With Charity for All

I like to end the year on a positive note, and there have been many acts and events this past year that have had positive impact on our lives.  It is tiresome and depressing to see the huge number of negative email messages and news reports that come across the ethernet.  Frankly, many of them are either false, or are questionable in content. That keeps websites like Snopes and TruthorFiction busy, but it also distorts reality.

Here is my candidate for most positive story of 2013.

You may have heard about or read this story already.  It was disclosed last week that a man from Calgary, who won a Canadian lottery prize back in May, and somehow kept it secret for all this time, has decided to donate the entire $40 million prize to charity.

Tom Crist, a 64-year-old retired widower, has set up a trust fund along with his adult children to give away the prize money to various charitable organizations, but most of it is slated for the Canadian Cancer Society and the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.  He has already cut a cheque - Canadians spell funny - for $1.2 million to the latter charity.

Mr. Crist says that he has done quite well for himself and his children in his 44 year working career and he really doesn't need the money. 

Well, I say "Wow" to that!

The reasoning behind the gift is understandable, as well.  Tom lost his wife of 33 years to cancer two years ago after a six year battle with the disease.  What a wonderful gesture he is making to help in finding a cure!

The above story might have been the apex, but in doing the research on it, I found that this isn't the first time a Canadian has donated their winnings to charity.  Three years ago, 84-year-old Allen Large and his wife Violet won a lottery prize of over $11 million.  They promptly gave away their winnings, too.  Afterwards, they both said they never felt so good.

When Mr. Large was interviewed, he said that he and his wife had saved over $2  million for retirement and didn't have any need for the lottery winnings.  They did give $100,000 to each of 12 relatives before they made the charitable donations, but they never spent a penny of it on themselves.

In the same article, it was reported that another generous Canadian, Bob Erb, won $25 million in a 2012 Lotto Max drawing, and has donated over $8 million.  While he didn't give it all away, he has given the maximum he can without hurting his bank balance.

The above stories have me wondering if American lottery winners are as kind and generous with their winnings.  I cannot recall any stories similar to these about our winners, but it is true that we, as a people, are the most generous on earth.

With that in mind, I wish you a very happy and prosperous new year in 2014, and I hope that, if you are fortunate enough to win the lottery, we will see an article about your gift to charity with the proceeds.  In other words, I trust that you are in a position where you don't need to win the lottery to live well and prosper.

Wodens Day

Have you ever wondered why the day we term "Humpday" is spelled Wednesday?  I sure have, and I just recently thought I learned why.  It was so interesting, along with the names of the other six days of the week, that I want to share it with you. 

Now, I cannot claim credit for all this research, because I do have a source and a good one at that; California Technical Institute, (a.k.a. CalTech).  And I could just give you the link to their website and let you look it up for yourself, but I'd rather risk charges of plagiarism and print out the text for you.

I received a message from my nephew, Dan, with the subject line: Wodens Day, and I was at a loss to figure out what that meant, so I asked in my reply.  Here is what I received as his follow up.

Woden was a Germanic god (Saxon, but based on the Norse 'Odin'), from whom the name Wednesday derives...

From the Caltech website:

Origin of the Names of the Days of the Week

• Sunday: Sunnenday (Middle English translation of Greek Hemera heliou): the sun's day,
• Monday: Monan daeg (Anglo Saxon, monan, moon; daeg, Anglo Saxon, day): the moon's day,
• Tuesday: Tiwes daeg (Anglo Saxon Tiw, war god, related to Greek god Zeus): Tiw's day,
• Wednesday: Woensdag (Danish, Woen, Woden, Chief Norse god, Frigga's husband; dag, day): Woden's day,
• Thursday: Thursdaeg (Old English; Thorr, Icelandic, thundergod): Thor's day,
• Friday: Frigedaeg (Anglo Saxon; Frige, Frigga, chief Norse goddess, Woden's wife): Frigga's day,
• Saturday: Saeterdaeg (Anglo Saxon; Saeter, Saturn, Roman god of time): Saturn's day.

(Dan's words) Interestingly, although the names sound entirely different, the gods used on each day correspond to the same roman gods used to name the same days of the week in the Romance Languages, and ALSO correspond to the same 7 moving heavenly bodies known to the Greeks as 'planetas', or 'wanderers' (the Sun and Moon were 2 of the 7 planets because these 7 objects uniquely moved through the fixed stars) - that's why, although your hands have 5 digits, and the natural units with which to count are 5s and 10s, there are 7 days of the week!  In 'calendric' order:  Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn [Uranus and Neptune are too dim to be seen with the unaided eye].

Well, I still don't know why they spell that middle day of the week W-e-d-n-e-s-d-a-y.  Do you?  Does anyone know?

What Happened to Savings Plans?

If you are under forty, you are probably too young to relate to this topic, but you might learn something about why so many in your generation have not saved anything for their retirement.

There is a K-Mart advertisement that runs this time of year on their lay-away plan to pay up-front for gifts for the holidays.  I’ve seen it several times this week. It reminds me of that we used to save up for Christmas gifts.  That is my topic for this week.

We live in a world where credit and debit cards are the norm, and we seem to expect to pay those high rates of interest on credit card balances.  Why else would there be such a hue and cry whenever the credit card companies send the letter advising of the rise in rates?  Why else are there so many people with $30,000 or more in credit card debt, enough to spawn the growth of debt relief businesses?

When I was a youngster, and possibly up until my kids were also teens, the banks used to have two special accounts.  One was the Youth Savings Account.  It was endorsed by the schools and participated in during school hours. 

I don’t recall exactly how we deposited our savings, but I believe it went something like this. We would bring our passbook and our money to school once a week for deposit into our account.  The teacher would collect the money and note the amounts on deposit sheets with our names on them. We would make the entries into our savings account passbook, a good arithmetic practice.  The teacher would pool all the deposits and send them to the office to be sent to the bank with all the other class deposits.

Lots of us kids learned good savings habits and built up substantial accounts.  For some, it was the first link in a lifetime savings account that helped pay for college, that first car, or other young adult needs.

The other account offered by banks was the Christmas Club Account.  That one was open to everyone, and adults commonly had accounts for just that purpose.  If you saved more than needed for your gifts, you merely left a balance and continued into the next year.  Some of those accounts stayed active for years.

