The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

[lkwdblds]

Internet turned back on.

Hi everyone! I moved to my new residence last Saturday and have had no internet until just now, 5:00 PM Wednesday; the service man just left here. I have a lot of catching up to do on this thread. Purple Haze is coming over to see my place in a few minutes and the two of us with a friend of mine are going to dinner.

Five days without internet. Nowadays, once you are a regular on the internet, five days without it really has an effect on your life. There is a sort of addiction to the internet. This extended absence has helped me to see that.
Lakey

 

[lkwdblds]

This is an outstanding post!

There is a solid historical/sociological basis for a LOT of it based out of nearly 2000 years of persecution & religious discrimination by european christians. Basically jews were not allowed to own real property (land) anywhere in christian europe and were frequently subjected to life threatening persecution. This eliminated the dominant form of economic activity (agricultural pursuits) as a means of economic activity as well as participation in government (christians only) and military (christians again).

This led to focus on activities which could be sustained ANYWHERE at ANYTIME and allowing for the need for sudden rapid changes of locale in accordance with developing political, religious, and military circumstances. Hence, economic activities which focused on mercantile trades, entertainment, or highly skilled or educated trades became common in jewish communities with all the social factors of the community geared towards enhancing the survival of the whole group through promoting such activities.

In short, jews being differentiated from the population as a whole learned to value education, mutual support & networking, transportable wealth (jems, currency trading, banking), and also to keep attuned to the political cross-currents of the times. These are valuable skills and ideas for communal groups to share, especially in the light of rapidly changing societies; much more so than the sort of "plain speaking rugged individualism" often mythologized by agriculturally dominated societies. Thus jewish cultures, partly as a result of rampant & widespread discrimination, evolved to emphasize the skills of urban elites as opposed to the "plain 'old-fashioned' values" characteristic of rural populations.


Mark A. Baker

This is an outstanding post! I am in full agreement.
Lakey

 

[Leon]

The restirctions and impositions placed upon Jews by Christians over the centuries are really quite trivial when compared to the restrictions placed on them by their own religion. There are well over six hundred Thou-shalts and Thou-shalt-nots which a really devout jew has to follow. The only way out was to skillfully argue for some loophole that you may find, amd, if successful, you will receive mitzvahs from all of your friends for succeeding. This is what made them such good lawyers. They know how to atgue and debate - it comes with the mother's milk. And all that reasoning and arguing is what mede them intelligent too.

The rulers always self-destruct eventually. They have life too easy and don't have to work hard to get their privileges.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

3200 Adams Ave. Upstairs.

Did you know Rusty?

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Watched "Cabaret" on TCM tonight. Whatta great flick.

Now I ask y'all...How do the Jews do it?:confused2:

Think about it...Performing Arts and Letters, Sciences, Mathematics, Law, Finance, Business, Humanities, Academics.

Why?

Face

At least 181 Jews and people of half- or three-quarters-Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize,1 accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2010, and constituting 36% of all US recipients2 during the same period.3 In the research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Physics, and Physiology/Medicine, the corresponding world and US percentages are 26% and 39%, respectively. Among women laureates in the four research fields, the Jewish percentages (world and US) are 38% and 50%, respectively. Of organizations awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 25% were founded principally by Jews or by people of half-Jewish descent. (Jews currently make up approximately 0.2% of the world's population and 2% of the US population.)

 

[SweetnessandLight]

Mazel tov Lakey on your new home!!! Glad you got your internet connection back on, too.
I've missed you. Tell us how you like your new home as you are settling in and exploring the neighborhood!

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Worried About Your Memory? 5 Signs It's Not Serious

By Paula Spencer, Caring.com
Tue, Nov 30, 2010

It's natural to feel a little uneasy when you forget something, knowing that Alzheimer's disease now afflicts 5.3 million Americans, many still in their 40s and 50s. It's scary, sure. But many bouts of memory loss are simply the result of much more benign situations.

How can you tell the difference? The following five situations point toward normal, age-related memory loss. The best rule of thumb: "If you're concerned, see a specialist," says psychiatrist Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging and author of several books about memory and cognition, including The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head. An evaluation can rule out certain potential causes and often identify reversible ones.

It's probably not serious if: Lapses don't interfere with everyday life.
Everybody forgets stuff. The movie title on the tip of your tongue. The name of the dad on the soccer field. The occasional appointment or lunch date. What the heck you just came in the room to get.

Slowed recall of information from time to time is normal, caused by the naturally aging brain and other lifestyle factors (like trying to cram too many tasks into one day). What's not normal: When memory impairment interferes with your ability to get through the day. Everyday activities tend to rely on many rote steps and require you to remember basic sequences -- which the healthy brain isn't apt to forget.

