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Is It Okay for Parents to Lie to Their Kids? China's Parents Say Yes
New research suggests that while a majority of American parents admit to lying to their kids, almost all Chinese parents do—and Chinese parents tend to see less harm in it, too.
When Amy Chua was a little girl, her parents told her lies. They told her that if she did not get straight-A grades at school, she would wind up on the streets—or that if she got into the car of someone she did not know, she would be kidnapped.
In an interview with me, Chua elaborates. "They wouldn't so much lie as exaggerate... wild exaggerations to point of untruths," she says. Her parents, Chinese immigrants to the United States, "were paranoid about safety."
Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, is probably best known today for being a "tiger mom." "Tiger mothering," a strict way of raising children, is why Asians have such "stereotypically successful children"—so Chua argued in her controversial 2011 book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Unlike "your typical Western overscheduling soccer mom," Chua writes, Chinese mothers leave no margin for error: Schoolwork comes first; parents, teachers, and coaches are always right; children should not be complimented in public; and A-minuses and silver medals are unacceptable. Chua wrote in her book that she did not allow her daughters, Sophia and Louisa (Lulu), to attend a sleepover, watch TV, or have play dates. Her strict parenting methods shocked Western parents.
Now, there seems to be yet another difference between Chinese and American parenting methods. According to a new study published in the International Journal of Psychology, Chinese parents also lie more to their children to get them to do what they (the parents) want—and they approve of this practice more than American parents do.
The study, by Gail Heyman of the University of California-San Diego and her colleagues, examined the lying patterns of 114 American parents and 85 Chinese parents who had at least one child three years old or older. The researchers found that in the United States, 84 percent of parents admitted to telling their children lies to promote behavioral compliance, while in China, 98 percent of parents admitted to doing so. In a 2009 study of American parents, 78 percent of parents admitted to lying to their children—and parents who claimed to be committed to teaching their kids that lying is always wrong were just as likely to lie as other parents.
In Heyman's study, the most common lie parents told was, "If you don't come with me now, I will leave you here by yourself." At least two thirds of the parents from both countries admitted telling their kids that untruth. Both groups also frequently made the false promise to buy a toy that the child asked for. More than half of the American parents and three-quarters of the Chinese parents said they would respond to such requests by promising to come back to buy the toy another time, even when they had no intention of doing so.
The researchers looked at three general types of lies: instrumental lying, or lying to promote compliance ("If you don't behave, I will call the police"); comparison lies, or lying to make kids feel better about themselves ("It's not your fault the plate broke," when actually it was the child's fault); and lying about fantasy characters ("Your fairy Godmother can see all the things that you do").
Though parents from both countries lied across all three categories, the only category in which Chinese parents lied significantly more was in instrumental lying—or lying to get the child to behave in a way that the parent wants. One Chinese parent from the study justified instrumental lying by saying, "When teaching children, it is okay to use well-intentioned lies. It can promote positive development and prevent your child from going astray."
Sixty-eight percent of Chinese parents reported having told the lie Chua's parents told her about being kidnapped, but only 18 percent of American parents did. Another lie that far more Chinese parents than American parents (61 percent versus 10 percent) reported telling their kids was, "Finish all your food or you'll grow up to be short." A particularly graphic lie that only 4 percent of Americans tell their kids but one-fifth of Chinese parents admitted to threatening their children with was, "If you don't behave, we will throw you into the ocean to feed the fish."
Of the 16 instrumental lies the researchers asked about, the only lie that more American than Chinese parents reported telling their kids was related to junk food: "There's no more candy in the house" (when there really is). Nearly six out of 10 American parents admitted to that lie, compared to about four out of 10 Chinese parents.
While both the American and Chinese parents expressed disapproval of children lying to parents, Chinese parents disapproved far more than American parents.
So why do Chinese parents lie more? Might there be a fundamental cultural difference in how Chinese parents and Western parents view their children and their relationship to those children?
The Chinese parenting style, as Chua made clear in her book, is focused on instilling in the child respect, obedience, and a strict adherence to what Mom and Dad think best. Heyman tells me, "In China, children are expected to show much greater compliance with the expectations of their parents, and Chinese parents may go to greater lengths to make this happen."
There's another cultural factor at work—individualism, or the lack thereof. In the west, individualism is a sacred value. In China, the sacred unit is the community; individuals are simply part of that greater whole. A 2007 study found that Chinese children were more likely to disapprove of lies that benefited an individual as opposed to the group, while Canadian children were more likely to disapprove of lies that benefited the group rather than the individual. For instance: The children were presented with a story about the fictional Susan, whose job it is to decide who would represent her class in a spelling bee at her school. Mike, Susan's friend, is a bad speller, but he wants to be part of the competition. Canadian students opted to advise Susan to help her friend by telling her teacher to pick Mike for the team, while Chinese students put the class first by responding that Susan should tell her teacher Mike is a bad speller.
"Western parents tend to view their kids as full individuals with decision-making powers—almost more as equals," Chua tells me. "When I was growing up, my parents didn't see me as equal," she says. "They knew my interests better, so I would have my preferences overridden and [I was] not consulted." By contrast, the parents of her American husband, fellow Yale Law professor Jed Rubenfeld, "gave him more respect, respecting his choices and personality."
Many American parents consider anything that violates the autonomy of the child, like lying, a violation of the child's individualism and, therefore, morally wrong. This explains why American parents are less approving of the practice of instrumental lying than Chinese parents are. Interestingly, even when American parents do lie, they justify their lies by saying that the lies wouldpromote the individualism of the child. Some American parents Heyman spoke to said lying "makes children more imaginative and less literal-minded...it teaches children to be appropriately skeptical... [and] it teaches them the reality of the social world."
The tiger mother does not approve of instrumental lying. Chua tells me that she and Rubenfeld "definitely don't lie to our children. They're so smart that we would lose credibility." Chua's older daughter, Sophia, is a sophomore at Harvard majoring in philosophy and Sanskrit. Lulu, 17, is a junior in high school with a passion for violin and writing. "I'm not morally opposed to it," Chua says about such lying. "I just don't think it would work." The lies Chua's own parents told her backfired: "Every time my parents said I would be kidnapped if I did this or that, I just got more reckless."
Chua advocates complete honesty. "Tiger mothers are actually more truthful—we don't sugar coat," Chua tells me. Recently, for example, Lulu was working on an essay for class about a short story. Chua read the essay and told Lulu that the point she was making was cliché—it was not as interesting as Lulu thought it was.
Or consider an example from when Lulu and Sophia were much younger: Chua, Rubenfeld, and the girls were at a restaurant together for Chua's birthday dinner. Chua was dipping her bread in some olive oil when Sophia and Lulu presented their makeshift birthday cards to the tiger mom. The cards were pieces of paper folded in two with half-hearted "Happy Birthdays" written in them. Lulu gave hers first. Chua took one look at the card and said, "I don't want this." It was not good enough. She then said, "I reject this," and threw the card back at Lulu, who was about four years old at the time. Sophia, whose card was not good enough either, was probably seven. Chua said to her, "That's nice, Sophia, but not good enough either."
Later that night, the girls redeemed themselves. They presented Chua with far more thoughtful cards that she still has—a tiger-mom victory, and a victory for Chua's complete-honesty policy.
When it came to lies that parents told their kids to make their kids feel better about themselves, American parents are less truthful than their Eastern peers in one notable domain: in telling their kids how accomplished they are at a musical instrument. Sixty percent of American parents, compared to half of Chinese parents, would tell their kids "That was beautiful piano playing," when it was in fact truly awful.
This was one of the only lies that fewer Chinese parents reported telling their kids—and if you've read Chua's book, you won't be surprised. When she was seven years old, Lulu had been struggling for days to play a complicated piece on the piano called "The Little White Donkey," with little to no progress. While an American mom may have softly encouraged Lulu or even have told Lulu that she was doing well, Chua took a different course: "When she still kept playing it wrong," Chua writes, "I told her she was purposely working herself into a frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic." Chua was just as harsh to Sophia, who played the piano too. A criticism that Chua shared with her oldest daughter back in the day: "Oh my God, you're just getting worse and worse."
The strategy may be blunt, but it is effective. Lulu mastered "The Little White Donkey" and played it at a recital several weeks after things nearly came to blows with the tiger mom. Sophia, for her part, performed at Carnegie Hall in 2007.
Apart from the practical concern—that instrumental lying will not work so brutal honesty is better—there is also the moral concern. Is it ever ok to lie to your children?
"Young children are sensitive to how reliable people are when they decide whether to trust them," as Heyman, herself a mother of three, tells me. Such lying "may undermine children's trust in their parents." On top of that, it may encourage children to lie more themselves.
In fact, it probably does encourage them to lie more—but that might not be such a bad thing. "The reality is, we all teach our kids to lie from time to time," Dan Ariely tells me. "Nobody tells their kids that the answer to "How do I look in that dress?" should be the perfect truth." Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University, is the author of The (Honest) Truth About Dishonest: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves. "Some dishonesty in the social realm is important," he tells me.
Chua has learned that the hard way. Once, when Sophia acted disrespectfully toward her, Chua called her "garbage" (as Chua's father had called her "garbage" when Chua had behaved disrespectfully to her own mother). When Chua shared this parenting trick with her friends at a dinner party, she was immediately ostracized. One woman at the party started crying and left early.
While lying may have its place in the social sphere, Chua stands by her policy of complete honesty toward her children. It may mean a social sacrifice for the tiger mom, but the payout to her tiger cubs is worth it—a lesson that parents who are tempted to lie might want to remember.


