August 30, 2015
August 27, 2015
To Have Eyes and Not See…
To be blind is bad, but worse is to have eyes and not see.
–Helen Keller
August 24, 2015
August 21, 2015
The Liberators: History Brought to Life
Podcasts of radio shows are a fun to learn new things and often brings history to life. On Point Radio had a great show featuring Michael Hirsh, author of “The Liberators: America’s Witnesses to the Holocaust.” He interviewed more than 150 World War II veterans who entered the concentration camps.
Milton Silva is also featured, he was a sergeant with the Army’s 120th Evacuation Hospital who arrived at the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp on April 14, 1945, as U.S. troops liberated the complex and began helping survivors.
Stanley Friedenberg is the other guest, he was an officer in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps. He arrived at the Nazi Ohrdruf concentration camp on April 5, 1945, in the hours after U.S. troops first entered the complex. Part of the Buchenwald system of subcamps, Ohrdruf was the first concentration camp to be liberated by American soldiers. Later, Friedenberg was also at the concentration camp at Gusen-Mauthausen, in Austria, on May 5.
August 19, 2015
Temperatures: Weather and Wines
The Pacific Northwest has endured a summer of record breaking temperatures. UW Weather Guru Cliff Mass had an interesting piece on his blog detailing the proper placement of an outdoor thermometer:
“When it comes to measuring heat, the National Weather Service shares this advice about where to place your thermometer:
– Mount the thermometer in a shaded, well-ventilated and open area, about 5 feet above ground.
– Away from water sprinkler systems
– No closer than four times the height of any obstruction. For example, if a building is 10 feet tall, it needs to be no closer than 40 feet from that building.
– Located over natural ground just as grass, dirt or sod; which means, not on your roof.
– At least 100 feet from road or concrete.”
Speaking of temperatures, the Consumer’s Union had an interesting article about serving wines at their proper temperature.
August 17, 2015
Words of Wisdom: Gold Medals
Apple a day, in memory of Mr Bill my hero
The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that’s where it’s at.
-Jesse Owens, four-time Olympic gold medalist (1913-1980)
August 14, 2015
August 10, 2015
News Websites of Merit you May not Have Discovered
A few websites that are worth checking out often are PolitiFact with it’s famous Truth-o-meter. Here you will find the facts behind the many political spins that circulate around our mainstream media. If you are wanting to keep an eye on the health care reforms proposed for our country with in excess of 47 million people without health coverage this is a good place to start.
Check out ProPublica, “an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them.” (from their website) They hope to put into place more investigative journalism that has lost it’s place is our fast paced 24 hour news cycle. Staff includes: Paul Steiger, the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, Stephen Engelberg, a former managing editor of The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, and former investigative editor of The New York Times, is ProPublica’s managing editor. For a sampling check out their coverage of the bailout.
NewsTrust is also a good site to keep in your bookmarks. Here readers rate the quality of the stories featured and you can find some stories you may not see in the mainstream media. From their site “NewsTrust reviewers evaluate each story against core principles of journalism, such as fairness, accuracy, context and sourcing — using our unique review tools.” Here’s a sampling of that they offer, an article on sleep paralysis. NewsTrust based in California is a nonprofit public benefit corporation with an educational purpose. They started NewsTrust to “address growing problems of information overload, misinformation and mistrust on the Internet, caused by the rise of opinion news and amateur journalism, as well as media consolidation and newsroom cutbacks” (from their website).
For international news that is more in depth check out Global Post where you will find this moving story about children born behind bars. They have quite a stable of on-the-ground journalists of superior quality. They have more than 65 correspondents in nearly 50 countries giving it a hand up in international coverage.
August 6, 2015
We Were So Beloved
Discovering older documentaries on-line is one of the joys of the information super highway to use an old-school term. Netflix streaming has allowed these older titles to be introduced to a whole new audience. You can log onto a movie you might not otherwise try and if you don’t like it stop the stream and begin again, it’s incredible.
“We Were so Beloved” is from 1985 and although it is powerful in emotion and message it’s almost worth watching just to see the 80s hairstyles and fashions.
Filmmaker Manfred Kirchheimer, who moved from Germany to New York in 1936, interviews friends and family who moved to New York City’s middle class Washington Heights in the 1930s, to establish the Jewish Community he grew up in.
The film begins slowly and has been criticized it for its length, but his interviews with these survivors of the Holocaust are quite powerful and pull together lesser known attitudes by some emigrants. The attitudes of the elders as compared with their then 50-something sons is also remarkable to absorb. The film focuses on the contradictions that exist in their “whole new lives” in America and some of the elder’s attitudes obviously shock their middle-aged offspring. One son sits on the couch unable to keep quiet, challenging his mother who he feels is being too forgiving and too upbeat. There has been much written about what it is to grow up the offspring of Holocaust survivors and you can see the emotion in the expressions of the three sons who are included in this film.
Just the interview with Elsa Marcus, the lady in purple/pinkish velour with the pearls, with her passionate opinions, is worth your time to watch this low budget film. She has some powerful things to say about our animal nature that will stick with you long after you have completed viewing the film.
August 4, 2015
Wisdom of Ms Ann Richards
“After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did.
She just did it backwards and in high heels.”
— Ann Richards
The Curious Autodidact 
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