So it's a reassuring sign if, despite occasional lapses, you can still work, prepare meals, dress yourself, manage your checkbook, pursue hobbies, and read 900-page novels or pursue your other usual hobbies as well as ever without needing help.

Brain training helps
It's probably not serious if: You see an improvement after "brain training."
Dozens of "brain fitness" products now exist, promising to strengthen our synapses and buffer our brainpower. Do they work? So far, there's no evidence that brain games or cognitive training can reverse the memory loss associated with Alzheimer's-related decline, according to a National Institutes of Health panel convened in 2010. But the jury is still out on whether there's a protective effect on healthy brains.

"Our brains naturally compensate for memory loss, and we can help our brains compensate more by learning memory techniques and cognitive techniques," psychiatrist Gary Small says. "If you do some of these techniques and see an improvement, that's a good sign."

Dementia is not so much a problem of retrieving old memories as it is an inability to form new ones. If you can still learn new things, you're forming new memories.

Among the available brain-strengtheners: Software you run on your home computer, classes offered by memory centers, cognitive therapy directed by trained therapists, and do-it-yourself books offering brain teasers and other games.

You've got new meds
It's probably not serious if: You've just started a new medication.
It's always a good idea to consider what else is going on in your life before you get too worried about a fuzzy brain. Drug side effects happen to be one of the more common, unexpected causes of memory trouble.

In fact, among older adults, who are often taking multiple prescriptions and then have an increased risk of dangerous interactions, the problem is so common that some geriatricians believe that any new symptom should be considered a medication side effect until proven otherwise.

Medications known to cause short-term memory loss include antianxiety drugs and sedatives (Xanax, Valium, Ambien), heartburn drugs (Tagamet, Pepcid), incontinence drugs (Detrol or Ditropan), cholesterol drugs (Lipitor) and some statins for high cholesterol, and antidepressants. A complete list numbers in the high dozens; always check with your doctor or pharmacist, especially if you've recently started a new prescription or have had the dosage changed.

You're the only one who's worried
It's probably not serious if: Nobody else seems to notice anything's amiss.
It's true that people might be noticing you're slipping but not saying anything to protect your feelings. But usually, there's a lot of family friction around memory loss that predates a diagnosis, says University of Wisconsin geriatric psychiatrist Ken Robbins. You find yourself in arguments over who neglected to do something, missed appointments, forgotten messages, or lost drivers. Family members may criticize or complain about mistakes before there's a diagnosis of something serious like dementia.

Eventually, this adds up to relatives often making a dementia diagnosis informally themselves, and being right. A 2010 study at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis found that family and friends tend to be able to spot the early warning signs of Alzheimer's disease even better than traditional screening tests and high-tech measures. They notice symptoms like repetitive stories or questions, social apathy, and changes in the person's ability to independently conduct everyday life (work, cooking, money management).

But if you're all still just teasing and joking over occasional slips -- think of Nora Ephron titling her new book I Remember Nothing -- odds are good nobody's alarmed yet.

You're stressed
It's probably not serious if: You're forgetful when stressed, sleep deprived, or multitasking.
Before you blame the worker (you), consider the workload. A stressed brain is not the same as a demented one.

Doing two or more things at once taxes the brain. No surprise there. Neuroimaging studies have shown that you're not really attending to several things at once. You're switching your attention from one to another, which means when you're attending to one thing, you're not really attending to the others in bursts lasting milliseconds. Result: short-term memory loss.

The challenge is especially hard if you're using the same part of the brain -- for example, using language centers to talk on the phone, read onscreen, and type at the same time.

Insufficient sleep is another common brain stressor, because that's when the brain processes and organizes memories for later retrieval. General stress, too, affects memory when increased cortisol production temporarily interferes with normal brain cell communication

People with early dementia, on the other hand, tend to forget regardless of whether they're sleeping well or poorly, busy or slow at work, stressed or unstressed.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

a forgotten Christmas carol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PluRW3_FEt0

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Sorry about being such a train-wreck lately, world.

Had a couple of run-ins with supposedly good friends of mine in the past week, along with a head-on crash from a psychotic trail house person, which has left my body in a lot of pain since Friday.

Why these good ole men think they have the right to put and keep us real women down, after all the oppression and threat by the macho feminists, is beyond my ken.

I gotta go buy you some food and water, dear? You fucking ass-twerp! Get a fucking job and stop trying to live off this woman’s kindness and generous spirit, for naught in return. Get your gigolo ass in gear and pull yourself outta yer own hole by yer boot straps and get me some money, honey. Charging me rent {...} is beginning to get under my skin…and you have the audacity to want me to pay half of your property tax on top of that!?#&!

