Are You a 65-year-old Male?

"All males, 65 years or older, who have been exposed to the traditional Western diet, have cardiovascular disease and should be treated as such."

Lewis Kuller, M.D.

University of Pittsburgh

April, 2006

"How bush league, how undisciplined, how kid's stuff."

Those are the words of WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan, describing president Obama's managing of the railroading (my word) of health care reform. Read the whole column here.

Writers with Good Humor

It is standard practice in either the Preface, or on an Acknowledgements page, for authors of books to extend thanks to all the people who provided assistance to the author in various ways and stages of his or her writing. These often are "yada yada yada" litanies which readers tend to scan over hurriedly since the names (usually) mean nothing to the reader. Normally, a standard boilerplate is included to the effect that "all these individuals helped make my book better, but I alone am responsible for its errors and shortcomings."

In many years of reading books, I have noted only two creative variations on this theme, both delightful and unique:

In the Preface to Biblical Preaching, Dr. Haddon Robinson pays homage to his mentors and teachers and then says, "Since all of these and others influenced me deeply, it is only fair that for weaknesses in this volume they should shoulder a large share of the blame."

And in the Acknowledgements section of Eating Animals, author Jonathan Safran Foer says (read this carefully), "Betsy Uhrig's eye for errors large and small has made this book finer and more exact—any mistakes are untirely mine own."

Nice to find authors who use a bit of disarming humor in the midst of their serious endeavors.

Charlotte Area Cyclist Killed

A Charlotte-area cyclist was struck and killed by a motorist early Wednesday morning (March 17) as he road to work. Adam Little, 34, was an experienced cyclist and member of a local race team. He was riding appropriately, had a warning light on the back of his bike, but was still struck and killed by a motorist who claimed not to have seen him.

The driver was a 24-year-old female who failed to report the incident (hit and run) but was later apprehended and charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle.

This was unnerving news, since I did a 41-mile ride myself yesterday. I always pray for safety before I leave on a ride, and give thanks when I return safely, knowing how dangerous this sport can be. The last statistic I read said, on average, two cyclists per day are killed by motorists in the United States. My greatest danger yesterday came in the form of being chased three times by a total of five dogs, one a pit bull.

Amazingly, just a week before this incident, a national ESPN radio commentator, Tony Kornheiser, issued an on-air rant against cyclists, encouraging his audience to "run 'em down." He spent five and a half minutes on this rant. "I'm not saying you kill them—just tap them." When Lance Armstrong got wind of this he sent out the following Tweet to his more than two million followers: "Listening to Tony Kornheiser on ESPN radio re: cyclists. Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot. . . Big mistake, Tony." This drivel can be heard here -- scroll down to Part 1 of the March 11 broadcast. The rant begins at 31:28.

Here's part of what Kornheiser said: “And they all, my God, with their water bottles in the back, and their stupid hats, and their shiny shorts, they’re the same kind of disgusting posers that in a snowstorm come out with cross-country skis on your block. Run them down.”

3-22-10 Follow up: Kornheiser had Lance Armstrong on his radio show to apologize for his remarks. That 16 minute conversation can be heard here (scroll down under Kornheiser's show until you see a picture of LA). The interview was weak -- a missed opportunity by LA to make stronger points about the need of the public to recognize that bikers have a right to the road in most states, etc. But at least the host apologized.

A California doctor is now in prison for attempting to teach two cyclists a lesson by stopping short in front of them, causing them to crash into the back of his car and suffer massive injuries.

Cyclists should obey all road laws, and so should drivers. Please drive alertly—and keep your dogs penned.

Sprouting

Tried sprouting a mix of red and white quinoa (say "keen-wah" or however the next knowledgeable person you meet says to pronounce it), a South American pseudo-grain grown high in the Andes. Quinoa is not a true grain since it is not a cereal grass (like wheat, barley, etc.) After soaking for four hours, it sprouts overnight. The close-up below is of quinoa that has grown for about 48 hours. I could have set them in a windowsill in direct sunlight for 15-20 minutes to bring up the chlorophyll in the sprouts, turning them more green, but I was anxious to eat some of these:

Am also soaking (l. to r.) buckwheat, amaranth, and a mix of adzuki (red) and mung (green) beans for sprouting. I've sprouted mungs and adzukis before, but not the other two:

I use these sprouts in salads. All are very high in protein and eaten "live" (without cooking) retain their enzymatic properties and "life force." When seeds come in contact with moisture (just as with seeds in the ground) they "come to life" enzymatically and kick into motion the chemical processes that produce growth. Because of the sudden growth mechanisms, sprouts are extremely high in the seeds' inherent nutritional qualities making them healthy additions to one's diet.

Rich Man, Poor Man

Richard Russell is one of the most famous investment analysts working today, having penned the Dow Theory Letters for four decades. By his own admission, the most popular piece he ever wrote is titled "Rich Man, Poor Man," to illustrate the power of compound interest over time (sometimes referred to as "the eighth wonder of the world.) His entire piece can be read here, but the following table (reproduced without RR's permission) illustrates his point. While compound interest works at any age, anyone in their twenties, or with young children, should read his piece and meditate on the table below and do what it takes for seven years to create a nest egg. I wish I had seen this table, and had someone to "force" me to do this, between the ages of 19 and 25. (The table assumes an annual interest rate of 10 percent, the approximate average increase of the stock market over time. Obtaining such a rate today is rare, of course, but the principle of compound interest still holds regardless of the average ROR [rate of return]).

How Children View the World

The warm weather has brought out the nice group of children (mostly grammar school age) in my neighborhood, and their buckets of chalk. As long as I have lived here they have used our cul-de-sac as a canvas for chalk drawings—more often than not, they are large-scale layouts of houses, living spaces, etc.

And they were out in force late yesterday afternoon. This morning, while putting a letter in the mail box, I stopped to look at what they had drawn. It looks to be a cityscape that covers the entire cul-de-sac. I was intrigued to note the kinds of venues they had included:

"McDonald's," "Subway," and "Starbucks:"

"Target" and "Wal-Mart:"

These tabula rasa (blank slate—a slight misuse of the original term) type drawings remind me of the therapy employed with children in post-trauma settings, where therapists give them blank paper and crayons and ask them to "draw" in order to get a glimpse of their worldview.

If you give modern children—at least this group of modern children—a bucket of chalk and a blank asphalt canvas and let them draw "their world," it's interesting to see what it includes. In the cityscape drawn by my neighbors' children, I was interested in what was included as well as not included. The only things labeled were the five commercial establishments I photographed above. There were no churches or houses of worship, hospitals, libraries, fire stations, schools, parks, gardens, or farms—just three fast-food outlets and two big box retailers. (Maybe they ran out of time and daylight before putting in the venues I note as missing. Even so, it's interesting to see what they drew and labeled first.)

I'm not going to jump to any large conclusions based on what they labeled, but I will say I found it interesting. Fast food and big box retailing. Is that how the average child today views the world?

Christianity

I heard someone recently on television describe the history of Christianity this way:

In Israel, it was a relationship.

In Greece, it became a philosophy.

In Rome, it became a religion.

In Europe, it became a cultural tradition.

In America, it has become an enterprise.