text:
Friday, April 18, 2008
White Magic Friday #1: Hot Rod Nite
Emmmmm. Mmmmmm. Holding my own? Perhaps I should say I'm still in the game. There's a dance or two in this lame dame!
Thursday brought one of those rare spring evenings that just drive you outdoors and beg you to party on. And it happened that a town near us was having an odd, middle-of-the-week classic car night. So I told my daughters The Heir and The Spare to drop their homework and toddle off with me for an adventure. Which they were only too glad to do.
We went to the neighboring town, and the joint was jumpin'. There was an Elvis-era rock n roll band set up in front of City Hall, and the street was lined with souped-up classic cars.
When we go to stuff like this, I almost always embarrass The Heir and The Spare. The reason: I talk to everyone like I've known them all my life. It's just the way I am. I was raised in a place where everyone did that, and it stuck with me.
So we were passing this totally bitchin' maxed-out rod with a body circa 1962 and an engine stolen from NASA. The owner, a largish fella with a white ponytale and bandanna, was leaning proudly against the machine.
I said to him, "Whoa, this car is bitchin'. How fast does it go?"
And he said, "I don't know. The speedometer's broke."
And I said, "Well, that's an inessential piece of equipment anyway."
And he said, "When the paint starts to peel off her, I know she's goin' fast."
And we both laughed.
To me, this is white magic at work. If you can make a stranger laugh, and he or she makes you laugh in return, the bored gods just shower you with positive energy.
I'm not finished with Cindy Jacobs's nasty diatribe about the occult, Deliver Us from Evil. Not by a long shot. We haven't gotten to the demon-possessed cats yet! But reading this loathsome book has got me determined to share white magic with y'all in order to counteract the widespread notion that all magic comes from de debbil. From now on, whenever I post on Friday, the topic will be How To Improve Your Life through White Magic.
So here's White Magic Lesson #1: Make a stranger laugh.
Please don't use dumb blonde jokes. That really big dude with the white ponytail might have been blonde back in the day.
6 comments:
- THE Michael said...
I just wish we, as pagans, could make the idea of harming others so alien, so shameful, so UN-macho, that the idea of hexing or anything so stupid would be the farthest from anyone's mind, unless of course they WANTED to be thought of as less than human.
- April 18, 2008
- BBC said...
And he said, "When the paint starts to peel off her, I know she's goin' fast."
I take it that you choose at that time to ignore the pollution those cars produce?
Not that I didn't do my share, just that I try not to anymore. Trying to save the spare ya know.
- April 18, 2008
- yellowdog granny said...
i love making strangers laugh out loud...when you make your friends laugh, it's a good thing, but they know you're funny and almost laugh at anthing you say...strangers laughing at you..well, that's golden....dang, i knew white magic and didn't even know it..
- April 18, 2008
- Big Tex said...
Should we be making them laugh at us, or with us? For me, the former would probably be easier to pull off.
- April 18, 2008
- Anne Johnson said...
Re pollution and classic cars: They're grandfathered. And rare.
- April 19, 2008
- Aquila ka Hecate said...
You perform white magic all the time, Anne!
Terri in Joburg, Laughing.
- April 19, 2008


text:
December 13, 2012
Potty (NOT) Training
Potty (NOT) Training
17 comments:
hahahaha you aint about that life son! aww, so adorable - she will get there - girls are so much easier than boys and they get the hang of it alot faster! so she will be fine - and tell that teach to back off - I mean, tell her you are trying...lmbo!ReplyDelete
Ohhhh poor Peyton and mommy... I don't have anything to add, I was just really blessed that Maddy was easy to train... she was about Miss P's age when she was trained. I started training right after I began to notice a pattern with her being dry when she woke up in the morning. If I noticed she was dry, I would take her half sleep behind to the potty and let the water run at the sink to kinda help her along... it worked. Sorry I have nothing to add.. I'm sure she'll be fully trained soon :)ReplyDelete
Wow she is really not feeling potty training. It seems like you're doing all the right things. Just keep encouraging her and making it fun. Hopefully she will come around. I don't have much advice to give because I was never consistent. My mom took both my girls for a week and came back trained with no accidents even at night. Good luck.ReplyDelete
Potty training is not easy. It ruined my life for about a week. Peyton will go when she's ready. I used a sticker chart and M&Ms if she pooped. It was tough though and I think it took us almost a week to get her fully trained. Then again, I trained her early so she wasn't smart enough to tell me "No" the way I'm sure she would now. She'll be going potty before you know it! Hang in there!ReplyDelete
Yes! hey it's Peyton's twin from Chicago. Girl my child does all the above and my mom insist she will go when she is ready, stressing them about it only makes it worse. Good thing is Sadah is going at the sitter the last few days but at home....as you say not about the potty life with all the accidents. let's stay prayerful for 2013. Ha!ReplyDelete
It'll happen!ReplyDelete
You might try naked from the waist down when at home (or a skirt/dress) because panties do feel like a diaper! For my not-night-trained 2yo son, it's important to take the pull-up off *first* thing in the morning, otherwise he seems to have trouble the rest of the day.
Don't stress too much; stress = more accidents!
And feel free to check out a post I did a couple weeks ago on potty-training my second!
Only suggestion is to be consistent and try not to be frustrated. You will hear tons of methods and ways to do things but the method doesn't matter really - it's the consistency. Good luck!ReplyDelete
Aww poor Peyton! I think she'll get it just give her a little time especially since she's getting upset about it. It took Madison a couple of weeks and we had a lot of help from her day care provider. We would clap every time she went and that made her extremely happy!ReplyDelete
Hmm girls are usually easy. My son was not fully trained until almost 3 I usually bribe them. When all else fails bribing works.ReplyDelete
Haha awwwww. This makes me really not want to have kids LOL. I`m in the process of potty training my dog (I know thats nothing like a kid) but he knows he has to go outside but if he goes once and its cold he decides to just go in the house. Hopefully Peyton decides she likes the potty. xxReplyDelete
I used to read this blog (she is invite only now) but she said she would let her daughter put stickers on the side of the potty...and that showed how many times she would go! Maybe that would help.ReplyDelete
Keep at it girl, just keep at it. She is smart and will get it very soon!ReplyDelete
I love how sassy she is telling she doesn't want to use the potty...I hope she gets with it soon:-) it sounds stressful!ReplyDelete
We had her two year check up last week and the doctor said 2 1/2 is the best time for potty training, so you're ahead of the game by doing it now. We're doing it now, when there's no pressure. She'll go when she's ready!ReplyDelete
Awww. I wish you the best of luck with the potty training business. It is not an easy task. My daughter wasn't as hard to train as my son, but they both wore me out! I remember the begging, the pleading, and the embarrassment of them just going some of anywhere when I thought they were ready for underwear. Ugh.ReplyDelete
Just hang in there! It gets better! In a few months, you'll be laughing about all of this-- TRUST.
Sorry, to hear about your troubles with Miss. P potty training. I have always heard that it was so easy for girls… For me, it just took a lot of patience, sometimes the night time was a struggle. I have a nephew who just turned three in November, and I know it has been really hard for my sister potty training him. When, I have him over, he usually have at least one accident. My best advice would be to be persistent. "Just a suggestion" Instead of saying "do you have to use the potty" maybe you could say "do you have to use the princess chair" or even having her pick out her own potty that she likes… I wish you this best with this.ReplyDelete
Mrs. Delightful
((HUG)) I know how hard that potty training life is!!! Pookah resisted until he was almost 3! Even now, he will INSIST that he doesn't have to go!! But he stays dry unless he gets too busy to go SMH. But we're coming along! Now staying dry at night..I'll worry about that later. He stays dry about 75% of the time at night. But he's in pullups at night because I can't deal with changing sheets at 2am.ReplyDelete
But anyway, She will get it! I think kids just have to wrap their minds around it! Just be consistent, that really helped us.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Rob -
I have been thinking about Interstellar a lot since I saw it last Saturday. I like what Sam Thielman said about the film, which is mainly that character development gives way to plot in every way. You could almost say that the only two constants in the universe of Interstellar are gravity and McConaughey's character, Cooper.
Even the plot has some early gaps. Primarily, Nolan has to get these people into space as quickly as possible in order to start showing us some really incredible visual effects. Backstory with potential, be damned. Once there, we can safely enjoy the ride without fear of being disappointed by the price of our IMAX ticket. Nolan is a great director: he knows how to make a movie that audiences will love, even if we don't understand everything that's happening.
I didn't get all the space and multi-dimension stuff in the theater. But I respect that Nolan didn't water down the science, even if the science is what makes the film hard to follow. At some points, the music overwhelmed the dialog so that I couldn't make out exact explanations of events or phenomena. Suppose that's the movie telling us that the emotion is what matters more than the quantum physics. I like that.
But here's the kicker for me: I wasn't sure when I left the theater if Interstellar was a good movie. I'm not going to address it's length besides saying that it was too much movie for one movie. I get all the science stuff (or I get that it is science stuff), and that's cool. I get that in some ways this movie is an ode to a time when space seemed like a place we could go and conquer. I'm for that, I'm pro-NASA. I just can't decide if things got too complicated outside the characters to make their interpersonal interactions really meaningful. That's what makes a good story to me. The only time a real human feeling breaks through the wormhole is the sequence with Matt Damon's character. That taps into something deeper—way deeper. That whole scene is just buzzing with that question: what must it be like to be all alone on a cold planet literally millons of miles away from Earth and know that you will never be rescued? Oh, and his character's name is Dr. Mann. That's deep, too.
I have to admit, despite my hesitation about Interstellar as a great movie, I have thought about it, talked to friends about it, even googled science facts trying to understand it better. If the quote at the top of this blog means anything at all, then maybe Interstellar is a good flick. I'm just not certain.
