Deep Down, They Must Know

They have to know, right? They say "Don't believe the HYPE" before promoting their joke ticket. They have to see the writing on the wall. Don't they remember why they didn't like him 8 years ago? Don't they see what that the train they're riding doesn't have brakes and the bridge ahead is out?

How do they wake up every morning, brush their teeth, put on their clothes, drive to work, eat their lunch, make their decisions, come home to their kids, turn on the TV and still think that Obama is Arab and that this is a bad thing? Why do we have to hear the counterpoint to Colin Powell's words? Why can't we appreciate their weight and see the emptiness of an endorsement by Kissinger (he is still alive?) or the fact that no, most Americans (i.e. 97%, according to a friend) will never make more than $250,000 a year, no matter how long they live, and taxing the rest of us more so they can keep their money isn't worth it?

They have to know this stuff, right?

Please, America, please, Diebold, please, don't let me down.

Note to Self

• Buying Sudafed, Affrin, and Saline Nasal Spray isn't enough, you need to use it, then you won't get this sinus pressure.


• But the only time I ever feel it is when I am near the Caldecott


• Didn't you feel it another time on Tuesday?


• Maybe, I thought that was on the BART approach to that tunnel


• You didn't take the BART through the tunnel, you parked at MacArthur that night


• Duh. Haven't the last few days been totally awesome?


• Totally, especially that little dose of weekend on Tuesday night


• That was so enjoyable, I really should move to the city


• Yeah, but you'll have to wait another 9 months until that lease is up


• Not to mention the moving and commute considerations


• No kidding

Third Quarter Goal: Cut Some Weight Results

During the Second Quarter this year, I did "The Second Quarter Shape-Up", but I didn't lose much weight. I did gain a lot of muscle, however. In mid-June, along with my "New Urs" goals, I began my new quarterly fitness goal, which is named in the title. Along with nutrition and regular work-outs, I put a focus on cardio and trying new things. I don't know if the Fourth Quarter will have a fancy name yet, but the goal there is simply maintenance, with more climbing and running, and maybe some yoga.

I'm down at least one size and 25 pounds from December, 2007. My legs are very strong and I can do 28 sit-ups in one minute. At my assessment in April, I did 17 sit-ups in one minute. I do walking lunges routinely, whereas when I began, I could barely do them. I've also been to at least one yoga class, a climbing gym, done a lot of weight training, and learned some other cardio techniques. I am also starting to run. Stopping drinking in August probably had the biggest impact, with me losing about 5-10 pounds in the month that followed that decision. I'm slowly reclaiming the body I had in 2004, and with any luck, I can get down to the body I had for a month or so in 2005, then stay that way.

¿Dónde está la Sociedad del Futuro?

When I want to know where my [South Indian] friend is, I text "donde?" When I asked a new friend if her last name was Hmong, I prefaced it with "pregunta sobre tu nombre". In California, I assume everyone has some knowledge of Spanish. (Even if mine is a little jacked)

I found a fun Spanish language station out here, La Kalle, tu ritmo Latino, and I love listening to the DJs chatter seamlessly between Spanish and English. Comida is practically a synonym for food, hola is another way to say hi.

Who is it that wants to be around white people all the time? My "White Population in California" blog post gets a lot of traffic, I don't know why. Maybe it is a few deluded white people thinking that diversity isn't amazing.

She Doesn't Like Puppies!

Palin's take on Net Neutrality

Beyond Freud

There was a special on NPR on Thursday about schizophrenia. I think I understand this condition. Mentally, you hear voices and/or paranoia gets the best of you. Social anxiety is a mild, more innocuous form of paranoia creeping up and thwarting one's best laid plans. Schizophrenia comes up fast, possibly because the paranoid, negative thoughts become loud and frightening. A woman told a story about her father's recovery that was aided with proper nutrition.

My outlook had a full turnaround in March with the introduction of proper nutrition, starting with balancing my macronutrients. It continues to improve as I add more pieces to the nutrition puzzle. It is time we stop thinking that just talking through problems will solve them. As valuable as psychotherapy can be, it ignores the very physical factors that impact mental illness. In other words, it is time we stop pretending that they way we act, think, and feel is anything more than a [more complex than we can currently understand] physical process.

Taking Birth Outside of the Hospital

Why are people still giving birth in a place where people die every day? Birth needs to be moved out of the hospital, period. Yesterday on KQED's Forum, there was a discussion about hospital infection. It is scaring me to go to a hospital when I am legitimately sick, and pregnant women most certainly are NOT sick. One of the worst things we've done for women's culture is turning pregnancy into a medical condition.

The AMA had a strong hand in this during their early years because they saw midwives as competition for their services.* We've lost a great deal of women's culture to the hospitalization of birth and the elimination of midwives as a normal part of pregnancy. Furthermore, at this point, hospitals have become dangerous places even for healthy adults. Why expose a newborn child and her healthy mother to hospital infections? And let's not even get into birth on the back and forced episiotomies.

The alternative to hospitals are NOT home births, however. We needn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Medicine has done a lot to improve pregnancy and birth, but it doesn't mean that it is THE way to give birth. Birth needs to be moved out of the hospital and into another building, at the very least. The other option is using alternate institutions that are specifically designed to assist women give birth. Assist women and be there for complications, including cesarean sections. In the 21st century, with irresponsible doctors giving out antibiotics to people who don't need them, with people clustered into closer and closer conditions, there is no reason that this is not a good idea, there is no good reason to keep maternity wards in the same building with MSRA.

*I noticed that they did not do the same thing with the dental profession, which was largely male.

Where I Point Out an Important Point

I read somewhere about the people that "believe in Hell" and that believe that one day, all of us sinners that do not believe the way they believe, or act the "right" way, will burn eternally, without the comfort of death to end the suffering. Beyond that, they strive to enjoy that, for the sake of their belief. For them, there is no mercy for the willful unbelievers. They, presumably, had their chance, and their screams are supposed to be music to the believers' ears. I thought I read this in Daylight Atheism, maybe I did, but I didn't find it. What it is, however, is evidence that religious feelings can define certain bad attitudes or behaviors (enjoying the suffering of others) and give merit to meaningless attitude or behaviors and consider them "good" (faith in the validity of an unproven (disproven, really) and outdated book).

By soothing the conscience of terrorists, tyrants and theocrats, imaginary virtues provide one of the clearest examples of how superstitious beliefs harm real people. Morality with no connection to the real world enables and encourages people to feel good about their actions when the appropriate emotions should be guilt and remorse.
-Source