Friday's Odds and Ends

Today I am over at Venture Galleries blogging about what it means to be famous, or maybe not so famous. 
 
Last month I read an article about the delay of the Ground Zero Museum in New York. It seems that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NY Governor Andrew Cuomo can't agree on whether the state or the city should pay the operating expenses of the museum. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also has to sign off on the agreement because the World Trade Center is in an area controlled by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Complicated, isn't it, and so disheartening because these entities have been deadlocked for over a year on this issue. This is just another example of how politics can take something meaningful and make a mess of it.

There's a new term I heard recently - Superager. It is used to describe people in their 80s and 90s, and even older, who still have sharp minds and busy lives. They have no signs of dementia and often are very involved in comunity activities. Scientists are studying hte brains of these superagers as part of their research into Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. What is different about these folks and thos who enter into that murky mental state as they age?

One thing that has been discovered is that some parts of a superager's brain - mainly the the left anterior cingulate cortex - are much thicker than thier peers, or even some middle-aged people in the study.

According to Emily Rogalski,  a professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, the anterior cingulate "is important for a lot of cognitive funtions, one of which is attention. It's possible that the superagers have particularly keen attentional abilities and that tose attentional abilities could then support memory."

Some of the superagers that were profiled in the story about this research had some common traits, primarily how they excercised their brains. Working puzzles, teaching classes, giving speeches, were all ways that they used their brains constantly. 

I hope writing and acting and directing work my brain enough. I want to be one of those superagers.

Speaking of acting, we open tonight in "War of the Worlds" a staging of the 1938 radio show starring Orson Welles. Some of you, who are also hoping to be superagers, may remember that drama that had so many people in the United States believing that Martians had landed in New Jersey and were about to take over the world.

Apparently, it was so realistic that people who had not tuned in from the beginning to know that it was the Mercury Theatre on the Air, thought all the news alerts were real. Here is a picture of one of our cast members, Mike Monk as the aviator hoping to save the world.

Photo courtesy of Michael Alford

 It has been so much fun putting this show together, and I get to have my acting fix for the year by playing one of the roles.

Photo Courtesy of Michael Alford

Friday's Odds and Ends

In Texas the speed limit is going to be raised to 75mph on interstate highways. That means that all the drivers who currently go 80 to 90 in the 70mph zone will now feel free to bump that up by another ten. And this is good for us, how?

Here are some facts from a Highway Research Center  to consider:  A 2002 study by researchers at the Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand evaluated the effects of increasing rural interstate speed limits from 65 mph to either 70 or 75 mph. Based on deaths in states that did not change their speed limits, states that increased speed limits to 75 mph experienced 38 percent more deaths per million vehicle miles traveled than expected — an estimated 780 more deaths. States that increased speed limits to 70 mph experienced a 35 percent increase, resulting in approximately 1,100 more deaths.

As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 nears, there is much talk about what is wrong with planned memorial events. It appears that first responders will not be invited to ceremonies at Ground Zero that day because there is not enough room for them. According to the NY governor and NYC mayor this is about the families of those lives lost that day and the focus should be on them. I'm curious. Are the families of the fallen firefighters and other first responders invited?

This is a very short-sighted decision, as was the one that pledged billions of federal dollars to build a memorial at the site of Ground Zero that includes 1World Trade Center at a price tag of $3.3 billion.

As NY Times columnist, Joe Nocera pointed out in a recent column, yes, the dead need to be remembered, but at what cost to the rest of a nation that was also traumatized by the horrific events of that September day 10 years ago? This new skyscraper at Ground Zero is the most expensive building ever erected and "will have 2.6 million square feet of office space in a city that doesn't need it at a cost that is so high that it will be a cash drain for many years."

And if that isn't enough to make one stop and ask who is in charge of this nonsense, the new building will affect commuters who use the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency overseeing the building of the skyscraper, will raise tolls on the bridges and tunnels it controls, and by 2015 it could easily cost a commuter over $60 dollars a week to drive back and forth to work.

According to Nocera's column, the publishing giant, Conda Nast, is going to be the anchor tenant in the new building and will benefit from substantial government subsidies. "And who will be paying for that subsidy? The mail room attendants who use the Lincoln Tunnel to get to work."

On a slightly lighter note, there is talk of closing the tunnels in downtown Dallas.  Apparently this is someone's idea of a way to revitalize downtown by making people visit stores above ground. Has that person walked a downtown street on a summer afternoon or a blustery day in January when the wind could blow you to the next corner? If people want to revitalize downtown, why not revitalize the tunnels so people can stroll and shop in comfort?

What are your thoughts on these topics, or any other news item that raised your blood pressure this week?

If you liked this post, you might want to let others know by clicking the +1 button below. I am still not sure what this does, but the blog gurus say that it is a good button to push.

The Great Debate

Unless you have been spending a lot of time on some remote desert island in the middle of the Pacific ocean, you must be aware of the debate that is going on over plans to build a mosque in New York City near Ground Zero.

Those opposed say that it dishonors the memories of those killed on 9/11 to have a building that supports Islam so close to where so many died in the horrendous attacks on the World Trade Center. Some have even gone so far as to imply that there is something nefarious going on with the plans to build the mosque.

In a recent column in the Dallas Morning News, Zulfi Ahmed, an American who practices the Muslim faith of Islam, asked people to stop, take a deep breath, and consider  this issue from another perspective - Freedom of Religion.

Like other people of his faith who have spoken out recently, Zulfi asks that we not appoint "guilt by association." Just because the terrorists who blew up those buildings were of the Islam faith, that does not mean that all people who practice that religion are terrorists waiting for the next time to strike. It is a small group of extremists who support and propagate Jihad against the U.S. and other Western countries. Just like it is a small group of Catholic priests who abuse children, not every one that has a church next to a school playground.

 Zulfi cites the numbers of mosques, temples, churches, and synagogues that are all "within a stone's throw of each other" in the suburban town where he lives, making the point that religious freedom and tolerance is alive and well in some parts of the country.

He concludes by saying that "If as a nation we do not protect the legal rights of one minority, then all minorities will be at risk, eventually. What is being built in Manhattan is a cultural center, with a pool, community services facilities and outreach teams, not training grounds for suicidal al-Qaeda operatives of women-beating Taliban."

To read the full essay by Zulfi, click HERE

So, what do you think? Is it insensitive to build the mosque so close to Ground Zero?