tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34344955021757769162024-03-12T22:58:24.580-07:00Bitching my way to the BrightsideI read somewhere that one could increase their inherent happiness by writing down three things about their day which made them happy. Doing this for two weeks increased happiness for six months. I like this idea, but I think I'll use a 3+1 option where I also get to rant about something as well. What can I say? Ranting makes me happy. And blogging this way, no one has to listen against their will.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.comBlogger720125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-45382271831092173942022-09-11T14:41:00.000-07:002022-09-11T14:44:23.212-07:00Nine Eleven is 21 Today<p>My dad asked this morning if I was in Boston when 9/11 happened. “Yes” is the short answer. </p><p>Here’s the longer answer, some of which I sent him. It’s a little rage-ier, and my adrenaline is still up, so there might be typos. These are not complete thoughts, but bookmarks for footnotes of detail that periodically flood my brain. </p><p>Yep. I was in Boston. The equipment engineer who sat next to me told us all to find online news video ASAP. So I saw the first crash in the earliest video reruns & wondered why we hadn’t scrambled the air force to track down every off-flight-plan passenger flight, and ~15 minutes after I had that thought, the 2nd plane hit in NYC. 1 plane hit the pentagon. Enough time to have implemented *something*. One flight’s passengers got wind of what was up and thought “we might not be able to survive this, but we can stop them meeting their goal”, said “Let’s roll”, and crashed without killing more than themselves in the crash. </p><p>Taking passengers hostage wasn’t routine but it wasn’t so rare that there weren’t cultural scripts for it. People might not know that prior to Flight 93, standard policy was “let the hijackers do their thing, you’ll land in the wrong place, but we’ll deal with the detour once you’re down”. Finding out the other planes were crashed into populated buildings changed the stakes away from cooperation. It was heroic, changing that norm.</p><p>Keep in mind it was also a Tuesday. (Aside: Like the Challenger explosion, which I saw constant repeats of for 4 days because I was home sick that Tuesday & only had network TV.) Tuesday flights run lean of passengers. The hijackers picked a day with low passenger volume but flights going long to get minimum resistance & maximum jet fuel.</p><p>Back to scrambling the USAF. We didn’t do it.</p><p>Not saying they should have shot down passenger airlines but not getting “eyes on” with capability we’ve maintained since at least the 60s was inexcusable. We didn’t have leadership, & more critically, *we didn’t have plans in place that could be authorized down the chain of command* while Shrub read children books for 7 critical minutes. I learned later, from my mom’s friend whose husband was head of security for a major airline, that airlines at the time were on alert at the highest levels for some kind of threat. That’s too nebulous to act on, but the urgency was there, and there are only so many ways air travel can go wrong. There should have been standing orders for a half dozen scenarios prepped and ready to deploy. The US leadership at the time had no interest in governing, did not prepare, and refused to allow what I, a numpty civilian, knew were standard response options to be deployed. I woke up the next morning to fighter jets circling the city. It was both too late and pathetic - all non-mil flights had been grounded for a day & remained so for a week. </p><p>(Aside 2: One friend got stranded overseas for a couple weeks without their spouse. Another friend had recently married & picked a “cheap Tuesday” to leave for their honeymoon. Their bad luck they had a layover in the states on 9/11. Friend saw the writing on the wall early, got a rental car before they were all gone, and “shacked up in a bridal suite in WV with the best box of wine they could lay hands on”.)</p><p>Bush was fundamentally incapable as a president but the GOP installed him so Cheney & cronies could finish wrecking any progress gained by Clinton or Carter. Then they started their money grifting wars, which ironically, they used to decimate some of the US’s strongest military units. They farmed out CB/SeaBee work to contractors like KBF, which helped break lines of institutional knowledge while hiking Cheney’s investment portfolio, & used navy SEALs as show ponies which got huge numbers of them killed. Prior to that, being a SEAL was dangerous but not especially deadly because they were sent out covertly and were valued as assets that were hard to replace, not as disposable units for showing off. I will never understand why any of them have fondness for Republicans after that. </p><p>I have mixed feelings about invading Afghanistan, mostly negative, but it at least had tenuous links to OBL and it was a proxy war because we wouldn’t go after Saudi Arabia. But Iraq? That was a clown show from the jump. Shrub invaded Iraq to show up his Daddy, and the grifters steering him into it did it for profiteering. OBL & SH hated each other. They didn’t collaborate. Cheney burned an active spy, and made everyone Plame knew a target. They lied about WMD They lied and lied and lied and we killed a million Iraqis for Shrub’s bruised ego. How dare someone tell him “no”?</p><p>The GOP blacklisted several prominent Republicans for speaking out against the Iraq war. The one name I remember was Max Cleland but there were 5 or 6. I kept waiting for his fellow congress members to stand up and say “stop the slander, what you’re doing is not ok!”, but none did. Not Dems, not Reps, not Independents. No one. I didn’t record their names at the time because I kept waiting for the NYT to publish a story linking Cleland’s treatment and that of the professor & the think tank person, & the few others, to a pattern of behavior of the GOP trashing them because they spoke out against invading Iraq. That piece never showed up & in the years since, I’ve seen how the NYT carries water for fascists. </p><p>Long story short, severely disabled war vet Cleland was a belived Georgia senator By the time Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, & Rove got done blackballing him, he couldn’t get a job in his hometown for 10 years, & they replaced him with Saxby Chambliss. It took them less than a dozen examples - all successfully blackballed with no pushback - to get compliance.</p><p>Then they astroturfed the Teabaggers via Fox entertainment network calling itself News, but Fox is a whole genre of wrong to delve into some other time. (Then had to scramble to rebrand Teabaggers as the Tea Party, which the media helped them do. Check Urban Dictionary if you need to.) The GOP has voted in lockstep against Democrats ever since. One senator, a few other prominent people, and seeing that not one other legislator spoke up to say the blackballing was out of order was all it took for them to get their Lockstep. It wasn’t until Trump was so egregiously déclassé in his failson nepotism (includes daughter & SIL) that the lock step started to falter.</p><p>Yet even now our news media is letting the GOP target trans people, ban books, remove rights to bodily autonomy, and the Dems are barely able, and almost reluctant, to stem the arterial bleed leading us to fascism. The world is objectively worse because America reacted to 9/11 attacks wrongly in the moment & evilly & discriminatorily in the subsequent years. We managed to squeak in gay marriage & smartphones, and regain a toehold in solar energy, but every other aspect of the US dominant culture is fundamentally moving backwards and it was kickstarted by 9/11. We did it to ourselves against my personal will.</p><p>We targeted Muslims & random brown people & equated those, and Islam, with “terrorists”. Despite the largest threat to United States’s citizens safety being lack of health care for all, and armed, entitled cis white men who don’t like being told no, we focused all our efforts on killing & policing Black & brown people. We’ve enacted ridiculous security theater for air travel, like taking off shoes to walk thru everyone else’s foot fungus, as if cell phones, laptops, or any other ubiquitous electronics couldn’t be used to trigger an explosive remotely 🙄. We’ve stolen & thrown away rivers of shampoo and toothpaste. We don’t let people bring on water! - despite dehydration leading to angry passengers who are more likely to get belligerent, and sick, than fully hydrated ones. These pesky rules make it easy to detain any traveler at will, but also means the screenings are less likely to catch a true threat. Meanwhile we lose millions of person-hours of labor every single day because every passenger must spend extra time packing to be in compliance, spend extra time at the airport to ensure they get thru the security line, which could take 5 or 55 minutes or more. And it’s less safe because we must stand in close proximity to hundreds of other people, multiple times, to go anywhere. (sarcasm alert) I’m particularly a fan of the Ft. Myers airport where the security line is a wide skyway, under which they drive the fuel trucks. People enough for 3 flights packed cheek to jowl, getting hangry, over a driveway for fuel trucks. What could possibly be unsafe about this security line?</p><p>Dad also texted that a neighbor who, after 9/11, was called to service for the National Guard & sent to Iraq, mentioned that the NYC “Ground Zero” Museum is closing (or might close?) for lack of funding. Miwed feeling there too. Assuming their point is to highlight the people killed & injured, the people who helped, and be a time capsule of the era, it should remain to counter the jingoism the day inspired.</p><p>I went to the 9/11 museum site in 2019 but did not pay to go in. I know what happened & I think the deaths were horrific but don’t justify the fallout. Plus, I cannot take in that kind of pain. It’s excruciating. I’ve learned whatever lessons I will. I don’t personally know anyone who died in the towers but I have friends who do. Closest to me was one friend who checked in that day while walking home across the Brooklyn bridge, who has subsequently enrolled their kids in the Moderna clinical trials for young kids. I think that is more positive an act for society than most of the post 9/11 fallout.</p><p>But probably the museum is in trouble because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and 2 administrations failing to quell it that led to low museum visitation, along with it being about an event 21 years ago, about a tiny fraction of people killed violently compared to over a million Iraqis dead violently from our war, and a million Americans dead from covid, & seeing no commensurate level of response to 1M dead.</p><p>That we take off our shoes and protective gear and assistive devices and allow ourselves to get mugged to get on planes but won’t wear masks on public transit or fund good HVAC in classrooms is a level of disproportion that shows we choose what and who we care about, and post 9/11, it’s increasingly billionaires’ quarterly profits, not the health of the nation, or the world. The US has long been a global bully, and nasty to Black folks here, but we at least pretended to be a model of better things on an improvement trajectory That trajectory is more imperiled now than it was before 9/11. We have about 2 months to figure out if American will spend the next 21 years being a failed state that we have to claw back from fascism, or if we’re going to treat marginalized citizens as fully human and get on a progressive trajectory without a second civil war. </p><p>I, uh, may have been holding that rant in for a while.</p><p><br /></p>CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-27128302705095578862020-10-25T11:12:00.003-07:002020-10-25T11:18:08.113-07:00COVID-19 is spread by Fascism<p>US readers: *Vote Biden/Harris & downballot Democrats or be prepared to require a civil war* No, I am not kidding or being hyperbolic Vote early to maximize success. Even if your state doesn’t have “early voting”, they might, like MO, offer “in person absentee voting”. Choose one of the reasons listed to tell the poll workers, and vote Dem.</p><p>My aunt in Florida asked me why covid seems to be hitting harder in the North. This blog is my response. I may get around to linking the articles where I got the info - the specific info is all from articles I retweeted if you want to brave Twitter search before I get to it. The more general news about fascism and ant-masking is more from distilled news, but read books (Hiding in Plain Sight) or listen to Gaslit Nation podcasts by Sarah Kendzior if you want citations sooner.</p><p>Why?</p><p>Ironically, wealth. Most of the early spread was due to rich people flying the world for ski vacations. So it spread where rich people flew. The other thing is Murdoch propaganda outlets like Fox News in the US, UK, Aus undermining truth in news for decades. All the countries with the most fascistic leaders, like here & Brazil who have chosen to make “not wearing masks” loyalty tests instead of “wearing masks” are doing badly. </p><p>Covid-19 hotspots depend a lot on government response, local compliance, and spread. Where the virus has landed in Africa, shows us this. The places hit hard by Ebola a few years ago have very little spread. The places that don’t push germ theory & masking are hit harder. But Africa has a lot of places doing well because they have practice fighting off contagious disease, and had fewer rich travelers during ski season, and took the warning seriously. Unlike Peru where there are lots of tourists but many poor people without a proper pandemic response team. </p><p>Indian slums are faring better than most US states because the government provided paid for testing & room & board for quarantine and once it got out that people came back from quarantine, they had good compliance. South Korea ramped up testing and mask wearing fast and quashed community transmission. Island nations are taking quarantine seriously. </p><p>The places where there’s most resurgence are where wealthier people who aren’t used to being told “no” decide they’re over the pandemic & go to places that can’t/won’t pay for or insist on PPE like masks or distancing. Or where teachers (ahem) are threatened with job loss for not teaching in person in places where community spread isn’t contained enough or tested enough for schools to be safe. </p><p>—-</p><p>So that’s it. People who want to pretend the pandemic is over are being allowed to engage in contagious behaviors by countries who don’t take the threat seriously. The US under Trump & a GOP senate is so far the worst. With a competent president AND a congress where the GOP doesn’t treat Democrats as illegitimate actors, and absent Fox News not being force fed to millions of viewers, the US would be leading the global response, not failing it most spectacularly. </p>CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-37855031527116534872020-08-21T22:39:00.002-07:002020-08-21T22:50:24.061-07:00Listen to Your Body<p><span style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">My alarm goes off. My body says, “stay in bed; sleep more.” I will be fired if I listen.</span></p><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I need to shower before work. My body is cold and says, “let’s stay dry”. I do not listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I have to eat something now or wait for lunch. My body says “I’m not that hungry.” I do not listen.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">My brain is foggy in the morning but I have to work. My brain says, “later would be more efficient.” I do not listen.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Lunch comes an hour before I get hungry. My body says, “don’t eat yet”. I dare not listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I have a meeting. My body & brain say “we’d like a walk. Or a nap.” I don’t have time to listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I’m thirsty. My body says, “something sweet would be best.” I brew my tea and do not listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">It’s time to leave work. My brain says, “but we’re just getting efficient at this! Stay.” Sometimes I listen.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Now is when I have time to exercise. My body says, “I’m depleted, let’s not.” I try very hard not to listen.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">On good days the exercise can feel ok after I warm up. Most days, my body says, “this is uncomfortable; I am sore.” I do another set or lap before I listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Now I am hungry, but I need to make or acquire dinner. My body says, “snack first!” I do not listen.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I measured my food. I have plenty. My body says, “That’s not enough, I’m still hungry!” I may have a glass of water but I do not listen.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I start on a hobby & get lost in pursuit. My brain never says, “I’m tired” at night, so I don’t even try to listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">My timer dims my lights. My body & brain are still alert but I need to sleep. I say, “calm down, let’s rest now.” They do not listen. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Headlines advise, “listen to your body!”</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">When would I have learned to listen to my body?</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I have never been allowed to listen.<br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: #454545; font-family: uictfonttextstylebody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div>CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-75943766781810746142017-10-07T22:06:00.002-07:002017-10-07T22:06:50.545-07:00Disease Model of Addiction ThoughtsThis started as a response to Crabby Ex-Drunk & got out of hand. Instead of taking over his forum, here's a pot of my own.<br />
http://crabbyexdrunk.blogspot.com/2017/10/okay-so-its-not-disease.html?spref=tw&m=1<br />
