respublica

Who knew officials in New York City had such a hatred for booze?

Officials in NYC's Department of Health Policy have been debating the idea of outlawing happy hours in the city. Also, they've been questioning "the legality of liquor in ice cream."

"High-level conversations have gone beyond merely "throwing pencils on the ceiling and seeing what sticks," a Health source revealed. 

Wow, someone doesn't have enough to do out there in NYC department of Health Policy. Maybe that department isn't even necessary. Save some city money and eliminate them not the happy hours.

Which state has the most wind farms?

Texas has the most followed by Iowa, California, Illinois and Minnesota. 

And amusingly, bewildering, wind farms may actually be warming the earth underneath them. What to do, what to do?

How we spent our Saturday night

Last November Captain elementary school which is located on the corner across from the seminary's park along Demun, held its annual dinner auction. For the first time the seminary donated an item for auction and the bidding turned out to be, what was described as, 'spirited' with KMOX's Charlie Brennan as the high bidder. 

We donated a trip for 4 to the roof of Luther Tower with a dinner on the lowest landing on the way down. The idea originated with our director of grounds, Gayle Zollmann and the principal, Dr. Sean Doherty after they took the long climb up the bell tower in early fall. 

Logistically many things had to be worked up in order to pull this off including making sure the food service would be able to manage the plates and courses in a location not normally accessible to this sort of thing. Then we cleaned up the area, brought up a table and chairs and candles and flowers and music. Am I forgetting anything? Lots of up and down with things, but it was fun.

Charlie brought his wife Beth and a friend, Debbie Grebler at 5 last evening. Things began with Dale spending a bit of time relating some seminary history and seminary architecture and then it was up to the top. There are three levels of winding, narrow, stone stairs to climb before getting to the roof. It's all very castle like and normally a surprise to people doing this for the first time.

The stairs go on seemingly forever.

On the first level we entered the glassed in room where the dinner was to be held, everything ready.

Charlie, Debbie and Beth stood to get their picture taken before heading back to the stairs.

The second level of the Tower holds the bells and this is always an amazing sight.

We were so happy that Bill Wrede from the admissions department and one of our seminary carillonneurs was able to join us because he knows the bells and how to play them.

While Bill explained the bells everyone climbed under, over and around them.

They then went to the little room behind the bells which is where the carillonneur sits and plays.

Bill described how each of the controls rings each bell and then he began playing. We then headed up to the roof.

The final set of stairs are much more intimidating.

But I have to say, everyone in the Brennan party did a great job and made it to the top very quickly. At the top they were given a glass of champagne to celebrate. 

Charlie Brennan, Dr. Doherty and Dale check out the view. This was before the storm dropped into St. Louis last night and the sky was so interesting and the farther out we looked the more hills and ridges of fog we could see. And yes, that is the Christmas star in the middle, resting until next Christmas.

Debbie and Beth try to find places they know.

A two way conversation in two photos.

But then it started to drip a bit of rain and we knew we had to go back down.

If you click the picture to make it more high def, you'll see the beginnings of rain on Charlie's shirt.

Ha. There's Gayle! She thought she'd stay out of camera range, the one who first thought of this idea. 

We could see the clouds and fog rolling in, so gorgeous in its own way.

Then the dinner which was prepared by Kathy and Jackie from our Fresh Ideas food service and carried over from the kitchen to the tower by Gayle and Dr. Doherty who then served each course. I will say that Kathy also came over and up many times during the evening.

By dessert it began to rain so we knew we had to wrap things up.

Not as bad as the weather downtown or in Collinsville though.

The women got up, but Charlie stayed with his meal.

Then it was really time to go. Moving fast. heh

We said our goodbyes and began to clean things up. But first Dr. Doherty showed us a piece of hail

Unfortunately most of now have hail damage on our cars.

Clean up time. Dr. Doherty seems happy while Gayle waiting for one of us to get a move on.

A great night despite the rain, we were able to visit with very amiable interesting people who were easy to talk to and easy to laugh with. Maybe we'll do this again.

 

 

 

 

Not Tide Too

An environmental group named Women's Voices for the Earth did some tests on laundry detergent and found that Tide contains small amounts of dioxane, a cancer causing chemical. Tide's dioxane is found in the company's Tide Free and Gentle and Original Scent brands.

Swell. We use the Original Scent kind.

However, some toxicologists claim the amount of dioxane is well below danger levels. And frankly I am prone to not take too seriously data from a group which calls itself, Women's Voices for the Earth.