Now this might surprise some of you, but we actually paid for our presents as we bought them.  That’s right, we didn’t have to be concerned about those high bills coming in right after the New Year celebration died down.  What a novel idea!

We would be so much better off if we learned good savings habits while in our youth, and if we also learned that purchases, exclusive of homes and autos, should never incur long-term debt.  Credit cards, while useful to avoid carrying cash, encourage wasteful (and hasteful) spending habits.  Try to make it a rule that all credit card purchases are paid off within the 30-day “no interest” period. 

 

Donations That Give 100-percent

'Tis the Season, again, to celebrate our bountiful and beautiful blessings by giving to others less fortunate than ourselves.  I want to make this an annual column in support of charity and good will toward men (and women).  In that spirit, here are some tips on how best to donate.

I guess we’ve all seen the stories that circulate in emails about those huge salaries that directors of the large charitable organizations draw.  Whether or not they are truly that large, there certainly are a lot of expenses involved with charitable organizations that eat up our donations before they ever get to the intended recipients.

If you care to see what percentage of donations get to those in need, charitynavigator.org is one of several online sites that rate them. Another one is the Forbes website, and a third, and possibly the best of the three is Guidestar.org because it actually has its own tips for choosing a charity. 

Here are some neat ways to provide for those in need and feel good about doing it on a personal, hometown level. 

Most department stores have a layaway plan that enables people to pay for Christmas gifts in increments.  However, people who have to purchase in that fashion are likely doing so because they aren’t able to afford payment in a lump sum. 

You can aid those people anonymously on a selective basis to pay off their layaway purchases.  Don’t just blindly pay on someone’s layaway account, but try to do some investigation (perhaps with the department manager) as to what is on layaway and to whom the gifts will go.  Maybe the manager will have some useful input as to the financial situation of some of the people who have gifts on layaway.  In one case cited in an article I read, the person in need was one of the store employees who had recently lost her husband and was providing for several kids.

Of course, there are other ways that you can donate so that some little boy or girl will get a gift.  The best ones I can think of are the United States Marines’ Toys for Tots program and the Angel Tree (Salvation Army) that is usually in the vestibule of Wal-Mart, Kmart or Target stores. And there is always the red kettle and bell ringer of the Salvation Army. Donate to these programs if you want to donate but cannot afford a large amount.

Another way to make your donation count is available at most grocery stores.  The local food banks that feed the homeless and needy have suffered from the economic woes we’ve experienced in recent years. When you check out with your food items, you can also donate in increments to the food banks.  For as little as $5 you can provide a full meal to someone who might otherwise have slipped through the cracks and either isn’t eligible or has not applied for assistance. A lot of our disabled vets are in this category for one reason or another.

If you go to McDonalds and get change for your purchase, put it in the glass box in front of the cash register and it will go to the Ronald McDonald House, another worthy cause. The proceeds are used to give comfort and care to sick children and their families and provide temporary living quarters for those who do not reside in the area where hospital care is given.

Don't forget that all donations to qualified non-profit charitable organizations can be used as deductions from your taxable income if you use Schedule A for itemized deductions. (Get a valid receipt from the organization, if the donation is $250 or over.)  My wife and I do not use Schedule A anymore, so that means we are not able to take advantage of that tax break.  It doesn't make us less willing to give, but it is an incentive for some people.  We've even found a way to bestow the tax break on our children.

I gave each of my adult kids a cash gift on Thanksgiving Day with the suggestion that they pass that gift on to their own favorite charities.  Since both of them do itemize deductions, they will also be able to use the deduction to reduce their taxes for 2013.  Those charitable gifts will give three ways:  1) I know that I've given a significant sum to charity, 2) My children have also donated and, 3) There is a tax break for them on April 15th of 2014.  It is a win-win for all and it is perfectly legal.

Whatever the gift, if you are blessed with some spare cash and want to make a difference, I cannot think of a better way to do it than to use one of these vehicles to donate and get the biggest “bang for the buck.”

And remember that charity doesn’t have to be a Christmastime activity. As the song, The Secret of Christmas concludes, “...it’s not the things you do at Christmas time, but the Christmas things you do all year through.”

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

Most of the information in this column is also available online at various websites.  It is not my intent to claim credit for any of that information, and I realize that I will be guilty of plagiarism in some respects.  However, some of the facts I will provide are not readily available, so I believe that I am augmenting known history of the Vietnam Memorial.

I recently learned that 12 names were either added to, or status altered on the wall.  One of the questions I've often pondered is, how do they add a name to a granite wall that has names arranged chronologically by date of death-causing injury?  A little history is in order before I provide the answer to that question...

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the main focus of the Memorial, but certainly not the entire one, was dedicated in 1982 with 57,939 names inscribed on it.  It included names of those killed in action (KIA) and missing in action and presumed dead (MIA).  However, names have since been added to the wall as Vietnam War veterans succumb to wounds and conditions brought about by enemy encounters.  That means that there have been several additions to the names on the wall since 1982, even though the war ended in 1975.  As of November of 2013, there are a total of 58,286 names engraved there.

Another alteration to the wall takes place when a MIA is confirmed to be deceased. That often happens as modern technology and improved relations with the Vietnamese people uncovers remains of personnel and identifies them through DNA testing.  When that happens, the cross next to the name that designates that person as either MIA or POW has a diamond superimposed over the cross, the symbol indicating KIA status for all others. The four points of the cross remain visible, though, because the diamond is slightly smaller than the cross it replaces.

There are possibly 38 names on the wall of individuals who were designated POW/MIA, but who might still be alive.  When and if any of those people comes forward, the name would be removed from the registry, but the name cannot be removed from the wall, so a circle will be inscribed around the cross or diamond to indicate life.  To date, only one has turned up as a survivor, and that was way back in 1992.

Okay, I've kept you in suspense long enough.  As to the question of how names are added in keeping with the chronological order, the wall was designed with future expansion in the plan.  There are five names to a row, but they were inscribed so that about every third or fourth row, names are short enough that a sixth can be inscribed at a later date.  If a name is to be added, it will be inscribed as close as possible to the location it would have appeared on the original carving.  It won't always be exact, but it will be very close, so that those who died together will remain together on the wall. 