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A good Golowan is being had by all this week, with Mazey Day as giddy and chaotic as ever yesterday. Here's the beginning of the morning parade for those who missed Mazey or who enjoyed it so much they already want to relive it. Quay Fair Day is cranking into action today on the prom – check website below for events.
p&c january header: artist's studio Newlyn
search pasties & cream archive
pasties & cream tweets…
- The Jubilee Pool is on twitter! The Friends team are doing some exciting fundraising events in coming weeks - watch @SaveOurLido for details 8 years ago
- 'Freed from dogged detail, @jcooperpainter 's paintings place themselves in a bold position of vulnerability.' pastiesandcream.com/2014/06/27/las… 8 years ago
- Get thee over to @belgravestives for the last two of the @jcooperpainter show entitled 'About Home' pastiesandcream.com/2014/06/27/las… 8 years ago
- Thom Hunt cooking on the banks of the Fal theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/v… 8 years ago
- Please take a few seconds to sign this petition to lobby @CornwallCouncil to help save the Jubilee Pool change.org/en-GB/petition… 8 years ago
- The Jubilee Pool in Penzance needs you... BADLY. pastiesandcream.com/2014/04/14/the… @Nixondesign 8 years ago
- RT @FatHenForager: Three cornered leek flower buds freshly foraged and ready for pickling - garlicky caper substitute - in salsa verde. htt… 8 years ago
- This great vid from Scillonian folkies @RoughIslandBand seems to be having something of a viral moment pastiesandcream.com/2014/04/02/sli… 8 years ago
- RT @nslade71: Penzance railway station care of @BBCCornwall http://t.co/IqH9ZvlZUQ 9 years ago
- RT @caitlincornwall: Some amazing photos on my timeline. RT @traceysuckling: The Bridge in #Newlyn. http://t.co/LJCrGgtcQ3 9 years ago
- RT @Nixondesign: Here we go all over again- storm force seas swamp Penzance's Jubilee Pool #penzance #storm #cornwall #CornwallStorm http:/… 9 years ago
- Deep winter cafe discovery no.2 pastiesandcream.com/2014/02/10/caf… @strongadolfos 9 years ago
- Deep winter cafe discovery no.1 pastiesandcream.com/2014/02/10/caf… 9 years ago
- This footage from the weekend of windsurfing (but not as you know it) is way cool boardseekermag.com/news/news-vide… via @ManOnaPlanet 9 years ago
- "You see, we've always felt different in Cornwall. Not just cut off. The majority of us don't feel especially English' @Kernow_King 9 years ago
- Um, @Kernow_King has a Guardian by-line theguardian.com/commentisfree/… 9 years ago
- Concrete paving slabs, bins, railings, boulders proved small fry for this one http://t.co/hVlzysegoU 9 years ago
- The morning after the night before #penzance http://t.co/begDLA8Eay 9 years ago
liking these links…
- art residence penzance blog
- boak & bailey beer blog – ultimate beer blog from penzance
- doble m design blog – from hay-on-wye via argentina
- genevieve – beautiful print and pattern
- kernow kalling – surf, skate, design cornwall
- kernowfornia dreaming
- newlyn school of art
- ocean image blog
- saffron bunny – cornish foodie
- sideways cornwall – cool vids
- st ives bay campers – super cute cornish campervan for hire
- surf nation blog cornwall
- the penzance post – wonderful photos & local blogging
- urlaub cornwall – cornish blog in german!
- vintage surfboard blog – hailing from hayle
tag cloud1960s acorn arts centre alfred wallis art beachcombing burgers chapel street cider clotted cream coffee cornish blue cornish mining cornwall design doin' it dreckly falmouth farm shop fat hen festivals fifteen cornwall film finisterre folk food friends of pz harbour galleries gigs golowan hedluv and passman illustration jubilee pool lizard local produce london merino wool montol moors mount's bay music nathan outlaw newlyn newlyn cheese newlyn school of art newquay origin coffee pasties penwith penzance penzance arts club penzance harbour penzance promenade photography polgoon pollock rattler redruth rick stein rodda's scarlet wine spring st agnes st ives st michael's mount strawberries tate st ives the art of cornwall the exchange the online pasty guide tim smit tregothnan truro vintage waves west cornwall wine tasting
recent pasties + cream posts
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subset: commoncrawl


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Mr John Borland ("Jack") Thayer Jr., 17, was born 24 December 1894, the son of Marian and John Borland Thayer. They lived in Haverford, PA. The family boarded the Titanic as first class passengers Jack occupied cabin C-70.
John Thayer was in bed, and Jack and his mother were preparing for bed when Jack noticed the breeze through his half-open porthole stop. He remembered no significant shock and did not lose his balance. Pulling an overcoat over his pajamas he called to his parents that he was 'going out to see the fun.' He ran up on A deck on the port side but could see nothing amiss. He went towards the bow where, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out ice on the forward well deck.
He returned to the stateroom (C-68) to get his parents They went to the starboard side of A deck where John B. Thayer senior thought he saw small pieces of ice floating around, but Jack saw nothing. As they crossed to the port side they noticed that the ship had developed a list to port. They then returned to their room and dressed. Jack put on a tweed suit and vest with another mohair vest underneath in order to keep warm. Having put on life-belts, with overcoats on top, they returned to the deck. They stayed together until the order was given for women and children to board the boats. Jack and his father said good-bye to Marian at the top of the grand staircase on A-Deck. Then Marian and her maid Miss Fleming went out on A deck on the port side while Jack and his father went to the starboard side.
Thinking that Marian was safe on board a boat the two men were surprised to learn from Chief Second Steward George Dodd that she was still on board.
Reunited, John and Marion Thayer went on ahead to find a boat. Jack lagged behind and finally lost them, perhaps he was talking to his friend Milton Clyde Long whom Jack had met for the first time, over coffee that evening and who had attached himself to the Thayers; or perhaps he just got caught up in the crowd. He searched for them for a while, but then, thinking they had probably escaped in a boat he went forward on the starboard side accompanied by Milton Long.
The boats were leaving rapidly and the two young men discussed getting into one of the boats but the crowds were great. They stood by the empty davits of a lifeboat that had left. Here, close to the bridge they watched a star through the falls of the davit to measure the rate at which the ship was going down.
As they stood there the only person Jack recognized nearby was Mr Lindley [?] whom he had also just met that evening. Another man Jack saw lurched by drinking from a bottle of Gordons gin, he said "If I ever get out of this there is one man I'll never see again" in fact Charles Joughin was one of the first survivors that Thayer did meet!
As the ship sank deeper and more rapidly Jack thought about jumping for it as others appeared to be doing towards the stern, after all, he was a strong swimmer. However Long was not and persuaded Jack against it.
Eventualy, however, they could wait no more and after saying goodbye to each other they jumped up on the rail. Long put his legs over and held on a minute and said 'You are coming, boy, aren't you?' Jack replied 'Go ahead, I'll be with you in a minute.' Long then slid down the side of the ship. Jack never saw him again.
A sort while later Jack jumped out, feet first. He surfaced well clear of the ship, he felt he was pushed away from the ship by some force.
- 'The ship seemed to be surrounded with a glare, and stood out of the night as though she were on fire.... The water was over the base of the first funnel. The mass of people on board were surging back, always back toward the floating stern. The rumble and roar continued, with even louder distinct wrenchings and tearings of boilers and engines from their beds. Suddenly the whole superstructure of the ship appeared to split, well forward to midship, and bow or buckle upwards.
The second funnel, large enough for two automobiles to pass through abreast, seemed to be lifted off, emitting a cloud of sparks It looked as if it would fall on top of me. It missed me by only twenty or thirty feet. The Suction of it drew me down and down struggling and swimming, practically spent. '
Jack Thayer (Ballard 1987)
- 'This time I was sucked down, and as I came up I was pushed out again and twisted around by a large wave, coming up in the midst of a great deal of small wreckage. As I pushed my hand from my head it touched the cork fender of an overturned life-boat. I looked up and saw some men on the top and asked them to give me a hand. One of them, who was a stoker, helped me up. In a short time the bottom was covered with about twenty-five or thirty men. When I got on this I was facing the ship.
Jack Thayer 1912 (Logan Marshall 1912)
- 'Her deck was turned slightly toward us. We could see groups of the almost fifteen hundred people aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs or singly, as the great part of the ship, two hundred and fifty feet of it, rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle. Here it seemed to pause, and just hung, for what felt like minutes. Gradually she turned her deck away from us, as though to hide from our sight the awful spectacle."
"I looked upwards - we were right under the three enormous propellers. For an instant, I thought they were sure to come down on top of us. Then, with the deadened noise of the bursting of her last few gallant bulkheads, she slid quietly away from us into the sea.'
Jack Thayer (Ballard 1987)
Algernon Barkworth recalled seeing young Jack Thayer:
- 'I did not know the Thayer family well," declared Mr Barkworth, "but I had met young Thayer, a clear-cut chap, and his father on the trip. The lad and I struggled in the water for several hours endeavoring to hold afloat by grabbing to the sides and end of an overturned life-boat. Now and again we lost our grip and fell back into the water. I did not recognize young Thayer in the darkness, as we struggled for our lives, but I did recall having met him before when we were picked up by a life-boat. We were saved by the merest chance, because the survivors on a life-boat that rescued us hesitated in doing so, it seemed, fearing perhaps that additional burdens would swamp the frail craft.
Algernon Barkworth (Logan Marshall 1912)
As they balanced precariously on the upturned Collapsible B the cries of those swimming in the water came to them. It sounded to Jack just like the high-pitched hum of locusts back home in Pennsylvania.
