Friday, October 30, 2009

Womens Issues: Why Is Mrs. Clinton Covering Her Hair?


Hillary Clinton

It's rather like having to wear a hat. Fine, if she wants to. It doesn't look bad on her.

Americans have their own style of dress, too. They should be able to get away with dressing their way abroad, just as America accepts the dressing customs of other countries.

It bothers me because Mrs. Clinton, former First Lady of the 42nd President of the United States and present 67th Secretary of State doesn't have to wear it, not in her lofty position. It sets a precedent for all Americans in that country where women must wear headdresses.

Why doesn't Mrs. Clinton lose the headgear and get photographed driving a car to make more political points for women abroad?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Old Lyrics On Peace, War and Freedom

"How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died? "

"Blowin In The Wind"
Bob Dylan, 1963


Is America helping her see where she's walking?

More sad news from Afghanistan today:

"The latest deaths bring to 55 the total number of U.S. troops killed in October in Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press tally. Fighting previously spiked around the presidential vote in August, when 51 U.S. soldiers died."
The Huffington Post.

A high ranking dedicated military official, Michael Hoh has had second thoughts about American military strategy in Afghanistan.

"If the United States is to remain in Afghanistan, Hoh said, he would advise a reduction in combat forces...While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted," he said, "the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war."

"We want to have some kind of governance there, and we have some obligation for it not to be a bloodbath," Hoh said. "But you have to draw the line somewhere, and say this is their problem to solve." The Washington Post.

"When will they ever learn?"

"Where Have All The Flowers Gone" Pete Seeger, 1961.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Women's Well-being Affects Men's Living Standards


Tea Lady in Khartoum

Social attitudes are difficult and slow to change. Laws determine the status of women, but laws reflect social attitudes and can change. Attitudes to women are amongst the most difficult and intractable barriers to change that any country faces. The old laws were made by men for men. Here's a truism: when men help women get ahead, men's standards of living rise. It's as simple as that.

What women in every country need:

1. Clean water. For without water, we can't live. Women all around the world agree that clean water is our most urgent #1 priority.

2. Medical care and good food. Women need to be healthy to work.

3. Respect and consideration. We are all more alike than we are different.

4. Education.
a)--The more free education the better.
b)--It's better to give it away free than not to give it away at all.
c)--With education, women can create better jobs for others.

5. Money. Women need financing (money) to create more jobs.

With more money, women can pay for whatever they need and a whole virtuous cycle begins. Society will progress and standards of living will improve for everyone. Societies can't progress if women are held back. Men's standards of living will only improve if women have an easier and better life. That's why the status --the social positions --and well-being of women are very important.

Why don't you try to help women get ahead today? Now is a good time.

When women are happy, everyone is happier.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Peace: A Noble Goal

Since there is such great human toll and expense going to the war effort in Afghanistan, why not just contemplate peace for a second? Just as learning about happiness might help with the study of depression, so peace is a worthy subject of study.

Afghanistan

Here's the definition of "peace" from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

1 : a state of tranquillity or quiet: as a : freedom from civil disturbance b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5: used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell [rarely]

Peace is a muscle that expands with practice. To "give peace a chance" why not help the women of Afghanistan live happier lives with hope for a better future? The war effort needs to be turned in the direction of peace. Technology could help Americans win peace in Afghanistan. Computers and cellphones help women a lot as educational and business incentives.

Capturing the hearts and souls of other nations doesn't end with guns. Cultural pursuits, such as plays, ballets, operas, symphony orchestras and some organized sports are worthwhile civilizing pursuits. They're everywhere and have fuzzy edges. Often being together at cultural events helps quiet discord by necessitating discourse. Entertainment distracts and pacifies.

The employment level in Afghanistan would benefit from jobs for women in education and culture, music and movies. Why not promote more culture, perhaps create some new international rock and movie stars?



If Afghan women are educated and given the chance to create, they will elevate the everyday lives of Afghans. They will earn the respect of the men if they write and make pictures and music. It's not the women of Afghanistan who are the targets, in general, and yet they are paying with their lives. Time for America to support Afghan females. After all, they're half of the population and they don't have it easy.

How many Afghans can you name?


Hamid Karzai


Abdullah Abdullah

Friday, October 23, 2009

Four Pillars of Healthcare Reform Needed in America


Dr. David Nash, Professor of Health Policy and Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia was in an interview with Marti Moss-Coane of WHYY Radio, Philadelphia talking about the American healthcare system. Here is the podcast link. He has experienced it from his lofty perch as a national health policy leader as Founding Dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health, as an Internist, as well as from the point of view of caregiver to his aging father.

He has decided, after much experience, that it's "fragmented and poorly-designed."

He says that in the case of his father's palliative care, a new medical specialty that is about chronic care management, new strategies would have been helpful. Moderated discussions with healthcare professionals as far as utilizing resources, care at the bedside, and pain management issues should have been implemented.

What can be done?

Four Pillars of Healthcare Reform

1) Create Value in the System. We're spending the most and we don't get much for it. America isn't currently ranking in the top 30 countries in the world with the best healthcare. It's "as dysfunctional as it can get" he says.

2) Cover and Insure Everyone. "How" we do so is negotiable. Real reform of healthcare financing is what the country needs. He suggests bundling money given to hospitals. He thinks that a public plan is something the government pulls into the discussion at will, as a power play, but that it might add to the mess, because it could put the whole system at risk. When asked if it would force competition by lowering costs and require companies to improve, he says real changes in the way doctors and hospitals are paid are needed. For example, true costs could be clarified before procedures happen.

3) Promote Prevention and Wellness. The financial incentives now are at the high end, for fashionable big-ticket expenses, such as financing heart surgery and more helicopters. He says that only 3% of the population can say they practice all the following: 1) they don't smoke 2) wear a seatbelt 3) eat variety of fruits and vegetables and 4) are the appropriate weight. He says we are all paying for diabetic care and for smoker's care. One third of all healthcare dollars are being spent on diabetes, he says.

