photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008
These shots came from my latest bus ride home including; "As presently designed, the new transit center seems about as useful as costume jewelry. It dazzles and looks to be designed for the politicians to feel good and not for the bus riders to use."
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008
One of the invited guests that presented the economic problems of the indicated California budget deficit to Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, California State University, Chico Professor of Economics David E. Gallo made the point that the deficit is analogous to The Perfect Storm.
"My projection for Butte county is for the growth rate to drop from the 4.91% average growth rate between 2001 and 2005 to less than 0.5% for the next year," Gallo said in an email this morning after citing same yesterday.
This morning's report that the expected deficit is projected to be $20 billion. Gallo said it " is maybe a scare tactic designed to get everyone's attention regarding the severity of the problem." He expects the actual deficit to come out at between $12 to $14 billion. The discrepancy in figures comes from the unanticipated collapse of the real estate bubble.
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Photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008
The budget situation for California State Universities is serious as Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi visits with President Paul Zingg and invited guests at Chico State's Free Speech area on a fact-finding visit earlier today as two sets of protesters silently express their points of view.
I asked the Lieutenant Governor later what he would tell Bill Gates in light of the proposed budget cuts and Gates seeking to import technically educated people from India in order to get cheaper labor than the CSU system can produce.
Garamendi said that he needs to help the CSUs get the funding/investment they need to produce technical students in California alluding to a conversation he had with an official from Seagate Technologies.
There is a problem pointed out by City Editor Steve Schoonover's article in last Friday's Enterprise Record. Since I addressed the unmet needs hearings in Paradise and Chico, I've run into a number of problems that Butte County Association of Governments have failed to address ...
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
..now, or in the last five years and it is time for me to get to work on this. BCAG brought us “transit centers” in Chico and Paradise (I will address that further in this essay), consolidation, as a means I submit to save money for the bus system rather than improve service for the riders, and adjustments in existing schedules.
Continue reading ""No unmet needs that are reasonable to meet"" »
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
Following in the tire tracks of its big brother ceremony in San Francisco, the early Friday evening was descended upon by about 200 bicycle riders in Chico's own Critical Mass. Riding in an orderly, law abiding manor, some of the riders chanted as they passed through Normal Street on Second.
Critical Mass is a leaderless event where its riders do not proceed on a fixed route. They are trying to assert greater rights and awareness for bicyclists in a way to protest the domination of the automobile in modern American society.
These riders were unescorted by Chico and California State University police officers, even while passing in front of the Chico State police office.
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
This squirrel is celebrating spring at Chico State. He is one of many that attend the college for their own education.
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
While watching Lobsang Samtem put together his sand sculpture and finish it at the Bell Memorial Union of California State University, Chico, I had the opportunity to ask the Buddhist Monk a few questions. In light of the recent events in Tibet, the last question seems appropriate.
It took Samtem took over a month to put together the mandala 9which means circles) by hand. I asked him what he wanted people to take w\away from his design.
He said, "Peace. Why not?"
There is a report that there are at least 265,000 surveillance cameras in Beiging alone. China Daily reports that “from recent reports, many cities in China have established extensive surveillance systems with the help of the latest technology including the Internet and satellite.”
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
One of four of what appeasr to be surveillance cameras at the intersection of Second and Normal in Chico perches atop the streetlight.
This sounds familiar, doesn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if the cameras depicted in this essay were made in China
Continue reading "Is electronic surveilance Normal? Part two" »
Recently when the House of Representatives passed a bill which will set rules on how telephone companies and internet service providers will handle government surveillance requests for phone calls and e-mails in the face of President George Bush's promised veto, the Washington Post also reported that the FBI faced Congressional review concerning their misuse of administrative orders.
Reporter Dan Eggen wrote “The FBI has increasingly used administrative orders to obtain the personal records of U.S. citizens rather than foreigners implicated in terrorism or counterintelligence investigations, and at least once it relied on such orders to obtain records that a special intelligence-gathering court had deemed protected by the First Amendment, according to two government audits released yesterday.”
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
What appears to be a surveillance camera at the intersection of Normal and Second in Chico perches atop the streetlight
Continue reading "Is electronic surveillance Normal? Part One" »
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
Last Saturday, Buddhist Monk Lobsang Samtem closed out the Wheel of Time mandala he had been working on since the beginning of February in the Bell Memorial Union at California State University, Chico. Meaning circles, the mandala, or sand sculpture, was authorized by the Dalai Lama at the time of the full Moon Eclipse in the beginning of the month.
