Whoo Hoo! I’ve been part of making change happen!

According to statistics quoted in this NYT opinion piece,  America is eating less meat!

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/were-eating-less-meat-why/?ref=opinion  (Thanks again Ed!)

The department of agriculture projects that our meat and poultry consumption will fall again this year, to about 12.2 percent less in 2012 than it was in 2007. Beef consumption has been in decline for about 20 years; the drop in chicken is even more dramatic, over the last five years or so; pork also has been steadily slipping for about five years.

12% decline in 5 years!  Whoo Hoo!

The article goes on to discuss the possible causes of this, including recession, exports, etc.  But opines that we are eating less meat because we *want* to eat less meat – because it has sunk in that eating LOTS of meat is bad for us and/or the planet.

Around 1997 I went lacto-ovo vegetarian. In 2007 I went back to eating seafood.

My child has been raised without ever eating beef, poultry or pork (but loves fish sticks).

I have quietly explained to folks my reasons when asked (better for me and the planet), and gently encouraged them to eat meat less – take even one meal off a week.  I have held fast through business lunches and dinners and family meals.

Today I feel vindicated.  I feel part of a successful movement.

Yea!!!

Beginnings of a 2011 Birthday list

People are starting to ask me what I want for my birthday. And the reality is that what I want/need is simple…time and $ to pay bills or fix the house.  And no one wants to that for an answer.  So I’ve been working to collect other answers. Here are some so far:

>>A bunch of IBM cards. Preferably out of someone’s back storage room somewhere, but if not then you can get them printed for me here: 
http://www.cardamation.com/punchcardmedia.html (natural 5081 card with round corners and left upper corner cut, please). Oh gosh and coordinate on this please – last thin I want is *several* boxes of these…

>>A box of green bar 1/2″ perforated edges, continuous feed. (should be in the $40-60 range). Ditto only ONE box, and prefer not new if possible.

>>A gift certificate to SAS shoes (out in West Knoxville, near the mall), McKay’s books, Amazon, or the Apple store (not an iTunes card – I haven’t spent the $20  I already have).

Notes to myself #3…Tomi Ungerer

Children’s Boook author to read: Tomi Ungerer

From the NYT article Ed sent me:

“I’ve written some 150 books, for adults and children, both fiction and nonfiction. I do engineering, I design monuments, I design buildings. In Germany
I designed a kindergarten in the shape of a cat. The children enter the mouth and go downstairs inside the tail. I’m a bit of bee, but basically I am an
author.”

 In my children’s books, you’ll always find an element of fear. I think children are thrilled with fear, and they have to be taught how to get over it. Why am I the pedagogues’ nightmare? They think I traumatize children. They think children should be loved and protected. But if you do only that, they’re not ready for life.

I’m in love with language. Between the ages of 3 and 7, children can learn three languages a year. If you’re not teaching them another language, you can always develop their vocabulary. Make them ask, “What does that mean?”  That was what was so wonderful about Ursula Nordstrom [Mr. Ungerer’s celebrated editor at Harper & Row]: she let me use the words I wanted to use. I always go back to Edward Lear and Hilaire Belloc and Lewis Carroll. Nonsense words. Everybody should learn “Jabberwocky.”

Friend of Jules Feiffer.

Penny for your thoughts, Bill

From my friend Bill  – because you need this kind of thinking in your day:

In the great desert lived a band of nomads. Their leader, Benny, had risen to his rank due to his magnificent beard. His people believed a man’s strength and courage came from his beard, and thus the man with the biggest beard was their chief. 

After leading the band for many years, Benny began to feel uncomfortable wearing the beard, in this hot and dusty land. He wanted to shave it off, so he called his council together to get their advice.  When he said he wanted to shave, the councilmen were shocked. One said, “Do you not remember the ancient legend, sire. The leader who removes his beard is cursed and made into a piece of earthenware.”

Benny had heard this legend, but being a modern man, he scoffed at the tale. Being headstrong, he went ahead and cut and scraped away his once magnificent beard. As the final whisker was cut off, a huge dust storm came up. It lasted only a few seconds, and when it cleared, there was a man-sized clay vessel where only moments before had stood their leader.

The council then knew the legend must be true. Their conclusion was ….

…wait for it . . . .

“A Benny shaved is a Benny urned.”

What TV ads are saying to our kids – Tag Clouds

Thanks to Ed who found this on the Bilerico Project:

Boys Battle and Girls Love: Word Clouds of Gendered Advertisements

Solvi has recently been going through a “I want to look like a GIRL” phase – insisting on skirts, dresses, ‘lipstick’ (lip balm) and requesting nail polish. And we watch mostly commercial free TV.  It is clear to me that she’s getting a lot of this through her friends (and teachers) at daycare.  In fact two of her almost 4 yr old friends painted her nails for her last week.

Today, she decided to dress up in her yellow party dress and purple sparkly shoes (and the new shorts her grandma made with flowers on the pockets). “Lipstick” had to be applied, and a headband.  Her quote on her way out the door?

