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Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
September 16, 2009
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
"Everything on earth is beautiful, everything -- except what we ourselves
think and do when we forget the higher purposes of life and our own
human dignity."
- Anton Chekhov( this way to Jason Mraz pronoia )
What does it say about the current state of reality when an intelligent optimist like Mraz has such mainstream popularity? Here's what I suspect: The media may relentlessly wallow in news about what's wrong and bad and rotting, but a lot of people are resisting that hypnotic hum as they wake up to the glorious other side of the story.
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(reposted in its entirety from ![[info]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) deadlychameleon who is the "I" referenced below)
In regards to surveyfail: http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/SurveyFail
I called the Boston University IRB office. The direct approach works.
They've gotten a lot of emails regarding Dr. Ogas. He is no longer in any way affiliated with Boston University, except as a recent graduate. They have asked him to stop using his official Boston University email address in connection with this project, or his website. He is officially on his own, and this project is NOT IRB APPROVED.
That is the official status as stated by the Boston University IRB office.
The problem with this is threefold:
1. The researcher has no expertise in the area he is researching, nor has he recruited anyone to give him guidance.
2. The researcher has substantial profit motivation to produce work in this area (book contract with Penguin) which may lead to unethical conduct/a tendency to misrepresent his results.
3. The research is in no way overseen by any external body which can examine it for potential unethical conduct.
In addition to all of these, the researchers have now alienated their participant population, who are now very likely to become unreliable participants.
The only way to salvage the study at this point, I believe, would be for them to change it to an observational one.
ETA: if you want to share, please repost with attribution, that way people don't have to click through to get the information. If people need to contact me, they're certainly free to do so, but I'd like the discussion to spread out.
Also, all comments here are based on the information I had at the time of posting - if it turns out to be inaccurate, my deepest apologies. My statements regarding the problems with this research are based on my personal opinions, and should be taken as such.
ETA 2: I need to do other things for awhile, so I apologize if comments go unanswered. I should add that the IRB stated they contacted Dr. Ogas, and confirmed that this was indeed his project (they also gave him some basic methodological suggestions, despite the fact that he's no longer affiliated). They claim he's been very receptive to their suggestions. I say this just to confirm that YES THIS IS HIS PROJECT, and probably not a case of stolen identity.
ETA 3: Oh look who just f-locked his entries. Anyone with screencaps? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
ETA 4: Hopefully the last ETA I'm going to need to make.
I don't even know offhand where the line between unethical and illegal begins here, because they're so far past anything I'd ever do.
To start with:
1. Lack of proper anonymity/privacy protections for participants potentially admitting to illegal activity.
2. Lack of proper anonymity/privacy protections for participants potentially admitting to things that could negatively impact them at work and in their communities were they to become known.
3. Lack of any kind of age statement - this is methods 101 people, you always ask if a person is over 18, otherwise you need parental consent for any research study.
4. Lack of ANY kind of informed consent. No statement that you may withdraw from the research at any time. No statement saying what the research will be used for. No statement of risk vs. benefit. No statement regarding deception. No statement giving the affiliations of the researchers.
This is BAD RESEARCH, not to belabor the point. As one commenter pointed out, it's one thing when it's a survey about ice cream flavors. But the risk level here is fairly high. It's possible for someone to lose their job were this information to become public and identified with a given person.
ETA: Wearing the Juice: A Case Study in Research Implosion, wonderful entry from a research-end person.
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Find out more about National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week and the 5-day free virtual conference with 20 speakers Sept 14-18, 2009 at www.invisibleillness.com.
If you have an invisible chronic illness and are interested in blogging a post please go to:
http://ow.ly/nhgv
thanks, imafarmgirl for the info, and the insight.
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| 2009-08-31 04:42 |
| So, yanno? I'm a nurse. It's my job: sometimes (often) I worry about our (communal) health... |
| Public |
| despair work, economics, environment, ethics, health, hope, native american issues, nurse-intuitive, nursing, political science |
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What I watched on TV tonight at work:
Water's Edge: Profits and Policy: Behind the Rising Catastrophe of Floods
Mountain Top Removal ( Wiki article ) ( series on youtube )
I have some thoughts about it all, but cannot avoid sinking into horrid and vicious cynicism- and while that might feel good for a moment, it's not an appropriate response for someone with my education and background. I'm trained to look at this from a community health perspective: as an RN, I have an obligation to do just that. Risk management, genetics, environmental safety- those are all within my purview as a nurse. So it behooves me to stop, just a moment longer, marshall my thoughts, and organize them so that I can pursue this with some clarity.
