Manuela's Musings

Deolinda Pereira

2011-11-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

I love you mother, Dearest deolinda

You are in peace and from your womb I came and into the ground I´ll join you.

The Butchers of Penafiel Hospital, Portugal

2011-11-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

My mother was buried last saturday because a couple of so called surgeons opened her, might have forgotten to wash their hands, she caught a bad case of sepsis and died 53 days later. High and mighty these butchers are! They insulted me, they refused to talk to me, they were always right and might. I insult butchers when I compare these people to them. They are homicides with a license to kill.

msw exam

2011-09-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

I study for the licensure exam and feel more and more frustrated that I have to study for an exam after 2 and 1/2 years of tests and papers and process recordings and internships. Oh! Social workers when will we get it together ans start looking out for our own kin?!

2011-09-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

awake. it is now 4 am and i seem to not be able to sleeeep. My new schedule is to be for the next 3 weeks such: write in the blog study write some more and study. have little to say at this hour. silence reins and i write in the same room as my husband sleeps. thi would annoy me to no end. he's not complaining but it bothers me that it could be bothering him. he could say something.

frustration in poverty and frustration

2011-09-06T13:27:00.001-07:00

It has become more and more diffcult to post, as information overload sets in, life becomes overcrowded and blogs just loose their significance. It seems that my zeitgeist is nowhere to be found. I am on a constant countercurrent against the mainstream, against the popular, ahead or way behind the current. I can never see this taking off but again, i try and attempt another strategy to maintain a presence. I will leave it on always.

William Blake's The Tiger

2011-06-11T12:11:00.001-07:00

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

series on William Blake - The Lamb

2011-06-09T14:49:00.001-07:00

The Lamb(Songs of Innocence)
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life & bid thee feed,
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek & he is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child & thou a lamb.
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

google doodles and life

2011-06-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

google doodle's tribute to Les Paul is Awsome! I wish I had the time to spend hours and hours on it. How many million of "productive office work hours were lost on this and how much did this liberate people's psyche, turning them on to their creative side. Oh what a study! Mass psychology of doodling and how it affects productivity! Well, that sounds a bit Marxian, I know it "should be Marxism", but look it up! Anyhow, because of my schedule, at one in the morning last night I saw this and wanted to spend the night playing, but als I was at work and rsearching something work related...so, today here is my recording on Google . Of course others did fantastic playing with it. Listen to PC Magazine's Chris Phillips's rendition of Here Comes the Sun:
New project an art rendition of my genogram. You'll be proud Myra! You are an angel...a beautiful angel that has darknessto be like me and others, but you ARE an angel!

myths for all and the Hudson as the new Jordan or Ganges...

2011-06-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

Watching Joseph Campbell's series on the power and history of myths. How brilliant, and the unserstated sense of humour are a great addition to this man's incredible erudition. He read everything! But I think he had it wrong on some aspects of the Torah! But who am I to question one of the world's great autorities on all things sacred and profane?

social workers as pawns

2011-06-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

on memories and social recognition and self acceptance. Honesty and the vague but poignant feeling that all was not not honesty. It never is. The little secrets we all harbor in our souls,disappointments and lost time. what use is it to decry what was never or was beautiful.silly to think that life could have been otherwise. foolish to become bitter and entangled in a web of deception and self deceit. Oh do I know of loves that were never, stars that were crossed, mediocrity lived when they thought the world at their feet. I did too to a point. Life is now, this moment, this feeling of hearing my daughter coming down the stair claiming she's hungry. I'm thinking she's going for the Hagen Daaz. She goes for the chicken. But it's 11:30 and you're having dinner? well we had dinner at 3 in the afternoon so this wold be a Spaniard's version of supper.
Am I a social worker yet? am I?! Does tucking in someone count? Or would Ms.X. be shocked and appalled at the lack of boundaries. Boundaries don't count in the human relation. boundaries are only valid for tasks and jobs and avoidance of malpractice suits. I'll go elsewhere and practice real social work. What is done around here is mostly attempts by the dominant classes to subdue those who would question their legitimacy. Social workers as pawns as it were. That's the title of the book that i will write.

friday poetry

2011-06-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

at last
no more energy to worry and to spend
worn in and out
and not saluting your misogynous avarice
I crumble to the ground and do
the least
the most
define what you are giving to the universe

tchatchkes

2011-06-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

two and a 1/2 years of non stop movement has left sequelae. I have no energy, no motivation, feel like sleeping and nothing else all day. The much promised vacation never came and I am still stuck in this house, having to get rid of some of the tchatchkes that I collected for 3 years.
Are we really in a depression and if we are, how am I going to live and find a job and make the money I need to make to pay back school loans. I have to come up with a plan. I need to find a business, write something, whatever it takes to make it over this slump that I am having. Meanwhile, life goes on. my nights either in a restless and creepy dream alternate reality and my days, an attempt to not go out of my mind. I have lost all motivation, agian I have lost all motivation. I finished a Master's and now I can barely do the dishes. Pathetic!

So I watched a Ram Dass Documentary and feel a bit better.

your song

2011-05-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

summer time

2011-05-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

a week ago we had winter. Today, Summer in all of its muggy hot mosquito infested and much desired presence!OY!
Summertime by two of the best!

death and life

2011-05-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

Gil Scott Heron has died.The New Yorker did a beautiful piece on his life, art and hard living. His presence was intensely felt around the DC scene of which I was marginally part. He's found his peace.

Too many people of my past have recently died. Too young, too early. It started with Manuela Monforte, one of the most beautiful and classiest women I ever knew and it kept going.ben Masel was another part of my past that was intertwined with the very being of my soul. Your presence is needed in these days of rage and fear.

I then did an internship at Benedictine's Oncology Support Program, where I learned how ephemeral life is. I am grateful to all the women who taught me complementary ways of looking at the world, who taught me that when you loose someone and you open a drawer and find their handkerchief, all the pain returns, even years after. But you take that handkerchief and you give it away. Next time you open the drawer that pain won't be invoked. You still love the person, and they are forever in your heart and in the fabric of your cells. But pain does not have to be perpetual. Barbara Sarah was my supervisor, and I got too little of her. Elise Lark was my inspiration and Ellen Marshall enabled me to keep going. Doris Blaha was the clock that kept me sharp and the heart that listened. Amber, I had almost no time with, but the time we did have was unique, as she is. They bring different dimensions to the experience that is death and cancer. They enrich the lives of so many women and men and they took my heart, took it out for a spin and left it gently, lovingly intact and beating with more strength. My co interns Myra and Maud (Rosie)were magic incarnate. They are soul mates through time and space.

it's been a long time..

2011-05-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

So, I'm an MSW with aqn interesting array of possibilities ahead.
Some stuff that's caught my eye:
Lani Guiner's The Miner's Canary
the canary’s distress, which alerted miners to poison in the air, issues of race point to conditions in American society that endanger us all. In this pioneering new book, Guinier and Torres warn us that we ignore race at our peril, and propose a dramatic, hopeful shift in the way we think about race and put it to political use.

i'm back

2010-05-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

Summer at last.
school starts tomorrow
my garden is looking pretty good!
reading a lot no lists leave that to rebecca

Compassionate curiosity, Minnewaska State Park

2010-03-09T04:34:00.000-08:00

A lovely afternoon at Minnewask lake with family..you are NOT taking that way from us!!!

"posed in a tone of compassionate curiosity, “why?” is transformed from rigid accusation to an open-minded, even scientific question. instead of hurling an accusatory brick at your own head (e.g., “i’m so stupid, when will i ever learn,” etc.), the question “why did i do this again, knowing full well the consequences?” can become the subject of a fruitful inquiry, a gentle investigation." a quote from gabor mate’s in the realm of hungry ghosts: close encounters with addiction
A quick search of the terms involved reveals a lot of new agey feel good filler and a few pearls of wisdom. Running through it all are two themes which are central to a Social Worker's commitment to the "Other". Compassion defined as "compassio, from compati to sympathize, from Latin com- + pati to bear, suffer —, which signifies an identity with the humanness of the one whom you face. Levinas writes extensivelly on the subjet and the Hebrew phrase "Panim el panim" gives it a more direct and empathic significance. Curiosity is defined as a desire to know;or a an inquisitive interest in others' concerns. Separately each term can have connotations that have little to do with Social Work, but in its symbiosis the term "compassionate curiosity" defines the need to engage oneself and the other on the quest of self without judging. One is there/here to listen and seek, to progress in a journey which will bring clarification.

Here is the link to the short documentary "Logorama" It's good!!! there is so much visual overload that we no longer notice it but it dominates our lives. Yikes!

They are threatening to CLOSE Minnewaska State Park???? Are they even joking??? There is NO WAY IN HELL that they will get away with it. Not with the people who live around it, myself included, not with the passionate rockclimbers of the GUNX, and not with my aunt's dervishly energetic involvement, they won't!!!

נפלה עטרת ראשנו (איכה ה:טז)

2010-02-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

“The crown of our head has fallen…” (Lamentations 5:16)

It is with great sorrow and regret that I read about the passing of the Founder and President of Touro College

מו"הרב דוב בעריש לאנדער, זצ"ל

Rabbi Dr. Bernard Lander

My condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the founder of my school, an admirable institution created by a formidable man, who will remain with us through the works that the many students of the Institution have and will carry on.

life afirmation

2010-01-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

Listening to Rao kyao's flute and relaxing after a very long day.
I love what I do!!!

various ruminations

2009-12-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

Swiss-Miss has the most creative blog I have found in the web. Always a joy and an ode to human creativity. I found this underground house on the blog as well as a myriad of other fantastic ideas ranging from the silly to the historical.

