Serendipity

Here's a thought: recycle water bottles . .

I try not to buy bottled water to drink but sometimes must.  Those bottles go into recycling and that's all fine.  But I've discovered SoBe drinks = low/no cal flavored water drinks which I do enjoy - but the best prize of all is the bottle.  It's a solid, hard sided water bottle and after finishing the SoBe drink, I just keep filling it up, putting it in the fridge and drinking from them through the day - these are great bottles and can be used over and over, cutting down on the plethora of plastic with which we live.

Another website for readers

Is LibraryThing.com.  You can list the books you've read and find others who've done likewise.  You can look for new books to read of a type you like.  You can join the Early Reviewers group and offer to review a book in exchange for a free copy of it [lottery selection].  

Mystery Reading....

This summer is a good time to get back into reading and, since I love mysteries, I checked out a blog I noted in the past which springs from a website:  Cozy-Mystery

Although the site focuses on what are called 'cozies', other mystery authors are listed as well.  What's a cozy?  The site defines it as:

The crime-solver in a cozy mystery is usually a woman who is an amateur sleuth. Almost always, she has a college degree, whether she is using it or not. Her education and life’s experiences have provided her with certain skills that she will utilize in order to solve all the crimes that are “thrown her way.” The cozy mystery heroine is usually a very intuitive, bright woman. The occupations of the amateur sleuths are very diverse: caterer, bed and breakfast owner, quilter, cat fancier/owner, nun, gardener, librarian, book store owner, herbalist, florist, dog trainer, homemaker, teacher, needlepoint store owner, etc. These are just a few examples of what the amateur sleuth does…. When she’s not solving crimes, that is!

A very special Apple birthday cake

What a wonderful treat!  

Anyone who knows me knows why this is particularly special.

Simple Tests for Stroke

This article, from WebMD, is from 2003 but the three tests still apply:

WebMD You Could Diagnose Stroke

. . . Brice and her colleagues measured the accuracy of the test by first teaching it to 100 healthy bystanders. The bystanders then performed the test on stroke survivors. To diagnose a stroke, the bystanders performed the following three steps:

1. Bystander told the patients, "Show me your teeth." The "smile test" is used to check for one-sided facial weakness -- a classic sign of stroke.

2. Then the patients were told to close their eyes and raise their arms. Stroke patients usually cannot raise both arms to the same height, a sign of arm weakness.

 3. Finally, the patients were asked to repeat a simple sentence to check for slurring of speech, which is another classic sign of stroke. "In Cincinnati, the researchers asked patients to say, 'The sky is blue in Cincinnati,'" says Brice. But in the study, the researchers varied four simple phrases such as "Don't cry over spilled milk.". . . . 

"This is so simple that even a child could use it. Look at how many children have saved their parents by doing CPR, and this is so much simpler," says Kenton. He says he thinks the test should be promoted for use by the general public.

Brice agrees with this assessment, saying that it could be like the Stop, Drop and Roll campaign to avoid burn injuries. "We call it: Talk, wave, smile."

 

Shopping Day in Nunam Iqua, Alaska.

A wonderful explanation of what it takes for a person living in a small town in Alaska, away from what we are used to in the 'lower 48 [or 49]', deals with to run to the store...although 'run to the store' isn't quite accurate, obviously.  This post is from January 2009 but I'm sure life in small town Alaska hasn't changed much since then.  

Worth reading.  Mudflats

A Plane in the Air

Nifty video from VST of a paper airplane gracefully flying in New York City.  Enjoy.

10 Minutes for Health

I know we should all be doing 30 minutes a day of strenuous activity, but that's not always possible.  Yet, even 10 minute sessions can be helpful.  Interesting show on yesterday's NPR, Health

[to the right, a fun photo from the QuadCamera application on my iPhone, still life of pears]

A Wordle of the President's Speech last night.

 Wordle.net

Cross-referencing

We are now in Greece and I'll be blogging about the trip at my JourneyZing Blog

Life on the Frontier

We sometimes forget this country has quite a variety of places people live in and experience.  On the frontier, life is much harder than that experienced by most of us:   Shopping Day in Nunam Iqua, Alaska

Joyful Noises

I've posted before about the Matt Dance [either here or on my law blog] but I also came across something on http://www.wherethehellismatt.comhttp://www.playingforchange.com/http://www.playingforchange.com/Bill Moyers' show [podcast] called "Playing for Change" in which musicians around the world all are invited to sing "Stand By Me" - it's a fascinating and joyful occasion.