Because right now? I'm just pissed.
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Can-do, or the attitude that the quality of your day (and your life) is, to large extent, in your own hands.
This land: Living in tents, and by the rules, under a bridge. And in how you interact with others. How well you understand the culture, the government, you live in, live under.
I dunno. We're all struggling, no? some have new babies, new houses. Others have new losses, new despairs. Some are grinding away against the same-old, same-old. Some have brand-spanking-new opportunities that are exhilarating and terrifying in near-equal portions.
But is it about the new comix and clothes, the Broadway shows, the cable channels, the bad days and the frustrations? Or is it about how we meet them?
Afterlife or no: in this life, all you have is your attitude in this moment. The rest is completely, utterly, and totally out of your control.
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Come, join my Cause, and get invitation credit (not to mention thanks!) when you invite your friends.
Yeah, ok, it's Facebook. It's the school-yard, the soda fountain, the village well, the back fence, the water cooler, the bar, it's where people gather and shoot the breeze and come together to work and party down afterwards, and it's where I'm trying to raise a little money to support making Nuclear Guardianship something we just do, like buckling seat belts and picking up trash and not hitting kids and taking care of the elders. I'm supporting the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons because I believe these weapons to be the single largest, most weighty, least acknowledged threat to the public health, and I have a life-long dream of reducing, removing, this threat to my community.
So, if you're in Facebook, or your kids are, wander on by. Join, donate, invite. I promise it's not a RickRoll.
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In support of a friend's Cause, and because it's something I believe in, too:
Dear Friends:
Thanks for joining our FB Group! As many of you know, we have received a $2500 grant which will pay $1 for each new person who joins this group before June 1. In the last 72 hours 208 people have joined!
We have 23 days to recruit 2292 more supporters in order to receive the full $2500. If everyone receiving this email recruits 3 friends to join over the weekend we will be half way there. Each person who joins raises money and awareness for the campaign to Restore Hetch Hetchy.
BAY AREA RESIDENTS: We need your help planning our summer outreach efforts in San Francisco. Please email me if you can join us for a volunteer leadership meeting on May 18th and/or our larger organizing meeting on June 6. Or call our office at 415-956-0401. WE NEED YOU TO GET INVOLVED!
Max Szabo
Field Organizer
max@hetchhetchy.org
Restore Hetch Hetchyx
x-posted
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| 2009-05-07 18:53 |
| Despair-work, Peace-work, Hope |
| Public |
| despair work, ethics, facebook, friends, hope, networking, peace work, twitter, wordpress |
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If you've followed along for any length of time, you know that I'm a big fan of what Joanna Macy calls 'despair-work'. Interestingly, this is not work in which one admits despair and then gives up. This is work in which one admits to despair being present, then uses the energy gained by that admission to generate new energy: to create hope, in one way or another.
I've joined the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in their ican project, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. I'm inviting you to join me, by donating, by spreading the word, by believing this can be accomplished across the lines of nations and over the objections of corporations and armies, through the work of concerned, dedicated, connected individuals- a fellowship of the many, if you will.
The secondary cost of maintaining nuclear weapons stockpiles is part of what the GreenhamCommonWomen worked to make apparent, what Eric and David Thiermann, in their difficult but beautiful film The Last Epidemic demonstrate in clear and personal way, what Joanna Macy Rogers from her practice of Engaged Buddhism names Nuclear Guardianship. The thing is done, it cannot be undone, but it can be put into balance: not the balance of bomb for bomb, because that is no balance, but the balance of action and care.
I'm inviting you to join me, and bring your friends, family and co-workers. Invite your government, corporations, churches, synagogues, mosques. There is room for everyone to do this work, and many hands make light work.
As Aragorn said: There is always hope.
Today, I bring this sliver of it and hold it alight. Please, join me in carrying the fire.
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Table of contents for Despair-Work, an essay by Joanna Macy on the weight of the Nuclear Age on each/all of us, whether we are consciously aware of it or not, and some ideas of what can be done for/by each of us to ease that burden.
Part one: Introduction, Ingredients of Despair, Symptoms and Suppressions
Part two: Validation,
Part three: Feeling, Imaging, Waiting
Part four: Community
Citations and references page [external links]
This essay became her book Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age.
And some related links: Deep Ecology, Nuclear Guardianship, Non-Violent Peace Force, Yes! Magazine and Critical Will: Force for Nuclear Disarmament.
ETA: I've been asked why I'm keeping this at the top of my page?
