Wednesday, March 20. 2024
Biology alone can't unpack the unconscious
I think that's true. It's dangerous to mess with the unconscious though.
Tuesday, March 19. 2024
"Following a terminal cancer diagnosis, Sister Úna--a smoking, drinking, wisecracking Catholic nun dedicated to mentoring teens--chooses to live life to the fullest in the face of death. The self-proclaimed “leader of the misfits” takes on her last nine months by planning her funeral, tackling her bucket list, and teaching us that death isn’t the end."
Link to the movie here
Monday, March 18. 2024
 How Pregnancy Changes the Brain - A study of more than 100 birthing parents showed that pregnancy and birth cause changes in brain circuits that may be involved in empathy and bonding with the child
Marriage Fundamentalism: Professor Criticizes Marriage as an Institution Built on “White Heteropatriarchal Supremacy”
Is gender real?
After a Century, the Federal Tea Board Is Finally Dead. Imported tea was required for decades to pass a literal taste test before it could be sold in the United States.
On Thursday, James Crumbley, the father of mass school shooter Ethan Crumbley, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
NYCity Firefighters Who Booed James Could Face “Education”
Bill Maher slams rise in Americans self-diagnosing with mental illnesses and says: 'PTSD is for people who fought in Iraq, not people who want to bring their dog on a plane'
The Freedom to Offend - In 2006, Christopher Hitchens gave a brave, ‘blasphemous’ speech on Islam that resonates with even greater power today.
Has Google News’ Bias Moved Further Left?: 2022 and 2023 Compared
Caucus Members Go After State Department’s Forgivable ‘Loan’ Program For Refugees
Texas can Secure the Southern Border with a Military-Grade Solution
DeSantis: Law Enforcement Seized Boat of Haitians Who had Guns, Drugs, Night Vision Gear
The Nation doesn't like Fetterman anymore
The Biden Administration announced that it is approving $500 million in financing for oil development in the Middle East.
More Weak Arguments for ‘Free’ Trade - American manufacturing is not doing just fine, actually.
The bloodbath hoax
Leftist Corporate Media Unleashes Trump "Bloodbath Hoax"
Can Things Get Any Worse In Haiti?
Sunday, March 17. 2024
 Do not try to explain why St. Patrick's Day is associated with booze.
I do not like Guiness, and I do not enjoy Irish whiskey - except in Irish Coffee.
Mrs. BD is half Irish. Her Dad, Irish to the bone, died a week or so ago, so I will raise a whiskey toast to his memory.
Otherwise, my plan is to have a Modelo or two with our St. Paddy's party. Modelo is Irish isn't it?
Jeremiah 31:31-34
31:31 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
31:32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.
31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
31:34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Saturday, March 16. 2024
From a reader:
An Ohio friend and I completed a one day winter traverse of the presidential range in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
The hike is 18 miles long, with a total elevation gain of 10k feet. It begins with a steep four mile approach under trees, ascending above tree-line 4000 feet to the summit of Mt. Madison, traversing and summiting each of president-named peaks, including Mt. Washington in the middle. The weather was clear and sunny, high of 19 degrees F., with 20 - 30 mile an hour winds. But the weather is subject to change, with the days leading up to our weather window seeing 50-70 mph sustained winds with gusts in the 75 -79 range, temperatures in the single digits below zero.
We started around 3 a.m. in Randolph NH and finished a little after 630 p.m. in Crawford Notch. The track was mostly loose snow, exposed ice, exposed rock, with occasional knee to waist deep snow). We had GPS devices and a satellite communication platform for tracking our progress and sending emergency communications, as white out conditions are common. We had snowshoes, but never took off our crampons. (In the days before, we broke the trail four miles on both ends with snowshoes.) There was some fall exposure in the snowfields up Jefferson and on the cone of Washington next to the Great Gulf ravine.
The Wild Outsiders article below describes the climb, logistics, and gear. The photos comprehend most of the above tree-line part of the hike from Jefferson looking at Washington over the Great Gulf ravine from the north (photo # 1), Washington itself (photo #2), then Eisenhower from the south (photo #3). If you zoom in on the photos, you can just make out the approx. 50 ft. high towers on Washington, which gives you an idea of the scale of the traverse.
