REFLECTIONS

THANKSGIVING

Freedom from Want - Painting © Norman Rockwell

When I was growing up, we spent many a Thanksgiving and Christmas at grandpa's house. Thanksgiving was a much anticipated and happy time. We would often leave Pueblo on Wednesday afternoon after dad got home from work. It was a long 7 hour drive to Haxtun in those pre-interstate highway days, so it would be really late by the time we arrived.

We stayed at grandpa's house, so aunts, uncles, and cousins were stashed in every bedroom upstairs and down, plus on couches, hide-a-beds, and any other place there was room to throw down some blankets and pillows. When I was quite small, they put my brother and I and some of our cousins all in one hide-a-bed in the basement. We were stacked in like cord wood.

My family, 1953. I am standing in front of my mother. My dad is holding my brother John. One of my cousins is on grandpa's porch at the left.

The next day, John and I would play with our cousins while the adults worked on Thanksgiving dinner (or watched a football game). Dinner was quite a production with a lot of people involved. There was grandpa, his six children and their spouses, plus all of the children. That was a lot of people to fit around the big table with all the extra leaves, plus card tables. We had all the usual fixins, plus whatever grandpa provided if he had been hunting and was successful. When we hit our teens, my cousins and could go along with him. Grace was said or sung or both. Singing grace was a family tradition. I still remember the tune. Our version went something like this:

Be with us at our table Lord.

Be here and everwhere adored.

These blessing grant and then that we

may dwell in fellowship with thee.

Good food was shared. I can still remember finding an occasional piece of shot while eating duck or pheasant or whatever else grandpa had provided for the feast. Much happy talk would go on around the table. Past memories and recent events would all be shared. Not all the memories were happy. Grandma died of cancer between Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was 7 years old. I remember her, but not as well as I wish I could.

Grandpa and Grandma Buck and family. Standing (l to r): Dorothy (my mother), Cliff, and Marjean. Seated (l to r): Shirley, Grandma (Myrtle), John, Grandpa (Clifford), and Pat.

There was lots of room to play, both inside and out. The basement coal room was a place of mystery since none of us cousins had a house with a coal room. When I was small, Uncle Ken (Marjean's husband) became the family horse. We took turns riding Ken around the house. In addition to a big house, there was a big yard (at least it felt big at the time), with the arbor, the old car (Model T or A) that sat in the side yard, a separate garage with a big depression in the floor so you could work under the car, and the playhouse in the back of the yard. Outside, we were pirates or exporers or whatever else struck our imaginations. My cousin Linda and I made mud pies in the playhouse which I think we actually tasted.

The pantry behind the kitchen always had a box of chocolate chips that my cousins and I would secretly get into throughout the day. Chocolate chips worked well to fortify us for the day's adventures. We were very careful not to get caught. It wasn't until grandpa's funeral that my cousins and I learned that our parents were snitching chocolate chips too. Grandpa let one of my aunts in on his little secret. He would buy several boxes, and hide all but one or two. When one box got low, he would put out another one.

It was a real joy to be together. After a two or three fun-filled days, we would all head home.

Families were much bigger then, and didn't live so far apart. It was a different time.

I still look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes all of our children are home and sometimes just one or two. We do the traditional dinner with turkey and all the trimmings. I'm particularly fond of cranberry in various forms. We pick up two or three flavors of sparkling juice and almost always have at least two kinds of pie. We talk and laugh and share memories both happy and sad. New memories are added to the older ones. I've gone from being one of the grandchildren to being a grandfather. How did that happen?

May this Thanksgiving bring you joy, good memories, and happy times with family and friends. God bless you.

Thanksgiving with our family 2 years ago.

Jim, Drew, Jennifer, Jared, Steve, Janae, Melissa, and Jim

More family photos are posted in the family section of my photography website, and scattered among my ImageEvent albums.

REMEMBERING 9-11

Photo by James Nachtwey for TIME magazine.

On this date, five years ago, we experienced a great national tragedy in the United States. Not only in the lives that were lost in the terrorist attacks, the families torn asunder, and the emergency responders who are suffering terrible health problems as a result of working at the scene - but also in the way we view ourselves and our world.

The photo essays linked below (in the September 9 post) are a reminder of what we all went through on that fateful day.

I've written a longer reflection at my ministry blog.

BILL BIGGART: REMEMBERING 9-11

Bill Biggart's final photograph. He was killed when the second World Trade tower collapsed on top of him. He was 53 years old.

You can read the story about Bill Biggart's last images and see an album of his last photos at The Digital Journalist.

