with a 223 average. He rolled his first two 300 games over a one-week period in 2004.In May, Lorenz was inducted into the Kalamazoo Metro Bowling Association Hall of Fame.

Us geezers just like cool stuff too!

2005-12-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Boomers like cars geared to younger setCross between Hummer, minivan misses mark.
It wasn't until Jim Tudor got his new Honda Element that he noticed a quirk in its design. Why was the boxy vehicle's sunroof over the empty back seat instead of his spot up front?"I found out that it's supposed to be for my surfboard," says Tudor, who's 56, the grandfather of two and never surfs anywhere but the Internet. "It was really only after the fact, when I started doing a little reading on the car, that I found out I wasn't supposed to be the one driving it."It turns out many of the people buying the Element -- which looks like a cross between a minivan and a Hummer -- aren't the young surfers and mountain bikers Honda expected. It's the same for many buyers of Toyota's Scion models.
Those vehicles were designed and pitched by automakers to capture the hearts and dollars of consumers in their 20s or even younger.But a funny thing happened on the cars' way to the youth market -- people in their 40s, 50s, or 60s found the vehicles suited their lifestyles, too. Honda was "hoping to get parents to buy it for their kids. It didn't work out that way," says Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, which tracks consumer spending. "The parents who bought it decided they wanted it. The whole car got hijacked by the baby boomers."The demand for these cars from older buyers has thrown a small curve to Honda, Toyota and others trying to broaden their appeal and build allegiance with consumers who will be key to their future business. Automakers are hardly upset that boomers are buying their youth-themed cars. On the contrary, they're happy to sell cars to whoever wants one, manufacturers say.But the embrace of the Element, Scion's xB, Pontiac's Vibe and other cars by drivers across the age spectrum reveals some of the unpredictabilities of the marketplace. Mainly, that in this age of highly targeted marketing and myriad product choices, consumers will often make purchases that fit their lifestyles and self-image, even if it's not exactly what manufacturer had in mind.Take Tudor, who lives in Newborn, Ga., and drives 40,000 miles a year for his job running a state trade association. He never opens the sunroof on his Element. He has no intention of sleeping in the vehicle, although the seats are designed to fold back for exactly that purpose.But he loves the car because it has loads of room to fit all the stuff he carts around for work. Tudor, who frequently drinks coffee or eats french fries while behind the wheel, also likes the upholstery and flooring that's easy to clean. "It just met my needs," he says.Those are very different needs than the ones Honda created the Element to fit.The automaker designed the vehicle for college-age men who participate in lots of active, outdoor sports, said Chris Naughton, a Honda spokesman."We also had a name for it during its creation -- that it was a dorm room on wheels," he said.Toyota had similar thoughts when it created its Scion brand. "There are 142 million people in the U.S. who are less than 30 years old," said Mark Templin, vice president of Scion. "They grew up in a different era. There are things going on around them that we didn't grow up with. It's important for Toyota's future to understand those people."The cars are also marketed at younger consumers. The Web site for Scion thumps out a rap beat. Element's site offers a link to an online mountain-biking game.The strategy has, in many ways, succeeded. Toyota and its sister Lexus brand traditionally sell to older consumers. But Scion's average age is the youngest of any brand, analysts say.Not as young as Toyota expected. By one calculation, the average Scion buyer is about 39, according to the Power Information Network, a subsidiary of automotive market research firm J.D. Power & Associates. For the Element, it's 43.Many older buyers of the vehicles were likely drawn to them by their price. Others were probably buying for their children. Still others buy because they think the cars make them look or feel younger, said Tom Libby, a PIN analyst. Other automakers are looking to follow suit with their own stylish compact cars, as a way to bring in new buyers regardless of age, he said.Jack Dear, of San Antonio, long a Ford owner, bought an Element this year, partly to save on gas. But Dear, 55, also was attracted to the vehicle because it reminds him of the VW Microbus he and friend piloted to California in 1971. They drove it right on to the beach and slept in the back until a police officer chased them away. The Element taps into a self-image that hasn't change all that much since then, he says."I think a lot of us never grew up," Dear says. "We cut our hair, but we never grew up."Tudor has already moved on to his second Element, this one bright red. Driving cars whose shape makes it stand out in traffic, he and other Element owners have been quick to spot one another, exchanging honks and friendly waves of solidarity."Then I noticed that everybody I was waving at was my own age," Tudor says. "That's why my kids call it the Elder-ment."

I guess Richland County did not vote overwhelmingly Bush....

2005-12-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

Washington, DC - U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) issued the following statement today after receiving news that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied the state of Wisconsin's appeal for federal assistance following a string of severe storms and tornados that tore through Vernon and Richland Counties in late August: "I believe today's news that Wisconsin will not receive disaster relief aid has been made in error and at the expense of communities truly in need of federal assistance. The decision is extremely disappointing, especially in light of reports that FEMA has mismanaged relief funds, sending millions intended for disaster victims to areas where there was little to no damage in the wake of severe weather. Despite this news, I remain moved by the unrelenting optimism and resilience of the people of Viola as well as the way people throughout the area came together to roll up their sleeves and help their neighbors in need."

How santa gets his presents....

2005-12-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Santas go on rampage in New Zealand
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A group of 40 people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, many of them drunk, rampaged through New Zealand's largest city, robbing stores and assaulting security guards, police said Sunday.
The rampage, dubbed "Santarchy" by local newspapers, began early Saturday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an Auckland overpass, said Auckland Central Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty.
She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage containers, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on buildings.
One man climbed the mooring line of a cruise ship before being ordered down by the captain. Other Santas, objecting when the man was arrested, attacked security staff, Hegarty said.

