Foiled Again.

One of my friends emailed me and told me that he wasn't able to post his comment. I should have not much to do tomorrow, except for several laundries. During the wash and dry I will attempt to use the Help section of blogger and google. Perhaps this time, they will actually help.

I do not blame them. I am hopeless with instructions.

Until then, if you would like to contact me I have a gmail address.


it is dr.gsridiculoustheories@gmail.com

If I'd have known it would be so damned long, I would have tried a shorter one.

at least it appears to be a link so good luck and carry on.

 

 

Dr. G's Ridiculous Theories: WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS???

Dr. G's Ridiculous Theories: WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS???:   I am making only one New Year's Resolution: That next year, I will make one New Year's Resolution. The Resolution is, that I will...

For God's sake, why aren't you talking to me???????

watching TV

One of the things that Wiki said made blogs a part of social media was it's ability to be interactive with the comments. I found this amusing.  Mostly it's my husband who's interacting and he's in the next room. Now that's Ridiculous!



Feedback is important. If the people who do the counting aren't lying, thousands of people have at least looked at these posts. Maybe you just like to tease bloggers and open their posts and close them without even looking. That would be really cruel.
 I know the comment section didn't work in the past, but I'm sure it does now.




Okay, this is a real excuse. your hands ae tied up.



running to get somewhere.

So. What do you have to say for yourself?  Are you

too busy blogging to comment?  Reading better blogs? Sleeping? Eating? Working?  Taking your psych meds?  What gives?


Oh, I have theories on this one.
1.    You can't comment because you tried and tried and gave up.
2.    You don't like to write.
3.    You're afraid your stalker will find you. Don't worry. It's anonymous.
4.    Your stalker found you some other way and you're a little busy now.
5.    You want to say something mean, and your mother said it's better not to say anything.
6.    You've never done anything like this before.
7.    You don't want to give me the satisfaction of me getting what I've been begging for.
8.    You don't understand it.
9.    You actually didn't read all of it.
10.  You didn't read anything but the title.
11.  You don't know how to read.
12.  You want more adult content and are shy so you don't ask.
13.   You have no reason whatsoever and my theories make you nauseous.

that's enough.

WHAT THE HELL IS A BLOG, ANYWAY?

Dear Diary, I wish someone would accidentally read you and find out all my secrets and then tell me what they think.

Seriously. I just looked it up. It's a contraction of web log. At least I think so. My short term memory sucks. I'm sure I already mentioned that, but I can't remember for sure. ha ha.
I started to write this, meaning the entire blog, with really no idea of what a blog is or should be. After reading about it just now, I know about as much.


      The sentence that follows was the last sentence I wrote at the end of the post, but I put it here. Slightly out of context but so am I. I don't want you should miss this important fact.

So, why aren't you interacting? Maybe I should lead with this. Maybe you aren't reading the whole thing and missing the comment section.

If I were a man, this would be how I'd look, burning the midnight oil, writing this blog.

 

 

It can be like a diary or a journal. Or an advertisement where you're hoping to make money. Of other stuff. Very articulate. Id use the excuse that it's late, but I'm just feeling lazy.

In one of the comments I got on the momentous day when my blog was critiqued by someone with a zillion followers, I was admonished about my spelling.  But it got over 2000 hits and it was long and in my humble opinion, not my best.

About that.  The spelling.  When I was in grade school I did well on post tests. Do you remember them?  Monday you got the pre-test with the new words and Friday you got the test that counted. I had five days to memorize those suckers and I usually did.

Then, I went on to real life. No rehearsals when you're turning in papers. Actually, no spell check or computers. Typewriters with little piece of white, chalk like paper that you could sometimes correct an error with. I just ended with a preposition. I don't think the grammar police like that.

Not my grades. No way.

