The World From a Cat's Perspective

No problem for a feline like me!

Get out of my way, pooch!

Meow! Come here often?

Recently researchers from the University of Georgia and National Geographic teamed up to study domestic cats and their effect on the environment. Using a 'kitty cam' the researchers followed sixty outdoor cats in the Athens, Georgia area for a week. The researchers found that 44% of the cats hunted while they were out roaming, and 30% were successful. Cats also took many risks like crossing streets and entering storm drains. Surprisingly, cats caught lizards and earthworms, and although they stalked birds, they did not catch them as frequently as humans would imagine. Some cats also 'two timed' their owners, entering other homes for food and affection. When cats caught prey, 23% percent of them would drag home the carcass for display. Experts think cats do this to show off their prowess, and perhaps to teach humans to hunt. 

The researchers advocate keeping domestic cats indoors, as it is safer for the cat. Felines are also clearly responsible for a great deal of murder and mayhem in the neighborhood.  Some of the 'kitty cam' footage was graphic.

The Good Old Days

It's been 67 years this month since the end of WWII. Saturday night I was sitting around with my Dad, Mom, Aunt, and an 85 year old neighbor of my cousin's. My Dad is old enough to remember the end of the war. He was ten and my aunt was 11. He remembers my grandmother running out onto Allston Street in East Cambridge and banging pots and shouting with all the other ladies. The end of the war meant their sons (and daughters perhaps) were coming home. At least some were.

My mom doesn't remember the actual day, but she remembers other wartime realities like rationed butter. My Mom said the butter was white, and there was a little dot of yellow something on the top you'd mix in to turn it yellow. She also remembers raid drills and climbing under her desk at school. My Dad recalls getting into the movies with a handful of metal scrap. The neighbor, who is a little older than my parents, said she was in NYC at the end of the war. She recalls a parade going down 5th avenue. She said she saw Eisenhower and Truman go by in an open convertible.

Of course here is one of the most famous pictures of the end of WWII, taken in Times Square. Greta Friedman, a nurse at the time, and George Mendonsa, are the subjects of the photograph. (Many people over the years have tried to claim this photograph, but it has finally been established it is Greta and George). Here are Greta and George reunited today. When George grabbed and kissed Greta on that evening in 1945, he did not know her. In fact he married another woman he was on a date with that night....

My 100 Most Controversial Books

Once again Library Thing offers a fun meme to explore. Here are the 100 most controversial books in my library. Of course not all the books I own are listed on Library Thing. I'm sure there are others that would make the list, like "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe. What is surprising to me is how many of my Buddhist titles make the list.

This page shows your 100 most controversial books, as measured by the standard deviation of members star ratings. To be included, a book must have been rated at least 20 times. 

 

	Rating	Title
	3.54	Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
	3.18	Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony by Lee G. Miller
	3.97	Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
	3.67	The Pure and the Impure by Colette
	4.03	The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
	3.79	Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia
	3.68	Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
	3.65	Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
	4.02	The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
	4.01	Turning the Mind Into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham
	4.41	The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
	3.86	Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
	3.79	Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
	3.56	Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead
	3.72	The Lover by Marguerite Duras
	3.85	The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
	3.6	Women and Madness by Phyllis Chesler
	3.54	Sapphira and the Slave Girl by Willa Cather
	3.95	The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
	3.56	Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
	3.97	Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
	3.72	Black Spring by Henry Miller
	3.87	Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
	4.11	Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath (Penguin Classics) by Sigrid Undset
	4.18	The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
	3.63	Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present by Lillian Faderman
	3.74	My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor
	3.93	Plexus by Henry Miller
	4.07	The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality by Dalai Lama
	4.09	Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
	4.09	The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination by Sandra M. Gilbert
	4.05	Light in August by William Faulkner
	4.05	Lust for Life by Irving Stone
	4.06	The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright
	4.17	Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
	3.74	Henry and June: From A Journal of Love: the Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932) by Anaïs Nin
	3.68	A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones
	3.61	Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf
	4.11	The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
	4.07	The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Vol. 1: 1915-1919 by Virginia Woolf
	3.92	Herland, The Yellow Wall-Paper, and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
	3.9	O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
	3.78	Claudine's House by Colette
	4	Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
	3.78	The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America (Penguin Classics) by Anonymous
	4.05	Renascense and Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay
	4.01	Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
	3.86	Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
	4.07	A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
	3.85	Genes, Peoples, and Languages by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
	4.05	Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
	4.21	Three by Flannery O'Connor: The Violent Bear It Away, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
	4.17	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
	3.8	Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen E. Ambrose
	4.25	Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
	4.08	Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
	4.01	The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
	3.82	Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom by Joseph Goldstein
	3.85	Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus
	3.75	Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
	3.45	Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
	4.23	The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn
	4.13	The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
	4.08	Lincoln by Gore Vidal
	4.15	Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
	3.7	The First Salute by Barbara W. Tuchman
	3.97	The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
	4.16	The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
	4.21	Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies
	3.97	The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin
	4.23	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
	4.25	The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
	3.9	Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
	4.15	The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
	3.86	The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings (Modern Library Classics) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
	3.86	Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
	4.24	Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
	4.1	D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose
	3.74	Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island by Thor Heyerdahl
	3.74	The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally
	4.13	A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman
	4.24	The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
	4.05	Virginia Woolf: A Biography by Quentin Bell
	4.12	Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
	4.01	The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara
	3.98	Awakening the Buddha within: eight steps to enlightenment by Lama Surya Das
	4.29	The Captured by Scott Zesch
	4.09	Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning
	4.19	The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
	4.41	The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
	4.04	The Peculiar Institution by Kenneth M. Stampp
	4.39	The Gilded Bat by Edward Gorey
	3.68	Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey
	3.95	The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
	4.21	Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade
	4.1	With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates
	4.02	All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes by Elisha Hunt Rhodes
	3.63	Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project by Spencer Wells
	4.26	Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living (Shambhala Classics) by Pema Chödrön
	4.52	Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 by Taylor Branch

