This year’s theme is on improving the safety and sufficiency of blood supplies through achieving 100% voluntary and non-remunerated donations.

Every year, 81 million blood donations are collected, by people from all walks of life. We may all require blood transfusion at some point in our lives, but only about 1% of the population donates blood. And one donation of blood has the potential to save the life of up to three people. That means that every one of us–if we’re healthy–can be an every day hero and make a difference by giving a part of themselves.

To commemorate the day, here are some facts about the US flag.

• It has the nicknames of “Stars and Stripes” and “Old Glory.”
• It contains 50 stars representing the 50 states and 13 stripes commemorating the 13 original colonies.
• It is one of the most complicated flags in the world, requiring 64 pieces of fabric to make.
• It has changed design more than any other flag in the world.
• Included in the code of ethics for the flag are such rules as the national flag cannot be used for advertising. It cannot cover a monument or any ceilings. It must not be folded while being displayed. No one should write on an American flag.
• There has been controversy about whether flag-burning should be allowed or not. Opponents feel that it would violate the First Amendment right to freedom of expression, which everyone is entitled to, whether or not their expressions and opinions are in the minority or are in opposition to the government.
• The flag was standardized in 1912.
• The current design of the flag is by Robert G. Heft. He did it for a school project, of which he reportedly received a bad grade for because of its uncreativity. He was told that if it was adopted by Congress as the national flag, he would get a better grade, so he set to work to make that happen.

And some dates important to the US flag:

June 14, 1777: Congress adopts a new flag for the United States, realizing that they would need a flag of their own instead of the British Union Jack.

June 14, 1877: The flag was flown from every government building to commorate the flag being 100 years old.

June 14, 1893: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, becomes the first state to celebrate Flag Day.

June 14, 1897: New York adds Flag Day as a holiday. Other states don’t jump on the bandwagon quite so fast.

August 1949: President Harry Truman proclaims June 14 as Flag Day, making it a national holiday.

Culex variety of mosquitoes: It’s a large family of mosquitoes with many different subspecies. The concern with this type of mosquito is that it’s the type that can carry the West Nile disease.

So, how much of a concern is the culex mosquito and contracting West Nile from a mosquito bite? While the risk is not zero, the disease has been present in Minnesota since 2002. Since then, there have been 454 cases of West Nile in the state. Of those, there have been 14 deaths. That works out to a death rate from West Nile contracted from mosquito bites to be 0.03%.

Eastern tree hole mosquitoes: Eastern tree hole mosquitoes are known for carrying the disease LaCrosse encephalitis. Since 1985, however, there have only been 124 cases of the disease. Again, the risk is not zero, despite there only being on average 5 cases per year. And of those, there has only been one death from LaCrosse encephalitis in that time.

Japanese rock pool mosquitoes: A new mosquito species to Minnesota, arriving in the state last year, and it is now in the southeastern part of the state. The Japanese rock pool mosquito is native to Asia, and inadvertantly introduced to the United States in the late 1990s on the east coast. It has slowly been making its way across the US. The concern that arises from the Japanese rock pool mosquito is that is can carry both LaCrosse encephalitis and West Nile disease.

Of course, not all mosquitoes bite humans. And even of those that do, it’s typically only the females that do so, and the males are relatively harmless. For instance, toxorhynchites mosquitoes will eat the larvae of other mosquitoes. They don’t bite humans, and therefore are not a concern for carrying of diseases, and may even help in controlling populations of other mosquitoes.

One thing that hasn’t changed is my dad, “The Rod Guy” is set up to sell fishing rods on the Peace Plaza once again. This year, though, he does have some competition from another guy trying to sell rods on the other side of the market place.

These rods use top quality Fenwick blanks, of which you can be assured of by the name on the rod. I’ll be honest with you, quality doesn’t come cheap. You may find cheaper Fenwick rods out there, but chances are, if you do, they don’t have the Fenwick name on them. It’s because it’s a second, one that Fenwick doesn’t want to put their name on for some reason. And in close inspection of the picture, I see that some of them have the St. Croix name on them as well. The handles of my dad’s poles are ones that you’re unlikely to find around Minnesota as well. Some of them are made from woods that just aren’t available in this area and are shipped in by my brother in California.