Because it's relevant. Because this essay saved my life when I first read it in 1982. Because it's thoughtful writing. And because now, instead of two countries with [relatively] stable nuclear warhead programs, there are [actually, do we even know how many?] at least 6 with nuclear warhead capability. / (ETA- am letting it slide down a ways for now- doesn't mean I won't relink it at the top at some point.)
I don't know about you, but that weighs on me something terrible. I'm so grateful to have ways to relieve that burden which are practical and do-able.
ETA to add Rebecca Solnit's Library of Hope (including hope in the dark) from Tom Engelhart's Tomdispatch, courtesy of Perceval Press.
ETA 4.16.08 to add Waging Peace and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
Thank you, you who read, ponder, come back, read again. If ever you'd like to talk about this with me, I'm available. Just drop me a note here.
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Keep the Arts In Public Schools is one of my FaceBook causes.
To support this cause, I'm listing all my Arts for Children books in this note, and promising 10% of profits from each sale to KAIPS.
Arts&Crafts
Make Sculptures (Art and Activities for Kids) by Solga, Kim $3.00
Make Gifts! (Art and Activities for Kids) by Solga, Kim $3.00
How to Make Soft Toys and Dolls (A Sunset Book) [Paperback] by various $3.00
Draw! (Art and Activities for Kids) by Solga, Kim $3.00
Paint! (Art and Activities for Kids) by Solga, Kim $3.00
I Can Draw Animals (Usborne Playtime Series) [Paperback] by Gibson, Ray $3.00
The Big Book of Soft Toys [Hardcover] by Mabstyler; Kingsford, John $5.00
CRAFT BOOKS: MODELING BOOK (PAPERBACK) by Owen (Modeling clay & more) $3.00
Batik (Start-A-Craft: Get started in a new craft with easy-to-follow projects... $4.00
Stenciling (Start-a-Craft) by Skinner, Betsy; Sapsford, Jamie $3.50
0401E1GY5XQ Start-A-Craft: Puppets by Schneebeli-Morrell, Deborah $3.00
More Lettie Lane Paper Dolls by Young, Sheila $2.00
A World of Costumes in Cutout : All You Need is a Pair of Scissors and Glue $12.00
Poetry, writing & words
Animal Poems For Children by Golden Books $2.00
THE GOLDEN JOURNEY: POEMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. [Hardcover] $10.00
Poems for Brothers, Poems for Sisters by Livingston, Myra C.; Zallinger, Jean $4.00
Performing arts
Musics of Many Cultures: An Introduction [Paperback] by May, Elizabeth [This is a college text, but makes a wonderful guide to teach from, as well] $7.00
DVDs, VHS, CDs
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: The Definitive Collection [DVD] $15.00
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite; Swan Lake Suite [Germany] [Import] [Audio CD] $4.00
Notes from the Wild: The Nature Recording Expeditions of Bernie Krause $8.00
Also available at EnjoyIt are books for kids about science, myths & fairy tales, geography; books on parenting and fun activities to do with kids; several antique children's books (not perfect first editions, but the kind of lovely old book you want to just hold and read= the kind that makes your hands ache to hold another book, and another), and chapter books/YA books as well.
Remember, 10% of profit from these sales goes to Keep Arts In the Public Schools. Thank you for your support of this Cause.
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Swine Flu: This is the real deal, according to a friend of mine who's a very experienced infection control nurse.
So, what can you do?
1. Don't panic. Get educated. Be smart. Yes, it's infectious. Yes, it's scary. So be intelligent.
2. WASH YOUR HANDS. Early. Often. I don't usually like anti-bacterial soaps, but right now, I'm carrying Purell Hand Sanitizer with me (on my keychain, in my backpack, a bottle in the car...- yeah. Before and after the ATM, etc...) and using the sanitizer wipes at my grocery market's entrance. Yes, I know some people are sensitive to it, and can't use it. That's ok. Soap and water works just fine. But them as can, could, and that'll help keep germs from spreading via all those publicly shared things like ATMs and grocery carts. (and everything else you touch: doors, bus bench backs, etc. etc. but ATMs and grocery carts are known to be great reservoirs.) I've been informed about Vicks Foaming Hand Sanitizer also available. I put the whole listing so you can choose where to order from.
3. If you're really worried, get some masks. Just enough to keep your coughing from spreading in its usual 3-feet-in-all-directions cloud, and enough to keep other people's cough-cloud from getting into your nose and throat. (The only really useful scene in the movie "Outbreak" is the one of how airborne infection can spread. The rest of the movie is more or less melodrama, as well as geographically insanely incorrect.)
