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Input Junkie
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "nancylebov" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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10:12 am
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Being human complicates matters
Float text: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me think I deserve it."
This is brilliant.
Two other points about the usual "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me": One is that it's an unreasonable standard. The vast majority of people are vulnerable to each other. And I'm not sure living with unshameable people would be an improvement.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1008948.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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04:03 pm
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On the difficulty of escaping from the Borg
Jenny Joseph wrote poem which starts
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
As soon as I saw the lines, I visualized particular shades of red and purple, which I'm sorry to say don't clash all that horribly.
What's more, they're the default medium-dark purple and slightly orange red seen here. There seems to be a second default purple, sort of a medium lavender.
I'd say most of the women are wearing hats that suit them.
When I am old, I shall wear some other colors. And not form a club about them.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1008875.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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11:20 pm
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Syria can recognize an important target
The Onion!
The Onion was a wee smidge snippy about it.
Links thanks to Geek Press.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1008614.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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11:31 am
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Government by blackmail-- don't talk to the FBI!
The FBI has an absolute policy of *not* recording interviews with normal people. Instead, they have one agent interviewing and another typing a "transcript".
This is not an amusing example of failing to update technology. This is a trap. It is absolutely illegal to make a false statement to any federal employee. And not just illegal in a minor sort of way-- felony and up to five years imprisonment illegal.
The transcript, which is apt to be slanted for the FBI's convenience, is what you can be held to by a grand jury.
The purpose is to turn anyone into an informant.
So far, there is a way out if you can afford a lawyer. If you insist on being interviewed in a lawyer's office, and the lawyer insists on recording, the FBI will go away. The video doesn't cover what happens if *you* try to insist on recording the interview, but the history of the public recording police doesn't make me feel optimistic.
This video should be viewed as an addendum to the classic Don't Talk to the Police, which is 48 minutes and well worth your time.
If anyone reading this knows of a country where the justice system can be relied on to not pull this sort of thing, please let me know.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1008339.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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04:32 am
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Jon Stewart actually being funny
I'd gotten tired of him-- it seemed as though he was overacting and just repeating himself. Perhaps the problem is that I don't agree with his politics, or perhaps it's that, until very recently, the world wasn't supplying him with good enough material....
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1007965.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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10:32 am
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More of the back pain lectures
A little late for you to catch yesterday's lectures (they're up till noon EST), but Back Hope has David Berceli, who's got a series of exercises for the psoas muscle (which connects the lower back to the upper thigh-- it passes in front of the pelvis bones, but doesn't connect to them) which induce trembling and release tension.
He was very clear that old, consciously forgotten injuries have side effects which are worth healing, and working on the psoas can bring memories of the injury (not the specific sensations) back.
The exercises seem to help a lot of people, but I was hurting myself a while ago trying them. It's plausible that I was trying to force things. If you're willing to follow directions carefully, I still think they're worth a try.
Richard Brennan is an Alexander Technique teacher, but what he talked about is so simplified that I'd hardly recognize it as Alexander Technique. On the other hand, he seems to have a valuable approach, regardless of what you call it, and he may have left a lot out so that there were useful things to do without having a teacher present.
He talked about the way you sit and stand become habitual, so ergonomics are extremely important. He's running a campaign to make the seats for children's school chairs level rather than (as is commonly the case and may be made worse) with a tilt so that the front edge is higher than the back.
He also explained constructive relaxation (possibly under a different name)-- lying on your back with your knees up and letting your lower back ease down towards the floor, ideally for 20 minutes a day, but even 5 minutes is enough to help. If you need to put something under your head to make your neck comfortable, paperback books are a good choice. A firm surface is best, but if you need to do this in bed, that's also valuable.
What's interesting about this is that it's something people are willing to do reliably. One of the earlier lecturers talked about the high value of 5 minutes once or twice a day of prescribed back exercises and stretches, but that many people neglect the exercises under their backs go out again. This was written off to human nature, which is certainly better than resenting people for not doing the exercises, but better yet is finding exercises which have enough intrinsic rewards that people want to do them.
More about Alexander Technique later, I want to get this posted.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1007789.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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12:33 am
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Lecture series about back pain and such
Back hope is one of those series of two one-hour lectures a day for ten days for free, after which you can get the lectures and transcripts and such for a fee.
I've listened to the first couple of lectures (still available for about 11 hours) and the quality is pretty good. The general theme is that otherwise intractable back pain can be healed, but it takes big emotional changes-- some specific methods mentioned so far are picture-tapping, Alexander Technique[1], and cranial-sacral therapy[2].
The first two lecturers were Tristan Truscott (qi gong, etc.) and Ingrid Bacci (cranial-sacral, etc.).
I don't have serious back problems, but the series has been interesting so far, and I have a feeling it might be of interest to at least some of you.
[1] I think of Alexander Technique as a way of getting access to one's innate ability to move well.
[2] Wikipedia has it that cranial sacral therapy is nonsense in theory and lacks evidence of working in fact. I find that it feels very good and seems to leave me feeling better. I suppose you take your chances.
A mildly friendly review of cranial sacral-- for what it's worth, I've never heard someone doing cranial sacral claim that they were moving the bones of my skull.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1007492.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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12:36 pm
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Have you heard of.... ?
