Monopoly and Lincoln logs

After our traditional Easter Sunday lunch of ham and fixings this year, one of the kids dusted off an old Monopoly game, and we all played well into the evening, when one of the younger set emerged victorious.

The Monopoly board game was first released in England in 1904, just a short time before the invention of Lincoln Logs by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, John.

The version of Monopoly that most of us are familiar with is the one that was released by Parker Brothers in 1935. Three of the 40 spaces on the board are Chance spaces, and one space is labeled “Go to Jail”. Included in the pile of Chance cards are a few that read, “Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.”



(Today, $200 doesn’t sound like much money, but it represented about two months salary in America in 1935, and Governor Huey Long of Louisiana proposed a guaranteed annual salary of $2500, slightly more than $200 per month.)

In the United States, an awful lot of people have gone directly to jail without collecting their $200. In fact, America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. At the end of 2007, the United States had less than 5% of the world’s population, but more than 23% of the world’s jail and prison population.

According to the most recent statistics, there were more than 2,000,000 Americans in prison or jail at the end of 2009. The prison population has quadrupled since 1980, in large part due to the “war on drugs”. 70% of the prison population would be considered “non-whites”, and almost all of them are male.

Both violent crime and property crime have been declining for the last 20 years. As a result, a large number of the folks who are in prison today in America today are non-violent criminals. You may conclude that we, as a society, are wasting a lot of money that could be put to better use elsewhere, and you’d be right.

As of last November, the prison system in Illinois was housing a record high 49,000 inmates, an increase of 3000 from the year before. Keeping all those folks behind bars isn’t cheap, and the state is currently $95,000,000 in arrears on its bills.

In addition to the cost of housing prisoners, the State of Illinois, through the Department of Human Services, has the responsibility of providing assistance to the children of the incarcerated. The most recent estimate of the number of children that are involved is 90,000. In times of economic crisis (like today) the Department of Human Services is often the department that feels the most pressure to cut expenses. The fact that the State of Illinois recently gave a $100,000,000 tax break to Motorola so that the company would keep its headquarters in Illinois doesn’t sit well with people concerned with social justice, and Motorola is not the only company that has received favorable treatment in recent months.

I don’t know anyone who is in prison, so why should I care if children of the incarcerated don’t get the help that they need?

There are two main reasons why us “middle class Americans” SHOULD be concerned:

1) one of the most important lessons that my dad taught me is to always do the right thing, even if it made you uncomfortable, and helping to provide assistance to innocent children is simply the right thing to do

2) MONEY. By providing counseling and support to children of the incarcerated, we can prevent or minimize the possibility that the children of prisoners will themselves become prisoners, which will save ALL of us a lot of money down the road.

Wishing and hoping for the best for the children of the incarcerated may make you feel good, but it doesn’t really help much. To TRULY make a difference, we (as a society) need to take ACTION.

I recently had the honor of traveling to Springfield, Illinois with 200 people from various congregations in the Chicago area. Officially, our group was called the Civic Action Network, and my local “gang of troublemakers” looked like the folks pictured below:



The Civic Action Network is part of the Community Renewal Society, an organization that was started in 1882. Its purpose is to inform, organize, and train both communities and individuals to advocate for social and economic justice. One of the current initiatives of the Community Renewal Society is a project called Children of the Incarcerated.

After arriving in Springfield, our group gathered for a rally at the AFL-CIO building, directly across the street from the Capitol, where we all picked up our bright orange “Civil Action Network” shirts, and proceeded to the Capitol building to meet with our “targeted list” of six legislators.

The dome of the Illinois State Capitol building reaches to a height of 361 feet, which makes it 74 feet higher than the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Frankly, the grandeur of the building, and the thought of meeting with our duly elected officials, seemed to be a little intimidating, so I let the other members of the group do the presenting, and we ultimately were successful in meeting with 5 of the 6 legislators that we had planned to talk with.