The Onion's 5th top ten stories of the last 4.5 billion years is titled "Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World" which took place in 3991 and I quote "I do not understand," reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting the sun, the moon, water, and a Sumerian who appears to be scratching his head. "A booming voice is saying, 'Let there be light,' but there is already light. It is saying, 'Let the earth bring forth grass,' but I am already standing on grass."

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Castro's running of Cuba, one has to recognize his intellectual prowess. Monthly Review publishes his ongoing comments of actuality. A different perspective.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

Off to the New Year then...and resolutions
A health care bill which will be improved upon..if it passes, and it seems like it will....
A commitment to a healthy diet which will include blueberries and oatmeal on a daily basis
A sense of humor...
Reading a little more fiction..too much serious reading makes me boring...
Being more sensitive to those around me...
Nurturing my friendships and my family...
Become more politically committed...
Continue to feed the birds in my back yard and finding a way to feed the deer...
Save for a "real" vacation that will have tropical trees, tropical drinks and corals...
That was easy...

2009-12-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

It is such a joy to see the birds outside eating to their little heart's content. With nothing but hardened snow on the ground the seeds we provide them makes it a little easier for them. Both of my cameras are broken so I don't have pictures but as soon as I fix them there will be many pictures of blue jays, cardinals, sterlings, doves and other little creatures. What does one feed the deer?
7th day of Hanukkah, but the house feels empty without that teenager daughter of mine around. She's having a grand old time in Portugal though, so that makes me happy. She has been doing so great art...time to go

Semester's end

2009-12-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Another semester of Touro Graduate School of Social Work behind me sort of...internship continues. I learned so much about how little I know!! That could be good...What a hard semester that was! Working nights, the internship, the classes. I am starting to realize that I will be a changed person when I finish this degree. Not by virtue of the "Degree" but by what I am learning, and the internal changes occurring. I don't think I'll ever be a good clinician, but the classes with Dr. Krantz blew me away. At times irritating, at times incredibly funny, he is a master at what he does. He was able to put me in an imaginary chair with an imaginary client and for the first time in a class setting I was at a loss for comments and terrified of making a fool of myself...I look forward to another semester, maybe I won't feel so inept. I think I'll be alright, and above all I will continue to learn a craft that is as intense, cerebral and challenging as any course on physics or any other so called "hard science". It truly is a blessing to have teachers who are masters in their skill.

Rosh Hashana

2009-09-18T05:17:00.000-07:00

Tim Kreider writes a great article in the Times on the choices we make in life and how they define how we spend the rest of our very short lives. Indeed, like many other of my age, I have been humbled by the number of public figures who have died in the last few months. Some were rather old, but most were not far from where I sit. For someone like me, not even half way through graduate school, I sometimes wonder: is this really worth the few more years I'll be trouncing around? I really have no answer and like the writer of the mentioned article, I sometimes envy a few of my friends for the houses they have, the solid commitment to a community in which they have spent most of their lives, the job they know inside out and have worked at for 20 years. But then I talk to them, and they envy my "gypsying" around, my varied life experience, my apparent fearlessness in the face of change.

This You Tube video, which I found through a Times article written by Paul Vitello is my way of signalling the New Year. Rosh Hashana starts tonight, and so does the reflecting that comes with it. Good year for everyone!

Beyonce's class act

2009-09-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

Rep Wilson's outburst posted on You Tube, Serena Williams' tirade also posted and Kanye West having a, well, a Kanye moment with his onstage outburst, the only post that I find worth posting is that of Beyonce Knowle's bringing Taylor Swift on stage so she could finish her rudely interrupted speech. Unfortunately all the other videos are available on You Tube, but this one was removed by Viacom. Too bad, because Beyonce sums up all that is good about manners, sisterhood and class and plain human decency. Unlike the rest of my family, I'm not a big fan of her music, but I will forever admire her for this act. As for the other twits, they are basically manifesting a tendency of equaling 1st Amendment rights with lack of civility.

Hot Waitress Index

2009-09-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

A little late on this one: In the New York Magazine a great article :The Hot Waitress Index (HWI), an economic indicator. correlates the beauty of waitresses to the weakness of the economy. The hotter the waitress, the colder the economy. And from the looks of things, it is a bitter cold wind that blows out there notwithstanding what the hot air balloonists are going around claiming.

the health insurance thingamaging

2009-09-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

Obama's speech on health care as well as the vociferous and rude remark by a Republican who used to work for Strom Thurmond(!!!, raised another question altogether in my head. Whatever happened to the the strength that was able to get hundreds of thousands of ralliers in defense of illegal and legal aliens? If I recall correctly, it was but two years ago that people rose up all over America,hit the streets demanding reform and the right to be treated like a decent human being. What happened to the cries that you can't do without us, we are a power source etc..I believe in part the economy proved once again that empowering the poor can be dangerous to the powers that be. Van Jones is an example of someone who argued for exactly that and was quietly ousted from the White House in the middle of the night. I'm also inclined to think that the Mexican majority behind those rallies were disingenuous in their actions. Whether the sight of thousands of illegal immigrants demanding rights got the right to mobilize or whether Obama's election took the mojo out of the radicals we;ll never know. But Obama's affirmation that these aliens would not receive health care has hardly been denounced by anyone. In what almost seemed like a staged move, a Repubican stupidly took the strength away from the pettiness and inhumanity of that phrase and turned the whole discourse into one of good manners. Has anyone ever watched the English Parliament. Perhaps they should. The presidents platitudes mean to me another cash cow for the insurance companies. It's universal health care American style. You want a car, you buy insurance, you want a body (and unlike cars we cannot live bodyless) you buy insurance. Now, let's see what goes on with the car insurance scene. You pay different amounts for living in different zip codes. I live in what is deemed a very safe neighborhood, have an old clunker and so I pay very little insurance. So how does that transfer to the insurance companies? Well, I live in a healthy neighborhood so my insurance will probably be lower. On the other hand, my body might be an old clunker and therefore unlike car insurance, it will cost them more to fix it. So I pay more in which case I can either afford it and again the middle class looses or I can't and Medicaid steps in. Yeah! The middle class has gotten screwed again. And that is why I will never own a home! Bevause I do not want to have this tremendous liability.
My fear and their gloating is that my hopes of getting health insurance from my employer has just gone up in smoke. Because with this plan, the ultimate goal is to have everyone paying their own insurance. No wonder the insurance companies like it! Me thinks that if I had money to invest in the stock market I would do so in the health insurance field.

Happy birthday love

2009-09-08T07:23:00.001-07:00

Love of my life...

revolution is sexy

2009-09-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Vervet monkeys courtesy of BBC

2009-09-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Interesting footage!I don't understand why they consider it bizarre.

Greening the ghetto, not the white house

2009-09-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

According to the New York Times Van Jones, of the Green for All and Greening the Ghetto movements and environmental czar for the Obama administration was forced to resign. Apparently his too Angela Davis or Bill Ayers looking past was too much for some of the politicians who kowtow to the Glenn Beck crowd(WTF). The New Yorker published a very good article on the man that would later go on to the White House to my great surprise.Of course he is radical! He is talking about African Americans empowering themselves and has attempted to do so with his non profits. and that is scary stuff because you can be This to me says a LOT about Obama and about the continued oppression of African Americans. This country is very interesting. You can say anything you want as long as it doesn't effectively challenge the status quo. Heck you can even have a so called African American president. As far as I am concerned I don't get the African American thing. Yes he is part American and part African but he is clearly identified with the black community. Yet he could just as easily consider himself white, no? After all, he is half and half. Oh! Yes those wonderful racial laws of 1/16 that even Hitler thought too exaggerated.
A little inspirational music for this beautiful sunday:

culture shock and good vegetarian lasagna

2009-09-02T04:41:00.000-07:00

What would lead a Portuguese Jew to read a German account of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is beyond my comprehension. I befuddle myself on a daily basis. But I do like many aspects of the pilgrimage concept and as a lover of long walks , when I saw the book recommended on some blog of respect I decided to get it. It was written by Hape Kerkeling, a German "comic" I knew nothing about, The title is "I'm off then" and so far it has done little but make me angry. To quote "The triumph of Swedish Reason", as if they hadn't had enough with their triumphs ohh...of the Will, perhaps. His constant criticisms of dark and filthy evil intentioned Portuguese and Spaniards as opposed to the visions of the Nordic ethereal blue eyed angels he encounters are nothing if not racist. The Germans are cleaner than the Spanish. The Swedes are a delight while the "Girl from Ipanema" as he calls a Brazilian woman is just on the trail to find a man to marry, besides being loud and brazen and ohh so different from his cool angelic friends from the North. Ah the Germans. As for it being funny, I've yet to read one phrase that I find the least bit amusing. He's fat, he's lazy and he's too good to share the nights with the other lowly spiritual seekers. No trace of spirituality or even humanity. What an offense of a book!It feels like something straight out of Nazi Germany...and that is not the least bit funny..and it sold more than 3 million copies...I forgive you Paulo Coelho!