After a night on the upturned boat Jack and the others, a "grimy, wiry disheveled, hard-looking lot," were picked up by lifeboats 4 and 12, Thayer was so distracted trying to get into boat 12 that he did not notice his mother in 4 nearby and she was so numbed by cold she did not see him.
At 8.30 a.m. boat 12 finally arrived at the Carpathia where Jack was reunited with his mother. She asked him 'Where's daddy?' he answered 'I don't know, mother.'
A kind passenger on the Carpathia lent Jack pajamas and a bunk. Jack then crawled into bed and reflected that the brandy he had just drunk was his first shot of hard liquor - he slept.
While on the Carpathia he described the sinking to passenger L.D. Skidmore who drew a sequence of pictures based on the recollections.
After their arrival in New York, Jack, his mother and Miss Fleming took the Thayer's private train carriage from Jersey City, NJ back home to Haverford.
Jack Thayer graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and went into banking; later he returned to the University as Financial Vice-President and Treasurer. He married Lois Cassatt and they had two sons. Edward C. Thayer and John B. Thayer IV.
In 1940 Jack produced a pamphlet relating his experiences on the Titanic as an attempt, perhaps, to exorcise some of the memories that still haunted him.
During the second world war both of Jack's sons joined the services. It is likely that the bout of depression that afflicted Jack following the death of his son Edward on active service in the pacific led directly to his death, by his own hand, in 1945.
He was buried at the Church of the Redeemer Cemetery, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of Michael A. Findlay, USA


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It?s looking to be the year of the consumer in health care, say leaders and visionaries in the industry.
New technology, changes in the market and the Affordable Care Act will allow more consumers to bid good-bye to some of the most frustrating parts of a troubled health care system. Waiting hours to see the doctor, taking hand-written prescriptions to the pharmacy while sick, chasing down medical records, and being left in the dark about what care will cost are all inconveniences that will soon go the way of the phone booth.
?The big trend is toward consumerism, with the individual customer being the new focal point,? said Pat Geraghty, chairman and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. ?Previously, the system was built around the care provider. The new system will revolve around the consumer.?
Karen van Caulil, president of the Florida Health Care Coalition, agrees: ?All the turmoil we?ve gone through is good news for consumers,? she said, referring to a year when America?s health care system underwent a historic overhaul.
Here are some improvements that will make health care better for consumers:
MOBILE APPS: ?Mobile health is an emerging, exploding category that lets consumers track their activity, fuel consumption and other measurements that help improve wellness and manage chronic diseases,? said Thad Seymour, general manager of health and life sciences for Orlando?s Lake Nona community, home of the Medical City and a growing health-centric community.
Wellness technology is also becoming embedded in homes, such as the Intelligent House in Lake Nona, where mirrors reflect residents? health statistics and kitchen computers help them plan smart meals.
VIRTUAL CARE: As more technology goes home with patients, more can be in touch with health providers remotely. For the Paul family of Lake Nona, a telehealth program through Nemours Children?s Hospital in Orlando lets them view their son?s medical records any time from home. Nine-year-old Max, who has cystic fibrosis, is a frequent patient of Nemours Children?s Hospital.
Being able to see her son?s test results the minute they are available helps lessen Mom Lori Paul?s anxiety.
Remote access is also allowing more patients to receive care when and where it?s convenient for them. Programs like Microsoft?s Skype and Apple?s FaceTime let patients have virtual doctor?s visits from home.
At Orlando Regional Medical Center, certain patients who once would have been admitted are receiving hospital-level care at home. The doctors make house calls, and in between, videoconferencing and telemonitoring of vital signs make more acute in-home care possible, said hospital spokeswoman Kena Lewis.
Patients who meet the new program?s criteria take home a camera and computer monitor, as well as equipment to monitor vital signs remotely. They avoid hospital infections, while getting convenient care in the comfort of their home.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS: Though many consumers have had concerns about the sharing of electronic health records, this year patients might grow to appreciate the benefits.
As privacy and security bugs get worked out, electronic medical records will deliver many patient benefits, said Suhtling Wong, spokeswoman for a University of Central Florida College of Medicine program that is helping local physicians adopt paperless record systems.
For instance, all of a patient?s doctors can share lab results, allowing for more coordinated care and less duplication of testing. Because pharmacists will get more prescriptions electronically, patients will be spared the hassle of taking them in and waiting for them to be filled.
In addition, electronic records allow doctors to more easily log into patient records after hours and help patients who need answers on evenings and weekends.
A WINDOW INTO COST AND QUALITY: Transparency is another buzz word in the industry, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act. Consumers will increasingly be able to see more information that?s eluded them, such as how much procedures cost and the quality ratings of providers, as insurers make that data available on their websites. That knowledge will help consumers determine value and be better shoppers, while helping to keep provider costs inline.
BRINGING CARE TO THE STREETS: Speaking of shopping, in 2014, more consumers will get their care at the corner store. ?Wal-Mart aspires to be the leading primary-care provider in the next 10 years,? Geraghty said. ?Walgreens has started to develop primary care sites.?
Source: MCT Information Services


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Product Review: Breville 5-Quart Stand Mixer
In the world of stand mixers, one name stands above the rest: KitchenAid. When I was putting together my wedding registry, one of the first items I added was a pear-green KitchenAid stand mixer, crossing my fingers that someone might be nice enough to buy it. But then I was given a Breville 5-quart stand mixer to try out and test for review here, and a week later I took the KitchenAid off my registry. Why did I change my mind?
First, you should know I am a stand mixer newbie. I have never owned one, and can count on one hand the number of times I've used one at work or at a friend's house. I didn't care about brands when I pulled the Breville out of the box; I was just excited to try some of the recipes I had avoided (brioche! marshmallows!) because I didn't own a stand mixer.
So I put it to work, making cake batters, double batches of cookies, bread dough, and those homemade marshmallows. Along the way, I began to realize the Breville has features the KitchenAid doesn't, features I would certainly miss if that pear-green mixer actually did land on my front porch.
Favorite Features
Here are the stand-out features of the Breville mixer. I know that the KitchenAid has some of these as well, but I just wanted to tell you what stood out to me.
• A well-designed front handle which makes it easy to lift the 20-pound appliance onto the counter.
• A thermo-cutoff system, which automatically switches off the mixer if the motor begins to overheat. I never triggered this feature, but I imagine it would help protect the motor if you do a lot of heavy-duty bread-baking.
• An easy to operate dial control, with clear, simple displays that translate the 12 speeds of the mixer into baking terms like "knead," "fold" or "whip."
• A digital timer that can count up or down, which is my number-one favorite feature. Counting down means you can set the mixer to a certain amount of time and step away. When the time is up, the mixer stops and your batter isn't overbeaten because you were distracted by a phone call. Counting up means you can figure out the timing of your favorite recipes — how long to whip the eggs before you fold them into the batter, for instance — making your baking even more precise. The control dial includes a "pause" setting, which stops the mixer and pauses the timer, so you can add more ingredients or wash a spatula without disrupting the timer.
The mixer is solidly built, with a 550-watt motor that feels powerful but is surprisingly quiet. Included with the mixer is a flat beater, a scraper beater, a wire whip, a dough hook, a spatula, and a pouring shield. For light batters, the scraper beater does an excellent job of reaching the edges of the bowl, as some of the above photos show.
My only minor complaint is that it takes two hands to tilt up the head — one to hit the tilt-release button and one to push up on the front handle — which can be inconvenient if one hand is slippery with butter or covered with wet dough. (That, and the fact that it doesn't fit under my cupboards! But that is the fault of my wonky rental kitchen, not the mixer.) It is a small issue with an appliance that is otherwise a pleasure to use. If I have to return the mixer to Breville post-review, it won't be a KitchenAid taking its place; it will be another Breville.
• Find it: Breville 5-Quart Die-Cast Stand Mixer, $271.90 at Amazon
Do you have a non-KitchenAid stand mixer? Why did you choose it?
Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.
(Images: Anjali Prasertong)


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Raymond, Burrows score in 2nd period, Canucks beat Avs 3-2 to take possession of division lead
DENVER – The Canucks are playing some of their best hockey when it matters the most — during the stretch run. And the Northwest Division-leading Vancouver is doing it behind the play of goaltender Cory Schneider.
"It is amazing to see the way he has been playing the last four games," Vancouver winger Mason Raymond said. "The way Schneids has been seeing the puck has been huge for our club."
Raymond and Alexandre Burrows scored in the second period and Vancouver moved into sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.
Schneider came up big again against Colorado, making 26 saves in his fourth consecutive start.
"I have been playing my best hockey and winning is the best part of the game," said Schneider, who improved to 5-0-1 with two shutouts against the Avalanche. "But it doesn't come without doing extra work and without your teammates in front of you blocking the shots."
Jason Garrison added a goal for the Canucks, winners of four straight. Vancouver moved ahead of idle Minnesota by two points for the conference lead.
"It's just phenomenal how these guys in this stretch of five games in seven nights continue to pay the price," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said of the banged-up Canucks. "They've done everything they're supposed to do to give themselves a chance to win.
"They competed real hard, they blocked shots, they took hits to make plays."
Jamie McGinn and PA Parenteau scored for free-falling Colorado, which has dropped six of seven.
Jean-Sebastian Giguere made his first start since March 5 in Detroit and allowed three goals on 30 shots. Giguere is 9-11-4 against Vancouver.
"I thought we played hard tonight and I was proud of our resiliency right up until the very end," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said, "unfortunately, we came up short at the end."
