Becoming 60 - Part II

Part I of this series on becoming 60 was posted almost a month ago. I was prompted to write about what I was thinking as I approached by 60th birthday this year after reading May Sarton’s book about the same time period in her life. In this second post on the topic - I am focusing on how I see this time as the staging for the rest of my life in a similar way that my early 20s were the staging time for my career. The new staging was initiated by leaving a 40 year career behind and beginning to make choices about the future I wanted rather than simply proceeding the same way my career decisions of 40 years ago directed. There are similarities between now and when I was in my early 20s: 

• Lots of decisions in a short period of time
• Perceiving an abundance of opportunities
• Good health 

There are some differences too: 

• Decisions made early in my life (like college major, when/who to marry, when/if to have children) tended to be narrowing while now the decisions tend to be broadening.
• Financial considerations were high on the list for most decisions in my 20s; now they are still a consideration but they are not major and often not limiting.
• Now I am more aware that the elders that have known me my whole life will not be there for my whole lifetime and that awareness influences my decisions about spending time with them. 

I’m not nearly at the end of the bevy of decisions but there are themes that are emerging.

Getting rid of excess baggage. The initial aspects have been in terms of my weight and the years of accumulated stuff filling up the house. But I see this theme continuing - moving to a house that is better suited to our needs (and not as large), thinking about the number and kind of vehicles we need, etc.

Building in variety. Change and life are so mingled; finding a comfortable amount of variety is probably one of the keys to happiness and, for me, I am happiest when I make choices about at least some of the changes coming my way. Continuing to taking Coursera courses - and looking for other similar learning opportunities - is one way to build in variety. Volunteering is a wonderful way to meet new people and ‘do good’ for the community at the same time. Taking classes and volunteering are probably going to be the pillars of change I choose over the next few years but  I also hope there are some happy surprises too. What if I become a grandmother?

Reducing waste. Over the past few years, I have become more conscious of waste related to lots of things - but food is the one I have done the most about. Being very aware of getting the most from the food I buy: 

• Eating food before it spoils and has to be thrown away. This requires that food is purchased in a way that it can be easily consumed within the time is fresh.
• Paying attention to food preparation so that there are few that are ‘failed’ (i.e. no burned toast, no muffins where a key ingredient was left out, etc.).
• Learning to freeze portions to eat much later if I won’t be eating it quickly enough otherwise. I’ve even learned to freeze sliced bananas if I buy too many to eat fresh (they make excellent additions to smoothies).
• Not buying non-foods (like soft drinks and other foods that have calories but no nutritional value otherwise). In my mind, these have become ‘waste’ because they have no value to my body but leave behind plastic (or aluminum). Yes - recycling is better than trash but it is still waste. Why should we even have items to recycle for non-foods? 

In the first post in the series I ended by saying that I perceived the future as bright. I’ll add to it this month: I am enthusiastic about becoming 60. It is a great age to be in 2013!

Favorite Foods through the Years

Foods are often linked to particular time periods in our lives - and the associations last a lifetime. For me they are all positive associations that come flooding into my consciousness when I buy the foods and when I eat them. Here are a few examples from my life:

Pork chops. When I was in early elementary school, my favorite meat was pork chops fixed by my grandmother. She always fixed extra for me because I ate 2 or 3 as part of my meal. Now I buy thin sliced, boneless pork chops - and am still trying to recapture the way my grandmother make her pork chops taste.

Watermelon, cantaloupe and corn-on-the-cob - picked fresh from the garden. These were from the gardens of both my grandparents from my earliest memories through late elementary school. The watermelon, cantaloupe and corn-on-the-cob overwhelmed my senses completely; I don’t really remember what else we ate. Now I buy them from a local farmers market or the produce section of the grocery store. On occasions, the taste approaches that in my memory.

Fried fish. From late elementary school through my early 20s, I consistently selected deep fried white fish when I went to a cafeteria. I never got anything else. It wasn’t that I didn’t like other foods at the cafeteria (usually a Furr’s or Luby’s), but I never even considered getting anything else. I haven’t been to a cafeteria for years but I think I would get deep fried white fish now if they had it.

