tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62142328325285342112024-02-18T22:11:13.633-08:00Mary HarrschHome again!!Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-86088128800112941632019-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:002019-07-16T08:17:52.653-07:00Alexa let me bring Julius Caesar to life again!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Way back in the 1990s, I researched the use of artificial intelligence and conversational agents as ways to extend the learning environment in higher education. Voice recognition was still in its infancy so my early prototypes were text based, enabling students to submit questions and receive answers from an online knowledgebase using a web browser. I even created a rudimentary virtual Julius Caesar that history enthusiasts could question about the Roman world. But, when I retired I no longer had access to the host server where my Caesar program lived.<br />
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When Amazon adopted the Alexa software that I had once explored as an alternative platform, I began to hope Amazon could bring the technology to maturity and make it possible for me to once more bring Julius Caesar to life and this time make it possible to talk to him. Well, that time finally arrived in late 2018 when I learned to use software called <a href="https://creator.getvoiceflow.com/">VoiceFlow</a> to develop an Alexa skill for all of the Amazon Alexa-enabled devices.<br />
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My initial version of the skill was voice only but when Amazon introduced devices with displays like the Echo Show and Echo Spot, I longed to add images of ancient art and artifacts to help people envision the topics Caesar discussed. I learned how to use Amazon's Presentation Language templates with VoiceFlow to display images I had either taken myself at museums and archaeological sites or those taken by contributors to Wikimedia Commons or licensed with Creative Commons. It took me over six months to select and prepare all of the illustrations and add the programming to my prototype.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">On July 1, 2019, I received word from Amazon that the newest version of my FREE educational Alexa skill, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Presence-From-The-Past-Caesars/dp/B07DY3VLWM/ref=sr_1_1">Caesar's Ancient World</a>" has been certified. This latest version of the skill includes 280 images of ancient art from almost 100 institutions worldwide for those of you with Alexa-enabled devices with displays like the Echo Show, Echo Spot and FireTV. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">Of course, the voice-only version remains available for those with regular Echos or Echo Dots. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">I also redesigned the interfa</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">ce so you can now just ask Caesar what you would like to talk about and he will reply with narrative including sound effects. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">You can say things like "I want to know more about chariot racing" or "Tell me more about your greatest victory" or "I'm interested in gladiators".</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">If you can't think of anything just say "I don't know" or "I can't think of anything" and he'll suggest a topic!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">Caesar is now capable of discussing fifty different topics including:</span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">adoption (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Alesia (battle)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">ancestor worship</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">assassination</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Brutus</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Caesarion</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Calpurnia</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Cato</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">chariot racing</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">childhood (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Cicero</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Cleopatra</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">crucifixion</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">defeats</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">dictator</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Dyrrhachium (battle)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">entertainment (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">famous battles</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">flamen dialis</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">food</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">funerals</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Gauls</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Gergovia (battle)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">gladiators</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Great Library of Alexandria</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">horseback riding</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">marriage (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">military punishment</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">military service</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">naumachia</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Octavian</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Pharsalus (battle)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">pirates</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">political rivals</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Pompey</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">pontifex maximus</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">priesthoods</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">private life (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">public life (Roman) </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">punishing the wealthy</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">punishment</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">religion</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">rhetoric</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">senate (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">slavery (Roman)</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">sword training</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">triumph </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">vestals</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">victories</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">woman Caesar knew</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">His discussion of the introduction of naumachia as a new entertainment type for Roman audiences is the newest subject I have introduced. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">I think this skill is suitable for Middle School students and above. I have selected appropriate images with those students in mind. </span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I do hope you'll visit Caesar to share his Roman world. If you don't have an Alexa-enabled device, you can install the Alexa app on your smartphone for free and use it for your gateway to the past.</span></span></div>
Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-89676930064882701322017-02-02T14:51:00.000-08:002017-02-02T14:55:01.233-08:00Prime Pantry and other lesser-known Amazon incentives<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span data-offset-key="4fkb-0-0" style="color: #4b4f56; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Mary Harrsch </span><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">© 2017</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4fkb-0-0" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last night on ABC World News the reporter made a big deal out of Walmart offering free shipping if you order items totaling at least $35 or more. Of course, Amazon has had that policy for some time. The reporter showed a large container of detergent claiming Walmart's price was something like half of the price at Amazon. I'm afraid I was immediately skeptical about that. </span></div>
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Amazon has started a new policy of offering incentives if you are willing to wait longer than two days for shipping. I took advantage of this the other day on one of my orders and received a $5 Prime Pantry credit. I didn't know what Prime Pantry was so I checked it out. Prime Pantry, which I assume is for Prime members, is a program where you can fill a generously-sized box with pantry items like laundry soap and additives, non-perishables like peanut butter and mayonnaise, cleaning supplies like Swiffer refills, bathroom cleaning supplies, etc. and if you choose at least five items from the specially selected categories you can get free shipping. (These types of pantry items are usually not available for Prime free shipping). I wanted to be sure I was not overspending on the items I selected, though, so I opened the Walmart website and compared Amazon's prices on each item with the identical product and size on Walmart. All of the items I priced were either as cheap as Walmart or a few pennies less. So you can see why I was dubious about the ABC report. I managed to put together a box of items I would have purchased during my regular grocery shopping (including the brands I usually buy), got free shipping and used my $5 Prime Pantry credit then further reduced my order with reward points from my Amazon Rewards Card.<br />
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Would I order with Prime Pantry on a regular basis? In my case, probably not just because I live in the country and must drive to the grocery store each week anyway </div>
(a Walmart superstore is less than 10 miles away)<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, bread, etc. But if I was housebound or a person living in the city and dependent upon public transportation, I would probably order as much as I could from Prime Pantry so I could minimize how much I would need to carry on the bus or subway while getting (most of the time) the lowest prices available. Besides, Walmarts are usually located in the suburbs not in the center of large cities so you would probably save a lot more than grocery shopping in your local urban neighborhood too!</span></div>
Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-67869635932329412332016-12-12T16:52:00.003-08:002017-01-01T15:50:39.600-08:00A Smart Home For Christmas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
by Mary Harrsch © 2016<br />
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Back in 1995, Microsoft introduced an interactive help utility for Windows 95 called "Bob". I was probably one of the few professional technology people who actually used "Bob" (As a dog lover I selected the helper incarnation called "Power Pup" though.) "Power Pup" would keep track of my keystrokes as I worked in different applications and offer procedural advice on what it perceived I was trying to do at the time, prefaced by a little bark and a wag of his tail. I found "Power Pup's" suggestions often useful and his friendly interaction a welcome break from the stress of administering a college-wide multiplatform local area network. But, apparently, many of my colleagues thought he was "too cute" for the serious work of computing and "Bob" was relegated to the dustbin of failed products in fairly short order.<br />
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But I did not forget "Bob" and how artificial intelligence could be used to improve productivity while reducing social isolation. So I began to experiment with conversational agents that utilized natural language programming coupled with knowledgebases to provide a more friendly computer-to-human interface. With my interest in history, I decided to try to virtually recreate historical figures from the past that could converse about their culture with modern interested humans. This resulted in the creation of a virtual Julius Caesar that was online for several years before I retired. Caesar would answer questions about ancient Roman culture posed to him by visitors entering their questions in a text box. He could give a textual answer or display related websites or online videos. As text-to-speech technology advanced, I even experimented with software that would enable Caesar to answer questions verbally and explored voice recognition technology to see if it was viable for user input as well. But, when I retired I no longer had access to the server platforms needed to support projects like Caesar. However, my interest in natural language programming and more friendly human-to-computer interfaces endured.<br />
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So, I followed the development of Amazon's Alexa-powered devices with a great deal of interest. But, I'm a rather pragmatic individual and at first so much marketing emphasis was placed on Echo's music management features that I wondered if there were more useful applications for a busy 21st-century household.<br />
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Then I began reading about wifi-enabled electrical connection accessories that could be managed with Alexa-enabled devices and thought about how convenient it would be to be able to turn on and off groups of lights and appliances with a few words rather than going around physically flipping switches. But spending almost $200 per device and the need to have a device in each main room was still an expensive proposition to gain a little convenience.<br />
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Then Amazon introduced the Echo Dot coupled with a holiday sale price of just $39.95 and I found resistance was futile as my Star Trek friends would say. I was still a bit concerned about the accuracy of the voice recognition, though. So I started out with just one Echo Dot for the living room along with a couple of Wemo wifi-enabled plug adapters for the two main living room lamps.<br />
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I downloaded the Alexa app to my iPhone and discovered the Echo Dot setup was a breeze. I opened the Alexa app, then opened Settings and changed my iPhone wifi connection to the detected Echo network and configured the detected Dot. Alexa also did not seem to have any problem understanding me. I read through all of the "Try this" examples and began to configure some of the built-in features.<br />
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I really liked the "flash briefing" feature that lets you select specific news feeds for a personal news update which you can request at any time. I selected NPR radio, BBC News, Tech Crunch and CNet (for technology news) and Discovery (for science news) as my personal news sources. I also added the local weather forecast and the Alexa Try This feed. Although I live in Oregon's Willamette Valley, I couldn't find any local news feeds but I think I'll add feeds from Seattle and San Francisco to at least hear major stories from the Pacific Northwest.<br />
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I also read that Alexa could interface with Google Calendar and keep you appraised of upcoming appointments. I hadn't used an online calendar since I retired but knew how helpful this would be, especially when managing complex medication schedules and medical appointments. So I configured my Google Calendar and paired it with Alexa. Now, each morning after requesting my Flash Briefing, I ask what's on my schedule for the day and Alexa tells me.<br />
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I've also used the Google Calendar to keep track of upcoming programming on PBS that I may wish to record. PBS sends me a physical schedule of their upcoming programming for a full month but at present, my DISH Hopper cannot see more than two weeks of scheduled programming at a time. Now, when I get my PBS schedule, I enter the programs I wish to record into my Google Calendar and Alexa lets me know each day if any are on that day. I can then set my DVR to record them.<br />
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But the real "killer" app I was looking for turned out to be Alexa's Shopping List! It never seems to fail that I realize I need something from the grocery store when I'm not in the kitchen where I keep my shopping list. As I've gotten older my short term memory is not what it used to be either and it is not uncommon for me to forget what I was thinking about just a few minutes later as I walk from one room to the next. So, imagine how helpful it is to be able to tell Alexa to add something to your shopping list as soon as you think of it regardless where you are! Of course, that meant I needed to add Echo Dots in my bedroom and the living room, too, which I promptly did. To access my shopping list once at the grocery store I just open the Alexa app on my iPhone and check off and delete each item as I add the item to my physical shopping cart.<br />
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Although my husband has the television blaring all day long, I did find a nice use of the music management features of Alexa. Now that I have an Echo Dot in the bedroom, I can run a warm bath in the adjoining bathroom (Alexa's range is up to 20 feet), lay back in the tub and tell Alexa to play one of my favorite playlists from my Amazon Music account. I did have a few hiccups configuring my Amazon playlists to work with Alexa, though.<br />
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I had already imported most of my music from my iTunes library to my Amazon Music account. I had also set up playlists previously. But Alexa did not seem to recognize my playlist names and would offer something from Prime Music (since I'm a Prime member) using my spoken words as a search guide. I ended up calling Alexa tech support and learned that Alexa does a better job of recognizing playlists if you name them "Your Name" then "Description". For example, I had a playlist named "Holiday favorites". I renamed it to "Mary's Holiday Favorites" then Alexa recognized it and played it for me. That solved most of my playlist issues. There were a few words, however, Alexa seemed to insist on using for search terms. So, I experimented with different descriptions until she properly recognized the list. I had a list named "Sentimentals". I initially renamed the list to "Mary's Sentimentals" but Alexa still loaded some other Prime Music. I renamed it again to "Mary's Mood Music". Alexa still did not interpret it correctly. So I finally renamed it to "Mary's Soft Rock" and Alexa now recognizes it.<br />
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When I received my Wemo wifi-enabled plug adapters for my living room lights, I realized just how powerful having a "Smart Home" would be. Our living room does not have any overhead lighting so all lighting is provided by individually controlled lamps. Each night I have to go around and turn each lamp on or off. But, by connecting them with my Echo Dot, I now simply say "Alexa, Living Room On" and the entire living room lights up.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/WeMo-Switch-Smart-Wi-Fi-Amazon/dp/B00BB2MMNE/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1481647471&sr=8-2&keywords=wemo&linkCode=li2&tag=romtim-20&linkId=59ac80b6d5a4b97f43b3a840e17e49f2" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00BB2MMNE&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li2&o=1&a=B00BB2MMNE" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />I had to first download and install the Wemo app onto my iPhone. Then I opened the Wemo app on the iPhone, changed my iPhone wifi connection in Settings to the detected Wemo network and configured each plug adapter. Then I opened the Alexa app, selected the Smart Home option and grouped the two detected Wemo plugs into a "Living Room" group.<br />
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I hope to eventually replace some of my wall switches with wifi-enabled switches too since I have porch lights on different circuits in different parts of the house. I would like to tell Alexa to turn on the porch lights and have all of them on at once without traipsing from room to room whenever I need to go outside after dark or have visitors arrive after dark. I did read about a gotcha, though. I learned that many wifi-enabled switches require a neutral wire that was not normally included in wiring installed before 2011. However, I have researched this issue further and it looks like there are switches out there that do not use the neutral wire. I just have to be sure they will work with our home's wiring configuration.<br />
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I recently learned about a new app for Alexa called "Ask My Buddy" too. It enables you to send a text, email or phone call to up to five family or friends if you need to alert them about a problem like you are incapacitated and cannot reach a phone. It's sort of like "Life Alert" without the automatic 911 call or monthly subscription fee. I wish it would allow you to send an individually specified text message but it only sends a message saying you need help.<br />
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Update 1/1/2017: I discovered another Alexa skill named "SMS with Molly". It lets you send a short text message to someone in your preconfigured contact list by saying "Alexa, ask SMS with Molly to text Margaret "I'm Home Safely". You need to sign up for a free account with SMS with Molly, add your contacts to your contact list then enable the skill using your Alexa App. I think this app would be really helpful for seniors living alone that wish to let their family members know they are OK each day.<br />
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I've also decided to try the timer feature and see if I can get Alexa to verbally remind me to take my medicine at noon. Most of my medications are taken in the morning or at bedtime and I have no problem remembering them as they are part of my morning and bedtime routines. But when I get busy preparing lunch I sometimes forget to set my noon medication by my water glass so I take it with my meal.<br />