Anyhow,  writing papers was an ordeal. Especially when I realized I couldn't spell.  . I still can't. Mostly, it's the endings that could be any vowel invented. Like correspondence.  Wow. I got it right before spell check. I think it should be an "a" not an "e". I suppose it depends on where in the country you're from and what your accent sounds like.  I spell phonetically. I know now, that this is a handicap since things don't sound like they look.  Much like the people on the phone now that I'm thinking about it.  Oh yeah. And I didn't know you had to do research when you wrote a paper. I remember when I was in my second or third term, when my good friend Leah, took me by the hand and "introduced" me to the library. I was astounded. So many floors. So many books. And nice green leather couches in the ladies lounges. She had to show me how to use the card catalogs and where to look for the books. If I had known better, I would have been really embarrassed. Or impressed. I had gotten through High School and part of College making up papers out of my head. And I was a B student. Go figure. 


sunning yourself?

I also have trouble with words that could be "ible" or able". I actually do proof read my posts before I publish them. However, over the years I have learned that you read what you think you wrote, not what you actually wrote. I would usually find this out when going over a psych. report with a parent, three weeks after writing it. And after they had a copy. oops. Only after time had passed could I really read what was there.

As usual, I have kind of slid of the topic. Except, that since a blog can be anything you want it to be, I really can't go wrong. Can I?

One of the things that Wiki said made blogs a part of social media was it's ability to be interactive with the comments. I found this amuzing.  See I'm leaving that wrong. In college, I would go to the dictionary, check the spelling and not remember it by the time I got back to my paper. 

So, why aren't you interacting? Maybe I should lead with this. Maybe you aren't reading the whole thing and missing the comment section.  I left it in here too where it makes sense.

Feedback is important. If the people who do the counting aren't lying, thousands of people have at least looked at these posts. I know the comment section didn't work, but I'm sure it does now. So. What do you have to say for yourself?  Are you too busy blogging to comment?  Reading better blogs? Sleeping? Eating? Working?  Taking your psych meds?  What gives?

dribbling? drooling?

running away from your problems?

Me, reacting to your comments. I'll take selfies and show them. Deal?

Blind Date Flashback number 1

I've had many blind dates and first dates during my single years.  Since I've been married twice, I refer to them as single 1 and single 2. My first marriage is the dividing point.

 

This blind date occurred during  single 1.  I was perhaps 22 or 23.  I was living in the apartment in Park Slope. The one I posted about my first Christmas tree.  Since I couldn't get a teaching job because they'd all been filled by young men who didn't want to go to Vietnam, I ended up working at a dress manufacturer in the Garment District in Manhattan.  Me and the Garmentos. Oy. What a match.

Why printed pix are nice to have. Me at work.

 

The year was 1972 or 1973.  I was part of the disillusioned, disappointed discouraged generation that is referred to as the Baby Boomers.  

 

I had never gone full hippy. I didn't drop out, move out or stop shaving my arms and legs. A shiver just ran thru me. It was really gross. One thing you do not want to see in the summer is a woman with dark hair with braided armpits and what might look like Uggs.

 

Still, I embraced the values that were not those of my parents. I know. You're asking "What happened on the date Can't you ever get to the point?". Fine. You're right. But things don't make sense without background.  Haven't you heard about character development and setting the scene? Sheeesh. Alright already. Back to the story.

 

THE PHONE CALL

A friend set me up. I don't remember the set ups name, but he was a business man, so I'll call him Suit. (And if he looked like any of the men on the show suits, well this story would be different. Except for Lewis. Him, I met)  

 Suit called me and we were having a conversation on the of phone. You know the type of phone.  It has a wire that goes into the wall. It has only one kind of ring and to make it even more primitive, it was before we even had answering machines.  I suppose that lent some mystery life.  All you knew was how the person sounded. Let me say, that there is no connection to  the voice and imagination. No one ever looked like he sounded. On the plus side, no one was sending you photos of his junk.

 

The part of the conversation I recall, was him inviting me to Miami for the weekend. He had to go there for business (of the monkey kind?) and he wanted to take me. I thanked him, but said that I didn't think it was a good idea, since we hadn't met yet and might not, how did I put it?  Get along?

