Mental Illness and Viruses

There is an interesting article in yesterday's Wall St. Journal (registration required) That outlines a fascinating link being researched between various viruses and a span of mental illnesses.

A growing number of studies are testing theories that viruses and other infectious agents may underlie some cases of psychiatric illnesses. The theory is that viruses and bacteria assaulting the immune system could also end up affecting the brain in such disorders as autism, depression and eating disorders.

One study,"documented the sudden onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder or Tourette's syndrome in some children who got strep throat." It is amazing how we continue to learn about ourselves and what mysteries are still out there. Even when we, as human beings, think we know everything.

Which One Is The Parent?

That's a question the Progeny raises every time he sees some child screaming "I want, I want..." and getting the object of their desire. A perfect case in point that reminded me of that line of his when I read the following story regarding the 10th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ponder that whole idea. Who organized it? Did they accept credit cards? What would they have done if they had caught a shoplifter? Anyway, here's the pertinent part that relates to the Progeny's quote:

"Resistance to authority," said Mike Travers, who was there with his 5-year-old son, Sam. He came, he said, to check out the state of anarchist theory.

"I thought of myself as an anarchist 20 years ago," said Travers, 47. "Anarchism is great as an attitude. I lost faith that you could run the world according to anarchists' principles."

He sighed: "It's hard being an anarchist parent," he said, "because as a parent you have to be the authority figure."

Sounds like someone has issues with becoming responsible for their actions at age 47. Is there such a thing a a 529 Plan for future mental health needs? The kid may be needing it after dealing with a moonbat "parent" like that.

"I Don't Think He Works Here."

I decided on Saturday to replace my ten-year-old adidas Stan Smith's. My beloved, and very comfortable, Stan Smith's.
So after working out on Saturday, I headed off to a athletic shoe store. As I walked in the front door, I was greeted by a young lady who appeared to be 17 or so.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you might carry Stan Smith's?"

"I don't think he works here."

With that, a manager, who was within earshot, immediately spoke up and informed me they didn't carry the "Classic" model, but rather only the "Millennium." Pish!

Oh well, I did get a good laugh and later was able to purchase the shoes at another store. An enjoyable afternoon of shopping and learning how little some people in a specialty store know about their own products. And I am considering the admonition, "When you find a pair of shoes you like, buy two pair." That may be wise advice regarding Stan Smith's.

Staying Busy

I have had the unmentionable, but all too common, Wisconsin problem of bats in my home's attic and walls. I have paid a pest control company to fix the problem and that lasted all of one year. I now use a air horn whenever I go into the basement and intentionally leave the basement lights on to deter their finding the place cozy. When we had the exterior of the home painted two years ago, I asked the painter to fill any holes or gaps that he might find. Still, I can hear them crawling in the walls. And, yes, it is disconcerting and creepy for me.

While using one of the few dry, relatively warm days so far this year, I got out the ladder and went up to make sure the gutters were clean. Up on the ladder, I noticed two gaps at corners of the roof that had obviously been missed by the painters and the pest control people. Pish! I went to the hardware store(yes, open on Easter) and bought steel wool and expanding foam insulation. Back up the ladder and I piped a ton on the sealer into both gaps. The stuff is very sticky, so I drew out some of the steel wool and at the exposed opening I stuffed it into the foam. Nothing was going to getting in or out of those gaps anymore nor was anything going to chew through steel wool.

And for good measure, I went around the house looking for any other gaps. They got zapped too.

I informed the Espousa, if there was ever a night that bats were going to be flying inside the house last night was the night. This morning we awoke to ... nothing. Hopefully, the bats were out flying around when I was working, so maybe I got lucky. Time will tell.

Here It Comes

From an article in yesterday's Wall St. Journal:

Clear Channel Communications Inc. plans to start "podcasting " clips from its radio shows and hosting exclusive live online concerts to draw more traffic to its radio Web sites.

The radio giant, which owns 1,200 stations around the country, hopes to build listener relationships with local stations through the move, and increase advertising revenue by selling online spots that will run with the concert or podcast .

Podcasts are shows that listeners can download and listen to on their computers or digital players. The concept, which started with small online broadcasters, has been adopted by some public radio stations, but isn't widely used by commercial stations.

This is what I've been waiting for. First, comes internet radio so I can hear stations in locales in which I am interested. Now, this will enable me to save shows and hear them on my own schedule. Yippee! Clear Channel is getting it!