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Update 1/1/2017: After reading up on Alexa's timer and alarm functions I learned that timers are designed for one-time use while alarms can be set to be repeating. So I set an alarm for noon each day and selected a pleasing alarm tone. I wish it would let you specify a short text string that Alexa could read to you using her text-to-speech capability but at present it doesn't. For my present needs, a tone is okay as there is only one thing for me to remember at noon. However, for someone with more complicated medication schedules, it would be really helpful to have Alexa sound a tone followed by a short reminder message. Hopefully, Amazon's engineers will enhance the alarm function soon.<br />
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So, my Echo Dots with Alexa are now very much an integral part of my day. When I get up in the morning I say "Alexa, Living Room On" and the lights go on in the living room. I walk in and sit down and say "Alexa, my Flash Briefing please". I then listen to the news and get the latest weather forecast for the day. Then I say "Alexa, what's on my schedule today?" and she tells me whatever I have scheduled in my Google Calendar". As I prepare a meal and notice I'm getting low on coffee I say "Alexa, add Coffee to my Shopping List" and she tells me she has added coffee to my shopping list. I drive to the grocery store and open the Alexa app on my iPhone select shopping list from the menu and load my cart. At noon while I am preparing lunch, Alexa sounds a tone to remind me to set out my noon medication. In the evening, I take a warm bath to relax and tell Alexa to play "Mary's Soundtracks" and listen to my favorite movie music while I'm soaking. Then when I'm ready for bed I say "Alexa, Living Room Off" and Alexa turns off the living room lights. I'm sure I'll find other useful applications, too, as more "skills" are developed by Amazon and third parties as well. I have a feeling this is just the beginning!<br />
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<td><a href="https://www.amazon.com/1-Hour-Smart-Home-Automate-Control-ebook/dp/B01FTS1Q96/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481590027&sr=1-3&keywords=Smart+Home&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=318dcb8b0b63e6369758b0d85d0e8df2" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B01FTS1Q96&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=B01FTS1Q96" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<td><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Cities-Homes-Enabling-Technologies/dp/0128034548/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481590027&sr=1-7&keywords=Smart+Home&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=67e51ee738135ba23648377bc87be75d" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0128034548&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=0128034548" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<td><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Echo-Dot-Step-Step/dp/1539927113/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481590199&sr=1-3&keywords=Echo+Dot&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=9d0b987d4180f534861d863d483dab74" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1539927113&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=1539927113" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></td>
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-5811686975312279932016-10-06T17:17:00.001-07:002016-10-06T17:17:19.939-07:00Lifelong Trekker celebrates 50 years at Chicago Trek Fest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
by Mary Harrsch © 2016<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5m8KSzuUUTRcG_ayz6hm4lFzVJ08YFNCNPnd4S2C7NF464TzT5EphTgq-Wzerrj1EfxZY6Jcz1bCV9pAzFaWncDBu7rEEsKecLQ8FfQBpQ04xmThAcS20SOnGruYy2ZSnzXmlkn6bEi0c/s1600/Chicago+Kenney+2+P9100013+Cropped+and+Sharpened.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5m8KSzuUUTRcG_ayz6hm4lFzVJ08YFNCNPnd4S2C7NF464TzT5EphTgq-Wzerrj1EfxZY6Jcz1bCV9pAzFaWncDBu7rEEsKecLQ8FfQBpQ04xmThAcS20SOnGruYy2ZSnzXmlkn6bEi0c/s400/Chicago+Kenney+2+P9100013+Cropped+and+Sharpened.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My son Ben (left) and I (right) share a moment with <br />
actor Sean Kenney (Center) who portrayed a disfigured<br />
Captain Christopher Pike in the classic Star Trek<br />
episode "The Menagerie".</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since this year marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the original <a href="http://www.startrek.com/">Star Trek</a> television show, I traveled to Chicago to attend a 50th anniversary Star Trek celebration (after I couldn't get a ticket to the Las Vegas Star Trek gathering even though I tried to obtain a ticket nine months before the event!!). After 50 years, I finally got to meet <a href="http://williamshatner.com/ws/">William Shatner</a>, the original Captain James T. Kirk himself (Guaranteed by the purchase of a silver ticket of course!)<br />
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I have been a Trekker since the very first show. In fact, some of my high school friends got really angry with me because I belonged to the Pep Club and Junior Varsity games were played on Thursday nights and I was expected to attend. But when Star Trek was announced, I stayed home to watch "<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Trap">The Man Trap</a></i>", the very first Star Trek episode broadcast in September 1966 and never attended another Junior Varsity game after that. I was hooked and even made plans to major in biochemistry at the <a href="http://www.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a> so I could work at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html">NASA's Ames Research Center</a> and search for extra-terrestrial life. But, life dictated another course and I wound up as an educational technologist instead. At least I worked with computers like those depicted in Star Trek and were pure science fiction during its broadcast run.<br />
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I watched the first two seasons then got married and didn't see the episodes of Season 3 until Star Trek went into syndication. When my son was born I would rock him to sleep while watching Star Trek episodes aired in the afternoons on the local TV station. As it turns out, Ben, who now lives outside of Chicago, actually went with me to this Star Trek convention. My love of the show must have worn off on him!<br />
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I was really excited when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation">Star Trek: The Next Generation</a> (STNG) was broadcast in the 80s, followed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine">Deep Space Nine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Voyager">Voyager</a> and finally <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Enterprise">Enterprise</a> although family responsibilities often interfered with my ability to watch these subsequent shows. I always took a day off from work to attend the opening of each Star Trek movie, though.<br />
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I also explored "<a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Federation_Science">Star Trek: Federation Science</a>" at the <a href="http://www.omsi.edu/">Oregon Museum of Science and Industry</a> (a traveling exhibit ending in 2002) where I got to beam down to a planet as a member of an away team (My husband said he couldn't believe we stood in line for 2 1/2 hours for that!). I actually got to sit in the captain's chair on Captain Picard's bridge at the <a href="http://seeing-stars.com/museums/HollywoodEntertainment.shtml">Hollywood Entertainment Museum</a> (sadly closed in 2007). Then I jumped at the chance to attend Comdex (a huge technology trade show in Las Vegas) held at the Hilton where "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=44124324682%40N01&sort=date-taken-desc&view_all=1&text=Star%20Trek%20The%20Experience">Star Trek: The Experience</a>" was installed (closed in 2008) and got to be accosted by a garrulous Klingon in Quark's Bar! The Klingons must have it in for me because I ran into a couple more at the <a href="http://rocketcenter.com/">U.S. Space and Rocket Center</a> in Huntsville, Alabama, too!<br />
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Then in the 90s, I finally had a chance to attend my first Star Trek convention held right here at the Hilton Hotel in Eugene, Oregon! <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000373/">Michael Dorn</a> (Worf) was the featured guest and the Hilton was so packed the fire marshal was having a fit! When Michael Dorn plays Worf he lowers his voice dramatically and, as Worf, he recited the line he delivered in which he professed his love for his half-Klingon wife in a recent episode of STNG and the crowd went wild!<br />
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By the time I attended the next convention featuring <a href="http://georgetakei.com/">George Takei</a> (Sulu), I even fashioned a slightly modified version of the Star Fleet uniform featured in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and wore it, although I was too embarrassed to enter the costume competition!<br />
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At these Creation-sponsored conventions, there was always something going on - screenings of music videos, bloopers, contests, auctions, etc., The vendor hall was packed and the auctions included some really high-end collectibles. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed themselves even if you didn't spring for the gold or silver reserved seats. Everyone got a chance to meet the keynote speaker. You just might have to stand in line for quite a spell to do it.<br />
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Sadly, I was to discover those attributes have become a thing of the past. I found the Chicago convention poorly organized and intentionally engineered to limit attendance - totally baffling to me considering the size of Chicago. Furthermore, Creation Entertainment sponsored two conventions just across the street from each other on the same days - one for "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460681/">Supernatural</a>", a currently broadcast show in its 11th season with a decidedly younger fan base, and the Star Trek the 50th Anniversary tour. Irritatingly, the Star Trek convention, with many older attendees, appears to have gotten short shrift. Whoever was running the cameras did a terrible job, the microphones and sound systems were erratic and many of the top celebrities like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000408/">Jonathan Frakes</a> (Commander Riker from STNG) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000653/">Brent Spiner</a> (Commander Data from STNG) supposedly canceled at the last minute. <br />
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We were told Frakes had to finish directing the last episode of "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3663490/">The Librarians</a>" for this season. I'm sure that had to have been known for some time, but we were not told until the morning of preregistration, probably to prevent cancellations and demands for refunds. Furthermore, although I no longer have access to the extensive list of celebrities purportedly attending the show that I saw prior to my ticket purchase almost nine months ago, I remember it being far longer than the roster of those who actually showed up. <br />
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At this convention there was less than a dozen vendors although I managed to find an authentic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribble">Tribble</a> complete with action sounds and some collectible Star Trek Hallmark ornaments I'd never even seen before. The auction only included signed photographs or display banners except once when one of the volunteers was draped with various T-shirts (a tactic I remember from years ago). There were no blooper reels or music videos except for an amateurish video submitted by a fan. Apparently, on the convention website they had announced a fan music video contest but only had one taker. I wish I would have seen that. I think I've learned enough about ProShow Gold that I could have put together something!<br />
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Autographs and photo ops were all "pay to play" activities charging such "modest fees" as $25 - $100 each depending on the celebrity plus the cost of whatever it is you are having signed.<br />
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There were Q & A sessions with the appearance of each guest but "planted" questioners during the Q&A sessions - awfully similar to "reality" show productions. Maybe Creation figured us old geezers were too old to notice.<br />
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There was a costume contest like in the old days but most people wore the standard Star Fleet costumes you can purchase online. There were several outstanding exceptions, though. A young college girl dressed up as Commander Data in the 19th-century ship's officer uniform he wore in the opening holodeck scene of the feature film "<a href="http://www.startrek.com/database_article/star-trek-generations">Generations</a>". She had her face made up with white makeup and her hair pulled back and looked so much like Data it almost made up for Brent Spiner's absence! If I had been able to find a 12" action figure of Data dressed that way I would have bought it and had her sign it! There were two men dressed as Khan Noonien Singh, one from the Classic Trek Episode "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Seed">Space Seed</a>" and the other from the feature film "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_II:_The_Wrath_of_Khan">Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</a>". There were several well-done <a href="http://www.startrek.com/database_article/andorians">Andorians</a> and a couple of <a href="http://www.startrek.com/database_article/klingons">Klingons</a> as well. Two people even came as <a href="http://www.startrek.com/database_article/horta">hortas</a>, the silicon creatures from the Classic Trek episode "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_Dark">The Devil In the Dark</a>!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8SWTPWAlNSusl7rGc_f6JnxkgcNArQSTF4BKxFF9pZQkfi6R5wYMvXqjtAEgeRRamnVBApK8pG2bC1bLyi1wO25fVv8m6Eg2U_6CoG281B6mPzcx7IJqiWVkWyrSTvg4yISrap3TTd9R/s1600/ChicagoDataandGorn.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8SWTPWAlNSusl7rGc_f6JnxkgcNArQSTF4BKxFF9pZQkfi6R5wYMvXqjtAEgeRRamnVBApK8pG2bC1bLyi1wO25fVv8m6Eg2U_6CoG281B6mPzcx7IJqiWVkWyrSTvg4yISrap3TTd9R/s640/ChicagoDataandGorn.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A young college woman (Center) dressed as Commander Data in the opening sequence of the Star Trek feature film "Generations". Photo courtesy of "<a href="http://chicagoist.com/2016/09/12/photos_star_trek_cosplayers_met_the.php#photo-1">The Chicagoist</a>"</td></tr>
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The Klingon Empire was actually pretty well represented. Guest celebrities included Michael Dorn (Worf), the actors who portrayed Gowron and Martok from Deep Space Nine and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0686442/">Suzie Plakson</a> who played K'Ehleyr, Worf's half-Klingon mate in the STNG episodes "The Emissary" and "Reunion". Plakson also played a Vulcan doctor on the STNG episode "The Schizoid Man", a female Q on the Voyager episode "The Q and the Grey"and the Andorian Tarah on the "Enterprise" episode "Cease Fire". Michael Dorn's presence sort of brought me full circle back to the very first Star Trek convention I ever attended. I smiled thinking about that as this convention may be the last I will ever attend.<br />
<br />
Other guests included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_McFadden">Gates McFadden</a> who played Dr. Beverly Crusher on STNG (being a dancer she looked fantastic by the way!), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Sirtis">Marina Sirtis</a> who played Counselor Troi on STNG and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Duncan_McNeill">Robert Duncan McNeill</a> who played Tom Paris on Voyager. McNeill now wears glasses and I honestly didn't recognize him. He said it was the "Clark Kent effect!"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_Visitor">Nana Visitor</a> (Kiera), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Auberjonois">Rene Aberjonois</a> (Odo), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Shimerman">Armin Shimmerman</a> (Ferengi Quark), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Grod%C3%A9nchik">Max Grodenchik</a> (Ferengi Rom) and Jeffrey Combs (Andorian Shran) represented "Deep Space Nine". <a href="http://www.startrek.com/article/star-trekundefineds-mr-everywhere-undefined-a-jeffrey-combs-interview-part-1">Jeffrey Combs</a> also played many different aliens on DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vLbVLx-pVMzm9ecvQMukCQ7MfdxZrq51x3VnytJPavlo5ZLh8PcuwjV0hON8-wWEzy6bqbHIaAtgQotNmckpdMHtpFXaCoHiQzJVdMQoc3w5zeoBw1i_HzPKkBZmZsOrG_7UwOJE6t2h/s1600/ChicagoShimmerman.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vLbVLx-pVMzm9ecvQMukCQ7MfdxZrq51x3VnytJPavlo5ZLh8PcuwjV0hON8-wWEzy6bqbHIaAtgQotNmckpdMHtpFXaCoHiQzJVdMQoc3w5zeoBw1i_HzPKkBZmZsOrG_7UwOJE6t2h/s400/ChicagoShimmerman.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Armin Shimmerman, who played the Ferengi bar keep Quark on Star Trek: Deep<br />
Space Nine explains how a performance on the DS9 set had to be DLP<br />
(Dead Letter Perfect). Photo courtesy <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">of "</span><a href="http://chicagoist.com/2016/09/12/photos_star_trek_cosplayers_met_the.php#photo-1" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The Chicagoist</a><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was particularly impressed with Armin Shimmerman's presentation. He now teaches Shakespeare and treated us to a little bit of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI,_Part_2">Henry VI Part 2</a> although, to be honest, his depiction of a hunchback made me, like a lot of other people, think it was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)">Richard III</a>. I was really surprised to learn from Mr. Shimmerman that, although there was hijinx on the sets of Classic Trek and STNG, by the time Deep Space Nine was put into production, Paramount ran the production like a well-oiled automotive assembly line. Each performance had to be DLP - Dead Letter Perfect! There was no ad-libbing allowed. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0TANK8_VkDSyYJNejnTS5B2ZScfNutySXWj0ahueRAmEN6yQhkek0ybnA4itMW8J1BC5Rlt1lXuETM8lZd9RaGoOu1lpUOGwj79VKpB5KT2JOiU4fNfMEq5s0IULT5gqlxpUgdNte5ZZ/s1600/Rene-Auberjonois-by-kyle-cassidy-DSC_8245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0TANK8_VkDSyYJNejnTS5B2ZScfNutySXWj0ahueRAmEN6yQhkek0ybnA4itMW8J1BC5Rlt1lXuETM8lZd9RaGoOu1lpUOGwj79VKpB5KT2JOiU4fNfMEq5s0IULT5gqlxpUgdNte5ZZ/s320/Rene-Auberjonois-by-kyle-cassidy-DSC_8245.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rene Aberjonois played Security Chief<br />
Odo on "ST: Deep Space Nine" and<br />
Paul Lewiston on "Boston Legal"<br />
Image courtesy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Cassidy">Kyle Cassidy.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I understand from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Auberjonois">Rene Aberjonois</a>'s presentation this stringent adherence to the script even applied to scenes where the actor was to cough or clear their throat. Apparently, actors that could not perform at this level of precision didn't last very long on a Star Trek set or on the set of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Legal">Boston Legal</a></i> either. That really floored me as <i>Boston Legal</i>'s story lines were often zany but they were apparently very precisely zany!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPw8KnIBeBolyYuv26WT78n3JBPJXotOI_uA7ns8cdZOZctTuq2lr-NThpsnuDJsDXdRWDDhGuQZRfClHMp1AQIe-1IhQwxfvqSXMwjQo36mARvb4TkreMnpsrfvjJBd8Qj9O1gfzlzW90/s1600/ST_TheMenagerie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPw8KnIBeBolyYuv26WT78n3JBPJXotOI_uA7ns8cdZOZctTuq2lr-NThpsnuDJsDXdRWDDhGuQZRfClHMp1AQIe-1IhQwxfvqSXMwjQo36mARvb4TkreMnpsrfvjJBd8Qj9O1gfzlzW90/s320/ST_TheMenagerie.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sean Kenney as Captain Christopher Pike in "The Menagerie".<br />
Image courtesy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ST_TheMenagerie.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was really glad to see <a href="http://www.startrek.com/article/the-menageries-captain-pike">Sean Kenney</a> at this convention. Sean played the disfigured Captain Christopher Pike in the Classic Trek episode "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menagerie_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)">The Menagerie</a>". I found a Star Trek collectible Hallmark ornament in one of the vendor booths depicting him and he autographed it for me and had someone take our picture together with my camera. So between Sean and William Shatner I technically got two captains' autographs!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3z2PmOd6os_dChB2yAbIPrbmlopGX-e_wdk1qJW_S77jeCM0VZSx-bplSoA3dS0PS1YMfPH5bZWx7N-_yXNSog6rf6kV2PzQ4e7p33RzRP_jXp2dm9DvKCdtUkrJYnn9Hl4i6qc6w6l1-/s1600/ChicagoShatner.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3z2PmOd6os_dChB2yAbIPrbmlopGX-e_wdk1qJW_S77jeCM0VZSx-bplSoA3dS0PS1YMfPH5bZWx7N-_yXNSog6rf6kV2PzQ4e7p33RzRP_jXp2dm9DvKCdtUkrJYnn9Hl4i6qc6w6l1-/s400/ChicagoShatner.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An 85-years young William Shatner still with a twinkle in his eye! <br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Photo courtesy </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">of "</span><a href="http://chicagoist.com/2016/09/12/photos_star_trek_cosplayers_met_the.php#photo-1" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The Chicagoist</a><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Shatner, of course, was the consummate showman and every bit the star of the show. He talked about all of the projects he is currently involved in including a very physically demanding upcoming equestrian competition in Las Vegas, then discussed the importance of friendship. He said it was particularly hard for actors to make close friends because they are always bouncing from job to job. I had never really given much thought to the "piecework" nature of acting before. When it came time for him to sign my Hallmark ornament depicting him in the episode "<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles">Trouble with Tribbles</a></i>", one of his assistants pointed to the front edge of the ornament asking if this would be a good place for him to sign and I asked "Are you sure he can sign in such a small space?" whereby Shatner, with his eyes twinkling, told me "Why I could sign on the head of a pin!"