As my gaze drifted upwards to the marvelous interior of the dome, the words that came to mind were the ones uttered by Paul Newman (aka attorney Frank Galvin) in the closing summation of the movie “The Verdict”:

“Today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book. Not some lawyers. Not a marble statue, or the trappings of the court. Those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are, in effect, a prayer, a fervent and a frightened prayer.”

Before we gathered again outside at the end d of the day by the statue of Abraham Lincoln before boarding our busses for the long ride home, all 200 of us came together for songs and prayers directly outside House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office on the third floor of the capitol.



One speech, in particular, reminded me of the power that all of us have to control both our own destiny, and the lives of those less fortunate than us.Over and over again, we were reminded that all of us are QUALIFIED to make a difference, even if we aren’t lawyers or teachers or well-paid lobbyists.



Did we make a difference?

I sense that we did, but the validation of our actions won’t become evident for a few weeks yet. More importantly, though, the trip to Springfield was a reminder of the fact that in a democracy like ours, the workings of the government depend on the contributions of INDIVIDUALS, however small, a fact that was confirmed by our Founding Fathers, who wrote a document that started out with, “We the people…”

Tequila !

Do you have feelings of inadequacy?

Do you suffer from shyness?

Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions …

ask your doctor or pharmacist ..

about tequila.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGZzN0fgR0c

Contrary to popular opinion, May 5 is NOT Mexican Independence Day. THAT day is actually September 16, and it came about largely due to the efforts of a Catholic priest named Father Hidalgo.

However, May 5th DOES mark the day that 4500 poorly equipped men of the Mexican militia scored an important victory against 6500 well-equipped men of the French army in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, roughly 41 years after Mexico won independence from Spain.

In the years following its independence from Spain, Mexico’s territory expanded greatly, and just prior to the Mexican-American War of 1846, the country of Mexico looked like this:



By the time the Mexican Civil War ended in 1858, Mexico had significant foreign debt. In addition to Spain, Mexico also owed a large amount of money to England and France. By 1862, France was eager to expand its empire, so the French decided to invade Mexico in order to get their money back. When Spain and England heard about France’s plans to invade Mexico, they decided to withdraw their support of Mexico. President Lincoln WAS sympathetic to the Mexican cause, but the attack of Fort Sumter had occurred a year earlier, which made it impossible to provide any aid to Mexico.



Today, Cinco de Mayo seems to be as big a day in America as it is in Mexico, particularly along the U.S.- Mexico border. Just as there are suddenly a lot of people talking with a brogue on March 17th, there’s a large number of Americans drinking either Corona or Tequila on May 5.

A variation of tequila (called octi) was produced by the Aztec people long before the Spanish invasion of 1521, Other variations of liquid made form the agave plant followed, but it wasn’t until the early 19th century that a modern version of tequila was first produced in Guadalajara, Mexico.

One of my worst hangovers ever resulted from too many Coronas AND too many shots of tequila at a Cinco de Mayo party about 20 years ago, so I drink it infrequently, even today.

Tonight, though, the gastronomical pairing of a chicken enchilada casserole and roasted spiced cauliflower will be accompanied by at least one margarita made from Jose Cuervo Gold. If I get too carried away, I’ll be playing the song below repeatedly until the sandman comes for his nightly visit:

the original version, released by The Champs on March 17, 1958.

Buenas noches.

I've been Goosed

I’ve been a wine “afficionado” for a long, long time.

Although I really DO love the taste of wine, the full enjoyment of wine also (by necessity) has to include the proper food pairings and the “poetic description” of the wine at hand.

For example, Barefoot Wines recently produced some handy reference cards to make it easier to match up wine with food.

One of Sharon’s favorite wines is Moscato, which is described as “a sweet white wine with delicious mouth-watering flavors of juicy peach and apricot. Hints of lemon and orange citrus complement a crisp, refreshing finish.”

The suggested food pairing?

“Perfect with spicy Asian cuisine, light desserts, fresh fruit, and mild cheeses.”