His response was that it was only two days, how bad could it be.  I thanked him again and said no. Several times. He was persistent. Maybe he was in sales or a lawyer.

 

Instead,  we made a date for dinner after he got back. 

 

A Little more background to set the stage    This is important. It's part of the character development. 

 

I was taking an adult education class that had something to do with Marxism and Capitalism. I had just read Wages, Price and Profit by Karl Marx, and I had to admit, he made sense. Actually, some of what he wrote that I remember, still does.

 

I was not particularly materialistic then and was very happy to able to wear jeans and tees all the time. Even to work, because I was behind the scenes. That was pretty much it for my wardrobe. Even if my roommate dressed better than I, she weighed over 300 pounds, so borrowing something to wear wasn't in the cards.

 

The date

 

Suit picked me up on his way home from work. He was wearing a very nice suit, and a Rolex. His Mercedes was double parked outside. I don't know how I know these things. He must have slid them into the conversation. I knew that they were very expensive, but at the time, I wasn't impressed.

 

I had gotten dressed in the best I could throw together; a dungaree skirt and a long sleeved, scooped neck top. It was like the old leotards that had snaps in the crotch so you could pee, and they didn't ride up. The shit I remember amazes me.  *(AD)  What I need to remember, like what happened to my rose gold chain and little heart charm - lost in space. Or hopefully somewhere in the house. I'm still looking.

 

I do not know why I didn't just go out and leave with him when he arrived, but we sat on the sofa in the living room. Maybe I wanted to talk a little before we left. I mean, I didn't know him from Adam.

 

I don't remember what we were talking about, but no doubt I brought up something about he didn't like.  What I remember was him calling me "little lady." The first time he did I was surprised. I responded, my name is G.

We kept on conversing and he called me little lady again. Again, I told him my name is G.  The third time it happened, and I corrected him, he told me that it was very annoying and I should stop doing that. I told him that being called little lady was very annoying and if he stopped doing that, I wouldn't have to be annoying.

 

As you may have guessed. That was when we decided to part company. He left and I didn't. I can't remember what I felt. Perhaps disappointed since I really did want to find a boyfriend. At least that's what I believed.

 

I told my Dad the story. And he asked the only pertinent question. "Did you think he was attractive?"  I had to be honest. He wasn't bad, but no. Whatever my type was, he wasn't.  So dad said if he was, I'd have gone and not pulled the shit I had.  Much to my shame, he was right. It still would have been a disaster because our views would still have clashed, but I'd have at least given him a chance.  Point. Women are as shallow as men. But as they say, it is better to give than to receive and I'd been on the receiving end of that situation more often than I care to think about.

Is he hot or not?

 

HOW THIS POST CAME TO BE

 

I started to write a post that just wasn't coming together. This brought me back to when I was just out of college. Now I have to try to trace back to where this new thought started.  I often have to. You've probably noticed that staying on topic is hard for me, so I really have to be able to trace back or I'd never get anything accomplished.

 

TRACING THE THOUGHT

 

I was thinking about the current ridiculosity (I just made that up) of being Politically Correct.  It brought me back to the days of early feminism.  *(ad) I have avoided saying how old I am, because I'd like to think it's only a number.(DENIAL) . You already know that  I hate my scale, but at least that can go in either direction. Age, well it just keeps on going up. So, in case you've wondered, I'm 66.   I was smack dab in the middle of a lot of "happenings."

 

 What is so strange is that now it's called history. If any of you who are reading these are young,(whatever that may be)  you might want to consider that you too will be a part of history.  A little advice. What you do now, may someday be  considered a pivotal event. While you're doing it, you just think you're living your life. You and your cohorts or generation or whatever "they" decided to call your generation.

 

We boomer thought we were hot shit. We were going to change the world for the better. We were going to bring peace and love to this planet.

 

We did some good, but we also screwed up.

WHY CAN'T WE FIX STUPID?????

Notice anything wrong with her name?