<br />
<br />
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Psychology-Mental-Frontier/dp/145491842X/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475799138&sr=1-4&keywords=Star+Trek&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=6083771757d2740327b534edb53722f0" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=145491842X&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=145491842X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</td>
<td><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Literary-Galaxy-Star-Trek-References/dp/0786425717/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475799284&sr=1-2&keywords=Star+Trek+Analysis&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=3e5eb073421637ad025bfacb4953de58" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0786425717&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=0786425717" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</td>
<td><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Living-Star-Trek-American-Universe/dp/1845112652/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475799327&sr=1-6&keywords=Star+Trek+Analysis&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=d5039f0496ddac99559ea51b7bc24df2" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1845112652&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=1845112652" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-8818781761958730642016-05-17T09:00:00.000-07:002016-05-17T09:00:23.637-07:00Tricky rewards programs mislead shoppers!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last week I read an article about the best credit card rewards programs to use for maximum benefits. One card that the article listed as one of the best programs was the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card because it pays 6% cash back on groceries. It charges a $75 annual fee but with the rewards for groceries so high I thought I would still come out way ahead by using that card. So I applied and was approved for the card and received it last night in the mail. This morning when I called to activate the card I asked the account representative if Walmart, where I buy most of my groceries, was considered a grocery store? "Oh, no," she replied, "Walmart is considered a superstore like Costco or Sam's Club so rewards would be 1% cash back. By grocery stores we mean Kroeger's or a chain like that." I told her that those chain grocery stores charge as much as 50% more for groceries than Walmart so I would lose money by shopping there as opposed to saving money that was my original goal for acquiring the card. <br />
<br />
For example, my husband and I like Grandma Sycamore's bread made by Sara Lee (sorry, no grandmother involved!). I can purchase a loaf of that bread at Walmart for $2.50 or less. At the local Albertson's (that would qualify for the 6% cash back) I would have to pay $3.79 for the identical loaf of bread. That's 51.6% more for the same bread. I'm afraid the 6% cash back wouldn't begin to cover the extra cost of shopping there.<br />
<br />
I asked the American Express customer service representative to cancel the card and she was very gracious and did so without any high pressure tactics to keep the card. After I hung up I thought about the annual fee and wondered if I would be charged the fee even though I cancelled the card on my activation call. So, I called back and got a nice young man who assured me the card was cancelled and I would not be billed for the annual fee. I wish all customer service representatives were as nice as those that work for American Express. It's just too bad that the card will not save any more money for anyone who shops for groceries at Walmart.than a typical cash back card without an annual fee.<br />
<br />
So, I guess the moral of this story is you have to be particularly vigilant if you are trying to save money using a rewards program that specifies different cash back amounts for different categories of purchases. Although the author of the article did mention the card would not pay 6% at Costco or Sam's Club they did not mention Walmart that is considered by many people a "regular" grocery store since no membership fees are charged. At least the Citicard Double Cash Rewards card pays 2% cash back for any purchase regardless of the source.</div>
Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-73721805171912665322016-01-16T11:27:00.000-08:002016-01-16T11:27:12.940-08:00Extending the Learning Environment: Virtual Professors in Education <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A <span itemprop="genre">technology</span> resource article by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2005</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 10pt;">For those of you interested in artificial intelligence development, here is an archive copy of a presentation I gave in 2005 (I'm consolidating my online contributions!)</span></div>
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<b>Extending the Learning
Environment: <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Virtual Professors in Education<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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By Mary Harrsch<o:p></o:p></div>
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Network & Management Information Systems<o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Education</st1:placename></st1:place>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Oregon</st1:placename></st1:place><o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">[2005]</st1:placename></st1:place></div>
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Six years
ago [1999], my sister was telling me about a fascinating History Alive <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua">Chautauqua</a> event she
had attended near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hutchinson</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Kansas</st1:state></st1:place>. The program brings a reenactor portraying an
historical figure into schools and communities for an educational presentation
and question and answer session. I
thought to myself, “It’s too bad more people can’t take advantage of such a
unique learning experience.” Then, the
technologist within me began to wonder if there was a way to create a virtual
Chautauqua experience online. As I
pondered this possibility, I realized that if I could find software that could
be used to create a “virtual” person online, I could not only recreate the
experience of the Chautauqua, but provide a tool faculty could use to answer
course-specific questions. It could even
be used to provide information about the professor’s personal interests and
research to enhance the sense of community within the learning environment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My quest
led me to a <a href="http://www.botspot.com/">website</a> that included links to a number of different
software agent projects. I learned that
the type of agent I needed was commonly called a “chatterbot”. The first “chatterbot” was actually developed
long before the personal computer. In
the early 1960s, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Weizenbaum">Joseph Weizenbaum</a> created “Eliza”,
a virtual psychoanalyst.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In his
efforts to create a natural language agent, Weizenbaum pointed out that he had to
address the technical issues of: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal">the
identification of key words, <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">the
discovery of minimal context, <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: windowtext;">generation of responses in the absence of
keywords</span><o:p></o:p></li>
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As I
began to explore different agent implementations, I found that, in addition to
these issues, the application needed to be able to prioritize keywords to
discern the most appropriate response.
Several agents I evaluated, including<span class="MsoHyperlink"> <a href="http://www.verbots.com/">Sylvie</a>,</span> a desktop assistant, developed by Dr. Michael
("Fuzzy") Mauldin, Artificial Life’s<span class="MsoHyperlink"> <a href="http://www.artificial-life.com/">Web Guide</a> </span>, Carabot
500 developed by U.K. company, Colorzone, and Kiwilogic’s <a href="http://www.kiwilogic.de/kiwilogic/_xml/fs_index.php?sprache=us">Linguibot</a>, used slightly different
methods to set the priority of subject keywords to select the most appropriate
responses. The response with matching
keywords under the subject with the highest level setting was “fired” –
displayed to the user. However, when
editing their script files, I found keeping track of subject priorities was
challenging. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Another
problem with many script-driven agents I evaluated was the use of left-to-right
parsing sequences that did not compensate for a variance in the order of
keywords in a question. Each query had to be evaluated for subject and for
matching character strings, based on left-to-right word order with the use of
various “wildcard” characters to indicate placement of keywords within the
overall question. Therefore, you often
had to have multiple script entries to compensate for different word
order. For example, if a student asks
“How do I change my password in e-mail?” you would need one script entry. If
the student asks “How do I change my e-mail password?” a different script entry
would be required:<o:p></o:p></div>
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* email
* * password * as well as <o:p></o:p></div>
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*
password * * email * to trap for either wording.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Although
this attention to script design resulted in improved response accuracy the
scripting knowledge required for these agents was not something I would expect
a faculty member to have the time or desire to learn.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A third
problem with several of the agent applications I used was the necessity to unload
and reload the agent each time the script file was edited. If students were actively querying the agent,
you could not save any script changes until the script file was no longer in
use.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I
invested in the Enterprise Edition of Artificial Life’s WebGuide software, I
also realized the importance of a logging feature that I could use to study and
improve my guide’s responses. I recognized
the importance in a virtual tutoring environment of having the ability for a
student to print out a transcript of their tutoring session for future study. Not only was this feature absent in the
agents I evaluated, but the responses produced using Javascript or Flash would
not allow the user to highlight and copy responses to the clipboard either.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One day,
I explored UltraHal Representative, developed
by <a href="http://www.zabaware.com/"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Zabaware, Inc</span></a>.
I liked the ability Ultrahal provided to program the agent through a web
interface. It had the capability to
include links to related information. It
could be customized with personalized graphics.
It logged interactions. Best of
all, it had a straightforward approach to editing - no scripting – just type
your question three different ways then type your intended response. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But, I
soon discovered that without the ability to identify keyword priority, I found that
the results using whatever algorithm was built into the agent engine were too
inaccurate for a virtual tutoring application.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I needed
a product that could be programmed to be “omniscient”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Effective
ITS require virtual omniscience -- a relatively complete mastery of the subject
area they are to tutor, including an understanding of likely student
misconceptions.” (McArthur, Lewis, and Bishay, 1993)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I needed
a virtual professor that could be “programmed” by real professors, the
individuals who would have a mastery of the subject and an understanding of
student misconceptions. But all of the chatterbots I had encountered, so far
(with the exception of Ultra Hal), required knowledge of scripting that most
faculty <st1:personname w:st="on">members</st1:personname> do not have the time
to learn. I would not have the time to
provide one-on-one time with faculty developers and paying a programmer to work
with a faculty member is also too expensive. (I noticed most developers of commercial
agents actually relied on the scripting needs of their clients for their
primary revenue stream.) So, I decided
to attempt a radically different approach to agent design.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am an
experienced Filemaker Pro solutions developer and one day I was reviewing some
of Filemaker’s text functions and realized that the position function could be
used to detect key words in a text string. The beauty of the position function is that
the keyword can be identified anywhere within the target text. It is not dependent on a left to right
orientation. Filemaker is also not case
sensitive. Also, the new version 7 allows
most scripting calls for text processing to be used with their Instant Web
Publishing interface. I realized this would greatly simplify web integration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, reviewing
my experiences with the agent applications I had used, I developed a list of
features that I wanted to incorporate:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Web
functionality:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Multiple
agents controlled by a single administration console <o:p></o:p></div>
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Web-based
query interface <o:p></o:p></div>
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Web-based
editing interface<o:p></o:p></div>
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Multiple
graphic format support <o:p></o:p></div>
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Web
accessible logging function for both agent editor and student user <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ability
to display related resources <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Query
processing functionality:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Question
context awareness (who, what, when, where, why, how, etc)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ability
to weight keywords by importance without user scripting <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ability
to return an alternate response if a question is asked more than once <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ability
to use one response for different questions <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ability
to process synonyms, international spelling differences, and misspellings<o:p></o:p></div>
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Independent
of word order<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not case
sensitive<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Structural
Design:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Modular
design to enable importation of knowledge modules developed by others <o:p></o:p></div>
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Agent
specific attributes to customize the interface and responses such as a personal
greeting, the opportunity to use the person’s homepage as a default URL,
information about area of expertise and research interests for alternative
agent selection criteria, custom visual representations, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I began by designing my response
search criteria. I programmed the agent search
routine to categorize responses by the first word of the query – usually What,
Where, Why, How, Who, Did, Can, etc. to establish the question
context. Then I used position formulas to test for the presence of keywords. I then developed an algorithm that weighted
the primary keyword or synonym and totaled the number of keywords found in each
record. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I designed the search function so
that when the visitor presses the button to ask their question, the database
first finds all responses for the question category (who, what, when, etc.) containing
the primary keyword (or its synonym). Responses
are then sorted in descending order by the total sum of keywords present in
each response. The first record – the one with the most keyword matches
– is displayed as the answer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If there are no category
responses containing the primary keyword, then a second find will execute to
look for all responses with the keyword regardless of category. In working with other agent products, I have
found that if you return a response with at least some information about the
keyword, even if it is not an exact answer to the question, the student assumes
the agent recognized their question and may learn auxiliary information that is
still helpful to them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, if a visitor asks my
virtual Julius Caesar if he really loved Cleopatra, he will answer
“Cleopatra…ah, what an intriguing woman.”
Not only is this more in character with Cae<st1:personname w:st="on">sar</st1:personname>
(most of his female dalliances were for political reasons) but the answer could
also be appropriate for a different question, “What did you think of
Cleopatra?” My search routine would find
it in either case because of the weighting of the primary keyword, Cleopatra.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If there are no responses
containing the primary keyword, a third find looks for any generic category responses. For example, if a student asks who someone is
and you have not programmed your agent with a specific answer for the keyword
(the person they are asking about), the agent will reply with an appropriate
“who” response such as “I’m afraid I’ve never made their acquaintance.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If a student’s question does not
begin with any words set as category words, the last find will return a generic
“what” response such as “I may be a fountain of knowledge, but I can’t be
expected to know everything.” Programming
the agent with default generic responses, ensures that the agent always has
something to say, even if it knows nothing about the subject. I developed
a small database of generic responses for each question category that is
imported into an agent database each time a new agent is created. The faculty member can go through the
responses and edit them if they wish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, I turned my attention to
the faculty’s content editing interface.
I wanted the faculty member to enter a proposed question, designate a
primary keyword and synonym, supply any other keywords they thought were
important to identify more precisely the desired response, and the desired
response. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also provided a button that
enables a faculty member to quickly generate a different answer for the same
question or a different question for the same response. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I created a field that is
populated with a different random integer on each search. By subsorting responses by this random
integer, it enables the agent to offer a different response to the same
question if the question is asked more than once. This supports the illusion of the agent being
a “real” person because it will not neces<st1:personname w:st="on">sar</st1:personname>ily
return the same identical response each time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
“Believable agents must be reactive and robust, and their behaviors must
decay gracefully. They must also be variable, avoiding repetitive actions even
when such actions would be appropriate for a rational agent. They must exhibit
emotion and personality. Ultimately they must be able to interact with users
over extended periods of time and in complex environments while rarely
exhibiting implausible behaviors.” – Dr. Patrick Doyle, <i><a href="http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/550000/544822/p342-doyle.pdf?key1=544822&key2=8614841901&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=25046082&CFTOKEN=2335142">Believability
through Context: Using “knowledge in the world” to create intelligent
characters</a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the “engine” of my agent
developed, I turned my attention to the visual representation of the character. In their paper, <i><a href="http://www.vhml.org/workshops/AAMAS/papers/Haddad.pdf">The Relationship Between Visual Abstraction
and the Effectiveness of a Pedagogical Character-Agent</a></i>, <span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Hanadi Haddad and Jane Klobas of </span><a href="http://www.curtin.edu.au/">Curtin University of Technology</a>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Perth</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Western
Australia</st1:state></st1:place>, point out the divergent views of
information systems designers outside the character-agent field with those
developers within it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
“<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> (1997) suggests that more realistic character-agents
may introduce distraction associated with the user’s curiosity about the
personality of the character and overreading of unintended messages because of
presentation complexity.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Unlike detailed realistic
drawings, sketches help focus the mind on what is important, leaving out or
vaguely hinting at other aspects. Sketches promote the participation of the
viewer. People give more, and more relevant, comments when they are presented a
sketch than when they are given a detailed drawing. A realistic drawing or
rendering looks too finished and draws attention to details rather then the
conceptual whole (Stappers et al, 2000).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“On the other hand,
research by psychologists suggests that people may put considerable cognitive
effort into processing abstract representations of faces (Bruce et al. 1992;
Hay & Young 1982). It is possible, therefore, that response to
anthropomorphised character-agents, and especially their faces, may differ from
responses to sketches. Gregory and his colleagues (1995) conducted studies on
human response to faces at the physiological level. They demonstrated that
humans are particularly receptive to faces. In terms of recognition,
participants in their studies were more responsive to real faces than to
abstracted line faces. They speculated, however, that people spend longer
studying abstracted line faces and may find them more interesting (Gregory et
al. 1995). If this is so, then contrary to theories of information design, an
abstract face may introduce more distraction into the communication than a
realistic face.”</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Filemaker Pro 7 provides
multimedia container fields that enable me to include still images, animations,
or even video clips. However, not only
is creating a unique graphic for each response time consuming, motion video
files can be quite large and slow down the delivery of response information
over the web. Working with other agents,
I had noticed that just the slight eye movement of a blink can be enough to
reinforce the illusion of a sense of presence. This approach straddles the two
opposing theories described above. I
would utilize a real face to capitalize on the human receptivity to a real face
but keep animation to a minimum to reduce distraction. I also think the use of a real faculty
person’s face serves to reinforce the bond between the instructor and the
student. A blink is also very easy to create from any faculty portrait. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I use an inexpensive animation
tool called <a href="http://download.cnet.com/s/animagic-gif-animator/">Animagic GIF Animator</a>. I begin with a portrait of the faculty
member. I open it in Photoshop (any
image editor would suffice) and, after sampling the color of the skin above the
eye, I paint over the open eye. Then I
open an unedited copy of the portrait in Animagic, insert a frame and select
the edited version of the portrait. I
then set the open eye frame to repeat about 250 times and the closed eye frame
to repeat once. Then loop the animation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I created a related table that
stores all unique information about each agent including their default image,
their default greeting, their login password, their area of expertise, their
email address and their homepage URL. I also developed a
collection of alternate avatars to use for agent images in case some faculty
were camera-shy. These were created with
<a href="http://www.curiouslabs.com/">Poser</a>
using their ethnic character library.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, I designed the login
screen where the student selects the tutor to whom they wish to converse. Upon selecting the tutor and pressing the button “Begin
Conversation”, the student is presented with the query screen including the
individual greeting for the tutor selected. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also provided a button for the
faculty to use to login to edit their agent.