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You ask for it, you got it :)<br />
I have long disliked calling addiction a disease. Diseases are caused by microbes. And alcoholism, say, can't be a thing if you don't start drinking and keep drinking. It starts as behavior. Addiction is out of control behavior that self perpetuates. If we someday find that there are microbes that assist with this, fine, it's a disease. But it's not a disease you can treat like a microbe, so far as I know. <br />
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HOWEVER! People with addictions need help quitting & maintaining sobriety like hoarders need organizers, ADD execs need personal assistants, and well, there are many disfunctions that are best overcome with the help of a partner or a group. Addiction is clearly a dysfunction, and can be an extreme one. The trouble is our society has few words to accurately label mental health deviations and elicit compassion in the populace. Most mental health descriptors, if not now pejorative themselves (retarded used to mean slower, now it's just a taunt, for instance) elicit judgement, self righteous pushback, and all manner of nasty responses, none of which help the person fighting an addiction. Diseases get insurance coverage. Diseases at least have a hope of eliciting compassion. Right now, "disease" may be the best word we have to elicit the responses we need. I would rather support using the wrong word to get the right effect than to insist on perfect descriptors that allow folks to flounder.<br />
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And mental health issues might be more hormonal/vitamin/nutritional imbalances than microbe based but we call those problems diseases too. I prefer dysfunction -a bad tune up (dysfunction) isn't the same as sugar in the gas tank (microbe disease) but both can wreck your engine - they're both problems. I guess I hadn't thought this through before now. I still yell "no it's not" at the addiction network ad. Probably I should stop now that I know what my position is.<br />
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Not having been an addict (except maybe for reading, and I don't say that to make light, just to share my least controlled behavior), I can't say if the disease model helps the treatment except as it allows people to step away from eternal blame. Because I do believe that some people have less control in certain situations thru nturzl disposition. Add to that years of response feedback conditioning in the brain which sets up repeated behavior seeking those rewards. It's not totally out of your control but not totally in your control either. Some things you control just fine, others not so much. I have ADD. My life is a minefield of distractions. I have to justify having an assistant CONSTANTLY to my mother. But having one means my life works & the opposite when I don't.<br />
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More like the addiction model: I have no "off switch" for potato/corn chips; one bag is one serving. I therefore buy tiny bags of chips and limit my visits to Mexican eateries with unlimited chips. If Chips had the addictive qualities of alcohol I would be 600 lbs. My brother and dad have no "off switch" for alcohol. Mom came from near teetotalers so keeps my dad from binging by limiting availability. Dad doesn't have many friends who drink at all. My brother dated teetotalers to dry out when he found himself doing risky things. Now he tries to savor good booze while remaining on guard. And his gf developed an allergy to brewers yeast(!) that helps him too. Also I knew I could be a chain smoker so I never started. But I was only able to do this because my family and most of my community was non-smoking. I had the info about smoking to make that choice. I try to remember that most smokers didn't start on 3rd base, as it were.<br />
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I hear there's a shot that stops the cravings for alcohol. Narcan, if dispensed like (formerly cheap) Epi-pens, would have saved at least one college friend. But our society both pushes addiction prone behaviors as worthy pursuits then punishes with almighty wrath any who dare be imperfect in their vices. We condemn, judge, WITHHOLD TREATMENT & HELP in the name of righteousness punishing wickedness as if we all weren't a tragedy or two from being there ourselves. The "it can't happen to me because I'm a good person" (similar to the "I can't be doing racist things because I'm a good person") delusion is a powerful distancing factor that drives a great deal of unhelpful behaviors. Like in Jenn Ashley Wright's book "Get Well Soon" the only way to limit the spread of disease is to treat those with the diseases with kindness & help them out. It makes sense to me that it's the only way to help afflicts regain control over their lives too - by providing help with compassion. So I guess I'm ok saying it's a disease. (Especially if we can conquer it with a medicine...)<br />
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Lastly: there are resorts in regions with monkeys. These monkeys will come steal alcoholic & other drinks while people stroll or swim. Folks studying the monkeys found the SAME RATE of teetotaler/casual drinkers/addicts in the monkey population as exists in the human population. If there are traits we share that closely with evolutionary cousins, addicts just might have been born with that proclivity into a society that does its best to keep their kryptonite front and center.<br />
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(This got out of hand. Another 3 hours and I could probably edit it back some. If there are typos let me know in the comments as I'm trying this on my phone which has some odd proclivities wrt autocorrect.)CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-73656557611148839042016-12-01T22:28:00.000-08:002016-12-01T22:31:53.815-08:00Pretty Perfect Pumpkin Pie Crust TL;DR Making pie dough into cinnamon rolls is awesome for pumpkin pies. Inspiration came from<br />
<a href="http://thegigglingchef.blogspot.com/2011/11/cinnamon-roll-pie-crust.html?m=1" target="_blank">Giggling Chef cinnamon roll pie crust</a><br />
Roll out crust dough, slather with butter and slices, roll into log, cut into slices, press slices into buttered* pie plate, and bake as needed for pie recipe.<br />
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Details:<br />
My ADD brain is always searching for new stuff to learn or to do. I hit a sale at the HyVee on pumpkin pie supplies, and since the dog also likes canned pumpkin, I picked up a stash. Then remembered I'm living in a construction zone with a mini fridge so I'm not keeping eggs for the most part, and I'm cooking with a kettle and a toaster oven. (I could plug in a microwave but am saving that as s reward for getting the 2nd bedroom drywalled. And I have to blow construction dust off it.)<br />
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Anyhow, we spent Thanksgiving and then some at grandma's house so I took my pie fixings along. But the problem is, I don't like pie crust. My mom gets complimented on hers regularly, and her next door neighbor ran the Home Ec dept of a state university and she taught me to bake bread, so I've had ideal pie crusts. I've tried crusts made with butter, lard, Crisco, coconut oil, olive oil, and vodka. I still don't like pie crust. (I do like pie crusts made with dates and crushed pecans, but it's too sweet for many pies, and was not an option here.). As I was waffling about whether to make the pie with or without crust (pumpkin quiche?), I remembered that Google might have a better idea.<br />
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Thankfully, I ran across the <a href="http://thegigglingchef.blogspot.com/2011/11/cinnamon-roll-pie-crust.html?m=1" target="_blank">Cinnamon Roll Pie Crust</a>. Because it looks spectacular, tastes great, and is relatively easy. Here's mine!<br />
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<img src="webkit-fake-url://e93a4191-d0b7-4f8f-8c96-c92123a08f52/imagejpeg" /><br />
(Um, picture?)<br />
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I only have this picture because we were too busy eating it to take a photo after baking. Even with the aid of the glass pie plate, and making a second one, it didn't happen.<br />
<br />
Cranky Otter's Cinnamon Roll Pie Crust.<br />
At Aldi's we could buy a 3 year supply of Crisco for $3.39 or a box of 2 pie crusts for $1.29. We bought 4 pie crusts. Turns out the Aldi's pie crusts are good. And cheap & easy - just the way we like 'em. (I have no problems eating raw pie dough. Go figure.)<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
- raw pie crust, rolled out<br />
- 2T or so cinnamon<br />
- add sprinkles of other "pumpkin pie spices" like clove, nutmeg, & ginger if you need the excuse to stock up at Penzey's.<br />
- dash of paprika or cayenne pepper<br />
- dash of salt<br />
- 2-4 T butter*, melted.<br />
* Butter can be subbed out. Because it's melted, texture is not an issue. Use whichever fat you like. Coconut or olive oil for vegans.<br />
<br />
Supplies:<br />
- work surface<br />
- flexible spreader<br />
- glass pie plate (serve pie tilted on the side if your pie plate is metal)<br />
- clean fingers<br />
- cutting tool<br />
- rolling pin (for homemade crusts)<br />
<br />
Steps:<br />
- If you made pie dough, roll it out to a square or rectangle, then chill it while getting out your ingredients to fix it. Make enough for a pie about a cm larger in diameter than your pan, just in case.<br />
- Toss as many Tbsps of butter as you are comfortable using in your glass pie plate. Microwave butter until melted.<br />
- Lay out pie dough on work surface. Trim back about a half inch on 4 sides to square it up slightly.<br />
- Swish or spread butter around pie plate. Pour excess onto pie crust and spread evenly.<br />
- Liberally douse the raw, buttered crust with cinnamon. Rub it in with your fingers or spreader to get to the edges. Don't be shy, make a paste you can't see through.<br />
- If you want to get fancy, sprinkle lightly also with any or all of the "pumpkin pie spices" and include the hot pepper and a pinch of salt.<br />
- Please do NOT add sugar. It is too likely to burn when in contact with the pan. Unless you like that sort of thing. But it's not needed.<br />
<br />
- roll up the spiced crust into a log. Cut slices about 3/8" (1cm) thick.<br />
- place one in the bottom of the pie plate and squish it with your fingers (or a clean glass) to be about half as thick. It will spread out. If gaps open in the spice layer just scootch it over a bit to close. In the future, use more down force, less sideways force.<br />
- Repeat with remaining slices, going up the edge also. If you have enough to cover, yay! You're done! If you're shy a bit, use the pieces cut off the round to make a lip around the top and fill in any scary gaps. Or frantically re-squish everything just a little more.<br />
- Fill with pumpkin pie filling, or prebake, whatever your pie calls for. Bake per pie instructions.<br />
- Eat & Enjoy!<br />
Introverts: Put glass pie plate on small elevated stand to show off crust.<br />
Extroverts: Walk it around to all the relatives/ diners and insist they admire your crust before and after baking, like I did.<br />
<br />
<br />CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com1Kansas City, MO 64117, USA39.160078 -94.53150289999996439.110832 -94.612183899999962 39.209323999999995 -94.450821899999966tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-59123049499109202492014-11-18T04:11:00.001-08:002014-11-18T04:13:09.313-08:00Nature's 10 Most Perfect Foods<div>Today instead of 3 things that make me happy, I'm upping the ante and going for 10. </div><div><br></div>Back in college, whenever someone mentioned Twinkies, my dorm mates would chime in with, "Nature's Most Perfect Food!" I've given an inordinate amount of thought over the years to what would follow Twinkies on this list, and recently decided I have a stable top 6 or so, and rounded it out with other favorites. It's late; I'm awake. So without further ado, I bring you:<div><br></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>Nature's Most Perfect Foods</b></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><b><br></b></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>1) Twinkies</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Definitionally, these Hostess snack cakes top the list. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>2) Hot Pockets with the crisper sleeve.</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Without the sleeve they slide to 6th place. Lean Pockets count - I like the artichoke chicken. E</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">very omnivorous culture has an iconic meat pie, but one that can be microwaved to crispy in 2 minutes makes this ours. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Great for breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>3) Easy Mac</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Loved Mac & Cheese growing up. As a single adult, I don't keep much milk on hand & a box makes too much, so I rarely ate any. Finally tried Easy Mac at a house party overrun with kids, and it was like the heavens opened up. Don't need to keep perishables, and it makes only enough for 1 serving. It tastes and feels exactly like I need it to. What's not to love?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>4) Doritos</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">A case could be made for Cheetos here, but <i>Taco Bell</i> partnering to make a Doritos taco shell brought these into the top 5. Again, childhood food memories, this time of taco salad at church potluck chock full of chips gets evoked by the <i>Doritos Loco Taco</i>. Doritos are delicious, every chip. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>5) Ramen Noodles</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">The classic college staple, dried packs of ramen have a nearly infinite shelf life, cost almost nothing, and can partner up with all manner of steamed veggies or eggs & meat or stand alone. I posit that a third of my generation (X) owes their continued existence to access to cheap ramen at some point in their lives. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>6) Chicken Nuggets</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">These started in my generation, but really took off as a primary foundational food in the kids I babysat. They're now nearly universal & almost universally tasty. What kicks them out of the top 5, aside from my age, is that the best ones come from a drive thru, but the rest of the list can be made at home - or dorm or work or convenience store or... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Probably half the millennials subsisted on chicken nuggets for a good portion of their childhood. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>7) Lucky Charms</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><i>They're magically delicious</i>. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>8) Pillsbury Crescent Rolls</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">How can you not love exploding rolls of bread? I load them up with bacon or ham & shredded cheese (sharp cheddar, mozzarella, & Trader Joe's Parmesan if you must know), give 'em a little salt & pepper to gild the lily just a bit, then roll & bake. This treat is amazingly filling & sticks to my ribs so well that I usually make a batch for traveling. I eat one or two & can go for hours. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>9) Jell-O, along with shelf stable tapioca pudding.</b> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">With jello, most desserts are possible. Ask me about my crowd pleasing jello mold of the United States. (Alaska & Hawaii did not make the cut but it's all good.) I, myself, being a fan of stirring things, make a mean tapioca pudding, but having it on demand in single servings makes me happy. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><b>10) Maraschino Cherries</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">I love these fool things. They're peppy and sweet and always accompany something happy and fun. (Note: this is how I slyly sneak alcohol into the food list, kind of. Mmm... amaretto.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There you have it! Nature's 10 most perfect foods, as scientifically decided by Cranky Otter. All of them are engineered to be tasty, most have a substantial shelf life which adds to how easy they are to make & consume. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Clearly part of the selection criteria is a high degree of manufacturing in the creation of these foods, because sarcasm is also delicious. I stuck with foods rather than beverages or condiments - which I may do another day. I may redo the list with pictures; this list cries out for pictures, but if I put that on the critical path, it could take about 3 months to get it down & I'm awake now. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Tell me how right I am in the comments, and let me know what you would add to the list - I'll cede spots 11-20 to y'all. </span></div></div>CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-33084143668264664392014-04-17T02:24:00.001-07:002014-04-17T02:24:32.576-07:00LifeHack: Dog Pill PocketsMy dog has some persistent skin infections which require me to give him antibiotics. (I then have to add <a href=http://www.Nzymes.com>Nzymes Probiotics</a> to his food to aid digestion and hair growth, but I digress.)<div><br></div><div>At first, Bruno was so eager to please that all things I tossed at him were *treats!* and I could just toss him pills to swallow. He started to realize there was something hinky about certain "treats", and implemented a new policy. He would not catch the first thing I tossed him, but would let it fall and investigate before committing. Raw Pills no longer made the cut. </div><div><br></div><div>I tried stuffing them in cheese, specifically cut up string cheese, but larger pills would split the cheese and Bruno would spit out pills if he noticed them. I tried hot dogs, but they had similar flaws to cheese, and both were pricey in volume. I tried stuffing them in hunks of Natural Balance sausage, but that doesn't mold or stick well. Ordinarily those are attributes, but are not consistent with disguising pills. