Love And The Unceasing Wonder Of Life

I don’t know when I first stumbled upon “This I Believe.” However, today I happened upon this brief essay which I’d like to share with you. Better yet, it’s only 4 minutes and you can listen to it. It’s nice. Perhaps it will hit home with you as it did with me. It’s the belief of two ordinary individuals.

If you want to visit the site, the addy I found this article on is http://thisibelieve.org Their tag line is A public dialogue of belief — one essay at a time.

Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Hale – New York, New York

As heard on The Bob Edwards Show, December 4, 2009

As a New York City couple married for 30 years, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hale found that their love for each other inspired compassion and understanding for all of their fellow citizens.

Listen to what they have to say. Close your eyes and let them speak to you. Go ahead. Click here to listen to Love and the Unceasing Wonder of Life.

I’ve had 2 interviews in the last ten days. Things are looking up!

Better yet, one of them was a second interview. Those are always pretty hopeful. I don’t want to jinx myself, so I won’t go into details at this time. Wish me luck.

Another insight into the Flu combinations in the Ukraine

image created by Emma Lurie

Okay. A team has clearly quenched the talk of a flu combining with a plague. However, flues can certainly mix with other flues. Say hello to HPIVs, Human Parainfluenza Viruses.

The latest exposé comes from a site I don’t want anything to do with, but the interview is with doctors. Check it out for yourself . If you can read Russian, you can read the original article. Human Parainfluenza Viruses (HPIVs) can be clearly diagnosed, but guess what… though we’re working on it, we don’t have a vaccine for it quite yet. Doctors also know they’re not to try to treat them with antibiotics. That can probe toxic. This according to the CDC. A more general explanation is offered by Google Health.

I really hope some top secret Gov’t agency, of any country, is not trying to stir up a pot of some nasty virus soup. That would be terrible.

I’m still keeping an eye for anything about the plague on the net. HPIVs come in four flavors. There is a lot of information about them on the net. Much more than I have the time to read through. I’ll scan HPIVs from time to time to see if there’s anything new and of interest.

As for now, it’s time to go to the grocery store. It’s time too get ready to make dinner.

Does the Ukraine have more than a flu?

Preface:

For the past 3 months or so, I have been following news on the topic of pneumonic plague (through a “search” on Google) that daily sends me anything related to the phrase. There has hardly been anything on the web about it. Then about 2 or 3 weeks ago, one link would show up, almost every day, from a site that I had never heard of, with hints of a massive outbreak of the H1N1 and/or combo with the plague. Everyone rifled it down, stating how one is viral, one is bacterial, No connection, etc. etc. That site, http://fto.co.za/ is still pumping it out. Here’s the front page article from today: Baxter admitted to contaminating 72kg of vaccine material.

Okay, I’d never heard of about fto.co.za, or FTO before, “From The Old” , where all of this news was being reported from. However, today I had an alert link pop up from the Baltimore Chronicle, which may be a horrible lying rag or a legit paper, I don’t know. But this is a LONG article on their site with lots of quotes from apparently reputable authorities and experts. Maybe there’s something to this. Oddly, we’re not hearing a peep out of the Ukraine news. But today a Baltimore Chronicle article says: Suspected Hemorrhagic Pneumonia Outbreak Hits Ukraine. There are links to many of the sources for the info. It begins:

“On October 29, the Australian web site zik.com.ua reported that: Western Ukraine was hit by a severe epidemic of unidentified influenza, tentatively diagnosed by doctors as viral pneumonia. The number of dead has climbed dramatically. Doctors advise Western Ukrainians to stay home and use preventive medicine.”

and continues:

“The plague or virus in the Ukraine has 10 times the mortality rate (attributed to) normal swine flu. It may signal what’s soon heading everywhere.”

This may all be hog-wash, or it may be some true stuff that could affect the whole world before too long. It may be a lot bigger than just the H1N1 flu. Anyway, I’m not trying to sensationalize, but see what you think of all this.

If you’d rather take the “no thanks” route and not even read any of it, hey, I understand that too. We’re all so overloaded as it is. Besides, if the dawg-gone world is gonna end tomorrow, it’s gonna end whether we have a clue or not. My fascination with following specific news items through Google Alerts started when I got hooked searching for information on the “sumali pirates,” who by the way, just seized another container ship a few hours ago. Maybe I’m in the wrong business? (Wait a minute… at the moment I’m not in any business.) {sigh}

Anyway, that’s my light news refresher for today.

I’ll keep you updated on the Ukraine situation.

Let’s not forget to be thankful to our Men & Women of the Armed Forces today, on Veterans Day, and every day, for all they have done and still do to secure our freedom.

