Debunking the Bible

Great stuff on http://www.truth-saves.com/; though some of the claims about what Bible intends to mean by some passages is open to interpretation; ie gut feeling that neither Christians nor some of those statements on the website are correct. Hope to have more time to read the rest of the site.

Happiness <- Connection <- Vulnerability <- Confidence <- Judgement <- Learning

This video, that my sister brought to my attention, has a lot of food for thought… http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html. I think that being comfortable with vulnerability comes from self-confidence, and that self-confidence just is (or isn’t). Self-confidence doesn’t come from anything. It is either there, in you, or not. In one case, you’re very fortunate, as you will be comfortable with vulnerability and will therefore connect more with people. In the other case, you’re rather unfortunate, as you will be afraid of taking risks, and will not connect with people as much, and will feel somewhat isolated.

Which one am I? Which one are you? In fact probably a bit of both: it’s really the relative proportion of the two that determine how “wholehearted” one is. The larger the percentage of your personality which has the “self-confident” flag, the more “wholehearted” you are. I don’t see myself as a wholehearted person, though I would certainly like to be. Brown’s talk suggests that we would all gain a lot from becoming (more) comfortable with being more vulnerable… but if this relies upon self-confidence, then you can’t just “will” yourself to be more vulnerable. Might work for a while but the discomfort will pull you back to your old habits.

Unless… self-confidence is “learnt” by taking risks and learning from the mistakes, and feeling good about the successes and the lessons learnt. In other words, self-confidence gets built by being vulnerable. Once more a chicken and egg problem. Wait, maybe not: what if you start by being vulnerable, despite the discomfort, and what you need is the “attitude”: think positive. Then the positive attitude (learn and cheer) around your failures and successes will build your self-confidence, which will make your more comfortable with being vulnerable, which will make you more connected to people, which will make you happier, which will make you more self-confident, and so on.

So the real question is then: where does that positive attitude come from? It is crucial because from it may affect self-confidence, comfort with vulnerability, connection, and therefore happiness. It may well be religious or spiritual: positive attitude is a “belief”, a lot like the belief in God. You just “believe” you can beat the odds, that you have a chance. You have some logical reasons to support that belief, but most of the belief is just that, a belief, a conviction. I suppose that every time the belief gets tested, it either gets degraded, or re-enforced. Eventually you end up with a negative attitude or a very positive attitude.

In which case it is really about judgement. You are faced with all sorts of situations, you must judge your likelyhood of success, you have a certain attitude, and your attitude will affect your chance of success, and the success will affect your ego, ie it will “correct” your attitude. So someone faced with very difficult situations at a young age, with nothing to go by for judging chances at success, would likely end up with fairly negative attitude, cynicism… but if they were lucky, the situations would turn out very positive, and even though they hadn’t had good judgement, the fact that they were lucky (without them knowing) means their attitude became very positive, which made them comfortable taking more risk. And at that point if they didn’t have good judgement you would think that they would make mistakes and end up with a negative attitude, because luck always runs out.

So “judgement”, that intuition you have about your environment, how it works, how people think, about outcomes… perhaps that is what affects, ultimately, your happiness. And if THAT is the case well, you still have a chance because judgement can be improved, by learning. So as long as you can learn, you can improve your judgement, you can make better choices, afford to take more risk, be comfortable with that vulnerability, connect more with people, and be happier in life. Once you can no longer learn, you will quickly isolate yourself.

This is rather encouraging. Except that we all learn different things with different ease. Maybe there are some things that my brain just can’t learn. For those things, I can never build confidence, and for those things, and can never connect to those who are comfortable with vulnerability in that domain. But at least now there is something to try for. A path. Discover those things that scare you and learn as much about everything related so that you can improve your judgement about them etc. Do this for a few of your personality traits and you will likely become a strong, more connected, happier person.

Well, sounds plausible anyways. It would be nice to hear what others have to say.

Blue belt Tae Kwon Do despite a subluxed toe

Friday I passed my test to get blue belt in Tae Kwon Do. I love Tae Kwon Do, but at my age I certainly have to be more careful. One minute into the test, I heard my left little toe snap while I was doing a 180 reverse double round-house: the floor was padded differently than the gym I practice at, and my toe did not slip while my foot was turning, causing my toe to be rotated sideways beyond its capacity. The snap sounded like a carrot being snapped into two. No one else heard!

I persisted through rest of the test, doing the patterns, the 1 step, 3 step and free sparring, and board breaking, despite my handicap. It was awfully unpleasant, I’d loose focus very easily halfway through a move when I’d get a jolt of pain that would make me wine, tense up, loose some balance, forget where I was in the pattern, etc. The other 3 tests I did — yellow, orange, and green — all went so well, I can say they were in fact “fun” to do, but not this one! Anyways I made it through.

