tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59483851522047297472024-02-19T07:27:32.033-08:00Joaquimolyjoaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-44901035014549618862017-03-09T12:00:00.000-08:002017-03-12T18:37:24.571-07:00Your first garden: A three-minute guide to success You have never gardened before, but this year you want to give it a try. But the more you read, the more difficult it sounds! Or you do not even have a yard! What to do?
<p>
For your first garden, KEEP IT SIMPLE!
<p>
For gardening to work, it has to be <I>manageable</I> (easy, not overwhelming) and <I>convenient</I> (in a place you will pass by and see every day).
<p>
<B>YOU WILL NEED</B>:
<p>
<UL>
<LI>SUNSHINE/WARMTH
<LI>DIRT/FERTILIZER
<LI>PLANTS/SEEDS
<LI>WATER
<LI>SUPPORT
<LI>TIME IN THE GARDEN
</UL>
<p>
<B>SUNSHINE/WARMTH</B><br>
Plant in an area that is reasonably sunny and reasonably warm most of the day.
<p>
<B>DIRT and FERTILIZER</B><br>
In the yard: Remove weeds and weed roots from the top 12 inches (30 cm) of the garden bed and thoroughly mix in fertilizer.<BR>
In pots: Mix potting soil and fertilizer in pots that are 12 inches (30 cm) deep, or deeper.
<p>
<B>PLANTS/SEEDS</B><br>
<I>If you won't eat it, don't plant it.</I>
<p>
<U>FIRST-TIME GARDEN:</U>
<UL><LI>1 (or 2) <B>TOMATO</B> plants
<LI>1 <B>CHERRY TOMATO</B> plant
<LI>1 <B>ZUCCHINI</B> plant
<LI>1 <B>YELLOW or CROOKNECK SQUASH</B> plant
<LI>1 packet of <B>PURPLE BUSH BEAN</B> seeds
<LI>1 packet of <B>MIXED LETTUCE</B> seeds
<LI>1 packet of <B>SUNFLOWER</B> seeds
</UL>
<p>
Seeds should be planted about twice as deep as the seed is wide. (A half-inch wide seed is planted one inch deep.) If plants come up too close together, just take out some ("thin" them) or move them and water them in in a different spot.
<p>
If you keep your seed packets in some cool, dry spot, you should be able to use any remaining seeds the next year, and probably even a third year. Alternatively, you can share seeds with friends this year if you have too many.
<p>
<B>WATER</B><br>
Keep seeds always moist (but not soaked) until plants appear. Water enough that soil is always moist, but not soaked all the time.
<p>
<B>SUPPORT</B><br>
For each tomato plant, it is helpful to have a tall "tomato cage" put around it right when you plant it. Alternatively, a tall pole or stake that you can attach the tomato plant to as it grows, using loose bits of cloth or string. For any "pole" beans, poles, wires, or strings that they can climb as they grow (bush beans don't need this).
<p>
<B>TIME IN THE GARDEN</B><br>
The best thing for a garden is the frequent appearance of the gardener's shadow. Put the garden where you will naturally see it and go past it at least every other day. This way you will see and correct any problems while they are small, and your garden will receive the attention it needs from you.
<p>
Keeping it simple should allow you to have at least some real success with your first garden.
<p>
Next year you can use what you learned this year and make next year's garden even better!
<p>
Happy gardening!
<p>
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-62983245714153875752016-07-14T12:09:00.002-07:002016-07-14T16:17:15.046-07:00You will be alone, until you understand you are not alone.
<P>
You will be sad, until you realize happiness is found only in truth.
<P>
There is good, there is truth, there is love.<BR>
It has always been there, has always surrounded you.<BR>
<P>
To see it, look for it.<BR>
To have it, want it.<BR>
To live it, let go of your
<P>
self.
<P>
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-36480792469063820702016-07-12T20:17:00.002-07:002016-07-12T23:53:37.479-07:00Best analysis of narcissists and sociopaths in relationships that I have ever seenBeautifully analyzed and so true:
<P>
-----
<P>
" Yet the most powerful mechanism they have for control is toying with your emotions.
<P>
That’s why abusive narcissists and sociopaths manufacture situations of conflict out of thin air to keep you feeling off center and off balanced. That’s why they chronically engage in disagreements about irrelevant things and rage over perceived slights. That’s why they emotionally withdraw, only to re-idealize you once they start to lose control. That’s why they vacillate between their false self and their true self, so you never get a sense of psychological safety or certainty about who your partner truly is."
<P>
<A HREF="http://thoughtcatalog.com/shahida-arabi/2016/06/20-diversion-tactics-highly-manipulative-narcissists-sociopaths-and-psychopaths-use-to-silence-you/">http://thoughtcatalog.com/shahida-arabi/2016/06/20-diversion-tactics-highly-manipulative-narcissists-sociopaths-and-psychopaths-use-to-silence-you/</A>
<P>
-----
<P>
Bar none, the full text at that link is the best description I have ever read (and I have read TONS) of the workings of narcissists and sociopaths in relationships. In short, a relationship with a narcissist or sociopath makes no logical sense, because there is no relationship—it is all, all of it, just about them, and about them manipulating and controlling you.
<P>
Worth reading. Check it out: <A HREF="http://thoughtcatalog.com/shahida-arabi/2016/06/20-diversion-tactics-highly-manipulative-narcissists-sociopaths-and-psychopaths-use-to-silence-you/">http://thoughtcatalog.com/shahida-arabi/2016/06/20-diversion-tactics-highly-manipulative-narcissists-sociopaths-and-psychopaths-use-to-silence-you/</A>
<P>joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-11865762700075064392016-05-30T12:01:00.000-07:002016-05-30T12:01:05.641-07:00Transcript of Bernie Sanders rally, Gainesville, Florida, March 10, 2016<P>
<B>Bernie Sanders rally, Gainesville, Florida, March 10, 2016</B> (Watch the video at: <A HREF="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUiV7Bbiz7I">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUiV7Bbiz7I</A>)
<P>
Videos of other Bernie Sanders speeches are available at <A HREF="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpVhqCnd6iz3gfJUuGM1r7g">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpVhqCnd6iz3gfJUuGM1r7g</A>
<P>
TRANSCRIPT: You are the future of our nation! And it is...You like the hat, huh?...All right.
<P>
You are the future of our country and you have the RIGHT, the democratic right, to help SHAPE the future of this country!
<P>
Now, I know that Florida is big football country, right? But unless you are out on the playing field, football is a spectator sport. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport!
<P>
And, if we are going to change this nation, we have got to do it together—you and ALL Americans must be involved in the political process! Now, here's the truth, and what this campaign is about is telling the truth! And the truth is that there are people in Washington, and in corporate America, who do not want you to be voting, they do not want you to participate in the political process. They want you to think that politics is dumb, somebody else should do it. What we are fighting for right now is to determine whether it is the people of this country, all of us, who determine our future, or a handful of wealthy campaign contributors.
<P>
Let me, very briefly, tell you some things that other candidates for president will not. Number one, we have today a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy! What democracy is supposed to be about is one person, one vote, not billionaires buying elections! Democracy is not about the Koch brothers and other billionaires spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates who represent the wealthy and the powerful. That’s not democracy! That is oligarchy! And, together, we’re gonna change that!
<P>
I want anybody here today, whether you’re progressive, conservative, moderate, to feel that you can run for office, if that’s what you want to do, without begging wealthy people for campaign contributions.
<P>
Second of all, and not unrelated to a corrupt campaign finance system is the fact that we have a rigged economy! Now, what does that mean. What it means is that in Florida and Vermont, and all over this country, you’ve got millions of people who are working longer hours for lower wages. You got 47 million people living in poverty. You got Mom working, Dad working, many of you are working, and yet, 58 percent of all new income is going to the top one percent!
<P>
What a rigged economy is about is that the United States today has more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on Earth! And it is worse today than at any time since 1928! What a rigged economy means, and listen to this: the top one-tenth of one percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. What a rigged economy is about is that the wealthiest 20 people in America now own more wealth than the bottom HALF of Americans—150 million people. What a rigged economy means, that unless we turn this economy around your generation will likely have a lower standard of living than your parents!
We have got...Now, I know you love your parents. I know they are paying to send you here to school, but what the American dream is about, it’s always been about, it’s been about for my family. My father came to this country without a nickel in his pocket, never made any money. His dream was that his kids could do better than he. That’s the American dream. I want your kids to do better than you, and I want you to do better than your parents. I want to see the American dream go forward, not backwards!
<P>
And here's another truth. It's a harsh truth, but what this campaign is about is talking about the realities of America, because we cannot go forward unless we lay the real issues on the table. By and large, the media will not talk about the real issues. And you and I have to.
<P>
And here's another real issue: In America today we have a broken criminal justice system. Now I want you all to think about this. And what this campaign is about is thinking outside of the box. Don't think status quo! Think about what really goes on and where we can go as a nation, if we are prepared to stand up and fight.
<P>
Now what a broken criminal justice system means is that today we have, in America,
more people in jail than any other country on Earth. We are spending 80 billion dollars a year to lock Americans up and, disproportionately, the people in jail are African American, Latino, and Native American.
<P>
Now, right now, just as an example, real unemployment for young people between 17 and 20 who graduated high school is 33 percent if they are white, 36 percent if they are Latino, 51 percent if they are African-American.
<P>
Do you want a radical idea? We are going to invest in jobs and education, not jails and incarceration! I want our young people to be working or studying, not seeing their lives destroyed in jail! And when we talk about criminal justice reform, we gotta be talking about reforming police departments all over this country. Now I was a mayor for eight years and I worked closely with police, and the vast majority of police are honest, hard-working, and they have an enormously difficult job. But all of us, whether we are black, or white, or Latino, are tired of seeing videos on TV when unarmed people are being killed by police. And that is why a police officer who breaks the law—like any public official—must be held accountable.
