Because it’s where I live.
And since I don’t live on any edge of it, it’s all around me.
Oregon
Roths in Winston
"We always want to give to people that need help."
So this evening I looked at a Google Alert I got for the word Mennonite. Most of the time there’s little to nothing of interest to me in these Alerts.
But I saw David Roth, 10, and Winston (Oregon) mentioned. He’s my cousins’ son!
So I “had” to chase down the article: Read it all
Welcome to Oregon…
| Occasionally, traffic cops in Oregon nab drivers speeding over 100 miles per hour. When they do, the scofflaws tend to be young men.
At 4:45 p.m. Sunday, a Marion County sheriff’s deputy spotted a 53-year-old woman speeding east in a sporty 2003 Mazda 6 on Hylo Road Southeast, a hilly, two-lane road in Salem. |
I was in the process of shutting down computers so I could go to bed when I saw the above story. You’ve just got to read the rest of the story.
I simply don’t know which best expresses my sentiment: 😆 🙄 😯 
Taking a Break
So on Monday we went over to Madras (Oregon, not India) to see our Mullet children. Well, Tuesday morning I took a break from computer work to go outside and do some brisk walking.
Eventually I took a break from my walking and took a picture of son-in-law Luke’s neat old-fashioned insulation:
Yesterday’s News
I saw three stories last night.
Central Oregon man stuns cheesemaking world at contest
| A Brazilian-born cheese maker who traced an unlikely path from Silicon Valley to a former pumice mine near Bend just captured one of the most prestigious prizes in his profession.
Flavio DeCastilhos’ flagship goat cheese finished second in the 2009 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest, considered the Academy Awards for U.S. cheese makers. By all accounts, the accomplishment is extraordinary. |
Astronomers catch a shooting star for 1st time
| For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon.
Last October, astronomers tracked a small non-threatening asteroid heading toward Earth before it became a “shooting star,” something they had not done before. It blew up in the sky and scientists thought there would be no space rocks left to examine. But a painstaking search by dozens of students through the remote Sudan desert came up with 8.7 pounds of black jagged rocks, leftovers from the asteroid 2008 TC3. And those dark rocks were full of surprises and minuscule diamonds, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature. |
Headline correction: They found it.
How nice that they can look into the past. 😆
U.S. to blame for much of Mexican drug violence
| “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton told reporters during her flight to Mexico City. |
Obviously she didn’t read (yet?) this or this.
Oh well.
Life and Freedom Today
| The online version of a popular board game from many Americans’ childhood includes an option for players to choose homosexual marriage and child-rearing as a way of life.
Through the Shockwave.com website, even children can download and play a free trial version of The Game of Life, the first game ever created by Mr. Milton Bradley in 1860. The player’s first option in the online version is to choose a persona based on pictures that clearly depict men and women. Shortly thereafter, the game invites players to choose a spouse, regardless of the potential spouse’s sex. |
So that’s life.
But do they also create the option for skipping marriage altogether and just shacking up with your “significant other” (I despise that expression!)?
And the option to divorce?
Or have an abortion?
For the record, the board version of the game also allows taking a same-sex spouse.
So…add another point to freedom’s score. 🙄
And speaking of freedom….
| Index of Personal and Economic Freedom
This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on other individuals’ ability to do the same. […] We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Maryland. On personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner, while Maryland brings up the rear. As for freedom in the different regions of the country, the Mountain and West North Central regions are the freest overall while the Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both economic and personal freedom. |
As I recall, Oregon ranks #27 overall.
For perspective, I expect many people in the world would say we don’t have anything to fuss about regarding freedom here in the States. Even if they would have to live in New York or Maryland.
Try Gratefulness (It’s in Season!)
ODOT says rush-hour plowing on I-5 was for drivers’ safety
Citing concern for motorists’ safety, the Oregon Department of Transportation on Wednesday strongly defended its decision to close part of southbound Interstate 5 during Tuesday evening’s rush hour, stranding thousands of holiday travelers and commuters for hours.
Officials said that rapidly deteriorating road conditions had created a dangerous situation that left the agency no choice but to act when it did.
Already jammed with rush hour and holiday travelers, an 11-mile stretch of the freeway — from the Southwest Haines Street exit in Portland to the Charbonneau exit south of Wilsonville — was closed about 4:30 p.m. as a “moving blockade” of ODOT equipment lumbered south at about 5 mph.
I wasn’t there. Not behind the wheel of a “civilian” vehicle. Not behind the wheel of an ODOT vehicle. Not behind the “wheel” at ODOT.
But I still say “Thank you!” to all the folks at ODOT for their work.
And to each one of you ODOT equipment operators on the freeways last evening that got the finger from irate motorists, please accept ten thumbs-up from me for each obscene gesture you got.
And an especially-blessed Christmas to you as well.
Thanks again!