The design of the wall by architectural student Maya Lin, though controversial, was  so perfect that I was assured that the integrity of the wall has never been compromised and those added to the wall are in very close proximity to their comrades-in-arms.  This despite the fact that over 300 names have been added.

If you've never been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which includes more than just the wall, make it an item on your bucket list to visit it and the other memorials our war dead on The Mall in Washington, D.C.

Portions of this column and facts within it were mostly found and drawn from the website www.VMF.org.  Please visit that site for more detailed information and for a virtual tour of the memorial.

Our Health Care Dilemma - Part 3 - Quo Vadis?

If you are old enough to recall the 1951 film of that title, starring Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr, you should know that the translation is, "Where are you going?"  That is what I hope to divulge in this, the third and final installment of the series.  I hope you took my advice last week and thought long and hard about where you stand on our current health care dilemma, because we will all be directly, and probably disastrously, affected by ObamaCare.

In the first two parts, I tried to develop a primary cause for the rising costs of health care. I am convinced that the biggest factor affecting cost is government intervention in the system.  I'm afraid that it will now become a huge factor in quality of care as well, and I don't anticipate improvement, but rather decline in that aspect, as has been demonstrated time and again in every single country that practices socialized medicine. Longer waiting periods and fewer doctors has proven to be the universal outcome.

Now, I'm not naive, and we all know there are cases of greed and fraud among the health care providers.  Anytime you create a system as large as Medicare/Medicaid, you invite fraud.  I'll even give you a crystal clear example.  I used to take warfarin, a generic drug, to control blood coagulation, and it was necessary to get tested once a month at a clinic.  I quit warfarin, which cost me pennies for each pill, and had my doctor prescribe another drug that costs me over $250-per-month, because every time I went to that clinic for testing a doctor billed Medicare $100. He bills that $100 for every single patient who gets tested there, and yet, I have never met him, and I suspect he has never set foot in the clinic. The new, expensive drug does not require the prothrombin time test, so I no longer go to that clinic and pay that crook.

We are now on the verge of a government-sponsored and soon-to-be single-payer health care system geared to cover literally every single person in this country, citizen or not. Now I ask you, what could possibly go wrong?

Here is what is already wrong with ObamaCare.   

• In 2010, the Federal Register, the official journal of the federal government of the United States, contained a prediction that 93 million Americans would lose their current healthcare coverage if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed.  President Obama continued to tell us that "...if you like your healthcare, you can keep it ... Period." This is what he says now.
• Nancy Pelosi made a statement in favor of the ACA that, "We have to pass it to learn what's in it."  That is, according to physicians, the definition of a stool sample. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
• President Obama promised on many occasions that premiums for the new healthcare would be reduced by $2500 per family of four.  To date, people who have been able to sign up for the ACA have found that premiums and deductibles are much higher than their prior healthcare contained.
• The government website to register for ObamaCare, which cost taxpayers over 500 million dollars, has not operated properly since it was activated, and only a handful of people have been able to sign up.  (That may be a blessing in disguise.)
• The "death panels" that Sarah Palin was mocked and castigated for mentioning, do, in fact, exist and are fully operational.  And they are exactly as Palin described them; no licensed physicians need apply. The people who get to decide whether or not you can be treated are all pencil-pushing accountants, not doctors.
• There are over 20 new taxes in the ACA and, while most are business taxes, they will all be passed through to the middle class consumers of those goods and services.
• We are only in the infant stages of ObamaCare, and there are many who predict that costs will far exceed estimates, and premiums in future years for all health insurance will again rise dramatically. 

One little detail that the ACA left out, one that may be an escape hatch for everyone, is that , while the IRS can penalize you for not having a healthcare plan, they cannot force you to pay the fine—or tax, as Chief Justice Roberts termed it.  The only way they can collect it is to deduct it from any federal tax refund you may have coming.  That is all the more reason to use the W-4 to maximize withholding so that you always owe tax with your federal return.  No refund = no penalty.

If anyone would like to accuse me of "hating" President Obama because he is black, I do not. I do dislike him, but I don't "hate" anyone because of the color of his or her skin.  There are many, many reasons detailed above as to what I dislike about the Obama  administration. For the record, I also disliked George W Bush for implementing the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.  I disliked his father for promising not to raise taxes and then breaking that promise.  I disliked LBJ for not only his Medicare and Medicaid schemes, but also for the Great Society debacle, which started all this madness.

As further proof that I don't hate President Obama because he is black, I would, in a heartbeat, vote for Herman Cain, another black man, for president.  In fact, I can think of several black, Hispanic and Asiatic Americans, men and women, whom I would gladly vote for as president.

I know this column was way too long, but it was necessary to put this much detail in to counter a bad bill that was 2600 pages long itself, and has over 22,000 pages of rules and regulations to govern it.  I trust that you appreciate my effort.

Our Health Care Dilemma - Part 2 - A Brief Medical History

This is the second in a 3-part series.  I could have put it all in one column, but it would have been too long to read in one sitting.  In this part, I'm going to go back to some of my medical records, all of which my wife has kept since we were married 51 years ago.

I'm not concerned about providing some personal and private medical facts about myself and my family.  After all, most of this stuff will soon be available online to anyone with a computer and the time to find it.

But first, the answer to some of those questions I posed in the first column.  How did we get to here from there; there being the days when health care was either provided in the home by some inventive and caring parents, or by a doctor who made "house calls" or saw you in his or her office without an appointment.  What's more, you weren't charged an arm or a leg for the treatment.  Here being... well, let's examine it.

To repeat the questions, "Why did the costs go up for treatment we sometimes wait hours, or days, or even months to receive?" Was it the greedy insurance companies?  Was it the high cost of modern technology?  Was it the greed of the health care providers?  Was it due to inflation of wages and prices in general? 

Fact: In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law a bill passed by Congress that established two national and government-sponsored health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid.  Medicare was for the elderly and Medicaid was for the poor.  What could be more fair?  Other than those people able to afford private health care, and those who were insured by their employers, seniors and the indigent were the primary segment of our society that needed help with the costs of that care.