"Make the World Go Away..."

From a Fortune magazine article by David Kirkpatrick:

We're living in a device-centric age. Technology may not yet fully define us, but it increasingly defines how we behave and spend our time. In New York City, I notice that subway riders are quieter than they once were. More and more, I see little white earphone wires emerging from their hats and hair--the telltale sign that they're listening to iPods. Sometimes I'd estimate that as many as 25% of all the commuters either in the cars or on the platforms are listening to music, an audio book, or a Podcast. And in the Tokyo subway, I'm told, silence descends when the doors close. Almost all the commuters in that city pull out cellphones or other electronic devices and peck at their miniature keyboards, sending messages or playing games.

I notice a similar phenomenon at the Y. It is unusual to actually see people talking there. Headphones are in and focused on what they are doing. And yes, I'm as guilty as anyone.

And the title is from a great Country & Western ("We have both kinds." Extra points for naming the film in which THAT line appears and references C&W music.) song written by Hank Cochran, as performed by Eddie Arnold. It also contains one of the best sincere, tearjerker lines from a C&W song, "Say the things we used to say, and make the world, make it go away."

My Fast Food Lunches

Three quick observations from different local fast food establishments I have visited in the last week.

1) All of the employees in one restaurant were either Hispanic adults (with very little English language skills) or very scruffy-looking adults who appeared to be on some form of work release or mentally handicapped individuals. I did not see a single individual that could be described as a high school kid, either white, black or Hispanic, working. Where do all the high school kids work? Best Buy? Or do they even have jobs?

2) A Mexican fast food business in which you order your meal to be made in front of you as you go down a line was interesting. The choices of meat in your dish were pork, chicken, shredded beef and ground "sirloin." The Hispanic employee asked what I wanted and I replied, "Ground beef." "Chicken, pork, sirloin?," was the response. I repeated, "Ground beef." She finally was pointing at each bin and asking again. I then realized that she had apparently learned just enough English to ask for the ingredients in front of her that were listed on the menu and I wasn't saying one of them. I responded again, but saying "ground sirloin." To which she smiled and nodded her head and we proceeded with the rest of the order. This time with me being very specific.

3) I went to a chicken restaurant and noticed a special for $4.49. I ordered the special and the clerk couldn't figure out how to ring it up because it wasn't listed on the register. He asked for help from a supervisor who came to the register. I told him I wanted the specific special and he rang it up. He announced the total as $5.27. Just FYI, that's about 80 cts. in tax. I told him there must be an error because Madison has about a 5% sales tax and on $4 that would be 20 cts. "I don't know nothin' about that. The machine says it's $5.27." He even volunteered to turn the register to show me the display, I assume in an effort to prove he wasn't pocketing the money or simply overcharging me. I told him it was wrong. I did notice from the display that he had rung the sale up as $4.99. I told him that was incorrect and the price should be $4.49. "No, it's $4.99." I then turned, took a couple steps back, picked up the sign displaying the special and showed it to him. "Oh." My bill came to $4.79. Remember the last person with which I was dealing was the supervisor.

Just When You Thought You've Seen It All

Watch the video linked here.

Be sure and turn your sound on.

Can You Help Me With My Homework?

From the NY Daily News:

A Bronx teacher who repeatedly flunked his state certification exam paid a formerly homeless man with a developmental disorder $2 to take the test for him, authorities said yesterday.

The illegal stand-in - who looks nothing like teacher Wayne Brightly - not only passed the high-stakes test, he scored so much better than the teacher had previously that the state knew something was wrong, officials said.

At least, he wasn't having sex with his students.

Schiavo Column

Here is a column from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran. I'm including it in its entirety because it's that good. Having been personally through this situation to a much lesser extent, the issue really hits home for me.

By the time you read this, it's entirely possible, if not likely, that Terri Schiavo will have been dehydrated to death.

If so, it becomes urgent to remember the nature of her death.

The case's dreary particulars seemingly are known to all: A woman, stricken young, has lived for 15 years under constant care. Her husband wants to put an end to it; her parents do not. Lawyers wrangle endlessly.

If hard cases make bad law, this case's details can serve as antidote.

One detail: Schiavo began this week brain-damaged but not brain-dead. She was not comatose; she was not unconscious. Her parents and some of her caregivers contend she shows emotion and responds to voices. Her husband and doctors say her brain is withered and she can feel no pain, but even her doctors aren't unanimous.
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Another detail: Such death is slow. Experts have opined that dehydration won't hurt, not once kidney failure leads to coma. But experts aren't unanimous.