Texas toast. Do you remember those toasted inch thick pieces of white bread, slathered with garlic butter? They were big in the 70s at steak places. I think I enjoyed the toast almost more than the steak! I rarely eat food like that anymore….but I still remember celebrating a monthly or quarterly anniversary of my wedding at a place that served Texas toast.

Red velvet cake. I like the look of the cake more than the taste most of the time. Somehow the bakery versions never taste quite as good as the cake my Mother made from scratch….but I still try to find a good one almost once a year.

Fajitas. I liked fajitas from the first time I had them in the late 70s at a table on the patio of a restaurant in San Antonio. I still like them now although I expect a higher quality of meat (and maybe meat other beef) and I have them with salad rather than tortillas.

Dark chocolate. I started using two squares of dark chocolate as a reward for taking my vitamins in the morning a few years ago. Now I use it as a reward for being within my ideal weight range first thing in the morning (which happens most mornings). I’m pretty sure that it will never get old.

Celebrate your favorite foods through the years of your life today!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 28, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Arctic on course for ice-free summer 'within decades', scientists say - Where will the polar bears go in an ice free summer?

The Arsenic in Our Drinking Water - Scary findings. Evidently arsenic causes problems at lower concentrations that previously thought.

John Green on health care expenses in America - A fast paced video about how American health care expenses and outcomes compare to the rest of the world. Does anyone want the status quo? The answer has to be ‘no’ but we definitely have a challenge agreeing on how to change the system.

Antibacterial Products Fuel Resistant Bacteria in Streams and Rivers - Yet another reason to read the labels on liquid soaps, toothpaste and other cosmetics…and avoid triclosan. I’ve noticed recently that there are more companies that are removing it from their products so the research and consumer choices are having an impact.

National Park Quiz: How Good Are You When Quizzed On Fall In The National Parks? - I am not a quiz taker any more - but I enjoyed scanning through this one about national parks.

For Scientists, Early to Press Means Success - A study that included 1400 biologists from around the world. Do the results apply to other scientific fields? It seems logical that they would….and should be used to guide the early career of scientists (beginning while they are still in school).

Introducing The Landscape Architect’s Guide to Boston - A guide to the green spaces of Boston. A similar one was published last year for Washington DC. If you are going to be walking around either city these guides are another source of information about the city landscapes.

10 More Fascinating Photos That Look Like Paintings - A collection from 10 photographers.

Ancient merchants are responsible for modern horse genetics - Isn’t this something that was always suspected…and we just have the DNA analysis technology to prove it now?

Geography in the News: Cobras - From National Geographic

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 21, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

19th Century London Street Photography by John Thomson - Photographs of people in the streets of London during the later 1800s. I noticed the children in particular. John Thomson published his pictures in books and one of them is available on the Internet Archive: Street Life in London published in 1877.

The Geography of American Agriculture - Follow the link to the county-by-county crop maps from USDA to find out about where different food grows in the US.

Detailed Digital Flowers Radiate with a Magical Glow - I like flowers….event digital ones!

Obese Stomachs tell us diets are doomed to fail - Research has revealed that the mechanism that tells our brains how full we are is damaged in obese people…and it does not return to normal when they lose weight. Aargh! I’m not sure that means that diets are doomed to fail but it does mean that a person that has been obese may have to consciously limit the amount they eat for the rest of their lives rather than relying on their stomach-brain mechanism to tell them when they are full.

Mt. Zion dig reveals possible second temple period priestly mansion - Layers of structures and sorting out what it might mean - from a bathroom to a large number of murex shells to a cistern with pots and a stove in the bottom under rubbish.

Once-Majestic Cities That Sank Beneath the Ocean - There are quite a few - and some great pictures of the underwater remains: Alexandria, Egypt; Heracleion (or Thonis), Egypt; Canopus, Egypt; Yonaguni Jima Island, Japan; Saeftinghe, Netherlands; Port Royal, Jamaica; Baiae (Campania), Italy; Pavlopetri, Greece; Atlit, Israel; Lion City (Shi Cheng), China; Samabaj, Guetamala;

U.S. Drops in Share of Publications - Another indicator of globalization of science. The US is still producing 28% of the world’s share of manuscripts…but the percentage has been sliding in recent years (the absolute number of papers is holding steady).

