The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
How Cool is this Guy?
Let me just add my voice to the chorus. Chelsey Sullenberger is the coolest guy ever.
He didn’t just save all of the people on U.S. Airways flight 1549. He saved the people on the ground that had no idea they were in harm’s way. And no one is digging fuselage out of his living room right now.
But let me add this:
When I was a kid, I listened to all of the airline procedures. Learned them backward and forward. But I believed in my heart that if a plane went down, that was it. A hard landing was one thing. Your engine exploding three minutes into flight? Forget about it.
What Captain Sullenberger did in thinking quickly and putting that plane down in the river showed me – a frequent enough flyer – that not every incident is a tragedy if the guy at the helm knows what he is doing.
And. The passengers and crew on board seemed to perform a very orderly emergency exit. Rather gives me hope for humanity.
This article talks about how Captain Sullenberger has been a serious student of Crisis Management. It is not all about madmen with guns and bombs. He also works as a consultant, applying safety concepts from the airlines to other businesses.
The airline industry has gotten a lot of bad press over the last few years. But today, Captain Sullenberger is a credit to his profession. God Bless.
P.S. It seems he already has a Facebook Fan Club
Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist, by Bill Ayers
Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist, by Bill Ayers, has been on my BN.com wish list for something like two years. It hasn’t shown up in my Used Book Store, so I decided it was a good pick for the new Kindle (more on that later).
Ayers, a leader of the Weather Underground, wrote this book before 9/11. It was published about five minutes before 9/11. Ayers talks about that in the new Afterward, published in 2008 – right around the time the President Elect was hammered in the press for even knowing him. You know I enjoy that kind of historical perspective.
I was interested in hearing about how the Peace Movement splintered and people justified bombing things. I was interested in reading about how one lived going “underground” (because Running on Empty is my only basis for understanding) and the process of coming back to the “real world”. That isn’t quite the tale Ayers was telling.
In the mid-1960’s Ayers participated in some really great community action projects. He was literally building alternative schools for low-income neighborhoods that were not properly supported by the state. I was cheering for him. And then.
The pontificating about the Movement. I am so bored with it. At least Ayers admits to the arrogance of his crowd.
I am still vague on how anyone came to the conclusion that building bombs was a good idea. Ayers makes a point to say that except for the accident that killed three of his own group, no people were injured in any of the Weather bombings. They were only “symbolic”. I might see that about the police statue in Chicago. But not the ladies room in the Pentagon. And by the time Ayers reached this point in the story, he seemed to be rushing it so I never bought in to the concept.
He talked a bit about living underground. Safe houses and changing identities. He had two children before “surfacing” in the early 1980’s. And then the book ended.
Ayers told a good story here. There were, however, plenty of places where I wished he would expand on the details and several parts where I wanted him to shut up, already. I think I might be one of the people Ayers can’t stand – that are inclined to appreciate his principles but don’t approve the methods.
Download for a Good Cause
I can’t figure out how to post an audio file, but I can at least give you the video. This artist is making a donation to Best Friends Animal Society for each person that downloads her new song and posts it on a blog. You can get the free download here.
I am Not Complaining About the Weather
The headline on the Chicago Tribune’s page is about the U.S. Air flight landing in the Hudson River. This is the second set of stories:
Chicago windchills plunge to dangerous levels • Why do you live here? Winter weather photos • Weather: Skilling Forecast, conditions Wind chill warning • Watch and listen: The lakefront at sunrise • Commute: Latest CTA Metra Traffic Flights–>• Impact: Hundreds of schools closed Frozen pipes
–>• How to survive: Advice from Fargo Tips from doormen • But don’t do this: Indiana boy licks light pole, gets stuck • How cold is it? It’s Sarah-Palin-thinks-it’s-cold cold
–>• Show and tell: Your photos Your comments • –>
16 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds since Chicago’s temperature dropped below 0
I like the “Why do you live here?” part. A co-worker from DC asked me that last night. “You get used to it,” I replied disdainfully.
Also, I heard a DJ say, “There is a whole generation of Americans that have not seen A Christmas Story!”
And now I know why.
Back from San Antonio
And I have decided that the Blackberry is good for the quick shots, but I just can’t use it for real.
For example, the Convention Center has a big hallway with a bunch of statues of distinguished Texans. I learned that Eisenhower was pretty short. By comparison. Every time I walked down the hallway, I looked at President Johnson because he appeared so sad. While I understand that he was not in a good place when he left office, I don’t think of him as sad in general. And I am surprised that Texas has portrayed him that way. So I took a picture:
Indoor shot and still all grainy. And then this:
I was outside the Convention Center, trying to get a shot of Hemisfair Park. This looks like I took it through a window. How does one turn the flash off this thing? This one was better (somewhat):
This is the Tower of the Americas. I later found out, because I had dinner there last night, that it has a revolving restaurant up there:
And then there is the Alamo:
I am sure there is nothing wrong with the device itself. I am worse than an amateur. But I was totally doing better with the old digital thing.