Enlightening is the story of Kate Adamson, a woman whose feeding tube was pulled while she was in a persistent vegetative state in 1995. She recovered to tell of the agonizing hunger and fear. (Read more at www.weeklystandard.com)

Bear in mind, too, that Schiavo's case is not hopeless. Her prospects are dim, but her parents say experts have told them therapy could help.

If we learn anything from two cases this past winter - Sarah Scantlin, a Kansas woman recovering after 20 years in a persistent vegetative state, and Jeanna Giese, the Fond du Lac teen whose recovery from rabies was thought impossible - is that hope cannot be discarded.

Jeanna's father, John, said exactly that about the Schiavo case on a Milwaukee radio talk show Tuesday. (Hear a replay at http://www.620wtmj.com/620programs/charliesykes/weblog.asp)

Nor was Schiavo on life support. She was breathing on her own; her heart was pumping unassisted. She lacked, however, the ability to swallow and so was fed through a tube.

I wouldn't choose to eat through a tube. I would not wish to be confined to a bed.

That's not to say I'd rather be dead. The question is not how pathetic Schiavo's condition is but rather what are her options? The one the court and her husband have imposed on her is to die by slow starvation and dehydration.

Imposed: That's a key detail. This is not a right-to-die case. It is a right-to-kill case. Schiavo was not dying, any more than your average infant could be said to be dying by his inability to feed himself.

No one knows what Schiavo would have wished. Had she left any kind of advanced directive in writing, this wouldn't be a public issue.

As it is, her husband says she didn't want to be kept alive artificially, but her parents dispute this. While their view may be skewed by grief, his view might be skewed by his new girlfriend with whom he's had two children and by the money he must pay out of a malpractice award to fund Schiavo's care.

Plainly, Michael Schiavo's interests are conflicted. It is unreasonable to presume, in the face of family contradiction, that he can fairly choose death on his wife's behalf.

These details add up - to a crisis for Terri Schiavo, to a warning for the rest of us.

Death is becoming the default answer to long-term suffering, at least for some judges, lawmakers and opinion-makers. Schiavo, it bears repeating, left no written instructions on being euthanized, and her wishes are unknown. The presumption in a family dispute, then, would be toward life - only now we see that a succession of judges and a frightening swath of Congress presume instead: Better dead than disabled.

We are also on warning about the tendentious nonsense that will be used to justify killing inconvenient people who can't gainsay the decision.

The Washington Post's Richard Cohen in a column Tuesday ("When politics gets in the way of a tragic family matter") called any intervention to save Schiavo an intrusion. Well, yes, as stopping child abuse is an intrusion. It is her family itself that appealed to lawmakers.

Worse is the third-rate slander that intervention is simply political opportunism. This rot is peddled just as we are told that most Americans want Schiavo to starve to death - in what possible way is it opportunism to do the opposite of what most people tell pollsters?

The only reasonable conclusion is that those seeking to save Schiavo's life are acting from conviction. Yet we are thus warned: Noble motives won't save you from opprobrium if you stand against the presumption toward death.

So be warned. Schiavo's life is being taken without her consent, being taken by the law in a way so cruel its imposition on a prisoner would be considered an atrocity.

As Americans age and medicine increasingly staves off what were once certain deaths, more people will be alive under conditions few would envy. Be warned that you might find yourself regarded as better off dead - and the Schiavo case may make it easier for others to make that decision for you against your will.

Here's a Statistic For You

From an online article at MSNBC - Can Catholic elementary schools survive?: "The challenge facing Catholic elementary schools can be reduced to one stunning fact: There are more nuns over 90 years old than under 50 years old."

The article goes on to address the number of Catholic elementary schools that are closing for a variety of reasons including a lack of the "free" labor pool of nuns.

One More Reason To Go To The Y

Reporting in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Wang's team analyzed data collected from more than 27,000 men tracked for more than 13 years as part of the Harvard Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

They found that men with larger waists or higher BMI were both at greater risk for type 2 diabetes than slimmer men.

Compared to men with the smallest waists (29 to 34 inches), those with waists of 34.3 to 35.9 inches, 36 to 37.8 inches, 37.9 to 39.8 inches, and 40 to 62 inches were two, three, five and 12 times more likely, respectively, to develop diabetes.

