What if—Hitler had not invaded the Soviet Union in 1941?

July 19th, 2008 by Art Pitz

Here is an intriguing question (posed by readers of this blog) with no definitive answer.  My guess is that if Hitler had not invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, he would have sent a larger force to North Africa with the goal of destroying Great Britain’s stranglehold on Egypt and the Suez Canal.  With a larger Afrika Korps, it is likely that the Germans would have accomplished their goal.  They would have followed this up by invading Palestine—and extending the Holocaust to the Jews living there (as they had already done to the Jews living in North Africa).

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Huge time drop

July 19th, 2008 by Stephanie De Pasquale

Holy cow I just took seven minutes off of my five mile time when I ran the Bix course minus Brady! I originally planned to run the whole course, but got up too late and it would have been way too hot once I finished seven miles.

I knew I was running faster, but I was in shock when I checked the stopwatch on my iPod at the turnaround and found out I ran the first half in 25 minutes, or ten minute miles which is two minutes faster per mile than I have normally been running.

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Settling down

July 19th, 2008 by Cameron Coker

I am finally settling down a bit here in Beijing. We had plenty of free time the last couple of days, and a few of us decided to take advantage of a trip to Xi’an put together by China SciTech, an international tour company that works closely with foreigners wanting to experience the vastness of China, for 2,220 kuai per person (about $317). Xi’an is one of the most important cities to China, partly due to its 3,100-plus-year history and it being one of the Four Ancient Capitals of China because it’s been a capital under 13 different dynasties.
Well, we received three meals a day for our two-day, one-night trip: the first lunch was shady, but the meals became progressively better. We had tours of four major historic sites — one being the Big Wild Goose Pagoda — a historic holy place for Buddhists that was rated a National Key Cultural Relic Preserve as well as an AAAA Tourist Attraction, according to Travel China Guide.com. And the famous terra-cotta warriors. I had the privilege of taking a photo with one of the men who discovered the first set of 1,087 warriors in 1974. He’s now 79 years old.
We had a driver with a 17-seat van for only five people, and a 3-star hotel with green marble bathroom sinks, and toilet paper. Toilet paper is a luxury here since China’s forest coverage is lower than the international average of 30 percent, and it’s lacking in wood supply because of high demands, which is absurd since the Chinese are credited with inventing toilet paper!
But the most memorable part of the trip was riding on a sleeper train in a small closet-like compartment with four bunk beds and riding a tandem bike with Lini, our other assistant who is doing her master’s project on four students in our group, across the Xi’an inner city wall from the East gate to the South.
It was uplifting to know that a simple leisure such as cycling across a rutted brick road with Lini in the back seat singing, “Welcome to Beijing,” as I tried to harmonize with an off-key Barry White tone, could be so brilliantly pleasurable. As I rode down the mortared road I began to think of some of the things I expect to always have: clean air and water, a summer blue sky, and giggling friends who are thrilled to be in your presence, gleefully smiling at your awkward dance moves in the middle of a busy street as car horns bark in the background.
It’s interesting how certain moments of blissfulness can tap into your inner consciousness, allowing you to realize the splendor of basic necessities that we hopscotch over with our desires for gas-choking cars with a candy apple shine, an overweight bank account allowing you retire in the Hamptons, or the pressure of just wanting more than what you already have.
But it’s these moments, teasing your soul to pay attention to the Chinese mother holding her baby with such vigor and pride, that you see love in its rawest form. Or when the elderly man with a strong grip graciously shows you how to fly a Chinese kite across Xi’an’s inner city wall, that you feel the warmth of kindness.
Why couldn’t I have had this moment in America? The funny part is I have, a handful of times. The problem was that I was too busy to savor it, soak it, marinate in it.
It’s just something about being thousands of miles away from the familiar that causes the moment to stand out like a red stain on a wedding dress.
But it was after I had settled down that the moment captured me, and now its picture is forever framed in my mind.