I mentioned a friend who died of a similar version of mine from 2021. We did learn her diagnosis in April 2020 and lasted 17 months. She was great, hilarious and deeply involved in many ways. The downside may have been related to her husband. It is not good to learn. He was a great guy. But it seems he started out on board and deeply involved, eventually met with some hard times and by the end had removed himself from many of the details. Based on my experience, I believe I can see how it may develop over time. He stepped out entirely of the process. The victim, our friend's, mom and sister tossed themselves in for support and assistance and guidance. She held up extremely well with their assistance. Her mind was intact all through, but she could not have surgery at all (I can to some small degree).
The upside was lots of digging and travel to find conversations. The downside, similar to mine is that nothing is happening. Nothing available. She even gave up the chemo and radiation for two reasons, it set her off badly and she did not feel better. Thankfully, MY version of this has, early on, been a bit better. There are downsides for me which I need to work on from time to time. For me, this past week in particular, heavy emotional shifting occurs on certain days for short times. Mrs. Bulldog and I have had some heavy fighting - but Mrs. Bulldog is a master and takes on, managing the hyper issues - she is a saint. After moments where the chemo makes me emotionally aggressive, I do manage to resolve. It takes time and effort. The real problem is not often, but the problems happen on both sides. Often she is the hero, but sometimes it resolves around a decision to listen then engage separate from conversation - completely misunderstanding my position well, and it leads to problems from time to time. It can be unfair of me and it may be too much at times. It is, no doubt, a requirement for me to remember to resolve and address more effectively. In fairness, remember I can't always control things as fairly or evenly as I can in a momentary discussion about our medical and/or conversational paths forward. Sometimes I'm not wrong to get upset over poor decisions - sometimes people just assume things "as is" where it may require help or time. Other times it's my fault and I have to walk it all back well. I'm deeply sorry when that happens.
Listening to the friend and her stories was distressing. I'm sure she had similar situations. Which may have led to her husband's eventual stepping aside. It's not easy, but I'm lucky to have someone who isn't stepping aside. So I am learning from our friend's situation. She, unfortunately, began to see the mental loss around 16 months in. She suffered a stroke in the final month and held for 4 days afterward. I have deep hopes I can hold longer and find more opportunities. Reality is speaking openly, though, and that is important to stay on top of effectively. I am blessed from my family in many ways. And many friends.
I feel awful for our friend who passed and everything which occurred along the way. I know I make errors at times to my family while taking the medication and how it hits my emotions after some time passes. But I do shift back. I try to avoid it as much as I can. I can't imagine what our friend went through and I bless her and her husband (who passed several years later) for missing opportunities. I want to avoid that as well as I can, and I will try to as much as I can.
Just a few notes from the past week.
1. It was a great week, overall. Main issue was the 3/12/2024 62nd birthday. My family took time off to spend the day. 62 from 1962 is a fine repetition. I hope I can get to 63 - so far, it seems likely, but we do not know much more yet.
2. There was a small shift in chemo in the second week. Several times severe depression was a setting. It is short, and I've fought it naturally. But for the first time I fell into depressive moments requiring a push back against the chemo impact on my otherwise greatly positive POV. I also developed Carpal Tunnel as a related effect on my tennis wrist. Since I have sciatica the doctor grew my steroid offer and after 3 days it has impacted an improvement on depression and pain from muscles. It also grows less sleep. Which to be honest is fine. I still sleep anyway. At times, hours here and there.
3. I spent an entire day in NYC on the day after my birthday. I met my company president and VPs. I got many notes wishing me well from coworkers and all wishing me happy birthday on my birthday and wishing me well. My company is the best place I've ever worked. So much so, the president offered to hear at least 5 of 7 stories I have which I've done over the years. I will not go into details, but after telling them, he was stunned - never having heard deep criminal situations at companies. One was a lie against me - which later led to a release and heavy payment which indicated they dropped the lawsuit. I did depositions in at least 2 specific items where I rejected the company legal support as I stated "I only speak truth, so legal support will back off corporate stories as they see truth filling reality" - each one led to several job losses as lawyres saw that truth is actually rather easy. Drove some of them frighteningly. I closed my own lawsuit once, but I cannot discuss the details. All worth mentioning is the depth of illegal email and other activities and laws taken against me which led to my removal...and could have been more money if I'd pushed it. I chose to move away as my job I had taken was better and far more interesting than spending time in courts to win a few million dollars. That's a few stories, but opend the door to some massive mainstream illegal activity in many cases.
