tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4533825022050280462024-03-13T07:57:25.323-05:00Dan's Life StoriesDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-63948362012913057652023-03-15T11:20:00.003-05:002023-03-15T11:21:16.433-05:00Health<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7tNe4AXxH7uKNh0aN4tegdu2TUBuGirzXzHCotJjKx10CvrhxmpKQJRoov5MghgiWUdrcw58fjnf_aGDNyRx2YnLMvES7a_qm4NR7oPOiJMkDNDcfNvfgr7WQWfhNKjLlcqkau8n3i2k2kQHJmmXWko3Y3nhylFbnUdn3u4cpbVYCU-6RYaN8_iWog/s3088/mindy%20baby%20josephine.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7tNe4AXxH7uKNh0aN4tegdu2TUBuGirzXzHCotJjKx10CvrhxmpKQJRoov5MghgiWUdrcw58fjnf_aGDNyRx2YnLMvES7a_qm4NR7oPOiJMkDNDcfNvfgr7WQWfhNKjLlcqkau8n3i2k2kQHJmmXWko3Y3nhylFbnUdn3u4cpbVYCU-6RYaN8_iWog/w400-h300/mindy%20baby%20josephine.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two happy, matching ladies</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p>The two-year hiatus from the blog from which I am returning today was dictated by my desire for health-- relational, psychological, and physical. And though my intellectual life took a hit from the lack of writing, the sacrifice has been worth it. Mindy, Eliza, and now Josephine need me to be my best, not necessarily my smartest! Key parts of that effort have been:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Addressing my mood so I can be present and positive</li><li>Addressing my headaches and physical health so I can be sharp each day</li><li>Training for triathlons so I can stay fit, motivated, and balanced</li><li>Teaching point-of-care ultrasound so I can stay motivated at work</li><li>Meditating so I can be more present and peaceful</li><li>Learning how to parent a toddler so I can get Eliza's (and soon, Josephine's) life off to a good start</li></ul><p></p><p>I've explicitly applied Warren Buffet's "2-list technique," in which the top 5 of one's list of 25 priorities are magnified, and the other 20 are set aside as "Avoid at all costs." To that end, I have temporarily cut out or limited peripheral interests like blogging, journaling, kayaking, wilderness medicine, mushrooming, fermenting, Spanish, dream work, active imagination, martial arts, rock climbing, firearms, grilling, music, carpentry, animal husbandry, skiing, knot-tying, and personal finance. These are all things that previous and future versions of myself are interested in pursuing, but this has not been their season.</p><p>As part of this push for more health, I've built up a rock-solid group of guys to run with about once a week. Michael, Doug, Matt, and Mike have provided some much-needed fellowship in this hinge period of my life, when my health and relationships have the potential to dramatically improve or drastically worsen. Thanks, fellas! I'm looking forward to many more years of slowing the rate of our gradually deteriorating fitness together.</p><p>My long-time buds Kevin Lloyd, Andrew Shank, Ben Hackney, Jacob Hall, Lee Robeson, Sam Cox, and Ben Carr have also kept me grounded, especially during times of serious illness with friends and family. I'm beyond thankful to be able to say that Ben Hackney and my brother Thomas have entered remission from their bouts with cancer, and I'm sure they would appreciate any and all thoughts and prayers for that to continue to be the case. I can't wait to see most of you this weekend for PAW (Perennial Atwater Weekend), our yearly get-together!</p><p>For now, I've moved away from listing new personal goals for each year, since all of the above priorities are longitudinal. Mindy and I have instead been planning out our family's major trips and events at the beginning of each year, which gives us lots of things to look forward to. But every goal and every list requires a reset from time to time, and I know this blog will be here when that time comes, and when it's time to start exploring new intellectual frontiers in detail again.</p><p>Until then, be well.</p><p><br /></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-33887115521031677242021-04-30T13:40:00.011-05:002021-04-30T13:46:56.168-05:00The Triathlon Is Still The Thing<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Shoulder weakness has always been my swim's biggest limiting factor, and my relative lower extremity weakness also holds me back in the bike and run. So for the past year, I've focused on getting my shoulders and legs stronger. Until the last couple weeks, that consisted of consistent circuit workouts. I brought a 44lb kettlebell and elastic bands to work and generally complete a 30-45 minute circuit workout consisting of 3-4 rounds of 12-15 reps of 10-12 different exercises. At home, I have a couple different circuits I rotated through. With each of these workouts, I'm now doing more weight and more reps than I was 6 months ago, so I know I've achieved some real gains. But my IT bands and quads still seize up on me when I try to run more than 3 miles at a decent pace, as they have for the past year. And no amount of circuit training has affected that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So I decided I <i>had</i> to do something different to get my legs back in running form. Two things, actually:</span></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.marksdailyapple.com/rest-pause-training-how-to-do-myo-reps/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Myo reps training</span></a>. In just the past week, my strict gymnastic ring pullups improved from 12-5-5-5-3 to 15-5-5-3 and my 155lb back squat improved from 10-5-5-5-4 to 12-5-5-5-5-5. Read the article linked above and try it out. It makes for an unbelievably quick workout, and maximally effective way to get stronger.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Deep tissue / trigger point release: I'm upping my game and using golf balls, foam rollers, foam balls, and good old-fashioned hand massage to work out the knots in my legs and rotator cuffs. I'll generally take 5-10 breaths with pressure on one spot until I feel it relax, then move to another tender spot. I'm also still getting monthly 90-minute deep tissue massages, which helps the back, shoulders, neck, and legs stay loose for a couple weeks.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As I head into triathlon season, I'm still not sure I'll be able to complete a run of any distance, so I'll be limiting myself to only sprint distances and only 2-3 races total. Best case scenario, my run is slower but the bike and swim make up for it. I've been swimming at the wellness center since February, and my times are already back to where they were two years ago. I haven't been biking as much as I'd like, but with the weather warming up, that'll be where I put a lot of my energies the next few months. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As with most things in life, consistency is key. I'm pleased to have consistently gotten three workouts in a week for the past year, which seems to be my sweet spot to both make gains and limit injuries. Without a doubt, having triathlons to train for has given me the focus and motivation to push myself more than I would have otherwise. So <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://danslifestories.blogspot.com/2019/02/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">what I wrote over two years ago</span></a> </span>still holds true: the triathlon is the thing that drives me to go harder and get better, faster, and stronger.</span></p><p><br /></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-78108055871414911662021-01-17T15:57:00.006-06:002021-01-18T16:00:07.802-06:00 Crisis<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'll get right to the point: we have reached a crisis of epistemology. Spurred by a Republican party which played with the fire of fascism for too long, our democracy is back-sliding. Basic facts and reality are no longer accepted by a large swath of citizens. And as a result, d</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">omestic terrorism is blossoming like no other time in the past half-century.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">The die has been cast, and our collective future now promises years of increasing right-wing terrorism, assassination attempts, and instability. And each of the 62.9 million people in 2016 and 74.2 million people in 2020 who voted for the monstrous Donald Trump bears responsibility for this harvest of violence, destruction, and decay.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A decade ago, both right- and left-wing extremists numbered somewhere in the low millions. But since then, Trump and his followers on social media have waged a campaign of conspiracy, disinformation, and misinformation with unprecedented success. Educated, Christian, middle class folks who had a soft spot for right-wing authoritarians have metamorphosed into deranged, conspiracy theory- spouting radicals. So now we no longer have lunatic 2% on each end of the political spectrum, but at least 20% of the United States population has been radicalized into white Christian nationalists / white supremacists under the banner of Trump. Partly as a result, the ranks of leftist radicals have also swelled, though not to the right's extent. The long-term consequences of this metastasis of extremism will be profound.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you don't believe the rough numbers above, think about how many people you knew 10 years ago who were in the thrall of completely false and idiotic conspiracy theories. Then think about how many you know now. Even though most of us are in a political echo chamber surrounded by a bubble of pandemic isolation, I can still think of a large number of people I personally know or have met who believe a frightening number of outright lies. And you probably do, too. Polls indicate that about a quarter of Americans truly think the election was stolen and continue to believe the storming of the Capitol was justified. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Folks, this can only end in disaster. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trump has ushered us into a post-truth world, the field in which fascism has always thrived. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On Sept 30, I wrote the following on this blog:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">The biggest question I wrestle with is this: </span><b style="background-color: white;">can our democracy survive if nearly half of otherwise normal Americans are living in an alternative virtual reality without any anchoring to basic facts?</b><span style="background-color: white;"> Even if our institutions survive the unrest that is likely to follow the November election, there is no end in sight to the political polarization and rapid dissemination of fake news and conspiracy theories on social media. No democracy can long stand the onslaught of what I will term Social Media Derangement Syndrome, which all of us are affected by to some degree. For the past decade, our institutions have been living on borrowed time, drawing on the strength of a bygone era, weakening and now cracking under the increasing weight of an unsophisticated populace entranced by their algorithmic social media feeds, beholden to "alternative facts," and susceptible to extremism that is rising on both ends of the political spectrum, but particularly on the right.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There have always been two Americas, just like every individual has two sides. Generous and selfish, sane and irrational, enlightened and tribal, continually coexisting in an uncertain tension, always mixed. But in most people, institutions, and societies, one or the other side predominates. Over the last 13 years, Republicans have increasingly given themselves over the dark side, and now it's too late for them to exorcise their fascist demon. Their electoral strategy now entirely depends on mobilizing their new base of white nationalists and supremacists. The fire they started playing with all those years ago has now consumed them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some pundits are saying that the Republican party still has a choice between continuing to rely on misinformation, fear, prejudice, and intimidation, or coming up with serious policies and going intellectually toe-to-toe with Democrats like in the good old days. But they truly no longer have a choice. Everyone in the party who can do math knows that they can't afford to lose the white radicals who now comprise 50% of their party. As I wrote on August 26, "b</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">y embracing Trump, with full knowledge of his charlatanic, ignorant, amoral, narcissistic, and authoritarian character, the Republicans' last chance to save their party from fascism was lost."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Republicans are co</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">mpletely bankrupt of policy ideas. The popular appetite of the 80's and 00's for more tax cuts is gone, and the vast majority of people on both the right and left actually like the fruits of Big Government, regardless of what some say. As evidenced by their rejection of the science of climate change in favor of the fossil fuel industry, their inability to rein in Big Tech, their susceptibility to an authoritarian, their neglect of growing income inequality, their spectacular failure to "repeal and replace" Obamacare in 2017, their utter lack of a party platform in 2020, and a host of other disastrous deficiencies, they have no vision for solving the massive problems facing us in the 21st century. Their only recourse now is to perpetuate the flood of conspiracy theories, misinformation, and disinformation so that even more people will be radicalized to their side, and to intensify their suppression of voters of color. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So Republicans are lost. What happens next? The possibilities are uniformly violent, frightening, and dystopian. I conclude my August 26 post by noting:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">Though most of the ingredients of fascism are in place, they have fortunately not been systematically employed. Trump is too focused on having his fragile ego massaged on a daily basis and lacks the strategic mindset needed to effect an overthrow of our longstanding democratic institutions. But they have been weakened, and the cracks are apparent. My greatest worry is that in 2024, 2028, or 2032, a truly Machiavellian character will emerge from the morass of the Republican party who will attempt a systematic dismantling of our democratic institutions. This will no doubt be fought tooth and nail by Democrats. But after the last four years, there remains no doubt that the vast majority of Republicans will go right along with it. And that might be enough. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have often wondered if charlatans like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mitch McConnell, and Lindsey Graham who obviously know that they're gaming a broken system realize just how dangerous a game they're playing or how fragile our system has become. Until January 6, maybe some of them didn't fully realize it. But there can be no doubt that every Republican politician now knows the stakes. Yet on January 7, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">in objecting to the Electoral College count,</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> 121 Republican representatives and 6 Republican senators decided to keep playing it. Which tells me that even an unlikely Senate conviction of Trump for incitement to insurrection, which would require 17 Republican votes, cannot rid the party of the nihilism in its political ranks, much less the derangement of its supporters.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So what does this mean for the rest of the country, for Democrats and independents? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">For one, we have to be prepared for increasingly contested, divisive, and violent elections. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Republicans will intensify their efforts </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">which started after <i>Shelby vs Holder</i> in 2013 </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">to suppress voters of color</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">. Voter intimidation tactics not seen in over half a century will return. Militias will become more organized and go more underground. And more assassination plots like those seen this fall in Michigan will crop up. Unfortunately, FBI prosecutors have been discouraged from investigating right-wing extremists over the last four years, since they constitute Trump's base, so law enforcement is starting from a disadvantage. We can only hope they are good at playing catch-up. Though I'm still ambivalent about the advanced surveillance capabilities of the US government, hopefully they will be put to good use in this fight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another implication is that Democrats must take a stronger stand against extremism in their own ranks before it metastasizes and seizes control of the party. If not for Joe Biden's leadership, Bernie Sanders would have probably captured last year's nomination, lending credibility to Republicans' assertion of the radical socialism of Democrats, and leading to the alienation of millions of moderates and certain electoral defeat. Close to 40% of Democrats supported Sanders in both 2016 and 2020, and despite their noble policy aims, his supporters' zeal has led some of them into dangerously illiberal "cancel culture" territory. So mainstream, center-left Democrats must continue to keep a united front against the encroachment of the far left if they are to maintain their fragile electoral supremacy. Just because Republicans keep banging on about the danger of the radical left doesn't mean there isn't some truth and persuasiveness to it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If there is any hope to derive from January 6, it is that moderates will continue to be repulsed by fascist Republican tactics, and side with center-left Democrats in coming elections in the defense of freedom, democracy, truth, science, and justice. Millenials and Generation Z recognize the historical stakes, and we are growing in numbers and power. But regardless of where the electoral currents of the 2020's take us, we are facing a terrifying ride through a tsunami of lies, extremism, violence, and danger. So let's all lean in. Hopefully we'll get through this.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u>For Further Reading:</u></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/trump-speech-capitol.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/trump-speech-capitol.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/politics/republican-party-trump.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/politics/republican-party-trump.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/opinion/impeach-trump.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/opinion/impeach-trump.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/opinion/capitol-attack-racism-america.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/opinion/capitol-attack-racism-america.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/opinion/trump-second-impeachment.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/opinion/trump-second-impeachment.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/16/trump-extremist-republicans-insurrection-459732">https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/16/trump-extremist-republicans-insurrection-459732</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment.html</a></span></p><p><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/the-politics-of-power">https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/the-politics-of-power</a></span></p><p><br /></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-41463268194067444092020-11-13T08:31:00.004-06:002020-11-13T08:31:32.845-06:002020 Odds and Ends<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The leaves are down, the days are short, and the winter wind is shaking the house. It must be time to reflect on the year. Ah, 2020... a year that will go down in infamy in every history book. As I write this, a COVID tsunami dwarfing all previous surges is sweeping through our heartland, and hundreds of thousands of families are facing a holiday season bereft of loved ones claimed by the pandemic. At least it's been improved here towards the end by the ouster of America's mad boy-king (who still refuses to concede) and by the promise of a vaccine. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As for me, it's actually been an excellent 10.5 months, for which I am undeserving and incredibly grateful. My immediate circle has been spared by the pandemic, and the High Country is a wonderful, beautiful place to live, regardless of the public health situation. Here's a quick rundown of my year:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>We are in the process of adopting Eliza! Due to DSS restrictions, I can't post any pictures, but once the adoption goes through, there will surely be a post (or ten) on her. Literally as I was finishing this post, Mindy brought her into the library to see me and she reached out her whole body out towards me and said "dada" for the very first time. She melts our hearts every day!</li><li>Mindy and I had a fun and relaxing 5-year anniversary trip to Chimney Rock last month, where we explored the trails and waterfalls of the Southern Appalachians, stayed at a nice bed and breakfast, and Mindy went gem mining for the first time.</li><li>The Community Care Clinic has undergone several staff transitions but is now secure and thriving and continues to serve as the safety net clinic for the High Country's uninsured population.</li><li>I made lots of strides in my ultrasound abilities, and started teaching the Family Medicine residents basic ultrasound in July.</li><li>As you might imagine, my work has been busy... but there's nothing like a pandemic to provide job security to a hospitalist!</li><li>I've learned a great deal about the subconscious, and about myself in the process; more to come on that in future posts.</li><li>I kayaked nine times, and successfully rolled my kayak for the first time.</li><li>Though I didn't have the chance to compete in any triathlons, I needed a rebuilding year. </li><li>I started getting a lot stronger over the last few months after getting serious about working out, seeing a personal trainer a few times, taking creatine, and consistently doing circuit workouts every 3 days. </li><li>I learned to identify more types of mushrooms, and Mindy and I found several edible mushrooms in the wild: field mushrooms, lion's mane, and chicken of the woods. Lion's mane was particularly tasty with eggs and onions.</li></ul><div><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hRV82T6uBs0/X65-XfXbbhI/AAAAAAAAsns/BlWMN0Zb--s3m23u5KPdrCUl0fSibXc6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/230A7CB8-5192-4206-B156-D2A10711E9B7.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hRV82T6uBs0/X65-XfXbbhI/AAAAAAAAsns/BlWMN0Zb--s3m23u5KPdrCUl0fSibXc6wCLcBGAsYHQ/w240-h320/230A7CB8-5192-4206-B156-D2A10711E9B7.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lion's mane in the cast-iron skillet<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /></li><li>I fermented several kinds of peppers and other vegetables into various sauces, pickles, and pastes. Here's just one day's work out of several:</li></ul><div><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wyn0_EjuAKs/X65-cjIA5OI/AAAAAAAAsnw/ll2w867K-BoJoU--8eVGVLeH9KaZC1SzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/C624B0E0-54BF-4DBF-9A45-F72F84092481.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wyn0_EjuAKs/X65-cjIA5OI/AAAAAAAAsnw/ll2w867K-BoJoU--8eVGVLeH9KaZC1SzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/C624B0E0-54BF-4DBF-9A45-F72F84092481.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pepper mash, turmeric paste, ginger paste, and pickled ginger<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></li><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /></ul><li>The garden did fairly well, and my gardening skills greatly improved. Mindy and I finally enjoyed several batches of home-grown asparagus in May after three previous growing seasons established the asparagus patch. We had a fun variety of squashes, and lots of tomatoes, jalapeno and aji dulce chili peppers, collard greens, kale, parsley, cilantro, basil, cucumbers, beans, and sunflowers. The carrots, beets, lettuce, and spinach were a disappointment, and the okra, celery, and marigolds didn't sprout. I also learned that cantaloupes, eggplant, and most varieties of chili peppers don't do well here-- it just doesn't get quite warm enough. </li></ul></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A8J7Ge_pJTc/X65-c5Tzr2I/AAAAAAAAsn0/zX6_3PXd658i4cbw6ANIyvfJNY5go6BaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/8644344C-4867-44F4-924C-BCE57104E089.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A8J7Ge_pJTc/X65-c5Tzr2I/AAAAAAAAsn0/zX6_3PXd658i4cbw6ANIyvfJNY5go6BaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/8644344C-4867-44F4-924C-BCE57104E089.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The garden in July<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />I'm content with my life, especially the strides Mindy and I have made over the last couple years. And though I'll keep gardening, mushrooming, fermenting, kayaking, triathloning, reading, blogging, and ultrasounding, I'm always looking for the next thing. For years, I've been wanting to get back into music, but just haven't had the margin. One day I also hope to get back into rock climbing, jiu-jitsu, and grilling. I'm also planning to build a jungle gym in the back yard. Maybe 2021 will be the year for some of those things. If 2020 is any indication, it will also be generously sprinkled with surprises.<p></p><div>I hope everyone reading this has also had a generous silver lining to an otherwise dark year. The next few weeks will be busy, so I'll see you all in December! Stay well, everyone.</div>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-30828360206483564492020-11-09T08:37:00.016-06:002020-11-09T20:16:11.616-06:00The Tao of Joe<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Moderates. It's easy to overlook them, to miss the passion and the genius because of the label. But as we all impatiently await a Biden rescue on the burning deck of the Trump administration, anxious and </span><span style="font-family: arial;">crazed in one way or another,</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> it would behoove us to understand the psychological underpinnings of our president-elect. Fortunately, we have a lot of data to go on. Joe Biden's biographer Evan Osnos put it this way: Joe Biden's passion for </span><b style="font-family: arial;">fairness</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> is the through-line guiding his career over the last 50 years. And it is precisely his lack of dogmatism-- his moderation-- that has given him the flexibility to navigate the treacherous waters of Washington and advance, in an imperfect but consensus-oriented way, countless fair and just movements over the course of his career. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Though Biden has doggedly pursued fairness over the course of his life, his biography also showcases how unfair life can be, in the midst of good luck: His fortuitous election to the Senate at the age of 29, followed weeks later by the unbelievable tragedy of losing his wife and infant daughter in a car accident. His ill-fated presidential candidacy in 1988, redeemed 20 years later by his selection to be the vice-president to the most transformative president in a generation. The tragic loss of his son Beau in 2015, when everything else in his life had been building to a comfortable retirement. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">And of course, his faltering candidacy in early 2020, turned around in dramatic fashion in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But the juxtaposition that trumps all the others has been the pandemic whose horror helped catapult Biden to the presidency. COVID-19 and the other crises of 2020 revealed to millions of Americans our deep need for a president who can provide stability, competence, decency, unity, and empathy. How fortunate that Joe Biden has <b>each of these qualities</b>, all core competencies as a result of the vicissitudes of life he has weathered. Joe Biden, scars and all, is a man perfectly fitted for the hour. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The qualities of wise and unwise leaders are two of the chief themes running through a (well-timed) book</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I've been meditating on the last few mo</span><span style="font-family: arial;">nths, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Tao Te Ching</i><span style="font-family: arial;">. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Leaders are either in accord with or in opposition to the Tao, the basic principle of the universe. There's so much wisdom I'd like to share from this book (and I'm sure I will be in other posts), but Chapter 59 especially jumps off the page as the epitome of Joe Biden:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">For governing a country well</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There is nothing better than moderation.</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The mark of a moderate man<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">is freedom from his own ideas.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Tolerant like the sky,</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">all pervading like sunlight,</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">firm like a mountain,</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">supple like a tree in the wind,</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">he has no destination in view</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">and makes use of anything</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">life happens to bring his way.</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Nothing is impossible for him.</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Because he has let go,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">he can care for the people's welfare</span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">as a mother cares for her child.</span></p></div></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I hope those words will prove more true than we can imagine-- that Biden will transform the impossible into the accomplished. The stakes are high, the obstacles many, and I often doubt how much can be achieved. But if anyone can slice through the fetters of dogmatism and arrive at something like justice in our time, it's Joe. And on the other side, I have a vision of what it might be like-- perfectly encapsulated by the last few lines of Chapter 17 of the Tao Te Ching. Here's the chapter in its entirety:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When the Master governs, the people</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">are hardly aware that he exists.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Next best is a leader who is loved.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Next, one who is feared.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The worst is one who is despised.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">If you don’t trust the people,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">you make them untrustworthy.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When his work is done,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">the people say “Amazing:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">we did it, all by ourselves!”</span></p></blockquote><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-59042719816118729482020-09-30T06:57:00.004-05:002020-09-30T08:49:56.574-05:00The Referendum on Democracy, and The Start of a New Dark Age<p>Ninety seconds is all I could take of last night's debate. Which was not at all a surprise for me: for the past several years, I have been physically unable to watch Donald Trump for more than the time I am able to hold my breath. I have no problems reading secondary sources about him or even writing about him. But I'm simply unable follow either his unhinged Twitter trail or his verbal stream of nonstop bullshit. I'm fine watching him on mute, but the second I hear or read his deranged rantings, my subconscious gets triggered to seek an immediate mute button, X button, physical exit, earplugs, or escape of any kind.</p><p>I guess that's my version of Trump Derangement Syndrome. But it's actually a very adaptive response. Because, over the last five years, Trump's unceasing insults to reason, civility, democracy, and the rule of law have stacked upon each other to the point that near-complete avoidance of him is necessary to maintain a balanced psyche. The force of his psychopathy is so strong, there is no wonder why those in his orbit have abandoned previous commitments against white supremacy, foreign interference in elections, rape and sexual misconduct (26 accusations of which he is faced with), and abandoned any pretense of supporting basic democracy and peaceful transfers of power. Which, I submit, is the true Trump Derangement Syndrome.</p><p>There's no doubt that Biden will win the popular vote by a landslide-- my guess is it will be something like 56% to 42%. Though less certain, I'm still confident that Biden will take most of the swing states and that Democrats will win a slim majority in the Senate. Most likely, Trump will be removed from the White House in January (one way or another), and our republic will survive in attenuated form. But even that modest outcome is not assured.