Chuckwagon Journal will be out of commission for a few days, maybe a week or more. We are packing the car in preparation for leaving tomorrow and I don't know when I will have time to post anything for the next week or so.
Well-heeled bloggers may have a staff to maintain their blog site when they are en route to a speaking engagement or some other destination. I have to get my computer out of the trunk of the car, set it up so I can get on line with my Verizon broadband card and prepare my post from scratch. Sorry, but you will just have to endure without my wit, wisdom or sarcasm for a few days.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
"If the current effort to reform American healthcare ends in frustration, much of the blame rests on our political culture's empowerment of deception and ignorance. Fake erudition is revered, every hoax is deemed brilliant, and prejudice is presented as knowledge -- while actual expertise is disregarded or devalued." (Joe Conason)
Ain't it the truth. What or who created the political culture's empowerment of deception and ignorance? We did. That's us, folks. Not some liberal, not some conservative, not some radical. We created the current political culture of deception and ignorance.
A pundit is, according to Wikipedia, "someone who offers to mass-media his or her opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences or sport) on which they are knowledgeable." I guess the key phrase there is "on which they are knowledgeable," or presumed to be knowledgeable. But political pundits always have a bias. That's why, at least in the case of those invited to appear on talk shows and television shows such as Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Fox News or other such shows.
They have a bias and are happy to express it, with or without supporting facts. They have written a book or two, maybe worked in the White House of a previous administration or have "distinguished" themselves in some other way. Maybe they were an adviser in the campaign of some successful, prominent candidate. Whatever, they have established their credentials to someone's satisfaction and, hence, get invited to be on a show and speak their mind.
How good (accurate) are they?
If you noticed, in the weeks leading up to the 2004 election all the pundits for the Democratic Party predicted a John Kerry win. They pointed out with absolute clarity all the things George Bush had done wrong, how low was his popularity with the public, how costly the war in Iraq was, how disenchanted the public was with that war, and on and on. Not one of them predicted he would win the presidency again. Not one, to the best of my knowledge, even suggested that he might win.
They were wrong!
That is just one instance in which we, the American public, should have learned a lesson. If we are looking for biased news or biased pundits to support our views, they are out there and will be glad to accommodate us. That is, they will be happy to tell us what we want to hear.
Make no mistake, we are at fault. Paraphrasing Joe Conason, we have empowered deception and ignorance. Fake erudition is revered, every hoax is deemed brilliant, and prejudice is presented as knowledge -- while actual expertise is disregarded or devalued.
The people who listen to Rush Limbaugh know what they are going to hear. They know it is more misinformation than information, but Limbaugh tells them what they want to hear. One person I know listens faithfully every day to three hours of Rush Limbaugh. My friends, listening to three hours from any single person is brainwashing, not education.
I'm not picking on Rush Limbaugh; he is very entertaining at times. But the same criticism holds for those folks who only listen, say, to MSNBC. They know that the various hosts on this network will have a liberal bias and can be counted on to take to task Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly or any other conservative spokesperson with whom they have a disagreement -- which is all of them. And like their conservative counterparts, they will cherry pick the items they want to attack and gloss over everything else. In other words, they will present their prejudice as knowledge and disregard or devalue any actual facts.
We not only encourage these people by buying their books, listening to their shows and, sometimes, following their advice, but we are guilty of a greater crime: allowing the press to become openly biased and lazy in its reporting. Reporters, both print and television, go out to FIND the story they were sent to find. Remember that.
Editor: Let's do a story on the people unhappy with the proposed healthcare plan.
Reporter: Gotcha, boss. (And the reporter proceeds to find such people and do a story on them while failing to mention, perhaps, that he had to interview 20 people to find the three he highlights in his story.)
Send a television reporter and a cameraman out on the street to find people who do not know who their local congressman is and guess what? The reporter will find five or six such people for the six o'clock news under the teaser headline: Do New Yorkers (or whatever state) know their local congressman?
We tolerate this cheap and lazy form of news because it entertains us. But it does not inform us. We need start thinking about calling the local TV station every time we see such sloppy, time-filling nonsense passing as news!
When news reporters start doing their job, i.e., start reporting, we won't have to depend on radio and television talk show hosts or Sunday morning news show pundits for clarification of what's happening in Washington or our state's capitol. We're intelligent. We're educated. We can figure it out for ourselves if they will just give us the facts.