Samtem is one of 100 people worldwide who can do this type of art. It is extremely rare for an individual to do this project solo from begining to end. Using his four years of experience in studying the art form, Samtem laid every design by hand using a pair of chapkus to apply the sand.
At the end of the project, Samtem lead a prayer of several hundred people at the BMU who helped him sweep up the sand. His group of 12 assistants gathered it up into tiny envelopes and handed them out to those in the audience. He led a group out to the Chico State Amphitheater where they returned a supply of the sand to the Big Chico Creek setting it on its way back to the ocean.
I will post a couple more photographs with more of this story in the coming days
Staff Writer Jenn Klein's article in last Friday's Enterprise-Record about the new transit center on Second and Salem in Chico is a good primer concerning this political costume jewelry. There is a major flaw with this installation which I tried to address with my September articles in An Internet Globetrotter. The first post in September read;
“In this morning's dispatches was one from Chico Capital Projects, which is supervising construction of the new transit center on Second Street between Salem and Normal. According to Jeff Jukkola, the professional engineer who overlooks the project, the county buses that park on these side streets will be afforded no protection for their passengers.”
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
Chico State freshman Jenny Vang waits on Normal Avenue for her B-Line 20 bus to Oroville last Friday after the new Transit Center opened on Second Street last Wednesday
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008
On my way to school at 9 AM this morning, the snow here is still fresh powder before the major snowfall comes around noon in Paradise
Yuck! Today is the last day of finals, the end of school for this semester -- five days before Christmas. In all my years of schooling, I've never had the two days come so close. This might be a good thing though as the rain passes us by up here.
Since all I have to celebrate with are two dogs and a cat that likes to cuddle, perhaps the lack of buildup time is a good thing. It gives me time to prepare for my special New Year's ritual, one I share here after 20 years of praying to the future.
Every year, on New Year's Day, I greet the day with new clothes, a complete outfit from head to foot. It is part of my simple New Year's wish – May the new year be better than the one we just left.
The one year I was unable to do this ripped my heart out. My wife, Vicki Lee Vaughn-Brune, 51, who I had known for 14 years, died from a massive heart attack. Because her cardiovascular event came without warning, I am now an advocate for the American Heart Association's annual Think Red campaign. More on this tomorrow.
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2007
Tofu, a six-month old puppy, plays with his owner at Chico State. Tofu is one of the many dogs that regularly visits the campus.
There are reports this morning that the Food and Drug Administration is holding hearings concerning a subject that depresses me every time I go shopping at the local grocery store. As I wrote in the series “The Battle of American Food” in August, located in the August archives, there is almost nothing available that isn't loaded with salt.
My store already has a condescending attitude concerning sugar-free foods. They have these bones that they can throw me, over here someplace. During Thanksgiving, they ran out of sugar-free pumpkin pie, while there was enough sugar-based food to power a fleet of humvees.
The store changed hands, and in the process changed their soda distributor. Previously there were several sugar-free varieties of house brand soda. Now they have one, sugar-free cola. With that perspective in place, I know they will do nothing to provide us with salt-free or low sodium alternatives.
In discussions I heard this morning on KGO radio 810, it was pointed out that a principal in New York was suspended for defending a student that wore a t-shirt that read Intifada USA. During that discussion the swastika and the Confederate Battle Flag were mentioned as equal symbols of hate.
A new hat appeared at the Chico State Bookstore that follows the popular fashion of this day. It comes in both black and olive drab, has a flat top, and bears the words Chico State. I bought one of these because it is reminiscent of the uniform caps worn by American soldiers in the mid sixties. Since I wore a 1550 olive drab uniform in the Air Force Reserve, the cap brings that service to mind, even as it has a more sinister identification and identity.
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2007
Big Chico Creek as shot from the major bridge at Chico State two days before workers with the city of Chico and the California Department of Fish and Game modified a beaver dam to re-establish water flow. Dr.David Brown, professor in the Geological and Environmental Sciences department of Chico State, said that this was the first time he had observed the flow had stopped in 10 years.