Mushroom Spinach Lasagna Recipe:
My attempt at writing down my recipe for the vegetarian lasagna I make:
Ingredients:
Whole wheat lasagna pasta
1/2 gallon of milk
2 pounds of julienned Mozzarella cheese
sprinkling of Parmesan cheese
5 Tbsp Maizena flour or the regular kind
2 quarts of tomato sauce pre prepared or made at home
1 large bunch of spinach
1 pound of mushrooms
1 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp pepper
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
To make the Bechamel sauce which I substitute for Ricotta cheese:
Heat up most of the milk. Use the cold milk to mix the Maizena or flour in and add to hot milk. Mix in pepper, salt, nutmeg and lemon to taste. Constantly stirring let it thicken and put to the side, mixing frequently to keep it smooth.
On two Lasagna deep pans pour a quarter of the tomato sauce, Add a layer of the spinach and mushrooms.Cover with lasagna pasta. Cover with an inch high dose of Bechamel and top with Mozzarella, Be generous with the cheese.
Repeat with tomato sauce, spinach and mushrooms, pasta and again cover with Bechamel, and Mozarella. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan. Cover with aluminum foil and let bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and let cook for another 1/2 hour or until the pasta is soft. Cut in portions and serve. It is usually very liquidy but if you leave it overnight, it will harden up and if you want to present a neat dish it will be easier to do so. Serve with a light salad.
This recipe makes 2 pans and can feed 8 or more people. I like to make two at a time as it is a time consuming dish and only gets better with reheating.

the obese, acid refluxed, chronically achy, Fox channel watching, gun toting and pick up driving crowd

2009-08-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

Studies again are revealing the fact that Southern states, led by West Virginia, are not only poorer but have much higher levels of prescription drug intake. Oddly enough, this is generally the same region that is most vociferously opposed to universal health care. This can be analyzed through he class prism or through the state as big brother prism. I would like to think that poorer people opt for less healthier foods because they simply have not been made aware of the benefits of the much reviled arugula, sprouts and other "liberal" food staples.Here in the town of New Paltz, the Latte Drinking, Sushi Eating, Volvo Driving, New York Times Reading, NPR listening crowd wins without a doubt but oddly enough I suspect that the obesity rates are kept down because people are opting to not buy into what some would call "the personal choice" of eating junk food and drinking super Slurpees, and instead spend their spare time tending to their gardens and walking or biking around the many nature trails so easy to maintain and so beneficial to use. People do not realize that it isn't big government that leads to obesity but big business. A garden in your back yard is a lot less profitable than a big barbecue grill. I don't have to go into the economics of it because they are obvious enough; so although the idea of government trying to tell me what food to eat has little appeal to me, the idea that the big corporations which run big government don't even want to give me a choice has even less appeal.
As my husband points it would be a lot cheaper to treat all the obese, acid refluxed, chronically achy crowd than to run 2 wars in two countries that BTW have universal health care paid for by us, the American tax payers, but that's besides the point. War is what it is, promoted by who it is and that's an argument. On another note perhaps connected but still on another note is the question of why it is that the poorest citizens have the worst health, both physical and mental, suffer the most pain and eat the worst diet. Perhaps because they are less educated? You don't have a choice when you are not aware of the possibility of having one!

Still health care, still and always

2009-08-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

Iraq and Afghanistan are two of the countries with universal health care, payed by us, the American tax payer. There has to be some kind of irony here...at least that.
One more thought or two on health care:
The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of Health:
The state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. (WHO, 1947)
Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Hilary Clinton all tried and all failed. The same tactics are being used to argue against it.The universal health care plan adversaries must figure that this one is a keeper. The suckers ate the same (so much for wide spread college education), the winners are the same, and the government is the same. And as Mr. Einstein said, "insanity is attempting to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results". The adversaries are doing the same thing and getting the same results, so in all logic the people attempting to implement some kind of sane health reform should have gone about it in a different way... Not sure how but they're the ones getting the bucks and sleeping with the enemy...
Truth Out has some good suggestions...
And this article in the New Yorker authored by Atul Gawande,clearly elucidates us on the state of health in this country.His web site is a marvelously eclectic domain reflecting the Renaissance man that he embodies.
How is it that one can invariably link the world's great family fortunes to either booze, drugs or war? Kennedy's being just such an example as Joe the elder statesman made some of his early fortune running illegal booze during the Prohibition...

Preparing for the beginning of Fall semester at Touro College
The upcoming Career Fair might actually be a good place for me to find much needed advice on work and future internships.

2009-08-26T04:34:00.000-07:00

I love it when my country of origins' greats get the attention they deserve. Of course, Jose Saramago, the Nobel Laureate, is often enough mentioned, lately for all the wrong reasons. But outside of intellectual and literary circles who has ever heard of Pernando Pessoa, the poet with the madness and the 4 heteronyms plus who knows how many other poets inside him. Maureen Dowd, the New York Times commentator, whom I've at times criticized for some of her past follies, but unfailingly read, in today's review mentions him and I will take this opportunity to quote this most fascinating of poets:
The poet is a pretender
Who's so good at his act
He even pretends to be pain
The pain he feels in fact

I quote Paul Krugman:" Fox Business News is available in 49 million homes and has 21,000 viewers.That is all."

Observation: I'm driving along the idyllic roads of Ulster County apple orchard country where I now reside and looking in the fields, I see all but Blacks in the fields and ask myself. Where are these people and where do they live. Uncle John, the go to man on all things labor explains to me that what I'm seeing are Jamaican laborers, who are kept from view , get shipped in to pick the apples and shipped out at the end of the season. They live in the middle of the orchards, in trailers and I presume have all their needs met by the owners of said orchards. Will have to investigate.
Interesting dichotomy: Middletown, streets full of African American, mostly Puerto-Ricans and Hispanics, whites hiding out somewhere. New Paltz, that bastion of liberalism, all pretty white students and no people of color.

Ted Kennedy died. And so I assume will universal health care. Let Obama vacation on Martha's Vineyard, while the poor and the wretched continue to do what he was elected to help eliminate: Suffer...
Ah! the politics of the poor and the race politics in this country! where to begin?

Here is another interesting blog...Searching the Inner Me

for my daughter, the best

2009-08-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

My cousin's beautiful picture of a sunset

Dedicated to my daughter:

healthy blueberry muffins

2009-08-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

I love going up to Minnewaska Park and picking blue berries which I then bring home and make muffins or pies with.
I found my favorite recipe for blueberry muffins and have had many many compliments. I like adding nuts to give them extra texture. They don't fluff up (well, mine don't, anyway), but have a great consistency. You can use other forms of sweetener
Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
makes 12

* 2 cups whole wheat flour,sifted
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp nutmeg
* 1 egg, slightly beaten
* 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1 [generous!] cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease muffin tins, or line with papers
3. Whisk together dry ingredients.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, oil, and honey until creamy.
5. Toss blueberries into dry ingredients to quickly coat.
6. Pour wet into dry, folding with a rubber spatula just until the batter is moist (but still lumpy.)
7. Spoon into muffin tin and bake 20-30 minutes.

**For an even healthier muffin, substitute unsweetened applesauce for the oil.

morning potpourri

2009-08-21T05:03:00.000-07:00

The Golden Institute was a center for energy efficiency research created with limitless funds by Jimmy Carter and dismantled by the walking cowboy advertisement for "free market" capitalism and succeeding president Reagan. Would we be more energy self sufficient? I believe so!

Health care: Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or email them at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
What else can I say: Call them and tell them that they have already done too many deals,shady and secretive ones with the big health companies, tell them to get a back bone, to actually go through with the commitments they made when asking us to go campaigning door to door, like I did in Pennsylvania. How stupid was I? Very!!And as usual my husband nailed it on the head...But I'll go into that some other time.

Some credit card consumer protection kicked in yesterday, which was the day that I decided to take a pair of scissors to all but my Nordstrom card. They have been consistent, transparent and never attempted any of the chicanery some of the other ones did.They have great clothes, great service and my daughter loves it. I know they make a lot of money and what kind of interest fees they have, but I've always known, I chose to sign up, stuck to my side of the deal and they to theirs. Is that simple or what? Macy's. Walmart, Sears. Newport News, Victoria's Secret, Chase etc...bye bye. I will pay them what I owe to the last cent but they will never get one more cent out of me. There, I've done my bit!
So have I sold out my feminism or I just like dressing up a little bit? I think that a little vanity doesn't hurt anyone. After all there is a big difference between my concept of dressing up and being a fashion slave walking around with the XXI century version of bound feet, extreme heels.

turtles and health care

2009-08-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

Jolie, our other family member and a looker!

On to health care:
When Truman attempted to install universal health care, in the late 40's, Senior Republican Senator Taft declared, “I consider it socialism. It is to my mind the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it.” Taft suggested that compulsory health insurance, like the Full Unemployment Act, came right out of the Soviet constitution.
So what's new?
I actually went out and canvassed in Pennsylvania for this gentleman who is now selling the people out. It started with Geithner, ex Goldman Sachs employee, but what is going on beats everything.
Obama doesn't care. He has great insurance and so does his family. Again, it's all about his career. What a bum!

Summer is here...finally

2009-08-18T04:57:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived and I'm glad it is almost over. The stickiness, the unbearable slap of hot air in the face when you poke your face outside, the bugs..yeck! bring on the snow!!!
Of course there won't be a health care public option! What do people think this is, Denmark?
No, this is American and may the most viciously rabidly pro capitalism and socialism for the rich. Seriously, have we checked who we have surrounding the prez? Yes, we would have gotten a public health plan with Hilary, but hey, that is exactly why Obama was the anointed one. I made a commentary when I read "Dreams from my father" and I still think it rings true today. Obama is for himself and himself alone. he's made it onto the history books, not much else to be done. been there, done that...
I'm still looking for a place where I can do my internship and I might actually have two, but not sure on either of them. Twisted moment in time...
I have a great video of giant tortoises having sex, not sure why except that I have a turtle and find them incredibly cute...

I wonder why there isn't a Whole Foods up here in New Paltz. It sure seems like it would have the clientele! Perhaps the local activists, among whom I count my aunt Judy were able to keep it at bay as they successfully did with Walmart. Check out the "Going Green with Buses and Bikes" video as well as a lot of other info on this beautiful community.

graft and jobs and connections

2009-08-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

Ah! The woes of the unemployed. Worse yet, is getting the interview, informing the prospective employer that you are getting a MSW, and getting about 1/2 a minute of silence on the other side of the line or desk. You have just done one of two things: You have for all practical purposes stated that you will eventually move on or require a higher salary or I suspect most common, you have just made the recruiter feel threatened that you could come to take their job. What one would think would be beneficial to any agency is turning out to be a liability. But I will get a job. If I apply to 5 jobs a day, one or two will come through, I suspect. I hope!
I'm pretty flexible, not making outlandish demands, willing to work on weekends. but alas!
And now I'll go out and do some gardening before the sun becomes too hot on my back. But not before I take a look at the mainstream madia (it is not a typo)!

