Who you gonna believe?

Both of these observations/articles come from the "Economist" Newpaper, world's best in my opinion:
"Most published research is wrong". Dr. John Ioanndis and his colleaques found that within a few years of publication in the most prestigious(sp?) journals (those that claim to publish only the best scientific work), one third of the papers had been refuted by other studies usually found in less prestigious journals. This was not true of findings published is less prestigious journals. (Economist 11 October, 2008 page 109)

"Placebos work better than morphine". In 1572 Michel de Montaigne, a
French philospher, observed that "there are men on whom the mere sight of medicine is operative". ... Both Dr. Benedetti and Dr. Diederich point to a techinique called hidden dosing that demonstrates the power of the placebo effect. In one study that used this, post-operative patients were given morphine secretly, given morphine with fanfare or given a placebo that was falsely declared to be a powerful pain releiver. ... made the striking observation that telling the patient a painkiller is being injected into him, when the injection is actually a saline solution, is as potent as covertly giving him a 6mg-8mg done of morphine. ... but the covert dose had to be increased to the full 12mg to surpass the effect of the placebo. (There are of course ethics questions) (Economist 1 November 2008 page 93)

Here is some creative wording: When the Church sends used computers out to Family History Centers, they call it "cascading". Not bad, but not as good as "plausible deniability", a term coined by the government to deny the existence of Area 51, the top secret flight test center in the desert NE of Las Vegas. They are reputed to have an alien spaceship and the body of an alien there. The best aerial photos of Area 51 are by the Russians.

Just heard on the TV , "he will be charged with unlawful use of a weapon". This is a contradiction, a catch-22. Isn't a weapon meant to hurt or kill people? How can it be "unlawful".

Grandpathegrump

OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) Quote

Saturday I attended OPBs open house down on Macadam Ave. Got to see a taping of a segment for "Art Beat"; a vocal/instrumental group who does 20s & 30s music. Loved 'em. Will air in the Spring sometime. And got to look around a bit. Saw Jeff Douglas and K.C. Cowen and had a few words with the producer of Oregon Field Guide. Art Beat & Field Guide are my favorite programs. Here is a quote from OBP; "You are not an Oregonian because of where you live. You are an Oregonian because of how you think".
grandpthegrump

The Secret of Life......according to JT

In response and agreement with Dad about the purpose of life, I post this reminder of what REALLY matters in the end by a favorite artist of myself, Jen, Andrea and Courtney. I love you all! You bring life joy!

Seaside! pics of kids at pool

The Purpose of Life.

We Mormons have our views on the purpose of life. Here is another view worth considering. "The purpose of life is to reflect light into dark places. You are not the light, but you can reflect light". This comes from a Greek Prime Minister who as a boy found a piece of a broken mirror from a wrecked Nazi motorcycle. He found that with the mirror he could reflect light into dark places in wrecked war machines and into other dark places. He carried the broken piece of mirror with him all his life. (This comes from one of Robert Fulghum's (sp?) books popular in the eighties, maybe.)
My own thoughts here on how to reflect light? Thru kindness, education, patience, time, empathy, money, assistance, listening and love-and other ways.

The family had a good time at the beach in Seaside over the weekend. Thanks to Andrea and family for visiting. And many thanks for Jenn and Kim who arranged it all. Jenn cooked and cleaned and tended. Kim brought all kinds of stuff so we could roast s'mores on the beach at night, dig in the sand and fly kites during the day and he spent a lot of time taking all the kids outside to play.

Can you believe...only 2 months left

You gotta laugh at this one...since our family seems to fall all over the map politically!

We all gotta laugh at ourselves, and this SNL clip freakin' HILARIOUS!

A Rude, and timely awakening........

I LOVE the mornings when I am not jolted awake by a mechanical alarm; when I can lay my head on my pillow at night with the peaceful thought of letting my body rest until it is ready to face another day. Monday-Thursdays I set my alarm for between 5:30 and 6am, and it is amazing that that last 30 minutes I get on the weekend makes all the difference.