The remaining Santas entered a downtown convenience store and carried off beer and soft drinks.
"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," store owner Changa Manakynda said.
Alex Dyer, a spokesman for the group, said Santarchy was a worldwide movement designed to protest the commercialization of Christmas.
Three people were arrested and charged with drunkenness and disorderly behavior.

His hair plugs are buried

2005-12-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

I always enjoyed shaking his hand at the Wisconsin State Fair. That was one of his main campaign efforts, to shake the hand of fairgoers as they entered the flower exhibit.

One year, he got hair plugs inserted before the fair since he was going bald. It was the talk of the fair. They were literally hair plugs, plugged into his scalp. It looked painful...

rest in peace....

Maverick Sen. Proxmire dies at 90
Associated PressDec. 15, 2005 07:40 AM
WASHINGTON - Former Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire, a political maverick who became Congress' leading scourge of big spending and government waste, has died, a congressional official said Thursday.The 90-year-old Proxmire, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had been living at a convalescent home near Baltimore. The official who told The Associated Press of his death insisted on anonymity because no formal announcement had yet been made on behalf of the family.Over the years, the rebel Democrat developed an image of penny-pinching populism that played well with his homestate voters. But his support of the expensive system of dairy price supports - widely criticized by others as symbolic of government largess gone amuck - won him strong backing from his state's dairy farmers.
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The senator's monthly "Golden Fleece" awards, which he began in 1975 to point out what he thought were frivolous expenditures of taxpayers' money, became a Washington tradition.Proxmire, who also became a familiar face on the television network Sunday news shows, was elected to the Senate in 1957 in a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.He was re-elected in 1958 to his first six-year term and was returned to the same post in 1964, 1970, 1976 and 1982.Long before the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law was a twinkle in the eye of lawmakers, and at a time when millions were spent campaigning for Senate seats, Proxmire made a point of accepting no contributions. In 1982 he registered only $145.10 in campaign costs, yet gleaned 64 percent of the vote.The son of a wealthy physician in Lake Forest, Ill., Proxmire graduated from Yale University and Harvard Business School. He served with military intelligence in World War II and later moved to Wisconsin to begin a career in politics.After three unsuccessful attempts at winning the governorship, Proxmire won McCarthy's vacant seat.Soon he carved out an independent streak on Capitol Hill by introducing amendments without consulting the party heads, filibustering, and even criticizing the dictates of then-Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson.In that respect, he resembled to a certain degree the style of a latter-day maverick and government spending critic, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.Proxmire remained dogged in his determination to represent his constituents as best he might. Despite his attacks against waste in the Pentagon and elsewhere in government, he remained tireless in his defense of milk price supports.But he did vote in 1975 to kill the $50 million Kickapoo Dam in his own state, which he contended was a waste of taxpyers' money.In more than two decades, Proxmire did not travel abroad on Senate business and he returned more than $900,000 from his office allowances to the Treasury.He repeatedly sparked his colleagues' ire by staunchly opposing salary increases, fighting against such Senate 'perks' as a new gym in the Hart office building and keeping the Senate open all night long - at a cost of thousands of dollars - so he alone could argue against increasing the national debt limit.Even so, his reputation was that of a workaholic and even his strongest critics found him to be one the the chamber's most disciplined, intelligent and persistent members.

sad day, he was a nice guy

2005-12-10T15:49:00.001-07:00

I got to meet him in Wisconsin during his campaign. He was very nice....we should have elected him President.....

Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, 89, dies

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89.
McCarthy died in his sleep at assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael.
Eugene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination during growing debate over the Vietnam War. The challenge led to Johnson's withdrawal from the race.
The former college professor, who ran for president five times in all, was in some ways an atypical politician, a man with a witty, erudite speaking style who wrote poetry in his spare time and was the author of several books.

"He was thoughtful and he was principled and he was compassionate and he had a good sense of humor," his son said.
When Eugene McCarthy ran for president in 1992, he explained his decision to leave the seclusion of his home in rural Woodville, Va., for the campaign trail by quoting Plutarch, the ancient Greek historian: "They are wrong who think that politics is like an ocean voyage or military campaign, something to be done with some particular end in view."
McCarthy got less than 1 percent of the vote in 1992 in New Hampshire, the state where he helped change history 24 years earlier.
Helped by his legion of idealistic young volunteers known as "clean-for-Gene kids," McCarthy got 42 percent of the vote in the state's 1968 Democratic primary. That showing embarrassed Johnson into withdrawing from the race and throwing his support to his vice president, Hubert H. Humphrey.