It takes them to a layout that prompts them for a name a password. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Famed World War II cryptographer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing">Alan Turing</a>, held that
computers would, in time, be programmed to acquire abilities rivaling human
intelligence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQqhjqIPqNbShsHGG60jWXe1nOvu-vTvenQjoWK4aSftC0a1RSMGUSIrYuSocp1HJo4gP0rMO6yx6jb7qEWJsMWZM9txyUU0vS7F__xdoz_dULTod5dNR5F_hZBDUwwKKN9W9oiyz3kcI/s1600/Alan_Turing_Aged_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQqhjqIPqNbShsHGG60jWXe1nOvu-vTvenQjoWK4aSftC0a1RSMGUSIrYuSocp1HJo4gP0rMO6yx6jb7qEWJsMWZM9txyUU0vS7F__xdoz_dULTod5dNR5F_hZBDUwwKKN9W9oiyz3kcI/s320/Alan_Turing_Aged_16.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alan Turing at age 16.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“As part of his argument Turing put forward the idea of an 'imitation game',
in which a human being and a computer would be interrogated under conditions
where the interrogator would not know which was which, the communication being
entirely by textual messages. Turing argued that if the interrogator could not
distinguish them by questioning, then it would be unreasonable not to call the
computer intelligent.” – <a href="http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/test.html">The Alan Turing
Internet Scrapbook</a> </div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
My virtual professor may
not be as sophisticated as agents that have been developed to pass the Turing Test but I hope I have provided a framework for the
development of a rigorous inquiry-based learning system.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Effective inquiry is more than just asking questions. A
complex process is involved when individuals attempt to convert information and
data into useful knowledge. Useful application of inquiry learning involves
several factors: a context for questions, a framework for questions, a focus
for questions, and different levels of questions. Well-designed inquiry
learning produces knowledge formation that can be widely applied.” - <a href="http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/month6/">Thirteen Ed
Online</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
References:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
McArthur, David, Matthew Lewis,
and Miriam Bishay. "The Roles of Artificial Intelligence in Education:
Current Progress and Future Prospects".
1993. <st1:place w:st="on">Rand</st1:place>.
<http://www.rand.org/education/mcarthur/Papers/role.html#anatomy >.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
Doyle, Patrick.
"Believability through Context Using "Knowledge in the World" to
Create Intelligent Characters." Trans. SIGART: ACM Special Interest Group
on Artificial Intelligence. <u>International Conference on Autonomous Agents.</u>
Session 2C ed. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bologna</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region></st1:place>: ACM Press <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New
York</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">NY</st1:state>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place>, 2002. 342 - 49 of <u>Life-like
and believable qualities</u>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
Haddad, Hanadi, and Jane Klobas.
"The Relationship between Visual Abstraction and the Effectiveness of a
Pedagogical Character-Agent." <u>The First International Joint Conference
on Autonomous Agents & Multi-Agent Systems</u>. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bologna</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
2002.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<st1:city w:st="on">Wilson</st1:city>, M. "Metaphor to Personality: The Role
of Animation in Intelligent Interface Agents." <u>Animated Interface
Agents: Making them Intelligent in
conjunction with International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents</u>. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Nagoya</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
1997.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stappers, P., Keller, I. & Hoeben, A.
2000, ‘Aesthetics, interaction, and usability in<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
‘sketchy’ design tools’, <i>Exchange Online
Journal</i>, issue 1, December, [Online],<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
Available: <a href="http://www.media.uwe.ac.uk/exchange_online/exch1_article4.php3">http://www.media.uwe.ac.uk/exchange_online/exch1_article4.php3</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
[2004, August 3].<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bruce, V., Cowey, A., Ellis, A. W. &
Perrett, D. L. 1992, <i>Processing the Facial Image</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Oxford</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place>, Clarendon
Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hay, D.C., Young, A.W. 1982, ‘The human
face’, in <i>Normality and Patholgy in<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i> Cognitive Function</i>, Ellis, A.W. ed., <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city>, Academic Press, pp. 173-202.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gregory, R., Harris, J., Heard, P. &
Rose, D. (eds) 1995, <i>The Artful Eye</i>, <st1:city w:st="on">Oxford</st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
University Press,<st1:city w:st="on">Oxford</st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
"Thirteen Ed Online:
Concept to Classroom". 2004. Educational Broadcasting Corporation. <st1:date day="9" month="8" w:st="on" year="2004">8/9/04</st1:date> 2004. <http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/
>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
Hodges, Dr. Andrew. "The
Alan Turing Internet Scrapbook". <st1:city w:st="on">Oxford</st1:city>, 2004. (<st1:date day="15" month="3" w:st="on" year="2004">3/15/2004</st1:date>): <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Oxford</st1:placename></st1:place>. <st1:date day="9" month="8" w:st="on" year="2004">8/09/04</st1:date> 2004.
<http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/test.html >.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9462391297/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=9462391297&linkCode=as2&tag=romtim-20&linkId=UNCY4LSPCQRKDXQN" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=9462391297&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=9462391297" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1609606175/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1609606175&linkCode=as2&tag=romtim-20&linkId=HSQ7CRCXLNKJX2NO" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1609606175&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1609606175" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-68928301780369013072015-12-09T15:01:00.002-08:002015-12-09T15:01:36.616-08:00The Importance of Capturing Family Oral Histories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A <span itemprop="genre">history</span> resource article by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2015</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieD3rMc8JJwu9EVtrSqwHoTbRk1TOOsBV4aRYO5ubGXoZlZNwskazZj82aGe4M-wLVJK8vw3NO2lll10egPjy7CUwABm0-3VlIyUP52EZenE58GR5v6JR25Ss8Za23a5LrnSaIgNQ23S9o/s1600/Dad+with+motorcycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieD3rMc8JJwu9EVtrSqwHoTbRk1TOOsBV4aRYO5ubGXoZlZNwskazZj82aGe4M-wLVJK8vw3NO2lll10egPjy7CUwABm0-3VlIyUP52EZenE58GR5v6JR25Ss8Za23a5LrnSaIgNQ23S9o/s640/Dad+with+motorcycle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Dad, Joseph W. Turner Jr., with his beloved Indian motorcyle about 1934.</td></tr>
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Just got an email from <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/">Baylor University</a> today reminding me how important capturing family oral histories is for future generations.<br />
<br />
<span id="" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">“One
thing almost all Americans share is regret that when we were children,
we did not listen better when our parents, grandparents and older
relatives or friends told stories about people and places alive only in
their memories,” said Lois Myers, associate director of the Baylor Institute for Oral Studies.
“Such oral traditions may be the most fragile links to our family
history.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16px;">With high-quality sound or video
recordings, people can uncover and preserve the origins of family
rituals — such as Christmas celebrations, common sayings or even
recipes, Myers said.</span><br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“Today’s technology makes it
possible to record the voices of your family storytellers, not only to
keep the story alive but also to preserve accurately their version of
the story in their own words,” she said. “Recordings allow family
historians to capture the stories of those reluctant relatives who may
never write their stories. Recording also inspires creatively sharing
with younger generations through web presentations and audio or video
documentaries.”</span><br />
<br />
Myers suggests:<br />
<br />
Encourage the storyteller to concentrate on one memory at a time, describing sight, sound, smell, touch or taste.<br />
<br />
Generate stories from word association prompts, such as emotions, “firsts” (first car, job, home, date, vote) or “favorites” (book, food, movie, TV show or hobby).<br />
<br />
Create personal stories using life stages alongside a chronology of significant historical events over the decades. What was it like being a child during the Cold War? What music did you listen to in the 1970s?<br />
<br />
Devise a memory map of important twists and turns in the road of life — events, decisions, people or possessions.<br />
<br />
Even with family members, it’s wise to develop an interview agreement form acknowledging the informant’s voluntary donation of information, transferring the interviewee’s rights to the researcher and addressing permission or restrictions for publication and distribution.<br />
<br />
Whenever possible, make your family oral history an intergenerational experience. Invite young family members to contribute questions or do the interviews. Interview the children.<br />
<br />
For a relaxed, candid interview, allow the informant time to prepare. Fully explain the purpose of the interview.<br />
<br />
Prompt memory recall through challenging and perceptive inquiries. Ask broad, open-ended questions; be a good listener; and allow the interviewee time to think.<br />
<br />
Introduce every recording with a statement of the date and place of the interview, the full names of the interviewer and interviewee and the purpose of the project.<br />
<br />
When difficult situations arise, use tact, persistence and respect. Allow narrators to give their own interpretations. Avoid burdening the story with your own perspectives, which may not reflect the narrator’s life and times.<br />
<br />
Think far into the future about who will take care of the histories you collect. Since most family history also contains stories of community interest, consider placing interview copies in a local archive or library.<br />
<br />
By the way, my Dad wrecked that Indian motorcyle and wound up with blood poisoning. Put a dent in his semi-professional soccer playing so he enlisted in the Navy and made a career out of it instead!<br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-47746568302107488042013-11-12T15:19:00.000-08:002013-11-12T15:19:52.191-08:00The Hit Men in concert at Three Rivers in Florence, Oregon - Oh, What a Night!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Review">
A <span itemprop="genre">music</span> review by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span><br />
<span itemprop="copyrightYear"><br /></span>
Last year my sisters and I had such a great time attending a performance of "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Boys" rel="wikipedia" title="Jersey Boys">Jersey Boys</a>" at Keller Auditorium in Portland that when I saw some of the original "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Seasons_(band)" target="_blank">Four Seasons</a>" had formed a new group called "<a href="http://www.thehitmensite.com/" target="_blank">The Hit Men</a>" and were to perform at the <a href="http://threeriverscasino.com/" target="_blank">Three Rivers Casino</a> over on the coast in Florence, Oregon I couldn't resist booking some tickets.<br />
<br />
I was certainly glad I did. The show sold out and when the group started playing, everyone in the audience, including me, could hardly resist singing along with them and I think there was even dancing going on in the aisles! They started out with a Four Seasons medley that included the Four Seasons classics "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(song)" target="_blank">Dawn</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_(The_Four_Seasons_song)" target="_blank">Rag Doll</a>" and "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_My_Way_Back_to_You" target="_blank">Working My Way Back to You</a>". Then they kept knocking out hit after hit after hit. <br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" itemprop="contentURL" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7BCsprER5MM" width="420"></iframe></div>
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Many of the songs were from the Four Seasons repertoire (some of my most favorite dance music from the 60s and 70s) but the group also includes members who have played with <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.tommyjames.com/" rel="homepage" title="Tommy James & The Shondells">Tommy James and the Shondells</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://eltonjohn.com/" rel="homepage" title="Elton John">Elton John</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.carlysimon.com/" rel="homepage" title="Carly Simon">Carly Simon</a> and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.jimcroce.com/" rel="homepage" title="Jim Croce">Jim Croce</a> so we were treated to spirited renditions of "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mony_Mony" rel="wikipedia" title="Mony Mony">Mony, Mony</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanky_Panky_(Tommy_James_and_the_Shondells_song)" target="_blank">Hanky Panky</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_Rock" target="_blank">Crocodile Rock</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad,_Bad_Leroy_Brown" target="_blank">Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown</a>" and "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_So_Vain" target="_blank">You're so Vain</a>", too.<br />
<br />
Apparently, the musicians were inspired to get together again because of the phenomenal success of "Jersey Boys", the Broadway play that tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and includes many of their hit songs. Lee Shapiro on the keyboard, who got the Hit Men together, and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Seasons_%28band%29" rel="wikipedia" title="The Four Seasons (band)">Gerry Polci</a>, on the drums, were members of The Four Seasons until the 90s. <br />
<br />
Gerry Polci was also the lead singer on one of the Four Seasons greatest hits, "Oh, What a Night!". The song, written by Bob Gaudio and his wife <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Parker" rel="wikipedia" title="Judy Parker">Judy Parker</a>, was originally about the repeal of Prohibition and entitled "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">D</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ecember 5th, 1933</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">" </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">but after a lyric rewrite at the urging of Franki Valli, t</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">he song became a nostalgic remembrance of a young man's first affair with a woman and the rest is music history.</span></span>When the group performed that song during the concert, Polci once again sang the lead and it sounded as terrific as it did when The Four Seasons first recorded it all those years ago and released it as a single in December 1975.<br />
<br />
Not only did the songs sound as good as I remembered but the musicians were all obviously having a great time, too. <br />
<br />
“It's really amazing to be reliving my greatest moments in music with the the guys who were there.”<br />
– Gerry Polci, Hit Men drummer and former Four Seasons.<br />
<br />
I was also totally blown away by the energy exhibited by the band members as many were at least as old as I am. Russ Velazquez who has not only performed with Sting, Carol King, LL Cool J and Paula Abdul but is a four time Emmy-nominated composer and arranger for his work on TV's Sesame Street,was just all over the stage and had an amazing vocal range. <br />
<br />
Larry Gates sang a particularly mean "Mony, Mony" and supplied the distinctive falsetto in many of The Four Seasons' songs. Jimmy Ryan, who has received gold and platinum records playing alongside <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.paulmccartney.com/" rel="homepage" title="Paul McCartney">Paul McCartney</a>, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Elton John, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.yusufislam.com/" rel="homepage" title="Cat Stevens">Cat Stephens</a>, Jim Croce and Carly Simon was in absolutely top form, too! Of course as a close friend of Carly Simon, he sang the lead in "You're so Vain." Ryan also frequently told little stories in between sets about the early days of rock-n-roll that were really interesting and certainly turned up the nostalgia factor!<br />
<br />
One of Ryan's stories included a memory about a performance when the power went out and they had to sing without amplified instruments. To show us what it was like, all of the men walked up to the front of the stage leaving their instruments behind, except for Ryan's unplugged guitar. Then they sang "Silence is Golden", first released by The Four Seasons in 1964. Their harmony is so sweet they didn't really need their instruments anyway.<br />
<br />
I noticed that <a href="http://www.donciccone.com/" target="_blank">Don Ciccone</a>, another member of the Four Seasons, is featured in some of the Hit Men videos on YouTube. He has also appeared with them but did not come on this particular tour. In addition to The Four Seasons, Ciccone sang with Tommy James and the Shondells and is probably the reason the Hit Men include songs from that group, like "I Think We're Alone, Now", "Hanky Panky" and "Mony, Mony" in their performances.<br />
<br />
If you see an advertisement in your area for an appearance of "The Hit Men", by all means, don't pass it up! You, too, will be saying "Oh, What a Night!!"<br />
<br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-55507217424747133442013-10-31T10:59:00.000-07:002013-10-31T10:59:19.411-07:00Slitherine Games capitalizes on "Gravity" success with Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">
A <span itemprop="genre">gaming </span>resource article by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span><br />
<br />
In my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.slitherine.com/" rel="homepage" title="Slitherine Strategies">Slitherine</a> Ltd newsletter today I see that the game developer is capitalizing on the wildly successful space drama "Gravity" starring <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Bullock" rel="wikipedia" title="Sandra Bullock">Sandra Bullock</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clooney" target="_blank">George Clooney</a> by preparing to release a new strategy game entitled "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.buzzaldrin.com/" rel="homepage" title="Buzz Aldrin">Buzz Aldrin</a>'s Space Program Manager".<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager (SPM) is the ultimate game of space exploration. It is the mid 1950s and the biggest nations in the world, in an effort to conquer outer space together, have established the Global Space Agency (GSA). You are in charge. It's your duty to carefully manage the agency's budget by opening programs, spending R&D funds on improving the hardware, recruiting personnel and astronauts and launching space missions in this realistic turn based strategy game. </blockquote>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aldrin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, ScD 1963 (Cou..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="378" itemprop="contentURL" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Aldrin.jpg/300px-Aldrin.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span itemprop="description">Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, ScD 1963 (Course XVI)</span> (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aldrin.jpg">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
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In sandbox mode manage your agency, recruit and train technicians, astronauts, flight controllers, scientists and engineers. Research and develop thousands of components for hundreds of missions, all the time balancing your budget. Then watch your missions launch with thousands of beautiful renders of these amazing spacecraft. In Campaign mode do all this while also dealing with politicians and their short term goals. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Develop the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15" target="_blank">X-15</a> Space plane, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1" target="_blank">Sputnik</a> satellite, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mercury" target="_blank">Mercury</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gemini" target="_blank">Gemini</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Apollo" target="_blank">Apollo</a> manned spacecrafts and in later episodes on to Mars! You are not limited to the missions that did launch - you can also try out many that were planned but that never left the drawing board. For example, instead of sending men to the Moon using the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_orbit_rendezvous" rel="wikipedia" title="Lunar orbit rendezvous">Lunar Orbit Rendezvous</a> (LOR) approach used by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program" rel="wikipedia" title="Apollo program">Project Apollo</a> in the late 1960s and early 1970s, you will be able to rewrite history and use either the alternative <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_orbit_rendezvous" rel="wikipedia" title="Earth orbit rendezvous">Earth Orbit Rendezvous</a> (EOR) or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Ascent" target="_blank">Direct Ascent</a> schemes. The number of options ensures every game will be different and there is huge replay value. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To ensure the accuracy and authenticity of the game it is being developed in consultation with Dr. Buzz Aldrin, former U.S. Air Force combat pilot (66 missions in Korea) and NASA astronaut, who took part in the first Moon landing mission and became the second human being to walk on the Moon." -<i><a href="http://www.slitherine.com/games/BA_SPM_Pc?utm_source=Slitherine+October+2013+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Sli+Oct+newsletter+&utm_medium=email" target="_blank"> Slitherine Games</a></i></blockquote>