Don't let this review keep you from seeing the movie. It's fun…I just think that for all the fireworks, it's missing that big bang.
Kyle -
We had many of the same thoughts and emotions. I described it to James as Christopher Nolan had the money and freedom to make his own, personal high-production pornography. My perfect porn would involve hiking, sports, and hand-jobs. His involves upside down twirly gravity in the future relativity time-lapse earth blight reality possibility scientific universes and Matt Mc. I thought it was Matt Mc in space doing crazy shit. HOWEVER, I fucking loved it! I had so much fun watching this movie. Had Nolan attained sci fi perfection then I'm not sure I would have had fun. I might have called it a good movie -- because then it would have really taken me somewhere -- but I wouldn't have had as much fun. I mean, 2001 Space Ody is work to watch, right? I even enjoyed the rushed parts of this. Some were so rushed that it felt like I was watching a B movie. That's interesting isn't it? I need to think more about that (possible to mix A list and B list movie making practices?).
I loved it. I thought the whole thing was a blast. I loved the cast and the score/music/soundtrack was really cool. Ultimately, I'm a sucker for blight, the future, deep space, decent tunes, and Matt Mc. I didn't need the emotion that wasn't there. I just needed the fun stuff. This might be the theme of Christopher Nolan -- I can't recall any moral/value introspection I've had during any of his movies. But I do say things like, "Whoa, Inception was so much fun and cool and expensive." In this way, Nolan movies are like your first European travel experience -- everything looks so cool and inviting, and then you realize that Europeans can be annoying just like Americans can -- we're all B-Listers, Nolan included.
Last things I'll say, I don't tell everyone to go see it. I only tell certain friends to go see it. I know many people that will hate it. I also know some good souls that will join me and Nolan on our cinematic pleasure cruise. (Weirdest sentence I have ever written, that last one). I'm going to predict that Luke will only like certain parts of this. I think he will think that most of the movie is wasting his time -- and I won't disagree with him. But I'll have fun on that re-watch.
Luke -
Interstellar is a fantastic movie. I mean, Interstellar was fantastic for me. Are you like me? I once attended a talk by a prominent scientist from California, after which there was an informal question and answer session for students to "learn how to think" or some shit like that. One student asked the scientist, "What do you read?" Now, let me paint this picture for you. This scientist is a badass and he has figured out all sorts of innovative and insanely cool ways to answer his scientific questions. He publishes all the time in top scientific journals and he is well-respected. He also looks like a total punk—all black clothes, stringy long hair, shorts and black leather boots—which I appreciated. So, "what do you read?"
He replied, "I read two things. First, instrument manuals" [which are huge-ass, boring magazines of all the different scientific machines and equipment you can buy] "because they are our tools. You can't know how to approach a problem unless you understand what tools are available to you. And secondly, I read science fiction—well, good science fiction—because it is creative and incredibly predictive of the future." Okay I'll be honest that's not a direct quote but it's really close.
Anyway, I was obsessed with science fiction before hearing this advice and I am all the more obsessed now. So that is what I am like. Interstellar is good science fiction. Christopher Nolan appointed a theoretical physicist from Caltech, Kip Thorne, to keep the science of Interstellar on point. Check this guy out: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~kip/. I invite you to navigate to "publications" on his page and scroll down. Your computer will probably die of too long. The point is that, while Interstellar is a movie that paces out the ledge of human knowledge and then just belly flops right on into the void, it is a well-instructed process up until the leap. And then, who knows, am I right? That is how science fiction should be.
And let's be honest: I cried four times. This wasn't a cold film saturated with science boredom; it had some major dramatic moments that tore at the ol' heartstrings. Murphy, the daughter, just basically raged through my emotional fragility, breaking lamps and Russian dolls and shit. I could barely look at the screen during her scenes. You know how sometimes you tear up and other times a tear actually rolls down your cheek, and then, when shit gets really real, there's as much snot coming out of your nose as there are tears streaming out of your eyes? That's what this was like for me.
I also enjoyed the depiction of our future not only in a post planet meltdown scenario—towards which we are rapidly heading due to climate change—but also the themes of distrust in science, which are unfortunately more widespread in our current society than I'd like to think about. And, in comparison to Gravity—which depicted the female scientist as a total freakout who needed the calm and collected Clooney hero to save the day—Interstellar presented its two secondary protagonists as intelligent and competent female scientists. I was a big fan of that. Maybe one day there will be an intelligent and powerful, competent, and somewhat hubristic female who plays the primary protagonist in a major blockbuster. Keep working, Hollywood. If you make it, I'll buy a ticket. I promise.
I have two major qualms with the movie (spoiler alert).
1) This is a bit obvious, but when we find out towards the end of the movie that the gravitational communications Murphy was receiving do not come from aliens but rather from her own father in the future, that nixes the pre-existing plotline framework that the wormhole next to Saturn was placed there by extraterrestrial beings to help us reach new worlds. So, how the hell did the original wormhole get next to Saturn if neither aliens nor her father could have put it there? It seems extraordinary that chance would place the wormhole in our system considering the incredible expanse of the universe.
2) Marine sciences, bitches. On the first planet they visit where they discover the wreckage of one of the original astronaut's ships in knee deep water, they immediately find themselves in danger of massive (~1000ft) rolling waves. Ladies and gentlemen, this is impossible. That is not how waves work. The wavelength (the distance between the tops of two waves in succession) of these waves appeared to be on the order of miles. According to the physical properties of waves, the water depth for this rolling, non-breaking wave would have to be greater than half of the wavelength. In other words, if the distance between the two big rolling waves that they try to escape from was 1 mile, then the depth of water would have to be greater than 2,640ft, so this could definitely not be knee deep water. Fuck you, Christopher Nolan, you should have hired a marine scientist! Just kidding, I love your movies.
All in all, Interstellar was a fantastic movie. And regarding the predictive nature of science fiction, consider this for a moment: human beings are specialized to survive under certain planetary conditions and those conditions are changing rapidly. Not only is it feasible, it is likely that our species will have to make drastic changes to survive in our future environment. Meanwhile, NASA launched an unmanned Delta IV rocket into space yesterday. The success of this mission was crucial because NASA intends for this rocket to carry humans to an asteroid in the next 10 years and also to deliver humans to Mars by 2030.
Also, do y'all think there are aliens?


text:
David Brock is a Clinton loyalist, apparatchik for the Democrat Party as founder of Media Matters, and the former boyfriend of Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis who, though a "mere" pizza restaurateur, was named by GQ magazine as 49th among the 50 most powerful people in Washington, D.C.
8 months ago in September 2016, someone hacked into Correct the Record — a Hillary super PAC founded by Brock — and obtained the transcript of a conversation between Brock and three other Democrat operatives the morning after the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The transcript was posted on Reddit and other sites.
Although the Sept. 26 debate was rigged to favor Hillary by outfitting her podium with a teleprompter (see "Hillary used a teleprompter during first debate with Trump"), the post-debate polls all had Trump as the winner, which prompted the morning-after chat between Brock and the three Democrat operatives:
- ekim
- efink: Elliot Fink, HR office manager/executive assistant of Correct the Record
- cshaw: Connor Shaw (?), Special Projects, Correct the Record.
The chat is interesting and significant for at least two reasons:
(1) Referring to Hillary Clinton as "the sick thing," Brock et al. were surprised by how good Hillary or her imposter looked in the debate ("whoever that was, she looked pretty good. how tf did they do that?" "i can't talk. very hush hush.") because just "a couple of weeks" before the debate, Hillary had performed poorly on two cognitive impairment tests:
- A score of 3 on AMTS — Abbreviated Mental Test Score, a 10-question test to access elderly patients for the possibility of dementia. A score of 7-8 or less suggests cognitive impairment at the time of testing, although further and more formal tests are necessary to confirm a diagnosis of dementia, delirium or other causes of cognitive impairment.
- A score of 22 on MMSE — Mini-Mental State Examination, a 30-point questionnaire that is used extensively in clinical and research settings to measure cognitive impairment and to screen for dementia. Any score below 24 can indicate severe (≤9 points), moderate (10–18 points) or mild (19–23 points) cognitive impairment.
(2) Panicking that Hillary had lost the debate ("we're losing 100%"; "Trump made her look like a girl."), and recognizing that Trump's supporters are "enthusiastic" and "organized," Brock et al. vowed they "have to stop the bleeding" and must "hit back hard" with new methods because "the usual means" of online trolling ("disruption scripts" and "down-voting") "isn't working" and because Trump supporters are sub-human "deplorables".
Brock et al. said "we need to start hurting people" by deploying NSA spy software, specifically FOXACID, on Reddit, Twitter, 4chan and 8chan posters, identifying their leaders, getting their IP addresses, doxing (obtain personal information of an Internet poster, including real name, known aliases, address, phone number, SSN, credit card number, etc.), tracking their online activities , and infecting their computers with "magic lanterns" — viruses that log the keystrokes of the infected computer. For all of which Brock said "we have full clearance. Word of God."
FOXACID is a National Security Agency (NSA) software designed to hack into target computers with spam and QUANTUM — a program where servers deployed at key places on the Internet backbones impersonate legitimate Web sites and trick the target's browser into visiting a FOXACID server. If the target's browser is exploitable, further permanent "implants" (rootkits etc.) are deployed in the target computer, e.g. OLYMPUSFIRE for Windows, which give complete remote access to the infected machine.
The chat ended with Brock ordering the three operatives to compile a list of information on more than a thousand online posters. After Brock logged off the chat, one of the operatives asked what Brock would do with the information they'll give him on the Trump supporters, the ominous answer was:
"google Seth Rich and shut up about it."