Sen. Robert Kennedy of New York also decided to seek the nomination, but was assassinated in June 1968. McCarthy and his followers went to the party convention in Chicago, where fellow Minnesotan Humphrey won the nomination amid bitter strife both on the convention floor and in the streets.
Humphrey went on to narrowly lose the general election to Richard Nixon. The racial, social and political tensions within the Democratic Party in 1968 have continued to affect presidential politics ever since.
"It was a tragic year for the Democratic Party and for responsible politics, in a way," McCarthy said in a 1988 interview.
"There were already forces at work that might have torn the party apart anyway - the growing women's movement, the growing demands for greater racial equality, an inability to incorporate all the demands of a new generation.
"But in 1968, the party became a kind of unrelated bloc of factions ... each refusing accommodation with another, each wanting control at the expense of all the others."
Although he supported the Korean War, McCarthy said he opposed the Vietnam War because "as it went on, you could tell the people running it didn't know what was going on."
Former Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., said McCarthy's presidential run in 1968 dramatically changed the antiwar movement.
"It was no longer a movement of concerned citizens, but became a national political movement," McGovern said Saturday. "He was an inspiration to me in all of my life in politics." McGovern won the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, when McCarthy ran a second time.
Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., who ran for vice president in 2004, said McCarthy "was a remarkable American, a man who spoke his conscience, and he was a great leader for my party."
In recent years, McCarthy was critical of campaign finance reform, winning him an unlikely award from the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2000.
In an interview when he got the award, McCarthy said money helped him in the 1968 race. "We had a few big contributors," he said. "And that's true of any liberal movement. In the American Revolution, they didn't get matching funds from George III."
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, McCarthy said the United States was partly to blame for ignoring the plight of Palestinians.
"You let a thing like that fester for 45 years, you have to expect something like this to happen," he said in an interview at the time. "No one at the White House has shown any concern for the Palestinians."
In a 2004 biography, "Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism," British historian Dominic Sandbrook painted an unflattering portrait of McCarthy, calling him lazy and jealous, among other things. McCarthy, Sandbrook wrote, "willfully courted the reputation of frivolous maverick."
In McCarthy's 1998 book, "No-Fault Politics," editor Keith C. Burris described McCarthy in the introduction as "a Catholic committed to social justice but a skeptic about reform, about do-gooders, about the power of the state and the competence of government, and about the liberal reliance upon material cures for social problems."
McCarthy was born March 29, 1916, in Watkins, a central Minnesota town of about 750. He earned degrees from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., and the University of Minnesota.
He was a teacher, a civilian War Department employee and college economics and sociology instructor before turning to politics. He once spent a year in a monastery.
He was elected to the House in 1948. Ten years later he was elected to the Senate and re-elected in 1964. McCarthy left the Senate in 1970 and devoted much of his time to writing poetry, essays and books.
With a sardonic sense of humor, McCarthy needled whatever establishment was in power. In 1980 he endorsed Republican Ronald Reagan with the argument that anyone was better than incumbent Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.
On his 85th birthday in 2001, McCarthy told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that President Bush was an amateur and said he could not even bear to watch his inauguration.
In an interview a month before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, McCarthy compared the Bush administration with the characters in the William Golding novel "Lord of the Flies," in which a group of boys stranded on an island turn to savagery.
"The bullies are running it," McCarthy said. "Bush is bullying everything."
McCarthy was an advocate for a third-party movement, arguing there was no real difference between Republicans and Democrats.
In 2000, he wrote a political satire called "An American Bestiary," illustrated by Chris Millis, in which high-level advisers are portrayed as park pigeons - "they strut and waddle" - and reporters are compared with black birds who flock together.
He blamed the media for deciding who is and is not a serious candidate and suggested he should have kept his 1992 candidacy a secret, since announcing it publicly did no good.
McCarthy also ran for president in 1972, 1976 and 1988.
For McCarthy, the 1950s and 1960s were the Democratic Party's high points because it pushed the Civil Rights Act through Congress and championed national health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
"I think he probably would consider his work in civil rights legislation in the 1960s to be his greatest contribution," his son said Saturday.
The bad times, Eugene McCarthy said, began with America's increased involvement in the Vietnam War and the simultaneous failure of some of Johnson's Great Society social programs.
Instead of giving people a chance to earn a living, McCarthy said, the Great Society "became affirmative action and more welfare. It was an admission the New Deal had failed or fallen."
In recent years McCarthy had lived at Georgetown Retirement Residence, an assisted living center in Washington. He and his wife, Abigail, separated after the 1968 election. She died in 2001.
Survivors include daughters Ellen and Margaret and six grandchildren, Michael McCarthy said.
A private burial is planned for next week and a memorial service in Washington will be scheduled, Michael McCarthy said.

sad day, he was a nice guy

2005-12-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hey, I am not a near-elderly

2005-12-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

This article is an INSULT to geezers everywhere. Our 95 year old neighbor thinks we are merely children. Certainly, boomers are not NEAR-ELDERLY. Maybe we ain't kids anymore, but give us a break!

Turn up the music, burn some cars, riot! Be in bed by nine.....

Don't mess with my social security!

Many boomers facing health woes
Associated PressDec. 9, 2005 12:00 AM
U.S. life expectancy has hit another all-time high, 77.6 years, and deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke continue to drop, the government reported Thursday.Nonetheless, the march of medical progress has taken a worrisome turn: Half of Americans in the 55-to-64 age group, including the oldest of the baby boomers, have high blood pressure, and two in five are obese. That means they are in worse shape in some respects than Americans born a decade earlier were when they were that age.The health of this large group of the near-elderly is of major concern to American taxpayers because they are now becoming eligible for Medicare and Social Security.

The report presents data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics and dozens of other health agencies and organizations.Among the new data: Deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke, the nation's three leading killers, dropped in 2003 between 2 percent and 5 percent.Also, Americans' life expectancy increased again in 2003. According to the government's calculations, a child born in 2003 can expect to live 77.6 years on average, up from 77.3 the year before. In 1990, life expectancy was 75.4.For men, life expectancy in 2003 was 74.8, for women 80.1.Life expectancy in the U.S. has been rising almost without interruption since 1900. Those trends may allow life expectancy to continue to inch up despite the increases in obesity and high blood pressure.