Barn Bash 2012

The weather was beautiful on Saturday. My friends Stacey, Eve, Ellyn and I rode up to Windham Maine for the annual Barn Bash. It was their virginal experience. Jonathan met us there, driving over from Berwick. My family was there, parents, sisters, brother-in-laws Marty and Dave, nephews, niece, and aunt. The music was stellar and the atmosphere perfectly relaxed and easygoing. It was really a fantastic time.

Here's a clip of the Hanson sisters, friends of my brother-in-law's nephew Sam. They did some cover songs of the Indigo Girls, Bonnie Raitt, and Linda Ronstadt. I know it sounds corny to say it was magical to be there-- but it was!

Perfection

Adventure in the Family

My second cousin's fifteen year old son climbed Mt. Washington with his Dad this past weekend. They made it to the top, but upon descent Michael fell and broke his leg. A dozen NH Fish and Game and park rangers and AMC employees had to carry him on a litter a mile and 1/2 to the summit. I guess it was very rainy and windy. Grandmother and mom were in Peabody frantically worried, but Michael is alright now. This is a report from the New Hampshire Fish and Game.

 

June 25, 2012

CONTACT:
Conservation Officer Matthew Holmes
Region One Office, Lancaster, NH
603-788-4850
603-271-3361

Injured Hiker Rescued On Mt. Washington

CONCORD, N.H. - On the morning of Monday, June 25, 2012, Michael Hery, 15, of Peabody, Massachusetts, sustained a leg injury after a fall on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail on Mt. Washington. Mr. Hery had spent the previous night at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Lakes of the Clouds Hut with his father and a friend, and the trio were making their way down the trail when the incident occurred.

Knowing that assistance would be needed, Peter Hery (Michael’s father) ran back to the Lakes of the Clouds Hut and notified staff of the accident. Hut staff returned with Peter to Michael’s location and subsequently helped him hobble back to the hut. At Lakes of the Clouds Hut, Mr. Hery’s leg was splinted, but he was unable to walk. New Hampshire Fish and Game was notified of the incident, and plans were made to carry Mr. Hery in a litter approximately 1.5 miles up to the summit of Mt. Washington, where he could be taken to the hospital via conventional vehicle.

Knowing that the carryout would be difficult, the Appalachian Mountain Club was able to gather 16 members of their staff for the mission. They were joined by two members of the Mt. Washington State Park staff, and together were able get Mr. Hery’s carryout underway at approximately 1:00 p.m. Four members of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department responded as well, meeting the rescue crew on the Crawford Path just a below the summit. The rescue crew was able to bring Mr. Hery safely to the summit, arriving there shortly before 3:00 p.m. Mr. Hery was subsequently transported to Memorial Hospital in North Conway for further evaluation and treatment.

“It is a huge asset to myself and other Conservation Officers to have such a strong and dedicated group of volunteers to assist with mountain rescues” stated Conservation Officer Matt Holmes. “Despite raw temperatures and driving rain, this crew pushed ahead and had the patient out of the woods as quickly as could be expected.” Peter Hery expressed many thanks to the crew as well, commenting on what a good job they had done. 