They’re Taking Over! - The ‘they’ in this case are jellyfish. The New York Review of Books reviews Lisa-ann Gershwin’s book Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean.

Giant Prehistoric Elephant Slaughtered by Early Humans - From 1000s of years before Neanderthals…from layers 420,000 years old…found along the route of a rail link from the Channel Tunnel to London and excavated in 2004.

Beautiful Glowing Portraits of a Bobtail Squid - Photograph by Todd Bretl.

3 Free eBooks - September 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for September 2013.

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen; Dasent, George Webbe, Sir; Nielsen, Kay Rasmus. East of the sun and west of the moon: old tales from the North. New York: G.H. Doran. 1922. Available from the Internet Archive here. Take a look at this eBook for the Kay Nielsen illustrations. They are outstanding. A synopsis of the story is available on Wikipedia here.

International Studio - An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art - Volume 51 (Issues from November 1913 to February 1914). New York: John Lane Company. 1914. Available from the Internet Archive here. What was the art world like just before World War I? Take a look at this volume to find out. One of my favorite  images is shown below; it’s called “An Interlude - the Breadman’s Donkey” from a wood engraving by Helen Hyde. Find out more about her via Wikipedia here. The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery website has a collection of 126 pieces from this artist. Other artists featured in this magazine either were famous or became so afterward. It is well worth a look at the images online.

Moncrieff, Ascott Robert Hope. Bonnie Scottland; painted by Sutton Palmer. London: A. & C. Black. 1912. Available from the Internet Archive here. I loved the pictures of landscapes (mountains, streams, the sea) and castles. I picked a fall picture from the book to feature in this post - to fit the season we are beginning. This book is from the period just before World War I…the year the Titanic sank.

Becoming 60 - Part I

I read May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude recently - her journal from the years leading up to her 60th birthday. Published in 1973, it was full of angst caused by the recognition of the delta between what she wanted in life and reality. She wanted to be a poet but had become more successful as a writer of journals and memoirs - and not as well-known as a writer in either genre as she had envisioned.  Her personal life had not turned out well either; she found herself living alone and realizing that her relationships with people were best in short bursts rather than full-time living in close proximity….but also feeling profoundly lonely when there was no one to share something very good (or very bad) just as it happened to her. The version of the book I read was a paperback from the 70s and the glue cracked, releasing the pages as I read. It felt symbolic of the different way I feel as I approach 60.

Letting go of old angst left from career or personal relationships is very easy for me. It flutters away like the pages falling out of the book - not forgotten but simply a part of my history. There is less of it in my life than Sarton’s although it may be that my outlook on life has always been more positive than hers. The future has always looked full of fabulous opportunities and most of the time the present does too. It helps that I have a lot of family living --- and 40+ years of marriage and a child. Sharing joy somehow increases the highs; and maybe the lows never get quite as low in the environment I’ve helped created for myself and for them.

Sarton’s descriptions of the outdoors around her house in Nelson, NH were the parts of the book where I feel the most affinity with her: the beauty seen through a window, the cycles, the fight against animals eating the garden (she had wood chucks, I have deer), and enjoying cutting flowers to bring indoors.

Sarton would live more than 20 years after writing this book but there is a foreboding in this book that implies that she views the best of her life as ‘over.’ In contrast, I see 30 or 40 years of life ahead and the tenor of my life now most resembles that time in my 20s when I was making a lot of decisions about what I wanted to be. The interlocking components of life are shifting and, in some ways, the decisions are more my own than back when I needed to choose a career that I could enjoy and support my family. What a boon the advent of Coursera and the Internet Archive has been as I indulge interests that I’ve not had time in the past 40 years to pursue as often as I wanted.

I chose a September sunrise picture to illustrate this post because I perceive the future as bright as the morning’s east horizon.

