Reflections

Life Projects I was thinking a new thought. Before, I believed that there were things that could be done by someone else if I don't do them. Now I see, years later, that there are many things that...

Poem - Rising Sun I love how the rising Sun Shoots its intensions across the sky caressing the resigned but expectant Mountains, bathing them in wider and wider Maxwell Parrish pastels of purple and...

Cats So, I read a lot of academic medical papers, especially regarding nutrition. It seems we're always learning more about how the human body works. But, I realized today that I also read a lot of...

Almost Six Months Later I, uh, went to the karaoke box by myself today. I used to sing a lot until Shinpei got sick a few years ago, and something started to wither within me... but I still sang and...

Pandemic Poverty in Japan This is so sad... And it's all true. A lot of people have shunned the full-time salary work system for a number of reasons. Heirarchical maniacs, low pay and high hours, and...

Fields of Memories of Gold My Mama used to tell me stories about her homeland in Cuba. In one of my favorite stories, she said that when she was a little girl, every day at sunset the people would go...

SDGsのお話し 今日は、とても嬉しいです!私の地元紙に誇りを持ってます。SDGsのとても良い記事が載せてます。等々、日本にこういう大切な話しが普段の処で見つけて、日本にこの3年間ぐらいに段々SDGsのお話しが少しずつ普通の人達の日常生活で発見して、希望が上がります。 私達はこういう大切なお話が出来る日が来ると問題の解決も近づきます。...

How to move forward while grieving a Loss When a loved-one passes away, there are so many emotions that it can be overwhelming. Coupled with work, it can seem like there is no option but to recover...

How to get better at sketching Recently, I joined a sketch group with some lovely ladies here in Japan. One of them asked for some tips on how to improve her sketching. When I see everyone's drawings,...

Atomoxetine, oxidative stress and mitochondrial function in humans https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-49609-9 Takeaway: For children and adults taking Atomoxetine, supplement it with vitamins...

Higan Mindfulness Yesterday I woke up really early, before dawn, and went to practice Mindfulness Meditation at the Buddhist temple near my house. I have been studying Mindfulness Meditation for about...

Deserts to Grasslands to Forest The famous TED Talk by Alan Savoy about changing deserts to grasslands was first on my YouTube watchlist today. This was after I read this wonderful blog post by Sacred...

Crane's Call I learned a new Japanese idiom today. It is 鶴の一声. It means "the decision that has been made by the highest ranking official or person." It sounds so stiff in English. The...

Prickly Joshua Tree Blanket This is a positive story from Southern California....

Rainforest Burning Investors Here is a report by Amazon Watch of beneficiaries to the burning of the Amazon Jungle. Yes, folks, it's happening again. As a CNN article stated yesterday, Bolsonaro...

Subdivisions & Ranches This is a fascinating story on the complicated relationship of the stakeholders in Florida's wilderness, explaining pretty well the issues faced on all sides. It isn't a new...

America's Ridiculous War on Agenda 21 America - increasingly impoverished, with little social support for the people. Why would I write this? Because I care. Why do I think this?... Well, most...

Finnish Ed & Humanizing Math https://medium.com/@sunilsingh_42118/you-really-want-to-rehumanize-math-education-build-a-new-ship-8aa6fe6b43d0 Had this hopeful future been the case when I was in...

Rainforest Commons Happy birthday to me. The last of the Amazon Rainforest is being torn down and scorched to ashes. I can feel it. It is a horrible. It is a classic example of the Tragedy of the...

Grazing that Stimulates Growth I was taught as a bio major that certain grazers feeding on plants stimulate them to grow more. I never suspected that it could extend into the insect family!!...

Going back to our Roots I read this article about an amazing discovery that bumblebees chomp leaves so that the plants will flower... up to a month earlier! They depend on the pollen for nectar. One...

No-Bake Awesome Cookies! Hi guys! I have a suuuuper E-Z, tummy yummy recipe for you today! It is no-bake vegetarian cocoa cookies… Mmm'M! I got a pack of 'Green Banana Flour' on iHerb. There was...