The Avalanche have dropped the last nine meetings between the teams. Colorado hasn't beaten the Canucks since Jan. 18, 2011, when it won 4-3 in overtime.
The Canucks missed a couple of open nets early, but didn't miss when Shane O'Brien when off for interference with 15:07 of the first period. Garrison's slap shot from the deep slot 9 seconds later got past the Giguere's left pad.
McGinn answered for Colorado off a 2-on-1 break at 9:18 of the period. Parenteau slid a pass under the stick of Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieska to McGinn, who beat Schneider to his stick side.
McGinn hit the right post late in the period.
Schneider kept Colorado at bay, making 10 stops in the second period. Raymond and Burrows took care of business at the offensive end as the Canucks pulled ahead 3-1.
Jordan Schroeder gained control of the puck after Schneider stopped a shot and pushed the puck ahead to Raymond. He blew past Erik Johnson and flipped a wrist shot by the right elbow of Giguere at 3:13.
Andrew Ebbett skated down the puck into the corner and set up Burrows in the lower right circle. Burrows beat Giguere at 14:29 with a wrister short side.
Schneider escaped danger in the opening moments of the third period when Matt Duchene fanned on a shot in front of Schneider, who was down on the play.
Parenteau scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 2:31 left.
Schneider made two saves in the final minute after Colorado pulled Giguere.
"Confidence is a big deal in this game and we don't have that right now," Parenteau said. "We get deflated when we get in a hole and that's what happened tonight."
NOTES: Vancouver center Henrik Sedin played in his 613th consecutive game, second longest active streak, second only to Calgary's Jay Bouwmeester who played in his 618th straight. ... The Canucks are 3-0-0 on the current road trip and are 8-4-0 on the second night of back-to-backs. ... Paul Stastny didn't return for the second period after suffering a lower leg injury in the first. ... Parenteau had a goal and an assist on his 30th birthday.


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"What took them so long?" was the typical Mission reaction today to a federal appeals court's 2-1 decision that Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
"It's about time," said Kira Thompson as she ate lunch outside Herbivore.
"I can't believe it took so much time," said Raphael Shanmugan as he fixed a bike. "It's ridiculous it hasn't come sooner," said Courtland Donaldson.
Missionites said they were hopeful as they waited for today's decision. "I knew it would happen eventually," said Mark Hallenbart, a Castro resident who works in the Mission. "It's a victory."
Rebecca Isaacs, executive director of Equality Federation, an alliance working to achieve LGBT equality nationwide, echoed that sentiment. "We are incredibly, incredibly excited."
But it wasn't always like this.
In 2004 Gavin Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, decided that the city could issue same-sex marriage licenses, opening up the possibility of legal marriage for gay and lesbian couples. One month after Newsom's move, the state Supreme Court annulled those licenses. But in May of 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a fundamental right.
Religious groups reacted quickly, collecting enough signatures to put Proposition 8, a state constitutional ban on gay marriage, on the ballot. The proposition lost in the Mission but won statewide, with 52 percent of the vote. Again it became illegal for same-sex couples to wed in California.
In August 2010, Chief District Judge Vaughn Walker overturned Proposition 8. Today, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision, but the case is likely to go to the Supreme Court.
Hallenbart said that he and his partner have been eagerly anticipating the decision, but the couple is in no rush to get married. Hallenbart said he simply wants same-sex couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples.
Others agreed. "Finally they can be entitled to some of the benefits that other couples are entitled to," said Shanmugan. Those benefits include hospital and prison visitations, rights to pension benefits, and breaks on taxes and insurance, to name a few.
"It's only just for them to have the same rights," said Luisa, a married heterosexual woman.
"Yeah, if they don't have the same rights," said Luisa's husband, Diego, "then marriage is just a social concept."
That concept is something that Jim Haynes and his girlfriend of 14 years are grappling with. "She says she won't get married until everyone has the right to get married," said Haynes, 40. "Prop. 8 got overturned, but we shouldn't look for a courthouse yet," his girlfriend said.
"This panel — these people are on our side," said Hallenbart. It helps, he said, that they didn't view the decision from a religious standpoint.
Some, like Haynes, can only see it from a religious perspective.
"I'm a Christian myself," he said. "Socially, the American creed for all to get married should persist." He believes that many people turn to transcendental experiences to heal.
"But old rules can trip up the progress of humanity," he said.
It's those old, traditional rules that drive Prop. 8 backers. "The backers are relentless," said Thompson. "They need to just chill."
Thompson added that Prop. 8 supporters should stop their tireless efforts against same-sex marriage, which, she believes, doesn't harm anyone. "Live your life, and let everyone do what they want," she said.
The idea of making personal decisions is forward-thinking, said Shanmugan.
Thompson believes California is a progressive state, but, "We're behind the times on that one," she said, referring to same-sex marriage. "It's kind of embarrassing."
"I know couples who would get married right now," said Sarah Engelman, a clothing sales associate, "but they don't want to leave San Francisco to do it."
But the Equality Federation's Isaacs said that the California decision can bolster the efforts of same-sex marriage proponents in other states, like New Jersey, Maine, Minnesota and Washington, that are fighting their own marriage battles.
Although California is known as a progressive state, homophobia still exists here, and LGBT youth in middle and high schools must often deal with bullying. But students are making important strides in creating safer schools, said Jill Marcellus, communications coordinator for the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, a network that empowers students to fight homophobia.
Today's ruling sets an example for them. "It's empowering to see LGBT youth to see and respond to the value around the decision," Marcellus said. "It positively impacts them."
That value offers momentum, residents said. "It's looking good," said Zee, a Mission resident who declined to giver her last name. She believes it's important to stay motivated. "This will pave the way for everyone in the future."
"But it's not enough yet," said Thompson. "There's a bigger hurdle coming," Diego added. Backers of Prop. 8 could appeal the ruling. In fact, Isaacs expects it.
Like Zee, others acknowledge that achieving legal same-sex marriage will be a drawn-out process. Missionites don't expect the legal battle to stop here. "It looks inevitable that it'll go to the Supreme Court," said Haynes.
"This will be a test of views of equality for the Supreme Court," said Isaacs. "They're more conservatively bent," added Haynes.
"We'll keep fighting all the way," said Hallenbart. "Ultimately, it will be legal." And then, if he and his partner decide to get married, they'll have that choice.


text: Lifestyle Style Ben Affleck's Family 'Unanimously Hated' His Shaggy 'Argo' Look "My dad was like, 'What kind of work would want you to look like that?'" the actor jokes By Kate Hogan Published on October 1, 2012 03:00 PM Share Tweet Pin Email GSI Media Ben Affleck's upcoming movie, Argo, promises lots of drama, but while filming, the actor faced almost as much drama in his personal life — thanks to his shaggy 'do and facial hair. "My family unanimously hated the look," he told reporters Sunday during an Argo press conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Since the film is set in 1979 (it focuses on the Iran hostage crisis of that year), Affleck was required to go with period style — everything from clothing to, yes, hair. "My dad was like, 'What kind of work would want you to look like that?'" Affleck recalled during the press conference. His answer? "That's a good question." Though the ribbing from his dad was minimal, it was his wife, Jennifer Garner, that was perhaps most appalled by the look. In fact, when one reporter told Affleck she liked his shaggy style, he joked, "You didn't have to kiss me!" Young daughters Violet and Seraphina had opinions, too. "I kept trying to tell my littler kids [that this was for work]," the actor said. But "they would say, 'Why can't you shave your … prickles? Shave your prickles!'" Thankfully for his family, he (kind of) has. Tell us: Did you like Affleck's hairier look? And do you plan to see Argo? –Reporting by Jennifer Garcia


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The Beauty and Brains Behind 'Hedy's Folly'
The Beauty and Brains Behind 'Hedy's Folly'
In a new book, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Richard Rhodes tells the behind-the-scenes story of movie star—and inventor— Hedy Lamarr, "the most beautiful woman in the world." Lamarr invented "frequency hopping," a concept that's still used in today's wireless technology.
Up next, the hidden life of a Hollywood siren.
WILLIAM POWELL: (as William Whitley) Scientist, mathematician, physicist, bacon-eater, yes, but not astrologer.
HEDY LAMARR: (as Vicky Whitley) Oh, I'm sorry.
POWELL: (as William Whitley) Darling, astronomy and astrology may sound alike, but that's all. Astronomy is a science, astrology, a superstition.
LAMARR: (as Vicky Whitley) But aren't you a little bit intolerant? For thousands of years, astrology has been highly respected.
POWELL: (as William Whitley) Astrology, my love, stinks.
FLATOW: That movie clip is from "The Heavenly Body," and the woman with that lovely Austrian accent is Hedy Lamarr. Her scientist husband is played by William Powell. And while Hedy is playing the stereotypical Hollywood dumb broad in that scene, in real life, she was anything but that. In her spare time, Hedy, the glamorous movie star, was an insatiable inventor. Her most famous invention is called frequency hopping, and is still used today in some wireless technology, including Bluetooth.
You can see her patent up there on our website at sciencefriday.com. Joining me now to talk more about Hedy Lamarr, her life and inventions is Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Rhodes. His new book is called "Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World." He joins us from KQED in San Francisco - from San Francisco. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
RICHARD RHODES: Hi, Ira.
FLATOW: You know, I'm a huge fan of Hedy Lamarr. And for many - as my listeners know, I've been talking about her and her accomplishments for decades. There are movie scripts, right, waiting to be produced. A play called "Frequency Hopping" that was produced. We interviewed the writer and director Elyse Singer back in 2008. You're a Hedy Lamarr fan, too, now, I guess.