I married in 1962 and our first child was born in 1966.  I wasn't eligible for either Medicare or Medicaid, but then, I really didn't need help with the cost of Judy's pregnancy or Brad's birth.  I still have the bill from Kenmore Mercy Hospital, dated 5/26/1966, for the 5-day stay ($180) plus the live birth ($175) with incidentals ($94), for a total bill of  $449.  Insurance paid all but $100.

While greed, technological advances, and inflation mentioned above might have had some influence on costs, none of them would, individually or in concert, account for the astronomical increase that took place from 1965 to today.  Even when my daughter was born in 1971, the cost-per-day for the hospital room was only $42.50, up from $25 in 1966.  But that increase was already fifty-eight-percent in less than 5 years. 

No, there is only one big contributing factor that would cause costs to rise so much: Government health care comes with very strict limitations on reimbursement, and those limits are not based on actual cost of treatment, but on a percentage of the cost.  So, if a specific procedure costs $500, a pencil pusher somewhere pegs the maximum payment for that procedure at 40-percent, or $200.  In order for the provider to recover the actual cost, the bill must be submitted for $1250.  That is 150-percent inflation.  And every time the cost of treatment goes up for the provider, it goes up 150-percent for the payee - in this case, the government.

When our beneficial government got involved in the providing of healthcare - something that was never authorized or condoned by the Constitution or any amendments thereto - they became the largest cause of inflated prices for that care, not only for the elderly and the poor, but for everyone.  After all, when you send a bill to one insurer, you also have to charge every other insurer that same price to dispel any hint of fraud or favoritism. 

From 1975 onward, the prices for hospital stays, tests, supplies, doctor visits, surgical procedures and just about everything else took off faster than a jet on afterburner.  To  give you an idea of how rapid it was, and how high it went, I had coronary bypass surgery in October of 1980, and the total cost for doctors, anesthesia, surgery and hospital stay was a shade over $9,700.

In a more recent case, my outpatient visit to the hospital in 2010 for implantation of a cardio pacemaker/defibrillator came to $81,340.20 and I didn't even spend a single night in the hospital.  Of course, Medicare and United Healthcare only paid a combined total of about $15,000 after discounts and adjustments, but still, you can see the effects of costs to payments.  I attribute about 90-percent of that to Medicare/Medicaid billing practices, which have leapfrogged with payment schedules in an endless upward, out of control spiral.

Now that I've established a valid reason for the high cost of medicine and healthcare today, we still have some other contributing factors.  I'll expose those in the final chapter next week, but meanwhile, think about where you stand on the current threshold of complete control of your well-being entrusted to some bureaucrat in Washington.

Our Health Care Dilemma - Part 1 - The Gory Glory Days

This is the first of a 3-part series on our current health care in America.  The views expressed in this column are my own exclusive ones, and I make no apology for them.  However, I challenge you that, if you can find any evidence to dispute what I am about to present, I would love to have you either send me a message with the facts, or post your comments at the website whenilk.blogspot.com.  I promise to publish your comments as a follow up column (anonymously, of course) if you don't want to put them on the blog.

I recall in my youth in the 1940s and 1950s that when I was sick or injured our family doctor would come to our house, or my parents would take me to the doctor's office and he would treat me that same day.  The ER - emergency room at the hospital - was used only for emergencies, those times when injury or illness was serious enough that there was no option but to treat at the hospital.

The bill for treatment, whether in the home or at the doctor's office, was always, to my knowledge, reasonable.  It was often paid by my parents, but I'm sure we had some kind of health insurance, as well, and higher cost care was paid by an insurer.  And, with all the treatment that a family of seven needed, I never heard my parents complain about the high cost of health care.

At times when no quick treatment was available, we made do with what we had in the vicinity, or in the medicine cabinet.  For those of you too young to have seen it, a medicine cabinet was that wall mounted or built-in, 3-inch deep, 3-tiered box in most bathrooms, usually with a hinged mirror door, that contained every home remedy known to humankind. There seemed to be a pill or liquid in there for every known malady, plus a few things YOU WERE NEVER TO TOUCH!  They must have been toxic.

Our house was a magnet for the neighborhood kids to play, maybe because we had a side yard with a sunken badminton court cum ice hockey rink in it.  Of course, that was an arena for accidents, as was the side street alongside it where we played baseball, football and other games on the concrete surface.  I can recall my mom fashioning a sling from a Life Magazine, an old tee shirt and a belt to splint a broken arm.  She was a whiz with homemade aids for all kinds of ailments, too.  Unless there was blood and guts, she could make a temporary fix for it, and often the blood didn't stop her either.

Little did we know that there was a major transformation taking place in health care back in those halcyon days.  It's no secret that sometime between 1965 and 1975, the house call and the unscheduled visit to the doctor became obsolete, replaced by the immediate care clinic and the hospital emergency room for those who couldn't wait. Meanwhile the cost for treatment also rose faster than the sun on a clear summer day.  You may ask, "Why?"  Was it the greedy insurance companies?  Was it the high cost of modern technology?  Was it the greed of the health care providers?  Was it due to inflation of wages and prices in general?

We're going to explore just what happened to our medical costs and treatments in the next part in the series, so stay tuned and keep this column handy to review next week.

Emergency Lighting

This is an idea that I borrowed from one of my email buddies.  There was no author shown, and research didn’t turn up any originator either, so I’ll publish it under my byline with apologies if I stepped on someone’s idea.

If you experience a power outage at your house at night, the first thing you do is get out the candles or a flashlight or some other source of light.  If a light source isn’t available then you sit in the dark hoping the lights will come back on soon. And let’s face it; we have become very dependent on lighting in our lives. Even on a dark and stormy day we sometimes depend on indoor lights, so loss of power is a big deal.

Here’s an idea! Use outdoor solar lights inside when the current is off.  You can stick them in a jars or bottles. Then place them on a table or counter to serve as your emergency lighting. When the emergency is over and the power comes back on, just put them back outside to recharge.  If the outage lasts several days, just keep recharging them outside during the day and bring them in at night. They are safer than candles to use and cheaper than batteries. 

 

If you know a storm is coming, the sky is dark and you fear loss of electricity, you can even bring your solar lights inside and charge them with your indoor lights.  That’s right, they don’t really require sunlight to charge but work equally well with incandescent or even fluorescent light as the charging source.