4. Remember: Infectious agents need very specific things to spread. A useful model is the Chain of Infection model: infectious agent, reservoir (where it lives when it's not infecting someone), portal of exit, means of transmission, portal of entry, susceptible host (and back around to the infectious agent, ready to swing through the chain again).
Break that chain at any point, and the power of the infectious organism is broken, too. This is why hand-washing works, why you should cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze (preferably not with the hand with which you're next going to touch the ATM or grocery cart, but by sneezing into your shoulder or the crook of your elbow).
To my friends who live in places already affected, my very best love and good wishes to you. To the rest of us, let's be good, and wash our hands.
[Editorial comment: This is why we vaccinate, even though it's likely that a vaccine for this strain of Swine Flu won't be available soon. Mechanism of vaccination, and some numbers: (Wikipedia article, WiseGeek article, and yeah, I know the objections to vaccination, I do, but I also know the huge dent in my Dad's back from where part of a rib was removed so he could have a pulmonectomy for Diptheria, and how crappy two weeks in bed with Measles worrying I might go blind was, and how scary Rubella was for pregnant women, too, and how horrible the deaths of the children who got Measles with secondary pneumonia in 1989-1991 in California were. {I worked in the PICU at Oakland Children's during that epidemic- It was not good.} If you're not going to vaccinate, fine. Just be prepared for the possible consequences not only to your own or your child's health, but to your community's as well, because it's work, dealing with an epidemic. Yes, the vaccine developers and manufacturers can do a better job. yes, we should hold them accountable. But, yeah- community health is the responsibility of the community, not the manufacturers, not even, in the end, the government. Of the people, for the people, by the people...etc., etc.) End Editorial comment.]
If you're sick, STAY HOME. Tell someone you're sick, but STAY HOME. If you must be out, cover your mouth, wash your hands early and often, eat well, drink LOTS of water (not soda), and go home early- don't linger about out in the world. MomsRising Petition for Family Sick Leave act. Yes, it's only one country, yes, it's only one segment of the population, yes it's a start.
x-posted, sorry for the repitition.
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| 2009-04-15 21:47 |
| yes! persistance, or, Your Money or Your Life |
| Public |
| amazon, books, economics, ethics, fun, taxes, thanks, travel, ymoyl |
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So, by this time next year, all else being equal, I will have paid off my back taxes and get a refund. I will have at least consolidated my student loans and have a single payment. And I will have cleared out at least a third of my storage, which will be at the very least less of a psychic burden and possibly a continuing source of some income. This all from following, slowly, the nine-step program in Your Money or Your Life.
Which will put me closer to "Enough" on my fulfillment curve, and closer to my goal of Financial Intelligence, Financial Integrity, and Financial Independence.
*wild happy dance inserted here*
New listings here @EnjoyIt. I wish it would sort by category for you, and that I had images for all the books, but it doesn't, and I don't.
Important: IF you have ordered from me, or someone you know has ordered from me, and there has been ANY problem, please let me know via Amazon PM/Email. There are some odd things the site does, like re-listing already sold items (making up inventory, essentially) and listing new orders lower down in the order listings than filled listings (making it easy to miss new orders) which, the more I read in the seller discussion blogs, are neither new problems (though I was unaware of them) nor anything Amazon seems inclined to fix anytime soon (insert thinly veiled surprise here). I however AM a good seller. I make good on errors when I make them, and I do my absolute best to be sure you a) get what you ordered and b) if you are not happy to reach a happy outcome.
cross-posted to DW and LJ
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Via ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jadelennox, Mike Gronstal explaining why he is effectively blocking the move to amend the Iowa Constitution.
Here, if the video won't work for you.
Transcript here.
Polite, thoughtful, reasoned, and very very clear. I think I'm in love with this guy.
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Paul Rodriguez narrates this one hour doc on salt in the water supplies of various parts of California, and how what we do here in the Bay Area affects and is affected by water use elsewhere, statewide water policy, and other things. I had a chance to see it tonight at work. It's well worth seeing.
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Fisher Poets
partial text:
Entrants in the gathering’s “on-site” poetry contest on Saturday night were told barely 24 hours earlier that submissions had to be at least eight lines, take less than a minute to read and include the phrase “you might be missing fish.”
Rob Seitz, who cycles nearly year round through cod, whiting and Dungeness crab seasons on his 80-foot steel boat, placed third with these verses:
If your son is not intimidating
On the line of scrimmage,
If your daughter’s report card
Is not the brightest image,
If your children are not turning out
As healthy as you’d wished,
Perhaps on your dinner table
You might be missing fish.
