adding more ammo to seal the border

While I admit that most of my political thinking is liberal based, I agree with some conservatives that the border with Mexico needs tigher security. Especially in Arizona, which is considered to be the most porous because other states have tightened their borders.

But I just read another article that gave me another reason to believe that Arizona shouldn't be an open floodgate for Mexican immigrants. The article is titled US investment in tuberculosis control abroad pays off at home (no subscription needed).

I remember how much trouble I went through to help a friend from Russia come to this country because her TB test came back positive. I never gave it much thought again until I read this article. The problem with the thousands and thousands of people that settle in packed housing become a breeding ground for the spread of TB in those communities.

Perhaps the governor of Arizona will add this to the arsenal in her fight to control the border. We already know about the flow of criminals, middle-east terrorists, and drug runners using the Arizona border to come into this country. Let's add the potential for TB (and other diseases) to flourish in immigrant communities.

have you ever wondered why...(part 1)

This is an oldie-but-goodie that has bugged me for years, but still am lacking a good answer. So right now, I'm looking at a 12 fl oz can of Coke (that I bought from a 12 pack box). Above the bar code it says:

"VERY LOW SODIUM 35mg OR LESS PER 240 mL (8 fl oz)"

Yet below that notice is a Nutrition Facts that says 1 can is a serving size. If you pick up a 20 oz plastic bottle of Coke, the Nutrition Fact is 8 fl oz (2.5 servings per bottle).

So for a 20 oz bottle, 8 fl oz is one serving, but a 12 oz can is one serving. No wonder the Nutrition Facts are useless to most people anyway.

blasts from the past

I got two nice surprises in the last week. They were both replies to emails I sent months ago to two different people. One was a friend of my ex-boyfriend, but I figured that he'd still reply to my question about web page policies. The other was to an college friend that moved to Seattle a few years ago. I didn't hear back from other of them, and figured that they had their reasons for not getting back to me, and didn't want to beat any dead horses, so I just let it be.

Then last week I got a reply from the friend of my ex-boyfriend. He apologized for being preoccupied with other things (guess that can happen when you have children). He answered my questions, and I'll send a reply thanking him.

Then early this AM, I got an e-mail from my college friend. She's still in Seattle, and finally found someone special. So I'm very happy for her - she had been single for a very long time after being in a bad relationship. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to catch up with the two of them when they'll be in Arizona this weekend.