Based on these findings, the currently recommended waistline of 40 inches or below for men may need to be lowered, the study authors suggested.

I don't know that I'll ever be back in the 29 to 34 range, but I'm back in the relatively safe zone and intend to remain there.

Something I Was Wondering About Myself...

Twelve Questions for Michael Schiavo by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express, International Disability Rights News Service (October 23, 2004).

1. Why has [Michael] refused several recommendations for Terri’s continued therapies?

In April of 1991, about a year after her collapse, therapists at Bradenton Mediplex Rehabilitation Center determined that Terri’s condition was improving and recommended Michael have her transferred to Gainesville Rehabilitation Center to receive advanced therapy so she could continue her recovery.

But by July, Michael had instead moved her to Sable Palms Nursing Home, with no such therapy.

Later, he refused to allow therapies that her parents believed might have allowed her to swallow, so she would not have to rely on a feeding
tube.

2. Why did he not mention his wife’s wishes during one of two malpractice cases?

In late 1992, one of Terri’s doctors settled a malpractice suit out of court for $250,000. The following January, a Pinellas jury awarded about $1.4 to Terri and $600,000 to Michael in a suit filed because her gynecologist failed to ask about her medical history while treating her.

Michael had asked the jury to grant $20 million to pay for Terri’s future medical and neurological requirements, based on her life expectancy, which he and his attorneys estimated at 51 years. Michael also told the court he wanted to become a nurse so he could help his wife for as long as she lived.

His attorney told the court about Terri: “She can’t respond much but she can respond, and she does respond a little bit, not much. But enough to give him hope.“ (emphasis added, with the query, “Hope for what? A bigger payout from the insurance companies?")
The following month, February 1993, Terri’s parents had a ‘falling out’ with their son-in-law, because, they claim, he refused the therapies that professionals had recommended.

3. If Michael expected Terri to live to at least age 51, why did he order her caregivers not to treat her for a potentially life-threatening infection in August of 1993, and another in late 1995?

4. Why did he invoke a “do not resuscitate” order just a few months after the jury award?

5. Why, in 1997, did he announce his engagement to another woman, while still married to Terri?

6. Why, also in 1997, did he hire George Felos, an attorney with a reputation for fighting “right to die” cases, to represent him?

7. Why did he petition the court, also in 1997, to have Terri’s feeding tube removed so she would starve and dehydrate to death.

8. Why did several nursing home workers swear that Terri’s demeanor changed after he was in the room with her?

9. Why did nursing home workers swear that he at times stormed into the facility asking when “that b**ch” would die?

10. Why did he have Terri, who does not have a terminal illness, moved to a hospice in 2000, even though hospices are designed for people who are expected to die within six months? According to his earlier calculations, she still had at least 15 more years left to live.

11. Why won’t he allow Terri’s parents and siblings to take over her guardianship?

12. Why did Michael not allow Terri, a Catholic, the holy sacraments of Communion and last rites when her feeding tube was removed last October?

What's the Over/Under

From the Wall Street Journal:

The new Airbus A380 jetliner is so enormous that it will take almost one hour for its maximum load of 853 passengers to board. In an emergency, those same people must be able to escape within 90 seconds.

Not from the way I've seen people depart an aircraft.

I Have Been Remiss

The Progeny was home last week and I traveled to the Cities to collect him and fell exhausted upon my return. While he was with me, I focused on him and specifically stayed away from the 'puter to talk with him. With last weekend's snowstorm and the accompanying anxiety of returning him to school, I remained quiet in my posts.

Well, I'm back.

Spring Break

We are off this morning to collect the Progeny from the Twin Cities and bring him home for Spring Break. His stated intention is to sleep. We will afford him all opportunities to fulfill his wishes.

We anticipate doing what as come to be known in our household as an "up and back." That is a one day, eight hour round trip. Pish. I can tell you who will be doing the driving today.

My one chance to stretch this into maybe a two day affair is if I can get the Espousa to go to that sexist, anti-woman home retailer Ikea.

Speaker Showcase

One of the drudgery bits of my job is trying to find speakers for the various conventions and seminars my employer puts on. Most of the presentations at the smaller shows are done by your correspondent, but for the larger ones I need others. There are literally thousands upon thousands of professional speakers out there ranging from Bill Clinton to the local dog catcher (you may score that spread as you wish depends upon your own sensibilities). The majority of these speakers use an agent, or in speaker's terms, a bureau.