American Taxi
I have been a loyal patron of American Taxi for years. They are an unbelievably reliable company that serves suburban Chicago with flat rates to the airports and the city.
And finally. They are online.
American Taxi has been using automated ordering for about ever. They have my home phone number in the database. All I have to do is call them and punch in my phone number and they know where to find me.
The website asked me to set up an account. By entering my phone number. My information popped right up, so I just I verified my e-mail and ordered the cab.
Then I clicked around the site a bit. “Past Orders” was on the menu. Every cab ride I have taken in the last two years was listed. Down to the time of day and the cab number. It was a bit eerie.
Anyway – American Taxi isn’t cheap, but they run a great service. And online ordering only makes it better.
Staying Healthy During Flu Season
MSN has an article, “Secrets of Women Who Never Get Sick”, which is right up my alley. I am pretty serious about not getting sick. The last time I took a full sick day for an illness was..nevermind, I don’t want to jinx it – but I was diagnosed with chronic sinusitis. It is caused by my allergies and I attacked it. Until then, I hadn’t really thought about being pro-active in preventing the everyday bugs. But really – deep winter is miserable enough without being sick.
Anyway. I already do several of these things – washing hands often (although I am sure it is not 12 times a day) and jumping all over the first signs of a cold. And notably absent on the list was getting a flu shot.
I was interested to see this about getting a regular massage:
“Most studies show that massage can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate—and lowering these is likely to cause your stress level to drop, one key to building immunity. “Decreasing stress increases your immune cells,” says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine.”
I don’t think of massages as “stress reducing”, but as “pounding out all of the knots in my muscles”. And I certainly don’t do it once a month. But what was really interesting was the “what doesn’t work”. I read it as, “People really try this stuff?”
“Don’t put a topical drug up your nose
Some frequent travelers report that this simple trick is germ-killing genius. Not so, says Neil Schachter, M.D., director of respiratory care at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Neosporin treats only topical bacteria, not the ones that cause airway infections. Plus, it’s powerless against viruses and may irritate your sensitive nasal lining.”
The article missed a good one, I think. Get enough sleep is a no-brainer.
At the Refuge – The Mural
The construction is finally done at the Refuge, and while our director has been on vacation, Megan did this for our entryway:
My mother wants one for our kitchen. But I want a portrait of Kiwi the Grey and she wants a landscape and who can afford a mural in the kitchen, anyway?
Demographics of the 401(k)
A few days ago I read an article over at MSNBC about McDonald’s 401(k) plan. Apparently, participants contributing 5% of salary are matched at 11% of salary. That’s pretty damn good. But something struck me so hard I actually e-mailed it to my boss:
Skepticism about investing runs especially high among African Americans, who make up 15 percent of the company’s manager pool. Research shows that blacks, in the aggregate, are reluctant to save. According to a 2008 study by Ariel Investments and Charles Schwab, blacks save an average of $169 a month for retirement, while comparable whites (in terms of household income) contribute about $249 a month. Race and ethnicity trump gender — and even salary — in the factors that predict whether a person will save for retirement.
Preparing for the future Why don’t blacks save more? The reasons are complex, but the underlying theme is cultural. “African Americans are distrustful of the financial system because it has excluded them for generations,” says Andrés Tapia, chief diversity officer at Hewitt Associates, the benefits-consulting giant. Hewitt’s research shows that African Americans consistently put home ownership and college ahead of retirement goals. Owning a home and educating children become a huge priority, explains Tapia, “if you are the first person in your family to do it.”
I will argue with some of the reasoning here. Distrust of the system I understand. But owning a home and educating children are put ahead of retirement savings in plenty of families – particularly young ones – regardless of race.
The statistics, though. Wow. $80 per month difference for people of comparable incomes. How do we get past that?
You can read the rest of the article here.
Learning New Things
Thursday night, I took Eloise the Foster Grey back to the Refuge. My mother said she would be missed and we talked about bringing her back after her check up with the doctor, when I return to town.
Eloise has settled down a whole lot in the last week. Once we figured out that she hated being in Kiwi’s flight path, we adjusted play time and she was much happier. Her feathers are even starting to grow back in.
As I put Eloise in the carrier, Kiwi said, “You’re o.k. Good girl.”
I mentioned that Eloise whistles Bridge on the River Kwai, and that I wondered if Kiwi was trying to pick it up. When I returned home, Mom said that Kiwi did the first few bars while I was gone.
I. Was. Right.
Later, I brought her upstairs while I was packing. She did it again! She doesn’t have the whole thing, but it is unmistakeable.
Eloise is so coming back here next week.
The Next Dark Age 