Race those offy's Wayne....

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

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?

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

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....

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!

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

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.

crossing the road

GREENSBORO — A 75-year-old man pushing his bicycle across High Point Road died after he was struck by a car this morning, police report.Kermit L. Jenkins, of 4720 Bowman St. in Greensboro, was taken to Moses Cone Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Greensboro police.According to police, Jenkins was pushing his bike east across High Point Road near Marchester Way when he was struck by a 2001 Mazda 626 traveling south on High Point Road.The driver of the Mazda was Devon Deonte Sowers, 21, of 5600 Weslow Willow Road, Apt. 215 in Greensboro, police said.Police did not immediately say whether charges would be filed.

Get it on!

GALLOPING GEEZER: An 83-year-old German woman has divorced her no-good 81-year-old husband after 60 years of marriage because he was caught getting it on with his mistress at work.
Georg Meister met his lover, 30 years his junior, while doing voluntary work at an animal breeding centre. The affair was exposed when the breeding pair forgot to pull the curtains while having an, ahem, quickie in one of the centre's offices.
His wife Ruth, who was told about the hubby's antics, threw him out of the house and he's now moved in with his younger lover just two doors down the road.
"I showed no mercy. I just threw him out. I see them kissing on the streets and it is disgusting," bleats Ruthy.

Gaylord would always answer your letters....