RHODES: Yes, absolutely - although, of course, strictly for her scientific bent. You'll find a photo in the frontispiece in the book that I think really shows how extraordinarily beautiful she was.
FLATOW: And she said that was a curse of hers, did she not?
RHODES: She did. She really felt blinded or blocked from people seeing the real person. She would walk into a room, and people would literally stop talking and look at her. But they never got past her face, which is what that little scene here just played indicates, too.
FLATOW: And how did she get - was she always interested in inventions, from a very young age?
RHODES: You know, I think I trace it back to the time she spent with her father, who was a tall, athletic bank director in Vienna, where she was born, and who would - she was his only child. He adored her. They would go on long walks together around the city, and he would explain things to her, technologies. This is how that crane works. This is how that bus works. So in her childhood, she obviously associated the warm feelings she had with her - for her father with this business of technology. And I think that's probably the real source of her interest.
FLATOW: Why do you call it "Hedy's Folly"? What was the folly in her work?
RHODES: Well, I think folly is a word that has several meanings. One of them, of course, is the one we all think of, and that's ironic because of the way the Navy treated her and George Antheil's invention, which was, of course, to throw it into the round(ph) file. But there's another sense of the word folly, which means basically an extravagance. And I think of her inventive side as a kind of rich, extravagant side of a very extravagant woman.
FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 if you'd like to talk about Hedy Lamarr. And we'll get into her inventions, and the one that's most famous about having to do with frequency hopping, on SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow, talking with Richard Rhodes, author of "Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World." And she was christened that by what - a movie producer, was it?
RHODES: Yes, Max Reinhart, the great Austrian producer-director called her that when she first showed up in one of his movies as an - almost an extra. And by then - I think she was about 16 at the time. She got more beautiful when she moved to the United States and lost some weight, actually. She was a kind of typical plump Austrian teenager, but she was a knockout by the time she made her first movie here.
FLATOW: Yeah. Yeah. She - and the story goes that - you tell it very well in your book. And you debunk a lot of the mythology about her escape from Austria and her husband. And she - you basically say that she always wanted to be a movie star, and she made her way to America. And...
RHODES: Someone said of her, one of the first actors who played with her in a play, that she thought of the United States as some sort of large country surrounding Hollywood, which I think is a pretty good idea of where she was. She'd always dreamed of being a movie star. And the only place you could really do that was, of course, in Hollywood. But she had a disastrous marriage at the age of 20 with the third-richest man in Austria, Fritz Mandel, who was an arms merchant who have factories making bullets and cannon shells and so forth all over Europe. And they lived, of course, a very extravagant life.
But she described it as a golden castle, a golden prison. He was a paranoid man who was sure she was cheating on him with everyone who walked through the room, and she simply felt locked up. Plus, he didn't want her to act. She had acted in a movie that had really made her name as a 19 year-old, where she had had a couple of nude scenes. And that was a scandal in Austria and in the United States, as well. Famously, Fritz is said to have tried to buy up all the copies of this film, which, of course, the people who owned the negatives simply kept making more copies, making a nice living. So...
FLATOW: And - yeah.
RHODES: ...in 1937, she saw her chance and filed for divorce and made her way to London, where she had lots of friends, found out that Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was in town buying up actresses and actors, as it were, on the cheap in the late period of the Depression, and went to see him. He offered her a really bad deal, and she turned him down and walked out - which, I think, is some indication of her self-confidence...
FLATOW: Oh.
RHODES: ...and then contrived to sail to the United States on the Normandie, the same ship that he was returning to the country in, and got herself a much better contract.
FLATOW: And we'll pick up the story, a very interesting story about Hedy Lamarr, with Richard Rhodes, author of the new book "Hedy's Folly." Stay with us. We'll be right back. Our number: 1-800-989-8255. We'll get into her inventiveness right after this break. Stay with us.
FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR.
FLATOW: You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY. I am Ira Flatow.
We're talking this hour about the life of movie star and inventor Hedy Lamarr with my guest Richard Rhodes. His new book is called "Hedy's Folly." Our number: 1-800-989-8255.
So let's continue the story. She gets to Hollywood and she becomes a big movie star, but she doesn't go out and partake in all these Hollywood lifestyle parties, does she?
RHODES: Exactly. She doesn't drink, and she doesn't like parties. She's - after all, she's a very bright woman, and she - her idea of a good evening is a quiet dinner party with some intelligent friends. So she has to find some way to occupy her time. And what she does is take up, as a hobby, inventing. She sets aside one of the rooms in her house and puts up a drawing table and all the tools, the right kind of lights. There's an entire wall of technical reference books on one side of the room. And she sets herself keeping busy in these off-hours, trying to come up with new ideas for inventions.
FLATOW: And she goes to - I'm sorry. So she's at a party, and she meets the man who's going to make history with her.
RHODES: She has begun to be very interested in the war, which began, of course, in Europe on the first of September, 1939. She's been following the story, of course, because her country was occupied by Germany, and therefore is part of the Axis empire at this point.
She's particularly interested in the submarine warfare that's going on between the German U-boats and British shipping, because when she went to all these fancy dinner parties with her Austrian husband, he, after all, was talking to German admirals, German officers, German technical specialists about the kind of problems they were having with, for example, torpedoes and submarines. So she knows a lot about this.
And it's particularly interesting to her and horrifying to her in the summer of 1940, when the German U-boats begin torpedoing the ocean liners that are carrying English children out of England to safety in Canada, to get away from the blitz which had begun, the bombing of London and the bombing of England. One ship in particular, in September of 1940, was torpedoed with the loss of the lives of 99 children, and she's horrified. And she thinks: There must be something I, Hedy Lamarr, can do to stop this terrible butchering of children.
And then at this dinner party, just a few weeks later, she meets a young avant-garde composer named George Antheil, who happens, at the age of 18 - this is his technical expertise, from her point of view - to have been an inspector in a bullet factory in the United States during the First World War. Well, as he said later, well, that was the only person she could find who had this particular set of skills. So she says, let's get together and talk about this.
She's also concerned about making her breasts larger, and he happens to have written a series of articles in Esquire - while he's scratching around for a living - about how certain hormones can enlarge the breasts. This is kind of the quality of this story. There all these strange corners to it as we go along.
FLATOW: And it turns out that...
RHODES: So they get together.
FLATOW: I'm sorry. You tell it better than I do. Go ahead.
RHODES: So they get together over a series of evenings, and they start thinking about: How could you build a torpedo that could be made more accurate? And they think: all right, radio guidance. Yeah, but it's easy to jam a radio signal. And this is where Hedy's invention comes in.
With - for reasons that are not quite clear in the record - but I think there are some antecedents to it in her own past - she comes up with the idea that if you could make the radio signal jump around from frequency to frequency at a fairly fast rate, at least a few dozen times per second, that someone trying to jam the signal won't be able to find it.
And if they broadcast a big, noisy signal that covers the whole range of frequencies, it will just occasionally sound like a little blip on the one or two or three or 10 or a hundred frequencies that the signal is bouncing around them on. This is her crucial invention. And they do, together, get a patent on this idea and its manifestation in a torpedo design, and this brings in George Antheil's interests.
He's someone who, in the course of his avant-garde composition, was once faced with a problem of how do you coordinate the playing of up to 16-player pianos. He never succeeded, really, in doing that, but he did learn about the idea of using a scroll of paper or some other kind of tape that's punched with holes to convey the signal to this piano of which key to play. And by adapting that so that the whole signal and electronic signal to be produced, they devised one form of their invention which is the one they use in their patent to show that it's a practical idea.
FLATOW: But you couldn't cram all of that into a torpedo.
RHODES: This turns out to be the disaster from the Navy point of view. The Navy officers who are involved in looking at this invention don't really get the idea that this player-piano system is just one idea, that there are many different ways to make this happen. As Antheil wrote later, you could have put it on a piece of wire and run it through a mechanism the size of a wristwatch, which is true. But the Navy didn't see it that way and said, how are you going to put a player piano in a torpedo? And they threw the invention away.
FLATOW: But many years later, it got picked up.
RHODES: But after the war, and unfortunately, after the invention had - their patent had expired in the 1950s, a curious electrical engineer with a long Hungarian name, which I can't even pronounce - but he was the son of a series of counts and counts going back in history came - was handed this expired patent. And the Navy said, can you use this to make a jam-proof signal for a sonobuoy, a buoy that would float on the water, send down sonar signals if it registers that there's a submarine underneath, would then transmit the information to a plane flying overhead using frequency hopping to make the signal unjammable.
He says, sure. And he built - designed such a system. At that point, the military picks up on this technology because one of the fundamental problems with military communications is you don't want them to be jammed. And so you find ship-to-ship radios that were on ships during the Cuban missile crisis, control systems for missiles - from the ground to the missile. Ultimately, GPS, the signal that comes back to Earth that we use to read the GPS information is frequency hopping.
And you - and then in the 1980s when this technology was declassified, it was no longer secret, it began to be picked up first on car radios and then on cell phones, wireless telephones, Bluetooth - for a different reason. Now, the problem is you have a fairly low-powered signal going around from, let's say my cell phone to the central tower, and the problem is if everything's on one frequency, they're all going to be interfering with each other.
But if every phone can hop around from frequency to frequency, then you can have 800, 1,000, 40,000, 100,000 phones all communicating with that one tower, and they won't interfere with each other in any way that's meaningful.
FLATOW: Well, she lived long enough to see her work bear fruit. But was she very disappointed or upset that she didn't profit from any of this?