<P>
We need to end the militarization of police departments all over this country. Police departments should not look like occupying armies; they should be part of the community they serve. We need to make police departments look like the diversity of the communities they serve. We need to understand, when we talk about criminal justice reform, that drug addiction, alcohol, substance abuse, these are not criminal issues—they are mental health issues.
<P>
And we need to fundamentally rethink the war on drugs. Now, under the Federal Controlled Substance Act, marijuana and heroin are considered Schedule 1 drugs. I think that is dumb. All of you know—and I pray that you do know—that heroin is a killer drug, and in my state, and all over this country, we are seeing an epidemic of drug overdose on heroin and opiates, and I hope every one of you stays away from those killer drugs. But the truth is, you can argue the pluses and minuses of marijuana, but nobody thinks that marijuana is equivalent to heroin. And that is why I have introduced legislation to take marijuana out of the Federal Controlled Substance Act. Millions of Americans now have police records because of possession of marijuana and lives have been ruined. Now states make the decisions, not the federal government, regarding legalization of marijuana, but possession should not be a federal crime.
<P>
And when you look at the issue of marijuana, it becomes...it comes laden with racial overtones, because it turns out that whites and blacks do marijuana at about the same rate, but blacks are four times more likely to be arrested than whites. That's wrong!
<P>
Now this campaign has been doing really well in the last number of months. When we began, when we began, we were at about 3 percent in the polls. We were about 60, 70 points behind Secretary Clinton. As of today, we have already won nine states! And we just pulled off a major upset in Michigan the other day. And on Tuesday, we've got five states coming up, including Florida. If you guys come out to vote, we are going to pull off an upset here, as well.
<P>
Now, this campaign has been doing well because we are listening to the American people, and not just wealthy campaign contributors. And what the American people are telling us, as we go around the country, we talk to workers. is that workers can not make it on 9 or 10 bucks an hour. They believe, and I believe, that the federal minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour is a starvation wage. It's gotta be raised to a living wage. And that living wage should be 15 dollars an hour!
<P>
And when we talk about equitable wages, I hope every man here today will stand with the women in the fight for pay equity for women workers. Women in America should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men! That is old-fashioned sexism! We are gonna change that!
<P>
This campaign is listening to the men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend us: veterans who demand decent health care and decent benefits, and we're gonna give it to them.
<P>
This campaign is listening to young people. What I hear from young people is, why is it that you've got to leave school, leave college, leave graduate school, 50 thousand or 100 thousand dollars in debt? Throughout our lives, people say “Get all of the education you can. It's good for you. It's good for your country.” And that is right!
<P>
People should not be punished for getting the education that they need. They should be rewarded! Today in America, we have hundreds of thousands of bright young people who want to go to college, who are qualified to go to college, but can't go to college for one reason. And that reason is their families lack the income. That is wrong!
<P>
Now, fifty years ago when we talked about public education, it was great to be talking about free education, first grade to twelfth grade. The world has changed! Today, a college degree, in many respects, is equivalent to what a high school degree was fifty years ago. And that is why, I believe, that when we talk about public education today, we've gotta be talking about making public colleges and universities tuition-free. We've got to be talking about substantially reducing student debt.
<P>
Now people say to me, “Well, Bernie that's a great idea, but it's expensive.” They are right. It is expensive. But I'll tell you how we are going to pay for it. When the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street helped destroy this economy, Congress bailed them out. I believe that we should impose a tax on Wall Street speculation. It's Wall Street's turn to help the middle class today!
<P>
This campaign is listening to our brothers and sisters in the Latino community. And what they are saying is they are tired of living in the shadows, living in fear. They want comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship. And they are right! That's what I will fight for as president. And if Congress does not do its job and pass comprehensive immigration reform, we are going to use the executive powers of the president to do everything we can.
<P>
Now I want to mention to you, just briefly, some of the differences in this campaign between Secretary Clinton and myself. Number one, Secretary Clinton thinks that the appropriate way to raise money is to have a super PAC and raise 15 million dollars from Wall Street. Raise millions from the fossil fuel industry. And millions more from the drug companies. Well, that's not the way we raise money in our campaign. Our campaign, up till now, unbelievably, has received over 5 million individual campaign contributions, not from the fossil fuel industry but from ordinary Americans. Anybody here know what our average contribution is? [Audience: 27 dollars!] Twenty-seven dollars!
<P>
[16:37]: To paraphrase Abe Lincoln at Gettysburg, this a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people! As Congresswoman Gabbard just told you a moment ago, Secretary Clinton and I have some very different points of view regarding foreign policy. The most important foreign policy decision made in the modern history of this country was the war in Iraq. I listened to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney and all the rest had to say on that war. I believe they were not telling the truth. I voted against that disastrous war!
<P>
Secretary Clinton heard the same evidence. She voted for the war!
<P>
Thirdly, when you talk about the decline of the American middle class has a lot to do with trade policies. I believe that corporate America has gotta start investing in this country, not just in China and low-wage countries all over the world. I have opposed every one of these disastrous trade agreements, which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs. Secretary Clinton has supported almost all of them. That's a real difference!
<P>
Now, you know, the American people are angry. And they have reason to be angry. They are working longer hours for lower wages. They are seeing almost all new income and wealth going to the top one percent. What this campaign is about is creating an economy that works for all of us, not just the people on top! This campaign is about taking on Wall Street and the big-money interests. This campaign is about understanding that climate change is real, that climate change is caused by human activity, and that climate change is already causing massive problems in this country and around the world.
<P>
Now, we have a moral responsibility, a moral responsibility to future generations, to have the courage to take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system. This state of Florida can help lead the country in solar power! We can move toward wind and other sustainable technologies.
<P>
Now let me connect some dots here and show you what a corrupt campaign finance system is. There is almost no Republican, and certainly no Republican candidates for president, who have the guts to come before you and tell you exactly what the scientific community is saying. And the reason that they do not have the courage to tell you that climate change is real, and caused by human activity, has to do with the corrupt campaign finance system. Because if they told you the truth about climate change, on that day they would lose their campaign contributions from the Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry.
<P>
And I say to those Republicans, worry more about the future of this planet than your damn campaign contributions!
<P>
Now, a lot of Republicans, they go campaigning around the country and they talk about family values. I want everybody here to be crystal clear what they mean by family values. And what they mean is that no woman here today, no woman in Florida, no woman in the United States, according to their family values, should have the right to control her own body. I disagree!
<P>
What they mean by family values is that our gay brothers and sisters should not have the right to get married. I disagree!
<P>
When I talk about family values, they are very different values than Republican values. My values are ending the international disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth not to guarantee paid family and medical leave. I don't want to see women in Florida, giving birth today, having to go back to work in a week or two, separating themselves from their baby because they don't have the income to stay home. That's wrong!
<P>
Now, I have been criticized for thinking too big. Well, I plead guilty! I think this is a great country and we can do a lot better than we are doing now!
<P>
My Republican colleagues believe that at a time when millions of seniors, and many in Florida, are trying to get by on eleven, twelve thousand dollars a year Social Security, they believe we should cut Social Security benefits! Well, I've got some bad news for them. Not only are we not going to cut Social Security benefits, we are gonna raise Social Security benefits!
<P>
A senior citizen, a disabled vet, can’t make it on twelve, eleven, thirteen thousand dollars a year. A great nation is judged not by how many millionaires and billionaires we have, but how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable people amongst us. We will not turn our backs on America's seniors; we’re gonna stand up for them!
<P>
Every major nation on Earth—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Scandinavia, Canada, you name it—every one of these countries manages to provide health care to ALL of their people. Now I have been criticized for saying this, so let me say it again. I don't want any misunderstanding. I believe that health care is a RIGHT of ALL people, not a privilege! The Affordable Care Act, and I am on the committee that helped write it, has done a lot of good things. But we can do better!
<P>
Today 29 million people have no health insurance. Many others are underinsured with high deductibles and high co-payments, and we are being ripped off by the pharmaceutical industry that charges us the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. And then, to add insult to injury, we end up paying much, much more per capita than do the people of any other country for health care. That is why I believe we must move to a Medicare for All health care system.
<P>
Now let me tell you something that no other candidate for president will tell you, and that is that no president, not Bernie Sanders or anybody else, can do what has to be done for the working families and the middle class of this country alone. Can't be done! And the reason for that, and I hope you all understand this, is that the power of Wall Street, which has endless supplies of money, the power of corporate America, the power of the corporate media, the power of wealthy campaign contributors. is so great that no president alone can stand up to them. That's the truth.
<P>
The only way that we bring about real change in this country is the way that change has always occurred in America. Real change never takes place from the top on down. It’s always from the bottom on up.
<P>
Whether it is the right of workers to be a member of a union. That took place when millions of workers stood up and fought for that right. Whether it is the Civil Rights Movement when, for hundreds of years, millions of African Americans and their white allies said America will not be a racist, bigoted country. And change took place when people stood up and demanded an end to segregation and racism.
<P>
A hundred years ago today, women in America did not have the right to vote, could not go to certain schools, could not do the jobs they wanted. Change, for women's rights, did not take place because somebody signed a bill; it took place because millions of women, and their male allies, said in America women will not be second-class citizens.
<P>
If we were here ten years ago, and somebody stood up and said, “You know, I think that gay marriage will be legal in 50 states of this country by 2015,” the person next to him would have said, "What are you smoking?," which is a whole other issue! But, again, this is how change takes place. The gay community, and their straight allies, said that in America people should have the right to love and marry the people they want regardless of gender.