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">My dog weighs a hundred pounds. His pills can be large and/or numerous. I needed a cheaper, easier option. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">I'm not sure why I bought braunschweiger at the grocery store one day, but I did. I like it a little, but not usually enough to eat the whole package. I had the notion that I could buy it for me and give the rest to the pooch. I'm less fond of it than I remember being. I like the smell fine but the texture gets to me. But Bruno? He thinks Braunschweiger is The. Best. Treat. Ever. He likes it more than marrow, his previous favorite. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">And somehow I got the notion to hide his pills in the braunschweiger. Even knowing there is something hinky with this treat, he will still eat it without question. Success!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">After some trial and error, I settled on a method to form these homemade pill pockets.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0VtRcMWAjDZIt-YdY6gftJ8QZE0S-CbQYo0Qk1vo0Hpeet3I6ol1bh0FFSYqFMXNfpOXc3OYIcyQW2V9JfJhR5qHwpCFUCTfFXhY-nVnGailxPACw_OnsRZTz60S-jyhwQuNzsoHk0-I/s640/blogger-image-1114509964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0VtRcMWAjDZIt-YdY6gftJ8QZE0S-CbQYo0Qk1vo0Hpeet3I6ol1bh0FFSYqFMXNfpOXc3OYIcyQW2V9JfJhR5qHwpCFUCTfFXhY-nVnGailxPACw_OnsRZTz60S-jyhwQuNzsoHk0-I/s640/blogger-image-1114509964.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">I scoop a lump of braunschweiger onto a dessert spoon (from Ikea, also used in Rainbow Cake post). I place the pills on it then squish them in, covering them and making a oval shaped lump to facilitate easy swallowing. This works a treat!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">But I didn't want to be scooping strong smelling liver sausage twice a day so I started making them ahead and freezing them. This works best if I make a trough in some foil to hold them during assembly, then wrapping the foil into a tube when full. This gets frozen overnight, then twisted between each pill to make counting and retrieval easier. Like so:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAftJ2dU6ED-vxswRlz6wwsmMEkCrl6FSQvNqS6-A4jM2RgExYm2jc0nT-M0-rpVh96JoNWfbyY_mTvt1FEj4K7EqXCbWYr935VwQQ-SO34XVABCjXIsBNoa9Mr5gOPcVYHeJOBs0DlUM/s640/blogger-image--430852345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAftJ2dU6ED-vxswRlz6wwsmMEkCrl6FSQvNqS6-A4jM2RgExYm2jc0nT-M0-rpVh96JoNWfbyY_mTvt1FEj4K7EqXCbWYr935VwQQ-SO34XVABCjXIsBNoa9Mr5gOPcVYHeJOBs0DlUM/s640/blogger-image--430852345.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">Again, make them bullet shaped rather than round to reduce the risk of choking. (These look round due to reflection.) Not that my dog chokes on anything smaller than a charcoal briquette but still, caution seems prudent. If you don't agree that braunschweiger smells nice enough, other options are goat cheese or maybe hummus - if your dog likes either of those things - or anything of similar consistency. The Kroger brand of liver sausage is $2.49/ 8 oz, though, so it's hard to beat on cost and doggie desirability. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">After a while without meds, he's now on 2 antibiotics (poor boy's got methicillin resistant staph that flared up after a steroid treatment, and 4 other opportunistic bugs to add insult to injury). Each dose is given twice a day. Each dose is 3 pills. This would be fine if it was just the small pills. Three small pills fit easily into one sausage pellet. But the second pill is large and slippery. I can't fit 3 of those in one pellet without it being too large. I thought of various combinations to prep - 3A+1B & 2B was the front runner until I realized it would be hard to manage when they all looked the same. I finally settled on one of each pill per pellet / pocket. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">Doing the math, that's 42 pill pockets for a one week supply. He has to take these for a month, which makes 180. Making them all individually as above, with slippery pills, was going to be a pain in the tuchus and take forever. I decided I needed to mass produce them. I looked around for a half pipe shape of a diameter to be useful and enough and found nothing. I did have a notion of what I wanted, though: a tray that I could smear wholesale with braunschweiger. So I made one out of clay. I had to make the clay, too. This is also cheap and easy if you have standard pantry goods. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">Roughly 2 scoops flour to one scoop salt, water to mix, and a drop of food coloring to make it less repulsive looking. I also added some guar gum and xantham gum thickener because I have it and I could. I rolled the dough into a long log about 3/4" diameter or so. Then I placed it on parchment paper and sliced part way through, down the length of the log, and pressed the back of the spoon into the crevice as many times as I could fit. This gave me connected but individual shapes with a slightly crisp upper edge. I then used a rounded plastic clip to enhance the boundary between spoon presses. Realizing these boundaries would be hidden when filling, I made marks on the outside of the mold to indicate placement. (whew! Failure avoided.) I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> dried it in the oven in low heat (170F, chosen to be <200 & >150) for several hours while I did other stuff. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Ta-da! 18 pill pocket molds!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">To assemble, I lined the mold with plastic wrap, cut long and gathered slightly to allow some slack. I cut slabs of braunschweiger and pressed them I to the bottom. Between my marks, I placed one of each pill, then went back and smooshed the pills in a bit more.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLz9npQiXCcxKJS6CEv1TSRXFthMMjT1wLJBYdblsZAB3One-ZLRfb5TLuno3vEwBCbylFjRpYCzdtBd7hCKFOLqTCtsp-GU3SfPupyqXIpgMW53lRHNVcQLxkzDazxEwvMyMwkkC3mU/s640/blogger-image--575228976.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLz9npQiXCcxKJS6CEv1TSRXFthMMjT1wLJBYdblsZAB3One-ZLRfb5TLuno3vEwBCbylFjRpYCzdtBd7hCKFOLqTCtsp-GU3SfPupyqXIpgMW53lRHNVcQLxkzDazxEwvMyMwkkC3mU/s640/blogger-image--575228976.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> I wound up rolling out thin, flattened logs of the braunschweigher to place on top. At this point I closed the plastic wrap over the top and smoothed the top surface, trying to fully cover all pills. I then flipped over the mold to remove to log of sausage pills. To ensure proper distribution and ease of use, I pressed a dull edge into the separation marks, then re-rounded the sides. You can see the plastic wrapped log before enhancing the separation, and the mold showing pocket size relative to pills. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbs5hPZSFnvIR2An_P5ZN-YEfwl3bnZCxUnHQHTKnxtYcB164iFcdQFASO2aeBB8-Vfx14I9igCLoTHVSmzQQRUtceW_kqz4tOAH1SqFAyZZgKBSnNHWZY1vbjmKlwK7t8F-abR4VxUyU/s640/blogger-image--1878578339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbs5hPZSFnvIR2An_P5ZN-YEfwl3bnZCxUnHQHTKnxtYcB164iFcdQFASO2aeBB8-Vfx14I9igCLoTHVSmzQQRUtceW_kqz4tOAH1SqFAyZZgKBSnNHWZY1vbjmKlwK7t8F-abR4VxUyU/s640/blogger-image--1878578339.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">In not too terribly long, I made 54 "treats", which will last a bit longer than a week. I then formed a few more by my usual method to get pictures and use up the remainder of the braunschweiger. Now they're in the freezer, ready to start using tomorrow. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0eoTSTSeuhS5t787Sfk6HkZ-VwW-OdmQUfF_l96D7f4X8HunmC8gBzZ5_AH8OCx00AprvHJLTVXoXa1mARl18omx2eHXP20bjF00wbgKH5hOe5p9bBY7lFZM5Qw_stRmd5rRkczkjI4/s640/blogger-image-1664406539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0eoTSTSeuhS5t787Sfk6HkZ-VwW-OdmQUfF_l96D7f4X8HunmC8gBzZ5_AH8OCx00AprvHJLTVXoXa1mARl18omx2eHXP20bjF00wbgKH5hOe5p9bBY7lFZM5Qw_stRmd5rRkczkjI4/s640/blogger-image-1664406539.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">I'll keep the mold until I can make all 180 pellets, then throw it out. But just so I wouldn't forget, I wrote this here helpful post. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">Disclaimers:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">Please feel free to use any of these ideas, but know your dog's limits and use at your own risk. If choking is a concern, thaw the pellets before use. (Freezing only needed if more than a couple days supply is made ahead.) Choose a pellet making medium that is safe for your sick dog to eat. Make sure, if you make the salty salty mold, to line it with plastic wrap. Otherwise, ick! Don't let the parchment paper touch the heater elements in your oven, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">do not poke your eye out, or use my advice to perpetrate</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> any other avoidable tragedy. Because this is the easiest way I know of to give pills to dogs and I want to share it in good faith. Good luck!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></div>CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-4333482560473920542013-04-07T23:28:00.001-07:002013-04-08T00:42:57.769-07:00RelativismWhat's the difference between convex and concave? Mountain fold vs. Valley fold? It's a matter of relativity - where we are when we look at it determines how it's described. Sometimes we classify convex or concave based on a reference plane rather than our own position, but mostly it's about how we see stuff relative to where we are.<br />
<br />
I was listening to NPR again and there was a fascinating talk on how <a href="http://www.npr.org/news/specials/language/interactive/">our language influences how we think</a>. (For the life of me, I can't find the link to the show which aired 2 hours ago, but this one will serve for now.) From little to big, different languages make us relate to the world differently. I think a large part of why we don't remember much from before we're 4 or 5 isn't because we don't remember. It's because after that age, language overwhelmingly shapes our decisions and memories. We stop using our previous memory pathways directly and overlay them with language. Which makes us forget how to access those older memories because those memories can't be accessed with language skills.<br />
<br />
But my point was rather different. How we relate to the world is coded in our language. In the last post, I mention an uncle. All you know from that is that he was born a male sibling to one of my parents. You don't know that he was my mom's brother or that he died. In some other languages, you would have to know all that to be able to speak of him. In yet other languages, you'd know even less - he might just go by the generic term "cousin" which describes all peripheral relatives. Thinking about adding more detail or using less makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable. I imagine the people who use those other languages feel the same.<br />
<br />
The bit I found most fascinating was the culture (Aboriginal Australian, I think) who uses fixed directions for all scales of direction. The researcher pointed out that even greeting someone uses directions. "Hello" for them is "where are you headed". The response is something like "SSW for a long distance" with a gesture in that direction. Or, if headed to, say, grandma's house, you'd point in the direction she's at. This is fascinating to me for two reasons, both covered in the interview.<br />
1) Relativism. Their directions are relative to the earth, not relative to themselves.<br />
2) Direction finding. It has long been assumed that people lack the ability to direct themselves home like a homing pigeon. Turns out that we can, if we have the language for it.<br />
<br />
Before this talk, I hadn't really though about directions being anything other than relative. A lot of people taught to read maps from a young age always orient the maps facing north, but the rest of us think more in terms of "in front of me" vs "behind me" or "take a right at the 4th Starbucks". The directions center around us, not around the landscape. Thinking about that makes it sound a little absurd, as if Mt. Greylock or Lake Tahoe cares where I am at any given time.<br />
<br />
Speaking of time, it turns our our representations of time are factored into our language. English readers figure time left to right. Arabic readers figure time right to left. Americans figure the future is ahead of us and the past behind us. Some other cultures gesture forward to the past and the future is in the back - because we can see the past but we can't see the future. Yet another always gestures from east to west, because that is how time moves. That last one is fascinating to me because it's new, but makes a lot of sense. It even carries over into unrelated thing - when we lay out playing cards, we lay them left to right. The do the same if they're facing south. Facing north, cards go right to left. Facing east? They get laid toward the body.<br />
<br />
And that's because they use the landscape as the basis for location reference and we use ourselves. I think each has its place, but which one makes you feel more significant in the world, I wonder? I happen to live on the stretch of highway 101, a N/S road, where it goes almost perfectly E/W. So all the signs say "Northbound 101" but usually just "North 101" as you head directly into the sunset. That direction accounts for the whole road, not just the section, but it is rather weird but there's sense to it somewhere. (Massachussetts has at least one road sign with 3 directions listed on it for similar reasons, although I can't argue for sense when it comes to MA roadsigns.) On a smaller scale, I truly cannot fathom laying out my floorboard North to South - I'd say, "make them parallel to the central wall". I wonder if people who bow to Mecca are similarly attuned to directions during the day. My beef with that practice has long been "who can bother to figure out East from everywhere?" Turns out that if you do it reflexively, after long practice, it's just something you do.<br />
<br />
Most of what I just said is things you can find elsewhere. But I ponder relative references rather a lot - and have since I first learned that the center of a graph's axes is "where we decide it needs to be". That rather blew my mind for a while. Maybe I was concerned that it wouldn't make sense for the next problem in the set, but hey! New graph! Problem solved. So I try to think of things like convex and concave and how I'd explain them to kids.<br />
<br />
The part that comes from me, though, is how we think about newsworthy events. Recently, every jackass seems to think that the way to get attention is to shoot up a school. And whether they die in the attempt or not, they're right. (Prior to that it was the post office. Prior to that, I think people mostly took out their vague grievances on their darker skinned neighbors.) It's not like someone couldn't drive a car quickly into the unloading zone of a school and do the same amount of damage in an equally short amount of time. (Unless the school is wise and has the occasional barrier in place, and no place to work up a head of steam.) Or crash a small aircraft into the kids a recess. (No fly zones over schools?) Or just plain T-Bone a full school bus. But people aren't focused on that, they're focused on the guns. Probably because people with vague but deeply felt grievances aren't looking to be unique, they're looking to be memorable and they get it.<br />
<br />
More distressingly to me than focusing on the method of atrocity is having the News machine so focused on the perpetrator. It's been said before me, and it'll be said again after me, but giving attention to the perpetrator makes them a celebrity. I could probably more easily identify the mass murderers of the last decade than my state's reps. (The usual comparison is the supreme court, but I've got those mostly locked in these days.) And Gabby Giffords is the only victim of a mass shooting (or in her case, assassination attempt) whose name I can come up with at the drop of a hat. While I don't want to get all maudlin and in their business, wouldn't it be better if we knew the names of the victims and didn't get the names of their killers into our heads at all? I don't want those shits taking up space in my brain pan, but I cannot get away from it without dropping out of society.<br />
<br />
Yes, someone does need to know who the perpetrator is and figure out why they did what they did in order to seek justice and/or prevent future atrocities. But the biggest thing we could do to prevent those atrocities? Is ignore the asshat doing the damage. Just refuse them credibility, refuse them celebrity, refuse even to utter their names like an Amish shunning. If they're alive they'll be provided with food and shelter but they no longer get to interact in society and we, outside the small group who has to, <a href="http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/truck">hold no truck with</a> them.<br />
<br />
On that note, there are any number of crime shows on TV. <i>Bones, Law and Order, CSI, NCIS,</i> and all the variants of "outside consultant helps the police solve mysteries with their special skills" like the <i>Mentalist, Castle, Sherlock, Psych, Monk, Numbers</i>, etc... See, lots of them. But I think I've figured out why I gravitate to <i>Bones</i> and <i>Person of Interest</i>. Whose story do we hear, the victim's or the perpetrator's? In those two, mostly we learn about the victim. Sometimes that's heartwrenching - I can get upset over wasted potential in fictional characters too. The focus on <i>Bones</i> is "who is this person and how did they get here?". The focus in "Person of Interest" is "who is this person and how can we save them, or help them save themselves?" As much as the new <i>Hannibal</i> looks like it could be cool, I don't need to spend 44 minutes every week figuring out how evil people think. I'd rather watch someone be recreated in absentia, or saved.<br />