</p><p>It is not far-fetched that misinformation on the right will feed a massive amount of unrest by radical groups like the Proud Boys, who (rather than condemning) Trump told last night to "Stand back, and stand by." He also told his followers to "watch very closely" what happens at their polling places, so it is also likely that we will see the worst voter intimidation in a half-century. And as we all now know, Trump has repeatedly refused to agree to a peaceful transfer of power, so a true constitutional crisis and even military involvement remains a distinct possibility.</p><p>But the biggest question on this topic I wrestle with is this: <b>can our democracy survive if nearly half of otherwise normal Americans are living in an alternative virtual reality without any anchoring to basic facts?</b> Even if our institutions survive the unrest that is likely to follow the November election, there is no end in sight to the political polarization and rapid dissemination of fake news and conspiracy theories on social media. No democracy can long stand the onslaught of what I will term Social Media Derangement Syndrome, which all of us are affected by to some degree. For the past decade, our institutions have been living on borrowed time, drawing on the strength of a bygone era, weakening and now cracking under the increasing weight of an unsophisticated populace entranced by their algorithmic social media feeds, beholden to "alternative facts," and susceptible to extremism that is rising on both ends of the political spectrum, but particularly on the right.</p><p>We are entering a dark time. The pandemic is simply an insult added to the injury our institutions are experiencing and the true mortal threat our planet faces. We are in the early throes of long-term environmental, political, economic, public health, geopolitical, racial, economic, and spiritual turmoil which promises to last decades. Though I want to offer hope and prescriptions, it is critical that we first recognize that we are likely to face unprecedented levels of unrest and tragedy in the remaining 21st century, no matter how proactive our society manages to become in the coming years. </p><p>The forces of light have been battling bravely to save us from ourselves for decades. Activists for environmental, racial, social, and economic justice have long waged a quixotic battle to bend the arc of history toward justice, and the solutions to many of our biggest problems are already tested and known. But though their achievements have been impressive, true reform movements in this country and around the world have not been able to keep pace with our society's version of "Whack a Mole," in which threats to free societies and the planet itself keep popping up, powered by corporate greed and platformed by fascist political parties.</p><p>To paraphrase Tristan Harris from the most recent Making Sense podcast, the best hope for change at the pace and scale that's needed is a massive cultural movement of psychological self-awareness. People have to start researching incomplete information deeper, asking people to explain their narratives, steelmaning each others' perspectives, and unfollowing outrage media like Fox News, InfoWars, and even MSNBC. Informed by Richard Rohr's work, I believe this type of movement can only occur if individuals are transformed by a combination of contemplation and social action. We need many more stable, compassionate, humble, and thoughtful individuals in our society if we are to turn the rising tide of extremism, dogmatism, greed, pride, hate, and fear.</p><p>E.O. Wilson wrote that "the fundamental problem of humanity is that we have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and accelerating godlike technology." Big, structural change of the type espoused by Elizabeth Warren and Ezra Klein will get our institutions out of the Dark Ages, if we can politically manage the transition. And though we can't upgrade our paleolithic hardware, through action and contemplation we can install some new (and old) modules that will go a long way towards catching us up with our technology, and hopefully channel our future cultural and technological developments in healthy directions. The solutions to our cognitive-institutional-technological mismatch are there for us all to take.</p><p>But will we? With the great love but little faith and hope I have, I pray for God help us all to make the changes needed in ourselves and in our society over the difficult months and years ahead-- so that we will save ourselves from ourselves.</p><p><br /></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-65938798667693880572020-09-11T07:52:00.000-05:002020-09-11T07:52:07.552-05:00The Rebuild<p> After a very busy last year, I have recently entered a time of physical and spiritual rebuilding. As is usually the case, this was prompted by necessity. I developed patellofemoral and IT band syndromes in March, my right rotator cuff continues to bother me when I exercise, and my headaches have become more frequent and severe the last few months. I have also recently felt less spiritual direction as a result of the busyness of life crowding out my time for meditation and reflection. So it was clear that it was time to hit the reset button and, in the words of Joe Biden, "build back better."</p><p>The most pressing issue I have faced this year has been headaches. My triggers include sleep deprivation / deviation, improper pillow alignment, teeth grinding, chocolate, sugar, and gluten. So I have continued to wear a dental night guard and try to get good sleep, and have found a good pillow for me. I've also started seeing a chiropractor and a great Chinese medicine doctor, Burton Moomaw. According to the chiropractor, my scalenes are weak and my posterior neck muscles are tight, so I'm working on that. Burton has counseled me to avoid my triggers more consistently, avoid cold water, alliums, and spicy food, drink less coffee and more tea, and eat more zucchini, rice, bone broth, sprouted seeds, and mushrooms. So I've suspended my long-held skepticism of alternative medicine and tried to start doing all that to see if it will help. I've also gotten a few acupuncture treatments, but the jury is still out on how helpful that will prove to be for me. My headaches have gotten somewhat less frequent, but I'm still getting them once or twice a week.</p><p>This summer, I had hoped to program my own workouts, but that quickly proved to be ineffective. I lifted weights once a week at most, without a logical approach or progression. So I met with a physical trainer last month who gave me a few specific workouts and encouraged me to try to work out 3x/ week. My body could initially tolerate only 2x/ week, but after a month of consistent workouts, I am getting closer to that goal of 3x/ week. All of her workouts involved only dumbbells and kettlebells, which I would have never programmed but which has proven to be easier to accomplish in the living room while taking care of an infant. At 17.5 pounds, Eliza is actually a perfect weight for me to use for front raises and side raises, and she loves being a part of my workouts! I also modified the lifts into resistance band exercises and started doing band workouts at work. Finally, I'm also seeing if I can get away with taking creatine supplements for the first time in a decade, though it has proven to be a headache trigger in the past.</p><p>Another great thing has been that I have found a running partner (who also happens to be my dermatologist) who is generally free to run at 4:45pm on weekdays. When it's not too busy at work, Michael and I are able to catch at least a few miles on the Greenway, and we plan to start doing interval workouts together soon. He has a goal of breaking 5 minutes in the mile next year and I like to do intervals as part of my triathlon training, so our goals overlap nicely. Plus, he's a great guy to talk to about life.</p><p>My spiritual life has recently been enhanced by two things: kayaking and the Tao Te Ching. Thanks to Mindy's support and encouragement, I have been on the river 7 times so far this year, and recently started being able to roll my kayak (which is a major kayaking milestone). But I've realized that the goal of kayaking is not to see how many rivers I can run or how technically proficient I can become, but simply to be present in nature. And there is nowhere else in the world that matches the particular kind of beauty found on the rivers of southern Appalachia. A major bonus is that I get to do it while hanging out with a few great guys-- my friend Nathan in particular. The experience of being in nature with friends is not a means to some other end, but an end in itself. Which has been a truly powerful revelation for me. </p><p>My interest in the Tao Te Ching dovetailed off my foray into Chinese medicine, but it's been a longtime goal of mine to dig deeper into Eastern philosophy and religion. Stephen Mitchell's wonderful translation of the Bhagavad Gita really sparked this desire when I came across it a couple years ago, so I finally ponied up and bought it along with his translation of the Tao Te Ching. Both translations are beautiful, inspired, and seem to be in a league of their own compared to other versions I've encountered. The approach to life highlighted in those ancient texts offers some of the deepest wisdom humans have ever uncovered, and I hope to be transformed in much-needed ways from the time I spend contemplating their truths. Though my mother tongue will always be Christianity and my most foundational text the Bible, I'm very motivated to learn and experience complementary ways of seeing the world.</p><p>Though I'm just starting the rebuild, I'm hopeful that I've sparked a flame of physical and spiritual growth. And there's no time like my favorite season of autumn to get the fire of personal transformation going.</p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-71856832267881018642020-08-26T12:27:00.006-05:002020-08-26T15:04:09.024-05:00Can We Talk? A Post About the Grand Old Party<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As a result of my reflections on a steady input of podcasts, news, and editorials over the last few years, I've picked up on two things that have been lost on many in our society, especially people who are older than 50: <b>the Republican party is descending into fascism, and this represents the greatest threat to our democracy in nearly a century.</b></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Just as on the left, conservatives have always had their crazies. After the realignment of the parties in the 1970s and 80s, the far right was initially kept in check by dominant moderates like George H. W. Bush, but given just enough oxygen to stay attached-- and hopeful. Rush Limbaugh's rise in the early 90's and Pat Robertson's speech at the 1992 Republican convention, which both presaged the fear-mongering of the Trump presidency, are examples of the extremist rhetoric that had a small but definite foothold in the party even 30 years ago. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In my admittedly incomplete view, Newt Gingrich jumpstarted the far-right's ascent to dominance in 1994, adopting and weaponizing Robertson's extreme, divisive rhetoric. The Republicans' electoral success that year validated this approach as a viable strategy, and has been an essential part of their messaging ever since. Furthermore, according to the very well-referenced Wikipedia article on Gingrich,</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A number of scholars have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States, and hastening political polarization and partisan prejudice, According to Harvard University political scientists Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, Gingrich's speakership had a profound and lasting impact on American politics and health of American democracy. They argue that Gingrich instilled a "combative" approach in the Republican Party, where hateful language and hyper-partisanship became commonplace, and where democratic norms were abandoned. Gingrich frequently questioned the patriotism of Democrats, called them corrupt, compared them to fascists, and accused them of wanting to destroy the United States. Gingrich furthermore oversaw several major government shutdowns.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">University of Maryland political scientist Lilliana Mason uses Gingrich's instructions to Republicans to use words such as “betray, bizarre, decay, destroy, devour, greed, lie, pathetic, radical, selfish, shame, sick, steal, and traitors” about Democrats as an example of a breach in social norms and exacerbation of partisan prejudice.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-:0_7-3" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich#cite_note-:0-7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">[7]</a></sup> Gingrich is a key figure in the 2017 book <i>The Polarizers</i> by Colgate University political scientist Sam Rosenfeld about the American political system's shift to polarization and gridlock.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Under Gingrich, hate became mainstream. The rise of the internet in the late 90's further fueled this flame. However, many Republicans did not fully embrace Gingrich's approach, and those moderates maintained significant power in the party throughout the decade. In addition, most of Gingrich's policy positions remained within the broadly conservative tradition, and the Grand Old Party's new uneasy coalition survived into the 2000s, powering the disastrous presidency of Bush II.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Despite the unparalleled foreign policy blunders of his administration, Bush maintained the new status quo, and to my eye neither pushed forward nor restricted the toxic rhetoric now embedded in his party. His administration gave the evangelical movement its day in the sun, but its racist and authoritarian underbelly remained mostly hidden. But his tolerance of Gingrich-esque toxic rhetoric and Limbaughian conspiracy theories, his lack of support for environmental regulations, and his initiation of the dystopian War on Terror with its Patriot Act and resulting mass surveillance, was enough to continue the party on its dangerous course. The short-term result was the nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president at the end of his two terms. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">By virtue of her limited experience, her demonstrable lack of intelligence, and her extremely close ties to the oil industry, Palin was clearly unprepared to effectively lead the United States-- but that didn't stop McCain from nominating her in the knowledge that she would appeal to the increasingly anti-intellectual base of the party. Over the course of her candidacy, she made climate change denial and unquestioned support of the oil industry mainstream, and disabused many in the party of the idea that one should actually have legitimate experience and qualifications to become president-- changes that echoed into 2016. In 2008, the "base" of the Republican party unmoored from reality.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The moderate Mitt Romney squeaked out a victory in the 2012 primary as a result of the fragmentation of the extreme-yet-mainstream elements of the party among several very flawed candidates. But the Tea Party base never warmed to him, and his defeat by Obama that fall indicated to many in the GOP that appealing to their base was the only winning strategy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So in 2016, after eight years of imbibing increasingly lunatic conspiracy theories on social media like the Obama birther theory promoted by Donald Trump, the Republican party was ready to fully embrace whatever candidate could arouse the most anger, fear, and hate. The matchup highlighted the state of the party: the con man Trump in the lead, a powerful evangelical wing that couldn't quite unite behind Cruz because of the appeal of Trump, a diminished moderate wing led by John Kasich, and a compromise, establishment Republican wing lacking any vision or energy, represented by Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Briefly, there was also the libertarian Rand Paul, who quickly sold out to Trump. Perhaps if all the other candidates had thrown their support behind one candidate (as Buttigieg and Klobuchar did for Joe Biden on the eve of Super Tuesday in 2020), Trump could have been defeated. But it was not to be. A quarter-century of political developments had ordained Trump's moment in 2016. And Russian social media trolls were there in November to push him over the finish line, suppressing the black vote, energizing white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and magnifying conspiracies to the foolish and gullible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Most establishment Republicans-- most notably Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham-- swallowed their misgivings and bent the knee to Trump in the summer of 2016, in the misbegotten hope that by allying with him, they could direct his administration to achieve their policy aims. Several fractured efforts by establishment leaders like Mitt Romney to block his nomination failed. By embracing Trump, with full knowledge of his charlatanic, ignorant, amoral, narcissistic, and authoritarian character, the Republicans' last chance to save their party from fascism was lost. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The transformation of the GOP and right-wing politics into a fascist personality cult was completed rapidly from there. FOX News rapidly dispensed with every moderate conservative voice like George Will and Charles Krauthammer around the time of Trump's inauguration, ushering in the era of center-right disenfranchisement and complete Trumpian dominance in the mainstream right-wing media. Though 20 percent of Republican congressmen and women voted against Trump in 2016, nearly all lost their jobs during the election or fell quickly into step behind him out of fear of losing their jobs in 2018. By 2019, 40% of Republicans who were in Congress in 2016 were gone-- an unprecedented turnover. A cleansing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Over the last three years, hundreds of books and thousands of articles have been published by journalists and disaffected former members of the Trump administration exposing and examining nearly every toxic aspect of Trump's failed leadership of the US government. Meanwhile, a couple dozen of his former aides have been convicted and imprisoned for various types of corruption. His own tweets and comments constantly highlighting conspiracy theories, calling into question established facts, and stoking anger and division are daily reminders of his unfitness to lead. Independent investigations, impeachment proceedings, and ongoing investigations into Trump's finances have raised grave concerns about Trump's fitness for office. But their only lasting effects have been to assure Trump that every Republican in Congress except Mitt Romney is his Republican, his supporters are as loyal to him as to any mafia boss, and that the GOP is his party. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A big reason for this bulletproof devotion is that his supporters do not trust any source of information that challenges their worldview. As a result of willful ignorance, there is no discrimination between sources with fact-checking mechanisms like editorial review boards, and outlets for conspiracy theories with no basis in reality. In fact, the latter is given more weight on Facebook (which is where most right-wing folks get most of their news) by virtue of the 10x more interest received by posts which stoke outrage. Republicans are far more prone to pick up a book by Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity than anything by award-winning journalists like Bob Woodward, who wrote <i>Fear: Trump in the White House</i> back in 2018. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This gets to the heart of the matter, and why I'm so concerned about the Republican party descending into fascism. Trump has fomented a distrust of media outlets with objective journalistic integrity, amplified sources with no credibility, and encouraged his fan base to do the same. So now it is no longer just Trump who calls objective information he doesn't like "fake news," it's nearly half of the United States' population. Half of Americans are living in an alternative universe.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A key step of every fascist regime in history is to whip up outrage at and attack the credibility of the free press. The Nazis called it "Lugenpresse," translated as "lying press--" alternatively translated as "fake news." Then, when enough people join their side, fascists start progressively restricting the press until it eventually becomes a mouthpiece of the state. Unfortunately, the Trumpian onslaught has come at a particularly vulnerable time for the free press, which has been weakened by the last recession and the growth of free online media.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Simultaneously in fascist overthrows, the rule of law is trampled upon, mass surveillance is employed, dissent is labeled treason, and terrifying internal and external enemies are invoked. Sound familiar? Many of these pieces have been in place since the early 2000's, and unfortunately Obama did not significantly reverse many of the trends started by his predecessor. Looking at it from this angle, the pieces of fascism seem to be coming together.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Though most of the ingredients of fascism are in place, they have fortunately not been systematically employed. Trump is too focused on having his fragile ego massaged on a daily basis and lacks the strategic mindset needed to effect an overthrow of our longstanding democratic institutions. But they have been weakened, and the cracks are apparent. My greatest worry is that in 2024, 2028, or 2032, a truly Machiavellian character will emerge from the morass of the Republican party who will attempt a systematic dismantling of our democratic institutions. This will no doubt be fought tooth and nail by Democrats. But after the last four years, there remains no doubt that the vast majority of Republicans will go right along with it. And that might be enough. </span></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-50966709567167336702020-08-26T05:51:00.002-05:002020-08-26T05:51:45.676-05:00The Unconscious-- Part I: Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">[Written in April, 2020]</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'd like to share with you all some of the lightbulb moments I've had over the past six months proceeding from my readings of <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung" target="_blank">Carl Jung</a></span> and Robert Johnson's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Work-Dreams-Imagination-Personal/dp/0062504312" style="color: blue;" target="_blank">Inner Work</a>, which translates Jung's theories into practice. Though his theories on the unconscious are a century old, they amazingly still feel groundbreaking. And though I don't pretend to know what trends are on the horizon, I wouldn't be surprised if his ideas make a big comeback in the next few years.<br />
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For those of you not familiar with Jung (ie most people), he was a trailblazing Swiss psychiatrist active in the first half of the 20th century who created and popularized such concepts as the collective unconscious, archetypes, introversion, extraversion, and the shadow self. He was a colleague of Freud who eventually split with him once it became clear that Freud had become dogmatically attached to his theories in spite of mounting disconfirming evidence. After the split, in addition to his other foundational work, he developed Freud's concept of the ego into a much more scientific and precise formulation that remains useful to this day.<br />
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The most practically useful material that Jung has provided has been his work on the unconscious. He conceived the psyche as being composed of the conscious self (aka the ego), the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious consists of the archetypes and other universal, instinctive thought-patterns that essentially all humans share. The personal unconscious, on the other had, is composed of forgotten, repressed, and subliminal memories, messages, and thoughts from an individual's past. Finally, the ego is the tiny percentage of our psyche that is present in our conscious awareness.<br />
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As I have worked through Jung's thought, I've come to realize that the unconscious has been severely neglected by the dominant culture, while the conscious self has assumed even more centrality in recent years by virtue of the popularity of mindfulness meditation. Now, first let me note that I'm a big fan and practitioner of mindfulness meditation. But what I've come to realize over the last six months is that it's not enough. If we are ever to gain a fuller understanding of our minds and resulting behaviors, we must engage with our unconscious in an intentional, substantive way.<br />
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This is where dream work and active imagination come in. Dream work may be familiar to you, but</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">the technique of active imagination probably comes as a foreign concept. Taken together, these are the two most important tools we have to uncover the feelings, memories, and ideas hidden in our unconscious, and will be the focus of parts 2 and 3 of this series. Stay tuned!</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-844529462683332572020-08-13T17:18:00.002-05:002020-08-13T17:18:24.465-05:00How to Garden<p>Four years of growing vegetables by trial and error may not have taught me enough to write a gardening book, but at least I can write a blog post about it. Here goes!</p><p><u>General pointers:</u></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Mulch + cardboard > weeds: Be aggressive at keeping weeds down or they will get out of control. A combination of heavy mulching and cardboard works great.</li><li>Never let weeds reach their reproductive stage: If you do, you'll be fighting a more difficult battle next year.</li><li>Dan's 2-day rule: Check on the garden every 2 days. Otherwise, you'll be sorry when your tomato plants have been decimated by caterpillars, your squash penetrated with worms, and weeds are out of control.</li><li>Make sure your fence is super-solid: There are all sorts of varmits waiting to wreak havok on your lovingly cultivated veggies.</li><li>Harvest seeds and immediately replant in early August when possible.</li><li>Save seeds for next year in paper (not plastic) bags, labeled with plant and date.</li><li>Plant seeds inside in March and transplant them to the garden in mid-May (in zone 6b) when the weather for the next 7 days looks promising.</li><li>Be ruthless about culling plants that have gone to seed.</li><li>Always plan what you'll do if something doesn't sprout or gets killed.</li><li>Fertilize every month: It doesn't pay to be stingy with the fertilizer, especially the first few years.</li><li>Compost as much as possible.</li><li>Don't vacation in August: if you do, you'll miss a fifth of your harvest.</li><li>Grow what you like to eat... and what your rabbits like to eat.</li><li>Gardening by yourself can be very meditative, but gardening with your spouse is more fun! They can also help you weed when the garden is in danger of being overrun by weeds.</li></ol><div><br /></div><div><u>Species-specific pointers:</u></div><p></p><ol><li>Make sure carrots are planted in loose, rich soil: Otherwise, they get stunted by the hard Carolina clay.</li><li>Roma tomatoes are the best variety to use for tomato sauce.</li><li>Interplant basil and tomatoes.</li><li>Stake asparagus fronds: otherwise, they'll all fall over and take up half your garden.</li><li>Even if kale looks like it died in the winter, give it until June to come back before you cull it.</li><li>Expect squash seeds to produce some funky varieties the next year if you have more than one squash variety in your garden. Part of me likes the surprise and figuring out what to do with the hybrid varieties, but there are some varieties (delicata, spaghetti, acorn, butternut, buttercup, summer) that I do really like, so I need to either buy those seeds or an actual squash from the grocery store if I want to make sure I get the type of seeds I want.</li></ol><div></div><p></p><div><br /></div><p></p>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-20488974683370498932020-05-17T20:15:00.000-05:002020-05-17T20:15:24.634-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 9Today marks the end of my news fast-- or at least when I planned to end it. After a glorious two weeks without checking the NY Times, watching CNN at work, or clicking on news articles I didn't have to read, I'm considering stretching the fast out to a month... maybe even six weeks, though that might be stretching it. Then again, it may not be. The last couple weeks have been fabulous. <div><br /></div><div>After two months of digging, weeding, mulching, and planting, Mindy and I finally reached a rare confluence this week of beautiful weather, no work, and no urgent chores or errands. Undistracted by the news, I discovered the headspace to fully enjoy all sorts of activities and to be more present with Mindy, Eliza, and our friends. The siren call of the smartphone was noticeably less alluring without another Trump bashing or COVID-19 analysis on tap. It certainly helped that we went on a couple hikes and an impromptu excursion to the river-- Eliza's first float trip (all 100 feet of it)! Though she had a major meltdown on one of our hikes, we still managed to have a great time hiking the Viaduct area with the Hogan's and exploring my friend Doug's beautiful new trail up Rich Mountain on the back side of Moses Cone Park. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another key: my knee stopped hurting. I was even able to bike 15 miles this morning without a twinge! And it was an absolutely perfect spring day, with rays of morning sunlight filtering through the budding trees, brooks babbling, flowers bursting, birds singing and winging, and the mountain air perfectly cool and clear. I couldn't think of a better way or place to spend a morning.</div><div><br /></div><div>Though I've hardly read a news article this month, I've still been able to stay superficially current on major events, by way of conversation, podcasts, a few articles texted to me, and overheard snippets of TV. But the greatest unlooked-for discovery has definitely been the pleasing absence of Donald Trump from my life. Like the orb of a demiurge, his glowing, orange presence has so overtaken our news media that the everyday waking consciousness of Americans has been transformed into his image. Many of us are now as defined by outrage, division, disgust, vitriol, and a reckless disregard for truth as the Donald himself. And I imagine that even those who dimly realize the danger can scarcely imagine an offramp to such madness. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I'm here to tell you, it starts with something quite simple:</div><div><br /></div><div>Unplug.</div><div><br /></div>Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-4636028684109910642020-05-10T13:36:00.003-05:002020-05-11T15:51:00.507-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 8<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/underlying-conditions/610261/" target="_blank">This editorial in The Atlantic</a> </span>is so good, I will risk coming across as a conduit of other people's opinions to share it with you all. Please read. Thanks to Sam Cox for sharing it with me. It makes just about all of the points I would want to make this week, and then some. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">But what it doesn't delve into is the answer to the deep question Sam raised with me and another good friend Nick Sailer, which is, <i>how do we become good citizens?</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">In recognition of the start of the ninth week under the cloud of this pandemic, I will attempt to answer this question with reflections on nine quotes I hold dear to my heart:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><b>Quotes 1-3 theme: We must step off the hamster wheel and engage in inner work that results in deep transformation.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>1. We live in a machine that is designed to get us to neglect what is important in life. </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>-Tim Kasser</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">This is why I haven't been on social media for 2.5 years and why I am in the midst of a news fast. The tiny hits of dopamine we get from social media, advertising, and most television diverts our precious time, attention, and energy into frivolity. </span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">2. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The farther the outward journey takes you, the deeper the inward journey must be. Only when your roots are deep can your fruits be abundant.</span></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>-Henri Nouwen</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;">This is the message of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rohr" target="_blank">Father Richard Rohr</a><span style="color: #222222;"> and his Center for Action and Contemplation. That name says it all: we must be transformed by contemplation if we are to have any hope of transforming the world without becoming conformed to its ways.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>3. For if one knows himself, he will know God.