The light can be removed from the post used to stand it in the  ground and will fit into a small water bottle.  They also fit into most of the larger liter bottles.  You need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep it from tipping over. You can put in a few of the pretty "flat marbles" that are made for aquariums and vases.  (You can also use sand, aquarium gravel; whatever you have available.)

There are all types of solar lights available.  I noticed that Target had some on sale for $11 for a set of six that normally cost $30. So I went to Target and found that they also had individual solar mini-lights for $2.  However, after using one of the mini-lights, I determined that they aren’t bright enough to read by. They will allow you to get around without tripping over furniture, but they are more like a night light than a regular wattage light bulb. 
 

My recommendation is that you purchase a solar light about the size of a regular light bulb.  Some are even marked "Bright" on the label, so they are the best choice.  Also, don't figure on using one light per room.  Two or three would be better, and if you plan to read a book or magazine by solar light, you'll need one right up close, no more than a foot or two away.

Solar lights will keep glowing for at least 6 hours if fully charged, plenty of time to take you through an evening outage.  They are great decorative lights that will serve in a storm or other power outage. When not in use as emergency lighting the solar lights make nice sidewalk or driveway lights, so they never go to waste. They look nice and they do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around the doorways.

Isn’t this a great idea!

A Gathering of Eagles

If you ever go into a stand-alone McDonalds Restaurant – any McDonalds in any town or location will do – between the hours of 6 AM and 9 AM, I can guarantee that you will find a group of old men sitting at a table chatting and having their breakfast. 

Why can I make this claim?  First, because I’ve been one of those guys from time to time. And second, I have some experience with visiting the fast food giant at various times and locations throughout America in the early morning hours. Without fail, there are always that familiar set of elders, usually all males, laughing and sharing the coffee and eats.

I look at McDonalds as the retiree’s water cooler, and I have lots of good memories of my times sitting at the one on Trans-Mountain Boulevard in Northeast El Paso with five or six of my “buddies.” 

When you look back at past times, I guess the campfire was the original meeting place for the elders, but the pot-bellied stove, the barbershop, and other warm and friendly places where men gathered for a confabulation later replaced it.  Eventually, it had to be a McDonald’s Restaurant or some other equally welcoming fast food joint. I think Mickey-Ds got the nod due to its ubiquitousness.

Harking back to that place in El Paso, I want to relate a tale about my meetings there.  I had been partaking of my early breakfast with the boys for several months before I learned an interesting fact; one of them had a famous brother.

The man I knew simply as H. D. (he said it stood for “Heavy Duty” and I never did learn what names went with the initials) started talking about his brother, Ronnie, one morning.  Everyone else at the table knew exactly who he was referring to, but I was the newcomer and, consequently, in the dark.  Eventually, the conversation got around to Ronnie’s movie roles.  My curiosity piqued, I asked about what movies his brother was in.  H. D. responded that the biggest one was Deliverance.

The light went off in my head and I looked at old H. D. again and immediately saw the resemblance to Ronnie Cox.  Well, I was flabbergasted, but I still wasn’t completely convinced that he was related.  Everyone at the table assured me that he was, and to prove it for certain, I got a picture the next morning signed by Ronnie to his brother.

H. D. Cox might have been the most connected with celebrity, but he wasn't the most interesting of the group.  That honor went to another, whose name I've misplaced.  he was the oldest of us, well into his 70s even back then.  His claim to fame was his expertise in repairing anything mechanical or electrical.  If you had an old appliance or tool - almost anything - that had given up the ghost, he could strip it down and make it work again. I think he sold his "fixer-uppers" and lived off the profits.  He was an interesting old guy.

Since I had been one of the old geezers at those morning meets out west, I always try to greet the old-timers at any McDonalds when I walk in the door.  I’ve never joined another group quite like them, and I treasure my memory of those fellows in El Paso.  I do stop in every once in a while at our McDonalds in Grovetown and visit for a few minutes. It’s always a good way to start the day.

Pretty in Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and just in case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of hoopla, and ribbons, and garments, and apparel to remind us.

I've watched the silliness of pink golf clubs and golf balls on PGA pros, pink shoes and towels on NFL players, pink penalty flags in the pockets of the NFL referees—well, that one only lasted a week, since it caused so much confusion on the field—complete pink outfits on PGA golfer Ricky Fowler and even pink products, like 5-Hour Energy.

I won't apologize for making light of this farce.  After all, breast cancer, while a serious problem, is not as pervasive as prostate cancer in men, and which month is it that we herald Prostate Cancer Awareness?  And come to think of it, HOW do we show our support for PCA?  Baby blue golf clubs, NFL apparel, penalty flags, and  on and on?

Why can't we men have our own cause célèbre?  Is it really more important for the ladies to "save the ta-tas" than it is for men to ... (well, let's not get too graphic here)  The fact is, though, that prostate cancer kills about the same number of men as breast cancer kills women, yet breast cancer research and awareness gets four times as much funding as prostate cancer.

Hey, I've got an idea... lets make the prostate cancer awareness symbol a pair of blue walnuts.  After all, they always describe the prostate gland as being, "...about the size of a walnut."  What could be more American male than a pair of blue nuts?

While we're on the subject, why is it that, if breast cancer awareness is so important, the scheduling of mammograms has now been scaled back?  In case you're too busy (or lazy) to click on the link, here is a summary of the changes recommended by the USPSTF, a.k.a. United States Preventive Services Task Force:

• Routine screening of average-risk women should begin at age 50, not age 40.
• Routine screening should end at age 74.
• Women should get screening mammograms every two years instead of annually.
• Breast self-exams have little value, based on findings from several large studies.

That last one is really a bummer, because when it comes to palpating the breast, we guys are always more than happy to volunteer and assist.
 

I cannot leave the subject without one more piece of sarcastic humor.  Here is my favorite cartoon on the mammogram/manogram dilemma...

Okay, all kidding aside, do whatever it takes to get screened periodically for any form of cancer, but especially for these two killers.  Early detection is critical to cure rates.

Variation on a Nursery Rhyme

I want to give credit where credit is due.  The idea you will read about is not wholly mine, but was subtly suggested by my house guests from earlier this year.  whether intentional or not, they put this thought in my head, and I believe it is a good one.