<P>
What's my point? My point is real change always takes place when millions of people look around them and they say, you know what, the status quo is not acceptable.
<P>
It is not acceptable that women are not treated equally!
<P>
It is not acceptable that we have racism in this country!
<P>
It is not acceptable that gay people do not have the right to marry!
<P>
We’re gonna change it!
<P>
And that is where we are today!
<P>
It is not acceptable that we have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on Earth!
<P>
It is not acceptable that we are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave and health care to ALL!
<P>
It is not acceptable that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth!
<P>
It is not acceptable that we have veterans sleeping out on the street when people want to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest one percent!
<P>
It is not acceptable that millions of people in this country are being crushed by outrageous levels of student debt!
<P>
It is not acceptable that when the scientists tell us we have a short window of opportunity to transform our energy system, that we are not moving as aggressively as we should!
<P>
Now, what do we do to change it? What we do to change these things is to make certain that we have a government that represents ALL of us and not just wealthy campaign contributors. The way we change this is when millions of people begin to get involved in the political process in a way that we have not seen for many years.
<P>
Every person here today is enormously powerful if you choose to use your power! If a couple of million students tell Washington, D.C., that they are not going to spend their lives paying off student debt, trust me, Congress will make public colleges and universities tuition-free. But that does not happen unless you tell them!!
<P>
When workers tell Congress that they demand a 15 dollar an hour minimum wage, we'll get it, but it won't happen unless workers stand up and fight for it!
<P>
So what this campaign is about is more than electing a president; it is making a political revolution to transform our country!
<P>
And you are a part of that revolution!
<P>
What we have learned in this campaign, having won 9 states, is we do well when people come out to vote and there are large voter turnouts. Let's win here, in Florida, on Tuesday. Come out to vote! Thank you very much!
<P>
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-50641620860572312132016-04-05T22:39:00.000-07:002016-04-05T22:40:43.434-07:00Bernie Sanders and Cognitive Dissonance at NPR's Morning EditionCOMMENTS ON <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/04/05/473063711/polls-show-wisconsin-voters-to-buck-trends-vote-for-sanders-cruz">http://www.npr.org/2016/04/05/473063711/polls-show-wisconsin-voters-to-buck-trends-vote-for-sanders-cruz</a>
<P>
(Posted here because posting there requires allowing NPR "to comment on your behalf." Um, what? No thanks.)
<P>
CONTINUING RACIST MSM NARRATIVE (i.e., the idea that people like Bernie because of their skin color, not because of his ideas.):<BR>
BARRY BURDEN: "Bernie Sanders has a lot of strength in Wisconsin. It's an electorate that is set up to favor him. It's a whiter electorate than in a lot of states where the Democrats have been competing."
<P>
EVIDENCE THAT SANDERS IS MORE ELECTABLE IN THE GENERAL (BUT PRESENTED ONLY AS AN MSM EXCUSE FOR CLINTON'S LOSSES):<BR>
BURDEN: "It's also an open primary, and that helps to bring in some independent voters who are more on his side."
<P>
CONTINUING AGEIST MSM NARRATIVE (i.e., the idea that people like Bernie because of their age, not because of his ideas.):<BR>
BURDEN: "And then there's a fairly strong base of students in the state - college students in particular in Madison - who are enthusiastic about him."
<P>
CONTINUING RACIST/AGEIST MSM NARRATIVE REPEATED (i.e., It can't be Bernie's ideas that people are voting for; it must be their age or skin color making them vote for him): <BR>
BURDEN: "Well, as I say, I think there's some demographic factors that are working to Sanders' advantage here."
<P>
EVIDENCE THAT SANDERS IS MORE ELECTABLE IN THE GENERAL (Bernie raised $44M in March; Hillary raised $29M) & FURTHER MSM ATTEMPT TO FIND EXCUSES FOR CLINTON'S LOSSES: <BR>
BURDEN: "He also has the luxury of not having to do any fundraising. His money is all raised on the Internet somewhat automatically, without a lot of effort from him. And that frees him up to spend all of his time, essentially, campaigning in the state. He's barely left the borders of Wisconsin over the last 10 days."
<P>
EVIDENCE THAT CLINTON IS LESS ELECTABLE IN THE GENERAL & CONTINUING MSM ATTEMPT TO FIND EXCUSES FOR CLINTON'S LOSSES: <BR>
BURDEN: "In contrast, Hillary Clinton has done some events in the state and run some advertising, but she's also traveled to fundraisers on the East Coast."
<P>
CONTINUING MSM ATTEMPT TO REMOVE OUR EYES FROM THE BALL (Bernie's victory on March 5-6 [69 to 65 delegates (51% to 49%) KS/LA/NE/ME]; Bernie's victory on March 22 [75 to 55 (58% to 42%) AZ/ID/UT]; Bernie's victory on March 26 [104 to 38 (73% to 27%!!!) AK/WA/HI]): <BR>
BURDEN: "And she's looking ahead to New York, Pennsylvania and some other states that are down the road."
<P>
CONTINUING MSM ATTEMPT TO FIND EXCUSES FOR CLINTON'S LOSSES: <BR>
RENÉE MONTAGNE: "So you're saying Hillary Clinton hasn't put as much energy into the state as has Bernie Sanders."
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EVIDENCE THAT SANDERS HAS MORE SUPPORT AMONGST MORE PEOPLE: <BR>
BURDEN: "A lot of the leadership of the unions has endorsed Hillary Clinton, but a lot of the rank and file has really resonated with the Sanders message about the minimum wage (SANDERS $15; CLINTON $12), about inequality (To paraphrase the Bill Clinton campaign: "IT'S THE MIDDLE CLASS, STUPID."), campaign finance (THE RICH SHOULD NOT HAVE 'MORE FREE SPEECH THAN OTHERS'), trying to reverse the trade patterns in this country (TRADE DEALS SHOULD BENEFIT ALL AMERICANS, NOT JUST LARGE CORPORATIONS). And I think the average union member on the ground just finds the Sanders messages more appealing. (THE AVERAGE INFORMED AMERICAN ALSO FINDS SANDERS MORE APPEALING: <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/">https://berniesanders.com/issues/</a>)"joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-1622407774754393552016-03-15T19:02:00.003-07:002016-03-15T19:02:51.725-07:00My REMOVED reply to the Rolling Stone article "How the 'New York Times' Sandbagged Bernie Sanders":<P>
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Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Here it is 12 years later, and Bernie, even with the advantages of social media, and virtually the same Medicare for All, free preschool to college, anti-NAFTA, anti-Iraq War platform that Dennis Kucinich offered the country in 2003-2004 (when there was still a chance to just not start that war), is suffering the same treatment at the heavy hands of the New York Times.
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From an interview with the Toledo City Paper in February 2004 ("Fighting for recognition, finding an audience"):
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TCP: Why do you think you’ve been marginalized by mainstream media?
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DK: I don’t ask The New York Times for permission to run for public office. The things I talk about relate to people’s practical aspirations — jobs, health care, education, retirement and peace. Big media monopolies generally aren’t interested in seeing these things as part of the debate. I’ve also been very vocal in advocating media reform to break up media monopolies so, naturally, I run the risk of being ignored or misrepresented.
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It is enough to make one feel like losing hope, but it is really just further motivation to keep fighting harder for what is right.
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Not sure what was objectionable in that, but all I can guess is that Rolling Stone/US Weekly might be sensitive to discussions of breaking up "big media monopolies".
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Reminds me of Grandpa's Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rule."
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The same can be said to be true of freedom of the press: "He who owns the press has the freedom."
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For more on the fear that some people in power have of all the rest, see this amazing piece from José María Luis Mora (Mexico, 1831): <A HREF="http://spanishprontotranslationblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/discourse-on-freedom-of-thought-speech.html">http://spanishprontotranslationblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/discourse-on-freedom-of-thought-speech.html</A>
<P>joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-62794402130523633562015-10-13T12:54:00.000-07:002015-10-13T12:54:44.493-07:00New PSAT: Super Quick Tips for Doing Your BestREADING: <b>READ <i>ACTIVELY</i>.</b>
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WRITING: <b>WRITE <i>NATURALLY</i>.</b>
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MATH: <b>WRITE DOWN <i>EVERYTHING</i> ON <i>EVERY PROBLEM</i>. DOUBLE-CHECK <i>EVERYTHING</i>. MAKE SURE YOUR ANSWER <i>ANSWERS THE QUESTION</i></b>
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<HR>
<b>READING TEST:</b>
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MOST PEOPLE read the passage quickly, then have to re-read it many times to answer all the questions; or even worse, they answer the questions without reading the entire passage.
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INSTEAD, YOU SHOULD <b>read the passage ACTIVELY</b> (analyzing, questioning, and thinking about the meaning of every little piece of it as you read). This will make most questions easy to answer without having to do much re-reading.
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PASSIVE READING: Lady Carlotta stepped out on to the platform of the small wayside station and took a turn or two up and down its uninteresting length, to kill time till the train should be pleased to proceed on its way.
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<b>ACTIVE READING:</b> Lady Carlotta [<i>"Lady" must mean she is from a noble or royal family.</i>] stepped out [<i>Out of what?</i>] on to the platform of the small wayside station [<i>What kind of station? Bus? Train?</i>] and took a turn or two up and down its uninteresting length <i>[She is walking back and forth along the station. There is nothing interesting to see.</i>], to kill time [<i>She has nothing else to do while she waits.</i>] till the train [<i>Aha! It's a train station.</i>] should be pleased to proceed on its way [<i>She is thinking of the train as having feelings, and of it having a choice in when it will leave the station.</i>].