The other site, Wherethehellismatt is also enjoyable and fun to watch as he dances all over the world and little kids and others get in on the scene.  He's now supported in his efforts by Stride Gum.  I personally like the 2008 dance and particularly, the music [Praan] which is available via Amazon MP3 downloads.

A little boy in Turkey, having a snack or lunch:

Presentations on SlideShare

I just uploaded some presentations on SlideShare:  two from 2005 [Harassment Investigations, Retaliation and Whistleblowing] and one from 2007 [Images from a 2006 trip to Bhutan].  

Twyla Tharp on Creativity and Hard Work

I came across the following in a blog post by Merlin Mann for 43 Folders.  It's a quote from the famous dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp on the hard work that goes into productive and meaningful creativity.  It's from her book, The Creative Habit*

After so many years, I've learned that being creative is a full-time job with its own daily patterns. That's why writers, for example, like to establish routines for themselves. The most productive ones get started early in the morning, when the world is quiet, the phones aren't ringing, and their minds are rested, alert, and not yet polluted by other people's words. They might set a goal for themselves -- write fifteen hundred words, or stay at their desk until noon -- but the real secret is that they do this every day. In other words, they are disciplined. Over time, as the daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit. 

It's the same for any creative individual, whether it's a painter finding his way each morning to the easel, or a medical researcher returning daily to the laboratory. The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightning bolt of inspiration, maybe more. And this routine is available to everyone. 

Creativity is not just for artists. It's for businesspeople looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way. Over the past four decades, I have been engaged in one creative pursuit or another every day, in both my professional and my personal life. I've thought a great deal about what it means to be creative, and how to go about it efficiently. I've also learned from the painful experience of going about it in the worst possible way. I'll tell you about both. And I'll give you exercises that will challenge some of your creative assumptions -- to make you stretch, get stronger, last longer. After all, you stretch before you jog, you loosen up before you work out, you practice before you play. It's no different for your mind. 

I will keep stressing the point about creativity being augmented by routine and habit. Get used to it. In these pages a philosophical tug of war will periodically rear its head. It is the perennial debate, born in the Romantic era, between the beliefs that all creative acts are born of (a) some transcendent, inexplicable Dionysian act of inspiration, a kiss from God on your brow that allows you to give the world The Magic Flute, or (b) hard work. 

If it isn't obvious already, I come down on the side of hard work. That's why this book is called The Creative Habit. Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits. That's it in a nutshell. 

* which can be purchased through my AmazonAssoc. site via  JZ/Resources

Des Moines Iowa Greening Suggestions

A good question was raised at my breakfast club [The Consortium] today and I'll share my answer and if I get others [I didn't take minutes but will see what shows up in those which were taken] will update:

Thursday’s Question of the Day:  “What have you done to conserve energy or to live greener”? 

* use the blue bins and get more cities to use them

* get your employer to recycle [it could even pay off]

* Recycling Inc:  201 SE 6th St., 243-1696 --$50 to pick up 10 bankers boxes but free if you take them there = they drop contents in shredder and send a certificate of being shredded back to you

* http://www.catalogchoice.com/ -- to opt out of catalogs

* recycle by donating to various entities

* recycle by giving away via Des Moines Reusit [formerly Freecycle]-Des Moines Metro ReUseIt - Don't throw it.. RE USE IT!

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DesMoinesIAMetroReuseit>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DesMoinesIAMetroReuseit

*Midwest Recovery [ph 770-7707] near Bondurant will accept for recycling most appliances, free if you drop off [some items not accepted, but not many] and they can do group pickups too [I gather Iowa DNR may have a list of other such recyclers]

Image:  Olive trees in Apulia, Italy.

A little bit of helpful information. . .

Just a little hint to help with life:

A website to find out how to cut down on junk mail and get rid of a whole bunch of unwanted things:

Wikihow

I also cut down on catalogs via Catalog Choice.