Day Trip to Nauvoo, IL

Here are some shots of our daytrip to Nauvoo, IL. Note the swing bridge from Ft. Madison into Illinois. The Barbara and Olivia shot is at the Joseph Smith home on the Community of Christ site (formerly Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints).

Here are a few things I’ve noticed: both the “regular” LDS and the Community of Christ groups put a ton of emphasis on Emma Smith and none, zero on Joseph Smith’s other wives.

The LDS visitor’s center had a painting of Smith “translating” the Golden Plates. Missing were the seer stones. Also, Smith’s arrest was reported. Not mentioned was the press he had burned.

But, this was an important part of Illinois history, and turning Nauvoo into a city was an impressive engineering feat.

If you visit Nauvoo, I’d recommend visiting both church sites: the Historic Nauvoo Visitor’s Center (run by the LDS church, founded by those who followed Brigham Young after Joseph Smith’s death; they are in Salt Lake City) and the Community of Christ Joseph Smith Historic Site (those who followed Joseph Smith III; their center is in Independence, MO.).

Though both are full of superstition and woo, the Community of Christ, while much, much, much smaller in size and influence, appear to be more reasonable. They even ordain women into the priesthood.

19 July 2010 knee rehab

No cycling, no walking due to a day trip where I’ll be walking around.

But I did leg lifts, sit ups, crunches and other ab exercises and my PT stuff.

Progress (warm, after PT and a hot shower)

15 July: as straight as it went

19 July: straight

I am clearly touching a double CD case; the other side I can get too low to slide a single CD case under.

19 July: bent

I have a “heel’s worth” of inches to improve.

Shoulder: This advice seems to be helping.

Pearls Before Swine Last Sunday

Or click here if the above doesn’t show.

19 July 2010 (am)

We have a small day-trip planned for later in the day. So I’ll skip walking and just do PT exercises. I had better pack ice and Tylenol though.

Posts
Sarah Palin fun: enjoy her struggles with the English language via her twitter “tweets”.

What will happen in the 2010 midterm elections?

Republicans think that they will win and take control of both houses of Congress. Via Dick Morris:

Seven months ago, the conventional wisdom was that, while the Republicans would score impressive gains in both houses of Congress in the elections of 2010, the Democrats would keep control. Now, it is that the Republicans may, indeed, capture the House, but never the Senate. Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs admitted that the loss of the House was a possibility.

The conventional wisdom is still wrong. The Republicans will take the Senate and the House.

The Democrats: they fell that we’ll keep control:

Nancy Pelosi:

In a new fundraising email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Pelosi guarantees in no uncertain terms that Democrats will retain control of the House of Representatives.

“Here is what will happen in November. Democrats will keep control of the House. Period.”

Pelosi adds that she’s got a secret weapon up her sleeve to ensure triumph … you!

Joe Biden:

Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said Democrats would defy predictions of major losses in the midterm elections, instead declaring that “we’re going to be in great shape” and predicting continued control of the House and Senate.

“I don’t think the losses are going to be bad at all. I think we’re going to shock the heck out of everybody,” Biden said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Biden pointed to a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll that showed Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who is viewed as highly vulnerable, up seven points on GOP foe Sharron Angle.

“The reports of our demise are premature,” Biden said.

He said that Democrats must make the case for measures like the Wall Street overhaul that Obama will sign shortly, the new health care reform law and the economic stimulus package.

“It’s just going to take time. This is July. The election is not until November. And I think we’re going to have to firmly make our case,” Biden said. “Compared to the alternative, I think we’re going to get a fair amount of credit by November, and I think we’re going to do fine.”

Paul Krugman doesn’t predict but says that the problem is that the President didn’t pass a big enough stimulus to create jobs, though he admits that passing it might not have been possible. But he thinks that the President should have been seen as trying rather than as trying to compromise:

What political scientists, as opposed to pundits, tell us is that it really is the economy, stupid. Today, Ronald Reagan is often credited with godlike political skills — but in the summer of 1982, when the U.S. economy was performing badly, his approval rating was only 42 percent.

My Princeton colleague Larry Bartels sums it up as follows: “Objective economic conditions — not clever television ads, debate performances, or the other ephemera of day-to-day campaigning — are the single most important influence upon an incumbent president’s prospects for re-election.” If the economy is improving strongly in the months before an election, incumbents do well; if it’s stagnating or retrogressing, they do badly. [...]