4) Coordinated Care. Healthcare now is piecework. There are 18,000 billing codes and none for coordinated care. He says that doctors would do it immediately if they were paid to do it. They obviously must be forced to change with financial incentives. There should be more sharing of information electronically. Since solid science is behind only one in five medical decisions, the need for coordinated care is obvious. There needs to be more investment in primary care, and coordination of related medical professionals in offices and follow-through of medical conditions.

Dr. Nash says the insurance system could improve if we focus on what matters and keep the system patient-centered. Medical errors are serious problems and the error rate needs to be lowered. Since medical care will never be perfect, the focus has to be on being harm free, if not error free.

Also, Dr. Nash says resources are overutilized in some zipcodes. He says there is already rationed care in this country because of the "knuckleheadedness going on in Washington."

He doesn't hear the President saying "Let's do a better job coordinating care and practicing prevention." He says it didn't happen around the country with managed care. There is a lack of coordination and communication. Financial incentives are headed in the wrong direction. He says that care is a complex process and tools can be brought to bear in this technological day and age.

Here's the podcast link, at WHYY National Public Radio (npr.org)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Fractal Art by Cornelia Yoder


Posted by Picasa

Last weekend at a show near Flemington, New Jersey, Cornelia Yoder displayed her beautiful, intricately-detailed artwork. She uses mathematical theorems to create unique pictures and tiles. Her fine pieces of art look rather photographic and tend to be quite colorful. Her website, corneliayoder.com is linked here.

In her art, there are layers of "tiny spirals embedded in the larger ones." She claims to like "the challenge of harmoniously blending colors into unusual shapes" and loves "the combination of experimentation and serendipity that play equal roles in giving a new image its unique beauty."

Her pictures are attracting serious collectors of art. Fractal art developed after
Benoit Mandelbrot's mathematical discovery of fractals around 1982.

In case you want to add a slideshow to your computer -- to brighten your screen when you're talking on the phone or away from your desk, you might want to consider having Cornelia Yoder's fractal art. The photo above can be enlarged when clicked. Here's a demo I noticed: Permanent Treasures, and there isn't any financial connection, except for the tile pictured above that I bought.

Why Do We Give?

Steven D. Leavitt has highlighted altruism in his new book, "Superfreakonomics" -- very apropos now in this season of fall giving. Leavitt was interviewed on National Public Radio yesterday and is featured in today's New York Times article taken from a chapter of his new book.

If [psychologist]John List's research proves anything, it's that a question like "Are people innately altruistic?" is the wrong kind of question to ask. People aren't "good" or "bad." People are people, and they respond to incentives. They can nearly always be manipulated -- for good or ill -- if only you find the right levers.

I see a tie-in here with the organization founded by Chris Baty: National Novel Writing Month(NaNoWriMo). He's asking for a donation of only $10 (or even $1) from each participant to defray staff and overhead expenses for the non-profit he has founded.



The history of how he founded National Novel Writing Month is well worth reading, very enlightening and even funny. The organization now has local "Municipal Liaisons" with blogs, and interesting articles and helpful ideas and interviews on the main website. Last year, in 2008, there were an astounding 119,301 participants around the world.

The history details how the organization grew from its infancy, and is now legally called the "Office of Letters and Light." When Yahoo featured them, their organization grew by 7,000 in one day. Demands on their computers, constantly tested, were further stretched when they expanded with an annual April play-writer's month, called Script Frenzy.

There's also a 250-word contest for young authors. Many schools are joining the effort.

I am going to be joining NaNoWriMo, too, and am currently plotting a story for a novel. I'll try to keep up with this blog. I have to. It's real. It's out there, and I love making it.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Washington National Cathedral Forum on Faith and Healing: A Summary


Rev. Dr. Anne C. Brower

This morning at Washington's National Cathedral, a Forum to discuss issues in the light of faith and public life was led by Moderator Deryl Davis. His discussion was with the Rev. Dr. Anne Brower, a prize-winning practicing Radiologist for thirty years until she entered divinity school and became senior chaplain and director of the Healing Ministry at Washington National Cathedral, had to do with the role of healthcare and our healing in faith.

The discussion covered healthcare issues relating to her medical thinking on current customs and the ideals of medical practice. Throughout history, Dr. Brower says, physicians were trained to take thorough medical histories and physical exams and listening and touching were important to healing. Now, insurance companies dictate that doctors can't spend a lot of time with each patient. The examinations and meetings must be rushed through. She said that the only way around it is for the physician to rebel against the insurance companies and spend more time with patients. She says that doctors have become "blue-collar workers" working for insurance companies.

Most of her talk was about faith and healing and how God can be with us when we have a sickness or must stay in a hospital. She says that broken bones need to heal, and that this brokenness can also break one's spirits and one's relationships with those close to us and with God. We need to ask ourselves, why did it happen to me? We have to realize that our broken bones have nothing to do with God or our prayer life, but that it's part of the natural order of the universe. Everyone eventually dies, and it's events or diseases that kill us. We need to get beyond our brokenness to get to a new and better place, she says.

Doctors know that there are seven causes of organic diseases. Dr. Brower says that illness is our response to disease, and that calling disease "sickness" is the social response to diseases such as HIV and cancer. Others can hurt or help us cope with our "sickness" as others call it, but that we should aim to be where the patient is, to just be there with them, and listen to them.

Dr. Brower also says that a cure is putting your body back to the way it was. She says that doctors don't cure. Rather, they give medication to help your body function better, so that you can live with your disease and function better. (She also said to "forget about curing.")

