Wednesday, April 29, 2009

GREEN EXTREMES

Some folks go to extremes
With environmental schemes.
And sometimes for the spouse,
Who's obliged to share the house,
This can shatter hopes and dreams.

Article indicates some people go to such extremes on ecological measures that it creates a hardship for and conflict with the "significant other."

HOSPITAL GOWNS

The hospital patient garment,
A source it is of torment.
It will be redesigned
With improving it in mind.
Surely that won't harm it.
The Roanoke Times, 22 April 2009:
HOSPITALS
Designer wants to make gowns less revealing
"RALEIGH, N.C -- Federal law prevents hospitals from revealing information on a patient, but hospital gowns occasionally allow a patient to reveal too much of themselves."
"The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh reports that a North Carolina State University design team is working to end the issue of partial disclosure."
"It's not the first time someone has tried to conceal what is sometimes exposed because of the gown's flimsy fabric and looslely tied open back. But North Carolina State textile design professor Traci Lamar has the financial backing and research to develop a restyled garment that could finally be practical for hospitals across the country."
"Researchers hope to have the product ready for market in about two years."

BABUR (1483-1530)

In India, great is this man's fame.
Conquest was his game.
Babur, we're told, means tiger.
As Babur he was as much a tiger
As by his full real name.

Steeped in Persian culture,
A warrior Babur was by nature.
He was born in an Uzbeck valley,
And forth from there he sallied
To vast lands wherein he'd wander.


Babur knew both good luck and bad.
An army and illnesses he almost always had.
The Mughal Empire he founded
When a much larger army he pounded,
This wandering Turkish lad.


A literate man was he
Who loved good poetry.
Babur wrote in his memoirs
The tales of his wars.
Call it autobiography.

Babur came from ruling families,
Ghengis Khan and Timur on his tree.
His lieutenant and son
And successor was Humayun.
He was quick to adopt new weaponry.

Babur knew how to recruit.
Soldiers he found to suit.
Of the crop they were the cream.
He inspired them with his dream.
And a strategist he was to boot.


But how'd he finance his army
Before glory came to he,
This man of prodigious strength
Though a Muslim who loved to drink?
That's what puzzles me.

And, not that now it matters,
I wonder, for that matter,
How nine wives Babur supported
And if, after they were courted,
They grew somewhat fatter.

Babur lived a lifestyle lavish.
He used his share of hashish.
He loved the gardens of Kabul
And was finally entombed in Kabul
According to his wish.

(I read a Wikepedia article on Babur.)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

GREENBRIER TRIATHLON

The Great Greenbrier River Race
In Marlinton again took place.
Teams front, back, and middle rank
Many helpers for that can thank,
For 'twas fun whatever your pace.


Saturday's 23rd Annual Great Greenbrier River Race, Marlinton, WVA

Three-mile run, four-mile canoe, ten-mile bike.

At least 237 "units" and at least 384 persons registered. 221 "units" finished. A "unit" is a solo individual or any combination making a relay team.

Our team finished 119th. Brittany Bauer ran; Gary Booth and I paddled, and I rode my bike.

The race started at 11:00 AM, and it was a hot day.

SARAH SANZO

Put this in your good news hopper:
She's going home to see her papa.
It's a trip she can't afford,
But an airplane she will board.
She's been given a ticket proper.


The Roanoke Times, 21 April 2009:

Coming together so she can say goodbye

Hard economic times haven't dampened the generosity of the employees or owner of one restaurant, as the 'little Italian lady' at the Olive Garden near Valley View gets the chance to make a special trip home.

"It's about a good deed by some fellow employees and a restaurant chain for one of their own, someone confronting the impending death of a loved one and a longing for a faraway home."

"And the employee is Sarah Sanzo, 62, a part-time hostess and greeter at the chain's Valley View location."

"Sarah has been married 42 years and is a mother of five and a grandmother of six. She came to America from Sicily in 1967 to marry Anthony Sanzo."

"Other members of Sarah's family are still in the old country, including her father, Joseph Colletti, a retired farmer who's 96 and lives with his son outside Florence."

"Sarah battled cancer three years ago, which left her with a lot of medical bills."

"Those are partly why she's working at Olive Garden."

"Here is where the sadness and longing comes in: Sarah's father is dying, and she couldn't afford the trip home."

"The good news today is Sarah already has her plane ticket and leaves Wednesday to see her dad."

Monday, April 27, 2009

MONKEY BUSINESS

To the vet they'll be tripped.
At the office they'll be snipped.
Enough monkeys is quite enough.
For these boys 'twill be rough
Being thereafter unequipped.


The Roanoke Times, 21 April 2009:

BRAZIL

Officials hope to snip monkey overpopulation

SAO PAULO -- The monkey business is about to end for some Brazilian primates."

"Health officials in the central city of Goiania plan to perform vasectomies on 25 wild, urban-dwelling monkeys to keep their population in check and control disease."

"They're looking to catch male Capuchin monkeys in three city parks, each of which has about eight female mates. The animals will be netted, snipped and released."

"The monkey population in the parks has grown to about 170 in recent months, and project head Marize Moreira said some have been found to carry yellow fever."

"Sick monkeys can't pass the disease directly to humans, but mosquitoes that bite infected monkeys can transmit it."

OLDEST BOWLING CHAMP

Here's a lady who loves to bowl.
At age one hundred she's on a roll
In her fiftieth consecutive year.
She'll be back again next year.
We all know that's her goal.


The Roanoke Times, 21 April 2009:

NEVADA

100-year-old woman keeps rolling along

"RENO, Nev. -- A 100-year-old woman from New Jersey has become the oldest competitor in the history of the United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships."

"Emma Hendrickson of Morris Plains, N.J., was presented Saturday night with a plaque and a medallion to commemorate her 50th consecutive appearance in the tournament."

"The great-great-grandmother rolled a 115, 97 and 106 for a 318 series during team competition at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno."

"Henrickson said her teammates sometimes help her line up because her eyesight has diminised over the years."

"'I can see the 10 pins standing clearly, but it's difficult to see what pins are standing for spares,' she said."

"She has no plans to stop; she has already signed up to compete in the 2010 event in El Paso, Texas."