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2007
Resting in his wheelchair, Frank Smith, whose letter concerning bus problems was read into the record at this morning's Butte County Association of Governments (BCAG) Unmet Transit Needs meeting, listens as Chico bus rider Donna Cook addresses the board at Chico City Hall. She speaks to difficulties concerning bicycle riders on the B -Line buses as she also uses an electric bicycle.
The BCAG members took testimony from several bus riders during the meeting. Later in the meeting they discussed the issue of having bus shelters built with advertising funds. Jim Peplow of Butte Regional Transit, said that they have a budget to build four bus shelters without the aid of outside advertising.
but with those funds, he estimates that twenty shelters per year could be built throughout Butte County. The BCAG board agreed to table this issue for further discussion at a future meeting.
It is strange how times change. A quarter century back when I graduated from Chabot College with an Associate of Arts degree with Honors, I was under the impression that my courseload would fill the requirements for transfer into a state college.
In the next 25 years life happened and I wound up taking a circuitous route to my senior year at Chico State. In preparation for this education, the bureaucrats that determine eligibility qualifications changed tho rules. I wound up studying classes in critical thinking, reasoning, and procedures for verification of facts with the onset of the Internet Age.
That training, combined with a little experience in college journalism, taught me not to trust everything I read but to verify it whenever possible. Which brings me to today's debate in a class at Chico State. As one of the moderators for the issue, I asked both sides to verify their key claims.
photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2007
It is about to rain, and I took this shot to illustrate where Butte County Association of Governments (BCAG) has told me, as a commuter on the B-Line 40 line, where they plan to park the county buses around the new Chico Transit Center at Second and Normal.
I've been told by Chico Capital Projects that the only provision they plan to make for county riders is a set of pre-fabricated benches, when this project is completed.
>In light of this morning's tragic events in Oroville, it is time for me to thank a couple people who helped me put this weblog together. With the trust and assitance of Ryan Olson, the web content and David Little, editors for the Chico Enterprise-Record, I'm able to write about what bugs me, and for that I am most appreciative.
This morning I talked to one of the mothers whose child was apparently held hostage at Las Plumas High School. While worried about her daughter and making arrangements to get her home, she made the point that she felt the boy that allegedly instigated these events should get help to deal with what made him do this, but that likely he will simply be thrown in jail and left to rot.
This is what I fear as well. What will apparently happen is that Greg Wright will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and will be involved with the criminal justice system for the rest of his life. The problem here is that he did not just wake up this morning and say, “I think I will go to school and fire a few shots and take a few people hostage just for drill”.
Conformity is the tyranny of the majority.
Towards that end, when I have watched herd animals on the nature channels, any member of the herd that could not keep up was left to fend for themselves. Since there is security in the herd, when they leave individuals out, those beings usually end up being prey for predators.
Even though it is likely that 4,000 soldiers will have died in Iraq by the end of the year, on a campus with a student body of over 15,000 young people, that does not matter. There are obviously homeless people using Butte County streets to sleep, but in a county of over 100,000 people, their plight is of no concern to the majority. Even though the American Diabetic Society estimates that there are 20 million diabetics, in a nation of 300 million, they do not matter.
There is one thing I like about living in Butte County, particularly its microcosm here in Chico State. This is the first community where wearing a coat and tie would make me look different.
As I walk through the quad, the uniform of the day in this hot weather is a tee shirt and shorts, for men. A dress outfit is a polo shirt and long blue jeans. I've note a handful of men who wear a collared button-down shirt.
The fashions for women reflect what my mother told me many times, in that a woman is entitled to change her mind. That reminds me of the advertising slogan “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”. That leads me to Mr. Spock's question in Star Trek IV. When Captain Kirk mentions that he might change his mind, Spock asks “Is there something wrong with the one I have?”
Part of this uniform I see is what it seems to say about the wearer -- “I don't care about how I look. Back in the day when I was a wee one, we wouldn't be allowed to go out in public with these clothes, including trousers ripped or in tatters. In high school, my mother went off on me when I came home with a hole in the knee of my pants because I tripped over a curb.
This current uniform reflects a lack of pride, an emotion that may have purge out of the younger generation as they spent so much time in front of soulless silicon that they have lost what it means to be a human being. The computer focuses their mind much more on the task at hand. Focusing on the doing has the effect of denying attention to the being
More about this tomorrow as I conclude this series.