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WHY THIS WORKS: Active reading takes more time at first, but probably less time than having to re-read the passage for each new question. By reading actively, you will remember much more, and if you have done it well, you will notice that the questions are asking you things you already thought about and answered for yourself!!
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PS: Read the questions carefully, too, then eliminate the wrong answers. If you can't decide between two answers, don't just pick one (if you want a high score); instead, go ahead and look at the passage again and figure out which answer is the better one. On well-designed standardized tests, the answer does have to be contained in the passage!!
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PPS: If there are charts or graphs, analyze those thoroughly first, before reading the passage.
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<b>WRITING AND LANGUAGE TEST:</b>
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MOST PEOPLE pay too much attention to just the underlined words.
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INSTEAD, YOU SHOULD pay attention to the meaning and flow of the WHOLE text. If something about the underlined text sounds odd or makes the sentence hard to read, that is your brain telling you there is probably an error. You should look at the entire sentence to decide how to <b>fix it in a way that would sound direct, simple, and NATURAL</b> to an educated native speaker of American English.
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AN EXTREME EXAMPLE: Yet some of the earliest known works of art, including paintings and drawings tens of thousands of years old found on cave walls in Spain and France, <U>portrays</U> animals.
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Yet some of the earliest known works of art<strike>, including paintings and drawings tens of thousands of years old found on cave walls in Spain and France,</strike> <U>portrays</U> animals. (Information between commas is often just extra information, and on the PSAT is often there to distract you.)
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Yet some of the earliest known works of art...<U>portrays</U> animals. (This is the relevant part of the sentence.)
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Yet some of the earliest known <b>works</b> <strike>of art</strike>...<U>portrays</U> animals. ("Of art" is just a prepositional phrase describing what kind of works are being discussed. The real subject of this sentence, though, is "works.")<P>
Yet some of the earliest known <b>works</b>...<U>portray</U> animals. ("the…works…<b>portray</b>" is correct; "the…works…portrays" is not.)
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PS: Sometimes the PSAT asks you to replace incorrect text with "correct" text that has a different meaning. Don't fight it. Just pick the one that works best, based on what the question is asking.
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<b>MATH TEST:</b>
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MOST PEOPLE read the question once, then have to read it one or two more times, and they also make the mistake of trying to do too much in their heads instead of on paper. (Doing math on paper is almost like having two heads, and two heads are better than one! At least if you want to get the right answers, and the points!)
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INSTEAD YOU SHOULD <b>WRITE DOWN EVERY PIECE OF INFORMATION</b> AS YOU READ THE QUESTION THE FIRST TIME. Make a habit of doing this on <i>every question</i>. Then all the information will be where you can see it, and you will spend less time having to re-read questions. ALSO, if the question is "What is the value of x+5?," then write down "x+5=?" and CIRCLE IT. NEXT write down everything else you know about the problem (if there is a square with side of length 2, then write "2" on every side and mark right angles in every corner; if the problem says "segment AB, not shown," then draw in the line segment between points A and B; etc.). ONCE YOU HAVE every possible piece of information written down and visible, give yourself a couple seconds to see if there is an easy way to get the answer. If so, do it. If not, just try going step-by-step, <b>ALWAYS DOUBLE-CHECKING EVERYTHING</b> ("OK, 5 + 18 is 23 [Is 5 + 18 really 23? Yes, it is.] and 23 times 4 is 82 [Does 23 times 4 equal 82? No wait, 92. Right? Yes.]"), and then <b>MAKING SURE THE ANSWER YOU GET REALLY DOES ANSWER THE QUESTION</b> ["Yay! x is 12! Wait. What is the question I circled earlier? 'x+5=?' Uh-oh! x is 12, but x+5 is 17. The answer to the question is 17."]
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PS: If you are having trouble with a question, circle the question number and move on. Go get the easy points first! Then come back to the difficult questions, starting with the easiest one.
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PPS: On the whole test, but especially on the math test: 1. BE CAREFUL, 2. BE CAREFUL, 3. BE CAREFUL! Most lost points are from not reading the question correctly, going too quickly, not double-checking everything, etc., and all of these errors are avoidable if you just ALWAY REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BE CAREFUL!
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<b>IN GENERAL:</b>
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GO INTO THE TEST—and into each problem—with A POSITIVE ATTITUDE, telling yourself YOU CAN DO THIS! YOU CAN BEAT THE TEST! YOU CAN DO YOUR BEST ON EACH PROBLEM! YOU CAN GET YOUR BEST SCORE POSSIBLE BY STAYING CALM, STAYING POSITIVE, ALWAYS BEING CAREFUL, AND DOING YOUR BEST!!
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GOOD LUCK! DO YOUR BEST! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!
<P>joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-43271048079995069712015-01-12T11:34:00.001-08:002015-01-12T13:29:09.908-08:00How to fail at getting someone the help they need, while really tryingWhen person's mania tips into full-blown psychosis, call friend with similar condition to decide whether to call 9-1-1. Call 9-1-1. Explain the screams, the delusions, the rantings to the operator and again to the police and firemen. Everyone sees person is acting crazy and is in need of help (and clothing), but that the person won't come to the door voluntarily and, although throwing onto the floor every item in the place while yelling, does not appear to be holding a weapon and does not appear to be hurt. All emergency personnel say there is nothing they can do and they leave.
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Call the psychologist and leave detailed report of the above on voice mail. No response. (Duh, HIPAA.) No apparent instruction for involuntary treatment at next appointment with patient.
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Call the Crisis Line, then Crisis Resolution Services, and hear again (and again) that unless person is an "imminent" threat to themselves or others or are willing to seek treatment voluntarily, they cannot do anything, either.
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Hear from numerous other members of the community that person is clearly not well, not on prescribed medication, and needing treatment. Hear of suicide threat, call 9-1-1 again, only to be told that is not enough, because suicide threat was two days ago and not today, so no imminent threat.
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Hear of numerous shoplifting events, but of clerks sympathetically paying for stolen items from their own pockets. Lost opportunities for contact with authorities that may or may not have led to help.
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Long-suffering, patient saint of a person convinces ill person to seek treatment, requests call from psychologist to speed admission. No call evident. Saint cannot wait for hours in emergency room (has a job to go to), leaves the ER trusting patient will be admitted to hospital and treatment. Ill person leaves the ER of own accord.
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In the meantime, wait for mentally ill person to come to realization of the need for resumed treatment (may take months), wait for Legislature to act to reduce standard from "imminent" threat to "substantial" likelihood of harm to self or others or grave disability (may take years), and wait for some disaster to befall person, self, or others when everyone can see person needs help (except for person) and yet no one is able to offer any until things spin gradually further and further out of control and person's life deteriorates (is happening every day).
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In the meantime, when it comes to helping someone with severe mental health problems in Washington state, ask and you will not receive, knock and it will not be opened to you. If you should happen, yourself, to desperately need mental health treatment someday, rest assured that though your friends will all rush to try to help you, they will all be told "no" at every turn, as the authorities allow your condition to go from bad to worse and allow your life to fall apart, possibly even completely and forever, all the time refusing to help you when you need it most—and when you are least able to recognize it. Despite your support network of family and friends, the state leaves you flying and without a net.
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It will be of no comfort to anyone to mourn your loss and to appear in the inevitable news stories afterwards saying to the impotent authorities, "I told you so."
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The Legislature must fix this now, before more damage is done to more lives and before even more lives are lost.
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-60273851829815908652014-07-15T01:04:00.003-07:002014-07-15T14:48:32.173-07:00SIDS statisticsResponse to a misleading headline at <A HREF="http://www.thehoopsnews.com/2014/07/14/211/infant-death-syndrome-kills-babies-share-beds-parents/">http://www.thehoopsnews.com/2014/07/14/211/infant-death-syndrome-kills-babies-share-beds-parents/</A>, since corrected:
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"Infant death syndrome kills most babies that share beds with parents"? Wrong. Misleading. That would mean that out of 1,000 babies who share beds with their parents, more than 500 die of SIDS! This is not true.
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Out of 100,000 babies, roughly 15000 share beds with their parents [see note 1 below], and 97 (per 100,000) die of SIDS or SIDS-related causes (hereinafter "SIDS"). [2]
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What this article implies is not that there are more than 7500 SIDS deaths out of those 15000 bed-sharing babies(!), but that, of the 97 deaths (per 100,000 babies) from SIDS, about 71 [3] were in bed-sharing babies and about 26 [4] in babies who did not share a bed with their parents.
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In other words, for babies who sleep on their own, the SIDS death rate is roughly 1 SIDS death per every 3300 babies [5], and for babies who sleep with their parents, the SIDS death rate is roughly 1 SIDS death out of every 210 babies [6].
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According to the available data then, by having a baby sleep with its parents, its risk of death from SIDS does not just double, triple, or quadruple—it increases to about <i>15 times</i> the risk of death from SIDS for babies who sleep on their own. [7]
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Even at that the risk is still "small." Statistically, in a town of 10,000 bed-sharing babies, only about 47 will die of SIDS. But in a town of 10,000 babies sleeping on their own, only 3 will die of SIDS.
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So it is wildly inaccurate to say "[SIDS] kills most [of] the babies [who] share beds with parents." I think most people would have noticed by now if over half the bed-sharing babies were dying!!!