I believe my real problem is not intelligence or education but lack of meaty governmental connections or a politician for a mother or father. Ssenator Pedro Espada's son, Pedro Espada Jr. sure doesn't seem to have that problem. For someone with a BA in Liberal Arts I suppose his "experience" working for daddy must have weighed heavily when up for consideration. I guess...I assume and I presume...
But then again the example comes from the top, right? This country has become a blueprint for Roman Empire politics...at their worst. Read Cicero or Juvenal

woodstock

2009-08-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm I’m going to join in a rock ’n’ roll band — Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock”

The Jewish Forward has an interesting book review about Woodstock and the nice Jewish farmer who made his farm available for the Festival, which took place in Bethel Woods:“Max Said Yes! The Woodstock Story,” (Change the Universe Press), written by Abigail Yasgur and her husband, Joseph Lipner. The value of hachnasat orchim, was exemplified by Max Yasgur, in keeping with the prophet Avraham who was famous for opening up his tent to the four corners of the desert to welcome anyone who might come. The women, did all the work that made such hospitality possible such as cooking, cleaning and fetching water, of course, as I suspect happenend in Woodstock. But that's another story!!

dawn in New Paltz

2009-08-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

UCAN Utility Consumers' Action Network - non-profit, public interest consumer advocacy

And then there's dawn in my house. All is quiet! The birds move efficiently and silently about, catching the proverbial worm and the seed and whatever else there is. And as anyone who has ever been out in the "country" knows that there are plenty of worms to go around and that you don't have to be the early one to get "it". And if there aren't any worms (I'll chalenge you on that!) then, abundance of seeds and herbs and fruit, all bountiful and there for the picking.

a quote

2009-08-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

"It has been my experience that those with no vices have very few virtues."
Abraham Lincoln

August in the Hudson Valley

2009-08-05T21:55:00.001-07:00

Moving is a bitch!!!
Yesterday, however I had an almost perfect day at the Minnewaska Park lake. Went blueberry picking with Judy and had a wonderful conversation, hung out and ate some of her home grown and home cooked potato beet salad.
Arghhh! The health care bill! Jon Steward is covering it rather well.
Salome and I are officially part of the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers Association. What a nice group of people.
Books: a lot of stuff on social service and health care history in America. Discovered a very interesting report on the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal and the results it has had. It is called "The Effects of Decriminalization of Drugs in Portugal " and it is authored by Caitlin Hughes and Alex Stevens. My Australian buddy at the Redfern Clinic, Andrew Byrne, has nothing but good things to say about the authors, one of whom he personnally knows.

out of the kitchen and onto the couch

2009-08-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

New Paltz my latest and hopefully for a loooong looong time place of residence.

Michael Pollen's article in the New York Times on food, cooking and television shows on the cooking of food is a must read. His books offer a pertinent analysis of what has become the food industry, and how we, as eater and ill-informed citizens are manipulated by them.

A scholar's attempt at preserving disappearing languages: One of the places where work like Tucker Child's will be preserved and acccessible to the public will be: elar.soas.ac.uk, is set to start sharing data at summer’s end. “What we’re trading in with language documentation is a new genre of stuff which doesn’t have any publication channel.”

Touro College

2009-07-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

As previously stated, one month's respite from Touro College is feeling somewhat good, but I really enjoy my classes there. Touro College has what I feel are indispensable characteristics for a School of Social Work at a Master's level. I know I'll be complaining about the overload with school and work and internship, but in the end it all works out. Prof. Elhanon Marvit is absolutely the best! A wonder of a man, an excellent, dedicated and challenging teacher, he truly is. as he says, a social worker, but also a scholar of social work. Thank You
It sounds like I'm pushing the school, but no, these are my musings and this is what I feel today.

art and life

2009-07-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

The copious sound of water falling from either the latest storm battering the area or my turtle's filter gives me a soothing feeling that despite all hardships and difficulties all will be well.

Nicholas Kristoff's NY Times opinion

2009-06-14T02:14:00.000-07:00

Nicholas Kristoff's Sunday opinion column in the N. Y. Times on the legalization of drugs is a pertinent theme and one that I have worked and written on fairly extensively. The Cato Institute recently published a paper written by Glenn Greenwald on the 10 years since decriminalization for all drugs became law in Portugal. I disagree with a few conclusions but as someone who at the time lived in Portugal , was an active participant in the town hall like discussions that went on in the country as well as someone who helped draft some of the new ways to go about implementing the new policies I find these discussions very pertinent. Here is my comment on his article:

Mr.Glenn Greenwald of the CATO Institute recently published a paper on the decriminalization of all drugs in Portugal and the effects and consequences it has had since its implementation at the beginning of this decade. having been a part of that “social experiment” as a social worker I read the report and found it generally accurate with a few misleading conclusions. Decriminalization was indeed implemented after the recommendations of a panel set up by the government at the time. To its lasting credit, the government actually followed through on its commitment to implement the suggestions put forth. It has been 10 years and Portugal has not become a drug paradise nor have the rates of consumption changed. There is much more money available for prevention and treatment and that has had a measurable effect on the reduction of HIV and Hepatitis C transmission. This country’s drug laws are racist, affect predominantly the poor and have contributed to the fact that in the shadow of this nation’s capital the transmission rate of HIV is on par with some countries in West Africa. 4% of young African American males are infected with HIV. The effect that massive incarceration has and will continue to have on this nation’s poorer classes is devastating. The results of the War on Drugs are there for all to see. It has become our Gulag and will go down in history as a period of collective madness. When will it stop?

yet again

2009-06-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

blogging again. Hudson Valley still
news?
no job
graduate school
lots of ideas
new blog on addiction to carbs
promise to reset this and update it on whatever suits my fancy
new fetishes:
old fetish about loosing weight
greening the ghetto
religion
new things:
new art works from Sal
lots of great ideas
lots of writing
lack of work
same old
house
city
good old
husband
daughter family
need new
friends
job

2008

2008-12-31T18:07:00.000-08:00

My new streets of gold!!

Tokio Hotel in Denver

The Rockies

a tally for the year

Gone the soaring heights of the Rockies!
Hudson Valley is now my home!

Obama rocked!!
But how many people bothered to read "Dreams of my father" I wonder. It is an honest well written self serving autobiography where one clearly gets the picture that Obama is for himself... And as the Talmud says "If I'm not for me , then who will?" Truth of the matter, it seems to me, is that he never really did accomplish much besides advance his career. Ah! A true politician!
Maybe he will become the first Master of the Universe!!

But Obama was not the sole star in the political horizon! Remember Sarah Palin? Will she have the nerve to come down from the eternal frozen tundra and get to have everywoman's drream come true again? Go on a free shopping spree?
What does it take and who do I sell my soul to?

What else?
Mr. Madoff who as has been said did something that the white supremicist nuts in their wildest fantasies could never dream of! I think that excommunication is too outdated for XXIst Century America! Spinoza was enough! Not that they could ever be compared. One is in heaven and the other will go to the 9th circle of hell. If there is an Olam HaEmet

Chef Zorba's I miss you!! You were my family, my friends and I will always cherish the opportunity that you gave me. Shelley, an angel, Jimmy, Dino even Pete to name the owners. My co-workers, I paint in golden shades of memory. Denver to me was Zorba's and all the wonderful people I met there. And my spanakopita, a Chef Zorba's recipe, is considered the best around these parts. I will visit again, will eat great food surrounded by great friends and, beautiful scenery and knowing in my heart that I am a little bit family.

And my beautiful friend who on that memorable trip introduced me to the incomparable Eva Cassidy, a spirit with a voice of an angel.

My visit to Portugal and the healing of old wounds, where my friend aid, I hear your voice in my house and life is a little more complete.

Above is a picture my daughter took of Tokio Hotel when I we saw them in Denver! Four hours in a line!!

A freewheeling time and other books

2008-07-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

I intend to read three books which I hope to comment on while I'm reading them. They are:
Barak Obama's The Audacity of Hope
Suzie Rotolo's A Freewheeling Time
and David Levering Lewis' God's Crucible Islam and the Making of Europe 570-1215;

our bodies our brains

2008-07-01T16:33:00.000-07:00

Dara Torres at 41 going for more gold at the Beijing Olympics!

On another note, of course I had fun at the Sex and the City movie! Better than the blood and guts crap pushed on 14 year old boys. So what if the shoes are ridiculously uncomfortable and expensive and the clothes are totally irrealistic and carrie is the silliest of them all. All in all, it was fun and I plan to watch it again.

Is Google Making Us Stupid? asks the monthly magazine The Atlantic. I have been saying for a very long time that nothing good will come out of Google. And yes, I fit the profile described in the article perfectly.

RIP

Geoge Carlin at his best:

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?

hell is other people

2008-06-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

"Hell is other people" So said Mr. Sartre and with age comes the comprehension. I have overloaded on what was supposed to be the alpine valleys of this state but turned into the mean streets of this town.
I have exhausted my patience with the work, the stress, the racism, sexism and anti-antisemitism by which I am surrounded. I am accused of having killed Christ, of being a traitor, slow witted and weird. I am sexually harassed every single day, stabbed in the back and yet I try to hold on to two more months. It will be over one of these days!!!

e-mail bankrupcy

2008-06-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

I confess that I have had times of "e-mail bankruptcy". I also confess that they occur more and more often. I have grown rather tired of the same jokes, messages of hope, cutsy power point presentations and a plethora of other cargo that people send my way.

