Some, it seems, are born with a great talent, or at least a passion to nourish a talent and make it great. Some of us never figure it out, or let obstacles get in our way, or just don't have it, whatever "it" is.
I was thinking about what I would want to be if I could:
A good artist
A good writer
Good at a musical instrument
A research scientist
A great teacher
Just good at something. Good in a way that I feel like I am good at it. I have felt that way for brief moments, but then came to my senses and decided, I'm not that good.
Those are on the top of my list. Why I never attained any of those I am not quite sure. Didn't work hard enough? Just don't have the ability? Stumbled over some obstacles - seen and unseen? I could make excuses. Yes, I was discouraged from pursuing some of these. But that happens to others also, and they prevail despite what others put in their way.
Ability. Well, I seem able to do many things, but none of them exceedingly well. Do I not try hard enough? Maybe. I have trouble concentrating on one thing to the exclusion of everything else, which seems necessary to excel at one thing. Some people, it seems, can do certain things with little effort. That is how it appears, but may not be the reality.
Hard work. Yes. Working hard at something does make you better. I wonder, though, if no matter how hard you work at something you will hit a limit to what you can accomplish. It has always felt that way to me. As if I can go just so far and that is it. I might just be limiting myself. I get easily discouraged when I can not meet my own goal.
Then there is always, "am I trying to satisfy myself, or trying to gain approval and praise from others?" Both, I think. I keep telling myself that it does not matter what others think. But it does. When we are at the end of our lives, we want to know that someone will remember us. Being good at something helps to ensure that. There are other ways, of course. Be an honorable human being. Do good things for others. Do good things for the Earth. Maybe it is time to try harder at those other things.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
More rambling thoughts
It is the saver of time, it is the waster of time. To paraphrase Dickens. It is also the best and the worst. It is the internet. What a wonderful and terrible thing it is. Like all time saving devices and inventions it seems to suck up time and give us less time for anything.
Once upon a time, as all fairy stories begin, if you wanted to know something you find someone who knew and asked. Finding someone might take a long time, and then you got that one opinion. Then, there were libraries. Public libraries thanks to Mr. Franklin. You could find out anything there if you could successfully navigate the card catalog, and sometimes you found a book with what you wanted to know, somewhere, between those covers.
Now there is the source of all knowledge, the oracle, the great man of Oz, the hive over-mind, the internet! Anything you could possibly want to know, yes, even unanswerable questions, can be satisfied on the internet. Yes, anything you want to know. You can get lots of answers. Some of them are even right, if only you could figure out which ones.
You pick a search engine, that Google, Bing, Yahoo thing. You start to type in your question and before you get past the first word the great universal brain is trying to guess what you want. Can you imagine (you might not even have to imagine) trying to ask someone a question who keeps interrupting and guessing what your question is going to be? At least you could walk away or get in a satisfying punch in the face.
So, eventually you get your query typed and up comes thousands of possible places to get information on - wait - most of these are not even close to what I wanted. Now you scroll though the endless lists or just pick the first one, which is usually a paid ad. Most people stop at the first answer. The first satisfying answer. Unfortunately, most of the search engines decide for you what you want to know. You might never be exposed to the alternate information. This can be good or bad. If the first stop you make is good, reliable information, you’re good. If not, your quest for knowledge has been compromised. This happens more often than not. There is, unfortunately, more bad information available than good information. We support that. We tend to go to information that supports what we want to believe rather than look at all sides and try to come to a rational conclusion. But, who has time for that?
Maybe you are only looking for recipes. Cookbooks are no longer needed. Hundreds of them are published every year in defiance anyway. Enter the ingredients, or a type of dish, any number of possible searches and many recipes appear. What a time saver, right? So, you start looking through recipes, this one looks good, but maybe there is a better one. Maybe this one. I don’t have all of those ingredients. What is that ingredient? I had better look that up.
Oh, look. That is a special spice from South Africa. I wonder if I can get that? Here’s a place to buy it. Oh, they have some nice cooking utensils. I wonder what that is for? Oh, that’s interesting. That is used to do this in that country. I don’t know much about that country. Here’s a link. Ahh, interesting.