Gaylord Nelson dies at 89Environmental leader was a former Wisconsin governor, U.S. Senator
By Bill ChristoffersonSpecial to The Capital TimesJuly 3, 2005
Gaylord A. Nelson, former Wisconsin governor and U.S. Senator who founded Earth Day and launched a new wave of environmental activism, died today at his home in Kensington, Md.
He was 89 and had been in failing health from cardiovascular failure for several months, his family said. His wife Carrie Lee was with him as he died at 5:10 a.m. today.
Nelson, one of the leading environmentalists of the 20th Century, joined The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C. upon leaving the U.S. Senate in 1981. He served first as the organization's chairman and later as counselor, and continued to work there on environmental issues until recent months, when his health declined. He continued to go to the office at age 88, he said, because, "Our work's not done."
Nelson held elective office for 32 years, including two two-year terms as Wisconsin governor (1959-1963) and three terms in the U.S. Senate (1963-1981). He was defeated in his bid for re-election in 1980 by Republican Robert Kasten.
He served 10 years in the Wisconsin State Senate before becoming only the second Democrat to be elected Wisconsin governor in the 20th Century, and the first to be re-elected.
An early voice for conservation and environmental protection, Nelson laid out a far-reaching, comprehensive environmental agenda for the Congress in 1970, and saw much of it became law before he left the Senate in 1981, at the end of what became known as the Environmental Decade of the 1970s. In the 10 years after the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, 23 major pieces of environmental legislation became law.
He sponsored, co-sponsored or helped pass dozens of environmental laws aimed at conserving resources and preventing pollution, including the Wilderness Act and bills preserving the Appalachian Trail and establishing a national system of hiking trails. Nelson authored legislation that preserved the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior and designated the St. Croix River, which borders Minnesota and Wisconsin, as a wild and scenic river.
Many of Nelson's ideas were visionary. He fought a long battle to ban hard detergents containing phosphorous, and was the first member of Congress to propose a ban on the pesticide DDT, which took years to accomplish. He once proposed a ban on the internal combustion engine as an amendment to the Clean Air Act, to get the automobile industry's attention, and sponsored a constitutional amendment to guarantee citizens a right to a clean environment.
Nelson established himself as a conservationist, as environmentalists were then called, as Wisconsin governor, winning passage of a landmark program to acquire and preserve open space and recreational land. The $50-million program passed in 1961 was funded by a one-cent per package tax on cigarettes and became a model for other states. The program continues today as the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.
Nelson's goal as a U.S. senator was to elevate environmental issues and make them a permanent part of the nation's political agenda.
He persuaded President John F. Kennedy to make a national tour to discuss conservation in 1963, hoping that would ignite a response. When that brought disappointing results, Nelson continued to press the issue and in 1969 hit upon the idea of holding a national teach-in on college campuses on environmental issues, modeled on teach-ins against the Vietnam War.
On the first Earth Day in 1970, some 20 million Americans 10 per cent of the nation's population participated in a wide range of activities promoting a cleaner Earth.
Earth Day has since grown into an international event, observed in schools and by organizations on April 22 each year. In 2000, an estimated 500 million people took part in Earth Day activities in 174 countries. This year, 80 percent of the schools in the U.S. held Earth Day activities, organizers said.
Although best known for his environmental work, Nelson also was a key player in the Senate on consumer protection, civil rights, poverty, and civil liberties issues. Nelson took on the tire industry on safety issues, and held 10 years of subcommittee hearings that spotlighted abuses and problems in the pharmaceutical industry.
He was one of the earliest opponents of the Vietnam War, and drafted an amendment to the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution to make it clear the resolution did not authorize a ground war, but Sen. J. William Fulbright assured Nelson the amendment was not necessary because President Lyndon B. Johnson had no intention of escalating the ground war. When escalation came, Nelson cast one of three votes against an appropriation for the war in 1965, saying, "You need my vote less than I need my conscience."
The son of a country doctor and a nurse, Nelson was born on June 4, 1916, in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, a village of 700 in northwestern Wisconsin. His parents were active Progressives who supported Robert M. (Fighting Bob) La Follette, the populist Wisconsin governor and Senator who ran as a third party candidate for President in 1924.
He received a bachelor's degree from San Jose State College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1942. He served in the Army Quartermaster Corps during World War II, commanding a company of black troops in the segregated Army, and was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1946. When he was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1948, one of the first bills he introduced was one to desegregate the state's National Guard.
Nelson met his future wife, Army nurse Carrie Lee Dotson, at a Pennsylvania Army base but he soon shipped out and did not expect to see her again. They were reunited on Okinawa, where both were stationed in 1945. Their story is featured in the best-selling Tom Brokaw book, "The Greatest Generation."
Nelson's many honors included the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, presented in 1995 by President Bill Clinton. A Wisconsin state park, the Apostle Islands wilderness area, and the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin all are named for him.
When the Audubon Society recognized 100 people who had shaped the environmental movement in the 20th Century, it said the two political figures on the list who stood out were Nelson and President Theodore Roosevelt.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked a panel of historians and other experts to name the century's 10 most significant people in Wisconsin. Nelson ranked fourth, behind Robert M. (Fighting Bob) La Follette, naturalist, philosopher and author Aldo Leopold, and architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Surviving are: Nelson's widow, Carrie Lee; two sons, Gaylord Jr.(and wife Mary), known as Happy, of Dane, Wis.; and Jeffrey (and wife Laura), of Kensington, Md.; a daughter, Tia, of Madison, Wis.; and four grandchildren, Kiva, Jason, Benjamin, and Julia.
Memorial services will be in Madison. Arrangements are pending. Burial will be in Clear Lake, Wis.
The family asks that memorials in Nelson's name be made to: the Gaylord Nelson chair at the Gaylord A. Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin; the Gaylord Nelson Studio of WisconsinEye; the Friends of the Apostle Islands; or the Wilderness Society.

Geezer memory still fine!