You know, she didn't want to profit because she gave the patent to the U.S. Navy. It was her contribution to the war effort. But she did want to be recognized and - particularly because she's always had this feeling that no one in Hollywood ever understood that she was an intelligent human being. She was never given particularly good roles. She wasn't asked to act. And she was well trained as actress. So her Hollywood career was a really bitter disappointment to her, even though she made a great deal of money.
RHODES: And then she had, as actors and actresses do, she had to deal with what do I do for the rest of my life? And she was pretty invisible for the rest of her life. So she wanted recognition that in an interview for a magazine in 1990 when she was then approaching her 80's, she said, people seem to just take and take and they never give back. She really was unhappy about it. Fortunately, some of the early pioneers of wireless computer systems picked up on the fact that this had been Hedy's patent all those years ago and started a quiet movement to get her some kind of recognition.
And in 1998 when she was, I think, about 80 years old, she finally was awarded a Communications Pioneer Freedom Foundation award and was delighted with it. But when they called her up to tell her about the award, Hedy being Hedy, she said, well, it's about time.
FLATOW: And she didn't want to be seen in public at that point, right?
RHODES: She had had a lot of bad plastic surgery by then and really was not happy with going out at all. So she recorded a thank you, and then her son Anthony carried the recording to the conference, the convention where the award was presented and he received the award and played the tape. And I actually have a copy of a copy of a copy of that tape passed down by these various computer pioneers, which has Hedy's voice on it, saying thank you very much. I hope it's been of some use.
FLATOW: She - and in between - and there - and while she's in Hollywood she noodled around with lots of little inventions. Name a few of the little I inventions that she was...
RHODES: I think the most interesting, in a way, is one that she worked on with the help of a couple of chemist who were loaned to her by Howard Hughes. I mean, she dated around quite a bit, and I'm sure Howard Hughes was one of her boyfriends at some point. So he loaned her a couple of chemist. This was a tablet, kind of like an Alka-Seltzer tablet that if you dropped it into a glass of water, would fizz up and make a coke. And it never evidently really worked. She laughed about it many years later. But, I mean, it doesn't sound like a bad idea (unintelligible).
FLATOW: There was something called Fizzies when I was a kid. There's something called Fizzies that has sort of worked like that.
RHODES: Yes. I don't think that was her invention, but they did come along. She had some ideas at the end of her life to improve the French-British supersonic passenger liner, the Concorde. She came up with an improved stoplight signal. She had an idea for a little box that would attach to a Kleenex box so you could put your waste Kleenex somewhere - she was obviously someone who was just constantly looking at the world and thinking, well, I can make an improvement there. She had a chair that you could wheel in and out of a shower, so that people who couldn't stand can take a shower. She was an interesting woman.
FLATOW: She was - she was Hollywood's first star geek, it sounds.
RHODES: She was. She was.
FLATOW: Movie star.
RHODES: And it turns out there were a few others. Harpo Marx, evidently, was an inventor as well. So there are these people tucked away in the history of Hollywood who were doing other things. It's nice to know.
FLATOW: Yeah. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow, talking with Richard Rhodes, author of the new book "Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World." And it's - seeing him memorize - mesmerized by Richard telling the story, and he tells it as well in his book. It's really interesting book, and people trying to get - now that your book is out, maybe we'll get to see some more productions of the - of "Frequency Hopping," which was a play that was in production a few years ago, right?
RHODES: That's right.
FLATOW: There's a movie about it or scripts floating around about her looking to be cast.
RHODES: There is, and a German actress has recently optioned my book, actually. I think probably because she wants to play Hedy, so let's hope that this motion picture happens. It's a wonderful story.
FLATOW: Yeah. Are there any parts of her story you could not uncover that you - that remain a mystery to you that you would've liked to have touched into?
RHODES: Well, you know, most of the previous versions of the story, including that script you were talking about, conflate up a love affair between George Antheil, the composer, and Hedy, and I found that questionable. She always dated taller men than she, and she was five foot seven, quite tall for her day. George was an interesting, little guy who was about five-three. Time magazine once called him a cello-sized composer...
RHODES: ...which I thought was a marvelous description. So it seems unlikely to me, but he was someone who had quite a few affairs in the course of his life, and when he died in 1959, left his wife whatever estate he had and a 6-month old illegitimate son, so...
FLATOW: No, there's another myth that you - that is well known, and you've debunked it, sort of, that the young Hedy tried to escape from her husband who was meeting all these munitions people, these Nazi munitions people, that she drugged her husband and dressed up in the maid's outfit to sneak out of the country. And you say that there's no real record of that happening.
RHODES: Well, even more, it's as if her escape was a secret, but I'd looked at the newspapers from the day, and there were big headlines both in this country and in Vienna that Hedwig Kiesler, as her name was then, was divorcing Fritz Mandl, so it was public knowledge that a divorce was underway. The fact that she got out of town is pretty obviously something he was aware of, may even have colluded in. I don't know.
You know, this - he escaped Nazi Germany just to hear later he was Jewish and took with him all of his money, which was considerable, moved to Argentina, and helped build the air force for the notorious dictator of Argentina. So I think they knew that they were both trying to get out of Nazi Germany and Nazi Austria as it was then.
FLATOW: You say in the book that you think that's story was - it sounds like a concoction of a movie agent or a studio agent making up a fantastic tale like that.
RHODES: Precisely.
FLATOW: And so you're very satisfied with how the book came out and the research and the things that you uncovered.
RHODES: I am. There's always more than you would like to know, you know, exactly what happened within the government in their decision, first, not to use this patent and then to pick it up and essentially make it one of the fundamental components of our military technology. That's kind of a mystery because it was all secret information, and curiously enough, a lot of the documentation has never been declassified because of some stubborn decision on the part of the agencies involved that there were commercial secrets involved in all of these. So the real inside stuff about that part of the story is waiting to be uncovered.
FLATOW: All right. Stuff for another book for you maybe, Richard.
RHODES: Another book.
FLATOW: There you go. Well, thank you for writing this one because, as I say, Hedy Lamarr is one of my favorite inventor characters in history, and I'm glad you filled in and debunked a lot of its stuff for us.
RHODES: It was fun to write...
FLATOW: Richard Rhodes...
RHODES: ...because it's a fun story.
FLATOW: It's a great story. Richard Rhodes' new book, "Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World." That's about all the time we have for today.
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Journeys to European Christmas markets are a popular selection for quick pauses. A variety of businesses provide discounts and you could traveling by trainer, ferry, rail or oxygen. A good way to spend less on the fee for your trip is always to publication river cruises to Holiday marketplaces. Most Holiday marketplaces usually do not occur on Xmas Working day or Christmas time Eve therefore the cruises are timetabled in the finish of November to merely before Christmas time. You must also have a look at rates for lodging at luxury hotels serving this business industry. These can be really cheap within the Christmas time and New Calendar year period so make a excellent price range extension to your vacation cruise. Christmas trading markets are available in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Iceland, France, Norway, Poland along with the British.
Germany has many Holiday trading markets which date back on the midsection ages. Dresden Holiday marketplace was initially located in 1434, but this is not the earliest market place. Right now it attracts over 1.5 million website visitors and it has over 60 stalls. In most of the trading markets the stallholders promote handmade products, publications, toys, Holiday tree decor and ornaments. Typically mulled wine and Eierpunsch (an eggy hot alcoholic consume) can be bought along with meals and there is traditional vocal singing and dance.
Austria has a Christmas time market place in every major community and area. Vienna alone hosts approximately 25 markets, in the small to the big. Christmas markets use a lengthy history in Austria, the December Market place in Vienna extends back to 1294. The Schonbrunn Christmas Marketplace found outside of the spectacular Schonbrunn Palace is amongst the most popular. There are many than 60 stalls marketing wood made Holiday plant decorations, felt, glass, stone, handmade pottery, toys and games and hands-carved mangers. In addition there are many Austrian specialities to savor like wine, punches and teas from all over Austria. Graz is additionally home to numerous Christmas trading markets supplying national farm items, Styrian crafts and arts, very hot punch and mulled wine.
France has several Christmas trading markets and they are particularly well-liked by British folks because they are easily accessible using the Eurostar. They have fantastic purchasing options and you could stock up on vino to the Holiday time of year. The things on sale vary depending by France within that your market is organised. The Lille Holiday industry is a well known location. The marketplace is held in the middle of the city and has stalls selling crafts and arts and native food. There is a live theatre and games for the kids and Father Holiday attends the marketplace. In a breathtaking celebration on 20th December he 'falls' in the 80 metre high Belfry from the Chamber of Business.
Christmas time investing arenas are also well-liked in Belgium, once more largely as a result of quick Eurostar services. The Brussels Winter season Wonderland marketplace has a fantastic surroundings with its happy lighting and tantalising scents of nearby delicacies. To add to the enjoyment there is an ice cubes-skating rink and also the industry is locked in the traditional and exquisite Grand Location which can be lighted up to the situation. Ostend also offers an ice cubes-skating rink plus a fantastic assortment of retailers, stores and stalls. As Belgium's largest beach front holiday resort furthermore, it delivers a lot of evening hours amusement and eating places and cafes.
Holland has several recognized Christmas marketplaces that may be easily arrived at by ferry. The Valkenburg Christmas industry is uncommon in that it takes devote a cave. The smooth mild audio and twinkling illuminations give you a mystical feel towards the darkness of the Fluweeleengrot (Velvet cave). As you may stroll through its passages you will learn caverns, furnished niche categories and stalls featuring Christmas things or aged Dutch investments and handicrafts. With the centre of your cave is the food catering back garden that acts foods as well as the famous Dutch Christmas ingest Gluhwein (glimmering popular wines). It comes with an admittance cost for this market of EUR4 for grownups and EUR1.5 for kids over the age of 3.