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>-Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Carl Jung</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Christians tend to think of God as other, completely neglecting the transformative idea that God is not separate from us-- that we are God's vessels, embodiments of the divine with incredible potential for good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><b>Quotes 4-6 theme: We must use the clarity we obtain from inner work to make changes in our own life that will feed our continued evolution.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>4. Every day of our lives, we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.” -Mignon McLaughlin </i></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Even if this sounds cliche, it's nevertheless a deep truth. With the clarity achieved from contemplation, we are more likely to see the right path to take amidst the fog of everyday life. And if we choose the right force multipliers, the benefits to us and the world will start exponentially accruing, activating a virtuous cycle. Check out your nearest bookstore to read all about the power of habit, atomic habits, etc. But don't forget to actually apply some of it to your life!</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">5. Beware the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world. - Ben Okri</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">This idea grows out of the work of Carl Jung, who has deeply influenced me over the last 9 months. Every memory we make and action we take is imprinted into our brain. Anatomically, this process consists of forging new synapses, reinforcing established ones, and altering neurochemical and receptor makeup. But psychologically, it consists of creating memories which eventually become partially forgotten or repressed, but whose signature remains, and returns to us in obsessions, compulsions, anxieties, and dreams-- the stories our brains create out of the raw material of our experiences. Few things imprint our neurology as deeply as narrative, whether the stories we tell about ourselves, others, or the stories others tell. Our lives, and the entire course of human history, turn on the stories we tell.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>6. It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. But every now and then, maybe once in a hundred cases, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones. If all ideas have equal validity then you are lost, because then, it seems to me, no ideas have any validity at all. Some ideas are better than others. The machinery for distinguishing them is an essential tool in dealing with the world and especially in dealing with the future. And it is precisely the mix of these two modes of thought that is central to the success of science." -Carl Sagan</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">An essential aspect of the evolution of our minds is the development of a sophisticated web of mental models that work together to separate truth from fiction. We need a well-calibrated <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/09/thinking-ladder.html" target="_blank">"Belief Bouncer"</a> to keep us on the right track, out of ideological echo chambers, and open to true revelation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><b>Quotes 7-9 theme: We must not wait for a perfect opportunity to arise, but instead engage in thoughtful action wherever we are.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><i>7. </i></span><i>The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wise people so full of doubts.” -Bertrand Russell</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;">Doubt and error are unavoidable, recurring stages in everyone's journey. But we must not let that prevent us from acting out of core convictions that have been honed by habitual reflection. As Brett McKay likes to put it, </span><span style="color: blue;">"</span><a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/new-get-action-swag/" target="_blank">Get Action."</a> The flip side of this, of course, is that fools reliably fall prey to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect" target="_blank">Dunning-Kruger effect</a>, overestimating their ability and making other people's lives worse-- cf Jared Kushner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i>8. </i></span><i><span style="font-size: large;">We want to have certainties and no doubt — results and no experiments — without even seeing that certainties can arise only through doubt and results only through experiment. -Carl Jung</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Like Steve Jobs liked to say, it takes a lot of hard work to make things simple, whether that's an object like the iPhone or the way one thinks about a particular topic. But we should always try to maintain the mindset of a scientist in our search for truth, and not be distracted by our primitive need for security, certainty, and comfort.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">9. Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action. -Napoleon Hill</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Part of what makes us human is our ability to plan. And the better planner a person is, the more awesome their life generally becomes. Conversely, those who live only for the moment mostly end in ruin. Just read Proverbs! But o</span><span style="font-size: large;">ccasionally, they still end up as president of the United States-- so we're also subject to good fortune and bad luck! Just read Job! Nevertheless, our obligation-- and the only rational course of action-- is to accumulate AND APPLY as much knowledge as possible. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Well, it seems impossible for me to get through a blog post without highlighting at least one of Trump's endless faults. But I hope that these reflections have helped calibrate you all to a deeper perspective, beyond the perturbations of the daily news cycle-- one that is defined by gratitude, humility, wisdom, self-knowledge, and conviction. And on this Mother's Day, may you find time to truly appreciate and enjoy the one(s) who have given the most to help you reach that pinnacle of human development.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Be well.</span></div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-40380667281355472052020-05-03T20:04:00.001-05:002020-05-05T15:04:27.965-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 7<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The best thing I read this week was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-prediction-laurie-garrett.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">one of today's Op-Eds</span></a> in the New York Times. It only takes a few minutes to read, so please check it out. It's a fitting last bit of news media for me before I start a 2-week news fast tomorrow. In case you don't have time to read it, I'll quote a few paragraphs that particularly struck me: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i> “This is history right in front of us,” Garrett said. “Did we go ‘back to normal’ after 9/11? No. We created a whole new normal. We securitized the United States. We turned into an antiterror state. And it affected everything. We couldn’t go into a building without showing ID and walking through a metal detector, and couldn’t get on airplanes the same way ever again. That’s what’s going to happen with this.” </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i> Not the metal detectors, but a seismic shift in what we expect, in what we endure, in how we adapt. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i> Maybe in political engagement, too, Garrett said.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><i> If America enters the next wave of coronavirus infections “with the wealthy having gotten somehow wealthier off this pandemic by hedging, by shorting, by doing all the nasty things that they do, and we come out of our rabbit holes and realize, ‘Oh, my God, it’s not just that everyone I love is unemployed or underemployed and can’t make their maintenance or their mortgage payments or their rent payments, but now all of a sudden those jerks that were flying around in private helicopters are now flying on private personal jets and they own an island that they go to and they don’t care whether or not our streets are safe,’ then I think we could have massive political disruption.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> “Just as we come out of our holes and see what 25 percent unemployment looks like,” she said, “we may also see what collective rage looks like.”</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">This is the kind of shift I am attempting to think through in this blog series. Though each week's news items can be important, I'm much more interested in the seismic activity happening miles below society's surface than the direction of each day's political wind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">We're all trying to see the silver lining to this crisis, and that's good and necessary. But as a society, we aren't giving enough thought to what the worst-case scenarios are over the next few years, and what we should be doing now to both prevent and prepare for them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Getting "back to normal" is a fantasy, as the editorial indicates. Sure, most people will eventually be able to go back to work, although local disease transmission will ramp up at various points over the next couple years and we'll have to close down shop again. Each time we have to do that, damage will accumulate-- and not just economic damage, either. The societal changes that will result will be with us for a very long time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">For one, the ever-deepening tribalism defining left versus right, cosmopolitan versus parochial, secular versus fundamentalist, will deepen, just when it seemed we couldn't become any more fractured. Brother will turn against brother and father turn against son. Violence-- especially gun violence-- will continue to increase. And more and more walls will keep going up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Donald Trump ("</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">the most incompetent, foolhardy buffoon imaginable") completely </span><span style="background-color: white;">lacks </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">the cognitive flexibility to adapt to this novel, very unusual reality.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Unfortunately, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">he's surrounded himself with like-minded egotistical sycophants.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> So I have exactly no hope that the federal government will take any significant appropriate action until at least January 2021. And this reality has magnified what would have otherwise been a manageable problem.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">That problem is that many people cling to the hope that everything will just go back to the way it was in a couple months or a couple years. And Donald Trump has fed that fantasy until it seems like an inevitable reality to the people he holds under his sway. Just around the corner, very soon, we'll have all the testing we'll need, a vaccine, a magical cure. Heck, it might already be in every household's cleaning closet, just waiting to be discovered by Trump's "very stable genius."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">I reiterate: there are no easy outs, no deus ex machina, no going back to the way things were. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Take it from me: I live in a county where there has still been no local coronavirus transmission. And after two months, it's tempting to believe that Watauga County is somehow exempt from the epidemiological reality of the rest of the world. But it's not. COVID-19 is coming for us, too-- it's just taking longer to get here. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">The pandemic is becoming, in many ways, a war of attrition. The most mentally strong individuals, groups, communities, states, and nations will weather the storm the best. Wartime nations like South Korea, Israel, and Taiwan are killing it because they are not operating under the decadent nostrum that everything you want is just a click and a 2-day wait away. Important, meaningful, and necessary things take time, effort, perseverance, grit, resolve, and patience. You must constantly be strengthening your spirit with solitude and discomfort, and feeding your soul with silence and love if you are going to be able to resist the siren call-- the desire to go "back to normal," in this case. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Weak-willed and feeble-minded hordes are already storming the gates to make everything normal again, to make America great again... again. We are undergoing a national stress test in which the real women and men are being separated from the girls and boys. So if you're wavering, tempted to believe this all has been an uncomfortable dream we're about to wake up from-- don't. Push through the denial and bargaining stages of grief. If you're despairing, do what you need to do to find solace. If you're angry, dig into that feeling until you come out the other side. Beyond all that lies acceptance: not passive acceptance, mind you, but the aequinimitas of the enlightened sage that recognizes the things one can't change while maintaining the wisdom, strength, and will to change the things one can.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">No matter who or where you are, there are plenty of things you can and should do. So do them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Keep love alive. And stay strong. We have a very long road ahead of us.</span></span></div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-49756790479732531082020-04-26T13:41:00.003-05:002020-04-26T13:41:42.635-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 6<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First, the haps:<br />
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-Neuse Correctional in Goldsboro, NC made national headlines after 465 (and counting) inmates tested positive for the virus. A number of other prisons, nursing homes, and factories (especially meat-processing plants) across the country also reported major outbreaks, increasingly in rural areas.<br />
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-Georgia, South Carolina, and Oklahoma were the first states to dip their toes into the hazardous waters of relaxing restrictions this week. This, while many states including Georgia are still seeing a rise in new cases and testing capacity remains inadequate across the entire country, raising concerns about the inability to detect new hotspots before they get out of control.<br />
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-The West Coast states, which took the first aggressive social distancing measures (which are all still in place), have been the only states to not just flatten, but bend the "curve" of new cases downward.<br />
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-Confirmed US cases are just under 1 million and deaths right at 50,000-- with the true case count certainly in the several-million range accounting for inadequate testing.<br />
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-Far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro continues to minimize the impact of the coronavirus, and his country has only developed the capacity to test a mere 6,700 people per day. Meanwhile, hospitals and morgues there are starting to overflow. The only conceivable near-term scenario is a fate worse than Italy's, even if the country were to magically get their act together this week-- which appears unlikely.<br />
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-Testing continues to lag throughout much of the rest of the world. But whatever the numbers may show, it's a fact that the virus is making its presence more felt in developing countries, and that the worst is definitely still to come for the poorest nations.<br />
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On the political front:<br />
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-Trump's public musings about injecting people with bleach, instilling it into their lungs, and opening up their bodies to expose the virus to UV light prompted a huge backlash from across the political spectrum. The embarrassing episode appears to have finally put an end to his nightly 2-hour televised "briefings." Which is the best news I've heard in weeks.<br />
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-As the weeks turn into months, Trump's inadequacies have become only more obvious. The brief and anemic bump in support he received in March has already evaporated, leaving his support back at his baseline of 43%, and below 50% in all the swing states he needs to stay in office. Progressives are starting to truly hope against hope that this year's election will be a good one, while preparing for the worst tactics of voter suppression that Republicans can muster.<br />