 

I have no idea what made me think of this. I was ironing my hair. And no, it doesn't relax me like real ironing does.

Anyhow, I got to thinking about stupid.  We hear that word daily. We see more jokes on Facebook about stupidity than most things, and, many comics build their routines around it.

The expression, "you can't fix stupid" came to mind. I wondered, how in the age we live in, with all the knowledge and technology we have, we can fix and or replace, people's joint's, blood; send people to outer space, talk to people around the world on a phone that fits in our hand, and also see them if we want to. Take pictures and videos with our phones. Play games online with people we'll never meet.

We can find and buy almost anything we might want online and you know, the list goes on. And yet, something so simple as "stupid", no one can figure out how to eradicate?

I'm going for my dictionaries. I want more than one for this definition.
Ancient days first.  My 1927 Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English.
  American edition. ( I wonder if they dumbed it down for us?)

Woe.  Hold on to your hats. Unintelligent or Uninteresting. Uninteresting? Well, that changes a lot for me because boy, are there a lot of things and people I find uninteresting.  Later on that.

Looking at a somewhat more current book, Webster's New World Dictionary. Did that mean us instead of England? Am I stupid for not knowing? Yeah, actually I am. The bottom of the book states "of the American Language".  Oops. I didn't know I was speaking American.  Thought it was just me accent mate.

This edition is from 1979. Okay, not quite new, but you don't need a hard cover dictionary anymore. You could look it up on line. Sue me. I don't have room for any more books!


The definition has broadened, yet remained the same.

1.  Dazed, stunned, stupefied.
2.  Lacking NORMAL intelligence; slow witted; dull
3.  Showing or resulting from a lack of intelligence; foolish (wasn't that  
    redundant?)
4.  Dull and boring.

 

So, how does one know one is stupid?  I do believe that if you ask someone if they are stupid, they will say they are not and then hit you for asking.

 From observing (which, if you read the research post you'll know it's scientific)  you catch it from other people telling you that you are stupid.

   This usually occurs when you are quite young and do not know any better.  Not because you are actually stupid, you are too young to know what it is. By the tone of voice, and look on the person's face, you know that it is a bad thing. And if you want to get approval from your parents, friends relatives and teachers, you learn that stupid, is not a good thing to be. Or to be called.

 Developmentally we move from calling each other doody heads to stupid head.

If you don't get enough praise to overpower the amount of stupid you've heard, you may deep down, believe you are stupid. That's really sad, because it's not true.

I shall point to Intelligence Tests to illustrate some facts. Damn. Back to statistics.

Anyway,  we'll use a scale from 0 to 160. Zero, being able to breathe possibly on your own, and 160 as high as you can get. On this scale. No, I'm not referring to weight or a really good head.

We're weighing your grey matter.

You've heard of the word average, right?  If you're average, you're okay, you're normal and you're in the middle of the scale. Let's say between 90 and 109.

If you fall between 80 and 89, you're a little below average, but that's not so bad.  If you're above 110 to 160 you shoot from high average to genius in a heartbeat.

Where does that leave the people with numbers of 70 to 79?  At this point in time, they are referred to borderline. They should be learning, just at a slower rate than the other groups.

 

Funny thing about this group. I can't remember what year it was. I wasn't a psychologist yet. I'm pretty sure I was in school, so it wasn't like, a really, really long time ago. But enough to have affected people who are currently alive. The people who made the tests decided to move the 70 to 79 group up to borderline. Some other people had previously decided, that these folks were mildly retarded. They were classified that for many years.  And just like that. With the stroke of a typewriter key, they weren't retarded anymore.

I can't imagine coming home from school that day.  "Hey mom. Guess what?  I'm not retarded anymore."

 

Crap. I can't remember the figures so I have to find a book that has them. It hopefully won't take long. Especially not for you. It will seem like I never left.

Okay. Boy was that quick. According to the Text Book, The normal curve has the distribution of IQ scores that say that most of the population falls between 84 and 116.  And the best part is that only 16% of the population has scores below 84.