When I prepare my weekly gastronomical extravaganza from the various cook books we have at our location, I’m always careful to choose the appropriate wine for the occasion.

This week’s “extravaganza” was taken from a book titled “the spice kitchen”. To complement the Parmesan Chicken (with artichokes), Marjoram Mashed Potatoes, and Grilled Asparagus Spears with Lemon-Cumin Beurre Blanc Sauce, I selected Berringer’s Chenin Blanc, which was described as “a carefully crafted wine with vivid flavors of pear and cantaloupe.. It is sleek and silky, with a subtle hint of orange blossom.”

Compared to wine, beer has long had a “low brow” image, and there are still lots of people who would consider Coors Light and a beef jerky to be a good beer/food pairing.

Both wine and beer have been around for a long time. Wine was first introduced in about 8000 B.C., and beer was introduced about 2000 years later. Wine became the drink of choice for the nobility, and beer became the beverage for the proletariat, but I’m really not sure why.




The five most popular beers in America are:

Bud Light
Budweiser
Miller Light
Coors Light
Corona Extra

Worldwide, the most popular beers are:

Snow (a Chinese beer)
Bud Light
Budweiser
Skol (Brazil)
Corona
Heineken

The most popular beers aren’t necessarily the best beers, but they tend to be relatively decent beers that have benefited from inspired advertising. I’ll be the first to admit that on the occasions when I’m looking for a traditional American beer, I’ll usually buy Budweiser because they’ve got great ads.

horses having a snowball fight

In recent years, domestic beer consumption has either stayed level or declined, but “craft beers” have grown dramatically. In the first half of 2010, domestic beer consumption actually DROPPED 2.7 percent, but the consumption of craft beers INCREASED by 9 percent, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the big beer producers.

Although Boston Brewing (maker of Samuel Adams) is the largest craft brewer in America, Chicago’s Goose Island is America’s 20th largest brewer. More significantly, Goose Island has won at least one medal at one of the nationwide “best beer” competitions for the last 17 years.

Inevitably, craft brewers start to experience shortages of brewing capacity as their beers become more popular, which is precisely what happened to Goose Island. Faced with a choice of either CONTRACTING his company, or expanding it, founder John Hall decided to EXPAND the company by selling a 58% share to Anheuser-Busch on March 29, 2011.

So far, the sky hasn’t fallen.

Anheuser-Busch itself became part of a larger company in 2008, when it merged with InBev, and became the world’s largest brewing company.

The folks at A/B are pretty astute business people, so it’s my opinion that they’ll leave Goose Island untouched and untethered. My one word answer to WHY they would do that is this:

Schlitz

In the 1940’s,Schlitz was the most popular beer in America. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, Schlitz battled Anheuser-Busch for the highest market share. By the late 1960’s, Schlitz decided that if they couldn’t have market share, they would at least have a higher profit margin, so the company started tinkering with its formula. Sales continued to slip in the 1970’s, and the aggressive advertising campaign of the late 1970’s eventually caused the company to fold in 1981.

I was recently invited to a beer tasting by my neighbor Dan, and on April 28, the two of us attended a tasting of Goose Island’s Belgian Beers at the local Whole Food stores. In a nod to the wine industry, the beer descriptions have now taken on a more poetic tone, and all of the beers were paired up with a variety of food offerings.

Our beer selections for the evening were the ones listed under the “vintage” section of Goose Island’s Craft Beer Menu listed below:

Goose Island Beers

The most intriguing beer was Fleur, which was blended with hibiscus and Kampuchea tea, a blend that wouldn’t be understood (or appreciated) by Joe Sixpack. My favorite (and the one that I brought home) was Sophie. This beer was “fermented with wild yeasts and aged in wine barrels with orange peel .. Sophie is a tart, dry, sparkling ale .. a subtle , spicy white pepper note, a hint of citrus from the orange peel and a creamy vanilla finish make Sofie an intriguing choice for Champagne drinkers and beer drinkers who are fond of Belgian Saisons.”