In the meantime, we all need to heed the advice our our high school English teacher who admonished us when we were quoting some source to support the theme of our essay to "Consider the source." We need to think for ourselves, insist on facts, and champion honesty and transparency in news reports and press releases from our elected officials.
We can then be our own demagogues and ideologues -- after we get the facts.
Ain't it the truth. What or who created the political culture's empowerment of deception and ignorance? We did. That's us, folks. Not some liberal, not some conservative, not some radical. We created the current political culture of deception and ignorance.
A pundit is, according to Wikipedia, "someone who offers to mass-media his or her opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences or sport) on which they are knowledgeable." I guess the key phrase there is "on which they are knowledgeable," or presumed to be knowledgeable. But political pundits always have a bias. That's why, at least in the case of those invited to appear on talk shows and television shows such as Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Fox News or other such shows.
They have a bias and are happy to express it, with or without supporting facts. They have written a book or two, maybe worked in the White House of a previous administration or have "distinguished" themselves in some other way. Maybe they were an adviser in the campaign of some successful, prominent candidate. Whatever, they have established their credentials to someone's satisfaction and, hence, get invited to be on a show and speak their mind.
How good (accurate) are they?
If you noticed, in the weeks leading up to the 2004 election all the pundits for the Democratic Party predicted a John Kerry win. They pointed out with absolute clarity all the things George Bush had done wrong, how low was his popularity with the public, how costly the war in Iraq was, how disenchanted the public was with that war, and on and on. Not one of them predicted he would win the presidency again. Not one, to the best of my knowledge, even suggested that he might win.
They were wrong!
That is just one instance in which we, the American public, should have learned a lesson. If we are looking for biased news or biased pundits to support our views, they are out there and will be glad to accommodate us. That is, they will be happy to tell us what we want to hear.
Make no mistake, we are at fault. Paraphrasing Joe Conason, we have empowered deception and ignorance. Fake erudition is revered, every hoax is deemed brilliant, and prejudice is presented as knowledge -- while actual expertise is disregarded or devalued.
The people who listen to Rush Limbaugh know what they are going to hear. They know it is more misinformation than information, but Limbaugh tells them what they want to hear. One person I know listens faithfully every day to three hours of Rush Limbaugh. My friends, listening to three hours from any single person is brainwashing, not education.
I'm not picking on Rush Limbaugh; he is very entertaining at times. But the same criticism holds for those folks who only listen, say, to MSNBC. They know that the various hosts on this network will have a liberal bias and can be counted on to take to task Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly or any other conservative spokesperson with whom they have a disagreement -- which is all of them. And like their conservative counterparts, they will cherry pick the items they want to attack and gloss over everything else. In other words, they will present their prejudice as knowledge and disregard or devalue any actual facts.
We not only encourage these people by buying their books, listening to their shows and, sometimes, following their advice, but we are guilty of a greater crime: allowing the press to become openly biased and lazy in its reporting. Reporters, both print and television, go out to FIND the story they were sent to find. Remember that.
Editor: Let's do a story on the people unhappy with the proposed healthcare plan.
Reporter: Gotcha, boss. (And the reporter proceeds to find such people and do a story on them while failing to mention, perhaps, that he had to interview 20 people to find the three he highlights in his story.)
Send a television reporter and a cameraman out on the street to find people who do not know who their local congressman is and guess what? The reporter will find five or six such people for the six o'clock news under the teaser headline: Do New Yorkers (or whatever state) know their local congressman?
We tolerate this cheap and lazy form of news because it entertains us. But it does not inform us. We need start thinking about calling the local TV station every time we see such sloppy, time-filling nonsense passing as news!
When news reporters start doing their job, i.e., start reporting, we won't have to depend on radio and television talk show hosts or Sunday morning news show pundits for clarification of what's happening in Washington or our state's capitol. We're intelligent. We're educated. We can figure it out for ourselves if they will just give us the facts.
In the meantime, we all need to heed the advice our our high school English teacher who admonished us when we were quoting some source to support the theme of our essay to "Consider the source." We need to think for ourselves, insist on facts, and champion honesty and transparency in news reports and press releases from our elected officials.