This means that only 16% of people you meet are "duller" than you. So how can so many people and things be so "stupid"?
 
*(D)  The IQ tests are no longer the only thing used to measure intelligence. The numbers are not always correct. Especially if you are from another culture, culturally deprived or maybe have test anxiety. Now, one has to use an adaptive behavior scale as well. These ask about your functioning skills and a lot of people who may not score well with numbers do really well with functioning. So, just a little more food for thought. Which is a really dumb thing, because I have no idea how to "think" food without it being actual food which would make me hungry and I don't want to eat so why would someone even think of saying that? It doesn't mean anything. And yet, there it was, lurking in my brain ready to show up and make me sound like a dummy.  **This was not another digression. I think it was the only one, so therefore, I left out the "A."


    OUR Perceptions dummies.!!   Everyone one of us is stupid according to someone else. Maybe, I think you're stupid. But not if you read my blog. Obviously you have a keen intelligence and high level of curiosity.

The rest of the world however. Not so. If I don't like your politics I think you're stupid. If I don't like your hairdo, I think you're stupid.  If you don't like my ideas, you think I'm stupid. Hell, you may even KNOW I'm stupid. And you might be right.

The reason you can't fix stupid is because, like charity, it should begin at home. Can you fix your own perception of who and what you think of as being stupid? Are you willing to admit that you see things in a way that allows you to see other people in a bad way?  And maybe, just maybe, they aren't stupid. Maybe you just don't like them. Or how they look or how they think. Maybe it's because they are ......pretend I'm whispering......different.

So, should anyone ask. Tell them that Dr. G knows how to fix stupid. Just stop looking for it and it'll go away. Pretty simple. And if they tell you that it's a stupid idea...... I would never say to hit anyone or call them names. Although doody head might be the appropriate place to start.

LET'S ELIMINATE STUPID FROM OUR VOCABULARIES.

Would you like to join my new club?

  Since I joined the gym in September, God could it be that long ago?

  I was going pretty regularly and I do see that my legs got their muscle tone back.

  When I joined, Lance asked me my weight. I told him. He said he could bring it 5 pounds. I asked him if he were crazy. I didn't want to gain weight, just firm up.

  Well, he was good to his word. Not that I needed him. Nope I'm doing it on my own.

  I've gained nearly 6 pounds. He'd be so proud. I wasn't even tryin.

And, no, it's not winter weight. Not in Florida. We do everything in the opposite way.

  It's not Holiday weight, although that's certainly made it worse.

 

 

I'm starting a club. It's called the

                            "Let's gain a half a pound a day weigh".

 

That's approximately what I'm doing so I thought I might enjoy some company. If I get enough members, I might splurge for membership cards.

 

Anyone game?

 

Actually, with scales, I believe in corporal punishment. Kicking them in a fit of pique had been my favorite way to silence the bitch.  Costly, but effective.

What's the matter with research and why it matters.

It is actually ironic that I should be writing about research.  You may be asking why? The name of my blog has to do with theories.

Most research begins with a theory. A person wonders "why" about something and then, may proceed to find an answer.

 

Remember when the prevailing theory was that the sun revolved around the earth? Or for that matter, the earth was flat. People at the time, used their powers of observation and concluded that since you couldn't see past the horizon, and it appeared flat, the earth in fact was flat. Ditto for their reasoning about the sun. And heads up. If you came up with a theory that the prevailing wisdom didn't like, you had to recant or go to prison or drink poison. Not that I'm judging.

 

Actually, part of research is observation. I'd love to know who observed that having sex (intercourse) was responsible for women getting pregnant. And how long did it take them to figure out that puzzle.

 

 

 It probably took longer to figure out that, maybe the father wasn't the daddy, and they didn't have no DNA tests.

 

It was probably the theory of "Hey, why don't my kid look like me and while I'm thinking 'bout it, why does he look like the guy who lives two caves down?"

 



 

 

 

Look, he has your nose.