Update

2008-06-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

How long has it been? Months I believe that I've not posted. No energy, somewhat brain dead but not enough to not write a few lines once in a while. Writing at the site Associated Content , mainly about Barak Obama, oddly enough. Thinking of a few other themes. I am mostly dazed and confused and reading up on China. Very revealing! I know so little about that part of the world. Anyway I continue to work at the same place where simple fare is served without fanfare, but with quality and affordability.

On Hillary's side tonigh

2008-01-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight is One of the defining moments for Hillary. Not THE defining one, but an important one nonetheless. Whatever the outcome of tonight's decisions by Iowa voters, the road ahead is long and full of turns and twists. An election is never a linear process where the pundits try to play divinities by guessing the outcome of the election. Someone will of course be right. The many opinions, the ads, the insults, the positions of the adversaries, all that will come into play in the future. One has to bear in mind that Hillary is a very well organized woman, intelligent and experienced and she will always be up to par to whatever situations arise. And let's not also forget that she has the Clinton Midas touch on her side. Those two, whatever their failings have stuck with each other through thick and thin. Is this not an excelent example of American perseverance and show of the real values Americans hold so dear to their hearts. When Hillary comes to Denver to the Convention I believe that her only duty will be to carefully choose a running mate. Maybe Bill ???Wouldn't the American people love that. Unfortunately it smells too much of old world politics. Too bad...Because as everyone around here says, "we were all making a lot of money during the Clinton years.And don't forget that old campaign slogan"It's the economy, stupid!"

year's end

2007-12-31T20:25:00.000-08:00

As the year comes to an end I ponder on all the choices I made, the choices that were made for me and the contexts in which all of this took place. The world is no less dangerous than it was a year ago, television is still stupid, we're still involved in a myriad of wars and guerrillas and random acts of violence, and still we choose to obsess on Paris and britney!

We get what we deserve. Still haven't kept my promisse of posting more frequently, but still will keep trying. i would like to upload Dylan's "Masters of war, but it might not be possible. I haven't been spending enough time at this to keep up.

Will try to end with a pretty picture of a window (of opportunity?)

the twilight of the Gods

2007-12-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

Bits of Led Zeppelin's concert in London on You Tube. Wouldn't it be great if they played at Red Rocks!

Test your geography IQ at world travel. I'm pretty good. It's those Asian Islands and the cities in China that get me.

A treenorah?

Net surfing

2007-11-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

I am sitting at home, waiting for a package which will deliver some gifts I have bought for my daughter. My door bell does not work so I have to sit here, looking out the window in the hopes of catching the UPS guy. Why, oh why is my land lord not fixing my door bell. should I withhold the rent check until he does so? it is so irritating. But this is the reason for this long post.

Now that the annapolis conference is upon us, no harm would coe from reading this article on crescent anti-semitism in the world 9that includes this here country). The title is ominous "The Silence of the Lambs" but very apropos.

A map of the ratio of doctors per inhabitant in the world. Very telling of the state of health affairs in the world.

The most amazing cakes I have ever set my googly eyes on!!!

An alternative to babel fish is the new interactibe online dictionary Lingro. The amount of languages is still limited, but it is a great concept with a great future.

The Waiter Rant blog is still as good as ever.

So is Chef Zorba's restaurant in Denver, Colorado.

eat pray love and make a lot of money at it

2007-10-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Eat, Pray, Love as I previously stated was fun, insightful and well written. But the fury that it has become is well beyond its merit. It's just a book about another self centered woman who happens to be a very good writer and can afford to travel the world and write about it. So what. Did it really change anyone's life? of course not. her life situations did but that's what happens when you LIVE! Her writing! Bah humbug!!It was great fun, that is all! What's with Oprah's search for what she has not...

2007-09-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Wow!! long time coming...
Let's see..
In my world I just finished reading a new book that is so outstanding I felt I had to write about it. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of those rare books that pulls you in for a shared search of soul and self. Beautiful, touching, funny and intimate. what a gem!!

Chef Zorba's, that perennial Congress park fixture is still good and inexpensive. I love the decor as well as the simplicity of both the waitstaff and owners, whom you can see wandering in and out as they go about their business, whether it's cooking some greek fare that will show up later at your table or simply doing the doings of a restaurant...

Fall is here and with it sweaters, boots and the propect of the first snow!!!

Strangled by Roots

2007-08-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Strangled by Roots

earthlings

2007-07-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

Earthlings is a documentary that is anything but serene. So maybe it is inadequate for a blog with such a name. But then again I have exposed women getting stoned to death, victims of war and nuclear fall out, so this is one more in the long list of atrocities commited by a fraction of earthlings: be advised!! This is strong stuff and not for the weak in the knees!

My last post was on the mean spiritness of people. A propos Jerry Farwell's death. I do think that now I can also join in, and what better comment than the one pronounced by Christopher Hitchens: "I would like to believe in hell, to be able to think that is where jerry Falwell will spend the rest of eternity." Not his exact words but the idea is there.

I am going to try to be more assidious in my postings. But that is what I said last time

Ah well!!!

tid bits from May

2007-05-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

It looks like this is starting to be a once a month activity. But I do have a few interesting tidbits that I think are blogworthy. I just read that Jerry Falwell. The usual eulogies.... blah blah blah. A dead man is always nice, brides are always beautigul and babies are always cute so it is said. The head of the some Atheist organization sure broke with that convention. I find it mean spirited, but maybe I'm wrong. The man died less than 12 hours ago! Here it is in full:

Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists "Jerry Falwell was instrumental in galvanizing millions of American evangelicals into an intolerant, sectarian and authoritarian political movement. Gays, women, secularists, civil-libertarians and other groups who did not fit into his plan to construct 'One Nation Under God' were stigmatized and attacked. Civil liberties were in jeopardy."

An internet umbrella: maybe now, London or Seattle become more attractive as residence options!

Frm Rebecca's Pocket this great bit of information for researchers out there and people who just don't want to simply rely solely on Google:

Online Education Database; some sites are free, some are not. It is worth checking it out.

Gotta go. Will try to be more assiduous with this posting. But so many competing attractions and so little time. I sleep too little as it is. How I wish I could just get it together to not have to keep my menail job!!

Oh well!!! Denver is still beautiful!

little tid bits (but big)

2007-04-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Anti-semitism today.
I cannot put this up too many times. The caption says (Don't worry, it only has a few leaves)

Qwerky and interesting diagrams of interconnectivity. World countries, American states and the most interesting the Bible.

What's going on with NASA? First an astronaut goes haywire and travels cross country to have it out with a colleague, over another colleague, now someone barricades themselves in a building and kills a hostage??? No. really, the most respected and revered agency this country probably had just lost its bearings. Not enough challenges? Too much slack? Not enough profiling? What's up with that. I loooked to NASA and thought, those are indeed the people with the "Right Stuff". Now!

Just another instituition in crisis. Ah the good old days!!

I am trying to find Twitter interesting but I don't really get it!! Meanwhile I'll keep posting.

2007-04-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time

it's been a long time coming

But it appears...

Joshua Bell playing a Stadivari at the L'Enfant Plaza metro station and the reaction to it. What a spetacular piece written by Gene Weingarten of the WasPost and promoted by the same. I sadly remember this station and even more sadly remember the sight of men in expensive suits having their shoes shined by some blond at their feet. I now have a name for the woman I so sadly felt for. I at the time, remember calling my best friend and now husband completely disgusted by the sight. It is no surprise that the neither the shoe shiner nor the soe shinees would notice brilliant music.

I do not pay that much attention to Washington politics but this picture for its uniqueness struck me as that of one courageous woman who is not afraid to put her acts where her mouth is. Thank you Nancy Pelosi for your courage in not putting on a head scarf, wearing a pants suit and sitting in a seat no woman has ever sat in before. You will forever have my admiration. All of this in Saudi Arabia, that wahabi bastion of retrogade and sexist politics. Where women are not allowed to a driver's licence much less the right to vote. And this dynasty is considered the West's allies. HUGH!!

2007-02-11T23:36:00.000-08:00

From Abrupto:

Sem retorno? As mulheres que nos anos 70 andavam de mini saia em Kabul sabem tudo sobre esses "sem retorno". Nada é sem retorno... J.*Sobre o "retorno": na civilização Ocidental esses retornos não existem. É uma das diferenças. Não é por acaso que o exemplo escolhido vem de Kabul.RM*Após a II Guerra mundial era impensável que voltasse à Europa um genocídio (Guerra dos Balcãs). Após Darwin era impensável que a teoria do criacionismo renascesse (Desenho inteligente). Após a proibição de Touradas de morte em Portugal, tal seria irreversível (Barrancos).Miguel (In portuguese)

From Jewlicious : Eli Weisel attacked in San Francisco; There is no going back, the above statements question!!!!

A new project: Panim el Panim

on a snowy sunday

2007-01-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

Under the beautiful page of the "sombrero galaxy" I will try to update this blog with some of the current events, links and gerenal info I found most interesting. To start with, WasPost George Will's column on Barney Frank's politics should make all conservatives stop, shudder and most important of all, think.

Here is the link to the GetHuman page, where it is possible to find some help in surmounting the insanity that is calling any public service, corporation or gov't agency. It describes the steps to take to get a real person on the phone right away instead of 15 minutes and 35,000 transfers later. My onw personal best was calling Comcast to add a service and being transfered to personnel payroll at Netflix. How weird is that?

The formula for fiding your level of proscratination:U = E x V / I x D, where U is the desire to complete the task; E, the expectation of success; V, the value of completion; I, the immediacy of task; and D, the personal sensitivity to delay. The site that writes all about it!