My mother passed a saying on to me when I was in elementary school that has stayed with me to this day; “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met the man who had no feet.”
The problem with the baby seat generation, or at least the representatives I've encountered as they buzz by me while on their cellular phones on their way to their next appointment, is that they don't appear to know this saying or what it means. The students I've met seem to be human doings and not human beings.
This generation seems to have no idea of the world beyond their nose. Further, because they have been wedded to the silicon age through one digital device or another, they have no exposure to real emotions. Likewise they have faced no real challenges in their life, so they wouldn't know what an obstacle is or how to deal with it if it reared up on its hind legs and spit fire across their path.
Our newest non-conformist, Austin Perkins, who caught official trouble for wearing a coat and tie to school, explained his decision to do so thus; “They (the administration) set the standard, but we exceeded it,”
As I walk around campus today, wearing my khaki suit with white shirt and tie, hundreds of students buzz by me. When I was their age, we had an expression called “The Generation Gap”. Which dealt with the difference between us and our parents. Today that gap is a chasm, and now I am on the other side of the divide.
Chico State is a very conformist campus. I've lamented such to many professors and not one has contradicted me. I am here to get a sheepskin that I couldn't or didn't get 25 years ago.
When I graduated from Chabot College before the silicon age, we typed papers. There was a gallon of white-out on my desk. Calculators were just making their appearance in major catalogs, and we used cassette tape to record and play the music of the day. Radio telephones came in attache cases because of the large batteries they needed.
Every generation can make the same type of statement, as this one will when they find themselves with an AARP letter in the mail.
But the problem with that perspective is it is useless. The student body in this school is young, and the lesson plans are aimed at their lack of experience. The youngsters buzz on by not caring about anything beyond their immediate sphere of interaction. Perhaps this is made worse by cellular phones, ipods, and laptop computers.
But perhaps there is another point of caution in their silicon world, where there is no emotion, no compassion. They have faced no great challenge equal to the Great Depression. The Iraqi action is the closest thing to a generational conflict, but it is out there beyond their ken.
At least I carried a draft card when I was a teenager, and crossed my fingers as draft numbers were drawn once a week.
I try to see the character of this generation, and I don't like what I see, but more on that tomorrow.
Today is the first day of school at Chico State, where in order to show respect to the event and school, I chose to come to school wearing a coat and tie, a Chico State tie at that. Students wearing t-shirts and jeans or their derivatives are everywhere. Emblemed t-shirts and shorts seem to be the uniform of the day.
Mine is the same decision made by Golden Gate High School senior, Austin Perkins, 17 except that the Bonita, Fl student got suspended from class. It seems that according to the school administration, he didn't follow the dress code.
“I thought it was better than a polo shirt,” Perkins said in the story that ran in the Bonita News.. “So, my friend and I thought why not take the extra step? (The dress code) says business dress. A coat and tie are business dress. Instead we were thrown in a room where we couldn’t talk.”
The heavy in this piece is Principal Bob Spano. Before the suspension, he said that he warned Perkins and other students that to wear a coat and tie would be in violation of the dress code. When the students returned to campus waring such, they were brought to the principal's office. Because they didn't comply. “We had a few students who chose not to follow it ...”, Spano said.
His overriding reasoning in this issue was that by imposing the new dress code on his students, strangers would stand out while standing on campus, which he said keeps the campus safe.
There's that word again, safety, which seems to walk hand in hand with conformity. But the question is when did the memo come out that safety is the eleventh amendment to the Bill of Rights? More on this notion tomorrow.
The first day of school is always an exciting time; new books, new shoes, new teachers, and seeing those you went to school with last year. Today my school bus comes to its stop, a big white Butte Regional Transit carriage, repainted with B-Line indicia.
I get out my shiny student id card when I get on and run face to face with it – the obelisk.
It stands about three feet high, has a brushed metal case with a grey plastic cap, through which passengers insert various methods of payment. Called an electronic fare box, it will give the bus line an accurate account of their daily ridership.
Businesses like silicon exactitude for its immediacy and complete control of resources. Wells Fargo lost much of its monetary record for a time last week; I just worked through a network failure at Chico State where when the servers went down, the network connections were gone, and for the most part, so were the computers.