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It is, however, accurate to say "Most babies who die of [SIDS] share beds with parents," if you are describing a study (this one) that says that of every 3 SIDS deaths, 2 are in babies who share beds with their parents. [8]
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The take home message, though, is that <B>bed-sharing babies are about <i>15 times as likely</i> to die from SIDS as are babies who sleep alone.</B>
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Notes<BR>
[1] A study found a rate of 14% in 2010, and that rate had increased from 7% in 1993, with bed sharing continuing to increase in popularity. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/health/bed-sharing-infants-increases/">http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/health/bed-sharing-infants-increases/</a>
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[2] SIDS/SUIDS, accidental strangulation/suffocation in bed, or unknown/undetermined cause, at rates of 55 per 100,000; 27 per 100,000; and 16 per 100,000 babies, respectively: <a href="http://mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa13/perinatal-health-status-indicators/p/SIDS-SUID.html">http://mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa13/perinatal-health-status-indicators/p/SIDS-SUID.html</a>; I chose 2009 data for the purposes of this analysis, as they were closest to the data used in the <i>Pediatrics</i> study: <a href="http://mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa13/perinatal-health-status-indicators/p/SIDS-SUID.html">http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/07/09/peds.2014-0401.full.pdf+html</a>.
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[3] 69.2 percent of 97 = 71.34
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[4] 97 - 71 = 26
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[5] 26/85,000 = 0.00030588 = 0.03%;
1/0.00030588 = 85,000/26 = 3269
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[6] 71/15,000 = 0.004733333333 = 0.473%;
1/0.004733333333 = 15,000/71 = 211
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[7] 3269/211 = 15.49
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[8] 69.2%. Be careful not to misinterpret this statistic! The fact that only 15 percent of babies are bed sharing, versus 85 percent that are not, means that, given the overall SIDS death rate of 97 deaths per 100,000 babies, bed-sharing babies die from SIDS at a rate that is 15.5 times the rate of SIDS deaths for babies who do not share beds, as explained above. If you are reading this as bed-sharing babies having only twice the rate of SIDS death, you are either assuming that just as many babies are sharing a bed as are not [a bed-sharing to non-bed-sharing ratio of 50/50, rather than 15/85] or you may need to brush up on math.
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-18241523879914046652014-07-07T12:48:00.000-07:002014-07-08T17:16:26.442-07:00"Race" is a racist conceptRace is an idea created to justify racism.
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Studies based on race serve only to perpetuate racist ideas, while obscuring the true factors behind the observed variations in results. This is why studies which use race as a category produce ambiguous or conflicting results, while studies which use fine divisions of household wealth or income produce clear results.
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Race is not a cause of anything; only a creation of racists.
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Studying economic disparities and their effects is understandably unpopular in some circles--especially among the elites and upper classes, for some odd reason. Unfortunately these are the same people who have the most influence on what gets studied.
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The danger in studies based on fine gradations of income (unlike, for example, the 50-50 division in studies of students on "free or reduced-priced lunch" compared, not with the richer half, but with students "overall") is that results showing a greater negative effect on families making $0-$4,999 per year versus families making $95,000-$99,999 per year, with the degree of negative results tied directly to the degree of poverty--the trouble with these clear results is that, once we learn them, there is something we can clearly do to fix the problem; namely, do whatever necessary to bring an end to poverty.
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The "advantage" (for racists and for economic elites) of race-based studies is that once we draw the conclusion that the browner someone is, the worse off they are, there is nothing we can do about it, except congratulate our less brown selves for doing better (through "hard work," presumably), pity the other "races" for being "inferior" (as "proved" by yet another race-based [racist] study), and throw up our hands in futility, because we think that being "black" or "Hispanic" is what causes these problems, and there is nothing anyone can do about someone being a certain race!!
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But the honest answer is we can do something about it. We can give up these few-centuries' old falsehoods about "race," we can stop treating other people as fundamentally different from ourselves (they are not), we can reject the continued use of this racist "race" concept in what should be scientific(!) studies, and we can instead scientifically study true causes (injustice, racism, power imbalances, corrupt economic and political systems, greed) of our problems in ways that will lead to real answers that we can take real actions to address and fix.
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Originally thumb-typed in response to the Medical News Today article at <A HREF="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279260.php">http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279260.php </A> (<i>Nutrition and health 'have greater influence on newborn's size than race'</i>). joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-38558974149711659062014-06-24T12:51:00.002-07:002014-06-24T12:51:59.203-07:00Culture Shock AdviceSome advice about culture shock from a letter I was writing:
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If you have not lived overseas before for an extended length of time, you might find it helpful to have read this book before going over there:
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Survival-Kit-Overseas-Living-4th/dp/185788292X/">http://www.amazon.com/Survival-Kit-Overseas-Living-4th/dp/185788292X/</a>
(Survival Kit for Overseas Living: For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad)
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It's a good introduction to being an American and living overseas, dealing with stereotypes and culture shock, and knowing about them ahead of time, so that you are more prepared to understand them and deal with them more positively.
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If you are unlikely to read a 200 page book (even though it is a great one), the main point to know is that there are usually a couple low points emotionally for anyone living overseas. The first one, which is relatively minor, comes around the end of the first month, after the newness and excitement has worn off. The second one, comes close to halfway through one's time overseas, which is funny in a way because, if you are going for two years, it tends to hit close to the one year mark, but if you are going for six months, it will hit close to the three month mark. If you know it's coming, and know that most people do get through it, it can be easier to manage. (The few people who don't get through it tend to fly home at that point, even though they would have done better to stick it out a few more weeks till it passed.) Culture shock is to overseas living what Wednesday is to the workweek.
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I certainly went through it during my year in Costa Rica. At a certain point I just felt separate, even judged, for being an American everywhere I went. Then, one day, I realized that the only thing that all Americans have in common, the only thing that makes them American, is their citizenship. There is nothing else that all Americans have in common. From then on I no longer felt any of the pressure I used to feel as the representative of all things American, because I wasn't. I was also able, then, to get closer to the Costa Ricans in my life, because I realized they weren't some monolithic foreign other, either.
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There are also some quite good books out there on culture and etiquette for each country. Those are enormously helpful to read before going, and while there, too. Different country, different rules, different views of life. It is always helpful to learn about these ahead of time!
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I used to work at an exchange program here for students who came from Spain and Latin America, and it drove the Spanish students nuts that the host family would pick them up at school, drive them home, and then stay in all afternoon and evening. They were used to going home, maybe hopping on a scooter, and going into town with friends. Quite a number of them smoked, too, though that has probably changed quite a bit in the past 25 years.
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-----joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-5020117740596730032014-06-03T13:20:00.001-07:002014-06-03T13:22:56.044-07:00NemnanaitWishing a happy Chinese No Internet Day to one and all:
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<I>We will never tire of repeating it: The freedom of opinions about doctrine has never been fatal to any people, but all the events of modern history substantiate, down to the last piece of evidence, the dangers and risks that nations have run when some faction has succeeded in taking control of the press, has dominated the government, and by taking advantage of this, has silenced through terror those who could have enlightened it.</I>
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<I>But governments never learn, in spite of so many repeated examples. Always stuck in the present moment, they neglect the future….</I>
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<I>We conclude our reflections then, recommending to those entrusted with power that they be persuaded that, when they raise opinions to the status of crimes, they open themselves to punishing talents and virtues, to losing their way, and to making illustrious the memory of their victims.</I>
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—José María Luis Mora
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<I>And we'll be saying a big "Hello" to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere, and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together guys!</I><BR>
—Douglas Adams, <I>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</I>
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joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-30504509396088725182014-05-26T22:12:00.001-07:002014-05-26T22:12:23.878-07:00The NRA's War on America(ns)This has to stop:
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<A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/25/us/santa-barbara-shooting-victims/index.html?hpt=hp_c3">http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/25/us/santa-barbara-shooting-victims/index.html?hpt=hp_c3</A>joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-14454583081569837722014-03-13T11:18:00.002-07:002014-03-13T11:18:39.638-07:00Natural seasonal allergy reliefI used to have horrible allergies to grass pollen that lasted through all of June and most of July, requiring me to begin with pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) for the early weeks, then adding loratidine (Claritin) when the sudafed alone was no longer enough. (Beginning with claritin meant having it lose its effectiveness just when I needed it most.) I am not a doctor, but that is my experience over many years of being miserable.
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Two years ago, I had no allergies beyond a manageable sniffle on a couple days. Last year I had one bad allergy day (down from the normal 50 days) when I made the mistake of eating lots of chocolate (and a few other things, like cheese, and oil-and-vinegar salad dressing), but I knew that I was going off the list and, sure enough, the allergies did come back with a vengeance, just for that one day.
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If you are tired of pounding down medication for weeks at a time for your seasonal allergies, there is another alternative. You can just not have allergies in the first place.
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I found this out when, for other reasons, I had to follow a low-histamine diet for a time. If I made the mistake of eating something that was high in histamine, like an English muffin (yeast), or Grape Nuts (yeast), my heart would race, so I had a built-in histamine detector. Rather than rely on stressing my heart, however, I looked for information on foods to avoid in order to keep my histamine levels low. There are a few lists out there, but many are incomplete, confusing, or vague, which caused me to restrict my diet unnecessarily or just left me confused about whether I might be able to eat something.
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The best list was one I found at this website: <A HREF="http://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/en/introduction.html">http://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/en/introduction.html</A> (<A HREF="http://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/">http://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/</A>) It lists close to 400 ingredients and individual foods along with their likely effects on your histamine levels (0-3 scale).