Where do men get off thinking that us women owe them the world?

I got a friend I just took to a lovely party last night, who I’ve known for forty years…:dance2:

I made the mistake, apparently [he told me after, like a nagging housewife, on our way to my car for me to drive his sorry ass all the way back to the place he freely resides] of telling his new love interest that I had bought him his first guitar. He still owes me for it, as promised [including a promissory note for $6000 he wrote and brought to me at my home in Hawaii ten years prior to now] but can or will he ever pay even a penny for it? What kind of dishonesty is this? Pot head kind. Wonder if I started charging him back interest with penalties set from now on, say, a measly 4%, doubling every year from this day forward until paid in full: maybe that would get his sorry ass in gear and be good for his music career… maybe I’m the bad guy in this, allowing him to whine his way along the garden path, never getting off his duff..

This brings me to the other dude, his royal highness introduced me to, who scalped me and totally betrayed my trust…stealing my café right out from under me: the first weekly check for $200 cleared, the next bounced…by the time I was able to get together the money to pay for my airfare, get out of my new living situation and intimate relationship, and get meself back to LA and walk into the door of my little ole café, to see how it had been raped and pillaged and laid bare…too late! Fuck wad had flown the coop  I couldn’t even ever get back my beautyful French grain grinder still sitting in the kitchen, because the folks he had sold it to, who changed the name so they didn’t owe the $15,000 in bad credit he had rung up in 2 months’ time, had resold it and the people now owning it had turned it into a bakery, etc, etc.

It sickens me to think of it, all purty, with all my personal stuff still in it, ransacked and taken down to the pit of desperation… how my customers must have suffered my disappearance, helpless at the hands of a maniac macho man supposed business manager, ex tow truck driver, con artist, I later found out…

So, did Frankie ever take any responsibility for turning me over to this kingpin of intimidation and hidden mental filth? And now I’m in touch with him through Facebook, 33 years later… Mr. David Aaron Seville, once Riley, a Jewish bastard very much like the NYC punk that took over and terrorized the North Shore, Fast Eddie, head of the black trunk mafia, now smelling like a rose since he got off scott-free from the master coke distributor charges…don't get me wrong. I love Jews up close in personal. As a culture, they're quite amazing, over time. And remember, I was married to a wonderful Jewish man, Ira.

No wonder the feminists got crazy. All these bad apples spoiled the vat of wonderful men who slave away every day for their women and children: the family man who doesn’t screw around, has a true-blue heart of gold…not forced on him by some cult who threatens and destroys everyone’s lives by mental stress and physical intimidation and outright domination:nailbiting::shock:, but excels by his own good nature.

The rant is done. What do I do with this stuff?

Post it here!

Purple

Take a lesson:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7gNf_9njs

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

This is an outstanding post! I am in full agreement.
Lakey

I liked it too.

 

[Ted]

Santa Claus Plays This Throughout the Year

It is perhaps a few days early for this song, but I play it all year long. This is another one of those songs I wish I had written. Great song; superb performance. Dina Carroll sings an Andrew Lloyd Webber-Christopher Hampton song, "The Perfect Year."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdgza_h7vaw&feature=related

 

[Ted]

BTW, I Agree!

townhall.com/Victor Davis Hanson

In Defense of Liberal Arts

The liberal arts face a perfect storm. The economy is struggling with obscenely high unemployment and is mired in massive federal and state deficits. Budget-cutting won't spare education.

The public is already angry over fraud, waste and incompetence in our schools and universities. And in these tough times, taxpayers rightly question everything about traditional education -- from teacher unions and faculty tenure to the secrecy of university admissions policies and which courses really need to be taught.

Opportunistic private trade schools have sprouted in every community, offering online certification in practical skills without the frills and costs of so-called liberal arts "electives."

In response to these challenges, the therapeutic academic Left proved often incapable of defending the traditional liberal arts. After three decades of defining the study of literature and history as too often a melodrama of race, class and gender oppression, it managed to turn off much of the college audience and the general reading public. And cheek by jowl, the utilitarian Right succeeded in reclassifying business and finance not just as undergraduate university majors, but also core elements in general education requirements.

In such a climate, it is natural that once again we are hearing talk of cutting the "non-essentials" in our colleges such as Latin, Renaissance history, Shakespeare, Plato, Rembrandt and Chopin. Why do we cling to the arts and humanities in a high-tech world in which we have instant recall at our fingertips through a Google search and such studies do not guarantee sure 21st-century careers?