Like I said, these poles aren’t cheap, so if that’s what you want, you can go and find a pole that suits your needs at Wal-Mart. If you want a high quality pole that will last you, shows that you’re a serious fisherman, as well as be an attention getter and conversation piece, then consider coming out to Thursdays on First and take a look at these. You can find him at various other craft and art shows–such as the Mayo art and craft show in November and Rochester’s ARTigras, and other fishing and sportsman related expos.

We have, in the past, uploaded some videos of various Beatles tribute bands to YouTube without any difficulty. However, after coming back from Abbey Road on the River 2009 and uploading a couple of videos, we noticed something a bit off. Notably, the sound on our new videos was very muted and not sounding very good. These new videos sound good on DVD and on the computer before uploading them to YouTube, but once there, they don’t sound good on our at home computer. In attempting to diagnose the problem, we went to some of our older videos from last year which had worked fine on YouTube in the past, and the sound on some of them was also muted and sounding funny. The sound on others seemed to be fine. We visited other people’s videos, and the sound of them all seemed to be fine–our videos seemed to be the only videos affected by this “glitch.” And once we get to another computer and try listening to some of the videos that sound funny at home, they seem to be okay.

Does anyone have any clue as to why this would be? Any help at all for this strange problem is appreciated.

It was cool and rainy on the day we went, and inside the restaurant only seemed to be slightly warmer than outside. Strike one against the restaurant; however, the fact they seemed to have the air conditioning on when it was only 50 degrees outside was offset by the small, cozy, more intimate atmosphere from many of Rochester’s eateries. The ambiance of Twigs, right down to the chandeliers that looked like they were made of twigs seemed to enhance the pre-dining mood.

Service was quick and friendly, with the waitress giving ample time to peruse the menu before coming back to take our order, and checking back with us numerous times throughout the course of our meal.

Unfortunately, following a slight mishap with the water glass, we soon found out that the cloth napkins weren’t designed to be water absorbant. When we asked if we could get more napkins, we were brought small paper napkins.

I had heard that their butternut ravioli were good, and the menu proudly proclaimed the item had been the runner-up as best menu item in the annual restaurant survey as well as entree winner of the March of Dimes Chef Auction. With such accolades, I wanted to give it a try, but I still wasn’t sure if I would like it. Fortunately, the dish comes as a small plate, so I ordered that. Also fortunately, I had advanced warning that the small plate only came consisting of four regular-sized ravioli, so I also ordered a small plate of the buffalo chicken tenderloins. Tammy ordered the jalepeno sausage scramble strip.

When the food came, it came on square and rectangular plates, reminiscent of modern, fusion food. The ravioli plate looked good, though it was small. It was presented well, though, and its already been proven that appearance enhances the flavor of food. And the ravioli was good, and part of me wishes that I had gotten the larger plate to get a better taste. However, whether or not my expectations were raised to high by all I had heard and read, I don’t know. That said, I didn’t find anything all that special with the dish, and I felt that it’s something that could have easily been something created in our kitchen at home if we had the energy to do so. In fact, we had made something similar with pumpkin and without the sauce, but that was a great idea, and I have an idea for the sauce I would use if we did it again. Likewise, the buffalo chicken tasted great, and it was perfectly cooked. The size was consistent with a chicken breast, however with no accompanying dishes, it too seemed small, and with little to set it apart.

To further comment on Twigs menu and how it resembles our home cooking, they have a pear salad that has the same ingredients of a salad that we also make at home.

The jalepeno sausage scramble strip which came with homestyle fries did seem to be quite a bit of food, and unique enough. Maybe I’ll try that, or something similar, the next time we go there. And I’m sure there will be a next time.

Who would I recommend come to Twigs? It works great for quick business lunches or first dates.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/06/04/real.life.superheroes/index.html

I probably wouldn’t have given the article much thought or attention, except that it had a picture of someone calling themselves Geist who supposedly patrols the Rochester, Minnesota, area. I couldn’t believe that someone from the same area that I’m from would be this crazy. And really, Rochester isn’t an area that calls for “extra protection” from a “super hero.” For metro areas, Rochester still has a relatively low crime rate, despite the fact that it seems to be rising, thanks to gang violence.