 ”My friends at school will think I look gorgeous!” 

Sigh. (Reminder to self - it is just a phase, everything is just a phase, this is normal, don’t fret…)

Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain-”Classic English Rock Song”

My dad is a big Elton John* fan – I grew up on his music. I too, am a medievalist and a big fan of Irish folk music. Thus I find this hysterically funny.

Interestingly, I think many of my circle fo friends will also appreciate this…

Thanks to Martinimade for the link. For more of their cool stuff: Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on YouTube

*Yes, I know this is a Who song, but for ME this will always be an Elton John song.

How to live longer – keep busy and focused

This one is for you Bill! 

 “Don’t Stop Working: What’s the secret to living longer and being healthier? Keep doing useful work“



(Thanks to martinimade for the link.)

Based on this article, I’m not sure I’ll live longer (constantly working and learning that I am) or die sooner (optimist/scatterbrain that I am).  But I love to hear about long term studies like this, and am more and more convinced that ‘retirement’ should be seen as simply ‘retirement from a particular job’ – not retirement from the world of work/activity/striving.

Now my goal is to remain healthy and cognitive enought to DO all the art/craft projects I never get time for.  [An update on the 'I hate to exercise - 123 program'  to follow later this week.]

Fundraising Mass E-mail – FAIL

From Ed today (warning, geek humor):

The salutation below is probably standard html or some such, but not something you usual see – obviously a failure of the automation this group uses to send mass emails.  I can’t call it spam, since it’s from an email list I registered for, but I find it similarly depersonalized and a little wryly thought provoking.  Definitely not how you want to begin a fundraising letter!

 -e

 

 ”Dear Unsupported global dynamic element: index=1, parameter=first_name,”

This kept me smiling off and on all day.

New Prizes for the “I hate to Exercise” program

OK, So after reaching my goal, I then promptly took 3 days off* from “deliberately exercising every day” and realized I *really* needed a prize/goad to make me continue the routine.  After considering and discarding “a kitten,”** any number of food-related rewards, and in fact anything that cost any significant amount of time or $, I was stumped.  Then I came up with one in the middle of the night (silver linings to insomnia).

• If I exercise for another 30 days (goal of at least  5 days a week, at least 3 of which are circuits), I will give my HP minicomputer to my friend Mike to wipe and rebuild.

See, my HP mini has NEVER functioned well (out of the box) and its mainly been laying fallow since I bought it – it is so slow.  Now that I have an iPhone, my mini is it’s main ‘host’ computer for iTunes – and thus this problem needs to be dealt with.  So I’m on limited use/exploration of my iPhone until I’ve exercised for another 30 days. [This means I'm not allowed to hook it up to iTunes on my work computer until then either.] If it turns out that money needs to be spent to make it more responsive (more RAM), that will have to wait another 30 days.

I also decided on a ‘goad’ to make me exceed my weekly goals:

• If I meet my exercise goal of 5 days in a week (and at least 3 circuits), I earn one star.
• If I exceed my goal (more than 5 days in a week OR more than 3 circuits) I get 2 stars. If I do more than 5 days AND more than 3 circuits in a week I get 3 stars.
• For each star I earn, I will allow myself to:
  1. Search for and download ONE new free iPhone app. and play with (total time – 1 hr)
  2. Play with my existing apps for 1 hour – uninterrupted and with NO wisecracks from my family
  3. Spend $1 on an app for my iPhone (must be combined with #1 – so requires TWO extra stars)
• I can “save up stars” from one week to another if I wish, in order to buy a more expensive app.

Note that,  other than this, I’m not supposed to be ‘playing with’ my iPhone during the week (otherwise it will suck up ALL my time). Also, I have only $25 credit in my iPhone, so this helps me keep it in check. Perhaps a future 30 day goal will be a $25 iPhone card.

Other future 30 days goal ideas  I have (since) come up with are toys/expansions for either the iPhone or the mini-computer, like a new holster (the one for my iPod touch doesn’t work as well when I need to be in and out of it like a phone), a bluetooth headset, a 2nd charge cord and plug (so I can leave one at work), etc.

Again, I reflect that this feels/seems awfully childish – but then the grown-up part of my brain thinks that my attitude towards exercise is pretty childish too – so maybe it all makes sense somehow….

*[Note: Zig says that since those 3 days were an SCA event, I should count packing and unpacking the car on Friday, going up and down 3 flights of stairs repeatedly all day Sataruday and then packing and unpacking all our stuff on Sunday as exercise. But *I* say it wasn't "deliberate exercise" just way more physical exertion than I normally encounter in a day. So I've decided to count them as 'non-circuit' days, but not count them for "double stars" this week or last.]

**[Don't fret, we're back to the original plan of "a kitten for Solvi's 4th brithday" - which is next October.]

A Taste of Summer in February – Clark Little

Just discovered the photography of Clark Little. (Thanks to my mom for sending me a sample of his pics.) Really amazing.   A quick scan through his Gallery is wonderfully heart-lifting.  Enjoy!