Sophie was paired with fresh goat cheese, served on a wafer cracker and drizzled with orange blossom honey.

A close second, though, was Pere Jacques, a nutty tasting brew that was paired with brown sugar Fromager d’Affinois brulee truffle dipped in dark chocolate.

As Goose Island starts to become more widely available across the nation, it’s possible that there will be more Whole Food tasting events in other states. If you can find one in your home state, I’d encourage you to go, since it made for a very fine evening.

It also adds a whole new dimension to the phrase, “let’s go have a beer.”

Hootie and the blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band that enjoyed widespread popularity in the second half of the 1990s. They were originally formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Sonefeld, and Mark Bryan. The band has recorded seven studio albums to date, and has charted sixteen singles on various Billboard singles charts. Their 1994 debut album, Cracked Rear View, is currently the 15th best-selling album of all time in the US, going platinum 16 times.

The idea for the band came about when Mr. Bryan heard Mr. Rucker singing in the shower at the dorm room they shared at the University, and was impressed by his singing ability. The band got its name due to the fact that one of Rucker’s college choir classmates wore round glasses, and had a round face, giving him an owl-like appearance similar to the picture below:



Although a number of their songs are familiar to us, the one below is the one that is the most recognized:

Hold my hand

The picture above, as well as the other pictures of me on this page, was taken by one of my co-workers, who recently added the FatBooth app to her iPhone. After seeing the picture, I did a little thinking:



Who else would be a good candidate for the blowfish (or blowhard) nickname? The first name that came to mind was Newt Gingrich, whose bombastic theatrics add another dimension to his round faced appearance



The political arena certainly has no shortage of men with large egos, so there’s no question that you’d also have to include the guy pictured below:



My choice in the entertainment industry might surprise you ...



since the whole world seems to be gaga over the lady pictured below:



Since the topic of music has been brought up, I should mention to you that one of my favorite groups is Pink Floyd.



Another Brick in The Wall

If the above picture offends you, or you’re not fond of the group's music, let me offer my heartfelt apology.



Since the Blackhawks are still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup, my pick in the sports category would by Hawks coach Joel Quenneville



You’ll be happy to know ...



that I decided to stay away from religious leaders, but the guy pictured below would surely qualify



If you think of anyone else that makes you angry ...



let me know, and I’ll add them to the list.

All this thought this late in the evening is causing me to feel a little sleepy ...



so I think I’ll bring this topic to a close.

How drinking led to texting

Today, it seems like text messaging has been around forever. Truth be told, though, texting is a fairly recent phenomena. The first SMS (short message service) began in 1993, but texting really didn’t become popular until 2001, when text capable cell phones were introduced. Text messaging is most popular in Asia, especially in China. In 2007, 700 million text messages were sent between Chinese cell phone users, which is actually far LESS than the number of texts sent in the United States. In May of 2010, it was reported that 72% of adult Americans sent and received test messages. At the end of 2009, 286 million cell phone users (out of a total population of a little more than 300,000,000 people) were sending an average of 152.7 billion text messages PER MONTH.

Makes you want to LOL, doesn't it?

Cell phones were first introduced in 1973. As of today’s date, it seems like everyone on the planet has their own cell phone, or access to one. China alone has over 300,000,000.

It may surprise you to know that “text messaging” has been around much longer than the either the cell phone or the “land line” that was patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. To be totally accurate, Mr. Bell wasn’t the first person to invent the telephone as we know it, since an Italian man named Antonio Meucci constructed the first working acoustic telephone way back in 1834.

In 1836, American artist Samuel F.B. Morse, American physicist Joseph Henry, and a man named Alfred Vail invented the electric telegraph system., but it wasn’t used commercially until 1844. In spite of the proliferation of the internet and the telephone, the telegraph is still being used today. Over the years, the basic system has been refined. In recent years, operators have started to add the common text message abbreviations (such as LOL) to speed up the process. The official speed record for traditional Morse code typing was set in Australia in 1939, a blistering 75.2 words per minute.