Japanese man sets record in pi recitation
July 2, 2005
TOKYO --A Japanese psychiatric counselor has recited pi to 83,431 decimal places from memory, breaking his own personal best of 54,000 digits and setting an unofficial world record, a media report said Saturday.
Akira Haraguchi, 59, had begun his attempt to recall the value of pi -- a mathematical value that has an infinite number of decimal places -- at a public hall in Chiba city, east of Tokyo, on Friday morning and appeared to give up by noon after only reaching 16,000 decimal places, the Tokyo Shimbun said on its Web site.
But a determined Haraguchi started anew and had broken his old record on Friday evening, about 11 hours after first sitting down to his task, the paper said.
He reached the 80,000-digit mark after midnight early Saturday, according to the paper, which had a photo showing Haraguchi with his eyes closed, his face contorted in concentration.
If verified and recognized by the Guinness Book of Records, Haraguchi's feat would beat his own previous best -- currently under review -- of 54,000 digits. The official current record-holder, also Japanese, calculated pi from memory to 42,195 decimal places in 1995.
Pi, usually given as an abbreviated 3.14, is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. The number has fascinated and confounded mathematicians for centuries.
Aided by a supercomputer, a University of Tokyo mathematician set the world record for figuring out pi to 1.24 trillion decimal places in 2002.
Researchers say that calculating pi to more than about 1,000 decimal places has not much purpose in math or engineering, though mathematicians have done so to test the accuracy and limits of supercomputers.

geezers need for speed

A German pensioner was arrested after fitting a chainsaw engine to his wife's bicycle and hurtling down the road at 40mph.
The 73-year-old man, from Ulm, said he was only testing the bike out but now faces charges of operating a motor vehicle without a licence.
He told officers he meant his creation to be nothing more than a conversation piece.
But police disagreed and told him the 2.3 horsepower petrol motor attached to the bike's rear wheel constituted a motor vehicle.
Police confiscated the bike and sent the man on his way - with a summons and a borrowed bicycle.

cheeseheads are using wackos from Arizona - will the madness ever stop!

Assembly Speaker John Gard's decision to appoint an extremist group as the Legislature's counsel in the fight over whether to extend health benefits to the domestic partners of state workers has evolved into a national embarrassment for Wisconsin.
Unwilling to trust Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and the state Department of Justice to do their job, Gard brought in the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona legal firm that is closely tied to far-right religious and political groups, to oppose a lawsuit that seeks health insurance for domestic partners. Gard, who seems to have become obsessed with denying protections to gays and lesbians, is concerned that the lawsuit might force the state to stop discriminating. And, apparently because its principals share his homophobia, Gard believes the Alliance Defense Fund team will do a better job of promoting his agenda than Wisconsin lawyers would.
Unfortunately, the Alliance Defense Fund has been associated with some of the wackier instances of anti-gay extremism to surface in recent years. The fund's co-founder has devoted inordinate amounts of time to arguing that the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is gay. He has also called for a "second civil war" - over cultural issues - in the United States.
As Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, correctly noted after the controversy heated up last week: "If bringing in fringe extremists who think cartoon characters are gay is the only way to fight providing health care benefits to Wisconsin families, it is a sad day in Wisconsin."
Just how sad is rapidly becoming evident.
Gard's decision to make Wisconsin the first state in the country to align with the extremists at the Alliance Defense Fund is drawing negative attention far beyond the state's borders.
Noting the legal firm's history of fierce opposition to equal treatment for all citizens, Joe Solmonese, the president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, condemned Gard's move. "This group is far from unbiased and the people of Wisconsin did not elect it to speak for them," Solmonese said. "Wisconsinites did elect the attorney general, who should be the one seeing this case through. The Legislature has seriously overstepped its bounds."
Solmonese, who heads the nation's largest lesbian and gay political organization, explained that "Wisconsin's interest is best served with an unbiased, thoughtful assessment regarding equal employment benefits. Employees with same-sex partners are now doing equal work for less compensation. Domestic partner benefits make good business sense. They enhance an employer's overall compensation package with negligible cost to the company and are a hallmark of whether a company values diversity. If the Legislature is hearing from the Alliance Defense Fund, I urge legislators to also hear from companies in the state that have already learned these lessons."
More than 60 major corporations in Wisconsin offer domestic partner benefits to their employees. They include Miller Brewing Co., American Family Insurance Group, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, and SC Johnson & Son Inc. In addition, 11 states - California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - provide these benefits. In Massachusetts, where same-sex couples are allowed to marry, equal access to benefits is also assured.
The debate over same-sex marriage is far from being settled in Wisconsin, or nationally. But Wisconsin, which has a better history than most states of protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation, ought not be bringing in extremist groups to represent the Legislature in this fight.
Gard should back off his relationship with the Alliance Defense Fund. If he fails to do so, then legislative Republicans really need to ask whether they want the state's good name to be associated with a fringe group that specializes in "exposing" cartoon characters and calling for a new civil war. In particular, Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz, the Richland Center Republican who is one of the Legislature's saner members, needs to distance himself from Gard's madness.