Seth Rich, a DNC staffer believed to have provided thousands of damaging DNC emails to WikiLeaks, was murdered on July 10, 2½ months before the Trump-Hillary debate.
Below is the transcript of the Brock et al. chat:
Begin Transcript ekim [5:52 AM]
ekim [5:52 AM] set the channel purpose: clean up this mes
brock [5:52 AM] joined post-debate from an invitation by @ekim
brock [5:53 AM] go round up the others. i need some coffee.
ekim [5:53 AM] will do
efink [5:54 AM] motherfucker.
brock [5:54 AM] good morning to u to fink.
efink [5:55 AM] the only good thing about it was that whoever that was, she looked pretty good. how tf did they do that?
brock [5:56 AM] i can't talk. very hush hush. still, we've lost every online poll and we need to get tough here. get this under control.
[5:56] still, i hope we put the sick thing to bed.
[5:56] i hope.
efink [5:57 AM] me 2. do i have time for coffee?
brock [5:57 AM] we're all gonna need a lot of coffee.
ekim [5:58 AM] shaw is on his way sir.
[5:59] i don't see what's so bad. She looked really healthy! I thought she did GREAT!
efink [5:59 AM] she was scoring 3 on AMTS a couple of weeks ago and 22 on mmse. Yeah, whoever that was was normal.
[6:00] but the telemetry sucks. look at all the snap onlines: we're losing 100%
[6:00] romney v obama numbers
ekim [6:01 AM] but those don't mean anything
efink [6:01 AM] it means they're enthusiastic. organized. if they can swarm a poll whats to stop them swarming a voting booth?
[6:01] it also creates a counter-nar. the free press will sniff it. we have to stop the bleeding.
ekim [6:01 AM] k
efink [6:02 AM] don't worry. we have something. GET SHAW OUT OF BED.
[6:02] i'm going for coffee.
cshaw [6:05 AM] hello!
[6:06] hi Liz.
[6:06] I see we're not happy :disappointed:
brock [6:06 AM] Not at all.
cshaw [6:06 AM] I read the round-up. It looked good?
brock [6:07 AM] the round up my burning ass. I'm talking about the real world. Trump made her look like a girl. Today we hit back. We hit back hard.
[6:07] Fink?
efink [6:07 AM] one sec.
[6:10] okay. guys, this is 18-2381 stuff. Got it?
cshaw [6:10 AM] yes
ekim [6:10 AM] yes sir.
efink [6:11 AM] alright. we need to move beyond the disruption scripts and down-voting. we need to start hurting people and that's what this is about. This is about winning because we'll never get a chance at this again. everything is justified. David?
brock [6:11 AM] dramatic.
[6:13] fuck–okay. so the Trump team is an emergent order. thirty million little chan and reddit assholes that bump around and then congeal to vote in a poll or push a meme or make a hashtag trend or whatever. This is new. It isn't like fighting a centrally organized campaign.
[6:13] It's more like fighting a disease.
[6:14] So what we need to do is break the pattern. The usual means isn't working. Trump's too charismatic. Morale is too high. This is an army of chaos folks.
[6:14] so we have full clearance. Word of God.
[6:15] Fink–let's do this. I have a plane to catch.
efink [6:16 AM] uploaded and commented on an image: foxacid.jpg 1 Comment FOXACID
ekim [6:16 AM] Ew.
cshaw [6:16 AM] i like it! wtf is it??
efink [6:17 AM] This is manna from heaven, kids.
[6:18] We have the use of an NSA intrusion package. We are going to find the thought leaders. the meme-generators. the shit-posters. I need a target analysis for reddit, twitter, and the chans by tomorrow 5 PM.
[6:18] You will monitor, identify, and using the FA [foxacid] software set we have, identify/dox.
cshaw [6:18 AM] that will dox them??
efink [6:20 AM] It will man-on-the-side for the anon boards and intercept traffic. We can use that for IP addresses and loading tracking software and magic lantern onto their devices. Once we have them compromised
[6:20] David? How many do we need?
brock [6:21 AM] I want 150 from 4chan, whatever you can get from 8. I want 1000 top reddit drivers exposed and I want content analysis for their posts. I want the people who are really driving their narrative.
[6:22] I need all that in a packet by tomorrow afternoon with lexical analysis, proof of compromise. I want clips of memes. I want to up-vote patterns. All this has to be inside the US too. We can't use externals.
cshaw [6:23 AM] It won't work outside the US?
efink [6:23 AM] It works fine outside the us you idiot. That's NSA stuff.
brock [6:24 AM] WE don't work outside the US. Do you think this is fucking bean-bag?
[6:24] We are going to disrupt them before this shit goes any further.
[6:24] if they don't have leaders, we're going to get their thought leaders.
cshaw [6:24 AM] like pajama boy!
brock [6:25 AM] I AM NOT N THE MOOD cshaw
cshaw [6:25 AM] sorry
efink [6:26 AM] just get us the target profiles. Hit the numbers. Give us a matrix for each of them. Okay? PII, influence grid, recent activity, Q-rate. Like that.
[6:26] You know what to do.
cshaw [6:26 AM] Yes sir.
ekim [6:26 AM] What are we going to do with that?
brock [6:27 AM] dof u really want tio fucking know, kim?
ekim [6:27 AM] i'm good.
brock [6:28 AM] u better be. I am going to get a plane. You will be up ALL NIGHT. Keep the lab LOCKED. Fink bring in pizza or whatever to keep the kids going.
[6:28] I am out.
cshaw [6:28 AM] does it have to be We the Pizza?
efink [6:29 AM] Brock LIKES WtP. What do you want?
ekim [6:29 AM] Sushi. Sushi would be nice.
efink [6:30 AM] what do you think this is, the Trump campaign. We're getting pizza from We.
[6:30] Get those files together.
ekim [6:30 AM] I'm on it. Do you know what brock is going to do with them? I do kind of want to know, sir.
efink [6:31 AM] google Seth Rich and shut up about it.
cshaw [6:31 AM] OOg.
[6:32] well, they are deplorable. idk. I think we should have done this a long time ago.
efink [6:32 AM] get working kids. I'll check back in a couple. Have something for Brock before he hits the ground. k?
ekim [6:33 AM] I'm sick of We the Pizza.
cshaw [6:33 AM] me2.
[6:33] :confused:
ekim [6:33 AM] :confused:
Update (June 7, 2017):
In a series of comments (see below), blogger Max Insider of a hoax fake-news site called RealTrueNews — which is neither real nor true nor news — claims that he concocted the David Brock chat transcript and blames his deception on Trump supporters. See his December 27, 2016 fake post: "Inside Correct the Record: Post-Debate PLOT!".
Notwithstanding Max Insider's claim (whose alias is yet another lie as he is no "insider" of anything but hoaxes) that the Brock transcript is a hoax, it should be pointed out that the NSA in fact does engage in the nefarious activities described in the transcript — those of "doxing" online posters and deploying FoxAcid to attack and infect their computers. The following is from a UK Guardian article on Oct. 4, 2013:
"Secret servers and a privileged position on the internet's backbone used to identify users and attack target computers
The online anonymity network Tor is a high-priority target for the National Security Agency. The work of attacking Tor is done by the NSA's application vulnerabilities branch, which is part of the systems intelligence directorate, or SID. The majority of NSA employees work in SID, which is tasked with collecting data from communications systems around the world.
According to a top-secret NSA presentation provided by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, one successful technique the NSA has developed involves exploiting the Tor browser bundle, a collection of programs designed to make it easy for people to install and use the software. The trick identified Tor users on the internet and then executes an attack against their Firefox web browser.
The NSA refers to these capabilities as CNE, or computer network exploitation.
The first step of this process is finding Tor users. To accomplish this, the NSA relies on its vast capability to monitor large parts of the internet. This is done via the agency's partnership with US telecoms firms under programs codenamed Stormbrew, Fairview, Oakstar and Blarney.
The NSA creates "fingerprints" that detect http requests from the Tor network to particular servers. These fingerprints are loaded into NSA database systems like XKeyscore, a bespoke collection and analysis tool which NSA boasts allows its analysts to see "almost everything" a target does on the internet….
After identifying an individual Tor user on the internet, the NSA uses its network of secret internet servers to redirect those users to another set of secret internet servers, with the codename FoxAcid, to infect the user's computer. FoxAcid is an NSA system designed to act as a matchmaker between potential targets and attacks developed by the NSA, giving the agency opportunity to launch prepared attacks against their systems.
Once the computer is successfully attacked, it secretly calls back to a FoxAcid server, which then performs additional attacks on the target computer to ensure that it remains compromised long-term, and continues to provide eavesdropping information back to the NSA."


text:
project so much that I asked Leslie (Queen of AS) if I could have another one just for fun. I got a brightly colored paper pack and was inspired to do a Spring Garden theme. An image from the Women and Flowers collage sheet was the perfect size and had all the right colors for the cover of the book.
I love how this "woodgrained" paper looks almost like book pages. Here's the spine and top of the book:
The Little Book of Perfect Men held ATC cards, but this book has a secret that's a bit more fun: a tiny garden and a tiny gardener, plus a pretty songbird and a sweet little bunny.
I used some Leafy Green Underbrush for a grassy lawn, and a stick from my yard for a tree. Some tiny leaves from some Miniature Coiled Leaf Stems were glued onto the branch with a little dab of hot glue. The bunting and the birdhouse were cut from the paper that was featured on the sides of the secret drawer, and the pennants in the bunting were attached to the back with dimensional glue dots to give them some depth.
I thought this would be a great playset, so the rabbit and the peg doll are removable.
click here.


text:
HTC Desire customers on the Three network, your big moment has arrived...well nearly, at least.
The official Three data and news Twitter feed has just posted to say that Froyo will be making it onto your handset at 16:00 Taiwan time on 14 October. That's 9am UK time.