 

 

 

 

Before there were scientists, the "why" of things, was rather a hit or miss business.  I won't go into the history or development of scientific study. I'm already probably boring you and I haven't even gotten to that part yet.

Also, I'd have to do research since I don't know it very well. And I don't have the time. Or the inclination which is why I'm writing this.

 

A couple of days ago, my husband came in and asked if I knew what "astroturfing" was. I knew they used AstroTurf in sports but the only sports he watches are boxing and football to you all out there in the world and soccer to us in the US.

I don't think they use turf in a boxing ring, and it didn't sound very European. So, I let him tell me.  (He is not going to like that. Can I strike that and say I said, Oh honey, that sounds fascinating. Please tell me about it.)  Yeah, that's better.

 

Very long story short, social media and Wikipedia and places like WebMD are being used by the companies whose products they are discussing.

 

 

Silly us. Isn't an encyclopedia supposed to have just the facts ma'am.  If I wanted to know what the drug manufacturer had to say about it's medication, I'd look at their ad.  Instead, I look it up for an unbiased opinion.

 

Apparently, those opinions aren't so unbiased. Get ready for a big shock. They get their information from  sources that derive from the manufacturer and they might not even know it. Subterfuge. Cheating lying, bastards.

 

Of course, this came as no huge shock to me. I'll get into that when I write about how research is supposed to be done.

 

 

You go to your doctor and he has to prescribe a medication for you. How does he get his information?  From the drug reps. He may do his own research, but as we've learned, he's not going to find out anything more than the drug company already wants him to know. So don't blame the doctor. Blame the damned greedy companies.

 

 

 

 

 

It's not just medicine. The food  and drink industries do it

too. So, what's wrong with the research?

 

 

 

 

Put on your thinking caps, boys and girls. I am not an expert in research or statistics. Which is good because that should make my explanation simple.

 

The type of research I am going to describe is known as The Scientific Method. There of you who are reading this who know a lot more than I do, about as much as I, or not at all. So, please bear with me.

 

This is the most rigorous type of research and is what one must do in order to be taken seriously. Especially in the scientific community.

 

There are 5 steps that must be done.

 

1. Observe some phenomenon.

2. Formulate a hypotheses and make a prediction.

3. Test your hypotheses through Empirical research.

4. Draw conclusions from your results.

5. Evaluate your conclusions.

 

  This all begins with a THEORY. YAYYAYA  .  I love theories. They try to explain why certain things happen and then, they can be used to make predictions about future observations.

 

 

  1. So, what shall we observe as an example?  Women wearing high heels get looked at more times by men, than women wearing flats.

 

   I had nothing to do and sat in a mall and that's what I saw. It's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I'm not going to make it more complicated by talking about variables and operational definitions and all that crap that if I were doing this, I would have to decide on. 

 

2. Now, I have to turn my theory into a hypothesis. No, this is not a triangle. But close. It is arrived at logically from the theory.  It is a prediction that can be tested. So I'll go out on a limb and say that "Men will look more often at women who are wearing high heels than they will at women wearing flat shoes."  We can test this prediction by counting while we are observing. And, you'll notice I already decided that I'm right. I am sure that what I think is true, so I posed it in the positive. It will, rather than it will not happen.

 

3.This is where it gets messy. You have to set up the experiment. And there are certain rules you are supposed to follow, or it won't be kosher and if you try to publish, people will laugh at you.

 

  Is it possible for me to study the entire population of women on earth? Where could I even begin?  The science people are very understanding, so they told me I could take a sample of the population.  In order to mirror the population more closely, they told me to collect a random sample.  It I can randomly look at these women, there's a better chance that I'll be able to generalize to the larger population.  And, the larger your sample is, the more likely that is to happen.

 

I'm spending a lot of time on sampling, because it's so important and so not what I've heard the drug companies actually do. And that freaked me out when I heard about it.

 

 

So, where do I find these women to wear shoes?  And where do I find the men to look at them?  How many would consist of a large enough sample?