Healing, says Dr. Brower, is a way of dealing with illness, involving change, love, surrender, moving to a new place -- a higher presence with God. She also says that touching is important to healing. We want to touch our wounds. "Touch is our most natural instinct." She says that all of us have our wounds but can still be whole.

At this point, the Moderator agrees that "the Spirit moves through you."


Deryl Davis, Moderator of today's Sunday Forum


A question came up concerning the value of spiritual history-taking by doctors. Dr. Brower asserted that doctors can now ask the FICA (faith, important, community, anything) questions. If doctors would only ask patients if they have faith, and if yes, how important is it to the patient's health? Can the patient's community of faith help? If yes, Is there anything doctors can do? Dr. Brower said that all psychiatry residencies now have a spiritual component in the curriculum which she attributes to the healing work of Dr. Larry Dossey.

Dr. Brower also mentioned that while positive attitude, humor and upbeat topics of conversation are useful, she thinks we need to pay attention to the soul and our faith/belief system. Jerome Groopman's books emphasize keeping a positive attitude, but she says it's very hard to keep up, and your faith can help in a time of transition. Your soul will help you get through difficult times.

She also says that it doesn't hurt to ask an anesthesiologist or surgeon to pray with you. Praying is your relationship with God, who will be with you and help you transition out of an illness. Dr. Brower's has written a book called "I am not ready to die just yet: stories of healing."

Again, thanks are extended to the Washington National Cathedral for holding these fascinating discussions. This summary is unofficial and not requested or acknowledged. The Cathedral has no responsibility for any statements and mistakes herein.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Healthy Food Choices Key To Longevity


"Eating less is better than eating more, especially if it’s a nutritious mix of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and the like. The evidence is overwhelming now that it will improve your health and will improve your chances of living healthier and probably longer."

"Going back more than a half century to an experiment at Cornell University in the mid-1930s, calorie restriction has been shown again and again to extend the lives of mice, rats and other animals." NYtimes

A wonderful article about dieting and longevity in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine describes a large-scale medically supervised diet called the Calerie diet. Motivated, highly organized normal weight individuals (BMI 22-28) reduced their daily calories by 25 percent for two years. Some of the study's success is attributed to the "accountability factor": they kept journals, counted calories, had support group sessions and so on. It quoted my favorite, most trusted academic diet experts, Susan Roberts and Barbara Rolls. Of course animals are different than humans:

"Primates and mice are kept in cages and eat what they are fed; none have ever had to choose to forswear a spring roll or a cupcake."

Therein lies the challenge: maintaining willpower to overcome temptation.

"Moving a heavyset person’s body-mass index from, say, 35 to 29 might increase his longevity by reducing the risk for diseases like diabetes. Yet it is not “triggering the anti-aging pathways” that have been observed at the cellular and molecular levels in animals of normal weight when placed on a calorie-restricted diet....the study’s architects determined that 25 percent was both humanly feasible and, based on data from previous experiments, could have noticeable effects on the rate and diseases of aging."NYTimes.

Here's a link to Wolfram Alpha's Body Mass Index calculator, the best one online now.

“There are really three things we want to know,” Susan Roberts, a professor of nutrition and psychiatry who is in charge of the Calerie team at Tufts [and author of The Instinct Diet],

1)“The first is, can we really implement human caloric restriction?
2) The second is, can we really implement it in a way that doesn’t neglect the biology? People can’t walk around hungry, so is hunger a necessary part of the biology of calorie restriction?
3) The third is, are there unacceptable side effects that you wouldn’t pick up in animals that you would pick up in humans?” Roberts went on to say: “And if we found that caloric restriction was healthy and everyone can do it? The goal of the trial is to see if this is ready for prime time.”


"A number of recent experiments — notably by Barbara Rolls at Penn State — demonstrated that humans tend to eat a consistent weight of food from day to day, but not necessarily a consistent number of calories. By building a diet around foods with a low-energy density, especially vegetables, fruits and soups, participants can conceivably ingest the same weight of food as they might on a regular diet while taking in fewer calories."

To count calories, the study "used a Web site called calorieking.com... At the medical centers running Calerie, you see a lot of people walking around eating apples...Another negative side effect that subjects share is feeling chilled. This isn’t dangerous — these people are, after all, burning less energy. Counselors tell them to put on a sweater."

Pessimistically, doctors of the study think that “the people in the study are not going to stick with it” after they leave. That's exactly why maintenance and vigilance are keys to long-term weight loss.

"Calorie restriction — or simply living a life of less in a culture of more — is extremely difficult to achieve and even more difficult to maintain."NYTimes. Of course a two-year study has its inherent limits: "we already live a long time now, thanks to advances in medicine, surgery and public health, so “if you wanted to do longitudinal studies in humans, it would take 125 years,” Eric Ravussin, who leads the team doing the Calerie experiment at Pennington in Baton Rouge." The study has found that this powerful intervention (the diet) is "basically cleaning out the arteries" and doctors believe it will improves help and chances of living a longer and healthier life. NYTimes.com.

"To avoid problems at 70, you need to begin at 50" says Annie Condit, a registered dietitian at the University Medical Center at Princeton. Ms. Condit's advice is easy - eat healthy and smart. "If it comes in a bag, box or can, throw it away," she says. "If it grows on a bush, in the ground or in a tree, go for it. Keep it as fresh as possible." (Packet Magazine, Oct 13, 2009, p. 13)

All of this agrees with my "Sociable Diet" -- linked here. Recipes, some from Provence, are still going to be published here in future posts.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Youtube's Most Viewed, Most Subscribed Young Stars

This post highlights a changing aspect of today's advertisement world. Marketers are sending packages to Youtube stars in their teens to thirties to bundle ads into their videologs or vlogs to reach their Youtube subscribers. Since stand-alone Youtube commercials aren't being widely watched, many advertisers have jumped in in an effort to connect to this youthful demographic on their turf. It's not clear whether these subscribers have time to watch entire video segments, being teenagers, mostly middle-schoolers and high-schoolers, when they probably should be doing homework. Ads skilfully targeted through these vloggers can reach that group more effectively than any other medium at this time. Total views and current subscriber figures are astounding.