A Seasonal Walk in an Oklahoma Park

Yesterday after I dropped my wife off to work, I noticed that the trees along the way home looked beautiful and warm in the soft glow of the morning light. Instead of going inside and heading for the computer, I picked up my camera and headed for Carl Albert Park. My blog friend and former Okie, Barb, had asked me what Oklahoma was looking like these days. This was the perfect morning to take a pictorial sampling, so these pictures are especially for her, but for all to enjoy. I’ll let them speak for themselves. Even though I am a graphic editor, I’m leaving them un-retouched, to brag about Oklahoma’s natural beauty.

Morning Misty Dew

fallen leaves

squirrels can do it…

standing firm

overhanging beauty

name that tree

it’s Oklahoma’s crape myrtle

crapes in golden spledor

leaves & acorns

catching the morning sun

the park floor

time to seed more trees

winter’s almost here

we really must be going

Now I’ll admit… there have been way better shots of geese headed south, but here I was among a bunch of tall trees and all of a sudden I heard HONK! HONK! so I let my camera follow where my ears were hearing, pointed up, and clicked. In the moment of just a few beats of their wings, they were gone. I got a better auditory memory from that moment than I did a picture, but at least you can see the evidence that Fall is here, and Winter is coming.

Thanks for joining me for my jaunt in the park.

A Portmanteau Recipe: Caulitato Soup

This recipe is 100% the work of Kalinda. See her recipe that I tried last night at wheatfreemeatfree.com. I took these pics for her so she could see how mine turned out. Let’s just say that by the time Iris and I went to bed there wasn’t anything left.

Here’s the two main ingredients, 2 medium sized potatoes, I use red russets, and a small head of cauliflower.

Peel the potatoes, keep the skins and set aside. Chop up your two potatoes and the cauliflower into florets.

Put them in 3 cups of water, bring them to a boil, add some salt and pepper, and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. We go easy on the salt but pump up the fresh ground black pepper. As soon as you put the veggies in the pot, lay out the potato skins on some aluminum foil, wipe or spritz them with a shot of olive oil or butter spay, and put them in a 400º oven for the 15 minutes or so you’re cooking the potatoes and cauliflower.

One the veggies are tender, around 15 minutes, put them into a blender.

Add the water they cooked in into the blender and blend them smooth.

Once everything is blended, add 4 ounces of either whole cream, half & half, or whole milk, depending on how behaved you want to be. We splurge 1/2 way with half & half and it’s delicious.
Pour it into nice wide bowls, top with a few toasted potato skins and just a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese if you like, but not so much as to overwhelm the soup, and wha-lah. You now have a healthy, yummy winter soup.
Thanks again to Kalinda and her wonderful blog about Gluten Free Vegetarian Delights. Even if you’re a dedicated carnivore, you’ll find wonderful recipes here to subsidize your side-of-yak. I will definitely be trying more of her scrumptious looking recipes.

~ Bon Appetit ~

Care for a bowl of linguistini?

Linguistini is a portmanteau, a single word made by blending two others together. Stick with me, this is going to be fun.

Merriam-Webster offers smog as an example. Smoke and fog blended together. Linguistini is mine, a flavorful blend of the study of human speech and a flat pasta noodle. (Linguistics and linguine, or linguini.)

Some of these catch on, others don’t. Perhaps you have heard of the word chortle. Perhaps not. But it’s there in good ol’ Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. It was first used by a gentleman, well, by an egg, actually, named Humpty Dumpty. In Lewis Carroll’s classic Through the Looking Glass, Humpty explains it himself:

“Well, ’slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy’. ‘Lithe’ is the same word as ‘active’. You see, it’s like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed into one word.”
As is fitting, portmanteau itself is a blend word, originating from the French word portemanteau, a compound formed from the verb porter (to carry) and the noun manteau (cloak).

Humpty  image courtesy of WikiMedia

So let’s have some fun with portmanteaus. If you’d like to see a good list of some that are already around, take a look at these. Now, I bet you can remember a time in your life when two (or more) words just blended together perfectly, and you praised yourself highly. If not, let’s see what you can come up with. Come on, you’re staring at one right now, my blog. (Web + Log = Blog)

Let’s hear ‘em, let’s have linguistini for lunch today!

When It’s Time to Just Get Away From It All

Have you ever felt like you could just use a break from your daily rat race? If you’re nodding yes to yourself, you’re not alone.

While living in the heart of civilization enables us to remain fairly healthy, physically, it doesn’t always help our stress level. Some of us live in environments that are by nature more stressful than others. For instance, I grew up in NYC, which was a considerably more stressful place to live than where I live now, a city in Oklahoma with a population of around 16,000. However, regardless of your GPS coordinates, we all have stress. Kids’ schedules, leaky roofs, pending bills and unexpected expenses… all of these and many more contribute to the daily stress in our lives.

My wife’s and my life have thankfully not been overtaxed stress-wise lately. But this weekend did mark our 8.5 year wedding anniversary. Well, almost. It was off by a little over a week. It was however, Columbus day. We decided to take advantage of my wife’s three day weekend and rent a cabin with the Reserve On Eagle Creek in the mountains for a couple of days, to celebrate our many years together and enjoy a little R & R.

