Beloit Mindset List Class of 2009

It’s the beginning of the school year, and that means it’s time for the annual Beloit College Student Mindset List. An annual list compiled for the past 8 years, it presents a set of facts that incoming freshmen have always known or taken for granted. The guide is intended to help raise the awareness of the faculty and staff as to the important touchstones in their students’ lives.

Imagine, if you will, a worldview in which:

* Heart-lung transplants have always been possible.

* Time Life and Warner Communications have always been joined.

* Snowboarding has always been a popular winter pastime.

The Beloit Mindset List entire list has 75 entries, which are viewable by visiting the preceding link.

I use the services of a company known as Sitemeter, and via their online reporting system I have access to a wide variety of reports concerning the traffic to this web site. Reports include the number of visitors per day, the search words used to find this site, and so on.

When I can see that someone viewed one of our recipes I always wonder, did they make it that night? did they enjoy it? Or if they find the story about my Mohs surgery, did it give them useful info, or provide comfort?

There’s other useful or interesting data available as well. Based on the fact that only a tiny number (1/3rd of 1%) of visitors to this site have small (640×480) screens, and in fact, 85% have screens larger than 800×600, I decided to try posting larger images, especially for the recent travel photos. I’m also pleased to note that the percentage of Firefox users continues to grow.

Sitemeter recently introduced a cool new feature, the Visitors World Map report. It’s a map of the world, with dots showing the nominal locations of the past few hundred site visitors (about 2-3 days worth). Determining location is subject to some limitations related to accuracy, but does come surprisingly close.

This image really helps demonstrate that it is the world wide web!

American Patriot, Kentuckian Bill Moyer, a 73 year old Korean and Vietnam vet, attended a recent media event for Veterans of Foreign Wars. The person giving the speech avoided serving in overseas conflict, and apparently Bill was none too impressed.

Somehow, I don’t believe folks such as this guy, and the generation before him who saved the world in WWII, would have supported the loss of American life in support of the creation of an Islamic Republic. It hasn’t received a lot of attention, but the proposed “constitution” of Iraq will essentially ratify Iraq as an Islamic Republic and may, among other things, nullify rights women have had over there for over 40 years.

I have nothing against Muslims, (or any other religious group), but for the citizens of a country founded on the principle of Freedom of Religion to die in support of a theocracy, a government bound by the rules of one religion and one religion only, is about as unAmerican as it gets.

Yes, we’ve gone from the non-existent WMDs, to the removal of Sadam, to “we’re building a true democracy”, to “just sign the thing so we can say something good happened”. Well, folks, I don’t think American blood is equal or worth the creation of an Islamic state, especially when you consider that they very well could turn against us in the future!

Unfortunately, I have no better ideas than anyone else on the right way to exit this situation, but I know in my heart that no American, and especially no American relative of a US serviceman, can feel right about offering American lives in support of such a non-American institution as an Islamic Republic.

By the way, I’m a vet, as was my father and at least one of my uncles. I’ve avoided politics on this blog for most of a year, but as it’s becoming more and more clear that the only thing we will accomplish in Iraq is the creation of an Islamic Republic, one potentially hostile to the US, I had to say something.

Update: Doc doesn’t have the answers either, but as usual, he has an interesting perspective on the Iraq situation and also has a number of good links to various other points of view.

We spent the weekend of the 4th of July at Lake Tahoe. We were able to catch the fireworks show from a spot right on the beach! The fireworks are very beautiful as they reflect on the water; I recommend seeing fireworks over a body of water whenever possible! Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good pictures of the reflections, though I did get a couple of good aerial shots (more fireworks photos on Flickr).

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One of the most beautiful areas of an extremely beautiful lake is Emerald Bay, located on the western side of Lake Tahoe. Nestled in the middle of Emerald Bay is Fannette Island. Interestingly enough, Fannette Island is the home of a summer place known as Vikingsholm. Built for Lora J. Knight, it was finished in the fall of 29 and occupied in time for Midsummer’s Day in 1930. Though Lora was English, she commissioned her nephew by marriage, the Swedish architect Lennart Palme, to design the plans for Vikingsholm.

Emerald Bay

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Fannette Island and Vikingsholm

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Eagle Falls plummets down to the lake.

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More Lake Tahoe pictures are available on Flickr. Also, a couple of years ago I posted some pictures from a prior trip to Tahoe, as well as some blog entries from that trip.

The rains out west were the heaviest in 40 years and no where was this more evident than when viewing the waterfalls in Yosemite Valley. We visited in late June, and the waterfalls, which are normally a bit less impressive this time of year, were flowing at a rate equal or greater than during the spring thaw!

Hard to put in words, and pictures can’t capture the full dramatic impact of these majestic views, but these do give a feel for the magnificent beauty of one of America’s favorite national parks.

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Of course, there’s more to Yosemite than waterfalls:

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Click on any of the above pictures to see the entire Yosemite Valley set on Flickr.