The best way for Mr. Obama to have avoided an electoral setback this fall would have been enacting a stimulus that matched the scale of the economic crisis. Obviously, he didn’t do that. Maybe he couldn’t have passed an adequate-sized plan, but the fact is that he didn’t even try. True, senior economic officials reportedly downplayed the need for a really big effort, in effect overruling their staff; but it’s also clear that political advisers believed that a smaller package would get more friendly headlines, and that the administration would look better if it won its first big Congressional test.

In short, it looks as if the administration itself was taken in by the pundit delusion, focusing on how its policies would play in the news rather than on their actual impact on the economy.

Republicans, by the way, seem less susceptible to this delusion. Since Mr. Obama took office, they have engaged in relentless obstruction, obviously unworried about how their actions would look or be reported. And it’s working: by blocking Democratic efforts to alleviate the economy’s woes, the G.O.P. is helping its chances of a big victory in November.

What does Intrade say? Senate: 71.5-17.1 (bid prices, Democratic control versus Republican Control), House: 54.4-45.2 Republicans.

I haven’t done a detailed study to see how well Intrade has predicted such things this far out; Intrade has been accurate very close to election time though. Time to trust it: in mid October. But the “conventional wisdom” seems to be: R’s get the House, D’s (with Sanders and Lieberman) control the Senate. Ironically, a split Congress might actually help Obama get reelected in 2012.

WTF? Burger King Parking Lot Cat Fight…

I am not sure what happens, except some (untrained) women start fighting in a parking lot and you see a couple of women in their underwear. Oh yes, an old woman chases someone with a water bottle, a guy punches a woman (takes 5 or 6 shots to knock her down), the police arrive and one of the motorcycles gets run over my a car (policeman not on the cycle at the time).

The funniest part: the person who put up the youtube video applied lots of tags, including MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). I don’t think so; no one here knows how to fight.

Other note: it appears as if the police station themselves outside of the parking lot and don’t appear to be interested in breaking it up.
But I admit that I really couldn’t follow what was going on.

Hat tip: The June Gordon character from Republican Faith Chat:

http://baptistsforbrown2008.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/this-is-why-i-done-go-to-burger-king-no-more/

(cut and paste into the browser; I don’t want a track back from that site)

17 July 2010: Evening

The woo: it burns!

Some criticism of the Obama’s has even lost Bill O’Reilly:

Sarah Palin coins a new word: “refudiate”

Why has the President received so little credit for getting so much done? I see two reasons: the conservatives don’t like what he did. The liberals see the legislation as being too centrist and watered down; a “sell out” if you will.

Believe it or not, I see the conservatives as being more “reasonable” here. If I were a conservative, I wouldn’t like what he has done. On the other hand, many of the upset liberals are crazy. They tend to forget that the Senate is a more conservative body than the 57-41-2 split would suggest and that given the current abuse of the filibuster, the conservative members (some who are Democrats) have a ton of power to obstruct.

Yes, the passed legislation is too weak, but I don’t see anyone doing any better in this political climate.

Health Care Reform
The New York Times has an article about the trend in health care for companies to offer plans that restrict doctor/hospital choice. I am on such a plan and so far I am happy with it.

As the Obama administration begins to enact the new national health care law, the country’s biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.

The plans, being tested in places like San Diego, New York and Chicago, are likely to appeal especially to small businesses that already provide insurance to their employees, but are concerned about the ever-spiraling cost of coverage.

But large employers, as well, are starting to show some interest, and insurers and consultants expect that, over time, businesses of all sizes will gravitate toward these plans in an effort to cut costs.

The tradeoff, they say, is that more Americans will be asked to pay higher prices for the privilege of choosing or keeping their own doctors if they are outside the new networks. That could come as a surprise to many who remember the repeated assurances from President Obama and other officials that consumers would retain a variety of health-care choices.

But companies may be able to reduce their premiums by as much as 15 percent, the insurers say, by offering the more limited plans.

“What we’re seeing is a definite uptick in interest because, quite frankly, affordability is the most pressing agenda item,” said Dr. Sam Ho, the chief medical officer for UnitedHealth’s health-care plans.

Many insurers also expect the plans to be popular with individuals and small businesses who will purchase coverage in the insurance exchanges, or marketplaces that are mandated under the new health care law and scheduled to take effect in 2014.