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And on the home front:<br />
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-Eliza rolled from front to back for the first time this week, and continues to increase the complexity and frequency of her vocalizations. She's going to be a talker!<br />
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-Mindy and I had stone steps put into our side gardens this week, and they look great. The gardens are taking nearly all of our free time, but that's been a nice stress reliever. Photos coming soon.<br />
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-My knee is feeling better, but I haven't tried to run yet. I'll probably start moving that direction in another week.<br />
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Stay patient, everyone-- as you all know, we aren't through this by any stretch of the imagination. But despite all the bad news, good things still happen every day.<br />
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Be well.<br />
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-86976008485162740112020-04-19T12:22:00.003-05:002020-04-21T10:49:12.405-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This week's biggest stories involved the protests against shelter-in-place orders in several state capitals (including N.C), which Trump tweeted his support for despite the recommendations from his administration that those orders not yet be rescinded. I think most people recognize these protesters (some of whom intentionally disregarded physical distancing ordinances) are idiots. But the numbers are starting to bear out that significant numbers of people are not taking physical distancing seriously enough. For one, N.C.'s number of new cases per week actually increased last week despite my hope last week that it was plateauing. And similar things are happening in many other places around the country, urban, suburban, and rural. Though case numbers are not exploding most places, the R-naught is still above 1 in many locales-- and we STILL don't have enough testing capacity to know even a ballpark figure on numbers of true cases. Though officially around 730,000, I'd bet that well over 2 million have actually contracted the virus.<br />
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Which brings me to the question: when to relax restrictions. The biggest limitation in our ability to relax restrictions is our testing incapacity. Hotspots will be missed for too long if we open up in the next few weeks before we have the ability to test enough people with enough frequency. And since new cases are still increasing week-to-week in many parts of the country <i>even with </i>our current restrictions, there's no question that many locales will see a major surge in new cases if enough people stop physical distancing. So in my mind, most of us have another month of this before we can even think about turning the lights back on.</div>
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I'd also like to offer my thoughts on the initial $2.2 trillion stimulus package, and the upcoming packages that are currently held up in Congress. Firstly, it's startling how quickly we burned through that much money. It's also frustrating that so much went to corrupt big business, and that basically no strings were attached-- but I get that they just wanted to get the money out the door to avoid widespread bankruptcies. The Community Care Clinic and several of my friends have benefitted from the relief package, so even though my job hasn't been hit, the stimulus does hit pretty close to home. Hopefully the next bill(s) will be more small-business- and environmentally- friendly. And it seems obvious that people and businesses will need much more money from the federal government over the coming months to keep the lights on and food on the table.</div>
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It's remarkable that Republicans have been so willing to pass large stimulus packages this time around after rebuffing Obama for additional aid after the initial $1 trillion package was passed in 2009. The obvious reason for the difference is that they wanted Obama to look responsible for a shaky recovery, while they certainly want to give the economy every chance to get back on track by November for political reasons (ie to effect Trump's reelection and Republican congressional victories). It's also remarkable that there are essentially no public voices condemning the aid, except probably a few hard-core libertarians. This belies the libertarian case for pure free markets. If we didn't have a government that could send out checks right now, the entire economy would crash and burn, with an enormous human toll. Much as my former self hates to say it, we desperately need the government right now. Although we will have to pay the price in the future.</div>
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It's simply cruel that Trump (who still has no coherent plan to face this crisis and whose approach has been to assume that nature will simply bend to his will, then blame everyone else when things go poorly) is in charge of said government, rather than someone like Elizabeth Warren who came up with a very impressive <a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/combating-infectious-disease-outbreaks?s" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">plan</span></a> back in JANUARY. If we could roll the tape back to January and put her in charge, literally thousands of dead Americans would be alive today, billions of dollars would have been saved, and we would not be facing many more weeks of physical distancing. Once you read her plan, you'll realize that what I just claimed is as close to a fact as one can get in the realm of hypotheticals. The inadequacy and incompetence of the Trump administration's response remains staggering, and it's not getting any better with time.</div>
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Politically, Trump disastrous response to the pandemic has the significant potential silver lining of making him less likely to be reelected in November. Millions of people and the economy as a whole will almost certainly still be suffering no matter how many bills get passed. And the economy in the 6 months leading up to an election is the most important factor in whether a president gets reelected. I hate to get my hopes up about the Senate flipping to Democrat, but I am saying there's more of a chance for that, too. If someone like Corey Booker rather than Joe Biden was the nominee, I'd feel even better about the chances of those things coming to pass.</div>
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Stepping off my political soapbox... it's been a nice week around here. I had the whole week off, spent a lot of quality time with the baby, and Mindy and I got a lot done around the house. The vegetable garden is getting off to a good start, the mulch is getting spread, and we are having rock steps put into our side gardens, which has been one of Mindy's dreams since we moved into the house. We've enjoyed watching Boone UMC's live-streamed services every Sunday, and are keeping up with people pretty well with phone calls and video chats. Things have settled into a rhythm. And I've had a little time to literally dream and engage in a few Active Imagination sessions-- more of that to come shortly! </div>
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Stay well, stay calm, and keep up that physical distancing.</div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-12648084713044458322020-04-12T15:35:00.001-05:002020-04-12T15:35:20.298-05:00Training update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As you can tell from the graph above, I spent the winter upping my running game and neglecting the bike, in preparation for the "Mortimer 100" relay running race on March 14th. Leading up to the race, I was feeling fit and had high hopes for my performance. But one thing I had noticed during my runs was that my iliotibial (IT) bands would consistently start hurting right around the 6 mile mark on runs-- which is what I limited my running distance to. Unfortunately, I was assigned three 7-mile sections of the race.<br />
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Sure enough, my IT bands started hurting with about half a mile left on my first leg. Despite massaging them as much as I could during my rest, they started back shortly after I started my second leg, and got worse... and worse... and worse. After alternatively walking and jogging for a couple miles, I threw in the towel. It just wasn't meant to be.<br />
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Though it was bad enough that I had to have other runners finish my portions of the race, the right knee pain I have experienced over the past month since the race has been much worse. I seem to have developed a moderate to severe case of patellofemoral pain syndrome, and am unable to run or do many of the other exercises I like to do. Fortunately, I've still been able to bike some, which has ticked up in the past month as you can see. I've also started doing daily rehab exercises to strengthen my quads, which I'm convinced is the underlying issue. But with the amount of pain I'm still experiencing, I anticipate it will be at least another month before I can start running again. I'm just going to have to be patient!<br />
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Taking my injury into account, and considering that triathlons may be cancelled anyway this year because of COVID-19, I've transitioned to thinking of this year as a rebuilding year. I'm going to rehab the heck out of my legs, and be stronger than ever this time next year. My IT bands have plagued me since high school, so I know that getting my legs stronger is not going to be a quick process. But if I'm ever going to complete a half-ironman, half-marathon, relay race, or any other long-distance running, I'm going to have to put forth the effort to get beyond this limitation.<br />
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Am I a little disappointed? Sure. But I'm also thankful that the relay race brought to my attention a nagging issue I would have needed to address sooner or later anyway... and that I hadn't yet signed up for any races or even purchased my yearly USAT membership yet. Plus, cutting back on triathlon training opens my schedule up for more kayaking!<br />
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I do wish I could still swim, especially on workdays, but it looks like the river is my only option until local pools open up again. As with many things over the past month, I've had to be flexible and adapt! And with this issue, I mean that quite literally.<br />
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Hopefully in another 16 weeks, I'll have good news about my leg. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to finish a sprint triathlon later in the year. Time will tell! Be well, everyone.<br />
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-4194632186183991662020-04-11T19:00:00.002-05:002020-04-12T12:13:43.168-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The curves are flattening. Not everywhere, and not soon enough-- but it's happening. New York and New Jersey are seeing staggering losses, but not quite the knock-out figures that had been feared. Though many community hospitals are full to bursting and refrigerated trucks keep filling up with bodies, the "death panels" and ventilator-sharing many feared have not been required, and the main emergency hospital in NYC that was set up in a convention center is not even close to capacity. Unfortunately for many places in the country, the infection rate is still so high that shelter-in-place orders will need to stay in effect for many more weeks until it will be safe to start loosening restrictions.<br />
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The crisis is hitting the poor and weak the hardest-- as all crises tend to do. Outbreaks in New York and New Jersey nursing homes alone have already claimed about 2,000 lives, while homeless shelters across the country are experiencing disasters on a similar scale. Poorer neighborhoods, where population density is the greatest and the ability to physically distance is the worst, are being disproportionately affected. And hotspots in developing countries like Ecuador are starting to show the world how horrendous COVID-19 can make things: completely overwhelmed systems, people dying without even the semblance of medical care, bodies lying in bedrooms and on sidewalks for days.<br />
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Close to home, North Carolina is starting to see a reduction in the daily case count-- as illustrated in the darker blue line in this graph:<br />
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Thanks to prompt action on the part of Governor Cooper, we have been spared a big initial wave, giving us the time to build up testing capability and await clinical trials. At Watauga Medical Center, our turnaround time for a COVID-19 test is now just under 48 hours-- not great, but a lot better than the 5-7 day period we were dealing with a few weeks ago. And we have yet to see local transmission in Watauga County, thanks to our proactive local health department.</div>
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With those updates out of the way, lets reflect a little on Bill Gates. His <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready?language=en" target="_blank">Ted Talk</a> from 2015 predicting a pandemic just like the one we're facing and laying out all the steps we needed to take to be ready for it has gone viral over the past few weeks. He was just interviewed on a new <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_how_we_must_respond_to_the_coronavirus_pandemic" target="_blank">Ted Talk</a>, and the gist of that discussion was that no one took his advice and we were totally unprepared, so... told ya so? Or.... maybe listen to one of the smartest people in the world the next time he gives a Ted Talk? </div>
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It's hard to imagine that Bill Gates' recommendations were not heard by some in the federal government's bureaucracy. He's freaking Bill Gates, who along with his wife runs one of the largest charitable organizations in the history of mankind and is almost single-handedly wiping polio off the face of the earth. When he talks, smart people listen. But if you listen to the talk closely, you can tell that he realizes his prescriptions are a tall order, politically speaking. But nothing in the talk sounds all that hard to implement, other than finding the motivation to commit to it in the first place. </div>
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Furthermore, you'd think we would have learned over the last few decades that Black Swan events are actually quite common-- and that we ought to prepare for as many of them as we can. Events like 9/11, the Great Recession, the Fukushima meltdown, and Brexit were all massive shocks at the time. Further back, the world wars, oil tanker spills, and the sinking of the Titanic are just a few other examples. The problem is that our lives are affected by them so much afterward that they don't seem that unexpected in retrospect. </div>
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We can all plan for crises in the future by stocking up on essential supplies and gaining as many practical and survival skills as we reasonably can. But the government (I hate to say, as a recovering libertarian) is obligated to play a pivotal role in preparing society by taking steps that no one in a free market would take, but which will be critical in preventing and dealing with future crises. In addition to preparing for pandemics, governments should get out in front of AI technology in a way they have certainly not with Big Tech to date. There are plenty of steps that should also be taken to mitigate the risk of nuclear war, accidental nuclear detonations, and conventional wars. And climate change remains the greatest and ever-growing threat to our planet and human civilization. Yet lawmakers continue to dawdle and allow petroleum industry- financed Republican lawmakers to cast doubt on the very present reality of climate change with endless specious arguments. And every day, the planet heats up a little bit more.</div>
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I have grave doubts that our government can ever get out in front of any of these issues-- at least the way it is currently structured. Like Ezra Klein and Elizabeth Warren, I believe-- I know-- that "big, structural change" is critical if we are to be able to address the challenges we now face and those which are just around the river bend. These issues transcend any particular electoral cycle-- but nevertheless, each election is critical if we are going to be able to thread all the needles we need to thread at the same time and come out intact on the other side. Though I have doubts that Joe Biden is the right person to lead us into these changes, I know that until Donald Trump is out of office, every day that passes is precious time-- critical, life- and planet-saving time-- that is irretrievably lost. </div>