Yes, a spill does change everything...for awhile at least....

A spill on a bicycle in spring changes everything
By Michele Herman
I’m lying in a pothole on Bleecker St. stopping traffic, which is interesting because a second ago I was traffic. A second ago it was an ordinary sunny April Sunday and I was riding my bike right behind my husband, as always. We were headed to Bigelow Pharmacy for an embarrassingly ordinary middle-aged errand: shopping for reading glasses. What was I thinking and where was I looking when I rode into a pothole big enough to swallow my front wheel and reconfigure my season? I have no idea.
Here’s what I do remember. Something big and soft plops onto my head. Ah, I think. Here comes my knapsack from the baby seat. I reach instinctively for my left elbow — my dominant elbow, my writing elbow — and find it, but not in the right location at all. I am suddenly overcome, not with pain, anger or fear, but gratitude for my long unbroken string of good fortune and health, my 20-odd years of uneventful daily bicycling, my comfortable life. Lying with the sun on my face and the Bleecker St. strolling fashionistas looking quite concerned, I wonder how I got lucky enough to live in a world that grants me a hot shower every day. If a broken bone or two is the price I have to pay, I tell myself, no problem! I can do this! I can do it with grace and good humor!
I calmly watch the day’s plot change, as if the editor has yelled, “Get me rewrite!” My husband, noticing I’m no longer behind him, comes back for me. A kind (and fashionable) stranger calls an ambulance. The saleswoman from Marc Jacobs brings me a bottle of water (what, no handbag? says a friend later). It’s a good day at the St. Vincent’s E.R.: only three-and-a-half hours. My thoughtful husband leaves to shoot pictures of the hole for possible lawsuit purposes. When the resident finally tells that I’ve broken my olecranon bone and will need surgery, I say, “Olecranon. That’s a nice word.”
Shock is a beautiful thing. Mine, wearing its clever disguise of lucidity, carries me through the day. But as I leave with my husband, the name of a surgeon and the general idea of wires or plates and screws in my future, new feelings pry at its edges. I try to hold them at bay, but when do nausea and discomfort and worry take no for an answer? I am wearing a hand-to-armpit plaster cast. Inside I’m wrapped tightly in synthetic cotton and outside in synthetic ace bandages. I have a slippery synthetic sling held in place with a hard square of velcro. They might as well roll my arm in poison ivy and saw my shoulder open. Seventh Ave.’s surface has been roughened in preparation for repaving, a sight any cyclist loves to see. I realize with a pang that this is irrelevant to my life.
The orthopedic surgeon is kind and professional and metes out bad news in small doses. Oh, bone pain, he says. It’s on a whole different scale from soft-tissue pain. Later he tells me about the stagnancy of elbow skin, sitting there right on the bone with no blood supply to renew it. That, and the swelling, are why I have to wait two weeks for surgery.
The day after the pothole, Ruggles the puppy is scheduled to be neutered. The whole household is bollixed up. Unused to walking on my right side, he insists on coming around to my left. All spring long, every few steps I have to untangle us.
Back for pre-surgery X-rays, they cut off my bandages (before I’m done I’ll have four casts; they toss out plaster and bandages around here like candy wrappers). I carry my denuded yellowish arm in my good one, cradled like a wounded waterfowl, shrunken in the bicep, enlarged at the elbow. I walk slowly to the X-ray room praying: please don’t touch me; please don’t hurt me.When I wake up, the recovery nurse, the friendly face of post-op, keeps asking if I feel pain. I nod. She turns up the morphine drip and shakes her head with increasing disapproval. Dry-mouthed, I ask about the friend who agreed to pick me up. No one’s arrived and no one’s called, she insists. I defend my friend. Again she shakes her head as if to say, what do you know about friends? Turns out my friend has been in the waiting room all along. Before she’s done, she will make a pharmacy run, button my jeans, dispose of my barf basin and other unsavory tasks only a good and reliable friend would perform.
I can’t bike, can’t run, can’t lift weights, can’t do laundry but, oh, can I ever walk. I become a student of the sidewalk. One Duane Reade goes by, then another and another. “Eyebrow threading” businesses, whatever they are, are everywhere; how have I missed this? Whole days slip by. Thank heaven for the long and sunny spring.
At the surgery follow-up, the surgeon says, “Manage the pain however you have to. You have to get the motion back.” I begin occupational therapy and move to a hard plastic splint, removable, that looks like a giant bone. I like my therapist. I like her receptionist and her other patients and their stories. If only she didn’t hurt me on purpose. The therapist says it’s a terrible strain physically and psychically to navigate the world without your dominant arm. It’s true. Sleep is the bonus. My body craves it, my bones demand it. Once I was a writer; now I am a napper.
I stand in the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. I move my head forward and to the left like an Egyptian; I Mick Jagger my lips. The toothbrush is still a foot from my mouth. Just because you can’t do it now, I tell myself, doesn’t mean you will never do it. You have to be patient and have faith. No wonder my kids scoff at my lectures. It’s obvious I will never brush my teeth left-handed. My right arm is a good sport, but it’s gawky and dumb.
One pothole, and I spend a season devoid of my two most trusty tools, two of the things that make me most myself: my left arm and my bike. Without my writing arm, my conduit between my inner and outer selves, I clog up with words. My old friend the keyboard taunts me. I hunt-and-peck an occasional e-mail, all lower case, and need a nap. Bicycling seems like Anatevka, a homeland far away that I was forced to vacate without notice.
This morning in the shower, doing deep cleansing breaths, I succeed at thumbing my nose. How can I have criticized my right arm? My right arm is brilliant; how easy it makes everything look! I hold thumb to nose for a count of 30, though my bones and joints, down to the wrist, tell me this is wrong, this is too taut, I will crack open. I emerge triumphant. A month ago my world was wider and my goals loftier: novels, story collections, political actions. For now, I stand in the hot shower counting my blessings and taking my successes where they come.

