The news has been rather a fount of information lately, of varying degrees of interest, applicability, and believeableness.

Something I was interested to read at ABC.com was that the cause of death of the teenage girl who'd been widely reported last fall of having died from an allergic reaction to a kiss from her boyfriend, who had eaten a peanut-laden snack, was actually a severe asthma attack.

Turned out his peanutty snack had been ingested nine hours prior to the smooch, while an allergen only stays in saliva for one hour after something's eaten.  However, the girl had spent hours at a smoke-filled party, and had been finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.  Finally, at 3 a.m. (and what the deuce was a 15 year old doing at a party at 3 in the morning, anyway???) she collapsed.

One would have hoped she'd have had enough sense to leave as soon as she began feeling the effects of the cigarette smoke. 

Point is, however, one needn't fear a kiss from someone who ate something several hours ago to which one is allergic.  Good to know.

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On a "You have GOT to be kidding!" note is the story from USAToday regarding Oprah Winfrey's exalted status here in America.  According to that article, she's left "talk show hostess" behind, having now risen to the rank of "spiritual leader" with "a moral voice of authority for the nation." 

"She's a really hip and materialistic Mother Teresa," says Kathryn
Lofton, a professor at Reed College in Portland, Ore., who has written
two papers analyzing the religious aspects of Winfrey. "Oprah has
emerged as a symbolic figurehead of spirituality."

The religious aspects of Winfrey?

With 49 million viewers each week in the USA and more in the 122 other
countries to which the show is distributed, Winfrey reaches more people
in a TV day than most preachers can hope to reach in a lifetime of
sermons.

<snip>

In a November poll conducted at Beliefnet.com, a site that looks at how
religions and spirituality intersect with popular culture, 33% of 6,600
respondents said Winfrey has had "a more profound impact" on their
spiritual lives than their clergypersons.

Cathleen Falsani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, recently suggested, "I wonder, has Oprah become America's pastor?"

It's a judgment from the LORD, believe me when I tell you this.  Additional proof, if any more were needed, that our country is in dire straits and as far from the LORD as the east is from the west.  Yikes!  

According to news reports, MySpace.com, a social-networking site with 70,000,000 members (including 400 students from Arlington Heights High School), is the third most visited website on the internet at present, just behind Yahoo! and Google. 

All I needed to know to realize it's an internet phenomenum is that Dmitry's heard of it, and he doesn't get around much. 

He's shown no interest in MySpace, but this ought not to be taken to mean he doesn't do the internet-social-networking thing...far from it!  He just does it on the MMOG, Tibia.  (MMOG = Massive Multiplayer Online Game, for the uninitiated.)  His two-fingered typing reaches fever pitch at times as he converses online with his friends.  Periodically he and Taylor will call out to each other that "So-and-so's here!" "Cool!"

The other day Dmitry popped his weekly allowance plus another ten bucks to purchase one of those friends a premium Tibia membership, so said friend can fully participate in the game.  Dmitry has his faults, but he's generous.  ;^)

According to an online article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, MySpace is overgrown and has begun that inevitable downward spiral, while one of the most up-and-coming places for on-line social interaction are, in fact, MMOG's.

That Dmitry.  He's so cutting edge. 

It's that Dance Recital time of year, y'know.  This year's crop was kicked off by none other than our own Meredith (Elaine's eldest, and my niece) who has been taking classes at Margo Dean's School of Ballet.  They performed a ballet version of Wizard of Oz which was, well, simply wizard! 

This is, BTW, the exact same Margo Dean from whom (well, not her personally, of course) yours truly took ballet when in elementary school.  What's really maddening is I swear the woman looks about MY age. 

There's a camera I want, with 8+ megapixel and a 12x optical zoom, and which would have taken wonderful photos under these circumstances, but unfortunately I don't have that one.  So, don't expect much, okay?

Marebear was one of the Lullabye Girls, and she's on the far right:

Here she's on the left:

Still on the left:

Naturally the tradition of flowers ("What are these for?" Marebear wanted to know) continued:

Not that *I* ever got flowers when I was in recitals for Mrs. Beall's piano class. Never crossed our minds back then.  I'd demand a do-over only then someone might expect me to try to stumble my way through Tarantella yet again. 

This was funny, I thought....Marebear with her GiGi in the background, snapping away:

Also in the audience was Meredith's admiring sister and friend:

It was a lovely performance, and we really enjoyed it.  

Boy o boy, there's one thing about "My Yahoo" that I simply loathe, and that's the tiresome Staples banner up toward the top, which immediately blows up to obscure the screen if my cursor barely touches it.

And it's cunningly placed so as to be difficult to get the cursor from the tool bar, where the "Home" link is, to whatever it is I wanted to click on down on the M/Y page.

I just don't think to bring the cursor down along the far side of the screen so as to avoid that stupid, intrusive banner ad. 

Not that I approve of name-dropping  - so gauche! -  but MY FRIEND John Rabe has co-written and co-produced a TBN special called The DaVinci Delusion, which is on this weekend.  Since MY GOOD FRIEND John Rabe was involved in this project, we may rest assured it is a quality project so tuning in will be time well spent, and besides being edifying, the show will doubtless be entertaining, as well. 