Herewith is my list of Youtube stars with the most subscriptions (in order) and most lifetime views to help keep you up-to-date. These numbers (from two days ago) also could indicate repeat watching of the same video by the same viewer. I hear that current "subscribers" are a good indicator of popularity and have taken an intersecting group of "most subscribed" and all time "most viewed". It's not clear how long these videos have been on the internet.


nigahiga

1)nigahiga: 45 Videos---185,948,187 Views---1,550,143 Subscribers

2)Fred: 47 Videos---375,239,627 Views---1,433,658 Subscribers

3) Smosh: 90 Videos---292,927,887 Views---1,100,019 Subscribers

4) Shane Dawson: 71 Videos--- 108,128,253 Views---822,974-Subscribers to ShaneDawsonTV and 484,892-Subscribers to ShaneDawsonTV2

5) sxephil: 376 Videos---207,338,150 Views---680,478 Subscribers

6) Dave Days: 56 Videos---114,906,519 Views---602,009 Subscribers

7) venetian princess: 103 Videos---139,564,013 Views---600,217 Subscribers

8) what the buck show: 370 Videos---141,542,661 Views--- 587,653 Subscribers

9) it's chris cocker: 138 Videos---154,836,752 Views---260,355 Subscribers

10) nalts: 835 Videos---101,666,859 Views---149,329 Subscribers

11) The Station, a group of vloggers: "what a day, deryck", Dave Days, Bdonski, Kassem G, Lisanova, Shane Dawson, Philly D., Shay Carl, HiImRawn.: 17 Videos---6,893,347 Views---463,633 Subscribers

12) Community channel: 182 Videos---152,405,352 Views--- 431,858 Subscribers

Here are some other favorites of my experts not in any particular order:

kevjumba, make me bad, waste time chasing cars, livelavalive, charles trippy, charlie is so cool like, supermac 18, swift karate chop,
Barats & Bereta
.

Here's a longer list of vlogger celebrities and their names in Wikipedia.

These are astoundingly high numbers of youth viewers. My apologies to all deserving Youtube stars that were unintentionally left out or if my numbers are incorrect. My mistake. These stars are famous to their own crowd.

To many teenagers these stars surpass television and movie stars in impact and awesomeness. For example, mileymandy is Miley Cyrus's vlog and doesn't rank in the top twenty favorites of my friendly teenage experts, yet Miley Cyrus herself is possibly the hottest television and movie teen star.

Some of these stars are paid by Youtube and many advertise within their videos, sometimes imperceptibly. What is rather disconcerting is that unlike, say, television commercials which are visually and contextually different from the shows they sponsor, these stars are advertising whatever they like or received (in boxes by courier, most likely) from advertisers. It's sometimes not clear if they received company products, if they were paid or not unless they say so. Even then, can they be trusted?

These top vloggers aren't people I've met personally and I can't recommend them or their videos firsthand, as they aren't in my league, shall we say. These are the choices of my experts by my request. Most of them came to last July's 789Gathering in Central Park attended by young vloggers I know.

Thanks to this post, I have discovered "expert village" since it has done 138,951 videos with 821,617,621 views, the second most viewed Youtube channel after "Universal Music Group" in the #1 spot and Sony Music in #3. Hadn't noticed it 'til now. It has lots of worthwhile how-to videos. Now if only there were more time to watch them.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Why Did It Seem A Good Idea?

Web Inventor Admits // in Addresses Is Pointless
Berners-Lee wishes he could backtrack on backslashes


There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
- Tim Berners-Lee on the backslashes

(Newser) – Ever wonder what the // in web addresses is there for? So does the man who put the backslashes there in the first place. "Really, if you think about it, it doesn’t need the //," Tim Berners-Lee told a New York Times reporter at a tech conference last week. "I could have designed it not to have the //," he said, adding that when he was creating the network that evolved into today's Internet, he had no idea how much impact his choices would have on so many people.

—Rob Quinn

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Favorite Places in America and Canada: My List

The United States --
Cities: NYC, Washington D.C. Capitol area, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego
Country Dream: Western New Jersey, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, coastlines, farmlands
Must sees: Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Vernon, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Yosemite National Park.


Niagara Falls

Canada --
Cities: Ottawa ~ Canada's Capital, Quebec City~ the old town, Toronto, Vancouver
Country Dream: Ottawa Valley, Muskokas, Sand Spring Island, islands, lakes, farmlands
Must sees: Cabot Trail, Maligne Lake ~ Jasper National Park, the Great Lakes, Sea-to-Sky Highway, Niagara and other Falls to the North.

Tradition: the Biggest Roadblock to Progress

"Tradition is the biggest roadblock to progress"

-- Brandon Clabes, chief of the Midwest City Police Department on efforts by policemen in America to bring back "plain English." NPR.org

How often have traditions made you starstruck, paralyzed your actions, or distracted you from accomplishing the real work at hand? "Traditions" are usually defined as customary patterns of thoughts or actions relating to the past. They concern behaviors handed through generations and often have to do with honors bestowed.

I like traditions. Family traditions can create happy memories from birthday parties and holiday meals. They are recurring events to anticipate, to participate in and remember afterward. Presidential inaugurations, royal coronations and prize ceremonies are institutionalized traditions cherished by millions. Traditions are works of beauty identified in the eyes of the beholders.

Traditions also have another darker side. Traditions can be over-imposed, create unnecessary hardship for others and distract them from productive agendas. Some people enjoy them more than others do. Many people avoid displays of tradition and find them unnecessary, even unhelpful.