It’s 3 hours later. Too late to make dinner. Better order out. I’ll look up who delivers. Oh, I’ve never tried that place. Wow, what a long menu! That looks good. I don’t know what that is. Here’s another good one.
Eventually you find something to order. Might as well surf around while you wait for the delivery. Another 45 minutes. The door bell rings. Dinner is here! If only you could get up. Your back hurts, your legs ache, you can’t focus on anything more than 18 inches away. You’re in a daze. You feel like you have wasted the whole day. Guess what? You did! Feel better now?
All that free time we now have and it just flies away. When I think back, days used to go on forever. But now the weeks fly by. It is all slipping away. At least it seems that way and I don’t know if it is a consequence of getting older or if the space-time continuum has shifted. I’m going with space-time continuum. I don’t want to think about the other. I should go Google that....
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Clutter, Chaos, and Time Travel
All this stuff! Why can't I get rid of it?
I'm trying to clean out a room that is stuffed with all kinds of "junk" that I have saved over the years. I can hardly walk in there anymore! It should be easy. Why would I need all this crap?!
There are things that are clearly junk (that I might have a use for some day).
Bits of things that needed to be repaired (where is the rest of it?).
Books. I can't get rid of books. I love books. Some I have read, so, I have to keep these as a record of this accomplishment. Some I'm going to read, can't get rid of those. Some are reference, I might have to look something up. Some are just fun to look through. Some day I'll have time for that.
There are my craft materials. I spent a lot of money on these things and I use them. There is no where else to put them. And there are my art materials. Yes, I'm going to get back to doing art someday.
There are items and books I used to use for teaching. I might need those again.
There is all the stuff I am currently "working" on. There is no other place to put this work in progress. If it was put away out of site then the work and the progress would certainly come to a hault. As if it hasn't already.
There is a ridiculous number of cloth bags, backpacks, messenger bags, etc. I always seem to have a need for one of them. There never seems to be enough. I have actually given some away.
There is the stuff collected from places I've been or just left from years ago. These, it turns out, are time travel devices!
All those bits of memorabilia, souvenirs from places I've been, are a connection to a time gone by. There are pins from places like the National Aquarium and the Science Museum in Toronto. Fossils picked up on field trips with friends from school. Models, some finished, some not, remind me of days when I would work on these things. There seemed to be more time then. It's funny how time compresses with age.
Model train cars. Wooden ones. My father built these for me when I was 2 or 3. I can remember him working on them in the library at my grandmothers house where we lived at the time.
And it goes on and on. I can transport myself to other times and places with these simple things. Am I a hoarder? To some it looks that way. To me - I just don't have a big enough place!
Oh. there is something I can get rid of! What is that? Oh, I remember that. That reminds me of when. . .
I'm trying to clean out a room that is stuffed with all kinds of "junk" that I have saved over the years. I can hardly walk in there anymore! It should be easy. Why would I need all this crap?!
There are things that are clearly junk (that I might have a use for some day).
Bits of things that needed to be repaired (where is the rest of it?).
Books. I can't get rid of books. I love books. Some I have read, so, I have to keep these as a record of this accomplishment. Some I'm going to read, can't get rid of those. Some are reference, I might have to look something up. Some are just fun to look through. Some day I'll have time for that.
There are my craft materials. I spent a lot of money on these things and I use them. There is no where else to put them. And there are my art materials. Yes, I'm going to get back to doing art someday.
There are items and books I used to use for teaching. I might need those again.
There is all the stuff I am currently "working" on. There is no other place to put this work in progress. If it was put away out of site then the work and the progress would certainly come to a hault. As if it hasn't already.
There is a ridiculous number of cloth bags, backpacks, messenger bags, etc. I always seem to have a need for one of them. There never seems to be enough. I have actually given some away.
There is the stuff collected from places I've been or just left from years ago. These, it turns out, are time travel devices!