What brought this topic to mind is a bottle of Australian Shiraz that I recently purchased from a local wine store. On the cover was a label that looked like this

…
….
..
.-.
.-
- -..

The wine was produced by Henry’s Drive Vignerons to honor the Morse Codian fraternity in Australia. Since I’ve never studied Morse Code, I used the website below to help me translate the label.

how do you read Morse Code?

The confusing combination of dots and dashes shown about spells out “Shiraz”. Just as Google Translate has allowed me to publish articles in Gaelic, French, Mandarin, and Arabic, the website immediately above can be used to translate entire paragraphs into Morse Code. The paragraph about the wine is translated like this:

- .... . .-- .. -. . .-- .- ... .--. .-. --- -.. ..- -.-. . -.. -... -.-- .... . -. .-. -.-- ... -.. .-. .. ...- . ...- .. --. -. . .-. --- -. ... - --- .... --- -. --- .-. - .... . -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. .. .- -. ..-. .-. .- - . .-. -. .. - -.-- .. -. .- ..- ... - .-. .- .-.. .. .- .-.-.- ... .. -. -.-. . .. ...- . -. . ...- . .-. ... - ..- -.. .. . -.. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . --..-- .. ..- ... . -.. - .... . .-- . -... ... .. - . -... . .-.. --- .-- - --- .... . .-.. .--. -- . - .-. .- -. ... .-.. .- - . - .... . .-.. .- -... . .-..


Prior to the invention of the telegraph, the earliest form of texting goes back to around 150 B.C. With some modern refinements, it would look like this today:



By the way, the wine was very good

Back away from that clothesline, lady

For some reason, our fondest childhood memories are about food.

In my case, my favorite dishes (made at home by my mother) were broiled cheeseburgers, tapioca pudding, Spam with cloves, cucumbers with onions, pie crust strips with jam, caramel rolls with nuts, rhubarb pie, devils food cake with thick rich chocolate frosting, and Hungarian goulash.

When I was 6, I discovered Hamm’s beer, but that’s a story for another time.

In addition to the taste of my favorite dishes, there are also fond memories of the SMELLS of my childhood - freshly baked bread, the morning cup of Folger’s coffee, and the fresh smell of clothes just off the backyard clothesline.



Today, political correctness has caused thousands of communities across the country to BAN outdoor clotheslines, because clotheslines are considered to be “unsightly, offensive, and a detriment to property values”.

what does Doonesbury have to say about that?

Since clothes dryers consume roughly 10% of a household’s total energy use, it seems entirely logical to revert back to “the old fashioned way” of drying clothes. When I lived in China, I discovered that very few people HAD clothes dryers, and virtually all the high rise apartments in Guangzhou always had undergarments flapping in the breeze on the outside balcony.

Sharon and I have been “house-sitting” for one of our neighbors just up the street while he is on a humanitarian mission in India. Since April 14th was sunny and breezy, I used his washing machine, and his OUTSIDE CLOTHES LINE to do my laundry.

Strange as it may seem, the fragrance of the clothes that I pulled off the line later on in the day was almost intoxicating because my clothes smelled THAT GOOD.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend to doing just about everything “the natural way”. As part of that trend, more and more people are “joining the fight to legalize clotheslines” (I’m not making this up.)

Believe it or not, there are people who make a living as professional clothesline installers. If you feel handy enough to try it yourself, the clip below from The Needham Channel will make it easier for you:

string ‘em up, Harry

There are six states that have "right to dry" laws (Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, and Vermont). Florida was the first state to pass such a law, which overrides any HOA laws that prohibit clotheslines. 

https://www.sightline.org/2012/02/21/clothesline-bans-void-in-19-states/

In addition to Oregon, there are solar access laws in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. They all delineate a homeowner’s right to install a “solar energy system,” “solar energy device,” “solar collector,” “system for obtaining solar energy” or “solar energy collection device.” The legal terminology varies, but the letter and spirit of these laws has one overarching message: homeowners may utilize the power of the sun.