<P>
The unpleasant thing about a low-histamine diet is that it means completely eliminating an unbelievable number of your favorite foods, at least for the duration of allergy season, such as hard cheeses, almost any canned food (no vinegar, no flavor enhancers, almost no preservatives), yeast breads, tomatoes, avocados, alcoholic beverages, chocolate, black tea, coffee, citrus (oranges, lemons), most nuts, shelled beans, mushrooms, soy sauce, mustard, tofu, sausage, smoked or dried meats, pizza, etc. In effect, any food that is made by allowing or inducing something to spoil in some way (fermentation, drying, curing, preserving). It still leaves a lot of food you can eat, but you will definitely feel the loss of your favorites, it will be close to impossible to find foods you can safely eat at restaurants, and it will seem like 80% of the grocery store is suddenly off limits. To be fair, you can probably eat a certain number of items marked with a number "1" on the list without much trouble (with the possible exception of most yeast breads). The trick is always to keep your histamine levels low enough that you avoid having your histamine "cup" running over when allergens provoke your immune system. (Again, that is my non-medical understanding. For medical questions and advice, consult your doctor.)
<P>
Following a low-histamine diet is a sacrifice, but to be allergy free and medicine free (and side-effect free!) is worth the effort! Your friends and family will also find you kind of annoying during allergy season, but just do your best to supply your own food needs, and to not talk about it much (steer the conversation away from it), and they may just be able to tolerate that you are not joining them in whatever they are eating (or drinking) at the time.
<P>
My own diet during grass pollen season consists of:
<UL>
<LI>Whole grains (oatmeal, white rice, brown rice, whole grain cereals with vitamin E as the only preservative)
<LI>Quick breads (muffins, pancakes, waffles, cake donuts), heat-and-serve flour tortillas (without preservatives)
<LI>Apples, potatoes, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, carrots, celery, cucumbers, melons (not watermelon), yams, fresh artichokes, broccoli, corn (maize), bok choy (pak choi), green beans (all vegetables fresh, not canned)
<LI>Milk, butter, water, and dulce de leche ice cream
<LI>Instead of my usual hot beverages at the coffee shop, steamed milk or hot apple cider (non-alcoholic)
<LI>Occasional eggs or chicken
</UL>
It is not an exciting time of year culinarily, but I am not miserable, I can be outside, I can take walks, I can garden, I can open the window on hot days (coincidentally high-pollen days); in short, I can actually enjoy some of the best days of our short summer in this land of nine months of clouds and rain that is western Washington (state). And I don't have allergy symptoms or—not any better—allergy medication side effects. It does take some sacrifice, but it is worth it to be able to enjoy the summer!
<P>
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-28854059144579736892013-10-05T20:54:00.001-07:002013-10-05T21:07:01.933-07:00Doing your best on the SAT or PSATApproach it like the game it is. I don't mean that in any disparaging (i.e., insulting) way. The fact is that "the name of the game" is to maximize the number of questions you answer correctly. Preparing for the SAT or PSAT means, then, doing everything in your power to make it more likely that you will answer more questions correctly. Period.
<p>
The humorist, Dave Barry, once wrote that the secret to losing weight is diet and exercise, but that no American is going to exercise, so that leaves diet.
<p>
Similarly, the secret to doing your best on the PSAT or SAT is preparation and strategy, but no American is going to prepare, so that leaves strategy.
<p>
If that's you, and it's not too late, reconsider!! The best strategy for these tests—or for anything in life—is preparation.
<p>
Ideally that means that you do all of the following things: do your best in your algebra, geometry, and English classes (read ahead, have regular study groups with 2 or 3 classmates); always be reading high-level writing (not teen romances) or journalism (national-level newspapers and news or literary magazines); and take practice tests (ideally ones published by the College Board, the actual publisher of these tests) and use them to learn how you make mistakes and what you can do to not make them on the real test.
<p>
When I tutor kids in the SAT, the American (or Americanized) kids don't do any studying in the week between tutoring sessions. The children of Asian immigrant parents have completed an entire 3.5 hour SAT test by the time I come back the following week (and sometimes even two of them!!). So while I go through every single problem with the American(ized) student, including the ones that are easy and don't really require my presence, all the while trying to catch them up to the studious students (never going to happen at the rate each is going), with the studious student we are spending our time working only on the questions they didn't understand, focusing all my time with them on improving their abilities in just the areas where they need improving.
<p>
The secret, of course, is you don't actually have to be Asian or have Asian immigrant parents to study this way, or to reap the benefits of studying this way. You just have to decide to do it, plan to do it, and do your best to keep sticking to that plan.
<p>
This is the book I use with all my students:
<p>
<iframe src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=spanishpronto-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0874478529&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>
It contains 10 complete SAT tests from previous years. If you did all ten, including the essays, under timed testing conditions, that would be about 40 hours of practice. In reality, probably quite a bit longer. Even if you do less than that, the advantage here is that these are actual SAT tests!
<p>
There is so much that could be said about doing your best on these tests, too much, and so much of it depends on each student and where they are with the subjects and with test taking in general. But there are a few quick things that can apply to just about anybody, even if you are reading this the night before or a couple days before the test.
<p>
<b>For the ESSAY:</b>
<p>
In the first two minutes, write down what you are trying to prove, or to convince your reader of (i.e., your belief, your theory, your point, your argument, your thesis) in one clear sentence, then write down two or three examples that will support your point. For example:
<p>
THESIS: There is a right way (and a wrong way) to make a root beer float.
<p>
I. Ingredient quality<br>
II. Proper preparation<br>
(III. The RBF experience)<br>
<p>
See that? One clear sentence. Two (or possibly three) supports for your argument. You should be able to think of a few things to say about each support, but you only have 25 minutes, so save them for the essay itself.
<p>
Next, write your essay, but do your best to leave yourself five minutes at the end!
<p>
In your introduction, imitate news and magazine articles by starting off saying something that will make someone curious, or interested in reading more: "Humans have been making root beer floats almost since the discovery of fire."
<p>
Maybe not true, and you might want to insert "Just kidding." (Not "jk.") or some disclaimer in sentence two, but now that you got their attention, make your point by writing down the thesis from earlier. Now, in this same paragraph, make some mention of your supports.
<p>
For your first body paragraph, talk about your first support, and bring in details that will convince the reader that your thesis (opinion) is right. For the second body paragraph, do the same for the second support. If you have time for a third body paragraph, go ahead with
that, but for many or most students it would probably be better to just skip it and do the concluding paragraph.
<p>
In the concluding paragraph, make sure to mention your thesis and your supports again, then move on to something a little more general, then something even more general: "As we have seen, there is indeed a correct way to make a great root beer float. Soft serve ice cream and a warm bottle of cheap root beer, mixed into a paper cup, may cost $5 at the fair, but for the real RBF experience, nothing but the best quality, hard vanilla ice cream and cold root beer in a chilled glass will do. Even junk food, if prepared properly, can still be good; it does not have to be garbage! Anything worth doing—or eating—is worth doing well."
<p>
In your remaining five minutes (or three, or one, or ten), use all your time to look over and carefully read your essay. The more errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.) that you can find and correct, the better your essay score will probably be. This is probably where you will pick up most points, so do your best to leave a few minutes for this editing work.
<p>
In short: Plan (Thesis and supports), Write (Intro: Thesis and supports, Body: supports with details, Conclusion: Thesis, supports, and more general statement to end.), and Edit (look for and fix anything that is wrong).
<p>
<b>For the MATH:</b>
<p>
Know that a line is also a 180 degree angle, and that the angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees (and that a circle has 360 degrees). That is why, when someone turns their life around, we say "He did a 180." and why, when someone does "donuts" in a parking lot with their car, we say "She was doing 360s."
<p>
It's also helpful to remember C=2πr and A=πr<sup>2</sup>. C is circumference, which is the distance around a circle (think of taking a "fer"ry around the "circ"le). A is the area inside a circle, so it makes sense that the r (radius) is squared in this one, because that means the answer will be in "square meters" or "square inches," just as an area should be.
<p>
If you have a week to go until the test, learn to recognize and manipulate the numbers in 45-45-90 triangles and 30-60-90 triangles. Worst case, that information is included at the beginning of the math test, but it helps to have understood it before the test. If it's the night before, then getting more sleep will do more for you than staying up to learn this, since it probably only shows up in two problems tops, anyway.
<p>
If you finish working a math problem, don't just mark the answer you got. Check the question again first! True, it may have taken you a lot of work to find out that "x = 12," and it is tempting to just mark "12," but that is a horrible idea if the original question was "What is x + 2 ?"
<p>
On the math, take notes on the diagram or in the test booklet the first time you read the problem. The more you can pull the information out of the "story problem" format and into something more visual, the better your chances of solving the problem.
<p>
Don't trust your brain. Use the calculator. Or at least double check every thing as you do it. I can't count the number of times I have seen smart students solve a difficult problem by doing everything right except, somewhere in the middle, saying to themselves "2 x 3 is 5."
<p>
For the math, and all other sections really, my joke is that the three things to do are "1. Be careful. 2. Be careful. 3. Be careful." A better way to put that might be "1. Be careful. 2. Double check everything. 3. Do everything you can to be certain your answer is the right one." A corollary to that might be: "Don't rush. Use all your time." Ideally, you will want a few minutes available at the end to re-check your answers and maybe to try answering any problem that was taking too long (so you circled the problem number in the test booklet [not the answer sheet] and moved on in search of easier points).
<p>
<b>For the READING:</b>
<p>
For reading comprehension, yes, you really should read the whole passage and think about what you read as you read it. (If you are a super slow reader, then you can just skip to the questions and jump to lines 12-15 or whatever they tell you to read for each question, but everyone else would do better to read everything before answering the questions!!) If you know that the answer has to be A) or D), don't just pick one; go back to the reading and figure out which one is better, A) or D), then pick the better one.