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So although I didn't intend for this post to get political, here we are again. If you're an American eligible to vote and residing in a swing state (like North Carolina), perhaps the best thing you could do for the country and for the planet in 2020 is to vote for whoever has the best chance of beating Donald Trump. If enough people do that, we may start getting ready for coming crises before their waves crash upon our shores. </div>
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Until next week, stay calm and self-isolate on.</div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-71006173539263371652020-04-05T07:42:00.003-05:002020-04-05T07:42:39.644-05:00Pandemic mode, episode 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As expected, New York City exceeded 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases this week, and fully descended into Coronavirus hell. Watching the train wreck from afar, I could still feel a bit of the pain from the overwhelmed hospitals, doctors, nurses, and morgues-- and the heartbreak of thousands of personal tragedies. Obituaries of prominent people have started to appear. Shortages of ventilators, PPE (personal protective equipment), and beds are becoming acute, and testing shortages continue to plague the health system.<br />
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A silver lining is that the doubling time in the US increased from 2.5-3 days to 5-6 days. Most places are starting to see the effects of social distancing measures started 2-3 weeks ago. Though North Carolina confirmed about 1,500 cases this week, that is hardly an exponential rise from the nearly 1,000 cases the week before. Hopefully new confirmed cases will actually number less than 1,500 this week, but we'll see.<br />
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Watauga County, and a great many counties like it, has seen a few imported cases but is yet to see local transmission. With over two weeks of social distancing now under our belts, it seems that we passed the first test. The virus did not catch us unawares. Hopefully we will develop the ability to rapidly test for the virus here in the coming week, since it's inevitable that, sooner or later, local transmission will start to occur. But hopefully it will be a low rate of transmission, and we will not need the capacity we have developed at the hospital to deal with a huge influx of Coronavirus patients.<br />
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Confirmed US cases now exceed 300,000, though I suspect the real number is at least twice that when accounting for testing delays and untested cases. Soberingly, that represents only 0.1-0.2% of the population, while many experts predict over half the country will contract the virus before it burns itself out or a vaccine is available. With aggressive measures and improved testing, I'm not convinced that's necessary, and hold out hope that a relatively small minority of Americans will contract the virus before we have a vaccine. But again, we'll see.<br />
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Despite all the continued uncertainty, many things started to become clear this week. New Jersey, Chicago, New Orleans, and Miami have emerged as the next epicenters of the crisis. Smaller but more concentrated hotspots in the town of Albany, Georgia, and towns in Colorado, Connecticut, and Idaho, exemplify the danger the virus poses to communities of all sizes. A pattern of flare-> social distancing -> curve-flattening -> relaxation of restrictions -> resurgence seems to be emerging from Asia, and I'm sure we will see that pattern start to play out in the coming two months.<br />
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Italy's crisis peaked last week and started to improve, though thousands of new cases are still emerging there every day and their nationwide lockdown will continue to be enforced for at least a couple more weeks. A report also came out that the virus has a rapid 4 day average serial transmission time, and that asymptomatic transmission accounts for a disturbingly large percentage of the transmission, making social distancing an absolute imperative and public mask-wearing a very good idea.<br />
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Calls for a relaxing of restrictions in relatively spared regions will start to arise in the coming weeks. In fact, a few midwestern and southern states like Alabama, Iowa, and the Dakotas still haven't ordered residents to shelter in place, though that will change if a hotspot emerges in one of those locations. Which seems inevitable. As our ability to rapidly test becomes a reality, hopefully we will see the emergence of a smarter, more targeted approach to social distancing. Until then, stay calm and self-isolate on.<br />
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-57381528004201202292020-03-28T18:07:00.001-05:002020-03-29T06:36:49.929-05:00Pandemic Mode, episode 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is the second of what I anticipate will be a weekly update on life during the greatest pandemic in over a century. Because it's clear that's what we'll be living through for the next several months, at least.<br />
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The overall story of the last week has been the exponential rise in cases in the US, accompanied by a growing knowledge about the virus and consensus regarding the severity of the pandemic. "Social distancing" is now a universal phrase, and the resultant anxiety has palpably seeped deeper into the collective consciousness.</div>
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According to reports, many in Britain are in a state of shock as prime minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles, and several high-ranking ministers have contracted the virus. Elsewhere, Italy and Spain are continuing to struggle with what is hoped is the peak of the pandemic's first wave. India has completely shut everyone inside for 21 days in hopes of avoiding additional stress on its fragile healthcare system. China, on the other hand, has relaxed some of its restrictions as new cases have plummeted, at least initially.</div>
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The sober, wartime mentality was punctured earlier in the week by Donald Trump's relapse into denialism, claiming that he thought the country would be back to work by Easter. Which is less than three weeks away. And which would clearly be catastrophic. His insatiable lust for a return of the bull market of his first three years in office has served to only derange his already-catastrophically-impaired decision-making capacity.</div>
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This is mainly mentioned to highlight the utter lack of leadership at the federal level. We are all starting to pay an incalculably steep cost for raising such an incompetent, narcissistic, and irresponsible human being to the office of president. We don't need a great leader. We just need someone who has the basic level of competence to set the right tone for the nation, consult with experts to make some big important decisions, and delegate serious policy-making to competent people. </div>
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A correlate with Nazi Germany comes to mind. Not Trump to Hitler (necessarily), but rather how loyalty was elevated above competence in placing people in power, resulting in a cast of fools trying to making decisions and utterly failing every step of the way. Unfortunately, that's all we've seen the past 2 months from this administration, and all we can expect to see until a new administration hopefully takes power next January.</div>
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A silver lining is that half of the states have taken bold steps to stem the pandemic. Though this may be slowing the progress in more rural areas and in a few cities like San Francisco, it clearly has been insufficient in most cities. A week ago, Italy was shocking the world with its 25,000 cases. Today, the US has over 120,000-- 52,000 in New York alone, with skyrocketing numbers in New Jersey, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, and elsewhere.</div>
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As expected, reports out of New York in the last couple days have started to mirror those coming out of Italy from the previous week. Because of New York's size, the situation has not yet gotten as dire as Italy, but I am certain I will be stating a different case a week from now, when the US will be closer to a million cases and New York in the hundreds of thousands.</div>
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Locally, North Carolina just topped 1,000 cases, over half of which are in Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham. Those areas are on shelter-at-home, while the rest of the state will be starting that on Monday at 5pm. Watauga County sits at just 5 cases, and we have yet to see any inpatient cases or local transmission outside of a single household. Watauga Medical Center has barred all visitors except for spouses of delivering mothers and family members of dying patients. All staff are being temperature screened on our way into the hospital each shift. Policies are in place and the COVID ICU and intermediate units are up and running. I am personally caring for the COVID rule-out patients this week, and have been encouraged at the rapid pace of change. After weeks of preparation, we are nearly as ready as we can be, excepting the continued lack of rapid COVID-19 testing capability-- which is by far our greatest limitation in terms of caring for possible COVID patients and conserving PPE (personal protective equipment). If reports are to be believed, responsibility for this lack rests squarely at the feet of the FDA, which delayed all testing development for the entire month of February. But no matter who is responsible, heads should roll. My job and the job of thousands of healthcare providers is markedly more difficult without rapid testing capability. And most importantly, patient care is suffering, even before we have any actual COVID patients in the hospital. </div>
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The dark clouds continue to gather, and the rain has started to fall. But the silver linings remain. Distributed work (ie working from home), a beautiful concept, is starting to see its day in the sun. Service industries are being painfully disrupted, but much will rise from the ashes. People are having to be more intentional about staying connected. And the world is starting to see the value of competent leadership... and the steep price that must be paid where it is lacking in trying times.</div>
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Stay calm and self-isolate on.</div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-29389413834547524352020-03-21T09:26:00.001-05:002020-03-28T16:40:11.526-05:00Pandemic Mode<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Like everyone else, I've been amazed at the pace of change over the past few weeks. Though I've been receiving a flood of COVID-19 emails for the past month, it has not struck home until much more recently. The first in-person impact I recall occurred thirteen days ago, when I found out that a friend's son's highly-anticipated college spring break trip to Ireland had been cancelled. Around that time, I started hearing about universities' plans to extend spring break and possibly go to e-learning for the rest of the semester. The next day, on March 9, my small group met at my house, and though there was some minor conversation about Coronavirus, there was little to no thought that that would be the last time we would meet for months. North Carolina had hardly seen any COVID-19 cases, and Watauga County certainly hadn't. I did start taking action as the medical director of the Community Care Clinic to implement reasonable and recommended precautions, which started changing on a near-daily basis that week. On Tuesday, Mindy and I visited my grandfather at his assisted living facility in Charlotte, not supposing that the facility would be put on lockdown just 2 days later. On Thursday, March 12, I still felt little risk to teaching my 1-day obstetrics course to 11 missionaries at EQUIP Ministries in Marion. I tried to remember to not shake anyone's hands, but that was about it.<br />
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That evening, however, I found out that all professional and collegiate sports had been indefinitely cancelled after an NBA player tested positive. I also got an email from my church that all services were being cancelled, and a text from a friend letting me know that the Banff Mountain Film Festival (which would have been today) had been cancelled. On my way back from Marion, I listened to a Sam Harris podcast that raised my concern that the supply chain might be disrupted. After discussing that with Mindy, she started stocking up on supplies. I also started considering the need to cancel my yearly college friends' get-together and other upcoming trips. The following day, I started hearing about schools shutting down, and court was shut down halfway through the day before Isabella's case was heard (earning Mindy's ire after she had sat around court for 1.5 days)<br />
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Though I still ran a relay race on March 14, everyone was careful to not shake any hands, and plans for a post-race hangout were scuttled. But even then, Mindy and I decided to go out to eat at a restaurant by ourselves-- where I made sure to wash my hands, of course. Much like my small group a few days earlier, I scarcely imagined it would be the last time I would eat at a restaurant for months. Though that may seem foolish just a week later, a complete restaurant ban still wasn't within my imagined realm of possibility at that moment.<br />
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But that was to change extremely quickly. I found out that night or the next morning that all NC public schools had been shut down, that gatherings of more than 100 people had been banned, and that someone in Watauga County had tested positive for COVID-19. When I drove to the hospital on the morning of March 16 after nine days off, I hardly recognized the place. There were traffic cones everywhere and a checkpoint on my way in where I had to show my ID, like a military base. That day, I had to test a patient in whom I could not reliably rule out COVID-19, and more patients like that would come over the course of the week. Preparations for dedicated COVID units swung into high gear, and emergency staffing and other plans were drawn up. The next day, March 17, the restaurant and bar ban dropped, and community life ground to a standstill.<br />
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Yesterday, I had planned to meet with a friend here at my house to hang out, but his family had already started to "hunker down." Now that we're both off work for a few days, Mindy and I are starting to "hunker down," too, though there is of course no chance that I will be called off of work. I've realized that I have a duty to avoid having to self-quarantine, since my services may be urgently needed at the hospital in a matter of weeks-- so I should therefore avoid any unnecessary contact with other people.<br />
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There are a few things I'd like to say about all this. Obviously, all of these developments are bad for the economy, and it's easy to become anxious about finances. To minimize that, I'm trying to meditate and journal more. And will try to time my entry into the market appropriately.<br />
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Secondly, things might get pretty lonely, especially for people who are out of work or who have to work from home. Since I'll still be working, that's less of a personal concern, but I still feel it on my current days off when Mindy is working. But the good news is that Mindy and I have had a lot more time to hang out and work as a team around the house. We've already noticed the relational dividends from the increased quality time.<br />
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Furthermore, now that we see cases in Charlotte and the Triangle starting to exponentially rise, it's obvious that all the measures put in place over the past week have been the correct calls. And the naysayers one would come across just days ago have all changed their tune. So kudos to Governor Cooper. I can only imagine that the controls are going to get stricter over the coming days and weeks.<br />
