Too late now—no do overs

Too many Christians sat out the election; too many conservatives stayed home and pouted.

Six ways to get more from your workout and prevent injury—Harvard Medical School

1. Focus on form, not weight. Good form means aligning your body correctly and moving smoothly through an exercise. Poor form can cause injuries and hinder strength gains because you aren’t isolating muscles properly. “I often start people with very light weights because I want them to get their alignment and form right,” says Josie Gardiner, master trainer and fitness consultant to Harvard Medical School and co-editor of the Workout Workbook. “It’s good to start off using light to moderate weight when learning an exercise routine.” Concentrate on performing slow, smooth lifts and equally controlled descents while isolating a muscle group. You isolate a muscle group by holding your body in the position specified for each exercise while consciously contracting and releasing certain muscles.

2. Tempo, tempo. Control is important. Tempo helps you stay in control and avoid undercutting gains through relying on momentum. And sometimes switching speed — for example, lowering for three counts and lifting for one count instead of taking two counts for each — can enhance power.

3. Breathe. Blood pressure rises if you hold your breath while performing strength exercises. Exhale as you work against gravity (when you’re lifting, pushing, or pulling); inhale as you relax.

4. Challenge your muscles. The optimum weight to use depends on the exercise. Choose a weight that tires the targeted muscle or muscles by the last two reps while still allowing you to maintain good form. If you can’t do the last two reps, choose a lighter weight. When it feels too easy to complete all the reps, challenge your muscles again by adding weight (roughly 1 to 2 pounds at a time for arms, 2 to 5 pounds for legs); adding a set to your workout (up to three sets per exercise); or working out additional days per week (as long as you rest each muscle group for 48 hours between strength workouts). If you add weight, remember that you should still be able to do all the reps with good form and the targeted muscles should feel tired by the last two reps.

5. Practice regularly. A complete upper- and lower-body strength workout two or three times a week is ideal.

6. Give muscles time off. Strength training causes tiny tears in muscle tissue. Muscles grow stronger as the tears knit up. Always allow at least 48 hours between sessions for muscles to recover. You can always do “split sessions” — for example, you might do upper body on Monday, lower body on Tuesday, upper body on Wednesday, lower body on Thursday, etc.

 

From Healthbeat, July 26, 2014

After 2000 years, there are no more Christians in Mosul

“In making his own nation and setting up his Islamic Caliphate, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was able to take advantage of the lack of a centralized authority in Iraq and Syria. Since the last of the Christians have departed the city, Christian churches have had the insides gutted, crosses and statues of the Virgin Mary destroyed, and many have been converted to Mosques. Survivors who fled the city tell gruesome stories of beheadings, crucifixions and worse being perpetrated by ISIS rebels.”

http://myocn.net/mosuls-christians-ask-conscience-world/

Mexico and Guatemalan border agreement

Mexico has strict and swift border enforcement, so how are all these kids getting to the U.S.? Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina met earlier in the month to work out new border agreement that gives them a 72 hour "gate pass" to travel through Mexico to get to the U.S. border. Mexico will provide medical aid, financial assistance and safety protection for these children--for 72 hours--and then it's our problem.

https://www.numbersusa.com/news/mexico-guatemala-announce-agreement-make-illegal-passage-us-easier

Children of the Tundra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQeNOiYL3AQ

This is Russia, but many of the lessons and child rearing thoughts will be familiar to you.  It’s about roots and challenges of the world.

Some children just want to return home to the Tundra (some have died trying), and others have become so worldly and accustomed to town benefits, they don’t want to return.

Amazing to watch toddlers eating frozen meat with a sharp knife at their mouth.  Reindeer Festival—what fun and competition.

Can Hutterites be born again?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddIxHNJ38mk

This is a fascinating film about a communal Christian colony called the Hutterites.  Their origins are in the Amish and Mennonite Anabaptist tradition and there are over 400 colonies in Canada and the U.S. This group live near the Canadian border, but some time back during a time of grief, one family went to a tent revival and were “saved,” and now worship differently than the Hutterites.  The emphasis is on Jesus, not love and commitment to the community of believers. They worship in English, not German.

The Flatwillow colony born again women sell their bread at a farmer’s market and use the time to evangelize. This is different from other Hutterites that only send men outside the colony. The “born agains” have Bible study, a practice not observed by Hutterites who read the Bible literally without questioning or interpreting. The “born agains” will not be able to intermarry with the Hutterites, and the two groups no longer do the same tasks on the 15,000 acre property.

