Quit washing your hands

From the Consumer Reports Health Blog:

A study published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives provides more reasons to be wary of triclosan, found in many antibacterial soaps, and bisphenol A (BPA), used in some polycarbonate plastics and canned foods. 

The study looked at 3,728 people nationwide and found that children and adolescents with higher levels of triclosan were more likely to be diagnosed with allergies or hay fever, both of which are caused by a malfunctioning immune system. The researchers suggest that the hygiene hypothesis—which posits that some exposure to bacteria helps train the immune system—might help explain the finding.

Geographic trivia time

[Originally posted Saturday, December 3, 2005]

Anyone can look these up. How well can you do from knowledge you already have? Answers will be posted later today.

1. Of the 50 states, 24 meet the sea (or tidewater); that is, their lowest elevation is sea level (well, actually Louisiana (minus 8 feet) and California (minus 282 feet) go below sea level, but that’s irrelevant here). Of the remaining 26 states that do not meet sea level, which has the lowest elevation?

Special bonus question: Which has second lowest elevation?

2. Of the 50 states, the 13 westernmost states have elevations above 11,000 feet. Texas has the next highest elevation (8,749) followed by South Dakota (7,242). The next highest elevation is in a state east of the Mississippi River. Which state is it?

3. As we all know since Katrina, New Orleans has sections of the city that are below sea level (minus 8 feet is the lowest). Which of the 50 largest cities (by population) has the highest elevation? (As a point of reference, the 50th largest city is Wichita, Kansas, population 354,000.)

4. The mnemonic for remembering the Great Lakes is HOMES. Arrange the letters by the size of the lakes.

Special bonus question: Four of the lakes are within 32 feet of the same elevation. The other is 326 feet lower. What comes in between the lowest lake and the next one upstream?

5. Of the 50 states, which is the easternmost, southernmost, westernmost and northernmost?

December 3rd should be a national holiday

Gilbert Stuart was born on this date in 1755.

Because he portrayed virtually all the notable men and women of the Federal period in the United States, Gilbert Stuart was declared the “Father of American Portraiture” by his contemporaries. Born in Rhode Island, the artist trained and worked in London, England, and Dublin, Ireland, from 1775 to 1793. He then returned to America with the specific intention of painting President Washington’s portrait.

Stuart resided in New York (1793-1795); Philadelphia (1795-1803), where he did his first portrait of George Washington; and the new capital at Washington, D.C. (1803-1805). In 1805 he settled in Boston and painted the Gibbs-Coolidge Set, the only surviving depiction of all five first presidents. Before his death at seventy-two, Stuart also taught many followers. A charming conversationalist, Stuart entertained his sitters during long hours of posing to sustain the fresh spontaneity of their expressions. To emphasize facial characterization, he eliminated unnecessary accessories and preferred dark, neutral backgrounds and simple, bust- or half-length formats.

Stuart often was irritatingly slow in completing commissions, in spite of his swift, bravura brushwork. Though he inevitably commanded high prices, Stuart lived on the verge of bankruptcy throughout his career because of his extravagant lifestyle and inept business dealings. In London, for instance, he had owned a carriage, an unheard-of presumption for a commoner. And Stuart’s years in Ireland, both coming and going, had been ploys to escape debtors’ prison.

National Gallery of Art

Andy Williams is 83. Williams headlined at Caesar’s Palace when it opened in 1966. That is, he was once a very big star.

Ozzy Osbourne is 62.

Daryl Hannah is 50 today. So is Julianne Moore. Together they have four Oscar nominations, two for leading actress and two for supporting actress. All are Moore’s, of course.

Brendan Fraser is 42.

George B. McClellan was born on this date in 1826. McClellan was the commander of Union forces in the east during much of the first two years of the War of the Rebellion. He loved to organize and feared to fight. McClellan was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for President in 1864, receiving 21 to Lincoln’s 212 electoral votes. For his unabashed hubris, McClellan rates right up there as one of the great asses of American history.

Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was born on this date in 1857. Born in the Ukraine of Polish descent, Joseph Conrad learned English in the British merchant marine in his twenties. He began writing in the 1890s and published his first novel, Almayer’s Folly, in 1895. Lord Jim (1900) and Heart of Darkness (1902) are his most famous works.

In 1890, he captained a steamboat into the Congo, which was then the Belgian Congo, controlled by King Leopold II. He saw horrible atrocities there. People had been forced into slave labor camps, where many of them were abused and killed. He called it “the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of the human conscience.”

He went back to England, settled in Kent, and never worked as a sailor again. He wrote adventure stories, and 10 years after returning from the Congo, he wrote Heart of Darkness (1902). It’s about a man’s journey down a river into the middle of Africa and about a powerful and mysterious trading agent named Kurtz. Kurtz has established himself as a god among the natives, surrounding his trading post with severed heads on stakes.

The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

And Happy Birthday, David, good friend and esteemed colleague.

Illinois

Illinois was admitted to the Union as the 21st state on this date in 1818.

The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor had this about Illinois today:

Today Illinois is the “most average state” in America. It was given this distinction by the Associated Press, which analyzed data from the U.S. census, looking at things like income and age and race, as well as education, immigration, rural population percentages and more than a dozen other factors. The Associated Press concluded that Illinois mirrored the makeup of the country as a whole better than any other state. Second was Oregon, and then Michigan, and Washington, and Delaware. The “least average state” in the Union: West Virginia.