 

And who will do the looking? How will they measure what they see? Will they agree on what a "look" is?  Oh God. So many questions. No wonder I hate doing this.

 

For everybody's sake, I'll say this. It's hard to find samples. So, depending on the research they may bend the numbers. Sometimes they're like, okay, you could only find fifty people, I guess that should be enough.

 

Or, you need at least one thousand for that one to fly.

 

This leads back to the story I heard at a workshop when I needed to get continuing ed. credits for my license.

 

I can't recall what the name of it was. Only that the Dr. who gave it started out by telling us that he and his psychologist research colleagues, would do studies for drug companies to fund their own research. They referred to it as drug money.

 

 

That was funny until he started to describe how the drug studies were done. First, they had round A.  Getting lots of people for the experiment. Only, they disqualified some because they didn't meet some requirement. Hmm, wasn't this supposed to be random?  Then, at round B, they would disqualify some more, and then on round C, at this point I raised my hand because as you can tell, I'm very patient. I asked how many rounds did they go?  And he basically laughed and said as many as they needed to find the population they wanted to work with. I didn't really , but I like the vernacular and it describes how I felt. I wanted to shit myself.

 

He went on a bit more about what I wouldn't believe about the drug testing. I left not long after that. Mostly because the workshop was really more for the medical community and I was in way over my head. In drug dung.

 

 

 Let's work this out kids. I make a hypothesis. I choose the people I want to fulfill the hypothesis. I manipulate everything so that I come up with a wonder drug that I can sell when it gets FDA approval.

 

You and I both thought. Ah Ha.  There is someone watching out for us.

However, if you read any part of the book "Drug Pharma" you will know that in none of the European or American cases is the oversight agency, really doing their job.

 

Sometimes boys and girls, they are appointed by the drug companies they are to watch.  Sometimes they know nothing about drugs. And, their studies

that they do, are not released to the public.  And maybe, some of them aren't honest and take bribes. Or are so overwhelmed that they can't meet their deadlines.

And so drugs are approved and we get to pay top dollar for them

because it cost the drug company so much money to research all the drugs they make.

 

Do you remember Viox ?  I'm pretty sure that was the name of the drug. It created quite a scandal. I believe it was an anti-inflammatory, and for arguments sake, it doesn't matter.  The piece they knew about but decided not to divulge, was that there would be a small population of people who would be young, and die of a heart attack. Only after several deaths and law suits did the internal memo come out.

 

What the companies do is to calculate how much money they will make selling the drug vs. how much they will lose in law suits.  They didn't care that innocent people would die. They knew it. And I don't care how much money you give me, it's not worth getting dead over.

 

 

And the point of this long winded post is like an old game show called "who do you trust?"

 

Each industry, operation, corporation, agency, charity, government has it's own axe to grind. It needs to be sharp so they can cut off the heads of anyone they don't like or who disagrees with them.

 

The point is, that it scares me that I'm eating and drinking poison, taking drugs that are more harmful than helpful,  and the good people who are doing this to "us" are rolling in money. Not that it matters 'cause they've destroyed the planet they live on so eventually they'll pay the consequences too. Still.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee and eggs were bad for us. Now they aren't. Red wine and dark chocolate are good for us. Maybe fat isn't so bad as we were told. Being fat, well, that's still not good. Although the more they stress that, and the more "they" do something about it, the fatter we Americans get.

 

I'd best stop ranting because I have no idea how long this is. It's just one giant page while I write it, so it could be 47 pages. Sorry if it is.

 

But I believe there is a silver lining. Who are the experts? Not the people who lie. Not the people who don't care.  Not the people on line who think they are helping and don't even know that the wool is being pulled over their eyes too.

 

That make US our own experts. You and I know just as much as the next guy, even if he has MDs and PhDs. and all sorts of initials after his or her name. Even if they are actual real writers who have published books. 

 

We don't know who to trust, so let's trust ourselves.  If you want to research something on line, go ahead, but you'll probably get a headache and a panic attack with the information you find.