Poll #1909823
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56
Oral rehydration therapy? (Giving water with appropriate amounts of salt and sugar to people with diarrhea/vomiting).
The reason I'm asking is this rant which gives oral rehydration therapy as an example of the sort of thing doctors ignore in favor of more expensive and complex methods.
I've heard about it for so long that I can't remember specific sources, but if you happen to remember where you heard of it, please let me know.
Also, do you know whether it's usual in well-off places (whether in the US or elsewhere) for oral rehydration to be a first choice of treatment for people who might need it?
Completely unrelated except that these were two topics that showed up for me today, Chrissy Amphlett just died, and I'd never heard of her. I don't follow music much, but her music is excellent and I'm surprised she isn't famous enough that I hadn't heard her name. Perhaps the problem is that she was Australian.
Poll #1909824
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 43
Have you heard of Chrissy Aphlett?
Poll #1909825
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0
If I like Chrissy Aphlett's music, who else's might I like?
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11:57 am
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Peas and cucumber side dish
I was poking around in Great Food Without Fuss and found Peas and Cucumber with Dill, which caught my eye because I don't think of cucumber as a thing you cook.
The cookbook only has five reviews, but they're stellar. My filter for any sort of how-to book is firstly, whether people actually did what was in the book, and secondly, whether they liked the results. Extra points if the good results have been accumulated over years. Those five reviews are from people who love this cookbook and keep using it.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large cucumbers cut in half lengthwise, pared, seeded, cut in half again lengthwise, then cut in 1 1/2 inch pieces
Salt to taste
1 package (10 ounces) frozen tiny peas, thawed
1 tablespoon snipped fresh dill
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Melt butter in a saute' pan or large skillet of moderately high heat. When foam subsides add cucumbers and saute', stirring and tossing until just crisp-tender, not soft, about 2 minutes. Turn heat to simmer, sprinkle with salt, add peas, and cook, stirring, until heated through, about one minute.
Add dill and a generous amount of pepper and toss to combine thoroughly. Transfer to a warm serving dish.
Variations: Add slivered scallions and blanched matchstick carrots.
Fold in 1/2 cup or more heavy cream after saute'ing the seeded cucumber chunks in butter. Boil over high heat until the cream has reduced and thickened. Serve with plain roasted or poached chicken or fish.
Here's what I actually did and how it worked out.
Due to not reading the recipe carefully before shopping, I had one large cucumber, 1 pound of standard-sized frozen peas, and no dill. Forward!
So I melted an approximate amount of butter and about a tablespoon of roasted garlic spread and threw in a handful of sliced almonds because really, why not? I'd already peeled, seeded, and chopped the cucumber. Anarchist that I am, I seeded it after I'd quartered it lengthwise, and I still think that's probably easier.
Over the course of cooking, I throw two different herb mixes and some Thai red curry powder as well as the salt and pepper. The result tastes surprisingly like bullion. I suppose unami in involved somehow.
The peas were in cold water for not nearly enough time, and they're not thawed. I put them (in their package) in hot water.
The almonds are already starting to brown. I put in the cucumber, and stir it around. After some minutes, I figure that I shouldn't wait longer, and put in the almost-thawed peas.
Water is accumulating in the pan, and since I want buttery vegetables, not vegetables in butter-and-water sauce, I keep cooking. And more water appears, presumably released from the cucumber.
So I drain the vegetables over a bowl, put just the sauce back in the pan, and boil it until it's probably just down to the butter. I put the vegetables back, and add a couple of ounces of cream.
The results are pretty good, and I eat half of it.
Some time later, I go back into the kitchen, and discover that I hadn't quite turned the heat off. I wouldn't be telling you about this, except that the additional cooking improved the cucumber (the peas had blackened a little, but it didn't affect the flavor much-- I'd caught the problem before there was noticeable smoke). It's probably time to explore cooked cucumber dishes-- the trick may be to keep them away from water so they don't get soggy.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1007015.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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11:55 pm
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Some common sense about the news cycle
Nick Mamatas explains, with examples that the early reports are likely to include a lot of inaccuracy. Some of it will be honest mistakes, and some of it will probably be motivated by stereotypes.
The thing is, the media wants your attention, and possibly they don't want to seem callous by doing their normal programming.... but the information just isn't there.
I'm speaking to you as someone who freaked after 9/11, and literally spent months reading rasf* newsgroups and listening to NPR. After a while, I realized that NPR was just repeating itself because there wasn't any new news coming in, but I still couldn't pry myself loose. Well, emotions are emotions and depression is depression, but if you can find something else to do instead of hoping for one more crumb of finding out what's going on, I recommend it.
Shira Lipkin passed this on from Colleen Lindsay on Facebook:
There are a lot of folks out there who weren't at the marathon who will nevertheless have their PTSD triggered by the events in Boston today. If you're feeling scared, anxious, depressed or alone, please reach out to someone who loves you, call a friend, or call the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990), which is monitored 24/7. But don't try to tough it out on your own; remember that asking for help is never a sign of weakness.
This entry was posted at http://nancylebov.dreamwidth.org/1006747.html. Comments are welcome here or there.  comments so far on that entry.
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