Now, I had never seen anyone resembling this person around Rochester, nor do I remember anything in the paper about him. And probably for good reasons, one of which as I stated above, is that Rochester doesn’t need him, and some reasons which I won’t go into. I checked with others around town, thinking that perhaps it was just that I hadn’t come acrossed him. Nope, that’s not it, either. No one I knew had heard of this guy who has taken his childhood fantasies of being a superhero a step too far and actually apparently goes out in public dressed up. So, I started thinking that maybe it wasn’t Rochester, Minnesota, that this person was from, but Rochester, New York, which would have been far more believable. I did some more checking, and came across his MySpace page (because apparently, every superhero with a secret identity needs to have a MySpace page–it must be written in their handbook or something, though it does help them keep in contact with like-minded people across the country). He is from this area.

http://www.myspace.com/superhero_geist

Or you can find more of their kind at http://www.worldsuperheroregistry.com/world_superhero_registry_gallery.htm

Now, I have to wonder what is going through the minds of these people. We are all a race of supermen, and we can all make a difference, whether it’s large or small. Is dressing up in a costume the most effective way to do this? On Geist’s page, he says that he gives to charitable causes, food to the needy, toys for the kids. They’re good causes, and ones that many people who don’t dress up do on a very regular basis. I think it’s safe to say that 99.9% of the people in Rochester who support those causes don’t dress up to do so. Or help with other nonpolitical causes, such as with floods, or the St. Charles fire, and so forth. And we can all stand up for environmental issues, which can count as being a hero in my mind, even a superhero, but not one that needs a costume. As far as crime, we can all do what we can to prevent crime, and intervene when necessary. Again, we don’t need to dress up to do so. And just because we do, does that increase the likelihood of coming across a crime in progress? Unless you were the actual victim, when was the last time you encountered a crime in progress? We are all enpowered to make citizen’s arrests if need be, if we can do so without putting our own safety in jeopardy, and the crime is severe enough to warrant a citizen’s arrest.

With a degree in law enforcement, though, I tend to frown on people who think that it’s okay to be out “looking for crimes” and then trying to stop them. Vigilante-ism is a crime in and of itself, so that means that these people that are supposedly trying to stop crime are in fact comitting a crime. It’s a crime because it needlessly puts people at risk. It puts the vigilante at risk of getting hurt or killed. It could put other people at risk because the vigilante does something wrong that could go horribly wrong. And it puts police officers at risk if they need to “clean up” after the events of a vigilante. Or the vigilante could end up getting in the way of police officers who are trying to do their job. On CNN, someone made a comment that they should provide training for people like this on a state or federal level. Guess what? They already do. It’s called–LAW ENFORCEMENT!!! If you want to make that sort of difference with your life, then that’s the career you should be in. Then you get the training. You get the equipment. You get the support.

Take Batman, for instance, since he is a glorified vigilante, one who operates with the support of the Gotham City PD, and is an established super hero, and has no actual super powers at all. He has the training–he is a master of many forms of martial arts and hand to hand combat. Maybe if these so-called “real super heroes” commit to that kind of training, and can become masters of no less than five forms of martial arts, they can continue on in their mission. Batman, in his real identify as Bruce Wayne, has an almost unending supply of money that gives him his armor, his batmobile, his computers, his batarangs, batboat, bat plane, etc. So, again, if you have that kind of training and the financial support to emulate Batman, we can talk.

What comes to mind when you hear the term “pigs in a blanket?”

Perhaps it’s a hotdog in a crescent roll or some other form of pastry. Or if you find it on a restaurant’s breakfast menu, it’s likely sausage links wrapped in a pancake.

But I recently heard the term used to describe cabbage rolls. That is, rice and perhaps hamburger rolled up in a cabbage leaf. When I hear of people using the term “pigs in a blanket” to describe a cabbage roll along that line, I just have to wonder, where’s the supposed pig in that kind of a dish? At least with the hotdog (which would be made of pork), you have the pig. So, too, do you have the pig with the sausage wrapped in pancakes.