A Dash in a Flash
...Poem set to music.

Ernesto Threatens Our Family
...Pray for our family who are in the line of Ernesto, the tropical storm moving through Florida today and through the Carolinas later this week. Our exchange student daughter, Lucia and her husband, Frank live in Lakeland, FL. Ron and Linda Johnston, my sister and her husband, live in Chapel Hill, NC.

Cells Know When to Die

...I have always contended that individual cells die upon signal from their own DNA. When all the cells in a body die simultaneously, the body dies. Now researchers have found a synthetic chemical which can trigger the dying reaction in tumorous cells, a reaction called apoptosis.

...I am glad for any improvement in cancer treatments. I usually have mixed emotions, because I wish it had been discovered before my wife died of breast cancer.

...I am excited that a procedure might one day be developed that doesn't have all the side effects of surgery, chemo, or radiation.

Without Destroying Embryos
...A new technique has surfaced to create stem cells from embryos without destroying the embryos. Read more about it.

...Now new research has shown that stem cells can be cultivated from cells split off from developing embryos without impacting the embryo itself.

..."If confirmed, the new technique would allow researchers to create and experiment with stem cells while avoiding ethical concerns as individual blastomeres, or their multicellular derivatives, have never been shown to be capable of generating a complete organism. And numerous studies have shown that this genetic testing technique has little impact on the survival rate of embryos. In fact, the single cells used in such testing routinely today could, in the future, grow stem cells for the resulting children, and humanity." --David Biello

Fertility Gap

...College studies of the social behavior differences between conservatives and liberals have shown that out of 100 adults, conservatives produce 208 babies, but liberals produce only 147 babies. If children are influenced to think politically similar to their parents, then the conservatives are multiplying their influence by having more offspring.

...The analysis conjectured that the liberal agenda of pro-choice in pregnancy, and same-sex marriage, might contribute to a smaller reproductive rate. Also, city dwellers tend to be more liberal and also to want smaller families.

...Thus liberals cannot grow their influence except by trying to convince other people to change their beliefs by being more broadminded. Tolerance becomes a catchword for their proselytizing the populace.

Thou Shalt Not "Google"
...Apparently the Google search engine is legally protesting the use of its name as a verb as in "I googled my friend's name." I remember when Xerox did the same thing, because everyone was using "xerox" for "photocopying." I would have thought that businesses would be honored to have their copyrighted names used in a common way. It gives them more exposure to the public, but I also see that it infringes in some ways on their capitalizing on their copyrights.

...However, there may be an unusual countersuit over Google copyrighting a term that is very similar to an accepted mathematical term, "googol" which is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, or 10 to the 100th power.

B52 Bomber to Fly on Coal

...That's what I thought as well! How can an airplane fly using coal? So I discovered that there is an experiment being conducted using a jet fuel produced from coal through a gasification process. It is being tested to see if a synthetic jet fuel prepared from goal or natural gas can measure up to the strict standards necessary to operate jet engines.

...If such a fuel could be manufactured, the cost would be comparable to the jet fuels produced from the high-priced crude oil. Producing it from coal would provide another avenue to break our dependence on foreign crude oil supplies. The US has the biggest source of coal in the world.

...As the cost of crude oil continues to rise, many other alternative fuels may also become financially attractive. It is such healthy competition in a capitalistic environment that may produce better alternatives to petroleum fuels.

Privacy Concerns
...I have been concerned for years about the violation of privacy that occurs in the name of spying. Now it seems that a judge has ruled that the warrantless listening to cell phone calls is a constitutional violation of privacy.

...I was a resident of Texas while George W. Bush was Governor, and on at least one occasion he announced that he was going to push for legislation that he knew was unconstitutional, and that he would see in court anyone who disagreed. He knows that the process of decisions and appeals takes way too long and in this present matter, he will simply appeal the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. It will be interesting to see what a conservative-led court will rule.


...I believe that there will still be the avenue of seeking for warrants based upon a logical reason to spy on someone's private calls. That will still be available for spying on suspected terrorists.