<br />
Then, I'll go see how someone is living better because they have a better kitchen or bedroom design, can make a better dress, or find some better way to make food, make a duct tape bridge, or get grimy with folks doing their thang. (respectively, all redesign shows on <i>HGTV, Project Runway, Food Network, Mythbusters, and Dirty Jobs</i>. ) Because there's only so much death and destruction I can take before I need to see something or someone put to rights.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-21304117349721937392013-03-27T22:28:00.000-07:002013-03-28T00:29:03.958-07:00Bully for QNot sure why this particular idea broke through my content creation vs content absorption boundary layer when gay marriage is heating up the Supreme Court, but here it is. <br />
<br />
Listening to the smooth voice of Jian Ghomeshi on his show Q on NPR, one guest tonight was an <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/q/2013/03/27/are-there-substantial-virtues-to-hazing/">advocate for "initiation rituals"</a>. (wow, links are so much more pleasant on a PC that's not trying to autocorrect "href" into an English word. /tangent) I think the discussion of whether or not all initiations are hazing or in any way necessary is a good one. I didn't think any of this guy's arguments held water. The best thing I got from him was how hazing/initiation is distinct from bullying. It's about duration. Hazing is pretty much just bullying, to my mind, but it has an end point. At some point, you join the upper echelon and you no longer get hazed/bullied, and to some degree you are complicit in it. Bullying more generally has no signup sheet and no end date. It occurs to me that this makes hazing a subset of bullying behavior, not distinct from it. Even more, they all fall into the realm of torture, either wholly or largely overlapping it. And common or no, I can't support ritualized torture. Also, hazing is about reinforcing the existing status apparatus, and being someone who has always been a little outside the normal power structure, I have no love of the status quo nor the perpetuation thereof just for the sake of it.<br />
<br />
In general I'd define hazing as something done to diminish, hurt, antagonize, or otherwise embarrass a person or group of people, with their complicity*, on the way to joining a presumably desirable, high status group. In theory, tough initiation rituals weed out the uncommitted or undesirable, acting as a "jerk filter", kind of like a tricky technical climb keeps novices off of prime climbing cliffs or tight squeezes keep drunk teenagers out of the cave beyond the pinch point. In reality, most initiation rituals are just ways to lower people who you should want to most elevate. You can probably tell by my tone, I'm not a fan.<br />
<br />
The specific instance here was a group of mixed sex engineering students doing the "Slush Crawl" at a Canadian University for, of all things, an engineering society. A video made it online and slush hit the fan. Rightfully so to my mind. Why? Because it's hazing. Crawling through slush in underwear in freezing weather while being pelted by snowballs, squirted by seniors weilding water guns, and being smushed further into the cold? That can physically damage you forever, or kill you without affecting your engineering abilities one iota. Canadians may be tough in the cold, but hypothermia is no joke. You can lose fingers or toes. And you know it's no fun because the organizers don't take part in the crawling. <br />
<br />
Compare and contrast to a "water party" I gleefully attended in college: <br />
One, it was warm out. <br />
Two, it was a fun exploration of ways to get wet on campus, not a barrier to entry for an academic or professional group. I could go home at any time and suffer no repercussions.<br />
Three, while I was crawling around in not much (to save myself laundry... right...) dress was up to the individual choice, not dictated by the man. <br />
Four, the organizers gleefully participated in addition to refereeing winners of moat races.<br />
Five, I learned new things about the campus, like which water features were the most accessible. (The most memorable being that the moat around the chapel ramps up under the "drawbridge" area so don't splash down too enthusiastically there, you'll scrape your nose.)<br />
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If the Slush Crawl was just a campus tradition? Fine - if they get a first aid station and serve hot chocolate afterward, and have heaters or bonfires or homemade saunas set up. And if participation is in no way compulsory. I starred (*) "complicit" earlier because while you're playing along like you approve, your approval doesn't matter. If you're unable to safely say no, you consent is not consent. Kind of like going through the TSA search and seizure routine - not flying really isn't an option if I want to see family and participate in modern life without losing my job for taking too many vacation days. My consent is meaningless because there are not other *viable* options to flying. The problem is similar for hazing. If you object to hazing, consequences can be severe - not being in the engineering, or any, society might not sound like big shakes, but it determines your social and professional life for years, and possibly your lifetime. <br />
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For this specific instance, the guest made the following lousy and lazy arguments: <br />
- this has been happening for years<br />
- many people have it worse that that<br />
- it doesn't "look" that bad<br />
- no one complained about the event<br />
- if she didn't report the complaint, she didn't mind the slap on the ass<br />
- initiations are "highly calibrated"<br />
- initiations are put you through experiences that will prepare you and your group of initiates to overcome "relevant" obstacles.<br />
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My rebuttals, one by one<br />
- Conduct must be judged on its merits, not its prevalence (R. Cohen.) <br />
<br />
-<strike>University students</strike> <strike>students</strike> <strike>soldiers</strike> No one should be looking to clear the lowest bar. Especially since the argument for the hazing is holding you to a higher standard. Knowing that someone else has it worse is a call to help those people out, not descend into it yourself.<br />
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- How something "looks" has no relevance to how something feels or how serious it is. It doesn't look that bad to stuff someone in a small box either, but when you do it to someone (excepting magicians and performance artists who do it to themselves) it's torture. 15 minutes locked in a box can cause a psycotic break. Crawling over ice in the buff can cause permanent damage to fingers and toes in minutes.<br />
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- Complaining about the event is equivalent to refusing to participate, if not worse. Unless someone actually does become noticably disabled or dead, complaints are rare. You don't want to be a tattletale, do you? Now you've done the hazing for nothing, and become subject to bullying and harrassment. My uncle had some similar hazing event in college (being wet and cold in underwear running around) and the resulting pneumonia nearly killed him. My grandfather, a husky 6'3" and smart as a whip and kind to all, went on a real tear to the college board. He, my uncle and his friend were the only ones to really complain. They were no longer pledges. They didn't get to meet alums in high finance in Chicago. But they did get their dignity. And my grandfather was always proud about speaking up against hazing. He found it an appalling thing to ask of someone, and I'm right on board.<br />
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- Harassment isn't defined as "something that makes a person file an official complaint". You don't get to smack women on the ass without explicit consent; it's a straight up violation. Someone with equal or greater standing should see you being an asshole and take you to task, it's not up to the lowest status person, aka an initiate freshman, to call you on your crap. Even I might have let this one pass in the noise of "they were shoving and slapping at everyone" but (a) they weren't, and (b) it was given that no-defense reaction explicity, and (c) just days ago mass media was bemoaning the status points lost for two boys convicted of rape for drugging a teenage girl, dragging her to multiple parties like a hunted deer carcass, raping her all the while as people stood around and filmed it. And people felt sorry for the goddamned boys! So I'm telling you now, if a guy smacks a woman on the ass, you stand up and tell him to back off until/unless she freely volunteers that it's just peachy with her.<br />
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So now that the lazy arguments are out of the way, we get to my buried lede. It turns out that enduring hardship together does make for strong bonds between people. But you know what? Hazing overwhelmingly makes people angry, embarrassed, bitter, and vengeful. Then if they're allowed to be vengeful, they don't take it out on the perpetrators, generally, they take it out on next year's initiates and give just a little worse than they got. And things snowball from there. Or become snowballs thrown at people crawling through slush to be... better engineers? That ritual makes no damn sense.<br />
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The real point where I lost my sympathy for the guest and culminated in this post was the "highly calibrated" and "prepares you for real tasks" comments.<br />
<ul>
<li>Hazing is almost never "highly calibrated". Giving worse than you got is a recipe for evil.<br />
</li>
<li>Hazing almost never directly or peripherally prepares you for your future life challenges.</li>
</ul>
The obvious counter-example is Hell Week in SEAL training, except that *is* highly calibrated and *is* direct prep for their actual job. When they get the candidates cold and wet over and over? They've worked out the fine line between willpower and hypothermia, and if they cross it, there are doctors and warming baths on hand. They start out with simulated machine gun fire, run a lot, and stay awake for a week performing tricky tasks as a team. And some SEALs report that they've been through *worse* in the field. So while this could be hazing, it's more like overly enthusiastic job prep.<br />
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Why would a group be made more cohesive when the relationships start out as bullying and embarrassment and negativity? What about needlessly risking hypothermia and toe loss makes one a better engineer? How is that better than having the initiates/pledges do a big project on a tight timeline? MIT Hacks come to mind. While those are mostly volunteer, some of them happened every Rush, and someone had to do them - why not initiates? That's a positive focused team directive that builds confidence and accomplishes something. Like becoming an Eagle Scout by doing a project for your community, have the freshman plan an outing or an event or a fundraiser - all these things put people to work doing observable life skills.<br />
<br />
Take party planning - the leaders can see who's a better organizer, who's a better "task doer", who sloughs off, who has good ideas. And they can either sort their pledge choices based on these skills, or decide to hold a skills class to get their pledges better organized. Maybe give them an inconvenient deadline - where pledges have to get their act together or fail to pledge or fail a class, but have available to them the tools needed for them to succeed at the pledge challenge AND their coursework.<br />
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Myself, I only had marginal exposure to hazing. I did a week of AFROTC indoctrination, and there were a couple of physical fitness evenings that were just there to wear us out. I learned later that they'd planned all the insults weeks in advance, so no matter what happened, someone's uniform wouldn't be pressed enough, someone would be too slow, and that person or group would be yelled at. Most of the week was just honest learning and PT. But the very small parts that weren't? Made me dislike and disrespect the leaders. Most of them remain tainted in my mind to this day - and they weren't all that bad.<br />
<br />
Why would we want to live in a world where people dedicate their time to making life harder for other folks? There exist tough circumstances already. While going through a trial together may make you some friends for life, hazing is more likely to bring a lingering enmity to your life that doesn't help you or anyone you know. Why not fill that initiation time with progressive challenges that culminate in creating something good or entertaining? It should be something a senior would like to do again. It <i>should</i> be difficult and can be silly and even embarrassing, if the goal isn't solely to cause embarrassment, like a musical done in drag, or making identical or themed costumes that get worn to class. More pledge ideas off the top of my head: make a work of art, make a music video of the latest meme, redecorate the living room, create a new dining room chandelier, run a fundraiser, hold a bake-off bake sale, hold a loft building competition, get another measurement of the divot created when a <a href="http://mit81.com/baker/content/piano-drops"> piano falls from a dorm roof</a>. Imagine the results of onupsmanship in building a better movie room lounge or carving topiary trees instead of wasting your energy running around cold and wet.<br />
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So if you find yourself in a group preparing to haze someone, let go of any vendetta. Think instead of how you can make it be a potentially positive experience that benefits your group and your pledges. Instead of hosing people down, set them to achieve something difficult but delightful for the whole team.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-34416967191087459792013-03-04T01:48:00.001-08:002013-03-04T01:48:30.765-08:00Laguna outingI've got a friend who plans outings. This is a wonderful thing for me because I don't enjoy organizing outings, but I do enjoy outings. Today, we went to the <a href=http://www.pacificmmc.org/contact.html>pacific marine mammal</a> seal and sea lion rescue center. They do good work- about 4 of 5 rescued pinnipeds are returned to the wild after feeding and treatment. Today, there were a dozen seals in one of the "we're almost better" tanks who reacted to a little tiny dog being walked nearby. They lunged into and out of the pool to slip-n-slide across the decks, based on the completely oblivious dog's movements. <br />
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It was one of the first few beautiful days we've had in months, and I got to enjoy it with friends near a beautiful beach. And I was able to confirm that losing one of my nine <a href=http://www.gaspods.com/>gaspods</a> in the carwash didn't wreck the mileage boost I get from using them. (They don't help on slow roads, but get me an extra 30 miles or do on a tank on the freeway.)<br />
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I was able to feel good about getting out without guilttripping over leaving Bruno because I found a Doggy Daycare that he seems to like well enough, and which wears him out. Both those things are key when he's not getting a big ol' hike with me. First, Bruno loves riding in the car. I offered him a snack as we were leaving and he spit it out because it was not helping get him in the car, the car!! When we got there for his second time, he went right to the dog yard. The attendant seemed a little stunned at how cooperative he was. So he got doggie socialization and I got people (and seal) socialization. All good!<br />
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My third good thing - after passing by a juice bar on my way home, I got a hankering for a smoothie. The juice place next to Petco let me (a) order a smoothie 3 minutes after they closed and (b) bring Bruno in with me to place the order. They didn't have to do either of these things but they did and I got my fruity blended beverage two hours after the urge struck. <br />
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Bruno's sacked out. It's time I get that way. CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-77966848468158878952013-01-20T23:37:00.000-08:002013-03-27T21:55:38.891-07:00BrunoI got a dog! Bruno comes from a rescue situation in Seattle, is probably about 6-7 years old and probably part Mastiff, weighing in at a svelte 104# as of last week thursday. He thinks he's a lap dog.<br />
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I will post pictures, but right now it's easiest to type blogs from my computer but easiest to upload photos from my phone. I will try to get a pic in soon.<br />
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This is a surprise to most people, but has been simmering for a while, probably since my Alaska trip. Everyone in Alaska has dogs. One night, there were more dogs than people at our dinner party! I grew up with a dog, and my allergies to dogs are mild in that I can breathe around them, unlike cats, who are little furry death monsters. However, I've always lived by myself and in small spaces. I don't get up well in the mornings, which is problematic if someone else is relying on me to let them pee outside. There's also the fact that I work full time. Not only do I not have sufficient time to make a puppy happy, I don't want a puppy destroying my house. But even homeless people in California have dogs. Surely I could figure something out. <br />
<br />