I am, by nature, a morning person. I remember spending the night at friend's houses as a kid, and I was invariably the first one awake in the house, and I'd just lay there bored, wondering how in the world people could sleep that long. Who knows how late (or early) it really was. I didn't pay that much attention to the clock in those days, but I do know that now, I usually pop my eyes open, fully rested at about 7am, give or take 30 minutes. Sometimes I feel frustrated when I wake up at 6:15, and yet it is such a joy to know I can close them again if I want to (on Saturdays and Sunday)...after I let the dogs empty their bladders.

This morning I was woken early by the sound of house painters next door; their metal ladders and rolls of tape flying. Before I could even muster frustration, I felt compassion...and also gratitude. These men are making the rounds in the neighborhood on weekends getting everyone's homes freshly coated before the cold and the rain. The are Hispanic, and seem to only work weekends, which to me, means they probably have a weekday job elsewhere, and are making ends meet by working the other 2 days that the rest of us rest a little more from our paying jobs. I felt respect that they work hard 7 days a week, and I sometimes find myself complaining about working 4-5. I felt compassion for the time they do not get to 'off'. I felt gratitude for being born in this land, and having the means and opportunity to go to college and get a degree that allows me to make ends meet in a 5 day work week. I felt ashamed, that we, as a nation have such inequality in our workforce and payscale; that our teachers and laborers work so hard for so little, while men in suits and white shirts in high rise buildings make decisions that make or break people's pocket books, and pay the less educated to do their dirty work. I am also guilty, to an extent. The lady who has cleaned my house every other week has been on maternity leave for 4 months, and boy have I missed her. Her requested fee was quite a 'deal' when first offered 3 years ago. I raised her a measly $5 a week last year without her asking, but in her absence, my conscience got the best of me, and in checking around at what most people pay, I had to ask myself if it was fair to her, what I had been paying. It was what she asked, but...I feel she is worth so much more. Not only in the good job she does, but she is attempting to raise a family with 2 small children, and she works so much harder than I do at my job, yet I make over twice what she does. And so, I bit the bullet and now pay her what I feel is an honorable wage for cleaning our toilets and scrubbing our floors. I am attempting to look at how I contribute the the inequality in this country and world.

And I am sooooooo dang thankful I don't have to work 7 days a week, and can lay in bed a little longer 2 days a week. So, I ask myself; where am I asleep to the abundance and comfort I enjoy? Where can I show more gratitude and more fairly compensate those who make my life easier? Val

Sophie Pics

Justy for Sale

I feel soooo disloyal selling the humble Justy. But it is for sale. 145k miles. Good tires. Everything works except the radio and shoulder belt. Oil just changed. Full tank of gas. Reliable as the sun. $825 cash or bank check. ($600 to nice young couple like Courtney and Dan, but don't advertise it) Bunga

Treadmill heart stress test

I had a treadmill stress test today at Kaiser cardiology. I did well; no evident heart problems. It seems that it is better than I deserve considering my poor eating and exercise habits. I'm gonna shape up next week. But for now bring on the salt, sugar and grease!

Strange Word

Here is a stange word: creolization. It means (Wikipedia) a geographical concept which focus on the inflow of commodities to a place -- it is the process of seeing how commodities are assigned meanings and uses in receiving cultures. Bet you always wondered what it meant??
I was reading - trying to read -- an overly wordy book on consumerism and it kept surfacing. I thought it came from NOLA; you know, creoles, blacks, and whites.
There is no excuse in my opinion to use such odd words when others might do.
grandpathegrump

NieNie Auction

I don't know how many of you have heard the tragic news about the Nielson family. It's all over the blog world. I am auctioning off a free photo shoot on my blog for the cause. I'd be willing to use this for Jonathan's senior photos (if you happen to want to try this out). Also, let people you know aware of this! Go to my photoblog for details on the event and to bid.