Wal-Mart Reports Losses for the First Time in a Decade

The second quarter profit report for Wal-Mart showed losses for the first time in a decade. The CEO stated that it was caused by thrifty customers who are not driving as far now to the stores. The price of fuel is causing fewer trips to the store and the amount purchased per trip is increasing. Perhaps, Wal-Mart could lower the prices on their gasoline stations by a much greater amount to encourage the thrifty drivers to fuel up while shopping.

Perhaps, the closing of downtown, easily-accessible stores is not as good a thing as people once thought. The huge Wal-Mart stores have to be built on the edges of towns and thus require driving to them. The Mom and Pop stores of the inner city are within walking distance and may provide a more convenient avenue for shopping during this fuel crisis.

People are moving nearer to their jobs, so I foresee that Wal-Mart will begin to build housing units on its properties, so that thrifty shoppers can move within walking distance of their favorite store. Many of them can also get jobs at the Wal-Mart store and complete the cycle. I foresee that some churches may start satellite churches near to the Wal-Mart stores to provide for the increase in housing.

Churches may also have to resurrect the use of buses to bring not just children to church, but whole families to church. The cost of diesel is high, and the mileage of buses is low, but shared among all who could ride on one might make it attractive again.

The IAU did not demote Pluto
It is now anticipated that the International Astronomical Union will leave Pluto as a planet and add Ceres, the largest asteroid, Xena, in the Kuiper Belt with its moon, Gabrielle, and Pluto and Charon, which orbit a center of gravity outside of the body of Pluto or the body of Charon, hence a binary planet. So instead of narrowing the list of planets to eight, the IAU will be voting on August 25th to add three more listed planets.

It appears that the organization yielded to the pressure of students who wanted Pluto to remain, since they think it was named for the beloved dog, Pluto. However, the students might be alarmed to know that it was originally named like most of the other planets after a Roman god, the god of the underworld, chosen because it started with PL, the initials of Percival Lowell, the astronomer who theorized the planet's location, which was later discovered at his observatory. The Roman god's equivalent in Greek is Hades, the god of death and the grave. The word Hades is commonly found in the Greek texts of the Bible.

So let's see now the order that we would use to learn the names of the accepted planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto-Charon, Xena.

Pluto May Be Demoted

However, the resulting effect of its demotion will be the reclassification of all planets into those that are terrestrial (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and those who are giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), followed by the dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt (Pluto being the first to be discovered). It will still be a planet, but not in the same sense as our previous collection of nine planets which have been taught since 1930. For more on this subject, read about the possible demotion.

Drum Major Wanda

Looking through Wanda's high school annuals, a picture of her in her Drum Major's uniform prompted the question about the origin of the name "drum major." Wikipedia states "The term drum major describes several similar appointments in marching bandsdrum and bugle corps, and pipe bands. In common to all these forms of marching arts is that the drum major is responsible for providing commands (verbally or through hand gestures, or alternatively with a or mace) to the ensemble regarding where to march, what to play, and what time to keep.

The position of drum major originated in the British Army with the Corps of Drums in 1650. Military groups performed mostly duty calls and battle signals during that period, and a fife and drum corps, directed by the drum major, would use short pieces to communicate to field units. With the arrival of military brass band and pipe bands around the 18th century, the position of the drum major was adapted to those ensembles.

My roommate in college had also been a drum major in high school. I was also reminded of the character in "The Cosby Show" who played Cliff Huxtable's father. He was a drum major and they tried to exaggerate their personal expertise. Cliff's father said he through the drum major baton so high, that when they came back for next week's football game, he caught it on the way down.

Fast Way to Citizenship

The swearing-in of Sergio Lopez as a US citizen in the first week of August made me wonder how a man who was a US soldier since 2003 was just now becoming a citizen. My research revealed that about 2% of the US military are noncitizens. In 2002, President Bush sped up the naturalization track for those noncitizen soldiers, signing an Executive Order that waived a three-year waiting period and allowed foreign-born troops to petition for citizenship one day after donning a US uniform.

Why couldn't we just select potential soldiers from the 11 million illegal Mexican immigrants and offer them citizenship for enlisting in the US military? They could start the process of citizenship while they were fighting for their new country. They would learn the American language in the process and receive payments and educational benefits for post-military life in the US.

Their families would be getting better medical benefits and we wouldn't be giving anyone amnesty. It has been an accepted policy since the War of 1812.

