Happy Birthday IndexWa.org

Woo Hoo!!

On August 8, 2007, IndexWa.org had its beginning.  It has been a super fun ride and we appreciate everybody that has contributed via sending us news or financially, to make it happen.

Happy Birthday to Us! Three years old today.

And again THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!!

Humor: Mouse Jam

Well, we can’t be serious ALL of the time:
—————————————
Caller : Hi, our printer is not working.
Customer Service: What is wrong with it?
Caller : Mouse is jammed.
Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don’t have a mouse you fool!
Caller: Mmmmm??.. Oh really?… I will send a picture…….

Humor:Little Known Feline Ailments

We like cats and dogs both.  As things stand, we happen to have three felines.  One female and two males.  A Blue Point (male), a Seal Point Ragdoll (female) and a Lynx (male).  All of them are purebred Siamese with personality’s that can drive you nuts.

We could not resist posting this humorous tidbit.  Thanks to tazzys.org for sharing this.

AUTHOR UNKOWN

COLLAPSIBLE LEGS

Symptoms: The affected cat places one side of its head on the ground as though cheek-marking the concrete, carpet, etc. After several such maneuvers, the legs on that side of the cat  suddenly collapse, leaving the cat wagging its feet in the air.

Treatment: This involves placing the palm of one hand on the exposed belly and rubbing gently. There are side-effects though some feline sufferers attack the rubbing hand while others recover spontaneously, often after prolonged treatment. This condition is probably incurable and any cat which requires prolonged treatment after an attack will most likely suffer repeated attacks of collapsible legs throughout its lifetime.

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SNUDGING

Symptoms: The affected cat repeatedly headbutts any available part of a readily available human and turns its head slightly so that the lips and cheek are rubbed against legs, arms, clothing, etc. This condition gets its name from a contraction of the phrase “soggy nudging.” Snudging may well be a form of excessive scent-marking. A bad attack can result in soggy clothing.

Treatment: Give the sufferer lavish affection. Most attacks subside between 10 minutes to 1 hour after onset of symptoms. You may need to dry off snudged clothing or skin. Attacks recur frequently, usually when the most readily available human is engrossed in a TV program, book or telephone call.

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BED-HOGGING

Symptoms: The cat spreads to take up all available free bed space at night.  It then expands a bit more until any human occupants occupy the smallest possible area of bed. It may do this on top or underneath the covers or on the pillow. It is highly contagious — any other cats on the bed will also develop symptoms of bed-hogging.

Treatment: The most obvious solution is to evict the cat from the bed. If this is morally unfeasible, train yourself not to give way as the cat expands. Buying a bigger bed is probably pointless as most affected cats can easily expand to fill standard, queen-sized and king-sized beds. Otherwise, simply train yourself to sleep while hanging precariously off the side of the bed. Attacks of bed-hogging have been known to last up to 23 hours (in one case a 3-day attack was noted by a cat-owner who was confined to bed with flu; the cat thoughtfully kept her company during this time).

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IRRITABLE LAP SYNDROME

Symptoms: The cat appears unable to settle comfortably on laps, instead treading, kneading, rearranging itself, fidgeting, vocalizing, getting up and turning around, falling off lap and getting back on again, attacking magazines, needlework, computer keyboard, telephone, etc.

Treatment: Immediate treatment is essential. Drop whatever you are doing (literally if need be) and give 100% attention to the sufferer otherwise symptoms may escalate and become quite distressing to the lap-owner. Only prolonged attention will cure an attack of Irritable Lap Syndrome. Like Collapsible Legs this syndrome is incurable, although attacks may be effectively treated as (and) when they occur.

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LAP FUNGUS DISORDER

Symptoms: Having taken over a human lap, the cat proceeds to spread in all planes. This may be accompanied by secondary symptoms such as high volume purring, dribbling, kneading and snoring. The condition is highly contagious and several fungoid cats may infest a lap simultaneously.

Treatment: Topical treatment with proprietary anti-fungals is ineffective. Prompt treatment (as per Irritable Lap Syndrome) is required to alleviate the worst symptoms although in a number of cats, such treatment actually exasperates the condition. This disorder manifests itself periodically through the affected cat’s life and there is no long-term cure.

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SMURGLING

Symptoms: Varied: sucking at clothing, owner’s earlobes/ nose/fingers/ skin, drooling, glazed _expression. Often accompanied by kneading and high volume purring.

Treatment: Ultimately incurable. It is possible to remove smurglable items from around the cat. The ailment may be transmitted to humans in the form of large laundry bills, misshapen clothing and chapped skin.