When I was a school girl back in the 60s, inspired by Gene Roddenberry's original "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek" target="_blank">Star Trek</a>", I dreamed of being the first female astronaut. I ended up on a very different career trajectory! But maybe this game is my chance to experience the space program after all!<br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-87101459292215849272013-10-10T13:56:00.000-07:002013-10-10T13:56:19.757-07:00Sears Shop Your Way Rewards a Joke!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A <span itemprop="genre">consumer</span> resource article by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span><br />
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I don't usually rant online but today I have to vent about my frustration with Sears "Shop Your Way Rewards" program. Like many retailers, Sears jumped on the rewards program marketing scheme last year. I was encouraged to sign up for the program when my husband and I happened to be in Sears shopping for tool accessories. I thought, "Why not?" so I filled out the application and signed up for email alerts. <br />
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One day I received an email from Sears Shop Your Way Rewards offering me a free piece of apparel if I bought one other piece as long as it wasn't outerwear or a leather item. I had been into Sears earlier in the week and saw a blouse that I liked so I printed off the coupon and headed to the Sears store in town. I found a couple of blouses I wanted and went to the checkout counter with my coupon. The sales clerk scanned the coupon but it wouldn't register. She called the department manager who also scanned the coupon and didn't have any better luck. She then read the coupon fine print and said it was intended to be used at a Sears catalog outlet not a Sears retail outlet. I told her that was ridiculous since it was not obvious to a customer they meant it was only good at a Sears catalog store and not a retail store. I also pointed out that Sears catalog stores also have very little apparel if any in stock so essentially what good was it then! She finally agreed to honor it but admonished me that I'd better not try to "pull" this again as if I was trying to swindle them or something.<br />
<br />
I decided then and there that I would virtually ignore future mailings as they were essentially worthless. But, today I noticed that my GE refrigerator filter warning light came on and commented to my husband that I guessed I would have to drive in to Sears (where we bought it) and pick up a new one. Those filters are always very expensive - about $40 each. I remembered seeing one of those emails from Sears Shop Your Way Rewards in my inbox so I checked it out and it was offering me $12 in points if I bought something from Sears before the end of the week. So I logged into Sears.com and checked for the refrigerator water filter I needed. I saw the regular GE brand filter I always bought at the store for the usual $40+. But, I noticed a generic filter that was compatible with my refrigerator for only $22 so I put it in my shopping cart instead.<br />
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When I went to checkout I couldn't find anyplace to indicate I wanted to use my points on this purchase even though I was logged in with my Rewards ID. So, I called customer support. The service representative told me that on the last page of the checkout process there would be a choice to redeem points. I told him that I saw they would accept Paypal and wanted to use it but I knew that once I clicked the Paypal option, I would be taken directly to Paypal to finish payment authorization and knew there would be no option to apply points there. The service representative admitted I was right and said if I used Paypal I could not redeem points.<br />
<br />
At that point the service representative offered to complete the order for me so I gave him the information he needed (shipping and billing address, payment information, etc) and we progressed to the final check out page. When he attempted to redeem my points, he was told that points could not be used on that purchase because the item I had selected was shipped from a third party and not directly from Sears!! At this point I was totally frustrated and sputtered "Each time I try to "Shop My Way" with your rewards program you [Sears] always have some reason why the points can't be used! What good are they then, anyway!!!"<br />
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The service representative said he was sorry and offered me a 10% discount on my order ($2). <br />
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Maybe Sears designed their rewards program after an airlines rewards model. Between black out dates and constantly increasing the number of points it takes for a ticket, airlines have perfected the "illusion" of value with their frequent flyer programs. But Sears should keep in mind who their competitors are. Amazon's rewards program works beautifully and I have used it so often and so successfully that I regularly reach for their rewards card each time I make a purchase.<br />
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I read on the web that Sears may go the same way as Montgomery Wards. The article I read said the only thing that was keeping Sears viable was its tool sales. Well, it certainly isn't their rewards program!! </div>
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-71342780155386727052013-04-01T17:07:00.000-07:002013-04-01T17:07:50.451-07:00Are lewd gestures a legitimate update to West Side Story in the 21st century?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/74684723@N00/4870621139" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="West Side Story" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="160" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4870621139_c76501b246_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">West Side Story (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/74684723@N00/4870621139">thejcgerm</a>)</td></tr>
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I loved the 1961 movie "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/west_side_story" rel="rottentomatoes" title="West Side Story">West Side Story</a>" and even learned the lyrics to all of the songs when my older sister Pam bought the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_record" rel="wikipedia" title="LP record">LP album</a>. So I was excited when I found out that "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Across_America" rel="wikipedia" title="Broadway Across America">Broadway Across America</a>" was going to present "West Side Story" right here in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.eugene-or.gov/" rel="homepage" title="Eugene, Oregon">Eugene</a> at The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hultcenter.org/" rel="homepage" title="Hult Center for the Performing Arts">Hult Center</a>. I bought my ticket months in advance and eagerly anticipated my chance to see the play. I even got a ticket in the very front row!<br />
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So, when I arrived at the theater I was anxious for the performance to begin. The theater company had their own orchestra and the music was as marvelous as I remembered. As each scene unfolded the performances of the actors playing Anita, Maria, Riff, Bernardo and Action were very professional. The actor playing Tony seemed a little hesitant but his singing, though, was quite strong. His projection was a little uneven in the first song but he seemed to settle down after that. I wondered if he would be able to pull off singing "Maria" as this song requires so much range but he absolutely nailed it!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YVaYq99yNwY" width="420"></iframe>
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I was surprised, however, by the bedroom scene with Tony and Maria and the simulated gang rape of Anita as neither was present in the movie (that I could remember). But I figured that was considered updating the story for a 21st century audience more familiar with far more vicious gang behavior. I willingly accepted these changes as well as much more Spanish in the song lyrics (obviously a nod to the much higher percentage of Hispanic peoples in our population now). But, I must admit I was appalled by the addition of lewd gestures during the performance of the song "Officer Krupke". The gestures seem less obvious in the clip from "YouTube" or maybe it's because I was sitting just a few feet away from the actors in the front row. I suppose the change in choreography could also be considered updating too, but I felt the crudeness was unnecessary and somehow cheapened the performance. I also found the gangs' openly disrespectful behavior toward "Doc" who ran the drug store where the teens socialized to be very uncomfortable, too - definitely not the atmosphere portrayed in TV's "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070992/" rel="imdb" title="Happy Days">Happy Days</a>" and definitely not the behavior I would like to see viewed as acceptable.<br />
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robin_Williams_picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Robin Williams" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Robin_Williams_picture.jpg/300px-Robin_Williams_picture.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="213" /></a></div>
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I realize members of 21st century gangs are far more brutal than the late 1950s era Sharks and Jets ever dreamed. But I'm not sure this type of melding current social behaviors with a vintage musical is an improvement. I remember watching the original movie in the contemporary setting of the early 1960s and I got the message of the story without having to squirm with discomfort over extremely unpleasant behaviors.<br />
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I sometimes wonder why openly lewd behavior has become so commonplace that our society just seems to accept it or just laugh it off. Several months ago I attended a presentation by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.robinwilliams.com/" rel="homepage" title="Robin Williams">Robin Williams</a>, also at the Hult Center. I realize standup comedy can get quite crude, having visited a comedy club down in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco" rel="wikipedia" title="San Francisco">San Francisco</a> once. But Mr. Williams is such an amazing talent and I loved his performance in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093105/" rel="imdb" title="Good Morning, Vietnam">Good Morning, Vietnam</a>" so much that I jumped at the chance to see him in person. It was quite funny in parts and I'm glad I attended but I couldn't help but wonder why Mr. Williams, who has received so many awards and accolades from our society, seemed to feel he needed to include so much "crotch grabbing" as he did in that performance. Perhaps he felt it was necessary to win over an audience that included so many college students, as Eugene is the home of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.uoregon.edu/" rel="homepage" title="University of Oregon">University of Oregon</a>. If so, that's a sad commentary on the intellectual maturity of our "best and brightest". Personally, I would have laughed far more at some good political zingers and I think most of the audience would have enjoyed them more too.<br />
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Oh well, maybe I'm just becoming an old fuddy duddy!<br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-49106189416628747222012-12-23T13:35:00.001-08:002012-12-23T13:37:02.675-08:00Phony Reviews Prompt Amazon Purge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As many of you know, I have reviewed books for a number of years now. I spend a lot of time on my reviews because I attempt to parallel the events in the novels with actual history of the period as evidenced by quotes from the ancient sources. This much work, however, is seldom reflected by many other reviews I have read on Amazon. I don't know how many reviews I have read that clearly appear to be a slight rewrite of the book's dust jacket. Therefore, when I read that Amazon had purged thousands of reviews from their website, I actually applauded this move.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/technology/amazon-book-reviews-deleted-in-a-purge-aimed-at-manipulation.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121223&_r=0">Amazon Book Reviews Deleted in a Purge Aimed at Manipulation - NYTimes.com</a>:<br />
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I'm not sure what criteria were used to effect this purge and if I knew the particulars I might not be so approving but I hope Amazon has enough technology at its disposal that it based its purge on some aspect of the review that would indicate it was not a thoughtful analysis of the work.<br />
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The New York Times article I read pointed to a high percentage of positive reviews being a criteria Amazon may have used to determine which reviews to eliminate. This particular criteria is not as foolproof as it may sound, however. I find it really hard to be totally negative in a review. I am more comfortable reviewing books the way I critique photographs when I am asked to be a judge at the Emerald Photographic Society where I am a member. <br />
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We usually begin a photo critique by pointing out the positive aspects of an image then we discuss what could have made an image better. This method helps a photographer learn but does not totally discourage a potential photographer from trying to improve. <br />
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With a book, it is different, to be sure, but there are basic attributes that I look at to evaluate the book's potential for success. Are the characters well drawn and 3-dimensional? Is the story plotted well with pacing to keep the reader interested? Has the author researched the setting to the extent that the environment is accurate and can immerse the reader in the time period? For historical novels, are places or social practices described or items used accurate to the period? How accurate are historical events? If historical events are compressed or altered are they manipulated to advance the plot or simply inaccurate because of poor research? It is a given, of course, that the book should not be filled with grammatical or spelling errors.<br />
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I have frequently been asked by self-published authors for reviews. When I open a book and right away I find it is filled with errors and that the writer is not experienced enough to write what we used to call in the journalism trade a decent "hook" - an opening paragraph or scene compelling enough to make a reader want to continue to read, I prefer to simply not review the book (I must be honest and admit I prefer not to waste any more time on it) rather than write a scathing diatribe about the amateurish nature of it. This is not to say that all self-published books are not worth reading. I have found some real jewels among the ranks of self-published books. Furthermore, I must also point out that I have, unfortunately, found books filled with errors being promoted by publishers who have sought to cut corners by minimalizing or even eliminating the editing process. Ultimately, I view reading as an investment of my time and I expect a decent return on investment.<br />
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One other thing about the New York Times article caught my eye. The reviews of a retired librarian named Mrs. Klausner have also been targeted by Amazon. Apparently, this amazing woman cranks out seven reviews a day and speed reads stacks of books the rest of the time. When the woman was asked about the validity of her reviews, she explained that she doesn't sleep much and people should "Get A Life, Read a Book!" I'm sorry Mrs. Klausner but, although I find reading a good book to be an enriching experience, I prefer to balance my life with attending plays and concerts, watching a good movie, playing an interesting computer game, experiencing beautiful art and architecture, or tramping through the woods on a rainy day photographing mushrooms with my fellow photographer friends. Spending too much time in imaginary worlds means you are spending too little time in our own and we have such a limited time allotted to us.<br />
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My son called me this morning and we were discussing the latest movies we had seen and books we had read and I told him I had so many books to read, movies and performances to see and games to play I was afraid I wouldn't get to them all before I checked out of this world and he said "Well, look at it this way Mom, it's better than just sitting around waiting for the inevitable!"<br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-57246760704987339532012-06-09T10:59:00.000-07:002012-12-23T13:39:05.234-08:00"Alien" erupts from "Prometheus" shell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Prometheusposterfixed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Prometheusposterfixed.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">I'm a big fan of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Scott" rel="wikipedia" title="Ridley Scott">Ridley Scott</a> so with some level of anticipation, I trotted off to the mall to see his latest, "Prometheus", yesterday.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> What a let down! (Spoilers ahead)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">I found "Prometheus" to be little more than</span><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> a remake of the original "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Alien (film)">Alien</a>" with only a slight twist that the "creatures" were being transported to earth by our original "creators" to wipe out the inhabitants for some unspecified failure or shortcoming on our part or perhaps we had sufficiently "terraformed" the earth to a point that our "creators" decided they wanted it or something. The reason was never explained and screamed SEQUEL so loud you could hardly concentrate on the action. Of course, if you've seen "Alien" you didn't need to worry about following the plot anyway. It even had the same artificial life form with the same milky fluid for blood (not Henrickson, though, but a handsome <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_O%27Toole" rel="wikipedia" title="Peter O'Toole">Peter O'Toole</a> type, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fassbender" rel="wikipedia" title="Michael Fassbender">Michael Fassbender</a>) and the same strong female survivor (</span><a data-bitly-type="bitly_hover_card" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noomi_Rapace" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" title="Noomi Rapace" wotsearchprocessed="true"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Noomi Rapace</span></a>) <span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> but not as riveting as <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigourney_Weaver" rel="wikipedia" title="Sigourney Weaver">Sigourney Weaver</a>. Even the life cycle of the alien was the same and Ridley Scott surely must have paid <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hrgiger.com/" rel="homepage" title="H. R. Giger">H.R. Giger</a> some kind of royalty for the "inspiration" for the fully rendered appearance of the mature creature complete with inner mouth parts!</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Prometheus_Viral_3_-_David.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Prometheus_Viral_3_-_David.jpg" width="169" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Fassbender as A.I. "David"<br />
in Ridley Scott's "Prometheus"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Maybe somewhere Scott admitted it was an Alien remake but I had not seen anything mentioned to that effect in the usual promo articles I had read. I have gone to a few remakes but I prefer to know that before deciding to see a film. For the most part I also do not understand the purpose of doing a remake of a film considered a classic and I doubt such efforts yield the profits that an original story would. The original "Alien" has had so many sequels and spinoffs that it's not like audiences haven't been exposed to the "Alien" universe many times since its original conception in 1979.<br /><br />I see that the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.latimes.com/" rel="homepage" title="Los Angeles Times">L.A. Times</a> film critic has weighed in and says Scott admits to "sharing some DNA" with "Alien" but I think they were being overly tactful because of Scott's reputation. I felt the same disappointment with the less than spectacular TV series helmed by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg" rel="wikipedia" title="Steven Spielberg">Steven Spielberg</a> - "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.tnt.tv/series/fallingskies/" rel="homepage" title="Falling Skies">Falling Skies</a>" and "Terra Nova". It's as if Spielberg let the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings" rel="wikipedia" title="Nielsen ratings">Nielsen ratings</a> folks write the scripts to meet some demographic target. I guess "Falling Skies" supposedly survived the network axes (Terra Nova did not) and so we will be "treated" to another season. But if the entire season revolves around freeing captured kids from the aliens without a more significant overarching storyline, it won't hold my interest for very long.
