Filed under: Biography, family, Memories, Music, Travel, Warm and Fuzzy | Tagged: Arizona, Frankfort, Harry Belafonte, Jamaica Farewell, Sun City West, Wrinkle Town | 2 Comments »
A scene as it might be viewed by a person with diabetic retinopathy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Total: 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—have diabetes.
Diagnosed: 18.8 million people
Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people
Prediabetes: 79 million people*
New Cases: 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010.
* In contrast to the 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, which used fasting glucose data to estimate undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes, the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet uses both fasting glucose and A1C levels to derive estimates for undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes. These tests were chosen because they are most frequently used in clinical practice.
Under 20 years of age
Age 20 years or older
Age 65 years or older
Men
Women
________________________________________________________________________
Proceeds from STRIDES is donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Diabetes Association
Filed under: family, health care, Motivation, Society | Tagged: American Diabetes Association, blindness, Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Frankfort, Glucose test, Helen Keller, Lincoln Way East High School, Prediabetes, Strides, United States | Leave a comment »
Old Plank Road Trail (Photo credit: reallyboring)
Yesterday, after supper I took a long walk into town. I went by way of the mushroom water tower on route thirty and then south to the Old Plank Road Trail. I arrived in historic Frankfort and saw the remnants of cruise night. At least what was left of cruise night. It was after seven when I ambled into town and the sun was only a glow of pink in the western sky. There were still a few die-hard car guys sitting around chatting in front of their hot-rods. There were about six in all. Too dark to take pictures I thought. I kept walking to Oak Street and Kansas. There across the street was Francesca’s Fortunato restaurant lit up with mini-lights. Patrons sat on the new sidewalk seating area enjoying the warm humid evening while eating and drinking with friends. Neat, I thought to myself as I continued to walk. Then the same scene unfolded in front of the Smokey-Barq restaurant on the opposite corner. I’ve got to take a picture I told myself. I will be sorry if I don’t at least try. Besides, what have I got to lose, a few electrons? The only camera was in my phone. What the heck, point and shoot. Surprise, an image froze on the screen. That started me thinking about another photo essay on Frankfort.
Here are the few pictures I took.
You may read my writing about Frankfort, many times I whine about the high cost of living and the latest infra-structure improvement we don’t need, but overall I love this little (16550 souls) town, and will most likely be buried from here.
Filed under: Cooking, family, Hot Rods, restaurants, Warm and Fuzzy | Tagged: Cruising (driving), Fortunato, Francesca's, Frankfort, Hot Rod, Kansas, Oak Street, Old Plank Road Trail, Restaurant, Smokey Barq | 2 Comments »
2012 Monet Vision
This data came to me from a friend by e-mail. I’ve seen it many times before, but this time it struck me funny. Do people really understand what they are doing to their cities? Do they care, or do they move to the suburbs to get away from it? Running isn’t the fix to the problem it is a part of the problem. We must stay and defend our turf. It has taken me sixty years to understand this phenomenon.
I ran from my childhood neighborhood to a more modern neighborhood thinking I was better than old houses and small lots. I wanted fresh air and the country, so I moved to a suburb where the lot sizes were barely double what they were in the city neighborhood. The closest shopping was three miles away. There were no public buses, and worse yet, the distance between taverns was five miles. The small town politics rivaled those of Chicago. There really wasn’t any difference in graft. The tax rates were higher than Chicago, the services were fewer. It took me twenty-nine years to move from that town.
Now, I live in Frankfort. I don’t really care how big my property is, big or small is okay, The taxes are gigantic, the rules are stupid and many. The town is designed for travel by car with little regard for pedestrian traffic. Shopping is central with one super market within a 2 mile drive. It is nice, but is it worth a thousand dollars a month in tax to live here? Not really. I could just as well live in the 100-year-old house I was born in, or in the second house where we raised our kids, and be just as happy. In the meantime, I abandoned two really close-knit neighborhoods for a third really expensive one without advancing my happiness index one iota. So look at the data below and analyze where you fit today. What would have happened had you not abandoned the town where you grew up?
TEN POOREST CITIES
| City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level | |
| 1. Detroit , MI | 32.5% |
| 2. Buffalo , NY | 29.9% |
| 3. Cincinnati , OH | 27.8% |
| 4. Cleveland , OH | 27.0% |
| 5. Miami , FL | 26.9% |
| 5. St. Louis , MO | 26.8% |
| 7. El Paso , TX | 26.4% |
| 8. Milwaukee , WI | 26.2% |
| 9. Philadelphia , PA | 25.1% |
| 10. Newark , NJ | 24.2% |
What do the top ten cities (over 250,000 population) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
Detroit, MI (1st) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1961.
Buffalo , NY (2nd) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1954.
Cincinnati , OH (3rd) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1984.
Cleveland , OH (4th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1989.
Miami , FL (5th)has never had a Republican mayor.
St. Louis , MO (6th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1949.
El Paso , TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor.
Milwaukee , WI (8th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1908.
Philadelphia , PA (9th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1952.
Newark , NJ (10th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
Einstein once said:
‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’
It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats yet they are still POOR!
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
Filed under: Biography, family, Society | Tagged: Alsip, Bungalow, Burnside, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, El Paso Texas, Frankfort, Miami, Milwaukee, Newark New Jersey, Philadelphia, Prestwick | 1 Comment »
The yellow thirty-two duece hot rod in American Graffiti is the icon of hot rodders across the states. It is mine too. I love hotrods, especially street rods. The car that drives me wild is a thirty-four Ford three window coupe that has been channeled, chopped and modernized with a hot fuel injected engine, power disk brakes, and air. I prefer my hot rods with fenders.
Every summer the Frankfort Car Club sponsors “Cruise Night,” in the historic area. Cars come from all around the south suburubs and fill the streets. Owners sit by their vehicle and answer questions. The evening brings out the locals to gawk. Most of the hotrods elicit memories of our father’s car, or the first car we owned.
I grew up watching a kid who was just a few years older than me build a hot rod. It was my habit, to ride my bike to the alley where he rented a garage. Dick lived in the house next to the alley. He could see the garage from the kitchen window of the second floor apartment where he and his mother rented. I watched the garage door, if it was open, Dick was working. The thirty-four coupe he built was his second hot rod, and it is the one I fell in love with. Someday, if I win the lotto, I’ll buy a thirty-four Ford.
Each time I visit cruise night, I find another car to love. I can’t make up my mind as to what I really want anymore. Is it the thirty-four, or should it be a thirty-nine roadster, or a fifty Mercury? Confusion, confusion, confusion. I”ll have to win a big lotto, so I can buy one of each, and afford a place to keep them.
The beauty of a street rod lies in the builder’s vision to take an antique car, and re-style it into a sleek modern vehicle. They have all the features of a two thousand nine Chevy. Each is a unique work of art designed by the builder who is usually the owner too. They are craftsmen with a pocket book, often spending over fifty thousand dollars to complete a project. Many owners limit the use of the car by driving them only to cruise nights or to other shows.
There is nothing quiet about a street rod. Not the rumble coming from the powerful engine, or it’s squeeling tires, or from it’s paint. Some of the most eye appealing colors are applied on hot rods. Some have very ornate flames and pinstripping. Other’s have multi-colors with silver and gold sprinkled in.
Filed under: Characters I knew, family, Manufacturing, Movie Review, Society, Uncategorized, Warm and Fuzzy | Tagged: American Graffitti, Chevy, Coupe, Cruise Night, Duece, Ford, Frankfort, Good Guys, Hot Rod, Mercury, NHRA, Roadster, Street Rod | 4 Comments »
Death Of the Shining City