I looked into small dogs, just in case. The lovely and talented author <a href=http://www.catherinemann.com>Catherine Mann</a> who also fosters dogs in Florida, was kind enough to send me a primer on common qualities in small dog breeds. And she was evil enough to keep posting pics of her foster pups on facebook. I wanted some of them too. But again, no time for a puppy; no time for housetraining.<br />
<br />
Then while visiting friends in Seattle, we met up with their friends who do foster dogs for a dog rescue. My friend asked about the foster dog who was so friendly and it turned out Bruno was still being fostered and the fosters didn't want to keep him and their two other dogs and a cat. Everyone loved him, but he was just too big.<br />
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But everyone also said he was pretty chill. A bit of love, a place to nap, some snacks and some walks and he's good to go. So I inquired. I met Bruno. He seemed a good sort - easy with strangers, hadn't knocked over the christmas tree or nativity, hadn't chewed through any cords, walked well on a leash, and clearly had been well trained at some point. He didn't make me sneeze. (He does, on occasion, give me a rash on my hands, but that's easily overcome. The breathing thing is the sticking point for me and he passed that.) How could I not love a dog sized dog who was happy sleeping most of the day?<br />
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We got him from Seattle to SoCal because his first foster family was able to drive him partway. I met up with them in San Jose. It was a little traumatic for him, but he loves riding in the car, so I figured it would be less unsettling than flying in a crate to a stranger. Now that he's here, I'm making it a priority to get him at least a 30-45 minute walk every evening - aiming for an hour, but if you hadn't heard, it has been freezing in SoCal. We're combing the neighborhood for walkable streets, mostly in the dead of night. Then on the weekends, I drive him to a hiking site. He loves riding in the car, loves walks and we wear him and me out pretty good.<br />
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I'm also coming home at lunchtime for the time being. I won't be able to do that always, but until he realizes that I am coming back and not leaving him, I think it helps. Being at his 5th home in as many months has given him some separation anxiety issues. This weekend, I tried leaving him more often for short jaunts so monday won't be such a shocker. We also had a doggie date with my friends in Santa Monica who have two tiny dogs. It went ok. The minpin realized there was little threat, even though Bruno's paw is the size of his head, but the Chihuahua need a little more time.<br />
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So that's me and Bruno. I've become somewhat of a hermit with a dog, but tonight's outing was a step in changing that a bit. Once he gets more settled, I'll feel better about taking him more places. And once he learns/re-learns "stay" and "come".<br />
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I'll work on the picture uploads. Next up is a visit from my mom to see the new granddoggy and help walk him after I get my hernia repair repaired next week.<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsbuMUqbgUTSfXI7EhjHkbdNIBu43k14NbW2Omk-qmPHXV3BoJjTY1h2jPPsozdmLeHEoQ3JEwaLqi7keSsQohxKDBxL9oLPwZC99bDL6k5aR-YQg_mJGMeTLtVTKzMTsHjg5YRLmxwPw/s640/blogger-image-2072726464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsbuMUqbgUTSfXI7EhjHkbdNIBu43k14NbW2Omk-qmPHXV3BoJjTY1h2jPPsozdmLeHEoQ3JEwaLqi7keSsQohxKDBxL9oLPwZC99bDL6k5aR-YQg_mJGMeTLtVTKzMTsHjg5YRLmxwPw/s640/blogger-image-2072726464.jpg" width=400 height=300 /></a></div>CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-20625213626249441292012-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:002012-12-31T23:59:00.684-08:00Happy End of Year 2012Having Traveled a lot this year, I'll be calming things down a bit for a while after I drive back up to San Fran to get a dog. Because I'll have a dog. And not one that will be flying coach. Bruno is some sort of large, short haired dog and probably part of the mastiff family. He's down to about 105 pounds. <br />
<br />
You might wonder what I would do with a large dog in a small condo, but everyone (his foster families) assure me that he doesn't need much indoor space if he gets a few good walks during the week. He's about 6 or 7 so he's not a hyper puppy. In fact, his favorite things are snuggling with people who are watching TV and riding in cars. Walks are kind of a distant third. <br />
<br />
So I'm excited to get a pre-trained dog that mostly just needs food, water, shelter, walks, a safe bed, and love. The rescue folks are so happy to have a home for him that they're driving him to CA from Seattle for me, so I only have to go so far as San Fran. Bruno is my New Year's indulgence.<br />
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My New Year's <i>resolution</i> is to walk a lot more!<br />
<br />
Also <ul>
<li>I would like to blog more (yeah, yeah, you've heard that before). I'm going to aim for 1/week.<br />
<br />
<li>I'm going to try the food blogging again. While I like baking, I'm not going to restrict it to just baking; I need to be using my cook books. So at least once a month, I need to blog about a recipe I made from a cook book. If I want to do an old favorite, I'll need to double up.<br />
<br />
<li>At work, I'm going to do more up front project planning, keep the projects up to date, and my desk cleaned off.<br />
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<li>Lastly, I will try to date. Maybe the dog will help with that.</ul><br />
Have you got any plans or indulgences for the new year?CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-1271994742885383352012-12-12T21:12:00.000-08:002012-12-12T22:57:05.968-08:00Cookie Party VIOnce again, I made a big push to not only clean my place up for the Cookie Party, but to also make improvements. I'm pretty much down to one large, one medium, and one small hoarder pile (indoors) with my exterior closet being in need of more TLC. But no one goes there during the party, so I got a lot of good feedback on the place and I'm pleased with it too. <br />
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My cool new mods are the crumbstoppers I devised for the sides of the stove. I hate when crumbs and spills run down between the cabinet and stove. Eeew. Last year I put blue painter's tape over the gaps...and left it there. It worked well enough but was a ratty eyesore. I looked for specially designed treatments and found a couple but didn't like them for one reason or another. At the hardware store, I considered getting a metal threshold to cover the gap but it was too costly and not quite right. Then I found vinyl tubing. It's sold by the foot for wicked cheap. $0.31/foot! I got 5 feet of 5/8" clear tubing and crammed it into the spaces on either side of the stove, angling it forward slightly and making sure it doesn't stand proud where it could get grazed with a hot pan. You can almost not see it, and it stops crumbs, and wipes clean easily. If I get something really hard to clean on it, it's easy enough to pull out and reinstall. <br />
<br />
I also bought high temperature magnets for the party to keep the parchment paper from sliding off the baking sheets. Since 4 of the 6 pans were magnetically interactive, this worked pretty well. They did grab on to the spatula, but that's a small price to pay for keeping all the cookies in line. I need 2 more full sized cookie sheets. I'll make sure any new ones will hold a magnet.<br />
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The cookie list was most of my standards: chocolate hotties, craisin pistachio biscotti, zaletti (currant rum cornmeal), icebox, and oatmeal cookies. But this year, we actually had time and resources to make actual chocolate chip cookies!! yay! I think it's the first time we've managed to squeak them in and they are always tasty. We also tried some cardamom cookies and an almond-cocoa meringue. Those might make it back next year too. Someone reminded me that I'd bought candy canes, so we also smashed some of those to put on top of cookie candy canes we made by coloring the icebox cookie dough with my gel colors.<br />
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There were kids here who were old enough to use cookie cutters with minimal supervision, or roll out those candy cane cookies, so there was good non-hot stuff for the kiddos. We were able to crack out the Star Wars cookie cutters I got for my birthday from mom, and they were really cool. I'll have to use those again. Friend C was a total champ and took on bake timing responsibilities for most of the day.<br />
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We also remembered to drink wine this year so the party ran on after the baking petered out. It was fun! Whew! Thanks to all my local friends who showed up. For those that didn't make it, or anyone really, I've decided to do another day on February 10th. This is Chinese New Year, so I'm looking for Chinese recipes, or anything with rice flour.<br />
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The cookies are long gone but I'm still getting feedback. I gave some to my trainer and he was able to recall 4 varieties and then say, "and there were others that I don't know what all they were but they were delicious too." We make good cookies here! I had a great time, the place was fairly easy to clean up, and a good mix of people came and went through the day. I felt like I mostly had my act together this year, which was also nice. No frantic last minute stuff, just a calm saturday afternoon shopping spree to get 7 pounds of butter to use of a sunday.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-59395195184982526412012-11-15T22:44:00.000-08:002012-11-15T22:44:56.938-08:00PHB: Equality Precedes EconomyIn this <a href=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/christopher-hennessy/the-big-lie-i-love-my-gay-friends-but-im-voting-for-romney-anyway_b_2030629.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices> Huffington Post link</a>, The Big Lie: 'I Love My Gay Friends, but I'm Voting for Romney Anyway' by Christopher Hennessy on Oct 30, 2012, the bit that struck me most was his skit with a future son asking a Romney supporter, "is it worth building an economy on the foundation of inequality?" or something like that. <br />
<br />
Or exactly like this:<br />
<blockquote>But what good would that future be if it was based on inequality, if people like you voted for someone like him?<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
Basically, once we come to the realization that our rights are out of whack, we need to fix that along with the economy, but the foundation of equality must underpin the economy, never the other way around. <br />
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Without access to birth control, women are not equal citizens - flat out. Without access to the same laws that apply to straight people, gay people aren't equal citizens, flat out. As long as we continue to arrest 10% of the black men in this country, particularly for things that white people are given a pass on, black people aren't equal citizens - full stop. Any argument that has been used to deny rights to minorities in the past should immediately invalidate it in the present. We need to focus on what to do with our future, but one party is making what is hopefully its dying last attempt at putting women, gays, and blacks in "their proper place" as inferior to and at the pleasure of white men. This is not a fight we should be wasting time on, but it's well funded, very vocal, and extremely damaging. So fight it we must. That the equality gains circa 1912 need an all hands on deck defense in 2012 is appalling. No one should be proud that some Americans fight against equal rights for all citizens. <br />
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This year the choice is between people and parties who are either for (more) equal rights or who don't give a damn. And if they don't give a damn about some citizen's rights, it's only a matter of time before they don't care about your rights. Without basic legal rights, the economy does not matter because chances are it will screw you. Remember how much businessmen cared about people before unions? Yeah. You're 95% likely to get the short end of that economic stick, so make sure the short sticks aren't all that short. Vote your rights and your money will follow. Vote for money (because Republican neocons have NEVER driven the economy into the ground...), and your rights will vanish. <br />
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In theory, we should have two or more somewhat reasonable candidates representing, in mostly good faith, variations on what the country needs to be healthy and move strongly into the future. <br />
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In reality, this year we don't. We have one candidate, Obama, that tries to reason through things, make decisions based on evidence and facts, and keep the whole of the population, if not the world at large, in mind when he makes decisions for us, for our country. We have one candidate who based an entire campaign on saying the convenient thing to make himself sound good in the moment, very few of which were based on facts, evidence, reason, or empathy. Quite literally, they want to undo laws that made other citizens legally equal to white men. They want to legislate from the past to the past. I want a president looking to the future, not in the Pres Bush sense of "I don't have to acknowledge failure", but in the sense that we acknowledge gains in equality as victories, not as mishaps, and move forward. <br />
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Some times there *aren't* two legitimate sides to a position. One can argue about how to interpret facts and data. One cannot dismiss all facts and data one doesn't like and retain credibility. We should be fighting about the <i>best way</i> to address pollution and climate change, not <i>whether</i> we should address them. We should be talking about how to regulate the business practices that tanked the world's economy, not whether. We should be talking about how to explore our lands and oceans, skies and universe, not whether. We should be talking about the best way to provide income and security for the infirm, not if they "deserve" it. We should be talking about the best way to provide health care, not if we should ensure quality healthcare. we should be dreaming up the infrastructure of tomorrow and patching the infrastructure of today, not pulling the ladder up behind us and saying "that's enough". <br />
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Because these things are needs that our, and every country, grapples with. Working on them makes us all stronger. They make us all wealthier. They make us all more free - more free to do the things we love to do and love the families we build. <br />
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I'm trying to figure out how to say that the Republican platform is illegitimate yet avoid confounding it with the modern Republican assertion that a democratically elected President is illegitimate. The Clinton impeachment had almost nothing to do with sex and almost everything to do with Republicans forcibly asserting that Democrats were illegitimate. They mostly shut down Congress for two years to make the point. <br />
<br />
Then we get, "Look, hey, government is broken! Give it back to us!". It's still not entirely clear to me why we couldn't have taken a month to do a recount. Real data in these cases is better than fast data. But the Republicans battered their way back into power. They inherited the dotcom bust - I don't lay that on Bush. But from then on, the recovery was anemic. (It took me 10 years to recover my 401K funds - not to where they should have been, but to what they'd been 10 years before.) I hated the response to 9/11 and hate it to this day - two unfunded wars - one nakedly unprovoked; the 4th amendment violations required to fly; requiring citizen documentation that would make the Soviets of old shudder; and unrelated to that, firing up the war on women and aggressively throwing money and lives away on the drug war. And war is not too strong a word. then the lead the world into a global economic catastrophe. Whole countries went bankrupt to allow a few thousand businessmen to run the game and take the game ball home with them. They preached then and preach now in favor of the very policies that put much of the world in a tailspin. <br />
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Then Obama was elected and the wingnuts flew off their mooring bolts. A black democrat? Extra super illegitimate! Women? Extra super icky? Gays? Bringing about the end of the world. Immigrants! It must be the Immigrants! (The only place I have any respect for Pres Bush II is keeping the nuts in check over immigration.)<br />
<br />
Romney voters keep saying that they're not racist, they just don't think <UL><li>Obama had an education (He has one of the best available in the country),<br />
<li>that he wasn't born here (he was. Besides, how many teen moms fly halfway around the world at 7 months to give birth at their in law's? In a third world country the '60s? They visited later; she was with her own parents for the birth),<br />
<li>he isn't a "leader" (he "leads from behind" to avoid the trap of supporting something before the Republicans go on record as supporting it as they deliberately oppose everything he does. If he "leads" the way they goad him to, he loses even more. So he sidesteps their game.),<br />
<li>that he's a foodstamp/ affirmative action hire. (Remember that Harvard Education? That DNC speech? Authoring books? Teaching Constitutional law at a top university? He did those in spite of being black.)</UL>
No, not every Romney voter is racist, but their primary ideology has racism at it core. And homophobia and mysogyny. It's no mistake that their candidates are clean cut "All American" lily white men, however many binders of women they employ.