The tweet states that HTC has confirmed that version 2.25.771.1 of Android is all geared up and ready to go.
When HTC first announced the Froyo upgrade back at the end of July it stated:
"As well as including the complete set of Android 2.2 features, the update will contain a few special additions of our own through the latest iteration of HTC Sense.
"The update will provide 720p video capture, HTC's App Share widget, as well as our enhanced HTC Caller ID, and improved multi-language keyboard. Also, through the update, HTC Sync will allow HTC Desire users to sync their music with iTunes.
"HTC Desire users will be notified that the over-the-air update is available to download when their phone automatically checks for software updates. The update won't delete any of the phone's content. However, due to the size of the update, we would advise using a Wi-Fi connection to download it wherever possible to avoid additional data charges".
So there you have it. It's Froyo fun all of the way.
Are you a Three HTC Desire user? Let us know if and when you receive the update and how it works out for you. In the meantime, say your goodbyes to Eclair - you guys have been through a lot together.


text:
By Scott Spanbauer
Exploits allowing hackers to break into Gmail accounts are likely to occur, if they're not already circulating, after security researchers released details of a hole that Google has reportedly declined to patch.
There are steps you can take to reduce the risk of using a webmail account, but it appears that the usual tricks won't solve the Gmail problem until Google fixes the software.
The weakness that researchers say afflicts Gmail, a free e-mail service hosted by Google, belongs to a class of attacks known as cross-site request forgery (CSRF, pronounced "sea surf").
Besides Gmail, CSRF holes affecting YouTube, Netflix, and NYTimes.com have also been found and repaired in the past. CSRF attacks use security flaws in cookies, password requests, and other interactive Web components to intercept communications between your browser and a Web site's server.
The first report of the Gmail problem within security circles was written by Vicente Aguilera Díaz of Internet Security Auditors (ISA) on July 30, 2007. The next day, ISA issued an alert and included a proof of concept illustrating how the exploit could be used to change a Gmail account password.
After more than a year during which, according to ISA, Google was repeatedly contacted privately about the problem researchers publicly released a detailed description of the exploit on March 3, 2009, according to a Secure Computing article.
The magazine quoted an unnamed Google spokesman as saying, "We've been aware of this report for some time, and we do not consider this case to be a significant vulnerability, since a successful exploit would require correctly guessing a user's password within the period that the user is visiting a potential attacker's site."
Considering that an automated attack can test thousands of passwords in a matter of seconds, you might not be very reassured by Google's position. Many PC users select weak passwords that consist of common names or dictionary words, leaving them susceptible to brute-force discovery. And the general release of the CSRF technique makes it easy for hackers to write opportunistic code, if actual exploits aren't already in the wild.
The March 3 public disclosure should not be confused with an earlier Gmail CSRF flaw that was first reported on Jan. 1, 2007. Google repaired that problem by the following day, according to a blog post by software consultant Hari Gottipati.
XSS vulnerabilities have recently been discovered and patched in many browsers and on many sites, including Yahoo Mail and Hotmail as well as Gmail.
Provide some protection for webmail with https
Google, Yahoo, and other Internet services cover themselves by stating that you use the services at your own risk. A major threat of using any webmail service is that a hacker could swipe or guess your password and take over your account.
If your Google account includes such personal information as stored credit card numbers (for Google Shopping, for instance), a contact list, photos, and business or financial documents, having your account hacked could be more than just an inconvenience.
One way for an attacker to steal passwords — especially given the ubiquity of open, unencrypted Wi-Fi networks — is to use software that "sniffs" Internet traffic. If you enter your username and password on a Web page without encryption, your inputs are transmitted as plain text, not just over a Wi-Fi connection but also through every router that happens to be located between you and the service's machine.
Fortunately, the Big Three webmail services — Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail — and many other Web sites provide protection for their sign-in sessions using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. SSL enables a Web browser to scramble any sign-in data before pumping it out naked across the Internet's plumbing.
To determine whether a site encrypts its sign-in procedure, look in your browser's address bar. The page's URL should begins with https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over SSL), as shown in Figure 1. Unencrypted pages use the http protocol.
Secure https connection to Gmail
Figure 1. Look for the https protocol in a browser's address bar, which indicates an encrypted connection.
Seeing the https protocol or the well-known "lock" icon in a browser's status bar is no guarantee that a particular site is legitimate, of course. The Anti-Phishing Working Group offers information on how these indicators can be spoofed by hackers as well as some tips to help you avoid scams.
If a sign-in page uses the https protocol, however, it's unlikely that your password will be sent as plain text across the Internet.
Gmail's sea-surf hole can't be closed by SSL
Some reports on the Web, such as an article at Softpedia.com, say using https during your Gmail sessions blocks CSRF attacks on the service.
Unfortunately, that's not the case for this Gmail hole, according to ISA's Aguilera. In an e-mail interview conducted in Aguilera's native Spanish, he said the flaw allows a hacker to take advantage of an encrypted session (the following is my translation from the original language):
* "In this vulnerability, the attacker causes the victim to generate, invisible to the victim, a request to the server (in which request the victim's authenticated session cookie is also transmitted).
"When the server receives the request, it sees that it comes from an authenticated session (the victim's), and thus is unable detect that, in reality, the request was instigated by the attacker.
"In other words, it's as if the victim/user actually created the request to the server, and the fact that the communication is encrypted is unrelated and doesn't prevent the attack."
Using https does prevent traffic sniffing and so-called man-in-the-middle attacks, so you should enable it regardless of whether Gmail's CSRF hole is ever patched.
To benefit from encryption when accessing Gmail, you should configure the service to use SSL by default. To do so, click Settings in the top-right corner of the main Gmail window, select Always use https in the "Browser connection" section at the bottom of the General tab, and click Save Changes.
Using encryption will slow Gmail's performance slightly, but this small price is worth it. The https protocol will encrypt not just your sign-in sessions but also the contents of your e-mails when they're sent between your browser and Google's servers.
POP3 and IMAP protect Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail
Sadly, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail don't provide a similar Always use https setting. But you can protect these two services' data, and also defeat Gmail's CSRF hole, by using a PC-based e-mail reader and retrieving your messages via the long-established POP3 or IMAP protocols.
When you use a PC-based client like Mozilla Thunderbird to read and send webmail, SSL encryption can prevent eavesdropping. Using IMAP or POP3 also gives you the option to delete sensitive messages that would otherwise remain on the remote server. (I rated Thunderbird and other free e-mail clients in a July 31, 2008, comparative review.)
IMAP and POP3 are supported by the free versions of both Gmail and Hotmail. Yahoo supports POP3, but only in the paid version of Yahoo Mail (U.S. $20 per year).
For instructions on using a PC-based client to retrieve messages from a webmail service, using Hotmail as an example, there's a step-by-step article on the subject at About.com.
Using https when signing in — and encryption when processing your webmail — makes it less likely your password or other personal information will be sniffed. This makes your webmail safer, no matter how long it may take before Google fixes the CSRF hole that has security researchers in a huff.


text:
Well, this is it...the conclusion of this blog. If you have just started reading, I encourage you to also read some of the older posts - the pre-project posts starting back in December 2006.
Thank you for reading and all your comments. Cheri, Denise, Karen, Teri, Deborah, Tomasina...and many more...thanks for posting comments regularly. They were very helpful and brought out some really interesting points.
I must admit...I am not sad about ending the blog. Although I think it served its purpose as a wonderful format for sharing ideas with a wide and diverse audience, it is yet another item on the technology "to do" list which I can now remove. I'm ready to spend that "blogging" time (when, exactly, did "blogging" become a verb anyway?) reading or practicing the piano...as in the good old project days.
My parting words: If this project has been intriguing to you, give it a try. You don't have to do the whole pre-1950s deal - just give up the cell phone or television for a week and see how you feel. You may really miss these things and have a new appreciation for there use...or you may not miss them at all. Either way, your perception of technology will change - and that's a good thing.
What now? I'm not sure. In the short term, I am going to wrap up the documentary about the project and graduate at the end of April. I think my energies this summer will be spent trying to figure out where to go from here with the project...the only thing I know for sure is that in some form I will continue to investigate the impact of technology on our lives.
If you would like to be put on my email list and receive periodic project updates, please send your email address to:
Ciao Bellas(os).
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Day 10 - Results - Conclusion
Posted by Retro Girl at 9:25 AM 31 comments:
Day 9 - Results - Media
On February 22nd the Ann Arbor News published an article about the project. I did what most people would do - I told my closest friends and family about it and bought several copies. I hoped that the article would encourage others to evaluate their interactions with technology. That was it - as far as I knew, the news of the project would travel only as far as the reaches of the local Ann Arbor News.
What I did not know is that the Ann Arbor News belongs to a "news sharing" network...these days that news sharing takes place over the Internet. By the next morning, the Chicago Tribune, the Seattle Times, and the Wilmington Star had picked the up article. To date, about 11 major newspapers around the country (that I know of) have published the story. As a result, about ten radio stations have called asking for interviews, as well as one television station. There was even an inquiry from NBC New York (which hasn't gone anywhere). I have also received numerous letters from people, ranging from people who remember the pre-1950s days well and want to share their story to those who are doing research in similar areas.
How do I feel about all this? Initially, I felt ridiculous. I am not stupid. I know there are so many people out there living much more simply than I did for those 30 days. I heard this story about a guy who went to live in the woods for a year with only a mug and a frying pan...and he TRIED to get some publicity...but no one wanted to write up the story. And then, of course, there are monks and nuns from many different religions who interact with very little technology their entire lives. And let us not forget the Amish. So I really started thinking about why my project really seems to be something that the media is interested in. Here's my conclusion:
The publicity is a result of the project being so ORDINARY. I'm just a thirty-something woman from the midwest who has a husband, dog, and a modest house...I teach a couple days a week and play the piano...and I gave up a lot of technology for 30 days and discovered that I was happier by doing so. That's it. End of story. It's something that people can relate to. Most people are not going to live in the woods for a year or become a monk or nun or turn off their electricity forever. But if there is a way to live a little more simply in their current situation, then that idea is appealing.