</span><br />
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Anyway, as far as Ridley Scott's work is concerned, I guess he's entitled to a do-over. The film did have a visually spectacular opening scene and, as someone who is fascinated by archaeology, I really liked the visuals connected with the civilization of the "creators". I also felt the artificial being played by Michael Fassbender was mesmerizing and wished his role had been exploited more. </span><br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-21458791909197773772012-04-02T16:12:00.000-07:002015-01-02T13:39:04.158-08:00Reading between the lines of The Hunger Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Review">
A <span itemprop="genre">science fiction</span> review by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2012</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084IG7KC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0084IG7KC&linkCode=as2&tag=romtim-20&linkId=GD5HDZHL74FUVE4T" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0084IG7KC&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0084IG7KC" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
Several days ago I
watched a brief interview with <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000661/" rel="imdb" title="Donald Sutherland">Donald Sutherland</a> who played the subtly sinister <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Hunger_Games_characters" rel="wikipedia" title="List of The Hunger Games characters">President Snow</a> in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/" rel="imdb" title="The Hunger Games (film)">The Hunger Games</a>". Apparently, Sutherland agreed to be cast in the role despite the fact that he would have relatively little screen time in the film. Sutherland said he felt "The Hunger Games" was a film that could be a catalyst for the younger generation who he feels have been dormant for far too long and should take a cue from the young people in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East" rel="wikipedia" title="Middle East">Middle East</a> engaged in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring" rel="wikipedia" title="Arab Spring">Arab Spring</a>. He emphasizes this film needs to be seen not just by young people but by all of the 99% who are suffering from the oppression we have experienced in recent years - ostensibly at the hands of a government corrupted by greed and increasingly oblivious to the needs of the citizens it is sworn to represent.<br />
<br />
If you read between the lines of "The Hunger Games" you must conclude
that the social conditions in the outlying "districts" where most of the people live, is the result of a
society ruled by the wealthy 1% who reside in "The Capital". These "few" apparently have no compassion for "the many" less fortunate and no social conscience about the wealthy's ostentatious consumption of both food and other resources while the working poor scrape by on burned crusts of bread or a deer or rabbit snagged under the watchful eyes of surveillance aircraft. All social programs have apparently been eliminated, surely under the pretense of providing more "freedom" from government interference in their daily lives and as a "necessary" strategy to reduce the deficit created by military spending in the recent rebellion. (Sound familiar?) <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katniss_Everdeen" rel="wikipedia" title="Katniss Everdeen">Katniss</a>, a member of a poor family of a now-deceased coal miner killed in a mine explosion, helps feed her mother and sister by clandestinely hunting in the surrounding forest. There was apparently no workmen's compensation survivor benefits or food stamp programs to help the family with basic needs after the primary breadwinner was killed and Katniss' mother is obviously suffering from severe clinical depression. She doesn't even show much emotion when her daughter is selected in the annual lottery to compete in "The Hunger Games" even though it represents a virtual death sentence since only one of 24 contestants will emerge alive. But apparently, there is no health care either let alone mental health care to restore her as a loving parent to her two daughters or bring her back into society as a functional individual who can successfully take up her responsibilities as head of household.<br />
<br />
In a flashback we see Katniss shivering against a tree in the pouring rain watching Peta, the baker's son, tossing burned loaves to a handful of pigs, hoping she will be able to snatch some of the bread out of the mud after Peta leaves before the hogs wolf it down. Peta sees her there and surreptitiously tosses part of a blackened loaf into the mud at her feet, looking around apprehensively as if he would be scolded if he was seen. So apparently charitable giving to others is also frowned upon or even the working class needs every scrap to survive. The society has truly devolved into an "every man/woman for himself" existence.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile the 1% in the
capital are a garish, supercilious lot who paint themselves up and don
ridiculous (but I'm sure outrageously expensive) costumes while they consume vast quantities of elaborate dishes apparently without a
thought as to the near starvation being suffered by the subordinate
peoples around them. People might compare them to the ancient Romans but even the Romans provided daily bread, public latrines, entertainment and public bathhouses for even the lowliest citizen in their midst. Wealthy Romans built aqueducts to bring fresh water to the masses and constructed roads, temples, theaters and amphitheaters. But the wealthy of "The Hunger Games" seem consumed only with self-interest and maintaining power - much like many members of Congress in our own capital today.<br />
<br />
The day before I saw the Donald Sutherland interview, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://gma.yahoo.com/" rel="homepage" title="Good Morning America">Good Morning
America</a> had a piece on over-the-top baby showers by the rich and famous that
included the gifting of Gucci shoes and $6,000 rhinestone-studded infant bath tubs for
the new arrivals. What was most disturbing, though, was that the piece was presented as if it was something we could all aspired to! I found it revolting.<br />
<br />
Of course the main focus of the film is the struggle of the competitors in "The Hunger Games" itself. According to President Snow, the games were devised to give the masses a little hope. He patiently explains to a subordinate that "A little hope is effective...a lot of hope is dangerous." Therefore, he points out, hope must be contained. The Hunger Games, although it results in the deaths of two young people from each of 11 districts plus one from the 12th district every year, provides the opportunity for someone to escape the confines of a miserable existence and find out what it is like to truly live as a member of the privileged few - much like our own state-run lotteries only without the penalty of death for the losers.<br />
<br />
I thought this lesson about hope was amply illustrated this past weekend when news of thousands of people lining up for a particularly large lottery jackpot was broadcast on television - so many people, probably thousands who have been out of work for such a long time, looking to the lottery as a last resort, pinning what little hope they have left on random chance and that small piece of paper. It's really quite tragic if you stop to think about it. Why do so many people hunger for a lifestyle enjoyed by so few?<br />
<br />
I hope Donald Sutherland is right about "The Hunger Games". We need the young to become inspired and lend their energy to the struggle to preserve human rights, dignity and opportunity for all, not just the privileged few. Some people blame President Obama for not being able to reverse the financial damage caused by the "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession" rel="wikipedia" title="Great Recession">Great Recession</a>" fast enough, claiming he promised them hope and didn't deliver. I say he didn't promise us fixing the mess we were in was going to be quick or easy. He asked us to hope so we could foster the momentum that was needed to overcome the years of fear mongering and division that had characterized American politics for far too long. We should not abandon that hope now with the work only part done. After all, like President Snow said, hope IS the only thing more powerful than fear.</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0545265355/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0545265355"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0545265355&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0545265355" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-86282677531348730342012-03-14T12:01:00.000-07:002012-04-02T16:56:58.340-07:00Is product quality just a thing of the past?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ever
since the contractors that remodeled our bathroom in 2007 stacked my Sears HE washer
and dryer, the dryer has quit after tumbling just a few minutes, forcing me to rearrange the clothes to get them more evenly
distributed - sometimes every ten minutes for up to three days just to get
a single load done. After four years, I finally had enough and
called Sears for a service technician. (I guess I'm a glutton for
punishment!) I suspected it was an issue with the machines not being balanced properly. So I researched the problem online and found other Sears customers complaining that the stacking kit that came with my model of washer and dryer was not adequate to withstand the vibration that naturally occurs from the agitating washer and tumbling dryer drum and that Sears had developed a better stacking kit. I mentioned this to the customer service agent but she had no knowledge of this issue and recommended I order (and pay for) a new stacking kit and a set of special rubber vibration pads that the technician would install. I was quoted $139 minimum just for the service call
and any parts needed would be in addition. The customer service agent cooed
about the fact that after I paid the service fee I would then have an
additional one year warranty too. So I asked her what would be the
charge without the extended warranty and I was quoted the same
price. Obviously, I was going to pay for that warranty whether I
wanted it or not! Instead of feeling helped, I felt like I was just having extended warranty charges rammed down my throat.<br />
<br />
When the stacking kit arrived, my husband said it looked just like the one I already had installed by the remodeling contractors. Then the Sears technician arrived and he, too, said I didn't need the new stacking kit as it was, indeed, identical to the one I already had, but used the rubber vibration pads and spent quite a bit of time leveling the stacked washer and dryer. Now, if I'm careful about the size of laundry load, I can actually get a load of clothes dry on the first attempt. The technician said I could return the unused stacking kit. He suggested I wait a week, though, to be sure we had the problem resolved. The next week I called Sears for a return authorization and was told I could return the unused stacking kit but would have to pay the return shipping.<br />
<br />
Then the next week my Sears microwave conked out after only about
five years of service. Knowing that the service charge minimum was
$139, I just went down and bought another microwave (with larger
capacity and a higher power maximum) for $200 (not from Sears).<br />
<br />
Then a week after that my Sears oven quit. I had paid over $2,000
for that range to get the top-of-the-line model which is now only a
little over 5 years old. I was told for $239 I could have the range
repaired including parts up to $500 and, of course, I would have a
one year extended warranty guaranteeing repairs of up to $500. If I
did not accept the warranty bundle I would have to pay $139 for the
minimum service charge plus parts and any labor needed above the
$139. I asked the service rep whatever happened to purchasing
appliances that lasted 30 years like we used to do? She didn't know
what to say so I asked to talk with a supervisor. I was
subsequently put on eternal hold and gave up after a half hour. I
didn't have much choice but to call Sears back and agree to the $239
service bundle. <br />
<br />
So I went up online and found a website that had a table illustrating the average
longevity for the current crop of appliances and was shocked to see
that most gas ranges regardless of brand now averaged only 5 - 8 years. The
culprit is the electronic ignitor that has replaced the pilot light
to save energy costs. The ignitor usually burns out between 5 and 8
years. When the technician arrived to repair my range, I received
confirmation that it was the ignitor that went out on my stove. I
asked him whatever happened to appliances that lasted 30 years or
more and he just laughed and said those days were long gone. So, we
now pay 10 times as much for appliances that last only 25% as long.
No wonder older people (like me) who remember buying quality products
that actually lasted get pissed off!!<br />
<br />
Update: Well, after drying clothes for a couple of weeks it became apparent that the leveling procedure had not fixed my problem after all. So I called the problem resolution center at Sears to report that I still had the problem. I told them I was told I had paid for a one year warranty so a return visit should not cost anything. I was then told that they would send a repairman back out and that he would call me to arrange an appointment time. Several days later, I received a call from the original repairman telling me that they had asked him to come back out but he was not trained in the electronics my dryer had. He only performed installation services so I should call back and explain that I needed a repair technician (which I thought I had already made perfectly clear). When I called back in to the Sears service center I was informed that I had really paid only for an installation not a repair and therefore if I wanted a repairman instead of an installation serviceman, I would have to pay more money. I argued with the service scheduler who kept insisting I had only paid for an installation (even though my washer and dryer had been installed as a stacked unit since 2007). After repeatedly trying to explain that I had never requested an installation only a service to fix whatever was keeping my dryer from completing a cycle, I lost my temper totally and finally told him that I didn't give a sh..t what his computer showed, no one installed my washer and dryer on the date of the service. Then, of course, all I got was a lecture about using profanity. I finally asked to speak to the warranty department but by the time I waited for 10 minutes on hold, I had become so outraged that when I was asked for my contact information again, I could not do anything but sob. The warranty service person was quite concerned that I was so upset and escalated the call to a supervisor from the problem resolution center. The supervisor offered to send a repairmen out for no charge just because of all the problems I had encountered trying to get my dryer fixed. So I agreed and waited for a call. <br />
<br />
The day of the scheduled repair I got a call from the repair technician who asked me if I was prepared to pay for the repair as he was instructed to collect the charges from me. I told him that I was told by the problem resolution center that the visit was to be at no charge to me. He called his boss and between the two of them they decided they would not charge me and he came on out and found that the contractors had sprung the door on the dryer when they stacked the units back in 2007 so the door wasn't making proper contact with the door open sensor that shut the dryer off if the door was opened. He realigned the door hinges and the dryer now works fine. The whole thing took about 10 minutes to find the problem and adjust the door closure. <br />
<br />
While the repairman was at my home, he suggested that I get a maintenance contract on the washer and dryer since both units were 8 years old. Apparently my original charge of $134.95, which I was told included a one year warranty, was just water under the bridge as far as Sears was concerned. I was so frustrated at that point I agreed to purchase a contract as long as I received a contract in writing that could not be disputed on a future call. But, the entire experience has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I would be extremely hesitant to purchase a major appliance from Sears ever again.<br />
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</div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-13414380845838294022012-01-26T12:01:00.000-08:002012-01-26T12:01:59.839-08:00Googe Ad revenues point out differences in online vs broadcast preferencesI found the following infographic breaking down <a class="zem_slink" href="http://google.com/" rel="homepage" title="Google">Google's</a> advertising revenues fasciating! I thought it was interesting to not only look at the top 5 advertisers but the highest pay per click ad words. <br />
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Those insurance companies really go after self-employed people looks for health insurance! I didn't realize how popular zumba dancing was! A lot of people are looking for hotel deals in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.0,-75.0&spn=3.0,3.0&q=43.0,-75.0%20(New%20York)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="New York">New York</a>. A lot of people are looking for online degree programs. Home improvement planners are looking for replacement windows and air conditioners. <br />
<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.att.com/" rel="homepage" title="AT&T">AT&T</a> outspends <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.verizon.com/" rel="homepage" title="Verizon Communications">Verizon</a> by over 78% on advertising for telecommunications services with high speed internet being the most sought after. People actually think there are cheap hybrid cars! Funerals are the number one gift occasion! <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.staples.com/" rel="homepage" title="Staples Inc.">Staples</a> apparently has less confidence in online advertising than <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.officedepot.com/" rel="homepage" title="Office Depot">Office Depot</a> although I would venture to say I've seen more Staples advertising on TV than spots for Office Depot. Likewise <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.statefarm.com/" rel="homepage" title="State Farm Insurance">State Farm</a> way outspends <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.geico.com/" rel="homepage" title="GEICO">Geico</a> on online advertising but I would say most TV ads I see for car insurance are either Geico or Progressive. Hmmmm.....<br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=892398ad-877d-4fab-87ff-b26442ca5209" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-78645525181719205402012-01-20T11:43:00.000-08:002012-01-20T11:49:06.146-08:00Phony Drama on "Reality" TV Bad for America's Image and Promotes Poor BehaviorThis morning I read an article by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacy_Johnson" rel="wikipedia" title="Stacy Johnson">Stacy Johnson</a>,<a href="http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2012/01/19/why-house-hunters-shouldn%E2%80%99t-watch-hgtvs-house-hunters/"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: 1.2em; text-decoration: none;">Why House Hunters Shouldn’t Watch HGTV’s ‘House Hunters’</span></span></a> and the <a href="http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2012/01/20/hgtv-house-hunters-follow-up/">followup</a> piece, pointing out that <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hgtv.com/" rel="homepage" title="HGTV">HGTV's</a> House Hunters is pretty much a total fake. Stacy essentially received confirmation in a fluffy PR-kind of way from HGTV admitting that the buyers portrayed on the show were "pretty far along" (as in already in escrow!) in the house buying process and the network "recreates" their decision process by filming them considering two other houses that, of course, they have no intention of purchasing since they were already committed to a house before the filming even began.<br />
<br />
From reading the comments from other visitors to Stacy's article, I gather the general consensus was viewers at least get to see other homes in the featured locale and can enjoy trying to figure out which house the couple actually bought so no real harm is done and most viewers find the show at least entertaining. But I find other so-called <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_television" rel="wikipedia" title="Reality television">reality shows</a> far less innocuous.<br />
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I posted:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #1a1a1a; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">I'm not at all surprised (that House Hunters is faked) considering the production values of so-called 'reality" shows. House Hunters is at least entertaining and doesn't attempt to create "fake" drama by introducing artificial deadlines, fights between employees and fake firings like those that occur on such shows as <i><a class="zem_slink" href="http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/amchopper/amchopper.html" rel="homepage" title="American Chopper">American Chopper</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men" rel="hulu" title="Ax Men">Ax Men</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.westcoastcustoms.com/" rel="homepage" title="West Coast Customs">West Coast Customs</a></i> and more recently, <i>Saw Dogs</i>. The week they premièred <i>Saw Dogs</i>, <i>West Coast Customs</i> had a staged scene on their show where the automotive refurbishing crew were on a "fake" tight deadline and one of the main designers decided he was getting too stressed out and needed to blow off steam so he takes off on a 4-wheeler to rip up some nearby countryside. Then, a few hours later when <i>Saw Dogs</i> came on, the wood carvers had a "fake" tight deadline and one of the "clumsy" newbies "accidentally" knocked the head off the eagle sculpture and felt so bad about it they had to blow off steam and take off on a 4-wheeler to rip up some nearby countryside. With those two episodes of two different shows just a couple of hours apart, it really spotlighted the total phony nature of both shows. The thing I worry about with these types of phony stagings, is that young people will assume the behavior they see is actually how real employees act and real companies operate since they have little experience to make an informed judgement. Professionals do not act like spoiled children in the workplace or, hopefully, anywhere else."</span></span><br />
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I strongly feel that these shows cheapen legitimate occupations and consistently set an extremely bad example for our young people and future work force. If an employee of one of the real automakers acted like someone in one of these reality shows, I would hope they would be down the road so fast it would make their head spin, especially in this economy where good-paying steady jobs are so sought after by literally millions that are currently out of work. Glamorizing atrocious management or outrageous employee behavior is not only NOT entertaining, it is detrimental to America's image both at home and abroad and in a global marketplace that is nothing to take lightly. Would you want to buy an American car and place your family's safety in the hands of employees who behave as irresponsibly as those you see on American television?