After our guests had left for home, I discovered that there were pennies on the floor in both bedrooms.  Was that merely an accident?  Did the penny drop out of a pocket when pants were being hung up for the night?  Or was it a purposeful gesture?

I guess we all know the old nursery rhyme that goes:

See a penny, pick it up

And all day you'll have good luck.

See a penny, let it lay,

Bad luck you'll have all the day.

There are variations on the poem, and some even say that the original rhyme referred to a 'pin' instead of a penny.  Also, some people say the superstition involved goes a step further and includes an admonition that:

If the penny faces north,

Then your luck will have some worth.

But if its face is heading south,

Then your luck will be in drouth.

In other words, if the penny is heads up, your luck will be good, but if it's tails up, you're in for some bad luck instead. (Look up the definition of 'drouth' in case you think that was a misprint)  In reference to the second verse, you've probably heard the old proverb, "It turns up like a bad penny."  That is also a reference to the bad luck associated with a penny found with the head facing up.

I mention the variations only to acquaint you with them, but the first printed rhyme above is the one I subscribe to, if there is any esoteric significance in picking up a penny.  I always do pick them up, and on more than one occasion I've found the proverb to be true. I don't look first to see which side is up, either.

The discovery of the pennies in each of the bedrooms gave me an inspiration.  As you all know, my wife and I are road trippers.  We travel at least four times a year, and most of that travel involves overnight stays at hotels.  Our hotel stays number about 30 per year, and we always leave a gratuity for the maids who will clean and straighten our room.

My thought is that, if the room was in satisfactory condition when we checked in, or if it was even more than we expected—yes, that happens from time to time—in addition to the tip we leave on the desk, I will purposely drop a penny on the floor somewhere in the room. I think you get the idea, don't you?  Why not give the maid a share of the 'good luck' that comes from the find?

Now, just in case the maid believes in that other part of the blessing/curse, I will always leave the penny heads up so that there is no doubt which way I want things to go.

I believe I've discovered a new way to enhance my gratuities, don't you?

Useless E-mail Traffic

I receive at least one message per day that I consider to be an “urban legend.”  That is, they are so fantastic that you just have to question the validity of the text. 

Whenever I do get one of the urban legends, I check it out on either the Snopes website, www.snopes.com, or the second, Truth or Fiction, at www.truthorfiction.com.  Both of these are excellent resources. If the urban legend is political in nature, I also go to www.factcheck.org for verification.

I find that a huge percentage of the alerts, warnings and such are false, and many of them are also so misleading that they would cause more harm than good. 

A recent offering that I got concerned a nurse’s recounting her experiencing a heart attack.  It turned out that that one was true, although somewhere along the line someone had added a falsehood to the story.  If you care to read the message, with corrections, go to the Internet and type in: http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/heartattack.asp.

I rarely forward any of the e-mails that request me to “...forward to at least (insert a #) people...” whether or not there is a threat of bad luck or promise of some reward or good luck.  Let’s face it, they clutter the “In Box” and usually are more harmful than helpful.

As a matter of fact, I also get messages from Kim Komando every day. (If you don’t know who she is, you must not listen to your radio on Saturday mornings)  Although Kim is very helpful to computer geeks, her messages and the accompanying ads can be overwhelming.  I’m considering the action to unsubscribe to her newsletters.

There are still three political organizations that send me e-mails, and they are always accompanied by ads, too.  You know, it is disgusting that my first and my last act of the day is to sit at my PC and read all of my e-mail messages.  I spend no less than three hours of every day sitting at the desk reading messages and deciding what to do, save, forward, delete, or try to unsubscribe—a process that often is useless and doesn't work.

Folks, I’ve become a slave to my computer.  It doesn’t pay me to do this, but it seems to force me to return periodically to clean out all the trash.

With the latest round of legislation and court rulings coming out of Washington, it could be possible to label any slight of our leaders as a crime.  We still don’t know anything for certain about the couple occupying the White House, but even speculation could be treated as an indictable offense.

Am I paranoid?  Maybe I am, but the other side was just as paranoid during the eight years under President George W Bush.  If they can have their black helicopters, so can we.

Here is what I propose we do.  Since most of you are on the same page as I am, let’s make a resolution to stop forwarding political or religious email messages to those people whom we know are on our side. 

I already try to avoid sending messages to those of you who I absolutely know are card-carrying Democrats or professed liberals, (er, uh, progressives) and will be offended.  You are most likely doing that too for your conservative (er, uh, whacko) friends. 

So we are already excluding those whom we feel do not want to learn the truth as we see it.  The only people we continually send our “message’ to are those who already agree with it.  The question is “Why?”  We aren’t converting anyone, and we see the exact same message 10-20 times.

Stopping the political and religious message traffic would have the added benefit of cutting down on all message traffic, because a huge amount of it falls into that category.  Now, even if you can’t control yourself enough to cease and desist, at least consider this before you send it on: 

1.     Have you seen it, or something similar previously?

2.     Does the message seem current and relevant?

3.     Can you verify the factual content?

4.     Is it really worth sending?

5.     Will the message make a difference to the recipient?

If it doesn't pass all five of those tests, don't forward it. It's just that simple. Maybe I can spend more time reading a good book, or writing more of my scintillating columns.  You'll welcome the extra time, as well.

Star Gazers Hill

I have a new word for you:

Pareidolia pærɨˈdoʊliə/ parr-i-DOH-lee-ə - a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds or geological formations and hearing hidden messages on recordings when played in reverse.

Well now, how does that apply to this week's column?  It applies to yours truly and to an experience I had on one of our journeys to the Southwest.  (Some of you have probably already seen what I'm about to show you, so you're excused if you care to skip this week.)

While at Valley of Fire State Park, a wonderful, if remote, park northeast of Las Vegas, I discovered a rock formation, which I (unofficially) named, Star Gazer Hill. I tried to get the park rangers to recognize the name officially, but they declined.  I guess they have enough named formations in the park and didn’t need another one.  Anyway, in case you missed it in an earlier email I sent out, here is a picture of Star Gazer Hill, which has at least ten rock faces gazing skyward, maybe even more. Of course, you have to practice some of that pareidolia magic to see the faces, but I'll give you some help with that shortly. 