God says Pi is 3, period

2005-11-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

Evolution start of intelligent crusade
By Josh Steichmann / Rhetoric ninja of great renown MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2005
As you may have heard, the Kansas State Board of Education finally rendered their verdict on teaching Intelligent Design, a hypothesis that promotes the idea that the universe and life specifically is "too complex" to have arisen through evolution. With a resounding six-to-four vote, Kansans will no longer have to suffer under the tyranny of observable evidence, testable hypotheses, or repeatable data. Rejoice! This is a victory against the Godless, who insist on forcing their rational empiricism down the throats of wayward students. They even redefined the word "science," away from a definition of "seeking observable explanations for natural phenomena." But, like many of the decisions in this so-called Christian Nation, it did not go far enough. While students here at Eastern were no doubt heartened by the Kansan victory, they must redouble their efforts to change the curricula at our university. And they must not stop at the relatively minor accomplishment of Intelligent Design being democratically voted in as a possible argument for the origins of life. No, for if that is the end of teaching based on what we don't know, we will have achieved less than half of the necessary changes for a true religious republic. Intelligent Design is well and good, a perfectly cromulent approach to scientific learning. But what of the other disciplines? Should we falter in applying the strenuous logic of Intelligent Design to other areas of study? We would be remiss and hell-bound should our only accomplishments come on this narrow front. What of Intelligent Mathematics? If anything, this is an area that strikes at the true heart of the dogmatic atheocrats and their enforced rationality. Even more than biology, which acknowledges that different theories may simply be the best representation of current knowledge, mathematics insists that there is one right answer to every problem, even when that right answer directly contradicts the Bible. Take, for example, 1st Kings 7:21: "And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." Even a brief mathematical examination can show us that in the Bible, pi is clearly exactly three. For years, mathematicians, a study commonly associated with paganism and licentiousness, have been deluding us with the story that not only is pi slightly higher than three, but that we cannot know it in its entirety. If, by following the rubric of Intelligent Design, we cannot know pi, then it must have been designed. And, if it must have been designed and the Bible was dictated directly from that designer, then it clearly shows that pi is exactly three. The fine state of Indiana tried to espouse this clear and inerrant logic not too long ago, only to be beaten back by the Godless hordes of sodomites who demanded that their perverted interpretation of pi be recognized, lest they bar students of Indiana from higher education and well-paying jobs. This aggression cannot stand, students of Eastern. Demand in your math classes that pi be presented to the Biblical standard of exactly three. No doubt many of the faithful have noticed another discipline long under assault by the liberal idolaters: linguistics. Nowhere has their influence been more pervasive than in the spelling and grammar of our language, and their attempts to wrest the common bond of all pious men from the true root of the King James Bible. If given even a glancing examination, we will find that the English language is too complex to have arisen through random acts of phonemes and glottal stops. Why, if language arose spontaneously, as some of the loony left would have you believe, does "I" come before "E" except after "C?" Why isn't "wife" spelled "wyf"? If one looks back at pre-Biblical spelling, such as the Canterbury Tales, it can be clearly seen that the language was nearly incomprehensible. And if you listen to the pagan moon-worshipers, they'll even posit Beowulf as an example of "Old English," the supposed roots of our modern tongue! Have you ever tried to read Beowulf? It's clearly not in English, despite the secular lies of those who wish to bring us back to Gomorrah. I shouldn't be surprised if these aren't the same liberal "environmentalists" that have killed off the behemoth and leviathan. Be happy for Intelligent Design in Kansas, but don't forget to demand your right to a pi of exactly three and the right to use "ye" and "thou" as pronouns in your English classes. To do any less would fail God, and that wouldn't be "intelligent," would it?

Think about it....

2005-11-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

If everything the administration does is correct, it cannot be torture.....no moral problem on his part....it is not his fault if Dick directs the torture....

Our country is at war and our government has the obligation to protect the American people," Bush said. "Any activity we conduct is within the law. We do not torture."

Bush and ethics

2005-11-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Too late, he abandoned those after he was elected. Just make his friends rich, the ethical refrain of the Republicans in power.....

Resignation would work, though.....

WASHINGTO -- President Bush, reacting to the indictment of a high-level White House aide in the CIA leak case, has ordered his staff to get a refresher on ethics rules.
In a memo sent to all White House aides on Friday, the counsel's office said it will hold briefings next week on ethics, with a particular focus on the rules governing the handling of classified information. Attendance is mandatory for anyone holding any level of security clearance.
"There will be no exceptions," the memo said.
The week after, the counsel's office is holding sessions on general ethical conduct for the rest of the staff.

"The president has made clear his expectation that each member of his Executive Office of the President (EOP) Staff adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of all rules governing ethical conduct for EOP Staff," the memo said.
After a two-year investigation, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted last week, charged with lying to investigators and the grand jury about leaking the CIA status of Valerie Plame, who was a covert officer. Plame's CIA status was exposed in July 2003 after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the administration of twisting intelligence before the war to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is said to be still considering whether Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, illegally misled investigators. Libby has resigned and Rove remains on the job.
The case has had some Republicans inside and outside the White House grumbling that Bush needs to take more aggressive steps to confront the fallout, which has included a drop in the public's confidence in the president's credibility.

Feds being mean to Wisconsin

2005-11-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

If Wisconsin had voted for Bush, I bet help would have been there instantly. This will teach them a lesson, says the neocons.....

Where do we go from here?
Already reeling from August tornadoes, victims were hit again: no federal aid.
By MEG JONES
Posted: Nov. 3, 2005
Town of Dunn - The 27 twisters that tore through Wisconsin Aug. 18 flattened subdivisions, leveled farms and left municipal budgets in tatters, but, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it wasn't enough to warrant federal aid.
Wisconsin Tornadoes

Stripped trees remain Wednesday as a reminder to Cindy and Jim Ace of the destruction tornadoes caused to their Dane County home and farm more than two months ago. The Aces have been trying to sort out how to rebuild their lives and business after federal aid for storm victims was denied.

