EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY FASTER THAN EVOLUTION OF MANKIND

60 years ago, Science Fiction dreamed of the realities of today. Compared to the evolution of ideas from the invention of the wheel to today, this is akin to light years of speed.

We have watched computers go down from room size to almost flat panels. Medicine has advanced to body part replacements and non-invasive surgeries that have kept people alive years longer than they would have lived generations ago. News all over the world is brought instantaneously into our homes and to our eyes through the miracle of the Internet and TV.

The first-ever video advertisement will be published in a traditional paper magazine in September. The slim-line screens - around the size of a mobile phone display - also have rechargeable batteries.

The chip technology used to store the video - described as similar to that used in singing greeting cards - is activated when the page is turned.

Each chip can hold up to 40 minutes of video.

You can read the entire article here.

WHEN DID GRASSLEY LOSE HIS TOUCH WITH HIS CONTITUENTS

Conclusions reached on little data seem to boggle the mind of anyone who has been taught to view results of research closely to determine exactly what the results do tell us. Senator Grassley is clearly not a researcher. A recent article in the Washington Post by Lon Montgomery and Perry Bacon, Jr. states: "After being besieged by protesters at meetings across his home state of Iowa, Grassley said he has concluded that the public has rejected the far-reaching proposals Democrats have put on the table, viewing them as overly expensive precursors to "a government takeover of health care." To me, his illogical conclusions prove that he cannot function rationally, logically, or intelligently as a Senator. That bit of conclusion leaping does not reflect careful, empirical thinking.

IN SEARCH OF SILENCE

Today I happened to tune into WBUR's Here and Now. "Author Anne LeClaire has been spending the first and third Monday of each month in silence, as a practice in meditation. We speak with her about her new book “Listening Below the Noise: A Meditation on the Practice of Silence.”

Actually, her two day a month silences have gone on for 16 years. She now teaches how to do it. Dentists have always commented on what a small mouth I have. Friends and relatives comment on what a 'big mouth' I have. Silence has never been my strong suit until recently, both from within and without. I am a multitasker and usually have all my senses engaged at the same time as I have rushed through life. Now that my life is nearing the end of the tunnel, the rush has slowed down. I already see the light. Since I believe that death is total oblivion, that you just cease to exist, I have no illusions about my death being important to many for long or that the world will have lost some irreplaceable talent. There always seems to be new talent and new innovations, people live with amazing creativity that far surpass anyone who previously existed.

Recently, awakening in the morning no longer finds my hand pushing the radio on before I arise. I recognize exactly what Ms. LeClaire points out. In fact, however, there never is silence because your thoughts will always be in your head and outside noises unless you are in solitary, soundproofed confinement. My head seems to speak my thoughts. It plays music I have recently heard. Conversations I have had play like a tape. Conversations I am going to have, play like a tape. I hear all the outside sounds, I hear all the house sounds. The ice maker pours water after it has dropped cubes into the tray. Birds sing and call. In fact, it is really amazing to try to find complete silence even from the outside, let alone in your head.

Perhaps if I could stay still long enough to meditate I could learn to shut those sounds out but there has to be some motivation to do that and I have none. I like sound. I have just learned to be far more selective about it coming into my head.
Simon and Garfunkel seemed to understand it.

YOU SAID IT

Some people have the skill of making things very clear in just a few words. Francis Schaeffer said: "The Republican Old Guard are in the fix an atheist would be in if Jesus showed up and raised his mother from the dead: Their world view has just been shattered. Obama's election has driven them over the edge."

A description of someone with a poor sense of direction was: "Couldn't find her way out of a room with only one door."

"He had a photographic memory which was never developed."

IT TAKES FOREVER TO CHANGE, FOR SOME

Change comes easily to some (research shows them as Libertarians and Democrats for the most part) and slowly to some others (research shows them to be mostly Republican). The Surgeon General declared cigarettes as very dangerous in the 70's but there are still people who resent having to give them up in the air space of non-smokers.