Classes without Tests

When I first started taking Coursera courses, I did everything: listened to videos, made notes, read supplementary material, took tests, and participated in discussion forums. The only rationale I had for tests was that it verified that I had indeed picked up the most important points from the instructor. Most of the time my score was 100% or one missed.

At this point in my life - there is no purpose of proving what I have learned to anyone…and what I want to learn may actually be somewhat different than the main points of the instructor. I stopped taking the tests this past summer. It is refreshing to realize I’ve overcome the mindset developed through so many years of ‘school’ that learning must be tested to be real.

My purpose in taking the courses is to gain a framework into other - perhaps tangential - areas relative to the topic of the course. It seems to happen automatically. The richness of the resources available on the internet and when I travel is so tremendous that I find myself savoring the relative order of the courses as the starting point for lots of other exploring.

I hope the Coursera folks realize that there are probably a lot of people like me that are getting a lot from their offerings - even though we are not taking the tests.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 31, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Another 'Grand Canyon' Discovered Beneath Greenland's Ice - Right now it is covered by lots of ice….but the data from the increasingly sophisticated instruments monitoring the ice sheet has revealed lots of detail about the topography of what is under the ice. How many of us will live to see this canyon without ice?

Peter Huttenlocher has left the building - An article summarizing the contribution of the child neurologist: synaptic pruning. A simple graph shows it all.

Sonia Pressman Fuentes on Rights of US Women - A summary of the legislation relative to protection of women’s rights over the past 50 or so years. I knew at least vaguely about all of them because I lived through those years - but it was good to see it all in one place and to think about the problems working women still face. The comments are worth looking at too.

Giant solar plane could stay airborne for 5 years, replace some satellites - It would fly above the clouds and weather but still within the atmosphere….And reduce the expense for such things a crop or fire monitoring, providing internet access to remote regions and disaster rapid response.

Changing River Chemistry Affects Eastern US Water Supplies - Rivers are becoming more alkaline….because acid rain causes more rapid leaching of limestone, other carbonate rocks and even sidewalks….and so life in the river is changing. Natural systems have ways to reach a new balance eventual but the path to balance is often very complex.

apple-picking time: our top-pick apple treats - From King Arthur flour. Lots of goodies - at least half look way too high-calorie for my current weight loss diet! But maybe I’ll make one to celebrate when I finally reach my goal (less than 2 pounds to go!)

Thyroid Cancer Biopsy Guidelines Should Be Simplified, Researchers Say - My favorite quote from the article: “…start doing diagnostic tests and procedures more selectively and prudently, as there rare harms to doing unnecessary tests and procedures.” But do we trust doctors to make the best recommendations to us when it is in their financial best interest to do a many diagnostic tests and procedures as possible?

Fantastic Shots of Japan's Summertime Fireworks Festivals - Lots of events in July and August….and these images capture some of the excitement

Brown-bag lunch strategies - Eating well away from home. The strategies in this article are skewed toward the gourmet variety of brown bag lunch - but good to review when get bored with whatever you have been packing. The key is planning (as with most things).

Visualizing the Psychology of Attraction - Infographic

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 24, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Restricting Food and Fluids during Labor Is Unwarranted, Study Suggests - I can remember being very thirsty with only rationed ice chips when I had my daughter years ago. And I was ravenous by the time she was born (and only offered a rather stale boxed lunch since it was out of the normal food service hours in the hospital). Hopefully this study will be a starting point to change the food and liquid restriction rules.

These alien-looking ice sculptures formed all on their own - A collection of images from some very cold places. What a cooling post for August!

Astronomers Take Sharpest Photos Ever of the Night Sky - Using adaptive optics that have been developed over the past 20 years at University of Arizona.

Creative Fashion Illustrations Made with Leaves - Sparse lines - and then leaves. They work together to create appealing images. My favorite is the first one.

Fascinating Friday: 80 Maps That Explain Everything - Pointers to collections of maps from Buzzfeed and The Washington Post. It turns out that maps are good ways to display lots of data in an intuitive way.

State of Flux Images of Change - Pictures of the changes in the earth over day, months or years from NASA.