We can then be our own demagogues and ideologues -- after we get the facts.
Friday, September 11, 2009
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
This joke from the pages of The Mountain, a Woodlawn Park, Colorado publication. It was just too good not to share.
Three old ladies named Gertrude, Maude and Tilly were sitting on a park bench having a quiet conversation when a flasher approached from across the park. The flasher came up to the ladies, stood right in front of them and opened his trench coat.
Gertrude immediately had a stroke.
Then Maude also had a stroke.
But Tilly, being older and more feeble, couldn't reach that far.
Bless her heart.
Three old ladies named Gertrude, Maude and Tilly were sitting on a park bench having a quiet conversation when a flasher approached from across the park. The flasher came up to the ladies, stood right in front of them and opened his trench coat.
Gertrude immediately had a stroke.
Then Maude also had a stroke.
But Tilly, being older and more feeble, couldn't reach that far.
Bless her heart.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
WHY AREN'T REPUBLICANS HAPPIER?
I am not a political pundit for one party or the other nor am I, for that matter, one who even favors one political party over the other. I find honorable people in both parties; I also find mean-spirited, thieving scoundrels with the morals of a dog holding positions of high esteem in both parties. I can't figure that out but I guess that's politics.
That said, I do listen to the various news programs and recently while without television I have had to lean more and more on talk radio for entertainment. Notice that I did not say I listened for enlightenment or for the news. There is no news on talk radio. There is entertainment ... if you don't take what they say too much to heart and can laugh at the absurdity of some comments.
Talk radio hosts spend most of their time picking to pieces some tiny bit of news with which, they hope, they can provoke people to call in and help them fill a half hour of broadcast time. After exhausting their listeners' patience with that non-topic-of-interest they will move on to another bit of trivia taken out of context and manage to worry it to death with the same enthusiasm of a dog with a terry cloth doll.
When they (both liberal and conservative talk show hosts) can find nothing about the opposition to pick to death, they turn to attack the comments of fellow radio talk show personalities. It is a demanding job: filling three hours of talk every day. So demanding, in fact, that listeners quickly learn that it cannot be done without resorting to a lot of double talk, a lot of self promotion and a great deal of the nonsense mentioned above.
So, any intelligent listener realizes after a day or two that the hosts are not commenting on or providing any insight into the workings of Washington or any level of government, nor on any of the political figures of importance there. They are simply arguing among themselves -- to fill their allotted daily three hour time slot or whatever time slot they have. All but the brain dead (or truly indoctrinated ditto heads) tune them out after awhile, maybe to tune in later to see what they are ranting about today.
The time it takes to realize that these conservative and progressive talk show hosts offer only entertainment (and precious little of that after a while) and no real information or insight depends directly on the intelligence of the listener.
I notice that several of the conservative talk show hosts seem to spend much of their time getting angry, even shouting as if the person of their discontent was in the broadcast booth but not paying attention. One of the things they have been shouting about lately, as you might expect, is the president's health care reform proposal. And, interestingly, they seem to be in agreement that (1) it will destroy the nation, (2) it will ruin Obama's political future, and (3) the Democratic Party will shrink into oblivion after the mid-term elections.
Well, if you were a hard-core Republican that would make me happy, wouldn't you think? Of the three predictions only the dire prediction about about destroying the country would be cause for concern. I suspect that many people do not believe that, regardless of their party affiliation, because they hear the same song every four years from the party currently out of power. But the other two predictions it would seem should make any Republican or conservative very, very happy. Obama is destroying himself and the Democratic party. What more could you ask for?
You didn't want Obama in the White House in the first place. You are convinced he is leading the country down the wrong path (the assumption being, always, that there is another path and you know where it is). So why not rejoice? He is going to self-destruct according to the Republican party Minister of Propaganda.
Still, so many of the Republican and conservative talk show hosts seem angry and unhappy about the way things are going. I don't understand why.
Cheer up Republicans. President Obama is going to lead you back into control of the country and you can straighten out the mess created by him during the last eight months.
That said, I do listen to the various news programs and recently while without television I have had to lean more and more on talk radio for entertainment. Notice that I did not say I listened for enlightenment or for the news. There is no news on talk radio. There is entertainment ... if you don't take what they say too much to heart and can laugh at the absurdity of some comments.