Since the purpose of solar access laws is to permit homeowners to take advantage of energy from the sun, it is illogical to ban clotheslines, which do precisely that. 

What’s the most cost-effective way to save home energy costs and capture the benefits of solar energy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

An accessory to murder ?

An accessory is a person who assists in the commission of a crime, but who does not actually participate in the commission of the crime as a joint principal.

It’s a term that most of us don’t think about very much, but we were all witnesses this week to a series of murders overseas that were caused by an obscure preacher in Florida.

Terry Jones, the evangelical pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center (in Gainesville, Florida) had originally planned to burn 200 copies of the Koran on the 9th anniversary of September 11th, but later decided to cancel his demonstration. However, on March 20 of 2011, he burned a single copy of the Koran at his church, with only 30 members in attendance.

News of the desecration didn’t spread for a few days, but on April 1,
the story finally reached Afghanistan. Almost immediately, a mob overran the headquarters of the United Nations in Mazar-I-Sharif, killing 12 people, 7 of whom were international staff members. The next day, 9 more people were killed, and 81 wounded, as the protests continued.

Last Saturday, President Obama described the killings as “outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity”. He also said that the desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry.

Since it’s not illegal to burn either the Koran or the Bible, Jones technically did not commit a crime. However, since he knew, or should have known, that his actions would have consequences in the parts of the world where the majority of the population considers the Koran to be a sacred text, it is my opinion that either the state of Florida, or an international commission, should charge him as an accessory to murder, and lock him up for a long, long time.

Inciting a riot is a federal crime that is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine. Strictly speaking, Jones didn’t DIRECTLY incite
the riots overseas, but he was most certainly the indirect cause.

I have two copies of the Koran on my bookshelf, and I wrote a 4500 word “book report” (which I titled "what Vietnam can teach us about the Koran") on the book shortly after I received my first copy. I strongly suspect that Pastor Jones hasn’t even cracked the cover. If he had, he would realize that the Koran is NOT an evil book., The INTREPRATIONS of the Koran (through Sharia law) lead to some nasty consequences, just as fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible lead to conclusions that are far removed from the message that Jesus tried to convey to us 2000 years ago.

Why should any of us care what a crazy preacher does in a small town in Florida, or that a few people get killed on the other side of the world?

The best answer that I can give you are the words uttered by Franklin Roosevelt shortly after the end of WWII:



I have visited both the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angles and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois.

One message that was abundantly clear after my tours was that the murder of 6,000,000 Jews occurred due to the fact that the leaders of the free world, and the sitting pope (Pius XII), did nothing to stop it.

Somewhat belatedly, the United Nations issued The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The declaration hasn’t stopped atrocities in other countries, the most recent of which are the murder of civilians in Libya or the persecution of Baha’is in Iran, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Although Islam is the single most popular religion in the world, only 1% of the American population are considered to be followers. In spite of that small total, Muslims were the victims of 14% of the religious discrimination cases last year in federal court.

The attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was a horrific event, but it pales in comparison to the carnage that the world’s Christians inflicted on the most advanced society in the world over a 200 year period known as “the Crusades”, which I covered in more detail in my post of June 23, 2009

The Office of the Attoney General of Florida, headed by Pam Bondi, does not institute criminal cases in the state. However, her office DOES get involved when criminal cases are are appealed in state and federal courts.

It is my fervent hope that a local prosecutor finally finds a way to bring charges against Pastor Jones. In the event that the case eventually may get to the Attorney General’s office, I am sending a copy of this article to Pam Bondi.

Since its introduction two years ago, this website has been viewed by roughly 12,000 people in some 60 or so countries, including Afghanistan. Through the magic of the internet, there’s a possibility that folks throughout the world will realize that very few of us Americans agree with Pastor Terry Jones.

As-salam wal Hub