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On a larger scale, there's no question that the federal government in general and the Trump Administration and FDA in particular have horribly bungled their response to this emerging crisis. If they had taken the right steps at the right time, we would not have to be waiting for 3-5 days for a COVID-19 test result, and places like New York, Seattle, and San Francisco would not be experiencing the beginnings of a true crisis. I have no doubt that we will experience a catastrophic reckoning from the current administration's incompetence.<br />
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Everyone is rightly worried about following the path of China and Italy. With the measures that North Carolina has put in place over the last week, I think it's unlikely we will see that kind of crisis locally, though it's still possible, especially in the Triangle and Charlotte. I'm optimistic that we will be able to flatten the curve, at least moderately. Though the exponential growth in cases over the last week may seem to be telling another story, there is a lag time of several weeks to the effects of our current efforts. Only time will tell if what we are doing is enough.<br />
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The best comparison for the past few weeks and the coming months from my lifetime is 9-11. As we all know, the world has never been the same since then. And the same will be able to be said for the current crisis. In the meantime, don't take any unnecessary chances. Stay well, stay calm, and isolate on.<br />
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-6965030092757297772020-01-28T17:17:00.001-06:002020-01-28T17:17:34.566-06:00Keto January Recap<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Every time I told someone over the last month that I'm following the ketogenic diet, I got a quizzical look and some version of, "Why are you doing that? You don't need to lose weight!"<br />
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I get it, people. I promise I don't have an eating disorder. Whether most people realize it or not, the ketogenic diet has benefits far beyond weight loss. These include:<br />
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<li>Improved cognitive function and decreased brain fog</li>
<li>Improved mitochondrial function</li>
<li>Conserved glycogen during moderate aerobic activity (70% of VO2 max)</li>
<li>Improved autophagy and potentially reduced long-term cancer risk</li>
<li>Decreased insulin release, and thereby decreased systemic inflammation</li>
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And that's just the start. I'm excited to see more and more research emerging each year around various other salutory effects of keto-- the list just keeps growing!</div>
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Now that I've finished my three-week experiment with it, I have a few personal observations I'd like to share, broken down by week:</div>
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<li><b><u>Week 1</u></b>: lead-in week. Did not check my ketone level. Felt ok. A few headaches. Immediately lost 5-6 pounds of water weight, which is was happened last time I went keto. Started drinking water with salt, lemon juice, and a splash of apple cider vinegar in the morning to replete my electrolytes. Decided to monitor my blood ketone level (using my new Keto Mojo monitor) rather than track my macros, which would have been just too much work this time around. </li>
<li><b><u>Week 2</u></b>: mild ketosis (levels 0.5 - 0.9). Workouts were poor since I had no glycogen and was not yet keto-adapted. More headaches. Had to push through this week. But I did notice that I was very full for 6-7 hours after eating my late breakfast of cheesy eggs, presumably the effect of both the satiety that comes from a high-fat diet and the anorexic effect of ketones.</li>
<li><b><u>Week 3</u></b>: moderate ketosis (level was 1.2 at beginning of the week, then I ran out of ketone strips. Presumably it was at least 1.2 afterwards). Workouts improved as I became more keto-adapted. Headaches decreased and had little brain fog, although I still got headaches if my sleep was disrupted. Gained back about 4 of the pounds I had lost. Felt essentially back to normal. </li>
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Though it's not something I've decided to follow long-term, I do plan to continue the habit of going keto every January-- probably with a tweak each year, to keep things interesting. It's quite possible that this habit alone will extend my lifespan by 5 or even 10 years-- though I'll never know for sure.</div>
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So whether you're fluffy, lean, or something in between, the ketogenic diet serves as a master metabolic reset. If you do it right, you'll be glad you gave it a try. Let me know if you do!</div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-32549643280119773462020-01-18T12:38:00.000-06:002020-01-18T12:38:21.282-06:002020 Focus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My readings and musings over the last few months have crystallized two deep desires in me. The first is <b>enjoying and being present for each moment</b>. Few things sharpen your appreciation for the moment like a baby, and as I've grown in my understanding of and experience with meditation over the past year, I've come to recognize that the degree of fulfillment in life is largely determined by how undistracted a person is. Frequently entering a state of flow is a necessary condition for the good life. So whether it's feeding a baby at 5 AM or having a conversation with Mindy or swimming intervals in the pool or knocking out notes at work, I try to achieve complete focus on each moment, each appearance in consciousness-- each breath, each stroke, each thought, each interaction, each emotion. Fostering that practice will be the cornerstone of my next year. Mindy can't wait!<div>
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I'll also be <b>exploring the subconscious</b> over the next year. Whereas mindfulness meditation completely centers on the contents of consciousness, dream work and active imagination (which I'll cover in a future post) are practices that bring to awareness the deep well of the unconscious. Carl Jung trailblazed this field over a century ago, and by a stroke of luck I obtained an anthology of his work at Boone United Methodist's Fall Bazaar, pictured at the right below. I'm sure I'll post more on this as the year progresses and I have time to work through more of his writings. The middle book, Robert A. Johnson's <i>Inner Work</i>, explores the topics of dream work and active imagination in a practical way, and though I'm only now starting to dig into this book, I'm already excited to share some of the techniques and insights I gain.</div>
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As for hobbies, I will of course continue to train for and compete in <b>triathlons</b>, <b>kayak</b> as time, relationships, and rainfall allow, <b>garden</b>, <b>read</b>, and <b>write</b>. I'm also currently eating <b>keto</b>, and plan to dive back into the <b>bongos</b> later in the year. But my most recent passion has been stirred by the third book in the photo, <i><b>Fiery Ferments</b></i>-- a fun, practical, and educational exploration of the making of hot sauces and fermented foods that is the perfect marriage of my love for microbiology, gardening, and spice. I can't wait to experience and share the resulting concoctions! Thanks, Michael and Meghan!</div>
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Professionally, my work as a hospitalist will morph as Boone's new Family Medicine residency starts up in July. I'll be doing more <b>teaching</b> and <b>precepting</b> (which I love to do), and I've already started doing more bedside <b>ultrasound</b> and <b>procedures</b> (which I also enjoy doing) in anticipation of teaching the residents these topics. I'll also continue providing oversight and and medical care at the <b>Community Care Clinic</b>. </div>
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So like most of you reading this, my life is full of moving parts. Meditation and taking time to silently reflect will continue to help me understand why I act and feel the way I do in each moment, and I'm grateful that mindfulness is enjoying its time in the cultural sun. But a topic far less prominent but no less essential is how to understand our subconscious. The vast well from which the contents of consciousness emerge remains a mystery for most-- but it doesn't have to be that way! I'm excited to start unraveling that mystery, and share what I learn with all you lovely readers. </div>
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Memento mori, memento vivere.</div>
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Dan</div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-19116855614621992642020-01-09T17:21:00.001-06:002020-01-11T20:42:49.009-06:002019 in Review (and the 2010's!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The big-picture themes for 2019, as I stated in my blog post preparing for the year, were<br />
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"<b>reapproaching the Bible in a new way</b> and <b>generosity of spirit</b>. My goal is to be more empathetic, warm, and understanding by the end of next year than I am now. Though I'll still be reading books and book summaries and posting my reflections, I'll be more focused on the emotional and relational side of life, which is where I stand to grow the most right now. And I hope that, as a result, joy and humor will flow like never before!"<br />
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It turns out that, roughly the first half of my year was spent on reapproaching the Bible through various books, meditations, and podcasts (which was great), while I shifted my focus onto generosity during the second half, culminating in accepting a foster baby in December. I also assumed the volunteer position of Medical Director at the Community Care Clinic, Boone's only no-cost clinic serving exclusively uninsured patients. Contemplation and Action! Just what the sages always prescribe. Though I fell short plenty of times, especially in the area of presence and warmth, I can honestly say I grew across most important domains this year.<br />
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Mindy and I continue to grow and put down roots in the High Country, and the fostering process has brought us together as a team like never before. We have become more committed at Boone United Methodist Church, and have found a wonderful, supportive small group to be a part of. We also took two big trips, one to Europe and one to Colorado-- which should satisfy the travel bug for years to come!<br />
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Triathlon season was a success, and I was able to kayak a few times, though not as much as I wanted. The garden did pretty well, and I found some field mushrooms to eat in our very own pasture and at Mindy's uncle's house in Colorado-- morels, no less. I made some great strides at work, especially in the areas of procedures and ultrasound, completed my leadership program, and helped plan for the new Family Medicine Residency starting in Boone this year.<br />
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As I turn my attention to 2020, I want to take a moment to be grateful not just for a full year, but for a wonderful decade. The past 10 years have seen me through medical school, residency, marriage, deconstructions, reconstructions, major travels, a real job, and, to close out the decade... a baby! Though we don't know if she'll be with us forever or not (we sure hope she will be), Mindy and I are offering our foster baby as much love as we can give. And there's no better way to end a decade or start a new one than with that kind of self-giving love. And lots of snuggles.</div>
Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-23906240269353588522020-01-09T16:59:00.000-06:002020-01-09T16:59:18.456-06:00The Best Thing I Read in 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I read a lot of articles, quite a few book summaries, and a fair amount of actual books. I love few things more than digesting a good blog post or quality book. And if I was asked to recommend just one thing I've read over the past year, Tim Urban's series "The Story of Us" on his blog "Wait but Why" would be it-- hands down. Here's the link: <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/story-of-us.html">https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/story-of-us.html</a><br />
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The reasons for this selection are many. First and foremost, the topic is one of utmost importance: the underlying reasons why our society is heading in the wrong direction. Urban deconstructs the psychological, historical, cultural, anthropological, and technological dynamics that have brought us to our current state of affairs-- which by his and most other accounts is the brink of societal collapse. The number of mental models I gained or reinforced as a result of reading this series by far exceeds any other collection of writings in my recent memory. And I can't think of another series with as many "aha" moments as this one. And finally, like most of Urban's writing, it's fun to read. Hilarious, even.<br />
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Though a summary would take far too long, a couple takeaways I will mention is that the level of consciousness of individuals, organizations, political commentators, news outlets, political parties, and politicians matters far more than where on the "right/left" spectrum they are. Is their "higher mind" (symbolized by the guy with the turquoise light above) in control? Or is their primitive mind (you guessed it-- the orange flame-carrying blob) calling the shots? Another idea is that confirmation bias, rather than truth, becomes the driving force when the primitive mind takes over an individual or a group, which instigates a feedback loop which becomes ever more difficult to break as time goes on.<br />
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Urban isn't actually finished with the series, either. In the two final posts, it seems that he intends to offer his prescriptions for how we can break the cycles that have fractured our society. If you get a chance to read the series up to now, I think you'll be anticipating this as much as I am. Happy reading!<br />
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-453382502205028046.post-84075890908931997302019-12-29T12:31:00.000-06:002019-12-29T12:31:10.016-06:00Off-season triathlon training <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The past 4 months have constituted my off-season, and as such I've focused on preparation. First of all, I've been able to stay healthy. Secondly, I've undergone a professional bike fitting and aerobar installation, which I'm optimistic will keep my back spasms more at bay on long rides. In an effort to focus my training, I've also picked out the four triathlons I'd like to do next year: one Sprint triathlon, two Internationals, and one Half-Ironman. I also committed to a 6-person 100-mile relay race from Hickory to Boone with my brother David in March. As a result, I've been mostly focusing on inching my run mileage and intensity up over the last 2 months, and am starting to see improvements in my workouts as a result. Just yesterday morning, I had a very nice interval workout on the Appalachian State intramural fields in perfect "Indian Summer" weather.</div>
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I've also been more consistent about high-intensity interval training, and have integrated farmer's carries and overhead carries into many of my workouts in an effort to strengthen my upper body and core. I'm hopeful this upper body work will translate to some gains in the water. I've even started developing callouses on my palms from the weights, which has been peculiarly satisfying!</div>
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With a new baby in the home, recovery and workout timing has particularly important. As I am able to sleep more on my work weeks thanks to Mindy's willingness to shoulder the baby's nocturnal feedings, I am better able to recover from workouts on my work weeks than I am when I am sleep-deprived on my weeks off. I've also found that a sleep-deprived workout is often hardly worth doing given how sluggish I feel. So I'm squeezing as many work-day workouts in as I can.</div>
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True to form, here's the graphical representation of my workouts over the last 4 months. The main takeaway is that I'm starting to run more. Hopefully the other lines will be on an upward trajectory too in my next update!</div>
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Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05156120623197100434noreply@blogger.com0