I also think that the story caught on because it was an interesting project that did not have a religious or political agenda. I went out of my way to not affiliate myself with any religion or political party during the media interviews. If I had associated myself with a specific religion or political party, than people on the "other side" would have been excluded (by their own doing). It is just my direct experience that once you place a label upon yourself, you also take ownership of everything that comes along with that label...and you separate yourself from those who do not share your label...whether you intend to do so or not. I did this project because I feel that we, as HUMANS, are just tired of being so overwhelmed with technology. I didn't want anything to get in the way of that basic message.
I couple of people accused me of being "soft" with the technology issue...that had I really spewed out the facts and statistics about the harm that technology does to society, the media would not have had any interest...that the media had interest because it was a "cute, little" project. Absolutely - I completely agree with that accusation. However, I garentee that had I taken a much more academic, hardcore fact approach to the issue, people would not have been influenced to change or evaluate their technology habits. I would not have received letters from random people across the country saying that because of hearing about the project and how happy I was by living without some of the technology, they decided to give up their cell phone or television or email. What is the use of spewing facts if people aren't stimulated to reflect and change? And the idea of the project was not to say that all technology is harmful - it was simply to say: take a step back from it, evaluate what's helpful or harmful in YOUR life, then make changes accordingly. That's all.
So we'll see what happens from here. Just yesterday, one month after the publication of the Ann Arbor News article, I received two phone calls - one from a radio station in Memphis, TN; the other from a radio station in Wichita, KS...so the story is somehow still circulating. Yet another unintended part of the project...the media interest in the story could be an entire research project.
Day 10 - Results - Overall
Posted by Retro Girl at 9:23 AM 2 comments:
Day 8 - Results - Food
The above picture is of the liquid heaven that I drank out of a glass bottle for the month of February - milk from a local dairy called Calders. They still sell milk in glass bottles at the local grocery stores, and they still provide home delivery. Unfortunately, I discovered their home delivery service after the project was complete...I may still give it a try one of these days.
Pre-project, I got a hold of a 1949 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and my mom loaned me a 1936 cookbook. I also looked up several recipes in some 1940's magazines (such as Ladies Home Journal and Home Companion). The recipe that sticks out in my mind was called "Chicken French Toast with Peas" (found in a Ladies Home Journal). It is exactly as it sounds - basically, french toast stuffed with chicken and a side of peas. My intentions were to try several of these recipes...the reality is that I tried very few.
My focus ended up being more of an avoidance of certain foods than trying new ones. I avoided fast food. Some people commented that this was inaccurate - that there were fast food restaurants. I discovered through research that, although there were what would have been considered "fast food' pre-1950s, it really didn't take off until McDonald's perfected the fast food technique in the mid-1950s...and even then, the average town may not have seen a fast food place until the 1960s. So, I decided just to avoid all fast food places altogether. I didn't eat much of it before the project, but I did enjoy an occasional Frosty and fries.
One of the biggest food effects of this project wasn't so much the food itself as it was how I purchased food. Like fast food restaurants, chain, corporate grocery stores were around pre-1950, but they were not the commonplace quite yet. So in an attempt to stay as pure as possible, I only shopped at small, local grocery stores. And, when possible, I tried to purchase locally produced foods. Also, like my gained awareness of fuel consumption, I also became very aware of my food consumption throughout this project...part of this awareness was a result of having to use cash and budget, therefore I became much less wasteful, but a bigger part was really analyzing everything I purchased and ate. What I discovered was that most food has become so chemically altered since the 1950s that it was truly impossible to
eat like people did pre-1950s. I tried my best by purchasing "organic" produce, but even doing so, it wasn't the same as pre-1950 days where people had their own gardens and canned so that they would have home grown, 100% chemical free vegetables in depths of winter. It is my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) that the label "organic" doesn't mean 100% chemical free...it just means that the produce complies with the standards of what is considered organic enough to receive the "organic" label - whatever those standards may be.
One of the most interesting things I did in terms of food was actually visit the Calder's Dairy Farm (the farm that still sells milk in glass bottles and does home delivery). Someone who has worked their for 15 years gave me an amazing tour of the farm. I got to meet their cows (every one of them had a name), see some of the farming technology that they do incorporate in their farming, and talk to them about the Calder's philosophy. Here's is a quote from one of their brochures:
"The trucks may get newer, the equipment more high tech and people will change, but our mission remains the same; to produce premium dairy products in the perfect container, a glass bottle, delivered to your door with a smile!"
It was so refreshing to see a company that has such a wise balance on the use of technology. They are not anti-technology by any means. They definitely use technology that benefits the farm as long as it does not harm or distress the cows. However, they are only willing to incorporate this technology if their primary mission is not at risk of being compromised. They are happy remaining small and local and producing a quality product and providing quality service...ahhh, the good old days. I was grateful to meet and thank the cows that produce my milk and, for the first time in a long time, really get in touch with the origin of the food that I consume.
Day 9 - Results - Media
Posted by Retro Girl at 9:22 AM 5 comments:
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Day 7 - Results - Appliances
Appliances...there were two biggies that I will write about - the dishwasher and the clothes dryer. Facts: the dishwasher and the dryer were invented pre-1950, but after doing research on these items (which included many personal interviews), I realized that the were not yet the commonplace for someone from my socioeconomic background.
The dishwasher:
I can honestly say that I enjoyed doing dishes. Now, keep in mind that only my husband and I live in our house, and we didn't have any big dinner parties during the 30 days...perhaps my tune would be different in a different situation. What I did discover in my present situation is that doing the dishes by hand gave me space to reflect...or not reflect. Basically, the times I did the dishes was space without intellectual stimulation or noise. It was a very simple form of "manual labor"; something that in this age of technology, many of us do not get the opportunity to experience. And my experience was that a little bit of manual labor provided a nice balance to my body/mind/spirit...Our minds are constantly getting workouts with the volumes of information that modern day technology delivers.
Once a trainer at the gym noticed that I was using this particular arm toning machine every day, with heavy weights and many repetitions. His advice to me was to rotate the toning machines...one day work on my legs, the next day work on my abs, then the next day work on my arms. He said that because I wasn't giving my arms a rest, the arm muscles never had a chance to actually grow and strengthen. The muscles actually grew the most on the "off" days. I think that this idea can be applied to our minds...it was during the "off" times, such as the times I spent doing the dishes by hand, that my mind truly had the opportunity to grow and strengthen.
There was also the question of whether or not these appliances actually live up to their "time saving" reputation...in the case of the dishwasher, I realize that I only save a small amount of time using the dishwasher (again, this is based on my present situation). I normally give the dishes a quick rinse before putting them in the dishwasher, and I often try to unload them a little to early, when they are not completely dry yet. So I often find myself hand drying some of them as well. By the time I figure in these redundant actions that have become such a integral part of my routine, I actually save very little time by using the dishwasher. Along this same line of thought, these redundant actions also result in excessive water usage. I know I use less water by hand washing the dishes.
On a humorous note, I was really bad at washing dishes by hand when I first started to do so. I thought I was doing a good job until I went to dry them and discovered hidden, dried food under the rims of bowls and on the backside of pans. So I practiced...I really had to pay attention. And that made me realize that so few activities force us to pay attention. We don't have to pay attention when we write - misspelled words and incorrect grammar automatically pop up in red and green, respectively. We often don't have to pay attention when someone is speaking about a topic; if we are really interested, we go home and pull up volumes of information on the Internet. And we don't have to pay attention when the dishes are being cleaned in the dishwasher; we trust that the dishwasher is getting them clean. It was refreshing to have to really pay attention.
The dryer:
All the above can also apply to line-drying clothes. We rigged a line in our basement...Michigan weather is a little less than ideal this time of year for drying outside (although pre-1950s, many would dry clothes outside year round regardless of the weather) And it is true...clothes stay in better shape in the absence of the dryer.
Just as hand washing dishes conserves water, line-drying clothes conserves electricity. To what extent, I don't know. But my curiosity has been sparked, and I will probably continue personal research in this area. And because the clothes will stay in better shape longer, line-drying also reduced the consumption of the clothes.
So although I the project is over, I've continued to wash dishes by hand (I think I did run one dishwasher load when I cleaned out the fridge). I must admit - I did use the dryer after the last load of wash. Like my return use of the credit card, I'm not exactly sure why I felt the need to use the dryer again. Maybe because it was there...looking lonely next to the washer? I know, poor excuse...but really, isn't that why we use a lot of this technology?
Day 8 - Results - Food
Posted by Retro Girl at 7:33 PM 2 comments:
Monday, March 12, 2007
Day 6 - Results - Credit Card/ATM
This blog about using cash instead of using a credit card or ATM could be very short - Bottom line: I saved $300 during the month of February, and I attribute that savings directly to only using cash...going to the banker during banking hours, taking out a set amount of cash, then budgeting that cash as needed until the next planned bank visit.
It's not that I was a "big spender" prior to the project...I would just fall into what I call the Target Trap; i.e. go into Target for some toothpaste, walk out of Target $150 later with some greeting cards, a small vase, some socks, trail mix, and that latest and greatest book I'd been meaning to read...oops, I forgot to buy the toothpaste! The Target Trap (please feel free to insert your chain all-purpose store of choice) would happen to me about twice a month. I would get to the checkout with very little concern of the total checkout price because I knew I would be paying with the credit card...at that moment, there was no specific reason why I couldn't purchase all those somewhat "impulse" items.