Mr. Seitz, 42, said he wrote only once a year, on gathering weekend in Astoria. But he does prepare.
“On the boat, I don’t have a TV,” he said. “We just read.”
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With thanks to imafarmgirl in whose journal I saw this. you're such a grand, generous resource person (among your many other talents).
Jan 21, 2009
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/37893109.html
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – White Bison Inc. is a 20-year-old Native nonprofit organization that focuses not only on alcoholism recovery but also on the ways in which a history of colonization contributed to addiction in the American Indian community.
Operating from a modest office on a quiet street, White Bison reaches Native communities well beyond this city south of Denver that is home to Focus on the Family and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
One of White Bison's key programs is the Wellbriety Movement, which extends past sobriety into the talking circles of its multicultural, cross-country Hoop Journeys, firestarter circles for local sobriety efforts, and other grassroots, culturally based programs and practices.
Central tenets of the organization are contained in White Bison's "The Red Road to Wellbriety in the Native American Way," a 12-step program adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous' Big Book. The book has personal recovery stories chronicling the lives of Native addicts from various communities and walks of life.
In many ways, the organization reflects experiences of its founder and president, Don L. Coyhis, Mohican, who addresses Native history in "Alcohol Problems in Native America: The Untold Story of Resistance and Recovery-the Truth About the Lie," which he co-authored with William L. White, a senior research consultant for Chestnut Health Systems.
Provided with an accurate history of North America, Native people can heal from alcoholism and other illnesses that result from colonization's legacy of intergenerational trauma, Coyhis said. "The truth about what happened to us is very important, but the story wasn't told. I found out the truth about the lie."
"It is time Indian people rejected alcohol, not because some Indians develop alcohol problems and alcoholism, but because alcohol is a symbol of efforts to exploit and destroy us as a people," the book states.
Coyhis said the result of silence about intergenerational trauma is similar to the effect of messages passed on by dysfunctional families.
He likens the result of silence about community trauma to the effect of messages in dysfunctional families. "I grew up thinking I was no good, not good enough, not very smart. When I found out I wasn't dumb, everything changed – relationships, jobs I applied for, just everything."
The same can be true for communities when the truth is known about the history of colonization, he said, but errors about what happened are often perpetuated by schools, Native studies programs, other institutions and communities. "You may question them and they'll tell you there's something wrong with you."
"When we researched Native alcoholism, we found that a number of myths were being taught," Coyhis said. "One of them is that `something is wrong with our immune systems' compared to Europeans. It's not true – there's been a study done on our immune system."
Another myth is that Indians "go crazy with alcohol," but boarding schools, taking children away from their families, and other losses are the real culprit. "What surfaces is an organized assault by government on our community.
By 1920, 99 percent of American Indian people had been wiped out and small groups were left with nowhere to go, "except future generations didn't know that because the story wasn't told," in the resulting climate of shame and sorrow.
"If you don't know about intergenerational trauma, you'll try to blame everything (about alcoholism) on `genetic disparities' which have never been tested," he said.
Positive changes have occurred in cities and in reservation communities where there are language immersion programs and cultural revitalization, "after all, one ounce of culture equals 10 pounds of healing," Coyhis said, and if that is coupled with the practice of spirituality, even greater benefits occur.
In addition to myth-busting, culture and spirituality, "What we were learning is that we need a whole new language. ... We're more colonized than we think."
For example, when such terms as "war on poverty" or "war on drugs" are used, the elders whom he consults told him that by setting up the conflict "you create an enemy where none exists."
"How you name something is very, very important," he said, suggesting that "drug czar" could be "healing czar" and a phrase like, "My name is Don and I'm an alcoholic" could become, "My name is Don and I'm in recovery."
Everyone has the responsibility to "find the truth, because it's accurate to say that `the truth shall set you free,'" he said.
The organization offers a number of recovery-targeted products, including books, material for youth prevention programs, video documentaries of sacred Hoop Journeys, meditations with Native elders, an online magazine, and, most recently, a CD version of "The Red Road to Wellbriety" for prison inmates and others with limited reading skills.
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and the Asian Art Museum's exhibit of the Hidden Treasures of Afghanistan. going with my housemate. will come home v. tired, nap, and head off to work tonight.
am taking addresses and stamps- may actually send postcards! (depends on if memory is functional)
stories to come. xoxoxoxo ya'll. special best to those who need it.
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Once upon a school (and the history of 826 Valencia and the Pirate Supply Store).
Thanks to illuminated_sin for the Proliteracy.org link.
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