Poland has just a few Christmas time trading markets, the chief marketplace simply being Krakow. It is actually located in the Rynek, a sizable market place rectangular in the coronary heart from the old town. The solid wood stalls offer various gift items from woollen clothes to pieces of jewelry. Other folks market community dishes. The sq is covered with the original Fabric Hallway and during December you are almost guaranteed snow.
Countries for example Iceland do not possess well known Christmas marketplaces but they can be excited to attract guests so you could blend your visit with a quick holiday break. Other countries including Hungary along with the Czech Republic only have one particular principal market place, but areas including Budapest and Prague have much to offer regarding structure, galleries and tradition. But who are able to say having the best Christmas time markets.
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The Beer Nut publishes his first book
A fixture in the regional beer scene and expert all things malted, hopped and brewed in New England, it is hard to fathom that Norman Miller once hated beer.
He, like many, began his relationship with beer by being disappointed and turned off by mass-produced and poorly crafted lagers. One magical beer, called Drunken Monkey Barkleywine, forever changed Miller's relationship with beer. And that expansive relationship led to his nationally syndicated column and popular blog, "The Beer Nut," hosted by the Daily News and GateHouse Media. Now Miller has recently published his first book, "Beer Lover's New England."
What this book offers in detail is every brewery, brew, brewpub and beer bar in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island. Each brewery is profiled in detail, from who the founders are, what they brew and Miller's top choice from each stop. The book hits on the big names like Boston Beer Company (yes, they make Samuel Adams) to the stellar but tiny The Alchemist in Vermont that makes only one beer, the phenomenal and super hoppy Heady Topper.
For added content, the book also dishes out food recipes from brewpubs. Want to to know the secret to the Portsmouth Brewery's hanger steak or a fanatstic beef stew made by Milly's Tavern in Manchester? It's in the book.
What's also in the book is Miller's plainspoken sense of humor. A beer snob or foodie elite Miller is not. He's not above calling his hometown of Leominster a beer wasteland, and he freely admits that he named his beer fridge Beatrice. This is a book that delivers on knowledge gained from years of ... well, drinking. And drinking well judging from the reviews about the quality of craft beer in New England.
You went from not liking beer to developing a taste for craft beer to becoming an expert in the field. What motivated you along that path?
I used to work at a newspaper in Laconia, N.H., and there was a small brewpub that was close to the office, and we used to go there all of the time. It turned out to be cheaper to buy the beer than it was to buy mixed drinks, so I decided to try some, and quickly found out that beer can have flavor. It wasn't like all of the stuff that I tried in college that tasted like slightly flavored water. From there, it was just buying any beer I could find and finding stuff I really liked.
With an already solid base of knowledge of the New England brewing scene, did anything you learned during the research for the book surprise you?
There are just so many breweries that are in the middle of nowhere that, unless you happen to be in that area, you've probably never heard of them. The one thing that all of these places had with the more well-known breweries was the passion they have in their voices when they speak about their beer. They legitimately love what they do, and many of them left much more lucrative jobs to do what they really love to do.
Inevitably you must come across some breweries or beers that you think are poor examples of quality beer, yet the book offers no harsh criticism. How do you manage that?
This really wasn't a book of reviews. It was more of letting people know what a brewery, brewpub or bar offers. Sure, there are plenty of beers that I don't like, but other people love. Who's to say my opinion is right? For example, I do not like Shipyard Pumpkinhead. It's just not for me. However, liquor stores can't keep it on the shelf. So, who is right? Me, or the thousands of people who can't get enough of it? I always say people should try a beer, no matter what someone else says, and make their own decision.
Do you think of this as more of a beer book or a travel book?
It can be both. For someone who likes to try as many local beers as possible, this is great for them. But if you're going skiing in Waterville, Maine, and you want to have a good beer afterward, you can find that in this book, or if you are in Granby, Conn., for a family reunion and you want to escape, you can find a brewpub or a bar in that town with the book.
Craft brewing has been exploding in New England. Is the region unique in this sense?
It's not unique that there are a lot of breweries are popping up, but what I do find unique is the quality of the beer being produced. In 2011, there were eight breweries alone that opened in Massachusetts, such as Jack's Abby Brewing in Framingham, there were several more in 2010, and there have been several more so far this year. The great thing is, they're all making good beer. It's not just in Massachusetts, there are breweries popping up throughout New England. The quality has just gone through the roof.
I think part of the reason is brewers are getting exposed to good beer at an early age. Now, when you see younger people, a lof of them are drinking Samuel Adams, so they get exposed to good beer earlier on.
After more than a decade of writing in much shorter formats, what did you find most challenging in taking on a long project?
The hardest part was getting ahold of everyone. A lot of these smaller breweries are literally one-man operations. They brew, they clean, they sell, they are the accountants, they run their own websites and they deliver their own beers. I'm pretty sure I tripled my cellphone usage minutes each month doing the book.
What's the best piece of advice anyone in the brewing industry ever gave you?
The best piece of adivce I ever got, and I really wish I could give the person credit but I can't remember which beer writer it was, was when I'm writing a review of a beer and I don't like it, I shouldn't just say I don't like it, I should say exactly why I don't like it. That makes sense because if I say why I don't like it, such as a flavor I'm not a fan of (anise for example), someone else might read the review, say, "I love anise," and will give the beer a try.
Sprinkled throughout the book are tips for beer enthusiasts, such as how to behave at beer festivals, food combinations and even home-brewing recipes. Why did you include this?
I wanted to make it a full-service book. Sure, the main idea was a travel guide, but I wanted to make it full service. I know a lot of homebrewers would love to tackle some new recipes, so I figured I'd include them, and cooking with beer is growing in popularity, and there are so much good food at some brewpubs in bars in New England, I figured why not let people try to make their favorite dish at home. The beer festival section was more for selfish reasons - I go to them all of the time, so if people follow all of these rules, it would be better for me.
Did this book inspire you to tackle another book project?
If I do another book, I want it to be more of stories about my own beer trips, and the adventures I've had on them. I travel often throughout the East, and I've had some amazing times. Some I've shared in The Beer Nut, but those were sanitized versions because a lot of what happened couldn't be shared in family newspapers.
Where can you find it?
"Beer Lover's New England" is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble in Framingham, Tatnuck Booksellers in Westborough, Julio's Liquors in Westborough, Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont, the Vin Bin in Marlborough and Strange Brew in Marlborough.


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Column: Will sanity creep into the GOP leadership?
Is it possible that the adults in Congress are finally taking over?
That prospect has reared its head in the decision of Republican leaders in both the House and Senate to back away from another threatened government shutdown, by swallowing an uncomplicated vote to raise the federal debt ceiling.
First, House Speaker John Boehner looked down the black hole of government shutdown, a potential replay of the tea-party engineered kamikaze mission in October, and refused to lead his party into it again. Stunned GOP conservatives found themselves on the short end of a 221-201 House vote boosting the debt limit, with no White House concessions offered.
When the issue moved to the Senate, its one-man wrecking crew, freshman Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, tried to get a filibuster going. For a time it appeared the 60 votes to block him would fall short, requiring that five Republicans would join the 55 Democratic and independent senators to push Cruz aside.
But in the end, the two ranking Republican leaders, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Cornyn, had enough of Cruz and his tea-party ilk. Like Boehner in the House, they saw the groundhog of another winter of obstruction popping up and decided to zap it.
McConnell and Cornyn, like Boehner, were willing to take a political bullet for their party.
They invited tea party challenges to colleagues up for re-election in this year's Senate primaries, by breaking with conservative orthodoxy against any higher federal spending.
In short order, 12 Republican senators switched, giving the leaders political cover, and Cruz's filibuster was strangled in its crib by a 67-31 vote.
The debt ceiling was then raised on a straight party vote, 55-43, as President Obama had insisted from the start.
The outcome was an unvarnished victory for his position that it was the obligation of Congress to pay the legitimate bills for financial obligations that the legislative branch itself had committed the nation to undertake. It frees both branches to address their mutual business through March 2015.
The Senate vote to prevent another possible government shutdown came on a rare day of good news for the president regarding his embattled health-care insurance act.
Obamacare gained 1.1 million new enrollees in January, exceeding the previous month, to a total of 3.3 million.
It was still short of original predictions but included a significant sign-up of younger Americans, who are considered essential to achieve adequate financial support.
The key political question in all this is whether these hopeful signs will be sustained in the months ahead, and particularly whether a new climate of bipartisanship is in the making on Capitol Hill.
Is Boehner in the House truly fed up with the antics of his tea party members, who seem determined at every turn to buck Obama above all other considerations?
And are McConnell and other Republican senators similarly fed up with Cruz' delusions of grandeur and presidential aspirations, pursued at the expense of a functioning Senate?
Unfortunately, the recent ray of hope that sanity may be creeping into the behavior in both chambers is being seen in a particularly critical political year, when the fate of the Obama presidency likely hangs on the outcome of the November congressional elections.
Unless the president can retain party control of Senate - which the Democrats currently hold by five seats - and take over the House - where they need an additional 18 seats - he will face the prospect of more legislative gridlock the rest of his second term.
An opposition party encouraged to stay on the same uncooperative course, counting on more Obamacare woes to give the GOP a realistic chance to win the White House in 2016, is the price Obama will probably have to pay if he fails to regain the congressional control he had in his first two Oval Office years.