All those bits of memorabilia, souvenirs from places I've been, are a connection to a time gone by. There are pins from places like the National Aquarium and the Science Museum in Toronto. Fossils picked up on field trips with friends from school. Models, some finished, some not, remind me of days when I would work on these things. There seemed to be more time then. It's funny how time compresses with age.
Model train cars. Wooden ones. My father built these for me when I was 2 or 3. I can remember him working on them in the library at my grandmothers house where we lived at the time.
And it goes on and on. I can transport myself to other times and places with these simple things. Am I a hoarder? To some it looks that way. To me - I just don't have a big enough place!
Oh. there is something I can get rid of! What is that? Oh, I remember that. That reminds me of when. . .
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Health Care in the US
I see and hear a lot of talk about the Affordable Care Act "Obama Care". I recently had taken a survey that asked questions about the ACA and I found that I really didn't know much about it even though I had my own opinions. Now, let's be realistic. We all tend to listen to and agree with those who express opinions that match our own. This is not good, but we all do it. It is hard to listen to a opposing view with an open mind. Knowing that, I thought I would do some research on the ACA and see what it is really all about and try to come to a rational decision. Not an easy task. Most people, I'm sure, who have opinions on this, and most other things, have not actually done any investigating to find the truth. They just blindly follow and repeat opinions of those they think they agree with.
Here is what I have found.
First to the government site to see what it says. https://www.healthcare.gov/ There is a lot here. It tells abut the ACA in plan language. I did not find the actual ACA bill here though. It is important to at least take a look at that to see what it says. This government site is, of course, trying to promote it, so, although there is a lot of good information here it might not be the whole story. The actual bill is here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr3590enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr3590enr.pdf
All 906 pages of it! Right there is the reason no one bothers to really learn what this is all about - including our representatives. I doubt many of them actually read these things despite that we pay them to do that! Just reading it is not enough either, you have to analyze it also. That is more difficult since none of us can know the details of everything that will be affected.
A summery would be helpful. Here is the Democrat's summery: http://www.dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf
Here is the Republican summery: http://maine.thelibertylab.com/wp-content/uploads/Republican-Summary-of-the-Patient-Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act.pdf
Look at them side by side if you can. Can we believe either of them? Anyone can twist numbers to their favor. You would have to check everything they say against the ACA document to see if they got it right or are making up stuff. I will say that the republican one looks more like a rant than a overview of the facts.
One thing you can do is let non-government analysts read and analyze it for you. The problem here is to not fall into the trap of reading only those who agree with your preconceived notions. Here is a Washington Post article that lays out some points. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/06/24/11-facts-about-the-affordable-care-act/ Is it fully reliable? Probably not, but it lays out some "facts" in a way that is easy to understand. I put facts in quotes because - it's a newspaper and newspapers don't always (probably never) deliver all the facts.
Finding a website that is unbiased is impossible. Even if the site actually is unbiased, how can you tell? You can't. So, the only option is look at sites that are for it and those against it.
Here is a Pros & Cons list. http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons.php Admittedly, this site is biased even though it does a good job of trying to look neutral in its information, the title boldly gives it away. Most of them are not so obvious.
Here is a site that poses questions and gives a quick answer and gives you the option of more in depth discussion. http://healthcarereform.procon.org/ This site claims to be neutral. You decide.
What I do know now is that those without health care insurance either get no care or the providers don't get paid. Neither of these is good. Regardless of what happens with ACA some question that I feel need to be answered are these: (1) Health care is very expensive. If you look at the bill from your doctor or your hospital you find that the expense is so high that you would quickly go bankrupt if you had to pay these without insurance. (2) Why is the care so expensive? (3) With the cost of health care so high, why are so many care givers going out of business because they can not afford to continue? (4) What is going on with the insurance companies? How big are their profits and how can they have high profits when health care is so expensive? They're in it to make a profit, so, no profit, no insurance. (5) What is the cost of health care insurance to us now? Trying to find actual costs is not easy. It varies by state and family status and deductible and amount of coverage.... So there is no easy answer to current cost. You know your own, but I'll bet you don't know how it compares to others or other choices. I found one site that says in New York the average is $357 per person per month. I thought it would be higher. I'm not sure how that average was derived.
