I don't usually post personal issues here, but I thought it would be good (perhaps for me) to post about the last days of my mother, Mary. She has been living with us since October 1998 and will be 96 on October 1, 2006 (10/1/10 as she is fond of saying). She has congestive heart failure and is now in hospice care via the Vermont Visiting Nurse Association (VNA).
She was in hospice care for 3 months June-August 2006 and then moved to palliative care because she had 'plateaued' at a reasonably stable condition. Now her condition has deteriorated with shortness of breath more pronounced with difficulty moving very far because it causes shortness of breath.
We have decided to keep her at home with us for as long as possible, but when an opening is available at Vermont Respite House in Williston, about 12 miles from us, we will move her there. Carol and I visited there in July and were favorably impressed with the staff and the facility.
Today we went for a long walk in the sunny, crisp fall air. It was a beautiful day and I pushed Mary in her wheelchair around the block for about a mile on nice level ground embraced by a mixture of shade and sun with a nice breeze.
She had a nice supper and PJ was here having brought a homemade quiche and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Mary also received a bouquet from Dick, (her nephew) and Joyce. Winnie and Edie sent a birthday card, too.
Yesterday, we brought in a hospital bed, but she seems to do better sleeping in the very comfortable reclining chair.
Last night her grandsons and family came to celebrate her birthday with pizza and a birthday cake.
All in all, Mary had a reasonably good day.
September 30, 2006
Islam and the Pope - New York Times
Islam and the Pope - New York Times
Friedman is correct in this assessment that Muslims need to speak honestly and critically among themselves. Otherwise , the RATs will succeed in creating the clash of civilizations that they sponsor and for ours to be destroyed.
He is right to expose the Western elitist proclivity to say/do nothing that might rile the Muslims. That's a foolish approach that will accomplish nothing.
Friedman is correct in this assessment that Muslims need to speak honestly and critically among themselves. Otherwise , the RATs will succeed in creating the clash of civilizations that they sponsor and for ours to be destroyed.
He is right to expose the Western elitist proclivity to say/do nothing that might rile the Muslims. That's a foolish approach that will accomplish nothing.
Better Mood at the Gas Pump. What About the Voting Booth? - New York Times
Better Mood at the Gas Pump. What About the Voting Booth? - New York Times:
People are economically ignorant and the left-wingers attempt to exploit that for their political advantage. Apparently, few people think clearly anymore. All is spin for political advantage. Humbug!
People are economically ignorant and the left-wingers attempt to exploit that for their political advantage. Apparently, few people think clearly anymore. All is spin for political advantage. Humbug!
"The sudden decline has also ignited suspicions that the Republican administration and giant oil companies conspired to cut gasoline prices for electoral gains.
“I think prices are going down now because it’s election time but I feel they will go back up again right after,” said Roberta Mays, a school bus driver in Knox, Pa.
Her opinion was reflected in a Sept. 15-17 Gallup poll, which found that 42 percent of respondents said that they believed the Bush administration was manipulating the price of gasoline in advance of the fall elections.
And the accusation has provoked a vigorous debate on the Web. On huffingtonpost.com, a left-wing blog, someone commented: “Anybody with any brains KNOWS this government manipulates almost everything here in the States.”"
September 29, 2006
Rural Areas Left in Slow Lane of High-Speed Data Highway - New York Times
Rural Areas Left in Slow Lane of High-Speed Data Highway - New York Times
A reasonably fair and balanced piece by Ken Belson that describes the realities of the telecom dilemma in Vermont. While the local subsidy (high cost support) issue is discussed, there is no explanantion why Verizon receives only a tenth the subsidy of Vermont Telecom. That question deserves at least a simple direct answer in a piece like this
The other missing piece is comment from Vermont's Public Service Board or the Department of Public Service.
The question implicitly raised, but left unanswered, is whether broadband access to very rural areas should be subsidized.
Lot's of grist for the telecom mill in Vermont!