Nearly 25 years of work on Jim and Cindy Ace’s farm was wiped out when tornadoes hit Aug. 18. The couple’s farm machinery was damaged and they lost 13 of 17 buildings. The couple figure they’re underinsured by $150,000 to $175,000. "We’re not looking for a handout," said Cindy Ace. "But a low-interest loan...that would be a godsend to us."
Wisconsin's History of Federal Aid

Don't tell that to Cindy Ace. Driving up to their Dane County farm just hours after the storm, she and her husband, Jim, found farm machinery tossed like toys, trees snapped like matchsticks and a brand new shed picked up and dumped on a pickup truck. Of the 17 buildings on their farm, just four were still standing.
The tornado that devastated the Ace farm plowed through the towns of Dunn and Pleasant Springs, north of Stoughton, killing a man, destroying 69 homes and damaging 304 others, causing almost $34 million in damage in Dane County alone. It was just one of 27 tornadoes that whipped through Wisconsin that day. Damage estimates statewide topped $40 million.
In the past five years, FEMA had approved Wisconsin aid for storms that caused quite a bit less damage than that, and the agency has recently come under fire for approving millions in aid in other states for people who weren't directly affected by disasters.
Given all of that, many Wisconsin officials expected that FEMA would declare a disaster here and open the federal spigot for reimbursement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanup costs and offer low-interest loans.
Then, almost two weeks after the tornadoes, Hurricane Katrina hit. A few weeks later, Wisconsin's disaster request was denied.
Hurricane influence denied
FEMA said the mounting costs of Katrina had nothing to do with Wisconsin being shut out. The tornado damage, the agency said, "was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments."
Officials in the Town of Dunn disagree. The community of 5,300 is facing a cleanup bill of $273,000. The Town of Pleasant Springs rang up cleanup costs of $945,000. Same thing in Viola in southwestern Wisconsin, where the cleanup cost $1.3 million. The village of 700 has an annual tax levy of about $57,000.
Those communities cannot pass the bill on to property-tax payers. Because state law limits how much communities can raise the tax levy, local leaders are hamstrung, said Rick Stadelman, executive director of the Wisconsin Towns Association.
If they cannot get other aid, such as Small Business Administration disaster funding, communities will have to borrow. But if they're nearing their debt limits, that's another problem.
"I don't know that there's a lesson to be learned. I think those towns did what they had to do," Stadelman said. "It may show that we can't rely on FEMA."
A FEMA spokeswoman said the agency used a number of criteria to determine whether Wisconsin was eligible for federal aid. Among them: state and local response to the disaster, available assistance from charities and other federal agencies and whether most victims had insurance.
"The fact that there were hurricanes in the Gulf states had nothing to do with the decisions made in our district," said Gay Ruby, public information officer for FEMA Region No. 5, which includes Wisconsin. "We look at each disaster totally on their own merits, and we did so in the Wisconsin tornadoes."
For uninsured losses, FEMA looks at the per capita cost for the entire state. At the time of the tornadoes, the threshold was $1.14 in uninsured damages per person in Wisconsin. FEMA inspectors determined that the tornadoes caused only 58 cents per person in uninsured losses.
"It's not that we begrudge the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Rita or Wilma, those are truly disasters as well," said Kathleen Falk, executive of Dane County. "For the same reasons we think the federal government should help those citizens, so should they help ours."
Gov. Jim Doyle immediately appealed the denial Sept. 23, and a FEMA team was in Wisconsin this week to gather more information before ruling on Doyle's appeal. Few past appeals by Wisconsin governors have been granted, however.
Little to appeal
Not that Wisconsin has had much to appeal in the past.
In the five years before the tornadoes, the state requested nine federal disaster declarations and was denied just once.
"We don't apply every time there's a storm for federal disaster aid," said Lori Getter, Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman. "With the magnitude, the number of homes damaged and destroyed, the fatality, the economic impact and agriculture loss, we really believe we were eligible for federal disaster assistance."
The toll of the Aug. 18 tornadoes is more than $40 million statewide - easily dwarfing other bad weather damage that in previous years quickly earned federal disaster aid for the state:
• In 2002, victims of tornadoes and storms in 19 counties that caused $27.7 million in damage got federal assistance.
• Victims of flooding and storms in June 2002 that caused $14.3 million in damage in eight counties received federal aid.
• Heavy rains and flooding that caused $8 million in damage in 10 northern counties in July 1999 earned a federal disaster declaration.
Ruby said it's possible the uninsured losses in the flooding incidents were higher than they were for the Aug. 18 tornadoes.
Elsewhere, FEMA has come under fire for being overly generous. An investigation this year by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found that the federal agency had paid millions to people who had been virtually untouched by major disasters, including $32 million to Miami-Dade County for Hurricane Frances, even though the storm came ashore 100 miles to the north of Miami.
News like that makes FEMA's denial that much harder to swallow in towns such as Pleasant Springs, where much of a subdivision full of two-story homes was wiped away. The town will probably lose as much as 15% of its equalized value because of all of the vacant lots, said Donna Vogel, the town's clerk/treasurer.
While a disaster declaration often means municipalities will get help to rebuild, it also often paves the way for low interest loans for people such as Cindy and Jim Ace.
The couple figure they're underinsured by $150,000 to $175,000.
"We're not looking for a handout," said Cindy Ace. "But a low-interest loan, if that would be available - that would be a godsend to us."
Though the Aces are staying, they won't build new tobacco sheds and won't rebuild two greenhouses that Cindy Ace used to grow flowers for a side business. When the tornado swept away their farm, it also destroyed the business and life they had worked so hard to achieve.
"Jim and I have been married almost 25 years. It has taken all of that to get where we are," Cindy Ace said. "We're back to square one."