Romney voters keep saying that they're now "ok with gay people" meaning "as long as I don't have to think about them" and "I'll move from active obstruction of your rights to passive obstruction of your rights, primarily through surrogates so I have plausible deniability". But they're willing to buy your and my rights for a tax break of a few hundred dollars.
Equality's one of those notions that is path dependent. But like a hysteresis, once the gaps are seen, it's impossible to not see them. We can fight them, but we do it knowing it's wrong. Losing a superior status is not remotely equivalent to loosing rights. Losing privilege, yes. But in a meritocratic society, privilege should be earned, not given, not assumed. Or the reverse. Assume everyone is grand until proven otherwise by bad behavior. Romney and the majority of Republicans are behaving badly, throwing tantrums when they don't get their way. Guess what? You don't always get your way. Grow up and vote for Obama. Help him cement the gains we've made.
Then scramble like crazy to figure out a nominee for 2016. And how to improve the Democrat's platform, messaging, and plans. Team Obama for the win, but he's only one guy. As he recently said, <a href =http://m.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/01/1153718/-President-Obama-s-remarks-at-Green-Bay-WI-campaign-event>our work is not done</a>.<br />
<br />
[Sorry for any weird typos or awkward structure; it's hard to edit on the iPhone and this is probably 5 or 6 posts worth of content that came out all at once. Also, the links entered via the blogger app aren't working Thanks for your support. ]CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-6537521892109183742012-11-01T20:03:00.002-07:002012-11-01T20:04:55.620-07:00What a President UnderstandsAnyone who knows me knows that I will be voting for Obama. No reluctantly as the least bad option, but as the only politician I've ever gladly helped elect. <br />
<br />
I was thinking about what makes him so appealing to me after hearing for the 40 billionth time that Romney thinks a President should primarily "know about business". It occurred to me that this seems to be accepted wisdom, and honestly? I want a president that primarily understands <b>people</b>. Because a government of the people should have a primary representative who understands people and cares about people. What people want, what people need, why people do things. When they don't know, they make an effort to find out. And by a vast margin, President Obama understands people from all walks of life in a way Romney has demonstrated that he doesn't, and doesn't care to, and can't even fake. Romney also demonstrates the kind of behaviors used by bullies - he would make himself better comparatively by holding others down. Obama would rather lift everyone up. And so would I (on my better days, at least).<br />
<br />
Even more, for all that business relies on people, businesses don't need to care about people - if they did, we wouldn't have developed unions or regulations. Sometimes we need government to step in and protect the majority of people from the tyranny of the few - and from the businesses. One careless business or one bad neighbor can really spoil things for a disproportionate number of people. There's also a lot of talk about how markets will sort out answers to problems. The two main problems with markets are that there's uncorrectable asymmetry in all aspects of markets, and markets aren't moral. Free markets are needed to achieve those mythic optimal solutions and we expect some solutions to be moral, so unregulated markets aren't the best way to solve those problems as, ironically, they aren't really free. <br />
<br />
Even without invoking religion, government can help promote moral solutions (and I can't believe I wrote that either, but "can" =/= "does") and promote market symmetry with regulation and enforcement of business. And historically, solutions that limit business in order to help improve the lives of people in society are better for everyone, including the massively wealthy. The massively wealthy in a land of serfs are comparatively more well off than the serfs, but like bullies, they're less well off than they'd be if the majority of people were productive citizens working on the most advanced thing they can rather than scratching every day to survive. <br />
<br />
One example of this is Saddam's palace. It was the "best" estate in Iraq, and from the reports I read, it was kind of a shithole. Ornate, but clunky and prone to breaking and inefficiency. He didn't even have the best available in the world, and the best available in Iraq wasn't all that great. Surely on some things he did have the best in the world, but in the main? Not for the household goods. If the average goods in Iraq were, on average, excellent, the best in the country would truly have been impressive. But he cared more about keeping others down so he could stay on top. <br />
<br />
Instead of thinking about ways to make the country better, dictators and bullies spent time keeping others down and consolidating their personal power. It's an enormous waste for temporary gain and makes the average standard of living worse. The better off the average person is, the further they can plan into the future and the less likely they are to stage a revolt. When everyone's hungry, 10 years from now doesn't matter. Ten days from now may not matter. When you can't think past 10 hours, you really have nothing left to lose. I don't want to live in a country with nothing left to lose. I want to live in a country that provides opportunities that allow everyone to do something beyond just survive, and right now, we don't meet that threshold for an alarming percentage of our populace - it's well into the double digits. The richest country in the world should be able to care for its poorest. And our poorest shouldn't actually be poor.<br />
<br />
I will to vote for the humanist over the businessman. If the humanist hires good advisors, the businesses can be accommodated.<br />
<br />
I like that Obama can multitask. I like his choice of priorities. I like that he has shown concern for all people, even after I may have written them off as not worth the time. I like that Obama considers what he does and says. I know he does this because from the day he was elected, his public speech contains many pauses that didn't happen beforehand - in particular there was a "keep up the good work" speech to his Chicago campaign staff in 2008 that he delivered off the cuff, fluidly, for 15 minutes.<br />
<br />
There are some things I'm not as thrilled with (drug war comes to mind), but there isn't a single thing he's doing that a Republican would do more to my liking. <br />
<br />
To cap it off, Obama has kept his cool in a way I could never do. Probably because he's had to and I haven't. He knows that he can never be seen as "angry black man", not even once, and so far so good. See the comedy show Key and Peele for good "Obama interpreted by Angry Obama" for a handy reference of how I would react to traitorous intransigence that puts the party over the country. Obama has kept people calm in crisis after crisis. He's managed to NOT get us into war with Syria or Iran, something some Republicans are actively advocating. I think it's hard to judge a person on what doesn't happen on their watch, but after living through the Bush II years, I now know what happens when those things aren't prevented and preventing avoidable issues are some of the most important things a president does. We just had a massive storm wipe out part of our biggest city and several states, and the vibe coming from the White House is "Keep Calm and Carry On" not "Let's Panic and go to War!" I want a president who believes we are strong. I want a president who promotes our strength by allowing us to be strong, not by making others weak. And in this election, that choice is Barack Obama.<br />
<br />
I really hope that the storm damage doesn't prevent people from voting next tuesday. Carry on.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-64887090742071060462012-09-20T19:17:00.000-07:002012-09-20T19:49:00.959-07:00ValidationThere's a self-help special on PBS right now talking about happiness. The speaker is running through 5 things one can do to increase baseline happiness. Number 1? The ostensible reason for this blog! I'll pre-date a post that included the things I gleaned from the show if you want the guide to do it too. I can say it unequivocally works - when you focus on the good things of your day, it becomes a lot easier to see good things and remember good things.<br />
<br />
So here I am, telling you why I'm happy today. It's an odd day, as I will be having a medical test tomorrow which requires fasting today and I'm a bit jittery. If all goes well, I'll learn more about why my guts are balky, and it's driving me to blog, which I do actually enjoy. <br />
<br />
The TV is on PBS because Stephen Colbert interviewed Harvard President Drew G. Faust, the author of a book on how the civil war formed some foundational notions of our nation that are prevalent today because of all the deaths that resulted from the war. And that book was summarized in a two hour show which I watched a couple nights ago - I kept thinking I'd DVR it and break away, but I was glued to it the whole two hours. I'm grateful to have watched that, and grateful to see the Happiness show now.<br />
<br />
On the civil war show, though, there was a quote that I think applies really well to the death of our Ambassador and his detail this week: I've rearranged it somewhat, but this was written to a grieving father 150 years ago:<br />
<blockquote>Your son is no more. The grim monster, Death, has ravaged him. But one consolation: he died in the full discharge of his duty in defense of his home and country. </blockquote>I love this quote because it shows that people are people, and it doesn't make a soldier into a victim for coming to an undesirable early death at the hands of people he cared about, but someone who died for a purpose he believed in.<br />
<br />
The second thing I'm grateful for today is that my car is fixed because I was persistent. My car has been making a repetitive click/tick noise that was subtle until I drove next to a wall or into a drive thru. I've had several people try to figure out what's wrong, and no one found anything. I took it back to the most honest mechanics I know. (If you drive thru Ventura County, I'll tell you who they are to share the love.) We discussed what it could be. They didn't find it in the exhaust. They found nothing wrong with my belts or tensioner. They did find a cracked motor mount. And replaced it for a nominal sum that did not obviously include the cost of all that troubleshooting. Since, after my medical test, I will be driving to San Fransisco with a book club friend tomorrow, I'm VERY happy that my motor mount is no longer cracked. But 5 different mechanics told me there was nothing really wrong, and I knew there was something wrong and I was right. Hah!<br />
<br />
Lastly, I'm happy that I've now had a few vendors over to sell me things and two of them, one today, noticed my tiki, Rikki Tiki Tavi, on the patio and thought it was awesome. It is awesome! I pierced his tongue :) It's not for everyone, but it makes me smile every time I see it, and now it's made other people smile too!<br />
<br />
CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-26905596043869411942012-09-20T19:07:00.000-07:002012-09-20T21:12:48.522-07:00Happiness HelpersMy quick summary of "The Happiness Advantage" which is a PBS special advertising an eCourse. You can delve into this much further, but here are some straightforward, dare I say simple, things anyone can do starting now that will help you be happier, and help you influence the people around you to be happier. If you do any or all of these things for 21 days each and and notice yourself feeling good enough to do more, go get the book, DVD, and/or eCourse. (Or, go donate to <a href="http://PBSSoCal.org">PBSSoCal.org</a> and get them that way!) He claims there are 5 things, but I think I split them up more than he did but they're all good.<br />
<br />
Once a day for 21 days:<br />
<ol><li>WRITE DOWN 3 specific things that made you happy or grateful today. (Not "I'm feeling good" but "I was healthy enough to do a pushup") This gets you thinking of good things, which makes them easier to spot and remember in the future.<br />
<li>Write down, for 2 minutes, the details of a meaningful experience. This exercise focuses on the nitty gritty of why and how an event was meaningful, beautiful, funny, or endearing. It's practice looking at details instead of the broad strokes and sound bites.<br />
<li>Smile! Consciously add 3 smiles a day. This is one that my brother relies heavily on - when you see someone in the hall, smile and nod or say hi. When someone provides you a service, look them in the eye and smile at them. When a meeting is getting tense, just find a reason to smile. They're contagious too. <br />
<li>Youthful thinking and words. Check your vocabulary such that when you can, think about words with youthful and positive connotations, textured instead of wrinkles, smoky instead of gray, etc... They found people who focused on how they lived and thought 20 years earlier improved their memories and attitudes and postures in the space of a week. (If you were an unrelieved bigot or bum back then, maybe you can think of it as going back while knowing better, perhaps.)<br />
<li>Fun 15! Add a <i>mindful, fun activity</i>. This needs to be energetic, but you have to pick something you think is fun. It's ok to go longer than 15 minutes to keep enjoying your fun moment.<br />
<li>Write a 2 minute note to someone in your social network to share something positive. Take a minute to look up an address and write an envelope, then write and send a note to someone.<br />
</ol><br />
Like any plan, overdoing it might not lead to the best results. Pick one of these things and give it a shot. Then try another one. Even if you don't keep doing these things deliberately, they will help you find and keep the more delightful things while crowding out the less delightful things. You'll see how straightforward it is to make a change in your own life and the lives of friends and family so you can live happier ever after.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-1210248397409830082012-08-09T22:15:00.000-07:002012-08-10T00:40:01.705-07:00Not so Young AdultsEarlier today I was perusing The Atlantic for my daily dose of random inputs and ran across a good article by Meghan Lewit on <a href=http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/08/why-do-female-authors-dominate-young-adult-fiction/260829/>women dominating popular young adult (YA) fiction</a>. The question posed <br />
by the title was, "Why women in YA?" <br />
and by the author, "What's the draw of YA?"<br />
and by my brain, "Why now?" <br />
<br />
I went to write a comment and constructed a treatise. That's my cue to write my words where people who like me want to read them, rather than hijacking someone's article. Also, it's apparently National Book Day, and for someone whose major summer vacation was going to a 500 author booksigning, it would be remiss of me to let it pass unnoticed.<br />
<br />
Given that I'll be 40 next friday, I am officially not a young adult anymore. I'm ok with that. I'm getting creaky and my guts are weird and I can afford acupuncture and pretty much whatever I want on iTunes. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 26 who doesn't look 12 looks 25 to me these days. The grey streak is still cool, but it blends a lot more than it used to if I stop dyeing my hair. I'm starting to feel like a grown up. <br />
<br />
In these four decades, I've spent a lot of time reading books, discussing books, meeting authors, discussing authors, befriending voracious readers, befriending authors, reading about writing, learning about writing, and getting all excited about writing on my blog only to think so hard about some things that they never get written. I've read two of the three most popular YA series, and gotten an earful on the third. Which is to say I've got some idea of what's going on in the book world and the world at large and I've got something to say about the state of young adult literature.<br />
<br />
Starting with the good news:<br />
<blockquote>"[C]ommercially, teen fiction is crushing almost everyone else. Three of the biggest book-to-movie franchises of the last decade (Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games) are YA series penned by women."</blockquote><br />
This is fantastic news. I'm pretty sure she says "*almost* everyone else" because I'm pretty sure Romance is still over 50% of the publishing industry, while it remains a miniscule part of the literature that gets critical attention and acclaim. And the wildly popular YA books made into movies take in a looooot more money than Lifetime movies made from wildly popular romance novels.<br />
<br />
Then there's this:<br />
<blockquote>"While teen titles may never reach the upper echelons of critical adulation... the phenomenal popularity makes it increasingly difficult to marginalize the genre."<br />
</blockquote><br />
Young Adult literature is still a lower status genre, despite Harry Potter making Rowling richer than the Queen of England. In the article's comments, even the YA <i>supportive</i> folks tend to qualify their support by acknowledging that some find it "schlocky writing" or "childish plotting" implying that these are valid descriptors of a whole genre. They feel compelled to say that because YA is considered lower status. We feel the need to justify that status by claiming it has less-than qualities whether or not the claim is truthful or fair. Because if we want to be seen as knowledgeable about "real" literature, we can't take YA lit too seriously. <br />
<br />
The best books in any genre can be held up to the best books in any other genre. Similarly, so can the worst. SciFi/Fantasy has been battling this problem for decades, they just developed powerful allies and superstars over time. Romance is still fighting it, as the powerhouses of literary/review publications don't seem care what "housewives" think (which is stupid because women control 70% of US household spending), but there are Romance superstars and they're gaining power too. Now there's a new kid to pick on, so YA gets bullied even though it's making people money hand over fist in a down economy. Why do we let that stand? It's ok to give a book a bad review. It's not ok to dismiss entire genres. Let's stop marginalizing genres starting now.<br />