One important thing to look at is health care around the world. How do we fit in and where are things headed. There are comparison charts at this site: http://www.who.int/whr/2008/whr08_en.pdf
And the World Health Org. has a report. It is somewhat dated (2008). http://www.who.int/whr/2008/whr08_en.pdf
I'm not going to give my conclusion here. I'm sure I would interject opinion and there is no reason you should consider my opinion valid. My intent is to get you to think and research before spreading someone else's opinion. If you are going to do that you had better know just what they are talking about. (That goes for everything, not just this topic!)
The one thing I will voice my opinion on is that there are certain government entities (we know who they are), and many regular citizens, who are against the ACA just because it is Obama. Some of our representatives have been very vocal about their intent to not support anything this administration does and they have been working on that strategy from day one of the current administration. THAT is NOT what we pay them for!
Is all this too much to digest? Yes it is. You have a lot of homework to do. That is what makes it so hard to make an informed decision about just about anything - especially when it comes to government.
Here is what I have found.
First to the government site to see what it says. https://www.healthcare.gov/ There is a lot here. It tells abut the ACA in plan language. I did not find the actual ACA bill here though. It is important to at least take a look at that to see what it says. This government site is, of course, trying to promote it, so, although there is a lot of good information here it might not be the whole story. The actual bill is here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr3590enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr3590enr.pdf
All 906 pages of it! Right there is the reason no one bothers to really learn what this is all about - including our representatives. I doubt many of them actually read these things despite that we pay them to do that! Just reading it is not enough either, you have to analyze it also. That is more difficult since none of us can know the details of everything that will be affected.
A summery would be helpful. Here is the Democrat's summery: http://www.dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf
Here is the Republican summery: http://maine.thelibertylab.com/wp-content/uploads/Republican-Summary-of-the-Patient-Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act.pdf
Look at them side by side if you can. Can we believe either of them? Anyone can twist numbers to their favor. You would have to check everything they say against the ACA document to see if they got it right or are making up stuff. I will say that the republican one looks more like a rant than a overview of the facts.
One thing you can do is let non-government analysts read and analyze it for you. The problem here is to not fall into the trap of reading only those who agree with your preconceived notions. Here is a Washington Post article that lays out some points. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/06/24/11-facts-about-the-affordable-care-act/ Is it fully reliable? Probably not, but it lays out some "facts" in a way that is easy to understand. I put facts in quotes because - it's a newspaper and newspapers don't always (probably never) deliver all the facts.
Finding a website that is unbiased is impossible. Even if the site actually is unbiased, how can you tell? You can't. So, the only option is look at sites that are for it and those against it.
Here is a Pros & Cons list. http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons.php Admittedly, this site is biased even though it does a good job of trying to look neutral in its information, the title boldly gives it away. Most of them are not so obvious.
Here is a site that poses questions and gives a quick answer and gives you the option of more in depth discussion. http://healthcarereform.procon.org/ This site claims to be neutral. You decide.
What I do know now is that those without health care insurance either get no care or the providers don't get paid. Neither of these is good. Regardless of what happens with ACA some question that I feel need to be answered are these: (1) Health care is very expensive. If you look at the bill from your doctor or your hospital you find that the expense is so high that you would quickly go bankrupt if you had to pay these without insurance. (2) Why is the care so expensive? (3) With the cost of health care so high, why are so many care givers going out of business because they can not afford to continue? (4) What is going on with the insurance companies? How big are their profits and how can they have high profits when health care is so expensive? They're in it to make a profit, so, no profit, no insurance. (5) What is the cost of health care insurance to us now? Trying to find actual costs is not easy. It varies by state and family status and deductible and amount of coverage.... So there is no easy answer to current cost. You know your own, but I'll bet you don't know how it compares to others or other choices. I found one site that says in New York the average is $357 per person per month. I thought it would be higher. I'm not sure how that average was derived.