This sucks

Anderson, Indiana - A man who pedalled across the United States after heart bypass surgery gave him a second chance at life has died of a heart attack, one day after completing the 3 900km trip.Broc Bebout, a 57-year-old retired engineer, died on Thursday on the drive back to his home in Anderson, about 40km north-east of Indianapolis, one day after completing the ride from Carlsbad, California, to Brunswick, Georgia.His wife, Patricia Brinkman, said cycling became Bebout's ticket to nearly 20 years of good health after quadruple-bypass surgery at age 39.He also learned to eat right and take care of himself, she said.

Feeling happy, or feeling sad?

Where can you find happiness? Texas, that's where. Three of its cities placed in the top four: number one, Laredo; number two, El Paso; and number four, Corpus Christi.
The 20 Happiest Cities
1. Laredo, TX: A+
2. El Paso, TX: A+
3. Jersey City, NJ: A+
4. Corpus Christi, TX: A+
5. Baton Rouge, LA: A
6. Honolulu, HI: A-
7. Fresno, CA: A-
8. San Jose, CA: A-
9. Lincoln, NE: B+
10. Bakersfield, CA: B+
11. Buffalo, NY: B+
12. Anchorage, AK: B+
13. Stockton, CA: B+
14. Shreveport, LA: B+
15. (3-way tie) Madison, WI: B, Montgomery, AL: B, and Des Moines, IA: B
18. Wichita, KS: B
19. (tie) Sacramento, CA: B and Omaha, NE: B
The 20 Most Depressed Cities
1. Philadelphia, PA: F
2. Detroit, MI: F
3. St. Petersburg, FL: F
4. St. Louis, MO: F
5. Tampa, FL: F
6. Indianapolis, IN: F
7. (3-way tie) Mesa, AZ: F, Phoenix, AZ: F, and Scottsdale, AZ: F
10. Cleveland, OH: F
11. New York, NY: D-
12. Salt Lake City, UT: D-
13. Atlanta, GA: D
14. (3-way tie) Yonkers, NY: D, Pittsburgh, PA: D, and Kansas City, MO: D
17. (3-way tie) Long Beach, CA: D, Los Angeles, CA: D, Nashville, TN" D
20. Portland, OR: D

Save Oil, legalize hemp!