Iron Is at Core of Alzheimer's Disease, Study Suggests - Yet another reason why we shouldn’t get higher doses of iron. The foods I normally consume easily get me to 100% of the iron requirements - so fortified cereals and iron-contain multi-vitamins are of my grocery list completely.

Fall in the National Parks: Some Great Activities to Put On Your Calendar - Includes the following national parks: Voyagers, San Francisco Maritime, Acadia, Capitol Reef and Grant-Kohrs Ranch.

Amaranth: Another Ancient Wonder Food, But Who Will Eat It? - Chia - quinoa - amaranth - nutritious options abound.

The Common Cook's How-Many Guide to Kitchen Conversions - Very handy for the kitchen!

by ShannonLattin.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

3 Free eBooks - August 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for August 2013.

Regel, Eduard. Gartenflora. Erlangen: F. Enke. 1859. Available from the Internet Archive here. The text is in German….the botanical prints are the draw to this vintage book. Annual volumes were published until the early 1900s and I am making my way through the volumes.

Mathew, Frank James and Cooper, Alfred Heaton. Ireland. London: A. & C. Black. 1916. Available from the Internet Archive here. A book with many color illustrations of what Ireland was like just before World War I.

Ontario College of Art. The Tangent. Toronto: Ontario College of Art Students’ Club. 1938. Available from the Internet Archive here. This book includes images from Canadian art students from just before World War II.

Long Lives

It’s easy for me - at mid-life - to think that I want to live to 100 years or beyond.

But I’ve become aware of people reaching their 80s or 90s and beginning to question why they are still alive - wishing for death. They soldier on unenthusiastically for their remaining days. There are interludes that are happier but the underlying mood of their lives has shifted. They may be ill - ranging from chronic aches and pains to unable to care for themselves or even get out of bed. The loss of their eyesight and hearing - and maybe even taste - may make their present life totally unsatisfying and isolated compared to what they remember. Or maybe the accumulated sorrows - parents long deceased, age-peers and friends and spouses gone more recently, family dispersed or nonexistent - become too much to bear. And there is gray blanket over it all - declining cognitive abilities; no one wants their body to outlast their mind.

The goal, then, is more complex. It is not simply to live for a long time…it is

To sustain the desire to live for the whole of life.  

The key elements for achieving both parts of the goal are probably highly dependent on the individualbut these are the generic elements I think about the most: 

• Keep your life’s purpose actionable in the present and pointed to the future. Purpose is not something that is static. It needs to be vital and included in every decision you make. Sometimes purpose is not as automatic after children are grown and independent or after you are financially secure. Maybe your purpose becomes helping the next generation (or the next). Maybe your purpose becomes your garden. Maybe you take on a political purpose.  
• Maintain (or improve) the physical self. More years of wear and tear on the body begin to be noticeable at some point. It takes focus to eat well and exercise all through our lives - and it takes more of our time in later years. Isn’t it great that some parts can actually be improved through modern techniques (i.e. cataract removal and vision correction, knee replacement)?
• Continue to grow emotionally and intellectually. Why is our automatic response to fight change? Perhaps it is because change is often inflicted upon us rather than a choice we make for ourselves. Make the choice to change in ways that you value. Invigorate yourself by learning or doing something new.
• Be close to the people you love. Isn’t this something we want throughout our life? Even if we don’t achieve it during all times of our lives, it is something, at least for me, that grows in importance as the years go by.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 17, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Distracted Driving Video - 35 minutes…three vignettes…the message: don’t text and drive

Fall in The National Parks: Some Other Park Fall Drives Not To Overlook - Some ideas for a fall foliage road trip

Why do we laugh? - James May with a very straight-faced explanation

Park Score Index - Compare ranking of cities based on parks

Photos from Restored Wetlands - From the Prairie Ecologist. My favorite is the paper wasp on the swamp milkweed.

Why aren’t more girls attracted to physics? - It’s all about seeing possibilities.

A History of the World: The 100 British Museum Objects - There are several images for each object and a narrative. Note the little symbols beside each thumbnail and click on the thumbnail to take a closer look; the images with a magnifying glass have annotations (I prefer to click on the thumbnail, go to full screen, then look at the annotations), listen to the short videos for the ones with the ‘play arrows.’ A bit longer audio (originally for a BBC radio program) is available as well.