The reality is that customer density supports investment of limited capital for companies to make a reasonable return in a competitive environment. If social policy dictates more widespread deployment of technology, then subsidies are required. It really is that simple. The complexity comes when writing the rules.
A reasonably fair and balanced piece by Ken Belson that describes the realities of the telecom dilemma in Vermont. While the local subsidy (high cost support) issue is discussed, there is no explanantion why Verizon receives only a tenth the subsidy of Vermont Telecom. That question deserves at least a simple direct answer in a piece like this
The other missing piece is comment from Vermont's Public Service Board or the Department of Public Service.
The question implicitly raised, but left unanswered, is whether broadband access to very rural areas should be subsidized.
Lot's of grist for the telecom mill in Vermont!
The reality is that customer density supports investment of limited capital for companies to make a reasonable return in a competitive environment. If social policy dictates more widespread deployment of technology, then subsidies are required. It really is that simple. The complexity comes when writing the rules.
September 28, 2006
September 27, 2006
Clear as a Bell One Day, Fuzzy and Garbled the Next - New York Times
Clear as a Bell One Day, Fuzzy and Garbled the Next - New York Times
No surprises here. For all the technical explanations, at this point in the VoIP life cycle, the simple fact is: 'you get what you pay for.'
No surprises here. For all the technical explanations, at this point in the VoIP life cycle, the simple fact is: 'you get what you pay for.'
September 25, 2006
Closing of a Nation - New York Times
Closing of a Nation - New York Times
Another insightful article from David Brooks on the values of Iraqis. The raw material, the people, from which to build a nation has characteristics that make the task nearly impossible, although Brooks does not reach this conclusion.
Another insightful article from David Brooks on the values of Iraqis. The raw material, the people, from which to build a nation has characteristics that make the task nearly impossible, although Brooks does not reach this conclusion.
"The people of Iraq have endured decades of dictatorship, war, insurgency and civil strife, and the psychological costs have been ruinous. Iraq is the most xenophobic, sexist and reactionary society on earth."
September 24, 2006
Fractals of Change: Global Warming – Too Important for Junk Science
Fractals of Change: Global Warming Â? Too Important for Junk Science
I missed this post by Tom Evslin because I was on the road in the Rockies, but it's worth reading along with the comments that follow.
I tend to agree with Tom's basic premise: The earth is warming because the last Ice Age is ending. Warming may be accelerated because of recent and current human activity, but the forces at work in our earth and atmosphere are too vast and chaotic to be knowable well enough to enable any significant action to reverse the cycles of the earth.
Despite any actions that we have taken in the last 250 years (Industrial Revolution) or may take now or in the future, it's unlikely we can effect any significant change. The scale and scope of the forces at work are just too massive to be managed by mere humans. The fate of the earth is God's business.
I do not intend to embrace the hysteria of some with political and economic agendas that would have me take unusual personal actions that in my estimation will have little effect on the outcome. I also refuse to be infused with any guilt that some wish to apply.
For example, if the following is correct or even wrong by an order of magnitude, we have little hope of reversing global warming:
"...thawing of the Siberian tundra is thought to produce 100 times the greenhouse gas emissions of all burning of fossil fuels." And methane, the dominant greenhouse gas released by the melting tundra is about 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, according to some scientists (Sorry, I don't know the source of these statements, but here's some data about greenhouse gases) from Wikipedia, quoting another source. I won't try to provide references for the various views of scientists. Anyone interested can find them online.
Living on higher ground perhaps makes the most sense for people if they believe the 'fast disaster' scenario proposed by James Lovelock. In America, for example, 50% of the population lives in the the coastal counties of the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, there are tens of thousand square miles of the U.S. abve 3,500 feet in the West that are relatively unpopulated.
Here's some of what Lovelock believes (from the link above, an interview of Lovelock by a Washington Post writer earlier this year:
I missed this post by Tom Evslin because I was on the road in the Rockies, but it's worth reading along with the comments that follow.