Maybe W is drinking again.....

2005-11-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

Would you blame him? Nasty way for God to treat him....

Nora Ephron Mon Oct 31,11:09 PM ET
I'm sorry to have to return to what continues to be, for me, the Rosebud event of the second Bush term, but since I live in New York and am free from the kind of facts and "inside information" that burden most people who write about politics, I keep thinking about the day the plane flew into the airspace while the President rode his bicycle.

As you may recall, on May 11, 2005, a small plane made an unauthorized detour into the air space over the nation's Capitol, setting off a red alert. The
Secret Service' Laura Bush to a bunker in the White House. The President was not there. He was off riding his bicycle in Beltsville, Maryland, and the Secret Service didn't notify him about the incident until it was over. At the time they claimed they didn't want to disturb his bicycle ride. It's my theory that this incident was one of the reasons for the rift between Bush and Cheney -- a rift, I'm proud to say, that I was one of the first to point out (on the Huffington Post), on the basis of no information whatsoever, and which now turns out (according to this week's Newsweek) to be absolutely true.
Emboldened by the success of this deduction, I would like to ask another question that I've been wondering about for some time: What's wrong with the president? Is he fighting depression? Is he being medicated in some way that isn't quite working? What's up? I even bought a copy of one of the supermarket tabloids that alleged he'd started drinking again, but the article (like all articles in supermarket tabloids) was extremely disappointing; even the over-exciting picture of the President on the front page, holding a glass of wine, turned out to be an old irrelevant photograph of him making a toast at some banquet; there was no real evidence in the article that he was back on the sauce.
But I've been wondering about what's going on with W ever since he emerged from his bizarre groundhog-like vacation and responded to Hurricane Katrina as if he were under water. He had no affect at all. He was almost robotic. His meager vocabulary seemed to have shrunk even further. He conveyed no feeling for the victims -- and this was early on, way before anyone realized how many poor people were involved. It was strange. What's so hard about cranking yourself up for hurricane victims, especially when you think they're mostly white people who have lost their second homes on the Gulf Coast?
At the time I wondered if Bush was on Paxil or Lexapro, drugs that several of my friends are taking and that seem to have turned them into strangely muted versions of themselves. I asked my friend Rita, who's a shrink, but Rita is very careful about committing on subjects of this sort. She did point out, though, that sometimes, when the President talks, his mouth has a strange sideways twitch, which is apparently common in people who are on antidepressants. Actually it might have been my husband who said this, I can't remember.
But I started thinking about all this again on Sunday. On the Chris Matthews Show, there was some old footage of the president from last year's presidential campaign. He was outdoors, talking to a group of people in hard hats; he was energetic, focused, confident, on top of the world. Now you could easily counter: of course he was, it was a lovely day, he was surrounded by supporters, things were going well. But the President we're seeing these days is a completely different man.
He has, of course, a lot of reasons to be depressed -- no point in enumerating them, you know what they are. But most of all, I think he's depressed because the job has turned out to be so much more onerous than he expected -- he said as much to a friend of mine in September. "You have no idea," he said, "how hard these five years have been." This is a fairly breathtaking remark given the number of people who, thanks to this president, are now dead as a result of his five years in the Oval Office, but never mind.
The point is that it seems possible to me that when
George Bush gave up alcohol in 1986, he dealt with the depression that often accompanies sobriety by becoming an obsessive exerciser. And that's what he's essentially done ever since. He's never held anything that could be confused with a job. Owning a football team is not a job. Even being governor of Texas takes only a couple of months a year, it turns out. So he was free to exercise.
But at some point this year, something happened and the exercise regimen stopped working. Bush started becoming depressed. My theory is that a certain amount of panic ensued, and more exercise was prescribed: hence, the afternoon on the bicycle in Maryland, and the reluctance to disturb an already disturbed, irritable man. (Interestingly, the incident happened just after the President returned from a four-day trip to Europe, which had not only required him to work several hours each day but undoubtedly interrupted his exercise routine.) Then came the vacation in August, the odd, sequestered vacation, a perfect time for the President's doctor to try medication, or change medication, or adjust medication. Then Katrina and the emergence in the fall of an unenergetic, irritable, muted, unfocussed President, the man you see today.
Look it up: depression + symptoms. You'll read it for yourself: loss of energy, irritability, feeling "slowed down," inability to concentrate.
Not that I'm an expert on any of this, of course. But it's possible, isn't it? Just asking.

Still same ol Madison

2005-10-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

The smell of teargas on State Street brings back memories of the early 70's. Going to the Capitol to be with the Guardsmen that had just come back from Vietnam. They were worried that they would shoot the protesters since they even admitted they were triggerhappy from their year in Vietnam. They figured that if there were people they knew in the crowd, they could resis the temptation to fire. Fortunately, that worked.....

Are we getting close to this again? I imagine this is just too much liquor before the snows come. This can be the most beautiful time in Wisconsin. The time of year I actually miss....

Hundreds arrested in raid on Halloween revelry crowds MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Police used repeated bursts of pepper spray early Sunday to break up a crowd of Halloween celebrants, part of a weekend of revelry in which more than 400 people were arrested.

Police made hundreds of alcohol-related arrests over two days of Madison, Wis. annual Halloween bash.