This over-reliance on computers is one of the problems with today. I remember while being a sophomore at Chabot College a quarter century, or does 25 years ago sound better, and we used manual typewriters, cassette tapes, and the only network we knew of was Ma Bell and our telephone. We made copies with xerox machines, and hardcover books in places called libraries to the place of the Internet. Cut and paste was done with scissors and contact cement.
Back in the day, there was a humanity about things, before we had to deal with the modern trinity of plastic, silicon, and magnetic media. The silicon age has a lot of capability, but at what price. Silicon's very exactitude is its most attractive feature, saving us from having to think, to dream, to emote. Fact is, humanity and emotion is antithetic to silicon, hiding society from the consequences of their mistakes, by making sure they don't make any.
My senior year at Chico State starts Monday, but as I walk around the campus today, I see the mothers, fathers, and their students pondering the future. I remember when beginning my term here, how much anticipation there was. Today is one of those moments that I wish my family was still alive, so I could share this with someone.
As squirrels rush around with acorns in their jaws, I wonder if they are late for class themselves. All the young people rush about, carrying cellular phones next to their jaws. One memorable encounter I had was with a line of students walking in unison down the sidewalk, each person talking on their own cell phone.
Even I now have one of these infernal machines now, thanks to Virgin Mobile. The pre-paid service provides me with what I need, when I need it, without having some stifling two year contract.
The one task I have put off until now is buying my books, or more accurately renting them. Not only do these things have higher price tags than anything I find at the bookstores, the authors are boring reads. Beyond the time line of class, I wouldn't crack these covers if I found them in the mall. Hopefully I can keep this weblog more interesting.
On the bus this morning, I overheard the cliché that seems to manifest itself in California's driver law. Driving is not a right, but a privilege. I had to laugh because I was on a motorized vehicle. What I have to argue here is there is a third consideration towards this cliché: driving is a necessity.
At the present time Butte County is laid out so that the only practical way to get around is by motorized vehicle, bus, taxi, or automobile. As I walk to my bus stop, hundreds of cars remind me that this is a fact of life as they buzz by on the asphalt.
The automobile is a double-edged sword. It allows those with money to come and go as they please, all things being equal. On the other hand, I have to plan my day based on the bus schedule, all the way down to the classes I can take at Chico State. Living up on the Ridge is a point of separation between me and other students in that those who live around the campus have no desire to go up the Skyway to get to my house. I am too far out of the way for them.
Which brings me to the other edge of the sword. A car separates its driver and passengers from the rest of society. Closed windows define their world; those in the automobile deal with what is in their chariot, and have no feeling about anything beyond the perimeter of their car. The only exception is anything that could threaten their world or impede the progress of their trip.
In other words, nothing or nobody better deign to get in their way. Because of my stroke I walk slowly. More than once I've heard a car horn imploring me to get out of the way. Drivers like to push out of driveways right in front of me as though I am not there because their egress is more important than mine.
Summer Sol send warmth down through the tall timbers, and as I walk to the bus stop a raven debates a gray squirrel. I walk down the hill on a paved trail that is quiet except for the occasional barking dog, bicyclist, or jogger. But after visiting the bank, I walk to an enclosed bus stop, where what passes for opulence buzzes by with the heat and the flies.
"Living up here is a mixed bag. There is the peace and quiet, but there is also the frustration that comes with trying to work with a technological world." (as quoted in the Chico Enterprise-Record August 27) There is stock footage that aired on Channel 24 that depicts this area as a frontier community that wraps itself in the American flag.
Since the power supply went out on my computer, I had to take my jump drive on a daily bus ride commute down the hill in order to tend to An Internet Globetrotter because there are no useful computers up here that don't come with a high price tag. Below, see a letter I published in the Paradise Post earlier this year in an attempt to address the problem.
Rumor has it that Wal-Mart may build a store up here, and K-Mart is going through a significant renovation to serve the major needs of the ridge. Towers with cellular antennas are springing up among the evergreens, so somebody believes there is money up here. Digital subscriber lines don't reach everywhere so those who aren't served by dsl have to use cable if they can and an old-fashioned phone line if they cannot..
Thirty minutes up the Skyway leads to a societal split between Chico and the Ridge. As one who straddles that split between tall timbers and tall dreams, I find this a challenge that I have to make the best of, one of the by-products of my senior year at Chico State.