<br />
<b>Why women?</b> <br />
My top two reasons: <br />
1) larger pool of female authors <br />
2) status implications<br />
<br />
1) There are a LOT of female authors who started writing professionally after they had kids and needed the scheduling flexibility that being an author provides but being a lawyer doesn't. Most authors make a pittance - maybe enough to make it worthwhile - meaning there are likely more women writing professionally for low pay than men because even in this day and age men are more likely to be pulling in the family's primary salary. Comparatively fewer family men are able to write full time (or 3/4 time) for a pittance than family women. Not that all YA authors are moms, but there are a lot of moms out there who need a paid creative outlet.<br />
<br />
2) Women are culturally "allowed" to be successful at lower status things. (Oh, isn't she cute!) YA doesn't threaten the status quo of "serious adult literature" so women's success, even phenomenal success, in YA doesn't threaten the status of "real" authors because these women aren't seen as writing "real" books. While I observe this to be true, I find this odd considering how many countries Rowling could buy outright because Harry Potter was <i>the number one top selling book series in the world</i> for ages, but I digress. <br />
<br />
Men who are (rightfully) worried about not being taken seriously in publishing would not submit YA novels because once they do, most won't be able to sell "real" novels later if the YA thing doesn't work out, for all that well loved adult fiction authors are happily writing YA novels these days. (I'm looking at you, James Patterson.) <br />
<br />
Women who were <i>already not being taken seriously</i> by "literary" or "hard science" SciFi/Fantasy publishers had nothing to lose by writing YA over Romance or any other genre. The marginal cost for women to submit in a "secondary" genre like YA is much lower for women than men. A woman can write a young adult novel and still sell in romance, where she can possibly make a living at her craft. (I'm looking at you, Jax Abott = Alyssa Day.) <br />
<br />
<b>Why this explosion of success now?</b><br />
<br />
They only populated the "Young Adult Bestseller list" to keep the NYT list open to non-Rowling authors whose publishers depended on their authors making the NYT list. They didn't create a new list for "perpetual bestsellers" or "Long Term Best List", they demoted her to "Young Adult" even though millions of adults enjoyed her stories. (To my knowledge, Dan Brown's similarly long lived novels were allowed to stay on the list.) And for all that's insulting to think about, it has done the young readers of this world a fabulous service.<br />
<br />
The YA genre was around before Harry Potter, but it was marginalized for decades to the point that there was no "YA bestseller" list because there were so very few new YA novels being published before Rowling. The library was full of Nancy freaking Drews, Madeline L'Engle, ancient Little House books, and Judy Blume novels - which are all well and good, but we read them all and did so 30 to 60 years ago. It was time for an update, and Rowling's success with HP meant that publishers were no longer afraid to publish young adult books for fear they wouldn't sell.<br />
<br />
<b>Why are YAs so popular?</b> <br />
<br />
First, J.K.Rowling (who, honestly, might not have been as successful if readers knew at the outset she was a lady author) put Harry in the world, and got a generation of kids back into reading. Then, to paraphrase a quote in the article, youths fall in love with their novels more than adults do. They're passionate about what they read when their world is still fairly new. This tidal wave of readers demanding "give me something just like Harry Potter but different" is calling for new material and a 20th reread of Little House, or even HP, isn't going to suffice. There's a need for more.<br />
<br />
The genre is seeing fantastic success with new authors in part because it had a decades long dearth of new material. I know some authors who have 20 year old YA novels that only got published in the last 5 years because no one would touch them when they were written. That buildup of material, meant there was a lot of untapped potential, readily available to start filling the gap. <br />
<br />
On top of that, Ms. Lewis makes some really good points about the genre and the genres dominant heroines:<br />
<blockquote>YA lit offers heroines to suit every mercurial mood and developmental stage, from spunky, disaster-prone Anne Shirley to dreamy, bookish Francie Nolan and the modern ass-kicking incarnation of Katniss Everdeen.<br />
<br />
And perhaps, therein lies the true appeal of young adult literature: The stories and the genre itself represent a world of limitless potential. As a young reader, I didn't comprehend that the opportunity to disappear into the lives and adventures of strong-willed young women represented a kind of feminist victory. The best young-adult books provide a portal to characters and perspectives that simply aren't as readily available on the adult reading lists</blockquote><br />
This wealth of stories about strong, complicated, empowered girls and women has never before existed in the history of literature. So <a href=http://www.freetobefoundation.org/>women who grew up thinking they could do anything and be anybody</a> are writing those stories now. And teens and adults are buying, reading, and loving these stories now.<br />
<br />
Ideally, all the young women and men reading these books with strong, complicated girls and women (and boys and men) in them will grow into adults who will change the status quo because they have a new normal they're bringing with them. Hopefully more diverse starring characters will also come to the fore and be normal because women should be supporting all women becoming all they can be, even if they're fictional. <br />CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-91060856593168255972012-06-21T23:32:00.000-07:002012-06-22T00:42:57.829-07:00Hamster RoshamboWith my guts being uncooperative of late, I've been reading up on various studies. Oh, who are we kidding, that's something I do for fun anyway. I'm following @DearSarah on twitter because she's a good aggregator of technical and feminist references. One led me down a habitrail of issues in using rodents for medical testing. <br />
<br />
Mild Warning: If animal testing is anathema to you, you may not want to proceed on general principle. But I won't be talking about truly icky stuff, rather one point is about how to improve conditions.<br />
<br />
The reasons for testing medical treatments on non-humans are compelling: fast turnaround, many samples, controllable conditions, and fair warning, ala the mine canary, of imminent harm. We can all agree that conditions for test animals should be humane above a certain threshold. We can agree that the number of tests should be minimized, especially if there are alternate assessments - aka testing is not done frivolously. Assuming that to be true, I don't have a problem with most of it even though I have a particular fondness for hamsters. /Disclaimer<br />
<br />
I have given animal testing some thought. I don't like that they're generally in barren cages, because bored rodents are not healthy rodents, and a lot of medical testing assumes the controls are healthy. So why don't they all have wheels, at a minimum? Ever since I read the hamster blog about the guy who hooked up a rotation meter to his hamster's wheel and recorded wheel spins per day over the life of the hamster, I've wondered why they don't do that with all lab rodents who run in wheels. It would also be a way to check on whether or not your fountain-of-youth medicine really is extending their quality of life - will the hamsters on your supplement run longer as adults than the controls? Will your hamster have off days? Will there be earlier spikes or longer depressions in activity? And you get this just from them being in their cages.<br />
<br />
This article, I think from Discover, was talking about problems with mouse models of disease and how things can improve. What I hadn't known/realized/retained was that medical research used to be dominated by rats. They're pretty intelligent and can entertain themselves pushing levers and running mazes. But all the research these days seems to be on mice, so what gives?<br />
<br />
The "knockout mice" revolution happened. Scientists figured out a way to drop genes out of mice then breed them true. They're excellent to find out what a particular gene does/doesn't do and whether or not your drug will fix it. Rats resisted the knockout technique until very recently. So for the last 10 or so years, mice dominated the research. But it's emerging that all the tests that had been so painstakingly developed for testing rats... might not be so great for testing mice who don't much like pushing levers or bright lights in white mazes. Reasons for not changing techniques, I assume,include: some people - even scientists - assume rats and mice are much the same being long tailed rodents. Established testing has support in the way of developed instructions and supplies. Uniformity of testing methods makes findings replicable, and interpretation less sketchy. However, if you're testing for, say, stress, your mouse is already above baseline doing these non-preferred things, so you might not realize as much of a distinction between control and experiment as you should. And your tests kinda show that mice are dumb, but maybe they're just balky, or you're not playing to their strengths.<br />
<br />
Enter some scientists who've thought about these things. It's actually pretty fascinating. One lady from the breeding facility can talk all day about interpreting their emotions from their interaction with their bedding - Supplied a compressed cotton pad, happy, healthy mice will shred it and make a nest. Some of their knockouts didn't get that memo and sleep on it like a tatami mat, or hide under it in some fashion. And they haven't even gotten to the testing yet! Yet another in-the-cage passive test.<br />
<br />
One researcher gave some thought to what mice prefer to do that is different than rats. They're not big on visuals, but they like smelling things. So he buried treats in sand that had been mixed with various spices. Turns out that mice can learn that treats are in cardamom but not cinnamon, or cinnamon but not pepper (for instance). So cdm>cnn>pp right? So cdm>pp, right? Wrong... Like rock-paper-scissors, this tricky scientist made pepper beat cardamom. And mice can learn this! (I do wonder how well they'd do with rock-paper-scissors-lizard-spock...) It's tricky enough that the test can be used to see if they get confused or not, without unduly stressing them out. I'm just really entertained by the fact that somewhere out there, knockout mice are playing roshambo. For science.<br />CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-28878402573058271942012-06-12T23:21:00.000-07:002012-06-13T00:39:50.303-07:00Did not see that comingA semiconductor manufacturing facility, called a fab, takes teams of people to run. The operators move the product from place to place and make the machines go. But before they do that, the process engineers like me have to create a process that runs and devise some way of knowing at any given moment whether or not it should be run. Before that, the equipment engineer makes sure it's safe to turn the tool on and set up according to spec for general use. Before that, the facilities group makes sure there's power and water, gas, and a floor that will support the the tool. Before that... get the picture? There are more people involved, but primarily it's production, process and equipment once things get going. Any problem gets kicked back to process and equipment and when it's a challenging problem, the process and equipment engineer usually work together to solve the problem. Or when we need it to do something new, we work together to make it do what we need it to do.<br />
<br />
Our fab has a dozen process engineers, of which I am one, each responsible for a subset of process steps. We also have about 10 equipment engineers. We work together all the time. Just yesterday, my equipment engineer and I met to hash out some action items for one of my toolsets, established some priorities, and from that devise a plan of action to beat my balky tool into submission. There's just one hitch. <br />
<br />
My equipment engineer died suddenly this morning.<br />
<br />
This was very unexpected and has hit the office pretty hard. He died before coming into work and I have no details. I feel a little outside of it all emotionally because while he's my direct counterpart, we've been struggling to build relationship since we both got reassigned to work with each other. He's a nice guy but we didn't really connect...yet. That meeting yesterday was also an attempt to build rapport. And now we won't. My boss, however, has worked with him for years and years, and has a friendly relationship that includes regular lunches and the like. He's pretty devastated. I'm a little worried that my lack of overt grieving will be seen as callous disregard. I really hope not. But this isn't a death that makes me rethink the direction of my life or think I'm next on the list, and I actually got a large amount of work done today. I like to think it's partly because I was motivated to make sure his toolsets don't go to hell. Because he surely won't.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-87294072334229109822012-05-25T23:08:00.000-07:002012-06-13T00:42:38.004-07:00Progress and Pools[Time flies! I wrote this on May 25th on my iPhone, but the "publish" button doesn't work in that app, so it languished until I felt like checking in from my computer.] <br />
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This week was really good. I felt good. I had energy to burn off. I mostly woke up pretty well (a couple sleep interruptions but not crazy bad). I'm starting to think I could do things outside work regularly again. <br />
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Good thing 1: Exercise I've found a hiking buddy. <br />
Three weeks in a row we've gone out to a local trail after work and meandered around. The first day she overdid it a bit and got stiff, so we're doing 45 min jaunts but might try an hour or more tomorrow morning since it won't get dark on us. <br />
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I went swimming! Before I get in the water, unless it's clearly a beach day, I almost always resent getting chilly and wet and the amount of time it will take me to clean up after (never less than 20 min in my whole life.) but I get in the water and love it 99 times in a hundred. I love being in water; I don't much care for <i>getting</i> into water. Bearing in mind the fallout my hiking buddy had from her first trek in ages, I set my sights in a 20 minute swim. I actually made it 25, but the last 5 pretty well knocked me out. I was so still in the hot tub afterward that bubbles gathered behind my knees. Long after the agitation ceased, I moved my legs and there went bubbles! It was like I had been carbonated. <br />
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Good thing 2: Getting stuff done <br />
I had volunteered to rent a house for some book club friends coming to LA area in July for a conference. I'd looked at one house that was workable but mediocre. I tried to rent it but it fell thru - the owner was kind of a flake. My friend thinks it's because they had no intention of doing the upgrades I'd inquired about. Maybe, but it left me with no house. Then I had a conference myself in Boston, and pushed that visit as long as I could, taking both weekends. Then I had another off weekend and a weekend where I was just lazy. I went to find another house - there had been 60 options when I started looking - and ALL of them were unavailable the dates we need. Oops! <br />
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Thankfully my planner friend came thru with alternate websites. I found 3 likely properties, and was able to pick one. I'm going to go see it this weekend to see how reality compares to pictures. Only signing up for 4 nights instead of 7 saves us about $50 each - more if we get the security deposit back. Hopefully this will go well. <br />
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Good thing 3: Keyboard design update <br />
My patent attorney contact (college pal's wife) remembered me fondly enough to give me some advice over the phone, then recommend a couple of local attorneys. I'd caught her after my conference but just before hers, so I had a week of impatiently waiting! Then I got the names early this week and got all squirrely about how to approach them. Finally at lunch today, I went with the "you can fix a bad page but not a blank one" mentality and cranked out what I thought was a good query letter. Both offices responded to my email. One of them should work out or get me a referral, and I am making appointments for next week. Things are moving. <br />
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I have one friend sending me keyboard newsfeed articles which is awesome, but I'm not going to read any more of them until I file so I don't accidentally copy an idea. I'm keeping the list, though, to read after filing. <br />
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Bonus Good thing 4: Kickstarter <br />
Out in Boston, friend J showed me a game he got from sponsoring the makers on Kickstarter. I hadn't realized you'd be able to *get stuff* for the money beyond a warm fuzzy (like mullein) feeling. Suffice it to say, I went shopping for Christmas presents on Kickstarter this week. And a couple things for me. I think candleholders with feet will go well with my vases with arms. My favorite that got me to sign up in the first place is "Roominate". A build it yourself modular dollhouse - with electric circuits. You build the house, add in lights, fans, and sounds by wiring it up yourself. Girls' engineering toys! That don't pander! That aren't an adapted "boy" centric toy. Love it. And it funded, so if it ships by Christmas, I'll have good gifts for at least two friends. <br />