Placing too high a value on traditions and "what other people will think" pushes people into disastrous situations that they might not otherwise take upon themselves, for example, political affiliations, employment or travel situations. Clinging to the past can be counterproductive if doing so in any way blocks worthwhile improvements.

Airline employees who by tradition haven't assertively alerted their superiors have contributed to airline accidents, as described in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers: The Story of Success. An employee didn't make a pilot aware his plane was running out of fuel and the plane crashed.

What to do and How to Manage Traditions

Being nice, taking the high road, thinking about traditions and keeping whatever works for you and your group are correct ways of dealing with historically powerful traditions. Avoid traditions if they are not good, not helpful or if you don't enjoy them. Traditions should only be kept if they are worthy of being kept and serve useful purposes.

Many books on the issue of "keeping up appearances" and following family and societal traditions have been enjoyed by generations of readers. "The Forsyte Saga" by John Galsworthy springs to mind.

On the subject of being nice, here's an amusing Wikihow article called "How to Be Nice to a Girl" -- or to anyone...It's interesting to read, if only out of curiosity.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

"Religion Helps Us Live In Serenity"


Very Reverend Samuel T. Lloyd III

In his most recent conversation at Washington's National Cathedral about the intersection of faith and public life, the Very Reverend Samuel T. Lloyd III interviewed Karen Armstrong, the popular religious historian-philosopher. He called the writing in her most recent book The Case For God "limpidly clear".

This is not a lady shy about taking on today's most vociferous atheists, Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and so on, and tackling their arguments head on. She says that quarreling about religion at all is aggressive and counterproductive on both sides because ego comes into play. The entire conversation is available here in a webcast.


Karen Armstrong

Yet she also goes on to claim that they don't know much about religion. If they are saying that all religion is fundamentalist, they're incorrect. She says that fundamentalism is a theology of fear that distorts religion and is aggressive. She says that in all the world except Western Europe, religion is now increasing, although not all religion is good and skillful.

What is God?

She goes on to define God. It's far more than what comes up on Google, in a lighter moment, she says. God is the God of everyone. Our minds can't prove God, she says, because our minds aren't equipped to understand anything more than a limited form of existence. God is all, everything, transcendent.

God is beyond what words can do, that moment of "silent awe" (such as during last week's excellent sermon) and at the end of each of Dr. Lloyd's sermons, in a musical performance, in poetry, that "silent moment" is where God is. Theology at its best should help you enter that moment of silence. She also thinks our notion of existence is far too limited, as it reminds us of the inadequacy of words.

At this point, Dr. Lloyd makes the point that God is outside us, and also comes close to us intimately in a paradoxical way. He says that for everything we say about God, the opposite is true (although I am likely mangling what he is saying.)

The History of Science and Religion

Armstrong says that science and religion used to be best friends, but after Newton, who believed that the solar system proved the existence of God, scientists began to dispense with the idea of God as central to their understanding of the universe. Where people thought of God as a fact rather than a symbol, God was an idol.

Dr. Lloyd says that interpreters were "playful with text" and allowed texts to take them to surprising places back in history.

Armstrong continued with that idea by saying that scripture was incomplete and needs human ingenuity, that we have lost the confidence to interpret it.

Dr. Lloyd says that religion is a practical exercise where we learn the truth.

Armstrong said that religion is like dancing, you have to do dedicated practice, with constant efforts of the mind (all day long) to bring you to a state of transcendence, to develop compassion, to do unto others as you would have others do unto you. She says that looking into yourself, your own heart, and never inflicting pain on others is most important.

This theological discussion rambled around many points that I can't begin to do justice to in this short post, but I'll press bravely on anyway...

"Charter for Compassion"

Karen Armstrong and Dr. Lloyd began to discuss beliefs, that Jesus wants commitment and trust in God, the Father. "I believe in order that I may understand" really means, she thinks, that "I engage or involve myself" to understand. First you live, then you encounter transcendence, to try to understand a love that could be more powerful than death. The Golden Rule:"Do not do to others what you would not have done to you" she says, expresses the compassion that runs through world religions.

Armstrong has won a TED award for her work and is committed to restoring compassion to the center of religious and moral life. She says compassion is what all religions need now. She is gathering thousands signing in to her organization "Charter for Compassion" http://charterforcompassion.org, with eighty religious group partners worldwide working together. The organization will have an official opening November 12 in Washington, D.C.

Armstrong was asked about the future of religious pluralism, and she is optimistic that religions are reaching out to each other, but will retain their own identity as people cling to the familiar. It is useful for religions to learn the best of other religions and see how others have done better.

She was also asked about the role of technology in religion, a question already asked earlier participants in this series, and she believes that it can bring us together, as she is with her new organization. We can use technology to support our work for a more compassionate world.

She also mentioned that we are at our best selves when we give our selves away, and that we fear not just death but total extinction. We are creatures that crave meaning when we look at pain, cruelty and disasters. She says that religion helps us live in serenity if we work at it, but admits "it's hard work."

Acknowledgements

As a footnote, last but not least, I have to apologize for any inaccuracies I have made. In addition, I have really been enjoying watching video-streaming of the Services of Worship. It's another way to enjoy my lifelong love of God. This new technology is doing what radios and television have been doing for years. It's great for those of us who can't attend, perhaps a few hours away like myself, and don't want to miss the service. For that, I am most grateful to the National Cathedral. Must say the technology, the camera angles and seeing the front of the Cathedral, the choir and the organist up close are thrilling to watch.

Of course, I also wish to thank Dean Lloyd for the warm welcome he extends to all, especially visitors, at the beginning of each and every service, as well as his further welcome to those of us from different faiths and heritages. We appreciate having this opportunity to learn from these Sunday Forums, and for the technology and donations it takes to fund the programs. Please give generously to the National Cathedral at nationalcathedral.org.