During the project (using only cash) my spending habits really changed. Holding actual cash in my hand (something I hadn't really experienced for quite some time) made me much more mindful of how I was actually spending my money. One example: I became more aware of what my spending habits were supporting...i.e. I really tried to support local shops and grocery stores during the month and completely avoided corporate mega stores. Yes, the local shops were a little more expensive...that was okay - I just consumed less. It felt really satisfying to support the local economy. I also enjoyed the shopping experience that these local shops provided....friendly, helpful employees and quality products (even though the selection of products was only a fraction of the selection you would find at a corporate equivalent...but, really, do I need to be bothered with 30 different choices of mustard?)...more about grocery shopping when I write about food. You get the idea - by holding cash, money became "real"...something that in every transaction had an underlying effect on others...when using a credit card, reflection on these effects often came as an afterthought. However, throughout the project, they were right on the forefront every time I laid the bills and coins down on the counter.
I would normally go to the bank every third or forth day and take out about $50. I tried to budget between $10-$20 a day. For the first time in my life, this included budgeting gas. And for the first time in my life, I was forced to make a decision to not drive somewhere because I didn't have enough cash to put more gas in the tank. So I made alternate plans...I walked to town and went to the the library instead - it probably was better day than if I would have followed through with my original plans that involved driving somewhere. Wow! I do consume a lot of gas. I never thought I did. Work is reasonably close; so are most of my friends. However, it felt like I spent so much time putting gas in my car...because of my cash budget, I could never fill up (or even come close to filling up) - I liked to have a little reserve cash in case something unexpected came up the next day. I now really think about my gas consumption. This is a result of the project that I didn't anticipate.
In terms of the ATM, I actually didn't use the ATM much pre-project...but I now realize that just having it in my wallet gave me this extra feeling of "spending security"...if a place didn't take credit cards (such a rarity these days), I could always go around the corner and get cash from an ATM machine...i.e. there was always an avenue which assisted me in my consumption...whether I could truly afford to consume or not.
So the credit card and the ATM were tucked away in a dresser drawer for the month. It was great not having them in my wallet. With limited cash, I spent/consumed less, consciously spent/consumed when had to, and enjoyed the human interactions that occurred in the process...from the banker, to local grocer, to the guy behind the counter at the gas station...no pay at the pump!
Changes: The ATM remains in the drawer, the credit card is back in the wallet. I don't know why...I managed fine for 30 days without it...maybe I'll have another "credit card free" month in April.
Day 7 - Results - Appliances
Posted by Retro Girl at 4:10 PM 2 comments:
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Day 5 - Results - Phone
The above picture is of my designated "phone chair" I used throughout the month...I gave the old black rotary phone back to my parents, but decided to replace it with another corded phone (not rotary, of course).
Pre-project I would talk to about 8 people on the cell phone a day...ALWAYS while driving, running errands...I would use the cell phone in the house even though we have a land line. During the project, I was not only required to only use the land line, but I also did not have caller ID, call waiting, or a cordless phone. This meant sitting in that phone chair for every phone call...which was wonderful and has completely changed my perspective on talking on the phone.
I must admit - in the beginning there was some stress associated with not having access to my cell. Situations came up which would have been so easily solvable had I had my cell phone with me (such as trying to meet someone somewhere when there was a miscommunication about the location, being stuck in traffic and late for something - those type things). As these things came up, however, a couple of things happened: 1) I realized that there are always hidden solutions to "problems"...it just took a little creative thinking sometimes to figure them out...and my creative thinking had started to get a little bit rusty (actually a lot rusty) in the presence of all this technology that offers quick fixes, and 2) The situations I labeled as "problems" weren't problems at all...I know it sounds so cliche, but when I felt panic during those times that I couldn't contact someone immediately, the panic was quickly replaced with a sense of peace...I don't have my cell, there's nothing I can do, so why don't I just enjoy this moment of empty space that I'm in...I had lots of moments of empty space in the absence of my cell, and I believe that it's the deep peace felt in these moments that has motivated me to give up my cell permanently.
So throughout the month, I spoke with one, maybe two, people a day. I couldn't be multi-tasking while sitting in my phone chair, so I actually had to allocate time in my day for these conversations...and that was great! I would set up phone "dates" with friends and family (like "I can't talk now, but are you available to catch up tomorrow at 5PM?") and found myself looking forward to having these conversations. I also decided that "call waiting" is really obnoxious...seriously. I had it prior to the project and for the first week of the project. I would find myself in the midst of these conversations that I had looked so forward to and then "beep beep...beep beep...beep beep". The project rule, of course, was no answering the call waiting. But I caved. I was actually home for so few conversations that I couldn't stand knowing that someone was trying to get a hold of me and I was actually home to receive their phone call. How obnoxious! I think in the absence of all this technology I became hyper sensitive to how obnoxious some of it is...call waiting about tops the list for me. I had it turned off after the first week of the project, and it's not going to be turned back on again.
Caller ID is another interesting technology. We had caller ID pre-project, and I really thought I loved it. The phone would ring, and I would stare at the caller id for a moment as I contemplated "do I really want to talk to this person at this moment?" or "hmmm...caller "unkonwn"...probably solicitor...I'm not answering it.". During the project, without caller id, my physcial/mental reaction became so different when the phone would ring. Rather than that sense of dread I would sometimes experience was looked at who was calling, during the project, I would ALWAYS feel excitement when the phone rang. YIPPY! I'm home for a phone call...I haven't talked to a lot of my friends in a while...I can't wait to find out who's on the other end! And you know what, I found myself even being more polite with the solicitors...a little more human. If there is one thing I can say that is the biggest overall result of this project, it's that I feel more human in the absence of all this technology.
Changes in phone habits post-project:
The cell phone is gone...as I write that, for some reason I start to hear "ding dong the witch is dead" in my head. However, I've decided to keep it in my glove box with the car charger for emergencies on the road....but this will start in a few weeks as I have loaned the phone to a friend who has gone out of town - first time in 4 years without physically having a cell phone. Call waiting - gone. Caller ID - some of our phones still have it, but I do find myself paying less attention to it. Answering machine - back. I missed it...I'm away from the house a lot (probably a big difference from the average 1940's woman), so connecting with business-type phone calls was difficult. I welcomed the answering machine back.
I haven't really wrote any pointed advice, but I feel an obligation to with this topic: if you find yourself feeling annoyed or stressed when your cell phone rings, just stop using it. People will adapt to you not having one. I feel free and liberated and enjoying those times in the car or grocery shopping or where ever, where I can just enjoy the moment...if it's important, the person will call my home phone and leave a message.
Tomorrow: Credit Card/ATM vs. Cash - so interesting!
Posted by Retro Girl at 12:56 PM 6 comments:
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Day 4 - Results - Television
I had to include this picture...about a week before my project start, Alex bought this television. He had been wanting a flat screen television for a long time. So, he got it all set up, then left to go fly for 2 weeks. He was a little disturbed to come home to see that a blanket was covering it.
Ahh...television...the thing I thought I would miss the most during the 30 days. I cheated about three times...probably a total of three hours of television in the 30 days. Alex switched the TV to black and white during those times. Technically, I could have been watching black and white (on a limited daily basis) the entire month, but I felt that taking this step would have been a slippery slope into old TV habits.
So what did I do in its absence? Books....nine of them to be exact (all fiction novels). I also practiced the piano a lot...played some board games with my husband. I also listened to a lot of AM radio. This (the AM radio), perhaps, one of the most interesting results of no television.
One thing I did with the AM radio is picked a station that was in complete conflict with my beliefs (politically) and listened to that station religiously for the month of February. What a great experience! I'm not saying that I've changed the way I think politically....but prior to this project, I admit that I only listened to radio/watched shows that were on my "side". I think a lot of us do this. By exposing myself to ideas that were outside my comfort zone, I gained a greater understanding of the whole picture... I highly recommend doing this.
What was also interesting is how the radio and books really transformed into such entertainment in the absence of television. I would to sit down in my chair at 4PM everyday...I would make myself a cup of hot chocolate, then listen to a 1/2 hour radio show. And I now have a greater understanding of why I have yet to hear anyone say "The movie was better than the book"....the book is always better, isn't it? After reading so much fiction in such a short period of time and watching such a small amount of television/movies, I finally understand why: No matter how talented the movie producers are, they cannot match the scenes that go on in the mind as a person is reading the book...no matter how much technology is used or how much money is spent, they images in the human mind are just to amazing and complicated to replicate.
Perhaps the biggest enlightenment moment in relation to no television happened about three days into the project while I was taking a walk. All of a sudden these two squirrels jumped right out in front of me, stopped, looked at me, then started chasing in other almost in circles around me as I walked. I thought, "Why in the world would I want to sit in front of some screen (be it TV or computer) when I have this very entertaining sitcom going on right in front of me...AND I can actually engage with the characters!".
So, television habit changes...since the project has been over, I've probably watched one hour of television every other day. But it's different - 1) It now has to be very engaging to hold my interest (before, I would was not very discriminate about my show choices), 2) I have to be sitting up on the couch or chair to watch (before I would often fall asleep in front of it), and 3) I can not stand having it on as background noise (before I would have it on a lot just as noise)...if I feel the need for "noise", I either turn on the radio or sit down and actually reflect on why I feel the need to have background noise (the second being the most productive option).