But the liberal arts train students to write, think and argue inductively, while drawing upon evidence from a shared body of knowledge. Without that foundation, it is harder to make -- or demand from others -- logical, informed decisions about managing our supercharged society as it speeds on by.

Citizens -- shocked and awed by technological change -- become overwhelmed by the Internet, cable news, talk radio, video games and popular culture of the moment. Without links to our past heritage, we in ignorance begin to think our own modern challenges -- the war in Afghanistan, gay marriage, cloning or massive deficits -- are unique and don't raise issues comparable to those dealt with and solved in the past.

And without citizens broadly informed by humanities, we descend into a pyramidal society. A tiny technocratic elite on top crafts everything from cell phones and search engines to foreign policy and economic strategy. A growing mass below lacks understanding of the present complexity and the basic skills to question what they are told.

During the 1960s and 1970s, committed liberals thought we could short-circuit the process of liberal education by creating advocacy classes with the suffix "studies." Black studies, Chicano studies, community studies, environmental studies, leisure studies, peace studies, woman's studies and hundreds more were designed to turn out more socially responsible youths. Instead, universities too often graduated zealous advocates who lacked the broadly educated means to achieve their predetermined politicized ends.

On the other hand, pragmatists argued that our future CEOs needed to learn spread sheets at 20 rather than why Homer's Achilles does not receive the honors he deserved, or how civilization was lost in fifth-century Rome and 1930s Germany. Yet Latin or a course in rhetoric might better teach a would-be captain of industry how to dazzle his audience than a class in Microsoft PowerPoint.

The more instantaneous our technology, the more we are losing the ability to communicate with it. Twitter and text-messaging result in an economy of expression, not in clarity or beauty. Millions are becoming premodern -- communicating in electronic grunts that substitute for the ability to express themselves effectively and with dignity. Indeed, by inventing new abbreviations and linguistic shortcuts, we are losing a shared written language altogether, much like the fragmentation of Latin as the Roman Empire imploded into tribal provinces. No wonder the public is drawn to stories like "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" in which characters speak beautifully and believe in age-old values that transcend themselves.

Life is not just acquisition and consumption. Engaging English prose uplifts the spirit in a way Twittering cannot. The latest anti-Christ video shown at the National Portrait Gallery by the Smithsonian will fade when the Delphic Charioteer or Michelangelo's David does not. Appreciation of the history of great art and music fortifies the soul, and recognizes beauty that does not fade with the passing fad.

America has lots of problems. A population immersed in and informed by literature, history, art and music is not one of them.


Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal.

 

[lkwdblds]

I don't know about this post, Leon

The restirctions and impositions placed upon Jews by Christians over the centuries are really quite trivial when compared to the restrictions placed on them by their own religion. There are well over six hundred Thou-shalts and Thou-shalt-nots which a really devout jew has to follow. The only way out was to skillfully argue for some loophole that you may find, amd, if successful, you will receive mitzvahs from all of your friends for succeeding. This is what made them such good lawyers. They know how to atgue and debate - it comes with the mother's milk. And all that reasoning and arguing is what mede them intelligent too.

The rulers always self-destruct eventually. They have life too easy and don't have to work hard to get their privileges.

Leon, while your point about the "the shalts" and thou shalt nots" undoubtedly has some validity, I believe you have carried the concept too far. To say that the impositions carried out by Christians are trivial in comparison seems to me as far too much of a stretch.

I was raised, as were so many of my relatives and friends, as Jewish "light".
I was sent to Sunday school to learn a little Hebrew and some Jewish history and then in public school, I did not attend class on the Jewish holidays, usually taking a goof off type holiday with no religious observation. We did celebrate the major holidays such as Passover, with its Seder, and Chanukah, with its many lovely gifts. THE ONLY "THOU SHALT NOTS WHICH I WAS AWARE OF, OR WHICH EVER RESTRICTED ME, WERE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!" This was no problem at all because they all seemed common sense to me, anyway, and I did not have to change my behavior pattern to practice them.

My peers and I heard tales about things which Orthodox Jews had to do, such as not riding in a car on the Sabbath or having separate dishes for dairy products and meat products and all of us thought the Orthodox laws were "silly" and did not apply in modern (late 1940's - early 1950's) times.

Many kids had Bubbies and Zadies (Grandparents) who either lived in their homes or lived nearby and came over daily. They were all from Europe, Russia, the Baltics, etc and they spoke Yiddish and were Orthodox Jews. We were taught to honor and respect them but deep down felt that hey were "nut jobs" and out of touch with modern times.