Katherine Switzer

Katherine Switzer was the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon with an official number in 1967. She entered the race as K. V. Switzer. As she was running the race Jock Semple, the race organizer, tried to prevent her from continuing. Reportedly he yelled: "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers." Switzer's boyfriend and several other men shielded her so she could keep running. Switzer finished with an approximate time of 4:20. It took five more years before women were officially allowed to compete in the Boston Marathon. Switzer later became the first female winner of the NYC marathon in 1974 with a time of 3:02:229. She continued running and advocating for women's sports for many years. In 2007 on the 40th anniversary of the her Boston Marathon run, she wrote an autobiography entitled "Marathon Woman:Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports." 

Lesbians and Queers and Bisexuals. Oh my!!!

Ellyn has been wearing tin foil hats a lot lately and talking about invasions and such. I think we need an intervention. 

Distribution of Family Names

There's a nifty application that provides you with the distribution of last names in the United States and Canada. I looked up some of my grandparents and great-grandparents surnames. Not surprisingly, Taylor is the most common name.In regards to my family history research, however, Taylor is not really our family name. Supposedly my great-grandfather was adopted by Taylors because his parents were killed, though we have never confirmed this. His surname was Miller or Muller, and he was born in Wisconsin. Ironically, the one great-grandparent I have that was born in the United States is untraceable! Whereas in Norway I was able to trace branches of the parental line going back to the early 1600's. In Canada and England I've gone back to the 1700's.

More Pictures From Utah

     When I visited Utah in April I was actually going to skip Zion National Park, since I had limited time, and I had been there before. Thank goddess I didn't skip Zion. Zion is undoubtedly a sacred place. This time around I hiked the Watchman Tower trail, and the Emerald Pools trail. Watchman was like a mini version of Observation Point, which so far has been my favorite hike in Zion. The Emerald Pools trails were crowded but very beautiful. Check out the waterfalls! Someday I will see Zion once again!

Graphs on Google

Since Google has digitized millions of books published since 1800, you can type in a word or phrase or sentence and see a graph of its occurrence over time in English as well as other languages. Here is the graph of the word 'gay,' which was used frequently in the early 1800's, but apparently had a different meaning. From 1960 on, the word 'gay' has resurfaced to a peak in 2000.

Graph these case-sensitive comma-separated phrases:

between and

We can see the word 'lesbian' is not all that popular, or nonexistent until 1960. This goes along with feminist, though there are rumblings of the word as early as 1900.  Graph these case-sensitive comma-separated phrases: between and   Graph these case-sensitive comma-separated phrases: between and

Tips for Meditation

Since March I've been attempting to meditate everyday. My duration depends on the day, sometimes 45, 30, 20 or 15 minute sessions. I have a 'sacred' space in my room, with a candle and a Buddha statue. Most of the longer sessions I've completed have been in classes. I've attended several classes lately at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, such as: The Way of Awareness: An Introduction to Vipassana Meditation. 

It's motivating to hear the teachings and be with others.  

To motivate me further there is a nifty application that I downloaded on my iTouch called "Insight Timer." There are several applications to choose from, but I like Insight Timer best. You can keep data on how often you meditate, the duration per day, and the total duration over weeks and months. So far I've meditated a total of 11 hours, 42 minutes. Best of all you can connect with other people worldwide. 

Another tip is that I don't judge myself in comparison to other times I've tried to meditate. Sometimes I do think: "Oh my God. I'm so distracted!" But then I just refocus myself and bring myself back to my breath, my body sensations, or noises in the environment. Luckily my kitties have gotten used to my meditation, and don't bother too much anymore!

I also use mantras to focus. I repeat the loving kindness mantras as follows: 

"May I have mental happiness."

"May I have physical happiness." 

"May I be at peace with the comings and goings of events."

Sometimes I branch out from myself and focus on beloved others, but mostly I'm at the first stages of loving-kindness and you are instructed to begin with yourself. Sharon Salzberg's book "Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness" is a must read.

Also I find Susan Piver's books, website, and videos to be incredibly helpful.  

I am just a beginner. Here is some of my data.

