Make Love, Not War

Apparently our CIA has found some innovative ways of obtaining information and cooperation from local leaders in Afghanistan. The Little Blue Pill, yes Viagra, has been successful in obtaining a “bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes – followed by a request for more pills.”

While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.

In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said. [snip]

The usual bribes of choice -- cash and weapons -- aren't always the best options, Afghanistan veterans say. Guns too often fall into the wrong hands, they say, and showy gifts such as money, jewelry and cars tend to draw unwanted attention.

"If you give an asset $1,000, he'll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone. Even if he doesn't get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it."

I’m impressed with the innovative thinking exhibited by the CIA. Maybe instead of an insurgency, we can just flood the entire country with the little blue pill. We’ll have a male population so happy and contented, they’ll be happy to end the war. As an American taxpayer, I’d much rather send Afghanistan a permanent supply of libido-enhancements than send American soldiers and weapons. I like this idea. It will cost much less in military as well as lives and destruction. Everyone’s a winner.

I’m only half joking about that idea.

Happy Xmas - War is Over, John Lennon

And a happy new year, let's hope it's a good one.

Bing Crosby - White Christmas

I may not be able to post much in the coming three or four weeks due to the holidays and then my work schedule. Things should ease up around the middle of January. Till then happy holidays to my friends and readers. May your days be merry and bright.

I'm feeling tenderhearted tonight at the news that a dear friend has died. So something quiet and soothing is needed. The quintessential White Christmas, by Bing Crosby joined at the end by Frank Sinatra.

Go to OneUtah and thank Tim DeChristopher

Tim DeChristopher single-handedly disrupted the BLM oil and gas lease auction yesterday by bidding on and winning properties he could not buy, as well as running up the price on others.

You can thank Tim at OneUtah, and you can read his own account of why he did what he did: Why I Disrupted a Fraudulent Action.

This is good old-fashioned civil disobedience at its finest. Extremely effective. No damage and no-one hurt.

Go here if you are able to donate to Tim's legal defense fund.
http://www.wateradvocacy.org/

Please Come Home For Christmas - Eagles

Posted earlier, but so popular, it deserves a new top post:

Bush bridges Detroit and bails out Republicans

Like a game of chicken, Senate Democrats and Republicans faced off on the auto industry bailout. One side for it but with insufficient votes, one side against it and with the numbers to kill it. No-one knew or even knows yet how great the consequences might be if there were to be no bailout. But the Republicans said consequences be damned, slammed on the brakes and the contest was over.

Enter the ever inept George W. Bush. Of course, he didn't make this decision alone and we can only guess who convinced him, but he tells us we cannot let the bankruptcy happen and he offers enough bailout money to tide the automakers over just until Obama takes over. A 'bridge' they are calling it.

The whole thing was gutless on the part of congress and mostly gutless on the part of W. Congressional Republicans allowed him to make this one last tough decision so they wouldn't have to take responsibility for the spending. Republicans managed to stand on principle and did nothing, forcing their unpopular president to save the day. And he reluctantly did so, but only marginally, tiding things over and then dropping the entire mess into the lap of the next administration for long-term resolution. And really isn't that true to form? The Bush administration has made all the messes and has done nothing to fix anything before leaving office.

The worst president in history. Joined by possibly the most gutless congress in history.

How low to set the thermostat

These long stretches of freezing temperatures are the part of winter I dread. But this is Utah, and we're bound to have them every year. In an attempt to do my part to reduce consumption of heating fuel, and of course save money, I installed a programmable thermostat a couple of years ago (yes, I did install it myself!). So now I program it for both summer and winter to provide me with heat or cooling when I'm home and less of it when I'm away or asleep.

Now this year, I decided to set the heat no higher than 68 degrees, and just wear sweaters. That works fine. But I also programmed it to be 62 degrees at night. And no matter how I try, I can't get comfortable with the temp so low, even when I add extra blankets. The house isn't drafty since the new windows and siding from a couple of years ago. But 62 just feels too cold even for sleeping. I can tolerate 64 okay.

I'm not ready to give up yet. I keep thinking I'll get acclimated. So readers, where do you set your thermostat?