 

Me, I'd rather just decide for myself. Don't get me wrong. I'll go to my doctors and if the medicines appear to be working, I'll take them. I'll also decide to eat what I like. If I feel better after exercise, then I'll do it. If I feel worse, I won't. So don't believe everything you read. Just because it's been printed don't make it so. Even this. I too, could be blowing smoke up your ass.

 

Not that I would do that. I quit smoking 25 years ago because it was bad for my health.

 

*ad(I'm so spent from this, I'm not proofing it. pardon errors, please)

 

WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS???

 I am making only one New Year's Resolution: That next year, I will make one New Year's Resolution. The Resolution is, that I will make only one resolution.

 

 I'm pretty sure I can do that.  It's not to make any resolutions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I understand the idea of a clean slate. A new day, a new year, Monday, the first of the month. Take your pick. Whatever you think you should be changing, you make a date.

 

  Then, you stand yourself up.

 

 "Living in the NOW"  written by Eckert Tolle was mentioned in a previous post.

I believe that he is right. There is only the now.

 

That's probably what's so delicious about resolutions.

 

We don't have to start them NOW. And since only Now exists, we never really have to do them.

We give ourselves a time to begin anew.

 

I personally, I  don't make those kinds of lists. I sometimes make a shopping list but either I forget to bring it with me, or I forget to look at it. I've learned, from experience, not to bother.

 

  If I am overwhelmed with chores, I will make a list for two reasons. One, that I don't forget what I have to do, and two, it feels really good to cross something off the list.

 

  New Year's Resolutions, seem like the exact same thing as starting a diet on Monday. I then have however many days I want, to continue to eat whatever I want. Or maybe more since I KNOW I'm going on a diet on Monday.

 

  I'm not sure what other people's lists look like, but I'll pretend I do. Who's going to know?  And it takes less time than taking a poll which I'm not sure anyone would answer.

 

 A list might contain things like, quitting drinking and/or smoking, joining the gym, going to the gym I joined last year, not getting angry, calling my mother more, writing a budget, keeping to said budget, not buying any more shoes (that would be a woman thing), eating out less, cooking more , eating healthier  etc. etc. and so forth. Thank you, King of Siam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  If I were to make a list it might be a bit different.  I would: try to be nicer to people on the customer service phones,(except when I can't understand their accents)  not get pissy when things don't go my way, smile more at people I pass in stores, drive slower, actually, try to do everything slower.

 

  (*AD ) It could be my ADHD but I'm always hurrying to complete what it is I'm doing or get wherever it is I'm going. Even when there's no rush. I tell myself to slow done, but I don't. Usually. Occasionally I remind myself that all I'm doing is rushing to my grave, but even that doesn't slow me down for long. As I was checking this, I realized I was doing exactly that. I have to leave in 15 minutes, and wanted to post this before I left. I'm trying to write shorter posts. LOL

Then I realized that I can post this when I come home. Self -imposed arbitrary deadlines. I'm officially off the rails.

 

 

 

 

   There are probably people out there who do make those kinds of outward and good resolutions too.  Being cynical, I assume most are of the self-centered type.

 

 

 

    Why do we make resolutions? Because someone once thought it was a good idea since we're still doing it. Not because it works. We like the idea of it.

 

    Wouldn't it be great, if when the new year starts, I could be someone else? Or at least me, but a little improved. Or a lot.

 

   If it were something we could easily do, we wouldn't need to list it and then not do it.

 

  Really. Do you remember when you were a kid and you turned from 9 t0 10 and the day of your birthday, someone would ask if you felt older? Duh. I feel the same as I did yesterday.

 

 For me, so goes the new year. I feel the same as I did yesterday, even if you call it last year, it was yesterday, or last week.

 

  So, it's just another stall tactic for NOT living in the NOW. Being a better me. So, stop stalling. As Nike says, JUST DO IT !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just added this. It is exactly what I'm talking about.