My parents decided to send me to Yiddish school rather than Hebrew school for my Bar-Mitzvah training. I went to "The Workmans' Circle" which taught the Yiddish language and Jewish culture. I attended there after school for two years during my ages 11 and 12, prepatory to my Bar Mitzvah at 13. The goal of learning Yiddish, rather than Hebrew, back in 1951 and 1952 was to be able to speak with my Grandparents who basically conversed in Yiddish.

The Yiddish training turned out to be very useful in my subsequent life but not for the stated reasons. What developed from it was an intense interest in the German language and German culture which began to develop when I was 16. As far as Yiddish went, my main benefit in knowing it was to be able to understand Jewish humor in both song and joke forms. I was able to understand Micky Katz's humorous Jewish music and was able to comprehend Jewish humor, which I believe is the driest and most subtle humor on planet Earth. Though an introvert, by nature, I became able to duplicate and tell Jewish jokes, using Yiddish and a good Yiddish accent when speaking English. This has been a blessing to me throughout life, always being able to spin off a bunch of Jewish jokes at a party.

Getting back to Leon's point, it seems to me that the actions taken during the Spanish Inquisition by the Catholic Church as well as the pogroms in Russia were acts taken by Christians which effect Jews more than their own internal "thou shalts". I do not know if Leon is considering the Nazi's as Christians, but nearly all of the Nazi's did profess to be Christian and if their contribution to at first limit and later to completely annihilate Judaism from the face of the Earth is factored in, then the Christian contributiion in imposing restrictions on the Jews can not be considered trivial in any sense of the word.

In closing, Leon brings up self destruction but the Jewish religion has been in existence nearly 6.000 years and has not self destructed and in direct opposition to that concept is the fact that every enemy of Judaism. which tried to wipe it out, has ultimately destroyed itself while Judaism has continued onwards. Applying the policy, "Look, don't listen", Judaism is still in existence while Nazism, the Russian Tzars, the Spain of the Inquisition period, the KKK, the American Nazi party, etc. have all ceased to exist. Not only has Judaism not self destructed but all of its former enemies have self destructed instead.
Lakey

 

[Leon]

Let's take the last part first. In South Africa where I grew up the main Jewish influx happened during the 1930's. Typically, they arrived with nothing and through sheer hard work, sacrifice and perseverance they achieved much. many well known South African companies and chains of stores started out this way.

The first generation of kids born to them were made to work and study hard and they all showed the results of that in being the leaders and top achievers in the School leaving exams - matric, we call it. Each province always published the names of the top ten achievers and during the 1950s when I grew up these lists were always dominated by Jewish names. Their kids in turn grew up easy, and today's jewish kids even easier. And when I was last in South Africa and saw the matric results there were zero Jewish names on the list. Afrkaners dominated.

So when I say "the rulers self-destruct" I do include the Jews, They - just like anyone else - are prone to becoming the victims of their own success.

As far as the shalts and shalt nots are concerned - it is observable that some peoples will take it as oppression and others as a channel for opportunity. This is in the nature of the 5th dynamic. The Jews have had tremendous impositions placed upon them over the centuries - no doubts about that. But do you think Israel would exist today if the Holocaust had not happened? Do you think the drive for education and achievement that the Jews had in the 20th century would have been present if your ancestors had all had an easy life? I think not.


Addition: Most Jews in South Africa are very orthodox. In some parts of Joburg extremely so. The so called reformed jewa or modern style jews are looked down upon.

 

[lkwdblds]

Purple Haze's train gets some refitting at the Claim Jumper

Sorry about being such a train-wreck lately, world.

Had a couple of run-ins with supposedly good friends of mine in the past week, along with a head-on crash from a psychotic trail house person, which has left my body in a lot of pain since Friday.

Why these good ole men think they have the right to put and keep us real women down, after all the oppression and threat by the macho feminists, is beyond my ken.

I gotta go buy you some food and water, dear? You fucking ass-twerp! Get a fucking job and stop trying to live off this woman’s kindness and generous spirit, for naught in return. Get your gigolo ass in gear and pull yourself outta yer own hole by yer boot straps and get me some money, honey. Charging me rent {...} is beginning to get under my skin…and you have the audacity to want me to pay half of your property tax on top of that!?#&!

Where do men get off thinking that us women owe them the world?

I got a friend I just took to a lovely party last night, who I’ve known for forty years…:dance2:

I made the mistake, apparently [he told me after, like a nagging housewife, on our way to my car for me to drive his sorry ass all the way back to the place he freely resides] of telling his new love interest that I had bought him his first guitar. He still owes me for it, as promised [including a promissory note for $6000 he wrote and brought to me at my home in Hawaii ten years prior to now] but can or will he ever pay even a penny for it? What kind of dishonesty is this? Pot head kind. Wonder if I started charging him back interest with penalties set from now on, say, a measly 4%, doubling every year from this day forward until paid in full: maybe that would get his sorry ass in gear and be good for his music career… maybe I’m the bad guy in this, allowing him to whine his way along the garden path, never getting off his duff..