The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months | Books | The Guardian Perhaps there is truth in the magic of dates. On September 11, 1999 an unimaginable...

Major companies, permanent work-from-home, and the future of humanity https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/01/major-companies-talking-about-permanent-work-from-home-positions.html Yes. Let's fast forward...

Yuzu Seedlings Today I tried to find places to plant my yuzu seedlings around my neighborhood. There was so much concrete, or weed-killed areas, that it was really difficult to find any places where...

Tech vortex? So I was reading this article about how Chinese LCD panel companies are winning the race against LG and Samsung. The article is posted here....

Today's Gifts - Paul & the Wixarika With the silence around me, I have been cleaning things up, cleaning out, and trying to reconnect with my inner self. Today I found these paper treasures that I...

The Tower I found this postcard lying on the floor today... it became today's esoteric reading. In this painting by the surrealist Spanish painter Remedios Varo, she captured part of the essence of...

Leading the CoVID-19 World What an amazing, surprising world we live in. If only we always held such fresh viewpoints, like those in this article, we would not be in the environmental and strained...

Small Is Beautiful Revisited Re-reading the classic Small Is Beautiful by the economist E.F. Schumacher, I found a little gem. "What is it that we really require from scientists and...

SARS and Corinavirus: looking to history and enthnobotany for a cure Here are the herbal combinations that the Chinese government finally turned to during the SARS epidemic. I first heard about them...

Global Infrastructure is Not Moving Fast Enough for the Problems They Are Causing I wonder how long it is going to take lobbying corporations in the resources and agricultural sectors, as well as...

Poem - Diamonds I was looking at the droplets of water on the plants I just watered, and thought that it would be entirely logical if our love of gems came from the excitement upon it raining or...

Pure Spring Greens So I have a balcony garden, and I haven't given it as much time as a proper gardener might, which is not necessarily a bad thing if you like to eat spring weeds... since what I...

Business in the Fields I saw this problem when I visited the Huichol Indians 20 years ago. Agribusiness firms had come, provided chemicals that destroyed the ecosystem in the soil, and created...

Renewing your US passport in Japan I had kind of nightmare trying to do this, so I am writing this for my fellow Expats living in Japan. The US government addresses are unclear, and this caused...

Gender Roles & Culture Want to have an interesting evening figuring out how different cultures view gender through pop media? This can be done by accessing Netflix around the world. I noticed this...

Caribbean Blue by Enya What a lovely song about hope. It has always been one of my favorites. When heard for the first time at age 16, it changed something in my mind....

Rest In Peace, Ursula K. LeGuin. Thank you, Ursula K. LeGuin, for your wonderful books. You were my favorite author. Your books always made me think, and brought me much joy. It was interesting, but...

Bat in the Bat House I made a cardboard bat house, and put the towel I had wrapped him in within it. Attached it to the wall outside. And hoped that he would be alright. And the other day, when I went...

Look at the little cow I found in the bathroom!! I found the cutest tiny cow in the bathroom!! Just kidding! He was a bat, but from the front, he looks just like a little cow to me!! Bina, my kitty,...

Japan's Aging Society - Ideas and Issues The elderly have a use in our society. They teach us about the past. They help us make decisions because they have lived a long time and may know more than we...

The Meaning of Love is Connection So, I have a theory, a religion you could call it, that everything is connected, like a fractal in time and space, and that the fractal is God. But then, I had to...

Future Monty said, "The answer is remarkably simple but complex in execution. Do what will provide you the most freedom of time and spirit." My response, each one considering another need:...

Happy New Year, 2018 OR How to Make Kuri Kinton I have fond memories of gardenias growing up. My mother loved them, and she would pick them when she could and put them in a little vase in the house....

Komeda's Coffee Today we went to coffee at Komeda's. I thought we would go to the one by the station, with the shadows, dark wood and mirrors in Golden light, but we drove the other way, and then we...

Another post with A Gallery Sorry guys. Just playing with the blog, learning how to make galleries.

Just a post with Images Learning about images. Not much different from the other pages. Perhaps it serves as a template...