According to the American Diabetes Association, there are over 20 million people suffering from Diabetes. The American Heart Association reports that 72 million people over 20 have high blood pressure. I am just one of these people.
This year the Girl Scouts offered a brand of sugar-free cookies from one of their two licensed bakers. Their website reports that it is not one of their best sellers, and it is not featured prominently in their sales campaign. In their frequently asked questions section they ask if diabetics should consume their cookies, which links to their bakers. On those sites the answer is inconclusive.
Automobile manufacturers develop car types with lower expected sales numbers than tha food manufacturers have for diabetics.
While the economics of scale seem to preclude manufacturing sugar and sodium free products, in staying away from the products loaded with these flavorings, I am the lightest I've been in almost 20 years. In staying away from salt and sugar, there are not too many alternatives left. Many of these products are hidden on the store shelves and bear much higher price tags than the what else is out there.
The battle of American food is a frustrating exercise. Since my stroke, I've had to give up so many of the foods that kept my youth going. No wonder at least 100 million Americans are considered overweight. What this leaves me with is a choice; eat right or eat cheap. I choose to eat right.
Continue reading "The battle of American food, conclusion." »
Eating in the field;
Once this fall semester starts at Chico State, I won't have the time or energy to shop at supermarkets or cook at home. That leaves restaurants, fast food and otherwise. There is a good trend in that I can find what many of the foods are made of.
I have the nutritional information from many of the major fast food restaurants bookmarked on my jump drive through Firefox. In looking up these sites, another site popped up run by three self-described geeks who wanted to eat smarter and couldn't find an adequate site so they set up The Daily Plate.
They keep track of nutritional information for many foods, including fast foods. When I looked up a Big Mac, this site said there is over 1,000 milligrams of sodium in one such. Add an order of large fries to that order and there is an additional 330 mgs of salt.
I had a college diner manager tell me once that fries without salt are sacrilegious, indicating how insidious this problem is. When I go to fast food and ask for fries without salt, this becomes a major production in that they have to fry a new order. The problem is equal for food without sugar. Most restaurants offer only diet cola unsweetened tea, or water.
Continue reading "The battle of American food, part three" »
The exercise of supermarket shopping;
There is an article in today's Washington Post; Stretch your grocery dollars which contains solid suggestions on how a family of four can eat on $120 a week. While all I have to worry about are my two dogs, cat, and me, the ideas Sally Squires made in her piece are of note, even if I don't agree with all of them.
The url for this piece is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/features/2007/stretch-grocery-dollars-061907/graphic.htmll in the August 14 Washington Post.
As a re-entry student at Chico State, for a while it became difficult for me to navigate around campus after my stroke. The next fall was a test of just how much I would have to deal with. One of the items on my agenda was a basic nutrition class.
There were many explanations of how food interacted with the body, but while the professor and registered dietician set these ideas in motion, she pressed home the use of whole wheat bread, pasta, and a good explanation of food labels. While the common wheat bread claims to be good, since it is made from enriched wheat flour, it does not have the nutritional value God gave little green apples.
Bread and pasta made from whole wheat flour has much more nutritional value. Hence the common macaroni and cheese meal is out. Not only is the cheese component loaded with salt, but the pasta is next to valueless as a nutritional component.
Yesterday Associated Press reporter Stephen Ohlemacher filed a story titled US Slipping in Life Expectancy Rankings. He reported that this country had slipped to 42nd place in world life expectancy statistics.
Ohlemacher wrote that “Adults in the United States have one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Nearly a third of U.S. adults 20 years and older are obese, while about two-thirds are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.”
I am one of these overweight Americans, and just over three years ago, as a result of long time hypertension and diabetes, I had a major stroke. Right after the stroke, I made the decision to stay away from refined sugar. At the beginning of this year, with blood sugar figures in good control, I further decided to stay away from sodium.
In my latest physical the figures spoke for themselves. I had lost significant weight, my blood pressure had come down to normal levels, and my ankles were no longer swollen, indicating that I was no longer holding water.
The problem is what I have to give up to get figures that make my doctor smile -- almost everything.