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Good news and bad news

July 18th, 2008 by Stephanie De Pasquale

The good news is I’ve lost seven pounds since I started training for the Bix a little over two months ago which I’m very excited about.

Also, when I was running on the treadmill at the YMCA this morning (we’ll get to why I was running inside during the bad news part) I also found out that I have shaved about a minute off of my average mile time.

It was the first time I ran on a treadmill in about a month and my regular five miles per hour felt way too slow. So I kept bumping up the speed and was running at a steady 5.6 miles per hour for the majority of my three mile run today.

Posted in Training for Bix | 2 Comments »

When a picture prompts caution

July 18th, 2008 by Deirdre Cox Baker

A recent photo in our newspaper portrayed a man pouring gasoline in a container while that container was placed in the back of a pickup truck. This prompted at least two letters-to-the-editor to point out the practice could result in a fire or explosion in certain circumstances.

We have a family photo in which my husband and his eldest daughter mowed the grass together, back around 1972. We pulled the photo out for his 50^th birthday celebration because it shows how he looked as a young man, long hair blowing in the breeze while he operated the riding mower.

Posted in HealthBeat | 1 Comment »

I’m a girl, so you’d think it would be easy

July 18th, 2008 by Kay Luna

For almost 34 years (gulp!), I’ve been doing my hair. So, you’d think it would be easy to do my daughter’s hair.

NOPE. Apparently, my vast experience in fixing my own hair all these years, and doing the hair of all of my friends (even CUTTING my friends hair once in high school — remember that, Chelle?) doesn’t count.

I laugh every morning as I struggle to chase my Babycakes (19 months old) down, comb in one hand and rubber bands in the other, trying to tame her wild curly mass of hair. It is a challenge, my friends.

Posted in The Workin' Mom | No Comments »

Dearest Loyal Readers …

July 18th, 2008 by Kay Luna

You might have noticed that the last three blog posts I wrote this week have disappeared. Sadly, they are gone forever — caused by a computer program glitch. Sorry about that! We were getting some good discussions going, and then, POOF!

So, let’s review:

1.) We were talking about teens and their slim chance nationally to land jobs this summer. A Washington Post story written by a reporter in Chicago says teens are finding it difficult to land service-type jobs this summer, because they’re competing against older, laid-off workers and others in need of extra cash.

Posted in The Workin' Mom | 2 Comments »

Road Trip

July 17th, 2008 by Nick Schmidt

   On Saturday, July 12, my dad asked me if I wanted to go to an away game for the River Bandits. It was in Clinton so it was close (to where we live). By the time we left we thought we were late but when we got there we found out the game was delayed because the Bandits bus broke down. So we weren’t late at all. I started to shoot action shots for a few innings and then we went to grab a snack.

Posted in Summer At The Park | No Comments »

Quad-Citians are surrendering pets for financial reasons

July 14th, 2008 by Stephanie De Pasquale

I know I asked this question before, and maybe the dog lovers on this blog are the wrong audience, but does anyone know someone who has had to give up a pet for financial reasons?

Rock Island County Care and Control has experienced a 44 percent increase in owner surrenders in the last 30 days and those surrendering their pets for financial reasons rose 233 percent from the same period a year ago.

Posted in To The Dogs | No Comments »

Wet, exhausted dogs

July 14th, 2008 by Stephanie De Pasquale

I was on vacation last week which meant Lady and Sophia had a whole week of uninterrupted mommy time. My mom and grandparents were also there as we all spent the week sitting on a lake in Wisconsin.

While Sophia only once jumped into the water on their own, she didn�t mind it when she was put in the water and enjoyed sticking her paws in. They both fell in on separate occasions and I had to jump in to pull them out both times. Sophia just backed up too far and fell off the dock and Lady misjudged the distance between an inflatable raft that she was on and the dock. Her front paws made it but that was it and the poor girl went under.

Posted in To The Dogs | 8 Comments »