Talk radio hosts spend most of their time picking to pieces some tiny bit of news with which, they hope, they can provoke people to call in and help them fill a half hour of broadcast time. After exhausting their listeners' patience with that non-topic-of-interest they will move on to another bit of trivia taken out of context and manage to worry it to death with the same enthusiasm of a dog with a terry cloth doll.
When they (both liberal and conservative talk show hosts) can find nothing about the opposition to pick to death, they turn to attack the comments of fellow radio talk show personalities. It is a demanding job: filling three hours of talk every day. So demanding, in fact, that listeners quickly learn that it cannot be done without resorting to a lot of double talk, a lot of self promotion and a great deal of the nonsense mentioned above.
So, any intelligent listener realizes after a day or two that the hosts are not commenting on or providing any insight into the workings of Washington or any level of government, nor on any of the political figures of importance there. They are simply arguing among themselves -- to fill their allotted daily three hour time slot or whatever time slot they have. All but the brain dead (or truly indoctrinated ditto heads) tune them out after awhile, maybe to tune in later to see what they are ranting about today.
The time it takes to realize that these conservative and progressive talk show hosts offer only entertainment (and precious little of that after a while) and no real information or insight depends directly on the intelligence of the listener.
I notice that several of the conservative talk show hosts seem to spend much of their time getting angry, even shouting as if the person of their discontent was in the broadcast booth but not paying attention. One of the things they have been shouting about lately, as you might expect, is the president's health care reform proposal. And, interestingly, they seem to be in agreement that (1) it will destroy the nation, (2) it will ruin Obama's political future, and (3) the Democratic Party will shrink into oblivion after the mid-term elections.
Well, if you were a hard-core Republican that would make me happy, wouldn't you think? Of the three predictions only the dire prediction about about destroying the country would be cause for concern. I suspect that many people do not believe that, regardless of their party affiliation, because they hear the same song every four years from the party currently out of power. But the other two predictions it would seem should make any Republican or conservative very, very happy. Obama is destroying himself and the Democratic party. What more could you ask for?
You didn't want Obama in the White House in the first place. You are convinced he is leading the country down the wrong path (the assumption being, always, that there is another path and you know where it is). So why not rejoice? He is going to self-destruct according to the Republican party Minister of Propaganda.
Still, so many of the Republican and conservative talk show hosts seem angry and unhappy about the way things are going. I don't understand why.
Cheer up Republicans. President Obama is going to lead you back into control of the country and you can straighten out the mess created by him during the last eight months.
IRRITATING SPEECH MANNERISMS
Have we become so inarticulate a nation that we cannot speak without resorting to the irritating speech mannerisms of a sixteen-year-old valley girl? I refer to the annoying habit by some, both young people and adults, of inserting the phrase You know between every other word they speak.
"I think, you know, that the president, you know, should drop all this, you know, crap about, you know, a universal health plan. No one, you know, really wants it. He is, you know, destroying his, you know, political future and that, you know, of the Democratic party, you know."
I may have exaggerated a bit, but you get the point.
The same people, like, have to, you know, insert the word like between, you know, the other words they, like, speak.
Good god, if you don't know what you want to say and cannot say it without all these oral pauses, then you might consider just not saying anything. At the very least wait until you have gathered your thoughts and can speak in coherent sentences.
As Abraham Lincoln said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
"I think, you know, that the president, you know, should drop all this, you know, crap about, you know, a universal health plan. No one, you know, really wants it. He is, you know, destroying his, you know, political future and that, you know, of the Democratic party, you know."
I may have exaggerated a bit, but you get the point.
The same people, like, have to, you know, insert the word like between, you know, the other words they, like, speak.
Good god, if you don't know what you want to say and cannot say it without all these oral pauses, then you might consider just not saying anything. At the very least wait until you have gathered your thoughts and can speak in coherent sentences.
As Abraham Lincoln said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
MOUNTAIN EXERCISE PROGRAM PROGRESS
That title is a mouthful -- and a lie. There is no progress. But there is a program and I am doing it.
Exercising at this altitude (8600 feet, according to my Lowrance GPS) takes a lot more effort and burns a lot more oxygen than at lower altitudes. Hence, for people like me with coronary problems that extra demand for oxygen is hard to satisfy. Nevertheless, I try to do the exercises I recommended to you last week three times a week. Today was the first time this week.