<p>
For the vocabulary questions, cover the answers and do your best to use the clues in the sentence to pick out the kinds of words that should go in the blanks. Once you have thought of some words (or at least tried to), uncover the answers and see which one jumps out at you as being the right one. If one does, that's probably right. If not, then process of elimination to eliminate the ones that are obviously wrong, then your best guess of which of the remaining ones is right. [BIG HINT: If you do not know what a word means, DO NOT eliminate it! "I don't know that word, so that can't be the answer." sounds good, but makes no logical sense, if you think about it.]
<p>
<b>For the WRITING:</b>
<p>
For the sentence error questions, watch out for things like:
<p>
"the camels of the other school was..." (dumb example, I know)
<p>
"the other school was..." sounds great, but "school" is part of the prepositional phrase "of the other school," which describes the camels. The subject of "was" is not the school; it is the camels. "the camels (of the other school) was..." should be "the camels were" not "the camels was," so the sentence should have been "the camels of the other school were..." If you understand this and watch out for this trap, it should earn you lots of points.
<p>
For these same questions, try to notice when you read them if there is any point in the sentence where you slow down. That is usually your brain's way of telling you that something is wrong there. If you slowed down where the B was, the error is probably B.
<p>
BIG HINT NUMBER TWO: If you get to the end of the sentence and you did not see any error, DO NOT PICK "NO ERROR"! There are just two reasons that you might think there is no error. Reason number one: there was an error, but you did not see it. Reason number two: there was no error. So if you think there is "no error," instead of marking "no error," read the sentence carefully one or two more times. If you still think there is no error, <i>then by all means, mark "no error,"</i> and chances are you will be right—just don't mark that after only the first time through the sentence!
<p>
For the REWRITING questions, just know that the vast majority of the time the correct answer is either the shortest answer or the next-shortest answer, so look at those answers first. Obviously, that won't always be true, and it is best to consider all of them and think everything through, but it still can be very helpful to know this.
<p>
<b>For the test generally:</b>
<p>
Go in psyched up to do your best and to get as many points as you can.
<p>
If you can eliminate even just one answer choice, it is probably worthwhile to put down an answer, even if it is a guess. It is better, of course, to narrow it down as much as possible; if not to one answer (ideal, especially if you have a way of knowing that is right), then at least to two. If you can eliminate only one, still go ahead and guess and mark an answer (because you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket). If you can not eliminate any answers, though, you are better off skipping that question without answering it (because the odds are against you at that point instead of even, or in your favor).
<p>
If you finish early, use all the time you have left to double check the problems you circled or marked with question marks. Why not get more points if you can?
<p>
Make sure your answer isn't just the one you agree with most. Instead it needs to be the best answer to the question, based on the information in the test (not based on your own personal beliefs).
<p>
In math and reading comprehension, make sure that the answer you pick is the answer to the question you were asked.
<p>
On the open-ended math questions (no A, B, C, D, E to choose from), there is no penalty for putting down a wrong answer.
<p>
Rack up as many points as possible by doing everything you can to answer as many questions correctly as possible. Do the reading, do the work, narrow down your choices, double check everything, be careful, be careful, be careful, and use every minute and every opportunity you have to try to improve your score.
<p>
If you find this really helped you a lot, and you have a couple dollars you want to shoot my way, you can at PayPal using the e-mail chris@spanishpronto.com Appreciated, of course.
<p>
Buying the SAT book through the link above will not add anything to your price, but will earn me a modest commission, which I usually just spend with Amazon anyway.
<p>
So, get a good night's rest, get to the test center early with your registration information, calculator, and sharpened pencils with erasers, and GOOD LUCK!
<p>
And remember, all anyone can do is their best, after you are admitted to college no one really cares about your SAT score ever again, and worst case you can always take the SAT test again and do better next time if you have to.
<p>
Do your best!
<p>joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-88651441078347895202013-05-18T19:01:00.000-07:002013-05-18T19:46:44.748-07:00The joaquimoly dietUnfortunately, it's not as delicious as that sounds. It is, though, what has always worked for me.
<p>
1) <b>Stop drinking things out of straws.</b> Even diet and no-calorie drinks have ingredients that are not the most natural or best for you, or at the very least they get you accustomed to a sweetness that you then seek out in everything else you drink or eat. On the extreme end, there are those 400 calorie drinks that do nothing to satisfy your hunger, and which overwhelm the 25 calories you burned walking a quarter mile round trip to get them. (Oh, you went to the drive-thru? Never mind.)
<p>
2) <b>Learn how to cook, or at least how to stir-fry vegetables.</b> Meals out are designed to make you crave them. The reason tomato soup made with cream tastes "just like restaurant soup" is, well, because restaurants have no qualms about dumping as much cream/butter, fat/oil/grease, salt, and sugar as necessary to make you think their food is "the BEST!" If you must eat at a restaurant, do it no more than once a week, and stop eating when you have eaten half the food on your plate. Eat the other half tomorrow for lunch.
<p>
<i>How to stir-fry vegetables:</i> On shopping day, buy lots of several kinds of vegetables, especially bok choy, but also things like carrots, celery, new potatoes (thin-skinned, not baking), onions, garlic, possibly mushrooms, broccoli, summer squash (thin-skinned), anything you like, really. That day or the next, chop up enough to fill a big bowl into small enough pieces that they will find the bottom of the pan when you are stir-frying them. Keep the garlic and the leafy parts of the bok choi separate from the other chopped vegetables. Make a big batch of rice.* Whenever you are hungry, warm the rice, and get out the vegetables, the oil (preferable sesame oil), and a pan. Put the pan on high heat, put in 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil, add vegetables (keeping heat on high), and stir like mad (at least constantly). When they are starting to show signs of being cooked (approx. 3 minutes), add the chopped bok choi leaves and chopped garlic and cook for another minute, possibly two. Remove from heat. Turn off burners. Quickly put some rice on the plate, the stir-fried vegetables on the rice, and sprinkle some ground ginger and some salt over the vegetables until it tastes good to you. Return uncooked chopped vegetables and, when cooled, the rice, to the fridge until time for the next 10-minute-or-less meal.
<p>
3) <b>Start breakfast with a really good piece of fruit, fresh fruit.</b> My favorite is a really ripe mango, but watermelon, canteloupe (muskmelon), strawberries, a banana, red bananas, a good pear, or almost anything will do. Alternatively, hot oatmeal poured over a sliced ripe banana or over thawed, crushed blackberries with a little sugar, but no milk (see point one about liquid calories), is also delicious. After the fruit, then go ahead and have a home-made muffin (see point two about commercially-prepared foods) or two or three, preferably also with fruit in them (apple, raisins, blueberries, cranberries).
<p>
4) <b>Don't go to bed until you have walked for at least 30 minutes (in addition to the walking you normally do during the day), preferrably 45.</b> Sixty (60) minutes is actually too much to do everyday (in my experience, anyway). If you are considering doing that much or more, you really need to talk with your doctor and/or your psychologist, or you could actually do yourself some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_nervosa">real harm</a>. (You are not your weight, and you are good enough already.) Alternatively, run for 15 to 22.5 minutes. You can do this first thing in the morning, at lunch, after work, or right before going to bed, but do it sometime before going to bed on at least five out of every seven days.
<p>
5) <b>Garden.</b> If you have never done it before, just get a pot that is at least one-foot deep (this is important, so roots have enough room!), get a tomato plant (at the right time of year for your location—when there is no frost) and some good potting soil and a tomato cage, and put it all together somewhere where it will see the sun most of the day and where you will see it every day, to keep it watered enough to not dry out, and to remember to fertilize it maybe once a month, if it looks like it could be doing better. If you want to expand beyond a tomato plant, do a cherry tomato plant. Then maybe a zucchini plant. Stick to the easy stuff so you will have success until you start feeling like being more adventurous. For true maximum show for little work, plant some "mammoth" sunflower seeds, in the ground, in a sunny location where you will see them frequently and water them.
<p>
6) <b>Don't eat on the couch in front of the TV;</b> otherwise, you will tend to mindlessly eat way too much of the wrong kinds of food.
<p>
7) <b>If you won't be able to resist it, leave it at the store.</b> Don't buy it. Don't bring it home. If you want ice cream, make yourself get up and go out to the ice cream shop, and then get a single scoop. It's more social and more fun, anyway.
<p>
8) <b>Tell yourself the truth.</b> Don't believe that "these calories won't count" or whatever other excuse (lie) you usually tell yourself. Tell yourself the truth, and then either act accordingly, or just be truthful about what you are doing.
<p>
9) <b>It's O.K. to be hungry sometimes.</b> If you are never really hungry, you are probably eating more than you need to for your activity level. I am not advocating anything drastic here (or in any of these points). I am just saying that it is not the end of the world to be hungry now and then throughout the day, say for an hour or two before eating. It's also not the end of the world to <i>not be</i> absolutely full, or even a tiny bit hungry, when heading to bed. If you are really hungry, though, by all means eat something, just not too much. I remember reading that the Okinawans follow the practice of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_hachi_bu">hara hachi bu</a>" (80 percent full)— eating only until they are 80% full. I don't follow that, exactly, but when I know that eating more would, truthfully, be eating too much, I usually stop right there (and maybe just eat any remaining pieces of tomato on the plate; too good, and not particularly fattening, anyway).
<p>
And that, my friends, or my Russian blogviews-spam bots, is the totally non-extreme, non-commercial, non-celebrity-related, non-advertised, and rather common-sense way to be healthy (or healthier). Basically it boils down to this: A) give priority to fresh fruits and vegetables, B) avoid liquid calories and commercially prepared drinks and foods (cook at home), and C) walk 30 to 45 minutes most days of the week.
<p>
<b>Fresh produce, water (or black tea or coffee or <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate">mate</a></i>), home cooking, and exercise.