The rock formations in the park all beg some imagination to bring out their features, and this one is no exception.  Besides the obvious ones, balanced rock, beehives, and white domes, there are also numerous ancient and modern petroglyphs to explore. 

Okay, have you tried to find the faces in the rock?  If you didn't see them all, here is a closer copy of the photo with the faces circled.  If you still don't see them, you must lack the pareidolia gene. (My joke, there ain't no such gene)  The numbers enclosed in the circles on the left indicate the number of faces in the circle.  The circle with five in it includes my favorite, which I call 'Hitchcock.'

Some people I've shown this to have found even more than I did, so the field is still open.  (Hint: you can enlarge the picture by using your scroll wheel on the mouse or by depressing ctrl and + keys together. If you have a touch screen, you know how to zoom)

If you're ever in Las Vegas with some free time on your hands for sight seeing, there are motor tours to Valley of Fire State Park, though I can't point you to who operates them.  I don't go to Vegas myself as I don't care to gamble, but I'll wager your hotel desk clerk or concierge can set you up with the operator.

Coincidence in 2010

For those of you who are new to my columns, this will be your first time to read this one. Those who have been along for the ride longer will recall that I published it over three years ago, but it is worth retelling the tale...

Co-in-ci-dence (kō in΄sә dans)  n. 1 a coinciding  2 an accidental, but seemingly planned, occurrence of events, ideas, etc. at the same time

I know you’ve heard the expression, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”  Well, I have a story to relate about just how appropriate that expression was to me last week. 

Call it a miracle, or a coincidence, or lack of coincidence–the meaning of that word will become clearer shortly–but I escaped what could have been a life-ending event on March 12, 2010. 

I had just that day heard about the falling rock that killed a woman in a 2004 Buick near Steamboat Springs, Colorado two days earlier.  It was one of those freak accidents that has probably a one-in-a-million chance of happening, but in this case it did. A small boulder fell from the face of a cliff and went through the roof of the car traveling over the road below, killing the woman passenger.

In case you don't want to read the article I linked to above, I'll tell you something else about it.  It was a coincidence that the car was even on that road.  It was traveling a temporary detour from the main route of travel, caused by a rockslide on I-70 in Glenwood Canyon.  But, I digress...

At about noon on Friday, I was traveling eastbound on I-20 near Aiken, SC.  I had my cruise control on and was barreling along at 70 mph.  There is a stand of pine trees in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes, so you don’t even see the traffic going the other way. 

About 200 yards ahead of me a wheel, most likely from a truck on the westbound side, came out of those pines up ahead.  No, it wasn’t a tire; it was the whole wheel with a tire mounted on it.  Needless to say, it looked HUGE.

The wheel rolled down the embankment onto the pavement, and when it reached the concrete it started bouncing.  It bounced straight up about 10 feet and back down in the lane right ahead of where I was driving. 

When a tire, or any disk-like object starts bouncing, it is possible for it to come down sideways at an angle.  From that first bounce, it is unpredictable what the tire will do and which direction it will roll.  This one landed straight up and then continued its roll and disappeared into the forest on the right-hand side of the road.

The whole thing took place in the space of about 10 seconds.  I figured out later that I had missed being in the path of that bouncing wheel.  I didn’t even have time to react. I just watched incredulously as it crossed in front of me.

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that I would have suffered the same fate as that poor woman in Colorado, and you would have been reading or hearing about me in the news media.

Yes, the word coincidence really did play a part in my story.  Had my car and that wheel arrived at the same spot at the same time, I would have been history, but the incidence was a few seconds apart and I’m here to tell the story.

Do I believe in miracles?  Well, not really, but that was the closest thing to a miracle I’ve seen in my lifetime. It took about five minutes for the shock to set in, and then my mind started replaying the whole sequence of events.

Whew!!!  Somebody or something was sure looking out for me that day.

How Mercury Retrograde Affected Our Politics

            I visited an old friend in Kansas City recently, and while we were chatting about a lot of different topics, we got around to politics and how dirty they have become.  Bill, who is a dyed-in-the-wool, card carrying Democrat, said he thought that our politics all changed when the Supreme Court "gave" George W Bush the election in 2000.

            Well, I respect Bill, and he has at least ten years on me, so I cannot pull seniority on him.  I shut my mouth and swallowed my response, but it was a game changer for the rest of our conversation.      

            We were under a full moon at the time.  It got me thinking about all the troubles we have when the moon is full.  Oh, you don’t believe all that astrology stuff?  Well, I can positively state that there is a very good reason for all the superstition surrounding the full moon.  In my many years in the airline industry, there were always strange happenings when the moon was full. 

            My airline, American, even had a reference page in the computer titled simply “Moons” where all the dates of full moons were listed.  It was common knowledge among ground service people, pilots and flight attendants that when the moon was full there were bound to be some odd things happening.  Customers were more apt to complain, delays were more prominent, baggage was more likely to get misrouted or lost and communications were less reliable, mainly in the form of computer outages. 

            When I worked at the ticket counter—we actually had a staff of people at the counter in those days instead of those machines you encounter nowadays—we always knew that a full moon was imminent, even if it wasn’t visible due to cloud cover.  The behavior of some of our passengers was weird during those times, especially those who were “white knuckle flyers.”  Customers were more demanding and argumentative.  Voices were raised in situations where people normally would be rational and patient.  And there were always problems with reservations being dropped or cancelled for no apparent reason. 

            In that same AA informational page labeled “Moons” there is also reference to another event that seems to screw up communication and travel.  The reference is to times when the planet Mercury is Retrograde.  Three times a year Mercury appears to be moving backwards for periods of about two weeks.  When the planet appears to go forward again, it is said to be Mercury Direct.  It has to do with the fact that the Mercurial year—its trip around the Sun—is 88 days long, while ours is 365 days.  All of the planets exhibit the retrograde effect, but only Mercury does it that often.  Think of two trains on parallel tracks going in the same direction at different speeds.  As the faster train passes the slower one, the slower train appears to be going backwards with respect to the faster one.  Well, that is what the planetary retrograde effect is.  When Mercury is Retrograde it has an effect on activity here on the Earth similar to that of a full moon, or even worse. 