Continue reading "Recent Update"
Thanks, reader -
"A well-built physique is a status symbol.
It reflects you worked hard for it, no money can buy it.
You cannot inherit it.
You cannot steal it.
You cannot borrow it.
You cannot hold on to it without constant work.
It shows dedication.
It shows discipline.
It shows self-respect.
It shows dignity.
It shows patience, work ethic, passion.
That is why it's attractive to me.”
― Pauline Nordin
Friday, March 15. 2024
My son, soon to be 28, got a massive opportunity. His company (Digital Trends) currently uses him to manage and grow their advertisers. He has done a lot of work doing this - to the point, at one stage, where he survived many layoffs and is still growing several partners. The informations can be good and useful, depends heavily on your needs or requirements, but Samsung is his largest and they focus on how new versions of TVs are used. Samsung isn't just TV viewing, but gaming, looking at laptops, mobile devices, and several other uses which my son far exceeds me regarding. It's one of those items, years ago, I was an expert on. Formerly a "tech guy" I've since moved far past that. I'm not an expert as I once was - but my son is far beyond an expert.
One thing he and my older son (soon to be 30) know well are films. From me originally, and they have moved beyond everything I taught them where I was at one time a great leader at. After all it was part of my major as a TV/Film producer many years ago and I wrote MANY papers about films. Many I taught them to watch and enjoy - and they have moved far beyond. Very well and excessively. I am always in awe of their knowledge - even though (unlike me) they never did a thing with production of any nature.
Except my younger son is changing regarding that very soon. His first step as he moves toward this is his first article about films. It's a specialty and I suspect many Maggie's Farm fans will not enjoy many of these in the attached article - but I have watched two and enjoyed them. But it is a rarity and very oddly specialized requiring deep knowledge and understanding.
Please check it out. Here is his article. This is his first. He will improve dramatically, but he is very good.
It has been debated for a long time.
Thursday, March 14. 2024
It's a sort-of odd essay: Do we have a patriotic duty to get off our couches and exercise?
The author quotes Socrates:
It is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit. But you cannot see that, if you are careless; for it will not come of its own accord.
Wednesday, March 13. 2024
My great-uncle used to like Haiti for winter vacations. It was a tourist place, like Cuba was.
Like so many places on earth, it's now a gangster place. Call it a "country" if you want to. Nothing new about that. Seems to me that not being a gangster place is the exception.
I've known a couple of Americans who tried to "help" Haitians. They gave up, just like the Clintons did. It has no modern legal structure, same as Somalia or Gaza etc. etc. Lord of the flies.
Haiti news – live: US State Department warns Americans not to travel to Haiti amid gang takeover
Trump might term such places s-hole countries, but it's historically normal.
Tuesday, March 12. 2024
Re-posted cuz St. Patrick's Day is this Sunday. I don't have any known Celtic blood, bit I sure have lots of Irish relatives via marriage.
Just wanted to set the record straight on the historical facts. Even worse, his name wasn't Patrick.
He was an England-born slave of Irish raiders. Since England was still Roman in 400, he really was a colonial Roman.
The "snakes" he drove out of Ireland were the pagan beliefs. Ireland never had real snakes.
Who was Saint Patrick?
The Irish do not cook Corned Beef and Cabbage - except for American tourists
What is Irish? Shepherd's Pie is.
I happen to love corned beef and cabbage (plus potatoes) - as long as there is plenty of horseradish mustard and beer.
The real name of the meal is New England Boiled Dinner. I cook it all together in a giant pot. If the pickled beef needs a knife, it's underdone. I think it should almost crumble.
I make some for family, including my Irish father-in-law, yearly. No Guiness, though. It really does not go with food in my opinion. Heck, it's a meal in itself. In Irish pubs, they throw one or two raw eggs in it, stir it up, and call it breakfast.
(Our kids are 25% Irish, 25% Southern Italian, 40% English, and 10% Scandinavian probably via the Norman invasion. In other words, all- American. Genetic mongrelization worked well for our kids, cuz I am 90% English, around 10% Scandinavian and thus overly-inbred in New England since the 1600s.)
Manhattan Contrarian wonders why some state, like Vermont (I'd suggest Colorado, but whatever), doesn't ban fossil fuels.
No wood-burning either because that is worse for the trees and the planet.
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Why decluttering your home can save your mental health,