Today was the first time this week because we were away on vacation visiting family in Denver over the Labor Day weekend. I don't usually exercise when visiting at other people's houses. It's embarrassing when you vomit on their carpet or fall exhausted on the floor. (That doesn't actually happen, but I sometimes feel as if I might collapse on the floor and I would rather do that in my own house.)
To report: I managed to get through 20 minutes of the program before running out of steam. I could not go on. The demand for oxygen on my lungs was more than I could supply.
Plus, I add some exercises to the program I hope you printed out. Year before last I had a problem with my left shoulder. My orthopedist suspected a torn rotator cuff. After several weeks of therapy we settled on surgery as the final option. My cardiologist, however, vetoed that option because I was on Plavix due to having recently had two coated stents installed. So, we went back to an exercise regimen designed to help strengthen the shoulder muscles and, hopefully, allow the shoulder problem to heal with surgery.
I still do those exercises as they seem to be helping; I have almost full range of motion in my left shoulder.
After 20 minutes of exercise this morning my body said, "Enough!"
I must share with you, however, the joy of doing exercises on the deck of our mountain retreat. On clear, crisp dry mornings like this one (sunny and 59 degrees), I prefer to do my exercises out on the deck in the fresh mountain air. Below is a view of the valley I get to enjoy when looking to the southwest.
And, yes, we are starting to see some "color" in the Aspen trees. Fall is rapidly approaching here in the high country.
Yesterday after arriving home from Denver we found ourselves house bound for a while when an afternoon shower raced through the area dropping large and very cold drops of water. I was outside re-loading the bird feeder when the rain started and I was chilled to the bone before I could get inside. Fortunately, though, I got inside before the hail started. We were pelted with marble-sized hail (some smaller) and, I swear, a few snow flakes.
True to life in the mountains, the storm passed and 30 minutes or so later the sun was out. The temperature, unfortunately, remained cool through the evening and I was compelled to build a fire in the fireplace this morning to take the chill off. I can't get my wife to run around the house naked when the outside temperature is below 40, as it was this morning. (I can't get my wife to run around the house naked anytime, regardless of the temperature, but it's one of several fantasies I harbor.)
NEWS FROM THE BIRD FEEDER: The stellar blue jays continue to be frustrated in their desire to get to the bird feeder trays and gorge themselves on the seeds there. That they find plenty of seeds on the ground -- the other birds flip out the larger seeds such as sunflower seeds that they can't eat -- does not sway them from wanting to feed at the trough. To this end one jay we have name Jake has found that he can fly up to seed tray from underneath the shelter ledges I added to keep the jays out and then by gripping the tray, while hanging upside down, he can arch his head over and grab a few seeds before gravity forces him to let go and drop to the ground. He is determined even though he could, no doubt, get more seeds easier on the ground. He is also comical to watch.
The stellar jays were joined this morning by three mountain scrub jays. Don't know where they came from, but they are welcome.
Exercising at this altitude (8600 feet, according to my Lowrance GPS) takes a lot more effort and burns a lot more oxygen than at lower altitudes. Hence, for people like me with coronary problems that extra demand for oxygen is hard to satisfy. Nevertheless, I try to do the exercises I recommended to you last week three times a week. Today was the first time this week.
Today was the first time this week because we were away on vacation visiting family in Denver over the Labor Day weekend. I don't usually exercise when visiting at other people's houses. It's embarrassing when you vomit on their carpet or fall exhausted on the floor. (That doesn't actually happen, but I sometimes feel as if I might collapse on the floor and I would rather do that in my own house.)
To report: I managed to get through 20 minutes of the program before running out of steam. I could not go on. The demand for oxygen on my lungs was more than I could supply.
Plus, I add some exercises to the program I hope you printed out. Year before last I had a problem with my left shoulder. My orthopedist suspected a torn rotator cuff. After several weeks of therapy we settled on surgery as the final option. My cardiologist, however, vetoed that option because I was on Plavix due to having recently had two coated stents installed. So, we went back to an exercise regimen designed to help strengthen the shoulder muscles and, hopefully, allow the shoulder problem to heal with surgery.