You can see other 9-11 photo albums by Chip East, Peter Turnley, David Turnley, and Aris Economopoulos.

PERSONALITY HEAT MAPS

Britney Spears Heat Map

I came across an interesting curiosity. The State University of New York at Stony Brook has been tracking the amount of exposure various personalities are getting in the news on a geographic basis. The results for March 2005 are available in a series of "heat maps". The more red in a given area of the country, the more news coverage that person received in that area.

Bill Clinton Heat Map

Some of the results are predictable and some aren't. It makes sense that former U.S. President Bill Clinton would get more coverage in the northeast since his wife Hillary is a Senator in New York. He also gets more coverage in his home state of Arkansas. But why is Britney Spears getting so much attention in the sparsely populated Rocky Mountain West? It is clear that Britney got a lot more coverage than Bill in the month this data was collected.

Bill Gates Heat Map

I would expect that bill Gates, head of Microsoft, would get a lot of news coverage in the state of Washington (home of Microsoft) and in financial and tech centers like New York and Silicon Valley, but why all the news about Bill in North and South Dakota?

You can ponder all of this and check out the heat maps for a long list of personalities. More information is here and you can look up the personality of your choice.

SPEC 2006

Evening Entertainment at SPEC 2006. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

Every summer, 1,000 high school age youth from around the world gather at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa for SPECTACULAR, better known as SPEC. You can read more in the daily SPEC News Reports and see photos in the SPEC albums as they appear.

THE 4th of JULY

Fireworks over Yukon, Oklahoma. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

From the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson (1762-1826). 3rd US President (1801-09).

To see an engraving of the original and George Washington's personal printed copy, go here.

The entire declaration follows.

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts

John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York

William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland

Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

SOURCE: Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington

A STORY FOR FATHER'S DAY

The following "reader's essay" appeared in the ALL ABOUT DADS section of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH on June 18, 2006. A prayer for a miracle. A mysterious visitor. A story to ponder.

Father Remembers A Scare He Won’t Soon Forget

by Tony Bonfiglio

I remember walking downstairs on Father’s Day in 1999 — a bright, warm, sunny day in Lima [Ohio].

My older daughter, Andrea, was reading the Sunday newspaper on the living-room floor.

In keeping with our family custom on Father’s Day, I was headed for a round of golf in the morning and would return to barbecue dinner for my wife and two daughters.

I had planned to play golf with my younger daughter, Rebecca, 17 at the time. She would drive the cart and serve as caddie, and, as payback for her company, I would ply her with as many hot dogs and Cokes as she could down.

Before leaving the house, I checked with my wife, Fran, and went to say goodbye to Andrea.

With the morning sunlight highlighting her sandy-blond hair, Andrea turned to me and mentioned that her arms and legs felt as if still asleep.

I asked her whether she’d slept on her arm all night.

No, she said.

"Well, I’m sure it’s just how you slept," I told her as she continued reading the paper. "You’ll feel better soon."

One week earlier, Andrea, looking beautiful and healthy, had graduated from Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in education. I can still picture her walking briskly up the podium to receive her diploma.

Rebecca and I enjoyed our morning on the golf course but returned home to an unsettling note: My wife had taken Andrea to St. Rita Hospital.

Come to the emergency room as quickly as possible, she had written.

Rebecca and I hurried downtown to the hospital, where a neurologist was checking Andrea.

With the tests proving inconclusive, she was let go later that day with an advisement to see the staff neurologist the next morning.

She was walking with difficulty and still feeling numb in her legs and arms.

My wife and I held our fear in check, trying to be positive for both daughters.

After an uneasy night’s sleep for all of us, Fran urgently called to me from our daughter’s room.

Andrea couldn’t turn over and could barely move.

I scooped her up in my arms and rushed her to the car. With her breathing coming in fits and deep gulps, I was approaching full panic mode.

We heard physicians toss around possibile causes: multiple sclerosis, neurological paralysis onset, brain disorder, botulism.

Yet all proved inconclusive.

Andrea, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly immobile, her breathing alarmingly more labored.

The morning wore on to the afternoon before the head of neurology approached me: Andrea was fighting Guillain-Barre syndrome.

I called our family physician, who immediately suggested that we have her taken to the OSU Medical Center.

I handed the phone to the attending neurologist, who, after a brief conversation, ordered a medical helicopter for Andrea.

With space in the helicopter limited, my wife went with our daughter while Shawn, Andrea’s boyfriend of six months, drove Rebecca and me in my car to Columbus.