Hemp industry poised for a comeback
Ron Chepesiuk, Vermont Guardian
Industrial hemp has long been a lucrative crop for farmers in Canada, Europe, and Asia, and governments in many countries have encouraged research into its development. In April, for instance, the Government of Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program awarded Hempton Clothing, Inc., the world’s largest hemp T-shirt apparel brand, a $223,118 grant in recognition of the company’s work in developing environmentally friendly fabrics and garments in 2002 and 2003.
This is one of many such grants the Canadian government has made available for hemp research.
In the United States, however, the forces of drug prohibition have long associated hemp with marijuana, and the U.S. government has blocked its use. Yet, hemp and marijuana come from different varieties of the cannabis plant, and low THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) varieties of cannabis are cultivated for non-drug uses, such as soap, paper, food, and even high tech bio composites used in automobiles. THC is an active ingredient found in hemp, marijuana, and hashish.
“There are millions of cars on the road with hemp door panels, tens of millions of dollars spent annually on hemp food and hemp body care, and hemp paper is being made in the U.S., ” said Alexis Baden-Mayer, director of government relations for Vote Hemp, a Washington, DC, nonprofit dedicated to the acceptance of industrial hemp. ”So people are asking tough questions about why the U.S. government won’t distinguish low THC hemp from high THC drug varieties.”
But it looks like this state of affairs is about to change. Hemp industry spokesmen are optimistic that hemp farming is about to make a comeback almost 50 years after federal law prevented U.S. farmers from growing the crop. The end of its three-year battle with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and recent pro-hemp, state sponsored initiatives are the two big reasons for the hemp industry’s optimism.
The hemp industry’s battle with the U.S. government ended in February when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered the DEA to pay $21,265 in legal expenses to Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. The Escondido, CA-based company, which has used hemp oil in its soap products since 1998, largely financed the Hemp Industries Association’s fight to overturn DEA efforts to ban the sale of foods containing hemp products. The association is a trade group of hemp businesses that represents the interests of the hemp industry and works to encourage research and development of new hemp products.
Earlier, the 9th Circuit ruled that the DEA had ignored Congress’s exemption to the Controlled Substance Act, which specifically exempts hemp seed, fiber, and oil from government regulation, and agreed with the association that hemp seed contained just minor traces of THC, much like poppy seed contains insignificant amounts of opiates. In regulating the manufacture and distribution of controlled substances, the Controlled Substance Act provides the legal foundation for the U.S. government’s war on drugs. Then, on July 2, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the DEA’s petition for a re-hearing of the case. The DEA had the option of appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the allotted time for an appeal expired on September 28, 2004.
“Nobody has ever been able to block the DEA in court from interpreting the law the way it wanted,” said Adam Eidinger, Vote Hemp’s communications director. “The court decision was 3 to 0, and even the Reagan appointee on the court agreed with us. It was a reality check for the DEA.”
David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, added, “It’s a sweet victory and certainly an embarrassment to the DEA. It proves that the DEA’s attempt to ban hemp never had any legal merit.”
In making its case to ban hemp, the DEA claimed that the use of hemp products could cause a false positive reading of drug tests. Hemp activists maintain that companies in the hemp industry voluntarily observe reasonable THC limits similar to those observed by hemp businesses in Canada and European countries, and that these limits protect consumers with a wide margin of safety from workplace drug testing interference.
Manufacturers of hemp nut and oil products in North America also participate in a TestPledge program, hemp activists pointed out. Manufacturers pledge to hold the THC in hemp nut and oil below levels that makes failing a drug test extremely unlikely, even when a person consumes large amounts of those products on a daily basis.