This post is completely independent of and not sanctioned by the National Cathedral.

Canadians Break South Pole Speed Record

Todd Carmichael's story in my earlier post of his trek to the South Pole left me with great awe and a few questions.

His record, however, held for only a month as a trio of Canadians from Ottawa and Vancouver "beat the previous record of 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes, which was set by American Todd Carmichael" only one month before they arrived. The team consisted of Ray Zahab of Chelsea, Quebec, Kevin Vallely of North Vancouver and Richard Weber of Alcove, Quebec. They took 33 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes to finish the arduous 700-mile (1,130-km) journey and documented the journey on their website. They were able to use their satellite phone to post photos and podcasts along the way.



There are evidently other adventurers trekking to the South Pole, according to this article at London's Daily Mail.

Of course, "life lessons" from the trio would be gladly welcomed.

Now I am wondering about crevasses and how they dealt with the dangers of falling into them or having to go around them at great length, and whether they saw any living animals.

If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Please Don't Say Anything At All

It was not a very big surprise to me that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. He has totally transformed the way the world looks at America. It makes me very happy and relieved that the Nobel Committee wants the world and Americans to fully celebrate a wonderful new, young President who has achieved a lot in his first months in office.


President Barack Obama

Americans need to get behind the new President and show a loyal, united front. Just as it sometimes takes a stranger to discipline a family dog, I'm going to come right out and say that I think Americans are getting a dose of correction from international sources and they're not taking it very well. It shocks me that some Americans are displaying jealous spite publicly against such an undeniably great man. Private jealousy is at the heart of this ill-mannered backlash.

These critics should remember the life of President Kennedy, and his tragically-ended short term of office. They should realize that President Obama would not have received the prize had he made mistakes in judgment after he was nominated. They should appreciate and understand the importance of America's improved world status since his inauguration. His conciliatory, consensus-building approach, his awesome memory and public speaking skills are to his credit. He gives his voice and energy and compassion to those less fortunate. Unnecessarily, he is giving away the prize money, a very impressive achievement by itself.

When it comes to the Nobel Peace Prize, as with any prize or honor, I have long believed that if one can't say anything nice, it's best not to say anything at all. The President has already taken the high road many, many times.

Congratulations, Mr. President!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Have You Had a Hearing Test Lately?

This is the story of my own experience and not an advertisement. Many all over the world are currently untreated for hearing loss that's as measurable as vision loss. It's important to have regular ten-minute hearing tests by simply calling an Otolaryngologist and making an appointment. Audiologists collaborate with Otolaryngologists (ENT or Ear, Nose & Throat specialists) to create decibel charts measuring hearing and to discern any loss. Just as 20/20 vision is the ideal, normal hearing hovers around 0, plus or minus 20 decibels.

Hearing aids are now being prescribed by Audiologists to anyone hearing less than -25 decibels in an audiology test. While there are indications that wearing ear plugs and avoiding noisy situations help retain hearing, it's also true that genetics play an important role in developing hearing loss.

Researchers at a recent scientific conference of the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery in San Diego, California found that people with a genetic mutation of antioxidant enzymes had three times the risk of having age-related hearing loss. Dr. Anthony Bared of the University of Miami Medical Center, lead author of the study, said that if your mother or father had age-related hearing loss, you should definitely have a hearing test before the age of 40.

In my own experience, I would suggest that teenagers have full-blown hearing tests at any sign of hearing loss, and continue every ten years, or even every five years if risk factors run in the family. "Hearing aid devices are the only interventions effective to restore hearing loss" says this CNN article.

Invisible digital hearing aid (by Moxi)

What is amazing is the quality of the newest digital hearing aids. They can fit snugly with tubes and wires into ears and look invisible. They can be linked in to a computer for more perfect calibration and effectiveness. They are wonderful at amplifying sounds, and make life safer, whether it's crossing the street or hearing the boss.


First find out whether your hearing is impaired with a test by an Audiologist, having had your ears checked first for cleanliness by an Otolaryngologist. Audiologists usually collaborate in the offices of these Ear, Nose & Throat specialists and both appointments can usually be made at the same time and place.

If hearing loss below -25 decibels is discovered, hearing aids are generally prescribed. Please consider obtaining them if they are indicated, as these tiny helpers are now far more effective than ever before. They have anti-shock technologies, with adjustable directional microphones. A lot has happened recently with hearing aids. Your audiologist will help you fit them, and should let you try them out for 30 days free (maybe with a small rental fee).

Your Audiologist should schedule interim visits during the first (free) month to adjust and fine tune sounds to your liking on the office computer. Wearing them in different situations and hearing a wide range of background noises should have you reaching for these hearing aids as you would for eyeglasses. Soon you'll find yourself wearing them, and wanting to, all the time, except sleeping, bathing, swimming, and maybe vigorous exercising. It will make your life safer and help others to help you if they don't have to shout to make themselves heard. All sorts of everyday situations are improved with better hearing, and you won't have to keep asking questions as often.

As usual with hearing aids, as with most technological advances, the advances are mostly aimed at male hearing loss, perhaps because a recent study showed that males aged 20-69 had three times the frequency of hearing loss of women. Perhaps men are more often the users of jackhammers and lawnmowers and driving convertibles which tend to put them at greater risk of hearing loss. There is still plenty of evidence, however, that women suffer from hearing loss in large numbers. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Many people are now wearing them, especially now that they're invisible, including me.

In the last two years, advances in hearing aid technology have improved to the point that many women will find it more enjoyable to wear hearing aids than they might have done in the past.

If you think you aren't hearing as much as other people are, then most likely you aren't.

To write this post, I would like to extend my gratitude to Chetan Shah, M.D., Susan
Chrystal, AuD. and Angelica O'Boyle AuD., of Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

What is "Innovation"?