* * * * *

GREEBLINGZ

Symptoms: Random dashes running helter-skelter through house in pursuit of unseen prey. Greeblingz are believed to be non-visible entities and some authorities have linked them to UFO sightings or feel that they may be diminutive other-dimensional beings. Cats suffering from greeblingz typically have wild-eyed _expressions. There is a minor danger of greeblingz attaching themselves to humans; if a cat tackles such greeblingz, injury to humans may result. A very few cats are naturally immune.

Treatment: None known. Anti-epileptics are ineffective as the condition appears unrelated to other forms of seizure. Avoid getting in the way of a cat engaged in greebling hunting. Attacks usually subside spontaneously, perhaps as greeblingz return to their own dimension. These irritating creatures are not visible to human eyes, but no doubt the superior sight and hearing of cats enables them to see them.

Odd Photo of The Wall

For the past few months we have been looking at this particular spot on the wall. Maybe our imagination has run wild on us BUT it almost looks like a Native American Carving in the granite. It appears to be a head?

Now we know it is not carved and is an act of nature but none the less “it’s pretty cool”. Take a look below. We have added documentation to the last photo in the event you don’t see what we see.

Click on an icon to enlarge.

[Show as slideshow]

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

About the Exchange

Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.

Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O’Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:

“Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

“It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in the The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.

“ ‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,’ I said to father.

“He said, ‘Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.’ ”

And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents’ favorite newspaper.

Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

Now, he had in his hands a little girl’s letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

“Is there a Santa Claus?” the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.

Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

More Information

• An alternative copy from the Newseum, which includes a nice scan of the original editorial.
• More historical background and analysis from The New York Times on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the editorial’s publication.

Index School Christmas Pagent

The childrens Christmas Pagent will be held December 10, 2009 at 6:30 PM. Beforehand, there will be a bake and book sale.

We’re sure that Santa will arrive in the park with Fire District #28 after the play.

It’s loads of fun and we hope to see you there.

What Are You Doing to Stay Cool?

Leave us a comment to let us know what you are doing to stay cool during this hot spell.

Here is what my wife and I are doing.

Me: I am wearing only cotton t-shirts. I wet down the front of it about 8 times a day and catch a breeze from a fan or out doors.

Wife: Dang, she won’t do the wet t-shirt thing. She has found that slightly wetting a towel, putting in the freezer and when it is cold or frozen, she takes it out and puts her feet on it. It helps the swelling she gets in her feet on hot days and keeps her cool.

Animals: We have three cats. We do the towel thing for the cats too. They like it. We put ice cubes in their water and also leave a faucet dripping with cold water that they can help them selves to. We also feed them moist food daily (from the can of course) as their bodies work different on the moisture content their bodies distribute the moisture needed.

So, how about you?

Update 07.30.09

We received an email from David Cameron saying “Hey Ed, how about electrolytes”, and to be honest, it did not cross my mind.

Yes, we do replenish our electrolytes and here’s how, on the cheap.

In our sugar free beverages (and sodium free), eg; Crystal Lite, for each 24 ozs in a glass or thermos we add a pinch of baking soda, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar.

If you want to make mock gatoraid, try this:

1 quart of water
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of lite salt
6-10 teaspoons sugar

For some flavor you can add a packet of Kool Aid.  Mix well and drink.  This will replenish the salt you are losing.  Even if you feel you are not perspiring, you are losing salt via other means.

This is True Honorary Unsubscribe

I got permission from the Author, Randy Cassingham, to reprint this article. It’s from his THIS IS TRUE syndication (that we subscribe to). www.thisistrue.com. He has a paid subscriber base and a free one.

Anyway, on to the article from his issue #782 in the Honorary Unscubscribe (obits).

THIS WEEK’S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Manuel Curry. “How many men can say they’ve been doing a job like this for this long without any major injuries?” asked Curry in 2008. “I’ve been stabbed several times but nothing really life threatening,” he said then. “I’ve been shot at a couple of times, but never hit. I had a dog bite me once, and the dog died.” Curry was a police officer in New Orleans, La., for his entire career. He started at the department in 1946, and stayed there. When 200 officers fled from hurricane Katrina, Curry was still working at the department, and stayed on duty, sleeping in a car in a Wal-Mart parking lot for a month so he was close to the job. He was 80 years old at the time. As other officers retired or went to desk jobs, Curry preferred to stay on the street, on patrol, just like always. And he stayed on the job, working the streets with the special rank of Sergeant-Major, until the day he died, on June 4 — making him the longest-serving police patrol officer known in the history of the United States, an active duty career of slightly more than 63 years. He was 84.

April 2009 Newsletter

The April 09 Newsletter is set to go out on Sunday early A.M.

It is a short Newsletter this time through for a couple of reasons.

There was not much news. We were busy. Life happens eh’?

We’re on Ebay

Just a quick note. Please check us out on Ebay. It has nothing to do with IndexWa.org. It is a personal endeavor.

Just click the icon below and thanks.

P.S. Nothing really happening around here lately so the blog has been quiet.