Christians behaving badly

What is it about Christmas that seems to bring out the best and also the worst in Christians? I mean, everyone gets more generous this time of year donating to food banks and buying gifts for children on the angel tree. But Christians seem to want to own this whole month and just can't make any allowances for any other type of thinking.

Now I'll skip the obvious "War on Christmas" boors (O'Reilly, Buttars, et al) who year after year try to get some victimhood out of that tired topic.

Let me skip right to the groups who demand a nativity scene on public property, like the Right to Vote committee in Salina and Richfield, Utah. Even though the cities have turned down those requests, I'm sure we haven't heard the last from them. Honestly, aren't there any ward houses or tabernacle grounds in those cities that might make just as nice a place for the display? And certainly far more appropriate. Unless you want to get into someone's face about your religion, that is.

And then there's a few self-righteous commenters over at my favorite blog Margaret and Helen. Said commenters are calling down hellfire and damnation on my favorite blogger, all because of a post suggesting that we each keep Christmas according to our own tradition, and please stop playing that awful song about Christmas shoes. Here's a sampling from those devout Christian commenters:

• You are a nasty old woman who has angered God. You will one day pay for that but I will not be there to see it. I will be in heaven with MY LORD and SAVIOR. . . This woman is no better than the Anti-Christ. She is leading all of you away from the light and into the darkness.
• You are all blinded by Satan Helen. She will lead you into darkness and fire. God does damn. He damns you for writing this hater talk and for saying that he does not exist [my note, Helen did not say that]. This country will be damned and Satan will rule for a thousand years because of Obama and his followers. I am sorry for all of you. I will be saved before that happens.
• Hate you. Hate you. Hate you. Tthat is what your comments sound like to God. You are all sinners. Go to hell bithces!

These were the exceptions, however. Far and away the commenters were upbeat and understood the positive intent of the message. And Helen took it all in good nature and in her response wrote:

And when it gets right down to it, the only way to make sense out of all of this is to just have faith. But faith is personal. And personal means it’s OK if others don’t share in your joy because they’ve got some things that are personal too.

There are many reasons for the season. One of them is peace on earth, good will toward men. How ’bout we work on that one? It’s a tall order, and should keep us busy for quite a while.

See how simple that is? It doesn't need to hurt at all. Happy Festivities to everyone, whatever it is you are celebrating right now - even if it's nothing more than just enjoying the season and feeling happy to be alive.

UPDATE: Paul Rolly in SL Trib reports that:

A Salina woman who has contacted media around the state to complain about her city and the neighboring city of Richfield declining a request to accept a nativity scene donated through an Eagle Scout project and display it at their city halls has no Christmas lights or decorations at her house.

Snow Removal - North Salt Lake gets it right

Since I'm frequently critical of the city, I think I need to give them credit for the thing they do better than any other cities around. That is, snow removal. In the 30 years I've lived here, on a very steep road on the hillside,I have only once had to park at the bottom and walk up.

In a really heavy storm, it's just a matter of waiting at the bottom of the hill for the next snowplow to go up. Because I live on a main access road to the hillside, that's not usually a long wait. Most of the plow drivers are courteous when they see me shoveling out my driveway and will maneuver slightly to avoid piling deep slush at my driveway entrance (most of the time, that is). With my huge driveway, I appreciate that.

I saw a news story saying Kaysville has had to cut back on snow removal this year and will do no overtime -- removing snow only during business hours, not after 5 or on weekends. If I lived in Kaysville, I don't think I'd find that satisfactory. How do you provide snow removal during business hours only? That's the strangest idea I've ever heard.

But, kudos to North Salt Lake for the snow removal. They do get it right.

U.S. Wastes Billions in Iraq (this is news?)

The New York Times reports:

BAGHDAD — An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure.

Titled “Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience,” the new history was compiled by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, led by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., a Republican lawyer. . .

The history, the first official account of its kind . . . concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag — particularly in the critical area of rebuilding the Iraqi police and army — the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.