Spirit of Innovation, promotional airship

Innovation refers to a new way of doing something. Wikipedia.

"An important distinction is normally made between invention and innovation. Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new product or process, while innovation is the first attempt to carry it out into practice" (Fagerberg, 2004: 4)

Successful innovations are ideas that ultimately get the support of senior management and government through tax benefits. Innovation involves something new that is substantially different, creating customer or producer value and productivity. It's a process or the output of a process, an idea and its transformation into something useful. Innovation is also about taking risk, taking a long-term view, being smart and aggressive, marketing the thoughts and feelings designed to create public awareness, and becoming profitable in action.

Innovations most frequently googled include inventions such as the blimp and Disney Studio animated features. The modern world has exploded with innovation. But with widespread unemployment, America and other parts of the world are now hoping for the momentum of new innovative ideas to begin a major new product cycle. It's the subject of countless business brainstorm panels, the focus of educational institutions and the obsession of big government.

How are businesses developed from innovative ideas?

"The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better...Innovation occurs when someone uses an invention or an idea to change how the world works, how people organize themselves, or how they conduct their lives." Wikipedia

A few innovative cycles of the past and present are:

1) the industrial revolution in steel that produced railroads, indoor plumbing, electricity and airplane travel
2) the communications revolution in telephony reorganized communication
3) the entertainment revolution created support for radio, television, movies,
4) air conditioners and heating appliances civilized and opened up new land for residential use
6) the computer hardware cycle dominated by computer companies linked businesses
7) the software cycle associated with the internet altered business plans and created broadband-facilitated music and video-streamed content
8) the invention of new financial instruments and derivatives developed creative financing of businesses and real estate, including new methods being formed now in the field of insurance
9) the wireless revolution; it globalized business and furthered human interaction
10) solar panels and green technologies that are currently being developed to reduce energy demand and enviromental damage, and many more.


Solar panels at Jane Fonda's Ranch, Courtesy Janefonda.com

Development and refinements of ideas have produced fortunes for anyone, any person, group or organization able to solve everyday problems and to follow through with production.

How do business ideas develop in a tough economic and political climate?

"Innovation is the successful introduction of something new and useful." Wikipedia.

Innovative ideas come from multiple sources, a group of people, "like a flower that needs gardening" Worldbank.

The Federal Trade Commission published a report in 2003 on how to promote innovation by finding the proper balance of competition and patent law and policy.

A book called Managing People to Promote Innovation claims that business personnel offices also have the potential to promote organizational innovation.

What drives innovation is mysterious. Experimentation is an important component, since much innovation begins at the borderlines of businesses where technologies can link needs and problems of users in creative, challenging environments. Businesses typically nurture many new innovations to replace older ones.

Widespread education, favorable tax incentives, efficient immigration procedures and the protection of intellectual property with patents are crucial to implement innovative ideas. "Innovation [is seen] as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization (c.f. Amabile et al. 1996 p.1155). Businesses where significant money has been made through innovative ideas tend to attract unwanted higher taxes. As the cost of staying competitive and paying expenses and taxes, businesses take further risks and constantly hunger for innovative new ideas.

Mark Cuban, the innovative billionaire, a pioneer directly responsible for the field of broadcast technology, has an excellent personal blog with lots of ideas on business creation called Blog Maverick.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Our Changing Oceans

Summary of a Discussion


The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III

The Very Reverend Samuel T. Lloyd III of Washington's National Cathedral has been interviewing eminent authors recently in an effort to understand better "the intersection of faith and public life." It is to his credit and to our benefit that he is such an empathetic theologian and gifted interviewer dedicated to broadening public awareness of current issues with wide-ranging importance while educating his audience.

Here are a few of the highlights of his talk today with Dr. Sylvia Earle, one of America's foremost oceanographers.


Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.

Our Connections with Oceans Are Being Threatened

Dr. Earle is endeavoring to promote the immense importance of the oceans because of our dependence on them. We're all connected with the sea, she says. It's endlessly beautiful and fascinating to study.

We don't know enough about the mystery of the sea depths. Less than 5% of the ocean is known and has been mapped. Yet the earth's water is the single non-negotiable requirement of human life. An atlas of the sea floor has yet to be worked on. Acoustically and by satellite we can learn about the ocean floor.

Why do we need to know more?

We used to think of the oceans as big, vast and resilient. Now we have learned "there are limits". We think it's okay, that we can go anywhere and catch any sea life without knowing the consequences. But fish have been 90% depleted and policies haven't caught up with what we know are issues. Shark-fin soup, for example, has become more widespread, cheap and popular. But man is eating fish at a rate that is unsustainable in the long run.

Fish and plants are our life support systems, as are birds. Fish are wildlife. They are, with a few exceptions, carnivores; higher than lions and tigers on the food chain. Most of them eat other fish. They are full of mercury, fire retardants, pesticides, herbicides. Anything that goes into the ocean comes back to us in the fish we eat in concentrated doses and high levels of contaminants.

What to do?

Dr. Earle recommends:

1) seeing fish in a) aquariums, or b) in the oceans.

2) that Americans select catfish, tilapia and carp, sourced and farmed locally. These fish take about one year to grow and eat plant foods in controlled environments.

She says that tunas eats many other fish and take about six years to grow to maturity, swordfish can grow up to 30 years and orange roughy, found in depths below 1000 feet are being fished aggressively, and sold cheaply, and are over 200 years old. These fish require lots of food and are natural cleaners of the environment.

The methods of getting shrimp now are unethical, Earle says, -- "terrible" -- because trawlers scrape the ocean floor, like bulldozers over the forest floor and take everything in it and produce only a small resulting harvest. She cites the movie "Forrest Gump" with videos of trawling, and claims that this ploughing isn't right. It's destroying the ocean's capacity to give life. Trawlers such as those in "The Perfect Storm" with plastic wire and baited hooks use small fish and squid to bait bigger fish and further deplete the world's supply of fish.