Speaker's bureaus represent a wide range of talent and just like an agent take care of the "back of the house" details for the speakers, as well as attempt to source jobs for them. One way bureaus try to get jobs for their clients is through what is known as a "Speaker's Showcase. Since most people are not going to hire a speaker sight unseen (or unheard), the m.o. is to get as many speakers in front of decision makers at once to 'showcase" them. This means the speakers appear on stage with about 15 to 20 minutes to do their best stuff, trying to flip a switch with someone in the audience that will lead to a job. That is what I attended yesterday, where I saw about a dozen speakers. The reason I went was not for myself, but rather to take my new office manager to see one and get the need (or desire) to attend one out of her system.

Almost every speaker was what is known as a motivational speaker. Basically, "straighten up and fly right"-type speeches. Micheal Jordan and Thomas Edison were winners, and you can be one too. Any of the speakers could have switched their bits with another and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. By the end of the day, the speakers were saying, "As Susie mentioned in her presentation earlier..." Some of the same inspirational quotes were even used by multiple speakers. I think you get the idea.

Nothing really came of the day. The draw ticket was Rudy Gatlin of the Gatlin Bros. country music group. I have to say I did not recognize a single song he did in his medley. Besides, I was taking phone calls from Board members and my sister all day, so I was up and down, in and out of the room. No big loss for me. The funny part of the day was unintentional on the part of the organizer.

Seated in the back of the room was one of the day's earlier speakers. She would stand as Rudy began each song in his "performance," clapping her hands above her head, dancing in a manner that is described by some as "shaking your moneymaker," and yelling "whoo-whoo" with the best of the Girls Gone Wild crowd. I was seriously expecting the J. C. Penney red suit she was wearing to be lifted at any time. Two points I have missed in describing this scene. There are about 30 people in the room total including the speakers. And the "whoo-whoo" woman was easily on the far side of 65. I was in the rear of the room behind her, having come back into the room from taking a cell phone call from my sister. She had already been up and down at least three times, when Rudy went into another song. Up she went and another woman seated next to her made a comment that I could not hear to which the "whoo-whoo" woman loudly replied, "I don't know any of these songs, I just want to dance." God bless her for her energy, but I haven't seen a performance like that since a Doobie Brothers concert in Tampa Stadium in 1975. The only differences were the size of the crowd, the music being performed, the age of the "whoo-whoo" girl and, at that time, the equivalent of the red suit top did come off.

Sporting Goods Stores

In a story in today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune regarding the 80% drop in forecast sales at sporting goods retailer Gander Mountain is a note about some of their competitor's expansion plans.

Dick's Sporting Goods, which operates 234 stores, plans to add 25 in 2005. Privately held Bass Pro Shops has identified 16 locations where it plans to build stores in the next two years, according to Sporting Goods Business. And Cabela's expects to add seven stores through 2007 that each are 175,000 square feet or bigger, including a new store in Rogers, Minn.

Just FYI, on the Bass Pro Shop front, the store in Springfield, Missouri is the number one tourist attraction in the state! The store outside Atlanta was the #2 tourist site in the state of Georgia! (Number one in Georgia is Stone Mountain Park which draws in excess of five million visitors annually, to put things in perspective.) So the wow! here is they are looking at 16 more Bass Pro Shops. That will put a pinch on their competitors.

DontShootTheProf.com

In regards, to my earlier blog regarding the proposal to allow open season on feral cats in Wisconsin, I've received some feedback. Thankfully, your correspondent hasn't received the response that a UW-Madison professor has. This professor authored a study on game and songbird depredation by feral cats that is being used as the scientific basis for the proposal. According to this morning's Wisconsin State Journal, the prof has received death threats.

The title of the blog is a play on the real dontshootthecat.com website that has sprung up in opposition to the hunting proposal. I'm not making any of this up.

"Hold, Hold.... Rinse"

It's a year old but it's still a howler. The other doc story that I enjoy was the optometrist who required ladies to take their eye exams topless. That guy should have been selling time shares, he would have made a whole lot more money than being an optometrist. But then could he have convinced them they had to be shown the home while topless? And besides, he didn't get to wear a white lab coat.

When the statute of limitations expires, I'll tell my personal doc story and how people literally bow down to anyone in a white lab coat.