I tend to agree with Tom's basic premise: The earth is warming because the last Ice Age is ending. Warming may be accelerated because of recent and current human activity, but the forces at work in our earth and atmosphere are too vast and chaotic to be knowable well enough to enable any significant action to reverse the cycles of the earth.
Despite any actions that we have taken in the last 250 years (Industrial Revolution) or may take now or in the future, it's unlikely we can effect any significant change. The scale and scope of the forces at work are just too massive to be managed by mere humans. The fate of the earth is God's business.
I do not intend to embrace the hysteria of some with political and economic agendas that would have me take unusual personal actions that in my estimation will have little effect on the outcome. I also refuse to be infused with any guilt that some wish to apply.
For example, if the following is correct or even wrong by an order of magnitude, we have little hope of reversing global warming:
"...thawing of the Siberian tundra is thought to produce 100 times the greenhouse gas emissions of all burning of fossil fuels." And methane, the dominant greenhouse gas released by the melting tundra is about 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, according to some scientists (Sorry, I don't know the source of these statements, but here's some data about greenhouse gases) from Wikipedia, quoting another source. I won't try to provide references for the various views of scientists. Anyone interested can find them online.
Living on higher ground perhaps makes the most sense for people if they believe the 'fast disaster' scenario proposed by James Lovelock. In America, for example, 50% of the population lives in the the coastal counties of the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, there are tens of thousand square miles of the U.S. abve 3,500 feet in the West that are relatively unpopulated.
Here's some of what Lovelock believes (from the link above, an interview of Lovelock by a Washington Post writer earlier this year:
"He measured atmospheric gases and ocean temperatures, and examined forests tropical and arboreal (last year a forest the size of Italy burned in rapidly heating Siberia, releasing from the permafrost a vast sink of methane, which contributes to global warming). (Note: I find the previous statement a bit strange. Permafrost does not support forest growth, as far as I know, only tundra is supported where the thin top layer melts in summer. However, that thawing of the permafrost is releasing methane, is undisputed.) He found Gaia trapped in a vicious cycle of positive-feedback loops -- from air to water, everything is getting warmer at once. The nature of Earth's biosphere is that, under pressure from industrialization, it resists such heating, and then it resists some more.Then, he says, it adjusts.
Within the next decade or two, Lovelock forecasts, Gaia will hike her thermostat by at least 10 degrees. Earth, he predicts, will be hotter than at any time since the Eocene Age 55 million years ago, when crocodiles swam in the Arctic Ocean.
"There's no realization of how quickly and irreversibly the planet is changing," Lovelock says. "Maybe 200 million people will migrate close to the Arctic and survive this. Even if we took extraordinary steps, it would take the world 1,000 years to recover."
Brain Teaser
Count every " F" in the following text:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...
HOW MANY ?
Why 6, of course! Fascinating. on the first pass, our brains don't process the 'fs' in of.
Officials Wary of Electronic Voting Machines - New York Times
Officials Wary of Electronic Voting Machines - New York Times:
Deb Markowitz has it right. The problem is not wth the technology, per se. It's with the poll workers and the users who may not be comfortable or properly trained to use the technology. This is a generational problem, but that does not make it any less important. We do need to assure poll workers are trained and as comfortable as possible.
Deb Markowitz has it right. The problem is not wth the technology, per se. It's with the poll workers and the users who may not be comfortable or properly trained to use the technology. This is a generational problem, but that does not make it any less important. We do need to assure poll workers are trained and as comfortable as possible.
"Deborah L. Markowitz, the Vermont secretary of state and the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said that while there might be some problems in November, she expected them to be limited and isolated.
“The real story of the recent primary races was how few problems there were, considering how new this technology is,” said Ms. Markowitz, a Democrat. “The failures we did see, like in Maryland, Ohio and Missouri, were small and most often from poll workers not being prepared.”"
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