We have to think of oceans as more than dumpsites, she says, because they are places to take food from. The ocean gives us life, oxygen, water, drives the carbon dioxide cycle, the nitrogen cycle and climate change and is the host of most life on earth. "We only see the surface" she says. Since we get our life from the ocean, we know now that we can and must "do better".

Principal Threats to the Oceans

At this point, Dean Lloyd asks Dr. Earle about principal threats to the world's oceans. What are they?

Man is disrupting the chemistry of the planet by inserting excess carbon dioxide into the ocean (only some of which is necessary). This carbon dioxide drives photosynthesis, but we don't yet know what it will do to these tiny ocean creatures if we change tiny photosynthetic life in the oceans, she says. She questions what we are doing to the ocean.

We are oblivious to the issues as far as climate change and global warning are concerned. We need to learn more about our oceans, and do something about it. Taking care of the ocean is taking care of us.

The oceans are being used as garbage dumps. Plastics have entered our culture and have become a "backbone" of our society. But what we do with it when we are done with it is shocking. There is trash even 1000 feet under water. Even in areas where no one lives, debris is in beaches from ships and dumps. Our population numbers, our use and abuse have all increased. We need to think more about how to dispose of plastics and appliances, cellphones and computers and so on, because our modern trash is not decomposing fast.

Are we having any impact yet?

We need to make better choices, not expect seafood in restaurants all over the world. We are eating the wildlife equivalent of "snow leopards and tigers" as necessities every day. But they soon won't be on restaurant menus. We will see the last of the ocean's fish "on our watch" Dr. Earle says, because we will have eaten them. In her speech here, Earle says that 90% of the world's fish has already been eaten. Oysters are down 98% in 100 years, and squads of fish that clean up the Chesapeake Bay, for example, are being depleted as well. While the planet is still supporting us, she wonders how long can we continue to draw down our natural assets.

As a recent winner of the TED (technology, entertainment, design) Project Prize, Earle had the opportunity to make her consistently stated long-time wish to change the world known again. Her wish is to mobilize the people of the world with our minds and hearts to identify, stabilize, communicate and protect critical areas of marine "hope spots" in the "vital blue heart of the planet".

She says that 4500 marine sanctuaries and national parks have so far been protected, but this is less than .1% of marine real estate of the world. We need to create areas where fish can live and prosper and create more fish. So far 300,000 square miles of ocean is fully protected, more than the state parks in the U.S., and it goes out 200 miles. But this is still far less than just .1% of possible ocean space. Martha's Vineyard is an example of a place that is looking at what they can do. We need to protect the places that protect us because the ocean keeps us alive.

What can we do?

Dr. Earle says we can:

1) Support those who make rules and laws that can change the ways we use the world's oceans.

2) Watch which fish we eat. Earle says that crabs are wildlife, and they should be eaten with respect, because we don't fully know how to cultivate them. She doesn't want to eat blue, dungeness or any kind of crabs.

3) We can take leadership roles in America. Australia and the Maldives (threatened with extinction from flooding) and others. Oceans are part of the hunger problem as well.

4) Learn about oceans, get involved in cleanups and not use plastic and styrofoam as much. Everything starts with individuals, she says.

5) Eco-tourism can hurt in excess, but mainly it helps educate. National Geographic in partnership with Lindblad Expeditions has wonderful trips.

There's a chance, Earle says, that with knowing comes caring. "A sea-change [in thinking] is what we really need."

How can Businesses Sustain Our Oceans?

Back to the question of plastics and styrofoam debris in the oceans, Earle says that the South Pacific garbage patch is hard to see from high in the sky, but really plastics have reached into all of the oceans. The currents gather together the plastic debris. There is also a lot of plastic in the surfs off Mexico. Earle says we're "trashing" our home, the oceans are our circulatory systems. She says that businesses like that of Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, have made plastics into patagonian fleeces. But we need to focus on more than one-time uses of plastics, and find better uses because it doesn't go away. The plastics and styrofoam in bottles make "nurdles", mermaid's tears, tiny plastic pellets that oysters and birds eat and then die from. Earles says that hundreds of thousands of birds can't fly if they eat it.

Another way man is disrupting the sea is with sound. Jacques Cousteau may have said that the sea is silent, but Earle says it is really very noisy down there. Every mammal makes a sound. Groupers can break the glass in aquariums with their powerful noises. Fish communicate with sound, and we are likely disrupting that. It's something we won't know until far out into the future.

Earle does think that controlled closed-system aquaculture has real promise. What you can do with biological filtration is breed fish and raise tilapia, carp and catfish in aquariums. But many fish haven't been successfully bred in captivity yet.

Earle is sounding a loud alarm that the industrialized extraction of fish is depleting the ocean of its wildlife. The commercial market large-scale away from the ocean is a relatively short-term phenomenon that won't last. She says we should give some fishermen a soft landing, economic alternatives, perhaps paying them not to fish. They're taking away from the common treasury, the same asset base. This is an issue that can be solved only when we realize it's a problem. We have to take actions and hold back. We have to give ourselves and the fish a break.


Dr. Earle is Time Magazine's first "Hero for the Planet", winner of the prestigious Ted Award, and explorer-in-residence at National Geographic, as well as a huge number of other achievements detailed here in Wikipedia. Her most recent book is Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas and here is a book about her, Sylvia Earle, by Beth Baker.

My apologies for any inaccuracies in this summary, with my thanks to the National Cathedral, and to the Very Rev. Sam Lloyd especially. His service of worship has become available online to all of us unable to attend in person, for whatever reason. For that we should all be most grateful.