In Florida, a doctor running the health department was thrown out of his job for disparaging doughnuts. The Associated Press reports on the case of Dr. Jason Newsom, former head of the Bay County Health Department in Panama City. Dr. Newsom regularly posted warnings on an electronic sign outside the health department. According to the news service, the sign messages included:

Sweet Tea = Liquid Sugar

Hamburger = Spare Tire

French Fries = Thunder Thighs

Doughnuts = Diabetes

"A county commissioner who owns a doughnut shop and two lawyers who own a new Dunkin’ Donuts on Panama City Beach turned against him, along with some of his own employees, Newsom says. After the lawyers threatened to sue, his bosses at the Florida Health Department made him remove the anti-fried dough rants and eventually forced him to resign, he says."

It took McDonald's years to get rid of the sulfites on their lettuce and potatoes. They lied about slipping in beef fat in their French fries until they were forced to change. A recent article about reasons why most of us should not eat their food is very interesting.

To see what happens to the food, as compared to regular restaurants, check this out. The real problem is how can the average person find out what they are really eating.

THE STRUGGLE TO AVOID THE SABOTAGE TO FIXING WHAT BUSH/CHENEY BROKE

Adele M. Stan, AlterNet, writes about Dick Armey and how the health-care industry, the GOP and one media mogul made common cause with the anti-government fringe. Most of you will remember Dick Armey from Texas
Armey is fighting the government for his right to opt out of Medicare among many other strange responses to Health Care.

This article by Adele Stan sheds much perspective on some of the things that have not been so clear in the TV media. However, take a few minutes to read the article. It may put some concerns to rest.


There are still naive Americans who think that righteousness was the issue that had the House impeaching Clinton. They do not realize they are the pawns of the major pharmaceutical companies and other money-making interests who have no concern for the very people whom they've enlisted to do their dirty work. Sadly, these are the gullibles in our country who were duped to vote for George Bush long enough to destroy the economy of the country.

While they may be low in numbers, their voices are loud and the media love to show their protests because it stirs up controversies that get people to tune in to them. Too many people live on criticism, gossip, and the feeling that they are above all others.

Senator Jim DeMint lies publicly about Republican plans for Health Insurance that he purports were killed by the Democrats. The Democrats had no power for eight years to kill anything nor was the public ever shown an health care bill they were trying to use to improve the system at that time. Now that Obama has gained office and announces he will see a Bill passed soon, we have this flurry of 'creative ideas', apparently, from the Republicans who were too busy for eight years taking a vacation other than to rubber stamp everything Bush/Cheney wanted.

THE ART OF OBFUSCATION: HOW TO MAKE SOMEONE THINK YOU ANSWERED THE QUESTION

Today, Orrin Hatch, Senator from Utah, has a finger in many very important pies of our country. He did a marvelous job of not answering a direct question, asked by his interviewer, smoothly. He talked about many things, made unrelated points he chose to insert, but never referred to the point his interviewer brought up. When he finished, his interviewer mentioned that he had not responded to his question, they were (of course!) by then out of time. It is, to speech, an art of illusion, as much as a stage performer sawing a woman in half, who then appears, smiling, back in one piece.

Illusion: Answer a question, just not THE question. If you are asked what, answer why or where. If you are asked a question to which a 'no' answer is expected, talk about something else that you can easily make negative comments about.

Don't allow interruptions. Failing that, interrupt the questioner and state some reason why you cannot continue the discussion. On TV, watch cues and make sure you run the clock. On the street, you can always claim you are late for an appointment and race away.

Learn to refocus by asking the interviewer questions. It eats up time so that the original point is forgotten because if the interviewer is forced into a defense his acuity is lessened by having to try to figure out what is happening.

Apparently, though I haven't seen one, I am convinced there is an underground manual for those who are planning a political career...if there isn't one, then politicians are learning by watching those already in office who have mastered the technique and TV provides an open laboratory.