I had always been the stoic one in the family — cool during a crisis — yet my nerves were betraying me.

Ninety minutes later, in the waiting room at OSU, Fran told us that Andrea had been taken to the intensive-care unit. The doctors were worried about her ability to breathe on her own.

We waited several hours — until nearly 11 p.m. — before a nurse came to get us.

Andrea was on a respirator, the nurse said, and the doctors had induced a coma to help her rest and relax.

In her room, she was being gently rocked in bed. The nurses had put her golden hair in pigtails, making her seem younger than her 22 years. The room had a green glow from several computer monitors, and more tubes extended to Andrea from other machines.

Fran, Rebecca, Shawn and I stood silent, tears flowing freely.

The irony hit me hard: One week earlier, this dear child had experienced a red-letter day — one during which she’d been full of energy and wonderfully healthy.

Now, suddenly, she was at the mercy of machines — silent in the relentless grip of a medical emergency.

Dr. Cambridge, head of neurology at OSU, explained to us that Guillain-Barre is rare, that it strikes without warning or reason.

The autoimmune affliction, incurable but treatable, causes the body to attack the protein surrounding nerves throughout the body. The disease also inhibits the body’s ability to transmit nerve signals.

It usually starts with numbness and progresses from there; it’s often triggered by a viral infection or an immunization.

Andrea’s paralysis had spread quickly.

Treatment — a type of blood filtering, or cleaning — allows the body to rebuild the damaged nerve-cell covering and stop the body from attacking itself.

Andrea, the doctor said, was in grave danger.

The greatest threat was potential heart failure. Her heart was racing out of control — up to 160 beats a minute.

Her youthfulness was her best defense, and the plasmapheresis treatment wouldn’t start until she was out of danger.

Several days came and went with little change in her condition.

On Thursday, the news grew worse: Andrea had developed pneumonia from the respirator, a fever, and a bladder infection from her catheter.

We prayed for a miracle.

Late in the evening, Fran and I were standing at the foot of her bed when a priest came to the room — the first such visit for Andrea, as far as we knew.

He wanted to know whether he could help her, he said, quietly putting on a colorful prayer vestment and moving close to her side.

He placed both hands on her head and prayed — eloquent, powerful prayers.

Several minutes later, he placed his hands on our shoulders.

"She will be fine," he said. "Don’t worry."

A nurse and doctor entered the room to administer medication. When we turned around to thank the priest, he was gone.

I walked up and down the ICU compound and hallway but saw no sign of our visitor.

When I returned to Andrea’s room, her heart was beating more normally.

The next morning, we welcomed word that the pneumonia, bladder infection and fever were under control; that the Guillain-Barre syndrome was stabilizing and Andrea was regaining some control over her involuntary nervous system.

Continuing to improve throughout the day, she was taken off the comainducing medicine.

When her eyes opened, we felt tremendous relief.

Two weeks after entering intensive care, she was moved to Dodd Hall, the nearby rehabilitation facility.

Her rehabilitation involved a constant rotation of swimming, musclemotion therapy and walking exercises. Her speech gradually returned to normal, and day by day she regained more motion and strength.

The possible two-year recovery we were cautioned about took two weeks — remarkable considering the severity of the problem and probably attributable to Andrea’s youth and physical well-being.

My wife and I wanted to thank the chaplain who’d visited Andrea’s bedside several weeks earlier.

When we asked to speak to the chaplain on duty the week after Father’s Day, however, we were told that the resident chaplain had been on vacation — that, in fact, no one had been on duty that week.

We inquired whether any parish had sent a priest and were repeatedly told that all chaplains must clear security and that none had been cleared that week.

Four weeks after the ordeal started, Andrea was released from Dodd Hall.

Today, seven years later, she has no lingering effects of the illness.

She has earned a master’s in education from OSU, teaches school in the Lima district and is married to Shawn.

They have a 2-year-old son — our grandson, Kaleb.



Tony Bonfiglio, 55, has lived in Hilliard for four years. His reflections were inspired by Father’s Day as well as the battle of Ohio Auditor Betty D. Montgomery with Guillain-Barre.

The article originally appeared online here.

SAVE THE INTERNET 2

An open post from Representative Zoe Lofgren who is on our side in the Net Neutrality debate in Congress.

Guest post from Rep. Zoe Lofgren

May 26th, 2006

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 5417, the “Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006,” which I introduced with Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, Ranking Member John Conyers and Rep. Rick Boucher last week. This is the first bill with real protections for Net Neutrality that has passed any committee in Congress, and I am proud to be a part of it.