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</span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-76330887432181196592011-12-17T14:22:00.000-08:002011-12-17T14:22:51.727-08:00Dog food review site leads me to Blue Buffalo<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5vZGOL7GXFKxFBmzZJ_w85R5gaFhMS5dcKqt3QfkuXByk6SajCQaZbGPwNMmooa9JjYtv4shITD1gJ6Kgdx_udb0fU_NEvkL2ZZ2_zMZ4PW5AX__LV33Xo5ZM48AxyHFbYgoqRIjjH6h/s1600/MeggieandMolly1retoucheds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5vZGOL7GXFKxFBmzZJ_w85R5gaFhMS5dcKqt3QfkuXByk6SajCQaZbGPwNMmooa9JjYtv4shITD1gJ6Kgdx_udb0fU_NEvkL2ZZ2_zMZ4PW5AX__LV33Xo5ZM48AxyHFbYgoqRIjjH6h/s320/MeggieandMolly1retoucheds.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Molly and Meggie as puppies. They are now 7 years old.</td></tr>
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I really don't know how I ended up looking at dog food reviews today but I found a website that I thought was very helpful, <a href="http://petcareeducation.com/dogfoodreviews/">Pet Care Education's Dog Food Reviews</a>. My little miniature dachshunds, Molly and Meggie, love chicken, preferably the real thing, so I have always fed them Authority brand chicken mini chunks since they were puppies after it was recommended by a sales person at PetSmart. They seem to eat it fairly well, although, to be honest, my husband insists on cutting up real meat scraps for them when we eat so they only fill in with dry dog food, it is not their primary food source. <br />
<br />
Anyway, I looked up Authority mini chunk chicken on the Review site and found that it rated fairly well for a store brand, 6.7. Then I saw the link for best dog foods and saw the really high ratings for <a href="http://bluebuffalo.com/">Blue Buffalo</a>, especially their Wilderness products (9.2). I noticed their Wilderness line had a chicken version so I checked their company website and used their distributor search tool to find that their dog food is sold at McKenzie Feed not far from my house.<br />
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My husband always insists on getting them something for Christmas so I think I will swing by McKenzie Feed on my next trip to town and pick up a small bag to see if they like it. It's about $5 more per bag but if they really like it perhaps I can try to wean them off of most of the table scraps and they'll be healthier in the long run. I see Blue Buffalo also makes chicken jerky dog treats so maybe I'll pick up some of them too. After all, it is Christmas!Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-33607401663067190512011-12-12T10:29:00.000-08:002011-12-12T10:29:00.093-08:00Mark Twain the anti-imperialist<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_twain2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="mark twain Category:Mark Twain images" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="420" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Mark_twain2.JPG/300px-Mark_twain2.JPG" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">Samuel Clemens, aka "Mark Twain" Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_twain2.JPG">Wikipedia</a></td></tr>
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A couple of weeks ago I subscribed to a new free series called The Intellectual Devotional on Daily Lit.<br />
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"...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> a collection of daily lessons taken from </span><a href="http://www.theintellectualdevotional.com/blog/" style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">The Devoted Intellect</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> blog that will inspire and invigorate the reader on a daily basis. Each nugget of wisdom is drawn from one of seven fields of knowledge: History, Literature, Philosophy, Mathematics & Science, Religion, Visual Arts, and Music." - <a href="http://www.dailylit.com/books/intellectual-devotional?source=lpage">DailyLit</a> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Today's nugget of wisdom was about some of the anti-imperialist activities of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain" rel="wikipedia" title="Mark Twain">Mark Twain</a>. I knew Mark Twain was a satirist but didn't realize he was involved so deeply in the politics of foreign affairs. I attempted to read <i><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553210793%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dromtim-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0553210793" rel="amazon" title="The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics)">Huckleberry Finn</a></i> in high school and simply didn't like it so I had dismissed Mark Twain as another one of the "classic" authors writing for people in another century whose work, though critically acclaimed, did not resonate with me. Twain is in good company in that respect though. I tried to read Tolstoy's <i>War and Peace</i> and couldn't get through the first few chapters of it and didn't find <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scott" rel="wikipedia" title="Walter Scott">Sir Walter Scott's</a> <i>Ivanhoe</i> written in a very appealing narrative either, even though I later loved the television mini-series, "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084157/">Ivanhoe</a>" starring James Mason and Sam Neill (I was really bummed that Sam Neill's </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0151744/" style="background-color: #f6f6f5; color: #136cb2; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Brian de Bois-Guilbert</a> was killed in the end - I thought he was far more attractive than Anthony Andrew's Ivanhoe and Rebecca's heart should have melted!)<br />
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Anyway, when I read the short "devotional" about Mark Twain I was totally intrigued by his late-in-life rabble-rousing contributions like <i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Soliloquy" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="King Leopold's Soliloquy" wotsearchprocessed="true">King Leopold's Soliloquy</a>,</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> </i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">a stinging satirical denunciation of Belgium's brutal colonial activities in the Congo, and </span></span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Incident in the Philippines, </i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">about the American massacre of 600 Moros in the </span></span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Crater_Massacre" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: none;" title="Moro Crater Massacre" wotsearchprocessed="true">Moro Crater Massacre</a>. Apparently, this was a complete reversal from his earlier support of such U.S. imperialistic acquisitions as the Hawaiian Islands. Twain explains his change of heart in a article published by the New York Herald on October 15, 1900.<br />
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<blockquote class="toccolours" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; display: table; float: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 10px;">
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I wanted the American eagle to go screaming into the Pacific ...Why not spread its wings over the Philippines, I asked myself? ... I said to myself, Here are a people who have suffered for three centuries. We can make them as free as ourselves, give them a government and country of their own, put a miniature of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Constitution" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="American Constitution" wotsearchprocessed="true">American Constitution</a> afloat in the Pacific, start a brand new republic to take its place among the free nations of the world. It seemed to me a great task to which we had addressed ourselves. But I have thought some more, since then, and I have read carefully the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1898)" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Treaty of Paris (1898)" wotsearchprocessed="true">treaty of Paris</a> [which ended the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Spanish-American War" wotsearchprocessed="true">Spanish-American War</a>], and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.</div>
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I obviously need to resurrect Samuel Clemens from my mental "Trash folder" and give him the attention he deserves. <br />
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<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679448004/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0679448004"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0679448004&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679448004" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</td>
<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060911131/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060911131"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0060911131&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0060911131" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-4190225019360734112011-12-08T10:19:00.001-08:002011-12-08T11:33:53.463-08:00Beautypedia makes choosing moisturizers a snap<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5213/5474742029_368e7f8ab6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5213/5474742029_368e7f8ab6.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Hands of Joan of Arc at Domrémy by </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Henri Chapu 1872 CE. Photographed at the </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Musee d'Orsay in Paris by Mary Harrsch.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today I read an article about saving money on cosmetics and skin care products. Essentially, it said the vast majority of cosmetics claims are pretty much bogus. It said the single most important thing you can do for your skin to prevent wrinkles or skin damage is to mitigate sun exposure with protective clothing and sunscreen. But once wrinkles appear, little can be done to erase them (short of surgery) although skin moisturizers may help a little. But trying to choose a moisturizer from the thousands of products available can be daunting so the author recommended the website Beautypedia sponsored by "Cosmetic Cop" Paula Begoun:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.beautypedia.com/">http://www.beautypedia.com/</a><br />
<br />
I had never heard of it so I thought I would check it out. It is a
comprehensive database of cosmetics and skin care product reviews and
clearly shows a rating to point out product effectiveness and which
products are grossly overpriced. I couldn't find the face cream I'm
using at the moment (<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001K2DHHA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001K2DHHA%22%3EName%20Your%20Link%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001K2DHHA%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Seacret</a> that is supposedly formulated from
minerals from the Dead Sea - it's as close to ancient cosmetics as I
could get!). Then, I was surprised to note that the <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ET76GW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001ET76GW%22%3EName%20Your%20Link%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001ET76GW%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Cetaphil</a> the
doctor recommended for my feet doesn't have a decent rating unless you
select a particular formulation (she only told me Cetaphil so I've just
been buying their generic body lotion - although I must admit when I get
a crack in my heel it heals up within a day with the generic lotion) and was shocked to see it on the list of companies that tests its product on animals. I have had nightmares where I have seen animals in laboratories connected to instruments by tubes sprouting from their bodies so I would never want to do anything that would encourage that type of activity! <br />
<br />
According to Paula's rating system you should basically look for a product with no $ signs, a check mark and a happy face icon although you should also look at the price and the number of ounces of product the quoted price buys you too. There seems to be quite a wide price range that garner a happy face and check mark indicating a product<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #424242;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">that exceeds expectations and goes beyond the criteria for a product in its category with minimal to no concerns</span>. </span> For example, CeraVe <a href="http://www.beautypedia.com/BestProductsDetails.aspx?bcid=54" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_gridResults_ctl07_lnkProduct" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM</a> at $12.99 for 3 oz. is rated equally with Estee Lauder <a href="http://www.beautypedia.com/BestProductsDetails.aspx?bcid=54" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_gridResults_ctl09_lnkProduct" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Nutritious Vita-Mineral Moisture Lotion</a> at $38.00 for 1.7 oz. If you click on the rating column heading twice to make it sort in ascending order by rating putting the best products with no $ signs at the top, it makes it easier to select the best most economical product although "Paula" does not give you unit pricing which would make this exercise a total no brainer. Perhaps she doesn't wish to have her own line of products, priced in the mid-range with her <a href="http://www.beautypedia.com/BestProductsDetails.aspx?bcid=54" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_gridResults_ctl08_lnkProduct" style="background-color: #f0f1e8; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Skin Recovery Moisturizer, for Normal to Very Dry Skin</a> priced at $19.95 for 2 oz., farther down the list. Although I didn't do the math precisely, it looks like, of all the skin moisturizers without sunscreen available, CeraVe is the most economical and effective and a quick check of the animal testing report card shows it doesn't test its products on animals - a clear winner for me! Now I just have to figure out where to get it. A quick web search shows me I can get it from Amazon for even less than is quoted in the database. I noticed that CeraVe makes a lot of different skin care products so I searched Beautypedia for just that brand name and was pleased to note that all of their different formulations rated a "Paul's pick" and were vastly more economical than many of their competitors.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I thought if you have found trying to choose a skin moisturizer as challenging as I have you might find this website helpful too.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-3029133984457338142011-12-04T16:10:00.001-08:002011-12-04T16:18:32.068-08:00Feel the Love - Dancers Flash Mob at Dubai AirportWhat I love about joyous <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob" rel="wikipedia" title="Flash mob">flash mobs</a> where people share dancing or
singing is that they almost invariably make everyone smile. Here you
see people even in conservative clothing begin to smile (well, everybody
except one guy!) especially when some young children join the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_troupe" rel="wikipedia" title="Dance troupe">dance
troupe</a>. You even see a pair of pilots come down the escalator and
immediately begin to smile instead of stressing out about possibly being
late to the next checkin on their schedule - a much more humane
environment than the typical high stress experience you usually
encounter at an airport.<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_yXy4YGOyvU" width="560"></iframe><br />
<div class="zemanta-related">
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://socialmediaalley.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/flash-mob-are-you-part-of-it/">Flash mob, are you part of it?</a> (socialmediaalley.wordpress.com)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=59c81831-5a3c-44f6-82de-f8e53193a20b" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-35524320093918175792011-11-28T11:36:00.001-08:002011-11-28T17:03:24.902-08:00Great food and beautiful handcrafts highlight Latvian Center holiday bazaar<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtfi39Pz9n_xqk0fHi5rqRugZy8TkryQXfjSNmrb7j4q-La2srP4PKJtwaAw3tlYM1jFnRsVeexpE-FC0DyO5zeG-AuionJpvKUtl3uhvkyTo4NOWgYiARRMJN7iFLhdNP4eH8-TrYDMs/s1600/Lavtviancenterfullcostume2011-11-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtfi39Pz9n_xqk0fHi5rqRugZy8TkryQXfjSNmrb7j4q-La2srP4PKJtwaAw3tlYM1jFnRsVeexpE-FC0DyO5zeG-AuionJpvKUtl3uhvkyTo4NOWgYiARRMJN7iFLhdNP4eH8-TrYDMs/s320/Lavtviancenterfullcostume2011-11-26.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Traditional Latvian dress worn for</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
festivals and special occasions </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
displayed at the Oregon Latvian</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Center, 5500 SW Dosch Road,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Portland, Oregon.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Seven years ago my brother married a lady from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=56.9488888889,24.1063888889&spn=1.0,1.0&q=56.9488888889,24.1063888889%20(Riga)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Riga">Riga, Latvia</a>. It's especially wonderful when we get to welcome a new family member from another culture because it gives us an opportunity to learn about new customs and sample ethnic dishes we may not have ever tried before.<br />
<br />
To help Gunta feel more at home here in the states, my brother found a website for a Latvian Center in Portland, Oregon and soon they were shuttling back and forth between Pendleton, where they lived, to various activities at the Latvian Center. Then this year, my brother and Gunta moved to the Portland area so they could be closer to other members of the Portland Latvian community. When I was visiting them in their new home in Columbia City, Gunta mentioned they were eagerly anticipating the annual holiday bazaar that would be held on Thanksgiving weekend at the Latvian Center and I asked if I could go with them.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3582/3800646611_54dc658f52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3582/3800646611_54dc658f52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Carraway-flavored Jānu siers, a fresh-cooked cheese, is a </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
traditional food prepared for the festival of Jāni celebrating</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
the summer solstice. Photo courtesy of <a href="http://kitchenmouse.rozentali.com/2009/06/janu-siers/">The Kitchen Mouse</a>.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, Saturday I had the chance to sample a little <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Latvia" rel="wikipedia" title="Culture of Latvia">Latvian culture</a> for myself. Various members of the Latvian Center offered a variety of delicious homemade desserts like fruit and nut tortes and apple cakes. They also displayed a wide assortment of savory breads including some of my brother's favorite <a href="http://www.li.lv/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=487">pīrāgi</a>, little crescent-shaped yeast rolls filled with chopped bacon and onion. I also admired the intricately patterned knitted gloves, hats, scarves and hand-woven table linens along with books, photographs, glassware, jewelry and other mementos featuring pictures of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=56.95,24.1&spn=10.0,10.0&q=56.95,24.1%20(Latvia)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Latvia">Latvia</a> and countrymen dressed in the various folk costumes of the different regions. One of the ladies hurried over to tell my brother that there was only one wedge of <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://kitchenmouse.rozentali.com/2009/06/janu-siers/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Jāņu siers</span></a></span> left so if he wanted any of the carraway seed-flavored fresh-cooked cheese he'd better hurry. This exceptional cheese made from curds is one of the traditional foods prepared for the festival of <b style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%81%C5%86i">Jāņi</a>,</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">originally a Latvian celebration of the summer solstice held on June 23.</span> </span><br />
<br />
I bought a handmade knitted doll in a traditional Latvian costume, some fragrant soap with a picture of two women in Latvian dress on it and a braided loaf of sweet saffron bread with almonds and raisins called <a href="http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/20253">Klingeris</a> that I will freeze then warm up for our family Christmas celebration.<br />
<br />
At noon, lunch was announced and I indulged myself with some of the most delicious cabbage rolls I had ever eaten along with mashed potatoes and a specially seasoned gravy, salad and buttered peas served with
<a href="http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/latvia/about/Cuisine/food/Saldskabmaize/">Saldskabmaize</a>, a sweet and sour rye bread. Unlike the cabbage rolls I had eaten at a little Russian café in west Eugene that were simmered in a tomato sauce, these were simmered in the broth from the seasoned ground beef filling similar to these <a href="http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/recipestepbyste1/ss/stuffedcabbage.htm">Polish golabki</a> .
