People who compare other people to Hitler...

don't recognize that they cannot possibly be taken seriously. Show me where the person compared to Hitler authorized the concentration camps, show me their government terror squads smashing windows of storefronts and brutally beating innocent citizens, and I'll consider changing my opinion.

I do not know why irrational and absurdist statements are used to bolster opinion as fact. This gambit is very popular in my adopted country, and probably in other countries where there is at least some free speech. Say something truthful and sensational and backed up by facts. Anything else makes you sound like a loon calling other loons.

A moment of intuition?

I am reading a book: _The Intuitive Edge_, by Philip Goldberg. I am not intuitive, although I am a good predictor of people's behaviour at times.

Here is my intuition anecdote of the day:
There is a woman I have met whose child is in a grade higher than my child's: both our children attend the same school. I'll call her Honora. She wanted someone to look at her computer as it was not working correctly. She asked if my husband would come look at it. I said I would ask.

I did ask. Hubby said okay. We went to the woman's house, and she wasn't there. Fine. The next day Old Man L. says "I...I...I gotta go walkies." And I suggest a nearby chain restaurant known for healthful food, that we've been to twice. So we go, and lo! on our third visit, there is Honora with her friend! And I direct Old Man L. to her.

What possessed me to suggest a place we don't frequent?

breast cancer prevention foods: what's the real story?

source: The Breast Cancer Prevention Plan

Here are what are suggested to reduce one's chances of getting breast cancer
green tea
organic milk and milk products
buy meat from livestock ranchers you can interview directly
eat cruciferous vegetables every day
consume more yogurt (organic)
brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, cabbage, turnips, collards and cauliflower should be eaten frequently (unless you're pregnant or breast-feeding).
raise your Vitamin B12 and folate levels: eat green leafy vegetables, peas, beans, and enriched cereals -- supplement with methylcobalamin
eat fruits and vegetables that have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides
avoid dioxins
reduce or regulate your blood sugar
N-acetylcysteine

never eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
never eat anything that would not spoil easily
never eat anything wild animals will not eat


touching, hugging and sex all increase melatonin production
make sure you turn down your lights especially after 10 pm. this includes turning off the TV or using the computer after 10 pm

the velveteen rabbit

I read Margery Williams's classic to my kid last night and he leaped across the bed to hug me when I finished reading. This is a parental thrill. He doesn't hug his father after his father reads to him.

The noise filters are doing their job well today

I accompanied my family to "Taste of Chicago" and found the radio commercials much too loud. Maybe I am a geezer. I walked out of the restaurant, the radio volume was that loud. Not only that, the television was going too. We were the only customers in and we didn't request the television nor the radio. I don't want to go to "Taste of Chicago" anymore, although the person on staff did turn down the commercials. Ten minutes of ads! How do people cope

More readings:
Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments by Michael Dirda
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose

Van Gogh's room at Arles : [three novellas] / Stanley Elkin.

Reading in bed : personal essays on the glories of reading / selected and edited by Steven Gilbar.

The best American short stories of the century / John Updike, editor ; Katrina Kenison, coeditor ; with an introduction by John Updike.

Pieces of soap : essays / by Stanley Elkin.
Esquire's big book of fiction / edited by Adrienne Miller.

There are so many readers here in Seattle. I don't meet them because they read. There are umpteen book clubs, but I don't read in book clubs, so I don't meet them. What I'd love is for someone with whom to share reading recommendations and experiences. Maybe making food is a better way of connecting: people in general are happier when their stomachs are full of good food; show me who is satisfied when his or her mind has digested a terrific novel.

The last great novel I read was Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. Before that it was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I read Geek Love and although it cried out to be for 17 years, its message wasn't worth waiting that long for.

I'm very sensitive to input these days. When the input is positive, that is good. I went to school today and three people said hello. I met some parents while we waited for the school bus to return our children to us. That was a golden, neighbourly moment. Now I'm going to watch "Heima."

titles for "next time"

Fantomas -- Louis Feuillade's silent films
Reel Baseball - America's national sport depicted in the flickering tintypes 1896-1926
Revolution from Within
Out of Africa
Post Office - Bukowski
How to Have a green thumb
Trust me on this - Donald E. Westlake
What Colour is Your Parachute
Secrets of the Flesh - possibly a Colette biography
Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler
A Shining Thread of Hope
Random Acts of Hope
Simple Abundance
Honey for a child's head

thirty-day social media fast

you'd think this would include blogs. I'm not cutting people out of my life: I am still using e-mail. I read Jack Baty's cached 30-day media fast blog post, and Steve Pavlina's book Personal Development for Smart People, and it seems to me that I could do more decluttering, volunteering, exercising. I'm also in a rut, and think some new experiences would be beneficial.

I am not sure if this would include blogs. Yes, blogs are social media, but they don't take much of my time: there are only four that I read. I'm looking forward to gardening, reading (e-mail, letters, books) and writing (cover letters, e-mails).

Drop me a line, if you're so inclined.