I still do those exercises as they seem to be helping; I have almost full range of motion in my left shoulder.
After 20 minutes of exercise this morning my body said, "Enough!"
I must share with you, however, the joy of doing exercises on the deck of our mountain retreat. On clear, crisp dry mornings like this one (sunny and 59 degrees), I prefer to do my exercises out on the deck in the fresh mountain air. Below is a view of the valley I get to enjoy when looking to the southwest.
And, yes, we are starting to see some "color" in the Aspen trees. Fall is rapidly approaching here in the high country.
Yesterday after arriving home from Denver we found ourselves house bound for a while when an afternoon shower raced through the area dropping large and very cold drops of water. I was outside re-loading the bird feeder when the rain started and I was chilled to the bone before I could get inside. Fortunately, though, I got inside before the hail started. We were pelted with marble-sized hail (some smaller) and, I swear, a few snow flakes.
True to life in the mountains, the storm passed and 30 minutes or so later the sun was out. The temperature, unfortunately, remained cool through the evening and I was compelled to build a fire in the fireplace this morning to take the chill off. I can't get my wife to run around the house naked when the outside temperature is below 40, as it was this morning. (I can't get my wife to run around the house naked anytime, regardless of the temperature, but it's one of several fantasies I harbor.)
NEWS FROM THE BIRD FEEDER: The stellar blue jays continue to be frustrated in their desire to get to the bird feeder trays and gorge themselves on the seeds there. That they find plenty of seeds on the ground -- the other birds flip out the larger seeds such as sunflower seeds that they can't eat -- does not sway them from wanting to feed at the trough. To this end one jay we have name Jake has found that he can fly up to seed tray from underneath the shelter ledges I added to keep the jays out and then by gripping the tray, while hanging upside down, he can arch his head over and grab a few seeds before gravity forces him to let go and drop to the ground. He is determined even though he could, no doubt, get more seeds easier on the ground. He is also comical to watch.
The stellar jays were joined this morning by three mountain scrub jays. Don't know where they came from, but they are welcome.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
THE URGE TO KILL ... MY COMPUTER
If you are reading this you surely have a computer. And if you have a computer you have surely had the urge, more than once, I imagine, to take a shotgun and blow the damned thing to hell and back. No, that would be easy. You want it to suffer some -- as you have.
A quick death is too good for it. It must experience throes of agony, wondering what it has done and how to correct it. After all, that is exactly what you have been going through, isn't it?
My computer decided this morning that I did not have a blog account. I could use the URL to go to the blog, I just could not edit it. I was denied access because I was not the author. When I tried to go to the Dashboard, my computer again reminded me that I did not have a blog account. It did, graciously, offer to help me set up one, however.
That's when thoughts of shotguns began to enter my head.
OK, something has become corrupted. Don't take it personally and above all, don't take it out on the poor dumb computer.
I decided to just do a system restore to earlier this week when everything was working fine. That should do the trick.
Wrong!
Next, I decided to run a system check/registry check program I have to see if it uncovered anything. Well, apparently it found a lot of junk that needed attention. But I still could not get into the administrator side of my blog account. I WAS NOT THE AUTHOR OF AN ACCOUNT!
Time to go for a walk, kick the cat (I don't have one) or yell at my wife (always dangerous). I went for a walk.
After a cool-down walk I decided to try Plan B before getting the shotgun. Get out of every program that is running and turn the computer off.
Guess what? After turning the computer back on it allowed me direct entry to the Dashboard program. I can be an author once again. Hence this article.
I'll put the shotgun away ... for now.
A quick death is too good for it. It must experience throes of agony, wondering what it has done and how to correct it. After all, that is exactly what you have been going through, isn't it?
My computer decided this morning that I did not have a blog account. I could use the URL to go to the blog, I just could not edit it. I was denied access because I was not the author. When I tried to go to the Dashboard, my computer again reminded me that I did not have a blog account. It did, graciously, offer to help me set up one, however.
That's when thoughts of shotguns began to enter my head.
OK, something has become corrupted. Don't take it personally and above all, don't take it out on the poor dumb computer.
I decided to just do a system restore to earlier this week when everything was working fine. That should do the trick.
Wrong!