We left on our journey Saturday morning. The sun never did come out as we drove the leisurely 3 hour drive. It was four o’clock when we got to our destination. We had a few hours to settle in, start a fire, make dinner in the fully stocked kitchen and just chill out. After the sun went down, we jumped into the 102º Jacuzzi on the back porch. Now this is relaxing!

Every now and then it does one good to log off the computer, turn off the TV and cell phone, and just get away. Go romp around in nature for a while. At the Reserve on Eagle Creek we saw at least 3 different types of mushrooms growing in the woods. Brown ones, white ones, and even bright red ones. Not that we were going to saute any of these that night, but they were fun to find. Mushrooms must love the acidic soil that pine trees produce.

The Franklin Institute Resources for Science Learning website, Franklin Institute offers quite a few different ways to relieve stress, and they’re good ones, but a cabin in the woods for a couple of days has to be one of the best stress relievers.

We spend so much time and money just spinning our wheels from day to day. Why not get away from it all once and a while and recharge? It does the heart, mind & soul, and body, some good.

Please share your stress-busting techniques. We can learn from each other. If you’ve benefited from similar adventures, tell us about them. We can enjoy the time through your stories.

Pump Up the Sugar

Kraft Foods, What Are You Doing?
Okay, doesn’t the whole world know that sugar is bad for us, and that as a whole, we’re all trying to cut back on it? I mean, after all, don’t we all know that Being Overweight + Consuming too much Sugar = DIABETES?

I switched from drinking diet pop to drinking TANG orange flavored beverage about a year ago. While the diet pops were both caffeine free and sugar free, they still had artificial sweeteners which I consider worse than small doses of sugar. So good bye pops, hello TANG.

I went to the store the other day and noticed that the container the TANG comes in had grown considerably. It’s now 20 oz instead of 12.3 oz. But guess what? The smaller container made 8 quarts of TANG, and the larger container only makes six quarts. A much larger container, and the mix makes 2 quarts less! I haven’t even checked the price difference of the two, but let me venture a guess… the larger one, (which makes two less quarts) is going to cost less. Here’s a picture of the old bottle of TANG on top of the new container. We know which one looks bigger, too bad it doesn’t contain as much.

But wait, there’s more. This article isn’t even about the size of the container, how much it contains, or even about about how much it costs. This article is about a product we’re used to more than doubling in it’s sugar content. Doubling!

Here’s the ingredients label:

Okay. One good thing is they took out three artificial sweeteners: surcalose, acesulfame potassium and neotame. But the bad thing is they have more than DOUBLED the amount of sugar in a glass. They added a small amount of salt as well, but not enough to make a difference in anyone’s diets. But look at the difference in sugar:

Notice that the carbs went right up with the sugar, from 9 grams to 22 grams. They used to have a claim that caught a lot of people’s eyes that were watching their sugar, it was this, promptly displayed on the cap of the container. Now it’s just a “great new taste.”

Pay a decent price for a product, Kraft calls it a “Sensible Solution.” Raise the price with the product making less beverage than before, even Kraft knows that’s no longer a sensible solution!

One last thing… what about vitamins? With their old mixture, they were proud to boast of something they called “Fruition,” a combination of 4 different vitamins along with calcium. With the new mixture it’s bye bye vitamin A, B6, B2 and B3. Only vitamin C and Calcium remain.

Now THAT’s what I call a product makeover. To who’s benefit is this? This topic will remain open to comment for one week, and then I’ll send it along with all comments to Kraft Foods. Are you okay with these changes?

Thought of the Day; from Samuel Butler

Written between the years of 1872 and 1884, The Way of All Flesh was finally published in 1903, a year after the author’s death. It wasn’t until right before he passed away, that from his death bed he expressed the desire for it to be published.

As volumes of information are readily available on the internet to those that would like to know more about him, I will not go into his life story, nor into a full discussion of The Way of All Flesh here.

The thought of the day I offer you is from the 19th chapter of the book, as follows:

A very high standard, again, involves the possession of rare virtues, and rare virtues are like rare plants or animals, things that have not been able to hold their own in the world. A virtue to be serviceable must, like gold, must be alloyed with some commoner but more durable metal.

People divide off vice and virtue as though they were two things, neither of which had with it anything of the other. This is not so. There is no useful virtue which has not some alloy of vice, and hardly any vice, if any, which carries not with it a little dash of virtue; virtue and vice are like life and death, or mind and matter– things which cannot exist without being qualified by their opposite.

The author expounds on these thoughts. It’s a fascinating book that tells a story about life in the Victorian era, but ultimately about man himself.

What I get out of this passage is a reinforcement of what I hold as a truth, “Nobody’s Perfect.” The book goes on to describe how those that do hold themselves way up there, are often alone, as not many truly believe that they are there.

Samuel Butler also wrote the classic, Erewhon.

Your thoughts?