This brings me to the other dude, his royal highness introduced me to, who scalped me and totally betrayed my trust…stealing my café right out from under me: the first weekly check for $200 cleared, the next bounced…by the time I was able to get together the money to pay for my airfare, get out of my new living situation and intimate relationship, and get meself back to LA and walk into the door of my little ole café, to see how it had been raped and pillaged and laid bare…too late! Fuck wad had flown the coop  I couldn’t even ever get back my beautyful French grain grinder still sitting in the kitchen, because the folks he had sold it to, who changed the name so they didn’t owe the $15,000 in bad credit he had rung up in 2 months’ time, had resold it and the people now owning it had turned it into a bakery, etc, etc.

It sickens me to think of it, all purty, with all my personal stuff still in it, ransacked and taken down to the pit of desperation… how my customers must have suffered my disappearance, helpless at the hands of a maniac macho man supposed business manager, ex tow truck driver, con artist, I later found out…

So, did Frankie ever take any responsibility for turning me over to this kingpin of intimidation and hidden mental filth? And now I’m in touch with him through Facebook, 33 years later… Mr. David Aaron Seville, once Riley, a Jewish bastard very much like the NYC punk that took over and terrorized the North Shore, Fast Eddie, head of the black trunk mafia, now smelling like a rose since he got off scott-free from the master coke distributor charges…don't get me wrong. I love Jews up close in personal. As a culture, they're quite amazing, over time. And remember, I was married to a wonderful Jewish man, Ira.

No wonder the feminists got crazy. All these bad apples spoiled the vat of wonderful men who slave away every day for their women and children: the family man who doesn’t screw around, has a true-blue heart of gold…not forced on him by some cult who threatens and destroys everyone’s lives by mental stress and physical intimidation and outright domination:nailbiting::shock:, but excels by his own good nature.

The rant is done. What do I do with this stuff?

Post it here!

Purple

TLC PROVIDED BY LAKEY AND HIS FRIEND ED

Purple Haze found a harbor on a day which had started quite stormy. A missed turn off started the events which put a nice cap on a previously stormy day. Purple was coming down the 110 Freeway during rush hour and was supposed to turn east on the 405 Freeway. She overshot the 405 by a good 2 miles or so and called me. Making a U turn, she headed back up toward the 405 but had to stop for a light on the Pacific Coast Highway. A quick call to me confirmed that PCH would be better to take during rush hour than the 405. Merrily, Purple went south on PCH and though she appeared marooned when she over shot the 405, she was at my new dwelling only 30 minutes later.

The first order of business was to debrief some of the unpleasantries which had ensued just before she left the valley for the beach cities. This was quickly followed by the most important business of the evening and that was to be fed.

LAKEY RECOMMENDS THE CLAIM JUMPER - A PERFECT CHOICE

I recommend we eat at the Claim Jumper. Purple was not familiar with that chain of restaurants and was opting for a steak house but I assured her that the Claim Jumper had steaks and much, much more. They have a California Gold Rush type of motiff, hailing back to the mining days of 1849 in Sutter's Creek in California, you know, Mark Twain was there to record the event for the press and so forth. Claim Jumper is also known for large portions, good tasted and being a bit health food oriented, even though they feature a lot of meats.

Purple opted for a steak and lobster dinner, with a sweet potato and veggies plus their all you can eat salad bar. With the enormous portions they serve, she took her salad bar to go, using two containers plus two more containers with left over stead, lobster, veggies and sweet potato. She is set for about two or three days of snacks and lunches from the bountiful feast of a dinner which she ordered. Ed and I opted for a more modest tri-tip dinner but still both of us has take home, me one container and him two.

HOW TO "AUDIT" SOMEONE MUCH MORE HIGHLY TRAINED THAN YOU

Puple told me months ago to get be there and listen to her rant or speech and acknowledge when she completes a thought. That is about all there is to it. There is a little skill involved in half acknowledgments, just to let her know that you are tracking her. I have prematurely acknowledged or over acknowledged a few times but getting the feel of when and how much half ack to use.

The biggest win in this type of processing is when the wins come and new awarenesses are voiced by Purple. I wait until all is said and then at the precise correct moment, I give a very high toned full acknowldgment. If a processor is really there for the person and really cares about them, that goes a long way towards assuring success in the session.