Next, I decided to run a system check/registry check program I have to see if it uncovered anything. Well, apparently it found a lot of junk that needed attention. But I still could not get into the administrator side of my blog account. I WAS NOT THE AUTHOR OF AN ACCOUNT!
Time to go for a walk, kick the cat (I don't have one) or yell at my wife (always dangerous). I went for a walk.
After a cool-down walk I decided to try Plan B before getting the shotgun. Get out of every program that is running and turn the computer off.
Guess what? After turning the computer back on it allowed me direct entry to the Dashboard program. I can be an author once again. Hence this article.
I'll put the shotgun away ... for now.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
THE BEST GYM IN THE WORLD? YOU'RE LIVING IN IT.
Why would anyone exercise if they didn't have to? Don't we get enough exercise cleaning house, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, washing the car and picking up after our children, just to name a few things? Exercise? Hell, I'm tired enough at the end of the day without going to a gym. And for exercise? Ha!
The truth is, we do get quiet a bit of exercise in the course of our day doing all the things mentioned above, and more. But that's not enough; we need more. Just go to any shopping mall and watch the girth of the people passing by to understand why. As a nation, we are overweight and out of shape.
But in addition to badly needed weight control, we need more strength exercise, more flexibility exercise and more exercise to build endurance -- precisely so we are not exhausted at the end of the day.
I've been somewhat of a health nut ever since President John Kennedy created the President's Council on Physical Fitness back in the early 1960s. Before that I was like most young men, willing to get by on my native, i.e., youthful, strength and flexibility.
In high school I went out for the football team, but I never took the conditioning program seriously. I was young and strong, more or less, and that was good enough. In college I was too busy burning my candle at both ends to give much thought to my health. Even while serving in the U.S. Army I did only what was necessary to stay out of trouble. When we fell out for morning PT (physical training) at the ungodly hour of five o'clock, I did what I had to do to keep from getting, in his words, the sergeant's "boot up my ass."
I'm not even sure why I became more interested in maintaining or improving my health in the early 1960s except that the president made it seem like the patriotic thing to do. Which, on reflection, is a pretty dumb reason for getting involved in an exercise program. Nevertheless, I got involved and have been involved ever since.
I ordered the president's book on physical fitness and both my wife and I started doing the exercises. It's been an on-again off-again affair ever since.
I never seemed to have the time or the money to go to a commercial gym. Besides, back then you had to get a gym membership for a full year and I knew that I would not be able to take advantage of my membership all year. For one thing, I was gone part of the summer working at a 4-H camp as lifeguard.
So, I concentrated on walking and on doing the exercises in the government booklet. I've always been a good walker, and walking, I understood, was one of the better forms of exercise. It was a low-impact exercise that works many of the major muscles.
After moving to Schenectady, NY I found that there were too many months when getting outside to walk was next to impossible. That's when we bought our first treadmill. Actually, now that I think about it, we bought an exercise bike first and later bought a cheap treadmill. Never buy a cheap treadmill! It is a waste of money. Cheap exercise equipment is always a waste of money.
Over the years I kept going back to some of the strength and range-of-motion exercises. I created my own program as my body aged and my needs changed. And at one point, after retiring, I taught an exercise program for seniors at one of the campgrounds where I spent the winter. (It helped me stay in shape and earned me a reduced campground rate for the winter.)
Well, time marches on and your body ages with time. Rheumatism, tendinitis, coronary problems, knee and shoulder problems and other joint, muscle or breathing problems cause most, if not all, of us to curtail our physical activity -- including any formal exercise program we may have had in the past.
Fear not. I found an exercise program that you can do right in your bedroom, family room or wherever YOU are. It is the Real Age You2 Workout that you can find at this link: http://www.realage.com/StayingYoung/YOUToolsTips.aspx?tip=21.
This great exercise program requires no special equipment. The authors claim you have "the best gym in the world. You're living in it." Celebrity trainer Joel Harper designed the program and he says you can do the 18 exercises in fewer than 20 minutes. I have not yet reached that point myself, but you might. Just the same, imagine being able to get a "complete strength-and-stretch workout" in 20-30 minutes anywhere you might be: home, office or motel room. No equipment, no excuses.
Here are the first two exercises to give you an idea of how low-impact they are. (I hope it's all right for me to copy and paste these pictures here.)