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://0.tqn.com/d/easteuropeanfood/1/5/D/-/-/-/golabki16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/easteuropeanfood/1/5/D/-/-/-/golabki16.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polish cabbage rolls known as golabki. Photo courtesy<br />
of <a href="http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/recipestepbyste1/ss/stuffedcabbage.htm">About East European Food</a>. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Afterwards, Gunta and I shared a piece of hazelnut torte frosted with delicately sweetened whipped cream and finely ground hazelnuts. I found a recipe on the web for <a href="http://suziethefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/06/latvian-hazelnut-torte.html" style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Latvian Hazelnut Torte</a> but noticed it was frosted with a mocha buttercream frosting. I'm sure I prefer the sweetened whipped cream as it is much less sugary and lets you enjoy the delicate flavor of the nuts. Gunta told me that many desserts in Latvia are garnished with sweetened whipped cream rather than the heavier sugar-based frostings used so often here in the states. </div>
<br />
I also learned that hazelnuts grow wild in Latvia so hazelnut torte has been a festival dessert there for centuries. Hazelnuts grow wild here in Oregon too but a more robust variety was commercially planted at Dorris Ranch here in Springfield in 1903. That orchard was the foundation for today's thriving Oregon hazelnut industry. <br />
<br />
Cake-like desserts made from ground nuts or nut flour have been documented as far back as the 17th century. The Linzer torte, based on a recipe dating back to 1696 (or possibly an earlier recipe found in a 1653 codex), was originally made from almonds but almonds were so expensive that only wealthy nobles could afford dishes prepared with them. So the dessert was modified to use walnuts or hazelnuts that were more readily available.<br />
<br />
Needless to say I enjoyed every bite of the delicious <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_cuisine" rel="wikipedia" title="Latvian cuisine">Latvian cuisine</a>. I look forward to going to Latvia with Joe Bill and Gunta one day. They still maintain a flat in Riga and visit Latvia every couple of years so hopefully I won't have to wait too long!
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=95ae3fba-be70-4115-a294-753914452194" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-41748831325490127272011-11-18T08:46:00.001-08:002011-11-18T09:13:44.476-08:00Network news needs to be more objective about Occupy Wall Street coverage<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Supreme_Court.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="The Supreme Court of the United States. Washin..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="225" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/US_Supreme_Court.JPG/300px-US_Supreme_Court.JPG" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">The US Supreme Cout - another corrupted institution! Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Supreme_Court.JPG">Wikipedia</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last night I was watching ABC World News and was really appalled by the story they presented in which they interviewed Occupy Wall Street protesters about why they were there. It's as if they had purposefully selected dim wits that didn't have a clue. There were a couple of people interviewed that did provide a valid reason but ABC seemed to quickly skip over them as if they didn't want anyone to think too hard about what they said.<br />
<br />
So this morning I sent them the link to a song by Makana that pretty much says it all:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xq3BYw4xjxE" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
In case you can't catch all the lyrics here they are:<br />
<br />
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ye</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> come here, gather 'round the stage<br />The time has come for us to voice our rage<br />Against the ones who've trapped us in a cage<br />To steal from us the value of our wage<br /><br />From underneath the <span class="SpellE">vestiture</span> of law<br />The lobbyists at Washington do gnaw<br />At liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw<br />And until they are purged, we won't withdraw<br /><br />We'll occupy the streets<br />We'll occupy the courts<br />We'll occupy the offices of you<br />'Till you do<br />The bidding of the many, not the few<br /><br />Our nation was built upon the right<br />Of every person to improve their plight<br />But laws of this Republic they rewrite<br />And now a few own everything in sight<br /><br />They own it free of liability<br />They own, but they are not like you and me<br />Their influence dictates legality<br />And until they are stopped we are not free<br /><br />We'll occupy the streets<br />We'll occupy the courts<br />We'll occupy the offices of you<br />Till you do<br />The bidding of the many, not the few<br /><br />You enforce your monopolies with guns<br />While sacrificing our daughters and sons<br />But certain things belong to everyone</span><u></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Your thievery has left the people none<br /><br />So take heed of our notice to redress<br />We have little to lose, we must confess<br />Your empty words do leave us unimpressed<br />A growing number join us in protest<br /><br />We occupy the streets<br />We occupy the courts<br />We occupy the offices of you<br />Till you do<br />The bidding of the many, not the few<br /><br />You can't divide us into sides<br />And from our gaze, you cannot hide<br />Denial serves to amplify<br />And our allegiance you can't buy<br /><br />Our government is not for sale<br />The banks do not deserve a bail<br />We will not reward those who fail<br />We will not move till we prevail<br /><br />We'll occupy the streets<br />We'll occupy the courts<br />We'll occupy the offices of you<br />Till you do<br />The bidding of the many, not the few<br /><br />We'll occupy the streets<br />We'll occupy the courts<br />We'll occupy the offices of you<br />Till you do<br />The bidding of the many, not the few<br /><br />We are the many<br />You are the few</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The things I personally am particularly disturbed by are the inequitable tax structures that overwhelmingly favor the corporate and the rich, a Supreme Court who is obviously "for sale" or is at the least politically motivated rather than unbiased, rules that exempt Congressmen from laws that prohibit profit by insider trading and allow them to accept lobbyist favors in any form thereby making their job one of maximizing their own wealth rather than serving the vast majority of Americans who elected them, and being the victims of large corporations who are essentially thinly disguised monopolies who extract money from us like a blood bank who has no qualms about drawing out so much blood that a donor shrivels and dies! </span><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=88de66e7-f479-45b9-883f-e50333b24ae1" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-19784807733374290112011-10-21T16:12:00.000-07:002011-10-21T16:16:47.721-07:00Caregiver Village online community new approach to caregiver outreachI'm one of the 60 million caregivers in the United States that spends a significant portion of my day caring for a family member with chronic medical problems - in my case a Vietnam veteran with <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/post-traumatic-stress-disorder" rel="webmd" title="Post Traumatic Stress Disorder">PTSD</a> and medical complications resulting from exposure to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange" rel="wikipedia" title="Agent Orange">Agent Orange</a>. After more than 40 years of this responsibility, caregiving is simply ingrained in my daily life and I have learned to cope with the stresses it creates by engaging in cultural enrichment through my study of the ancient world and by focusing on my writing and digital photography activities in my spare time. <br />
<br />
But, as a retired technology professional, I also try to keep up with new uses of technology, especially for educational purposes so was intrigued to see that health care and counseling professionals along with a team of technology developers have reached out to family caregivers through a new <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service" rel="wikipedia" title="Social network service">online social network</a> community called <a href="http://www.caregivervillage.com/">Caregiver Village</a>. In Caregiver Village, members who subscribe to the service for $4.95 per month (they do offer a free 30 day trial) can play an ongoing Sims-like mystery game called the "Village Chronicles". Each episode offers players a chance to learn better self-care, stress management skills and positive attitudes while solving puzzles and earning achievements as they explore an episodic mystery surrounding a caregiving situation.<br />
<br />
Members can also join book club discussion groups led by authors who have written books about caregiving for a variety of conditions and access resources for dealing with ADD/ADHD, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.realage.com/check-your-health/disease-prevention/alzheimers-disease" rel="realage" title="alzheimers disease">Alzheimer’s</a>, arthritis, autism, cancer, depression, diabetes, general aging, general caregiving needs, heart disease, mental and developmental delays, mental/emotional illness, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.everydayhealth.com/parkinsons-disease/parkinsons-disease-basics.aspx" rel="everydayhealth" title="Parkinsons Disease">Parkinson’s</a>, physical disabilities, stroke, surgery, injury or wounds, and war-related injuries and are encouraged to share their own experiences through personal journals and interacting with other community members.<br />
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"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">People connect based on common needs and interests in a place that becomes their own village of support and encouragement," say site developers. "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Family caregivers are exhausted, stressed to the point of illness and frustrated by their isolation.<a href="http://www.caregivervillage.com/" style="color: #517c0c; text-decoration: none;">Caregiver Village’s</a> virtual village creates a close knit community where caregivers can discover a sense of deep personal satisfaction – and escape – from the hard, intense work of family caregiving; while simultaneously learning how to handle their stress and building online connections with people in exactly the same situation as them."</span><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HzLpUy5RUrU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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So, if you have found yourself in a long-term caregiving role and would like to meet and interact with others in a similar situation, check out <a href="http://www.caregivervillage.com/">Caregiver Village</a>.<br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=df79d4c3-292c-4742-8ebc-915d833031d3" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214232832528534211.post-37610286503814482972011-07-12T16:49:00.000-07:002011-07-12T16:51:39.635-07:00Star Trek comes to Netflix Instant Streaming but may switch to VuDu for new releases and drop DVDs by mail<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/46/160276286_3566922030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/46/160276286_3566922030.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The U.S.S. Enterprise at Star Trek: The Experience, an<br />
exhibit that was once the featured attraction at the Las Vegas<br />
Hilton. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Wow! Today I went up to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.netflix.com/" rel="homepage" title="Netflix">Netflix</a> to rank a DVD series we just completed and noticed that Netflix must have reached an awesome agreement with Paramount as I see that Start Trek and most of its spinoffs are now popping up on my suggested TV shows list for instant streaming. Classic Trek, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.startrek.com/page/star-trek-the-next-generation" rel="homepage" title="Star Trek: The Next Generation">STNG</a>, Voyager and Enterprise are now available to download instantly! I'm so excited - especially about Enterprise as I never had the chance to watch more than one or two of the episodes.<br />
<br />
For some reason Deep Space Nine is only available on Disc but I'm sure it will be added before too long.<br />
<br />
Yes, I'm afraid all of you who thought I was this serious classical scholar will be disillusioned to discover that I'm an original Trekker going clear back to the first 1966 airing of the Star Trek episode "The Man Trap". I've even dressed up in a Star Fleet captain's uniform that I fashioned myself (circa "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.startrek.com/page/star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan" rel="homepage" title="Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan">The Wrath of Khan</a>") and attended a number of Star Trek conventions. I've had the thrill of meeting Worf (Michael Dorn), Sulu (George Takei), Chakotay (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.robertbeltran.com/" rel="homepage" title="Robert Beltran">Robert Beltran</a>), Quark (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Shimerman" rel="wikipedia" title="Armin Shimerman">Armin Shimerman</a>) and even Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). I've<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/160254684_16850de8d2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/160254684_16850de8d2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quark's business associates welcome me to<br />
Quark's Bar at Star Trek: The Experience.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
also been accosted by a Klingon down at Quark's Bar in<i> Star Trek: The Experience</i> that was once a featured attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton and I've sat in Captain Picard's command chair and "Made it so" down at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. (That was when the museum was first open and had only a handful of visitors. I doubt if they let people do that now) I even beamed myself down to an alien planet at the <i>Star Trek: Federation Science</i> exhibit at the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.508415,-122.665894&spn=0.01,0.01&q=45.508415,-122.665894%20(Oregon%20Museum%20of%20Science%20and%20Industry)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Oregon Museum of Science and Industry">Oregon Museum of Science and Industry</a>. (Actually you stepped onto a "transporter" and watched yourself shimmer and disappear on a video screen in front of you then reappear in front of a backdrop of an alien world. My husband and I stood in line for almost two hours to do it and my husband said afterward he can't believe we waited so long to only do that! At that same exhibit I stepped up to a wax figure of Spock dressed in his Star fleet uniform that was protected by a cylindrical glass shield and pressed my hand formed into a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute" rel="wikipedia" title="Vulcan salute">Vulcan salute</a> against the glass where his hand was positioned in the Vulcan salute and my husband asked me what on earth I was doing. I told him it would probably be as close to Spock as I would ever get!<br />
<br />
At one point Star Trek even inspired me to consider majoring in biochemistry so I could work at the Ames Research Center and search for extraterrestrial life. But that was a lifetime ago. Now I'm content to let my computer do the searching with the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/" rel="homepage" title="SETI@home">SETI at home</a> software and just revisit the worlds of Star Trek via Netflix, especially since most of my Star Trek videos are old VHS tapes. (Although two weeks ago I ordered the original collection of Star Trek movies on Blu-Ray that came up on Amazon as a Gold Box special for 60% off.)<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/160266476_672a3e6e2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/160266476_672a3e6e2b.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bust of a Cardassian at Star Trek:<br />
The Experience</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Today, though, I discovered this walk down memory lane was going to cost me twice as much as I thought. I received an email from Netflix that informed me they were DOUBLING their subscription rates for people who subscribe to both streaming and DVDs by mail.<br />
<br />
I watch far more movies via streaming than on DVD but I subscribe to both services (for $9.95/mo) because most new film releases don't make it to instant streaming for years. Of course I must admit I have other choices. Vudu only charges $2 per movie and have most new releases the day the DVD comes out. With the pathetically few movies being produced that I find interesting nowdays, it would probably be far cheaper for me to just occasionally rent a new release from Vudu than to pay Netflix an additional $7.99 per month. Dish Network also offered some new titles on PPV for only 99 cents this month. If that is not just a flash in the pan but a regular new product offering, that could be another viable option as well. I suppose I could also scale back my satellite channel package too since I hardly watch much on broadcast television anymore after the nightly news is over. <br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0