As for personal care products made with hemp seed oil, Eidinger said, “In recent years, a handful of people have alleged that they failed workplace drug tests because of using hemp oil products on the skin. Such allegations were routinely proven false, and there has yet to be a case in which someone was excused [from work] due to the use of hemp oil personal care products.”
As the hemp industry savors its court victory, it is making gains in the legislative arena. This year, several state legislatures are considering hemp legislation that would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. Five states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia) allow for hemp farming on a commercial or research basis, but hemp can’t be legally grown in the United States without a permit from the DEA. According to Vote Hemp, the agency has allowed only an experimental plot in Hawaii.
In California, Assemblyman Mark Leno introduced a bill that would allow the California State Department of Food and Agriculture to issue licenses to grow and process hemp. Companies that sell hemp products must now contract with Canadian farmers for their hemp. Nutiva, a California-based organic food company, estimates that it would save more than $100,000 in transportation and related costs if it could buy hemp seeds from California growers and process them at a plant the company plans to build in California.
“We pay Exxon and Chevron a lot of gasoline for truckers,” John Roulac, Nutiva’s president and founder, told the Sacramento Union newspaper. “We’d rather pay that money to California farmers to grow a sustainable crop.”
Leno’s bill bans anyone with a criminal conviction from getting a license to process or grow hemp and requires that the hemp be tested in the fields so as to ensure that the THC levels don’t exceed the prescribed limits. A hearing of the bill before the Senate Environment and Wildlife Committee was scheduled for April 19.
The California initiative is similar to other bills introduced in North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Oregon.
In North Dakota, House Bill 1492 passed Feb. 16 by a vote of 87 to 3; a similar bill passed in the Senate on March 1 by 46 to 0, and is awaiting the governor’s action. In 1999, North Dakota became the first state to pass hemp farming legislation, but it hasn’t challenged the DEA’s authority in the courts. The proposal allows North Dakota State University to begin storing “feral seed hemp” in anticipation of the day the growing of industrial hemp becomes legal.
The bill in Oregon allows the State Department of Agriculture to administer a licensing, permitting, and implementation program for growers and handlers of hemp. On April 6, the state Senate Environment and Land Committee took testimony.
The New Hampshire proposal requires qualifying farmers with no criminal convictions to plant at least five acres of hemp annually. A bill passed the New Hampshire House on March 23 by a margin of 199 to 68, and has moved to the Senate for consideration.
Vote Hemp is currently working with Congressman Ron Paul, R-TX, to introduce the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, which aims to distinguish hemp from marijuana and legalize the former for U.S. farmers to grow.
Hemp advocates say these legislative initiatives make them excited about their industry’s future. “We want American farmers to have the opportunity to grow industrial hemp without being harassed by the DEA,” Eidinger said.
About

Robot Soldier....

"They don't get hungry. They're not afraid. They don't forget their orders. They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot."
- GORDON JOHNSON, of the Pentagon's Joint Forces Command, on robot soldiers.

Oh my gawd, Bush tells a fib?

Mr. Emanuel said: "The new cost estimate destroys the credibility of the Bush administration. Officials were so far off in estimating the cost of the Medicare law. Why should we believe what they say about the financial problems of Social Security?"


Why should we believe him about Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Why should we believe him that the Iraqi's will love us?

Other fibs will come flowing shortly....

Hey, I am not 55 either for 60 days...

A quote from an editorial....I agree....

On a point of personal privilege, I note that Bush promised Americans aged 55 and up that they would receive full benefits, but threw open the doors of the opportunity society to all “younger workers.” That means that if Congress were to enact Bush's program (which he took pains not to spell out last night) within the next month, I'd be exposed to the vagaries of the market; after that, I'd be a full-fledged geezer eligible for full Social Security benefits. So, memo to Congress: Take it slow, guys. Better yet, don't take it at all.