In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’

It's tempting to quote the entire article here, so outrageous are the failures. Lack of planning, no organization, misjudgments of the situation, and many other factors contributed to the failures.

The history records how [Jay] Garner [chief of Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance] presented Mr. Rumsfeld with several rebuilding plans, including one that would include projects across Iraq.

“What do you think that’ll cost?” Mr. Rumsfeld asked of the more expansive plan.

“I think it’s going to cost billions of dollars,” Mr. Garner said.

“My friend,” Mr. Rumsfeld replied, “if you think we’re going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.”

In a way he never anticipated, Mr. Rumsfeld turned out to be correct: before that year was out, the United States had appropriated more than $20 billion for the reconstruction, which would indeed involve projects across the entire country.

Let's not forget Paul "Wolfie" Wolfowitz who claimed that Iraqi oil money would pay for the reconstruction. Yes, the same Wolfowitz who said that Gen. Eric Shinseki’s estimate that several hundred thousand troops would be needed was “wildly off the mark.”

Won't it be nice when we have people in charge who actually use data and facts with which to form not only their opinions but their plans and operations.

And to think we could have bailed out the entire U.S. auto industry with the wasted money!

The report is only in draft form now and has been read only unofficially (leaked). It will be presented February to the new Commission on Wartime Contracting.

And the snow keeps on comin'

The weather reports say we got 6 or 7 inches in NSL. I beg to differ. Of course, we are getting lake effect today, and it just isn't letting up. Here's a pic for comparison to yesterday. Over 12 inches now, I'm sure. But what could be lovelier on a quiet Sunday morning. I'll be out shoveling soon. I'll get a nicer pic once this thing stops.

The Big Storm Utah, December 13, 2008

UPDATE: See Utah January snowstorm here.

7:30 a.m. I think I'm staying in all day today and may live-blog this storm. Have only seen a few flakes so far but the wind has been blowing like a gale all night. Temp is somewhat warm right now. I noticed there is no ice on the bird bath. Anticipating being stuck inside today. I'm prepared for snow shoveling later. That's it for now. As things progress, I'll report and possibly add photos.

8:55 a.m. Soft fluffy flakes falling for about half an hour now. Not sticking to the roads yet. Christmas carols on the stereo. Happy to be inside.
11:20 a.m. About three inches or so on the ground. Melting off the roads okay now. Still snowing steadily but a little lighter. I'll go out for the first round of shoveling now. Got the Christmas tree set up and all systems are go. Had thought of skipping the tree this year, but with a whole day and nowhere to go, what else to do? Feeding the birds directly on the patio since it's covered and they seem to like it better there out of the snow rather than than on the feeders. Saw the pink-sided juncos today.

1:00 p.m. One round of shoveling done, driveway, and walks on all three sides. Snow has picked up speed again and getting ahead of the snowplows. Had probably 5 inches when I first went out and another 2 or 3 since then. They were predicting 8 to 10 inches on the benches, so we can stop anytime now.
3:00 p.m. Snow stopped entirely about 1:30 and by now skies are clearing and even a little blue showing to the west. Still more shoveling awaits me, but I'll rest till the end of this movie, Christmas In Connecticut.

5:00 p.m. Finis! Shoveled the drive a second time. Someone had taken their snowblower up the front walk. The side and back were melting off and no need for more shoveling. Now Remembering the Night (movie) is on TMC. They are singing When You Come to the End of a Perfect Day (1909) just as I write this and it seems appropriate. I'm through. I'll stay in, watch TV, and decorate the tree tonight. The party I was invited to was moved to next week. Lovely. Just the way I like my snowy days.

The end of Scrabulous, Lexulous, and Wordscraper as we knew them

UPDATE: February 3, 2009 I have no information about Lexulous. I've given it up.