The bill requires broadband providers to operate their networks in a non-discriminatory manner and makes sure that the phone and cable companies cannot favor or block access to the Web sites or online services that they pick instead of the consumer. It will keep the Internet an open and free marketplace of ideas and services chosen by consumers instead of big corporations. It will also guard against those who own “the pipes” gleaning profits by creating a virtual toll road.

H.R. 5417 was introduced by a bipartisan coalition from the Judiciary Committee and passed out of the Committee by a vote of 20-13. Fourteen Democrats and six Republicans voted in favor of it, and 13 Republicans voted against it. One Democrat voted present.

The Internet has revolutionized the way Americans communicate with one another and do business. It’s only right to keep that revolution where it belongs — in the hands of Internet users instead of the phone and cable companies.

The next hurdle for Net Neutrality is whether we will have a full vote on the House floor. If you care about the freedom that Net Neutrality protects, contact your Member of Congress and ask that H.R. 5417 be scheduled to come before the full House of Representatives as either a separate bill or an amendment. Urge them to vote for Net Neutrality protection!

Source: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/

SAVE THE INTERNET

A plan before Congress, backed by big telecom dollars, could gut the internet's first amendment: Net Neutrality. What is at risk is your right to choose the internet sites you want to go to, and even your right to receive emails from whomever you want. Do your part today to protect your internet rights and save Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality means YOU choose the sites you want to visit, and they are provided to you without outside intereference.

Action could take place as early as next week in the House of Representatives to protect or take away your rights.

AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, AOL-Time Warner, and other Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut Net Neutrality. If big telecom companies get their way, big subscribers can pay ISPs to have their web sites delivered to your computer in the "fast lane", and slow down or block other web sites from being served to your computer. You lose your power of choice.

The big telecoms could block you from viewing this blog simply because I am criticizing them.

Sound far fetched? It's already happening.

* In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.

* In 2005, Canada's telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a labor dispute.

* In April, Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com — an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.

NPR and PBS have reported on these and other similar abuses.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has called for stronger Net Neutrality protections. Existing laws provide insufficient protection against these abuses. The FCC acts on the rules but congress makes them. If legislation before congress passes, we will have little or no protection from having our ISPs (internet service providers) decide what sites they will allow us to access, and how fast.

If big telecom companies get their way, the internet as we now know it will go away. Imagine you want to buy an item on the internet. Company A is selling it for $100 and Company B is selling it for $60. You go to Company B's web site but it loads very slowly or not at all. Why? Because Company A paid the telecom company to give them priority so your access to Company B is either dramatically slowed down or blocked completely. Big dollars, not your choices, will control the internet.

Who is on our side? Supporters of Net Neutrality include Amazon.com, Earthlink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Skype, Vonage and Yahoo, the American Library Association, churches and hundreds of other non-profit organizations, political groups, bloggers, small businesses, thousands of small web site owners, and thousands of others who are opposed to the telecom backed plan now before congress. Also on our side are some of the computer scientists that developed the internet in the first place.

NPR and PBS have reported that several telecom executives have already announced their plans to decide which web sites get served to you in the fast lane (based on big buck payments to the telecoms), which web sites are served in the slow lane, and which ones won't be delivered at all. Big telecoms and other ISPs want this huge source of potential new income.

For big telecoms, the internet isn't a highway system where you choose to go in whatever vehicle you have Idial up, cable, DSL etc). Telecom execs refer to the internet as "big pipes" and they want to control what flows down the pipelines to your computer. And they will choose based on who pays them the biggest bucks to send their content to your computer.

A multi-million dollar ad campaign ("Hands Off the Internet") has been launched by the big telecoms to downplay the Net Neutrality cause. Do you trust the big telecoms to have your best interests at heart, or all the online companies, big and small, that want you to have equal access to the sites you want to visit on the internet?

The glory of the internet is neutrality. Any ordinary Joe or Jane can put up a website and anyone else can go to it. The pages on my web sites receive between 1,500 and 2,000 visits per day, and anyone can find me on Google or most any other search engine. If big telecom gets their way, I would have to pay them or they won't feed my site down "their big pipes" to your computer. I will be shunted off to one of "their little pipes" at really slow speeds or not at all.

For more information, go to SaveTheInternet.com. Be sure and read the FAQ, then write, call, and email your representatives in congress.

ELBOW “OWIE”

Surgical Elbow Repair. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

This is an elbow owie. In fact, there were so many pieces to screw, nail, and wire back together (notice the technical medical terms), it could be called a double owie - maybe even a triple.