But equally critical for him is whether Boehner, McConnell and other Republican adults on Capitol Hill can return a more moderate posture to their own party, which in earlier days, as either the majority or the minority, was a working partner in conducting the nation's business.


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Ready to use Chef Server in Azure MarketplaceAzure Marketplace now supports a certified Chef Server 12 image that's ready to use out of the box. To install Chef Server on Azure, find the 'Chef Server 12' image in Marketplace and configure it with default settings. This server is preconfigured with Chef server, the Chef management console, and Chef reporting. This configuration is free to use for deployments under 25 nodes, and can be licensed for deployments beyond 25 nodes. Once the instance is ready, SSH to the VM. After this follow the instructions in the banner to create a new user on the Chef Server UI. Once the user account is created login into the Chef Server UI by browsing to "https://<cloudservice>.cloudapp.net" using the credentials that you just created, create the new organization and now you are ready manage nodes! Check out the Chef website for detailed documentation.
Full DSC support with ChefIf you are familiar with PowerShell Desired State Configuration and want to leverage the full power of DSC from Chef, you can now do that by Chef client version 12. 2 . The
dsc_resource resource for Windows systems allows cookbook authors to invoke DSC resources in Chef DSL. To start using the DSC resource, follow the instructions here to install Chef client . For prerequisites and additional documentation, please visit the github link here.
Azure Virtual Machine Support for Chef ProvisioningChef provisioning is a powerful new Chef feature set lets you create and converge your infrastructure including machines, images, load balancers and other infrastructure in an idempotent way. Chef Provisioning has early integration support for Azure , install the ruby gem here to try out. This is a very exciting opportunity to integrate the Azure resource management capabilities with Chef Provisioning and we look forward to delivering more here!
More Tools for Automating Chef DeploymentsTo provision Azure Virtual Machines with Chef Agent (using the VM extension technology) you have multiple options to chose, depending on what you use. Here are your options:
- If you are Knife user, you can bootstrap Chef VM Extensions for windows and Linux in addition to provisioning Virtual machines using Knife. Lookup the 'cloud-api' bootstrap option in the Knife plugin documentation.
- If you are an Azure CLI user and would like to bootstrap Chef agent from any client OS, then follow the guidelines to install the latest Azure cross platform installer and look up the command 'azure vm extension set-chef'.
- If you'd like to use Azure Power shell cmdlets, then install the latest cmdlets by following the guidelines and look up the cmdlet 'Set-AzureVMChefExtension'.


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[Editor's note: It's possible to enjoy pervasive GPS and enjoy privacy, too. A congressional subcommittee held a joint hearing titled, "The Collection and Use of Location Information for Commercial Purposes†on Wednesday. Learn more in this white paper from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Thanks GIS User!]
Republished from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
By Andrew J. Blumberg and Peter Eckersley, August 2009
Also available as a PDF
in English and Bulgarian.
Over the next decade, systems which create and store digital records of people's movements through public space will be woven inextricably into the fabric of everyday life. We are already starting to see such systems now, and there will be many more in the near future.
Here are some examples you might already have used or read about:
- Monthly transit swipe-cards
- Electronic tolling devices (FastTrak, EZpass, congestion pricing)
- Cellphones
- Services telling you when your friends are nearby
- Searches on your PDA for services and businesses near your current location
- Free Wi-Fi with ads for businesses near the network access point you're using
- Electronic swipe cards for doors
- Parking meters you can call to add money to, and which send you a text message when your time is running out
These systems are marvellously innovative, and they promise benefits ranging from increased convenience to transformative new kinds of social interaction.
Unfortunately, these systems pose a dramatic threat to locational privacy.
What is "locational privacy"?
Locational privacy (also known as "location privacy") is the ability of an individual to move in public space with the expectation that under normal circumstances their location will not be systematically and secretly recorded for later use. The systems discusssed above have the potential to strip away locational privacy from individuals, making it possible for others to ask (and answer) the following sorts of questions by consulting the location databases:
- Did you go to an anti-war rally on Tuesday?
- A small meeting to plan the rally the week before?
- At the house of one "Bob Jackson"?
- Did you walk into an abortion clinic?
- Did you see an AIDS counselor?
- Have you been checking into a motel at lunchtimes?
- Why was your secretary with you?
- Did you skip lunch to pitch a new invention to a VC? Which one?
- Were you the person who anonymously tipped off safety regulators about the rusty machines?
- Did you and your VP for sales meet with ACME Ltd on Monday?
- Which church do you attend? Which mosque? Which gay bars?
- Who is my ex-girlfriend going to dinner with?
Of course, when you leave your home you sacrifice some privacy. Someone might see you enter the clinic on Market Street, or notice that you and your secretary left the Hilton Gardens Inn together. Furthermore, in the world of ten years ago, all of this information could be obtained by people who didn't like you or didn't trust you.
But obtaining this information used to be expensive. Your enemies could hire a guy in a trench coat to follow you around,but they had to pay him. Moreover, it was hard to keep the surveillance secret — you had a good chance of noticing your tail ducking into an alley.
In the world of today and tomorrow, this information is quietly collected by ubiquitous devices and applications, and available for analysis to many parties who can query, buy or subpeona it. Or pay a hacker to steal a copy of everyone's location history.
It is this transformation to a regime in which information about your location is collected pervasively, silently, and cheaply that we're worried about.


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Here at the Museum we come across a lot of interesting photos and documents in our collection. Today we found one that really takes the cake… so we've decided to run a caption-writing contest:
Please put your captions in the comments section below. Winner gets free admission for two to the Museum, as well as a Mu$eum hat!
UPDATE:: Our office has voted and decided that "Primping before the major announcement of 'the return of the bull market.' is our favorite caption! Congrats NEWARKMUSEUMPR! We'll contact you soon about picking up your prize and thanks to all the people who participated and submitted captions!


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Veterans Appeal to Americans to Protect Mojave Desert Cross
WASHINGTON – Veterans groups representing four million former servicemen and women have come out voicing their grave concerns over the ACLU's relentless attempts to tear down the Mojave Desert memorial cross.
"On behalf of the 43,000 men and women who are members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, I'm proud to stand here in defense of veterans memorials or veterans monuments," said Jim Sims, national senior vice commander of the organization, on Thursday.
Five veterans groups along with the nonprofit Liberty Legal Institute have joined in a campaign seeking to garner the support of the American people to help save the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial and thousands like it.
"The ACLU has continued its fight to secularize every facet of American life by having a memorial which stood in that location since 1934 either removed or torn down," said Mark Seavey, assistant national legislative director for The American Legion, days ahead of Memorial Day.
Erected by World War I veterans to honor the nation's war dead, the seven-foot-tall memorial cross is currently being challenged for removal by the American Civil Liberties Union and Frank Buono, a former National Park Services employee who lives in Oregon. They filed a lawsuit in 2001, claiming the memorial is a religious symbol and violates the Establishment Clause.
The District Court and later the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the ACLU, ruling that the memorial is unconstitutional. The case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. In the meantime, the cross – which is located in the 1.6 million acre-Mojave National Preserve near the California-Nevada border and accessible when driving on a two-lane winding road – has been covered with a plywood box.
"If the plaintiff is so offended by the possibility of seeing that cross some day in the cemetery, I wonder if the plaintiff when next in Washington, D.C., will be offended when he drives by Arlington National Cemetery and sees headstones of hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave their lives for their country, headstones with a cross or a star of David," Sims posed.
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute, says tens of thousands of memorials across the country are threatened if the Supreme Court upholds the appeals court ruling.
Shackelford and veterans present at Thursday's press briefing made it clear that the Mojave Desert memorial was not erected as a religious symbol or with the intent of conveying a religious message. It, along with thousands of other war memorials, was simply put up to honor those who had spilled their blood and given their lives for their country.
"World War I memorials all over the world are crosses," Shackelford noted. "That was the universal symbol that was used to reflect sacrifice."
Congress in 2002 officially designated the Mojave cross and its surrounding property as a "national memorial" honoring American veterans of World War I. It also passed legislation ordering the National Park Services to transfer the one acre of land upon which the memorial sits to a private party – the Veterans of Foreign Wars in exchange for five acres of donated land.
While the ACLU viewed Congress' actions as a ploy to protect the cross, Shackelford noted that the liberal group has been "completely oblivious" to Congress' real motivation.
"The reason [Congress] was engaged in this flurry of activity is they were shocked that a veterans memorial was going to be torn down," he explained. "There is no evidence of religious motivation. It was a pro-veterans motivation."
Shackelford believes this case is clearly part of the culture wars in which groups like the ACLU are going after religious symbols.
"I think the odd thing here in this [is] they're so blinded by their fervency in removing these religious symbols that in this case, they don't care that the collateral damage are veterans," the Liberty Legal lawyer pointed out. "They're so frenzied at their effort at religious cleansing ...that they're ignoring that this is a veterans memorial."
For some 20 years, Henry Sandoz – who donated the five acres of land for the land transfer – has cared for the memorial cross, repairing it and placing it back up every time it was vandalized or torn down by individuals. Sandoz had vowed to his friend Riley Bembry, one of the veterans who erected the memorial, in 1984 that he would make sure the memorial was cared for.
"I told him I'd take care of it," Sandoz, who lives 160 miles from the memorial, said. "I made a promise and I will maintain it as much as I can."
Liberty Legal Institute and the five veterans groups urge Americans to stand with them by signing a petition (www.donttearmedown.com) to express their support for veterans.