In other Tide news, it seems that Tide has become one of the most shoplifted items going these days. 

Dedicating the Benidt Seminary Center

April 26 was a huge day on the campus of Concordia Seminary and everything went perfectly accompanied by the most beautiful weather possible. The events of the day began by greeting special guests as they arrived on campus for a kickoff luncheon. 

Dale explained the schedule of the day would be before heading up to the third floor of the Benidt Center for lunch.

This area has changed considerably from last year when the third floor was pretty much a shambles that no one wanted to climb up to.

Here's a bit of seminary construction history. When the campus was built in 1926 the stone walls were made so thick, 27 inches in depth, that only one I beam was needed for the buildings. The walls alone were strong enough to hold everything up.

At 4 the dedication ceremonies began with a service in the chapel after which everyone led by Dean of the chapel, Kent Burreson and Dr. David Schmidt,  walked to the Benidt Center while singing Christ Is Our Cornerstone.

Then Dale spoke to the guests

Which included President Dennis Golden of Fontbonne University.

President Golden, in the middle, has been a great friend of the seminary as well as our north border neighbor.

Jason Holden, a representative of the student body spoke words of thanks for the renovation in a fun and enthusiastic way.

Then honored guest Bea Benidt was introduced. Bea serves as the president and executive director of the Charles E. Benidt Foundation, named after her sainted husband, and which organization made the renovations possible.

Her person story of how the foundation came into being was powerful and was talked about at much length throughout the rest of the evening.

Bea and Dale then lifted the scarf off of the plaque which will hang in the building.

At last came the ribbon cutting between the pillars of the new entry way which was decorated with beautiful flowers.

Then it was time to party for a bit.

Dale greets Dan and his wife and grandson, Dan was the construction supervisor during the renovations and did a fantastic job in the most amiable manner imaginable. His guys were not just construction people, they were craftsmen who like Holmes on Homes would say, "Do it right".

Everyone then headed into the building for tours or into the remodeled dining hall or outside tent for light snacks and drinks.

With the old 1800's carriage parked next to the log cabin it almost seemed as though the first president of the seminary, CFW Walther was in attendance. 

A group of our hard working campus people who make everything run smoothly, provide security, work technology, accounting and play the carillon. They don't all do all those things, but collectively they do.

I think I'll end on this note. President Golden, chairman of the seminary's board of regents, Ralph Blomenberg and Dale compare hand sizes. Who knows why.

 

 

Processing from the Chapel to the Benidt Center

Birds

Spring! Everything is fresh and green lovely to look at. Maybe pollen in the air, but it's worth the aggravation just seeing the new growth. And birds are singing again.

The birds begin singing at 2:45 in the morning! Why is this? Stories about singing birds never mention how really early they get up.

Then there's the issue of your just hosed down and sparkling lawn furniture. Within an hour of cleaning the birds have splattered the chairs with their white poo.

But we're not complaining...I say as I am about to take off with a hose nozzle and scrub brush over to the academic quad to clean a few outdoor chairs in preparation for today's huge seminary dedication of our new renovations.

Going to be a huge day around here, lots of people, lots of excitement. Lots of people sitting on outdoor chairs.

 

About that student loan business

President Obama is going round the country campaigning to college students, his demographic of the week, touting his plan to extend the student loan rate. Romney has agreed this is a good idea.

Fine. But there is some major disinformation out there including the idea that the proposal will help all students. It won't, it will only apply to new, subsidized, undergrad loans and the president's commission said no to including sub loans.

Also, the bill won't apply to you if you are about to graduate.

So many of the college students commenting on this, ginning up the Obama proposal, might want to take a closer look, most of it won't even apply to them.

Big Brother reaches his regulatory arm into the farm

The Department of Labor is about to make child labor laws apply to children helping on family farms. The new regulations would forbid children under 18 from working in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials.

Prohibited places of employment, a Department press release read, "would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions."

The new regulations proposed by Labor Secretary Hilda Solisould also revoke the government’s approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course.

This just boggles the mind. Generations of kids have worked on their family farms and learned from 4-H and FFA. Now the present administration's unelected "we know best-ers" have discovered new ways to regulate and take over our lives.

I have to wonder if these bureaucrats spend their time searching for people who have somehow managed to keep out from under federal government control. Can't have that can we?

Now that's a trash pick up

A garbage truck driver in New York City fell asleep and plowed into car after parked car.

Photo from thelowdownny.com