This is what a very highly trained person has to do in the field, in many instances, to get things to blow. People of similar training to them are often not readily available and someone, almost anyone can unburden the highly trained person just following the simple listen and acknowledge proceedure I outlined above.

My wins are both in helping my friend and in contributing on a third dynamic type of activity. It is a win-win activity. So it is that Purple left my place at 10:30 PM, well fed and having her earlier experiences of the day duplicated and acknowledged. She was back on the road, starting a 57 mile trip to visit another friend.

MY REWARD - Of course, no reward is expected or needed but as a birthday present for my recent birthday, Purple is going to administer PCA tests (similar to OCA's) to both Ed and me and then run some new process she has developed on both of us and then train us to run it on others.
Lakey

 

[Mark A. Baker]

...
America has lots of problems. A population immersed in and informed by literature, history, art and music is not one of them.


Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal.

He left out mathematics & the natural sciences.


Mark A. Baker

 

[FoTi]

TLC PROVIDED BY LAKEY AND HIS FRIEND ED

Purple Haze found a harbor on a day which had started quite stormy. A missed turn off started the events which put a nice cap on a previously stormy day. Purple was coming down the 110 Freeway during rush hour and was supposed to turn east on the 405 Freeway. She overshot the 405 by a good 2 miles or so and called me. Making a U turn, she headed back up toward the 405 but had to stop for a light on the Pacific Coast Highway. A quick call to me confirmed that PCH would be better to take during rush hour than the 405. Merrily, Purple went south on PCH and though she appeared marooned when she over shot the 405, she was at my new dwelling only 30 minutes later.

The first order of business was to debrief some of the unpleasantries which had ensued just before she left the valley for the beach cities. This was quickly followed by the most important business of the evening and that was to be fed.

LAKEY RECOMMENDS THE CLAIM JUMPER - A PERFECT CHOICE

I recommend we eat at the Claim Jumper. Purple was not familiar with that chain of restaurants and was opting for a steak house but I assured her that the Claim Jumper had steaks and much, much more. They have a California Gold Rush type of motiff, hailing back to the mining days of 1849 in Sutter's Creek in California, you know, Mark Twain was there to record the event for the press and so forth. Claim Jumper is also known for large portions, good tasted and being a bit health food oriented, even though they feature a lot of meats.

Purple opted for a steak and lobster dinner, with a sweet potato and veggies plus their all you can eat salad bar. With the enormous portions they serve, she took her salad bar to go, using two containers plus two more containers with left over stead, lobster, veggies and sweet potato. She is set for about two or three days of snacks and lunches from the bountiful feast of a dinner which she ordered. Ed and I opted for a more modest tri-tip dinner but still both of us has take home, me one container and him two.

HOW TO "AUDIT" SOMEONE MUCH MORE HIGHLY TRAINED THAN YOU

Puple told me months ago to get be there and listen to her rant or speech and acknowledge when she completes a thought. That is about all there is to it. There is a little skill involved in half acknowledgments, just to let her know that you are tracking her. I have prematurely acknowledged or over acknowledged a few times but getting the feel of when and how much half ack to use.

The biggest win in this type of processing is when the wins come and new awarenesses are voiced by Purple. I wait until all is said and then at the precise correct moment, I give a very high toned full acknowldgment. If a processor is really there for the person and really cares about them, that goes a long way towards assuring success in the session.

This is what a very highly trained person has to do in the field, in many instances, to get things to blow. People of similar training to them are often not readily available and someone, almost anyone can unburden the highly trained person just following the simple listen and acknowledge proceedure I outlined above.

My wins are both in helping my friend and in contributing on a third dynamic type of activity. It is a win-win activity. So it is that Purple left my place at 10:30 PM, well fed and having her earlier experiences of the day duplicated and acknowledged. She was back on the road, starting a 57 mile trip to visit another friend.

MY REWARD - Of course, no reward is expected or needed but as a birthday present for my recent birthday, Purple is going to administer PCA tests (similar to OCA's) to both Ed and me and then run some new process she has developed on both of us and then train us to run it on others.
Lakey

Thanks for this post, Lakey. This..'just listening' .... is something I experienced with a Class XII at Flag, when I was there. Instead of forcing a process on me, she would just let me itsa to an FN. I never experienced any other auditor that did that. It was great! I'm glad you reminded me of this.

Looking forward to hearing about Purple's new process and the response from you and Ed. I'd like to learn about her new discovery.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Good Stuff, EP!

Face, as a non-religious Protestant married to a spectacularly accomplished Jewish woman for almost 40 years and having been raised with Jewish next-door neighbors on two sides, etc, etc,...

I spent a good couple of hours mentally formulating and composing an answer to your question - until I realized that I would have to write a whole novel sized book...and probly would not even scratch the surface at that.