On a side note, Denise commented yesterday about the relationship of technology and waiting (patience)...I am not a patient person. And I am not saying that removing a lot of these technologies has suddenly made me into a patient person...but as I continue to leave out many of things like cell phone and emailing friends, I feel that a transformation is taking place. Perhaps the biggest part in that is giving up my cell phone. For example, on the first day of the project I got into a traffic jam on the way to teach class and realized that I was going to be late. I immediately reached for my cell phone. When I realized that I didn't have it, nor would I have it for another 29 days, I immediately felt panic. Then once I realized that there was nothing I could do about the situation, I actually felt this enormous sense of peace...ahhhh, a few minutes to just sit in the car and breath. In this space, I realized that nobody was going to die if I was a few minutes late (even though my initial physical reaction was true panic). So, yes, I firmly believe that in so many ways technology does rob us of that ability of and actual serenity associated with waiting.
I am going out of town tomorrow to visit a friend, my nephew, and my niece and nephew-in-law, so I will be posting again on Saturday.
Day 5 - Results - Cell phone vs. Corded Home Phone
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Tax Truths
Posted by commendatori on April 6, 2010
Source: http://pepehateme.wordpress.com/
I have come to the following conclusions about the Income tax. It took many years of mistakes and blunders to finally arrive at what I consider to be the truth. Having collected un-employment insurance and other federal funds is mute and does not matter.. Here are the facts..
1. The Fourteenth Amendment is the foundation for the Sixteenth Amendment. Once a Fourteeth Amendment US citizen, always a Fourteenth Amendment citizen. No court will release you from that status. There is no returning to the former status of first being a citizen of your state and then a United States citizen. All state constitutions were altered to comport with the Fourteenth Amendment converting the Calvinist Federal Republic of the United States into a Jesuit Roman Provincial Empire.
2. In 1894 the Jesuits, in control of Congress, sought to put an "income tax" upon the "occupations" of US citizens. This means there existed an existing "privilege" that would generate "income" that could be taxed "directly" and "uniformly" just as a corporation could be taxed, though at different rates. That "privilege," as calculated, was directly tied to Fourteenth Amendment citizenship making citizenship "national," intended for both Blacks and Whites—not just the Black freedmen.
3. But in the Pollack case of 1895 the Supreme Court ruled that this "income tax" was a "direct tax" upon individuals. Because that tax was not "apportioned," it was declared unconstitutional and the income tax law was set aside. Not to be thwarted, the Jesuits, using their Masonic Skull & Bones President Taft (beholden to "American Pope" James Cardinal Gibbons), passed the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 (via the proclamation of Masonic Secretary of State Philander Knox), installing one of their planks of The Communist Manifesto within the US Constitution. Thus, the Sixteenth Amendment (1913) set aside the Pollack case (1895) as the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) set aside the Dred Scott case of 1857.
4. The Sixteenth Amendment was intended to tax the "income" of individuals. This is why the wording of the amendment states that the income tax may be collected "without apportionment" and "without regard to any census." These phrases betray the intent of the amendment which set aside Pollack. Apportioned taxes and censuses apply only to individuals! Thus, individuals with "income" can be directly taxed without apportionment by the US Congress. Thus, the only other Congressional option is to tax "uniformly." Thus, the Fourteenth and Sixteenth Amendments working in combination, laid the foundation for the taxing the "income" of every US citizen. That income tax was now direct and uniform, without apportionment. The question is now "What is the 'source' of that 'income,' not 'what' is 'income.' It is clear. Every dime that comes into the hands of an individual is "income." But the "source" of that income is not clear; we must find it.
5. If the source of a citizen's "income" was a Fourteenth Amendment privilege, then the Pollack case would have sustained the income tax law of 1894. This is a most important conclusion. Therefore, there is another "source" which generates "income" for the citizen. The $64,000 question is "What is that source?" This is the great secret of the federal judiciary that will never be spoken in any open court. This is the great masonic secret of the Order's Federal Courts; I suspect the judges are taught this in Judges School. Find the "source" and the "income" tax becomes understandable.
6. Here are two clues. If you look at your most recent Birth Certificate, it is bordered on all four sides with the design of a stock. It has the appearance of a security or a savings bond on its borders. Compare the documents and see for yourself. Secondly, that birth certificate is filed in Washington, D.C., with the Bureau of the Census which is a part of the—now get this—The COMMERCE Department. Why in the name of Christ is the Bureau of the Census a part of the Commerce Department? There can be only one answer: Every US citizen is "in commerce." We are Fourteenth Amendment "commercial citizens." Thus, everything we do is "commerce" and thus generates "income." The second clue is found on the back of your Social Security Card. At the bottom is a number beginning with a letter followed by eight numbers. The Social Security Administration has admitted that this number is a BOND NUMBER. This means that every US citizen is BONDED and thus is a DEBTOR. He now (as an artificial person in the law just like a corporation) is the human, living, breathing, "bonded security" for the US Government to pay the national debt owed to the Jesuit Order's Federal Reserve Bank. That artificial, bonded security can have all of his property, both personal and real, taken to pay the national debt. (This means that the Congress can pass a law to take all of your money and land if deemed so necessary during a "national emergency.") That credit extended to the US Congress by the Federal Reserve Bank every year was created out of nothing—a stroke of a pen—and the interest payments on that debt is paid by the bonded, commercial Fourteenth Amendment US citizens of the United States incorporated in 1871. Thus, the "source" of our "income" is the commercial status of each citizen (a bonded security of the United States corporation now in receivership since 1933 via HJR-192 explained below) evidenced by his "bonded" "taxpayer" status, enjoying no ancient common law rights whatsoever.
7. Now we must retrace the history of the Social Security Act. Notice the word "security." The act was passed to provide security or collateral for the Federal Reserve Bank, not for the security of the individual. In 1929 the Order used three Irish Roman Catholic short-sellers of stock to cause the Great Depression. Those men were Joe Kennedy, Tom Bragg and Ben Smith. With the fall of the market orchestrated by the Knights of Malta (John J. Raskob of Dupont, etc), Masonic FDR was put in office thanks to Papal Knights Al Smith, Raskob and Joe Kennedy. One of the first acts he signed into law was House Joint Resolution 192, suspending all payments in gold. Our gold coins and currency redeemable in gold were taken from us. Shortly thereafter, the Social Security Act was passed. The combination of these acts put every citizen in commercial paper, and ended any Federal Common Law. Every citizen is "in commerce," using commercial papar, has no common law rights, and all is a privilege which can be taxed to an unlimited degree by the Congress and regulated by statute via the police powers—thus laying the foundation for a huge fascist police state in the future. This also gave the IRS inquisitonal police powers to seek out the financial affairs of the Empire's commercial citizens without regard to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Assement every April 15th is voluntary (less tha Fifth Amendment should be violated) but the income tax is indeed owed and will be assessed and collected.
8. The remedy to this commercial status which is the basis for owing the income tax on every penny that passes through the commercial citizen's hands must then be found in a code that regulates commercial transactions. If there is no remedy, then the 13th Amendment prohibiting involuntarily servitude is now being violated. That code is the Uniform Commercial Code. The solution has been found and it really works. It is composed of a series of filings but once properly accomplished, the federal income tax problem is resolved. The US citizen must become the SECURED PARTY for the artificial person that he is in the law. Once one becomes the Secured Party for the artifical human resource in commerce, he then can discharge debts owed to the IRS. I have personally seen five Notices of Levy totally over 250,000 dollars (FRNS) paid by Bills of Exchange via this UCC process. It works and is totally within the Law of the UCC—only if these filings are done correctly.
This information is most valuable as I believe the Jesuit Order is and has been fomenting a Tax Revolt prior to and at this very moment. It is using a host of "tax patriots" who are wrongly advocating that and that "wages are not income." Now the tax can be easily "discharged." The more people in their prisons so much the better when they destroy the Constitution of the Republic once and for all..Which has been their ultimate goal since 1822, as so stated in the treatise of Verona.
This entry was posted on April 6, 2010 at 11:42 am and is filed under Economics, Real Info. Tagged: Al Smith, "income tax" was a "direct tax", Jesuits in control of Congress, Raskob and Joe Kennedy, Social Security Act, Tax Truths, The Fourteenth Amendment, US citizen is BONDED. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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Goodbye 2012
In reagards to Streets & Stripes, it's been a big year! We've expanded, covered some awesome events, meet some great people, and explored the creativity Philadelphia has to offer. Here's to an even bigger and better 2013!
Photography & Words by Chaucee Stillman
Second photo by Jonifin Marvin
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Positive : Balance :Posted: January 28, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: beauty, Body Image, cycling, Enviroment, gratitude, Identity, kindness, life, love, lust, meditation, Mindfulness, passion, running, Spirituality, teaching, writing, yoga, Zen 17 Comments
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free-
The way in which our environment conditions us is more prevalent, and dare I say – perverse, than we appreciate. This topic is wide-ranging and fairly dense with meaning and purpose. In order to present it to you openly, and with an honest heart? We need to look into the dark areas of our souls.
Seldom do we realize that the appearance of unnatural looking/tasting and pretty benign "things," like the latest carbon fiber/electronic shifting bikes, chestnut praline latte's, yoga mats and attire, tasteless candy, processed food, and trendy running attire owe their tantalizing properties to the way in which we are conditioned. The way in which the environment we live in shapes our behavior – no drool or droll needed, well maybe just a little?!? I caught myself recently lusting over a new Stevens Super Prestige Disc CX bike for no apparent reason other than it looks like good sex. Why is this so? I have some nice bikes already … The same holds true for other savory objects, such a new the colorful yoga mat for the aspiring yogi, an empty Starbucks cup for the coffee connoisseur , and new shoes for the runners lurking out there.
What scares my personally and as a society, is that, as sophisticated as this conditioning may seem, much of it is mediated unconsciously to us, beneath the nadir of our conscious and awareness.
Daily Meditation:
Why do I desire a new pair of Brooks running shoes, when I can't even run? This is really scary!
