the war, kitties etc.

I can't help but wonder if GW would be so anxious to continue the war in Iraq if he or one of his friends had a son there - maybe even one who was killed there, like two sons of this Iowa community.  I, fortunately for me, can only imagine their pain.  Are there really any people out there, other than bush and Cheney, who still believe the war was justified?

Voodoo [my 16 year old kitty] seems to be doing OK - not losing any more weight and, apparently, responding to the Metranidazol, which is primarily for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  He's off the Viokase, which was for pancreatic insufficiency and isn't showing any symptoms of that problem.  However, one of the 4 kitties is now pooping on the downstairs bathroom [tile, thank goodness] floor just about every day [or night].  Recall, that is the one where the sink is kept full of water to prevent the miscreant [same one?] from doing the nasty in it.  So now I have to wonder, of course, if it might be Voodoo, despite other evidence to the contrary.  One of the younguns was supposed to have been the culprit in his former home, although we've never seen him in the act - only seemingly trying to clean it up, which means to me that any one of the other 3 might have done it.

So I am teaching one class for our second short summer term, which meets from 5-6:40PM, M-Th.  That isn't as much as I've taught in summers before last year, but state budget cuts demanded that we be limited to 1 class, unless we were teaching online courses, which come from a separate budget.  Those who are teaching those actually don't think they're the best thing for the students - I guess the failure rate is even higher than mine, which seems to me to be way too high.  I'm trying a couple of small, new tactics this time - like: giving extra credit for attendance and being on time; for occasional collected homework; for, believe it or not, evidence that they have actually printed their schedules; and for correcting their tests.  Their first test was last Tuesday, and corrections are due Monday. 
We now have a system which is supposed to check prerequisites and reject registration of students who don't have them.  However, it works inconsistently, at least for the summer.  We can check for the prerequisites online and, although most of my students meet the minimum, that's really not enough.  Hence, high failure rate and no obvious way to address that.

posted by: mafidl at July 14, 2007 12:45 | link | comments |
politics, work, kitties

the press

I just recently discovered the dailykos, and just loved the following, from today's posting:
From the NY Times:
"President Bush’s decision to commute the sentence of I. Lewis Libby Jr. was the act of a liberated man — a leader who knows that, with 18 months left in the Oval Office and only a dwindling band of conservatives still behind him, he might as well do what he wants."
and this was the comment:
"If you've ever doubted the ability of the press to do a double inverted backflipping-butt kiss when explaining away Bush's actions, you'll find no better example than that delivered in this piece by New York Times White House correspondent stenographer Sheryl Gay Stolberg."
Read the rest, it's priceless.

posted by: mafidl at July 03, 2007 14:45 | link | comments (4) |

books

I just finished [4AM] reading a book, the Gashouse Gang,  which would appeal to baseball buffs, especially those interested in the 1930's St. Louis Cardinals.  My dad was a big fan of the 1934 World Series team, especially the Dean brothers, which many seem to believe created the greatest team ever.  I now see on Amazon that there was a slightly earlier book on the same subject.  Anyhow, having now finished that, I am trying to read a book that I started back a few months ago, got bogged down, so am beginning to commence to start to read it again.  This book is entitled Prairy Erth.  It apparently is a "deep map" or history of Chase County, Kansas, which, depending on how you measure it, is at or near the exact center of the contiguous U.S.  The format is unusual, to me at least.  Each chapter starts with a section "from the Commonplace Book", but I haven't found any sort of specific reference or explanation of that term.  What is given is a collection of quotes from other authors and works, which seem to apply to the subsequent section of textual material.  The reason that I'm writing about this is that some of the quotes, even in the first chapter, are particularly appealing for one reason or another.  For example:

"I like to think of landscape not as a fixed place but as a path that is unwinding before my eyes, under my feet.

To see and know a place is a contemplative act.  It means emptying our minds and letting what is here, in all its multiplicity and endless variety, come in."
Gretel Ehrlich, "Landscape," introduction to Legacy of Light [1987]

and again:

"The prairie, in all its expressions, is a massive, subtle place, with a long history of contradiction and misunderstanding.   But it is worth the effort at comprehension. It is, after all, at the center of our national identity."
Wayne Fields, "Lost Horizon" [1988]

I think similar thinking can be applied to the high desert country of the Colorado Plateau.

posted by: mafidl at July 03, 2007 13:57 | link | comments |
books, landscape

water, etc

My previous post has a video that, I hope, will sustain me until my next trip out west, which will probably be around Christmas time.  As I've probably said on here before, I will most likely be following daughter J to Salt Lake City [where J moved recently and daughter L already resides] as soon as they are both settled, even though, of course, there will be the chance that one or both of them won't stay there.  Since I will be moving with, most likely, 4 kitties [all indoor] I probably won't have the option of renting a place at first.  Yes, 4, since Voodoo [knock on wood] seems to be staying in pretty good health, even, perhaps improving.  So I will eventually have to deal with what many people manage every day, juggling selling my place here in Miami and buying one in SLC.  I already have contacts with 2 different realtors in SLC, so hope to be ready to cross that bridge when I reach it.  I'm hoping that the home sales will improve by then.  We interviewed one young man for a possible instructor's position who had moved up north a bit, but has been unable to sell his home here, so has to remain here until that happens, which he isn't expecting soon. 
Now, Florida is in the midst of a drought, with Lake Okeechobee, our main water source, way down, although evidently getting some rain yesterday.  As a result, South Florida, which includes Palm Beach, Broward, Miami Dade and Monroe counties, has been on strict water restrictions since, I believe, the beginning of May [if not earlier].  Amazingly enough, Salt Lake City has no such restrictions, although the Southwest, especially the states relying on the Colorado River [on which Mexico also relies]  has been in the grip of severe drought for years - apparently since 1999.   This, coupled with high temperatures has caused the destruction of many trees.  Also, scary info about Nevada, [why does this link have Nebraska in it?] And again there is this article.  There are many more such articles available through Google, which is where I accessed them.  Wouldn't you think that this information would cause "the powers that be" to impose at least some sort of water use restrictions on the populous?
On the other hand, WaPo just posted this article dealing with Massachusetts'  attempt to get universal health care going.  Maybe more states will follow?  I guess the catch is mandatory -- and more affordable", especially the latter.
Right now I'm watching the Concert for Diana - wow - some great acts.  So this post has, so far, taken me about 2 hours to write - maybe enuf?!!  Later.

posted by: mafidl at July 01, 2007 14:17 | link | comments (1) |
music, weather, kitties