            I didn’t give you this astronomy/astrology lesson for nothing.  While I was doing my research for the column I came across a Web site that gave me a whole new outlook on what went wrong in the Presidential Election of 2000.  We all know there are dozens of theories out there, but this one could be the grand prizewinner.  The real problem with the 2000 election was that we had Mercury retrograde and it was exactly at the end of its cycle (the worst time) on November 7, 2000.  In other words, the election outcome was in the stars—or in this case, the planets.

  

Here is the page I found on the phenomenon.  Note that it hasn’t been updated since it was written on November 9, 2000, but it was pretty accurate in its prediction even then.  You have to agree that it seems to be pretty logical, at least as much so as some of those conspiracy theories we heard—and continue to hear thirteen years later— on both sides.  And if you cannot find some humor in what you are about to read then you are hopelessly lost and really need to “get a life.”  However, it isn’t my fault if it makes you angry; blame it on a full moon Mercury Retrograde . 

 

ELECTION DAY 2000--YES, MERCURY WAS RETROGRADE!

by Rose Murray

(Nov. 9, 2000)A member of the media phoned me today to ask if I thought that the phenomena of Mercury Retrograde on Election Day 2000 contributed to the ballot confusion, the premature media announcements and retractions, and all the recounts that ensued. He was working on a news story that examined that question.

Well, it all couldn't sound more like Mercury Retrograde. Here's why.

                        The planet Mercury moves in apparent retrograde (or backward) motion for a period of several weeks about three times each year. During these periods, Mercury, known as the "messenger of the gods" in classical mythology, often delivers mixed-up messages.

Because Mercury is temporarily moving backward in its orbit (seen from the Earth's perspective), its retrograde influence often spells confusion and the necessity for repeating things a second time. Glitches seem to develop in all types of communication and transportation. Many people don't start a project under Mercury Retrograde, not if they want it to run smoothly.

Well, Mercury turned retrograde on October 18, 2000, at 15 degrees of Scorpio. It slowed way down (making its influence even stronger) to turn direct at 29 degrees of Libra on Nov. 7, 2000--Election Day-- U.S.A.

The actual shift occurred at 9:20 p.m. EST, 6:20 p.m. PST. The events of that day and those that ensued were typical of retrograde Mercury at its worst. People made mistakes. Both the media and the candidates announced and retracted, announced and retracted. Ballots were said to be confusing. The vote from the state of Florida had to be recounted. Citizens from Palm Beach County encountered confusing ballots, many of which were punched twice and had to be rejected.

Anyone with planets at the sensitive points in the zodiac where Mercury made its station retrograde--15 degrees of Scorpio--and the degree where it made its station direct--29 degrees of Libra--would have been particularly affected. But countries, states and cities also have horoscopes, as I pointed out in my book, Moving to Success: The Astrology of Location, (Llewellyn, 1999). Their charts are usually based on their incorporation or founding dates.

Well, guess what! When I looked up the horoscope of West Palm Beach, Florida, I discovered why all eyes were on that city that day. No wonder they were demanding a recount because of a confusing ballot and numerous other problems. Mercury made its backward trip right over almost half of their planets. It went retrograde on the planet Uranus in their chart at 15 Scorpio, promising many reversals and surprises ahead. It continued back over the community's Sun and Venus, and ended up directly on West Palm Beach's Saturn. Saturn in its chart, symbolic of restrictions and hardships, is at 29 Libra-- the very degree of the very sign where Mercury sat on Election Day--2000.

How long will all this last before we know whom our new President will be? Well, the Mercury retrograde period is not really over until Mercury goes forward to 15 degrees Scorpio, where it went retrograde. That will be around November 23/24, 2000, on the Thanksgiving Holidays. Hopefully, the confusion, recounts, and inclusion of absentee ballots may begin to be finalized by then, and we'll all have something to be thankful for. 

            I'll let you draw your own conclusions, but I cannot close out the column without also letting you read the poem I wrote shortly after the recounts—three in all—were finally stopped by order of the SCOTUS.  You might not recognize all the players after all these years, but I did try to include every one of them. You may also notice that the poem is written in the meter of a famous poem that is recited at that same time of year, "The Visit From St Nicholas."  That was intentional.

           

                  Ode to Election 2000

©2000 By Harold Kline

T’was the night of election and all through the nation

The voters were gathered with an air of elation.

We had all cast our ballots for the ones we held dear

In hopes that the end of campaign ads was near…

When Decision 2000 was over and done.

We thought that we knew who had lost and who won.

The popular vote belonged to Al Gore

But maybe Bush won, we don’t know anymore.

The early returns down in Florida made

Mr. Gore pure grade O.J., and Bush Gatorade.

But Dan Rather called early and had to use tact.

He did a 180 and called a retract.

Then Gore's team saw victory within their reach

If only they spread some dissent in Palm Beach.

So they called up their voters to sow seeds of doubt.

Soon old fogies called Wexler to scream and to shout.

The Seniors for Gore thought that all of their plannin'

Might have been sabotaged, they had picked Pat Buchanan.

Or their chads might have dimpled or hung by a thread.

They cried, "We don't want Pat, we'd rather be dead!"

It was close, so the votes were then counted once more,

But still there were not quite enough to please Gore.

Jesse Jackson, Christopher and Bill Daley joined forces

As the Democrats sent in their major league horses.

Up Baker and Racicot to scare them away,

On Daschle and Gephardt to help save the day.

When, what to our wondering eyes should appear

But Bob Dole. (dysfunctional loser, we hear)

Then the lawyers got started, an offense to mount,

And the hue and cry was to start a hand count.

Soon the courts got involved and the cases grew rife

While the nation was watching the candidates strife.

The counts were made legal with Kate Harris's approval,

Though some people were calling for her swift removal.

The State Supreme Court tried to keep the race open,

Which, of course, kept the folks down in Palm Beach a'hopin'.

The nine Supreme Judges then joined in the fray,

Overruled everyone, took their ballots away.

Said to keep counting votes would be likened to sin,

That Bush won three times, Gore should throw the towel in.

The Dems are dejected ‘cause Bush was “selected”.

Repubs back the College, claim that’s who they follege.

(Ha!  I slipped some Ogden Nash in there.)

Now half say that Gore won, and half say, "No, Bush!"

But no matter who's right there will be a big push

To get Sunshine State punch ballots off the table

Or make it a colony, if we are able.