</b>
<p>
It's almost too simple and too easy, and it is, and that's because I am not trying to sell you something. If anything, doing what I suggest here will also save you a lot of money. If it does, just start a new habit of socking most of it away at the beginning of the month, or every week, and then pretending you have to live on the rest. Then, when you are healthier and richer, let me know—and spread the word. : )
<p>
Brought to you by <a href="http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/bok-choy.html">bok choy</a>.
<p>
The usual disclaimer: Not intended to be taken as nutritional or medical advice. For that, talk to a nutritionist or a doctor.
<p>
*For rice, 2+ cups water for every 1 cup rice. For white rice, bring to a boil then reduce, covered, to warm (simmer) for 15 minutes. For brown rice, do the same, but simmer for 35 minutes. It is better to have too much water than too little. (Easier to pour off excess water than to scrape burnt rice off the bottom of the pot.)
<p>
Totally spaced (absolutely forgot to add) this last point:
<p>
10) <b>Don't eat red meat, and eat eggs in moderation.</b> Both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMAO">have recently been closely tied to hardening of the arteries</a>, which is a main cause of heart attacks. There are other negative health effects, too, which you can read about elsewhere, especially on sites with no ties to the USDA, the U.S. government generally, or to ranchers or egg farmers. (WHO sites, EU sites, or Canadian sites tend to provide less biased, more scientific, information.)
<p>joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-60723359894733069082013-04-14T19:51:00.000-07:002013-12-21T10:27:10.457-08:00When do I think of you?When do I think of you?
<p>
Mostly when I am getting ready for bed. And when I am waking up. Sometimes, during the day. More often than I would expect, when I dream. In church, virtually every time.
<p>
What do I think about you?
<p>
A far, far greater variety of things than you would imagine or think possible.
<p>
What do I wish you knew?
<p>
In short, everything. More than you will ever know.
<p>
What do I wish for you?
<p>
That you will be happy where you are.
<p>
And that some day you will understand.
<p>
C
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-68168963431547140092013-02-25T19:08:00.001-08:002013-02-25T19:10:08.062-08:00Two boats and a helicopterYou can find that story on Google.
<P>
It has been in my thoughts lately as I realize that you can't save a person in danger of drowning (metaphorically, that is), if they don't realize what they are getting themselves into, or if they misinterpret your attempt to throw them a lifeline as something else. Sometimes, after giving it a few good tries, you just have to stop trying to save them and watch them drown. It's not the first time.
<P>
It doesn't help that there is a certain level of excitement in doing the wrong thing and in gathering an audience to watch you drown, and even to support you while you do it!
<P>
It's <A HREF="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pore_over">pore over</A> books, by the way, not "pour over."
<P>
And a friend you know only through the Internet is not a friend, but a person onto whom you can project your fantasies and fill in the blanks the way you want them to be filled in. The real person on the other end is not the one you imagine him or her to be, and will probably get you into some real trouble in between the time you meet them for real and the time you realize who they really are.
<P>
Signed, the voice (and victim) of more than one such experience.
<P>
Pay more attention to the real people in your real life. Beware of the virtual world and virtual relationships. And when you go on and on about being miserable and broken and not understanding life, and some pitying stranger is kind enough to offer you a resource that will teach you what you don't already know and will allow you to not only understand life, but have it make sense and have meaning, at least give it a look. As hard as it is for you to go through what you are going through, it is almost harder to watch, knowing just how fixable it is if you would just read and understand what is taught here:
<P>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1573459194/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1573459194&linkCode=as2&tag=spanishpronto-20">Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=spanishpronto-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1573459194" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-6789527940295788072013-02-11T10:49:00.004-08:002013-02-11T10:52:46.588-08:00Conversions for unusual units of timeOnce in a blue moon = once every 2.71 years, on average
<P>
Once every death of a Pope = once every 12.75 years, on average, considering only the period from 1903 to 2005, given that all previous times occurred before 1900, which is about when being seen by a doctor started becoming more likely to help you than to hurt you.
<P>
Once every resignation of a Pope (or "abdication of a Pope") = once every 247.875 years to 495.75 years, on average, not counting Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, and depending on whether it was only four other Popes that have resigned or eight that have. Alternatively, if you want to consider only Pope Benedict XVI and the previous Pope to resign (Pope Gregory XII, in 1415), then you could say "once every 698 years."
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-87661498969960862822013-01-24T13:39:00.000-08:002013-01-24T13:39:09.127-08:00This world needs helpNearly every day I see new evidence that the world has the wrong priorities. The headlong rush into greater and greater techno-narcissism and techno-isolationism only twists those priorities even more out of whack.
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I could sit here and write a detailed blog post about it...
<P>
...but I would rather go out into the real world, do something good and productive, and find ways to be kind to real people.
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The rest of the world would do well--hopefully even better for a change--to get up, go out, and do the same.
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I will say that when it starts becoming all about you, that is a sign you are headed in the opposite direction from where you need to be going.
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Stop it. Drop it. And roll yourself 180 degrees around (now facing the world and the other people in it). Now go out, be kind, be helpful, and to the best of your ability leave your self and your preoccupation with yourself behind and go serve noble purposes and others and no longer serve, prop up, nourish, and defend your ego. There's no need to do that last part anyway. You are already fine. Already worthy of love. Already have nothing you must prove, to others or even to yourself. You're good. Now get out there and make the world better for everyone else.
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The world needs help.
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The world needs your help.
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Love knows no limits. Kindness is free.
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-30274267732019483462012-11-28T10:08:00.000-08:002013-02-19T10:43:25.163-08:00So glad to be doneWhen promised a chance to see a report before it is published, and then to have it published without ever getting that chance. To have my private e-mails published without permission, but only those parts that favor the other side. To have the other side present their side, quoting themselves in spots that are acceptable and describing the other, very unacceptable, things they said obliquely as "among other things." To be unsubscribed from all possibilities of discussion with the group barely one hour after the one-sided report is sent to the group.
<p>
Let's just say it at once presents a one-sided view of the story and, by their actions, sums up the real story better than anything I could say.
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<A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOU42aRo67E">Existen aves que cruzan el pantano y no se manchan...</A>
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So glad to be done.
<p>
Moving on...
joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-47026035401717713562012-07-23T22:44:00.001-07:002012-07-23T22:48:44.211-07:00It should be simple reallyI'm hoping someday to find someone who:<BR>
<UL>
<LI>Really likes kids, probably comes from a big family, has always wanted kids, and can still have them (ideally 2 or 4, or more?)
<LI>Can appreciate me: that I am cheerful, take good care of myself, can cook, play the piano well, go to church (Unitarian), and am, as a friend of a friend described me, "nerdy and sweet" (it hurts a little, but it is the truth, after all)
<LI>Also values love, family, and marriage, and maybe even also has suffered being married to someone who didn't
<LI>Is not self-centered or even a complete narcissist who thinks only of her own feelings and no one else's (see previous point)
<LI>Is intelligent, curious, spiritual, loving, and looking to continue growing in all of those areas
<LI>Takes good care of herself
<LI>Is a girlie-girl, enjoys being a girl and being feminine, and thinks that is a wonderful and natural thing for a woman to be, and to want to be (and understands what a gift that is, and a joy, for her husband)
<LI>Values complete honesty in her relationship with her life partner and being able to love each other fully as we really are, while also helping, inspiring, and motivating each other to become even better human beings
</UL>
Extra bonus points for knowing some Spanish (and wanting to learn more), being kind (even to bugs and spiders), and enjoying gardening, camping, and occasionally living abroad (probably in a Spanish-speaking country).
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The tough part is finding someone like this who is already local (Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater). Although I have looked farther away in the past, and even given it a good try, it's very difficult to build a real relationship unless you are close to each other.
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It is also difficult to find a real relationship in online dating sites, where 85% of the women in their late 30s are "never married" and for about half of those, in my experience, narcissism is the main reason why.
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Obviously, not everyone will match my wish list above, but I am hopeful that someday someone will.joaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-14759682503235976542012-06-20T11:47:00.001-07:002012-06-20T11:53:47.239-07:00There is no "other world." I only know what I have experienced....Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. <BR>
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate. <BR>
There are wheatfields and mountain passes, <BR>
and orchards in bloom.
<P>
At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight <BR>
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
<P>
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up <BR>
in the dark with eyes closed.
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Listen to the answer.
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<I>There is no "other world." <BR>
I only know what I've experienced.<BR>
You must be hallucinating. </I>
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— <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi">Rumi</A> (1207-1273)<BR>
From the poem "Wean Yourself," in <I>The Essential Rumi</I>, as translated by Coleman Barksjoaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-35625017074242137352012-06-17T00:26:00.002-07:002012-06-17T00:26:43.829-07:00Kindness, part 2"Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people."
--Aung San Suu Kyijoaquimolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15432817110194294666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5948385152204729747.post-70629733097243117952012-06-14T23:44:00.002-07:002012-11-28T12:31:31.313-08:00Argh! / (and 燕)Aaaaarrrrggggh! Just wanted to say that. For so many reasons.
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One of the main ones being my great sadness at running into this again, when I least expected it, and not being able to really do anything about it, though I so much wish that I could. People can change, and you can help them change, but this time it is so much and so entrenched it just seems hopeless. If I thought I could do it for her, I would. She has so much else going for her, and I know deep down this only masks her unhappiness, and even emptiness, and I wouldn't wish either of those things on anybody. But for her life to be truly happy for a change, she would have to understand what was keeping her from happiness, be brave enough to admit it to herself, and open up her heart and her mind to receive help and to consider new possibilities. The "Bonds That Make Us Free" book would be a good start, but I think it would take more than that. Just so sad, for me and especially for her.
<P>
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder</A>
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My best wishes for your future happiness. Truly.
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