Tens of millions of everyday Americans will buy their coverage through those exchanges, a vast pool of new customers, including many of the previously uninsured, whom insurers expect will be willing to accept restrictions to get a better deal.

Knee Rehab notes 18 July 2010

No Tylenol prior to going to bed and the knee did fine. My shoulder, however, ached for part of the night until I switched my pillow position. My guess: earlier in the week I used a cane and crutches that were slightly too short and that, in effect, had me doing bar dips which aggravate that particular injury. I’ll have to really rest it over the next three weeks and then gradually build up the rotator cuff.

Knee: it actually feels great right now; I need to take it slow and not overdo.

Update 1.7 mile Moss to Bradley course in 28:06 without pushing it (16:30 mpm); this is 3 minutes faster than yesterday and 13 minutes faster than 2 days ago. Then 6 minutes on the bike; last 5 at 90 rpm at level 3 (of 10); that was enough to get me out of breath. Usually, 30-45 minutes at this level is comfortable aerobically speaking. I’ve got a ways to go.

Then VMO exercises (15), leg lifts (20), sit ups (25), crunches (10), and some down dog.

The “easy, quick” part of the progress is all but over; the hard work is starting.

Facebook Privacy: your phone numbers might be available to friends

Go on facebook, click on account, then click on edit friends. Go to the left hand side, click phonebook and phone numbers will appear for some.

I am not sure if that is due to users putting phone numbers in their accounts or some search the internet program that scrapes phone numbers off of records.

UPDATE Comment one (see below) sets the record straight: only those who have wanted their phone numbers to be displayed have their phone numbers available on the phonebook tool.

17 July 2010: knee rehab edition

Walk: my 1.7 mile walk; super slow (18:45 at 1.05 miles, 31:35 at the end); but this was TEN MINUTES faster than yesterday with the same effort. The knee is looser though has a long way to go.

Bike: FIVE minutes at low resistance; I was surprised that the knee wasn’t ready for more. Recovery from this arthroscopic surgery is longer than it was from my lateral releases in 1984 (age? procedure?)

stretch and etc. 15 reps of VMO exercises (lower quad muscle that is on your inside), 20 yoga leg lifts, 20 sit ups, stretching. In terms to being able to straighten it out, I am now down to “two CD cases” underneath my extended leg; that is down from 3 yesterday. Then again, this was done while I was warm.

Shoulder: last night, it ached until I got the proper head position? Something is going on; the ache went away.

17 July 2010 (am)

Local
My neighborhood scores high on “how walkable is your neighborhood” scale. That is valid for me, though some of the facilities are university related and others can’t use them.
Check it out.

Back to the economy and politics
Paul Krugman predicts a stalled government along with a ton of fake scandals, should the Republicans win the house.

He also points out that what the Republicans really want is to bankrupt government so they can kill all of the government programs; in short, a return to what didn’t work before.

Local: Billy Dennis has a good post here, which rebuts the oft-repeated idea that African American leaders aren’t concerned about crime.

Internet culture and parenting
I admit that I mostly use the internet to read about science, politics, current events, sports and to discuss these topics with others. But there is a whole internet society out there and those who live in it sometimes get burned. Evidently some pre-teen girl made a profanity filled video where she puffed herself up (called herself “perfect”), said that those “haters” should be shot, etc. Needless to say, the trolls (those who attack via the written words) pounced on her. Then she and her father attempted to respond and, well, here it is. (if interested, you can see the original video in the comments).

My point: kids need at least a bit of supervision (as one blogger said, perhaps leaving the internet connected computer in a non-private area) and parents should not expect their kids to expect verbal consequences to their actions. Parents should also learn about how the internet works; this father clearly did not.

By the way, if this interests you, read the comments. Note how many of the adults leaving comments can’t see that
1. many of the trolls attacking this kid were themselves unsupervised kids and
2. the dad appears to be blissfully unaware that his daughter is suffering the consequences of her actions and of HIS lack of supervision.

Were it my daughter, I’d take the computer out of her room and put in a public place, and I’d shut down that account, open a new one and say “this is what happens if you don’t watch what you say”. I wouldn’t make a fool of myself like this guy did.

More on the story here and here.

Note: if you read the comments on The Legal Satyricon article, you’ll see that she hasn’t changed her behavior.