Retired Brigadier General Kevin Ryan suggested in the "Christian Science Monitor" that the US Army open a recruiting station in India--a big potential source of English-speaking enlistees. We could enlist the ones that we want. The India people already are making parts for DELL computers and technical support for AOL.

Joe, say it isn't so!
I guess Joe Lieberman will not be the Democratic candidate for Senator in Connecticut after all. It is astonishing to see that a strong incumbent could be beaten by someone pushing the anti-war agenda. Maybe that's a reflection of the lack of majority support for an unpopular war. I remember the same things happening during the Viet Nam War, and we eventually lost that one and pulled out.

Maybe it's time to stop trying to remake Iraq into a democratic country and go back to trying to stop terrorism. Let's put the military money into figuring out what the terrorists are planning and stopping them rather than just killing people at random. If we put all the money that we are spending in Iraq into finding Usama Bin Laden, wouldn't we eventually find him? Then we could bring him to trial in the US, instead of watching Saddam's trial drag on and on. If we kill Bin Laden, another will just rise to take his place, but if we capture him and keep him, no one else will want to usurp his authority with the terrorists.

Autism, Treatment or Prevention?

Temple Grandin, Ph.D. would opt for treatment to guide children into the proper ways of thinking and preparation for very rewarding careers. Read an excerpt from her:

"Many creative people are on the high functioning autism/Asperger continuum. Albert Einstein, Mozart, and Carl Sagan were all mildly autistic. This book will help smart people who are socially awkward to develop their talents and get into satisfying careers. In my previous book Thinking in Pictures, I describe how I think in pictures and how I started my career in cattle facility design. Developing Talents provides many practical tips for developing skills that can be turned into a career and finding mentors who can help a young person enter an interesting field such as computers, engineering, designing, or journalism. Like me, many people on the high functioning autism/Asperger continuum have uneven skills. They may be good at drawing and poor in algebra or good with numbers and have poor drawing skills. Often their skills in their talent area are way above average."

(by Temple Grandin, Colorado State University)

I have met many inmates in prison ministry who have some form of this thinking process. Most of them can draw fantastic pictures, but cannot do simple mathematical calculations. I am not proposing that all inmates have this problem, but many probably had trouble in high school with some subjects and their coping mechanism was to turn to other outlets such as criminal behavior. They probably didn't fit in such a lock-step mentality as is prevalent in the social and educational life in most public high schools.

In Great Britain, the HFEA is trying to screen out and prevent autism by IVF procedures. Is that wise to try to keep us from having another Einstein, Mozart, Sagan, or Grandin?

Contact your legislative representatives and have them read Dr. Grandin's book. There is pending legislation now to study autism. Let's don't get into such a preventative mode of thinking, but research the possibilities for treatments and guidance to develop some outstanding adults in the future.

(Editor's Note) I remember being thought of as on the outside in high school. My social skills were lacking and later in life they led to some aberrant behavior. I can see myself in some of the traits of the mild form of autism, so I am becoming quite interested in the whole field of study. I can now understand from what Dr. Grandin is saying about thinking in pictures, why I could visualize so much information (but not exactly photographic memory). If high school education is mostly taking in information and regurgitating it back on testing, that would explain my apparent success in high school; however, when I got into courses in college which required extremely logical thinking (like Business Law and the Humanities), I had more trouble getting the concepts. Originally, my piano-playing skills were developed by practice and following the musical score exactly. It has only been in the past 10 years, that I have begun to develop the more artistic side of my brain to produce piano music from hearing, chording, and embellishments to make it more artistic.

Fidel Castro's regime

Rising to power during my lifetime, Fidel Castro was aided by the US in overthrowing Batista in Cuba during the late 1950's. He has been the only dictator in Cuba for the past 47 years, and has remarkable loyalty among his people. After his rise to power, he revealed his Marxist ideals and aligned with the then Soviet Union for protection and provisions.

The demise of the Soviet Union and the rise of capitalism among former Communist countries has allowed his country and North Korea to be the last two bastions of Marxism in the world. The unsuccessful attempt by the US in the Bay of Pigs invasion just underscored our inability to change our neighbors to the south.