Just like in the old auto repair joke, the surgeon had a number of small pieces left over that he just threw away. He didn't grow up in the Great Depression, like my parents generation, or he would have saved them. The humerus (upper arm bone) is at the top.

Same elbow, different angle. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

Fascinating. Notice the hole drilled through the lower bone to run the wire through. The wire loops up and around the bent heads of the two long pins.

This is just the first procedure to hold the elbow together until it mends. More operations will follow.

You can see a normal elbow here.

HOSPITAL VISITOR’S FITNESS PLAN

Hospital Visitor's Exercise Track. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

The essence of this plan is simplicity itself.

• Eat one bowl of Cheerios each morning before going to the hospital


• Twice a day, go to the hospital "Cafe" and get a do-it-yourself salad and a small carton of 2% milk


• Go back to the hospital room, eat the salad and drink the milk


• Don't eat the food provided for the patients, not even the leftovers (except for maybe the Italian Ice Dessert - see Hospital Food 3)


• For exercise, walk to the nurse's station several times a day and ask questions (they appreciate all of the attention). Don't trip over any of the expensive computer data carts recharging in the hallway.


• To keep your fine motor skills functional, take photographs.

Results: A recent medical study indicates that 100% of participants lose an average of 1.2 pounds during the first four days on the plan (and meet lots of interesting medical personnel).

Cost: The cost of this fitness plan has not yet been determined.

HOSPITAL FOOD 3

PATIENT'S RATINGS:

Sausage - ok

Pancakes - just ok (patient quote: "McDonalds pancakes are better")

Juice - good

Green salad - ok

Rice - bad

Chicken Salad - fair

Fresh Fruit - good

Open faced Hot Beef Sandwich: beef and gravy - good, bread - fair

Poppy seed cake - a bit dry

Italian Ice Dessert - very good, especially late at night (patient comment: "worth finding when we go home")

MY DESK

My Desk. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

I'm writing this at my desk. Technically, it isn't really my desk (the hospital properties department might take issue), but I will be calling it mine for the next few days. Think of this place as a temporary office. I'm spending a lot of time here since there isn't much else to do and anyone I might visit with is sound asleep most of the time. I could turn on the TV but I don't find much use for daytime television.

As desks go, it is pretty small. The fan sitting here takes up a good bit of the real estate, but my laptop still fits (although it hangs off the front and the side of the desk). I do have two huge windows with a pretty nice view on everything that goes on down below. They provide plenty of light in the day time. There is a semi-reasonable amount of indirect light at night, but not controllable so far as direction is concerned. A real desk lamp would be a plus. There isn't a good place for my knees which bump into the knobs on the drawers, so that could be improved.

The outstanding feature of my desk is outlets. I have nine of them right above my desk and more on the floor! My desk at either of my two "real" offices should be so well equipped. And these are heavy duty outlets. I currently have one fan, one laptop, and two mobile phone chargers plugged in. I could recharge my camera battery but it is doing just fine. I wonder what I have at home that I could bring to plug in tomorrow? I bet I could plug in one of my six-projector slide shows, complete with amplified sound system, and still not blow a circuit.

If only this place had wireless internet access. Seems quite archaic that they don't. I would complain but I will be gone long (I hope) before they would ever get it installed.

I wonder what the rent is on this place?

HOSPITAL FOOD 2

VISITOR'S RATING:

Cafe "create it yourself" salad - very good

COST: $4.59 per pound.

GIFTS AND GRACES

Billie checking an IV. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

Some people impress you immediately with a wonderful combination of compassion and competence. It's nice to find that combination. It isn't that hard to find people that have one or the other, and, unfortunately, to find people with neither.

I've spent a lot of time lately with family and friends in hospitals and medical offices. Today I was privileged to observe a hospital nurse in several interactions with several patients. One of those interactions was a potentially testy situation (a patient with wishes counter to the doctor's orders) which she handled with tact and grace.

She is quick to respond. One patient complained that she was too hot (the room itself was pleasant). In a few minutes the nurse was back with a fan (apparently a rare commodity around here). Billie was pleasant with everyone, gentle, efficient and cheerful (and tolerated me and my camera). I suspect she would be a bit embarassed to read all of this. She is obviously compassionate and goes about her work with skill and professionalism. Such people are a joy!

As someone once said "May their tribe increase!"

Washing a patient's face. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr. The photos that appear with this post are with Billie's permission but she did not know what the contents of this post would be.