Then I remembered the following, which was told me on more than one occasion and with a little consideration and rumination on your part, you may find that it pretty much answers the question posed.

"Jews are just like everybody else - except more so!"

Mike, EP, Shegitz, etc

This is great, EP…I think it really sums it up AFAIC.

MAB’s erudite history dissertation, Carmelo’s factoids, Leon's "Take" and Lakey’s “inside” story also help paint the picture as I see it.

Due to a rural WASP location during my upbringing and private WASP University education I had virtually no interaction with Jewish folks until Scn and the SO. Subsequent to my Scn days I have had much interaction with Jews professionally, socially and as personal friends.

I have been quite favorably impressed with most of the Jews I have known... to the point that I have a positive bias regarding Jewish folk, really enjoy their “take”, admire their culture and my life has been enriched by their presence. Their emphasis on education, hard work, mastery, reasoning, pragmatism, family, community and process of including the child’s, parents and communities responsibility in raising the next generation to be literate, competent and accomplished adults is something that should be emulated.

My parents were Born Again, Charismatic, Fundamentalist, Evangelical Christians and despised Jews as the “killers of Christ”. It disgusted me. Obviously, they never heard the great Mel Brooks/Carl Reiner routine “The 2,000 Year Old Man”.

Reiner: Did you know Jesus?

Brooks: Jesus?! Sure, I knew Jesus…He was a v-e-r-y nice Jewish Boy!

Face

 

[lkwdblds]

Nothing in your post that I disagree with!

Let's take the last part first. In South Africa where I grew up the main Jewish influx happened during the 1930's. Typically, they arrived with nothing and through sheer hard work, sacrifice and perseverance they achieved much. many well known South African companies and chains of stores started out this way.

The first generation of kids born to them were made to work and study hard and they all showed the results of that in being the leaders and top achievers in the School leaving exams - matric, we call it. Each province always published the names of the top ten achievers and during the 1950s when I grew up these lists were always dominated by Jewish names. Their kids in turn grew up easy, and today's jewish kids even easier. And when I was last in South Africa and saw the matric results there were zero Jewish names on the list. Afrkaners dominated.

So when I say "the rulers self-destruct" I do include the Jews, They - just like anyone else - are prone to becoming the victims of their own success.

As far as the shalts and shalt nots are concerned - it is observable that some peoples will take it as oppression and others as a channel for opportunity. This is in the nature of the 5th dynamic. The Jews have had tremendous impositions placed upon them over the centuries - no doubts about that. But do you think Israel would exist today if the Holocaust had not happened? Do you think the drive for education and achievement that the Jews had in the 20th century would have been present if your ancestors had all had an easy life? I think not.


Addition: Most Jews in South Africa are very orthodox. In some parts of Joburg extremely so. The so called reformed jewa or modern style jews are looked down upon.

There is nothing in your post that I disagree with, Leon. I think it was the term "self destruct" which I was using in a more literal way than you. Using it in the sense which you are using it tends to clear up our differences.

As to Israel coming into existence without the Holocaust occuring, there was a very active Zionist movement in the 19th and first half of the 20th century and it was making progress towards the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Nevertheless, my guess would be that without the occurance of the Holocaust, the Jewish state in Palestine would probably never have come into existence.

Sometimes I wish that a Jewish state would have been formed in some other part of the world. Postwar Germany would have been the most logical candidate for such a state. Also, I believe more likely sites were considered at one time or another such as in Madagascar. Orthodox Jewry's dogmatic insistance that the state had to be formed in Palestine has been a big thorn in the side of the world being at peace. There is really no logical basis for the state having to exist in Palestine other than literal interpretations taken from the Bible. Rather than insisting and demanding this arbitrary location, mandated by the old testament, the world would be far better served if the Jewish state existed somewhere else on land that was not so hotly contested by other religions.

Leon, I think your example of second generation Jews not being particularly bright academically, answers Hat's question as to whether or not the Jews are just intrinsically smarter. The answer appears to be a definitie no. They are smarter but there is a logical reason behind that as covered in your example about first generation South African Jews.
Lakey

 

[lkwdblds]

Thank's FoTi!

Thanks for this post, Lakey. This..'just listening' .... is something I experienced with a Class XII at Flag, when I was there. Instead of forcing a process on me, she would just let me itsa to an FN. I never experienced any other auditor that did that. It was great! I'm glad you reminded me of this.

Looking forward to hearing about Purple's new process and the response from you and Ed. I'd like to learn about her new discovery.

Thanks for the nice comments FoTi! I will keep you apprised of what we learn. We are talking about getting started early next week.
Lakey