1. Yo-Yo (Warm-up)
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Interweave your fingers and bring your hands and elbows up to shoulder height. Turn your palms out, so now you can see all your knuckles. Keeping your torso upright, slowly twist to the right and left, 10 times each side, to where it feels comfortable. Inhale going to one side, exhale back to the other.
2. Punching Bag (Strengthens arms and shoulders)
Lift your hands and elbows to shoulder height, make your hands into fists, and turn your knuckles facing away from you. Spin your hands around in a circle as far away from your chest as you can. Keep your shoulders relaxed, away from your ears. Do it 20 times clockwise, then 20 counterclockwise.
Please check out the link above. Download and print the workout program. Then start transforming your body. You'll be glad you did.
The truth is, we do get quiet a bit of exercise in the course of our day doing all the things mentioned above, and more. But that's not enough; we need more. Just go to any shopping mall and watch the girth of the people passing by to understand why. As a nation, we are overweight and out of shape.
But in addition to badly needed weight control, we need more strength exercise, more flexibility exercise and more exercise to build endurance -- precisely so we are not exhausted at the end of the day.
I've been somewhat of a health nut ever since President John Kennedy created the President's Council on Physical Fitness back in the early 1960s. Before that I was like most young men, willing to get by on my native, i.e., youthful, strength and flexibility.
In high school I went out for the football team, but I never took the conditioning program seriously. I was young and strong, more or less, and that was good enough. In college I was too busy burning my candle at both ends to give much thought to my health. Even while serving in the U.S. Army I did only what was necessary to stay out of trouble. When we fell out for morning PT (physical training) at the ungodly hour of five o'clock, I did what I had to do to keep from getting, in his words, the sergeant's "boot up my ass."
I'm not even sure why I became more interested in maintaining or improving my health in the early 1960s except that the president made it seem like the patriotic thing to do. Which, on reflection, is a pretty dumb reason for getting involved in an exercise program. Nevertheless, I got involved and have been involved ever since.
I ordered the president's book on physical fitness and both my wife and I started doing the exercises. It's been an on-again off-again affair ever since.
I never seemed to have the time or the money to go to a commercial gym. Besides, back then you had to get a gym membership for a full year and I knew that I would not be able to take advantage of my membership all year. For one thing, I was gone part of the summer working at a 4-H camp as lifeguard.
So, I concentrated on walking and on doing the exercises in the government booklet. I've always been a good walker, and walking, I understood, was one of the better forms of exercise. It was a low-impact exercise that works many of the major muscles.
After moving to Schenectady, NY I found that there were too many months when getting outside to walk was next to impossible. That's when we bought our first treadmill. Actually, now that I think about it, we bought an exercise bike first and later bought a cheap treadmill. Never buy a cheap treadmill! It is a waste of money. Cheap exercise equipment is always a waste of money.
Over the years I kept going back to some of the strength and range-of-motion exercises. I created my own program as my body aged and my needs changed. And at one point, after retiring, I taught an exercise program for seniors at one of the campgrounds where I spent the winter. (It helped me stay in shape and earned me a reduced campground rate for the winter.)
Well, time marches on and your body ages with time. Rheumatism, tendinitis, coronary problems, knee and shoulder problems and other joint, muscle or breathing problems cause most, if not all, of us to curtail our physical activity -- including any formal exercise program we may have had in the past.
Fear not. I found an exercise program that you can do right in your bedroom, family room or wherever YOU are. It is the Real Age You2 Workout that you can find at this link: http://www.realage.com/StayingYoung/YOUToolsTips.aspx?tip=21.
This great exercise program requires no special equipment. The authors claim you have "the best gym in the world. You're living in it." Celebrity trainer Joel Harper designed the program and he says you can do the 18 exercises in fewer than 20 minutes. I have not yet reached that point myself, but you might. Just the same, imagine being able to get a "complete strength-and-stretch workout" in 20-30 minutes anywhere you might be: home, office or motel room. No equipment, no excuses.
Here are the first two exercises to give you an idea of how low-impact they are. (I hope it's all right for me to copy and paste these pictures here.)
1. Yo-Yo (Warm-up)
2. Punching Bag (Strengthens arms and shoulders)
Please check out the link above. Download and print the workout program. Then start transforming your body. You'll be glad you did.
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