One important thing to look at is health care around the world. How do we fit in and where are things headed. There are comparison charts at this site: http://www.who.int/whr/2008/whr08_en.pdf
And the World Health Org. has a report. It is somewhat dated (2008). http://www.who.int/whr/2008/whr08_en.pdf
I'm not going to give my conclusion here. I'm sure I would interject opinion and there is no reason you should consider my opinion valid. My intent is to get you to think and research before spreading someone else's opinion. If you are going to do that you had better know just what they are talking about. (That goes for everything, not just this topic!)
The one thing I will voice my opinion on is that there are certain government entities (we know who they are), and many regular citizens, who are against the ACA just because it is Obama. Some of our representatives have been very vocal about their intent to not support anything this administration does and they have been working on that strategy from day one of the current administration. THAT is NOT what we pay them for!
Is all this too much to digest? Yes it is. You have a lot of homework to do. That is what makes it so hard to make an informed decision about just about anything - especially when it comes to government.
So, do your best. Be a responsible citizen. Good luck and good night.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Got ants? Update
OK. So, the cinnamon works to keep ants at bay. Borax kills them off. I placed commercially made ant "traps" in a couple of places near where the ants where coming in. Why they are called traps I don't know, because it doesn't trap them. This kit contained little house like plastic containers that you put the poison in. It is a sticky solution of something sweet with a small amount of borax in it.
The ants wouldn't go near it at first. They probably would have found it eventually, but I helped them out by knocking a few into the container. They immediately went to the yummy sweet stuff and then started heading back to the nest. Supposedly taking some with them. The borax breaks down their exoskeleton and does other damage.
Within 2 days there were almost no ants coming around and after the 3rd day they seem to be all gone! Borax is it! No commercial ant control needed. Just mix a small amount of borax into some jelly and leave it where the ants can find it and problem solved.
So, cinnamon and borax the great ant destroyer. Sometimes things do work.
The ants wouldn't go near it at first. They probably would have found it eventually, but I helped them out by knocking a few into the container. They immediately went to the yummy sweet stuff and then started heading back to the nest. Supposedly taking some with them. The borax breaks down their exoskeleton and does other damage.
Within 2 days there were almost no ants coming around and after the 3rd day they seem to be all gone! Borax is it! No commercial ant control needed. Just mix a small amount of borax into some jelly and leave it where the ants can find it and problem solved.
So, cinnamon and borax the great ant destroyer. Sometimes things do work.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Got ants?
Got ants?
I do. It's that time of year again and the little brown ants have invaded. I can't find where they get in, but I guess it doesn't matter, they will find another way if I destroy an entrance. So, how to get rid of them? One sure way is to remove all food from your house, all food like things, waste food, everything. Hmmm, not practical. And after all, it's MY house not theirs! I haven't identified the species exactly, but suspect it is the brown House Ant or Odorous House Ant.
So, I do an internet search to see what other people do. There are lots of natural solutions suggested. And, naturally, these people never tried these things, just reposted from somewhere else. Maybe these things worked for someone somewhere, or maybe someone imagined that they worked, or maybe someone just thought these should work, but do they work? Since I have some volunteers in my house now, this will be a good chance to test out these suggestions of "guaranteed" solutions to this problem.
One often suggested way to get rid of ants is to wipe everything down with diluted vinegar. Diluted? Why? If diluted is good then undiluted should be better. I tried vinegar. When wet the ants don't want to cross it, but they won't cross water either. Once the surface dried the ants were happy to resume previous activities. Result? FAIL.
I read that if you draw a chalk line the ants will not cross it. So here's my line ants! Cross that! I dare you! So, they did. Apparently they did not read the rule book or accepted the challenge and I lost. So, chalk line - fail.
I read that Boric Acid works. Boric Acid actually has to be ingested by the ants. They don't find Boric Acid yummy, so you have to prepare it in a way to get the ants to eat it and take some back to the nest. This will eventually kill the nest, but will not keep ants away. You will have to endure the infestation until the nest is destroyed.