Now what the CIA and the military could not accomplish may be superseded by time itself and the aging of human bodies. Fidel has had internal bleeding, requiring surgery, and recovery, during which he has given the authority to his brother, Raul, to continue to operate the government and military. At 75 himself, Raul is no spring chicken and upheaval may be in the future of the country of Cuba.

Modernize Education

It is time to modernize our system of education which is failing to prepare our youth for a global society. As Americans, we have bought into the concept that children can be educated in a lock-step, age-graded system, ignoring the individual differences. We make uniform requirements for graduation to prepare the students to choose a college and specialize their educations.

Why not provide basic core curriculum (similar to current 1st-8th grades) in a format where students learn at a rate compatible with their ability in a year-round format. (Editor's note: I was Principal of a similar school for 16 years). Then have a year of Introductory courses to introduce paths of specialization for high school. Those introductions would provide a broad spectrum of experiences and grading would help students analyze their interests.

Those bent toward science could specialize in algebra, trigonometry, physics, agriculture, botany, biology, geology, zoology, astronomy, chemistry, genetics, nuclear, aerospace, etc. Liguistics could be introduced leading to specialization in other languages (written forms like Latin and spoken forms of other cultures). This should lead to those specializing in verbal communication and those in written communication. We should include computer languages as well.

Students adept in artistic abilities could be introduced to vocal or instrumental music, or visual art (painting, sculpture, etc.). Why should TV's "American Idol" produce the next entertainers?

Those interested in society could specialize in law, politics, history, law enforcement, speech, ethics, religion, etc.

Those interested in physical education could specialize in various sports, or sports medicine, kinesiology, team concepts, and individual skill training, nutrition, body-building, or astronautic skills.

We cannot continue to have a system that allows students only to know as much as their teachers. The Beaumont Public Library has a great quote on its wall, "Pygmies see farther than giants, because they stand on the shoulders of giants." Teachers should become mentors, trainers, supervisors, or coaches in the process of each child developing a unique education experience.

Studies of prisoners would expose a great preponderance of people who struggled with scientific concepts but excelled in artistic abilities. They just didn't have a way to learn and be recognized as a member of society; there are few high school graduates among prisoners. Gangs, cliques, and clubs in schools all point to a need for greater specialization in education. Mixing chronological ages and removing the ranking of classes should promote friendships and relationships. Failing grades would be eliminated because students would be progressing in fields of their own interests.

Instead of sports rivalries between neighboring high schools, there could be high schools of specialization and students would choose which high school to attend to get training in their own interests. Let's use those buses to transport students to specialized high schools instead of just to desegregate. The sports would be done by those interested in physical education. Perhaps an entire county would have just one team in a sport to compete against other county teams.

There are some steps in that direction already. Locally we know of students from Laverne and Forgan High Schools who have chosen to attend the School of Science and Mathematics in Oklahoma City. One is now studying to become a medical doctor.

Expanding Knowledge

In my lifetime, we have expanded the simplistic concept of neutrons, protons, and electrons making up the atom, to include sub-atomic particles like positrons, meson, muons, quarks, etc.

This month the astrological community will attempt to fine-tune our definitions and names for planets. Perhaps, Pluto will be demoted to a planetoid, since it is smaller than several other planet-like bodies orbiting our sun, Sol. Instead, we may have another fourteen celestial bodies added to the planets, with such entries as Ceres in the Asteroids, and Xena and its moon, Gabrielle located in the Kuiper Belt. Some arguements imply that anything with a mass larger than Pluto should be called planets. Others argue that Pluto and the other celestial bodies of the Kuiper Belt should be called something else, to which I suggest "planetoids." When I was a child, there were just 9 planets, with one that had rings. As knowledge expanded, we've found other rings around planets. The elliptical orbits of Neptune and Uranus overlap at various times and one planet is closer to the sun than the other instead of their being a static order to the planets. We have also found asteroids, comets, quasars, pulsars, novas, supernovas, nebulae, etc. Now we need to add Astronomy as another high school subject.

Since we call bodies orbiting other planets "moons," we need to rename our Moon to Luna, as in lunar lander, LEM, etc. to distinguish it from Titan and Io and whatever other moon names are being used.