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What have you been up to?CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-8256313550669243812012-04-12T22:49:00.000-07:002012-06-13T00:16:35.150-07:00Raincheck, cashedWell, mom will be here in an hour or so. She made it onto a later flight than intended, so I'll be headed out imminently. The weather tomorrow will not be much better than it was a few weeks ago, but it will at least not be worse than weather in Minnesota! The weekend should actually be reasonably nice.<br />
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Other good stuff today, aside from mom making a flight:<br />
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Lunch at Brent's. <br />
They make a wicked good pastrami, and they customize it for me. I don't like the stuff they usually put on it. They've got some really good potato salad (and I don't much like potato salad) and they put it on the sandwich for me. It's awesome. It's also quite large, so I'm having pastrami sandwich for dinner as well.<br />
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Tire Man<br />
My new tires, from the dealer, have never quite been properly balanced. The dealer would charge me another $50 to balance them, so when I had my brakes done, I got them balanced by that shop. And the balance got better, but it was not fixed. Preparatory to mom's arrival, I stopped at the Tire Man and had them rebalanced. The manager gave me two options - cheap and $20 per tire. I went with cheap. When I went to pay, he gave me the keys back and said, "Drive it for a while. If it's fixed, come back and pay. If not, come back and get the expensive balance." So right now, I'm driving on improved balance tires that I have not yet paid for. What a sweetie. I figure I'll ask my mom. If she thinks they're still funky, I still have options.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-758693068354350612012-04-12T21:48:00.004-07:002012-04-12T22:25:52.389-07:00PHB On Owning ThingsI have a handwritten "post" on hoarding that is apolitical. But this post was sparked because I was too lazy to change the channel when NPR started talking about a nuclear Iran, so there will be some politics, but hopefully not much. This is really more about money.<br />
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One of the great frustrations of me and many Americans is the size of our defense budget. It's G.I.G.A.N.T.I.C. The frustration is from the sense that this budget is out of line with our needs, and our ability to afford it. Whether our truly gigantic budget - literally multiples of the sum of the defense budgets of the rest of the world - is out of line is something that should be discussed. Why do we have all our bases abroad? What do we get out of it?<br />
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I happen to think that we as a society are better off if we, who are able, take some care of our least able members, allowing them to live a life of dignity and worth which they could not afford or get to on their own. I think this is reason enough for a welfare program and international aid. I do not think it is reason enough, necessarily, for OUR welfare program our our current international aid so we don't need to fight on those details here. That doesn't mean that I don't also seek out reasons why we give other countries money. Some of the money we give out just seems insane.<br />
<br />
But some of the insanity may have come clear to me tonight. I've never been all that great with current events and politics. Some of it is from my inherent lack of respect for positions given by bureaucracies - I just plain don't see some connections. Some was because my first exposure to it in elementary school was so confusing and over my head that I just had to put it in a "don't know"/"not good at it" category and it has only been in recent years of reading blogs that I feel I've gotten a bit of a handle on things. Which is what makes me think I should blog about this.<br />
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As the commentators (really, some of the most knowlegeable and least divisive I've heard in a while) explained some back history of nuclear weaponry, they discussed the difficulties of what to do now. We'd bombed Japan with nukes and it was gruesome. The scale of nuclear weapons give us the potential to do damage on a previously unknown scale. We the people can wipe out countries in moments. This is a tough thing to face. Who gets this power? <br />
<br />
Apparently there was "the Irish Resolution", which is pretty simple on its face, and which was considered unlikely. Essentially, my understanding of it from the show is that those countries with nuclear weapons can keep their technology but must not sell it or gift it to others. Those without must not seek to gain nuclear weapon technology, and all must be subject to inspections. Who would go for that? Well, <i>in exchange for promises of protection</i> the world went two decades without any non-nuclear countries becoming nuclear. Hunh. Who knew that would work so well? <br />
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But that key piece in there is that those with nuclear vowed to protect those without. Retaining ownership of the bomb means that our defense budget and personnel aren't just for us, they are for our neighbors too. Because the cost of NOT providing that protection is having more nuclear weapons in the world. Containing and negotiating with the governments who do have them is tricky enough. Every new player adds significant complexity to the fragile balance. And that might be worth spending some defense budget money that seems on the surface, rather gratuitous. <br />
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File this under "things that make me go hrmmmm."CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-64084770976688213782012-04-04T21:15:00.007-07:002012-04-05T01:18:39.077-07:00Political Hot Buttons (PHB)Maybe because some of the bloggers I like are heavily political in their updates, I find myself needing to express opinions about politics, including politicized current events. It's not really why I started the blog, especially since politics I want to talk are inherently not about happiness in the now. But to not talk about these things makes me feel dishonest. I guess I want to talk about politics because I have hope that things can improve in the future. At any rate, if politics ain't yer bag, baby, I'll try to remember to start all my political rants with PHB, so you'll be forewarned.<br />
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I first learned about the concept of Running While Black (RWB) from a white lady romance author who figured that since the was writing about Navy SEALs, she may as well write a black Navy SEAL because while she's not a SEAL nor a man nor a black man, she wants to write about all of us. I think she does an excellent job at this. Suzanne Brockmann's <a href=http://amzn.com/0778320790>"Harvard's Education"</a> included as part of the character's motivation the trouble black men have just going about their business in our society. (Ironically, it was the one Team 10 book of hers I was unable to get from the local library - local at the time meant the library was literally a block from Harvard Yard.)<br />
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While women face challenges from men in power, we tend not to get disproportionately arrested, handcuffed, or otherwise harassed by the police or others who are in authority, or who consider themselves to be in authority. Black men and teens do. It's a frustrating thing to be concerned about because as far as I can tell, the only influence I have here is to personally make an effort to treat everyone fairly, which is something I try to do anyway. But you see where this is going, right?<br />
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A teenaged boy, Trayvon Martin, was staying at his dad's place (or his dad's girlfriend's place) in a gated community. He went out to get his kid brother some Skittles. On his way home, a neighbor who considered himself the neighborhood watch considered Trayvon a threat, called 911, was told not to engage Martin, but left his car, started an altercation, and shot Trayvon Martin dead.<br />
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<img src=http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/tanehisicoates/trayvon-martin-family-photos-4.jpg Height=530 width=400 alt="photo of Trayvon Martin celebrating his mom's birthday mere days before being shot"><br />
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That's terrible enough on its own. Imagine your kid goes to the store on the corner, and on the way home is shot by the neighborhood watch. (Frankly, this guy sounds like one of "those guys" who you just let do his thing because it's not worth the effort of talking him out of it. Besides, he's harmless, and who can he hurt, right?) His excuse was that Trayvon looked scary, and was wearing a hoodie. The reality was that Trayvon was Walking While Black in a gated community. <br />
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Where it gets worse? The perpetrator, who absolutely shot this young man to death, claimed it was self defense and WAS NOT ARRESTED. In any situation where that boy was not black and the shooter was, the shooter would have been arrested and then hamstrung in the media. It turns out you can't even die while black without someone doing something horrible. Some popular media outlets and commenters are spewing out all sorts of the usual tripe about how Trayvon somehow "deserved" to be shot.<br />
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Way to many of the media outlets are talking about "stand your ground laws" (which, prior to previous convention, do not require you to attempt to leave the scene of an altercation before using deadly force in a public place) as if they apply primarily to the <i>shooter</i> ("Z") in this case. To the cops and the media, Z has the unmitigated gall to claim that <i>after Z stalked Trayvon from his car, called 911, then left the car to confront Trayvon about his right to walk to his part-time home</i> that they fought, Z feared for his life, and shot Trayvon. I'm sorry, but the Stand your Ground law in this case applies <i>to the guy who was rightly concerned about deadly force being inapproprately used against him, Trayvon</i>. Sorry Z, but if you picked a fight with a gun and started losing? Trayvon had a right to stand his own ground against you. Except, you know, he's black.<br />
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Because Z was not arrested. Not really even held. He absolutely killed that boy. The only question is whether or not it was legal for him to do so (from my perspective, that's a clear "hells to the no") and if not, how to sentence him. I'd say Z is out free, although he's apparently in hiding. Good. I don't advocate for vigilante justice here; I advocate for justice. [Hey! I just found a Justice League comic in my Lucky Charms.] Only it took bloggers and month of diligence to even get the police of that town to consider that <i>just maybe</i>, they'd handled the aftermath of Trayvon's death the wrong way.<br />
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There are cases of shooting someone in self defense. <br />
This is not one of them.<br />
This is not a case where the victim was armed with a traditional weapon; Trayvon had iced tea and a rainbow of flavor.<br />
This is not a case where there's a question about who shot whom.<br />
This is not a case without evidence - there's a 911 recording before the event with a dispatcher telling the shooter that the police don't need his physical help [aka, stay in the car and don't confront the victim]. If the shooter had not gotten out of his car and confronted him, Trayvon would be alive.<br />
This is not a case where the shooter was at a clear disadvantage; not only did Z have a car, he had a gun, and about 100 pounds on the victim.<br />
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"But he was wearing a hoodie!", "He looked like a thug!", "He hit me![unconfirmed at this time]". He was a black kid, defending himself from some crazy stalker dude with a gun, who accosted him on his trip to get Skittles for his little brother, in the rain. <br />
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No cop, no civilized person, should consider those accusations as acceptable precursors to the use of deadly force.<br />
- No matter what hoodie I wear, I will never be shot for wearing it.<br />
- No matter what hoodie I wear, I will never be called a thug.<br />
- No matter who I hit, no one will ever say that lethal force was justifiably used against me in return*.<br />
If, god forbid, someone does shoot me to death, my family has high confidence that the police will<br />
- Arrest my shooter.<br />
- Identify my body by asking around the neighborhood to see if I lived there.<br />
- Prosecute the shooter to determine in court whether or not the shooting was legal.<br />
But then, I'm a white woman. If you're a black man or boy, good luck with that. Apparently that stuff doesn't apply to you. <br />
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[*With the exception of me somehow turning into a domestic abuser. I still have the option of being accused of inviting rape by wearing a short skirt, a low cut top, or drinking too much, but chances are near certain I will never face Trayvon's fate.]<br />
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Given that 'a free society is one in which it's safe to be unpopular', this doesn't speak well of our supposedly free society. Like judging people by how they treat the staff, we need to judge ourselves by how we treat those who are at our mercy. There has been too little mercy for Trayvon Martin and his grieving family, and entirely too much for the shooter. There are places that are sticking up for Trayvon; I don't mean to imply they aren't. But the ugliness isn't confined to dark corners and private chats. It's out there in volume. It has powerful legitimizers. The hate gets an airing by people trying to be "fair". We don't need to be fair to lies or echo the slander. We fought a civil war to free black slaves 151 years ago, and then we harsh on other countries for not embracing our example democracy in one generation when hand them examples of justice like this? <br />
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For further reading, my go to source on this is <a href=http://www.theatlantic.com/ta-nehisi-coates/>Ta-Nehisi Coates</a>. Much of his late March postings cover this case. If you need to have a conversation on safety in the face of public power and force with your black son, check out his book, <a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0385527462/theatlanticmonthA/ref=nosim/qid=1269361002&sr=8-1-spell>The Beautiful Struggle.</a><br />
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Thanks to everyone who has spoken up for Trayvon Martin <a href=http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/03/30/trayvons-brother-there-should-be-an-arrest/>and his family</a>.<br />
So what else can I do? Wearing my lemon yellow hoodie doesn't seem like a sufficient statement of support.<br />
What can we do? How can I be an advocate? How do we make our country a safe place for average black men to do average things without fear of arrest or death?CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434495502175776916.post-7713214920771340912012-03-22T23:53:00.002-07:002012-03-23T00:23:11.498-07:00Obsessive ReKeyEver since I got my iPhone, I've wondered why it had a qwerty keypad. The thing is virtual, it could be ANYTHING. I know there are good reasons for it, buy legacy is not a <I>sufficient</i> reason. Here's why: <ol><li>Keys are virtual. They can be any shape in any order. They could move, grow, and learn. There is no hardware reason to propagate the legacy. <br />
<li>Touch screens have no variable feedback. You pretty much have to keep an eye on the typing. If you'e watching it instead of touch-typing, why not change it up?<br />
<li>The given display keys are small enough I can't type with my thumbs (plus I have long nails) so I'm pretty much typing one fingered, including this. You know what isn't optimized for one finger typing? Qwerty.<br />
<li>there's not a physical limit on key response. Keys could do just about anything from typing one letter to inputting a sentence or swapping screens. There's no good reason to not take advantage of that. <br />
</ol><br />
With that in mind, I set out to design a keypad for typing American English one-fingered. And I have a solution I'm extremely happy with. I'm torn about whether or not to upload it here, because the blog is Google archived. Email me if you want to see it while I consider posting it. An early version did go up on facebook, where I learned that the Android Platform has a programmable keyboard option. But that doesn't help me on my iPhone. <br />
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Still and all, I'm looking to program it in some testable way. A colleague's CS prof may be interested and has experience programming for the Apple platforms. If that doesn't work out I'll keep trying. I'd also like to see if I can work it for the Android, since they were so open about options. <br />
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My design principles:<br />
Frequent letters belong together. The most frequent combos should be adjacent. <br />
Order should trend L-R like word order, so prefix heavy mid-list letters go left, and suffix heavy letters go right. <br />
Common keys should be bigger to allow for more slop at speed. <br />
Adjacent keys should be swipe-able for fewer taps. <br />
We need a few helps beyond straight letters like a comma key. And cursors (for when my blogs run long and finger dragging causes weird effects. ) <br />
By making typing more clear, autocorrect can be less aggressive and energies can be focused on value-adds over cleanup. All good stuff. I can't wait until it works!<br />
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Now, I'm 5min from boarding a plane to FLA via Dallas. My cousin is getting married and I'm a bit of a wreck because I've been keydesigning in all my spare time! I need a manipedi something fierce before the wedding ensemble's open toes.CrankyOtterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02863609824154763580noreply@blogger.com0