No serious injuries or property damage were reported. Police declared an unlawful assembly early Sunday and used officers on horseback to move chanting and beverage-tossing revelers off State Street. The pepper spray was used after cups filled with beverages and ice were thrown at officers. Most arrests were for alcohol-related offenses, said Lt. Pat Malloy. He said the local detoxification center was filled to capacity and some people had to be taken to emergency rooms. There were 269 arrests overnight and 178 the night before, Police Chief Noble Wray said. Madison is the home of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Elsewhere, police in Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, made 95 arrests at a Saturday night Halloween block party. Police described the crowd as belligerent but smaller than in previous years. Forty-eight of those arrested are college students, officers said. One man was stabbed in the hand and a woman was injured escaping from an attempted rape, Athens police spokesman James Mann said.

Time to impeach Bush?

2005-10-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

I suspect things are looking very, very, grim at thw White House.

The indictment of Libby for lying is huge. Why was he lying. Who was he lying for? This certainly brings Cheney under the gun of directing Libby on this whole thing. However, the real direction could have come from the top. Time will tell. It would be ironic if tapes get them too, but it will probably be emails....

Then today came news that Saddam had accepted an escape plan from Iraq. The only thing that didn't occur was the meeting of the Arab nations. The offer was not submitted properly so they could not consider it. The war started before the next meeting.

There you have it. Saddam was out. Elections would have happened sooner if the country did not stumble into civil war. 2000 juds wiykd not have died. Billions would not have been spent. Lies would not have had to be told....

Clearly, the people involved in this lie should not be in power. The honorable thing would be for the administration to resign. However, pride will force them to hold on until impeachment.....

We are on the trek to that horrible showdown....I notice McCain is not standing for his 'old' friend. Like Goldwater, will he have to tell the President to hit the road, Jack?

Another racer gone

2005-10-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

Manzanita is a local racing legend track here in Phoenix. A great dirt track that is being pressed by subdivisions that will probably soon gobble the land up. It will be a great loss to those of us that like dirt racing....

Reidus Gene Gunn

Reidus Gene Gunn passed away on October 18, 2005 at his home in Gilbert. He was born March 21, 1925 in Alva, Oklahoma. Gene, who has lived in Arizona since the 1940s, was a pioneer in the auto racing community in Arizona. He was one of several individuals instrumental in converting what was a dog track into Manzanita Speedway. He raced in the very first race at Manzanita on August 25, 1951. During his career he raced throughout Arizona, California and surrounding states, and for many years held the record at Manzanita for the 100-lap race. Gene worked throughout his life as a heavy-duty mechanic and retired in 1987 as shop superintendent for Calmat Cement (now Vulcan Materials). He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joann and son, Gary Reeves Gunn. Family members who will miss him greatly are children: Richard (Linda) Gunn from Oregon, Deborah (Elden) Letner from Gilbert, Jana Gunn from Glendale, and David (Teresa) Gunn from Utah. Other surviving family includes: brother, Glenn (Donna) Clary from Utah and brother-in-law Roger (Babe) Netz from Phoenix. He had 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Gene miraculously survived a severe brain injury in 1987 and spent five months in Barrow Neurological Center. The family asks that donations be made in Gene's name to the Barrow Neurological Foundation, 350 W. Thomas, Phoenix, AZ 85013. Funeral services will be held on Saturday October 22, 2005 at 10:00 AM with a visitation one-hour prior at the LDS Elliot Ward Building, 10256 S. Greenfield Rd in Gilbert.

Race those offy's Wayne....

2005-10-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

I happened to meet Wayne a few months ago in connection with the improvement of a street. We talked briefly about racing, but he lived a fine life on a farm. Development was beginning to encroach onto their rural lifestyle. Subdivisions were going to become their view and ultimately overtake their farm.....

Ex-Indy driver diesWayne Weiler, a two-time starter in the Indianapolis 500, died of an apparent heart attack near his home in Phoenix, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway said Friday. He was 70.Weiler, who died Thursday, first drove at Indianapolis in 1960, when he finished 24th in a car co-owned by Mari Hulman George, daughter of the late Speedway owner Tony Hulman and mother of current Speedway boss Tony George. Weiler was 15th in his final race at Indianapolis in 1961. Two weeks later, he suffered serious head injuries in a USAC sprint car race at Terre Haute, Ind., which ended his racing career except for a brief comeback on the West Coast in the late 1960s.

Pi for geezers

2005-10-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Fun with numbersThe numerical value of pi has baffled scientists and mathematicians for many years. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. For most calculations, the numerical value has been assigned as approximately 3.14. Scientists and mathematicians have used computers and algorithms to calculate millions of digits beyond the decimal point.Eighty-year-old Oscar Dorr of Punta Gorda thinks back to earlier times in mathematic history, eons before he taught Navy students the physiology of aircraft systems. He's been a member of Mensa for more than 35 years and working with numbers since he was no more than single digits old.He said, "You know, I remember when math was simple. I remember when the value of pi was only 1.75..."

How cool is this?

2005-10-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite sections in Newsweek is the Perspectives Section that lists unusual quotes from around the country. The last couple of months, they have asked readers to send in a quote and get attribution for it. Well, when I was doing my program on Sunsounds of Arizona http://www.sunsounds.org a couple of weeks ago, I saw a great quote from a legislator. It was about the controversy where the government wants, in fact they have banned machines in grade school, middle school, and junior high; to ban fast food machines in schools. Some legislators want to extend the ban to high schools. Common sense tells you that this is rediculous. However, Republican common sense apparently dictates putting their nose in the midst of a lot of other peoples business.

So, I sent the quote in. They called late Friday and said it should be in the Newsweek that hits the stands tomorrow, monday, morning. How cool is that?