Shopping in modern supermarkets is a reminder of the food i grew up on, all the stuff I have to stay away from. Starting with the bakery with all the goodies loaded with sugar and icing, flashing past the processed meats, including sausages and sliced meat products and diary goods including American and cottage cheese, all the canned vegetables and boxed foods, and just about everything in the interior of the supermarket.
I have to walk by the spaghetti sauces, canned spinach and macaroni and cheese because of all the sodium. My dietician has me on sodium budget of 2,000 milligrams of sodium a day, which sounds like a lot until I read on the label that a can of chili takes me over by itself. Forget most pizzas, potato and processed chips, and most food that has been either processed or packaged.
Part two of this experience will be filed tomorrow..
This is the latest ramification that comes out of what I call “The Car Seat Generation”. Far removed from the world i grew up in, this item tells me what we're coming to as a society.
The website for this $175 device says “Their safety is in your hands - My Child's Pack is here to help!” What one gets here is a bulletproof – backpack. It says that you can now protect your child against bullet and knife violence.
According to WCVB-TV, Channel 5 in Boston, Joe Curran, co-inventor and founder of My Child's Pack said about the product, "I want to keep my kid safe. I don't care what you do -- if you want to fight the good fight or fix the world's hurts, I can't help you, but my kids are going to be safe because of these backpacks,"
As someone who grew up as an adult child of alcoholics locked away for 21 years by my parents back in the day, I have often pondered what would happen when this car seat generation gets in a position to effect society. When we strap them into booster seats, mandate helmets when they ride their bicycles, or by extension helmets and seatbelts for adults.
When did the memo appear where safety became a mandate of society.? Back in the day we had to put up with drunk-driving, child-abuse, or all manner of travails as children, but society shrugged its collective shoulders and told us to get over it. Such was no big thing.
Today we have nanny-technology out there which appears to have superseded the Constitution of the United States. Under the cover of fighting “terrorism” we are now being forced into George Orwell's 1984 vision with nary a protest. For the moment, if I could survive what I grew up with and etch letters into silicon today, what's wrong with today's children?
Or for that matter what makes this society think it' is so special?
08/10/07
Today is a day I wish I was somewhere other than in Butte County, specifically at Candlestick Park. From the early 70s I've been a San Francisco 49ers fan, and today is a day of mixed emotions for me.
All the accolades about coach Bill Walsh have been said with much more eloquence than I can opine on today. The first lasting memory I have of his time was in the 1981 season, when the hapless 49ers faced Dallas at Candlestick. They delivered a whooping upon the Cowboys with such spirit that I could call the season, and did.
After they toasted their opposition, I yelled to the television that we would go to the Super Bowl and would win it. That was 16, the first of their five victories, and numerous playoff appearances.
This was a special team, one that I enjoyed watching for all the years it existed. I hope that this year will leave its own suggestion of success, but of that we shall see.
As a long time San Francisco Giants fan, I am extremely proud of Barry Bonds. He has given us something special in this otherwise dismal season, and for that I am thankful.
It was a summer at Kimball Elementary School when I first went to a Giants game at Candlestick. The park was special, and Willie Mays and McCovey were in the outfield, while Juan Maricial pitched. I saw Mays hit a fly ball which looked like it could go out, but a boy's best wishes couldn't help there.
Fast forward to yesterday and the electronic media which extracted every bit of minutia out of the moment. I heard Bonds hit 756 on the radio, and it was a shot that paused the moment. Only after the ball landed did the pace of life resume at an overwhelming rate.
I have my Bonds jersey, and Bonds bobblehead, available after he hit his single season record. 756 became the apparent target then, but patience was taxed by controversy, but two words put everything in perspective – Gaylord Perry.
Perry pitched for the Giants, Perry's name and number are retired for them, and is a member of the Hall of Fame. His record merits all the honors, even though he took glee in throwing the spitball, the controversial pitch that gave him a reputation which worried opposing batters. We don't know how many games he won because of the spitter, but there was no serious talk in the same intensity as dogs Barry Bonds.
The San Diego Padres fans put all this in perspective when Bonds hit 755. Most of them appreciated the moment, giving him a standing ovation. Last night's celebration had pre-planned elements, but it was largely organic for the fans that have appreciated Bonds' efforts over the years. For me this will be as memorable as the Mays fly ball, the Bay Area World Series, or the Giants last World Series effort.
Now, what will happen with 757?
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