Borax. This works like the Boric acid as a poison to the ants. Haven't tried it. You have to mix it into something tasty - and keep your pets and kids away! Instructions here http://www.instructables.com/id/Getting-Rid-of-Ants-or-How-to-Kill-an-Ant-Invasi/
Coffee grounds. OK. Ants aren't fond of coffee grounds, but climbing over them? No problem. Conclusion, ants are not affected by used and dried out caffeine. Coffee grounds - fail.
Basil leaves. The ants don't cook apparently and had no use for basil leaves and they didn't scare them off either. Basil leaves - fail.
Bay leaves. I haven't tried it, but it is said that leaving bay leaves in your cupboards will keep the ants out. I've heard that it doesn't work, so bay leaves - probably a fail.
Ground cinnamon. I've seen that you should leave cinnamon sticks lying around. The ants don't really care. They avoid the sticks, but that's about it. I tried sprinkling ground cinnamon around a group of ants and the results where interesting. The ants in the circle started inspecting the cinnamon particles. They did this for quite a while. When I sprinkled the cinnamon around the counter top the rest of the ants seemed to lose the trail. I sprinkled cinnamon along the edge of a cupboard they seemed to like and they no longer entered the cupboard. Unfortunately the ones hiding in the cupboard wouldn't cross the line either, so were stuck in the cupboard. I assisted them in not being in the cupboard anymore, if you know what I mean. I am seeing many fewer ants now, so the cinnamon seems to work. Update later if I see that they have actually left or come back with hazmat suits. Ground cinnamon - so far, pass.
I have some more things to try. I've seen the following: garlic cloves, black pepper, mint, cucumbers, vo-do and magic (I'm sure these don't work), baby powder, cloves, Ivory soap, and Windex (really?). If I find a miracle I'll up date it here. For now I'm sticking with the cinnamon and will try to make a Boric acid or Borax poison treat for the little beggars.
And now, about those spiders.....
Sunday, January 29, 2012
40 is the new 60
Unemployed is bad at any age. If you are near retirement age it is nearly impossible. Actually these days being over 40 is a major hurdle. I hear complaints from employers that the 18 to 35 age group just doesn't want to work. They take days off whenever they feel like it or just don't work when they do show up. It's not everybody in the age group, of course, but enough that employers notice. But still, it seems that experience that comes with age is a detriment for some reason.
You can not walk into a place and ask to apply any more. You have to apply online where software does it's best to eliminate you for simple things like putting dates of employment before place of employment. Think of the number of good, intelligent, hard working people that get passed over because of some automated system. It's not completely the fault of HR people. They get hundreds of applications for every job. However, if this country hadn't outsourced so much we wouldn't have so many looking for work. We could put America back to work, but to do that we have to put Americans back to work.
Even outsourcing isn't the entire problem. Think about population and productivity. Companies try to do more with fewer people. Machines can do a lot with very little human interaction. As we become more and more efficient at getting things done, we need fewer and fewer people to do things. It might sound harsh and anti-American, but people have to take responsibility to slow or reverse population growth. We just cannot support so many people with jobs and resources. Something has got to give and it will not be pretty. I'm afraid THAT something is on the way. It's as real as climate change (YES, climate change is real). We might already be on the edge of the cliff. One little push and......
You can not walk into a place and ask to apply any more. You have to apply online where software does it's best to eliminate you for simple things like putting dates of employment before place of employment. Think of the number of good, intelligent, hard working people that get passed over because of some automated system. It's not completely the fault of HR people. They get hundreds of applications for every job. However, if this country hadn't outsourced so much we wouldn't have so many looking for work. We could put America back to work, but to do that we have to put Americans back to work.
Even outsourcing isn't the entire problem. Think about population and productivity. Companies try to do more with fewer people. Machines can do a lot with very little human interaction. As we become more and more efficient at getting things done, we need fewer and fewer people to do things. It might sound harsh and anti-American, but people have to take responsibility to slow or reverse population growth. We just cannot support so many people with jobs and resources. Something has got to give and it will not be pretty. I'm afraid THAT something is on the way. It's as real as climate change (YES, climate change is real). We might already be on the edge of the cliff. One little push and......
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