How a 'Deviant' Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut - The good and bad of the state of the art in mining information from huge amounts of data.

Great Blue Heron Highlights 2013 - From Sapsucker Pond in Ithaca NY. I didn’t watch much of the season ‘live’ this year but enjoyed these highlights.

Three Ways Cooking has Changed Over the Last 300 Years - It’s more than cooking….it’s the history of what people ate. Some ingredients are not common now…others are common but prepared quite differently.

Shelf Fungus Finale

A little over a year ago I started posting about the shelf fungus that were growing on an oak stump in our neighbor’s yard. In April of this year, the neighbor’s yard crew spreading new mulch detached the shelf fungus from the stump, tossing them into my yard. I collected the remains and posted a slide show summarizing their ten months of visible life. As a finale - before taking the pieces back to the compost pile - I looked at them more closely. The fungus reprocessed the oak stump into a very light-weight, spongy material.

The top of the shelf-fungus looks like it has growth rings. They are not ‘annual’ growth rings like trees since these fungus grew in a 10 month period and actually stayed about the same size after their initial few months.

The underside has a stalk where they were attached to the oak stump and there are fibers where they were ripped away. The undersides are relatively smooth.

I cut a wedge from one of the platters. The growth rings appear to be a surface feature only (i.e. they don’t extend to the interior). The top - where the rings appear - is a lighter colored layer on a brownish interior that appears porous and spongy.

The Wikipedia entry for shelf-fungus mentions that shelf fungus can be used as a wick for an oil lamp. It works! After soaking the wedge I cut in oil, it provided a nice almost smokeless flame as it sat in a saucer of oil. Rather than taking them back to the compost pile I’ll cut the shelf-fungus in pieces to use in the saucer of oil out on the deck. 

It would have been even better for them to continue growing on the oak stump….

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 10, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Giant Maya Carvings Found in Guatemala - There are traces of red, blue, green and yellow paint; at some point they should be able to create an image of what it looked like before it became part of the buried foundations of a rectangular pyramid.

Women in Space: A Gallery of Firsts - Historical perspective. The first was way back in 1963….and from the Soviet Union.

Length of Human Pregnancies Can Vary Naturally by as Much as Five Weeks - Previously everyone assumed the variability was from not knowing exactly when ovulation and then implantation of the fertilized embryo occurred …. But this study revealed that even using technology to determine precisely when these events occur, there is still significant variability.

Hot Lava Hits Seawater and Forms Black Sand Beach - Images from Hawaii

Healthy Cooking Oils: 8 New Picks To Try - I’m going to try avocado oil at some point….once I come to terms with how much it costs!

Top 10 College Towns 2013 - These places have appeal to more than just students! Also take a look at the Cost of Living calculator provided by nerdwallet.

Cactus-inspired material cleans oily water - Deep understanding of how nature works can be quite useful - in this case, a potentially new type of filter. It turns out that it may work for aerosolized oil as well.

Baby Owls Sleep like Baby Humans: Owlets Spend More Time in REM Sleep Than Adult Owls - This study confirmed that the generally held notion that birds, like mammal, spend a lot of their sleep time in REM sleep when they are first born and that it declines over time. The correlation of sleep pattern with other aspects of the owls ‘growing up’ was also studied. I particularly liked that the observations in this study were made with sensors on wild owlets that were not harmed at all by the study and the potential the findings have for understanding the impact of sleep patterns in our own species.

Top US States For Solar Energy - The top 5 are: California, Hawaii, Arizona, Maryland, and Delaware. The article provides the criteria used to assess the states.

The Science of Mummies - Technologies applied to studying mummies….many of them non-invasive and non-destructive.

In the Mood for Classes Again

This time of year I always am looking forward to classes starting again. It’s been a lot of years since I finished my formal schooling but I’m still in the annual rhythm that was established when I was in school then reinforced by my daughter’s school years (and she is still in graduate school).