I didn’t know when the film was made, but the eye wear looked like the early 1990s, and I found a WorldCat entry for 1992, filmed by BBC. So this all happened over 20 years ago.  They were making so many dress and life style changes I assume they eventually didn’t follow any Hutterite traditions, although when the film was made they continued them.  I did find an obituary for Eli Stahl from 2011, which follows a comment one of his relatives made in the film about an early death for those who leave the faith.

Progressive policies are hurting the poor

The bottom half of the economy has gone nowhere the last 7 years. The gains you see are for the richest Americans in Obama's recovery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPOnzzB3OZs

Trust in a marriage—what does that mean to you?

"Trust in a marriage." Just what does that phrase mean? This is my list, your mileage will vary.

• Trust with money--one doesn't decide major purchases without consulting the other. Check books and credit cards aren't a battleground. Money isn't about wealth, it's about values, which is why I put it first.
• Trust with communication--no lying, but no unnecessary honesty either, like what was said 10 years ago that hurt, or what you really think of your mother-in-law or her best friend.
• Trust that grievances will be worked out and not cherished and polished like prayer beads.
• Trust that the other isn't "sharing" or "just joking" behind your back, demeaning the marriage relationship instead of lifting it up.
• Trust that the marriage bed is pure and free of outside influences.
• Trust that the marriage vows will be kept, in thought, word and deed.
• Trust that the other can enjoy time with friends and family that may not include the other without jealousy or anxiety.
• Trust that the other will maintain a strong work ethic to support the family.
• Trust that one parent doesn't work against the other in discipline of children (minor or adult), family values, religion.

What would you add?

Coaxing the cat to eat

Our cat has stopped eating, so I took her to the vet, where I discovered she's only about 4.1 lbs even though she'd been eating well until Thursday. I turned down the expensive tests to find out why (she's 16), and asked for subcutaneous fluid and a few appetite stimulants. That has worked in the past when this happened (late summer, always at the lake house). Vet said give her anything to eat you normally wouldn't just to get some calories in her. So, this morning in addition to baby food she got some Häagen-Dazs ice cream and salmon meant for people. She'll get a little freshly cooked chicken and steak later--after she wakes up.

Who is this?

This is an early photo (yesterday) of a baby, the son and 4th child of mother, Sarah, whom we’ve known since she was 14.  The family is thrilled, as are grandma and grandpa.  But even if Sarah didn’t want him, even if his brother and sisters were not excited, even if grandma and grandpa said, “Oh, not again,” he would still be a baby and Sarah would still be a mother.  Separate and equal in God’s sight and love.

And the popular choice winner is . . .

It was announced last night at the evening program at Lakeside Chautauqua that my husband's painting of the children eating ice cream got the "popular choice" award (people vote for their favorite). This photo shows the winning painting with the winning models.

Our birthrate is below replacement levels

Pew Research says the U.S. birth rate is falling because of the recession, but it fell by more between 1990-2000 which were very good years. Let's blame Bush instead of Obama's anti-life policies and insistence on free contraception. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/25/chart-of-the-week-the-great-baby-recession/

OSU band director fired

Women were first admitted to the OSU marching band 41 years ago, and those who observed it in those pre-diversity days say it wasn't for wimps then either and there was hazing in the pre-Title IX days. Positions are highly competitive--and not just at try out. I don't know the details on why the band director since 2012 Jonathon Waters was fired, but I have read it was a parent that blew the whistle about serious "cultural issues" and sexual harassment within the band. I don't think this will make the new president the most popular guy on campus.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-state-university-marching-band-director-fired-sexualized/story?id=24708582

If a director on the job for 2 years can be blamed for behavior that goes back over 40 years, then why not the President who's been on the job for 3 weeks?

I wonder if this parent homeschooled her daughter?  Maybe she doesn’t read Facebook?  The whole world is sexualized but pretending not to be—horrified that someone made a gay joke 5 years ago, but insulted if it is suggested that fornication or adultery are wrong. Has this Mom never watched TV, or seen twerking, or wardrobe failures?

How many Americans are LGBT?

"Of 34,557 adults ages 18 and older, the survey reported, 1.6 percent said they were gay or lesbian. Some critics say the numbers are low, but they fall in the range of other surveys. In the new survey, however, only 0.7 percent of respondents described themselves as bisexual; other studies have reported higher numbers."

Even when they were guestimating the figure wasn't much over 3%. Now, the percentage of stories in the news, or characters in entertainment media or literature, that's probably about 20%. Obama by updating a Nixon era EO, will want gender identity included in personnel records--otherwise how will anyone sue their employer and create another dip in the economic recovery?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/how-many-americans-are-lesbian-gay-or-bisexual/

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr077.pdf

Art and antiques of the Gilded Age

We had a wonderful lecture at Lakeside yesterday by Amelia Jeffers, co-owner of Garth's Auctions in Delaware on our theme of the week, the Gilded Age, art and antiques. We had visited Garth's on one of our trips with Conestoga (friends of the Ohio Historical Society--new name is Ohio History Connection) and also one of the mansions she used as an example, Stan Hywet in Akron. If you live in Ohio, both locations are wonderful half day or one day trips. Today at Lakeside is the home tour and craft show--many visitors. One of the open homes is a newly renovated cottage on our street. My husband is a host at one of the cottages for which he was the architect.