Shooting Cats

It's silly season in Wisconsin. No, it's not the budget deficit nor school funding or whatever serious subject you can imagine. It's a proposal for open season on feral cats. Seriously. A proposal before the citizen advisory board to the state Department of Natural Resources would allow anyone with a small game license to shoot feral cats at anytime.

And just in case you think this isn't getting any press. Today it was a front page above the fold headline in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Not putting Wisconsin's best foot forward, so to speak.

I attended a reception this evening that was populated by political types, such as myself. I joked about the subject with a couple of them, asking what their association's position was on the subject. Nervous laughs all around. I mentioned that I was curious to see which legislator would be the first to issue a statement on the topic. My comment was this was the "third rail" and no one would be willing to touch it.

Game Recap

Officially, the home team is saying it is too early to panic about Tom Foolery.

The Florida-born right-hander made his first start for the team, and aside from a perfect first inning, there were problems. The Future Plans team pounded him for six runs on six hits in three innings, including two home runs.

As first spring starts go, it left a lot to be desired, but the key for Tom Foolery was that it was his first spring start.

''Not good,'' Foolery said beside his locker after being pulled from the game. ''My control was not very good today. Today, every pitch was high in the zone. It was my first start. I'm not happy, but it doesn't matter to me.''

Foolery was emphatic when asked if stomach problems may have led to his evening's problems.

''I feel good, I feel fine, that's it,'' he said. ''I need to work with my control, definitely. I don't worry about my speed. My control, it's a worry for me.''

The Future Plans team dominated the entire evening's matchup with Tom Foolery's lackluster performance being only one of the team's problems, as the team's batting performance was easily the worst seen in several years. Perhaps, when the team returns for a home game, Tom Foolery will have better luck. Let's all hope so.

Goin' to Chicago

A buddy of mine is visiting Chicago this weekend to attend a conference put on by an old employer of mine. He suggested I drop down for the evening and Saturday, so I'm headed out this afternoon to see the sights.

This is the same friend with whom I attended the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show a couple years back. His wife was hestitant about letting him go to Vegas alone until he told her that I would be accompanying him. Her response was, " Oh, he'll be a good influence. Maybe he'll take you to a museum while you're out there." When my freind later told me of her response, he cracked, "How did you manage to completely fool her?"

The tomfoolery continues this evening.

Which Came First?

Wisconsin seems to be home to quite a few exotic animal owners who have lost their "pets." In January, a kangaroo was found roaming western Wisconsin and now, a big horn sheep has been spotted. In a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article regarding the big horn is the following little bit of info.

Wild bighorn sheep - noted for their resemblance to the Dodge Ram truck silhouette - like steep cliffs and mountains to help them avoid predators.

Noted for their resemblance to the Dodge Ram truck silhouette? Gee, where do you think the designers of the "Dodge Ram truck silhouette" ever first got the idea and I didn't ever realize the notable item regarding big horn sheep was their resemblance to a truck logo?

Surely, the author must have been absent on the "Which came first?" lecture day in journalism school.

Back to the Gym

I'm starting back at the gym to work out for an hour or so every night from here on out. I started a year ago with the Progeny and then let off last summer due to transportation conflicts.

I'm sure this will give me plenty to write about in the coming months based on what I saw this evening.

Owls and Homeland Security

A great grey owl has been spotted near my home south of Madison. They are native to Canada and rarely even venture as far south as the Twin Cities. What's the big deal? It's that they are HUGE. They get as much as 33 inches tall. That's big bird. Here's a picture from the local paper's article.

The article from which the picture is taken tells about the owl but the focus of the article isn't on the bird, but instead how a group of bird watchers got the interest of the local electric utility and police. This was due to the group hanging around the power substation where the owl was roosting with cameras and binoculars. Interesting how the paper spins this story and minimalizes the naturalist angle.

I drove by the area yesterday afternoon to see if the owl was around and unfortunately, didn't see it. Rats.

"High School is Obsolete."

So said Bill Gates at an education conference this past weekend. In addition, 13 governors signed a compact to raise their states high school graduation rates. In Georgia, where my sister lives, the states ranks 49th in HS graduation rate. How is raising the standard going to improve that graduation rate problem. It sounds to me, as if they are trying to better educate the ones that do graduate and if the non-graduates fall to the wayside, so be it. Incidentally, Georgia has a 67% rate among whites and 48% among blacks. Again, how will raising the standards help kids who don't see the value of graduating now?!