Seven :Light: YearsPosted: July 28, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, Cometing, compassion, crossfit, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, gluten free, gratitude, Gravel Grinding, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, love, lululemon, lust, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, nebraska, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, writing, yoga 9 Comments
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful-
I had lived life as if, by necessity, my weekends had to be filled with competitions and competitive activities of one flavor or another, which had to be strenuous and intense so that I could feel productive, like I had actually accomplished more than picking up some schwag at the sign in table. My weekends, and the time spent during the week "training" ruled me! All of this magically disappeared over the prior four years due to injury and focusing more on my true self. You know what the most exciting part of not training and competing is? I couldn't believe how much mental space was suddenly available to me. It was truly was invigorating, even more so than a grueling predawn training ride!
It was less than two years, before I fully understood that the absence of competing, was not enough to make me feel whole.
What does my life mean now?
In the last couple of years, I made a distinction between competition and play. The difference now is that I have control over competing. I can make calculated and measured choices based on what I believe is meaningful; what I believe is the best use of my talents; and what gives me a sense of value or purpose. Surrendering to this mindset has allowed me to shape the meaning of my life in cool and exciting ways.
Daily Meditation:
Spending more time playing rather than competing, is simply wonderful beyond words. My thoughts are filled with happiness instead of split times and personal records, which is a gift. I'm left to explore what it means to be human or whatever … I wrestle with questions that competing left little time to be asked. Play is a source of beauty—a simple walk, an illuminating trail up ahead, a tight switchback to a challenging climb, gasping for another breath. Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Will the Avalanche be good this year? Are 26in MTB's still "cool"?
The many important questions to be asked …
I'm Sorry …Posted: March 18, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Anger, balance, Bliss, blogging, compassion, exercise, fear, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, health, life, love, lust, meditation, Omaha, passion, perspective, Solitude, thoughts, yoga, Zen 3 Comments
Why didn't I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future-
" … Of course! Your blog is just another way of saying we all want to live in a hedonic present, a present where everything is easy and we suffer no consequences for making "whatever" choices we make, the moment we make them. If only more people took notice of how unsuccessful and unhappy a life would be, from adopting a living in the present moment only approach. Are we too lost in ourselves to strike a balance!"
Balance from whose perspective? Mine, that dude over yonder, or your own …
Moving forward, one of the main undercurrents to keep in mind as you skim over these posts is: To whom do you owe your greatest allegiance? Do you owe your allegiance to your yoga studio, running club, cycling team, your family, your abusive workout regime?
Life, isn't just a competition between our now self and our future self. We have for all intents and purposes, an infinite number of future selves, all of whom potentially have competing interests and competing desires.
Daily Meditation:
The question we face when deciding to do "whatever": Do we abuse our bodies now or save ourselves for the future? Or rather, how much time and energy do we spend now and how much do we save for later in life? In both of these cases, the answer is – It depends … Dude.
He was the kindPosted: September 5, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Adventure, art, blogging, compassion, Creative Writing, culture, kindness, life, love, lululemon, lust, Media, meditation, mental health, musings, natural, Observation, Omaha, passion, philosophy, pop culture, Prose, running, simplicity, Stefan Zweig, trail running, whole foods, WOD, writting, yoga 7 Comments
… of young man whose handsome face has brought him plenty of success in the past and is now ever-ready for a new encounter, a fresh-experience, always eager to set off into the unknown territory of a little adventure, never taken by surprise because he has worked out everything in advance and is waiting to see what happens, a man who will never overlook any erotic opportunity, whose first glance probes every woman's sensuality, and explores it, without discriminating between his friend's wife and the parlour-maid who opens the door to him. Such men are described with a certain facile contempt as lady-killers, but the term has a nugget of truthful observation in it, for in fact all the passionate instincts of the chase are present in their ceaseless vigilance: the stalking of the prey, the excitement and mental cruelty of the kill. They are constantly on the alert, always ready and willing to follow the trail of an adventure to the very edge of the abyss. They are full of passion all the time, but it is the passion of a gambler rather than a lover, cold, calculating and dangerous. Some are so persistent that their whole lives, long after their youth is spent, are made an eternal adventure by this expectation. Each of their days is resolved into hundreds of small sensual experiences – a look exchanged in passing, a fleeting smile, knees brushing together as a couple sit opposite each other – and the year, in its own turn, dissolves into hundreds of such days in which sensuous experience is the constantly flowing, nourishing, inspiring source of life.
– Stefan Zweig, The Burning Secret and other stories
Illusion(s)Posted: September 4, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: biking, blogging, compassion, crossfit, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hedonic treadmill, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, lust, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, perspective, pilates, Tension, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga 5 Comments
Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before-
Do you find it difficult to resist temptation related to physical endeavors?
Picture the difference between wanting to run a 2:30:00 marathon and not being able to finish one (runners are easily stirred up. If you like, pick something that resonates with you). Now imagine a plyo-band stretched between you and the "thing" you want to achieve, pulling evenly on you, drawing you close. We have a hard time staying in tension and resisting the pull. So we do things: we purchase the latest running gadgets, try new activities the day before an event to release the ever-growing tension.
The image I am trying to paint for you is that once we release the tension, we feel better.
However, out here in the real world? Reality is markedly different. Sure for a few fleeting moments we feel better … Then the morning of the event arrives and in a flash, second guessing creeps in, doubt shows up alongside you and we go back to feeling the same as before. Welcome my friends to the Hedonic Treadmill.
We relentlessly pursue things and experiences that we think will make us happier. But once we acquire them, we quickly return to our previous level of happiness. Then we start looking for the next latest and greatest "thing" … 5k-10k-1/2 Marathon-Marathon-Triathalon-Ultra events … The sweet new Felt carbon-fiber tri bike you've been lusting after? The first time you sling your leg over the top tube feels like good sex. You've dreamed of this moment all season long. Although, 128 miles later the bike feels like every other bike you've ever owned, saddle sore and all. What better time to start lusting after another new bike, another gadget. The Hedonic Treadmill patiently awaits your arrival …
When I work with folks away from this rambling blogging thing, I lament, nauseously about building tension. Breathing, muscle activation and willpower? What? Willpower … Willpower is mastering tension not always getting what we want, when we want it, releasing the tension we have patiently building.
Creating tension is a beautiful and empowering process, embrace it and be well today.
Desire(s)Posted: August 30, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, compassion, desire, family, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, health, hope, Intimate relationship, kindness, life, love, lululemon, lust, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, running, Self-Help, sex, Sexuality, simplicity, sun, Suprises, trail running, walking, whole foods, writing, yoga 10 Comments
Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity-
*Sunglasses, hard hats and earmuffs and required today … We are going to discuss sex and well-being – Yeah*
Too often in relationships, sex, running, yoga, cycling, whatever. We go with the flow of sailing a steady and predictable course. We believe "things" are going well, great even as long as there are no rough waters ahead: Injuries, setbacks and unnamed surprises … We think everything in between the sheets and life must be fine. We're safe, comfortable, maybe we even think at times that safe and comfortable add up to happiness? Sadly, this is not the case.
Then one day and maybe this day is this morning, someone asks us what you really want out of life, what you really desire? Do you desire to punish your body only to leave your loved ones, wanting?
Embracing vulnerability, I am going to share a list, a list of what I desire – feel free to add to this list in the comments below or share them with a loved one later, either way, only you know what you really want.
A day of not being in pain of some sort or another …
A hand on my lower back and knee that magically heals me …
A gentle hug(s) that last forever …
A smile that makes me smile …
A hand that reaches across to mine during a drive, to take mine …
"What the hell is the point of this post before a long holiday weekend, seriously?"
Creating space for yourself to identify what you want, in "whatever" … yourself, your running program, your relationship(s)? Is pretty cool! Gently move closer to a place that feels right, that nourishes your body and spirit rather than depleting it.
Be well this weekend and please take care.
Heat (the) PotPosted: August 2, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, community, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, humor, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, lust, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, Omaha, paleo, passion, perfection, Place, running, trail running, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga 16 Comments
If people reach perfection they vanish, you know-
Many folks who wander around these parts consider themselves perfectionist and they also consider perfectionism to be one of their most valuable attribute (a close runner-up is their charming smile). As a perfectionist you are likely to obsess over bringing attention to detail: Your yoga mat and running shoes have to match your outfit. A keen eye on organization and following a well intended plan, as well as a clear sense of how all of the pieces of the "big picture" relate to each other.
It seems that having good intentions (wanting to excel no matter the discipline) and working hard would result in our meeting a desired outcome(s). However, as we well know, this doesn't happen as often as we think it should. In fact, you might be frustrated by the fact that your perfectionism pays off in keeping your socks organized and your Prius meticulously clean but backfires horrendously during your adho mukha svanasana.
Why is this so?
Even more confusing and frustrating is when we use our perfectionism in one instance and it works great, but then we use the exact same strategy in another situation? It doesn't work in the least. Quick example: Obsessing about making mistakes can make you detail-oriented and a key asset in your work place. Or obsessing about making mistakes can make you fail miserably during yoga class and during your next "big" event.
I decided not too long ago that I wanted to better understand when and under what circumstances perfectionism worked and when it backfired. Race preparation and event planning – A touch of perfectionism helps, a lot! Enjoying yoga class and a nice flowing trail run? Not so much. I've also seen people (myself included) literally kill themselves in the pursuit of the perfect mile, split time and perfect rep … Totally not worth it!


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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
2 comments:
- Sandee said...
Yes, thank you for all you do. May God also keep them safe so they can return home to their families.
Have a terrific day. :)
- April 25, 2012 at 10:50 AM
- Robert said...
Thanks for the special post mid week. Much appreciated. Thanks to all our men in uniform in both Australia and here in the US.
- April 25, 2012 at 10:29 PM
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