Date             Duration (Minutes)       Total Days Meditating

05-21-2012 20:47,15.0,                  33 

05-20-2012 21:12,20.0,

05-19-2012 18:19,15.0,                  Average Time

05-18-2012 19:35,30.0,                  20.6 minutes

05-13-2012 19:00,30.0,

05-12-2012 22:09,15.0,                  Total Time

05-11-2012 21:13,15.0,                  11 hours, 42 minutes

05-10-2012 20:11,20.0,

05-09-2012 17:00,30.0,

05-07-2012 19:00,45.0,

05-05-2012 19:22,30.0,

05-02-2012 17:48,20.0,

04-30-2012 21:48,30.0,

04-09-2012 22:34,30.0,

04-02-2012 23:00,20.0,

04-01-2012 15:47,20.0,

03-28-2012 19:27,20.0,

03-25-2012 15:29,10.0,

03-24-2012 18:24,20.0,

03-23-2012 16:16,20.0,

03-21-2012 21:01,15.0,

03-21-2012 18:48,15.0,

03-20-2012 17:02,20.0,

03-19-2012 23:24,25.0,

03-14-2012 19:05,15.0,

03-13-2012 17:31,20.0,

03-12-2012 21:38,25.0,

03-11-2012 21:08,15.0,

03-10-2012 15:05,15.0,

03-06-2012 19:52,15.0,

03-05-2012 19:39,15.0,

03-04-2012 15:36,15.0,

03-03-2012 15:50,17.0,

Hillary Clinton on Human Rights

Here's a speech Hillary Clinton recently delivered at the International Human Rights Day Convention in Geneva, Switzerland. She talks about worldwide human rights in general, but is brave enough to address LGTB rights in particular. This woman is my heroine, and now you can see why.

Jennifer Bonardi is Famous

My friend Jennifer Bonardi was recently featured on local television, on the BNN News. She's the executive director of the Ford Hall Forum run by Suffolk University. For over 100 years, the Ford Hall Forum lecture series has invited various speakers on numerous topics, and has held panels, debates, and lectures for free. Listen to her spiel. 

What My Grandfathers Made in 1940

Grandparents Gwen & Hjalmar on left, 1930's

With the 1940 census just being released at the beginning of April, 2012, I've already perused it. Most of the information I know, like the names of my family members, and their birth dates, etc... Though it is still exciting to witness history captured in time, the census seemingly doesn't add much detail to the family story. However the 1940 census recorded salary information, so I looked up what each of my grandfathers made in 1940. 

Surprisingly, both were employed, which I guess during the Depression was a feat in itself. Not surprisingly, my grandfather Taylor (my dad's father) made more money than my grandfather Grimstad. I say 'not surprisingly' because my grandfather Taylor was a U.S. citizen. My mother's father, on the other hand, was a Norwegian immigrant and also not a U.S. citizen at the time. I'm assuming it made a difference in terms of employment opportunities. 

  

My grandfather in 1957, still at Elliott

I know my grandfather Grimstad worked as a painter, and probably received a salary 'under the table.' He made 340 dollars in the year 1940. My dad's father William worked as a printer machinist at The Elliott Addressing Machine Company in Cambridge. The building still stands in Central Sq. In fact, my grandfather William served as an auxiliary military police officer during the war from 1943-44, as a guard for the company. In 1940, he made 1,130 dollars.

Henri, the Existential Cat

Life is an absurd delusion......

Utah!

Hoodoos

Bryce Canyon Navajo Loop Trail

My recent trip to Utah was absolutely amazing. For an 'outdoor enthusiast' like me, Utah is a place of outstanding beauty and scenery. During my week there, I did a lot of driving, but I got to re-visit Zion, visit Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyon Lands, Arches National Park, and Natural Bridges National Park in the short period of time I was there. The weather was mainly good, varying in temperature and conditions from falling snow to desert. I think Bryce was my favorite, but all these parks are amazing.

Trish and Jonathan are volunteering as rangers at Natural Bridges National Park, in Blanding, Utah, and I got to stay with them one day. Highlights were a hike Jonathan and I did, in which we saw Indian ruins up on a cliff, and mating frogs making quite a racket. We also saw one of the 'natural bridges,' which has a huge crack in the middle of it. We didn't see any rattlesnakes or mountain lions, (thank goddess as far as I'm concerned) though a few days later Jonathan got to visit a rattlesnake den.  

Jonathan and I also went out that night and gazed at the stars. The Natural Bridges National Park is famous for its dark skies, and star gazing. There are little interfering city lights emanating from earth. We did see an amazing display, and I would say the clarity was similar to parts of Maine I've seen, but the vastness of the sky was far larger. Also, we saw what must have been a meteorite or comet. It shot across the sky, and was visible for about 3 to 4 seconds. Jonathan and I had our bonding moment. Sniff sniff.