UPDATE January 2, 2009: Wordscraper on Facebook is now called Lexulous (renamed). The www.lexulous.com site seems to be down at the moment. I have no information about that. I checked out the board at Facebook and it is much improved over Wordscraper. It appears the customization feature is gone and the board is back to a close but not exact simulation of Scrabble. I wouldn't mind this one. No more of those ridiculous 4W and 4L squares, no more circles instead of squares, and back to the nice colors we liked with our old Scrabulous. This might be all right.
-----------------------------------

The Agarwalla brothers have posted a message on the Lexulous web site explaining that, as a settlement in their lawsuit with Hasbro, we will no longer be able to have customized boards that resemble the Scrabble board. In addition, we will play with 8 letters instead of 7. Many players on Facebook have finally given up. My long-time partner and I are giving it up too, and reluctantly going to Hasbro's Scrabble on Facebook. It still is too colorful and lacks some features we had grown to like with our old Scrabulous. How stupid on both sides that they didn't just work something out and keep the half million users who loved the game. Disappointing, yes, but we'll move on.

Here's the message in full:

KOLKATA, India - December 12th - RJ Softwares today announced that it has settled the litigation brought by Hasbro Inc., a Pawtucket, RI, USA, based company that owns the U.S. and Canadian rights to the SCRABBLE crossword game. The settlement resolves disputes concerning Scrabulous, previously offered by RJ Softwares, as well as Lexulous, and Wordscraper that are currently offered by RJ Softwares.

Pursuant to the settlement, RJ Softwares has agreed not to use the term Scrabulous and has made changes to the Lexulous and Wordscraper games (in the U.S. and Canada) to distinguish them from the SCRABBLE crossword game. Based on these modifications Hasbro has agreed to withdraw the litigation filed against RJ Softwares in federal court in New York in July of this year. As modified, the Wordscraper application will continue to be available on Facebook and Lexulous will be available on the Lexulous.com website.

The agreement provides people in the U.S. and Canada with a choice of different games and also avoids potentially lengthy and costly litigation's.

RJ Softwares acknowledges the guidance and support provided by Rajiv Khaitan of Khaitan & Co., India as well as his Meritas colleague, Rose Auslander, of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, New York and their entire team of lawyers, in negotiating the litigation and settlement process for the firm.

About RJ Softwares
RJ Softwares develops high quality interactive online games that are fun to play! Founded in 2000 by St. Xavier's College commerce students Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, RJ Softwares' products engage a global audience. RJ Softwares is headquartered in Kolkata, India. For more information, visit www.rjs.in or, www.lexulous.com

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Sinatra

Too corny? Sorry, I love it.

A question of ethics - it could happen in Utah

The New York Times tells about a phone call a few months ago from then-candidate Barack Obama that may have led to today's arrest of Illinois governor Blagojevich.

Mr. Obama placed the call to his political mentor, Emil Jones Jr., president of the Illinois Senate. Mr. Jones was a critic of the legislation, which sought to curb the influence of money in politics, as was Mr. Blagojevich, who had vetoed it. But after the call from Mr. Obama, the Senate overrode the veto, prompting the governor to press state contractors for campaign contributions before the law’s restrictions could take effect on Jan. 1, prosecutors say.

Tipped off to Mr. Blagojevich’s efforts, federal agents obtained wiretaps for his phones and eventually overheard what they say was scheming by the governor to profit from his appointment of a successor to the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Obama.

I've written before about the problem of ethics in Utah politics here, and here, and here among others. So, what to do? We could start with ethics legislation that makes for some serious and meaningful reform. And we could follow up with electing a few more Democrats so the balance of power is more, well, balanced.

Folks, if we continue down this same road electing the same old boys with their cronies and smoke-filled room deals, we could see this Blagojevich act played out right here in the shadows of the everlasting hills.

Utah Phillips - the FBI Files

Just six months ago, the incomparable Utah Phillips, folk-singer, story teller, and Grammy-nominated musician "known for his extensive touring over nearly 40 years and strong support of peace groups and labor unions in his works", died at the age of 73. Of course, the FBI was busy in those days keeping files on a lot of private citizens who might be considered "subversive". This is just one story.

Now the FBI has released the file they kept on him and his activities they tracked through the 60s.

Before he gained recognition as a folk singer, Bruce "Utah" Phillips had another following -- federal agents.

The FBI tracked Phillips and his political activity through the 1960s, according to his recently released FBI file. Much of the file discusses Phillips protests of the Vietnam War and his involvement with the Utah Peace and Freedom Party, which made Phillips its candidate for U.S. Senate in 1968.