Of course no one knew what had happened until after the test, when they noticed I put ice on my toe. My wife said she thought something was odd during the test, the way I was awkward and slower then everyone else. Master thought maybe the crowded test floor (we were two rows of four simultaneously testing) was affecting my focus, “you weren’t your usual self, now I know why”.

It was funny when the Grand Master and Master asked me, after I limped my way (as little as I could) to the front to get my certificate, whether I injured myself, and they asked to see my toe; I had to show them my little toe that at that point, really didn’t look too injured I bet, but it sure hurt. My wife took a photo of that moment, she thinks that’s really funny, I’ll try to post it.

One black-belt told me it happens every once in a while to someone, esp. to people who are not used to practicing on that type of mat. I still managed to break that board on fourth try despite having to do a 180 on my injured foot, but I had to yell loud (probably to dampen out the pain in my foot!).

Now we are two days later, it’s definitely healing, rather quickly I’d say. Bare feet I walk pretty much normally. With sandals I still limp a bit but it’s getting a bit better. I’m hoping I’m well enough next weekend to do some indoor rock-climbing with the kids, I’ll see.

Common Cold/Sore Throat

Cause: virus

Distinguish from Strep Throat

• Which is bacterial, contagious and requires prescription drug treatment
• usually causes a longer lasting sore throat
• not always easy to detect by examination, and a throat culture may be needed
• newly developed “strep test” detects a streptococcal infection in about 15 minutes, instead of the 24 hours or more required for a culture to grow
• Cough and runny nose are not commonly related to strep throat, but it is possible to have a streptococcal infection along with a viral upper respiratory infection and symptoms of a cold

Common duration: 5 to 7 days by immune system buildup; from , “a sore throat lasting for more than two weeks can be a sign of a serious illness, such as throat cancer or AIDS”

Summary Treatment:

• Increase liquid intake (warm tea with honey is a favorite home remedy)
• Use a steamer or humidifier in bedroom
• Gargle with warm salt water several times daily:  ¼ tsp. salt to 1/2 cup water
• Take mild pain relievers (analgesics — see below)
• Take non-prescription throat lozenges (that contain gluconate — see below)

More treatment details, from Common Cold/Sore Throat:

Vitamin C:

• The optimum amount of vitamin C to take for cold treatment remains in debate but may be as high as 1 to 3 grams per day, considerably more than the 120 to 200 mg per day that has been suggested as optimal intake for healthy adults.
• vitamin C supplement each day could reduce the duration of episodes and severity of symptoms of the common cold “by an average of 23%”.
• A review of 23 controlled trials found that vitamin C supplementation produces a greater benefit for children than for adults.
• The same review found that a daily amount of 2 grams or more was superior to a daily amount of 1 gram at reducing the duration of cold symptoms

Zinc:

• Lozenges containing zinc gluconate, zinc gluconate-glycine, and, in most trials, zinc acetate have been effective; most other forms of zinc and lozenges flavored with citric acid, tartaric acid, sorbitol, or mannitol have been ineffective.
• For the alleviation of cold symptoms, lozenges providing 13 to 25 mg of zinc gluconate, zinc gluconate-glycine, or zinc acetate are used every two hours while awake but only for several days.
• The best effect is obtained when lozenges are used at the first sign of a cold.
• Zinc nasal sprays may be even more effective than zinc lozenges at speeding the resolution of cold symptoms.

Sugar:

• Excessive sugar has been reported to impair immune function.

Medicine:

• Most products available over the counter to treat the common cold combine
  • decongestants may provide relief from nasal congestion, but they should only be used for a few days
    • oxymetazoline (Afrin®)
    • phenylephrine (NeoSynephrine®)
    • pseudoephedrine (Sudafed®)
  • antihistamines might help dry excess mucous and reduce sneezing
    • diphenhydramine (Benadryl®)
    • brompheniramine (Dimetapp®)
    • chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton®)
  • analgesics reduce pain:
    • aspirin (Bayer, Ecotrin, Bufferin)
    • ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil)
    • acetaminophen (Tylenol, Datril, Tempra)
    • local anesthetics such as benzocaine (Cepacol Maximum Strength®, Spec-T®) and phenol (Cepastat®) provide temporary relief from sore throat pain
  • expectorants are used to remove mucous in the sinuses, lungs, and ears
    • Guaifenesin (Robitussin®)
  • cough suppressants may be recommended at bedtime to facilitate sleep
    • dextromethorphan (DM)
• Since expectoration of sputum is considered a valuable mechanism for expelling infectious organisms and congested secretions, a cough should not be suppressed during the day.
• Over the counter products may help to reduce the symptoms associated with the common cold and sore throats, but they do not speed recovery.

Herbs:

• Only two have primary scientific support:
  • Andrographis (for symptoms)
  • Echinacea (for symptoms; effective only for adults)

Harmonica play along Music Books with CD

This is a link to search results for Amazon.com: harmonica play along Music Books. As of Dec 2009 there were 88 hits but only the first dozen or so are books really designed for play-along: CD has some technique tracks, many full song tracks (with harmonica), then same tracks without harmonica.