LOL

I was organizing some DVDs and stopped to watch the first scene of the first episode of the fourth season of The Wire. That’s the scene where Snoop goes into Home Depot to get a better nail gun and the salesman sells her on the benefits of the Hilti DX 460 MX 27-caliber powder-actuated fastening tool.

The joke isn’t the salesman or the nail gun or even Snoop, although she is one of the great characters. It’s knowing what the gun is used for and the cleverness of making its purchase into an opening scene. “The Wire,” with 60 episodes, is unparalleled on television, I think, in its use of the seemingly throwaway scene that makes it all worthwhile.

Hanukkah

Hanukkah began at sunset yesterday and lasts for eight days.

The story of Hanukkah is the struggle for religious freedom. Over two thousand years ago, the foreign rulers of the Israelites decreed that the Jews bow down to the image of their leader, Antiochus, whose statue was erected in the Temple.

But the Jewish people were forbidden by the law of God to bow to statues or idols. Inspired by Mattathias and led by his son, Judah, a small group of Jews called Maccabees (meaning “hammer”) rebelled. The Maccabees risked their lives to live according to Jewish law and to prevent this desecration of their sacred Temple. Although the Maccabees won, the Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews’ holy place, was destroyed. The Jews had to clean and repair the Temple, and when they were finished they rededicated it to God by rekindling the menorah, the candelabrum symbolizing the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people and the continuity of tradition through the generations. But there was only enough olive oil to fuel the menorah for one night, and it would have taken eight days to make more oil. The legend of the miracle at Hanukkah says that the one day supply of oil burned for eight days and nights until more oil could be made.

There are eight days of Hanukkah corresponding to the legend of the miracle of the oil in the Temple. Foods cooked in oil are traditional, particularly potato pancakes, called latkes. Today, candles are used instead of oil. On each successive night, the number of candles lit increases by one. Prayers accompany the lighting of the candles.

Hanukkah is celebrated in the home beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Even though it is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, Hanukkah is widely celebrated as a major holy day of the Jewish liturgical calendar. Given its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah has taken on importance in the United States and many other countries where Christmas has been commercialized.

It is traditional to give small gifts to children on each night of Hanukkah. The party atmosphere is enhanced with songs, games and toys such as a dreidel – a spinning top. Yet the religious celebration – the lighting of the candles with accompanying prayers – must come before the party.

 The Jewish Outreach Institute

And, from Jewish Heritage Online Magazine, an explanation of Hanukkah jelly donuts. The lesson begins:

There are two types of Jews at Hanukkah time. There are those who believe that Israelis eat jelly donuts on Hanukkah because the oil in which the donuts are fried is connected to the miracle commemorated on Hanukkah. Others hold that Israelis eat jelly donuts because somehow the sweetness of the jelly inside is related to the festival. Etymologically, if not historically, “Others” have a good case.

Best line of the day

“Congress has been working on this legislation since 2008, when a big food-poisoning epidemic reminded everyone that the Food and Drug Administration is currently working with laws written during the Great Depression. It survived endless delays by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who believes the free market is your last, best defense against E. coli.”

Gail Collins

On the wrong side of history

Excerpt from a good essay about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at Salon.com:

Muller, a native of the Franklin County town of Ozark (pop. 3,500), spent parts of two years in Afghanistan as a bomb technician, disabling booby traps and IEDs before a superior officer’s implacable hostility to the “open secret” of his homosexuality led to his honorable discharge.

If there’s a more critical or dangerous job in today’s Army than defusing bombs, it’s hard to think what it might be. The fact that he’s still alive is all the testimony one needs to Muller’s skill and courage. For the nation to lose his services on account of an irrational prejudice is simply a damn shame. There’s really not a whole lot more to say about it.

This is irritating

After 35 years of wearing glasses and never once trying contacts, I decided yesterday to see how they’d be. I’d gotten an eye exam and the doctor was encouraging, so I had him put them in. Because I wear progressive lenses, he put a distance contact lens in the right eye and an intermediate vision lens in the left.

They seemed pretty good. One bothered me just a bit, but all-in-all i was pleased with how they felt. I didn’t think my vision was a sharp as it is with glasses, but maybe I’d get used to it I thought. Progressive lenses were not easy to adjust to at first either. It was great fun to walk around the Costco next door and then drive home without glasses (also without sunglasses as my only pair is prescription).

I was distressed later though, when I tried to read my iPhone and found it nearly impossible. The doctor had mentioned I might want to get a close lens instead of the intermediate one in my left eye, or wear reading glasses. Despite my age, I don’t need glasses to read or even to use the computers; I wear glasses to watch TV or drive. And I read more than I watch TV or drive, so I’d prefer not to need glasses to read. I began to question the whole decision to get contacts, but I knew it was too soon to make up my mind. I could try another prescription.

When it came time to take the lenses out for the night — as I was told to do during the first week — the left contact came out without too much trouble. But, to make a long story short, the right contact is still in my eye some 19 hours and many, many tries later.

I just can’t seem to get it. My mother must have taught me not to let people poke me in the eye, because I have a reflex that closes the eye even though I swear I am holding it open. (I can see that the lens is still there.)

Now my eye is irritated by all the activity and I want that damn thing out of there. And I can’t see clearly at any distance and any typos are because of that.