Ah, how I can readily attest to the sharp wit and keen insight displayed by MY VERY GOOD FRIEND John Rabe over the years that we've been friends and compatriots!   Many a chuckle we've shared together, MY VERY DEAR GOOD FRIEND John Rabe and I. 

Anyway, it would please me mightily, and most likely MY VERY BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD John Rabe, too, if y'all would locate the station showing it in your neck of the woods, and gather the family around to learn the real facts about the DaVinci delusion.

Here's something not commonly seen on the streets of Fort Worth:

Who paints a hauling truck like this pink? 

Summer is almost here!  Can you credit it?  

Two weeks from this very day Dmitry will be out of school.  Whether he is successful in completing all the 8th grade subject packs remains to be seen.  We're pretty confidant about them all except for the math, and it's at least a possibility. 

Dmitry and I are both thinking it'd be a valuable experience for him to get a part-time job somewhere this summer, if anyone hires 15 year olds.  Any ideas as to where he should search for a job doing something like stocking, washing cars, etc.?

Him being him, his aim is to "collect" sufficient money to purchase a Sony Playstation 3 when it's finally released this fall, realizing there's no way Mom and Pops are forking out those kinds of bucks. 

This is one of the most frustrating days of the year....it's the day before the Naval Air Station Open House and Air Show.

It means all afternoon jets are intermittently zooming wildly over, past, and around my house.  Trying to get a decent photo is a challenge, unless I just park myself outside all afternoon.  Which I don't want to do.  No, instead I opt for the mostly useless listen-for-the-sound-of-jets then grab the camera, wrench open the door, and step out on the porch in time to see this:

There they go! 

Keep telling myself I do NOT need to go rushing outside every time I hear planes coming.  Nope.  Do not.  No point.  Exercise in futility.

But like Pavlov's dog, there I go at the sound of the roar of jet engines.  It's crazy!

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Yesterday I signed up for PaperBackSwap.com (link over there to the left) and think this is going to be great!  I listed nine books I don't want, and doggoned if one of 'em wasn't on someone's wish list.  She requested it, I printed out the mailing wrapper, wrapped the book, put $1.73 postage on it and sent it off.  It got scanned in at the mail center so now I've a credit to "order" a book from someone else.  Actually, once I posted those nine books I got three credits and have already used them.  Two are on their way to me, and the third will be shortly.

It is insanely easy!  If you sign up via the link over there, I get a book credit, BTW. 

Not only did QuickandSimple substitute a success story + tater salad recipe for the promised "AMAZING POTATO SALAD DIET!" but they ignore their readers, too.

A box in the "Editor's Letter" section urges readers to email her directly if they have feedback, questions to be answered, etc.

So I did.

Not a word in response in over 24 hours; not even the courtesy of an auto-reply.  Heck of a way to run a brand new magazine.

---

This afternoon I sallied forth to the Southwest Regional library to locate a particular book the online catalog assured me was checked in.

Well, I looked and I looked then by jingo if I didn't look some more, but no book.  Checked the paperback's particular genre section, then the generic "Fiction" section for good measure.  It was not there.   Blast!  Must be lost.  This happens sometimes. 

Still, I found another book so carried it up to the circulation desk.  Upon being genially asked if I'd found everything alright, I mentioned the apparently lost book. The young lady immediately began a search on her computer, then headed to the back room, and was gone for a good three or four minutes before returning with it.

According to her, the SW library is beginning to keep more and more of the most popular authors' paperbacks in the back room, so one needs to ask for it.  Makes me feel as if I'm asking for some under-the-counter magazine from days gone by, for pity's sake! 

I daresay theft is a problem, and this is how they're combatting it.  There's no denying the number of paperbacks on the fixtures aren't as plentiful as they were once.

[bitterly]  HA!

Amazing Potato Salad Diet my left foot. 

Lose up to 100 lbs?  I'm so sure. 

Turn to page 4 of this magazine and you know what's there?  An article about a mother-daughter duo who went on diet/exercise regimes simultaneously and lost 81 and 93 pounds, respectively.  Now, there's no doubt but that those are impressive numbers.  I am certainly not intending to disparage their fine achievement in any way.

But an article entitled "Like Mother, Like Daughter" hardly deserves to be hyped on the cover as an Amazing Potato Salad Diet, even if there is a potato salad recipe included.

There's also a recipe for Shrimp and Spinach Pasta, so the blurb could just as easily have read Amazing Shrimp & Pasta Diet. 

Point being, when I purchase a magazine because the cover promises an Amazing Potato Salad Diet, I do not believe it is unreasonable to expect an actual "diet", largely consisting of potato salads.  I'm not a total doofus....I gave up expecting "amazing" a long time ago, never mind suggested losses of 100 pounds.  But by jingo, it does seem to me a "Potato Salad Diet" should encompass more than one potato salad recipe in an article about someone's successful weight loss.