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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

EndNotes archive for Jan. 2012

TUESDAY, JAN. 31, 2012

Dying from your focus or passion

From the Associated Press today, this story: "Dr. Richard Olney, an internationally renowned researcher who dedicated his life to finding a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease, has died after his own eight-year battle with the disease. He was 64." People who die from the same…

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MONDAY, JAN. 30, 2012

« Ken Kato, far left, front row, and Dave Heyamoto, in suit jacket and tie, second from right in second row, pose for their second-grade class photo at Lincoln School, on Fifth Avenue on Spokane’s lower South Hill, in 1957. (The school is no longer there.) Only Japanese was spoken in Kato’s home so when he arrived at Lincoln in the first grade “the bell would ring for the change of classes, but I figured that was the bell to go home, so I went home.” The principal finally said, “You can’t go home.” He learned English quickly after that. “You pick it up real fast because you’re a kid.” (Photo courtesy of Dave Heyamoto)

The Japanese-American legacy

My Sunday story about two Japanese-American men who grew up in downtown Spokane in the 1950s reminded me once again how much we were taught as children about life by the adults around us, not just by our parents, but all the adults we knew…

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SUNDAY, JAN. 29, 2012


It pays to know the safety issues with generators.
 (File Photo / The Spokesman-Review)

Survival toys

I do not have survivalist tendencies for stormy weather. No barrels of drinking water stored under the house, no food rations for 21 days. I have adamantly refused to invest in a generator, citing the great $$$ for a few hours of power. “Silly,” I…

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SATURDAY, JAN. 28, 2012

The Earth casts its shadow across the moon's surface during the lunar eclipse as seen from Portland, Ore., Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011. (Rick Bowmer / Associated Press)

Remembering...shared space 

It was 26 years ago today the space shuttle Challenger blew up. My cousins work at Kennedy Space Center and tell stories of ushering astronauts’ family members into a room to explain what they had just witnessed: their lives destroyed by a NASA disaster. On…

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FRIDAY, JAN. 27, 2012

Bayley Brooks, of Hauser, Idaho, and Nicholas Kane, of Newman Lake, compete nationally.

Dancing: later-life passion

A friend and I were discussing passion the other night. Not the sexual kind. But the passion for ideas, causes, projects, new adventures. We've noticed that as we age (we're both in our mid-50s) it's harder to feel passionate about all of the above. We…

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Gang life: It's a killer

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recenty released statistical information about gang homocides in five cities in the United States. They analyzed data from 2003-2008 when 856 young people died in gang violence. No surprises, but sad just the same. Five cities met the…

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THURSDAY, JAN. 26, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog (At&t)

Picturephones died but live on

Last night, at about 9, my iPad "rang." I had never heard it ring before, opened its cover and there was my great-nephew Sam and his dad, Matt. They had just bought an iPad and were calling me on its FaceTime feature, I don't Skype…

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog (Saul Loeb / Pool Afp)

An aging Congress in HD

We watched President Obama's state-of-the-union speech in HD last night and -- I know this sounds shallow -- but I kept getting distracted at how old most of the members of Congress, the Supreme Court and members of the cabinet looked. I noticed sun damage…

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TUESDAY, JAN. 24, 2012

Court is adjourned

The nation's oldest sitting federal judge died Monday night. U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown died at age 104. "As a federal judge, I was appointed for life or good behavior, whichever I lose first," Brown quipped in a 2011 interview with The Associated Press. How…

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Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks to the press and advertising partners at a Facebook announcement in New York earlier this month.  A Facebook program that lets companies target their advertisements on the site based on what its users and their friends buy and do on the Internet is drawing complaints from some users. Associated Press
 (FIle Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

It's weird to "like" death

In our EndNotes column today, we answered a question whether it's appropriate to send condolences on Facebook. The answer: It depends. For teens and other big Facebook users, sure. For those in generations who expect a handwritten card, no. After she proofread my story, newsroom…

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MONDAY, JAN. 23, 2012

 This scene shows frozen trees on the campus of Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, N.H., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008. Cold weather continued to keep ice on trees in the region after a devastating ice storm destroyed utility poles, wires and other equipment, making some roads impassable. Utility officials trying to recover from the ice storm in the Northeast warned there could be more outages Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008 as drooping branches shed ice and snap back to their original positions, potentially taking out more power lines.  (Steve Hooper / Associated Press)

Post-storm topics

We lived through a BIG storm in Puget Sound last week: snow, ice, wind and today black ice on the roads. When talking with friends, the first topic was always, “Got power?” But after that the litany of loss took precedence. And at the top…

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SUNDAY, JAN. 22, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog

Saying goodbye to things 

I'm getting stuff together to drop off at a Goodwill truck this morning. These two items are among the stuff. The Minolta camera is 33 years old. I bought it on my first journalism job in 1979 at The Fort Lauderdale News. I was in…

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SATURDAY, JAN. 21, 2012

A bride at 103!

I love Facebook because comments are often short and clever and just enough. Yesterday my Facebook friend, Penny Simonson, posted this. I wanted more! Here's what she wrote: "Today I went to the funeral of a lovely woman to whom I am only related by…

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FRIDAY, JAN. 20, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog

Now, 77 seems young 

Today is my father's birthday. Joe Nappi would be 93 if he had lived this long. He died in January 1996, just a few weeks after turning 77. He had been ill with Alzheimer's for about seven years and in a care facility the last…

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THURSDAY, JAN. 19, 2012

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18, 2012

Hospice care by the numbers

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization recently released its 2011 facts and figures report. Hospice use continues to rise in the United States, no surprises there. Some of the stuff I found interesting in the report: Almost 42 percent of all deaths in the…

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TUESDAY, JAN. 17, 2012

Headphones deadly; marijuana less so

Atlantic magazine's wire online always has some great items that fit into this "death blog.". Here are two from today: 1) The number of people who have died because they were wearing headphones to listen to music and didn't hear the car, train, etc., tripled…

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Metaphor: Staying with the ship

The outrage toward the captain of the doomed Italian cruise ship seems mostly centered on the fact he abandoned the ship before everyone else was safe. "Staying with the ship" is such a good metaphor for one of our greatest challenges in life, staying when…

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The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its starboard side off the port at Giglio after running aground on the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012.   The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said.  The number of dead and injured is not yet confirmed Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo said. (Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)

Tuscan tragedy

The photos of that Italian cruise ship continue to haunt us. How could a trip to paradise go so wrong? The captain touting his ship to islanders? While the captain literally jumped ship, the passengers worked to save each other: a woman offering her sweater…

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SUNDAY, JAN. 15, 2012

Amanda Livingston: 1949-2012

Amanda Livingston, wife of Gary Livingston, retired chancellor of the Community Colleges of Spokane, died Friday after a four-year battle with cancer. Gary retired two years ago, at age 62, and he told me after an interview that a major reason was to spend every…

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FRIDAY, JAN. 13, 2012

Jan Polek, right, is seen with her daughter, Jenny Polek, in 2006. (FILE)

Meeting Jan Polek

Jan Polek, a woman who championed women's rights here for 40-plus years, died this week. Today we ran a news story about her, and her obit ran in our classified section. People have been emailing me this morning with Jan stories and so I thought…

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THURSDAY, JAN. 12, 2012

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11, 2012

Red Halo wine, a pinot noir from Oregon's Willamette Valley, has been showing up on sale at area Fred Meyer stores.  (Carolyn Lamberson / The Spokesman-Review)

Red wine, not so healthy after all? 

The Associated Press is reporting that a University of Connecticut researcher "known for his work on red wine's benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances." Do we have to add red wine to the list of foods once touted as…

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Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.



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