And for now, having other tasks at hand, I must leave this wonderful world of blogging and attend to them.

2006-12-30T22:24:00.000-08:00

Via ABRUPTO this beautiful image from my homeland:

I have kept this blog on and off for more than a year now.

And to end it what more fitting reference than that of a cell phone video of Saddam Hussein's hanging. What a tragic but fitting symbolism to end this year. We are still the Barbarians we so try to polish off of us.

it is all too Roman Coliseum to me. Argggghhhh!!!

2006-12-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Pinochet has died at last

One of the many possible epitaphs:

"During his regime more than 3,000 people died or disappeared due to political violence in Chile, which had enjoyed a long history of democratic rule."

May he burn in hell forever!!

2006-12-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

I just have to save this page on cognitive biases. It is such important reading nowadays.

I am a big Rebecca Blood and her blog what's in Rebecca's pocket fan so here is the link to an interview she did recently. Great as always!

Marilyn Monroe, beautiful as ever, in one of 5 previoussly unppublished pictures of her.

the Ten Commandments of Gossip

2006-11-19T22:26:00.001-08:00

The Ten Commandments of Gossip
1. You shall worship anyone who by their gossiping power tries to run and dominate other’s lives 2. You shall inscribe their gossip in stone so its perniciousness is eternal.
3. You shall take everyone’s name in vain, and trash it as much as possible.
4. For gossip you shall and will break the Sabbath.
5. In gossip you shall dishonor your parents, friends, coworkers and anyone that stands within your reach of words.
6. In gossip you murder not only other people’s physical well being, but also their spiritual and intellectual integrity as well your own.
7. In gossip everyone, everywhere is constantly committing adultery, the degree of damage in the relation in direct proportion to the viciousness of the rumor.
8. In gossip everyone is a thief.
9. Perjury is another name for gossip and it is constantly practiced.
10. Gossip stems from coveting, so gossip, gossip, gossip and covet, covet, covet.

2006-10-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Imagine Earth without people! That is exactly what Bob Holmes does in an article for New Scientist.
Elucidative map of Middle East politics in the last few milennia. A must for most of us.. and them ...
THANK YOU Nancy Applebaum at the WasPost for so elequantly point a very obvious cultural argument. We respect other people's cultural differences, as long as it doesn't imply violence in against women and children, so please accept ours. Nothing does get my blood going more than seeing a fully covered woman. Free will? In some , I'de say a minority of cases. Otherwise, look at what goes on in Saudi Arabia or the long gone Taliban regime, and then talk to me about free will for women. I challenge all the women wearing veils to go live in societies where they are obligatory and not an option.
Help this woman recover her WEB GEEK plate. I would be bummed too.

Decline and fall...

2006-10-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

George Will in today Post op-ed calls government, not just this one I suppose, a "a teaspoon of pond water viewed under a microscope -- a teeming, disorderly maelstrom of sometimes rival life forms", with which I would tend to agree, changing just a little word; not water pond but petri dish....
Eugene Robinson has it just right in his op-ed; besides the fact that THIS scandal is so out there, so full of twisted and sick ironies, there is some spin out there trying to blame George Soros and his Foundation for the breaking open of the whole story. Ehy, it's blame the demon rum AND the Jew...the fact is it was a fully grown man , in a position of power, great power, it seems, that was sending e mails to minors with content for the prosecution of which, he helped write and promote legislation. And has been seen on TV with the clear and calm demeanor of someone who is at peace with himself calling people like him "sickos that deserve to be put away forever..." God, they really think that they are impune, don't they. This is starting to look more and more like the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Read your history folks and weep.

french erudism at its best

2006-09-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

what are we to think of french erudism after watching this video?

A crusader’s wife slipped from the garrison

And had an affair with a Saracen;

She was not over-sexed,

Or jealous, or vexed,

She just wanted to make a comparison.
(Ogden Nash)

Thanks ABRUPTO for both!

A new Harvard study on why some americans live longer (a LOT longer 30 years) than others...Fascinating!!!It also says a lot about our country.

2006-09-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

An interesting interview with James Frey, author of "A Million Little Pieces".

Another interesting update on Stephen Gaskin and The Farm. I remember living near their house back in DC and giving the kids real ice cream, with which they would delight.

Weird film about 9/11 conspiracy. I have not watched all of it but it promisses. "Loose Change" is the title.

So go to Jewlicious and have a laugh about the pope controversy on Islam's methodology with dissidence and conquest. And other issues even more interesting involving American Apparel, too expensive for my purse. Probably because they do pay decent salaries and don't outsource to some poor third world country.

Orianna Fallaci's death

2006-09-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Two bits of news:
Orianna Fallaci died. I honor her memory!
“How do you swim in a chador?” she asked Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, not long after he came to power in Iran. His reply, she wrote in The New York Times, was that she was not obliged to wear one, because it was a garment for proper Islamic women. She tore off her chador, and Ayatollah Khomeini stalked off.

The pope's comments which merit some attention. Finally something I can agree with. It it true. Look at the history of the spread of Islam and tell me if it isn't anything BUT violent.

I'm back and happy to be

2006-09-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

After not posting for a while for personal reasons, I return to the activity with renewed energy.
Greenstone media founded by Gloria Steinem is starting an all woman radio talk show as an alternative , I hope to the likes of Howerd Stern. Hoorray!!!

“When you have been associated with something immoral, there are two ways you can cleanse yourself – engaging in moral behaviour or physically cleaning yourself,” A new study shows that washing your hands may ease your conscience of wrong doing. The scientists called this the "MacBeth Effect" and you can read the whole article here .

"The fish, smallmouth and largemouth bass, are naturally males but for some reason are developing immature eggs inside their sex organs". These fish inhabit the fishy waters of the Washington area Potomac River. Read it to believe it.It is no conspiracy!!

I like Chaotic Utopia over on this side of the Front Range. It's artsy, folksy and absolutely rationist, just like I like it.

I was in among other places Vail, Colorado and for the three days that I was there did not see one single black person. Saw some Latinos on the construction sites, a lot of Eastern European cuties on the serving patios and in hotels doing the cleaning. But walking around and enjoying the exclusive ambience of Vail..nope!! Just the pure bred white as lillies type of folk. Lots of babies too. No danger of the extinction of the white

race!!

Download this gorgeous film of the inner workings of a cell.

2006-08-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

The folks at the CDC claim that all child age bearing women should always act as if they were expecting!!! It's too mind boggling to even seriously consider. And I thought women had it bad in the past or in certain present day cultures. This is truly terrifyng. No wonder women do not want to bring baby girls into the world. For this?
On Spinoza's influence in the forming of the American government.
On weirdness and the internet: Cats that look like Hitler is interely dedicated to ctas that bear a resemblance to Hitler. they are called kitlers and the site's authors apparently hate both Hitler and cats.
real community work! junk food and refugees don't mix

why defend Israel

2006-07-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

What I believe to be the most influencial Portuguese blogger writes in his ABRUPTO about the present Israeli-Helzbollah conflict. I will translate hoping that he won't mind. Thank you J. P. Pereira.
A few days ago he posted a map as did other bloggers. Just to situate us.
Today he writes: (Blame my rough transation for any innacuracies or plain bad writing.):

It has been written that anti-americanism is the actual antisemitism. It is a different anti semitism, but very much alike. Israel is being the victim of that peculiar form of anti semitism.
History does not teach as much as we would like, but it does give us useful comparisons. Israel's case is very interesting in the analysis of the ideological and political evolutions of the 20th century. When the state of Israel was born, against the vehement unwillingness of the English and those siding with the great Mufti of Jerusalem, friend of the Nazis, the Zionist cause was felt as a leftist issue. The USSR was the great promoter of the UN resolutions for the division of the area of Palestine, and the first state to recognise Israel. At the time, the portuguese clandestine communist newspaper Avante, greeted the Israeli struggle against "the feudal Arab monarquies" that were warring against it and the socialist saga of the kibutz was part of the utopian imaginary of the left and not just communist. Socialists and their International gave great political support to the newly formed state.
Well, from the first minute, the "cause" of Israel was dependent on winning wars against the countries by which it was surrounded and even some that were far. I remember visiting Argelia a few years back and verifying with some surprise that they were still in a state of war against Israel, many years after the last military conflict that oppsed the jewish country against other countries and not against guerrilla or terrorist groups.
Well, in its wars, always defensive - it's useless to explain to those in bad faith that the offensive character of some military operations has nothing to do with the defensive caracter of the conflict-, today's Israel is no different than that of the end of the 40's. At the center of those wars was the pure survival of the state of Israel, from one side or the other. The refusal in recognizing the existence of Israel was always at the center of the arab wars, now more and more Muslim, and only years later did "the palestinian question" arise.
The inflexion of the left against Israel kept pace with Krutchev's political support of arab nationalism, that in the long run shifted alliances in the region. Supporting Nasser, reacting to the last hold out of colonialism, the Suez conflict, the USSR openned the way to the progressive isolation of Israel from its supporters on the left. In the 60's 70's and 80's, until the end of the Soviet Union itself, it (the Soviet Union) became one of the main logistical and political supporters of the guerrilla movements and of palestinain or pro palestinian terrorists, although its control was never complete, due to the complex emeshement of nacional intrigues and of the clans that have always been around the Middle East and North Africa. Having to deal with Libia, Siria, Iraq, and Iran, the net of international terrorism that spanned the globe from Germany to Japan was hard, but nevertheless the Soviett Union was always present in that world and sub world.
It was the Americans, not always very volunteeristic in the region, (as seen in the Suez war), that ended up becoming the main allies of Israel. For that to happen there were motives of cold war and important jewish pressure in the US, but it was in this context that the the actual reality of alliances was created. Therefore the Isrealis ended up also being the target and in some cases more than that, of the central pretext of the contemporary anti americamisn.
European paralysis in a part of the world that is part of its geopolitical sphere comes from that anti americanism , wherein Europe, in part due to a post Gaulist France, let itself get caught up in such a way as to turn it irrelevant. To see a state that was a french creation like Lebanon, giving vassalage to Siria and to assist to the complete political and military impotence of France is only a bigger symptom of the same impotence of the European Union and its separation from the US.
All of this is a by line of sorts. For Israel very little has changed since May 15th of 1948, in that immediatly after the formalization of its independence by the UN, the arab League states declared war on Israel, which was attacked by Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The league's secretary of state, Azzam Pasha, invoqued a jihad and appealed for a war of "extermination". Since that day, some things have changed, some for the better, but for Israel it continues to be a question of pure suvival. That is why in Israel, the left and right have never divided themselves in the essencial, that is the military operations conducted to defend the state of Israel.
Thank you Pacheco Pereira @ ABRUPTO

I state again: I support Israel

moral bearings?