Phillips moved to Utah as a child and in the 1960s became active in local politics and opposing the war. Phillips would leave the state and go on to be a folk singer whose music focused on workers and influenced other folk artists. He took "Utah" as his nickname.

The FBI file never alleges Phillips committed a crime, but tracks him from 1961 through 1968.

Among the topics discussed:

» One co-worker at the Utah State Archives called Phillips a "loyal American" while another co-worker questioned his loyalty and yet another called him "not a satisfactory employee."

» Phillips suggested a boycott to prevent industry from moving to Utah until the state did something to help poor people.

» Phillips took a prominent role in organizing a picket in 1968 when Vice President Hubert Humphrey visited Salt Lake City.

» Phillips is quoted as saying, "I'm too radical for white liberals."

» Phillips went to meetings with members of the Communist Party but Phillips claimed he opposed communists.

Other than the 1968 interview, there's no indication Phillips was aware the federal government was monitoring him. Most of the information in the file appears to have originated with informants or an intelligence unit of the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Duncan Phillips said the file vindicates his father's activism by showing people took notice.

"He prefers to see a moderate, reasonable approach to [Vietnam and civil rights protests]," the FBI wrote of Bruce Phillips, "and deplores any resort to extremism which could involve violation of the law or violence. "

Despite a life poor in material things, Utah considered himself rich in the things that are important. Even as he was dying and too weak to do anything, he said, "for now, I’m enjoying my life and can think of no good reason not to."

We still miss him.

Priorities in North Salt Lake

Attention NSL Residents: Another road closing in North Salt Lake due to water line breakage.

Center Street is closed about a half block east of Orchard Drive. A similar incident occurred last year in nearly the same place. In fact water line breaks have been alarmingly common up and down Center Street and Lacey Way and further up into the mid-hill neighborhoods in recent years.

Those of us in these 30-year old neighborhoods are concerned about the health of our water delivery systems. Significant expense is involved in these numerous repairs and we wonder will it continue at this pace, and will it get even worse? And would it be smarter for the city to address the obvious problem areas pre-emptively?

In the meantime North Salt Lake is discussing a mandatory curbside recycling program that will increase monthly fees to residents. And further, the city wants to build a new city office building by bonding for millions of dollars.

I don't object to the recycling program except where it might take away from charitable opportunities (such as the paper recycling bins at schools). And I have no doubt they will get their new building - they always manage to do that (I remember when the current building was built even after voters rejected it). But I just want to know that the city is not forgetting about its primary reason for existence--to deliver basic services including culinary water to North Salt Lake homes and businesses. Reliably.

Happiness - It's Catching

Your happiness not only affects the people with whom you interact, it can even spread to their friends. If you think about it, you can attest to the truth of this. Being around some people just lifts your spirits.

Think of the power of this. Your own joie de vivre can literally improve other people's lives.

NPR Morning Edition, December 5, 2008 · Turns out, misery may not love company — but happiness does, research suggests.

A new study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego documents how happiness spreads through social networks.

They found that when a person becomes happy, a friend living close by has a 25 percent higher chance of becoming happy themselves. A spouse experiences an 8 percent increased chance and for next-door neighbors, it's 34 percent.

It turns out co-workers are not similarly affected. Researchers attribute this to competition and possibly even schadenfreude.

Interestingly, "Misery, on the other hand, does not love company as much as happiness does. “Unhappiness doesn't spread as intensely or as consistently as happiness,” (Globe and Mail) And further, "happiness appears to spread more through same-sex relationships than opposite-sex relationships."

I know this last statement is true. I get such a boost when I have get-togethers with my sisters and with my girlfriends.

So, keep smiling - spread the joy. Even in these dark economic times, we need to look for the little joys in every day and spread it around. We need it more than ever.

Christmas Videos: Panis Angelicus, Pavarotti

A post at Utah Amicus of Pavarotti singing Ava Maria, prompted me to find this, also one of my favorites. The great Pavarotti, Panis Angelicus

What's the purpose of a mascot anyway?