Another good site for play along CD’s seems to be The Sheet Music Store, which lists about 10 play-along book/CD’s, roughly same list as Amazon’s. Just have to search for “harmonica play along”.

Then a Canadian site, Sheet Music Plus, comes up with this list, but it misses a good one (which I think the other ones miss too), Harmonica Jam Trax.

For the Hal Leonard ones, the CD is enhanced so you can adjust the recording to any tempo without changing pitch.

Best Jackie Chan Movies

Thanks to Rotten Tomatoes, found the following Jackie Chan movies rated from 95% (top) down to 60% (bottom):

1. Supercop
2. Crime Story
3. Kung Fu Panda
4. The Legend of Drunken Master
5. Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods
6. Police Story 2
7. Police Story
8. Rumble in the Bronx
9. Shanghai Noon
10. Project A
11. Drunken Master
12. Operation Condor
13. Battle Creek Brawl
14. Jackie Chan’s Project A2
15. New Police Story
16. Shanghai Knights
17. The Forbidden Kingdom
18. Supercop 2
19. Who Am I?
20. Rush Hour
21. Dragons Forever
22. Gen-X Cops
23. Miracles

Other martial arts movies of note are Fist of Legend, Casualties of War, Enter the Dragon, The Legend and Master of the Flying Guillotine. Also, Iron Monkey, Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.

International Tap Association

International Tap Association: a great portal for all related to tap dancing, but in particular for me, a great Tap Movies section and interesting News section.

 

 

 

Some Lists of Best Martial Arts Movies

These lists stand out, as they have a few of the right titles, right layout for easy readability, and useful comments:

• Asian martial arts movies
• Top 15 martial arts movies of all time
• Top 25 martial arts movies

 

Bladder spasms: possible technique to overcome them

I wouldn’t normally write about this on my public blog but my heart goes out to those who suffer from Bladder Spasms, they HURT! Who knows how general this trick is but if it can help even one other person, then the post was worthwhile, and I can’t think of any risk either.

Not long ago, I had to have an indwelling urinary catheter for 8 days due to minor surgery. It wasn’t excruciating but it wasn’t great either.

In any case, one thing I suffered during that period were “bladder spasms”. They would occur every so often (in the first 5 days, a few within a few minutes, every couple hours), and they could be really painful. They feel like a cramp at the bottom of your bladder, your mind just goes black from the pain.

A bit of searching on the web suggested medication is available to lessen the pain, but I really don’t like medication unless I can’t bear it (which wasn’t the case here), and also, I read many stories where the medication was not working or was having unwanted side-effects.

In reading on the web, I found out that some people have these spasms so severely that they are completely depressed about their condition (chronic, in their case — much worse than mine), not to mention in discomfort. It was especially heartbreaking for me to read about some 4-year-olds who have “permanent” catheter and get severe cases of such bladder spasms. I have a 4-year, can’t imagine how bad I would feel as a parent.

I actually found a way to almost completely eliminate them. I have no idea if I am just “anatomically lucky”, perhaps I have some muscles well developed… everyone is different. BUT, just in case it works for others, here is the simple solution I found worked 100% of time for me: as soon as I would feel a spasm starting, I would contract my bladder as I would when wanting to stop urinating, or like when having to go so bad but having to tense your lower abdoment so as not to wet your pants.

Was it really the bladder, the muscles around the bladder, the sphincter, whatever, I don’t know — but this “stop peeing” or “stop from peeing” contraction of the “bladder area” would lessen the spasm almost immediately, and though it felt a bit awkward it definitely worked. I found that the more I did it whenever I felt a spasm starting, the less intense was the spasm and the faster it dissipated. And it never even once failed, once I became aware of the technique.

Could it be that old people who have indwelling catheter for long periods “forget” how to do such contractions, and that is when they get worse? Could it be that little kids who are in pain from bladder spasms have not yet developed the necessary muscles, or are not sufficiently aware of their body to control them? Do these contractions involve the famous “Kegel muscles”? Can those contractions be learnt if you have never made them happen before (as for a young child), or are they a “secondary effect” from learning to control when you urinate?

It would be interesting to find out if this works for others, or if others have found other non-medicinal tricks.

My heart goes out to those who suffer from bladder spasms, and I hope this can help even one other person.

Cooking Recipes DB

Seems like has really powerful search engine. Though, searching by ingredients does give some false positives: it looks in attached comments/notes, not just the list of ingredients.

clipped from www.cookstr.com Cookstr.com is a new cooking site dedicated to providing our users with great recipes from the best chefs and cookbook authors. At the heart of Cookstr is a really powerful search engine, which lets you look for recipes in a wide variety of ways. To learn more about how to use the site, go to our FAQs. Soon you will be able to create your own MyCookstr, where you can save recipes, notes, and shopping lists.