2006-07-28T04:36:00.000-07:00

In his WasPost op-ed Charles Krauthammer claims that the world has lost its "moral bearings" in relation to the latest conflict in the Middle East. I ask, what moral bearings? What planet did he come from that the habitual blame of Israelis, (blame the Jews, really) is not an incitement for further violence against the people that Europe as an example try to destroy so many times in history. Israel, now as if a gigantic ghetto, is not sittting passively as the Jewish people did for centuries. Israelis are doing what they did in the Poland Ghetto uprising. They are fighting for their lives and for their land. One just hopes the outcome is radically different. The world does not run on moral or ethical bearings. The world runs on economic priorities and has the weight of "tradition" and history on its shoulders. And tradition and history have shown again and again that those who don't stand up for themselves will likely be crushed, as Jews were for centuries both in their homeland and successive diasporas.

I support Israel

2006-07-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

I support

Because they have the internationally recognized right to be there.

Because they have been a country since 1947.

Because the Jews as a people have as much claim as anyone else to that land and certainly more than any Islamic state.

Because they took a barren inhospitable land and made it what it is today with the sweat of their brows and the blood of their people.

I support Israel, not because of some messianic rapturistic fantasy, but because they, like most other countries that have been created in the last 70 years have been recognized by the UN, have a right to exist and no other country, near or far, has the right to deny them their existence or threaten them without expecting any response.

I support Israel because it is a country with human beings that is surrounded by hate mongers who feed on anti semitism to press on with their agenda.

As has been over and over stated, this is not about Palestinians, whom nobody not even their Islamic brothers want, but about the pursuit of the Jihad, the holy war started by Mahomed in the 7th century.

In fact, the Israelis did not go into the Middle East at some remote time as the Moors did when they invaded the Iberic Peninsula. They have been there as long as any other people and there are plenty of records, jewish and otherwise to prove it.

I support the Israeli people in their struggle to defend themselves. Just as there was a movement to support Denmark, I hope that there is a movement in the blogosphere to support Israel.

[I support Israel]

sun and stars...

2006-07-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

Our sun
back from the land of illusions...
"Suum Cuique"
On Van Gogh's Stary Night :
"Now a mathematical analysis of his works reveals that the stormy patterns in many of his paintings are uncannily like real turbulence, as seen in swirling water or the air from a jet engine."
Top 50 science blogs
Back to immigration, the illegal kind...Colorado, that schitzofrenic state, whre you're either a Boulderite bleeding heat liberal or a Durango red neck cowboy has been busy toughening up the laws on the immigrants. Business says they have to stay, state says that they don't have a right to any state supported services. Maybe said businesses should cover those costs. After all, they're the interested parties. Hypocrites, all of them.

I sure like the new Tattered Cover bookstore on Colfax. It's big, it's comfy, it's well worn, although new. I just wish I had the many bucks it takes to leave with a grin of satidfaction. So much and I have so little. But that's o.k., 'cause they let me sit there and read...
The red paper clip guy finally got a house in some little town in Saskatwuan in Canada. I wonder if he's moving there...I think it's pretty cool...
But not as cool as Warren Buffet's decision to give away most of his fortune. More on that later. A definite shift in paradigm, I say...
Eugene Robinson plays with the idea of Ken Lay on some paradisiac island, after faking his onw death. Is it true that there is a KenLayisalive.org site? You bet there is and it is hysterical.
How drugs turn human beings in highly efective working drones. After all didn't opium and evil gin fuel the industrial revolution?
Anyway, I'm back to my blogging and I'm happy!
science in art, top science blogs, tattered cover, immigration, redpaperclip, Ken Lay,meth and identity theft

2006-07-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

BOA SORTE PORTUGAL

back to Earth

2006-07-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

The new economic tiger and their optimism: Indian. Different perspective on the old stories of homeless children roaming the steets of Calcutta and women being thrown of their husband's funeral pyre. Mahatma Ghandi is truly dead. And conspicuous consumption is all the rage.
"Most Britons see America as a cruel, vulgar, arrogant society, riven by class and racism, crime-ridden, obsessed with money and led by an incompetent hypocrite." It takes one to know one.

Words of wisdom from the 1981 Nobel winner in chemistry, Roald Hoffman: believe in the middle. Extremes may make a good story, but the middle satisfies me. Why? Perhaps because I’m a chemist…. The middle is not static… my psychological middle as well as the chemical equilibrium. I like that. Yes, of course I also want stability. But I believe that extreme positions — the things you start out with in a chemical reaction, the things you finish with (all people A, bad, all people B, good; no taxes at all, taxed to death) — all of these are impractical, unnatural, boring: the refuge of people who never want to change. The world is not simple, though God knows political forces on every side want to make it so. I like the tense middle and I am grateful for a life that offers me the potential for change.

More words of wisdom from Carry Tennis"... however absurd this world is, it places before us occasional opportunities to respond with unambiguous moral clarity. " "...I don't necessarily believe that. But I believe we must live life as if things happen for a reason. " "...What I mean is, we create meaning in our lives by responding with our highest selves. We try to do the right thing."

anti football ..of sorts

2006-07-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

In particular, to lose because Wayne Rooney got sent off was excellent. He is stupid, vicous thug, with no self-control at all, and thus, obviously, a role model for millions. He might have got away with kicking a prostrate opponent in the balls, and then shoving away the opposing team mate who complained. But when he saw he would be booked, he walked round to swear at the referee for this. Overpaid thugs get away with that kind of thing in almost every match I see. It made my heart sing to see him sent off for it. Makes him a real role model at last. Says the Helmintholog

anti football ..of sorts

2006-07-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

resumos

2006-07-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

Portugal emerged triumphant from a quarter-final clash that saw David Beckham leave the pitch injured and in tears, Wayne Rooney sent off after stamping on an opposing player and England’s spot-kick specialists lose their nerve. Times of London
Sore loosers:" the real villain of the piece becomes more apparent. Cristiano Ronaldo, who stroked home the winning penalty, appears to have had quite a large part to play in Rooney's sending off." Watch Rooney's hoof come down on the adversary's groin and tell anyone with a traight face that it wasn't intentional. The man kicks his leg backward.
"Portugal were far from their best but they at least caused some worrying moments at the back for England in a tense first half. "
"Ricardo, became the first player in World Cup shoot-out history to save three penalties. "BBC
Thank you SUN: SIR GEOFF HURST believes Wayne Rooney's suspect temperament cost England again.
England's 1966 hat-trick hero reckons the Manchester United striker failed to deal with the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a World Cup quarter-final.
Ricardo:"O inglês apontou ao lado forte – a esquerda – e o português agradeceu. O mais difícil já estava. Com aquela defesa, Ricardo ficou gigante e evocou tantos fantasmas quanto podia. Mas Hugo Viana afugentou-os a seguir com um remate ao poste e Hargreaves virou-os contra Portugal. Os adeptos ingleses ficaram loucos como nunca. Demasiado assustadores para um Petit nervoso, que nem na baliza acertou. Ricardo não viu, continuava de costas. Como em 2004, voltava a ficar com Portugal nas mãos. As mãos que nuas nos levaram à final do Euro e que ontem voltaram a brilhar mesmo dentro das luvas, após remates de Gerrard e Carragher (posto em campo só para os penáltis). Ricardo repetiu o feito e, desta vez, com um extra pessoal: ser o primeiro guarda-redes a defender três penáltis num Mundial.Correio da Manha
"Um beijo na bola, um olhar para a baliza, e Portugal entrou em delírio. Cristiano Ronaldo calou 47 mil ingleses e colocou uma nação a festejar a presença nas meias-finais do Campeonato do Mundo, 40 anos depois da primeira presença nacional na competição. O extremo do Manchester United marcou a quinta grande penalidade e correu para os abraços dos companheiros e técnicos. Diario de noticias
A fechar a festa nada melhor do que o hino nacional, cantado a plenos pulmões por uma multidão emocionada. Jornal de Noticias
Hoje, Portugal pode chegar a ser campeão do mundo, porque está numa meia-final. Portugal pode, mas é muito difícil e sabemos isso. Cada passo é muito importante para nós. Nós já estamos qualificados. Estamos entre os quatro melhores do mundo. Isso é que interessa. Diz Scolari no Publico

Sao estas as palavras que nao necessito repetir

portugal wins game with England

2006-07-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

WE WON!!!