Victura; the Kennedys, a sailboat and the sea, by James W. Graham, guest blogger Lynne Wilburn

 

“Another Kennedy book,” was my first thought when seeing this title, but after the first ten pages I came to realize it wasn’t just another Kennedy book. It was a crash course in sailing for a land locked mid-westerner  like  myself and I found myself sailing right along with the family.  The Kennedys sailed when grief was everywhere, during  wedding weekends, in times of joy and  unthinkable sadness,  At times they sailed alone.  One account of Teddy sailing alone at night with just his skill and the stars following his brother Bobby’s death was especially touching . And the competing among family member is long standing going back to Joe, Jr. and Jack in their youth.

Old Joe Kennedy purchased the first sailing vessel for his two older sons and the race was on, entering  races  together and against each other.  Interestingly, the Kennedy women competed  against all comers, too, and Eunice and Ethel are among the finest sailors in the family. Ethel still holds her annual sailing picnics for her expanding family and she is well into her 80’s.

Christopher Kennedy , son of  Robert and Ethel, was author James Graham’s right hand  during the research for this book and they became friends. Chris often took the author sailing, although he was not much of a sailor at the time. Many sailing days later while Chris and Graham were returning to shore for lunch, they came upon a number of children of varying ages with a instructor.  The children were taking lessons in sailing and water safety and when they saw Chris they all smiled their toothy smiles and waved eagerly. Chris turned to the Graham and said,  “They are mostly Kennedys”.

As one generation of Kennedys sails into the sunset, so to speak, another generation comes over the horizon and the reader now understands why the family loves the sea. “We are tied to the ocean, and when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch--we are going back  from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy

University Press of New England
272 pages, 6 x 9", 28 images
Cloth, $29.95, Ebook $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-61168-4117
To order: 800-421-1561
www.upne.com

Got tofu?

Each lecture should have a take-away, just like a good sermon. Last week's lecture at Lakeside Chautauqua about commodities and South America: soybean production is contributing to rainforest destruction in Brazil; China is the world's biggest user of soybeans and now the #1 trading partner for South America. My thought: as America's farmland is used to create ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuel, there is less land for soybeans so the rainforest is destroyed. So can we thank environmentalists for this?

http://www.ozy.com/acumen/south-americas-soybean-revolution/3401.article

http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/secret-dirty-cost-obamas-green-power-push-1

“past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn — and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass — become a prized commodity.

"Using good cropland to expand biofuels will probably exacerbate global warming," concludes the study published in Science magazine.” http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-02-08-ethanol-study_N.htm

How the President finds out what is going on . . .

http://robjonesforpresident.com/2014/05/22/obama-heard-it-on-the-news-collectors-addition/

The buzz about bees

"Bee populations in the U.S. and Europe remain at healthy levels for reproduction and the critical pollination of food crops and trees. But during much of the past decade we have seen higher-than-average overwinter bee-colony losses in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as cases of bees abruptly abandoning their hives, a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder."

Citing this disorder, antipesticide activists and some voluble beekeepers want to ban the most widely used pesticides in modern agriculture—neonicotinoids ("neonics" for short)—that account for 20% of pesticide sales world-wide. This would have disastrous effects on modern farming and food prices." http://online.wsj.com/articles/henry-i-miller-why-the-buzz-about-a-bee-pocalypse-is-a-honey-trap-1406071612

The identify crisis in the newest EO

President Richard Nixon in a 1969 Executive Order, included gender to a list of groups that are protected from being discriminated against as federal employees. Why the hoopla about Obama?  And if his EO update (also updated by Johnson and Clinton) makes a difference, why did he wait so long? Being gay didn't stop librarians from rising to the top of their profession. Or artists.  Or musicians. Or novelists.  Certain folks seem to fear their own sexuality and have stayed too long in the closet.  Will they now take the designation "male/female" off personnel records and applications? (I’ve heard California is removing husband and wife designations). Or will job applications and personnel records need to include surgery records for transitioned? Will a black transgender (male to female) have a case against the boss because a gay black man has been promoted and she wasn't? 

http://tgmentalhealth.com/basic-issues-in-transgender-mental-health/

http://www.healthcommunities.com/transgender-health/female-to-male.shtml