Coursera lets me indulge….and it’s even better for my needs that a tradition class because it is

• Free
• The material can be viewed any time and any place that is convenient - as long as reasonably good internet connectivity is available.

The only challenge for me is - I am interested in so many of the offerings that it is hard to choose. I’ve decided I can handle 4 but will have to be very organized to keep up during any travel weeks during the courses. The courses that I have selected that start over the course of the next month are:

• A Brief History of Humankind from Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Animal Behavior from University of Melbourne
• New Models of Business in Society from University of Virginia
• A History of the World since 1300 from Princeton University 

I’m always impressed with the number of partner organizations (mostly universities but some museums are showing up now as well). The quality of the courses is generally quite good. There may come a time when I want to experience an old fashioned class with the teacher and students all in the same place at the same time- but, until then, I am thoroughly enjoying Coursera!

Tangents from a Book

I just finished reading Marilyn French’s Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals. It was written in the 1980s and is somewhat dated. There were quite a few items that surprised me as I read and made me realize how naïve I was about the limitations on women in the US while I was growing up. For example - women were not allowed to serve on juries in Alabama until 1966 when the Supreme Court struck down the state law. There were still many limitations on property ownership in the 1960s as well. But much had improved by the 1980s and early 1990s. Somewhere along the line, progress slowed and increased limitations on women are the new trend - once again, as it has many times before in history.

As I read, my mind jumped very easily to related topics from my own life (since this book was written) or the news:

• I was part of the peak of women entering the computer field. That happened in the mid-80s and has been declining ever since. When I was in school, the college courses for people that wanted to go into programming were in various departments: math, business, and engineering. It was new field and there was an excitement about it. In my classes there were about equal numbers of men and women. The same was true when I started work. Over the years, there were fewer women. I’m sure there are many reasons for the decline - but the move to put computer science almost universally in the engineering department is probably a significant factor.
• Years later, my daughter was in an engineering physics course - one of two women in the class. The professor was not a problem (but was not helpful either). The male students picked on the other woman (said that she wasn’t qualified to be in the class) but fortunately left my daughter alone. She had to beg the other woman to stay in the course….and then study hard without the benefit of a study group. What does this say about what these men will be like once they are in the work force? It causes me to shudder.
• Another experience my daughter had was on a geology field trip - in a van full of people, only two of them women. The guys talked about ‘hot’ women all during the trip. My daughter chose to stay silent and hope they would stop soon. It was not a pleasant field trip. Are the guys rude or just clueless? I assume that it is probably a little of both.
• And in the news - Lindy Boggs died recently. What a great lady she was --- and a champion for the cause of women’s economic rights! Her efforts came after this book was written.

For much of my career, I assumed that the trends toward increasing opportunities for women were on the right track….that the progress made had an unstoppable momentum and that, in time, the perspective of women would be fully integrated into our culture. For the past 10 years or so - I am no longer as certain that is true - and there is a possibility that the trend has reversed. Reading this book reminded me of that.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 27, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

A New Check-Up on the Health of U.S. Rivers - An article from National Geographic prompted by the recent release of a report from the USGS available electronically here. A lot of progress has been made in recent years to clean up our rivers….but there is still a lot to do.

Researcher Digs Into the Contested Peanut-Allergy Epidemic - We know surprisingly little about how widespread peanut-allergy is … but there are extreme measures to limit exposure.

16-foot dinosaur tail unearthed in Mexico is in perfect condition - Does every child think they want to grow up to discover something like this?  

See The 10 States With The Fastest Internet Connections - They are all in the northeast….with the exception of Utah.

Collaborative Origami Installations by Mademoiselle Maurice - A different kind of community project - temporary but beautifying collaboration.

New Key to ‘Switching Off’ Hypertension - Looking at the way that the body controls blood pressure…and ways that drugs could use the same pathway could lead to treatment without the serious side effects of current antihypertensive medications

The great global food gap - I saw some of these pictures in the nutrition course I took via Coursera - but this is a more extensive set of images of families’ weekly groceries. There is quite a range of cost and of foods.

In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters - A map of the US that shows the change a child raised in the bottom fifth rose to the top fifth.