ONWARD PORTUGAL

2006-06-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

is playing today against 'pérfida Albion’ or Perfidious Albion, those traitors that have sold out Portugal again and again.
Acreditem na equipa diz Scolari
This creates in us a special emotion, a special feeling about our country. Remember, the Portuguese team is full of players with big hearts, that are built when we are far from what we love.
England has to be very, very strong mentally to beat a Portuguese team full of pride, full of desire, full of self-belief.
I never run away. I would like my beloved country to keep the incredible happiness that we are feeling and smelling in every corner at the moment. I know you can accept that, because you also love your great country and you understand the feelings people have for their country says Jose Mourinho. It's going to be tough and noone is calling for an all out winner

Destes 10 mil kilometros, Boa Sorte PORTUGAL
world cup, portugal, mourinho, scolari, england

2006-06-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

What to think of Brett Myers who beat his wife in public and was not denounced by the team coach. Great role model for kids. American sports have gotten way too violent outside of their range of play. These testosterone pumped men, almosrt freaks of nature, carry on in civil society as if the rulles don't apply to them. They murder, they beat, they rape and they get away with it.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is coming to the United States, in part because of the treatment she is getting from her country of asylum, the Netherlands. I have kept track of Ms. Ali's situation in this blog, and it is shameful that the Netherlands, apparently so tolerant a people, have managed to drive this great woman away. The governement has fallen in part because of this situation. Ms. Ali is coming to the United States where pragmatism reigns and people like her are not ostracized. She is coming to the conservative American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, where I hope she will continue to fight for Muslim women's rights.
"a rabbi-leaves-wife-for-ex-nun-but-blames-the-shrimp-and-not-the-sexual-attraction story " in Jewlicious is frankly delicious if not a tad sad.
Here is a contradiction in terms or an oxymoron. A Muslim man explaining on You Tube why women talk before thinking and men think befor speaking. He's all female, apparently, albeit a very hairy one.
A list of anti antonyms, that is words that have opposing meanings such as bolt, quantum and impregnable.
On the beauty premium, or why beautiful people get better wages than the rest of us.
Colorado legislators are coming back to work, I take it, to try to deal with illegal immigration. It makes no sense trying to legislate on something they have no information about namely, money spent by the state on illegal immigrants...oh it so smells of demagoguery...
Dialogues on the situation of the working poor. How Wal Mart effectively reversed Ford's pioneering policy of wages paying wages that would enable the workers to afford the merchandise, in this case, cars. Wal Mart is out pricing itself out of the class it depends on. Bad sign for them but also for a great number of Americans. Barbara Einhrich as usual goes to the point , efficiently.
Neat little snipet of Robin William's take on the Viagra Rush Limbaud story....fun fun fun
And finally Portugal-Englang is about 24 hours away. Yikes!!!
Brett Myers, wife beating, beauty premium, colorado politics, immigration

Heavenly music and earthly infernos

2006-06-28T04:35:00.000-07:00

Cat's paw nebula
LIstening to The Bulgarian Women's Choir Angelite at 5 in the AM...
I really dislike the new lay out of Slate but still like to read it. On working women, as if most of us had a choice not to!
Blogging the Bible continues...interesting as ever

I take Ruth Marcus' opinions very seriously and when she questions the alleged victim's consistence and history, I naturally read with much attention. Nevertheless, inthis case, it would seem to me that she is basing her assertions on the defense's information. Now these lawyers were contracted to do the job that they are acheiving magnificently: that of having a media trial where the desacreditation of the woman is total.

The whoring from which doctors, as human beings are not exempt, is revealed in this N.Y. Times article on the promiscuity between bio technology companies and doctors/"researchers". For when the dethroning of doctors as demi gods. And how that affect us all...detrimentally, I must add...

Hooters against animal euthanasia??WTF...bikini babe contest for animal shelter fund raising.. with government support...only in LALALand... they dropped the idea...

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."-Voltaire
"We disapprove of what you say," the censors tell him, "and we will suppress your right to say it, even long after your death."
Fanaticism or Mahomed the Prophet, a Tragedy by Voltaire. I know there is an english edition but it sure is hard to find....I suppose I can read it in french

Subway gropers, beware - next time you cop a feel, you might be feeling a cop.

Local (Denver) gossip: Fake New world smusingly described in Westword
I didn't even know there was a "real" one!!!

Blogger suicide and the vitriol some blogs seem to attract.

And Israel is all over the Newspapers again...

And in World Cup new...France is in...and the quarter finals should gives good football/soccer. Portugal vs England saturday morning and I think Germany will win the Cup. And that they go to the finals with Brazil..
voltaire, Bulgarian women/'s choir, duke, world cup. world cup final prevision, Israel,

2006-06-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Natural Deselection by Tim Simpson: I absolutely loved this idea - three plants compete to reach the light that feeds and nourishes them. The first one to succeed survives. The other two are automatically cut down in their prime:

I absolute love this. (via Kokkte as is the next link): You tube Videos: watch the Miami Vice short. Fabulous...not dated at all, unlike the show itself, that I well remember being part of a friday night party ritual for a lot of people.

A nice profile on Yoko Ono.

This thing Warren Buffet is doing is pretty damn cool.

Oh And Brasil Won and saturday is getting closer.

2006-06-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Nice picture I thought, although dated.

Sebastian Mallaby has a good column on loneliness and loss of friends, but ends it with a much too ironic twist. He is right though. Real physical friendships have suffered greatly in the age of instantant messaging, cell phones and internet in general. It is more instantly conforting to talk to someone you don't know and will probably never meet than the real fleash and bones neighbor next door. Intimacy is disappearing, not sexual intimacy, but personal psychological intimacy.
East Timor is on the news again and not for good reasons. Ah the petroleum in the Sea of Timor has caused so much suffering. Anyway, it seems the prime minister has resigned and maybe Xanana Gusmao will be able to reign in the crisis....
A book on Eichmann and his trial, as well as a refutation of Ann Arendt's position on the question of genocide and what drives human beings to participate and even promote it. I personally think that most people when threatened with loss of life and fortune will do what is necessary to keep it. But I'm a pessimist.
One painting a day is a neat art blog.

PORTUGAL WON

2006-06-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

PORTUGAL WON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A rough violent game but one that nevertheless showed the spirit of this team. And where is the famous dutch tolerance. Not a bit on its players. The Netherlands were as a team extremely aggressive and sore loosers. Let'em go home!!!!

Next round England

Beckam vs Cristiano Ronaldo, who actually play in the same team, Manchester United. WoW

Foi um grande pequeno jogo. Pena que Deco tenha sido expulso. Pena que lesionassem o Criatiano Ronaldo. Mas estamos nos quartos de final e isso e muito fixe!!!!Como gostaria de estar a menos de 10,000 dessa euforia...enfim!!! Haja futebol!!!!

portugal, world cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, football, beckam

2006-06-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

It's not offensive, it's just barbaric, and representative of English fottball mind set. So what?
A bit on the lazy side lately. Too much work, too much stress and all around exhaustion have taken their toll and this blog is among the first to have that reflected. But getting on, some goodies I've gotten to lately:
On soccer/football Monty Python's version.
An analysis of the Language log by the N.Y. Times.
One of the strangest stories I have read in quite some time: Bug chasers, the bareback phenomenon taken one step further. Bug chasers are not entomologists chasing after lady bugs. Oh! no! they are younguish gay men chasing after the HIV virus to be able to become part of the "fraternity".
A link to Noam Chomsky's talk at West Point which I inicially saw on c-span. Very impressive for both sides!
Robin Givhan, in her WasPost piece goes after Britney Spears' outfit in a Date Line interview. Apparently the journalist is not aware of the singer's target audience. Wasn't she dubbed (and I relunctanly use this insulting term) the queen of white trash? The girl to whom every trailer park dweller could relate to? The description given by Givhan makes me believe that the girl still has her targeted audience in mind when appearing on tv. And if that is the audience that gave her gazillions, well, no point on becoming a Fifth Avenue sophisticate. They wouldn't buy it anyway.
Krauthammer's piece on Australia begins humourously enough but slides into bizarre demagoguery on behalf of a country full of contradictions, of European cultural prdominance, but on the other side of the world, with the weight a a few billion people of radically different cultural backgrounds at its heels. It is perfectly feasable for a country with its number of inhabitants to be able to easily get in touch with high governement officials. It's wonderful that it stand up to Muslim extremists what with being neighbor to the world's most populous Muslim country. And it is sufficiently isolated to have the need to cuddle up to the major superpower in the world. Yes, it's a survival strategy, of a country that has quite a bloody history with the Aboriginal population and with siding with Ali Alatas in the Indonesian/Timor conflict.
It's wonderful that Tattered Cover Bookstore is moving into my neighborhood. It's terrible because in a couple of years I will no longer be able to afford to live her for that same reason. But hopefully by then I'll be living in the mountains.
The homeless and the Internet; Wired does an interesting story on it. I didn't know any of that.
It is Greek Festival Weekend. I have become through my professional contacts, enchanted with everything greek. Great people, great food (except the feta cheese) and beautiful islands. Plus their golden past. Anyway all good reasons to get there.
monty python philosophical football/soccer match, bug chaser, HIV, Noam chomsky at west point, Britney Spears, Tattered Cover Bookstore, Denver Greek Festival

In Portuguese with no accents

2006-06-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Em honra do jogo de amanha e considerando que me encontro a mais de 10,000 km de Portugal escrevo esta entrada em portugues. Forca Portugal, Forca equipa da quinas. Rodeada de Mexicanos e colega de trabalho de alguns, torna esta competicao mais interessante. Que o melhor ganhe. Que seja Portugal !
futebol, quinas, portugal, mundial de futebol

a new week

2006-06-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

The new way to see storms
Dan Gilbert's formula for happiness:
odds of gain x value of gain=expected happiness
In other words, how good a decision is depends on the risk (odds) and the size of the pay-off (value). The problem is people are quite bad at estimating both odds and value and the reasons for this are tied to how we make sense of (perceive) the world around us.
How not to buy happiness
Context and perception are everything!!!
Good to know they're around The Consumerist; the consumer fights back
Action girl's guide to living
Dan Gilbert, storms, formulas for happiness,consumer rights