Here is the request from the guy at Newsweek. Nearly dumped it since I did not know who he was. He had left a message on my work phone....

Hi Mike, We're interested in using the quote you submitted for next week's Perspectives page! I left a message on your voicemail--I just need to confirm your information (name, hometown, source). Thanks for replying soonest.
Nick Summers Newsweek
perspectives@newsweek.com Subject: quote from Arizona
"We trust 16 year-old students to drive a 4000 pound vehicle on the highway, but not to eat a Snickers? They can join the Army and handle an M-16, but they can't handle a pack of Skittles?" Senator Dean Martin, R-6 commenting on proposed Snack ban in High School. www.Arizona capitoltimes.com

How weird our world is.....

Tommor is talk like a pirate day!!! arrrghhh

2005-09-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Football season is over....

2005-09-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

This won't hurt,' Thompson wrotePublished September 9, 2005Rolling Stone, which for years was home to Hunter S. Thompson's work, is publishing a note written by the gonzo journalist days before he committed suicide in February.The Feb. 16 note, which may be Thompson's final written words, reads:"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun--for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax--This won't hurt."He left the note for his wife. Thompson, suffering from several physical problems, shot himself four days later at his home near Aspen, Colo. The note was titled, "Football Season Is Over."

There is HOPE for old guys!

2005-08-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

I guess I can still plan my across the country ride for another 25 years oir so! Sweet!

78-year-old plans bicycle trekBy JON ERICSON, Courier Staff Writer
LA PORTE CITY --- At 78, some would think Bob Mott a little crazy when he says he's going to bicycle from Canada to Mexico.But for a man who already bikes about 60 miles a day anyway, it's just a shift in geography.A former Iowa State athlete, Mott is 6-foot, 3-inches of toned muscle. While living in La Porte City, he often bicycles to Cedar Falls to use the bike trails there."I'll definitely make it in less than 30 days, but hopefully in three weeks," Mott said.He will get on his bike either late this month or in early September to ride through Minnesota and on to Thunder Bay, Ontario. The schedule isn't set in stone. He will watch the Weather Channel and wait for conditions that suit him. He wanted to do the ride late in the season to avoid stifling heat in Oklahoma and Texas.From Thunder Bay, he will start his journey southward through the United States.His plans call for travel through Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. He expects to finish in Matamoros, Mexico.Mott started bicycling in earnest in 1993."I consider it a lifesaver for me. When I quit working, I became the fastest fork in the West. I got on the bathroom scale one day and it said 281, so I got on a bike," Mott said.For the last eight years, Mott says he has bicycled 8,000 to 10,000 miles annually. This past June and July he bicycled about 60 miles per day.He pedals a Specialized Sirrus, a hybrid bike that tends more toward road bike than a mountain bike.Mott hasn't driven in years. He rides his bicycle everywhere he needs to go."This is what I've decided to do, and I think it's a good move healthwise," Mott said.Mott played one year of basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones. He made the most of it, being named all conference and helping the team win the Big 6 Conference title in 1945. He still holds the NCAA record for being the youngest ever named to an all-conference team, at age 17.He didn't return to play the next year as he gave up his amateur status.In the years since he worked in a number of fields, including farming, firefighting and working as a pilot.In recent years Mott has been on a campaign to fight against drug use, particularly meth."The message for everyone is life will be a lot better and you have a good chance of longevity and a good long life if you lay off the drugs," Mott said. "I try to be living proof of that."Mott printed up his own T-shirts that says "USA Legends Say No." He traveled to the hometowns of various star basketball players from Iowa State's history to speak with children and hand out the T-shirts.He plans to use his long-distance bike ride to campaign against drug use.

I once met Frank Lloyd Wright

2005-08-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

A 60-mile stretch of highway that honors Frank Lloyd Wright offers fun diversions
By James DannenbergSpecial to the Star-Bulletin
Wisconsin -- and this comes from a guy who moved away decades ago -- is a vastly underrated destination. In spite of what you might surmise from "Monday Night Football," there's a lot more to the place than dairy products. Certainly there are the well-known attractions of Door County, the Dells, the Great Northwoods and mega-events like Milwaukee's Summerfest, not to mention Packer tailgate parties, fish boils and the frigid lure of ice fishing, but much of what Wisconsin has to offer is less conspicuous and more genuine than mere tourist amusement.
Should you find yourself with a day or two on your hands in Madison, the cosmopolitan state capital, you might want to check out a 60-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 14 due west of town -- the Frank Lloyd Wright Memorial Highway.
Born in nearby Richland Center, the highway's western terminus, Wright still manages to arouse the passions of those who remember his Wisconsin years. Not all of those feelings are warm and fuzzy. The world's best-known architect, he needs little introduction. Nevertheless it's always entertaining to revisit his life, as locals are prone to do on a regular basis.
My late father-in-law Don Jones, like Wright a southern Wisconsin Welshman, used to disparage him as an egotist, womanizer and maybe even a murderer, referring to a 1914 fire that killed Wright's mistress and six others. History seems to have absolved Wright of responsibility for the fire, clearly the work of a crazed employee. My guess, however, is that the great man might have pleaded guilty as charged to the other counts.
His libidinous nature might not raise many eyebrows in today's world, but however much the world still pays homage to his reputation almost 50 years after his death, Wright's opinion of himself was second to none. One well-traveled story, the truth of which is of marginal relevance, suggests that when asked his profession on a witness stand he answered, "I am the world's greatest architect."
A friend later asked why he said that.
"I was under oath," Wright replied.