Exploring National Parks through The Lens of Steven Bumgardner - The article includes an interview and several videos. My favorite video is the one about Frazil Ice.

Breathtaking Monochromatic Photos of Iceland - Sometimes the addition of color would not add anything at all.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - July 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are the top 10.

Starting the day outdoors. For years and years I was always heading off to work or errands as soon as I was able in the morning. It is such a luxury to be able to enjoy the outdoors on July mornings when the heat of the day is yet to become overwhelming and the birds are at their most energetic. What a great way to start my days.

Watermelon. I still think the large watermelons with seeds from many years ago had a better flavor than the smaller, seedless varieties in the stores today - but, even these watermelons are a hallmark of summer for me.

Cheesecake sampler. Don’t they always look tempting in the store? Always being on a diet means that I had not succumbed to the purchase until I had a dinner party with enough people to eat most of the pieces in a single sitting. So - I celebrated when I finally found a cheesecake sampler (at the third store I checked) and thoroughly enjoyed the one piece that I permitted myself.

Butterflies on the blazing stars. Flowers and butterflies - easy images to celebrate. See my earlier post here.

Credit for the electric bill. One of the days the exterior of our house was being painted was also an electricity conservation day (our electric utility gives us a credit based on the amount we reduce from a baseline day of similar temperature). The windows were open anyway for the painters - so we turned off the air conditioner and ate picnics (i.e. no cooking). We got at $46 credit! Hurray!

Cardinal flower. Plants are one of my favorite gifts (to give or receive). I celebrated receiving a cardinal flower and enjoy its blooming stalks (increasing rapidly in its big pot) every day. See my earlier post here.

Exterior house painting complete. The house looks wonderfully refreshed….I celebrated that the crew finished in spite of a significant rain delay! See my earlier posts here and here.

Into ‘normal’ weight range. Shouldn’t this be a goal for everyone? I am celebrating getting into the range…and closer to the ultimate goal (another 10 pounds to go).

A quiet day without internet or cable. A storm came through and the service people don’t work on the weekend…so we were without connectivity for almost 48 hours. I found that there was a new quietness about the house to savor…although I also celebrated when the connection was restored too.

Pecans in buttermilk pancakes. I celebrate the goodness the dusting of pecans adds plus the memory of learning to sprinkle the nuts onto the batter as it cooks from my mother.

What have you celebrated today?

Gladiolus

A few days ago I looked down on the back yard from the deck and noticed some small mushrooms in the grass. As I went down the stairs to take a closer look, there was a gladiolus with a spire of near perfect blooms in our overgrown garden! It was promptly cut and taken upstairs to my office.

Gladiolus are flowers that I’ve enjoyed for a long time. My grandparents grew them in their garden when I was a child. A large vase of them stood on the tea cart under my grandmother’s portrait all during the summer season.

I planted the bulbs years ago in my Maryland garden and then ignored them. Their hardiness is one of the things to like about them. The blooms lowest on the stalk unfurl first; when cut just after the first one begins to open, the stems will draw enough water to support the opening of all the buds - which makes for a long lasting display. I prefer a single stalk with a few leaves in a bud vase. There is something quite elegant about the tall slender shape.

I am celebrating gladiolus today.

Free eBooks - July 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post of eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for July 2013.

Toronto Art League. Calendar for the year 1901. Toronto: Musson Book Co. 1901. Available here. 1901 was the year one of my grandfathers was born. I collect books that give me a perception of what the world was like then. How different the world was!

Verner, Dorte (editor). Reducing Poverty, Protecting Livelihoods, and Building Assets in a Changing Climate : Social Implications of Climate Change for Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank. 2010. Available here. I was taking two different Coursera courses - one on Latin American Culture and the other on Climate Literacy; I’m not sure which one listed this as a reference. It makes the point that the progress made in developing countries can be undermined by climate change. 

Musson, Spencer C. and Lewis, John Hardwick. La Cote d'Emeraude. London: A and C Black. 1912. Available here. History of a place before World War I and art work rolled into one. I like the picture below of a bridge.