American Indian students staged a protest on Thursday against the University of Utah over the use of the Ute as a mascot while failing to provide sufficient scholarships and other educational support for American Indians.

Why doesn’t the university just finally give up that mascot? Haven’t we outgrown mascots anyway? What purpose do they serve? I have never admired any of those goofy costumed characters and their antics.

I have a suggestion for the U. How about changing your mascot to the “Ukes” and the “Running Ukes”. It sounds a lot like Ute and would substitute nicely in existing songs and chants so lyrics would not have to be written.

I like my idea. But since I don’t get the whole mascot love thing anyway, I doubt my idea will fly.

Putting the X back in Xmas

Well, it's the season, and we've seen the renewal of what is becoming an annual tradition for whiney right wing loud mouths, an outcry against the imaginary "war on Christmas'. See Buttars and O'Reilly for example. To these guys Holiday is a four-letter word. They want "Christ" to be in everything related to the month of December. They want all merchants to stop using secular or generic terms in advertising and to play only music that mentions Christ somewhere in the lyrics.

The more they protest, the sillier they become. People celebrate Christmas all kinds of ways and not all of it is geared to the spiritual--and I'm talking about good practicing Christians here. For example, why don't they object to Santa Claus? Talk about taking the Christ out of Christmas!

I'm always fascinated at the ones who abhor the use of X in Xmas, thinking it's a slur. For over a 1000 years, , X has been used to mean Christ in religious words and symbol. Wikipedia:

The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as AD 1021. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches. Nevertheless, some believe that the term is part of an effort to "take Christ out of Christmas" or to literally "cross out Christ"; it is seen as evidence of the secularization of Christmas, as a symptom of the commercialization of the holiday.

And that last sentence, there's the dichotomy. On the one hand, Christians bemoan the commercialization of Christmas saying businesses make it all about money and profit and forgetting the spiritual nature of the season. But then those same complainers literally promote more commercialization by insisting that we see the word "Christ" in every reference to anything remotely related to the holiday. Make up your minds, guys. The poor merchants are just engaging in good old American capitalism and trying to make a buck. They'll do whatever it takes to get you to spend your money, just please try to be consistent in what you ask for.

For decades we have referred to the time from Thanksgiving to New Year's as "the holidays". Indeed, quite a number of celebratory days fall into that time. Nobody ever meant anything sinister by wishing you a happy holiday. O'Reilly, Buttars and their minions need to chill. Feel free to say Merry Christmas and decorate your Christmas tree. But if you're nose is out of joint over hearing Happy Holidays, you need help, brother!

Happy Xmas!

The news stories Utah reads

Every day when I visit the SLTrib.com website, I take a look at the Top Ten Most Visited Articles at that site. Generally, 8 out of 10 are sports-related stories. Today we hit the jackpot: 10 out of 10.

Without additional statistics, it's impossible to draw conclusions from this, except to say, whatever else people are reading, they read more sports stories than anything else. Assuming more men than women read about sports, does that mean it's mostly men reading the news online? Does that mean men are more interested in sports than any other news? It makes me curious, but there's no way of knowing. It would be interesting to have a list of just non-sports stories, too.

UPDATE: By the end of the day, the ratio of sports vs all other stories is 5:5.

Christmas Lights - Pleasant Grove, UT 2007

Amazing Grace - 2007 - Holdman Display - Pleasant Grove, UT

Bad Economy = Less Junk Mail

Have you noticed there are fewer of those credit card offers in your mailbox these days? Credit card companies have cut back on mailings and we are the beneficiaries. I noticed because I shred those things, and since my poor old shredder can't usually handle the unopened mail, I have to open it and shred it in portions.

Think of the benefits:

• Save some trees

• Save irritation due to opening/shredding mail

• Save money/interest by not opening more credit accounts

• Learn to live on what we make

This just seems to have all up-sides and none of the downs.

In case you need to be reminded

If you haven't put Margaret and Helen on your Google Reader or whatever you use for keeping up on your favorite blogs, do so today. Today's post is another great. Now just do it!